#i bet it is something Darius was able to guess at | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

avatarmerida · 11 months

Text

Til You Make It

Okay so this was something I wanted to have finished for Valentines Day (and it shows) but then idk I just didn’t. But I wanted to finish it and at some point it became way longer than a drabble but I don’t have enough to do like a full multi chapter story so here’s some corny huntlow fake dating that’s king for no reason. Idk how I feel about it but maybe it’s just because I’ve been staring at it too long. Okay byyyyyeeee.

----

“...and then you pick truth or dare and we keep going back and forth like that,” Gus finished explaining the rules of the game. The boys had such a fun time sharing a room in the human realm they decided to have a sleepover and Gus was walking Hunter through the difference between sharing a room and sleeping over. The main difference was the games you played, according to Gus.

“Okay so I guess… truth?” Hunter said tentatively as they sat on the ground in front of Gus’ bed, their new matching Cosmic Frontier sleeping bags laid neatly beneath them.

“Okaaay,” Gus sang with a mischievous grin. “Tell me a secret…”

“Oh, well I don’t think we have any secrets anymore, I mean after everything that’s happened I think you must know most-.”

“... about Willow.” Gus finished, raising his eyebrow.

“Why would I know one of Willow’s secrets?” Hunter stuttered nervously. “A-and even if I did, I would never divulge one without her permission. Why would you-.”

“I’m preeeetty sure you have at least one secret involving Willow,” Gus cut him off as he reached for his juice box sitting on the nightstand. By now, Hunter’s massive crush on their friend was old news but Gus knew Hunter was making some progress, but getting him to open up about it presented its challenges. He thought this was the perfect game to get the ball rolling or at least see where the ball was. “But if you would rather do a dare…”

“No! No, it’s fine.” Hunter said, taking a deep breath. “There actually… is something I’ve been wanting to talk about. But everything stays confidential, right?”

“I’ll take the solemn vow of secrecy that Avery pledged to O’Bailey.” Gus said with a serious face that put Hunter at ease, knowing the severity of the oath.

“Okay,” Hunter took another deep breath as he fiddled with his thumbs. “Right before… everything happened, I sent Willow a message…”

“Okaaay?” Said Gus, prompting him to continue. “What about?”

“I uh, well… we had been messaging a lot and I… really liked talking to her and she asked if I could push up my next day off so we could hang out and I said I might be able to after the Day of Unity and I said maybe we could even… goonadate.”

“What?!” Gus exclaimed, spitting out his juice. “Are you serious?!”

“That was before I knew what the Day of Unity really was!” Hunter sputtered.

“I know that!” Said Gus, saving his mouth with a napkin. “I’m talking about you asking Willow out! Dude, that’s huge!”

“I know!” Hunter exclaimed, reaching for a pillow to scream into. “I nearly threw my scroll across the room afterwards. I-I don't know what came over me I just… said it! I didn’t really know what it meant! Darius joked about it, about me asking her on a date and so I just asked him what that meant and he said it was two people who liked each other spending time together alone and I… liked how it sounded. I didn’t really know about the romantic part until after but even then I… I think I still would’ve asked.”

“Hmm, I bet you would have,” Gus said with a smirk. “But, wait, why haven’t you guys gone on one?” Gus gave a little gasp. “Did she say no?”

“She never replied,” sighed Hunter. “Granted, it was late and she did mention she was tired so she might’ve fallen asleep. But then ya, know alot of stuff happened and then when I saw you guys at Hexside, I didn’t have my scroll to see if she saw it or responded. I mean, there was really no good time to bring it up! And I thought she didn’t bring it up because… maybe she did say no.”

“Well you have your scroll now! Did she ever reply?”

“Not to that message,” said Hunter, pulling it up and scrolling through a sea of messages. “After that it's mostly ‘are you okay?’ And ‘why are there scouts at the Owl House?’ She changed the subject, probably to let me down easy.”

“Or because she was worried about your safety?” Gus offered, knowing that was the real answer. “If we wanna know if she got it, we gotta ask her!”

Hunter’s eyes widened in panic. “No! There’s too many variables! What if she was gonna say no? What if she never saw it but would’ve said no? What if she said yes but she’s changed her mind? What if-?”

“What if she said ‘sure, when?’ but it never sent and she thinks that you left her on read?” Gus countered and Hunter gasped at the very notion.

“I would never!” He hissed. “Willow knows that! She knows… doesn’t she?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” said Gus.

“But… what if I waited too long and she lost interest or never had interest and I’ll just make her uncomfortable if I talk about it-.”

“Dude, stop.” Gus said firmly, cutting him off before he totally spiraled. “Even if Willow doesn’t like you that way, she’s still your friend and cares about you. She would never try to make you feel bad about having feelings.”

“You’re right Gus,” Hunter sighed, looking fondly at the profile picture of Willow smiling brightly back at him. “I should just come clean and express my feelings more directly.”

“Exactly!”

“In a handwritten note!” Hunter declared with flair.

“That’s… a start.”

---

So Hunter drafted his love note.

And then it turned into more of a novel, so he revised it so it wasn’t so overwhelming and got it down to a respectable page and a half. He carried it with him everywhere, waiting for the right moment. He had selected a simple light green envelope and doodled tiny flowers in the corners, as though he was worried the elegant way he wrote her name on the front in bold gold ink wasn’t clue enough that it was meant for her.

He needed to ensure there was no confusion about whether or not she saw it.

---

“Guys, guys guys!” said Hunter in a panicky tone as he rushed to the lunch table with Gus and Willow sat and had just been wondering where he was. He quickly sat down beside Willow and lowered his voice as though he was on the run, his hazel eyes overrun with guilt. “I did something bad.”

“Cool! What?” asked Willow, in the middle of opening a pudding cup.

“Well, I was on my way here and I ran into Boscha-

“Ew.” said Willow, naturally.

“And she… asked me out.” Hunter winced before proceeding to explain as fast as he could. “And of course I said no but she wouldn’t drop it until I gave her a good reason so I panicked and I sort of lied and said that you’re my girlfriend so she’d leave me alone.”

“Oh.” Willow said as Hunter examined her face for the disapproval he assumed his confession would warrant, but she seemed more focused on the stubborn top of her pudding. “So what’s the bad thing you did?”

“I-I lied!” Hunter said, as though she had not heard.

“Yeah, to Boscha.” Willow shrugged, saying the name like it left a bad taste in her mouth.

“But I lied about you!”

“Yeah, to Boscha,” Willow repeated again with a small laugh. “Hunter, I know better than anyone how persistent Boscha can be. If lying about me being your girlfriend gets her to leave you alone, I’m more than fine with it.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Willow assured him, finally opening the cup and placing the pudding in front of him before turning to open her own. She knew he was always running late to lunch because he had a habit of staying after class to ask follow up questions and the run in with Boscha had only delayed him more.

“Oh, okay…”

“Ya know, I’m surprised Boscha would ask you out,” chuckled Willow before fully hearing how her words could be taken. Her eyes widened in a slight panic and she raised her hands as she tried to explain. “Not that I don’t understand wanting to date you! No, it’s just that I’m surprised Boscha could see how amazing you are! She doesn’t normally have such great taste. I mean uh, well you know what I mean.”

“Heh, yeah,” said Hunter, sipping the drink Gus had brought him as he tried not to think too much into what she said. Not that I don’t understand wanting to date you…

“Okay, I get not wanting to date Boscha but why did you say you were dating Willow?” asked Gus.

“Well who else was I supposed to say?”

“Literally anyone else?” said Gus, fully aware that Willow was often already on Hunter’s mind and it was most likely the result of a reflex or wishful thinking. “Or like, don’t give her a name? You could’ve said she went to a different school or something. Even if Boscha did respect boundaries, you know how she treats Willow. She’ll probably try and break you up just to hurt her.”

“Hmmm maybe not,” said Willow, a thought forming behind her eyes.

“What do you mean?” asked Gus.

“Well, she might try to break us up,” started Willow. “Ooor she might be too embarrassed for anyone to know that Hunter would rather go out with half-a-witch Willow over her.”

“I mean, I guess that’s not a lie,” Hunter reasoned. “Except for the half-a-witch part.” He reached over and placed his hand over hers and looked seriously into her eyes. “Please don’t call yourself that.”

Willow’s eyes fluttered from his hand on hers up to his face, looking at her with total sincerity, his value of her outweighing any nerves that could accompany the action. She felt like a butterfly was loose in her chest, flying rapidly around in her ribcage.

“Ya know, I bet if she saw you holding my hand she would lose her mind,” said Willow with a mischievous grin, loving both parts of the sentence.

“Oh! Uh, well yeah … I guess?” stuttered Hunter, not sure if he should remove his hand or not. “I mean, that’s not why I-.”

“I mean, if I’m gonna be your fake girlfriend then it’s gonna look convincing,” Willow decided, instantly onboard. “We should probably hold hands alot more, especially if we just started dating; we’ll have to be even more obnoxious than Amity and Luz.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Well, let’s find out,” said Willow slyly, turning her hand over to lace her fingers with Hunter’s. She continued to eat her lunch as though this multitasking was second nature. “Oh yeah, Boscha would hate this.”

“Haha yeah,” Hunter laughed nervously, unable to fully process what was happening but knowing it felt very nice. He put his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his other hand as he admired their connected hands as he tried to convincingly convey a teenager in love. “She’d totally hate this.” he sighed with a dopey grin. .

“You know I’d do anything for you, right?” Willow smiled. “And if sticking it to Boscha is a part of helping you, well how could I say no?”

“Are you sure? I mean, I know it wasn’t the smartest thing to-.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Willow insisted. “It’s kinda perfect actually, she was being a pest yesterday about how I didn’t have a date for Bleeding Hearts Day. It’s really none of her business but it’ll be kind of nice getting to see her face when it turns out that I do.”

“Oh, right.”

“It kind of sounds like fun, actually, like an undercover mission. We can meet after school to plan our fake relationship, sound good?”

“S-sure, yeah.”

“Well, I gotta go check on my bulbs before next period to make sure they’re adjusting to their new soil, but wanna walk to class together, boyfriend?” She said the term in such an overly sweet way, Hunter thought his teeth might fall out. She said it the same way she would say his name when she thought he was keeping a secret that she knew she could work it out of him with very little effort. Was it because they shared a secret now or did she know something else was up? Either way, he wanted to hear her say it over and over again.

“Oh, uh y-yeah of course!” He chuckled nervously. “We can uh hold hands too I guess…” he sheepishly sipped his drink and Willow just giggled, knowing he had not intended to get himself into this situation and felt out of place not being prepared. But luckily her mind was racing with solutions.

“You betcha,” she confirmed, rising from the table and giving him a playful wink. “I’ll meet you by your locker?”

“I’ll be there!” he said with enthusiasm, waving to Willow as she walked away keeping his eyes on her until she left the cafeteria entirely. “Oh Titan I’ve made things worse.” Hunter groaned into his hands once he knew Willow was out of earshot.

“Sooo what happened to giving her the note?” Gus asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.“Isn’t this like skipping a few steps?”

“I-I don’t know! It all happened so fast!” Hunter mumbled. “I was about to put the note in Willow’s locker when Boscha walked by and took it from me! She saw Willow’s name on the front and went to rip it up and hen I asked her not to, she read it. She read it in this ugly high pitched voice and threatened to tell everyone and I… panicked.”

“What did the note say exactly?”

Hunter’s face turned a bright shade of crimson, having intended for the note to remain personal and having it exposed once already today was a lot. “It… just said that I liked her and I wanted to see if she wanted to see a professional flyer derby game with me for Bleeding Hearts Day.” Hunter summarized, the real note had been hard enough to condense as he wanted to make sure he covered all his bases and thoroughly expressed his feelings.

“Aww, Willow would love that!”

“Right?! Then Bocha tried to turn it into something bad like I should be embarrassed about liking her but I’m not. But she could tell I was embarrassed about something and so she threatened to tell everyone and I didn’t want Willow to find out from her so… I said that she was already my girlfriend. I mean, Luz and Amity send each other notes like that all the time so it’s believable, right?”

“So Boscha didn’t really ask you out?”

“No.” Hunter buried face in his hands and groaned. “Ugh, and I lied to Willow too! But I didn’t know how to explain to Willow why I lied to Boscha without telling her everything and now…”

“Now you get to show Willow what a great boyfriend you’d be.” Gus finished.

“What?”

“I mean, maybe you didn’t totally blow it,” Gus continued. “I mean, Willow didn’t seem upset about people thinking she was your girlfriend. Maybe that’s a good thing?”

“But it’s pulling her into my lie!” Hunter said. “Relationships shouldn’t be based on lies!”

“I mean, you tried pulling her into a coven and she still likes you,” Gus pointed out, as he continued to chew. “Fake it til you make it, right?”

“Right,” said Hunter with a small, uneasy smile. “Fake it til you make it.”

—-

“Hey boyfriend.” Willow smiled as she turned the corner to see Hunter gathering his books. Hearing her refer to him like that made his knees feel weak. It sounded so natural.

“Hey g-girlfriend,” he said, trying to summon the same confidence she had. But the word felt almost forbidden. But very nice. “H-how are your plants?”

“They’re great!” She exclaimed. “Thanks for asking, what a sweet attentive boyfriend I have.”

Hunter blushed, he had always asked her about her plants.

“So Luz, Amity, and I are practically rom com experts,” said Willow proudly. “That, plus being around the two of them nonstop, makes me confident that I have the expertise to ensure that we can be a very convincing couple.”

“I mean, we would only have to be a couple around Bocha right? And we aren’t around Boscha that much so you don’t have to put yourself out for me.”

“Nonsense!” Willow insisted. “You’re still getting used to things but I know how high school works. Word travels fast, everyone is looking for gossip. We can’t risk the mission crumbling due to carelessness.” Her voice dived into a serious whisper that lured Hunter down to hear her better, her tone covered him in a sense of urgency as though this truly was the mission of a lifetime. “There are eyes everywhere.”

“Of course, Captain,” he said with a serious nod, his voice low and gravely which sent a chill down Willow’s spine.

“I won’t lie, there may be challenges,” said Willow embracing the theatrics of the moment. “After last time, Boscha will be looking for any reason to try and prove that I-.”

“‘Last time?’” Hunter asked. “What do you mean ‘last time?’”

He knew he wasn’t referring to their scuffle at New Hexside. He knew Willow’s history with Bosha was complicated, but had he done something to worsen it?

“Okay, listen it’s not a big deal,” Willow began in a forced tone that suggested it definitely was. “But last year ago before Luz even got here, there was someone in a few of my classes that I kind of had a crush on,” she fiddled with her braid as she cleared her throat. “I thought they were really nice and cute but I was shy so I didn’t really have the confidence to talk to them. So I wrote a note to tell them how I felt and put it in their locker. A few days later they wrote me back and they… asked me to go to Grom.”

“And you said yes?”

Willow nodded. “I was really excited, I had never been asked out on a date before,” she recalled. “I even saved up to buy a new dress. And my dads were maybe even more excited than me, they were gonna take hundreds of pictures, and they waited with me for them to come pick me up like they said they would. And we waited, and waited, and waited. But they never showed up.”

“Did something happen to them?”

“When I asked them about it at school the next day…they just laughed. They laughed like it was the most ridiculous joke they had ever heard, going to a dance with me. Turns out, it was. They were never gonna show up for me because they had never really asked me. The note was from Boscha.”

“No!”

Willow took a deep breath, it had been awhile since she had shared this story. “Yeah. She had somehow found out about the note and sent the fake one as a prank so I’d either show up and be humiliated or miss the dance all together. Kind of a win-win for her.”

“Willow, that’s awful.” said Hunter, feeling as though he was about to cry, sorry he was causing her to relive the painful memory. He wondered if Boscha had been planning to repeat herself when she caught Hunter trying to leave Willow his note. He shuddered at the idea of her getting a note like that thinking it was from him. His galdertone ached at the idea that she could've gotten his note and thought it was written as a cruel joke.

“So it took me awhile to trust myself when I started liking someone, and even longer to believe that someone could ever like me like that.” said Willow.

“Willow I'm so sorry that happened to you, that’s just… you don’t… Oh, I’m sorry I got you involved in this,” said Hunter. “I-I don’t know why I did, I mean I knew how Boscha treated you, I should've known she’d find a way to try and-.”

“Hunter, it’s fine really,” Willow assured him. “I know I still let Boscha get under my skin sometimes, but I know this time is nothing like that. Plus I’d hate for her to try and do something like that to you. We’re not doing this to prove anything to her, it’s to keep her away from you. But if she found out that we were pretending… she’d be unbearable.”

“I mean she’s already unbearable,” Hunter scoffed.

“I won’t argue with you there,” said Willow with a light chuckle.

“So… have you liked anyone… since then?” Hunter tried to ask naturally.

“Um… maybe?” A subtle blush crept onto her face and she hoped he didn't notice. He thought he imagined it. “There is… someone I kind of…”

“There is?” Hunter's heart plummeted as his eyes widened in horror. “Oh my Titan, there’s someone you like and now I’ve roped you into dating me and now they’ll think you’re taken! Willow, I’m so sorry! If you wanna break up with me I can always see if-.”

“No! No, no it’s okay,” Willow insisted. “I think they’d understand. It’s fine, I promise.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely,” she said sweetly. “I’m fairly certain that pretending to date you will not hurt my chances with him.”

“Okay,” Hunter sighed, confused and relieved. His mind raced with who this person would be, this lucky, mysterious, and apparently very secure person who Willow had her eye on. He didn’t ask more questions, not wanting to pry and not wanting to increase the creeping feeling of jealousy lurking in his chest.

“Ya know, this will be my first Bleeding Hearts day with someone, even if it’s not totally legit,” mused Willow. “It’s still exciting though. It’ll be nice to spend it with someone I care about.”

“Yeah?” Hunter asked, unable to process that she had referred to him as someone special without air quotes or sarcasm. She really was looking forward to spending time with him on the most romantic day on the Isles? He had to make it worth her sacrifice. Luckily, he had the perfect day planned for months. “Well then, if you’re not doing anything already I was thinking we could go to a pro flyer derby match together.”

Her eyes sparkled. “Really? I would love- wait, do you mean the match on Bleeding Hearts day between the Sirens and the Harpies?”

“Yeah! I-if that’s okay….” Hunter started, pulling the tickets out of his pocket where he had been keeping them safe. “I actually already got us pretty good seats, so if you-.”

“Hunter!” Willow exclaimed, taking them carefully from him to admire them. “Are you serious? How did you ever… I mean this is so… I don’t even know what to say! This is so amazing I could just kiss you!”

“Hehehe uh well I guess technically you could…” he said quietly as he scratched his face. Willow was too engrossed in the tickets for Hunter to tell if she had heard him. “But I uh, got them as a thank you. For, ya know, being my… girlfriend.”

Willow smiled as she wrapped him in a tight hug, burying her face in his chest as she lifted him off the ground. “So that does that mean… you wanna go?” he strained to ask as she squeezed him tighter. She laughed as she gently put him back on his feet, taking delight in the red mesmerized look on his face.

“Of course! What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t?” She giggled, only slightly embarrassed at her impulse.She knew it was for show, but truthfully she couldn’t imagine a better evening than yelling in the crowd beside Hunter. How had Boscha managed to accidentally arrange one of the most perfect nights of her life? She was finally good for something, it seemed.

---

Pretending to date Hunter was unsurprisingly easy.

They spent the day adjusting their routine to that of a couple, and it turns out they needed to adjust very little.

They already went out of their way to walk to class together, so now they walked closer and linked pinkies as they walked.

When he dropped her off at her class, she always sent him away with an enthusiastic farwell, now she blew him a kiss before he left.

During study hall he sent her paragraphs worth of ideas for pet names. Terms of endearment tailor made for Willow that she couldn’t help but feel he thought of way too quickly, as though he already had them handy.

Such little things that made the biggest difference

During their time in the human realm, they would create little backstories for themselves to help them blend in and get adjusted to things. It was something silly they did to take their mind off the uncertainty of things and help the time pass, but now it was just a silly thing they did for reasons they couldn’t explain. Willow knew plenty of couples weren’t overly affectionate and they didn’t need to go so deep undercover, but she was willing to commit to the bit as much as he was. It was another thing they would do back in human realm, see who would break first or who would be the first to have nothing new to add. But this was one time Willow was hoping for a draw.

All through class she watched the clock, so eager to see him again and add another detail to their story. Her favorite part was when the bit reached a point where it felt like an elaborate inside joke that blurred the lines between fact and fiction. Hunter was always the best at creating with her. Sometimes it took him awhile to find the character, but if his Golden Guard days taught him anything it was how to adapt.

---

At the end of their first day “together”, any guilt Hunter harbored had vanished with Willow's collection of ideas suggesting she really was excited for this plan. If only asking her for real could be this simple. As they walked to the Owl House for their usual Friday hang chatting as they always did, they did so hand in hand only to remember halfway there that since they were out of school they didn’t technically need to be. But neither said this aloud. They were both convinced the other was simply dedicated to the ruse.

“... and I thought we could go official on penstagram but we have to do matching profile pictures first,” continued Willow. “I thought we could do one where we’re each doing like half a heart with our hands so when the ‘in a relationship’ update happens they’ll be next to each other and it’ll look so cute.”

Hunter had made it clear that he was fine with whatever Willow was comfortable with and he assumed that meant they would hold hands in the hallway for a couple of weeks (which was more than enough to make his head spin) but she was fine with everyone on the Isles thinking they were romantically involved. He knew Boshca didn’t have so much influence that the effort was necessary, but he convinced himself that Willow was simply covering all their bases.

It was for the bit.

As they reached the front door, Hooty was absent from his usual spot which signaled to Willow and Hunter that the weekend festivities were in full swing. Willow went to open the door with her free hand when suddenly a thought struck her and she turned to her co conspirator with a look of concern.

“Hunter, you did tell Luz we were only pretending to be dating, right?”

“I didn’t tell her anything,” he said, having not seen Luz since this morning when she saw them off before heading to her school in the human realm. “Only Gus knows that we’re pretending. I haven’t even talked to her since this morning, I don’t even know how she would know.”

“Oh Titan.” Willow said, the color draining from her face. “I think we might be in trouble.”

“Why would you say that?” Hunter asked as he opened the door for Willow and the answer to his question presented itself as they were instantly ambushed by the force that was Hooty. The bird tube wrapped them into a tight hug, crying about how excited he was for them as Hunter and Willow saw he was not alone in his sentiment.

“Congratulations to the happy couple!” Luz exclaimed as Hooty loosened his grip on them so she could toss confetti in their faces.

