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babygirlbdubs · 2 years

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broken.

etho is imprisoned. he has some time to think. he has some visitors.

a resistance au fic words: 3270 pairing: ethubs, rendubs ao3 link: (x)

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drip... drip... drip...

The stalactite in the corner of Etho’s cell provides a constant repetitive sound, almost like a tick... tick... tick...

Something in it feels familiar. Safe— no...not anymore.

Set deep in the mountain, the dark cell provides no comfort. There is no window to allow for counting the days. There is no sun on outside walls to allow for warmth to seep through the deepslate.

The only thing allowing him to keep the time is the drip... drip... drip...

Scar has been standing outside his cell the entire time, messaging on his communicator with a playful smile on his face.

drip... drip... drip...

Etho stares at the wall opposite him, his gaze darkening. He lets his thoughts wander aimlessly. Playing the scene over and over in his head. The window locked. The desperate kiss to calm his panic. The tears... Etho can still feel Bdubs' tears, dried on his face. He can still hear Bdubs' voice whispering his name and—

"Scar, let me see him, please—"

That's not a memory.

"Bdubs!" Scar's voice sounds as bright as ever. As if he hadn't just escorted Etho away from Bdubs. As if he hadn't locked him in here. As if... Well, Etho supposes he should actually be grateful for taking him away.

The thought of seeing Bdubs causes his chest to ache, his heart twisting over itself, his ribs clawing at his lungs and making it hard to breathe. What would he even say?

"Step aside, Scar, I have to— I— please, let me in."

"Look, I'm more than happy to let you see him—"

"No." Etho's voice surprises even himself as he lifts his head to look over at the doorway to the prison. "I don't want to see him, Scar."

He doesn't let his eyes meet Bdubs' face. Instead they linger between the two court members.

Scar glances back at him, and Etho can feel the way he considers him. And then the guard is looking back at Bdubs. "Sorry, Bdubs. Can't let you in." His voice almost sounds smug, if it weren't tinged with a bit of gentleness.

"...Etho?" Bdubs’ voice is barely audible across the room. The sheer pain in it is almost enough to make Etho’s heart break (if it hadn’t already been broken).

Etho turns his head to stare at the wall again, his hands clenching into tight fists— knuckles white, nails biting. His teeth grind together as he tightens his jaw, holding down the storm of emotions brewing in his gut.

"Go on, Bdubs." The guard’s voice drops low with his next words. "I don’t think Ren would be too happy to see you like this."

"I..." One word, and Etho can hear every bit of desperation in Bdubs’ voice.

He hates it.

It makes him want to grab the bars of his cell and beg for Bdubs to come closer— to kiss him, to tell him it's going to be okay, to... to lie to him. Again.

Scar shoos Bdubs out, and Etho is left to his thoughts once again.

***

"Can I see you tonight?"

"Yes, of course, sweetheart. Now go!"

Finally, Etho backed away before spinning around to sprint for a window.

"Bdoubleo!"

His hand caught the side of the window frame at the sound of Ren’s voice barking through the heavy silence in the ballroom.

"Etho! What are you doing? C’mon!" Impulse hissed from the ledge outside.

Turning, Etho watched as the king swept across the room to tower over Bdubs. Etho’s heart leapt into his throat, his hand dropping to the hilt of a dagger he’d hidden away. If Ren so much as laid a hand on Bdubs...

But instead, he offered one.

He invited Bdubs to dance.

Impulse’s voice broke through Etho’s focus again. "Etho!! We need to go!"

"You go on," Etho muttered back, not taking his eyes from where Ren tugged Bdubs against him. "I’ll meet up with you guys later."

After a moment of hesitation, the resistance leader finally sighed. "Fine. Just don’t get killed." A bit of sympathy laced his words. And then he was off, elytra spreading as he silently glided away.

Etho, meanwhile, settled in the window to watch. He couldn’t hear the whispered words between them, but he could see all the little things. How Bdubs was lost in the king so easily. Where Ren’s claws dug into Bdubs’ waist.

He watched as Bdubs was dragged around the room like a dog toy, fingers gripping tightly, no tenderness in any touch that Etho could see. At least, until Ren’s hand framed Bdubs’ face, and Bdubs leaned into it. It was all Etho could watch as Bdubs leaned against the king with a warm smile.

Etho had turned at that, finally breaking his gaze away. He’d dived out the window, letting himself fall for a few moments before engaging his elytra. He’d be back tonight. He’d give all his love to Bdubs. He’d remind Bdubs why it is always Etho that he returns to.

***

When Etho is pulled from his thoughts again, it is by lantern light gleaming into his cell from a hand outside the bars. Etho doesn’t bother looking at the figure looming there. He already knows who it is.

"Etho."

The mad king’s voice fills the silence, just as cold as the walls and the drip... drip... drip... of the stalactite.

"Ren," he replies, voice emotionless in return.

"Scar is going to let me into thy cell now. If you try to escape, he shall shoot you, and you shall respawn here again. ‘Tis pointless to even try."

Etho lets out a soft scoff. "Right." He doesn’t have the will to get to his feet, much less attempt an escape.

It’s not worth it anyway.

His thumb drags absentmindedly over the edge of an object in his hands as he listens to the keys clatter while Scar finds the correct one.

drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.

click.

The cell gate swings open by Ren’s hand, and the king steps in with his gaze locked on his prisoner. He closes it behind him, nodding at Scar to lock it again. "Leave us, Scar. I shall call for thine when our conversation is complete!"

Scar does a small salute. "You got it, my liege," he purrs before spinning on a heel and walking out into the hall.

drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.

Ren's head turns slightly, ear swiveling to listen for Scar's footsteps to fade. Silence hangs heavy in the air between the two of them save for

drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.

Etho's thumb presses against the object in his hand, the metal filigree soothing against his skin.

"What's that?" Ren finally asks, nodding at the object.

With a bit of confusion, Etho casts his gaze at his hands, surprised to find a clock in his grip. His breath hitches in his throat at the sight, his fingers curling tighter around the edges. He'd had Bdubs fix it so it would tick again— perfectly in sync with the one Etho gave him so many years ago.

Ren is left to wait for an answer as Etho flips the clock over, his thumb grazing the word scratched in the back panel.

'Crastle'

Handwritten.

A remnant of a time. A place. A meeting.

drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.

"Looks like a clock," the king hums, crossing the small cell in a single stride to loom over Etho. He kneels down next to where Etho sits— Etho fights the urge to curl away. Ren's gaze is piercing as he looks over Etho's face. "Did Bdubs give you this?" A smile plays on the corners of his lips as if taunting Etho.

Then Ren's hand is in Etho's, scooping the clock out of it with claws far more delicate than Etho expected from the mad king. He tries to grasp the clock tighter, but it's already being turned over in the king's hands— examined with a scrutinizing gaze. Etho stares at Ren's face, gritting his teeth as he bites back his words. He's unsure where the king is going with this, so he refuses to give him anything.

Ren catches sight of the engraved message and stills. Though, where Etho expects fury to explode from the king, there is something painfully familiar instead. The king runs his thumb across the word with the same kind of gentleness the prisoner always regards it with.

drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.

"So this is how he sent you an invitation, then?" Emerald eyes flicker to Etho before returning to the clock.

"No."

"No?" The word is punctuated with a breath of disbelief.

"Bdubs didn't know I'd be there." Defending Bdubs is still so easy. Why? It's not as though the king could ever question Bdubs' loyalty after this.

No. That's Etho's job now.

"The secret meetings, then, I presume," Ren responds smoothly— as though he is entirely unbothered by it.

Etho says nothing.

drip... tick. drip... tick. drip... tick.

The clock is admired by the king for a few lingering moments before he speaks again. "Bdubs told me about those, you know." The wolf stands again, the clock still wrapped in his palm. "I mean, it was hard to avoid when you got...reckless." He smiles down at Etho and it is almost cruel.

Etho glares back at him.

"Y'know, Etho, you seem awfully attached to a clock, of all things."

The prisoner snarls up at the king, "You wouldn't understand. You couldn't understand." His blood runs hot as his fury blazes in his eyes. "All you see him as is one of your possessions."

Ren chuckles at that and shakes his head dismissively. "Well, he's certainly not yours, is he?"

A jealous, hot kind of rage curls in Etho's chest at that, and beneath the mask he bares his teeth. "He's not yours, either. You're just lying to yourself." His hand tightens into a white-knuckled fist beside him. "He'll never love you. Not really. You're deluded."

The words seem to have no effect on the king, the smile at the tail end of his previous laugh still comfortable on his face. "My good sir, Etho...I have never seen clearer than I do with him."

Etho scoffs. "I find that hard to believe."

Ren sighs. "I suppose it does no harm to let you keep this." Crouching down, he holds the clock out to Etho— forces him to take it. "It is the last part of him you can have, after all."

Etho takes the clock with a bit of hesitation, though the anger is clear in his icy gaze. Clocks have always felt perfect in his grip— Bdubs always knowing how to craft the perfect weight and balance just for him. Yet, now...here...with this clock...

It doesn't feel so perfect anymore.

"So. What?" Etho growls, tucking the clock into the inside of his coat. "You're going to execute me? Make me tell you all the Resistance's plans?" If he's going to be here, he might as well know what he's in for.

"No, no no." Ren rolls forward onto the balls of his feet, leaning closer to the prisoner. "I have other plans than that." He grins, sharp teeth glinting in the lantern light. "The little resistance can keep to their games— they'll be lost without you, now, anyway— and Bdubs and I will continue our work."

A slow breath forces its way in and out, Etho having to do everything in his power to keep himself from punching Ren in his diamond-clad face. There'd be no point to it...though it's tempting anyway.

He doesn't.

Instead, he meet's the gaze of the king with his own. Amusement being met with fury.

"I'll leave you be now, Etho," the king hums before standing one final time and walking to the iron bars to summon Scar.

drip... drip... drip...

As the mad king is let back out of the cell, Etho can't help but wonder how Ren truly feels about Bdubs. Is Bdubs really just a possession to him? Is he just the hand, the architect, the kingmaker?

Is he more?

A dark brooding expression settles onto Etho's face as he pulls his knees closer to himself and folds his arms atop them. Once again the wall becomes his point of focus, the real world being lost to the one behind his eyes.

drip... drip... drip...

***

The wall was scaled with ease, Etho having learned the way after so many times sneaking in. Their quick kiss with Etho holding to the edge led to a clumsy tug through the window— which was left open for a quick escape. Like always. Like every time. (How did he not realize?)

Bdubs' lips moved against Etho's possessively; as if driven mad by the idea that anyone else might've had the pleasure of seeing Etho's face. His smile. Etho fell into it with ease, relishing the reminder that Bdubs wants him around the same as he always did. (Did he really? Or was it just wishful thinking?)

Etho's arms quickly wrapped around Bdubs, snaking up his back to pull him close as he deepened their kiss. Bdubs hummed into it, leaning against Etho, his smile against Etho's lips. (Was he imagining Ren?)

"You looked stunning tonight," Etho purred as he pulled away just enough to look over Bdubs' face.

"Oh yeah?" A grin spread across Bdubs' mouth, mischief glimmering in his eyes. "Well, you looked okay."

Etho's nose scrunched up as he pulled his arms back to playfully shove the architect. "Oh, come on, you couldn't keep your eyes off of me."

Bdubs snorted. "Yeah, once I realized it was you!"

"Seems I did okay hiding myself, huh?"

"Too good." It's said with a hum as Bdubs stood on his toes to chase after Etho's lips again.

They exist like that for a while, lips moving against one another's, the quiet of the night allowing them to be each other's worlds for just these moments. (At least, Bdubs was Etho's.)

Eventually, Etho broke away to a small grumble from Bdubs, only to move to the kingmaker's jaw. Soft kisses were planted along every inch as Etho moved toward Bdubs' neck, revealed to him as Bdubs tilted his head to the side. Bdubs' hand found Etho's hair as his visitor made his way closer to his shoulder.

It was easy, getting lost in the moment. Easy to lose sight of his usual caution...of the truth of their situation. It was easy to let the bitter jealousy of seeing how Bdubs looked at Ren curl in his chest, and even easier to let his teeth drag along Bdubs' skin. (He was so foolish.)

In those moments, Bdubs was his.

Just like always.

It was so, so easy to forget the truth.

(He should've known, when Ren called from the other side of the door, that Bdubs would rather shove him out the window than turn the king away.)

(He should've known, when Bdubs locked the window after him, that the king would have Bdubs' devotion that night.)

(He should've known, when he spent the night alone in the cold of the jungle, while Bdubs found warmth by the mad king's side.)

***

Once again his name pulls his attention to the forefront of his mind. The tone pleads for more than the word asks— and more than Etho can offer.

"Etho...?"

Where once Bdubs' voice might have thrilled Etho, it now causes a sharp jolt of pain to course through his veins like electricity. It surprises him how similar the sensations feel.

The prisoner remains silent.

Keys jangle together as Bdubs flips through them for the correct one and Etho stiffens. He's coming in. He forces a deep breath through his mask before gifting Bdubs with a simple glance.

"I said I didn't want to see you, Bdubs."

"Well, I want to— need to see you. I... I need to explain."

Etho's jaw clenches.

"What if I don't want to hear your explanations?"

Bdubs hesitates, key in the lock, staring at Etho with nothing but hurt in his eyes— As if he has any right to feel hurt. He shakes it off, turning the key and pushing open the cell door. A weight hangs in the air as the door is shut once again with a soft click.

"I'm gonna tell you them anyway," the kingmaker finally decides to respond.

Etho scoffs and pushes himself off the wall so he can stand and face Bdubs.

"Actually, sure." His arms cross over his chest as his gaze locks onto Bdubs'. "I'm curious. Tell me why."

Tell me why you broke your promise.

Tell me why you betrayed me.

Tell me why you chose him.

"Etho, I... I didn't have a choice."

A snort of disbelief cuts him off before he can continue.

"N-no, you don't— This was— Etho, he would've had you chased down and dragged in, I was— I was trying to keep you safe!" Every word is agonizingly desperate.

"Keep me safe? Bdubs, you would've kept me safe by not imprisoning me!"

"It's not— You would've had to keep running, I was trying to think of you, I—"

"You were trying to think of me," Etho repeats back— a statement over a question. "You were trying to think of me, and so you broke my trust."

"No! No—"

The prisoner doesn't let him finish.

"I know you better than this, Bdubs." His words sound cold. "Stop lying to me."

Bdubs finally pulls his gaze away, looking at the wall next to Etho's head. "I didn't have a choice..."

Etho stares at Bdubs in sheer disbelief. He lets out a soft cuff as he shakes his head and lets his arms fall apart. A hand digs into his coat pocket, gripping something and pulling it out to hold in his hand.

"Bdubs, you gave me this clock, and I trusted you." The clock is held in his open palm for the kingmaker to see.

tick. tick. tick.

Bdubs says nothing as he stares at it. Etho takes a measured breath.

"You made a promise to me that night. You let me get comfortable visiting. You let me—" Think you were safe. Another slow exhale passes through his nose. "You promised me, Bdubs. I know you better. I know you don't just break those to keep me safe."

"What are you saying?" The kingmaker's voice shakes.

"I watched you dance with Ren at the masquerade." His fingers curl around the clock edges, knuckles whitening as he grips it tightly. "You did this because he asked you to. Because you like when he's possessive of you, when he—"

"It's not like that!" Bdubs blurts, eyes begging as they meet Etho's again.

"Then what is it like, Bdubs?"

"It's— I—"

An awkward silence fills Bdubs' mouth as nothing comes out. Etho shakes his head again and turns his attention to the clock.

"Ren was right. This is the last part of you I have left."

The clock is dropped onto the floor next to Etho's foot, causing a pained sound to come from Bdubs. Etho pays him no mind, instead lifting his boot and hovering over the clock.

tick. tick. ti—

crunch.

Easily, the clock fractures apart beneath Etho's heel.

The cell falls silent.

drip... drip... drip...

...

"I think you should leave, Bdubs."

It is one of the rare times that the kingmaker has nothing to say. Etho can see the tears glistening in brown eyes as Bdubs holds them back. And then he sees Bdubs leaving, and Etho is left alone, save for a broken clock.

#spooky.writing #hermitshipping #rendubs #ethubs #hc resistance au #HOOOO BOY OKAY GANG #HERE WE ARE #UH. SORRY? I GUESS??#WHEEEEEE #YAY ANGST #fic #blametuna

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dreamhacker606 · 2 months

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My brain’s a little weird because I’m thinking about Lucifer angst where you and Lucifer have been dating somewhat in secret for a while. Or maybe Charlie and the others know and it’s not so secret.

Then one day, Lilith comes back. Lucifer is torn between his wife who left him for 7 years and his partner who has brought comfort and love to him that he needed.

And yet, he knows he can’t be with you, because one day, you will be redeemed. He sees the good in you that he knows will lead to your redemption. He can’t bear to lose someone he loves again. So the best thing in his mind, with the depression and his own trauma, leaves you to be with Lilith.

Despite knowing you two have a greater connection and have grown close quickly. Even everyone else—even Charlie— felt like Lucifer was back to his regular self. However, he is the King and his own person, and you can’t help that despite your broken heart, you try to be happy for him.

#angst #hazbin hotel #hazbinhotel #lucifer morningstar hazbin #hazbin lucifer #fanfic ideas #drabbles #drabble #hoooo finally got this idea out it was KILLING me #but now if you’ll excuse me I must sob

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sixthfinger · 7 months

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when people say that the agreste arc is over: are we even watching the same show?? sure, gabriel's dead and emilie was not brought back, but adrien still doesn't actually know what happened in that final battle. he doesn't know that his father was hawkmoth, or that his own powers were part of why he died. he doesn't know that nathalie was helping him. he doesn't know how badly his father wanted his wife back. he doesn't know about her body in the basement. he doesn't even know about the scarf.

(but you know who knows? marinette. ladybug. his girlfriend and his partner. imagine how that reveal's gonna go.)

the agreste arc isn't over and it won't be until he learns the truth.

#miraculous ladybug #hoooo boy the ANGST #im thinking abt the love square reveal #whether it happens before or after adrien learns abt his dad #just like. going insane bro

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wednesdaythesecond · 8 months

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🎵

We've Got a Big Mess on Our Hands by The Academy Is...

