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helliontherapscallion · 3 years

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(Y/n) and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week: Thursday (Part 2)

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday (Part 1) Friday Saturday Sunday

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Warnings: panic attacks, swearing, puking, concussions, mentions of injuries/bullying, homophobia

Word count: 5,138

After school, you were sitting on the couch as you furiously typed on your keyboard at an extremely fast pace. You were on a roll with these essays, they were probably going to be finished by the time you had to go back to the school to get on the bus with the team. You figured that you could even finish Annie’s essay and get started on Sammy’s US history presentation on the sociopolitical climate of the United States in the mid twentieth century to today. However, instead of covering a variety of topics like the rubric requested you to do, you were only going to talk about the significant events that happened to the LGBT+ community starting with Stonewall and going to Obergefell v. Hodges. You were also going to go in depth about how even if there are more opportunities available and more laws set in place to protect for LGBT+ people in the present then there were in past, members of the LGBT+ community still suffer heavy discrimination in the workplace and in the public. With receipts of course, the assignment required a minimum of three pictures per slide, and the group chat was a perfect source.

After that was done, you would email Sammy’s teacher (you had her last year for US history and you knew that she had a son in the grade below you currently transitioning from female to male) that you were the one that did her project and send screenshots of Sammy calling you slurs. Luckily for you, you had receipts of her being transphobic in the past that you could also send. Everything was effortlessly falling into place for you today.

As you were typing, the front door swung open and two overly excited fifth graders ran into the house and up the stairs. A tired Schlatt followed them. “I will never know how the hell Phil keeps up with them.”

“I dunno, maybe because he’s already raised three kids before.”

You watched as your uncle jumped and whipped his head over towards you, his hand clutching his chest. He lightly glared at you, “christ kid don’t do that, you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

You smirked at him before turning back to your laptop to continue typing the essay. You were almost done with the conclusion paragraph on Annie’s essay and you wanted to get to Sammy’s presentation as fast as possible. As you were typing, you felt a warm air fan across your neck and your uncle’s voice right next to your ear, “whatcha typin?”

You lept off the couch and almost fell into the coffee table before steadying yourself and deadpanning at Schlatt. “I was typing an essay before you interrupted me.”

He snorted, “it looked like you were on a roll, just thought I’d see what my beloved niece was writing. Can I read it?”

Your eyes lit up as an excited grin split your cheeks, “yeah, but lemme catch you up real quick. Adrian, Sammy, and Annie got mad at me a few days ago and wanted me to do some homework for them as a sort of payment. But after they pulled that little stunt in the lunchroom yesterday, they decided to be little bitches to me and call me slurs. So naturally, I decided to change the essay prompt into an in depth analysis about discrimination LGBT people face from their peers on the daily. My english teacher’s really against homophobia and the project’s worth twenty five percent of our overall grade, so it’s perfect.”

While you were rambling on and on about your detailed plot for revenge, Schlatt couldn’t help but be proud of the person you’d become. A major part of him was impressed that you came up with a detailed plan so quickly, that meant that his cunning nature was rubbing off on you and that made him ecstatic. Sure you mentioning not being straight was new to him, but he was prepared to accept you for whatever you identified as. He didn’t care how people identified, he just cared if they were good people. And his niece was one of the best kids he knew. He’d let your slip up slide for now until you felt comfortable enough to properly come out to him.

“That an amazing plan, fuckin brilliant. Though, you could do more.”

That piqued your interest, “I’m listening.”

“Do you have any blackmail?”

Your eyes glinted with sudden understanding, “why yes I do, uncle dearest. I just so happen to have thousands of texts from them talking shit about each other and basically the entire school. And them being incredibly racist. They would be destroyed if that came out.”

“Two things. One, never call me that again. Two, perfect. Keep it as leverage if they try to do something. You don’t pull out all the good cards in the first round, you wait for the right moment to strike so you can win. You need to constantly defend yourself against other players and anticipate their every move. If you leak everything right now, you won’t have anything to use against them if they have something up their sleeve you didn’t know about. Patience is key in things like this.”

You absorbed every single word that came out of his mouth like it was the holy gospel. Although he was your uncle and you loved him with all your heart, but he was a sly bastard when he wanted to be. He knew his way around fighting and manipulating people just right, so you were incredibly happy that you were on his good side and he absolutely adored you. Though questionable and morally gray, he was giving you advice because he cared about you and you’d be an idiot to not heed his advice.

“That’s genius, Uncle Schlatt. What would I do without you?”

“You’d get along just fine without me, you would’ve gotten there eventually. You’re smart. I’m just givin you a little push in the right direction.”

“I honestly would’ve never thought about waiting, I was so dead set on getting revenge that I would’ve just leaked everything all at once. I want them to feel how I felt when they were around me. I-” you paused. Would this make you the same as them? You’d be screwing up all their grades, Adrian’s job, and Sammy’s athletic career. You came to the chilling realization that you’d be the same as them. You’d be as manipulative as they were. “...Uncle Schlatt, would that make me the same as them?”

“Fuck no! You’re always gonna be better than them no matter what. When they’re at their best, you’re always gonna be a whole lot better than them. They deserve what’s happening to them, it sounds like they put you through so much shit the past few years. I actually think you could do a whole lot worse to them if you’re willing to put more work in, but it’s your plan and if you think that what you’re doing is too much,” he darkly chuckled, “you wouldn’t like my idea.”

“You’re right, they deserve everything I have planned for them. God, I don’t know what I was thinking, ‘would that make me the same as them,’” you mocked what you said earlier, “what a load of shit. Anyways, thanks Uncle Schlatt. I’m gonna get back to writing this. They’re due tomorrow and I wanna finish as much as I can before I have to go.”

“Alright, whaddya want for dinner? Phil’s gonna be like thirty minutes late from work so I’m cookin tonight.”

Oh no. No, no, no, no. That man can barley cook boxed mac n cheese, let alone anything else. He’d burn down the house if you left him alone in the kitchen with the stove. “On second thought, why don’t I help you with dinner? We can make some chicken alfredo.”

“Awe, you’d rather hang out with me than finish your homework? Ya really do love me. C’mon let’s start.”

The process of making dinner was… interesting. Multiple times, Schlatt almost spilled boiling water on himself and he even managed to burn the pasta while it was in the water. How he even managed to do that you’d never find out, you had your back turned cutting up vegetables and herbs at the time. That was when you subtly started to take over in the kitchen, giving him smaller tasks while you handled everything else. You felt bad for Tubbo, his father can’t cook for shit.

By time you finished, about an hour passed and Philza had come home and changed out of his work clothes. The two adults sat at the table discussing something that you didn’t pay attention to while your brothers and cousin were in the living room waiting for you to finish dinner. Finally, you set the table and it was time to eat.

Because you couldn’t have many fatty foods before any matches or practices, you had made a separate plate for yourself that only had plain pasta, chicken, and broccoli. You were surprised with how well it turned out, you were following an iffy recipe you found on the first link Google brought up.

After dinner, you went upstairs to put your uniform on and pack a little bag full of things you might need: a small blanket, some snacks, a water bottle, and a portable charger. Oh, and fuzzy socks and a pair of crocs. You could never go wrong with fuzzy socks and crocs. Feeling a vibration in your pocket, you pulled out your phone.

Hales : )

(Y/n), I’m omw to your house

Gonna give you a ride to the school

(Y/n)

Hales you don’t have to give me a ride, I can drive

Hales : )

Don’t care

Omw, be there in like 7 mins

You swiped out of yours and her conversation and opened up the family group chat

(Y/n)

I don’t need a ride to the school, Haley’s giving me one

She’s gonna give me a ride home too

Dadza

Alright, thank her for me

Tell her I said good luck too!

Uncle Schlatty Patty

Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do

Dadza

(Y/n), do everything he wouldn’t do

Uncle Schlatty Patty

Fuck you I’m a good influence

Dadza

You’re really not

Wilby

^^^^

Technology Sword

Uncle Schlatty Patty

Fuck all of you

You heard Haley’s car pull into the driveway and dashed out of your room with your bag. Just as you put your hand on the doorknob, a hand stopped you.

“Coat.”

You grumbled as you reached past Philza to grab your coat. After you slipped it on, you were pulled into a hug. “You’re gonna do great out there. I know you’re gonna win this, we’ll be watching in the stands.”

“Damn right she’s gonna do good, she’s my niece after all.”

Schlatt pulled you away from your father’s hug and tried to ruffle your hair before you swatted away his hand, “don’t. You have no idea how long it took me to get a perfect ponytail. I have an ungodly amount of hairspray and bobby pins in my hair right now.”

“Fine. You’re gonna kick their asses tonight.”

Tommy and Tubbo pushed past Schlatt and both tackled you into a hug making you stumble slightly back.

“Kick their asses good (y/n)!” Tommy cheered, making you crack up before one stern glance from Philza completely stopped you. “Tommy, don’t say that. (Y/n), not funny.”

“Alright, Haley’s waiting for me. I gotta go, love you guys!” As you turned to walk through the door, you could hear your family following you and shouting “good luck”. You felt heat creep up on your cheeks as Haley rolled down her window and wove at your family with the biggest grin on her face.

“Thank you! We’re gonna take home the gold for sure!”

You hopped in her car as she rolled up the window and chuckled. “I love your family, they’re always so full of energy. It’s refreshing to see compared to how boring my family is.”

You glanced at your entire family gathered on the front porch. Tommy and Tubbo were practically vibrating with excitement, Wilbur and Techno calmly smiled and wove at you, Philza was grinning widely at you as you saw his mouth forming words that you couldn’t hear or read, and Schlatt was grinning cheekily at you. You raised your hand to wave at them as they vanished from view when Haley pulled out of your driveway. You smiled softly, “I love em too.”

The car ride was relatively quick with the same soft indie pop music floating from the speakers and an easy going conversation with Haley about the match tonight. You both thought that you could beat the other team if everyone focused 100% and played exactly like you guys did in practices. If everyone did that, you would be unstoppable.

Luckily for you and Haley, you were the first ones in line to board the bus so you two got the back seat with Zara and Jazzy sitting across from you guys. The hour long bus ride passed quickly and lively with you four passing around your phone and playing some mad libs, you were sure that by the end of the last game you four were laughing and crying. Sometime in the middle of the trip, you noticed that Haley would start to lean on your shoulder and continuously glance at you as she laughed. You desperately wanted to believe that it was because she liked you, but she was straight and she was your best friend. She was probably trying to make sure you were having a good time.

When the team had gotten to the opposing school and left the locker room to stretch in the gym, you could hear your family start to scream your and Haley’s names from the front row next to you, Tommy and Tubbo being the loudest amongst them with Philza trying to get them to quiet down so you could focus. You felt your cheeks heat up as you smiled at them and Haley wove enthusiastically back at them. Zara was laughing at you two. Stretching went by in a flash and before you knew it, you were on the court facing the opposing team.

The first match was won by the opposing team by five points. The second match stretched on and on until it was won by your team narrowly by two points. The team was going to have to shape up in the third match if you guys wanted a chance at winning, the opposing team was good. Before the third match started, Coach Williams called for a time out so you guys could talk about strategy. Before Haley could go back onto the court, you pulled her aside.

“Hales, we need to do what we practiced. The other team won’t be expecting it at all, I’ve been setting you up this entire game. They’re never going to expect you setting me up for a spike.”

“When are we going to do it though? We need a better plan.”

“I’m sure the opportunity will come and both of us will recognize it. We just can’t do it too early in the game though, that’ll ruin their surprise.”

“(Y/n), I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“When do I not Hales? We gotta get gold this year.”

The third round went by with both teams constantly swapping places until you both were tied fifteen to fifteen. You saw the ball flying towards Haley, giving her the perfect opportunity to set you up for a spike. “HALEY NOW!”

You watched as her face hardened in determination as she pretended like she was going to spike it by jumping high in the air and stretching her arms back, making the opposing front row players all gather in front of her. Much to their surprise, she launched it towards you as you leaped up and went for the kill. The stinging of the ball hit by your wrist and the smack sound the ball made when it slammed onto the open gym floor was something you’d never forget as the crowd around you went wild over the unexpected play. You could hear the high pitched screaming of Tommy and Tubbo over everybody else. Glancing at them over your shoulder, you saw them jumping up and down on the gym floor and looking at you with awe filled eyes and gaping mouths. The rest of your family looked at you with similar expressions, their cheers echoing in your mind. Winking at them, you turned back to your team and went straight to Haley. Clapping a hand on her shoulder, you pulled her into a quick hug, yelling over the raving of the crowd. “HALEY WE NAILED THAT!”

“HOLY SHIT I DID NOT THINK THAT WAS ACTUALLY GONNA WORK!”

“You have such little faith in your setter! You wound me Hales.”

“Well, I would have more faith in you if you weren’t chaotic on the court, sweetheart.”

You felt yourself surge in happiness at the nickname, but you couldn’t afford to focus too much on it. Your team only needed one more point to win best in the state and go to nationals. It would be the first time in your team’s history if you reached national level, and you’d be damned if you were the one to screw it up for them.

The last rotation went on for a while, each team fighting tooth and nail for the state championship title with clashing determination. You tried your best to block every hit and try to set Haley up for a spike, and you were successful for the most part, only missing a few blocks. You saw the setter adjacent to you set the spiker up for a spike and jumped up in time to try to block it, your arms stretched upwards and your palms out. Only, the ball didn’t hit your hands. It collided painfully with your nose, ricocheted off your face with a thwack and sailed over to the other side of the court. Your head whipped back as your body followed suit and flew backwards onto the floor. Without giving you any time to react, your head bounced back and cracked against the polished hardwood floor of the gym. Everything went black.

“...(y……”

“..(y/n)......”

“(Y/n).”

You faintly heard someone calling someone’s name over the continuous ringing noise. Was it your name? It felt right, so it had to be your name. You peeled your eyes open to see a blurry figure hovering over you. It was swirled with tans, browns, and backs. After a while of the figure repeating your name, it slowly became more recognizable, albeit appearing twice in your vision. It took you a while to figure out who this was before your muddled brain recognized Haley.

“Hales! There’s two o’ya. Twice as beautiful babe…” You slurred out as you attempted to smile at her.

“Oh thank god, PLEASE WE NEED A DOCTOR SHE HIT HER HEAD!” Her usually angelic voice gritted against your brain like sandpaper making you cringe as pain exploded in your head.

“God babe you’re so loud, why’s so bright? I-wha's goin on?” You blearily tried to move your head to look around only to be stopped by a pair of large hands on each side of your head gently holding it in place. You moved your laggy eyes around to look at the figure. He was a blonde man with blue eyes and a hint of stubble on his chin. His eyebrows were knitted together and he looked… he looked… your brain worked to figure out why he looked how he looked. Who was he?

“Please don’t move hun.” His muffled voice was baritone. You squinted at him trying to figure out who this man was.

“Who th f-fuck… why?”

“I’m your dad hun. Do-do you not recognize me?” You made a noise in the back of your throat as your stuffy brain finally put a name to the face.

“Dad- wha’s goin on? I’on feel so good…”

“Shh, I know, I know. Just stop moving and talking. Everything’s fine. I’m here. You’re okay.”

“Mmk… Dad, where are we? I’ont know- you’re so quiet.”

“Stop moving so much. You’re on the floor in a gym. You just won your team the state championship. Now stop talking please.”

Huh. So that’s why everybody seemed to appear from above you. You strained your eyes to look around you, but you could only see your dad’s face hovering above you. “Shit I- who’s aroun’ me? Where’s Hales?”

“I’m right here sweetheart. I got the doctor, Mr. Minecraft.”

Your dad’s face moved away from your vision so fast that it made your head spin and your stomach twist. Another face appeared above you that you once again didn’t recognize.

“I’m Doctor Martin, can you tell me your first and last name?”

“Uh, (y/n) Minecraft?”

“Good, what month are we in right now?”

“Nov-November?”

“Close, it’s late October. Can you tell me who this,” he pointed to your dad, “is?”

“S’my dad Phillip.”

“That’s your dad Philza.”

The questioning stopped as he suddenly shined a blinding light into your sensitive eyes. You hissed as you tried to move your head away from the offending light only to be held in place by your dad’s hands. Your head spun as you moved too quickly and a wave of nausea hit you, making you groan and move your arm to cover your eyes. Your hand was stopped by something warm and soft wrapping around it and holding it tightly. Everything was so overwhelmingly and painfully bright and loud. You wanted to make it stop.

“Mr. Minecraft, your daughter appears to have a concussion. I don’t have the tools on hand to determine the severity of it, but it’s worrying that her pupils are asymmetrical, she’s delirious, and has slight memory loss. I understand you live about an hour away from here, and it’s alright for you to take her to a hospital closer to your house. Make sure you keep her alert.”

Your delirious mind only registered about half of what came out of the doctor’s mouth. You mumbled gibberish as you once again opened your eyes to look around. You were only briefly able to crane your neck to the left. Several figures large and small were standing behind your dad. Your family, your mind supplemented. Slowly, your mind was starting to recognize your surroundings even if there was currently double of everything and everything was blurry.

“I’m going to help you stand up. Do ya think you can do that?”

“Yeah Dad.” You lifted your upper body off from the ground with a gentle hand on your back helping you sit up. Fighting the wave of nausea that slapped you in the face, you reached up to rub at your eyes. A hand once again stopped you. You peeked your eyelids open and lightly glared at whomever stopped you. “Hales you’re lucky you’re so cute I woulda slapped you. I like holdin but you’re bein annoying. Stop.” You attempted to make your voice sound firm, but the words that came out of your mouth were slightly slurred.

She was silent as she helped her dad haul you to your feet. Once on your feet, you saw the room spin and felt yourself start to sway slightly. An arm wrapped itself around your shoulders and pulled you close to them so that your weight was supported. They were a little taller than you were making it easy to lean on them.

“...Can you walk?” A deep, monotone voice rumbled the chest of the person you were leaning against.

“Mhm. ‘M not weak.” Though your limbs felt like they were made of molasses, you placed one foot in front of the other slowly. The person moved alongside you, “you’re doing so good, keep going.” That sparked familiarity in you as you stopped in your tracks and tried to look up at the person you were leaning against making the person tighten their arm around your shoulders when you almost fell over.

“Tech?”

“Yeah, it’s Technoblade. Just focus on walking. You’re almost out of the gym.”

When you realized that you were out of the gym, you sighed in relief. It was so much quieter and darker. Though it was still relatively bright, it was better than the gym.

“S’better.”

“When we get her to the car we can give her some sunglasses or something if it’s still too bright for her.”

“Wilbs-”

“Focus on walking.”

You huffed in irritation, “don’ tell me what to do bitch.”

You felt Techno’s body jolt slightly as he chuckled, making your head throb at the sudden movement. “Just walk.”

When you walked outside, you shivered as you felt the cool air nip at your exposed skin. Right, you were in your volleyball uniform. “I’ll go pull the car around, you guys stay with her.”

You saw a tall brunet start to walk away from you. Uncle Splat? Uncle Schmat? Whatever his name was, you were sure he was your uncle. You tried to snuggle closer to Techno, craving warmth but never being satisfied. Where was your uncle?

After a while, you saw a car moving towards you and blinding light pointed right at you making you cringe away and groan. Techno started to slowly walk towards the car. “C’mon (y/n), you’re almost there. When you’re in the car you can relax.”

“Tommy, Tubbo, and Techno, you’re in the back row. Schlatt can drive and Wil, you’re taking the passenger seat. I’ll stay with her in the middle row so she can have some room to lay down.” Tommy and Tubbo were with you? Why weren’t they talking, they usually were very vocal.

“Tom, Tubbs didja like the game?”

They didn’t say anything as they climbed into the car. Did they not hear you?

“They’re just… tired (y/n).” Your dad’s voice reassured you as he took Techno’s place holding you up.

“I wanna nap. ‘M so tired.”

“You can’t sleep yet. We gotta get you to a doctor first.”

“Mm. Makes sense.”

“Let’s get you in the car hun.”

As he helped you climb into the car, you felt an overwhelming wave of nausea wash over you making you lose your balance and almost faceplant into the cloth seats. You felt yourself being gently, yet urgently taken out of the car and led to grass as you felt your esophagus shorten. Something burning made its way up your throat and spewed into the grass. You felt someone rubbing your back as you puked up your dinner.

When you were done, you reached up with a shaking hand to wipe your mouth. “You feelin better? Think you can get back into the car or do you need to sit down for a bit?”

“Car.”

After some difficulty, you were successfully in the middle row of the car laying down with your head on Philza’s lap. Soon enough, your shoes were taken off and a blanket was draped over you.

“(Y/n), what do you remember?”

You scrunched up your face as you squinted at Philza’s face. “I remember playing volleyball with Hales. She’s so pretty, she’s straight though. I remember the other team hitting the ball, me jumping, then nothin. Wha’ happened?”

You watched as Philza winced, “well, you got everything right so far. You got hit in the face with the ball so you fell and hit your head on the floor. You were passed out for a minute before you woke up. It was a pretty nasty fall, we’re going to the hospital now. How’re ya feelin?”

“Head hurts, ‘m seein two of everything, an I can’t think.”

“Do you know what a concussion is?” You nodded in his lap slightly, “you probably have one.”

After a while of talking, you were slowly starting to come to your senses and your speech was clearing up, but your head was still too stuffy to think about what you were saying before you said it. You didn’t have a filter.

“Do you wanna tell us about your week so far? Do you remember most of it?”

“Mhm, it was shit. On Monday I had a panic attack and Adrian, Sammy, and Annie were being bitches to me all day. They fucked up my back. On Tuesday, they got mad at me for ditching them and they had me do their homework, had another panic attack, and Haley told me that someone took pictures of our boobs ‘n stuff and they were gonna leak it to the school if Haley didn’t stop hanging out with me. Haley and I almost kissed, but she’s straight. Pulled an all nighter and Wednesday I accidentally came out to Tech and Wil and had another panic attack. Annie, Adrian, and Sammy took more pictures of me through my window, Annie outed me to the entire school and slapped me. Another panic attack, skipped the last two classes and felt like shit the entire practice. Today Adrian and Sammy told me to kill myself and I had another panic attack. ’S about it.”

As you were going through your week, the hand that was previously gently stroking your hair had frozen as the car was enveloped in a tense silence. Luckily, Tommy and Tubbo were passed out in the back seat so they didn’t hear how bad your week was. Everyone awake knew that you had a few bad days this week, but they didn’t know the full extent of it. You watched as Philza’s expression had turned downright murderous, but you didn’t really care. You were busy talking about your week.

For the rest of the car ride, Philza asked you simple questions like what your favorite color was, your favorite animal, basically your favorite everything. Eventually, the car pulled into the hospital parking lot and Philza helped you get out of the car. “Schlatt, can you take the boys home so they can get some rest? I’ll stay with her.”

“Yeah, I’m on it. Don’t cause too much trouble (y/n), we all know you can raise hell.” He watched you for a reaction, but when you didn’t react, he coughed. “Well, I’ll see ya later kid. Good luck.”

The car drove off leaving you and Philza at the front of the emergency room building. “It’s gonna be a long night (y/n).”

“I gotta finish Annie’s essay and Sammy’s presentation though.”

“No you don’t, I’ll email your teachers.”

You two checked in with the front desk before moving to sit on the uncomfortable chairs. It was going to be a long night. You were so tired.

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theonetheycallhannah · 3 years

Text

The Treatment of Captain Syverson-Chapter 16: Sit Rep

Characters: Captain Logan “Sy” Syverson, various other original supporting/secondary characters (This includes Sy’s Army Buddies of varying rank as follows: Kevin Kaufmann, Nate Banning, Chad Randall, Matt Styles, Jake Ryburn, and Travis Hodges. I apologize if I’ve mixed up their names anywhere. I just gave them last names and sometimes rank so they could be called something other than their first names for sake of variety! lol!)

Summary: Sy meets up with his Army buddies and they are eager to help.

Romance and Smut Abound HERE!

Word Count: 4.5k

Warnings: Language, firearms, implication of abuse and violence

Author’s Note: Guys, we are getting closer! Our couple will be back together soon! I can’t wait and I know most of you feel the same! I hope the strike team members aren’t too muddled and confusing. If they are, I’m very open to your feedback and suggestions on how to clarify and improve! Thank you to everyone, long time readers, and new fans picked up along the way! I cherish you all, and would never have gotten this far in the story if it wasn’t for each and every one of you! I hope you enjoy the 16th chapter (18th installment…remember when I thought this would just be a few chapters of fluff with a smutty conclusion? Lol!) of The treatment of Captain Syverson.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, Henry is not mine, le sigh, and all mention of him, his characters, any characters from his films, or his precious doggy, Kal, are strictly for transformative and recreational use. I neither ask for, nor accept payment for the work I post on Tumblr or AO3. Unbeta’d because this is for fun and escapism. This is an original work by me, Hannah. Please reblog if you wish to share. Please do not repost either in whole or part, as the work of anyone but myself. Thanks so much for reading!

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X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@

Sy sat in his truck in the parking lot of Cade's. He couldn't help but think about the last time he was here. The altercations with Elliott, both inside the bar and outside, the friendships he'd started to build with the other fellas in Shane's work group, the simple way Shane pulled off the elegance of minimalism with her wardrobe and makeup, the ride home…and the night of lovemaking that followed. He had made a mistake. He shouldn't have agreed to come tonight. He was gonna leave. His right hand reached for the keys in the ignition, a firm grip ready to set the engine roaring again, when he was startled by a rap at his window.

Tap-tappa-tap-tap his friend Kevin had just rhythmically knocked with one knuckle on the window. He was smiling and waving exuberantly, like a puppy whose master had just come home.

Sy's scowl softened into a sheepish grin and he knocked back tap-tap.

Kevin waited near Sy's front fender while he got out of his truck.

"How ya doin' Kevin?" he greeted his old friend warmly.

"Alright, I s'pose! You?"

"Oh…I'm makin' it, I guess. What are you up to these days? Still workin' at the plant?" Kevin had worked for the 3M factory over in Lebanon, Missouri since his last tour. Sy knew if he just got him talking about his life, Sy wouldn't have to give him details about his own, which he was going to avoid like the plague, if he could tonight.

"Yup, I actually just got a promotion. I'm a line manager now." And Sy could barely congratulate him before he started delving into the details as the two men walked into Cade's.

It was already busy, even for a Friday night. But the rest of the guys had already claimed a table between the dart boards and the pool tables, and were working on a couple of pitchers of beer. The two were welcomed warmly and only slightly teased about walking in together.

With the group finally assembled, they began taking turns giving report on their lives. It began with Kevin, who, having already begun with Sy, continued with a brief recap for the others. Sy exhaled with relief when Matt, who was seated on the other side of Kevin piped up to speak next, having recently proposed to his long time girlfriend. They were going to get to him last, if at all. He listened as well as he could as he battled the troubled thoughts in his head by bombarding them with beer. Unbeknownst to him, his friend Nate, who'd organized the gathering, had been observing his behavior with curiosity, and a measure of concern. He didn't let Jake finish talking about his latest dalliance into what they were all sure was a pyramid scheme disguised as direct sales. Even though Jake insisted it was not.

"Well, I'm curious as to why Sy's been so tight-lipped all evening. What's on your mind, Captain?"

