#too scared to put this in any other tags but you know it's blind channel rpf 😅

[theflyingfeeling]

sooooo here's a bit of Olli/Allu something I wrote shortly after Emma Gaala 2024. I'm probably gonna regret posting this because 🫣 but I just reeeeeeaally love how this one turned out 💔

~

i.

[in the bedroom]

The tinkle of her earrings. The clack of her high heels against the laminate flooring. The click of a lipstick case closing. The beep of an incoming message, informing their cab has arrived.

It’s all too loud for Aleksi to handle, deafening in the middle of all that silence. He’d rush out of the house to escape it, but he’s still not wearing any shoes. 

He stares at the two pairs by his feet. The other is white, spotless, unused (unloved). The black leather ones Olli once said looked cool. 

He chooses the white ones.

ii.

[in the cab]

Sleet on the glass. Streetlights blinding him through the glossy view. The reds and the yellows tinted dark through the black hue of the backseat window. The back of the driver’s headrest becomes blurry, so Aleksi rubs his eyes.

They don’t talk, but that’s nothing new. She’s on her phone or stares out on her side of the car, at her side of the world. Aleksi stares at his own and wonders if hers is as gloomy as his.

Only a small Mercedes, yet the entire Grand Canyon between them. A spacey tour bus, yet Aleksi was always drawn to Olli like a magnet. It’s laughable, and the others do laugh at it, do make fun of them, and Aleksi ignores it, because what else was he supposed to do. Olli laughs along, because of course he does, because he isn’t stuck in the crumbling ruins of a relationship he’s too cowardly to abandon before it collapses on him. 

The Mercedes drives away, but the Grand Canyon stays.

iii.

[on the red carpet]

His new shoes soaked from the first puddle on his way to the venue. His tie like a rope around his neck so he rips it off and drops it in the bin by the door. The champagne glass cold against his hand, icy like the look in her eyes before she turns to the cameras.

Olli would’ve hated it, the flashing lights and the empty questions, would have rolled his eyes at them so only Aleksi could see, and then turn back to give the photographers the most stunning picture any of them would take that evening. She hates it too, though she doesn’t mind hiding it, and (selfishly) Aleksi lets her fake it for them both.

Her hand slithering around his arm, although he’s the snake with the way he wants to slither himself free from it, and with the way his mind is poisoned with guilt and disgust, and with the way he almost sinks to the ground when someone wearing Olli’s cologne walks past them. 

He was going to need another glass of sparkly wine to get a hold of himself (and to hold something instead of her hand).

iv.

[at the gala]

Joonas’ eyes staring at him from across the table are full of questions Aleksi can’t answer. He’s worried for him, Aleksi knows, but he doesn’t need Joonas’ judgement on top of his own.

“If there’s anything on your mind… you know you can tell me, right?” Joonas said the other day, and Aleksi appreciates the sentiment, but hell would freeze before Aleksi could tell anyone what was on his mind, never mind it’s a one-word answer.

Besides, as long as he leaves it all unsaid, he can still pretend it’s not true. If he keeps quiet, he can still convince himself he’s a good, loving boyfriend who’s not in denial about his feelings for a friend. He says nothing, so nothing ever happened. 

He’s confident about it for about three seconds. Three seconds, and then he notices the text message.

You both looked so good on the red carpet

Three seconds from that, and Aleksi’s thoughts are already somewhere else. 

∞

[in a hotel room]

Heavy breaths. Warm hands. Eyes as dark and terrified as Aleksi’s own. 

His moans. His mouth. His greedy fingers sinking into Aleksi’s hair. Aleksi has no energy, no willpower to stop them.

It happens, and Aleksi lets it happen. It happens, and it’s incredible in all the wrong ways and terrible in all the right ways. It happens, and it’s the best (and worst) thing that ever did happen. 

Olli smells of vanilla and hotel room soap. Somehow the scent is strongest in his neck, so that’s where Aleksi buries his nose and leaves the rest of his tired kisses before they fall asleep.

Olli lets him, so Aleksi supposes he’s not much better than him.

v.

[in the bathroom]

He stares at the text until he can’t see it anymore, until it becomes a blur and mixes with everything else in the message thread (pointless pictures and reckless I-miss-yous at three in the morning). 

‘You looked so good’, but not as good as you did that night, sweaty and breathless next to me. ‘You looked so good’, but not as good as you did when you climbed over me, pinned me down, sank inside me. ‘You both looked so good’, yes, she’s a goddess and you’re every bit as divine as she is, and I deserve neither of you.

And neither of you deserve me, the lowest scum of the earth for playing with you both like this. 

“Ale?” 

He can’t stop his breaths coming out in short gasps and choked sobs. 

“Ale, is everything okay? Should I get–”

“Don't.”

“Can you unlock the door, then? Please? Aleksi, I’m getting worried here. Have you taken something?”

He’s still sobbing when Joonas walks in. The spikes of Joonas’s jacket are rough against his cheek.

This time, Joonas asks no questions, not even with his eyes. There’s only oh, Aleksi, and I wish you’d just tell me already, but the tone isn’t demanding.

“Tomorrow,” Aleksi promises.

vi.

[outside]

Joonas redoes Aleksi's eyeliner and takes his hand. It’s no longer sleeting outside, but Joonas still wants his umbrella from the cloakroom. 

Aleksi reads the text again and squeezes Joonas’ hand. 

I wish you were here.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Joonas offers him a cigarette from the packet he made Aleksi fish from his pocket for him. He takes it and remembers Olli’s drunken cigarette kisses on a summer night in Oulu. 

I wish you were here. 

“Fuck, the wind is cold tonight.”

Aleksi agrees. He listens to Joonas’ nail decorations clink and thinks of Olli’s chain necklace on the bedside table next to his own.

I wish you were here.

“Gonna need another drink to warm up. I hope they’ll have some good whiskey.”

Olli’s lips tasted like whiskey once. Aleksi no longer remembers where it was, only that his own did too the morning after.

I wish you were here.

“Aight. Let’s get back inside?”

Aleksi almost gets too lost in the memory to answer. 

“Yeah, I’m right behind you, just… just need another moment.” 

Joonas looks at him almost long enough for Aleksi to follow him after all (or perhaps open his mouth and tell him everything right there on the street), but leaves eventually. The second he’s gone, Aleksi opens Olli’s text again.

The wind is blowing right through him, but it’s not enough to stop his fingers from moving along the keyboard.

I wish you were here.

That wasn’t the whole truth, and he knew Olli knew that. Hell, sometimes he felt as if the whole fucking world knew that, probably better than he himself did.

I wish you were here, so that we could snicker at Joonas speaking out of his turn in interviews. I wish you were here, so I could find your hand under the table and intertwine our fingers until someone would walk by and we’d get too scared. I wish you were here, so I could whisper you a joke only we find funny. I wish you were here, so I could take you somewhere no one can see us and bite your neck so that everyone will see it afterwards. I wish you were here, so I could take you anywhere else but here, because I can’t take you home with me.

I wish I could take you home with me.

I wish you were her.

[cc-writesfor2dcharacters]

Hi how are you doing? Can I request Yuji, Megumi, Inumaki, Gojo and Nanami ( if it's too much you can reduce to whatever boys you prefer ) reacting to their ( gender-neutral or a female ) s/o's cursed techniques similar to magical girl. Like they need to transform, their attack are very cutesy, and etc. Sorry and it's okay if you can't do it or my request is confusing.

A/N: Sure! This one was kinda challenging to write since I haven't watched any magical girl anime for so long and it was hard to describe how will they transform. But, I hope you enjoy and like this one! <33 Cheers to my first request!!!

Here are the JJK boys reacting to their S/O who has a cursed technique similar to a magical girl:

Itadori Yuji

Oh, this boy was in awe, I swear. He literally had heart eyes when he first saw your technique. He stood there, frozen, as he watched you transform into like a goddess he usually sees in fantasy comics and anime he watches. The necklace you have is the one that activates your technique. After he blinked, you were already in this pretty ballerina form and you were glowing like a real goddess. You approached the cursed spirit as fast as you could so you could get momentum. You channeled your cursed energy into your right foot and kicked the cursed spirit, causing it to fly away due to the heavy impact of both your cursed energy and the technique. And, when you blew a kiss to that grade 1 cursed spirit, bubbles were sent throughout the area. Yuji gasped in admiration for you. He thought, “How could someone as cute as Y/N be this strong?” as your bubbles trapped the grade 1 cursed spirit. Yuji forgot that you guys were fighting two grade 1 cursed spirits. And, the one he was supposed to beat attacked him from behind. He had let his guard down and was on the defense side as he was avoiding the cursed spirit’s attack. But, he was still checking out on you, and he pouted thinking how that costume is actually not fit for fighting. Sukuna had to eventually wake Yuji up from his daydream. “Brat! Stop looking at your girl’s ass and focus. If you die, I die.” But, when he was about to finish that cursed spirit off, you already did the work for him. He was trying to cheer you up since your technique wears off the energy in your body. So, you were immediately exhausted after that fight. On the train, as you were sleeping on his shoulder, he took your hand and compared it to his. He caressed your hair and kissed your forehead. He whispered to you, “Oh, Y/N, your technique made me realized I should be more protective around you. You’re still fragile, but I’ll be here for you every step of the way.” And Sukuna had to interrupt his moment and laughed, “Brat, it’s a matter of time until that girl surpasses you. She’s hot and will become stronger. Ha! Never seen that technique in my years. So, watch out for your girl.” Yuji had to slap the side of his face to make him shut up. Every now and then, when you two have a mission, he secretly wishes you’ll activate your technique. But, you learned your lesson not to since he gets distracted.

Fushiguro Megumi

You were aware that Megumi wanted to see you transform and use your technique when you heard Nobara talk about how cool you looked. So, that’s why on your mission, he asked if you could bring your sword since you two will be fighting plenty of low-grade cursed spirits. He said he wanted to finish the mission as soon as he could, but he just wanted to see what Nobara saw. When you two got to the place, you two were not aware that a grade 1 cursed spirit would be here. He released his Nue to fend off the lower grade cursed spirits. You knew you two were in trouble, that’s why, you did the stance to activate your technique, your katana in front of your face as you held it tightly, and a strong wind blew throughout the area causing the grade 1 cursed spirit to be pushed back a little. As soon as Megumi’s attention turned to you, his eyes widened to see you with wings, and your skirt became shorter. You knew where he was looking, and this boy forgot about the shikigami he released. He wants this to be finished now, so you did it for him. You ran to the cursed spirit, and with your katana bursting with cursed energy alongside the wind you collected, you easily took off the cursed spirit’s head, causing it to disintegrate into thin air. When you came down from the air, you didn’t know what was going on in his head. “An angel.” You gulped as you heard those words from him. He didn’t realize that he said his thoughts out loud, so he felt kind of shy at the moment. It was loud enough for you to hear, causing you to blush. You helped him get up from the ground and he wiped off his butt. “Thank you for saving me, Y/N. I-I was distracted.” He shyly looked away from you, as a blush crept on his face. “Come on, I’ve been wanting to take you out on a date that’s why I wanted to finish this quickly.” All of a sudden, he grabbed your hand as you started to walk off. He’s a man of few words and wasn’t a fan of PDA. But, he’s been like this ever since he saw your technique. He told you that he was both terrified and in love with you. And, that’s probably one of the best compliments you’ve gotten from him so far.

Inumaki Toge

He was assigned to accompany you on your promotion mission. He knew about the technique you have, which is why you were recommended by Mei-Mei to become a grade 2 sorcerer. He wished you good luck by giving you a thumbs up and a light pat on the head. It was his way of telling you that he’ll be looking out for you in case you struggle. The cursed spirit was fast, and you could feel its bloodlust. You didn’t hesitate to activate your technique. It was rushing towards you, so you immediately took out the device you use in order to activate my technique. You imbued the device with a fair amount of cursed energy, enough to defeat this cursed spirit. It was taking its time to activate, and you caught a glimpse of Inumaki unzipping the zipper that covered his mouth. But, you wanted to prove to him that you’re worthy to be a grade 2 sorcerer. And, right in time, the device sent a blinding light causing both Inumaki and the cursed spirit to flinch. You were transformed with fairy wings, and a sparkly dress. He accidentally said, “Wow.” and he was caught off guard. Your eyes widened in surprise to hear him use his voice not for techniques or for his safe words. He alerted you and screamed, “Behind you!” You pointed the light to the cursed spirit, red lights in the form of little hearts came out. The light pierced the cursed spirit’s body with small holes. To finish it off, you slowly flapped your wings to send off beautiful but poisonous dust. And, the cursed energy within you bursts even more as the cursed spirit still wouldn’t die. When you eventually finished it off, you fell to the ground, breathless. You’ve never wasted your cursed energy that much before. It’s just that a part of you wanted to prove to your boyfriend that you can be relied on. He ran towards you and cupped your face. Using his free hand, he did a sign language which translated into You did really well, Y/N. I’m proud of you, remember that. You’re so strong and beautiful. I love you. Tears almost fell out of your eyes as he appreciated you. You hugged him and he hugged you back even tighter. He noticed that your wings were starting to fade and accidentally spoke again and said, “No!” He adorably pouted at you, and you comforted him. “You really liked my technique, huh? Even if I wanted to show you, it might hurt you.” He did another sign language which translated to You were so cute. I just want to wrap you in my arms. You smiled so widely and stood up. You helped him get up, “Then let’s go back and cuddle.” He has never been that excited before.

Gojo Satoru

He was being a little bit of an asshole to you when he found out about your technique. Being born from a family of sorcerers, who secluded themselves from the jujutsu world, he instantly fell in love with you when you two first met. And he was the first one outside of your family to know of your technique. But, the two of you are in for a mission, well it was a solo mission for you, but he tagged along just to see you use your technique over and over again. There have been numerous grade 3 and 4 cursed spirits running around. When you two arrived at the place, you were both shocked to see almost 50 of them, who varied in size, speed, and strength. You were a little scared, and when you were about to back down, Gojo held your back to stop you from going backward and said, “Show me that technique as beautiful as you.” You don’t know what he did to you, but you immediately obeyed. That’s when he stepped back and put his hands in his pocket. He even sat down and had his chin resting on his palm as he watched you. It’s always fun for him to see you and your technique, it was like a show. You snapped your fingers two times to make you transform. Darkness started to envelop the sky, and you knew so well that Gojo is smirking as he will see you in a cute short skirt, and a golden corset. When the darkness faded, you raised your hand like you were pointing a gun in the sky. That’s when you sent lightning on every cursed spirit there was, and electrocuted them. He started to activate his infinity so your lightning wouldn't affect him. His jaw dropped (the picture is the reference) as he stared at you and watched the cursed spirit struggle from your lightning. This is always a pleasant sight for Gojo to watch. There were no people other than him who pointed their hands like a gun to use their technique. It fascinates him and makes him love you even more. It ended sooner than you expected. You were about to remove your technique and Gojo stopped you. “No can do, baby girl. You finished your mission in the blink of an eye, and I haven’t fully enjoyed you in this cute get-up.” He whined as he nuzzled his face into your neck. “You’re always so cool to watch.” He complimented you. It was rare to hear that coming from the "Strongest". But, with you he will shower you with every compliment there is in the world. The reason for that is to see you smile, and well, to persuade you to use your technique later so he could fanboy on his own girlfriend.

Nanami Kento

He was always calm and collected, but he couldn't stop thinking about the first time he saw you use your technique. When you transformed into somewhat of a cat, with cat ears and tail, and you were sparkling like the stars. He thought that you were the cutest human being there is to exist. That technique gives you speed and great mobility. Your nails become like claws and it can rip apart a cursed spirit in an instant. Like Yuji, he was in awe but was still aware of other lower grade cursed spirits lingering around the vicinity. He killed all the cursed spirits so easily just to check if you were still in your cat form. Lucky for him, he saw you scratched the grade 2 cursed spirit from its head all the way to its feet. You perfectly controlled your cursed energy, and the big cursed spirit was killed in an instant. He thought, "Y/N's so cute but that technique's dangerous." He noticed that you were limping a little bit, but that was when you sprained your ankle from jumping too high. He thought it was a casualty from your technique, and that made him worry about you. "Next time don't use your technique, love. It hurts you." He said with his tone filled with worry for you. You laughed at him and replied, "Kento, I jumped too high and landed badly. So, it was my fault, not my technique." He fixed his glasses as he looked away from you. He was trying to hide as you noticed that he blushed a little. "I see. Then, can you use that again so I can see?" He shyly asked and that made you laugh even more. "And why do you want to see it?" You mischievously smiled at him as you crossed your arms. "Because it was cute. But, you're beautiful even in your human form." He flatly answered, but the blush on his face didn't fade. "You're cute when you're flustered like this." You spent the night teasing him about what happened. And, starting from that day, he always argues with Gojo to have him go with you on your mission. He just makes the "It's too dangerous for her" excuse. But, Gojo knows how cute you really are when using that technique, and Kento's just being a protective boyfriend. Up to this day, he won’t admit how he falls in love with you, even more, when he sees you transform.

[twoidiotwriters1]

Home- Chapter 6 (Kylo Ren/Ben Solo x F!Oc)

A/n: Ok, So, I think I'm missing someone to tag, the person who got lost in the list, it's your time to appear hahaha. i’m really sorry.

Words: 2,474

Mastelist

Chapter 5 // Chapter 7

"You may wonder why I keep a rabid dog in such a place of power?" Snoke says looking at his apprentice kneeling a few meters away. “The weakness of the dog, well manipulated, can be an affiliated tool. How is your wound? ”

"It is nothing," He replies, looking down through the mask.

