#((meanwhile that means she’s about 8 years younger than me and is in her early 30s BUT STILL)) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

voltage-vixen · 3 years

Text

Operation Get Laid

‘Tis the Season of Smut Challenge Days 7 & 8

Prompt: MC wearing nothing but a Santa hat & I’ll be sure to stuff your stocking (NSFW)

Fandom: Obey Me!

Pairing: Lucifer x MC (Female)

“Yoo-hoo! Lucifer, wait up! Wait for me!” Asmodeous’s cheery voiced echoed as he skipped after his elder brother. Lucifer had heard the annoying chirping of the younger demon and scowled in displeasure at the havoc was wreaking in the hallways.

“Shut up, Asmodeous!” Lucifer snapped, while turning to confront him. “All students are held to the highest of standards, and I would expect nothing less of them, much less from one of own siblings. Please remember to conduct yourself accordingly.”

“But Lucifer, I have some-”

“Enough!” Lucifer bellowed, casting him a final glare before spinning back around. “Diavolo and I are scheduled to meet in precisely five minutes, and I mustn’t keep him waiting.”

Increasing his pace, Lucifer stormed down the hall until he reached the main entrance where Diavolo was waiting for him. Diavolo and Barbatos were engaged in what appeared to be a private discussion, given their hushed tones and the occasional glances that surveyed the room.

Did something happen? Lucifier pondered, wondering what circumstances could have possible led to the disappearance of the carefree smile the young ruler normally wore on his face. As he approached the pair, Lucifer cleared his throat to announce his arrival, and no sooner was the familiar grin painted back on Diavolo’s face.

“Lucifer! Thank you for being willing to meet me on such short notice,” Diavolo boomed, arms outstretched to greet his second-in-command. “I have a very important assignment, and you’re the only one I entrust to be able to get the job done.” Peering over Lucifer’s shoulder, Diavolo beckoned for him to scooch closer.

“Asmodeous was supposed to deliver this message, but there’s no time for that anymore. I need you to immediately visit MC’s room and discuss what this Christmas holiday in her world looks like. This year we would like to incorporate traditions from the other realms, however we don’t have much time to do so, meaning you have to hurry with this. Can I count on you to do this for me?”

“Of course, you can! Rest assured, I will not fail you,” Lucifer vowed, before speeding up his pace down the hallway.

“Well, that went rather smoothly,” Barbatos commented. “It seems he doesn’t suspect a thing.”

“Did he fall for it?” Asmodeous asked when he finally came strolling up.

See it had not gone unnoticed that recently Lucifer had been agitated and more snappy than usual. He had been so absorbed in his studies and monitoring the other students, this left him feeling….well, rather pented up. This prompted Diavolo to form the committee of him, Barbatos, and Asmodeous known as Operation Get Lucifer Laid. MC at first was mortified when they contacted her about the plan, but soon fell onboard since she herself was feeling lonely and in need of her own ‘relief’.

“It would appear so,” Diavolo confidently responded. “However, just in case go keep an eye on the situation for me, will you, Asmodeous?”

Nodding in compliance, Asmodeous began to trot down the hallway and stealthily journeyed to MC’s room.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“MC? MC, I’m here under Diavolo’s orders,” Lucifer projected through the door. “First and foremost, you have my sincerest gratitude that you were willing to assist us in this matter in helping expand the traditions of Devildom……are you there? Why aren’t you responding to me? Are you alright? Anyway, I’m coming in now.”

The handle on the door creaked open and Lucifer walked only to nearly crash into the chair in front of him when his sight was blessed with MC posing provocatively on the bed in only her natural glory minus this red hat perched on the top of her head. Lucifer unconsciously gulped when his girth below the waist strained uncomfortably against the seams of his pants. The sight of the normally composed eldest demon brother being caught acting rattled must have been the reaction MC was seeking since she cracked a low giggle.

“You should probably shut the door,” MC instructed the still dumbfounded Lucifer. “Unless you prefer an audience? And in case you haven’t put two and two together by now, Diavolo set you up so we could spend some time together.”

Lucifer didn’t need to be informed twice to hustle behind him to slam the door close. He would worry about Diavolo later, but now the very idea of anyone else witnessing his human in this state of undress would be unforgivable. Once the door was securely locked, MC traipsed over and threw her arms around his neck. She removed the hat from her head and instead placed it on top of Lucifer’s.

“Merry early Christmas, Lucifer,” she breathed, intentionally rolling the words into a slur as she uttered them. “In my world the children believe that a man by the name of Santa Claus brings good girls and boys presents for behaving all year long. Well, haven’t I been a good exchange student this year, Lucifer? Don’t I deserve a little special something as well?”

Gone was student council president’s stunned state of mind, and back was his typical confidence of arrogance. We wasted not a moment’s notice leaning towards her and use his teeth to fervently nibble on the contour of MC’s neck. While heated pants pursued through the crease of her lips, Lucifer managed to disrobe himself until he was left standing bare. MC tore away from the attack of the demon’s lips, and her fingers descended the canvas of her body seeking the most sensitive of her spots.

“Indeed, you are right about being a good girl, MC,” Lucifer chuckled, his hands wrapping around his own firm cock to jerk himself in preparation of fucking her senseless. “My good girl knows just how much it pleases me to see her get off while thinking about me.”

“Please, help me,” MC whimpered, her body longing for more stimulation than she was able to provide on her own. “I’m wet enough to handle you now. Please let me give myself to you!”

Never one to deny himself the pleasures in life, Lucifer willingly obliged by sauntering over the bed to join MC. Throwing her ankle over his shoulder, Lucifer slipped a finger, followed by a second inside of her to see how wet she really was.

“Hmm, your body is feeling very honest today,” he breathed, “It looks like my good girl is ready to get her stocking stuffed.” “Wait, how did you know about stock-!”

The words of her question were gone and overtaken by loud moans as Lucifer aligned himself at her entrance and pressed beyond her glistening folds. His hips came crashing into hers as the demon leaned forward to allow his tongue to tease the flushed breasts of her generous chest. Their bodies thrusting in rhythm together, MC adjusted her position to stimulate her clit against the muscles of Lucifer’s toned lower body and uttered a guttural groan when she glided against the sweat now dripping down the cuts of his toned abdomen.

Lucifer filled her to the brim, stretching MC out until her walls began to tingle and flutter around his cock. She mewled and dragged her nails down the sides of his arms, a glimpse of desperation flashing in her eyes as she silently pleaded with him.

“Does my good girl want to come?” Lucifer taunted, his deliberately grazing along the swell of her swollen clit. “Very well then. I’ll be nice to you today and oblige.”

Shaking her leg off from his shoulder, Lucifer bent down to lift MC up and place her over his shaft standing tall at attention. Wrapping her legs around his torso, MC and Lucifer both hissed when she sank down onto him and the rush of heat pulsated through every inch of their bodies. Her breasts swayed in synch to the pace of their movements, each becoming more frenzied than the last while they rose closer and closer to reaching their peaks provided by the other. Lucifer’s mouth was suddenly drawn to MC’s, and his tongue forced its way through the part of her lips. His tongue danced in her mouth while the lewd sounds of the demon pumping deeper and deeper into MC’s arousal echoed throughout her room.

She bounced on his erection, sighing and panting in a carnal delight at how absolutely blissful it felt to have Lucifer assaulting her in one of the most satisfying ways possible. Bodies on fire, all the stimulation led to the eventual release they both had been desperately seeking. Lucifer gently tossed MC back onto her bed and he collapsed beside her as he fought to regain his breathing under control.

“Wow,” MC sighed, breathless and a bit sore from the intense sex the two just engaged in together.

“I knew I would please you,” Lucifer boasted. “Say, remind me to thank Diavolo later.”

“Diavolo?” MC blinked in confusion. “Sure, did he do something for you?” Ready for round two, Lucifer rolled over and swiftly straddled MC, secretly fuming she had the nerve to utter the name of another man in front of him!

“Don’t mention other men when you’re around me,” he chastised. “Bad girls need to be punished just like good goods need to be rewarded, and you my dear were a very naughty girl just now.”

Curling his long fingers around the curves of MC’s waist, Lucifer gave no warning before snapping his hips forward and roughly plunging deep into the heat of her core, leaving her begging for him to really give it to her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, outside the door was a nosy Asmodeous with his ear pressed against the door. MC’s screams of ecstasy were enough to assure the younger demon that the Operation Get Lucifer Laid could be deemed successful. Although Asmo was supposed to report back to Diavolo regarding their victorious achievement, he did a quick surveillance of the hallway to assure he was completely alone. Shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, he slid his hands down the front of his pants to relish some playtime with himself at the expense of his brother and partner as a reward for his contribution to the plan that got Lucifer laid.

#'tis the season for smut #obey me #obey me lucifer #obey me smut #obey me fanfic #obey me lucifer x mc #obey me lucifer fanfic #obey me lucifer smut #obey me asmodeus #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos

438 notes · View notes

freddie-weaselbee · 3 years

Text

E2: The One in New York City//F.W.

Series Summary: FRIENDS but with Harry Potter characters after Hogwarts graduation, trying to figure out their lives and relationships. Non Voldy AU. Begins around the end of FRIENDS season 4 with The Wedding and semi follows plots in season 5.

Pairing(s): Fred Weasley x Fem!Reader, Romione, Ron x Lavender, Hinny, Georgelina

Warnings: Language, mentions of sex, planned pregnancy

Summary: Years after Hermione came back into their lives, the gang finds themselves traveling to New York City for the wedding of the one and only Ronald Weasley. As tensions rise and feelings are revealed, the group has to take on New York and hope for the best.

Word Count: 3.6k

A/N: A little taste of the story: “I’d pee on you any day of the week.” “What the hell did I just walk into?” Message me to join the series or general taglist!

May 2004

“Guys, hurry up! The flight leaves in four hours! It could take time to get a taxi, there could be traffic, the plane could leave early! When you get to New York there could be a line at customs, come on!” Hermoine Granger was racing through the flat of Fred and George Weasley, the one above their infamous joke shop, Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. She grabbed clothing from their drawers and tossed it haphazardly into suitcases, while the twins in question were lounged out on their sofa observing the scene.

You sat wedged between the two boys, leaning your head against Fred’s shoulder with your legs draped across George’s lap. You laughed as Hermione was practically hysterical about getting everything ready, even though she wouldn’t even be going to America.

“Good thing she’s not gonna be on the flight,” Fred whispered into your ear. “A six hour trip to New York? That’s a lot of Hermione.”

Smiling you turned to look at Fred who was holding something in his hand. “What’ve you got there?”

He grinned cheekily and gave you a better look. “Condoms, Y/N! You never know what American hotties I might meet overseas.”

Rolling your eyes you turned to George, who was giving you the same grin. “And I suppose you’re just as prepared as your brother?”

“Of course! Y’know, I feel bad for poor Ronniekins, getting himself all tied down to one woman. Me and Fred, we know how to live, isn’t that right mate?”

“You said it.” You sighed and settled into Fred even more, relaxing for a few minutes before Hermione would drag you all to the airport and you and Harry would be stuck trying to teach the Weasleys how Muggle planes worked.

There was an audible pop as Ron apparated into the room, standing off by the kitchen.

“Hey!” he greeted, causing you to sit up from your comfortable position wrapped in Fred’s arm and go meet your friend with a hug.

“Hey.” You squeezed him tight, noticing how his nerves had overtaken him.

“Are you ready yet?” he asked, fidgeting with his wand.

Before you could respond Hermione came barging out of George’s bedroom and threw two suitcases onto the twins’ laps with what could only be described as superhuman strength. “She’s ready. You have the tickets?”

“Harry and Gin do, they’ll be here any second.” The only current couple of the group, and an engaged one at that, suddenly arrived with another loud pop, startling Fred who had begun to count his condoms to make sure he had enough.

“Hey big brother!” Ginny hugged Ron with enthusiasm, but not as much as Harry showed as he threw himself onto his best friend.

“You’re getting married Ron!”

“I know!”

They stayed wrapped in their hug as they jumped around and around, George clapping along and laughing at the duo.

“Don’t know why Lavender would want to marry a specky git like you,” said the younger twin, “but at least we get to travel to the states for it.”

“And have wedding food,” said Fred.

“Oh and you can’t forget the hot bridesmaids, right boys?” you questioned jokingly.

They shared a mischievous look. “Never.”

A loud bell sounded through the loft, signaling that someone had come in.

“That must be Luna!” Ginny exclaimed. She sprinted down the stairs and wrapped the blonde girl in a hug, being gentle as to not crush her or her pregnant belly.

“Hello Ginny, how are you?”

“Never better! Thanks again for offering to help Hermione watch the apartments and oversee the shop and employees. Ron really wishes you could make it to the wedding, but seeing as you’re about to burst--”

Luna interrupted her old friend with a soft laugh. She was 8 months pregnant with twin boys, and was left home alone for a few weeks while her husband dealt with a work issue in Eastern Asia. Which meant she had plenty of free time to make sure things were running smoothly in London while her friends were overseas.

The two girls were joined by the rest of the gang who had been pushed down the stairs by a frantic Hermione. “Get going, all of you! You’re going to miss your flight.”

“New York baby!” The twins had jumped down from one of the landings, somehow managing not to injure themselves. Although they were now 26 they were never without their childlike energy.

“I’m walking here!” cried Fred in a horrid New York accent.

“Yee haw, cowboy!” said George, doing a little cowboy dance.

You sighed and slapped your head with your hand. “Okay, cause that’s not gonna get annoying.”

They ignored you and continued with their yelling and dancing, dragging as much luggage as they could out the front door of the shop.

“Well,” said Ron, “we’re all here and ready. I guess we should get going!” Harry and Ginny gave Luna one last goodbye as they followed you out to the alley, leaving only Ron, Hermione, and Luna left in the shop.

“So, we’re off,” said Ron, a little awkwardly. He and Hermione had a bit of a rough past, having dated on and off for the past few years. But that was all behind them now, and she was happy that he had reconnected with their friend Lavender from Hogwarts and had fallen in love.

“Have fun, Ron,” replied the bushy-haired girl.

“Thanks,” he said, giving his friend a tight hug. “Ugh, I can’t believe you’re not gonna be there!”

Hermione sighed and pulled back. “Oh I know, I’m sorry.”

“So-so come! Why don’t you come?”

“What?”

“To New York!” Ron was holding Hermione’s hands and jumping up and down. “Come to New York, please? It’ll mean so much to me.”

Hermione hesitated for a moment. She wanted to go, to have a great trip with her friends and visit the historical places she’d read so much about. But she didn’t have it in her to watch her ex-boyfriend get married to someone else.

“Yeah, well, I gotta work, I’m sorry. The Ministry is really up my arse these days, pardon my language.”

“Mione, this is my wedding,” he said, giving her his best puppy dog eyes.

You stuck your head back through the door and called out to them. “Alright, y’know what? Now we really are late, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

Ron sighed and let go of his friend, grabbing his suitcase before heading out the door. “I’ll see you when I get back, Mione. Bye Luna!”

Luna and Hermione both gave small waves as Ron pulled the door shut. A resounding “New York, baby” could be heard even from deep inside the shop, and Hermione giggled as her friends made their way to the London airport.

----------------------------------------

“Alright,” said Ginny as you all stepped out into the streets of New York City. “Harry and I will help the groom and bride-to-be get everything set up for their big day. Which means you, Y/N, get the honor of babysitting my older brothers.”

“Ginny I can’t handle them all by myself! We’ve been here for less than 5 minutes and look at what they’re doing already.” You all turned to look at the ginger twins, who were standing on top of a map of the city and staring down at it.

“What is going on with you two?” you asked, but you were quickly silenced as Fred placed his finger on your lips.

“We’re concentrating. We went in the map so we can figure out where we are.” He kept his finger there until you finally removed it and looked at the map they had made, complete with little pop ups of all the important places they wanted to see.

“If you see a little version of me in there, kill it.” Harry laughed at your quip and grabbed Ginny’s hand, waving goodbye as the couple and Ron made their way to meet Lavender and her family.

“We got it!” screamed the twins. They stepped out of the map and started walking right, on to their first tourist destination. “Here we go.”

“Okay, listen,” you said catching up to them, “we’re not gonna have to walk this way the entire time are we?”

Fred shushed you and George groaned. “Y/N, you made me lose it!”

George put the map down and stood back on it. “A lot harder when the map doesn’t change specifically for you and show you exactly where you are, huh?” you asked, referencing the parchment the twins used for years back in Hogwarts.

They ignored you and took off down the street again, their long legs moving so fast you had to almost sprint in order to keep up the pace. This was going to be a long day.

------------------------------

Meanwhile Harry, Ron, and Ginny had made it to the Brown’s apartment in New York. Although Lavender was raised in England and attended Hogwarts, her extended family lived in the States and her parents moved there after she graduated. The apartment was rather large, but that was no surprise as the Browns were a wealthy family.

“Oh Won Won!” Ron was greeted at the door with a vibrant Lavender throwing herself into his arms. Ron laughed and spun her around, giving her a quick kiss before finally setting her down.

“Hey Lavender, I missed you.” He smiled warmly at his fiancee, soon to be his wife. After Padma left him right before he was going to propose years ago, Ron decided not to waste any time in popping the question once he and Lavender started dating. They’d only been going out for a few months before he asked, but despite the worried opinions of their friends they were convinced that this was the right thing to do.

Lavender pulled Ron down for another kiss, this one much more passionate than the last. “I missed you too.”

They were pulled apart by an awkward cough from Harry, an arm around Ginny who was covering her eyes to avoid watching her brother make out with someone in front of her.

“Sorry Harry, Ginny,” said Lavender. “It’s great to see you both. Come on in, will you, we have a few last minute preparations to attend to.”

They followed the brunette into her family’s apartment, which was decked out in reception decorations that still needed to be set up. “Where’s the rest of your group? They are coming, aren’t they?”

“Y/N and the twins are out exploring the city,” said Ginny. “I figured you probably didn’t want Fred and George to be around anything important, especially with their history of pyrotechnics. And I don’t trust them alone in the city, so Y/N’s making sure they don’t burn down half of New York.”

Lavender laughed and poured some tea for her friends. “And what about Hermione, is she at the hotel?”

The room suddenly got very tense and Harry quietly sipped his tea, trying to disappear from the awkward scene.

“Umm,” Ron began, “Hermione’s not coming. She can’t get time off at the Ministry and she’s helping watch over our apartments and take care of Luna.”

Lavender nodded sadly, sighing deeply at the news. “I guess it’s all for the best then. She never did like me, did she?”

“No, that’s not true at all,” Ron argued, taking his fiancee's hands. “She’s just...she takes a while to warm up to people. She really wishes she could be here, but you know how work is.”

The girl smiled slightly at Ron’s comforting words. “Yeah, thanks Won Won.”

He squeezed her hands gently.

“Alright then,” said Ginny, “what needs to be done? Even though Parvati is your maid of honor and I swear I’m not upset about it--” Harry elbowed Ginny hard, “--I’m still one of your bridesmaids, and I want my big brother’s wedding to be as amazing as possible. So, what should we do?”

“Well,” Lavender said, clapping her hands, “I need a new venue. The one I had was going to be absolutely gorgeous, but they tore it down early, which means we need a new spot.”

Although Lavender said these words calmly, it was obvious that she was on the verge of tears and the stress was getting to her.

“Got it,” said Ginny. “Let’s go check out the old venue and see if there’s anything we can do. I promise you Lav, this day is going to be amazing, for everyone.”

------------------------------

“This is going to be horrible!”

Hermione was pacing around her apartment, the one she shared with you and Ginny. She was packing up Ginny’s belongings for when everyone returned from the wedding. Once Ron moved out of his and Harry’s shared apartment across the hall, Ginny would move in with her fiance, leaving only you and Hermione to share the space. Hermione decided that packing for Ginny would help take her mind off of the wedding, but unfortunately her assumptions were incorrect.

“What’s the matter?” Luna asked from the sofa, leaning comfortably against a pillow with the Quibbler in her hands.

Hermione sighed as she continued to pack. “I’m just bummed about the way I left things with Ron. I shouldn’t have lied to him about having to go to work. He seemed so mad at me.”

“Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself,” the blonde said, not looking up from her reading. “If someone I was still in love with was getting married…”

Luna jumped as a vase hit the floor and shattered. She looked up to see a wide-eyed Hermione staring at her. “Still in love with?!”

“Yes,” she said matter-of-factly.

“I’m not in love with Ron!” Hermione screamed.

Realization flooded Luna’s face. “Oh, no, good! Yeah, me neither.”

Hermione sat down across from her friend, ripping the Quibbler from her hands and attention.

“Luna,” she said, “I’m not going to Ron’s wedding because he is my ex-boyfriend and that would be really uncomfortable. Not because I’m still in love with him! I mean, I like Ron as much as the next girl. Clearly I still have feelings for him, but feelings don’t mean love! I mean, I still have loving feelings for Ron. But, but that doesn’t mean that-that I’m still in love with him! I-I have sexual feelings for him, but I do love him--oh!” she gasped at her own words. “Luna why didn’t you tell me?”

“We thought you knew!” she said, surprised that Hermione was for once in her life so oblivious. “We talk about it all the time!”

“You all know?” Hermione asked. “Does, does Ron know?”

“Oh no,” Luna answered calmly. “Ron doesn’t know anything.”

Hermione started pacing once again, this time much more frantically. “Oh, I can not believe you didn’t tell me!”

“We thought you knew!” Luna replied. “It’s so obvious. That would be like telling Ginny ‘hey, you like to play Quidditch,’ or you know, ‘George, you’re gay.’”

The pacing girl stopped dead in her tracks. “What?”

“Oh please,” replied the younger blonde, “she’s always got a broom in her hand!”

------------------------------

“Alright! The Empire State Building. Hands down, best State building I’ve ever seen.” George pulled out his Muggle camera, still trying to figure out which buttons did what. They were a lot smaller than the one Colin Creevey used to carry around at Hogwarts and George still hadn’t gotten the hang of using Muggle items.

“What do you think of the Empire, Y/N?” Fred turned his head to you as he asked his question. Your legs had gotten tired from jogging to keep up with the ginormous twins so Fred had offered to let you ride on his back the rest of the way, an offer you couldn’t refuse.

You hopped down and quickly covered your eyes to hide from the bright flash of George’s camera. “I don’t know, I can’t see it with that thing blinding me, George.”

He quickly apologized, but not before snapping a picture of Fred wrapping his arms around you and smiling while you glared at the camera.

“Someone’s grouchy today,” Fred said, swaying you back and forth a few times before releasing his grip.

“I’m just tired, jet lag y’know?” He nodded and pointed to his back, letting you know it was alright to get back on. You didn’t hesitate to jump onto the redhead as he followed his brother into the massive building in front of you.

After waiting in line for what seemed like hours you finally made it onto the elevator to take you to the top of the building. George continued to take pictures of anything and everything, including you flipping him off from on Fred’s back. As the doors opened and you stepped out onto the observation deck, you were amazed by the incredible view before you.

Thousands of tiny buildings filled with thousands of tiny people stood before you, or rather below you. It was like you were on your broom and flying high in the sky, except this time time you didn’t have to focus on keeping your broom in check. You could just stand and stare.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Fred came up next to you, leaning on a railing in front of him. He hunched down enough that his face was right next to yours as the two of you stared at The Big Apple.

“It really is.” You looked around for George, but he was off pestering other tourists to take pictures of him and the city behind him. “Remember when we were playing Quidditch at the burrow, and I flew up this high and stayed there for hours?”

“How could I forget,” Fred laughed. “We had to send search parties for you, thought you had been snatched up by dementors or something.”

“Nope, just got a little distracted by the view.” You continued to watch the amazing landscape and incredible sky, not missing the looks Fred was giving you. “What’re you looking at, Weasley? Don’t tell me that I’m more enchanting than the city. I mean, we all know it’s true but try not to make it so obvious.”

You pinched his cheek and he swatted your hand away playfully. “Don’t be stupid,” he said. “I was just remembering the time I peed on you to combat the jellyfish sting.”

“Fred!” you whisper yelled, laughing as he put his hands up. “We said we would never talk about that again. I don’t need that reminder!”

“I’m sorry, it’s just too good of a story! Really shows the strength of our friendship.”

You rolled your eyes at your best friend. Technically you would’ve considered Ron to be your best friend, as you’d known him the longest and had been the closest with him for so many years. But the past few years, living close to Fred and hanging out with him almost every day, he had become the most important person in your life. He was always there to make you smile or laugh when you had a rough day, or wrap you up in a blanket and watch a movie after a horrid date with some arsehole. He was one of a kind, and you were so glad he was in your life.

“Y’know what Fred?” you asked, scooting closer to him. “If you ever got stung by a jellyfish, I’d pee on you too.”

Fred wiped away fake tears from his eyes. “I’d pee on you any day of the week, Y/N,” he said, pulling you into a tight hug.

“What the hell did I just walk into?” George was standing behind you and Fred, having only heard Fred’s last sentence. The two of you cackled with laughter, bringing George into the hug with you and just enjoying the moment.

------------------------------

“Hey Luna?” Hermione called from her bedroom. She and her friend had spent the day discussing her feelings for Ron and trying their best to help her get over him. Apparently recounting the horrors of their relationship was not helping in the slightest.

“Yeah,” Luna called back from the kitchen.

“Do you remember where the pygmy puff food is?” Her muffled voice sounded rushed and anxious, even more so than Hermione usually was.

“Yeah, it’s under the front counter of Fred and George’s shop. Why?”

Luna turned her head to see Hermione come flying into the room dragging a packed suitcase behind her. “Because I’m going to New York.”

The pregnant girl nearly had a heart attack at Hermione’s declaration. “What? What do you mean you’re going to New York?”

Hermione grabbed a few more essentials from around the apartment, rushing in order to catch the next flight. “Yeah, I have to tell Ronald that I love him. Now Luna, you take care, you don’t have those babies until I get back.”

