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agentwallflower · 4 years

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Supernova: Chapter 10

Hey, I made it to the end of August. Yay.

Good news on the writing front, I’m up to 16 out of planned 27 chapters. Just 11 more to go and this will be done! The back end of the book moves pretty quickly, so I’m probably going to get through it faster. Then again, that’s all new material so... I don’t know what the hell is going to happen.

That’s what happens when you’re rewriting the rewrite of something you wrote in 2012.

Also, I finished second round edits of my other novel. That’s right, I did it. I got past where I stopped in Blister. Maybe there’s hope for me yet. I’m going to let it sit a month before doing some more edits. Once it’s done, off to my readers it goes. Not y’all. This one’s a secret project the internet doesn’t get to see.

I gave up on my anthology draft, but not because I was frustrated. A friend pointed out it would do better as a longer work, so I’m going to possibly use it for my fall Nano material if I don’t feel like writing book 2 of the trilogy. I should probably do that one tho... we’ll see.

Anyway, I have strep throat and I should be in bed so I’ll stop blabbing. Next chapter is going up on September 5. You’ll get it in time for Labor Day if you’re in the US, yaaaay....

Thanks for reading as always, and I’ll see you in the next chapter.

“So, are you ready for your first training session?”

He was still getting used to being awake at this hour, forget being ready for anything at this point.

Angel yawned underneath his visor as he wished he could rub the sleep from his eyes. It wasn't really all that early – just after 9 in the morning. Problem was, he was a college student. He was pretty sure those hours were against the Geneva convention.

Across the table from him sat Ember, geared up despite the fact it was her day off. Normally around the base she could be a little more casual, but something about a new face had everyone pulling out the stops. Even Scanner had their mask and visor on, which had become something of a rarity since stopping on the ground duty.

Honestly, it was kind of weird. Being paranoid about masks was his thing.

“I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be.” He yawned again, eyes watering. “Whose bright idea was it to make this so damn early?”

His team leader frowned, and the room felt a little cooler. That was typical with pyrokinetics, even with one as well trained as she was. Their emotions were often tied to their powers, so it didn't take a genius to figure out something was bothering her. It wasn't big enough to cause an ice age, but it was something.

“That... would be Andromeda's mother.” Ember hesitated as she spoke. “She is...”

Angel didn't even need to read minds to finish that one. “A massive control freak?”

“A lawyer.”

Same thing.

Scanner was already pulling up family records on screen. “The lawyer who defends the idiots we have to beat up, to be exact. It's a miracle she let the kid come in at all. Don't you know her from when Nova was around?”

There was that name. Ember winced and the temperature took a sudden spike before settling down. It was enough for sweat to bead on the back of Angel's neck as he adjusted his position. Scanner didn't exactly look comfortable either – they rolled back a bit.

“Sorry, I know - “

Ember shook her head. “It's been 20 years, it's time to adjust I suppose. And yes, I know her from back then. She wasn't nearly as bad as she was now, but I guess dealing with a marriage breakup and being stuck in Bear Paw can't be pleasant.”

Oh, Angel could see plenty of arguments about that as the psych part of his brain overloaded the psychic center. His adviser would have had a field day with that one, it was practically her research topic. Then again, to even bring it up he would have to explain a lot of weird shit. That was probably off limits.

Damn, and he loved giving Dr. B something to chew on for her next book. He was so close to getting some credit.

“So she's deflecting her bitterness over her career goals onto her kids, good to know. Bet that's why she's a defense lawyer.” Angel shrugged. “Whatever, as long as she gets Andy here on time I don't care.”

Thanks to the visor blocking his line of sight, he got an eyeful of Ember looking at him as though he had two heads. Scanner was used to this shit by now, so they kept typing on the keyboard like they always did. They were a good friend that way.

“Speaking of, I spotted her and PT on a nearby cam. They should be coming up soon.” Scanner was grinning at him. “Have fun schooling the newbie, SR.”

Oh, loads. He was only dealing with a alien, how hard could it be?

---

“Did you sleep at all last night? And don't give me that thing you do when you're trying to avoid revealing biological facts to those scientists, I know you. I've stepped on your leftovers.”

Jeez, you leave crumbs once...

Still, Andy shrugged her shoulders as she adjusted her seat belt. It wasn't bothering her, but her shoulder spike was definitely sharp enough to cut through the material. Honestly she didn't need it either; if she got thrown from the car, she'd break the road rather than actually damaging anything. The only reason she kept it on was the fact her aunt was a sticker about this sort of thing.

“Not really. I kept thinking about today.”

Her innards were bubbling up in a way they didn't often do. It wasn't the way she felt when faced with the scientists and their tests. If she had to guess, she was excited. It was understandable, given what was waiting for her.

Though... how were they going to control her?

Andy looked down at her hands as her aunt continued to drive. Miri was probably saying something, but it wasn't registering. She could still feel the power coursing through her entire body, and just how explosive the shot had been. Then she had been outside, with plenty of room to aim. As far as she knew, the Union was inside.

And what if that feeling came back?

That was really what had kept Andy up that night. If she could avoid anything, it would be the numbing sensation of being out of control of her own body. Something about that just left her feeling cold in a way she couldn't put words to then. Maybe she would learn them in time, but until then... cold worked just fine.

“You paying attention?”

Miri's voice broke Andy out of her thoughts. She picked up her head and turned to face the hero. Somewhere in the midst of her mood, they had stopped driving. They were in the city now, in a part she sometimes saw on aerial shots. It looked... normal. There were buildings and sidewalks, with people walking by and cars driving past. Nothing about it hinted at what it held in one of those fronts.

Leave it to the Union to design their base well.

She shrugged her shoulders and unleashed her seat belt. “Sorry, did I miss something?”

“It's rare for you to be acting like a space cadet.” Miri smirked a little as they left the car. “I was saying we're here.”

She wasn't wearing her mask, but she did have something in her hand. Andy followed along as they walked down the sidewalk, eyeing the buildings. One of them had to be it, but which one was it? Maybe it was the one with the red flowerpot, or the closed windows. It could have been the one that looked darker than the rest. That seemed thematic, right?

“Here we are.”

Or maybe it was the completely freaking normal looking one that didn't stand out at all, smack dab in the middle of the block.

Her aunt smirked as she stopped moving. “I love when people do that.”

She slid her hand down a lock near the doorknob – Andy caught the flash of a white plastic card with her motion. The lock beeped, and then the door swung open. Inside, it looked like any normal entry way; there were heavy looking winter boots lining the side, left over from the winter. Someone had left a bright blue umbrella there, and a mirror on the wall reflected back at Andy as she stepped through the door.

And then all that went away the minute the door closed behind her.

'Yep, she's your niece. Must have ice in her veins or something.'

They were in an elevator, one that was rising quickly. A voice from a speaker brought Andy back to the present. She had heard that voice before, usually calling her aunt away from their time together. The tech; it had to be them.

“She's got a killer poker face.” Miri's tone was bland, but there was a light in her eyes that the camera wouldn't pick up that was just for her. Andy's shoulders shook a little as she waited for the door to open to wherever they were going. It was easier to focus on the joke than the closed space.

Unsurprisingly for someone of her size and background, but she really hated small spaces. Elevators were probably her worst nightmare. She wouldn't start hyperventilating like a human with claustrophobia, but her core was bubbling uncomfortably as she kept her eyes on the door.

Just a few seconds... she could handle that. The walls weren't totally closing in or anything.

It felt like a lifetime, but the door eventually slid open. Andy was probably a little too enthusiastic to get off, which was what earned her a frown from the woman behind her. A comforting hand snuck around her spike to find her hard, bony shoulder.

“You ok?”

Her concerned face and tone made Andy's core stop bubbling as much. The alien nodded as she carefully turned to face her aunt. Had she been a little too rough, the woman's hand might have been shredded. Not a good look, especially when she was still playing human.

“Yeah. I'm still not big on small areas.” She shrugged. “Of course when you're me,all areas are kind of small.”

Miri patted her shoulder as she pulled her hand back. “There's stairs you can go up next time once we have you keyed into the system.”

“I hope that's not by DNA or anything...”

The silence was deafening as the two walked the short hall. Andy probably would have been sweating by then if she was able to do that. Instead, she kept her eyes focused on the door in front of her. On the other side was the Union.

She was so close.

Miri opened the door for her. Just as she thought, on the other side were the heroes, waiting for her. The one by the computer wall had to be Scanner – they were smaller than she expected, even with the chair. And they didn't turn to face her, just kept working.

“Good to see you PT.”

A woman approached, in her full hero gear. Even if she had been in plain clothes, Andy would have known who she was. Her amber eyes were practically glowing, and she seemed to radiate warmth in a way that the alien couldn't manage. Hers was just hot – this was authority and self-assured know how in one.

Just what the leader of the Bear Paw Union needed.

“Took us a while getting here with construction and all. Nice not to be the one causing it for once.” Miri gave her a nudge forward. “Got her here in one piece so you can make the introductions.”

Ember smiled at her, and Andy felt a weight in her nonexistent gut dissolve. One thing she hated was being a burden – she was unfortunately good at doing that. “Nice to finally meet you, Andromeda.”

“Just Andy is fine.” She nodded her head. “Nice to meet you too. Aunt Miri says a lot of good stuff about you.”

Seeing her aunt turn pink and duck out was worth it, as was the smile she got from the pyrokinetic. The room felt a little warmer, but it was in a comforting way. People on the news had said Ember's ability was linked to her emotions, but feeling it was completely different.

Definitely someone nice.

“Probably nothing she'd repeat in front of me.” She laughed a little – it sounded like a bell. “You can call me Ember. I'm afraid I can't give you my actual name at this time per the rules.”

Andy nodded at that. “I know, I grew up around Aunt Miri and Uncle Leo. They drilled it into me.”

Even mentioning the man got the whole room to straighten up. She swore she heard the tech's spine snap into place like Lego bricks, and Ember grew a half inch even though she was standing pretty straight. The only one it didn't seem to affect much was the one on the couch. Sky Rider was still sitting there, like nothing was going on.

He... looked ok, at least by her guess. In full costume it was hard to see if he was bandaged or in pain, but he was at least in one piece. Whether or not he blamed her for all this she didn't know, but she was probably about to find out. If he tried to slam her into a wall during their training, that was probably a pretty good sign.

No pressure, right?

“Well, then we won't have to go over much then.” Ember was good at moving things along. “You know Sky Rider, and this is our tech Scanner.”

The figure in the chair never turned, but raised a hand. “Don't get mad I'm not looking at you, I don't do new people well.”

That made two of them. Andy nodded her head in their direction, before turning back to Sky Rider. He had gotten of the couch and was walking over to them with a laid back pace. His steps were even, so at least he wasn't limping.

Then again... she had heard gun shots. Maybe they had missed him?

Sky Rider was still short, but she was used to people being shorter than her. The lack of visible emotions because of the helmet was honestly helpful in this situation. With all these people, her head was starting to spin a little.

Ok, it wasn't a lot of people... but it wasn't like she got to meet a lot of people. Most of the time, anyone new was wearing a lab coat and trying to get data out of her. They could forgive her for being a little people shy.

“Don't worry, Scanner only eats Cheetos.”

Scanner's typing got a little harder. “Very funny, SR.”

“Just trying to make the new guy comfortable.” His body language suggested he was enjoying this. “I can take it from here, Ember. You can get going if you want.”

Ember's body language relaxed a little. “Are you sure? I can stick around if you want.”

Ah... someone was in on their day off. Andy hadn't considered that. A weight dropped into her gut once again as she tried to figure what the woman might have been missing. Miri's days off were rare and far between, so... she had given up a lot.

Was there a family waiting for her? Shit... she was already screwing things up.

Sky Rider gave them both a thumbs up. “Get out of here and enjoy your day off. We'll let you know if she blows anything up.”

That was probably the least likely way to get anyone to leave, in Andy's opinion. She opened her mouth to assure the woman she wouldn't do anything like that, but there was no need. Ember was chuckling a little as she headed towards the door.

“I'll hold you to that. It was nice meeting you, Andy.”

And then she was gone, leaving a very confused alien in the grips of a bunch of weirdos. Still, she was there. It was probably better to just make the most of it. She still didn't feel entirely comfortable as the masked hero motioned for her to follow him towards a door off to the side.

How the hell could they keep her contained in a residential building anyway?

===

If you like my writing and want to help keep making it happen, I have a Ko-Fi!

#Supernova Collision Trilogy #Writing #novel #Ember's gonna go home to her girlfriends now #Gee Ember how come your mom lets you have two- shit sorry

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id-rather-be-an-outsider · 3 years

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Fratboys and Full Rides (TEASER)

Johnny Worthington x monster!reader

“Hey! Party’s over. Why are you still here?” A tall, horned monster asks me. He crosses his arms as he waits for an answer.

I frown when I see him wearing ROR gear. I only remember seeing him for a few seconds when we started cleaning the main room. “I’m just here to hang out with Javier, but I had to go to the bathroom. I helped clean up earlier, if you remember?”

“I’m the leader of the most prestigious fraternity on campus, sweetheart, I don’t have time to memorize every face I see.”

I cringe internally at ‘sweetheart’. “Yea, don’t ever call me that again, thanks. I’m just gonna go find my friend now.” I turn to walk away, but get yanked back by one of my wings. “Hey!”

“Did you hear what I said, charity case? Go home!” He barks, “You’re not permitted in the building without an escort!”

I whip my wing out of his grasp and with one swoop, go from being one and a half feet shorter than him to being two feet taller than him. Wings have their perks in the face of entitled trust fund babies. “Touch my ‘charity case’ ass again and see how quickly you don’t have limbs to monster-handle folks with.” I spit, the embers in the back of my throat already heating up. I can see the smoke billowing out of my nose.

“Woah, woah, what’s going on here?” Javier says, just having walked into the hall and taking the scene in with a healthy amount of shock.

“Your fuckin’ friend here’s finna lose his hands if he keeps up the bullshit, that’s what’s going on!” I hiss.

“Your girlfriend has a mouth on her and is a few more words away from being banished from this frathouse, Rios. Handle her.” He sighs, like my existence is just an annoyance to him.

Javier jumps between the two of us before I can burn the guy’s face off and says, “There are a couple things you need to know about y/n, Worthington. One, her fire melts things, two, she has a temper, and three, she is not my girlfriend. She is an independent person and I can’t exactly ‘handle’ her, but if I’m expected to be able to deescalate things between you two, I can’t have remarks like that made.” He looks at me. “Are you good?”

“Is he good?” I ask, incredulous. “He pulled my wing! And on top of that he was yelling at me for no fucking reason!”

“Okay, and I will talk to him about that later, but right now we need to go, okay?”

I look between Javier and Worthington, the latter wearing a shit-eating grin that says he knows I’m torn. I toss him a glare, then growl, “Fine.” I whip around, flying down the hallway as fast as my wings can carry me. I pause at the door, impatiently tapping my foot while waiting for Javier to catch up. When he reaches me I mutter, “Make sure your stupid fuckin’ rude ass buddy over there knows if he ever treats me like that again I’m gonna ‘handle’ it how I want to. I don’t care if I get expelled man, fuck that shit, I hate when trust fund babies treat scholarship students like we’re worth nothing!”

“Yo yo yo, y/n, slow down, I get it, I get it - I’m on a few scholarships myself. But that’s not gonna solve anything. And you’ll get banished to the human world.” Javier reasons, “The best revenge right now is to not let him see he gets to you. Worthington is my guy, okay? He’s not gonna do that again. He’s not even the type to do that from out of nowhere so something must be up for him to even disrespect you like that. I’m gonna make sure he knows, and I got your back. Okay?” He says, hand on my shoulder while he waits for me to chill out.

I push the doors open as hard as I can, expelling some of my anger with a breath of fire. “Okay.” I say irritably, “But I don’t like him. I hate him. So don’t even try to get us to be friends or any dumb shit like that.”

He laughs. “I won’t, but if you wanna hang out on campus you’re gonna have to be around him without burning the building down. A lot of my time’s spent doing frat activities, so...”

I roll my eyes. “Whatever, Javier.”

“Do you promise not to breathe fire?” He asks.

“If he promises not to be a dick, then sure.”

a/n: I hope you enjoyed this little tidbit! stay tuned for the full story of how the reader navigates college life, making friends and enemies, and falling in love! this story operates alongside the canon of Monsters University, and tries to give an additional peak into the lives of many of the characters you know and love - I only hope I can do them all justice in the end!

#outsider writes #monsters university #MU #johnny worthington #javier rios #chet alexander #mike wazowski #james p sullivan #sulley #monster!reader #sulley x reader #johnny worthington x reader

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zuko-always-lies · 3 years

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Unpopular Opinion: Zuko’s treatment of Mai is deeply toxic.

Mai is a character who is often maligned in the fandom, with it even occasionally being claimed that she was “abusive” toward Zuko. Any objective analysis of Mai’s behavior in her relationship with Zuko will instead find that she was, in fact, a shockingly good romantic partner, generally treating Zuko very well and being loyal to him far beyond reasonable expectation. Claims that Mai behaved toxically toward Zuko seem to be instead founded in misogynistic expectations that women be perfect caretakers for the men in their lives.

That is not to say that the Zuko-Mai relationship isn’t still deeply toxic. However, its toxicity stems from the manner which Zuko badly mistreats Mai, often in ways which devalue her. Much more under the cut.

Our story begins in the first half of Book 3. The vast majority of episodes there don’t show anything particularly toxic going on in the relationship. The most you can say is that they suggest that Zuko tends to dump his problems on others and doesn’t have best understanding of his girlfriend.

However, inevitably we must turn to “The Beach,” the episode which, by far, gets the most into the Zuko-Mai relationship. To say that Zuko doesn’t behave well toward Mai in this episode would be an understatement. I don’t speak here of Zuko’s unsuccessful attempts to please Mai early in the episode, but instead how badly he starts treating her beginning at the party:

Ruon Jian: Hey, first ones here, huh? Zuko: (cut to shot of Zuko and Mai walking side by side) Pft. He thinks he's so great. (to Mai) Well, what do you think of him? (they stop walking) Mai: I don't have any opinion about him. I hardly know him. Zuko: You like him, don't you? (Mai sighs and walks away, as Zuko looks angrily in the direction of Ruon Jian. The camera zooms in on Ruon Jian)

And

(Cut to shot of Ruon Jian leaning over Mai. Zuko rushes toward them angrily and pushes Ruon Jian away from her. Cut to shot of Ruon Jian straightening his hair.) Ruon Jian: Whoa. What are you doing? Zuko: (close-up shot of Zuko, angry) Stop talking to my girlfriend! Ruon Jian: (Ruon Jian approaches Zuko) Relax, it's just a party. (Zuko pushes Ruon Jian hard, sending him flying across the room, breaking a giant vase.) Mai: (Mai stands up and grabs Zuko's shoulder. He turns towards her.) Zuko, what is wrong with you?! Zuko: What's wrong with me?! Mai: (angrily) Your temper's out of control. You blow up over every little thing. You're so impatient and hot-headed and angry. Zuko: Well, at least I feel something...as opposed to you. You have no passion for anything. (raising his arms is the air) You're just a big "blah". Mai: (turning away from him) It's over, Zuko. We're done.

And:

(Zuko follows her and the camera pans down to the handprint, left alone on the porch. Cut to wide view of the camera panning down Ember Island Beach. Zuko and Azula are walking side by side toward Mai and Ty Lee. Close shot of Zuko looking toward Mai and then looking away. Close shot of Mai looking angry and a bit sad.) Mai: Hey... (Interrupted) Zuko: (close shot of Zuko) Where's your new boyfriend? (Mai turns away angrily. Zuko comes and sits next to her) Are you cold? (he puts his arm around her, but she slaps it away)

Zuko is acting in a massively controlling fashion toward Mai, motivated by his violent and rage-filled jealously. She literally can’t talk to a boy without Zuko flying into a jealous rage, trying to separate her from the person she’s talking to, and accusing her of emotional infidelity. In real life, this is considered a warning sign for an abusive relationship(although I don’t think Zuko has crossed the line into abusive yet).

“The Beach” also gives us this:

Mai: Oh, well, I'm sorry I can't be as high-strung and crazy as the rest of you. (Cut to over-head shot of the four teens. Zuko walks closer to the fire and Mai.) Zuko: I'm sorry, too. I wish you would be high-strung and crazy for once, (Close shot of Mai looking away and Zuko standing over her) instead of keeping all your feelings bottled up inside. She just called your aura dingy. Are you gonna take that?

Zuko tries to provoke Mai into having a fight with her best friend Ty Lee just so he can watch her express strong emotions. Zuko very much wants to Mai to be and act like someone she’s not, which has its own issues.

Overall, Zuko treats Mai quite poorly in “The Beach.” The episode ends with this:

Mai: I know one thing I care about... (Cut to shot of Mai smiling at Zuko) I care about you. (Mai and Zuko kiss. Azula claps, causing them to separate and turn toward Azula. The camera pans left to include her.)

Mai forgives Zuko and accepts him back without him acknowledging his behavior was wrong, apologizing for it, or giving her any guarantee that he will treat her better in the future. That’s unfortunate, as Zuko soon ends up treating her far, far worse than he ever did in this episode.

Zuko’s disregard for Mai cumulates with the manner he commits treason on the Day of Black Sun. Let us start our understanding of what he did wrong from the beginning. Breaking up with Mai via a letter which didn’t give her a real explanation was a real asshole move, but it’s not at the core of what he did wrong. For that, we need to turn to this conversation from “The Headband”:

Zuko: Can't you see we're busy? (He and Mai resume their "business".) Azula: (not to be put off) Oh, Mai... Ty Lee needs your help untangling her braid. Mai: (complaisantly) Sounds pretty serious. (She gets up and leaves. Walking past Azula, towards the camera, she shoots the princess a quick, poisonous glance behind her back.) Azula: So...I hear you've been to visit your Uncle Fatso in the prison tower. Zuko: (standing, incensed) That guard told you. Azula: (smugly) No, you did. Just now. Zuko: (sitting back down) Okay, you caught me. What is it that you want, Azula? Azula: (solicitiously) Actually, nothing. Believe it or not, I'm looking out for you. If people find out you've been to see Uncle, they'll think you're plotting with him. Just be careful, dum-dum.

Zuko has proven his loyalty to the Fire Nation beyond doubt, yet Azula is still very worried that him spending time with Iroh will get him accused of treason, because having a close association with traitors puts oneself under almost automatic suspicion of treason.

“Day of Black Sun, Part II”:

Zuko: First of all, in Ba Sing Se, it was Azula who took down the Avatar, not me. Fire Lord Ozai: Why would she lie to me about that? Zuko: Because the Avatar is not dead. He survived. Fire Lord Ozai: (alarmed) What?!

Zuko deliberately throws Azula under the bus, hurting her and reducing her status with Ozai as much possible while effectively accusing her of deliberately committing treason. He also deliberately pisses off Ozai as much as possible.

So where does this leave us? Mai is Zuko’s known girlfriend and extremely close associate. Automatically, the suspicion of knowing of Zuko’s treason ahead of time or being involved falls upon her. She’s in grave risk of being imprisoned, tortured, or executed, especially since Ozai seems not the type to be strictly concerned with ensuring those he punishes are guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The Fire Nation seems like a society which might have collective punishment(as historical East Asian societies, Nazi Germany, and the Stalinist Soviet Union did), and Mai might be under risk from that direction. Finally, Ozai might hurt her simply as way of retaliating against Zuko.

Normally Azula would almost certainly be able to protect her friend, even under these trying circumstances, given Azula’s prestige and accomplishments. However, Zuko has deliberately undermined Azula as much as possible and effectively accused her of committing treason herself, dramatically reducing the probability that she will be able to protect Mai. In fact, Mai stands risk of being accused of being involved in Azula’s effort to “conceal the fact that the Avatar survived,” given Mai’s close association with Azula and her close involvement in the events where the Avatar “died.” She’s thus under danger from two different directions.

“But Zuko had to betray his father and become good through aiding Team Avatar.” Yes, it’s a good thing he did so. But Zuko had other options than the course he adopted. He could have avoided confronting Ozai at all and instead focused on rescuing Iroh(interesting AU idea right here). He could have confronted Ozai but not thrown Azula under the bus, and that alone would have vastly reduced the risk to Mai(and also made Zuko out to be a better person, because deliberately throwing your younger sister under the bus and then abandoning her to the mercy of your abusive father is not a good look). Zuko could have killed Ozai right then and there during the eclipse. He even could have tried to lead Team Avatar to the bunker and tried to end the war right then and there.

“Zuko didn’t understand that he was placing Mai in danger.” Quite possible, but Zuko being so self-centered that he is unable of understanding that his actions can have negative effects on other people is a mark against him, not for him.

Now we turn to the Zuko’s behavior toward Mai in the rest of the third season. Let us start with “The Boiling Rock, Part 1”:

Sokka: (emphatically) I think your Uncle would be proud of you. Leaving your home to come help us, that's hard. Zuko: It wasn't that hard. Sokka: (Cut to a side view of the basket) Really? You didn't leave behind anyone you cared about? Zuko: Well I did have a girlfriend. Mai. Sokka: (He goes closer to Zuko with a surprised look on his face) That gloomy girl who sighs a lot? Zuko: (Cut back to show Zuko grinning goofily) Yeah. (his face turns serious) Everyone in the Fire Nation thinks I'm a traitor. I couldn't drag her into it. Sokka: (Cut back to Sokka who leans back on the basket) My first girlfriend turned into the Moon. Zuko: (looks up) That's rough buddy

There are two things to unpack here. First, Zuko claims he “couldn’t drag her into it,” yet he already did, as I’ve illustrated above. Second, Zuko seems to expect that Mai would have followed him into treason if he asked her, that she would be willing to betray her nation, ideology, family, and friends just for the sake of her love for him. That’s an insane and pretty toxic expectation for Zuko to have for her relationship with him, especially since he wouldn’t do the same for her.

We also get more confirmation that Zuko doesn’t care at all about Ty Lee or Azula.

I don’t have a lot to say about the Zuko-Mai conversation during Boiling Rock, Part 2. The only things I would like to note are that Zuko is not very sorry for what he did, not very empathetic toward Mai’s pain, and doesn’t give Mai a real apology for his actions.

Of course, Mai proceeds to save Zuko’s life through committing treason in front of dozens of witnesses at Boiling Rock, something which places her own life in serous jeopardy. How does Zuko react to this?

Zuko: (Cut to a shocked Zuko) It's Mai. Azula: (Cut to a furious Azula) What is she doing?! (Cut to the backs of Azula and Ty Lee as Ty Lee shrugs and makes a "I don't know" noise. Cut to the gondola as it reaches the outer part of the crater. Cut to the inside of the entrance tower as the door opens and Suki rushes out followed by Sokka, Zuko, Hakoda and Chit Sang. Hakoda turns towards Chit Sang and points to the inside of the gondola. Chit Sang proceeds to throw the warden back in.) Hakoda: (Cut to the back of Hakoda's head looking at the warden lying on the floor) Sorry Warden, your record is officially broken. (Hakoda walks off screen while the warden continues to struggle on the floor. Cut to a front shot of the group as they run up a rocky incline.) Suki: Well, we made it out. Now what? Sokka: (Sokka stops and looks back at Zuko who pauses in his tracks, thinking) Zuko, what are you doing? Zuko: My sister was on that island. Sokka: Yeah and she's probably right behind us. So let's not stop. Zuko: What I mean is she must have come here somehow. (He runs to the edge of the rocks and looks down) There. (Cut to an area looking up at the edge of the cliff) That's our way out of here. (Camera pans down to reveal a Fire Nation zeppelin docked at the shore.

Zuko says Mai’s name once and then abandons her (to die?) with zero hesitation. This is probably objectively the correct decision. It would probably be extremely difficult and dangerous if not outright impossible to save Mai. The prison-break crew do have access to an airship, but it’s difficult to fly an airship over the lake’s thermals.

Yet that’s not my point. Zuko abandons Mai with zero hesitation, with zero anguish, with zero angst. He doesn’t even to seem consider the possibility that he should save her. Something tells me if Iroh had just saved Zuko’s life under identical circumstances and then was in imminent risk of harm, Zuko would act very differently, that Sokka, Suki, and Hakoda would have to drag him off that island.

Zuko’s complete disregard for Mai continues for the rest the series. Remember this exchange from “The Cave of Two Lovers”?

Zuko: (losing his patience) We're not taking any more chances with these plants! We need to get help. Iroh: But where are we going to go? We're enemies of the Earth Kingdom, and fugitives from the Fire Nation. Zuko: (musingly) If the Earth Kingdom, discovers us, they'll have us killed. Iroh: But if the Fire Nation discovers us, we'll be turned over to Azula.

Zuko considers being captured by Azula a worse fate than death!

But do we see Zuko worry once about Mai’s fate? Do we see angst about what might have happened to her? Do we see him make any effort to even discover her fate, much less rescue her?

