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dear-mrs-otome · 1 year

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Jude Jazza - Fake Lovers Event + Sweet End

(AKA Villainous Love That Unfolds on a Moonless Night but fuck that title it's too long)

I make no guarantees on accuracy. I make no guarantees on seriousness. This is, on multiple occasions, a shitpost in summary form - but I hope you enjoy it anyways.

~~~~~~~~

Our story opens on Kate - her lips hot, her heart pounding - telling Jude that she never wants to be the ‘lover’ of someone like him, ever again.

Jude thanks her sarcastically, before telling her it should have been him turning down someone like her to begin with…and Kate’s in total disbelief, wtf is wrong with me style, at the fact that his cruel smile is kinda doing it for her right now.

Absolutely fucking not, she’s telling herself. IX-NAY, FULL STOP, BAD OVARIES DOWN GIRL.

~~~Rewinddddd~~~

After she’d become the fairy tale writer, Victor had come up with an idea to help Kate get to know the boyos better, her first task. To pick one of the members of the Crown and spend the day as their ‘lover’. She’s like, nani the fuck?? How am I supposed to pick someone for that? But Victor’s clearly evil accounted for this, because he’s got the solution - if she can’t decide, he’ll decide for her. With DARTS.

Already prepared for this, Victor hucks a dart at a target and then immediately turns to her all soberfaced and apologizing. Not feeling that apologetic though because the next moment he’s smiling as he says she might be in for a bumpy road. He leads her to the lounge and goes right up to JUDE, of all people, which has Kate utterly dismayed. He literally managed to pick the WORST person possible, didn’t he?!

Jude is far from pleased at being interrupted, looking up from his paper with bitchface as Victor explains his proposal, and his answer is clear. A flat nope.

Just because she’s a woman, he’s supposed to have her pose as his lover? He doesn’t think she’s got the stomach for it in the first place.

Victor cheerfully tells him he’ll bump up how much money Jude’s getting next month, and Jude’s still far from pleased at the idea but money clearly talks, and with a patented-Jude ‘tch’ and a sneer he turns to Kate.

Jude: Once we’re outta here, I don’t wanna hear whining anythin’ like ‘I wanna go back’ or ‘I hate this’ or whatever. Promise that and we’re on.

She’s thinking fine fine, she’s come this far already may as well give it a go. She’s gotta take this first task and do it well so that she can be trusted as a fairytale writer and get out of this castle.

Kate: Yes! I promise!

Jude lets out a sigh like he can’t believe she just said that so enthusiastically, and Roger chimes in looking totally gobsmacked. He warns her that she’s just earned herself a rough go of it, making a promise to Jude - Jude’s deadly serious about keeping promises he’s made, but he expects the same of anyone else, and he’ll exact cruel ruthless revenge on anyone who breaks their word.

Kate’s all kinds of nervous hearing that now, and when she echoes it she glances over to find Jude with a cruel smile on his face, as if enjoying her fear.

Jude: Don't make promises so easily, Princess. I’m gonna spend the rest of the day teachin' you that.

~~~~~~~~

It takes her only a few minutes to regret her life choices, wishing for nothing more than to go back home already.

Jude and Ellis had told her they were going to work, so she tagged along with them, and it had taken only a brief while before Jude had ducked into an alley off the road and there been accosted by a man with a knife. He jumps out, yelling about how he can’t forgive (a thoroughly unimpressed) Jude for wanting to make the man lose his mansion, his property, everything he has. No matter how much he works he’ll never pay off his debts, the man shouts. His family will be ruined! It’s ALL Jude’s fault!

Jude merely says Ellis’ name, and in a blink Ellis has the man pinned to the ground, disarmed.

Leaving Kate shocked by how fast he moved and how deftly he handled that.

Jude reminds the man it was HE who broke his contract - if he wants to starve to death paying for a lawsuit he can’t win, go right on ahead. Tossing those words at him all casually as he simply walks by, leaving the man wailing on the ground.

The dude seems pretty defeated, so Ellis lets go of him and gets up to follow Jude…but Kate is conflicted. Obviously she doesn’t have any clue what sort of deal the guy had with Jude, or how he broke it, but he seems pretty busted up and too pathetic to just leave him lying there in the dirt like this. Feeling bad, she takes out her handkerchief and hands it to the man - but all that ends up doing is enraging him, feeling like he’s being pitied by a girl like her.

He grabs her leg rather than the kerchief, causing her to squeal and tell the man to let go of her, but he shouts at her for mouthing off to him.

Just as she’s frozen in fear…a well-polished shoe smashes the man’s face.

Jude: Don’t just touch something of mine.

Kate’s aghast as she follows the leg attached to the heel still grinding into the man’s face and finds Jude standing there, looking down at the dude and looking pissed. The man manages a few grunts, but that just causes Jude to grin and say how much he’s relishing the man’s miserable expression. Laughing at the sight of the blood running from the agonized man’s nose before turning away.

Kate forces herself to follow Jude, leaving the broken man behind, but she still carefully leaves her handkerchief beside him before she goes.

~~~~~~~~

Though the method might leave something to be desired, she’s gotta admit to herself that Jude protected her, and so she thanks him when they get back out to the street. But Jude just scoffs that she’s a sheltered princess, and tells her he didn’t do it for her. It’s because right now she’s supposed to to be ‘his woman’, and if he lets someone doing something to her slide to her it’ll only cause problems for him - AKA he’s gotta keep up appearances.

She thinks to herself that she’d rather he just accepted her thanks, since he did help her, but she gets why he was so vicious about it at least. And she broaches the subject of the guy, asking what the deal was with him, but all Jude says on the matter is that the guy made promises he couldn’t keep, and now he’s paying for them.

Jude: Pretty sad, pathetic, and hilarious, innit?

She’s trying to figure out how Jude’s so chill about a dude hating him enough to want to kill him - actually, scratch calm, he looks almost like he’s enjoying the whole thing. Like he’s having fun. And she thinks back to the write-up she’d seen on Jude:

‘Curse: The 13th Fairy. Ruthless, arrogant, and vindictive.’

Sounds spot on, she’s thinking.

Jude reminds her to watch herself, lest she end up like that dude, because he knows she was just thinking how she wanted to go back home and how she hated all this. (AKA about to break her promise too)

Kate: I might have thought it, but I didn’t SAY it.

Jude: A shame. I went into that alley and put you in danger and everythin'.

Cue Kate like…whaaa? She asks incredulously if he's saying he tried to get her attacked on purpose to make her break her promise?!?

Jude smirks and implies she managed to guess right, which only enrages Kate.

Kate: You’re the worst!

