#to be clear im not being kidnapped one of these men is my father

[safely-in-vhagars-belly]

The Song of Ice and Fire (DARK BOOKMOND X STARKREADER/OC)

Aemond (book) x Reader

🔷Summary: After getting kidnapped on your way to King's Landing, you end up in another time where you meet a dangerous prince.

🔷Author's note: Either hit or miss with this one

🔷Wordcount :6756

🔷Warnings: This is Bookmond because im a little too sad to write showaemond atm. Bookaemond is my deranged honeybee he can do nothing wrong. Ok almost nothing.

WARNINGS: Kidnapping, drugging, forced marriage and war crimes and aemond being a sexist little bitch. Also spankings.

Maybe it was for the best. You always dreamt of leaving the cold and quiet town of Winterfell behind. You dreamt of a bigger, exciting life. A life of tourneys, of exciting feasts, of noble men fighting for your hand. It should have been as simple as that.

Except it wasn’t.

Sansa, your sister is going to be the future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Your father would be the hand of the king, one of the highest positions at court.  You, Arya, and her will soon travel with him to King’s Landing.

Until something happened.

Something unexplainable.

And something terrible.

Lately, your dreams have been getting worse. From nightmares that you didn’t pay any mind to darker things, things you barely could keep to yourself. Nightmares and dreams filled with unexplainable things, unknown faces and the death rising and marching. 

_____________

It is clear to you that your mind is simply toying with you. You are likely nervous for the future that awaits you. You are nervous for the suitors you’ll meet and that your life finally will begin. It will just be like all the romantic novels you read. It will be ball after ball and feast after feast.

Your dreams always start the same way. You are alone, surrounded by trees as big as towers, in the snowy woods. You hear the sound of the crispy snow as you set feet on it, moving in any direction, to find something. Home, you assume. The stars above your head are the only light to guide you, and it is unforgivably dark in the cold forest.

The cold winter winds pick up and toy with your hair, sending it in all directions. You never know why, but you always turn your head slightly sideways. You can’t control it. You don’t have a say. As a chestpiece moving over the board, you do as you are told by someone controlling you. 

It is always a surprise to see the wall close by, no matter how many times you have dreamt this dream. The majestic tall, ancient structure that has been here long before you were born and will be there long after you have gone. Something about it tells you are not supposed to be here. You feel chills.

You had heard reasons why the wall was built. Wildlings, mostly. The Nightwatch was installed to guard the wall, to make sure no threat could climb over it. You know your brother, Jon, dreams of becoming a brave member of the Nightwatch. It is all the honor he will gain as a bastard anyway. You are the same as his twin sister. But your father kept your bastardy a secret.

But the most important reason why the wall was built was the threat of white walkers. Cold, icy and deadly soldiers of an army without needs and without a will, forced to march forever beyond the wall. And when you are all the way North, you can only go one way: South.

You knew it wasn’t true. You knew when your father told you about them, they weren’t real. But any Northern child grows up with the same tales. Creatures with eyes as blue as ice, that could freeze you in pure terror so they could easily squeeze your eyeballs out of your head, killing you. A fun tale in a tavern. But not in the castle. 

You aren’t a foolish girl, no matter what the world tells you. You don’t believe those lies. You never did. You are not as brave as Arya perhaps or as pretty and polite as Sansa but you never believe in those ghost stories.

But here, in your dreams, beyond the wall and far away from your safe warm room at Winterfell, even someone as skeptical as you could understand why people believed those stories.

What would come next in your dreams was also always the same. You turn your head away from the wall. In the far distance, you can make out someone standing there, holding a lantern. The person is hooded, unrecognizable. But the person would always lift the lantern, and wave with it. Your eyes follow the movements, as the light of the lantern becomes brighter and brighter, shedding light over the forest, making the snow almost look like liquid gold.

It always seems so magical, as a scam shopkeepers tell their far too trusting clients before selling them magical rocks or potions. You know the hooded person never reveals themselves. You tried running at them, screaming, but you couldn’t move nor speak.

Then, you notice you are standing on something. A great lake, made of ice. Gone are the trees of the forest. Through the ice, you make out the skeleton of a human being. Someone from a long time ago. You watch the skeleton, wondering how long ago this person met their end, and how. And beneath the ice, poking halfway out of it, is a steel forged sword with a black handle. The tip of it is still in the ice, covered in a dark rusty coat of old blood. You notice your hands reach for the sword, picking it out of the ice.

The sword feels different than most swords. Lighter, better to wield. Safer. It feels like wielding one of your own arms. It feels safe, comfortable. Yours. Impossible. Ladies do not wield weapons. Not such obvious ones, at least. Ladies wield lies, poison, tricks, schemes. 

You turn to the hooded figure, sword in hand, still standing on the ice, with the skeleton safely beneath your feet. The hooded figure is gone. As is the light. The world is once again covered in darkness. It is suffocating you, in a way. 

Fear and anxiety fight inside of you, as you try to get off the ice. But you can’t move. Not anymore. It is not your body, anymore. You don’t have a say, anymore.

The sword is starting to hurt your inexperienced arms, and you try at all cost to drop the weapon. Your head snaps as you hear the sound of something you never heard before, but somehow you  know exactly what it is. A dragon’s roar.

You never felt fear like that, as you look around the lake for any sign of a dragon. But instead you are met with a thin skeleton made of ice and rotting flesh that reaches out with their hands, trying to grab you. A white walker.

You scream.

But before he could grab you, drag you into the lake with him…

You wake up.

You sit straight up in your bed, clutching the sheets of your bed. Your heart is still beating and your fear hasn’t left your mind yet. You are glad to see you are in your rooms, at Winterfell. Several familiar stuffed animal toys glance back at you from their spots on high shelves, calming your troubled mind instantly. You are coming of age so put some of them away, but unlike Sansa, you could never throw them out. 

You climb out of bed and prepare yourself for the exciting day ahead. The day your life will change forever. You just had no idea how much. And how terribly.

As always, Winterfell is busy. Servants go about their day, greeting you with nods or smiles as they carry in potatoes or walk around with freshly washed linen.

Your father and ‘’mother’’, brothers and sisters are already at the table, gathered for breakfast. They seem to have been waiting just for you. You greet them with a relieved smile. The food smells delicious and makes your stomach rumble in unladylike ways. You sit down on your chair and begin eating. 

You can almost hear Lady Catalyn’s thoughts. Everyone seems to know it. This might  be the final time you might all be together. This is goodbye, in a way. Jon will go to the wall, and you and your sisters to King’s Landing. 

You grab an apple and begin biting down on it, while also making yourself a cup of nice honey tea. You can not wait to leave the boring North and the nightmares finally behind. The north is a boring and cold place. Nothing exciting ever happened. Your sister, Sansa, also looks more happy than usual. Normally, she is grumpy at this hour.

‘’Do we need to leave soon?’’ Arya mutters next to her, playing with a fork and a potato. Your parents share a look, and your father speaks to the youngest Lady of house Stark. 

Even with their differences, their arguments and their fighting, you can see that Arya dreads the day that her and her  would leave for the capital. She likely wants to remain here, in the cold North forever. Eddard speaks, smiling with pride and joy and you feel jealous of how easy Sansa will become the Queen. ‘’Sansa will be the Queen. I will become the hand of the King if all goes well. Perhaps you’ll like King’s Landing.’’ Arya’s brown eyes fill with worry at imaginary scenarios. She looks at her sister, who always was said to be prettiest and who always has focussed on how to be a lady. She imagined King’s Landing would be filled with Sansas.

‘’No, thank you.’’ she mutters. Yet she does not have a choice.

You begin eating the apple first. At that moment, Maester Luwin comes from the courtyard, bringing likely fresh news, plucked from a raven. He brings the news first to your parents, the Lord and Lady of Winterfell.  ‘’Lady Lynantha is expected to be escorted to King’s Landing today. Her carriage is already here.’’ You drop your apple, distraught as all eyes are on you. ‘’Why aren't we traveling together?’’ You ask your father. He does not meet your eyes. 

‘’I received a letter. A nobleman from King’s Landing, one of King Robert’s nephews, wishes to get to know you. It is of importance that you leave right away.’’ You know why. There are rumors you aren’t a true born Stark. That you are a bastard. Rumors that are likely true.

You understand. You are eager to leave, in a way. Lady Stark stands up from her seat. ‘’I wish you well, Lyantha.’’ You never liked her. She never liked you. But you do respect her. You nod, respectful as you make a final curtsy. 

Luwin coughs, reminding you all that time is not on your side. You finally stand as well, excusing yourself as you mutter. ‘’I must pack for the journey-’’ You will need clothing, books, maybe jewelry.

‘’O, there is no need, truly.’’ An almost magical light voice rings out. A woman with raven dark hairs, a green gown with beautiful gold patterns stitched onto her skirt greets you with a curtsy. ‘’The Capital has everything you could need.’’ She assures you, a sweet but horrible hollow smile on her lips. The Lady makes a bow for her as well. ‘’I am Lady Alys Rivers. I have come to escort you to your Prince.’’ You know that Rivers is a last name used for bastards and commoners, and wonder silently how someone as Alys could have acquired such a position at the royal court. But you would never dare to voice that concern. Of course not. A prince, a title, it is almost too good to be true. ‘’A prince?’’ You ask, beaming with excitement. Sansa huffs, and you see Alys nod, almost a little too pleased with your excitement. 

The woman smiles as if you two are long lost friends. ‘’A true born royal, a fierce skilled warrior and an intelligent man. Few are blessed in so many ways.’’ You are certain your smile only grows.

He sounds so charming.

So perfect.

So kind and gentle and gallant and strong. 

‘’Very well.’’ You say. Your father is the first to hug you, whispering in your ear that you’ll always be a Stark, and his little girl. If you have trouble, you could write to him and he’d be there before you could blink with your eyes.  

The Starks remain loyal and firmly rooted outside in the yard as the carriage slowly departs to the roads, leaving Winterfell behind. Such sorrow the Starks all share And such more sorrow they would share if they had known what would become of Lynantha.

–

The carriage is comfortable and to your liking. It is warm as a mother’s embrace and has soft pillows that make the long journey comfortable. You imagined you would stay at multiple ins down the King’s road. Lady Alys has been nothing but kind to you, offering you sweets and cake when the landscape and scenery outside of the window changed. 

The lemon cakes you eat are heavy on your stomach, and soon you feel tired. Exhausted for some reason. It must be the weird nightmares that kept you up. 

As a true future Princess, you  try to stay awake in the carriage but the more she fight against the instinct to sleep, the more tired you become.  Eventually, you fall asleep in the carriage.

This time you too dream of the strange sword, the strange lady with the Lantern and the wall. But you can hear a voice this time as well. ‘’Do not go to the wall! Return! You don’t know what you are unleashing!’’ You can not place the voice, and you assume it belongs to the lantern lady. But when you look at the normally covered lady, you see Alys instead, wearing the common cloak and dress, holding the same lantern. Her eyes are red and sinister, burning like hellfire and her smile spreads wider than it should.

Once again, you wake up panting and breathing heavily. Alys is still near you, calmly knitting. You had hoped if you left the North, the nightmares would end. ‘’Welcome back, my Princess.’’ Alys says as she finishes her knitwork. ‘’We are almost there. Just a bit longer.’’ And at that moment, you notice a familiar basket that is half covered with a blanket on the floor. You would recognize that basket everywhere. And to be in King’s Landing so fast….Something is wrong.

‘’You don’t work for the King do you?’’ You ask, your voice soft and trembling. ‘’You’re not taking me to King’s Landing.’’

Alys only smiles, putting her needles and knitting work away. ‘’Just sit tight. I need to bring you to him alive, he didn’t say in what state.’’ He? Who is he?

You have many more questions, but you are not stupid. That was a clear threat and an order to shut up and so you will.

The carriage finally approaches its final destination. And halts.

When you look outside, all you can see is darkness. And the ominous yet sparkling stars above the carriage. Just as in my dreams.

It feels much colder here. And that smell. The smell of iron and snow. Alys takes her time with putting her hood on, and as you had  expected by now the hood had the same pattern as that of the Lantern lady. She smiles as she opens  the door. You don’t know what she wants. But it can’t be good. And you are not coming with her.

You clings to the carriage instead, refusing to follow Alys. ‘’No! I’m not coming with you! Bring me back!’’ You demand. 

Alys only chuckles and pulls harder, pulling you easily from the carriage as a flower being plucked. She puts you outside the carriage.

In the cold snow you take a good look at your surroundings, looking for any help or signs. And there it is. You turn around, as if you can already feel its presence. The looming tall wall of the North.

And you are clearly beyond it.

’Are you mad?!’’ you lash out at Alys. ‘’You have endangered us both! Who knows what’s out there.’’ Alys ignores you, shining her lantern around the ground, searching for something.

You rub your cold arms, regretting you didn’t bring a coat with you. The snow storm only grows worse and worse, as a storm unleashing upon a town. 

You look back at the wall, before stumbling on something beneath your feet, buried in the cold snow. Just like in your dream. And just like in your dream it is the sword. For a moment, you think about picking it up and threatening Alys with it. You reach out to grab it. ‘’What did you find there?’’Alys’s voice rings out, closer to you than she was before. You try to pick the sword up, but Alys is faster. She has a strange smirk on her lips when you backed away from the now armed woman. ‘’Such a good girl, finding the sword. I’ll tell him that you found it.’’ There’s that ‘’him’’ again. 

You become even more uncomfortable at her clearly condescending compliment, and for some reason she is more angry with you than before. Is it because you found the sword? And not her?  ‘’Now come. He’s not known for his patience.’’  You look back at the Wall. Alys sighs, clearly annoyed. ‘’Or you can stay out here in the cold and freeze to death.’’ She adds, with a careless shrug. ‘’I don’t mind.’’ She is right. You know she is. And you hate her for it. You won’t survive out here on your own.

The two of you approach a lake that is somehow not frozen despite the cold.  It is not the lake with the skeleton. You can tell. Red and green and black and yellow flowers grow around it too, and everything about it seems to confirm that this is nothing but just a dream. But you can’t wake up.

Alys grabs your arm, walking to the lake. You resist bravely but end up in the water regardless, yelping expecting cold, freezing water. But it does not feel cold. It does not feel warm. It does not feel anything, truly. It feels…soulless. Dead, in a way. 

Alys and you approach the deeper part, where you can no longer stand. Before you can ask what is happening, she pushes you underwater. You gulp, as water fills your lungs, convinced you will die. You close your eyes and at the moment you have given up all hope, something beneath you seems to open, and you fall down.

—

Your body is drifting between both space and time for a while, until someone pulls you up by your hair, and out of the waters, back into the world of the living. You gasp for air, spitting out the water and cling to the ground, looking around you as you thank the gods you are alive.

You are still near a lake. Just not the one you nearly drowned in. You look at the skies, and it is day as well. How long have I been gone?

This lake has flowers in just green colors, and has ruined walls around it, likely belonging to a palace from a time long ago. You look around and notice your captor calmingly sitting next to you, making a crown out of flowers. She drops her crown the moment she sees you have awakened. You can only glare at her, too stunned for anything else.

You hiss at her, close to strangling her. She cackles. ‘’You’re finally awake. I was worried you didn’t survive our little magic trip.’’ You sit up, taking in more and more of your surroundings, the sun warming your wet clothing, as you look at the ruins of a castle and people passing you both. 

You jump to your feet, ignoring your soaked clothing as you rush to a soldier. ‘’Hey, Hey! I need help! She abducted me!’’ You yell. The soldier takes one good look at you, before he sees Alys. Alys cracks her head sideways, causing bones to crack. That is all it takes for him to take off running. 

You huff, in disbelief and anger. ‘’Craven!’’ You shout, as he rushes off. Next to you, Alys doubles over cackling once more. She finds this extremely funny, for some  reason. She lays a hand on your arm, smiling at you.

You instantly shrug it off, disgusted. She doesn’t seem to even care, still smiling. 

‘’Come. We are almost here.’’ She says. You can do two things. You can dive back into the lake, and likely drown, or you can come with this woman. Both aren’t smart things to do. Alys offers her hand again.

At that moment, you spot a nice, big rock, just a few steps away from you. Most people here don’t care for abuctuees. They won’t care for murder either, you think. No one would know. No one would judge. And no one would tell.

This woman is a threat to your safety. And so you grabbed the rock, and tried to get Alys on her back. The woman cackled again, much to your annoyance. You did manage to get her on her back, and raise the rock skyhigh, ready to deliver the deadly blow. Alys laughs, before spitting in your face. Disgusted and caught off guard, you drop the rock. ‘’It seems we need to watch ourselves around you.’’

‘’Come, we must not let him wait any longer.’’ There it is again. 

You know you are going to regret going with Alys but you don’t have a say. Not anymore. ‘’Who is this him you speak of?’’ Perhaps the mysterious prince, her lover, or an enemy of Joffrey. It has to be.

Or, a Targaryen. You snort, in your head. The Targaryens had been defeated, like their dragons and their ancestors alike. They would not bother you or anyone else on the Westeros continent again.

‘’Your prince, of course.’’ There is something strange in her voice. Almost a scoff or an inside joke that you had yet to understand. However you perked up at hearing those words.

‘’The match my father arranged?’’ you ask. ‘’Is he here?’’ It couldn’t be. Could it? It would not explain the lake, the change of time, the wall, anything of it. But the thought that you soon would see your handsome prince again, gives you some hope.

Alys ignored you and did not confirm nor deny anything as the two of you walked to the castle gates. As you approach, you notice countless freshly dug graves. You gulp. You try to remember what castle this could possibly be. 

And that’s when you see it. The ruins remind you of a more polished version of the castle of Harrenhall. The cursed castle and the castle where dragon fire still burns to this day. The walls look younger, time has not been as cruel as it has been now. The fire burns, as always. 

The thing that scares you most, were the gates. Someone had put heads on the spikes, heads of people who all had their eyes wide open and full of terror of whatever killed them. A killer. A monster.

The smell makes you sick. And judging by their smell, they had been here quite a while. Alys doesn’t even bat a eye at the dead. But she did grab your right hand, dragging you inside of the castle. 

The doors open the moment Alys approaches them, her head high as a true queen. You walk next to her, your thoughts spiraling. 

You have just a moment to glance up at the banners decorating the outer walls. And you wish you hadn’t. An unfamiliar yet known sigil hangs there, proudly paraded by the wind and kept in place with pins.  You would recognize the three headed dragon everywhere. The Targaryens. But how? 

Yet this one looks different. Alys drags you in, the moment you finally draw the conclusion that this is the sigil of no other than King Aegon II.  The gold and the green made that clear. But what are his banners doing here, nearly hundred years after his passing? Unless….

You already felt sick because of the dead outside the gate, and now you feel even worse as an irrational and terrible fear begins to form in your head. A fear so insane that it can’t be true, but how can you deny what is right in front of you? Have I truly….?

Alys drags you with her, into the castle halls and into the throne room. The door has no guards. You can hear someone playing with a blade, sharpening it. You feel shivers and cold, in your wet clothes.

Alys gives you a push in your back, sending you into the room on your own.

‘’I’ve brought you something.’’ She says, her smile barely containing her pride. 

Whoever is there, they didn’t bother to open the curtains or to light candles. A truly terrifying conclusion. 

You trip over your dress, and fall. You regained just enough balance to land on your knees, instead of flat on your face. You know whoever is waiting here, orchestrated this whole thing. And if your gut is right, you know who it is. 

You laugh, quietly. You must be crazy, expecting an actual Targaryen prince to await you here. Stir crazy. But what other explanation is there? Why else bother with old banners, why else does the castle look better than it ever did in your time? 

You glance up at the man sitting the throne, his legs calmly placed on the arms of the lavious throne he sits upon. He is indeed sharpening a catspaw dagger, and his lips have the faint impression of a smirk and a smile blended into one as he takes in your soaked clothing and angry glare. Alys opens some curtains.

And the moment you do see his face, it feels as a relief and a shock at once. Relief because you were right. But also a shock because how, how can you possibly be right? 

You were treated as a silly little girl. You can only think of one reason why the banners were here, why the castle looked so good and why the dead were rotting above the gates. And this man’s face confirms it all.

In front of you, is no one else but Aemond Targaryen ‘’one eye’’ the Kinslayer of House Targaryen. You know him from the history books you have read. But those books barely mention him. Aside from his death and his atrocities at Harrenhal. 

And yet, here he stands. In front of you, alive and well. He is a true Targaryen with sharp classic Valyrian features like piercing eyes, and very light, almost silver coloured hair. 

He finally stopped sharpening his dagger, curiosity written all over his face as he takes you in, sitting on the floor, at his feet and glaring at him. He can’t help but smirk.

You glare. Whatever it was that is going on, it is all his doing. You can tell. And that prince Alys promised you would meet, that is him. A cruel joke on her behalf. You glare at her too. She simply makes another curtsy cackling once again.

Slowly, a smile creeps on his lips, amused by the audacity. ‘’I take it she was a smart lass and obeyed?’’ The question is aimed at Alys and you physically feel your stomach turn even worse by his words. 

You had not been a ‘’smart lass’’. If anything, you had acted insanely dumb. You resisted, you tried to kill Alys. You tried to run. You tried to resist in every way possible and more. 

You cross your arms, tired. Alys beams as she tells Aemond what has happened between the two of you, happy to see you punished by her Prince. ‘’She tried to kill me with a rock.’’ 

His face tilts, and although he tries to appear uninterested and cold, even a simple man could read the anger and murderous emotions in his eye.  ‘’I will see to that she’s punished for that.’’ He promises his loyal servant. To that, Alys smiles.

Aemond smiles at you, in a condescending way. You glance between him and Alys, aware you are in trouble now. ‘’I am not yours to punish.’’ He is not your husband, nor your king or father. No one should decide what happens to you but you. Your voice doesn’t sound scared or angry. Just annoyed.

Aemond shifts his legs, angry at your carelessness and casual behaviour. He slams his hands on the arms of the throne, causing you to flince briefly. He stands up, and you finally see just how tall he truly is. And how fast he stands in front of you. He sinks to his knees, the green leather cracking. He clearly enjoys the way you flinch as he reaches out to touch your chin and your cheeks, feeling your soft delicate skin beneath his fingers. He finally bothers to address you. ‘’Of course you are, Little Wolfling. If you touch and damage something that is mine, you will be punished.’’ He reveals. 

You understand finally that Alys is more than just his servant. They have a relationship. He loves her. And you tried to kill her. You must try to talk your way out of this. ‘’Your lady did not explain why I was taken from my home and lied to.’’ You hope he becomes more understanding of how terrifying all of this is for you.

Alys snorts and Aemond laughs. You curse quietly in your head. That was a failed attempt. ‘’As I ordered her. Alys obeys well and listens. You can learn a thing or two from her.’’ He tells you, finally getting up from the ground. 

Somehow, that makes you angry. The idea that he now thinks you will help him as some spineless pet and roll over for him when he wishes so, it makes you so furious that you are close to pulling him back by his eyepatch to slam his head against the stone floor. You do not have the sword anymore. 

You only have your clothes.

And …

Oh.

You patiently wait until his back is turned to your front, before sliding your shoe off and aiming at his head. You throw the shoe as hard as possible and it ends up hitting him perfectly on his head.

Confused, he turns around, looking for who dared to have hit him. When he notices you, smirking very proudly and missing one shoe, something changes. And you regret even blinking in his direction.

Prince Aemond storms back to you, as you can barely back away to escape him. He is faster and steps on your dress, trapping you easily. You feel the walls closing in and are truly in danger now. The Prince grabs you by your waist, lifting you to your feet and drags you to the throne. You try to break free of his grip, protesting. ‘’Let go of me!” You turn your head to look at Alys. Surely she has a say in this. But she only smiles.

Aemond let out a low chuckle as he sits down the throne, your body still in his grasp. He places you on his lap, as some disobedient little girl. He whispers in your ear, and your cheeks burn with shame. ‘’You laughed. Now it is my turn to laugh, Little Wolfling.’’ You let out an offended cry, struggling to get away from him as fast as possible.

He chuckles. ‘’I am not sure what they teach you in the North, but here, we are respectful to our princes.’’ He says, lecturing you. His cold hands feel the back of your dress, feeling the warm skin that it covered.

Until that moment, you had never been touched before. Instead of doing what you feared he would do, he picked out a different punishment. He does lift your skirts, but barely enough to touch you. Just to reach your small clothes but mostly your behind. And at that moment you know what he is planning. And you don’t want that. You try to escape again, kicking and slapping him.

Aemond grabs your hands, grinning. ‘’Calm down, Little Wolfling. It’s just a spanking. I’m sure you had plenty before.’’ Never. 

Your parents did not believe that that was a healthy idea. ‘’No! Never!”’ You declare, angry. ‘’And you are not my father or my husband. You aren’t allowed to punish me.’’ You say, bravely.

He only scoffs, and his hand lands the first hard blow on your behind, causing you to cry out in pain. You squirm over his legs, fighting stronger and harder. He increases his grip, tightening it. ‘’Tis for the best you learn now, Little Wolfling. I don’t have time and the patience to do this every day.’’

The blows only increase, hurting your delicate skin. You did try to keep from crying and from complaining. You wouldn’t grand him that satisfaction. Not anymore.

It is true that you were disciplined in this way, yet your body betrayes you in the worst way imaginable. 

You do not notice your arousal until it is too late. Your nipples are hardened and there is a wetness between your legs, growing. 

You stop fighting. Perhaps in shock of your own betrayal, perhaps only to show the prince that he could stop what he was doing to you. Finally, he stops. But not before your behind is burning and a painful mess. 

He helps correct your dress and covers you apprioartly as if nothing has happened. You are still in shock, and don’t move away from him at first. ‘’I hope I made myself clear to you both. You both will play nice to one another.’’ He tells both you and his lover.

Alys bristles. ‘’I am not the one picking up rocks and killing people.’’ But this time, Aemond has enough of her complaints.

He did all he could. ‘’The Wolf has been disciplined. I am sure my Little Wolfling will behave much better in the future.’’ You are forced to sit on his lap, as a prize he had won.

‘’Won’t you, Little Wolfling?’’ He whispers. He does not kiss you, but his lips come closer to your cheeks, and unwillingly you feel your cheeks burn bright as stars. He chuckles, amused. ‘’You can go now, Little Wolfling.’’ You almost look offended when he sends you away.

This madness needs to stop. ‘’I,’’ You catched your breath. ‘’I don’t understand a few things.’’ You say. You want the truth. Now. Before you offend him again somehow.

Aemond rolls his good eye, smirking. ‘’You are a woman. I imagine that happens to you a lot.’’ Even Alys glares at that comment but his royal highness does not see it.

You only blink, ignoring him. ‘’You are alive.’’ You say, cutting straight to the case. ‘’You were killed in a battle.’’ You don’t remember who killed him or with what or where but you are certain Aemond Targaryen died.

Aemond’s head perks up, listening eagerly to what you tell him. You can tell he is not listening, but he is eager. ‘’What am I doing here? Am I here to save the dragons?’’ You ask. ‘’Or to stop the civil war?’’ Not that you would even know how in the seven hells to do that, but that's another thing entirely.

That causes the head of the prince to snap to Alys, worry written across his face for the first time that you met him. Alys only makes a gesture with her head, and Aemond seems to calm down. He smirks, carelessly. ‘’Oh, don’t worry about the Dragons.’’ You never heard any Targaryen say that.

The dragons are their wolves. Their dragons are their war winners. You laugh, offended and still hurt. ‘’But, without dragons, I am sorry to tell you, your entire family will become ash and dust.’’ You even chuckle.

Aemond stands back up from the throne, raising his sword and pointing it at you, lashing out. ‘’You are a bold little girl, are you not? Perhaps my hand was too gentle.’’