"The mighty Kylo Ren" continues Snoke as he gets up and walks towards his apprentice "When I found you. I saw what all teachers live to see: Wild and untamed power. And beyond that, something really special. The potential of your lineage. A new Vader. Now I'm afraid I'm wrong.” Kylo looks up.

"Everything I have, I have given to you. To the dark side ”

"Not yet. Take off that ridiculous mask,” Kylo obeys, showing the scar from the ancient battle on his face.

"You have too much of your father's heart in you, Young Solo.”

"I killed Han Solo. When the time came, I did not hesitate.”

“And look at you, the act broke your spirit to the bone. You were unbalanced. You were won by a scavenger who had never held a lightsaber! Oh, and the that girl, you could destroy her, having multiple opportunities, but you didn't. You are still weak! You failed!" At the words of their leader, Kylo stands ready to fight, but Snoke does not allow it, throwing lightning causing Kylo to fall. “Skywalker lives. The seed of the Jedi Order lives. Convert the girl, find Skywalker before hope and light rule. If not, you're just a kid with a mask.”

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"I don't know what to do," I say as tears fall down my cheeks. I hug my legs and lean against the wall. I feel his hand on my back.

"I think it would be better to stay with Leia.”

"No, I can't do it. Hear everyone how they should prepare for battle. The first order, I can't. I don't want to know anything about him and he can't know that I'm still alive.” Han sighs.

"I can't offer you much, Kiara. It’ll only be Chewie and me, the missions are sometimes difficult and dangerous.”

"I can help, I won't be a hindrance, please Han. I need to get out of here." He huffs in defeat.

“Okay-“ I smile and hug him tightly "Okay, okay! But I have conditions,” He says as we break apart.

“Which are?”

"You must learn everything about the falcon, when I tell you to run, you obey and... once we leave this planet there is no going back," He grimaces.

At first I hesitate, I wouldn't be able to see Leia in a long time. I bite my lip and sigh.

“Deal."

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

I’m scared.

My chest rises and falls quickly, I feel the sweat all over my body and when I am fully conscious, the pain returns. I look around me and try to remember everything. The images come like flashes, the tears return when I remember Han's fall.

That man who took care of me and protected me for many years, gone. All because a child is lost and blinded by power.

I try to move my arms, but I realize where I am. The stretcher is now vertical, my wrists and ankles are caught between pieces of metal. I lean my head against the uncomfortable surface and sigh.

Suddenly the door opens, I take a breath as I feel his presence.

"How was your meeting? Snoke already scolded you? Did he punish you because of me?” I spat. I listen to his steps until he reaches my side. I pout at the sight of his scar. “Did you cry? What happened to your mask?”

“Enough.” I laugh at his reaction.

"Oh, little Ben. As much as you wear black clothes, you’ll not be able to hide the little boy who can’t tolerate my jokes”

"They were never good" I open my mouth pretending to be offended.

"That hurts, Ben.”

"Stop calling me that.”

“That's your name.”

"No more.” I roll my eyes.

"Okay, fine, whatever you say... Ben.” He growls and I laugh again.

"I guess you haven't heard the news?"

"Are you pregnant? Oh no, am I the mom?!” He glares at me.

"The ship the Resistance leader was in has been damaged,” My smile disappears.

"You lie"

Now he smiles.

"No more jokes?"

"I know it's not true, you’d never harm your mother, a monster like you always has a weakness"

"What makes you think she’s my weakness?"

“You're a mommy's child, you always have been," He remains silent for a few minutes.

"Snoke wants to see you," I snort.

"Tell him I'm not here!" He walks behind the table and presses some buttons, in that I feel that my hands and legs are released.

My weak body falls to the floor and I drop on my knee and manage to put my arms before my face crashes. I complain.

“You could’ve warned me…” Kylo sighs and takes my arm, but I walk away. "Don't touch me," I mutter.

He walks towards the door and while he’s doing things I get up with difficulty leaning on the stretcher. The door opens and two Stormtroopers enter the room.

"Take her to the throne room.” The soldiers approach and take me by the arms.

I have no strength to fight, so they drag me. We all leave the room and continue down the hallways to an elevator, the far wall is damaged, at times it sparks, a man is in front of that wall analyzing the damage, but when he sees us he leaves the elevator and allows us to enter.

"I don't think it's a good idea," I say, still looking at the wall.

"It still works," says Kylo when we all go inside.

On the short trail I use the momentum of the soldiers to stand up to see how much I can resist. At that a spark flies off and now I get it. I smile.

“It was you, wasn't it? Snoke made you mad and you took it out on the poor wall. You’re a bad boy, Kylo.”

His body tenses. I know it's a bit risky to want to embarrass him in front of his soldiers, but at this point I don't care anymore. Both stormtroopers stir in place, I go into their minds and I know they want to laugh, but it would be fatal.

We reach the level and the door opens, the soldiers drag me down a corridor and we stop in front of a door. This place is horrible, if I tried to escape, I would lose myself completely. Everything is the same, I don’t find differences. The soldiers make sure I can stand up, and then back off. Kylo points forward and we both go inside.

The hall is huge, in the background is a throne and around it are several soldiers in red armor. Kylo takes my arm and before I could complain, he forces me to walk until I’m close to the throne, behind it comes a huge creature, his face is disfigured and his outfit is barely a robe.

"Ah, Jedi Kiara. I can finally see you.” I grimace. He walks from one side to the other and I feel a little pain in my head. “Your power has been concentrated in your mind, pushing away anyone who wants to enter. Fascinating…” Snoke looks at me and then sees Kylo. "Her body is weak."

“She's been in interrogation for five days,” He answers still holding me.

“Good. Now leave us.”

Kylo hesitates and when I think he’ll drop me, he lightly touches my waist and helps me stabilize. I frown and ignore the tickle on my body.

"Don't say something stupid, not this time.” He whispers in my ear, then releases me and leaves the room.

I return to Snoke.

"What is the great plan, mastermind?”

“Your cynical comments cannot save you from me. From now on I will be your supreme leader and you must show respect.”

To tell the truth, when I saw his image I felt fear and insecurity, so my only way to get it out of my system is to make stupid comments. Maybe it's something I took from Han, or maybe it's just that I’m stupid.

"Not because you create fear and destruction means that I must be forced to respect you.”

"Fear is a step forward of respect"

"I have a different ideology”

"Jedi ideology, I know it well"

"No, not that one either." I shake my head. "I don't think you invited me here just to fight about religions, what the fuck do you want from me?" His features harden and he sits on his throne.

“Your power can be expanded to unimaginable levels, Lang. But everything is being wasted by your emotions. We’ll help you channel it again, but now you are on the right side. You will test your loyalty to the Sith and a new empire will rule the galaxy. I feel your power, your anger and the pain, you can become the best Sith, even better than Kylo Ren.” My legs tremble and my body is begging to rest, but I do my best to stay on my feet.

"And what if I say no?"

Snoke uses force to cause damage, I feel pain everywhere, it’s so sharp that I can’t help falling to the ground. I scream and some tears come out, my chest hurts and I think that at any moment my heart will explode.

"All right!" I manage to say and the pressure stops. I breathe hard, my head is spinning, I don't think I can move.

Snoke raises a hand and Kylo returns, looks at me on the ground and shakes his head, surely it's his way of saying I told you so.

"Take her to a room. This week she’ll regain strength and then start training.” He orders and Kylo nods. "Kylo Ren will be your new teacher, I hope to have advances soon"

It's the only thing I hear, before I pass out.

The last thing I remember were Kylo's arms holding me, then everything went black.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

I slowly open my eyes to find a black wall, I focus my eyes and I can see a bedside table with a lamp on it. My body is waking up and I notice the softness underneath me. I look down and touch the black sheets over my body. I’m in a bed.

On my left side I see an opening, I think that may be a closet, on one side there is a door where I suppose the bathroom is located. On my right side there’s only a huge window that gives me the view of eternal space. A pretty simple room. How the hell did I go from being tortured to being in a luxurious room?

I sit down slowly and with the movement I feel something different. I have a bandage on my leg and my right arm, then I touch my forehead just where my hairline starts and I have a patch covering my wound.

I remember the first day in the interrogation room -as they called it- they barely put anything on my wounds, probably so they wouldn't get infected, but it wasn't the care they needed.

Before I can get out of bed the door opens and Kylo enters, then two droids with trays follow him and approach me. I give him a confused look.

“The hours for you to eat are established: morning, afternoon and night. These droids will bring you food and supplements, as well as check and heal your wounds, then they’ll leave.”

One of them leaves the tray on the nightstand, while the other climbs on the bed and begins to check the wound on my forehead. At first I’m stunned, but I don’t shy away from care.

"I want to think that some woman or droid was responsible for changing my clothes." I look at Kylo who looks away making me chuckle.

Those torture days I didn't change my outfit, when I noticed the bandages I knew that everything was replaced and now I have a black short and a big blouse. The droid changes the bandage on my thigh and then gets off the bed to be on one side of Kylo, ​​the other imitates him. Their master makes a signal and they both leave.

“There's something else about your belongings…” He says, and he takes out my necklace with the dice charm Han gave me on a birthday.

"I'm not in the mood to play, give it to me.” I stretch my arm, but he backs up. I knew it wouldn't be that simple.

“Take it as the first lesson of your training. This-“ He shakes the necklace, "It shows part of your past, emotions like these must be repressed if you want to achieve your goal.”

"The only thing I can understand is that you won't give me my necklace for one of the most idiotic excuses I’ve ever heard." He puts the necklace back in his pocket. "Don't make me go look for him Ben. You know I'm not shy,” I smile when I see her cheeks blush a little.

"Those kinds of games will be your downfall.” I roll my eyes and get out of bed. Once I have control of my body, I walk to the bathroom door, but something stops me. Suddenly dizziness comes and I lean against a wall.

"Ben!" I scream outside his cabin. "Come on, Luke is waiting for us, we’ll be the last!"

A few minutes later, the boy comes out carving his eyes, his face looks tired.

"You're good?"

"I had a nightmare, I couldn't sleep well," He complains, I frown and touch his cheek, looking at his dark circles.

"You should tell your uncle…”

"No, he doesn't have time for these things,” He removes my hand. "I'll be fine.”

“You’re sure?" He nods.

We both followed the path and met the other students that are with Luke.

The class continues without interruptions, between exercises simulating lightsabers, meditation, defense… everything is calm.

"You can rest, we'll see you for dinner," Luke says.

I return with Ben by my side, the two in silence until He decides to break it.

"I have an idea.”

"Oh no,” He frowns and gives me a push making me laugh.

"We should go to the forest" he adds and we stop.

"Are you talking about skipping dinner?" I pout and he laughs.

"We'll be back sooner" I turn to my right to observe the deep forest.

"Luke says we shouldn't go into the woods alone," I say nervously.

"Come on, we’ll be careful. Nothing will happen” I sigh.

"Alright. But if he gets angry I’ll blame you for everything…

"Enough!"

Taglist:

@oopsiedoopsie23

@blackheartedspider​

@fandomshit6000​

[teffyjeffy]

(Most of) JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure: Stardust Crusaders but almost everybody are kids having fun at recess.

Want a random JoJo post out of nowhere? No? Okay well here you go anyway!

A lot of the time when I was watching JJBA I felt like I was watching a very dramatic retelling of what was actually two kids playfighting.

“My guy punches super fast!” “Oh yeah? Well my guy can stop Time!” “Oh yeah?! Well, mine can too! I just discovered it!” “WELL MINE CAN DROP A ROADROLLER ON YOU” “THATS CHEATING”

Anyway, the idea started to snowball, so please enjoy my masterpost of (most of) JJBA Part 3 where the Stardust Crusaders are a group of 9 year old rascals who met up one day during recess. This is just for fun ^_^ also these are all copied and pasted from discord so the structure is a little jumbled. Enjoy!

Oh, and Spoilers are ahead.

“I can punch super fast!”

“Well I can use cameras and TVs as crystal balls, but I need to break them!”

“Mine can shoot flames, ooo ooo and-and I can control them at will!”

“Mine has a sword that can stab anything”

“MINE HAS AN ATTACK THAT IS UNBLOCKABLE AND ITS AREA EFFECT IS THE WHOLE PLAYGROUND-“

“No Kakyoin that’s not how we play. Youre not allowed to have an invincible attack”

Kakyoin’s introduction:

“I have an invincible attack”

“That’s not how it works Kakyoin but you’re cool, so you can keep playing with us”

The insect stand “Tower of Gray” was when the group was bothered by a fly on the school bus and they got a little too rowdy in their attempts to kill it, which pissed off the elderly bus driver. Thus the kids agreed that he was responsible for bringing the fly onto the bus in the first place. They got detention.

Jean Polnareff’s introduction:

“I have a sword that can pierce through anything!”

“Okay Jean, you can play with us, but you have to promise to stop pushing Avdol into the wood chips, he doesn’t like it.”

The stowaway girl is actually a 5 year old girl who wants to play with them and they hate it at first but they eventually warm up to her. The monkey with a ship stand was actually a retelling of the groups trip to the town’s public swimming pool. The boat was just an inflatable tube and the monkey was a chipmunk. And the original boat that blew up? That was the group’s original inflatable tube that got popped because the 5 year old wouldn’t stop gnawing at it

Later, the kids SOMEHOW convinced their parents to let them stay in the same hotel while the parents all hate business trips to go to. They “promised” not to pillow fight, then everyone except for Jean went to go get snacks while Jean went to explore the new room.  Unbeknownst to them, the previous guests of the room accidentally left their daughter’s doll behind. Jean HATES dolls. He accidentally stumbled upon Child’s Play when he was surfing channels way too late at night without his parents knowing. Fear turns into aggression and someone from the hotel staff goes to check on him. He finds Jean and realizes it’s the same kid who shot him with a water gun earlier. Jean is kicked out and the parents have to pick their kids up. Jotaro and everyone else weren’t happy. 

Rubber Soul is actually just that one bratty kid who thinks it’s sooooooooo funny to mimic other people while also making fun of the person they’re mimicking. It makes them feel “powerful.” Jotaro encounters Rubber Soul when the latter is mocking Kakyoin one day, while Jotaro is playing with the 5 year old; he then chases Rubber Soul all around the playground, and when he finally gets him, he busts his teeth in. They were only baby teeth though, they grew right back, which saved Jotaro from a brutal punishment. He was still forced to go without dessert for a month. He didn’t complain though because his mother was dealing with the flu at the time. He would give all his desserts to Kakyoin, which his how Jotaro discovered Kakyoin’s creepy habit of juggling maraschino cherries in his mouth.

J. Geil was somebody who used to play games with Jean’s sister. When she found out he sucked at party cake and teased him for having “Two left hands”, J pushes her into the mud and never plays with her again. Jean has held a grudge ever since.

Hol Horse is Geil’s “New friend” which pisses off Jean. Hol Horse, being a member of the wrong crowd, beats up Avdol and J. Geil just goes along with it. Jean is all “Avdol why are you even here, you had nothing to do with this!” And Kakyoin’s like “Should we call 911?” And Jean responds “Not yet, I need to beat up these guys first!” And Kakyoin calls 911 anyway.

The Mirror stand is just J. Geil going “Made you look” and punching your shoulder.

And Hol Horse’s stand is just a nerf gun. The reason it hurts is because he likes to get right up in your face before firing it. It’s ineffective if you’re too far away from him, because the dart bullet loses momentum and hits the ground harmlessly.

Jean eventually gets back at J. Geil by chasing him into the middle of a group of kids, then pointing up at nothing, shouting “Made you look,” and poking J. Geil in the eyes, which causes him to cry like a baby. And later, Jean is like “Oh yeah, I totally stabbed him with my sword!” when Jotaro asks him what happened.

Then Hol horse runs away because he realized J. Geil was a total loser.

The Empress stand was just Joseph’s retelling of his parents taking him to the doctor’s office so they could deal with a wart on his arm. He hated how boring the actual process was, so he pretended that he bested the wart in a game of wits and tore it asunder. Jotaro was grossed out. 

(Btw in this AU Joseph is only a grade older than Jotaro, instead of being his grandpappy)

Wheel of Fortune is just the result of a very nasty game of tag with a brat who wouldn’t leave the group alone.

Enya is the crazy cat lady at the end of the street whose house the kids were forced to pass one day when they missed the school bus.

Steely Dan is the snobby “Cool Kid” of the playground, and a sore loser when the kids don’t play the way he wants them to. So Jotaro gives him a black eye.

The Sun is a kid who likes to fry ants with a magnifying glass. But Joseph likes bugs, and seeing this made him cry. So Jotaro, Kakyoin and Avdol plot to destroy the magnifying glass, which they thought was really funny. But at that point, the magnifying glass had to be returned to the science lab, so the kid was spared. 

Or, in another interpretation:

“Hey guys, I wanna play! My guy’s power is that he’s literally the sun!!! ” 

Joseph: “Wow, that’s pretty powerful-“ 

J,K,&A: “YOUR POWER IS STUPID, GET LOST”

Death Thirteen was the result of the kids being forced to deal with a baby who was throwing a tantrum while they all waited to get on the giant slide at the County Fair. Kakyoin was especially pissed. 

I have nothing for the Judgement stand.

I don’t have anything for High Priestess either.

And Iggy is still a dog, but I’m getting rid of his tendency to fart because I just HATE IT

N’Doul isn’t blind, he wears glasses and can’t see shit without them. And he has a water pistol. And he hoards the playground’s sandbox.