"Nothin' Nate. Just enjoying a few beers with old friends." Sy lied, not convincing anyone at the table, least of all Nate, who had been one of his closest friends while they were stationed together.

"If I wanted to hear bullshit, I'd have let Jake keep talking about the Duraplex scam."

"It's not a scam, guys, it's real supplements for busy people!" Jake defended.

"Can it, Hodges. We aren't buying it, and we aren't signing up to sell it, either." Nate focused again on Sy. "Come on, man. You told me on the phone you had a lot going on. What is it? Female troubles?" He snickered, as did the other guys.

Sy looked into his glass, through the foam and into the honey liquid below it with a rueful grin. "In a sense."

He took a huge drink of the beer, five gulps, nearly emptying it, fortifying himself to speak.

"My girlfriend is missing." Everyone froze in position as they processed this.

Half a dozen questions hit his ears at once. Which he could have handled if he hadn't had almost a full pitcher by himself.

He shut them down, and began to tell them the story of how he met Shane and their sort of whirlwind romance. He paused for a moment to pour himself another beer.

"Never heard you talk about a woman like that, Sy." His friend Chad piped up.

"Never felt this way before, man. She's…she's the one."

"You said she was missing, though?" Nate asked, brow furrowed in concern.

Sy continued, talking about their argument, reconciliation, and then his leaving for training, ending his briefing with the phone call he got from Shane's boss.

"That's fucked up, man." Matt said. "What are you gonna do about it?" His worry seemed genuine, as well, as if he was putting himself in Sy's shoes. Sy assumed because he had been in love with Tonya, his now fiancé since they were in high school, even though she didn't come around on him until he came home on leave one holiday weekend.

"I've already gone to the police with my statement and an idea for a prime suspect."

"You think she was kidnapped?" Brad Randall, who was a Sergeant for the Rolla Police Department, inquired.

"I personally have no doubts that she was kidnapped, and I am a hun'ert percent certain it was her shithead ex."

"And you don't think she's just…ghosted you?" Brad prompted. The thought put a painful tightness in Sy's chest, but it passed quickly. He knew she wouldn't do that. And not just to him.

"No way, man. She left her phone. She didn't tell work. She didn't even tell her parents. Shane takes her phone with her from room to room. She's glued to it. She'd never do that to her coworkers, who are practically family, and she'd certainly tell her parents if she was going to leave town for any amount of time. It's just…not her. I know her."

"And who's this ex? What's his deal? Why is he on the short list of suspects?"

"He IS the list, Brad. He was abusive when they were together. And a cheater. And a liar. And he tried to jump me right outside just a few weeks back. Ask Candace. She was behind the bar when he started getting in Shane's face up there. And I'd bet she saw what happened out in the parking lot, too." He gestured to the sporty blonde bartender with a high ponytail and a Cardinal's jersey when he mentioned her, and then pointed toward the windows looking out onto the dozen or more vehicles parked outside.

"Can we do anything?" Kevin asked, clamping a hand on Sy's shoulder.

"Nothin'. But I appreciate the offer, brother." And he returned the contact with a clap to the other man's shoulder.

Nate and Brad exchanged pointed looks, and Nate countered Sy's rejection.

"I wouldn't say THAT, Sy."

"What do you mean?" Sy looked at Nate as if he was pedaling snake oil…or Jake's supplements.

"I think…that we CAN do something. To help you find Shane."

"We all have military experience, and some of us have connections that could be very useful." Added Brad. "I'm on the Force. I can handle getting intel on the guy."

"I'm in to help with transpo." Matt Styles raised his hand to offer up the vehicles in his transportation service, Rydes with Styles. Sy hated when words were misspelled for the sake of gimmicks…but he had to give Matt credit for that one.

"And Travis and I still work at the base. We can arrange gear." Jake added as Travis nodded.

"And whatever else you need, I'm in too." Kevin concluded.

"No way, guys. You can't stick your necks out for me like that. I won't have it."

"Sy…You know I talked to Lopez after that last mission the two of you were on?" Travis met Sy's eye as he spoke. "He said you had your team carry out Kominski's body. And that you took on most of, and then all of his bodyweight, just so Freeman could cover everyone. Said you were hurt, yourself, but helped him, carried him, to your extraction point. Up several flights of stairs."

Sy had no response other than a blank stare. It seemed to say all it needed to, because Travis continued.

"Lopez is alive and the Kominski girls got to say a proper goodbye to David. Plus, that mission WAS a success because you got the target. I know it's still classified, but…I think we all know the significance of what you did by leading that mission. You didn't leave a man, living or dead, behind."

"And we aren't gonna let your girl get left behind, either. We're gonna take that sonofabitch out. Because what do we do?" Nate declared, ending with the call Sy had always used at the end of his mission briefs.

The whole table, including a reluctant Sy, recited “We embrace the darkness and the suffering.”

“And why do we do it?” Nate continued.

“So that our fellow man is free to live in peace." Sy looked around the table at all of these men he had served with, fought with, watched comrades fall with, and fought against tyranny with. He thought most of them could have come up with their own story about his role in their military time, but the mission Travis was talking about outlined what he figured was the most significant sacrifice he had ever made for a teammate.

"Well…I guess we need to come up with a plan, then." Sy smiled and finished off the beer in his glass before laying it out for the others.

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

Sy had given them all missions tailored to their own strengths and connections. Brad would gather all the info he could on Elliott. Matt would reserve vehicles. Jake and Travis would procure tactical gear for the team, and Nate…Nate would provide weapons. Pistols and blades. Ammo. Holsters. Even flash grenades and smoke bombs.

Cade's was too public to talk about their plans, so Sy told everyone to rendezvous at his house the very next afternoon. They sat around the patio table on his back deck while they waited for everyone to arrive. Jake was late.

"Well, I guess 'direct sales' waits for no man, and we can't wait for Ryburn anymore. Styles, report?" Sy commenced the meeting.

"I have three Suburbans that are only a couple years old. They're black, discreet, and all glass is tinted within an inch of it's life. Even the license plate covers. I'll make sure they're fueled and ready." Matt stated.

"Aces. Richardson?" Travis spoke up next.

"Yeah, Jake had to go in for a late shift last night after we met, but I talked to him. He's gonna get vests for everyone, eyewear, comms, the whole works. All rated for Black Ops. He told me a bit ago he was following up on a lead and was hoping it would pan out. Said he had a hunch." Travis shrugged, not certain what his friend was up to, but not that concerned.

"Sounds good. Randall?"

"I made up some dossiers for everyone that includes everything I could find on Thomas. He doesn't have a ton of priors. Mostly drunk and disorderly's that were thrown out, because he got the right representation and the wrong judge. He must have someone backing him, because I have no job on file for him. No employer has run a background on him in ten years. Last known address is from six years ago, when he filed a change of address from an apartment in the Cottage Hills complex to…407 Oak Street."

"That's Shane's address." Sy interjected. "He must not have changed it since she kicked him out."

"It seems so. But it's so weird. I don't see any credit cards, online orders, not even a Netflix account on the guy. He's totally fallen off the grid since Shane. I did get into some social media accounts, but he hasn't posted to anything in the last 18 months."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he was posting hot and heavy about this girl, Kara Hutch. 37. Lives over in Waynesville. But his last Facebook status just says, 'What a waste.' and 'feeling betrayed' and that was in February of last year."

"Hmm, do you think--" Sy was interrupted by the unexpectedly loud and abrupt sound of his front door flying open and Aika, with them on the deck, barking like they were about to be murdered. She was ready to kill whatever came through next. The men, all of them battle hardened veterans sporting conceal and carry permits, were out of their seats and in defensive stances in a fraction of a second. Aiming at an unseen enemy. A figure approached in the shadow of Sy's kitchen, arms raised and slowing as it saw several barrels aimed for its head and chest.

"Woah, woah, woah, guys it's me! It's Jake! Stand down!"

"Are you FUCKING INSANE, Corporal!?" Sy asked, reverting to Captain mode. "You just snuck up on and burst in on a group of soldiers. Do you comprehend how close you came to looking more like Swiss Cheese than a man, Ryburn?!" Sy scolded, fire in him rising, but more out of an angry concern for the friend they nearly shot.

"Sorry, sir, err, Sy. I was focused on getting here for my report." Jake said, out of breath.

"Travis already told us about the gear, Ryburn. You didn't need to bust in like that." Nate berated.

"Oh, guys. What I've got is way better than night vision devices. I might have an address for our guy."

"How in seven hells did YOU get an address?" Brad exclaimed, pride wounded as intel was his task.

"I know, dude, that was on you, but…I overheard a conversation when I was doing some work on equipment in the Air Traffic Control tower."

"What could you have possibly overheard in ATC?" Sy was incredulous.

"Do you want me to tell you, or would you like to keep screaming at me?"

Sy called Aika off and let Jake onto the deck, but the German Shepherd was still eyeing the corporal with marked skepticism.

"So I kept hearing this controller talking to the other girl at her station. She kept talking about her boyfriend…whose name was Elliott." Eyebrows went up all around the table. "Yeah, and he fit the description in every way. Physical appearance, textbook narcissism, the works. I went to the personnel office when I got done with the service call and told the attendant that the girl had helped me with my gear and I wanted to send her an email to thank her. She gave me a contact sheet on Sasha King. I looked her up on my lunchbreak, and found some photos of her with a guy I think might be Elliott." Jake showed Sy an image he'd saved to his phone. "Is this him?"

"Yup, that's the guy." Sy's blood was boiling again at the smiles on the couple's faces. He didn't deserve happiness. He didn't deserve a pretty girlfriend. He should die alone, starving for the love he deprived others. "You say you got an address?"

"Yeah, the gal in personnel printed me a full demo sheet. The only thing we don't have is a social." Sy noted the redacted 9-digit code in one corner of the document Jake had handed him. He read out loud. 3502 Highway D. St. Robert, MO.

"You boys feel up to a little recon tonight?" They all nodded, excitedly, patting Jake on the back, and high fiving him in congratulations on the invaluable find. Even Brad commended him on his detective skills and told him he'd have a job on the Force with him if he ever wanted a change. The corporal almost blushed.

The men went back into the house and through the front door to the driveway where they were all parked.

"Jake, you brought all the gear, too?"

"Sure did, Sy. There's vests, belts, NVDs and helmets to mount. There's plenty for everyone." Jake opened the back of his Jeep as if it were a buffet of delicious tactical equipment. Sy found among the gear a large case and opened it out of curiosity. A sound amplifier with headphones. That was going with him, as it appeared there was only one.

"I'll outfit everyone with guns and ammo later. But here are some tac knives, and three of each diversionary devices for each member of the team." Nate passed out packs with the blades, smoke grenades, and flash bombs.

"Okay, rendezvous at Matt's shop at 1800. We'll go over some procedures for the evening and get set up with the rest of our weaponry then. Okay?" General nods of ascent and "mmhmms" in confirmation of the plan came from the men. Sy continued, "Maybe get some rest between now and then. I don't know how long this is going to take."

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

Sy got to Matt's a little early. 1730. Nate showed up about ten minutes later and pulled in next to Sy, leaving the rear doors accessible to arm the team. The men got out of their vehicles and began double checking Nate's inventory.

"Nervous?" Nate said after exchanging the usual pleasantries.

"I didn't think I was. But just now, I got to thinking about what that…monster is doing to the love of my life. What he's putting her through, if he's even let her live. What are we going to come across when we get to this place?"

"You can't think like that. She's not Schrödinger's cat. You have to be positive here. This mission depends on your strength as a leader. You're gonna do great. And Shane is gonna be fine. We all will. Have a little faith, man." Nate patted Sy on the back in encouragement. Sy appreciated it. But he thought he might have to compartmentalize, instead. Think of this as just another mission. Forget that Shane was involved. Even if it wasn't healthy, it might at least be helpful.

Matt arrived soon after and waved at the two men as he pulled in on the other side of Nate. He got out and greeted his friends, all of them shooting the breeze and enfolding the others into the conversation as they got there. Kevin was the last to arrive, just before 1800, when the briefing commenced.

"So," Sy began, more timidly than was his usual way. "First, guys, I wanna say, I appreciate y'all so much for doing this. For putting in the time and the resources to help me and Shane. I owe y'all more than I can repay, but that doesn't mean I won't try. Within reason." He grinned and his friends chuckled.

"Now, we've got the comms set up. We'll be in each other's ears, so we can report in real time. I've looked up an aerial view of the farm on Google Earth, and there should be good cover for surveillance with the sound equipment and NVDs. I'll take point, Nate, you and Matt are with me. Kevin, you and Brad will flank the property on the left, Travis and Jake are going right. I'm hoping this will just be recon, but if I get wind of something I don't like, I may call for the strike. You guys will report anything you think looks fishy, and I will make that call with the intel I'm given. Now. When and if I make that call, we're gonna aim for disorientation and soft incapacitation. If you don't have to kill, don't. I don't know how much help this bastard has, but I know it would have taken several to take down Shane. It's not that I think any of them deserve to be spared, but…I don't want us to break up any families. We don't need the weight on our already heavy souls." War had changed them all, and Sy didn't want to make any more widows. "We good?"

Nods of approval from the men made Sy think he was looking at a military bobble head collection. He stifled a smile.

"Alright, lets get armed and ready, then Matt can take us to our chariots."

They were all mostly suited up, black or dark colors were the general uniform. They were ready for whatever might happen. As Nate handed out guns and ammo, the men examined their clips, loaded their guns, and put them in their holsters until needed…they hoped they wouldn't be.

When they were all set, they followed Matt to the huge garage he kept his fleet in.

Although, "garage" didn't quite do the building justice. It was actually an airplane hangar that Matt got for a good price when the local airline went under. He'd made a loft in it with a ramp so there was extra room for smaller vehicles like his town cars. The limos, SUVs, and the stretch Hummer were on the lower level. He had a separate space outside for the two party busses and the RV, protected from the elements by large carports.

Matt went to grab keys from the lock box as the men gathered near the Suburbans. Sy was getting angsty. Moment of truth was here.

"Okay," Matt jingled two sets of keys in his hands. "Who's driving?"

Kevin deferred to Brad without contest, but Jake and Travis were bickering over the question between them.

"Grow up or get married already." Sy chided. "Jake, you got the good intel for us yesterday. You drive."

Travis was mildly crestfallen, but Jake was stoked and he caught the keyring Matt tossed him.

"You wanna drive, Captain?" Matt offered Sy the last set of keys.

"No, Matt. You're driving our group. I'll take shotgun though."

And the seven men got into the vehicles as if they were mounting horses, headed into the sunset.

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

Over the comms on the way, Sy addressed the team. "Okay, there's a large outbuilding near the road, guys. Pull off the driveway and park behind that structure. Hopefully they'll hide the vehicles from the main house. Bravo and Charlie teams, you let Alpha team get in place before you take your positions."

"Roger that, Captain." Kevin said in the headset.

"We copy." Travis answered for himself and Jake.

The first phase of the mission went perfectly. Sy, Nate, and Matt were in position, and Sy had set up the sound amplifier, aiming it at the house, headphones on. When the other teams were in position, Matt reported to Sy, since he was getting feedback using the earpiece and the headphones for the amp at the same time.

"Bravo and Charlie teams are in place, Captain."

"Great. Sit Rep?"

"All's quiet so far. Wait. Headlights coming up the drive." Each team tried to make themselves as small and low as possible so as not to draw attention to their presence. Sy had been getting nothing but crime show drivel from the TV in the house since he got here.

A petite but curvy brunette got out of the white Honda Civic and stomped into the house.

"Hey babe." Elliott's unmistakable voice rang in Sy's ear. And he was filled to bursting with rage all over again.

"What the fuck, Elliott? I've been trying to call you for hours! What the hell have you been doing?"

"Oh, I was charging my phone in the bedroom. What's going on?"

"That Captain Syverson your little pet was banging? I found out today that he's back in town. Has been for a few days."

"Shit. Shit!!! SHIT!!!"

"Yeah, so…if he isn't already, it won't be long before he starts trying to find her."

"But…how could he? Even if he thought it was me, I have no official ties to this place, or even you!"

"Flattering."

"You know what I mean."

"Whatever, but I'd get rid of her ASAP. This guy is NOT someone you wanna piss off, Elliott."

"I'll bring the guys in. We'll take care of it. Tonight."

Sy cussed in a loud whisper. He wanted to rip Elliott apart with his bare hands. Nate asked him what was wrong, but Sy held up a hand for him to remain quiet because he heard the scumbag inside on the phone.

"Yeah, it's me. Listen, change of plans, we need to do this tonight. Get everyone out here. Yes, immediately. There's a…potential complication. We need to take care of her before it becomes more. Yeah, she's weak, but I'm still gonna wait until you guys get here. She's still got some fight in her. She about took Jackson's eye out yesterday when he was down there. He's got some wicked scratches on his face. I think he made her regret it, though." Elliott laughed with evil mirth. Sy was furious. He reckoned God Himself might have a time pulling him off that degenerate before he made him unrecognizable as a human man. Once he started punching him, he might not be able to stop.

When Elliott signed off, Sy pulled the earphones down onto his neck. He looked at Matt and Nate.

"He's planning something with Shane and has called in reinforcements. It sounds like he means to take her somewhere else, and it didn't sound like it was gonna be pretty. I think we need to go in now."

"Shit. Okay." Matt responded. Sy put his earpiece in and called on the rest of the team.

"Bravo and Charlie, do you copy?"

"Bravo copies." Kevin reported back.

"Charlie copies. Go ahead, Alpha." Travis cleared.

"Listen, boys. We need to go in, and we need to make it quick. Here’s the situation. We have one male and one female assailant inside the domicile, and an undetermined number of additional combatants en route to reinforce the enemy's line. We have one target. A female prisoner, presumably in the basement, given verbiage used in the communication I intercepted. Alpha team will make our priority extraction. Bravo, you will subdue the male assailant and then maintain sentry position on the lookout for more unfriendlies. Charlie team, you will clear the second level of the house and subdue the female combatant. She is a soldier, so proceed with extreme caution. Once the area is secure, drivers, go and retrieve the vehicles. We are gonna need to get out of here quick, or else things might go tits up. I'm concerned we'll lose the advantage of numbers if we wait too long. Are we clear?"

"Copy that, Alpha leader."

"Roger. On your count, cap."

Sy took a deep breath. Thought to himself "Shane. I'm on my way, baby!" He saw red, then. And called for the charge, out of the darkness, and into the farmhouse. To an uncertain outcome.

Up Next: Chapter 17-Gait Training

#Sand Castle #netflix sand castle #captain syverson #Captain Syverson x OFC #sigh for sy #henry cavill #henry cavill fanfic #Henry Cavill x ofc

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prettyinlimegreenboots · 3 years

Note

we were going to go walking around the neighborhood to see all the pretty lights but you woke up feeling a bit under the weather and not up to being outside in the snow so i snuck out early this morning and made a video of them all for you so you didn’t have to miss out

Cursing included

December 2019

The afternoon had been quiet in the DaSilva-Cortes household. One of the occupants was snoozing the afternoon away on the couch while the other was preparing dinner for that evening. They had plans to go look at Christmas lights throughout the city that evening with some friends. Meanwhile, their living room looked like a winter wonderland, complete with an 8 foot tree in the corner decorated with a hodge podge mix of their ornaments. Stockings were hung on the mantle with care. Christmas was 11 days away and they were both eager for the holiday.

He heard the hacking cough come from the couch as he finished cleaning up the kitchen. “Albie, you okay?”

“No, dammit I’m dying, Finchie. I can see the pearly gates callin’ my name.” Finch shook his head, rounding the island to put a hand on Albert’s forehead. He frowned, noting that he was under three different blankets with a hoodie pulled up over his head. “I’m freezing. Is the heat on?”

“Yes, the heat is on.” Finch pulled his hand back. “You’ve got a fever. Have you taken anything?”

Whining, Albert buried himself back in his blankets. “Aspirin earlier.”

“What time?” Finch looked at the clock, before looking sadly at his husband.

Albert groaned. “Earlier this morning when I got up.”

“It’s 4 Albert.” Finch shook his head, walking into the bathroom to grab some aspirin before going to the kitchen for a bottle of water.

Returning he got Albert to sit up before handing him the aspirin and the bottle of water. Taking a seat in the oversized chair, Finch sighed, pulling out his cellphone. He quickly sent out a text to the group of friends letting them know that Albert was sick and they wouldn’t be joining. “What are you doing?”

“Letting the group know we’re not going to be able to join them tonight.” Finch watched him bury himself back in his cocoon.

A pitiful whine came from the blankets. “I’ll be fine tonight going to see the lights.”

“Really Albert?” Finch sighed, giving him a look. “You can barely get off the couch and you’ve got a fever. The only place you’re going tonight is our bed to sleep.”

A groan escaped the blankets, Finch grinning at his husband, dramatic little shit. “Why do the sickness gods hate me so?”

“Quit being so dramatic.” Finch shook his head. “Sit up and I’ll get you some soup that’ll help.”

Walking into the kitchen, he grabbed a bowl, pouring some of the homemade chicken noodle soup into the bowl. He grabbed some saltines before making his way back into the living room. “Sit up, please.”

Albert pushed himself into a seated position with a group, giving Finch a pitiful look. “I hurt.”

“Eat up, this will help you not feel so horrible.” Finch gave him the bowl, sitting on the end of the couch. “After you’re done, you can go take a shower then we’ll get you into bed, so you can sleep it away.”

Albert slurped at the soup, giving his husband a cheesy grin. “You’re so good to me. I’m sorry I’m such a whiny shit.”

“I’d have you no other way, babe.” Finch pointed to the soup. “Now eat.”

The living room was quiet, only sounds were Albert slurping at the soup. The clanking of the bowl being put on the coffee table was heard as Albert tried to push himself off the couch, groaning. “Let me help you.”

Offering him a hand, Finch hauled him to his feet before walking him to the bathroom. “I’m going to leave the door cracked open - holler if you need anything.”

As Albert took a shower, Finch dragged his phone out and sent a text message to the group. They enthusiastically replied back, agreeing to his suggestion. Pocketing his phone, he hauled himself off the couch, going to the bathroom door. “You alive in there?”

“Barely.” Came the muttered response, Finch chuckling in response.

Ducking into the room, he grabbed Albie’s favorite PJ Pants and shirt, sneaking back into the bathroom. “I put some clean clothes on the counter for you. Put those on and I’ll help you get into bed.”

“Can we cuddle?” Albert asked with a sniffle and a cough before throwing back the curtain. Finch shook his head, even when he was sick with a cold, his husband was smokin’ hot. “Stop ogling the goods . . . I don’t feel up to doing anything but sleeping.”

“Can’t help it babe. And yes we can cuddle.” Finch grinned, helping Albie dry off before putting the clothes on him.

Once he was dressed, Albie was leaning heavily against Finch and looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Carry me to bed?”

Picking him up bridal style, Finch kicked the bathroom door open with his foot before walking into their bedroom. Laying him gently on the bed, Finch gave Albert a look. “Do you want anything before we cuddle?”

“Maybe some water?”

Finch nodded, walking back out into the living room, turning off lights as he went before filling up a water bottle. Walking back into the bedroom, he smiled seeing Albert cuddled up in blankets, quiet whisps escaping from his lips as he slept. Finch took a quick photo, before getting into bed and running his hand through Albert’s hair, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

He waited 20 minutes, to ensure Albert was sound asleep, before slipping out of the bed. He grabbed a hoodie and his winter coat before shoving his feet into his winter boots. Making sure he had everything, he grabbed the car keys before slipping out of the house. What Albert didn’t know, wouldn’t kill him.

The Next Morning

He felt a kiss on his cheek before opening his eyes slowly, the sunshine slipping between the half-opened shades he forgot to shut the previous night. Groaning, he stretched, peaking open an eye to see Albert looking much better. “Feeling better?”

“I think my fever went away.” His voice was groggy as if he had just woken up himself. Finch looked over and saw that it was just 8am.

Pulling his hand from the covers, he reached over to Albert’s forehead and nodded in agreement. “You’re not as warm as you were last night. How about I get you some aspirin and some water?”

“Wanna cuddle for a bit.” The whine was still in his voice as he still wasn’t feeling the best.

Finch couldn’t argue with that, pulling Albert closer to him, dropping a kiss on his forehead. “I have a surprise for you later.”

Albert pulled back, giving him a look. “What kind of surprise?”

“The kind we curl up on the couch, cuddling, and watching it.” Finch grinned, watching Al’s eyes go wide at the prospect. “Our friends are kinda amazing, by the way.”

Tilting his head, Albie gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“You’ll see later when I show you. Now get over here and cuddle me.” Albert laid his head back on Finch’s chest, sighing in contentment.

Several hours passed before they pulled themselves from the bed - Albie claiming hunger pains. Finch made him some toast, not wanting to push his good feeling before they settled down on the couch. “Can I have my surprise now?”

Finch grinned, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV. With their smart TV, he was able to pull up a video. “So, since you couldn’t go see the lights last night, we brought the lights to you.”

Albie snuggled up to Finch’s chest, as he pushed play. Jack’s face front and center on the video. “Hey Al! Heard you weren’t feeling so hot so we are bringing you along as we go see the lights!”

He grinned, seeing all of their friends crowded around the camera. True to his statement, Jack held the camera and everyone pitched in their own commentary as they made their way down the sidewalk. The “oohs” and “ahhs” of their friends caused Albie to laugh as Finch’s heart soared at how amazing their friends were.

“Hope you feel better soon Al!” All their friends yelled after the 20 minute video stopped playing. Finch looked down at Al, and grew concerned at the tears down his husband’s face. “What’s wrong, peaches?”

“Our friends are amazing.” Albert cleared his throat. “That was so sweet that they did that.”

Finch loved Albert’s soft side, though he didn’t show it very often, reserving it for his nieces and nephew. “They were upset you weren’t feeling so great last night. They wanted to cheer you up.”

“And they did. I’ll send them a note later.” Reaching up to press a kiss to Finch’s cheek, he sighed. “I know you had a hand in it, so thank you.”

“You’re welcome but there’s one other video to show you.” Finch queued the next one up and Albert’s eyes’ lit up as it started to play. “I went over to our favorite neighborhood and drove through it taking the video of the lights.”

Albert’s smile was all the thanks Finch needed. They watched as Finch gave commentary about the many displays of lights and all the creativity that went into each lawn. As the video came to an end, Albert sat up, giving Finch a look. “How did I get so lucky with you? Thank you for doing that - it was the best surprise ever.”

“I just wanted to make you feel a bit better.” Finch admitted, giving his husband a grin.

Albert laid back down with a happy sigh. “You did that. I love you Finchie.”

“Love you too Albie.” Settling back on the couch, he let his hand trail Al’s arm, as they both relaxed at the quietness that enveloped them. Soon, they were both asleep, comforted by the soft wisps coming from the other.

#newsies #newsies fan fiction #writing #ask #redfinch #albert newsies #finch cortez #Christmas Drabble #drabble prompts #newsies drabble

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coppicefics · 3 years

Photo

Masked Omens: Week Six

[Image Description: Image 1 - A simple rendition of the Masked Singer UK logo, a golden mask with colourful fragments flying off of it. The mask has a golden halo and a golden devil tail protruding from either side. Below, gold text reads ‘Masked Omens’.