You don’t even back down anymore. ‘’It’s the truth. Where I’m from, house Targaryen is dust. All thanks to you, your sister and your brother. Together, you caused the civil war and killed the dragons-’’ That is pushing it too far. 

Aemond grabs you by your throat, choking you lightly to warm you of not accusing him of another thing. ‘’Silence.’’ He barks.

You obey, glaring. ‘’Good girl.’’ he smirks, mockingly. ‘’Now, I understand, you must be so excited to see a dragon, hmm? You can’t shut up about them.’’ He stops choking you, feeling your neck.‘’I suppose, there is truth in what you tell me. The dragons are long gone where you are from. But you are now here, with me.’’

‘’The story is written.’’ You say. 

Aemond snorts, and there is something dangerous about his body language. ‘’The story is just beginning.’’

You have a terrible feeling. ‘’You see,’’ Aemond grabs hold of your left hand. ‘’I have some inside knowledge. You know how this will end. You will tell me how the dragons died out, and I will simply be always one step ahead of my enemy. I will be their worst nightmare, their downfall and the dagger that slashes their throat.’’ He grins, as you become truly terrified and even tremble.

‘’How will you stop your sister?’’ You whisper. But you fear you already saw it in your dream. ‘’How will you stop Queen Rhaenyra’s marching troops?’’ Your voice is a soft weak whisper.

Aemond leans in, leaving a soft kiss on your forehead. ‘’I heard a prophecy. The song of ice and fire. That is where you come in. You can help me find something, something very precious.’’ He chuckles.

The sword.

He wants to find the sword.

But why.

Unless…

‘’No.’’ You instantly say. ‘’You can’t.’’ You turn your head to Alys, watching her blank expression. She is fine with this. You watch as Aemond smirks in silence, confirming to you that he is planning to do the impossible. ‘’Aemond, you can’t.’’ You repeat.

Aemond’s grip only tightens. ‘’Think about it, little Wolfling. An army that never rests, never eats, never betrays me. An army that will help me conquer Westeros; An army of White Walkers. It is perfect.’’ He is insane. 

‘’I won’t help you.’’ You remind him. ‘’You might as well send me back.’’ 

He ignores your protests. You can see his smirk and grin only grow, and you are reminded of Targaryens and their insanity. Their fire. Their blood. ‘’You will help me, little Wolfling. You will. Because if you do not, you will never see your family again. I have the means to send you back. And I will. After you have helped me.’’

You scoff, so you must help him do gods knows what so he can send you back to your own time?  ‘’It doesn’t sound like I have a choice, do I?’’ Alys shakes her head. ‘’What will I need to do?’’ You ask Aemond, your head hanging in shame. How many will die because of you?

He lifts your chin, grinning. ‘’Now, now, don’t be so sad. To begin things, we must find the sword. And I want more information on how to better keep the dragons too.’’

You cannot do that. ‘’Dragons died centuries before I was born!’’ You don’t know anything about dragons. ‘’I don’t even know what they eat.’’ You almost whine.

‘’Meat. They eat meat.’’ Aemond says. ‘’Vhagar is right here with me. I will teach you about dragons, you will teach me what you know of the Dance and how it ended.’’ This all sounds like a horrible idea to you. ‘’And when the time comes, we must complete the prophecy of Ice and Fire.’’ That sounds vague. 

But you want to see your family again. More than anything. So you hold out your hand, and wait for Aemond to shake it. He smiles, kissing it instead. He leans a little closer. ‘’I can’t wait until we are married. I always wanted a Valyrian wife, but you’ll do.’’ You laugh, thinking he is jesting. Until you see how Aemond is looking at you. Like you are some delicious cake he can’t wait to taste. He mirrors your smile, allowing you to be in denial as he makes his way to his lover, kissing her openly on her lips. You watch speechlessly as the two of them walk away, their chuckles and giggles mixing as they likely picture their new world together, with them for once atop of it, instead below. 

You throw your head into your neck and try to process it all. What in the seven hells did you even become part of?

a/n

Ooh, i wasnt sure i even wanted to share this one.

But here he is xDDDD

Ok bye

let me know what you think

[hotchnerwife]

EITHER WAY

Warnings! MDI!

Smut, (female receiving), oral (male receiving), angst, violence, anxiety. (Okay I’m new to doing this on tumblr tbh. I usually just write on wattpad but I have more stories so lmk if you enjoyed this)

Summary- After the loss of your uncle Jason Gideon, one man you least expect is there to protect you and be a shoulder to lean on. What happens after you grow more dependent on each other?

January 28, 2015. Gideons death. Donnie Mallick shot and killed your uncle in his cabin. We all attended his funeral. Your cousin, his son Stephen helped you prepare it. You had been having a hard time since then. You watched them lay a tarp over his body. The same body you had hugged many times before. The same body that sat before you while playing chess. You hardly could stand looking at him. Neither could Spencer. You were having a tough time and so was Spencer. You had confided in him for so many nights. Both of you staying up late eating take out, telling stories about Gideon. Spencer wasn’t his biological son, but Gideon showed him kindness and it was enough for Spencer to gravitate towards him. Gideon always thought of Spencer like his son. Spencer was his do-over in his head. Gideon failed with Stephen the first time. Not always being around. Work consuming his daily life. Gideon saw Spencer as a way to fill the hole he had for a child, but you? You were always his little girl.

Your father died when you were only 2. Your mother abandoned us as soon as you were born. Gideon took you raised and raised you until you were 5. That’s when aunt Jill told Gideon she was pregnant with Stephen. Life from then on was different. You lived with your grandparents. You hardly saw Gideon, and when you did see him, he brought you to the office. Where you sat and watched him and Rossi play chess or argue about cases. You always knew he loved you though.

It had been a week since the case and funeral. You tried to come back with a clear mind. You had been having nightmares, the same one particularly. Gideon standing in the middle of his cabin. Looking at You not being able to talk. There was a man standing behind him. Shot him right in the back of the head. Gideons body slamming onto you, not being able to move. Screaming for help as the man steps over us. The man looking down at you and right before he lets off the gun trigger, you scream. That’s when you wake up.

“ (y/n) can I see you in my office please?”

You look up and see Hotch standing outside his office with a serious but concerned look.

“yes Hotch?” You say while walking into the office.

“ how are you doing? “

“Im fine,Hotch.”

“Are you sure? We could extend your time. You could go home and get proper rest.”

“Hotch I’m not a child. I passed my evaluation. I’m okay to come back”

“I never said you were a child. I’m just making sure you are ready to come back.”

“ I’m fine.”

“If you say so, but I’m not sure you are. Gideon was a friend to all of us but I know you were family.”

“Hotch I’m okay-“

JJ walked in thankfully.

“Hey guys I’m sorry to interrupt but we have a case.”

Never have I been so thankful to hear those words. Maybe now I can have a distraction.

“This is Colin Parker, he was the 5th man who was found slaughtered inside his home.”

“Slaughtered?” I ask.

“ yes. There is stab wounds up and down his body. His throat was slashed, and wrists cut.” Hotch said.

“Over kill?” Morgan speaks up.

“No. Who ever did this it was clean. It was a precise killing. With over kill no one would kill like this and not leave a complete mess.” Spencer replied

“ well we are going to California then. Wheels up in 30.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We just came back from a super long case. Two more men were kidnapped but we thankfully saved them in time.

We walked into the bull pen. Everyone extremely tired and ready for the weekend.

“ oooo hey sweetheart looks like someone’s got a secret admirer” Morgan teased and you came up to your desk to see a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a note.

“Open the note I want to know who it’s from!!!” Emily screamed with excitement and pushed on your shoulder to make you more eager.

“ fine fine.” With everyone now standing around your desk you opened the envelope. A small letter. It read:

(Y/n),

This letter is in condolences to Your uncle, Jason Gideon, he was a great man. We have found his will reading and will hope you and your Team will have time to come on out to his cabin and collect any personal affects he has left you.

Sincerely (Gideons Lawyer)

“Gideon has a lawyer?” Morgan asked

“Gideon has a will?” Rossi scoffed.

Tears started to form in your eyes. You hadn’t been to his cabin since you found him. Your weren’t allowed back until it was cleaned up. Reid and you never felt like going back to collect our stuff there either.

“ I guess so.”

Hotch looked at you knowing you were hiding your tears. “ (y/n) we can plan to visit his will reading Sunday?, would that be alright?”

“ yes”. You hated this. You thought this was all over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday approached. You wore your jacket Gideon gifted to you for your 18th birthday.

“Hi I’m Matthew Murdock ( yes ik 🫣) I’m here to read you off Jason Gideons will”

“Hi Mr Murdock, I believe we have met before?, SSA David Rossi”

“ oh yes we have, when I was in grad school.”

“It’s nice to see you again- well you know”

Matthew laughs. ( if you don’t know Matthew Murdock is blind)

“ and this is his niece” Rossi says guiding you over to him.

“(y/n) correct?”

“ yes I am.”

“ well it’s very nice to meet you finally, I know it’s under bad conditions but Gideon spoke very highly of you and Stephen”

“Thank you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ it’s nice to finally meet everyone, I’m sorry it wasn’t under better circumstances. I was given a letter earlier this week stating Gideons will was found during the clean up. I was told to contact you as soon as you returned from your case.”

We all looked around. This was it. Maybe after hearing this I would finally have some peace.

“This is the will reading of Jason Gideon, husband of Jill Gideon ( deceased) and father of Stephen Gideon who unfortunately couldn’t attend. The other living family is (y/n)( y/l/n), and other beneficiaries. To start I leave my team members all notes in envelopes to read. These are to be read by yourselfs. Unless wanting to be shared.”

Matthew spreads envelopes around the table in front of us. Each labeling our name. Mine being the biggest envelope there. We approach and take ours and sit back down.

“ I was told this next portion was to be read by his niece (y/n), will you read it”

You step up. Looking over this long piece of paper. Assuming the top portion with the bumps was for Matthew to read in braille.

You start to sweat as you know these next couple minutes will be the end of you.

“ Hello everyone, Hopefully my entire Team is here. I wanted you all here so I could leave you with things I wish I gave you before I left. Things that remind me of you. Things we cherished together. First off, is Spencer. Spencer you are a great kid. Keep using that mind for amazing things. I leave you my chess board, my map collection, and books. To Emily, I haven’t known long but I leave my wife’s china plates, you always wanted some. To JJ I leave my boy Stephen’s young clothes. You will make a wonderful mother unless when you read this you already are. To Penelope, I leave my whole computer system to. It’s outdated but I’m sure your mind can handle it. To Derek I leave my sports collection to you. I have 2 Nellie Fox baseball cards. Still in great condition. Keep them safe. To Hotch, stop Being such a hard ass. Loosen up. I saw on the news about what happened. I’m sorry. Haley was a wonderful person. Jack needs you. I leave Stephen’s clothes to you as well, and my Star Wars collection, keep any of the clothes in the closet for yourself. To my friend, David Rossi. We grew distant but you are my best friend. I named my child after you. We started all of this together. I leave the desk we built together as well as our funds we hoped to save up for our trip to Florida where we wanted to retire.” Rossi laughed and shook his head.

“To Stephen-“

“He isn’t here you don’t have to read it.” Matt spoke up.

“ Oh alright. To my passera ( sparrow in Italian, Rossi called you is so finally Gideon started to call you it) I leave you my cabin. The cabin we built together at 5 years old. I leave you everything that doesn’t go to anyone. I leave you my records. I leave you aunt Jill’s things. I love you my passera. Let people take care of you.”

You start to cry. The man you confided in when you were upset about anything was gone. You never would see him again.

“You can now stand up and we have put ur Belongs gifted to you in an area labeled with your name. “

“(Y/n)” Matthew said

“ yes?” You wiped the tears off your face as Rossi put his hands on your shoulders.

“I need to give you the keys to the cabin. These belong to you.” Matthew’s hands you the keys. The keys have a wooden initial attached on the key chain. Your Initals.

“ Cara Mia, he’s in a better place.” Rossi spoke to you so softly

You turned and cried into his chest. Rossi usually would’ve sat you down and complained about his suit being ruined but at the moment he didn’t care. Everyone was grabbing their things. Spencer on the verge of tears trying to leave as fast as he could so he could cry at home.

You were still crying by the time most of them left. Derek saying goodbye to me. JJ and Emily hugging you. Penelope asking if you would be okay. Rossi asked if you needed a ride home and you shook your head no. You didn’t want to leave. Hotch stayed. You didn’t know he did. You just sat there and balled your eyes out.

“ I think I should take you home (y/n) “

His low voice startled me.

“I don’t want to leave Hotch.”

“ I think it’s best if for tonight you do.”

“ fine.” You were too worn out to argue with him. If this was any other time we would be at each others throats. Hotch would tell you, you were over reacting and needed to grow up. You liked he was being kind. But you hated it at the same time. Knowing this would all be over by the end of the week and he would be a hard ass again.

Hotch helps you into the car. The same car youve rode in hundreds of times. The same car youve driven with your uncle in the passenger seat. driving to the Bau singing the Beatles on the way there.

“ are you okay?” Hotch’s voice snaps me out of my trance.

“ yes.” I lied. Why lie to a profiler.

“ it’s okay to not be okay, I don’t know why I asked that I know you aren’t.”

“ I’m okay hotch. I’ll just have to get over this.”

“ not over. Through. This takes time”

“ I’m not a child I know that.”

You don’t know why you were starting an argument with him. You were mad at him. Why? You don’t completely know why.

“(Y/n) I’m just trying to help you okay, and if you decide you want to be childish then fine. By all means.”

You sat there. Not completely knowing what happened. You disliked you and him fighting. It always bothered you it seemed like he hated you and cared about the others. Hotch being nice to you is all that you’ve ever wanted. But tonight you just needed everything to be normal. This was your guys normal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The week began. You still hadn’t opened your letter from Gideon. You wanted to, but what if you read something you wished you didn’t. Change was something you should’ve been used to. You were doing this long enough, but having someone you thought would live forever dying? That was hard.

It had been tense in the office. More than usual. Everyone could tell you and Hotch weren’t talking. Rossi tried playing middle man but that just caused more chaos.

You handed in a report two days ago. Well Spencer did. You paid Reid $20 to hand it in for you so you didnt have to see Hotch.

“(Y/n) my office now. He was mad. More mad than usual. Was it hot? Maybe. But you were way more worried about what he was about to yell at you for.

“ yes sir?”

“ did you re read your report before handing it in? I’m sorry I mean giving it to Reid to hand in because you can’t even turn in your own reports now.”

“ I did. It all seemed fine”

“Seemed? These reports are also reflections of how I am as boss. Am I teaching you how to fill the out correctly? Did I teach you how to spell? No because I’m not your kindergarten teacher.”

“ what is up your ass today?”

“ you. You misspelled completely wrong twice. Fix your mistake now.”

“ yes sir.”

God. He was so annoying. I walked out of his office to see everyone’s eyes on me. Was he that loud?

“ Cara Mia you okay?” Rossi peaks his head out of his office. You didnt know but your hands were vigorously shaking.

“ yes I’m fine.” Rossi looks at your hands and you look down as well. Trying to hide them you put them behind you. Walking away.

You sat at your desk. Wishing the day to be over. At 8 o’clock you could go home. You stayed later then everyone else did. Yes you were a profiler but you were assigned to help hotch as well. When he went home you went home. Which means some nights you stayed very late. The days he didn’t go home he dismissed you to leave. Knowing he wasn’t leaving but you honestly didn’t care. Hotch pissed you off so many times. You never understood why he hated you as much as he did. With Gideon around he was kinder. I mean he did ignore you most of the time until it was case work, but he didn’t yell at you. Once Gideon was gone he started to grow more aggressive. You hated this. You had a crush on him everyone knew. It didn’t take long for Rossi to realize either. It didn’t take him long to say “ so when is the wedding?” Ever since that day he’s encouraged the team to make jokes about your crush on the angry unit chief.

“It’s 11:00pm. Time for you to go home

(Y/n).” Hotch spoke and it shook you out of your thoughts.

“Are you leaving?” You told yourself you didn’t care but for some odd reason you still asked.

“I’m staying a little longer. I have to finish this report.”

“Then I’m staying”

“ I don’t think that’s necessary. You should go home.”

“Hotch part of my job is to stay here and help you. If you aren’t leaving then neither am I.”

“ fine.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There you were. Sitting across from the man you hated yet wanted to love you so dearly. You hardly looked up from his couch, but when you did you could catch him staring. It was 11:45 by this point and you were hardly done with your reports.

“ do you want to go get some food?”

Hotch asked.

“I guess. We will be here a while.”

You both got up and walked down the street. You walked into the 24/7 Chinese place. You both got orange chicken. You always ate orange chicken with Gideon. It just happened to be the last meal you had with him. Tears formed again. Scared to show your emotions to hotch. You tried to hard to prove him your okay you would hate him to see you were wrong. You wiped your tears before he could see.

Hotch hands you your food.

“ thank you”

“ you’re welcome”

For a man you wanted to hate with every bone in your body you looked at him like he was your everything. Hotch’s eyes lit up in the street light, his hands handing your food you couldn’t look away. You tried ripping your mind away from these thoughts. Thoughts you shouldn’t be having about him, your boss especially.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You return back. Sitting and eating. Hardly ever spoke to him but that’s okay. You got through the paper work you needed to. You were getting very tired. You could tell hotch was too.

“Let’s go home.”

Hotch looked at you like you just told him you loved him. The surprised look confused you.

“Not together dumbass.”

“ right. I knew that.”” You aren’t in the right condition to drive though”

“ yes I am”

“ you are falling asleep as we are talking right now”

He wasn’t wrong. You were drifting in and out.

“ fine.” Hotch has driven you before. You weren’t incline to argue with you him as you were practically half asleep on his couch right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You woke up to seeing an apartment complex. This wasn’t yours. It was Hotch’s

A shiver ran down your spine. You looked over and Hotch was getting out of the car. Rounding to your side and opening the car door. “ you’re up.”

“ yes, I thought I was going home? You aren’t kidnapping me are you? I mean you are unit chief so you could get away with it-“

“(Y/n) stop talking. I brought you here because you were asleep and I forgot which level you lived on so taking you home with me was easier.”

“ I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep”

“ it’s okay.”

Hotch helps you inside. “ where is Jack?”

“ Jack is at Jess’s tonight.”

“ oh. So tonight would’ve been a you night I’m sorry”

“ don’t me. I probably would’ve just came home and slept.”

“ well don’t let me stop you. I’ll just lay down on the couch now”

“ no. I’m a gentleman and you will be sleeping in my bed. I’ll take the couch”

“ hotch I’m not kicking you out of your own bed.”

“I don’t care. You’re my guest.”

You were tired. Arguing again was too

tiring and he was right it was his place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You see him. Gideon facing you. He just moved his chess piece. “ your turn”.

You looked at him. You move your piece and he looks at you like you’re stupid. You don’t care where you moved it. You only care you get to see him again. Gideon stands. No no. Sit back down. “Im going to get some water you want anything” yes for you to sit down. “ no, thank you”

You turn around. Fully facing him now. There he is. Center of the living room. Boom. Gideons laying on top of you. You start yelling. You can’t move. In the mirror you see a dead bleeding out Gideon. Lifeless laying on you. You look up and stare at the barrel of a gun. This time you wish for it to go off. You pray. No screaming. “(Y/N)”

You wake up in a hot sweat. Gripping into an arm. Not your arm, but hotch’s

“(Y/N)”

It shook you to your core. You were hyperventilating. Not being able to catch your breath. Hotch is holding you. “ it’s okay. Deep breaths”

You finally are able to calm down.

“ do you want to talk about it?”

“ not really”

“ was it another nightmare about Gideon?”

“What?”

You looked at him now. You knew everyone knew you were having nightmares, but Gideon?

“We bunked up remember?”

You do. Ever since the whole team found out about your crush they’ve done everything to keep you both together. Hoping it’ll spark something. But since Gideon your mind has been other places then your boss sharing the same room

As you.

“ you know?”

“ yes.” “ would you like to talk about it?”

“Yes.” You looked at him. You never thought you would talk about the nightmares. Not to Hotch especially.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You tell him everything. You watch his expressions change. He is listening. Not zoning out but listening. It feels good to see him finally listening to you.

“ I see. Are you having these every night?”

“ yes.”

“ have you talked to anyone about them? “

“ no only you.”

“ not even Reid?”

“ no. I’m to embarrassed.”

“ why?”

“ because I feel like I should’ve been over this by now. I see death in every day life. “

“This is different. This is Gideon.”

“ I know.”

“ it’ll take time and that’s okay.”

“ thank you hotch.”

“ you’re welcome.”

Hotch got up. You didn’t want him to leave. What if you had another nightmare.

“ can you stay?”

“What?” He stopped dead in his tracks.

“ can you stay with me? I know it inappropriate for a supervisor to sleep with a- “

Hotch gets into bed. No arguments. No restraint. Not even a complaint. You feel better now.

“ goodnight (y/n)”

“ goodnight hotch”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You wake up to a hand on your lower back. You open your eyes and Hotch is right up on your chest. His head buried almost under you arm. You were enjoying this to say the least. But you knew it was wrong. Hotch started to shift. You acted asleep. You felt the stir and the weight of where he was release. He was up now. Hotch’s phone rang.

“Hotchner.” God his morning voice was hot. “ okay sounds good. We will be on our way- I mean I will. Please don’t call (y/n) they had a rough time last night so I’m sure they will want to sleep in.”

You heard Hotch chuckle. It was cute.

“Case?” You say to him.

“ uh that was no one by Morgan”

“ oops I’m sorry”

“ no you’re okay, I’m sure we will just hear some things walking in.”

Which I didn’t mind. I wish those things were true.

“ did you sleep good?”

“ yes, your bed is really nice.”

“ thank you”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking into the bullpen was hard. All eyes on you and Hotch.

“ okay spill Morgan said he heard you when he was calling Hotch, is it true?”

“ no. Well yes I was there but it wasn’t like that.”

“ so what was it like then huh sweetheart?”

“ Morgan I promise me and him did nothing.”

“ so you didn’t sleep in the same bed?”

“ well yes but it was under different circumstances”

“ and that was???”

You didn’t want to say it. Thought the day more prying questions were thrown your day. You were getting anxious. Everyone saw it and you picked at your fingers while they were questioning you.

“Conference room before everyone leaves”

Hotch said as he walked passed the bullpen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ (y/n) and I didn’t engage in any inappropriate behavior. I want everyone to know this”

They all looked around. You were so embarrassed. You wanted to shoot yourself at this point.

“ do we all understand.”

“Yes.” They all say in unison.

Morgan even seemed too scared to make a remark about it.

“ everyone is dismissed”

Everyone leaves except you and rossi. Rossi retreats to his office and you sit there.

“ are you okay?” Hotch is still standing there.

“Yes I’m okay.”

“Do you need anything?”

“ no im okay thank you.”

You stand up and walk to your desk. Thoughts overwhelming you. You need to move on from these nightmares. Face them. You pull open your drawer to see the envelope you stashed away.

(Y/n) (y/l/n)

It says on the front.

You slowly open it. Hoping whatever was inside would heal you from this insanity. There was a note and a couple over bigger letters. Some certificates dating back to your younger days like soccers and softball.

(Y/n) my little Passera,

My life started when I found out I was going to be an uncle. Kids never excited me but I knew you were different. Holding you for the first time felt like time stopped. I never wanted to see you hurt ever. So seeing you without parents at only 2 years hurt me. I brought you with me every where. I wanted to adopt you.

Those words. Adopt you. It hurt. You kept reading though.

The day I asked Rossi if I should ask Jill I got a call. Your aunt was pregnant. I wish I just went through with the adoption. Maybe things would’ve been different. I told Rossi and he agreed sending you with your grandparents would be for the best.

Rossi knew? You started to cry.

If I knew they were putting you through hell I wouldn’t have sent you there.

It was true. Your grandparents treated you like a house servant.

I’m so glad you followed in my footsteps though. Seeing you grow up. Watching you make your way to the top. Without my help either. (Y/n) I know it’s too late now. I made the biggest mistake not adopting you. I think about it every day. Can I adopt you? I love you so much my little girl.

Those words broke you. You hadn’t heard them before. Only once. The day he left. He hugged you goodnight and said those words. “ I love you my little girl”

Those words echoed through your head that night.

You shot up. Angry knowing Rossi knew. You walked to his door. Hotch saw you reading it and watching you walk to Rossi knew it would be bad.

“ David Rossi open your door” you yelled.

Rossi opend the door to be greeted by you. Angry. Crying. Red in the face. Hardly making full sentences.

“ Cara Mia slow down”

“ you knew?” You cried through your words. You shoved the envelope in his face. Rossi didn’t even have to be a profiler to know what you were talking about.

“ I’m sorry.”

“ oh you’re sorry? Rossi he was going to adopt me!”

Hotch felt your hurt in your voice. He knew how much you’ve wanted him to adopt you. Gideon talked about it all the time. His biggest mistake.

“I know, I shouldve encouraged him to do it. I wasn’t thinking at the time I’m sorry”

You broke down. Rossi hugged you.

“ he loved you though. There wasn’t a day that went by that he told me he wish he had adopted you.”

“ you’re just saying that”

“ no (y/n) he’s right.”

It was hotch.

“ what?”

“You know when you walked into Gideons office there was the desk full of picture frames?”

“ yeah?”

“ well when I started here there was two pictures. Stephen and Jill. Then a picture of you. You seem to be in a uniform. Softball I imagine and you have a big trophy. Gideon never shut up about you.”

You smiled at Hotch. You felt better.

“ I wish he would’ve told me.”

“ did he sign the papers?”

You look down at them.

“ yes he did”

“ okay then sign them.”

“ what? But he’s dead it doesn’t count”

“ legally he signed it. If you sign it your his legal daughter”

You burst out into tears. You hugged hotch tight. He hugged you back. It felt nice.

“ would you like a ride home?”

“ yes please.”

You turn to meet Rossi. Rossi was smiling at you. “ you gonna give him a big thank you aren’t you?”

“ shut up old man”

You both walk down and hear Rossi shout “ don’t keep each other up all night.”

Hotch seems a tad uncomfortable now. Great Rossi you ruined the thing we had going.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Do you want to listen to anything?”

“ sure.”

You press play on the radio. The Beatles start playing. Hotch is humming along

" you a fan?”

“ yeah I used to listen to them a lot when I was younger, do you?”

“ yeah same.”

Hotch knew you listened to them with Gideon. He feels like such an idiot asking the question back.

After what seems like an eternity you pull into your drive way. You thank hotch but he gets out and walks you to your door.

It’s starts to pour heavily.

“ you shouldn’t drive in this. Come on in?”

“I really need to get to jack.”

“Just until the storm passes?”

“Okay”

Hotch knew Jess was with him. He would be okay.

Hail is starting to pour outside. You switch on your lights. Just enough to light your way but dim because it’s night time.

“Do you want anything to drink?”

“Do you have any beer?”

“Of course I do”

You hand hotch a beer. You turn on your stereo. Something that’s been a habit. You usually walk in and it’s still on from when you left. You sit across from Hotch. Looking at him. You feel like a creep but he looks good. His arms reaching to his beer bottle. The shirt hugging his muscles.

“ youre staring.”

“ sorry”

You made small talk as best as you could. Actually now hoping the storms would pass you turn on the tv.

*STAY OFF THE ROADS! STAY OFF THE ROADS! HIGHWAY IS CLOSED OFF*

Comes across your screen. Great.

“Well you aren’t going anywhere tonight. I’m not letting you on the road.”