Jude (100% unrepentant and grinning): Why thank you. I’m lookin' forward to finding out just 'ow long that sassy attitude of yours lasts.

~~~~~~~~

She’d assumed saying they were going to work meant an office or something, but instead they bring her to the dockyards. Makes sense though she guesses, when you own a trading company.

Jude sends Ellis off to prepare for some unspecified ‘thing’ that might happen tonight, and Ellis seems to get what he’s alluding to, bidding Kate a cheerful farewell and leaving her wondering just what they’re talking about and where Ellis is going. Pondering that she follows along after Jude as he moves about the dockyards, giving instructions here and there. He speaks with dock workers and the foreman and she finds herself a seat between crates to watch him as he does. Taking in the way everyone looks at him with a mixture of fear, nervousness, and sometimes hostility - tempered with respect.

He finishes up the conversation, and a friendly young man comes rushing up to Jude, who pulls a face at how loud the man, Jack, is. Jack is delighted that Jude remembers his name, and Kate’s a little surprised to see that someone out there is a Jude fan.

That’s about when Jack notices her there, and asks who she is.

Jude: Oh, my woman.

Jack’s about to losing his mind over this revelation - holy what?? Bossman’s girlfriend?? And he’s practically shouting, so loud that Kate’s cringing as a sea of eyes turn her way. It freaks her out and she wonders if it’s all in her imagination that she feels like people are all jinxing her.

Jude scowls and says what of it? What if he does have a girlfriend? Jack’s left trying to make excuses and apologize for making a spectacle, until Jude just long-suffering sighs and tells him to get back to work

Felling hella uncomfortable, Kate’s scrunching herself down between the crates and such trying to stay out of sight as much as possible, when she senses Jude’s amusement and looks up.

Jude: Yeah, good, stay small like that. There’s plenty of people who’d kill you just for bein’ my woman.

She asks if he’s meaning to say she might be attacked again like she was before, getting nervous all over again remembering that guy who’d grabbed her leg.

Jude asks if she’s scared, and she starts to say OF COURSE but she stops herself, trying to decide if he’d consider it a complaint if she did. (AKA a violation of her promise)

He snorts at that and steps closer and says of course she’d be terrified - a sheltered, defenseless princess like her? It’ll be a miracle for her to make it home unscathed after all the things that’ll happen to her.

Only when he finishes does she realize he’s backed her up against the crates, with nowhere else to run - a fact he gleefully points out. He wraps his fingers around her throat and squeezes, not enough to hurt or cut her air off, but tight enough to make her blood run cold.

Kate: Sto-!

She keeps herself from finishing that too, not willing to tell him to stop and risk breaking her promise. But being unable to resist like that only amps up her fear more.

Jude: If I put just a bit more strength into this hand, you’re never going back to the castle. Alright?

Kate’s thinking NO ACTUALLY THIS IS FAR FROM OKAY?! But she can’t protest so she does the next best thing - glares at him furiously.

Jude lets out a little laugh and says he likes that face, it’s the cutest thing he’s seen all day. He almost feels bad for her, because she clearly wants to go home but can’t say it. If she breaks her promise, he’ll do terrible things to her, no?

He seems amused, clearly seeing right through her fears and conflict, and she wonders if THIS is what he meant when he’d threatened to show her that she shouldn't make promises so easily. But that’s just what she does.

Pissed off now, Kate finds her voice, and furiously she tells him it’s not because she’s afraid of his vengeance that she doesn’t protest. It’s simply because she doesn’t want to give up on earning their trust and earning her freedom.

Jude looks taken aback, as she finishes by telling him that’s why she will keep the promise she made to him.

He clicks his tongue and lets go of her, and the sudden rush of blood to her head makes her dizzy. She staggers and starts to fall, but he grabs her by the upper arm and hauls her roughly back to steady on her feet.

Jude: Can’t have my woman just falling down can I?

She’s fuming to herself about how he’s still quite literally The Worst, when he tells her he’s going to be taking care of some business so she’s on her own for awhile here, and with that he just unceremoniously leaves. And stays gone, for hours…long enough for Kate to be left wishing for home once more as she’s freezing her ass off once night begins to fall.

The young man from earlier, Jack, approaches her, and she recognizes him. Jack tells her that Jude’s sent for her, and she’s fuming internally at him leaving her along for friggin ever and then summoning her whenever he damn well feels like it…but she forces herself to smile and accepts Jack’s offer to take her to him.

He takes her through the streets to a business warehouse, and inside she sees an unfamiliar man dressed in black with a bowler hat on, and guards surrounding him.

Bowler Hat Man: Are you Jude Jazza’s girl?

A wary Kate tries to back out, but she’s grabbed by Jack. Appalled, she asks Jack if he’s stabbing Jude in the back, but Jack tells her it’s not betrayal - it was just contracted work, and he’s found a better-paying job. Who wouldn’t take it?

Jack hands her over to the Bowler Hat Man, who evil chuckles over how he figured Kate would make a worthwhile hostage so he’d had her brought in - that man bringing a woman along is something that never happens. Kate asks if by ‘that man’ he means Jude, and the Bowler Hat Man agrees. He tells her how Jude killed a dude who tried sending a woman to seduce Jude for his own gain, and that Jude seems to surprisingly give a shit about ladies.

Kate’s like uhhh are you sure you’ve got the right person here?? This amuses the Bowler Hat Man a ton, but he says basically that Jude’s got some dirt on him, and he’s going to leverage Kate’s safety in exchange for negotiating.

She asks what’ll happen if Jude refuses, and the Bowler Hat Man simply says too bad so sad, that’ll mean she dies. THAT scares the shit out of her, because she knows there’s no freaking way Jude’s going to negotiate for her. She’s gonna have to figure out how to somehow get out of this all on her own.

Kate tries to tell the guy that she just tagged along with Jude to work today, but Bowler Hat says nah girl you were spotted getting all flirty at the docks today.

Kate: Did that seriously look like we were flirting? He was strangling me!?

Bowler Hat Man says hey, some people are into that kinda thing, and Kate’s about ready to choke at that. She starts vehemently protesting that she really truly doesn’t have anything to do with that man (Jude), this is all just a huge misunderstanding!

Jude’s voice: What a terrible thing to say about your lover…I’m wounded.

She turns around at the sound of his voice and the thump of something heavy falling to the ground, and sees Jude there walking in past an unconscious guard, tossing out a snarky greeting and an apology for interrupting.

SWEET END

The man in the bowler hat recognizes Jude, and he grabs Kate, wrapping an arm around her tightly and pressing something up against her forehead that she realizes, to her horror, is a pistol.

Jude: Ha, that’s a great look, Kate.

She’s bracing herself for the inevitable moment where Jude says she’s not his lover and he refuses to negotiate, at which point…she’ll be killed. Just the thought has her shaking like a leaf with fear - and Jude seems to be genuinely enjoying the sight of her in terror as he laughs and says how much he likes the frightened look in her eyes.

He asks if she wants his help, and she’s thinking NO SHIT ISN’T THAT OBVIOUS?

She’s nodding YES desperately, only to be left more and more of a nervous wreck as Jude strings her along, until the Bowler Hat Man is like, so much for a sweet reunion between lovers?

Jude’s a little disappointed he’s got to stop enjoying the sight of Kate in distress and pay attention to the man, but he switches his focus from her to Bowler Hat and states that it seems the guy is using Jude’s warehouse for business other than they’d agreed on. Jude doesn’t give a shit if he wants to use it to sell guns or whatever other nastiness - BUT. They had a contract that specifically said no buying or selling of PEOPLE didn’t they?

Kate’s thinking, holy crap they’re trading in people?

Bowler Hat wants Jude to overlook all that though - after all, he says, even poor people can fetch a good price when sold. It’ll line Jude’s pockets and help clean the filth from London’s shithole excuse for a port.

Jude’s just silent at that, and the guy keeps wheedling - Jude loves other people’s misery, and money, so of course he’d let something like this slide, right?? If Jude agrees to it, he’ll give Kate back unharmed.

She’s summing this all up in her head, that obviously what’s going on here is the guy broke his contract with Jude to use a warehouse he’d rented from him to engage in human trafficking. And now he’s trying to threaten Jude into letting it continue.

The whole thing makes her sick to her stomach, and while she doesn’t WANT to die she can’t wrap her head around sparing herself at the expense of ignoring the awful shit this guy’s up to.

She could never, ever, do such a horrible thing.

So, biting her lip to hold back her fear, she looks squarely at Jude and puts all her effort into keeping her voice from trembling when she speaks.

Kate: Jude…that nod earlier? I take it back.

He startles at that before he answers.

Jude: You’re seriously hopeless, you know that?

But her heart skips a beat at the smile he’s wearing when he says it - pitying and dumbfounded, but somehow still gentle. She’s honestly having a hard time believing what she’s seeing.

Slightly warm fuzzy moment all gone though when the smile falls from his face and he says he doesn’t need to be told what to do by her, so quiet down. His eyes are cold when he turns back to Bowler Hat and says there’s a few things the man seems to have misunderstood about him that he’s going to clear up.

First - that Jude loves other people’s misery and money. What he loves is eating the rich, basically. He loves the despair when the high and mighty, like Bowler Hat, fall from their comfy lap of luxury.

Bowler Hat has only a moment to be like, wtf? Before the air in the warehouse is torn apart by gunshots and screams, as the guards surrounding Bowler Hat all collapse. He’s so dumbfounded that Jude easily darts in and takes advantage of the distraction to twist his gun arm back.

Secondly, Jude tells him, is that no matter what kind of leverage someone tries to use against him he’ll never let anyone get away with breaking a contract.

Jude: Third…

He rips Kate away from the man and into his own arms on a sneer.

Jude: Whatever my answer is, I’m gonna be sure to get her back without a scratch.

He drives a knee hard into Bowler Hat’s stomach at that, and the man falls over on the spot. Kate’s still trying to catch up to the fact that Jude’s helped her again…and trying to tell her pounding heart to chill out. It’s most definitely NOT racing over Jude saving her bacon, or because he’s holding her. Absolutely not. Clearly it’s just because she’s scared.

Clearly.

She knows she’s telling herself lies nobody would believe, and in the meantime Jude aims the pistol he stole from Bowler Hat at him and tells him not to worry - he’s not going to turn him over to the police. In return for that, he just asks the man to be the subject for some dangerous research. Jude takes perverse delight in the idea of Bowler Hat experiencing the ‘joys’ of physical labor for the first time.

When the agonized man finally passes out, Jude calls out for Ellis to carry the guy off, and Ellis materializes out of the shadows with his own gun in hand. He observes on a smile that Jude seems pretty pleased right now, which only leads Jude to pull a face and tell Ellis to go get his eyes checked if that’s what he sees, after dropping this dude off at the lab.

Ellis seems a little disappointed, but he does as asked and disappears with Bowler Hat.

Kate asks if the man is going to be killed, and Jude tells her that he accepted this mission on the condition that if he could destroy the human trafficking ring, he alone got to decide whether the target lived or died.

Jude: I don’t see why I should let condescending bastards, living comfy and cushy lives while they exploit others, get off with something as easy as dying. It’s the way of the world that what goes around comes around, and it wouldn’t be fair for them to die before suffering through the same hell, right?

Kate’s still reeling from the revelation that this was all a mission though, and says as much aloud. Jude grimaces at her screeching and says what the heck else would it be?

Kate: So you didn’t come to my rescue because I was kidnapped by accident…

Jude tells her he knew they’d try anything to get him to negotiate with them, so she’d make a natural target if she was seen out and about with him. Kate’s like, wait you KNEW THAT and you left me alone?!

They devolve into arguing, Jude exasperated that she’s gotta pester him with so many obvious questions and Kate still furious that hello?? She might have been KILLED?!

Jude, scoffing: I’d never do anything to get my bait killed.

Kate’s just seeing red over having been used as bait, and she tells Jude, once again, that he is The Worst. Jude’s practically rolling his eyes as he tells her she already used that line earlier, doesn’t she have any new ones? Lighting up a smoke, he walks out of the warehouse - pausing on the way to land a hard parting kick on Jack, who is lying on the ground with the rest of the defeated guards.

~~~~~~~~

Back out at the docks, Kate questions Jude as to the nature of this ‘dangerous research’ he’s going to use that man as a subject for, but he tells her it’ll never have anything to do with her.

If it’s so dangerous, it seems like it might have serious and permanent effects, and she’s wondering whether Bowler Hat will come seeking revenge on Jude if he survives it. Also remembering with a shudder the hatred in the man’s eyes who threatened Jude with a knife in the alley. She could never stomach living with people constantly hating you and wanting to see you dead.