“Oh, that’s why.” Hunter whispered to Willow as they both regulated their breathing after being stuck in Hooty’s grip. All they could do now was smile awkwardly as they both took in the display Luz had prepared. A “congratulations” sign hung behind Luz in the doorway, the letters decorated in pink, purple and blue and then pink, yellow and blue. They had set up Eda’s old projector and a slideshow of pictures of Willow and Hunter played on what appeared to be a loop. There were a decent amount. It was just the kind of celebration a new couple would really appreciate.

If only they were a real couple.

It also happened to include nearly everyone from school, so correcting Luz right away wasn’t an option.

“Wow this is so… uh, you guys really shouldn’t have,” said Willow as she took it all in. She didn’t dislike it, no that wasn’t it. Hunter tried to place her tone, thinking that by the redness in her cheeks she might be embarrassed. If he didn’t know any better he might think she was… committing to the bit. That’s all it was.

But he couldn’t help but feel as though everyone had been expecting this celebration to take place sooner or later.

“Are you kidding? It’s not everyday your best friend starts dating your brother!” said Luz as she pulled them both into a hug,and they looked at each other nervously behind her back. She leaned back to offer them both a wide smile, practically jumping out of her skin as Amity joined her.

“Yeah! It’ll be nice to go on double dates!”

“Oh man, if I had known your crush didn’t go away, I would’ve set this up months ago!” added Luz.

Their eyes widened simultaneously, each thinking Luz was referring to them only, unaware how mutual the feeling was. They spoke at the same time, hoping to move on before she revealed too much.

“Oh! Well you know we don’t have to-.”

“Actually, we were thinking that-.”

“Hey there lovebirds!” Gus said, rushing in to save the day. “Why don’t you come to the kitchen and get some pizza?”

“Yes! Yes, of course!” said Hunter, happy for the save as he took Willow’s hand before following Gus back. “My girlfriend loves pizza!”

“Awh, look at them,” sighed Luz, resting her head on Amity’s shoulder. “He knows that she loves pizza.”

Once in the kitchen, sure no one was listening in, Hunter turned to Gus in a panic but the younger boy simply offered him a calm, knowing look.

“Gus, why didn’t you tell them we were just pretending?” whispered Hunter.

“I didn’t have time!” he said. “I showed up and Luz told me before I could even say hello!”

“Well who told Luz?” asked Willow.

“Who didn’t tell Luz?” laughed Gus. “Someone saw you two holding hands and one thing led to another and by the time I got here Luz had already talked to half the school. I didn’t wanna blow your cover so I went with it. I just assumed you two were just doing another bit like we used to do all the time.”

“Gus, this isn’t like trying to convince the lady at the flower shop that Willow used to be an actual willow tree and that’s why she can make the plants grow,” said Hunter. “This is serious!”

“Hunter, it’ll be fine,” assured Willow, placing her hand on his shoulder. “We can always explain things to her after, we just need to do some extra pretending tonight. If it’s too hard, we can always leave early.”

Hunter wasn’t worried about it being too hard, he was worried about it being too easy. He was worried Luz would let it slip exactly why it was too easy for him. Luz had honed in on his crush early on, maybe even before he was aware of it, and it stood to reason that she believed Willow was also aware of it now. How do you tell someone your girlfriend doesn’t know about your crush on her?

“Right,” he said, grateful for Willow’s support. They had been through worse, through deadlier and more dire things, surely they could survive a night of awkwardness.

Surely they could survive the flyer derby team’s stream of questions as Willow convinced them they kept it secret as to avoid drama on the team.

Surely they could survive everyone at the party mentioning how they knew it all along.

Surely they could survive the video Luz had somehow made (dare they assume she had it prepared in advance?) to summarize their relationship becoming official. As they sat on the coach, watching every picture he and Willow had ever taken together move along the screen while a song neither of them had ever heard played softly in the background. From the corner of his eye he watched Willow watch as the screen zoom in on a group photo where he was standing beside her looking at her with a faint blush as she pulled him into frame, her hand tight on his waist.

Her finger twirled her braid as he failed to read her expression for how she was feeling. He didn’t want to feel overwhelmed if she wasn’t. With the other bits, he always followed her lead. But the difference was that he had been the one to rope them into this one. And it wasn’t something they were doing to fool a stranger they would only see for five minutes, this was basically everyone they knew.

But she didn’t seem to mind.

She actually really seemed to like it.

“Don’t worry I made you copy to show your dads when you tell them.” Said Luz as the presentation came to an end, proud of her work. “I mean, unless you’ve already told them.”

“Well, we-.”

“Oh, they must’ve,” interrupted Amity. “I know how strict they are about this type of thing, there’s no way Hunter would ask Willow out without their blessing.”

“Oh, actually-.”

“That’s right!” Hunter interrupted this time. “I did ask them! And they said… no!”

“They said no?” Amity asked, surprised.

“What?” said Luz and Gus together.

“Wait, did you- I mean, yes! That’s right!” Said Willow, catching on. “He asked them and they said no but we are dating anyway! So it’s a secret!”

“Yeah! We are secretly dating!” Confirmed Hunter. “So we should not mention it to them. Because of the secret aspect of it.”

“Oh, yeah of course.” Said Amity .

“Yeah, we won’t say anything.” promised Luz.

“Good, because we-.”

“Why did they say no?” Amity asked.

“Huh?”

“I mean, it’s kind of odd, right?” She went on, stroking her chin. “I mean, they seem like they really like Hunter and they always tease you about him being your boyfriend, so what changed?”

“Uh…” Willow thought nervously, having not told Hunter about all the time her dads had “accidentally” referred to him as her boyfriend when his name came up (which was honestly quite often). “They caught us… kissing?”

“Kissing?! You two have kissed already and neither of you told me???” Luz exclaimed. “How long have you been going out that you’re already kissing?”

“Uh, well…” Hunter tried to start, starting to sweat. He and Willow had established a fairly thorough cover story, but they had never discussed this. Even hypothetical, Hunter knew he couldn’t muster the courage to bring it up to Willow. But now it was all he could think about. Between imagining that and trying to create a story in which it could believably happen, Hunter felt as though he was about to malfunction.

“Two weeks ago,” said Willow calmly.

“What?!” Luz exclaimed.

“What? I mean, yeah! We kissed two weeks ago!” said Hunter with a nervous laugh.

“Well? C’mon! Do we not get a story?”

“Um it uh was… a day-.” started Hunter.

“It was after our match against Glandus, it had gone into double overtime so it was late and Hunter was walking me home like he always does,” started Willow, to a room of “awhs” and “how sweet.” “But we were still taking our time, talking about the game and then all of a sudden, clouds start forming and we realize it’s gonna rain. We’re almost to my house so Hunter picks me up and uses his teleportation to rush me to the door before a drop can hit me. So then we’re standing on my porch and he’s standing really close so the rain won’t hit him and he just looks so cute… I dunno, I guess it was the adrenaline or something but I just pulled him down and kissed him.”

“Awh, that’s so sweet,” said Luz, brushing a tear away. “A first kiss in the boiling rain? It’s like something out of a book.”

“Yeah,” said Hunter, looking over at Willow. He remembered that day. It wasn’t something Willow invented to help sell their lie. They had gone into overtime and he had walked her home and he had rushed her onto her porch before the rain statered, But in reality, they had lingered there. He remembered their faces inches from each other, close enough to feel her breath on his face. She had been close enough that pulling him down would’ve been easy. And he thought about it, he did. Or at least, he knew this was the kind of moment where that kind of thing happened. They stood in silence for a few moments and he told himself later that it was because they wanted to make sure they were safely out of the rain. But truthfully he forgot about the rain, he could only focus on the lingering face paint clinging to the sides of Willow’s glasses and how he was close enough to see it so clearly. How he was close enough to…

But her dads had opened the door and welcomed the pair inside for a celebratory dinner before that possibility could be explored

That was the only thing she changed.

She didn’t need to pick that moment, she could have invented something totally new and Hunter would've gone along with it. But the fact that she did… well Hunter didn’t know what that meant. She would often sneak little jokes into their larger ones, but was this a joke within a joke or a reimagining?

“Yeah,” said Hunter, his voice soft and dreamy, transported to Willow’s improved version of the day. “That’s… that’s what happened.”

“So uh, actually we’d better get going,” said Willow, sitting up as she sensed Hunter was growing overstimulated. “Ever since then, they’ve been really strict about my curfew. And I know Hunter has a potions essay to work on.”

“Oh okay!” said Luz as she wrapped them both in a tight hug. “But I will be texting you a million follow up questions. You too, Hunter.”

“Cool, sure,” said Hunter, knowing that meant he and Willow would be on a video call making sure their answers lined up. He hated to think that he was enjoying inconveniencing her so much.

“Now go walk your girlfriend to the door, I bet you wanna kiss her goodnight,” teased Luz and everyone in the room let out an ohhhh

“Haha! You bet!” Said Hunter with forced enthusiasm, his voice cracking ever so slightly as he felt the room get hotter. “Willow! Let me walk you outside and we can kiss like we always do!”

Willow smiled in spite of herself and followed Hunter outside, waving goodbye to her friends as to keep up appearances. She couldn’t help but take a little delight in how nervous Hunter was. She always really liked that part of the bit.

“How are we gonna convince them we’re out here kissing?” Hunter whispered on the verge of a panic attack as the door shut behind them (luckily Hooty promised them privacy). “I can see Luz peeping through the curtains.

“Like this,” said Willow calmly, placing her hands on either side of his face and pulling him down close to her. As she did, she sneakily placed her thumbs over his lips and placed her lips against her thumbs, a nearly invisible barrier to the nosey on lookers inside

It was fake and staged but Hunter couldn’t help the way his heart raced, still being so close to her. He knew he had to sell his end but he didn’t know how to look like someone who was casual about kissing Willow Park. So he did the only thing he could think of and kept his arms at his sides, lest they do the wrong thing. He didn’t know if this was right, but he knew he wouldn’t know what was right so that made it right, right?

She closed her eyes and so he did too. He heard her hum and his lips formed a smile against her thumbs as their noses brushed against each other.

When she pulled away she gave him a small wink and patted his cheek to signify it had worked. It really had. No one at the party could deny that he was head over heels for Willow Park. Absolutely no one.

“Oh, okay,” he said, not knowing what to say but feeling like he should say something. “Uh… thanks.”

“Sure, yeah,” she said, trying to remain composed. There was no reason not to be, nothing had happened. “Anytime.”

It was just like that day on her porch.

“Why do you bring Willow flowers everyday?” Gus asked

“I don’t bring her flowers every day,” corrected Hunter as he handed Willow a small bouquet. “I mostly bring her seeds and clippings so she can grow her own flowers.”

“But why?”

“Because Willow loves plants? It’s kinda her whole thing? Well, that and-.”

“No I mean, why do you bring Willow flowers if you’re not actually dating?” Asked Gus.

“Because if I was really dating Willow I would try and bring her flowers everyday,” said Hunter simply and Willow hid her blush in the collection of red and yellow flowers Hunter had brought her.

“You mean if you were dating anyone, right?”

“Well not just anyone,” Hunter corrected him again. “Not everyone can handle the responsibility of plant care like Willow can.”

“But what if you were dating someone who wasn’t good with plants?” asked Gus.

Hunter looked at Gus like that was the most ridiculous question he had ever heard. “Why would I do that?”

Willow just giggled as she grabbed her books and held her flowers close to her chest to go add them to her garden in the greenhouse before class. As she walked away, she blew Hunter an over the top kiss as had become their tradition. He reached out his arm and pretended to reach for it as though it had nearly flown over his head before finally catching it and putting it in his breast pocket for safe keeping. Willow giggled as she turned the corner and Hunter wore a very convincing dopey grin as his eyes lingered on her until she completely left his sight.

“I know you’re trying to play it off as part of your ‘fake dating’ bit or whatever, but you always give Willow flowers before school and no one even sees you do it,” said Gus.

“I mean I… I guess I just need to thank her for doing this,” he admitted. “I mean, it started out as lying to Boscha but I’ve been lying to her too! And I know it’s wrong but I’ve really liked spending time with her and it’s easier this way for some reason? And I’ve tried telling her, I really have, but everytime I try she adds something to the story and I just… I think I’m in too deep.”

“Hmm, it’s almost like she enjoys being your girlfriend,” said Gus as he closed his locker. “Go figure.”

---

Hunter sat on the end of the couch, his back against the armrest as his arm rested around Willow’s shoulder as she leaned against him with her knees tucked to the side as she showed him a video on her scroll as they waited for Gus to started the movie .The scene was very cozy, very natural.

Very unnecessary.

“You guys don’t have to do that, ya know.” said Gus, walking in and promptly sitting down on the ground in front of the couch, placing the popcorn on the coffee table. “I’m in on your little ruse, remember?”

“We know it’s just… an easier way to sit?” said Hunter as Willow let out a bright, airy giggle. “I mean, there’s not a lot of room so…”

“Uh-huh,” said Gus, looking next to them where two full cushions remained unoccupied. “Sure.”

“Plus, it’s like being undercover,” offered Hunter. “You need to be prepared, you never know who could be watching.”

“In my house?” Gus asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

“Yeah Gus we’re undercover,” said Willow, making herself even more comfortable at his side, resting her head on his shoulder as though that was where it was always meant to be. “Besides, we’re gonna break up soon.”

“Oh, really?” Gus asked skeptically, rolling his eyes as paused the opening of the movie, wondering when his third wheeling would become official.

“Yes, really,” said Willow smugly, reaching behind her to grab the notebook off the end table. “We’ve been brainstorming.”

“Sure, that’s totally what you were doing,” he said, his sarcasm loud and clear. “So then, what do you have so far?”

“Okay, well…” Willow hesitated to start. “Here’s the thing…”

“It’s empty, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s empty,” said Willow, sitting back against Hunter’s arm. “We just… can’t think of a reason to break up.”

“Not a believable one, at least,” added Hunter. “We want it to be mutual so it won’t be suspicious when everyone thinks we’re just friends again. I mean well, not ‘again’ cause we always were, like the whole time, heh.”

“Yeah,” she sighed, as though it was a real problem. “So we tried to think of something less personal. Like, not something about one of us but maybe because we’re too busy and don’t have time for a relationship.”

“But then we thought, that might not make sense since we do spend a lot of time together,” Hunter continued. “We still play flyer derby together and we’re in some classes together. Not to mention we have movie night with you every week…”

“I mean, it doesn’t have to be a big or flashy reason,” Gus offered, knowing they didn’t really try very hard. “You can just say you're better as friends. People shouldn’t question that.”

Except they definitely would, because Hunter would definitely still have a crush on Willow. He would still look at her with the same dopey grin, the same wide eyes, and the same rose colored flush in his cheeks. He knew he would because nothing about her had changed, she was still so wonderful and funny and smart and brave and beautiful. Titan, if anything this whole thing has made him like her more. And he didn’t mind still feeling this way, as confusing as it was, but he worried that his infatuation would make their story unconvincing. They would claim it was mutual and there were no lingering feelings, but now all eyes would be on them to see if it were true and there his feelings would be: lingering.

And he worried people would somehow find a way to make Willow the bad guy. He knew Boscha was grasping at straws trying to ruin Willow’s reputation, and being a heartbreaker might be the straw she needed. He would deny she had broken his heart, but when it came down to it he didn’t think he could convincingly state he did not still have feelings for her.

And that might be enough to make things weird.

“I mean, we should at least stay together until Bleeding Hearts day,” said Willow. “We can figure out something after that.”

“Okay, I stand like this?” Hunter asked.

“Yeah, and then you prop your elbow against the locker like this,” instructed Willow, guiding him into position. “And like you can put your other hand on your hip or something and then I’ll stand against my locker…” Willow carefully put herself between Hunter and the locker so she was looking up at him. “And there! Just like the movie poster.”

“So this is flirting? Standing like this?”

“Well, standing and talking technically,” said Willow. “But if we stand like this, everyone can tell just by looking at us that that’s what we’re doing. Like a real couple.”

“Okay,” said Hunter, starting to understand. “Do we have to say anything in particular?” “I dunno, maybe you can try and say something funny?” Willow suggested coyly as she twirled the end of her braid around her finger. “Oh, and twirling my hair will also let them know we’re flirting too.”

“Okay okay,” said Hunter. “But should it be funny like clever funny? Or something more low brow? A pun? Or maybe one of those door jokes?”

“Hmm, we can always just pretend you said something funny and I’ll do a fake laugh,” said Willow.

“Wait, am I not funny?” he said with a fake scoff.

“I didn’t say that,” she said with a chuckle as she flicked his hair noodle.”You can be very funny.”

“That doesn’t sound like you think I’m funny,” he teased, absentmindedly leaning down closer to her.

“You are funny,” she insisted, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. “When you’re not trying to be.”

“When am I not trying?” he said, his voice carrying a certain twinkle in it.

“I dunno,” she said, wrinkling her nose at him. For some reason she felt bubbly, seeing Hunter pretend to act as though he was in disbelief. She felt like laughing now but tried to suppress it. Hunter noticed.

“You’re laughing right now!” he declared victoriously.

“I am not!” she denied, trying to hide her smile.

“Yes you are!” he said, adopting a chuckle of his own. “I know what your laugh sounds like, Captain!”

“Well, maybe I’m-.”

“You guys know Boscha’s been out of school all week with the common mold, right?” Gus asked, breaking the trance the pair had reentered with ease and had forgotten he was there.

Hunter offered him a quizzical look. “So?”

“Huh, no wonder things have been so peaceful around here,” Willow realized.

“Yeah, so without her around there’s no reason for you two to keep up this little act of yours,” Gus pointed out and Willow and Hunter realized they hadn't noticed Boscha’s absence because at some point they had stopped checking for her all together.

“Hmm, I guess you’re right…” said Willow slowly, wishing he wasn’t. “But, I mean, the common mold usually lasts a week so she’ll be back soon.”

“Yeah,” Hunter agreed. “Plus, she might have spies reporting back to her while she’s out.”

“Spies?” Gus said, unconvinced with a rise of his eyebrow. “Really?”

“I mean, that does sound like Boscha,” said Willow. “Having…spies.” She knew it sounded silly. She knew what Boscha was capable of, but even that was a stretch. Hunter stopped leaning against the locker and stood up straight, trying to read Willow’s expression.

“Congrats on being voted cutest couple!” Skara squeaked in delight as she bounced at them from seeming nowhere.

“What?” they exclaimed in unison.

“Awh!” Skara gushed. “You two are so in sync! So cute!”

“Skara, what do you mean-.”

“Just look!” she said happily, handing them a piece of paper. “It’s just a mock up, but that’s what it’s gonna be in the year book! I wanted to be the first to tell you, ya know in case you wanted to use a different picture or something.”

Willow looked down at the photo Skara had chosen. It was a photo of them after a flyer derby match, the photo captured Willow tackling him in a hug to celebrate their victory as Hunter caught her in his arms and spun her around, wearing a wide smile to match hers. They were looking at each other, totally unaware a photo was even being taken. He remembered that day, he could hear their laughter echoing as he spun her too quickly and they had fallen onto the ground right after the moment the photo was taken. He vividly remembered the smell of grass, the way the setting sun rested in her hair, and the way the sound of her laughter made his heart skip a beat. The picture was taken well before they had started “dating” and yet…

“It’s perfect Skara,” said Willow, her tone much different from what it was mere moments ago. He wondered why they stopped flirting if it was meant to convince people they were together. He had been enjoying himself and now he felt guilty. His cowardice had made this whole thing spiral out of control, and now their lie was to be preserved forever. In the back of his mind he remembered that Willow liked someone else. They were supposed to break up once everyone was convinced. How had they gotten so off task? How could he let Willow keep bailing him out in such a major way?

As Skara ran back to the classroom, an unsettling silence floated between the pair. Had it been any other story, any other bit, they would’ve come clean by now, right?

They knew this. Gus had gone out of his way to remind them and they brushed it off. But now, it was hard to deny it was a harmless but. It was a pretty big commitment for someone you weren’t committed to.

Willow had done all that for him and he couldn’t even be honest with her. He at least owed her that much.

“Wow,” Willow chuckled nervously, trying to fill the silence. “That’s uh, that’s a pretty big honor.”

“Yeah,” Hunter agreed, searching his mind for how to word what he really needed to say.

“I’m sure Amity will have something to say about it,” Willow chuckled lightly. “Since she and Luz have been together longer. But Luz doesn’t even technically go here, and I don’t think anyone would-.”

“I don’t wanna lie anymore.”

She looked up to see Hunter’s face flushed, his fists balled at his sides as though it took all of his strength to bring out that sentence. Willow had to admit, it was not what she was expecting to hear. It was not what she was hoping to hear.

“Oh.” was all she could manage to say. She didn’t need to ask what he meant. She could ask why, but she didn’t think she was up to it. “Um, okay.”

The bell screamed as Willow tried to process the whiplash that had just occurred. She could tell Hunter had more to say, but she felt as thought she had lost the ability to hear as static echoed in her mind. She was sure she said something about having to get to class, but she felt as though she was outside her body watching a blurry reenactment of a scene as her feet carried her away. They had joked about breaking up, because it was a joke. Because there was nothing really to break up. But then, why did it feel so real?

---

A few days went by and Willow and Hunter didn’t speak. He wasn’t waiting by her locker after class and miss practice after school. She assumed he needed space or assumed he assumed she needed it, but either way it was there. She knew the mature thing was to discuss the next steps, the story they would tell she had gotten so used to their new routine she had never prepared herself for its end. She thought he felt the same way.

“Well well well, if it isn’t Hexside’s most famous half-a-witch.” came a shrill voice Willow hadn’t heard in weeks interrupting her thoughts. She tried to ignore her, she knew that’s what was best. But of course, her timing was impeccable.

“Where’s your loser boyfriend?” sneered Boscha, following her victim down the hall, having much lost time to make up for. “Oh let me guess, he finally dumped you right? He realized what a loser you really were and decided to cut his losses?”

Unbeknownst to Willow, Hunter was hiding nearby working up the courage to greet her by her locker to try and explain himself. He had tried writing another note, but this time would read from it instead of trying to get it to carry more than it should by itself. But he heard Boscha beat him to the location and any nervousness left his body and was promptly replaced by fury. He knew Willow could handle herself, but he knew his lie added fuel to the fire that were her words.

“It’s really none of your business, Boscha.”

“I’m right though, aren’t I? I knew there was no way someone like you could convince anyone to date them. What, did he lose a bet or something?”