Is It Me? Is It True? by Midtown

Womanizer by Britney Spears

Hot Mess by Cobra Starship

Teenagers by My Chemical Romance

#all of these songs are bangers in their own right #very different vibes #except the first two go with each other #i'm on a tai... and midtown kick as of late #especially midtown rn #like holy shit #gabe's voice??????#gabe's fucking voice????#the fucking grit and anger and angst and feeling in it??#hoooo baby #the academy is...#midtown #my playlist

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l3mon-boy · 1 year

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SO THERE ARE GOING TO BE MULTIPLE GENERATIONS.... OH AND IF WE TAKE IN ACCOUNT HOW THE REAL LIFE GENERATION LOSS WORKS (things are copied and re copied and get more fucked up each time) OH... OHHHHHH HOH HOOOO THOSE TW BETTER GOME INTO PLAY (deranged) ohh so many thoughs.... so many questions.... so much thirst for angst.... make them suffer....

#genloss #generation loss

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bumblebee-is-best-boi · 17 days

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BLITZBEE WEEK DAY FIVE: SCARS

hoooo boy! This one is my fav. Originally it was just a Blitzwing story but I made it have Blitzbee for the purpose of this week.

I EVEN GAVE IT A TITLE

hehe

@blitzbee-week Day Five: Scars

title coming up soon vvv

Digits In Between The Wings

Characters: Blitzwing, Bumblebee, Astrotrain

Warning: Cybertronian cursing, mentions of throwing up, too much fluff and angst :)

story under the cut vvv

When Blitzwing used to be a seeker, he liked to polish himself. Not to the extent of Knockout, of course (no one obsessed over their polisher like Knockout), but enough to make his frame glimmer in the slightest bit. He had the perfect frame to show his glimmer off, but that wasn’t the main reason he polished himself. It wasn’t even about the polish at all!

It was more about the machine he used.

The one he used, while it was a bit smaller than usual polishers, it used to fit perfectly in the space between his wings. It pressed against the joints of his wing bases in a way that wasn’t too much pressure to hurt or damage them, but enough to stimulate some pleasant feelings.

Blitzwing used to attach his polisher to a long handle and just slip it between his wings once in a while, keeping it there for several minutes before moving on with his polishing.

But when he was turned into a Triple Changer, that all changed.

Blitzwing’s polisher had become too small to be nice between his wings, but it didn’t matter, since he wasn’t even comfortable using the polisher anymore. The idea of it gliding across his frame, one that had changed drastically for him, just made him a little bit sick in his tanks. Every time it glided over his scars, it made him wince in uncomfortableness, since his scars revealed his sensitive metal plates. Also, the experiment must have fragged something up between Blitzwing’s wings, because he felt as if something defective there was aching with everything he did, and touching it caused him lots of pain.

That didn’t mean Blitzwing didn’t at least try.

He tried many times, but he just couldn’t handle the feeling. And then after one wonky attempt, he broke his polisher into pieces in a fit of rage (or was it actually distress? He couldn’t really tell anymore).

After becoming a Triple Changer, his frame, which once had a slight glimmer, had become dull and matte. Blitzwing stopped taking care of his frame, sometimes to the point where Astrotrain had to force him to take care of himself for a while to prevent rust and cracked plates. Astrotrain might have been way taller than him, but he was also a bot who was very gentle with his movements (if he wanted to, most of the time he liked to be overly erratic). His fingers were nimble, originally to handle to spin his blasters and shoot out multiple rounds in quick succession, but also to handle the tools needed to keep a mech functioning. But no matter how much Astrotrain tried to take care of Blitzwing to make sure his unwillingness to do self care didn’t make him go offline, his frame glimmer was lost.

___

“For Primus’s sake Blitzwing, you should take care of yourself more often!” Astrotrain yelled in exasperation as he pushed one of Blitzwing’s arm plates open to scrape off dried energon build up from a damaged energon line, “Be lucky that this energon line wasn't so major, or you would have been bleeding out for hours on end. And also be lucky that I saw the bleeding before it got any worse!”

Astrotrain finally scraped it off, started patching the energon line, then switched faces and chuckled. “Heh, but I know you're not going to listen to me. It's just typical of you to do whatever you want without any thoughts of the consequences! Typical Blitzwing! All cuckoo and carefree!”

Astrotrain kept snickering as he closed Blitzwing’s arm plate and stood up, “I know for sure that no matter what I say, we’re going to be right back here again, fixing some new problem!”

Blitzwing switched faces and fumed, “Oh shut your mouth, slagger!”

“Ok ok, I will, for now. But you cannot shut the fact that my words speak the truth.” Astrotrain turned to walk away, his footsteps thundering, “Oh and by the way, Megatron wants us in the meeting room in ten minutes. I suggest you hurry and don't damage any more of yourself on the way, you know how much Megatron wants his Decepticons in top condition!”

Blitzwing opened his mouth to yell at Astrotrain, but he stopped and closed his mouth again, switching faces and standing up. He looked at his arm, where Astrotrain had fixed his energon line. Astrotrain’s words echoed through his processor multiple times, no matter how annoying it got. Blitzwing wanted to just laugh it off, to think of it as a silly joke, but he couldn't. It wasn't a silly joke. It was the truth.

No matter how much Blitzwing wanted to deny it, it was the truth. The cold hard truth.

____

Refueling wasn't a big problem for Blitzwing… sometimes. Sometimes he got himself enough to last a while, sometimes he had only enough to run on half a tank. It was quite hard to adjust to a frame that demanded more energon to function, but he made it work eventually (He didn’t). And then there was the purging that happened once in a while during the nightâ€¦ but he didnt like to talk about that.

But what was most annoying about his frame upgrade was the pain that came with it. Not even the idea of three faces annoyed him that much (even though the face switching did hurt at one point). His knees were constantly hurting, due to the weird build of his legs, and he kept breaking his knee braces by tearing them up and destroying them whenever he felt like it. For days on end, his tanks constantly felt sore, no matter if his tank was full or empty or whatever in between. And what was the worst thing was the dull ache in the joints of his wings, and the constant prickling pain down his back in between his wings.

He once wanted to paint over his scars, but every time he thought of it, he always got sidetracked to thinking about painting himself in many different colors wilder than any Decepticon had ever seen before. Despite that sounding like a cool idea, Blitzwing always countered those thoughts because he didn’t want to look stupid or get in trouble with Megatron. Instead, he decided to see how others reacted if someone else was painted in wild colors.

This led to him going to the seeker trine’s room with buckets of paint and painting all sorts of crazy things on them (originally he wanted to just paint Starscream, but seeing them in the seeker pile made him all too happy to paint all three of them). Blitzwing then waited till the next day to see what would happenâ€¦ It was lots of humiliation and getting punished by Megatron pretty badly. This scared Blitzwing to his very spark, to the point where he felt guilty about it (but no way he would ever admit it was his fault).

Only Astrotrain knows what truly happened on that day.

At that point, Blitzwing had completely given up on trying to fix himself, trying to take care of himself, caring for a frame that he once cherished. No use in caring for a frame that had been warped beyond his own recognition and repair.

_____

“Blitzwing.” Astrotrain spoke, trying to get Blitzwing’s attention.

No response.

“Blitzwing.” Astrotrain hissed, “You glitch, I know you can hear me,” He looked down at the ground, “Stop ignoring me please.”

Blitzwing eventually raised his head, “What is it.”

Astrotrain looked into Blitzwing’s optics, “There’s only one energon cube left for today.”

Blitzwing’s optic twitched, and he switched faces, “That’s what you bothered me for?!”

Astrotrain switched faces, “Oh EXCUSE me for trying to help my DEAR Amica! Oh what an aft am I!”

“Slag off!”

Astrotrain switched faces, “Do you want the fragging energon cube or not?”

Blitzwing switched faces, “You can have it.”

Astrotrain reached for the energon cube, then stopped.

“You refueled yourself at least more than halfway today, right?”

Blitzwing’s optic twitched, then he switched faces, “Ah yes! I had quite the feast today! Oh such a nice servo salad it was! Aha!”

Astrotrain grimaced for a slight moment before grabbing the cube, “the idea of you eating other Cybertronians still unnerves me heavily… but at least it’s better than nothing. ”

Blitzwing switched faces again and looked at the ground as Astrotrain chugged the energon cube. He felt bad for lying, but also not sorry for it at the same time. No matter whatever Astrotrain felt through the Amica bond.

Speaking of the Amica bond, Blitzwing rarely made use of the emotion sensing ability that the bond had. He had too much going on in his head to go poking around in Astrotrain’s emotions.

But this time, Blitzwing used the bond. He used the bond to try and poke into Astrotrain’s emotions, but gave up when he felt the mess of emotions in there. He didn’t care enough to go in there and try to see what is what.

He just didn’t care.

_____

But then he met Bumblebee. That little yellow Autobot who kind of slightly annoyed him to no end and was the love of his life at the same time. The one who treated every single one of Blitzwing’s faces with love and care, even when he was being a bit of a glitch.

Every time that they met up, Bumblebee would bring something to cheer Blitzwing up, whether it was a few cubes of energon, some cans of oil, a servo (Bumblebee never said where he got it from, to Blitzwing’s disappointment, since it was one of the best servos he ever had), or even his own polisher!

But the best thing was how Bumblebee tried his best to handle Blitzwing’s pain. He couldn’t do anything about Blitzwing’s knee pain, other than at least try to tell Blitzwing to stop destroying his knee braces. Bumblebee would bring his hands over Blitzwing’s numerous scars, massaging them the best he could (he stopped if Blitzwing was in too much pain though). He would even move his fingers over the space between Blitzwing’s wings, putting his digits between the wings and massaging the wing base joints, soothing the discomfort in them.

It was the best thing Blitzwing had felt in centuries.

____

Holding the energon cube in his hands, Blitzwing looked down at it with a solemn look on his face. Why did his love offer this to him? He gingerly cupped the cube, afraid to spill a drop and disappoint his little sweetspark.

“Why aren't you drinking your energon Blitz? Worried that it’ll run away?” Bumblebee chugged his cube of energon and tilted his head at Blitzwing.

A sigh came out of Blitzwing’s mouth. He just couldn’t tell Bumblebee the truth… he couldn’t!

“Why aren’t you drinking your energon, Blitzwing?” Bumblebee’s antennae drooped in sadness.

Oh god, the sight of Bumblebee being sad hurt Blitzwing to the deepest depths of his spark. He needed to find a way to mitigate the situation before it got worse!

The slight ache in his tanks gave him a great idea.

“Ach… I have a slight tank ache. I don't really feel like refueling right now…” Blitzwing spoke, hoping that everything would stop at that moment.

But when Bumblebee immediately turned his head around to look at him, he was greatly surprised. He didn't expect that Bumblebee would become so attentive to him.

“Alright buddy, lie down.” Bumblebee commanded Blitzwing, “I wanna try something”

Blitzwing was confused, but he laid down anyway. Luckily the ground was soft-ish, or else he would have been very uncomfortable. And so he waited for something to happen

He waited…

And he waited…

And he waited some more…

Until suddenly, he felt a weight on his tanks. Blitzwing immediately looked up and saw that Bumblebee had plopped himself on top of his tanks. He kept staring, even when Bumblebee looked up to meet his gaze.

“Hey, you’re a big mech, I have to change how I do things here!” Bumblebee pouted.

Blitzwing watched Bumblebee, then switched faces and laughed, “Wow, you’re heavier than I thought!”

He received a slight kick to the tank.

“Not funny.” Bumblebee frowned.

Blitzwing winced, switched faces, and sighed, “Apologies.”

“Good. Now let me do this, and I promise that your tank aches and pains will alleviate soon!” Bumblebee positioned himself and reached out with his hand.

The hand settled low on Blitzwing’s hips before going up and stopping just underneath his chassis. This was repeated 10 times. Then some semi circle motions across his abdomen, also repeated ten times. There then came some soft massages and kneading, which calmed Blitzwing down.

But when Bumblebee did the little vibrations with his hands, this surprised Blitzwing a little bit.

And then Bee was finished.

“Wow,” Blitzwing gasped, “That wasâ€¦ wow.”

Bumblebee smiled, “I get tank aches too, so Ratchet taught me this to alleviate the pain.”

“Could… you teach how to do that?” Blitzwing asked.

Bumblebee smirked mischievously, “Only if you drink the energon cube. You need it.”

Blitzwing sighed, then drank the cube. It actually felt nice…

It seemed that what Bumblebee did worked really really well.

____

After a while, it seemed as if the treatment Blitzwing got by being Bumblebee’s sweetspark started affecting him in a good way. His frame felt so much more comfortable to him now, his aches between the wings had stopped, his scars were less sensitive, and he purged much less. Face switching was less of a chore to him now, more being more flowy instead of jerky and sudden. He even used what Bumblebee taught him to alleviate tank ache.

Astrotrain, as observant as he was, was bound to notice something.

____

“Damn Blitzwing, youve having more energon right now than ive seen you have in an entire week!” Astrotrain laughed, slapping Blitzwing on the back.

Blitzwing’s wings twitched from the slap, his face switched, and he scowled. Finishing his energon cube, he turned towards Astrotrain.

“So I guess Swindle sold you some good sense or something?”

“No you dumbaft, Swindle hasn’t even been here in a while. And any transactions I do or will do will be face to face with him, cause I don’t trust him entirely.”

“Ah, ah.” Astrotrain smirked as he kneeled down, “Then tell me what’s gotten you to act so different? It’s definitely not from you following my advice, that’s for sure.” Another laugh from Astrotrain ensued.

Blitzwing fumed for a bit, then switched faces, “it’s… the little Autobot.”

Astrotrain paused for a moment, then switched faces, “What did the Autobot do.”

Blitzwing reminded himself that Astrotrain was not entirely trusting of Bumblebee, so he had to choose his words carefully if he didn’t want to accidentally screw everything up.

“He… gives me energon every time we meet…” Blitzwing switched faces “He treats me like a queen! His beautiful big queen!”

Astrotrain froze, not expecting to hear that. Switching faces, he brought himself closer to Blitzwing, eyeing him curiously.

“So you’re saying that this… tiny little Autobot… has been helping you with your problems?”

Blitzwing nodded vigorously.

Astrotrain suddenly switched faces, “Well FINALLY! Finally someone got some sense into your processor!” Laughing, he patted Blitzwing on the shoulder, “And, please keep this up. It’s healthier for you, and there’ll be more for your little Autobot to love!”

Blitzwing switched faces, blushing in embarrassment, but nodded anyway.

After a while of snickering, Astrotrain switched faces, “But I must not get sidetracked, since there is something I have to say: Megatron has commanded that we go do an energon raid in about three hours. We actually have to be out of the base in one and a half hours,” Astrotrain said with a bit of bitterness in his voice, before softening his tone, “So have another cube and we can go, okay?”

Blitzwing nodded his head and drank his energon cube, “Alright.”

____

Even though he knew that his scars would never heal, Blitzwing knew that Bumblebee would be there for him, no matter what.

And that was more than enough for him.

#transformers #rambling :)#tffl #transformers: first labyrinth #bumblebee transformers #blitzwing #Blitzbee #BlitzbeeWeek2024

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sarah-yyy · 2 years

Text

a few of y’all have asked me about new life begins, and i’m procrastinating over work so............

BASICALLY this story revolves around the royal family of xinchuan (head of the nine states). xinchuan has a tradition wherein the other eight states send eligible women over to marry the xinchuan princes. the show opens with all these women coming into xinchuan for this selection

this is our main character li wei

bbg does Not want to be selected as a bride for any of the princes. she comes from jichuan (one of the least wealthy states, most of them are farmers) wherein people marry for love and men aren’t allowed to have concubines, she is Not Into this xinchuan polygamy bs, and is doing all she can to be sent back home asap so she can live her chill life

this is the sixth prince yin zheng, unloved (for now!) and mostly unnoticed (also for now!!) son of an unfavoured concubine. he’s introduced as being sickly and of little note in the political field. he mostly gets along with his brothers by virtue of having little interaction with them and keeping a real low profile

this boy is way smarter than he presents to outsiders!! he knows that the least favourable political marriage will be assigned to him, so he figures he might as well get ahead of it and voluntarily ask for the nominee from jichuan to be his wife

li wei ends up yin zheng’s concubine!!! which is the worst!!! not only does she have to conform to this xinchuan polygamy bs, she’s not even his main wife!!! she’s depressed for a few days until she catches wind that yin zheng only has a few weeks left to live (fake news) and it just kickstarts a whole bunch of hilarious shenanigans in which she tries to be nice to him before he dies and she gets to go home to jichuan as a widow

cue yin zheng (who doesn’t know what li wei is thinking) going: she’s??? nice to me???? mayhaps..........she be.........in love with me??????

(uhhhh because she’s adorable???? i like her)

ANYWAY y’all get the drift, it’s the whole arranged marriage, strangers to lovers, pining after my spouse vibe that i absolutely love!!!

but it’s not just that!!! it’s also that the female characters are all well-written and the friendships between all of them are so cute!!

first left is shangguan jing, fifth prince’s wife! she’s from danchuan which is a matriarchal society. she’s good at martial arts and very straightforward. does not really want to be married to xinchuan (much less to the fifth prince who starts off liking someone else), but is Doing Her Duty. i am SO INVESTED in her relationship with the fifth prince ahhhh, he’s a wimp (affectionate) who, this far in the show, has come to love his wife and is fretting constantly over how to make her happy/make her love him

first right is hao jia! she’s the second prince’s concubine and li wei’s bff. she’s sweet and well-natured and essentially Good At Everything. the second prince is kind of a dick with obvious dv tendencies, but he’s the eldest son of the emperor’s wife and next in line for the throne. i am just HOPING we get to see hao jia go off on him one day soon 😭 (side note: i’m actually also curious about the second prince’s wife - i wonder if she and hao jia will team up to get rid of the second price ugh)

this is yuan ying junzhu, my li wei’s yin zheng’s wife. hoooo boy folks, when the emperor ordered yin zheng to marry her against his Very Strong Objection, i thought we were going to start in on the angst and the whole jealous wife arc, but!!! she’s got zero interest in him, and they decide that she’ll basically stay at the manor as his advisor/li wei’s tutor! she 100% likes li wei more than she likes yin zheng lbr

not pictured but also a+++ characters that i love: the third prince’s wife + his harem of concubines (he’s named them all after the 24 traditional solar terms); the seventh prince and his wife (both of whom are adorable and just try to stay low-key and out of trouble); song wu²; all the servants at the sixth prince’s manor

ANYWAY this show is light-hearted and fun and an absolute delight to watch!! it’s been awhile since we’ve had a romcom-ish cdrama that’s had actual budget to produce something to this quality 💖 11/10 would rec!!!

where to watch: iqiyi // viki // youtube status: this updates every sunday to wednesday (local chinese time), with 2 eps being released every day. 22/40 eps have aired so far, i think iqiyi subs are up to date with the current airing schedule but i can’t be sure? someone correct me if i’m wrong!