No. In fact, Zuko launches a sophisticated operation to infiltrate a Fire Nation information center so that he can gain intelligence in order to help Katara murder someone so that she’ll like him, but he doesn’t even consider doing the same to find out about Mai’s fate so that he could potentially rescue her. Zuko doesn’t even mention Mai once after Boiling Rock until the very end of the series finale, even though she sacrificed herself to save him. Remember this exchange(“Sozin’s Comet, Part 3”):

Zuko: Sorry, but you're not going to become Fire Lord today. (jumps off Appa) I am. Azula: (laughs) You're hilarious. Katara: (standing beside Zuko) And you're going down. (The fire sage motions to crown Azula, but she raises her hand, signalling him to stop.) Azula: Wait. You want to be Fire Lord Fine. Let's settle this. Just you and me, brother. The showdown that was always meant to be. Agni Kai! Zuko: You're on. (Katara turns to Zuko, surprised. Cut to a close up of Azula's lips as the curls into a smile. Cut back to Katara and Zuko.) Katara: What are you doing? She's playing you. She knows she can't take us both so she is trying to separate us. Zuko: I know. But I can take her this time. Katara: But even you admitted to your Uncle that you would need help facing Azula. Zuko: There's something off about her, I can't explain it but she's slipping. And this way, no one else has to get hurt. (Fade to a shot of the courtyard from the side. The camera pans from Zuko kneeling on the right end to Azula kneeling on the left end. Cut to a shot of Zuko rising and turning around, then cut to a shot of Azula rising. Each can be seen behind the other. Cut to a shot of Azula from the front turning and removing the Fire Lord robes.) Azula: I'm sorry it has to end this way, brother. Zuko: (in his stance) No, you're not.

Notice something? Zuko doesn’t demand to know what happened to Mai! It’s almost like he forgot she existed!

Now we turn to the final infamous exchange(“Sozin’s Comet, Part 4”):

Mai:(off screen) You need some help with that? (He looks up surprised and moves aside to reveal Mai leaning against the doorway. Cut to a close up of Mai as she walks towards Zuko.) Zuko: (Cut to a delighted Zuko) Mai! (Walks off screen) You're ok. (Cut to an area behind Mai's back as Zuko opens his arms out in a hug) They let you out of prison? (Mai walks behind Zuko and lifts up his empty robe sleeve.) Mai: My uncle (Zuko puts his arms through the sleeve) pulled some strings, (she proceeds to fasten his robe) and it doesn't hurt when the new Fire Lord is your boyfriend. (She walks in front of Zuko and places a hand on his chest) Zuko: So does this mean you don't hate me anymore? Mai: (she blushes) I think it means... (Cut to a close up of the couple) I actually (places a hand on Zuko's cheek) kind of like you. (They lean in for a kiss and part a fewseconds later, looking into each other's eyes happily) But don't ever (She jabs a finger into Zuko's shoulder and Zuko's eye traces the movement of her finger) break up (She lifts her finger into the air and Zuko's eyes still follows it) with me again. (She jabs her finger into Zuko's shoulder one last time and Zuko smiles goofily. They embrace and the camera zooms out slowly.

Zuko seems surprised to learn that Mai is OK, almost like he made no effort to find out her fate once he took charge of the Fire Nation. And indeed, his first acts as leader of the Fire Nation were not to find out what happened to her or, if he actually knew, to get her released from prison. Mai only got released from prison when her uncle and his connections got sufficiently confident that Zuko had been completely accepted as the new leader to release a massive traitor completely on their own initiative. This was quite possibly weeks after Azula-Zuko Agni Kai, yet he made no apparent effort to get her released. It’s almost like Zuko completely forgot about Mai, even though she sacrificed herself to save him.

And, of course, Zuko doesn’t accept responsibility for any of the awful ways he treated Mai, much less apologize to her or offer any guarantee he will behave better in the future. Mai still forgives him anyways, just like she did in “The Beach,” only for Zuko to continue to screw her over. There is something deeply depressing here, as there’s every reason to believe that Zuko will screw over Mai over, devalue her, and disregard her well-being, desires, and interests again the moment it’s convenient for him to do so. He certainly has not recognized that his toxic behavior here is something he needs to stop doing. Ironically, the comics get this right by having Zuko try to use his power as Firelord to order Mai to stay his girlfriend.

Ultimately, Zuko loves Mai and cares about her deeply, yet he still treats her as a tool and acts like she exists to serve him. It reminds me how show! canon Ozai genuinely loved show! canon Ursa, but still used her as a tool and threw her away. Honestly, I doubt 16-year-old Zuko is really ready for any romantic relationship at all, given his often toxic behavior, his trauma, and the incredibly stressful position he’s placed in at the end of the series.

#Azula #Zuko #Mai #Ty Lee #Dangerous Ladies #Ozai #Zuko meta #ATLA meta #meta #Unpopular opinion

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bonesbuckleup · 4 years

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Lord, this answer got long. I’m a little embarrassed about it, but I wrote it, so it’s getting posted. It’s a literal essay. Sorry but also not?

TLDR: Yes, the show is arguably unfair to Sokka about Kya, but it also follows a pattern where Sokka stays quiet about Bad Feelings and plays by the rules established for his character. Katara, meanwhile, grieves loudly and often, and appears to be under the impression that because Sokka’s grief is silent it doesn’t exist, which also fits her character/interactions completely. Neither of them are right or wrong, but it sets them up on inevitable collisions.

Now. If you want to join me on a cactus-juice fueled descent into madness, proceed below the cut.

Number one. We’re referring to this exchange in “The Southern Raiders,” where the Gaang is talking about Zuko and Katara going after the man who killed Kya, which is vicious and brutal and never reflected on:

Aang: You sound like Jet. Katara: It's not the same! Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster. Sokka: Katara, she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right. Katara (angry, yelling): Then you didn't love her the way I did! Sokka (visibly hurt, softly): Katara.

And that’s it. Upon returning, Katara apologizes to Aang and not, as Anon is absolutely correct in pointing out, to Sokka, who is 100% the more injured party. Now. Is it possible this is one of the rare missteps from the atla writers? Yes. Absolutely. Is that the answer I’m about to write a literal fucking essay about? No. Because it’s more painful fun to take it as face value and talk subtext.

First, a reminder that this show is fucking good at what it does. It teaches you how each character grieves as we go: Aang explodes, often triggering the Avatar state, usually crying or angry, and when he does try to repress his Bad Feelings it rarely lasts longer than a day; Toph either shuts down or gets mad, but either way she doesn’t like people seeing her having Bad Feelings and often storms away, knowing that she can’t control it no matter how much she might want to; Zuko yells at the sky in a rainstorm or yells at his dad in an underground tunnel or challenges Zhao to an Agni Kai or yells at his uncle in a jail cell and generally is an emotive nuclear bomb because the boy has feelings and if he keeps them inside for more than three seconds he might explode okay.

Then we have Katara and Sokka.

Let’s start with Katara, since she has the most textual and straightforward displays of grief. She’s really the only one to talk about Kya’s death in Book 1. If Sokka mentions it, it’s barely in passing. I don’t think we hear Hakoda address her death at all (which I’ll return to in a moment.) Katara’s grief is loud. It’s angry. It’s still very much a living thing for her. She thinks she sees Kya in the swamp and breaks down crying, and tells Aang and Sokka about it with no hesitation. When she’s angry and sad at Hakoda for leaving, she acts out and is visibly upset with him, yells at him, cries at him. She out-loud hates Zuko when she comes to the conclusion that he told her about Ursa and got her to talk about Kya to manipulate her. It isn’t that her grief is performative, because it’s a very real and terrible thing, but it’s a grief that’s to be witnessed.

Then, Sokka. Sokka’s grief is more complicated because it exists almost entirely in subtext, especially in regard to Kya. We really only hear him talk about Kya twice, both in Book 3. First, to Toph, when he tells her that he can’t remember what Kya looks like. Worth noting, however, that even though it is Sokka talking, this is still centered on Katara and Katara’s grief. The next time is when Zuko asks what happened to Kya, and Sokka tells the story that leads into the initial flashback. Sokka doesn’t talk about his mom. This is a fact of the show. It’s such a fact of the show that, in “Southern Raiders,” after the exchange at the start of this post, while Katara and Zuko are on the hunt, Sokka doesn’t bring up Kya again and is messing around with Aang. Like nothing has happened or is currently happening--which I’ll come back to in a moment.

So while we can use Kya as a perfect example of how Katara grieves, we can’t really use her for Sokka. So let’s use Yue instead. Moments we see (or don’t see) Sokka grieving Yue:

In the opening to Book 2, we briefly have a shot of Sokka with the moon imposed behind him.

“The Swamp,” where Sokka’s vision is of Yue accusing him of not protecting her. This one is one of the more textual moments of grief--”I think about Yue all the time”--but what’s awful great about it is how Sokka tells Aang and Katara. Aang, obviously, has no qualms about sharing his vision. Katara openly talks about seeing Kya. Sokka only tells them about Yue when explicitly asked. Even then, he doesn’t mention what she said to him. From this, we can assume that Sokka is still holding onto a lot of guilt over her death--guilt that he won’t let Aang and Katara see. Anyway. Moving on.

“The Serpent’s Pass.” After spending all day panic protecting Suki, he tells her that he lost someone, but doesn’t go much further into detail, just saying that he can’t when she tries to kiss him. Of course, this is all happening in front of the moon. Again, though, Sokka stays vague. He doesn’t tell her any details.

“The Puppetmaster,” Toph posits that maybe the moon spirit has gone mean and is kidnapping people. Sokka snaps at her, in a moment definitely meant for laughs, saying, “The Moon Spirit is a gentle, loving lady. She rules the sky with compassion and ... lunar goodness!” It is a funny moment, but here’s what we can take from it: Toph doesn’t know about Yue. Toph is a Feral Bastard a lot of the time, but she also knows where the line is, and I don’t think she’d’ve said that if she’d known.

“Boiling Rock,” in arguably the most quoted (and well deservedly so!) line in the entire show. “My first girlfriend turned into the moon.” “...that’s rough, buddy.” COMEDIC GOLD. Also, weirdly, the literal only time that Sokka explicitly tells someone about Yue in the course of the show.

“Ember Island Players” which I haven’t hit in my rewatch yet, but I definitely remember a moment where Suki asks Sokka when he was gonna tell her he made out with the moon, and he tearfully shushes her. Again, played for laughs, but the implication is that he still hasn’t told Suki about what happened.

This plays perfectly into the same way that Sokka (doesn’t) talks about his mom. When the Bad Feelings come, Sokka either avoids them and finds a distraction (Goofs with Aang--see, told ya we’d come back to that) or stays silent. When someone explicitly asks him about the Bad Feelings--what he saw in the swamp, what’s eating at him in “Sokka’s Master,” why he’s panic-protecting Suki--he’ll answer, but often talks around the actual issue. (Interestingly, it’s in regard to Suki we see the most explicit manifestation of Sokka grieving as Azula taunts him during the invasion: he cries, he attacks Azula, he yells and questions her despite the fact he knows she’s wasting their time. I think this one hits him because, as this beautiful post points out, Suki’s the protector in the relationship, and Sokka can actually chill out for 2 seconds. But he let his guard down, and Azula got Suki. Anyway. That’s probably a different essay: back to the matter at hand.) We even see this in “Boiling Rock.” There’s a moment where they think Hakoda is not with the other political prisoners. Sokka’s tense, drawn tight, but the only thing he says is, “No.”

Basically, we’ve got Katara, who grieves loudly and rages and is kinda like white-water rapids that churn and churn and churn. And we’ve got Sokka, who, to quote John Mulaney, looks at his grief and says, “I’ll just keep all my emotions right here and then one day I’ll die.” Iceberg grief, to keep the water metaphor going.

And where did these come from? Yup! Water Tribe gender roles! What we know from the show is that, while the South is typically more progressive (women can train as benders and marry who they want, at least) than the North, it’s still very rigid: the men are warriors/hunters/protectors, the women stay home to cook/clean/child-rear.

Now: subtext! And why I think they are this way!

We’ll start with Katara. The last waterbender in the South Pole. She no doubt grew up doted on. If I say she’s most likely a little spoiled, I don’t mean it in a bad way--I mean it in a she’s the last living remnant of this aspect of their culture kind of way. When raiders come, she’s probably the first priority to protect. Kya dies to keep her safe. Her needs are generally put before the community as a whole. (This isn’t to say that Katara doesn’t contribute or care about her community, because she 100% does). But! Especially in Book 1, we see Katara often considering her opinions as facts (trusting Jet, the waterbending scroll) and doesn’t always pause to consider the larger impact that her actions will have (scroll and Jet again, challenging Pakku, dressing up as the Painted Lady despite the fact the factory will hold the village responsible). And many of these actions are good! But we see a lot of Katara being pretty self-centered--what can I do, how does this impact me, how do I feel about this? And this isn’t a bad thing! This aspect of her character makes her complicated and complex! Katara loves her family and protecting people and caring for them! She’s extremely empathetic! But she also struggles to meet people where they’re at when they emote in a different way than she does (see: her clashes with Toph, her initial problems with Zuko joining the group, the above interaction with Sokka). It’s also worth talking about how Katara witnessed her mother’s death, which no doubt makes her grief about it a sharper thing.

Then, again, Sokka. Also loved in his community! But a normal kind of love, I’d assume. He probably was raised on stories of the Fire Nation dragging waterbenders away. No one exemplifies the Water Tribe ride-or-die mentality quite as well as Sokka, or the gender roles of the man as the warrior/protector, so you gotta believe Hakoda raised that kid to look after his sister at all costs, which we see throughout the show (already preparing to go after Aang in the South Pole because he know Katara’s going anyway, “You burned my sister!”) And he isn’t there when his mom dies. He finds out later. He goes from feeling like a victor who helped chased the raiders away to the worst realization of his life. I have to imagine he’s ashamed by the fact that he thought everything was going to be okay, which leads into his worldview of assuming that nothing is okay ever in any circumstance.

Finally, Hakoda. Who never, unless I’ve forgotten something, talks about Kya. All we know is that their family fell apart after her death (per Sokka in “The Runaway,” learning how Katara stepped up to hold everything together) and sometime after he took the warriors and straight up left. He apologizes for leaving but doesn’t address the fact that he left Katara and Sokka with no parents at all, only the war. This is, uh, not exactly echoing a healthy coping mechanism?

My theory: Kya dies. Since the Water Tribe is so embedded in gender roles, Hakoda probably shut down and/or checked out emotionally for a while. This leaves his kids on their own to deal with their shit, and we learn Katara does everything she can to keep her family going. As the most protected individual in the South, Katara’s probably been taught that emotions equal attention, and uses her temper/caring/sadness to help bring her community closer. Meanwhile, Sokka, who hero worships his dad, watches Hakoda go stoic and learns that “real men” shove their shit down. Additionally, Katara’s grief is deafeningly loud, and Sokka’s number 1 role is to keep Katara safe. He’s taught that the Bad Feelings only get in the way and make things worse, and so he learns to be fine no matter what kind of terrible is going down around him. Basically, Katara learns to use grief as a needle and thread, and Sokka learns to bury it as deep as he can and avoid it at all costs. Opposite reactions to the same trauma. Katara gets mad and demands to be heard and listened to and seen, and Sokka gets sarcastic and prepares himself for the day the Fire Nation ships come back for his sister.

So. Back to those above lines from “Southern Raiders.”

From a writing standpoint, I do wish the final moment was between Katara and Sokka versus Katara and Aang. They could’ve had an almost identical interaction, but it would’ve been more nuanced. I don’t think that Katara needed to apologize, but I think we needed some acknowledgement from both of them: Katara continuing the lesson she’s learned about how her pain doesn’t entitle her to hurt other people (including Sokka, who is there no matter what she says or does), and Sokka that Katara’s process of grieving had to involve this catharsis.

Or. Maybe not. Because again--subtext. Their grief works in such different ways that I have to imagine this isn’t a new fight. It was probably brutal and vicious for a very long time. Maybe that’s part of what made Sokka try and go with the warriors. Maybe that’s part of why Katara gets mad so quickly in the first episode of the show. But eventually, unable to find an answer, they just...stop talking about it. Because the two of them don’t talk about it. Katara only talks about her mom with people who aren’t Sokka, and Sokka does exclusively to Toph and Zuko.

The only time I can think of Katara and Sokka talking about it together is the exchange at the top of this post, and it gets ugly fast, and it isn’t brought up again. It’s a fight that will never be resolved, because they fundamentally can’t react to one another in a way that can be universally understood.

“You didn’t love her the way I did!” Katara yells, loudly, because if Sokka loved her then why isn’t he raging? Why isn’t he getting his sword and coming to help her? Why doesn’t Sokka want to burn this firebender to the ground and make him see and hear and look at what he’s done to the world? To their family? He must not understand. He must not care as much or he’d be screaming with her.

“Katara,” Sokka says, much quieter, and adds nothing else. Not because there isn’t anything else to say, but because Sokka can’t talk about this kind of thing. Not doesn’t want to, but can’t, because it’s his job to protect people, protect Katara, and if he lets all those old hurts come boiling up he can’t do that, because that ends with losing focus and losing control and people getting hurt or going away. Why can’t she understand that?

And then they do what they always do. They don’t bring it up again.

#LITERAL ESSAY BY TUMBLR USER BONESBUCKLEUP #Sokka #Katara #atla #this is what isolation has done to me #this is the nerdiest bullshit that I've spewed in a while #felt good though #writing's been hard recently #I'm working myself back into it through atla shitposts and meta #long post #If I could harness this energy into something other than fandom I might rule a small country by now?#oh well

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wasithard · 4 years

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Percy wakes up on his seventeenth birthday in his own bed.

One year ago today, he’d woken up in a room at the Plaza Hotel from a vision of the Titan Lord Kronos planning his attack on Manhattan. One year ago today, he’d woken up in the middle of a war – and that’s not even the most recent war he’s fought.

Percy wakes up on his seventeenth birthday and immediately goes back to sleep.

His day goes like this: waking again to blue pancakes and waffles and eating them with his mom and Paul. Having a picnic lunch with Annabeth and Grover in Central Park, then driving with them to camp for dinner and a bonfire with their friends. Roasting marshmallows and singing songs and kissing Annabeth by the fire. Getting too lost in the way the firelight tinges her grey eyes red to notice the rest of the campers gathering around them before they pick them up and throw them in the lake, just like last year. Sitting around the dying embers of the fire, remembering the friends they lost in the war that ended one year ago today, the heavy silence of that moment burying itself in the middle of his chest, sitting there like a weight. Going to bed in his cabin, Tyson snoring in the bunk above him, wishing the love he’d felt from his friends that day would be enough to silence the voices in his head yelling it should’ve been me.

Percy wakes up on his nineteenth birthday, three years after the war.

He wakes up and wonders if he’ll ever stop thinking of it as the anniversary of the war instead of a celebration for another year he’s lived, or another year he’s spent with Annabeth.

Annabeth, who’s living on campus in the city they almost gave their lives defending three years ago now and comes over for breakfast that morning with Sally and Paul. He’s sitting at the table with them all, laughing and grateful to have them, but wondering if he should be worried that it’s been three years and he still wakes up on August 18th with a tightness in his chest at the thought of getting another year older than his friends who will never see another day. He knows they’re in Elysium. The thought should bring him peace.

Breakfast trickles into the afternoon and he and Annabeth go for a walk in Central Park before driving up to Camp. On the way there, Percy takes a detour to a small beach he’d scouted out a few weeks before and surprises his girlfriend with a picnic on the sand. He helps her build a sandcastle that’s almost taller than he is, holding the waves back so that they can use the hard, wet sand near the shoreline to make their castle stronger.

By the time they get to Camp they both smell of salt and seaweed and his spirits are high. It makes it worse, somehow, when they have their annual memorial to those they lost three years ago that he’s had such a nice day so far. Annabeth notices his change in mood, presses a kiss to his shoulder as she entwines their fingers.

After the campers start to trickle off to bed, Chiron catches his eye and Percy follows him to the Big House. They are sitting on the balcony, crickets chirping around them and a glass of cool blue Coke in Percy’s hand when Chiron fixes him with a stare that has seen countless tragedies and asks him if he still blames himself for being alive.

It’s jarring to hear someone so bluntly say out loud the thoughts he hasn’t dared to speak for so long. He swallows, can’t bring himself to hold Chiron’s gaze so flicks his eyes down to his feet instead, the only part of his body that doesn’t feel like it’s shaking. His fingers clench around the clear glass in his hand and he watches beads of water slide down the outside of it. Chiron doesn’t speak, but the silence is heavy and Percy feels like it’ll suffocate him if he doesn’t break it.

“I don’t– ” he clears his throat. It sounds too thick. “I don’t blame myself.”

He takes a sip of his Coke, swallowing it completely. “I don’t blame myself. I just don’t understand…”

He doesn’t want to finish the sentence, doesn’t want to say the words, I don’t understand why it wasn’t me, but when his eyes meet Chiron’s again he knows the centaur understands. How many other heroes has he seen feel the same way? Does he feel the same way?

“Percy,” Chiron says, his voice steady and deep with thousands of years of wisdom and loss and hope. “You help no one by holding on to guilt that isn’t yours.”

Percy exhales roughly, running a hand through his hair. In his head, he understands this. He just doesn’t believe it. If he had been a little bit better, in any sense of the word: faster, stronger, smarter. Maybe Charles wouldn’t have gotten caught in the engine room of the Princess Andromeda. Maybe Michael wouldn’t have been caught in the earthquake Percy had caused on the Williamsburg Bridge. Maybe Clarisse could have been convinced to fight in the war earlier, so Silena wouldn’t have had to impersonate her.

“Percy.” Chiron repeats, voice firmer. “You might be a hero, but you are also a person. And all a person can ever do is their best.”

Percy closes his eyes, bows his head. Chiron continues speaking. “The gods have done wonderful things, but they have also made many, many mistakes. More and far more devastating mistakes than the ones you have made in your short life. The benefit and curse of immortality is seeing how the actions of a moment can fade over time. How they can be made up for when a similar situation arises in the future. How it is not one’s past that defines them, but how they learn from it.”

Percy doesn’t want to look up at Chiron now, because there are tears in his eyes and it’s embarrassing, frankly. But he owes it to him.

He looks up. Chiron’s gaze is as steady as before, and Percy exhales one more time, releasing air all the way down to his belly. One tear slips down the side of his face and stops at his upper lip. He licks it away, using a hand to wipe his eyes as he turns his face to the now quiet camp. He can see the volleyball court, the rock climbing wall, the smoking embers of the campfire and the beginning of the circle of cabins. He sees his home: safe, intact. Filled with his friends, the survivors. He breathes it in.

“Thanks, Chiron.” He says, turning back to the centaur who gives him a soft, understanding smile in return.

Percy finishes off his drink and leaves the empty glass on the same wooden table he saw Chiron and Dionysus playing pinochle at when he first arrived at Camp, all those years ago. He stands up, wishes Chiron goodnight and starts walking back to the cabins.

Cabin 3 stands there: dark, alone and familiar. He feels tiredness tug at his eyelids and muscles but inside he still feels too wired to lay down just yet. He heads for the beach.

Annabeth is already there. Her legs are bent in front of her, arms tucked underneath them and chin resting on her knees. He sits silently beside her and they stay there, no sound between them except the gentle crash of the waves on the shore. After a few minutes she leans her head against his shoulder and he rests his atop hers, closes his eyes.

“Do you remember when we were in the Sea of Monsters and I wanted to hear the Sirens?” Annabeth asks, voice quiet. “I would’ve killed myself on those rocks swimming to their island but you dove into the ocean and pulled me out of their range, even though I was kicking and screaming at you to stop. We were thirteen.

“And remember in Mount St. Helen’s? I know you didn’t have a plan, but you made me get out anyway. You made sure that I was safe before even thinking about how you would survive.”

He feels her weight leave his shoulder then, glances over to see her sitting up and turning towards him, crossing her legs under her. The light of the full moon washes her in an ethereal glow, and her eyes are gleaming wide and bright as they lock onto his, pinning him in place. Annabeth is always beautiful, but when she’s determined – whether in battle or in convincing her boyfriend that he doesn’t deserve the pain he inflicts on himself – she has a face that could launch a thousand ships.

“And in Rome,” she says, her voice catching. “You wouldn’t let me face Tartarus unless we could face it together. I don’t know how many times you saved my life down there…” Percy sees her eyes begin to well with tears. “When we were fighting the arai…” She closes her eyes as a few tears escape them. Percy reaches forward and wipes a few away with his thumb. She opens her eyes into his again and gives him a small smile.

“My point is,” she continues, her voice thick. “Being a demigod is a high risk life that none of us asked for. An occupational hazard of us just being alive is death by monster attack. This is the first thing we learn when we find out who we are. All the friends we’ve lost over the years…they knew that too.

“And that doesn’t mean that their deaths were ok or justified or that we can forget about them, but I think that shouldering the burden of their deaths is stopping you from remembering the beauty of their lives. And it’s stopping you from remembering all the people who haven’t died because of you. Every single person in this camp owes their life to you, either directly or indirectly. Yes, a lot of people died on this day three years ago, but even more people were saved, and you had more to do with the last thing than the first.”

Percy’s getting teary again, but he doesn’t feel embarrassed this time. Annabeth shuffles closer to him on the sand and grabs both of his hands, squeezing them tightly, bringing them up and pressing her lips against them. “Percy Jackson, you have the purest heart of anyone I have ever met. It’s glaringly obvious to anyone who knows you – except yourself, apparently. I will spend the rest of my life trying to help you see it, but until then you’re just gonna have to trust me.”

Her face changes. It goes from open and pleading to playful, one eyebrow raised and a challenge in her eyes that makes his heart skip a beat, even when the rest of his system is in emotional overwhelm.

“Do you trust me, Percy?” Annabeth asks him.

He lets out a laugh, shaky from tears, and nods, “Yes, Annabeth. I trust you with my life.”

She beams at him, sitting up on her knees to bring her face closer to his, until it’s close enough that he can feel the warmth of her breath as she speaks, her eyes still locked onto his. “Then believe me when I tell you that you deserve forgiveness. And you need to give it to yourself.”

It’s too much. Percy swallows, jaw clenched and glances down. Annabeth releases one of his hands and grabs his chin, not letting him get away that easily.

“You. Deserve. Forgiveness. More than anyone in this world.”

He’s searching her eyes, frantically almost. It feels too easy. There has to be a catch.

“Ok?” Annabeth prompts, her voice still soft but firm, uncompromising.

He opens his mouth to speak but any words get caught in the knot at the base of his throat. Tears are leaking down his face and he can’t. He can’t. It can’t be that easy. It shouldn’t be.

Annabeth exhales, removing her hand from his chin and instead running it through his hair, stopping at the back of his head and bringing it forward until their foreheads touch. She doesn’t say anything else, just sits there with him.

With him, while he closes his eyes and thinks about the Minotaur choking his mom when he was twelve. Thinks about imaging Tyson drowning in the Sea of Monsters when he was thirteen. Thinks about losing Bianca di Angelo and Zoe Nightshade later that same year. He thinks about the campers that fell in the Battle of the Labyrinth whose names he didn’t know, and the campers that fell in the Battle of Manhattan whose names he made sure he did. He thinks of a Titan and a Giant at the Doors of Death, sacrificing themselves so that he and Annabeth could get to safety.

Percy sits on a beach at nineteen years old and thinks of all the death he’s seen in such a short time, all the death that’s been haunting him for years.

A cool breeze passes by him, coming from the water. As it brushes his skin, he comes back to the warmth of his best friend’s forehead pressed against his, her hands: one clutching his, the other tangled in his hair. He feels her soft exhale of breath and thinks about how she is alive, here, with him. Against all odds. He thinks of the campers asleep in the cabins just metres away: alive, here, with him. He thinks of his mom and Paul and Rachel, his friends from Camp Jupiter, all the people he cares about who are alive, here, with him. He thinks about the fact that they outnumber the dead, and realises he’s never really thought about that before.

Percy lifts his head and looks at Annabeth. She cups one side of his face with her hand, eyes still trained on his intently.

“I love you.” He says. “I’m so happy you’re alive.”

Her smile is small and bittersweet, her eyes wide grey pools of understanding.

“Me too,” is all she says.

It is enough.

#i woke up yesterday not expecting to create original content for percy's birthday and instead #here is the longest coherent thing ive ever written #percy jackson #pjo #percabeth #idk what's happening with the form at the beginning #and no estelle is not valid in my universe sorry #its 1:19am i have no business being up so late for this but its percy......i love him #ok bye #hi i wrote a thing #tw death

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a-simple-gaywitch · 3 years

Text

Embers to Ashes

hotch x unsub!reader

Summary: When (Y/N) leaves the BAU, she doesn’t expect to get wrapped up in a crime spree

Word Count: 2609

Warnings: abusive relationship, pregnancy & mentions of childbirth, typical criminal minds violence

“The real monsters are humans without conscience.” -Robert E. Keller

Your decision to leave the BAU was not an easy one, but it was what was best. After your mother fell ill, you decided to move back home to care for her, as she was alone. Your team protested, not wanting you to leave, of course. Penelope fought for you to stay the hardest. She was like the sister you never had.