Kate: The more you torment people, the more they'll just hate you…why do you have to torture them?

Jude just smirks and tells her it’s the price of a delightful hobby, and she asks if it’s really fun enough to risk his life over. He stops at that and turns back towards her, causing Kate to almost crash into him, leaving them almost nose to nose.

Jude: Can I torment you until you hate me so much you wanna kill me, just to be sure?

Only for him to immediately break out laughing when Kate gasps, and say he’s just fucking with her. Quite pleased with himself at having her at a loss.

He tells her that a sheltered princess would never get it, and she thinks that she doesn’t understand and she doesn’t WANT to understand.

This man’s a cold-hearted, arrogant, ruthless sadist…but…when he put her in danger today, it was Jude who freed her and kept her safe. If he’d really made that promise to her with ill intent, she’d not have made it through the day unscathed.

That moment where Jude had promised to spend the day showing her the folly of making promises so lightly comes back to mind again…and she realizes he’d done exactly what he’d said he would and taught her the rules of this dark world she’s stepped into. Maybe because he knows the importance of a promise.

That doesn’t make showing appreciation any easier to swallow though, leaving her to force herself to thank him for today.

Jude asks what’s with the surly attitude saying it, would it kill her to smile more? Aaaand Kate’s back to exasperated with this man, but she tells him she learned a lot about the dangers of making promises and that she’ll be more careful next time, all on a smile this time.

Jude snarkily praises that…then grabs her chin with a cold smile, setting her flailing and asking what he’s doing.

Jude: You’ve done a good job of keeping your agreement with Victor and your promise to me…but I saved your life two times today. You owe me twice.

Kate’s in disbelief, even as ruthless amethyst eyes glint at her bewitchingly. Like a cunning predator, toying with its prey. Then Jude smirks and wonders aloud…what exactly should he get in return for saving his ‘sweetheart’?

FIN

(The little scene we get at the start of the story is from the epilogue)

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<< Bitter End | Epilogue >> (TBC)

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@violettduchess @just-simping-over-genshin

#ikemen villains #ikevil #ikevil jude #spoiler #spoilers #ikemen villains spoilers #ikevil spoilers #mrs o's translations of dubious quality

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hedwig394 · 1 year

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Derek Hale x Scott's sister, Sarah McCall

Sarah is older than Scott and only a year younger than Derek. (because big age gaps scare me). She works at the hospital with her mother and is a pharmacist and also a Druid of Scott's pack.

Timeline : In TW S1, after Sarah rescues Derek from Kate.

Sarah :

I run to the basement where they've been keeping Derek. Scott follows close behind me, and even when he is the supernatural one, it seems like I am running faster.

"CeeCee," Scott says, "Be careful." Even when I pretend like I don't like it when he calls me that, on the inside, I do. When Scott was a baby, he couldn't pronounce my name. He used to say 'CeeCee'. Even when he learnt the correct pronunciation, he still calls me that.

"Are you sure that this is the place?" I ask him as we come to a stop outside the door. My heart's been hammering and I've been out of my mind with worry. I had met Derek not a long time ago, but him and I, there's a bond developed between us. I'm sure that we have a connection. Like when he growls at every man who looks my way, when he almost became a wolf and killed that one man who tried to steal my purse, yup, I know he's into me.

And so am I. I like being with him. To the world, he's a dry, humourless, dead-inside person, but to me, he's just a man who's been alone for too long. People look at him like he's some kind of monster, but to be honest, my father was more of a monster than he is.

I hear voices inside, and put my ear to the door. Scott doesn't have to.

Derek: "Are you gonna torture me, or are you just gonna talk me to death?"

Kate: "Oh, sweetie, I don't- I don't wanna torture you. I just... wanna catch up. Remember all the fun we had together?"

Derek: "Like the time you burned my family alive?"

Kate: "No, I was thinking more about the hot, crazy sex we had. But the fire thing? Yeah, that was fun, too. I love how much you hate me. Remember how this felt?"

I take away my ear. I have to save Derek, not vomit at this door. Whatever Kate had in mind after she said that, it is disturbing. Still, a pang rocks my heart when I realise that she saw the innocent, kind part of Derek which I'll most likely never see.

Not the time to be jealous.

Kate walks away, and Scott and I burst open the door. I cough due to the dust, but Scott stands in front of Derek with his jaw clenched. Derek sees him first and then I step into the light. Derek's eyes widen.

"Why is she here?" He snaps at Scott, making my heart crack.

"I'd suggest you to be a bit more grateful, Derek! Since she was the one who insisted on saving your life as soon as possible after she located where you were being tortured!" Scott snarls at him. I give him a soft smile. If there's anything Scott doesn't tolerate, it's the disrespect of his sister.

"I am grateful for that." Derek grits his teeth. He refuses to make eye contact with me. "But do you remember that she's human? She can't heal like us! What if something happens to her-"

"Look at me!" I snarl at him. "I'm done sitting safely in my house while a crazy werewolf hunter tries to hurt my brother and my-"

I break of mid-sentence. My? Derek? Mine?

"You!" I grit out. "And don't even get me started on that crazy alpha wandering around beacon hills." He's looking at me now, his eyes full of emotion, a rarity when we talk about Derek. "You need me, Derek. Admit it."

I don't give him a chance to speak and step up to him, removing his cuffs. Once I free his hands, he doesn't move, just keeps them on my waist and I wrap my arms around his neck. He touches his head to mine and says, "You have no idea how much I need you. I need you to control myself. You're my anchor, Sarah McCall."

"I thought your anchor was anger." I tease him playfully. He kisses my head. "That was before I met you."

"Can you two stop? I don't wanna vomit here." Scott says from behind me. "Derek, we need to talk to you. About Peter."

I try to move away but he holds my hand. "Derek, you cannot support Peter. You cannot be with him." I warn.

"If he's going to kill the Argents, I will." He says firmly.

"I'm not going to let you kill Allison!" Scott shouts at the top of his voice. "What is wrong with you, Scott?" Derek snarls at him exasperatedly, "She is from a family of hunters! Do you know what hunters do? They. Kill. Us. You're not in love, Scott! You're 16 years old!"

I flinch at his loud voice and he gives me an apologetic look. It feels like he's trying to explain that to himself other than Scott.

Scott is comtemplating and looks confused. "What if I told you, Peter was the one who killed your sister to become the Alpha?"

There is a shift in the air. I can feel it even without the wolfish senses. Derek's demeanour changes, and his eyes get darker till the shine into a vibrant blue.

"Derek," I whisper to him, "Calm down." The blue fades from his eyes but he still looks angry.

After we escape from there, I first take Derek to his loft to take a look at his injuries. Most of them are healed, but not all of them.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you." He says quietly as I patch up one of his injuries. "I know you were just looking out for me."

"Looking out for you is an understatement. I had gone mad with worry." I snort.

"I'm sorry." He says again. I don't reply.

After he's all patched up, we start thinking of a plan to catch Peter.

"Wait, you're not accompanying us, are you?" Derek asks me, wide-eyed.

"Of course I am. You idiots will mess everything up without me." I say promptly.

"Sweetheart, you probably don't want to hear this, but-" Derek sighs, "It's too risky. Peter won't stop at anything to get what he wants."

"And I will remain careful." I assure him. "You don't have to babysit me, Derek. I can take care of myself."

"I know," he hugs me, "I'm just worried about you. You're one of those few people I actually care for."

"How much do you care for me, hmm?" I tease him as we separate. "This much?" I hold my fingers with a little gap in them. "This much?" I widen the gap. "Or this much?" I hold my arms apart, gesturing to the space between them.

"This much." He says and his lips crash down on mine. I've never kissed him before, and kissing him feels surreal. He kisses me passionately and lovingly, like his entire world is me. I kiss him back with all the care and passion I've felt for him since the day I first saw him near the Hale house.

It feels like his lips are made for mine, and I sink into the kiss as I rejoice the feeling of us being together.

#derek hale #fanfiction #derek hale fanfiction #derek hale fanfic #fanfic #teen wolf #teen wolf fanfiction #scott mccall #stiles stilinski #argents #kate argent #taylor swift #style #we never go out of style #Spotify #derek hale imagine #derek hale love #derek hale smut

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brf-rumortrackinganon · 3 months

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I’m team william and kate definitely, but lately I’ve been assessing things to kind of get in the bottom of things and understanding where it all went wrong. I like to be more nuanced in viewing these people. I think some people can get carried away with viewing them in the worst way possible. While I do see Harry and Meghan as very problematic people, I wanna be careful about getting into batshit crazy conspiracies. Reading about all the conspiracies sugars have about kate’s condition opened my eyes a bit. There are a lot of people who hate h&m that actually sound as crazy as the sugars, but the difference is their conspiracies are directed towards h&m instead of w&k.

That being said, all the stuff with Christian Jones and Dan Woottoon seem shady to me, but tbh I don’t really fully understand what everyone’s been saying lol. But tbh, if Christian Jones asked Omid for Finding Freedom excerpts in order to bury the affair rumors, I don’t think that’s throwing Meghan under the bus exactly. We all know from the Jason Knauf emails that Finding Freedom was viewed by the KP comms team and Harry and Meghan as a way for them to correct narratives, so using excerpts from Finding Freedom to bury the affair rumors is like using positive Meghan stories to bury rumors about William that may or may not be real. So in a way, Christian Jones was just doing his job in a hitting two birds with one stone kind of thing by protecting two of his bosses in different ways. Idk, does that make sense?

It does, you make a lot of sense.