#tv rec #new life begins #cdrama #the amount of serotonin i get from watching this every morning on my way to work is unbelievable 😭💕#thank you new life begins for giving me the will to live every monday to thursday #usual disclaimer: i don't watch cdramas with eng subs so idk the quality of the subs VENTURE IN AT YOUR OWN RISK

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fficway · 1 year

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I love how you write Donnie!!! PLEASE GIVE US MORE!!!

Thank you so much! I originally had this idea for a Leo fic, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would work better for Donnie, so here you go!

Synopsis: One of Donnie's inventions ends up on a rampage and you have to think of a creative way to get Donnie to quiet down so that he doesn't reveal where you're hiding.

ROTTMNT Donnie x Reader insert. (No gender specified). Age is irrelevant in this fic and not specified so age them to the show or up, however fits you best.

[This is actually angst before the fluff. I don't usually write angst because I really don't enjoy it but I need more practice writing drama and resolution. It's not like dramatic life or death angst, just heart break before the resolution. I also re-wrote the ending a few times and still don't love it (I think it's a little rushed and cheesy lol) but I hope you all enjoy it at least!]

"Shut up, Donnie"

"Feast ye eyes, brethren, on my newest invention: the Pizza Maker 9000! Patent pending, state of the art, trademark, magnificent pizzas at the ready with a mere touch of a button, and voice activation!" Donnie pulled a cloth from atop of a new machine he had created. The light sparkled off of the neatly polished silver appliance. "Allow me to demonstrate-"

"What's the 9,000 for? Did you try to make 8,999 of these before this one?" Raph questioned from his seat on the couch with his brother's. Leo sitting at his side and Mikey leaning from behind over Raph's shoulder.

"No, the 9,000 stands for the 9,000 possible combinations of pizza this baby can make! Well technically it would be over 7.7 million!" Donnie emphasized proudly, "But 9000 sounded cooler. Now, allow me to-"

"But I thought I was the designated pizza chef!" Mikey whined, "You guys love my pizzas!"

"Yes, Angelo, we did. Up until your adventurous, for lack of a more insensitive word, endeavors you've been concocting lately." Donnie replied flatly.

"What's wrong with Pizza Milkshakes? We all love Pizza, and we all love Milkshakes! Obviously combining them would be delicious! And Pizza noodle soup! And pizza with brussel sprout toppings! And-" Mikey's argument was interrupted by Leo.*

"Everything! Everything is wrong with those combinations!" Mikey pouted at Leo's words.

"However, segway! This Patent Pending Donnie Tech Pizza Maker™ does make delicious pizza combinations!" He pressed a button to turn on the machine so that it would make a pizza in front of their eyes as he continued his speech. "With over 100 types of dough, 1,800 types of cheeses, 43 types of tomatoes, and an infinite possibility of toppings, gentleman, I give you: the perfect pizza." The machine finished with a *ding* and a pizza came out of the front.

"Uuuugh, Hawaiian? Ugh I knew I should have removed pineapple from the ingredients list!" Donnie rubbed his hand over his face in frustration as Leo and Raph laughed at him.

"Ahhh yes, the most rare of unlimited possible pizza combinations: the Hawaiian!" Leo howled with laughter.

"I could've made that." Mikey crossed his arms, still pouting.

"Alright, so it made a pizza that we could just order. But how does it taste?" Raph walked up to grab a slice.

"Oooor I could make it! We don't have to order one!" Mikey whined again, his arms flailing in frustration.

"Come and see for yourself. And by 'see' I mean 'taste' of course." Donnie stepped aside for Raph, confident in his invention. "Even though there is pineapple on that pizza, the cheese, sauce, and dough are all chosen to be the best possible combination to compliment the fruit topping."

Leo walked up as well to take a slice. Raph and Leo shrugged at each other with grins before biting into their slices. Hey, free pizza is free pizza!

Donnie and Mikey watched with held breaths for their reactions.

"O-ho-hoooo boy this is some good pizza!" Leo crumbled to his knees with the half eaten sliced raised to the sky as if he was worshiping it. Then he quickly finished off his slice and took two more in his hands.

Raph mumbled through a full mouth, "Great jub Dunnie! Now we'll nuver huve to ordur out again!"

"We haven't ordered out anymore anyway because I've already been making us delicious pizzas!" Mikey yelled in protest.

Donnie stood straighter with his hands proudly on his hips, "Relishing. And I am relishing. And I am still relishing." Mikey huffed at Donnie's smugness.

"Say," Leo paused in his pizza eating to take a breath when a thought occurred to him. "This isn't going to turn evil and attack us later like your other inventions is it?"

"Please, 'Nardo, you place such a ridiculous hypothesis upon me with very little statistics to support your claim." Donnie scoffed, his proud stance not wavering a bit.

"U-huh, yeah, because when have your inventions ever tried to get us killed." Leo rolled his eyes sarcastically to himself as he continued with another slice of pizza.

"Not including Albearto's, S.h.e.l.d.o.n, the defense bed-" Mikey mumbled, listing off a few on his three fingers before Donnie interrupted to correct him.

"The Personal Slumber Defensive Device did not try to kill us, it did exactly as programed and defended the sleeper, a.k.a. Pa-pa."

A noise from the entrance made everyone look over to see you and April entering the lair.

"Hey guys! What's going on?" April asked. It looked like you both had interrupted something.

"I smell pizza but don't see any! Did Raph and Mikey already scarf it down?" You asked half joking.

"No. I refuse to touch something so devoid of artistic flavor and love!" Mikey crossed his arms in a huff.

"Oh no. Mikey used big words like 'devoid.' That means he's upset." You looked at April.

"My guess? It's another one of Donnie's inventions." April looked from you to the three turtles gathered around the machine, solidifying her guess.

"It's the Patent Pending Donnie Tech Pizza Maker 9000™ AKA the PM9000™!" Donnie gestured dramatically to his shiny new machine that was currently making a second pizza of random order for an excited Leo and bouncing Raph.

"That's great! Another invention that will later try to kill us." You chuckled sarcastically.

"That's what I'm saying!" Leo agreed before stuffing his face with a fresh slice from the newest pizza, this one with olives.

"It will do no such thing! It is programmed only to concoct the highest of quality pizzas! Allow me to demonstrate since you guys missed it the first time!" Donnie rushed through the last sentence excited to show you and April his genius.

"Hmmm, I sure am hungry for a pizza!" Donnie annunciation his words clearly with a finger in the air in the center of the room. Everyone stared at him expectantly in silence as nothing happened. You and April shared an impassive glance. A light flashed from the Robot as it started up again, and everyone 'ooh-ed' as it spoke back.

"One Perfect Pizza™ at the ready." It's robotic voice sounded as a mechanical arm stretched out towards Donnie and reconstructed into a conveyor-belt. The third, and newest pizza arrived in front of Donnie, steaming hot. (The pizza too.)

"It will deliver your pizza to you anywhere in the Lair!" Donnie said proudly, taking a slice out of his own pizza now.

"Oh so it responds to us just talking about pizza? What if I say that I'm going to cook a pizza?" Mikey protested. The machine flashed again and a new conveyor-belt transformed in front of Mikey, a new pizza coming his way.

"One Perfect Pizza™ at the ready."

"Is it really going to say "trademark" every time?" April asked.

"Nuh-uh! No way! If you think I'm going to betray the years of hard work I've slaved away in the kitchen learning how to make my perfect pizza, you can think again baby! I'm the Pizza chef around here! It's either me, or another being with a heart that will be making the pizzas for us! A machine can't recreate the love that goes into cooking!" Mikey had slapped away the pizza and was now dramatically spieling. You started to realize that Mikey really was actually offended, and you felt bad for him. You know how much Mikey loves cooking, but you also know how much Donnie loves his inventions, and they both do their crafts as their own way to help their brothers out and do nice things for each other. This was complicated, and you knew this had to be settled between the turtles, so you watched on. Leo and Raph will surely step in if it gets out of hand.

"I don't know, this tastes like love to me!" Leo said between mouthfuls of pizza.

Ok... surely Raph will step in if it gets out of hand.

"Yeah, and Donnie's pizzas are cooked faster than yours Mikey, so I say for the Lair pizzas, Donnie's machine is best." Raph was already ordering a third pizza now.

Oh boy...

"Boom! Hahaha! Technology is the future of civilization, there is nothing that can beat it!" Donnie was proud that two of his brothers had liked his invention, and his words were insensitive to Mikey, however, and you winced. You're sure that he doesn't mean to rub it in Mikey's face-

"In you're face Michelangelo!" Donnie laughed while pointing.

-Ok, the universe is apparently going out of it's way to prove you wrong on everything today. You know Donnie doesn't mean to be mean to Mikey, he's just being immature right now. But honestly? This'll help you to convince yourself that he isn't perfect.

You've known the turtles for a while now, and had originally developed a crush on the intelligent and passionate Donatello. However your crush has recently begun to fade. Yeah, you could always just tell him how you feel, and take whatever answer he gives you. You could handle it (you think), and you're positive that Donnie wouldn't treat you differently just because of a one-sided crush. However, you decided there was no benefit in telling him regardless. The reason being was because of said one-sided crush.

You know that it's one sided because Donnie is very forward about himself. He's choosy on what emotions he shares with people, sure, but you've seen how he lights up when talking about his childhood idol and crush Atomic Lass, as well as when he fights villains like Cheery Tomato at Albearto's. He has a type and is not shy in his advances when faced with those caricatures, so you're certain that if he did have an interest in you, you would have noticed by now. Therefore, if confessing to him of a one-sided relationship would make no difference in your friendship, then not confessing to him would ultimately bring the same result, so you've concluded that keeping it to yourself and willing yourself to get over him is the best course of action.

This was a good opportunity to tell yourself "See? He's not perfect! He can have immature moments too! You can get over him!" But your heart chose to make excuses for him. Not to excuse his behavior at Mikey as ok, but to understand that he doesn't mean it that way. At any rate, you decided to step in to mediate now, and tried to stay impartial.

"Donnie, I think you've had the floor to talk about your invention long enough." You approached Mikey and put a hand on his shoulder. "I, for one, would love a home-made Mikey Pizza Special." You smiled at Mikey's gleeful expression. You told yourself that you weren't siding against Donnie as a selfish way to push away from him. This was fair! Donnie had two people on his side, so its only fair that Mikey gets one person on his team!

"One Perfect Pizza™ at the ready." The robot's voice sounded as a pizza was delivered in front of you. Mikey slapped it away again while pointing triumphantly at Donnie.

"At least someone here has a refined palate, knowing exactly who here is the better pizza maker!"

"What is your order?" The Pizza Maker responded to the words its named after.

"How could you choose Mikey over me?" Donnie was looking at you shocked and betrayed. You were sure that it was because of his pride in his inventions.

"I didn't choose anyone over-" You were interrupted by Mikey.

"Maybe because your not-so-perfect pizza machine is so-not-perfect enough to compete with me and my so-perfect artistry!" Mikey issued the challenge to Donnie.

"You're suggesting that art somehow bests science? Oh sweet 'Angelo, if it's a challenge you want, it's a challenge you shall receive!" Donnie and Mikey were quite literally butting heads.

"Somehow, I think I might have made this worse." You mumbled defeatedly.

---

It was decided that Mikey and Donnie('s invention) would go toe-to-toe in a pizza making contest. The judges being you, Splinter, and April. Leo and Raph were not allowed to intervene other than to host the event with a microphone and referee. Splinter and April were chosen as neutral third parties, but you were still unsure why you were a judge considering that you had only asked for Mikey's pizza. You didn't want to chose a better pizza. It was irrelevant! You just wanted a normal pizza made by Mikey to help him feel better. Yet somehow you were roped into not only being a judge, but your vote counted three times as much as Splinter and April's vote!

"Then why add other judges if your votes don't count?" You asked April on your walk back to April's apartment. You were going to be sleeping over at her place anyway, you both had just decided to stop by and see the boys on the way home (which you were now regretting.)

"I have some ideas in mind, but the short of it is? Because you intervened." April poked you with her joking response. She seemed to have some reason to find all of this funny. You on the other hand were dreading what was going to happen tomorrow.

The competition had been postponed to the following day as Donnie declared that he wanted to make some last minute upgrades on his tech. When Mikey had taunted that it was because Donnie knew that his machine would lose, Donnie had laughed off the remark, and replied with his own. Something about proving something and making things right again? You assumed that it was "proving Mikey wrong" and "making [the tech] right again." That's the only combinations that made sense to you.

After April and you had dinner (pizza was off the table since you'll most likely be getting your fill tomorrow), you settled in for the night after a movie.

April was on her phone a few times throughout the movie. You assumed she was texting Sunita.

"Uh, hey! I gotta step out for a quick sec! It'll only be a minute but feel free to crash if you get tired!" April kinda rushed to the door. You sat up, now anxious.

"What's going on? Is there trouble? Should I come too?" You questioned her.

"NO! Uh, no! The boys just had a mission alarm go off, but it's just a petty thief! No biggie! Only two of them are going to check it out, all of us aren't needed!" She waved her hand a few times to emphasize that it wasn't a big deal.

"Then why are you going?" You raised an eyebrow.

"Uhhh, be..cause it's at the new shop I work at! I gotta check it out as, you know, an employee and all! Psssh you know how it is!" She crossed her arms casually.

"You got a new job already? Where?" April's phone dinged as you spoke.

"Uh, I'll answer all of that when I get back! Gotta go!" She ran out of the door in a hurry, leaving you swimming with questions. You could see she was acting suspiciously, but you've had a lot of your assumptions proven wrong tonight so you decided to just drop it for now. You'll have her explain what's up tomorrow. Yawning, you settled down after a frankly exhausting day.

---

"There you guys are!" April panted catching up to Raph and Donnie.

"Alright, show me to the scene of the crime stat! I still have to finish my modifications before tomorrow's competition and I don't trust Mikey being back at the Lair so close to my tech without me." Donnie was looking around the empty street as he spoke, "Why did he and Leo get to stay home while I got dragged by Raph out of my lab? If the thief isn't that big of a deal then why not let Leo handle it?" Donnie's brain was still in overdrive since he had been freshly pulled from his lab.

"Donnie, there is no thief. We needed to talk to you and knew you wouldn't listen if you were still in your lab." April explained.

"What? Why? What is there to talk about? If you're going to convince me to go easy on Mikey I will have to decline! He will gain nothing from us going easy on him! And by "us" I do of course mean "me and my tech"." Donnie crossed his arms.

"Donnie, you know who this is about." Raph crossed his arms as well.

April had been the one Donnie confided in when he realized he had begun to have feelings for you so long ago, but out of fear that you would not reciprocate, he pushed those feelings way down. April had been the only one to notice and weasel it out of him. Raph, however, had overheard, and therefore was sworn to secrecy.

Which apparently did not include secrecy from Leo and Mikey because Raph told them within the hour. April, who Donnie had dubbed responsible for the entire "Donnie's Secret Crush in Now a Lair Known Fact " fiasco, agreed to do everything in Donnie's best interest when it came to you. Whether it be keeping you from finding out his feelings for you or helping him to get to spend more time with you. April had been frustrated for months because of Donnie's contradictions. He wanted to spend more time with you yet didn't want you ever finding out how he feels! So the long and short of it was, there would be no end to his ridiculous antics while pining after you.

Donnie had even gone as far as to create secret phrases and code words with April and his brother's so that he could communicate emergency protocols. There was no real use to this because Donnie kept flipping between code "help me get an opportunity for us to be alone," and code "abort! The truth must not be revealed!" And quite Franky, while his family found his rare moments of panicking endearing, they were getting quite sick of it.

So after the events that happened today, Leo, Raph, and April had decided to get Donnie out of the lab, away from his work, to give April the opportunity to convince Donnie to fess up to you. Since Mikey and Donnie are in the middle of a feud, Leo agreed to stay home with Mikey to give them the space Donnie needs to calm down and think rationally. And who knows? Mikey could've ended up using this as a way to rile up Donnie! Emotions were high between the brothers so it was best to play it safe.

"Dee, you saw how you acted today. You know that it's time." April tried to gently persuade Donnie. "You can't keep letting your emotions get the better of you and drag others into your situations. Especially not the person you've got such a crush on."

Donnie sighed. "I know but, but to choose Mikey over me like that! I just feel so frustrated! I can't say anything now! It'll look like an excuse, or a way to cheat the contest, or-"

"Just confess after the contest then." Raph suggested. "Regardless of who wins the pizza contest, it has nothing to do with you. Your feelings are-"

"It has everything to do with me!" Donnie sighed. "If my tech that can be upgraded and evolved beyond human, yokai, and mutant abilities isn't good enough, then how can I think that I am?"

An explosion from a couple blocks over interrupted April and Raph from the rare moment of Donnie being vulnerable and honest.

---

An explosion woke you up. You jumped up and scrambled to the window to look for what was going on. There was a light from the next block over that looked like it was the light of a large fire. You grabbed your weapon and ran down the fire escape to head to the scene.

As you approached you saw Mikey jumping around a couple roof tops. "Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh!" He sounded panicked.

"Mikey! You ok? Where's the others? Did the thief do this?" You had so many questions and Mikey shouted back a rushed answer.

"Thief? What thief? I mean- yeah! A thief totally stole Donnie's tech and messed with its wiring! We need to stop it!"