Willow kept walking. Hunter wanted to scream. Boshca knew it wasn’t true and Willow was smarter than Bocha, surely she knew it too right? Surely she knew.

“Didn’t you learn your lesson last time, half-a-witch?” snickers Boscha. “The only way someone would ever date you would be as part of a joke. No doubt he got sick of having to see you everyday and realized-.”

Before he knew what he was doing, Hunter teleported beside Willow who looked surprised to see him. Before she could greet him or question him or say much of anything, he placed his hand on the side of her face and pulled her close to him as she had done that day after the party.

But with one tiny major difference.

Willow quickly got over her surprise and leaned into the accidental kiss, dropping the books in her arm to the ground as she elected to rest her hands on Hunter’s chest, clinging to his shirt collar. He held her face in his hands like it was something delicate as their noses nestled beside each other like puzzle pieces meant to be like that. Willow did not need to rise to her tip toes to kiss him better as he leaned down to be closer to her and her foot popped in the air as his hold on her grew more secure. His lips were dry but surprisingly gentle as they found a comfortable placement against hers. Emotions of surprise and hesitation melted away as they had no place in a moment like this.

At some point during all of this, Bocha had left. Her grumbles and rude comments had gone unheard by the pair, far too engrossed in each other to consider there was anything else in the world worth caring about.

Somehow Hunter managed to stop himself in the middle of what felt like a familiar yet impossible dream. He pulled back to see Willow’s eyes closed and her face flushed as reality caught up with him and prevented him from savoring the moment further. “Oh no, I didn’t do the thing.”

“Really? I think you kinda did.” Willow giggled, looking at him with dreamy eyes, feeling like her chest was a fire bee hive as she allowed Hunter to be her balance, leaning forward happily to be caught any way he intended to catch her.

“No I mean the thing with my thumbs so I wouldn’t… so we wouldn’t…”

“But we did.” She said plainly, averting her gaze and playing with a loose thread on his uniform by his shoulder, she couldn’t bring herself to leave the bubble just yet. “Is that… okay?”

“I mean I… I don’t mind but I know that we’re technically broken up I think and that we were never even… I’m sorry,” he cast his eyes to the ground, and removed his hands from her face. “I-I just heard Boscha saying those awful things to you and I-I don’t know what came over me.”

“Don’t be sorry,” said Willow quickly, turning his face back to her to see his eyes. “For any of it. You just… got caught up in the moment. I’m sure I would’ve done the same thing.”

“Really?” Hunter squeaked and Willow nodded, her hand still resting on his check. “The uh… the exact same thing?”

Willow bit her lip as she moved her hand from his face to the back of his neck. Her other hand still had a steady hold of his collar and she planned to bring him back down to her to answer him without words but before she summoned the courage to do so, a loud gruff voice broke through their bubble as it flooded the hallway.

“Hey you two! Did you not hear the bell?” The voice demanded. They hadn’t, there were more important things holding their attention. So of course they didn’t know there was no one else left in the hallway.

Except a very grumpy teacher who did not find lateness romantic.

“You’re late to class! Detention, both of you!”

---

“Willow, I… I owe you an apology.” Hunter said as they sat beside each other in detention, whispering as to not wake the teacher at the front of the classroom.

“Hunter, it’s okay,” she whispered back. “It’s not the first time I’ve gotten detention.”

“No, not about that,” replied Hunter. “Well, yes about that too actually but I mean when I said I didn’t wanna lie anymore, I meant I didn’t want to lie to you anymore.”

“What? How were you-?”

He took a deep breath. “Okay, the truth is, I did run into Boscha that day,” he said quickly, trying to keep his voice steady. “But she didn’t ask me out… she caught me trying to ask you out.”

“What?”

“I was trying to put this in your locker,” he began, taking out the carefully folded note from his pocket and handing it to her. He had kept it, hoping there would be a right time for it. Hopefully this was it. “Because I didn’t know how else to do it and I thought it would be easier but she caught me and read it and threatened to tell everyone and I asked her not to because I didn’t want-

“People to know?”

“-you to think it wasn’t true,” he finished. “I-I thought if you heard that I liked you from Boscha, you’d never believe it since she’s always lying. And I didn’t wanna mess it up again so I panicked and that’s when I told her-.”

“Wait, ‘again?’” Willow repeated, confused. “What do you mean ‘again?’ When did you- oh! Do you mean your… wait.”

Her eyes told Hunter she knew exactly what he was referring to. He held his breath. “You did get it.”

“I did,” she said with a smile finding the answer to her question in his wide eyes. “I just… well, your autocorrect was always doing weird things and I didn’t want to assume… I mean not that I didn’t want to assume but I…”

She had hoped.

“But it doesn’t matter,” he sighed. “I shouldn’t have let this go on as king as it did, I’ve caused you so much trouble. You can keep the tickets, you can take Gus. I just… hope you’re not too mad and that maybe eventually we can-.”

“Hunter, when exactly did the thing with Boscha happen?”

“Um about three weeks ago?”

“And you bought the flyer derby tickets for us to make it look like we were dating?”

“Well, I mean I knew you’d been wanting to go so I thought it would be a fun way to say thanks for being a great girlfriend.”

That was technically not a lie. He truly had been hoping he could say that by the time the event rolled around.

“But I guess what I’m asking is, when you bought the tickets you bought them with the intention of us going to the game as a date for Bleeding Hearts Day, right?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Hunter… the date on these tickets says they were purchased months ago.” Willow said with a smile.

“Well, it’s your favorite team playing their biggest rival so tickets we’re gonna sell out pretty quick and I wanted to make sure we got good seats so once it was announced I-.”

“But… you couldn’t have known months in advance that we would pretend to be dating when the game was happening,” Willow pointed out, a deep blush covering her face.

“You… you knew?”

“Kinda? I mean, I knew a little bit,” she admitted. “I didn’t actually know what I knew but I… uh, anyway.” She cleared her throat as she tried to steady her voice. “What I do know is, I’ve really liked getting to be your girlfriend.”

“Oh uh, good. I’m glad I… just wanted to make sure you were uh…”

“I also know that I don’t wanna lie anymore either,” she said softly, inching her chair closer to his.

“Oh, yeah of course I mean I understand if you just want to-.”

She placed her hand atop his on the table, effortlessly lacing their fingers together. “So let’s stop lying.”

He looked down at their hands in awe. A part of him wanted to make an excuse, to link it to their ruse. But a louder, kinder voice in his mind told him to squeeze her hand back. That so many words weren’t needed right now, to stop complicating it. Questions rolled around his brain trying to make him doubt this was what it was but he pushed them back, but then one slipped through the cracks.

“But what about… the other person you like?” He asked sheepishly. “Don’t you… I mean, aren’t they…?”

Willow looked at him with playful eyes as she bit her lip and Hunter felt like the smartest and stupidest person in the world.

And also the luckiest.

“Oh.” He said, understanding her look and not questioning it. His face was red and he knew it but didn’t care. He tried to summon the coolness he was convinced he had when they were only pretending. “Don’t you uh, wanna read the note first?”

“How about you summarize it for me?” She smiled.

“Okay uh…” he tried to pick his favorite metaphor when he realized he was doing it again. She didn’t mind that he was complicated and careful in fact she liked it. She liked him. And she was waiting for him. “Willow, would you wanna… go on a date… with me?”

“I’d love to Hunter,” she said softly, and he felt as though he heart was melting and exploding at the same time. “Lucky for you, I happen to have two great seats for a flyer derby game this weekend.”

“Wow, what’re the odds?” He chuckled, over the moon to find them back in their rhythm as he rested his head on his hand, admiring the scene finally presented in reality.

“Ya know, this means you’ll have to actually ask for my dads blessing for real then right?”

Hunter beamed, his face envied the suns brightness at her response. “I’ll go as soon as we’re out of here,” he assured, his heart racing at securing her blessing to ask for his blessing.

“Great, so you can explain to them why I got detention today,” she said, with a wink. Hunter laughed before realizing Willow was in detention because she had gotten caught kissing him. Not exactly the first impression Hunter was hoping to present as a suitor.

Maybe he’d ask her dads after their first date, just in case.

#huntlow #huntlow fanfiction #winter toh #toh #the owl house #willow park #hunter toh

152 notes · View notes

rocksandmirrors · 1 year

Note

We-

We were supposed to be processing WAD-

I may have misunderstood the assignment-

Anyways-

Raine’s the one who braids Eda’s hair in the time skip. She had a hook hand and no magic so braiding it herself would be very difficult

At some point Matt his own hair in the bathroom at 3am probably because realizing he’s in love with Gus

Willow is 100% aware Hunter plans to propose but still acts surprised and waits for him

Eda did the flapjack tattoos on hexsquad and they weren’t really sure if she’s qualified for that but who cares it’s nice

Alador took his kids on a bonding trip and Ed broke more bones but em was able to heal them

Darius legally adopted Hunter (and Eber) and Hunter cried

Daruis cried when Hunter called him “dad” for first time

-🔮

LOOK I DIDN'T RECOVER EITHER BUT LET'S ACT LIKE WE BOTH DID JAHSFJSAF

oooh interesting!! i could see it happen, i bet Raine loves taking care of Eda's hair <3

okay but shaving/cutting your hair at 3 am bc you're having an existential crisis/mental breakdown is 1 relatable af 2 exactly something Matt would do. bonus if Steve catches him one night and makes fun of him before helping him out (and i'm sure that won't come off as a surprise, but it inspired me for a fic HJAFSJAS SOMEONE PLEASE STOP ME)

oooh this cute!! Hunter is one hell of a mess, while he doesn't blush as much anymore Willow can still tell whenever he's planning something <3

this is a nice hc!! i can't decide if she insisted to do the tattoos herself bc she claims she has a tattoo artist career behind her, or if one of the kids directly asked her to (probably the former ahah)

WHY DO YOU KEEP TORTURING THAT POOR ED /j my boy is just a walking mess, someone please assign him a babysitter, he clearly still needs one at 20

i'm not the biggest fan of Dadrius, but those are still nice hcs!! i guess the confirmation he's Hunter's legal guardian is still a little new, i really thought Camila would adopt him lol

#raine whispers #edalyn clawthorne #mattholomule #steve tholomule #gustholomule #hunter noceda #willow park #huntlow #darius deamonne #eberwolf #headcanon #oracle anon #damn you really sent a lot lol #(dw tho i don't mind at all!!)

125 notes · View notes

lotusthewriter · 8 months

Text

I want something just like this

Fandom: The Owl House

Rating: G

Relationships: Hunter & Darius, Hunter/Luz (romantic)

Characters: Hunter, Darius Deamonne, Luz Noceda; MENTIONED - Emperor Belos | Philip Wittebane

Summary: Hunter wants his first Grom to be perfect. He just doesn't know how Darius is going to react.

Word count: 1.336

AO3

A/N: I bet I'm going to get hate for this lmao. The focus though isn't the romance, so if you can still tolerate Lunter then I guess you'll be able to enjoy the Dadrius. This is my first time writing Darius/Dadrius though, so I hope it's good enough, at least.

TRIGGER WARNINGS - past child abuse and trauma

HUNTER AND LUZ ARE NOT CANONICALLY SIBLINGS. HATE AND ANNOYING COMMENTS WILL BE BLOCKED.

P/roship DNI.

“Your carriage still awaits, little prince.”

“Just a second!” Hunter replies, trying to tie his hair and failing miserably. Multiple times.

There’s an impatient sigh.

“You know it’s rude to keep your girlfriend waiting, young man.”

“I just need a minute!”

“No, Hunter, you’re late.”

“You’re not helping me get done!”

“What are you possibly doing in there?” Darius questions, annoyed. “I’ve taught you how to dress fittingly, it shouldn’t be hard at this point.”

“It’s different this time!”

“What do you mean?” The door handle moves, but it can’t get through the lock. Darius knocks again, firmer this time. “Hunter, let me in.”

“I just need FIVE MINUTES!” Hunter snaps.

“If you don’t open this door on the count of three, I’m tearing it down myself.”

The boy freezes.

A sensation he hasn’t felt in long.

Maybe it’s Darius’ tone, maybe it’s the reason why he’s taking so much time to come out, maybe it’s the fact he doesn’t know what’s going to happen if the door is indeed torn down.

Regardless, Darius starts counting.

“One…”

Hunter stares at himself in the mirror. He knows it’s almost done, but it’s not perfect.

“Two…”

Fearing what will come next, the teenager quickly opens the door and turns his back to Darius. He can tell the man is already crossing his arms, disappointed.

“Well?”

Gulping, Hunter holds his homemade cloak, hiding most of it from his mentor. He’s shaking an awful lot and he tries not to make it obvious, but of course, Hunter is a mess and he’s terrible at hiding things.

“I…” he sighs. “I tried…”

Finally, he gives in and turns back to his mentor. Noting the heavy silence in the room, Hunter can’t look at the other’s green eyes, for he wanted to look exactly like him: the cloak covering part of his body, only it’s on his right arm instead of the left. The blond hair tied in a bun with longer sideburns. The difference being that Hunter wears a dark gray suit, besides the cloak being red in honor of Flapjack.

As he gets no response from Darius, Hunter’s brown eyes blur.

“It’s bad, isn’t it,” he assumes.

Darius takes a while to respond.

“Hunter–”

“I’m sorry, I- I tried, I wanted to be good”– Hunter’s lips quiver and his legs shake so much that he’s on the floor, begging for the other’s mercy –“but I failed, I’m a failure.”

“Titans, Hunter, no.” He senses another presence kneeling down in front of him.

“Forgive me, I’m- I’m a mess, I’m not right!”

“Hunter,” Darius begs, “Hunter, listen to me. Can you listen to me?”

The boy nods.

“Can you look at me?”

Hunter, hesitantly, obeys, face wet with tears.

“None of that is true,” Darius tells him. “You’re not a failure. You don’t need to prove that you’re good.”

Hunter sniffs. “I just… I just wanted to be like you.”

“You don’t need to be. You’re enough just the way you are.”

Waffles has flown to Darius’ shoulder, trying to reinforce his mentor’s words. Hunter’s dread slowly quiets down.

Darius doesn’t act superior to him. He doesn’t control Hunter with the use of fear; he’s here, on the same level as his, gently reassuring him in a way Belos would never. Darius is nothing like Belos.

Hunter knows at this point he should be able to tell the difference, but sometimes it feels like he’s back to square one, and it’s scary and painful, fearing for his life ending at any wrong step. Hence why he’s so surprised that Darius is… actually safe. Has always been safe.

The teen dries his face.

“I… I still want to be like you, Darius,” Hunter concludes. “Not because I want to please you… but because I’m really proud to have your guidance.”

Darius looks… emotional.

Before Hunter can look further into it, he’s being pulled in a hug, strong arms soothing him from the evils of the world, even the ones that aren’t out there, but inside Hunter’s head.

The latter freezes again, but… it’s the good kind.

Darius doesn’t usually show affection other than head pats. Sometimes he goes for the hand on Hunter’s shoulder. But never a hug.

And it’s not a quick hug, for that matter.

It lasts a long time. Saying so many words that will never be spoken.

But Hunter can definitely hear “I’m sorry” and “I would kick Belos’ butt myself if I could.”

And he can’t help smiling, ultimately calming down in the embrace.

Finally, Darius clears his throat nervously and lets go, patting Hunter’s arms.

“Now, we can’t keep your girlfriend waiting,” the former insists. “You could’ve asked for my help, you know.”

“I wanted it to be a surprise.” I wanted it to be perfect.

“Sure you did.” Darius smiles.

He helps Hunter with the hair bun, as well as adjusting the clothes since everything is a mess. But for the most part, he doesn’t have to change anything else about his looks.

“Alright, this should do,” Darius sighs.

Hunter hums at the mirror. “Do I look okay?”

“You look… like you.”

“And is that good?”

“Obviously.”

He blushes, unsure what to say.

With this, Darius is guiding him to the front door, where Luz awaits, wearing a dark purple and red suit, her brown hair slicked back. She gasps and grins widely, eyes sparkling like light spells, and she runs all the way to Hunter to hug him.

“Oh my gosh! You look so handsome!” Luz exclaims.

Hunter’s cheeks burn as red as his cloak. “Heh, I… had some help.”

He smiles cheekily at Darius, who winks at him.

“Wait, hold on,” Luz lets go, taking her phone. “I gotta take a picture of you guys!”

“Of… us?” Hunter and Darius look at one another, surprised.

“Yeah! You look so much like father and son!”

Hunter is taken aback by the word choice. Darius, his… father? Would he approve of that?

Before he can actually ask, Darius is putting an arm around him and pulling him close, posing rather happily for the photo. Hunter is frozen for a while, not believing this is really happening. But once Darius gives him a trusting look, the boy loosens up and puts his own arm on his mentor’s back.

When Luz shows them the picture, it doesn’t look awkward in the slightest. It looks natural, it looks… right.

“Could you send it to me later?” Darius requests.

“Sure!”

“Alright, now it’s my turn to take pictures of the love birds.”

Waffles appears the moment the word “birds” is said. Hunter and Luz pose for the camera. Only he doesn’t look at it – he’s staring at his girlfriend with the dumbest smile of all. The blue jay palisman is lying on Hunter’s head, much to Darius’ enjoyment.

“I’ll be sending these to you two and your mother, Luz,” Darius tells them.

“They look awesome!” Luz slides through the pictures. “Thanks, Darius!”

“Yeah… thanks.” For everything, Hunter wants to add.

He has never seen Darius this happy and proud.

“Now, go have fun, you’re rather late,” he says, making a shooing gesture. “I’ll be picking you two up later tonight.”

“Okay! Bye!” Luz waves excitedly at him.

“Bye, Darius,” Hunter says rather shyly, but with so much feeling.

The man is waving back, looking like he’s going to cry of joy at any moment.

Finally, Luz is offering her hand to Hunter, who takes it gently and confidently. She looks at him like he’s the most beautiful person she’s ever met. He could say the very same about her.

His first Grom night is fun. It’s filled with life and love. It’s when Hunter realizes he’ll always be loved and supported, even when everything seems to turn against him. Today, he gets to be a normal boy, enjoying his night with his girlfriend and all of his friends, and knowing his father figure will be waiting for him later.

Hunter knows now… he has a home to return to.

#the owl house #toh hunter #hunter deamonne #darius deamonne #dadrius #luz noceda #lunter #abuse tw #child abuse tw #fanfiction

18 notes · View notes

felixcloud6288 · 5 months

Text

Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 108 part 2

part 1

Two years have passed. Roy is a Brigadier General, Lin is the Emperor of Xing, and Ed can't wield a hammer without hurting himself.

I can't read this part without thinking of that one outtake from the dub: "We should try to resurrect our mom."

Gramman is Fuhrer now, but he seems to be planning on letting Roy take over after him. Although he seems intent on holding onto power for a while (Back-stabbing bastard).

Maybe he'll let Roy become Fuhrer if he marries his granddaughter.

Babby Selim is so cute. And he has a pet kitty. I bet that cat is the reason the bird is hurt.

Al talks with Gracia and Elicia and brings up his idea of giving back more. He's still an Alchemist but he refuses to be dependent on it or treat it as the end-all be-all. Why rely on something that wasn't able to save a little girl.

Jelso and Zanpano have gotten into studying Alchemy. Jelso's idea to fix their bodies seems way to simple in concept, but all discoveries have to start somewhere. Maybe the answer is as simple as Jelso proposed and they just need to figure out the finer details around it.

And Ed once again over-complicates things with his whole "Equivalent Exchange" nonsense. He can't just make a straightforward proposal to Winry.

And Winry, being the kind of person who does things for simple reasons, breaks equivalent exchange right there. She offers far more of her life for Ed even if he only offers half.

And so Ed and Al head off on new journeys to learn and discover and make the world better.

As for everyone else:

Roy and Riza continue to work together in the East

Havoc's legs were restored and Maria Ross is now part of the Mustang crew

Vato Falman stayed with Briggs

Yoki returned to the circus gig and brought Darius and Heinkel with him

Black Hayate had puppies (I guess Riza didn't neuter him afterall)

And the final message of the story ties back to the first page of the series.

In the very first page, the story discussed lessons without pain being meaningless because anything worthwhile has a cost attached to it. This message was placed alongside the image of Ed having just lost his leg. And much of the story dealt with this idea that all things are a zero-sum gain. No matter what you gain, there is an equal loss.

But now we see the full message of the story. The pain and sacrifice are not the point. Suffering does not beget anything. But if you endure and overcome trials to reach your goal, you can achieve a Fullmetal heart. And that is greater than any cost you might pay.

Nina Trauma Count: 10

back

#fullmetal alchemist reread #fullmetal alchemist

10 notes · View notes

smokestarrules · 2 years

Text

Reaching Out - Promos

“Amity wants to prove herself to her father; Luz thinks she's found the perfect way to do it: underground witch duels.”

So let’s go through everything we (probably) have so far from this episode.

Firstly, this.

There’s a lot to unpack here. First off, it looks like Amity’s in her parents’ lab, or a place similar to that, judging by the background, and clearly she’s doing something that she’s not supposed to be doing (whether that be in general, or just against what her parents want). Interestingly enough, the book that the Abomatom is slicing in half seems to have Darius on the cover, and the book itself is titled “Abomination Creation”.

My guess is this is going to take place near the beginning of the episode; perhaps Alador will be disappointed in whatever Amity’s getting up to down here (perhaps just simply because who’s book she’s using, given that Darius and Alador seem to have some sort of rivalry) and that will provide the conflict for Amity wanting to “prove herself” to him for the remainder of the episode.

That being said, if this Abomatom is moving on Alador’s orders... that doesn’t give me a lot of hope for him in this episode.

Next, we have!!!!

Luz!!!! Luz with her Grudgby gloves, Eda’s Grudgby jacket, and messy hair, to be precise! Is this her disguise for the “underground witch duels”? I love her. I love that she dressed up for this. She’s never looked more jock, and I love her.

Then there’s Warden Wrath and the Demon Hunter from Hooty’s Moving Hassle! I don’t think we know his name It’s an unlikely duo, but it looks like these two have either created the duels together, or they’re narrating it! That idea is further evidenced by...

This shot! They’re both in this image. But of course, that’s not the only thing going on in this image.

Because Amity and Luz are here, too!! Luz in her jock disguise, and Amity in her... Abomination Dress? It also looks like she’s wearing a mask, which might just be part of the rules of this fighting ring. Honestly, out of the two of them, Luz looks more like she’s about to do some fighting, but who knows, maybe Amity’s dress has some of the same properties as Darius’ hair, and she’s able to control an Abomination from her outfit without even having to summon it first. That’d be pretty cool, and as said above, she has been reading from Darius’ book, so it’s not impossible.

