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Wanda Maximoff x Reader - Land of Thieves #ChapterOne

Western/ Red Dead Redemption AU / Slow Burn / childhood best friends to lovers 

Gif is not mine.

Read on AO3 (English Version) 

Ler no AO3  / “Terra de Ladrões” (Versão Português)

Chapter warnings: explicit language, explicit violence. 

Word count for this chapter:  4002K

Summary:  When you were a child, you swore that no matter how high the reward in your head, she could always count on you. Life as an outlaw in the west is not easy, but you believe that train robberies are still easier than asking a pretty girl to dance. Land of Thieves, also know as your love story with Wanda Maximoff in the Wild West.

Pt.1 || Pt. 2 || Pt. 3 || Pt.4 || Pt.5 || Pt.6 || Pt.7 || Pt.8 || Pt.9 || Pt.10 || Pt.11

You were covered in mud and blood when you entered the saloon. Curious and judgmental eyes turned to you, but you didn't stare back. Stretching your back, you felt your whole body ache; the recent beating was sure to leave marks. Walking over to the counter, you threw three gold coins onto the wood, muttering in a mumbled tone "bath" to the saloon keeper. He nodded slightly, showing you the way to the restrooms. As you washed up, you grumbled against the recent cuts, but you were happy to know that you hadn't been shot. Your body ached, but without bullet wounds, you would be better in no time. A pretty girl who worked in the saloon smiled at you when she took your muddy clothes to wash them, and you looked away blushing helplessly. She handed you new clothes before she left. When you finished your shower, you put on the white silk shirt, and beat-up jeans that were handed to you. The boots were not new, but they were comfortable. You also put on spurs, but they didn't give you suspenders, so you left the shirt loose against your body, enjoying the lightness. Attaching your holstered belt to your waist, you checked to be sure your Schofield revolver was clean and locked before you holstered it. You walked to the top floor of the saloon, ignoring the curious glances cast at you on the way. You hoped that no one would recognize you from the reward posters, but you weren't so sure about that, since your face was quite exposed without your hat, which must now be somewhere lost in the middle of New Elizabeth, or on some thief's head. Whistling softly, you walked to the saloon balcony, watching the town below. Valentine is a ranching town, small and not very crowded. Lots of pedestrians, you observe. You light a cigarette as you watch the citizens go about their mundane lives, many opportunities passing before your eyes. You let your gaze wander to the town bank, a few meters ahead on the right of the saloon. You notice that security is low. Making mental notes about everything you could observe from there, you put out your cigarette, returning to the lower part of the saloon, toward the counter. - A whiskey and a beef stew. - You grumble, handing the bartender some coins. He nods in agreement and in a few minutes you get your meal. While you are sitting at the farthest table in the room, you listen attentively to the conversation of two men at the poker table, who have caught your attention. - My cousin saw the carriages in Saint Denis. Four horses in each, and he said that the riders were armed to the teeth." - The skinny man commented excitedly, his friend didn't look so happy. - Those damned bankers are like pests of the soil. You saw what happened to that southern town, I think it was called White Gate. - commented the man with the mustache, his expression frowning. - After the oil ran out, everybody lost their jobs. Stark closed the mine and the citizens began to starve. Almost everyone moved to the neighboring towns. Stark. The name was not strange to you, but you could not tell exactly where you had heard it before. You finished your stew, deciding that Steve would want to know about both the bank and the possible rich men who were visiting the town. Finishing your whiskey in one gulp, you stood up, leaving the saloon just as you collected your freshly washed clothes from the same woman who had brought them. It was hot and humid outside. Knight, your Hungarian half-breed horse, grunted with delight when you stroked his mane. You smiled at him before you mounted. You rode south, figuring you would have no trouble finding the new camp site, and trying to remember Bucky's instructions about where exactly they were. It took some time, but you finally found the camp. You dismounted Knight as you entered the area between the trees, walking calmly to the largest tent. Steve Rogers was like a father to you. When your birth parents died of cholera, you ran away from the orphanage the government put you in, and started living on the streets. You were only seven years old, but you were smart enough to hide in one of the garbage carts when the nuns weren't looking, and you ran away because you couldn't stand being beaten by the older children and your own teachers. You ended up somewhere in West Elizabeth, and while trying to steal some food, you were chased by two officers. But just as they were about to catch up with you, someone knocked them out. You smiled when Steve held out a big piece of bread and water to you. From that moment on, you lived with him. The Avengers gang became your family. Steve took care of you, and trained you as an outlaw. You learned everything that was essential to survive in the Wild West, from hunting to murder. And as the years passed, other people joined the gang, and you accepted them all as your family. When Steve saw you, he smiled tenderly, wiping the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief as he motioned for you to enter the tent. - So, kiddo, what did you find out in Valentine? - asked the man as you sat down in the opposite position, on a wooden chair. - They have a poorly protected bank. - You shrugged. - But you know how these small towns are, the risk is almost always not worth the gain. - That's too bad, we need money. Especially to buy medicine. You let out a low exclamation of agreement, you knew exactly how difficult the situation was. It had been a particularly difficult season for the gang. With Fury's death at the last service, and the move out of town to get away from the officers, you were still facing a wave of illness. Carol and Bruce had been feverish and bedridden for days, and Thor had been shot during an unsuccessful robbery. - I overheard an interesting conversation, though. - You say, and Steve looks at you curiously. - Some rich people are coming to Valentine in a few days. The name Stark was mentioned, have you ever heard of it? Steve's eyes widen in surprise and excitement. - Of course I have! - he exclaims. - Filthy rich folks there! Rich enough to lend us a little money without even noticing. - I think Stark is going to buy the oil mines at Heartlands. And he's staying in Valentine while he does the negotiations. - That's excellent. - Steve says, running his hand along his chin in a thoughtful expression. - If the deposit is made in Valentine, we will have the purchase money first hand. You nodded. - But even if the deposit is made here, the money is sure to be transferred to Saint Denis. - You retort, trying to think of all the details of the scam. - Which means that we have to steal the money the same day it is deposited, or we only stand a chance during the transfer. Steve stood up, walking around the tent with the same thoughtful expression on his face. - No, no. - He began to speak as if the alternatives were rapidly forming in his head. - The carriage will be extremely protected. In the gunfire, we can be very worried about not getting killed, which will give them a chance to escape to the city. And then we'll have no way to reach them there. You sighed, knowing that he was right. You frowned, trying to think of something, but Steve soon spoke again. - We need to do this while the money is in the bank. And we have to do it fast. - He says, and then walks to the edge of the hut, looking around the field. He whistles, attracting the attention of Peggy Carter, who is chopping wood, and when she raises her curious gaze to him, Steve beckons her to join him. - What is it, Rogers? - Peggy asks gently. You exchange a smile with her. - We've got a new hit. - He says, making room for Peggy to join you. - Is Bucky around? - He went out hunting a few minutes ago. The twins went with him. - Peggy says and you rest your face on your own hand, waiting for Steve to speak again. - Oh right. I'll explain the details to them later. - The blond man says, walking around the cabin to the table in the opposite corner, and he takes a pen and paper and begins to write down what you think of as a rough draft of the plan. - We will rob Valentine's bank then. - I thought that banks in small towns were not worth the risk. - Peggy commented with a slightly confused expression. - Ah, but we have a unique opportunity. - Steve remarked, bringing the doodle over to Peggy. - Howard Stark, big oil guy, is going to buy the Heartlands mines. The purchase money will be deposited in Valentine before being transferred to Saint Denis. I believe we will have about a few hours to rob the bank - Steve, are you sure this is a good idea? - Peggy assumed a worried posture. - We are short on snipers... - It's a great idea. - He interrupts, looking at Peggy seriously, but still maintaining a calm tone. - We need the money, Peggy. If this is planned correctly, we don't have to worry about the number of weapons. - I appreciate the confidence in my abilities, by the way. - You playfully push your shoulder lightly against Peggy, she smiles at you. - Of course I trust you, Y/N. - She answers, but her gaze is still worried. - We just need to be careful in this job. You spend the rest of the afternoon planning. It doesn't take long for Bucky to join you. He hands a deer carcass to Pietro, who carries it back to the supply hut. Steve repeats the plan, and you let your gaze drift quickly to Wanda, who smiles at you, and you feel something in your stomach drop. Blushing, you look away, turning your attention back to Steve. It is already night when you have finally finished working out the plan. Wanda and Pietro joined you at some point, and you had to mentally repeat to yourself to pay attention to Steve's words and not to the redheaded girl a few feet away. You didn't want your passion to cost your life or put everyone else in danger because you didn't absorb the plan correctly, but you were getting to this level of unfocused. You felt a light tug on your arm as you walked toward the fire, and found yourself smiling wryly as you faced Wanda already looking at you. - I got my first deer today. - She declared, looking up at you with bright eyes, a tone of pride and happiness in her voice. You raise your eyebrows in a pleased expression. - What? That's amazing, Wands. - You replied. - I told you that you would learn soon! I would have liked to have seen it. - We can hunt together. - She says, and you try not to show your nervousness at the thought of being alone with Wanda, but you don't disguise it very well, which makes Wanda confused, and she looks almost disappointed when she quickly adds - Pietro can come with us too. You blink a few times, believing her to be clarifying that she had no intention of spending time alone with you, and swallowing dryly, you nod in agreement. - Yes, yes. Sure, we should call him too. - You say taking a few steps back, hands in your pockets as you stare uncomfortably at the floor. Wanda bites her lower lip lightly, finding you extremely difficult to decipher. You spend a moment in silence, before she speaks again - We can go tomorrow afternoon if you have no business in town. You think about it for a moment, trying to remember if you had made any appointments, if any robbery opportunities had been signaled to you, but you can't think of anything. - No, it's fine. We can hunt tomorrow. - You say, trying not to be too embarrassed by the contented smile Wanda flashes at you. She was probably going to say it was marked, but Pietro interrupted the moment by extending a bowl of stew in front of her face. Wanda blinked a few times in confusion, but thanked her brother as soon as she grabbed the item. Pietro turned to you next, a relaxed posture as he took a sip of the beer he was holding. - What were you two talking about? - he asked, his tone curious. - It's rude to snoop, you know. - You teased, drawing a short laugh from Wanda, and Pietro rolled his eyes stubbornly, but smiled. - We're going hunting tomorrow. I'll show Y/N that I learned how to use the bow on some deer. - explained Wanda, looking at her brother. - Will you come with us? Pietro frowned, denying with his head. - Sorry, little sister. - He speaks seriously, but his eyes have a malice in them that you didn't know how to recognize. - I'd love to join you on your date, but I have an appointment. You and Wanda blush at the insinuation, but Pietro continues with a playful aura as he takes another sip of beer. Although embarrassed, you can't help but be happy to know that you would be spending some time alone with the girl. - Oh, all right. - Wanda says in what seems to be an attempt to sound disappointed, but her eyes sparkle slightly as she speaks. You don't notice, but Pietro smiles at the expression. - You're full of secrets lately. What kind of appointment? Pietro laughs, shrugging his shoulders. He walks toward you with a playful expression, and puts his arm around your shoulders, smiling at Wanda as he leans on you. - Your girlfriend taught me how to play poker and now I am famous, my presence is requested in Rhodes. I need to bet and win some money for this place. You choke slightly on the phrase and feel your face heat up, looking down at the floor. Wanda lets out a nervous laugh, and pushes her brother lightly, making him let go of you. - You mean lose money, don't you? - she teases. - Even Thor plays better than you, and he usually just flips the table. You laugh, risking a glance at Wanda, who has a reddened face and quickly exchanges a smile with you. Pietro rolls his eyes and walks past you, waving goodbye. Deciding that you should eat something, you nod to Wanda that you are going to the fire. She smiles and follows you silently

You didn't hunt very often. Although you were good at it, it was not your function in the camp. You were a gunslinger, and your jobs usually involved carriage robberies and trespassing, even the occasional robbery. You were always part of the team for the big scams. And then Wanda invited you to go deer hunting and you became an anxious mess. Stumbling out of your tent, you hurried to take a quick swim in the creek near the campground. It was important not to smell too strongly when you went out hunting, as the animals could more easily notice you. Coming out of the water with wet hair, you put on your clothes, leaving the suspenders hanging from your waist and a few buttons open on your shirt. You were feeling heated. You waited for Wanda at the campfire. She also bathed before meeting you, and she seemed slightly anxious when she found you. You smiled as you poured some coffee, and Wanda looked a little airy when she accepted the cup. You didn't understand why, but the sight of your relaxed appearance, your loose hair and your exposed collarbone was absolutely irresistible to her, making Wanda feel heated in places that were not appropriate. You joked that soon she would become the best hunter in the camp, and you were happy to make her smile. As you rode out of the camp, you smiled as you felt Wanda lightly tap her foot against yours, as you used to play with as children. Riding in silence for a few minutes, you enjoyed the gentle breeze until you came to a hunting spot. You descended from Knight slowly, stretching your body when you reached the ground. Wanda watched your shirt lift and reveal some skin, then she looked away quickly, her face red. You cast a curious look, thinking she was feeling heat. Grabbing your rifle stored on the horse, you watched Wanda take from Lily's saddle - her red sorrel - a longbow and some arrows. You walked in silence, heading for the shallow part of the creek beside you, where you could easily find deer. It was comfortable to be in Wanda's presence, even in silence. Neither of you had to say anything to know exactly what to do next, your body following her along the way as if you had done this many times before. One look and you knew when to wait, or when to be quiet. It didn't take long before you spotted the deer. There weren't many, and Wanda bent down in front of you to take aim. You watched her with admiration. She raised her bow, and you noticed the slight tremor in her hands and frowned. You came forward, also bent down, and stood beside her. - There's no need to be nervous, Wands. - You whispered softly. - It's just me. The trembling in their hands seemed to diminish, but it was still there. You moved closer, raising your hands to join Wanda's, helping her to keep a steady aim. - Take a deep breath. - You said against her ear, waiting for her to obey. - And then shoot. With her speech, Wanda let go. The arrow cut through the air with speed, hitting the animal straight in the head. A perfect shot. You smiled, and when you looked at Wanda, she was already looking at you. You were about to congratulate her on the shot, but Wanda hugged you by the neck, surprising you. You felt your face heat up and due to the shock, you didn't respond to the hug, your body seeming asleep for an instant. Wanda let you go quickly, her face flushed with apology. You were about to tell her it was okay, and maybe hug her back, then you heard an animalistic noise that attracted your full attention, a low growl that you knew all too well. Glad you had brought your rifle, you looked around, searching for the source of the noise. Wanda blinked curiously, but you didn't look at her again. Standing up, you held the rifle with both hands, your gaze roaming the surroundings. A moment later, the bushes a few feet away moved, and you watched the creature sneak through the undergrowth, only to run toward you the next second, preparing to jump. The sound of gunfire echoed for a few seconds after the shot. You let out the breath you were holding and watched the panther lying on the ground, just a few inches away from your feet. Wanda looked at you in shock, and you offered your hand to help her up. - Sorry for the scare. - You grumbled, walking towards the panther intent on retrieving the skin, which should be worth a few dozen dollars. - We always have to be careful not to become the prey during the hunt. - How did you hear it? - Wanda asked curiously. - Practice I guess. - You said, kneeling down beside the panther. - Every sound around us is important. - You explained - Pay attention now, for example. Besides my voice, what do you hear? Wanda seemed to think for a moment. - I can only hear water, I think. Maybe birds. - She confesses, you finish cutting the skin off the animal in front of you. - Oh, sorry. - You say quickly. - I forgot that I just drove all the animals away with the noise of the rifle. You laugh to yourself, and Wanda smiles at you tenderly. - Let's go after that deer. I'll teach you to hear the sounds another day. - You tell her as you stand up. Walking over to the dead deer, you observe Wanda kneeling beside the animal, drawing her own knife. - Bucky taught you how to skin? - you ask, watching the firm but still amateurish cut Wanda was giving the animal. - Yes, he told me to skin rabbits before he taught me to cut the deer during yesterday's hunt. - said the red-haired girl focused on the activity. You tried not to blush as you watched a drop of sweat trickle down your neck. - I learned to skin animals from him too. - You commented as you waited for Wanda to finish the task. - I was a little smaller, I think. - I guess it took long enough for us to learn how to hunt, didn't it? - Wanda joked, drawing a smile from you. It was true, hunting had been the last activity Steve and Bucky taught you. For some reason, teaching them to shoot was a higher priority than getting food from the wild. A moment later, Wanda finished, raising the deer leather in the air, showing off her work proudly. You laughed at her expression, signaling for her to step away from the animal. You handed her your rifle, and bent down, grabbing the carcass with both hands and throwing it over your shoulders to carry it to the horse. It was quite heavy, but you concentrated your breathing as Bucky had taught you, and managed to carry the animal to Wanda's sorrel. After placing the carcass on the back of the animal, you grunted when you saw the state of your shirt, completely covered in blood. - What's the matter? - Wanda asked curiously when she heard your sigh. - Pepper made me promise not to come covered in blood to the camp anymore. - You say, rolling up your sleeves. - She told me she would put me to sleep with the horses if I showed up like this again. Of course, she will probably just change my watch shifts, but it will still be a pain to hear the lecture. - You could have told me to carry the deer. - Wanda retorted, looking at you with a mixture of seriousness and guilt. You just smiled. - Don't be silly, I just need to clean up before I go back. - You said simply, and Wanda frowned in confusion. And then she choked in surprise, watching you pull your shirt over your head. You went around her body and towards the creek. It took Wanda a few seconds to snap out of her shock, then she turned her head toward the creek, her face flushed. You rubbed the fabric with your hands, watching the blood drip into the water. You put your shirt aside only to wet your own body, wiping any traces of blood from your skin. Completely oblivious to the shy mess Wanda had become as she watched you wash yourself. Finished cleaning yourself, you wrung out your shirt, getting as much water buildup out as possible. You put your clothes back on, feeling the damp fabric against your skin. Wanda stood in the same place you had left her, and you frowned when you saw her look quickly away from you, her face red. You suddenly felt very embarrassed, thinking that you must have crossed some boundary with her. Coughing awkwardly, you walked toward your own horse. You rode in silence back to the camp, you mentally going over the whole conversation trying to find what you had done wrong that made Wanda so quiet. You were surprised when you heard her singing softly. Smiling without looking at her, you slowed down the speed of Knight's gallop, trying to enjoy the moment to the fullest. Wanda continued to sing the whole way, and you tried to ignore the feeling of butterflies in your stomach