“I--but what about all of the finding his flaws and burning his picture rituals we’ve been doing?” Luna asked, straining to stand up and chase after her friend.

Hermione easily moved past the slow-moving girl, zipping up her bag and heading to the door. “Yeah, that didn’t work. I know he loves Lavender but I have to tell him how I feel! He deserves to have all of the information and then he can make an informed decision.”

Phoebe shook her head and continued to hobble around the room. “No, Hermione, it’s too late, you missed your chance! I’m sorry, I know this must be really hard, it’s over.”

The other girl paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “Y’know what? No. It’s not over until someone says ‘I do.’” And with that she took off out of the apartment and to the streets of Diagon Alley, on her way to another country to declare her love for Ron Weasley.

#fredweasley #fredweasleyxreader #fredweasleyimagine #georgeweasley #hermionegranger #harrypotter #friends #ginnyweasley #lunalovegood #ronweasley #fred #fredweasleyfluff #fredweasleyseries

45 notes · View notes

mostlycompetentwriter · 4 years

Text

Angel

F/M Pairing: Y/N x Johnny Seo (NCT)

Warnings: Language, some mentions of smut

Genre: Married AU; Family AU

Word Count: 2.1K

Summary: Y/N has a good life. She’s married to her high school sweetheart and she has two amazing kids. However, even she has days where this whole quarantine thing really starts to take its toll.

A/N: Johnny said he’d be married with kids by now, so I made it happen fictitiously.

Angel

It was morning again, and I reluctantly opened my eyes to the familiar chime of my alarm. I released a groan, reaching over to silence my cellphone while ignoring the familiar sounds of footsteps in the hallways.

“Mommy!” My daughter’s screeching voice managed to somehow defy the barrier of my bedroom door, finding me through the drowsy haze that desperately wanted more sleep.

“Five more minutes,” I slurred, but my wish was never granted. Instead, I had my hopes dashed when my daughter and son abruptly slammed the bedroom door against its hinges, screaming at the top of their lungs as they threw themselves on top of me. The bedframe creaked from the additional weight, and my eyes shot open when my son crawled over my stomach, pressing down uncomfortably against my poor bladder. “Okay!” I grimaced, attempting to sit up straight. “I think we’ve had enough time to torture Mommy.”

My daughter was a mess of giggles, looking up at me with brown eyes that distinctly reminded me of Johnny. “Guess what?” she whispered as if protecting a secret of immense value.

“What?” I whispered in return.

“I made you a picture!” she squealed, reaching for my hand and using gravity to her advantage when she rolled off the mattress and landed in the floor. I winced at the pressure on my shoulder, complying with her demands by throwing my legs over the side of the bed.

“I’m coming.” I groaned, watching as she and her younger brother immediately took off in the direction of the living room.

It had become a tedious cycle at this point, waking up early in the morning to cook breakfast, only to spend most of the day figuring out creative ways to keep my children entertained. I sighed in exasperation, secretly cursing Johnny because he still had to work everyday at the office in spite of this enormously burdensome pandemic that forced the schools to close. Since I was an Elementary school teacher, I was also forced to stay at home everyday, which initially seemed advantageous because I wouldn’t need to inquire about a babysitter for our kids. However, the longer I spent locked inside the house all day, the more I was slowly starting to lose my mind and all sense of rationality.

My children were both young and energetic, demanding constant attention.

They were also notorious mischief makers.

Thus, I paused at the entrance to the living room, ignoring my son and daughter as they clapped along with the characters on their TV show. Because there was nothing to celebrate in regards to the mess that was waiting for me in the form of the dreaded Crayola Massacre. Lines of blue, black, and yellow decorating my walls in long stripes. “Do you like it, Mommy?” my daughter asked, and I closed my eyes in response, exhaling around a sigh instead of the scream that fought for release.

Despite scrubbing at the walls for over three hours, there was still evidence of my daughter’s artwork in faded colors that had successfully smeared themselves together in decidedly very unattractive ways. However, the arrival of my husband signaled a reprieve from my work, and I was lucky enough to intercept Johnny’s entrance without our children noticing. He smiled at me like a knight in shining armor, shrugging off his jacket and grunting when I ran into his arms.

“Y/N, what are you-” I cut him off with a kiss, pressing my lips fiercely against his in the hopes of using Johnny to drown out the rest of this disastrous day. I was a needy mess for my husband, and I wordlessly led him into our bedroom while keeping our mouths seared together.

“Holy shit, I missed you,” I whined, and Johnny kissed me feverishly while I wrapped my arms around his neck in desperation, grinding myself against his thigh in the hopes of chasing an orgasm that I had been denied for weeks while remaining at home.

“Daddy!”

“No,” I whimpered pathetically when I felt Johnny start to pull away, clutching tightly to his shirt sleeves while he chuckled and gently reached behind him for the door.

“We’ll talk later,” he said with a wink, turning around to greet his son who jumped gleefully into his father’s arms.

Meanwhile, I was left feeling increasingly desperate, studying my husband’s ass with a groan. Why did he have to look so ridiculously good in the suits that he was required to wear to the office? It was a tragedy for my condition because I wanted nothing more than to drag Johnny onto our bed while I spread my legs wide open for him.

But the moment was tragically gone. My children had my husband’s attention, so I trudged despondently into the kitchen to prepare another half-assed attempt at a meal.

After dinner, I decided to clean up in the kitchen, hearing my husband attempt to handle our demanding children in the living room. They were playing some kind of made-up game that Johnny had likely encouraged, claiming that it was good for them to use their imaginations. Whatever it was, I could tell that it had taken quite the number on my husband when he entered the kitchen while panting, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Are you having fun?” I asked with a smirk.

Johnny glared playfully in my direction. “What are you talking about? I love it when they wrestle me to the floor.”

“They can be a handful,” I said with a shaky sigh, closing my eyes for a moment as I finished the dishes.

“Hey, is something wrong?” Johnny asked, leaning against my side as he wrapped one arm around my waist.

I decided not to hold anything back since the possibility of losing my last hold on rational sanity was dying each day. “I can’t fucking take it anymore,” I said, groaning as I pressed myself even closer to his chest. “I love them so much, but I need time to myself, and I can’t even cook lunch without someone glued to my legs!”

Johnny chuckled, but he held me close as he planted a kiss on top of my head. “Y/N, you shouldn’t let yourself get this bad.”

“I’m their mother,” I said. “I should be able to handle anything.”

“Everyone needs some time away,” Johnny said, soothing his hand across my back in a much-needed gesture of comfort. “Hey, why don’t we go out tomorrow?”

I sniffled, looking up at him through blurry eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, we can call Mark or something to come watch the kids while we go out for a drive. Grab takeout and park the car on the river.”

I snorted around a laugh. “Mark is basically a kid himself.”

“He can handle them for a few hours,” Johnny said, pulling away to press a gentle kiss to my lips. “What do you say?”

I managed a nod before allowing Johnny to engulf me in his strong embrace, blocking out the rest of the world for several long, glorious minutes.

Mark Lee was, in a sense, mostly reliable when it came to babysitting. The main problem was that he still possessed a childlike mentality himself, and I would worry constantly about my kids while they were left to his care. But Mark was the only one available at this hour, and he promised me a thousand times that he would actually obey the list I gave him. Including a detailed outline of all the foods that my kids couldn’t have after 8:00 PM.

“You two have fun,” Mark said with a knowing wink, and I rolled my eyes at him.

“We’ll be back before 10:00,” I said, grabbing Johnny’s hand as the two of us left Mark standing on the front porch, walking to Johnny’s car in relative silence.

However, as soon as I was situated in the front seat, I turned to look at Johnny as he messed with the ignition. “Well?” I asked him. “What do you want to do?”

Johnny laughed, easing the car onto the road as he glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “Remember what we used to do in college?”

“You mean, drive somewhere isolated with our cheap takeout?”

Johnny nodded. “What do you think?”

“I think that’s the best idea you’ve had in a long time,” I said, instantly onboard with such a seemingly innocuous suggestion, but it was the most thrilling plan I had been apart of in months.

It made me miss our college days, when our only responsibilities included turning in essays ten minutes before their due date while trying to balance the tricky combination of a social life and attaining a useful education. Johnny and I met during his Senior year of college at a frat party, and it seemed like our future together was solidified when he took me out on his drunken version of a first date in the parking lot behind Burger King. Regardless of how ridiculous it seemed in the present, I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything else in the entire world.

“I feel you thinking hard, babe,” Johnny remarked as we pulled into the parking lot of our favorite diner.

“It’s nothing,” I reassured him, watching as Johnny dialed the diner’s phone number to place a takeout order, and we talked for twenty minutes about how much of an asshole Johnny’s boss acted during quarantine.

It was raining when our order was finally ready, and I laughed when Johnny ran out of the car, holding one of our backseat towels over his head. It was a hilarious sight, and my smile was almost painfully wide when he returned with our bag, dripping from head to toe. “I hope the food isn’t ruined,” Johnny said, giving no further thought to his disheveled state.

Nevertheless, Johnny drove us to the abandoned parking lot at the beach downtown, overlooking the ocean at night as it reflected the full moon in all its glory. Meanwhile, I bit down into my hamburger, relishing the delicious taste, and moving my head in time to the music playing over the radio. “I heard someone tried to repaint the wall yesterday,” Johnny remarked.

“Oh, right,” I scoffed. “I was cleaning for hours.”

“I’m sorry, baby,” Johnny said, handing me one of his french fries over the center console as an act of appeasement. “I feel bad. I should’ve known that the kids would drive you crazy.”

“I love them,” I pouted. “But they have too much energy.”

“Why don’t we all take a drive this weekend?” Johnny suggested. “I know we can’t do much, but the fresh air might be nice.”

I nodded eagerly while tossing the rest of my trash into our takeout bag. “The kids will love it.”

Johnny nodded, reaching for my hand which he held with a gentle touch. “You deserve something better than takeout in the car.”

I shook my head, leaning in closer to brush a kiss across his lips. “This is nice, Johnny. I can’t be that picky when the entire country is going to shit.”

“Really?” Johnny asked, reaching out to hold my head in place as he deepened the kiss. “Isn’t there something else that you want?”

My eyes widened at his implications, especially considering the frantic way he was kissing me as his hands smoothed across my thighs. “Are you serious?”

“What? You don’t think I can still do this?” Johnny asked breathlessly, kissing me with growing desperation.

“Are you seriously suggesting that we fuck in your car?”

“Why not?” he asked, pulling back with swollen lips and lust-filled eyes.

“Well, if you say it like that...” I trailed off, laughing when Johnny reached for me across the console, dragging me onto his lap with a series of clumsy movements.

“This isn’t romantic lovemaking,” Johnny said, ripping down the sleeves of my dress. “But I think we both need a quick fuck.”

I gasped at his crude language. “You haven’t talked to me like that in months!”

Johnny chuckled. “There’s been a few distractions.”

“But I really missed this,” I said, licking into his mouth while my hands grabbed fistfuls of his dark brown hair.

“I promise that I’ll make more time for us,” Johnny said, thumbing across the inviting swell of my breasts. “I love you so much.”

“Mhmm,” I hummed in agreement, reaching down for the zipper on his pants. “Will you show me how much you love me?”

Johnny smirked against my lips, reaching down to recline the seat further back, and his hands gathered the hem of my dress as he proceeded to make-up for weeks of neglected opportunities...

#nct #nct fanfic #nct johnny fanfic #johnny seo x y/n #johnny seo fanfic #nct johnny smut #nct imagines #nct scenarios #quarantine woes

132 notes · View notes

memes-saved-me · 4 years

Text

Hello harringrove people, I’m @deemax01 and I wrote this one shot with the help of @memes-saved-me , it’s inspired by Conan grey’s comfort crowd, I hope you enjoy it ❤️

Steve was leaning on his car smoking a cigarette, When Billy walked out to the parking lot, he walked towards Steve the moment he got sight of him, with a grin on his face.

“Hi there, handsome.”he purred, standing too close, with his hand on Steve’s waist.

“Billy!” Steve pushed him back gently with the slightest hint of a smile.

“Stop it, we’re in school!” Even though there weren’t many people there and they were standing behind the car, Steve was a better safe than sorry person .

“Jeese! Fine, when did you get so boring?” he tried to miss with Steve but it was so obvious he’s just playing.

“Shut up”Steve Huffed through a laugh, and billy grinned wider.

“7 o’clock, your place” he said and Steve wished they could just go now honestly.

“How about 9:30?” He blurted before Billy started moving away.

“Why?” He furrowed his brows.

“My dad wants me to go to this stupid event with him, anyways we should be home by then so…”

“Your parents are home?” Billy raised his eyebrow.

Steve smiled, twisting his finger in one of Billy’s belt loops, pulling him closer.

“Yeah, sneak in through my window.” He said into his ear, letting his hand slowly slide further down before pulling it back. He leaned back on his car with the proudest little smirk on his face. Billy’s eyes got a bit darker and his expression fond , he averted his eyes to the side with a small smile.

“Alright, pretty boy.”He walked back biting his lip.Then turned around and got in his car.

Steve was reluctant on going with his father, he had a good reason to be too, whenever they go to one of those events, it’s like his dad took him along to mock him or something, he’s always pointing out other people’s investments, ideas, and whatever good things they’ve done in his opinion, never saying anything about Steve, he rarely comes home and when he does it always seems like he cares about other people more than his own son.

Steve couldn’t wrap his head around why, he’s seen him act like a father with young men in those events more than he acts like a father with him, he treats him more like an employee. However, he decided to go, because he’s just hopeful, all he wanted was some time with his father.

“Steven, are you ready?” his dad’s voice echoed from downstairs, as he was adjusting his tie.

“Yeah, just a second dad!” He shouted as he grabbed the perfume and started spraying.

“I’ll go wait in the car, hurry up!”

He was already walking down the stairs when he heard his dad mutter “I don’t even know why i try with him” to his mom.

“It’s okay, David, I’ll beat you to the beach house.”

“Alright, honey, see ya’”

He said and got out the front door.

Steve pretended he didn’t hear a thing, but when he got down he saw two suitcases next to the door.

“What’s that?” He asked his mom.

“Suitcases!” She giggled “what’s it look like?”

“I know, but you guys just got home” he did not need them, he was just fine with them being away.

“Well, we thought we’d go spend a few days in the beach house, you know, a bit of a vacation?”

He couldn’t believe it, they’re such assholes!

“Do you guys just not wanna be near me or something?” Steve blurted through a disbelieving chuckle.

“What? Of course not honey!” She was so fake , oh my god.

“What do you mean of course not?! You got home yesterday afternoon! I didn’t even get to spend a few hours with you!” Steve was starting to get worked up but before his mom answered him, his dad honked.

He didn’t wait for her to speak, just shook his head and grabbed his jacket, slamming the door behind him.

As soon as he got in the car his father started scolding him.

“Seriously Steven, are you trying to make us late on purpose? You have to learn to organize your time!”

“What are you talking about? You just got in the car as well!” He clapped his lips just as the words were out.

“I’m sorry, dad, I’m just a bit upset.” He said when his dad glared at him.

“Why are you upset?”

“Well, do you guys have to leave? I mean you just got home, I haven’t seen you for a few months and you’re not even leaving for work!” He complained

“Steve..” oh shit, Steve wished he had just kept his mouth shut, his dad’s tone was actually terrifying.

“Since when do you tell us what to do?”

“Dad-“

“Did I finish talking?”oh god, Steve gulped.

“No, sorry.” He kept his eyes down, he just wanted this whole moment to be over ,so he’ll shut up and let his dad say whatever he wants to say.

“You don’t question our decisions, You don’t tell us how to do things, it’s disrespectful!” He was talking so fucking slow. Like Steve was a five year old who couldn’t understand how to behave.

“And you still wonder why we’re leaving!” He scoffed.

His eyes weren’t burning, and he was fine, he doesn’t care about what his dad’s saying.

“Good thing you’re coming with me, maybe you’ll learn something.”

Steve kept his eyes away from his dad, looking outside The window for the rest of the way.

Billy was so happy with Steve, they didn’t really put a label on what they had, didn’t say their ”I love you‘s“ yet, but they made each other happy.He started getting ready at 8:30 , planning to be there early, to light a few candles, play some music, and be ready and waiting for steve when he got home.Billy never really was the type to prepare surprises but he thought it’d be a nice gesture. He wore his date outfit and got in the camaro.

Meanwhile, Steve and his dad were talking to some of his dad’s business associates, he just nodded throughout the whole thing not paying attention to what they were saying, that’s until their conversation shifted from finance and business to one of the people in this event.

“Unbelievable!” Scoffed one of them, Steve couldn’t remember his name, John? Jones? Something like that.

He followed their looks to see a man walking in with a boy younger than Steve, probably fourteen or fifteen, he still couldn’t see what’s “unbelievable”.

“He is so unprofessional! Was it really that hard to get his son to wear a suit?” Jones complained, to which steve replied

“He’s wearing jeans, and he’s young, I don’t think it’s that bad really.” The boy looked like a normal kid, and his father was smiling and not bothered, honestly if they’re comfortable, just let them be! He felt his father’s eyes on him but he really couldn’t care less.

Those men just shoved their noses in every single thing they set their eyes on, and Steve’s had enough of having to listen to them and keep quiet, be respectful as his dad would describe it.

“It just bothers me how he’s completely comfortable with his son dressed like that! What a shame, he’s actually a very good man.” That stuck in the mud asshole kept talking, like he was right and everyone else was wrong.

“I mean, if you minded your own business it wouldn’t really bother you what other people are wearing, he looks like he’s letting his son be himself, that’s pretty respectful to me.” Steve said coolly with a shrug of his shoulder, and saying that the man was shocked would be a gross understatement!

“Steven.” Shit, here we go.

“Yes.” He looked at his dad, who he didn’t realize was livid, until he saw his expression.

“Follow me, we’re going home.” He left without breaking eye contact with steve, Steve was petrified but he wasn’t gonna deny himself the pleasure of seeing the look on their faces one last time.

“Gentlemen.” He nodded at them with a smirk and left to go to his father.

When he got in the car his dad was quiet for about fifteen minutes, and he just looked out the window, waiting for the shoe to drop.

“Who do you think you are? To embarrass me like that? In front of my colleagues!” He yelled out his last words but Steve didn’t even flinch, he was so done with his dad that he didn’t even care anymore.

“What? Was I supposed to just stand there, let them talk shit about whatever and WHOEVER they want!”

“Yes! You were, I can’t believe I took you with me!, I should’ve just left you home, to help your mom pack or something!” He was so angry.

“Here we fucking go again!” Steve yelled, he knew his dad wouldn’t like him swearing, that’s exactly why he did it.

“Shut up! How dare you talk to me like that? You are such a shame to us Steve! I can’t believe that my son could be so damn insolent like that!”he shook his head as he pulled up to their house, It didn’t sting or hurt, Steve didn’t care.

“Your son? Oh my god! You remember that I’m your son! Hulle- freaking- lujah!” He yelled back at him.

“Well, here’s a tip dad, maybe if you were around like a good fucking father, then I wouldn’t have turned out like this! A fucking shame to you!” He shouted, and before he could even comprehend it, his face turned to the side, his cheek stinging, he slapped him.

“Get out of the car.” He said with a steady, hard voice.

Steve felt his eyes well up with tears as he looked back at his dad.

“I’m your son, Do you even love me?” His voice was shaky, and the lump in his throat is growing by the second.

“Get out!” His dad looked at him without any sort of emotion, except anger of course.

He nodded, looking down “that’s what I thought anyway.” He muttered as he opened the door.

His dad drove away as fast as he could, of course the beach house was so much more important than his son, his crying and broken son.

Billy had just jumped in through the window, took off his leather jacket and hung it on Steve’s chair, he was fixing his hair on the mirror when he heard the front door.

“Shit!” He looked at the time, it was 9 o’clock, if Steve’s parents saw him they'd think he was some kind of thief or something, he hid in Steve’s bathroom, waiting to see who it was, when he heard sobs, wait a minute...sobs?

He didn’t get time to try to make sense of it, because Steve walked into the room and slammed the door behind him, sobbing and wiping the tears off of his face violently.

Billy hurried to him.

“Steve!” He said gently when he saw him pulling his tie off.

Steve turned, startled “Billy?” His breath was unsteady as he was trying to take off the tie “what are you doing here?” He was a mess.

“Hey, what happened?” He got closer to him cupping his face, but Steve looked like he went to another place when Billy asked him that, he started trying to take off his tie and tears started pouring down his face again, pulling away from Billy.

“Wow! hey, hey, Steve, baby, you’re okay, you’re fine.” He held his hand to stop him. from pulling at the tie like that, he could hurt himself.

“No, no, Billy take it off, please.” He started sobbing again.

“Okay, okay, we’re taking it off, baby, just breathe.”

“I can’t, I can’t, it’s suffocating me.” He covered his face with his hands as he started shaking, and billy took off his tie, opened his first few buttons, he looked so young and sad.

“It’s off, baby, it’s okay.” He assured him,cupping his cheeks and wiping off his tears, Steve’s hands were shaking above Billy's and he was heaving with sobs.

“What happened? Baby, talk to me.” Billy’s heart was breaking for him.

He let out a whimper and shook his head, that’s when Billy noticed his cheek being very red, he turned Steve’s head to the side trying to get a better look at it, what the hell?

“Steve, who did this to you?” He was going to kill whoever did that to Steve, but Steve just sunk to the ground and closed his eyes, leaning on the door behind him.

“It doesn’t matter, Billy.” He managed to croak through unsteady breathes.

“Steve, it does matter! Who did this?” Billy was getting angrier, and Steve didn’t have energy for that.

“It doesn’t matter!” He cried, and Billy sighed, lowering himself to face Steve.

“It’s okay, I’m fine.” He exhaled, wiping away his tears, he sounded broken.

“Steve, please just tell me who did this to you and i swear they won’t get away with this.” He begged.

Steve’s chin trembled and he started chewing on his lower lip, he swiped at his eyes but the tears came anyway.

“I just, I need you to hold me right now, okay?” He inched closer, clenching his fist on Billy’s shirt, who immediately pulled him closer to his chest.

Steve knew his father wasn’t the ideal father, but the fact that he did not even love him, that he thought of him as a shame to the family was too much to handle, especially that he was trying so hard to be good in David’s eyes, it’s like he lost his dad forever. Billy kissed his forehead and ran his fingers through his lover’s hair.

“I’ve got you baby, whatever you need.” He sighed

“I’m okay.” Steve rasped leaning back on the door.

“You’ve said that lie already.” Billy caressed his cheek again and pulled him up with him.

Now that they were standing, he took a better look at him, his hair falling slightly over his eyes, his teary eyes, his cheeks angry red, his puffy lips, what the hell happened?

“C’mon, let’s get you out of this suit.” He held his hand, and pulled him inside to change.

“ I got this baby, it’s fine.” Steve muttered when Billy tried to help him, but he was still shaking, he just tried to pretend he was okay, and Billy knew that, he knew him too well.

“It’s okay, let me help you” He kissed him and took off his jacket first, threw it to the ground and started unbuttoning his shirt.

“Baby, if you’d just tell me who-”

“It was my dad.” Steve interrupted him.

Billy froze, looked up at Steve with shock, but the latter turned away as his face turned even redder.

“Hey, look at me.” His tone was so gentle.

“Steve…” he looked at him ,finally. “It’s okay, you’ve got me, it’s okay.” Steve just nodded, wiping his newly shed tears.

“He said that I’m a shame to him.” He choked on his words, as tears were streaming down his face, nonstop.

“No, you’re not, listen to me-“ Billy tried to calm him down.

“I was stupid enough to be hopeful that if I went with him, he’d be happy with me.” A loud, heart wrenching sob came over him.

“I wore a suit and a freaking tie! Tried to look fucking presentable! To meet his stuck up friends!” He bawled, so angry with himself.

“And he doesn’t even love me.” He whimpered, Billy didn’t know what to do, he cupped his face and wiped away his tears.

“He doesn’t love me, Billy, my own father!” He moaned.

“Shh, it’s gonna be alright, I got you”

As soon as he was done changing him into comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt, they laid down on the bed for a while, Steve holding on to Billy as hard as he could while the younger boy whispered sweet things in his ear, played with his hair, and occasionally kissed his cheek, that’s when Steve looked at the clock and realized that Billy had come early.

“You came earlier than I told you” he looked up to face Billy, confused.

“Yeah, well i had other plans in mind but you know…” he gave an awkward smile, and then Steve put it all together, his outfit, his hair, he even had other plans in mind.

“What were your plans?”

“It’s okay, baby, we can-“

“No, I wanna know what you had in mind.” He protested, adjusting himself on his elbow, looking directly into Billy’s eyes.

“Well, I was gonna make you feel good.” He looked down at Steve’s tear stained face, kissed him softly.

“Gonna kiss you.” He kissed him again, a soft, quick little peck that made his lips tingly. “Was gonna touch you in all sorts of ways.” He brought his hand up from his waist to his jaw, pulling him in for a kiss. His warm lips pressed against Steve’s as he melted into him, Steve straddled him, kissing him desperately, when he moved his hands to Steve’s waist gently pulling away, he knew that he wasn’t in the mood right now, he just wanted to distract himself.

“Steve, relax.” He breathed out, pressing his forehead against the older boy’s.

Steve groaned, throwing his body weight on Billy, chest to chest.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“There’s nothing to say.”

“you sure about that?” He glanced at him

“Thank you for being here, Billy.” He looked at him when he thanked him, so scensierly.

“Don’t thank me.” He kissed his head.

“Billy?”

“Yeah.”

“I love you.” The blonde's eyes widened, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

“What was that?”

“I love you, Billy.” He straightened his back again, pulling Billy up with him in a deep kiss, Billy had his arms around Steve’s back, kissing him just as passionately.

“I love you too.”he breathed when they pulled apart.

#harringrove #steve harrington x billy hargrove #billy x steve #stranger things #submission

50 notes · View notes

lorei-writes · 3 years

Text

The Dragon of Yss: Extra!