Scobie's issue seems to be two-fold:

He isn't as objective in his reporting of the royal family as he claims to be. Which is fine - everyone has a bias and a perspective that influences the way we see and interpret things. Where Scobie gets into trouble is by telling us he's completely objective, but not ID'ing who his sources are and telling us to "just trust me" instead.

He's right there in the thick of everything going on. To use a Superb Owl analogy, Scobie can only see the linebacker right in front of him, while we're up there in the sky box with a vantage point to see all the players, all the refs, all the coaches, and we're getting the commentary and analysis.

Both of these go hand-in-hand and affects how Scobie sees things. His experience of being welcomed by the Sussexes while being pushed away by the Cambridges, and similarly seeing the Cambridges push the Sussexes away at the same time, makes him more sympathetic to the Sussexes. He's more inclined to see things through their eyes because he has the same experience. And again, there's nothing wrong wtih that. It's human nature to bond over shared experiences. Where Scobie takes it too far is by refusing to consider other explanations, especially ones that are outside what he saw for himself. Maybe he doesn't see them because he's right there in the thick of things, or maybe he sees it as spin from the opposing side.

I do think you're doing the right thing, anon, to take a more critical approach to royal-watching. Royal-watching, like all hobbies and fandoms, is a spectrum that runs the gamut from toxic extremes to indifferent neutrality. Figuring out how you like to look at these things and doing the work to find where you fit in on the spectrum can make it a little more enjoyable, because then you're around more like-minded people and the discussions and the conversations are more open, especially and particularly when you disagree.

I like nuance too (in case you haven't figured it out yet) and I like looking at things critically. For me, the world has more colors than black and white, and there are more options than a binary either/or solution. I admire the people whose convictions are so strong that everything fits neatly into an either/or model, but I know I could never be like that. I'm too fascinated by "well, if I turn my head this way and if I sit down and I squint, does it change anything?" And sometimes it does. It's why I like reading the royal books; sometimes I learn new things that change how I think. For instance - Sally Bedell Smith's 2017 book on then-Prince Charles changed my perspective on Charles. Scobie's chapter on race in Endgame made me see that he does genuinely care about the firm needing to look like the people it serves and he isn't only doing it for the headlines or because he's in Meghan's pocket - and if that makes me a sucker, so be it.

#ask #endgame

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worflesbian · 1 month

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expanding on prev post by assigning the voyager crew a kate bush song each. obviously the whole of the ninth wave is voyager-coded so it'll have to have its own post and be excluded for this one

janeway: all the love is a very janeway song it's literally about pushing away all the people who are deeply concerned about you - 'the first time i died it was in the arms of good friends of mine'. i'm very torn bc there's So many from the red shoes that are janeway coded but i have to say the wedding list is probably the only one that captures her level of unhinged violence like that's janeway when she's out for blood

chakotay: james and the cold gun is about begging the person you love not to sell their soul to an empty vendetta of violence (see above!). i also quite like reaching out as a chakotay song - 'see how the child reaches out instinctively, to feel how fire will feel, see how the man reaches out instinctively, for what he cannot have... the pull and the push of it all'

tuvok: leave it open! it's such a cerebral song but also kind of guttural at the same time? 'harm is in us, harm in us but power to arm' sounds like something he would say to kes about controlling her telepathy.

b'elanna: under the ivy as mentioned but also hounds of love but ALSO love and anger! i can't even quote a single lyric bc the whole thing is So her and specifically her relationship with tom

seven: immediately i think experiment iv but also mother stands for comfort seems very seven and the borg queen and/or seven and janeway. 'it breaks the cage and fear escapes and takes possession, just like a crowd rioting inside (make me do this make me do that)... am i the cat that takes the bird, to her the hunter, or the hunted?'. i also think suspended in gaffa may not be a seven song tonally but it works lyrically for her relationship to her humanity: 'i won't open boxes that i am told not to, i'm not a pandora, i'm much more like that girl in the mirror, between you and me, she don't stand a chance of getting anywhere at all' 'but sometimes it's hard to know if i'm doing it right, can i have it all now?'

harry: i think army dreamers is a brilliant harry song, it's literally about a golden boy dying young because he dreamed of being in the military. from the perspective of his beloved mother. 'give the kid the pick of pips, and give him all your stripes and ribbons, now he's sitting in his hole, he might as well have buttons and bows'. rocket's tail kind of works as a harry and janeway song - 'and it seemed to me, the saddest thing i'd ever seen and i thought you were crazy, wishing such a thing' (tries going out in a blaze of glory himself) '...was it me said you were crazy?'

tom: night of the swallow!! literally about a criminal pilot - 'oh let me fly, give me something to show for my miserable life, would you break even my wings, like a swallow?'

neelix: I actually quite like never be mine for Neelix, it feels like it could be about all the lives that he could've lived, if his family hadn't been killed, if he'd stayed with Voyager and gone to the alpha quadrant - 'this is where I wanna be, but I know that this will never be mine'. also moments of pleasure seems to capture his attitude to life I think - 'just being alive, it can really hurt sometimes, these moments given, are a gift from time'

the doctor: i want to say deeper understanding bc it is about an ambiguously sentient computer program but on a character level i think he's more sat in your lap, which is about wanting to understand everything and being limited by the capacities of your own mind - 'i must admit, just when i think i'm king, i just begin'

kes: I will admit I'm not a kes scholar but I quite like the big sky for her just for the line 'you never understood me, you never really tried' and this idea that she's always looking up for something larger than herself that other people might not pay attention to

#voyager #ghitlhpu'wij

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yn-bishop · 2 years

Text

You Belong With Me

Kate Bishop x Fem! Reader

Word Count: 1011

Summary: Kate is jealous of your new girlfriend but can’t find the courage to tell you. Will your family help her out?

This can also be found on my Wattpad: @Steinfan6245

Kate nods along as Y/N tells her about her girlfriend. Kate and Y/N have been friends for 12 years and in that time, Kate has fallen for the younger Barton.

"I gotta go. I'm meeting her in a few minutes but you can stay here if you want. You and my dad get along, right?"

Kate nods again and hugs her friend as she exits the house.

"You know she loves you, right?"

Kate turns her head away from the door when she hears a deep voice behind her.

She shakes her head when she sees Clint.

"No she doesn't. If she did, she would be with me instead of her"

Kate mumbles in disagreement and Clint sighs at her comment.

"She's with her because she thinks you don't like her. How the fuck are you both so clueless?"

Clint asks when he hears his wife call from another room.

"Language! Nathaniel can hear!"

Clint sighs in reply and turns back to Kate.

"Just ask her out and she'll say yes. Isn't the prom coming up? Ask her to go, you and I both know she's excited for it and if you don't ask her, she'll go with that Brittany girl and she won't let Y/N hang out with you"

After Clint's speech, Kate still looks unsure and Clint sighs.

"Or you can just let her stay with the girl who's only with her to get another girl jealous"

Laura walks in, holding a baby against her hip.

"Clint's right, Kate. Everyone can see she wants to be with you, you're just taking so long to ask her"

"If she wants to be with me, why doesn't she ask?"

Kate asks, unsure.

"Because she's shy. What happened to the annoying, overconfident Kate?"

They hear babbling and look over at the baby.

"You think so as well?"

Laura asks, hugging the baby closer when Cooper and Lila walk in.

"They're right, she definitely likes you. You should hear her at night screaming your nam-"

Cooper's cut off by Lila hitting him across the head.

"Cooper! Don't talk like that!"

Laura scolds as he rolls his eyes and goes to the kitchen.

Kate thinks about everything the Bartons have said and runs out of the room.

Later that night, Y/N hears tapping on her window. She walks over to it and smiles when she sees Kate standing outside, waiting for her.

"What are you doing here?"

Y/N asks, hugging Kate.

"I need to tell you.. something important"

Kate says nervously.

Y/Ns face turns concerned as she waits for her friend to finish.

"I love you, Y/N. I wanna be with you. I've never wanted anything more than I want you and I know you're with her now but she doesn't love you like I do and I don't think anyone can. I just- will you go to the prom with me?"

Kate rambles nervously as Y/N's face turns excited and then sad and guilty.

"Kate, I.. I can't. I'm sorry"

She says, looking away from her friend.

Kate nods before speaking.

"Th-that's okay. It's all good. I will see you tomorrow"

She says before walking away, leaving Y/N to cry in her room.

Y/N hears her door open and feels her bed shift before seeing her dad sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Dad, I-"

"Shh, I know"

Clint runs his hand through her hair and she falls asleep.

"Why would she say no? She's waited years for this"

"We both know Y/N's not the kind of person to cheat on someone, Clint. She already has a girlfriend"

Y/N wakes to the sound of talking coming from the kitchen and walks to the voices.

"Y/N! Hey sweetie, how'd you sleep?"

Laura asks when she notices her daughter.

"Okay. I need to go to school"

Y/N replies as she packs her bag.

"I can drive you"

Clint speaks up before Y/N replies to him.

"No, that's okay. I can walk"

She answers before walking out the door.

When Y/N gets to school, she sees Kate and walks the other way. This happens a few times until Kate's had enough.

"Y/N! Talk to me!"

Kate yells when she walks up to Y/N at her locker. The hall is empty as class is going on.

"I can't be with you Kate! I have a girlfriend! Why couldn't you tell me all that a few weeks ago? That's not fair! I love you so much Kate and-"

Y/N is cut off by Kate's soft lips smashing against her own. Kates arms wrap around Y/Ns waist as Y/Ns hesitantly wrap around Kates neck. Kate gently pushes Y/N against her locker and her tongue slowly pushes against Y/Ns lip. When Y/N opens her mouth to allow entrance, someone clears their throat.