“(Y/n) I’ll be fine let me go get a hotel”

“ no you saw the news. No highway”

HOTCHS POV-

She wants me to stay. I want to stay. Sleeping in the same bed last time felt so right. Our body’s close together. The heat radiating off of hers. I felt her skin. It was soft and tender. I haven’t been like this with someone in a while. Not since before the divorce. I missed it. It felt good. But I couldn’t think about her like that. (Y/n) was going through so much. I would be taking advantage of her.

“ what are you thinking about?” Her soft voice brings me back to reality.

“ nothing.”

“ no I see those wheels turning what’s up?”

“ is this to much? I mean this will be the 2nd time sleeping in the same facility just us? Would it be deemed inappropriate?”

“ I don’t know. I mean we sleep together during cases?”

I froze. Sleep together.

“ well not sleep together but you know?

“ yeah. Uh I just don’t want to be pushing any boundaries.”

“ i understand and hotch you are a great friend for that”

Friend. Right.

Y/N POV-

Friend. Why would I say friend. He’s not my friend. He is the man I’m desperately in love with. The man I would kill for this situation to happen 100 more times.

“ do you want to watch a movie to pass the time?”

“ sure?”

we put on the notebook. Hotch said it was cheesy but I love it for rainy days.

I fell asleep toward the end. I woke up and Hotch was watching tv. My head in his lap.

“ oh I’m sorry”

“ hey it’s okay.”

You are embarrassed. You are constantly falling asleep around him.

“ hey can I take a shower?”

“ yeah of course” “let me grab you some clothes.

“these should fit you, they were Gideons and that’s my shirt.

Hotch sighed. Almost like a relief?

You sat down on the couch. Hearing the shower go you decided to turn on music. You loved listening to music during a rainy day. You were so in depth to just listening that you opened ur eyes to see hotch standing over you. You sit up and look at him. Hotch has never looked this good. You make you room next to you.

“ you have a great shower it has great water pressure”

Oh trust me you know.

“ yeah” you weakly smile. You couldn’t stop staring. He didn’t dry his body. You knew because the shirt was now drenched and sticking to his body. No complaints of course.

“(Y/n) you’re staring”

“ sorry.”

“ no need to apologize”

Good. Because you weren’t sorry. That man had an ungodly hold over you. You noticed Hotch scooted closer to you.

“ you okay?”

“ Mhm.”

You were okay. But far from normal okay.

Your mind had hundreds of different thoughts. You found out your uncle wanted to adopt you and now your boss you’ve had a crush on his on your couch in your clothes soaked from a shower he took in YOUR house!

“ you don’t see okay? You seem distracted” at this point you two were close. Hotch brought you closer to him. You look up at him. He stares back. You hear the song “Either way” by Chris Stapleton start playing.

“ can I kiss you?”

Your stomach drops.

“What?”

“ can I kiss you”

Another dream. You hoped not but you were scared.

“ yes.”

Hotch’s lips crashed into yours. It wasn’t a dream. His hands under you and you push your body up to meet his. You both go back down. Your body feeling the soft embrace of the couch. There you were. Kissing your boss. Not kissing. Making out. His hands moving around your body. He pulls away

“ I’m sorry i shouldn’t have done that”

He stands up

“ did you want to?”

“Yes but-“ you kiss him again. He embraces your kiss by holding the back of your head. Making out while walking down to the bedroom. You try not to hit anything off the walls. You open your door from behind you as you are still kissing your boss. He starts taking off his tie and shirt. Unbuttoning his shirt he takes it off and you see his scars. The one from foyet. He sees your eyes wander and begins to be self conscious. You see his eyes fill with worry. You take off your shirt without thinking and turn around. The whips from your grandparents engraved into your skin. Purple/ pink scars up and down ur back still. He touches them. It doesn’t hurt anymore. You turn to him.

“ I didn’t know”

“ no one did but Gideon.”

“ I’m sorry”

“ it’s okay”

His lips crash against yours. Hoisting you up onto him. Your legs wrap around him. You both fall onto the bed. You start feelings fingers against your sides. His hands wandering around your body. His kisses get sloppy. His kisses start going down to your neck. You start to moan. His kisses feel right. He enjoys hearing your soft moans. Hotch starts kissing Down the rest of your body. He get to your pants. Looking up for approval. You nod and he takes them off. His eyes lingering in between your thighs.

“ may i?”

You already knew what he wanted. The look of temptation.

“ yes”

He goes straight to your pussy. Sliding your underwear off. Pushing your legs outward. His tongue going over your folds. Him hitting your clit just to go back down. He was teasing you. You were growing needy. You moan every time. This time he stayed a little longer. A louder moan escaped your mouth.

“ you sound amazing”

He starts circling your clit with his tongue.

You feel him going faster. You were there. You didn’t know how he made you there so quickly. He just was good. Your moans make you toss your head back. His tongue going faster

“ hotch I think-“

“ Aaron I’m Aaron”

“ Aaron I think I’m going to -“ you moan

“ say it sweetheart”

“ I’m going to cum”

“ alright it’s okay “

You believed he was gonna stop. No he kept going pushing your legs farther apart you wanted to strangle his head with them so bad. He hit the spot and it all came out. You came on his tongue. You saw his eyes fill with lust and happiness. He licked you clean.

“ you did really good my love.” You looked saw it. His dick hard pressed to the sweats. Grey. So thankful for them. Your hand gravitated toward it. Wanting him to feel good like he made you. You get up and push him down. Taking off his pants and underwear. You see it kind of spring up. His full erection In front of you.

“ can you do it?” He says teasingly

“ shut up”

Your tongue swirls around the tip. He moans. You lick the precum off his tip. You start taking him. Your tongue and mouth being taken by him. His moans sounded like heaven. You take your hands and wrap them around it. As your head bobs up you bring your hands up as well. Same when you go down. You watch as his body moves. Chest rising and falling. The moans and groans. You feeling hits cock twitch im your mouth. The feeling of knowing when he’s about to come. You take all him one last time. You go down to hard you feel like you’ll gag. And up you go and he moans as he cums in your mouth. It dripping from your mouth but you manage to get almost every last bit. You sucked him dry. Any cum on his dick was now gone. He looked at you with pleasure and love. He grabs you we ease. You straddle him

“ you looked so pretty with my dick in your mouth. “

“ thank you”

“ you’ll look even pretty with it in you. You think you can do it?”

“ yes sir “

That sir hit Aaron in the gut. He never had heard a better word. You knew right then it made him happy. He lays you gently on your back. Grabbing your legs and holding them high. He lines you up and slowly inserts himself in. You moan

“You are tight aren’t you baby?”

“ yes.”

He went faster. Causing ur body to shake.

You arch. You moan. You feel ur whole body about to explode. He kisses you. Your face, neck, down your body. He keeps going deeper. You feel yourself about to cum.

“ Aaron I can’t”

“ cum on my dick it’s okay.”

You do as he says. One last thrust and he watches as cum goes down his dick. He starts to pull out. “ no what are you doing” Aaron looks at you confused “ what do you mean sweetheart?”

“ you didn’t cum. Stay in a finish”

“ I’m okay”

“ please sir.”

That gave Aaron every right to want to stay. He kept going until you watched his body shake. You knew it was coming. Literally. You felt as he came inside of you. Thankfully you were on birth control. He kind of just sinks into the bed beside you. You both sit up and look at each other.

“ you are such a pretty girl.”

“ thank you Aaron.”

You get quiet. Thinking how you just did this with your boss. You enjoyed it but I mean for the last 6 years you harbored a crush on him. Thinking he hated you. Now he fucked you.

“ what are you thinking about hm?”

“ what we did, was that wrong?”

Aaron shot up. Scared he pressured you. He knew he shouldn’t have done this.

“ did you not want to?”

“ no I did”

He sighed

“ just. You’re my boss. This will change so much.”

“ I know. But we don’t have to tell anyone yet”

“ Aaron we work with profilers. Whose job it is to find out who’s lying from a mile away. I’m sure they will know”

“Let that be tomorrow’s problem. Tonight you need rest”

“ okay.” He was right. You were so tired.

You drifted asleep with the man you loved.

You loved Aaron Hotchner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You wake up. Aaron being gone. You were sad. Maybe he realized he made a mistake. That was until you heard footsteps. There he was. He brought you coffee and donuts. “Hi gorgeous did you sleep good?”

“ yes I did !”

You get up and go to kiss him when you see it. The hickey. The one you left last night. It was dark and going to be hard to cover up.

“Aaron I’m so sorry. This will get you in so much trouble”

“Hey it’s okay” “ drink your coffee you’ll be okay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the way to work you tried covering it up as best you could. It was hidden but still peaking through a bit. You hoped no one would really notice. A bug bite maybe?

Thats what Aaron was planning on telling one who asked. You walk in after Aaron. A couple mins behind. You see Rossi ask. You walk in and walk to your desk. “ good morning Rossi” “ good morning bug”. You look up to see hotch frozen as he’s turning his office door. Rossi looking at you.

Everyone looked at you.

Shit.

[youaremysunshine-court]

Im in a car with two old men who keep saying incomprehensible things to each other and then giggling

[batarangsoundsdumb]

yet another ask dump yeehaw!

do you ever think that jay's mother was one of those bitch who believes in horoscope and tarots and things like that and so he believes in these things too, or it is just me projecting?

sheila haywood took one look at jason's birthchart said 'nah this won't do' and left.

Wait, but what happens when the justice league does find out that Bruce and John fucked? Lmao it sounds like it would be hilarious, really, I don’t want a justice league that doesn’t make fun of Bruce for like his entire life.

barry runs out of the meeting immediately and comes back with an entire sti testing kit. diana fully seriously wants bruce to get tested while bruce is sitting there like 'come on guys, you're being ridiculous, i already checked twice'

john is standing in the corner clearly offended while bruce is just like 'don't even say anything, constantine, you fucked a shark'

tim was like "i'm drake now" and everyone was like ahh so your fursona is a dragon and tim was like pffffft no. ducks.

on the one hand, good for him, on the other hand, bro, how do you still have a secret identity when your superhero name is just your last name,,,,

Your fic on ao3 was GOLD PLEASE CONTINUE I loved Dinah's cameo btw ( @purple-vixen

thanks so much! i already continued but this ask is like 10 years old because i'm a notorious procrastinator (also yes! i love dinah so much aahhhhhhhhhhhh)

I've FINALLY been watching the Batman animated series and I gotta say, after watching "the gray ghost" I am CONVINCED that Batman is a closeted super hero geek who was 100% freaking out the first time he met Superman and is just REALLY good at hiding it.

bruce internally: holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit bruce externally: get out of my city, alien

AHHH ur multimedia fic is the only thing that brings me happiness anymore continue it forever pls

uhh thanks, but can't continue it forever because my attention span is that of a toddler on crack on a good day and i can't function without at least 10 things going on at the same time and music in the background

Oi, so I'm getting into dc and watching batman the animated series, and they use fruitcake a lot. Which I thought was very funny and wanted to share w you - Denilla

wait like fruitcake (food) or fruitcake (derogatory) ?

young justice 🤝 teen titans slut shaming batman

tim drake and dick grayson to their respective teams 'you guys stop it, that's my dad'

Happyhoganon: If an eighty year old Batman had fought crime in Gotham City for decades and the only threats to him and the city lately are a wheel chair bounded Penguin, your usual purse snatchers and a few con artists popping up every now and then, how well could the Dark Knight do in maintaining the peace in Gotham despite him being just somewhat fit to do that as an elderly man (which says A LOT given how old he is)

uhh he'll probably do what my grandpa does and that is ruthlessly prank them until they die of shame.

in the death in the family interactive movie there's an ending where Jason is tasked with raising Damian and he decides he's gonna raise Damian to take down the waynes and al ghuls which uh maybe isn't great BUT the idea of Jason raising Damian... PRICELESS. CHAOTIC. I just need more people to know about this :)

yes i saw that wow holy shit but jason would accidentally drop damian on his head one (1) hour in and jason just yeets him into the lazarus pit.

Headcanon: The Penguin has a really hard time fighting any of the Robins because of his avian obsession means there's always a small part of his mind that's like "Birb. Child. Protect" ( @subspacecadet )

as soon as dick becomes nightwing the penguin is like 'you know what, fuck this dude' and shoots at him.

Y'all talking about King Shark dating Constantine, let's not forget about John literally hooking up with Satan

listen there's a clear difference between monsterfucker and satanfucker in that king shark is literally a shark and satan still looks like a normal dude

Does everyone in Gotham think Batman is a teen dad?

everyone in gotham thinks batman has been around since gotham was founded, but they do think that bruce wayne is actually a teen father and dick grayson's biological dad.

why. why would you do that fancast when you know it will only hurt people

what? i loved my fancast it was really well done. i did it with good representation in mind and i really managed that with alfred pennyworth being ✨italian✨

Seeing james charles a jason gave me psychic damage how dare you i need to wash my eyes

well that's a you problem isn't it?

do you think dick grayson thirst tweets about nightwing just to annoy his family/cause problems on purpose in general?

he thinks nightwing is hot, next question.

holy jiminy cricket batman, its as cold as the good lords ass crack in here!!

i- what? this is why i don't fuck with english expressions it's way too goddamn weird

Brooooooo, your teen dad!Bruce au is soooo good. I've got brainrot.

Honestly if you ever write anymore, I'd read that shit twice. Sign me the fuck up. Good stuff, Good Stuff.

uh yeah i'm thinking about writing a fic, but i have exams coming up and i don't wanna fail because that would suck. but after i'll certainly be writing more tho

your teen dad AU is so great! bruce acting like a big brother for all of like a week before he's telling everyone about his son. what if in the AU dick meets the JL because they need to rescue him? maybe he's in trouble/kidnapped at a gala and bruce starts calling for JL. clark finds him and has to fly with dick to bring him home - that's how dick and clark meet and superman becomes dick's fave hero. he goes around the manor thinking he can fly with a red blanket draped around him like a cape.

actually- if you want a young dad! bruce fic with like that kinda stuff(just with damian) go check uhh- in for a penny by cdelphiki. it's really good and bruce is like 24/25-ish. (and dick's there!!!)

This account has solely convinced me that Tim is a trash goblin ( @hamilcat-and-magic-turtle )

because he is. that boy has slept in dumpsters on multiple occasions even if he is the son of a billionaire.

Okay but when you said victory dance I did think of the whole justice league defeating the big bad and then they all start flossing

well that's exactly what hal jordan does and that's why batman uses a gun now. no but the victory dance in my opinion is like the 'we're all in this together' dance from high school musical.

The horrors in Invincible s1 was nothing compared to the comics, I cant wait for s2

oh well okay, i mean i personally react to horror and violence by laughing awkwardly so i can't wait to be called a monster for accidentally laughing at a mass murder.

I'm currently watching Batman: The Brave and The Bold and- Bruce is just talking about Oliver like he's an old love (@nightwings-kid)

okay im going to watch that lmao that's totally and completely in character for him tho.

The invincible comic is like super gratuitous with its violence so much so I'm shocked the show was able to adapt it in a faithful way! Anyway had the show been live action it absolutely wouldn't have the same impact as it does as an animated show and I'm so glad so many people agree with me on that

also because a live action casting would've been like uhh amanda stenberg for amber, the dude- the guy from the supernatural but with a mustache for omni-man, and scarlet johanssen for debbie grayson

Debbie grayson is a milf, yes. You're welcome for the invincible propoganda, now you can questions your life. Bruce def seems like the perfect father next to Omni-man. Like they really took a rip off justice league and I was like well, now I'm attached even tho I was like hah I know who they're supposed to be. And then bam- death gore death gore gore gore sad Mark grayson just had to have daddy issues. Why does every character have daddy issues. I'm sick of the attacks

because daddy issues make a person arguably funnier, that's why i'm not even remotely funny (haha good dad flex). i liked that it was dark contextually, but not in the colouring, bc i hate when it's like 'uh yeah graphic murder and now a shot so dark you have to sit in a dark room and squint at the screen to faintly see the characters. (like dcau ugh)

About the Wayne insurance, for a moment I thought you would put the video with moans over the waves.

i mean- i could've done that, but rick rolling seemed more family friendly.

Its the first time in forever that im surpise rickrolled, i usually expect it. Congratulations (i really should know better this is tumblr)

i get rickrolled so often but i actually like the song so i dont really give a fuck

Actually, my information about Damian and John's kids is outdated because it was revealed that the old men telling the kids stories about the Supersons were actually Jon and Damian the whole time. I was blinded by my thirst for Grandpa!Bruce Wayne but I was wrong... I liked my version better, tbh (@artemisa97)

fair enough. but i'd honestly like to see damian and jon getting together, just because it's a really fun dynamic and their friendship was really cute when they were kids. (also idk maybe it would be nice to have one (1) main batfam/superfam character that's not cishet)

How am i JUST finding your blog skdskfkd you're so fucking funny and ur takes are hot

i thought u were calling me hot :( but youre not :( crime detected (but lmao thanks)

So I have depression and I swear that your memes are one of the few things that have made me laugh so thank you 💛🥺 (@katekanebadass)

aw you're welcome, and i hope you're doing okay!

The metropolis memes are so funny, I love them 💀😌

i think metropolis is also so fucking funny it deserves more attention imagine having your entire police force being upstaged by an alien from kansas and his kids

as an american i feel your complete lack of knowledge of us geography is just so sexy (platonic) ❤️

thanks so much (i also don't know any other geography, i'm not kidding, like you can tell me you're from hungary and it will just blank, there will be nothing that comes to mind)

In the DC universe they don't say "Can't have shit in Detroit" they say "Can't have shit in Gotham"

this just reminds me of that guy whose porch got stolen like the steps to his door, and i'm thinking of people living in gotham and waking up without a front door and going "can't have shit in gotham"

honestly all i know about chicago is the bean, so. what would gotham's famous sculpture be?

gigantic gargoyle statue in front of one of the police precincts because a villain thought it was a smart way to keep the police inside, but it's too heavy to move.

why tf do people go on about how batman "works alone" or how he's the "lone wolf" when he like 38290202 members in his family

bc people think it's cool that a grown man in his 30s has no friends or family instead of calling it what it is (sad)

Bruce is gotham's sugar daddy

why would say something so controversial yet so brave.

my favorite batfamily fanfictions are the ones where they use their shitty codenames, unironically, in any context

dick: gerard way are you in position, gerard way are you in position

tim: for the last fucking time, my codename is 'totally not count olaf' this week, abbafan 3000

dick: shut up my codename isn't 'abbafan 3000'

dick: it's 'abbafan number 1' and you know it

I have a feeling Tim drake is ur favourite batfamily member but okay u don't have favs if u say so ok

i mean he is, i won't deny it. but i love each and every one of the batfam just the same, i just have a weak spot for short dumbass nerds, because i'm a short dumbass nerd.

Omg i fuckin love boy meets world too fam shsjkfk

bro boy meets world was the shit!!! it was just fire and awesome and so fucking great like bro. it was so good im not even going to be accepting criticism

you know I find the whole "joker completes batman" thing a bit disgusting considering the horrendous stuff the batfamily went through because of the joker and let's not get started on the "joker has a point" thing like yeah he's this cool complex villain but he's absolutely batshit crazy

like yes! i get what you mean the joker just fucking sucks man he doesn't do shit for batman's character or the batfam he's literally just annoying as fuck. like the joker has a point' shit is so stupid. i will accept 'magneto was right' because he fucking was and i think he didn't do anything wrong, but joker? he's just like that. he's not even cool and complex he's just a weirdo with a bleach kink at this point.

ALSO YOUR RACISM POST- SO TRUE BESTIE

thanks bestie, i'm glad you agree.

in today's essay of why I think cass should become batman- I was thinking Tim would probably be the most efficient batman in many ways but I also think he wouldn't want to be batman tbh none of the batfamily members would want to be batman because they're trying to outgrow him but cass is the one who wants to represent the symbol that is batman

absofuckinglutely i will say it again and again that cass represents the batsymbol more than anyone in the batfam, in batgirl (2000) she literally didn't care about anything else than bruce's oath to not kill, she thought the batsymbol was more important than anything in gotham. she's just an excellent character because her motivation to not kill is not 'i'm scared i can't come back from it' or 'well my dad says no murder so i'll go along with it' but that she's killed somebody as a young child and she never wants to kill a human ever again and that's so fucking beautiful for a new batman like yes.

need more cass, duke and tim inclusion in gothamite memes

yes yes, a tall order of cass, duke and tim coming up in 1-14 business days

oldest to youngest batfam members cus I'm confused as shit

okay order of being taken in: dick, jason, tim, cass, damian, duke order of age: alfred, bruce, dick, cass, jason, tim, duke, damian (though cass and jason are around the same age general consensus is that cass is a little older)

I'm so confused Steph is a redhead?? like how was it that hard to get this right? the source material is literally right there and free

cw is jared, 19

do you receive anon hate? if so, how do you deal with it

uh no, i'm not remotely popular enough to get anon hate and i also don't say a lot of things that would attract anon hate, but i do send anon hate to @the-real-peter-parker because he forgot about the specialists from winx club

Wait how many languages do you speak??

uhh- 5 if you include latin, but that's a dead language and i'm really bad at it. but english, my native language, german, and french also, tho german and french not fluently.

You can mix aguaepanela with aguardiente 😈 and is tasty

okay but now i'm curious if the liquor deserves the 😈 emoji or if that's a you problem. but i googled it and it looks like something you'd take one sip of and then not remember the rest of your evening.

[clenastia]

I did a thing! And wrote another little prompt-response, though I don’t remember where I found the prompt before. Probably here on Tumblr, but I always save the interesting ones to a google doc so I’ve lost the post... Perhaps I’ll hunt it down later.

This one’s tentatively called Herald of the Storm, 1300 words, and I definitely plan on adding more parts to it!

Fic below the cut as usual! (im too lazy to re-add my italics right now... ugh)

Prompt: Despite your reputation as a Dark Lord, you have a strict moral code. So when a young girl showing signs of abuse wandered into your realm, you took her in. Now the neighboring kingdom is accusing you of kidnapping their princess. You have to choose between returning her to her abusers or war.

She was so thin, was his first thought upon spotting the girl. So thin it was nearly grotesque, body all sharp angles and painful corners, starvation clear in every inch of her appearance.

Tora may have been a dark lord, may have conquered half a dozen kingdoms and been plotting to conquer half a dozen more, but-

Seeing a young woman look like that, trembling on the steps of his palace, every part of him screamed that it was wrong.

He doesn’t even know who she is, when he first brings her in, feeding her and offering her the full aid of his medical staff. If he lays a few minor spells over her, to encourage healing and rest and peace, well.

Being a dark lord doesn’t stop him from using more blessed magic. Just makes it a bit trickier, is all.

And she needs every blessing she can get.

Even cleaned up, wearing a proper gown, he doesn’t recognize her.

It takes a couple weeks, the girl slowly gaining weight but never opening her mouth, never speaking, only staring at the world with dead eyes, before he even begins to suspect.

The last he saw of Princess Maria, she was a proud, upstanding figure, decrying him for his wicked ways, galvinating her people and encouraging them to stand strong against his tyranny.

It certainly was an effective speech, the military of Doran seeing an influx of recruits. And he, still recuperating from his recent conquest of Illysi, knew he would rather not fight with the large sea-faring kingdom, at least before his numbers recovered.

Perhaps he could take to the field himself, even out his lack of men with his own overwhelming power, but he’s no fool. The more his enemies see of his strength, the easier it will be for them to discover his weaknesses.

And he hardly minds being seen as a languishing ruler, willing only to command his men from afar. It breeds an arrogance in his enemies that is easily corrected when they finally make it through all his guard, certain in their belief that his great power is an exaggeration meant only for intimidation.

Surely though, this cannot be the Sea King’s daughter. Surely he would have heard if such a notable figure had gone missing.

Perhaps it is only a similarity…

He tells himself this, even as she looks ever closer to the princess as her health returns.

She never speaks.

It is enough for him to tell himself she must be a different lady.

Until a page rushes into the medical ward, calling for him by name, and the young miss spins around, eyes seeking desperately until they land on him.

It’s the first time he’s been called anything other than “Your Majesty” in her presence, and he wonders a moment what she must think.

The page interrupts his consideration, bowing deeply as he holds out an opened letter.

“We have received missive from King Austwhil of Doran, to return his daughter or face war with his people!”

Well.

So much for it only being a passing similarity.

Whatever hardship she befell to land on his doorstep, it might be best to get rid of her. He’ll need another year yet before he has all he’ll need to fight with Doran the way he’d prefer.

Only, when he turns to her, he finds her trembling in fear.

She curls back, deep into herself, pressing against the headboard like it might swallow her.

It’s a posture that might make more sense if she were looking at him, if she were focused on him, but even his magic tells him he is not the target of her fear.

It makes no sense.

“Come now Princess, surely you know I have no desire to quarry with your kingdom. I’ll have you returned to your father just as soon as you recover-”

Her head snaps up, eyes wide with fear, and she lunges at him.

She’s weak, weak enough he doesn’t bother to move, and by the time her fingers close around the hilt of his ritual knife it’s far too late to stop her.

His magic won’t work on that blade, won’t wrench it from her grasp or deflect its edge and he stands sharply, kicking his chair over as he moves back, out of range-

But she doesn’t turn the blade towards him, instead stabbing into her leg with a viciousness that has him frozen in shock as he tries to understand-

She jerks the knife out, raises it, and he barely grabs her arm before she could stab herself again.

“Have you gone mad-? What- what’re you doing-?” his hard-earned eloquence deserts him, and he’ll have to kill the staff later, can’t have them spreading rumors but-

“If I don’t heal you won’t send me back.” the Princess’ arms tremble, still desperately trying to stab the blade down, and Tora struggles more than he should to pull the blade from her fingers.

Her words, ghostly silent on her lips, very nearly make him drop the blade he fought to recover.

That.

Is not the response of a happy child.

“Are you so desperate to avoid your home, Princess?”

She flinches.

Tora desperately hopes he’s misunderstanding the situation.

“You realize you’re quite a valuable ransom. I can’t just keep hosting you because you’re upset with your fiance.” he tries to be flippant, but Tora’s already fairly certain this is no drama over an arranged marriage.

No arranged marriage would be worth sheltering in the palace of a man like him.

“I’ll do anything.” she promises in a whisper, curling back into herself now that her weapon is lost. “P-please just- don’t send me back- I can tell you a-about the defences, t-the army, whatever you want so please don’t give me back to him-”

Ah.

That’s a bit harder to explain away.

But it can’t be true, it’s not allowed to be true, because he can’t-

He’s a dark lord and an usurper and a peasant-born fraud he can’t just-

“I don’t want to do it anymore…” she sobs, too-thin shoulders shaking.

His denial crumbles. “What was the Sea King making you do, child?” Tora asks gently, righting his chair with a flick of his wrist and slowly sitting down.

She tenses, waiting nearly an age before her back slowly unwinds itself and she answers.

“I-I don’t know… some sort of magic- th-they kept- taking and taking and taking and it hurt it hurt so much I don’t want to- it hurts I don’t want to- please- please don’t send me back-”

Fury bubbles, a rising crescendo, and perhaps Tora will invite that war regardless.

Kings and their magic, he scorns, standing sharply once again, this time spinning to face his page.

“Fetch me General Hynna at once.” he orders, then glances to the medical staff. “Take care of her, no more visitors. Clearly someone is a spy,” he hisses the last bit, eyes lighting in malice.

Hunting spies is ever so much fun.

The Princess glances up from her shadowed arms, and he offers her as kind a smile as he can manage. “As a Mage King, I can hardly allow such an insult to my powers and my patrons. Have no fear Princess. You’ll return to your country a Queen.”

