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escapetoluna · 4 years

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How to learn a language when you don’t know where to start:

General Plan:

Weeks 1 and 2: Purpose:

Learn the fundamentals sentence construction

Learn how to spell and count

Start building a phrase stockpile with basic greetings

The Alphabet

Numbers 1 - 100

Subject Pronouns

Common Greetings

Conjugate the Two Most Important Verbs: to be and to have

Basic Definite and Indefinite Articles

Weeks 3 and 4: Purpose:

Learn essential vocabulary for the day-to-day

Start conjugating regular verbs

Days of the Week and Months of the Year

How to tell the time

How to talk about the weather

Family Vocabulary

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Weeks 5 and 6: Purpose:

Warm up with the last of the day-to-day vocabulary

Add more complex types of sentences to your grammar

Colours

House vocabulary

How to ask questions

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Forming negatives

Weeks 7 and 8: Purpose:

Learn how to navigate basic situations in a region of your target language country

Finish memorising regular conjugation rules

Food Vocabulary and Ordering at Restaurants

Money and Shopping Phrases

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Weeks 9 and 10: Purpose:

Start constructing descriptive and more complex sentences

Adjectives

Reflective verbs

Places vocabulary

Weeks 11 and 12: Purpose:

Add more complex descriptions to your sentences with adverbs

Wrap up vocabulary essentials

Adverbs

Parts of the body and medical vocabulary

Tips for Learning a Foreign Language:

Learning Vocabulary:

What vocabulary should I be learning?

There are hundreds of thousands of words in every language, and the large majority of them won’t be immediately relevant to you when you’re starting out.Typically, the most frequent 3000 words make up 90% of the language that a native speaker uses on any given day. Instead try to learn the most useful words in a language, and then expand outwards from there according to your needs and interests.

Choose the words you want/need to learn.

Relate them to what you already know.

Review them until they’ve reached your long-term memory.

Record them so learning is never lost.

Use them in meaningful human conversation and communication.

How should I record the vocabulary?

Learners need to see and/or hear a new word of phrase 6 to 17 times before they really know a piece of vocabulary.

Keep a careful record of new vocabulary.

Record the vocabulary in a way that is helpful to you and will ensure that you will practice the vocabulary, e.g. flashcards.

Vocabulary should be organised so that words are easier to find, e.g. alphabetically or according to topic.

Ideally when noting vocabulary you should write down not only the meaning, but the grammatical class, and example in a sentence, and where needed information about structure.

How should I practice using the vocabulary?

Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check - Use this method for learning and remembering vocabulary. This method is really good for learning spellings.

Make flashcards. Write the vocabulary on the front with the definition and examples on the back.

Draw mind maps or make visual representations of the new vocabulary groups.

Stick labels or post it notes on corresponding objects, e.g when learning kitchen vocabulary you could label items in your house.

How often should I be practising vocabulary?

A valuable technique is ‘the principle of expanding rehearsal’. This means reviewing vocabulary shortly after first learning them then at increasingly longer intervals.

Ideally, words should be reviewed:

5-10 minutes later

24 hours later

One week later

1-2 months later

6 months later

Knowing a vocabulary item well enough to use it productively means knowing:

Its written and spoken forms (spelling and pronunciation).

Its grammatical category and other grammatical information

Related words and word families, e.g. adjective, adverb, verb, noun.

Common collocations (Words that often come before or after it).

Receptive Skills: Listening and Reading

Reading is probably one of the most effective ways of building vocabulary knowledge.

Listening is also important because it occupies a big chunk of the time we spend communicating.

Tips for reading in a foreign language:

Start basic and small. Children’s books are great practice for beginners. Don’t try to dive into a novel or newspaper too early, since it can be discouraging and time consuming if you have to look up every other word.

Read things you’ve already read in your native language. The fact that you at least know the gist of the story will help you to pick up context clues, learn new vocabulary and grammatical constructions.

Read books with their accompanying audio books. Reading a book while listening to the accompanying audio will improve your “ear training”. It will also help you to learn the pronunciation of words.

Tips for listening in a foreign language:

Watch films in your target language.

Read a book while also listening along to the audio book version.

Listen to the radio in your target language.

Watch videos online in your target language.

Activities to do to show that you’ve understood what you’ve been listening to:

Try drawing a picture of what was said.

Ask yourself some questions about it and try to answer them.

Provide a summary of what was said.

Suggest what might come next in the “story.”

Translate what was said into another language.

“Talk back” to the speaker to engage in imaginary conversation.

Productive Skills: Speaking and Writing

Tips for speaking in a foreign language:

If you can, try to speak the language every day either out loud to yourself or chat to another native speaker whether it is a colleague, a friend, a tutor or a language exchange partner.

Write a list of topics and think about what you could say about each one. First you could write out your thoughts and then read them out loud. Look up the words you don’t know. You could also come up with questions at the end to ask someone else.

A really good way to improve your own speaking is to listen to how native speakers talk and imitate their accent, their rhythm of speech and tone of voice. Watch how their lips move and pay attention to the stressed sounds. You could watch interviews on YouTube or online news websites and pause every so often to copy what you have just heard. You could even sing along to songs sung in the target language.

Walk around the house and describe what you say. Say what you like or dislike about the room or the furniture or the decor. Talk about what you want to change.This gets you to practise every day vocabulary.

Tips for writing in a foreign language:

Practice writing in your target language. Keep it simple to start with. Beginner vocabulary and grammar concepts are generally very descriptive and concrete.

Practice writing by hand. Here are some things you can write out by hand:

Diary entries

Shopping lists

Reminders

What could I write about?

Write about your day, an interesting event, how you're feeling, or what you're thinking.

Make up a conversation between two people.

Write a letter to a friend, yourself, or a celebrity. You don't need to send it; just writing it will be helpful.

Translate a text you've written in your native language into your foreign language.

Write a review or a book you've recently read or a film you've recently watched.

Write Facebook statuses, Tweets or Tumblr posts (whether you post them or not will be up to you).

Write a short story or poem.

Writing is one of the hardest things to do well as a non-native speaker of a language, because there’s no room to hide.

There are lots of ways to improve your writing ability, but they can be essentially boiled down to three key components:

Read a lot

Write a lot

Get your writing corrected

28K notes · View notes

aro-is-gay-af · 3 years

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The Midnight of Despair | Volturi Kings x fem!reader | Part 3

I reckon, that if you’re reading Part 3, then you know two previous ones. In case you didn’t read them yet: Part 1 | Part 2

Thank you for all warm words and praise! It means world to me.

I also love this series, folks! I need to admit, I did get addicted to it a little, so I thought it’d be great to set updates schedule. It won’t be precise, but you can expect another part roughly in two weeks time from now.

As per usual, sorry for any confusion and grammatical mistakes.

Warnings: Rape (mentioned), Depression, PTSD, Forced Pregnancy, Blood

Word count: 6200

No summary this time. Also, this one has very sweet parts in it!!!

ENJOY!

The next day, you had your appointment with the doctor. A doctor was apparently a woman and you were sure the kings were paying her something extra for the visit to be immediate. Unfortunately, she didn’t know any English, as she was a local gynaecologist. Your mates didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable in any way, so before the visit, Aro asked you, who you’d like to be the translator for you.

The ideal situation would be a woman, but you didn’t trust anyone in the castle, except the kings. For this reason, your first shot was Aro, as he had already seen your memories. There was nothing that would shock him, you also didn’t need to hide anything from him and you knew, he was the best at dealing with others. You figured it’d be an ideal solution and you had to admit to yourself that you simply wanted him to accompany you.

The whole visit took place in your room, which meant a lot of carrying the necessary equipment, but more mental comfort for you. In those two days, you managed to get quite settled in and didn't want to leave the castle. You felt safe and secured in your suite. Kings seemed to notice that, as it was Marcus, who proposed, it would be a great idea to have an appointment without the need of leaving your room.

While you both were waiting for the doctor to come, it was the first time you had seen Aro with brown eyes. He looked really out of place. You shared this thought with him, by saying you prefer when his eyes are normal. That’s what it took. Two days, to consider red eyes normal. As usual, he was polite and revealed to you that he also hated the colour, let alone the lenses.

When the doctor finally arrived, you were already a nervous wreck. Aro tried to distract you, asking questions mainly about your house in Forks and whether you had already spoken to Bella about family heirlooms. He succeeded for a while, but it couldn't last forever, could it?

The lady was extremely kind and gentle. The truth was, it was hard to hide how stressed you were about this visit. You didn't want anyone to touch you, not when you weren't ready, and this time you definitely weren't. Despite the doctor's initial efforts, you were unable to shake her hand in greeting. She only smiled sadly, as if understanding perfectly what you were going through. Aro assured you beforehand, for he had not told her anything and only if you wanted to, you should share your trauma with her.

The doctor, seeing your nervousness, decided that you should talk first. While she asked you questions, you noticed that she chose her words carefully and only then did you realise that she was also stressed, but in her case it was probably Aro's presence that made her uncomfortable. Although Aro tried not to impose his presence on her, you understood why it might overwhelm the doctor. You felt confident being in the same room with Aro, while she probably sensed danger, even if she could not rationally explain it to herself. You promised yourself that you would try to learn at least the basics of Italian before the next visit.

She needed to ask you about exactly everything since, unfortunately, you didn't have any medical records with you - neither from the obduction, nor from the subsequent visit to the doctor, where you confirmed the pregnancy. You made a mental note to tell Bella about it, so she could send your documents, along with the things she was supposed to take from your house.

Aro was great in his translator role. Of course, you were still looking at the doctor, while answering the questions, but Aro’s voice, at least, soothed your shattered nerves just a little bit. When the questions started to get more complicated or more intimate, Aro used such words as to not make you feel uncomfortable, while still conveying the meaning. The more difficult part started, when you had to describe the situation from the hospital and how long it took for the bleeding to stop. Every word seemed linked to a particular image or smell from that night, until finally, you were unable to say anything at all.

The doctor was very understanding, probably having already guessed what exactly was your weird behaviour all about. You didn't say anything directly, you only described the situation from the hospital and then told her the details of this strange bleeding after the rape. Mainly because the doctor was very concerned about it. She explained to you that it was definitely not normal, even if you had wounds inside.

The worst part, however, was the examination. You didn't even want to think about whether you would have to undress, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The doctor had a great intuition, even if she herself was under a bit of stress. You told her that, indeed, you had been to the check-up before and that was how you found out you were pregnant. And that the doctor then checked if all the wounds had healed. The lady didn’t discuss the issue, for which you were very grateful.

After the interview, the doctor told you to lie down on the bed and only pull your blouse up, high enough for your belly to be visible. You didn't feel comfortable with this, but you preferred this way to undressing from the waist down. This was the first time you didn't feel comfortable lying on that bed. You knew that once the visit was over, everything would return to normal, but it wasn’t meant to become a memory you would return to with pleasure.

As it turned out, your first trimester was long over. The pregnancy was about 14 weeks old and that would explain the slight curving of your belly. Before the appointment, you were not sure if you would even look at the monitor to see the baby, but you did. You could not deny yourself this. The room fell silent and you could not tell what you were feeling.

The doctor pulled out some kind of a strange device and after a moment, you could hear the baby's heart. You glanced in the direction of Aro, who was obviously alarmed by your face. You grimaced, too overwhelmed to say anything to him. Up until this point, you were sure that the decision, if you should terminate the pregnancy or not, would be fairly easy. Now, you were certain that nothing in your life could be simple enough.

Over the next few weeks, your day usually looked the same or similar, yet you managed to do something completely different every day. You were glad you had so much to do, because you didn't have time to think about what had happened. You didn't want to analyse it over and over again. The kings respected your choice - unless you yourself mentioned the traumatic events, not a single insinuation or implication about it fell from their lips.

Your days were filled with various activities. Every day you spent at least some time with each king in private - you knew you needed this to create and strengthen your bond. To keep you from being inundated with information, you learned something new from each of them about vampires and their lifestyle. After all, it was supposed to become your lifestyle in the nearest future. You discovered that thinking about your transformation caused you far less anxiety, than any memory associated with rape. Even after you learned that it more or less consisted of burning alive for a few days.

During your time with the kings, you tried not to show the insecurity you had acquired about your body, and yet, you were sure they knew anyway. However, the time spent with them was what you treasured most. With each of them you did something different, as you wanted to know what they like to do in their free time. Marcus, as he had promised on the first day, taught you Italian for two hours every day. It was not easy, but after a few weeks of intensive course and communicating in broken Italian, not only with Marcus, but also with the other two, you were able to maintain basic conversation.

Marcus was a great teacher, but that wasn’t the only reason why you loved spending time with him. He was the one who had the most time for you - he wasn't as busy as Aro or Caius, and besides, he had countless amounts of patience. He wasn't tired of your constant questions, not only about vampirism, but also about his past. You would often sit for hours in the library or in the gardens, which, by the way, were breathtaking. You both loved books and your only regret was that you weren't able to read most of their vast collection. Marcus assured you, you would have all eternity to do so. You could talk with him endlessly, as these conversations were truly effortless – even the most difficult topics seemed simple and uncomplicated.

You were surprised to learn about a gift of his. Your human mind was unable to comprehend it in the full sense of the word. Mostly because of this, he was the one to explain to you, what your bond even was and how exactly it worked. You have learned that after your transformation, you will feel the bond even more strongly. It is not often that one person has as many as three matches and is able to feel the bond while being human. Marcus explained to you that for now, both your mind and body are only subconsciously sensing the presence of the mates, as it’s impossible for human senses to do anything else.

It was so remarkable to you that you discussed it for hours. You also learned that the bond can be broken, as it is not forced in any way. However, this would be emotionally painful and very few vampires would choose to take such a desperate step.

One afternoon you were spending time in the garden again. You loved being outdoors, but for your own safety you did not go outside the castle grounds. Together, you decided that it would be safer to do only after your transformation. Besides, you didn't want to go anywhere. You were safe under the watchful eye of your mates and Renata, who, apart from the time spent with the kings and in your room, followed you in a constant manner.

The gardens were gorgeous and you wondered, who was taking care of all those magnificent flowers. You were strongly convinced that this was exactly what Eden might have looked like. You and Marcus had your favourite bench. You spent a lot of time outside, especially on sunny days. When you first found out why sitting in the sun might be a problem, you couldn't take your eyes off Marcus. He shimmered brilliantly, but your eyesight couldn't stand it for too long, because of the blinding effect. The gardens, however, were fenced off and inaccessible to the common passer-by, so you were safe to stay, as long as you wanted to.

“I asked Aro recently, if vampires can be killed in some way,” you began cautiously, not wanting to scare him away from this conversation. No one had talked to you about it, however, it still crossed your mind what state Marcus was in when you first saw him. You were willing to swear you looked exactly the same after your mother died. Now, knowing what all the mating bond was about, you were convinced that Marcus had lost someone dear to his heart.

As per usual, he smiled gently at you.

“I'm sure his answer was sufficient, my dear. What are you aiming at?” he asked, looking at you obliquely.

You took his hand in yours. With Marcus, physical contact was as easy as a conversation. He, however, never initiated any touch. He waited for you, just like he was waiting now, to reach for his hand or gently grasp his arm. The only movement he allowed himself was to stroke your hair every now and then, but only when he was absolutely sure you were willing.

“I wanted to ask what happens to the bond, when the vampire…is no longer here,” you said bluntly, not taking your eyes off him. Your understanding was unique. Marcus was gentle in manner, patient and extremely caring towards you. In no way did you want to ruin, what you had built over those few weeks.

His smile turned into one of the saddest you've seen on his face. By the time he answered, you regretted asking at all. You didn't want to cause him pain. You squeezed his fingers in your palm.

“Until you came to Volterra, I was sure that a vampire could only experience this special, unique bond once in a lifetime. I did experience it, yet this story does not have a happy ending,” he said, with utmost sadness in his voice.

Your heart ached, as you watched his suffering and grief. You had asked the question unnecessarily, but now there was no turning back. You continued to stroke his fingers, holding his hand securely in yours.

“When one of the vampires connected by mating bond dies, it does not mean that the bond disappears. It exists, but only on one side. It cannot be cherished, it cannot be repaired in any way. It isn’t reciprocated. What remains are the memories, and they are the only reminder of what the bond really meant, when it existed,” he explained in a distressed voice, slowly and carefully.

Holding his hand, you laid your head on his shoulder and sighed heavily.

“I'm so sorry this happened to you,” you whispered after a moment, feeling tears stinging under your eyelids. Even now, you couldn't imagine losing any of them and you couldn't possibly envision the amount of pain Marcus had gone through.

He embraced you carefully and gently hugged you to his side.

"Don't fret over it, cara. I've made my peace with it. However, that doesn't mean I've forgotten. I still miss her, after all these years," he said with longing in his voice, stroking your shoulder gently.

After a long moment of silence, you were in a genuinely poor condition. Tears dripped down your cheeks and your breathing quickened. Not only because of the pain Marcus must have gone through, but also because of your own yearning. You had come to terms with the death of your parents, but you missed them so much. You wanted to have them at least a little longer. Now, standing on the verge of immortality, you wished you had spent more time with them.

Marcus placed a kiss on your hair.

“Sob it out, dear. Nothing helps the soul more than honest tears,” he whispered, and you were ashamed, because you should be the one providing comfort for him. However, the memories were too fresh and you couldn't hold it back.

Once you had calmed down a bit, he handed you a handkerchief to wipe away your tears.

“I wish I could change my memories. Even if it was only for a brief moment to be able to forget that I will never see them again. To be able to forget what this…this monster did to me,” you whispered, snuggling tighter into his shoulder.

You heard his sigh and his embrace around your shoulder tightened.

“You have been terribly abused, cara. No one deserves such a fate. The most important thing now, is to get on with life. Our loved ones would not want us to dwell on their deaths,” he said, as wise and thoughtful, as ever. The hatred towards your abuser was palpable in Marcus’s voice.

“You are so good to me. I don't deserve this,” you whispered after a while, your voice swollen with emotion. He only smiled indulgently.

“You deserve the very best, dear. I've already lost one mate. I won't let anyone hurt you.”

“I’m sure she would be proud of you,” you said with compassion, after another moment of silence.

“I’m not quite certain about that,” he said, placing another kiss on the top of your head.

But you were sure. You were also sure, you would do anything to prevent Marcus from experiencing something like this again. You knew all too well the taste of grief.

You truly had little time to think about the rape and pregnancy at all. If you weren’t with Marcus, it was Caius who loved to kidnap you, so he could spent some private time with you. Caius was the complete opposite of Marcus – absolute chaos, you could say. You had no idea how the brothers even got along. You had already noticed that Marcus rarely spoke, while Caius was rather impulsive and liked to discuss things in detail. However, until you started spending time alone, you had no idea what he was really passionate about.

It turned out that his greatest passion was art. He would show you countless paintings he himself had painted throughout the centuries. He could talk for hours about types of paint and how to mix colours properly. Although you were not very good at painting, you tried to learn a little with Caius’ help. When he was alone with you, he was still abrupt and impulsive, but in a charming way. He never imposed himself on you and you discovered that annoying him was really great fun. So banter and frequent teasing were the order of the day.

You often spent afternoons and evenings with Caius. He taught you how to paint, but not only. Art history was his passion and you loved to listen to him tell stories. His voice was mesmerising and hypnotic. He also eagerly answered all your questions about vampire race. You listened about the horrible children of the moon and how Caius singlehandedly had almost slaughtered them all. He warned you that after the transformation you would be violent and impulsive, that you would have nothing on your mind but to satisfy your thirst. This frightened you slightly, but at times when things got weird or dangerous, Caius assured you that you would always have full support of your mates. You never doubted that. You knew they would help you to grow accustomed to your new life.

Caius loved every variety of art you could name. When he asked you for permission to sculpt you, you were so surprised that you made a strange sound. He said that, of course, he wasn't going to overstep your boundaries and you yourself would choose some beautiful casual attire, so he could portray your beauty in sculpture. All you had to do was dress once as he asked and stand in the right pose. He remembered every detail of your posture, including your facial expressions. Often, he would sculpt you, while you would talk about insignificant things also learning how to sculpt...well, things that didn't resemble anything. Yet, you wanted to be as good as he was.

You were in your nineteenth week, when he invited you for a long painting session. His studio was huge and consisted of nothing but breathtaking works of art. You were decorating some random sculpture that you had never seen before. Caius also loved contemporary art, so you could go wild. Taking classes with him was better, than any therapy. You could smear paint on everything - the canvas, the sculptures, yourself, and even him, because he was usually in a good mood and you could enjoy it. He never showed you even a trace of anger, and you, fooling around with him like that, were genuinely pleased and happy.

When you finished, the room looked rather bad, not to mention the clothes or your hair. Caius would never have appeared that way to the guards, let alone on trial, but with you it was different.

“I wanted to show you something,” he said, wiping the paint off your cheek.

You took his hand. Caius, like Marcus, did not invade your personal zone, unless you specifically gave permission. However, carnality and touch were important to him, and so, once you were more comfortable in his presence, he liked to show you affection by stroking your cheek or your back, and intertwining his fingers with yours, when you held hands. You didn't mind his cold skin – by now you were accustomed to it, as three of them had similar body temperature. You were the hottest here. Literally.

You walked slowly to another room.

“I didn't tell you, but I finished craving” he said, and you could hear the excitement in his voice. You smiled at him. That was the main reason why you had agreed to have yourself sculpted in the first place. You wanted to get close to him on a level, which was inaccessible to do in any other way.

“Before you show me, will you tell me as to where you even got the idea of carving me?” you asked, amused. Caius was much taller than you, you had to slightly lift your head to look him straight in the eye.

At first, he smiled archly, but immediately his smile softened. He pulled at the material that covered the sculpture, so that it fell to the floor. You were simply speechless. The woman, who stood opposite to you was over four metres tall. The sculpture was made of marble and the woman looked, as if she was an actual person. There was something elusive about her. Her face, thoughtful yet serene, her hair flowing freely over her shoulders onto her back. She was clad in a fine fabric that flowed in waves down to her bare feet. She looked nothing like you and yet, you two looked exactly alike.

You had no idea that you started crying. The woman was beautiful. You could feel the power and dignity emanating from her, and on the other hand, she seemed to you as if... fragile and ephemeral. Caius had captured in this sculpture all the feelings you had been feeling, without even knowing it.

You felt his hand on your cheek, his fingers gently wiping away your tears along with some paint, which remained on your face.

“I thought I would like you to see yourself through my eyes. Exactly as I see you – without a single flaw, yet with all your imperfections. I don't want you to be unable to look at yourself, because of what this animal did to you. I don't see it. I only see you, [Y/N]. The real you. Beautiful and fragile, yet powerful, without inhibitions or scruples. Capable of anything.”

The words were trapped in your throat. You wanted to say something, but you were sure, that as soon as you were going to open your mouth, uncontrollable sob would come out. You looked first at Caius, then at the woman carved in marble, then back at Caius. He only smiled gently.

“Who we are – we decide that ourselves. No one else does. To me, you are beautiful. Pure. Never think otherwise, dolcezza.”

Without warning, you hugged him so hard, that it hurt. You forgot that his skin was different from yours. He embraced you without hesitation, even though you were all covered in paint. You wept, cuddling into his chest, as he soothingly stroked your hair and back.

Once you had slightly calmed down, you looked up at him. His blond hair looked like a halo over his head. He amazed you in every sense of the word.

“Thank you. Thank you for letting me see this,” you whispered poignantly, and then went straight back to hugging him.

“There's nothing to thank you for, my lovely [Y/N]. I would like you to accept yourself as you are. Because you are truly magnificent.”

The only person you talked straightforward about pregnancy was Aro. Was it because of his gift? Most likely, and you simply felt you could trust him. From the moment you first found yourself in his arms, the bond between you two only strengthened. Also, a memorable visit from the doctor was also significant, and then, together with him, you went through the documents that Bella had sent you. To say he was furious, was an understatement. Yes, Aro saw your memories, but the reports were written from a third-person perspective. And the other evening was really awful – you couldn't stop crying because you couldn't block out the flow of memories.

You were close with each other; close enough for you to try to overcome your insecurities, to talk about how you really felt about this whole situation you found yourself in. It was far from easy, but Aro was a really patient specimen. In the course of these talks, you discussed practically everything. You knew that every scenario had to be worked out and discussed, because there were many different options of the outcome.

Despite many conversations, you were still unsure about keeping the baby. You didn't know if you wanted to, if you would be able to raise it and then tell it that it would forcibly have to become a vampire. After the doctor's appointment, things did not get any easier for you. You heard the heart and knew that the child was not to blame for its father’s actions. You were raped, but this child had nothing to do with it.