Everett and baby Eli because yeah

***

He didn’t remember falling asleep. He blinked tiredly as he stared up at the ceiling, vaguely aware of how cold he was despite being covered in sweat. Sure he hadn’t showered after getting home but he swore it hadn’t been that bad. That morning he knew he was coming down with something, he’d woken up with a sore throat and a cough but he’d hoped he’d have a day or two before the real symptoms set in, but apparently he wasn’t that lucky. He finally forced himself to sit up, glancing around the room, he saw it was dark out already, he must’ve slept for hours, and Eli wasn’t in his bed. The door was open though, and he could hear his voice from across the apartment, Everett figured he was talking to their mom.

He got out of bed, immediately hit with a wave of nausea and dizziness, but after waiting a moment for it to pass he left the room, making his way down the hall. The tv and lights were off in the living room, but he found Eli in the kitchen, focused intently on a picture he was coloring. Their mom was nowhere in sight, and he realized Eli had likely been talking himself through what he was doing, as he often did. He looked up when Everett walked into the room though, immediately dropping the crayon he was holding and jumping to his feet, standing on the chair.

“Ev! Y-you- you’re awake!” He said, smiling at him.

“Sure am.” He said, smiling back at him. “Where’s mom at, did she go to bed early?” He asked, and Eli shook his head.

“Sh-she left er-earlier, a- uh few hours a-ago, I-I think.” He told him, and Everett felt his stomach drop. When he looked at the clock on the stove he saw it was already past eight, he couldn’t believe Eli had been by himself that long. He instantly felt sick and guilty, and Eli could see it on his face. “Wh-what- what’s- what’s wrong?” He asked, that happy look on his face quickly shifting to concern. He always got this little frown on his face, and an almost scared look in his big blue eyes. It upset Everett just to see him like that, he didn’t need to be so worried about anything at only eight years old.

“Nothing… hey, listen, if she leaves while I’m asleep again, I want you to wake me up right away, okay?” He told him as he walked over, and Eli nodded quickly.

“Oh-okay!” He said, and giggled when Ev ruffled his hair.

“She fed you before she left, right?” He asked, and much to his dismay Eli shook his head.

“Sh-she said- she said you would when- when you w-woke up…” He told him, and Everett sighed, walking past him to find something to make.

“Alright kid, think you can clean up your stuff while I make dinner?” He asked him, searching through the cabinets and freezer for something rather low effort to make. He told himself he’d make Eli a good breakfast when he was feeling better, because he knew he didn’t have it in him to make a good dinner. Thankfully, Eli was easy to please.

He was more than happy to stand next to the stove for a while, enjoying the warmth he got from it. He wished he’d grabbed his jacket before leaving the room. He could hear Eli moving around behind him, gathering up papers and putting crayons back into the box. After a moment he felt him tug on the hem of his shirt and he looked down, holding up a brightly colored picture of a shark.

“L-look- look! This- uh this is a- a whale sh-shark!” He said, a big smile on his face. “It’s uh- it has wh-whale in the- in the name but it is a sh- a shark.”

“It looks great, Eli!” He told him, trying to sound as upbeat as he could with a sore throat and hoarse voice. “Go ahead and put it on the fridge, okay?” He told him, and Eli happily ran over to stick it to the fridge door with a magnet, among all the other doodles Everett had pinned there. He was always so proud of them, and whenever Everett brought a friend by Eli would take any chance he got to show them all his finest work. He really thought it was just adorable.

It didn’t take long for him to get food made for Eli, the kid probably couldn’t have been more happy to have a bowl of mac and cheese set in front of him, and while he ate Everett made himself some hot tea, just wanting something to soothe his throat.

“Are-aren’t you- aren’t you gonna c-come eat?” Eli asked, twisting around in his chair to look at him.

“No, I’m not hungry.” He told him. Truthfully even the smell of food was making him more and more nauseous, he worried if he tried he may vomit, and that was the last thing he needed right now. He brought his mug over to the table and sat down across from his brother, allowing himself to relax as he held the warm mug with both hands.

Eli quieted down for a moment while he ate, but eventually he started up again, telling Everett about the day he’d had at school. He excitedly told him about how he got an A on a spelling test, and he found a caterpillar at recess but he hadn’t been allowed to bring it inside, and he’d even managed to answer a question in class without stuttering once, which he was especially proud of. He seemed happy, and that made Everett happy considering Eli usually didn’t have such great days at school.

“Ev-Ev can I- Can you put a uh, a movie on for me?” He asked once he’d finished eating, getting up to put his bowl in the sink before Everett could do it. He was still so small, even for his age, he had to stand on his toes to reach without just dropping it in. Everett had to force himself to not do everything for him, even if he was little he was more than capable.

“Sure thing kid, go pick one out and I’ll set it up.” He told him, and Eli happily ran off to the living room. In the meantime Everett went to their bedroom to grab his jacket, pulling it on and zipping it up, but he was still freezing cold. He tried to ignore it though, he didn’t want to look as awful as he felt. He returned to the living room and Eli eagerly handed him the movie he picked before going to jump onto the couch. It was the same one he’d picked multiple times a week for the past month or so, but he didn’t really mind, he just put it on the tv and then went to sit down with Eli, letting him cuddle up against his side.

He tried to stay awake but now that they were settled down the exhaustion was quickly over taking him once again. He’d already slept enough, he thought he had anyway, but it was difficult for him to keep his eyes open, and he was still shivering even with Eli cuddled up against him. At least once Eli asked if he was okay, he seemed so worried, Everett just told him he was fine. Eventually, despite his best efforts, his eyes finally fell shut and he slipped into a restless, feverish sleep.

He wasn’t sure how long he slept but when he woke up the room was quiet, the movie paused, and he was lying on his side on the couch, shivering violently, to the point his muscles ached. At first he started to panic, he didn’t see Eli in his immediate sight, but when he started to sit up he saw him at the other end of the couch, trying to pull a blanket over him.

“Ev!” He said as soon as he saw he was awake, looking at him with big, worried eyes.

“Hey kid… what are you doing…?” He asked with a yawn, sitting up completely as he crossed his arms over his chest. Despite his jacket he was still freezing cold.

“You- you seemed- you seemed cold, and- and you looked up-upset while you uh while you slept, like- like you were having a bad dream…” He said, his voice shaking like he was about to cry. “So-so I got a- a blanket…”

“Oh, Eli… you don’t need to worry about me...” He assured him. He gently took the blanket from him and pulled it up over his legs, and when he did so Eli picked something up off the floor, holding his stuffed shark out to him.

“Here!”

“What? That’s your shark, you keep that.” He told him, but he shook his head, more or less pushing it into his hands.

“Ev- Ev helps me s-sleep, so, so you need him.” He said, and Everett didn’t have much of a choice but to accept it. He tucked it under one arm and pulled the blanket back, motioning for Eli to climb up onto his lap, which he quickly did, laying on his chest as Everett draped the blanket over both of them. He managed to grab the remote and he restarted the movie for Eli, holding his brother close to him as he finally began to relax. He was still cold but the blanket and weight of his brother were helping to warm him up, and he still couldn’t keep his eyes open.

He fell back asleep while still holding Eli, but this time he was much more comfortable and relaxed than before.

***

Two days passed and Everett had started to feel a lot better. He woke up to get Eli ready for school as normal, but when he shook him awake the boy whined, curling up and hugging his shark closer to his chest. This wasn’t like him, and Everett knelt down beside the bed, pressing the back of his hand against his forehead. He was burning up, and he sighed heavily, not surprised Eli caught a cold from him given how easily he got sick.

“Hey kid… how’re you feeling…?” He asked softly, and Eli shook his head, whining again in response. “Alright, I’ll call your school and get you some medicine, okay?” He told him, and he nodded.

He tried to do so quickly, and Eli gagged when he drank the cold medicine from the cup, but he didn’t cry this time so Everett knew that was a good sign. He helped prop him up with pillows and stuffed animals and he stepped away to let him rest, but Eli reached his arms out towards him, like he was trying to grab him.

“Eeev…” He whimpered, looking absolutely pitiful, teary eyed and red in the face. Everett couldn’t stand to see him so sad, and he had him move over, sitting down with him and hugging him close to his side. He sniffled as he cuddled up to him, and Everett gently ran his fingers over his arm, knowing it comforted him.

In no time he quieted down, and his breathing returned to being even as he drifted off back to sleep, hugging Everett as best he could. It would be a long few days, whenever Eli got sick he always got it bad but Everett didn’t mind having to care for him- especially after Eli’s sweet attempt to care for his older brother while he was sick. If anything he was just happy to spend time with him, giving him the attention he knew he really needed. Eventually he managed to fall back asleep himself, still holding Eli at his side.

Hi! I was reading your thoughts on your Minish ocs and thought I might weight in <3 Because Im already in love with your sweet babs.

What if Cyrus is Ivans ancestor? It could be a thing where its traditional in their family to choose more Hylian-esque names, and blond haired families often have red hair genes. It'd also add an extra connection, Cyrus being the ancestor means that your whole Minish family is the future Cyrus made, and I think thats adorable <3

When it comes to Minish age, I HC that Minish age much slower, they mature fairly quickly through childhood to an equivalent of maybe 13 years in a matter of a five years or so for survival sakes, but then their aging slows down to the point that adulthood is marked at 100-150 years old. It's common for Minish Elders to be 400-600 years old and to have witnessed a hero or two in their lifetimes. Having such long lifespans makes them excellent historians, and allows them to learn and develop extremely potent magic and skills. It tends to be a great loss when an elder sage passes away, because they had centuries to develop unique magic and skills that are nearly impossible to pass down in any way other than written form, as it takes too much time to teach their skills. Sages tend to have unique powers that only this single sage is likely to ever have.

As for Bismuth and Ivan, what if it was love at first sight, but also hate at first sight? They both secretly think the other is impossibly attractive, but hate how they could find the others flaws to be endearing. Maybe even a little traditional gender role frustration? "Why do I find this puny man so attractive, he's far too tiny to even put ores away, and hardly a good pairing for a mountain minish like me! Why is he so cute???" "She's so huge and crass, just downright rude, why do I just want to drag a step stool over and kiss her angry, beautiful, dirty face? Agh!"

Anyways, thank you for more Minish babies

Before I answer this, I do plan to at some point make a text post with some small info about my Minish Ocs. Those doodles I’ve posted are mostly canon except for the concept ones on the parents beginnings. With that out the way, din this blew me away. I didn’t think my ocs would get this much attention based on old oc posts that are not Minish or Zelda related.

Never considered Cyrus being an ancestor to Ivan. With the names though, each ones name is mostly based on something related or parallel to them. Brothers relate to the 4 elements from Minish Cap and start with the letter of the Colors. Bismuth because of Steven Universe and relation to things like gems/material, and Ivan for something forest or organic based. Now with ancestry.... unsure. My knowledge on the Zelda timeline and specific details is not solid so concrete time placement for them is iffy. Cyrus is most likely gonna remain separate from the family’s timeline. So chances of him being the ancestor of Ivan is gonna be slim. I will note none of my Minish Ocs are reincarnations or were the characters they are based on, but I have let that idea play in my head. I’ll also keep this in mind should I change something.

With your headcanon for Minish aging, I had similar thoughts because of there being a Minish realm and the Minish Elders knowledge. I haven’t finish Minish Cap or the Manga so I’m still learning about the Minish and Zelda stuff. I was thinking that time passes somewhat differently for the Minish though know that I think about it, that concept would most likely only work when they are in the Minish World beyond the doors. Them aging differently works better for both worlds, may use that. I have been giving thought to Minish culture due to playing Minish Cap and some other unfinished Minish stuff I have sketched, so I’ll keep that headcanon in mind.

PFFFT... okay will say I absolutely love your idea. If any of them had love at first sight, it would most likely be Ivan. I definitely want there to be some conflict when they first met or interacted and over time they learned from and about each other. Those quotes may become canon once each recognize their feelings towards the others. My main thought with their relationship is one of trust, loyalty, and a paring along the lines of the smart, adventurous idiot and the aggressive, strong protector. 