Image 2 - A page from the Entertainment section of the Capital Herald, dated Saturday, 30th January 2021. Full image description and transcript below cut. End ID.]

Read the fic here!

The Capital Herald - Saturday 30th January, 2021 Entertainment, page 13

Top story (continued from facing page): -talk filming, fans and family with 'Three Card Monte' star -finished, and hotly tipped for several major awards come the season, what does Dame Angela have in the pipeline? She's tight-lipped, but the question makes her smile. “Naturally I don't want to give too much away – an actress must maintain some mystery lest the camera fall out of love with her – but I can tell you I have several options in mind, and some of them are very exciting.” But is it a question of which project to take on, or which to take on first? “Well, of course, there are no guarantees, but... yes, I imagine some of them will wait.” It's an unusual level of power for an actor to wield, but at this stage in her career Dame Angela is more than entitled to wield it. How does she feel about winning the showbiz game so spectacularly? “Oh, I feel as though I've been playing a game of my own devising, to which even I don't know the rules.” She laughs. “No, but really, I don't think I've ever thought of it as playing a game. I go up for the parts I think are interesting or challenging, and I've been fortunate enough to get them more often than not. Then, when the part is finished, I move on to the next thing I want to do. There's no strategy, not really, not on my part. Naturally, my agent might tell you something very different!” Having the right agent can certainly be the key to success in the entertainment industry, and Dame Angela has been with Derek Mette, of MetteTalent, for many years now.“More than I care to admit,” she tells me with a laugh, “Derek has been with me since the beginning, really. We're old friends, at this point – our families exchange Christmas cards every year.” Family can be a challenge for someone who's trying to keep the momentum of their career going, and Dame Angela surprised the world when she took a year out of acting to give birth to her son, Anthony.“Yes, at that time it simply wasn't done; one could have a career, or one could have a family. Especially since I was very much on my own with it all. But I was able to get back in front of the cameras quite quickly, and I wouldn't change things for the world. Becoming a mother made me a better actress, I think, because it opened up that whole range of experiences. The highs and the lows of childrearing.” In fact, Dame Angela starred alongside young Anthony in A is for Apple when he was only eight months old. He briefly followed in her footsteps after leaving school, and seemed set for similar levels of industry acclaim. But it all came to a devastating halt when he developed an addiction that led to him being discovered unconscious in his trailer on the set of The Grasswater Affair. He'd overdosed. “I don't like to talk about it,” Dame Angela says, her mouth downturned. “I found it very hard. But now, of course, he's been in recovery for many years, and he does his little plays all around the country. It's behind us, and I'd like it to stay that way.” A change of subject, then; what does she make of the rumours that she is currently performing as a costumed character on The Masked Singer UK? “On- I'm sorry, what's that?” I show her a clip on my phone. “Good heavens, no.” But isn't that exactly what she'd say if it was her? “Well, I don't know. I'd never even seen it until just now. But it all seems a little childish for my taste. I'm far too committed to my art to do light entertainment.” Time, it seems, will tell. But if Dame Angela is indeed a participant in The Masked Singer, she hides it well.There’s time for one last question, so I try to make it a good one. What, I ask, does Dame Angela consider her proudest achievement to date? “Oh, that’s a difficult question. I simply couldn’t choose... Naturally, becoming a Dame was a great honour, and not one I expected at all, which made it all the more precious. But then, the first time I won an Oscar was a real moment of pride, and one that’s never soured with time. And, of course, every award and every round of applause is a moment of pride for any actor; it means I’ve done the job, and done it well, and that it has been appreciated by the audience in front of me. What more can any actress ask for?” MARY HODGES Dame Angela Crowley’s latest film, Three Card Monte, is in cinemas from the 12th of February.

Centre right: OWAS to host ‘magic’ event Literary society’s next gala theme announced The Oscar Wilde Appreciation Society has announced the theme for its spring social event, which is to be inspired by all things magical. Famed far beyond its actual membership for its lavish balls and banquets, the society has in the past held events held together by motifs such as 'Luck', which took place in a casino, 'Snow', which included a trip to a ski slope, and 'Flight', during which all participants had the opportunity to glide above the dancers on wires. This time, the theme is 'Magic', and while details are still being kept tightly under wraps, it seems fairly certain that Aziraphale Fell, London's most celebrated stage magician and a long-time member of the Oscar Wilde Appreciation Society, will be performing at the event. When the society throws open its doors each season, it's quite possible to go all night without seeing a single regular member of the club. While the organising committee is out in full force, soliciting donations from the wealthy patrons who attend the parties, and the society president stands up to make a toast at the beginning of dinner, it's largely outsiders who descend upon the Oscar Wilde Appreciation Society's chosen venue. In fact, the scale and opulence of these events has led some to speculate that OWAS is not a literary appreciation society at all, but rather a shadowy networking opportunity for the rich and powerful. Indeed, at the 'Flight' event, it's rumoured that two world leaders met in the queue for the wire-flying and laid the foundations for a later trade deal between their nations. The society's everyday goings-on are, I'm told, far more pedestrian and literary. But - as the current president, Edwin Pearce, often says - “what's an Oscar Wilde society without a little hedonism?” There's altruism, too, however; the society makes a substantial donation to a charity chosen by the members each year. This year's charity has yet to be determined, but last year the children of the Wessex Street Hospital enjoyed a very special Christmas thanks to a £20,000 cheque from the Oscar Wilde Appreciation Society. Much of the funds required to make such lavish events and donations possible are raised at those very events, which take place once a season. Tickets for the 'Magic' event have not yet been released, but previous events' tickets have sold for anything from £200 to £2000. A limited number of reduced price tickets are generally made available, so keep an eye on the Oscar Wilde Appreciation Society's website at oscarwas.org.uk if you're looking to get in without breaking the bank. If The Amazing Mr Fell will indeed be performing at the event, it might explain his recent reduction in performances – his show has gone down from six nights a week to just four, eliminating his Wednesday and Saturday performances. Magic fans in the capital can therefore hold out hope that once preparations for his upcoming performance are over, tickets might become easier to obtain. And, of course, the 'Magic' event itself promises to be one big avocado. CITRON DEUX-CHEVAL

Centre right: Drawing back the veil again Mystic Madame reportedly plotting TV return Two years after Drawing Back the Veil with Telepathic Tracy last aired, its old Saturday night slot is set to become vacant again – and rumours abound that the show may be set to return. For the last two years, live draws have been condensed into a fifteen-minute slot on BBC One, followed by an episode of one of the longer 45-minute drama series the BBC tend to favour these days. Much of the pageantry that used to go along with the weekly draw was shifted unceremoniously onto the National Lottery's YouTube channel or website, and the delivery of the actual results became more akin to the reading of a weather report before a return to the usual programming of the channel. Now, however, the BBC has put out a press release announcing that the National Lottery will now return to a half-hour draw show, allowing for 'a little more excitement and glamour'. This, the press release suggests, could take the form of a very brief trivia game before the draw, a return to celebrities wishing everyone luck before pressing the all-important button, a chance to showcase musical acts during the show, or some combination of the above. I'm all for a return to the showbiz nature of the nation's most mainstream gambling ring, but it's the shortening of the subsequent timeslot that has my attention. Already, just a day after the BBC's announcement, speculation is rife about what – and who – might be about to fill that second half-hour time slot. Most of the shows the BBC produces these days are designed for a 45-minute or hour-long format, and producers will be understandably reluctant to try to condense comedy, gameshows or drama into such a small space – especially given the National Lottery's occasional tendency to overrun. Pre-recorded shows have come unstuck before when the Camelot machines have jammed or some other calamity has befallen the draw, most notably in 2019 when the initial episode of Season 6 of Sherlock aired without the crucial first three minutes that explained the detective's cunning escape from the previous season's climactic scrape. It's the sort of situation that calls for a steady hand and an almost supernatural ability to adjust to disaster. Who better to take on the challenge than a woman who's had years of practice? Telepathic Tracy, the Mystic Madame, is very much still working her mysterious ways despite her departure from our TV screens – notably in The New Aquarian - and what better way to follow a disappointing lotto result than with the reassurance that this week, your luck will be better, or at the very least predictable? I, for one, predict Madame Tracy's triumphant return to television - and what's more, I welcome it. EDWARD BIGGS

Advertisement, bottom left: [Image Description: A grayscale photo of a warzone, with plumes of smoke. A smiling woman walks away from the destruction; she is in full colour and has artificially-enhanced red hair. Text is overlaid, as transcribed below. End ID.] When the news breaks, my hair doesn’t. Carmine Zugiber. Be bold. Be strong. Be Vibrant. [Image Description: The word Vibrant appears in red and is in a different font, like a logo. This is the case each time it appears. End ID.] Vibrant Flame Red Bottom right: Correction In Andy Sandalphon's column on page 15 of last Saturday's paper (23rd January), he stated that folk music made by an American is Country music. Several readers got in touch to explain that this is not, in fact, the case, and we would like to set the record straight. Country, or country and western, music is a very specific type of folk music, and while often associated with American artists, it is not simply the American version of folk. Furthermore, music must fit specific criteria to be considered country, and Anathema's does not. While country music belongs to the overarching genre of folk, not all folk music is country music, regardless of the nationality of the performer. We apologise sincerely for the mistake; while every effort is made to include only accurate information, errors do occasionally slip through. We regret the misunderstanding, and hope to do better in future. If you notice an error in any of our articles, please let us know as soon as possible by emailing [email protected]. We appreciate your help to keep our newspaper as accurate and factual as possible.

[End Transcript]

#masked omens #mo week six #very much fake news #good omens fic #mine #masked singer au #overdose tw

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katherinewilliams221b · 4 years

Text

For A Greater Good 10/18

not my gif just the text (Feels Like Home)

Summary: Kate Williams, young healer and member of the Order, joins Durmstrang’s staff at Dumbledore’s request. Her mission? Find a Death Eater and survive long enough to tell the story. Set in 1996.

Pairing: Charlie Weasley x ofc/mc

Masterlist

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5]

[Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9]

“I snuck out some tea from the kitchens.”

Kate left two teacups and a teapot on a small table in a corner of the first floor of the library.

Corentin raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not my first time.” She sat down in front of him with a small smile and nodded, letting Corentin serve the tea.

“Well... how’s life as a librarian?”

“Busier than it might seem. I’m constantly learning. So, I hear you’re a teacher now.”

Kate wrinkled her nose and took a sip of her drink.

“Attempt to be... with poor results. Let’s change the subject, I need to think about something else. Tell me about yourself.”

Corentin drank from his cup and looked up, pretending to think.

“Let’s see, I have a sister, Arlette, who lives in Lyon. She is an artist. That painting over there is hers.”

Kate turned and twisted her neck to see the painting hanging on the wall. It was a tree among mountains of snowy peaks with long branches that, instead of leaves, hung tiny books that opened and closed.

“The landscape changes with the seasons and the books come and go from the canvas according to the flow of the library books.

“Your sister is a genius.” She commented, admiring the painting.

“I will make sure she never hears that; we must not feed her ego.”

Amidst her laughter, Kate gasped and Corentin silently admonished her for being too loud.

She reached inside the cape and took out the copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

“At last. Something more suitable for your age next time, perhaps?

“It took me a long time, I know, I didn’t have time. But I think I’ve understood. You told me that the key to Grindelwald’s power was in this book. And one of the stories caught my attention.”

“Well?”

“The fountain of fair fortune. Three witches and a knight are chosen to make a wish to the fountain of good fortune. On the way, they encounter different challenges. They must deliver three things: the proof of their pain, the fruit of their efforts, and the treasure of their past.

The librarian patiently drank his tea while Kate spoke.

“Leaving aside the moral, if that fountain were to come into existence, did Grindelwald manage to find it to ask for power? And the experiments he was doing here in Durmstrang, were those sacrifices?”

Kate stared at Corentin, excited by her reasoning and waiting for his approval.

“I like the way your mind works, but you’ve got the wrong tale.” Kate deflated and finished what was left of her tea in the cup.

Corentin raised an arm and a scroll and a quill flew at them. With graceful fingers, he drew a circle on the paper.

“The resurrection stone.” With three lines, he wrapped the circle. “The cloak of invisibility.” And finally, a single straight line crossed both figures. “The Elder Wand. They are called: the Deathly Hallows.”

Kate’s brow jumped to her hairline thinking about the column in the courtyard, but then she looked at Corentin in confusion. “Do they exist?”

“You were willing to believe that there was a fountain that grants wishes, weren’t you?” Kate shrugged her head in agreement.

“I know that Gellert believed in them and that he spent the time here in Durmstrang looking for them. And I have the impression that, some time later, he found at least one.”

“The older brother’s wand.” Corentin nodded.

“The mark on that column has nothing to do with him. People began to associate him with it, and he never denied it.”

She sighed and looked up at the centre of the tower where the enormous chandelier hanging high in the air sparkled.

“Williams. You must understand that if you tell this to anyone, you will look like a fool. No one believes that they exist because they have never been found.”

“Then why are you telling me?”

“Because you asked me and I’m telling you what I believe.”

They continued to drink tea in pleasant silence while Kate thought about the importance of this new information.

Nothing that Corentin was telling her served her well in her mission and, although it was true that curiosity got the better of her, the whole thing was a dead end.

Just before she was about to return the tea set to the kitchens, Corentin stopped her.

“I don’t know if you know this already, but there’s a greenhouse behind the castle.” Kate’s eyes rounded. “Flavia wasn’t using it, but you might be interested.”

“Corentin, you don’t know how happy you’ve just made me now.”

“And Kate... do you want another piece of advice?" She nodded, "be the teacher you wish you had.”

A greenhouse. A greenhouse that no one had told her about. It was a mistake on her part not to have insisted on it.

This was exactly what she needed: having something to put a little green in her life, to feel the earth in her hands, to water flowers and to see them grow.

After sneaking back into the kitchens to return the teapot, she went to the place Corentin had indicated to her right by the lake.

It was quite far from the castle and it was abandoned, Professor Hodges didn’t use it for her classes, and that showed in the students’ knowledge.

With a look full of hope, she ventured inside the building.

She walked through the rubble, full of broken pots and dry leaves. The plants that were there were dead except for the ivy that had worked its way through the broken glass on the roof.

“I must cut that down.” She muttered to herself.

She ran her hand over the wooden table. It was in good condition, not a single splinter, and the varnish was practically intact. It was big enough to teach all the children at once.

She inspected every cabinet and drawer, taking inventory of the material and equipment she had. She could give a decent lesson with those instruments and was looking forward to that.

She looked around once more and, filled with joy, she was soon trying to put on one overall she found over the dress. Luckily, it was loose enough.

After making a bun with a rubber band, she armed herself with a pair of pruning shears and a ladder and climbed up to the glass roof to get rid of the ivy which covered the inside of the building.

The hours passed, and the morning turned into evening faster than she would have wished. For the first time since she had been at Durmstrang, she felt at home.

From the top of the dome and with her wand between her teeth, she admired the colours of the sky. It looked like a freshly painted canvas, one of Badeea’s paintings.

She was mesmerised for a few minutes, during which she began to feel the effects of a whole day’s hard work. She massaged her thighs and threw away the last branch of ivy she had in her hand before going back down into the greenhouse.

She picked up her wand and with a wave of the hand all the crushed glass on the floor flew to their rightful place, recomposing the roof and walls.

The broom that she had bewitched a few hours ago rested beside the mountain of leaves and dust that waited to be picked up by the door.

Kate looked at her work with satisfaction, and though it might have taken much less time to restore the building completely with magic, the manual labour also restored her spirit and soul.

She circled the centre table and headed for the flowerpots in the closet at the end of the room.

She decided that removing weeds and changing the soil was part of the experience of learning herbology, so she just removed the dust and cobwebs to save her students some work.

Her students. It was a curious phrase. She had never seen herself as a teacher. It was Rowan who did that work, not her. After seeing the essays that they had done, she had no hope of improving her teaching skills until that point.

The opportunity to be able to interact with the plants they had been studying would perhaps make them all less miserable and might even get them to learn something. Getting them to be interested in the subject was going to be a more laborious task.

Charlie would be a brilliant teacher, with that infinite patience he has, she thought.

A wave of melancholy washed over her unexpectedly.

Oh, how she missed him. It was usual to go for an entire day without seeing each other, or speaking, each one busy with their respective work, but both knew that the time would come to meet for dinner and share their day amidst laughter and kisses.

Now that was impossible.

As she let her mind torture her, she had not realised that she had begun to stir the soil with her fingers and that in turn, all those thoughts were channelled into the pot, making a small orange flower grow. She was startled to feel the warmth of magic in her fingers reaching the flower.

Her eyes suddenly blurred, and without being able to avoid it, one tear after another ran down her cheeks and made their way down her throat.

She sniffled and then grunted, feeling stupid. She wiped her tears with her sleeve and with a sad smile, picked up the flower that had reminded her of Charlie to keep it between the pages of her journal.

Just as she was picking up her coat to leave, the door to the greenhouse opened.

Too early for the moon to appear, the light coming from the castle was not strong enough to identify the figure that had just entered, so she approached the table with a quick ‘Lumos’.

“Professor Angelov!”

The secretive transfigurations teacher was startled to hear his name. It was clear he didn’t expect to find anyone there.

“What happened here?” he sounded strangely offended, even though Kate had done in one day the work that should have been done in months.

“I repaired the building. I plan to use it for my classes,” she hesitated to criticise Durmstrang’s teaching system to a professor, but her mouth went ahead of her brain and she wasn’t quick enough to stop it. “as it should have been done.”

Angry eyes shone in the light of her wand.

Kate put aside the reason for Leron’s visit to the greenhouse and focused on deciphering his anger. Even her legilimens skills couldn’t figure out its origin. She could only pick up confusion and... fear?

Angelov did not bother to say another word to her and with a movement of his cloak, which reminded Kate of her former potions teacher, he strode out into the night.

The next day, Kate decided to put to good use the new and improved greenhouse and took her students through the grounds of Durmstrang.

“I think you’re going to love this. Well, at least I’m excited.”

She waved her wand to keep all fifteen books in the air as she walked down the path to her students.

There was a lot of grunting and snorting when Kate told them they would not be in the classroom that day, but she was convinced that a little natural light and playing with dirt would change their mood.

“We’re almost there. I know you were bored the other day, and so was I, so...”

Kate stopped in front of the glass building and showed it off with her arm outstretched.

Several students exchanged glances, others stared at her, waiting for instructions.

“Well? What do you think?”

“Are we going to have a class here?” asked one girl.

“Indeed, Dana, we’ll do three hours a week here: one on Wednesday and two on Friday, what do you think?”

“That this place is dangerous.” Said Jon Hopkins.

“Ah, but that’s not true anymore. Come on, let’s go inside.” The sparkle in her eyes went unnoticed by the students who, skeptical of the change of scenery, entered behind her.

Kate surrounded the long central table where she left her books and headed for the end of the room. She waited for everyone to finish looking around and pile in with her.

“Lesson number one: safety. In that cupboard over there there are overalls for everyone, I’ve washed them, of course, so take one all and put it on over your uniform. There are also protective gloves. Take a pair too.”

Michael Angelov went to the table and took out a scroll to write something down. One of his companions looked at his writing and began to laugh.

“Are you going to write down everything she says?” The others laughed with him.

“Who knows, it might be an exam question. I recommend that you do the same. Memory can be treacherous.”

As they reluctantly left their bags and backpacks, the speech continued.

“You are responsible for your new work clothes. We will use potions, spells and dangerous plants, the suit will protect you and it is vital that you wear it. If someone is not wearing the suit, they cannot enter; if someone is not wearing gloves, they cannot enter and I will be very strict about this”.

She indicated that they should sit around the table, each on a stool.

“Lesson number two: know what materials are available. In the drawer in front of your seat there are: a small shovel, tweezers, garden shears, a spray and a brush”.

She left a moment for everyone to rummage through their drawers and continued.

“You are also responsible for the material. Before and after a class everyone should check that they have everything and put them in the drawer. I want you to write down the date and the list of your material.”

Everyone was silent, clearly confused about what they were doing. Kate went around the table, giving some directions and helping those who seemed to need it.

“Lesson number three: know what you are going to do.” As she waved her wand, the books placed on the table flew to each student.

“Today we’ll focus on the first part of Lesson Five: recognising soil types. This was part of the last test, and it’s clear that I didn’t prepare you enough for it. It’s important that you know how to do this because it’s fundamental. Make a note of the purpose of this practical class. I would have liked to do this earlier, but... that’s the way it is.”

As the children opened their books and whispered to each other, Kate handed out a tray with three small pots of different types of soil. Each with a label with a letter: A, B and C.

“Try to identify the three pots with the help of the book.” She said when she finished.

“Ah!” a little girl, Greta Eberhardt exclaimed. “There’s something in my pot!”

“It’s called earth, silly.” Replied her partner.

Kate came over to inspect Greta’s tray. Something bright blue was buried. She took one of the tweezers from the table and pulled it out.

“It’s a billywig. See the wings coming out of its head? Don’t worry; it’s dead.”

Not only did the wings catch the children’s attention but also the long, pointed sting of the torso.

She stared at the insect for a long time and looked up when it became silent in the greenhouse. Such discipline cannot be healthy, she thought, as she saw them reading or sticking their fingers in the pots without looking up.

“How quiet you are... I never said that you cannot work as a team.”

That evening Kate sat in her room drowned in pieces of parchment, both her students’ work and her notes from her mission.

She returned her attention to Vivien Argar, the name that was written on top of the paper, and sighed when she noticed that her assignment was two parchments longer than it should have been.

Kate put her quill down and pinched her nose, her thoughts returning to the Order. She considered Kent Jorgensen and wondered what kind of business he had going on with Leron Angelov.

Perhaps she was jumping to conclusions, letting her suspicions cloud the logic, but she could have sworn that they left the Great Hall together when Astrid Rhode was giving her speech. She never confirmed it.

Several taps on a glass caught her attention.

A red bird was standing outside the window and demanded to enter the room.

“Fawkes?” She hurried to the window and opened it, allowing the phoenix to enter. He circled her and screeched while she closed the window again.

“I know, I know! How demanding…” Kate grabbed a blank piece of parchment off the floor, made a ball with it and set it on fire before conjuring it to be suspended in the air at ground level.

Fawkes cuddled up near it and let out a grateful tweet.

“What do you have in there?” She said, noticing the roll of paper that Fawkes guarded in his claws. She tried to grab it but Fawkes hid it between his feathers, opened his beak and stayed that way for a while.

Kate rolled her eyes and walked to the closet to look for the small bowl where she kept a roll of spellotape and some quill tips.

She emptied it and conjured some water before bringing it to an impatient Fawkes. He lowered his head in a small reverence and extended his open claw for Kate to inspect.

“Always want something in return, huh? It is true that pets are like their masters…” Fawkes huffed and sipped from his water, ignoring her.

She unrolled the tube to find two pieces of parchment. The first one had a short sentence.

Trust him in the woods.

“Great. I didn’t have enough with what I had.” she complained out loud.

She unrolled the second paper, but to her disappointment it was blank.

She left the parchments on the bed and sat down at her desk again, trying to resume her work, but Fawkes got up and flew to her shoulder. He bit a strand of her hair and tugged.

“I don’t have anything for you to eat, Fawkes.” The phoenix ignored her comment and kept on pulling at her hair until she turned around.

“Alright, that’s quite enough!” Fawkes flew to the bed and stood on the blank parchment, tapping it several times with his beak.

Kate took a deep breath before approaching the bird.

She grabbed her wand and pointed at the paper before murmuring ‘Revelio’.

A black line started to appear, drawing an uneven path that rounded the parchment and ended in the same spot that started. A cross appeared in the upper corner of the deformed oval. It wasn’t a circle or any geometrical figure; it looked like…

“A map.” she whispered. The question was, a map of what? The figure consisted in a single contorted line. There was nothing inside of it, just a cross. She turned around again and winced at the sight of her desk. With a flick of the wrist, all the pieces of parchment of the table flew around to settle down in tidy piles on one side of the desk.

She let herself fall backwards onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.

With only one candle flickering in the room, the darkened atmosphere made her want to close her eyes, and she did, letting her exhaustion take over her.

[Part 11]

Tag List: @eldritchscreech @meteora-fc @cazreadsstuff

#charlie weasley #mc #charlie weasley x mc #charlie weasley x ofc #hphm #charlie x jacob's sibling #charlie weasley fanfiction #kate williams #durmstrang

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watusichris · 3 years

Text

You Oughta “Get Carter”

Another old Night Flight piece, tied to a Turner Classic Movies airing, about a movie I never tire of watching. (Unfortunately, the Krays film “Legend” turned out to be not so good.) ********** The English gangster movie has proven an enduring genre to this day. The 1971 picture that jumpstarted the long-lived cycle, Get Carter, Mike Hodges’ bracing, brutal tale of a mobster’s revenge, screens late Thursday on TCM as part of a day-long tribute to Michael Caine, who stars as the film’s titular anti-hero.

We won’t have to wait long for the next high-profile Brit-mob saga: October will see the premiere of Brian Helgeland’s Legend, a new feature starring Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dark Knight Rises, Locke) in a tour de force dual role as Ronnie and Reggie Kray, the legendarily murderous identical twin gangleaders who terrorized London in the ‘60s. The violent exploits of the Krays mesmerized Fleet Street’s journalists and the British populace until the brothers and most of the top members of their “firm” were arrested in 1968.

The siblings both died in prison after receiving life sentences. They’ve been the subjects of several English TV documentaries and a 1990 feature starring Martin and Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet. However, the Krays and their seamy milieu may have had their greatest impact in fictional form, via the durable figure of Jack Carter, the creation of a shy, alcoholic graphic artist, animator, and fiction writer named Ted Lewis, the man now recognized by many as “the father of British noir.”

Born in 1940 in a Manchester suburb, Lewis was raised in the small town of Barton-upon-Humber in the dank English midlands. A sickly child, he became engrossed with art, the movies, and writing. The product of an English art school in nearby Hull, he wrote his first, unsuccessful novel, a semi-autobiographical piece of “kitchen sink” realism called All the Way Home and All the Night Through, in 1965.

He soon moved sideways into movie animation, serving as clean-up supervisor on George Dunning’s Beatles feature Yellow Submarine (1968). However, now married with a couple of children, he decided to return to writing with an eye to crafting a commercial hit, and in 1970 he published a startling, ultra-hardboiled novel titled Jack’s Return Home.

British fiction had never produced anything quite like the book’s protagonist Jack Carter. He is the enforcer for a pair of London gangsters, Gerald and Les Fletcher, who bear more than a passing resemblance to the Krays. At the outset of the book, recounted in the first person, Carter travels by train to an unnamed city in the British midlands (modeled after the city of Scunthorpe near Lewis’ hometown) to bury his brother Frank, who has died in an alleged drunk driving accident.

Carter instantly susses that his brother was murdered, and he sets about sorting out a hierarchy of low-end midlands criminals (all of whom he knew in his early days as a budding hoodlum) responsible for the crime, investigating the act with a gun in his hand and a heart filled with hate. He’s no Sam Spade or Phillip Marlowe bound by a moral code – in fact, he once bedded Frank’s wife, and is now sleeping with his boss Gerald’s spouse. He’s a sociopathic career criminal and professional killer – a “villain,” in the English term -- who will use any means at his disposal to secure his revenge.