The team followed you to the airport to see you off. Hugs went around, followed by promises that you’d call when you land. The only person who didn’t hug you was Hotch, which you found weird for a number of reasons. Even Spencer hugged you, and he wasn’t big on physical affection. And you’d always thought you and Hotch were close.

“Hey, promise me you’ll keep in touch,” he said, resting his hand on your shoulder.

“Yeah, of course,” you said.

“Oh, I need another hug!” Penelope said, squeezing you tight again. She’d been crying the whole time and her mascara was running. “I’m gonna miss you so much, Peaches.”

“I’m gonna miss you too, Pen,” you said. You glanced at your watch. “Okay, I really have to go now. I love you guys so much.”

You were grocery shopping for your mother when you ran into him. Nicholas Gully, one of your old high school friends.

“(Y/N)? (Y/N) (L/N)?”

“Nick! Hi!” you said, tossing the box of pasta into your shopping cart. “How have you been?”

“Oh, great. What about you? Big FBI agent out at Quantico.”

You laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of your neck. “Yeah, uh, I actually quit.”

“What? Why? All you talked about in high school was getting into the academy.”

“Uh, well, it’s because of Mom actually. She’s sick. I quit to move back out here and help her until she… Well…”

“Yeah. Well, I’m here if you need to, I don’t know, let off steam?” He handed you a business card. “Here. My number. Give me a call, we’ll go out for drinks or something.”

You smiled. “Thanks, Nick. It was good seeing you.”

Your mom died about a month after you moved home. You were an only child, so it was your responsibility to handle all of her affairs. It was stressful, and you felt isolated. Alone.

You looked at all the funeral plans spread out on the kitchen table, and before you knew it, you’d called Nick and asked him to come over.

What happened next was a blur. You buried your mother next to your father, Nick stayed by your side the whole time. While your mind was clouded with grief, you thought the only good thing to come of it was your new relationship with Nick.

He was nice. He treated you well and helped you through your grief. Only, he didn’t like how much you talked to Penelope and Emily, saying that it was unnatural to be so close to your ex-coworkers. So you stopped talking to them.

Nick moved in with you not too long into your relationship. He said that living in your mother’s house alone wasn’t healthy for you. He helped you sort and pack up her belongings, taking the things you weren’t keeping or throwing out to the thrift store.

You were together for about 8 months before your relationship changed.

You hadn’t been feeling well and you had your suspicions. You took a trip to the drug store and bought a few tests while Nick was at work. You took all of them, trying to rule out a false positive.

When you heard Nick come in from work, you decided to tell him.

“Hey, Nick? I have some news,” you said after he put his work bag down on the couch.

“What’s up?”

“Um, you know how I haven’t been feeling well lately? Well, I went to the pharmacy and picked up some pregnancy tests. They were all positive.”

“Are you serious? You’re pregnant?”

You nodded. “I’m calling my doctor first thing tomorrow to schedule an appointment.”

Nick’s tone should have tipped you off to his true nature. But you were in too deep.

A few months passed. You were showing significantly, though your doctor was worried about your health. The bags under your eyes grew, and you were showing up to your appointments with more and more bruises on your arms. One day you came in with a poorly concealed black eye.

One day, you came home from a doctor’s appointment to see Nick packing some bags.

“Nick? What’s going on?”

“We’re going on a trip,” he said. “Roadtrip, it’ll be fun.”

“Nick, I’m 7 weeks away from my due date-”

“You’ll be fine,” he snapped, thrusting a bag at you. “Get in the car.”

You headed outside, Nick’s hand firmly on your back. He steered you away from your old clunker towards a shiny new SUV. “Did you buy a new car?” you asked.

“Sure, buy. Let’s go with that.”

“Nick, what did you do? What did you get us into?”

“Don’t worry about it. Get in.”

“Nick-”

“I said, get in.”

“Des Moines PD has a case for us,” Penelope said. “As do St. Louis, Louisville, and Charleston.”

“Carjacking?” Morgan asked, flipping through the case file. “Why are they asking us to come in?”

“It’s the same MO,” Hotch explained. “It’s a couple, a man and a woman, presumably his wife or girlfriend. They find a home just outside the city and take the car at night, leaving the previously stolen car.”

“They’re active at night? How do we know it’s a team?” Spencer asked.

“The second victim had security cameras installed. They caught glimpses of the couple, but not enough for us to identify,” Penelope explained.

“Why are they only bringing us in now?” Emily asked. “It says the first theft was over a month ago.”

“Because this one ended in a murder and assult. The surviving victims are at the hospital. Wheels up in 30,” Hotch said.

When the team landed in West Virginia, Hotch divided the team up between the hospital, the crime scene, and the coroner’s office. Hotch and Emily took the hospital to interview the victims. One was a woman in her mid-30s, and the other was her 6-year-old son. The husband had been the murdered victim.

“Hi, Mrs. Foster? I’m Agent Hotchner,” Hotch said, taking a seat next to the woman with Emily. “Would you mind answering a few questions for us?”

“Well, I’m-I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to remember but…”

“Anything you tell us can help us catch these two,” Emily said, gently patting the woman’s hand. “We’re going to try something called a cognitive interview, to see what your subconscious picked up, okay?”

The woman nodded. “Okay.”

“Go ahead and close your eyes,” Emily said. “So, it was late. You and your husband were getting ready for bed. Then what?”

“Neil heard a noise,” she said. “He said it sounded like a man. He grabbed Micah’s little league bat from beside the front door. He told me to wait inside. Micah had fallen asleep on our couch and came to see what was going on. I-I heard Neil yell and I heard a gunshot. I ran outside and I saw a couple. A man and a woman.”

“What can you tell me about them? What did they look like?”

“I didn’t see the man too well, but the woman, well, I only saw her face. But she looked bad.”

“What do you mean?” Emily asked.

“Well, her skin was sunken and sallow. She had bruises all over. She looked like she was ready to drop at any second.”

“Okay. What happened then?”

“Neil was bleeding on the ground. I-I ran over to him and felt for his pulse. It was already gone. Then the man hit my head with the gun, and I fell to the ground. But Micah- I didn’t know Micah followed me. The man pointed his gun at Micah. I was terrified. I thought he was going to shoot my son, too. But then the woman stood in front of the gun. She started pleading with the man. I was fading in and out of consciousness, but I heard her.”

“Nick, don’t!”

“What did I tell you? You don’t get to call me that, whore.”

“I-I’m sorry, sir. But, please, don’t hurt him. He’s just a boy.”

“He saw our faces. You know the police are already on our trail. We can’t have a kid squealing to the cops.”

“No, I… I won’t let you.”

“You won’t let me?”

“He hit her,” Mrs. Foster said. “Hard. It was so hard I thought he shot her, too.” She shook her head. “After that, he knocked me out. I don’t know what happened next. I just remember waking up here.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Foster,” Hotch said. “This was very helpful.” Hotch and Emily got up to leave.

“Wait, Agent Prentiss,” she called after Hotch left the room. Emily turned around. “When you find them, go easy on the woman.”

“Why would you want us to do that?” she asked.

“I work at a battered women’s shelter. I see women like her all the time. She’s profoundly abused. She’s not a criminal, she’s a victim.”

Micah Foster was able to give a detailed description of the man to the sketch artist. Thanks to his description, they were able to track him down outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. What they weren’t counting on was seeing you, in the passenger seat.

Nick didn’t want to go down without a fight. But his idea of a fight was to use you as a human shield. He held you in front of him, his arm bracing against your throat. He had a gun in his other hand, training it on the team.

“You shoot, you hit her!” he said, pressing harder on your throat.

“Okay, okay,” Morgan said, holding his gun up in surrender. “We won’t shoot. Just let (Y/N) go.”

Nick turned the gun and pressed it to your temple. “Why are you so concerned about her?

“Because she’s a person,” Derek said, trying to negotiate. “She doesn’t need to get hurt.”

A gunshot went off. You screamed and stumbled forward, Morgan catching you. Nick fell to the ground, dropping his gun and gripping his thigh. Hotch had snuck up behind and shot him in the leg.

The next thing you knew, you were in an interrogation room with Hotch and Emily.

“(Y/N), what happened?” Emily asked you, her voice gentle. “You look awful. What did he do to you?”

Your eyes were trained on the table. “Nothing. He treats me with nothing but respect. I did this to myself.”

“(Y/N), we all know that’s not true,” Emily said. “Talk to us. You know us.”

You kept your eyes on the metal table and you stayed quiet.

“Damn it, (Y/N)!” Hotch yelled, slamming his hands on the table. You flinched back, closing your eyes and wincing like you were bracing for a hit. Hotch took a step back. “Prentiss, take over.”

He left the interrogation room and stormed over to the second room where Morgan and Reid were interrogating Nicholas.

“Hotch-”

“What the hell did you do to her?” Hotch nearly screamed, his blood boiling.

Nick smiled. “I didn’t do anything, she did it all to herself.”

“We both know that’s not true, you piece of-”

“Aaron!” Rossi said, cutting him off. He then proceeded to pull Hotch from the interrogation room. “What the hell is going on with you?”

Hotch took a deep breath, rubbing his hand over his face. “You saw her, Dave. You saw what that asshole did to her. You saw her flinch away from me. That’s a woman who has faced down some of the worst humanity has to offer, and she’s been so badly abused that she’s…”

“Aaron, you know what abuse does to people. We’ve seen it more times than I ever want to count.”

“But it’s never been someone we know. It’s never been someone we love.”

“Ah. So that’s what this is about.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Why don’t you sit this one out? Prentiss and I can handle it.” Rossi walked into the room and sat next to Emily. Emily had given you a glass of water.

“(Y/N), why did you save the mother and her son?” she asked you.

“I don’t know,” you said, twisting the glass around in your hands.

“(Y/N).” Emily reached out and put her hand on yours. “You specifically looked out for the boy. Why?”

A tear rolled down your cheek. “Nick made me leave mine,” you whispered.

“What?”

“He said she would slow us down, that she was a burden. He made me leave her at a church. I didn’t even get to hold her.” After that, you broke down sobbing. Emily slowly crossed to the other side of the table and cautiously put her arm around you.

The team worked out a deal for you with the DA. You would be acquitted if you testified against Nick, and you would be closely watched by the team.

“She can’t keep sleeping on the couch in the conference room, Hotch,” Rossi said as the team gathered in the bullpen. You were asleep and the team wanted you to have peace. “She can come stay with me. Lord knows I have the space.”

“Wait, why should she stay with you? She’s my best friend,” Penelope argued. “She can stay with me.”

“Babygirl, you don’t have a spare room,” Derek reminded her. “I can take her in.”

“She just spent the better part of two years under the thumb of an alpha male, do you think she’d feel comfortable staying with another one?” Emily said.

“Did any of you think maybe she should make her own choice?” Spencer piped up. “I mean, she hasn’t been able to make her own choices, I think we should at least give her that.”

“Reid is right,” Hotch said. “We should let her make the choice. And please, don’t pressure her. She’s not the same (Y/N) she was when she left. She’s been through hell and back.”

In the end, you chose to stay with Aaron. Something about him made you feel safe. Slowly but surely, you started warming up again. You spent your days taking care of Jack when Hotch was on cases. When Aaron was home, he spent time with you and Jack. The two of you grew closer and closer.

You’d stayed with Aaron for a few months before there was a shift in your relationship. You weren’t sure when it happened, but you and Aaron were closer. You became more comfortable with physical contact, and you found yourself curling up on the couch with Aaron for movie nights after Jack went to bed.

You kissed Aaron first. He’d come back from a case with a book he knew you’d been wanting to read. It was something simple, but it meant the world to you, knowing there was someone who listened to you and wanted to do something nice for you.

Your relationship blossomed from there, and Aaron made sure to show you he respected you and never wanted to hurt you. Of course, there were bad days and there were days you argued, but Aaron never raised a hand against you. He never wanted you to experience the pain Nick caused you ever again.

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between a lightning bug and the lightning.” - Mark Twain

#aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner #criminal minds #x reader #em's fics

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stormcrawler75 · 4 years

Note

Bad Things Bingo request: Memory Loss with the Sides as a pantheon of gods.

Warnings: Memory Lost, description of scars, Virgil not having a good view of how he looks.

Notes: Dude, guys, I accidentally deleted the last few paragraphs and had to rewrite them. I finished this tonight out of spite.

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

Virgil fucking hated snow.

There was no good thing about snow. Not one damn thing and Virgil was willing to stake his life on that claim. In fact, every good thing about Virgil’s life slowed to a stop when fall ended and the snow started to fall. Snow was cold, killed all of the crops that Virgil spent all year growing, and made travel into town a damn bitch. And, on top of everything else, it made the scars surrounding Virgil’s eyes and temples ache to no end. The only thing that helped with the aches and pains was the medicine that his friend Elliott sold. And where did Elliott sell the medicine?

All the way in town. So, yeah, Virgil hated snow.

He sighed as he climbed out of his bed, the cold from outside seeping into his bones. Virgil’s home was a small one-bedroom house with a small fireplace, a bed that he had pressed against two walls, small knickknacks and gifts placed on shelves that Virgil had built himself, and a small rug in front of the door to the outside. The fire that he had built the night before had gone out, with only glowing embers left in Virgil’s tiny fireplace now. The bowl with half of Virgil’s leftover dinner was left beside his bed, which Virgil immediately grab to slowly pick at.

Virgil glanced over at a small mirror on the wall that Elliott had given him, gently wiping at his eyes and trying his best to avoid his scars. There were deep and rough scars around Virgil’s eyes - as if someone had tried carving them out with a knife but never truly committed to the idea - and two identical thin, deep scars on each of his temples. Virgil’s nose was crooked like it had been broken many times before and one of his eyes didn’t open all the way. He wasn’t the prettiest man ever but, as Elliott had once said, he was just lucky to still be alive. Not that Virgil cared about the scars or how he looked. He honestly just wished that he remembered how he got the damn scars.

Or any part of his life before waking up in the town’s local Doctor’s office. He had woken up nearly five years ago with no memory. Elliott had found him on the outskirts of town, caught in a bright bronze net and left for dead, and had immediately brought him to the town’s Doctor. The town had been gracious enough to provide Virgil with a small house and some land to make a living off of. Virgil had been given far, far more than a poor, ugly man like him ever deserved and he had tried his best to pay the town back ever since. He gave deals to the town folks on his carrots and beets, he did odd jobs in the winter for half the price he charged for out of towners, and when the town announced that they would be making a temple for the God of Family and Safe Havens, Virgil went out and chopped down as many of his own trees that they would need.

Even if Virgil wasn’t sure what he thought about these Gods, he would give everything and anything to the people who had given him a home, their food, and the clothes off their back.

Though, it wasn’t like what he gave was anything special. Though the farmwork he did was hard and backbreaking, the corps flourished under Virgil’s hands. It wasn’t like he ever did anything special. He just did what every other farmer did. Maybe it was just that Virgil did what he loved. Waking up early and going out to work with his vegetables and his two little fruit trees were hard but Virgil loved it so much that anyone who happened to walk onto his land had a good chance of hearing him sing as he worked. As long as what he did made the town happy, Virgil was happy.

Virgil was startled from his thoughts from banging on his door, the excited voice of his best friend calling from outside, “Virgil! Virgil, wake up, wake up!” Virgil yawned shuffled over to the door, opening it with a tired smile. “Hey, Elli. What’s up?”

Elliott beamed at him and surged forward, grabbing Virgil’s arms and making him shiver from the snow and frost on their mittens. “It’s finished! The builders, you know the ones who said that they wouldn’t be able to finish until Spring? The mayor paid them double and they finished! The Temple is opening up tonight and they’re going to be putting out a feast!” They let go of Virgil, stumbling over to the spot on the floor where Virgil’s damp coat, mittens, and gloves had been dumped.

Virgil could only gawk at them, feeling like his brain was having trouble catching up to what Elliott was saying. “It’s finished?! How, when- I haven’t heard anything about the builders starting up again! When did this even happen?!”

“They worked through the night for the last month,” Elliott squealed, practically throwing Virgil’s winter wear at him. “And, dude, I can’t believe I’m even gonna be saying this,” Elliott took Virgil’s hands and said with forced calmness, “the God Patton himself might actually show up.”

Virgil swore that his heart stopped right then and there. Full on, dead stop. “A God?! What the hell are you talking about?! He’s coming here?!”

“It’s this new thing,” Elliott babbled, gesturing at the clothes in Virgil’s arms frantically until Virgil slowly started pulling them on. “It only started in the last few years and only in this country but, recently, whenever a Temple is built, whichever God the Temple is for shows up! They usually mingle for a bit and insist on looking around. I heard that even the God of Logic and all that other stuff showed up in a town a few days away about a month ago! He blessed the town’s teachers, looked around, and then left. People are thinking that the Gods are looking for something or something and that’s why they’re showing up everywhere!”

“Holy shit,” Virgil whispered, pulling his hat on hurriedly. “Holy shit, are you serious?! That’s fucking - we gotta check it out!” He grabbed his boots and practically jammed them on his feet. “We gotta get going now! If we head out now then we can make it to the town by lunchtime! Wait, no, we gotta get an offering! Do you have something to give him? I killed a deer yesterday and I still have its pelt so I’m covered but what about you!?”

Elliott grinned at him and flashed a bright pink ring on their left hand. “I’m good! My Grandma gave me this ring just in case something like this happened before she died years ago. Now come on! We can wait in my house until tonight but we gotta get going!”

Virgil laughed and grabbed Elliott’s hand, pulling them out of the small cabin. “You better have brought your horse and buggy because if I have to walk through all of this snow, I am going to lose it.”

“Of course I did,” Elliott laughed, climbing into the buggy. “And you know that that you could buy a horse of your own from old man Jerry. After you helped him and his wife with that problem they were having, they’d probably give you one for free!” They eyed Virgil’s rising blush with a grin. “And Miss Kitty would give you three buggies for how you helped her with her girlfriend. Heck, she’d give you a carriage!”

“It’s not my fault that I give good advice,” Virgil muttered, ducking his head and trying to get comfortable in his seat. “Besides, Miss Kitty and Jessica’s problem was easy. They just needed to talk, that’s all. I just pointed it out.” He batted Elliott’s arm when he saw them open their mouth to continue talking and - most definitely - continue talking about how Virgil kept getting when it came to giving advice about people’s love lives. “Shut up and get us to town, Elli!”

He ignored Elliott’s laugh and settled back as the horse started making its way back to town. Elliott was just overexaggerating. It wasn’t like Virgil went out looking for people who needed help with their love lives. Just... whenever Virgil was talking to people, the topic of love happened to come up a lot and people always seemed to ask for his advice. Virgil honestly had no idea if the advice he was giving was good, per se. It was just that Virgil seemed to know what he was talking about. People theorized that Virgil had been a Matchmaker before he had come to live here. Virgil wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

Besides, it wasn’t just romantic things that people came to Virgil to ask advice on. Virgil had helped with the two orphan boys that had come from the city, the year-long fight that two local sisters were having, and a fight between two best friends. It seemed that Virgil was just good with advice. It wasn’t like it was anything special.

“So, all of the Gods have been showing up lately,” Virgil asked Elliott as the buggy went down the dirt road.

Elliott nodded but then paused. “Well, almost all of them. One of them hasn’t shown up recently. The God of Love and Beauty hasn’t appeared in almost five years now.” They shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I mean, I heard that he was super active before so he’s probably just taking a break. I heard that time passes really quickly for the Gods. I’m sure that he’ll be back sometime soon.

“I mean, what’s the other option? I mean, what kind of bad things can happen to a God?”

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

The Temple was beautiful.

Virgil knew that it was nothing compared to the Temples in cities or the Capital. He had heard rumours of those Temples being made from solid gold, with sparkling rubies and sapphires embedded in its walls, and rich offerings given by Kings and Queens stacked through the halls. Compared to those Temples, this little one was nothing. It was barely as big as the local schoolhouse with one room. From looking through the front window, Virgil thought that it looked more like a very cozy and comfortable family room than anything. There was a beautiful fireplace roaring with fire, beds pushed up against the walls, and food stacked on the table. Virgil’s offering of a deer’s pelt was lying on a table along with several others.

“I can’t believe that this is the new Temple,” Virgil whispered to Elliott, both of their eyes wide with wonder. The two of them were at the front of a large crowd in front of the Temple, waiting for entrance. This whole thing was so exciting that Virgil was barely aware of the dull sting from the wind hitting his scars. “I mean, it’s great but it’s... not what I thought it’d look like.” While it might not be what they were expecting, it was still the most wonderful place that either of them had ever seen.

Elliott grinned at him, bouncing up and down in excitement. “Me neither but this is the God of Family and Safe Havens. I bet that this Temple would look a lot different if this was a Temple for the God of Beauty and Love or for the God of Self Preservation. I hear that the God Patton lets people use his Temples as Safe Havens, just like the God Janus.” They gasped when a soft, warm blue light glowed from the inside of the house, bathing everything inside with its light. “Oh my gosh,” they whispered, gripping Virgil’s arm tightly. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this, I can’t believe this! He’s actually coming, he’s actually showing up!”

The crowd of people immediately quieted and no one made a single sound. Virgil could’ve dropped a pin and it would’ve been the loudest sound in the entire town. Slowly, the light coming from the Temple died down. Though, and maybe this was just Virgil seeing things, the inside of the Temple seemed warmer somehow. It seemed homier. And the large man standing in the, just minutes before empty, Temple seemed completely right there.

Virgil watched through the front window with wide eyes as the man slowly looked around. He was huge, almost six feet, with curly blond hair and big round glasses that were perched on top of a small bottom nose, covering big blue eyes. There were freckles on each and every inch of the man’s skin and there were laugh lines around his eyes. He was wearing comfortable clothes and had the air of a person that you could trust. The kind of person that you would run to if you had a problem or no one else you could turn to. He looked... like a Dad.

He looked familiar.

The God slowly walked through the Temple with a small smile, gently touching the walls and taking a minute to look at the food. Virgil watched him kneel by the fireplace and gently stroke it for a few seconds, glowing embers jumping from the fire and onto the God’s skin only for the God to brush them from his skin with no sign of injury. And Virgil watched as, slowly, the God stood and made his way to the door leading outside to the crowd waiting outside.

Virgil hurried to kneel with the rest of the town, breath catching at the God stepped outside. Most, including Elliott, had their heads bowed respectfully but Virgil could only gawk dumbly as the God looked out at them with a smile. For almost a second there, it looked like he was looking for something and he had to hold back his disappointment when he didn’t find it. But he kept a smile firmly on his face as he went back to looking through the crowd. He had just opened his mouth to say something when his gaze landed on Virgil’s ugly scarred face. Virgil felt a pit of terror settle into him as the God’s face went from gratitude and forced happiness to an expression that Virgil didn’t have the time to fully understand at before the God was almost running at him.

“Vergilius!”

The crowd scrambled away from Virgil, Elliott being pulled from him from someone, and Virgil felt frozen as the God landed in front of him. Distantly, in the back of Virgil’s mind, he remembered a mean rumour that had circulated when Virgil had first been found. That Virgil had somehow offended a God and, in punishment, the Gods had scarred him and stolen his memory. Virgil had never believed these rumours but now, Virgil thought that it might be true. And if they had stolen Virgil’s memory the first time, Virgil found that he was utterly terrified to discover what they might take this time.

Virgil jumped as large, calloused but gentle hands cupped his cheeks, tilting his head up so he was staring right in the watery eyes of the God of Family and Safe Havens. The God’s glasses were slightly crooked and had slid down right down to the edge of his nose. Tears were making their way down his cheeks and the God’s lips were turned up in a bright, slight disbelieving but so relieved grin. The God was rubbing a thumb into Virgil’s cheek gently while the other was hovering frantically around Virgil like it didn’t know where exactly it should settle. “Oh, Vergilius,” the God whispered, voice cracking. “Oh, you’re here. You’re safe.”

“Vergilius?”

“As in the God Vergilius?!”

“The God of Love and Beauty!?”

“Virgil, our Virgil?”

“What is a God doing living in a cabin on the edge of a poor little town?”

“I,” Virgil licked his suddenly dry lips, staring at the God in confusion and a bit of fear, “my name is Virgil. I’m sorry but, I think I you got the wrong person. I’m, I’m not,” his words trailed away from him, not sure what to say. He found himself leaning into the God’s hand and had to jerk away. Had to jerk away from the feeling of ‘finally-I’m-finally-home-I-was-so-scared-but-I’m-home-and-I-was-so-scared-but-I-knew-that-you’d-find-me’.

The God laughed, but it sounded more confused than anything. “Kiddo, Vergilius, what are you talking about? Oh, Sweetheart, what happened?” Virgil’s breath caught as one of the God’s huge fingers gently brushed against one of the scars surrounding his eyes. “Who did this to you,” the God asked, his voice darkening and full of power. He looked up and he seemed like a God for the first time since he had arrived as he demanded, “Did these Mortals do this to you?!”

Almost a full year ago, Elliott had told Virgil that there was a reason that Patton was the God of both Families and Safe Havens. Because no one would dare step into one of the God’s Safe Havens and try to hurt someone who had hidden there. Because those who stayed there were the God’s family and no one would risk Patton’s wrath. Virgil hadn’t been completely convinced if Elliott wasn’t exaggerating back then, of the God’s terrible wrath on those who had hurt those who he had deemed family.

But now, as the ground started to shake and the sun started to burn impossibly bright, Virgil knew that Elliott had been under-exaggerating.

“Wait,” Virgil cried, lurching forward and grabbing Patton’s arm desperately just as the God had started to rise. “Please, don’t hurt them! They saved me, they didn’t hurt me,” he pleaded. “Please, please don’t hurt them, please.”

The God stared down at Virgil, one hand still cupping his cheek. “You’re sure,” he asked softly, the shaking ground slowly calming and the sun’s harsh beams dimming slightly. “Are you sure, Sweetheart? They’ve helped you?”

“They found me in a bronze net,” Virgil babbled, keeping a tight grip on Patton’s arm like he could single-handedly stop the God if he tried anything. “Elliott did. They found me without my memories and brought me to a Doctor and healed me. They gave me a house and land and fruit trees and seeds and they never hurt me, I promise, I swear!” His chest was burning with the love he had for this small town and the people in it and he was honestly afraid that his chest would burst from just how much of it there was.

There was a long pause before the God slowly pulled Virgil up until he was standing, paying attention only to Virgil and giving none of it to the townfolks watching with bated breath. Both of Patton’s hands cupped Virgil’s cheeks and he asked softly, voice almost unhearable, “Do you know who I am, Kiddo? Do you remember me?”

Virgil blinked and the tears that had been building during his frantic plea starting slowly trickling down his face. “You’re Patton,” he whispered softly, “the God of Families and Safe Havens. The Creator of Janus, the God of Self Preservation and, and a lot of other things. The Father of the Council of Gods.” He let out a shaky breath as the God bowed his head, letting his forehead rest on Virgil’s. “Am... am I wrong?”

The God let out a shaky, pained laugh. “No, Kiddo. No, you’re not wrong.” He looked up at the pale, terrified Mayor and gave him a wobbly smile “Thank you for the Temple. It’s beautiful. I love it.” He turned back to Virgil and gently petted his hair. “I need you to come with me, okay Darling? I know this is all probably very scary and overwhelming for you but I need you to be brave, okay?”

“You... you won’t hurt them,” Virgil asked shakily, looking over his shoulder at the townsfolk. Even though they looked terrified, many of them managed to give Virgil weak and encouraging smiles. One of them, an older lady named Miss Julia, looked like the only reason she wasn’t beating Patton away with her cane was her partner, Hannah, gripping onto her arm tightly. “Right? They protected me. You promise you won’t hurt them?”

The God smiled at him gently, pressing a kiss onto his forehead. “I promise, Sweetheart.” And, with that, Virgil was pulled into a gentle hug and his face was gently pushed into the God’s shoulder so he couldn’t see what was happening. Virgil was about to pull away, terrified that he’d look back to see that his town had been wiped off the map, but he found himself falling limp into the God’s arm when a warm, safe feeling flooded into him and the ground was whisked out from under him. The harsh winter wind disappeared and, for one brief moment, there was only Virgil and the God.

And then, Virgil stumbled as a floor reappeared under his feet. Even without looking, Virgil knew that it was the most expensive floor that he could remember standing on. It was smooth and felt like it had been freshly waxed. He pulled back away from Patton and looked around, eyes widening. Now, this was a Temple.