Damirae - Vet AU

A/N: Hi! Welcome to my page this is my first ever Damirae fanfic, so I hope you enjoy!

-- -- --

“Thank you again for what you did for Titus, Dr. Roth.”

“It’s my job Mr. Wayne. Please stay safe. You be a good doggie, okay Titus? You were the best patient I ever had.” Raven knelt down to pat the great black Dane on his head, he barked at her happily before his owner Damian Wayne click his tongue to signal Titus to follow him. Raven looked up to the young man dressed in a fancy black suit as he gave her a small smile. Both dog and owner exited the clinic.

Not turning her back toward the two girls that worked the reception desk Raven crossed her arms over her chest, “can I ask why his paperwork was thicker than what our patients usually sign after discharge?” Earlier when Raven had come out of the examination room to say her farewell to Titus, she found that Damian was signing off the discharge papers, but he had a bigger stack than what was usually the norm. She eyed the two girls, with a stern look letting them both know she wouldn’t like whatever they were going to say.  

“Girl, we all just added some blank papers with a signature box in the bottom for him to sign!” Roxy exclaimed unashamed she cost the young man much valuable time.

“What for?”

Roxy only gave Raven a dumbfounded look, like she couldn’t understand why Raven would be surprised at her actions, “what for? What for? Girl, he is Damian Wayne! Like the hottest, most eligible bachelor in Gotham! His dad is Bruce Wayne, one of Gotham’s multi-millionaire and owns Wayne Enterprises. I can die happy having the chance to be in front of a god like Damian!”

The second receptionist, named Mayra only snickered before looking up to Raven, “don’t mind her Rae, she just one of those crazies calling themselves a member of the ‘Damian Fan Club,’ but seriously you never heard of the Wayne family?”

“I’m not much for social media or newspapers articles, besides the last nine years I have been focusing on completing my veterinary degree.”

“Well now’s a good time to get out then,” Mayra stated, really hinting on the idea that she should get out more.  

“Sounds fun, but I rather focus on my patients right now.” Raven said as she left them both to go back into the procedure room and look at the animals they were caring for. She had entered the room and looked through various folders they had on the counter, she found the one belonging to Titus. Raven opened the folder and reread his report for what felt like the hundredth time.

Damian had brought his three-year-old dog in an emergency, Titus was shot during a drive by. The poor young man was devastated that his animal friend had gotten hurt and didn’t know what to do. Raven who was on duty when Damian came in holding Titus in his arms, took Titus from him and reassured she would do everything in her power to care for his dog. Luckily the bullet only managed to graze over the dog’s shoulder. There wasn’t too much damage, all she needed to do was clean the wound to prevent any infection and help him get out of his state of shock. As a precaution Raven held Titus for two nights to observe him and make sure there wasn’t any other dangers. Now three days later Titus got to return home with his master. It warmed Raven’s heart that she was able to reunite them again.  

-- -- --

It’s been over a month since Raven met the infamous Damian Wayne. Well Raven hadn’t really spoken to him personally since Titus was discharged. One of the main reasons she kept hearing the young man’s name so often was thanks to Roxy who couldn’t stop talking about him. She would speak of the countless rumors the media had written about him. The girl sounded she was under a love potion of sorts, speaking of her fantasies she had on Damian. Immediately, Raven would leave the lobby of the clinic whenever Roxy would start her fantasizing lectures. To make matters worse Roxy had the audacity to build a small little altar with Damian’s picture cut out from a magazine article with pink hearts doodled around him.Of course, this didn’t bode will with Raven, this was a pet clinic and if their patients ever saw Roxy’s little corner of honoring the young Wayne; let just say they would be losing some credibility that the staff took their job seriously.

Raven was in one of the examinations room, cleaning the counters and all the surfaces to have it ready for their next patient, when she heard Roxy literally scream. “Oh my god!” Raven dashed out of the room as quickly as she could wondering what the hay Roxy was screaming for this time. Thankfully when she reached the lobby room, the clinic was empty, today they didn’t have as many patients as other days. “He’s here!” Roxy squealed.

“What’s wrong with her?” Raven asked, she didn’t care that her voice sounded very irritated at the moment. She wanted to make her point across to her coworker that this behavior wasn’t acceptable at the clinic.

“Damian is back. He is just been standing there for over half an hour.”

“What?”

Mayra who had her arms crossed over the reception desk shot Raven a look before motioning with her head towards the door. “Yeah, I thought he was going to come in and have us check his dog or something since he brought his pooch along. But they are just standing there. See for yourself.”

Raven cautiously moved behind the receptionist counter and shot a quick glance through the glass door to find Damian, leaning up against a light pole looking down at his phone, while his dog sat beside him. Damian was wearing a black turtleneck, paired with a dark grey jeans. God he was very handsome. Raven couldn’t help but continue to stare at the young man, as he glances away from his small screen to kneel before his dog and pet him lightly on his head. A smiled crept up her face when she saw Damian give his dog a most genuine smile, before Titus moved in to lick his master’s face. Raven could see how much the young man loved and cared for his dog. This is why she choice this career, she wanted to be someone to help and care for people’s animals’ companions because these beautiful creatures are part of a family. It brought Raven joy to see Titus was doing well, he will live many years to come along his benevolent master.

Raven sighed and looked back at Mayra and Roxy. “Well pay it no mind, we have work to do. For all we know he could be waiting for someone and that just happens to be the meeting spot.”

“You don’t think he is out on a date?!” Roxy practically yelled; thankfully the glass was thick enough to minimize her cry or else Damian could had heard her.

“Why should we care if he’s out on a date or not? Roxy go back to work and leave the poor man alone.” Raven added.

“As member of the ‘Damian Fan Club’ it’s my responsibility to make sure no harm comes to Damian and make sure whoever becomes his wife is right for him!”

Raven couldn’t believe this girl, she raised an eyebrow at her, “Seriously?”

“She’s serious.” Mayra who was keeping quiet during one of Roxy’s little fangirl phase. “It’s actually a thing. The club exists and all, bunch of crazies like Roxy here that want nothing more than to go to bed with Damian.”

“You witch! We take our role as Damian’s fans very seriously!”

Raven couldn’t help but feel flabbergasted at the little brunette, “Roxy, I have heard you speaking of the fantasies you have about him.”

“Well Raven, we are allowed to dream, aren’t we? Besides I know very well I am not meant for such a handsome prince like Damian Wayne.”

“Go back to work, I am gonna go finish up room 3 and 5. Then check on the animals we have staying overnight.” Raven said as she looked back out the door and found heat creep up to her cheeks when she noticed Damian catch her gaze towards him. Quickly she turned around and walked towards the door that led to the examination rooms.

-- -- --

It was now 6pm and everyone had already left for the day. Raven was busying herself making sure she jotted down any new appointments on her agenda. Afterwards the young vet made her rounds around the kennels. There were a few animals staying overnight at the clinic, she pulled out their files and adjusted them on a shelf organizing so the overnight staff knows which patients needed more attention depending on their case. There was a back door the overnight staff used to enter from. Soon enough Garfield Logan, the supervisor of the night shift had arrived; Raven went ahead and handed him the full reports on their overnight patients. After she discussed what they were monitoring in each of their patients, Raven went inside the staff’s locker room and changed from her work clothes to her civilian clothes. Raven finally called it a night and said her goodbye as she went for the front door with her shoulder bag.

Once exiting, Raven found Damian was still leaning up against the pole, she was grateful he hadn’t noticed her due to the fact he had his gaze pinned to his phone. Though Titus recognized her, as he stood up and started wagging his tail. Raven quickly turned around; locking the glass door, afterwards she then reached for the metal folding security gate and pulled it towards her to lock the clinic. Unfortunately for her, this gate was due for some maintenance and sometimes instead of smoothly sliding along, the bottom part of the gate would always get stuck. Today of all days the damn gate decided to mock her and really give her a hard time as Raven kept tugging the gate; mentally begging it to obey her. She cursed under her breath, giving in to her defeat. Raven pulled out her phone and was about to call Gar to come help her with the damn gate.

“Here allow me to help.”

Her finger was about to press the call option, when Damian stepped from behind her. She looked up to him and just realized how his eyes were a beautiful emerald color, they held so much warmth in them. Damian gave her a soft smile, before handling her Titus’ leash. Raven had to blink a few times to remember where she was before grabbing the leash, as the young man before her stepped up and gave a good hard tug onto the gate sliding all the way across the door. Needless to say, Raven was impressed how strong Damian was, she noticed how his black turtleneck was tight and his tight muscles were begging to be free from the cloth containing them. A light blush managed to creep onto her cheeks at the idea of a shirtless Damian. What was she thinking?! Raven shook her head a couple of times to get these wild thoughts far away from her mind, she then looked up to Damian gesturing with her head to allow passage towards the thick key lock. Damian side stepped, taking back Titus’ leash as he allowed her to open the lock and passing it through the slotted area to secure the gate.

When Raven finally locked the gate, she looked up to the man beside her and gave him a small smile, “thank you, Mr. Wayne.”

“Please call me Damian, Dr. Roth.”

“Then you may call me Raven, what brings you here? Is Titus unwell?” Raven asked as she bend down and patted the dog’s head, he responded back her gesture by licking her hand. His tongue was very ticklish that Raven couldn’t help but giggle, she looked up to find Damian was smiling down at her. She looked away from him when she could feel heat worm it way towards her cheeks, she prayed her face wasn’t flushed that Damian would notice.

“No, he is doing well. Actually…” Raven looked up to find Damian was looking to the sides as he rubbed the back of his neck. It looked cute nevertheless to Raven, she couldn’t help but snicker very silently at the very nervous young man before her. Finally, Damian turned too face her and extended his hand towards her to help her stand up. “I was wondering if we could invite you out to dinner? As a thank you for what you did for Titus. There’s this restaurant down the street that offers outdoor dining… I mean if that’s all right with you and if you aren’t busy tonight?”

“Actually, I had nothing planned for the evening. I would love to join you both.”

- -   - -  - -

That was five years ago when Raven had gone out on her very first date with a guy. The sun was coming up over Gotham’s skyline as she looked out the window thanking the universe for the life she had received. Raven had gotten up just a few minutes before the sun was even up, she was wearing a light blue tank top, with a pair of cotton navy blue very short shorts. Just then she heard a stir come from the bed, Raven turned around to find her husband was moving in his sleep. The covers covering him had slipped down his body, exposing his sculpted chest and abdomen, gosh he was so handsome. He was even more beautiful under the sun’s morning light as it highlighted his perfect face. Even after all this time Raven couldn’t help but blush whenever she saw him naked. Her female coworkers -especially Roxy- at the clinic wouldn’t like to admit it but they were jealous that the fact Raven didn’t even try but manage to bag Gotham’s most eligible and hottestbachelor.

Closing her eyes, Raven turned around again to stare out the window as she continues to hear Damian stir in his sleep. Still keeping her back turned she could hear him groining and moving the sheets to the side as he steps closer to her. Damian walks behind her, placing his strong muscular arms around her waist, then pecks her on her cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder. “Good morning Mrs. Wayne,” he says into her ear as Damian begins to trail the tip of his tongue along her neck down her shoulder, just the way Raven liked it. She couldn’t help but blush at how he addressed her. They been married for over two years and she still felt like their relationship was still new to her, exactly like how she felt five years ago. “How long have you been up?”

“Mm…not too long,” Raven answered him as she turned to face her husband and wrap her arms around his neck. She looked him up and down seeing he was only wearing his black cotton boxers’ briefs. Raven then met his emerald gaze she was so entranced with. He gave her a warm smiled before leaning in and placing his lips softly onto hers. 

The kiss was soft much like their first kiss, when Damian had come to her apartment to pick up Titus after she dog-sat for him while he was away on a business trip. He was acting very nervous and after being decline of receiving the payment he was offering Raven for her service. He muttered something under his breath in another language and leaned forward to steal her first kiss. Afterwards Damian confessed to having feelings for her since the moment they met and asked if she would give him a chance. Raven answered him she started developing feelings for him as well, before she could say anything more Damian captured her lips once again. One thing led to another that they made love to each other that night. Since then Raven knew she wanted nothing more than to spend her life with Damian.

Now coming back to the present Raven pulled away from their kiss and lightly trail her fingertips over his bare chest; tracing a scar that was over his heart. Damian mentioned to her that as a child his grandfather would make him train day and night just to teach him self-defense. Some trainings were very brutal that most of his scars came from his own grandfather’s hand. It saddened Raven the least to know Damian has been hurt by members of his own family. All she could do for her husband now was kiss his healed scars and hope any painful memories could be covered by her love for him.

Raven wrapped her arms around his waist, then buried her face onto his hard chest; slowly pushing Damian towards their bed. When he was stopped by the foot of their bed, Raven let go and took a small step back before pushing Damian to fall on the mattress. Her husband sat up giving her a sly smirked she so loved. Raven then moved closer to him swaying her hips very seductively. She placed her hands on her hips before finding the waistband of her shorts, Raven never once let her amethyst gaze leave her partner’s emeralds. Keeping her movements very slowly Raven pulled down her shorts. Stepping out of them she walked over to Damian who reached for her waist and bringing his wife down onto his lap. Raven rested her knees on either side of his hips, she then gave him a devilish smile before she pulled her tank top off, now only wearing her cobalt blue lace undergarments before him. Raven could see Damian’s eyes were filled with hunger and desire, he started trailing hot messy kisses just beneath her collarbone. Lightly leaving bite marks to signify she belonged only to him, which Raven didn’t mind at all. Damian then lightly started kissing the top of her plump bosom, she knew she was playing with fire when she was seducing him a few seconds earlier now as punishment Damian was teasing her. Raven didn’t know how much longer she could last.

“I love you beloved,” Damian whispered as he continues to caress her skin with his lips. His hands were running circles on her bare back, before resting and gripping her hips.  

Raven let out a moan, before grabbing either side of her husband’s face having his emeralds looking into her amethysts. “I love you too, Damian.” She said softly as she pulled his face to have their lips meet once more. Raven felt an immense happiness consumed her as she shared these moments with her husband. She thanked whatever universe or destiny had made their paths crossed five years ago.

She couldn’t imagine her life differently.  

__________________

A/N:

Hello!! If you reached this far first all… THANK YOU!!! I found many amazing completed fic and ongoing fics here on tumblr and wanted to try my hand with my own ideas to show my love for Raven and Damian. I am currently writing two other fics for a separate fandom but will probably start sharing one-shots of Damirae here on tumblr. I have a couple Damirae fics that are on the longer side, those will be posted on my Wattpad page under my user: s03Rose .Those fics are still in development because they will have a plot line to follow so when I get halfway the storyline I will post little snippets here.

On the side note, I started writing fics for my own enjoyment because I want to be a writer, I have original ideas already started but first things first I must practice my writing to see first if it makes sense and if it’s entertaining to read. Also this was my first ever writing a fic filled with some small ‘smut’, I read fics that were on the mature side and wanted to try my hand at writing these sort of scenes. Again I am no good but practice will aid me. I don’t know when I will upload another Damirae fic since I have work and other ongoing personal projects. Please bear with me but do know I will try to update every second week. Till next time!

--Simona R.

O’ Captain, My Captain

Thanks to the Old Me music video, I unearthed this old fic. Here is Football!Calum. With a hint of Artist!Calum. 