"Brittany! I-"

Y/N starts to say before the girl cuts her off.

"It's okay, Y/N. I like someone else as well. Besides, I knew you were gonna get together eventually, I just thought I would give it a little push. Maybe you should try not to make out when class is going on though"

Brittany smirks at the girls before walking away.

"So, will you go to the prom with me now?"

Y/N smiles and nods her head, pushing her lips against Kate's. The bells rings signalling that school is finished.

"Do you want me to drive you home?"

Kate asks as she takes Y/Ns hand.

"That would be great, thank you"

Y/N replies as Kate opens the passenger side door for her.

"So, what does this make us?"

Y/N asks when Kate starts the car.

"What do you want us to be?"

Kate asks back.

"I want to be with you but only if you want

tha-"

Kate cuts Y/N off.

"Y/N, will you be my girlfriend?"

Y/N blushes before nodding and kisses her new girlfriends cheek and Kate grabs her hand.

Just wondering, would anyone be interested in me writing a Beca Mitchell or Emily Junk story that follows the Pitch Perfect movies? Let me know! I hope you enjoyed this and look forward to the next one!

#kate bishop x reader #kate bishop #kate bishop x female reader #hailee steinfeld x reader #hailee steinfeld #beca mitchell #emily junk #pitch perfect #hawkeye

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reneeub · 5 months

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It's the third anniversary of me watching Spies Are Forever!!

Since then I told all my friends to watch it bc gay spies but (as a person who hates when things are defined by romance) I wanna do the show justice and make a list of all the other things I loved just as much

my family made me watch bajilion spy movies so let's say I'm pretty familiar with every trope they have. It was so fun and refreshing to see them in a musical, played just for comedy, made into a song or otherwise changed like no spy movie did before

Mary Kate Wiles singing. The Bond-esque intro?? The reprise??? Her as Tatiana???? I love her so much.

The whole soundtrack is so good tbh. I have no idea what genre the music is but it all fits together so well it creates a cohesive world I can never forget bc my brain keeps bringing the songs up

Spy Again... It's only the third song in the musical and I'm already invested and moved by Curt's story so much. I usually hate soliloquies, I get bored and want to skip them even when watching sth for the first time so the fact that I fell in love with Spy Again's storytelling so quickly is even more impressive

The intro and act 1 ending might be one of my favorites in all of the musicals I watched ever

Torture Tango should not be that good. It's a song about being tortured. It's funny. It's dark. It's twisted. It's more emotional and dramatic than an actual spy movie fight scene. It reprises other songs from act 1 (my fave thing an act ending can do). THE IMPLICATIONS WHEN YOU KNOW WHO DMA IS. "Come on Curt let's get going!............Owen?"

This musical makes me want to sing songs about being tortured or about Nazis in public. This is the kind of chaos I live for.

The magic of theater it makes me feel. Yes, they are sitting on office chairs. Yes, I have never felt more invested in a chase scene. The use of the stairs (stairs are the best thing you can have on stage nothing will change my mind)

#there is way more things i could add to the list #but they're mostly what i found funny or relationships related and i think that's more talked about and obvious and the above are what #i specifically felt those 3 years ago #spies are forever #saf

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internationalteaparty · 1 year

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MISS CONGENIALITY KACY AU

- Lucy is a new FBI agent in a team mostly men. Her boss is Jane Tennant, one of the rare female ASACs. Lucy loves her team and will do anything to impress her boss.

- They are going after a serial bomber and get a clue that their next target is the US beauty pageant contest.

- Figured that someone's gotta go undercover, Lucy jumps at the chance to prove herself. She might think that beauty pageants are stupid, and while she is confident in her looks, she knows she's not exactly the pageant kind of girl, but that's what undercover is right, to be someone you're not? So she can swap her combat boots for heels, her muscle tees and pants for dresses, and be less loud and brass.

- Tennant is worried, of course. This is a high profile case and it would be Lucy's first time undercover. But she has complete faith in Lucy and she will be running point herself, and Jesse and Kai will be on watch out.

- So Lucy will be going as Miss Texas, and they call in a "pageant coach," an eccentric man named Ernie.

- (cue funny make-over montage that looks more like Lucy and Ernie's spa day)

- It might be different from Lucy's actual personality, but growing up from a rich family means she can pretend and easily fit in.

- Everything is going fine until she meets Miss California, Kate Whistler.

- Holy shit Kate Whistler

- Lucy's impeccable gaydar also clocks Kate's not-so-straight vibe immediately.

- So she gathers information and flirts with Kate at the same time because she is that good of a special agent and listen Ernie this is for the mission okay?

- And they happen to share a room.

- (cue omg they're roommates squeal)

- They talk and Lucy finds out that Kate is smart, and charming, and funny as hell, and how can Kucy resist that?

- Meanwhile Kate is also in trouble because she just wants to win this competition but she can't help but pay attention to the hurricane force that is Lucy Tara.

- They talk well into the night and both wake up tired the next day.

- Both are certainly attracted to each other but neither will really make a move because Kate doesn't want it to mess up the competition while Lucy can't let it mess up the mission.

- But then one night Kate wanna go for a swim and Lucy is practically short-circuited when she sees Kate Whistler in a bikini and while she is not at all interested in going swimming she is very much into Kate swimming.

- So Kate is swimming in the pool and Lucy is on a bench watching and they just banter like usual. But then Lucy reaches out to help pull Kate up and they kiss and well...

- (Lucy is secretly glad she saw Kate in a bikini before the swimsuit contest day cause she would have choked on stage)

- Kate wants their thing to be lowkey, basically a secret. Lucy finds it weird, but considering that she is on a mission, she agrees.

- For talent day, Lucy does some back flips and such from her cheerleader days. Kate sings.

- Stuffs happen (cue investigative montage) and now. Now Kate is a suspect and Lucy is tasked to keep an eye on her.

- Lucy tells Tennant she doesn't think it's Kate, and Tennant believes her, but wants her to keep an eye on her anyway just in case, and dig into the other candidates.

- Lucy comes back to their room trying to act like normal but in reality she feels guilty because as long as Kate is a suspect Lucy cannot have any sort of personal relationship with her.

- So she pulls away and they kinda fight bc Kate doesn't understand why Lucy is acting like this all of a sudden

- Then Lucy made a comment about how Kate only cares about winning, and that hurts Kate so much bc they've talked and she thought Lucy understood her.

- Guess not.

- Things are tense that day.

- Sone point in the nexxt few days, while looking for some stuff Kate finds Lucy's FBI badge.

- She confronts Lucy.

- "Not only do you think I care so much about winning I would what? Sabotage the competition on purpose? Hurt people to get what I want? Is that what you think of me? Do you really trust me so little?"

- Lucy tries to explain but it keeps getting worse bc there are things she cant tell Kate.

- Last day comes and they narrow it down to the hosts. Kate won't look at her at all.

- Kate wins. The bomb is in the tiara.

- Lucy runs like hell and takes it off Kate's head before she can react and flung it away.

- It blows up, the team arrests the perp yada yada yada anyway back to the lesbians.

- They are gazing into each other's eyes and Lucy explains herself. She apologizes and Kate apologizes and then they kiss on television.

- They live happily ever after.

#kacy #ncis: hawai'i #ncis hawaii #i started this weeks ago when I rewatched the movie #then I watched today ep and #SPOILER ALERT #im warnining you #dont read past this if you havent watched the ep #....#okay?#KATE'S DREAM IS TO BE MISS AMERICA #SHE WANTS TO WAVE TO THE WORLD #my writing

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newtonsheffield · 2 years

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Omg Molly, I ADORE 'hurst like heaven' 😍 it's so sweet, funny and sexy 😈

I can imagine Anthony, 6 months later of be together, having a mental breakdown because Kate said to him on the phone that they have to talk. And when they are at her's he's begging her to not leave him… Kate's reaction is like 'Omg I love this idiot'… it could be really funny 😂

Oh this would absolutely kill him.

Kate kissed him quickly before they went their separate ways at work one morning with a "Hey do you wanna come back to mine tonight? I have something I wanna talk to you about."

Anthony tried to be calm when he nodded, "Um yeah, yeah, cool, I'll just um- I'll go back to mine and get changed and I'll pick up dinner and we'll talk?"

"Yeah sounds good." Kate said quickly, seemingly oblivious as she waved her assistant, Sophie over to start their day, "Have a good day, Babe."

Anthony tried not to think about it all day. Tried not to put inflection on her words that weren't there. Tried to tell himself he was imagining it wrong when he heard her sad sigh, Anthony, we need to talk. He'd even desperately texted Edwina

He gave up, walking slowly back to the apartment he shared with Edwina, slowly changing, slowly collecting their dinner and an ice cream for her dog hoping that might make her take pity on him. Anxiety was churning in his stomach as he knocked on her front door, shifting awkwardly as he waited for her to answer.

She looked confused when she did, her eyebrows furrowed as she took him in. "Did you forget your key?"

Newton yipped happily, bouncing excitedly in front of Anthony, noticing the ice cream he was sure was for him. Anthony crouched in front of him, a little glad of the distraction. "Um, I didn't know if you wanted me to do that."

He couldn't see Kate's face, could only hear her silence as Newton's tail wagged happily, licking his scoop of ice cream.

"O...kay." Her voice was quiet, her hands tugging the food from his hand gently before her footsteps retreated towards the kitchen, her throat clearing as Anthony straightened, slowly turning towards her.

His chest felt tight, as he took her in, her hair piled high on her head, already in her pyjamas, her contacts removed and glasses on, the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his life. He'd known that since he was thirteen. He'd never know anyone else like her.