Oingo and Boingo are a 6 year old and his 1 year old brother and they’re just the cutest little demon spawns.

Anubis is a dog that snatched Jean’s toy sword in its mouth, and the sword’s power to transfer souls was just Jean fearing that the dog had rabies. Jotaro rolled his eyes but convinced Joseph to help him buy a new toy sword to shut Jean up.

Mariah... I dunno man, I didn’t really care for her arc and it definitely doesn’t fit the “kids playground” scenario I’m going for.

ALESSI IS WRITTEN OUT COMPLETELY. HE IS NOT ALLOWED ON THE PLAYGROUND.

The D’Arby brothers are known for being the cheaters of the playground. So Jotaro scares the eldest brother in a game of Go Fish, and it messes D’Arby up so much that it triggers his Asthma and he he has an Asthma attack. 

Pet Shop went down as the day when Iggy had a fight with a seagull and got pecked the ever loving SHIT out of. Jotaro tells the story at every Christmas party.

The younger D’Arby battle happened on a day when he and Jotaro were playing video games together. They accused each other of cheating, which resulted in Jotaro insulting him for liking dolls before pummeling him and consequently getting kicked out of the house. Joseph gave him a high five though, so it was worth it.

Vanilla Ice was the toddler who didn’t bother to move out of the way if you got in his path while he was driving his toy mini jeep. But if you asked Jean or Avdol, they’ll tell you that the toddler deliberately puts people in his path to run them over. And the occasional dog.

And finally, DIO.

DIO was a kid who got transferred to Jotaro’s school after being expelled because the principal of DIO’s previous school couldn’t get him to leave two of the students alone, by the names of Johnathan and Erina. He was pen pals with Johnathan, but that was the only connection DIO bothered to maintain.

Jotaro thought DIO didn’t even deserve the title of “School Bully.” He thought DIO was just a weird freaking kid. Despite that, most of the kids were scared of him, Jotaro’s friends included.

DIO loved to utilize the classic “Time Out!” whenever he played with the kids, and if they didn’t abide to the time out, they got a knuckle sandwich.

Jotaro was the first kid in a long time to just say “Nope.”

That’s when he learned that DIO was a kid who liked to screech like a banshee when things didn’t go his way. As well as throw a whole bunch of pencils (seemingly from out of nowhere) at any person that he upset with.

The road roller in this AU is the closest thing to a lethal heavy weapon that you can get on the playground: a frickin BIKE. 

And DIO is like “TIME OUT SO I CAN SLAM THIS BIKE ON YOU” And Jotaro goes “Nope, your time out is cancelled because you’re a freak and also you tried to bite Joseph which was just gross, anyway-“ and he punched DIO in the leg, pushed him to the ground, and kicked woodchips in his face.

They both got expelled.

A few years later, on his way to middle school, Jotaro bumps into a kid named Josuke...

<============ TO BE CONTINUED

BONUS JJBA BATTLE TENDENCY

The Pillar Men are a reflection of the infamous day when three highschool bullies showed up to the playground. One of them beat a kid named Ceasar in a Rock Paper Scissors match; in responce, Joseph (who at the time was only 4) went apeshit. He kicked the first highschooler off of the carousel at the County Fair. Then he located the second highschooler, tied up his shoelaces, then lit them with a match. Finally, during the school’s annual science fair, he tracked down the third highschooler, who had just finished rigging a student’s baking soda volcano to blow up in his face. Joseph threw a bunch of rocks that he found outside at the highschooler, and then proceeded to lock him up in the school’s astral observatory. The first two highschoolers fled town after that, but rumor has it that the third one is still stuck in the abandoned observatory.

[walkerismychoice]

We Keep This Love in a Photograph

Book: ROD

Pairing: Logan X MC, Colt X MC

Rating: PG-13

Note: This story is all contained within Chapter 13 of ROD. Most of the dialogue comes directly from the book except for right at the end where it veers off canon a bit to fit Gabi’s situation. Title/partial fic inspiration comes from Photograph by Ed Sheeran.

Word Count: ~2900

Tag List: @tmarie82 @lizeboredom @boneandfur @debramcg1106 @choicesarehard @fluffy-marshmallow-heart @give-me-ernest-sinclaire @leelee10898 @plutostudie-s @frugalchoicer @mfackenthal @a-whore-of-rome @teenytinymagician @choiceslife @confessionsofabrokegirl @alegria1580 @rhymesmenagerie @i-miss-trr

Colt watches as the flames fully engulf Kaneko's shop, his expression a mix of horror and despair. "The Brotherhood... They burned it all."

Gabi walks over to Colt and sits next to him on the curb. "Colt, I... I don't know what to say.” What can you say to someone who's just lot not only their father, but his entire legacy as well?

Colt stares into the flames, his features hardening and voice chilling. "...I'm going to kill them."

"Colt..." Gabi reaches for his hand, and he lets her take it, but his other fist remains clenched and white-knuckled. He appears to have skipped the denial stage and gone straight to anger, but if anyone understands the pain of losing a parent and that grief isn't always linear, it's her.

"I'm going to hunt them down one by one. I'm going to destroy them the way they destroyed everything I cared about." Colt pauses as a piece of charred wood cracks and falls a few feet away. "I'm going to burn them all to the ground."

This violent, vengeful side of him scares her, but she knows he needs to process the pain in his own way. Still she knows this isn't what Kaneko had wanted, and it's not what she wants for him so she has to try. "That's not what your dad died for. Your dad sacrificed himself to get you out. Not so you'd spiral into a life of vengeance."

Colt looks away from Gabi and the flames. "You don't understand."

"No, I don't, but I do know one thing... Your dad wanted you to have more than he ever had, to be more than he ever was. If you let your need for revenge consume you, then he died for for nothing."

For the first time since the bridge, Colt starts to break. "I just... I can't believe he's gone."

"I'm so sorry Colt," Gabi consoles him sincerely.

"My whole life he was this invincible force. Relentless, intractable..."

"Unyielding."

"Exactly. He never showed any weakness. Not to me, not to anyone"

"Colt..." She doesn't know if she should say it, but she doesn't want to see him make the same mistakes. "Look where that got him."

Colt's eyes narrow. "Hey-"

"I'm just saying," Gabi cuts him off before he says something he'll regret, "his life, and yours, would have been so much better if he'd shown you how much he cared. Now it's too late." She places a hand on his arm to comfort him. "I don't want the same thing to happen to you."

Colt swallows hard, struggling to hold back tears as he searches for something to hold onto in Gabi's eyes. "Things could have been...so different."

Gabi's still upset and uncertain about so many things. The Colt she saw back at the casino was not the one she thought knew. The lengths he was willing to go to to get rid of the brotherhood are beyond her comprehension, but in this moment, all she sees is the Colt she fell for, and he needs her. She wraps her arms around his neck, turning his face towards her, and their lips just seem to find one another's.

"Gabi..." Colt pulls back and look in his eyes almost breaks her before his mouth is on hers again, kissing her fiercly, desperately. She clings to him as he runs his hands up and down her back as if to make sure she doesn't disappear.

"I'm here Colt, I'm here," Gabi assures him and he responds by deepening the kiss.

"What am I going to do without him?"

Gabi cups his cheek in her hand and lifts his eyes to meet her gaze. "You're going to live... Now come on, the brotherhood might still be here." Gabi takes his hand and leads Colt away from his father's garage just as the sign over the bay door snaps and comes crashing down.

~~~~~

"That's it then." Gabi realizes out loud watching Colt drive away, the crew all going their separate ways after briefly reconvening to ensure everyone had safely evaded the police. Gabi and Logan are the only two left standing on the street. Gabi had never quite believed it when any of them said they had no emotional ties to the crews, that they knew they could just scatter if and when things went wrong. She thought it was just something they had said for self-preservation to hide their true feelings, and maybe in part it had been. But watching Mona, Toby, Ximena, and Colt with hardly so much as a 'see you around if I see you' is tough. Especially Colt. Maybe they are all built that way, but as Mona had pointed out, Gabi isn't and it hurts.

"Yeah that's it. Come on Gabi. I'll get to yours friends place," Logan says as he opens the passenger door of his car for her to get in. At least Logan cared enough to make sure she got home.

Gabi leans her head against the glass as Logan drives, watching the city drift by. "...Where will you go?"

"We'll see, I've got some friends back in Detroit. Might try to lay low there for awhile. I'm more worried about you. What happens when this Jason guy comes after you?"

"Do you think he will?

"He's dangerous and you know his secret. You being alive puts his whole life in danger. And I just hate the idea of leaving you behind all alone."

So don't, she wants to say, but she can't bring herself to get the words to come out. She can't selfishly ask him to stay and risk his life. And she can't say she wants to go with him, because that plan is just not meant to be. She needs to get her life back together and that needs to happen here.

Gabi is looking at Logan, wondering what he's thinking when he suddenly pulls off the road. "I have an idea." She follows him out a patch of grass at a small park, and he beckons her closer. "Alright, Gabi...punch me."

"Excuse me?" She hadn't known where he was going with this when he stopped at the park, and she still doesn't.

"Go on. Hit me, like I'm one of the Brotherhood. Hard as you can." Still wondering what type of game he's playing, she's annoyed enough by his odd request to do what he asks. She clenches her fist and hits him hard in the shoulder but he hardly reacts. "Okay, good job."

Gabi frowns. "No it wasn't. What is this?"

"Me and the crew can't be around to protect you anymore...so, before I leave...I want to teach you some self defense. You should learn a thing or two you help you if Jason comes after you...and hey, you can hit me as much as you want." Logan gives a little smirk.

There's a lot of people Gabi wants to hit right now, but Logan isn't one of them. She wants to appease him though, so she punches his shoulder harder this time. She doesn't hit him properly so he gently takes her hand and corrects her form and teachers her how to throw her whole body behind the punch. She feels bad when he catches him off guard but he just smiles at her and tells her she'll need to catch the brotherhood by surprise too. He seems very knowledgeable on the subject and she fears he's had to learn out of necessity from a young age. "Logan, where did you learn all this stuff?"

"Back in Detroit, Vaughn spent a lot of time at a boxing gym. I'd follow him around a lot. He was cooler and older."

"So you were an annoying little sibling?" Gabi smiles at the thought of little Logan trying to act cool.

"Extremely annoying. But there I was serious. I got my ass kicked by some muggers when I was a kid." Logan continues the lesson, teaching her to exploit vulnerability. He purposely gives her an opening which she takes but doesn't give it her all because she thinks she can get the moves down without trying to knock him out. "You can't hesitate. Hesitation is death."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Then think about something you hate," Logan encourages. "Channel that aggression." Gabi thinks about Jason, and is almost blind with rage. Logan swings from the right and Gabi blocks the strike and then punches him hard in the nose, causing blood to trickle down. "Perfect that was-"

She doesn't let him finish before she hits him again, screaming with rage, hardly cognizant of who she's fighting anymore. Logan moves to block her punch but hesitates while losing his footing in the mud. She sweeps her leg at his ankles and he falls flat on his back. "Oof, You're really picking this up quickly."

Gabi pounces on Logan and cocks her fist back. "I win," she announces smugly.

Logan's face falls and Gabi can see something in his eyes that tells her he's been here too many times before. "Gabi, I'm not teaching you how to win a fight. I'm teaching you how to survive one. You have to run when you get the chance."

"Like you're running."

"Yeah, like me."

A silence passes between them in the still night air as the gravity of the their situation hits them once again. Gabi peers into Logan's sad eyes and can see in the reflection that hers look the same. She's drawn to him like she always has been, a moth to a flame. She bends down and presses her lips against his, and he kisses her back like he needs her to breathe. The feel of his warm body against the cool grass is comforting, and he rubs his hands slowly up and down her back, like he's committing every inch her to memory because memories are all he'll have. She does the same, running her hands through his hair and nuzzling his neck as she inhales his scent, as if she could ever forget.

Logan gently strokes Gabi’s hair. “Somehow, I like this more than getting punched by you.”

Gabi laughs, thankful for the distraction that keeps her tears at bay. She kisses him again and they hold each other there, neither willing to let go until they absolutely must, and Logan returns Gabi to Riya’s house.

Gabi heaves a heavy sight. “I’ve gotta tell Riya everything... in case Jason goes after her too.”

“Gabi...” Logan takes her hand and she squeezes his back tight.

“This is goodbye isn’t it?” She knew it was coming, but now that she’s here outside Riya’s house it hits her like a ton of bricks. This is really the end.

“For awhile at least, at least.” Gabi searches Logan’s face for any sign of hope that he means this, that he thinks he’ll find a way back, but the defeated look in his eyes tells her there’s none. She reaches over and wraps her arms around him, hanging on as long as she can. He rubs her back trying to soothe her, but it’s not enough. She starts to sob, her tears falling down on his shoulder, and at the same time she can feel one of his own roll down her cheek. “I’m so sorry, Gabi... I’m so sorry. You know if I could take it all back, I would.”

“I wouldn’t,” she nearly whispers. Despite everything that’s happened, she could never wish away meeting Logan, Colt and the rest of the crew. She found her first love, maybe even two, and experienced things that have made her grow in ways nothing else could. She wouldn’t take it all back for anything. After a beat, she reluctantly leaves the car and musters the strength to turn around, seeing Logan watch her go and not leave until she turns the handle to walk inside. 

~~~~~

Gabi absentmindedly scrolls through her phone as Riya fusses over perfecting her makeup for prom. She’s going because she promised Riya she would, but she’s not excited about it at all. Not that long ago she was stressing about whether she would want to go with Logan or Colt more if she could convince either of them to go. The past several weeks have been a blur - the fight with the Brotherhood in the casino, finding out Jason was behind it all, Kaneko’s death, and the crew all taking off to spare themselves. The worst thing had been she had to face it all alone, thanks to Jason coming to threaten her at Riya’s house right after it all happened. She only hopes if she keeps her mouth shut he’ll keep up his end of the bargain. Salazar has already been murdered, by the Brotherhood shes’s certain, and she prays no more blood will be shed. She know’s she can’t protect the crew, but if keeping her mouth shut is what she has to do to keep her dad safe, she will.  

Riya spins around proudly, closing her eyelids to give Gabi a better look. “What do you think, Gabi? Is my cut-crease eyeshadow dramatic enough?”

“You look great, Riya, just like you always do.” She’s trying to be a good friend, but her hearts not in it.

“But I don’t wanna look just like I always do! It’s prom!”

“In that case...I’d add a little more eyeliner,” Gabi suggests, making an effort.

Riya flashes a quick smile before turning back to the mirror. “What about you? Are you gonna try a new look? Or a new hairstyle?”

Gabi just shrugs and continues flipping through the photos in her phone. If she was going with Logan or Colt that would be one thing, but she’s not. That first week without them had been hell, not knowing where they were or if they were okay. Logan had sent her a text saying “I made it” when he got to his destination but never replied to her texts after that. She’d sent Colt a text checking in after a few days which he had left on read. At least she knew he was alive then. She’s able to look at the pictures now without crying at least, resigning to the fact that this part of her life is now nothing but a memory. She flips back and forth between her two favorites - a selfie of her and Colt overlooking the bluffs at sunset when they first kissed and another of her and Logan, Gabi resting her head on his shoulder in bed one lazy afternoon. “I...don’t exactly have someone to impress tonight. Riya reaches over and snatches the phone out of Gabi’s hand. “Hey!”

“Okay enough, moping! I know you’ve had a tough couple of months, be we have to make the most of the time we still have together! I know tonight isn’t going to be exactly what we thought...but as Dare would say, we aren’t done with this part of our lives yet. Now are you with me, or are you with me?”

If she can’t do it for herself, she at least owes it to Riya. “Okay, okay! I’m with you!”

“Good. Now, I’m gonna go put on my fabulous dress, and I want you to text whoever it is that you’ve been daydreaming about all night.”

“I haven’t-”

“You have. And you’re only going to get more distracted until you do something about it. So text them hi, then get your ass in your dress!” Riya demands before tossing Gabi’s phone back.

She’s been thinking about both of them for sure, but who does she really want? Gabi closes her eyes and thinks about who she would want to see there dancing with her at prom, and the answer is clear.  She scrolls to his name in her phone, her finger hovering when the doorbell rings at that very moment. Riya asks her to go get it, so she runs down the stairs, flings the door open, and her jaw drops when she sees Colt standing there in a dark gray suit with a boutonniere on his lapel. “Colt, what are you doing here?”

“What’s it look like? I’m here to take you to prom,” he’s says almost like no time has passed. She’s so stunned she doesn’t know what to say. “I know you probably have a lot of questions, but I needed to see you again, and I knew you really wanted to go. So will you go to prom with me, Gabi?” 

Before she can answer, Colt puts his arm around her waist and pulls her in close, crushing his lips to his hers. She starts to give into him instinctively, when she sees something out of the corner of her eye and thinks she may be hallucinating. She blinks to focus her eyes, but it’s still there - he’s still there. It’s Logan walking up the street, also dressed up in formal wear, but as he spots her and Colt, he stops in his tracks and starts heading back to his car. Gabi pulls away and runs after Logan. “Logan, wait! Don’t go yet.” He spins around and looks at her, and then back to Colt. Gabi turns her head to see Colt with a bewildered look on his face. She’s frozen there, torn between the two of them one more time.