Calum took his chance. To be selfish. To have both things. Football and Art. 

if you like what I write and post, consider supporting me on ko-fi. It helps me save up for graduate fees! 

_________________________________________

The grass feels different beneath his sneakers. He’s already walked with the team to put the equipment up. The coaches have already clapped him on the back, smiled at him, told him that he made his team proud. Though most importantly, they had hoped he had done himself proud. His mom and dad have already wrapped him in hugs, grins plastered to their faces. They’ve already taken him out to dinner, stuffed him with the fanciest thing on the menu. He’s already cheered in the locker room. His voice is still a little hoarse.  Three championship games in a row under his belt. This game, that took place less than three hours ago, was his last hurrah. His freshman and sophomore year weren’t total defeats. They made it to the finals, but didn’t quite make it all the way. And now with junior, senior, and this first year as a postdoc have felt like fever dreams. 

 It’s amazing to go out on such a high note. He can’t help but smile at the thought, the adrenaline that fueled him as he drove the ball downfield with just seconds left. They were up by one goal. It’s not like they needed another one. Calum was greedy for it. No, he was starving for it. It was the fire in his bones that kept him running down that field. The goalie, normally pretty good at reading fakes, took the bait as Calum juked left a little. He dove a second too early, clearing the right side of the goal and Calum watched the ball sail before hitting the back of the net. Time did not exist. He wasn’t breathing. Just watching the ball, praying it didn’t hit the beam. 

Folding his arms behind his head, he stretches out onto the grass. It’s cool even beneath the hoodie. He’s had some good memories on this field. The summer before he started his undergraduate career, he conditioned with them. He was picked up by his team at his secondary school. He could’ve gone pro. School was never supposed to be his thing. It never was his thing if he was honest. He was bored one day in school and decided to crash one of the art classes, skipping the ever so important free block built into his schedule so he could study and work on homework that was coming up or forgotten until the last minute. The teacher knew him fairly well and he wouldn’t rat him out. They broke out another sketchbook and some pencils. “If you’re going to avoid the other schoolwork, just doodle. I’ll give ya extra credit.”

So Calum figured what the harm, besides a potentially insurmountable stack of after school detentions. He could skip class, fuck about in a sketchbook and get some extra credit. He was all for it. But he found himself skipping his other classes more often. He wasn’t terrible at drawing. He definitely wasn’t great. It was just something he wanted to get better at. He came by the art hall after class and sat, sketching the lockers lining the walls. He sketched classrooms. He was getting good and he was enjoying it. The next year he made sure he was taking art classes. Calum never thought he’d give a shit about school, but he gave a shit about art. While he cared for art, he never saw it as viable. Football was his only option. 

“You thought about uni?” His teacher asked right at the end of Year 11. 

“Not much. School’s not my thing.”

“But art is.”

“So is football,” Calum countered. 

“Aren’t some schools looking to give you a scholarship?”

Calum looked up from the sketchbook, back out the window to the benches for lunch when the weather permitted. “Yeah, some in the States. A couple in the UK, a few local schools. But I can’t. You know, football’s my thing.”

His teacher sat down next to him, gently sliding the book out from Calum’s hand. He already knows what’s on the inside but flips through the pages gingerly. The football field, his friends, his parents and sister, scenes of everyday life. The way Calum captured light was amazing, and normally took years to get just right. It was so easy to see the sort of knack Calum had for it. “What if both could be your thing?”

It wasn’t as easy as just having both things. He needed to keep his grades up in order to play at a university. He had to give a shit and it was quickly showing in his first years that he wasn’t. He was nearly dropped from the team for his grades. The general education requirements were ridiculous and all he wanted to do was run on the field and draw not the other bullshit between. But a chat with his mother changed all that. She was never unfair but always firm. He went to the tutoring center. He got off academic probation. He kept his head above water and pushed through the general education stuff. 

Now here he is, going into his second year of graduate studies for studio art. Here he is, at the end of his football eligibility. Here he is laying in the middle of the field. 

He can still hear the roar of the crowd. The sidelines are still packed with people. His body is sore no doubt. Even the cool down stretch can’t take all the pain away. When he goes to sit up, he’s definitely going to feel it in his quads. Right now in his memory, he is still dribbling downfield. He is still sweating, panting, praying he can get that final goal. Right now he is the little boy in his parent’s backyard, grinning ear to ear as his mother takes a picture before his first game. He is twelve again, running drills after practice until his legs felt like they would collapse beneath him. The only thing that matters right now is the echo of his heart thundering in his chest. He will always miss this feeling, everything on the line. Blood, sweat, and pain all pushing him to keep his eyes open, pushing him to be two steps ahead. 

“Hey!” Calum hears the shouting but thinks nothing of it. “Hey!” the voice calls again. It’s closer to him now. The sounds of running over grass hitting his ears. He’s all too familiar with the sound. “You’re Calum, right? Calum Hood?”

He opens his eyes, squinting up to the voice. He sits up with a nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.” The girl’s dressed in a leotard and leggings, duffle bag hiked up onto her shoulder. 

“Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to say congrats on the win. My brother’s on the team.” Now as the sun clears and he can see her face a bit more properly, she does resemble Hawkins. Sophomore. Good guy, pretty kick-ass center fullback. 

“He never mentioned having a sister.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not exactly cool to go to the same uni as your sibling. But I got picked for academics and he got in on football.”

“Looks like you play something? Maybe the dance team?” he questions, gesturing to the bag. 

She nods. “Yeah, sort of.”

“Sort of? Either you dance or you don’t,” he laughs. 

“I do, dance I mean. I also do baton twirling. But didn’t mean to interrupt your moment too much. Just wanted to say congrats. I’ll miss you on the field.”

Calum nods, hugging his knees to his chest. He glances over the opened field. “I’m going to miss it too.”

“It’ll always be here though. In a way, you know?” He hums in agreement with her statement. It will be. Just won’t be quite the same. “We’ll be practicing at the other end of the field. But if it’s too loud or anything, don’t be afraid to shout at us or anything.”

He smiles. “We are outdoors. Only so much I can really complain about it.”

She grins, a small tuft of laughter escaping her. “Touche.” She takes another step. “Well, congrats again, if I don’t see you at the party later.”

“Thank you. It means a lot.”

Calum watches her cross the field for a few seconds longer and continues to sit, knees to his chest. His legs are still sore. They will be for a couple more days. He’s alright with that. Calum reaches into his bag, pulling out his sketchbook and pencils. He tries to capture the scene from memory, the packed crowd, the anticipation, the desire. His chest squeezes and his grip on his pencil slacks. 

The sting behind his eyes confirms the tightness of his chest. He brings his gaze back up to the slightly clouded sky, blurry due to the tears. He’s won. He actually won and he’s leaving. The end is sweeter than he imagined. It’s bitter too, to know that he won’t ever step back into his jersey. But it’s somehow sweeter. To know that his legacy will leave on, for at least one more year as he finishes out his degree in studio art. It’s sweeter to end like this. To end on top, to end knowing that he followed a path that allowed him to chase both loves. 

_________________________________

The house is loud, even from the end of the block. It’s a good thing that the football house is situated pretty close to the rest of the frat houses, or else issues would ensue. Calum’s sure something is up as he closes in on the house.  The ruckus isn’t from the football house, it’s from the house next to it. He’s unsure if he should try the door. The lights are on, maybe he’s early. The text he got told him nine. He’s only a few minutes late. Public transit was a little late getting him from the stop near his apartment, which isn’t terrible. 

The door’s locked. So he knocks, stuffing his hands back into the pocket of his jacket. When it opens, he’s greeted with cheers, slaps to the shoulder. “The man of the hour!” 

“Nah, nah,” Calum smiles, slipping out of his coat. He drapes it over the pile forming in the corner, over the back of one of the chairs. He turns to the kitchen. There’s a fixing for just a beer hitting him. He freezes though, staring at his coaches. “Coach Ball, Coach Hobbs, what’re--what’s happening here?”

They grin at him. Coach Hobbs steps forward. “We know. It’s not cool of us to crash a party like this. But, we figured you might want to know this before ya get sloshed.”

Coach Ball steps in. “We can’t extend your contract. Shite we know. But what we can do, is make sure you always keep a part of us with ya.” He extends a white box with a red bow wrapped around it. 

The air’s not even pressing itself into his lungs it feels. Calum’s hands shake a little as he takes the box, pulling on the mesh bow. Pulling the top off, there sits a white jersey, decorated in his number, 11, staring back at him in green. The school’s name and logo also printed onto it. He pulls it out of the box, tears still slightly blurring his vision.  As he turns it over, he notices his name also written across the back. He’s normally got a crier. Not that he’s crying right now, it’s just a few tears. It’s not like they can retire his number. But the ability to still hold onto it, the memories make him happy. The fact that he can still hold onto this. 

“Thank you,” he whispers, putting the jersey back. He pulls both of them into hugs. His lungs can now fully expand as his coaches pat him on the shoulder, whispered praises falling gently between the three of them. Both coaches leave after that, but not before taking a beer each with them. The room chants for Calum to don the new jersey. He sheds the black tee, draping the white material over his body. A can is passed to each of them. 

“This round’s for Captain Hood,” Trundle shouts. He’s taking over as captain now. “He always sailed this ship to success.”

The words catch in his throat. “It-it wasn’t me. It was the team. You guys sailed yourselves.” There are another round of cheers, cans clinking together and the first seem is bitter as always but Calum gets choked as his throat seizes attempting to not let any more tears fall down his cheeks. 

The party continues, the music thumping throughout the house. Less dancing but more mingling is the call for socialization. The same girl from early comes up to him, leggings traded in for distressed jeans and a lacey cropped top. “Drink looks a little low,” she grins at him, before holding out another can. 

He has no clue if she’s younger than Hawkins or not, so he politely declines the drink. “Thanks though. Gonna drink up on some water right now.” She nods and then shimmies through the crowd. 

When the party dies down, around one in the morning, Calum lingers around to help clean up some before his ride pulls up. The driver is nice, keeps conversation pretty short during the five-minute drive.  As he walks back into his apartment, the first of his roommates to arrive from their nights of mischief, he settles onto the couch. He unzips himself out of his boots, pulling the jacket off his shoulders. He inspects the jersey, thankfully no spills, no stains. He pulls it off, walks to his room and drapes it over the back of his chair at his desk. He’s unsure of whether or not to frame it. Though, his brain is completely sober right now to even consider that. He shimmies out of the jeans and lies across his bed, sleep finding him fast.

 His alarm blares, the next morning. He groans, partially cursing himself for leaving it set. But he knows he needs it. Even though his shift is later in the evening, he’s still got a paper to finish up and his portfolio to clean up. It sucks to have to worry now about tuition, his scholarship covered him for all his years as a player, but now, with one last year and no more sports eligibility, him and his parents are figuring out the best way to cover the costs. 

Calum sits up, the jersey staring back at him. It’s real. He didn’t really dream up the coaches handing him that jersey. He didn’t conjure it up in his subconscious as his own selfish desire to never part from it. That jersey is real and his, his number with him forever. It continues to hit him that his time is up during the week. More and more people stop him in the hallways, on the paths that lead to buildings, in the library, in the cafeteria to congratulate him. The older ladies serving him, heap his plates with extras, smile at him in the way that only older ladies can that make you feel fuzzy on the inside. 

He settles down at the benches in front of the library and works on sketching the fountain. He’s been working on it for his final portfolio for a long time. He watches some kids, kicking a football around. His chest warms as they laugh amongst themselves. He decides to put them into the drawing too. He wishes he could capture their laughter, the way they grin at each other and shout at what should be a foul. He wishes he could capture the smiles on their parents' faces as they watch their children. Glancing down to his watch, he notes that his whole break is just about up, so he packs up his things and starts towards the art building. 

In his brief walk, he realizes he could’ve chosen pro. That would’ve worked out for him. But he wouldn’t have these opportunities to still feel human, to chase for that rush of getting the lighting just right in a drawing, in the huge release when his brush hits that canvas. Art is the same need to emote like on the field. It’s just on canvas this time. He could have both things and he’s glad he got them. 

Can I Steal You For A Second? Chapter 26

Summary: Adrien is forced to participate in a new dating show, but becomes more excited when Ladybug says she’ll participate as her civilian self.

AKA: AU where Adrien doesn’t know Marinette, the superheroes are 22 and Gabriel is mean and ruthless but not Hawkmoth.

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Start from the beginning Chp 1 on AO3

Chapter 26

When Marinette met up with the other girls for the date card the next morning, it seemed that Juliette had found a way to pull herself together as well. She was chipper than normal and was chatting with the other girls when Marinette walked in, almost late as usual.

Marinette took the seat next to Juliette who smiled at her before turning and finishing her conversation with Kagami, of all people. Marinette only heard the tail end of their conversation, but it was enough to peak her interest. 

“...let you know when it’s been decided, and you’ll be there?” Juliette asked as Marinette sat down. Kagami gave a curt nod in response before standing up and moving to the other side of the room. 

Marinette gave Juliette a look, but she just winked and turned her attention towards Lucie, who had gone to grab the date card.

Looking around the date card room, Marinette was once again struck by how many girls there were remaining. Including Lucie, 6, which meant that 2 would go home this week, and next week would be hometowns, where Adrien would finally get to meet Marinette’s parents.

Lucie came back with only one date card. Marinette could see that she was confused, but she hid it really well for the cameras. “Here we are ladies!” She smiled and cracked the seal on the card reading out, “Juliette,” which elicited a gasp from the girl sitting directly next to Marinette. “Let’s ride together,” Lucie read before setting the card down on the table.

 Juliette looked genuinely surprised, and had turned to Marinette to say something when Lila stood up, looking ready to pop.

“WHY is there only ONE date card?!” Lila asked the general population. It was a question that everyone else was thinking, but only Lila would feel the need to stand up in the middle of the room and scream it at everyone. Marinette realized with a jolt that this was the first time she’d heard Lila be mean to anyone since that conversation with Adrien at the last group date. Well that deal lasted about 4 days. Marinette thought with a smirk. “What about the group date? When will we find out about that?”

All of the girls looked at the group of producers as one, but a more familiar face stepped out to address the room.

“Well good morning ladies,” the beautiful face of Adrien said as he smiled at them all. Lila had the good sense to sit down and keep her mouth shut as Adrien went on. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to be here to explain it all earlier, I had a work thing that had to be cleared up.” Adrien’s eyes locked on Marinette’s, where her unasked question was. He couldn’t say anything, but she could read the expression in his eyes, Father, and she knew they could chat about it later. “Anyway, this week is a special week. I want to spend a lot more time with all of you individually, so I’m going to be doing some one-on-one dates only this week. Sadly, not everyone will get a date, but I’ll still be able to spend plenty of time with all of you.” Adrien paused, and as much as she hated it, she had a feeling she wouldn’t be getting a date this week.

“As most of you know,” Adrien continued without looking at Marinette, which only confirmed her suspicion. “Next week is Hometowns, which means I’ll finally get to spend some time meeting your family and learning more about where you come from. However, that makes my decision this week even harder. That just means I have a lot of work ahead of me,” Adrien got that twinkle in his eye that meant he was doing something mischievous. He walked towards where Marinette and Juliette were sitting and held out his hand to the latter. “Juliette, how about we start out our date right now?”