So you waited. You waited for a miracle to decide for you or for the baby to move when you were thinking of having it removed. It’d be a sign not to do it. However, nothing of the sort was happening and fate was not deciding for you. Aro convinced you that, even if you decided to have an abortion, there was nothing wrong about it. No one would blame you for it. The only person to blame here, was the monster who raped you.

You hadn't decided what you would do about the pregnancy, but you and Aro knew what would happen, if something went wrong. For your mates, it was your health and life that came first. Aro assured you of that a thousand times over. Because of this, if anything went wrong with the birth or if there were any complications, you were to be changed immediately. Also because of this, Aro talked to you about all aspects of your transformation. He was the one who introduced you to what transformation actually looks like. He didn't scare you with the pain you were about to go through, but only gave you the facts. Facts that you needed to know.

When you weren't talking about such serious matters, Aro also loved to spend time talking to you, but about different topics. He seemed to know all your thoughts, but you were still able to surprise him. He explained to you, that the human mind was more disordered and chaotic, than vampire one and that he certainly didn't see everything. Your brain chose the memories, often associated with strong feelings and emotions, which were meant to be remembered. You were joyful about this, because you could talk endlessly and he kept finding out something new about you. And you kept finding something new about him. You knew from the first moment that he was extraordinary, and the more you talked, the more you became certain about it.

Besides, Aro adored dancing. You were not convinced about this form of activity, but it was the intimacy of this act that convinced you. In his arms, no one was able to hurt you. You felt safe and, after many attempts, quite confident in your movements. He literally beamed, being able to teach you to dance and to be so close to you. You found nothing in his eyes but the infinite adoration he had for you. When you found out the reason behind this, your heart almost broke with sorrow and compassion.

“I must confess something to you, cara mia,” he whispered, holding you securely in his arms. It was evening, you had long since been prepared for sleep. He found your long nightgown to his liking, when he came to check how you were doing and if you needed anything. You rested your head on his shoulder. There was no music, he was the one giving the rhythm to your movements, yet it was the most wonderful dance you had yet had the chance to dance with him.

“Do tell, please,” you said, trying not to lose the rhythm. You were tired, as throughout the day you sorted through the things Bella sent you from Forks. In addition, you worked with Marcus to sell your house, because you were, after all, a little concerned about what hands your family home would pass into.

“I have been bound over the centuries to both men and women. My ex-wife, Sulpicia, whom you know and, to the best of my knowledge, whom I permitted to leave, was my faithful companion, basically from the beginning of my immortality. However, until now, I did not know what it meant to have a true mate.”

He tilted you gently, wishing to look into your eyes. You continued to sway to a non-existent rhythm, completely oblivious to your surroundings. You furrowed your brows.

“Are you serious?” you asked in a whisper, not wanting to ruin the moment. The light emanating from the candles, illuminated half of his face. He smiled, and you were unable to take your eyes off his red irises.

“Yes, my dear. I have waited over three thousand years for you. I must tell you, that I could wait another three millennia, only to see your beautiful face,” he said affectionately, holding you tighter against him to stroke your flushed cheek with his fingers.

Your eyes welled up with tears and he slowly bent down and kissed your forehead.

“That's enough for today, cara mia. You must rest well. Caius has something planned for tomorrow, but he didn't want to reveal what, under any circumstances,” he said amused, giggling under his breath. You loved when Aro was in a good mood, because then you were in a good mood too. Before he walked you to bed, he wiped away your tear. You squeezed his hand in yours, then climbed onto the bed. He covered you carefully with a duvet and stroked your hair.

“I'm glad I came here,” you whispered, looking into his eyes. “I never want to leave you,” you said with force. He smiled softly at you and stroked your hair once more.

“We will always be by your side, [Y/N]. Good night, cara.”

His voice so soft and tuneful that as soon as he snuffed out the candles, you drifted off to sleep in an instant.

Apart from the fact that almost everything was going great and your mental state was in constant improvement, your relationship with Bella had severely worsened. In the beginning you talked every evening. She still couldn't understand why you were selling the house and why you wouldn't, at least, want to visit Forks. After a while, you got fed up with explaining it to her. There were an awful lot of things she wasn't happy about and she didn't hide it. She kept criticising the Volturi without knowing them and having no idea, what they were actually doing.

You loved her like a sister, but because of that, she could annoy you exactly like one. Because of her pinching remarks and your lack of patience, you called each other less and less. You didn't want to keep getting annoyed and you were tired of explaining things to her. Besides, you didn't like that she didn't say a single good word about your mates. You at least tried to accept Edward. Suddenly, what he did to her was all forgotten and you couldn't understand it. You didn't know, what was happening to your sister and your stay in Italy didn’t exactly make things better. You still hoped that once you saw each other after the transformation, you would be able to explain it all to one another. You didn't want to lose Bella, the last person you considered family.

So you talked less and less or not at all, and when you did, you avoided difficult and sensitive topics. It was not like with Bella at all and it made you anxious. You were at ease with each other, almost always, and you didn’t get why she was so bitter and hateful towards your knew, chosen life. Especially, because partially your presence right then, in the trial chamber, was the reason for her to be alive at all.

Shortly after Caius presented you with your sculpted self, you were to spend the whole day together, the four of you. These were the days you loved the most. Although you cherished the time spent with each of your mates separately, the presence of all three put you in an ecstatic mood. You usually spent your afternoons like this – there were still a lot of things to do and solve, and a lot of trials to carry out.

Being in Volterra for so long, you learned a lot about the existing laws and how to enforce them. You knew that kings were not flawless, but it was logical to you that keeping the entire vampire world in line, required some sacrifices. Some greater than the other ones.

You usually sat down in the study, where you had ended the very first day, at a round table. You listened to the discussions and arguments, but also just spent time with your mates. You often sat on Aro's lap or tried to calm Caius down, when he became too agitated.

You were extremely excited since the morning, because they promised you a whole day outside. It wasn't often that all three of them wanted to spend time with you in the gardens, so you couldn't restrain your exhilaration. However, there were also days, or rather moments, when, under any circumstances, you could not leave your room. Such a moment was to occur today, after breakfast. You slept for a long time, almost until eleven o'clock. When you ate your breakfast, it was Renata who informed you that it was time to eat. Of course, you knew what it was about.

The only situation, in which you could not leave your chamber, was at lunchtime. Not yours, though, but the lunchtime of all the vampires, who inhabited the castle. For your own safety, usually for about two hours, you were not to leave and to occupy yourself with whatever you wanted. The only two hours, in which Renata or anyone else was not around you. Not many people knew about your stay in the castle and because of this, the kings decided that Renata should eat with the rest of the company.

You did not consider it strange in the slightest. Of course, you tried not to think about the fact that people would die, but you knew that they were chosen at random. Which meant that they could just as well have been run over by a car or they could have died in a fire. You did not think about it. You were just enjoying your two hours of freedom. Sometimes you sunbathed on the balcony, prepared your outfit or just played on the computer. These were little things that still reminded you of being human.

This week, when Renata told you that she would be gone for a while, you were already enjoying a long soak in the bathtub. The home spa was one of the favourite things you and your mum liked to do together. You poured hot water into the tub, applied a mask that you had prepared yourself with a few ingredients and relaxed.

Since you had no idea when, you were no longer afraid to look in the mirror. Sure, your body shape was far from ideal, but at least you weren’t terrified to look. You weren’t terrified to acknowledge that, yes, your body was raped, but you were recovering from it. And that you started to think that your body didn’t cause any of this.

After some time you spent in the bathtub, you felt a little dizzy. It wasn’t exactly a good sign, so you figured it’d be wise to get out of the tub. When you rinsed yourself off with clean water, you stood up, and that was the moment of terror. The room immediately started spinning, like you were on roundabout for the last forty minutes. You felt nauseous, but there was nothing near you to which you could cling to. You managed to step out of the tub, on the marble step, and then you felt it. Pain, excruciating pain, suffocation. Streams of blood went down your legs and before you fell onto the ground, you could only see white marble floor all covered in sanguineous blood.

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bigskydreaming · 3 years

Text

I kinda wanna fucking scream, so here, have a offline bullshit rant post.

So I’ve literally been trying to get my stupid fucking meds for over a MONTH now at this point, which I’m sure you can all see like, my mood is just wooooonderful these days. Not an excuse, casual reminder that yeah you do gotta take care of your own space so if my mood is dragging anyone down, I’m totes on board with blocking or unfollowing or y’know, burning me in effigy or something. Okay maybe not that last part. But still. You get it. And its not even that like, I need mood stabilizers per se, lol, so shout out to the armchair diagnosticians helpfully peppering my inbox still in their quest to oh so slickly be like ‘hey you’re a hot mess, take your hot messness away from tumblr’ like lol, didn’t ask.....nah, its mostly the perpetual lack of sleep and chronic pain issues that I have zero distraction from when my specific combo of meds isn’t able to let me actually weaponize my ADHD properly and power through that. Its a whole thing. Whatever. Just go with it.

POINT IS. So I’ve been trying to do this for over a month now, first obstacle was even just getting the money together for my refill appointment which is a whopping $150, because I have to pay out of pocket for mental health stuff these days because I had to switch my insurance over to something that paid out more heavily for physical benefits like my jaw surgery.....and because of the pandemic, and how many psychiatrists in my area and that I could actually reach aren’t taking new patients during the pandemic since most of them are conducting business virtually still, like, I have barely any resources for seeking out and trying new psychiatrist offices in the meanwhile that might charge less and I’m kinda stuck with the one I have because the last thing I can afford is to have like, NO psychiatrist at the moment, y’know?

So first I had to have that to even BOOK the appointment, which took forever because rent and food are a joy to accrue when you can barely manage to function as an actual employee of the capitalist machine ahfsklhflkahflakf, but so then I did that and like, got an appointment put on the books for August 19th. That was the soonest they could fit me in back when I paid them for my appointment about a week and a half ago. No, two weeks ago now? Eh, time is fake. ANYWAY, so that wasn’t gonna work for me, so basically the entirety of last week was devoted to constantly calling and trying to check in every other hour to see if they had any sooner cancellations I could take, because for whatever fucking reason, they just ‘don’t do’ a cancellation list wherein they call the next person on the list once they have a cancellation. Whatever.

So finally got a cancellation slot with a virtual appointment last Saturday night at random as fuck 8:40. Okay cool. Most of my refills are fairly simple, no real changes, but two are controlled substances so like, they have to do their due diligence and go through the proper protocols before giving me another prescription to one or whatever. Fine. Okay.

So I call the CVS they sent the prescription for my ADHD med to, the very next morning. One of the controlled substances, and the key med to like....making me functional instead of a rambling disjointed whirlibird of a thought emitter. Problem is, that medication is on back order. Won’t be in until Tuesday. Ugh. Okay, fine. Nothing I can do about it, because while the specific provider I spoke to in order to GET my refill prescriptions was taking an appointment the night before, the actual offices that schedule appointments and connect patients through to their providers was closed for the weekend, so I couldn’t even ask for them to send the scrip somewhere else.

SO. I go back to the CVS on Monday, hoping that maybe it came in early because not like I can do much else in the meanwhile. Course its not there, but oh well. I toy with the idea of calling to ask my provider to send the scrip to a different pharmacy (only had it sent to this one cuz its within walking distance to me, and since I can’t drive for medical reasons and Uber’s are expensive as fuck, just for errands, like, even though walking is sooooo not fun for me physically, like it is what it is). I decide against it because here’s another fun fact about this controlled substance....for security reasons, pharmacies don’t have to tell people over the phone if they have it in stock or not. Like, they won’t just say no we don’t have it in stock - I mean, they WILL say that, but that doesn’t actually mean anything because that’s what most of them say about that particular medication no matter whether or not they DO, and then just cite security protocols, so you have to actually GO to the store in question to ask them and even get a real answer to whether or not they even HAVE it in stock to FILL a prescription if its sent over. And no, the provider won’t just send scrips into several different pharmacies at once and just be whichever has it in stock can fill it - because again, controlled substance.

SO. I decide its not worth it to try getting the scrip sent over somewhere else, because I’d have to at least waste money on an Uber to even travel to various pharmacies and even check if they CAN fill it sooner than this one, when at least this place will have it in tomorrow. Its just one more day at this point.

Except then I go back on Tuesday. Oh sorry, don’t know why that other person told you we’d have our order in today, our shipments of that medication don’t come in until Wednesdays.

So I go back Wednesday. Success! They have it in stock. I go to pay, pulling out my goodRx coupon that was just printed out that morning, specifically citing the price for CVS at Target. The pharmacy manager says sorry, we don’t honor that coupon here for controlled substances like this one. I say: record scratch? He’s like yeah, that’s at the discretion of individual pharmacies, and we don’t honor that price for this specific medication, because we don’t want to attract customers only coming here to get that medication filled for that price. (This pharmacy is right at the edge of Inglewood and Culver City, for anyone who is familiar with those neighborhoods. The implications are exactly as they appear to be). So I’m like, what’s the regular generic price? He quotes me something that’s $180 more than the coupon, and thus $180 more than I have since I was focused totally on getting THIS amount ASAP, so I could get these meds so I could do more work and make more money. You see the train of thought. I’m like well that’s awesome, I don’t have anything close to that. Hey. Weird question. Why did nobody I talked to the past three days in a row that I’ve walked into this store in person to request this refill, like, mention this little tidbit about not honoring this coupon so instead of waiting for a backorder that would do me no good, I could have been spending that time having my prescription transferred somewhere that WOULD honor it?

He’s like, well did you mention to any of them that you’d be using a goodRx coupon for this particular medication? I said, yup. He said, you sure? I said well the specific process each time was I came in, I asked if this medication was in, they said what’s your name and date of birth, I provided that info, they said are you paying out of pocket, we don’t have valid insurance info for this on file for you, I said yup paying out of pocket with a goodRx coupon, they said *clickety clack of the keyboard* nope, sorry, we won’t have this medicine in until Tuesday, I mean Wednesday.

He’s like, well you must be misremembering or they would have told you at the time that we don’t take GoodRx coupons on this medication. I’m like, dude, it was you. It was literally you that I spoke to two of those three times, right here at the counter, in person. I’m gonna go ahead and trust my memory of those interactions and what was said there over yours since you don’t actually remember having talked to me two times in the last three days. He’s like, I gotta go help another customer. There is no other customer. I leave. Fun day for everyone.

So then I call around town to at least check which CVS will actually honor the coupon I have and the price that I can afford to pay it at. I don’t bother asking if they even have the medication in stock because I know its not guaranteed to be a CORRECT answer, but at least I can see who accepts this damn coupon. Also, reason I’m only trying big brand pharmacies instead of smaller, hole in the wall ones is because again, controlled substance, and I know from experience that the bigger brand pharmacies are at least more likely to have that med in stock whereas most smaller ones tend to run out very quickly as they usually only get enough for their existing/regular customers and a little extra.

I find a CVS five miles away - not walkable, gonna have to Uber. Call my psychiatrist office again to ask them to transfer the scrip, front office says they’ll send the request to my provider, who usually checks and fulfills such requests in 24-48 hours. I’m like okay cool, can I get a phone call to let me know when that happens, so at least I know when to check back to follow up if it hasn’t happened yet for whatever reason? They’re like no, the pharmacy will send you a text or call when they get the prescription sent over and you can take it from there with them. I’m like okay, but I’ve done this a bunch of times and know from experience the pharmacy does NOT in fact always call or text, so is there a certain time to follow up to inquire if the provider has already sent the scrip and the pharmacy SHOULD have it by now or if the delay is on the provider’s end? Front office is like yeah no. I’m like, swell.

So that was yesterday. I call the pharmacy (which I still don’t even know if they have the medication IN STOCK to fill the scrip even once they GET the scrip, and won’t until I can actually Uber out there, but one thing at a time at this point) at like 9 pm, they’re a 24 hour pharmacy, and they’re like nope, we got nothing (this is after spending an hour and a half on hold to even TALK to someone at the pharmacy). Called them again today at noon, still nada. Technically I have another 29 hours before the window in which the provider is supposed to send the refill scrip to this new location, before I can be like, okay so they still haven’t done it, can we send him a nudge or another request. The 24-48 hour window will only actually EXPIRE after their offices close on Friday meaning it’ll be Monday before I can even actually REACH someone again to ask them to send the scrip again, if the pharmacy hasn’t ACTUALLY gotten it by Friday night, and pessimistically, I’m not super inclined to assume that they will at this point.

I’m antsy, irritable, hungry because I don’t even know for SURE sure if the new pharmacy will ACTUALLY honor the coupon or say no sorry we don’t do that here either, whoever told you that was wrong, or if they’ll even actually have it in stock versus I’ll have to have it sent somewhere else AGAIN, so I have to pinch every penny possible in order to ensure I have the most money possible once my prescription IS filled in case the price is more than I expected again or in case I have to take Ubers there or further than I expected or basically....shit happens that I don’t expect. And this is what I’m basically spending all my time doing instead of working, because trying to get work done in this state is like....the harder I try to make it happen, the less it actually gets done, so I try and prioritize this and its roadblock after roadblock dragging out and wasting my time, and like yeah, I can post and shit while I’m doing this aka sitting on hold or walking around town trying to get shit filled because its fine if I ramble incoherently along the way in posts, but actual WORK work requires like....fucking coherency and succinctness and not having to stop and start every five minutes to call someone else, and oh yeah, being able to power through migraine spikes. And just.

I’m very annoyed about anything and everything to do with this shit. The hoops you have to jump through to even get the stuff that like....actualizes your hoop jumping ability, is just....*gnashing of teeth*

Anyway. So that’s my offline bullshit rant. Yay. The end.

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nikki-writes-stuff · 4 years

Text

Sweet As Sin - Part One

Summary: After losing your job and having to spend all of your savings, you find yourself completely broke as you desperately search for a job. On a whim, you join a website for sugar babies and sugar daddies can meet, and you’re surprised when you immediately make a connection with Captain America, of all people. But as you grow closer to Steve, you start to realize that there may be a dark side to America’s golden boy.

Pairing: SugarDaddy!Steve Rogers x Reader, with eventual Dark!Steve Rogers

Read Part Two here!

After reaching a certain point in life, people generally come to the realization that the old adage of “when it rains, it pours” is true. At least, that was what you were thinking as you walked to your car, cheeks still burning with shame from what had just transpired in the grocery store.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but your card was declined. Do you have any other methods of payment?”

The words echoed in your ears as you drove home; of course you didn’t have another method of payment. You hadn’t ever since your job laid you off. You’d been living off of unemployment for a few months now, barely able to afford rent and living off a diet consisting mostly of ramen noodles. What’s more, you’d just had to get your car fixed after someone t-boned you at the intersection across from your house. So now, you didn’t even have any more savings to fall back on. It was even worse than when you’d been in college; back then, there had at least been a goal in mind. Just graduate, you’d told yourself, and then you’ll find a job.

Well, you’d graduated a year ago, and now you were back to where you’d started – broke and desperate.

You slammed the door shut when you entered your apartment, kicking your shoes off before throwing yourself onto the sofa. You lay on your back, looking up at the ceiling as your stomach growled at you.

“Yeah, I’m hungry, too,” you told it. Looks like it was noodles in broth for dinner again, tonight.

Anxiety was constantly clawing at your chest these days, especially now that you were too broke to afford your medication. Later on that evening, you stood over your stove while typing ‘how to make money fast’ into Google. It was a cheap shot, one that you didn’t foresee getting you anywhere, but it was at least something to take your mind off of things while you waited for the water on the stove to heat up.

That was when you saw the add. ‘Finding Arrangements – Where beautiful, successful people find mutually beneficial relationships’ – basically, a website for Sugar Daddies looking for a pretty set of tits to spend money on. You huffed a laugh and scrolled past it, only to return to it a few seconds later.

You chewed on your lip, pondering the link sitting right there on the screen, so engrossed in your thoughts that you jolted when the water started boiling over, sizzling onto the stovetop beneath it. With a curse, you turned down the heat and added the noodles, stirring them in with the seasoning packet as you thought it over. It wouldn’t hurt to check, right? Just a quick glance wouldn’t hurt; if you signed up and didn’t like any of the people you matched with, you could just delete your profile and pretend it never happened.

Your thoughts lingered on the idea as you sat on the couch, still hungry after finishing your meager meal. You’d brought the link up on your laptop, and now you were staring at the site’s homepage. To the right, there was a link to sign up, and to the left, there was a picture of a man in a business suit surrounded by three beautiful women. You gulped, starting to psych yourself out as you stared at the image. But then you closed your eyes and thought about the number in your bank account, and it was enough to motivate you to start typing.

You filled out your personal information and clicked the link the website sent to your email, confirming your new membership. When it came to choose a profile photo, you chose one of yourself from your graduation day. You were standing in your college’s auditorium, wearing a dress made out of gold fabric that was covered with thick black lace; it was your favorite picture of yourself, and you hoped that the dress wasn’t too revealing. It had a high neckline, but it had only come down to about mid-thigh.

You filled out the ‘About Me’ section and then paused when you came to the next question – What are you looking for in a relationship? You thought for a moment, biting your lip and turning over your words before starting to type again.

This is my first time trying out a relationship like this, you wrote. So I would like to find someone who I can trust to guide me through it. In return, I would like to be able to give my (you cringed as you typed the next two words) Sugar Daddy a fulfilling, comfortable relationship in return.

After reviewing your profile, you uploaded it, forcing yourself to sit back from your laptop and breathe. It was out there now; people would see it. Wealthy, presumably powerful people would see it. You closed your computer and hurried to put a movie on, choosing one of your old favorites; it had helped you when you were feeling anxious before.

By the time you finished the movie, you’d mostly calmed down, controlling your nerves until they were just a dull ache in your chest. Before you stood up and went to bed, you checked your phone, eyes bulging when you saw that you already had five replies to your profile.

You opened your notifications, scrolling through the different profiles. Four of them were from men with one of them being from a woman. Your nose wrinkled up when you saw that one of the men were in his 70s, and you quickly deleted his message without even reading it. The next one was in his early 50s, and his profile picture was of him standing in front of a car that looked like it cost more than the entirety of your college tuition. You didn’t delete his message, but you definitely felt dismayed as you skimmed through the rest of them.

You paused, though, when you saw the last one. His profile said that he was 38, making him the youngest of those that had replied to you. His username was Captain_Grant, and his profile only showed his silhouette outlined against a setting sun. The only thing you could see about his features were his defined, slightly-crooked nose and the shadow of a beard against his jawline, but you were more interested in seeing the message he’d sent you.

Good evening, miss. I hope you’re having a nice day. I saw on your profile that you liked to read?

You furrowed your eyebrows, laughing a little. The other ones had pretty much sent you the same thing – “hi”. One of them had had the courtesy of adding a smiley face afterwards, but the fact that this guy had actually taken the time to read your profile made him stand out amongst the rest.

Good evening, you typed back. I do love to read; right now I’m in the middle of a great book.

His reply came only about a minute after you sent your response.

What’s it called?

You typed out the title of the book. After another minute, Captain sent you a picture. You held your breath as you opened the attachment, praying that it wasn’t a dick pic, and you were pleasantly surprised to see a photo of a bookshelf. The book you’d mentioned was resting on it along with a few others by the same author.

I’m a fan of theirs, too, as you can see.

You grinned and got up, taking a quick photo of your own bookshelf and sending it to him. You’d bought it from IKEA years ago, and its thin shelves had started to sag under the weight of all of your books, but you loved it anyways.

You have quite the collection, miss.

You chuckled at how polite he was and sent him a message that he call you by your first name.

‘Miss’ just seems so formal, don’t you think?

I was going more for polite, but I see what you mean. Well, then, you should call me Steve. ‘Captain’ isn’t really formal so much as it’s just weird. …I’ve been told I’m not good at picking out profile names.

You giggled at that; Steve seemed like a dork. But a cute one.

I think your profile name is great, for the record, but I’ll stick with Steve. What made you join this website, Steve?

It took him a few minutes to respond, and you worried for a second that you’d asked something too personal. But as you got ready for bed, you saw that he’d finally responded.

I’m an old fashioned kinda guy, and in the past I’ve been told that I’m a bit too…overbearing in a relationship. But I’ve always believed that a man should take care of the woman he’s with. So a friend of mine suggested this site, and I figured I would try it out. You’re the first girl who I liked enough to send a message to, though.

You smiled at that, feeling warmth bloom in your chest.

What made me different from the rest?

All the other girls on here only talked about what they wanted to get out of a relationship in their profiles. You were the only one who mentioned what she wanted to give.

You felt as if butterflies were flying around your stomach, and your thumbs started typing of their own accord.