[afewmarvelousthoughts]

Stay Ch. 14

Master List

Pairing: Natasha X Reader (Female)

Summary: You have a gift, the ability to see other people’s innermost secrets. For years you used it to gather intel for the highest bidder when you take on The Widow. After she becomes more than a mark the two of you spend years stealing moments. Post snap you wait in your designated meeting place, look back on the sordid past you share with the woman you love and hope against everything that she’s still alive.

Warnings: Angst, VERY light violence, a wee bit o fluff

A/N:  I AM SO SORRY THIS IS SO FUCKING LATE. Work has been... a lot... and I was so far ahead for so long aaaaand then I wasn’t all the sudden. SO yeah, very very sorry but I hope you enjoy this. 

Tags are open!

@mywinterwolf @disagreetoagree @breezy1415 @peachthatdrinkslemonade @5aftermidnight  @jeromethepsycho @marvel-randomness @daniellajocelyn @katecolleen @yanginginthere  @wonderlandmind4 @piensa-bonito @for-the-love-of-the-fandom @lesbian-girls-wayhaught @siriuslycloudy2

November 2006

Somehow the landing was worse than the takeoff. You hold your head between your knees for a minute once the movement has stopped to be sure you can keep it together.

“Sorry, was that a little rough,” Agent Hill asks smugly staring down at you.

You glare at her, “I’d like my weapons back now.”

“Not how this is going to work,” she’s standing with her arms crossed obviously waiting for something.

“Oh? How is this going to work?”

“You’re going to play along, and-”

“Hill,” Clint says with a stern tone, “come on, cut it out.”

She throws him a look, “Fine. I got her here I’m done.” With that, she storms out of the jet.

“Ya know, I’m pretty sure no one has ever so outwardly hated me in my life.”

“She’s not so bad. This whole situation is… unorthodox and she’s not entirely a fan of it,” he pulls a duffel out of a locker slinging it over his shoulder.

“Or me.”

He laughs a bit, “Well, you’re not exactly on the up and up.”

“That’s an understatement,” you watch as he pulls a compact bow out of another compartment and a quiver. “My less than kosher activities don’t seem to bother you though.”

He looks back at you, “People do what they have to in order to get by. I understand that.” He walks to the ramp, “You comin’?” You bolt grabbing your bag and follow him.

When you step out into the blinding fall day you’re surprised to see the farmhouse Clint’s memories showed you in the distance. The glare of the day and the shock of the location mean you’re not paying attention. Something slams into the middle of your chest and an electric shock rocks your whole body, not enough to knock you out but enough to take your breath and footing away. You hit the ground hard.

As your eyes clear Clint is kneeling next to you, a sharp arrow point pressed to your jugular so hard you’re scared to swallow.

“Threaten my family again and I’ll put an arrow in your fuckin’ eye. We clear?” His words are menacing but there’s a grin on his lips. He means what he’s saying but this is more a gesture to even the playing field, to let you know he’s not someone to trifle with either. In this moment you decide you like him quite a lot.

“Crystal,” you parrot his former response back.

“Good,” he holds out a hand and you stand, dusting grass off your jeans.

“Y/N!” Whip fast your gaze shoots in the direction of the house.

There she is in jeans and a plain black tee. Framed by the quaint farmhouse and blue sky… it’s the most beautiful image you’ve ever seen. She is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. Leaving your bag and all safety concerns behind you bolt toward her. Emotion blocking any words from escaping your mouth.

At the halfway point you careen into one another. It’s not some picturesque moment where you spin in one another’s arms. No, your collision causes you both to fall to the ground laughing, crying, arms desperately reaching to hold.

“I love you,” you croak before her lips crush the words away. You hold her face between your hands and pull her away, “I. Love. You. Natasha.”

“I love you too,” she says, tears streaming out of her eyes.

“I’m sorry I didn’t,” she shuts you up with a kiss that knocks you to your back. When she pulls away there’s nothing but blue sky and her smiling face above you. You take a mental picture of this moment. You’ll keep it forever.

Moving her hair behind her ears you pull her face back to yours and kiss her sslowly savoring the feeling of her lips and the taste of her mouth. You were pretty certain you’d never see heaven but that didn’t matter because you had her here on earth.

“If you two wanna fuck on the lawn just say the word and the rest of us can wait inside,” Clint quips as he walks by you.

Natasha laughs, “Don’t tempt me, Barton.” She sits back and watches as he walks to the porch and embraces the brunette woman. The feeling of peace coming from her is new. She trusts him.

You grab her hand and she looks back at you. Giving it a squeeze she stands, “Come on, let’s go inside.”

You’re about to say that you need to grab your bag but when you look back it’s gone. A thud on the porch draws your eye and you notice Clint grabbed it for you. He embraces the woman, kissing her deeply. You can’t help but smile. Hill, you note, is nowhere to be seen.

Hand in hand you and Natasha approach the house. The woman pulls away from Clint, laughing and slapping at his chest. She walks down the stairs of the porch to meet you.

“Hi!” Her smile is big and welcoming, nothing but kindness rolling off her. “I’m Laura. It’s great to meet you,” she extends a hand.

“Likewise,” you take it, “Y/N.”

“I’ve got fresh coffee inside,” Laura turns and heads in.

The house is warm, the smells of coffee and cinnamon fill the air. You were expecting the sparse feel of a safe house. This is no safe house, this is a home. Family photos, knickknacks, and other personal touches are everywhere.

As you and Natasha follow Laura and Clint inside, a shrill cry makes you jump. Natasha bursts out laughing as she points to the bassinet in the living room. You weren’t expecting this inviting home when you got in the jet a few hours ago and you sure as shit weren’t expecting a baby.

“I got him,” Clint kisses Laura’s cheek and heads over. He coos as he picks up the small squirming bundle. “Daddy’s back little man.”

Nat tugs you toward the kitchen and you follow. Agent Hill sits at the table beside a man who isn’t in need of an introduction. Nick fucking Fury, Christ…You freeze, shooting a glance at Natasha as she takes a seat. Her hand reaches out to you but you don’t move.

“What is this?” Your tone is frigid.

“This is afternoon coffee,” Laura brings a cup to the table. “And this is coffee cake,” she sets down a plate filled with the source of the mouthwatering cinnamon smell.

She smiles at you, “You’ve got no reason to believe this I know, but you’re safe here, Y/N. You’re a guest, so are they. Sit down, have some coffee and cake.” The sincerity comes off of her in waves. When Clint passes the baby to her you can feel the surge of protective energy rise in her too. She’s a good woman. You would trust her… but the others.

Natasha’s eyes are pleading and you give in, taking her hand and sitting at her side on the bench. Her hand squeezes yours. For a second you study her face, reading her for any sign of fear, distrust, anything that may indicate this being a trap. There’s nothing of the sort just love, happiness, exhaustion, relief.

“So, Oracle,” Fury’s low voice sounds like a bomb in the calm space.

Your eyes drag to his, “That’s not my name.” You try to read him but he’s shut you out completely. A grey area.

His lips tick up a bit as if he knows what he’s doing. “Alright. I’m Nick Fury-”

“Yeah, caught that. You’re not exactly inconspicuous with the patch and all.”

He inclines his head a touch in acknowledgment of his signature look. “And your name?”

“Y/N.”

“Y/N, what?”

“Just, Y/N.” His eyes narrow. You chuckle a bit, “Look, I’m not bein’ difficult. I just don’t have a last name, never did.”

“That’s interesting,” he takes a sip of coffee.

You shrug, “Not really.”

Silence hangs. Awkwardly. You drink the coffee and make it through half a slice of cake before your can’t take it.

“Alright, someone start talkin’,” you look around lingering on Nat who suddenly won’t make eye contact. “I mean I could just walk around and pull the story from y’all but I think you’d rather just tell me.”

Clint sighs, “Well, short version is Fury sent me to kill the Widow. I made a different call. Here we are.” You cast Fury a murderous stare and he simply shrugs confirming Clint’s summary.

“Why?”

“Too much red in my ledger…” Natasha’s voice is low.

You turn to her, “You did inform them that wasn’t-”

“Yes,” Fury cuts you off, “She told us all about the Children’s Hospital. We believe her, unfortunately, there’s no way to prove it. And regardless she was involved.” He takes a long drink and you genuinely consider how hard it would be to kill the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

“That was more a final straw,” the look he gives Nat isn’t cruel but you bristle all the same. “We’ve been watching her for a while. Someone that good, well she’s a threat…” His eyes bore into you, “As are you, but we can’t link a damn thing to you to prove that.”

You can’t help the smirk filling your face, “I like to keep my hands clean.” Hill snorts eyes rolling. “Honestly, if you have something to say-”

“Don’t,” Natasha’s hand squeezes yours tight.

“I’m not the one with an obvious issue,” you look to Nat, hoping for support but she looks away. “No…” You let the contact with her open a channel to her thoughts. “Natasha, you aren’t…”

“It’s a good offer,” Fury doesn’t seem phased by your obvious reading of her thoughts. He looks to Clint, “And Barton has volunteered to sponsor Ms. Romanoff.”

“What the fuck is this AA? Honey-”

“It was my choice, babe,” she finally meets your eyes.

You try to find the answer to your question but come up empty, “So what? Trade one leash for another or they kill you? That’s not a choice,” your voice is raising along with your anxiety.

“You’re right,” Clint says from your left, “and that’s not how we do things.”

“I could retire, go off the radar, they’d protect me in exchange for information,” you feel a flicker of despair in her, “but… I wanna make this shit right, Y/N… everything I’ve done…” She turns a bit toward you, “That’s what they offered me, a chance to make right, do something decent for a change. Maybe… maybe help people.”

“Clint seems to think there’s more to the Widow than what the world’s seen so far, I trust his gut,” Fury gives the man a soft smile. Hill hands Fury a file and he slides it across the table to you. The tab reads “Oracle- High Risk.” Your eyes dig into him.

“Enhanced mental abilities, empath, telepathy, possibly other unknown psionic abilities.” A tremor shakes you, Natasha’s hand moves to your thigh, attempting to ground you. “Origin unknown, possible connection to the Lafitte crime syndicate,” you bristle, “other affiliations unknown. High risk of security breech.”

“Almost right, no connections to Lafitte though,” you stare Fury down. his brows raise and he smirks.

“No?” He flips the file open and points to a photo of you at 14 next to Remmy Lafitte, the head of the family and a prominent figure in your own nightmares, his hand on your shoulder. Your stomach flips. “That looks like a connection to me. Hill?”

“Close connection,” she sneers.

Rage boils under your skin, “I wouldn’t call being someone’s slave a connection. Would you, Agent?” Silence falls as you look at the members around the table. Hill looks away, Laura looks disgusted, Clint and Fury have surprisingly understanding expressions, and Nat… well she knew it all.

“Can we get to the point?” You slam the file closed. “You got some decent info on me, more than I suspected, but that’s not really shocking all things considered. Given your status, I gotta assume my presence is more than a courtesy to Natasha.”

“Not a courtesy at all,” he stands and grabs the coffee pot. He offers everyone some and refits mugs while he speaks, “This is an offer, same as we gave your girl here. Come work for us, wipe the slate clean, maybe even do a little good.”

“Ah,” you try once more to read him and come back with nothing. “And I assume this agreement has no strings such as medical tests and the like attached?”

He catches your drift, “Nothing beyond the usual.” He takes a seat, “Look, we saw this as an opportunity to bring someone with your… unique skill set on board. There are threats out there bigger than you can imagine, the more prepared we are, the better. Someone who can suss out threats in our own ranks… Well, that’s a valuable asset.”

“If I decline?” You can feel tension radiate off Natasha.

“What can we do?” He shrugs sipping his coffee, “You keep doing what you do. When you fuck up we will deal with you.” His eyes slide to Natasha.

“Hill, would be more likely to take me out,” she throws daggers at you, “just an observation.”

Fury actually laughs at this, “You’re probably right there.” He sighs, “You have until tomorrow at 17:00 to make a call.”

“What’s the catch?” Natasha’s hand moves away from your thigh. Oh. She’s the catch.

You turn to her, silently begging her to look at you and tell you that your assumption is wrong… She doesn’t, just stares into her coffee.

“While we don’t usually control who our agents interact with this is a… special case. If you chose to remain a… free asset,” Fury seems to note the poor choice of words given your previous statement, “for lack of a better term, any contact with you would be considered a breech of international security.”

A storm swells in your chest. Tingles start on your skin and you take a few deep breaths willing yourself to calm down. “What happens at 17:00 tomorrow?”

“They’re taking me to S.H.I.E.L.D. for processing and on boarding,” Nat practically whispers.

“The Bartons have been kind enough to harbor Ms. Romanoff while we sort out this… unorthodox situation. Now that a decision has been made we need to move quickly.” Fury finishes his coffee.

“We will leave you to make your choice. Laura,” he offers a genuine smile to her, “thank you for the hospitality, as always.”

“Of course,” she gives him a smile back, though you seem to feel she’s not a fan of what’s just transpired.

With that Hill and Fury head out, Clint follows with promises to be right back. Suddenly the warm space feels suffocating. Natasha touches your hand and you recoil.

“I need some air,” you bolt up, “can I,” you gesture to a door off the kitchen.

Laura stands, her son sleeping in her arms, “Yeah, that’ll take you out back. Do you need any-”

“No, thank you,” you rush out, feeling like you’re about to combust.

[elcorhamletlive]

fandom: MCU (Alternate Universe: College/University) ship: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark tags: Pre Serum Steve Rogers/Fluff/Kind of a meet cute

If Bucky was here, he’d have told them to just leave the bar.

It wouldn’t be an entirely bad call, Steve guesses. It wasn’t even that good of a bar, anyway. Too loud and too crowded, with drinks way too expensive for a bar whose clientele was composed mainly of college students. Based on the quality of this evening alone, he really wouldn’t mind going somewhere else.

But it wasn’t just about that.

The guy was bothering Wanda. He really, really was. At first, it had just been awkward, when a blond douchebag stopped her on her way to get the drinks and ended up inviting himself to sit with their little group. Steve had exchanged worried looks with Bruce and Betty. If it had been Peggy, the douche would immediately have gotten a cutting reply; if it had been Natasha, a single look would have him so scared he probably wouldn’t even have approached her in the first place. But Wanda is more shy and reserved, much like Steve himself, and she isn’t very used to being chatted up. At first, she tried to let the guy down gently, smiling and nodding politely at his endless rambling, but as time went by, it became clear the man just wasn’t willing to entertain the possibility of a woman who wasn’t interested in him.

To make matters worse, although the guy is clearly a douchebag, he is also a very popular one. Wanda had become the target of one of the richest frat boys of the campus – when he introduced himself as Ty, Steve hadn’t made the connection to the Tiberius Stone, but now he did, and at least it explained the guy’s sense of entitlement.

When Ty stood up to go to his table to ask his friends about some party he was hell-bent on taking Wanda with him, Steve did what Bucky would have told him to do, and walked everyone to the exit. Bruce and Betty were wondering which bar to go next, and Wanda seemed more relaxed, when Steve stopped to say: Oh, I forgot something. It took a moment, but Steve managed to convince them to just go on without him. He promised he’d meet them later.

As soon as he got back to the bar, he walked towards Stone’s table with angry strides. It wasn’t fair that they had to be the ones to leave the bar when they weren’t the ones being inconvenient creeps. Besides, what if the jerk jumped from bothering Wanda to bothering some other girl? It wasn’t right. Something had to be done.

So that’s how Steve finds himself in front of a table with a bunch of the richest and most popular guys on campus. All of which have at least a head over him and would be definitely capable of knocking him down if they wanted to.

“Uh,” one of them starts. Steve recognizes him as Justin Hammer, who throws big parties down the hallway of Steve’s dorm. He’s sitting between Rumlow, from Steve’s math class; and a dark haired guy that also seems familiar, though Steve can’t tell why. Hammer squints his nose at Steve as if he smells really bad. “Do you need something?”

It occurs to Steve that, though he recognizes most of them from campus, none of them have any idea who he is. He feels the spike of anger on his chest rising. Stone, who has been busy looking at something on his phone, raises his head and flashes him a grin.

“Oh, hey, Stan. I’m just checking in with everyone, tell Wanda I’ll be back in a minute,” he says, with a wink.

“That’s not my name,” Steve says, clenching his fists at his sides. “And I’m not here to tell you anything about Wanda. I’m here to tell you to leave her alone.”

Stone tilts his head, frowning. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Steve blurts. His stomach clenches a little in worry as he assesses the other guys – most of them are pretty bulky, with the exception of the brunet, who seems to be more on the leaner side; and, yeah, they’re all bigger than him. He swallows. “Wanda is not interested. She’s been trying to make this clear to you the entire night, but you keep pushing, and you need to stop.”

There’s a moment of silence, and then the table breaks into a bunch of chorus of Oooooo’s and surprised laughter.

“Sounds like you’ve got competition, Ty,” Hammer says, tapping him on the back. “Tough guy here wants to take you down!”

“Look, kid,” Stone says, incredibly condescending with an edge of hostility. “I’m sorry the chick is not into you, okay? If you apologize nicely for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, I’ll hook you up with some nice piece of ass.”

He reaches to pat Steve’s arm, and Steve shakes him off angrily, face flushing, in embarrassment and rage.

“Wanda is my friend. Not that it matters, because I’d be here even if she wasn’t,” he says. He keeps himself steady as he gives Ty a once-over. “She’s not interested in you, and, frankly, I don’t think she’s missing out on anything.”

There’s no laughter this time, though Steve does hear a solitary chuckle coming from the table. Stone stands up.

“Okay,” he says slowly. He’s a head taller than Steve. Maybe more than that. “This is where you apologize.”