You got to the scene of the fire finally to see Donnie's Perfect Pizza Maker™ wreaking havoc, shooting flames all over the place and slicing through walls with giant pizza cutting saws and giant kitchen knives.

"How did a thief get to Donnie's tech if he was working on it? He wouldn't have taken his eyes off of it long enough to-" Mikey jumped down and cut you off.

"That doesn't matter now! We have to stop this thing before Donnie finds out!"

"What do you mean 'finds out?' Mikey, what did you do?!" You didn't get an answer as you both jumped in different directions to avoid the blades swinging down at you.

"I'll explain everything later! Just please don't be mad!" Mikey yelled from across a rooftop, jumping to dodge a fire blast.

"It's a little late for that!" You yelled back, ducking a blast from a pepperoni pistol that shot at your head. "Where are the others?"

"Raph and Donnie went out earlier! I don't know where they went!" Mikey attacked at a mechanical arm. "It was just Leo and me at the Lair!"

"Then where's Leo?" You were panting now. Between the yelling and fighting, you were having a hard time catching your breath.

"He's uh... a little tied up at the moment!" Mikey answered with a lower volume this time but you still heard him, and it was only then that you noticed Mikey fighting with only one nunchaku.

"Mikey, I swear, if I live through this you are in so much trouble!" You blocked another knife attack.

A few purple missiles shot past the building you were fighting on top of accompanied by a shout: "Phalange Sandwich!"

"Donnie! Up here!" You shouted down.

"No no no! We're ok! Nothing to see here!" Mikey shouted back.

"Is that, is that my PM9000?" Donnie asked when he jumped up onto the rooftops near you guys. The machine had been knocked through a parking lot and slammed into the mall. "But, how? I mean I know I wasn't finished with the upgrade, and sure I maybe went a little overboard with the modifications-"

"A little?" You shouted back to him as you ran towards the mall. The fight isn't over. Not until you made sure the tech was destroyed or shut down.

"Ok, maybe a little more than I should have but even in the midst of the upgrades it doesn't make sense for it to be going crazy like this!" Donnie, Mikey, and you landed inside of the mall to find a crater in the floor where the Pizza Maker had landed... yet no Pizza Maker in sight.

"Where did it go?" You asked aloud, looking around.

"What does it matter Donnie? You could add every upgrade under the sun and it still couldn't beat me and my pizzas!" Mikey apparently was still heated from earlier that day as he threw a quip at Donnie.

"Oh, I didn't need to add anything to beat you, I just wanted to make sure to not go easy on you. A growing boy needs his life lessons, Michael," Donnie sarcastically quipped back.

"Ugh, can both of you just drop it? We need to find the pizza-" You were interrupted by a red light shining down on all of you. Looking up you all started sweating at the sight of the undamaged Pizza Maker.

"Pizzaaaaa." It glitched out the word in an elongated, chilling robotic voice before lunging down at you three. All of you jumped out of the way, scrambling to defend against the mechanical arms that attacked with blades and flames.

"This way!" You yelled at the two turtles as you ducked and ran towards a store in the mall. The turtles batted away the mechanical arms and ran after you. You jumped and ducked down behind a counter, and the two joined you.

"Oh look Donnie! Another one of your inventions trying to kill us!" Mikey whisper shouted at Donnie.

"I know my engineering better than anyone! There's no way this could have happened!" Donnie retorted before a realization hit him, "Unless you messed with the circuitry! You did, didn't you!"

"You guys, now is not the time!" You hissed at them, watching as the machine scanned the store. It turned and started back towards the doors and you sighed in a relief that proved to only be temporary.

"You have no proof of that! What if I decided that my artistic squills and love was what was missing from your boring pizza maker?" Mikey crossed his arms.

"I knew it!" Donnie shouted as the counter you three were hiding behind exploded. You ran out with the turtles hot on your heels.

"How is it tracking us? It's scanners didn't notice us! Can it hear us?" You yelled back at Donnie.

"Of course! I created it to pick up key words like 'food,' 'pizza,' 'hungry,' and more! Even going as far as to include hearing the sounds of a rumbling tummy!" Donnie explained, still running, yet sounding proud of himself.

"Are you kidding me?" You shouted exasperated.

"See Donnie? This is your fault! If you wouldn't have tried to replace me as the pizza chef of the lair then none if this would have happened!" Mikey shouted.

"My fault? You're the one who messed with the Pizza Maker's circuitry and made him into this killing machine!" Donnie yelled back.

"Are you guys forgetting the part where this thing can hear you?!" You tried to shout over their bantering but a burst of flame hit the ground just behind you. Donnie turned around and blocked a blade with his tech bo before it reached you. You dodged just in time as another blade cut down at you.

Flames burst from one side as two blades cut from the other. The three of you dodged and parried the attacks. You were keeping up, but getting tired fast. These attacks were too quick and relentless! Finally, Mikey wrapped a chain around one of the metal arms and jerked it, pulling the Robot up into the air and throwing it across to crash into a store.

"Split up!" You shouted at the first opportunity. Mikey and Donnie are still too heated over the pizza thing to stop arguing or using the key words that the robot is drawn to. You're no strategist, nor their leader. The best thing to do was to split up and stall until backup arrived.

As you all took off in different directions, a metal arm with a blade on the end slammed down in front of the direction you were running, cutting off your route. You turned and ran the opposite way, being met with a wall of flames. Donnie slid to a stop. His battle shell transformed into jets and he quickly shot from one side of the hall to the other, picking you up in his arms as he zoomed past.

You both crashed and rolled into another shop. You rolled to a stop, but upon glancing back at the hall at the machine getting up, you pushed over Donnie to roll you both a few more times to hide behind yet another counter.

"I can't believe he messed with my tech's circuitry! That means he went into my lab too! Ugh! I thought we all learned from this after the incident with S.h.e.l.l.d.o.n!" You looked down to shush Donnie but blushed at noticing your position atop of him. He apparently hadn't noticed yet.

'Or if he did, then it probably doesn't phase him.' You thought sorely to yourself.

"Donnie, now's not the ti-"

"I knew it couldn't have been my programming! Oh! That's right! It's my programming! Maybe I can still hack his data-frame!" Donnie interrupted you, reaching for the screen on his forearm.

"No!" You slammed down his wrists so he couldn't reach the electronic cuff. The pizza maker entered the store. The last thing you need is a new way to lure it to your hiding place! "Donnie, the only thing you need to do now is be qu-"

"But if Mikey hasn't touched the mother chip processor, then I can still shut it down using my override protocol!" Donnie protested. The Pizza Maker started scanning the store as it grew closer.

"Donnie, it can hear-"

"I mean, that is a big 'if' considering he went as far as to ruin a perfect invention of mine!" Donnie kept going.

"Donnie don't-!"

"All over something as silly as piz-" Donnie didn't get to finish saying the key word.

Your lips were on his. You panicked! You had been holding down his arms to prevent him for reaching for his electronic cuff, and he wasn't listening to your attempts to shush him! You had to cover his mouth and you panicked!

You can't complain really. You've always wanted to do this. To kiss Donatello. Not in this way however, and you had hoped you'd be a couple by the time you'd kiss him at least, but if you're putting away your feelings for him anyway, at least you've gotten this chance.

His eyes were wide as he stared up at you for a moment of shock. Your eyes were squeezed shut. Your lips were so soft. It felt amazing! Being kissed wasn't at all as bad as he had feared it to be, being the over-thinking science man that he is. In fact, it was euphoric! He felt fireworks in his heart and butterflies dancing in his belly! He closed his eyes.

You stayed lip-locked with Donnie as you cracked open your eyes to look over towards the machine that was finishing its scan of the store and turning to leave. You startled when you felt Donnie's lips move against yours and snapped your eyes, wide with shock, back to his face. He was kissing you back!

You were so confused. Was it possible that he liked you back? You wanted to melt into the feeling of him kissing you back! You wanted to kiss him for real! But now wasn't the time for that. You looked back over to the pizza maker as it finally vanished around the corner.

You pushed off and away from Donnie and sat back in shock once there was a little bit of space between you, but you didn't go far enough to reveal yourself from behind the counter. Donnie raised up on his elbows, his eyes were half lidded and he had a silly half smile splayed across his lips.

"Did you just kiss me?" You asked. You didn't mean for it to sound so accusational. You were still panicked from all that just happened within this past 30 seconds. You tried to calm your beating heart.

"Correction. You kissed me!" Donnie sat up fully now, wearing his usual confident smile now, his eyes still half lidded as he looked at you. His heart beat was finally calming down and the full realization that you both had kissed was putting him on cloud nine

"But you weren't supposed to kiss me back!" You were anxious and in denial of what just happened. None of this made sense, and none of it was supposed to play out this way! Your face was still hot.

Donnie's smile faded. He began to look unsure of himself. "But, I thought that's how kissing worked? You put your lips on mine, and it wasn't in a life saving maneuver such as CPR so I assumed.."

You groaned in embarrassment, your hands coming up to cover your face. "Donnie, think about it! Why would I kiss you?"

At the look of hurt that crossed his face you immediately regretted your word choice. You meant it to mean "why would you kiss him now in not-so-suitable conditions like in the middle of hiding from a foe after shushing him constantly!" Not "why would you kiss him!"

"Oh.. Right. But of course." He stood up. "I'm.. sorry for the awkward assumption." He said 'sorry' and you winced. He rarely says sorry, but here in this context it made your heart break.

"Donnie, that's not what I meant, I swear!" You stood and reached for his arm, desperate to clear up this misunderstanding, but a new explosion went off, this one finally triggering the sprinkler system in the building.

You could see electricity crackling through the mall. You heard a loud "bang" and then cheers from outside. It seems like the others had arrived in time to take out the Robot.

You looked back at Donnie, the sprinklers making it as if you both were now in the rain. You couldn't see his face, but he wasn't standing as straight as usual. He shoulders were shrugged up a bit, and his hand around his tech bo looked tight. There's no way... he's upset? Because you retracted the kiss? Does that mean..?

"Donnie,-"

You didn't get a chance to talk to Donnie before Leo and the others were walking into the destroyed store you two were still in.

"There you guys are! You missed out on Donnie's invention trying to kill us again! Hmm, gee, I wonder who could have seen this coming?" Leo stopped talking when Raph gave him a rough nudge. Raph shrugged his head towards Donnie, and Leo notices Donnie's expression.

"Uh, I mean, Donnie! It's too bad about your awesome invention! Maybe, uh, you should make another one?" Leo tried to perk up the mood.

"Yeah! You still haven't gotten to do your contest remember? We can postpone it until you get the new one up and running! Right Mikey?" Raph turns to Mikey, who is looking really guilty now.

"Well, actually you guys," Mikey starts to confess, "I kinda... cheated. So I think the win should go to Donnie."

"No, don't worry about it." Donnie finally spoke up. He still didn't face anyone. "It's not important anymore."

You made eye contact with everyone as they turned to look at you at his words. You looked to April pleadingly.

"Dee?" April walked up and put her hand on his shoulder and looked at his face.

"I'm uh, going to head back first. My battle shell is water resistant, but, you know, it's uh, best to keep it dry." April had a slight surprise, then looked sad and backed up. Donnie's jets came out of his battle shell and lifted him out of the store through a hole in the roof.

Once he was gone the sprinklers finally shut off. Everyone looked at you. You immediately hugged April, tears in your your eyes.

"Woah, hey! It's ok! Calm down. Just tell us what happened?" April's hands were on your shoulders to pull you away from her enough to look at your face. The remaining brothers gathered around.

"Is he that upset about me messing with his tech? He usually gets angry. I didn't think he'd get... like this." Mikey looked down and his fidgeting hands, feeling guilty. Raph put a hand on his shoulder. The look on his face telling Mikey that it was ok, but he also should properly apologize to Donnie later.

"I think I messed up big" You told April, the tears in your eyes were threatening to fall now.

"It's ok. I'm sure it was a misunderstanding. Now you just have to fix it." April said with a soft tone. She looked at Leo.

"Way ahead of you." Leo put on a rare game face and sliced up a portal. You looked between him and April.

"What if I mess up again? Every time I've assumed one thing today, I've been proven wrong in the worst way." Today had been one bad choice after another for you. The fear of making it any worse was almost paralyzing.

"Then stop assuming and just communicate! Knowing Donnie, he'll want this patched up just as much as you do, m'kay? There's nothing to worry about." Leo smiled and stepped back towards Raph and Mikey.

April smiled at you, "I'm just a call away if you need me! We'll hang back a bit to give you both some space."

You looked around at them and gave a small smile. They were helping you to fix this. You have to take advantage of this opportunity. You took a deep breath and stepped through.

---

Donnie flew to the sewer entrance. He felt so heart broken. He didn't even get a chance to confess, which at this point sounded silly to have put the inevitable off for so long. Heck, even confessing and getting rejected the normal way would have been a lot less painful and humiliating than what just happened.

"Why would I kiss you?" He shrunk in on himself at the echo of your voice in his head. He pressed his hands to the sides of his head with a groan in an attempt to forget about it. He began his dissent into the sewer now, trying to ignore the broken record that played in his head.

Why did you kiss him? He wondered as he reached the bottom of the ladder. He played over the scenario in his head a few times. The realization finally hit him that it was simply to shut him up. Every time you had spoken during the entire fight it was to try to get him and Mikey to stop luring the robot over with the key words he had programmed the robot to pick up, and you had obviously been exhausted by the fight. He had put you in danger repeatedly during the duration of the fight. What a cruel and even more humiliating realization to come to. He slapped his hand over his face, his eyes glued shut. Maybe if he did this long enough, he'd wake up in bed, all of this being nothing more than a bad dream.

Donnie ran his hand down his face and stopped walking when his fingers brushed his lips.

He could still feel the warmth from your own. He felt tears prick the corners of his eyes but squeezed his eyes tightly shut again in an attempt to keep them at bay.

"I really do have a type," he sighed out with a choked chuckle, "cute and... mean."

He took a deep breath, forcing his brain to do a mental reboot, closing the many open tabs about you in his brain, and continued to the entrance to the lair. He was sure that the others would already be back by now and wanted to at least appear normal until he can escape to the privacy of his room or lab. However when he walked into the lair he heard silence. Minus the muffled snores coming from Splinter's room.

Donnie sighed, grateful for the chance to slink away and shut himself inside his lab. He didn't feel like socializing. Much less talk about the events from tonight.

He disengaged his battle shell on his wall, put up his tech bo, and grabbed a couple tools to work on literally anything to distract himself. He sat down and rummaged through blue prints on his table. Nothing seemed to peak his interest. Not even the bust of himself.

He remembered that there was a simple yet time consuming experiment that he had been meaning to conduct for a while on some mystic material he bought in the Hidden City! That would be the best thing to use to shut himself away in his lab as it required a controlled chemical environment and could take up to a couple days, so he could have uninterrupted time to himself to process everything. He looked around for his notes and the main pieces for the project.

"Donnie?"

"Oxygen and Magnesium!" Donnie startled and turned around to find you standing in the doorway.

"Sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I thought you could hear me walk in." You rubbed your arm awkwardly. Donnie was a ninja, the fact he was too distracted to notice you approach was probably a bad sign.

"No, I uh, hadn't." He turned back around and tried to keep his posture nonchalant as he continued gathering his notes, but his eyes squeezed shut in embarrassment. "So are the others back yet? Would you give this to Raph for me? I need to start on this experiment now and it's going to take me-"

"Donnie, can we talk?" Your voice sounded soft, almost meek. It cut Donnie off from his rambling excuses. He really didn't feel like talking about this right now. He wanted time to process it. To think out every possible conversational route with you and to pick the safest responses. He wanted to hide his embarrassment from you for just a little longer. He turned to give you another excuse and to dismiss you from his lab, but when he saw your face his resolution crumbled. Like a sandcastle to a wave.

Donnie collapsed into his seat. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry about tonight. I had gotten so frustrated at Mikey that I just kept going on and on and put you in danger, and I really should have stopped when you shushed me the first time. I realize now that it was all my fault."

"Woah, Donnie, nothing's your fault-" You started to cut in.

"No, but it is! The competition, making Mikey mad at me enough to tamper with my tech's circuitry, dragging you into this out of jealousy, putting you into danger, and the.. misunderstanding from you just trying to get me to stop luring the PM9000 with the key words." He looked down when he said the word "misunderstanding" and looked hurt.

"Jealousy?" You asked. You had heard him correctly, but now you were starting to become more sure about how Donnie feels about you. Actually sure. However you were going to take Leo's advice and communicate instead of jumping to assumptions again.

"I, yes," He sighed, embarrassed. "I really didn't mean to put you in an awkward position from you having to do what was necessary to get me to stop jeopardizing the mission and stop talking. I was just.. I don't know.. surprised. Well, surprised isn't the right word. In fact, that's a lie. I don't know, I was making things worse during that fight, and I feel like I'm making things worse now-"

"Donnie if you don't stop talking I'm going to kiss you again." You interrupted him before he started spiraling.

"I mean if I had-" Donnie short-circuited, his head snapping towards you with his face red. "What?"

You had gained a little confidence and were attempting to take advantage of it for as long as it lasted. Or until you both got everything out into the open. "Everything I did today went so wrong. I kept making one bad call after another, assuming that the situation was one way instead of communicating, and ended up hurting you because of my own bias against you."

"Bias? Against me?" Donnie looked hurt, but more-so confused.

"I..." you sighed, face red, and avoided his eyes. "I was trying to get over my feelings for you."

"What? 'Get over?' But- But that implies that you had feelings for me in the first place, that doesn't make sense! Since when? How long?"

"Dee, I've had feelings for you for over a year now." Your face was hot but it was time for this conversation. No matter which way it goes.

"What, but that.." His heart was beating so fast now and he could feel how hot his face was. "Then why did you say that earlier? Why did you ask why you'd ever kiss me?"

"Oh, Donnie, no, I didn't mean it like that! Honestly!" You finally had a chance to clear this up! "I asked that to have you realize that I was just trying to get you to be quiet so the robot wouldn't find us! I'm sorry Donnie, I really could have handled all of that a much better way. I should have! I really didn't mean it like that. I.. kissed you in that moment more from.. panic or impulse. Honestly I think I mostly did it because I just really wanted to." You couldn't meet his eyes admitting this.