Bloopers, Outtakes, some HC

Masamune x MC (Mizusaki Mai)

Fantasy AU

Summary: He wanted Mai to remain herself - and for that very reason, he promised to protect her, at any cost. Little did he know, he may need somebody to save him as well.

All parts: Part 1 - Sands of Estarra , Part 2 - Findings , Part 3 - “ I knew you’d come.” , Part 4 - Reborn , Part 5 - Eevi , Part 6 - Closer , Part 7 - Way to Varshka , Part 8 - The Gods We Trust , Part 9 - Flowers that Bloom in Adversity , Part 10 - Singing Bird , Part 11 - Vibrant Smoke , Part 12 - Hidden in Plain Sight , Part 13 - Heritage , Part 14 - Isger , Part 15 - Mad Possibility , Part 16 - Unraveling , Part 17 - Promises Sealed in Snow , Part 18 - Never Unfamiliar, Part 19 - White Noise , Epilogue: Threads

So, the main part of the story may be over... But it did not stop my brain from coming up with few little things here and there. As such, allow me to share those here as well.

// Dialogue shortly following the ending of the series; between Iroha and Masamune

// General post-chapter 19 notes/HC + explanations

“What do you mean you were turned into a dragon?! I thought you said you’ve lied to me only once in my life and that this was the lie!”

“Of course not. It was when you were seven and refused to go to sleep without having cake, so I told you that the neighbours’ dog was hungry and ate it.”

(Pause)

“Are you for real?”

“Dire situations call for appropriate measures.”

“I swear to skies, dad...”

The Plague of Yss

Iroha - the heiress of the Date clan

I feel it may be somewhat unclear, yet I decided against repeating it in the story itself. As was stated, Mitsunari had some hypothesis to test and needed at least a single person who survived long enough into the plague OR recovered from it.

The plague of Yss was in fact more of a double-edged sword, perhaps it could be even called a ritual performed by Isgerians. Yssians are their descendants and, as you probably already know, Masamune turned into the dragon as the result of this plague.

Long story short: Masamune is the survivor of the plague, the one thing Mitsunari needed. This is also why they came to live in Varshka, the place being one of two major cities presented in the story. (Why Varshka and not Vyrminia? University in Vyrminia would still be partially destroyed. As was stated by Mila, despite being almost the same in most regards, the atmosphere is the major thing setting those two apart. +Take note that Ieyasu did work there shortly before being forced to move to Vyrminia and recorded a rapid increase of cases of said plague there).

As was implied several times in the story, magical abilities or lack thereof may influence one’s life to a great extent - from their social status to rendering them a desirable product on the black market.

Allow me to write a short list (least to most desirable) of abilities.

Giftless.

Healer.

Connector (either of two types).

Transmuter.

(As for why this order is like so: talk between Oxa and Masamune in regards to giftless and healers; fact that the only transmuter in the story is Alleyah/Manya and it’s specifically mentioned that this ability is extremely rare and desirable to the point of people being bred to acquire it in the offspring. Yes - yikes; the only remaining and most common class are, of course, connectors, hence its placement).

Lastly, before I move to the point, please let me remind you: abilities are inherited. It is not completely random.

How does it all tie up into Iroha’s situation?

The history repeats itself. Iroha is hence more desirable heir than any of her cousins. If she so chooses - she will become the heiress of the Date clan. However, as it was already implied in the story: it is a choice. Masamune tells her he will handle any business with his family if she wishes to take a different path.

Masamune is giftless, which, aside from having only one eye, makes him a very poor candidate for a heir. As such, it was his younger brother who was granted the role - whichever type of magic he possessed, it was better than no magic and the risk of passing this “affliction” onto the next head of the family.

However, just as magic is passed, so is lack of it. Even if it did not activate in his generation, Kojirou’s children are born giftless. (Given the context, despite the other parent possessing some sort of ability).

Meanwhile, Masamune’s daughter, Iroha, was born a connector, having inherited the ability from her mother.

Her trip to Mitsuhide’s estate is related to that - there are little other reliable ways for her to be taught about diplomacy.

On warlords and their relationships

This may cause a question to appear: how did the warlords even end up being connected? Well... Simply as that, they were all sons from rather prominent households and had most likely met each other during diplomacy trips of their parents. Them either becoming heads of said families or not - that comes into play later on in their life. Their relationships survived.

It also means that the reason why Ieyasu was able to become a physician is because he was a healer and hence, not the best candidate. Also - Masamune could travel the world in search of Mai because... He didn’t have any political duties to attend to.

As for Mitsunari and Hideyoshi - it’s not explained nor implied how they got where they are. However, it’s possible to adapt canon for the sake of that.

Portal magic and its many faces

As it was stated in the story, the main thing setting Arynthian people from other connectors is that - if one of them is born a connector - their magic manifests somewhat differently. It’s ruled by different limitations.

As such, Mai’s portal magic is different from that of Kyubei. (As it was shown, she can see colorful lines and can follow them basically anywhere. Kyubei, meanwhile, has to be able to see the place he is supposed to open the portal to - or to be able to visualise it well, as was pointed out when Mai passed through a portal point).

Why am I bringing it up? Because Iroha’s magic is a bit different too. It has less limitations that Kyubei’s ability, yet it isn’t as powerful as Mai’s.

This also explains why “Arynthinas” are so rare - the ability degenerates fast. It’s more of an error than actual ability, so to say.

Kenshin & the timeskip

What was he even doing then? How long was it?

Well. Kenshin has a very fuzzy memory of last 20-ish years of his life in the form of the dragon. As was previously mentioned, it happens so when the primal desires take over human mind - when smelling blood or... Well, or what? It was mentioned he was hungry.

Yes. He was starving himself for the entire duration of the timeskip. Why? Because then the flammable substance in his stomach self-ignited and caused him to combust. In a way, he committed an act of self-burning...

And flames of the dragon were the only thing which could turn him back. So they did.

// Bullet-points (not written in the story, may not be written, but overall, you can assume those are canon)

Iroha was born 12 months after her parents reunited. When Mai got pregnant, it was a surprise for all parties involved. However, they chose to continue the pregnancy.

Mai became proficient in portal magic mostly because Iroha’s powers would activate at random when she was still little. A toddler stuck between the worlds doesn’t make for a happy toddler.

On that note, Masamune could be hardly left home alone with her. Hardly, as he eventually developed fast enough reflexes to pull her out of a portal right as she was starting to pass through it. It later became a joke that they needed to keep her on a leash for few months - which is not completely incorrect.

Developing the cure involved taking plenty of samples. In other words: RiP Masamune’s veins, he would curse like a sailor whenever he had to have his blood drawn.

To follow down this path: the preventive medicine involved having your skin cut and then it being injected. Iroha was very young when it happened and so, she has a scar on her arm from that.

Shortly after that, they moved back to Yss. Masamune might have not been the heir, but family standing did make some matters easier to achieve for him. As such, he’s a bit of a local leader in his community, I would say, dealing mostly with local politics and management.

They were relieved when it turned out their son, Tadamune, was giftless.

Iroha will never live down what happened at the apple tree.

During winter, the frostbite on Mai’s hands makes itself known again. Her skin cracks and scabs start to form - and each year, Masamune takes it onto himself to tend to them. He is more than aware that she got it while he was still turned into the dragon.

Manya continued to serve under Mitsuhide. However, she hardly uses her power anymore. She grew particularly close with Kyubei, although they’re still working on the terminology. Or perhpas there is no reason for it?They’re not sure themselves; Call them very close friends.

Mitsuhide does not have a chid or a partner. He doesn’t seem to mind, however, his “niece” having always been a handful to manage. He made sure to tell everybody about the apple tree. All of his stories contradict each other.

Time almost stopped for Kenshin when he was still a dragon. In other words, he’s the oldest in actual years of life, but in terms of physical form? He’s younger than Masamune or any other warlord. This lands him in a rather peculiar spot of... Well, an adult face, although in his case, it’s just another variety of VERY severe baby face.

// outtakes

-- this was a very early attempt at writing the smut scene. Written several months prior to actually getting to this point in the story.

The room was cozy and simple, the inventory of it consisting of warm chimney stretching from below the floor and up through the ceiling, a small table, with a bronze basin on top of it, and a bed, just barely big enough to fit two people comfortably. They stepped inside, the white sheets seemingly calling them, inviting them to come closer. Mai sank onto the mattress first, her legs still remaining on the floor. She kicked her boots off and, this time, lay down properly.

„ We're switching today,” she said, opening her arms for Masamune. He obliged, soon nuzzling into the crook of her neck. Resting in silent contentment, he slung his arm over her waist, pulling her even closer. She stroked his hair tenderly, basking in the warmth exchanged between their bodies. Ever since she was kidnapped, she wanted to just hold him, knowing he'd push himself with no regard for his own well-being.

„ You shouldn't have done that, you know...” she hummed. „ What were you even thinking, it was so risky...”

„ I screwed up in the market, didn't I?” he sighed. „ I'm sorry I didn't keep my word then.”

„ You idiot, you missed the point entirely. I can... If... If that's what I have to do to survive, I will accept it. But I don't want to lose you,” her voice hitched. Masamune propped himself on his elbow, cupping her cheeks with his free hand.

„ I'm sorry. But I couldn't stand having you whisked away again too.”

As if guided by pure instinct, she pulled him into a kiss. His lips pressed against hers more delicately than usually. She opened her mouth, needing to taste him, over and over again. His familiar scent enveloped her, his fingers tracing the outline of her jaw – and for a moment she could have sworn that the time stopped, that the entire universe was reduced just to that single small room. Yet, they had to part eventually, their lungs begging for air. To her surprise, Masamune returned to his previous spot, his hair tickling her chin.

„ I missed you so much, Mai,” he murmured against her skin. His lips brushed her neck once, twice, and so many more, each and every time descending slightly, until he reached the very tip of her collarbone. His hand waited at the hemline of her shirt.

„ But you should rest...” she trailed off.

„ I'm fine. You know the question was whether you want it or not.”

Hadn't she known the answer already? Yet, the reason still fought within her, reminding her of both her and his fatigue... But... Maybe? Maybe just a little... Maybe just a little more.

„ I do,” she uttered finally.

-- At first I considered Mitsuhide and Manya becoming and endgame ship. I ended up deciding against it. However, a line of dialogue stayed. I debated using it for another pair, but it didn’t happen either.

A chilly gust of wind slipped through the tiny creaks around the window. His teeth pulled lightly on the cord keeping her neckline closed, the knot soon unraveling. His hand snuck under her shirt, travelling up so very slowly, as if he wanted to renew the map of her body in his mind. She shivered under his touch, anticipation growing deep within her. His lips returned to her neck, as he cupped her breast from below, massaging it lightly. Switching between the left one and the right one, his fingers caressed them unhurriedly. Masamune pulled onto the top of her shirt, the fabric dispersing over the cord just slightly, exposing her shoulders. Cold air inviting itself into the room again, he kissed the newly freed skin. He propped himself on his elbow and looked down at her, her nipples peaking through her clothing.

„ Masamune...” she whined a bit, as if to rush him. He chuckled in response, the garment soon flying to the floor.

„ Aren’t you impatient, kitten?” he hummed against her breast, his breath warming up her skin. Mai shivered.

“ You’re..!” her voice hitched, as he took her nipple between his teeth and bit on it just lightly, flicking it with his tongue and sucking it a moment later.

“ Have you said anything just now?” he laughed, looking up at her. Mischief played in his eye, as he returned to caressing her, his fingers sliding down her side.

“ That I missed you too,” she gasped as he grabbed her rear, his hand sneaking beneath the fabric of her pants. As if to make up to her for all the missed time, his lips trailed a path down her abdomen – until she couldn’t take it anymore, pulling him up by his shoulders, needing to taste his lips. She pushed Masamune against the pillows and straddled him. Seeing the surprised look he gave her, Mai laughed a little.

“ I still think you should rest,” she stated firmly, her fingers tracing his jawline. She cupped his face and leaned forward, her hair tickling his cheeks as he kissed her again, his tongue entering her mouth eagerly. Wordlessly, she

-- Another dialogue exchanged between Mitsuhide and Manya. It made it into the final story, although slightly altered.

“I love you.”

“What--”

“With every fiber of my being. I love you.”

“He will not love you, no matter how much you change.”

“How can you know that?!”

“The filthiest scums on earth are unable to feel anything lest it’s twisted - and love, my dear little one, can never withstand that sort of deformation.”

Tag list: @datenoriko, @nad-zeta, @tsubaki3192, @jiyuu-chan, @missjudge-me, @ikemencrossedmyth, @encrytpta, @nuttytani, @thesirenwashere, @milas-imaginarium, @kisara-16, @yukas-clover, @alerialumina , @cheese-ception , @iamryxx, @cottonfluffballofdoom, @ozziegrl71, @in-words-of-what-maybe

If you want to be tagged under my future works, let me know (any way works)! ^^ Also, if you have some preferences (for example: you’d rather not be tagged under some series, etc.), please, tell me.

If you don’t want to be tagged anymore - please, do not feel bad about it, just say so :)

#masamune date #ikesen masamune #ikemen sengoku masamune #ikesen #ikemen sengoku #ikemen series #my ff #my writing

9 notes · View notes

weekendwarriorblog · 3 years

Text

The Weekend Warrior 4/23/21: MORTAL KOMBAT, DEMON SLAYER, TOGETHER TOGETHER, STREET GANG, SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS

Ugh. Trying to maintain this column as a weekly entity during the final few weeks of the longest Oscar season ever has been really hard, and I’m not sure that will change once the Oscars are over either, because I look at the number of movies being released both theatrically and streaming over the next few weeks, and it makes my head hurt. Sorry for the kvetching, it just is what it is.

There are two big theatrical releases this weekend, Warner Bros’ MORTAL KOMBAT and DEMON SLAYER THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN from FUNImation Entertainment, both which have already been released internationally. I also probably won’t be able to watch or review either before this column gets posted.

Mortal Kombat seems like the easiest sell being that it’s based on the popular Midway Games video game franchise introduced in the early ‘90s that led to a series of films, books, comics and you name it. It was a very popular fighting game that had over a dozen iterations including one in which MK characters fought against DC superheroes.

The very first Mortal Kombat movies opened in 1995, right amidst MK-mania, and it was directed by one Paul W.S. Anderson, his very first movie in a long line of video game-related movies, including a number of Resident Evil and the recent Monster Hunter. There are a lot of people who love those games, and yes, even people who love that and other movies, but to others, who may have been too old to get into the games when they came out, the whole thing about different fighters fighting each other just looks kind of studio. Even though I’m interested to see what producer James Wan brings to this reboot, I just don’t have much interest otherwise.

Unfortunately, and this is pretty daunting, Warner Bros. wasn’t sending out screeners to critics until Wednesday with a review embargo for Thursday night at 7pm, which is never a good sign, and yet, it continues Warner Bros. continuing the trend of being one of the only studios that screeners EVERY movie to film critics rather than just making them pay to see it on Thursday night or Friday. I hope to watch it and maybe add something Thursday night, time-permitting. Not sure you heard but the Oscars are Sunday.

As far as box office, Mortal Kombat opens on Friday but also premieres on HBO Max, and I’m not sure there will be as much urge to see MK on the largest screen possible, as there was with Godzilla vs. Kong. Because of that, I think the cap for this one over the three-day weekend is about $10 million but not much more and probably more frontloaded to Friday than we’ve seen in some time.

Mini-Review: As you can imagine from my statement above, I don’t hold the Mortal Kombat games or other iterations in any particular high esteem, so I’m basically jumping into this movie, directed by Simon McQuoid, just as a movie and not necessarily as a video game movie.

It starts off promising enough like a samurai movie with a flashback where we watch Hiroyuki Sanada’s hero sees his wife and son be killed by Joe Taslim’s character that will later become Sub-Zero. The general principle seems to be that there’s a world where people from other worlds fight each other to gain complete control. The hero is Lewis Tan’s MMA fighter Cole Young, presumably a popular character from the game? He is also soon attacked by Sub-Zero presumably because he’s marked with a dragon tattoo that deems him a champion of these fights, but he needs to find someone named Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) to help him get to the “Mortal Kombat.” At the same time, he meets the movie’s most entertaining character, Kane,

played by Australian actor Josh Lawson, mainly because he swears constantly and cracks wise -- he’s a bit like Wolverine, actually, and he’s actually the best part of the movie.

Otherwise, everyone and everything is always so deadly serious that everyone else we meet just doesn’t have much impact, because frankly, none of these names or characters mean jack shit to me. Sure, some of them sound vaguely familiar but I was more interested in the great Asian actors who turn up including Tadanobu Asano’s Lord Raiden, who is gonna claim Earth if its champions lose at Mortal Kombat. And Sub-Zero basically just shows up and tries to kill everyone.

As with far too many action movies, the action itself is great, the writing and acting not so much.

As it goes along, things become more epic and fantasy-driven but that also makes the dialogue seem even worse. Similarly, the fight choreography is pretty great, but the movie still leans way too heavily on visual FX to keep it more interesting for anyone not too interested in MMA… like myself. When all else fails, they can show off Sub-Zero’s cool ice powers every chance possible as well as the other’s powers, but some of them (like Lord Raiden) just made me think of this as a rip-off of the great Big Trouble in Little China.

The thing is I’m not a fan of the video game nor of MMA, so Mortal Kombat really doesn’t have much to offer me. The whole thing just seems very silly, just like almost everything from the ‘90s. (How’s THAT for a bad take?)

That said, I thought the final battle was great, and I enjoyed some of the gorier aspects of the fights, too, and it all leads to my favorite part, which is the three-way fight between Cole, Sub-Zero, and… actually I’m not sure if it’s a spoiler or not, but it’s a pretty cool fight that almost makes up for some of the dumber characters introduced earlier on. (LIke that guy with four arms. I know he’s a character in the games, but I didn’t even care enough to look up his name.)

It’s perfectly fine that they decided to go Rated R with the movie since most of the nostalgia for this movie and franchise will be towards older guys, but at times, the CG blood is so hinky it feels like the decision to go R-rated was made well after it was filmed.

Even though I went in with the lowest of expectations, I still found most of Mortal Kombat kinda trite and boring, maybe something I’d appreciate more as a teenager but not so much as a grown adult. But what do you expect for a movie based on a video game that’s just a bunch of “cool fights”?

Rating: 5.5/10

And yet, Demon Slayer could be the surprise breakout of the weekend, considering the theatrical success FUNimation has had with theatrical releases of the My Hero Academia movies into theaters in 2018 and 2020, and the hugely successful Dragon Ball Super: Brolly, which grossed $31 million domestically after a surprise $20.2 million in its first five days in roughly 1,200 movies. In fact, it made $7 million its opening Wednesday in January 2019, and FUNimation is hoping that Demon Slayer will have a similar success by opening it for a single day (Thursday) in IMAX theaters before Mortal Kombat takes over on Friday.

Demon Slayer has already grossed $383.7 million internationally compared to Mortal Kombat’s $10.7 million, and you cannot ignore the huge popularity that anime has seen over the past few decades. In fact, a bunch of screenings for Demon Slayer in NYC have already sold out, although you have to bear in mind that these are 25% capacity theaters. Even so, I still think this can make $4 to 5 million on Thursday and another $7 to 8 million over the weekend, depending on the number of theaters. Yes, it will be quite frontloaded, and I’m not sure what the cap is on theaters and how that will affect how it does over the weekend, but expect a big Thursday and a more moderate weekend but one that might give both Mortal Kombat and Godzilla vs. Kong a run for the top of the box office.

Also hitting theaters before streaming on Netflix (on April 30) is THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES, the new animated movie produced by Chris Miller and Philip Lord, following their Oscar win for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s a little weird to open a new animated movies, presumably in select theaters, when such a hugely anticipated animated movie like Demon Slayer is opening, but Netflix won’t

The movie itself is directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe, and it involves a family named the Mitchells, whose eldest daughter Katie (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) is leaving home for college, so her father (voiced by Danny McBride) decides that he’s going to drive her there and use it as the chance for a cross-country family trip. Meanwhile, it’s set up how the world becomes overrun with robots when a tech giant creates a new personal assistant.

I wasn’t sure whether I’d like this even though I’m generally a fan of all of Lord/Miller’s animated movies including both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies. It took me a little time to get into the family and the general premise. In some ways it reminded me of Edgar Wright’s The World’s End where it’s trying to merge these two disparate genres, but when they actually merge, it just doesn’t work as well as it may have seemed on paper. That worry is soon expunged, because Rianda finds ways to integrate the two ideas over time.

On the trip, the Mitchells run into their perfect family neighbors, the Poseys -- voiced by Krissy Teigen, John Legend and Charlyne Yi -- and you’d think they might be a bigger part of the movie then they actually are. I’m not sure I would have liked doing the family-vs.-family thing so soon after last year’s Croods movie, but I did love the dynamics of the Mitchells being a very relatable imperfect family with Danny McBride being particularly great voicing the family patriarch. It even has a really touching Pixar’s Up moment of Katie’s father watching old home movies of them together when she was younger.

In general, the filmmakers have assembled a pretty amazing voice cast that includes Conan O’Brien, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen and Beck Bennett. Actually the weirdest voice choice is Katie’s younger brother Aaron, voiced by Rianda himself, and it sounds like a strange older man trying to be a kid, so it doesn’t work as well as others.

What I genuinely liked about Mitchells vs. the Machines is that it doesn’t go out of its way to talk down to overly sensitive kiddies or skimp on the action while also including elements that parents will enjoy as well, and to me, that’s the ideal of a family film.

While some might feel that The Mitchells vs. the Machines is fairly standard animated fare, it ends up being a fun cross between National Lampoon’s Vacation (cleaned up for the kiddies) with Will Smith’s I, Robot, actually, and yet, it somehow does work. It’s a shame that it’s really not getting a theatrical release except to be awards-eligible.

Next, we have two really great movies I saw at Sundance this year and really enjoyed immensely…

So as I mentioned, I first saw Nikole Beckwith��s TOGETHER TOGETHER (Bleecker Street), starring Ed Helms and Patti Harrison, at Sundance, and it was one of my favorite movies there with Helms playing a middle-aged single guy named Matt, who hires the much-younger Anna (Harrison) to be his surrogate, because he wants a baby. It’s a tough relationship thrown together due to each of their respective necessities.

Part of what drives the movie is how different Matt and Anna are, him being quite inappropriate with his suggestions and requests but not really having a working knowledge of female anatomy, pregnancy, delivery etc, but being really eager to raise a child and having the money that Anna clearly does not.

While I was familiar with Helms from The Office, The Hangover, etc. I really didn’t know Patti Harrison at all. Apparently, she’s a stand-up comic who hasn’t done a ton of acting, comedic or otherwise. That’s pretty amazing when you watch this movie and see her dry sardonic wit playing well against Helms’ generally lovable doofus. What I also didn’t realize and frankly, I don’t really see this as something even worth mentioning, is that she’s a trans woman playing a clearly CIS part, and she kills it. I certainly wouldn’t have known nor did it really affect my enjoyment of the movie, yet it still seems like such a brave statement on the part of the director and Harrison herself. The thing is that Harrison isn't just a terrific actress in her own right, but she brings out aspects of Helms that I never thought I would ever possibly see. (If it isn't obvious, I'm not the biggest fan of Helms.)

The movie has a great sense of humor, as it gets the most out of this awkward duo and then throws so many great supporting actors into the cast around them that it’s almost impossible not to enjoy the laughs. There’s the testy Sonogram tech, played by Sufe Bradshaw from Veep, who tries to maintain her composure and bite her tongue, but you can tell she’s having none of it. Others who show up, including Tig Notero, Norah Dunn and Fred Melamed. Just when you least expect it, Anna Conkle from Pen15, shows up as one of those delivery gurus that make the two of them feel even more awkward.

What’s nice is that this never turns into the typical meet cute rom-com that some might be expecting, as Beckwith’s film is more about friendship and companionship and being there for another, and the lack of that romantic spark even as chemistry develops between them is what makes this film so enjoyably unique. Beckwith’s sense of humor combined with her dynamic duo stars makes Together Together the best comedy about pregnancy probably since Knocked Up.

Another great Sundance movie and actually one of my two favorite recent documentaries AND one of the best movies I’ve seen this year is… you know what? I haven’t done this for a while so this is this week’s “CHOSEN ONE”!! (Fanfare)

(Photo courtesy: Robert Fuhring/Courtesy Sesame Workshop)

Marilyn (Mad Hot Ballroom) Agrilo’s STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET (Screen Media/HBO Documentaries) is a fantastic doc about the long-running and popular PBS kids show that’s every bit as good as Morgan Neville’s Mr. Rogers doc, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Which was robbed of an Oscar nomination a few years back.

Let me make something clear on the day I’m writing this, April 21, 2021, that this is my favorite movie of the year, the only one I’ve already given a 10/10, and the end of the year might come around, and I have a feeling it will still be my #1.

You see, I was raised a Sesame Street kid. It’s not like I didn’t read or play outside or not get the attention of my parents or family, but there was so much of my happy, young life that I could attribute to my time watching Sesame Street, and when you watch Marily Agrilo’s amazing doc, it all comes rushing back. There is stuff in this movie that I haven’t seen in maybe 50 years but that I clearly remember laughing at, and there’s stuff that got into the mind of a young Ed that influenced my love of humor and music and just outright insanity. Sure, I loved The Muppet Show, too, but it was a different experience, so to watch a movie about the show with all sorts of stuff I had never seen or knew, that’s what makes Street Gang such a brilliant documentary, and easily one of the best we’ll see this year. Of that I have no doubt.

From the very origins of the show with Joan Cooney developing a show that will be entertaining and educational to the kids being plopped down in front of the TV in the ‘60s and ‘70s, so they can learn something, it’s just 1:46 of straight-up wonderment.