They were in a large room that wouldn’t look out of place as a King’s throne room. Nine empty thrones were placed around the room, all of them looking completely different from each other. And, for some reason, Virgil felt drawn toward the smallest, almost dainty looking one on the far left side of the room. Like it was meant to be his.

“Does this room seem similar to you at all,” the God asked gently, keeping one hand on Virgil’s shoulder. He seemed to deflate a little when Virgil shook his head. “Okay, that's okay, Kiddo. Now, I want you to wait here, okay Hon? I’m going to get our friends and we can talk this whole thing out.” He leaned forward and gave Virgil a gentle kiss on his forehead before leaving the throne room and leaving Virgil alone.

Virgil swallowed and looked around slowly, trying his best to get his bearings. The room was gorgeous but his eyes kept getting drawn to the small, purple and black throne. It was deceptively dainty looking almost like the throne of a Queen that Virgil had seen once in a book Elliott had given him. But, even from halfway across the room, Virgil could see that the metal was sharp and there were two small, detachable knives on the arms of the throne that would’ve been perfect if the person sitting there suddenly needed something to throw. And there was a power simply radiating from the throne, like if the wrong person sat in it then they’d simply cease to exist.

It was beautiful.

There was a sudden flurry of noise and Virgil spun around, tensing up defensively. The noise was coming from a doorway and Virgil could hear one voice rising above all the others, “You can’t be serious, Patton! He’s been in a dirt poor farm town this entire time?!” There was the soft of Patton answering back, though Virgil couldn’t make out exactly what he said, and the same voice from before snapped back, “No way! Vergilius wouldn’t stay away from us, we’re his family! Whoever you brought back is an imposter, it has to be!”

Virgil stepped forward nervously, walking up to the doorway and standing right beside it but still not be seen. A new voice jumped in, low and suave. “We don’t know that, Roman. We should meet him, just in case it really is Vergilius!”

“But what if this is some evil monster who tries to put us under his spell?!”

“Roman - hes’s not a monster!”

Virgil jumped at a new voice snapped out, “Enough!” Roman, Remus, Emile, Remy, you four stay here. Myself, Patton, and Janus will meet with... whoever Patton has brought here.”

“It’s Vergilius,” Patton cried, sounding close to tears. “Logan, I promise-”

“I know, Patton, I know. We’re just going to check that this is Vergilius for certain, okay Sweetling? And if this truly is Vergilius, we’ll want to make sure that he’s okay first before bombarding him all at once. This is just to be safe.”

“And if this is an imposter, then me and Roman will stab him to death and push him into a vat of boiling poison!”

“For once, I agree with my brother.”

Virgil felt a cold stab of fear before it was overwhelmed with the feeling of hot, harsh anger. He was basically dragged here, taken from his home because apparently, some God thought that he was the God of Love and Beauty - fucking ridiculous - and now some other God decided that if he didn’t look enough like this missing God than they were going to be taking Virgil’s life as punishment. Who the fuck did this guy think he was? Before Virgil even knew what he was doing, he was already halfway through the door and spitting out, “Well I fucking don’t!”

The hallway was filled with eight people, all who turned at the sound of Virgil’s voice, but Virgil turned all of his attention to the one with a sword drawn and glaring daggers at Virgil. He didn’t half to be a genius to know that this was the guy who had called him an imposter and jumped right on board with the ‘Killing Virgil’ plan. Virgil decided that he didn’t like this guy.

The guy - he had to be God - puffed up and stalked up to Virgil, baring his teeth at him. “How dare you wear the face of my friend, you imposter!”

“I’m not a fucking imposter and I’m not your fucking friend,” Virgil snapped, planting his feet and glaring up at him. The God glared right back at him with bright red eyes, gripping his sword so tightly that his knuckles were turning bright white. “So don’t go yelling at me!” He pushed at the God’s sword arm so hard that the God nearly dropped his weapon.

There was a moment of tense silence before one of the others cleared their voice, stepped forward with a raised finger and said, “Just so you all know, I’m on Pattycake’s side. That is definitely Vergilius.” They stepped back with a smirk as the God with the sword turned his glare at him. “Hey, just saying, Roman.”

The God - Roman - huffed and turned his snarl back to Virgil. “I don’t care what you say, Remy. I know Verglius and he wouldn’t hide out in some random town while we’re all looking for him!”

“My name isn’t Vergilius,” Virgil snapped, feeling the urge to stop his foot. “It’s Virgil! I don’t know any of you guys and my name is Virgil!”

Roman spread his arm and nodded firmly. “See!? Even the Mortal agrees! This was just a mistake.” He sheathed his sword and offered Virgil his arm with a sharp smile. “If you’ll come with me, I’ll escort you back to your home and we can go back to looking for the real Vergilius.”

“Wait,” Patton cried, stepping forward and shoving himself between Virgil and Roman. “Roman, I know that this is Vergilius, I just know it! He told me that he had no memories, he told me this! Logan,” he turned to a short man who was staring at Virgil with dark narrowed eyes, “Logan, you believe me, don’t you?”

“...He does bear an uncanny resemblance to Vergilius,” Logan hummed, stroking his chin with thin, boney fingers. “And if he did indeed lose his memories than that would explain why Vergilius never sent word and how he gained those scars. Though, we have had many imposters in the last five years that you were also sure was Vergilius, Patton,” he continued gently.

“It’s Virgil,” Virgil said sharply, straightening up and glaring at the God.

Logan sighed in frustration and opened his mouth but was cut off by that same suave voice from before. “Well, then, there really is a simple way of solving this, isn’t there?” Virgil turned to look at who was talking and froze.

Staring back at him was a man with sharp golden eyes and bright green scales going down the left half of his face, staring down at Virgil with an unreadable expression. He tilted his head and said smoothly with a shrug, “Make him sit in Vergilius’ chair.”

One of the Gods who hadn’t spoken yet - a God who looked very similar to Patton but with bright pink and blue eyes, long brown hair instead of blond, and an outfit that wouldn’t look out of place on a scholar - stepped forward with a frown. “But, Janus, that’s not fair to the Mortal! Patton brought him here, he didn’t come here claiming to be Vergilius! If it turns out that he isn’t Vergilius then the power will overwhelm him and -”

“Wait,” Virgil cried, throwing his hands up in the air. He tilted his chin up and glared at the intimidating God, Janus. “Sitting in that chair will prove whether or not I’m this Vergilius?” Janus had barely nodded before Virgil was turning back to the throne room to sit in the stupid damn chair so he could go back to his farm and sleep until fucking spring.

But Janus’ hand snapped out and grabbed Virgil’s wrist, stopping him in his tracks. “As a favour to Emile here,” he said, nodding at the God with pink and blue eyes, “I will warn you to what the chair will do if you’re not Vergilius.” His lips quirked up. “Unless you’d like to just charge in and sit in it without knowing.”

Virgil wanted to scream, he really did. He could be told what would happen if he wasn’t Vergilius - which judging from what Emile had been saying was probably nothing good - and lose his nerve. Which might just prove to these Gods that he was an imposter and Virgil would be in for a world of pain. Or he would just go in to sit on the throne and damn the consequences.

Virgil blamed the decision he made next on how angry he currently was. There was no way for any anxiety or common sense to peek out and make Virgil nervous enough to take a second and really think about what he was about to do. Before he could fully think about what he was doing, Virgil ripped his wrist away from the smirking God and turned back to the Throne Room, stomping across the hall and ignoring the calls of Patton and Emile to wait and let them explain first before trying it.

Instead, he hoisted himself upon the Throne and sat back, closing his eyes.

It was the most comfortable chair ever. It was like someone had studied Virgil’s body and had shaped the Throne around him. The pillow on the throne felt like it was stuffed full of duck feathers and was made out of velvet. Velvet. Virgil had never even seen velvet before. It was the most comfortable Throne in the history of Thrones. Virgil didn’t know how he knew that and he wasn’t going to think on too closely.

“Okay, so, I sat in the stupid chair,” Virgil groaned as he leant forward. As sad as he was to get out of the Throne, he really wanted to go home and check-in with the rest of the townsfolk. “Can I go home now?” He froze though when he opened his eyes and saw all eight Gods standing around him and watching him with various expressions on their faces.

“I knew it,” Patton whispered a large grin on his face and tears gathering in his eyes. “I knew it.”

Roman was staring at Virgil in numb shock, tears running down his cheek. “Oh... you’re really him,” he whispered. His hand twitched like he wanted to pull Virgil into a hug but he couldn’t commit to the action. “Vergilius.”

Virgil twitched backward, leaning back into the throne. “No, I told you. My name’s Virgil. I’m not -”

“You are,” Janus said, stepping forward. He was smiling at Virgil with tears in his eyes, looking so happy and relieved. “That throne was made specifically for Vergilius and your atoms would’ve melted if you weren’t truly Vergilius. Even if you don’t remember your life as Vergilius or don’t remember us, you are our Vergilius.” His smile grew into a large grin. “Oh, Dear One, I’m so happy that you’re safe.”

Virgil blinked dumbly, feeling like everything he knew had just been turned upside down and nothing made sense anymore. He didn’t want to believe it. He just wanted to go back home, visit with Elliott, and then sleep in his own bed. He didn’t want to believe it.

But he did.

“I don’t understand,” he whispered, tears of confusion pricking at his eyes. “If I... if I really am Vergilius... then what happened? How did... where... What happened?”

Janus pulled Virgil into a tight hug, holding him so tightly like he was terrified that if he let go than Virgil would disappear. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “I don’t. But we’re going to find out. And until we do, we’re never going to let something like this happen again. I promise.”

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#Storm Writes #Bad Things Happen Bingo #Tw Memory Loss #tw scars #Virgil Sanders #Patton Sanders #Janus Sanders #Roman Sanders #Emile Sanders #Remy Sanders #Elliott (Cartoon Therapy)#Remus Sanders #though Remus only has one line and isn't mentioned by name directly #Anonymous

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theclockworkmonk · 3 years

Text

Cultural Exchange

Written for @kataang-week

Day 2: Blending Cultures

Words: 2,009

Read on AO3

Read on FF.net

Summary: Katara has some selfish reasons for encouraging Aang to explore Fire Nation culture.

*******

Katara was starting to get worried as she walked up to Zuko's old family house on Ember Island. The outdoor furniture was smashed and splintered, and the door was ajar, hanging off its hinges. She sped up, beginning to panic, and ran up the stairs onto the porch.

She threw the door all the way open forcefully. "Hello!? Aang?"

She was greeted by a chorus of pained male groans.

"Close the door!" Haru wailed, shielding his eyes from the bright morning light that was now flooding the front room of the house. All the other young men, basically every male friend their group had made since leaving the South Pole, gave similar cries of distress from where they were strewn haphazardly across sofas and armchairs.

Katara sighed in relief, but then grew annoyed at the boys for scaring her. Instead of closing the door, she moved to the windows and threw all the curtains open.

"You're evil!" moaned Te'o from the floor, where he had fallen out of his chair.

"What exactly happened to those plans for a laid back, calm bachelor party?" Katara asked the room harshly, "How did it go? 'Oh don't worry, Katara, Zuko's not one to throw wild parties!'"

"Uggghhh, I"m not, but I'm friends with a lot of bad influences," came a weak voice from under a coffee table.

Katara laughed at the sight of the soon-to-be-married Firelord crawling out from under the table, looking like he had been put through a dozen successive Agni Kais. But her laughter died and she gasped when she saw what was on Zuko's head.

"Zuko, what happened!?"

"What does it look like? Your brother got us drunk."

"No, I mean what happened to your hair!"

Katara bent all the water from a nearby vase and froze it into a flat, shiny mirror, and held it up to Zuko's face. His eyes widened in horror and he leapt to his feet, upending the table.

All of his hair had been reduced to a narrow strip down the center of his head. That hair had been left long, and was tied back, but both sides of it had been shaved down to his scalp.

He recognized this look. It was exactly the way Sokka had his hair when Zuko had first encountered him.

"Aw Zuko, I'm touched!" crooned Katara dramatically. "Showing your support for rebuilding Southern Tribe culture by sporting a warrior's wolf tail!"

Zuko stared in disbelief at his reflection. He raised his shaking hands to the sides of his face.

"I look like I stuck my head between two grinding stones," Zuko muttered.

"Oh, don't say that, I'm sure once the Firelord is seen sporting this hairdo at his wedding, it will be all the rage across the Fire Nation," said Katara with a grin.

Zuko buried his face in his hands. "Oh, spirits, the wedding! Mai's going to kill me."

Katara was about to agree, but was interrupted by a scream of anguish and horror coming from the bathroom.

Katara and Zuko both bolted across the room and down the hall. She whipped out her bending pouch, ready to slice the door open, but lucky it was still unlocked. She kicked the door open and her blood froze in fear again as she saw Sokka doubled over, his face buried in the sink and his hands over his head.

"Sokka, what's wrong!?" asked Katara urgently, placing her hands on her brother's back. "Are you hurt—oh…."

She jumped back and gasped when Sokka turned to face her, his lip quivering.

He was completely bald, with a crude painted blue arrow leading from the back of his head, ending between his eyebrows.

Katara's chuckle at Zuko's expense was nothing compared to the explosion of laughter that erupted out of her now. She had to put a hand on the wall to steady herself as she shook until she was out of breath.

"Well, it was just a regular festival of cultural exchange last night, wasn't it?" she squeaked out.

"This isn't funny, Katara!" said Sokka desperately. "You don't understand, it's not coming off! It's real! And my hair! Next time I visit home, my brain is gonna freeze!"

"Oh, calm down," she said dismissively. She grabbed her brother's cheeks and pulled him down to inspect his new body art. "There's no inflammation on the skin, it's not a real tattoo. You just found some...wow, really durable face paint."

She looked him in the eye suspiciously. "Where did you get this stuff?"

"Uuuuhhh," said Sokka uncertainly. He turned to Zuko. "Where did we get this stuff?"

"Uuuuhhh," Zuko concurred.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Seriously? You don't even remember last night?"

"I can remember most of it," said Zuko defensively. "Things just get a little fuzzy after that bottle of moonpeachshine got opened. He was the one who brought that, so really this is all his fault."

"Hey, I don't remember tying you up and forcing the stuff down your throat, Lord Lots o' Shots," replied Sokka.

"Where's Aang?" Katara suddenly said, her grin wiped from her face.

For a moment, they just looked at each other in silence, then ran through the house again.

After searching the whole house and not finding Aang, Katara was beginning to panic again. But when she checked the back garden, she found Appa there sleeping soundly. A lumpy mass was sitting on the bison's head: a human body, the top half covered by a blanket, but long legs protruded from underneath, with blue arrows ending at the feet.

"Aang!" Katara called as she ran towards him, and thankfully the tattooed feet stirred. Aang slowly sat up, squeezing his eyes shut at the sunlight as the blanket fell from his face.

"Oh come on!" Katara sighed in relief. "You too?"

"What?" he mumbled, getting his bearings. He reached up to scratch his head, and discovered what was itching him.

Aang was wearing a wig. Avatar Aang, the mightiest being in the world, was hungover with a lopsided wig of black hair glued to his head. The foreign hair was pulled back into a knot that was contained by what Katara recognized as Avatar Roku's old hairpin.

Aang reached up and felt the hairpin, and winced. "Oh Spirits, I had hoped that was a dream."

"So you actually remember what happened?" asked Zuko, joining them outside along with Sokka, who had put a hat on to avoid getting sunburned.

"Well last night, Sokka got excited by this idea of me wearing Roku's hairpin at the wedding, as a sign of the Fire Nation's commitment to the Avatar and the balance of the world. I wasn't as intoxicated as he was, so I pointed out to him that one needs hair in order to wear a hairpin crown."

"Oh yeah!" said Sokka, remembering now, "Seems like a short sighted fashion decision."

"It's not short-sighted, that's the point," said Zuko irritably, "When royals or generals suffer a great defeat, they cut their hair off. The crowns of the Fire Lord and Prince are designed so that you can't wear them unless you've gone long enough without a defeat to have enough hair to wear it."

"Yeah, you said all this last night," said Aang. "Then Sokka suggested that I could borrow some hair, and we asked who would have extra hair to borrow, and that's how we ended up partying with the—"

"The Ember Island Players," Zuko finished in horror. "Oh, kill me now, this is going to be the subject of their worst play yet."

"I certainly hope so," said Katara. "I'll be there opening night."

"The wig and the facepaint….seemed like a good idea at the time," finished Aang painfully.

"Well if this stuff doesn't come off my face soon, then the Firelord is going to have to have them interrogated about how they undo it," said Sokka.

"Oh I will?" asked Zuko, raising his eyebrow. "The way I see it, I just have a bad haircut, I didn't put any crap on my head, so you can go begging for them on your own."

"It is not a bad haircut!" said Sokka angrily. "You're now the best looking guy here, saving my dignity is the least you can do."

"I might need help getting this thing off me too," mumbled Aang, futilely pulling at the wig. "And we should probably put this back in a safe spot."

He detached Roku's hairpin crown from his knot, and Katara gasped as his hair (that wasn't actually his hair) fell from it.

The messy black hair fell to the base of his neck, covering his ears and hanging in bangs over his forehead, partially obscuring his eyes. He scrunched his face in annoyance and brushed the hair away from his face. Katara felt her face grow hot as she watched her boyfriend's fingers run through the hair, and an image floated up in her mind of her fingers replacing them.

Zuko and Sokka went back into the house, Zuko cheekily offering to melt the facepaint off of Sokka, and promised to keep most of his face intact, as Aang climbed down off of Appa, still pulling at the mop glued to his head.

"I need to find a way to get this thing off me," Aang grumbled. "It won't stay out of my face, people can't see my arrow."

"Well, we can't have that," Katara chuckled. "The world can't know that the last airbender has broken such an important air nomad requirement as the sacred chrome dome."

"Well, it's not a requirement," said Aang, "but I still suspect I look far too much like Zuko for my taste—"

"Wait, really?" Katara cut him off, her eyes widening.

"Well you tell me. I don't have a mirror, but I suddenly feel the urge to sulk and reclaim my honor— "No, I mean, shaving your head isn't a requirement or anything?" Katara asked quickly.

Aang seemed surprised by her question. "Uh... no. Most of the boys did anyway, because it gives you a slight edge in airbending, since your skin is in tune with the air currents. We all had to shave it once, when we got our arrows, but most girls grew it back."

He continued to fidget with the wig as he started walking back towards the house, seemingly oblivious to the blush creeping up his girlfriend's face.

Katara tried to act casual as she fell in step with Aang and linked her arm with his.

"Sooooo...hypothetically speaking," she began, not looking at him, "you could have a full head of hair. If you wanted to."

Aang shrugged. "Yeah. But I've never really felt the desire to. With hair, you have to wash it, and there's so many different haircuts to pick from, it's easier to just shave it in the morning."

He turned to look at her curiously. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason!" she said innocently.

They walked in silence for a few seconds, then a strong morning breeze blew past them and Katara felt her knees grow weak as Aang's messy "hair" whipped in the wind, dancing around his handsome face beautifully, in a way his real hair had never grown long enough to do.

"I was just thinking Sokka might be onto something!" she blurted out before she could stop herself. "You know, about wearing Roku's crown. Maybe the Avatar adopting a few Fire Nation fashions will placate a few of the naysayers, who say that you're a foreign interloper. It will show them that you're their Avatar too. It would be a great exchange and blending of cultures, to reflect peaceful cooperation."

Aang frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I….guess that kind of makes sense." He shrugged and chuckled. "I'm still definitely going to get this hair off me, though. Then I can decide whether to start growing my own."

"Hmmm….yeah," Katara whispered greedily under her breath, "I bet that'll look even hotter."

"Hmm? What was that? I didn't hear you."

"Nothing!" she squeaked, and ran back into the house.

#kataang #kataang week #kataang week 2021 #kataang-week #aang x katara #katara and aang #aang #avatar aang #katara #fanfic prompt #atla fanfic #ao3 fanfic #atla #avatar: tla #avatar the last airbender #avatar #hangover #day 2: blending cultures #bachelor party

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lazyangeltreemoney · 4 years

Text

Emergency Contact

Oneshot, Rich Kid AU

Description: James Barnes has been Y/N’s best friends since they were kids, even though they seem to come from completely different worlds. So much so that Bucky lists Y/N as his emergency contact, but the spoiled rich kid has to learn the hard way that Y/N has a life too.

Pairings: Rich-Kid!Bucky x Reader

Word Count: 5991

Warnings: swearing, Bucky being a brat, car crash, hospitals, character injury, police stations, ANGST

A/N: this one is angsty AF and involves two idiots being in love. also gotta love a little bit of feisty!reader, hope y’all enjoy.

“So Y/N the demo sounds amazing-”

RING RING RING

Y/N almost jumped out of her seat trying to silence her phone. Sat in the big office, the man sat opposite her with lots of big gold records in frames behind him gave her a judgemental stare.

“Sorry about that, as you were saying, Mr Graves,” Y/N spoke, trying to sound as professional as possible.

She was so close, this could be it, her big break. Finally, she sat in the office with Mr Jimmy Graves, one of the biggest music producers on the scene. All the fame and fortune, she could almost taste it. It would make all those nights singing in shitty bars worth it.

“As I was saying, the demo is amazing, your voice, out of this world, but I’m afraid that you’re not the look we’re going for at the moment.” Mr Graves finished on a low note.

“I’m sorry, what?” Y/N choked out, no, no this couldn’t be happening.

Just as Mr Graves tried to downplay crushing her dreams by offering her a role as a backing singer on some other artists track, her infernal phone rang again.

RING RING RING

No longer caring about anything the man had to say anymore, she answered it.

“Hello, who is this?” Y/N seethed out, she tried her best to not sound pissed off but she was not having a good day.

“Hello, is this Miss L/N, I’m calling from the 87th precinct, you’ve been listed as James Barnes emergency contact, I’m sorry ma’am but you’ll have to come down to the station,”

It probably wasn’t a good idea to be speeding on the way to a police precinct but when it came to Bucky Y/N didn’t care. Parking her car up by the sidewalk, she rushed out into the precinct. When she walked in one of the detectives practically swept her up and led her to where they were holding Bucky.

The detective looked tired and was holding a cup of coffee. As Y/N followed him down the halls towards the interrogation room he seemed to look more and more pissed off. Y/n could only assume he had been interrogating Bucky, god he could be an ass when he wanted to. She even felt sorry for the detective.

They eventually reached a room at the end of the hall. The detective opened it to show Bucky handcuffed to the desk. The room had dark walls and a blinding white light directly over Bucky. Behind him was a one-way mirror where Y/n could see some bloody marks on Bucky’s back. His face was bruised, along with his hands looking bloody.

“Jesus Buck.” Y/N sighed at the sight of him.

Bucky raised his head to look at her. He was so focused on her that he didn’t even look at the detective that uncuffed him.

“Looks like Daddy’s bailed you out, my superiors have told me to let you go… don’t let me see you again, Barnes.” The detective warned him in a low tone.

“And I was about to add you to the Christmas card list.” seethed sarcastically as he got up out of the chair.

Bucky knew the drill and knew where to collect his stuff. He walked past Y/N and down the corridor, completely blanking her. It’s fine, not as if I’m here to pick your ass up away. Y/N looked back at the detective who was giving her an apologetic stare.

“You his girlfriend or something?” The detective asked.

“Nope, do I dare ask what he was taken in for?” Y/N winced as if she was bracing for impact.

“Assault and destruction of property, it was a bar fight that got out of hand apparently.” The detective explained.

“Thank you, Detective.” Y/N sighed and went to follow after Bucky.

“Ma’am if I could offer some advice, rich boys like Barnes take everything for granted, don’t let him take you for granted as well.” The detective’s wisdom, however, didn’t sit right with her.

She wanted to argue back at him, tell him that he didn’t know Bucky but Bucky was calling her from down the end of the hall telling her to hurry up. The detective only flashed her a look of ‘I told you so’ before Y/n went racing out after Bucky.

When Y/N got outside Bucky was smoking a cigarette. He looked a little more cooled down from earlier but still relatively annoyed. The orange embers at the end of the cigarette seemed to illuminate him in an amber glow. Even bruised and bloodied he still looked beautiful. Y/n had known Bucky since they were children and she had always thought he was beautiful. Bucky glanced up at Y/N and took one long drag on the cigarette before stubbing it out.

“How the hell did my Dad even know I was here?” Bucky groaned as he walked with Y/n to her car.

“You’re Dad probably knows one of the officers, still it’s nice of him to bail you out for what, the tenth time this month?” Y/N argued with him, she really didn’t want to fight with Bucky right now but sometimes it was the only way to get anything through his thick skull.

“What does it matter to you?” Bucky argued back, stopping dead in his tracks.

Because I care about you, you idiot.

“You know listing me as your emergency contact doesn't mean I’m at your beck and call at any point.” Y/N tried to remind him that she had a life as well.

“Please, I’m not taking you away from much, your nights of singing in dirty bars and songwriting for cheesy commercials are oh so important to you all of a sudden?” Bucky questioned in his ever sarcastic tone.

“God, could you stop being such a spoiled rich kid for two seconds.” Y/N groaned

“I’m just saving you some time Doll, you really think you’re gonna make it big one day like this?” Bucky’s sarcastic questions were cutting through her like a knife. Every harsh word from him was another stab at her. How could he say such things? Had he always been this harsh and Y/N was just blind to it?

“Just because I have to work for what I want doesn’t make it impossible Barnes, I haven’t been gifted everything I want like you.” Y/N was trying to hold back the tears, god she really hated fighting with him.

“Y/N, that’s the only way you get anything in life, but I’ll tell you what, if you want to spend the rest of your life singing in the same bars uninterrupted then I’ll take you off my emergency contact, hell I’ll take you off my whole contact list,” Bucky yelled at her.

Maybe it was the fact that she had just had her dreams crushed once tonight already made Bucky’s words sting so much. The fact that she had been told she doesn’t have the right look, the fact that Bucky, who had once believed so heavily in her dreams, was now trying to tear them down. Spite is an excellent motivator, however.

“Fuck you Bucky,” Y/N wasn’t sure what came over her but she shoved Bucky into the lampost, she felt god damn feral and Bucky could only watch her in shock. “I’m going to make it so fucking big, my names going to be in lights, in every talk show hosts mouth, my songs are going to be on the radio and I’m going to sing in the biggest arenas on this planet and I’m going to earn every second of it, meanwhile you will just be some spoiled rich kid who is only known as George Barnes’ brat.” Y/N’s words dripped out of her like venom as she walked away from Bucky.

It was only when she had her back turned could she let the tears finally escape her. She didn’t care that she was meant to pick him up, he could walk home for all she cared. Right now she needed to be as far away from him as possible. As she drove herself home could think of Bucky and how things had become so messed up.

He was once such a sweet and kind boy, being her best friend and supporting her for as long as she could remember. She remembered the nights when Bucky wouldn’t miss a single one of her performances, always insisting every time she sang was better than the last. Now, he was almost unrecognisable. It was as if time had taken the kind boy and replaced him with a selfish and cruel man. Y/N decided that night that she didn’t need Bucky, that she was going to make it big without him and it was going to be glorious.

The crowd applauded as Y/N bowed slightly and bid the crowd goodnight. Stepping down from the stage another singer walked up on the stage and introduced themselves. A year had passed since Y/N left Bucky outside that police precinct and she was actually doing pretty well for herself.

Less than a month after the fight she had managed to get a job at a classy club in Manhattan full time. It was owned by a wealthy man named Loki who seemed to love Y/N’s voice more than anything else in the world. He paid her well and let her have her pick of the setlist, luck seemed to suddenly be in her favour. For nine months it was bliss… until James Fucking Barnes brought the club off Loki and became the new owner.

Y/N had no proof but she was convinced Bucky had brought the place purely to spite her. That he was desperate to make her feel as if she couldn’t do anything without him. It’s not even as if Y/N could have left, where else was she going to get a job she loved that paid her this well? So for the past three months, she had been avoiding Bucky like the plague. Only talking to him when absolutely necessary, not caring that he was now her boss.

Every night that Bucky knew Y/N was performing he was there at the club. Every night he would listen to her angelic voice, watch her take the crowds breath away as she sang and every night he would realise how wrong he was. Y/N would walk on stage in a beautiful dress that would always leave him tongue-tied and make his heart stop. You would think six months away from her would have given him time to figure out what to say to her… but it didn’t. How do you apologise for being an ass to your best friend for years?

He didn’t mean to become such a monster, but power had grown on him like a tumour. He felt untouchable, nothing he did matter anymore. Any problem he had he could simply throw money on and it would disappear. Anyone he wanted usually wanted him just as much. Soon he became as cold as his money. Even his childhood best friend couldn’t make him come back to reality.

Y/N leaving also made Bucky have another heartbreaking realisation… he loved her. When Y/N walked away from him that night at first he tried to not care. He still went out, got into fights, danced with whoever he liked and drank as much as he wanted. But none of it filled the hole in his heart. It was in a noisy night club with a girl trying to climb on his lap that he realised that he would much rather be in Y/N’s small apartment and having Y/N cuddle up against him. He missed the nights where they would talk about everything and nothing all at once. The nights where they would drink and Y/n would get the courage to show him the new songs she’d been working on.