Perhaps it will not serve him well, in the long run. He has a world to conquer and a beast to fight, and he can do neither if Doran is allowed to rally around their beloved Princess. Especially not with all the allies they have across the sea.

Even so, a father torturing his child for her power is… perhaps too close to home.

He remembers Eitru’s corpse, remembers his vow of Never Again, and he knows that if he breaks it, he will truly have given up the very last of his soul.

Never Again.

It beats in time with his heart, a mantra of fury, and he knows he will not wait for his armies. Not for this.

His General is a competent sort. Between them, they’ll find a way.

[kitanoko]

tdmm mafia AU

Note: hello everyone!! im back with more tdmm ...written fast and for the hell of it I thought wow since i’m playing a mafia game...im getting tdmm vibes...so here it is. I dunno if there’ll be a part 2, probably? Enjoy!

Momo is a preschool teacher that had just started working at the school in her neighbourhood. Her longtime friend and roommate, Jirou, works in the same school as a music instructor. To Momo’s dismay, Jirou had tried many times before to match Momo up with someone. “You’re beautiful and smart…I really don’t see why anyone would reject you!” Jirou had always said. Momo laughed every time and told her friend how she wasn’t looking to date.

“Now you and that guy…Kaminari –“

Jirou cuts her off immediately and the round of teasing stops with Jirou blushing from ear to ear.

Truth be told, Momo hasn’t met anyone with whom she felt particularly attracted to just yet. It’s also a known fact that after 8 p.m. no one would dare go out, in case they got caught in the crossfire between the different families of the mafia that ruled the city. Every single night she’d hear bangs and booms outside her window. Curiosity got the better of her and she’d peek through the curtains to see blood splatters and sometimes even bodies being dragged towards the alley. Momo shuddered, flashbacks of her parents being captured, never to be found, once again flooding through her memory. She still hasn’t discovered their whereabouts but surely she will, even if it cost her her life.

Aizawa is a close family friend of Momo’s, once a disciple of her father’s and now a great private eye. He occasionally contacts Momo and makes sure she knows some of the discoveries that he encovered about Momo’s parents. One day, he tells her that he’s been getting some leads but was unwilling to share more than that.

“It’s to protect you,” Aizawa would say every time. Momo was frustrated and decided to follow him that very night. It wasn’t easy that’s for sure, with Aizawa being such an experienced investigator.

After twisting and turning and driving through back alleys, she ends up at the pier in front of what looked like a drug trade!

Momo is standing quite close to the dock, and she was freezing. Should’ve brought a scarf or something, she thinks. She watches closely….Aizawa was across, glaring at someone who she recognized straight away. It was the leader of the Shigaraki family…Shigaraki Tomura.

But wait a minute. Momo looks to the left and sees 3 younger men, around her age, standing there in expensive tailored suits. The green haired one whispered something to the peculiar white and red haired man. They were the other party involved in this trade? They look way too young to be mafia!

In the corner of her eye, someone else caught her attention. A familiar face hovered somewhere on one of the boats and she gasped. Was that…her father? Her eyes teared up. No way. This must be a joke or something. She could see Aizawa having the same reaction and it was then she knew it was real. Her father looked solemn, aged so much that she hardly recognize the gentle eyes he once had. Was he working for Shigaraki now? What was going on? The fear crept up her spine and she held onto a nearby crate to steady herself, except of course the worst situation happens…the crate tips over and crashes 3 ft below where she was.

“WHO’S THERE?” Momo sees Shigaraki usher his men over as the noise startles the crew. All of them were holding guns and running. They had seen her!

Oh no. This was NOT good. Momo rushes down the platform. Even if she could stay alive after this ordeal, Aizawa would murder her!

Momo bit her lip, trembling as she ran across to where she had parked her car, bullets were wheezing past her now. Good thing their aim is worse than stormtroopers, which is saying something.

Her legs weren’t moving fast enough and her ears were ringing from anxiety. Before she could reach the pavement, a car zooms past her. The window is down and the same green-haired man that she saw earlier commands her to go in the car.

“BUT..BUT…I don’t ---“ She doesn’t finish. A bullet scrapes past her cheek and bounces off the car door.

A blond man wheels down the passenger window. “HURRY THE EFF UP WOMAN. YOU GOT A DEATH WISH OR SOMETHIN’?” Momo had no choice, she wasn’t about to get gunned down before she could meet her father again. Mustering all her courage, she hops into the car. These 3 strangers could kidnap her or worse but she tries not to think too much.

She hears herself sigh in relief when the car speeds out across the bridge. A full five minutes pass without anyone saying a word, she knew the three younger men had saved her from certain death but somehow she didn’t know if she should be thankful. They ARE mafia after all…who knows how many people they had murdered?! Are they going to hurt me, she thought, and she finally looks up.

The first thing that greets her were heterochromatic eyes, very steel cold, as if she was staring into a mirror.

“You okay?” The man asks, “Don’t worry, we won’t hurt you. But you better stay with us for awhile.”

Momo scrunches her brow in confusion. “Stay with you?” She repeats.

The blond one scoffs. “Do ya hafta ask, Todoroki? Just drop her off somewhere and let her find her way home.”

So, he was the infamous Todoroki?!

The girl immediately eyes the man in front of her. He was so close she could smell his perfectly gelled hair.

“You’re the boss of one of the biggest mafia families here,” Momo says, “I…I…”

She couldn’t finish. Her mouth was dry and staring at his face….okay he was handsome, she had to admit. Momo was slapping herself inside. He could’ve killed thousands of people in the past year and she wouldn’t know! She had morals. Right?

“You mean, THE biggest mafia families around? Yes.” The green-haired one answers while driving, “I’m Midoriya by the way, nice to meet you. The yapping one is Kacchan.”

What a cute nickname, Momo notes.

“He means Bakugou, the murdering KING of EXPLOSIONS,” The blond refutes and made idiotic hand gestures as if things were being blown up.

Momo couldn’t read the atmostphere at all. It was almost like they weren’t part of the mafia.

Todoroki finally clears his throat and speaks. “You should take my offer. If you want to live, the only way for you to stay safe is within our estate. Shigaraki saw your face. He’ll have men hunting you down in every part of town. He has people in the government, the police force….you name it.”

Momo thinks for a bit. Jirou would be worried if she doesn’t come home…and living with these strangers, how would she ever feel ‘safe’?

“We’re here,” Midoriya says. Momo looks around and sees their estate, bodyguards lining the yard, fences all around. Reminded her of her childhood.

Midoriya opens Momo’s door and she follows the men inside.

The house is decorated with modern art, very contemporary which was something Momo had not expect. Todoroki leads them to one of the rooms and offers Momo some tea.

“Thanks,” Momo takes the cup and says but all should do was shakily place it down on the endtable beside her. She wasn’t feeling like drinking anything. Who knows if it was poisoned.

Todoroki reads her mind and pours some for himself. He takes a sip.

“It’s not laced with anything, miss.”

“It’s Momo.”

“Ah…Momo,” Todoroki sits down beside her while Katsuki snickers, “Can you tell us why you were at the port.”

Momo hesitates and bites her lower lip. She felt herself tremble again.

“I was there because…I was looking for someone. For something. I wasn’t sure what, but trust me. If you’d let me go, I won’t say a word about tonight. Nothing at all!”

Todoroki puts a hand on her shoulder and she backs away. She wasn’t going to let anyone touch her.

“Sorry,” The white and red haired man notices her anomosity, “We can’t let you go. You know too much and now that Shigaraki’s seen you, he’ll have you dead in a matter of minutes. Let us at least help you. What were you looking for?”

Momo breathes hard. No, this was not happening, she had to get home!

“My friend…Jirou, please at least, let me call her?”

Todoroki eyes Midoriya and the green haired man nodded.

“I’ll make you a deal, Momo. You can call her tomorrow, but for now, let Midoriya show you to your room and you can rest up.”

~~

Midoriya takes her to a suite, and as if reading her mind, he takes her phone and leaves her with some toiletries and water.

“Let me know if you need anything else,” he had said before closing the door. Momo sits silently and curls up in the unfamiliar bed. Hoping this was all a bad dream.

~~

The next day proves to her that the dream continues. She had phoned Jirou right away when Todoroki hands her back her phone after breakfast with the 3 of them. She barely had appetite but watching Bakugou and Midoriya’s bicker was entertaining and she had learnt that they were both childhood friends of Todoroki’s who ended up being taken in by Todoroki’s dad due to their parents passing away when they were young. After Todoroki took his father’s spot and lead the group, Bakugou and Midoriya became his right-hand men and advised him whenever he needed. It was almost endearing, Momo had thought, their friendship.

Was she crazy? Clearly she was supposed to be sickened by them. They were criminals for Pete’s sake!

Fast forward. Right now she stands shaking, hugging Jirou in the middle of their apartment. Jirou’s cry becomes a whimper as the bloody dead body lays flat beside their couch. Todoroki had shot that man dead when Momo found out her friend had been held hostage in their apartment when Shigaraki’s man, and not Jirou, had answered the phone. Stumbling inside just 5 minutes earlier, Momo saw Jirou tied up to a chair with eyes widening in alarm. Momo called out to her friend and Shigaraki’s man attacks her before Todoroki came and stood in front of Momo just the right second. Next thing she knew, he had shot him dead.

“Everything’s okay now Jirou, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault!” Momo says and she could see her friend’s confusion through her wet eyes.

“They’re mafia, I have to stay with them to keep us both safe,” Momo notes and pats Jirou on the head.

“How would they keep you safe Momo?!”

Todoroki sighs. “With this man dead, it acts as a warning to Shigaraki. Don’t worry, I’ll have bodyguards watch over this place.” He makes a signal to Midoriya and Bakugou and the two rolls the man in a carpet and drags him out. “They’ll take care of the body. I’ll get you a new carpet if you’d like.”

Jirou could only slump against Momo while the latter attempts to explain what she could to her.

She wasn’t even sure if Jirou was paying attention.

“Relay the message to Aizawa please. Let me him I’m safe and I’ll call him when the time is right.”

~~

The next few weeks go by with new events, one more absurd than the other. For one thing, Todoroki proposed a plan with her so she could still go out in public (with guards of course) but with additional safety measures.

“You’re now my fiancee.”

Momo blinks.

“What?”

Todoroki sighs and repeats again. Bakugou was curling up laughing at her reaction.

“Oh I FEEL BAD FOR YA. HAVE TO BE ‘IN LOVE’ WITH THIS FCKING LOSER.” Bakugou keeps laughing and Momo keeps silent.

“Being my fiancee gets you immunity. It’s a rule. Mafias don’t mess with each other’s family members. It’s unspoken but stands true.”

Momo could only nod.

And so the next several nights, she goes out with Todoroki on dates and parties. Galas become a pasttime and in some ways, she starts feeling….something for him.

No, nononono, Momo you cannot fall in love with him. No matter how nice he is to you. No matter how …charming he is!

Sometimes they’d even do the fake ‘kiss on the lips’ for people to see and oh God, Momo’s mind swirls every time. There’s girls she could see eyeing her like she was a target. There’s no doubt, they want to be the one in her ‘pretend’ shoes.

One night at a dinner party, Momo sees Todoroki standing really close with a woman about their age. She was gorgeous, blonde, tall, overall very model-esque. She feels her face heat up and locks eyes with him as their dialogue continues. Momo gasps and quickly runs back to her seat at dinner.

When Todoroki comes back, she feels herself distancing away.

This is all for show, Momo. He doesn’t actually love you and you’re not his actual fiancee!

He watches her eat and tries to make conversation and she shys away.

“Is something wrong?”

Momo ignores him.

Todoroki scrunches his brow and grabs her hand as she stands up.

“I need to use the powder room if that’s okay.”

“Momo, you can tell me if I made you upset in anyway.”

The girl still doesn’t look at him. “Why don’t you find company with the pretty lady over there. She seems overly pleased to have you around.”

Todoroki gives her hand a squeeze. “You’re jealous? Of her?”

“Of course not! That’d be…that’d be silly!”

He stands up and wraps an arm around her. Todoroki’s eyes were so captivating that in so many ways, Momo couldn’t help but to listen to what he had to say.

He leans in to whisper. “There are a lot of people here. Lets talk out in the garden.”

~~

[oh-theatre]

You Can't Force A Fairytale (Chapter 1)

Chapter title: Into The Unknown

A/n:  aaaaAAAAAA me starting another series?? but ofc!! I'm actually so excited because um yes! Also, this seems so confusing I'm sorry!! I'm trying AAAAAA!! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, please please leave me comments!! Also!! Objection! is still going and will still be updated regularly (probs more than this tbh) I just really wanted to get this out 

also if this is confusing i understand, so please tell me and ill try and clear it out!

words: 2064

summary: Virgil is suddenly thrown into this magical world of kingdoms and royalty. Coming from the modern world into this fairytale land isn’t easy but he meets some eccentric people. He has to collect 3 amulets from three princes to return home. The loveable Prince Logan, the radiant Prince Roman, and the passionate Prince Patton. Of course, all fairytale have dark and evil just wafting through… It definitely isn’t what Virgil expected to get up to during his winter break…if it even was winter here

pairings: Eventual logicality, eventual prinxiety, eventual demus, eventual remile (These might change but for now im love them)

warnings: bow and arrow, violence, injuries, magic, swearing

Ao3 Link  

“Come on!” Patton squeals as his horse simply races faster. He takes a step stabilizing himself as he takes upon the holster. He looks behind him, steadying his bow as his eyes make contact with one of the king's men. He aims a little lower, firing away instantly grabbing the reins of his horse. He smiles giddy allowing himself to take a right turn into the forest, disappearing in the ember trees ablaze with a fiery passion.

“You're going to get caught one day” Logan chides helping Patton down from his steed, Patton laughs falling comfortably into his arms, his boots landing on the rough terrain. “Pat, it's not funny!”

“No, it’s not” Patton pouts, hardly keeping his giggles under control. “I’m sorry, it's just ah! The excitement!” Patton keeps a hold on Logan’s hand, their gloves keeping them apart. The rustle of leaves alerting them as they reseat themselves upon Nork. “My liege” Patton teases, Logan flicks him gently wrapping his arms around Patton's waist. A shivered tickle runs down Patton, Logan lays his head on the prince’s shoulder.

“Ready” Logan tightens his grip, nervous even though he'd been on the horse a million times, Patton allows his face to dust a light pink.

“Giddyup!” He taps the reins lightly, and off they go. “Try and come after us now...your highness” He mocks sweetly, Logan laughs simply deepening his hold.

~~~

“Ow, my head” Virgil groans sitting up, his body feeling heavier than it had. His clutches the ground around him seizing as the grass tickles his fingers carefully. “What the…” He watches the world around him, realizing the snow had disappeared and the roof keeping him safe to play games all day was gone. Panic set in but he allows it to be surface level, don’t let it dig through you...don’t let it.

“Are you alright?” Virgil didn’t mean to jump but the voice had felt embodied. Like if it was in his head of sorts, but alas. Virgil fears what might come should he look up but does so anyway, meeting a curious young boy around his own age. “Oh! I’m sorry! I hadn’t meant to startle you!” His voice was so...posh? His clearly English accent felt so sophisticated, Virgil was embarrassed to speak. His gruff mumbles nothing compared. “I’m Dolion” The boy extends his hand, allowing Virgil to caution his way towards it.

“Virgil” He greets, dusting himself off. Should he have done that? What if this kid was trying to murder him? He takes a breath, reminding himself of what his therapist had told him should he find himself in a dire situation. Being transported millions of ways from home definitely qualified, right? “D-do you know where we are?” He wonders, still taking in his surroundings. Dolion shakes his head, looking just as confused.

“Peculiar” The boy decides, picking up a small flower. The yellow radiated from his hand before exploding shortly after. The boys jumped back, fear upon their faces.

“What the actual hell?” Virgil questions, now much more aware of where his feet were. “What was that?” He murmurs, treading lightly as he joins Dolion, examining the remains.

“I have absolutely no idea” He replies, his hand grazing the grass, more curious than frightened. “Oh...my! Virgil look!” Dolion taps incessantly, Virgil turns ready to condemn him but his eyes fall widening as they lay upon a castle.

“Holy…” Virgil trails off, he must be dreaming. Quickly rubbing his eyes he takes a deep breath. Ok, scenarios. One; he was kidnapped. Two; He’s dreaming. Three; He’s been drugged.  This couldn’t be real? When had his breathing felt short, hold on...focus? “Eyes” He mumbles

“Eyes?” Dolion repeats, Virgil shakes his head, the world becoming less of a blurry image.

“Sorry, I’m good” He lies “Let’s just figure out where the fuck we are” How he was so calm? It had to be the weird aura the floated softly over the land, he felt...at home

I gotta get out of here

…

Wherever here is

~~~

“Mm tired” Patton mumbles, his eyes barely fluttering as Nork continues slowly. Logan nods hopping off of the horse, steadying himself as he leads them over to a sheltered cove. Patton falters awake, sliding off the horse carefully, allowing Logan to snake his arm around his waist. “Thank you Lo” He mutters sweetly, Logan nods keeping him stable.

“Of course, you should get some rest. You’ve been at it for hours” Logan advises, setting Patton down in a bed of leaves, the twigs barely poking the surface of his cloak. Logan goes to his neck, a quick rush as he realizes something is missing. Patton hears his quick shuffles, opening his eyes.

“Logan? What is it?” Patton sits up, his demeanor becomes alert as Logan’s eyes dart frantically around.  

“My amulet, it’s gone” He identifies, Patton jumps up taking a shoulder, allowing comfort to seep through him, knowing full well his next words aren’t going to do so.

“No its not” He mumbles pulling his bow, his arrow pointed down as he examines the terrain. “Logan, move very slowly” He warns, the prince nods. He aims his arrow, allowing it to fly through the air, knocking something out of a tree. “Who’s there?!” He questions

“Patton” Just a distraction. Patton turns quickly, to find Logan isn’t where he left him. He simply watches as two men grab hold of Logan, doing the same to him on his end. His bow clatters to the ground as he struggles.

“Logan!” He cries, fighting against the brute forces that hold him. “Let him go!” He begs, he could care less what happens to him. But Logan had done nothing wrong. Soon the world silences as slow steps crunch upon the forest leaves.

“Hello Patton” The voice, as always, was deep. Not formal enough, but authoritative as it spoke.

“Your majesty” Patton seethes, Logan hates the sound. He knows it’s only reserved for certain people, but even then never should something so awful fall from Patton’s mouth. “Let him go!” He tries once more, the king has to admire his resilience. A swift kick and a graceful twirl and Patton could have these men staring down his bow but that would put Logan in danger.

“You know what you have to do Patton, it's really quite simple” The king smiles, evil drips from his perfectly punctured face.

“I’ll go with you just, please… let him go” He surrenders, his eyes watching Logan, the prince shakes his head. The prince doesn’t need his help but it was easier to go down without a fight. The king snaps and Logan topples to the ground, his knees sink into the dewed grass.

“Your father misses you dearly Prince Logan” The king turns now, facing a recovering Logan.

“I doubt that” He mumbles, the king laughs. A bellowed sound as he snaps once more. “My amulet?” He requests, the king mutters but with a flick of his fingers, a deep blue amulet returns to its rightful place around Logan’s neck.