Carter’s pursuit of rough justice for his brother, and for a despoiled niece, attracts the attention of the Fletchers, whose business relationships with the Northern mob are being disrupted by their lieutenant’s campaign of vengeance. As Carter leaves behind a trail of corpses and homes in on the last of his quarry, the hunter has become the hunted, and Jack’s Return Home climaxes with scenes of bloodletting worthy of a Jacobean tragedy, or of Grand Guignol.

Before its publication, Lewis’ grimy, violent book attracted the attention of Michael Klinger, who had produced Roman Polanski’s stunning ‘60s features Repulsion and Cul-de-Sac. Klinger acquired film rights to the novel before its publication in 1970, and sent a galley copy to Mike Hodges, then a U.K. TV director with no feature credits.

Hodges, who immediately signed on as director and screenwriter of Klinger’s feature – which was retitled Get Carter -- was not only drawn to the taut, fierce action, but also by the opportunity to peel away the veneer of propriety that still lingered in British society and culture. As he noted in his 2000 commentary for the U.S. DVD release of the film, “You cannot deny that [in England], like anywhere else, corruption is endemic.”

Casting was key to the potential box office prospects of the feature, and Klinger and Hodges’ masterstroke was securing Michael Caine to play Jack Carter. By 1970, Caine had become an international star, portraying spy novelist Len Deighton’s agent Harry Palmer in three pictures and garnering raves as the eponymous philanderer in Alfie.

Caine had himself known some hard cases in his London neighborhood; in his own DVD commentary, he says that his dead-eyed, terrifyingly reserved Carter was “an amalgam of people I grew up with – I’d known them all my life.” Hodges notes of Caine’s Carter, “There’s a ruthlessness about him, and I would have been foolish not to use it to the advantage of the film.”

Playing what he knew, Caine gave the performance of a lifetime – a study in steely cool, punctuated by sudden outbursts of unfettered fury. The actor summarizes his character on the DVD: “Here was a dastardly man coming as the savior of a lady’s honor. It’s the knight saving the damsel in distress, except this knight is not a very noble or gallant one. It’s the villain as hero.”

The supporting players were cast with equal skill. Ian Hendry, who was originally considered for the role of Carter, ultimately portrayed the hit man’s principal nemesis and target Eric Paice. Caine and Hendry’s first faceoff in the film, an economical conversation at a local racetrack, seethes with unfeigned tension and unease – Caine was wary of Hendry, whose deep alcoholism made the production a difficult one, while Hendry was jealous of the leading man’s greater success.

For Northern mob kingpin Cyril Kinnear, Hodges recruited John Osborne, then best known in Great Britain as the writer of the hugely successfully 1956 play Look Back in Anger, Laurence Olivier’s screen and stage triumph The Entertainer, and Tony Richardson’s period comedy Tom Jones, for which he won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay. Osborne, a skilled actor before he found fame as a writer, brings subdued, purring menace to the part.

Though her part was far smaller than those of such other supporting actresses as Geraldine Moffat, Rosemarie Dunham, and Dorothy White, Brit sex bomb Britt Ekland received third billing as Anna, Gerald Fletcher’s wife and Carter’s mistress. Her marquee prominence is somewhat justified by an eye-popping sequence in which she engages in a few minutes of steamy phone sex with Caine.

Some small roles were populated by real British villains. George Sewell, who plays the Fletchers’ minion Con McCarty, was a familiar of the Krays’ older brother Charlie, and introduced the elder mobster to Carry On comedy series actress Barbara Windsor, who subsequently married another member of the Kray firm. John Bindon, who appears briefly as the younger Fletcher sibling, was a hood and racketeer who later stood trial for murder; a notorious womanizer, he romanced Princess Margaret, whose clandestine relationship with Bindon later became a key plot turn in the 2008 Jason Strathan gangster vehicle The Bank Job.

Verisimilitude was everything for Hodges, who shot nearly all of the film on grimly realistic locations in Newcastle, the down-at-the-heel coal-mining town on England’s northeastern coast. The director vibrantly employs interiors of the city’s seedy pubs, rooming houses, nightclubs and betting parlors. In one inspired bit of local color, he uses an appearance by a local girl’s marching band, the Pelaw Hussars, to drolly enliven a scene in which a nude, shotgun-toting Carter backs down the Fletchers’ gunmen.

The film’s relentless action was perfectly framed by director of photography Wolfgang Suchitzky, whose experience as a cameraman for documentarian Paul Rotha is put to excellent use. Some sequences are masterfully shot with available light; the movie’s most brutal murder plays out at night by a car’s headlights. The breathtakingly staged final showdown between Carter and Paice is shot under lowering skies against the grey backdrop of a North Sea coal slag dump.

Tough, uncompromising, and utterly unprecedented in English cinema, Get Carter was a hit in the U.K. It fared poorly in the U.S., where its distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer dumped it on the market as the lower half of a double bill with the Frank Sinatra Western spoof Dirty Dingus Magee. In his DVD commentary, Caine notes that it was only after Ted Turner acquired MGM’s catalog and broadcast the film on his cable networks that the movie developed a cult audience in the States.

Get Carter has received two American remakes. The first, George Armitage’s oft-risible 1972 blaxploitation adaptation Hit Man, starred Bernie Casey as Carter’s African-American counterpart Tyrone Tackett. It is notable for a spectacularly undraped appearance by Pam Grier, whose character meets a hilarious demise that is somewhat spoiled by the picture’s amusing trailer. (Casey and Keenan Ivory Wayans later lampooned the film in the 1988 blaxploitation parody I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.)

Hodges’ film was drearily Americanized and relocated to Seattle in Stephen Kay’s like-titled 2000 Sylvester Stallone vehicle. It’s a sluggish, misbegotten venture, about which the less that is said the better. Michael Caine’s presence in the cast as villain Cliff Brumby (played in the original by Brian Mosley) only serves to remind viewers that they are watching a vastly inferior rendering of a classic.

Ted Lewis wrote seven more novels after Jack’s Return Home, and returned to Jack Carter for two prequels. The first of them, Jack Carter’s Law (1970), an almost equally intense installment in which Carter ferrets out a “grass” – an informer – in the Fletchers’ organization, is a deep passage through the London underworld of the ‘60s, full of warring gangsters and venal, dishonest coppers.

The final episode in the trilogy, Jack Carter and the Mafia Pigeon (1977), was a sad swan song for British noir’s most memorable bad man. In it, Carter travels to the Mediterranean island of Majorca on a Fletchers-funded “holiday,” only to discover that he has actually been dispatched to guard a jittery American mobster hiding out at the gang’s villa. It’s a flabby, obvious, and needlessly discursive book; Lewis’ exhaustion is apparent in his desperate re-use of a plot point central to the action of the first Carter novel.

Curiously, the locale and setup of Mafia Pigeon appear to be derived from Pulp, the 1975 film that reunited director Hodges and actor Caine. In it, the actor plays a writer of sleazy paperback thrillers who travels to the Mediterranean isle of Malta to pen the memoirs of Preston Gilbert (Mickey Rooney), a Hollywood actor with gangland connections. Hilarity and mayhem ensue.

All of Lewis’ characters consume enough alcohol to put down an elephant, and Lewis himself succumbed to alcoholism in 1982, at the age of 42. Virtually unemployable, he had moved back home to Barton-upon-Humber, where lived with his parents.

He went out with a bang, however: In 1980, he published his final and finest book, the truly explosive mob thriller GBH (the British abbreviation for “grievous bodily harm”). The novel focuses on the last days of vice lord George Fowler, a sadist in the grand Krays manner, whose empire is being toppled by internal treachery. Using a unique time-shifting structure that darts back and forth between “the smoke” (London) and “the sea” (Fowler’s oceanside hideout), it reaches a finale of infernal, hallucinatory intensity.

After Lewis’ death, his work fell into obscurity, and his novels were unavailable in America for decades. Happily, Soho Press reissued the Carter trilogy in paperback in 2014 and republished GBH in hardback earlier this year. Now U.S. readers have the opportunity to read the books that influenced an entire school of English noir writers, including such Lewis disciples and venerators as Derek Raymond, David Peace, and Jake Arnott.

Echoes of GBH can be heard in The Long Good Friday, another esteemed English gangster film starring Bob Hoskins as the arrogant and impetuous chief of a collapsing London firm. Released the same year as Lewis’ last novel, the John Mackenzie-directed feature is only one of a succession of outstanding movies – The Limey, The Hit, Layer Cake, Sexy Beast, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels among them – that owe a debt to Get Carter, the daddy of them all.

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faejilly · 4 years

Text

ashes of angels 2/6

Jace Herondale is not pleased to learn that someone tried to hurt his parabatai.

For my @shadowhunterbingo square: Kidnapping [AO3]

Jace has to take a few minutes, after Magnus has given them the rundown and before they leave, to stand in the doorway of Alec's bedroom. He has to see it for himself, has to look at him, sleeping quietly, while Cat and Madzie play some incomprehensible kid's card-game at a small table they'd pulled into the room.

Alec will be fine.

Alec was almost really really not fine, and he'd barely noticed the odd flush of heat through the parabatai bond before Magnus had taken care of it.

Or more, he'd noticed, but he hadn't known what to do about it, and honestly if he'd called Magnus he just would have gotten in the way while he was making the antidote, so he's not sure what he's feeling guilty about, what he could have done, but still. It won't go away.

Izzy props her head on his shoulder to look into the room with him, tension clear in the way she stretches to fit rather than just looking around him like she normally would.

She probably feels guilty too, for even less reason.

He supposes it's one of the few things they share with Alec: guilt is a family sport, at this point.

He snorts.

Izzy pulls back and looks at him, eyebrows raised, but he just shakes his head.

"Let's go see if Magnus is ready."

Izzy nods, and they turn back to the apothecary.

He's never seen Magnus so furious. He's hiding it well; Jace doubts most people would be able to tell. He's too stiff, too controlled, and while his magic isn't visible, not really, Jace can feel it, pressure and heat in the air around him, like the waves of a mirage on an empty highway in the summer, swirling around Magnus until he looks like he might be a bit more than just half-demon.

Alec would probably say he looks half-angel, righteous and avenging.

Jace lets himself linger in that thought until he agrees with it. It doesn't take long. Anyone angry on Alec's behalf is clearly on the right side of history in Jace's opinion.

Magnus grins at them, baring his teeth. "Ready?"

"Ready," Izzy echoes, while Jace nods.

They stalk through Magnus' portal, right back into the middle of Alicante.

Not in the middle of the Hall, though, but in an empty and slightly dusty stairwell. Izzy raises her eyebrows, and Magnus shrugs. "No reason to make it obvious to anyone who doesn't know that I can get in and out of Idris so easily, is there?"

"Are we going to let them think they pulled it off, then?" Jace asks. If Magnus couldn't have gotten Alec back to New York they might have. It's probably what they were counting on, risking a drug like that. Dead or humiliated, and they'd possibly have preferred the second one, considering.

Jace hates the Circle, and he hates that there are remnants of it still, even without Valentine, trying to undermine all the good Alec's doing. Trying to undermine Alec, just because they think they can.

Izzy wrinkles her nose at him, but he can tell she can see the appeal of running a con on the people they're hunting because she doesn't actually argue. They'd probably get to hit more people, selling it as grief at their loss; he has to admit a preference to any plan that gives him an excuse to let his own rage at someone threatening his parabatai go free.

Magnus tilts his head, considering. "I'm not sure I could keep my temper if I let that idea out, even in the hypothetical."

Fair enough. Jace nods.

Not that he's against turning half of Alicante into a crater at this point, but it would make Alec's job harder, once he's better.

"Avoiding the direct approach," Jace says, only half a question. Alec can pull off the direct approach when dealing with the Clave; Jace has never seen anyone else manage it.

"You have a rune for tracking magic, yes?" Magnus asks, and they activate their spiritum runes. Jace blinks. Magnus looks even more other-worldly with hints of red and blue and black sparking in the aura around him.

Magnus holds out a hand, and a ball of sickly yellow-green magic forms in his palm. "Here's the signature for the pixie dust. Whoever handled it will have traces around their hands, and probably whatever pocket or bag it was in."

"They won't let their guard down around us." Izzy flicks her fingers towards Jace. "Even if we are dressed for the occasion." They're in formal clothes, weapons hidden as well as glamoured so no one will see them. Jace is 99% sure the fancy stick in her hair is sharpened to work as well as a dagger, and he knows she's more than capable of stabbing people with the heels on her shoes, too. He's a little jealous; he'll have to pick her brain after this, to figure out what else he could hide in his formal gear next time he has to dress up.

Magnus winks, and Jace feels the warm wash of magic across his skin. It feels almost like a glamour rune, but... lighter? He looks over at Izzy to see how she's taken it, and his eyes just... skip over her face, somehow filing her away as unimportant.

He blinks, and it happens again.

Izzy whistles softly. "How does that work if we actually talk to them?"

"They'll think you look vaguely familiar, but that's about it," Magnus says. "It's more of a don't look, nothing interesting here misdirect than a full-glamour with a false image, so it's much less likely that it will occur to them to try and look through it."

"But if they do?" Izzy asks.

"Then we do the direct approach," Jace answers.

"Hopefully not? But..." Magnus concedes to that back-up plan with a graceful shrug of shoulders and wide-spread hands. "Good luck."

"We don't need luck, we have you." Izzy drops a quick kiss on Magnus' cheek, and she and Jace step out into the party.

They do a full circuit of the room, nodding politely and pretending to sip at the drinks they snagged off a server. They spot one person with green fingers right away, a man in an almost aggressively nondescript suit, but they make sure there's nothing else before they move; they wouldn't want to miss something by acting too quickly.

Alec would be proud of them.

Jace is rather proud of them, too, especially when they find a trail of magic that leads to the serving station behind the hall, and a tiny cabinet under the staging table that still has stuff in it.

Izzy locks it up under her own rune, so no one besides them can get to it.

They go back to the Hall, and Jace finds a good vantage point, half-way between their prey and the gallery door.

Izzy takes the almost direct approach; she flirts.

After about thirty seconds, Jace wonders if they'd even needed the don't see me Magnus had laid on them, because he's relatively sure the idiot's eyes never move higher than Izzy's breasts. (Which is entirely the point of her outfit, of course, but he's still always kind of horrified by how easily it works.)

She manages to work their target almost to the door all on her own before he apparently remembers that he has a job of some sort that he's still supposed to be doing. By then it's too late, and even as the idiot starts to demur and look around, Jace is already up on his other side, and they frog-march him out of the room before he has a chance to do more than inhale in surprise.

And then he sees Magnus, and he opens his mouth as if to yell, and Magnus does something with a wave of his hand that makes the man sag so suddenly that Jace staggers under the sudden weight pulling at him.

Izzy snorts, and shifts her feet to steady herself. "That's one way to keep him quiet."

Magnus shrugs, and waves his hands again.

The magic slides off Jace's skin, and he watches the weird mirage haze swirl move around the man between them instead.

There are a few blue and red sparks, and a Circle rune appears on his neck.

"There's a tracker spell in his pocket," Magnus points. Jace reaches in to pull out what looks like a bus station key, a blue spark of Magnus' magic spiralling around it.

"I'll put it in the cabinet with the rest of his stuff," Izzy holds out her hand. "That way it'll still be here at the party if anyone checks."

Jace hands it over.

"You stay here and keep an eye on it, will you?" Magnus asks. "Jace and I will get this fellow settled."

Magnus makes yet another portal, Izzy helps them get the man through, and then she slips away.

They're back in the loft again; the guest room, this time. They drop the man on the bed with a soft whump.

Catarina pokes her head around the door, sees the man on the bed, and raises her eyebrows. Jace can't tell what she's thinking, but she seems neither upset nor particularly surprised. She clearly sees the Circle rune. "Let me know if you need any help with him."

"Of course," Magnus agrees, and she closes the door behind her after she leaves.

Magnus looks at Jace.

Jace waits.

"I need a second opinion," Magnus starts.

Jace shakes his head. "If you really wanted a second opinion you would have asked Izzy. You know what you want to do, what you think is necessary, and I'm telling you now that it doesn't matter if Alec would think it's crossing a line, I'll back you."

Magnus stills, and then he smiles, and it's not a nice expression.

Jace grins back.

"I'm going to take his memories, because that Circle rune will stop him from telling us anything, even if we somehow convinced him that he wanted to."

Jace nods.

"The only way to do it without the Circle rune interfering with the spell, is to rip them out so quickly that the rune can't activate."

Jace nods again. That tracks, with the way Hodge had been able to talk about the Circle just a little, while still wearing the slightly modified version of the rune that the Clave had left on him for his punishment.

"He'll be a vegetable."

Jace nods, a third and final time, and Magnus' shoulders ease, as if he'd really thought Jace might have a problem with that. Jace can't have that. "You know, if they'd drugged you instead of him, Alec would have stolen the damn Soul Sword and shredded the man's mind himself, if that was what it took to help you."

Magnus' smile softens, but it's sad instead of relieved. "That doesn't mean he'll accept it when it's done for him."

Jace shrugs. "He will once I yell at him a little."

Magnus snorts.

"Stop stalling," Jace waves at the unconscious man. "We've got a conspiracy to unravel before my parabatai wakes up. Think how pleased he'll be that I helped clean up a mess instead of making one for once."

Magnus snorts again, and turns to start his spell.

#hmdiscord #shadowhunters #jace lightwood #isabelle lightwood #magnus bane #my sh fic #malec #jilly writes #shadowhunter bingo #idek what are tags #ashes of angels

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mr-lancers-english-class · 4 years

Text

The Rescue

Vengeful Babes, Dissection, & Identity Reveal

AO3

Word Count: 3753

Dani wasn’t sure how she was going to explain this to Valerie. She was flying as fast as she could and it wasn’t fast enough but she also needed to think but she needed to focus to be able to think and couldn’t focus on that right now, no, because she didn’t need to crash into another jet and so she had to fly first and brainstorm second but there wouldn’t be time to brainstorm later so she needed to think now!

A bird squawked angrily off to her right, shocking Dani out of her thoughts and forcing her to slam to a halt. She glared at the bird as it gave her the stink eye before flying off.

“I’m stopped anyway. I need to catch my breath. I’ll think of something right now,” she muttered to herself. “Alright. What do I know? Danny’s been caught. Danny needs my help. Sam and Tucker are out of town. Jazz is at college. None of the three of them know. Vlad’s minion contacted me to tell me. Because Vlad was caught too. The Fenton’s managed to catch them both. ” Dani took a moment to scream internally. She had thought she’d been free of Vlad, that he couldn’t ever find her. Danny had said he’d changed, that he was becoming more of a crazy uncle figure than a fruitloopy asshole, but Dani was loathe to trust the man. “Vlad knows how to find me. No, if he actually has changed, maybe he doesn’t but his minions do. Skulker definitely does. That’s probably it. Skulker’s always been able to find me, and now maybe this time it’s because Danny and Vlad need help and not because he wants to hunt me for sport.” She barked out a sharp laugh. “Why is my life so weird?”

With a quick inhale, Dani took off flying as hard as she could towards Amity Park. It was only a few more minutes away. She could feel the ectoplasm in the air grow thicker, and her speed increased accordingly.

“Danny and Vlad are caught by the Fenton’s and everyone who knows their secrets are out of town except Valerie. And Valerie doesn’t really like either of them, though maybe not as much.” Dani thought back to the last phone call she’d had with her girlfriend. Valerie had mentioned that she and Phantom had a truce, that they had started to work together more to stop the ghosts, and that, for the first time in the three years she had been the Red Huntress, she was getting enough sleep and finishing most of her homework. Though she hadn’t talked to Danny in a while, Dani was pretty sure the same could be said of him. It had taken too long for both of them to be willing to work with the other.

“But Valerie doesn’t know. She knows about me, but she doesn’t know about Danny or Vlad.” Dani slowed down as she entered the Amity Park airspace. The air was practically glowing with latent ectoplasm. “The less she knows about halfas the better, but also Danny should have told her forever ago and it would have made life so much easier for both of them. Agh! Why is he such an idiot?!” She veered off to the north and turned invisible. After a minute of scanning the identical apartments, she was pretty sure she had found Valerie’s. Lowering herself to the window, Dani knocked four times, paused, and knocked twice more.

The door inside slammed open. Valerie dashed across the floor, dove over her bed, and crashed into the wall with enough force to shake the ceiling lights. Throwing open the window, she whisper-shouted “Dannielle!”

Dani took that as her cue to re-enter the visible spectrum and slide through the open window. “Valerie! It’s so good to see-” She was cut off as Valerie smothered her in a hug. Dani melted in to Valerie’s arms and was very disappointed when the other girl pulled away. Disappointment was immediately replaced with a warm kiss. Valerie held Dani’s face, while Dani brought her hands up into Valerie’s hair and kissed back. It had been months since they’d seen each other in person and Dani never wanted this kiss to end.

And then she remember why she was back in Amity Park.

Dani pulled away from Valerie with a sharp inhale. Valerie tilted her head and gave her an odd look.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Valerie let go of Dani’s face and found her hands instead. “Something tells me you’re not back just to visit.” Dani shook her head miserably. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she forced herself to hold them in, at least until she could explain what was going on. Crying was so messy. It made life difficult when you had to worry about leaking eyes and hitching breaths, Dani decided.

“I need your help,” Dani whispered.

“Of course, Dani. You know I’m always here for you,” Valerie whispered back.

“It’s a, uh, it’s a ghost thing.”

Valerie’s eyes hardened into something dangerous. “Who’s ass do I need to kick?” Dani giggled once through the slow tears that were now streaking down her face.

“The Fentons’?” She tried to smile, but it was difficult.

“The Fentons? What did they do?”

“They got Phantom.” Dani could practically see the gears turning in Valerie’s head as she mouthed ‘The Fentons have Phantom’ a few times. “And, and Plasmius, but he’s not really my priority.”

“They have Plasmius too? The Fentons caught Vlad and Phantom?” Valerie quickly maneuvered to the other side of the room to close her door. It wouldn’t do well for her dad to get home and see her plotting with Phantom’s identical clone.

“Yeah, a few hours ago. Skulker found me to tell me and- wait, I never said Vlad. I said Plasmius,” she said slowly. Valerie knew Dani wasn’t exactly a full ghost or a full human, and also that Dani was literally a clone of another being who happened to have a hodge-podge mix of memories from said being. Valerie did not know that Danny and Vlad were halfas, or really even about the existence of halfas. Unless-

“No, I know that’s what you said, baby. But, well, Vlad Masters is Plasmius and oh you already knew-” Valerie saw the look in Dani’s eyes and put it together faster than Dani would have expected. “He’s like you, isn’t he? Plasmius?”

“Sort of. He’s more human, and he’s not a clone. We’re called halfas, but Vlad is mostly just a human infected with ghostliness and I’m technically a clone of a halfa and not a full halfa.” Dani paused. This was getting closer to Danny’s secret than she would like. Unfortunately, Valerie was smart, and Dani knew she already had theories.

“I take it Phantom is a halfa?” Dani nodded. “And the Fenton’s have caught him. And they’re probably going to experiment on him.” Dani nodded, smaller this time. “So we need to rescue him. And Vlad,” Valerie added as an afterthought. “Do you have a plan?”

Dani took a deep breath before speaking. “Sort of. Maybe. I sneak into FentonWorks while you cause a big distraction somewhere, something that looks really dangerous. The problem is that, according to Skulker, there’s a ghost shield around the house that basically puts a full stop to anything ghostly inside. No powers.”

“Then I should be the one to sneak in to FentonWorks. It’ll be easier for me to escape, and I don’t want you to get caught too,” Valerie suggested. Dani shook her head.

“You’d be just as powerless as me. Your suit is powered by ectoplasmic energy, and is possibly psychically linked to you, though I’m mostly guessing on that one. You would be weaponless, and also, if they saw you, the Fenton’s would definitely recognize you. I at least have some anonymity. Plus, I can escape into the Ghost Zone easier. You’ve got a big target on your back in there.”

“Makes sense. So I need to make a distraction” Dani nodded. “Okay. I have an idea.”

Exactly six minutes later, Dani was crouched on a roof opposite FentonWorks in her human form. Valerie had split off towards the park with a quick kiss three blocks back to enact her part of the plan. Right now, she would be off launching flash grenades in the middle of the park, making a big light show with some loud noises, but little property damage. Dani was waiting for the Fenton’s to notice and leave. It was taking too long and it was stressing her out and they needed to go because her cousin was in there and she needed to get to Danny and-

“Let’s go Maddie! There’s a powerful ghost in the park! Phantom will be here when we get back, and we can get a third strong ghost.” Jack Fenton had slammed the front door open with enough force to crack the wood. Maddie Fenton was right behind him carrying three thermoses, a vacuum, and at least seven ectoguns ranging in size from finger-gun to military-grade rocket launchers.

“To the RV!” Maddie shouted with easily as much enthusiasm though likely twice as loud. Dani winced at the volume. The neighbors might wake up, which would cause problems. As it was, she appeared to be okay for now.

Dani watched as the RV screeched down the street and turned the corner towards the park. She fired off a quick text to Valerie, JF and MF are on their way, be safe <3, before jumping down from the roof to land lightly on the empty street. It was almost two in the morning, so every other streetlight was off. She would have to make sure to thank Vlad for that later. It made it significantly easier to see the Fenton’s shield.

“And now I just walk through, make sure I’m not using any powers, no powers, all good…” She scrunched up her shoulders in anticipation of the sting that came with crossing a shield, and was through in half a second. “Alright, the door. Is it unlocked? Nope! Okay, so, um,” She didn’t bother searching for a key, preferring to aim the Fenton Wrist Ray Valerie made her wear at the look. It melted to nothing in a single shot and the door swung open. “Right then, now down to the lab!” She whispered with mock excitement.

Every single light on the first floor was turned on. Dani imagined that the Fenton’s hadn’t left the basement since they captured Danny, and so probably had no idea it had gotten so late. Danny would occasionally tell her about his parents, how obsessive they could be.

She found the door to the basement laboratory easily. It was right next to the kitchen, which seemed like a potentially very dangerous idea, and was covered in bright yellow warnings about ectoplasm, radiation, and general danger. She quickly snuck down the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible despite knowing she was alone in the house. If she got caught, well, from a purely selfish note, that would be very bad.

The stairs led into a large cluttered room that was surprisingly open. On the far wall, the closed portal sat menacingly. In the middle was a table. Lying on the table, limbs and head strapped down with glowing leather, was Phantom. His black suit with trademark logo was missing from the waist up, where a gaping hole showing his innards was instead. Thankfully, he appeared to be asleep. Dani almost threw up then and there. She settled for light gagging instead.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out to see Valerie’s reply.

The Fenton’s haven’t figured out it’s me yet. They’re still running around the park.

It buzzed again with a follow up.

You be safe too babe.

Dani almost smiled before remembering where she was and who else was in the room. She glanced up to find Danny staring at her over his open stomach and yelped, dropping her phone. It clattered to the floor with a distressing sound.

“Danny?”