"But, your actions contradict your words? You're saying that you're getting over me, but why?" He was confused, and you didn't blame him. You were one big contradiction tonight, acting selfishly then pushing him away and hurting him before he even can react to save yourself from the possibility of getting hurt.

"As for why I've been trying to get over you, I just didn't think you felt the same. You're just always so bold with your advances on your mascot crushes, and since you had never been so bold or forward like that with me, I just assumed.. You know, that you weren't interested." You looked away from him again awkwardly with a shrug. You were only barely sure now that he reciprocates your feelings by how he had been acting tonight, but you couldn't help but to still feel shy and insecure putting your feelings out in the open like this. Especially with everything that you were admitting to.

"Well, yeah. Sure I can be bold about my advances with mascot characters, it's just living out a fantasy! I don't know who's in those costumes, and they don't know me! They reject me and it's just a mutant turtle they're rejecting! But you.. you know me. If you were to reject me- I mean.. I couldn't be that bold or forward with you because you make me feel... I care too much about what you think, and therefore was too scared to find out." Donnie trailed off. "I just kept running from the risk of scaring you away and ruining what I already have with you by confessing my feelings for you." His heart was beating so fast now saying it all out loud. "I wanted to be selfish and.. cowardly."

"So you do have feelings for me?" You asked, hopeful. It was the question you've been dying to hear the answer to for so long.

"I do.. Have feelings for you that is." He clarified.

You both were staring at each other, blushing hard. Shy smiles started to appear on your faces.

"So, am I.. too late?" Donnie asked, uncertain, referring to your mention of trying to get over him.

You smiled, "Well I mean you aren't the only one who's acted selfishly, Dee." You confessed, "Like I said, I honestly could have let go of your hands to cover your mouth earlier."

Donnie raised an eyebrow at your comment, a smile sneaking onto his own face. "That's right. 'Impulse' you had said?"

"I mean, if I'm being honest here, it's not like it was the first time I have ever had an urge to kiss you." You tried to push on with the confidence you were feeling. Everything else was already out in the open, might as well ride the wave!

He was over the moon to hear this. Sure, you haven't answered his question directly yet, but he took this as a green light to test the waters. You had mentioned that you wanted bold and forward, flirty Donnie?

Noted.

"Not the first time, you say? Pray-tell, how often have you thought of kissing me?" He questioned back, causing you to blush. You felt butterflies at the confidence that started to overtake him. Just that was enough to make you feel all shy again? Hoo-boy.

"Hmm, it depends. Are you asking for the number of time from this past year? Or just the amount of times I've thought of kissing you during my futile attempt to get over you?" You questioned back.

He raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "'Futile,' huh?" He quoted back to you. He stood up and crossed his arms. "So you're saying that you've wanted to kiss me? Or rather, would it be more correct to use present tense: you want to kiss me?"

You were now embarrassed. You didn't want to humor his smugness with an answer.

But on second thought, maybe this is an opportunity you can take advantage of to see more of this side of Donnie.

You crossed over to him. "What if I say that is correct? I do want to kiss you?" Bold flirting isn't easy, but you couldn't miss this opportunity.

Donnie's smirk grew, his eyelids lowered as he looked at you approach. He pretended to think, "Hmmm, 'why would I kiss you?'" He smugly echoed your question from earlier that night back to you.

You grabbed his face in your hands, smiling at him, "Shut up, Donnie." You kissed him. Properly this time.

You felt his lips move against your own as his arms wrapped around you to keep you in place. You're not going anywhere this time. You both had apparently been taking turns to be selfish, so now it was his turn.

He leaned his weight against his desk behind him to prop himself up and lean you more into him. He'd never admit it, but his legs felt weak. If he had felt fireworks earlier, now he was feeling the stars. You were like a supernova, so bright and pulling him in. The idea of floating among nebulas paled in comparison of feeling you in his arms. When you moved one arm around his neck, he quickly placed one of his hands atop yours that was still on his face, keeping it there to relish in your touch a little longer.

When you broke apart, you didn't separate too far. He moved your hand to his lips to kiss your fingers, before moving it to his plastron. You could feel how fast his heart was beating. Or was that your own? You pecked his lips again, both of you smiling too much to give a proper kiss again. You leaned your forehead to his and you couldn't help but to giggle.

"Donnie, are you in here? Mikey wanted to- Oh! Oh, sorry guys! Uh, hold on! Let me just-" Raph had walked in and immediately shuffled awkwardly right back out of the room. He loudly cleared his throat before enunciating every word, "Donnie! Knock. Knock! May I come in?"

You and Donnie had already pulled apart when Raph had walked in but you still took a quick second to compose yourselves. Donnie's attempt to act natural was to examine his bust of himself while you pretended to hand him random tools... like a saw...? You were flustered, ok?

Donnie cleared his throat as well before calling back to Raph nonchalantly, "Yes, yes, come in!" Raph stiffly shuffled back into the threshold of the lab. He didn't know if it was appropriate to say anything about the development between you two. Should he congratulate you? Fist bump? Cheer?

No, that can wait until later when you both are ready to tell the family. After Raph tells Leo, Mikey, and April first of course.

"Mikey wanted to talk to you if, uh, you have a second. But no rush! In fact, take your time! I'll just be on my way now that I've relayed the message!" Raph pointed towards the living room as he squeezed back behind the wall as he started sneaking away. "You know, to let Mikey know that you'll come and talk to him!" Raph took off down the hallway.

"Oh no you don't loud mouth! Get back here!" Donnie yelled as he urgently chased after Raph.

You looked at your fingers that Donnie had kissed and moved them to touch your lips, blushing deeply. The sounds of the lair muffled around you as you relived the moment that had just happened between you and Donnie a little longer. You'll need to find more excuses for Donnie to be quiet in the future!

---fin---

*Reference to the 2012 TMNT series. (I like that all of the TMNT series reference each other so I wanted to do that too)

#rottmnt #donatello #rise donnie #donnie x reader #donatello x reader #rottmnt donatello #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt x reader

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stayarmytinyzenmoa-l · 11 months

Text

Without a Trace [Ch. 11]

Vigilantes AU TW: Language, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Graphic Descriptions of Blood, Minor Character Death, Gun Use, Knife Use, Major Character Death, Body Horror/Gore, Descriptions of Murder, Physical Assault, Implied Mental Assault Genre: Drama, Angst, Light Comedy Pairing: ATEEZ x Reader Y/N Pronouns: Gender Neutral (They/Them) Word Count: 13.4K Summary: Vigilante work has been outlawed, thus sending nine prominent vigilantes either into retirement or into lower ground and, while some abide by the law, a few continue on. Then, one day, a greater threat forces these vigilantes to come together once again, regardless of the law.

(11/11) [First] | [Previous] [Other Groups Masterlist] | [Without a Trace Masterlist]

Notes: HOOOO BOYYYYYYY AHA I DID IT GUYS, I COMPLETED A SECOND SERIES AHAHAAHAHA stay tuned for the end for a special note from me!. Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in these actions. The idols mentioned in this work are meant to be seen more as face claims rather than the actual idols themselves.

Feedback is greatly appreciated!! Thank you for reading!

You felt disoriented, like your brain was doing flips and your eyes were spinning faster than merry-go-rounds. You rose a hand to your head to try to soothe the throbbing pain in it. Memories seemed to overlap or even completely rewrite, and there were even some memories that seemed fuzzy and incomplete, like they were nothing more than distant dreams.

“If we’re coming back, let’s do it the right way, no more skirting around the law, we both have common goals, right?” Mingi says. You look up, you were standing in the Warehouse now with the other members of the team. “If we cooperate, we could amend the law and get back to what we do best.”

“Plus, I wouldn’t mind a paycheck,” Wooyoung huffs.

Something’s off.

“I’m going to have to disagree with you both,” Yunho spoke up next to you. “I of all of you know how fine print contracts work, for all we know they could arrest us as soon as the Charlatan’s captured.”

“I hate to break it to you two, but some of us have lengthy records on us, not to mention warrants for arrest,” Seonghwa glances over to you and you glanced back. What was this intense feeling of deja vu you were having? “(Y/N)?”

“Uh…” you paused. This conversation just seemed too familiar. “I don’t know, I think we should discuss it more before making a concrete decision,” you finally answered. You looked around the room, something had to be up, now, you were sure. San was skeptical, Yunho was calculating, Hongjoong was waiting, Mingi was worried, Yeosang was busy, Wooyoung was confused, Seonghwa seemed decided, and Jongho… You stopped on him, both of you having made eye contact. Jongho was silent, but he tapped on his wristwatch instead before silently shushing you with a small nod.

“Professor Jung assured to me that our work would be kept under lock and key,” Hongjoong says, pulling you both out of your staring contest. But the conversation started to fall into the background for you, you were too concerned with another matter at hand, too concerned with the way the Timekeeper’s attention landed on you for a second too long.

“If I may,” Jongho, who’d been silent, speaks up now, diverting everyone’s attention to him. “I think we should work independently. We’ve been fine on our own until now, and we will continue to be fine on our own in the future.” He looks to you again. Bingo, the pieces started to connect. They connected faster than you could realize.

Then, you remembered it all. You turned to look at San, who seemed as aloof as usual, neither adding to nor moving the conversation along, and as soon as you took a step toward him, Jongho was quick to intervene.

“What do you think, Spades?” He interjects and the argument ceases. You froze in place, having been caught off guard, and Jongho senses your unease. “Well? Work with the police or not?” Your expression tensed for a moment. The police? What was the correlation there? You had to have been brought back to this moment for a reason, Jongho singled out this sole moment for a reason. Last time, you cooperated with the police, but how did that land you in that situation?

…

Mingi. You looked over to the man who had been nervously fidgeting around with the ball in his hands. Was it really the police’s fault that he got caught?

Come to think about it, maybe they were responsible for so much more.

“I vote no, we should work on our own,” you finally answered. Jongho seemed to relax.

“We were self sufficient before, I’m sure we’d be fine still,” Seonghwa adds. “Like I said, working on our own, especially for some of us, is our best option,” he says.

“Then, it’s decided, I’ll relay to the professor our choice,” Hongjoong says. “Meeting adjourned. We’ll sleep on it and discuss the plan tomorrow,” he turns away, phone in his hand already.

“Hey, hey! Look what I found!” Wooyoung’s voice was chipper while he pried open the fridge. “How old do you think these are?” He pulls out a pack of beers.

“Well, considering I just restocked it, about three days old,” Yunho laughs, taking the box from him and opening it easily. You, meanwhile, turned to San, ready to corner him, but someone rushed past you and grabbed your arm.

“Don’t lose your cool,” Jongho says. “He doesn’t know what we know,” he tells you. You swallowed harshly, looking at San, who was speaking to Wooyoung, one more time. “Let’s talk outside,” Jongho whispers. You nodded and followed him out. The sun had already begun to set, and you never really thought of it back then, just how quick all of this played out. Getting on the Charlatan’s list, forming this group, nearly dying, and more, it was all over the course of little over a week. How quickly time passed by when you were busy with other things.

“What the hell is all of this, then?” You asked. Jongho glanced at the security camera before looking to you. You glared at him but, with a flick of your wrist, the camera was disabled with your knife embedded into it. “Talk.”

“There’s a reason why I chose the name Timekeeper,” he says before tapping his watch.

“Okay, bravo, you cracked time travel. What’s that got to do with me not sticking a knife in San’s head?”

“Let’s not be too rash, you remember that video, I know you do. He didn’t know either.”

“Why are you vouching so hard for him? You knew from the beginning why I did this vigilante shit, it was so I could kill whoever started this whole mess,” you argued. “Fuck, I just can’t believe I’m arguing with you instead of him.”

“Looked like you weren’t even going to give him the chance to explain it,” he shook his head and you took a deep breath. Unfortunately, he was right. After you saw that video you were so set on confronting him already. You left the room with that intention, and when you saw that the bars had descended you didn’t even think twice before stepping through the door he went through. And after you saw those articles strewn across the floor? You lost it. The drumming in your ears, the Charlatan’s taunting voice, and the memory of coming back to a dead body.

You really were going to kill him.

“I brought you back with me for a reason, (Y/N),” he says.

“You know something I don’t, huh?” You asked him.

“I do, but you’re going to have to trust me,” he says.

“How many times have you gone back?” You asked him.

“Enough times to realize that my old memories are becoming my new ones,” Jongho mumbles. “The last time I brought someone back with me it spelled disaster for that timeline.”

“Oh, I feel so special.”

“That’s not the point, (Y/N).”

“So, what? You want me to show him some sympathy?”

“No, not necessarily.”

“What’s so important about him anyway? The world would be better off without him.”

“(Y/N), I need you to listen to me.”

“Dammit, Jongho, what am I supposed to do?!” The argument continued forth, but Jongho kept a level expression. “I spent my whole life looking for the person that killed Eric. And he’s in there, having a drink with Wooyoung. Jongho, all of my friends have went through so much shit, it has to amount to something, all that pain we went through needs its closure,” you said steadily.

“And you don’t need to kill someone to do that,” Jongho shook his head.

“Why do you care?”

“Because I’ve always cared about all of you,” he says. “You know who really killed Eric. You’re just upset that San got to him before you did.”

The senator sends his regards. San’s voice was so clear now that you knew it was him.

“Alright, I’m listening,” you took a deep breath. “Why did you bring me back with you?”

“You remember everything that happened clearly, right?” Jongho asks.

“Sure.”

“You remember everyone’s injuries?”

“Yes…”

“You remember what everyone said?”

“Vaguely, but what does this have to do with me?”

“I need you to pull out of this,” Jongho says. “The team, I need you to go back and say you’re out.” You stared at him, processing what he’s saying.

“No, I can’t do that,” you said. “I can’t just leave them to deal with the Charlatan on their own, they’re dangerous, I can’t in good faith let my friends chase after them alone.”

“You have to, (Y/N),” Jongho insists. “It’s the only combination I haven’t done yet. Even all that shit I said in there to get the police off our backs, that timeline ended up with Hongjoong shot dead by them,” he argues. “Do you understand what I’m saying? Every time I’ve repeated that sequence it always ends in all of us dying because of this guy. We have never won against the Charlatan,” Jongho shouts. You took a step back, the suddenness of Jongho’s outburst being something you’d never have expected from him.

“How many futures have you seen?”

“A lot.”

“There has to be one where we win.”

“I thought there was, the one where I went back and convinced you not to join at all. But, in the end, the Charlatan got you. He got all of us,” Jongho shudders. “It was the longest timeline we’d went, I thought I finally found the perfect sequence. Ten years, we were all fine for ten years before that bastard came back to finish the job,” he says. You listened intently.

“Then… do you know who the Charlatan is?” You asked quietly. Jongho made a nodding motion, before shaking his head instead.

“Yes… but also no.”

“Oh, bullshit.”

“I’m serious, (Y/N), the Charlatan has been different every time,” he says. You held back a remark.

“What do you mean?” You shook your head slightly.

“My first timeline the Charlatan was a man named Derek Watts. Ordinary guy, interested in hypnotism, and hated vigilantes because during Aegis’ first bank save his dad died getting caught in the line of fire.”

“Huh, textbook villain.”

“Yup.”

“And then?”

“In the next, a man named Zhang Li,” Jongho crosses his arms. “Young college graduate, girlfriend died in a botched save from Mono.”

“Another textbook.”

“Exactly. Hundreds of timelines, hundreds of Charlatans. Hell, in one of my timelines, you were the Charlatan,” Jongho said in a low voice. “Eric died, you looked everywhere for help, and got none. Your friends died too. And you were left alone. I don’t blame you.” You couldn’t answer. “But then, I thought, what if you knew. What if you had some general knowledge about what was going to happen already, and I figured I’d try it. The last time I brought someone back it went to shit, but maybe this time it’d work out.”

“Who’d you bring back the last time?” You asked. Before Jongho could answer, the door swung open and San, face tinted pink, held two beers in one hand and a half drank one in the other.

“You two making out?” San chuckles through his slurred words. “I’m joking, come join us, we’re getting caught up,” he offers the two bottles to you both and, once you take them, returns inside.

“Him, he was the last person I brought back,” Jongho said once he was out of earshot.

“Him?” You asked with disbelief.

“He’s smarter than you give him credit for,” Jongho says. “We went pretty far with his help too, eight years.”

“What did he do differently?”

“I made sure he didn’t kill Eric,” Jongho said quietly. You looked at him.

“And?”

“Eric became the Charlatan.” Your breath caught in your throat.

“Why?”

“After the ban was passed, he was furious. All that work he did, all that effort he put into everything, he was repaid with a stab to the back.” The way he spoke bothered you. He was just so nonchalant about it, like he’d seen so many of the same outcome so many times he’d become wholly desensitized to it. “I’ve been keeping tabs on everyone who’d been the Charlatan, at least. You’ll never know if a timeline decides to repeat itself, right?”

“Even me?”

“Especially you.”

“Hey! Are you two coming in or what?!” Wooyoung’s voice boomed from inside and you both laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, we’re coming in,” you answered back. “We should go, before they suspect anything.”

“Sure,” Jongho held the door open for you but, before you could step in, he grabbed your arm again, “don’t make any rash decisions.”

“If I did, you’d just twist that watch of yours and go back, so why would it matter?” You shook his hand off and you both filed in. The boys were all seated, beers in the middle table and in their hands.

“About time!” Yunho grins. You popped the cap off of your bottle against the table and took a seat on one of the plastic chairs. “Ask (Y/N) next!” He says.

“Ask me what?” You drank some of your beer while Wooyoung spoke.

“Fuck, marry, kill Outro,” Wooyoung says.

“What are we, kindergartners?” You rolled your eyes, but Wooyoung’s expectant eyes said it all. "Fine, fuck Hope, marry Mono, and kill Agust,” you answered before drinking more. “Nothing against Agust, other than the fact that his inventions backfired on us a couple of times.”

“See, told you,” Yeosang nudges Wooyoung’s arm and the latter frowns.

“Is drinking before an operation a good idea?” Jongho asks, can of beer still unopened.

“Probably not,” San masks his burp with his fist, “but fuck it, right? I haven’t spoken to any of you for ages,” he shakes his head.