Juliette blushed and gave a small nod, taking his hand and standing so they were eye to eye. “Perfect,” Adrien responded, flashing that gorgeous smile, “I’ll wait here for you and I’ll see you in about an hour?” Adrien smoothly switched spots with Juliette to where now he was sitting right next to Marinette, and close enough for their thighs to be touching.

Juliette stood there shocked for a moment until Marinette gave her hand a squeeze and she shot off towards her bedroom to get ready. Marinette could feel Adrien laughing at her as she ran up the stairs, as well as the stares of all of the other girls.

It wasn’t like they had never had conversations with Adrien as a group, they just were usually more prepared for them then they were today. Even Marinette felt slightly awkward and speechless, and she could see it in the faces of the other girls as well. Well, all except Lila, who quickly made a place on the other side of Adrien and was suddenly acting sweet again.

Marinette tried hard to focus on the conversation at hand, but with Adrien sitting so close to her... she was losing her mind. She wanted to touch him, grab his hand or lean her head on his shoulder. She wanted to talk with him and ask him if she had a date or even to warn him that Lila might be going back to her old ways. Instead, still highly aware of the other girls and their watchful eyes, she shifted slightly to where they were just sitting next to each other, no physical touch at all. Thankfully, Adrien seemed to be the only one who noticed.

Juliette was ready in a record 15 minutes, and she looked beautiful. Her hair was down and wavy, her make-up natural, and her jeans, booties, and cute white top would look great wherever Adrien took her. When she walked in the room, slightly panting from her run downstairs, Adrien stood and gave her a hug.

“You look wonderful. You ready to go?” She gave him a nod and he turned to wave at the girls. “I’ll see you all later,” he said as he hooked his arm around Juliette’s waist and walked her towards the front door. Juliette quickly looked back and gave Marinette the biggest smile, which she responded with a quick thumbs up before Juliette disappeared out the door.

Once she was gone, Lila was the first out of the room. Whatever she did to entertain herself every day at the mansion was clearly something that needed her attention immediately. Marinette rolled her eyes as she stood up and made her way to Lucie and Sasha. 

“Well that was an eventful morning.” Marinette said as she approached the pair. They both turned to her suddenly, as if Marinette had walked in on a conversation that she wasn’t supposed to hear. Lucie recovered first and responded with a, “Yeah, I was super confused that there was only one date card outside, and what are the chances that Adrien shows up and takes Juliette on the date right now?”

Marinette nodded her agreement, but she was thinking of other things. Why did it seem like everyone was acting weird around her? First Juliette chatting with Kagami, and now these two? She excused herself from the conversation quickly and made her way to her room. At least Tikki would be grateful for her company.

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

 Marinette stayed in her room, sketching and doodling, and doing anything to distract herself from thinking of worst-case scenarios to do with all of the whispering. Eventually, she got so bored that she cleaned Juliette’s room for her, knowing that she probably left it messy while in a hurry to get ready for her date. By mid-afternoon she couldn’t stand it anymore, she gently made her way downstairs, hoping she would find some girls whispering that she could spy on or whatnot. 

Instead, she found Lucie sitting alone at the kitchen island. Marinette sat next to her and waited.

Most of her interrogations were done with spots and a mask, but she’d learned that silence and facial expressions worked really well, even if no one ever gave up good information about Hawkmoth’s identity or location, but it did come in handy whenever the local police needed her. As she got closer to Lucie, she decided that now might be a good time to try it without the disguise. There was a steady silence between the two of them for almost 2 minutes before Lucie broke the silence. 

“We aren’t supposed to tell you yet.” Lucie sighed, finally turning to look at Marinette as well. Marinette stayed quiet still, though raised an eyebrow in an unasked question. Lucie sighed once more before continuing, “Juliette wanted to be the one to tell you. I was sworn to secrecy.” Marinette let the moment last a little longer, staring into Lucie’s eyes and not daring to breathe in case Lucie really did break. Finally, Lucie broke eye contact and groaned, her head gently going to rest on her crossed arms on the counter.

“Okay! Fine, I’ll tell you.” When she looked back up at Marinette, she was frowning, and she looked so frustrated and child-like that Marinette couldn’t help but smile. “You’re good at this. Just know, Juliette’s going to be mad at me once she finds out I told you.”

“Oh, she’ll get over it. Now spill.”

“We’re having a meeting. It was going to be today, since we never have dates on Mondays, but now we just need to come up with a time this week where all of us except Lila can meet up.”

“All, except Lila?” Marinette asked.

Lucie looked around the room, as if making sure they were truly alone, before leaning closer and whispering, “Apparently, one of the girls has a scoop on Lila. They know why she is so desperate to stay on the show, and it’s not for Adrien.” Marinette opened her mouth to ask a question, but Lucie cut her off, “That’s all I know. Juliette was just forming the meeting and the girl wanted to remain anonymous in case Lila found out before the meeting happened.”

Marinette leaned back and thought for a moment. Juliette probably wanted to be the one to tell her because she knew how much Marinette hated Lila. If the girl wanted to remain anonymous, and they were planning a secret meeting without getting the cameras involved, then it must be something serious.

“So, everyone’s been whispering around me today because...?” Marinette asked, and to her surprise, Lucie busted out laughing. 

“Because Juliette threatened to ‘track us down and hang us by our toes in the cellar while making us listen to old-school Justin Bieber.’” Lucie managed to get out before laughing again. “No one took her seriously, but they were worried what she would actually do if we told you.”

“Well if she hangs you by your toes in this imaginary cellar, I’ll come rescue you myself.” Marinette giggled. 

The rest of the day went much better, especially when Juliette came home that night, a rose in hand. All of the girls were screaming and excited, especially as Juliette told of their horseback riding adventures from the day and how Adrien had almost fallen off of his horse. As excited as everyone was for Juliette, there was a bit of a gloomy air hanging around the mansion as everyone went to sleep. Marinette felt it too. She was pretty good at math, especially when it came to measurements, but it didn’t take an expert to realize that with only four roses available this week, and Juliette getting one of them, that left only three for the remaining five girls to fight over.

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

 The next morning, they were informed that another date card would be arriving, which meant that everyone got ready as if they were going on a date. Everyone, except Juliette and Marinette. Marinette was that confident that she wouldn’t be getting a date this week, so she decided not to waste her energy.

Sadly, all of the girls’ hard work was in vain, Adrien didn’t show up, only a date card that Sasha read with Lucie’s name on it. The card said, “Let’s catch some waves,” and Lucie was instructed to wear a swimsuit under her clothes, and that Adrien would pick her up in half an hour. Lucie ran off to change, and before the other girls could leave, Lila turned on Juliette.

“What did you and Barbie doll Lucie do to get two one-on-ones. I should have received the first repeat one-on-one, not you!” Juliette had stood to retort, but Marinette grabbed her arm and pulled her from the room to avoid a confrontation.

Marinette didn’t let go of Juliette’s arm until they were safely locked in the furthest bathroom from the Date Card room.

“For someone so small, you are incredibly strong,” Juliette said, thankfully with no malice in her voice. “I’m totally going to have a bruise tomorrow.”

 “Sorry, I just couldn’t let you have it out with Lila.”

“Well, I appreciate that.” Juliette said in a small voice.

Marinette let the silence sit for a minute. She hadn’t even realized that Juliette was the first girl to get two one-on-ones, but now that Lila said it, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it should have been her. It was a crazy thought, especially considering she’s had so much more one-on-one time with Adrien than any of the girls, but for some reason, Marinette was jealous of Juliette. She shook her head to clear those thoughts and to bring her back to the situation at hand.

“So, I heard there was something you needed to tell me?” Marinette asked, the ghost of laugh in her voice.

Juliette paused for a moment, clearly still thinking about what had just happened with Lila before her eyes got wide and she frowned. “Who told you?”

 “No one that I’ll let you force to listen to Justin Bieber. My lips are sealed, so spill.” Marinette responded with a sweet smile.

Juliette sighed, but Marinette knew she wasn’t actually mad. The light in her eyes when she turned towards her let Marinette know that this gossip was too good for her to stay mad about anything for too long. “It’s Lila. Sasha saw something, and she finally figured it all out. Since they’ve been on the same floor this whole time, she saw a handful of things that didn’t make sense until this past weekend when she finally put it together. She won’t tell me more than that, except she said that it’s the reason that Lila is still on the show.”

Marinette was speechless. This could finally be the thing that got Lila off of the show. “When’s this meeting?”

Juliette sighed, “It was supposed to be Monday, but we can’t have it without everyone present. I’ve talked with every girl, and they’re on board to listen, and we even had a place to have the discussion and a time, we just don’t have a day where everyone is in the house anymore.” Juliette let out another sigh and moved to sit on the counter next to the sink. “Once all these dates are done I guess before the rose ceremony, we’ll get together and Sasha will spill what she knows.”

 There was a pounding on the door, which made both girls jump. Marinette opened it to find Lucie standing there, looking beautiful in her date outfit.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I was hoping to find you two. Adrien’s going to be here any minute,” She looked slightly panicked, her eyes wide. She glanced down nervously at herself before meeting their eyes again, “Does this make me look fat?”

Marinette and Juliette exchanged looks before quickly reassuring her and rushing off to help Lucie put on some finishing touches.

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

Adrien was having the worst week. First, Marinette was upset with him for keeping Lila and sending home Hanna, which is valid, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that he had finally gotten to see the real Lila Saturday night. Then, his Father had a conversation with him, about Marinette, causing him to be late to picking up Juliette and addressing the girls.

His Father was upset that Marinette was even still here.

“She was not one of the agreed upon girls. I let you keep her for a couple of weeks, expecting you to eventually pick her off. Then she made it to the top 10, now you’re acting as though she’s going to be in the top 4 and you’re going to go meet her parents. It’s high time she leaves and is sent back to the blasted bakery where she came from.”

Adrien of course, wasn’t having it.

He yelled and fought and tried very hard to reason with his dad that Marinette is okay if he would just give her a chance, but his Father wouldn’t budge. Instead of bringing the date card to the girls and asking Juliette to come on the date with him, he showed up 5 minutes late, and ended up just explaining how this week was going to work instead.

That date went well, except for him totally falling off the horse and making a fool of himself, and the date he was on now, with Lucie was going well too. He had trouble reminding himself not to hate Lucie, since she was his Father’s first choice, but thankfully she was a really sweet girl who was fun to hang out with, so that made it a little easier not to hate her. Plus, she seemed to have absolutely no idea that Gabriel had picked her, or made a deal with her Aunt’s company in America.

Everything was going fine, they were at the pool on top of the Grand Paris, which they had all to themselves. They had just stepped out of the pool, and Adrien was helping Lucie wrap a towel around her shoulders, when they heard the noise. Being so high up and with minimal noise surrounding them, they could hear clearly what was being shouted from the top of Montparnasse Tower.

“I’ll show you to never make a bad movie again!” There was a flash of red light, and then something large and white started falling from the top of the tower, almost as if it was being thrown up and over.

Adrien knew that it was an akuma, he just didn’t know what to do about Lucie. Thankfully, she had heard the noise too, and could see the falling... things as well, but she just looked stunned and alarmed and had no intention to move anywhere.

“Is that...” she asked nervously, and Adrien did his best to look reassuring.

“Yeah, I think it’s an akuma, it happens a lot here.” He rushed over to the chair where they had put their things and grabbed everything he could, pushing all of the items into her arms, and pulling her towards the elevator. “Don’t worry, Ladybug and Chat Noir will take care of it, for now we just need to move to a safe place.” 

Lucie didn’t look reassured, and Adrien really didn’t have the chance to worry about her as he frantically pushed the main floor button, willing the elevator to move faster. He had to find a way to ditch her so he could transform and hope that Marinette had seen the damage as well and would meet up with him soon.

That was another crappy thing that had happened to him this week. They wouldn’t let him have a one-on-one with Marinette. Instead, he’s going to have to see her on the closest thing to a group date there is this week. Adrien involuntarily let out a small sigh as the doors to the elevator finally opened and he was able to rush Lucie out of it.

He stopped short when he saw what was happening outside of the window. Something white and fluffy, about the size of someone’s head, was stacking up outside of the glass doors to the hotel. The doorman was trying his hardest to keep the doors shut, but he was fighting a losing battle. As Adrien and Lucie watched, the doors burst open, letting the sounds of panic and mayhem in from the street as well as the smell of butter and... popcorn? A piece of it rolled towards Adrien and he bent down and snagged a taste. Yep, that was definitely popcorn. Whoever this akuma was, apparently, he was trying to drown the city of Paris in popcorn.

 Man, this week just couldn’t get any worse.

Adrien shouted at the room, which had a large number of people gathered, “Everyone needs to move up, go gather on the roof, grab as many people as you can!” Thankfully, very few argued, and Lucie grabbed his hand and pulled him back towards the elevator and where they had come from.

He almost let her, before he realized that this was the perfect opportunity to ditch her and find a place to transform. He stopped short and pulled her close so she could hear him over the chaos. “I’m going to go out there and grab as many people as I can. Go with them so I’ll know you’re safe. 

She didn’t like the idea, but nodded gravely. Before he could turn around she leaned in and gave him a long kiss, which would have been sweet if it wasn’t just delaying him from transforming and saving the city from giant pieces of popcorn.

He turned and bolted out of the hotel, into the growing sea of concessions.

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

 Marinette had seen some weird things in her time as Ladybug, but a city overrun with popcorn was definitely on her Top 10 List of Weird. Right up there with the giant baby.

Ladybug gracefully landed on the roof of a building directly across the street from Montparnasse Tower. After a beat, a black feline landed right next to her.

“Glad you could make it,” she said, without glancing at her partner.

“Lucie and I were close by, so my biggest worry was ditching her to transform.”

“You put her somewhere safe?” Ladybug asked, finally turning her head to look at him. She wasn’t trying to be icy with him, but she still couldn’t shake the jealousy she was feeling of Juliette, and now Lucie. Chat cocked his head slightly before coming in close.

“You know, I think the best part of my day is going to be this akuma and the fact that it let me spend some quality time with my favorite lady.” He whispered, leaning in close enough to where all she had to do was move an inch, and their lips would be touching.

As much as she wanted to kiss him, and she really wanted to kiss him, they had a city to save. She backed up slightly and gave his bell a flick. “Maybe after we’ve defeated this akuma, Kitty.”

He gave a small sigh before turning towards the tower, a serious look crossing his face. “I heard him yell, right before he started popping the popcorn I guess.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Lucie and I were at the Grand Paris. He said something about a bad movie and then the popcorn started falling, but I didn’t know it was popcorn at the time.” 

“You never answered my question,” Ladybug asked, looking Chat straight in the eye. “Is Lucie safe?” As much as she hated not getting to spend time with Adrien this week, she still didn’t want anything to happen to her friend.

Chat gave her a look, “Please Bugaboo, I’m more responsible than that! She and the rest of the people at the Grand Paris are on the roof, safe from the ever-growing pile of popcorn.” 

Ladybug let out a little sigh of relief, and then turned back to the problem at hand. There was a definite red glow coming from the roof of Montparnasse, that Ladybug knew she needed to check out. “Let’s hop over a building and see what’s making that glow okay?”

Chat furrowed his eyes, “You can see the glow too?” 