Do you think we could meet sometime? Maybe grab a cup of coffee?

I would love to, doll. I’m out of the country right now, but I get back in a week. How about we meet up then? Your profile said you live in Brooklyn; is that right?

It sure is; I’ve lived here ever since I finished college.

You’re a girl after my own heart; I grew up in Brooklyn. There’s a bagel shop that also serves coffee that I highly recommend. We could meet there if you’re up for it.

You didn’t even think before you answered him back.

I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

________

Over the next three days, you and Steve messaged each other as much as possible. He was so easy to talk to; you’d almost forgotten about the financial element of your relationship. During the day, when he was busy with work, you found yourself missing him. Right around the evening, you would start jumping for your phone any time it buzzed, and your heart would sink with disappointment when it wasn’t Steve.

You were on such a high from meeting Steve that you’d forgotten all about the things that were causing you anxiety. That was, until your landlord sent you an email talking about how rent was going to be raised an extra $50 each month. The news had washed over you like a bucket of iced water, sending you into the worst panic attack you’d had since college.

You’d spent the next few hours either pacing across your living room or crying in bed, curled up as that same feeling of helplessness that had haunted you for the past few months settled over you heavily. You hadn’t even realized that your phone was buzzing. At least, not until the fifth or sixth buzz. Wiping away your tears, you pulled your phone out of your pocket and opened it up, seeing several missed messages from Steve.

Hey, doll, just got done with work for the day.

How was your day?

You ok, doll? You’re usually around by now.

Are you ok?

I’m sorry for hovering, I’m just worried about you.

You there?

You felt guilt settle over you as you began to type with trembling fingers.

I’m so sorry, Steve. I just had a really rough day; I didn’t even realize that my phone was going off.

His reply was instantaneous.

God, you scared me, doll. Are you alright? What happened?

My landlord raised the rent by an entire $50. Rent is due by the end of the week, and I have no idea how to come up with the money.

You sniffled and waited for him to reply, and when he did you felt you felt your tears subside for a brief moment.

Is that all? That’s why I’m here, hon. Do you have a PayPal?

Steve… Are you sure? This is so much.

You could almost hear his laughter in his next reply.

Doll, I promise that $50 is NOT a lot to me. Besides, that’s part of this whole thing, isn’t it? Me taking care of you?

But I haven’t done anything for you in return…

He waited a few more minutes before responding.

Well… What if you did something for me tonight? Would that make you feel better?

Your felt your heart start to beat faster at his words, wondering what he would have you do.

What do you have in mind? you replied, trying to keep your words neutral.

Give me your phone number and let me call you?

Your breath puffed out at such a simple response, and you sent him your number without a second thought.

A few seconds later, your phone began to came, and unknown number appearing on your screen. You took a deep breath, feeling your heartrate skyrocket once more; you’d only known him for a few days, and yet a simple phone call from him was enough to make you feel breathless.

You fumbled with your phone, accepting the call and hesitantly raising it up to your ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey, doll. It’s Steve. Although… Well, that was probably obvious, right?”

Your laugh sounded more like a hiccup, and you cringed at the sound, trying to blink away the tears that were still trying to escape.

“Hi, Steve,” was all you could sigh. “It’s…really good to hear your voice.”

And it really was; it was somehow even better than you’d imagined it – not terribly deep, but warm, so warm that you wish you could curl up and get him to read bedtime stories to you.

“Have you been crying?” he asked, a touch of worry working its way into his voice.

“Oh, um… Yeah,” you sighed. “This whole rent thing has really got me anxious.”

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he replied. “Can you give me your email address?”

You gave it to him, hearing the typing of a keyboard in the background.

“Thanks, doll. Just give me a minute, ok? I’m still trying to get better with my typing skills.”

You chuckled, picturing him typing with his two pointer fingers, but you still didn’t understand what he was asking you to give him a minute with.

“What are you doing, Steve?” you asked.

“Just wait; I’m almost done.”

After a few more seconds of typing, you felt your phone buzz, and you pulled it away to see that it was an email from PayPal. Your eyes went wide as you opened it, audibly gasping when you saw the message waiting for you when you opened your account. You have $250 waiting to be accepted.

“Steve!” You heard his laugh from the other line, and for a second you were caught off guard; you immediately loved the sound more than you’d loved any other laugh you’d ever encountered.

“This is too much!” you cried out. “I only needed $50! Steve, I’m no mathematician, but you gave me two hundred more than that!”

Steve only laughed again.

“I won’t apologize for taking care of my girl,” he said, making your cheeks heat up at the term of endearment. “You deserve it; you’ve had a rough day. Go out and get a massage, or buy something nice for yourself. Do something that’ll relieve some stress.”

Your eyes went half-lidded for a second at the thought of a massage; you couldn’t remember the last massage you’d gotten. But no; you needed to be smart with your money.

“Well… Thank you, Steve,” you sighed. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

“Every penny is worth getting to hear your voice,” he murmured. “It’s even prettier than I imagined it.”

“Steve…no…”

“No?”

“You gotta stop saying such nice things. It’s bad enough through text; actually hearing you say them is gonna make me spontaneously combust.”

Steve’s laughed rumbled across the receiver once more.

“Well try your best not to. At least not until we meet face-to-face.”

“Tell me about it. I still don’t know what you look like.”

You could tell by his voice that Steve was smiling when he spoke next.

“What do you imagine I look like?”

You grinned and stretched out in bed, your anxiety from before completely melting away.

“Well… You’re probably tall,” you started. “No… You’re definitely tall. I can tell.”

“Really? What gave it away?”

“You just seem like a tall person.” He chuckled at that, but you kept going on. “I could tell from your profile picture that you have a beard, and I bet you keep it trimmed all nice and neat. And… I’m going to guess that you have brown hair.”

“Well, I’ll be back in three days. There’s only one way for you to find out if you’re right.”

“I know. Still planning on the bagel shop at 9 am sharp, right? On Sunday?”

“Absolutely, doll. It’s a date.”

_______

The next day, you were able to pay your rent early, much to your landlord’s delight. After that, you decided that you would treat yourself to some actual groceries. Having a full shopping cart was a novelty to you; usually, you would load up with a basket containing ramen, maybe some chicken, some eggs, and whatever toiletries you needed. But today, you actually put together a meal plan and a list before going shopping.

Later on that day, you were grinning ear to ear as you put your purchases away in your tiny kitchen. There were green things in your fridge again! And they weren’t mold!

You were cooking a late breakfast for yourself when your phone rang, and you let out an excited squeak when you saw who it was.

“Steve!”

“Wow; someone sounds happy today.”

“I just got back from the grocery store,” you told him. “Thanks to a very wonderful, generous person, I was able to get food! Like, fancy food!”

“Fancy food, huh? What kind of fancy food?”

“Um… Well, I got stuff for salads! And I’m going to make a casserole for dinner. And I have some pasta, some beef, some taco stuff-“

“…Baby, that doesn’t really sound like fancy food. It sounds like regular groceries.”

“Well, it’s fancy compared to what I usually eat,” you pointed out.

“And what is that?”

“…Um…Ramen, mostly. Not that I mind! It’s better than nothing. I’ve got really creative with ramen recipes; it’s a skill I learned in college.”

Steve let out an exasperated sigh.

“That’s gonna have to change,” he asserted. “From now on, I’ll take you grocery shopping once a week, and I want you to get food with actual nutrients in it. Understood?”

You grinned as you flipped the omelet in the pan.

“Only if you let me cook for you sometime,” you bargained. You felt your cheeks heat up when he let out a groan.

“God, I can’t remember the last time I had a home-cooked meal,” he sighed. “I wish I could come back sooner.”

“You can make it for two more days,” you said. “I believe in you.”

“Well, I’m glad someone does.”

The two of you talked until your breakfast was ready, and for the rest of the day you worked on applying for jobs. You kept the news on your tv at a low volume, but later on, while you were cooking your casserole, you heard something about Moscow that made you perk up; Steve had mentioned that he was in Moscow on his business trip.

You hurried to pull the casserole out of the oven and place it on a cooling rack before jogging into the living room and turning up the volume.

“….in Moscow today. It is reported that the small terrorist organization was eliminated by Captain America, Natasha Romanoff, and a group of American agents with them. Luckily, the attempted bombing was stopped before there could be any casualties.”

You watched as the footage cut to Captain America standing in front of a group of reporters, decked out in his uniform with his signature shield strapped to his back. He shifted on his feet, looking out over the room before starting to speak.

“I’m relieved to inform you that the terrorist threat has been eliminated,” he began, and you frowned at how familiar his voice sounded. If you didn’t know any better, then you would think that it was Steve talking to you, your Steve, but you knew the idea was ridiculous. You smiled at the thought; you’d have to ask him later on if anybody else had noticed the similarity.

“The group was small and disorganized, and we believe that they acted independently of any larger organization,” he continued. “Our men and woman, however, are keeping a close eye on any and all other suspicious activity in this and the surrounding countries. For now, we advise you to rest easy, and-“

You muted the tv once more, heading into the kitchen to grab a plate of food. You sat down on your couch and pulled your phone out, dialing Steve’s number. You frowned when you reached his answering machine, but you left a message anyways.

“Hi, Steve! I just saw something on the news about a terrorist group in Moscow… I guess I just wanted to call and make sure you were okay. Just shoot me a text or give me a call when you’re able to. I’ll talk to you soon!”

After that, you ate your food, reveling in having something on your stomach other than the same old noodles. It was while you were wrapping your casserole to put in in the fridge that Steve called you back, and you rushed to answer the phone.

“Hello!”

“Hi, doll,” Steve sighed.

“You sound so tired.”

“Yeah… I guess I am. It was, uh… A rough day at work. But the good news is that I get to come home a day early. Think we could move our date to tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? You can get here all the way from Moscow tonight?”

“Sure can. I’m on the plane right now.”

“Wow. Talk about company benefits…” Steve chuckled, and you smiled fondly as you closed the fridge. “I worried about you when I heard about the terrorists. Is everything ok? No one you knew got hurt, did they?”

“Nah, we’re fine, doll. But you’re sweet to ask.”

“Well, I saw Captain America talking on the news about it and just wanted to make sure. Hey, have you ever noticed that you sound a lot like him?”

“Uh… You think I sound like Captain America?” Steve seemed flustered, and you grinned as you walked back to your couch.

“Yeah; you guys have practically the same voice,” you grinned. “Crazy coincidence, right? You sound like him; you have the same first name… And did you know that he’s grown a beard since-“

“Hey, doll? The plane is experiencing some turbulence. Would it be ok if I let you go?”

“Oh. Yeah! Sure thing, Steve. But we’re still planning on tomorrow morning?”

“You betcha. I’ll see you at 9, and I’ll text you the address.”

“See you soon!”

With that, he hung up, and a few minutes later you received the text with the address. You sent him back a smiley face before getting ready for bed; you would need to get up early to get ready for your date.

It took you a while to fall asleep that night; your mind wouldn’t shut off. Over and over again, it would play possible scenarios of how meeting Steve might go – about what he would look like, what you two would talk about. Eventually, though, you were able to fall into a peaceful slumber, and even your dreams seemed happy that night.

______

You surveyed yourself in the mirror, looking for any imperfections that needed to be sorted out before you left. You’d somehow wrangled your hair into a nice-looking style, although you were pretty sure you’d killed half of the remaining ozone layer with how much hair spray you’d had to use to keep it that way. You were wearing a red set of leggings with an oversized, cream-colored sweater overtop it; despite the fact that the clothes were old, they still looked good, and you hated the fact that you didn’t have better shoes to complete the ensemble. You pulled on your black high-top Converse, deciding that they were the best looking pair of shoes you had, and you checked yourself out in the mirror one more time before walking out the door.

The bagel shop was only fifteen minutes away from where you lived, but the drive seemed to last for fifteen seconds and fifteen eternities all at once. You tried in vain to calm the frantic beating of your heart, but it was still pounding by the time you pulled up in front of the restaurant. You took a short moment to calm yourself, letting out a deep breath before getting out of your car.

You tried to walk with confidence as you walked into the bagel shop, inhaling the scent of baked bread, cinnamon, and coffee that lay heavy in the air. The walls inside were painted a bright, sky blue, and black-and-white sketches were hanging on the walls. The entire wall behind the display case had been turned into a chalkboard, and the various menu items were written across it in neat cursive font. One of your favorite songs from the 60’s was playing over the radio, and you smiled; you already knew that this place would become one of your regular hang outs.

At the moment, though, your eyes were scanning the shop for Steve. All you knew about him was that he had a beard; that is, if he hadn’t shaved it since taking his profile picture. There were only a few people dotted around the room, and most of them were with someone else. In fact, there were only two people there who were sitting alone. One of them was sitting at a nearby table, and he was a man who looked to be in his late 50’s; you hoped to God that he wasn’t Steve.

The only other person there was sitting at a table in the far corner, and he had his back to you. His hair was blonde and slicked back neatly, and his shoulders were incredibly broad. Letting out a sigh, you started walking towards him, wringing your hands as you grew nearer.

“Steve?” you finally asked when you were close, and you saw him straighten up.

When he turned around to face you, though, your eyes grew wide and your lips parted in surprise. There had to be some mistake; this couldn’t be him.

“I… I’m sorry,” you stuttered. “I’m here to meet, um…”

Captain America, or rather, Steve gave you a soft, sheepish smile, and he stood up to face you.

“Hey, doll,” he sighed.

“…I can explain.”

#steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #dark!steve rogers #dark!steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #dark!steve rogers imagine #sugar daddy!steve #sugar daddy!steve rogers #captain america #captain america x reader

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fandomrewrites · 3 years

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Chasing Butterflies: Pilot

Hello all, I’m finally posting the first chapter of Chasing Butterflies - a rewrite of The 100! I am posting it with my to OC’s so it will not be a reader insert. I will try to update once a week, on either Saturday or Sunday. I hope you all enjoy this story and as always constructive criticism is appreciated. Let me know if you want to get added to the taglist!

Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot Pairings: OC x OC best friends, no love interests yet Warnings: Some swearing and mild violence Word Count: 5,209

Season 1 Masterlist

It's been almost three years since Nova Kane has been labeled a criminal and locked up in what the Ark residents call the Sky Box. She was in solitary confinement only receiving visits from the guards and her father, Marcus Kane.

Nova was never very welcoming to her father or the guards, after all, they're the reason why she was locked up in the first place. Nova was just a month and a half away from the fateful day that she would either be sentenced to death or she’ll be let to live once again amongst the Ark's residents.

On the Ark, any crime, no matter how small, is a sentence for death. Except if you are under the age of 18. If you are younger than 18, you will be locked up in the Sky Box where you will wait to get reviewed on your 18th birthday.

Nova sat on her bed reading a book, The Outsiders. It was her favorite. She always felt connected to the character's, especially Dallas Winston. He was misunderstood just like her.

As she was getting to her favorite part of the book, the rumble, her door opened. She sighed and looked up, her eyes meeting her fathers. "What are you doing here? It's not a visiting day."

"You're getting sent to the ground." Marcus bluntly states.

Nova takes a second to let the words register before she answers, "What? I thought it wasn't survivable?"

"Listen, Nova. This is your best chance at survival. You and 99 other prisoners are being sent to Earth today. You're strong, you've been training since you learned how to walk. The other prisoners are going to need a leader. A guard will be sent down with you too, but I have a feeling they won't want to listen to him-"

Nova cuts her dad's rant off, "They won't want to listen to me either, Marcus. I may be a prisoner but I'm still considered privileged."

Marcus sighs, frustrated that his daughter still refuses to call him dad. "Just be careful down there okay?" He takes his hand out of his pocket pulling out a knife. "For you to bring down. You can bring the book too, I know it's your favorite. Just make sure they stay hidden so the guards don't see it."

Nova nods and stands up placing both the book and the knife in the big pockets of her oversized jacket. Not even a minute later, the guards opened the door, "Kane we can't wait any longer. Prisoner 306, hold out your right arm."

Nova rolls her eyes but does as she's told, rolling up her sleeve so they can have access to her wrist. As soon as her sleeve is rolled up one of the guards locks a metal cuff around her wrist. Nova clenches her teeth in pain, but refuses to let out a noise and give the guards the satisfaction in knowing they hurt her.

"Alright, let's go." The guard grabs her roughly by the arm and pulls her out of her cell.

Behind her she hears her dad say, "Remember what I said Nova." She briefly looks back and nods, letting her father know that she heard him.

*_*_*_*_*_*

On the other side of the Sky Box is another girl that the Ark residents would consider privileged. Her name is Elara Sinclair. Elara has only been in the Sky Box for six months and her 18th birthday is a week away.

Elara isn't in solitary like Nova though. No, she has a cellmate by the name of Harper McIntyre. The two girls got close and we're nervously awaiting the day when Elara would probably be floated.

"What's the first thing you're going to do when you get out?" Harper asks.

"If I get out you mean." Elara says, rather morbidly.

"You can't think like that, E. So not if, when."

Elara cracked a small smile, "Probably just spend a lot of time with my parents. I hate only being able to see them once a week."

"And become Abby's personal medical assistant." Harper smiles.

"I'm pretty sure that place is already taken, but yeah. I would love to continue my medical training." Before Harper could reply, the girl's cell door opened to reveal two guards.

"Prisoners 397 and 398, turn around and hold out your right arm."

Both girls exchanged a nervous look but did as told, not wanting to anger the guards. "What's happening? I still have a week until I turn 18." Elara asks.

"Ow! What is this?" Harper questions, growing more concerned by the second.

Neither guard answers as they each grab the girls by the arm, "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" Elara tries once more to get a straight answer from the guards. Her mouth falls open once they step out of the cell. In front of her she sees every prisoner leaving their cells with matching metal cuffs and a guard escorting them.

"They're killing us all!" Harper exclaims. Tears threaten to spill out of both girls' eyes.

"I didn't even get to tell my parents goodbye." Elara mumbles out.

Both girls watch with wide eyes as the guards drag them out of the Sky Box and towards a drop ship. "What the hell?" Elara says as it clicks, they aren't being floated, they're being sent to the ground.

Part of her is excited, she's dreamed of this since she was a girl after all. But then she remembers, it's supposed to take another 100 years for the ground to be survivable, they're sentencing them to death just in a different way then they usually do.

Harper and Elara are placed in seats beside a pretty brunette, they get strapped in and wait patiently as the rest of the prisoners are in their spots. "Hey, I'm Octavia." The pretty girl greets Harper and Elara.

"I'm Elara and this is Harper." She smiles nervously.

*_*_*_*_*_*

A few moments later, Nova is the last one brought into the ship. With one last rough pull by the guard Nova finally has enough. She tears her arm loose and elbows the guard in the face, slams her foot onto his toes then grabs his head to shove her knee into his face. The delinquents surrounding them look on, some with terrified faces and others in amusement.

The guard stumbles back, nose bleeding from the impact. "You bitch." The guard spits out.

"Oh screw you." She says, glaring angrily. Before the guard can react she takes the last seat available and straps herself in. The guard leaves the ship without another word.

When Nova looks up she realizes that everyone's eyes are on her, "Show's over. You can stop looking at me." Everyone quickly adverts their eyes, clearly afraid of the girl. All except one person that is, "Wells? What the fuck are you doing here?"

Sitting across from her is not one, but two of her best friends. Or at least they were growing up, she's changed a lot since she's been locked up. The boy she addressed, Wells, looks slightly shocked to see her. "Nova?"

Her eyes flicker to the passed out blonde beside him, "You came for her, didn't you? For Clarke?" She questions.

All he does is nod. The drop ship finally launches and chatter can be heard from the people around Nova, Wells, and Clarke. After a few seconds Clarke starts to move. "Welcome back- look." Wells starts.

"Wells, why the hell are you here?" Clarke asks, shocked.

Nova lets out a light laugh, though there isn't much humor to it, she hasn't really laughed in years. "I asked him the same thing. Though I used more colorful language."

"Nova?" The blonde gasps.

"Hey." The brunette simply says.

Wells brings Clarke's attention back to her, "When I found out they were sending prisoners to the ground, I got myself arrested. I came for you."Wells turns to address Nova, “I didn’t know your dad was sending you.”

Clarke looks shocked, no surprise there though. Before she can even think of a response the ship violently shakes. "What was that?" Clarke asks.

"That was the atmosphere." Wells answers.

A video starts playing, showing Chancellor Jaha, Wells' dad. "Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now. You've been given a second chance, and as your Chancellor, it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us, indeed for mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you expendable."

A male delinquent sitting somewhere to the right of Nova calls out, "Your dad is a dick, Wells."

"Wells is here?" Elara asks, looking to her roommate. Neither girl saw him when they got on the ship.

"Those crimes will be forgiven, your records wiped clean." the Chancellor continues. "The drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain. It was to be stocked with enough non-perishables to sustain three hundred people for up to two years."

Delinquents start cheering as someone undoes their seatbelt floating up into the air, "Spacewalk bandit strikes again! Go Finn!"

"Check it out. Your dad floated me, after all." Finn says, floating in front of Wells, Clarke and Nova.

Nova can't help the small chuckle from making its way past her lips, despite her knowing that he was probably going to get himself killed for not being buckled.

"You should strap in before the parachutes deploy," Wells says.

"Don't unbuckle! It's dangerous!" Elara exclaims to other delinquents that start to follow Finn out of his seat. Nova whips her head in the direction of the voice, recognizing who it belongs too, though she is unable to see the girl who is like a sister to her.

Just after Elara finishes speaking, Clarke says, "Hey, you two, stay put if you want to live."

The Chancellor can still be heard on the screen, "Mount Weather is life. You must locate those supplies immediately."

Finn, recognizing Clarke, says, "Hey, you're the traitor who's been in solitary for a year."

"You're the idiot who wasted a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk." Clarke snaps at the boy.

"But it was fun. I'm Finn."

Nova shakes her head as the Chancellor continues speaking, "Your one responsibility is stay alive."

The ship shakes again, Elara lets out a small scream as the three that got out of their seats are tossed through the air, "Stay in your seats. Finn, are you okay?" Clarke screams.

"Retrorockets ought to have fired by now." Wells states.

"Okay. Everything on this ship is a hundred years old, right? Just give it a second."

"Clarke, there's something I have to tell you. I'm sorry I got your father arrested."

Nova raises her eyebrows at the exchange, knowing the true story of how Clarke’s father got arrested. "Don't you talk about my father!" The blonde yells, trying to be heard over all the other noise in the drop ship.

"Please, I can't die knowing that you hate me."

"They didn't arrest my father, Wells. They executed him. I do hate you."

More yelling is heard throughout the ship and then a big crash. "Listen. No machine hum." A guy who sits across from Elara says.

The guy next to him smiles, "Whoa. That's a first."

Everyone starts to unbuckle and stand. Elara quickly rushes to the three boys that unbuckled during the journey, "Are they breathing?" She quickly asks Finn, just as Clarke makes it to them. All he does is shake his head.

Clarke looks at Elara about to say something, but a voice from below stops her, "The outer door is on the lower level. Let's go."

"No. We can't just open the doors." Clarke says, quickly rushing down the ladder.

Elara stays behind looking at Finn, "It's not your fault." She says.

He looks up at her, "It is. They followed me."

"Yeah. But that was their choice. There's 100 people on this ship and only two people followed. It was their choice, even after Clarke and I said not too."

Finn nods but still looks upset, "C'mon. Let's go see Earth." Elara holds out her hand for Finn to take. He gently smiles, grabbing her outstretched hand.

*_*_*_*_*_*

Once Nova unbuckled she didn't wait for anyone as she made her way down to the lower level. She shoved her way to the front, wanting to be one of the first people out of the crowded ship.

A guy in a guards uniform was standing by the door, "Hey, just back it up, guys."

"Stop. The air could be toxic." Clarke calls from the ladder.

"If the air is toxic, we're all dead, anyway."

"Bellamy?" A pretty girl asks, looking at the guard.

"My God, look how big you are."

The girl finally makes it to Bellamy, "What the hell are you wearing, a guard's uniform?"

"I borrowed it to get on the drop ship. Someone has got to keep an eye on you." They both hug.

Looking at his wrist Clarke calls, "Where's your wristband?"

"Do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in a year." The girl snaps.

"No one has a brother." A guy yells out.

"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor." A girl says in reply.

Octavia lunges forward to attack and Nova smirks. She likes her, she has spunk. "Octavia, Octavia, no." Her brother says, holding her back. "Let's give them something else to remember you by."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Like being the first person on the ground in a hundred years."