“I know! What have we all been up to, anyway?” Wooyoung’s voice overpowered San’s. But, even with the chatter, you couldn’t stop that nagging voice at the back of your head. You looked at all eight of them. Yunho’s shoulder was fine, he was moving around as much as usual. Yeosang was standing upright with ease. Everyone was… fine. You saw the future, or you were from it at least. According to Jongho, it should be different now without the police getting in the way, but you couldn’t help but worry. Was everyone’s safety so infringed on your involvement? Everyone’s wellbeing? You could feel the weight of their lives settling on your shoulders now, how could Jongho do this too? And how could he seem so… You looked at him now, his face stuck into one of indifference. No, you could’ve sworn that at one point he was as loud and cheery as the others.

When did he change? You wondered.

But your thoughts didn’t dwell on him for long, no, instead you looked at the boy next to him. He had discarded his jacket long ago, instead sporting his usual black tee that had some frays and faint blood splatters. His shoulders were relaxed while he laughed fully. How could he? How could he laugh like he didn’t ruin your life? It was almost funny, though, at one point you would’ve said that he saved your life. He was there after everything happened, picking up the pieces like…

Your breath caught in your throat.

He was there. Picking up the pieces like he felt obligated to. There was no doubt about it, San’s appearance in your life was due to whatever guilt surfaced when he realized what he had done. So what were you to him, then? A charity project? A way to repent besides turning himself in? All those soft smiles he showed you, the small gifts from him that you thought he wouldn’t have known about, and the days he’d walk you home thinking that he’d keep you safe, he did all of those knowing that he murdered your best friend.

And all that time you had no idea.

What was it like for him?

To take care of the person who was left behind? And to have no one to go to to talk about it?

“You alright, (Y/N)?” Yunho was next to you now, crouched in front of you while he waved a hand in front of your face. You blinked back into reality. “You good? I know when you’re thinking,” he takes the bottle from your hands and places it just out of reach. You straightened your position and took a deep breath.

“I'm backing out.”

And that’s how you ended up watching from afar.

Hongjoong wrote up a new plan, it took all night, but he came up with something else. Nothing he could do about you not being there with them, anyway.

Hell, you weren’t even in the general vicinity of the city.

The sunlight was surprising soft, the sea breeze rushed passed you while you adjusted your sunglasses and took a step off the train. And, directly ahead of you, was the person you’d called for a favor.

“(Y/N), over here,” Jisung rose his hand from its place in his jacket’s pocket, and you walked over to him while waving too. “Glad you called, she’s waiting for you,” he says.

“I bet, she’s been waiting for a while, huh?”

“Year and a half, give or take,” Jisung shrugged and opened the car door for you. “But, well, she was always the more hopeful one out of all of us,” he slides into the driver’s seat. Once you’d both closed your doors, he takes a deep breath. “So, what happened? They kick you out?”

“I left,” you answered while he started the car. “Call it a gut feeling,” you added, stopping yourself from remembering what you did to San before.

“Well, it’s never been wrong,” Jisung says. “You felt it before with Jeno.”

“And since then I’ve never ignored it.”

“Exactly,” he says. “But, it’s not like you to pull out of an operation so abruptly.”

“What do you know about me?”

“More than you think,” he chuckles. “We used to be close, remember?” He says with a teasing tone.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“How long are you staying?”

“Until I see that son of a bitch on the news,” you looked out the window as Jisung turned up onto a hill.

“So… couple of days?” Jisung asks.

“Sure,” you nodded your head slightly. Hongjoong had told you to lay low and go far since you were technically the most at risk in terms of the Charlatan. Originally, you’d planned to hide out in your apartment, but it’s been compromised too much for you to stay there. Then, after moving around the city, you remembered a certain someone who’d been trying to reach out to you for a while now. A person who you knew was in a secure location.

“We’re here,” Jisung pulled into a parking space and got out of the car with you following close behind. You pulled the door to the care center open and quickly stopped while someone stepped out.

“Oh, thank you,” the older man grinned. His grip was tight over the handle on his cane, and he walked with a noticeable limp. One quick glance was enough to see how badly burnt one side of his body was, as the scars creeped up to his face. He stared at you as long as you stared at him. He looked familiar. “Oh… is that (Y/N)?” He asked, his voice unstable but recognizable.

“Mr. Lee?” You chanced your first thought and he nodded. Jeno’s dad. How fitting.

“My god, look at you,” he hobbles closer to you and looks at you with caring eyes. “And Jisung too? My, my, what are you both doing here? You’re both too young to have to be at a place like this,” he shakes his head sadly.

“Mr. Lee, let’s have a seat over there and then we can get caught up,” Jisung looks over to the bench on the side and walks next to the older man, supporting him by the shoulders as the three of you sat down. “Our friend Giselle’s been staying here too, actually, so we came to visit her,” Jisung says.

“Giselle is also here? As a patient?” He asks in a melancholy voice. “Why her, of all the people? She has such a bright future ahead of her,” he frowns.

“Just… you know,” you couldn’t tell him the truth, “things happen. Wrong place, wrong time.”

“It always was that way,” Mr. Lee shakes his head. “So tragic, what happened to all of you because of vigilantes. Eric, Giselle, and even my Jeno, oh, it still hurts to think about what happened to my little boy,” Mr. Lee rubs his face with his hands. “I don’t know why he got caught up in that business anyway,” his voice shakes. “You both give Giselle my wishes, alright? Poor girl,” he mutters.

“Wait, but, Mr. Lee, what happened to you? You’re a patient here as well?” You asked.

“Yes, I am, but I usually stay with my wife,” he says. “I was just getting groceries until I was caught up in a heist led by TNT, I think his name was, and I got caught in the blast,” he says.

“That’s horrible, Mr. Lee,” your own voice nearly got choked up. You were there. You were there and you couldn’t even do anything, what with you nearly getting caught in the blast too, and now you were hearing that your friend’s dad was there at the same time? You could defend yourself, sure, but Mr. Lee? One look at his cane told you everything you had to know.

“This thing? It’s okay, I’ve gotten used to it,” he says wistfully. “It makes me look a little cooler now, right?” He chuckles. “But, I don’t want to hold you any longer, I know your friend is waiting for you both.”

“Will you be alright on your own, Mr. Lee?” Jisung asks.

“I’m old, not crippled, boy,” he says in a teasing voice and Jisung laughs.

“Alright, alright, I get it, old man,” he says. “Who’s picking you up?”

“The wife, of course,” he grins. “Now, go on! Leave this old man to his thoughts,” he insists and, slowly, you both got up and exchanged your goodbyes again before entering the facility.

“Welcome to Jaramedica, the rehabilitation center for all those damaged by vigilante or villain exploits,” the woman at the front desk greeted you as you neared. “Mr. Han, here to see Ms. Uchinaga again?” She asks.

“Yup, I brought another guest with me though,” he nudges his head toward you.

“Alright, full name, please,” she asks.

“(Y/N) (L/N).”

“And recorded, please enjoy your time,” she hands you and Jisung key cards and you walk through.

The inside was akin to a paradise, or at least in your terms it was. It was as grand as those resorts you used to see on commercials, and somewhere was Giselle, who’d been here for a while now. Her parents wanted her to rehabilitate in the best of facilities, after all, and no where was better than this one. The air was clean, the area spacious, and the people, god, just looking at them made you feel happier too.

“Inside here,” Jisung tugs you into one of the cottages and you locked the door behind you. “Gigi, I brought a surprise,” Jisung announced. You heard the TV’s volume lower.

“I’m in the room, Jisung, come in whenever!” That was the first time you’d heard her voice in… a while. You didn’t know what you were expecting it to sound like, maybe tired and strained, but no, instead it was the same as you’d remembered it. That made it even the more sadder, and couldn’t stop the guilt that circled your heart. You followed Jisung quietly, and when you stepped into the room, you were surprised by how bright it was in there with the window wide open and the breeze flowing through.

But it was nothing compared to her, you old best friend, who sat tucked into bed with her lunch on the table next to her, and her widened eyes that stared at you like they’d seen a ghost.

“Hey, Gigi,” you said quietly. And, immediately, her lips fell into a frown, but not the disappointed kind, no, the sad one, the one that scrunched her eyebrows together and formed tears at the corner of her eyes, the one that was the exact opposite of what you’d expected. Then, as if she’d been waiting, she opened her arms, and you melted into them, your face buried into her shoulders while she pressed her head against yours.

“I missed you so much, (Y/N),” she mumbled. “Look at you, wow,” she pulls away from you first, holding your face in one hand. Then, in a quick turn up, she whistles. “This one looks like a close call," she traces the scar under your chin.

“Too close for comfort, that’s for sure,” you answered. Then she pulled your wrist, looking at the scars that decorated your arms from the many fights you had. “Well, at least you got most of these when we were still together,” she says.

“Sure, that too,” you said while Jisung pulled up two chairs.

“Now, where did you find our littles Spades?” She asks Jisung.

“Technically, I found him,” you corrected her.

“I let you find me,” Jisung rolled his eyes.

“Whatever,” you shot back.

“And still with the banter, it’s almost like nothing ever changed,” Giselle laughs. You leaned back on the chair and then it caught your eye, a picture frame off to the side next to her. A closer look showed that it was a picture from before all of this, before your lives went to shit, and before vigilantes were even in the public eye. The five of you stood next to each other, arms wrapped around the person next to them and smiles brighter than ever. “I did say almost.” She catches the center of your attention.

“Yeah…” you looked away.

“So, you look like you have a lot to tell me,” she says.

“I do, I do, I don’t know where to even start,” you shook your head.

“We ran into Jeno’s dad just now, actually, he sends his regards,” Jisung says.

“Oh, is Mr. Lee here too? Is he alright?”

“Burns from a TNT heist,” you answered. “He’s still walking, but he has a cane now,” you explained.

“Oh, god,” Giselle frowned. “Next time he comes, I hope I run into him too,” she continued. “I’ve been going outside much more now, actually, the doctors say it’s good for me, so hopefully I see him sooner than later,” she says. Then, like a switch flipped in her head, she spoke again, “actually, before we continue on and before I forget, (Y/N), Jisung and I have something for you,” she snaps her fingers and opens the drawer next to her before handing you a box inside. “Go ahead and open it,” she says. You pulled it open took the SD card from inside of it.

“What’s this?” You asked.

“A gift,” she says. “There’s a computer in the next room, you can go watch it there.”

“Is it something I should watch now?”

“Well… we have time, I think Eric would want you to see it too,” Giselle urges you. Jisung nods.

“A surprise for a surprise, fun,” you flipped the card in your hand and stood up. “It won’t take long, right?”

“Depends on you, (Y/N),” she says.

“Yeah, yeah,” you walked into the next room, Giselle’s and Jisung’s voices growing quieter with the distance, and pushed the SD card into the monitor. You clicked onto the file that appeared on the desktop and what had to be hundreds of video files opened up before you. You clicked the first one and felt your heart stop.

You knew this video.

Eric tapped on the screen of the lens.

“Man… (Y/N) is so going to kill me if they see this,” Eric adjusted the camera to better get a good range around the bedroom. “Okay…” he looks at his phone screen. “Should be fine… I’ll just turn it on when I’m out, I guess…” he continues to mumble to himself while walking around the room. Your bedroom to be exact. The camera caught everything, from the bed, the closet, to the window, it had a good vantage point. “Crap, the one in the living room’s offline again.”

It was the same as the first time you’d seen it, except this time it kept going. You watched Eric move around the whole apartment checking on these hidden cameras you didn’t even know were there and, you were sure, might still be there, just unused and offline.

“Shit… I really hope (Y/N) doesn’t find these but… dammit, I can’t have a close call like that again,” he speaks to himself. “I’ll have to make sure I’m not followed back next time, (Y/N) could…” he stops muttering and shakes his head. You moved on to the next video.

This time, Aegis tumbled in from one of the windows, but as quickly as he came in he stopped to duck behind the curtain as you walked into frame, headphones on and humming whatever song was playing through them, and soon you were out of frame and Eric ran to the bedroom, emerging again in normal clothing and running to the front door. He cleared his throat and loudly announced that he was home and, there you were again, headphones around your neck with a smile.

The next series of videos were either of an empty apartment or of you doing whatever around the area. Occasionally there was a video where he was almost caught and occasionally there was a video of him tinkering with the devices. Then, a strange difference.

Aegis once again tumbled into the apartment and, after a quick check confirming that you weren’t home, Eric removed his mask and took a huge breath, but his eyes widened in shock as soon as he heard something break behind him. He turned around quickly, shield at the ready, before dropping it altogether as someone entered the frame.

Jeno.

“I can explain,” Eric says quickly.

“Holy shit…” Jeno had an apple in his hand and his jaw was practically on the ground. “You’re…”

“Into cosplay!” Eric quickly covered. “Looks good, right? Aegis is awesome!”

“Come on, Eric, I’m not that dumb,” Jeno runs a hand through his hair. “Have you told (Y/N)?”

“Have I told (Y/N)?”

“Have you told (Y/N)?!” “Of course I haven’t told (Y/N)! Are you kidding me?! Have you seen the people after me?!” Now it was Eric’s turn to be frustrated.

“I… holy shit… my best friend is a super hero he’s… he’s the hero!” Jeno freaks out.

“No, no, definitely not a hero, just a guy with a shield,” Eric quickly corrected him. “You can’t tell anyone, Jeno.”

“I won’t!”

“Not even (Y/N).”

“But… wouldn’t… I’m surprised (Y/N) hasn’t figured it out.”

“I can be sneaky when I try. But (Y/N) can’t know. No matter what happens, (Y/N) cannot know. I can’t put them in danger like that, do you understand?” You’d never heard him so serious before. Jeno, who’s countenance was usually so cheery, had grown serious. “Even if I die, (Y/N) cannot know.”

“Christ… that’s dark, man.”

“It’s for their safety.”

“What am I… what do I do if…”

“Don’t tell them, just let the police run their investigation.”

“And if they find your gear?"

“They won’t,” Eric said this as he removed his uniform, clearly showing Jeno where he stashed it and exactly where you remembered it. “Listen, Jen, if anything ever happens to me then you take everything in here and you burn it, got it? (Y/N) can’t be connected to Aegis, god knows who’d be after them,” he says sternly. Jeno only nodded curtly. “If someone else finds these and, I dunno, takes my place, then that’s even better. It would draw attention away from all of you. I originally took this up to protect you all, so I don’t know what I’d do with myself if any of you got hurt because of it.”

It was like everything connected in that moment. Sure, Jeno was the most excited to try the vigilante thing, he showed the most promise, but he never said anything definitive until “Aegis” broke his hiatus. His motive was never ‘what happened to Aegis?’ It was always ‘what happened to Eric?’ Who, thanks to San’s interference, had been removed from Aegis’ history nearly all together.

And when Giselle’s accident happened? Jeno was the first to bring up the idea of pumping the breaks.

And then what happened to him in your next operation?

You moved on to the next video, flipping through until you once again saw Jeno and Eric talking to each other.

“Yo… (Y/N) is going to kill you if they find out about this,” Jeno taps on the camera lens.

“I know, I know!”

“Can you imagine? ‘The Great Aegis killed by angry significant other.’”

“Now that’s a headline,” Eric laughed. “But, I’m only telling you about it because if anything happens you need to take all of the cameras out and take the SD card they’ve been uploading onto. It’s connected to my desktop so just pop it out.”

“Got it, got it, I’m guessing you want me to destroy it, right?”

“Sure, do whatever, just make sure it doesn’t fall in the wrong hands. Who knows what anyone would do with these?”

Wrong hands? The Charlatan had this last time, it was the only way for them to have had the footage. So that left one question then, how did they get it? You continued flipping through videos, only stopping when you got to that one. The one that nearly made you lose your mind.

You skipped through it.

The next video was exactly what you thought it would be. As you expected, it was Jeno, just Jeno, with tears in his eyes and the tip of his nose reddened, you watched him approach each camera and removed them from their spot before you saw him walk to the closet and pull the back panel out. Then you watched his shoulders relax with relief seeing that it was empty. All traces of Aegis were gone. You wondered if Jeno ever suspected the new Aegis, but then again your apartment was privy to burglars and with every window open it would have come as no surprise that Jeno had to consider the possibility. You looked at the date on the corner and, yet another variable, it had been a month after Eric had been murdered.

You didn’t even stay in the apartment that month, no, you stayed with Yuna, who had successfully gotten the cops involved in her case and was now living on her own.

Jeno was smarter than he let on, no wonder he didn’t jump to conclusions. Not in the same way you did, at least.

“Jen? What are you doing in my bedroom?” Your voice was clear.

“Uh… nothing,” Jeno closed the closet door quickly, but quietly, and before running back in the main room grabbed the final camera and, presumably, the SD card you now had in your possession.

“Sure, Jen, stop creeping over there,” Giselle’s voice was as loud as ever, then the video stopped.

You thought that was the last one, but there was one left, and this one was much different than the others.

This time it was in Jeno’s bedroom.

“Hey… (Y/N). Or, at least, I hope it’s you, (Y/N), so if it’s not you just, uh, do me a favor and don’t watch this, or do… I guess,” Jeno rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. This was a different Jeno than the one you’d seen in the earlier videos, he was older, tireder, and maybe a little more jaded, and when you looked at the date on the corner you knew exactly why, it was recorded the day before the altercation with Absolute Zero. “Uh… if you’re watching this then, uh… I guess I’m gone.” You felt your throat choke up and you took a deep breath. “Look, I just had a bad feeling about tomorrow so I wanted to leave this here for my own conscious, ya know? Maybe it’s a little selfish, but you deserve to know everything, (Y/N).”

Jeno rubbed his face tiredly again, feeling the bags under his eyes weigh heavily. He looks over his shoulder and picks up the camera, one that was hidden in the stuffed bear he remembered Eric giving to you a while ago.

“Uh, just to be transparent and everything, here you are,” he shows you asleep on his bed, you’d both agreed to meet up the night before to prepare, then he set the bear down again. “You’re really knocked out there, (Y/N),” he laughs. “But, uh… back to the message and all, this should be the last video on the card, so I’m assuming you watched everything else. Don’t worry, I didn’t watch anything at all aside from the ones I was in, I’m not a creep like that, but I just wanted to tell you that Eric cared so much about you. He really…” Jeno trailed off when he heard you stir.