Sidenote - I hope this is just reading too much into it, but it has been pointed out that Amity’s dress+ponytail combo really kind of captures the vibe of Odalia, and with the conflict of this episode being Amity trying to “prove herself” to Alador, I’m a bit... concerned about that.

(credit to @sepublic for realizing that first. I haven’t slept since.)

Last but not least, we have a few more characters!

Eda and King! And Warden Wrath again, just with his mask back on.

The lighting in these two shots seems to be the same, along with the background matching up. It kind of looks like these two images aren’t very many frames apart, but King isn’t on her shoulder anymore in the second image, and perhaps that’s why Eda goes into full harpy mode!

My bet is that Eda and King are taking place in the B plot of this episode and are going to start out separately from Amity and Luz, but their arcs are going to intertwine in the end. The Owl House does that sort of thing a lot, and it’s good every time.

And again, these are the only ones I’m fairly certain will be in this episode. Last but not least, here’s a Bonus: “maybe” shot:

This is a “maybe in Reaching Out” because really, the only possible proof of it is just that Amity’s in the shot. It can just as easily be attributed to any other episode, but just in case, I wanted to mention it here. Who knows, really. Always stan Amity beating Hooty up though <3

#toh #the owl house #Reaching Out #amity blight #alador blight #luz noceda #warden wrath #demon hunter #eda the owl lady #edalyn clawthorne #king clawthorne #hooty #odalia blight #smokey speaks #darius deamonne

337 notes · View notes

airyairyaucontraire · 3 years

Text

Right, I’m now caught up on Camp Cretaceous (future post palaeontologists, this was August 2021 after season 3). Thoughts?

I enjoyed that and would gladly watch another season. One of the more ambitious things about the show as a spin-off is the way that it stays linked to the events unfolding in the Jurassic World movies, filling in what Rexy and Blue were doing in between the first two and, near the end of S3, incorporating and expanding on events from the prologue of Fallen Kingdom. Thus S4 can run up to the point where, if and when they do escape from the island, they return to a world where dinosaurs are loose due to Maisie making the same choice they would have made (and did make when, for example, they freed Blue from being pinned under the overturned vehicle before the compies could kill her). I guess they have to either finish their story there or wait till after Dominion to be able to continue. So that’s a bit of a narrative challenge.

It was a really strange writing choice that when Ben wanted to remain on the island, nobody ever said “But what about your family? Your parents must think you’re dead. Don’t you even want to see them again?” And of course Ben could have reasons for that, like an unhappy relationship with his parents, resentment of his mother for sending him to the camp, feeling that his parents didn’t want him as he was and have no claim to who he is now, and they could be things that he didn’t want to talk about, but it was weird as heck that none of the others even asked him.

As a group and for their age, they do talk surprisingly little about their families. Sammy seems like someone who would chatter about them frequently but no. We don’t know how Brooklynn and Yasmina feel about parents who pushed or at least encouraged them into professional careers at an early age. We know something about Darius and Kenji’s relationships with their fathers but that’s really about all. If there was something like a pact, “We won’t talk about our families because it’s making us more homesick, we need to concentrate on what we’re doing now,” it would make more sense, and instead it’s just not there.

Wow that Scorpius rex was an effectively yucky-looking monster desighn. The way its forelimbs moved was especially unnatural/wrong-looking.

I sometimes wonder if Tim, Lex and Kelly ever formed a sort of Jurassic Park young survivors’ support group. You can certainly get therapy for trauma and near-death experiences in general but when nobody else alive has been through quite the uniquely weird crisis you have, it’s isolating. At least Tim and Lex had each other from the beginning, and might have been able to offer some comradeship to Kelly. Then, uh, have forgotten name of Kirby kid, who’s had the experience closest to what the campers have had because he had to manage alone without adults, and Zach and Gray who were present in different parts of the park for the same events. Would the campers find it helpful to meet them and talk about how you resume your life after a dinosaur peril adventure? Would I just like to see cartoon, grown-up versions of them? (Yes)

I enjoyed Dr Wu’s haughty look of “I am holding my umbrella” when the mercenaries asked if he was going to help unload their gear.

Excuse you Brooklynn, Dr Wu should never stop rocking turtlenecks. B D Wong is a damn presentable man and turtlenecks suit him. The animated version of the character doesn’t really capture that - and it’s a shame Wong didn’t record the voice.

My eyes still haven’t made up their minds about whether he wore a lab coat back to the island, because he’s obsessed with his identity as a Scientist, or just a raincoat that was sort of lab coat-shaped.

I would sort of like it if Dr Wu was like that one Spider-Man villain and was like “I don’t care about being a visionary, I just want to make fucked-up dinosaurs.”

“Who’s going to stop me? I bet Elon Musk would pay me to make him the grossest dinosaur you’ve ever seen. I think I could put its ass on its face if I tried.”

It is folly to get into shipping for any show where the characters are young teenagers (for some reason it seems to get EXTRA bitter, also I am old and don’t feel that strongly about it) but I will simply say I hope they do something with how much Yasmina evidently loves Sammy. It seems encouraging that when Brooklynn thought Sammy had a crush, Yaz was one of the names she suggested (and the one she sounded most enthusiastic about).

It varies from episode to episode, but sometimes I notice the animation being smoother and more nuanced than I expect from this kind of cartoon. For example, Yasmina’s movements in “The Long Run” when she’s searching the abandoned lab for the antivenin to save Sammy’s life, her gestures of despair when she thinks she can’t find it and overwhelming, almost painful relief when she realises that she has it - they’re just really fluid and expressive, more than the minimum.

And I’ll always give Yasmina bonus points for having such a splendid Sailor Jupiter-y ponytail.

#camp cretaceous #Jurassic park #Jurassic world

24 notes · View notes

artificialqueens · 4 years

Text

(nobody can) drag me down [gigi x crystal] - chapter 1/? - Ag98

Cody moves with his family from Springfield to Los Angeles in his senior year of high school and ends up in a project with Sam, one of the most popular guys in school. Little did he know that he was the popular one in Sam’s world. RPDR Season 12 High School AU.

AN: I decided to use the queen’s boys name in this fic, but latter one there will be some drag involved. English is not my native language, if I make some mistake, please correct me :)!

You can check the A03 of this fic.

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

“Okay everyone, I know you guys must be very excited for this year but first things first”

The classroom became quieter as the principal Michelle entered the room and started talking as the last class of the morning finishes, demanding respect in her voice tone.

“Senior year is very exciting for us all and today I want the candidates for Senior Class President to give a short welcome speech later in the auditorium”

“But we weren’t asked to prepare anything”

“I know Veronica, but that’s the pressure a Senior Class President must be able to handle.”, the principal continues with a very sharp tone, but the students all know she meant well, “And I see some new students in the class, maybe the candidates can show the place around and make some good impressions”

The whole class looks immediately to the new student who stands out the most, after all a seventeen-year-old boy with a mullet in 2020 hair it’s not that usual even in California. Principal Michelle dismisses the class and not a minute later a nerdy looking boy, with square glasses, clearly Arabic features and a formal button-up shirt is standing next to Cody.

“Hi! I’m Darius, I’m running for Class President. You must be the new guy, what’s your name? I’ll show you around”

The nerdy guy speaks so fast that Cody almost couldn’t keep up with him. But since he was alone anyway, he accepted the school tour.

Darius was speaking so much about the school, his candidacy, and the debate club he was a part of, that Cody just nodded his head during the whole way through.

“Why did you come to study in this high school?” he asks all of a sudden to focus his attention on the mullet boy.

“I’m from a small town in Missouri actually. My family moved to LA because my dad is having some health issues and here, he can have a better treatment.” Cody tells him like it’s not a big deal, but Darius becomes quiet just saying a comforting “I’m sorry to hear that.”

They continue their way to the cafeteria in a much silent conversation now, but Darius invites the new kid to have lunch with him and his debate club friends.

“So, you’ve made a great job showing me around. But tell me, how is the environment here? Is there any student I should be careful with?” Cody asks his new, and so far, only friend as they were sitting around the table.

“Most of them are really nice, the Senior Class is full of proud nerds like me. But the athletes can be jerks.” He says while looking at their direction. “The school used to be filled with artist kids but since the LA Galaxy became a big thing, we have to put up with some of their bullshit.”

Cody follows his eyes landing in a group with some guys laughing loudly and making some jokes to the cheerleaders next to him. The boys aren’t as pumped as he imagined, but with soccer being their main sport, Cody thinks it makes sense.

He realizes all boys are wearing the sport team jacket except for a skinny, tall, brunet one. “Who’s the one without a jacket?”

“That’s Samuel, I can’t figure out why he hangs out with them actually. But I guess he’s pretty close with Charlie who is on the team”

Darius stops talking about the athletes to get back to the preparation of the welcome speech he is going to have to give soon.

As much as Cody tries to keep up the conversation and throw some suggestions in it, he can’t stop looking at the skinny boy among the jocks. There’s something about Samuel’s look that is almost hypnotizing, he just can’t stop looking at it. And every now and then Cody catches a glimpse of the boy staring at him, with a weird, confused expression. —————— The auditorium is filled with students and Cody is getting along with Darius better than he expected to. He even started to get excited with his new friend’s speech and it’s really cheering him on.

“I’ve only been here for a morning and already know you’re the best one for the job, you don’t have to worry about it” he says to his new friend seeing how freak out Darius is starting to get.

“I guess I’m the most prepared one, I just don’t know if everyone knows that”, he says in a trembling voice.

Cody pet him on the shoulder ensuring everything is going to be fine.

The first candidate is that girl Veronica and her speech just doesn’t make sense. The girl went on about how she was the best student of the class and therefore she should be the president. She spent five minutes talking about her grades and clubs she’s in but not a single welcome word or promises for what she’ll do for the class. There are some applauses after she’s done talking, but everyone just looked like they fell asleep for some minutes.

The next kid to step on stage is Michael, the captain of the soccer team, even before he starts speaking the athletes and cheerleaders are clapping and screaming his name. “Thanks guys. I’ll be quick. This is the best year of our lives and we’re gonna party through it. And if you know me, which I bet you do, you know I can throw the best parties in the town”. At that moment Cody gets a glimpse of Darius rolling his eyes out and giggles as he knows how much his friends care about this thing. “So that’s the reason you should vote for me: I’ll make prom unforgettable and I’ll make everything you guys want, literally. I’m up for anything”, He finishes his speeds in a minute or so and everyone starts screaming like they just heard the “I have a dream speech” for the first time.

It’s finally Darius’ turn, he’s the last candidate to speak today. As he walks from his seat to the stage Cody -and all students actually- can see he’s nervous. He takes a deep breath and starts talking.

“Hi, everyone! I’m Darius in case we didn’t get a chance to meet in the last years. And as my good colleague said before: ‘Welcome to the best years of our lives’. I’m as excited as all of you are, but I don’t want to be Senior President only because it looks good on my resumé – all thought that’s a big encouragement”; There are some giggles after he lands the silly jokes that’s enough for the nerdy looking guy to get the rest of confidence he was lacking. “I’m here for a much bigger reason. We all talk a lot about representativeness in our classes and I wanna apply that here too. As I’m sure you all know I’m a half-persian gay man and that’s a lot for one person nowadays. But, if I get elected I don’t wanna do the best only for our class, I wanna do the best for the youngest ones too. Because I know from a personal experience that when you’re this different if you don’t see someone like you in places of visibility you think you don’t have what it takes to get somewhere in life. So, I want to change that starting with something simple –“

He gets interrupted by a very loud “By going back to your country, faggot?” coming from the athletes’ group that just leaves Darius speechless. The principal that was sitting next to the stage gets up and shout “who said that?”. And everyone sees Darius leaving the auditorium as she makes that question. The last thing Cody hears before following his new friend is the tall brunette guy from earlier saying to someone “Why don’t you stand up and say that again you coward? Are you only brave enough when nobody is watching? Well guess what, I was”. —————— “I had a feeling you’d be here” Cody says when he finally catches Darius up, in the debate club room. When he gave the school tour, he mentioned it was his favorite place there, where he felt the most confident and safe. “How are you?” Cody says as he approaches his friends and can see the tears dropping out of his eyes.

“I’m tired of this. It’s like I’m not accepted in the persian community because I’m gay. I’m not accepted by the gay community because I’m persian. And for the rest of the world, well, that in the auditorium pretty much says it all” he says with a lot of pain coming out of his voice.

“Well, I guest I’m not allowed to speak for the entire gay community, but I embrace you one hundred percent. And I honestly prefer when you say you’re persian than when you say you’re Canadian”, the last sentence makes Darius giggle a little and that’s enough for Cody to know that it’s okay to hug his new friend.

“Don’t let that stupid jock bring you down, okay?” He says as he lets go of the hug.

“I’ll try, thank you”

“And, I don’t know if you were there when it happened, but that guy Samuel actually stood up for you. He saw who was that guy that shouted that and told the principal. I’m sure he’ll get what he deserves”, Darius seemed surprised by that.

“Well, at least there’s that. But I would rather not know who was the one that said that”, Cody nods and gives his new friend another hug, and he realizes that he’s much calmer now.

“And for the record, just in case it wasn’t clear, you’ve got my vote. I can even help you campaign, but I don’t know if it’s going to help you”

“Of course it is, I’ll be honored to have you by my side”

“You’re really that political huh? C’mon, let’s go back to there and prove them that words can’t hurt you”

Both boys laugh and get back to the last class of the day. —————— “Hey kid, how was your first day? Can you help me get some food?” Cody’s father says as soon as he walks in the house.

“It was fine, I was able to make a friend” he says as he kisses his father’s forehead and goes to the kitchen to heat up some food for him.

“Just friend?”

Cody rolls his eyes out. Ever since coming out his father has tried to show his support in every single way, it’s almost unnecessary but it’s for a good reason. He knows his father it’s just trying to be supportive even if it’s not in the best way possible.

“Yes dad, just a friend” he answers and gives his father a bowl of food, sitting on the couch next to him.

“Okay, just wanted to be sure. Thanks, son”.

He and his father didn’t have much in common, but they loved each other a lot, so Cody watched tv with him for a while just to make him company. Ever since he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease three years ago, a lot changed. His father was losing his movement increasingly and his family moved to LA to get a better treatment. But that also meant a more expensive one too. So, his mom has to have two jobs and he’s got to look out for his father after school. It’s been hard the last few years, but he tries his best to stay positive and enjoy his father while he can. —————— “So, the project it’s not that hard. You guys choose someone who you think changed the world somehow and present on why you think that. But, it can’t be someone another pair had presented before. So come prepared with more than one option”

The class started to divide themselves in pairs as soon as Mr. Johnson stopped talking.

“One more thing, since this is a project to show how different people can change the world, I’ll draw the pairs so you can work with different people as well”. The whole class just makes a combined angry noise after that. The teacher asks everyone to write their names in a piece of paper, fold it and then give it to him. Then he goes on to drawing the papers to pair the class up.

“Okay, here we go Darius and Charlie, Veronica and Helen, Michael and Karl, … And that leads us to the last pair Cody and Samuel.”

Cody freezes in that second, knowing that Samuel and the athletes were the only ones he didn’t want to get paired up. But there’s not even enough time for him to think about what to say because before he notices, the teacher dismisses the class and Samuel is in front of him.

“Okay, I don’t have a lot of time so let’s get this over with. You’ll give me your number and I’ll text you my address so we can work on this in the afternoon and finish as fast as we can”

It didn’t seem to be a question, it seemed like an order, so the new student just gave him his number.

“I won’t be able to stay until late” Cody says, shrugging himself.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Samuel says with a smirk on his face that makes the other boy blush. “You have a familiar face, like I’ve seen it somewhere else” he continues and that’s the first time Cody realizes how blue his eyes are.

“Yeah I get told that a lot” he answers.

“Is that true?”

“No”

They both laugh and Samuel leaves saying he’ll see him later. But they are doing better than some of the others pairing. As soon as Darius heard that he would have to collaborate with a jock, he just wanted to die. All he knew about the guy that screamed at him was that it was an athlete, so it could be Charlie.

“Hi! So, how do you wanna do this?” Charlie said, he has a smile on his face, his hair symmetrically combed and the usual soccer team jacket over his shirt.

“Are you sure you don’t want to ask the teacher to change the pair? After all I’m just and out-of-this-country faggot as you or one of your friends referred to” Darius said in a very sharp toned that took the other boy by surprise.

“I wasn’t the one who said that. And I don’t agree with that either”

“Yeah, but I’ll bet when you see the guy who did said that in practice, you’ll just treat him like he didn’t do anything wrong”

“No, I won’t. He was actually expelled from the team and I support this decision one hundred percent” he was talking in a much sadder tone than before, when he actually was excited for this.

“And I’m sorry for what you’ve heard from him. And for not standing up for you” Darius looked at him with an incredibly surprised look, almost as if he was not understanding the words coming out of his mouth, but he continued talking. “I don’t want you to get this impression from me or the other boys from the team, we do not agree with what was said”

“Well, thank you then” was all the nerdy guy was able to answer.

“Let me make it up to you, since we have no more classes today, I’ll give you a ride home okay? Then you can text me later to see how we’re going to do this project; I’ll be free after practice” the excitement in his voice was back again.

“I don’t want to bother you, you don’t have to give me a ride home or anything”

“You won’t bother”, Charlie said and started to walk toward the door. “Shall we?”

Darius was still shocked from the conversation, but he nodded and followed the other boy.

After getting in the blue 2000 Ford Taurus, there wasn’t even a sign of a conversation, it was just a quiet ride with the radio on some pop music radio station. When they finally arrived at Darius’ house, the passenger seat door jammed, and Charlie had to adjust the lock with a slight tug. The half-persian boy just managed to say a goodbye that came out almost as a whisper after being so close to Charlie. As he walked home, he turned his head one last time looking at the other boy, who was biting his mouth as he watched Darius arrive home. He only left after he was sure Darius was inside the house. —————— Cody arranged with his father that he would be home later today, so that he could have some time to do the work at Samuel’s house. Just thinking about the boy made him nervous, but he was trying to ignore that feeling when he arrived in front of the location he had sent and rang the bell. After all, he wasn’t millennium enough to send a message instead of doing things the old way.

“I figured out where I know you from”, he said as he opened the front door.

“Huh?”

“You’re that drag queen from Instagram, Crystal Methyd, I follow you there”

And as soon as Samuel stopped speaking, Cody’s world had turned upside down.

#rpdr fanfiction #gigi goode #crystal methyd #jackie cox #jan sport #crygi #jankie #fluff #angst #high school au #drag me down #ag98 #concrit welcome #submission #s12

47 notes · View notes

heroparadigm · 4 years

Note

What do you think are some of the best things you've ever written? Show off! Give me the portfolio highlights!

Best things I’ve ever written? Oh man I’m going to have to dig out some stuff. But one of them has to be, an rp I did with my awesome friend Eli @holdopenthattrashcan.

Daemon Sadi & Seren Dane. This was an rp that I expected that Seren wouldn’t even be on Daemon’s radar but turns out the chemistry was amazing. The rp never finished but it is by far my most favorite rp.

______________________________________

Daemon tended to dislike the shorter lived races, but less so than the longer lived races. Tacea was an island nation largely devoid of much interesting to do, so when Dorothea informed him that he was to spend some time there in the service of one Lord Charlus and his family, he was more than a bit surprised at that. The man was absolutely no one, so Dorothea would have little interesting in courting his favor and support. The puzzle would unfold eventually, he was sure, and with a bored look on his face he allowed himself to be introduced to the family.

It was only the old man for now, he was informed, but the daughter would be back soon and he would be expected to blah-blah-blah. This is why he’d spelled one of his Red cufflinks to collect the conversation for later; in the meantime, he let his mind wander.

The family was small and would likely be annoying but not impossible to deal with. He suspected that they would be the types to assert their dominance over him as best they knew how: petty cruelties. Fools.

He was dismissed, which was fine by him. He didn’t bother to return to his room, instead he prowled around the lower levels where a different demeanor came out. He found the cook and set about endearing himself to her, as was typical. As usual, the woman was wary of him, but this one was being a little more reticent than normal.

Then he caught the scent and figured out where. There was a Queen here. Or rather, she had recently been here. He already knew that the family’s daughter was a Priestess who wore the Opal. This was a Queen, though, the scent was unmistakable.

He looked at the cook. “Who is she? The Lady you’re protecting.”

The cook had taken to busy herself while Lady Seren was out and she hoped that Seren stayed out as long as possible. Thankfully she hadn’t been here when the guests had arrived, neither George or Darius had been able to get away. Lady Bethany was a bitch as ever, it had been whispered that she had been looking for the Lady. Like anyone was going to give her the pleasure of harming the Queen any further.

It was a shame that Seren had to come back here, the staff had already found duties that would keep her out of the house in the garden and doing errands. Darius, George, and William had volunteered themselves as Escorts, not that The Lady knew but it was for her own good, she was still a Queen.

“The Lady isn’t important Prince Sadi.” The cook replied as she went about cooking hoping he would leave Lady Seren alone, she was going through quite a lot during the time Bethany was here. Though Prince Sadi apparently was already curious about her. She nearly adopted the girl since her family and that Coven had been slaughtered. Seventeen was too young to lose your Jewels and your family in one go. Much too young.

Daemon didn’t like being lied to, but his icy temper was reserved for those in power. He’d never turned against a servant in his life, and wouldn’t do so now. Still, he gave a cook a displeased look and looked about the kitchen. The scent of a Queen was strong here, and beyond that door, which if he was a betting man he would have guessed led out into the kitchen garden.

A Queen among the servants, protected by them. It was always possible for a Queen to crop up among the lower classes, but most Territories had laws in place that protected Queens, and brought them before the ruling powers to help train them. Dorothea and her Coven had twisted those laws into a foul mockery of what they should be, but Daemon knew at the heart was a fear of a Queen gone dark and what she might do to the heart of the land before she could be stopped.

So a Queen that was a servant seemed comically unlikely, at beast. “A Lady always matters.” he countered. “Don’t make me ask more pressing questions, and endanger her. Do the Lords and Ladies of the house know what she is?” he pressed on. He tried to sound bored, but the puzzle had piqued his interest.

“Do they know where she is?”

The Cook Matilda knew she was in dangerous territory and she nodded, “They know what she is. Prince Sadi, the Lady was broken from her power. She no longer do much more than basic craft and what a Queen was born to do, heal the land.” She hoped that he would leave the subject alone, let Seren some privacy. Though she never uttered the Lady’s real name, no one would.