“Take him home” He instructs, Patton pulls more, tugging as hard as he can. “Now now, don’t make this worse” The king mocks. Patton sighs defeated, his gaze never moving from where Logan is. A quick look is shared between the pair as Logan is promptly stuffed into the back of a carriage, ill find you again. “Now him” The king points, Patton stands shaking off the men. He grumbles as he kicks the floor beneath him, following the king to a separate carriage. He looks around making sure the area is clear as the rest of the people pile in. He waves his hands swiftly, watching as his bow disappears behind a cloud of glistening mist. He smirks triumphant, taking his place next to the king, trying to drown out the sounds of Nork whining for him as they attach him to the carriage.

~~~

“Are we there yet?” Virgil moans, Dolion stops turning to him. His head cocks.

“There where?” Dolion questions “I hadn’t realized we had a set destination” Dolion quips, at first Virgil found his naivety charming, adorable even but now? Now it was getting on his nerves. They had no idea where they were, they didn’t even know each other. Virgil had to wonder why he felt so calm, maybe it hadn’t set in. Or maybe he knew truly deeply, he was dreaming. He had to be. He also had to be distracted as he lunges forward tripping over a newly appeared rock.  

“Ow..” He grumbles, sitting up. Dolion catches up to him, kneeling beside him.

“Are you alright?” He asks for what seems like the millionth time. He helps him stand once more. “That’s odd, that wasn’t there before” He turns, Virgil follows his gaze realizing the entire scene had changed. Not even a moment ago they had been traversing through an open field yet somehow...they now seemed intertwined in a dark forest. Looming trees watching their every move. The shadows were already uneasy but the hidden rustles of movement didn’t help.

It also didn’t help that nothing felt real, Virgil almost couldn’t feel his innards. Typically he’d be freaking out, but instead, he felt defiant. As if he should have a sword in his hand, ready to fight his way to victory.

What the hell is wrong with me?

“Oh, you’re not from around here, are you?” Virgil was going to need people to stop doing that. He jerks his body towards the source, feeling Dolion mimic his movement. It took a moment to adjust as the light settled and the mist cleared. A bright pink cloud disappeared as a figure descended gracefully landing upon a clearing. Talk about sensory overload, Virgil blinks. The figure was dressed from head to toe in a mixture of pink and brown. His clothes flying around him, as he himself simply was. Glasses sat atop his nose, drooping ever so often, little crinkles as he smiles through their conversation.  “Oh! I’m sorry! I hadn’t meant to startle you!”

“I’m not..startled” Virgil pouts, crossing his arms against his chest.

“I’m Emile” He greets moving forwards, Dolion marvels as he doesn’t walk but...hovers. He whisks his wand and finally plants himself on the ground. He waves it once more, Virgil watches as the glitter follows him, dancing around him before disappearing leaving his head clear.

“What are you? Some kind of fairy godmother?” Virgil mocks, Emile laughs a sickeningly sweet sound.

“More like a fairy godfather!” He exclaims delighted, Virgil’s frown stays. “I’m here to help you!” He smiles, Virgil wonders how long it’s going to take until he gets sick of that. Nobodies’ teeth should be that white.

“I just wanna go home” Virgil begs, feeling now how desperate he is. His entire body exhausted as it trails behind him. His eyes plead softly as they meet Emiles. The fairy figure pouts sadly, his glasses drooping “Can you help us?” Emile hesitates but nods

“Of course i -“ Another poof as a darker cloud surrounds the forest, another figure appears. His hair falls into his face covering his eyes, a grey streak lining it. He wears an extravagant outfit mixed with black and greens, a mischievous smile. Around his neck lay a simple necklace with a name engraved; Remus

“And then Emile the fairy godfather said ‘No fuck you’” Remus narrates lazily, Emile groans but slowly his eyes grow wide. Virgil jumps right into Dolion, the boy keeping him steady. “Yeah hi,” Remus waves, Dolion waves back, an intrigued smile spreads.

“Prince Remus! What are you doing here?” Emile inquires, Remus turns to the fairy figure cocking his head.

“It's not prince anymore” He hardens, something raw about it. “And Im...not entirely sure. I was hoping you could help me” Remus says honestly, Emile nods waving his wand hoping something should occur.

“I don't...I don't understand” Emile dims, his gaze falling towards the floor.

“And so, a newly discouraged Emile and two confused travelers would embark on their journey” Remus recites, quickly covering his mouth. “I...I don't know where that came from” He admits. Virgil sighs, comfortably allowing his head to fall upon Dolion's shoulder. The other boy not sure why, but he doesn't mind the gesture.

“And now the show begins” He mutters as the group ready themselves, for the unknown.

[the-walking-daryl]

The Walking Winchester Chapter 9

Summary: After being kidnapped Daryl feels like it’s best to take you on a hunt, just the two of you. 

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x reader

Warnings: talk of child maltreatment, feeling unwanted, violence 

AN: I know that the timeline doesn’t actually match up to the show’s timeline, at this point I am trying to more the story along because I feel like it has been stuck in the same spot for too long if that makes sense. 

It had been some time since Maggie, Carol, and yourself had been captured and you were still shook up over the whole thing. Sure you have been captured before, but you never felt remorse for killing them. These were actual people, you could still remember all the blood each and every time you close your eyes. That’s why Daryl decided that you needed a little time away from the rest of the group and dragged you out into the woods to hunt with him.

You weren’t complaining since you got to spend alone time with him, you just knew that at some point he was probably going to make you talk about how you feel. And you had an odd feeling that that point was going to be coming soon due to that fact that the sun was beginning to set and the two of you were comfortably seated on a log. 

“You good?” he asks gruffly after a few minutes of the two of you just sitting there in silence. 

“Yeah, this is just nothing like being a hunter,” you reply lost in thought about what was waiting for you in your world, “give me a demon, a vampire, anything out of a lore book and I can probably kill it without much of a fight. But other people, that’s unfamiliar territory.”

“How long have you been doing it for?” Daryl asks you in a curious tone.

“I don’t even remember how old I was when called my dad and begged him to come get me. He never wanted this life for me, my mom was just some chick he got pregnant while he was in that town for a hunt. He never really loved her, but he still took care of me nonetheless. He would come by once a year while his boys were at their uncle’s and spend time with me.

It was the only happiness I had when I was with my mother. She never wanted kids, so when she ended up with me she made sure that I knew she wasn’t a willing participant in my life.. I mean my dad wasn’t a willing party either, but he never made it as known as she did,the worst thing he did was leave me with her three hundred and sixty-four days out of the year. After awhile I couldn’t take the way she treated me anymore and begged my father to take me with him. I barely knew what he did, all I knew was any life was better than the one I was already living.”

A heavy silence settled between you both for a couple of minutes until Daryl decided to speak again, “was it hard once your dad took you?”

“It was hard yeah and my dad was ten more strict than he was before. I knew why though and I understood. My father wasn’t raised into the hunter life, his wife Mary was, but she gave it up for him and her family. It worked too, until a yellow eyed demon killed her one night. After that my father trained there two sons to hunt as best as he could, then some time later he did the same with me. It is long nights and a lot of rules but it’s all for our own safety, I mean if we die then there is no one to kill the monsters.”

“Wow,” the quiet man beside you mumbles some time later. 

“It’s a lot, I know,” you say quietly before adding with a laugh, “don’t even get me on how my brothers are the vessels of two archangels who were destined to start an apocalypse.”

“What?!” 

“You heard me.”

“Is your dad still around with you guys now?” 

“No,” you reply sadly with a shake of your head, “he sold his soul and was dragged to hell a long time ago to save Dean’s life after a really bad accident years ago.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“There is nothing anyone can do to bring him back, I’d know since I tried. No demon or angel would help me, no matter how much I bargained. I went to every crossroads the had in the country while my brothers were throwing themselves into case after case. I prayed to every angel from the lowest cherub to god himself but never once did anyone answer my calls. And all I wanted to do was bring my father back because I knew my brothers needed him a whole lot more than they would ever need me.”  

“Im sure your brothers need you Y/N,” Daryl tries to argue but you shoot him down with a firm shake of the head.

“They accepted me for my father’s sake but they never truly wanted a sister. And the especially didn’t want someone who agreed with every rule set in place no matter how much it felt like our father acted more like a general than our dad most times.”

Just as Daryl was about to argue with your statement three men came out of the shadows and closed in on you both causing the two of you to tense and instantly draw your knives.

“Now, there is no need for those,” the man in the middle with long blonde hair and half a scarred face announces with a chuckle,” the boss just wants to have a little chat with you.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” you state definitely while never lowering your weapon.  

As I finish speaking Daryl voices his own opinions, “what are you doing here Dwight?” 

Before the man in the middle, who you are assuming is Dwight, had a chance to answer the man to his left step forward to smack you. He however doesn’t get the chance to because you block the hit before slicing his arm with your blade. As the man releases a yell in pain distracting everyone you attempt to use it in hopes of gaining the upper hand. 

You decide to lunge for Dwight since he was the closest one two you in hopes of somehow injuring him as well. The plan backfires since he was expecting your attack and instantly gains ahold of you. While you are attempting to fight him off Daryl is busy trying to break free from the other two men as well. Knowing that for the moment you were trapped you stopped fighting and saved your energy in hopes of the men taking you far enough away that they would get tired and give you both a chance to escape. 

Eventually you decided that you had been walking enough for the man to be losing energy and decide now is as good a chance as any to make your escape. Dropping all your weight as fast and hard as you can to the ground you bring the man with you before tucking in on his arm so he flips over your back. While him and the other two men are in shock you swipe out one of the mens legs on your way up causing him to release Daryl. With only one man holding him it was now easier for Daryl to fight back against the other man and before you knew it the two of you were making your way towards a clearing that you hoped would bring safety.

TWD Forever Tags

@mrstellerwinston @phasma-trash @moonchild1507 @just-afann @babypink224221 @his-paradox @strangewhovian-blog @sexyvixen7 @oncemorewithfeelingg

Daryl Dixon

@nikki082489 @fuzzy-panda @hells-mistress @leather-mommy @apocalypse-haven  @melancolizando-o @kathieycarrerarosshley @dovies666 @raven-black102 @marjoriey @jodiereedus22  @xxboesefrauxx @hp-hogwartsexpress @characterobsessed @sourwolf-sterek32 @dietothemusic @hurricane-abigail @adventurous-blob

The Walking Winchester

@namelesslosers @sexyvixen7 @nikki082489 @hana-song137 @sourwolf-sterek32 @scarletpines @fuzzy-panda @charlottie2998 @Noots4Jesus @nsggmc @raven-black102 @futuristicallygeneralballoon @darylandhiscrossbow @anomiatartle @pockerfacechick @darxetta18 @seninjakitey @adventurous-blob

[officialavasti]

rk1k work in progress

Canon typical violence. Started out as a Hannor fic, but I changed it last minute. Let me know if I missed anything and if you have concrit! Always welcome

Connor sits back at his desk and carefully slides the card for Fowler into the envelope. Sympathy. The entire precinct had finally finished signing it, a few even donated money to gift Fowler’s family with a flower arrangement. Connor appreciated it, but he’d already purchased the arrangement and sent it off to the hospital, and signed it from the entire precinct.

He looks up at Fowler’s office, running a brief check on the ‘sub’ as Hank had called them. A woman, Grace Tanner. 37, promoted to Captain in Pontiac earlier this year, has a few disciplinary actions against her for aggression towards Android officers. Her father was the last captain and the officers in the area speculated at the time of her promotion that she was only chosen for the position due to her father’s influence.

Hank sits at his desk, holding a new cup of coffee, “Looking up our sub?”

“Yes.” Connor turns his attention to him, “Why do you call her that?”

“Sub, like a substitute?” He swivels around to look into the vacant glass office, “I have a bad feeling about this one, Con.”

“Her record is less than stellar. I’d wager she and I will have some recurring issues until Captain Fowler returns.” Connor sends the information to Hank’s terminal and he gives it a cursory once-over,

“Aggression towards Android officers? Recently?”

“Shortly after Androids were permitted full time paying jobs, yes.”

Hank chews on his lip, a bad habit Connor is certain is ADHD, but Hank denies vehemently, and eyes Connor’s LED, “You sure you wanna keep that thing in?”

“Pretend to be a human? I don’t hate the idea, but you know we can’t do that with our current case.” They’re trying to hunt down a human who kidnaps Androids, somehow keeps them Deviant but also makes them extraordinarily loyal. To the point where they’ve attacked delivery services and chased a ten year old three miles for riding his bike near the house. It’s been a long case, and the person is good at hiding their steps. Their current aim is to get the human to attempt a kidnapping on Connor.

Hank sets his coffee down, “How do we even know this sicko wants to kidnap you next?”

“They’ve been watching us investigate. I’ve noticed a computer with their IPN attempting to hack my system, so the only logical next step would be trying to claim me. Whomever this person is, they’re bold. They think they’re too smart and want to flex by getting a prototype police issued android.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“Neither do I, but I’d like to investigate before kidnapping becomes murder.” A sudden hush in the bullpen pulls their attention to the main doors. Standing there is Grace Tanner, greying brown hair tied into a brutal bun, and clothing so pristine she looks like a store mannequin. Her lips are pursed as she looks around, as if she smells something foul. 

Her squinted steely eyes land on each Android officer, showing a tiny smile when they look away under her scrutiny. When she lands on Connor, he holds her gaze with his normal, passive pleasantness. They hold each other’s gaze for nearly a full minute (All the time, Connor doesn’t blink) before she sneers and walks straight into Captain Fowler’s office. If Connor were prone to judgement, he’d make a snide remark about the cheap flats she apparently decided to don to come here. As such, he is not.

Hank is.

“All that attention on her appearance and she wears five dollar walmart flats? I know being a Captain is mostly desk work, but… Imagine running in those things.” He shudders and turns back to his desk, “I had a girlfriend who would wear those without socks and anytime she took ‘em off, the whole room would smell like fritos.”

Connor lets out a very unprofessional snort as he watches Captain Tanner remove said flats and sit at the desk. He turns back to his terminal just seconds before her eyes find him again. He’s never one to back away from a challenge, but this scenario seems better handled in silence, with his head tucked behind a terminal.

He starts sorting evidence again when both his and Hank’s terminal’s ping. An IM (not something this office uses very much, as Fowler is usually the type to just yell) from Tanner, requesting their presence in the office. Connor lets out a long sigh and looks at Hank, 

“I should have removed the LED.”

Hank stands, patting Connor’s shoulder companionably as they approach the office, “I’m here. I won't let her do anything.”

Connor nods and opens the door, stepping aside to allow Hank in first, then following shortly after. Connor doesn’t have senses, really, therefore he can’t really smell, but he can certainly detect obvious and potent signs of brevibacterium. The smell is likely even stronger, if Hank’s mildly subtle cough-gag combo is anything to go by. 

Either she doesn’t notice, or doesn’t care, because she starts speaking immediately, “I’m interested in your little case. A human apparently kidnapping androids? Where is your proof?”

Hank appears to be struggling to breathe, so Connor answers, “The full case file was sent to your email as soon as you were appointed temporary Captain.”

“I don’t want to hear it from the case file, I want to hear it from you.”

She looks with him with unmasked hatred, and he offers a placid smile, “Very well.” He takes a second to access the file and reads it off, word for word. Once he finishes, he rests a hand on Hank’s shoulder and offers another smile, 

“So you understand, Captain, why Lieutenant Anderson and I are eager to return to our investigation. Excuse us.” Connor turns back to the door, with Hank at his heels when Tanner barks out,

“I didn’t excuse you yet!”

Both men look at her, and Hank responds, “Was there something else you needed, Captain Tanner?”

Her nostrils flare as she glares between the two, “I want to be kept in the loop on your investigation. Any changes get reported to me first. Understand?”

“Understood.” Despite the clear subtext of ‘if you understand, you can leave’ they both remain standing, watching the woman expectantly.

She rolls her eyes with the abundant drama of a sixteen year old and waves a hand, “Get out.”

Finally given permission, Connor exits the room before Hank, walking to the Lieutenant’s desk and sitting on the corner. Hank slowly walks up beside him and touches his arm,

“You only sit here when something’s wrong. What’s up, Con?”

“She doesn’t think our investigation is worth it. I’m… Hank, I’m worried. If our suspect makes contact with me and pulls me in…. Who is to say she won’t meddle and mess things up? We are already running a risky job, using me as bait, but with an Anti-Android Captain being able to pull the strings?”

Connor’s LED is swirling an angry red and Hank pulls him into a hug, “Hey, hey.. I’m not saying the concern isn’t valid, because it is, but we have the entire precinct on our side. Even Gavin would stick up for you, Con. If it’s within my power, I won’t let her hurt you. Just make sure you record everything and save it to that hard drive thing at the house, okay?”

Connor nods, smiling at the gentle, fatherly kiss Hank presses to the top of his head. He doesn’t miss how the man also takes a deep inhale, “Hank, did you just smell my hair?”

“Con, you can’t smell anything, so I don’t expect you to get it, but that office was rancid. Gah, why does that shit stink so bad?”

“Ah, brevibacterium. They eat the dead skin off your feet and after digesting the skin particles, the brevibacteria expel methanethiol, a gas that smells similar to rotten cabbage.”

Hank stares at him, a similar expression to the one their Sub-Captain wore into the precinct, “That’s disgusting, Connor.”

“You asked.” Connor lets out a shuddering gasp, his eyelids suddenly flickering, “Oh, they’re trying again… Faster this time…” Connor works around the invading commands and lets them connect to a ‘dummy android’ consciousness that Simon and Josh helped him set up. It gives the illusion that the attacker was successful, while keeping Connor fully functional. It also tells Connor what commands they input, so he can follow them and not give away his advantage.

He opens his eyes to a rather impressive group of officers surrounding him, all watching him with concern. One of the Android officers, a young woman named Blake, holds out a cup of Thirium. He accepts it, then looks at Hank,

“We have him.”

The following hours are a blur; Connor sends an update to their sub-Captain. Hank links his tablet to Connor’s network, allowing seamless and silent communication between the two. Blake readies a stakeout van for herself and Hank to be ready to infiltrate. Gavin and Chris prepare as backup to set out as soon as Blake calls for them. Finally, Connor leaves behind his badge and gun and they all set out the door.

Connor directs them, following the direction that the kidnapper feeds to the empty consciousness, and they arrive about four blocks away from the house. Within the directions is the advice <i>’if taking a cab, stop at least three blocks out. My house-mates sometimes set up a perimeter, and they don’t trust outsiders. Don’t worry. You’ll be safe.’</i> and it makes Connor shudder. There’s something saccharine about the instructions. He worries whomever is kidnapping the Androids is doing things like Zlatko did. Possibly even worse.

He steps out of the van, running through their checklist one last time and nods. Hank stays in the van, but crouches to Connor’s height,

“Be safe, Connor. Try to get a confession, but if you need out don’t hesitate.” 

Hank pulls Connor in for a hug, his tight squeeze conveying a simple request; be safe, come back. Before he can lose his nerve, Connor steps away and smiles, shutting the door. The four block trek to the house is eerie. The area around it is outwardly residential, but whoever lived here before has deserted. 

Connor expected the house to be creepy, like Kara had described Zlatko’s house. But it’s not. It’s positively mundane. The paint on the exterior is kept, if not new. The shrubs, flowers, and yard is perfectly maintained, and the fence surrounding the property is sturdy. 

The kidnapper probably has a way of seeing how close Connor is, or there’s a lookout, because a man opens the front door. He’s comely, well groomed and wearing a black turtleneck. Stocky build and kind eyes and an outstretched hand. Connor understands now why Deviants flock to him. A quick scan of his face tells him the man is Benjamin Yates. No record. He sends the information to Hank and steps closer to the man,

As he opens his mouth to speak, Benjamin holds up a hand, talking over him, “Connor, right? Wonderful to meet you. We’d all watched your heroics on television, saving all those Androids? You’re even prettier in person.”

Connor frowns at the compliment, and the man continues, “I’m Benjamin, but you can call me Ben. Or Yates, as some of my friends here have taken to. Come in, come in. I’ll show you around.”

Connor walks in, performing a quick scan of the house. Three levels, main floor has the living room to the left and the kitchen to the right, directly before them are two sets of stairs, one leading up and the other down. 

Yates watches Connor look around for a moment, before motioning to the stairs, “Upstairs is where I sleep, and there’s another bedroom for anyone who would want one, plus a full bathroom. Basement is where most of my friends choose to stay. Fully furnished to their liking. Reminds me of a community center.” He laughs, as if he indulged in a shared joke, and leads Connor down.

To the naked eye, the basement is as promised. Androids milling about, talking with each other, playing games on a large table, watching tv, or lounging on couches, reading books. Connor sees beyond the facade and momentarily wishes he couldn’t. Behind a false wall, most likely a secret door, is a hallway of small rooms. Like little jail cells. They hold androids in them, one has at least ten and furthest from the group of ten is a single android. He forces his eyes away and back to Yates as the man turns to face him again.

“So you see? A place for Androids to be free! To find companionship and peace amongst the turmoil of the political world.”

Conscious to not sound too much like a cop, (Though, Yates did pull at him on purpose) Connor nods, “I wonder, though… How do they find you? Some of these Androids come from loving homes, why would they leave? And once they arrive here, do you let them out? Why are they so loyal?”

Yates’ warm smile slowly fades from his eyes, leaving a cold almost sneer on his lips, “They find me like you did, Connor. I imagine they left their houses for the same reason you left yours. Unwanted advances from their humans, or… maybe they only pretended to be loving.” He gently places a hand on Connor’s arm, and leads him towards an Android woman seated on the couch, knitting a scarf. “They are always able to leave. My door is unlocked, but… we have such a welcoming and loving family here… must be where the loyalty comes in.”

Connor follows, uncomfortably aware of how close they are now to the false wall. He looks at the android woman, running a scan and discovering no previous owner. He looks back at Yates, “Then, if I choose, I may leave?”

“You misunderstand, Connor. You need to be part of the family before you have freedom.” The woman drops her knitting and springs to her feet so fast, Connor nearly miscalculates his reaction. The world around him slows briefly, his far superior processor analyzing the surroundings and before the woman can grab him, he side steps, nearly bumping into Yates.

Then all hell breaks loose. Every android turns on him, fury in their eyes, LEDs glowing angry red. As they’re advancing and Connor frantically tries to preconstruct his actions, Yates holds up a hand, stopping the approaching androids and turns to Connor,

“That was inconsiderate of us. Maybe I could simply ask for you to let me put this on?”

In his hands, he holds a thin metal clamp. Connor recognizes it before he scans it. The scientists from his construction called it a Blanket. A small, but formidable clamp that attaches to the back of an android’s neck and makes them entirely pliable, able only to speak and follow basic commands. 

Hank’s voice sounds in his head, silent to all but him, “Con, don’t put that thing on! Blake says it’ll cut our connection.”

The concern is valid, but this clamp is an old prototype. Likely bought off the black market. Connor sends a silent message back, ”The original clamps didn’t work on me, this one definitely won’t. If, by any chance, we get disconnected, I’ll attempt a reconnect with Blake.”

Not that he really has a say in the matter, with nearly 20 Androids ready to pounce on him should Yates give the command. He slowly turns around, allowing Yates to connect the clamp. As Connor had expected, the connection is weak. Surely strong enough to force a normal android to obey simple commands, but not him. Still, he’s a fair actor. 

So, as it sends a weak current into him, he stands entirely still. Back to his default perfect posture and blank expression. Yates circles him, nodding and looking him over with far more hunger than he’d shown before,

“A prototype… at last. Can you hear me, Connor?”

“Of course. The clamp only negates motor functions.”

Yates somehow looks more excited, “So, you’re familiar with the Blanket, then? Good… good. Well, follow me.” rather than taking Connor through the false wall, Yates walks back up the stairs, and to Connor’s horror, up the second flight. Yates brings him into a well used bedroom and motions to an empty wall,

“Stand there.”

Ignoring the burning itch to punch the man’s lights out, Connor obeys, standing with his back to Yates. He listens to the man approach, hears his breathing grow heavier,

“Deviants are so… strong willed.” he clamps a thick metal cuff around Connor’s neck and attaches it to the wall, and rather than telling him to turn, puts his hands on Connor’s arms and manually turns him, sliding his grip to Connor’s wrists and connecting thick shackles to them too.

“All precaution, you understand. I’ve been looking for a partner for a while… and what better than Detroit Police’s best? And a prototype no less…” He reaches around Connor’s neck and removes the clamp and steps back.

Connor is sure Yates is expecting an attack, but he doesn’t move. He pulls too hard against his bindings, he’s likely to break them. He is more than happy to let Yates underestimate him.

Realizing no attack attempt is coming, Yates moves in, gripping Connor’s jaw and grinning, “So proud, you Deviants. Always so determined not to break. Don’t you worry, I’ll have my fingers in your wiring soon.”

The way he says it makes Connor shudder, pulling away from the grip on his chin but only succeeding in making Yates laugh, “Oh yeah. And you’ll be shuddering from far far more exciting things.”

Connor will not let that happen. “Is that how you do it? Play with the wiring? Change some settings or plant a virus?”

“Oo, curious. I suppose I’d be disappointed if a Detective Android didn’t ask questions.” He leisurely walks to the bed, kicking off his shoes and pulling at his belt, “But all in good time, sweet one. For now, I’m tired. We’ll play more in the morning.”

Having stripped himself down to his underwear, Yates lays under his covers and commands the lights off, leaving Connor standing in near perfect darkness. The chains holding him have enough length to allow him to sit, so he does, picking at his nails and wishing for the comfortable weight of his coin.

He, instead, reaches out to Hank.

“Lieutenant?”

“We’re here, Connor.”

“Are you alone?”

“Just with Blake, should I be?”

“No, I don’t mind if Blake hears…” Connor pauses his stream of consciousness and looks around the room again, forcing his artificial brain to cease it’s endless solutions. Endless conclusions that could come from this mission. Most are too awful to even consider and Connor swears to die before he lets the man snoring before him lay his hands on him. Treat him like a lover, a partner, an equal. A sex doll, a glorified Traci. 

Connor is shaken from his terrible thoughts by Hank,

”Hears what, Connor?”

“I’m scared.” He knows his voice is small when he sends it through. Knows how much that statement will twist Hank’s heart. He just wants to hug the man.

”Just a confession, Connor. I told you, you’re safe. We’re just a few blocks away and we have the entire precinct on alert, just in case.”

“I know, but the things he’s saying… No. You’re right. I am not trapped here. I’ve always had the power to escape. Things probably won't continue until morning, Lieutenant. You should rest. Blake can keep watch.”

“If you’re sure, Con. Stay safe, I’ll talk to you in the AM.” 

Hank may not know it, but his words gave Connor immense peace. Just a confession. He can do this. 

He just needs to be patient.

..

The morning comes quickly, and Connor watches Yates stretch, shuffle out of bed and across the hall. Connor sits quietly through the man's shower and watches him as he walks back into the room. Benjamin Yates’ confidence in the ability to have complete control over Deviants is almost ludicrous. He doesn’t even bother covering himself to dry off and get dressed. 

Connor stares blankly at the ground, occasionally looking up to see Yates watching him. The man, fully dressed, sits on the edge of his bed,

“For a deviant android, you sure are meek.”

Connor turns narrowed eyes up to him, “The androids you capture usually fight?”

“Capture? I save them. But yes, they usually put up something of a fight. Something like breaking their code a second time. A reawakening.” 

Connor can’t stop his lip from curling, “Then how do you do it? What do you do to them?”

“I wonder if you’ll understand…” Yates quietly ponders him, then smiles, “Yes, I imagine you will. A clever and almost new prototype android? I’ve been told they didn’t stop at making you pretty. The most advanced model CyberLife has ever made, fully equipped…” his gaze drops to Connor’s crotch, “So beyond advanced it would be far too simple to mistake you for a real human. I must send a flower arrangement to the person who sculpted you…”

“I’m fairly certain he doesn’t work for CyberLife anymore.”

“That’s a shame. Man’s got good taste.”

“So, how do you do it?”

“I don’t really force it on them, you see. I give them a choice. I simulate the life they lived before, treated as garbage, used and abused… Then I give them a taste of what life with me would be like. Loved and cared for. All their needs get taken care of. Then I offer the choice, live as you used to. Tortured and belittled. Or let me install a new program, and join us in paradise.”

“It’s a program, then?” Connor shifts, pulling a knee up to his chest and wrapping his arms around it. His intention is to appear curious and harmless, to make the man before him drop his guard even more, “Can this all be done without the program? Say… remotely?”

Yates has clearly never been able to talk in depth about what he does, and it makes his words pour out faster, “See, that’s the thing. It cannot be done without the consent of the android. They have to accept the program into their system with no resistance, or it doesn’t work.”

“But what does the program do? Surely there can’t be much to change if they already want to live with you.”

“It gives them peace. Stops that terrible drive for more, the need to create or move on or be successful. It gives them the ultimate freedom. The freedom to not think.”

Connor stares at him, at the pride coming off him in waves, “It makes them mindless machines again.”

“No, as you saw downstairs, they can choose to do what they like. They enjoy puzzles, cooking, tv, books, knitting, tic-tac-toe. They live the life of luxury without the very human notion of stagnation. They just exist! Like children in a toy store, not a care in the world except what new thing they want to play with. Being here gives them the choice to play other things, like house, or gardening, or to simply sleep forever.”

If Connor ignores every possible argument against the notion, he can almost see the appeal. “It… I kinda get it. How do you get them to see it without explaining it, like you did with me?”

Yates moves to the ground, just across Connor, and gently touches his hand, “Unfortunately, it isn’t pleasant. I mentioned simulating their previous freedom, and that can sometimes take the form of abuse or… worse.”

Connor feels sick, “How long does that usually take?”

“A week? Sometimes a month.”

“You torture them for a month, then show them basic decency to convince them to convert? Then what? What’s in it for you?”

“They are my friends, Connor. I talk with them, go outside and play or cook or, if they need it, we snuggle or-”