When he found out that Y/N was singing at the Heimdal, a club that his Dad was looking to buy, he leapt at the chance. He hoped that by becoming her boss she would have to talk to him, they would have a heartwarming reunion and somehow fall in love. However, Y/N had been cold and curt to Bucky the second he walked back into her life.

Y/N waltzed over to the bar, feeling absolutely parched after her last set. Sam, the bartender, handed her a glass of water and then handed her another drink. This one looked like some kind of fruity cocktail, definitely not what she’d ordered. Y/n shot him a confused look.

“It’s from him again,” Sam sighed giving her an apologetic look, “It’s here if you want it.”

“I won’t.” Y/N grimaced.

Bucky’s new tactic to get her to talk to him wasn’t even talking to her, but to have Sam always give her some fancy drink after her set. Guess he’s still just throwing money at his problems. Annoyed, Y/N sat down on one of the bar stools and took another sip of water. She knew she shouldn’t have but briefly looking over her shoulder she saw Bucky sat in one of the clubs’ booths. He did look a little better than when she last saw him. He'd cut his hair shorter and shaved his beard, that combined with his navy suit made Y/N’s heart skip a beat.

However, the sight of a girl sat next to him, clearly trying to get in his lap made Y/N cringe. One second he was buying Y/N drinks and the next he was getting off with other girls. A small amount of jealousy boiled in her stomach… but she couldn’t say why. Y/N had watched him go on plenty of dates during college, she never felt jealous then but now she can’t stand the sight of Bucky and this bimbo.

Y/N was pulled from her thoughts by a stranger sitting next to her. He called over to Sam asking for a scotch and gestured to Y/N.

“-And another round for the Lady when she finishes her drink.” The man spoke.

“What’s the occasion?” Y/n asked cautiously at him with a raised brow.

“Nothing much just heard the most angelic voice in America, is all.” The man said nonchalantly with a smirk on her face.

A slight blush appeared on Y/N’s face and she moved a strand of hair behind her ear. No one had complimented her on her voice like that before, not even Bucky. Trying to not seem too fluster, Y/N sat up a little straighter.

“So what brings you here tonight, Mr…?” Y/N asked, giving a genuine smile.

“Tony Stark, a friend of mine kept saying that they had an actual angel perform here, turns out he wasn’t wrong.” He took another sip of his drink and winked at Y/N.

“Wait, Stark as in Stark Records…” Y/N whispered the last part as the realisation hit her.

Tony Stark, the owner of Stark Records had just brought her a drink and said that she liked her voice, called it angelic in fact.

“Yes, don’t tell me you’re going to faint.” Tony teased

“No promises.” Y/n let out a faint laugh, still in shock.

Tony and Y/N had been chatting briefly, he asked her about what music is liked, the conversation moved onto Y/N’s original music and Tony was practically begging to hear some demos. Y/N matched his excitement, this was the happiest she had felt in so long. Tony listened to one of her songs through her headphones and he knew that she was going to be his next star.

“So, what do you say that you stop singing for Barnes and start singing for me, I’ve been looking for a new star and honestly Y/N, you’d be perfect.” Tony offered.

“Are you serious, you sure I don’t have the wrong look or something?” Y/N asked meekly, her insecurities getting the better of her.

“Sweetheart, anyone who doesn’t like looking at you has something wrong with them.” Tony smiled back at her.

Many of his current stars were once like Y/N. Immensely talented but scared they weren’t the right look. Tony, however, knew from experience that someone as talented as Y/N didn’t need to follow some look.

Y/N was about to accept Tony’s offer when she heard a giggle behind her.

“James, at least wait till we’re back at yours.” The girl seemed to squeal.

Even now, James Fucking Barnes seemed to be taking her spotlight. It was childish, the jealousy and silent treatment but Bucky seemed to bring out the worst in her. Y/N let out a frustrated huff and then she saw the fruity cocktail Sam had given her.

“Actually Sam, I'll take that drink,” Y/N smirked, grabbing the tall glass. “If you’ll excuse me for one second.”

Bucky had decided to have another drink, telling himself that after this one he would finally work up the courage to talk to Y/N. That was the plan, it was the plan he had made over three hours ago, now he had some random girl by his side who was causing a scene. Bucky knew these types of girls all too well, the ones who wanted the tabloids to be going nuts with seeing a girl hanging off his arms. Bucky was trying to make it clear that he wasn’t interested but this one was persistent and the drink was beginning to catch up with him.

Just as he was about to tell the girl to go far, far away he felt a splash of cold water on his face. He jumped out of his chair in shock and was ready to call security when he looked up to see it was Y/N who had thrown the drink of him.

“You can keep your drinks,” Y/N began, placing the now empty glass on his table, “and I quit.” A satisfied smirk appeared on her face as she waltzed away from him.

Bucky was gobsmacked, the whole room was staring at him, even the band had stopped playing. Bucky could only watch Y/N walk towards a man by the bar. He desperately wanted to chase after her but the girl who had been on his lap most of the night was now whining non-stop.

“Ugh James I think some of it got on my dress, this is PRADA you bitch, JJaaammmess call security on her!” She was like an angry chihuahua.

Y/N could hear the girls whining at Bucky and it only made her pride swell. Have fun with her tonight ‘James’. She sauntered towards Tony who could only chuckle at Y/N’s actions.

“You’re going to be a handful aren’t you.” Tony raised a brow at her.

“Well, there’s nothing like a good bit of publicity,” Y/N smirked.

With that Y/N left the club for the last time on Tony’s arm and with Bucky left hopelessly behind. To her, it seemed like a fitting start to her new life.

Five years had passed since she first met Tony. He had become her mentor, teaching her how to truly make a lasting impression on audiences and how to act now that she was under the media's watchful eye.

With every new song Y/N released, her fame only grew more and more. In a mere five years, she had become an icon with her voice and ‘angelic’ style of dress. Tony’s words the first night she met became something of a mantra to Y/N. True to her word, she was bigger and better than she ever believed she could be. She had proved Bucky wrong at every chance she was given… even if he wasn’t around to see it.

Y/N had just finished tonight’s performance and was cooling down in her dressing room. No matter how many times she performed to thousands of people, she still needed some quiet time after to make all the adrenaline leave her body. She’d changed out of her costume and simply had on a silk robe as she removed her makeup. The silence of the room was a stark contrast to the screaming crowds Y/N had been in front of earlier but she liked it. It was something to keep her grounded.

Just as Y/N finished removing her makeup her phone rang. Tony made fun of her for being one of the biggest names in America and still having the same phone from five years ago. Something about the nostalgia of it was comforting. Despite her fame and fortune, Y/N never wanted to forget everything she had because she worked for it. She didn’t recognise the number but nonetheless, she answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Is this Y/N L/N… the actual Y/N L/N speaking?” A voice asked on the other line.

“Yes, who is this?” Y/N replied, there weren’t many people these days who had her number.

“I’m a nurse at St. Andrews hospital, we’ve recently had to admit James Barnes and he’s listed you as his emergency contact,”

By some miracle, Y/N had been touring in the same state where Bucky was. Tony had warned Y/N against it, telling her that the paparazzi would be on her like vultures and ‘wasn’t Barnes the same guy you threw your drink on.’ But she couldn’t just ignore him, she never could.

Y/N tried to dress as casually as possible and wore a pair of sunglasses in hopes that she wouldn’t be spotted. As she walked up to the reception she felt like cursing whatever cruel God was going to bring James Barnes thundering back into her life.

It just had to be from a hospital, I haven't had one phone call from him in years and when I finally do it’s because he’s hurt himself… I guess something will never change.

Y/N told herself she would just see if he was okay if he was then she could simply walk away and never see him again. The lady on reception told her that he was in room 104, so Y/n walked down the corridor trying to hold her head high. No matter how hard she tried, there was an uneasy pit of worry forming inside her. What if Bucky was seriously hurt? What if he was dying? All the worst possible scenarios seemed to be forming in her mind. She needed to find Bucky and she needed to find him now.

Before she knew it, Y/n was running towards his room. Acting almost on impulse she heaved the door open to see Bucky lying on the hospital bed. At first glance, Bucky seemed to be fine with only a couple of scratches and bruises on him but then Y/n looked at him properly. Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me? But they weren’t… Bucky’s left arm was gone.

Bucky looked up to see some girl standing in his room. She was wearing a cream trench coat and sunglasses as if she was from old Holywood. There was a second of uneasy silence when Bucky was about to explain that she had the wrong room when she finally spoke up.

“Bucky,” Her voice quivered as she walked closer to him. She removed her sunglasses and Bucky could have sworn his heart stopped beating then and there.

He had seen so much of her, in the papers, magazines and on almost every billboard in the country. True to her word she had become a star, bigger and brighter than ever. However, no matter how many times he saw her on paper it didn’t come close to seeing her in person.

“Jesus Buck,” She sighed when she was finally right next to him, “What happened to you?”

Bucky looked down to where his arm should’ve been but instead all he could see was disgusting scar tissue peeking out from his bandage. There wasn’t much to say other than he had been his usual self and this time it nearly killed him. He was speeding down a dark country road without a care in the world when the car spun out of control and hit another car driving the other way. By a miracle, the other driver hadn’t been hurt but fate wasn’t going to let Bucky get away scot-free. Bucky looked back up to Y/N, he didn’t want to admit to her that after all these years he was still being an idiot.

“You were right you know, you made it bigger than anyone ever thought you could be and you did earn every single bit of it all by yourself,” Bucky began to speak. His voice sounded rough and strained as he talked. Every word that came from his mouth seemed to break Y/N’s heart.

“You were right about me as well… I’m nothing more than some spoiled rich kid.” Bucky seemed to hang his head in shame.

“Oh, Bucky, you’re so much more than that,” Y/N instantly felt the guilt from their argument wash over her. In all these years she never considered that what she said might have hurt Bucky.

“No I am, I’m pathetic... I can’t even hold you in my arms… I always thought the next time I saw you I would get to hold you-” Bucky choked up, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

Y/N’s heart broke at the sight. Acting as if no time had passed, Y/n kneeled down next to him and took his head in her hands, wiping away his tears.

“I’ve felt so numb for so long Y/N, I haven’t felt anything in five years until you walked through that door,” Bucky admitted.

“You have no idea what it was like to hear your name for the first time in five years, pretty sure my heart stopped.” Y/N’s face carried the same pained expression as his.

That was when it dawned on Bucky, he never did remove her from his emergency contact. Part of him was beginning to wonder why she had suddenly appeared in the hospital. An awkward silence fell between them. They hadn’t seen each other in so long and they didn’t part on the best terms but right now Bucky needed Y/N. He needed the girl who became his friend when he was 11, the girl who cared for him more than words could say but also called up out for all his bullshit. So that’s when he asked her,

“I know I have no right to ask you, but please don’t go, please?” Bucky begged.

At that moment Y/N released how broken Bucky was. In all of her life Bucky seemed to demand everything, so used to having everything at his beck and call. This was the first time in her life she could recall Bucky actually asking for something.

“I’m not going anywhere Bucky, I’ll always be here for you when you need me.” Y/N told him.

She meant it with every fibre in her body. There was some cruel silver lining in this whole story. That this tragic night needed to happen to bring them back to each other. Y/N stayed with Bucky all night, even when they tried to kick her out after visiting hours, Y/N merely dropped her name and they let her stay all night.

Bucky had been given some heavy pain meds and was fast asleep but still, Y/N refused to leave his side. He could have died tonight. Those words played over in her mind like a bad record. It’s what made her realise that she had spent over six years without her best friend. That she had abandoned him when he needed her the most. Y/N didn’t even have a good reason for abandoning him other than pettiness and stubbornness.

Then Y/N’s phone rang, it was Tony and Y/N already knew he was going to be pissed.

“Hey, Tones,” Y/N answers trying to sound as sweet as possible.

“Well if it isn’t my Darling protege, tell me Y/N in all teachings have you truly learnt nothing?” Tony’s sarcastic tone made Y/N pull away slightly from the phone. As badly as she wanted to hang up on him then and there, it would have only made him angrier.

“Tony,” Y/N sighed down the phone, hoping she could calm him down.

“Oh no you’re not talking your way out of this, there’s currently about 100 reporters and paps outside the hospital as we speak and they’re sure as hell not leaving without some answers,”

Y/N tried to cut in but Tony was very clearly not finished with his rant.

“-Answers as to why The Y/N L/N suddenly ditched her own after-party for some random guy in a hospital bed, what Bonzo story are you going to try and float here?” Tony groaned down the phone.

“I don’t know, okay!” Y/N yelled back, her sweet exterior finally broken down, “He just called and I came running, it’s always been the same old schtick… it’s like I can’t fucking help myself,” Y/N’s voice wasn’t as harsh as Tony’s there was still a magnitude in the words she said.

She could have simply not come and told the lady that Bucky was trying to pull a fast one but she didn’t. Instead, she put everything in her life on hold just to make sure he was okay and the worst part? She would do it again in a heartbeat.

“Look I can take care of the reporters, claim that it’s a close family friend but I need you to do something for me,” Tony sighed, “I need you to promise me that you won’t give everything up for him… whatever you two have isn’t worth losing everything you worked for.”

Y/N didn’t have the strength to keep arguing with him or anyone else. Going through the motions, Y/N simply hung up and looked back up at Bucky. He was fast asleep, the pain meds kicking in at last. That was when an awful thought hit her, she could leave now… he’s alive, you’ve done your duty… but then what? Wait another five years until he gets hurt again? She wanted to stay for him but it couldn’t be like last time. Things needed to change.

When Bucky woke up it was nearly 10 am, man the pain meds must’ve knocked him out cold. He glanced around the room, there were nurses, monitors and IV drips all around him but no Y/N. Had she snuck out in the night? Bucky couldn’t have blamed her if she had, one night wasn’t going to make up for the near-decade he had spent being an ass.

“Rise and shine, Handsome,” A nurse called over to him as she checked over his vitals.

Bucky could only give her a small nod of acknowledgement, his mind too preoccupied with Y/N.

“Something on your mind there, handsome,” The nurse kept pestering him.

“His name is James,”

Bucky pushed himself up to see it was Y/N standing by the door holding a coffee and a couple of bags. Her tone towards the nurse was flat and unamused. Something that made Bucky smile properly for the first time in years. The nurse finally left but not before telling Bucky he could simply ‘buzz’ for her at any time, in a sultry voice, a voice that made Bucky feel like spiders were crawling up his back.

Y/N was giving the nurse a death glare until she had finally left the room. Letting out a small huff, Y/N placed the cup of coffee down on the table and started going through the various shopping bags she had, silently.

“You don’t have to be jealous,” Bucky spoke,

“I’m not jealous,” Y/N muttered as she continued to go through the bags.

“Yes you are, you’ve got the same look on your face as you did when you saw Cindy Schatt’s kissing John Rider,” Bucky chuckled at the memory of that pool party at his house decades ago.

Y/N just remained silent, trying to not make eye contact with him. Bucky knew that she only did that when she knew he was right but didn’t want to argue. To be completely honest, Bucky didn’t want to argue either. He felt that they had wasted too much time arguing and swallowing their feelings, far too much time.

“I love you,” Bucky stated, his voice calm, clear and confident.

Y/N’s hands suddenly stopped moving. All the cogs in her brain stopped working as she tried to comprehend what Bucky had just said… he said he loved her. Slowly, she glanced up and allowed her gaze to meet him.

“Y/N, I love you so please don’t waste your time being jealous over some nurse,” Bucky repeated, making it clear to Y/N that he had no hidden agenda.

“How should I spend my time then?” Y/N murmured.

“Tell me you love me back,” Bucky breathed

“I’ve always loved you, that’s the problem,” Y/N sighed, why did it always seem to end in a fight with him.

Bucky felt like the oxygen in the air was suffocating him. God, with every other girl in his life it had always been so easy bit with Y/N he never seemed to be able to find the right words to say. What annoyed Bucky the most was how simple things could be, she loved him and he loved her. This was supposed to be where they would finally get their happy ending, the boy finally confesses his love for the girl and they crash into each other and kiss while the credits roll.

Y/N looked up at Bucky trying to gauge his reaction. Surely her confession couldn’t have surprised him so much. Was Bucky that clueless? All those nights she came rushing to his side when he was being a reckless idiot? Did he just assume she would do that for anyone? Bucky, however, looked completely at a loss. That was when Y/N said fuck it.

She walked over to Bucky and kissed him. Y/N cupped his cheeks and kissed him like it was the last time she would ever see him… she hadn’t quite made up her mind yet if it was going to be. Bucky kissed her back so desperately, convincing himself that her kiss was more vital to him than breathing. When Y/N finally pulled away slightly for air, Bucky couldn’t help but reach up for the taste of her lips again.

But then he noticed Y/N pull away slightly further, her hands still cupped his cheeks as if she never wanted to let go. But at the same time, she didn’t want to give all of herself to him, not anymore.

“Doll,” Bucky whispered.

“I just- I just can’t let it be like last time, James,” Y/N whispered back.

“Never, I will never be like that again, it’s already cost me far too much and I’m sure as hell not losing you again,” Bucky’s eyes were just as glassy as her’s, tears threatening to spill at any moment.

Y/N wanted to tell him how he never truly lost her but Bucky didn’t give her the chance. He kissed her, somehow even more feverishly than last time. They parted panting and forehead resting against one another. It wasn’t the kindest of reunions but it was certainly the sweetest.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #ceo!bucky #ceo!bucky x reader #marvel fanfiction #marvel imagine #avenegrs #marvel #winter solider x reader #richkid!bucky #singer!reader #tony stark x reader

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damn-stark · 4 years

Text

Fire

Diego Hargreeves x Fem!reader

Requested by anon: “Can you do a season 1 Diego Hargreeves x female reader one-shot where reader is his girlfriend, is a forensic scientist and met him when he was a cop, was born on the same day as him but wasn’t adopted by Reginald and can control fire, and she’s there when he reunites with his siblings after Reginald dies and gives him a comforting hug from behind when he cries and stutters as he turns Grace off? She’s basically a real life firebender from Avatar: The Last Airbender.”

A/N- I’m going to have make this into two parts just cause I didn’t want to make one part too long and just rush this, so I hope you understand anon :)

Warning- slight violence, angst but also some fluff, swearing.

———-

“We're going now live to a breaking story…”

At the sound of the fanfare playing from the tv you quickly glance up from your work and briefly watch the screen playout, not paying much attention to it and turning back to your work, tuning out the news until moments later you see patch walk up to your desk and point out to the news they’re announcing.

“Isn’t that Diego’s dad?”

You look up and narrow your gaze on the screen waiting until the picture of who they were reporting popped up, making your lips part in surprise, “...the world's most eccentric and reclusive billionaire. Sir Reginald Hargreaves…”

“Oh no,” you stand from your desk and forget your work at that instant and instead think of someone else, “Diego.” You sigh and pull your jacket off your chair, and walk around your desk to share with Patch your brief comment, “I need to go.”

——

“Diego?” You push your room door open and poke your head inside the darkened room, creating a small fire flame on your palm that brightens the whole room, showing no sign of the man you were looking for.

Probably still out on his “vigilante” business.

Turning back around you head back into the living room in silence, going unaware of the man that had walked in, only being aware as he walked up before you, seeing Diego’s face suddenly basked by the light of the fire ignited on your palm.

His face is expressionless, but his shoulders were slumped. He takes his mask off and finally mutters, “did you hear the news?”

You respond with a simple nod and cup his cheek before you speak, “how are you doing?”

He shakes his head and throws his mask on the couch, huffing out heavily and pulling away from your touch to move past you as he replies loudly, his voice trailing off as he heads into the room, “I’m fine.”

You sigh, “he was your dad Diego, it’s okay to feel sad and grieve.” Putting the fire out you spin back around and go after him, seeing the lights go on as he begins to rummage through the closet. “I understand he was not a good dad to you, but he was still your...dad.”

Diego let’s silence take over and just stands up abruptly to move to the drawer and take a couple of things from it before he shoves it in his duffel bag.

“Which means,” you continue as you walk up behind and carefully wrap your arms around his shoulders, “you have to go.”

Diego exhales deeply and nods stiffly, “yeah...but only because I need to figure out what happened, make sure his death was what they said. Will you come with me?” He asks as he lifts his hand to grab yours.

You smile and respond softly, “of course. Plus it gives me a chance to finally meet your siblings.”

Diego scoffs, “not much there, but it gives you a chance to finally meet my mom.”

“Good!” You pull away and sit on the edge of the bed, “so are we gonna tell them of my powers?”

“If you want,” he adds, resuming what he was doing, “I guess you’re lucky my dad's dead, doesn’t give him a chance to try to recruit you as a member to test on you.”

Letting out a lighthearted huff of air you add, “what superhero name do you think I would've had if he did?”

“Probably number eight.” He remarks.

You narrow your gaze and shake your head, “no like a real one,” you stroke your cheek and pretend to think hard, your eyes brightening up as you come up with a name, “how about Ember?” You raise your eyebrows and grin. “What do you think?”

Diego walks up to you and jokes, “how about dork?”

You frown and throw a pillow at his face, “hilarious!”

He smiles as he catches the pillow, “ow.” He throws at the bed and raises his eyebrow, “how long have you been thinking of that name?”

You shrug all nonchalant, “just...thought of it.” You lie, leaving out that it’s been something you’ve come up with since you were young.

Diego chuckles but pretends to believe you, “whatever you say, get ready we leave early in the morning.”

——

“Nothing seems to be tampered with….” You report, looking away from the window and turning back to the desk to see Diego put something in his pocket, you walk closer and he just hastily turns to face you. “You find something?”

“No. Nothing.”

You hum and your eyes go to the door to see a young beautiful blond woman and a vintage looking dress stop at the door frame. A bright smile decorating her lips. Her eyes land on you and then on your boyfriend Diego, her lips parting to make herself known. “Diego, why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I would’ve made cookies.”

Diego turns to face the woman and he walks up to her, putting his hand on her shoulder and talks to her in a gentle manner, turning to present you. “Mom this is my girlfriend y/n. Y/N this is Grace, my mother.”

Her smile seems to turn even brighter and wider as her eyes seem to give a twinkle. If that even was possible for a robot to do—“oh, you’re so beautiful!”

You smile and greet her, “hello, it’s lovely to finally meet you, Diego talks highly about you.”

“It’s about time Diego brought a girl home. I was worried he would be too lonely.”

Diego scoffs and shakes his head, “mom.”

Before you could tease Diego, you notice Grace's eyes drift to the desk, her smile falters and her eyes focus on you again. “Who wants cookies?” Before Diego or you could answer she turns to walk away, humming a melody that echoed in the halls as she walked further away. Diego watched her intently, his eyebrows furrowing with concern. Waiting for a moment before he looked back to you.

“Come on, my siblings should be here in a bit.”

You nod, “okay.”

——

Going based on the things Diego would say about his siblings, and on what you would read and watch of them on the news when you were younger and they were still active superheroes; you were nervous to actually meet them to say the least. Even talking to Diego for the first time was a nervous moment, even more so because you had on a crush on him when you began working at the police department. Literally any time when you would even see him you would feel butterflies in your stomach.

You wouldn’t say you were a big super fan of the Umbrella Academy, but you admired them, mainly because they could show off and use their powers to fight all the bad guys on their adventures. All while you had to hide them, so “the old man on the t.v. won’t take you away”. It really sucked, knowing you were powered, knowing you were born on the same day but having to hide unlike them. Having to really go untaught. Your parents tried to teach you, mainly how to control them when your emotions got too high, but they could only do so much since they knew nothing of what was happening. It wasn’t really until after you showed Diego what you could do, did you really know more, it wasn’t a lot but it was more than what you knew before.

So for that you were thankful. For him.

“Don’t be nervous.” Diego tried to assure you after noticing your hesitation as you walked down the staircase. “They’re underwhelming.”

You frown, “you’re only saying that because they’re your siblings.”

He stops before he reaches the main doors to yet another big room in this huge house. “It’s exactly why I’m saying it.” He tries to offer you an assuring look before he finishes his comment. “You’ll be okay.”

You take a deep breath before breathing out your short answer. “Okay.” You stop and hesitate one more time before you could completely go in, overhearing as one Diego’s siblings asked him who he had been talking to just now. At first you thought he would just wait to answer, but he answered right away and a very simple way.

“My girlfriend.”

None of them said anything right away and definitely didn’t say anything as you finally walked inside. They all were expressing a form of shock, almost as if it were impossible for Diego to have such a thing. It wasn’t until one of them, a man with long hair at the bar broke the silence with a very warm and exciting greeting.

“Hello! It’s so nice to finally meet you! I thought the day would never come.”

The corner of your lips turned slightly, but not fully because it was doubtful Diego had ever talked to any of his siblings since you began dating or at all actually until today; which meant that none of them would know about you.

“Okay.” Diego sighed as he shot the same man an odd look. “Well, that’s Klaus,” his eyes drift to the two girls and he points to them, “she’s Alison and that’s Vanya.” He turns and points to the tall, very muscular man. “And that’s Luther.” Said man offered you a tight lipped smile while Alison said a simple, “hi, it’s so nice to meet you.” And Vanya just said very shyly, “hi.”

Your smile widens but it’s still very timid, “I’m y/n, it’s nice to finally meet you guys, Diego talks a lot about you guys.”

Allison blinked in genuine surprise before she looked to Diego in shock, “oh, really? Who would’ve thought.”

Diego rolls his eyes and just adds, “she has abilities just like us, born on the same day and everything.”

“Really?” Luther finally spoke up, stepping up closer to Diego and you.

You nod, “yes, I can manipulate fire and make it myself.”

“Oh like from the cartoon with the little bald kid?” Klaus questioned curiosity before taking a drink from his beverage.

Your lips part to argue, but you find that he’s actually right. “Uh, yes actually.”

“I thought we were the only ones.” Alison queried, “dad never told us there was more.”

Diego scoffs, “I don’t know how you find that at all surprising. He was not a good man.”

“Diego,” Luther warned.

Said man's head snapped around and his eyebrows furrowed, “don’t defend him and pretend he was. He—”

“Diego.” You snapped, “don’t. Not now.” He met your eyes and huffed before he took a seat, creating a painfully awkward silence in the room that you noticed as you sat down too. None of them spoke up, or had the thought to apologize, they let it pass and only Luther dared to speak up moments later. A genuine question that too quickly turned into an argument amongst them, one you chose to stay out of and watch from your side of the couch. It was short and wasn’t as bad as he would say it would go, but it was still torture hearing them, which made you grateful to be told to go several minutes later.

Not that it was any better, Diego stayed quiet most of the time, his mind seemed to be somewhere else as his body was physically here. But you also didn’t want to bug him, he said he wasn’t affected by his father's death but he was here so...you let him have his time, he always ended up talking sometime or the other. But maybe that time wasn’t going to come anytime soon due to some blue rumbling portal opening that resulted in dropping someone Diego said was his brother. The same one with the portrait in that huge room.

It was overall to put in the fewest words crazy. And even if your curiosity was killing you about what the heck really happened, you chose to stay out of that reunion and joined when it was finally time for the funeral outside under the oak tree as Luther had put it. Putting aside the fact that it was stormy and their no actual leaves on the tree. Hmm.

Regardless you stayed close to Diego, interlacing your hand with his and feeling his unease as he stood there and heard Pogo begin to give a heartfelt speech. A moment that was ruined by Diego finally releasing what he’s been dying to say. “He was a monster.” Klaus laughed and you sighed, muttering his name as a warning, but that did not stop him as he continued. “He was a bad person and a worse father. The worlds better off without him.”

“Diego.” Allison sharply interjected.

“My name is number two.” Diego remarked, “you know why? Because our father couldn’t be bothered to give us actual names. He had mom do it.”

“Diego!” You snapped, earning nothing as he ignored you and Grace interrupted like if nothing were happening.

“Would anybody like something to eat?”

“No, it’s okay mom.” Vanya replied.

“Oh, okay.”

“Look, you want to pay your respects?” Diego pulled away and stepped to the center of the gathered group; “but at least be honest about the kind of man he was.”

“You should stop talking now.” Luther warned.

“You know, you of all people should be on my side, Number one.”

You huffed and crossed your arms on your chest, “Diego, please drop it.”

“No, just listen.”

Luther seethed, “I’m warning you.”

Diego continued pressing on the matter, “after everything he did to you? He had to ship you a million miles away.”

“Diego, stop talking.” Luther snarled.

“That’s how much he couldn’t stand the sight of you!” Diego bellowed, pressing an accusing finger on Luther's chest, making said man finally snap and punch his arm before he swung. A move Diego luckily dodged but didn’t stop and instead continued, both men ending up fist fighting in the courtyard and ruining the day.