As Bellamy pulls the lever, opening the door, Nova contemplates pushing past Octavia but decides against it. She likes the girl and can take her under her wing and make her a badass. She can't do that if the girl thinks she's a bitch for not allowing her to step out first.

Once the door is fully open, Octavia slowly steps down the ramp. When she reaches the end she jumps onto the ground, throws her hands in the air and screams, "We're back bitches!"

Nova runs out once the words leave the girls mouth. She takes a deep breath, holds her arms out, and lets her head fall back, closing her eyes. She lets the sun hit her exposed skin and she smiles. The first genuine smile that falls on her lips in three years.

Elara on the other hand is one of the last people to leave the ship. But when she does she has a huge smile lighting up her face. She spins in slow circles taking in every inch of Earth that she can see.

After both Nova and Elara get their fix of the ground they make their way over to Clarke, who stands by the drop ship looking at a map. Nova looks at Elara in surprise, "Lara?"

"Hey Nov." Elara smiles at the girl who was once her best friend. "I missed you."

"You too." Nova says quietly.

Their attention is brought back to Clarke as Wells comes out of the drop ship, "We got problems. The communication system is dead. I went to the roof. A dozen panels are missing. Heat fried the wires."

"Well, all that matters right now is getting to Mount Weather. See? Look. This is us." Clarke points to a place on the map as the other three look on, "This is where we need to get if we want to survive."

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Wells questions, but then he answers himself, "Your father."

A voice from behind the four friends interrupts the conversation, "Ah, cool, a map. They got a bar in this town? I'll buy you a beer."

Wells puts a hand to the boy's chest, "You mind?"

"Hey, hey, hey, hands off of him. He's with us." Another delinquent, Murphy, says, breaking the contact.

"Relax. We're just trying to figure out where we are." Wells says, trying to diffuse the situation.

"We're on the ground. That not good enough for you?" Bellamy calls, hearing the conversation.

"We need to find Mount Weather. You heard my father's message. That has to be our first priority."

"Screw your father. What, you think you're in charge here, you and the rest of the privileged?" Octavia spits, causing Nova to roll her eyes.

"Do you think we care who's in charge? We need to get to Mount Weather not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get and the harder this'll be." Clarke starts.

"We need Mount Weather to survive." Elara pipes in.

Clarke nods at her statement, "We're looking at a twenty-mile trek, okay? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave now."

"I got a better idea. You four go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change." Bellamy says.

The delinquents start cheering. Nova scoffs, "You're all going to die down here."

Everyone looks at her, "What? It's true. We're not on vacation. We need supplies and Mount Weather is where those supplies are. Four of us can't carry back enough supplies for 98 people."

Wells speaks, "She's right. We all need to go."

"Look at this, everybody. The Chancellor and Vice Chancellor of Earth." Murphy jokes.

Nova once again rolls her eyes, she has a feeling that this will be a common occurrence down on Earth. "You think that's funny?' Wells asks.

Murphy grabs Wells, tripping him. "Wells!" Clarke and Elara call out in concern.

"No, but that was." Murphy smiles. Wells stands up, limping on the foot that got twisted on his way down. He goes to put up his fists but Nova steps in between the two.

"He has one good leg. If you want to fight someone maybe choose someone so it's a fair fight." She states, glaring.

"You mean you? 'Cause I'll gladly fight you any day, Angel."

"That wouldn't be a fair fight." She states, clenching her jaw at the unwelcomed nickname.

"You afraid of me?" He smirks.

Nova smirks back, "I meant for you. Now move along, unless you want to get your ass kicked."

Murphy scoffs, “Like you could actually hurt me.”

The boy with the goggles mumbles from behind Murphy, “Clearly you didn’t see her take on the guard.”

At his words, Murphy looks Nova up and down but decides against actually fighting the girl. As Murphy and his crew finally back away, Finn makes his presence known, "So Mount Weather. When do we leave?"

"Right now. We'll be back tomorrow with food." Clarke says.

"I'm staying. Someone with medical experience should be here in case anyone gets hurt." Elara says as she finishes wrapping Wells' ankle.

"How are the three of you gonna carry enough food for 98 people?" Wells asks.

Finn turns and grabs the two closest guys, one of which includes goggles boy, "Five of us. Can we go now?"

"Sounds like a party. Make it six." Octavia says joining the group.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Bellamy asks his sister.

"Going for a walk." She casually answers.

Clarke turns to Finn, grabbing his wrist, "Hey, were you trying to take this off?"

"Yeah, so?" He answers, shrugging.

"So this wristband transmits your vital signs to the Ark. Take it off, and they'll think you're dead."

"Should I care?"

"Well, I don't know. Do you want the people you love to think you're dead? Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dying." Finn nods, "Now let's go."

*_*_*_*_*_*

As Nova and the group of six make their way through the forest, Clarke seems to be impatient. She walks ahead from the rest, focused on reaching their destination. Finn grabs a flower from the ground and places it in Octavia's hair.

"Now, that, my friend, is game." Jasper, the boy with the goggles says to his friend, Monty.

"That, my friend, is poison sumac." Monty replies.

Octavia hurriedly wipes the flower out of her hair, "What? It is?"

"The flowers aren't poisonous. They're medicinal, calming, actually." He states.

"His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the Ark." Jasper says, explaining how his friend knows so much about the plant.

"Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?" Clarke calls, turning around to look at everyone.

"Come on, Clarke. How do you block all this out?" Finn questions the blonde.

"Well, it's simple. I wonder, why haven't we seen any animals? Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty, though. Come on."

"Someone should slip her some poison sumac." Octavia mumbles to the rest of us. Jasper snorts and Nova allows a smirk to fall on her lips.

"If we've been exposed to enough radiation to kill us then we're already dead. Might as well enjoy our last moments, Clarke." Nova says to her friend.

Finn turns to the other two boys, "I got to know what you two did to get busted."

Monty replies, "Sumac isn't the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean."

"Someone forgot to replace what we took." Jasper says, casting an accusing eye at Monty.

"Someone has apologized, like, a thousand times."

"What about you Nova? What'd they get you for?"

"Yeah, all we ever heard were rumors." Finn adds.

"Murder." Nova states simply.

Up ahead Clarke stops, "What? My mom said you stole."

Nova shakes her head, "It was a cover. My dad, Jaha, and your mom were the only ones who knew the truth. And of course me and the guy I killed."

"Remind me not to get on her bad side." She hears Jasper whisper to Monty.

Nova turns around smirking, "Don't worry. That guy had it coming. The only person down here I may consider murdering is Murphy. At least it's just him for now."

The group slows to a stop as they spot a deer in front of them. "No animals, huh?" Finn whispers to Clarke. Finn steps forward to get a better look at the animal but steps on a stick. The deer looks up and turns to see what made the noise.

They all gasp. The deer has two faces.

*_*_*_*_*_*

Elara and Wells walked away from the camp looking for water. "Clarke still doesn't know?" Elara asks.

"No, and you're not going to tell her."

"Seriously? You don't need to remind me, Wells." She pauses, "We shouldn't be walking around for long. You need to rest your ankle."

Wells nods and they start to loop around to head back to the camp.

Once they see the drop ship a voice calls out, "Find any water yet?"

Looking up Elara and Wells spot Murphy, "No, not yet, but, we're going back out soon if you want to come."

Murphy turns his attention to the side of the drop ship, carved into the metal is 'First son first to dye'. He chuckles then says to Wells, "You know, my father, he begged for mercy in the airlock chamber when your father floated him."

Wells just looks at him, "You spelled die wrong, genius."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Continuing their trek through the woods, Finn asks no one in particular, "Hey, you know what I'd like to know? Why send us down today after ninety seven years? What changed?"

"Who cares?" Octavia speaks up, "I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest."

"Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know, like an old weather satellite or it wasn't a satellite." Monty says. Nova knits her eyebrows together in confusion at his words.

"The Ark is dying. At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone." Clarke answers.

"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn questions.

"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw. He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were gonna go public, anyway, when Wells-" She trails off.

"What, turned in your dad?" Monty asks.

Clarke nods, "The guard showed up before we could. That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves more time."

Nova lets out a humorless laugh, "Wow, never thought my dad would get to send me to my death twice."

An awkward silence settles among the group as Octavia and Nova speed up, the rest staying slightly behind to talk more about the topic.

Not hearing the conversation happening behind them, Nova and Octavia exchange a smile. They found water, a river to be exact. Both girls immediately reach to peel off their shirts, throwing them to the ground.

Behind them Jasper's voice can be heard, "Oh, damn, I love Earth." The four delinquents not stripping look on in shock, though the three boys can't help but check out the two girls.

"Octavia, Nova, what the hell are you doing?" Clarke asks.

The two girls glance back at the group when they hear their names being called, they look at each other once more then step over the edge, landing in the water with a splash.

The other four run over, looking down at the top of the girls head. Only the nose and eyes on both girls are showing above the water. "Nova, Octavia! We can't swim!" Monty nervously says.

The two brunettes move so their heads are now above the water, "We know." Nova states.

Octavia continues, "But we can stand." They both stand up exposing the top half of their bodies.

The group still on land starts stripping to get in the water but before they can Jasper calls out, "Get out of the water! Octavia, Nova, get out!"

Octavia and Nova both look at him confused, but not even a minute later Octavia gets pulled in the water by something large. Nova gasps and quickly rushes to get out of the water, simultaneously trying to find something to help Octavia.

Finn reaches down to help Nova up as the rest of the group push a rock into the water hoping to distract whatever grabbed Octavia. As soon as the creature lets the brunette go Jasper quickly helps her out. "Not to self, next time, save the girl." Monty says looking at Octavia and Jasper, and Nova and Finn.

*_*_*_*_*_*

Wells and Elara once again made their way back to camp. They still couldn't find water which wasn't good considering they kinda needed some to survive. It was starting to get dark though so they would have to continue their search the next day.

The two friends looked at each curiously when they heard cheers from the delinquents. Finally reaching the group surrounded, who had a fire started, they see a girl, Fox, getting her wristband taken off. "Who's next?" Bellamy calls out.

"What the hell are you doing?" Wells angrily shouts.

"We're liberating ourselves. What does it look like?"

"You're killing us." Elara gasps out. "The wristbands are the only way the Ark knows we're alive. If you take them off the Ark will think we're dying."

"That's the point, sweetheart. We can take care of ourselves, can't we?" The group cheers at Bellamy's words.

"You think this is a game?" asks Wells, "Those aren't just our friends and parents up there. They're our farmers, our doctors, our engineers. I don't care what he tells you. We won't survive here on our own, and besides, if it is really safe, how could you not want the rest of our people to come down?"

"My people are already down. Those people," Bellamy points to the sky, "locked my people up. Those people killed my mother for the crime of having a second child. Your father did that."

"My father didn't write the laws."

"No. He enforced them, but not anymore. not here. Here, there are no laws."

Once again the group cheers, so Bellamy continues. "Here, we do whatever the hell we want whenever the hell we want. Now, you don't have to like it. You can even try to stop it or change it, kill me. You know why? Whatever the hell we want."

The delinquents chorus, "Whatever the hell we want!" Then, out of seemingly nowhere, it starts to rain. Elara gasps and raises her head to the sky, letting the rain hit her face.

Elara catches someone watching her out of the corner of her eye, she turns her head to make eye contact. Her mouth drops in shock as the boy smiles at her.

He makes his way over and awkwardly scratches the back of his neck, "Hey Elara. What do you say about a kiss in the rain? If I remember correctly it was something you always wanted to do."

Elara snorts, "Yeah, but that was before we broke up, Atlas."

"What, so you won't let me kiss you one last time?" He asks with a cheeky smile.

"Not happening." Elara replies, though she can’t hide the smile that falls onto her lips.

*_*_*_*_*_*

The next day the group of six that went to find food make it their mission to safely cross the river. As soon as they find a vine they can swing from, Finn volunteers to go first.

He keeps hesitating to cross though, "You wanted to go first. Now quit stalling." Clarke calls out.

"Just hang on till the apogee, and you'll be fine." Jasper says from Finn's side.

"The apogee like the Indians, right?" Finn asks.

"Apogee, not apache."

"He knows. Today, Finn." Clarke says.

"Aye, aye, captain. See you on the other side."

Just as he's about to swing Jasper stops him, "Wait. Let me. I can do it."

Finn looks at him with a smile, "Knew there was a badass in there somewhere." Jasper hesitates, "Hey, it's okay to be afraid, Jasper. The trick is not fighting it." Finn reassures the boy.

"See you on the other side." He swings, whooping and hollering the whole way across.

The other five delinquents cheer happily when he reaches the other side. "Let's go, Princess. You're up." Finn says to Clarke.

Jasper reaches down, picking up a sign that says Mount Weather. The other five cheer one more time as Clarke goes to grab the vine. Before she gets the chance though, from somewhere behind them a spear flies straight into Jasper's chest.

"Jasper!" The group calls out.

"Get down!" Nova exclaims, pulling Octavia and Monty, the two that were closest to her down.

"We're not alone." Clarke whispers to the group.

#The 100 #the 100 imagine #the 100 rewrite #series rewrite

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fleckcmscott · 4 years

Text

Bewitching Hour

Summary: October has been a blissfully busy month. With Halloween around the corner, Arthur and Y/N have some planning to do.

Warnings: Swearing

Words: 4,665

A/N: Special thanks to @hhandley80 for this request! You've been so supportive and sweet. I truly appreciate you and hope you enjoy it!

On a side note, my oneshots will be more sporadic. I'm still writing but life has been life. Also, I've finished the first draft of another multi-chapter featuring Arthur and Y/N. It's going to take time to rewrite the subsequent drafts and edit, edit, edit. The chapters will go up once the story is ready. Thanks for your patience and support! 🙂 I heart you all!

If you have any thoughts or questions, please comment, feel free to message me, or send me an ask!

Arthur's suggestion that they make plans to celebrate Halloween should not have been a surprise. He loved starting traditions with Y/N, and she prized adopting them with him. "It's been awhile," he'd said as they'd walked arm-in-arm to the laundromat. "I think it'd be nice."

Holidays had been a source of merriment most of her life. The beauty of red and green decorations at Christmas. Turkey and mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. An egg hunt and chocolate rabbit at Easter. The togetherness of family during them all.

Halloween, though, wasn't a favorite.

As a child, she'd had fun trick-or-treating, riding her bike from house to far-flung house. And she hadn't minded escorting her little sister as a teenager. Y/N's homemade witch costume had been passed down. She could still recall the sleekness of the ribbon between her fingers as she'd secured the pointed hat under Mabel's chin.

But the magic had fallen away. When married to Jeff, she'd had to attend his boss's annual party. After receiving an apologetic shrug and kiss, she'd be relegated to hanging out with the other wives. They'd included her in their recipe swaps, in their exchanges of mild gossip. Her natural friendliness made chit-chat easy, far easier than having a good time. Those evenings had been spent nursing a glass of wine and willing the clock to go faster.

During the period she'd cared for her father, she'd tried to hand out candy. She liked being a good neighbor and imparting kindness in the form of bite-sized sweets. As his health had declined, the porch light had gone dark. Random rings of the doorbell would result in shouting and swearing. Repeated attempts to explain the door's lock wasn't broken. Festivity would transform into drudgery. It hadn't been worth the trouble. Instead, she'd watched terrible TV specials while her thoughts wandered to a future far from Boonville. A future she'd doubted would ever be.

"I don't know if it's your thing," Arthur had continued, bringing her back to the present. "But you might enjoy it with me." The response he longed for was evident in the worrying of his pocket, outlines of his knuckles visible through the tan cloth.

Everything they'd experienced together had soothed the sting of those wasted years. The hesitancy lurking in her was silly. Unwelcome. Less than either of them deserved. She'd met his keen eyes and half-smile. The sudden mental image of him dressed as a cowboy or pirate, eyepatch and all, prompted a laugh. Convinced her as she dug out her dry-cleaning stub. "It isn't my thing," she'd said. "But you are."

Relief had relaxed his wrinkles, save for his crows feet, which had deepened as he'd returned her happy expression. A slender arm wrapped around her waist, drew her against his solid frame. Once the clerk disappeared through the swinging doors to retrieve their clothes, Arthur grasped her chin and kissed her. The tender explorations were soon sloppy, and she'd giggled, his enthusiasm becoming her own. Their noses had met, his lashes resting on his wide cheekbones. "I think you're the sweetest treat, Mrs. Fleck."

Currently, Donahue's Department Store, Gotham's number one retail emporium (if the ads were to be believed), was bustling with last-minute shoppers. Weary mothers escorted their babbling children through the aisles. Clerks swapped out displays for the changing blue light specials. Lines went for yards. Patricia and Y/N sought refuge at a corner table in the café on the top floor. The warm glow from the pendant lamps provided a relaxed ambience, one that matched the hot cider and pumpkin spice cake they were savoring.

"I've got my grandson on Sunday," Patricia said between bites. "My daughter's going to a party with a medical records tech from Gotham General. Met him when she missed the bus. They split a cab and hit it off." Chuckling, she lifted her mug. "Speaking of, how's married life been so far?"

Memories of the past week quickened Y/N's heart, until she thought it might stop. How Arthur had gripped her replacement Social Security card, just to read her new name. The way he'd grab her for a twirl whenever they were in the kitchen. The reverence in his gaze when they'd lay together after sex, a look that both thrilled and made her blush. "The bills for his medication and appointments will no longer make us cringe," she deadpanned. She lowered her fork. "When we met, I was kind of blindsided - I'm not the type to fall in love quickly." The corners of her lips tugged up. "Being married to Arthur feels like a habit. A habit I should have learned twenty years ago."

"I'm glad you found each other." Patricia reached across the light brown table and covered Y/N's hand, gave it a squeeze. Then she wiped frosting from her mouth and nodded in the direction of the escalator. "Now let's find a costume that'll drive him nuts."

Beyond the colorful cosmetics and pungent perfume counters, they sorted through racks of vinyl smocks and plastic masks. Pop culture icons and princesses. Vampires and spooks. Knockoffs of classic movie monsters. Most were poorly made and decidedly uninteresting. Y/N pawed through accessories in a nearby basket, a cigar here, a patched hat there. "How about a hobo? I could steal Arthur's tie."

"This was his idea. Give him something a little exciting." After a roll of Y/N's eyes, Patricia held out a plastic display bag. "Found it."

The white font on its blue label declared she should "Create a unique look!" A woman in a leopard-print leotard and bow-tie wore black cat ears and a tail, the only two items included in the set. Y/N's nose wrinkled. "I don't think so, Patricia." She rummaged through another bin and examined a hockey mask. "I don't show a lot of skin."

"You show Arthur." Patricia ignored Y/N's glare, continuing to shove it at her. "Every man loves a woman dressed as a cat. Our next lunch is on me if I'm wrong."

Patricia could be relentless, but Y/N had to admit she was usually right. She arched a brow as she eyed the costume. Maybe she could find a solid body suit instead of animal print. The kit was only $2.98. And her friend had made it a challenge. "You're on. But I'm not wearing a bow-tie." She crossed her arms across her chest and tapped her mouth. "Your turn. Would Robert like you as a French maid or a go-go dancer?"

~~~~~

It was a busy season for performers. Arthur remembered HaHa's talent agency being booked solid for October by the end of August. Myriad functions at nursing homes, parties, and children's organizations took place throughout the city. Amusement Mile had a series of special events, allowing Arthur to work extra hours before the slowness of winter dragged in. Once the holiday was over, he'd buy make-up and props on clearance.

He'd always assumed he would like Halloween - if he'd had the chance to celebrate it properly. It was about connection, something he'd never managed. The customs gave him a pretense, a template to meet people, rather than leaving him wondering how to go about it. Provided a hiding place for his seeming inability to act normal.

Recollections of the day were few but vivid. When he'd been around eight, there'd been a party at school. The teacher had made brownies and given the students a half-hour respite from lessons. (A welcome relief, since he wasn't very good at most of them.) But he hadn't had a costume. Hadn't known how to reply when the other kids asked where it was. Not wanting to be left out, he'd pocketed a watercolor pallet and sneaked to the bathroom.

The teacher (he wished he could remember her name) had walked in as he'd smeared green and blue on his face, a pathetic attempt at a turtle. Fear of punishment had caused his laughter. But her kindness as she knelt, wiped away tears and pigment with a scratchy, brown paper towel, had calmed him. "Wait here," she'd instructed. It had taken all his courage not to run home.

After some minutes, she'd returned, an old white sheet in one hand, black marker and pair of scissors in the other. "The nurse won't miss this." She'd traced eyeholes, helped him cut them out. She'd asked questions. About his mother and what it was like at home. Questions he was at a loss for how to answer. Finally, she'd draped the cloth over his head. "There," she'd declared. "Gotham Elementary has its own ghost."

Even as he'd gotten taller and the sheet no longer went beyond his knees, that costume had remained his go-to. He'd venture out to the rest of his building, knocking on paint-chipped doors and pushing broken buzzers. Having learned to stay away from doors that yelling or funny smells emanated from, he hadn't gotten a lot of candy. What he had collected he'd shared with Penny. The wax lips became a free toy. He wasn't sure his memory of startling his mother and being tickled until he couldn't breathe was real or imagined.

At twelve, he was told he was too old to go trick-or-treating. He'd starting scrounging for change to buy hard candies at Helm's Pharmacy. They weren't particularly appetizing, but they'd been what he could afford. Only a few kids rang, a number that dwindled further every year. Most neighbors kept their distance, likely aware he was troubled. Cinnamon discs and butterscotch drops had loitered around the apartment for months. He'd sucked on them in an attempt to cut down on his smoking, just to save money. It hadn't worked.

Y/N hadn't spoken about the holiday, not the way she had other special occasions. At first, he'd thought it had slipped her mind. Work, planning their honeymoon, completing the red tape required to meld all aspects of their lives had taken up much of their time. But, given her reluctance to talk in detail about her past heartache, he'd come to assume her Halloweens had been unpleasant. He was certain he could change that.

Sitting on the dingy, dark green plastic seat of the train car, he giggled to himself, chest puffing up as he straightened. They'd been man and wife for eight whole days. Movies and songs said love was supposed to be somewhere between serendipitous and fated. A happy accident that was meant to be. Lying awake at night, he would find himself wondering where they were on that scale. If the emotions swirling through him - the excitement of belonging, the fear of fucking up - were what every newlywed felt. Then Y/N would snuggle closer in her sleep, murmur nonsense into his skin, and for a few minutes he'd be at peace.

Years had been spent trying to figure out who he was. Trying to find an identity, his role within the world. While he was still searching, it had been far easier to become accustomed to the role of "husband" than he'd dreamed.

Teaching his wife about events across the city had been a delight. Gotham Village's Annual Costume Extravaganza was a parade that went all the way to Gotham Square. He'd participated a couple of times, never formally registering but slipping into the clown section. It had been exhilarating. Had allowed him to pretend, for a little while, that he was being seen. That the crowds lining the sidewalks were cheering for him. Signs for extravagant balls were plastered on billboards and lampposts throughout the streets; he'd have gladly attended and shown her off. A haunted house was being held in a building in his old neighborhood, a fundraiser for the orphanage. He hadn't brought that up.

In the end, once he'd explained trick-or-treaters went from apartment to apartment, they'd decided on a cozy evening at home. The details had been left to her. Whatever she'd plan, he'd love it. He wondered what she'd disguise herself as. Would she be a sexy devil or nurse, like he'd seen on a sit-com? The notion sparked a fire in his cheeks.

Given how busy he'd be, he'd stay dressed as plain, old Carnival. Part of him regretted accepting two gigs, especially on a Sunday. He would have preferred her company. But he wanted to put the money towards the wedding band he'd put on layaway. (Even though they had one account, he wasn't going to let her chip in for it.) He should already be wearing it for all of Gotham to see.

The lurch of the subway prompted him to rise and grasp the pole grip. His stance widened as it came to a halt, knees bending with the instinct of a man who'd ridden public transportation since he was a boy. As soon as the graffiti-covered doors parted, he stepped out onto the platform and ascended the stairs, eager to share his new insurance information with Dr. Ludlow.

~~~~~

Scratchy violins and the hum of a theremin. Shrill shrieks and cracks of thunder. A cackle resounded, then a pipe organ, playing a melody in a minor key.

There was no doubt about it. Halloween spirit had saturated 4A.

NCB's Movie Marathon Mayhem had begun at 10:00 AM. Y/N had had it on since getting out of the shower, hoping to catch a horror classic while she decorated the apartment and prepared Bloody Mary mix. As she hung cotton batting between the television's rabbit ears, creating a long, narrow spider-web, she realized they were only playing cheesy B-movies. Giant insects threatening buildings. Science experiments gone wrong. Alien invasions. Oh well. At least she wouldn't have to pay much attention to get the gist of the plots.