Ladybug cocked her head and looked at her stupid partner. “Of course, I can see the glow dummy. It may be faint but it’s obviously right there,” she pointed towards the top of the tower.

“I thought only I could see the glow. My eyesight is normally better than yours, you know with the cat thing. I can also hear the popping of the popcorn, and the humming of a machine.”

Ladybug just stared at him. They could both see the glow, and he could hear a machine and the popping of the popcorn from across the street? Then a memory popped into her head.

“Our enhanced powers. Tikki said that we’d have more advanced powers after the Task. I get better eyesight for me, and hearing for you are some of our powers.” Ladybug started to get excited, thinking about all of the other things she could possibly now do.

Chat was studying his hands, an awed look on his face. “I wonder what else we can do.” They were brought out of their thoughts and discovery by a loud crash from across the street. Ladybug shook her head, once again clearing her thoughts.

“No time for that now, Kitty, we’ve got an akuma to fight!” She then unlatched her yo-yo and swung it to the top of the tower. She felt, rather than saw, Chat unlatch his baton and prepare himself for the jump. “For now, we just need to observe, see what we’re up against. So be stealthy, please.”

Chat rolled his eyes, “Please, stealthy is my middle name,” and at that, Ladybug shot off across the sky.

She landed much faster than she was prepared for, and almost fell over, breaking her own stealthy rules. When she righted herself and made sure she was fully hidden, she peered around the air conditioning unit she was behind.

What she saw didn’t make sense. The first thing she noticed was the large machine pumping popcorn over the side of the roof. It was shaped like a popcorn box, one you would get at a movie theater. Surrounding the popcorn box was a shield of some sort. It was circular and covered the whole machine, and there didn’t appear to be any holes in it at first glance. As she scanned the roof, she found the akuma victim sitting on the edge of the roof, happily watching the city being covered in popcorn.

“He doesn’t look very scary,” A voice said in her ear. She jumped, but only found Chat Noir lurking behind her.

“Gosh, don’t do that!” Ladybug whispered, clutching her chest where her heartbeat was still running wild.

“What? I told you stealthy was my middle name.” He whispered back, still watching the akuma. “At least I didn’t almost fall over in my landing and ruin the whole gig from the start,” he teased with a wink.

Ladybug blushed slightly before composing herself and looking at the scene before her. “We need to turn off that machine, but to do so, we need to—”

“Destroy that force field, right.” Chat finished for her. She always loved that they worked on the same wavelength when battling it out with an akuma.

“Do you want to distract or do you want to take a whack at the shield?”

Chat shot her a devious smile, “Oh you know I’m a great distraction,” before jumping straight over the unit they were hiding behind and landing on his feet on the other side. Ladybug had never seen him jump that high, but she didn’t have time to think as she heard Chat yell, “Hey! Did the theater not have enough popcorn for you?”

The akuma turned, and Ladybug noticed that he couldn’t have been more than 12 as she rushed to the shield protecting the popcorn machine. She could hear Chat and the akuma talking and even heard a crazy sounding laugh before all outside noise was drowned out by the sounds the machine was making. The popcorn bag was at least 4 feet high and twice as long, still strongly shooting popcorn off the side of the building. She got close enough to touch the shield surrounding it, when something hit her hard in the stomach and she flew across the roof and felt a crack as she landed against one of the supporting walls that prevented people from falling off.

She heard Chat yell and knew that she must have been injured, especially with that crack, but for some reason, she felt totally fine. She slowly stood up and noticed that Chat had moved into actual combat with the akuma. When she looked down, nothing was broken and everything seemed to work as it should. Normally, a throw like that would have hurt something, even inside of the magical suit, but she pushed the questions she had away and rushed off to help Chat.

She noticed that every time the akuma got hit by Chat’s baton, the shield around the machine would flicker. The two must be connected. She thought and she had a very sudden and crazy idea.

Chat noticed her standing there, gave the akuma one last push that knocked him to the ground and ran towards her. “Oh shit, LB you scared me. That sounded like it hurt, are you sure you’re okay?” She gave him a nod and opened her mouth to relay what she had just learned but he beat her to it. “The shield is connected to Revengapop, so if I keep hitting him harder, it should go away. I also think that the akuma is in the machine, which means I’ll need to cataclysm it in order to release the butterfly.” He looked at her expectantly, as if waiting for further instructions.

All of this happened in less than a minute, and the akuma (Revengapop?) was getting up and starting to come towards them. “Revengapop?”

Chat at last cracked a smile, “Yeah I laughed when he told me his name too. I’ll distract him some more, you get your Lucky Charm and let’s defeat this thing.” With that, Chat met Revengapop in the middle of the roof and continued their hand-to-hand combat. Ladybug was so in shock, she almost forgot to move.

Chat was smart, Ladybug knew that to be true in and out of the mask, but she’d never seen him understand her plan as soon as she had come up with it. It was almost like he could see what she was thinking, and was able to come to the same conclusion. The thought made her slightly giddy, as she whispered, “Lucky Charm!” from behind the popcorn machine.

What fell into her hands was a bottle of melted butter, and suddenly it all made sense. 

She rushed to intercept the fighting with Revengapop, knocking the kid to the ground before saying, “I’ll take care of the shield, you get ready to cataclysm the machine when you can.”

Chat ran off without saying a word. Ladybug turned to the akuma, who was getting up slower this time. Ladybug could feel new strength surge through her as she looked at Revegapop and readied her yo-yo in her right hand and the butter in her left.

“What kind of a name is Revengapop anyway?” Ladybug asked as the akuma got to his feet.

For the first time, Ladybug got a good look at him. He was dressed in a red leather outfit, that covered him head to toe. His hair was dark and messy looking, very similar to Chat’s messy hairstyle. His outfit had three different shades of red on him, and he almost looked like an evil red ninja, except without the nunchucks.

“I have to revenge all of the bad movies by drowning Paris in popcorn!” Revengapop screamed. If his voice hadn’t given it away, his “evil” motivation may have: this was definitely a teenage boy.

“Yeah, that totally makes sense,” Ladybug responded sarcastically, which caused Revengapop to launch himself at her in anger. She took that opportunity to spray the liquid butter right into his eyes and knocked him in the head with her yo-yo hard.

He landed on the ground in front of her with a crunch and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the shield flicker and go down long enough for Chat to yell “Cataclysm!” and touch the popcorn machine.

 There was a loud boom and as Ladybug watched the machine crumble and the akuma fly out, she also felt her whole world tilt sideways. Montparnasse Tower was splitting in two and within a couple of seconds the building was going down.

Ladybug grabbed the akuma with her yo-yo and quickly threw the container of melted butter into the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

She felt more than saw the magical ladybugs seal up the cracks in the building and fix all the rest of the damage from around the city. She released the now-cleansed akuma from her yo-yo with a “Bye bye little butterfly,” before locking eyes with Chat on the other side of the building. He looked scared, his face drained of color and his hands were slightly shaking. She quickly checked on the akuma victim, who really was a 12-year-old boy, before rushing off to her partner.

“Chat! Are you okay? What happened?” Ladybug nearly sobbed as she watched him slide to the floor of the roof. She sat next to him and hugged him as tight as she could.

“I don’t know. I hit the machine with my cataclysm and somehow, I hit the building and the whole thing started to crumble.”

“Hey, it’s okay. You didn’t do it on purpose. It must be our enhanced power. Your cataclysm must be stronger, and possibly last a little longer to where you can hit more than one thing.” His bright green eyes were trained on hers and she could see the worry and the fear of himself in them. She squeezed him a little tighter before continuing. “I fixed it, okay? Everything’s better and there’s a little boy over there who just went through something traumatizing too.” She watched his eyes shift to the boy and saw some of those emotions in his eyes soften. She pulled away from their hug and gripped his arm to where he would look at her again. “Listen to me. We will figure this out. We’ll talk to Tikki and Plagg and get them to tell us more. But, no matter what happens in the future, I will always be with you to fix it.”

She looked once again into those eyes and saw tears begin to form. He pulled her into a quick kiss, before standing up and walking over to the boy.

When he asked him, “What movie did you see that made you want to drown Paris in popcorn?” he sounded almost exactly like his old self. Almost.

~~

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Special Scenario - MINO “Fiancé” part 2

I’m back with part 2, it took long enough lol but I hope you enjoy <33

Word count: 2.202

Mino’s POV

After I left the building and stared as she went her way I felt as if the world had stopped completely, maybe I haven’t even fully processed what had happened inside that elevator; it’s like I’ve waited for this moment for so long and now that it happened I don’t even know what to do with myself.

I saw a taxi pull over and a lady came out so I rushed to get to it before it took off. As I sat down in the car and the driver asked me where we were going I kind of stuttered before the adress to my studio just rolled out of my mouth. 

The ride wasn’t long and it wasn’t expensive. I got off and entered the building where my studio was located, I greeted the doorman and entered yet another  elevator, as soon as I did the memories rushed back and it hit me...I had kissed my ex who I’ve been in love since my school days and in a few days she is going to be someone else’s wife. I laughed out of dispair, I remember this one night specifically which we were at a park and we were laying on the bench and we told each other that we’d get married for sure when I made enough money as a rapper...at least one part of it came true. 

I got off the elevator and walked to my door, typed the passcode and finally was in my safe haven, I could now be myself and just let every and any feeling pour out. I saw a pen and doodled over a paper going through the scene one more type and the word 'fiancé’ kind of come out in the paper and I added ‘my’ in front of it and chuckled at how childish that look so I said the words out loud and a depressed feel came along, it was funny and sad.

I started working on the beats I was producing for my new album but for the past 2 hours I have been doing that all of them sounded like trash to me. I stretched my arms and the paper came into my field of vision, the words “my fiancé” written down and a melody hit me. 

I stood up and went over to the piano playing some lines trying to give life to what was in my head, when I got the base down I went back to the computer and started adjusting and adding more things. I came across this old folk song and it was like it tied everything together, so I sampled it and worked it into the base from the piano. 

After a few hours I had the whole melody down and I loved it, now it was time to figure out with the lyrics. As I was getting ready to go into that I got a call, Zico’s name popped up in the screen and I picked up.

“Oh, yes Hyung..What’s up?” I said.

“Mino-ya, what are you doing?” He asked.

“At the studio” I replied and he laughed.

“Yah, go out and get some air, you’re there everyday” I laughed at his advice.

“Look who’s saying that” I laughed more “Ah, that was funny...yes hyung I’ll do that” 

“You better!” He warned in a joking tone “I’m hanging up now, bye”

“Bye hyung, take care” I said. 

Even though I’d love to do exactly what he told me to I just couldn’t stop now, I was in the zone and don’t want to get out of it and I’m sure he is the one who’d 100% understand that so I went back to my lyrics.

On the same doddled paper I started by writing random words, the process of creating lyrics was harder than the beats because it hss to rhyme, it has to go well with the melody and it need to make sense whilst the beat is more of a feeling. 

Two hours went by and all I had were doddles and the same two words. The sky was dark and I knew I had been in there for too long. Maybe it was time for fresh air and some food, I realized I hadn’t eaten since I left the restaurant earlier. 

I left the studio room and made my way to the elevator while stretching my back, after hours sitting it sure was aching. I pressed the button and the doors opened, I entered and was about to go on my phone, just when I unlocked the scene hit me and the sentence “stop playing around and just be with me” came into my mind and the doors were about to close so I frantically pressed the button to open the door and ran back to my studio. 

I sat down and picked up the pen writing down that sentence and from then on the rest just rolled out. My handwriting looked like shit because my thoughts were moving faster than my hands could move but in like 15 minutes I had the lyrics down.

“Knock knock I miss you But I can’t have you (So, sad) Drip drip I pour out my tears But you still hide your fine figure (You’re so mean) You’re friendly to others, but chic towards me Where’s all the stars in Seoul Oh, in your eyes When you’re with him you’re in Dystopia If you follow me it’s Utopia [Hook] Pretty woman Wo wo you’re so elegant I look at you from all angles, and you’re still so pretty I’ve just realized, my woman Woman, my blue bird  Hide well my lady (My lady) I can see your hair, where are you Where are you? I can’t find you, come out (Come out, come out wherever you are) I’ll go wherever you are, I’ll go [Verse 2] Shh don’t stay a word, let’s just run away Stop playing around and just be with me During the summer I just want to walk in your eyes We’re both risqué, risky risky oh I miss your body, and I’m lonely Help feed this thirsty dog Don’t be embarrassed like a coiled up cobra, alright? [Hook] Pretty woman Wo wo you’re so elegant I look at you from all angles, and you’re still so pretty I’ve just realized, my woman Woman, my blue bird  Hide well my lady (My lady) I can see your hair, where are you Where are you? I can’t find you, come out (Come out, come out wherever you are) I’ll go wherever you are, I’ll go [Verse 3] You’re a pie in the sky Woo, I swallow my spit  You’re my main, I’m your chewing gum Woo, let’s boogie on & on We’re on fire, I can finally breathe, I’m all for you Beautiful you’re pretty, pretty

Come out come out wherever you are  I’ll, go  Come out come out wherever you are I’ll go wherever you are I’ll go

Now all that’s left is recording the lyrics and add it on top of the beat. 

I started recording it but it wasn’t sounding right. I took several breaks and walked in circles around the room trying to figure out the tone, nothing. I listented to the beat again and again, but still it wasn’t right.  Honestly, this wasn’t  just a song, I was sending a message, it was my answer to this fucking marriage and I wanted her to get it as soon as she listened to it.

I sat there in deep thought fow a while and I started mumbling the words until I finally got how the chorus would sound, so I started from there and the excitment from that part being just right led me to recording the rest of the song. 

I was almost 7AM when the demo was complete. I hadn’t had any sleep, but the song was ready and I wanted to get it to YG as soon as I could. I didn’t care I looked like shit, I just got inside a taxi and head over to YG building. 

I went up to the producers room and told them I had something good for the next realease. So I played the demo on my phone and by the look on their faces, I did great.

“Mino ya, this is a single, really” one of the producers said.

“Yah let’s take it to president Yang” The other one added.

“wah, I’m so glad you liked it, I worked on it all night” I smiled.

“Yeah, we can see” We all laughed.

They then called in his office to schedule a meeting and while that was being taken care of by the secretaries we all went to the cafeteria to eat something and a meal was indeed much need because I was running on coffee since yesterday.

“Yah mino, you need to watch your health” one of them said as we were eating.

“yes you need to listen to your hyungs” the other added.

“yes yes” I said while bowing in apology.

We finished the meal and were hanging out at their studio room when the president called us up to his office. 

Once we got there the receptionist said we could enter the room as he was already waiting for us.

“Oh, Mino! How you’ve been?” YG greeted me.

“Hello! I am good” I bowed.

“Glad to hear! So, I’ve heard from these guys that you have something good for me, let’s hear it” He said and I immediately pulled out my phone and played the song.

The room was quiet for about 30 seconds before YG gave that smile he has when he likes something and I could finally breathe again. 

“This is good material, Mino, really” He said “That’s a single” He complemented and I smiled a bit flustered with the compliment.

“Thank you, Presindent” I bowed. 

“Of course, few adjustments here and there and it’ll top the charts for sure” YG remarked “Actually, let’s release a full album” After he said that my soul left my body and came back, a full album? Is he serious? Has he gone insane?

“P-President, is this a joke?” I asked innocently.