“Hey cuz!” He was way too enthusiastic, Dani thought, given that he should be even more dead. “How are you?”

“Are- are you okay?” she whispered.

“Oh yeah, no I’m fine, I think. I mean, there’s this,” He glanced down at the dissection. “And whatever they strapped me down with is biting and I can’t phase through it, but other than that, I think I’m okay.” Dani bent over to pick up her phone. The screen wasn’t cracked, thankfully, but the case had a sizable dent in one corner.

“So, um, how do I get you out?” She looked back at Danny, pointedly ignoring the gaping wound.

“There’s a button on the side of the table. It’ll turn off the phase-proofing part, and I can get out from there.” Dani found the aforementioned button, and was distressed that it required a DNA sample.

“It, well, it needs DNA. I guess so other ghosts don’t come and break their cousins out.”

Danny laughed incredulously. His intestines jiggled. Dani swallowed bile.

“Everything in here is DNA coded to my parents, Jazz, and I. You’re the same DNA as me, so it should work.” Dani tried the button, and with a sharp prick of her finger to draw blood, it depressed. There was a generic powering down sound, and suddenly the leather stopped glowing.

Danny sat up as he phased his head and arms through their straps. After taking a second to rub his wrists and try and get the blood flowing, he reached into his chest and removed a few metal devices. He then took the clamps holding his skin open and released them, folding his chest back into shape. Once everything was starting to heal correctly, he hopped down off the table.

It had been at least six months since Dani had seen her “cousin” in person, and she was a bit shocked to see that he was now at least an inch and a half taller than her. She was tall by human standards, almost six feet, but Danny had shot up. He was going to be close to his dad’s height, she thought numbly, trying to ignore the green stains on Danny’s chest.

“...back soon, so we need to go,” Danny finished saying. Dani blinked as she realized he’d been talking. “Dani? Dannielle?”

“I’m here. I’m good. Um, can you repeat what you were saying?”

“We need to dash. My parents will be back soon. At least something we just did will have triggered an alarm. “

“Oh, yeah, that. Um, we could go out the front, but I don’t have my powers right now so that’s riskier. The best option is the portal.”

“Seeing as I’m a bit stuck as Phantom right now, you need to open the portal. Same DNA lock, that sort of thing. Shouldn’t be any harder than the Fenton Ghost Straps.”

“You’re stuck as Phantom?” Dani asked, maneuvering around the vast piles of who-knew-whats to get to the portal.

“Well, not really, but I heal a lot faster as Phantom and ectoplasm stains are significantly easier to get out of clothing. Also, if it comes up, I don’t want to have to explain blood stains. My parents ask more questions when it’s blood,” Danny said. He was poking at the Y-shaped incision on his chest that was now at least no longer flapping with each step. Dani looked away.

“How come you have your powers at all right now? The ghost shield is shutting me down pretty heavily.” Dani asked, keeping her back to her cousin, because god that was a disgusting sound and would he please just stop?

“Weird thing I discovered about shields. The more time you spend around them, the less the affect you. And it’s not just me. Dora, Johnny, Kitty, and Amorpho are all significantly less affected by shields now that I’ve been inviting them into town sometimes.”

“Huh. Weird,” Dani said. “So, which button is it?”

Danny came up next to her at a large control panel. “It’s this one here. Same thing as before, it’ll need a small blood sample, but you’re blood is identical to mine, so my parents won’t know.”

Dani pressed the button, and the portal slid open. Green energy shot out with a quiet roar as the basement turned the same shade as Danny’s organs. Dani was saved from this thought by her phone buzzing again, this time insistently.

“Give me a sec. Gotta take this,” she said over her shoulder. Danny nodded. She answered it.

“Dannielle? Are you there? Get out now!” Valerie’s voice was almost drowned out by the sounds of high winds. “The Fenton’s are coming back quickly. They’re like, two blocks out.”

Dani was proud that she didn’t panic. High stress situations were far too common in her young life, which, as disappointed as she was by this, helped in future high stress situations.

“On our way out. Phantom’s fine. We’re going through the portal. See you in a few minutes.”

“Sounds good. Love you.”

“Love you.” Dani smiled as she hung up. She turned back to Danny and was greeted with pleasant surprise. “I’ll tell you once we’re safe in the Ghost Zone.” Danny laughed.

“The Ghost Zone is never safe.” And he dove headfirst into the open portal. Dani heard the door upstairs slam open with no lock to impede the Fenton adults. Oh well. That’s what they get for kidnapping her cousin. She followed Danny through the portal without a glance back.

Immediately, she could feel her powers flow through her. She transformed giddily into her own ghost self and did a few loop-de-loops. Danny was waiting for her with a smile.

“So… you’re dating someone?” Dani groaned.

“Yeah, I am. We’ve been dating for almost a year now.”

“Do I get the honor of knowing how this person is?” The two halfas flew deeper into the Zone.

“We’re about to meet up with her.”

“Is she a ghost?” Danny did a barrel roll over top of Dani so he could fly sideways, on his stomach with his legs crossed in the air behind him and his chin resting on his hands. Dani rolled her eyes.

“No, she’s human.”

“So I take it she knows? About you? Does she know about me?” Danny rolled onto his back so he was looking at Dany upside down.

“Yes she knows about me. No she doesn’t know about you, but I think she suspects something.” Dani stopped and watched as her cousin went speeding by.

“And where exactly is she?” Danny asked, making his way back to Dani.

“In the human realm.” Dani reached her hands out into the air infront of her, and with less concentration needed than the last time she tried this, opened a rent in the fabric of reality.

The small portal, no larger than a bean bag, was swirling green and purple and smelled vaguely of cinnamon and apples. Danny whistled.

“You’ve gotten strong. I haven’t been able to do portals at all.”

“Well, I can’t hold them for long, so please do enter.” Danny flew through the hole in the fabric of the Ghost Zone. Dani took a deep breath and followed suit.

They emerged above Valerie’s apartment. Dani alighted on the gravel roof, and detransformed. Danny stayed hovering at her shoulder height. Within a minute, Dani could hear the whine of Valerie’s hover board, and soon spotted her girlfriend flying high above the city.

The Red Huntress circled the apartment once, before slowly lowering and retracting her hoverboard. She landed on both feet, and Dani lept forward to hug her. After far too short, Dani pulled away, because her cousin was spluttering behind her. She turned back to look at him, and was very releived to see that his jumpsuit had reformed. That’s good, she thought, because that was disgusting and I almost lost my lunch, and that would have gone badly for both of us.

“You’re dating Valerie?!” Danny practically shouted. Both Dani and Valerie shushed him equally as loudly. “Why didn’t you tell me? What? You’re dating Valerie?”

“Yes I am,” said Dani, at the same time that Valerie said “And just how do you know who I am?” They looked at each other and had a quick wordless conversation. It ended with Valerie retracting her full suit. Dani leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“You know who I am, Phantom.” It almost sounded like a question, but Danny had spent too much time around Valerie in the last four years of high school to mistake it as such. “You’ve known for a while now. And I suppose, I know who you are too.” Danny remained silent, so she continued. “I’ve known for a while, I just didn’t want to think about it.” Dani reached for Valerie’s hand and gave a light squeeze.

“I should have told you a while ago, Val. Sorry about that,” Danny muttered, landing lightly on the roof. “If I may ask, what gave it away?”

“You mean besides the name?” Danny nodded with a laugh. “How much Dani looks like you. Both sides of you. You guys do mention clone a fair amount, and even I’m not that blind.”

Danny let his transformation rings wash over him, and although she knew, Valerie was still a bit surprised to see Danny Fenton standing on her roof.

“So, then, now that all this is in the open, does anyone want food?” Danny asked, changing the subject. He stretched his arms up over his head. “Being dissected takes a lot of energy, and I am starving!” Dani smiled at her cousin. Valerie barked out a laugh.

“I guess, yeah.”

“Well then, to the Nasty Burger! Dinner is on me!” Danny transformed back and began to fly off. Dani and Valerie followed close behind.

“It’s four in the morning, Danny,” Dani yelled into the wind. “I think this counts as breakfast.”

“Time is irrelevant. Burgers normally means dinner, so dinner it shall be.” All three teenagers laughed.

“Are you guys just going to go in like this?” Valerie shouted.

“Wouldn’t be the first time, Val. Minimum wage workers tend not to ask too many questions about ghosts at ungodly hours.”

They flew for a minute, trading light banter, before Valerie came to a screeching halt. Dani and Danny circled back around and hovered with her.

“Um, guys, did anyone get Vlad?”

#phango19 #phangoweek19 #phango #danny phantom #dani phantom #valerie gray #vengeful babes #identity reveal #dissection #mild gore #not too descriptive gore but gore nonetheless

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warriorofdragons · 5 years

Text

Light in the Dark Chapter 13: Brunch and Budding Feelings

Word Count: 6.9k

Warnings: Language, Mentions of mythical animal abuse

Note: {Övüsi is in these brackets}

“Here,” Saerthon says.

Kandomere takes the extra pair of purple tinted glasses from him and puts them on.

And then Saerthon carefully removes the shards of the broken mirror from a black plastic bag and places them on the table.

They both stare at them for a moment.

“Are they inert?” Kandomere questions.

“I believe so, it’s hard to know for certain without looki-“ Saerthon begins.

Kandomere rips off his glasses and stares directly into the shards.

And nothing happens.

He straightens again, adjusting his jacket and glances back at Saerthon whose mouth is agape in shock.

“I would say it is inert,” Kandomere says calmly.

“ARE YOU MAD?!” Saerthon demands.

“Not at all,” Kandomere replies.

He stares back down at the shards.

There’s a part of him that still feels guilty about what had happened to his Bright.

And there’s no reason for him to be incapable of facing the same danger she had.

“See to it that it is contained nonetheless, we will need it in the case against these elves,” Kandomere says and sets the glasses down and walks out.

As he makes his way back to the office his mind wanders to yesterday’s events.

In the heat of the moment he had forgotten to tell her how he feels before attempting to kiss her.

He sighs and shakes his head, how could he have made such an easy mistake?

Considering last night was his first conscious attempt at starting a courtship with her, it’s not going very well.

He has not made such a mistake like this since his youth!

Although he has never sought a courtship with someone from another race before and there are bound to be differences in their approach. He has so little information to go off of in her reaction to know whether or not she actually wants a romantic relationship with him. She has been affectionate with him…but he has no way of knowing what is platonic for humans and what is not.

He runs his hands through his hair, should he apologize?

She did leave rather quickly…he should definitely apologize.

She’ll be coming to work soon, perhaps then he can find a moment to speak with her.

*******

You turn your alarm off and roll over.

It’s been hard to sleep at all.

You’ve just been replaying what happened yesterday over and over in your head. You let out a sigh and pull the comforter around you tighter, the comforter He gave you.

How are you supposed to go in to work today?

Maybe…you could call in sick?

No, that wouldn’t work…the elf would definitely know you were avoiding him.

You feel so confused right now, why would he try to kiss you?!

And YOU almost kissed him back!

Not that it wouldn’t have been nice to…what are you thinking?

He’s an elf he wouldn’t want to Date you, not only would his family not approve of you, neither would any of the other elves. Besides he probably would much rather prefer to marry a sophisticated elven woman.

It’s not like you have a lot to offer him as a human.

You feel tears slip out of your eyes and onto the pillow.

Then why do you feel so upset?

You wipe at your face and force yourself to climb out of bed, you can’t avoid going to work forever, and someone is coming to pick you up afterall.

You grab some clothes and put them on and begin slowly preparing for your day.

As you stare at yourself in the mirror and put on your red lipstick you remember Kandomere’s lips on yours…

You sigh and rub your lips together and then stuff the lipstick into your purse.

Brushing your hair out of your eyes, you take a minute and examine yourself, you’ve chosen to wear a mint dress with pink and purple flowers and a matching pair of mint heels. You hear a loud knock on the door and peek your head out of your bathroom and then grab your things and head to the door.

As you open the door you blink in surprise and stare at the burly, red-haired man in a brown suit occupying the hall.

“What’s the matter, Princess, surprised to see me?” Montehugh asks.

“…No,” you mutter and step out into the hall and close the door behind you, “Where’s the elf?”

“He’s busy at the office with something,” Montehugh says.

You lock your door and nod and then follow him down the hall.

You’re silent as you ride with him to work.

“Oh hey uh….I think the Boss wanted to talk to you about something? He said it could wait till today?” Montehugh asks.

You turn from your window to stare at him, “Did…he say what it was about?”

Montehugh frowns and shakes his head, “No, he didn’t.”

“Oh,” you mutter and start to turn back to your window again.

“Hey, you doin’ okay?” Montehugh asks.

”Of course, I’m fine,” you lie.

Montehugh glances at you briefly, “You just left in a hurry last night is all.”

You glance down, “Um…there is actually something I should probably mention…I….don’t have my magic.”

Montehugh does a double take, “Shit, really?!”

You nod and stare forward.

“Does the Boss know?” Montehugh asks.

You shake your head, “No....”

He sighs, “He needs to know, when we get to work you HAVE to tell him.”

You nod.

“How did this happen? Was it the Basilisk’s venom?” Montehugh asks.

“I think so? It’s the only thing major that happened recently I can think of,” you say.

Montehugh hums, “Maybe you just burnt yourself out? You ever try to blow out a candle, but it doesn’t go all the way out before slowly coming back?”

“Yeah?” you ask.

“You just gotta give it some time,” Montehugh says, “That little flame will come back you just gotta not blow it out again.”

“Kind of like when your immune system is too tired from being sick to fight another one right away?” you question.

He nods, “You’re magic’s just a little strained, it’ll come back on it’s own, and proper rest will help big time.”

“I…didn’t know it could get strained, there’s been times were it’s been more difficult to do spells but never for very long,” you explain.

“You’ve been dishing out bigger and bigger spells lately and having to go against equally powerful magic users, things you’ve NEVER done before, there were bound to be some consequences to that,” Montehugh explains.

“I suppose you’re right,” you whisper.

“Hey, don’t take it too hard, Princess, you should have never gone up against those witches,” Montehugh says and shakes his head, “I’m sorry that you did, me and the Boss just wanted you to TELL us about magic, and maybe…track them. It ultimately though wasn’t our decision to send you in there.”

“What do you mean it wasn’t your decision?” you question.

Montehugh exhales slowly, “One of the bigger bosses told us to send you in if shit went south, he’s one of the ones that’s still suspicious of you, being a Bright and all.”

You think back to the man that had said something to Kandomere and how he had looked at you, and how whatever the man had said had almost pained the elf…

“Was he…trying to get rid of me?” you ask afraid.

Montehugh glances at you and shakes his head again his expression marred with worry, “I fucking hope not, it’d be the biggest mistake he’d ever make. Don’t worry alright, me and the Boss are going to keep you under our wing, we’re not letting anybody from the MTF do shit to you.”

You nod, ”Thank you, Montehugh.”

You walk through the main room and find Hernández and McTavish at their desks.

“Hi,” McTavish says.

“Hola,” Hernández says with a yawn.

“So they arrested that goblin yesterday and brought him in for questioning,” Hernández says.

“Has he said anything about the gryphons yet?” you ask.

McTavish shakes her head, “No, unfortunately not, he’s refused to say anything at all in fact.”

“Yeah, apparently he keeps singing loudly and off key showtunes every time Davidson and Hodges try to ask him anything more than his name,” Hernández says.

“I..okay,” you mutter.

“BUT the good news is he hasn’t even asked for a lawyer yet,” McTavish adds.

“Yeah we’ll see if we can get a chance to talk to him ourselves, see if we can get him to do something over than sing,” Hernández says.

You see Montehugh walk back into the main room and then head towards you.

The other two agents turn to stare at him as he approaches.

“He’s not in his office he’ll probably be…” Montehugh trails off as you both stare at the blue-haired elf striding into the room.

Kandomere’s eyes scan the room nonchalantly and when they fix on you he stops abruptly.

Oh no.

“Alright, come on, Princess,” Montehugh says and waves for you to follow him.

“What’s going on?” McTavish asks.

“I just need to talk to Kandomere….about…” you trail off as you lift your hand to rub at the mark on your neck that has now faded to only a pinprick.

Hernández nods and puts a hand on Gwen’s shoulder.

“I’ll….be right back,” you promise.

You follow Montehugh and he leads you over to Kandomere.

Kandomere studies you both carefully as you near him and then Montehugh jerks his thumb in the direction of the elf’s office. Kandomere seems to come to his senses and begins heading to his office ahead of you both.

When you reach the door, Montehugh opens it for you and you step inside.

The elf is in the process of removing his jacket and setting it on a coat rack next to his couch.

Kandomere glances up at you briefly, “Have a seat.”

You sit down in a chair in front of his desk and clasp your hands together nervously.

“Boss, there’s something I think the two of you should discuss,” Montehugh says.

Kandomere inhales and then turns to stare at you and he wets his lips.

You chew on your bottom lip and glance down and continue to fidget with your hands.

“It’s about her magic,” Montehugh states.

You glance back up at the elf and he raises his brows and blinks rapidly.

“Her magic?” Kandomere questions confused and then he crosses his arms.

“Yeah, I thought she might avoid telling you, so I wanted to make sure you heard it from her,” Montehugh explains.

Kandomere looks from the man to you, not angry but concerned.

“It’s gone,” you say.

“Not gone, just burnt out,” Montehugh quickly corrects for you.

Kandomere blinks a couple of times and takes a breath and then shakes his head, “Since when?”

You’re quiet as you lift your left hand to your neck and rub at the spot.

Kandomere’s head tilts back as he places his hands on his hips and then steps behind his desk.

Montehugh was right, you were going to avoid telling Kandomere, especially considering how guilty he already felt.

Kandomere sighs and looks to you and his face softens, “Try not to worry yourself too much, your magic will come back to you.”

“That’s what I told her,” Montehugh says as he moves around your chair and sits in one of the chairs to the left against the wall near the filing cabinets.

You nod at the elf and make eye contact.

He opens his mouth to say something and then closes it and turns to stare out his window.

“Perhaps I can make a few calls and see if there are any adverse side effects for Basilisk’s venom we don’t already know about,” Kandomere continues as he rolls up his sleeves.

You stare at his back and the way it flexes as he finishes with his right sleeve and moves to his left. You have the sudden desire to press yourself against his back, and those arms…

You lift your head up as you try to get a better view when you hear someone clear their throat loudly. Your head turns to the left and you lock eyes with Montehugh and you immediately lower your head and pretend to be fixing your hair.

The elf turns at the sound and stares at Montehugh.

You had completely forgotten for a moment that Montehugh was still in the room.

“Maybe Saerthon knows a thing or two?” Montehugh suggests his eyes darting to you briefly.

The elf nods, “It’s possible.”

You don’t really want to pay a visit to Saerthon today.

“Shall we?” Kandomere asks.

You furrow your brows together, “Now?”

Kandomere seems confused by your question, “Yes…”

You sigh and stand up and walk to the door and the elf follows you.

He does not place his hand on your back like he usually does, and you’re both grateful considering how awkward everything is between you two and a little sad.

And it occurs to you it’s because you Want his touch.

Part way down the hall Montehugh, who had been following the two of you, breaks off from your group to step into another office.

“Are you not coming?” you ask stopping to stare at him.

He shakes his head, “Nah, I got some paperwork to do, so you two go on ahead.”

You look back at the elf and then slowly begin walking down the hall again.

When you step into the elevator Kandomere hits the button and moves to rest his hand on your back and stops himself and puts his hands in his pockets instead. You stare down at his right hand and then up at his face and then stare forward again and cross your arms.

So he doesn’t want to touch you anymore…

That’s fine.

It’ll…make things easier.

You continue on to the lab building and Kandomere leads you to Saerthon’s office.

He knocks on the door and after a moment it opens and the older elf appears.

“Oh, hello,” Saerthon greets surprised as he stares at the two of you.

“May we come in?” Kandomere asks.

Saerthon raises his brows and opens the door wider and waves a hand, “I don’t see why not.”

You both step into the elf’s office and Kandomere shuts the door behind you.

“Come to check on our progress?” Saerthon asks with a smile, “We should be ready to hand over your Aunt’s belongings to you by Monday all you’ll need to do is meet with the lawyer first and-“

“Saerthon, what do you know of Basilisk’s venom.?” Kandomere interrupts.

Saerthon furrows his brows confused, “I have already told you what I know.”

“Yes, but are the effects different for a Bright?” Kandomere questions.

The other elf looks to you and then back at Kandomere, “I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

“Can it make a Bright lose their magic?” Kandomere asks.

Saerthon blinks, “I. DON’T. KNOW. Every Bright is different and it’s impossible to say what affects one will affect another.”

Kandomere inhales and then stares at you, “Step outside for a moment, please,” he says and he opens the door for you.

You stare at the door and then at Kandomere and step out of the room.

He closes the door behind you and you hear the conversation continues in Övüsi.

“{I thought you were supposed to be an expert?}” Kandomere demands.

“{Yes, on magic artifacts. SHE is not a magic artifact,}” Saerthon says loudly.

“{And yet you can’t figure out why one has claimed her either,}” Kandomere says.

You turn from the door to stare down the hall.

The key.

You begin to quietly move down the hall.

”{Honestly, if I didn’t know any better I would say you were getting Attached to this woman,}” Saerthon says.

You pause.

You hear Kandomere’s voice next, but it’s too low for you to hear, and then the door opens and he steps out. He glances around and then finally spots you further down the hall from him.

Kandomere briskly walks towards you and his eyes glance down the hall, “What are you doing?” he asks softly.

You glance down the hall behind you, “I…I don’t know,” you admit quietly.

His hand moves to tilt your chin up, but you shy away from his touch.

Kandomere seems hurt by this and withdraws his hand, “We’re not that desperate,” he whispers, “We’re never going to be that desperate.”

You bite your lip and nod and then walk past him towards the way you had come.

When you walk through the lab you see the Specialist wandering around checking books, you try to avoid her, but she sees you and waves to you.

“You’ll be happy to know that you’ll be getting your things back soon,” she says smiling wide at you.

“Yeah,” you reply dryly.

She takes note of your tone and shifts the books in her hands, “I’m sorry, I know this is a difficult time for you and that it’s not helped by having strangers go through your family member’s belongings.”

You just nod and stare around the room.

Kandomere steps beside you and seems to be waiting for you to leave, “This is your last day, yes?” he asks the elven woman.

“It is,” the Specialist says with a nod, and then she turns to looks at you, “There are a myriad of old canvas paintings that had been hidden amongst other things of your Aunt’s…I’m not certain if you’ve seen them before…”

You shrug your shoulders, “I know she has a few.”

The Specialist shakes her head, “More than a few, there are dozens of them, even some from when she was a young girl.”

You’ve definitely never seen any pictures of Selina that young, maybe she was worried they would get damaged since they’re probably the oldest paintings, still you would like to see them.

“I’ll look at them later,” you decide.

The Specialist nods and turns away as she resumes her work.

You leave the lab and head back towards the office building, and when you and Kandomere both step onto the elevator, Kandomere glances at you and then down at the floor.

You turn to him and stare at him.

He meets your eyes and inhales, “I think we should talk about what happened last night,” he begins.

You don’t want to.

You really don’t want him to just turn you down like this.

“There’s nothing to talk about, Kandomere,” you interrupt.

He blinks and stares at you.

“Nothing happened, so there’s nothing to talk about,” you say with a smile.

He opens his mouth slightly and then slowly nods.

You smile at him again and then step off the elevator when the door opens and leave the elf behind.

You find your way to McTavish and Hernández’s desks who then proceed to brief you on every known Batteredwings member.

And after a couple hours you all head to the break room for coffee.

Hernández is fiddling with the machine trying to get it to turn on, “Come on, you piece of shit.”

“Hey, are you ok?” McTavish asks.

“Huh? Oh…yeah,” you mutter.

“Are you sure? You seem a little sad,” McTavish continues.

You shrug your shoulders, “It’s just not a good day.”

“How come?” Hernández asks turning to you.

“I don’t know things are just a little weird right now,” you say.

“Because of your magic?” McTavish asks quietly.

“Yes…and no,” you continue.

“Okay, what happened?” Hernández asks with a raised brow.

“What makes you think something happened?” you ask defensively.

Hernández crosses her arms.

“Alright, so yesterday…me and Kandomere…” you say rubbing your arms, “Almost kissed,” you whisper.

Both of their eyes widen.

“What?!” Hernández exclaims in a hushed tone, “And you weren’t going to tell me?”

“Wait,” McTavish say closing her eyes and holding her hands up, “Why almost?”

You sigh and shrug your shoulders, “I got embarrassed because a bunch of other agents almost walked in on us and they would have assumed I was sleeping with him and I…I’m just so confused right now,” you blurt out.

“Woah, take it easy,” Hernández says.

“I just don’t know what to do,” you admit.

McTavish puts her hand on your arm, “It sounds like you need to talk about it, so how about we all go to lunch?”

“It’s not even noon yet,” you say.

“Then we’ll do brunch, that’s what people do in this town, right?” Hernández says, “Come on, there’s a café right around the corner.”

*******

Kandomere’s mind races as he paces his office.

She said that nothing happened so there’s nothing to talk about, and she had smiled when she said it. A smile that didn’t reach her eyes… another indication that she’s putting on a face for him.

But why?

Why would she feel she could not talk to him about it?

Perhaps she wishes the subject to be dropped because she wished it never happened in the first place?

His heart sinks.

He stops pacing and stares over at his partner, Montehugh, who is currently sitting on his couch opening a snack he got from the vending machine. Their lunch order hasn’t arrived yet and if Kandomere wasn’t so torn up about this woman he would have likely done the same. The elf catches sight of Montehugh’s wedding band on his left hand. There’s something about her response that is unsatisfactory and he’s not sure how to proceed or if at all. She didn’t exactly turn him down, merely dodged his questioning. That’s what’s bothering him, the lack of being able to address the situation. He needs some form of resolution, he needs a definitive answer from her.

But how should he go about that?

In a way that she will feel comfortable discussing it with him?

He stops and stares at Montehugh, “Ulysses?”

His partner stops just as he’s about to take a bite of his cupcake, “Yeah, Boss?” he sighs.

“You’re married, yes?” Kandomere questions.

Montehugh stares blankly at the elf and then blinks and glances down at his hand, “Yeah.”

“How did you go about courting your wife?” Kandomere asks.

“Court?” Montehugh questions confused, “Boss, where is this coming from?” he continues shaking his head.

Kandomere glances down at the floor and exhales slowly, “Our consultant and I…nearly shared our first kiss last night.”

Montehugh’s brows raise and he sets his cupcake down on a napkin, “Nearly?”

Kandomere sighs and resumes pacing.

Montehugh remains on the couch absorbing this new information for a moment.

“Is this why she left in a hurry?” Montehugh asks, “And why you had me pick her up this morning?”

Kandomere falters for a moment and then paces once more.

“Ah, so she turned you down?” Montehugh questions.

“Not…exactly,” Kandomere responds.

Montehugh shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders.

“We were…interrupted and I tried to discuss it with her today but she said ‘that nothing happened and that there was nothing to talk about,’” Kandomere explains.

“Ouch,” Montehugh replies.

Kandomere sighs and runs his hand through his hair.

“So was this before or after she was checking you out?” Montehugh questions.