The orange plastic platter, black bats along its edges, had been an impulse buy. She thought its array of sugary skeletons, candy bracelets, and Jolly Jack chocolate bars would be well received. But having seen only one or two kids in the lobby, she had no idea how many children lived in their building. She hoped she'd bought enough.

The cardstock window decorations she'd found were festive and matched Arthur's sweet nature. One portrayed a warted, green witch flying on a broom past a full moon. On the other, a ghost and mouse shared a pillowcase of candy and wished a "Happy Halloween." She held the tape dispenser between her teeth as she stuck them to their white front door.

Just then, the elevator dinged. Glancing to her left, she saw Arthur stroll down the cheerfully lit hallway. Buoyant expression on him, despite his white, blue, and red make-up being streaked from sweat. Striped prop bag on his shoulder and carved pumpkin cradled in his arms. "The store owner was going to throw it out," he explained with a half hug. "But he let me have it as a tip."

Classic, triangular eyes evoked the annual carving contest her parents had taken part of back home. Her father had been well-known in the community, being the town's only doctor. Entering the competition had been expected. They'd never won but enjoyed it all the same. Y/N had picked out the patterns and scooped out the squash's slimy innards. Her mother had baked the seeds. Peals of their laughter echoed in her ears, and a lump formed in her throat.

She swallowed hard against it. Dammit, Y/N. Get it together. This was supposed to be a special night for Arthur and her. She needed to distract herself. One of his curls peeked out from under his bald-cap and green wig. She twirled a strand around her finger. "With that toothy grin, it just might be your twin," she said. He pecked her temple, the kiss sticky from greasepaint. She lit the half-melted candles using his red lighter and put the jack-o-lantern just outside their door.

While he freshened his paint in the bedroom, she slinked into the bathroom to change. Arthur's and her routines were closely aligned; keeping her costume hidden had not been easy. The headband holding the furry cat ears was quite stiff, its teeth a tad sharp on her scalp. Once it was in place, she hid it under her hair. The lint on her form-fitting stretch top and leggings reminded her why she rarely wore all black. She retrieved her brown eyeliner from the nearby shelf and started in on her whiskers.

Arthur's footsteps neared, heavy due to his clown shoes, and Y/N turned to lean back on the sink. His thin lips parted as he scanned her body, forehead furrowed in pleasant surprise. His reaction planted a seed of bliss in her belly, one that bloomed every second they regarded each other. The lunch she'd have to spring for was well worth the pink shells of his ears. Eventually, she held out the fluffy, wired tail and a safety pin. "Would you pin this just below my waistband?"

Fingers grazing hers, he took it and sat on the toilet lid. He cupped her hips and pulled her closer, positioned her until the dampness of his breath hit a bare sliver of her back. "Hold still," he murmured, his voice sending a tingle through her. At his gentle ministrations, the spandex of her leggings felt snugger. "Did you- Did you read my journal?"

A faint click of metal as the pin closed. "No." She colored the tip of her nose, frowned at how lackluster the shade was. "I'd never do that. Even if I'm dying for a preview of your material. Why?"

"No reason." A soft huff, his shy smile clear in his answer. "I have an idea." He handed her a washcloth and hurried out of the room. She was patting her face dry when he returned, a fine tipped brush and pot of black greasepaint in his hand. "This'll look better."

Her brow arched. She'd only had her make-up done once; Patricia had invited her when they'd first met. Such an outing was not her preference, but Y/N had accepted, being new in town and wanting to learn about her colleague. There'd been champagne at the counter, which she'd sipped until she'd spent too much on eyeshadow and apricot scrub. The next morning, she'd put the products and a note on Patricia's desk: "I'll never forgive you. Thanks!"

The heat radiating from Arthur prompted her to close the gap between them. She craned her neck towards him, slid her palms to his yellow vest until she held him just below his ribs. His forefinger curled under her chin, lifted it slightly and angled it to the right. The cool, wet brush met her fevered skin. The dusty smell of the greasepaint blended with a whiff of stale cigarette smoke and traces of his sweat. She licked her lips.

The vibration of his chuckle was felt before heard. "I really like your costume," he said lowly. Two more ticklish caresses of the bristles on the apple of her cheek. "If you're not careful, I might werewolf and go wild."

She stretched closer to him, the fervor in his tone going straight to her center. Though he'd been growing bolder, his cocky side wasn't often revealed. She wanted it, thirsted to see more of the wild horse kicking inside him. Her touch ran over his chest, until she dipped under his black suspenders and pulled. "Are you going to gobble me up?"

Teasing strokes on her nose. "Maybe." Then his thumb whispered along her jaw and guided her face upwards. His kiss was supple, slow, a drag of his mouth as his tongue sought entry. She yielded, the simmer of anticipation bringing her to her toes. He groaned deeply and palmed her thigh, then fondled the curve of her rear-

The ding-dong of the doorbell halted them. He lifted his head and laughed, gaze sparkling. "I got paint on you."

She twisted in his arms and looked in the mirror. The whiskers caught her eye, embellished at the ends with dainty curlicues - his skill never ceased to impress her. Red brightened her lips and streaks of white were on her cheek. "It's all right. They'll just know I've been necking with a clown."

~~~~~

The sound of the bell continued. Over and over and over. More than it ever had in Otisburg. There were mummies, ghosts, a couple of skeletons. A superhero proudly displayed his red cape and blue tights, and a kid in her karate robe went on about her yellow belt. A tiny clown, too young to walk, was brought by her sister. As Arthur made funny faces, the baby cooed and tried to take his red, foam nose. Arthur parted with it gladly.

Only one member of the Wayne family appeared, slicked back hair and pompous pout making the disguise complete. The man accompanying the boy introduced himself as their upstairs neighbor and shook their hands. After one look at Y/N, he nudged Arthur's bicep. "So, she's the one keeping half the building up at night. Good on you, pal." Arthur blinked in confusion as she ushered the guy away, red-faced and muttering about his nerve.

Arthur was overly generous, giving out fistfuls of sweets while taking a few extra seconds to gather his nerves and compliment the costumes he liked best. It felt good to interact with strangers without constantly second guessing himself. Y/N would rub his arm or kiss his shoulder and tell him what a great job he was doing. "Kids are easy," he said, refilling the candy dish. But he reveled in her praises, anyway. And the knowledge that meeting the neighbors was going well.

Clean-up required little effort. The jack-o-lantern sat on their kitchen table, flames flickering as the wicks burned away. The door decor was packed safely for use next year. His plaid blazer was slung over the back of a dining chair and his wig was off. Y/N's decision to leave her whiskers on pleased him - she made a damn sexy cat. He pocketed the last few pieces of candy to snack on during the remainder of the evening.

The Sunday Night Special Presentation she'd picked out, a made-for-TV horror movie, began at 9:00 PM on GBC. Most of its airtime was punctuated by her tipsy snickers and legal wisecracks, which was typical when they watched something stupid. Yet, as the show went on, she grew quieter, barely speaking between sips of her third cocktail. As they sat on the sofa, her posture stiffened. Forearms crossed over her breasts. Her nails dug into her upper arm.

The change started two-thirds of the way into the show, when the plot about a doll running amok twisted into a story about a professional woman trying to assert herself against the demands of her mother. Against the expectations of availability. To fight for the simplicity of having dinner and peace and quiet. It resonated with him, which felt weird. Especially when the film cut to black, the implication being the mother would meet a violent end at the hands of her possessed daughter.

A cheerful jingle came on. Puerto Rico was a direct flight from Gotham Airport, it advertised, a flight that lasted "two hours and fifteen tropical minutes." They should get out while the weather was still good. The juxtaposition of mood broke him out of his ponderings. He flicked off the blaring television with the remote. Then he heard Y/N sniffling.

She set her glass on the coffee table, a slight tremble in her hand. "I need some air," she whispered as she rose, then went out onto the fire escape.

Arthur rubbed his thigh and pressed his lips together. He wasn't used to seeing her cry. Not from sadness. Should he follow her? Give her time? Both had worked previously, depending on the situation. But he wasn't sure what had upset her, what situation they were in now.

Exhaling sharply, he grabbed her glass and dumped the rest of the drink down the kitchen sink. Rinsed their dinner plates and put the slow cooker in the fridge. When he'd finished making decaf coffee ten minutes later, she still hadn't returned. He ambled towards the ajar glass door and stepped out.

Moonlight outlined her shapely figure and reflected off her hair, the silver a contrast to the orange glow of the streetlamps illuminating her face. Her stare seemed fixated on the street below. He followed it to see a group of ghouls and goblins spraying shaving cream on a shop window. A couple, one he'd see occasionally when out for a cigarette, walked down the sidewalk. A woman was half-carrying a drunk man towards a bus stop.

Upon clearing her throat, Y/N spoke. "I may not look like it, but I had a great time with you tonight. The movie just got to me." Relieved, Arthur sidled next to her, wrapped his arm about her back. Her head fell to his shoulder and she smoothed her hand over his stomach. "I don't mean to hide from you. Someday you'll know the details of my earlier life." She scoffed. "When I'm ready to think about them." He entwined their fingers and kissed her hairline, avoiding the wired tips of her cat ears.

Shivering, she took a shaky breath. "There are no skeletons in my closet. Only disappointments." Her voice cracked as she beamed at him, cupped his cheek, and pressed her face to his. "Knowing I'd get to have you would have made those years so much easier."

He held her tightly, massaging between her shoulders. She'd been speaking about herself, but he couldn't help thinking it was about him, too. His years with Penny. His stints in Arkham. The loneliness, the isolation, the endless anger and yearning to be more than a speck of dirt no one cared for. His journal was full of questions about where the hell his one and only was. If he'd known she'd be real, tangible instead of a figment, would existence have hurt less?

Wincing, he tried to push through those thoughts. To focus on her instead of himself. What mattered was that Y/N needed him. Perhaps a joke would cheer her. "I was thinking the other night of how easy it is to smile around you," he said. "You tickle my funny bone." Amusement bubbled in her throat, music to his ears. She released a contented sigh and nuzzled the crook of his neck.

Peaceful stillness ensued as the minutes passed. Though the breeze was chill, goosebumps forming on his pale skin, her affection kept his heart warm. His fingertips rubbed circles into her lower back, and she offered a pleasured hum. Across the way, footsteps pounded. He glanced to see a kid darting up the street, plastic pumpkin pail in tow. The boy's scream was filled with boundless energy: "Happy Halloween, Gotham!"

Snorting, Y/N took Arthur's hand and led him inside. The cheap tail she wore bounced with every exaggerated swivel of her hips. "I've behaved all evening, which your werewolf comment made extraordinarily difficult." She looped her arms around him and flashed a come-hither stare. "May I have a goodie?"

The scrape of her nails on his scalp coiled a knot in his abdomen. "Aren't you supposed to say 'trick-or-treat?'" he asked huskily.

"Your pussycat needs a petting or two." She closed the bedroom door behind them. "Maybe even a mauling."

His brows shot up on a hitched giggle. Then he palmed her hip while she started in on his buttons. Before she got too far, he traced a whisker with the pad of his thumb. Let their foreheads meet and pecked her eyelids. "Only if you give me something good to eat." He pressed into her, his enjoyment relentless, not waiting for her reply before devouring her mouth.

~~~~~

Tag list (Let me know if you want to be added!): @harmonioussolve, @howdylilflower, @sweet-nothings04, @stephieraptorr, @rommies, @fallenstarsabyss, @gruffle1, @octopus-plasma, @tsukiakarinobara, @arthur-flecks-lovely-smile, @another-day-in-chuckletown, @hhandley80, @jokerownsmysoul, @mrscarnival

#arthur fleck #arthur fleck fanfic #arthur fleck x reader #arthur fleck x ofc #arthur fleck x female reader #joker 2019 #watchwhathappens

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inkribbon796 · 4 years

Text

Contradictions

Summary: Google meets Bim for the first time, and comes to realize that Dark is full of contradictions.

A/N: Google is my curious bean and I want good things to happen to him (looks at the angst I have planned and sweeps it under the rug) nothing but good things.

Also the files mentioned are the other’s kids that Dark is planning on “adopting” in the coming month which is when the Lost Ones story I wrote takes place.

~::~ 14 Years Ago ~::~

It had been a couple weeks after Dark had taken Bim to the office for the first time, he had brought him back again. In that week, rumors flew like mad. Most people were writing off the encounter, but others took and exaggerated it to an extreme degree.

Dark’s blue soul might have helped with some of the wilder ones. But he had to set up some insurance after Bim lost himself in a shopping mall.

So Dark was back in his main warehouse office with Bim, two of his most loyal enforcers, his lieutenants, and Google.

Google was staring at Bim, an expressionless mask over his face.

“I have many questions,” he finally said.

“I have even more,” Bargs agreed as Dark’s other lieutenant was walking forward.

Sierras pinched Bim’s cheeks, almost knocking the child frames almost tied to his face, “What a cute little thing.”

Bim was trying to push her away.

Bargs was just staring at the kid, looking uneasy, “Where’d he come from? Is he Wil’s?”

“That would be the most logical conclusion,” Google agreed.

“The official statement on the books is that Edgar procured him for me,” Dark warned, as the man in question walked in with a stack of six five files.

“Here yah go,” Ed sighed, handing Dark the files who began quickly flipping through them. Before sliding them through the Void, and acting like he’d never been given them in the first place.

Edgar realized Bim was standing there and gave the boy an uncomfortable look before nervously eyeing the door. “Am I released now?”

“Ed isn’t he just the cutest.” Sierras smiled as Bim finally pulled himself free and walked over to Dark.

The southern gave a look towards Dark, “Sure, yeah, yah’all need anythin’ else, or am I good?”

“You can go,” Dark dismissed. “Get to work.”

“Thank yah,” Ed rushed out of the room.

Google watched him go, observing every twitch he made, once the door closed the android dared to comment, “And the reason for this clearly false statement?”

Both Dark’s lieutenants looked nervous, staring at Google.

“I have a suspicion that he’ll look more and more like Wilford as he gets older,” Dark admitted. “I want to avoid people that Wil has slept with in the past trying to extort me.”

“So he is Wil’s?” Sierras asked in surprise, trying to look around Dark’s leg where Bim was glaring angrily at her.

Google knelt down, trying to get a good look at the boy, already taking in observations like the nice clothes and the glasses.

“Like everything else he does he acts before he thinks,” Dark explained. “Wil’s nickname for him is Junior, that will suffice.”

“That’s not my name,” Bim told Dark, clearly upset,

“We talked about this,” Dark scolded calmly.

“I wanna go back to Daddy,” Bim told Dark.

“In a minute, I have to talk with the and then we’ll go,” Dark’s voice was firm, noticing that Google was now staring at him.

“Well all I have to add is that if either of you spot him running loose, which should never happen,” Dark glared at Bim on that last part of his statement, “he should be brought back to me. If anyone asks you about rumors about him, you are to deny them, even if the statement is incorrect.”

All three of them agreed to his demands, and then Dark dismissed his lieutenants, keeping Google in the room with him and Bim.

“Just say it,” Dark ordered him.

“This . . .” Google went quiet for a second. “This contradicts your previous actions.”

Dark clasped his hands behind his back, internally cursing Google for being too useful, “How so?”

“You show regular disdain for others, even your captains and lieutenants who you allow to live despite their many constant failings, like breathing,” Google explained. “However inordinate care was given to Wil’s child. He has a pair of glasses showing you regularly take him to doctors and specialists, because I highly doubt Warfstache would show such foresight. I tally that with your own clothing style, this boy’s suit must cost a similarly proportional amount.”

Walking forward, Dark thought for a second about the best way to go about this, “I’m going to need you to agree to something, a simple NDA.”

“Why not just command me?” Google snarled, hating the idea of being silenced by any means.

Dark looked back at Bim, “We’d agreed not to speak of that in company.”

“And why would I want that?” Google asked.

Bim made a gasp, and pointed at Google, “Why do you have his face?”

“It’s not polite to point, Sunshine,” Dark corrected, using his aura to push his hand down.

“Sunshine?” Google repeated. “May I ask who his maternal donor was so I can mentally prepare for the court case? Or should I preemptively kill them beforehand?”

“Bim is a clone of Wilford and I,” Dark admitted.

Google froze and he pointedly stared at Bim, “A clone, I was not aware you were interested in that?”

“If I tell you anything else,” Dark warned. “You will agree that everything I tell you, from his real name to his status as a clone stays between the two of us. Any information that I divulge, you can also communicate that information with them, but not anything more than that.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Google admitted; so long as he was not denied the information, he didn’t care who else Dark excluded. Smiling, Google brought up a holographic screen with the exact terms Dark had brought up. That Google would stay quiet so long as Dark shared information with him.

Dark read through everything and they both agreed to it.

There was a quiet gasp and Bim walked over, trying to grab the screen. “So cool.”

The Entity frowned at Bim, but before Dark could nudge Bim away, Google brought up one of his screens and had some glowing circles on it. Google watched his pupils briefly dilated before he touched the screen. The circles looked like they were exploding into fireworks when Bim tapped them.

Bim began slamming his hands against the circles as they appeared, Google calculating his reflexes as he went.

“You were saying?” Google urged Dark, the android hadn’t taken his eyes off him.

“Now that we agree to the terms, and I demand you print out a copy of that immediately,” Dark ordered.

“Done,” Google was already sending the information to Dark’s personal printer. “So whose DNA was used to make him?”

“By the records I have both mine and Wil’s were used,” Dark admitted. “No, I do not know how that works. In time, when I can trust your silence, I will give you access to his medical record. Junior’s real name is included in our little arrangement. You will address him as the others do.”

“Okay,” Google agreed, before observing Bim a little more closely, he’d gotten bored with Google’s little test and was tapping all over the screen to get it to do something else. “Why use Warfstache’s DNA? Was it for creating a more powerful clone?”

“As if I would use anyone else’s DNA,” Dark scoffed. “Wil is one of the few individuals I can tolerate on a regular basis.”

“An aspect of your personal life I fail to understand,” Google admitted. “Warfstache is loud and invasive and an overall security risk. If those traits were learned by a child it stands to reason that it might be an annoyance rather than beneficial.”

Dark just about took Google’s head off for his barbed comment, and the android felt Dark’s aura tightly curling around his neck, a warning sensor silently went off.

“Unless those traits were purposely selected?” Google corrected, unsure how to word his way out of Dark’s anger. He didn’t understand Wilford. The first time he’d met him Google had shot him and was consequently shoved aside by Dark. Wilford was, by all records that Google could find, indestructible. He didn’t die. Warfstache walked into the warehouse on many occasions with singed hair, clothes riddled with bullet holes, cuts that would kill a lesser being, and drenched in blood. His own or another’s Google was unsure and uncaring

Perhaps the demon found such displays “attractive” but that was something Google understood even less. Dark was a violent individual, something Google found he could actually understand, but Google barely had the ability to understand human mating patterns as it was . . .

But if Bim was a product of this relationship, perhaps this was standard demonic reproduction. Just applied with modern technology.

Dark’s vast power with Warfstache’s indestructibility . . . in an easily controlled and easy to teach package.

“Of course,” Google realized, his thought train lasted mere seconds to the outside world. “Naturally it would be.”

Dark seemed more confused than angry, and his aura constricted a bit looser than before.

“Are Wilford’s powers linked to his personality, or is his personality a byproduct of those powers?” Google wondered out loud, his processors already going off.

Dark raised at eyebrows, hands lightly clasped behind his back as he tried to use his aura to keep Bim from physically touching Google. The little boy was trying to reach up to touch the glowing “G” on his chest, and Dark didn’t trust Google not to electrocute Bim on reflex.

Thankfully Google hadn’t noticed and wasn’t waiting for an answer, his brain was already spinning with the applications that a child with demon heritage could be used for, seeing Bim far less as a person, and instead seeing him as a weapon. A prototype stage of a weapon, but a weapon nonetheless.

He was roused out of that when Dark spoke up, “I think you’re overthinking about this too much. Wil is a particular indulgence of mine. He is a good outlet for relieving stress.”

“How many people know about this?” Google asked.

“Apart from you and me? Two other people.” Dark pushed Bim away from Google and the little boy huffed and glared up at Dark, stomping his feet a little bit. “You will keep your hands to yourself, or you’re not going to the station afterward.”

Bim looked more offended then threatened, silently gasping before closing his mouth and puffing out his cheeks, turning away from Dark.

Dark visibly rolled his eyes, looking down at Bim for a couple seconds, then he turned back to Google and looked as if the exchange had never happened, “Anyway, you understand the need for complete secrecy. I understand and expect the information will get out eventually, but hopefully not until he’s more physically self-sufficient.”

“Does his development usually require close supervision or do you just leave him with a caretaker of some kind?” Google looked over Bim, trying to see any other signals that someone else looked after the boy.

“What is Wil’s belongs to me.” Dark motioned to Bim, “And he is Wil’s, I am not entrusting him to anyone else.”

“That makes sense,” Google agreed, going completely, inhumanely still. “Less cross-contamination.”

“I don’t think we’re having the same conversation,” Dark admitted. “But so long as you keep quiet, I don’t care what type of conversation we’re having.”

“If I might ask, why tell me at all?” Google asked.

“Because I can bully and threaten the others not to ask questions, or just leave them to believe that Bim is purely Wil’s son,” Dark told Google. “You however, I can’t afford to leave you to just ask questions, particularly around other people who will also ask the right questions.”

Google was fairly certain that was just a compliment, the first he’d ever gotten from Dark.

Then Dark added, “Then there’s also the fact that when you fixate on a task, I benefit from the information you find. So there are more pros than cons to bringing you into confidence.”

Blinking a couple of times, Google found he couldn’t fault in that line of logic. Google had never come into contact with a human clone before.

Google knelt down to get a closer limp and when Bim grabbed his face he used every ounce of self control not to shove him away. He did pull Bim’s hands down, trying to be as feather-light so he didn’t stress a single bone.

The android had never had to be gentle, it was a strange expectation for him. Not only for other people to have of him, but for him to have that same expectation of himself. “Everyone in the network calls you an underground Kingpin, I suppose that would make him a prince.”

Bim was tapping on Google’s glowing icon, Google refusing to let him access his settings or anything.

“He certainly acts like one,” Dark admitted, a softer expression on his face as he looked at Bim. “Wil enjoys spoiling him, but he is an only child so there’s nowhere else to put that attention. Besides, Bim is more than deserving of attention.”

“And what are you?” Google asked out loud, wondering about Bim’s hormonal and physical state.

“I’m gonna be a big tv star, like my daddy,” Bim smiled, holding his arms out. “I’m gonna grow a mustache just like him.”

Google projected this would just lead to another Warfstache, and Dark was letting out a long, controlled exhale, muttering to himself with a tone of absolute contempt, “Another actor in the family.”

Bim looked over at Dark, hurt and confused, “Huh?”

“Nevermind, Bim,” Dark opened up a portal. “Let’s go find your father, come along.”

Bim ran through the portal at full speed, an excited smile on his face.

“Remember our little arrangement,” Dark warned Google.

“As long as you supply me information,” Google agreed. “I will.”

“Of course,” Dark gave him a little grin and disappeared into the portal after Bim, leaving the android alone.

Quietly and stiffly, Google stood up and strolled out of the room, more than a little gleeful at the secret knowledge he harbored.

#Superhero AU #Masks and Maladies #Markiplier #Darkiplier #Googleplier #Bim Trimmer #ed edgar #fluff #Google is a curious boi #Darkstache #but it's background only

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iliveiloveiwrite · 5 years

Text

Take me to your river

A/N: Okay. So this is my first time writing for this fandom and honestly I’m actually really worried about it. It’s a huge fandom so I hope its received well. Anyway, it has been ages since I’ve posted but I have been so busy its ridiculous, but I had this idea and I had to write. I know that the tenses are slightly mixed up through this, please bare with me, I’m overloaded right now.

Title: Leon Bridges - River

Pairing: Sirius Black x Fem!Reader

Summary: (Set in the year of Prisoner of Azkaban, so I’m taking a guess at 1993/1994) You’ve left the wizarding world, barely had contact for over ten years. Then Sirius Black breaks out of Azkaban.

Requested: No.

Warnings: none, I don't think.

Word count: 2.5k.

It had been thirteen years.

Thirteen years since you had last seen the man you loved.

Twelve years since he was put away for a crime he didn’t commit. You knew that, you knew that deep down in your very being. That that day in the street, it was not Sirius who killed the muggles and Peter.

But you didn’t speak up. It would do no good. The Ministry of Magic had signed his death warrant – life in Azkaban until he died of insanity or the Dementor’s performed their kiss.