Besides getting to see a lot of the beloved actors/characters from the show and many of the surviving players like Carol Spinney aka Big Bird/Oscar, you can see how this show tried to create something that wasn’t just constantly advertising to young minds.

More than anything, the show is a love letter to the bromance between Jim Henson and Frank Oz, and you get to see so many of their bits and outtakes that make their Muppets like Burt and Ernie and Grover and, of course, Kermit, so beloved by kids that even cynical adults like myself would revert childhood just thinking about them. Then on top of that there’s the wonderful music and songs of Christopher Cerf and Joe Raposo and others, songs that would permeate the mainstream populace and be remembered for decades.

The movie is just a tribute to the joy of childhood and learning to love and sing and dance and just have fun and not worry about the world. I’m not sure if kids these days have anything like that.

It also gets quite sad, and I’m not embarrassed to say that in the sequence that covers the death of Mr. Hooper, I was outright bawling, and a few minutes later, when Jim Henson dies in 1990, I completely lost it. That’s how much this show meant to me and to so many people over the decades, and Brava to Ms. Agrilo for creating just the perfect document to everything that Sesame Street brought to so many people’s lives. This is easily the best documentary this year, and woe be to any Academy that doesn’t remember it at year’s end.

The other fantastic doc out this week, though I actually got to see it last year, is Lisa Rovner’s SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS (Metrograph Pictures), which will play at the Metrograph, both on demand and part of its Digital Live Screenings (available to join for just $5 a month!). This is an endlessly fascinating doc that looks at the women of electronic music and the early days of synthesizers and synthesis and some of the female pioneers. It’s narrated by Laurie Anderson, which couldn’t be the more perfect combination.

The movie covers the likes of Suzanne Cianni; Forbidden Planet composers Louis and Bebe Barron, who created the first all-electronic score for that movie; the amazing Wendy Carlos, who electronically scored one of my favorite movies of all time, Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange; Delia Derbyshire, who was also the subject of Caroline Catz’s short, Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and Legendary Tapes, which tragically, I missed when it premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March. Derbyshire was also famous for creating the iconic theme to “Doctor Who” while working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the '60s. Others who appear in the movie, either via archival footage or more recent interviews are Pauline Oliveros and Laurie Spiegel, who I was less familiar with.

The point is that as someone who was a fantastic for electronic music and synthesizers from a very early age and for someone who feels he’s very familiar with all angles of music, I learned a lot from watching Rovner’s film, and I enjoyed it just as much a second time, because the footage assembled proves what amazing work these women were doing and rarely if ever getting the credit for what they brought to electronic music, something that still resonates with the kids today who love things like EDM.

An endlessly fascinating film with so much great music and footage, Sisters with Transistors can be watched exclusively through the Metrograph’s Live Screening series, so don’t miss it!

Hitting Shudder this week is Chris Baugh’s BOYS FROM COUNTY HELL (Shudder), which I didn’t get a chance to watch before writing this week’s column, but Shudder in general has been knocking it out of the park with the amazing horror movies it’s been releasing on a weekly basis. This one involves a quarelling father and son on a road who must survive the night when they awaken an ancient Irish vampire.

Also hitting theaters and streamers and digital this week:

THE MARIJUANA CONSPIRACY (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

MY WONDERFUL WANDA (Zeitgeist Films)

WET SEASON (Strand Releasing)

CRESTONE (Utopia)

VANQUISH (Lionsgate)

BLOODTHIRSTY (Brainstorm)

SASQUATCH (Hulu)

SHADOW AND BONE (Netflix)

And that wraps up this week. Next week? No idea… I know there’s stuff coming out but I probably won’t think about it until after THE OSCARS!!!! On Sunday.

#movies #mortalkombat #demonslayer #weekendwarrior #reviews #sisters with transistors #togethertogether #mitchellsvsmachines #streaming

1 note · View note

absentlyabbie · 5 years

Text

family and (mis)fortune

or, tommy merlyn accidentally part-time joins the batfam

hello, please enjoy and have mercy, pretty much all of my batfam knowledge is informed either by batman: the animated series or tumblr posts. be gentle with me, i know so little about jason todd, i’m doing my best

this meta developed over whatsaspp in messages to @andyouweremine, @acheaptrickandacheesyoneline, and @storiesofimagination

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a fun little notion to mull over: Malcolm Merlyn dies/disappears (hallelujah) in the two years after his wife’s death and leaving his child behind. Accident and happenstance bring Tommy Merlyn, orphan, to the attention of Bruce Wayne. And thus Tommy becomes a part time foster sibling to the batfam

(lol the above was supposed to be it, the end, literally the entire whole thing, but then all the rest happened)

Like. Say Bruce (probably he knew Rebecca?) takes over custody of Tommy. For the sake of the boy and his clear attachment to the Queens, especially Oliver, Bruce has Tommy enrolled as a boarding student at Starling Academy. So the boys still get to spend the school year together, and sometimes in the summer or over holidays Oliver visits in Gotham

And Tommy is pretty much just a part time addition to the Bruce Wayne orphans-who-eerily-resemble-me collection, so it’s several years before he catches on even a little to what Bruce and older foster brother Dick get up to after dark

But eventually he DOES find out. And maybe he doesn’t suit up too, but Bruce can’t have one of his kids knowing about Batman and not prepared to protect himself so he gets a lot of the same training

(Meanwhile Tommy grows up with siblings and a father figure(s)—heyyy Alfred—who show him care and don’t abuse him. And maybe even therapy. But also he gets to maintain his closeness to Oliver and even Thea because he still spends most of the year in Starling)

As a better adjusted dude all around Tommy is probably a moderately better influence on Oliver. Like he can’t change everything but maybe things are mitigated. Then the gambit still goes down (probably Malcolm didn’t actually die after all? He just went deep into the league or whatever and continued to influence things in Starling towards the Undertaking from the shadows?)

In the wake of that Tommy moves to Starling full time and insists to everyone including Bruce that Oliver is still alive etc etc. he doesn’t give up hope (although also maybe he doesn’t get involved with Laurel? Maybe.) and then Oliver actually comes back

More or less most of canon stuff goes on except now you have a Tommy who eats breakfast casually with Batman and multiple Robins and has training and has been inside the Batcave and knows what it looks like when someone he loves is not doing a great job of a) hiding how deeply traumatized they are and b) concealing their vigilante side gig

(@acheaptrickandacheesyoneline contributed: "Oliver, you need to get better excuses"

"Excuses for what?"

"Like that. Right there"

To which i responded: “Look I know the reckless playboy thing seems like an awesome cover story at first but trust me, if you don’t balance it right it just makes everything more work than it’s worth”)

Bruce calling Tommy ostensibly just to check in with his foster son but non-covertly actually sniffing around about this murderous new vigilante in Starling

Tommy very awkwardly and transparently lying that he has no idea who it could possibly be

Tommy tries to crack bad jokes about how he just seems to attract cape and cowl types to wherever he lives and Bruce heaving the longest sigh on record because Tommy and Dick really are way too similar for Bruce’s mental health

Also in this headcanon Bruce was definitely like early 20s when he took in Dick so he was like maaayyybe 27 when he took in Tommy. Putting him younger than 40 or just over at time of Oliver’s return. So Bruce is like barely older than Diggle

Okay my math wasn’t great. So if Dick is a few years older than Tommy and Oliver and Bruce adopted him at like 22, let’s say Bruce is 24 when Rebecca dies and Tommy is 8... 26 when he takes custody of Tommy... which means he’s actually like 43 at time of Oliver coming back from the dead (subject to change, i’m bad at math!)

The way I picture it is that Bruce knew Rebecca (maybe their families knew each other??) and went to her funeral, where he observed the lost looking, clearly devastated eight year old that widower Malcolm was too busy brooding furiously to attend to. Bruce never liked Malcolm. They’d met a few times over the years and he always thought Rebecca could have done better. Malcolm always stuck Bruce as oily and shark eyed. Something cold and hungry under the surface of his charming facade. But Rebecca seemed happy with him so it wasn’t his business

That boy though. The image of that grieving boy, his whole world snatched away and not even a kindly butler to hold his hand at the graveside, that stays with Bruce, nags at him. He checks up on the remaining Merlyns from a distance after returning to Gotham. He’s unsettled and unhappy when he learns Malcolm has run off, leaving his young son behind with some hired help and power of attorney vested in his friend Robert Queen. He follows the situation for two years. When Malcolm returns he’s hopeful Tommy’s life will go better than Bruce’s did, but Malcolm only leaves again all too soon. And then he disappears. His plane goes down or something (who even cares as long as Malcolm is gone-zo, pfft bye bitch). And Tommy is truly alone, an orphan in name as well as circumstance now

Bruce knows there’s no other family to claim Tommy. He knows the boy is staying with the Queens at the moment, that Robert has guardianship, but it’s also apparent they’re in no rush to formalize the situation to anything more permanent. Bruce decides to go to Starling himself and see what will become of Tommy

It’s immediately obvious the Queens are a mess. Infidelity and fighting and periodic separation between Moira and Robert. Moira is just recently pregnant. And she seems anxious and uneasy about Tommy. Even as she does seem to care about him, she also seems determined to keep him at arm’s length. However it’s just as obvious that despite all this, Tommy and the Queen boy might as well be brothers for as close as they are

It’s clearly not an ideal situation. Bruce being Bruce decides he’s just gonna fix things. But when Moira catches wind of it she goes oddly protective and it leads to a face off between the two of them. Moira hits Bruce about being too young, unmarried, having no prior relationship with Tommy, living so far from everything Tommy knows.

Bruce hits back with brutal truths, the killing blow that Moira clearly has no intention of making Tommy part of her own family. Robert may have slightly more ground to stand on, but ultimately they all know that if the Queen marriage falls apart, it’s not Robert who would take custody of Tommy in the aftermath of another family disintegration

And so with the cooperation of Moira and Robert and a lot of money, Bruce becomes Tommy’s legal guardian and works out with the Queens an arrangement that has Tommy in boarding at the same school Oliver attends and charges Moira and Robert to act in loco parentis for daily or immediate matters. Moira will eventually unclench and let Tommy connect easily with Oliver and even Thea, because with Malcolm gone she doesn’t have that fear about her baby girl and her secret half brother putting her family at risk

And then @storiesofimagination was sad that there would be less Thea/Tommy sibling shenanigans in this AU, to which I said:

Oh but there will still be plenty of that! Because Tommy spends most of his school years largely in Starling and a lottttt of time at the Queen home. And Moira isn’t as uneasy about Tommy adoring Thea and vice versa because with Malcolm gone/presumed dead she’s less worried about her indiscretion being exposed

So @andyouweremine asked if Dick and Oliver get along

Dick is a few years older than Tommy and Oliver so he probably didn’t spend loads of time with them during Oliver’s visits? Not none though. Tommy thinks Dick is absurdly cool so Oliver might have been a little bit jealous but also thinks Dick is cool. Dick almost definitely thrives on the fact that living human beings think he is cool

But yeah. Dick. Dick is probably weird about Tommy at first. Is this a threat? A rival? Nope it’s a shy goofy kid who thinks Dick is way funnier than Bruce does and looks up to him and he’s only around for holidays and summers so he’s the best part time little brother ever

They get on like a house on fire probably. So many bad jokes. So many. Bruce probably hides from the puns down in the Batcave even when there’s no mission because Dick can either hang out with Tommy or annoy Bruce in the super secret crime fighting lair but not both

Tommy loves the hell out of Alfred. He’s like Raisa, only Tommy gets to keep him

Alfred is just pleased to have a charge he doesn’t have to semi regularly do sutures for

If we’re going full batfam, Tommy and Jason probably can’t stand each other most of the time, but it’s mostly because Jason is extremely prickly and acts out wildly (younger days, obv)

Years later when Tim arrives on the scene, Tommy delights in being the older brother at last. They don’t have tons in common but they get along well enough

AND THEN, because @andyouweremine campaigned to ship Tommy/Dick because both Tommy Merlyn and Dick Grayson are as bi as they come:

Tommy would absolutely have the world’s most awkward crush on Dick at least in his teens. He so would though. Dick would probably be his bisexual awakening. Oliver would get sick of hearing about it. Tommy just looks up one day at like 14-15 while Dick is tooling around the house doing dumb acrobatic impressive-feats-of-athletic-dumbassery and there’s all those taut muscles and a flash of rock hard abs and suddenly Tommy needs to go to his bunk excuse himself to his bedroom to freak out privately that apparently he also likes boys now and ugh WHY THIS ONE

(later in life he’ll somewhat bitterly lament that his type seems to be “taboo.” probably he mentions this to Jason when they are both adults and sharing a beer and doing some extremely rare bonding, and Jason shoots him one hell of a side eye like “Please tell me you’re not into underage girls because I will kill you and I won’t feel bad.”

And Tommy barks a mortified laugh and says “No. Jesus Christ, no, I mean people—adult people!—that I should stay away from, because I should know better or they’d never be into me or, uh,” sweating nervously, hoping his face isn’t telegraphing DICK GRAYSON or OLIVER QUEEN to someone trained by the actual Batman, “other reasons.”)

And you know, Tommy probably doesn’t find out about his foster dad and foster brother being Batman and Robin until he’s like 16-17. So right before Dick stops being Robin/Jason arrives on scene

Not telling Oliver about kills him

And he’s probably torn between reactions. Excited/in awe that his found family are actual superheroes. A little self conscious and insecure that his found family are superheroes but he’s just... him. Stressed that Bruce and Dick are regularly putting themselves in danger. A little off balance and hurt because Bruce Dick and Alfred have all been keeping this secret from him for years

Eventually he knows why they didn’t tell him. Because it’s so hard not to tell Oliver. He doesn’t actually want to brag to the world and he’s not dumb enough to just accidentally give it away, but not telling Oliver is excruciating, and Oliver can probably tell there’s something Tommy is hiding from him all of a sudden.

It probably puts a new and awful strain on their relationship, but Tommy finally puts the words together to beg Oliver to understand that he has to keep someone else’s secret. That it’s important and not his to tell and that that’s the only reason he wouldn’t tell Oliver something. Things are still stiff for a little while but Oliver accepts it eventually. Especially after Tommy likens it to how just because Tommy has told Oliver he’s bi it wouldn’t be okay for Oliver to tell somebody else Tommy was bi without Tommy’s permission

And so, after Tommy finds out that he’s part of the actual batfam, Bruce makes him train. Not to take up a mask but to be prepared to protect himself if what he now knows were ever to endanger him

Tommy actually doesn’t want to take up a mask. He’s never been a big “family business” guy, even if he did intern at Wayne enterprises last summer

The strain of keeping Bruce’s secret from Oliver was bad enough. Tommy can’t imagine keeping it secret from Oliver if that same secret was his own

(After all, Tommy may have interned at Wayne enterprises but so did Oliver. He stayed with the Waynes the whole summer and Bruce was never more stressed out in his life over things not directly related to costumed villainy)

@memcjo @klaus-hargreeves-katz @its-a-pygmy-puffle @keabbs @princesssarcastia @obscure-sentimentalist

#tommy merlyn #oliver queen #batfam #bruce wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #arrow #the batfam tommy au #family and (mis)fortune au #more to inevitably come (someday)#sorry i almost forgot to tag folks!!!#happy (early) birthday from me to you #fam au

131 notes · View notes

recklessrex · 4 years

Note

216 - Macavity & Chaos Twins

First of all trigger warning: violence, abuse, injury, blood, child abuse

This story involves descriptions and discussions of violence. I wouldn't call it super graphic, but it's enough for me to caution those with triggers. Blood and injuries are mentioned, but not in detail. An adult causes mild physical injury to a minor. If any of these things are potential triggers for you, you may want to skip this one.

Sorry it's quite a bit longer than I'd intended. I'd put it under a cut but I'm stuck using mobile and it won't let me. Just rapid scroll if you'd like to skip.

---

Okay so if you're still reading

This takes place some years before the current timeline, when Mungo and Teazer are in their early to mid teens. Bomba is in her early 20s, Demeter hasn't met her or Macavity yet (which is why she doesn't appear in this story), and my OC, Sullivan, has known him for about 5 or so years.

(Note: "mot" = "adult or teenage woman" A word I first saw in a fantasy novel, I use it where many other Cats writers might use the word "queen." Just a personal preference of mine. I find it less awkward, plus I think it's neat that it's "tom" backwards)

Beware: Long Fic

---

“You know how you can smack something to get it to work? I wish I can do that to people.”

Macavity eyed the two kits chattering away before him as he lounged in his favorite chair. He wasn't sure what to make of them, or their little presentation. He was torn between annoyance and amusement.

They were certainly bold, he had to give them that. They couldn't have been more than 15 or so, the girl perhaps even a bit younger. Two nameless, no-account brats with, as far as Mac could tell, no existing connection to his gang whatsoever.

Yet here they were, stood fearlessly in the middle of his lounge, explaining to the most feared gang leader in the Junkyard how they wanted in on a heist they had no business even knowing about. Mac was sorely tempted to be impressed just by the sheer figurative balls of these two, but he'd wait and see how this went.

At Mac's side, seated on the ottoman that went with his chair, his chief "henchrat," Sullivan, grimaced under his elaborate Rat-mask. Sully had little patience for these young intruders or their antics. He just wanted the little punks gone, so they could get back to business. But Mac had so far said nothing, and so Sullivan would say nothing. As long as Mac wanted to hear them out, they could speak. But they'd better hurry it up…

Several other Cats in the gang, mostly in Rat-masks like Sullivan's, were scattered around the room, some seated around a table covered in maps and other papers, others stood against the walls or lounging in other pieces of furniture strewn about the room. Some listened to the intruders' speech with mild interest, some glared, others quietly mocked or rolled their eyes at the duo, or muttered to each other. All kept an eye on Macavity, and on Sullivan. If their boss and their captain were fine with these two idiots trespassing on their turf for now, then the rest of the gang was fine with it too. But the moment either on them gave the signal, the little brats would be outta there, and probably more than a little worse for the wear.

A large Rat-masked Cat called "Hoover" leaned his back against the door with his arms crossed. He glowered menacingly at the talkative teens' backs. He wasn't sure how they got in, but if the nosy punks tried to escape while the boss still wanted them here, they weren't getting out through Hoover.

A Cat that was not in a Rat-mask leaned against the back of Mac's chair on the opposite side of Sullivan, occasionally reaching down to stroke the fur of his head, chest, or shoulders. She was the newest mot in the gang, a tall curvy young bombshell with the boldest, most beautiful red fur Mac had ever seen. Her name was Bombalurina, but Sullivan called her "Bombalicious." Mac called her what most people called her: "Bomba."

Bomba wasn't sure where she'd seen the girl of the pair before, but she was quite certain she had. She watched the girl with keen interest, but tried to keep her expression something close to boredom. She didn't want to arouse anyone's suspicions til she was sure what she was dealing with.

Normally only "the rats" and a few other people relevant to a particular job were allowed in the lounge while plans were going on, but Mac… sort of knew Bomba… sort of. He remembered her from when they were kits, though they never interacted much since he was 8 years older than her, but she used to play with his kit brother sometimes. Even though his brother had been a couple years younger than her, she still let him hang out with her and her friends, and Mac had once caught her scolding some girls more her age for picking on the younger boy.

Mac remembered Bomba's kindness to his baby brother, and found himself trusting her, despite the insistence from at least one of the other mots and a few of the rats that she must be a spy. As far as he knew, Bomba had not been living with the Jellicles for at least a couple years now. He wondered if she even remembered him from her youth.

When she'd first arrived, he'd asked Sullivan what he thought. His short, stout friend had shrugged and said he'd keep an eye on her, but that she didn't come across to him as having an agenda. Mac trusted Sully's opinion.

"And that's why we like to respectfully ask you to include our services in your upcoming endeavors," concluded the boy, using words Mac would never have guess were in his vocabulary. He hadn't seemed like the brightest bulb. Neither of them had, but the boy especially gave off major airhead vibes. Macavity raised an eyebrow, maybe there was more to them then he'd realized.

Then again, maybe the dumb kit had just memorized the line.

"And what exactly do I get out of this?" he drawled in his deep, silky, menacing voice.

"Uhhh…" said the boy, looking worried for the first time, though Mac wasn't sure if it was because of the question or just Mac's tone.

"You've told me why you want in, but why should I want you in?" Mac elaborated. He was starting to lose his patience. Surely some advantage to the gang had been part of their plan? Surely they hadn't taken such a huge risk by invading his heist meeting just to tell him why they feel they have a right to take part? Surely they didn't think he gave a shit about where some no-account kitten gang had drawn their turf line against other no-account kitten gangs? Surely they weren't that stupid?

"Right," started the boy, "well you see, uh…"

"You see," the girl took over, indicating herself and her companion with a couple jerks of her thumb, "we're a notorious couple of cats!" The boy, recovered from his brief bout of nerves, nodded sagely.

"Yeah, that's right!" he piped proudly. "Notorious!"

Mac raised an eyebrow and looked down at Sully. His loyal friend looked up at him. Mac couldn't really see Sully's eyebrows through the mask, but he knew Sully was as amused as he was. Or, well, maybe "amused" wasn't the right word…

"You, uh.." Sully said to the pair, fighting back a dry chuckle that wanted to rise from the back of his throat, "you do know what 'notorious' means, right?"

"Uhhh…" the teens chorused, looking at each other.

"Well known," explained Sullivan, not waiting for them to come up with an answer. "Famous. Renowned in dis-reputation."

"Oh yea we know that," claimed the boy, nodding.

"Yeah!" echoed the girl.

"Really?" asked Sullivan flatly, crossing his arms over his husky chest.

"Oh yeah! Sure we do!" exclaimed the girl.

"Pfft of course," said the boy, posing arrogantly.

"Pfft," echoed the girl, making a show of rolling her eyes.

"Then why have I never heard of you?" Mac asked slowly, dropping an extra degree of ice and menace into the words. He liked watching them squirm. At his side, Sullivan smirked.

"Well uh.." stammered the boy, "erm…"

"Ahh well, uh, you see, uh…" tried the girl.

Macavity grinned wickedly, allowing the expression to serve as an implied threat. The pair squirmed more. The boy gaped, wide-eyed, at the crime boss. He tried to speak, but couldn't make a sound. He looked rather entertainingly like a fish, repeatedly opening his mouth to start speaking and then closing it again. The girl, meanwhile, blinked, shook her head, and cleared her throat.

"Ahem, well, I suppose we aren't notorious enough to reach the ears of such an illustrious Cat as yourself," she said, trying some flattery, "but we're a damn good team."

The boy snapped out of his fish-trance to nod proudly and seriously.

"We can do all manner of things for ya!" he announced.

"Like what?" Mac asked. He was getting bored.

"Like everything!" the boy boasted.

"We're the sneakiest sneak thieves," the girl elaborated.

"And burglars!" added the boy, who obviously couldn't be prouder of this fact.

"And acrobats!" the girl practically sang. She did a cartwheel as demonstration. Mac wasn't sure how she thought cartwheels would be of service to him, but at least he was slightly less bored.

"And Teazer 'ere can pick a lock like nobody's business!" The boy jerked a thumb at his companion.

"And Mungo can creep quieter than a Mouse!" added the girl, who was apparently called Teazer. "And so can I o' course, Mungo's just even quieter."

Bomba's ears had perked up at the name Teazer. Hadn't she known someone named Teazer as a kit? She was more sure than ever that she knew this rambunctious girl, but she couldn't place where…

"And we're tougher than we look," continued the boy, apparently called Mungo.

"Yeah, especially together," Teazer agreed, puffing herself up to try and look intimidating. It wasn't very effective. "Nobody crosses us."

"Yeah nobody," echoed Mungo. They seemed to echo each other a lot.

When they were finished, Macavity sat silent, regarding them. Sullivan watched his boss and waited. The gang watched Macavity, and Sullivan, and waited.

Bomba watched the duo as they resisted the urge to start squirming again under the silence. She vaguely remembered a much younger kit in her tribe, at least 6 or 7 years younger, that was called "Teazer." But that kit had been a boy. It must have been a different Teazer. She remembered it had been short for something…

Finally, after a full minute of silence, Macavity spoke.

"I have many other Cat's that can do all of these things." he said slowly. "What makes you special?"

"Can any of em do it all at once?" Teazer retorted immediately. Mungo looked worried though, glancing around the room at all the masked criminals that were surrounding him as though seeing them for the first time.

"Probably," answered Mac. It was a lie, but he suspected the kits were exaggerating too, and besides, he wanted to see how they reacted. "What else ya got?"

The girl hesitated, but didn't squirm. Her eyes darted to her sides, and Mac knew she was resisting the urge to glance nervously around the room like her friend. The boy pulled his attention away from the sneering, glaring thugs and addressed Macavity again.

"Look you need us," he said plainly.

"Yes, so you say," Mac drawled, "but why?"

No answer. The kits exchanged glances.

"You've yet to explain this to me." Mac layed the ice on thick, but the kits didn't squirm.

"Well?" demanded Sullivan. "You heard him! Either come up with a decent answer, or get lost! Quit wasting our time!"

"We can go anywhere," Teazer said suddenly, her voice calm and confident. The boy nodded quietly at her side. "We can get into anywhere," she went on, "and I do mean anywhere."

"Don't matter where," Mungo continued, his voice as calm and serious as his friend's. "Don't matter the security. If we want in, we find a way in. No one and nothin' can stop us."

They were both suddenly in serious business mode. No squirming, no nerves, no arrogant posturing, no showing off or silly antics, just two very serious kits, staring him dead in the eye, perfectly calm. Macavity suspected this was more than a boast, and it would make them quite valuable if it were true. But he was no fool. He would make them prove it.

"And you expect me to believe that?" he drawled.

"We got in 'ere, didn't we?" Teazer said, still calmly, but with a touch of teenage attitude, staring at him sassily as if challenging him to argue. Mungo raised an eyebrow and smirked, but said nothing. Neither of them broke eye contact.