Matilda didn’t doubt that Lord Charlus’s daughter would make a mockery of it that a Queen was a mere servant in the servant in a house when she should be serving Lady Seren. What surprised her was when she felt the presence of Lady Seren approaching through the back entrance.

Seren had been wiped out from the marketplace, haggling at all time high. Seren was annoyed by them most of all but she had gotten everything on the list and her feet were tired. While she would have liked to show up in the morning with the supplies, it wouldn’t work out for her. She would liked to sleep in her own bed and no one would stop her from that at all. Not the bitch Bethany, and not any other guests in the House. She hoped to sneak in the backway but found more than she thought she would

There was Matilda and she was distressed about something. “Matilda is everything alright?” She asked focusing her attention on the Lady first. Her eyes then slowly drifted to the very apparent Warlord Prince in the room. Was this Daemon Sadi? It took her a moment to take in his appearance. "You are Prince Sadi?“ She asked, her voice betrayed her hesitance..

If you want to read more go over to @serendane and continue reading it starting with Mice and Men. Ugh it is to this day my favorite works I’ve ever done!

#ooc #the truth is out there (mellymun talks)#Anonymous

1 note · View note

mxliv-oftheendless · 4 years

Text

Ruining KISStory: The False King of Persia, Pt. 1

Oh my, what could this be? Why, it’s another Ruining KISStory installment! I am officially back home for the rest of the semester, so I decided, what the hell, and finished this up for y’all! This has to be the most hilarious episode, and it’s also my absolute favorite, so prepare thyselves! Part 2 will be posted shortly! Hope you enjoooooy!!!

Tag list: @cosmicrealmofkissteria @ashestoashesvvi @kategwidt @retronova

[camera opens on Paul, who is sitting at a panel. A map of the world is hung up behind him. The sound of tuning violins plays in the background]

PAUL: Welcome to Ruining History! Today we’re gonna talk about the ascension of Darius the Great.

[camera pans out to the full panel. From left to right: Vinnie, Gene, Paul, Bruce, Ace]

BRUCE: Darius?

PAUL: Darius.

BRUCE: That’s a kinda modern name. I know like five Dariuses.

PAUL: Well, maybe they were inspired by this guy.

BRUCE: [shrugs] All of ‘em are pretty average. [panel laughs]

[intro and title card]

[cuts back to panel]

PAUL: You guys know anything about Darius?

BRUCE: He’s a bass player.

PAUL: [laughs slightly] Heh, no, I mean Darius the Great.

ACE: He’s a bassist and he owes me 40 bucks. [Bruce laughs]

PAUL: He was a Persian king; he was known for uniting the Persian Empire. He’s actually thought to be the greatest Persian king. Also, I should say now: this story is not really about Darius much at all, so much as the weird chain of events that led to him becoming king.

GENE: [seriously] Is Al Capone a part of this story at all?

PAUL: [snorts] Pfft, no, Gene. This is in ancient Persia. There are a lot of characters in this one, so I decided to make models as little visual aids. [reaches under the table and takes out a small figurine labeled CYRUS THE GREAT] Now we’re gonna start with this guy, named Cyrus.

ACE: Oh, that’s a kid on Andi Mack!... Not that I watch.

[screen cuts away to a title card:

CHAPTER I:

A DEAD GUY AND HIS TWO WEIRD SONS

screen then cuts to animations as Paul narrates, while traditional Middle Eastern music plays]

PAUL [voiceover]: First, there was Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenian Empire, which was sort of in this region here, in Turkey, the Middle East, and spilling into Asia. Kind of a big deal. Darius just so happened to be a distant relative of Cyrus, but the king didn’t seem to care for him. As legend tells, he had a dream about the twenty-year-old Darius, in which Darius had, quote, “wings on his shoulders, the one wing overshadowing Asia and the other Europe.” Cyrus interpreted this as a sign that Darius was plotting against him.

ACE: Pretty sure every ex-girlfriend I’ve had…

BRUCE: [nods] Yeah…

ACE: … has gotten pissed at me for doin’ something bad in a dream.

GENE: [nods] I remember that happened with Shannon once.

VINNIE: Is this the time where she banished you to the couch? [Ace laughs]

GENE: [frowns] No, that was something else.

BRUCE: Can I just say, both Cyrus and Darius look like they belong in that one Lloyd-Webber musical.

PAUL: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?

BRUCE: Yeah, that one.

PAUL [voiceover]: But it wouldn’t really matter what Darius thought, because he was caught up in a conflict with Tomyris, the queen of the Massagetae. And after she slayed him in battle, what she did is, according to some accounts, cut his head off, then dunked it into a skin of blood like a gory Oreo, stating, “I make good my threat, and give you your fill of blood.” So… that’s it for Cyrus.

ACE: Damn!

BRUCE: What’s a skin full of blood?

PAUL: It’s like a wineskin, but with blood.

GENE and VINNIE: Ohhh.

PAUL: [picks up the Cyrus figurine] So that’s— [pulls off Cyrus’s head] —the end for Cyrus.

ACE: Oof, it came right off!

PAUL [voiceover]: Now Cyrus had two sons, Cambyses and Smerdis. Cambyses was described as, quote, “an ardent, impetuous, and self-willed boy, such as the sons of rich and powerful men are apt to become.” And Smerdis was described as… I dunno. His brother.

ACE: [bursts out laughing, as does Vinnie]

PAUL: [takes out figurines labeled CAMBYSES AND SMERDIS] So we got this guy, [holds up Cambyses] Cambyses, who’s got sort of a superior look. And Smerdis, [holds up Smerdis] who’s just sorta chill.

ACE: Me Smerdis! [panel laughs] Kinda got a Charlie Brown sorta tunic on.

PAUL: Yeah, he does. [moves Cambyses and Smerdis to be on either side of the headless Cyrus figurines] I’ll put them here with their dad.

GENE: “Oh, Papa’s head’s missing! Ha ha ha ha!”

PAUL [voiceover]: Being Cyrus’s firstborn son, Cambyses inherited the throne, and very quickly decided to invade Egypt. This made people think he was crazy; and honestly, it’s kinda fair, because he was a bit of a reckless guy. While in Egypt, for example, he asked to see their sacred bull… and then he stabbed it to death.

ACE: [bursts out laughing]

BRUCE: [laughing] Oh my god… Jesus…

ACE: That’s so funny.

VINNIE: Kind of rude. Ancient Egyptians didn’t deserve that.

PAUL: Yeah, it is rude. You show up, ask to see their sacred bull…

ACE [tapping the table] “Can I see your sacred buuuuull? I promise I won’t touch it!”

VINNIE: It would take a long time to stab a bull to death, so I bet they were just like, “Please stop stabbing our bull…”

BRUCE: [laughs] Yeah, and he’s just staring them in the eye and just— [pretends to stab. Gene laughs]

PAUL [voiceover]: Cambyses was also known for his fits of blinding rage and making rash decisions that he would later regret. Take for example, the story of Croesus. Croesus had been a close friend and counselor to Cyrus, who asked him to watch over Cambyses. With that in mind, one day Croesus decided to offer Cambyses some constructive criticism. He warned the king that he’d been treating his men cruelly. Annnnd you can probably guess what was bound to happen to him.

GENE: How so? How was he treating them cruelly?

PAUL: He was known for being really reckless. There’s one story where a guy told Cambyses that he thought he drank too much…

GENE: I’m sure it didn’t end well for that guy.

PAUL: And Cambyses went, “Okay, if that’s true, I shouldn’t be able to shoot a bow.” So he called the man’s son in, and had him stand against the wall, and he said, “If I drink too much, then I’ll probably miss this shot.” And then he shot the man’s son in the heart.

GENE: Oh…

VINNIE: The man’s son?

PAUL: Uh huh.

GENE: Oof… that’s way worse than what I was imagining. I was just imagining him being a bratty dick or something. But no, that’s worse.

PAUL: Yep.

ACE: Maybe he was aimin’ for the face, an’ he really was too drunk. [Bruce laughs]

VINNIE: [laughs] “Oh, I just meant to take out an eye.”

ACE: “Aw man, did you guys see that?!”

GENE: Or he had to play it off like that was his plan all along.

ACE: Wakes up the next morning an’ he’s like [rubs his eyes with his hands] “Ugggh, what did I do last night?” [panel laughs] “Tell me I didn’t murder anyone’s kid.”

PAUL [voiceover]: Anyway, Croesus warned the king that he’d been treating his men cruelly, and that it wasn’t a great way to keep their loyalty. Cambyses responded by telling the supportive old man that he’d always hated him. He pulled out a bow and arrow, and Croesus fled the scene.

VINNIE: Does he just have a bow and arrow on him at all times?

BRUCE: [laughing] He takes out his bow and arrow; “Where’s your son, man?” [panel laughs]

GENE: Love how this guy knew what was coming and was like, “Aw shit, it’s heart-shootin’ time! I’m gettin’ outta here!”

PAUL [voiceover]: Cambyses ordered his officers to chase after the man and kill him. They did chase after him, but knowing the mad king would likely regret having his friend killed, they instead hid Croesus away. A few days later, when, as expected, Cambyses expressed remorse over his actions, his men revealed that—surprise! Croesus was still alive! Cambyses was overjoyed. He then had those guards executed for disobeying him.

[whole panel bursts out laughing]

BRUCE: Jesus Christ!

GENE: What the fuck…

VINNIE: Literally killing the messenger!

ACE: “You’ve brought me such joy… Where’s my bow and arrow?” [panel laughs]

BRUCE: “Bring me my bow and your sons.”

PAUL [voiceover]: Anyway, back to the story. Cambyses decided to bring his brother, Smerdis, along with him to Egypt. It’s thought that Cambyses was jealous of Smerdis, and worried that if he left him alone in Persia, he might stage a coup and seize a throne. Since both brothers were away from their hometown, Cambyses left a magian in charge of keeping an eye on his palace. Magians were basically just a priestly class.

PAUL: I’ve actually got a big Persia set. [takes out a cardboard set that looks like a Persian castle]

VINNIE: Oooh, nice.

PAUL: Thank you. [takes out a figurine labeled MAGIAN and puts it in front of the Persia set]

BRUCE: Wait, so Cambyses is worried that his brother’s gonna seize the throne… so he prevents this by giving the throne to a stranger?

PAUL: I mean, I assume it was someone he trusted.

GENE: Why does—Why does the magian have red eyes? Is that a—artistic thing?

PAUL: He’s a spooky magician.

GENE: Okay.

ACE: [giggling] Or he’s just high as fuck.

GENE: [snickering] So in his free time, he’s a pothead magician.

BRUCE: All magicians are potheads.

ACE: I dunno, I always thought magicians were more cocaine guys.

PAUL: [thinks and nods] Yeah, I guess that makes sense. They’re got a lot of energy.

GENE: Not David Blaine.

ACE: Ah, yeah, that’s true.

GENE: No one’s ever had to tell David Blaine to calm down.

PAUL [voiceover]: Meanwhile, in Egypt: Cambyses had a troubling dream about Smerdis, in which he saw his brother, quote, “seated on a royal throne in Persia, his form expanded supernaturally to such a prodigious size that he touched the heavens with his head.” Fed up with Smerdis, he ordered him to skedaddle back to Persia. And then he seemed to remember why he was concerned about Smerdis being alone in Persia in the first place. So, he called upon one of his men, Prexaspes

[panel ooohs as Paul takes out a figurine labeled PREXASPES]

BRUCE: Oh wow, I didn’t know we had a stylist here!

VINNIE: That’s a great robe he’s got!

PAUL: [looks at the camera] Full disclosure: none of these drawings are historically accurate.

BRUCE: [looks at the camera] All of these drawings are historically accurate.

ACE: They might be. Prove ‘im wrong.

PAUL: Prove me wrong!

PAUL [voiceover]: Cambyses called upon one of his men, Prexaspes, to track down Smerdis and secretly assassinate him. Prexaspes would do so, and he succeeded. He returned to the king and gave him the good news: Smerdis, his one serious threat to his power, was now dead.

PAUL: Also, [laughs] I don’t know where this fits in the story, but Prexaspes was the guy whose son was killed by Cambyses.

ACE: No way?! [bursts out laughing as the rest of the panel laughs]

GENE: That’s hilarious!

VINNIE: Also [giggles] the name Prexaspes sounds like a medication of some kind.

ACE: [laughs] “Ask your doctor if Prexaspes is right for you.”

PAUL [voiceover]: Shortly after, though, Cambyses would receive more news, some rather shocking news given the circumstances. In his absence, his throne had been taken… by SMERDIS?! Yep, by Smerdis.

ACE: [looks comically shocked] The dead Smerdis?!

BRUCE: Oh shit!

PAUL: So we know have this mysterious Smerdis. [takes out a figurine identical to the Smerdis figure, except it is labeled SMERDIS(?)]

ACE: So someone,, posing as Smerdis… See this is why people get verified on Twitter.

BRUCE: [laughs and nods] I mean, yeah, you’ve got a point. [to Paul] You should put a blue check mark over the real Smerdis.

PAUL: [grins and points his finger at the Smerdis figurine. A blue Twitter checkmark appears on the head as well as a text box that says VERIFIED]

GENE: Wait a minute, did he ever consider that the guy lied about what he did?

PAUL: No, he trusts that guy.

GENE: I just think it’s odd that he immediately thinks its an imposter, instead of thinking the guy was lying.

[screen cuts away to a title card:

CHAPTER II:

TO BE SMERDIS OR NOT TO BE SMERDIS

screen then cuts to animations as Paul narrates]

PAUL [voiceover]: Cambyses was, at first, greatly confuzzled by this recent development. Until someone reminded him of an important little detail, that made it clear to him that this must have been a power grab by an opportunistic usurper. I’m gonna leave that detail a mystery for now so that you continue to watch this video…

GENE: How does no one in the kingdom know this isn’t the real Smerdis?

BRUCE: It’s the beards, man. [Ace and Vinnie laugh]

GENE: Are you sure? I feel like…

BRUCE: Nah, man, everyone’s got a beard, ya can’t tell anyone apart.

ACE: “Alright, if you’re Smerdis, what did I give you for your birthday last year?” “An urn.” “Damn, it is Smerdis!”

To be continued in Part 2!

#kiss unsolved #ruining kisstory #yeah I had to split it up into chunks this time #again #hey ryan and shane stop making your videos so dang long #i'm trying to adapt them here #anyway...#hope you enjoyed part 1!#that twist tho lol #well if you wanna know what happens you're just gonna have to read part 2 lol #that's kind of why I decided to cut it off here #also the bow and arrow running gag is hands down my favorite part of this whole thing XD #kiss au writing #my writing #thanks for reading!#stay tuned for part two!

1 note · View note

showmethedestiel · 7 years

Text

Like I said; I don’t like Hospitals

Chapter Eight

[Masterlist]

Summary: You help Misha while he’s going through a hard time. The two of you quickly become friends, but will it lead to something more in such trying circumstances?

Words: 2,119

Pairing: Misha/Reader

A/N: Okay, first of all, I am a complete idiot and got Darius' wife and Misha's brother's wife's names mixed up - I've corrected it now, but just to be clear; Darius' wife is not Claire, she's Liza and Sasha's wife is Claire. My bad, but I'm trying to keep this story kinda close to life, so I couldn't leave the mistake there. Anyway - enjoy this fluff! -B

You wake up the next morning and groan at the ache in your side from where West’s arms have buried under your ribs.

You open your eyes to meet a pair of dark brown ones, staring at you.

“Good morning West.” You chuckle.

He giggles, “Y/N help wake daddy up!” He says, turning over to poke Misha, who just grunts and shoves him away.

You smile fondly and roll over. “Come on Mish! Don’t you want breakfast?” You ask, poking him gently on his side.

“Not you too Y/N!” He groans, letting out a low chuckle.

“West why don’t you go wake your sister and I’ll wake your dad up okay?”

“Okay, but you won’t be able to.” West says, clambering off the bed and running out the door.

“Bet you I will!” You call after him.

Misha rolls over to face you, but he’s closer than he anticipated, so now his body is pressed up against yours.

“Bet I will get you up. In fact it feels like I already have.” You purr, wriggling your crotch into Misha’s.

He raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything – instead leaning in for a sleepy kiss. You kiss him back before pulling away and rolling out of bed, making Misha groan in protest.

“Come back.” He whines, rolling after you, but staying in bed.

“Come make me.” You tease, wandering across the room.

He growls and gets to his feet, diving after you. He braces his hands on either side of you; pinning you to the wall. It makes your heart hammer in your chest.

“You think I won’t?” He says in a low voice, his lips at your ear. It sends a shiver up your spine, but you shake it off.

“West I won the bet!” You shout past him, giving Misha a challenging smirk.

He raises an eyebrow and steps away from you just as West comes running in.

Misha sighs comically. “She did! She got me out of bed.” He says, walking over to the dresser to pull a shirt on.

You make pancakes because it’s the weekend, and an old tradition of yours.

“So,” You say once you’ve finished. “What are we doing today?”

“Mm,” Misha starts through a mouthful of pancake. “I thought we could go visit Jared and Jensen’s families – I haven’t had a chance to talk to them properly.”

“Am I invited?” You ask, raising an eyebrow.

Misha smirks, “I don’t know – you were a bad girl this morning.” He winks, making you blush.

You clear your throat. “Where abouts are they staying?” You ask, returning to safe conversation.

Misha shrugs, “I think they’re at a condo on the edge of the city.” He says, standing to clean up the dishes. “West, Maison, you guys wanna do that? You’ll see Tom, Shepard and JJ. Oh, and I almost forgot, Arrow, Zeplin and uh, Odette.”

“Yeah! JJ!” Maison exclaims, grinning.

“West buddy, you cool with that?” Misha asks, putting the plates in the dishwasher.

“Yeah!” West replies, dipping his pancake in his orange juice, which makes you cringe a little.

“Okay guys, we’re here.” Misha says as he pulls up to a lavish building on the seafront.

“Fancy.” You say, peering around.

Misha chuckles, “I know right.” He opens the car door and gets out, putting on his shades. “Come on guys,” Hey says, unbuckling the kids. “Now remember – best behaviour, got it?”

“Uh-huh!” West giggles, wriggling free from his seatbelt and jumping out of the car.

Misha rolls his eyes. “Well that sounded sincere.” He mutters to you before breaking out in a grin.

You smile back, closing Maison’s door as she runs off after her brother.

“They don’t even know where they’re going.” Misha chuckles, watching the kids chase each other around the street. “Come on guys,” He shouts, catching their attention.

“Hey Mish,” Jensen greets, opening the front door and enveloping Misha in a hug.

Misha pats his back. “Hey man.”

“How you doing?” Jensen asks seriously, giving him a concerned look.

“Better than I was, thanks.” Misha replies, glancing at you.

“Good to see you Y/N.” Jensen turns to greet you just as Jared and a pretty brunette appear behind him.

“Hey Misha,” She says, wrapping her arms around him. “And you must be Y/N, I’m Gen.” She says, extending her hand for you to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you.” You say, taking her hand.

Once all the introductions are over and you’ve met Gen, Daneel, Thomas, Shepard, JJ and Odette – Jensen brings you and Misha through to meet the other new additions.

“That’s Arrow, and that’s Zep.” He says; a loving smile on his face.

“Hello,” Misha coos, bending down to get a better look at Arrow. “You have your dad’s scowl.” He chuckles, turning to grin up at Jensen.

Arrow is lying complacently, frowning at Misha, and Zeppelin appears to be asleep.

Misha hums in thought, “It’s times like these I miss having babies.” He mutters.

“Trust me, you won’t miss it in five minutes when they’re crying their eyes out with poopy diapers,” Jensen scoffs. “Will he Zep?” He coos.

You giggle, bending down next to Misha. “They’re beautiful Jensen.”

Arrow looks at you and grabs at your hair with his tiny baby fingers, making you feel the calm maternity Misha must have felt a moment ago.

You glance beside you at Misha, who’s staring at you fondly.

The moment doesn’t last long, as Zeppelin starts wailing.

“Aaaand there it is.” Jensen chuckles, walking over to pick him up.

The comically large group decides to go for a walk down the beach – which entails one buggy, one double-buggy, what seems like seven diaper bags and several coats for the kids.

“Are they bringing the whole baby store?” You whisper to Misha. You and him have been standing, waiting, at the door for a good half hour now.

Misha chuckles. “You’d think.”

“Okay!” Jensen suddenly exclaims. “Everyone good to go?”

Everyone seems to nod, until Misha interjects, “I think Maison needs her other coat actually…” Everyone groans and seems to deflate. “Kidding! I’m kidding, let’s go.” He laughs, opening the front door.

The men end up walking together, and you get stuck with Gen, Daneel and the strollers – not that you mind – they’re lovely people, but with constant baby-stops every five minutes, you’re a little jealous of Misha.

“So.” Gen says, putting Odette back in her stroller. “What’s going on with you and Misha?”

“Yeah” Daneel adds. “Are you guys just friends or…”

You chuckle. “I have to say, your husbands were a little more subtle when they asked.”

“Yeah, and they didn’t find anything out.” Gen mutters.

“We don’t mean to pry, we’re just curious.” Daneel adds with a smile.

“Plus, we’re very protective of Misha.” Gen corrects bluntly.

“Oh,” You say, surprised. “Well you have nothing to worry about, I mean…” You falter, trying to decide whether to tell the truth. “Okay.” You sigh. “It was totally platonic right up until…”

“I knew it!” Daneel squeals. “Sorry. Go on.”

“As I was saying, we were just friends until the night before Vicki passed away.” You frown. “That night he kissed me, so naturally I freaked out a little bit – you know, he’s married and all that – and so I left to stay at my sister’s place. But the next morning Misha had disappeared. I now know why.”

The other two nod sympathetically.

“And then, obviously nothing happened – the guy’s wife had just died, but then… He told me he did have feelings for me, and I made sure the best I could that I wasn’t just some sort of… I don’t know – morbid rebound. But that didn’t seem to be the case, so…” You shrug. “I guess we’re just being careful.”

“Wow.” Gen says. “Well, just to be clear, we like you – I just had to be sure; for Misha’s sake.”

“I understand. It’s been a rough couple weeks for him.”

“I’ll say.” Daneel adds, before getting side-tracked by one of the twins coughing.

“And how are you doing?” Gen asks quietly, staring at you intensely, but with concern.

“Me?” You ask, surprised.

“Yeah – from what I hear you’ve been Misha’s rock twenty-four/seven ever since. How are you doing?”

“Yeah, it’s been tough I guess – but I can’t complain, despite everything Misha’s always been… Thoughtful.” You say, a small smile forming on your lips.