Sitting in your kitchen, the sunlight filters in through the window and you relish the slight warmth. It had been thirteen years since you had slept properly.

You and Sirius had been together through it all. He had asked you out on a Hogsmeade weekend, and you didn’t say no – how could you? You had been crushing on him since Third Year. He was your first for everything; first kiss, first relationship. Together, you had sat your O.W.L.S. and N.E.W.Ts. Sirius being your rock through the constant growing stress you put yourself under. (Looking back, you can’t help but chuckle, if your past-self had any idea of what your future would look like you would not have put in so much effort with your exams.) You had also been there for Sirius when he was disowned by his family and went to live with James and his family. James’ mother accepting you as one of her own as well. You two had danced together at James and Lily’s wedding, had waited anxiously for news of their baby and had cried when asked to be godparents of tiny Harry James Potter.

However, you were left alone to cry over their graves after that tragic night in Godric’s Hollow.

Shaking yourself awake, you take a long drink of your coffee and stretch your limbs, willing some life into them. The sun had completely risen now, and it was almost time to start your day. After what happened in 1981, you somewhat shunned all wizarding society, you left it not even a year later. Instead, isolating yourself to a tiny village in Yorkshire. People in Yorkshire kept themselves to themselves and your neighbours didn’t ask a lot of questions. The only one of the Marauders to visit was Remus, he didn’t visit often, but it was nice when he did.

One of your last remaining contacts with the wizarding world was your subscription to the Daily Prophetnewspaper. It was this subscription that brought you to your predicament. Slapped across the front page: Escape from Azkaban and there, in the centre, a picture of the man you thought you had an eternity with. Sirius Black.

Tears threaten to fall as you continue to stare at the moving picture. He’s screaming and screaming, and it physically hurts you to look at. But it’s the first time you’ve seen him in thirteen years. Any memories of Hogwarts and the Marauders were safely locked away in a trunk in your attic; waiting for a time when it doesn’t hurt so much to remember. You don’t think that that time will be coming soon, however, especially now with news of Black’s escape.

The article reported that out of protection, Azkaban’s guards the Dementors would be placed at Hogwarts. You had to take a minute when you read that little bit, James and Lily’s son would be at Hogwarts now, he would be entering his third year. You could only hope that the Dementors would not attach themselves to him. But you doubted it, he had already seen so much at such a young age. It would be likely that they would. You prayed he would be safe; Remus had contacted you over the summer to tell you that he had been appointed a teacher at Hogwarts – he didn’t have to tell you that he would look after Harry; it would be in his nature. Remus was more than his wolf.

Shaking your head, you rid yourself of anymore thoughts of Black and his escape, if you stared at his mugshot any longer you felt as if you would go as insane as the new article was painting him to be. It would only trigger your anxiety and that wasn’t happening today. Instead, you leave the kitchen entirely, depositing the Daily Prophet in the bin as you go. You head towards your office where you can begin your workday. You had settled well within the Muggle world; when you had arrived in Yorkshire you had no idea on what you could do and what you wanted to do. That was your one caveat with the wizarding world, it was so alienated from the rest of the world because they expect all witches and wizards to remain there – it does not cater for those that want to leave. So, once you had settled the business of finding somewhere to live, you set out to make your house your home. To do this, you virtually ransacked a charity shop of their furniture and of a second-hand computer sat gathering dust in the corner.

It was not the old computer that you used now, but rather a newer one. One you had treated yourself to with the profits of your last bestseller. After you had settled, and you needed something to do, you simply started writing. Your genres ranged from fantasy, all the way to romance. As the computer started up, you took a moment to look at you copies of your books on the shelves, and you felt happy. This was your life now, and you were completely fine with it. The last thing you needed was something coming in to mess up the balance you had created.

-time skip-

Months had gone by and whilst you had met the deadline for your next book, and it was currently going through its editing stage, you had religiously kept up with the news of Sirius Black and his escape.

Every sighting, every theory. You read each and every one of them. You had even gone so far as to send a message to Remus at Hogwarts, but he reassured you quickly enough that everything was fine and that you had no need to worry.

So you let yourself relax for a bit, enjoying putting the finishing touches upon your next novel. Christmas had come and gone without an issue; spending the festive season on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, watching Muggle Christmas films. In all your years in the Muggle world, your favourite Christmas film would have to be The Muppets Christmas Carol. It never failed to make you feel Christmassy.

Winter melted into Spring, and you started working outside more. You spent the early days of March travelling the country to bookstores to promote the release of your new novel. Remaining as tight-lipped as always when asked about your inspiration for this book.

The weeks were slipping away, and you were celebrating the fact that one of your books had been bought by a film company. Your version of celebration meant no work for the evening, and your new favourite TV show that you had recorded, ER. A recent TV medical drama set in a hospital in America; you were hooked from the very first episode, particularly drawn to the young Dr. John Carter.

It was through this particular TV show that there was a knock at your door.

You paused the show, uncertain as to what you heard.

Another knock sounded throughout your house. And some part of you just knew.

Throwing the blanket off you, you head towards the front door. A third knock rang at your door and you knew you couldn’t keep him waiting any longer.

Unlocking the door, you opened it and stood before you was him.

Stood before you, after thirteen years, was Sirius Black.

You take him in. Your eyes raking over every single inch of him, to his greasy hair to his too-skinny body. You stand there, not quite sure what to do. It isn’t every day that the man you have loved for over two decades is stood on your doorstep after escaping from a heavily guarded prison.

He utters the first word, “Darling.”

You take a couple of breaths before answering, “Sirius.”

“It’s been a while.”

“Thirteen years, if I’m correct.”

“Too long.”

“I don’t think the situation could be helped, Sirius.”

He laughs, and asks, “Can I come in? I haven’t had a roof over my head for a couple of weeks.”

Somewhat still in shock, you move aside for him to enter. You close the door behind him before gesturing to the living room. He follows you in and sits down. You stand in the doorway, uncertain of what to do next. You never expected for him to find you but found you he has and now everything is up in the air.

Sirius is watching you; he’s calculating every possibility. He never imagined he’d get through the front door and now he’s in your living room watching you have an internal panic over what to do next.

Then all of a sudden, you say, “Tea! Tea makes everything better. You can solve everything over a cup of tea.”

Then you’re off. Heading into the kitchen where Sirius can hear the kettle starting to boil and mugs being slammed onto counters.

“Everything okay in there?” He asks, even though he knows it isn’t and she just needs a minute to collect herself and her thoughts.

“Of course! Everything is fine!” You shout back pouring the now boiled water into the mugs. Your mind is whizzing through every possibility as to how he found you. You had never hidden yourself away, but you were never open about where you were living. You prayed that Remus hadn’t given you away, knowing how close he and Sirius was through Hogwarts.

Walking back through to the living room, you hand a mug to Sirius warning him that it would be hot before sitting down in your spot where ER was still on pause. You turned the TV off, knowing that you would not be watching it tonight. You can’t help but look at him, seeing how he has aged after a decade spent in Azkaban.

“Don’t you want to know how I did it?”

“Of course I do, but it isn’t my place to ask such things.”

“I used my Animagus form to get out of that hellhole and then swam the rest of the way. I would have come to you sooner, but I needed to go north. I had to see him.”

“How is he? What does he look like now?”

Sirius smiles wistfully, “He is the spitting image of James. But he has Lily’s eyes. And he’s got a group of friends and they are as close as the Marauders were. He’s doing okay.”

You close your eyes at that, as if a deep wound within you had finally healed. Harry was doing okay, he had friends and he had settled at Hogwarts.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” You start. “I never believed a word anybody said, and after you were gone, I couldn’t live in that world anymore. So I moved here.” You gesture to your house.

Sirius looks slightly taken aback by what you’ve said. For over a decade, he hadn’t let himself think of you, he hadn’t let himself dream of you. And now he was at on your couch and you had just admitted to missing him too. He only hoped that you had no-one else in your life. He may be an escaped prisoner, but for over ten years he has loved no-one else but you. There would be no-one for him, but you. You were his true north, he could only hope he remained yours. Sirius didn't realise, however, that you had done the same. closed that part of you off, the part of you that belonged to Sirius - for the first two years in the Muggle world, you could barely think of him without feeling as if your heart had been broken all over again.

Taking a sip of his tea, he asks, “What have you been doing for all this time?” He has to know.

You look down at your mug, wrapping your hands tighter around it as if willing the warmth to seep into your bones, to help you relax. “Not a lot. I moved here not long after James and Lily and I haven’t left since. I’m an author now, I love it. It wasn’t the path I had chosen for myself when I was leaving Hogwarts, but I love it all the same, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m happy here, Sirius, in my little Yorkshire village with my mugs of Yorkshire tea, and my books.”

Sirius smiles weakly, he has to ask you, he has to know. “Has there been anyone else?”

“No, there hasn’t.”

For the time in twelve years, Sirius lets himself hope. He lets it bloom in his chest. He can only pray that your feelings haven’t changed.

“What are you going to do now, Sirius?”

“I don’t truly know,” he admits, “I could go to London, to Grimmauld Place where I know Remus will join me. There isn’t a lot I can do, I’m an escaped convict.”

“No shit.”

He barks a laugh at that. It’s the first bit of humour all night, and it helps to relieve some of the tension in the room.

He knows he needs to tell you, but he doesn’t know the right time. Everything is so delicate, so fragile, one wrong move and everything he could ever dream for could be lost within seconds. But he has to do it.

So he does.

“I still love you.”

You drop your mug of tea. It doesn’t smash, but your lovely rug is stained for life with tea. At least you won’t forget this moment, you think to yourself.

“You what?”

“I still love you,” he repeats.

“After everything?”

“After everything. It was us next to get married after Lily and James. I had the ring, and I was working up the nerve to ask you. Then everything happened and I couldn’t. Then I was taken away and any hope I had that I would see you or hold you ever again was crushed. It is astounding how quick a life planned can veer off course. I’m not saying we should get back together, I would like that, but I am nowhere near mentally, emotionally or physically ready for one and I don’t think you’re the type to jump into relationships either. What I’m trying to say is that I’d like to give the Muggle life a go, I need to rest and your life sounds so peaceful.”

You take a minute to digest everything that Sirius has said to you. You debate everything internally, but you know that your heart will win. And win it does.

“Okay. The Muggle life isn’t so bad, it’s done me well for this long. Let’s see how it works for you.”

“You’re serious?”

“I am. I have a spare room for you, we can sort everything else out tomorrow. But for now, lets get ready for bed. It isn’t every day that the man I’ve loved for almost twenty years comes knocking on my door.”

“I like the sound of that,” Sirius says as you stand up, holding out your hand to him. He grasps it tightly in his own. “I like the sound of that very much.”

#sirius black x reader #sirius black #harry potter fanfiction #sirius orion black #sirius black imagine #sirius black fanfiction #sirius black fanfic #marauders x reader #marauders fanfiction #the lightning era #siriusblack #x reader

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chartersengdept · 3 years

Text

‘Homework has no value and should be abolished'. Write an article for a broadsheet newspaper stating your opinion on this statement.

Hometime Means Hometime

Just like Brexit, we need to take a hardline with homework- and vote to leave!

You just finish your 25th lesson of the week, five days of five demanding hours of non-stop learning. Constant reminders of your upcoming exams. You look forward to the weekend stretching out in front of you...but no. Inside that heavy bag upon your back are your assignments: book reports, practice exam questions, revision resources. Hours upon hours of extra work. Hometime no longer means hometime to students in 2017.

1,170 hours. That is the length of time an average student, regardless of ability or school, taking into account holidays and days off, allowing for the odd forgotten piece or hungry dog, spends on their homework, according to the latest report by the Department of Education. That is the average- so how much time are the students at the top of the scale spending? Then consider at what cost does that time expunge? Socialisation, family time, relaxation- all things that children need when faced with a heavy academic timetable. When do we expect our would be medics to fit in their necessary work experience? How will our poets permit time for crucial reading for pleasure? How will our aspiring athletes allocate hours required to hone their skills? The short answer is, they won't.

This is why our teenagers are so unhappy. Cramming in endless exercises to drill in knowledge to their young and fragile minds will only result in mental overload. In Europe our teenagers are the most unhappy; their unhappiness manifests itself in a number of bleak ways. We see record levels of self harm, attempted suicide, and eating disorders amongst British teens. These are league tables we do not wish to be topping.

Those all important league tables, so crucial, so imperative to our analysis of school performance. We use them to decide where to send our children; to rate and compare and apply value to qualifications gained by fifteen and sixteen year old children. Such pressure! Is this what pushes the need for homework? The fear of slipping down the league tables?

Literacy and numeracy standards have fallen, claim experts. Britain is falling behind other countries, and children are now leaving school unequipped for the working world, say employers. We cannot afford to abolish homework when we clearly have so much work to do. Yet, what is the evidence for this? Year on year the GCSEs become more challenging and rigorous. Year on year the results go up. It is simply a fallacy to insist that standards have fallen, when in fact the opposite is true.

Abolish homework, unless there is an urgent need for a task to be done at home- alter the requirement from 'regular' to 'occasional' and perhaps our children will have their childhoods back. Demands for fewer pieces should see a rise in quality (although, we can never guarantee the dog will stay away) and it should always be able to be completed on school premises. The disparity in equipment from home to home should not disadvantage students unfairly.

You finish your twenty fifth lesson and breathe a sigh of relief. You call your friends, you plan a football match, you pick up a book from the library to read that weekend: you live. Life at hometime should be all about home, not homework.

#languagepaper2 #q5 #model

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unialien · 4 years

Text

Concept of Myneria Creatures 2

The 2nd part of a catalog of creatures of Myneria! 🤩 Yay!! 🤗 I been waiting for this for years to add the 2nd part of it, crystal & cave creatures! 💎 This is so far it's getting better & better seen all the shines creatures sparkling in my eyes with my amazing tools. 🖌🖋 I am so in love of it! 💖 I think this might be the best than the first one I did on the first page of the Book of Bios II sketchbook! 💕📒 I hope you guys like my shiny creatures so much!! 🥰🐝🐌🐛🐍🐙

✅ Anyone is welcome to comment about it and If you guys got questions and opinions about, just ask. I'll be happy to answer your interesting questions. 😁

🔆 Oh, one more thing, if you want see details and info, you must zoom in. 🧐 You'll will see it better! 😉

▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️

💠BIO

Myneria it's full of dangerous diversities within the deep of that continent of minerals. There's not much vegetations, only between much rocks, clean waters (toxicity of the waters of some regions) & even molten regions full of lava. However, this creatures that lived & evolved that time when the planet have splitted for 115 million years ago. This continent may have triggered minor eruptions, exploding mass productions of resources & life. The continent itself caused much more to be themselves of minerals beings, much more adaptables on extreme conditions. Many invertebrates about 37% of those species are born with rich calcified minerals that protects their organs that produce, even if one of them has the Reoniban, they can still be vulnerable to be broken. However, with their blending minerals that are born, they can camouflage themselves from the environment where they habitat. On this second part be showing some of the uncommon species that consider an important of resources for many engineering & biological purpose that can be crucial for the ecosystems of Myneria. This creatures has a value of how rare by their minerals & sizes can get, which they are listed by the MGC (Myneria Geology Center), legal tenders are followed by laws by the following species bio. Here's a 2nd catalog of species:

A. Thermgrub

ℹ Info

▫️ Location: Humreat Spring Hills, Corian

▫️ Rarity: ⭐⭐

This suspicious grub looking worm it's cover with intense superheated crystal spikes. Those crystals it's identified as a Thermartz, a family of quartz that only found on Myneria that may sustain on extreme heat site of Corian. This small worms are burrowers that only live on moist hot muds that are near springs, they feast on dead carcasses & bacterias that are on this site. However, this species are specialized within their crystal spikes that it's full hot toxins that are stored inside their body, if anyone try to pick up or provoke them, they'll launch or growth their spikes hardly that can burn the victim like a sting of jellyfish. Treatment for that it's possible, only concern are the spikes with contact in the skin it's crucially painful, to remove them, it must be place on cold water to disable the toxic spikes & gently remove them with a forceps. Add the best popular medicinal fruits mix from Aquineon locals to treat the wounds & this must be applied at least daily until it's heal up for at least a week. Since those worms are quite well life spawn on large numbers, this are used legally as bio engineering & fishery since are potent by their crystals they generate. There also a breeding program to control their numbers in order to ensure there not having a invasion of those creatures.

B. Reoniban Orbiosis Crab

ℹ Info

▫️ Location: Domfrores Caverns

▫️ Rarity: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This shiny hybrid looking crab are the rarest species due that only found in the deep of Myneria caverns that it's incredibly cold & hot environment. This precious crab it's covered like a huge abdomen crystal geode that's it's actually pure Reoniban, the entire abdomen has a symbiosis creature that it's likely a guardian of their heart, a amphibian like creature that it's named as a Orbiosis. Due that it's hard to tell what species to name it which they are sticked together of both creatures, the scientists of Repharon Research Center decided to named like that. This species it's capable to survive itselfs by storing much foods as possible it's scavenge on algae from the springs; as soon gathering enough, they return to their homes where it's so extreme the temperatures as they can stay for at least for 2-3 months away from the predators. However, this species are in list of declining that are in threat of loss due of kills of their precious abdomens geode; this consider to be extremely illegal to harvest this creatures for their value. The Myneria Conservation Program been monitoring the numbers & there trying as possible to recover this species since they are important for the ecosystem.

C. Centrusnakra

ℹ Info

▫️ Location: Myneria Canyons Caverns

▫️ Rarity: ⭐⭐

Worm like snake that lurks on the deep of Myneria Canyons Caverns. They are voracious predators about a size of 7.2 fts length, since they are opportunistic predators, they can blend well the surfaces of the canyons that it's made of the mixture of Blackstones & Reoniban. Their body it's so slimy that can stick well on walls & ceilings upside down, using their mouth, it can glue up the ceilings to go down slowly so it can reach to their prey. It has a huge eyeball like an orb made of pure mineral, however with unknown mixtures that it's hard to determine what kind of species of mineral is. That huge eyeball use as a visor to navigate well on temperature that comes across, it can see with both ways of 360 degrees all around, making an ultimate looking spy creature. Ignoring that their small eyes are pretty blind, but their eyebal can still see in infrared. Their tail has incredibly potent bioluminous bulb that use to confuse their prey like hypnosis, it's incredibly colorful that can see it so bright in the deep dark alley in a part of the canyon. As soon it attracts the light, once gets close about 8ft, I'll strikes & feast on their prey. One things that the orb could a key of evolution of how potent those creatures can survive incredibly intense. This eyeball orb might contain huge numbers of chemicals of DNA of why this creatures can really help the survival skills to do anything. This creatures has no concern of threat since they are pretty hidden from the others.

D. Diamtaltur

ℹ Info

▫️ Location: Domfrores Caverns

▫️ Rarity: ⭐⭐⭐

This invertebrate like turtle it's one of the most uncommon species that found deep of Domfrores & only found in the cold zone of this site. This creature it's covered an extremely sharp quartz that it's consider pure Reonibans with Diamonds. This consider a pretty rare geological mineral formation for this kind of species that have grown on their shell due of their DNA. There's a Sanctuary Breeding Program on the capital city where they breed those creatures for commercial uses to farm their crystals. Luckily this is legal to used them, because they a pool site of Reoniban where they can regrow back their crystals. This program also help maintain stabilize in number to prevent loss of them in case ran out, there in list of least concern, but there monitoring up any suspicious act of poaching those creatures to rip their crystals off for illegal use without license due that still considered vulnerable. This creatures are herbivores & filter eaters, they eat on mosses & algae from humid places that are in the floors & walls, even on nearby springs where full of nutritions have, including planktons. Be warned, those sharp crystals can be lethal if fall into, it may contain bacterias if the Reoniban not active. If so, the victim must get to medical attention immediately before the bleeding gets worse.

E. Levigeg

ℹ Info

▫️ Location: Myneria Canyons Caverns

▫️ Rarity: ⭐⭐⭐

This strange bug species it's very unique due that's it's capable to levitate using their magnetic organs orbs that allow to gently magnetize only on metallic minerals such as like the Reoniban, even on metallic objects. There like wasp, builders, they can create huge hives made of metals, the most largest hive was recorded for about 560ft in wide & 847ft tall. This creatures only found on this huge canyons in the deep caverns of Myneria, which it's the only best habitat for this species to harvest metals. Scientists been studying on their intelligence of being builders, which can be a revolution of new change of building homes & cities. There were use for quite about 2 centuries ago when they started a special program to learn & train this creatures & taught to build the first largest city of Myneria as the main capital. However since it's seems was terrific bad due of mass loss of those creatures, the team decided to send them freed; this species has listed a vulnerable due of uses for engineering & even for cruelty, as it's flagged as illegal if not licensed. This creatures became one of the most important for the ecosystem of all Myneria, which allows to stabilize geological formation in case of disaster.

F. Moldruddyce Squid

ℹ Info

▫️ Location: Salfyrian Coast

▫️ Rarity: ⭐⭐

An uncommon squid like species that habitat in temperate waters of Salfyrian Coast. This creature are one of the known species of Shedouelemium, are the only known creatures that has 2 tentacles within the abdomen body shell. This creatures are quite intelligent, they can communicate using bioluminous from their tentacles to speak each others. They can go on groups like packs to hunt their foods, as their diets are mostly in small fishes, crustaceans & even on primarily feast on absorbing energies crystals from beneath erupted waters. Their bodies composed electrolytes since they can be able to create electrical shock blast from their Reoniban horns to paralyze or scare up large predators, while they also use blast a single range to feast many foods as possible. Towards there not incredibly aggressives since they are capable to share their foods from the same family of their species. This creatures with their red to blue colors can determ the temperatures from their environments, they need to live a stable temperature for about 58°C in order during breeding season. Unfortunately for them are in the fishery list since they contain so much nutritions & proteins on the menu, however this are monitored since their population have exploded thanks to any sources of Reoniban have been spotted for a higher survival chances. This are still in legal for fishery, however for the warning are still in concern in under vulnerable.

🔻 Time Taken: 1/2 week

MADE ALL TRADITIONAL ON SKETCHBOOK. Edited on Procreate. Used on iPad 6th Edition.

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solastia · 5 years

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The Dragon’s Lair

- A Special Edition Chapter -

This is the thirty day bonding period report of Kim Namjoon. I am writing this because Kim Heechul is a tyrant who threatened to make everything I eat taste like broccoli for an entire month if I missed even a single day. For my owner’s privacy, since I don’t know who all is going to see this, I won’t use her real name. Her aura has always reminded me of one of my favorite jewels in my collection, a star blue sapphire, so for this report her name will be recorded as Star.

Day 1: Here we go, first entry. The house is incredible and I have my own room. It’s a charming farmhouse with tons of space and a bunch of land. There’s even a massive forest that apparently is part of her property as well. I’m looking forward to exploring it all later. I can’t help but wonder if Star’s been lonely out here by herself. There are tons of rooms in this house and everything sort of echos when it’s quiet. The thought of her sitting in here by herself is heartwrenching. If she adopted me because’s all alone, I hope I can make her happy. I should probably also report that my dumb biology has decided she’s a part of my hoard. I can’t sleep without her now. I normally would have wanted to wait until we were more comfortable, but she dealt with the situation with grace.

Day 2: Not too much to report today. We spent most of the day buying more things for my bedroom. Since Star is a part of my hoard now, she insisted on buying an even bigger bed and stashed the old one in one of the other rooms. This one is something called an Eastern King sized bed and is the biggest mattress I’ve ever seen. I could fit so much on here. Put that eyebrow away, hyung. There is a room that she keeps locked and when I asked her about it she said it was just storage. Seems strange to have a whole room just to stash stuff. And why keep it locked it she was the only one living here?

Day 3: I may have made a mistake today. I’ve been so happy here that I wanted to thank her. I can hear you saying, “You gave her a jewel, right?” Well, I’m afraid I didn’t. I tried to make her breakfast. I KNOW, hyung. I learned that it’s possible to melt a pan and leave the meat inside of it raw. Who knew? Lucky for me, Star was too busy laughing about the pan to really get too mad at me. She gave me a hug before telling me I’m banned from the kitchen.

Day 4: I spent the day scenting my territory. Every bit of this house (minus that locked room) and the land surrounding it are now marked. I even got away with subtly marking Star. This is feeling more like home every day.

Day 5: I don’t want to hurt her feelings, so I’ve been eating everything she’s been making me. You’d be proud of me, I haven't complained once! Even when she gave me three scoops of broccoli. Although for broccoli, it wasn’t as bad as some I’ve had. She put garlic and stuff in it. Maybe soon I’ll be brave enough to tell her what kind of food I like. I don’t think she’d get mad, but you never know.