Steve’s stomach twists, but he stands his ground. “No, this is where you apologize and offer to leave and not bother us anymore.”

Stone takes a step forward, towering over Steve. Definitely more than a head. “I think you should reconsider this, lightweight. The only way I’m leaving is to take Wanda to a kickass party that you definitely couldn’t get inside in a million years.”

Steve swallows. Clenches his fists. Inhales deeply before answering.

“Fuck you.”

There’s a moment of stunned silence, and then, almost immediately, Stone is all up on his face. “Listen here, you little—“

“Wow, wow, wow, okay,” a voice interrupts suddenly, and Steve turns to see the lean guy standing up and placing himself in between them. He has wild brown hair and wears a band t-shirt that definitely costs more than Steve’s entire wardrobe. Though he’s the smallest of the group, it’s clear that the energy changes a little at his interference. He lands a hand on Stone’s shoulder, casually, and Steve gets the sense that, while he may not be the leader of the pack, he’s definitely a significant part. “Ty, buddy, I’m pretty sure you won’t be leaving here with anyone since the car is, well, not yours. It’s mine, maybe the last couple of beers made you forget that,” he speaks very fast, gesturing with his other hand, and turns to Steve. He has big brown eyes that seem just as frantic as his rambling. “As for you, Lancelot, don’t worry, ok? He got loose for a while, but we’ll keep an eye on him. He won’t be bothering your friend anymore.”

Steve takes a sharp breath. Despise being shorter than his friends, the guy still has a couple inches on Steve. His expression is conciliatory, as if he’s begging Steve to cooperate. Behind him, though, Stone seems shocked and not at all apologetic, so Steve crosses his arms.

“He shouldn’t be bothering any woman who’s made clear they don’t want to talk to him. It’s not right.”

Ty’s friend seems off-put for a moment, but he recovers immediately, plastering a grin on his face so fast Steve almost thinks it must have been his imagination. “Listen, here, uh, Stan? No, wait, you said that wasn’t your name – what do I call you, not-Stan?”  he lays his hand on Steve’s shoulder now. Before Steve can answer, he continues: “I’m Tony. Tony Stark.”

Steve barely holds back a swear. Everyone’s heard of Tony Stark, the richest kid on a campus filled with already very rich people. Steve can vaguely remember seeing his face on the television a couple times, doing interviews, while he was zapping channels. Back then, he hadn’t paid much attention, just like he never paid any attention to Bill Gates’ kids or something. But he heard of Tony Stark around campus, too – how he gave the best parties, how he was disputed by several fraternities despise never joining one, and how he was apparently the smartest person since his father.

Of course, Steve thinks. Of all the people in the world to get in trouble with, Steve had to do it with Tony Stark’s friend.

Tony Stark, apparently oblivious to his shock, continues to ramble: “Look, Ty is a bit blind to other people’s autonomy sometimes – flaws, who doesn’t have them, am I right – but he doesn’t mean any harm. I assure you, he will leave your friend alone,” his voice grows strangely earnest at the last few words, but he quickly changes back to his light, fast-paced tone: “Is there a way I can make it up to you guys? Maybe buy your table the next round?” He smiles brightly, the smile of someone who’s used to buying his way out of trouble. “I’m all ears.”

Steve frowns. Stark seems weird, but something about him comes off as bizarrely sincere, in the middle of all that useless rambling. The word charisma barely begins to cover it, Steve thinks, a little taken aback – he almost managed to make Steve forget Stark wasn’t defending his friend because he made an innocent mistake, but because said friend was being a total creep.

Almost.

“There is a way,” Steve crosses his arms, staring at Stark’s expectant face. “You guys could leave.”

Stone groans. “Oh, fuck you, you—“

“Again, my car, buddy, it’s your way into Pep’s party,” Stark says, surprisingly firm, before turning towards Steve again. He seems to evaluate the situation with a few rapid blinks.

He eyes Steve up and down, rocking on his feet and thinking. Steve can’t help but shift a little, uncomfortable under the scrutiny, and something flickers on Stark’s eyes. He licks his lips, staying silent for a moment until he suddenly snaps his fingers.

“I know,” he finger-guns at Steve, grinning. “Why don’t we settle this like gentlemen, huh?” He points towards the table with his thumb. “Arm wrestling. You and me, Lancelot. You win, we leave.”

Steve raises an eyebrow. “And if you win?”

Stark’s grin grows playful. “I don’t feel really good about my chances. You’re only missing your stick and stone, David.”

Steve isn’t sure if he should feel insulted or not. It sounds like it should be an ironic comment, but something about it doesn’t sound very mocking.

Stark turns towards the table, taking a seat and placing his elbow on the center. “Come on.”

Steve considers his options. Stark is not as bulky as the other guys at the table. He’s taller than Steve, sure, but then again, so is everyone. And, again, he’s Tony Stark, born with a diamond spoon in his mouth. Steve doubts he has much experience with arm wrestling, and, well, Steve grew up with Bucky. He may not be able to do anything about his size, but he’s picked up a few tricks. He figures he could probably catch Stark off guard and win this one.

Maybe.

Then again, it’s better than getting beat up, Steve guesses. And if it gets Stone’s creepy ass out of the bar, it’s worth risking a sore arm.

He sits down. The other guys on the group are watching attentively with a uncertain smiles, and Steve gets the feeling they don’t really get what Stark is going for, here. To be honest, Steve doesn’t get it either – logically, the guy didn’t have to offer him any compensation, let alone a chance to get them away from the bar entirely.

Then again, Steve thinks harshly, he didn’t have to stand up for his creeper of a friend, either.

Steve clasps Stark’s hand. It’s surprisingly calloused. Stark looks – well, he looks like the kind of guy who would have soft hands. Instead, though, his hand feels like it belongs to a person who works a lot, and Steve must frown, because Stark grins.

“Sorry, forgot to moisturize this morning”, he remarks, and it’s clearly an attempt to distract Steve that doesn’t really work. “Okay, one… Two… Go!”

Steve is prepared for the pressure of Stark’s arm. He’s not prepared for how strong he is – he almost twists Steve’s arm immediately before Steve composes himself, clenches his muscles and manages to hold out against Stark just before his own arm hits the table.

Steve takes a sharp breath and probably grunts as he does his best to keep focus, to throw his body weight to the side to push against Stark’s arm, and he can hear Stark’s friends chuckling but he stays determined, using everything he’s got.

For a moment Steve thinks it’s over, but then Stark’s arm starts losing ground, slowly being pushed back slightly. Still, though, it’s very hard to keep up, and Steve’s other hand grips the table as he struggles to keep himself steady. He can feel his breath getting short, which – oh no, oh no – is not a good thing.

“Hey, are you okay?” Stark asks, seeming alert. “What is happening?”

Steve tries to focus on breathing, but he can’t seem to find any air, and, oh God, that can’t happen, not now.

“I’m fine,” Steve blurts, even though he’s most definitely not fine, and he needs to reach for his inhaler but if he lets the table go he’ll lose his support.

He tightens his grip on Stark’s hand, focusing even more on pushing it. He can feel his face flushing, but he doesn’t care. He takes a sharp, forced breath that catches no air and his head grows dizzy.

“Ok, everyone,” Stark suddenly says, voice serious all of a sudden. “Go meet Happy.” Steve faintly hears some protesting coming from the others, but he barely registers it, focusing on blinking fast to get rid of the white spots in his vision. “Go. Now. Say I sent you. He’ll take you wherever you want to go, whatever; just get out of my sight.”

Steve clings to the table so hard his knuckles go white, and he hardly hears the responses. All he can focus on is the pressure of Stark’s hand, that seems to be… stopping?

Steve blinks as the strength in Stark’s hand clearly fades, allowing Steve to raise their hands back to the initial position. Steve tries to not lose momentum, when he hears something, the sound of the door of the bar slamming shut.

“Okay, that’s the last of them,” Stark says, and his arm just goes flat, easily letting Steve’s hand push it down, landing on the table.

Steve is panting and can barely decipher what just happened. Immediately, Stark is right next to him, hands on his shoulders.

“Okay, Lancelot, breathe,” Stark says, sounding nervous. “Tell me what you need.”

“I—“ Steve stutters. “My inhaler—My pocket,” he reaches for it before Stark can, taking it to his lips and huffing it, feeling the relief of the air reaching his lungs.

“Holy shit,” Stark says. “Were you—Were you seriously not grabbing it just because it would lose you the match?”

Steve huffs it a few more times, blinking as his vision regains focus. He looks at Stark’s face. He’s close now, leaned over Steve.

Steve is a little taken aback by the proximity. Stark is a handsome guy, of course, but right now, he looks very… smooth, with those huge bright eyes and fluffy hair falling slightly on his forehead. His nose is small with a roundish end and he has long eyelashes, giving his already warm eyes a more delicate look. It’s the rare type of face that manages to be interesting and pretty at the same time.

Steve feels his cheeks heating a little. “Yeah.”

Stark huffs out a surprised laugh, then shakes his head. “Holy shit. You’re crazy,” he says, but he sounds slightly impressed.

“You’re crazy,” Steve counters, a bit more composed. “You threw the match,” he states, unsure of how to feel about it.

“Uh, yeah, of course I did. You know, I was gonna tell them to leave anyway,” he shrugs. “Thing is, they wouldn’t have gone if they thought they were doing what you wanted. Trust me, they’d stay here all night just to annoy you. So I thought I could stall the match and then I could tell them to go ahead and that I’d take an Uber or something.” He runs his hand through his hair. It looks very soft. “Also, I thought I was going to win and it didn’t occur to me you’d be willing to kill yourself to stop that from happening.” He shakes his head again, still looking at Steve as if he has done something amazing, instead of making a fool out of himself. “Do you—Do you go here?”

“What?”

“Here. As in, on campus.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Steve shifts a little. “I’m a Political Science major.”

Stark’s grins grows. “Awesome. You know who I am, obviously,” he gestures to himself flippantly. It comes off as strangely self-depreciating. “What about you, though? I refuse to believe your name is actually Lancelot, that’d be just too much.”

“I’m, uh. I’m Steve,” he stutters, then pauses. “Why Lancelot?”

Something flickers in Stark’s eyes. “Ever read the legends? Bravest knight on the King’s court,” he shrugs, giving Steve a sideways glance. “Just seemed to fit.”

Steve’s tongue feels too big to form actual words. “Oh.”

Stark smiles. “Not a lot of people stand up to Ty, you know,” he says, looking away. His voice lowers to an almost whisper. “He doesn’t take it very well. None of them do.”

Looking at him now, Steve is struck by how different he is from the Tony Stark from TV. Tony Stark in the interviews seems a lot more exuberant, arrogantly talking over reporters and feeding the camera with outraging soundbites. Tony Stark in real life is more… believable, Steve thinks, with his nervous eyes and self-depreciating grins. He seems more real.

Steve likes him better this way.

“Why do you hang out with them?” he asks, unable to hold himself back. “You—You know they are…”

“Complete shitheads?” Stark grimaces. “Yeah. Most of them have business with my family, and Ty, his father is one of my father’s long time partners, so, yeah, the friendship was kind of sealed at birth.” He looks away, a little distant. “Reached its expiration date a while ago, though. But I can’t exactly… You know.”

Steve just looks at him. “Why not?”

Stark shrugs, and something about his smile seems a little sad. “I don’t know,” he admits. “Guess it’s just sort of hard to come to terms with not having anyone to sit with during lunch. Or some equally cheesy crap.”

Steve just stares at him wordlessly. Stark’s eyes dart away and he clutches his hands.

“I really am sorry about this whole thing,” he says. “I thought—I don’t know, you just came up to us, and Ty usually handles his problems by punching them, so I thought…” He gestures aimlessly. “I didn’t want you to get punched. And I really wanted to buy your table the next round. You guys deserved it.”

Steve still doesn’t answer, a little taken aback.

“What were you going to ask?” he blurts, interrupting Stark’s ramble. “If you won. You never said.”

Stark gives him a grin. Not the thousand-watt grin he gave him earlier. It’s smaller, charming, but also slightly nervous.

“Full disclosure? Your number.”

Steve’s eyes widen. “You—“ he stutters, feeling his cheeks heating, as he watches Stark blink expectantly at him with those big, pretty eyes. “Why would you—“

Stark frowns a little. “Why wouldn’t I?” he asks, a playful smile on his lips as he eyes Steve up and down. The warmth of Steve’s face travels over his whole body, in the wake of Stark’s gaze. “Like I said, not many people can do what you did, even for a friend. And almost dying to prove a point, hey—“ He shakes his head appreciatively again. “Gotta admire that.”

There’s a smile threatening the corners of Steve’s mouth, and he tries to bite it back, to play it cool, even as he shifts awkwardly, hands on his pockets. “Well,” he watches the way Stark’s eyes blink at him, and, damn, he wouldn’t mind being the target of that look more often. “If an asthma attack gets you in the mood, I’m definitely your guy.”

Stark laughs. He has a nice laugh, Steve notices, unable to fight back his own smile. A really, really nice laugh. “Nobility gets me in the mood, I guess. Like I said – Arthurian geek over here.” His smile makes Steve’s knees feel a little weak. “Plus, it doesn’t hurt that you’re really cute.”

“You’re also—Uh—You’re really—“ Steve stumbles over his words, but Stark doesn’t seem to mind, smile growing fonder. Steve swallows. “Well,” he bites his lower lip, before giving into a huge grin of his own. “Will I have to arm wrestle you again for your number?”

“Not really,” Stark (Tony? Steve should call him Tony, right? The thought gives him pleasant butterflies on his stomach) says, taking his phone off his pocket. “But just so you know, you’d win again.”

[the-beastslayers-queen]

Magic and Moonlight: Chapter 5

Here’s Chapter 5. Sorry for the feels. Tagging @queenofthearchitect @bethany99stuff-blog and @balorrollinsambrose Enjoy! If you want to be tagged, hit my inbox.

I woke up the next morning to the sun streaming through the window. I went to try to sit up, but I was stopped by a strong arm draped over my waist. I turned my head to find Colby still sound asleep. His hair was strewn across his face in complete disarray. I rolled over onto my other side, now facing Colby, and began to brush his hair out of his face, being careful not to wake him. He looked so peaceful, so calm in his sleep. Colby started to stir so I stopped messing with his hair, worried I woke him up too soon.

“Thea,” Colby’s voice was hoarse, sleep weighing heavily on him, “Don’t stop.”

“Sorry if I woke you up,” I went back to messing with his hair and he sighed in content, “Sorry about last night. I let my magic get out of hand.”

“Hey it’s okay,” Colby rolled so he hover over me and kept his body weight off of me by propping himself up on his forearms, “You have nothing to be sorry for. I knew what I was getting into. We’ll work on getting your magic to stay in check. Besides, I can recover quickly. It’s one of the many perks of being a wolf.”

“What other perks do you have,” I asked as I raked my fingers through his hair.

“Well for one,” Colby dipped his head down to kiss my jaw, “I’m very warm so I come in handy during cold nights. My senses are heighten so I can sense danger and leap into action to protect those I care about.”

“That’s a good plus,” I smirked as I kept playing with his hair, “What else?”

“I can see in the dark,” he smirked, “And I have a deep connection with my pack, my brothers.”

“How deep,” I asked.

“We can communicate when we’re wolves,” he explained, “And when we’re human. It’s like were always in each other’s heads. So when one of us needs help, the others come to the rescue.”

“Did they know about us last night,” I asked, slightly embarrassed.

“Oh they knew,” Colby chuckled a little, “But they knew to stay out of it. I think I want you to really meet them today. It’s only right that I introduce my girlfriend to my pack and all.”

“Girlfriend,” I smirked and wiggled my eyebrows a little, “When was that agreed?”

“Now,” Colby gave a cheeky grin, “If you’ll do me the honors of having me as your boyfriend.”

“Well duh,” I giggled and pulled him down to kiss him, “I don’t sleep with just any man without making him my boyfriend.”

“Good,” Colby kissed me again, “Because I could get used to having a beautiful girl like you on my arm and in my bed.”

Colby and I arrived to the PC, a tea in my hand and a coffee in his. I was draped on his arm and all eyes drifted to us as we made our way into the ring area. Colby and I found a corner of the room to put down our gym bags. I went into my bag and grabbed my compact mirror and looked to find I had exposed hickies all over my neck and shoulders.

“Damn it Colby,” I groaned as I touched each mark, “You just couldn’t help yourself could you? I’m not going to be able to cover these up before the tapings tonight.”

“Guilty as charged,” Colby smirked before kissing my cheek, “I have to advertise that you’re mine now.”

Just as Colby wrapped his arms around me, his fellow Shield members came over to us.

“Sup Uce,” the larger of the two, Roman, greeted Colby.

“Hey bro,” the other greeted Colby second, “Who’s this lovely doll?”

“This is Thea,” Colby replied, “Thea, this is Joe and Jon, better known as Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose. They’re my pack brothers.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Thea,” Roman pulled me from Colby and hugged me.

“Nice to meet you, dollface,” Dean took my hand and kissed my knuckles. I swear I could hear Colby growl at him at little.

“So she knows about us right,” Roman asked.

“Yeah I know,” I replied as I showed him my birthmark, “And for the record I’m a witch.”

“Damn Uce,” Roman laughed a little, “You got yourself a firecracker for a mate.”

“Yeah well,” Colby just shrugged before he pulled me back into his arms, “I got pretty lucky.”