Kandomere’s eyes widen and he turns towards the man, “What?”

“Was this before or after she was in your office?” Montehugh asks.

Kandomere blinks, “After,” he answers.

“Then there’s still hope for you yet, elf,” Montehugh says with a smile.

“She was?” Kandomere begins hopeful.

“Oh BIG TIME. I’m surprised you didn’t notice actually, but to be fair you had your back turned,” Montehugh says.

Kandomere puffs out his chest a little and smirks.

She DOES find him attractive.

But that still doesn’t answer why she is avoiding him.

“How should I proceed with this courtship?” Kandomere asks.

“Again with that word, what are you talking about?” Montehugh asks.

“Do humans not have courtship rules?” Kandomere asks.

Montehugh stares at him confused and now Kandomere is also confused.

“The steps one would take to woo their potential future spouse?” Kandomere questions.

Montehugh’s brows raise, “Ah ok,” he says nodding, “I don’t think humans have called it that in the last oh I don’t know, two hundred years?”

Kandomere stares at the man, “I am more than a hundred, myself.”

“Look I get that courtship may still be an elf thing, but it’s not a human thing anymore, so you’re gonna need to change your approach,” Montehugh says.

Kandomere blinks and then puts his hands in his pockets, “What do you suggest I do then?”

Montehugh snorts, “You think I have a fucking clue?!”

Kandomere glares at him angrily.

“Look, I’ve been happily married for more than twenty-five years,” Montehugh says holding up his left hand, “You think I have any idea how to date?”

Kandomere straightens and tilts his head to the side.

“Alright, if you still want my advice, I say just ask her out, plain and simple,” Montehugh says.

“Ask her to dinner?” Kandomere asks.

“If that’s your first instinct, then yeah,” Montehugh says.

Kandomere nods, “Dinner would be an appropriate start in a courtship.”

Montehugh smiles, “See? Just be your usual self, she seems to like you well enough.”

Kandomere’s brows furrow, “But what if she says no?”

Montehugh sighs, “That’s always a possibility, I got dumped three times in a row before I met my wife and asked her out. But considering how you two are with each other I got a feeling she’ll say yes.”

“How we are with each other?” Kandomere questions crossing his arms.

Montehugh shakes his head and smiles, “Boss, you let her sleep on your couch, WHILE wearing your expensive suit jacket. Name the last time you let someone do that?”

He can’t.

Because he’s never let someone else sleep on his couch at work.

“Not to mention how you were when we first found her. You and I both know you didn’t need to be so attentive when she was recovering, you could have delegated that to someone else, anyone else,” Montehugh continues.

That was because he had felt responsible for her safety.

She was vulnerable and scared and needed someone to protect her…and he had wanted to be there for her.

And he has been there for her and he wishes to continue to be there for her.

He wants her in his life and it’s a terrifying and daunting task of entering a new relationship, but he’s wiling to take the plunge if she is.

It’s a lot to take in all at once, but he knows what his next step is.

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” Kandomere says.

Montehugh huffs as he watches the elf briskly walk out of his own office.

He has to find her.

He has to find this woman who has quickly found a place in his heart.

*******

You’re sitting at one of the outdoor tables of a café with Hernández and McTavish, and despite the fact that there’s an amazing spread of breakfast foods in front of you, you can’t find it in you to eat any of it.

Your stomach is too busy being twisted in knots at the moment.

“Alright, so you almost kissed him, and then you were embarrassed because other people intruded on your intimate moment with the elf, correct?” Hernández asks.

“Correct,” you confirm.

She nods, “So what’s the issue now? What’s the part you’re confused about?”

“I’m actually fine now and I’m…not going to try to kiss him again,” you lie.

The two agents exchange confused glances.

“I thought you liked him?” McTavish asks.

You shake your head, “Kandomere’s nice and all, but I don’t want to date him.”

Hernández narrows her eyes and then wafts the steam from her coffee, “Mmm smell that Gwen? It’s a cup of bullshit.”

You roll your eyes and cross your arms, “I…look I already told Kandomere that nothing happened between us.”

“You told him what?!” McTavish exclaims.

“So the elf did try to talk to you about it and you….just brushed him off?” Hernández questions.

“Okay, wait a minute did you actually want to talk about your feelings or not?” McTavish asks.

“I think she wants to avoid her feelings,” Hernández says.

“There aren’t any feelings,” you lie.

You’re feeling embarrassed that you even brought it up.

You just want to drop the subject and go back to the way things were.

Hernández raises her brows and stares at you.

McTavish shakes her head and reaches for one of her muffins, “She’s in denial.”

“Oh big time,” Hernández says.

“I’m not in-“ you begin.

“Yeah, you are,” Hernández interrupts.

“You two have been giving each other these soulful looks for ages now, so you should just ask him out already,” McTavish says with her mouth full of banana nut muffin.

Your shoulders droop, “Kandomere and I…would never work out.”

“WHY?” Hernández questions.

“BECAUSE he’s an ELF,” you state.

“Are You bothered by the fact that he’s an elf?” Hernández asks.

“I…no,” you admit.

”Then what’s the problem?” McTavish asks.

“Kandomere’s an elf, and I’m…not,” you say, “He wouldn’t want me.”

Hernández throws her head back and groans, “MI DIOS! Was I this bad?!”

You stare at her confused for a moment.

She lowers her head and glares at you, “Just date the elf already!”

You shake your head, “I don’t even like him,“ you lie.

“BULLSHIT!” Hernández exclaims, “You two are so fucking soft on each other I think you’re actually going to give me cavities!”

“Gabriela,” McTavish says.

“Don’t Gabriela me! This is important Gwen,” Hernández says to her partner before turning on you again, “You can lie to yourself all you want, but you can’t lie to me, because I’ve been where you are.”

You lean back in your chair silently.

“You can’t be afraid to live your life because other people don’t approve of your choices, alright? Because you never know, one morning you might wake up and find that your head over heels in love with the person sleeping next to you and then suddenly find yourself shopping for an engagement ring to propose to your girlfriend of six years,” Hernández continues.

You slowly uncross your arms, you hadn’t thought of it like that.

“I know you’re scared, shit I’m scared still, this world isn’t very accepting of ‘unconventional’ couples. But if you don’t follow your heart and see where this goes? You are going to be kicking yourself for it later,” Hernández says.

You take a breath and stare down at your untouched food.

You…actually really do like Kandomere.

You have for a while now.

You were caught off guard when he had initiated a kiss.

You didn’t want to let yourself hope that he would ever reciprocate the feelings you had for him. Feelings, that you’re still sifting through, but…you really like him. You actually want to cuddle with him on your couch again and watch shitty documentaries.

“Do…you think he likes me?” you ask still worried.

“Absolutely, he’s never been like this with anyone before,” Hernández says.

McTavish nods in agreement.

You smile and then frown, “So do I….ask for his number or something?”

Hernández pauses for a moment, “You could probably just pick back up where you left off, just talk to him this time.”

You nod, “That’s…probably a good place to start.”

You finally pick up your utensils and start eating your food.

“So when were you going to tell me that you were planning to propose to Josefina?” McTavish asks.

“Uh…I was actually going to ask for your help in picking out a ring,” Hernández says.

You listen to their conversation about rings and think about what you’re going to say to Kandomere now.

After brunch you all head back to work, and as you walk into the main room there’s a few agents standing near Hernández’s and McTavish’ desks. Hernández steers you all towards them and you see Davidson and his partner Hodges are talking to a handful of other agents.

“Yeah that goblin hasn’t said shit,” Davidson says.

“Unless, it’s singing,” the short-haired, blonde man Hodges adds.

“Isn’t this the third time you’ve ‘interrogated’ him?” Hernández asks in annoyance.

Davidson turns to her, “Yeah so?”

“And you still couldn’t get anything?” Hernández asks.

Davidson pushes back his greasy hair, “Well, I’d like to see you do better, Gabi.”

You watch as Hernandez’s hands clench into fists, “My name is Gabriela Elena Maria Hernández.”

There’s a slight upwards tilt to Davidson’s mouth, “Gabi, if you want to hear the goblin’s little songs so bad why don’t you just go talk to him yourself?”

“Maybe I will, afterall SOMEONE needs to do their job around here,” Hernández remarks and turns on her heel. The other agents around Davidson eye him with disapproval and then start to disperse, and Davidson seems irritated by the lack of an audience.

You and McTavish follow Hernández back to the elevator and take it down.

“You can’t let him get to you,” McTavish says softly.

“I know, I know,” Hernández grumbles.

You all walk out of this building and towards the one where you’ve spent time recovering from injuries.

McTavish opens the first door and you and Hernández follow and then McTavish opens the second door into the lobby area of the building.

Hernández approaches the desk of the guard stationed in the front, “We need to speak to the Batteredwings member that was recently arrested.”

The guard nods and pulls out some paperwork for Hernández and McTavish to sign and then makes a call over the radio.

After a few minutes a second guard appears and then escorts the three of you up the stairs and to one of the interrogation rooms and unlocks it.

Hernández and McTavish enter first and you follow them shortly after.

As you step into the interrogation room, there’s a four-foot tall, green and freckled goblin seated in a chair behind a table in ripped jeans and a cutoff jean-jacket vest with a white, stained tank top on underneath. You also notice that there’s a feathered wing embroidered on the vest with tattered feathers outlined in red thread.

The goblin is grumpily slumped in his chair with his arms folded over his chest.

“So Gargef-“ Hernández begins pulling out her own chair opposite the goblin.

“GARG,” the goblin growls.

Hernández sits down and stares at him, “Alright, Garg. You’re in some pretty deep shit.”

Garg rolls his eyes and scoffs.

“Something funny about that?” McTavish questions seriously.

The goblin’s eyes dart to McTavish and then briefly to Hernández before he stares at the wall.

“YOUR van was full of illegal gryphon organs, and we already know your friends were intending to sell them. So possession and intent to sell…” Hernández trails off and tsks, “That’s a whole lot of jail time. But maybe…if you tell us where your amigos are keeping the gryphons we could cut you a deal.”

Garg turns back to Hernández and snarls, “Yeah right, I ain’t tellin’ you shit lady!”

“So how exactly does a gang go from chicken fights to gryphon fights?” McTavish demands now pacing back and forth in front if the table.

You watch Garg closely and see that there’s a flicker of nervousness in his eyes, but then he tilts his head up and says, “It’s called expansion.”

“Expansion?” Hernández prompts.

“Yeah, you know enterprising. We’ve been pushed around for far too long by all these bigger races,” Garg says.

“Ah so it is a power grab then?” Hernández asks.

“People underestimate us, think since we’re small and green we’re not a threat. So the Boss wanted us to bring in some bigger ‘entertainment’ to prove to everyone else that we’re not to be fucked with,” Garg continues.

Hernández nods, “And how did your ‘Boss’ come across these gryphons? Must have been pretty hard to wrangle them all yourself.”

Garg snorts, “Not really, we got the first two from some smugglers and then we drove out to a known nesting site, shot them full of tranquilizer and brought them back here on trucks, and now…everybody is talking about us.”

McTavish continues to pace back and forth behind you, “So where are they now?”

Garg shifts in his seat uncomfortably and falls silent.

“WHERE ARE THE GRYPHONS?!” McTavish demands again and slams her hands down on the table.

Garg’s eyes widen and he leans back in alarm and looks to Hernández.

Hernández puts her hand up and McTavish steps back and stares at the goblin.

“Just tell us where the Batteredwings are keeping the gryphons,” Hernández says calmly.

Garg looks between Hernández and McTavish and then he looks to you and you feign a worried look at McTavish and Garg glances back at Hernández.

“Alright, just keep that Dwarf away from me!” Garg exclaims pointing at McTavish.

Hernández pretends to shoo her partner away and McTavish turns around and smiles at you.

Garg leans in towards Hernández, “We’ve been keeping them separated and only bringing them out for fights, but the Boss isn’t happy with just one on one gryphon fights anymore, so we’re planning a big event at the end of the month with all of them together.”

“So they’ll all be in the same place at the same time?” Hernández asks, “But you don’t know where they are now?”

“Yeah that’s all I know, only the Boss knows where all of them are,” Garg says.

Hernández nods again, “So who is this ‘Boss’ of yours? If you’re so proud of how the Batteredwings are doing, why trust an elf to be in charge? I thought you hated elves just as much as everyone else?”

Garg opens his mouth and then closes it and leans back in his chair, “I want to speak to a lawyer.”

Hernández sighs and stands up, “Then I guess we’re done here.”

“For now,” McTavish adds.

And then you all step out of the room again.

There’s now an additinal guard standing outside and they both enter the room to take Garg back to his holding cell. You follow Hernández and McTavish back down the stairs and out of the building and then back across the grass once more.

“Hey, we’re pretty much done for the day,” Hernández says.

“Already?” you ask surprised.

Hernández yawns, “Yeah, it’s only a half day today, so we’re just going to take you back up to get your stuff and then head out.”

“I think ‘Your elf’ didn’t want you to overwork yourself after just getting back,” McTavish says with a smile.

You smile to yourself.

You take the elevator back up and head back towards the desks to gather your things and then start to head back to the elevators.

“We’ll be just a minute we just have to tell some of the other agents what Garg told us,” Hernández says.

“You can go ahead and head down to the ground floor and wait for us there,” McTavish says.

You nod and head towards the elevators again.

As the doors start to close you hear a familiar voice say, “Hold the elevator.”

*******

“Hold the elevator,” he says as he watches her disappear into it.

His Bright pushes the hold door button and he strides into the elevator. She glances up at him briefly and then presses the ground floor button.

The doors slowly close and the elevator begins moving.

He stands beside her fidgeting with his hand as he tries to think of a way to ask her while simultaneously resisting the urge to wrap an arm around her.

He notices her glance at him out of the corner of her eye.

Well, it’s now or never.

He turns to her and she looks up at him curiously.

“Would you…” he begins as he stares into her beautiful eyes as she blinks slowly, “Like to join me for dinner?”

Her eyes widen slightly in surprise and the elevator stops and the doors open.

The woman turns towards the doors and he’s afraid she’s going to leave without even answering, but instead she just stands there and says nothing.

Then she slowly blinks and she turns back to look up at him, “Like a date?” she asks softly.

He wets his lips and nods slowly.

She gives him a small smile and glances down shyly and then her eyes meet his, “I would love to.”

Kandomere’s heart leaps and he smiles, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven.”

She smiles wider and nods.

He reaches for her hand and brings it to his lips and she gasps as a furious blush colors her cheeks. He then trails his lips lightly over her knuckles and she continues to blush and starts to glance down shyly, although she makes no move to withdraw from him.

God, he adores her.

He starts to let her hand go and she seems to remember that she had got on the elevator for a reason. Her hand slowly slips out of his and she walks backwards out of the elevator.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she says.

He smiles wide at her and she returns it.

“Goodbye, Querida,” he says.

“Goodbye, Kandomere,” she says and then she walks away finally.

Kandomere exhales and pushes the button for his floor and takes the elevator back up.

The elf walks confidently back into his office and Montehugh stares at him, “Well? How’d it go?”

Kandomere stuffs his hands back into his pockets and grins, “She agreed to a date.”

Montehugh claps his hands together, “See? Now was that so hard?”

“Immensely,” Kandomere responds, “But it seems I have preparations to make for my date tomorrow.”

#kandomere #kandomere x reader #bright netflix

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amerain-k · 4 years

Text

[fanmix] the fast train to kyoto

“Is this place even real? I feel like we’re in a story or something.”

“I feel much the same… I wonder what sort of story it is.”

Akashi Seijuurou is tired of people keeping him at a distance. One day on a train platform, he encounters a certain panicky point guard from Seirin. And he gets an idea. A terrible, awful, foolish idea… Naturally, he has to go through with it. The question is, will Furihata accept his invitation?

a fanmix for the beautiful akafuri fic “the fast train to kyoto”, written by @courtingstars. key lyrics under the cut.

download

1. this train - madeline

[akashi, furihata]

This train’s a moving forward I’m gonna catch a ride O, this train’s a moving forward I’m gonna catch a ride Scared if I don’t board it, it’d be bound to pass me by

Hacksaw, my one hand darling, how do you do now? O, Hacksaw, my one hand darling, how do you do now? I’d gladly lift your burdens, I’m afraid I don’t know how

O it’s a, Strange and Heavy, Strange and Heavy load. O when your, quick to catch it, slow to let it go

2. midnight coward - stars

[furihata]

What can’t be decided? In the morning it will bring itself to you I can’t see what’s coming but I’m not saying it

What’s your middle name? How do you play the game? I’ll be the first to leave

When did I grow up? I don’t want to say too much I’ll be the first to leave

What can’t be decided? In the morning it will bring itself to you What can’t be decided?

Before you enter thinking maybe it will choose But I can’t see what’s coming, I can’t see what’s coming I can’t see what’s coming but I’m not saying it

3. make up words - bedside

[akashi]

pick up

waste your time make up words because I don’t know what to say speak up it’s such a blur tell me how to leave cause you never want to stay

oh how the silence leaves a bitter taste my mouth is moving just to fill the space

I know it’s hard to see but I can’t forget what you have given me

pick up share your mind make up words when there’s just nothing left to say wait up we still have time spare a moment more before you drift away

4. can i call you tonight? - dayglow

[furihata]

I feel close Well maybe I’m not, heaven knows It’s a spotlight stuck on the ceiling Why are these the things that I’m feeling? There’s so much time For me to speak up, but I keep quiet I’ll complicate the most of the mantra The power is out and I can’t turn the fan on

So can I call you tonight? I’m trying to make up my mind Just how I feel Could you tell me what’s real? I hear your voice on the phone Now I’m no longer alone Just how I feel Could you tell me what’s real anymore? Cause I wouldn’t know

5. sakurabito - every little thing

[akashi]

translation: jpopasia and otenkiame

Ahh I was tired of waiting for the spring

I’m wishing to see you When I thought of you today too The wind suddenly enveloped me And dyed me in a cherry blossom color

[…]

There’s not one single thing That is the same as another Embracing the precious memories Of the single petal in my hand I entrusted it to the sky I’ll go with you

6. my time with you (너와 나의 시간은) - vanilla acoustic (바닐라 아쿠스틱)

[furihata]

translation: sleeplessaliana

I still haven’t told you When I looked at you I pretended nothing was wrong As if I didn’t care

Actually, I’m someone Who spent so much time wanting you Your passing look, your cold smile Sometimes, they make me run out of breath We keep missing each other You and I, our time You’re like the sun inside of me That I hope will rise in the night sky

Actually, I’m someone Who spent so much time wanting you Your passing look, your cold smile Sometimes, they make me run out of breath

These small tremblings, this heart fluttering They are like gifts to me, they make me see you again It’s just feelings that I can’t throw away But my whole world is filled with you

Actually, I’m someone Who spent so much time wanting you Your passing look, your cold smile They stop me from going to you

7. all i wanted - daughter

[akashi]

All that I wanted wasn’t unwanted Oh and I wonder why I’m not wanted All that I wanted was not there But I dared Be wanted

08. attraction (이끌림) - tearliner (티어라이너) ft. kim go eun (김고은) [furihata]

translation: sleeplessaliana

I look at my side that suddenly feels strange I’m next to you and you’re caring for me Just like our hearts that we’re becoming more used to I can’t seem to draw it out

Because you held onto me, who shakes with the littlest words You treated me warmly when I was clumsy with everything You held me when I was being foolish because it was my first time

I drawing a blank again Dust is settling Dust is building up again

No one is in my heart Dust is settling

Days when I only looked forward and ran You held onto me, who resembled you

My heart was able to rest because I was next to you I smiled when you smiled

On the way to you, there was excitement On the way back, there was emptiness Loneliness

I want to see you longer Slowly, slowly I wanna hug even your long shadow I wanna embrace you I wanna hug you

09. in my little mind - hodge

[furihata]

Hello, how have you been luv? I hope everything is well with you (Hmm) Don’t mind the little things I feel They sound just a little lame to me (Hmm) Maybe we could be a little bit More honest oh, With me with you, with us Maybe we could go our ways And let it go.

I know that you have given your all Just stayin’ beside me And this is all I’m thinking My thoughts are broken Inside my little mind

10. i wish i was the moon - neko case

[akashi]

Chimney falls and lovers blaze Thought that I was young Now I’ve freezing hands And bloodless veins As numb as I’ve become. I’m so tired. I wish I was the moon tonight.

Last night I dreamt I’d forgotten my name ‘Cause I sold my soul But I woke just the same. I’m so lonely. I wish I was the moon tonight.

God blessed me, I’m a free man, With no place free to go. Paralyzed and collared-tight, No pills for what I fear. This is crazy, I wish I was the moon tonight.

[…]

How will you know if you’ve found me at last? 'Cause I’ll be the one be the one be the one With my heart in my lap I’m so tired I’m so tired And I wish I was the moon tonight.

11. when it rains - paramore [furihata]

And when it rains Will you always find an escape? Just running away from all of the ones who love you From everything

You made yourself a bed at the bottom of the blackest hole (blackest hole) You’ll sleep till May and you’ll say that you don’t wanna see the sun anymore.

And Oh oh how could you do it? Oh I - I never saw it coming Oh oh I need an ending So why can’t you stay just long enough to explain?

Take your time Take my time Take these chances to turn it around And take these chances and make it somehow Take these chances to turn it around Just turn it around.. […] You can take your time Take my time.

12. birdcage religion- sleeping at last

[akashi]

So slowly I’m losing Who I’ve sworn to be. A promise in pencil That years have made so hard to read. I’ve spent my life building walls Brick by brick and bruise by bruise… A birdcage religion that whispered me to sleep.

But time is spinning silk That coils ruthlessly; With the devil’s patience, It binds my hands so quietly That soon it becomes a part of me.

So soften these edges and straighten out my tie

And help me remember

The hope that I have compromised.

Please be a broken record for me.

13. oozora de dakishimete - utada hikaru

[furihata]

translation: lyrical nonsense

On a clear Sunday, the station’s ticket gates Are beginning to fill with color from the cheeks of those waiting for another

Today, I feel like going someplace far away Somewhere I can see the sky

If we could go flying among the clouds Then just hold me, in the vast sky I wonder if you’re still mad with me… But we just can’t help but be stubborn

[…]

So innocent and pure, you’ll misunderstand me So shut my blabbering mouth We’ve both been hurt So just embrace me and don’t complain about it

If it happens that we can meet again someday Then come trouble me once more If perhaps we can only meet again in our dreams Then just hold me until morning

I get it, I get that I’m being greedy But just kiss me, without saying it’s our last If perhaps we can only meet again in our dreams Then, oh stars soaring through the heavens, don’t go out

14. au tabi suki ni natte (i fall in love every time we meet) - BRIGHT

[akashi]

translation: carlenne

Every time we meet, I fall in love and my heart aches yet I can’t help wanting to be with you always even though I ought to have been fine on my own I don’t want to say goodbye

The more I know you, the less I can stop it but I don’t want you to hate me If you called out to me in a gentle voice I’d surely be able to tell you how I feel

If the thread of fate that I’d been about to give up on is the miracle that drew me towards you Even though I just want you to hold me tighter

Every time we meet I fall in love and my heart aches

The restless nights continue on and on I just want you to gaze at me but afraid, so I bite down on my lip

The more I know you, the less I can stop it I wonder what kind of mail to send you I’ll get closer to you in just a moment, so don’t turn away because I’ll softly hold out my hand to you

#akafuri #knb #fanmix #akashi seijuro #furihata kouki #seriously tho #just read this fic guys #beautiful writing #beautiful story #amazing characterization #you cry and smile and it's just so good #and like they fall in love with each other #you fall in love with them too #please don't note my less than basic skills with the cover #it doesn't make justice to this fic ok #my fanmix

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mommafloradevereaux · 4 years

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GMA || Sugarland/Robin Robins

who: Flora Devereaux, Paul Hodges, Robin Roberts

when: 1/13/2020, 8am.

where: New York City

what: Flora and Paul celebrate their album release on Good Morning America. Flora shares some of her stories and gives some dating advice.

warnings: Abuse, Anxiety, Depression, and death.

Flora sat backstage with Paul as they waited to go on, she was nervous and fidgeting. The makeup crew put the finishing touches on their makeup and got them ready for the interview. “..five minutes, Sugarland.” and that is when Flora thought she was going to throw up.

“Hey,” Paul walked over and gave her a hug, giving her a second to gather herself. “everything will be just fine, deep breaths.”

“I know, I know, but this is Good Morning America. Do you know how many people see this morning show? Instagram is my small corner of the world, now I’ll be sharing not only Sugarland but my story. They want to know me and It’s terrifying, Paul.”

“I know but you’re not going to be alone. I’m right here,” He took her hand and put it in his, “you always got this, give it a squeeze if you need too.” Flora leaned in and kissed his cheek- makeup swooped in and cleaned it off before getting them into position.

“Good Morning America, today we have an exciting show. Sugarland is here in the studio this morning,” The room erupted with cheers and applause, the camera switched and panned outside to reveal a large crowd with signs. “Their new album,” Robin picked up the album and showed the camera. “released today in stores and online streaming services everywhere. It has been almost twenty-six years since the band released their first album. They were just starting to rise when they were hit with tragedy. They lost fellow bandmate Avery Hodges from an overdose and the band ended before they began. We are very lucky to have them here with new music and their amazing story. Please help me welcome, Flora Devereaux and Paul Hodges; Sugarland!” Paul and Flora walked out onto the set, smiling and waving as they made their way over to Robin. They did the usual hug and greeting before Flora took a look around. “Flora, Paul, welcome to Good Morning America.”

“Happy to be here, Robin.” Paul smiled and took his seat, Flora sat next to him with a smile. She was still smiling ear to ear.

“I am so overwhelmed right now, I could bust.” Flora hid her face in her hands before sitting straight up and composing herself.

“Big day, new album, you must be so proud?” Robin held up the album again.

“It’s been a long time coming, we started working on it last year.” Paul started them off, Flora knew her time would come. “just glad to get this lady back in the studio. She sings and knocks my boots off every time. I almost forget to play my guitar,” The room laughs and Flora whacks him in the arm.

“The GMA family took a listen this morning, I have to say Paul is right on the money. I sure I can speak for everyone when I say, Avery would be so proud of you.”

“We’d like to think so, she loved Sugarland.” Paul smiled.

“Thank you,” Flora took Robin’s hand in a kind gesture.

“So take us back, Sugarland ends and you two go your separate ways?” Robin prompted.

“We decided to step back, figurin’ we just couldn’t see ourselves going on without Avery. I was just married, pregnant, I decided to settle and raise my twins. Paul and I lost touch over the years, I became a stay at home mom.”

“Avery wasn’t only a bandmate but a sister, your sister. How did you deal with such a loss like that, Paul?”

“Not very well, Robin. I started drinking, taking drugs, I was a mess. I got myself sober when I met my wife, started to heal and found this lady again.” Flora took hold of Paul’s hand and squeezed.

“Wow, God is good.” Robin praised.

“He truly is,” Flora smiled and hugged Paul, “I’m so proud of him.”

“He wasn’t the only one with struggles?”

“No,” Flora took a pause and exhaled a huge breath.