Sullivan looked up at Mac. He waited. The gang waited. Bomba waited. The kits waited. Seconds ticked by. Sullivan, and only Sullivan, saw the smirk fighting to take form on his friend's face.

Finally Macavity, the most feared gang leader in the Junkyard, chuckled a low chuckle that rose into full hearty laughter. Sullivan joined him, chuckling his own nasally chuckle, then wheezing in laughter. They were finished before the rest of the gang were recovered enough from the shock and surprise to join in. Most of them didn't get the joke anyway, didn't understand what was so amusing about these punks to their fearsome boss and his fearless second-in-command.

"You're in," Macavity told the kits, who had started to squirm slightly again when he'd started laughing. He couldn't fault them that, he had a very intimidating laugh, even when it was genuine.

Now they grinned wide, and launched into speeches of gratitude, promising he wouldn't regret it and so on and so forth. The much of rest of the gang murmured to each other, unsure of how they felt about this new addition, except Hoover, who stood silently by the door, and Bomba, who was still contemplating where she'd seen this kit before, and of course Sullivan, who wrinkled his nose at the talkative little brats but said nothing, waiting for his boss.

Mac said no more, but waved a signal to Sullivan. No one else looking would have known what the signal meant, but he knew it was his cue to take back control of the room.

"Shut up!" said Sully, standing up and stepping forward. Everyone shut up. Mac's chief henchrat may have been the shortest guy in the room, but his bulk, his mask, and his crisp, commanding voice made up for what his height lacked in intimidation. He pointed a clawed finger at the two grinning kits.

"You're in, but you ain't big fish yet. You're at the bottom of the tank, eating algae off the dirt and gravel. That's your place. Don't forget it." He paused for a second to let that sink in. They nodded their understanding.

"Now sit down and shut up!" Sullivan finished, "You've wasted enough of our time."

"Do we get a cool mask like yours?" one of them asked as Sullivan returned to his seat.

"No! Sit down!" he shouted, gesturing angrily at them with one meaty arm. Mac chuckled at his irritated friend and rested a hand on his shoulder.

Still grinning, the kits tried to find seats on the nearby sofa but found it was suddenly full, the thugs that were seated in it stretching out and spreading their legs until there was no room. Looking around they saw similar things happening around the room. Single, unoccupied chairs were now taken up by people that had previously been standing. Only Hoover remained standing, still guarding the door. The runts were no skin off his nose. As long as they stayed out of his way.

Undaunted by the lack of seats, the duo found a spot close to the table where they would be unlikely to be stepped on and obediently sat down on the floor. They smiled up at Sullivan, who nodded his approval. At least they could follow instruction.

Meanwhile Bomba was too distracted trying to remember where she knew Teazer from to sit down at first, though she did plant her rear on the arm of the Mac's chair when he gave her thigh an encouraging tug. The brat couldn't be the little boy named Teazer from her old tribe, unless… nah she would have needed surgery, and she looked way too young for that. How would she even afford it? No it couldn't be. Bomba gave up, crossed her legs, and leaned against Mac, wrapping her arms around his maned head and running a hand along his collar bones.

The gang didn't settle so easily. A few of the higher players tried to stay focused on their planning, but the majority the gang (minus the somber Hoover, the now contented Bomba, and the annoyed but faithful Sullivan) gradually broke back into murmurs amongst each other. They apparently had already forgotten their captain's anger, or had mistaken it as being for the new brats only. The brats in question, meanwhile, weren't paying attention at all, not that there was much to pay attention to with the state the room was in. They were playing some kind of game where they pretended to slap each other's hands, but didn't make any noise.

Sully itched to get them all back on track, but, as always, he stoically waited for Mac. Sometimes his boss liked letting a room run out of control. He found it entertaining, in certain mood. But a glance up at his old friend told him he was not amused. Even sat in the loving arms of the hottest mot in the gang, he had clearly fallen into a considerably bad mood. Ignoring Bomba completely, he glowered darkly at his very, very distracted gang. But still he said nothing, made no signal.

Sully hesitated, then laid a comforting hand on his friend's knee. Mac looked down at him, his face unreadable, then looked back out at the room again. Sully followed his gaze, keeping his hand on his knee. He waited.

Finally Mac sighed. He lifted arm to rest his elbow on the arm of the chair not occupied by Bomba's very fine rear end, and let his head rest against his fist. His glower softened.

“You know how you can smack something to get it to work?" he said.

"Yeah?"

"I wish I could do that with people.”

When Sully didn't reply, Mac looked down to see his loyal masked confidant staring up at him. Half his expression was obscured by the Rat-mask, but Mac could see the straight, seemingly unamused line his mouth was making, as well as the tiny almost undetectable little twitch in one corner of his mouth.

"What?" he asked, fighting a smirk of his own.

"Boss," Sullivan said flatly.

"What?"

"Boss."

"What?!" Mac couldn't hold this in much longer.

"You do that all the time!"

Mac threw back his head and howled with laughter, and Sullivan doubled over laughing as well. Neither quite knew what it was about this they found funny, but they couldn't help it. They laughed together, Sully wheezing and snickering alongside Mac's deep rolling chuckle. The rest of the gang fell silent, then some of them nervously tried to chuckle along to a joke they didn't understand.

"Shut up!" Mac roared and jumped to his feet, nearly knocking poor Bomba off the arm of the chair. Sullivan swallowed his laughter, put on his best stony face, and stood just behind Mac at his right side. His place.

Everyone stared at Mac, who glared and showed his teeth, a growl rumbling deep in his throat. His hackles were raised, making his red mane stand up like a fiery halo around his head. Suddenly he swung his right arm out in a wide arc, over an unflinching Sullivan's head, to strike the face of an unmasked Cat at the table with the back off his hand. The Cat, a safecracker they were outsourcing for this gig, tumbled backwards off the bench. Bomba, new enough to be shocked and surprised at this outburst, got up from the chair and quickly put it between her and Macavity.

The furious ginger tom then charged to the other side of the table, where the masked Cats that sat there and nearby shrank away, putting their hands up defensively and shaking their heads to ask for mercy. Finding their body language suitably submissive, Mac turned away from the table to take in the rest of the room. Near his feet were the new brats, staring at the floor and trying to make themselves as small as possible. They had shifted a bit away from the table, and the boy, Mungo, had placed himself between Teazer and Macavity. He briefly glanced up at Macavity, then snapped his eyes back to the floor.

On the sofa across the room two masked thugs looked at each other, then back at Macavity with frowns and narrowed eyes.

That would not do.

Macavity snarled and swiftly crossed the room to the sofa, giving Mungo a sharp kick in the stomach along the way. He took his claws out and swatted one thug across the mouth, where his mask didn't protect him, and with the claws of his other hand, slashed the other thug from shoulder to sternum. Both cried out. Mac let out a bellowing growl to silence them. The thugs cowered, whimpering and holding their wounds. A third thug seated on the sofa turned his head away and lowered his gaze to the floor. Suitably submissive.

At the door, Hoover was watching this unfold, seemingly unbothered, staring unblinkingly from beneath his mask. Macavity turned and spotted him, and in three steps he was upon him. He grabbed the much larger tom by the side of the neck, using just enough claw make it smart, and dragged his head down level with his own, snarling and baring his clenched teeth.

"Sssitt" ordered Macavity in a low, soft voice that promised pain it if not heeded.

Hoover obediently lowered to the floor. Sitting crosslegged with his back against the door, he broke eye contact by turning his head slightly and staring at his boss's left knee. Suitably submissive. Macavity let Hoover go.

Sullivan had watched it all impassively, but when Mac had gone after Hoover, who was never a problem, he had shifted slightly on his feet, fighting his discomfort.

It's good for show, he told himself. Biggest tom in the room. Reinforces his dominance with the whole gang. He knows Hoover would submit easily. The others don't necessarily know that. It's good for show.

He allowed himself a tiny sigh of relief when his boss had let the big tom go. If Mac had held on to him for much longer he would have had to try to gently remind him to chill the fuck out, without undermining his authority.

Unfortunately, Macavity had turned around in time, and was familiar enough with his chief henchrat's body language, to see his reaction. He growled and glowered and bared his teeth. Sully didn't flinch, but sent a pleading message with his eyes.

Easy, boss. It's enough. Please calm down.

Only Mac was looking at Sully. Only Mac saw the troubled, almost sad look in his eyes. Neither of them were telepaths, and so Mac couldn't know exactly what Sully was trying to tell him, but he knew that look. It was the look Sully always wore when Mac's temper flared hotter than was safe for either of them. It was a look that Mac associated with a calm, comforting voice.

"It's okay," his friend would tell him, "it's alright. Take it easy, you're alright."

Though Sully was silent now, Mac could hear those soft, soothing words in the back of his mind when he looked in his friend's eyes.

It was a look Mac associated with the gentle weight of an understanding hand on his shoulder, or his arm, or his knee. It was a look that made him feel strange, unfamiliar, but not unpleasant things. It was a look that awakened a protective instinct in him, though he was only mildly aware that it was himself he was protecting his best friend from.

It was a look that calmed Macavity's heart.

It was not a look of fear, nor was it truly one of submission.

But it was suitably submissive. For his purposes. He told himself that as his glower softened, his lips curled back down to cover his teeth, and his bristling mane smoothed back into it's normal wild shaggy state.

In truth it wasn't submissive at all. Macavity had been soothed. With one gentle look, the most feared gang leader in the Junkyard had been subdued.

The whole exchange, from growling at Sully to silent plea to dampening fury, had taken no more than five seconds. No one else in the gang had noticed. They were too busy not making eye contact. Mungo was doubled over on the floor, holding his stomach and trying not to make noise, while Teazer knelt beside him, her arms wrapped around his shoulders protectively, her head layed against his back. Only Sullivan was looking at Mac, and no one was looking at Sullivan.

Except Bomba. She was watching anxiously from behind Mac's chair. She had seen her new lover lock eyes with the obnoxious little fatass that was in charge of the rat squad. Had seen his rage melt away like nothing. Now she looked from Sullivan to Macavity and back again, trying to make sense of what she'd just witnessed.

Macavity sneered his annoyance at her, but did not bare his teeth. She offered him a small nervous smile, just trying to stay on his good side. He did not return it. His temper was under control, but his mood had not improved. He stalked silently back to his chair, giving Sullivan the tiniest of nods on his way. Sullivan knew his cue.

"Alright listen up!" shouted the rat captain, looking around the room at the nervous eyes that looked up at him. "No more chit-chat! No more bullshit! Let's get back to business!"

Sullivan didn't look at Macavity as he passed him, and Macavity didn't look at him either. He silently glided by and flopped hard into his chair. Bomba, to her credit, didn't flinch or back away at his approach, but she didn't come around to sit on the arm again. Nor did he encourage her to. Instead, she leaned one arm against the back of the chair with as much an air of nonchalance as she could muster.

A minute ago, literally one minute, he would have been annoyed and probably offended at her behavior, but in this moment he admired and respected her for it. Macavity's thoughts tended to run like that, all over the place. Increasingly so, these days.

Despite Sullivan's firm orders, it was only when the boss was seated again that the room cautiously started reorganizing itself. The safecracker was helped to his feet by a masked Cat, and returned to his place on the bench. Teazer quietly helped Mungo sit up and the two sat in silence as other Cats nearby returned to the table and started ruffling through papers. Hoover, already where he was supposed to be, didn't move.

"You two," Sullivan pointed a claw at the two bleeding thugs on the sofa, "get yourselves cleaned up, you're bleeding all over the upholstery!"

They didn't need to be told twice. They scrambled from the sofa and made for the door, finding it blocked by Hoover.

"Let 'em out." ordered Sullivan.

Hoover stood, opened the door, and slammed it closed again after they had exited, nearly catching one of them by the tail. Then he crossed his arms and leaned against the door once more. Macavity glared a warning from his chair, and Hoover silently slid his back down the door until he was again seated crosslegged on the floor.

"Everyone else, get focused!" Sullivan continued. "And stay focused! No more games! We have work to do!"

Sullivan looked around the room, and, satisfied they all would behave themselves for now, returned to his own seat at his boss's side. From his chair, Mac quietly and gently reached out to stroke the short, sweaty, taupe-grey fur on the back of Sully's neck with his fingers. Sully's shoulders relaxed. He leaned into the touch.

"There's other ways to get shit to work you know," he muttered softly. Mac took his hand away. Sully looked up at him.

"And smacking it might not do anything but break it."

Mac said nothing. His attention seemed to be on the Cats at the table, who were discussing a blueprint. Sully sighed and patted Mac's arm, which was now resting on the arm of the chair.

"But you do you, boss..."

"Hnm," grunted Mac.

"… just…"

Mac's head didn't move, but his eyes flicked down to regard his loyal companion, his expression blank, silently granting him permission to say whatever he was hesitating to say.

It's okay, Mac tried to tell him with his eyes, I won't get mad.

But still Sully hesitated, finally he sighed again and said "We can talk about this later."

Sully had wanted to tell his boss that he thought he should reign it back a bit, for his own good as well as the good of the gang. But this wasn't the time or the place. Anything that could be taken as arguing with him, including questioning his methods, should be done in private. Undermining him in front of everyone, right after they had just gotten the room under control again, was a very bad idea. He didn't know how Mac would respond to it, but more importantly, he did know how the gang would take it, and Sully reckoned it wouldn't go well in the long run. Just not a good idea.

So he waved it off until later, when they could talk in private. He patted Mac's wrist again, letting his hand rest there a moment before taking it away, and turned his attention back to the discussion over the blueprint.

Bomba, the only Cat within earshot of their conversation, watched the two is them with interest. She had no idea what to make of these two, or their strange relationship.

Well, she thought, at least the tall one's hot.

From the door, Hoover had seen the quick gentle touches between the boss and the captain. He paid it no mind. He knew the two were close, that it wasn't like that, and that it wouldn't matter even if it was. He also knew better than to assume a little bit of sentiment (or even intimacy) made either of them weaker somehow.

And it wasn't any of his business anyway.

On the floor near the table, Mungo and Teazer tried to focus on the discussion, but it was difficult seeing how they couldn't really see the papers being discussed. Not to mention Mungo's very sore abdomen, and the fact that they suddenly had a lot to think about. They each wondered to themselves, had they gotten in over their heads?

Sullivan listened to gang discuss routes and patrols, the safecracker piping with helpful information such as how much time he'd need and so on. Tension had crept back up into Sully's back and shoulders. He didn't like jobs like this. He didn't like outsourcing. He didn't like new faces. And he especially didn't like when his boss was in a mood. He knew (or rather he hoped) Mac would never hurt him, not even in a mood like this. But it wasn't all about his own personal safety. He just didn't like his friend's dark moods. Not one bit.

Brooding, frowning, jaw clenched, sweating under his stupid mask, and trying his hardest to stay focused (set a good example, dammit, he thought to himself) Sullivan leaned against Mac's chair. He felt Mac's fingers lightly stroke the back of his neck yet again. They lingered there, just for a moment, just enough to relieve some of his tension, then returned to the arm of the chair.

Sully shifted so that his elbow brushed his friend's leg, letting it rest there a moment, as a return gesture of affection. Then both returned their attention to the business at hand, both in an ever-so-slightly better mood.

7 notes · View notes

dcubang · 4 years

Text

Third Round of Claims Open!

Hello! Based on feedback, I’ve decided to open a third round of claims! For the third round, artists/fanworkers are free to claim as many stories as they are reasonably sure they can finish!

The third round of claims is optional. Don’t want to claim another story, or don’t feel like you’ll be able to create something for multiple stories? You don’t need to claim! I would much rather you focus on creating something awesome for one story, rather than being stressed out trying to create something for multiple stories. Know your limits and don’t overburden yourself!

Each story can be claimed an additional two times. That means there is a potential total of 3 artists per story, and a minimum of 1 artist per story. While unlikely, it would be pretty hectic and stressful for an author to have to coordinate with 16 artists on their story! That’s why there is a limit, and to encourage people to spread the art around to other stories. =D

Stories are guaranteed only one artist each. I cannot guarantee that every single story will get a second artist. Please be understanding of this!

The third round of claims will close Sunday, July 19th 23:59 MDT, when all fanworker sign-ups will be closed. (This is a slight extension compared to the schedule.)

How to Make Multiple Claims:

--- Stories are claimed on a first come, first served basis.

--- Fill out this Google Form right here

--- A matching email will go out to both the artist and the author containing each other’s contact information after a claim is successful. You should receive this email no later than 72 hours after I have confirmed the claim. If you don't get this match up email, please get in contact with me ASAP so that artists and authors can get to work quickly!

Every story listed here is not guaranteed a second or third artist/fanworker! I can only guarantee one artist/fanworker per story.

Summaries after the Read More

2020 Summaries

1 Title: Green (may be renamed) Word Count: 9961 Genre: Fandom/Universe: Batman - All Media Types Characters/Pairings: Damian Wayne, Tim Drake, Jason Todd - Tim Drake/Jason Todd/Damian Wayne, Tim Drake/Damian Wayne, Tim Drake/Jason Todd, Jason Todd/Damian Wayne, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent (background), Jonathan Kent/Damian Wayne (background) Warnings: Dubcon, non-consensual drug use Rating: Explicit Summary: Jason and Tim agree to coach Damian through trying weed for the first time. All is going well, until they realise they’ve been dealt Ivy-brand weed and inadvertently been dosed with sex pollen. Obviously, a threesome ensues.

~ ~ ~

2 Title: Love and Other Four-Letter Words Word Count: 10.4k Genre: Angsty Romance Fandom/Universe: Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Birds of Prey Characters/Pairings: Hal Jordan / Dinah Lance / Oliver Queen Warnings: Angst (happy ending), violence, gun violence, drinking, threesome, polyamory, open marriage, emotional infidelity, swearing, depression, self-loathing, nasty past breakup Rating: E Summary: After yet another breakup with Carol, Hal and Ollie find themselves on a road trip across America. Along the way, Hal starts to realize he’s feeling a bit more than friendship for his best friend. The days pass, and the two grow closer, but all too soon the trip must come to an end. On Ollie’s insistence, Hal agrees to stay with him and Dinah in their Star City home. He easily falls into routine with them, but living under the same roof has caused his feelings to multiply tenfold. After a rejected kiss in the middle of the night, Hal has to finally figure out what it is he wants. Dinah, caught in the middle of the two, is forced to confront her own feelings on the situation, eventually making her thoughts known. After a mission turned sour and a near-miss, the three grow closer still, eventually developing a relationship with each other. The story is entirely in Hal’s POV and there is quite a fair bit of self-hatred.

~ ~ ~

3 Title: The sky's gonna hurt when it falls Word Count: 12k Genre: Drama, Angst, "Romance" Fandom/Universe: Nightwing (comics), Batman (All Media Types), Heathers (All Media Types) Characters/Pairings: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson & Barbara Gordon, Dick Grayson & Catalina Flores. Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Catalina Flores, Harley Quinn, Crystal Frost, Barbara Gordon, Roman Sionis, Jack Napier. Warnings: graphic violence, suicide, bullying, violence in schools, underage drinking, parental neglect, homophobia, drug use, major character death, threats of non-con, underage sex Rating: M Summary: All Dick Grayson ever wanted to make Gotham High School a better place. So when queen bee Catalina invites him to be part of the most powerful and ruthless clique in school, he jumps at the chance to accept her invitation---after all, it's easy to change the system when you're the one making the rules. Things get complicated after the arrival of the dangerous new kid, JT, who urges Dick to bite the bullet and abandon high school politics before it's too late. But Dick can't help but feel that JT has another plan for the bullet... AKA the Heathers/Jaydick crossover no one asked for. This work is set in 1989 and contains excessive use of 80s slang. Like the movie and musical, themes of violence, suicide, homophobia, and bullying are present throughout. Situations of dubious consent and threats of non-con are mentioned but not in detail.

~ ~ ~

4 Title: The Ghosts of Robins Past Word Count: 9,399 Genre: Action, casefic, drama, canon divergence Fandom/Universe: Batman Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Alfred Pennyworth, Jack Drake, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd. Jason Todd/Dick Grayson Warnings: Kidnapping, mentions of torture Rating: PG-13 Summary: Bruce never planned or wanted to take on a third Robin. Dick seemingly vanished off the face of the earth at fourteen and Jason was murdered at fifteen. Thirteen-year-old Tim Drake came into his life while he grieved for Jason, insisting Bruce needed a Robin to keep him balanced. Against his better judgment, he accepted and began training Tim. Now, at fourteen, Tim’s more than earned the mantle of Robin and his place at Bruce’s side. But did Bruce make a terrible mistake in accepting him? If something should happen to Tim, could he handle another loss? Bruce hopes he won’t have to answer that question. Soon he has a new case on his hands. People are being killed with gold tipped knives with owl symbols on their hilts. Bruce believes the killer is mimicking the Court of Owls to scare Gothamites while Tim believes a Talon is responsible. Dismissing the claim, Bruce continues to fight Gotham’s crime while doing his best to keep Tim safe. Even the best intentions fail. After a wrist injury prompts Bruce to send Tim home early, Bruce is horrified to receive a call from Jack the next morning saying Tim is missing. Try as they might neither man can find Tim. And Tim at last discovers what happens to the long lost Dick Grayson: he was abducted by the Court of Owls and trained to be a Talon along with the resurrected Jason Todd. Now, they have their eyes set on him.

~ ~ ~

5 Title: Cats and Devil Bats Word Count: ~5,900 Genre: Romance, Supernatural, Action Fandom/Universe: Batman (comics) Characters/Pairings: Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne Warnings: Noncon, graphic violence Rating: NC-17 Summary: Batman is a violent vigilante who stalks and kills criminals. When Catwoman finally runs into him, she fully expects to die. But she doesn’t. In fact, he seems to want something else entirely from her. Meanwhile, Selina Kyle meets the enigmatic and very wealthy Bruce Wayne and the two begin a relationship. What happens when their two lives finally cross? And what’s all this about a Bat demon anyway? Everything takes place in Gotham: on rooftops, Bruce Wayne’s penthouse, Selina Kyle’s apartment, Wayne Manor, and the caves beneath it. The noncon is Batman/Catwoman and occurs throughout. It’s not 100% handled well by either of them. Relatively graphic violence in the later chapters, but nothing permanent.

~ ~ ~

6 Title: What I Know Now (subject to change) Word Count: 9k written, maybe 12k total Genre: Angst, fluff, adventure Fandom/Universe: DC Comics or Young Justice Characters/Pairings: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne Warnings: None Rating: PG, T Summary: Set in a YJ timeline where Jason and Dick are only two years apart, Dick falls in love with Jason when they're younger only to be devastated when he dies. And although Jason comes back to life as normal, he instead stays with the League and becomes a brother figure to Damian. Eventually Damian is sent to live with his father, and as his new family begins to grow on him, he begins to tell them more and more of "Akhi," who sounds achingly familiar to Dick. This story is set mostly in Gotham, with a few scenes in Nanda Parbat in the middle when Jason and Damian are with the League. No major warnings besides the Jason/Dick relationship if that bothers you. Some swearing and descriptions of Jason's death and resurrection, but it is not in explicit detail.

~ ~ ~

7 Title: To the Fairest Word Count: 18,000 written Genre: Mystery Fandom/Universe: Batman (comics) Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne/Zatanna, Bruce Wayne, Zatanna Zatara, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Kara Zor-El Warnings: canon level violence Rating: Teen Summary: The Queen of Fables has another tale to tell… In this thrilling mystery Zatanna, the Mistress of Magic, wow’s audiences while solving crimes with the help of her new sidekick: Batman. Co starring in this mystical mystery are the youngest world's finest trio: Robin, Robin, and Supergirl. Will they be able to return a Talon to his nest or will birds fly? Join us in Gotham city, Metropolis, a witch's sales outlet, and a creepy shake filled with sentient vines. No warnings need apply.

~ ~ ~

8 Title: we could put some roots down Word Count: 14378 Genre: Fluff, Romance, Drama Fandom/Universe: DCU (pre-New-52), Nightwing, Deathstroke Characters/Pairings: Slade Wilson/Dick Grayson, Batam Warnings: family drama, Bruce Wayne’s A+ Parenting, mention of Catalina Flores Rating: PG-13/Teen Summary: A set of multiple vignettes that center on Dick and Slade as they interact with the other members of the Batfam as Tim and Bruce come home to act as a catalyst of change. Dick grapples with what Bruce’s return means for his time as Batman while Jason teases that his relationship with Slade might be moving to the next stage. Dick and Tim finally get closure and the ability to clear the air between them while engaging in a bit of brotherly bonding and teasing. As always, Alfred holds all the answers. The story takes place mainly on the grounds of Wayne Manor, in the Bat Cave, or inside the Manor itself. The timeframe of the story takes place over the course of a few weeks to a month.

~ ~ ~

9 Title: Scarlet Tears Word Count: 12,857 Genre: Action/Adventure Fandom/Universe: The Flash Characters/Pairings: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart Warnings: mpreg Rating: Explicit Summary: Leonard Snart decided to take a break from the Legends, with Mick in tow. They head back to Central City, only to find Team Flash in a bit of trouble…well not the team just Barry. A young Meta causes trouble with her power exactly what is her deal?

~ ~ ~

10 Title: The Date (or The Bargain, haven’t decided yet) Word Count: 6,040 Genre: drama, hurt/comfort Fandom/Universe: Batman, Red Robin, Ra’s al Ghul/League of Assassins Characters/Pairings: Tim Drake, Slade Wilson, Ra’s al Ghul, Kon-El/Conner Kent, Bruce Wayne. Ra’s/Tim pairing Warnings: Kidnapping Rating: PG Summary: After a long and exhausting week all Tim looks forward to is catching up on his sleep. Much to his surprise he wakes up not in his comfortable bed but handcuffed to a seat aboard Slade Wilson’s private jet. He soon discovers that Ra’s al Ghul paid Slade to kidnap him and deliver him into Ra’s’ care. Angry, Tim’s thinking of his escape when Ra’s presents him with a deal: if a member of his family contacts him in one week, Ra’s will leave Tim alone for six months. Tim accepts the deal. As days pass with radio silence from the Bats, Tim has to face the truth about how all of them have grown apart and they’ve done little to draw him back in. Is he better off staying with Ra’s despite their vastly different morals? Or does Bruce deserve a chance to prove himself?