Neither of them listened to the calls to stop either, they both continued like children. Making Pogo walk off out of anger and Five to do the same but in more of an annoyance. It wasn’t until Luther broke a statue did they break apart and made Alison walk away, whilst Diego pulled out one of his knives making you hold onto your breath and finally gasping as he threw it and the blade scratched Luther's arm. It stayed silent for a moment as they tried to process what happened, but it was also then that Diego was going to go in again, that you finally created a narrow fire blade that created a drift between the two. An action that made Diego look at you wide eyed. Surprised that you would do that.

All you did was respond with a glare before you took Grace's arm and softly told her to come with you inside. She smiled and accepted.

Just as you passed Diego you stopped and shot him a quiet but angry comment. “Unbelievable.”

He tried to grab your arm to stop you, but you pulled away and added one more thing before heading inside. “Don’t. Talk to me when you’ve calmed down.”

Diego sighed, but didn’t try to argue. Instead he watched as the fire went out as you walked inside with his mother in hand.

#the umbrella academy fanfiction #the umbrella academy imagines #the umbrella academy imagine #the umbrella academy #tua imagine #tua #tua imagines #tua fanfiction #tua diego #diego hargreeves imagine #diego hargreeves x reader #diego hargreeves imagines #diego hargreeves #tua klaus #tua vanya #tua allison #tua luther #five hargreeves #grace tua

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lavaffair · 3 years

Text

Talk To Me, Princess

Smut/Lemon. Sequel to Tongue Tied.

Guys this was 17 pages omg. 7k words!

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34295722

It was around one in the morning by the time the group of friends made it back to Sango and Kagome’s apartment complex, the alcohol in their system now reduced to nothing but a warm feeling after eating and drinking enough water to sober back up. Miroku, being the designated driver, had sobered up before everyone else since he only had one drink, but his girlfriend Sango had gone a little too far and had drunk past her limit. If it were not for Kagome she would have gone until she was unable to walk out of the lounge.

It had been a long time since the group went out like this due to Inuyasha’s laboring job at the repair shop, but he was off tomorrow, and if it were not for Sango going farther than she had planned they would have stayed out a bit longer tonight. Their friend needed to get some sleep and deal with her hangover tomorrow. Staying up later and giving her the option to possibly drink more was out of the question.

While Sango giggled and flirted with Miroku in the passenger seat, Inuyasha and Kagome cuddled up together in the back. Earlier they had announced to their best friends that they were dating, not like it was a shocker for the couple, because neither of them could keep a secret apparently. It made for an easy transition into the rest of the night, and as it continued they only got touchier, stealing quick pecks and long stares with one another while also not being able to keep their hands off of each other.

At some point during their time at the club, Kagome had settled into Inuyasha’s lap while chatting with Sango. Miroku had given the half-demon a sly, cunning look and it took everything in him not to blush four shades of red. Inuyasha decided to say nothing in regard to his friend's teasing and instead opted to keep one hand on Kagome’s thigh while the other had formed into a fist. He liked to have her sit on his lap whenever the opportunity came by, and whenever she walked past him while he was sat down he would pull her towards him and cover her in kisses.

Miroku drove up to the stairway that led up to the girl’s apartment and unlocked the car doors. Kagome sent him a questioning look, “Aren’t you gonna help me bring her upstairs?”

“Listen, Sango’s way far gone and I’m sure you two would rather be alone tonight than babysitting your drunk roommate.” Miroku stated matter of factly, “Plus, she’s a lot more into cuddling when she’s like this and I’m selfish.”

“But what about her hangover?” Kagome laughed.

“It’s not my first time helping her get through one. We’ll both be fine! Let me have my cuddle time.” He said with a pout on his face.

Inuyasha shook his head and decided to open the door before Miroku could continue, and climbed out first so Kagome could follow behind him. She shut the door carefully before shooting Miroku a happy grin, “Okay, well, goodnight! Remember to remove her makeup before you go to bed!”

Their friend laughed, “She’ll have my ass if I don’t.” He put the car back into drive, giving his two friends one last look. “Have fun, and do everything I would do.” He winked playfully and rolled up the window while driving out of the complex to go home.

Kagome hummed and grabbed her boyfriend's hand in contentment, taking note of the cute blush on his cheeks. “Well, this is our first night where you’re sleeping over at my place. Let’s go!” She was blushing a beautiful shade of pink as the realization kicked in, and all he wanted to do was kiss her at the sight.

Inuyasha grinned and walked beside Kagome to her apartment. He trying to hold himself back from touching her until they reached the confines of her unit, where no one could see how gorgeous she looked when he had her pinned to the wall. He could not stop thinking about their earlier session when she had conveniently left her phone behind after Miroku and Sango waited in the car. He wanted to kiss her again like that, but for much longer, and with more freedom to explore. Now that they did not have to sneak around anymore he could kiss her senseless whenever he wanted, but the first of many would be tonight, while she looked like a goddess in this green dress.

The closer they got to the door the antsier he got and his hunger for her grew. He reached for her waist to pull her closer in order to kiss up her exposed neck. She was in a fit of giggles while his lips tickled her with every movement of his lips, and she tilted her head to give him better access. As she continued to walk forward his grip on her waist tightened while his lips never detached from her neck.

Kagome’s heart rate was erratic as the couple got closer to her apartment door. She could not stop the little whimpers that escaped her lips with every new kiss. The tickling feeling was soon turning into something deeper, a need for him growing more and more, and she wished the door could just appear in front of them. It was only a couple of steps away while she fumbled with her bag to find her keys, one hand in her purse while the other was tangled in Inuyasha’s hair.

Finally, when they were standing just outside the door she clumsily fit her key into the lock and pushed it open. As soon as the couple walked in she was spun around with her back hitting the wall and two arms caging her in on both sides. Inuyasha kicked the door closed with his foot and Kagome could feel the walls shake, but she had no time to chastise him for slamming it because his lips were on hers instantly. The fire that had been growing between them was now set ablaze as their lips molded together.

Hungry large hands explored her body encased within the tight dress as they stroke her sides and roughly squeezed her hips. A squeal escaped her mouth but it was swallowed by Inuyasha’s hungry lips.

“Baby,” Kagome moaned. She fisted her hands into his jacket to try to get some control, “You couldn’t even let me turn the lights on first?”

Inuyasha kissed her again, down her jaw and neck, and relished in her breathless gasps. The intense need she has for him growing stronger by the seconds, and her hands were pulling him closer to her body before she could process it.

“We’ll turn the lights on. ‘Cause I wanna see you.” His tongue lapped her neck, causing a whimper to leave her hot mouth. Her back arched in response to his touches and he could not bite back the smirk.

“I wanna see all of you.”

A fire ignited in her lower belly at the husky, deep tone in his voice. Her hands ran from his chest to his neck as she wrapped her arms around it to pull him impossibly closer. He sucked on the most sensitive part of her nape, his hands sliding down to cup her ass, and gave it a little squeeze.

She gasped in reaction and jumped closer to his body, instantly feeling how aroused he was when her thighs caressed his pants. “Do that again.” she pleaded, and he listened, squeezing her plump bottom once again.

Her lips found his in a feverish kiss as it grew deeper and passionate, sparking new and uncovered territory. They have never kissed with such intensity before, usually going for the slow and sensual make-out sessions in Inuyasha’s home. This one felt fiery and real, promising the possibly taking a bigger step into their relationship. They could not get enough of each other, still so close but yet not close enough.

Feeling braver and impatient, Inuyasha slid his hand from her waist to her exposed thigh and felt the goosebumps forming on Kagome’s skin. He kissed her once more before detaching his lips from hers and kissing her up to her ear.

“Tell me if there’s anything I do that you don’t like,” he bit the bottom of her ear, “Ya gotta be verbal with me baby.” his husky voice sent shivers down her spine and all she could do was nod.

“Yes or no?” he asked again, the huskies in his voice only making her wetter.

“Yes.” She breathed. “Yes, I’ll tell you.”

Inuyasha smirked at her, not that she could see it, and ran a fang carefully from her ear down to the base of her neck. The movement caused her breathing to hitch and her back to arch into him again. Her breasts squeezing right into his chest for only him to see. He licked up from her throat, then her jaw, and up back to her lips.

“Can I touch you?”

His voice was so deep and rich it caused her to squeeze her thighs together in response. Kagome looked at his mouth before meeting his fierce, ember eyes that held nothing but a desire for her which caused a hotter fire to ignite in the apex of her thighs.

“Yes, please,” she whimpered. “Please touch me Inuyasha.”

His pants only got uncomfortably tighter from his cock reacting to her eager begging. His hand slowly caressed her thigh as it moved upwards towards her pussy. He could already feel the heat coming from it as it mixed with the scent of her arousal. His large hand wrapped around her thigh and firmly held it there while his thumb moved in slow circles.

“Good girl,” he praised. “Keep talking to me, princess. You’re starting off so good.” He couldn’t help the growl that vibrated in his chest at the sound of her gasp.

He continued to tease her and lightly stroke her inner thigh which caused jolts of electricity to fire into her abdomen.. She arched into him and whined at the lack of touch to the spot she wanted his hand most.

“Stop teasing! I need you to touch me!” She protested, her head rolling back on the wall.

Inuyasha dove towards her collarbone and sucked roughly, he knew that one was going to leave a mark, and he loved the idea of it. He needed other people to know Kagome was his, especially after tonight, and after staying secret for so long he was going to milk it for what it was worth.

“Needy little thing aren’t you?” He groaned into her throat, “Where do you want my hand?”

Sliding his hand from her thigh to her clothed pussy, he palmed it and slid his fingers up and down her slit. “Here?”

Kagome gasped at the touch of his palm, finally landing where she wanted it to be. Her hands gripped his shoulders for balance while he continued to touch her.

“Kagome, tell me if this is where you wanted me to touch you.” His deep voice rumbled in his chest.

“Mmm,” Kagome nodded quickly. “Yes, right there.”

He groaned at the sound of her voice, knowing that he would never get enough of it from now on. Making out while she sat on his lap and groped her ass was one thing, but touching her and hearing her moan pathetically was another. He immediately made it his mission to always make sure his girl is pleasured first before him. He wants to make her cum more than she thinks she can handle, and more than he will, because she deserves it.

“I can already tell how wet you are just from touching you.” Inuyasha praised.

He kissed her again, sloppy and passionate because he needs her as much as she needs him. Every moan and whimper she made he swallowed into his mouth, slowly continuing his ministrations on her slit.

“Baby,” he whispered into her mouth. “You look so pretty like this.”

He slid her panties to the side and could not stifle the moan that left his lips at the absolute wetness of her. She was soaked, practically dripping from his fingers and he wanted a taste.

“Is this still okay?” He asked, because even with his dick painfully hard he wanted to be sure she was comfortable.

“Yes, please, do whatever you want to me.” He watched her lust-filled eyes blink once, twice, at his fingers while she continued to make those beautiful little sounds.

He started to explore her folds at a faster rhythm and she mewled, tilting forward to lay on his shoulder as he circled a finger around her clit. Her body was moving on its own and her breathing turned more ragged as he touched her. She felt euphoric, fiery hot, and blissful all at the same time. If he continued she knew she was going to lose control of herself and will give in to her need. She wanted this, craved it like water on a hot day, the tension between them these last few weeks almost too intense to endure. Kagome would have cracked if they had continued to circle around each other, but now that this was happening and she could feel his hands on her, she could finally relax and enjoy the ride.

“Whatever I want huh?” He sent her a toothy grin and her body tingled with excitement. He looked like himself for just a second before a dark, lustful gaze glazed over his eyes.

Before she could react he dipped down to his knees and pushed her back against the wall again. Lifting one leg over his shoulder he pressed his fingers firmly into her thigh while the other pulled her panties further to the side and exposing her fully. He lapped her up with one long, hot lick of his tongue which caused her entire body to shiver. She moaned loudly and automatically pressed herself closer to his mouth. He smirked into her pussy, feeling her juices drip down his chin as he continued to move his tongue all over her.

“Inuyasha!” Kagome moaned brokenly, “Mmm don’t stop!”

Both furry ears stayed up at attention towards her as he listened to every broken moan, whimper, and breath that left her swollen lips. He was attuned to every noise she made and to the way she reacted to his touches. It was the sexiest thing he has ever seen, heard, and experienced.

He sucked on her clit causing a throaty moan to leave her mouth, her body moving on its own and grinding against his hot tongue. He was in heaven watching her from above him up against this wall. The strap of her dress cascading down her left shoulder, hem bunched up against her stomach, with her black hair falling beautifully around her face. It made him believe she was a goddess that he was lucky enough to touch.

Inuyasha was a greedy bastard and wanted her to feel more than just his tongue. He wanted to prep her beforehand, get her ready and comfortable for what was happening after this. With a finger still slick with her honey he eased one slowly inside her hole, pumping in and out at a steady pace. Another moan left her while she stared up to the ceiling and looked like she was giving a prayer. His name, falling from her lips like an invocation that was too good to stop.

Adding a second finger carefully into her pussy, he felt her tremble from the intrusion but grew louder at the pleasure she was feeling as he continued to drive his fingers into her sopping hole. Stretching her just right and hitting her center just where she needed. He extended his fingers into a v-shape while moving within her and Kagome fell forward, moving her hands from his shoulders to his head. She pulled at an ear and he growled into her, the deep vibrations causing her to see stars. The final step to feeling the warmth growing in her tummy.

“I’m close!” She cried, “Please!”

Flicking her clit quickly with his tongue he matched the speed with his fingers, watching her roll her eyes back as she took it like a champ. He felt like a fucking god watching her lose control over his tongue, and he is going to feel like Zuez himself when he makes her cum on his dick.

He released his mouth from her just for a brief moment, fingers still milking her pussy as it sucked them in, and grinned.

“Come for me baby, you look so good.” Seeing her body react to his praises, and the convulsing from her pussy made him continue. “You’re so sexy Kagome, milking my fingers in like the good girl you are. I know you wanna cum for me, and I wanna watch you cum.”

He kissed her clit and flicked his tongue around it once again. “Cum on my face princess.”

She was beginning to shake, the feeling of her orgasm coming in like a wave she could not stop and did not want to stop. When she felt him suck on her clit for the last time all she could see was white. Her body shook violently, crying out his name as one steady hand left her thigh to hold her at her stomach. She felt cold and burning hot at the same time, her lungs heaving for air while she came back down from heaven.

Inuyasha held her steady as he watched his girl come down from her first orgasm, the evidence of what he had just done on his chin. He reveled in this view of her with sun-kissed cheeks, swollen lips, and a sheen of sweat on her forehead. Kagome’s eyes were half-lidded, still full of lust while her body recovered from the intensity of her climax.

“Baby, how ya feeling’?”

“Amazing.” She smiled.

“You’re gonna feel like a goddess by the time I’m done with you.” He smirked.

Lifting her up from her bottom he kissed her passionately as he walked them into her bedroom. Her bare legs wrapped around his waist tightly making his hardened cock twitch at the warmth coming from between her thighs. After opening the door he switched on the lights and set her down on the bed, continuing to kiss her feverishly while his hands roamed her bare legs.

He licked her neck which gifted him a whimpered moan, and he did it again just for the hell of it. Kissing down her shoulder, his lips brushed over the strap of her dress as he continued to move downward. He wanted to pull the dress entirely off of her body and worship her the way he knew she deserved, but her pert nipples were poking through the material of her dress, and Inuyasha could not help himself at the sight. He deserved a little more fun, and she deserved a little bit of teasing.

Poking his tongue out he flicked the bud briefly and he heard his girl moan at the feeling of friction from his tongue licking over the dress. Continuing his ministrations he did it to the other nipple which gifted him the same reaction. He was going to drive himself crazy with his urge to rip the dress right off of her, choosing to focus on the fact that she would kill him if he did, he held himself back. Instead, he ran his hands from her neck to her shoulder and stopped at the fallen green straps.

“Pull your arms out of the straps.” He huskily ordered.

Kagome’s breathing was ragged and sharp, the anticipation of what was going to come next was driving her up the wall. All she wanted was for him to touch her, anywhere and everywhere, with his hands and mouth. Her arousal was pooling in her soaked panties once again and she did not know how much longer she could go on without him touching her. It was as if she was on autopilot hearing his request, her arms moving before her brain could process what she was doing. She removed the straps from her dress where now they hung awkwardly between her chest and underarms, her chest seconds away from being totally exposed to the man aboveher.

Inuyasha’s eyes were full of fire and lust at the sight of her, the top of the dress now clinging on to nothing to hold it up. As it slowly began to slide down her full chest, Inuyasha’s patience grew thin. In one swift motion, he tugged the rest of the dress down to her tummy, her full, plump tits falling out and completely exposed for him. Hard pink nipples poking out for him to take into his mouth and have a taste.

“Fuck Kagome.” He rasped, ending the conversation at that.

He bent forward and licked around the areola, kissing and sucking on the creamy skin surrounding it while his hand rolled and kneaded the other one, completely avoiding her nipples. Kagome was a puddle in his hands, her breathing and gasps growing louder as he teased her. He switched to the other breast and repeated the same motion, completely avoiding the pink nipples that were asking for his time and attention.

“Inuyasha” Kagome begged, pushing up her tits to bring them closer to his mouth.

Inuyasha grinned devilishly at her attempt and lightly nipped on the bud he was avoiding before finally wrapping his lips around it and gave it a hard suck. She gasped underneath him, her body arching upwards to bring herself closer to him. His tongue swirled around while he sucked simultaneously, the other breast also getting the same treatment when he was satisfied with the one he had worked on first.

Her pussy was actually dripping at this point, and she was growing hungrier by the second. She wanted him in every single way, touching, licking, and fucking her senseless.

“Inuyasha... please.”

He let go of her nipple with a wet “pop!”. “Please, what, Kagome?”

“I need you.”

He went back to flicking the red and swollen nipple he was working on. “Need me to what? “Continue this?” He bit down lightly before licking the swollen bud into his mouth again, and Kagome’s begging turned into pathetic whimpers and deep moans.

“Inside me!” She wailed, “Please I want you inside me!”

Inuyasha kissed her breasts one last time before moving up to kiss Kagome again. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly in her attempt to pull him closer to her body. The feeling of his hands roaming her body causing shivers and goosebumps to appear on her skin. He let go of her lips and backed away from her, his hands already on the waistline of her panties before she could process it.

“Let’s take these off first.”

Slowly he slipped off her soaking panties, they were so wet with her juices that it dripped down his fingers. Tossing them somewhere on the ground, he slowly caressed her legs open to bare herself fully in front of him. Instantly, Kagome grew shy and attempted to close herself away from his lust-filled eyes but she was no match against his strength.

“God, you’re so wet for me baby, so fuckin’ sexy.” He bent down and kissed the inside of her thighs again, her body automatically opening itself up more for him to continue. He lapped her up like a starved man as she pulled onto his hair for leverage. His hands holding her legs down and apart while she jumped and twisted helplessly to his incredible tongue. On occasion, he would go and flick her swollen clit and sucked on it for extra pleasure, all while his girl cried and moaned loudly underneath him. His tongue fucking her sopping hole over and over again while his finger rubbed her clit.

Kagome was seeing white again, her vision blurring as all she could feel was the fire burning in her abdomen knowing her second orgasm was coming up. This time much stronger than the other one, her body going taut with unbelievable pleasure while Inuyasha rubbed her clit and tongue fucked her. She was being held strongly against the bed which added to the stimulation she was experiencing. Her moans were broken and combined with small, sporadic whimpers before going rigid and cumming once again. Her body shook uncontrollably, back arching and eyes rolling back. Inuyasha watched the beautiful moment from between her thighs as her lips formed a perfect ‘O’. He swallowed her orgasm as it came, his tongue following the rhythm of her body as she ground on his face.

Her breathing was heavy, and her chest heaved as her lungs came back for air. She felt amazing and overwhelmed all at once, as she had never felt something so intense before in her life. Inuyasha removed himself from her dripping pussy and sloppily kissed her. She could taste herself from his lips and it turned her on all over again, the kiss both sloppy and passionate and perfect.

Inuyasha felt small arms touching the button and zipper of his pants, and he immediately grabbed them to take them away. He backed away from their heated kiss and looked at her with raised eyebrows.

“Let me do something for you.” Kagome pouted.

“As awesome as it would be to watch you suck my dick, all I wanna do is make you cum tonight with it instead.”

“But Inu-“

He kissed her forehead, “Later. Right now, I just wanna make ya cum.”

Kagome’s pout did not leave her lips, and Inuyasha could not help but chuckle. He placed his thumb on her bottom lip and pulled it down. Slowly, he inserted his thumb into her mouth, “You are so pretty when you pout.”

He gently pushed her back down and removed his pants and underwear, causing his aching cock to finally spring out of its confinement. Kagome’s eyes widened at the sight, her mouth watering at the thought of tasting him.

Shooting up from the bed, she looked at him seductively before grabbing his cock and pumping him slowly. The grunt he released was enough for her to know she was doing alright, even if she had only just started. The head was already glistening with pre-cum and she wanted a taste, poking out her tongue and licking the head of his cock before taking him inside her mouth entirely.

Inuyasha groaned, his hands gently pulling back her hair so he could watch her pretty little mouth be filled up with his cock. The sight alone was enough to make him cum, and he could not allow that to happen yet.

He tapped her cheek before pulling out of her and bringing her back up to his mouth again. He pushed her back onto the mattress while never letting go of her lips, and he grabbed her legs to spread them apart again.

“Sorry princess, but if I let you keep that up I was gonna cum a lot sooner than you think.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Kagome challenged.

She was going to drive him mad. “Give me head after I make you cum three more times.”

“Babe!”

He growled, low and deep while kissing her red lips once again. “Wanna make it four?”

Kagome moaned into the kiss while her pussy throbbed in anticipation at his threat. Her mouth was preoccupied with his lips, turning to buck her hips up to touch his cock. Inuyasha’s dick twitched at the feeling of her warmth and her slick touching him as if beckoning him in.

She laid her head softly onto the bed, her eyes half-lidded and drowning in lust. “Fuck me, please, I want you to fuck me.”

He backed up and fisted his cock to place it over her wet folds and slid up and down to tease himself and her. With her sopping pussy teasing his cock while also providing Kagome some fiction, their breathing began to grow rapidly.

Slowly Inuyasha slid into her empty hole that was begging to be filled by him. He slowly slid inside of her pussy and the couple gasped and groaned at the feeling of finally being connected. She was so hot and wet, and all he wanted to do was to start slamming into her, but he chose to wait until she was used to him being inside.

Kagome felt so full and complete she could cum right now, and she was so aroused that his entry did not sting at all like she thought it would. It had been a long time since the last time she had sex, and none of those times was she ever this wet that it did not burn a little upon entry.

She rolled her hips and moved them up to get closer to him, “Please move, I need you to move!”

At the sound of her begging his body began to thrust into her, and the little sounds he had been waiting to hear from her began to ring in his ears. They were beautiful, like a song, and he wanted to learn the words and memorize them immediately. He spread her legs wider apart to watch where they were connected, the lewd sounds squelching from her pussy every time he moved. It was erotic and Kagome was the sexiest woman he has ever seen in his life.

“Your body was made for me.” Inuyasha praised, “You’re taking me so well.”

All Kagome could do was moan in reply, the feeling of his girthy cock pumping her too delicious for her to attempt to speak.

He watched her round breasts bounce with every thrust and he salivated at the sight of their dance. Bending down and popping a bud into his mouth, he sucked her nipple hard. A throaty moan immediately left Kagome’s lips while she tilted her head back in euphoria.

Letting go of the bud he kissed her again and rolled around the other one with his fingers. He fucked her at a steady pace. He wanted to build her up and get to know the sounds she made as she got closer to her climax. Her breathing was faster, her moans were getting louder, and her body arched a lot more with every hit.

The hand on her breast traveled up her chest and stopped right before her neck and Kagome rang out a broken gasp. He looked into her eyes while his pace increased.

“Is it okay if I wrap my hand around your neck?”

Her brown eyes went wide and her neck flushed a darker shade of pink. “Yes,” she smiled eagerly. “Please choke me.”

He let out a groan, his hips moving even faster as he placed his hand around her neck and squeezed. He made sure he was not blocking her airway or squeezing too hard. Kagome moaned at the sensation, her hips frantically meeting his as she felt herself growing closer.

Releasing her neck so oxygen and the blood flow could return to her safely, Inuyasha decided to grab the underside of her knees and place her legs on each of his shoulders to go even deeper inside of her. His thrusts were rapid and rough, and Kagome’s moans turned into frantic little cries and breathy pleas. He bent down and licked up her neck, sucking on the spot that he knew drove her crazy while a finger rolled a hard nipple.

“Inu-!” She cried. “I’m gonna cum!”

“Cum for me baby.” He growled in her ear. “I’m right here.”

Eyes rolling back as her body shook against him, she moaned breathlessly while riding her third orgasm. Inuyasha stayed inside of her and lazily kissed her neck and breasts, continuing to give her the attention she deserved as he waited for her to come back to him.

“How ya feeling? Good?” He grinned.

“I feel.. incredible. I can't even describe how I feel right now.” She smiled.

“Well, we’re not done yet so get used to that feeling.”

He lifted himself off of her body and slowly pulled out, the feeling causing them both to groan at the loss of each other’s warmth.

“Turn around for me.”

Feeling a little shaky, Kagome rolled on her tummy and lifted herself up. Her arms and knees wobbled from her previous orgasms, causing her to lack balance, so Inuyasha wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her secure. He bent down and kissed her shoulders gently, the softness of his kisses relaxing her instantly. Smiling at her reaction he continued to pepper her back with kisses while holding her against him so she did not fall. As soon as he reached the bottom of her spine he moved back up, his kisses never faltering until he reached her lips. Their mouths melded together perfectly, even at the angle that they were in, and the hand on her tummy began to make its way down to her pelvis.

Kagome gasped from the sudden touches and she shut her eyes tightly in anticipation, and it was so cute that Inuyasha could not help but kiss her cheek. Never taking his eyes off of her he slowly rolled his fingers on her clit and coated the nub in her juices. She moaned, gasping at the attention her clit was receiving while her empty hole clenched over nothing. Once he was satisfied with how much of her juices were dripping down her thighs, he stood up straight and pumped his cock a few times before slowly easing his way back inside of her.

Kagome released a loud, sensual moan at the feeling of being filled once again at the new angle he was fucking her in. In this position, he can hit her deeper, and she was beginning to feel it already. Her arms gave out and she leaned on her elbows for support as she arched her back in pleasure.

He could not get enough of her ass bouncing with every thrust of his hips, it was like he was in a trance, with his hands firmly on her hips in order to fuck her harder and deeper. She was moaning his name in broken pieces, only fucking her harder to make it impossible to say his name. He slapped one of her ass cheeks and she cried out at the hit, only for her to press herself into him so he could do it again. Never slowing his pace, Inuyasha smacked her ass again and again before continuing the ministrations on the neglected cheek. He could spank her all fucking day with how wet she was getting for him.

“You like that huh?” He gripped her ass. “You like it when I spank you?”

“Yes!”

He smacked her ass again, “But only bad girls get spanked, princess.” He smirked.

“But I-“, she gasped. “I love it! So good.”

At the sound of her incoherent speaking, he knew she was close, so he picked up the pace for her. Her cries and whimpers only become deliciously louder with his thrusts. The lewd squelching coming from her sopping pussy driving him closer to cumming, and this time he knew he was not going to be able to hold back.

“Such a good girl.” Inuyasha grunts, “Such a cute little ass.”

Gripping her hips even harder, he keeps her in place in order to get her to do his next order.. “Touch yourself. I wanna feel you cum on my dick.”

Without any hesitation, Kagome’s fingers found her sensitive clit and rolled along to the pace Inuyasha was fucking her at. The tight grip on her hips was almost painful but also amazing, she gripped the sheet with one hand while she flicked her clit with the other. The familiar heat was pooling inside her abdomen, her breathing was quickening and she was chasing the high.

“Inu…yash-“ She whimpered brokenly, “Mmm… please!” Her toes curled and her body was moving out of her control. “Yes yes yes!”

Her body shook violently and Inuyasha quickly wrapped his arm around her waist again and bent down over her back. A loud grunt left his mouth as he felt her pussy suck in his cock during her orgasm. He continued to fuck her during her release until she was done shaking and was more relaxed.

He stayed inside her and chose not to move, allowing her to recover from her orgasm while he accidentally edged himself for the second time in a row.

“Fuck princess, we’re not even done yet.” He finally pulled out of her.

Kagome rolled onto her back and sat up, her hands cupping both sides of his cheeks to bring him down to kiss him slowly and languidly. Their tongues tasting each other as the kiss grew sloppy.

“Please make me cum again.”

As if on queue, Inuyasha’s cock was ready for round three. He laid back on the mattress and against her pillows before patting his thighs excitedly.

“Get on top.”