“Actually, let me move to the kitchen,” he picked up the bear and left the bedroom, closing the door as quietly as he could before placing the bear down on the counter and sitting in front of it. “Eric only wanted the best for you, he wanted you to see him at his best, so I don’t want you to beat yourself up about what happened anymore. I’m sure you have questions, and I’m sure at least one of them is why I didn’t tell you and just…” Jeno trails again, “I’m sorry, this was all kind of spontaneous, I wasn’t planning on recording anything, but there’s just this gut feeling I have and it’s bothering me, you know? But, well… I told Jisung to take the SD card if anything happened so, yeah, he may have abandoned us but at least he agreed to do that,” he chuckles. But, as it died out, he zoned out for a moment.

“Just… just to toss things out there, I never said anything to the new Aegis,” he says. “I'm not sure if he was the one who killed Eric or if he just looted your place after it happened, but I never said anything. But, you know what, (Y/N)? He cares about you too. I hung out with San a couple of times, actually, just guy stuff, you wouldn’t care. Gym, garage, and golf, the three Gs we called it,” he laughs again. “I don’t think he killed Eric, though. And if he did, he didn’t do it from his own personal vendetta, there’s no way. But, I’ve seen the way he treats you, maybe you could hear him out one day, lend him a talking ear or something, I don’t know. The guy just seems lonely. At least we have each other, you know? I don’t know who he has,” Jeno shakes his head.

“Actually, I take it back,” Jeno backtracks. “San did say something weird to me once when we went drinking, but I never really thought too much about it. He kept saying that he “wronged you” or something like that, he kept talking about how nothing he’d ever do would make up for what he did, and after that I had a feeling. I had a feeling but while I was watching him I couldn’t be mad at him. I know, hate me all you want, curse me or whatever I’m probably dead anyway, but (Y/N), you have to understand, if he killed Eric in cold blood why did he try so hard to help you get back on your feet? Why would he have put so much effort into supporting you if he wanted to hurt him so much? I wish I had the chance to ask and, well, if you’re seeing this then I never made it to that bar hang out we agreed on,” he shakes his head. He was rambling, he knew he was, and in some strange way it comforted him. Saying everything out loud and breaking down everything he learned and observed had this strange cathartic feeling to it that he couldn’t describe. He couldn’t look at the camera, for some reason, it felt as if he was looking at you. But, for this last part, he forced himself over that fear.

“(Y/N), I’ll be so honest with you, I don’t want to die,” his voice was strained and he held back tears. “When I agreed to become a vigilante with you all, I think I was just excited. I wanted to be like Eric too, and I thought that I could, but…” he swallowed harshly. “After what happened to Gigi I… I don’t know anymore. Eric told me he chose to do this to keep all of us safe, and I wanted to honor that legacy of his, and then I failed,” he said this slowly now, taking deep breaths when he could.

“I guess, what I’m trying to tell you is… no matter what happens to me tomorrow, don’t hold it against yourself. Everything I do tomorrow and everything that happens is on me, alright? Just, uh… remember to take a couple of steps back. Don’t lose yourself to the hype like I did, take a page from Eric’s book and remember your place. We’re not heroes, and we’re not villains, we’re just people who decided they like to beat things up,” he laughs pathetically. “And don’t rush into things head on! We won’t be here to back you up this time and I don’t know if you would have anyone after us to do it either! If you do, then by all means, beat the shit out of whoever stands in your way, but otherwise take your time and figure things out before making decisions, yeah?” He points to the camera every now and then before sighing and shaking his head.

“You are one of the closest friends I think I’ll ever have, (Y/N). I’ll keep Eric busy for you, so I’d better not see you again for another 100 years, or whatever,” he says quietly. He’s silent for a while, the sound of the clock ticking behind him being the only sound in the video before he shake his head again. “Take care, (Y/N), and good luck on everything, yeah? You can do it if you put your mind to it, I know you know right and wrong, and I know you know how to choose your friends carefully. No matter what it is you’re doing now, we’re always backing you up,” he says. “Good bye, (Y/N),” he smiles at the camera before leaning over and turning it off, and only then did he take the time to wipe the tears that cascaded down his face.

You sat in silence, the restart button staring at you while you waited. What were you waiting for? Some surprise character to enter this story? You wiped your tears away while you sniffled and you tried to regain your composure.

God, that Jeno, he always knew how to get you in the end.

“I… um…” Jisung started behind you, you turned your head just enough to barely see him. “Jeno said he had a bad feeling about Absolute Zero, and if I saw his name on the news to go to his apartment and grab it.”

“You couldn’t have given this to me earlier?” You asked him.

“We weren’t exactly on speaking terms until recently, you know,” he deadpans.

“Right…” In the end it was your fault. What an ironic connection. “I’m guessing you and Gigi watched it.”

“Just the beginning, and that last video too,” Jisung says. You pulled the SD card out and stared at it, it was just ordinary, no one would have known what was on it and no one would have suspected anything. You placed it in your pocket and pushed past Jisung to go back to Giselle.

“That was fast,” she comments.

“I didn’t want to dwell too much on it.”

“I understand,” she smoothened out her sheets. “(Y/N), Jisung’s been keeping me updated with everything,” she says while reaching for your hand and holding it between hers. “You’ve been through a lot.”

“I know.”

“Now that you have your answer, what will you do?” You were silent. “Maybe you should take it easy now, I don’t think Eric would have wanted you to go on this rampage for him.”

“You’re right,” you nodded your head slightly.

“You’re not going to fight me on it?”

“Why would I?” You sighed and Jisung entered the room.

“Not to be that person, (Y/N), but we’re worried about you,” he says. “Every time the Ace of Spades came up on the news they were further and further from you. Maybe it’s time to drop the knives, (Y/N),” he says. “You know as well as I do, the Charlatan is out of our league. Just leave them to those eight idiots.”

“God, they’re gonna get themselves killed,” you brought your hand to your head.

“Good faith, (Y/N), they’re not that hopeless,” Giselle laughs. “Gosh, look at us, the reunion of Aces.”

“Minus one.”

“Not to be sentimental, but Jeno’s always with us,” Giselle squeezes your hand. Jisung leans against the wall and crosses his arms.

“I should’ve been there,” he says.

“Hey, too late for sympathies,” you cut him off.

“(Y/N), really, you should think about retiring,” Giselle says suddenly. “After everything that’s happened to you, you should put yourself first. You have your answer now, you know what happened, it’s time to give it a rest,” she insists.

“I guess I could…” you looked up and then you hesitated.

Something’s wrong.

That gut feeling of yours was kicking in again. You looked around and your two friends, who’d known you long enough, easily caught on to your unease. Jisung, though, was the one to really take initiative, standing up from his spot and playing around with something hidden in his sleeves.

Then, you looked up, specifically at the window.

You couldn’t get a good look at who it was, you only caught the shadow of them moving away. Shit, did the Charlatan find you? How? Why? This place was supposed to be secure! But a quick shared look with Jisung made all the pieces fit together.

Two targets in one place. Vulnerable. The Charlatan wouldn’t have missed an opportunity like that.

“I’ll be right back,” you stood up slowly and, before you could take a step to the door, someone grabbed onto your wrist. You followed it and looked to Giselle. “Sorry, I’m sorry, I just have a hunch,” you told her.

“I’m not stopping you, I just want to tell you to be careful,” she says.

“I will, I always am,” you reassured her. Jisung looked out the window.

“I’ll stay here with Gi,” he says.

“Yeah, no telling what can happen now. I know security is air tight here but…”

“You know what you’re up against better than we do,” Jisung fills in the blanks for you.

“Yeah, stay safe, hopefully I’ll be back soon,” you approached the door.

“See you later, (Y/N),” Giselle’s voice was distant as you left the small home.

The outdoors was bright and the cheery voices around you contradicted the intense feeling at the back of your head. You knew you were being watched, but you couldn’t tell who was watching you. There was no sight of anyone suspicious from earlier and the crowd made it hard to pinpoint where he could have gone, until a sudden movement caught your eye, a door shutting a little too quickly and a little too suddenly, so you moved toward it without hesitation.

The layout was near identical to Giselle’s home, save for the fact that it was littered with unopened boxes with a noticeable layer of dust on them. They were still sealed shut with tape and they were stacked amongst each other in various places throughout the room. The windows, likewise, were blocked by various pieces of cardboard that were held together by even more tape and even more boxes. Despite those, the room was empty, you were pretty sure. In fact, to the untrained eye, it looked like you were alone.

You knew that the Charlatan’s lackey was in here somewhere, you could feel it. You thought this as you walked further in, looking behind boxes and peeking into the rooms.

Where?

Where did they go?

There was only one way in and out of the cottages, even the windows couldn’t be opened that far by design. You stood in the middle of the room now, how could you miss them?

Clang!

You hit the floor with a loud thud, the metal cane dropping next to you being the last thing you saw before blacking out.

Jongho was right. Everything was going perfectly. Everyone was in relatively good shape, too. He saw this as everyone regrouped in the warehouse that Yeosang had finally traced the signals from the broken Charlatan mask to, they found everything they needed and more than enough evidence to break down the Charlatan’s modus operandi. They found the missing vigilante weapons, they found many of the missing people, all of which were somewhat familiar to them, and they found the source that supplied the Charlatan with all the information to begin with: a simple flash drive. God, did Yeosang yell, a simple flash drive was what brought so many people to their demise? The hacker almost laughed out loud at the sheer ridiculousness of it.

But, the strangest part of that flash drive? The chicken scrawl behind it that simply said ‘Loveholic.’

The legend themself, the unknown variable, and, arguably, the reason why the vigilante ban was passed in the first place. But Hongjoong was skeptical, the coincidental intersectionality between the Charlatan and Loveholic just seemed too convenient, like it was set up just perfectly like a trap made for an animal. Call it anxiety, instinct, or experience, Hongjoong knew something was up.

It was just too easy. Everything was laid out already and all they needed now was the person themself. The Charlatan. Whoever they were, they did well in covering their tracks, but with everything they found it was easy to breakdown the main details.

“How much longer do we have to stick around here?” San groans. "We’ve basically checked everywhere already, I don’t think the Charlatan’s here,” San says.

“I agree, I think we’ve exhausted this warehouse,” Yunho says.

“But we have to find them, if they’re not here then we look everywhere else,” Jongho says.

“Shit… maybe we should’ve agreed to let the police help us,” Mingi huffed, stuck in his own thoughts. “This isn’t even finding a needle in a haystack, it’s more like finding a strand of hair in the ocean,” he shakes his head.

“It should be possible with Cypher’s help, right?” Seonghwa asks.

“Maybe, but don’t rely on me only,” Yeosang said worriedly.

“We haven’t checked that one room yet, the one that was locked earlier,” Jongho interjects. “The one of the first floor,” he reminds them all. In the last timeline it was the room where he and Hongjoong found Mingi in but, with Mingi in front of him very not brainwashed, who knew what was in there?

The Charlatan, hopefully.

“What can we do, though? It’s locked,” Mingi says. Everyone stared at him. “What?”

“I’ll handle it,” Wooyoung rolled his eyes. “Let’s just head over there,” he leaves first and everyone follows. On the way, Wooyoung pulled out some kind of multi-tool from his belt and rifled through it until he tugged off a bent and a straight pick just in time for them to reach the room. Carefully, he pressed his ear to the door and pushed both picks in, listening carefully to hear the barrels click into place.

“Do you think he’ll get it?” San asks.

“Shh,” Wooyoung shushes him with a glare.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t get it,” Yeosang teases.

“Quiet, I can’t hear the mechanism,” Wooyoung grumbles.

“Maybe I should’ve asked if he knew what he was doing,” San corrects himself.

“Can you all be quiet for two minutes?!” Wooyoung straightens himself suddenly and grabbed onto the handle to balance himself, the knob pushing down and the door swinging open.

“Well would you look at that, it wasn’t even locked anymore,” Yunho deadpans.

“No wonder we couldn’t hear anything either,” Seonghwa sighs.

“It was locked earlier!” Wooyoung argues.

“You didn’t think to maybe check the door knob?” Hongjoong pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Be for real, if I did check it you all still would have made fun of me,” Wooyoung rolls his eyes.

“Can we go into the room already?” San cuts in.

“Actually, that’s a great idea! Let’s finish investigating the creepy-ass place so we can go home and find the Charlatan tomorrow!” Wooyoung enters the room first and turns the light on, immediately gasping after.

“What?! What happened?!” Mingi runs in after him and nearly bumps into Wooyoung while everyone else filtered in, the air around them going still as all of them realized who was in the room.

The sound of chains dropping to the ground echoed in the room as the figure who was once chained to the chair stood up. The Charlatan’s mask seemed to reflect the scene in front of them with blood dripping down either side of it and trailing along the curves of the mask’s artificial smile. Behind them was an older man who stood tall while clutching onto his cane that sported a noticeably fresh coating of blood.

“How nice of you all to join us, finally,” the old man says. “Allow me to introduce myself,” he says. “My name is Lee Muyeol,” he taps on the handle and, with a short chuckle, he grins. “And I am the Charlatan,” he looked confident. Like he had just won.

But none of them were paying attention to him.

No.

Just the last lackey next to him. The one who, instead of wearing the usual white jumpsuits, sported a black uniform with an encircled A on their right shoulder.

“No…” Jongho’s face fell into despair, something that everyone caught onto. Jongho was clutching onto his wristwatch now, the face of the clock cracking from the pressure he was putting on it alone.

“The Ace of Spades, who knew they were so much closer than I thought? It was a bit hard to break this one in, but they always come around eventually,” Muyeol says. In that moment, Spades pulled out their signature knives, the steel glinting under the light. “Now, the Ace of Clubs was a problem, it was better for me to have just knocked him out and, well, Hearts is already debilitated. Diamonds, though, may he rest in peace,” Muyeol shook his head. “Deal with them for me, Ace of Spades.” Spades readjusted their grip on the knives before flinging both toward the group.

“Disperse!” Hongjoong shouted before everyone ran out of the room. At the flick of their wrists, the knives returned to their owner.

“Twine, god, (Y/N) is a genius!” Yunho marvels.

“Not the time, Yunho!” Everyone shouts.

“Huntsman, focus on the Charlatan,” Hongjoong says.

“Got it,” Seonghwa made distance and loaded his rifle.

“Everyone else, try to hold back,” Hongjoong finishes. Next to him, Jongho adjusts his watch.

“Cheshire! Go!” Jongho shouts. Wooyoung, though confused, nodded his head.

“(Y/N)? Hey, friend!” Wooyoung runs up to Spades first. “Wake the fuck up!” He grips onto his knuckles and right hooks them.

“I said to hold back!” Hongjoong shouts.

“They’ll live, they’re hard headed like that,” San pulls the shield off of his arm and flings it toward the Ace of Spades, Wooyoung catching it with a slight clang as he bashed the front side of it against them. Spades grabbed a hold of the shield and flung it to the side while grabbing onto Wooyoung’s collar. Seonghwa, meanwhile, released the breath he’d been holding and pulled the trigger.

“Spades,” Muyeol’s voice was commanding and Spades released Wooyoung, running toward Muyeol instead. Jongho adjusted his wristwatch.

“Don’t shoot!” He shouts, but he was a second too late.

“No!” Wooyoung lurched forward but he wasn’t fast enough. Instead, he watched Spades take the bullet instead. With a steadying step back, Spades gripped onto their shoulder before steeling themselves.

“Shit…” Hongjoong grit his teeth.

“Some friends you have, Ace of Spades,” Muyeol says. “They just keep hurting you. Beating you. Shooting you. Drowning you,” he looks to Hongjoong. “Abandoning you. Dying on you. You really should get your priorities in check,” he shakes his head.

“Shut the fuck up, old man!” Wooyoung shouts. Behind him, Jongho adjusts his wristwatch.

“Cheshire, on your left!” Jongho shouts. Then, as knives lodged in the ground next to him, Wooyoung bounced back in time for San to grab ahold of his shield again.

“Sorry, (Y/N),” Mingi approached from behind, turning the pistol in his hand to hold onto the barrel while he slammed it down on their mask. Spades pivoted on their heel, bent down low, and swept their leg behind Mingi before pulling their knife out but, before they could throw it, a bullet knocked it out of their hand and Spades’ head whipped to the side, spotting Seonghwa gripping onto his rifle tighter than before. Spades rolled their shoulder out and made their way toward the rest of the group, knives at the ready.

“I guess we kind of are shitty friends,” Yunho says.

“Yunho!” Everyone shouts.

“What? Yeosang said that all the lackeys are still somewhat conscious, it’s like some hypnosis shit,” Yunho argues. Jongho adjusts his wristwatch.

“Hypnosis, right,” Jongho runs a hand through his hair. “Shadow! Keep Spades busy,” Jongho takes a step back and holds his head with his hand and Hongjoong speaks up.

“Jongho, you know something, don’t you?” Hongjoong asks. Jongho looks at him with an expression Hongjoong had never seen on him before, desperation. In front of him, Mingi grabs onto the Ace of Spades and drags them back, gripping onto their arm and slamming them onto the ground.

“(Y/N) is going hate us,” Yeosang cries.

“(Y/N) is going to kill us!” San corrects him.

“Oh, this is so fucked, this is so fucked!” Wooyoung panics. Once again, the knives just barely miss their mark but before Spades could recall them Mingi grabbed onto one of the twines and snapped it in half, all while the second one returned and lodged itself in his back. Spades pushed off of the ground grabbing onto Mingi’s shoulder with one hand and using the momentum to grab onto the knife in his back and pull it out. Jongho, meanwhile, adjusts his watch.

“Huntsman, aim for the second twine,” Jongho says. Hongjoong grabs his shoulder.

“Explain, Timekeeper,” he says firmly. Jongho is shocked into silence and, instead, he adjusts his wristwatch.

“I can’t,” he shakes his head. Then, the sound of a sharp break caught everyone’s attention as Mingi slid to a stop in front of them, clutching onto his arm tightly. San stepped up next, tossing the shield aside and cracking his knuckles.

“Alright, my turn,” he cracks his neck and charges.

“Blackguard, stop!” Jongho shouts.