I was busy packing my bags for the flight to Indianapolis, Colby was laying in my bed, scrolling through the music on my phone. I was trying to find something nice to wear for while we’re out in Indianapolis, since Colby planned on taking me out on the town our first night there. But I groaned in frustration and decided to just plop down on my bed across Colby’s chest.

“Ow rude,” Colby snickered as I landed on him, “What’s wrong, babe?”

“I can’t find anything to wear for our night out,” I groaned, “I think I need to go shopping.”

“Okay let me up,” Colby sat up as I moved, “I’ll take a look in your closet and find you something.”

Colby walked into my closet and I grabbed my phone to start shopping online for a nice dress in case Colby couldn’t find anything. Just as I found one I liked, Colby came out with a dress dangling on his finger.

“Thea,” Colby called out to me, “I found one. I think I need you to try this on for me before I decide that this is the dress I want you to wear in Indy.”

I sighed and grabbed the dress from him and went into my closet to put on the dress. Once I had it on, I slipped on a pair of black heels on to finish the look. I took a deep breath before I stepped out into my room. I looked over at Colby as he sat on the edge of my bed. His eye lit up at seeing me in the dress.

“Wow,” Colby got up and closed the distance between us, “This is the dress I want you to wear in Indy. I want people to see my girl on my arm in this number. Pack it.”

“I’ll bring it,” I told him as I went to change back into my joggers and tank top, but he stopped me.

“Let me take that dress off,” Colby wiggled his brows at me as he licked his lips.

Colby and I were fully packed for our flight in a couple days. Right now, we were in his and Roman’s apartment, cuddling in Colby’s bed. Tonight was going to be a full moon, which meant that Colby would be forced to turn for the night. I was a little scared of this happening.

“Hey Thea,” Colby pulled me from my thoughts by tilting my chin so I faced him, “What’s on your mind, babe?”

“Just thinking about tonight,” I sighed as I leaned up to kiss him, “I’m a little scared.”

“Hey don’t be afraid,” Colby pulled me into his chest and rested his cheek against the top of my head, “Everything is going to be okay. I’ll live through this. It’s not my first full moon.”

“It’s mine though,” I protested, “It’s going to be unbearable for me to see you in pain. I won’t be able to do anything to make the pain stop.”

“Thea,” Colby kissed my forehead, “I promise I’ll be fine. I might be sore tomorrow, but then I get to have a reason to cuddle with you all day.”

We laid together up until the sun started to set. At that point, Colby and I loaded up into Roman’s car to drive out of the city and out into Ocala National Forest, miles outside Orlando and far from civilization. We had packed up a tent for me to spend the night in while the guys went running through the night. But my nerves were still getting to me.

“Alright ladies,” Roman smirked as he pulled up into a clearing to park his truck, “We’re here. Let’s get the tent pitched before we start turning.”

Dean hopped out first and went to grab the tent. Roman joined him in the back to grab the guys’ bags. Colby helped me out and I grabbed my bag and phone. Colby held me close to him as he watched Dean and Roman pitch my tent. Colby was leaving butterfly kisses on my forehead as he rubbed my back, trying to calm my nerves as best as he could.

“Alright tent is up,” Dean dusted off his hand before looking over to me and Colby, “We’ll be fine dollface, this isn’t our first rodeo. We’ll take care of you and loverboy.”

“Dean,” Colby warned him, “I’ll handle calming my girlfriend, thank you. Come on Thea, let’s get your bag into the tent okay.”

I let Colby take me to my tent. Once we were inside, I felt tears welling in my eyes. I was just so scared for Colby tonight. I still had nightmares from my magic nearly killing him and I wasn’t ready for this full moon either.

“Thea, babe,” Colby sat down in the middle of the tent and pulled me down into his lap, “I’m going to be okay. I promise you that I will live. You need to calm down before your magic starts to go awry. I don’t want you to hurt yourself with your magic. I know you’re scared, and that you’ve been having nightmares from when we first slept together, I’m not blind to your turmoil. But please, don’t be scared. I can’t handle you being so scared.”

“Can you stay with me tonight,” I asked, “After you turn anyway. I want to curl up and sleep with you. I don’t think I can handle sleeping alone.”

“Of course,” he replied.

That was when the alarm on my phone went off. The sun was now gone. And I saw Colby’s eyes go wide.

“It’s starting,” Colby groaned in pain like someone had hit him below the belt, “Thea, get across the tent.”

I obeyed and watched as Colby tore his clothes off as quickly as he could. I had to watch as he curled up into a ball before thrashing around as his bones shifted under his skin, screaming in pain. Colby looked at me with wide eyes, seeing them glow just like his wolf’s eyes. He groaned out as his face pushed out to start forming his muzzle. I looked at his back tattoo, watching as it disappeared from his fur growing in.

I decided to try using magic to help him. I focused on channeling a calming aura around the tent, trying to ease his pain as best as I could. Instead he screamed louder. It was like my magic was burning him.

“Thea, stop,” Colby begged, “Magic won’t work on me right now. It’ll make it worse.”

I immediately stopped and collapsed onto my knees. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I watched Colby suffer. I was so helpless and I wished I could help him. What was the point of having this magic when I couldn’t help the man I love?

Don’t beat yourself up over this. He’s a wolf. This is natural to be in pain on the full moon. Being a werewolf is a curse, not a blessing. He has to suffer for the sins of his ancestors.

No. You’re lying.

You know I’m right. I’m ancient. I knew the first werewolves.

Stop.

As I was lost in my mind, fighting with Morrigan. Colby had finished turning and he saw my pulling on my hair and sobbing. He could tell that Morrigan was taunting me, trying to take over. Trying to make my magic lash out and hurt me.

Thea don’t let her win.

She’s too strong this time. I can’t keep control.

Stay out of this, mutt. Or I will make her watch as I turn you into a rug.

Morrigan leave her alone!

Nope.

I felt her take control of my magic and blasted Colby away from me. I started to cry even harder as she laughed at me.

You’re weak.

No, she’s not. Thea, prove her wrong. Protect me from her.

Morrigan started to channel my magic to suck the air out of Colby, I heard him whimper and wheeze as he struggled to breathe. It was when I looked at Colby, seeing his wolf in so much pain, I had to regain control.

Leave him alone you bitch!

I commanded my magic to withdraw from hurting Colby. Sighing heavily as Colby started to take deep breaths again. Morrigan was silenced and I was back in total control. I ran over to Colby’s side and began to pet his fur, trying to channel some healing magic to help him recover from the damage Morrigan inflicted onto him.

I had all the faith in the world you would overtake her, for the record.

“Just relax okay,” I chided him, “You and I have been through hell just now. All I want is to curl up and sleep.”

Then get your sleeping bag ready and we’ll turn in. I’ll tell the guys to go run without me. I want to stay with you and make sure you’re okay tonight.

I obeyed him and got my sleeping bag laid out. I climbed into it, sighing heavily as I got settled. Colby trotted over and curled up into my side before he rested his chin on my shoulder.

Get some sleep, babe. I’ll be here all night, okay.

Colby and I were at the airport, waiting for our flight to allow boarding. I was exhausted. I was barely sleeping due to my nightmares from our first night together and our first full moon. I felt so bad for Colby because he was exhausted too. He was constantly woken up by me screaming in the middle of the night. I felt so guilty that I was letting everything get to me.

“Once we get to Indy,” Colby murmured as he held me into his side, rubbing my shoulder lovingly, “We’ll have a nice in at the hotel and watch some movies, okay. We’re going to forget everything that’s happened the last few weeks and we’ll get a good night sleep. I promise you, you are going to be safe. Even if we had to get you a new choker.”

“I don’t trust myself with my magic anymore,” I sighed heavily as I played with my new choker, “I’m so sorry I’m letting you down over this.”

“Hey you are not letting me down,” Colby kissed my hair, “You are doing what you need to do to control your magic. We’ll keep practicing okay, I’m not going to make you wear that choker for the rest of your life, okay. It’ll take time, but we’ll get there.”

Finally, the airport called for our flight to board. I rose from my seat and Colby stood from his and laced his fingers with mine as we walked to the gate. Now we just had to survive the weekend of Survivor Series.

And I had to soak up as much time as I could with Colby before I had to go back home to Orlando without him.

[i-am-made-of-memoriies]

Zaman

Summary: Sakura has been sent back in time in order to fix a war-torn future. Unfortunately for her, dealing with time travel is not as easy as it seems. (sasusaku) 

A/N: Here’s the first chapter of my Sakura time travel fanfiction. A while ago I read A Twist in Time by @wolf08 and was INSPIRED! It took me a while to build up the confidence to write my own time travel fanfiction because I was scared it would suck, but I really enjoy writing it! Quick note: Zaman means time in Arabic. Also, sorry if Sasuke’s a little OOC in the first few chapters. I’m gonna fix that.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. 

She knew it was too late once she saw the blinding light coming her way. What was there left to do? Stopping those two was impossible at this point, so she only had three choices left. Let Sasuke and Naruto kill her in hopes they’d realize that their feud was meaningless, let Sasuke and Naruto kill each other, or utilize that jutsu. Logically, the latter was the way to go; it involved no killing, but there was such a large margin for error, Sakura couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Realizing she had hardly two seconds left before she would die, she acted on instinct. Her hands flew through the signs without even thinking, the seals on her body illuminating as the jutsu was put into action.

“You two are such idiots!” She exclaimed as she finished the final hand-sign. “Look what I had to do to fix your mistakes!”

She clenched her eyes shut, awaiting pain. If the jutsu didn’t work, she would be doubly impaled by a rasengan and a chidori; if the jutsu did work, she would likely experience pain similar in caliber minus her death.

The pain hit. It felt like every cell in her body was being individually ripped to shreds, reassembled, then destroyed again. It was so blinding and so incapacitating, she couldn’t even tell if she was screaming. After what felt like an eternity, the pain began to subside. She regained feeling in her limbs and quickly realized that she had survived. That meant-oh god. Sakura paled as she realized the implications of her success. After the horror she had seen in the past month, from the death of those close to her, to the horribly mutilated bodies on the battlefield, she knew facing her peers again was going to be difficult.

She sat up in her bed, scanning the room. A wave of nostalgia washed over her as she recognized the pink and red wallpaper she had as a child. As she rolled out of bed, she also realized how much smaller and weaker she was. Since her main purpose now was to alter the future and stop Sasuke, she would have to train like crazy to make up for her nearly emaciated state. She rummaged through her wardrobe, picking out the clothes she wore when she was twelve, cringing at the impracticality and childness qualities. Sighing deeply, she changed into them. Before she left the room, she remembered what important thing was happening today. She was going to be assigned a team.

This means that I can start off on a better foot with Sasuke! She realized, grinning at her epiphone. Maybe if I don’t seem like a total fangirl, he’ll appreciate team seven more.

Sakura began to formulate her new plan. Step one, she decided, was her physical appearance. Since she had woken up earlier than she needed to, she took the extra time to cut her flowy pink hair and change into a more practical outfit. Feeling satisfied with her new look, she dashed out of her house, trying not to let her mother see her.

“I’m leaving now mom!” Sakura announced once she had reached the door, relishing the fact that she could address her mother in such a carefree way, “It’s my first day of being a genin, remember!”

“Have a good day honey,” Mebuki started before stepping into the front hallway, “Sakura your hair!” By the time she had made her exclamation, Sakura was far out the door.

Sakura took a deep breath before entering the academy. She braced herself for the tsunami of memories that would surely follow seeing her friends again. As hard as she tried to push the scenes of their grisly deaths to the back of her mind, they always found a way to resurface. Sakura was positive that seeing them as carefree children would force the memories straight to the front of her mind so she simply braced herself for impact.

“I got here before you billboard-brow!” A familiar high-pitched voice greeted her, “Looks like I get to sit next to Sasuke now!”

Sakura couldn’t help but smile when she saw her best-friend/enemy standing in front of her, alive. “Are you sure Sasuke wants to be fawned over?” Sakura replied, shooting Ino a quizzical look, “We’re ninja now. That means that we should act like one… Ino-pig.” Sakura tagged on for good measure.

“What’s wrong with you? Also why on earth did you cut your hair?”

“Long hair is impractical.” Sakura stated simply. She really wanted to rekindle her friendship with the Yamanaka, but she was having a hard time acting the proper way. She felt as if she had been through hell and back, making acting like a preteen girl very difficult for her. While Sakura had been lost in thought, she had failed to notice the odd stares she had been receiving from her classmates; especially Sasuke. Sakura looked at the Uchiha and felt shivers go down her spine. Though she didn’t want to admit it, the boy was still attractive to her. The longer she looked at him, the more complicated feelings raced through her body. She felt love, fear, sadness, nostalgia, and anger all in the few seconds she had been reunited with Sasuke.

“What are you staring at?” She quickly retorted, trying not to sound angry, but merely curious.

As she expected, Sasuke looked away as if nothing had happened.

“Sakura-chan!” An overtly bright voice called, “You’re kinda different now, but I still think you’re awesome. Wanna sit next to me?”

Sakura realized that she could improve the team seven dynamic if she acted kind to Naruto. Not to mention, the boy had become one of her best friends.

“Sure Naruto.” She replied, sliding into the booth next to him. “Are you excited to find out what team you’re on?”

“Hell yeah I am!” He exclaimed, “I hope we’re on the same team. Then I can always protect you!”

“Thank you Naruto, but I’m perfectly capable of protecting myself. I do hope we’re on the same team though!”

“You’re really awesome Sakura-chan. Wanna get some ramen with me tonight?”

“I’ll run it past my parents.” Sakura cringed at the fact that she’d have to speak to her parents like they hadn’t died in front of her eyes a few days ago.

Naruto grinned happily again and bent in to whisper something into Sakura’s ear. “I hope we’re not on the same team as Sasuke-teme, he seems really annoying.”

Sakura did nothing but laugh. In all reality, she wasn’t sure how to respond. Though it was true that she wanted to love Sasuke, the horrible crimes he had committed made her feel rather uneasy. But this wasn’t the Sasuke she knew before. Sure he was still a moody, emo kid, but he wasn’t a murderer yet. Sakura decided that her main goal was to make sure Sasuke was never consumed by darkness.

Sakura sat on the roof with her new genin team. This time, she was going to make a good impression with her sensei, and be sure to not come off as a fangirl.

“So before we get started, tell me about yourself. Your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, and hobbies.” Kakashi-sensei instructed.

“You seem shady, you go first.” Naruto gave Kakashi a suspicious look.

“Okay, my name is Kakashi. I like some things and dislike others. As for my dreams, I’d rather not tell you. I suppose I don’t have any hobbies.”

“You only told us your name!” Sakura and Naruto exclaimed in unison.

“You go first.” Kakashi ignored the previous comment and pointed to Naruto.

“My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen and I dislike the three minutes it takes for the ramen to cook. My hobby is playing pranks and I want to be the best Hokage ever!”

Kakashi pointed to Sakura.

“My name is Haruno Sakura. I like to read about medical ninjutsu and I like to train. I dislike… well, evil people. My goal is to save someone from succumbing to the darkness. And I suppose my hobby is trying different sweets.” Sakura worried that she had said too much when Sasuke looked at her with a surprised expression.

The files that Iruka had on her seemed completely different. Kakashi thought quizzically. She was made out to be a complete fangirl with a decent amount of intelligence but nearly no shinobi skills.

“You’re so awesome Sakura-chan!” Naruto exclaimed. He whipped out a kunai and made a cut in his hand, “Can you heal this for me?”

“Naruto!” Sakura chastised, “Why did you do that? I’ll heal you though, just don’t do that again.”

Sakura brought her hands to Naruto’s, channeling soft chakra into the wound. It took far more effort than Sakura was used to, but her hands began to glow a light green as the cut on Naruto’s hand stitched itself back together.

“Whoah.” Naruto’s eyes glimmered with awe, “That was really, freaking cool.”

“Anyway,” Kakashi cleared his throat, “On with the introductions.”

“My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don’t like anything and I dislike a lot of things. My dream wouldn’t be called a dream because I will make it a reality. I will avenge my clan and kill a certain someone.”

Kakashi expected no less from the Uchiha. In fact, the two boys on the team seemed to follow Iruka’s reports exactly, making Sakura stand out even more. Not to mention, her knowledge of medical ninjutsu far surpassed the capabilities of a fresh genin; the last medical prodigy had been Tsunade, and even she learned medical ninjutsu at about chunin. Kakashi decided to look into Sakura’s sudden improvement in skill.

“Now that we know each other, meet me at the training grounds at 6:00 A.M, sharp. You will be doing a survival test with a 66% fail rate. Remember to not eat breakfast. If you do, you’ll puke.”

Sakura wandered home, lost in thought. She realized that she needed to have a set of goals if she wanted to change anything for the better; that was why she was in the past anyway.

Saving Sasuke has to be my top priority. She thought, nodding to herself. If he doesn’t give in to the curse of hatred, the entire war can be avoided. In order to do that though, I’ll have to make sure he doesn’t get branded by Orochimaru. If that somehow works out, I’ll find Tsunade and have her train me further. Sakura shuddered as she remembered the day that Tsunade threw herself in front of the barrage of in coming kunai in order to protect her and Naruto. She had told them that they were the last hopes of Konoha, and that they would have to do everything in their power to save their people. 

Sakura wiped away the tears collecting in the corners of her eyes and kept walking towards her house. Being in the past made her remember just how much she loved Sasuke, and how much his approval meant to her. Just his surprised eyes when she mentioned her goal had sent her heart fluttering, and the blood rushing to her head. While she was deep in thought, she didn’t notice the aforementioned Uchiha approach her.

“Sakura.” He said, walking beside her, “You’re different.”