“You’ve been very open about your abusive relationship on social media. Would you mind sharing some of that story with us here on GMA?” Robin wouldn’t push but she gave Flora the opportunity to go on.

“Not sure I can share it all on a morning show but I will give the cliff notes version. I was in a physically and mentally abusive relationship for most of my life.” Flora held onto Paul’s hand, getting the strength to go on with her story. “Fake marriage, manipulated into thinking his abuse was gods will. I was told by many people to stay, that God would make things right. So, I stayed and things only got worse. The only good thing that man gave me was three beautiful children. I wouldn’t trade them for anything, I’d go through it all again just for my precious babies. Though, If I could have them and take away all the ugly involved, I’d flip that switch now.”

“Are your kids proud?”

“I think they are.”

“They are,” Paul corrected, “they love their momma.”

“I do want to jump back a little bit, I want to talk about the other woman. The wife,” Flora shook her head and chuckled. “according to your social media, you happen to be best friends?” The room started to mutter.

“I can hear all you gossiping back there, hush now.” Flora teased, “and yes as strange as that sounds we are the best of friends. The man we shared brought us together, but we’re happy to be rid of him. We both suffered in different ways but it wasn’t only us. I did my best to keep the abuse from the kids, I didn’t want them to see it. Sadly, you can’t always protect your kids from the truth. I lied to them for a long time but it all came out a few years ago. I finally told them about the abuse and how bad it got. The twins did see some of it as kids but my youngest saw none of it. She was close to her daddy.”

“It must have been hard for them, to learn about this other family?”

“Yes, it’s still not easy but they do have each other. I think the one that was the most excited was my Julie, she’s the baby. She was excited to learn she had more siblings.”

“Do they all get along?”

“The four oldest have spent time together, a couple of them see each other. I can’t really speak for all of them but they are civil.”

“I imagine it’s tough for them, learning of each other. Can’t be easy?”

“No, but Judy and I agree it was necessary to introduce them.”

“Can I just add something here,” Paul scooted forward in his seat a little and smiled. “This woman right here isn’t only a momma to her kids but to everyone around her. And her cookin’, wooo.” The room laughed as Paul flopped back in his chair. “If you’re sick, she’ll make you soup. She sends care packages, cookies, treats- she once sent a whole casserole.”

“Now I’m hankering for something to eat.”

“I firmly believe food heals the soul,” Flora smiled, “I would have brought food but it would have taken me three days to prepare enough.” She shared a laugh with Robin.

“Speaking of comfort, I see you have someone special in your life?” And Flora blushed on national television, yep, redness. “And this person posted a very lovely post on Instagram yesterday after you mentioned your album release. They said; “I haven’t known her as long as I feel like I have, but I know that she has been through far more than anyone person should and still she gets up and keeps going. and not only that, she helps others through it, even if she herself isn’t in the best place.”. Would you say that is true?”

“First, thank you for using the proper pronouns. Not only do I appreciate it but they will certainly. Second, I do have a tendency to focus on other’s needs before my own. They are right about that but it’s just the way I am, I can not help myself. I just love to help and give and be there to listen. Ash is an amazing person and I’m so lucky to have them in my life. After I read that post I cried, just full tears running down my face. To be fair I did make them cry with a song I wrote; not on the album.” Flora straightened up more but leaned in, “I might get a bit mushy for a second but they’ve taught me so much. I had never been in a proper relationship before, all I knew was my past experience. I was with one man all my life, he never took me out, never shared me with anyone. I was his dirty secret and I thought that was normal, I thought it was right. Ash took me out on a real date and treated me like a person. Guys,” She looked at the camera and pointed, “girls, non-particular gender type folks, take your person on a date, simple things, little things. I don’t care if you take a walk in the park, just show them they matter.” She turned back to Robin, “In short-”

“Or long-” Paul added.

“Oh you,” Flora stuck her tongue out at him.

“Are you happy?” Robin asked.

“I can say without hesitation I am truly happy. I still have my bad days but because of my friends and my partner, those days are far less. I do want to say a quick thing, I very good friend of mine will be coming out with her single very soon, four days. Keep an eye on my social media because I will be gushing about it.”

“Oh, what’s her name?”

“Danielle Harper, she’s like a daughter to me. Super talented, amazing voice, a big star in the making. Keep an eye out for her, trust me when I say she’s going places.”

“Flora, Paul, thank you again for being here. Would you mind singing us a song before you go?”

“We’d love too,” Paul and Flora got up and headed over to the little stage area.

“You can get Sugarland’s new Album today, out on every music platform you can find. Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in twenty-six years- Sugarland!”

Hey sleepless, my eyes are red Why don't you get out of my bed I don't want to watch the fan no more And hey crazy, that's enough I'm sick of tripping on all your stuff Scattered across my bedroom floor

Hey heartbreak, give me your key It's you, it's not me Oh, you only bring me down, down, down, down Hey heartbreak, don't come back I swept up your shattered glass What goes around is coming back around, round, round, round

heartbreak, I'm breakin', I'm breakin' up with you Heartbreak, I'm breakin', I'm breakin' up with you Heartbreak, I'm breakin', I'm breakin' up with you

Hey laughter, where's your smile? Haven't seen it in awhile And I miss the drunken nights Hey lonely, won't you leave me alone If you call me ain't nobody home Go find somebody else 'cause I'm going out tonight

Everything I thought that I needed, turns out I had Everything I thought that I wanted, I'm giving back Starting a mend, that's beating again Everything I thought that I needed, turns out I had Everything I thought that I wanted, I'm giving back Starting a mend, that's beating again

heartbreak, I'm breakin', I'm breakin' up with you Heartbreak, I'm breakin', I'm breakin' up with you Heartbreak, I'm breakin', I'm breakin' up with you, you, you, you, yeah Heartbreak, I'm breakin', I'm breakin' up with you Heartbreak, I'm breakin', I'm breakin' up with you Heartbreak, I'm breakin', I'm breakin' up with you, you, you, you, yeah Heartbreak, I'm breakin' (breakin' up with you) Heartbreak, I'm breakin' Heartbreak, I'm breakin', I'm breakin' up with you

#sp: gma #p: gma #t: flora #t: paul #t: para #tw: abuse #tw: anxiety #tw: depression #tw: death #tw: drugs #tw: alcohol

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levi-ish · 6 years

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Don’t Ask My Neighbors | 1

Summary: When the night is quiet as a whisper and the windows are all closed, sneaky kisses are shared under the same old tree where kids swore their love would never fade.

Pairing: Tom Holland X Enemy!Reader

Disclaimer: mentions of car accidents, sex and alcohol (there’ll be smut later in this story)

A/N: Hi there! Thank you so much for all of you who read the teaser and liked it, so here’s the first part, and I hope you guys enjoy! Also, I set your sisters, parents and last names already because it was getting too confusing to write, so yup. Sorry for the shitty chapter, I promise the next ones will be more intriguing.

Also, if you want to be tagged, send me an ASK.

Masterlist

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

“Your neighbor is hot” Dave peeked through the curtains as you kept your eyes glued into the notebook, writing down more complex words that would lead you to a better grade.

“My neighbor?” You asked without even looking, knowing already what he was talking about, or even worse — whom.

“Dude, look at that fucking eight-pack” Eva sighed, sneaking under Dave’s arm and peeking through the window while you wondered if you should offer them a napkin or something like that. “But (Y/N) already told me that he’s off limits, so...”

You rolled your eyes and turned around on your chair, analyzing the two other young-adults that were crowding around your window, staring at the boy’s room and letting their hormones take over their minds.

“Why’s that?” Dave bit his lower lip and turned around, running a hand on his dark hair and twitching his mouth to the side.

“Because of their families’ war” said the other girl before you could even think of an answer.

And she wasn’t wrong; not only he was off limits, but his entire family was too.

You never had the chance to ask for a cup of sugar or to even wave back while putting the trash away; or even to pet the Holland’s dog from time to time because of the weird looks you would receive from your own family and from the other. So a normal life in suburbia wasn’t something you grew used to.

It all started before you could even see the light of day, when your family bought the house that other couple wanted, because the neighborhood was quiet and that specific place had a better yard and pool. The Hollands, however, decided to buy the house on the left and your parents, who weren’t that fond of competition, decided not to let them slide that easily.

The firsts steps were the fake smiles and crooked gazes to their backs, and then, soon enough, the families started to rub each conquest against each others faces. When Nikki first got pregnant with her boy, your mother called for a war. She discovered that she was pregnant too a few months later, having you and then, she didn’t want to waste more time, trying again, only to have a baby girl two and a half years later, your sister Morgan.

But then, Nikki discovered that she was having twins — and guess what?! — your parents couldn’t stand the thought of losing.

With all that back and forth, pregnancies and showing off the babies and their toys around, it resulted on a house with four boys and the other with four girls.

For informational purposes; the Hollands were composed of Dominic and Nikki, Tom (21), Sam and Harry (18) and Paddy (13); while the Hodges were Luke and Viola, you (19, but almost 20), Morgan (17), Danny (14) and Stella (10); but the confusion was too big even for you, sometimes.

And the pressure — don’t even get me started. You had to be the greatest in all of your classes because fucking Tom couldn’t be better than you. And it wasn’t that Thomas fucking Holland was a bad kid or anything like that, he was actually nice and you had nothing to complain about, but since your and his mother hated each other, you had to keep the profile and break any kind of contact you two had in the past.

“Why do you have to be a part of this fight again?” Eva sat on your bed again, her body sinking into the cocoon of blankets you set there before they came.

“I’m not a part of it” you said, lifting your head and pulling one of your legs closer to your chest. “This is my mother’s business and I’m not putting up with it. I’m just...”

“—Too scared to contradict her.” Dave finished your sentence, throwing himself at your bed and his legs hitting Eva’s back, making the girl let out a small whimper, slapping his thigh. “But don’t even pretend that you like him a lot.”

That was true; you didn’t. You didn’t even know when you started to get annoyed by him or if you were really annoyed by the boy or if it was your mother’s voice inside your head, manipulating you into hating the boy.

You smiled kindly at them and turned around. “Maybe we should go back to the project since I am the only one doing something here.”

But he was right, you were too scared of your mother. God, every one in your family was, because when she was mad, she would turn the tables and make you feel guilty with a great selection of words that would keep you inside your room until the end of times.

So, no, no one dared to contradict her.

“I’m too old for that” Eva rolled her eyes and threw her head on a pillow, dramatically sighing. “I might be dead tomorrow and you are worrying about the damn project.”

“Well, it’s a third of the final grade.” You stated, licking your lips quickly and adjusting the hoodie’s sleeves on your arms. “I’m not getting a B because of you.”

“Nerd” Dave yelled-whispered and you threw a pen at him, laughing while your eyes reached for the small space that the curtains didn’t cover, watching from afar the figure of the boy who smiled at the sight of you, making your stomach feel funny — not the bad way.

[...]

You yawned deeply as your eyes tried to keep open, the sweet smell of pancakes downstairs keeping you away from falling asleep once more, ignoring all the alarms you always set on your phone. You changed from the pajama pants to some comfortable jeans and an old shirt you were fond of, putting on some sneakers and grabbing your stuff to leave quickly.

Climbing downstairs, you walked into the kitchen and found all of your sisters already sitting there and your father cooking some pancakes while your mother finished some work on her laptop. You were greeted by sleepy ‘good mornings’ and helped yourself with a cup of coffee, sitting beside Morgan and drinking it slowly.

“Ugh, I hate those small keyboard keys” your mother muttered to herself while downing a big gulp of her coffee.

“Don’t mind your mother, girls” your father said, turning around quickly and smiling politely. “She’s had a bad night.”

“It’s not my fault” she glared at her husband and rolled her eyes, completely annoyed. “I couldn’t sleep because one of the Devil’s spawns let their music too loud last night.”

You furrowed your brows while your father put some pancakes on your plate, grabbing syrup to cover them.

“Devil’s spawns?” Questioned Danny, twitching her mouth.

“Her new nickname to Nikki’s sons” your father explained and rolled his own eyes.

You laughed to yourself, already aware of their rivalry and how your father wasn’t so into the battle as your mother was. Actually, when you were younger, your father told you about how he used to be friends with Dominic a long time ago, ending their friendship because of their wives. What a waste.

“Anyways” your mother closed her laptop and looked at you with demanding eyes, making the pancakes going down your throat seem stuck there. “(Y/N), could you take your sisters to school before class?”

Coughing on your coffee, you put the mug on the surface of the table and looked around, watching as your sisters seemed to mind their own business, so you just nodded while cutting another piece of the pancakes, your stomach humming quietly, but noticeable.

“Sure” you smiled and ate your last bite before standing up. “I’ll just brush my teeth and then we’ll be out.”

The girls nodded and your mother adjusted her pantsuit, straitening the edges before smiling to herself and grabbing her stuff. She was a journalist and worked in the cooking section, always talking about food and nutrition, so she mostly worked from home, but sometimes, she had to go to these meetings and keep her name and works clean.

Don’t even get me started on her key lime pie, because oh, you wouldn’t believe the taste of that! And, of course, she and Nikki would compete who made the best pie.

“Will I see you later, darling?” Asked your father, looking straight at you and you smiled shyly.

Your father, on other hand, had a small market around the corner and worked with all of his heart and passion on it. Sometimes, you would join him to help with some stuff, since some of his employees quit and he could use extra help. You liked doing that, so it wasn’t such a burden.

“Of course.”

Quickly, you brushed your teeth and grabbed your phone and car keys to leave already, only waiting for your sisters to come and entering the car when they were all ready.

Opening the garage door, you moved the car back and let out a small sigh, looking at the mirror as you did so. But when you saw it, it was too late; your nails were deep into the steering wheel and your sisters screamed loud, causing Stella to cry in desperation. You felt your heart starting to thump faster and turned around, looking at the girls.

“Stay here” you said.

It was a small collision, but still a collision that could have done damage to your car — the one you loved so much — so you jumped down of it and walked at the back, looking around and seeing the silver Audi with a small scratch, and so did your own car (luckily).

The owner showed his face while climbing down of the Audi, the brown curls falling against his forehead just slightly since the rest of his hair was pushed back. You crossed your arms and gazed at him, waiting for something to be said before you lost your temper.

“Oh, shit” he said, removing his sunglasses and giving your eyes access to his hazelnut ones as he crouched down behind your car. “I’m so sorry!”

He looked up to find you already staring and you bit your lower lip, twitching your nose.

“I hope so” you said, furrowing your brows. “My sisters are there, you could’ve hurt them.”

You already felt that he was being genuine about his apology, but you were too infuriated to control your choice of words (and you already had the ability to destroy a person with them).

“I’m really sorry” he licked his lips and stood, walking in your direction and stopping only a few inches in front of you.

God, does he know anything about personal space?

You looked a bit up to find his freckled nose right in front of you, making you cross eyes for a little more. Redness staying to spread all over your cheeks and you looked down, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of making you blush.

“Yeah.” You said quietly, almost in a mutter.

Looking up again, you found his eyes still invading your personal space. His arm twitched a bit, as if he wanted to touch you, but he hesitated and looked away; and you could swear that you had a déjà-vu that moment, almost smelling the humid grass from the park and hearing the leaves of the big old tree above you, but you shut down that thought, going back to reality, the one where you stood in front of that guy — the same one from the tree — but looking like a stranger.

“Do you—” he started to say, and you wanted to hear, but your mother rushed from the entrance door and to the street, her eyes full of anger and worry.

“What the—” she looked around and her eyes found Tom’s, not making the situation any better. “You!”

She stormed at his direction and you knew that a hurricane was coming, so you held your breath and closed your eyes quickly. Then, another voice appeared and you felt even more frighted.

“Don’t even try to blame it on my son!” Screamed Nikki as she walked down the front yard, standing in front of your mother and crossing her arms. “It’s not his fault that your daughter doesn’t know how to drive. You better be careful, she could’ve hurt someone!”

“Excuse me?!” You furrowed your brows, but were completely ignored.

You looked at Tom again only to find him rolling his eyes and going back to his car, starting it and preparing to leave, but not before he found your reflection on the mirror and gave you a small smirk.

How dare he?

PERMANENT TAGLIST:

@hey-i-really-miss-you @starlightfound @lionsfandomsandbearsohmy @isabellamozzarellla @tshollandlove @peterparkerdeservesbetter @marveldes @hamiltrin @teeterparker @draqcnheartstrinq @httpmcrvel @hi-mishamigos @scarlettsoldier @pandas1923 @ultrunning @hobbitoburrito @queenkrissy11 @iamburdened @isabellamozzarellla @sholla4-314 @p-hilo-phobia @determinedpines @tinynlwt @padackles2010 @a-very-superwholocked-starkid @holland-peter @daringbanshee

DON’T ASK MY NEIGHBORS TAGLIST:

@exploratiionist @call-me-wisegirl @ihavenolifeandiambored @bluparis @hbmoore1986 @mxlti-vxrse

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #tom holland #tom holland x reader #smut #fluff #romance #college #au #neighbors #enemies #mapas writing

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tenaciousarcadeexpert · 5 years

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Criminal Minds-The Good Ol Days

Chapter 7-Sweet Nothing

Just a collaboration fic with @princesswagger15

Tagging: @marvelfanlife, @itsmeedee, @cynbx, @jaqren, @gabriellewritermua, @princesswagger15, @screaminginbi, @tleighstone12, @cosmicmelaninflower

Note: It’s been a while since I’ve written smut as well as @princesswagger15‘s first so please bear with us. We did what we could and worked so hard on this chapter. I hope you all enjoy.

Matt catches his breath as he looks around to see everyone staring at him, including his friends, all of whom are worried that he could be getting himself into some trouble.

“Hey guys, what’s going on?” Emily asked JJ and Will as she and Tara looked up to see Derek getting out of his seat.

“Oh my god, Matt.”

“Someone needs to stop them before it gets worse.” Garcia whispers.

“Looks like Derek is gonna cover that.” Elle says as she sits up a bit.

“Kyle……..I’ll give you one last chance to apologize to Kristy and leave her alone, unless I’ll have to force you in doing so. And trust me.” He walks over to Kyle. “You don’t want to make things worse, do you?”

“Or what? You fucking sissy. You gonna try to punch me? Now move dickbag, I’ve a pretty girl waiting for me.” He pushes him to the side and makes his way towards Kristy, who was currently huddled up near a corner.

“I said don’t touch he-” “DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, YOU ASS!” He punched Matt, causing him to fall over, only for Luke to catch him as they look on.

Kyle chuckled. “That’s what I thought, you little pussy. Go stay with your momma.” He gives him a little wave just to mock him and turned around.

Everyone looks at Matt as he starts to move towards Kyle again only for Derek to stop him.

“Let me handle this Matt.”

Matt then moves to the side as Derek walks up to Kyle saying, “Hey man, just back off. The girl isn’t interested in you. So why don’t you just make this peaceful for everyone, and walk away.”

“Why don’t you just shut the hell up and mind your own business?” Kyle says as he pushes Derek in the chest.

“Why don’t you just listen to him and quit making this hard for yourself?” Both Kyle and Derek looked to see Hotch come out from the crowds after seeing that Haley’s roommate and his friend are in trouble.

“Wow, you’re the one to talk.” “Hey, I don’t like it when people can’t take no for an answer. So how bout you just leave my friends alone?” He then walks besides Matt as the two of them and Derek surround Kyle. Distracted, Kristy then stood up and runs towards Elle and Marissa, whom she and Reid looked on to see the encounter.

“Oh my god, my friends. I gotta go help them.” Said Reid.

“Reid, please be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t. I’m just gonna try to ease the tension going on.” Marissa then nods as he then walks to the scene, in which Kyle continues to mock his friends.

“Really, you think all three of you are trying to scare me? Please, I can smoke all of you bitches apart.”

Kyle and the guys were ready to fight just as they crack their knuckles. Before either of them could attack, Reid pops in right in between the two sides.

“H-Hey guys. There’s no need to fight here and cause a scene. We can all just walk away right now and-”

Just then, Kyle pushes Reid onto the floor as everyone watched. Reid groaned as he tried to push himself off the ground.

“You think you can try to talk me out of this? Why don’t you just go home to your mommy pipe cleaner.”

“SON OF A BITCH!” Marissa yells.

Just then Marissa walks up to all of the guys and pushes Matt, Hotch, Derek, and Reid out of the way. Marissa then gets to Kyle and just as he was about to say something, Marissa punches Kyle into the table behind him and kicks him in his knee, as Kyle screams and falls to the ground. Marissa then grabs him by the collar of his shirt and pulls Kyle closer to her.

“Look here fucky the fucktard, my friend is not interested in you, she has a wonderful boyfriend. And these four guys gave you an opportunity to leave quietly, but you didn’t. And you pushed my boyfriend and called him a pipe cleaner. SO YOU LISTEN TO ME, If i see you, hurt or harass that girl, my boyfriend or ANYONE ELSE, I will squeeze your fucking nuts like grapes until they fucking pop. Now go home and cry to your mommy, bitch.”

“Gah uh-uh! Okay! I’ll stop” Marissa then lets go of Kyle, who collapsed to the down and crawls back, fleeing from the kitchen. Once he was out of sight, she then walked over to help Reid up.

“Reid, are you okay?”

“Y-yea, I’m okay Marissa. This was nothing.” Reid tries to shrug it off as Marissa and Derek helps him up.

“Are you sure? I can still chase him down if you want.”

“Yeah, I’m fi-ah!” He touched the side of his lower abdomen. “Man, I should’ve worn my sweater vest.”

“Don’t worry Reid, it’s just a small bruise. It’ll go away.” Said Derek as he analyzed his friend’s face. He then noticed that he had a little bruise on the side of his bottom lip. “Dammit, he even bruised you there. Well, at least he didn’t mess up the entire pretty face of yours, otherwise I would’ve really went after him.”

“You and me both.” Marissa adds.

“Well, I’m fine now. Thanks.” Derek and Marissa smiled back as the three then took their attention to Kristy, who was shaking as she sat down in a chair with the group.

“Kristy, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“I swear the next time i see Kyle I will-”

“You’ll do nothing because I got it covered Matt.” Marissa says as she sits next to Kristy.

“Do you want some ice or anything Kris?”

“I’m okay.” She continues to rub her wrist, which was bright pink.

“I can’t believe he would do this to you.” Haley looks on.

“Well, Kyle Hodges is nothing but a sexless pig who targets vulnerable girls and treats them like trash.” Elle adds. “Good thing he never cross paths with me, otherwise I would’ve ripped his goddamn balls off.”

“Same here.” Marissa adds. The team continues to look on as Kristy continues to look down and rubs her wrist.

“You know what? I don’t feel comfortable staying here. I wanna leave.”

“Okay Kristy, I can come with you.” Haley suggests.

“No, I-I wanted Matt to go with me, if you don’t mind Haley.”

“Uh no, I don’t.” She then looked over to Matt. “You don’t mind taking her back to the dorm, do you?”

“No, not at all.” He then grabs his jacket and wraps it around Kristy, helping her up as she stands. “Come on, let’s get outta here. Goodnight everyone.”

“Goodnight!” Everyone said. They all looked on as the couple leaves the party. Just then, Hotch looks over to Haley, still expressing concern for her roommate.

“Don’t worry Haley, she’ll be alright.”

“I know. I just worry about you sweets, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I am. I’m fine, you guys can stay here and enjoy the rest of your night.”

“Hmmm. Is it okay if I just stay with you?” She then moved up close to Hotch, prompting him to blush.

“Uh sure.”

Outside, Matt was escorting Kristy out of the party, still pissed at Kyle for ruining the night for them as well as hurting his girl.

“Alright Kristy, we’ll take a quick walk to the dorms and-”

“Well actually Matt, I was wondering if we can go to the mountain you took me to on our first date.”

“Oh.” He raised an eyebrow. “Y-you sure about that?”

“Yeah.” “Oh okay.” He looked down to see Kristy lend her arm out for him and gently touches her hand. He then pulls out his keys. “Alright, let’s go.” The couple then walked away, as they head to the car. At the same time, Reid and Marissa have also decided to ditch the party.

“Well, so that was a dud.” Marissa jokes.

“Really? I’ve never been to so many parties but this one didn’t seem so bad.” She raised an eyebrow at Reid.

“Okay, look here, when at a party of any kind, a fight will always kill the mood for the whole party. I wouldn’t be surprised if half the people in that party walked out. But the plus for me, was that I never saw Meadows aka The Bitch.”

“Yeah, whatever happened to her? Considering that she was the host for the party. I wondered if she saw the whole fight?”

“To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if the bitch saw it and did nothing about it. But I also wouldn’t be surprised if she was in her room, with a guy passed out drunk.”

“Guess so.” Reid then rubs his stomach as Marissa watches, whom they hear his stomach rumbling. “Also, despite the stomach pains, I’m kinda in the mood to grab something to eat. If only I gotten something at the party before we lef-”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got food back at my dorm and then we can do whatever you want.”

“Oh okay, that sounds cool.” The two decided to head to Marissa’s dorm, hopefully to get a bite or more after the mess that was at Meadows’ party, while everyone else were trying to enjoy their night despite the fight that just happened.

Will then offers JJ a can of soda as she sat down on a couple of stairs.

“Thanks.” “No problem.” Still, he could notice the long face his girl was having. “Don’t worry, you’re friend and his date will be alright. At least they managed to leave this mess.” “Yeah. I wonder what they’re doing right now?”

Will shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Hopefully, it’s better than what happened here an hour ago.” “Yeah.” She then looks up to him. “You mind if we leave?” “Uh sure. Besides, this party was getting boring anyway.” She chuckled. “Yeah, it has.”

Somewhere, Matt parks his car near the top of the hill where Kristy and Matt can see the city lights.

“This looks nice.” Said Kristy, admiring the view.

“Yeah, it does.” Matt nodded as he looked over to see his girl staring at the view, though he still couldn’t help but notice the stiff posture she had during the drive, along with her still rubbing her wrist and cheek. He could still tell that she was still a little worked up about what happened and felt bad because he and Kyle are both jocks.

“About what happened over there, I-”

“It’s okay Matt. Don’t blame yourself, we got out of there, that’s all that matters.”

“I know. It’s just, I still can’t believe he’d hurt you like this.” He then took notice of where Kyle slapped her, as it starts to turn bright pink. “That son of a bitch.” He muttered. “He’s gonna regret laying a single finger on yo-”

“Matt, I’m fine, really. Relax hun, it could’ve been worse.”

“Yeah, I know.” He then laid back against his seat as they continue to look at the view. “It’s quite relaxing. Just enjoying the view.” “Kinda like our first date.” He chuckled. “Yeah. Exactly like our first date. Except that I didn’t get punched by Kyle Hodges on our first date.”

“Yeah.” She chuckled back. Just then, she removed her seatbelt, leaning close as she took notice of the the little bruise besides Matt’s lip. “You know something?” “What is it?” “I always assume that you were a lover, not a fighter.” “Oh, the bruise. Well, I’m both.”

“Well, which one would you say you’re more of?”

“W-well, call me cliche, but I’d rather be a lover than a fighter. A lover who’s not afraid to fight when the person they loved gets hurt.”

“Good answer.” “Yeah.” Kristy continues to caress his bruise as Matt took notice of her wrist that was brightly pink. He gently rubs it and placed a soft kiss on her wrist. She then smiled at the simple gesture and caress his face, leaning over to kiss him by the cheek and again on where Kyle punched him. Matt smiled back in return.