“Of course not” He laughed “You’re surprised, right? Well, you’re one of our greatest artists, you always bring good material both solo and for WINNER, so I want to give you the chance. Do you think you can do it?” He finished and looked at me with a raised eyebrow. 

“Of course I can! Thank you so much, Presidente, for this opportunity I promise I’ll do good” I bowed and was sincerely moved by the trust he was putting in me. I have waited for this chance for a long time and knowing the President of the company trusts me enough to realeae a full album is amazing. 

We left the room after chatting for some more about group activities and producing for others artists and I was on cloud 9. 

(...)

The next two months went by so quickly, I was in meeting after meeting, recording after recording, everything to get this album to perfection. There was going to be 12 songs that I, myself, composed and produced.The work I put into this was immense I couldn’t wait to put it out there for my fans to listen and for her. I also filmed a music video and the preparation was exhausting, but this meant more than just awards and charts, I kept thinking that if I couldn’t relay this message to her with words I’d do it through art, which is the one thing that might have kept me from sinking low after the news that the one and only woman I’ve ever loved will soon carry another guy’s last name.

(...)

The wedding was a month away now and the single realese date was due to two weeks before the cerimony. I peeked at the date engraved on that envelope “10/12/2018″  I still couldn’t wrap my head around it and even if I buried myself in work that kiss was what started it all. The questions in my head kept me up at night and she was all I could think about. “Is this how this it’s going to end? Is this a “the one that got away situation”? What if she still loves me and is waiting for me to say something? If so, what can I say?” It was like this all day everyday and I got absolutely no answer whatsoever.

(...)

26/11/2018 came and the music video was released, I was pumped but the whole time I keep thinking about what she was thinking and then an idea came to my mind. I grabbed my phone and copied the link to the video and searched through my contacts until I found who I was looking for, hers.

I sent the link along with no context, if I did all this so my art could speak for me then there were no words that I could say to her and after all the years we’ve known each other, I know she’ll get it, she always gets it because she, like no one else, gets me.

Sooo, it took me long enough so I made up for it with a long part and I didn’t want to say anything but there is room for a part 3 idk you guys let me know...

Anyways, hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing <33 I promise not to take 2 years to update this lol,

Ana.

May 11, 2019: I have never…

(previous play)

(Joint project from @riddikulus und @shakshuka-grandpasweaters, translated from @girlwholovesagirl, @divingdeepintothewater, @m-ger and @julerocks. Here is the timeline and the link to the original blog @unsere-zeit-ist-jetzt. If you would also like to help translate, please contact one of us.)  

Saturday, 12:14 pm/7:15 pm:

Matteo: *finished his coffee in the kitchen* *quickly moved the cups and the coffee to his room after that* *gets up when David comes back in* Okay... umm... make yourself at home... there's still coffee... I'll hurry... * goes to the bathroom after that and only then realizes that he didn't take any clean clothes with him* *sniffs his clothes and thinks that they're still alright* *showers in record-time because he doesn't want to leave David alone* *rubs his hair more or less dry and decides to let the air do the rest of the drying* *manages to be back in his room after 15 minutes* *notices David sitting in his armchair sipping coffee, his gaze directed toward his lap, where he must have something that Matteo can't see from his position* *only thinks how unbelievably good he looks and how unbelievably great it feels to have him still there, still waiting for him* *closes the door behind him and smiles when David looks up* Hey...

David: *took out his sketchbook after Matteo vanished into the bathroom and randomly filled a page with things that had accompanied him yesterday and today: two Dürum, the transgender-flag from the Instagram-posts, Matteo and him embracing in his sleeping bag, his and Matteo's hands, two mugs of coffee and so on* *only made rough sketches and plans to complete some of them later when he has time* *skims through some older stuff when Matteo comes back into the room* *smiles automatically when he sees him and cocks his head* Na? All cleaned up? *grins slightly*

Matteo: *grins* Yep, as clean as it gets... *drops himself on the bean bag next to him and then leans forward to refill his coffee* *sees his sketchbook and grins slightly* Did you have to process the traumatic experience with Linn?

David: *takes the mug from Matteo when he refills their coffees* Thanks... *laughs at Matteo's question and shakes his head* *Nah... I was just doodling a little... *pushes the sketchbook towards Matteo in case he wants to take a look* ... I have to finish it sometime when I have more time... *remembers something and pulls the sketchbook back toward him* *murmurs* Hang on... *removes the paper clips that hid the pages he thought were too private - obvious transgender elements, some pages on which he processed the humiliations at his old school and countless sketches of Matteo before they met and some other big and small things connected to him* *puts the book back on the armrest between them and looks at Matteo invitingly* Well, If you'd like...

Matteo: *laughs slightly* With you it's never just doodling... *Is just about to reach for the book when David pulls it back toward himself* *thinks that David remembered something he isn't supposed to see and waits for him to tear out or glue together pages* *is all the more surprised when the opposite happens and looks at him with wide eyes* Of course I'd like to... *reluctantly takes the book into his hands* Are you sure? *sees David nod and then carefully skims through the book* *reaches the pages he wasn't allowed to look at a few weeks ago* *swallows when he sees the tougher sketches* *turns the page and sees his own face, sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller, sometimes only his eyes, sometimes in profile* *two full double-pages only of him* *looks at him dumbfounded* When... when did you make these?

David: *watches as Matteo skims the book and only looks at the pages a couple of times to see what Matteo is looking at* *at Matteo's question he leans a little further toward him to see which sketches he is looking at* *grins and blushes slightly* Hmmm... if I told you it was after our first conversation, would you consider me a freak? *has actually recorded the situation or the feelings or Matteo himself after every meeting with him... and during the time they didn't have any contact he drew him again and again whenever he thought about him*

Matteo: *shakes his head* *looks back at the drawings and then back at David again* No... I'm just... flabbergasted... for only seeing me once you captured me pretty well... *clears his throat* After our first conversation I only tried to find you on Insta... *looks back towards the page* *slowly skims forward*

David: *grins slightly* Your face etched itself directly into my brain... *in his thoughts adds "and into my heart", but doesn't say it because it sounds too cheesy and because it's more true for their second meeting than their first conversation* *laughs quietly when he mentions Instagram and thinks* I don't even remember when we followed each other there... *leans forward when Matteo keeps turning pages, but finds it pretty uncomfortable having to twist like that - especially as the armchair is wide enough for both of them to fit* *shuffles to the side of the armchair, almost to the armrest, and asks* Do you maybe want to come up here? Then I can see better and don't have to twist like that... *can feel a little that he has been wearing his binder for too long but is quite relaxed at the moment and so it isn't too much of a strain, yet* *wouldn't mind being a little closer to Matteo, anyways* *glances back at the book and notices that they almost reached the "sandwich-recipe in pictures"*

Matteo: *looks at him slightly amused but also a little touched* Awwww *shrugs his shoulders* I don't either... *does remember it exactly but doesn't want to expose himself as someone who remembers stuff like that* *looks up at him when David offers the space next to him* *grins and naturally joins him there immediately* *would love to put an arm around him but leaves it for now because otherwise he wouldn't be able to turn the pages anymore* *turns the page and sees the sandwich-recipe and has to laugh out loud* This is genius! *looks at him lovingly* The drawings are all really awesome…

David: *smiles satisfied when Matteo sits down next to him, hesitates briefly but then puts an arm around him and leans against him to look into the book with him* *grins when he hears Matteo’s laugh and shrugs* At least this way we can never forget what was on them... just in case we want to prepare another feast like that* *laughs but then gets more serious again and smiles at Matteo's compliment* *hears a phone buzz and tries to fumble his phone out of his pocket* *looks at Matteo questioningly while doing so* Yours or mine? *eventually manages to get his phone out and glances at it* *shakes his head* Yours! *moves slightly away so that Matteo has enough space to grab his phone but lets his arm remain on the armrest*

Matteo: *smiles and wipes imaginary pearls of sweat off his forehead* Thank God! *also notices the vibrating and is immediately annoyed that someone is disturbing them* *gets up to take his phone out of his pocket* *sees that it's his mother and immediately feels bad* Sorry, my mum... *walks a few steps away and picks up* Hi Mama...

David: *nods when Matteo apologizes and contemplates for a moment whether he should leave Matteo alone* *decides against it because if he didn't want him to hear the conversation he probably would have left the room* *reaches for his mug and tries to look as if he wasn’t listening but still hears everything*

Matteo’s mom: *is glad that her son answers his phone; had tried calling yesterday without success and was worried after he had disappeared so suddenly the day before that* Hey, darling... I just wanted to ask if everything's alright...

Matteo: *turns slightly away from David, more as a reflex than defense* Yes, everything all right... sorry that I left... but I had to take care of something... but everything’s good now...

Matteo’s mom: Take care of what? Did it have something to do with David? I mean it's probably none of my business... anyways: It is good that everything's all right and well now. *sounds a little insecure, as if she didn't know to what extend she is allowed to ask her son about private things*

Matteo: *closes his eyes briefly* *doesn't really want to tell his mother anything but doesn't want to offend her either* Yes... it did... but... everything's fine now and we... we'll make up for the dinner, okay?

Matteo’s mom: *sounds happy* Yes, I'd love that! With David as well? When do you have time?

Matteo: *shakes his head for himself* Maybe... I don't know... *briefly looks over to David* *I'll ask him and I'll text you, ok?

Matteo’s mom: Do that! - I'm looking forward to it! *one can hear her smile* *Bye, my boy! *waits for Matteo to say goodbye and then hangs up the phone*

David: *had sipped his coffee and waited* *only looked up once when Matteo said he would ask _him_ and wondered briefly if it was about him* *watches Matteo now, after all, but thinks that he doesn't look stressed but only a little impatient* *smiles when Matteo hangs up and turns around to face him* *tilts his head questioningly* Everything all right?

Matteo: Bye, Mama *hangs up and puts the phone back into his pocket* *nods briefly and talks while he goes back to David and sits back down next to him* Yes, that was my mom... I kinda left her hanging on Thursday and well... *shrugs one shoulder* She invited us over for dinner... but I didn't agree on anything... I can go by myself...

David: *briefly thinks about what could have happened on Thursday and realizes that it was probably because Laura had told him that he hadn't come home* *feels bad for a moment but doesn't get the chance to apologize again because Matteo continues talking* *looks at him skeptically while he talks and shakes his head slightly* Um, what? She invited _us_? *for one, didn't know that Matteo came out to his mother and didn’t know that he even told her about him, either* *smiles insecurely and stammers slightly* I didn't know that you... well I thought you weren't out to her... and... she knows about me?

Matteo: *nods slowly when he asks /who/ she invited* Yes... *listens to him and instantly gets a little embarrassed* Oh... umm... yes... after I called you, when I wanted to pick you up... after that phone call I texted her... well I came out and she knows your name but not much more than that... *looks at him and puts his arm around him* And you really don't have to come if you don't want to...

David: *smiles lovingly and a little proudly because he thinks it's really brave of Matteo and because it shows him once again how certain Matteo had been the entire time that he wants to be with him - if he even told his mother about him* *leans on him when he puts his arm around him and reaches for his hand* *quietly says* This was really brave! *actually thinks any kind of coming-out is really brave* *grins when he hears his next words and looks up at him provokingly* And if I want to? Would you take me with you? *would actually like to meet Matteo’s mother*

Matteo: *shrugs when he says that it was brave* Over text? I just wanted her to know... *grins at him when he says that he wants to come along* Of course I would take you with me... but I'd warn you that you can't choose your family... *hesitates briefly and gets serious again* My mother takes antidepressants... I think she's doing better now... but... it wasn't always easy with her.... and I'm used to not really knowing in what mood she's in... just so you know...

David: *thinks the way of the coming-out doesn't matter - if it's over text or in person - it's a really big step* *shrugs when he hears his warning and grinningly sighs* You don't have to tell ME about it... *thinks that one of these days they're probably going to talk about his family, too, but for now he's only curious about Matteo’s mother* *gets serious again when Matteo does and listens to him* *presses his lips together briefly and at first doesn't really know what he should say or what he's allowed to ask* *brushes his thumb over the back of Matteo's hand and eventually says* If you want to tell me more about it... about your mother or your parents you can do that anytime... doesn't have to be now... but maybe sometime... *looks up at him and gives him a brief, tender kiss on his mouth* *murmurs* I'm here, okay?

Matteo: *nods slowly* *smiles at the kiss* Okay... maybe some time... later... after you've met her... *kisses him again and automatically slides closer to him*

David: *smiles at Matteo's words and nods* Okay... *gets another kiss and feels how Matteo slides closer to him* *softly grabs his neck so that Matteo won’t release the kiss and deepens it* *runs a hand through his hair, which is still damp from the shower and then back over his neck and his cheek* *a feeling of happiness rushes through him when he thinks about the fact that he can kiss Matteo whenever he wants now*

Matteo: *makes out with David on his armchair a little longer until his stomach rumbles once again* *laughs and apologizes* *they decide to get some food and go to the kitchen to make some sandwiches, which they take back to Matteo's room* *they then move from the armchair to the bed* *at some point, Matteo puts on some quiet music and they lie there and talk* *Matteo tells him a little more about his friends, who is or was dating whom or who's crushing on whom, what they are like* *David talks a little about Laura and his godmother* *at some point in the evening they order pizza and Matteo manages to get it and be back in his room without being held up by one of his flatmates* *after eating the pizza they are more quiet and make out more than talk*

David: *really enjoyed the entire day with Matteo and felt incredibly comfortable* *found it interesting to learn more about Matteo's friends and thus more about Matteo and thinks that being with him like that has a completely different meaning now as finally nothing is standing between them anymore* *is lying on the bed with Matteo after eating the pizza - by now both of them only in their T-shirts, as sweaters and hoodies were getting too warm - and enjoys the closeness to him and that they don't need many words right now* *runs his fingers over Matteo’s neck while they kiss and can't really resist the urge to be even closer to him* *therefore deepens the kiss and moves closer to Matteo* *pushes his leg between Matteo's legs and wraps his arm around his back* *moves his arm softly up and down his back*

Matteo: *feels a pleasant shudder when David pulls him closer* *has his hand in David's hair and pushes himself even closer to David* *kisses him and notices how his entire body reacts to David* *his /entire/ body* *panics all of a sudden as he doesn't know what he should do and might do something wrong* *pulls away from David and exhales deeply* Sorry... I... *is still slightly out of breath and has to collect himself a little* Well, I... *swallows hard and then looks at him* I have never...

David: *because of the closeness to Matteo he can feel that all this making out doesn't leave Matteo unaffected either and notices that he feels the same way* *doesn't have any idea where this might lead to but is too aroused to think about this now* *lets everything happen and loses himself in this feeling and is therefore slightly confused and a little breathless when Matteo suddenly pulls away* *asks himself briefly if he did something wrong and it takes some time for Matteo's words to get through to him* *swallows and then smiles slightly when he understands what Matteo is trying to tell him* *puts a hand on his cheek and looks back at him* Me neither... *gnaws at his bottom lip and tries to sort his thoughts* *asks quietly* So you never, ever? Neither with boys nor girls? *thinks that the question sounds somewhat stupid and blushes slightly* *assumed that Matteo had slept with Sara but likes the thought that apparently that wasn't the case and that it will be the first time for both of them*

Matteo: *immediately feels stupid and thinks that he shouldn't have told him and should have just kept going* *but then he feels David's hand on his cheek and relaxes a little* *closes his eyes briefly when he says he hasn’t either and is somehow extremely relieved* *opens his eyes at his question* *can assume that David is talking about Sara and shakes his head* No... boys never offered themselves... and with girls... I didn't want to... *bites lightly on his bottom lip* So... well... it didn't come out of nowhere that she was able to put two and two together so quickly, I guess...