"How was your day?" She was looking at him curiously, stood in the middle of the room with his coat still on when usually he would have thrown his coat off and already had his arms around her.

"Please don't break up with me!" The words left him in a panic, his fists clenched at his side and his heart slowly shredded itself in his chest.

Kate froze, her shoulders stiff for a moment before her head whipped back towards him, eyes wide. "What?"

Anthony forced himself forward, closing the space between them, desperate to make her change her mind. "I get it, okay? I'm kind of an idiot and I have a lot of responsibilities with my family, but I love you Kate and I'll- I'll tell my Mum I can't help out with the kids anymore-"

"Ant, I-"

"No Kate, please just listen. I've loved you since I was thirteen and I can be the person you need! Just tell me what you want, and I'll be it! I'll cut my hair differently, or I could work out more, or-"

"Anthony!" Kate's voice cut over the top of his, her hands firm on his shoulders, "I'm not breaking up with you."

His heart stopped, "You aren't?"

Her thumb smoothed over his cheekbones as she shook her head. "No. And I love how much you love and support your family okay? I would never want you to be anyone else, and definitely not for me. I love you."

Anthony relaxed, wrapping his arms tightly around her, a sigh of relief escaping him. "I love you too."

Neither of them spoke for a long moment, both of them enjoying the closeness.

"Sorry, what did you actually want to talk about?"

Kate hummed gently, pulling back, her fingers in his hair, pushing it back from his forehead. "Well I was going to try and convince you later with some very pretty lingerie, this was just a disguise, but my lease is up soon, and I know yours is too so I wanted to talk about maybe moving in together?"

Anthony's mouth fell open, his head nodding of its own accord. "Yes, yes! Absolutely, Yes! Let's get somewhere together. I'll start looking!"

Kate chuckled softly, her lips on his. "Are you sure?"

"I have never been more sure of anything in my whole life."

"Okay, let's start looking."

"Do I... still get to see the lingerie?"

"If you're a good boy."

"I'll be the best boy then."

#hurts like heaven #kathony #anthony x kate #kate sharma #kate sheffield #anthony bridgerton #molly’s asks and answers

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dreamy625 · 7 months

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Mystery machine - one-shot

Words: 5140

Content: Halloween shenanigans. For once, a whole-band fic rather than a Steve-specific one. Shout out to the OG Def Leppard Halloween fic: https://defkisshalen.tumblr.com/post/632162929321672704/since-i-cant-draw-for-crap-i-thought-i-might

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

“Everyone, this is Susie.”

Susie smiles and gives a little nervous wave at the band members scattered around the lounge area of the bus.

“So, this is Phil.”

The moon is still waxing, so he’s more or less human at this point, but the big grin he gives the newcomer displays some unusually large and pointed teeth. Susie feels the faint vestigial fleeing instinct of an ancient shrew-like ancestor facing an apex predator, but smiles back politely.

“Sav’s already retired to his tank, but this is Gloria, his girlfriend.”

Susie looks to where Joe is pointing but can’t see… “Oh. The… err… fish?”

Gloria swims to the front of her bowl and blows a cloud of bubbles in greeting.

“Right. How do I…?”

“Oh, she can hear you. And you can tap on the glass, but just gently or it gives her a headache. Sav can translate if you wanna chat.”

“Lovely to meet you, Gloria.”

“Of course, you’ve met Steve before,” the pale glowy outline of a slender, long-haired man raises its hand in greeting, “and that’s his better half, Cassie.”

“Hi Susie, welcome to Munster Mansion!”

Joe glances around uncertainly, “And someone’s invisible...”

“...but we don’t know who...” chimes in Phil.

“…because we can’t see them.”

Cassie shakes her head, “It’s Rick. Obviously. They’re just idiots. I think he went out with Kate, but of course you can never be sure.”

“Is Kate invisible too?”

“No, she’s a shapeshifter, so she could be anywhere, or indeed, anything.” Joe laughs, “Just don’t sit down or plug anything into the mains without checking!”

“Uh, useful tip. Noted.”

Cassie notices that poor Susie is looking increasingly uncomfortable. “Come sit here, fellow human.” She pats the seat next to her, “This is definitely just a cushion!”

Gratefully, Susie sits down. “Thanks. It really is lovely to finally meet everyone. I’m just not great with new, err…” she glances at Gloria gliding serenely around in her bowl, “people.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be one of the family in no time.”

“The Addams Family!” chips in Joe, rifling through the fridge for drinks.

“Pretty much!” agrees Cassie laughing. “After all, everyone’s secretly some kind of weirdo deep down, aren’t they?”

“I guess. But you’re not…?”

“Well, I’m a witch. But that’s something I do, not something I am. So yeah, I’m normal.”

Phil snickers, “Apart from the necrophilia!”

“Shut up, Muttley. Anyway, that would be spectrophilia.” She turns back to Susie, “Ghosts, not corpses. Yuck. And just the one ghost actually, I don’t have a ‘thing’ about it.”

“Course you don't, sweetie,” says Steve with a smirk, “you were just hanging around in that cemetery entirely innocently.”

“For the hundredth time, I was collecting herbs!”

“So that’s how you two met, in a graveyard?”

“Yup.” Seeing the slightly startled expression on her face, he clarifies, “It wasn’t mine. I was visiting Bonzo. He was out, but then I saw this pretty girl lurking among the headstones and had to meet her.”

“He actually came up behind me and said boo!” she giggles.

“So I’m not great with new people either,” mumbles Steve, staring at the carpet through his feet.

Cassie smiles at him fondly, “It worked though, didn't it. Of course, I didn’t realise he was a ghost at first. It was pretty dark, and I didn’t have my glasses on.”

“And I didn’t realise she wasn’t a ghost, ‘cause of the make-up and the cloak.”

“My goth phase.”

“Didn’t find out until our second date…”

“When we were so busy talking we weren’t looking where we were going and I walked into a wall…”

“And I walked through it.”

“It was a shock, but by then…” she tilts her head to Steve’s phantasmal shoulder, causing a rosy pink glow to flare around them. “So we… figured it out. To be honest, the rock band thing has been more of an adjustment. You’d think, if you hooked up with a ghost, you’d be off haunting an old castle somewhere, not watching him play on Top of the Pops!”

Susie’s eyebrows lift with curiosity, “How can you still play if you can’t touch anything?”

“Vibrations. Music’s all just vibrations. I’m energy, vibrations are energy, I am the music.”

“That’s so… poetic.”

Steve’s outline shimmers in a spectral blush and he ducks his head bashfully.

“What he means is, he waves his hands over the strings and noise comes out,” interrupts Phil, sprawled across the seat on the other side of the aisle. “Ooh, is that how you two…? Vibrations, heh heh heh.”

Steve rolls his eyes, “That’s for amateurs. Astral projection. Everyone’s the same on the astral plane.”

“One of the great secrets of mysticism and you two are using it for a quick shag?”

“Why not? It’s what everyone else is using it for!” Cassie reaches out and flutters her fingers through her boyfriend’s hazy forearm. There is a little shower of purple sparks, and he giggles. “The vibration thing is more ticklish than sexy anyway.”

“Your own personal theremin!” exclaims Susie delightedly, then claps her hand over her mouth in fear she has inadvertently been rude and spectrophobic.

Cassie laughs, “I’ve always thought more a plasma lamp, but that works too.” She runs her fingers along the glowy plane that is Steve’s thigh and he responds with a spooky howling noise. “Awesome! New game!”

Just then the bus door opens with a hiss, and a stack of precariously balanced pizza boxes floats up the steps. Susie’s mouth drops open in surprise, but when no one else reacts, she remembers. This must be Rick. The boxes and assorted bags are dumped down onto the table.

“So we’ve got Meat Feast with extra rare steak for Phil, Hawaiian for Joe and Susie - I can’t believe you’ve found someone who shares your heretical taste in pizza! And two veggies for the rest of us.” An invisible hand starts delving into the bags. “Plus dips, cheesy bread, hard-boiled egg for Gloria…” This is tossed to Cassie who starts to crumble it into Gloria’s bowl, “and Lucozade for Steve.”

“Mmm, sugar.”

“And… funny - I don’t remember getting Doritos?”

The bag of chips flickers, then transforms first into a head of lettuce, then a carriage clock, then a chicken, and finally into a girl with blonde curly hair perched on the edge of the table.

“Sorry babe, I was tired, didn’t wanna walk.”

Ignoring the muttered ‘cheeky cow’ from her disembodied boyfriend, she sticks out her hand, “Kate, and you must be Susie?”

Susie nods and, somewhat gingerly, shakes the proffered hand, fearful that it could become something else any second.

Kate reaches over to the counter, picks up a red baseball cap, and places it on Rick’s head. “Bus hat,” she explains to Susie, “stops us from bumping into him all the time.”

A small frown creases Susie’s brow, “So… we can see the hat, but not the rest of his clothes?”

There is a chorus of snickering from around the table.

“Um, that’s something it’s best not to think about too much, love,” replies her boyfriend with a sly grin.

After a beat, Susie’s eyes widen, “OH!”

“I know,” agrees Cassie. “We’ve told him it’s not hygienic but…”

“Hey, I wash!” protests the baseball cap.

“And also one of the reasons he resists all my offers to try and turn him back.”

“Why would I want to go back? This is ultimate freedom. And I get into movies for free.”

“How did you… if it’s not rude to ask?”

“Accident involving an Etch-a-sketch, a microwave oven, and a cursed tamborine.”

“Should’ve read the instructions.”

“Cursed objects don’t tend to come with a manual, Joe.”