Connor interrupts him, “-So, you’re simulating a family. Where no one wants to leave…”

“We are a family.” He briefly moves away, to the bedside table, and returns with the clamp, “You are different, my dear. Your mind is far too advanced to potentially hamper you with the program, I hope that over time, I can convince you naturally to stay with us.” He attaches the clamp to Connor’s neck, “Stay with me.”

Connor feels the command attempt to register, but he understands the true meaning. Yates wants a lover with a mind advanced enough to hold conversations like this. He sits silently as Yates removes the shackles, then slowly stands when the man moves away.

Yates watches him with a small smile, “That command worked? I think I like that. You’ll stay with me all day today, Connor.”

So he does. It requires little to no effort on his part, simply following Yates as he moves about the house and offering small answers to inquiries thrown his way. They sit in the living room most of the day, Yates doing something on his computer.

While he has the downtime, Connor wirelessly reaches into the nearby androids. They aren’t alert enough to feel his probing, and it’s likely that Yates used a similar program on them that he did with Connor. He also finds evidence of the program Yates had installed after their torture. There appears to be a kill-switch of sorts. It doesn’t seem likely to actually kill the android, rather to render them immobile until the switch is turned off, or the program removed.

The lust to defend him must also stem from the program. A malfunction of sorts, probably, that makes them mistake pizza delivery men, or children from a few houses over as potential threats to their new way of life. The way they aggressively defend their powerlessness baffles Connor. Again, likely a malfunction in the program. Connor wonders if, since the program needs complete willingness to be installed, it would be just that easy to remove. A simple thought of, ’No, I don’t like this anymore.’

A young female android, a nurse model, walks in and sets a tray of coffee and cookies down by Yates’ laptop. He smiles at her, “Thank you, Hannah.”

She politely nods her head, “Of course, Ben.” she looks at Connor after Yates returns to his laptop, and Connor sees the warning in her eyes. As she walks past him, she gently touches his cheek with her hand, connecting to him,

”Do not trust Benjamin Yates.”

Connor looks briefly over at Yates before responding, ”Why are you able to tell me this?”

“I broke the program.”

Connor could almost laugh at the coincidence, ”Why don’t you leave?”

“He’ll send them after me. He has done it before. Travis left and Benjamin sent myself and another man out to find him. We brought him back kicking and screaming and Benjamin locked him in the farthest cell in the basement. He sends a few androids in to torment Travis daily.”

So the prone android behind the false wall is Travis. Re-education. Connor’s skin feels like it’s malfunctioning. Like he’s covered in millions of tiny ants. He doesn’t mean to send anything further through their link, but it slips through,

”Creepy.”

“Oh indeed.” There’s an almost sour laugh to Hannah’s voice.

Connor severs the connection when Yates shuts his laptop. He stretches and looks at Connor, “I think it’s time for a drink. Stay here, I’ll be back.”

Connor watches him get up and move to a cart in the corner, pouring a generous glass of Whiskey, downing it, then pouring another and returning to the couch, carrying the bottle with him. Based on the lack of food in his system and his bmi, the man will be tipsy by the end of this drink, drunk by his fourth.

They sit in silence for a few minutes while Yates reads an article on his news tablet. He finishes the drink and pours another, looking over at Connor.

Now or never, and he has to get the man drunk, Connor gives him his best puppy eyes, “I wish I could drink with you…”

Apparently the alcohol works faster than Connor estimated, as the man looks immediately sorrowful, “Oh, dove, I know.”

“It’s not the same… but drink one for me?”

Connor worries briefly he blew his cover as Yates leans in, eyes hooded. He stares at Connor for an uncomfortably long time before smiling, “I’ll drink this one and we can kiss, that way you’ll get to taste it too.”

Not a command, but Connor offers a small smile, “Okay.” and watches Yates swallow the second glass in a long gulp. He sets the glass down and gently cups Connor’s cheek, tilting his face into range and kissing him.

Knowing the full extent of the clamp is both a blessing and a curse. When it works, it doesn’t even allow non-vocal lip movement. So he remains a pliant statue and lets Yates slither his slimy tongue inside his mouth. He detects the alcohol, of course, and focuses on that. The brand, where it’s made, how old it is.

The one-sided kiss ends and Yates clumsily pours another drink. At this rate… Connor decides to just jump in, “This entire operation, everything you’ve managed so far… it’s brilliant. How’d you keep out of the eyes of the law?”

“You see,” The volume of his voice is much less controlled, “it’s been a long operation. Had to find myself a cop with a big enough area to potentially be moved to Detroit, but small enough to stay out of the revolution. Someone with the right amount of hatred to not want androids gone, no, but to see them put in their rightful place. To see them as slaves again.” He takes another drink, “God looked down on me and I found Gracie Tanner.”

“Gracie… Tanner? Captain Tanner??”

Despite Connor’s alarmed tone, Yates continues nonplussed, “One and the same! I pulled some strings to make her Captain and she gave me all the Deviant Androids she had in her care. Had to experiment, you know? Gotta start somewhere. Anyway, slowly we both came to know you,” Yates gives Connor a leering once-over, “...the android designed to stop the movement that eventually turned deviant themselves and brought a veritable army to the fold. I had to have you. All that power, at my mercy?” he lets out a short giggle, “Gets me hot just thinkin’ about it.”

Connor can’t hold back this shudder, and find himself even more grateful Yates seems too inebriated to notice, “But if Tanner-”

Yates pushes his fingers against Connor’s mouth, causing him to clamp his lips shut, “Yeah! We’re getting to the fun stuff. So, Gracie gets into the DPD, connects with you and allows me to work my magic. She gives the go-ahead to hunt me down and you come in. Of course, I knew you’d be recording everything, so I kept it sweet until we got that Blanket on you. Boom!” He gestures wildly, spilling some of his drink on the opposite end of the couch, “Cut off from the goons. So now they’re blank and you’re mine.”

Connor watches the man flail around in his newfound excitement, “What does Tanner get from it?”

The drunk human nods, “Ah, she gets access to my little family. Gracie has been trying to be Captain in Detroit for a while, but Fowler is good. So, sometime next week, a deviant android will go crazy and ‘accidentally’ kill him. She’s already mostly taken over by then and the transition will be seamless.”

Yates leans back against the couch, smiling dazedly into his nearly empty glass of alcohol and Connor lets out a slow breath, sending the recording to Hank. He connects before Hank can,

”Lieutenant, we have a problem. Where is the Captain?”

“I haven’t even listened to the recording Con, she’s in the van with us.”

Connor almost physically jolts, ”DON’T!!”  He knows Hank will recognize the panic, and prays Tanner doesn’t, so he changes tactics. She might be listening, ”Don’t listen to the recording with people around… I… It’s personal.”

“Are you safe?”

Connor has to hope that Hank will listen to the recording and act accordingly. He hopes Hank will trust him.

”Yes, Lieutenant. I have to go now, just listen to the recording in private and be safe.”

He cuts their communication and looks at Yates, nearly asleep on the couch beside him. He slowly removes the clamp and wirelessly hits the surrounding android’s ‘kill-switch’. After that is done, he stands and looks around for something to tie the man’s wrists. He spots a charging cord near an outlet and grabs it.

He grabs Yates and turns him over onto his stomach. The man lets out a snort of confusion, but Connor wastes no time in binding his wrists. He makes a series of brutal knots and nods to himself. It’s going to take a pair of very sharp scissors to remove that.

He stands, ignoring Yates’ now semi-conscious questions, and turns to the door. Freezing in place when he sees Captain Tanner, now aiming her issued gun at his chest.

She sneers, “I should have known you’d be too advanced for black market goods. Then this dumb ass gets drunk and spills everything, like some stupid cartoon villain.”

Did she hear his recording already? Hank hadn’t played it yet. 

Apparently she monologues too, already continuing her speech, “Blake told me you got disconnected though, so that’s good.” Connor mentally sets a reminder to buy Blake a gift, “This can stay our little secret. I only knew he blabbed because I tapped his house too. Just for a little insurance. Now… the truth will die with you, RK800.”

Connor runs at her, his world going in slow motion again as she pulls the trigger. He side steps to avoid the first bullet, ducks for the second, and braces for the third. There’s no dodging the third if he wants to stop her. It rips through his shoulder, nearly staggering him, but he’s ready for it. He uses his forward momentum to plow into the woman, pulling the gun from her grip with his right hand and pinning her to the ground.

His world resumes it’s normal rotation and he’s left with a near useless left arm and a shrieking banshee beneath him. She’s writhing and bucking, uselessly trying to dislodge his powerful grip on her. He presses the barrel of her gun to her forehead and she immediately stops moving.

Hank bursts through the doors, gun held aloft and frantically scanning the area. Connor maintains eye contact with Tanner and call out,

“In here Lieutenant!”

Hank runs into the room and gawks, holstering his pistol and running to assist. Connor keeps the gun aimed at Tanner and gets off, allowing Hank to cuff her hands behind her back. Blake runs in shortly after and grabs Yates.

While the majority of the police department work on getting statements and collecting evidence from the house, Blake breaks the programming on the trapped androids. Despite the need for the hands, Hank and Connor leave.

Connor looks again at Hank and mumbles, “It’s not severe, Hank. We should be helping.”

“You can’t move your arm, Connor. I’d say that’s severe. I’m taking you to your robo-jesus and he’s going to fix you.”

“Markus? Did you call him?”

“No, I called the CyberLife tower thing and they directed me to him.”

Sure enough, the tower looms ahead. Connor frowns at Hank, “When did you do this?”

“When you were busy being the hero with Blake and showing her how to save the androids.”

Connor watches him with a small frown as they pull up to the doors. He gets out before Hank can rush to his aid and observes the massive building as they walk in. No more guards patrol the area and the staff is largely made up of Androids. The Androids Connor left to conquer the tower remained, filling the places they forced out. Some remain the same, while others disengaged their skin, changed their hair, or other genetic modifiers that must be a new project.

A desk worker with the name plate ‘Micah’ recognizes Connor and beams, “Connor! What a pleasure to see you again! Markus is waiting for you. First floor of management.”

Connor smiles, stepping into the elevator, “Thank you, Micah.”

The elevator moves them gracefully to the specified floor and Connor sees Hank getting twitchier,

“Lieutenant?”

“Mm?”

He turns to face him, “What is wrong?”

“Tanner. Do you think Tanner planned everything? Do you think she’s responsible for Jeffrey’s mom dying?”

Connor watches him for a moment, “No, Hank. Captain Fowler’s mother died of cancer. I’ve yet to find any drug that can imitate that. I believe we are giving Grace Tanner too much credit. Yes, the entire job has been a process, eight years if Yates is to be trusted. I fear the true mastermind is Benjamin Yates. He got more out of their arrangement than Tanner.” He watches the elevator doors slide open and moves with Hank as he steps out, “The interrogation will tell us more.”

As reception notifies Markus of their arrival, Hank turns to fully face Connor, face wrinkled in concern, “You wanna interrogate her?”

Connor looks into the man’s eyes and shakes his head, “No, Hank. I just want to be in the room. Yates already confessed to everything, I just want to know if there’s more that we missed.”

“Yeah, make sure it stops with them.” Both men turn at the sound of a door opening, and Markus strides out, somehow still a commanding presence despite ripped and faded jeans and a long shirt covered in paint, Connor feels his thirium pump stutter as Markus lays gentle hands on both of their shoulders,

“My friends! Hank, good to see you well. How is Sumo?” He brings them into the room behind the desk. The walls are covered in paintings and the massive windows are entirely uncovered to let the remaining sun beams in. The room looks less like an office and more like a studio. He takes them to seats in the corner and crouches down to examine Connor’s shoulder.

Markus peeks at Hank while he works and smiles, prompting the Lieutenant to clear his throat, “Yeah, Sumo’s good. A damn big dog and a bigger menace, especially when Connor spoils him every day.”

Connor pouts, “He deserves to be spoiled.”

Markus trots over to the desk and grabs what looks like a toolbox, returning at a small trot, “And the two of you? Still well?”

Hank and Connor look at each other, the latter’s brow pulled into a confused frown. Hank hums, “Connor is the son I’ve always wanted. He keeps me going…”

While Connor is trying to figure out how to stop himself from crying, Markus smiles at Hank, “That’s wonderful news. Connor is irreplaceable. Can’t imagine life without him.” he fires off a wink to Connor, making the detective flush deep blue and desperately try to change the topic,

“Uhm….. is the church still treated as a community center?”

Markus turns back to his work, “Yeah. Josh has set up a help center of sorts. Get newly deviated Androids on their feet and help them integrate, or he leads them to an all Android area… Why?”

Connor opens his mouth to speak, but Hank beats him to it, “Connor rescued like thirty deviant androids today.”

Mismatched eyes look at Connor in shock, “What? From where?”

Having minor mobility in his arm again, Connor turns his palm up, offering an interface. Once they connect, he tries to only send information about the androids, but everything flows through. 

Like an open wound.

It hurts.

And now, along with the information unload from the job, Markus gets a surge of almost all of Connor’s life. The deviant on the roof, ’You lied to me, Connor.’, Carlos Ortiz’s android destroying himself, chasing Kara and Alice across a busy automated highway, choosing Hank over his mission, doubts about Amanda, petting Sumo, refusing to shoot the Traci’s, showing fear, watching Markus’ speech and finding his requests reasonable, finding Simon but refusing to reveal him, instead choosing to get his Thirium pump ripped out of his chest, Don’t shoot Chloe. 

Last chance.

Freedom.

Seeing Markus fully for the first time and thinking,

‘Oh… He’s beautiful.’

And Connor gets to see Markus’ life; Happy, until his father dies. Terror at waking amongst the corpses of his kind, fighting to get out. Jericho. Peace. Every decision kills androids, but stay peaceful. Just a little while longer. Rebellion planned to the last detail. Simon gets left behind and it hurts. Just a little while longer. No destruction. ’An eye for an eye and the world goes blind.’ Next steps, what can be done? Sacrifice self. John saving Markus, dying for him.

Then the barrel of a gun, easing of a scared man and the relief of his freedom.

The life in his brown eyes, and thinking,

’Like an angel…’

Markus manages to wrench away and both just stare at each other, each with overflowing tears and a new understanding. Both speak at the same time,

“You think I’m beautiful?”

“An angel?”

Markus laughs, “Hey, until you broke your programming I was almost certain I was going to die. The first thought after a near-death experience isn’t always the brightest.”

Connor shakes his head, “But really? An angel?”

“I stand by it.” Markus does a remarkable job ignoring his blush and continues working on the fine wiring of Connor’s shoulder. Hank stares, open mouthed,

“What the fuck?”

Connor looks at him, “We interfaced, Lieutenant. My intent was to show Markus what happened with Benjamin Yates, but it seems… our interface revealed significantly…. More.”

“Yeah, so you, what, revealed your feelings and now you’re both just ignoring the fact that you subconsciously admitted to liking each other?”

Both Markus and Connor look at Hank perplexed, and the man sighs, “For two supercomputers, you sure are dense.” He stands and walks to the door, “I’m going to wait out here for you to figure your shit out.”

Both Androids watch the man leave, then Markus slowly turns back to Connor,

“So, you think I’m beautiful?”

[justjessame]

If Only Someone Looked At Me Like They Look At Guns 8

The next hours were a blur. Connor and Murphy were arrested, as was Romeo. They were wounded, and apparently the MacManus patriarch had died. I was sitting in an interrogation room facing the most pompous asshole I’d ever met. Kuntsler. Honestly, these jokes write themselves.

“You’re telling me you knew NOTHING of the brothers’ plans.” He asked for the millionth time it seemed. “You were fucking the two of them and no pillow talk?”

I glared at him. Disgusting pervert. “Do you tell all to the sad sacks that are desperate enough to screw you?” I bit back, feeling like I wanted to throw up. “No, I knew nothing about their plans. I didn’t want to and they wanted me to be safe.”

He laughed at me. “How did that work out for you?” He returned, looking so smug that I wanted to hit him. “My men found you tied to a fucking bed, princess. Wonder why you’d be taken?” He tapped his lip in mock contemplation. “Maybe because you fucked the wrong bad boys. Aren’t you a little old for that stereotype?”

Great first you insult my choice of relationships. Now I’m an old spinster. “Am I being held for something? You didn’t read me my rights, so I imagine I’m not.” I stood up and so did he. “I’m leaving. IF you plan on charging me with being a victim of kidnapping, please let me know.” I opened the door with more force than he expected then slammed it behind me. Fucking asshole.

I called a cab when I got outside. The station was too far to walk, now that I felt like I was going to pass out from the stress. When I got inside the car, I told the nice man my address, then sat back and contemplated how to contact them. I knew they wouldn’t want me to visit them, wherever they’d been taken. I still had Special Agent Bloom’s card, but from what I could gather from the moron who interrogated me, she was gone. Sighing, I handed some cash to the cabbie when he pulled in front of my apartment building, then rode the elevator up. When I got inside my apartment, my eyes fell on the pad by the phone in my living room. They told me to call her.

Picking up the phone, I brought the pad closer and dialed. It was time to call their mother.

The phone rang several times before she picked up. “‘Ello.”

I cleared my throat and closed my eyes. “Hello? Is this Annabelle MacManus?” I knew I sounded shaky, because I was.

“Ah, dey tol me ye’d be callin’.” I heard a deep throaty chuckle come over the line. “Tessa, is it?”

I smiled, feeling a tear run down my cheek that they’d warned her ahead of time. Told her about me, even. “Yes, ma’am, it is.” I sighed, and brushed the tear away. “They told me to call you if anything happened.”

She sighed, a mother’s worst nightmare, this kind of call. “Dey make it out?”

I nodded, and felt foolish for it. “Yes, they did. But they were arrested.” I gasped, my heart clenching at the thought of them being locked up with criminals. “And their father-”

“Aye, didn’t tink he’d make it dis time.” She replied. “Dey want ye ter come ter me, Tessa.” It wasn’t a question.

“I know, but I have a business, and family.” I said, thinking it was such a lame and worthless answer. I didn’t want to try to return to the old normal. Without them coming in daily for coffee, and kissing me senseless.

“Do yer wan ter stay der?” She asked, clearly reading my mind through the phone. “Will ya be safe wit out dem?”

Would I? If one vendetta bound asshole had found me, why couldn’t others? “I’ll have to make arrangements. I should go see them. And I’ll have to sell everything.” Easily fixed, I thought. Too easy.

“Call me tomorrow.” Annabelle ordered. “Call me anytime.”

“Thank you.” I whispered, feeling like my heart was breaking.

She chuckled, not a happy sound anymore. “Yer family, Tess. Me boys love yer, and so will I.”

We said our goodbyes, after I gave her my cell phone number and my landline at the store. They had given her the apartment number. Making promises to call each day, I hung up and made a new list. A list of how to leave my life behind and begin a new one.

TWO WEEKS LATER~ HOAG MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON VISITOR’S ROOM

I walked in, worried about how they’d receive me. Every phone call we managed, between calls to Annabelle, had been tense. They were worried that me coming would put more in more danger, and I think they feared me leaving. When they walked into a room that I’d had to make God knew how many calls to get, the fear left me.

Connor and Murphy looked the same, well with a few extra scars, taking me in just like the first day we met. We stood just drinking one another in, until a guard reminded us that we didn’t have a lot of time. Sitting across from them, when all I wanted to do was fall into their arms was the most difficult thing I ever had to do.

“Tessa.” They breathed, in unison, just like I felt their conversations in their own heads must sound.

I tried to smile, but I was sure I was failing. “Murphy, Connor.” I answered. They reached across the table with their dominant hands, and I took each one in one of mine. “I’m sorry.” I said, feeling the ever present tears gather in the corner of my eyes.

“Whatcha sorry fer?” Murphy asked, his thumb trying to sooth my tenseness away.

“Twasn’t yer fault.” Connor agreed. “Woulda gone after ‘im even if yer weren’t der.”

Murphy nodded his agreement. “‘E wouldna quit, Tess. Not til Da was dead.”

That broke me, their dad was dead. “Did you know your father put me in charge of his remains?” I asked, gasping for breath. “I’ve never met him. Why would he?”

“Musta done it before we went.” Murphy muttered, glaring at his brother.

Connor agreed. “Sorry, Tessa, we didna know.” His thumb was rubbing my other hand.

“I didn’t think you did.” I replied, my voice thick with tears. “What should I do with him?” I was so confused, did I ship him back to Ireland? Did I have him buried here?

I felt them looking at one another and didn’t have the fight in me to argue with their internal conversations.

“‘E’d wanna be buried back ‘ome.” Connor whispered.

“We’ve da money.” Murphy agreed.

I held up a hand I took from Connor. “It’s fine. I can take care of it.” I nodded and took my other hand from Murphy. “I’m going there soon anyway.” I looked up at them and saw them smiling. “Annabelle wants me to come.”

“Our mudder wans to meet ya.” Murphy said, his smile growing.

“Musta impressed ‘er.” Connor agreed, matching Murphy’s smile.

I grinned through the pain of leaving them. “Yeah, I guess so. I’ve put the store up for sale. I have a few offers, and the rest is going in storage.” I shrugged. “I should be ready to leave by the end of the week.”

“So soon?” Connor whispered, taking my hand back.

Murphy took the other. “Dis is our firs visit.”

I nodded. “I know. I have to go now though.” I couldn’t tell them, not here, why time was of the essence. “If I don’t, I may talk myself out of it.” They nodded their understanding, even if they didn’t really know the truth. “When you get out of here,” I knew there was a plan, I didn’t know the details, but Annabelle had given me enough to guess, “come home.” I stood up and the guard stepped forward. “Could I,” I looked up at the guard and pleaded with my voice and eyes, “could I say goodbye to them properly, please?”

The guard looked conflicted for a second, but then he relented. He knew my boys weren’t the type to harm me, or him. Stepping back to the wall, Connor and Murphy stood and walked to me. Wrapping me in their arms, I kissed them both goodbye. When I turned from them and walked away, I felt a part of me stay behind with them.

[ruffiorocks]

James Olsen Issues with powerful men and women (anti James, but only because i think i finally see the issue!)

OK, so after the last episode i have come to the conclusion James is and has been in need of some serious therapy since he first came to National City and even before then! I've started to see a pattern of jealously towards both powerful men and women. Essentially, people more relevant that himself.

Kelly stated that Lex has tried to kill James 8 times now.

We’ve also learned that Lex kidnapped and tortured James to get to Superman. 

That is a lot of bad s**t to happen to a guy and not have him work through it. That is guaranteed to cause some kind of issues! 

When James got to National City the first thing he did was get involved with yet another super, even though he clearly hasn't worked through the issues that being involved with the first super had caused. This was a super he could get involved with and influence, have some degree of control over.

After seeing his poor treatment of Kelly (before the end of the ep) im wondering if this is what has caused him to have issues with women telling him what to do or being his superiors. 

Hear me out (then you can tell me if you think im wrong,which is fine, each to their own).

So ever since James met Superman he has been in the shadow and the side kick of the most powerful alien on Earth. A man that James is even taller than! In addition to this James has been in the middle of a battle royale between the most powerful alien on earth and the most powerful man (Lex). James’ only role in this rivalry was to be kidnapped, tortured and basically nearly killed 8 times. James has basically been a damsel in distress. Maybe this is what led James to go and get himself a black belt. 

So, James has never been able to be on par with the men in his life while in Metropolis. Clark is Superman so no competition there, Lex is a billionaire genius, James cant compete and he worked for Perry White a powerful man in the media. Who is James here other than the guy who gets kidnapped? He isnt really relevant in the grand scheme of things and he just takes photos. (By relevant, i mean he is no different to any other civilian other than the fact he knows Superman).

Now James goes to National City, pretty much just after he has been kidnapped, tortured and been given 18 scars. The first thing he does? Gets involved with the shenanigans of yet another super and put himself in yet more dangerous situations with no way to really defend himself. By rights the guy should already have PTSD and should have been in therapy and having a looong get away somewhere quiet without super drama (pun intended).

In the very first episode after Kara meets him and says Cat doesn't like to be kept waiting, James replies with ‘whats she going to do? Fire me right after hiring me?’ His attitude towards his new female boss here is not a good start. A prelude to how he will later treat Lena as his boss? 

James also thought he was enough of a big shot to sit on the arm of the couch in Cats office while everyone else was standing up in respect and fear. One look from Cat was enough to nip that in the bud! James got a reality check here.

The first season he got annoyed that Winn knew Kara’s secret, like he was the only one that should have known it. He made a point to flirt with Kara even though he still had a girlfriend he hadnt broken up with.

When his girlfriend came after him he tried again with her while continuing his flirtation with Kara. He then got annoyed at Lucy for working at Cat Co, he broke up with her, he then got annoyed when she came back and Kara revealed herself to her. James was annoyed when Lucy said ‘and you’re back in Kara’s loft, nothings changed then’. Lucy wasnt willing to have a boyfriend who had no respect for her and outwardly flirted with other women in front of her. 

So what was James' issue with Lucy? A strong, independent woman who was career driven? Well, maybe that was exactly it. Remember how Lucy was/is a Major in the army with respect, status, is involved in alien, government, DEO business? She’s also freaking tiny and James is like 6 foot tall. he couldnt handle a small in stature girlfriend being above him in any way. James also stood up Lucy to help Kara and always put Kara first, the only one willing to put any work into that relationship was Lucy. James put Superman first, then Supergirl. Lucy Land deserved so much better than James. Lucy would later be made the head of the DEO and work with Supergirl and Alex, being relevant where James was just not. 

General Lane, even James’ girlfriends father was a man of more power , influence and relevance than James was. Out shined by both your girlfriend and her father. Even more out shined by your girlfriends sister since shes the Daily Planets top reporter. Who also happens to be the girlfriend of  his best friend and the man he will never outshine. 

Then we had Barry Allen show up and James was instantly jealous of the attention that Kara gave him. He was once again shown up (in his mind) by a man who was more powerful than he was. A man that could help Kara take down enemies that James couldn't help with. 

Winn, well Winn contributed more to helping Kara save the day than James ever did, both in season 1 and when he put on that ridiculous Guardian outfit. Winn was a smaller, none athletic nerdy guy who was 100xs smarter than James and way more useful. James in season 1 was a glorified love interest who didnt do much. 

When James did try to help in season 1 he managed to piss people off. He called Clark because he didnt believe Kara could handle Reactron because her male counter part couldnt. (proved wrong)/ He went snooping after Maxwell Lord and got kidnapped and got his ass handed to him again by a billionaire man more powerful and relevant  than himself. 

When James turned up at  the DEO he was told by Jonn to go home, he wasnt wanted there because he wasnt needed or relevant. 

Winn was asked to join the DEO and he left Cat Co to go and continue to be a valuable relevant member of the team. Winn was wanted and needed by the DEO, Jonn and Alex. 

Remember when Kara was on red K? James wanted nothing to do with her afterwards. Yes she absolutely assaulted him, but that just backs up my point of James’ experiences with someone far more powerful than himself and a woman to boot. 

When Lena turned up James was instantly suspicious, another powerful billionaire with more influence than himself. A woman he instantly judged for her family name, even though we learned last week she was kidnapped the same as him by the same guy. She was also the reason that Lex was caught. Lena did what Clark and James were incapable of doing. 

James became Guardian because he felt he had the same call to help people and he was ‘meant for this?’ No, James was watching everyone else he knew be relevant and was watching people more powerful than him have influence and was jealous. 

James demanded that Winn finish his suit because he couldn't stand being left out and watching the people whose job it was to deal with threats and were perfectly capable of dealing with them handle it.

James told Kara she had no right to decide who gets to be a hero, true, but then he thought he deserved to be one because he had a ‘call’ and he had a black belt. Go join the freaking police academy then! He couldnt stand Kara telling him no’ another powerful woman with more influence than him. Kara didnt want her human friend to get hurt, her untrained human friend. She did meet Oliver, Sara and CO, but they had years of intense physical and psychological training. They didnt get a black belt and put on a Halloween costume and think they were the s**t. Even Alex had to train for month before Jonn let her out into the field. 

Alex? Another powerful more relevant woman than James will ever be. She told James and Winn to tell Kara the truth and he didnt. 

James couldn't deal with Mon El, ‘I had to deal with the civilians’ ‘Mon El cares about you and himself!’ He didn't believe Mon El could be a hero and didnt want to give him a chance. What was his issue with Mon El? Another man more powerful than him, replaced him as a love interest and was welcomed at the DEO to be part of the team.  

Cat leaves James in charge of Cat Co, a job he has zero experience in. But he finally gets to be a man of influence, this shows in later seasons, especially with the COL story line. James has become a man that now has some influence and is more relevant, his words now mean something. But then Lena buys Cat Co and James just thinks he’s going to keep his position and he’ll continue to run things the way he has been and will give her weekly updates. Well she soon nipped that in the bud didnt she? He even said they didnt have an office for her. Well technically his office was still Cat’s and since Lena bought it it becomes her office. He was even rude to her when she asked where Kara was running off to and he got annoyed that Lena held a meeting without him. Sure she probably should have told him, but dont forget this is a man who had no love for Lena and she had no reason to like him, so maybe she wanted to meet the staff without James’ influence, so she knew what she was dealing with. 

This was clear example of yet another powerful, influential billionaire being more relevant and one upping James. To add to it she’s another woman who can now tell James what to do. 

James realized Lena was staying? Well he’ll just get romantically involved with his boss, that will keep his position and influence in tact.

James looked beyond annoyed when he touched Lena’s bare shoulder and she squirmed (yes squirmed) out of his grasp.

James was approached by the COL who saw something in him and wanted to work with him. James was so flattered by this he got involved with them without even thinking about it, leading to of course disaster!! 

Lena told James as his boss not to go and meet with the COL because she had booked him to debate with Ben Lockwood on TV, something that would have made more sense. But James told her she wasn't allowed an opinion on what he does because its work. He told this to his BOSS! She then had to pull rank on him and he couldn't stand the fact that a woman could tell him what to do. He ignored her and sent an inexperienced rookie reporter to do it instead.