“Yeah, that definitely sounds like him.” She replies, chuckling. “You okay back there Dani?” She turns back to Daneel, leaving you to gaze fondly at Misha, laughing and smiling with Jared and Jensen up ahead.

“Daneel that was delicious.” You say, leaning back.

“Oh it was nothing.” She says with a shy smile.

“Babe, I’m telling you, you should become some kind of professional chef.” Jensen says, kissing his wife.

“Well thank you darling.” She giggles, “I’d better check on the twins.” She stands and walks to the other room.

“Yeah, we’d better get going actually.” Jared sighs, “Now that we’ve got this little one.” He smiles down at Odette sleeping in Gen’s arms.

“Mm.” Misha hums.

“I guess if you’re going we should too. Seeing as we’ve got this little one.” You poke Misha gently, who seems to be dozing off in the chair beside you. “Right West?” You ask the boy sitting on your lap.

He giggles, “Yeah, come on daddy!” West starts poking Misha significantly more violently than you had.

“West,” You chuckle, restraining him. “He’s probably tired because you kept kicking him last night.” He looks up at you with a cheeky grin. “Yeah, I could feel that too.” You accuse, laughing.

“Sorry.” West says, jumping down from your lap. You see Jared give Gen a curious look, but she just waves him away.

“Seriously Mish, you gotta get up to drive us home.” You say, and he opens his eyes, yawning.

“Can’t you just let a man sleep?” He groans, standing up.

“Sorry,” You chuckle.

“Westie are you going to go back to your own bed tonight?” Misha asks on the car ride home.

“Yes daddy.” He replies tiredly.

“Good. Maybe I’ll get some actual sleep tonight.” He mutters and turns to you, “Or maybe not.” He smirks.

“Pfft.” You hit him gently on the arm and murmur. “Child.”

Misha puts the kids to bed, leaving you to take a shower. You’re relaxing under the warm water when there’s a knock at the door.

“Yeah?” You call, reluctantly turning off the water.

“Do you mind if I come in and brush my teeth?” Misha calls softly.

“Uhh,” You stall, stepping out of the shower and grabbing a towel. “Sure.” You cover yourself just as he walks in.

“Oh, sorry – I didn’t mean to… I can come back later.” Misha says hesitantly.

“No it’s fine – I’m done showering anyway.” You lie, smiling.

“Okay then.” He says, walking over to the sink. “Oh, I meant to tell you – my brother and his wife Claire are coming to stay tomorrow.”

“Okay.” You reply, sitting on the edge of the bath. “Any particular reason?”

Misha clears his throat. “It’s um, Vicki’s funeral on Monday.” He mumbles around his toothbrush.

“Ah.” You say quietly. “About that… Do you want me to be there, or not? Either’s fine I just...”

“Please come.” Misha says, making eye contact through the mirror.

“Okay.” You say simply, before standing and walking behind him. “Today was nice.” You murmur, resting your chin on his shoulder.

“Yeah, we should do that more often. Gen and Daneel didn’t interrogate you too much did they?” He chuckles.

You shake your head. “Just a little. I have to admit though; the babies were pretty cute.”

Misha smiles a little. “Yeah, they were.” He pauses, “You ever think about those?”

“Babies?”

Misha shrugs. “Yeah.” He says sheepishly.

You shake your head, “I dunno. With Clara it never really seemed like an option you know?”

Misha nods, seeming to drop the subject. He turns to face you, wrapping his arms around your waist with a small smile. “Hey.” He says gently.

“Hey.” You reply, before leaning in to kiss him.

It’s gentle at first, but soon Misha is pushing you against the sink, his mouth making trails of wet kisses down your neck.

“Mish,” You groan, pushing him away gently when you feel his arousal.

“Mm?” He murmurs, slowing his movements.

“It’s late… And the door isn’t locked.”

“You know we can fix one of those things very easily.” He chuckles against your neck.

Suddenly the sound of the doorknob turning rattles through the room.

“You sure about that?” You giggle, giving him a sympathetic smile.

Misha groans and drops his head to your shoulder. “Seriously?” He growls. “They have the worst timing.”

Chapter Nine

#Supernatural RPF #fanfiction #misha collins #misha x reader #misha collins/reader #fluff #kinda implied smut #Jensen Ackles #jared padalecki #west and maison

23 notes · View notes

mcmangachan-blog · 6 years

Text

Some lewd fanfiction.P2

James wanted me to rule him. I wanted white men to rule me. To fuck me. To use me in the vilest and perverted ways. And I wanted them to do it because they wanted to and they could, not because they knew it was something I would like. I wanted them to subject me to any perverse thrill they desired and, likewise, Alex's father wanted me to do the same to him. The problem was that I didn't understand it and didn't know how to respond. He couldn't tell me for the same reason I never told white men how I wanted them to treat me, he wanted me to make him do the nasty and perverted things I desired because they were what I desired. He wanted to worship me and needed to be commanded to do obscene things that would both humiliate him and give me pleasure. That I didn't understand that when we were married is something I regret to this day. "I've always suspected that Alex took after his father in that way. When he brought you home with him, you were so prim and proper I thought he was going to be disappointed when he found himself stuck in a marriage with a woman who could not provide him with what he really wanted. But here you are, so I guess he knew exactly what he was doing." Dina smiled warmly, and I actually felt comforted. "So his desire isn't just to have me fuck a white guy, he wants me to treat him like shit?" I asked frowning. "Yes and no. It's a fine line. He wants to be dominated by you, but only to the point that you enjoy doing so." "And what if my true sexual nature is nastier than he suspects?" Dina shrugged. "Like I said, it's a fine line. But the main thing is that it's up to you to dictate what happens. At this moment you have a lot of decisions to make. First of all, you have to choose whether you want to be a black woman who occasionally enjoys a white dick or if you want to be a full-fledged nigger bitch," she said. "What's the difference?" I asked. "Well, in one way a black woman wants to keep things on the down-low and be discreet about the acts. With the nigger bitch, though, she craves white cock and doesn't care who knows it. She loves it when a white man treats her like the hot pussied black whore she is and calls her things like 'a nigger whore, a fucking black cunt, a nasty chocolate slut, and other degrading names. My personal favorite is when I'm fucking a white guy with a big cock and he spits in my face before telling me that nigger pussy is meant for white dick. I always cum so hard when that happens," she replied. Her eyes narrowed seductively and a nasty smile appeared on her face. "If I was to guess, I'd bet you will be a nigger bitch. I'll bet that just like it happened with me, from the first moment the head of a white cock enters your black twat you will instantly become a white cock slut." "Why do you say that?" Her smile became even lewder. "Because you heard the man talking about you like you were a black piece of ass that he could have at will and call you a nigger bitch, and right now your pussy is soaking wet at the thought of him fucking you. What do you think that means?" After a long conversation with my mother-in-law, I returned home with a more clear perspective of what I was dealing with. We had discussed the social and familial effects of becoming a hot wife, especially as it was relative to black women who indulged in inter-racial pleasures. She explained some of the hardships that I would have to be prepared to endure if people found out I was fucking white men. She informed me that I could lose close friendships and that family might stop speaking to me. She then told me the options available for handling that situation. "If those close to you become aware of your extra-marital activities on their own, through rumor or accidentally happening to be somewhere that you are spending time with your lover, that would be the worst. The reason that would be bad is that they would feel deceived and you would be caught at a disadvantage when they confront you. On the other hand, if you just come out with it and let your freak flag fly, you may be hurt by some of their responses, but you'll be prepared for it. "And I should warn you. Being a cumdump for white cock is not an easy thing for every black girl to do. Sure, the sexual thrills are off the chain, but the idea of it is disgusting to a lot of people, both black and white. You have to be able to completely release that nigger slut inside you and let her rule you. If you can't do that you will always be subject to the emotional pains of guilt, disappointment, shame, ect., that other people will try to inflict upon you." Her advice as to how I should handle each man was surprising in its simplicity. She said that I should use both men for my pleasure and treat both men in opposite ways. She stated that when I was with white men I should be the total white cock loving nigger whore but when I was with my husband I should be the perverse queen bitch. "For the most part, you should treat Alex the way that white men treat you. Enjoy yourself and do all of those nasty things with your husband that you once were afraid to consider because you feared how he would respond. And here is something you might find especially useful in the way of advice. If your white lover suggests that you do something to your husband, do it. Your white lover will like knowing that you do the humiliating and nasty things to Alex that he has told you to, and Alex will love it too." By the time I arrived back home I had made up my mind that I was going to fuck Darius, but I didn't just jump into that fire. First, I had to test the waters with both men. With Darius, the first thing I did was tell him that I'd overheard his conversation about me in the supply room. I asked him if he meant what he said, or was he just having a macho masculine moment with some associates. He didn't blink at all and told me he meant every word of it. "If you want the complete truth," Darius said. "I think you're a hot little nigger bitch and if I had my way I'd be fucking you full of cum every day. I'd be fucking you every day because, after the first time, you'd be begging me to fill your black cunt with white cock at every opportunity." That night, I told Alex about my conversation with Darius and let him know that it had made me so aroused my pussy had been dripping wet ever since. I told him that I was really in need of a good fucking and when he got undressed and joined me in bed I told him to put on a condom. As we had never used them before, I knew he didn't have one and there were none in the house. I made him get dressed and go out to the drugstore to purchase some. When he returned I had him put one on before we had sex. He asked me why I wanted him to wear a condom and I reminded him that I wasn't on the pill then told him, in a very aroused and seductive voice, that I didn't want to take the chance that he might make me pregnant if he came inside me. "The next time I feel a man cum inside me I will be fucking a white man with a big white dick," I said in a husky purr. I didn't mean it, but after I said it I realized just how hot the thought was. Recalling that my mother-in-law had given birth to several inter-racial children, I wondered if what Darius had said about black women wanting to be impregnated by white men was true. More importantly, I began to wonder if what he had said about me was true. If Dina was to be believed it was. And, if the way my pussy had erupted into a flaming pit of desire when I'd spoken those words to Alex was any indication, the idea of doing such a taboo thing was an added source of sexual pleasure. While Alex was fucking me, I kept imagining it was Darius. The fantasy began shortly after Alex entered my dripping snatch and I came instantly, gripping my husband tight and humping my pussy up at his eight-inch black dick. I came again, swiftly on the heels of the previous climax, as I envisioned Darius looking down at me with triumphant eyes as he fucked me. It was then that I had an idea of something I could do to test Alex's commitment to me and acceptance of me fucking white men. Continuing to hold him tight, I began to undulate beneath him in the most obscene fashion. I fucked him like the hottest whore, making my pussy grip and suck at his throbbing black prick as I humped and swirled my hips beneath him. I had never been so completely uninhibited when we had sex in the past and I knew he was wondering what had come over me. Putting my lips close to his ear, I whispered the answer to him. "Fuck me Darius. Take me, baby. Fuck my horny, black pussy hard and deep with your big white dick," I murmured heatedly in my husband's ear. "Oh yeah. I love it. I love the way your cock feels inside me. Oh, oh, ohhhh! You're fucking me so goooooodddd." It was a mean and nasty thing to do, but it was also so hot that neither one of us could stand it. I didn't know that I possessed such a sadistic nature until I said those words. The moment they flowed from my lips, I realized just how maliciously hurtful they were and that I meant them to be degrading and to cause him emotional pain. The effect on both of us was tremendous. My saying those words made us both climax, my juices spilling out around the base of his embedded black shaft and his cum flooding the space at the tip of the condom. Things between me and both men gradually changed over the next two weeks. When I would go to work, Darius would sneak surreptitious caresses of my body that grew bolder and bolder with each passing day. When I showed up for work on the day following our conversation about what he'd said about me, I was straightening some papers at a table in the hallway when he casually slid his arm around my waist and glided his hands across my belly to my side. The act caused my pussy to tingle with desire and a rush of wetness to spill into my panties. On the next day, when I didn't complain about what he had done, he cornered me in a conference room for less than half a minute. He pushed me forward until the front of my body was pressed against the wall and the front of his body was pressing against me from behind. I could feel the hardness of his throbbing cock against my back and I became so sexually aroused by it that it was all I could do not to rub myself back against that massive column of pulsing man-meat. "You know you want it, nigger bitch," he whispered. His hand moved around to cup my breast through my dress. "You want white cock. And even if you won't admit it to yourself, your hot, black cunt is telling you just how true it is." The next twelve days that passed were filled with similar moments between us. At work, whenever there was a moment when he saw he could get away with it, Darius would sneak a quick feel of my ass or tits and remind me that he wanted to fuck me like a nigger bitch deserved to be fucked. At home, I would tell Alex of what occurred during my interactions with Darius and make him eat my pussy while I did so. "Just think, all I have to do is give in to his advances and whenever you eat my pussy you will know that you are putting your tongue where a white man's dick has been," I would tell him while humping my hips and grinding nastily at his lips and tongue. And I swear when I did he would eat my cunt like a hungry boy devouring his favorite dessert, not stopping until I had cum so much I couldn't take anymore and pushed him away. Then, on the Friday of the thirteenth week, it happened. With all of the sexual teasing between myself and Alex, and myself and Darius, my pussy was constantly ablaze so I guess it was inevitable. Still, what happened took me by surprise. It was surprising because I was the one who initiated it. Walking into the office the first thing I saw was that big, beautiful, blond haired white stud standing near a desk talking to one of the secretaries. At the sight of him, my pussy immediately became wet and hungry, sending such a strong rush of desire shooting through me that it overwhelmed everything else. I didn't take time to think or worry about the consequences, I just walked over to him, took him by the hand and led him into his office. Once inside I closed and locked the door behind us. "Okay. You said you want to fuck me? Well, here I am. Show me what a white boy can do with a hot black pussy," I said. Then I moved straight up to him, pulled his head down to mine, and kissed him. And just like that my life was changed. From that moment on I was no longer the average black housewife and mother I had been, but was transformed into the nigger hot wife and white cock slut I am now. Both Darius and Dina had been right about me. From the instant Darius pushed the first inch of his big, white dick into me I was hooked. He had barely gotten the tip of the head of his monster fuck pole inside me before I began to cum. And when that first orgasm hit it was more powerful than anything I had ever felt before. His prick was a huge, vein ridged mass that was at least two inches longer and twice as thick as what Alex had. And though that massive, steel hard column of throbbing flesh created a slight pain when it stretched the walls of my juicy snatch, I loved it. I came and came and came with every inch he worked into me. Darius had Erin, his personal secretary, hold his calls and cancel all of his appointments for the day and we spent the entire morning in the office with his cock inside me. At some time near 1:00 we took a break and after I took a moment to freshen up, we went out to lunch. Following that short respite to replenish our energies we returned to his office to resume what we'd been doing before. By the time we decided to stop and return to our homes, it was close to seven in the evening and all of our coworkers had gone home. When we were about to leave, Darius stood fully clothed but I was still naked. When I had started to get dressed he had stopped me and told me he wanted me to walk out of the office and go down to the garage completely naked so that everyone who happened to see me would know what a well-fucked nigger bitch looked like. "And when I come to work on Monday, I am going to tell all the guys about what we did today and how much of a nasty little nigger cumdump you are," he said. Grabbing me roughly under the chin, he raised my cum covered face, looked at me for a moment, then spat on me. "That's just a little something extra to cover a spot I missed when I was shooting my load all over your face. Now, come on, let's go. I just wish I didn't have to go home to my wife and kids. I'd love to see how your husband reacts when he sees you walk in the house totally bare and covered in cum." When we stepped out from his office we immediately ran into one of the cleaning staff who was arriving. It was an older black man who stared at me first with shock and then when he saw I was with Darius, that look changed to one of revulsion. I smiled at him happily and continued on my way. The kids were asleep when I got home, and I walked in to see Alex was waiting up for me. I'm sure that, taking one look at me he knew exactly what had happened, but I wanted to impress him with the enormity of the change I had gone through and how it was going to affect his life as well. "Hi, honey. I had a wonderful day," I said cheerily. Walking to him, I drew his face down to mine the same way I had Darius, but there was a very big difference between the two kisses in that when I kissed Darius my face and lips were not covered in a white man's spunk. Alex did not recoil in disgust or try to push me away when I kissed him. Instead, he drew my body tight to his and kissed me back, wanting to share the flavor of the white cock and cum that clung to my taste buds. And, from the way he responded to my kiss, I recognized he liked that I had pressed a cummy kiss upon his lips. We were both panting for breath and extremely aroused when we parted. "Mmmmm. Did you like the way that cum tastes on my lips?" I asked with a smile. "Darius fucked my face and came all over me." "I see that," he responded. "But you didn't answer my question. Did you like the taste of his cum?" "Not really. I liked kissing you and knowing his cum was on your lips," he admitted. "But the taste isn't one of my favorite things." "Don't worry, you'll get used to it," I told him. Then I walked over to one of the comfortable, plushly upholstered brown leather chairs and sat down. Leaning back, I casually spread my legs and draped them over the arms of the chair. I knew I was acting whorishly. I was feeling whorish and I was acting the way I felt. As I did so I couldn't help but recognize how comfortable I was and how much I was enjoying being so nasty and slutty. It was as if some weight had been lifted from me and I felt free. "Hey, maybe you'll find you like the flavor better if it is mixed with my pussy juice." I seductively ran my tongue over my lips as I reached down to glide a finger through the froth and slime of the fluids that stained my slit, then brought my finger up to my mouth. I let him watch as I sucked my finger clean. "I know I love that combination," I purred as I slowly slipped my finger from my lips. "Mmmmm, yeah. It's delicious." "You...? You let him cum inside you?" Alex asked, suddenly shocked. "Yes. I did. Several times," I replied. "I thought you were going to use condoms." I smiled, feeling a malicious pleasure at his worried expression. "We did use condoms. We used condoms for the first two times. But every time after that we went bareback." "Why would you do that. What happened?" Alex asked. "Come over here, get down between my legs, and eat my white lover's spunk from my well-fucked nigger pussy and I'll tell you while you're cleaning me," I said. The space between my thighs was an absolute mess and I saw Alex stare at the whitish combination of my pussy sauce and gluey globs of semen that streaked and clung to the dark hairs of my snatch with a reluctance to do as I said. Feeling a perverse thrill at observing his hesitation, I hunched my hips as at him in a fucking motion. "Get over here and lick my cunt, motherfucker," I snarled maliciously. "Do it fucking now, damn it." He slowly moved to kneel before me, and when he did I grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled his face into my crotch. Once I had him there, I wrapped my legs around his shoulders and began to hump my hips, grinding my pussy hard against his mouth. Because Alex loved to eat pussy, it wasn't long before I began to feel his tongue flickering over my clit and delving deep into me to scoop fat clumps of the potent seed Darius had deposited from my sensitive inner walls. "Ohhhh yeah, that's it. Lick my pussy deep like that and get all that slimy spunk out of there, Alex. Ohh, baby, your mouth feels so good after the hard pounding Darius gave me," I moaned. Looking down to see hid dark face buried in my snatch after a white man had fucked me seemed so nasty and perverted that it sent glorious bursts of sexual sensation coursing through me from my head to my toes. "I love it. That's what you're for. Ohhhh, sucking my pussy clean after I've been fucked is what you do best. And you're gonna be doing it a lot because I'm gonna be fucking a lot. "You want to know what happened. What happened is that I discovered that everybody knew more about what I am truly like than I did. You were right when you were thinking that I should fuck white men. Your mother was right when she said that she thought I was a lot like her. And, above all, Darius was right in everything he said about me," I informed him. "This morning I entered the office as a black temp who ha arrived to do her job, but by the time I left, I was a full-fledged nigger bitch. A total slut for big white cock." I told him about how I had walked into work and immediately dragged Darius to his office, put a condom on his cock, and fucked him.

0 notes

hail-to-the-victor · 6 years

Text

Chapter 3

A/N: the hurricane didn't affect me as much as I thought it would, so here's chapter 3. Enjoy!

“WHAT THE FUCK!?!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I, quite stupidly I should add, ran to the house to see if persephone was all right.

As I got close I was tackled out of the way by someone who I couldn't quite make out the face of. When they set me down, somehow already 50 feet away from the house, even though they had only tackled me out of the way a few seconds ago.

“Wh-wh-” I started to say in utter shock before they interrupted me.

“Stay down, don't get up until I say so.” they said. They than immediately sprung into action, fighting some figures that i didn't see before. They were… aliens? Whatever they were they sure as hell weren't human. They had strange multicolored skin with what looked like tattoos all over their bodies. I knew they weren't tattoos since they were glowing blood red. The person who tackled me basically destroyed them. It wasn't just with regular fighting, or even weapons, but with what looked like electricity and wind powers. Considering that my house just got destroyed by a giant space laser and we were attacked by aliens, the fact that this was possible wasn't as shocking as it should've been. Once they were all dispatched, my savior walked up to me, revealing their face., that was covered in some strange chrome liquid. It was… garania…

“Hey dari-” she said before being cut off by me.

“WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK IS HAPPENING!?!” i screamed, which would be a very appropriate response. So is fainting, which is what I did right afterwards.

When i woke up, i saw garania, persephone, poral, everyone. They all were covered in the same chrome liquid that was on garanias face shortly before i, ever so bravely, fainted. I took a look at my surroundings, that looked like some underground base. It had metal walls, cameras monitoring the city with screens showing what happened, and even weapons on racks near the walls. I stood up, my legs slightly shaking since i was probably out for a while. I was gonna go and talk to them when i hear someone yell behind me.

“HOLY SHIT HE'S AWAKE” the very familiar voice said. I turned around to see caleb sprinting right at me before picking me up and hugging me, basically squeezing me to death right then and there. My face basically exploded into red. He than did the last thing i expected him to do, and kissed me. Like right on the lips. I naturally kiss back, my head going ‘HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHIT’.

I than hear pan and lynn both yell “FUCKING FINALLY”, snapping both of us out of it, caleb setting me down, both of our faces redder than a god damn cherry. I than feel a pat on my shoulder, as jase comes up behind me and gives me that “good job” pat he does all the time. I than see pan give 20 bucks to lynn.

“Damnit darius, why couldn't you be the one to confess. I just lost 20 fuckin bucks!” pan said. I then realized that they were betting on who would confess first. Which soon after made me realize that they knew we both liked each other the entire time, which meant that the person caleb was talking to lynn about earlier was me, which made me even more flustered. I looked over at caleb again, honestly wanting to kiss him again, and saw he was just as flustered as me, if not more. I saw all our caretakers walking up to us, with small smiles on their face, probably caused by the events that just occured. I was grateful they came, as they changed the subject almost immediately as their faces went serious again.