“I meant the microwave. Rick turning invisible was a minor inconvenience, having to explain to the landlord why the microwave was now glowing bright orange and playing ‘Daydream believer’ on a constant loop was more of a problem!”

Kate’s hand is dragged sideways in front of Joe’s face and all the fingers, except the middle one, folded down by an unseen hand.

“Get off! Do your own swearing, weirdo!”

“I guess there are occasional downsides,” mutters Rick.

The door wheezes open again and the sickest looking person Susie has ever seen shambles onto the bus.

“Evening girls and ghouls. If we’ve got everyone now, shall we make a move?”

Joe does a quick head, or hat, count. “Yep, all present and correct. Thanks Bert.”

“Driver,” he explains to Susie.

“Zombie,” adds Phil.

“Oh yeah, sorry, forgot to tell you that one. He’s great, doesn’t need to sleep so we can travel 24 hours a day if we need to.”

“Except if he turns the wheel too vigorously, he tends to pull an arm off and we have to get out the sewing kit!”

“A small price to pay for getting to gigs on time.”

“And the, err, brains thing?”

“Oh don’t worry, apparently Wendy’s burgers are just as good. Which is worrying if you think about it.”

Apart from occasionally getting distracted by the sight of a slice of pizza floating in mid-air before disappearing bite by bite, and Steve’s drink seemingly evaporating, the level going down without the glass moving an inch, Susie finds herself almost forgetting that these new friends are anything out of the ordinary. She even stops registering the thrum and sway of the bus as Bert, presumably all limbs still attached, steers them safely towards the next city. The rest of the evening passes in drinks and friendly banter and a card game which is acrimoniously abandoned after it is discovered that Kate had only pretended to go to the bathroom and had in fact transformed into an extra ace, giving Rick a winning hand three games in a row. Eventually the day-people start to yawn and the group reluctantly concedes that it is time to retire for the night. Only Phil, tending to nocturnal even during the non-transforming parts of the lunar cycle, expresses a wish to stay up, but he promises to play his guitar quietly, and no howling. As the others say their goodnights he reminds them that someone needs to put Gloria to bed.

“No worries.” Joe picks up the bowl and Gloria makes a grateful kissy face at him through the glass.

In the sleeping area, where one of the sets of bunks should be is a large welded metal box with a lid. The faint purr of a filtration pump comes from within. Joe levers up the corner of the lid and, as gently as possible, pours the angelfish in to join her mate. He wishes the couple goodnight before snapping the lid closed again.

“How did you even get a tour bus with a giant built-in fishtank?”

“Surprisingly easily. The company that did it had just done one with a sensory deprivation tank for Peter Gabriel, so they didn’t even question it. It’s more difficult to explain why our rider includes 800 gallons of purified water!”

In the close confines of the bunk area, Susie can see why Rick’s visibility hat is an essential; it’s hard enough to navigate through the narrow corridor with random bits of luggage scattered about and the floor strewn with odd socks and guitar picks, without adding an invisible person-sized obstacle to the mix. She makes sure to know where the drummer and his partner are before entering the tiny communal washroom, but still finds herself eyeing the shelves full of toiletries warily.

This is Susie’s first tour bus experience and it reminds her of camp. If cabins vibrated. And had snoring, farting, musicians in them. She’s still trying to get to sleep when suddenly a flash of purple shows around the edges of the curtain and there are two mingled screams, quickly muffled.

She clutches at Joe’s shoulder. “What was that?” Joe, half-asleep, just mumbles an unintelligible ‘mmpf’. “That. The flash, and the screaming!”

Joe wraps an arm around her. “Don’t worry about it. You see how small these compartments are? Well to get more space, Cassie sleeps on the bed and Steve hovers up by the ceiling. But his altitude control isn’t great when he’s asleep, so sometimes he drops down onto and, well, into, Cassie. And apparently a sudden unexpected full-body… smush… isn’t pleasant for either party.” Susie, remembering the prickly feeling when her hand brushed Steve’s arm, can believe that. “They used to have a top bunk, but one time, when he was drunk, he fell all the way through to Phil on the one below, which no one enjoyed, so now we make them have one of the lower berths.”

“I didn’t know ghosts could get drunk?”

“Sure they can. Why do you think they’re called spirits!”

Susie groans. Shifting her limbs once more to try and find a comfortable position in the cramped space she has a thought, “Can you do that? Hover?”

“Sadly no. Swoop, soar, glide, no problem. But no hovering.”

When Joe had first revealed that his bandmates also each had their own special talents and features, he’d been quite dismissive of his own gift, thinking it mundane compared to the others. But Susie had assured him it is just as impressive, plus useful - for example not needing the stairs if the lift’s broken - and also noting that it has the benefit of being minimally inconvenient and easy to hide.

“I mean, poor Rick can’t even see his feet to put his boots on, and Phil has no choice about growing fur and howling at the moon…”

“To be fair, he did that before he was a werewolf too.”

“... but you just have to remember not to jump off tall buildings when anyone’s looking. It’s an amazing talent with no downside, you’re so lucky!”

“I guess if you put it like that. Just, if you’ve always been able to do something, it doesn’t seem so special.”

“It seems special to me. You literally swept me off my feet!”

“Well you were going to get hit by that lighting truss.”

“You’re basically Superman!”

“Without the tights.”

“That could be arranged…”

When Susie wakes she finds she is alone in the bunk and the bus has stopped moving. Low-voiced conversation, interspersed with giggling, is coming from Steve & Cassie’s compartment, but most of the other curtains are pulled back. Stepping carefully to avoid treading on any items that might unexpectedly turn out to be Kate, she makes her way to the front lounge and finds Joe and Phil noodling on a couple of acoustics and drinking tea. Looking out the window, the bus seems to be parked in a mostly empty car park next to a big grey box of a building.

“Morning guys. Where are we?”

“Morning, love. Err, Tennessee? No… err? I don’t know. They’re all starting to look the same.”

“Nowheresville, Arkansas,” supplies Phil, pausing his strumming to wave vaguely at the bottom half of the tattered map pinned to a cupboard door.

“Sounds exciting. Is it okay if I take a shower?”

“Sure, Bert topped up the tanks when we got here. Or you can go across to the venue - probably communal but the water will be hotter.”

“I think I’ll cope.”

“I’d join you but I can only get in that little box if I crouch down.”

“But I’d fit just fine!” offers Phil, waggling his eyebrows.

Susie, not the tiniest bit tempted, ignores him and heads back through the bunk area, where she encounters Sav, dripping wet and wearing nothing but shorts and a towel turbaned around his head having just emerged from his tank. He’s carrying Gloria in her bowl under his arm. Not a morning person at the best of times, he looks confused by her presence until a few glubbing noises from Gloria remind him,

“Oh, of course, Susie. Nice to finally meet the girl Joe will not shut up about!”

She notices that the hand raised in greeting has slight webbing between the fingers, but apart from that and the almost imperceptible lines of gills either side of his neck, he looks entirely, and indeed very nicely, human-shaped. She’s not sure what she was expecting - scales and fins maybe? In the mythopedia of Def Leppard, the entry for Sav would be frustratingly short - no one knew, and he wasn’t telling, how his particular condition had come about. When asked, Joe had just shrugged and said the bass player had always been amphibious.

Blushing at both the expanse of bare bassist skin and the gratifying thought of Joe raving about her to his friends, she responds, “Good to meet you too. Say, you haven’t seen Rick around have you?”

Sav grinned, “No, not for about five years!”

“Duh, stupid question! I meant… I’m going for a shower and I just wanted to check…”

Sav reaches up to the shelf above his tank. “He might have gone shopping with Kate.” He hands her a golf club, “But wave that around when you go in, just to be sure.”

After a, thankfully, drummer-free shower, the rest of the day passes in preparations for the gig that night. It seems there are extra challenges to putting on a show where none of the participants are quite what they seem. In addition to the usual issues of poor acoustics, broken bulbs, and missing cables, Sav needs to be periodically misted with water to keep his skin moist, Steve keeps walking through amps and fusing the electrics, and someone needs to watch Phil and stop him from chasing any squirrels in the vicinity. The crew however are unflappable and manage all these problems as if they are entirely commonplace (to Susie’s mind, some of those guys also look like they might be of the supernatural persuasion, but then bloodshot eyes, growling, and eyebrows that meet in the middle seem to be pretty standard even for fully-human roadies!). By 6pm, everyone is ready and everything is tested and in its place. The support band appear for their soundcheck at 6:30pm, and the reason for their absence during the day is obvious even to Susie’s unpractised eye. Vampires. She hangs around for a while to watch - they’re pretty good, and surprisingly lively considering they just woke up - before leaving them to their monitor adjustments and complaints about the lingering smell of garlic from the catering truck.

When Susie pops down to the dressing room to wish her boyfriend good luck for the show, she finds him practising his singing in the showers, his feet just slightly leaving the floor during the high notes. The other guys are variously warming up on their guitars, picking at the buffet, or fussing with their hair. To be honest, that last one is just Sav - apparently spending 12 hours a day under water gives you terrible frizz! Susie watches with interest as Cassie casts an energising spell for the boys, and then a protection spell for all the performers and crew. ‘Just in case’, she says. Leaving their partners to carry out their final preparations and pre-show rituals, all the girls head out to the auditorium. Well, all the girls except Gloria, who doesn’t enjoy all the jostling from the crowds and so is safely ensconced in the tech booth with Phay.

The support band are just finishing their set and seem to be going down okay with the crowd. At least three-quarters of the audience are clapping and swaying along, but they’re interspersed with tough-looking blokes in trucker hats and dirty denim standing with folded arms - maybe they’re not keen on men in spandex and eyeliner?