~ ~ ~

11 Title: When You Move, I Move Word Count: 9150 Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure Fandom/Universe: Batman, Nightwing, Red Hood and the Outlaws Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Dick Grayson/Catalina Flores, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne Warnings: Non-Con/Dub-Con (non-graphic) Rating: R Summary: Despite having been in love with one another since they were children, Crown Prince Richard and Dragon Slayer Jason are faced with the fact that they are bound by duty and law to never marry. King Bruce manages to come up with a plan that would allow the pair to remain close and for Richard to fulfill his duty as the future king. He proposes a marriage of convenience to a woman, Catalina of House Flores, who is on the brink of permanent maidenhood after having been passed over by too many men in the past. And though she was aware that the future king would never love her, Catalina grows bitter and jealous over the love between the two men and the love her and Richard’s son shares with that man. So she calls upon the help of a crone to curse both men to live this life and all future lives close to one another but never allowing them to be together. And though the crone grants the curse she places a contingency: if one of them were to die before their 18th birthday then the curse would be lifted and they would be reunited to share the love they have been denied. When Dick and Jason come into contact with the god Fate in their current life, the pair are made aware of what had been stolen from them decades in the past and shown that because of Jason’s untimely death at the age of 15, the curse has been lifted. And Jason is finally given the answer as to why he was awoken in his grave all those years prior. With the truth laid out before them, the pair must figure out what it means for them in this lifetime and all future ones.

~ ~ ~

12 Title: The Sorrows Of Healing Word Count: 18k of 20-22k written Genre: Slice Of Life, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Character-centric Fandom/Universe: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics), AU from Battle of the Cowl Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson & Tim Drake, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Alfred Pennyworth - Alfred Pennyworth, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Tim Drake Warnings: Off-Screen Character Death, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts and Intentions, Racism, Past/Referenced Child Abuse, Hospitals and Therapy Rating: M Summary: It was Dick who had taken up the Cowl after Bruce had died. It was Dick who had become Batman, taking Damian, Tim, and Alfred with him to the penthouse for a fresh start. But things could never be that easy. All of them were haunted by sorrow: Tim not capable of believing that his second father was gone as well, Dick almost breaking under the pressure of standing tall in the face of a crisis, Damian uncomfortable and lost in these unfamiliar waters he was forced to navigate, and Alfred mourning yet another child. In a world in which Bruce actually died, becoming a family again is harder than some might think. In the midst of fights, the racist white Gotham High Society, and Tim, who fled the nest in a last attempt to resurrect something that no longer exists, it is hard to find hope, and yet all of them somehow manage to do so anyways. The story mostly takes place in their Gotham City penthouse, a ballroom, a Baghdad hospital room, and the graveyard. This is a story of healing - but also about the growing pains along the way - so be aware that Tim and Dick deal with depression (Tim with suicidal thoughts and intentions as well), that Damian and Dick face racism, that Damian's childhood will be referenced as the unpretty mess that is was, and that Bruce will not return. His children will have to learn how to fly on their own.

~ ~ ~

13 Title: since you’ve been gone (I can breathe for the first time) Word Count: 9,134 Genre: whump, hurt/comfort Fandom/Universe: Batfamily comics (mostly preboot canon with occasional elements of New 52 & Reboot canons) Characters/Pairings: Tim Drake, Batfamily, implied one-sided Tim Drake/Ra’s al-Ghul Warnings: Body horror, depression, child abuse, body modification (consensual and non-consensual), terminal illness, child death, substance abuse (harmful self-medication). Rating: Mature Summary: A study of Tim Drake and his experiences with Hanahaki (specifically, familial Hanahaki), mostly following comics canon with a few changes. Starts when Tim is a child (pre-Robin). He befriends the Gotham Sirens after seeking out Poison Ivy to obtain a growth stopper for his Hanahaki, and later befriends Jason-as-Robin. After Jason’s death and Tim’s parents find out about his Hanahaki, Tim seeks out Batman and becomes Robin. Eventually, after he starts spending time with Bruce, his Hanahaki fades. Years later, following the events of Red Robin and Tim’s distancing from the family, it returns with a vengeance. This story is primarily set in Gotham (at Wayne and Drake manors and the Batcave in particular), with scenes in Iceland (including a glacier) and other locations around the world. Being a Hanahaki fic, the story does contain quite a bit of body horror and terminal illness. The depression occurs throughout due to the Hanahaki & events of Red Robin, as does the body modification (in reference to forced surgery and growth-stopping drugs Tim takes (also the substance abuse tag).). Child abuse is neglect on the part of Tim’s parents, and correlates to the non-consensual body modification tag. Child death is Jason Todd’s canon death.

~ ~ ~

14 Title: Forging Friendship Word Count: 4k Genre: Action/Adventure Fandom/Universe: Young Justice Characters/Pairings: Roy Harper, Kaldur’ahm, Black Manta Warnings: None Rating: PG-13 Summary: Green Arrow takes Speedy on a mission at the Star City Wharf with Aquaman and the new to the surface Aqualad. When the mentors give them a solo task, Speedy is very unsure about working with the new hero and tries to only focus on his mission. However, the mission goes wrong, forcing Speedy to risk his life, and face his fears, to save Aqualad. This story takes place primarily at night at a warehouse near the ocean. However actions scenes take place inside the warehouse with lots of crates that create a maze effect, and at the end of the story they’re all on fire.

~ ~ ~

15 Title: (Better Things to do than) Chasing White Rabbits Word Count: 4k of what will likely be 6k Genre: Romcom and action/adventure Fandom/Universe: DC, Pacific Rim Characters/Pairings: Slade Wilson/Dick Grayson Warnings: violence, swearing, slurs (Gipsy Danger is the canon name of a jaeger), overprotective parent Bruce Wayne, sexual innuendo, secret identities, Slade's canonical bad parenting (but at least he's trying to work on that), accidental relationship, family drama, frenemies to lovers Rating: Explicit just in case, though I don't think sex will happen until the next installment in the series Summary: Rumor has it that Dick Grayson can drift with anyone. Slade Wilson has the opposite problem, and kids. Killing kaiju may be easier than parenting, and that's with Grayson playing mediator when he inevitably messes up. Dick, meanwhile, is tired of Bruce overstepping boundaries, and Slade just offered him a chance to help a villain redeem himself while also rubbing B's nose in the fact that clinging so tightly is more likely to drive all his kids away than make anyone want to stay. Even Nightwing has a rep for cheerful spite. Stacker Pentecost is too tired for this; he's got a daughter pushing to join the program, said program to run, and the Becket brothers are enough of a headache. That said, if an internationally wanted mercenary is truly willing to join the program, he'll welcome Deathstroke. He just doesn't want to lose Grayson in the process, or the Wayne family funding for the program. Jason, meanwhile, wins Best Brother accolades, and not just for donning Nightwing while Dick pilots giant robots.

~ ~ ~

16 Title: in reverse, tragedy Word Count: ~12k Genre: Drama, Action Fandom/Universe: Batman, no specific canon Characters/Pairings: No Pairings, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Talia al Ghul Warnings: Dehumanization of Talons, Canon-Typical Violence, Decapitation Rating: PG Summary: Around two years after Batman fires Robin and Jason Todd (AKA Batboy) returns from an interstellar mission to find his sort of little brother missing, Talia al Ghul's jet touches down in Gotham. Her objective? Take revenge on the Court of Owls, the secret society hidden under Gotham that ordered Ra's al Ghul's death at the hands of a Talon, one of their personal assassins. During her mission, Talia is once again confronted by the Talon she fought when defending her father. After an intense battle in the Court's underground labyrinth, Talia defeats the Talon. As she unmasks him, she realizes that this Talon is the key to answering a question that has plagued even the Batman: what happened to Dick Grayson? (Sort of a Reverse Robins story, but more accurately a Mix-'Em-Up Robins story.)

~ ~ ~

17 Title: bury the dead where they're found Word Count: 8K-ish Genre: Action Fandom/Universe: Batman (Comics) Characters/Pairings: Dick/Koriand'r, Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Slade Wilson, Gotham Rogues Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Murder Rating: PG-13 Summary: After returning to Earth and discovering his little brother is dead, Dick Grayson finds himself questioning how heroic Batman's "No Kill" rule truly is. Faced with Bruce's temper and the disrespectful ways Bruce has chosen to honor Jason, Dick decides it's time to take matters into his own hands, and makes a plan to remove the threat of the Gotham Rogues once and for all. Jason Todd, freshly back from the dead, doesn't understand what happened when he looks at the news in Gotham and sees that the Joker is dead. Determined to figure it out, he leaves Talia and makes his way back to the city that led to his death, only to learn from a strange source the truth of what went on while he was away. This story takes place in various locations, including the batcave, an apartment, Arkham Asylum, and the streets of Gotham.

~ ~ ~

18 Title: Coffee Shop Love Word Count: 7,494 Genre: Fluff, Romance, Crossover, Alternate Canon Fandom/Universe: DC Comics/MCU Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Tim Drake/James "Bucky" Barnes, Owens/Pru/Z, Conner, Cassie, Bruce/Diana, Bart, Cassie/Cass, Jason/Roy/Kory Warnings: None Rating: PG-13 Summary: Five years ago, Tim Drake saved Bruce and walked away from his so-called family and with Owens, Z, Pru and Bucky Barnes the Winter Solider and started up a small coffee shop with only Conner, Cass, Bart, Cassie and Alfred knowing where he is. Tim was happy until the day the Bats and the Avengers found him. Dick has never forgiven himself for driving away Tim, he longs to make things right with him, even if they never become anything but brothers but those plans are derailed when it comes clear to him that James "Bucky" Barnes has more than friendly feelings for Tim. Soon it becomes Dick vs. Bucky for Tim's heart. Tim just wishes that they would have asked him first.

~ ~ ~

19 Title: Against His Heart Word Count: 6,566 Genre: Angst, PWP, rape recovery, happy/hopeful ending Fandom/Universe: DCU, no particular canon Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Roy Harper Warnings: Past rape/noncon, slut-shaming, consensual nonconsent Rating: NC-17 Summary: The morning after Dick Grayson learns that Tarantula has died in prison, he gets on a train. Somehow he ends up at Roy's place. Nobody knows about everything that happened with Tarantula; even Dick forgets parts of it. He wishes he could erase everyone who'd ever touched him, even if that would erase Roy, so that Roy could touch him anew. They decide to pretend, and play out a situation where Dick is a virgin. A few awkward hiccups and a whole lot of feelings come out. It makes Dick realize something he wants--something he needs, maybe. He wants to pretend to struggle and say no and for Roy to keep going. They pick a safeword, Dick promises to use it, and so he does. Most of the scenes will take place in Roy's apartment which is somewhere in south New Jersey. It's not an AU (i.e. they are superheros), but they're out of uniform for the story. This is definitely a PWP, with a focus on sexual trauma, beginning to heal from trauma, and hints of a burgeoning DickRoy romance. There are no flashbacks to rape, but there are mentions of it throughout, including Dick's feelings towards his own body and his thoughts during sex with Roy. For a majority of the fic, Roy believes that Dick's relationship with Tarantula was fully consensual, before Dick ends up telling him that it wasn't. Dick is a trans man, and Roy is a cis man.

~ ~ ~

20 Title: Stay Awake With Me Word Count: 10,738 of 40k Genre: Mystery, Case-fic Fandom/Universe: Court of Owls (comics) Characters/Pairings: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne Warnings: Major Character Death, Violence Rating: NC-17 Summary: When Dick goes missing, the family works together to try and find him. When Bruce goes missing, the mystery only begins to show itself. In an investigation which will span decades, Clark must work together with the remaining members of the Batfamily to unravel the secrets of Gotham's underbelly, and not only stop the Court of Owls in their bid for power, but to also catch Talon!Bruce and Talon!Dick. The fic will explore two timelines: the 'present' timeline which deals with the court of owls plot and a 'past' timeline that explores Clark's role in the batfamily.

~ ~ ~

21 Title: The Maiden in the Tower Word Count: 6k complete so far, looking to be around 10-11k total. Genre: Urban Fantasy, Romantic Comedy, light Drama Fandom/Universe: primarily the pre-Flashpoint DC canon, though that’s more of a guideline than a hard rule. Characters/Pairings: Everyone Loves Tim Drake, ultimately Dick/Tim; Klarion the Witch Boy, Bruce, Barbara, Cass, Cassie, Kon and Bart all have prominent roles. Featuring cameos from as much of the DCU as I can fit in before the deadline, primarily Titans and Young Justice. Warnings: Low-key canon-typical violence and a ‘happily ever after’ kiss for two (full-grown) adopted brothers. Swearing. A few people get made the butt of jokes but it’s nothing too mean-spirited. Rating: PG-13 (technically R for swearing but content-wise it’s strictly PG-13) Summary: Klarion’s idea of the perfect birthday present is to trap Tim in the highest room (Bruce’s office) of the tallest tower in Gotham (Wayne Enterprises) and flood the rest of the building with a mix of living vines and fairy tale obstacles that can only be overcome by Tim’s true love. Shenanigans ensue as half the superhero community competes for the hand of the fair maid Red Robin. Pay-off is Dick/Tim but the lion's share of the page time is spent watching people fight fairytale tropes while Tim and Klarion snark with popcorn. Light-hearted comedy in which some characters get made to look the fool, ultimately gets no sexier than a True Love’s Ending Kiss. Set entirely within a vine-infested, magically-warped Wayne Tower with everyone from the Bats to the Titans to Tim’s civilian friends dealing with fairytale nonsense: glass mountains, living office supplies, pixies swarms, catching the cat who has the key to the next floor, etc. Meanwhile Tim hangs out in the penthouse with Klarion and a pint of ice cream watching the event like a reality show and getting dunked on for being an archetypal Disney Princess. Fun times for all with a light sprinkling of angst for flavor.

~ ~ ~

22 Title: The Antecedents to Reunion Word Count: 13,500 (out of approx. 20k) Genre: Steampunk AU, slice of life, case fic Fandom/Universe: Batman comics, drawing heavily from the Court of Owls storyline and Cass's Batgirl run Characters/Pairings: Cassandra Cain/Stephanie Brown (preslash), Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson Warnings: non-canonical limb loss, temporary character death, fake character death, grief/mourning, implied brainwashing, past child abuse, drug use in an interrogation by a minor character Rating: PG-13/Teen Summary: In a verison of Gotham that never existed, a version of Gotham where clockwork and steam bring the city through the night, Dick Grayson is believed to be dead, and Cassandra Wayne has just returned from Hong Kong. But as Cass settles back into the city, she quickly discovers that something-- or someone-- is trying to get her attention, and that the clock is ticking on how much time she has to figure it out. This is very much a "slice-of-life" fic, except it's set in a Steampunk AU. This story is set mostly in Gotham, with there being one flashback scene to Cass’s apartment in Hong Kong. In Gotham, characters go to the manor, a gala, an ice cream parlor, and the Iceberg Lounge. There is also a fight scene in Robinson Park against Poison Ivy, in a villain’s apartment against droids, and a brief chase scene across rooftops. The plot with the Court of Owls is fairly in the background of this fic, as the real focus is Cass, her relationships with the other bats, and the intricacies of mourning. This story has a hopeful ending, in that it ends with Cass discovering that Dick is alive, but the actual reunion is left to the reader’s imagination.

~ ~ ~

23 Title: With Blood and Rage of Crimson Red Word Count: 6,968 Genre: Angst, Action/Adventure Fandom/Universe: DCU, Batfam, Lantern Corps Characters/Pairings: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardener, John Stewart, Bleez, Rankorr, no pairings (however, I might include hints of Batlantern (HalxBruce) later) Warnings: Canon-Typical Violence, mentions of past underage attempted rape, mentions of past drug use, mentions of past child abuse Rating: PG-13 Summary: Jason was only 11 when his life was irreversibly changed. Now the newest member of the Red Lantern Corps, he is immediately thrust into a dangerous game where losing could mean death. With practically half the villains in the universe after him and the rest of the Lantern Corps, Jason must watch his step at every corner. To overcome this threat and find a way to save himself and the people he cares for, Jason must first overcome his own inner demons and learn to trust himself and the people around him. This story is set on multiple planets throughout the DC Universe. On Earth, we see Gotham City, the Batcave, and the Watchtower, in space, they travel to Ysmault and other planets that I made up for the purpose fo the fic (so you will have mostly free reign with the design of those planets if you choose to draw scenes involving them). This story involves canon-typical violence throughout. At the start, there are mentions of child abuse, and there is camera footage shown of attempted rape of a minor, but nothing explicit. At the start of the story, Catherine Todd is found by Jason post-OD and that is mentioned a few times throughout the story. The abuse and attempted rape are mentioned a little throughout the story, but not much, as it is not the focus, rather a back story for Jason. Other than that, there is no smut, or even pairings (unless I decide to do the Batlantern, but that will be a minor background pairing). There might be some language, but it is kept to a minimum.

~ ~ ~

24 Title: You Have Their Eyes (But You'll Never Have Their Smile) Word Count: 6,679 Genre: Action/Adventure, Mystery, Angst Fandom/Universe: DCU, Justice League Characters/Pairings: Jason Todd, Kyle Rayner, Donna Troy, Chris Kent, Lorena Marquez, Connor Hawke, possibly Jaykyle Warnings: Canon Typical Violence, Mentions of Past Character Death, might have some minor language Rating: PG-13 Summary: Eight years ago, the Justice League vanished into thin air. Since then, their proteges have been left behind to pick up the pieces of a broken world. Struggling to fill shoes that don't quite fit, the next generation of the Justice League is faced with their pasts as an old case makes a reappearance, eight years after the original Justice League closed it. This is set on Earth, in various locations like Wayne Enterprises, the Watchtower, the Whitehouse, Los Angeles, Malaysia, and Atlantis. As stated before, violence is a part of this fic, but nothing more than you would normally see in canon. Past character deaths are mentioned, including Jason's temporary death, and the supposed deaths of the original Justice League. There is cussing, but only like two or three words in the entire fic. There are also mentions of a court stripping away Donna's parental rights to Terry.

~ ~ ~

25 Title: Heavy the Head Word Count: 4k~ Genre: Greek Gods AU Fandom/Universe: No specific canon Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Slade Wilson, assorted batfamily characters Warnings: No real warnings; there's some smut at one point in the fic Rating: NC-17 (overall it's rather tame, but some smut) Summary: Slade is an old nature god, one rather bored with the politics of Olympus. He is, however, rather fascinated by the reserved god of the dead Richard, remembering how different the boy was back when he truly was just a boy. He's always like oddities and figuring out puzzles, and Richard certainly is one at that. Dick would really prefer that everyone leave him alone to do the job he was assigned a millenia ago. Visiting Olympus brings him no peace, not when he knows he'll have to leave again soon, not to see his family for another century or so. Of course, there's always Slade, who's happy to give more than Dick is usually comfortable accepting. Not that that ends up being a bad thing. This story takes place in Mount Olympus, at a waterfall, and in the Underworld.

~ ~ ~

26 Title: Hearts Beating Side by Side Word Count: 3,600 Genre: Romance, Drama Fandom/Universe: Young Justice Verse Characters/Pairings: Garth - Tempest/Kaldur'ahm/Dick Grayson Warnings: Threesome, misunderstanding, pining, dirty talk Rating: Summary: On the precipice of changes in their lives, Garth and Kaldur find a momentary reunion and the repressed childhood love that they have both harbored for the other is reignited. But the weekend won't be an easy fall into long awaited love. Nightwing has reappeared after months of silence in the guise of his civilian persona, Dickie Wayne-Grayson. And even though he's playing the part of full-time playboy, Garth can see the spark that Dick lights within Kaldur. And it's not a one-sided feeling. A weekend of diplomacy is consumed by Garth and Dick's competing jealousy; each believing Kaldur has eyes for the other. Garth thinks Dick is leading Kaldur on, and Dick thinks Garth has won Kaldur's heart before the weekend even began. They bicker, and banter, until they Bang It Out. When Kaldur catches them, there's guilt, and confessions and polyamorous negotiations.

~ ~ ~

27 Title: hold onto the fire even if you have to burn Word Count: ~7k Genre: Angst with a happy ending Fandom/Universe: DCU (specifically Batfam) and post-Underworld Unleashed Characters: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Zatanna Zatara, John Constantine, Donna Troy Pairings: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd (endgame), Dick Grayson/John Constantine/Zatanna (temporary) Warnings: Threesome, rape/non-con mentioned, self-harm (through magic), depression, lack of self-worth, explicit content, graphic violence, temporary major character deaths. Rating: NC-17 Summary: Dick Grayson is no Batman. After Bruce Wayne refuses to resurrect the late Jason Todd, Dick takes matters into his own hands. Armed with the knowledge of a deal that didn't go through, Dick allies himself with Zatanna and Constantine in a bid to right the wrong that Bruce ignores -- even though souls come at a cost. Dick knows he's strong enough to take the pain to save Jason. But can he stop at Jason? Can he let his fallen friends and family stay dead? Dick is determined to save everyone he can, even if it means losing his soul. The story takes place in multiple locations, primarily in Gotham and Neron's throne room in Hell, with occasional switches to Bludhaven. Rape/non-con refers to past instances (Dick/Mirage, Dick/Catalina) that are discussed at length. Threesome takes place as part of a magic ritual. Self-harm is heavily implied through self-sacrificial actions and reckless behavior (as well as the literal deals with a devil). Graphic violence will be canon-typical. Deaths are canonical deaths and happen offscreen (with the exception of Donna Troy and Damian Wayne who die in front of Dick and are described vividly). There's an alternative ending that includes Dick Grayson dying, but that's only one of two endings that will both be written.

~ ~ ~

28 Title: The Deepest Secret Nobody Knows Word Count: ~6500 written (~15000 total) Genre: Romance Fandom/Universe: General DCU, Batman, Green Lantern Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne/Hal Jordan Warnings: Unintentional Exhibitionalism, characters/relationship being outed without their consent Rating: Explicit/NC-17 Summary: Hal and Bruce have been fucking for a full year, but have only been in an acknowledged relationship for six months. A jealous co-worker, who will stop at nothing to destroy Bruce Wayne, has a private romantic encounter between Bruce and Hal taped, then releases photos of the encounter to the press. Hal now finds himself thrust into a part of Bruce's life that he'd only had a vague impression of previously. While he believes that his and Bruce's relationship is solid, he's still left wondering if this will prove to be too much trouble to bother with, for himself, for Bruce, and for Bruce's family. Takes place primarily in Gotham (WEI offices, the Batcave, and the manor), with minor placement on the Watchtower, in Hal's apartment in Coast City, and varying Bruce boltholes around Earth. No serious warnings, other than semi-graphic/graphic sex.

~ ~ ~

29 Title: In the Shadow of the Empire Word Count: About 12 or 13k, just under 9k written Genre: SciFi, Action/Adventure Fandom/Universe: Batman (though no particular canon), Star Wars AU Characters/Pairings: JayDick, JayTim, implied DickTim, pre-DickTimJay, Cass, Steph Warnings: Graphic descriptions of violence, dub con Rating: NC-17 Summary: For most of the galaxy, life under the Empire's thumb was difficult, stressful, and painfully short. Dick and Jason knew this all too well, trying to keep their rustbucket of a ship in one piece while living job to job on the fringes of the Empire's control. It was a hard life, but as an ex-Jedi and a so-called 'troublemaker' wanted in multiple Empire systems, they didn't have much choice. But when a job goes wrong, they and their crew find themselves on the run from the Hand of the Emperor; a masked dark side user who is as feared as his origins are mysterious... and who is much more involved in Dick and Jason's past than either of them could guess. This story exists within a Star Wars setting, roughly around the time of the Original Trilogy. Scenes take place aboard Jason's ship, on a derelict Republic cruiser (i.e. no lights and without atmosphere or gravity), and on a small, heavily forested moon where the showdown happens between the ship's crew (Dick, Jason, Cass, and Steph) and Dark Side!Tim. The graphic violence is to the tune of blaster and lightsaber wounds. The dub-con occurs when Jason drunkenly sleeps with a stranger at a bar, who later is implied to be Dark Side!Tim undercover. This counts as dub-con because Tim is actively concealing his identity to get information out of Jason and because Jason would likely not have slept with him if he knew who he was and what he was doing.

~ ~ ~

30 Title: There Be Dragons Word Count: 6425 words Genre: Urban Fantasy, Dragons Fandom/Universe: Batman Characters/Pairings: JayDick Warnings: Descriptions of burning buildings, violence, some gore Rating: M Summary: In Gotham, there be dragons. A pureblood dragon, Bruce revolved his vigilante persona around his ancestry, to become, Dragonman. Dick’s dragonhood was a direct result of Bruce’s ingenious DNA bonding–a gift he now refuses to use. For a moment in his life, however, he tolerated it, for Jason. Then Jason died. For six months, as far as Dick and Bludhaven was concerned, there were no goddamn dragons. Then one night, fire licked the sky. No matter how fast Dick ran, swung and flew, it was too damn late. A casino was razed to the ground. Human bodies stacked in piles. The shadow of a red dragon’s wings flapped in a distance. There was no question, however impossible, who did it. Dick couldn’t believe it. Dick wouldn’t believe it. This dragon flew around in Dick’s city on a raging warpath, knowing more than he was letting on. Dick intended to find it, and stop it.