“Glad that you're up darius, you've been out for a week.” persephone said.

“WHAT!?!” i immediately respond. That explains caleb's reaction.

“It's true. A lot happened since garania saved you, and you fainted, such as The tyrant taking over the entire city. Aw shit i need to explain who the tyrant is to you.” poral said.

“So. we have a confession to make, that we have already made about 4 other times. Were aliens. Well not your friends, y'all are humans. But me, garania, persephone, and lanore are all aliens. Were called nymphs. Those other aliens out there are also nymphs, though they work for the tyrant. The tyrant, as you could’ve guessed, is a maniacal tyrant. He enslaved and tortured thousands, and still does so. His reign over nymphia, our home planet, has caused terror and fear for hundreds of years. We escaped, but many died to get us out of there. One of our closer friends died too. We still miss her to this day. We helped one other friend off that planet as well, we'll introduce you to her later” she said, this obviously being a lot to take in. they were quiet for a while to let me process this, but they left one detail out that i was curious about, so i spoke up about it.

“Um, one question, how did garania control wind and electricity? I saw her use that when she saved me.” i asked. They grimaced, and that's when i heard the others begin shouting questions.

“WHAT!?!” jase said, very loudly.

“YOU CAN CONTROL WIND AND ELECTRICITY!?!” caleb yelled.

“CAN ALL OF YOU CONTROL SOMETHING!?!” lynn shouted.

Pans mouth was just on the floor pretty much.

“Damnit garania, i thought we all agreed not to use our powers in front of them!” lanore said

“I had to, they sent some of the elite after him! It was either use my powers or one of us would die!” garania said, defending herself.

“Woah woah woah, Elites? Why would whoever the fuck is attacking the earth send elites after me?” i questioned. Why the hell am i a target?

“I don't know. Whatever the reason, it can't be good.” persephone said.

“Why is this tyrant guy attacking the earth either way?” i asked, because why would he attack the earth, let alone our town. I get that these guys escaped, but why is that such a big deal?

“Because of us. You see, when we were still on nymphia, we formed a rebellion. We were the leaders, because of our powers. We were consistently defeated, and we realized the resistance was a lost cause, so we fled. This enraged the tyrant, because he wanted us dead. We thought we lost him, but somehow he found us. I don't know how he did.” garania said sadly.

“Oh. well how do we beat him? He obviously doesn't have his entire army here, maybe we stand a chance at winning.” i said. It made sense, and we couldn't just run away.

“That's exactly what we thought as well. That's why we brought you here. We made this place in case he would show up, and so he did. We have weapons and a training arena. Well train all of you in a weapon of your choice, so we can fight the tyrants army and win. We won't be able to beat the tyrant, but there's no way he's actually here. He was always a coward who sends others to do his dirty work.” garrania said.

“Wait, so we're gonna learn to fight?” caleb asked.

“Yes you are. Lets get started.”

#httv #hail to the victor #original story

0 notes

thatcrazyfanfictionwriter · 6 years

Text

Secret of the Sewers: The Breakout

Professor Honeycutt paced around the room he'd been locked in, his face wracked with worry. Every so often, his eyes would glance over at the closed door, knowing full well there were at least two Triceratons guarding it. His eyes drifted from the door down to his metallic hands, knowing the secrets he's installed into them. Though he had been able to escape similar circumstances while the prisoner of Darius Dunn, he had been in familiar surroundings, and he had to only worry about himself. This time, he was in unfamiliar territory, and there wasn't a doubt in his mind that the Gamarons and their sister would be punished for his attempts.

He let out a sigh, sitting down on the cot and putting his head in his hands. All he could do was sit there and wait.

"I do hope you five are well." he said quietly.

...

Mealtime came around for Incarceron, and the motley group of six gathered around a single table in the back, the Hamato Siblings looking at the lump of brown mush that served as food.

"Umm, Mona Lisa?" Mikey questioned, poking the mush with his fork, "Are you sure we can actually eat this?"

"It is nutrients paste." Mona explained, eating her own paste. "A single portion provides you with all of the necessary sustenance for a full solar cycle of activity."

The five still looked at it skeptically, then Mikey scooped up a bit on his finger and licked it.

"Huh... Not that bad." he commented.

Eventually, the others were brave enough to give it a test, and then they two began eating it. As they chowed down, Leo spoke up.

"Mona Lisa, what can you tell us about how this place works?" He asked.

"What do you wish to know?" Mona replied, scooping up some more of the paste.

"I have the basic lay of our way out already planned." Donny explained. "However, without the inner workings of the prison, all my data is useless."

"I am afraid there's not much I can tell you." she replied, setting her fork down. "No prisoner has seen the outside of this cell block. Only the guards can travel through the outer halls."

"But how do the guards get in and out of the block?" Hisako wondered.

"Each guard has a special key card." Mona explained. "These cards allow them access all across the prison. However, they are rarely if ever in the block."

"So I guess what Rynokk said was true." Raph remarked. "They're just here to keep us in and clean up the blood."

"That is partially true." Mona agreed.

Raph glanced up in confusion.

"Partially?" he repeated.

"The guards will intervene in fights." she clarified. "Warden Tetrax talks a big game when he says that you will leave at the end of your sentence or in a body bag, but nobody wants to deal with dead prisoners."

"Then why didn't Tetris intervene when Rynokk and his buddies were beating the shell out of you?" Leo wondered.

"Because they only intervene during serious fights where someone gets injured to the point that they need medical attention." Mona explained.

As she said that, Raph glanced around the main area, his eyes catching sight of Rynokk and his buddies. He could feel an idea beginning to form, and a smirk playing on his face. He slipped away as the five continued talking.

"So that's the only way to get the guards in here..." Donny surmised. "And for our plan to succeed, we're going to need one of those cards."

"So we need to pick a fight, but a fight we know we can win." Hisako added.

"How the shell are we going to do that?" Mikey questioned.

Mona Lisa glanced over at where Raph had been sitting, noticing that he was gone. She looked around before finally catching sight of him approaching Rynokk's table.

"It would seem that Raphael is already working on that part of the plan."

She pointed towards the red turtle, the other four following her finger to where she was pointing. Their eyes went wide as Hisako immediately made a mental connection.

Raphael, no! She mentally hissed.

Raphael yes. Raph replied.

He came right up behind Rynokk, rearing his fist back before punching Rynokk in the back of the head with all is strength. The pink alien went face first into his nutrients paste, splattering it all across his respirator and all over the table. His cronies stifled a snicker, then they all began backing away slowly as Rynokk stood up. He turned towards Raph, glaring at the turtle.

"I hope for your sake that was an accident and you are about to beg for forgiveness." he snarled.

"Oh trust me, it wasn't an accident." Raph promised, putting on his cockiest grin and channeling every annoyance tactic he'd learned from Mikey. "That was just the precursor to a world of pain."

Rynokk snarled, leaning closer to Raph.

"You better apologize now, or-"

"Or what?" Raph interrupted, throwing his arms up. "You gonna sic your cronies on me?"

Rynokk went to say something, but Raph just went on.

"Ya know, I'm starting to think that there's a reason you let your cronies do all the dirty work." he ribbed. "I think that Rynokk is nothing but a big. Fat. Coward!"

By now, Raph had managed to gather a bit of a crowd, and from the many observation windows surrounding the block, the silhouettes of several guards could be seen.

"I bet that Rynokk wouldn't last five seconds in a fight against a real warrior!" Raph exclaimed. "He talks big, but the only thing scary about him is his body odor!"

Rynokk was done. He let out a loud screech, then went to punch at Raph. Raph just ducked out of the way, letting the big pink lummox stumble forward a bit.

"Awww, did I hurt widdle Rynokk's feelings?"

Rynokk recovered, then attempted a few more punches. With both his hands behind his back, Raph easily bobbed left and right, easily avoiding the blows. As this continued on, Hisako stood up and began cheering.

"Raph! Raph! Raph! Raph!"

After a second, Mikey joined her in her cheering, then Donny, then Leo. Soon, Mona Lisa was joining in on the cheering, and it spread from there, infecting all of the aliens watching until they were all cheering Raph's name. Rynokk's temperament did not improve. If anything it got worse.

"Here that, you overgrown pimple?" Raph taunted. "That's my name they're cheering. Not yours, mine. Guess these guys know who the real boss is."

Rynokk continued his futile attempts to hit Raph, then stopped, screaming in unadulterated rage.

"Stop screwing with me and actually fight!" he exclaimed.

"You sure you want that, Rynokk?" Raph questioned, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Shut you're Rakkin' gob and fight!"

With that, Rynokk charged towards Raph swinging a punch at him. Raph caught the punch and delivered one of his own to the face. Raph then unleashed one punch after another at Rynokk's face and chest, not giving the alien even a second to counter.

...

Up in the security room, several guards were watching the fight with great interest. A few were even making bets as to who the winner might be.

"Looks like someone's finally giving Rynokk a beat down." One of the guards commented.

"It's those Gamarons the Prime Leader sent us." another realized.

Warden Tetrax glanced at the screen as he stroked his chin in contemplation.

"These creatures are tougher than I anticipated." he remarked. "Perhaps even tough enough for the Games."

...

Back in the fight, Rynokk's respirator was showing some serious dents. He was stumbling around, holding his fists up in an attempt to defend himself. Raph breathed on his nails, shining them on his shirt before smirking.

"Had enough yet?" he questioned. "Cause I could do this all day."

Rynokk was breathing hard, but he ran at Raph with one last charge. Raph let him come, then jumped into the air. Before he even began his downward arc, Raph straightened his legs, coming in for a final blow at Rynokk's back. Both of his feet connected with the large alien's back, and you could almost see Rynokk's eyes bulge from the sudden attack. He fell on his stomach, groaning in pain as Raph gave a bow.

"And that's how you take down a prison boss." he declared.

As he said that, a shrill beep echoed through the block, then the Warden's voice came over an intercom system.

"Attention all prisoners, report to your designated sleeping areas immediately!" he ordered. "Failure to comply will result in any participating prisons being sent immediately to the Games!"

That's when guards began pouring into the block, causing all of the prisoners to scatter. Everyone immediately began scrambling towards the cells, tripping over one another to get moving. Raph jumped off of Rynokk, joining his brothers.

"Umm, what exactly are these games?" he asked. "And why is everyone so desperate to avoid them."

"Don't know, don't want to know." Leo answered. "We best get back to the cell now."

The five Hamato siblings raced up to the cell, vaulting over railing and even leapfrogging over other prisoners in a mad dash. When they finally reached the cell, the five of them leaned against the walls, breathing heavily and sliding to the floor.

"Well, we got what we wanted." Donny huffed. "So who grabbed the keycard?"

"Don't look at me." Hisako replied, holding up her empty hands. "I thought Leo grabbed it."

"And I though Donny grabbed it." Leo retorted.

"Well I didn't grab it." Donny snapped. "Mikey?"

"No, I thought Raph grabbed it." Mikey replied.

"I was busy fighting Rynokk, shell for brains." Raph exclaimed, face palming. "How could I possibly grab it?"

About that time, Mona Lisa came rolling into the cell seconds before the clear door slammed home. She paused for a moment to catch her breath, then smirked, unfolding her hand to reveal a keycard.

"I do believe we can cross the keycard off of our list." she declared.

Raph was grinning from ear to ear.

"Mona Lisa, I could kiss you!" he practically shouted.

Mona stared at Raph in surprise as the others began snickering. Mikey began making kissy faces, making fake mouths with his hands and smashing them together. Raph turned bright red, slowing lowering his face into his hands in shame.

"Guys, I think he's turning red!" Hisako snickered.

"Hard to tell through all the green." Mikey joked.

Raph muttered something unintelligible as Leo and Donny attempted to regain composure.

"Alright guys, we can poke fun at Raph later." Leo decided. "Mona's right though. We now have one less thing to worry about."

"Unfortunately, we still have an entire load of other problems to deal with." Donny added.

"The lockdown will remain in effect for another quigon." Mona informed them. "We should use this time to plan our next move."

"Good idea." Leo agreed, taking the key card from Lisa. "While we may have the card, it's going to be difficult to use it with guards watching our every move."

"We're going to need a distraction, and a big one." Donny suggested.

"And sicing Raph on more helpless prisoners isn't gonna cut it." Mikey added. "Those dudes didn't even come inside until AFTER the fight was done."

"We're going to need something bigger." Hisako rationalized. "Something to draw attention away from our escape attempt."

They all thought for a minute, then Raph finally spoke up again.

"How about a prison riot?" he asked.

Mona Lisa looked over at him, then smiled and nodded.

"That could work." she told him. "If we manage to get all of the prisoners to participate, it will force Warden Tetrax to send in all of his guards to deal with them."

"And in the resulting chaos, we can use the keycard to slip out." Donny added.

"But here's the million dollar question." Hisako reminded them. "How the shell are we going to organize a riot? I'm pretty sure Rynokk's cronies are probably gonna try and sabotage us."

"We'll have to worry about that once the lockdown ends." Leo decided. "But right now, let's just get some rest. Something tells me we're going to need it."

"Leonardo is right." Mona Lisa agreed. "This may be our one chance to sleep without the need for someone to keep watch."

With no more words needed, the turtles cozied up to one another, Hisako wedging herself into the center of the turtle pile. Within seconds, the five of them were out. Mona Lisa smiled softly at this, she curled up herself, joining her allies in sleep.

...

Prime Leader Zanramon sat down in the communication center of his palace, placing a call to Incarceron. Within a few trigons, the large communication screen came up, revealing the face of Warden Tetrax.

"Prime Leader." He greeted, saluting.

"Tetrax, I received a report that you initiated a lockdown." he declared, lacing his claws together in a sign of dissatisfaction. "Is there something I should know?"

"It was merely a precaution." Tetrax assured the Prime Leader, confidence practically oozing off his frame. "One of the Gamarons you sent me initiated a fight with Rynokk."

Zanramon snorted at the thought.

"No doubt he was reduced to little more than a green smear on the walls of the prison." he chuckled.

"No sir." Tetrax replied. "Actually, Rynokk wasn't even able to lay a single appendage on the Gamaron."

This made Zanramon pause. Rynokk was a well-known brawler, and had been the leader of a notorious group of space pirates before he had been captured. He'd seized control of the prison within the first Nexton of his sentence, and had gotten many of the strongest prisoners under his influence. And yet, a single Gamaron had taken him down.

"This is troubling news." He remarked. "You were wise to initiate the lockdown."

"Thank you Prime Leader."

"Keep an eye on the Gamarons." he ordered. "And keep me informed if anything out of the ordinary occurs."

"As you command."

Tetrax cut the communication, leaving Zanramon alone. He thought back to the Gamaron's threats, and their promise to handle whatever he threw at them. He'd brushed it off as being nothing more than an attempt to bolster the Fugitoid's confidence, but now he was beginning to think that they had meant every word.

...

The sound of the pneumatic locks to the cell door opening cause Hisako to bolt awake. She sat up, almost instinctively eying the door. Her brothers were awoken as well, feeling their sister's urgency. Mona Lisa awoke as well, immediately taking note of Hisako's frightened demeanor and pale complexion.

"Hisako, are we under attack?" she questioned.

Hisako shook her head, taking a deep breath in order to calm herself.

"Sorry..." she muttered, "I half expected... Him... to walk through the door."

The turtles instinctively pulled their sister closer, hugging her tightly and reassuringly. Mona Lisa noted this, looking at her allies in confusion and sympathy.

"Who is it she speaks of?" she asked.

"A person that we don't talk about." Raph explained. "You'll never meet him, so don't worry about it."

"Yeah." Leo agreed, his eyes catching sight of a few shadows approaching the door of their cell. "Something tells me we've got bigger things to worry about."

Everyone turned to see a few of Rynokk's cronies approaching the cell. The turtles all rose to their feet, Mona Lisa and Hisako doing the same. Raph moved to the front of the group, getting between the others and Rynokk's goons.

"You jokers come for a rematch?" he asked, getting into a defensive stance.

The aliens all immediately raised their appendages in pacifying gestures.

"Easy Gamaron." one hissed. "We're not here to fight."

"Far from it." another one added. "We're here to thank you."

This made all six of them blink in confusion. Raph lowered his stance, which prompted the aliens to lower their appendages.

"We've tried standing up to Rynokk before, and he's always pounded us into the floor." the first alien explained. "You're the first being in this rakkan hellhole that actually beat him."

"If you need or want anything at all, just ask." a third alien piped up. "We owe you that much."

Raph mulled that over, then a cocky grin plastered itself on his face.

"As it just so happens, there is something you guys could help me with."

He gestured for them to come closer and he began to whisper.

"My friends and I are thinking of starting a riot." he explained in a hushed tone. "We could use your help to spread the word and make sure everyone gets involved."

The aliens were all nodding enthusiastically, the idea of a prison riot making all of them eager for a fight.

"However, you got to wait for our signal." Raph insisted. "You go off too quickly, and the entire thing is moot."

"Don't worry Gamaron." The first alien insisted. "We've got this."

The aliens spread out to do what they'd been told, leaving the Hamato siblings and Mona Lisa to themselves.

"And that's two problems solved with one fight." Raph declared, his cocky grin becoming even more so. "You guys really need to step it up."

The turtles and Hisako just chuckled, clapping and patting their brother on the shell.

"So far everything has worked out, but we've seen how quickly Tetris can reclaim order down here." Donny reminded him. "If we want this to work, we need to take that power away from him."

"The intercom system." Mikey remembered. "I bet if we take that out, then old Tetris won't be able to call in the cavalry."

"It's Tetrax, why do you insist on getting his name wrong?" Mona Lisa questioned.

"Because it probably pisses him off, and I find that extremely satisfying." Mikey answered.

Lisa gave a nod of understanding, then returned to the matter at hand.

"The warden's name aside, Michelangelo is right." Mona Lisa agreed. "The key to any successful mission is cutting off communication."

"Maybe one of us can use the keycard to access the security room." Hisako suggested. "No doubt that's where the intercom is. We can commandeer it and use it to give a signal to Raph's new best friends."

Leo took the card out from where he'd hidden it, handing it to Hisako.

"That should probably be you then." he told her. "Out of all of us, you're the smallest, and no doubt have the best chance of actually finding the security room."

Hisako nodded, taking the keycard and sliding it onto the hem of her pants.

"So when do we do this?" she asked.

"Tonight." Leo declared.

...

When the lights shut off all throughout the prison, the Hamato siblings assumed that it was lights out. Hisako and her brothers exchanged knowing glances, then they all shared a nod. Hisako slipped out of the cell, grateful that the prison didn't seem to care about locking them in unless it was a lockdown. She jumped down to the first level, immediately rolling under a table for a second in case one of the cameras caught her jump.

After a few moments, nothing happened, so Hisako emerged from under the table. She approached the large door that she and her brothers had been forced through when they first arrived, her eyes immediately hitting the card swiper right by the door.

"Let's hope this works." she muttered.

She swiped the card, then the doors hissed open. Hisako wasted no time running through, ducking for cover as they closed behind her. She leaned against the wall, then closed her eyes, trying to listen for any guards. Though her physical senses picked up nothing, she did manage to catch a few stray thoughts from a pair of guards not far from her. She opened her eyes, then made her way towards the security room. She leaned against the door, placing her ear against the metal.

"I'm telling you Raz, the orange Gamaron had this in his pocket." one of the guards commented. "It has to be important."

"It's a primitive piece of technology that the creature probably picked up from a street vendor back on Dhoonib." the second guard, Raz, retorted. "Now put it back Zed."

Hisako slid the keycard, opening the door to reveal the two guards arguing over Mikey's shell cell. They had their backs to the door and didn't seem to notice her enter, too caught up in their argument.

"I'm just not sure you're right about it being useless." Zed argued. "He seemed rather adamant that I be careful with it. Perhaps it's some kind of weapon?"

"Knowing Donatello, it might be." Hisako remarked.

Both Raz and Zed turned just in time for Hisako to split kick them both, knocking them unconscious. Mikey's shell cell went flying into the air before Hisako snagged it. She turned it on and opened up a single app, her smile growing.

"This is gonna be good."

...

Back in the main prison block, the intercom system let out a shrill beep, one that roused all the prisoners from their sleep. However, the voice over the intercom got all the guards riled up as well.

"Hello? Is this thing on? Testing. Testing."

The prisoners were beginning to emerge from their cells, realizing that this was the signal they'd been waiting for.

"Hello Incarceron!" Hisako called over the intercom, putting on her best Radio Host voice. "This is Hamato Hisako, coming to you live from the security room, and I have got quite the treat for my fellow inmates. My brother Michelangelo managed to hold onto his cellphone before we got arrested, and he has access to a plethora of well-known tunes from my planet of Earth."

Mikey was beaming from ear to ear.

"She gave me a shout out!" he squeed.

"I think I have the perfect song to start off this prison riot, a classic done by the king of Rock and Roll himself! Give it up for Elvis Presley's Jailhouse Rock!"

A second later, the ever familiar beat of the classic song began to echo through the speakers. About the same time, the doors opened to allow the guards into the facility. By the time the first line of the song had been sung, prisoners were engaging guards in an all-out brawl. Raph popped his neck, then leapt into the fray, unable to pass up a good fight.

...

Up in the security room, Hisako looked at the camera feeds with a large smile. Everything seemed to be going just as they'd planned. She ripped off a piece of her shirt, tying Mikey's shell cell to the intercom before stashing it in a compartment. As she did so, she caught a glimpse of several guards making their way towards the security room.

"About time." she said with a grin.

...

Outside, several Triceraton guards aimed their weapons at the door. One leaned forward, swiping his card so the door would open. The second it opened, all of the guards let loose a barrage of laser fire, practically annihilating several of the security cameras, as well as the pair of chairs. After about a minute, they all stopped firing, taking a look around the destroyed room. There only appeared to be two occupants, the two guards that had initially been on duty. Thankfully, they were both on the floor unconscious, so had been left unharmed by the laser fire.

"Where'd the humanoid go?" One of the guards questioned.

As they scanned the room, Hisako watched them from above, having found a way onto the ceiling and was currently hanging there. Once the last one entered the room, she dropped down behind him, nerve jabbing him in the neck. The guy went down with a thud, drawing the attention of the other guards.

"It's the humanoid!" one shouted. "Open fire!"

They all began attacking, attempting to shoot Hisako down. However, she quickly dove for cover in a small closet, slamming the button to close the door. The gunfire was beginning to heat up the metal door as Hisako leaned against it.

"That was probably not my brightest idea." she muttered.