“Nope, make me,” he catches Spades’ arm and twists it behind their back before kicking them down, but Spades recovers quickly.

“Look at him, he’s just watching,” Yeosang looks at Muyeol.

“We can’t target him, (Y/N) will just take the blows instead,” Seonghwa says.

“I know,” Yeosang mutters. The sound of material breaking caught their attention. The fissures in Spades’ mask were obvious even from their position. Yeosang, helps Mingi up from the floor and supports his weight. Then, something strange, Spades and San are caught at what was like a neck-and-neck finish.

“Shit, when’d you get this strong?” San breaks a sweat but keeps his force steady.

“San, listen to me,” your voice was muffled by the mask.

“Huh?”

“Don’t break concentration, dumbass,” you spoke. “You all came just in time, any longer I think I would have lost it,” you said.

“So, what, you acting?”

“Keep your voice down. If Muyeol suspects one thing the whole place goes down,” you say.

“So why’d you break Mingi’s arm then?”

“I didn’t, you idiot.”

“Then what did we hear?”

“Look at the knife over there, the second one I lost,” San glanced over quickly but, it was obvious, the handle had been crushed. “I’m not so evil I’d break your bones to prove a point, but I need you to make this believable,” you pushed against him and you both stumbled back. San only nodded and shook out his wrists. You pulled out two more knives and spun them in your hands, running toward him and plunging one into a non-vital area of his arm.

“Ouch.”

“Shut up. When you give the signal we all charge Muyeol,” you explained.

“Me?”

“Yup. Break the mask and those other two run. I told them not to tell the others,” San pushed your arm out of the way and you plunged the second knife into his other arm.

“Ouch.”

“Be serious, San,” you said curtly. “As soon as this mask falls off, Seonghwa will take the shot and you and those other two will grab onto Muyeol. He’s confident, but not invincible,” you explained.

“Got it, I trust you, who else knows?” He pushed away from you and picked up his shield.

“The obvious, of course,” he could hear your grin as you grabbed onto the shield and pulled it toward you. San kept his grip strong and he leaned in, other hand readying to uppercut. “Only one of us is crazy enough to come up with this stunt.”

“Jongho, calm down,” Hongjoong grabs Jongho’s hand before he could reach for his watch.

"I can’t,” he says.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” Jongho shakes his head slowly at first.

“It is,” Hongjoong said firmer. “Jongho, we’re winning.” Jongho blinks once and, finally, the sound of the mask breaking in half and falling on the floor, followed quickly by a bullet loading into place, followed by Mingi and Wooyoung running forward, and finished by the sound of San’s shield slamming into Muyeol.

“So, basically, I told (Y/N) as soon as they backed out of the plan about it, I’ll admit, the plan was rough around the edges, but I knew it’d work out,” Hongjoong explains.

Now, a few hours and a couple of ex-vigilantes freed from mind control later, everyone sat in your still decimated apartment around the only thing still standing, your dining table. You had turned your TV on for some background noise, but the earlier fight had left visible breaks in the video on the monitor, but it was still largely watchable. And, of course, along the table were boxes of pizza well deserved.

“That’s… insane. And you agreed to do it?” Mingi asks.

“Sure, anything to catch the bad guy,” you jut your thumb to the side, Muyeol sat next to you with a large piece of duct tape sealing his mouth shut, the words ‘Bad Guy’ scrawled messily along the tape. “When I first heard the plan, I was kind of impressed so I wanted to see how it’d go. Plus, I knew there would be insurance if it really backfired,” you glanced at Jongho quickly before looking away.

“Wait, wait, let me get it straight just in case though,” San says. “So, (Y/N) backs out of the plan first?”

“Yes,” Hongjoong answers.

“Then, in front of us, you tell (Y/N) to go somewhere far away and secure?”

“Yes,” Hongjoong repeats.

“But, after we all passed out, you woke (Y/N) up and told them the actual plan?”

“Yes.”

“Which was basically that (Y/N) would walk right into the Charlatan’s trap, get captured, endure hours of torture, become the last resort, get beat up, and then catch the Charlatan?”

“Well, yes, but it was a little more complicated than that.”

“And what if it didn’t work?”

“Like (Y/N) said, we had insurance,” Hongjoong says.

“And what if the Charlatan actually broke them?”

“Did he?” Hongjoong asks while he looks at you.

“I still feel like me,” you shrugged.

“Reckless, that whole plan was just… reckless,” Mingi sounded stressed. “How’s your arm, (Y/N)?”

“Not bad, I just wish I had the brains to not let the bullet hit my dominant arm,” you rolled your eyes.

“The whole plan was dependent on two things, one is that (Y/N) had the mental fortitude to hold out, and the other is that we needed to ensure the Charlatan thought he won, both of which were satisfied,” Hongjoong says.

“And now all that’s left is to turn the sucker in,” Wooyoung claps his hands. “Vigilantes will be loved again!” He says hopefully.

“Well… not exactly,” Yunho shakes his head. He points toward the TV.

“This just in, the reward for turning in rogue vigilantes has been significantly increased to garner more incentive among the general public. Please check the police department’s website to see the updated reward amounts,” the newscaster said.

“Aww, man, what the hell?!” Wooyoung cries.

“We’ll just never be in a good light for them, huh?!” San laments.

“After all the shit we went through? Are they serious?” Mingi’s voice was dejected.

“They really just hate us, huh?” Yeosang mutters.

“Wait, I thought we had a deal with the police?” Seonghwa asks.

“There wasn’t a deal, I told professor Jung that we weren’t interested, so we never got any protection from the police force,” Hongjoong explained. “Which, in hindsight, maybe it would have been nice so we wouldn’t have had to deal with this headache, but I digress.”

“But maybe they’ll be kind when we hand over the serial killer!” Yunho bargains.

“No, we will definitely be arrested on the spot,” Seonghwa shakes his head. “Property damage, reckless endangerment, probably manslaughter, and who knows what else? We’re felons, Yunho.”

“Way to take the fun out of our victory,” Yunho frowns.

“It’s so shitty that this is how the city still treats us,” San grumbles.

“Again, if I may direct your attention to the TV,” Yunho cuts in.

“… but despite the increased rewards, many citizens were seen voicing their support for the vigilantes and even showing excitement in regards to the newest team-up of vigilantes we’d recently seen. Could this be the stepping stone to a new era?”

“Oh, I take it back,” San whistles. “I guess we did good, huh?” He grins.

“It’ll be slow, but I can see vigilantes being accepted once again,” Jongho says.

“Wait, but I still have a couple questions,” Mingi says. “About the new plan, I mean.”

“Fire away,” Hongjoong invites him to continue.

“Wait, yeah!” Wooyoung cuts in. “Why didn’t you tell any of us? I had to hear the details while (Y/N) beat the shit out of me.”

“Beat the shit out of you? Did you see me?!” Mingi points at himself.

“Wait, breaking the knife handle was so clever,” Seonghwa says.

“I know, right?” Mingi smiles. “(Y/N) was like ‘I’ll break the handle on this so pretend I broke you arm’ and I was like ‘metal, okay.’”

“I can’t believe I had no idea,” Jongho shakes his head.

“(Y/N) and I decided to keep it on a need to know basis to ensure that everything went smoothly. Like I said, we had to be certain that the Charlatan thought he won,” Hongjoong explains.

“I didn’t even have a clue until Hongjoong told me right after I fired the first shot,” Seonghwa shook his head.

“Shit… now that’s saying something,” Yunho crosses his arms.

“Any other questions before we bury this hatchet?” Hongjoong asks.

“Yeah,” Yeosang rose his hand. “What is this insurance you keep talking about? Vigilante insurance? What does it cover?”

“It’s not literal insurance, I meant Jongho,” Hongjoong nods his head toward the youngest member.

“Oh, why?” Yeosang asks.

“I’m a time traveller,” Jongho says absently.

“Oh, fun,” Yeosang grabs a slice of pizza. “Wait… what the hell did you just say?!”

“I’m a time traveller,” Jongho points at his wristwatch. “With this device I can go back to any point in my timeline that I had it.”

“Yeah? Prove it then,” San insists. Jongho adjusts his wristwatch.

“On your left, Mingi,” he says without looking. Mingi moves to the right just in time for the overhead light to fall and just barely graze Mingi’s right arm.

“… whoa,” Mingi gasps. “You’re a time traveller.”

“Yes. Although I had no idea of the plan either.”

“Need to know basis,” Hongjoong repeats. “(Y/N) said that if all went wrong, then you’d fix it,” Hongjoong looks to Jongho.

“They’re right, I would have. I’ve been trying since forever now, actually, but this time I have a good feeling,” Jongho nods.

“Wait, forever? How long have you known how to time travel?!” Yeosang asks.

“A while.”

“How long is a while?” San asks.

“Who knows?”

“You know!” Yunho shouts.

“But do I really?”

“Yes!” Mingi’s turn. “Wait, now I need like a rundown on how time travel works.”

“Sure, I guess,” Jongho takes a deep breath and starts to explain all the details, maybe too many details, and after the first hour of the explanation, it was clear the others had had enough. “Then, using this specific metal, I was able to avoid the radar of the Sectors, long story, took forever to escape that prison, so—”

“Breaking news! The Charlatan has been turned in as of right now!” The newscaster’s voice was loud and, suddenly, everyone turned to the head of the table, seeing two chairs empty, and soon they were in front of the TV. “Just moment’s ago, the Ace of Spades came to the precinct with Lee Muyeol, father of the late Ace of Diamonds Lee Jeno, in hand and explained to the officers the situation. Despite earlier sightings, the Ace of Spades insisted that they found the Charlatan on their own and they turned him in even knowing that there were orders to have them arrested as soon as they were found. Now that’s vigilante justice! The Ace of Spades, identity still kept a secret, is now on their way to a highly secured prison made especially for vigilantes. More on this story as it is updated.”

“That crafty little…” Yunho trails off.

“(Y/N) took the fall for us…” Mingi says in awe.

“(Y/N) took the credit from us!” San corrects him.

“(Y/N) is in jail for us!” Yeosang gasps.

“I’m more concerned of when they slipped out,” Jongho mumbles as he removes his wrist watch. “I never thought that they’d do that for us,”

“But… we’re definitely breaking them out, right?” Seonghwa asks.

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” Hongjoong nods.

“What's the plan, boss?” Wooyoung smiles.

“Operation 2 of the…” Hongjoong waits for someone to finish his sentence.

“Team name! Time to brainstorm a team name! (Y/N) is just going to have to deal with whatever name we choose since they’re not here to add input!” Wooyoung says.

“Any ideas?” Hongjoong asks. Everyone’s silent.

“How about…” Jongho hums. “ATEEZ?” He offers. He is met with silence.

“What does that even mean?” San shakes his head in confusion.

“I was trying to incorporate the A’s on our uniform.”

“To be fair and transparent with you guys, the A is actually there because I wanted the discount, if I added a letter then I saved like 40% on the group order,” Yunho says.

“Really?” Seonghwa grimaces.

“I’m the Broker, I need to make a profit somehow,” Yunho scoffs, lighting the fuse for another entirely tangential debate.

“We still need a name, guys,” Hongjoong refocuses the topic and, as everyone begun to brainstorm possible ideas, the news continued on.

“Meanwhile, any vigilante still active or newly active are to be considered outlaws. As accordance to the vigilante ban, you must report anything and anyone related to vigilante justice,” the newscaster says.

And it was like a lightbulb had turned on.

Sitting inside your prison cell shouldn’t have been this peaceful. It was cold, bleak, the walls were white and the wall in front of you a perfect clear. Bulletproof, powerproof, lifeproof, nothing was getting through that glass. The only way in and out was the door to the side, highly secured, padded, locked, probably trapped. You didn’t want to try it. Ironically enough, this was the most relaxed you’d ever been. Your conscious had never felt more clear and a weight had been removed from your shoulders. Even if you’d never go back to your vigilante life, you did the right thing in the end. You turned in the monster that had been killing your friends and hurting much others. Maybe this would be a good way to start your retirement? Twenty years of reflection. You looked up at the ceiling. At least you had a safe place to stay, guaranteed three meals a day, and even a somewhat comfortable bed.

You didn’t know what to do next, you didn’t know much actually, but what you did know was that you owed so much to those eight boys. You couldn’t, in good faith, let them get arrested after that whole ordeal. If anyone was going to turn this whole Vigilante Ban around, it was them. And if so many timelines had been doomed because of you interference then maybe that was some kind of sign for you that it was time to hang up the costume for good. After your sentence maybe you’d move to a new country and start a new life, or something romantic like that. Your future was in your hands now and you couldn’t wait to see what those eight will do in the future, you were definitely going to keep tabs on them anyway.

“Stay in your place, inmate, don’t make any sudden movements or we will sedate you,” the guard suddenly orders. You looked at him without moving.

“Sure,” you responded. The door behind him opened and the last person you’d ever expected to see walked in. The guard excused himself and exited the room, locking the door behind him.

Professor Jung, meanwhile, sat across from you, with nothing but the glass wall separating you two.

“Well, well, so you’re the fantastic Ace of Spades,” he says. You rose an eyebrow.

“Expecting someone else, Professor? Someone more remarkable, no doubt,” you nodded.

“Oh, no, you’re perfect,” he smiles.

“How’d you figure it out? I could’ve been anyone.”

“I’ve always known. Who do you think appealed the courts to keep your identity a secret?” He asks, not expecting an answer. He looks up at the camera. Within moments, it sparks and dies. You sat up now, more alert than before. “Don’t worry, that wasn’t me,” he says. “Friend of mine, though, I’m afraid I’m very limited in time, so I’ll make this quick,” he stands up and approaches the door, easily pushing it open at the swipe of his key card. You stand up now too, taking steadying steps back. “Relax, relax, I’m not here to hurt you, rather, I want to make you an offer,” he says.

“I’m listening.”

“Your little team up, I’m impressed, you’re a very good team player, but really, you’re always on the sidelines, aren’t you, (Y/N)?” He makes sure to emphasize your name. “The Aces and this new team of vigilantes, why do you allow your talents to go hidden for so long?” He asks.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean, sir,” you reply.

“I want to hire you, (Y/N),” he says. “I want to have you lead an elite team I’m putting together, and I think you’ll be rather fond of your position,” he says. “You’ll have funding, of course. Provided by me through a third party to ensure both of our safeties,” he adds.

“Why me, sir?”

“Why you? I told you already. You’re perfect,” he repeats. “I should specify that these jobs you’ll be taking on, they’re not exactly stellar, they won’t be as clean as the Charlatan mission was,” he says.

“Ah, so it’s not that I’m perfect, I’m replaceable,” you corrected him.

“You could put it that way,” Jaehyun hums. “I’d say that you’re just good at your work. I’ve followed your movements for a while now, and after observing you in this operation, I had to give you this offer.”

“And if I say no?”

“Then you stay here, serve the rest of your twenty year sentence,” he shrugs. “Or, you come work for me.”

“What kind of jobs will I be doing?”

“Anything, but you’d mainly be working on assassinations,” he answers almost too casually. You narrowed your glance.

“I refuse your offer,” you answered quickly. “I do many things, but I don’t kill,” you say. Jaehyun lowers his glance.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, (Y/N). You’ve killed, many people, you just don’t want to accept it,” he says. You didn’t answer. “Plus, I think you’ll be interested in who your first target is. Don’t you want your closure?” He asks. You pressed your lips together. “Blackguard. He needs to be removed from the picture,” Jaehyun says. You remain silent. “Don’t play dumb, (Y/N), I know you know. Choi San killed Eric, don’t you want some justice for that?” He asks.

“I do,” you answer. “But not this way.”

“Hm, maybe I read you wrong then,” Jaehyun sighs.

“It’s too early to make any moves anyway,” you muttered. “Why do you want him gone?”

“Lets just say he didn’t just kill one person, (Y/N),” Jaehyun says with an elusive smile. “Of course, if Blackguard is off the table, I have a list of others instead. If you agree to work with me, I’m sure we’ll be a wonderful team,” he offers once again. You looked around your cell. “If you really think about it, it’s not as different as what you were doing before, only now you get a salary,” he says.

“Ah… what the hell, beats spending twenty years in here,” you sighed. “When do I start?”

“Immediately,” he says. “Any questions?” He asks.

“You still haven’t answered mine,” you say. “Why me?” Jaehyun looks to the ground for a moment.

“Have you heard of that saying? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?” He asks. You nodded your head. He walks up to you and holds his hand out for a handshake. “I know you have me completely figured out, and I can’t afford to have you loose while I know this,” he says. You stared at his hand, thinking back to everything you’d learned over the course of the last few weeks. You did have him figured out. “So, what do you say, Spades? Do you actually accept my offer?” He asks. So, he knew you were lying. To be fair, you were planning on making a break as soon as you stepped foot out of this facility, but if your hunch was right then you knew better than to chance that.

“If I refuse… you’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” You ask. Jaehyun smiles. “Well then… I accept your offer, Loveholic.” Without another word, you shook his hand.

The Outlaws and the Ace of Spades will return in ‘Out of Sight.’

Ending Author's Note:

Hello, hi, hey, everyone! Holy shit, I finished this bad boy. After, drum roll please, 352 pages, and a grand total of 98,500 words (holy shit!) Without a Trace is officially finished!! I cannot believe that I actually finished it lmao but here we are with a completed fic! My second completed fic altogether (minus Covalence, which was released originally as a oneshot).

I started this fic like, what, two years ago? I know she's an oldie, this one, not old enough to be on the old blog but definitely old enough. So to those who stuck around, thank you! And to those who just joined, thank you again! I couldn't have finished this fic without you all and for that I'm thankful! I can't wait to tap into another ATEEZ fic soon, though, y'all know I love writing content for them!

But, regardless, thank you to all of you who supported this series! I am so thankful for all of you for taking time to read this little fic of mine. Who knows what I'll work on now lol, but I don't think Out of Sight will be released in a while, or at least until I complete another series, but y'all will see once it's out!

Until then, thank you. I hope you're all having a wonderful day, a safe night, and a fun summer!

Love Always, Crys

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If you want to be added to either tag list or removed just send me a reply to this post, and ask, or a DM and I’ll add you as soon as possible!

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