Shyly, Kagome moved to straddle him and slowly slid down and covered him fully. He rolled his head back and groaned, she fit him so perfectly, and in this position, he practically could feel her even deeper. It was as if she was sucking him in with how tight she was.

He knew his girl was still recovering from her last orgasm, so he did not move or tell her to move, instead, he let her cockwarming him while he kissed her. He wanted her to call the shots this time, and to move when she was ready to start again. His hands were gently holding her face towards him as he kissed her, and in return, her hands were wrapped in his hair to feel closer to him.

During the kiss, Inuyasha could feel her hips beginning to sway in a slow, tantalizing rhythm. It was not strong enough for either of them to fully lose control, but it was not soft enough for either of them to not feel anything. This movement she was making felt like a build-up of a volcano, slowly beginning the process of building pressure before the eruption.

As she gained a faster pace their mouths detached and they separated from each other. Now in her own little world, with her eyes closed and her mouth parted, she was riding him much faster.

“Use my cock baby girl.” Inuyasha praised. “It’s all yours.”

Kagome smiled, the shyness she felt earlier completely melting away with the delicious pressure rising in her tummy. Leaning backward, she placed her hands onto his thighs and gained better leverage and control of her lower body, now moving much deeper over his erect cock. Inuyasha was hypnotized by the swaying of her hips and the way she slid up and down on his dick, the wet, squelching sounds and her moans filling up the room like music.

He licked the pad of his thumb before placing it on her puffy clit and slowly moving it around in circles. Her wet pussy glistening for only him to see, and he continued to watch her in a trance.

“You look so beautiful like this.” He continued to roll the pink nub, “So beautiful while you ride my cock.”

Her moans only got louder after that, and her pussy even wetter from his praise. His finger touching her sensitive clit while she rolled her hips over him made her toes curl and her back arch. And with her breasts out for him, Inuyasha leaned up and put a pert nipple into his mouth and sucked. Causing louder, lewd cries to escape her.

He sucked on her tits and gave each nipple his equal attention, making sure they were ravished and red to his liking. She was growing tired, he could feel her pace slowing, but she was so desperate to cum he knew she would keep going to exhaustion. With one last suck to each nipple and a few more rolls of his thumb on her swollen nub, he gripped her hips and thrust upwards.

The new sensation had Kagome almost screaming, her hand cupping over her mouth to silence her loud moans.

“I wanna hear you,” he growled, “Don’t cover your mouth.”

A little embarrassed, Kagome moved her hands to his shoulders to hold on to him tightly. Her embarrassment turning into pleasure as soon as he started thrusting again, this time at a faster pace, and all she could do was moan and release high-pitched whimpers.

“Yes yes yes yes!” She chanted like a prayer, “Fuck! Yes please, please, please!”

“Fuck!” Inuyasha yelled, the build-up becoming too much for him. The edging he did to himself had done him in, and he was close to finally cumming.

Her tits bounced with every thrust he gave, and her moans only growing higher and higher as he made her reach nirvana.

“Fuuuck I’m gonna cum!” She moaned.

“God, yes, cum all over my dick!”

With a few more thrusts Kagome’s entire body went rigid and she let out a loud gasp. Her body shook and contorted, back arching and mouth open in a silent scream. Her pussy walls were squeezing him so tightly with her orgasm that Inuyasha followed her and came inside. Ropes of cum filling her pussy. He shook underneath her, a moan leaving his lips at the unbelievable pleasure that soared within him.

For a few moments, neither of them spoke while they came down from their highs. Chests heaving back and forth, with shaky legs, and sore thighs they slowly recovered.

Inuyasha pulled Kagome in for a sweet and tender kiss, his fingers brushing away the strands of hair that fell over her face. This kiss was different from all the other kisses they shared tonight because this one was sweet, loving, and filled with the adoration that they felt for each other.

Pulling away, Kagome bit her lip and giggled, suddenly feeling shy.

“How do you feel?” Her boyfriend asked.

She smiled at him, “Sore, but amazing. Incredible? Wonderful? I’m feeling like many things.”

Inuyasha grinned at her, he grabbed her hands that were splayed on his chest and kissed her knuckles. “I’m sorry babe.”

“No! Don’t!” She kissed his forehead, “I knew I was going to be sore after this. But… it was so good. You are amazing.”

He laughed at the compliment and carefully moved her to lie on the bed while still being connected to each other. “Careful Kags, you’re gonna inflate my ego.”

She smacked his chest playfully, “Oh God, we don’t need more of that.”

Holding her tightly to his chest it grew comfortably quiet between them. He paid attention to her breathing, slow and steady, and listened to the beating of her heart. He could live like this for the rest of his life. Sex or no sex, having this woman beside him was something he would never trade for the world. He felt safe next to her, and he could be himself, and he knew she felt the same way.

As sleep was beginning to take them both away, Inuyasha’s ears suddenly stood up tall at the sound of Kagome’s stomach grumbling. She tried to play it off and pretend to be asleep, but he knew her better than she did, so he poked her stomach and got her to laugh.

“You’re hungry. What do you wanna eat?”

She groaned, “I wanna stay next to you. You’re warm. Food can wait.”

“Babe.” He warned.

“Fine.” She pouted. “There’s a frozen pizza in the fridge. We can heat it up in the oven.”

He slid out of her, the both of them suddenly missing the warmth from the connection that they had.

“Stay right here. I’ll go make the pizza, you take a nap until I get back.” He kissed her forehead and covered her in her fluffy white comforter. “After pizza, if you’re up for it, we can take a shower together before we go to sleep.”

“Mmm… I like the sound of that.” Kagome answered sleepily.

Inuyasha chuckled, “I’ll be back with the pizza babe. Go to sleep.” He told her as he walked out of the room.

“Bring me water please!”

As their eventful night ended with full bellies and a warm, comforting shower, the couple realized that they would never give each other up for anything in the world. Thank goodness they were done keeping their relationship a secret because, after tonight, everyone was going to know about how much they mean to each other.

#inukag smut #inukag fic #inukag fan fic #inukag fan fiction #smut #lemon #18+#inukag lemon #ao3 #inukag #inuyasha fanfiction #inuyasha x kagome

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raikangaru · 4 years

Text

It’s Sexy - Zuko x Reader

Warnings: explicit content (smut)

one shot

The sun was out and harshly beaming on us, Sokka and I were seated on the steps of the royal family summer house. Zuko and Aang were sparring, trying to help Aang somewhat master firebending. “Zuko can we take a break I’m tired”,they’ve been going at it the whole morning, I feel bad for Aang. “No! You think you can take break when you fight my father”,he huffs frustrated at the air bender,”woah, sheesh I was just asking”,Aang raised his hands in surrender, he looked to me for help.

“Hmm Zuko, how about a 10 minute break! I think Katara’s about to bring out some watermelon juice!”

“Fine!”,he agrees, huffing as he trudges over to me, taking the empty spot beside me. He snakes his arm around my waist pulling me towards him,”Nooooo, you’re sweaty!”,I whine pushing him away,”mhmm but you like me sweaty”,he whispers in my ear, his husky voice making me feel hot. “Oi, Zuko”,I slap his arm my cheeks becoming flushed,”(your name) whats for dinner?”,I turned my head to face Sokka. “Thinking or dinner already? We just had lunch”,I giggle at him,”but I’m a growing man!”,he pouts at me. “Aww you’re too cute Sokka”,I feel Zuko nudge my knee but before I could turn back to him, Katara walks up.

“Brought the watermelon juice!”

“Finally! It took so long”,Sokka comments earning a slap on the head from Katara the whole group erupts in laughing fit, me almost choking on my drink. “Oh where’s Toph?”,I wondered out loud,”she’s training to master sand bending. I’ve already given her a drink”,Katara replies and I just nod my head. A comfortable silence blankets over us as we enjoy the watermelon drink and the sun shining down on us. The weather was great for a swim, we all stare out and I lean back on Zuko, looking up to him. His ember eyes focused at the ocean beyond, I reach my hand up to move his black locks away from his eyes, his attention shifts to me.”I love you”,he whispers quietly just for us to hear. “I love you too Zuko”,I wrap my arms around his neck,”(your name), don’t forget you need to go markets. We’ve ran out of stock”,Katara breaks us out of our trance, they all just stare us and both our cheeks burns red from embarrassment, forgetting we were not in the confines of our room.

“Huh, oh yeah!”,I awkwardly laugh, “uh Aang, let’s get back to training”,Zuko tries to break the awkwardness. Zuko stands from beside and Aang groans, unhappy to continue training, Sokka calls me over and I comply, moving to sit closer to him,”since everyone’s doing training, so you wanna spar with me?”, he asks. “Yeah sure! I’ve got time to kill before going to the markets”,I smiled giving him a friendly smile, from the corner of my eye, Zuko watches our movements, I smile to myself as an idea pops in my head. I was gonna make Zuko just a little jealous.

“Come on Sokka”,I take his arm and drag him, I position us parallel to Zuko and Aang, where Zuko and I are opposite sides, a clear view of him. Sokka prepares himself, swinging his sword around, I crack my knuckles waiting for him to strike me. Sokka charges straight to me, with his sword swinging to swipe my left side, I jump away from him and clap my hands as wall of fire surrounds Sokka. “(your name)!! Don’t bend, it’s unfair!”,Sokka whines and I extinguish my flames,”fine fine, you’re lucky I like you”. I get myself into a fighting stance, I charge for Sokka but my peripherals catch something more interesting than the current spar match. I see my black haired boyfriend strip off his shirt, revealing his toned chest, his sweat dripping down his body, it was such a hot site, I want to jump him. I was most definitely distracted and the next thing I knew I had crashed into Sokka where I had landed on top of Sokka, sitting on top of his lap, a very sexual position.

“Alright, that’s enough training for today!”, Zuko yells clearly frustrated, I made sure to not look at him. “Oh Sokka, I’m so sorry”,I slowly get up from the position and help the poor blushing older water tribe man. “I should probably head to the markets, I need to prepare for dinner”,I sadly look to Sokka, I leave them heading towards the house to get the money and bag for shopping. Just as I was about to head out the main door, a hand catches my wrist and I’m jerked back into a solid chest. I already know who is it,”you coming Zuko?”,a small smirk plays on my lips, I turn to meet his eyes which still held the anger from the previous events. “Let me get a new shirt, then we can leave”,he drags me to the direction of the room we shared. He picked out a shirt then we headed out to the markets.

We blended perfectly in, considering we are actual fire nation citizens. The market was crowded, there was a lot to purchase from the list Katara has given me, so I decided to split with Zuko just to make stuff quicker. “Hi, can I get squash, some potatoes and those carrots please”, I asked the vegetable vendor,”yeah right away, gorgeous”,he flashes me a toothy grin. I shake it off, once I had paid the young vendor and was about to move to another stall but the young vendor followed me. “Let me help you out, I know all the ins and outs of this market. I can get you the best deals”,he takes the bag I had been holding,”oh no it’s alright, I can handle it”, politely declining him. “No no, please I insist”,he places a hand on my lower back guiding me through the crowd, I was not comfortable with this guy around as he was a little bit on the touchy side, though I was able to get all the ingredients and stock we needed.

“Uhm, thank you for helping. I’ll be on the way now”,I tried to release myself from his grip, “oh, it’s no worries. Let me walk you back home”,he doesn’t budge, as much as I want to burn him I cannot risk getting caught. “No it’s okay. I don’t need anyone to walk me home”,this time I forcibly try to pull away but he wouldn’t let go, he was digging his nails into my arm.

“Let go of her”,the all familiar voice of your boyfriend rings in your ears, grateful that he has come. “Dude, just stay out of this.”,the younge vendor tells off Zuko, you begin to struggle in his grip,”Let go of my girlfriend”,his voice becomes more stern, sending chills down my spine, Zuko easily rips the guys hand off my wrist and pushed me behind him. “You want to go?”,the guy yells throwing a punch in Zuko’s direction but it fails as Zuko catches it and aggressively pushes the guy down. “Zuko, let go home”,I whisper so only both of us heard, I tug on his shirt, he whirls around to face me and I beg him with my eyes, he sighs and takes my hand in his as we journey back home.

We had finally reached the summer house, the walk back home was quiet, no words were uttered once we passed the threshold of the house I dropped off all the supplies in the kitchen. “(your name) room now”,Zuko orders, I nod my head and walk behind him to our room, “in the bathroom”,I hesitate before complying with him, once I’m in the bathroom he shuts the door and I backed up but the back of my knees hit the tub. “You’re very naughty baby”,his voice lowers an octave and stirs something in me, “but I haven’t done anything”,I say quietly.

“You think making me mad is nothing?”,he steps closer to me, my body starts to heat up loving this side of Zuko, I clench my legs together to ease the heat. “I didn’t do anything”,I played innocent, looking up at him through my lashes, “silly girl, you think I appreciate you sitting on that water tribe boy’s lap or having another man have his hands all over you”,he almost growls, the sight of him mad excites me, I figit in my spot. He finally closes the gap, he presses his lips roughly on mine, impatiently biting down to ask for access which I opened for him. We break away a trail of saliva between us, his hand finds itself on my neck slighty gripping, he pushes me until I’m seated on the edge of the tub.

“Zuko”,I moan out as his other hand squeezes my breast,”you want to strip for me baby”,he coos in my ear, I nod my head. He releases me and I slowly untie the knot that held the fire nation top. I turned away from him and slid the matching pants giving him a nice view of my ass, once I was fully naked I sat back on the tub with my legs wide open. “Such a good girl”,he returns to his position but this time kneeling infront of me, his fingers playing with my clit. Pressing hard on the sensitive nub, I let out a small moan before he continues to slide it up and down the length of my pussy and inserting a finger. It feels good and I almost lose my grip on the tub, “mhmm you like that?”,he asks.

“Yes”

“That’s good, hmm why don’t you suck my cock”,he moves to get rid of his shirt and pants until he stands before me in all his glory. He was a gorgeous man, toned stomach and quite a sizeable length. I take his already harden length and pump it a few times before I slowly slid it in my mouth immediately hitting the back of my throat. I move my head back and forth making sure to massage the part I couldn’t fit in my mouth, I hollow my cheeks and try to fit as much of him inside my mouth, he grabs onto my hair controlling me. He suddenly pulls away and gestures for me to turn around, I obey he positions himself on my entrance. He slides the head first before pushing himself all the way, I couldn’t hold in my moan, he was deep inside me and it felt so good and he groans fill the bathroom. As he rocks his hips into mine, he pulls on my hair again, he moves his hand to my clit and rubs hard circles on them making me clench my pussy around him, he pulls me all the way until my back is pressed against him, hitting me even deeper. “Zuko, it’s feels so good”,I say breathlessly,”that’s right, only I can make you feel this way, touch you this way and see you this way”,he growls possesively.

I start to feel pressure build up in my lower stomach, I was close to climaxing. He rolls his hips harder and I groan at the impact, my stomach tightens and I feel myself clench around him before finding my release. “Zuko”,I cry out as I grip the bathtub like crazy, he continues to thrust into me before he stills and unloads his hot release inside me. “aww fuck (your name), such a good girl”,he slaps my ass before pulling out. I turn to face him and share a passionate kiss with him, “you know I love you”he gently tuck a hair behind my ear.

“I know but I love it when you’re mad, it’s sexy”

m a s t e r l i s t

hey! kinda long and a smut one shot too (woo), hope you guys enjoyed it. please leave a like so i’ll know if you guys are interested in reading more. dm me if you have requests or suggestions i’m curious on what you guys think. oh thank you for the likes on the other stories really appreciate it, have a great day!

all the love xx

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goldenchan-fx2thepeacock · 3 years

Text

Don’t Go Running Off Into Danger, Even If I Do pt 4

Aight bitches, this’ll be the first chapter when the title starts to make sense. Dipper and Mabel are complete idiots and manage to get lost in the Ghost Zone trying to find Danny, who knows the place. Also, Tucker and Sam. I’m contemplating making one of them nonbinary, prolly Tucker. Yup. And Sam may or may not have she/they pronouns. I think that’s all. Enjoy my chaos.

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Chapter 4

Danny did not sleep. Skulker, Ember, Johnny and Kitty decided it would be a great idea to wreck havoc. Ghosts do need order. They said that they only did it because they have no leader. Danny suspected Clockwork was behind it, but he was too tired to string together much of a coherent thought. So, goodbye sleep schedule! He’d sleep in Lancer’s class. What was one more detention?

He greeted Sam and Tucker at the doors. The Pines Twins also showed up. “Danny, did you get a new girlfriend while we were away?” Sam joked. “Shutup. I’m not in the mood,” Danny grumbled. “Oh, it’s cranky pants!” Tucker laughed. They seemed to think his fucked up sleep schedule was a joke. “Don’t blame me, blame Skulker and Johnny,” “Those two usually have Kitty and Ember with them,” Sam said. She had a point. “Yeah, yeah. You know the gyst. Anyways, this is Mason and Mabel,” He gestured to the twins. “They accidentally caught me transforming. Also, we have to make a trip to the Ghost Zone,” “Call me Dipper!” “Once again, I’m not using your stupid nickname,” “Come on Danny, don’t be a dick,” Sam laughed. “Bold of you to assume I can be one,” Danny snorted. Tucker slung his arms over the other two. “Only you get to make trans jokes. And maybe not in earshot of Dash,” They pointed at the quarterback. “Eh. I’m the heir to the Ghost Throne. What can he do?” “You’re the what now?” Sam and Tucker yelled in unison. “Clockwork told me yesterday. Also, they’re immune to Time Outs,” “How is that possible?” Sam was confused. Danny didn’t blame them. “We had a run in with Bill Cipher,” Mabel said confidently. “Sounds boring. Why would the guy with powers be called Bill?” “You’re just salty because you got called InvisoBill,” Tucker comforted him. “I have half a mind to reveal myself to the entire school,” “Bill was extremely dangerous,” “Danger dorito!” Mabel chimed in. “You are not helping me take this seriously. Tucker, get off,” Danny shoved Tucker off. They were elbowing him in the ribs. “Oh come on, you know you like it. Mwah!” Tucker kissed Danny’s cheek. Danny became a tomato. “Hey! Not in front of the entire school!” He was completely gone. He’d been dating Tucker for about a month now. “You guys are dating?” Mabel looked heartbroken. What the fuck? “Uhh, yeah. Tucker’s into guys and I’m bi. But we’d prefer not to announce it to the entire school,” “You know what you should announce to the entire school? That you’re Danny Phantom. Only if you take the crown though,” Sam said. “I’m doing it. Jazz said it would be a good idea,” “We’ll need cover then. Dipper, Mabel, you get to guard the portal!” Sam said way too enthusiastically. “They’re new! They know nothing about it!” Danny protested. “Well, if it’s anything like Great Uncle Ford’s portal, we can handle it,” Mabel said. “That shut down the moment he walked out Mabel,” “My parents’ Ghost Portal has been going strong for two years!” Danny said. “And caused all of the madness in Amity. Never mind half killing you,” Sam said. “That was entirely your fault,” Danny replied. “I concede to that point,” Sam accepted her fate. “Good. Now, are you guys sure you can handle this?” Danny was skeptical. “Yup!” Mason and Mabel said.

Sleeping in Lancer’s class was a one way ticket to detention. But what did that matter? At lunch, he ran up to the stage in the caf and transformed in front of the entire school. “FENTON IS PHANTOM?” “HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?” “I’VE BEEN CRUSHING ON NERD BOY?” Ah, Paulina. “Anywho, now that you’re all done panicking, yeah, it’s true. Tell whoever the fuck you want. I’m tired of lies and secrets. Also, I’m trans!” He flew off. He had to deal with a ghost. Val caught up with him before long. “Are you a complete idiot?!” “Yup. But hey, who gives a fuck. Wes might get a kick out of it,” “You’re going to get yourself killed!” “Been there done that Val,” “Why?!” “Turns out I’m the heir to the Ghost Throne. Who the fuck is gonna mess with the all powerful Ghost King?” “You aren’t yet!” “I will be by the time school is over. Clockwork told me he’d help me out if I needed it,” The GAV came up under him. “DANIEL FENTON! GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!” His mom yelled. “Nah, I’m good. You know, I’m surprised you didn’t notice your own son DIED,” “Danny, don’t be like that,” “Don’t be like what Dad? Don’t be dead? Don’t protect Amity from ghosts? Oh! I’ll do you one better, don’t panic when you scream that you’ll rip me apart molecule by molecule? Now if you don’t mind, I didn’t sleep last night and the Box Ghost is back,” He rushed into the fight before they could see the tears. “Danny!” He heard his mother howl in anguish. “Hey bub. Fought you yesterday. I’m seriously not in the mood for a fight, so get in the fucking thermos!” He held out the thermos. “BEWARE!” “SHUT UP!” He yelled and became invisible. “Danny, we know you’re there,” Mom said. “SO?! You know, I kinda hoped you would notice, but only Wes was smart enough to notice. I spent two years hiding. Now, I’ve got a Crown of Fire I need to take,” He sped off. There wasn’t gonna be more hiding. “Wait, like Pariah Dark? Danny, that will corrupt your mind!” “Like being a half ghost has done? Oh, and just FYI, Vlad is half ghost too. Remember Plasmius? Vlad. Have fun!” He sped off for real this time. “Vladdie’s a ghost?” Dad looked baffled. Danny sped past the school and grabbed the group. “Was that really the best way to go about that?” Sam said. “You’re going to be all over the news!” Tucker screamed. “Meh. I was already. At least I’m not public enemy one anymore!” He dropped the Twins and sped into the portal. Sam and Tucker had put on the Fenton Phones already. “Wes is having a field day,” Sam panted. “Figured he would. Let’s go in,” They walked into Pariah’s Keep.“CLOCKWORK!” “Ah, I see you made the desicion to come,” “Yup. Does there need to be a ceremony or something? Cause I just announced my identity to the entire school,” “Like a fucking dumbass,” Tucker muttered. “Bold of you to assume I could be anything but,” “Sorry Tuck, Danny’s right,” “Yay! I can be right for once! Take that Jazz!” “About your dumbassery,” Tucker groaned. “Semantics. Let’s do this,” “You just need to place the crown atop your head, then place the ring on your hand. Right hand, ring finger,” “Does it have to be just like that?” “Bad things happen if you do it any other way,” “Okay,” He sighed and did as told. He shivered as the crown became ice and a black billowing cape came off his shoulders. “Weird,” “Dude, you’re the Ghost King!” Tucker screamed. “Ahh! Advanced hearing! Where’d that come from?” Danny covered his ears. “When you become king, all of your existing abilities become amplified and you gain new ones,” “Oh yay. More powers to master,” “Okay, this is great and all, but what does he do now?” Sam said. “My ears,” Danny cried. “Sorry,” She whispered. “Your eyesight will also be advanced. You won’t notice it much here, but in the human world, it will become obvious,” “And painful to adjust to,” Danny muttered. “Brrr. Danny, it’s freezing,” Tucker shivered. “If I was bad at controlling that before, you think I can now?” “Sorry dude. Let’s head back,” “I need to tell the people my first rule real quick,” “What’s that?” “Don’t wreak havoc in the human world. They can still go, but don’t do anything that endangers the humans,” “Huh. Good plan,” Sam shivered. “You sure you can’t control that?” “I’m doing what I normally do to fix it times 10!” “So it could be colder?” Tucker shivered. “Go home and get jackets,” Danny sighed. He pointed and a portal opened. “The fuck?!” “Congrats dude, you can make portals!” Tucker clapped. “At least we won’t have to use the Fenton one anymore,” Sam shivered into her shirt. Danny concentrated and made portals directly into their houses. He grinned.

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Dipper and Mabel heard footsteps coming into the basement and had no place to hide, so they jumped into the portal. The place was terrifying. “Mabel, this is freaky,” Dipper shivered. It was oddly cold. “You think Grunkle Ford felt this way when he travelled through dimensions?” “Not that he told me,” They both shivered. A strange vehicle came rushing past. “Was it always this cold in here Mads?” Jack Fenton said. “Not that I remember,” She shivered. The temperature fluctuated randomly. “He’s in here somewhere!” Jack exclaimed and sped off. “That’s Danny’s parents! We gotta find him!” They followed the strange machine.

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Sam and Tucker took five minutes to get jackets. He’d managed to grab Jazz in the mean time. “Hoodie. I’m not wearing the stupid jumpsuit with this cape,” “Since when do you have a fashion sense?” Sam laughed. “Since never. I just like the hoodie more,” He pulled the hood up. The temperature went up. “Hey! That’s neat,” It went down again. “Heh,” “Don’t get excited until you figure this out better,” Tucker groaned. “Deal,” He laughed nervously. “Okay, how do I get them all to come here? I’m not the greatest at this,” “Just yell announcement. That usually makes them teleport directly here,” Clockwork said. Danny obliged. His voice was really loud. “I guess that’s another one to add to the list,” He chuckled. All the ghosts in the Zone teleported to his feet. They grumbled. “Uh, hi guys. I’m not very good at this royalty thing, so I’m only gonna really give you one new rule. I’ll get rid of all the stupid rules later. Just, uh, don’t wreak havoc in the human world. Don’t endanger humans. Like, you can still go, but avoid being dangerous,” “King Phantom, are you sure that’s the best plan? You are going to enforce rules that protect us from the humans too, aren’t you?” Dora’s voice rang through. “Oh shit. The whole guys in white incident a while back. Yeah, I’ll come up with something,” He rubbed his temples. “Also, can I get some help learning how to make it less freezing all the time?” “Of course Great One. The people of the Far Frozen would love to help,” Frostbite said. “Thanks Frostbite?” He grinned. At least until he saw the Spectre Speeder pull up. Fuck. “Look at all these ghosts! I’ve gotta catch a few!” His dad yelled. The ghosts looked terrified. “Hey! You aren’t going to do that! HOW DARE YOU?!” Danny sped down to the Speeder. “Danny, I can’t believe you aren’t trying to capture these ghosts for science!” Jack said. The world became very, very cold. “These are sentient people that you just decided to barge in on! You’re always like this! And it’s my job to protect them just as much as I protected you! GET OUT OF THE ZONE NOW!” He screamed. “Danny, calm down. We just want to help you,” “No you don’t. I won’t let you endanger ghosts for ‘science’. It’s cruel and wrong. Would you do that to a human?” “Of course not. But ghosts aren’t sentient. Their emotions aren’t real. Just displays put on to convince you that they have them,” “HOW. DARE. YOU! You have no right to barge in here and threaten these people. Some of them may have harmed you, but the way you act like they’re nothing, like they aren’t standing here right now, is horrible. This is Frostbite,” He grabbed Frostbite. “ He leads a stable society in the Far Frozen. He’s never left the Ghost Zone and never once harmed me. You know what the first thing he did when he met me? He gave me a hug. And you would torture him just for being a ghost. You think you know everything, but you know NOTHING! LEAVE NOW!” “Danny, is this really how you feel?” Maddie looked sad. “Get. Out. I’m destroying the portal on your way out. If I EVER find you back here, I will not hesitate to cause harm,” “The crown’s already begun to corrupt you!” Jack protested. “No, my views haven’t changed. You hurt ghosts. You hurt me! I’m trying my hardest all the time all you care about is your beliefs,” “They’re true!” “No, most of them aren’t. You don’t even bother talking to a ghost. Ghost have feelings, feel pain, have a society. Maybe it’s different than what you’re used to, but that doesn’t invalidate it,” Danny sighed again. “Just leave,” He turned around and flew back up to the chunk of land. “Danny...” “DIDN’T HEAR ME?! LEAVE!” He whipped around and yelled.

Sam, Tucker and Jazz followed him into the castle. He stared at Pariah’s sarcophagus. “Danny, I know that was difficult, but you were right to do it,” Jazz put her hands on his shoulders. He must’ve been freezing. “They really don’t listen. I have no clue what I’m doing, but I do know that the ghosts have a right to my protection,” He heard screaming. “You know what’s weird? If I close my eyes tight enough, I can see all over the Zone. And I think the Twins got lost in here,” “Let’s go get them,”

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The Fentons came rushing past again. They didn’t seem to have Danny though. “I can’t believe he’s protecting ghosts!” Maddie sobbed. “He’s gonna destroy our life’s work!” “I know,” All of a sudden, Danny appeared before them. “Hey guys. Get lost?” He smiled. The crown floating above his head serving as a daunting reminder. “Yeah, we were trying to find you to warn you about your parents,” “I dealt with them,” The temperature fluctuated again. “Sorry, my hands are cold. But you need to get home,” He opened a portal and they flew threw it. He teleported away.

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He went down to the basement and destroyed the portal. His parents looked mortified. “Finally. I won’t be constantly reminded how I died,” He sighed. Maddie and Jack said nothing. “Humph,” He teleported away and made a portal back to the Zone.

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Aight. That do be a chapter bitches. I’ll make a tag for it now. Just the acrynom, but meh.