“What do you mean Sasuke?” She asked, trying to sound genuinely confused and also trying to conceal her surprise.

“You seem to possess skills you didn’t have before.”

Sakura racked her mind, trying to find some appropriate reason for why she would have kept her prodigious medical talents secret. “I always had the skills Sasuke, you just never cared to notice.” She spat out, instantly regretting her sudden wave of anger.

Sasuke looked taken aback by her uncharacteristic behavior. “I noticed enough.” He replied nonchalantly, “You’re different.”

“M-maybe I was just getting tired of you never acknowledging me.” Sakura was regretting every word that came out of her mouth, yet she did nothing to stop the flow of probably detrimental sentences. “I know I was an annoying fangirl but-but I tried. If you had told me-just once-that you were looking into getting stronger instead and not looking for girls instead of crushing my heart and brushing me off, maybe I wouldn’t have been so clingy. You know what? You’re annoying Sasuke.” Sakura realized how much their situations had changed.

Sasuke looked at Sakura with big, confused eyes. What is wrong with her? He thought, discreetly checking for disturbances in her chakra. When he found none, he simply frowned to himself and walked away, acting aloof and unaffected.

Sakura tried to put her painful past behind her and start this new life over, using her memories to guide her, not haunt her, but she was having trouble treating her peers the way she was supposed to. Especially Sasuke. She was well aware that she still harbored feelings for him, but she couldn’t shake the terrible memories of his chidori aimed at her chest, or the look of hatred in her eyes when he looked at her. Sakura shuddered and set her mind on formulating a plan for the following day.

Content with her strategy, she climbed into her sickly pink bed and fell asleep.

Sasuke was looking at her with deep contempt. His eyes were a deep crimson, adorned with a six-sided black star in the center. His look alone made Sakura feel as if he was uttering a string of disparaging comments though his mouth never once moved from its hateful smirk.

“You’re weak.” He sneered, finally speaking, “You’re weak now, and you will always be weak.”

Sakura wanted to break down and cry. She knew she was weaker than Sasuke, but was all of her hard training really for naught? Was she still that cowering, pathetic, little girl? “I may not be as strong as you,” Sakura started, trying to keep her voice steady, “but I assure you that I am not weak. I can crush boulders with my pinky and I can heal virtually any wound. Not to mention, I have something you don’t.”

Sasuke smirked again, “Now what would that be?”

“I have friends! And I have bonds that make me stronger!” Sakura exclaimed confidently, “When you forsook your bonds for blind revenge, you lost the potential to be truly strong!”

“You still believe the crap that Konoha shoves down your throat? In order to be strong, you can not let pathetic bonds get in the way. That is why you’re weak.”

“You’re wrong!” Sakura cried, smashing the ground with her foot, “You’re so blinded by revenge, that you can’t see how Naruto, the loser has become stronger than you by fighting for the people he loves.”

Sasuke shot Sakura a slightly surprised look, “I don’t believe you.” He replied simply, sending his chidori stream right at Sakura’s chest.

If Sakura had looked away any sooner, she wouldn’t have noticed the look of regret that flashed over Sasuke’s face when he thought that Sakura would be killed. The look was subtle, but Sakura knew Sasuke well. She knew what he felt.

Realizing that she was in a memory, Sakura waited for Kakashi to swoop in and bring her to safety like he had before, but she didn’t see the telltale mop of white hair. Panic was beginning to set in when she realized that it was too late for her to dodge. The blinding blue light crackled menacingly as it came closer to her, ready to impale her. The jutsu was getting closer and closer, soon she could feel the heat, her hair was standing on end, it was mere millimeters away…

Sakura’s eyes flew open. She was twisted in the sheets of her bed, still a genin. Blinking several times, she glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It was 6:05, a perfectly decent time to wake up. Sliding off her bed, she walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. When she looked in the mirror, her still-round, rosy, preteen face gazed back at her, devoid of any scars or signs of suffering. Though she understood that the face gazing back at her was her own, she couldn’t help but feel like she didn’t fit. Though she was in the form of a young, happy happy girl who had never seen war, she was plagued by the images of war and suffering. She figured that nightmares would continue to be a regular occurance as they had been previously, but she was good at blocking them out.

Putting all of those thoughts behind her, she dressed for the day and decided to go to the training grounds before her teammates arrived and long, long before Kakashi even bothered to show up.

The training ground was empty as expected. Sakura shivered slightly in the cool morning wind and began to run laps to mitigate the cold. While she ran, she focused solely on the feeling of her muscles working to propel her forwards and the way her short hair fluttered like a flag in the wind. Once she was sufficiently warm, she began to test her strength. She could tell that her seal of one hundred healings was laying dormant in her, not taking its position in the center of her large forehead; hopefully, she would not need to call upon that seal as it would completely blow her cover.

Thankfully, she was stronger than she had been as a genin in her previous life. Her memories and expertise had remained the same, but her physical strength and chakra reserves were abysmal. Thankfully, she could kill two birds with one stone by doing vigorous physical training. Knowing that she had about thirty minutes until her teammates arrived, she stretched her muscles and polished her plan for the bell test.

It was obvious that Sasuke would be completely adverse to working with either her or Naruto. Especially after their not-so-pleasant exchange the previous day. It would take a good deal of convincing to get Sasuke to even consider going along with her plan. Naruto, on the other hand, would be gung-ho for working with Sakura but would completely refuse if he had to work with Sasuke. All in all, she would have to state an extremely convincing and moving case if she wanted to get anything done. She could also let everything play out the exact same way as they had before, but she wanted to make things better. Especially between her and Sasuke; she obviously hadn’t been going to well though.

She could feel Sasuke’s presence approaching the training grounds. She smiled to herself, realizing how small his chakra reserves were now compared to his in the future. He truly was so much younger. She decided that now would be a good time to apologize for their feud.

“Hey Sasuke,” she started, unintentionally dropping the suffix, “I’m sorry about yesterday. I suppose I was just getting fed up. I promise I won’t let my personal feelings get in the way of our team dynamic anymore since teamwork is what makes a team great. Without cooperation, teams would be nothing.” Sakura tried to hint at the fact that they’d need to work together during the test and she really hoped that Sasuke would catch the drift.

“It’s okay.” Sasuke replied, surprising Sakura with something more than a monosyllabic grunt, “I-I suppose I was a bit harsh before.” Sasuke’s last sentence came out as a whisper.

Sakura’s eyes lit up with happiness. Sasuke just apologized to me! She thought giddily. That means our relationship is already stronger! Unbeknownst to her, she would be really valuing their blossoming friendship in the not-so-far future.

Part 2 (https://niva2308.tumblr.com/post/172610949125/zaman-part-2) I’ll make this a hyperlink when I have a functioning computer.

[infinitum-imaginaerum]

Blind // Yoo Kihyun - 08

Blind Chapter 7 / Eight / Blind Chapter 9

The tags on your dog’s collar jingled as he jumped down from the bed, but the sound of your door creaking open was quite possibly the loudest sound of your life. Your heart was beating in your ears, but not even that drowned it out. Steadily you sat, gripping the covers in your lap as your eyes strained to look through the darkness. The door had opened enough for a body to slip through, but you still weren’t able to see so quickly you reached over to flip the lamp on.

It startled you, Kihyun’s face poking through your door, and a hand cupped over your heart as you exhaled your held breath. His eyes were concerned, his brow drawn together as he looked at you.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

“You scared the shit out of me,” you replied, your hand falling away from your chest to rejoin the other.

“Yeah, well, your scream wasn’t particularly inconspicuous,” he mentioned and you nodded in agreement, zero protest about that—you were, however, slightly shocked that he could hear it in his total narcoleptic state downstairs between two doors.

“It was just a nightmare,” you replied as he slinked into the room. The light from your lamp lit up his torso with a tinge of rust color, bare in all its glory—at least this time he was wearing pants. He must have found all of his clean clothes piled on the dresser in his room.

“I’m sure I can guess what it was about,” he told you, ambling closer and closer to your bed, causing you to grip your covers tighter and tighter.

He had slight bed-head. His black hair ruffled, but not unruly. His eyes were tired, a little red from being woken so abruptly. It was in the rusty light that you finally could see the scars on his body. Plenty of knife wounds, it appeared. It wasn’t so many that they distracted from how smooth his skin was otherwise, but enough to be noticeable. Enough to count on two hands. They mostly covered his back; you noticed earlier when he turned to close the door.

A low growl perked your ear and you glanced over to your most loyal pal who was pretty hesitant to have Kihyun in such close proximity in your bedroom.  You nodded to him, and his ears previously pinned back resumed to their normal floppy state as he curled back up on the large pillow in the corner of the room.

“I didn’t realize you had a dog,” Kihyun commented as if it were nothing.

“He’s very protective of this space,” you replied, seemingly unable to hike your covers up any higher to cover yourself, though you were perfectly decent from the waist up.

What was going on in Kihyun’s mind, you weren’t sure. What on earth possessed him to continue moving closer and closer to you, you didn’t know. But he kept coming without hesitance, all the way until he was seated on your bed, his face no more than a foot away from yours.

“Are you okay?” he asked again.  

“Physically, yes,” you replied, eyeing his face.

“Mentally? Emotionally?”

“Questionable, and a wreck,” you breathed as he moved a little bit closer. Closer and closer he moved until one of your hands freed your comforter to press on his chest, as you had the previous day. His skin was soft and warm under your fingertips, developing goosebumps to your cool touch. You could feel his breath against your cheeks, he was so close. His eyes seemed to glitter in the dim light as you looked into them. His nose—cute and pointy, perfectly fit for his face. His lips were slightly parted, perfectly pink, teeth closed. There was where you caught yourself staring a little too long.

“I don’t think I ever properly thanked you for saving me,” he said after a few moments, bringing your eyes back to his.

“You don’t really need to; I mean, if you do it can wait—”

“Thank you, very much, for saving me. There’s no way I’d be here, alive on this earth right now, without you,” he interrupted, clearly thinking it couldn’t wait, that he had to tell you right now. Your hand had already slipped from his chest, rejoining your other hand in your lap as you listened to him speak.

“It’s... you’re welcome,” you replied.

“Try to get some rest, and no more bad dreams,” he wished, standing from your bed to leave the room, but not before planting a hand on your night stand, the other taking your chin so he could press a kiss against your forehead. You could feel the blush burning your cheeks and your hand moved up to touch the burning flesh with your fingers. By the time you could compose yourself enough to look up to spot him again, the door was already closed and you could hear his feet patting down the stairs.

You sunk back down into your bed, a sigh unexpectedly passing your lips before you rolled over, pulling the covers up over your shoulder to try and get back to sleep, and surprisingly, it wasn’t that difficult. For the rest of the night, you slept soundlessly. You didn’t even wake when your dog jumped back up on the bed to take his rightful place with you.

The alarm clock rang three or four times in the morning before you finally woke, that’s how soundlessly you slept. When you finally muted the dang thing, it was already approaching eight—way too late for your liking and you lethargically rolled out of bed to enter the bathroom and rush through your morning routine.

It wasn’t anticipated to be a busy day, but you did have to leave to go to town to get some food and things—nothing big; but you would need more gauze to re-bandage Kihyun’s wrists. So, once you were dressed, you patted down the stairs yourself, fingertips grazing the railing just in case.  But you paused abruptly at the bottom of the stairs, shocked to see Kihyun was already awake.

“Good morning,” he said without even turning around. He was standing in the kitchen by the stove; you could smell something cooking but couldn’t put your finger on it.

“Good morning, Kihyun,” you replied, tentatively approaching the kitchen, your boots tapping the hardwood as you ambled slowly.

“You eat a lot of western foods for breakfast,” he commented.

“My father lived overseas for many years and adopted the taste—I’ve had it since I was a child, grew up with it,” you replied, moving close and closer, step by step, until Kihyun turned around with a  bright smile on his face.

“That’s fine,” he stated, holding a plate out to you which contained two fried eggs, some toast, a bit of rice, and some fruit.

“You made this?” you asked him.

Kihyun nodded and moved past you to take a seat at the table. “I hope that’s okay. I’ve grown a bit of an appetite being here,” he laughed nervously.

“No, that’s fine… I’m just…surprised,” you replied, turning to join him at the table.

Your first bites were slow, but the food was well prepared so you sunk in a little, comforted by a home-cooked meal by someone other than yourself. “You look like you’re dressed to go out,” Kihyun observed.

“I have to go get some groceries and things,” you responded, pushing around a piece of cubed watermelon on your plate only to pick it up and pop it in your mouth. Kihyun nodded, but you couldn’t see.

“And things?” he questioned.

“I was thinking about going to see Minhyuk and my dad; but since you’re awake, I’m not sure now,” you added after a moment. His eyes changed at the sound of Minhyuk and suddenly he was losing his appetite. Thankfully, by that point, his plate was already mostly finished.

Kihyun’s hands found his lap as he stared at the table just in front of his plate. “Minhyuk,” he commented, thinking about the horrible things that group could do to a man until his mind flashed to yesterday’s events—the whole reason he cooked breakfast in the first place, as a sort of misplaced apology. “Is he okay?”

“There’s no way for me to know for sure until I go down there,” you replied, pushing around your egg whites now with your fork, untraditionally Korean of you.

“Can I go?”

“I think it’s best if you don’t.”

“I want to see him—”

“You will, just not today,” you finally said, ending the conversation as your eyes found his. “You’re still sick and you still need to rest, and the guys are undoubtedly still wondering if you’re alive or not. I will go see him, and I will update you when I get back.”

Kihyun didn’t have a choice but to agree when you mentioned that you’d clean up and stood from the table, your own appetite having been lost half way through your piece of toast which you promptly dumped in a bag that would go out to the compost.

It wasn’t long after that Kihyun was curled up on the couch with a blanket wrapped tightly around him, some hot tea on the couch side table as he flipped through channels on your TV as you were leaving. You pulled on a coat as your boots thudded towards the front door. “Don’t answer the door for anyone, not that anyone would knock. Try to get some rest,” you told him and was out the door with the nod of his head.

Once more you made your way down the mountain, in a different direction now towards a shed near a mountainside street. Inside, a small motorbike that you used for in town travel. You started it up and were on the street in no time. First stop, the hospital. You had called your dad on the way to see if Minhyuk was checked in (you weren’t quite sure why he wouldn’t be) before your dad asked to join you. Suddenly, there was so much investment in this young male he didn’t even know, but when he saw how damaged he was, on top of the fact that you were housing another, he became increasingly curious.

He met you at the hospital and directed you to Minhyuk’s room. You stepped up to the sliding glass door and the motion sensor tripped, letting the two of you in after the application of some hand-sanitizer.  

Minhyuk was asleep at the moment, so you inspected his monitors. His vitals all looked good, but when you noticed the amount of tubes and wires he was hooked up to, you weren’t sure if the vitals were artificially enhanced or not.

“Minhyuk?” you called quietly, reaching out to touch his arm and he jolted awake, causing you to jump back and quickly pull your hand away. He looked at you with no recollection of who you were, but eyed your dad with slight recognition.

“Who are you?” he asked, his voice much stronger this time.

You offered your name, but followed it with, “I’m here on behalf of Kihyun.”

Kihyun struck with him well, almost so well he started to panic.

“Kihyun, he’s dead,” Minhyuk said sadly, watching your face for any expression to confirm his beliefs.

“He’s alive, Minhyuk. He’s living with me for now,” you explained. “You were in the clearing; you and your gang normally go there, right? They wasted you, Minhyuk. The men you trusted the most. You’re here because of them, do you know that?”

Minhyuk’s expression was somber as he looked away from you and shook his head. He glanced up to look at the wall and you could see the flame of anger fill those eyes. “Kihyun’s alive,” he reiterated.

“He’s alive,” you confirmed.

“How do you know all this, about me and them?” he asked, his eyes glancing to your father, before glancing to you.