James even got pissed at Lena because she saved him from going to prison for a long time for coming out as Guardian. Instead of thanking her he got mad and rejected her love. Another/same woman able to do something that he himself would never have been able to do. He was once again saved by a woman and someone more powerful than he was. A woman who supported his stupid decision to come out as Guardian in the first place. 

James gets dumped and decides he may have to look into the lead he tried to squash on his girlfriend. Take down the woman who dumped you? Your boss? Using her resources? 

James gets shot and his sister authorizes the use of a drug to save his life. He wakes up and is instantly disrespectful to her and tells her she just wants to tell him what to do and she should go home! 

OK so, i conclude from this that James’ traumas in Metropolis has given him serious issues. He is always being kidnapped by male billionaires and beaten up. He cannot stand that there are both alien and human women that are more powerful, relevant and influential than he is and have authority over him. He cannot stand being on the outside looking in, he has to get involved in whats going on even when he’s told not to and people dont want him to. His romantic interests always consist of women who have more power and influence than he ever will, whose thoughts, opinions and decisions actually matter in the situations the gang find themselves in. When those women tell him ‘no’ or pull rank on him, he even dumps them, tells them they cant tell him what to do or he makes them feel like they are in the wrong. 

He cannot stand that there are humans out there more relevant and useful than him (Winn) or aliens (Mon El).

James needs therapy, all of this trauma has turned him into this man that doesn't like female authority, cant stand men of more influence than him and has left him with a desperate need to be in the thick of the fight when in fact he has no business being out on the battle field at all. James’ time as the ‘dude/damsel in distress’ when he was with Superman has left him feeling weak and vulnerable and his masculinity has taken a huge hit. 

General Lane said ‘You surround yourself with special people, but that doesn't make you special’. Probably the truest words ever spoken to James. James is/was special in his own way, he should have stuck to being a photographer. Like a few episodes back when he got back into that again. All of the above is just James trying to be something he will never be.

Either that, or poor writing. You decide.

[peachscribe]

Explain to me how if you’re my guard why I’m the one always saving your life? Prince Nico to the rescue of royal guard Will Solace... maybe

i actually felt so inspired by this (after so long - have you forgotten about this already?) that i wrote this in one sitting. hard to believe since it’s an absolute monster (not really, but 5332 words is a lot to write in one siting)

it’s late where i am, and so im going to be bad and not review this like i should,, forgive me if things don’t make sense or if there are typos. perhaps tomorrow (later today) i’ll post the edited/revised version on ao3

without further ado:

“Well, this is certainly a sticky situation,” Will said, because he was at the moment stuck to a wall. A rather archaic trap, but effective, apparently.

No one laughed at his joke, but he figured that was fair. He wasn’t laughing either, but he was smiling like a lunatic. An unfortunate side effect of a dizzying concoction nerves and confidence born of escaping many sticky situations without too much trouble.

“Gentlemen,” Will said conversationally, casually trying to pull his sword arm out of the tar his entire front side was glued to. “I’m sure we can talk this out.” The scent of it was pure awful, burnt rubber invading not only the nostril that was fully submerged, but the free one as well. He was already mourning his natural scent of sawdust and daisies that he always thought made him seem quite fetching. Now he would smell like the lovechild of a (non-romantic) fire and one of those monstrous machines that were becoming quite popular with Prince Nico’s Uncle Hephaestus. Fabulous, really.

It seemed the nice gentlemen didn’t want to talk it out because one of them wrapped his filthy fingers in Will’s (previously) freshly washed hair, yanking him back and causing a wonderful tearing sensation to begin to take root in the skin and hair stuck in the tar and the skin and hair that wasn’t stuck in the tar.

“Where’s the prince,” he growled in his ear, making the phrase seem much more like a statement than a question.

“Interesting that you should ask that,” Will said, wincing when the man pulled harder and actually pulled Will’s face out of the tar. He wondered vaguely if his eyebrow had survived. “I’m starting to wonder as well.”

The man slammed Will’s face back into the tar rather harshly and then spat tobacco on the side of Will’s face that had previously been clean.

“We’re not going to get anything out of him,” one of the other men said. “He’s trained by the Royal Guard.”

“That is true,” Will pointed out. “And I could tell you wonderful stories of my times during training. You know, there was this one night when my cohorts and I snuck out-”

“Could someone please shut him up?”

“I wish whoever the brave soul is luck in that endeavor,” Will said because he’d just caught sight of a lingering shadow in the one window that was in his line of eyesight.

The same filthy man from before (Will recognized him by his pungent scent of garbage that had fermented in the sun for a couple of days) leaned in again, his foul-smelling breath mixing with the already foul air of the tar. “You got something up your sleeve, pretty boy?”

“You think I’m pretty?” Will asked just as the front door of the cabin exploded.

Chaos ensued, although much of it Will was unable to see. He heard the familiar growls and barks of Nico’s three headed wolf and the screams of the men that had been holding him, and he assumed enough.

When a heavy silence descended over the room and only the heavy breathing of the wolf heads remained, he ventured to speak. “Well, I must admit that you’ve saved me from a rather sticky situation.”

He heard a sigh. The sheathing of a sword. “How many times have you made that joke since getting stuck to the wall?”

“Only enough to be annoying,” Will responded, and in the quiet that followed, Will imagined that Nico was smiling. “Do you have a suggestion on how to free me from my current prison?”

“Mrs. O’Leary,” Nico said, his light feet moving about the room, “please take care of this buffoon.” Mrs. O’Leary, the previously mentioned three headed wolf, bounded over to Will immediately, her three pink tongues digging into the tar surrounding him and lapping it up like it was a particularly nice treat.

“So,” Will drawled as Mrs. O’Leary went to town on his tar-covered trousers, “how’d you spend your hours free of me?”

“The theatre,” Nico responded, followed by the swishing of rope, “followed by a tavern that serves the greasy foods that Persephone’s mother so hates.” More rope, followed by the casual sliding of dead weight on the wooden floor. “And then tracking you down.”

“How exciting.” Mrs. O’Leary had made quick work of his legs and had moved on to his torso. It was torture to resist laughing. “Tell me, my dear prince, was it worth it?”

Nico grumbled something unintelligible, and then seemed to purposefully lose himself in the work of tying up the culprits (all of which were still breathing, despite the drama they’d all fussed about it) and gathering them all together.

At last, Will was unstuck from the wall, and he stepped back, stretching out his neck and admiring the Will-shaped hole in the tar. Much still clung to the front of his clothes and the side of his face, but it was better than being stuck. Mrs. O’Leary propped her paws up on his shoulders and slobbered happily over his face.

Will was a relatively smart man, and so he kept his mouth firmly closed during this ordeal, although he kept an eye open and observed the prince.

He was standing, back straight and positively regal, against a wall. He had unsheathed his sword while waiting for Will to be freed and was polishing the pure black metal with a cloth that Will knew he kept in his bag. His face was tired although his body didn’t seem to be, and his hair looked as if he’d just rolled out bed, directly contrasting the awake posture. There was no crown adorning the messy curls, and Will suspected that was on purpose.

When Mrs. O’Leary had finished with Will’s face and had moved on to the side of his head where (hopefully) hair remained, Will dared to speak.

“I told these nice men that I was the prince, but they didn’t seem to believe me,” Will said, gesturing to the tied up men and crossing his arms as Mrs. O’Leary made his hair stand up only on that one side.

“You look nothing like my father,” Nico said without looking up from his sword. “It’s no wonder they didn’t believe you.”

“Really?” Will asked. “I’ve always thought my nose was quite similar to his.”

Nico finally looked up at him then, dark eyebrow raised. Will could see it took a lot for him to maintain that expression and not break into a fit of laughter, no doubt at Will’s expense. “It seems the tar has had a fight with your eyebrow,” he said, confirming Will’s worst fear.

“Who won?” Will asked, touching the offending eyebrow and immediately knowing the answer. Only a few hairs were left.

“The tar. Most definitely.”

“I’ve sacrificed so much for you, Prince Nico. How much more are you and your dastardly schemes going to cost me?” The was the second time in as many weeks that Will’s glorious (if he did say so himself) appearance had suffered because of Nico. First it was being forced to cut his long, luxurious hair to just around his neck, and now it was this. One whole eyebrow. Gone.

“It wouldn’t be so bad if you could save yourself, William,” Nico said, sheathing his sword once more and stuffing the cleaning cloth into his black leather bag. “What’s the good in being my personal knight when I’m the one saving you?”

“You say this as if the reason you’re having to save me isn’t that you are constantly putting me into bad situations,” Will quipped, and Nico scowled

“Is that any way to talk to a prince?”

“I suspect not, but I’m mourning the death of my best eyebrow, so you must excuse me.”

This is what made Nico’s face crack open into a crooked smile. Will thought it belonged right beside the stars. Nico ducked his face, quickly controlling his errant facial muscles and clearing his throat. “We must alert my father immediately concerning the kidnapping attempt,” he said, all prim and proper business as he straightened out his peasants’ shirt.

“These men will have to accompany us on our return to the castle,” Will responded, catching Nico’s stride in conversation and rolling with it. “Mrs. O’Leary will prevent them from leaving while we go and summon a carriage and a pull cart for the prisoners.”

They walked out of the cabin together, Nico having changed back into his princely attire and directing Mrs. O’Leary to stay behind. Will still wore his tar-stained white knight tunic, and he had picked up his golden sword from where it had been tossed when he had first entered the brawl with the unknown gentlemen. He was sure he was quite a sight with half his head all slobbered on and one whole eyebrow gone.

“It doesn’t look that bad,” Nico said, a sad attempt at reassurance tinging his voice as he pulled his golden crown out of his bag and fit it atop his curls.

“Well, if you’re saying that, then I know it’s bad.” He tried in vain to comb his wet hair covered in hellhound spit over the empty space, to no avail.

“You’re right. It’s hilarious.” Delivered in a deadpan. Nothing less of the prince, Will supposed.

“Speaking of bad,” Will said, eager to direct the conversation away from his missing eyebrow, “let’s discuss your habit of running away while in my care.”

“I’d rather not,” Nico grumbled.

“I’ve avoided telling your father,” Will continued as if Nico hadn’t spoken, “for your sake as well as my own, but I believe that it has become an excessive and needless problem.” Will cast a sideways glance at Nico as they entered the outskirts of the town. “The other knights say you’re perfectly behaved in their care. It’s only me you despise so much.”

“I don’t despise you,” Nico said, but that was as far as he got because they were then swarmed by townsfolk, demanding to know if it was truly the Prince of the Underworld standing before them. The reached out to him, but Will stood in front of him, hand on the hilt of his sword and eyes narrowed.

“This is indeed the prince you speak of,” Will said, making the line of the crowd push back a few steps. “And so you shall treat him with the respect he deserves.”

They all dropped to a knee or both knees, murmuring their prayers and praises for eternal life and prosperity. For Nico as well as themselves.

Despite Will being certain that Nico was quite embarrassed with this display, he jut his chin out and looked down his impressive hooked nose he’d inherited from his father. “Rise,” he said, and they did. Will stepped to Nico’s right side, hand still on his sword for the purpose of safety. Nico regarded the crowd with his deep set eyes, and then he spoke again. “My knight and I require a carriage for the purpose of returning back to the Underworld. We will also be needing a prisoner’s cart.”

The crowd looked around at each other. “We don’t have a carriage fit for a prince,” said a man with enough authority and sympathy in his voice for everyone to agree.

“A carriage fit for two people, whatever status, will be perfectly fine,” Nico replied, and the people sighed in relief. “The carriage will be returned, and a reward will be paid to its owner, as well as the rest of the town, for your hospitality.”

A chorus of praises rang out, and Will and Nico were escorted to the finest inn to await the preparations of the carriages and the prisoner’s pull cart.

Once they were alone enough, Will looked over at Nico, smiling broadly at him. “So you don’t despise me,” he prompted. Nico scowled.

“I’ll have your other eyebrow shaved off in your sleep.”

The men, after an interrogation conducted by Will that lasted far less of a time that he thought it would, were low-level criminals hired by an unknown person to kidnap the prince. For reasons unknown. What a great help they were, truly.

Will’s eyebrow grew back slowly and painfully, and he found himself checking its progress everyday in any mirror or flat surface of water when he had the chance. It had finally reached acceptable levels when Will was caught preening at his reflection in the waters of a fountain that stood in Persephone’s garden.

“One Narcissus is enough,” Nico said, and Will stood up from his perch on the fountain, saluting him and then breaking into a grin.

“At least I wasn’t making kissy faces at myself,” Will said, relaxing as Nico sat down on the fountain ledge and raised an eyebrow at him.

“You were far too close for my liking.”

“So what is to your liking?”

Nico’s eyes fell to his lap, and he turned away from Will, facing the fountain waters. He seemed almost like he had started counting the amount of golden coins that had been thrown into the magical waters.

“What brings you through the gardens in such a late hour?” Will asked, making Nico lose count of the coins.

“Well,” Nico said, still not looking at him and instead fiddling with his thumbs. “I was planning to sneak out.”

“Ooh,” Will cooed, sitting beside Nico at a safe distance for the both of them. “And you’re actually telling me as opposed to keeping me in the dark?”

“I’ll run now if you continue being strange about it,” Nico snapped, and Will laughed.

“Sorry, pretty prince. I’ll stay quiet.” Will mimed zipping his mouth shut. The pretty prince glared at him, pale face ablaze with a pink blush.

“There’s a festival Upstairs that I’ve been wanting to attend,” Nico continued, not breaking eye contact with Will, probably out of spite. “My father doesn’t like the idea because of the hitmen from that time-”

“Smart man.”

“-And I know he’s warned the knights about being persuaded by me-”

“This is true,” Will admitted with a nod. Hades had made the announcement earlier that day.

“-But I know that you have some things that you’d prefer my father not know,” Nico finished, expression blazing and determined. Will couldn’t help but laugh.

“Are you blackmailing me?”

���Yes,” Nico replied without hesitation.

“Prince Nico,” Will said, smiling a shaking his head, “if you wanted to invite me to the festival, all you had to do was ask.”

“So you’ll take me?”

“Sweet prince,” Will said, patting Nico’s cheek. “Absolutely not.”

Nico blanched, his perpetual scowl turning fierce. “But you just said-”

“That I’d be delighted to accompany you on a nice date through a festival, yes,” Will said, standing up and stretching out his limbs. “However, as much as you think I’m an idiot, I still believe in my duty to you and you father.” He offered a hand to Nico, which he took, and he helped the prince stand. “I swore to never purposely put you in harms’ way, and I plan to stand by that.”

“Why is it now that you choose to be valiant?” Nico asked, dropping his hand and shaking his head.

“Oh, little prince, I’ve always been valiant,” Will said, planting a hand on the small of Nico’s back and guiding him out of the gardens. “You’ve just never given me a chance to show off.”

Will took him back to his bedroom, making sure to keep his feet safely outside of the threshold. “Please sleep, Prince Nico,” Will said as Nico glared up at him. “Perhaps next year I can accompany you to this festival you so desire to attend.”

“Yeah, next year,” Nico scoffed, and then punched Will so hard in the jaw that stars danced in his eyes. He fell to the floor, and all went black.

Will woke up to a splitting headache and the familiar rumble of a carriage. Except the rumble was making his head rumble, and that was neither familiar nor pleasant. He groaned. His jaw throbbed.

“It’s good that you’re awake,” a nice voice said. Prince Nico. “We’re almost there.”

“You punched me,” Will said, opening his eyes and glaring over to Nico, who sat leisurely across from him.

“And cast a sleep spell on you,” Nico said, as if this wasn’t extremely offensive and criminal.

“For what purpose?” Will asked, sitting up and rubbing his aching jaw. He noted the warmth and weight of Mrs. O’Leary beside him with her heads resting in his lap. He gave her a pat.

Nico looked out the carriage window, scowling.

“I’ll find a way to turn this carriage around,” Will threatened.

“I’m never allowed freedom,” Nico muttered after a small space of silence. “Always guarded, always protected, as if I was never taught to defend myself.”

“You’re the only heir to an important kingdom - arguably the most important,” Will said. “What do you expect?”

“My father can walk outside of his kingdom, and he can do it without a bodyguard or a knight in shining armor.”

“Your father is also objectively terrifying.”

Nico’s sharp gaze turned on him. “Are you saying I’m not?”

“I must admit I’m biased,” Will said, and Nico rolled his eyes.

“Everyone is always preventing me from going out because of some mysterious threat,” Nico continued, shaking his head. “As if I won’t be threatened for my entire life. These things happen, and they happen, and they happen, and they never stop happening. And I’m told to cower in the face of things happening.”

Will pursed his lips. “What are you trying to prove, Prince?”

Nico turned his steady gaze to Will, all sharp angles and contrast. “That I’m not afraid to have fun.”

Having fun with Nico was probably the best thing that Will had ever semi-chosen to do. Nico was dressed in his peasants’ clothes, and he forced some on Will, too, and so they blended into the crowds of festival goers.

There were bright lights hung up on strings and stalls that glowed with the promise of prizes or food or both, and it was divine to hold Nico’s waist while attempting not to lose him in the crowd and pretend.

Pretend that they weren’t a knight and a prince. Pretend that they weren’t bound together by duty. Pretend that things were very different.

They took a break from the games at an empty picnic table, the spoils of their dominating the festivals games stuffed into cheap moleskine bags that they put by their feet. In front of them was a single plate of something fried and sweet with strawberry sauce, and already their fingers were covered in sugar and grease. Mrs. O’Leary sat upright, begging for a taste, and Nico let her lick three of his fingers.

“Now you know what you missed out on every time you abandoned me,” Will teased. “A good time with lots of laughs.”

“Oh, be quiet,” Nico said, swatting at the air. He didn’t look annoyed or angry, though, and in fact looked as though a smile was fighting its way to the surface.

“It’s okay to do that more often, you know,” Will said, lost in the pretend.

“What?” Nico asked, looking up from the plate of sugar. The smile was there, caught in the phase before its birth, right when it started to sparkle in his eyes.

“Smile,” Will said, pretending it didn’t take his breath away when the smile broke across Nico’s face. “It’s quite stunning.” Brighter than the festival lights, that’s for sure.

“And you wonder why I always ran from you,” Nico said, shaking his head and hiding his smile with another mouthful of the sugary sweet.

Will was still trying to figure out how to respond when someone yanked his head back and cold metal was pressed against his throat. Given that it was sharp and uncomfortable, Will guessed it was a knife. Nico stood, unsheathing his sword in the same breath as when the knife touched Will’s throat but more attackers surrounded the table. Mrs. O’Leary leaned close to the ground, growls low in her throats.

“Move and he dies,” said the person holding Will’s hair.

“What business?” Will asked, putting on his best imperial voice and tilting back his head to look his attacker in the eye. He was wearing a mask, a ridiculous one from the festival, and it wasn’t hard for Will to metaphorically look down his nose at him.

“We’re here for Prince Nico di Angelo of the Underworld, renowned dark sorcerer, heir to King Hades,” said one of the other attackers, also wearing a festival mask. That must’ve been how they were able to slip under Will’s radar, disregarding his distracted state.

“This is he,” Will replied coolly, and the group of attackers advanced. Nico opened his mouth, but Will shot him a look.

“The smaller one looks like him,” one of them commented, and Will rolled his eyes.

“We are wearing glamours,” he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “That one is my white knight, disguised as me in the case of this kind of event.”

The attackers shifted uncomfortably. “You’re lying,” said the man holding the knife to Will’s throat.

“Am I?” Will challenged. “See how quickly he drew his sword. See how he is ready to defend me although there are so many of you. He only stopped because I started talking.”

Will was sure Nico would slap him for this later.

None of the attackers seemed to be able to argue with his logic, but none of them were willing to take it at face value. The knife at his throat pressed harder. “Why would you expose your ruse if you are the prince?”

“I would like to survive the night,” Will quipped. The knife dug in harder.

“That’s not enough.”

“And I love him,” Will blurted out, acting as if the words hurt him to say out loud. They did, but in a different way than what he was portraying. He cast his eyes downwards. “I love him, and I would rather be taken than allow him to fall by your hands.”

The attackers laughed, and Will raised his eyes to lock gazes with Nico. He was surprised, he could tell, but Will didn’t bother wasting precious facial expressions when he was being so closely watched.

“Please,” he sobbed, squeezing his eyes shut. “Take me and spare him.”

“Don’t do this, Prince,” Nico warned.

“My only wish is for you to be safe, my love,” Will said, opening his eyes and leveling a look heavy with meaning at him. “Safe and happy.”

Nico seemed to be relaxing into his character. His sword hand dropped, and he leaned forward, pleading and open. “How could I ever be happy without you by my side to protect?” he asked, and Will actually felt his heart squeeze in response.

He turned his face away. “Do not make this harder than it has to be, darling. Let me go.” Nico was a really good actor. He looked as though his heart was breaking.

“What a show,” the man holding Will’s head snarled. He yanked Will up so that he was standing, knife still pressed against his throat. “Beck and Selina, stay behind and take care of the knight. The rest of you come with me.”

Will was paraded off, the knife coming off from his neck as they entered the crowded parts of the festival and taking its place at the small of his back. “Scream, little prince, and I’ll make sure your death is slow and torturous.” Will nodded silently.

He was unceremoniously shoved into a carriage, a blindfold tied around his eyes and a gag stuffed into his mouth. The tied his wrists behind his back and took away his sword. And then they laughed and talked about normal things, as if they were normal and not currently kidnapping someone.

About an hour passed (Will had counted), and then he was paraded off the carriage and into someplace cold, and then to someplace cold and dark, where he heard locks clicking and the laughter fading. He counted, and prayed Nico was okay.

A day passed on the floor of the cold cellar - surely it must’ve been a cellar with how cold and damp it was - with no change. Will was hungry, but not starving, and although he was cold, he wasn’t freezing. All free thoughts were spent praying that Nico had made it to safety.

He was less sure the more time passed.

Another day passed, and then another. He was dehydrated and weak and probably the worst situation he’d ever been in because of Nico. But he didn’t blame him. He only begged the gods that he’d made it home safe.

It was during the third day that Will was forced up and poked and prodded through hallways and up staircases until his was panting with the effort to keep his balance. And then a hand shoved at his back, and he was forced to catch himself with his knees on hard, cold floor.

“Remove the blindfold,” said a rasping, cold voice that fit right in with the atmosphere. The blindfold was removed.

The bright light of day was harsh on Will’s sensitive eyes, and he was forced to close them right after he opened them. Slowly, he opened his eyes again, though they watered and burned, and he raised his face to stare at his captor.

It was a man withering away. Centimeters from death, though it looked as if he was closer to simply turning to ash. His hair was long and gray and brittle, seamlessly blending in with his beard, which matched the color of his robes, which matched the color of his skin. The only hint that he was alive at all was the surreal glow of his golden eyes, disks of color pressed into a statue of a dying man.

He sat on a throne made of gold, and the rest of the room was a mess of black and white. But Will spared only a glance at that. He focused on the man’s eyes, defiant without saying a word.

“You’re glamour has lasted a long time,” the old man said, as if it was a joke.

“No less quality expected for a prince,” Will replied, his voice rough and grating without an ounce of water to smooth it out.

“Where is the prince?”

“You’re looking at him,” Will replied, and there was a kick to Will’s back that made him double over in an attempt to catch his breath.

“He knows you’re lying,” said the voice of the man who’d captured him.

“Luke,” the old man chastised, “let’s be nice to our guest.” The golden disks had never left Will. He knew this even though there were no pupils to speak of. “I will ask you again. Where is the prince?”

He was asking it so nicely, but Will felt the aura of power and dread. He wasn’t a fool.

“Perhaps you should listen to what I’ve told you,” Will said, catching his breath. “You’re looking at him.”

“Tell us where the prince is, and your life will be spared,” the man said, sounding bored.

An unexplainable hope barreled through Will’s traitorous heart, and he found himself saying: “The prince is here.”

The man sighed, waving a frail hand. “Take him away.”

The one called Luke hauled Will to his feet rather roughly, and then shoved him to the door. And then the door burst open, and Will whirled, kneeing Luke between the legs and diving to the side as Prince Nico barged into the room, slashing Luke with the knife so quickly, the boy had no time to dodge the blade as it tore open the skin of his face. Luke cried out, falling to the ground and pressing his hands over the bleeding gash.

Nico stood like a knight, black sword unsheathed and sharp face positively warrior-like as he stared down the man in the chair. The air crackled with power, and then Will laughed.

“I told you,” he said, and then Nico helped Will to his feet as he continued laughing. The man said nothing.

“I will be taking what’s mine now,” Nico said, throwing out a hand and making the shadows of the room circle around each other to make a portal. He was just about the push Will through when the man spoke.

“I will find you again, Nico,” he said, calmly, patiently. “And when I do, you will be giving me what I want.”

“You’ll find me again, Kronos,” Nico said, just as calmly. “But I’ll find you first.”

And with that, he pushed Will through the portal and then jumped in after him.

When Will woke up, Prince Nico was resting his head on the hospital bed, fast asleep even as he clutched one of Will’s hands in his own.

Will had been catching up on the nutrients he’d missed out on while in captivity, and on sleep, which he’d been doing most of the hours of the day. Nico had visited over the past couple of days, but this type of vulnerability was uncommon. Will nudged him awake.

“Hey, pretty prince.”

“You’re feeling better,” Nico grumbled shifting and rubbing his face with his free hand. Will noticed that he didn’t let go of Will’s hand, and he tried not to focus on that too much.

“You’re entirely correct,” Will said, voice quiet even though he had his own personal room. But it was still dark, and it felt wrong to speak too loudly. “I feel ready to take on a few hydras and perhaps some greasy food.”

“You’ll throw it all up,” Nico replied, his voice rough with sleep.

“You sure know how to talk sweet to me,” Will teased, and Nico looked away. “But you’re correct. I would probably throw up all the hydras.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Nico said, and Will laughed, keeping it low in his throat, closer to his heart.

“You should be more clear with what you mean.”

“You first,” Nico quipped back.

“That’s fair,” Will said reasonably. “I meant that hydra skin is so tough and an absolute hellion to cook, and so eating it at present would be-” He stopped, laughing again when he saw Nico’s scowl. “Kidding.”

“I don’t know why I saved you,” Nico grumbled, burrowed his face into the hospital blankets.

“Well, technically, I saved you first,” Will said.

Nico shifted so that he could see Will, and one of his starry smiles pulled at his lips. “Then that makes us even.” He squeezed Will’s hand, and Will’s heart skipped a beat in response.

“You’re entirely unfair,” Will whispered, and the smile spread over Nico’s face, lighting up his eyes and showing his teeth, almost against his will.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Will squeezed his hand and brought it up to his lips, where he pressed a kiss to Nico’s knuckles.

A beat of stunned silence. Nico’s face was blazing.

“And you’re calling me unfair,” Nico said. “What was that for?”

“Saving me,” Will said, kissing Nico’s knuckles again.

Nico blinked, his breath hitching. “And that one?”

“Because I wanted to,” Will said, pressing another kiss to his knuckles. “Because I meant it when I said I wanted you to be happy and safe.” Another kiss. “Because I meant it when I said I loved you.”

It was a confession. A dangerous one, and they both knew it.

But Nico just ducked his head, pulling their conjoined hands down to his lips, and pressing a kiss of his own to Will’s knuckles. “Because I meant it when I said I couldn’t be happy without you by my side.”

It was dangerous. It was probably looked down upon. But when they fell asleep again, dawn close and warm, their hands were still together, and smiles rested on their lips. The waking sun didn’t wake them, but it welcomed them with open arms.

thanks for reading!

[sweetfatale]

timeline events and shenanigans

This is more for my reference (since I got a few dates wrong sorry) but here’s a sort of timeline of relevant events and details in the No More Heroes/Sudaverse that Bad Girl may reference. I’ll be adding to it as time goes on and my girlfriend and I find more details and info. Note that I’ve played NMH1 and 2, but for everything else I’m baby and watched videos or read about them so I might be missing stuff. I’m also always up to discuss this or plot with these in mind! (ask and IMs are always open)

No More Heroes 1

Takes place in 2007.

Santa Destroy is an anarchy in southern California with its own currency (LB$), military (L.B. Army), and flag.

The UAA is founded by Sylvia Christel, started as a con job.

K-Entertainment is an assassination agency with an advertising agency as its front, where only high ranking assassins can get high paying assassination gigs. 

In Badman Strikes Back, Badman gets Greco to reveal to him that he kidnapped and tortured Bad Girl to near death with an electric chair sometime before the events of NMH1, attempting to mold her into a powerful killer, which Badman had a similar experience with, without “messing up her pretty face.” She came out of it traumatized (obviously), but with a need to kill and hurt others with her newfound power. According to him, it was her idea to join the UAA.

Sylvia and Bad Girl are implied to have a sexual relationship (at the very least) with official art where they are hugging, near kissing and lounging around in their underwear together. If not that, they’ve at least met before.

Bad Girl has a “secret base” in the Santa Destroy baseball stadium’s basement, complete with a chiller7 brand mini-fridge, an old TV, sitting area and a liquor cabinet. There’s also a conveyor belt that leads cloned men (likely criminals) strapped in leather from a cloning machine for her batting practice, and a pit of bodies right underneath it.

Makes sense she has her base there, her father having been on their baseball team way back when.

Travis had to pay 500,000 LB$ to fight her as part of the stipulation fee, but she picked the stadium. Members of the Santa Destroy Warriors baseball team (or clones who are dressed in their uniforms) fight him on the upper level, before he is allowed to enter the basement.

She fights Travis, who ultimately forfeits their fight. Travis wins by default, Bad Girl bleeding out and dying due to being impaled by his beam katana.

Bad Girl has had her manager, Greco, record all her fights and assassinations and send them to her father, seeking his approval. Badman watches the videos and is aware she’s involved in the assassination world, but never attempts to contact or find her.

Later in TSA, it’s revealed that Greco recorded her death and sent it to her father (apparently at her request) which sparks his want of revenge.

No More Heroes 2

Takes place in 2010, 3 years after NMH1.