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kittenofdoomage · 4 years

Text

Traps

@badthingshappenbingo Prompt: Compelling Voice

Fandom: Supernatural

Ao3 Link: Traps On Ao3

Rating: Mature

Summary: She’s on Michael’s trail to get Dean back (spoilers for S14)

Characters/Pairing: Michael!Dean, Dean Winchester x reader

Word Count: 2344

Warnings: angst, angst, angst, mind control, character death. This really is angsty, guys.

She’s too late again. The small cabin - more of a shack really - is empty except for the corpse on the floor, his burned and hollowed out gaze fixed on the ceiling. Michael’s gone, Dean with him, and she’s only following a trail of bodies.

With a weary sigh, she sinks down into the armchair by the door, sliding her hands along the upholstery to clutch the arms tightly. Her phone beeps, so she pulls it out, finding another hit, Singapore this time. There’s no pattern to his movements, except that there’s a body or sometimes bodies, wherever he goes.

Sam’s left voicemails again, begging her to come home. It feels like forever since she’s seen him, but it’s only actually been three weeks. A little more since she’s last laid eyes on Dean, stumbling through the portal from the apocalypse world. She promised Sam she’d go home but she can’t, not until she has him back.

She doesn’t bother telling anyone about the body in the shack, putting her foot to the floor of her battered Honda and gunning it away. Within hours, she’s got another possible sighting, and she’s turning East, still hoping she can get back the only man she’s ever really loved.

Sam calls. She ignores it. Pulls into a motel about sixty miles from where she needs to be because her eyes are closing on her and she can’t try and pretend she doesn’t need to sleep anymore. She manages four hours, still too much, and she’s back on the road, gas pedal pressed down, not even the radio for background noise.

There’s a good chance any song she hears is gonna remind her of Dean, and she’s not sure she’s strong enough to not cry.

The sun’s coming up as she pulls into Bridge Falls, over the steel construct that passes the waterfalls that gave the town their name. It’s picturesque, small-town America, and she hasn’t got a clue what Michael would want here.

A few hours of driving around leave her with nothing but an empty gas tank. She finds a motel, books a room, and tries to contact the witch who’s been tracking Michael for her. He doesn’t answer, and she’s left alone in the quiet, unsure what to do next.

The bedside lamp flickers and she hears wings before she sees him; her breath catches in her throat and she grips the edge of the bed she’s sitting on, staring at him in disbelief.

“You’ve been looking for me,” Michael drawls, inspecting his fingernails as he casually leans against the divider by the door. “Why?”

“You know why,” she rasps back, reaching for the pistol in the back of her pants.

Michael’s not dumb enough for that. She’s surrounded by grace in the next minute, suffocated by it, and the archangel steps towards her, finally looking right at her. Those green eyes she’s so familiar with hold nothing but contempt and amusement, glowing blue as he exerts his power to get into her head.

He’s watching her memories of Dean, right down to the explicit stuff, making her watch too, and there’s curiosity now when he looks at her. “What do you want?” he asks in a low growl.

His question is an order that burrows into her skull and forces an answer from her lips. “D-Dean,” she chokes out, and Michael pulls her to her feet with the squeeze of his hand around thin air.

“And what makes you think I’ll give him back to you?” he murmurs, inches away from her now. He doesn’t even smell like Dean - he smells like burned ozone and embers, like destruction on her tongue. “What makes you think,” Michael continues, lifting his chin, looking at her like she’s a bug that needs to be squashed, “he’s even still alive?”

She doesn’t. But she’s never stopped believing in Dean. She’s seen the things he and Sam have done, the things they’ve defied, and she refuses to believe that this is how it ends for him. Tears are clinging to her lashes as she fights Michael’s hold, staring him dead in the eye.

“I have faith,” she spits bitterly.

Surprisingly, he laughs, and it’s a foreign, stiff sound from Dean’s lips, almost as if the archangel hasn’t quite gotten the hang of it yet. He moves with a mechanical smoothness that belonged to Dean first, turning his back on her but keeping her in his celestial grip.

“Your witch is dead,” he comments; she thinks she might have known that already. “I thought it was Sam at first, he’s usually the one who comes running after Dean, right?”

When she doesn’t say anything, he glances at her, his lips quirking into a smile.

“Answer me,” he commands, and the order is too powerful to resist.

“Yes,” she squeaks.

“Imagine my surprise when it’s you,” he continues, tilting his head as he finds her duffel bag on the floor. “The girlfriend.” He spits it like it’s a bad word, and she’s helpless to do anything but watch as he rifles through her belongings, finding her wallet and the stupid photo booth picture of her and Dean she’s kept tucked in there for twenty years.

Can Dean hear her? See her? Is he even aware?

“He’s not,” Michael informs her and she grinds her teeth together, willing him out of her head. He finds that funny, chuckling as he tucks the photo into his pocket. “I should send a message,” he whispers, drifting back towards her. “A way to tell Winchester junior that he’s not going to get anywhere,” his hands lifts and he drags his thumb over her bottom lip, “by following me.”

The pinning warmth of his grace recedes. He knows she’s not strong enough to fight him now, he’s seen every corner of her mind. She doesn’t move when he releases her, remaining on the spot, his fingers curled around her jaw now.

“I could snap your neck right now,” he hums, tracing the line of her cheek with one long finger. “Let Sam know where to find your corpse.”

His hand drops to her chest, sliding against the exposed skin where her stolen flannel is hanging open. It’s warm against her collarbone, and so much like Dean that she feels herself weakening, ready to beg for his life.

“I could keep you,” Michael continues. He’s pressing under her shirt now, his hand is almost right over her heart. “You’d do whatever is necessary to get Dean out of this alive, wouldn’t you?” There’s a lie on the tip of her tongue but she doesn’t let it fall, shaking as his fingers tuck underneath the strap of her bra. “I can see why he enjoys you,” he purrs. “You’re warm and soft.” He’s closer now, his nose pressed to her cheek as he inhales deeply. “He likes the way you smell.”

Please stop. Please stop. She can’t bring herself to voice her plea. If he’s going to kill her, she wants him to get it over with.

“I don’t think I’ll kill you,” he chuckles.

His hand gets warmer, and it doesn’t feel right, doesn’t feel good. It’s starting to burn, and she whimpers, trying to pull away.

“Stay still,” he orders, and she can’t help but obey.

The burning gets worse, like it’s reaching into her chest but worse, and she can feel memories slipping from her grasp, stolen away. Each little piece is hacked at, gnawed, burned out of her, and when Micheal finally pulls away, there’s a blank stare on her face.

He’s left a handprint that she’ll forget about in the morning.

“You’re going to sleep now,” he murmurs, the power of his voice just as strong even though he’s stepped away. She blinks three times, and the room is empty, and she doesn’t remember why she was even there in the first place. For a few seconds, she looks around, before a yawn splits her face, so she lies down, drifting off fully-clothed.

When she wakes, it’s daybreak. She packs her bag and checks out, trying to remember why she was even in Bridge Falls. There’s no hunt here, not even a whiff of demonic possession, so she’s back on the road by lunch, pulling into the next store she sees to buy a replacement cellphone. It’s easy to reload the numbers onto it, and almost instantly, she’s barraged by messages.

<<It’s Sam, can you please call me?>>

<<Sam again, just getting worried, it’s been three weeks, can you please call?>>

<<Y/N, please ->>

There’s text messages too, referring to someone called Dean, but she doesn’t know any Sam Winchesters or any Deans. As she’s mulling it over, her phone rings, and she answers, hearing a male voice on the other end.

“Thank god,” he sighs. “I was starting to think you were dead.”

“Who is this?” she demands, frowning at the familiarity in his tone.

He’s obviously surprised by her reaction as he stutters out his name. “It’s Sam, Y/N. Sam Winchester.”

“I think you’ve got the wrong number, dude,” she scoffs and hangs up. He rings twice more, she doesn’t answer and blocks the number.

By nightfall, she’s picked up a case in Lousiana. The odd phone calls have stopped and though it puzzles her, for some reason she doesn’t dwell on it. People are dying, and she’s got a job to do.

Two weeks later, she’s on the trail of a ghoul pack in Minnesota, and she’s stopped for some supplies at a local Walmart. She’s standing in the snack aisle, debating the merits of Cheetos vs Doritos when someone calls her, and at first, she thinks it’s her imagination. It’s repeated, closer, so she turns, raising an eyebrow at the slightly breathless and absolutely gorgeous man standing in front of her.

In the next second, he’s got her arms around her, and she reacts the only way she knows how; she flips him and puts him on his ass, swiftly pulling her gun free from her pants and jamming the muzzle into his chest.

“Who the hell are you?” she demands, and the guy splutters, staring up at her in shock with his hands by his face in surrender.

“Calm down, Y/N!” he stutters out. She narrows her eyes and jabs the gun in harder.

“How do you know my name?”

He seems confused, tilting his head, squinting at her like he needs to double-check what he’s seeing. It’s too familiar, it hurts her head - she pulls away, putting the width of the aisle between them. A security guard appears, giving her a quizzical look. “We all good here?” he asks.

“Yeah,” she snaps back, and he doesn’t seem to particularly care too much, wandering back off to his station.

The guy hasn’t moved from the floor, though he’s lifted himself up onto one elbow, and he’s still staring at her.

“You know me?” she grunts out, retrieving her basket of purchases as he gets to his feet, brushing himself down. His shock seems to have worn off but he’s still giving her a look that makes her feel like he knows her, intimately. The throb in her head becomes a burst of pain, and she hisses, pressing the heel of her palm to the middle of her forehead.

“Hey, you okay?” the man asks, concern in his voice, one hand touching her shoulder.

Someone’s laughing at her, a deep, throaty chuckle, but there’s no one there except her and the guy.

“You know me,” she whispers, blinking at him, and this time it’s a statement, to which he nods, visibly swallowing.

“Let’s get you some air,” he murmurs; she stops him with a hand to his chest.

“What’s your name?” she asks.

He smiles, and it’s a fucking gorgeous smile, reaching right to his eyes. “Dean,” he replies.

There’s a thousand images associated with that name, and it’s too much. He’s got her as far as the salsa aisle, and she’s flagging, the pain in her head like a flood, freezing every muscle, constricting her chest. Dean catches her when she falls, cradling her like he would a lover.

Which is exactly what she was, before Michael stripped away two decades of friendship and their final attempt at something real. He’s given it back to her now, but she’s not gonna be able to do anything. It’s a punishment, for not letting him go.

Dean’s begging, crying her name now - there’s a crowd gathering, none of them willing to approach - and she can feel tears in the corners of her eyes. How the hell could she forget him? Dean’s been the center of her universe for so long, she should have known something was wrong.

He’s crying. This punishment wasn’t just for her. The first thing Dean would do is look for her, and Michael’s just reminding him that he’s never going to be free.

She can’t even get the words out for the pain.

She wasn’t supposed to go like this.

Her chest slows and stops, and Dean cries harder, cupping her cheek as his tears mingle with hers. Someone’s called an ambulance, they’re on their way, he hears it but he doesn’t really hear anything. He tells her he loves her because it might bring her back, he’s managed bigger miracles before, except her skin’s getting cold already and her eyes don’t see anything.

Sam’s there by the time they’re pronouncing time of death, and Dean’s got one of those stupid foil blankets around his shoulders. The EMT tells him it’s shock, and he’s very sorry for his loss; Dean’s quiet, staring at the covered lump of a body where Y/N used to be.

He doesn’t drive home. He lets Sam take care of him. Stays in his room and looks at the picture he found in the pocket of the tux Michael had been wearing. The photo of them, so long ago, when their friendship was the only thing that got him through. Now he feels like he’s got nothing.

Nothing except revenge.

#supernatural #bad things happen bingo #bingo entry #spn #dean x reader #dean winchester x reader #michael!dean #apocalypse world michael #revenge #character death #angst #memory loss #mind control #pg-13 #but angsty #fanfic #fanfiction #dean winchester

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mischiefandspirits · 3 years

Text

Doppelgänger (15/19)

Previously on Doppelgänger ~ Masterlist ~ Next time on Doppelgänger

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were just 14 when they took a look inside the portal Danny’s parents had built. From there, everything changed. They woke up with white hair, green skin, and powers they could learn to control. They were hybrids, halfas.

They were the hero Doppelgänger.

{Doctor's Disorders}

“Ugh, what is that smell?” Danny asked as he and Valerie approached Tucker.

“This,” Tucker held up a spray can. “It’s my new all-over body spray. I made it myself, I call it Foley by Tucker Foley. It combines with your natural odor to create a sweet, manly scent that smells different to everyone who sniffs it.”

Their noses scrunched up as Tucker started spraying himself.

“Tuck, you smell like a sweaty cookie.”

“By choice. The ladies will be swarming all over me.”

“Doubtful,” Valerie snorted. “You smell horrible.”

He pointed at her with the can. “You don’t count. You’re already dating Dan-”

The can slipped from his hand and clattered to the ground, spraying Valerie in the process.

She scowled as the smell of sports bra and sugar cookies washed over her. “You better hope this washes out,” she growled and shoved past him towards the locker room. Thankfully she had first period free so she could shower and drown her clothes in perfume. It didn’t completely help, but it was better. Maybe she should consider keeping a spare set of clothes in her locker. It’d help for the times she tears her clothes in a fight.

“Anyone in here?” Tetslaff called just as she finished fixing her hair.

“I’m here,” she said, tossing her mini curling iron into her locker. She grabbed her bag and walked towards the door to see Tetslaff eyeing her.

“You feeling okay, Gray? Any bug bites?”

“No. I’m fine. Why?”

“All students need to report to the gym. Anyone else here?”

She shook her head. “Bailey was in here, but she left a few minutes ago.

The PE teacher nodded and escorted her to the gym. She was surprised to see the entire student body either sitting or laying on the floor and bleachers, most of whom were glowing. The teachers were hovering over everyone as a man in a doctor’s uniform drifted through, occasionally stopping to talk to the students.

When he saw her, he came over. “And who do we have here?”

“Valerie Gray, what’s going on?”

“What symptoms is she showing?” he asked Tetslaff, ignoring Valerie’s question.

“None as far as I’ve seen,” she grunted and the doctor frowned behind his mask.

“Interesting. She’s the fourth one. Sit her with the others.” He gestured to the corner and Valerie smiled to see Danny, Sam, and Tucker waiting there.

They looked surprised when she joined them and Danny pulled her into a hug. “You okay?”

“Other than still smelling a little awful, I’m perfect. What’s going on?” she asked, pulling back but staying pressed into his side.

Sam gestured to the other students. “Some sort of ghost bug, literally. A whole swarm attacked the school and started phasing into people, resulting in that. You didn’t notice?”

“I’ve been in the showers.” She sent Tucker a look and he ducked behind Sam. “None of you got the bug?”

They shook their heads and Danny pointed off to the side, “Jazz did though.”

Valerie looked over to see Danny’s sister curled up on a mat, her body fuzzy at the edges. “Well, there goes the idea that prolonged exposure to ghost hunting equipment is what’s protecting us. Are your parents doing anything?”

Danny shrugged. “We’ve been in here the whole time. The doctor said he wanted us close since we’re the only ones showing signs of immunity. And they took our phones so I can’t call my parents.”

She smirked and took out her phone. “Looks like they forgot to take mine.”

Danny took it and the three crowded around him to keep him from sight.

“Do your parents have something that could fix this?” Sam asked as Danny dialed.

He thought about it for a second then smiled. “Mom, Dad… Yeah, I’m okay… Really? That’s weird. Why wouldn’t they tell you anything? Nevermind, I’ll explain everything, but can you guys grab the Ghost Catcher before you leave?”

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

“Is it just me or does Dr. Rand look really mad that his patients are being cured?” Valerie hummed.

Said doctor was currently standing off to the side as the teachers lead students through the ghost catcher, Danny’s parents sucking up the ghost bugs as they were pulled out.

Jazz took in his scowl with a frown. “Maybe it’s a pride thing? He was pretty much useless.”

“Or maybe he was part of a government conspiracy to experiment on us while we possessed ghost abilities,” Sam suggested.

“Sounds like something the Guys in White would do,” Danny muttered sleepily from his spot in Valerie’s lap.

“He’s a doctor. All doctors are evil,” Tucker agreed.

“What’s his problem?” Valerie whispered to her boyfriend.

“He’s afraid of doctors, nurses, hospitals, so on.”

“What’d you say his name was again?” Jazz asked, still staring at the man.

“Dr. Bert Rand.”

“Bertrand? Like Ms. Spectra’s gh-assistant?” Jazz stuttered.

The trio turned to her, then groaned, “Oh my god, we’re idiots.”

Valerie frowned as their voices nudged at her, but pushed it aside as Jazz asked, “What?”

“Spectra was a ghost, same for Bertrand. They must be behind the attack on the school,” Sam explained.

Valerie narrowed her eyes and moved Danny off of her. “I need to go to the bathroom.”

Jazz bit her lip as the girl left, then nudged Danny. “You three should go too. You, uh, don’t know when you might get another chance.”

They frowned, but agreed quickly and left.

Jazz smiled and leaned back. Those three could take care of the ghosts. Now she just needed an excuse for when Valerie got back.

{Pirate Radio}

Jazz sighed as she relaxed on her blanket, only to frown when someone started messing with the radio.

She sat up to glare at Tucker. “Knock it off!”

He held up his hands and backed up.

“Come on, Jazz. This music bites,” Danny said. “It’s our turn to pick something to listen to.”

“I like it. It relaxes me.”

“Well, we do outnumber you four to one,” Valerie pointed out.

Jazz grabbed the radio and held it close to her, scowling at the younger teens that she had joined on the Ops Center for stargazing.

Just then, the ground began to rumble and a pirate ship of all things burst intangibly out of the street.

Jazz jumped to her feet and gestured her brother back. “Danny, you, Sam, and Tucker need to go. Uh, go get our parents. Downstairs. Out of view.”

“R-right, we’ll go get them,” Tucker said and the trio ran off.

“I thought your parents were out,” Valerie said.

“Oops, I forgot.” Jazz turned to the girl and was surprised to see her pulling a ghost pistol out of her bag.

The girl froze. “Oh, uh, Danny gave it to me. For, you know, protection?”

As cute as it was that Danny was so worried about his girlfriend, Jazz would have to talk to him about handing out weapons of all things.

“Got anything else in there?”

Valerie tossed her a thermos just as a group of pirate ghosts landed on the Ops Center. The two girls went to work blasting and sucking up ghosts. Jazz saw a pair heading for the shield and pointed them out to Valerie, but Danny or one of his partners cut them off. She turned back to the main group of pirates and smiled when she saw the other two flying through the air.

She frowned when they seemed to fire on nothing. “What are they doing?”

Valerie looked up, then gave her an incredulous look. “Fighting the ghost captain.”

“I don’t see anything.”

“Weird,” she shot a headless pirate and Jazz sucked him in. “Can you hear him?”

“No.”

“Lucky you. He’s a brat. Maybe eight or nine years… Okay, so he’s eleven. Like that makes a big difference,” she snorted. Then her eyes widened and she barrelled into Jazz.

Something exploded behind them.

“You’ve never babysat, have you? Jazz asked as they picked themselves up. “Kids don’t like to be told they’re younger than they think they are.”

“I’ve only babysat actual babies. They don’t talk back,” Valerie said.

The ghost ship flickered then disappeared.

“What happened?”

“Doppelgänger caught the brat.”

The sound of a guitar-strumming echoed around them and two of Danny’s trio slammed into the ground in front of the girls.

“Ember’s back,” they said, rubbing their heads. “You guys might want to either get inside or put on Specter Deflectors before you get hypnotized.”

“M. Bersback? The guy who gave us that awful Vapor Drone? He’s a ghost?” Valerie asked.

They stared at her blankly, then one threw their hands in the air. “Oh come on! That's not a clue. That's a billboard! We really got to start paying more attention to these things!”

{Reign Storm, Part 1}

“Did you get the book report done?” Valerie asked as she passed Danny a water bottle.

“Mm-hm.” He took the bottle and tried to drink it.

“Lid Danny,” she chuckled.

He scowled and took the lid off. “I think you beat the ghost out of me.”

“Then I did my job,” she chuckled. “Seriously though, you’re doing really good.”

“Can I have my black belt then?”

“Not quite. Now come on, we’ve still got fifteen minutes before we need to clean up.”

He groaned, but pushed himself to his feet and followed her over to the wrestling mat. Jazz had somehow talked Tobias, the wrestling coach, into letting them use it for their sparring in the morning after Tuesday’s practice in return for cleaning up after. It was a lot better than sparring at home, even if it did mean getting up way too early.

Of course, being at school meant there were sometimes distractions.

“Think fast, Fentoni!”

Danny turned just as Valerie caught the football that was headed for him.

“Unless you’re here to spar, then get lost, Dash,” she huffed, tossing the ball to Kwan.

“Spar with Fenton?” Dash laughed and Kwan joined in.

“You’d snap him in half before he could even throw his first punch!”

“I thought I said to get lost,” Valerie growled stepping between them and Danny.

Dash leered at him. “You gonna let a girl fight your battles.”

Danny raised an eyebrow as Valerie stiffened. “Now you f-ed up.”

“And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean, Baxter?” she asked, cracking her knuckles.

Kwan grabbed Dash’s shoulder and whispered something that made Dash pale.

“J-just that Fenton’s too weak to fight his own battles, he has to rely on his girlfriend to do it for him. I did-din’t mean, you know, that a girl couldn’t kick butt.”

“Nice save,” Danny said and Dash gave him a death glare.

“Leave,” Valerie said.

They did.

“I’m definitely going to pay for that later,” Danny chuckled as he got into position on the mat.

“If you’re not going to fight back then stop antagonizing him,” she said.

“I’ve considered fighting back.”

“Then why don’t you.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t met Sidney Poindexter, then.”

“Who?”

“He’s the ghost who haunts my locker. He gets huffy with me if I try to get back at Dash. I was putting my annoyingness to full use on Dash when we first met and Sidney is paranoid I’ll do it again. According to him, I’m just as much of a bully as Dash if I do and he hates bullies.”

“Need me to take care of him?”

“Nah, we’ve got a truce. He’s not too bad. I just can’t pull anything on Dash without risking a lecture from him. And he’s still learning modern slang so a lecture from him is even worse than one of Lancer’s hip and funky fresh talks.”

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

“Do you guys know why Nathan’s been giving me evil eyes?” Danny asked as the trio walked home.

“He’s got a crush on Valerie. He’s ticked you and her are dating,” Tucker explained.

“He came up to me the other day and tried to tell me I needed to, Get your cheating boyfriend away from my Valerie! It took me fifteen minutes to get him to back off and I think he still believes you’re two-timing Valerie and I,” Sam said.

“We’re dating? Sam, why didn't you tell me? I'd have put my book down.”

Sam shoved him towards his stoop. “I want to break up. It’s not me, it’s you.”

“Okay, but I get Tucker in the divorce.”

Tucker shook his head and linked arms with Sam. “Sorry, Danny, but you knew I was a gold digger going into this.”

Sam shoved him away as well. “You can have him.”

“Changed my mind, he’s yours now.”

“You’re both awful,” Tucker fake whined and marched off.

“See you tomorrow,” the two yelled at his retreating back.

Danny turned to Sam. “Are you going to head out for patrol or do you want a snack first?”

“Depends, what’s the likelihood your food’s contaminated?”

“My mom and dad are partway through a new invention.”

“Pass.”

“You guys are ridiculous,” he called as she went to the nearest alleyway.

“Ectoplasm’s not a veggie,” she called back.

“Okay, fair,” he snorted and opened the door. “I’m home. Anything happen while -”

Danny cut off as he saw his family in the living room surrounding a certain fruit loop.

“Ah, hello, Daniel!”

“You!” he shouted, tossing his bag aside and marching up to the group. “What are you doing here?”

Some of his anger lifted as he saw his mom accidentally poor tea right onto Vlad’s lap. “Totally valid question.”

“Still steaming?” Vlad asked in his creepy stalker voice.

“You have no idea,” she growled.

Vlad turned his attention to Danny. “I was just, you know, passing through. And then I saw that marvelous battlesuit and thought, since I can't just destroy Jack and take it, I suppose I'll steal its secrets right out from under his nose!”

Danny’s fists clenched as Vlad met his dad’s eyes with a smile and the two started laughing.

“Oh I swear, I am such a josher,” he held his cup up to Danny’s mom. “More tea please.”

She poured it on his head.

“Not there! Ooh!”

Danny’s mom stomped off and his dad followed.

“I don't know what you're up to, Plasmius,” Danny started in a whisper, then blinked. “Actually, I do. You just told me.”

“That’s right! And say a word and I'll share your secret with your little friend.”

Danny stared at him blankly. “What friend?”

“Miss Gray.”

“How do you even -”

Danny was cut off when an alarm sounded through the house. His dad ran back into the room and hit a hidden button to bring up a radar system.

“Galloping goblets, it's the Ecto-Exodus Alarm!”

“The Ecto-whaty-what?” Jazz and Danny asked.

“The Ecto-Exodus Alarm! An alarm that only goes off when we're about to face a massive ghost invasion!”

Danny faked reaching into his pocket so he could grab the Fenton Phones out of his Space Fold. “I need to make a call!”

He felt Vlad’s eyes on his back as he ran upstairs, but ignored them.

“Sam, Tucker, please tell me one of you can hear me?” he said into the phones and through their link as he shut his door.

“What’s wrong?” Sam said.

“Ghost invasion. Big one. Coming right at us,” Danny said and transformed. “We need to get back here right now.”

Danny’s ghost sense went off.

“Too late.”

Danny flew out of the house as ghosts came pouring out of the portal and onto the street. His eyes landed on Johnny and Kitty and he flew towards them.

“Hey Thirteen, what’s going on?” he asked as he came level with the bike.

“You mean you haven’t heard?” Kitty said, turning to him. “Pariah Dark’s back.”

“Who?”

“If you don’t know, we’re not going to tell you,” Johnny snorted.

“Come on. We’ve been letting you mostly run wild as long as you don’t hurt anyone or destroy anything. Can’t you just tell us?”

Johnny growled and stopped the bike. “Look, we don’t know too much. He’s way, way before our time. All we know is that he’s called the King of All Ghosts and someone woke him up. Now he’s trashing the zone and looking for some ring that will give him ultimate power or something when paired with his crown. He’s powerful so everyone’s getting while the gettin’s good. Speaking of which.”

Johnny took off, but Danny didn’t bother to chase him. Instead, he turned to Sam as she joined him.

“This is bad. No kidding.”

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

Tucker flinched as his ghost sense went off for the fifteenth time. Where were all these ghosts coming from? He hoped he got into range of the mind link soon. Sam at least should be transformed so he should be getting close. Why did he have to choose today of all days to visit the gaming shop in Elmerton?

Someone blasted him and he groaned. He’d wanted to regroup with his partners before picking any fights. He turned to his opponent and groaned again. “What are you doing in town, fruit loop?”

“Haven’t we already been through this, Daniel?” Vlad asked flying closer and Tucker rolled his eyes.

So Danny or Sam have talked to him then. He hoped they were okay. “Refresh our memory.” Goosebumps swept over him and he gestured towards the ghost. “Are you the reason all these ghosts are around?”

“I’m flattered you think I could organize all this.”

“You’re right. We forgot you put everything into intelligence and strength. No way you could convince all these ghosts to listen with your charisma being a dump stat,” Tucker said, nodding. “Our bad.”

Vlad looked confused for a moment, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not here to play games, Daniel.”

“Then you’ve got the wrong half-ghost.” If he didn’t want jokes, he should have gone with Sam.

Vlad scowled at him, then he was being grabbed from behind. He looked up to see another Vlad holding him. The older halfa pinned one of his arms behind his back and held the other out to the first Vlad.

“Let go of us, creep!”

“Calm down, Daniel. I’m not going to hurt you,” Vlad one said, flying closer and grabbing his wrist. “I simply need you to hold onto something for me.”

“And why would we ever help you?”

Vlad one disconnected his glove from the hazmat and pulled it off, revealing green skin and black nails.

Wow, Sam would like those.

“Because this is a powerful relic,” Vlad two explained as Vlad one slipped a green and black ring onto Tucker’s middle finger. “One which I’m sure you’d want to keep safe and out of the hands of dangerous ghosts.”

“Like you?”

Vlad one smirked and replaced his glove.

“If it’s so powerful, why would you give it up?” Tucker asked as the Vlads let him go and merged together.

“That is for you to discover on your own. Ta!” He teleported away.

“We need to get a restraining order or something,” Tucker muttered, rubbing his shoulder. He glanced down at his hand uncertainly. Vlad could certainly have been lying, but if he wasn’t, Tucker couldn’t just toss the ring and risk it ending up in the wrong hands.

With a sigh, he continued on his way. The trio could figure this out together. Thankfully he only had to fly for a few minutes before his mind connected to Sam and Danny.

#danny phantom #valerie gray #jazz fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #Doppelgänger au

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