Day 6: The new Marvel movie came out today. Star was so excited and I couldn’t help fall for her a bit more today. I admit I had a crush before, but she was just shining with happiness and every time she smiled at me my heart felt like it was going to burst. It doesn’t feel like a crush anymore. The theater was packed and we were pressed together like sardines, but neither of us seemed to mind. She even let me hold her hand. Could she ever return the feelings of someone that is basically an animal, though? Hyung, what do I do?

Day 7: Soonyoung and Jihoon came to hang out today. It was the first time anyone has come by since I’d marked it as my territory, and I think I did pretty well. Only growled a little bit, I promise. That was mostly because of Jihoon hogging Star. He was totally egging me on though, I swear. Smirking whenever he saw me watching. He’s known me too long and knows how to push my buttons. He made up for it by telling me everything he knew about Star. The way he talks it's like Soonyoung and Star are the best people on the planet...I think I’m starting to agree.

Day 8: Star has to do some work tomorrow and won’t be able to spend much time with me, so she decided to spoil me today. She took me downtown and we hung out there almost all day. Ate at a cafe, spent hours in the bookstore, even stopped by the art museum. Then we walked next to the river and we just talked about everything. Hopes for the future, friends, books we like. Hyung, it felt like a date. I want it so bad it’s aching. Do dragons have mates? Like, soulmates? I think she might be mine. We need to research this.

Day 9: Nothing much to report today. Star has been in her office all day. I don’t know if I’m allowed in there, but I’ve made her food (just sandwiches, don’t worry) a couple times and knocked to let her know it was there. I’ve mostly been in my room reading. I’m going to need cuddles like crazy tomorrow though. Don’t laugh, you like cuddles too.

Day 10: We just stayed home today and it was great. We cuddled on the couch and watched a few movies, then went outside to work on her Grandma’s garden. She could remember when everything was planted and told me about them with a sad smile. It’s obvious that she loved her Grandparents and they loved her. While I’m sad that she lost them, I’m happy that it led her to me. I want to be the family she needs. I know I already need her. It’s so soon for that too. I’ve only known her a couple weeks, but it feels like a lifetime. I can only hope that she feels the same.

Day 11: Star has been smelling a little different lately. Not a bad different, but...I don’t know. Maybe she’s getting sick. I spent most of today trailing after her like a dumbass trying to figure out what the smell was. My dragon was fighting me hard to surface like it wanted to protect. All I wanted to do was take her to my room and not let her leave the nest. (See? I’m calling it a nest. Isn’t that weird? Where did that come from). I’m trying to stay calm so I don’t scare her. I might call you later and have you send some medication she can take.

Day 12: That smell is still there, but it’s even stronger today. I feel like I should know what it means, but I just can’t remember. She doesn’t look sick. In fact, she’s been eating more than usual. She went through three bags of chips today alone. I don’t know if I should be worried or not. I guess the best thing is just to wait for her to say something.

Day 13: TODAY HAS BEEN HELL! HYUNG! She wasn’t sick, she was starting her cycle. As soon as we woke up I could smell it and my dragon nearly came through the surface. I had to make up some story about dragon digestive problems so I could lock her out of my room and try to get away from her. I was under so much stress my horns and talons were out for hours. All I wanted to do was run after her and CLAIM her. Pull her into our bed and protect her. Hyung, I think we have a pretty good answer to my mates question. There is no doubt in my mind that she is meant for me.

Day 14: She slept in her room for the first time in forever last night because I kept telling her through the door I was having issues. I couldn’t sleep at all. My entire body was itching because she wasn’t in our nest. I didn’t want to scare her though, so I fought through it. I was scared to come out this morning, but I didn’t think I’d be able to pull off any more time without worrying her. Thankfully her scent was back to a level I could handle. She was asking about my stomach and babying me. I used the opportunity to blame the broccoli and she’s promised to never make me eat any again. At least something good came out of this ordeal.

Day 15: We went ice skating today to celebrate the halfway point of our bonding period. Technically halfway was yesterday, but I was “recovering” so she saved it for today. She was so adorably bad and probably has a bruised behind from how often she fell. I’m always so clumsy everywhere else, but I was proud to be able to show her how good I am on the ice. She was impressed and my dragon was PREENING! I was actually purring like a damn cat. I feel like I’m supposed to be doing something to make her think of me as a mate, but I don’t know what. We need to find out if dragons have mating rituals. Hyung, time to hit the books again! Or at least wave your hands around. Honestly, what good is a Wizard if they can’t just tell you what you need to know?

Day 16: Nothing to report today. Star worked in her office, although she kept the door open. She warned me that once she gets in art mode, she doesn't’ pay attention to anything around her and she didn’t want to hurt my feelings. I was fine though, I just like being near her. She has a recliner in there that's really comfy and I read and watched her work. She’s so talented and when she’s deep in her work she gets extremely focused. The house could have gone up in flames and she wouldn’t have noticed. I don’t know why that’s so attractive, but she had me hooked.

Day 17: I made her cry today, hyung. I’m worried it might be my last day here. I was just trying to do something nice and I made her some tea, but when I tried to carry the tea set to the living room I slipped on the rug and spilled the tray. The entire set broke. I just stood there paralyzed because I couldn’t believe what I’d done and she came running from another room. When she saw what broke, she started sobbing. Not just crying, hyung. Wailing. I tried to help her pick the pieces up, but she just asked me to go to my room. I’m sitting here waiting for her to tell me to pack my things. I’m sorry, hyung. I tried.

Day 18: I had gone to bed by myself last night, but Star ended up joining me. She didn’t say anything until this morning, but at least we both slept well. It turns out the tea set was one that she’d picked out piece by piece with her Grandma. As soon as I heard that I felt even worse for what I’d done, but she calmed me down when I tried to apologize. She said she knew it was a mistake and she was sorry if she scared me. She was sad but she wasn’t angry. I asked her if she wanted me to go back to the shelter, but that just made her cry again and hug me. She told me she couldn’t imagine life without me anymore. We spent the rest of the day quietly cuddling on the couch. I think we’re going to be okay.

Day 19: I needed to let my scales through while I was showering today because I felt so itchy. I don’t know why it’s happening in the middle of winter, but I shed a whole handful of scales today. I was just going to give them to you for your supplies like usual, but the thought made chest burn. I felt like I needed to give them to Star. How odd is that? Why would Star need my scales? Maybe it’s a dragon thing? Back to the books with us. I wish I had a manual like the other hybrids. Life would be so much easier.

Day 20: Star decided the 20th day we’ve been together is another milestone worthy of celebration. The zoo was is having some Christmas event for the month of December and the weather was decent enough that I wasn’t worried about her being in the cold that long, so that’s where we went. Soonyoung and Jihoon came along too. But get this hyung, she called it a double date! I don’t think she meant it in the way I want her to but...maybe? Maybe I’m growing on her at least. Either way, we had fun. I liked the petting zoo the most. There was a little goat there that wouldn’t stop following me around and Star was laughing so hard. She said when it gets warmer we are definitely getting some goats for the farm. I tried to explain that dragons most likely used goats as their main source of food. She just laughed and made jokes for the rest of the day about me having a “kid.” If it makes her this happy, I’ll accept my future as a tamed dragon turned goat dad.

Day 21: It’s been a long time since I’ve had one hyung, but I think I had a prophetic dream last night. I was here at home with Star, but the house was full of people. I think they were all men, but I couldn’t see their faces well. Everyone was happy and giggling cuddled in the living room and two little kids were running around playing. Even more amazing, Star was sitting next to me with a huge pregnant belly. In the dream, I felt proud and protective so I was sure it was mine. And she was wearing a necklace made of my scales, hyung! That’s how I knew it had to be prophetic. I’ve had no idea what to do with them, but seeing them around her neck felt right. I’m going to send them to you so we can make the necklace. I really hope that was a peek into my future. I’ve never felt such love and contentment in one room like that before.

Day 22: Nothing to report today. We just did chores and hung out. I wandered around in the forest for a while and wrote for the first time since I’ve been here. You’d cringe if you saw how sappy some of them were.

Day 23: I’ve never thought about keeping a journal before since I usually am content with using my music to let things out, but this report has kinda gotten me used to writing every day. I think the next time we’re in town I’ll buy a journal and keep this up. It’s nice to go back and remember.

Day 24: Some days I have hope that I’m not the only one feeling more than owner and hybrid. There are times when I swear I catch a glint in her eye or scent her arousal and I wonder if she might have feelings for me too. Of course, the scent could be for any reason, but a dragon can hope. Still, I think I’m doing a good job at making Star happy and she cuddles with me all the time. She tells me she adores me, but she’s usually squeezing my cheeks like I’m a kid when she does, so I don’t think she means it that way. I just wish I could get my act together and let her know I am so in love with her. She is everything to me, the very air I breathe. She’s it for me, hyung. Even if this doesn’t work out and she sends me back like my last family, she’s it. My dragon has chosen its mate and so have I.

Day 25: I gave her a hickey in my sleep. I apologized and asked if I did anything else but she laughed it off. I think I might do it often and she just keeps it to herself to spare my feelings. I am so screwed. I just wanted to give her more.

Day 26: I’m realizing now that you’re going to be reading this and it’s going to sound like some angsty teenage drama. I know you’re going to bust my balls but you know what? I don’t even care. Make fun of me for being whipped. She’s worth it.

Day 27: Star says she’s going to take me to the beach in the summer. I told her I’ve never been to the ocean and she threw a fit. I’m excited to see it, but I’m more happy that she’s making plans that far ahead. It means she’s expecting me to still be here then. She wants me to stay!

Day 28: I have a confession. I haven’t been feeling the urge for more Ryan dolls in a long time. Instead, I’ve been basically snatching things. I’ve been keeping my secret hoard in a box under my bed because I’m a little embarrassed. So much of it could be considered trash or too sappy, but it makes me happy and it fulfills my urges. There are things like tickets from the zoo, a shiny rock that I picked up during our walk along the river, any little accessories she leaves laying around, notes she’s written me (one of them is just a damn shopping list). And for some reason, I can’t stop taking her hair ties. I don’t know. They carry her scent I guess? I wish I was a normal dragon that wanted mostly jewels and coins, but even then I’d probably find some way to make it about her. Oh wait, I kinda already did, didn’t I? I nearly forgot about where her name came from. God, I’m hopeless.

Day 29: The bonding period is nearly over. While I’m anxious to get back to my classes and I miss my friends, I’ll miss being home with her all the time. I’m curious how I’ll feel when I have to be at the shelter when Star is home alone. Not good, I imagine. The urge to protect her and the den is already high enough. Oh well, something to work on. I bet you’re going to be excited to have me back to pawn all your paperwork on. I dread how high that pile has gotten.

Day 30: Here it is, my final entry for the report. I’m going to be keeping a journal after this because I really liked going back to read how I felt. It put a lot into perspective. Although, those will be a bit more personal than this. There was a lot that I didn’t share with you, hyung, as I’m sure you know. Mostly just more feelings and personal memories I’d like to keep to myself. Things she’s said and done that make me feel like the most important person in the world. I couldn’t possibly explain in just a few journal entries the depth of emotion I feel and how complete she makes me. I’ve always felt like the odd one out; the dragon that no one understood or would want. She’s never made me feel that way and accepts me for the way I am. I am honored that she wants me, even if it’s just as her hybrid. I’m going to try though, hyung. I have the necklace we made all wrapped up and I’m going to confess on Christmas day. If she rejects me, I just hope she’ll let me stay with her anyway. Maybe you could make me a good luck charm. See you tomorrow!

#bts #bts fanfic #bts scenario #namjoon #namjoon fanfic #namjoon scenario #hybrid #hybrid!bts #hybrid!namjoon #dragon hybrid #dragon!namjoon #the dragons lair #solastia

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mldrgrl · 5 years

Note

AU Prompt: The events of Tithonus happened Post One-Son because Scully needed a break from Mulder and partnered up with Ritter on the Fellig case. (Maybe this could be a continuation of the resignation letter two-parter, that I LOVED because you NAILED it)

:) Thank you. Here you are.

An Inconvenient Truth

by: mldrgrlRating: PGSummary: A sequel to Almost and The Sword of Damocles

Mulder had never been out of the office faster than when he got the call that Scully had been shot. Not trusting himself to deal with afternoon traffic, he raced to the train station and caught the first Amtrak up to New York City that happened to leave ten minutes after he arrived. It was the quickest option available at three hours, but if he could’ve sprouted wings and flown there, he would have.

For most of the journey, he impatiently pounded his knuckles into his knee and focused on the trees and the towns passing by in a blur. He tried to keep the anxious mantra of ‘my fault, all my fault,’ out of his head to no avail. Because it was his fault. If he hadn’t been such a horse’s ass, Scully would never have even considered resigning from the x-files. And if she hadn’t considered resigning, she therefore probably wouldn’t have even considered taking this assignment without him. So, the reality of it was, he was the one that put her in the line of fire even if Kersh was the one that sent her to New York.

In fact, they’d fought about it before she left. Still sore from finding her resignation letter a few weeks prior, he’d accused her of trying to ditch him and the files. She’d done that thing she does sometimes when she’s too mad at him in the moment to speak to him, so she’d narrowed her eyes and stared directly at him with such disgust while shrugging on her coat that he had to turn his back on her. She didn’t even say goodbye. He’d never bear it if that argument was the last time he’d speak to her.

She was still in surgery when Mulder got to the hospital and he parked himself in a plastic chair in front of the nurse’s station to wait for news. When he couldn’t sit still any longer, he paced. When he couldn’t pace any longer, he harassed the nurses for information. When the nurses glared at him for being a pain in the ass, he sat back down and tried to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. A young nurse with cafe au lait skin and the hint of a latin accent seemed to take pity on him and left the station to approach him.

“Sir?” she asked.

Mulder took a glance at her nametag as he perked up. “Yes?”

“Are you able to fill out this form for patient information?”

“Oh.” He took the clipboard she offered and perused it. He’d had Scully’s DOB, SSN, and insurance card number memorized for quite some time. He nodded to the nurse and took the pen from the clip to start filling out the form and check the appropriate boxes.

The medical history portion had always made him cringe a little. He hated ticking the little box that said ‘Cancer’ and then explaining the type and treatment. The only thing he hated more was entering ‘0’ for number of children. There were no boxes to explain Emily in Scully’s medical history.

When he finished grimacing his way through the paperwork, he signed the bottom and waited until he spotted Marisol, the nurse who gave him the forms, and then he got up to give them to her. She flipped through the sheets quickly, with a practiced eye, and nodded her thanks.

“Oh,” she said, tapping her finger by his signature. “What is your relationship to the patient?”

Mulder hesitated. He’d purposefully left those boxes unchecked. The only options were Self, Spouse, or Caregiver. “Um,” he said. “She’s my partner.”

Marisol nodded and ticked the ‘Spouse’ box. He held his breath for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to correct her, but he didn’t.

“Can you tell me anything?” he asked. “It’s been at least seven hours and I...no one’s told me anything other than she’s still in surgery.”

“As soon as I find out, I’ll let you know.”

Two hours later, Mulder was finally given the news that Scully had made it out of surgery and was in recovery. He was also told he wouldn’t be able to see her until the next day. He agonized about leaving, fully prepared to spend the night in the uncomfortable plastic chair he’d been waiting in, but he was essentially ordered away by the no nonsense group of nurses that had been putting up with him all day. So, he walked outside, found a hotel on the next block over, and booked a room for the night.

Visiting hours started at 8am, so Mulder was back to the hospital at 7, haunting the nurse’s station once again. He was able to get the name of Scully’s doctor out of them this time and he roamed the halls in search of him.

It was already after 8 when Mulder made his way to Scully’s room. There was another man on his way out and it took Mulder about three seconds to realize it was Agent Ritter. The younger agent appeared to be going to try to shake Mulder’s hand for a moment, but Mulder put his hands in his pockets as he stared at him.

“You’re a lucky man,” Mulder said to him.

Agent Ritter opened his mouth, hesitated, and then put his head down and walked away. Mulder watched him slink around the corner and then he pushed open Scully’s door. She was sitting up in the bed, her head turned towards the window. He lingered in the doorway until she looked at him and gave him a thin smile. He smiled back and shuffled towards her, his hand outstretched to take hers.

Their fingers came together and their thumbs touched. He was surprised by how warm her hand was. He circled her thumb with his in a lazy caress. She stared at their joined hands with tired eyes.

“I talked to your doctor,” he said. “He says you’re doing great. Making the fastest recovery he’s ever seen.”

“Fellig?”

“Dead.”

Her hand went limp in his and her fingers slipped free. She turned her gaze to the window again and he sat down beside her.

“Scully, I want to tell you that I-”

“One of the nurses told me that my husband had been annoying all the nurses with his relentless pacing and questions yesterday,” she interrupted.

“Well, you know me, I-”

“You filled out my intake sheet.

“I did, but-”

“Thank you.”

Mulder blinked. He’d been expecting some sort of verbal assault. “You’re...welcome…”

Scully sighed and looked down at her hands as she twisted the bedsheets at her lap. “If you’re here to say ‘I told you so,’ you-”

“Not in a million years, Scully.” He put his hand over hers to still her nervous fingers. “If leaving the x-files is what you want...I’ll...I’ll find a way to help you do that.”

“I don’t want to leave the x-files, Mulder. I don’t know how that idea got into your head, but you seem intent on-”

“Because I saw your letter.”

“What letter?”

“The one you were going to send to Skinner. Your transfer request.”

Scully pressed her lips together so tightly that they turned white. She turned to the window again and her nostrils flared with three, deep breaths. “It’s not the files I wanted to walk away from,” she said.

Mulder swallowed back the sudden urge to vomit. He took his hand off of Scully’s. He didn’t know what to say, but he didn’t have to say anything. The door opened just then and the nice nurse that helped him yesterday came in.

“You see,” she said. “Your patience was rewarded. Your wife is doing just fine and you can relax now.”

Mulder waited for Scully to correct the presumption, as usual, but she didn’t. “Or my impatience,” he quipped mildly and slid off the bed. “I’ll go ahead and…”

“You’re fine,” Marisol said, expertly working around Mulder to attach a blood pressure cuff to Scully’s arm. “Just going to record some vitals. I’ll only be a minute.”

Feeling a bit awkward, Mulder went to the window and stood with his back to the room. He looked down at the street below, full of people rushing by in their morning commute. Very faintly, he heard a horn honking and a siren. He tried not to listen to Marisol’s questions and Scully’s answers.

“All set,” the nurse finally chirped. “Your wife is in excellent health. No need to worry about a thing. Just so you know, the doctor will probably kick you out in about an hour. The coffee across the street is much better than the one downstairs.”

“Thanks for the tip,” Mulder said.

And then the nurse was gone and it was just the two of them again. Mulder stayed by the window and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“When do you think they’ll let you blow this popsicle stand?” he asked.

“Few days, maybe,” she answered.

He nodded. “I can stay until you’re released. Drive you back to DC. Or...if you don’t want me here, I can call your mother for you.”

“You don’t have to stay.”

He nodded again and pulled one hand from his pocket to rub the back of his neck, which was suddenly aching. His whole body was suddenly aching though, probably collateral damage from a broken heart. It took all his willpower to move his feet, but instead of heading to the door, he found himself next to her bed again.

“Try to get some rest,” he said, bending to touch his lips to her cheek.

“I don’t want you to go,” she whispered.

“Neither do I,” he whispered back.

She tilted her head closer to his so her temple rested against his brow. He closed his eyes and was still with her for a few tranquil moments before he brushed his nose along her cheek and then pulled back. She kept her eyes on her lap.

“Obviously now really isn’t the time,” he said. “But, maybe we should talk.”

“I imagine we probably should.”

“I’m going to go try the better coffee downstairs and see if I can extend the hotel I got another couple nights. Do you want me to bring you back anything?”

She shook her head. As he got up, this time she reached for his hand, grasping his fingers like he’d done when he first walked through the door. Their thumbs met again over their knuckles and he pressed his firmly against hers. She pressed back.

The End

#i wrote this #xf fanfic #threequels #angst #Anonymous

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irondadgroupie · 5 years

Text

Bohemian Rhapsody: Chapter 7

A/N: Caring for a comatose patient, Tony and May bonding, one of the two was not originally in our to-do-list @intoresus

May was curled up in her chair, dozing off, relaxed by the soft humming Tony supplied. Peter's heartbeat was calm and slow.

“How did you know it?” May couldn't help asking. She'd been battling herself but couldn't take the quiet anymore. Tony blinked and raised his head.

“What?”

“Earlier when I was sucking the breathing tube clean, you told me to stop it then.”

“Yeah, sorry, I shouldn't have-”

“No, no,” May shook her head and planted her feet on the ground, her lower back was getting sore. “You were right. It's just that medicine isn't your field.”

“I'm a curious person.”

“Noted, but that was quite specific knowledge.”

Tony lifted Peter's left hand and began to rub the boy's fingers. “When I have downtime, I read medical articles about coma patients and how to care for them. There are some excellent educational videos about different procedures.”

May nodded, a bit surprised by the revelation. She wondered when Tony had time to do that. Did the man even sleep?

“I shouldn't have stepped on your toes, May.”

“No, it's okay, I was just shocked.”

They were silent for a moment.

“You know, things like that can't be learnt from books.”

“I understand and I won't be in the way anymore,” Tony admitted.

“No, no,” May shook her head. “I might not be here every time so it's good you learn how to do everything. I can teach you, or at least try. If it looks like you are not getting the hang of it, the task rests on my shoulders. That good?”

Tony smiled. “Sounds good.”

May was still hesitant, but had to admit that Tony was putting all his effort in doing whatever she told him as perfectly as possible, without ever once getting impatient or careless. His voice was always soft, and he explained to Peter what he was doing in excessive detail, no matter how minor it was.

“Tugging you in tight. I know you like sleeping like a burrito,” Tony cooed as the adults silently co-operated the blanket. May helped him by wrapping the right sight of the blanket around her nephew’s small body, so that Tony could focus mainly on the left one. “And it keeps you all warm and cozy.”

May smiled sadly. “I never understood how he can sleep like that.”

“It’s not like he actually sleeps in that position,” Tony rolled his eyes. “He closes his eyes, falls asleep, and as soon as he does, he starts freeing himself. I usually find most of the blanket towering over the floor.”

Tony paused, looking up. “But I guess that’s nothing I have to tell you.”

May shook her head with a sad smile: “Not really, no. I really have my own share of stories when it comes to Peter.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Tony slumped back into the chair, taking a deep breath in.

“Bet you don’t know he can snore like a sawmill on a good day.” May laughed quietly, partly at the memory and partly at the sight of Tony’s bewildered expression.

“He does?”

“Did. Not that much since the Spider-manning started, if that’s what he’s calling it. But he used to when he was starting to get sick.”

She turned away, trying to blink away a sudden rush of tears. “We have a small flat, you know? And after a particularly rough day at work, it was pretty hard to fall asleep with an electric drill in the next room. But right now... I’d happily listen to snores twice as loud instead of this.”

“Me too,” Tony admitted quietly. He lowered his head, eyes focused on the sight of Peter, his kid, unconscious and helpless. “I’d be damn happy to have him walk through the lab doors, rambling at a speed quicker than light about things I have no idea of - without him ever taking a breath once.”

“Yeah, he can have quite exhausting monologues sometimes.”

“Quite some -“ Tony huffed, half a smile gracing his lips. “Let me show you something.”

He grabbed his StarkPad and quickly searched for the file he had in mind. He flipped the screen so that May could see the video recording of a very enthusiastic Peter almost running down to the lab, dropping his bag while giving a speech about black holes and how they meant that time was both a finite and an infinite concept and how it was being a paradox from probably greater value than every other astrological and physical phenomenon combined.

“I was nodding in agreement, but I had to listen to the recording after he left to understand at least half of what he was telling me.” Tony turned for Peter, squeezing the kid’s hand fondly. “Sorry kiddo, but I fear I’m getting too old to follow someone at your speed.”

Peter did not respond, the mechanical breaths only movements he gave.

“At least you got the gist of it.” May countered after a silent moment both reserved for the young man alone. “I’ve never had a perk for science, so most of what he’s saying feels like he’s speaking another language. Not to mention that I sometimes watch him doing his homework and realize that I would have no idea how to solve anything.”

Tony hemmed in agreement: “Believe me or not, I went to MIT and sometimes find myself frowning at some of the problems when we’re doing his homework.”

May raised her eyebrows. “You help with his homework?”