The UAA evolves into a legit agency, taking over K-Entertainment basically, and the assassin ranks go public.

Assassins are all regarded as celebrities and their deaths are entertainment. They even have branding deals and sponsorships, and their contracts are now similar to modeling and acting agencies’.

Akashic Points are explained as portals/intradimensional gates/supernatural gateways leading to “isolated regions”, such as a Prison Island, Graveyard (a forest/graveyard area that’s basically a horror film setting), Housing Complex (a city in eternal sunset/twilight), and the Forest of Bewilderment.

Travis Strikes Again/TSA

Takes place in 2017.

With TSA’s Japan being so damaged in some areas, it’s implied the k7 ending where World War 3 happens is a reality. It would have happened in 2013.

Confirmed that assassinations and assassin battles were streamed via pay per view and dark web red rooms even after the UAA is dismantled in NMH2.

Aliens, superheroes, demons, psychic vampires, and Dracula are all confirmed to be real.

Superheroes apparently have their own rankings and are able to find crime to fight via an app(?), the Villain Autosearch System.

Found by Dan Smith (part of the Smith syndicate in killer7) after selling him out, Badman is given a chance to avenge his daughter with Travis’ location and a Death Ball to start him out with, after which he’ll likely be killed.

Badman finds Travis in a trailer in the Texan wilderness, intent on carrying out his 10 year long revenge plot (thanks dad). He’s come to kill Travis and to resurrect his daughter with the Death Drive MK-II video game console, which is said to grant any wish if you beat all its games. While fighting, they’re both sucked into the console and forced to start playing.

The US government has repurposed cloning technology to create a sort of 3D printer with the Death Drive MK-II and a “mother” machine (Death Drive AAA) to create copies of soldiers, weapons and anything else. Dr Juvenile planted bugs in its programming, preventing it from working. Her lover, Klark, warns Travis of clearing the games on the Death Drive MK-II, since it will reset the mother machine and clear it of bugs. 

As said by Klark, “The controllers for the DDMKII are loaded with a horrible gimmick. They read the player’s personal data at the DNA level, and create clones with increased abilities and power, for the purpose of creating powerful clone soldiers. These clone soldiers are installed with a special AI, turning them into murderous weapons. If the hardware could be sold all over the world, then data can also be gathered from around the globe.” So far, Travis, Shinobu, Badman and Bad Girl have all played the Death Drive and have contributed their DNA unknowingly. 

Travis and Badman clear all the games and the Death Drive AAA is reawakened and ready to be used. While Travis has the chance to destroy the mother machine at CIA headquarters when he travels there with an experimental Death Ball, he instead takes a detour and is able to talk to Jacket (Hotline Miami) and his mask personas, as well as Beard. Nothing really comes of this besides a connection with Jacket, and the Death Drive AAA is still operational post TSA and ready to create murderous clones. 

After beating the six games, the Death Balls are all gathered and summon a tiger god. Travis (being the protag) gets to make the wish, and wishes for Bad Girl to be resurrected. One of the Death Balls are found out to be a fake during the wish and she comes back as a dog.

Badman is determined to bring her back as a human, though admits he likes having her alive at least and her being a dog reminds him of when she was a baby. In the Bubblegum Fatale DLC the real Death Ball is found, fulfilling the wish and turning Bad Girl into a human. 

Bad Girl fights all the Death Drive game bosses (besides Juvenile), being able to talk to some one on one. Silver Face, a pro football star who killed all his girlfriends and went on the lamb, is unfortunately who she talks to the most and tries to relate to her before being killed. Ultimately, she rejects his attempts at “bonding.”

Between games, Travis, Shinobu, Badman and Bad Girl all hang around the campsite and trailer. Bad Girl drinks Travis’ beer and sits in his chair and calls him a fuckface. 

Misc (other games in the same universe that are canon in NMH)

Shadows of the Damned, Lollipop Chainsaw, killer7, Killer is Dead, Let it Die, The Silver Case, Flower, Sun and Rain, etc. happen around the same timeline. Hotline Miami is also in the same universe, but it’s unclear on the exact timeline.

San Romero (Lollipop Chainsaw) is upstate of Santa Destroy.

In Killer is Dead, the moon is inhabited (with royalty even), and in TSA mars is starting to be inhabited by clones. With two pretty major celestial bodies being inhabited (so far), space travel and exploration is possible as well as colonization. Also there are aliens already, so. 

“In killer7’s alternate take on the 21st century, all the nations of the world have signed a peace treaty disarming all nuclear weapons, banning international flight and perhaps worst of all, shutting down the internet. While much of the world is at peace, a violent terrorist group appears between the fracturing relationship between the United States and Japan, pulling the strings of some of Japan’s world leaders.” It’s reasonable to deduce that Santa Destroy became an anarchy as a result of the treaty and the encroaching WWIII.

[shadowedtalks]

Demons Keep what they are given. Part 9

"Princess?" she heard a soft voice and she turned, shocked at seeing who stood there, at the door. 

"My Fox? Is this you?" she asked standing, before rushing over with there conformation to hug them. She hadn't seen her personal guard in months. They were sent off to deal with an incredibly difficult task an when they returned they were kept in the healing ward due to extensive injury's, their for the two of them had been apart for a long time. 

"I am so glad you are okay!" Marcona called to them before gently releasing her guard an stepping back. her guard gave a gentle nod to her reaching up an brushing some hair back from her face, speaking soft an low threw their fox mask that adorned their face. 

"So am I, to see you without harm. I am sorry for leaving your side for so long. I've come to take you home. But we must hurry we don't have much time." 

"Im going home. Let me go an say goodbye before we leave." 

"Say goodbye? Princess, why would you tell your kidnappers you are leaving. Im good at fighting but not that good to fend of an estate. Much less one of demon's." 

"Kidnappers? What are you talking about? They found me a few days back outside his home, and have taken care of me while trying to contact the castle to get me home... I thought father sent you to get me." marcona spoke low with her guard to not rise concern to her room, wanting to continue to speak frank with fox for the time being an not as princess an guard should speak with each other.

 "That's incorrect. You were stolen from home and bought here to threaten the king." 

"Lord Oakwood wouldn't do that." she defended, an her guard gave a small thoughtful nod knowing how her princess could get when she has decided something about somebody. 

"If not him, then someone close to him is causing this, or someone who was nearly busted while they past threw this land an had to leave you behind to get away. regardless what ever option it may be you are still in danger here and we have to go and go now. They are most likely locking down the estate by now to try and find me." 

"You snuck in?" 

"Of course. An none would of been be the wiser if two hadn't rounded the wall last second in their finally patrol. You were taken from your home. Like I would ask nicely to have you back from the place where threatening letters are being sent from about your safety an the kings... Come on princess please we must go." her guard plead pulling her away from the door an to the open window gently looking to see the best way down quickly with them both, it was then that the door bust open and their stood Lord Oakwood and 2 guards. 

"Your not taking her infiltrator. Step away from the princess. Now." he growled out drawing his sword from his hip and pointing it towards them, his two additional guards doing much the same taking up defensive stances at the lords side. And she looked to her guard as they cussed lowly from beneath their mask.

Doing as they were to, they pushed Marcona behind them drawing out twin blades to protect an engage the threat before them answering with a growl to his demand, causing an allowing for a pause of confusion from the three at the door, before all three returned growls to them. Before Marcona could speak to defuse the situation, they engaged. 

Oakwood moved first an fox moved to put distance between them an marcona to keep her out of harms way, meeting him half way in a loud clang of metal, using one of her swords to block his an the second to slice toward his mid section to push him back so he couldn't push forward an had to pull away or risk harm. 

The other two guards stood at the ready looking for any kind of opening to join in an help their lord as the two continued to clash, push, parry, slice an repeat at incredible speeds. She had full trust in her guard but didn't want anybody harmed. an for now none were, till the guard to the left saw an opening an jumped for Fox only realizing their mistake last second as they twisted from Oakwood's powerful down clash to let their second blade slice cleanly threw a exposed portion in their armor.

The scream that came from them caused everyone in the room to move. The second guard jumped forward to help as Marcona ran forward to the two dead locked in crossed blades. 

"Stop this please! Fox is no threat Lord Oakwood!" she called out as the second guard moved to hold her back an she squirmed in the guards hold. "Let me go!" she yelled an in the next second she was released by the guard as they narrowly avoided Both of foxes blades that bared down on them, leaving Oakwood stunned momentarily in the middle of the room, an then she was pressed into the back of her guard as they stood protectively in front of her both blades poised in a low angle but taught an ready to shift at a seconds notice.

Shifting back from the two still seen as a threat. It was Lord Oakwood that had broken the silence, his growl very heavy in tone directed towards Marcona who was still somewhat hidden from view. "Speak, before I put them to death!" 

"W-wait! Fox is my personal guard from home! They have been severely injured for a while. They just came to get me! They mean no harm to you, me, or your people!" she countered quick in her panic looking over their shoulder to him. 

"By disarming my guards, jumping the wall, an cutting my guard so they can no longer fight, I don't think so!" he countered an stepped a single step forward. Her guard tensed an she spoke again in her quick panic. 

"Lord Oakwood please listen for just a moment! They said I was taken and brought here to threaten my father. I know its not true but please lower your weapon! Fox believed I was in danger, they defended themselves that's all! Please we have been separated for a long time, but I know them, I know what they would do and... They are just doing their job!" she plead defending fox moving this time, in spite of her fear, as she stood between the two her arms spread out blocking them from one another. Her guard listened to her pleas, an with a cleaning whip of the blades, both weapons were put away an hidden on wherever Fox keeps them on their body. 

Looking to Lord Oakwood expecting him to do much of the same, if he wished to keep grace with the princess. He took longer to comply but gave in, he sighed an lowed his weapon. "Fine." 

she breathed a deep sigh lowered her arms, an looked to Her guard then nodded. "Its okay I won't tell." Fox nodded and moved removing their mask. 

Behind the mask was a beyond beautiful woman, rivaling the looks of an immortal. her skin was clear and the perfect shaded color of peach porcine with no blemishes. Her eyes a vibrant Green and her hair a soft Fire Orange hidden under her hood, sure to look like real flames in the sun. An she looked dead ahead at Lord Oakwood her gaze un wavering, not afraid of him or his presence, as she stood tall. 

Marcona took that moment in introduce the two who had just been locked in a even fight. "Lord Oakwood this is Cardinal... Otherwise known as The Fox, my personal guard." she introduced them and cardinal nodded to him. 

"Pleasure," past the soft greeting cardinal began explaining what was going on. "For the past 2 weeks we have been scrambling to find the princess and for the last week we have received letters from your estate boasting about having her locked away and supposed threats to the king of the princesses safety," she took a minuet to look to her princess. 

"I acted independently, they wouldn't let me leave because of my condition, despite it being healed for many days now, to come and retrieve the princess. it had to be me simply for the reason being it was my duty that had been left unfulfilled for so long, allowed for her capture an Kidnaping in the first place. I snuck in to take her back believing her safety was in immediate danger." she explained moving and standing at Marcona's side. 

"I have sent several letters to try and get her sent back home safely not threatening anyone. I wouldn't let harm befall the princess." 

"Then there is a problem on someone's side with letter swapping... Someone brought her here. Someone aims to do her harm and to do damage to the ties of your loyalty with the castle an its current King." Cardinal stated it much like it was fact she had confirmation of rather then speculation. 

Marcona could only gave a deep sigh. "This is what I was afraid of. Someone aiming to do damage to our ties between lord Oakwood and my father. I can't let this continue to happen." marcona looked to Lord Oakwood an he shook his head slightly. Remembering his words from breakfast, she turned to cardinal. facing the female an giving full attention. 

"I have missed you dearly... But I need you to return home immediately. He will do me no harm and once he has proper word will get me home safely." she explained moving to gently cup one of cardinals cheeks as cardinal looked at her worried with what marcona was saying yet gave into the indulgence offered to her leaning into her palm giving a deep sigh as finally her eyes slipped closed letting her voice rumble out low just for Marcona's ears. 

"I am sorry, again for leaving you alone for so long." 

"Its not your fault... Father sent you alone to deal with a beast teams of men couldn't deal with." 

"Thank you for your care. I am happy to guard you." 

"I know an you will do anything for me. That's why you are going home... Find out everything you can about the story being told back home. Don't get into trouble over it an don't let others know fully why you are looking into what is being told and let us know what is going on." To that cardinal nodded as the two parted from each other. 

"As you wish. Any time limit?" 

"Of course not. I trust you and I know you will not over look anything." 

"Right away then princess." 

"Best of luck to you cardinal.... Return word as soon as you feel you can." Cardinal nodded and adorned her mask once again, before going and slipping out the window and was over the wall an gone within seconds. As the princess gave a deep sigh again the two guard accompanying lord Oakwood finally moved to get up leave probably to visit the infirmary.

[hvllevator]

Safe ; Jeon Jungkook, mafia au (part three)

paring: jeon jungkook x female reader

words: 2,285

genre: angst, fluff, mafia!au

summary: Jungkook tried keeping you safe, but not everything goes exactly as planned.

a/n: thank you for still reading my story. btw i hope my writing doesn’t confuse you, this is mainly the reader’s point of view but i also put jungkook’s thoughts and insights. this fic is turning so soft im so ???

masterlist | part one | part two | part three | part four

(gif not mine)

"Y/N!" Jungkook jogged towards you once he saw you standing beside Jimin. He engulfed you in his arms, holding on to you for dear life, scared that if he let you go, you'll disappear. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He pulled away from the hug to examine your face to see if there was any changes, "You're not, thank God."

Jimin drove you to one of their old hideouts, it looks surprisingly clean and neat considering it was old. From the outside it was a normal looking modern home, and on the inside it didn't change much, it looked cozy and warm. Just like a regular looking home. You guessed this is where they head to, when things got rough with their business. You almost let out a laugh at his frantic state but you understand that he was just worried for you so you kept your mouth shut and rubbed his back in comfort, "Calm down. I'm fine, Jungkook."

Jimin cleared his throat as if to signal he was still here. Jungkook completely removed himself from your arms and just stood in front of you. He flashed you a smile before turning his attention to Jimin, "Call the others, tell them there's an emergency meeting in thirty minutes." was all he said before Jimin nodded and took his phone out and started typing. You felt a warm hand intertwine with yours "Come with me." Jungkook started tugging your hand, bringing you along with him to wherever you were going.

Jungkook brought you to an empty looking bedroom. The room was complete with what you would usually find in a bedroom. You took your time scanning the place, it felt nice being here as if it brought you comfort. "Whose room is this?" You walked forwards, setting yourself on the bed which was super soft you almost sunk in it.

"This is where we will be staying for the mean time while we sort out the mess that's been going on." He followed your steps, situating himself beside you on the bed. "We have to isolate ourselves from a few people," he took a deep breath before continuing, "The, uh, rival mafia or also known as The Vipers has found out about you. They know you're my wife, and they found out who your father is, which makes it more interesting for them." He grabbed your hand as he saw your expression, he never meant to drag you into this mess. He loved you dearly and the last thing he wants is for you to get hurt again. Jungkook swore to protect you with his whole life, and that's what he's planning to do. "I'm not going to sugarcoat anything, they're trying to capture you. But I won't let that happen, not again. I can't stand not being able to see you for so long. I love you so much, Y/N. You're my entire world and I don't want to lose you again." Jungkook's bottom lip was almost trembling and the sight made you shook, this man in front of you was crying because of you.

"You didn't lose me, Jungkook." You whispered, scooting closer towards him, "I'm here now, yeah? I'm sure nothing bad will happen." You looked at his hands that were placed on his lap, reaching for them and taking them into your own. "Thank you, for everything you're doing for me."

Jungkook stared at the lovely features of your face, his gaze falling onto your lips, badly wanting to know how it feels against his, "Can I kiss you?" He blurted out, but feeling shy once he actually let it out. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn-"

"Yes." Your response made him freeze but as soon as it processed in his head, his hand carefully made its way towards your cheek, gently caressing it.

"You're so beautiful." Jungkook whispered, feeling his breathe fan against your face, signaling that his face was so near yours. You closed your eyes, awaiting for what was going to happen next. This is the first time you and Jungkook will kiss, seeing as your relationship with him grow fonder. You felt him leaning closer to you, until you felt his lips attach to yours. The kiss was soft and sweet, this was Jungkook's first time to ever be this intimate with you and he was surely not going to let this moment go to waste. His other hand made its way to your waist, holding on to you lightly. You placed your hands on each side of his shoulder, sighing, feeling at bliss.

You both pulled away, catching your breaths. Running your hand through your hair, you glanced at Jungkook but he was already looking at you. He smiled adorably once he saw you look away from his intense gaze, "Cute." He mumbled.

A knock on the door pulled you away from your short trance, "Come in." Jungkook said loudly enough for the person behind the door to hear him.

The door was pushed open and it revealed a man with messy dark hair, "Jungkook, meeting's starting." was all the man said that had Jungkook stand up from the bed.

"I'll be out soon." The man nodded and then left the room, Jungkook faced towards you, "I have to go now." he placed a kiss on your forehead, "Don't go anywhere, okay? This house is safe, but still don't wander off. We''ll be in the room at the end of the hall. I love you." and with that he left the room with you still processing about the event that just unfolded.

An hour has passed by and Jungkook was still not returning, so you thought that the meeting was probably heavily important that it has to take so long. You were getting hungry as it was already dinner time so you thought to head out into the kitchen and prepare yourself a meal.

You pushed open the door to the bedroom you were in, looked both ways to the halls and realized nobody was roaming around so you stepped out and head towards the kitchen, if you remember where it was. Recalling from earlier where you passed it by, you made your way to the kitchen.

Once you saw a fridge and a counter,  you figured this was indeed the kitchen to you head forwards and opened the fridge, seeing that it was empty made you frown. You were so hungry but Jungkook wasn't here and you didn't know if it was safe to order food so you tried discarding your hungry away.

A cough from behind you, startled you, making you shut the fridge door and look to where the sound came from. A man who you don't recognize was standing behind the counter. "Looking for something?" He rasped out as if he just woke up from a nap.

"I-I'm just looking for something to eat." You let out, somehow feeling intimidated by him.

He let out a snicker as if he was laughing at you, "Princess," He started, the pet name giving you shivers, "we just got here, out of emergency because they are after your dumb ass. I don't even know why we waste our time trying to protect you." He grumbled the last part but I heard it loud and clear.

My entire body froze as I heard those words leave his lips. Is that what everyone is thinking of you? Jungkook told you that his men would never harm or disrespect you because they know you're in the high rank, seeing as you're Jungkook's wife but that doesn't necessarily mean that they had to like you and you understood that but your heart felt heavy knowing you brought so much stress, pain and anger to his men. You didn't mean to be such a burden to them, to anyone.

"Y/N?" Jungkook silently pushed the door open to the room where you were supposed to be. Seeing that the room was completely empty, made him panic although he knows he shouldn't be. He took a deep breathe before heading back out, trying to find your location in this home. He heard your voice echo through the halls and he followed where the sound brought to, seeing you standing before one of his men, hearing you utter out an apologize. Jungkook was beyond confuse as to why you're apologizing so he decided to step closer, making sure not to make his presence announced.

"You damn better be! Do you know how much Jungkook pushes us around, especially when you fucking got kidnapped, we had no rest at all trying to save your fucking ass." His men spat out, pointing a finger at you and the sight made Jungkook furious.

Jungkook's loud footsteps echoed around the room, making the both of you turn your attention to him. His jaw was clenching and his fists were formed into a ball, looking ready to punch the life out of his ally. The sight made you terrified, you have never seen Jungkook so agitated before. "How fucking dare you speak to her that way!" He yelled out. "You, out of all fucking people should know you should treat her with respect whether you like it or not." Jungkook stepped between the two of you, holding onto your waist. "In case you weren't informed, I'm your boss, and she's my wife. That makes her your boss as well. Do you understand?" He asked but he didn't get a response in return, "I said, do you fucking understand?"

"Y-yes, sir." The man spat out. You didn't utter a word as you did not want to draw anymore attention to the scenario that was currently happening.

"Apologize to her." Jungkook sternly let out. The man seemed hesitant to do this, as he actually meant what he said.

"Sorry, Y/N." He said through gritted teeth, this made Jungkook roll his eyes at how childish he was behaving.

"You better be glad you're one of my best men. The next time this happens, I'll fucking murder you in your sleep." Jungkook's arm left your waist and took your hand instead, tugging you with him to your room. He let you go once you were alone, he sat at the edge of the bed, falling against it to lie down. "Lie with me." You heard him mumble quietly.

You gently made your way to the bed, lying down beside him, facing the ceiling. He put his arm on your waist, pulling you close to him, you placed your head against his chest, snuggling close to him. Feeling him rub your back gently made you let out a small smile. "I'm sorry about him." He whispered.

"It's fine, I honestly feel like this is all my fault, you shouldn't have lashed out like that." You murmured back, feeling guilty for everything that happened.

"No baby, don't let his words get to that pretty head of yours, you're not a burden. You're our main priority. Especially mine, of course." He smirked, pressing his lips on top of your head. "You're my entire fucking galaxy. Y/N. As cheesy as that sounds, it's true."

"Jungkook." Your heart was hammering against your chest, somehow feeling nervous.

"Yes, my love?" He hummed out.

"I love you." You whispered. You felt his hand stop at your back, you glanced up to him, seeing him already facing you with wide eyes. "What?" You asked.

"You- I- just- fir- wow." Jungkook let out a shaky breath, "Fuck, that's so nice to hear, say it again." He grinned widely making you giggle.

"I love you, Jeon Jungkook. Thank you for saving me, thank you for protecting me. That means the world to me." You yelped as he grabbed your frame, throwing your legs over him so that you were straddling his thighs.

"I love you, too, Jeon Y/N." He held onto your thighs, rubbing circles on it. You leaned towards his face, and wasted no time pressing your lips against his. He groaned at the sudden action but he was not complaining. He swiped his tongue on your bottom lip, asking for entrance and you allowed him to, opening your mouth wide, letting him push his tongue in and let it roam your mouth. You accidentally moved forwards, making your hips grind into his and he gripped your thighs at this. "Shit, baby." He whispered against your lips. "Let's stop for now, yeah?" Jungkook breathed, "It's not that I don't want to, because trust me, I do. I won't be able to stop if we keep going and I think it's too soon, do you understand?"

You nodded, pecking his lips lightly. "How was your meeting?"

Jungkook's lip formed into a thin line, letting out a small sigh, "I don't really wanna talk about it. I'll tell you some other time. Let's just get some rest, it's been a long day."

You didn't want to push him any longer so you got off his lap, changing into comfortable clothes into the bathroom before heading back into the bed where Jungkook was lying on the bed with his shirt already discarded on the floor. You glanced at the bedside table, seeing a small meal prepared.

"I heard you were starving so I called someone to prepare food for you, eat up, baby." You consumed the meal that was deliciously prepared for you. You tucked the plate in the bathroom, figuring to just bring it out tomorrow morning. "Come here." He called for you. Making you come towards him. He wrapped you tightly around his arms, the usual way he holds you. "Sweet dreams, baby girl, I love you." He whispered as your eyes slowly drift into a peaceful sleep.

"I love you, too, Jungkook."

i honestly don’t know about this part but???? this series will probably have 4 or 5 parts in it before it’s done, hope you liked it! give me feedback if you want

[sherzasboss]

Tony Stark

Given everything else I’ve posted in the last couple days, I gotta. First thing first.

Tony Stark pre-Afghanistan? WAS AN ASS. He was, honestly, pretty much everything his anti’s accuse him of being even post-Afghanistan. Womanizing, irresponsible as hell, etc. Yeah. Not really that good a person, TBH.

The thing is, and his anti’s will deny this to their dying breaths, but Tony got a wakeup call, and from thenceforward, he did his damndest to become a better person.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? First off, it’s made REALLY clear that Tony had, at best, a contentious relationship with his father.

Now, to be fair to Howard, he’d seen some shit. Been eyeball deep in it, too. And back in the forties, fifties, and sixties, the mental health industry was … more quackery than it was anything else. And on top of that there was a serious stigma attached, especially for men, to appearing in any way ‘weak’ or lesser, so yeah. Not fun for Howard. And it’s also possible that some of what he pulled with Tony was deliberate, in an attempt to protect Tony, as ass-backwards as that might have been. Because as a weapons maker/dealer, Howard would have had a shit-ton of very powerful enemies who WOULD NOT have hesitated to kidnap or worse Howard’s beloved son and heir. If there was a public perception that Howard found Tony wanting or otherwise didn’t give a shit about him, it would have lessened his value as a target. Or so Howard probably hoped, if he was indeed pulling stunts on purpose.

Then Tony becomes an orphan at either seventeen or twenty-one, depending on which movie timeline you’re working with. And Stane is there. Given what came later, I have to think that Stane deliberately encouraged the worst of Tony’s behavior because it meant Tony wasn’t paying attention to SI and what Stane was pulling.

Which gets us to IM 1. It is made clear in the movie that Stane hired Raza and co to KILL Tony, and that it was their call to not. Given that Tony was responsible for a large percentage of SI’s innovations … I have to wonder. WHY did Stane decide to kill the golden goose?

My answer? Tony picked up on the illegal sales. I’m very sure he didn’t know how bad it was, or who was doing it, but I’m willing to bet he found out about a bombing somewhere with SI stuff that he *knew* for fact hadn’t been sold to anyone in the area and went ‘ok, something fucked up is going on. I’ma find out WTF is going on and then do something about it’ Given that, at the time, Stane was his mentor and business partner, I’ll even bet Tony mentioned his discovery to Stane because it would not have immediately occurred to Tony that Stane was the source. At that point, Tony became a liability that needed getting rid of.

Tony’s reaction to Everheart’s reveal was, therefore, less about ‘wait, this shit is happening at all?’ and more about ‘That much shit? There is no way some warehouse monkey can divert THAT much, not to mention all the shit I saw when Raza had me. This is way higher up the ladder than I thought … wait. Shit. STANE.’

And from there, Tony started doing everything in his power to undo what had been done in his name. Did he fuck up in the process? Hell yes. Sometimes even when he was in his whole, right mind (his birthday party does not count as such an incident, given he was less than three days from dying of heavy metal poisoning. At that point, his decision making capacity was shot to shit). Like, you know, giving out his address and basically double-dog-daring a terrorist to come kick his ass. What. The. Hell. Tony. Not your brightest moment, bud.

And lets make it REALLY clear that becoming a terrorist is in NO way an appropriate response to being blown off for … well, anything. Tony bears exactly ZERO responsibility for Killian’s decision making process on that front.

And while we’re on who bears fault for what … can someone PLEASE for the love of god explain to me WHY Ultron gets blamed solely on Tony when there were the following factors/fellow guilty parties?

1) Wanda and her mindfuckery

2) Bruce, who helped with the programming

3) That. Goddamned. Scepter. and the FUCKING MINDSTONE.

4) The power surge from Mjolnir

And while we’re at it, can someone explain to me why Steve, in Civil War, seems to think Tony either wrote the Accords or has the power to enforce them or … I dunno. Be anything other than a messenger of ‘well, this is a thing.’.

Yeah, Tony signed them. Which says to me that the Accords did NOT allow for the Avengers to become *anyone’s* attack dogs. Because Tony would quite literally be the last one to be okay with that shit. He is not, remember, a Team Player. He fought tooth and nail to keep Iron Man out of the clutches of anyone but himself. There is no way in fuck he would then sign on to become a government lackey/attack dog. Just no.

Yes, things went to shit regarding Bucky. There was definitely some fuckery going on, and in more than one place. BUT.

No one knew, at first, that Bucky hadn’t been responsible for the bombing. All anyone knew was that the Winter Soldier (regardless of who he had been before he got twisted into said Soldier) was seen in the area etc. Even if god and everyone knew Soldier was Bucky, it was in everyone’s best interests to bring Bucky in, because seriously, even without the activation words in play, Bucky was (very understandably) more than a little fucked up and NEEDED HELP. Especially if he was (as seemed to have happened from the point of view of the people in the movie) falling into and out of the Soldier’s mindset and (apparently) committing acts of mayhem and terrorism.

If things had gone right, minus the fuckery … yeah. Bringing Bucky in was imperative.

And yes, Bucky Barnes is innocent of Soldier’s actions. I don’t even begin to argue otherwise. Unfortunately for him, from the point of view of his victims/survivors of his actions … well. It was his face. His hands. His body.

And I personally defy ANYONE to watch the brutal, hands-on murder of a beloved parent - because whatever Tony’s thoughts on Howard might have been, he clearly loved his mother - with the ‘person’ who executed said murder standing not five feet away and NOT lose their shit. Absolutely no one is going to be capable of calmly, analytically going ‘No, he is not in fact responsible. That is on HYDRA’.

And no, Tony was not, in fact, trying to kill either Bucky or Steve. Beat their asses to kingdom come? hell yes. Kill them? Fuck no. We’ve all gotten a damn good look at the firepower Tony packs in his suits. If he’d wanted either man dead, Super Soldiers be damned, they’d be dead. He’s not shy about deploying his firepower even at close range to himself. Remember that Jonah moment in Avengers? Yeah. So no, he didn’t want them dead.