~ ~ ~

31 Title: When the Winds are Howling Strong Word Count: 3040 Genre: Found family, omegaverse, no capes AU Fandom/Universe: Batfam, Red Hood and the Outlaws Characters/Pairings: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson Warnings: Implied non graphic rape, intersex omegas, severe misogyny against omegas. Dick is a cop but he’s on leave through 90% of the fic Rating: PG-13/Teen. Nothing is graphic, but the topics are heavy Summary: Dick signed up to be a foster alpha, but never expected that he would actually be given an omega. Then Gorden’s men find an gang’s omega in heat and in bad shape. Since most foster alphas are searching for a mate, Dick is given custody over the omega. Jason was pulled off the streets by Joker’s gang when he was fifteen and life’s only gotten worse from there. As a gang omega, Jason served mostly as a form of recreation for the other gang members. After four years in hell, Jason’s given up all hope of escape. He’s got a new alpha who seems decent, but past experience has taught him those are the worst ones. Found family is the core of this fic. Dick helps Jason with his reintroduction into society/introduction to Gotham’s high society and both are forced to confront their internalized prejudices against other castes. It’s set in Gotham and explores both the slums and the glitzier districts. Jason and other male omegas will be depicted as wearing more feminine styles, including dresses and skirts. Key scenes: Dick taking custody of Jason, Dick and Jason growing used to each other, Tim and Damian meeting Jason by accident, Jason dumping out all of Dick’s liquor cabinet, Dick taking Jason shopping, Jason meeting Bruce and Alfred, Dick takes Jason to a gala and they work through a meltdown, Jason shows Dick where he used to live before Penguin and Joker, Dick and Jason fight after finding out everything Jason did in the gangs, Sheila makes an appearance, Jason is induced into an artificial heat, Dick and Bruce find Jason who is already making progress to rescue himself, End by Jason cutting the ribbon to an omega shelter.

~ ~ ~

32 Title: Midnight Rendezvous Word Count: 4000+ Genre: PWP, Drama Fandom/Universe: Batman, Nightwing/Grayson Characters/Pairings: Midnighter/Dick Grayson, Bruce/Dick Grayson Warnings: Explicit sex, References to violence, Maybe unsafe sex Rating: NC-17 Summary: Dick is tired of the Golden Boy act. Tired of waiting for Bruce’s approval. And he’s beyond tired of not being noticed... So tonight, he’s going to find someone one who will.

~ ~ ~

33 Title: crowns of violets and roses Word Count: 3009 Genre: Romance, Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology Fandom/Universe: Batman - All Media Types Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne/Jason Todd Warnings: Attempted non con, swearing, descriptions of violence Rating: Explicit (NC-17) Summary: Modern Hades & Persephone AU. After Bruce Wayne’s parents die, he becomes lord of the underworld, leaving the seasons and harvest unattended. Replacing him are the two Robins, Dick and Jason, spirits of spring and growth, but neither is able to fully step into the Waynes’ empty mantle. Things are further complicated when Dick wants to move on to a new role and Jason’s propositioned by another god. Bruce pulls Jason into the underworld, offering him sanctuary from the threats above. In the shadows, Jason finds both his strength and love. But without the work of both Robins, the land crumbles, threatening the lives of mortals and the power of the gods. The only solution is for Jason to return, unless Bruce is able to out think their enemies. The setting for this story is largely modern with stylized elements from different periods (gothic, art deco). The Underworld, which is the primary setting, is heavily influenced by Wayne Manor and the Cave from comics and the animated series. Other places can have a more Gotham art deco influence.

~ ~ ~

34 Title: Bruce Wayne, the Court of… Word Count: 4035 Genre: AU, humor, fluff, angst Fandom/Universe: Batman comics, Nightwing comics, Red Hood and the Outlaws comics, Batman: Under the Red Hood Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne Warnings: rape, death, beating, abuse, violence, spoilers for: Forever Evil arc, Court of Owls arc, recent Nightwing comic arc, recent Batman comic arc, Red Hood and the Outlaws #25, Batman and Red Hood #20 Rating: T/Teen And Up Audiences /PG14+ Summary: Bruce had made many mistakes in his life. The most horrifying and disastrous were the ones involving his family. The way he treated them, deceived, hurt and used finally blew in his face and he had to face the consequences. There was no forgiveness for him now, not from any of them. But maybe there was a way to avoid it all. This story is meant as a fix-it to all the mess the canon turned into. While the story focuses on talking about canonical events there are a lot of headcanon/fanon/tropes put into it as well ie. romantic relationship between adopted brothers. And although the topics discussed are serious matters the fic itself is slightly crackish. The story takes place in Gotham during the Batman: Under the Red Hood events. At first the action is placed all over the city: rooftops, docks, parking lot, train station; for it to narrow down to an abandoned hotel room.

~ ~ ~

35 Title: Do You Love The Summer Like I Do? Word Count: 6116 words Genre: Romance, Action Fandom/Universe: Batman, Red Hood and the Outlaws Characters/Pairings: JayRoy Warnings: Descriptions of physical trauma, healing from injuries, violence, some gore Rating: M Summary: Those hazy nights spent blinking in and out of consciousness, events of Bruce cracking his hood open like an egg replaying like a neverending nightmare. Waking up to a stuffy bed, IV drips and the simmering heat. Roy’s dumb, handsome face hovering worriedly beside him. For those months of grueling physical therapy, Jason could depend on one thing to keep him going--Roy’ love. Jason would have put any grand plans of his to a screeching halt, if Roy asked him to stay on that island forever. But he had therapy to go to. Jason could respect that. Then, Roy died. And Jason missed the funeral. But unlike every other piece of shit who dared to call themselves Roy’s friends, Jason wasn’t about to let him lie. And he had a way of bringing him back.

~ ~ ~

If you have any questions, concerns, here is the the Page-A-Mod Post You can also contact the mods via, [email protected], or by sending a PM on DreamWidth/LiveJournal to , or sending a DM on Discord to LuciferxDamien.

Twitter and Tumblr are NOT the quickest way to get in touch with me, as those accounts are not checked as frequently. If your matter is urgent, Discord or email are the quickest way to receive a response!

#dcu bang #DC Universe #Fanart #fanfic #fandom

3 notes · View notes

gifted-burnout-archive · 4 years

Text

Codename: Candy

Part Seventeen - Who She Was

Word Count - 1806

Author’s Note: A bit of backstory and planning ahead, the way it should be! I just love this entire story so much ugh just thank you so much for reading!

Amelia Rosalee Telford was born on a mild morning in early January 1989 at the Boulder City Hospital, to proud parents Etta Black and John Telford. She was three weeks premature, and weighed 5 pounds and 6 ounces. Despite her early birth, she was completely healthy, and taken home that afternoon.

She grew up in a nice neighbourhood, and her first memory was her parents' wedding when she was 3 years old, throwing flower petals and being fussed over in her handmade dress. She was a happy child, and part of a happy family. Picnics on sunny afternoons, a holiday to Disney World when she was 8, swimming lessons with dad at the local pool.

When she entered middle school, teachers soon realised the quiet children was excelling far past her classmates, and after discussions with her teacher and parents, Amelia skipped two grades. She was smaller than the other kids, and they picked on her for it, but it didn't bother her much. She liked her teacher, and had a friend from the grade below named Tilly. At 13, Amelia experienced two major life events:

1. Her freshman year of high school. 2. And a car accident that killed her mother and crippled her father.

In the realm of tragic origin stories, Amelia sat comfortably in the bracket of Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne. She became a part-time, then full-time carer of her father, before CPS got involved and moved her into with a foster family.

Meanwhile, her school life became increasingly more difficult in the area of social connections. No-one wanted to spend time with the kid with a dead mom, the foster kid. Amelia became isolated, and while she still excelled in school, she hated every second she spent in its walls.

Amelia graduated early from Redwood High just before her 17th birthday, with multiple offers to out-of-state universities, but she had little idea what she wanted to do with her life, and little money for studying. She spent the following months working part-time at a local pharmacy, visiting her father in his assisted care facility.

On the day of her fellow classmates' graduation that April, her foster mother received a copy of the yearbook, and gifted it to Amelia over breakfast. She flipped through the book idly, stopping on the Superlatives after seeing her picture. Above it, the words that would stick with her for the rest of her life:

Most Likely to Stay in Boulder.

And for a few days, she agreed. Her life was in Boulder, why would she leave? Then her dad passed away from an undiagnosed heart condition, and Amelia was deemed a legal adult.

No more foster home. No parents. No friends. A dead end job.

It was the June, after she had moved out of her foster home and into her dad's old car, that Amelia went to her local strip mall to window shop and was dragged into conversation with an Army recruiter. She wasn't sure why he decided to talk to her, she wasn't very tall, nor was she at the peak of physical fitness. Maybe she looked desperate.

What was meant to be a small chat and ultimate rejection turned into the recruiter having a cup of coffee with her, and the pair talking for three hours about the Army. The man was in his mid-thirties, he had served all over the world, had a family, new languages, and a job as a realtor he got on his commander's recommendation.

By the end of that summer, she had lost 30 pounds of fat and replaced it with muscle, and she shipped off to San Diego, California for Marine Corps Boot Camp. And, one day, in the middle of training, the realisation hit her: she made it out of Boulder. And what's more, she had no intention of going back.

—

"Good morning folks, we have some critical business to attend to today, so please sit." Mike called to the room of twenty or so CIA officials, Jack and Greer amongst them, as he walked in the meeting room, the Ambassador following him in. The room was fast to settle down, and Jack couldn't help scanning over the heads to see if Candy had made it, but as the room found seats, Jack spotted one spare, and had his answer.

"Today, we have the Ambassador sitting in, and our team from Langley, who will be filling us in on the current situation." Mike introduced them, and Jack stood up, walking to the front of the room, facing the officials. He cleared his throat, taking the screen remote and clicking onto the slide.

A phtograph, of the thirty two people who died in Washington the day before, bodies lined up in black bags, behind them the still smouldering remains of the Mall Hotel.

"As I am sure you've all been made aware, a terrorist attack happened in the Capitol yesterday, and recent intel has reached the unfaltering conclusion that this man," a click, and the scene of death was replaced by Thomas Roland's last confirmed sighting, "is responsible. However, Thomas Roland isn't just a terrorist. He's a business man, a scientist, and extremely rich individual who is currently hiding in Egypt with the help of Saudi contacts and ISIS, with the agreement to manufacture dirty bombs for the highest bidder." With that, Jack spent the next two hours running the team through the most sensitive details of the case. The interrogation in Afghanistan, the nuclear substances stolen from India, the decisions that led to where they stood, the manufacturing of dirty bombs, and most importantly, the bank statements.

The team sat in silence, taking notes and jotting down questions to ask at the end of the brief. As Jack moved on to the final section of the presentation, the clock on the wall displaying 12.58, Candy walked into the room, standing by the door. She removed her Walkman headphones, pressing a button on the box clipped to her waistband to listen to Jack's closing. He caught her coming in, and while he kept talking, he couldn't help noticing she had changed back into her army uniform, vest and gun still on. She had left the building.

"Our next move has to be warning Madrid of the possible threat coming their way. We suggest that the building targeted should be evacuated a half hour before the devices are, by our sources, meant to detonate. While risky, it keeps civilians safe without alerting Roland and his team we are on their tail... If you have any questions, now would be the time to ask." Jack nodded, going back to his seat. A few of the team raised concerns over public security, the lack of troops in the city for American protection, and Greer stepped in to assure them a trained team were being briefed and flying over within the next two days.

As the room began to relax, and pack up, the Ambassador spoke up. "This is all well and good, but it's not just Thomas Roland to worry about." He spoke you, and Jack looked over.

"He is the centre of the entire project, sir, without Roland the business fall apart." Jack answered, confused.

"What about the chief of staff? The one dealing with the funds? The minute Roland is detained, he's becoming their leader." The Ambassador argued, and Jack nodded.

"We are aware of the threat Roland's brother might pose, however we have plans in place through the Special Forces. The accounts are set to freeze by Roland's birthday, so assets won't be an issue." Jack said, standing up.

"And what are these plans?" The Ambassador persisted.

"That's classified." Candy spoke up, the room looking over to her. She smiled as sweetly as she could manage, but the Ambassador didn't look impressed.

"What do you mean classified?" He asked, and Mike stepped in.

"Folks, why don't we discuss this in my office. Everyone else, back to work... Thank you for being here today." Mike gave a look to Jack, and the trio followed Mike and the Ambassador out of the room and towards Mike's office. Once the door was shut, and Mike had sat himself down. "Ambassador Jenkins, I'd like to formally introduce you to Doctor Jack Ryan, Jim Greer and Candy." Mike gestured to each one turn.

"What's this bullshit about classified? I'm the fucking Ambassador." Jenkins asked, pissed off was an understatement. Jack wasn't sure how to explain it, but he didn't have to.

"Not to be a dick, Mr Ambassador, but you aren't here to know about Special Ops, you're here to keep peace and look pretty on camera for the Egyptian populous. The situation surrounding Michael Roland is ongoing, and the team tasked with taking him in are separate from the work Doctor Ryan and your Embassy are doing." Candy spoke with a quiet assertion laced in her voice, daring him to argue back. She was perhaps two decades his younger, not to mention two thirds of his size.

"Keep your Lieutenant in check, Doctor Ryan. I don't appreciate your guard dog telling me what I should and shouldn't know." The Ambassador sneered, and Jack tried to keep the smirk from appearing on his face as he delivered the satisfying statement.

"She outranks you Sir... I suggest you listen to what she says." The words caused a smile to sneak onto Mike's face as he spoke up.

"Ambassador, I've worked with Jim and Jack before. If this is the way they have decided to go, it's the best course of action.... Don't you have a meeting with the Minister of Finance in twenty minutes?" Mike questioned, and with a final glare to Candy, the Ambassador stormed out the room, slamming the door behind him. Almost simultaneously, each realised a baited breath. Mike spoke first. "I hate that guy... I've worked with my ex-wife and even she was better to be around..."

"Thank you, Mike... Last thing we need is Jenkins holding more cards than he should." Greer said, taking a seat across from their old friend.

"So, Madrid..." Mike said, and Jack sat down too, running a hand through his hair.

"Yes... Get the Embassy on the phone, direct line to chief of staff would be good." Jack breathed out, and glanced back at Candy, who was walking out the door. "Make sure you get back here before 9, Hawkins wants a video call." Jack reminded Candy, and she nodded, closing the door behind her as she left.

"What did she mean, classified?" Mike asked, and Jack sighed, leaning forward in his chair, elbows on his knees.

"Honestly man, I don't think I have the authority to share... This whole thing with the brother is above my pay grade." Jack admitted, and Mike nodded, not asking more as he dialled up Madrid.

—

#jack ryan #jack ryan x female oc #female oc #fanfic #fanfiction #tom clancy #john krasinski #thriller #romance #cia #army #us army #codename candy #part seventeen

8 notes · View notes

stories-mostly · 5 years

Text

Stark's Bug

Tony Stark x Son!Reader

=Masterlist=

Guess what? I'm back with another chapter! And also had a revelation when writing but it had nothing to do with writing. It's just that I realized that mammoths weren't mammoths to the people that lived with them is all. Blew my mind straight out the window. Anyway, enjoy.

Words: 2764

Warnings: none

Chapter 19

So turns out that letter your teacher gave you to hand your dad was an invitation for a parent teacher conference so now you and your dad were sitting opposite Mrs Foster who was going on over your grades and work. She was saying that she had been giving you more difficult work that was for 4th graders and above to test her theory.

You were extremely under challanged with the second grade material. And understood more advanced materials with ease. Meaning now you should seriously consider what to do now. And there really were just two options. Skip a grade or be given more advanced courses and material while remaining in the same grades as your friends.

And with that you and your dad were left to make that decision.

Your dad wasn't a fan of the idea of skipping a grade. He feared that you might not be able to befriend older kids that would be your classmates. Not that he told you that but he's just worried. About everything to be honest but especially things that concern you.

The day after the talk with the teacher he sat you down and explained to you in detail what either thing would do. And left you to form your own opinion.

It was a lot to take in for an almost 8 year old. So you did what sounded coolest to you and your friends. And all of you thought it would be really cool for you to skip some grades.

So you told your dad that you want to skip instead of getting advanced work. The teachers gave your dad lots of the curricular of the 4th grade for you to test your knowledge with. So on weekends and after school you got different homework then your peers. 4th grade math, English and such. To everyone's surprise it was easy and didn't took longer than your usual homework. So one more grade was put on the skip list.

5th grade work was harder and at least gave you a bit of a challenge but it wasn't impossible so arrangements were made that if your grades held up you would be skipping 3rd and 4th grade.

You found that very exciting and worked hard despite school not being challenging at all. And when summer break arrived you were given the clear to skip the next two grades. The next school year you will be in 5th grade.

You won't be changing schools though as your school was both elementary and middle school in one. It was just different rooms.

But you didn't have to worry about that yet. Because it was finally summer break and you could lounge about at home and do whatever the f you want!

You, your dad, Pepper, and Happy were all spending the break in New York for the most part. Because they were planning on building a tower there which is cool in your opinion. Peppers idea. What wasn't so cool however was that you had to spend a considerable amount of time inside of office buildings or the apartment they had rented, as both of them were busy and neither really wanted to go outside in this city and cause a ruckus. So Happy was basically a godsend whenever he was free.

When he didn't have to drive anyone around he spends time with you. You actually got to explore the city because of him.

Today Happy was taking you around Central Park while your dad were in a meeting room discussing the buying of some property where they want to build that tower.

You were meanwhile making friends in the park. And were all around having a much more pleasant time.

You were climbing up a tree near the playground when a boy approached you.

"Woah you're really high up!" The boy pointed out. And you were. The branches were getting thinner though so you couldn't climb much higher.

"You're really good at climbing." He pointed out and you responded with a polite "Thank you."

Making your way down you jumped off the last branch and landed infront of the kid.

"My name is Y/n, do you wanna play together?"

"Yes! What do you want to play?" The boy responded in high pitched happy tone, not giving you his name.

The two of you wandered back onto the playground and dug as deep a hole into the sand as possible together.

"Its like a tiger trap." The boy mused and your head lit up with an idea.

"We can cover it up like a trap!" You stood up, wiped the sand off your legs and ran off looking for branches and leaves. Just like in TV.

You told the other boy to do the same and put it next to the hole. Together you covered the hole with sticks, then threw on the leaf litter and topped it off with sand.

It was still clearly visible if you looked for it, but from above it just looked like an average little sand mount.

"Now we only have to wait for tigers to smell the meat." The boy said as he placed a rock on top of the mount as a lure.

"We better hide." You pointed out and the two of you ran off the hide behind a tree to wait for the tiger to come.

And the tiger came. But not like you'd have expected. Happy, who had been reading something on his cell phone before looked up and realized you were gone out of his sight.

He jumped to his feet and looked about the playground not noticing the newly covered up hole in his search for you. With one step he broke the twigs and branches and his foot disappeared into the hole.

You bust out giggling as you ran forward to shout about the tiger being captured.

The boy was more shocked, he seemed flustered and apologetic towards your uncle.

"Are you hurt sir?" He asked shyly expecting the worst.

"No kiddo it's fine. That's a nice trap you two build there. Can you fill it back up so nobody else falls in?" He directed the last question at you. You sighed, nodded and got to work. The boy joined you and soon enough the hole was no more. Happy gave you a thumbs up at that and you turned back to your new friend.

"Eugene, it's time to go." It sounded from the benches not even 10 minutes into your new game. A younger looking woman was waiting there looking over the playground.

You turned your head to see which one of the kids were going when your friend started to leave.

Oh, so his name was Eugene.

You followed him to, what you assumed was his mother. Not really ready to have him go yet.

"Do we have to?" Eugene sulked but was beside her non the less.

"Yes, your mother said she'll meet us at the zoo in 15 minutes. So we have to go now."

"You're going to the Zoo?" You chimed in grinning.

"Yes, what's your name?" The lady who was not his mother asked.

"Y/n, and you?"

"Just call me Claudia. Yes, we're going to the zoo. Are you alone here? Where are your parents?"

"My uncle is right there."

She asked you a few more polite questions a person might ask to entertain a strangers child.

"We have to go now. Eugene be nice and say Goodbye to your friend." She finally said and pushed said boy forward a little. He hugged you a bit too tightly and waved to you as he left. Being polite you waved back.

So that's that.

With a sigh you turned to Happy who was now writing something in his phone. How boring. You wished you had your costume so you could play superhero.

Now that Eugene was gone you didn't know what to do with yourself. So you did the next logical thing and plopped yourself down next to Happy and stared off I to the abyss.

"You ready to leave?" Happy asked after putting away his phone.

"Yeah."

And so you both stood up and started walking along a nearby path. As you were walking Happy pulled up his arm to look at the watch on his wrist.

"We still have about an hour to spare. What do you wanna do?"

A lightbulb went off in your head and your whole demeanour changed in an instant.

"Can we go to the zoo?"

"The zoo? Sure." So Happy being the all knowing person he is turned and steered you in the direction of the central park zoo.

After paying you sprinted from exhibit to exhibit looking to spot as many animals as you could and maybe even spot Eugene again.

Happy could barely keep track of you in the crowds of people. It was summer vacation so lots of people were visiting the small zoo.

For the next animals you walked into a building. Happy however walked past it not having seen you enter it. You were oblivious to his absence and stared at the cute lil snake in it's big terrarium.

When you reached the exit you turned to see how far Happy was lagging behind you. When you saw that he wasn't. Now you were small and he could be just behind some tall people so you waited a little thinking he'd come eventually.

But he didn't. So you panicked. Much like Happy who was backtracking to where he last saw you. Just a few seconds after he passed the exit you came out looking like the scared kid you were.

You were already thinking about how you'd get to the apartment on your own. You sort of know the way, but only barely. And the address was out of the question.

You wanted to cry, but you knew that that wouldn't help. And also you didn't like crying in the first place, much less in public. So with a blurred vision you pushed past groups and families in a blind search for your uncle.

Meanwhile he was debating whether calling the police right now was a bit too early. What about your dad? He would have his head if something happens to you.

You passed the seal enclosure and climbed up on a bench trying to see over the crowd, looking for any sign of the one person that could save you in this situation. Your family and teacher had told you what to do in the case you were in but in your panic everything flew out the window. The whole "stay put" "find a family and ask for help" "find an employee/Police officer" wasn't coming to mind right now. All that was on your mind was that you were alone and scared and in a city that you didn't know.

A woman looked in your direction and frowned. She saw the distressed look on your face and came over tugging along a boy not much younger than you. Followed by an adult man.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" She asked prompting you to look to her. She saw the tears building in your eyes and knew what happened.

"I can't find my uncle." You said your voice wavering dangerously, confirming her suspicion.

"Sit down sweetheart. What's your name? Mine's May." She said softly laying her hand on your forearm.

"Y-Y/n."

"Alright Y/n, do you know what your uncles name is? What does he look like?" The man now asked, he was crouching down in front of you.

The boy sat down on the other side of you, obviously concerned.

"His na-me is, is Happy but that's not his real name," you explained as the almost crying hiccups in your breath started, "His real name is, is Harold Hogan. And hes taller- than you and chubby. Wi-th brown hair that is short."

May was taking mental notes, the guy sounded sort of familiar.

"And what's your full name, sweetie?" She asked.

"(Full/n)-Stark." You said as the damm finally broke. You wanted to go home, you wanted your dad, you wanted to not be here right now. It was all to much and you just let it out as the younger boy patted your back.

May had been stunned speechless by your name but called into action as your cries reached her ears.

"Shhh, shhh, baby it's alright, well find him don't worry." As she consoled with words she also pulled you into her arms. This was just supposed to be a nice afternoon with Peter and her Husband and now it turned into a rescue mission for a celebrity's child. But you were a child first, and a very scared one at that.

As your sobs quieted down she had made a decision on how to find the man.

"Y/n, are you alright to stay here for a moment? I'll go look for your uncle and you stay here with Ben and Peter, okay?" She pointed at the two people who had accompanied her respectively to show which ones which.

You nodded reluctantly and leaned against the back of the bench. Now with a red nose and slightly puffy eyes.

"Peter, you look over him okay?"

The boy, Peter nodded dutifully and took your hand and started talking after May had left.

"Are you okay now?" His voice was full of concern.

You nodded.

"Do you want some water?" Ben now asked and held a bottle towards you.

"No, thank you."

It was silent for a moment. None really knowing what to do.

"Okay, let's talk about your day then shall we?" The adult tried again, attempting to keep your mind from worrying thoughts, "What did you do today?"

"I was at the Playground. And I played with a boy named Eugene."

"That's nice, me and Peter made breakfast together today. Right Pete?"

"Yeah! We made bug pancakes to surprise aunt May," the boy beamed, " They were bigger than my face and we put syrup and strawberries and stuff on them! Do you like pancakes?"

"Yeah. But I never eat them with strawberries."

"Why not? They're tasty like that!"

"Because Pepper is allergic and so we can't have them incase the strawberry stuff gets on other stuff. It's called cross contamination and it's dangerous if you're allergic."

"That sucks!"

"Hey!" Ben chimed in at that kind of language.

"Do you at least like Strawberries?"

You shrugged. They weren't your favourite but definetly not the worst.

May looked around herself quickly spotting an employee of the zoo. But before she could approach them for help a better option walked into her vision. The man himself looking around panicked, trying to spot the small lost child in the crowd.

"Excuse me!" She half shouted and jogged over to him.

"Excuse me are you maybe looking for a little lost boy?"

Happy's head turned up with a mixture of relief and confusion.

"Yes! Hes about this big, (colour) hair, wears a Blue T-shirt with a lion on it. His name is Y/n."

"That's him, I found him looking for you over there, follow me."

"Oh my God, thank you so much! I can't tell you how grateful I am that you found him!" Happy followed her to the bench were you were animatedly talking with the young boy over various breakfast foods.

"Y/n!"

You perked up at the familiar voice. Before you could even process that your uncle was there you were already swooped up into a hug. Happy visibly relaxed having you back on his radar. With a sigh he put you back on your feet and took your hand in his.

"I don't know how I can thank you Mrs...."

"Parker, and it's nothing really. I'm sure anyone would have done the same." She waved him off.