Susie had seen Leppard perform a couple of times before, in her pre-Joe life, but always way up in the nosebleeds, never this close to the stage. When the curtain drops, her eyes of course go straight to her boyfriend. He is absolutely in his element, strutting and preening and bouncing around the stage like he owns it. Which, effectively, he does! Phil, who apparently has not learned a single lesson from being turned into a werewolf by a resentful one-night stand, is flirting with all the women in the front three rows; the idiom ‘once bitten twice shy’ means nothing to him. Sav is also turning on the charm, slinking around the stage with a sinuous gait that makes Susie wonder if his origin might be more eel than fish. With the smoke machines and the lights, Steve looks somewhat ethereal but real enough and, even from right in front of the stage, you can’t tell that he’s not actually touching the strings. And then Rick, poor Rick, who used to play in nothing but the tiniest of shorts and drum gloves, but now has to wear trousers, a long sleeved shirt, socks, and, most annoyingly, a wig and make-up, just looks really hot, with sweat already pouring off him after the first few songs.

After the final encore, the girls make their way backstage, arriving at the dressing room at the same time as an agitated member of venue staff who comes running from the opposite direction.

“Guys! You’ve got to get out of here! Fast! Some of the locals… they’re turning nasty… they… they know what you are.”

He gestures in the direction of Rick, currently appearing as just a pair of socks and a towel, and Steve, looking more like a cliché haunted-house ghost than usual as his outline fills with the cigarette smoke that Cassie is deliberately wafting in his direction.

“Shit, not again.” Joe immediately leaps into action - literally, as he covers the length of the changing room in a half-jump, half-swoop - “Sav! Get out of the shower!” he yells, “We’ve got an angry mob incoming!” Casting his eyes around the room, he realises someone’s missing, “Where’s Phil?”

“Where he always is after a show - humping someone’s leg!” says Rick’s disembodied voice.

“I swear to god one day I’m going to get him neutered. Right, I’ll go find him, be ready to leave when we get back.” On his way out the door he pats Susie, who’s still standing frozen to the spot, on the shoulder, “Stay with Cassie, okay love. You’ll be fine.”

Cassie smiles a tight little smile, “Start packing, I’ll explain.”

With Steve keeping watch in the corridor, the girls join Rick and Sav in speedily stuffing clothes into duffel bags and guitars into flight cases.

“When people realise we’re… unnatural is the word they tend to use… it doesn’t tend to go down well. They get pretty keen on us leaving their town - think villagers storming the castle with pitchforks.” She looks up at Susie’s now-pale, wide-eyed face, “It’s okay, we’re good at fast exits, and Bert’s a great getaway driver!”

“Does it happen a lot?”

“No, just occasionally, in the smaller, more rural places. We usually get away with it because people think it’s a gimmick, smoke and mirrors. You’d be amazed how many of the supernaturally-abled are hiding in plain sight in bands, theatre, circus acts, and magicians of course.”

“What, like… David Copperfield?”

“Wizard.”

“Siegfried & Roy?”

“Not wizards. Least, I don’t think so. A wizard probably wouldn’t get eaten by his own tiger!”

“Joe and Phil are coming,” announces Steve, sticking his head through the dressing room wall, “are we nearly done?”

“Just about,” answers Sav. “Sorry about this sweetheart, it’s just ‘till we’re safely on the bus,” he consoles Gloria as he pours her into a plastic bag, tightening the knot with his teeth.

Errant guitarist retrieved, and with Rick, hopefully safest of all of them in his invisibility, leading the way, they set off quickly but cautiously through the labyrinth of corridors towards the back exit. Before they even reach it they can hear shouting and someone banging on the door.

“Quick, this way. I’ll take you to the loading bay. Your bus is waiting there.”

It is the same venue employee who came to warn them earlier. As they follow behind him, Susie thinks she catches sight of a rather more pointed than usual ear half-hidden under his hair and understands why he is so eager to help them. She hopes whatever strategies he’s using to stay hidden are enough to keep him safe in this troubled town.

Suddenly she remembers something,“What about Eternal Blade? Surely they’re a bigger target than any of us?”

“They were already on their bus and gone before we finished, off to make some new friends in the nearest city with some sleazy late-hours clubs.”

“They say country people taste funny!” quips Rick.

When they reach the cargo exit, Steve pushes his face through the roller shutter and surveys the scene outside. Bert has parked as close as he can get to the exit, but there is still about 75 yards of semi-open ground to cover; Any closer and the bus would be trapped if the crowd blocked the access ramp. He can’t see any people, but he can hear the clamour of a discontented crowd from the other side of the building.

“Coast’s clear,” he reports, “for now.”

“The door’s quite loud, so I’d make a run for it as soon as you can get under it. Your crew are loading up in the next bay, so hopefully that’ll cover some of the noise.”

As everyone lines up behind the door, Sav turns back, “Thank you… we didn’t get your name?”

“Alvin.”

“Thank you, Alvin. You gonna be okay here?”

“Yeah, I’m used to it. I’ve been beaten up more often for being called Alvin than for anything else!” He presses the open button and the shutter starts to lift. “Good luck out there.”

It seems to take an hour of clanking and grating before the gap is big enough to duck through. Joe, who appears to have gone into SAS mode, barks ‘GO GO GO’ and they’re off, running as best they can given the amount of luggage they’re carrying. Alerted by the noise, a swarm of people is rounding the corner of the building and a shout goes up when they spot the fleeing band. Phil, guitar case and duffel bag strapped across his back, drops to all fours; Joe and Steve would probably be faster in the air than on the ground, but neither of them would dream of leaving their earthbound partners.

“Shit, this is worse than normal!” Joe glances back over his shoulder, "Baseball bats and shotguns!"

The short distance to the bus feels like a mile, but being tour-fit and terrified speeds their progress until at last they pile onto the bus, flinging bags and flight cases haphazardly ahead of them down the aisle, with Susie and Joe bringing up the rear. As soon as the singer has both feet on the steps, Bert slams the door shut and pulls out of the loading bay as fast as a rattly and overloaded old bus can accelerate. They careen across the car park, the large tank of water in their midsection causing a concerning degree of instability, dishes and cans of baked beans tumbling from unsecured cupboards. Clinging onto the partition behind the driver’s seat, Susie watches through the side windows as their pursuers keep chasing. She whips her head round when she hears Bert growl ‘shit!’ and steer the bus abruptly to the left. Through the windscreen she spots the source of his alarm and grabs Joe’s shoulder.

“Joe! There’s a gate!”

Phil lurches up behind them, “What’s going on? Why have we turned round?”

"Car park gate's shut, we can't get out."

“Fuck. Can we ram it?”

“In this thing? We’d be smashed to bits!” He glances back at the angry mob, starting to catch them up as they’re now going in a circle. “I’m going to have to go out there. Bert, can you open the door while we’re still moving?”

“Yup, got a safety override.”

“I’ll jump out, then you do another loop round while I open it.”

“Joe, no!”

“I’ll be fine,” his voice doesn’t sound as sure as he’s making out, “I can fly, remember.”

“They’ve got guns!”

“I’ll dodge.”

As the bus reaches the end of the car park and lurches round in the direction of the gate once again, Bert pulls on the two levers that’ll force the door to open.

Eyes darting from the large and very solid-looking gate in front of them, to the armed vigilantes now almost within touching distance on both sides of the bus, to her frightened friends huddled in the aisle in their pairs, to her oh so brave but reckless boyfriend hanging halfway out of the opened door, Susie feels like she has never been so scared in her life; the panic is pulsing white-hot behind her eyes. As she turns back to the windscreen, she hears, no, feels, a crack and a flash of light like a firework going off right in her face. She hears a gasp from the driver and, almost in sync, ‘bloody ‘ell’ from Phil and Joe. When her vision clears, she sees that the steel bars that moments ago had blocked their way have sprung open. It takes a second for Bert’s undead brain to process the change, but then he stomps hard on the gas pedal and, with a screech of rubber on asphalt, the bus hurtles through the gateway and clear of the baying mob.

After a moment when everyone is too busy falling over and grabbing onto bits of furniture to speak, there is a cry of ‘yessss!’ from Rick, and a ‘woohoo!’ from Steve. The sudden acceleration had sent him backwards into the fridge and his hazy hair is streaked with strawberry yogurt.

“God, I really thought we were a goner that time,” said Sav, looking round for a suitable receptacle to decant his girlfriend into. “What happened?”

Joe and Phil, the only passengers with a clear view of the event, look at each other blankly.

“I… don’t know…”

“There was a sort of… pulse…”

“And the gates just…” Joe makes an expansive gesture with his hands.

“Pinged open!”

Joe turns to Susie, “Did you see… hey, are you okay?” When there’s no answer he steers her to a seat and kneels down in front of her. “Babe?”

“I… I think… I think… I did it?”

“Did what, love?”

“The gates. The…” she makes the same Moses-parting-the-Red-Sea gesture, “Something came from here,” she points at her head, “and…out… and pushed the gates open!”

Cassie claps her hands together, “Telekinesis! Moving things with your mind. It’s a well-known phenomenon. Well maybe not so well-known,” she adds looking at the vacant expressions that surround her.

“Like a superpower?” asks Steve.

Joe turns back to his girlfriend, a delighted grin on his face, “Hear that? You’ve got a superpower!”

“I do?” she says with a slightly less certain smile back at him.

“Welcome to the family, love,” says Phil, leaning over to ruffle her hair.

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

Apologies to all Arkansas residents and wearers of trucker hats and denim who aren't pitchfork-wielding rednecks!

#def leppard fanfic #def leppard fanfiction #def leppard #halloween fic

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