[psychicmedium14]

What Your Astrological Sign Says About What Kind of Ex-Girlfriend You Are

Sure, you know what kind of girlfriend you are based on your zodiac sign, but what kind of ex are you? Read on to find out what the stars have to say about your breakup style. Aquarius: The Ex Who Doesn't Look Back: Honestly, PHEW, you're glad things are over now, because you were starting to feel a little cramped. You're super independent, Aquarius, and you need to feel like you have space to be who you want to be, or else you get antsy. You tend to not get bent out of shape after a breakup. After all, your witty conversational skills and charisma make everyone you meet feel super important, which makes it super easy for people to fall for you, HARD. But if someone bores you or can't keep up that signature Aquarius banter, you're out. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: Finally booking that trip you've always wanted to talk about. You finally have all this time! What did you even do when you were dating someone? How did you even LIVE? Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: You're out and about they walk by. They're super awkward about the whole thing, which you don't really understand, until you realize you were on a date with someone much hotter than your ex. Pisces: The Nice Ex: Selfless Pisces! You work too hard and are far too nice and trusting to everyone. Your friends are stoked for your break up. They're sick of watching your current boo treat you like any less than the queen that you are, and can't WAIT for you to find someone better. You're hella compassionate and kind, so you try to keep things as amicable as possible with your exes. But your sensitive side means that you also feel breakups pretty intensely. Maybe you didn't even love them! But the second you break up, you're left wondering Was this person my soulmate? Will I spend the rest of my LIFE ON THIS PLANET pining for them? Luckily the answer is no. Your kind, compassionate nature is like friggin' catnip for All the Hot Singles In Your Area and you are able to find new boos to take your mind off of things pretty easily. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: Starting a poetry blog that goes viral. Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: They start following your work and accidentally like something on your Instagram from a very chill 38 weeks ago. Aries: The Ex That Got Away: All your exes miss you immediately. Once you're no longer together, they realize just how much they missed that signature Aries wild-streak of spontaneity and confidence. Too bad that's not your problem anymore! It's not like you're sad that you guys broke up because you really miss them — it's more like you're a little insulted they didn't wanna hang around your greatness anymore? Whatever though, you're not bothered you tell yourself while toggling between the 17 OkCupid tabs you have open and swiping with abandon on Tinder. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: Gong on a blind date within 24 hours of your breakup. Hey, why wait? Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: They "accidentally" (read: on purpose) run into you by school/work/that bar you always go to with your friends. It doesn't work and you see right through it though, so lmao. Taurus: The Chill Ex: You approach everything super logically, so once you figure out that you guys weren't going to spend the rest of your lives together, you no longer care. Your reliable and stable nature means you often stay friends with exes after the fact. While you may think nothing of it (practically speaking, you'd never date the same person twice. On-and-off-again relationships just don't make sense to you, time-wise), just know that every time you hang out as friends, they're running through your entire relationship in their head, wondering if you'll ever give them a second chance. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: Shopping for a new wardrobe or curating some other aspect of your life to your typical Taurusian perfection Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: You see them like, every day, after you become friends again and they won't STFU about their love life in front of you Trying to Make You Feel Something, but you're chill. Gemini: The On-and-Off-Again Ex: You're super adventurous and fearless so breakups are truly NBD to you...but sometimes maybe they should be? Your indecisive nature and charisma make you a perfect storm for on-again-off-again relationships, but you already know this. You can't help it if you've got a knack for starting organic conversation with anyone, including your ex! It's always good to be chill about breakups, but you gotta remember that sometimes they're for the best, especially when you could be gracing someone new with that signature Gemini charm. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: Talking it out with a v. therapeutic vent sesh with your best girlfriends. You decompress best when surrounded by lots of love and verbal affirmations that you are indeed, much better than your ex, and much funnier. (You are.) Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: You set up a coffee date later down the line to "catch up" AKA suss out how they're doing post-breakup and are they in a place where you should get back together again? You'll never know unless you ask! Cancer: The Ex That Blocks You on Facebook: I'm not gonna sugarcoat it: breakups hit you pretty hard since you tend to feel emotions very viscerally. And why shouldn't they? You're one of the most loyal and supportive people around, so if someone were to test that trust or commitment, yeah, you'd be pretty hurt. "I don't even care," you choke out between sobs while writing a very harshly worded email that you will never send (you didn't even put their email address in the recipient tab), partway out of fear you'd accidentally hit send and they'd see just how much this actually bothers you, and partway because you can't even admit to yourself how hurt you are. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: Going through their tagged photos on Facebook/Instagram to see when/if they're dating somebody new, and WHO IS SHE AND WHAT DOES SHE HAVE ON YOU? Your friends eventually convince you to block them. Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: Never, because you go way out of your way to avoid running into them of course. Leo: The Petty Ex: You're not mad at all. You actually don't even care at a— okay, you're a little mad. Maybe not mad, just a lil' insulted that you wasted your time with someone who wasn't as perfect as you. Ok, FINE, you're also really hurt that someone didn't see you for the star that you are. And yeah, it doesn't feel good that you were probably more into them than vice versa. You can't help it though, you're just a straight shooter who doesn't play games, so why play hard to get? It sucks to put yourself out there and have that met with anything but matching enthusiasm. You might try to overcompensate with coolness and try to remain friends, but eventually you realize you were never really friends in the first place. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: Trying to make a mumblecore indie short film about your experiences together a la Adam from the last season of GIRLS for some sense of closure. Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: You invite them to your Broadway debut 20 years down the line, but you're not salty. It's just, like a light "f*ck you" move you know? Super casual. Virgo: The Ex That Can't Let Go: You look for some Greater Meaning in everything — methodically analyzing every move trying to learn from it. You vacillate between crying your eyes out, or thanking your lucky stars the universe hath delivered you from this fuccboi. You continue to go through your old message history looking for red flags after the fact, convinced if you could only find the turning point it would bring you some closure. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: Shell-shocked, rocking back and forth whispering "I just don't get it." Your friends GTFO there after two days of trying to convince you everything will be okay. You know that, but you just gotta process stuff at your own pace. Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: You do a very calculated Hot Girl Pivot™ where you examine and reevaluate every aspect of your life to seem Cooler, Better, Faster, Stronger and broadcast it from all your social media channels until he's the very first viewer on all your Snapchat stories. Libra: The Friendly Ex: Since you tend to be non-confrontational, things usually get *pretty* bad for a breakup to even happen, which leads to a lot of unspoken bitterness for both parties. You'll go out of your way to be diplomatic and make sure everyone knows that you hold no ill will, but really, you'll never forgive them for wasting your time. No matter though! You're charming AF and hotties start falling into your orbit almost immediately after any breakup. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: If you're *really* shook, you go to law school or something. If you're only a little shook, you make a bunch of fire Spotify breakup playlists and waddle around in your PJs pitying yourself for exactly 1/7th of the time you were together, or until a new crush comes your way. Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: You see them all the time, because you're "friends" and you totally "don't care" that they're now dating a carbon copy of yourself at all haha, why? Scorpio: The Stone-Cold Ex: Damn, where do I start Scorpio? For starters, all your exes are scared of you. You know that right? You're real quick to call someone out and will not hesitate to bring up receipts from like, four tax seasons ago. And good luck to them if they hurt you, because you'll dedicate all your waking hours to getting them back. If an ex is lucky enough to escape your wrath, you'll just go straight for the freeze and cut off all communication with them forever. It's like you never existed. You deal with breakups about as well as you'd think, which is very intensely. You may seem tough on the outside, and you are pretty fearless, but you also tend to beat yourself up about them, wondering if you did something to chase them off/make things fall apart. The older you get, the more you realize, it's not always somebody's fault and that sometimes people just aren't a match, and breakups get easier and easier the older you get. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: Flirting with the idea of hooking up with their best friend/roommate/boss to just really drive in that power play that you "won" the breakup. Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: When you start parading around the fact that you're now hooking up with someone close to them. Spoiler: it doesn't feel good for any party involved. Sagittarius: The Ex Who Will Always Secretly Hope for Something More: You're so funny and witty that it's a little too easy for you to become friends with your exes after you breakup. Of course you don't mind though. You'll give a ton of lip service about how "you're just friends" till the ends of time, but at the same time, if they ever wanted to pursue something again, you'd sign up right away. But you'll never make the first (second) move. You're stubborn enough to not want to be the one to pursue an on-again-off-again dealio, but conveniently not stubborn enough to move on completely. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: Setting your ex up with a friend just to prove how "totally over it" you are. You're not, and you finally realize this when they actually hit it off and you don't know how to backpedal and say you didn't mean for this to happen. Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: You see them on Tinder and it hits you that they're like, actively looking to date other people, which even though you'd been broken up for months, hurts you in ways you didn't realize you could be offended by? Haha. Nice. You consider moving away or getting really into cycling classes. You wind up doing neither, but it gets easier every time. Capricorn: The Glo-Up Ex: You're honestly stoked to be single again. What a great chance to meet new people and trade up for a hotter/smarter/funnier model. Sure, your friends might think this is a little cruel when you explain your lack of grieving period, but it works. Your ex was a little dull anyways, and they were always gonna disappoint you in one way or another. They probably just couldn't handle you. Sure, it hurts a little, but ultimately you're grateful for the chance to meet somebody who really gets you. And super grateful you don't have to pretend to like the same things anymore. Most Likely to Be Doing This After a Breakup: Dating somebody who is the total opposite of your ex, just to see what it's like. Situation in Which You'd Most Likely Run into Your Ex: You run into each other at a mutual friend's party and you don't even realize it until they text you about it later. Oops! Oh well. You remain unbothered.

[cutepresea]

6-14 Innocent Sister: Innocent Sister

Sorry again for the spam.

If you want to blacklist these, you can use either the tag #innocent sister for just this event, or #xdu event scripts or #xdu scripts

Reminder that these are copied straight from XD Unlimited itself, so any grammatical weirdness, mistranslations, and/or mischaracterizations are not my doing.

Serena: "......"

Dr. Adolph: "Is it upsetting, finding out your bond was nothing more than a fabrication from the very start?"

Dr. Adolph: "You must feel foolish, having your reality  shattered before your very eyes."

Dr. Adolph: "Well, you'll just need to toughen up. You're of no use to me if this is all it takes to break you."

Dr. Adolph: "To think that she calls herself a wielder, a protector of humanity... She's just a worthless fraud."

Serena: "...That's enough."

Dr. Adolph: "Excuse me?"

Serena: "You hurt my sister..."

Serena: "You made her sad..."

Serena: "You made her cry... And I'm not going to put up with it any longer!"

Dr. Adolph: "Have you even been listening? She's not your real--"

Serena: "She's the only one I have!"

Serena: "Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal. Emustolronzen fine el baral zizzl--"

Serena: "Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal. Emustolronzen fine el zizzl..."

Dr. Adolph: "I... I don't understand! Why fight for a bond that isn't real! Get this delusional child, Nephilim!"

Maria: (I was saved by Serena seven years ago... And now it's my turn to save her.)

Maria: (...I won't lose her again!)

Maria: (I may not be her real older sister... But right now, I'm th eonly one who can save her!)

Maria: "Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal. Emustolronzen fine el baral zizzl--"

Maria: "Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal. Emustolronzen fine el zizzl..."

Maria: "Agh..."

Maria: (I feel... lighter!)

Maria: (It's like... The burden is just leaving my body...)

Maria: "Wait... Our Airget-lamhs are shining!"

Dr. Adolph: "The relics are resonating? No... Serena is taking on the phonic gain and burden of both Superb Songs!"

Dr. Adolph: "This must be her special ability... Don't tell me she can defeat the complete Nephilim?!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "What's this light?! It's almost blinding!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "It's... What a miracle looks like..."

Maria: "She took on my burden. I'm the one who's being protected again..."

Serena: "No... That's not it, Sis."

Serena: "I feel your power. It's enveloping me... Protecting me."

Serena: "It's so warm, and gentle..."

Maria: "Oh, Serena..."

Dr. Adolph: "This can't be because of their bond, could it?! How could such a stupid, nebulous thing--"

Maria: "My Superb Song's energy is being channeled into Serena!"

Serena: (That rainbow light I saw back then... It was everyone's bonds! This is what bonds look like!)

Serena: "And this..."

Serena: "This is our phonic gain... The power of love between sisters... This is the power of our bond!"

Dr. Adolph: "What?! What's going on?! This isn't supposed to-- Aaargh!"

Serena: "It's a power you couldn't possibly understand."

Maria: "This power... It's so warm! It's flowing into me from Serena!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "It IS warm! I can feel it flowing into me, too!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "The pain of Nephilim's rage and the Karma Noise's curse are fading away..."

Kirika Akatsuki: "Serena... Did you do this?!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "I can get up... I can fight again!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "We can do this! Let's go, Shirabe!"

Maria: "Shirabe! Kirika!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "Nephilim's weakning... Serena took its power and gave it to us!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "I've never felt so alive!"

Dr. Adolph: "No... The complete Nephilim's power, the Karma Noise's power... She took it all? How?!"

Serena: "Nephilim was never complete!"

Serena: "Because nothing is ever truly complete!"

Serena: "Lean on me..."

Serena: "And take this power!"

Serena: "I'm here for you to lean on, for as long as I live!"

Serena: "Tsukuyomi-san, Akatsuki-san, Mom, me, Sis... We're family!"

Dr. Adolph: "But... But how are humans capable of this?!"

Serena: "Everyone... Will you fight by my side? I want to show him what the power of family, of bonds, looks like."

Maria: "Is that really okay with you, Serena? I'm not your--"

Serena: "Sis... I'm so sorry!"

Maria: "Huh?!"

Serena: "I knew the truth."

Serena: "Mom told me during the bait operation briefing."

Nastassja: "This is a dangerous operation, but orders can't be disobeyed. I know you understand that perfectly well."

Serena: "Yes... But in return, can I ask you just one thing?"

Nastassja: "If it offers any consolation, I'll answer any question you have."

Serena: "Sis... The sister who came back for me..."

Serena: "She's not my real sister, is she?"

Nastassja: "Serena... You knew all along, didn't you?"

Serena: "I had a feeling..."

Serena: "But since I knew seven years had passed, I didn't question it. I didn't want to believe it."

Nastassja: "I didn't want to cause you any more pain."

Serena: "So then, Sis... She's actually..."

Nastassja: "Serena, allow me to explain everything."

Serena: "But if you tell me the truth, I'll be all alone again..."

Serena: "To think that she's not really my sister..."

Serena: "...It scares me."

Serena: (Will I be alone? Will she... always be there for me?)

Maria: "I will protect you. I swear."

Serena: "Sis... We'll always be together, right? No matter how far apart we are, we'll always be sisters, right?"

Serena: (Please... Please answer me, Sis...)

Maria: "Of course we will. I'll always--"

Maria: "...I will always be your older sister. No matter how far apart we are, I'll always love you, Serena."

Serena: "Maria-nee-san..."

Maria: "I'm not fit to be your sister. Not when I made you suffer like this. I was just so scared I'd lose you again."

Serena: "Maria-nee-san!"

Maria: "To hear you call a hopeless girl like me your older sister... It makes me so happy. I'm glad we're sisters."

Serena: "Sis... Thank you for staying by my side!"

Maria: "No, thank you, Serena... For letting me be there for you."

Dr. Adolph: "What are you talking about?! No matter how many Superb Songs you sing, they cannot surpass the might of--"

Maria: "Stay out of it!"

Dr. Adolph: "Eeek!"

Maria: "We'll never forgive anyone--"

Serena: "Who dares try to break our bond!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "You've got us too! We may not be related, but our bonds are just as strong as any other family's!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "Our bonds are eternal!"

Serena: "This is the power of family!"

Maria: "... I can feel her song. I can do this!"

Maria: "Serena!"

Serena: "My song will pave the way to a new tomorrow!"

Dr. Adolph: "Th-That... can't be possible! My complete Nephilim... It was completely wiped out!"

Dr. Adolph: "Don't tell me it was that black Noise... Was it hindering Nephilim's completion?"

Dr. Adolph: "This... This can't be happening!"

Maria: "It's over, Adolf." [1]

Serena: "Yeah, we finally... Finally..."

Maria: "...Serena?"

Maria: "Serena!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "What?! No!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "Get a hold of yourself, Serena!"

Maria: "Don't tell me the Superb Song backfired?!"

Maria: "Serena! Open your eyes!"

Maria: "Serenaaaaaa!"

Nastassja: "I see you're all here."

Maria: "......"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "Okay, Mom."

Nastassja: "Firstly, Dr. Adolf is currently being interrogated by the US and Japanese governments due to this incident."

Kirika Akatsuki: "Now that's what I wanted to hear!"

Nastassja: "Looking over the course of his career, I feel that it's very clear why he was capable of such crimes."

Kirika Akatsuki: "Huh? His whole reasoning was just that he wanted to rule the world, wasn't  it?"

Nastassja: "At a previous facility he worked at, there was a Noise attack that took many lives. 128 of them, in fact."

Nastassja: "Of those 128, the 50 who weren't immediately turned into ash died as a result of the chaos of the attack."

Nastassja: "Those who didn't fall to their deaths got crushed in the resulting stampede of people trying to feel."

Nastassja: "He was powerless in the face of that overwhelming destruction... That's what drove him to such lengths."

Nastassja: "He wasn't a casualty, but he was still a victim of the terror the Noise inflicted."

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "But instead of bringing peace, he just created more chaos."

Kirika Akatsuki: "Well, we'll just have to eradicate all the Noise to make up for that."

Nastassja: "Now, thanks to our retrieval of Document F, each relic research facility it mentioned is being investigated."

Kirika Akatsuki: "Hey, what does the 'F' in Document F stand for?"

Nastassja: "It most likely stands for Frontier, rather than the name of the person who wrote it."

Nastassja: "Frontier is the general name for research conducted by Dr. John Wayne Vercingetorix, before his death."

Kirika Akatsuki: "What? HIM?!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "Ugh... So he's the cause of all this..."

Nastassja: "Is something the matter?"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "...It's nothing."

Maria: "......"

Nastassja: "Maria, I know my words may not bring you any comfort..."

Nastassja: "But please... Trust us to fix this."

Maria: "Mom..."

Nastassja: "Serena took on the burden of two Superb Songs. It's a miracle she's even alive."

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "I wouldn't worry about her. She's tough."

Kirika Akatsuki: "Yeah! I'm sure she'll be just fine! Her link coefficient is even higher than ours, remember?"

Maria: "Thank you, girls. You're right. Serena will be just fine."

Nastassja: "Her link coefficient and recovery abilities are impressive, but there's one more thing that saved her."

Maria: "Huh?"

Nastassja: "The light that radiated from your Airget-lamh... I believe its power saved Serena."

Maria: "You mean, when our Airget-lamhs resonated..."

Nastassja: "Yes. I think it was you, Maria. Serena owes her life to you, her older sister."

Maria: "I... protected Serena..."

Nastassja: "That's how powerful the bond between you two is. It's a bond that transcends worlds."

Nastassja: "So please, continue to be there for her, however you can... As her older sister."

Maria: "...Thank you, Mom. I will."

Notes:

[1] Ah, there's that other spelling of Adolph/Adolf's name