Happy contemplated before coming up with a thank you thing to do.

Next thing you know you're holding hands with Peter and eating some ice cream together with the three adults.

Peter had taken your other hand as soon as Happy started to walk towards the ice cream vendor and was now talking about everything and nothing inbetween licks of strawberry flavoured ice cream as you wandered through the zoo together. Closely followed by Happy, May and Ben, who you felt very uncomfortable adressing with their first name.

Half an hour later the ice cream long finished you parted ways with the Parker family having turned the bad thing into something great. You've also learned a lot about Peter. Apparently he really likes both animals and Superheroes and was fumbling with excitement when you told him that not only did you have a pet but you also had a superhero dad.

On the ride home you gushed very excitedly to Happy about the boy and his interests. Your new friend was so cool in your opinion even if he was a year younger.

Peter was doing the same on his ride home. Not being able to comprehend that he just met the kid of Iron Man! Who kept a crayfish as a pet! Who does that? He just met someone who did. And he didn't even know he was gonna meet him again not all that long into the future.

Tags: @shannonr2003 @art-estrange @tater-thotties @tonystanktheirondad @gaylemonshark @emilaa2001 @kindahadeschild @actualcringetm

#male reader #male!reader #m!reader #tony stark x m!reader #tony stark x child!reader #tony stark x you #tony stark x reader #tony stark x male reader #tony stark x male!reader #reader insert #marvel reader insert #tony stark #child!reader #child reader #stark!son #stark!reader #starks bug #chapter 19

156 notes · View notes

hantheheart · 5 years

Text

OK KIDS, IT’S MAO MAO THEORY TIME

the lovely @spookylovesboba has some top quality screenshots and I happened across this set today: https://spookylovesboba.tumblr.com/post/187564244383/can-we-discuss-this-please

and I had a thought.

The final pic of Mao from this sequence.

That’s our Mao. But he doesn’t have the demeanor we’re used to based on just. The fact that he seems to want to be there while his dad and sister’s are training without him. It’s incredibly obvious by now that Mao’s pretty aware of the truth of how his own father feels about him so I really doubt this image is remotely current.

SO! I propose that THAT^ is a much younger Mao. I’ll explain but I’d like to start off with how old I think each image of Mao is.

TO save your dashboards, read more time

Starting with this teensy little boy. This tiny adorable baby who lives in the golden glow of childhood, unaware of just how little his father really thinks of him. Age range, I think this Mao is anywhere from 5 to 8 years old. I say 5 cause he looks to be about the same as Adorabat in terms of the styling of his ears and body. Rounder ear tips like Adorabat’s, which I think is the best we’re gonna get at that.

Why did Dad give a 5 year old a sword?

Shin’s an asshole, next question.

THIS BOY.

THIS LITTLE GREEN BOY WITH THE WORLD AT HIS FINGERTIPS! This is the Bao Bao era Mao, and I’m gonna say he’s anywhere from 11 to 15.

and yes there is a noticable gap between our green boy and the baby, which I’ll address in a moment. For now, the only reason I say up to 15 is due to the tail still being there.

I’LL EXPLAIN IN A MINUTE, LET ME ESTABLISH AGE GAPING FIRST.

NOW! FOR OUT MORE CURRENT BOY.

RED SUIT TIME.

I believe that THIS SPECIFIC MAO, the one in this flashback scene. Is a late teen to early adult Mao.

“Whaddya mean Early adult, Lisa? He’s probably an early adult in the show?” WRONG I SAY!

CAUSE OUR CURRENT TIME PERIOD MAO.

IS IN HIS LATE 20′S TO EARLY 30′S!

Yeah, some people probably also got to that assumption before me, BUT I HAVE REASONING. AND A COHERENT-ISH THEORY ON MAO MAO’S LIFE UP TIL THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOW.

Or at least up until he meets Badgerclops.

ANYWAYS.

So back to the age gap between Green Suit and Baby Mao. I believe that right around the time Mao was coming up to be a tween, Shin probably wanted to try and dissuade his son from the Hero path just so he wouldn’t have to deal with Mao getting int the middle of training the Sisters.

He seems like the type to do so. But Mama Mao probably wouldn’t allow such a thing so Shin had to be a bit sneaky about it. I think Shin had Mao Mao learning other trades in hopes he’d choose a different path for his own life. I think he primarily stuck around the kitchen, with either his mother or, based on the fact that the Mao family seems to be pretty wealthy, whatever servant was in charge of running the kitchen. Which is why Mao knows how to cook the way he does in Head Chef. (LISTEN, IT TAKES PRACTICE TO BE THAT GOOD AT JUDGING AMOUNTS WHEN COOKING AND MAO MAO’S GOT THE ASIAN COOK SHTICK DOWN PAT.)

Mao Mao, of course, just thinks his dad’s trying to make sure he’s capable of taking care of himself while on the road during his travels to become a legendary hero!!

Now, the Green Suit probably made it’s debut on one of Mao Mao’s birthdays, after which Shin gave up on trying to change his son’s mind and just decided to ignore him as much as possible. Probably form Mom.

Now, somewhere along the way, probably around his 14th birthday? He met Bao Bao! I think he and Bao Bao left for a while to travel on their own and Mao Mao learned a lot about taking care of himself on the road. He’s clearly capable of it, given that he had been traveling around even before meeting Badgerclops so he’s got to have some experience.

But they stuck to places with treasure and not super dangerous bad guys, so he wasn’t in a lot of peril. Just a typical Disney Boy-And-His-Dog adventure.

Until Mao lost his tail.

I think Bao Bao got distracted and took off, unaware of what happened to Mao Mao till too late, returning to find our little green clad kitty had already made the great sacrifice of cutting off his broken tail and rushing home, likely in tears over his only friend’s abandonment of him.

I think form the time he was 15 to the time he was around 17, he likely didn’t have his own armors that fit since growth spurts suck at that time and he probably wound up using his sisters’ old armors and probably colored them to fit his more boyish (and likely edgy emo phase)

NOW TO OUR FAVORITE BOY. RETURN OF THE RED.

I think the Mao we see in this flash back is between 18 to 23 years of age. And I think it’s in this phase that Tanya Keys enters the picture. Just like Adorabat, Mao Mao probably thought she was so cool and wanted to impress her. They probably worked together bagging bad guys and finding treasures.

But, just like Tanya says, Mao Mao winds up the stick in the mud. She wants to take on a new job. A job where they have to steal something from someone.

And Mao Mao just can’t do it.

And they have a big argument where Tanya says something along the lines of how the rules aren’t always right.

And that’s how Mao loses another friend, his first love and his partner, all in one fell swoop. But her line about the rules not being right gets him thinking. And he realizes that his dad’s rules about training. The rules regarding Mao Mao himself.

Are wrong.

And, for the second time, Mao Mao leaves home, this time with no plans to return.

Tanya always manages to open his eyes to the wrongs in the things he’s convinced himself are right.

So, for a few years, 25 and onward, Mao Mao travels. He pushes himself to go to places far crueler than he had gone with Bao Bao. Picking fights with every band of bandits and bad guy he can find.

Enter Badgerclops.

I think Badgerclops and Mao Mao were both telling part of the truth regarding how they met.

Mao Mao was in bad shape cause he’d been traveling rough places on his own for a year or two by himself and had to resort to taking supplies from the bad guys he beat up.

Badgerclops, meanwhile, did actually have pity on the rough looking kitty till he attacked Badgerclops’ crew and beat them despite his condition, then joined up with Mao Mao.

And the rest’s history!

Okay, but that’s basically my coherent timeline for Mao’s journey up until the beginning of the series based on both gut feelings and the vague allusions to Mao’s history from other characters.

#mao mao #mao mao heroes of pure heart #mmhoph #mmhoph theory #mao moa theory

13 notes · View notes

jaynnie-jane · 5 years

Text

As a child I was taught to fear the world. My earliest memories of walking down alley ways with my Mum are all the same “don’t ever walk down here alone because it’s dangerous” she would say, that message never left me. When I wanted to visit my friend that lived 10 houses down, she would walk me down there, right up to the age of 10. Why? Because it was dangerous, “you might get raped and murdered”. I learned this crazy instinctive fear of lane ways, and to a lesser degree walking by myself anywhere right up to my mid twenties.

Our house was somewhat of a fortress. Every external door had two locks on them, some had three! It wasn’t even a particularly bad neighborhood. Every night there was the ritual of checking the three locks on the front door, checking every dead lock along the glass sliding doors (that were reinforced or something) then locking the communicating door to that part of the house. I remember the number of times I was scared doing it, the number of times I would be alone in the computer room as a 14 year old and hearing the tree outside brushing against the roof and me freaking out so hard that I would be in a slight panic state for hours. I remember checking the front door was locked then walking the 5 meter long hallway, checking every one of the six locks on the glass and the 2 on the mesh. Glass that looks out into a dark backyard on one side and the sunken, dark games room with the bar and table tennis table I couldn’t see behind on the other. Countless times I would have to turn the lights on out of fear. Many more times I refused to turn the lights on to check for an intruder because I was so sure someone was there, watching me and if I saw them they would kill me. This fear stayed with my until we moved from that house when I was 23. As a 10 year old, I remember having escape routes plotted in my head. I remember thinking if they come in this way, I go that way. I remember the number of times I double checked that I could definitely crawl out my window without making a sound, and depending on where the intruders came from I would climb into one of the four neighboring yards to safety. I developed the same plans when I stayed at friend places over night, the house layout and which walls could be climbed to get to safety. I was 10 and nothing had ever actually happened in my life to instill this level of fear in me, just my Mum. That level of paranoia stayed the same until my early twenties. Meanwhile, my brother was allowed to go riding with his friends from an early age, mostly because he always used to when he stayed at one particular friends house and my Mum had no knowledge. This allowed him to test how dangerous the world really wasn’t for himself. He is one of the most fearless people I know, fearless without being reckless or dumb... any more.

The first person I ever kissed (properly) was when I was 14 and he was 16. We always used to see each other at the dog park and a little baby relationship grew, nothing serious as I was sure I had feelings for someone else, which I talked to him about too. I was forbidden to see him again because he was too old and not to be trusted when really, he was a decent dude and was patient and kind to me at a time when I felt like an ugly outcast. As a 14 year old who falls in love with her best friend, but is terrified my parents will forbid me from seeing her, just like they did with my first kiss I suddenly felt like there was no safe place in the world. I couldn’t talk to them and I was taught not to trust other people (and learned this by being a bit of a social outcast at the same school for 10 years). The basic lesson I learned is everything is scary, everything will murder you and everyone can’t be trusted. So when shit was hard at home and I wanted so hard to establish myself as my own person, or needed to go for a walk to just get away from everything, I didn’t think I could. Every fiber of me told me it was unsafe and dangerous. It did change, slowly, mostly because I just stopped telling my parents the truth about where I was going because I knew they would say no. I was still terrified of alleyways and avoided them at all costs, even if it meant walking past a house that was dodgy or walking a road that had lots less people on it. I remember wanting to see my girlfriend really badly one day because I had a fight with Mum. I knew she wasn’t going to drive me there and I knew there was no way in hell she would let me walk there. I told my Mum I needed to clear my head and when she insisted I take the dog for protection I told her I just really couldn’t handle it right now, plus I might go see Jonnie if I was feeling better on my way home. Jonnie of course was a trusted family friend who I had known from birth so hanging out with him was no issue. I walked the 5km there, well aware that my curfew was in 2.5 hours before she would worry or just randomly pop in at Jonnie’s place for a cuppa. It taking an hour to get there and an hour back, meant I only had half an hour with my girl, but it was enough. The entire way there I was thinking I was going to get jumped. I was so sure of this that by the time I got there I was almost in tears at the stress of it. To say I am miraculously hyper vigilant is an understatement. Growing up, I had no clue how much I was being protected because I honestly believed that the times I went out and nothing happened it was because I was being very careful. The times I cut across the park or went down a lane way that made my stomach knot, without harm coming to me were just because this time I was lucky. It wan’t until I had a little more freedom that I was able to start questioning the “wisdom” of my parents. When I was 17, I had my own car and a decent group of friends my parents knew, and knew I would crash with them. This meant that I practically lived out of my car, always told my parents where I would be and who I would be with and pretty much only go home to do my washing or if I had an early shift at work. This had been going well for a year until I wanted to see someone my parents had never met. I told my parents I would be late home which means no latter than 10 pm but I did not specify when, nor did I restate who I was seeing because I had told Mum a few days ago that I was looking forward to catching up with this friend again. I had gone straight to this friends house after work to have dinner and watch a movie. Mum was aware that this guy lived with his girlfriend and was an old acquaintance I had bumped into at university and had reconnected with. Neither of my parents had met him or his girlfriend.

At about 8 pm I realised my phone probably needed recharging so I went and grabbed my phone to put it on charge, only to find I had never put the ringer on after it being on silent at work. At least five missed calls from home since 7 pm. I panicked, I thought someone had died. My parents never called me so many times while I was out. I dial as Home starts calling again so I answer immediately but do that awkward pause when you’re not really expecting to accept an incoming call. “Hello? Hello?!” I sound panicked because I was, I thought something bad had happened. Everything was fine. Dad had expected me home for dinner because he didn’t ask Mum where I was. He had called to find out where I was, then getting no answer proceeded to freak out. He grilled my mother for information on this guy, to which she had to say I only knew him from my goth days, that yes he was three years older and that while he has a girlfriend, she wasn’t there tonight. The fact that I didn’t answer my phone made everything worse. My Dad is a worrier and I never realised until that night that more than half of the fear my mother had inflicted on me was actually from my father. After a less than 5 minute argument on the phone with him, it was decided he was coming to pick me up. I think he had decided he was going to come get me around 7:30 but didn’t know the address. I was beside myself. I was so embarrassed that my Dad was forcing me to come home and upset that I had to abandon my evening. I burst into tears. Now my friend is concerned. He and I had spent a long time chatting back when we were younger so I think he had always felt pretty darn protective of me. He gives me a hug, asks if I’m going to be okay and reassures me that we can still do this another time. In that moment I remember being angry with my Dad for thinking that this guy would ever hurt me. Dad gets to the house that has a couple of goth looking things out the front like a skull candle holder and I think a dragon on the door or something. He knocks on the door with his chest puffed out, not ready to fight, he’s not like that but he was trying to posture this guy that was in his mind probably taking advantage of his daughter. The issue here is that my friend was no slouch. A couple of piercings, visible tattoo, strong jaw and broad shoulders. My friend wasn’t trying to be imposing, I think he was trying to be helpful and apologetic, while also feeling protective of me because this bloke he doesn’t know just made his friend cry. It was pretty obvious that if it came to fisticuffs, my dad was going down pretty quick. Of course now, 12 years later I do look on what he did that night lovingly, at the time it was embarrassing and a little sad. Dad bundled me up into his car, leaving Patryick (my car) behind. He wouldn’t even let me drive home. I think he knew he was very much in the wrong, but we never spoke of it again. I did my best to distract myself the next morning at 8 am when Dad drove me back to get my car, knowing full well I had to open at work that morning. I was so insanely protected and taught to fear the world that eventually, I did. I never wanted to run away because the world was scary and I never wanted to do anything that remotely upset my parents because I didn’t want to have to live through that same experience again. So then, how did I become the person I am now? That’s an even darker story for next time I guess.

#story #life #parents #love #friendship #diary #writing

12 notes · View notes

snarkybluechristian · 4 years

Text

Villainous: Reform School Chapter 18

Version:1.0 StartHTML:000000203 EndHTML:002782087 StartFragment:002760405 EndFragment:002782055 StartSelection:002760405 EndSelection:002782051 SourceURL:https://www.fanfiction.net/docs/docs.php

After another hour, it was time for the family to go, so Melanie and her teachers went to the airplane runway to see them off.

Senor Santa Muerte and Faucheuse held their daughter close in a bear hug.

“We’ll try to visit you as soon as we can, sweetheart,” Melanie’s mother said. “Please behave. We love you and want you to come home.”

“We had Senor Ochocinco bring more of your belongings into your room while we were visiting and we’ll try to bring more next weekend to make your room feel more like home,” Melanie’s father said. “Let us know how you’re doing. No matter what, please remember this is for your own good, Mija.”

“Okay,” Melanie said unconvincingly trying to hide her tears.

Her parents released her from their hug and Melanie began saying her goodbyes to her sisters while Black Hat and Flug were talking from a distance away.

“So, she tried to help 505 with the dishes?” Black Hat asked quietly.

“Yes, sir,” Flug replied. “Dementia caught her in the act.”

“The girl is flagrantly rebellious,” Black Hat said. “You will need to be stricter with her than with the brats at the camp. We will have to crack down on every good impulse and monitor all her behavior.”

“Yes, sir,” Flug replied.

Black Hat smiled wickedly and said, “I don’t need to stress how important this mission is, doctor. Once we break her, we’ll have finally put a dent in the Nun-ja organization’s impenetrable defenses and be that much closer to destroying those infernal heroes for good. She’s connected to highly important clients so we can’t harm her, but those are your only boundaries. Do what you need to, doctor.”

“I understand, sir,” Flug replied. “You can’t count on me. What do you want me to do with Melanie once her family leaves? Shall I send her to bed?”

“What time is it?” Black Hat asked.

Flug looked at his watch and said, “It’s about 7:30, sir.”

“As long as she’s in her room and has enough time to sleep off her medication, it doesn’t matter to me,” Black Hat said as he leered at Senor Santa Muerte and Faucheuse taking their sweet time saying goodbye to their daughter. “If this family keeps taking their sweet time, we might have to skip medicine altogether…”

Meanwhile, Iliana was giving Melanie some unsolicited “advice.”

“And remember, Melanie,” Iliana said much to Melanie’s chagrin. “Behave yourself or your punishments will only get worse.”

“Iliana…” Lunet said disapprovingly.

“What?” Iliana protested. “She deserves it.”

“Stop it,” Lunet retorted. “That’s enough. Isn’t Melanie being punished enough already?”

“Well, if you ask me…” Iliana began before her mother finally cut her off.

“Iliana Addolorata de la Muerte, that’s enough!” Faucheuse finally snapped. “Melanie has been reprimanded enough for one day. Now, either leave Melanie with something encouraging or go to the limo!”

Iliana then walked away to the car in a huff while Dita snickered at the reprimand before remembering something and following behind her.

As soon as Iliana was out of earshot, Lunet gave Melanie a hug and whispered, “I'll try to pass your messages along, but remember. Whatever you have to do is an act. Just pretend until you're free to be who you really are."

“Pray for me, Lunet,” Melanie said finally revealing the fear in her voice. “I’m so scared...”

Lunet held Melanie in a tighter hug and said, “Don’t worry, sis. I will. God will get you through this. Just stay strong. Okay?”

“Okay,” Melanie replied. “But think about what I said, too. Alright?”

After a moment of silence, Lunet said, “Okay. I will…”

“Got something for ya!” Dita exclaimed excitedly pushing herself between Melanie and Lunet to present a plain, brown paper gift bag.

Melanie took the bag and looked inside it to find her handheld gaming console along with all her favorite games.

Melanie looked at her younger sister and smiled feeling genuinely touched as she wrapped her arms around Dita and gave her a hug of her own. The 8-year-old tensed up for a moment before she reluctantly accepted the hug and even hugged her older sister back.

“Thanks, squirt,” Melanie said warmly. “I really appreciate it.”

“Yeah, yeah, no problem,” Dita replied pulling away signaling Melanie to let her go. “Finish your homework early so we can play with each other online. Iliana doesn’t like gaming and Lunet’s not very good. I’m going to have no one to play with. I’m gonna be so bored without you.”

Melanie chuckled a little bit, gave Dita another hug, and replied, “Thanks, Dita. I love you.”

“Yeah, I love you, too,” Dita replied slipping out of Melanie’s arms. “Now, will ya stop hugging me? You're embarrassing me in front of Dementia…Hey!”

Out of nowhere, Dementia sprung up from behind and swung Dita in the air. Melanie smiled sadly and reluctantly began walking her family to the limo.

“I had so much fun with you today!” Dementia squealed happily.

“Me, too! I can’t wait until we visit next weekend,” Dita replied before visibly hesitating.

“What’s the matter?” Dementia asked.

“Uh…can I ask you something?” Dita asked a little bit nervously.

“Go ahead,” Dementia said happily. “I’m always happy to listen to you and Senor Black Hat.”

“Alright,” Melanie said with a sigh. “I know Melanie's in a lot of trouble and she's a bit messed up in the head, but could you try not to be too mean to her?”

Dementia stood there with a blank expression not knowing what to say. Fortunately, she didn't have to...

“Dita, come on!” Faucheuse yelled from the car. “We’ve gotta go!”

“Coming!” Dita yelled back before turning back to Dementia and saying, “See ya later, Dementia! Remember what I said!”

Dita ran into the car with her family right as Melanie was shutting the door.

Dementia’s eye twitched angrily. Be nice to Melanie? But she was a traitor! And a goody-two-shoes, like 505!

Back at the limo, Ochocinco was giving Melanie a final hug when she heard something drop into her paper bag.

“Don’t look into your bag until you get back to your room,” Ochocinco whispered into Melanie’s room. “It was my grandmother’s. Take good care of it and yourself. Stay strong, okay? I’ll be praying for you.”

“Merci, Senor Ochocinco,” Melanie whispered back giving him one more squeeze before they both let go.

With one final wave, Melanie turned around and reluctantly walked back to her captors. She stood back and waved back as her family waved to her and took off in their limo. It was all Melanie could do to not give into tears.

Once the car had flown away, 505 walked up to Melanie and placed a paw on her shoulder. Melanie turned around and let 505 give her a big hug. They stood like that until Flug called for them.

“Melanie, it’s time to go back and start getting settled in for bed,” Flug said.

Melanie nodded sadly as 505 held her hand and began leading her back to the group.

Meanwhile, Dementia was still standing at a distance trying to comprehend what Dita wanted her to do.

“Dementia!” Flug called out. “Stop spacing out and come on! We don’t have all day!”

“Shut up, nerd!” Dementia retorted. “You can’t tell me what to do!”

“Enough with the pointless bickering!” Black Hat yelled. “Let’s go, Dementia!”

Dementia’s entire demeanor changed from annoyed to enamored.

She skipped over merrily and yelled back, “Ya Viene, mi amor! (I’m coming, my love!)”

Melanie sighed as she and 505 followed the group back to the manor.

Melanie stared through the backs of her captors praying over her upcoming re-education, over what she feared was coming as they walked the few miles back to the house. She was so scared that she was unaware of how tightly she was gripping 505’s paw and didn’t even hear Flug talk to her.

“Now, Melanie, do you have any questions?” Flug asked falling behind on purpose to talk to his pupil.

“Huh?” Melanie asked finally breaking out of her own anxious thoughts.

“Do you have any questions?” Flug asked.

“About what?” Melanie asked.

“You weren’t listening. Were you?” Flug said with a sigh.

Melanie fell awkwardly silent while searching for a response.

Fortunately, Dementia interrupted the awkward moment with her deriding laughter.

“Haha, loser!” Dementia teased. “Maybe this girl isn’t so good after all. I hate listening to nerds, too!”

“Dementia!” Flug protested. “Don’t undermine my authority in front of Melanie! We have to put up a united front for our new student!”

“Whatever,” Dementia replied with an eye roll. “It’s not my fault you’re boring!”

“Enough!” Black Hat finally interrupted. “Since Melanie didn’t listen the first time, Doctor, you’ll simply have to repeat your instructions.”

“Sorry…” Melanie said quietly.

“NO APOLOGIZING!” Black Hat snapped turning around to look the teenage girl in the eyes. “As a villain, you never apologize for anything you do. That is your first lesson.”

“But…” Melanie protested meekly.

“Yeah,” Dementia agreed. “I never apologize for anything.”

“Even when she destroys my lab,” Flug added resentfully.

“I’m definitely not sorry for that, nerd!” Dementia said laughing out loud and launching another argument between herself and Flug while Black Hat simply rolled his eye and kept walking.

Melanie was trembling like a leaf. 505 gave Melanie a side hug to calm her down as the three adults present continued walking towards the mansion that was now within sight.

Melanie was going to swallow her tongue and keep walking, but then she felt the Holy Presence inside her remind her that no matter what happened she wasn’t alone. That reminder gave her the strength she needed to speak up.

“But Flug apologizes to Black Hat all the time!” Melanie protested more loudly and confidently than before. “You guys are hypocrites!”

Black Hat stopped in his tracks and turned around with an unsearchable expression. The two other adults turned around as well, but Melanie didn’t back down.

Dementia blushed growing hearts in her eyes as she slinked next to Black Hat and said, “That’s because Black Hat is the best and deserves perfect obedience.”

Flug rolled his eyes and said, “As my associate Dementia is trying to explain, apologizing is not considered typical villain behavior, so we must ask that you do not apologize to anyone unless the person you offend is Black Hat.”

Melanie rolled her eyes, then summoned her scythe, caused it to hover, sat down sideways, turned to 505 and asked, "Hey, 505! Wanna ride back on my scythe with me? Don't worry. It won't break. It can support anyone’s weight. I just need a break from these guys."

505 looked at the scythe and then back to Flug.

Flug looked at Black Hat who gave an affirming nod before he turned back to 505 with a sigh and said, “Bedtime’s at 10, 505. Make sure she sticks to that.”

505 nodded enthusiastically as he sat down on the scythe and wrapped his arms around Melanie.

“See you guys later!” Melanie called out as she took off on her scythe and rode it back towards the house.

“You were right, doctor,” Black Hat remarked. “The walk has worn out her excessive energy.”

“Does that mean we can take the car now?” Dementia complained.

“Yes,” Flug said punching some buttons into his watch annoyedly. “At least, we’ve found an effective way to keep one of our residents under control.”

“I wouldn’t hold my breath,” Black Hat retorted. “I can already tell. That girl is going to be a challenge, just like her sensei.”

#Villainous #fanfiction

3 notes · View notes