As she took a deep breath, her foot connected with a broom leaning against the wall, making it connect with her head. She yelped in surprise, grabbing the broom. She was about to push it off, then she paused.

"Well, it's no tessen, but beggars can't be choosers."

She grasped the broom, then opened the door again. The second it opened, she slid under one of the Triceratons, using the broom to trip him up. She then jumped to her feet, spinning the broom like a Bo staff and getting into a fighting stance.

"Bring it on, Dino-breath!" she exclaimed.

...

In the cell block, the main area had been reduced to a warzone. Triceratons and prisoners alike were everywhere, most still fighting tooth, nail, and claw while a few had been knocked unconscious. The turtles and Mona Lisa were all right in the middle of it all, forming a shell to shell circle in order to protect themselves.

"You know, I'm starting to think this may not have been such a good plan!" Donny noted as he kicked a Triceraton in the face.

"You kidding?" Raph exclaimed, punching two Triceratons simultaneously while grinning like a maniac. "I haven't had this much fun since that bar fight!"

"We need to make for the exit!" Mona Lisa exclaimed, dodging a bout of laser fire before tail whipping the shooter.

"Without Hisako, we don't stand a chance!" Leo replied. "She's got our keycard!"

"Then where is she?!" Mikey screamed.

About that time, Hisako came running up to them, a couple brooms in her hand as she swung them like bats, knocking a few guards aside.

"Sorry I'm late." she apologized. "But I found us some makeshift weapons."

She doled out the brooms so each of her brothers had one.

"They're no ninja weapons, but they're better than nothing." she admitted.

"Remember what Master Splinter taught us." Leo replied. "In the hands of a ninja master, anything can be a weapon."

Now armed, the Hamato siblings scattered. Donny had the easiest time adjusting to the broom since it worked similarly to his staff. He spun it around for a bit before smacking it across the face of a Triceraton guard several times. He then swung the broom at his feet knocking him down to the ground.

Raph charged at the Triceraton, holding his broom like a battering ram with the broom end out. The Triceraton grabbed the end of the broom and picked him up, bringing him up to eye level. Raph then kicked the Triceraton in the face repeatedly. One last kick knocked the Triceraton to the ground as Raph back flipped onto the ground.

"Now that felt good." he muttered to himself.

Leo planted the broom on the ground, running forward and using it to trip up his enemies. Once they were down, he twisted the broom, using the side to clock the unfortunate Triceraton on the side of the head. He might as well have hit the guy with a bat because he was out in an instant.

Mikey meanwhile, was snapping the handle of his broom in the face of a Triceraton.

"A little to the right, a little to the left, one more time, a little bit more like that."

He punctuated each direction with a snap of the handle, forcing the Triceraton into the position he wanted. Finally, he was right where the orange turtle wanted him.

"And... stop." He declared. "Perfect."

Hisako swung her broom with all her strength, connecting with the side of the Triceratons head. He fell hard as Hisako grinned at her brother.

"You're a natural, sis." he told her, holding out a fist.

"Thanks, bro." she replied, fist bumping him.

Lisa came up behind a Triceraton, latching onto his back and pounding on his head. He attempted to shake her off, but found the action impossible. Raph watched her fighting, unable to keep a lovesick puppy dog grin off his face. One Triceraton attempted to take advantage of his daze, only to receive a rabbit punch to the face from the red turtle, who didn't even bother looking back. Once Mona Lisa had dispatched her Triceraton, she turned to the Hamato Siblings.

"We have wasted enough time here." she declared. "If we are to make our escape, we must act now."

"You heard Lisa, let's book!" Leo shouted.

They all ran for the exit, occasionally bashing guards aside as they got to the door. Hisako wasted no time swiping the card, the six of them pouring through the door before it even opened all the way.

"Donny, which way to the hangar bay?" Hisako questioned.

"Turn right at the next intersection." Donny answered. "Then a sharp left, and we should be at the doors of the hanger."

The six ran at top speeds, even sliding slightly as they took the two necessary turns. Once they reached the door, Hisako swiped the card again. They prepared to charge through the doors, but were met by Warden Tetrax standing in their way, an entire army of armed guards behind him. He gave a slow clap, a smug smile on his face.

"Congratulations." he told them. "This is the farthest any escape attempt has ever gotten."

"We aim to please." Raph remarked.

"Let us pass Tetris!" Mikey demanded.

Tetrax's face faltered slightly as his eye twitched.

"That's Warden Tetrax to you, Gamaron." he snarled. "And what makes you think I'll listen to a single word you say?"

Mona Lisa stepped forward, punching her palm.

"I will handle this, Gamarons." she whispered to them. "You five make for one of the shuttles. I will be right behind you."

"Lisa, you're outnumbered 200 to 1." Donny calculated. "The chances of you succeeding are-"

"Do not tell me the odds, Donatello." she interrupted. "Just go!"

She charged at Tetrax, tackling the Warden to the ground. The guards were shocked by the sudden movement, which gave the Hamato Siblings the opening they needed.

"Now's our chance, let's go!" Leo ordered.

The Hamato Siblings made a beeline towards the first shuttle they laid their eyes on. They were about halfway up the gangplank before laser fire echoed through the hangar. Raph's blood ran cold when he heard a pained scream come from Mona Lisa. The world seemed to slow down as he looked back. He saw Mona Lisa fall to the ground, where she was immediately dogpiled by a dozen or so guards.

"Mona Lisa!" he shrieked.

Hisako felt what he was about to do and her eyes went wide.

"Raph! Stop!"

But he didn't. Gripping his broom so tightly his knuckles turned light green, he ran at the Triceratons, screaming with every step.

"What's that shell-head doing?!" Donny shouted.

"He's ruining the plan!" Hisako snapped.

"Leo, what do we do?!" Mikey questioned.

By now, Raph was swinging his broom like a madman, the sides connecting with faces, abdomens, and even between a few legs. However, the guards were closing in fast and it was clear that he would soon be overwhelmed.

"We have to help him, now!" Leo decided.

They all ran to join their brother, hoping to even the odds in their favor. Unfortunately, even with all five of them there, they were all exhausted from their previous bouts, and there were just too many of them. Within a few minutes, they had been stripped of their brooms and were all lying on the ground in a groaning, unconscious heap.

"Like I told you before, off worlders..." Tetrax said to their unconscious bodies. "Nobody leaves this prison unless their sentence is up, or they're dead."

A guard came up to Tetrax, giving a salute.

"We've managed to subdue the riot sir." he declared. "We'll have the prisoners locked down in a matter of trigons."

"See that you do." Tetrax replied. "And somebody get me in contact with the Prime Leader."

...

Zanramon was fast asleep in his royal chambers when the call came in. When he heard the constant beeping noise letting him know the call was waiting, he let out an audible growl. He sat up, shuffling over to the communication array and turning it on.

"I do hope that this call is important." He snarled in barely concealed annoyance and rage. "Because if it is not, you will find yourself either on the next transport to the Klackspire mines, or the next featured attraction in the games!"

"I am sorry to wake you, Prime Leader." Warden Tetrax apologized. "However, you did ask me to inform you if anything out of the ordinary happened."

Zanramon paused, now honestly intrigued. He didn't even need to ask before Tetrax explained.

"The Gamarons and their humanoid ally seem to have formed an alliance with the Salamandarian Y'Gythgba, and they organized a riot in order to make an escape."

"WHAT?!" Zanramon exclaimed.

"Fear not, Prime Leader." Tetrax assured him. "We have successfully contained the riot, and the six would-be escape artists are back in custody."

Zanramon let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that his earlier assessment of the off worlders' promises was correct. They were indeed much stronger than he had originally anticipated. They would have to be dealt with, and Zanramon already knew the perfect way to do it.

"What are your orders sir?"

Zanramon smiled.

"Send them all to the Games."

0 notes

readbookywooks · 7 years

Text

PART III "THE ENEMY"

19. "Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games begin!" The voice of Claudius Templesmith, the Hunger Games announcer, hammers my ears. I have less than a minute to get my bearings. Then the gong will sound and the tributes will be free to move off their metal plates. But move where? I can't think straight. The image of Cinna, beaten and bloody, consumes me. Where is he now? What are they doing to him? Torturing him? Killing him? Turning him into an Avox? Obviously his assault was staged to unhinge me, the same way Darius's presence in my quarters was. And it has unhinged me. All I want to do is collapse on my metal plate. But I can hardly do that after what I just witnessed. I must be strong. I owe it to Cinna, who risked everything by undermining President Snow and turning my bridal silk into mockingjay plumage. And I owe it to the rebels who, emboldened by Cinna's example, might be fighting to bring down the Capitol at this moment. My refusal to play the Games on the Capitol's terms is to be my last act of rebellion. So I grit my teeth and will myself to be a player. Where are you? I can still make no sense of my surroundings. Where are you?! I demand an answer from myself and slowly the world comes into focus. Blue water. Pink sky. White-hot sun beating down. All right, there's the Cornucopia, the shining gold metal horn, about forty yards away. At first, it appears to be sitting on a circular island. But on closer examination, I see the thin strips of land radiating from the circle like the spokes on a wheel. I think there are ten to twelve, and they seem equidistant from one another. Between the spokes, all is water. Water and a pair of tributes. That's it, then. There are twelve spokes, each with two tributes balanced on metal plates between them. The other tribute in my watery wedge is old Woof from District 8. He's about as far to my right as the land strip on my left. Beyond the water, wherever you look, a narrow beach and then dense greenery. I scan the circle of tributes, looking for Peeta, but he must be blocked from my view by the Cornucopia. I catch a handful of water as it washes in and smell it. Then I touch the tip of my wet finger to my tongue. As I suspected, it's saltwater. Just like the waves Peeta and I encountered on our brief tour of the beach in District 4. But at least it seems clean. There are no boats, no ropes, not even a bit of driftwood to cling to. No, there's only one way to get to the Cornucopia. When the gong sounds, I don't even hesitate before I dive to my left. It's a longer distance than I'm used to, and navigating the waves takes a little more skill than swimming across my quiet lake at home, but my body seems oddly light and I cut through the water effortlessly. Maybe it's the salt. I pull myself, dripping, onto the land strip and sprint down the sandy stretch for the Cornucopia. I can see no one else converging from my side, although the gold horn blocks a good portion of my view. I don't let the thought of adversaries slow me down, though. I'm thinking like a Career now, and the first thing I want is to get my hands on a weapon. Last year, the supplies were spread out quite a distance around the Cornucopia, with the most valuable closest to the horn. But this year, the booty seems to be piled at the twenty-foot-high mouth. My eyes instantly home in on a golden bow just in arm's reach and I yank it free. There's someone behind me. I'm alerted by, I don't know, a soft shift of sand or maybe just a change in the air currents. I pull an arrow from the sheath that's still wedged in the pile and arm my bow as I turn. Finnick, glistening and gorgeous, stands a few yards away, with a trident poised to attack. A net dangles from his other hand. He's smiling a little, but the muscles in his upper body are rigid in anticipation. "You can swim, too," he says. "Where did you learn that in District Twelve?" "We have a big bathtub," I answer. "You must," he says. "You like the arena?" "Not particularly. But you should. They must have built it especially for you," I say with an edge of bitterness. It seems like it, anyway, with all the water, when I bet only a handful of the victors can swim. And there was no pool in the Training Center, no chance to learn. Either you came in here a swimmer or you'd better be a really fast learner. Even participation in the initial bloodbath depends on being able to cover twenty yards of water. That gives District 4 an enormous advantage. For a moment we're frozen, sizing each other up, our weapons, our skill. Then Finnick suddenly grins. "Lucky thing we're allies. Right?" Sensing a trap, I'm about to let my arrow fly, hoping it finds his heart before the trident impales me, when he shifts his hand and something on his wrist catches the sunlight. A solid-gold bangle patterned with flames. The same one I remember on Haymitch's wrist the morning I began training. I briefly consider that Finnick could have stolen it to trick me, but somehow I know this isn't the case. Haymitch gave it to him. As a signal to me. An order, really. To trust Finnick. I can hear other footsteps approaching. I must decide at once. "Right!" I snap, because even though Haymitch is my mentor and trying to keep me alive, this angers me. Why didn't he tell me he'd made this arrangement before? Probably because Peeta and I had ruled out allies. Now Haymitch has chosen one on his own. "Duck!" Finnick commands in such a powerful voice, so different from his usual seductive purr, that I do. His trident goes whizzing over my head and there's a sickening sound of impact as it finds its target. The man from District 5, the drunk who threw up on the sword-fighting floor, sinks to his knees as Finnick frees the trident from his chest. "Don't trust One and Two," Finnick says. There's no time to question this. I work the sheath of arrows free. "Each take one side?" I say. He nods, and I dart around the pile. About four spokes apart, Enobaria and Gloss are just reaching land. Either they're slow swimmers or they thought the water might be laced with other dangers, which it might well be. Sometimes it's not good to consider too many scenarios. But now that they're on the sand, they'll be here in a matter of seconds. "Anything useful?" I hear Finnick shout. I quickly scan the pile on my side and find maces, swords, bows and arrows, tridents, knives, spears, axes, metallic objects I have no name for ... and nothing else. "Weapons!" I call back. "Nothing but weapons!" "Same here," he confirms. "Grab what you want and let's go!" I shoot an arrow at Enobaria, who's gotten in too close for comfort, but she's expecting it and dives back into the water before it can find its mark. Gloss isn't quite as swift, and I sink an arrow into his calf as he plunges into the waves. I sling an extra bow and a second sheath of arrows over my body, slide two long knives and an awl into my belt, and meet up with Finnick at the front of the pile. "Do something about that, would you?" he says. I see Brutus barreling toward us. His belt is undone and he has it stretched between his hands as a kind of shield. I shoot at him and he manages to block the arrow with his belt before it can skewer his liver. Where it punctures the belt, a purple liquid spews forth, coating his face. As I reload, Brutus flattens on the ground, rolls the few feet to the water, and submerges. There's a clang of metal falling behind me. "Let's clear out," I say to Finnick. This last altercation has given Enobaria and Gloss time to reach the Cornucopia. Brutus is within shooting distance and somewhere, certainly, Cashmere is nearby, too. These four classic Careers will no doubt have a prior alliance. If I had only my own safety to consider, I might be willing to take them on with Finnick by my side. But it's Peeta I'm thinking about. I spot him now, still stranded on his metal plate. I take off and Finnick follows without question, as if knowing this will be my next move. When I'm as close as I can get, I start removing knives from my belt, preparing to swim out to reach him and somehow bring him in. Finnick drops a hand on my shoulder. "I'll get him." Suspicion flickers up inside me. Could this all just be a ruse? For Finnick to win my trust and then swim out and drown Peeta? "I can," I insist. But Finnick has dropped all his weapons to the ground. "Better not exert yourself. Not in your condition," he says, and reaches down and pats my abdomen. Oh, right. I'm supposed to be pregnant, I think. While I'm trying to think what that means and how I should act - maybe throw up or something - Finnick has positioned himself at the edge of the water. "Cover me," he says. He disappears with a flawless dive. I raise my bow, warding off any attackers from the Cornucopia, but no one seems interested in pursuing us. Sure enough, Gloss, Cashmere, Enobaria, and Brutus have gathered, their pack formed already, picking over the weapons. A quick survey of the rest of the arena shows that most of the tributes are still trapped on their plates. Wait, no, there's someone standing on the spoke to my left, the one opposite Peeta. It's Mags. But she neither heads for the Cornucopia nor tries to flee. Instead she splashes into the water and starts paddling toward me, her gray head bobbing above the waves. Well, she's old, but I guess after eighty years of living in District 4 she can keep afloat. Finnick has reached Peeta now and is towing him back, one arm across his chest while the other propels them through the water with easy strokes. Peeta rides along without resisting. I don't know what Finnick said or did that convinced him to put his life in his hands - showed him the bangle, maybe. Or just the sight of me waiting might have been enough. When they reach the sand, I help haul Peeta up onto dry land. "Hello, again," he says, and gives me a kiss. "We've got allies." "Yes. Just as Haymitch intended," I answer. "Remind me, did we make deals with anyone else?" Peeta asks. "Only Mags, I think," I say. I nod toward the old woman doggedly making her way toward us. "Well, I can't leave Mags behind," says Finnick. "She's one of the few people who actually likes me." "I've got no problem with Mags," I say. "Especially now that I see the arena. Het fishhooks are probably our best chance of getting a meal." "Katniss wanted her on the first day," says Peeta. "Katniss has remarkably good judgment," says Finnick. With one hand he reaches into the water and scoops out Mags like she weighs no more than a puppy. She makes some remark that I think includes the word "bob," then pats her belt. "Look, she's right. Someone figured it out." Finnick points to Beetee. He's flailing around in the waves but managing to keep his head above water. "What?" I say. "The belts. They're flotation devices," says Finnick. "I mean, you have to propel yourself, but they'll keep you from drowning." I almost ask Finnick to wait, to get Beetee and Wiress and take them with us, but Beetee's three spokes over and I can't even see Wiress. For all I know, Finnick would kill them as quickly as he did the tribute from 5, so instead I suggest we move on. I hand Peeta a bow, a sheath of arrows, and a knife, keeping the rest for myself. But Mags tugs on my sleeve and babbles on until I've given the awl to her. Pleased, she clamps the handle between her gums and reaches her arms up to Finnick. He tosses his net over his shoulder, hoists Mags on top of it, grips his tridents in his free hand, and we run away from the Cornucopia. Where the sand ends, woods begin to rise sharply. No, not really woods. At least not the kind I know. Jungle. The foreign, almost obsolete word comes to mind. Something I heard from another Hunger Games or learned from my father. Most of the trees are unfamiliar, with smooth trunks and few branches. The earth is very black and spongy underfoot, often obscured by tangles of vines with colorful blossoms. While the sun's hot and bright, the air's warm and heavy with moisture, and I get the feeling I will never really be dry here. The thin blue fabric of my jumpsuit lets the seawater evaporate easily, but it's already begun to cling to me with sweat. Peeta takes the lead, cutting through the patches of dense vegetation with his long knife. I make Finnick go second because even though he's the most powerful, he's got his hands full with Mags. Besides, while he's a whiz with that trident, it's a weapon less suited to the jungle than my arrows. It doesn't take long, between the steep incline and the heat, to become short of breath. Peeta and I have been training intensely, though, and Finnick's such an amazing physical specimen that even with Mags over his shoulder, we climb rapidly for about a mile before he requests a rest. And then I think it's more for Mags's sake than his own. The foliage has hidden the wheel from sight, so I scale a tree with rubbery limbs to get a better view. And then wish that I hadn't. Around the Cornucopia, the ground appears to be bleeding; the water has purple stains. Bodies lie on the ground and float in the sea, but at this distance, with everyone dressed exactly the same, I can't tell who lives or dies. All I can tell is that some of the tiny blue figures still battle. Well, what did I think? That the victors' chain of locked hands last night would result in some sort of universal truce in the arena? No, I never believed that. But I guess I had hoped people might show some ... what? Restraint? Reluctance, at least. Before they jumped right into massacre mode. And you all knew each other, I think. You acted like friends. I have only one real friend in here. And he isn't from District 4. I let the slight, soupy breeze cool my cheeks while I come to a decision. Despite the bangle, I should just get it over with and shoot Finnick. There's really no future in this alliance. And he's too dangerous to let go. Now, when we have this tentative trust, may be my only chance to kill him. I could easily shoot him in the back as we walk. It's despicable, of course, but will it be any more despicable if I wait? Know him better? Owe him more? No, this is the time. I take one last look at the battling figures, the bloody ground, to harden my resolve, and then slide to the ground. But when I land, I find Finnick's kept pace with my thoughts. As if he knows what I have seen and how it will have affected me. He has one of his tridents raised in a casually defensive position. "What's going on down there, Katniss? Have they all joined hands? Taken a vow of nonviolence? Tossed the weapons in the sea in defiance of the Capitol?" Finnick asks. "No," I say. "No," Finnick repeats. "Because whatever happened in the past is in the past. And no one in this arena was a victor by chance." He eyes Peeta for a moment. "Except maybe Peeta." Finnick knows then what Haymitch and I know. About Peeta. Being truly, deep-down better than the rest of us. Finnick took out that tribute from 5 without blinking an eye. And how long did I take to turn deadly? I shot to kill when I targeted Enobaria and Gloss and Brutus. Peeta would at least have attempted negotiations first. Seen if some wider alliance was possible. But to what end? Finnick's right. I'm right. The people in this arena weren't crowned for their compassion. I hold his gaze, weighing his speed against my own. The time it will take to send an arrow through his brain versus the time his trident will reach my body. I can see him, waiting for me to make the first move. Calculating if he should block first or go directly for an attack. I can feel we've both about worked it out when Peeta steps deliberately between us. "So how many are dead?" he asks. Move, you idiot, I think. But he remains planted firmly between us. "Hard to say," I answer. "At least six, I think. And they're still fighting." "Let's keep moving. We need water," he says. So far there's been no sign of a freshwater stream or pond, and the saltwater's undrinkable. Again, I think of the last Games, where I nearly died of dehydration. "Better find some soon," says Finnick. "We need to be undercover when the others come hunting us tonight." We. Us. Hunting. All right, maybe killing Finnick would be a little premature. He's been helpful so far. He does have Haymitch's stamp of approval. And who knows what the night will hold? If worse comes to worst, I can always kill him in his sleep. So I let the moment pass. And so does Finnick. The absence of water intensifies my thirst. I keep a sharp eye out as we continue our trek upward, but with no luck. After about another mile, I can see an end to the tree line and assume we're reaching the crest of the hill. "Maybe we'll have better luck on the other side. Find a spring or something." But there is no other side. I know this before anyone else, even though I am farthest from the top. My eyes catch on a funny, rippling square hanging like a warped pane of glass in the air. At first I think it's the glare from the sun or the heat shimmering up off the ground. But it's fixed in space, not shifting when I move. And that's when I connect the square with Wiress and Beetee in the Training Center and realize what lies before us. My warning cry is just reaching my lips when Peeta's knife swings out to slash away some vines. There's a sharp zapping sound. For an instant, the trees are gone and I see open space over a short stretch of bare earth. Then Peeta's flung back from the force field, bringing Finnick and Mags to the ground. I rush over to where he lies, motionless in a web of vines. "Peeta?" There's a faint smell of singed hair. I call his name again, giving him a little shake, but he's unresponsive. My fingers fumble across his lips, where there's no warm breath although moments ago he was panting. I press my ear against his chest, to the spot where I always rest my head, where I know I will hear the strong and steady beat of his heart. Instead, I find silence.

#CatchingFire

0 notes