Kristy and Matt look into each other’s eyes, eventually she leans in and kisses Matt on the lips and puts her hand in his hair. It didn’t feel real at first, but the next thing they knew, they couldn’t stop.

He felt his hands brushing back and forth against her back while she grips the back of his head. She then slides a hand against his body, till she she felt the leather belt from his skinny jeans, unbuckling and pulling the belt from it’s loops, never breaking the kiss.

Just then, Matt gasps as he breaks the kiss, much to Kristy’s confusion. He looked away in shame.

“Matt, what’s wrong? D-Did I do something?”

He shook his head. “N-no. It’s not you. I-I don’t know, but it doesn’t feel right, not after what happened at the party and what Kyle did to y-”

“God Matt, don’t worry about it. Just don’t stop, I-I want you.”

“I-I” Before he could say anything, he felt a finger press against his lips.

“Shhhhh, I want you.” She whispered, giving him a lustful gaze. He nods back and kisses Kristy once again, only this time, he was no longer holding back. The kissing starts to intensify as Matt pulls slightly on Kristy’s hair and Kristy moans into Matt’s mouth.

She then gets on his lap, and takes off her shirt. She then leans over as Matt kissed her neck and shoulder. Kristy then kisses Matt on his neck and chest as she pulls off his shirt over his head. After discarding the shirt, he then pulls her close, kissing her harder and deeper, as their chests rubbed against each other. She moaned as she felt Matt’s hand slide up her skirt.

With their clothes discarded to the front seats, the two kept going, as Kristy straddles him despite the lack of room and awkward leg positions inside the car. There was only one thing on their minds, one hot, and intense thing going on and neither of them wanted to stop. Kristy continues to straddle Matt just till he slips his hands under her skirt and took it off and laid Kristy on her back and kissed her neck. They can feel the sweet, sweet pleasure building up as they skid against each other faster and faster while moaning and groaning each other’s names.

Back at the campus, Matt and Kristy weren’t the only couple to be fucking, as Reid and Marissa were at her dorm after a rough time at Meadows’ party. The two decided to ease their distress through some snacks. A couple snacks and minutes in and the room was already filled with laughter as Reid started to tickle Marissa.

“Oh stop it Reid, stop it!” Marissa playfully squealed as Reid tickles her on her stomach

“Why huh? Why should I stop?” He teased as she continues to laugh.

“Because my stomach hurts and- HAHAHAH!- Reid please!” Marissa beggs as she tries to roll over.

“Fine, but you owe me a coffee tomorrow morning.”

“Whatever you say, bad boy.” Reid rolled his eyes as he lift his hands off from Marissa’s stomach, moving back as she lift herself up from the ground.

“Marissa, can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah sure.” She then readjusts her blouse.

“Why is it that you hate Meadows so much, if I may ask?”

“Oh hun, there are so many reasons of why.”

“Can you tell me a reason?”

“Well, it was our freshman year of high school and it’s semester finals. We both had Geometry together and she told me she needed major help. I was the smartest student in the class so of course I’d do it because at the time, she was my best friend. Now we take the finals and I help her cheat, but then we go on winter vacation, and we get our test results back. I got a zero and in the gradebook it said I had cheated on the test. We come back from vacation and I find out that Meadows lied and said cheated off of her. So that’s just ONE reason of why the Bitch can go die in a fire and fall off a tall cliff.”

“My god.” Reid responds, shocked that someone like Meadows would do something cruel to his girl. “I didn’t know. Had I knew what she did to you, I wouldn’t have accepted her invitation.”

“Yeah well I saw how excited your friends were and i thought maybe we could just have some fun, but I should’ve know. Anything within a five mile radius of that girl immediately loses all things pure inside it.”

“Well yea. My first college party ended with me getting punched by Kyle Hodges.”

“Which is exactly my point haha.”

The two continue to laugh just as Marissa took notice of the little bruise right by Reid’s lip.

“I’m so sorry for what happened to you babe.”

“It’s fine. It’s not like it could look any worse.”

“I still feel like I could’ve stepped in sooner, maybe he wouldn’t have hit you or Kristy.”

“No, I think you did a great job taking care of him, especially when you threaten to rip his genitals off. That would piss his pants from then on.”

“Haha! Well what can I say, I'm good at what I do.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, you are.” Just as they laugh at the thought of Kyle wetting his pants, they suddenly leaned close together as if something was drawing them close to each other. They almost had that hypnotizing gaze in their eyes.

“S-so.”

“Yes?” “I-I, you know what? I-think I forgot what I was going to say.” “Me too.” Reid’s eyes continues to linger on Marissa’s. He felt tired, on the verge of closing his eyes. He wasn’t so sure if the party party made him all worn out or if he was just full from the ice cream they just snack on. He blinked for a moment and the next thing he knew he felt his lips press against hers. Marissa dropped her bag of chips and let herself get lost in the kiss as she ran her fingers through his hair. They slowly pull away from the kiss as Reid looks down on the carpeted floor.

“Uh-uhm, about that, I-”

“Don’t worry about it. But i want to keep going, only i-if you want to.”

Reid nods in response as he leans over to kiss Marissa once again. He then placed a hand over the exposed skin of her waist as they passionately kiss. Marissa then slides her hands under Reid’s shirt and lightly grazes his skin with her nails, causing Reid to giggle a bit. The couple lifted themselves up from the floor and onto the edge of the bed where Marissa pulled Reid on top of her. The two stand upright on their knees as Reid placed both of his hands on her waist. He then slid his hands up Marissa’s shirt, lifting it over her head and tossing it to the side.

“L-like what you see?” She murmured into his lips, taking notice of the pink laced bra she had on, as well as the soft curves on her body.

“Yeah, I do.” He whispered, caressing the soft curves as he nips down to her neck and chest.

Once again Marissa puts her hand under Reid’s shirt, only for her to unbutton it and pull it off of his arms. Discarding his shirt, Marissa gently brushed her hand against Reid’s bare chest. “I get it, I don’t have the defined abs that other guys have.”

“I don’t care, I like you for you.” The two smiled on as they continue to kiss, feeling the sweet pleasure coming on as they start taking off their pants.

At, the same time, Will roamed around the inside of the campus pools as he and JJ decided to ditch the party in favor of taking a late night dip in the swimming pools. Though Will was having second thoughts about it.

“Jennifer, are you sure about this?”

“Yea why not! It could be fun!”

“I know, it’s just that it’s pretty late. Besides, what if we get caught?”

“Everyone is asleep in their dorms, relax.” JJ stripped into her bra and underwear before diving into the pool, hopping up and down into the water as she playfully splashes the water. “Come Will, jump in. Unless you’re scared.” She teases, giving him a wry smile. Will was silent for a moment, though after a little encouragement, he then starts to strip down into his boxers, and jumps into the pool, much to JJ’s delight.

Back at Meadows’ party, Garcia was sitting on a couch drinking a beer, listening to the thumping of the music when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Courtney, is that yo-”

“Hi Garcia.” Says Luke as he sits next to her.

“Oh, it’s you.” She pouts. “Whatever happened to your date you were talking to earlier?” “Oh, well after everything that happened earlier, she decided to go back to her dorm.”

“Oh, I see. You didn’t want to go with her?”

He shook his head. “Nah.”

“Oh, it seemed like you REALLY liked her.” Luke then chuckled at her response. “What, what’s so funny? Don’t you like her?”

“I mean she’s fun to hang out with, but i don’t really like her like that.”

“Oh, I see. So why are you here?”

“I figured that you might need some company with everyone else gone. Whatever happened to your friend who was with you?”

“She got tired, so she left.”

“I see.” The two look on as they see several people slow dance on the dancefloor, including Tara and Emily.

“Umm, I really came over here to ask you to dance with me.”

“W-what?”

“Would you like to dance with me?”

“I-I, uh sure.” Garcia then grab Luke’s hand as they make their way on the dancefloor. She then rest her head on his shoulder while they dance and smiled.

#matt simmons #derek morgan #aaron hotchner #spencer reid #luke alvez #jennifer jareau #penelope garcia #emily prentiss #tara lewis #elle greenaway #kate callahan #ashley seaver #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds au #the good ol days

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nashvillerookie · 5 years

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Nashville Flea Market. Where we found our Treasure Map.

We come from a town where there are back roads twisting and turning through mountains. We cruised Highway 64 along the banks of the Ocoee River on the weekends. Then life took an unexpected turn. We moved from a place that we knew where to find the best swimming holes, to one of the fastest growing cities in the country, Nashville, Tennessee.

We had no idea what all was in store for our life in the 615. We would stand front row to Brandi Carlile hearing hit songs from her up coming album that would earn her six Grammy nominations. Clint Black would hold the door open for me as I left a restaurant. My wife would work with the mother of a player for the Chicago Bears. Brett Cobb would autograph a song list that we got from the stage. We would watch our first hockey game from Bridgestone arena as we cheered on the Predators. We would stand on the state capital’s public square for gay pride just days after the announcement of Obergefell V Hodges. We also would dive into one of Nashville’s most important cultural gifts, food trucks. We would get to see Styx and Keith Urban perform live at a free concert on New Year’s Eve.

The problem was not the wonderful memories we would have in Nashville, it was the fact we had no idea where to start making those memories. We were two girls from a town who sees millions of stars a night, but those stars were in the sky and not standing next to you. The 700 square foot apartment we had, we could decorate to make it feel like a home, but it was clear that in order to fuel our need for positive energy we would have to go exploring.

Nashville Flea Market, the perfect starting point for exploration. It lived up to its city roots by being the largest flea market our eyes had ever seen but was still a true flea market. We walked what seemed like miles of treasures waiting to be discovered by the next person to give it life.

We were limited in what we could buy. The move to the 615 had taken everything we had saved. Both of us knowing there is power in tangible items if they spark a memory that brings you joy. We knew that we needed to find our treasure. whatever it was we knew it would always be a reminder of when we first arrived to Music City.

We came to this milk crate of things where a vendor had just put random items into for 25 cents. We found an old map of Percy Priest Lake. It was folded up and had been torn in several places and it was dirty. We both loved it instantly ad we both knew without having to discuss it that we had found what we had come here to get. What better way to start exploration in the 615 than to start with a treasure map.

We found that map in 2015 and since that day we have experienced so many small but character defining and life changing moments. When we felt lost we found a map. When we had nothing she learned to build things using material that no one else wanted. When we needed a vacation but had no money to go I learned to paint so we could at least surround ourselves with the beauty that felt like an escape. When we couldn’t afford a house she learned how to design so she could make any place feel like home. We love music but couldn’t afford to go to concerts, she learned to sing and play for me.

The map that we found, no longer folded and dirty. When we found it was nearly forgotten in a milk crate. Now it is a center piece for our new home which sits near the lake we never knew existed until the day we found our treasure map.

We hope that there are people out there that will find interest in the stories we are about to tell. Life changes so quickly and it truly can be small moments that alters the course of your life in such a different direction from what your wildest imagination even thought possible. This blog will highlight places and people we have encountered that have enriched our lives in some way. From the best hot dog we’ve ever had from a food truck to kayaking down the Hiawassi. We will also be telling stories about how some of the arts and crafts that we create were inspired and who we chose to give those creations to and why. Music is so key to our life and will also play a crucial role in this blog. Thank you for taking this journey with us as we hope to inspire others but also looking for others to inspire us.

Visit our store at https://www.etsy.com/shop/LimitlessCreatDesign?ref=search_shop_redirect .

#ocoeeriver #brandi carlile #nashville #etsyshop #design #limitlesscreatdesign #tennessee #food trucks #basement east #nashville flea market #maps #clint black #music city #highway 64 #615 #followforfollow #likr4like

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harrieatthemet · 6 years

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Holiday: Ch. 12

A/N: This chap was kinda sad and corny, sorry lol. But next chapter. IS BIG NEWS. HUGE Y’ALL. YOU GUYS WILL BE SCREAMING.

The California heat had truly spoiled me over the years. Even in the winter, it was still rather warm and I never had to worry about snow getting wedged into the backs of my shoes or forgetting to wear a hat when I left the house. New York was way different, as the very second I scurried out of one of the JFK terminals I was hit by a gust of bitter wind. It didn’t help much that I was still in running pants, that barely fit anyways as a good amount of my ankle was exposed. With my bag strap thrown lazily over my shoulder, eyes heavy from little sleep and body feeling rugged, I tucked my hands away into the sleeves of my sweater before weaseling my way into hailing a cab.

The car ride over was slow, and I entertained myself with the sound of people hollering back and forth while car horns were honked. Early March in the city was always my favorite, especially when there’d be somewhat of a fresh layering of snow. It was nearing 6 in the evening, the sun practically halfway gone as the lights on the street and from apartments or offices kept the streets bright. A few lights roped around trees sparkled, and I felt myself relax a little.

But pulling up, in front of my childhood apartment building, I could feel the familiar tightness in my chest reappear and any relaxed feeling I had withered away. A few people strode past while I slid my away out of the cab, paying the driver before he sped off down the one way street. I frowned when I didn’t see Mr. Hodges, the doorman who’d been there since I was practically 5 years old. I still greeted the younger looking man, making sure to thank him when he held the door for me. They had redecorated the lobby, colors of white and red on the walls and a few new sofas sitting all around a small glass table.

“Can I help you?” The concierge asked, fakest of smiles sitting on her face.

“Apartment 126B,” I spoke, “it’s my- you can call whoever, tell them Ella’s here.”

She nodded before fumbling with the phone, placing it to her ear as she pressed a couple numbers. And as I stood there, awkwardly waiting for her to let me go upstairs, I started to feel bad. It’s been a couple years, at the very least, since I’ve last been home. I didn’t recognize the woman standing behind the desk, instead I had expected to see an older woman. The one who would greet me as I walked in from school, or cover for me when I would sneak out late at night. I was tempted to ask the younger looking girl, with the phone nestled between her shoulder and ear, where Mr. Hodges had gone. But I think a part of me was just too scared to hear the answer.

She hung the phone up, the sound of the phone clicking lulling me back to reality. Her head nodded me towards the elevator, giving me the ok to head up. Before mumbling out a thank you, I adjusted the strap on my carry on bag and trudged along.

It took me a minute to find the key, partly because I had so many on my chain and I couldn’t figure out which was the right one. It seemed like after the fiftieth try, I finally managed to jam the right one in there.

When I walked in, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad. Growing up I’d always remembered coming home, at really anytime of the day, and being greeted with the soft tune of whatever 80’s song my parents would have chorusing throughout the house. There was always the smell of dinner being cooked, every single night, and it didn’t matter how much work my parents had. The apartment was always meticulous, never shoes laying around or throw blankets unfolded. My mom was very career oriented, working almost 6 days a week, but she never let it stop her from putting dinner on the table every night and making sure our apartment always felt homey.

So, imagine my disappointment when I was greeted with just the opposite. As I stood in the doorway, analyzing the living room and peeking down the hall, everything was a disaster. There were magazines strewn sloppily across the coffee table, a few empty tissue boxes and half filled cups of water sitting there. As I tried walking in, I nearly tripped over my dad’s tennis shoes and his coat that was hanging on the floor. There was no music, just the sound of people from outside. There was no smell of food, no smell of anything. I called out my sister’s name a couple of times, then called for my dad. No answer. I wasn’t really expecting one, anyways. I’d assumed they’d be at the hospital right now.

Cautiously walking down the hall, heading to my bedroom to change before joining my family at the hospital, I wrestled with whether or not I wanted to peak into my parent’s bedroom. If what Molly had said was true, and she had a hard time getting out of bed for a while, I was sure that it was an absolute disaster in there. And as my hand started to gravitate towards the door, I was quick to pull it back to my side, because I didn’t care to overwhelm myself right now.

Once I reached my room I had to sit down for a minute. My head was pounding, and my body was begging to just lay down. An unusual wave of exhaustion had overcome me, and I could quite literally feel any energy I had get sucked right out of me. The room was spinning, and I had tried once or twice to bring myself back to my feet but failed miserably.

After a few minutes of laying on my bed, staring at the Third Eye Blind and Backstreet Boys posters hung on my walls, I mustered up the strength to slip a weather appropriate outfit on. I was sure to grab my keys, and a coat on my way out the door, before heading back down to the lobby and starting my voyage to the hospital.

The entire journey there, two subway trains and a quick cab ride, I had held onto my phone. I’d flip it over and check the screen excessively, hoping Harry would give me a call. I felt a little bad, leaving the way I did. I hadn’t meant to start another argument, and I felt like I had pushed this one a little too far. Every time I felt like I could trust him again, like we were finally falling into a good pattern, I’d go and put my wall back up and we’d backtrack 10 steps. I fooled around with his contact name, bringing up the text message option a couple times before chickening out and turning my phone off.

I hated hospitals. I mean, I really just hated them. They made me anxious, and the whirlwind of people impatiently waiting to be seen and the yelling over the loudspeaker made it even more overwhelming. I could feel my chest hollow out from nerves as I took a step closer to the main desk, my fingers anxiously tugging at the frill on the ends of my scarf. The younger looking man, dressed in what I had assumed to be a nurse uniform, smiled graciously at me from behind his computer.

“Looking for someone?” His voice was melodic, happy as he his eyes met mine.

“Uh,” I was nervous, it was obvious in the way I struggled to speak, “think- yes. Yeah, my mom was admitted this morning? Or last night, I don’t know. Hansen. That’s her last name, it’s Clara Hansen.”

“Ok,” He answered, eyes flickering back to his computer screen, “here she is. You’re gonna wanna head up to the third floor. You’ll see the cancer wing up there, to your right off the elevator.”

“Alright” I choked, the word cancer completely knocking the wind out of me, “thanks.”

He nodded at me, as I shuffled quietly through a few people towards the elevator. There was a few woman in their elevator waiting for me, and one held the door as I wedged myself in behind them. One of them held beautiful flowers, a gorgeous arrangement of lilies and another flower I couldn’t quite put a name on. They were happy, giggling amongst themselves while one carried a teddy bear that read ‘Its A Boy!”. It reminded me of when Harry brought me all the balloons to the delivery room, the morning after Quinn was born.

The elevator doors had opened, and I was too busy losing myself to my thoughts to notice. The girls in front of me stared, waiting for me to move out of the squished space so they could get to wherever they were going. I shimmied my way between them, stepping out of the elevator and onto the third floor.

It was pretty quiet up here. It wasn’t as busy as the waiting room just downstairs, and there were about three different hallways. Each served a different purpose, and I scanned around the floor looking for the wing that my mom would be in. I could see the letters, just above two double doors that led the way to it’s own corridor, Oncology. Taking a deep breath in, a little nervous and uncertain about what I was walking in two, I took a couple strides towards the door before giving them a gentle shove open with my elbow.

“Ella!” A familiar voice hollered, making me turn my neck down one of the hall corners.

“Oh,” I sighed, relieved to see Molly looking just as worn out as I did.

“Hey,” she smiled, jogging down the hall to meet me halfway, “took you long enough.”

“My flight just landed not even an hour ago.” I breathed out.

Her hair had gotten longer, swinging just below the small of her back as a few pieces blew into her face. It was thick, and darker too. It was almost jet black, and I assumed that she’d died it. Molly and I didn’t really look much like sisters. In fact, we couldn’t look more different, especially now as her hair was darker. She had big, stormy blue eyes, much like Quinn did. Her hair didn’t have a wave to it, like my me and my mom’s did. It was pin straight, all the time. She had taken after my dad’s side, a fuller and taller build with a perfect olive complexion. The longer I thought about it, the more I realized that Quinn’s looks favored my dad’s side of the family.

“Cmon,” Molly urged, pulling back from her hug and tugging me at my wrists, “mom’s been asking for you all day.”

She toted me down the west wing, walking with her usual pep as she rounded a couple corners. I didn’t know why she was in such a good mood, because just being here was putting me at the verge of a crying fit. She looked a little tired, though, bags under her eyes and her hair unbrushed. She swung around another corner, waving a polite hello to one of the nurses who was rolling a cart past us. It wasn’t until she stopped abruptly in front of a closed door, her hand sliding onto the handle, that I could feel tears starting to pool in my eyes. I don’t know why I was already crying, because I hadn’t even gone in the damn room yet. But Molly didn’t ask to see if I was okay, didn’t turn around to tell me what it was like behind the door. She just turned the handle and flew the thing right open.

My dad was sitting in a chair in the corner, he was the first thing I saw. His baseball hat was on, of course, because the man just bleeds Yankees pride. I smiled a little because he had on the brown leather coat I had sent him for his birthday, and he matched it with a white t shirt just underneath. His jeans looked a little loose, which made me nervous because I realized he’d lost a little bit of weight. With brows furrowed, eyes half open since he was sleepy, his big brown eyes sauntered over towards the door. The biggest smile spread on his face once he saw me, standing quietly behind Molly. The dimples in his cheeks were on full display, grinning wider as I walked further in.

“There she is!” He sang, standing himself up before making way over to me.

“Hi dad.” I smiled, his arms wrapping around me.

I felt so at home, even though I really wasn’t. He smelled faintly of cigars, mixed with a little bit of vanilla which I was sure was from the air freshener back at the apartment. It made me think of all the times when I was little, and he’d carry me off to bed or he’d give me a long hug, and I could smell that signature smell of his. It made me feel little again.

“Let me see ‘er” My mom croaked from behind him.

My dad stepped out pf the way, slipping to the side so my mom could get a better look at me. Immediately, my heart sank. My mom had always been one of those woman who was always put together, and for most of my life she had made it a priority to look her best. I had remembered her, from the last time I’d seen her, with her usual hair do. Her shoulder length, white blonde hair blown out and voluminous as she tucked a bit of it behind her ears. She always had her makeup done, her usual brown smokey eye on matched with a casual glossy lip and rosy blush. I couldn’t forget her pearl earrings, matched with a necklace that my grandmother had given her. But, the picture I had in my head was not the same person I was looking at. She just looked so tired. Her hair was pulled back, what was left of it, as it sat in a loose bun on top of her head. With a ghostly appearance, skin pale and body frail, she looked nothing like the woman I had grown up with. She looked so small, and it was obvious to me as I looked at her that she had lost an unhealthy amount of weight. I didn’t even want to touch her, worried that if I did I’d break a bone or bruise her.

“Good lord, Ell. Ya look even worse than I do, and I have cancer!” She sniggered, earning a chuckle from Molly.

“Not funny.” I smirked, going to sit next to her on the bed.

I marveled at how beautifully decorated the room was. My mom was a beautiful soul, one of the most gracious and giving people I’d ever known. She had a big heart, and she was definitely one of those people who was hard to forget. That’s why I wasn’t surprised to see all the Get Well balloons wavering around the room, and the array of several flower arrangements posted on her bedside or any other surface they managed to squeeze them on. She had one arrangement just next to her bed, the biggest one out of all. They were a huge bouquet of well over 50 pink, long stemmed roses. They’d always been my mom’s favorite.

“Dad,” I marveled, “ y’really outdid yourself with these flowers.” I brought my finger to one, feeling the freshness of it before resting my hand atop my moms.

“You’re daddy didn’t send me those, doll.” My mom gave my hand a little squeeze, before snuggling me in closer.

“Oh yeah?” I chuckled, “You got a secret admirer or something?”

“Harry sent them,” she smiled adoringly, she’d always been so fond of him, “actually he sent most of the flowers in here. ”

My heart fluttered a little bit, as she went on to tell me about how he’d sent her a lovely note in each bouquet and followed up with a phone call. Harry and my mom had a sweet relationship. She had fallen in love with him, much like I had, from the very first time they’d met. She always found him to be the sweetest thing, and would endlessly praise him for having a heart of gold. Even after we divorced, she’d still ask me how he was and what he’d be up to. And she’d still phone Harry for special occasions, things like Christmas or Easter and especially his birthday. I felt bad, not taking him up on his offer and having the kids and him come here. I know that hearing my mom was sick made him almost as upset as I was. A guilty feeling started to wash over me as I remembered how I’d left things.

“Said you two started up again, he told me on the phone. Can’t even tell you how happy that made me. I always loved that boy, such a kindred spirit.” My mom elbowed me as she gushed, her voice hushed and smile wide as my dad and Molly walked out to get some food.”

“Yeah,” I answered plainly, adjusting her blanket, “we’re working on it, sort of. You shouldn’t- don’t even worry about it. You pick a treatment plan yet? You’ll be better by the summer, and you can come spend a week or two with us. Kids would love that.”

“Chickie,” my mom sighed, putting my hand in between hers to stop me from fidgeting so much, “not a lot of time left for me.”

“Well of course theres not,” I scoffed, “you haven’t started chemo or-or any of that stuff yet. You’ll be fine once you do, you’ll be fine.”

I could feel my throat swelling up as the tears started to burn the backs of my eyes. My stomach was doing flips, and I could feel that familiar feeling of nausea starting up again in the pit of my belly. I’m sure my face was white, as I was literally holding back the throw up that was burning the insides of my throat while I kept my lips pursed tightly together. My mom was rubbing the top of my hand, like she did when I was little and couldn’t fall asleep, her thumb swirling small circles just below my knuckles. She had a sad smile, and it was typical of her to downplay something as serious as this.

“Chickie,” she cooed, tucking my hair behind my ears like she used to do with hers, “this is it, okay? Don’t want you to be upset, s’why I didn’t tell you guys.”

“Will you stop!” I argued, pushing her hand from my hair, “Just stop talking like that, it’s morbid and not true.”

“Ella, don’t need to get yourself worked up. Y’already don’t look well. I mean really, you look pretty worn out. You okay? Feeling alright?” She brought the back of her hand to my forehead, probably trying to see if I had a fever.

“M’fine.” I huffed, my stomach gurgling a little as I shifted in my seat on her bed.

“Harry taking good care of you?” My mom smirked, leaving back on the pillows propped up.

“Yeah,” I scoffed again, earning an eye roll from my mom, “he tell you that?”

“Oh you need to knock that off.” She reprimanded, even using a tone with me.

“M’not doing anything.”

“Yes you are,” she insisted, eyes widening, “don’t know why you are, either. Ella that man is just in awe of you, honestly. I really don’t know why you’re so closed off, so bitter and mean.”

“M’not! Marry him, then divorce him, then date him again and talk to me after. Sure you’ll understand.” I shook my head, swallowing hard as I awaited another scolding.

“Look at me, honey.” She frowned, her thumb resting beneath my chin before she turned my head to her direction, “need you to be good, okay? Don’t know how many more days I have left, sure it’s a few.”

“S’not true.” I interrupted, a silent tear rolling down the side of my face.

“Listen!” She scolded again, shooing my tear away with the pad of her thumb, “but I want you to be happy! You can fight me on this all ya want, but I know better than anyone that Harry makes you happy. So for fucks sake Ella, give it an honest shot. Gotta let your guard down and love a little.”

I chuckled a little, mainly because she never cursed and often reprimanded me when I did. She smiled too, happy to see me not freaking out for a change. I couldn’t disagree with her, because I knew she was right. I’m sure Harry had left a few details out, not that it really mattered much.

“Now,” she sighed contently, “need to see some pictures of my little babies.”

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