Tony gave half a shrug as he closed the tablet and set it back on the table “Occasionally. When he’s having questions on it. Has gotten somewhat of a coming in rite - once he’s finished his monologue, of course. We’re usually having a lot of fun with it, don’t we?”

Peter didn't give an answer but Tony and May still acted like he was an active participant in any conversation.

“You're gonna have a lot of homework to catch up on,” Tony stroked the boy's hair. He lifted his eyes to meet May's. “I have no idea how long he is going to be in coma and then the recovery- I read it can take weeks or even months.”

“Yes, it's very individual,” May nodded. “He might have to skip the semester.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” The man bit his lip. “Maybe I can bring his school books here and read them aloud.”

“Yes, because that is every teenager’s dream: History lessons while hooked on a ventilator.”

“Maybe not anything boring,” Tony saw the point,” but sciences. Spanish texts, Italian books. I could go and buy the latest Science Journals. Does Peter like medicine?”

“Not until a few weeks ago.”

The remark hung in the air between the two adults like the metaphorical sword of Damocles. May had said the words without a conscious thought but the accusation resonated in her voice nonetheless. A part of her wanted to apologize: she was not oblivious to the pain and guilt in Tony’s eyes whenever he looked at Peter. But she wasn’t ready to let her guard down and definitely not yet ready to believe that things had been a mere coincidence.

Tony swallowed hard and tried to buy time. He was playing versions of apologies in his head until he realized that none of them sounded convincing. If somebody harmed Peter, even indirectly, there was no kind of apology Tony would accept.

At the same time, he couldn’t deal with the reproaches either. He looked at Peter.

“Yeah, medicine has been an interesting mental field trip, kid. Who knows. maybe you’ll even settle for medical engineering when the time comes?

The ventilator hushed a wordless response. Tony leaned forward and grabbed Peter’s hand while giving a small kiss on his knuckles.

“I still remember the day you came up with the idea,” The man’s voice was soft as he reminisced, for a moment not plagued with guilt. “Right out of the blue, while working on the webbing formula. I thought you were just playing around, seeing how sticky and imperishable you had made the webs. You got some stuck on your hair,” Tony chuckled and caressed the place the substance had rested on like the most devilish gum drop. “I had to give you a haircut. And it took forever to get the stuff out of your hands.”

The man shifted in his position and closed his eyes, trying to focus. “Who could’ve guessed you suddenly had bigger things in mind than mere Spiderman?”

“He always wanted to change the world for the better.” May said, her fingers gently tracing her nephew’s facial features. She remembered well how Peter had come home, eager and words falling out of his mouth.

“He already has.” Tony corrected. “And he will.”

He looked away while saying the following sentences. He had to tell Peter, even if it meant possibly increasing May’s anger. “The final formula you designed is in testing stage right now. I don’t have the results just yet but if it didn’t look promising, we would’ve definitely been informed already.”

Before May could huff her disbelief over the pronoun “we”, Tony was again talking.

“I’ll keep you tuned if they leave me any messages for you. And don’t you worry your pretty little head if they send it back to us with twenty pages of issues the testing brought up. No good invention has worked properly at the first try.”

After installing the life lesson, Tony forced himself to smile and squeezed the boy’s hand. “But no matter what happens, keep working, don’t give up, because this could very well revolutionize the field of applied biological chemistry.”

“He will,” May’s eyes flashed at Tony. Her demeanor switched 180 as she looked down on her nephew. “You will, sweetheart.”

“May.” Tony sighed, his eyes on Peter. He had to maintain his temper, Peter need peace, his heart was weak, he was so weak. “I made a mistake, alright? And you can be sure that I’ll be beating myself up for that for the rest of my life. It was my car, I drove it and I should’ve held the wheel straight but couldn’t.”

The man raised his glance, forcing himself to look at May. “I can never put into words how sorry I am. Never. But I didn’t do it on purpose. It was an awful accident that’s going to haunt my nightmares forever. And if you can’t believe that I could never do that to Peter as it is, then I guess the only chance I have of convincing you is to tell that this project won’t work without Peter.”

Tony’s eyes wandered to the kid again, tears of pride and pain stinging. “Honestly, I’ve lost track of the details of the formula. I’ve seen it work, and I know the basic science that makes it work but the details are beyond my scientific horizon now.”

“You can’t be serious about -“

“I am.” Tony disagreed vehemently. “He had the basic formula for the webs he uses down before we even met. Secretly made solemnly with the material that his chem class could supply. Believe me when I say that he outsmarted me with that feat alone. When I want to invent something, I just order the material.” The man shrugged. “All I ever wanted was to give him a place where his ingenuity could blossom in the best way possible.”

May found herself just staring at Tony, at the visible tear tracks on his face, even if the man tried to wipe them away. Tony was inhaling air heavily in an attempt not to sob. She tried to swallow all the new information. The fact that Tony helped Peter with his homework just as much as the fact that he was still there, sitting at her boy’s bedside, using the time reading journals when he should be sleeping and watching videos just to know how to take care of her nephew. Finally, she could look beyond the curtain of her own grief.

“Tony?”

The man looked at her, eyes holding the guilt and worry from all the previous days.

“I believe you.”

The sentence was simple, too simple maybe, but it was enough to have the last ice between the two adults melt.

“Huh,” Tony stated after reading an article in a Medicine Journal aloud. “You live, you learn. But again, engineering is my specialty, not human anatomy.”

The man tossed the journal to the bedside table, almost knocking over a vase of flowers. Pepper had practically bought out a flower shop: all kinds of plants inhabited every corner, window shelf and table. Tony both appreciated and hated the gesture.

The fumes were relaxing and he had a fun time moving Peter's fingers over different textures on petals. He would stroke the boy’s face with leaves and bring the buds close to his nose, in hopes that the aroma would awaken his brain.

But again, flowers dying was a cruel reminder of how long they had been here, how long this had been their normal. It had been too long since Peter had opened his eyes, since that day on the shore he had gotten the boy's breathing back and clutched him in his arms. Tony had thought after that the worst was over but no.

The man sniffed and wiped his eyes. Peter needed positive attitude, not pity.

“You want to take a nap?” Tony asked softly while stroking the boy's hair. It was ridiculous to ask it but he wanted, needed to keep up some resemblance of normal day rhythm. And around this time of the day Peter’s crazy metabolism would require the boy to crash and take a short rest from the stress of the day.

Tony frowned and stroked a strand of hair between his fingers. The usually soft, slightly rough curls were slick and matted. Tony grimaced. “You need a bath. Yeah, it's about time. I'll take it up with May when she comes back from her break.”

An hour later, May opened the door, freshened up and carrying a tray of food. “Pepper asked me to bring you this.”

“Just leave it on the table.”

May raised an eyebrow. “Tony, if you don't eat, you'll get sick. If you get sick, you can't be here because Peter is extremely vulnerable to any kind of germs and diseases.”

The man grunted and offered his arms. “Fine,” He took the tray and started nibbling on meatballs and mashed potatoes.

May sat in another chair and planted a kiss on the boy's hair. “Hello, sweetie. You need a bath.”

“Just told him that,” Tony began to get his appetite back. His stomach was screaming for meat. “I can do it, just talk me through the motions.”

“Yeah, no,” May shook her head. “The nurses are here for it.”

“Why pass it on to them?” Tony did not see anything wrong with the issue. His mouth was half-full and he placed a hand over it discreetly. ” They have enough work as it is.”

“Yes, but I would rather they do it.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “It's nothing to me, May. I have seen him naked before, we are both male, what is the big deal?”

May sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Try to think it from Peter's point of view, would he like you to wash him up?”

Tony crossed his arms. “What about you? Whom would you choose more: Me, a trustworthy adult who loves the kid to the moon and back or some sleazy old woman who would probably fantasize about the kid's body and do who knows what?” 

“Okay, first of all, there is nothing sexual about washing a comatose person and two, yes, I would rather it's someone Peter doesn't know.”

“May, that’s really irrational. I don’t think -“Tony interrupted himself. Even after only a few days, he could instantly hear if something about Peter’s condition had changed. May seemed to recognize it too, now that the room was silent aside of the sounds of the ventilator and the steady beeping of the monitor, in a quicker pace than usual.

“You don’t like it when we fight, do you?” She asked, fingers stroking Peter’s cheek in an attempt to calm him. Tony was immediately down on earth too.

“Sorry kiddo.” He whispered, hand moving to take Peter’s, kissing the kid’s knuckles, he’d learned it relaxed the boy a lot. “We didn’t mean to upset you. We’ll sort it out.”

May frowned at him, gaze steady and leaving no doubt that she wouldn’t give in to Tony’s plea no matter how rational he made it sound.

“Fine.” The man complied. He didn’t like it, however, putting Peter under any more stress was not worth winning this argument. “But I want to oversee them washing his hair. It’s a delicate process with the breathing tube and the weakened neck muscles, and I want to make sure none of the nurses are too distracted to do it properly.” 

In the first days, May would’ve disagreed with him, trying to explain that he was overly careful, but time had taught her that it was a blind end. Tony cared for Peter so much that no rational argument could be used to change his mind.

“Keep your hands behind his neck!” Tony ordered, heart thumping hard in his chest while he watched. He hated the risk of Peter suffering a spinal damage - even if it was minor and more than unlikely - just because some of the nurses made a reckless mistake. Next time the physiotherapist would visit, he definitely needed to have a talk with them about how to strengthen the kid’s neck too, because that’d only get more important in the long run. Until then, he had to endure the torture of helplessly watching until the nurses finished their work.

Thirty minutes later, nurses were gone and Tony was drying up the water droplets from Peter’s ears.

“There you go, kiddo. All clean and fresh. Feels good, huh?”

“It sure does.” May said, smiling, ruffling the now finally washed hair. The nurses had listened to her when she’d asked them not to brush it neatly. Now, he at least looked a little like her boy again. “I have a surprise for you, too.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, smiling. He knew Peter loved surprises. Good ones, at least.

May rummaged in her bag, and retrieved a stuffed animal. It took Tony a while, but he recognized it as Roo, the little kangaroo kid from Winnie Pooh, looking like it had been loved for a few years.

“Remember? Ben bought it for you when you had that really awful flu and watched the new movie all day long.” She gently moved it along Peter’s fingers, intending him to feel the plushy texture and love. “You didn’t go anywhere without it afterwards, especially not when you were sick.”

Tony saw her lips twitch with emotion and didn’t dare disturb the moment. But May wasn’t finished yet. 

“Brought something else too. Although that’s probably something Tony and I will enjoy a little more.” 

The next thing May had in store was an old photo album. 

“He has been sharing some of his good memories, so I thought it’s only fair if we show him some of ours? I brought your favorite album” She told Peter and waited a few seconds before turning to Tony. Normally the two adults took places on both sides of Peter’s bed. Now, however, the boy had been positioned on his side to hopefully avoid bed sores. May and Tony sat beside each other, both facing the boy.

It’s the only one with some pictures of his parents in it, “May explained and Tony nodded understandingly. Peter didn’t really talk much about his biological parents, given that his aunt and uncle had been more of a family to him than they ever could, but he had once found the boy scamming some very old audio recordings of Richard Parker and Mary Fitzpatrick. “I... don’t want to forget how their voices sounded, you know?”

Tony could only assume how hard it must be for a teenager that has lost his parents at an infant age to find a balance between moving on and mourning a loss far beyond his comprehension.

“You’re one of the people that thinks newborns look like old potatoes, aren’t you?” May remarked, closely observing Tony’s reaction to yet another ‘newly welcomed to the world’ Peter in the arms of his mother. He was about to say something on the contrary but May only laughed. “It’s fine, really. Infants do look like unpeeled potatoes. Even Peter.” She squeezed the boy’s hand. “But you were an extraordinary cute little vegetable.” 

Pictures of 2001 passed, then 2002 and the following years, and Tony saw a change in the facial expression of that once happy rambling, chaotic little toddler that May had described. As if the light in the bright eyes was suddenly missing. 

“He didn’t know what was happening. He cried, all day, all night, asking for his mom and dad.” She explained, sighing. “It’s been a decade, but I still remember the first time he smiled afterwards.” The next page revealed a picture of a roughly four-year-old, curly-haired Peter, face covered in ice-cream, obviously giggling. All hearts in the room melted and May smiled while telling Peter which picture she was showing his mentor.

“And I’m sure you’re going to love these ones, too.”

The following ten pages were all scrambled with pictures of a young Peter at Stark Expo: Eyes glistening with joy whilst pressing his face against the glass surrounding the exhibits, broad smile on his face posing next to a life-sized cardboard stand-up of Iron Man. Tony felt another wave of tears welling up at the admiration in the kid’s soft, brown eyes. If Peter didn’t idolize him so much, he probably wouldn’t be where he was now, but instead having a sleepover with Ned, like any normal sixteen-year-old. He should never have-

“It was probably the greatest thing that ever happened to him at that time. He just wouldn’t stop talking about it, ever. Imagine how hard it was to get him to sleep that evening. I could still hear him whisper about what he’s seen at two the next morning.” May went on, forcing Tony to get his mind away from blaming himself.

The distance in time between pictures became wider in the following years, but the most important moments were still captured: School events, Christmas eves, the hugs following. And then, yet again, there was a change in the pictures, more subtle in the face of the teenager, but still there. Faked smiles in the rare pictures taken of him.

“We... had a lot to deal with. I still do, and I assume Peter has, too. Maybe that’s why I never realized it and couldn’t help. Neither with his grief nor with the superhero identity. So, I guess I really have to thank you for taking him under your wings. Both him and Spiderman.”

“May I -“

“No. I mean it. That internship - working with you - has made him become more like the boy he used to be. Happier. You helped him find a mental balance and purpose again. These last couple of weeks, before the accident, have been the first time I’ve seen him at the top of his game ever since Ben died.”

May paused, clearing her throat. “Certainly, it cheers me up, too. Although, I don’t know if there’s a single sticky note without a chemical formula on it left in our apartment.”

That was certainly something Tony could relate to.

“You think I have any clean napkins left?” The man chuckled.

“You care about napkins?” May teased. “I was doing laundry and found a note on one of his socks!”

“Ever seen a formula written in letter-shaped noodles?” Tony returned, finding himself grinning at the memory of Peter eating two bowls of hot soup just because he was searching for a ‘2’

“Ever seen your living room covered in schematic blueprints from door to window?”

The competition went on for a little while longer, given that Peter had taken the saying “never leave a good idea waiting” very literally. 

The good mode broke when both of them slowly sunk back from joyful memories to the reality of machines beeping around them.

“So... Steak formula was the last one?”

Tony raised an eyebrow, but his eyes were fixed on Peter’s face. Ignoring the breathing tube, he could easily pretend the boy was just sleeping peacefully after a rough patrol. “‘Steak formula’?”

“The nickname Pepper and I gave, after the two of you were rude enough to leave the dinner you invited me to halfway through.”

Tony finally remembered the evening. The pride he had felt warming his body when he heard Peter exclaim “I got it”, knowing that this time, the boy didn’t just have another idea how to fix the issues they were having – Peter had fixed them.

“It is. As of now, at least.”

“You think it’ll work?”

“Sure.” Tony leaned forward, grabbing for Peter’s hand, massaging the boy’s fingers. “And if not, he’ll just continue to work on it until it does.”

#irondad #fanfic #bohemian rhapsody

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darkestdesired · 5 years

Text

Deviant Protection Squad

Part 2

Summary: Connor,Conan,and detective reader investigate a new lead while uncoverring the readers mysterious past.

I yawned as i walked into the observation room,Inside waiting was Connor,Conan,Hank,and Gavin.They all turned to me and took in my appearance,”Damn (Y/n),you look like shit!” The others shot him a glare as i sat next to hank and opened up the file that was on the desk.”Gee thanks Reed,you know just how to make a lady feel good.” I said,sarcasm lacing my words.Hank patted my shoulder,”Ignore him,but have you slept at all in the past week?You have dark eye-bags.” I sighed.”I haven’t,i have a feeling i’m not gonna till we solve this case.” Gavin scoffed.”Why the hell are you taking it so personally,it’s just a fucking android.” I glared at him and quickly stood up,Connor and Conan immediately followed suit,Connor stepped in between us as Conan towered over me and had an expression that dared Gavin to lay a hand on me.”Shut the fuck up Reed,i am taking this personally because it’s my fucking job.I take each and every one of my cases personally because unlike you,i care about my cases.” They watched in shock as i huffed. Connor placed a hand on my chest,”Detective your stress and heart rate are rising,perhaps it would be wise to sit down.” I narrowed my eyes at Gavin before taking a deep breath.”Okay..” I turned and went back to my seat,”Detective Reed,I advise you not to make (Y/n) upset again.” Connor said with a strict and serious tone before walking over to one side of me with his hands behind his back.Conan glared down at Gavin,his LED was red which caused fear to rise in Gavin.Conan said nothing before he went to the other side of me,Hank glanced over and smirked when he saw Gavin's expression of fear. I looked into the Interrogation room and watched as the suspect,martin,tapped on the table,Hank crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.”Do you think he did it?” I thought for a moment.”I..I honestly don’t know,he has a criminal record for violence..so maybe?” I took a deep breath.”I going in.” I stood up with the file and headed for the door,”Detective,allow me to come with you,i don’t trust him alone with you.” Conan walked over to me with a seriousness that said this was not up for discussion.I nodded and we headed into the Interrogation room,Martin grinned at me as i sat across from him and set the file in front of me,Conan stayed behind me with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face.”Nice to see you again,(Y/n),You still look as gorgeous as ever.” I ignored the vomit that threatened to rise up my throat.I pulled out the pictures of the body and a video of him going into her room.”Care to explain?” Martin smirked and leaned back in his seat,he shrugged.”What can i say,it was a hot piece of plastic.” I clenched my hands together tightly on the table.”Did you kill her?” He raised a brow."You act like it was a person." Conan shot him a 'Answer the fuucking question' look."Look,i wasn't the one who broke the damn thing,but i do know who did." I narrowed my eyes and leaned forward."Who?"

The drive was quiet for the most part,i could tell Connor had a question from the amount of times he glanced at me from the passenger seat."Con,if you have something to ask me you don't have to be scared.I don't bite." Connor nodded."What did the suspect mean by 'Not your usual type'?" I sighed and stared forward at the road. "I used to date assholes,the abusive,drunk,toxic kind.(P/n) was the last person i dated who was like that,i guess I'm just getting too old to find the good ones." Conan furrowed his eyebrows from the back seat. "Do you have their addresses?" I laughed."Conan I'm not telling you,i don't need cops on my doorstep at 4am because you killed my exes." Conan feigned innocence,"I simply wish to talk with them." Connor and gave each other a knowing look."And these talks are legal?" Conan was quiet causing me to laugh harder.We pulled up to the side of the road,"Well the car described isn't here.." Connor turned to me."Stake out?" I nodded."I haven't been on a stake out in a while,Last time Hank and i stopped and grabbed a few burgers and made a night of it." Connor smiled."Did you find the purp?" I nodded."Yup,Hank chased him down with sauce in his beard,it was hilarious because the guy was a huge germaphobe.Hank still laughs every time we get burgers now." I giggled to myself at the memory.Conan watched me closely,"Do you ever miss being the detectives partner." I shrugged."Yea i miss the stake outs and stuff,but now i have two cute Guys trailin after me every day,like my guardian angel and devil.I wouldn't trade them for the world." Connor and Conan shared a look. "We enjoy working with you as well Detective." I smiled over at Connor."Con,you don't have to keep calling me Detective when it's just us three.I think we're all close enough to go by first names." Connors led flashed yellow before he smiled."Alright,(Y/n)" he said softly sending a light shiver from the tone. (Y/n) your heart rate has risen,are you alright?" Conan put a hand on my shoulder,i coughed into my fist."Oh Y-Yeah.Just Peachy,don't worry about me." My (S/c) face felt like it was boiling."You never tell us much about your past before you became a Detective,do you not trust us?" Connor said causing me to tense."W-Well it's not that i don't trust you guys,I'm just not used to being an open book." They both shared a glance,i took a deep breath."I'll try,okay?" They both smiled and nodded.

After about an hour I noticed a car that matched the description pulled up to the old apartment building.A sketchy looking man climbed out of the car and hurried inside,"He matches the description,can either of you find anything on him?" Connors led flashed a few times,"His name is David Morgan,45,divorced,he has two criminal records for stalking women.He somehow managed to get bailed out each time,He lives alone and is currently unemployed." I took a deep breath."Well let's go pay Mr.Morgan a visit."

I knocked on the door firmly while Connor and Conan stood guard behind me,After a few minutes i heard footsteps."Mr.Morgan,It's(Y/n) (L/n).I'm a friend of Martin Score." The door slowly opened a crack.while the sketchy man peeked out at me."A..friend? I didn't know that bastard had friends.." I fought the laughter that threatened to escape."I'm a detective at DPD,Is it alright if i ask you a few questions,it won't take long i promise." David glanced at the connors behind me."Do they have to come in?" I glanced back at them,conan shook his head no,i knew he didn't like the idea of me being alone with this guy. "They can wait out here." I shot them a reassuring smile before heading inside,David shut the door behind me and motioned for the couch."I'm sorry for the mess..i wasn't expecting visitors." I nodded and glanced at all the boxes of newspapers in the small living room. "It's quite alright,I'll make this quick." I pulled out a picture of the woman before she was murdered."Do you know this woman?" David carefully examined the photo." I'm...I've seen her around a few times." I put the phto away and chose my next words wisely."She was found brutally beaten yesterday,she luckily survived it,the medical team at cyberlife were able to repair her memory and vocal cords enough to explain what happened." David's eyes widened slightly. "Ho- i mean,d-do you think i did it?" I tilted my head slightly at his reaction."We have a few other suspects but we're going based on description.And hers very accurately describes you." Something dark flashed across Davids eyes that i didn't like. "Will you excuse me for a moment." I nodded and he quickly rushed away to another room and took out his phone.I quietly snuck next to the cracked door and listened in,"I don't know how but that scrap of metal survived! I don't know,she was your robot! Look you hired me to ditch the body and i did! Well how was i supposed to know she would make it! That detctive is snoppen around and said the hunk of metal described me!I'll get rid of her!" I recorded the conversation on my phone and quietly went back to the living room just before he entered."Thank you for your time,i should be going." David eyed me warily."Are you sure,i could make you some tea." I smiled and started making my way towards the front door."I'm sure,i don't want to keep my partners waiting." David pulled out a gun and aimed it at me causing me to freeze."You seem like a nice woman,so why don't you sit down and have some tea?" I gulped."S-Sure." I carefully walked over to the couch,never looking away."I just want you to know this isn't easy for me!" He exclaimed.I nodded,"I never wanted to be dragged into all of this!" He waved the gun around like a lunatic causing my heart to drop every 2 seconds."Listen,i can get you out of this mess,you just need to tell me,who hired you?" He started pacing and lowered the gun." I-I can't tell you,he'd kill me!" ,i slowly stood up and started making my way towards him with my hands up.He pointed the gun at me again,"D-Dont move a fucking muscle!!" He yelled causing me to flinch.Next thing i knew Conan had kicked the door down and they both stormed into the apartment.The next few seconds happened in slow motion,David aimed the gun at me and a shot rung through the air.

Conan and Connors leds flashed a violent red as they watched my body drop to the floor,Connor hurried to my side as conan slapped the gun out of Davids hand and slammed him into the wall by the collar.i grunted as Connor pulled me on his lap,"(Y/n) are you alright?!" He started checking my vitals."Y-Yea he got me in the side!" I gritted my teeth as i lifted my hand off the wound,blood already spilly out of a hole in my trench coat."You're going to be alright.I called an ambulance and backup.Help is on the way!" I smiled up at him,already feeling lightheaded."Have i ever told you that you and Conan have the most beautiful eyes?" Connors eyes widened in fear."(Y/n) stay with me,stay awake!" Conan threw David onto the ground unconscious and hurried to my side."Your vitals are dropping!" Hank bursted through the door armed with a gun,I got your message (Y-" he froze when he saw the state i was in."Glad to see your...phone still works Hank..." I coughed out a bit of blood. Hank quickly rushed over,"I'll watch this piece of shit,you two take her out to the ambulance!" They both nodded and Conan carefully picked me up,i flinched and gritted my teeth. They hurried outside,hank looked down at David and winced when he saw the bruises and blood over his face."God,Remind me never to get on his bad side.."

#dbh connor x reader #connor x reader #detroit connor #connor rk800 #dbh connor #rk900 x rk800 #rk900 nines #dbh rk900 #rk900 #rk800 #rk900 x reader #rk800 x reader #hank anderson #hank and connor

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