David: *laughs at Matteo's words and feels his heart do a little jump* *knows that it probably shouldn't matter but it still means something to him that apparently they'll make this first experience together* *thinks that right now Matteo looks so open and slightly unsure but so beautiful that he just has to lean forward to kiss him again* *searches for words and eventually says quietly* So far, that was out of question... there wasn't anybody I trusted enough that it could have even come close to that... *moves closer to him again, gets a little nervous and feels his heart jump to his throat when he whispers* But with you, I could imagine it...

Matteo: *immediately closes his eyes when David kisses him* *looks at him again when he talks and feels even the last bit of tension leave his body* *nods slightly at his words and feels his heart beat faster* I feel the same... *closes the distance between them and kisses him again* *at first softly and tenderly but then he deepens the kiss and pulls him a little closer* *is about to carefully push his hand under David's T-shirt when there is a knock on his door* *can’t even react before the door opens and Hans is standing in his room* Hello, my butterfly, Linn said... Oh! Hello! *Matteo sat up to at least attempt to shield David a little* Hans, out!

David: *almost beams when Matteo says that he feels the same, but then gets kissed and pulled closer by him* *deepens the kiss together with Matteo and quickly realizes that they pick up right where they left off earlier* *flinches when there is a knock on the door and only seconds later Hans is standing in the room* *blushes and gets flustered and is relieved when Matteo sits up to shield him a little even though he immediately misses being close to Matteo* *hears Hans laugh at Matteo's request: "Oh, you sweethearts, I didn't want to interrupt... let me know if you need anything! Keep going! Have fun"!* *blushes even more at Hans' words but actually hears the door close and then it's quiet* *lays there petrified and shocked for a moment but then he pulls Matteo back down and half on top of him* *grins slightly* You heard him… keep going... *searches for his lips again and deepens the kiss* *eventually puts a hand under Matteo's shirt and softly strokes it up and down his back* *loves how soft his skin is there and realizes that he wants to feel more of that* *at some point hears distant voices coming from the living room - Mia and Hans: "Why can't you fold your laundry in your room for a change!!? Give them some privacy!" - "But here I'm closer to the action... in case they need anything..."* *stops listening to the discussion but still feels a little under observation* *is glad when it soon gets silent again in the living room but can't quite turn off the thought that somebody is sitting there, listening to every noise coming from Matteo's room* *hears Hans laughing loudly all of a sudden and stops the kiss a little* *murmurs* We could also go to my place...

Matteo: *laughs a little when David pulls him back toward him* *manages to suppress the interruption and continues* *can also hear the voices coming from the living room and thinks that somehow this isn’t great* *sighs when he hears Hans’ laugh and pulls David back* *is really glad about his suggestion* Yes, please… *gives him another short kiss and slowly pulls away* Sorry... I never thought they'd all stay home on a Saturday night... *gets up slowly together with David* *both of them get dressed again and Matteo stops at the door* Okay... the plan is get through the living room quickly, grab jackets, bag and shoes and then we're out of here... don't give Hans any chance *grins a little*

David: *laughs quietly at Matteo's answer and grumbles a little when he slowly pulls away after the short kiss* *doesn't want to let him go at all* *shrugs at Matteo's apology, smiles and murmurs* No problem... you couldn't have known... *gets up with a sigh and puts his sweater back on* *then says* Maybe my sister will be at home, but she usually spends her evenings in her room and probably won't disturb... *at least he hopes so* *would really like to continue what they started without any interruptions* *grins at Matteo's words once they're at the door and nods* Okay - go in and win... or rather: go in and flee! *gets ready and follows Matteo when he opens the door* *has to grin when he sees Hans sitting in the living room in front of the TV with a pile of laundry and doesn't react to his comment: "Oh, do you need anything?! Are you leaving"?* *only grabs his stuff, puts on his shoes quickly and leaves the flat with Matteo* *has to laugh when the door closes behind them* Made it! *briefly pulls Matteo against him and kisses him hard but brief* And now let's hurry... I want to continue where we left off!

(next play)

Obey Me Fic: No Matter How Much Time Passes

Here’s the first half of a fic I wrote, “No Matter How Much Time Passes.” It’s 3.6k words, and can be read as a standalone fic. The second half will be coming out 6 PM 4/18, CT. It will be released 3 hours later on my AO3 account, CrazyEyebrows I hope you like it!

The boys finally decide to visit MC in the human world. The only issue is that it's been 60 years, and MC isn't doing their very best.

Mammon can't handle what's going on, but he stays strong through it all.

Mammon stared at his reflection. Hair? Perfectly styled. Outfit? An amazing choice, a black leather jacket with a simple white T-shirt underneath. Freshly showered with one of Asmodeus' manicures to match.

So why did he feel like garbage?

Every time he thought about seeing the human- his human- again, it made his stomach twist into knots. He hadn't eaten dinner last night, and didn't think he could stomach breakfast today either.

It had felt like a thousand years since he'd last seen the human, when in reality it had only been 60 or so. Mammon still looked exactly the same, with maybe a bit more of a gut, if anything. He noted that he really should start working out like Beelzebub, and not rely on running away from his problems as a form of exercise.

He stepped out of the bathroom and shut the door behind himself quickly. He had managed not to change his entire outfit and restyle his hair for the 30th time, and decided that this was it. This is how he'd look when he met eyes with the love of his life again for the first time in sixty years and Oh god maybe I should wear something el-

"Mammon! Hurry up, Lucifer won't wait for your sorry ass forever!" The sound of Levi pounding on Mammon's bedroom door brought him out of his stupor.

"Right! Coming!" He hadn't the mental capacity to argue anymore, and simply agreed. He then opened the door, taking a deep breath and faking his usual cocky grin.

"Thank you, my lady in waiting." As Mammon walked away, he heard Leviathan sputter and yell about how he's going to kill Mammon. Mammon ignored this in favor of going down the hall and the grand entryway stairs to meet with the rest of his brothers. They all looked equally nervous, beside maybe Satan and Lucifer, who'd found ways to hide their intense emotions long before the human entered their lives.

"That's everyone, then. Let's get going." Lucifer popped a small top hat onto his head and opened the doors. He pushed each of his brothers out before him, and before Mammon could go through, stopped him.

"I want to talk to you." Then, pushed him out the door and followed behind. Belphegor led the group now, sitting up on Beelzebub's back and giving tired directions. Mammon gulped, walking slow so they wouldn't be heard.

"What is it Lucifer? Can'tcha see how excited I am?" He smiled and laughed a bit, to which Lucifer sighed.

"Yes, of course. What I wanted to say, Mammon... You know how fast human's age, correct? Much faster than either of us, or any witch or sorcerer." Mammon had expected something like this and rolled his eyes.

"Course I know, Lucifer. It's like how dogs age."

"You know that they will be very different than you remember-"

"Yes Lucifer, I know. I know that they'll be weird lookin' with more wrinkles and weird scars and ex boy or girlfriends and I know that they might not remember us but that doesn't matter. Because they will."

"You have a lot of faith in an 80 year old human."

"80's like, nothing."

"Yes, for an immortal councilman of the demon world. For a human, it's... 80 is nearing the end of their lifespan. They may not have much time left."

"Then they can come visit us when they're back in the Devildom."

"You know their soul is too polished to be a demon, in limbo, or otherwise. Surely they'd become a celestial being."

"Then... Maybe they can join the program again and-"

"Mammon. We're almost there. I just wanted to let you know that this may be your last chance to say anything you need to say, alright?"

That really helped the knots in Mammon's stomach, making them tighter and making him nauseated. Mammon frowned, coming upon the portal spot. Each of his brothers stood there, waiting for Lucifer to open the portal to the human world.

And then he did.

Mammon winced at the great big light, forgetting how blinding this whole ordeal was. He stepped in, and found himself somewhere unrecognizable.

"Wait, where are we, Lucifer?" Satan asked for him.

"We're in America."

"This doesn't look like anywhere in America I've ever been." Belphegor frowns, seeing the small houses lined in rows. They were all individual, a story each to its own.  

"Because you went to New York, and LA, and Orlando, this is just some small town in the Midwest. Of course it looks nothing like you're used to. C'mon, let's go." Lucifer started walking, staring down at his D.D.D. Mammon assumed there might be directions on it, and he found he was right when a small voice emitted from it,  

"Turn right in 200 feet."

"What a weird way to measure distance. What kind of feet? Human's?" Beelzebub asked aloud, and nobody answered. They were all quiet as they came upon the small nursing home, taking in the look of the outside.

“This is it. Now, all of you, stay quiet until we get to them. I’m using a fake alias, as these humans may realistically die hearing that my name is Lucifer.” The boys just nodded, everyone nervous and not wanting to show it. Lucifer headed in first, taking his hat off.

“Hello, my name is John. I’m here to see MC.” Lucifer smiled sweetly at the woman at the counter.

“Sure, you called earlier, right? Follow me.” She got up and started walking towards the back of the large room. Mammon looked around, seeing many older people doing various activities. Watching TV, playing checkers, knitting. He had expected them to be old, but hadn’t really internalized that they’d be this old.

“Now I do have to warn you, this specific patient has Alzheimers and isn’t lucid very often. In fact, the last time their children were here, they had to recollect of even being married.” They’re married? Oh. Mammon didn’t expect that to be what hurt him the most out of all of that. “But maybe you could help out. We’ve been hearing some… strange names from them that’s been alarming the other patients here.”

“Names? Like what?” Lucifer asked politely.

“Some pretty strange ones. I remember… Levi? And a couple different words for the devil, just off the top of my head. Nobody can tell who they’re trying to talk about.” “W-Was Mammon one?” Mammon spoke up sheepishly. The lady hummed and shook her head,

“No, I don’t think so. But I’m not here all the time, so, maybe. Anyway, here you are. MC? Hey, you have a few visitors today.” “No thank you Lucifer, I’m trying to study.” The patient spoke without looking up from the desk, doodling and scribbling on a piece of paper. Lucifer was slightly startled, hand resting on his chest now.

“That’s uhm- ahem- that’s what they would know m-”

 “Lucifer? I said no thank you.” Mammon watched as MC turned around, and everything seemed to hit in slow motion. Their hands were shaking, they looked brittle. Mammon feared even the slightest touch might make them crumble underneath him. He sucked in a breath, and then, they caught eyes. MC gazed into Mammon’s eyes and, for a split second, they seemed to get insanely excited.

 “Chistopher?” They asked, and suddenly Mammon’s entire world broke down around him. He started to cry, shaking his head. Beelzebub put an arm around him while the nurse spoke,

 “No, Darling. Chistopher can’t visit today. Very sorry about that, they’ve been asking about their husband a lot. He hasn’t visited in months. I think he knows… Ahem. Anyhow, I’ll leave you all to it. I’m sure you have a lot of catching up to do. Just try not to get frustrated.” She smiles and goes back to her post. Leviathan goes to sit next to them.

 “Hey, MC. How’ve you been?”

 “Well, if I could finish this task, maybe I could get some sleep. Levi-chan wants to binge a new anime tonight, so I have to nap before then. I haven’t seen him in so long, he’s been locked up in his room. Isn’t that terrible? Ignoring his true friend. True friend… what a friend he is…” They mumbled and mumbled while Mammon watched tears gather in Levi’s eyes.

 “I… I’m sure he wishes he could’ve seen you more, even if you are a normie.” MC then laughed loudly, startling all of them. It was an intense, deep throated laugh.

 “That’s exactly what he’ll say, too. I know it.” Asmodeus pushed his way next to them.

 “Oh Darling, you skin! Your beautiful skin! Next time I see you, we must do a regimen together. I know just what will help.”  “Oh, thank you Anne, but no thank you. I’ve gone natural, can’t you tell?” MC laughed again and ran their hand through the little amount of hair left on their head. “Trust me, I’m loving it. It feels so good not to worry about how I look, I know he’ll love me just the same.” Asmodeus frowned, but then smiled meekly.

 “I… guess you found someone very special then, didn’t you?” He asked quietly, and Mammon’s lip trembled again.  “I did… I think I might marry him. So sweet. I can’t believe I met him during an exchange program. I really should write a letter.” Leviathan pulled Asmo away, who was sniffling sadly. They both stepped outside to get some air.

 For a moment, nobody moved. Then, Belphegor did.

 “Do you remember me?” He asked, and Lucifer interjected,

 “Belphie, really-”

 “Of course I do. Who do you think I am? I made a pact with… a pact with…” Their eyes glazed over, not remembering quite what they were going to say. Instead, they smiled, “Would you like to order?” Belphegor’s brows furrowed at the sudden change, and Lucifer sighed.

 “They’re not at all lucid. They’re probably remembering something or another. Please, all of you, I told you not to get your hopes up.”

 “That’s rich, coming from you, Lucifer.” MC stood, and Belphegor helped them, barely touching them as he tried not to hurt them in any way. “Really, I’m not that stupid.” They moved over to Lucifer, who dropped his hand. As if in shock, he couldn’t move, just stared at them. MC took Lucifer's hands in their own, and started swaying gently. Lucifer just slightly reciprocated the dance. He recognized the way they moved to a beat in their head, and remembered dancing like this all those years ago.

 Mammon couldn’t watch. He knew he had to wait, it wasn’t his turn yet. They hadn’t tried to talk to him yet. He wasn’t sure he could even say anything if they did.

 “Where’s Solomon? We were supposed to have tea tonight.” That made Mammon almost angry, why did his human seemingly remember everyone else, except him? Had they really hated him that much without saying so? As quickly as it started, their dance ended, and MC stared at the other three brothers. Mammon watched as they tried to work it out in their head.

 “I told you, I won’t do any more pranks on Lucifer. He might skin me, if I do. We all got off easy last time.” They crossed their arms, frowning. “And trust me, if I get skinned I’m using that pact of ours and I’ll have you skin yourself alongside me.” Satan smiled sadly.

 “Yes, of course MC. Though, I think  it would be fun to pull one final prank.” MC seemed to think it over, and Lucifer stood over them from behind.  “MC. ” He said, and they shrieked. They shrieked, and then laughed, stumbling forward.

 “Lucifer! I-I didn’t see you there!” Satan made sure they stayed upright, laughing heartily. Beelzebub put his hand on Satan’s shoulder, and so he moved away. MC turned back to face them.

 “Oh, oh, oh. Is this your little boy, Anne? He looks just like a friend of mine. Don’t tell me you cheated on Anthony, did you? Look at that hair, you’ve grown so tall since I last saw you.” MC finally recognized Beel, and now only Mammon was left. Beel laughed while they doted over him, hugging him and kissing his cheek. Mammon could only find himself jealous. They sighed into Beel’s arms for a moment.

 “Okay, thank you Lucifer, you may all leave now. I have somewhere very important to be tonight. Except you.” MC pulled away from Beel and stared directly into Mammon’s eyes. “We have a lot to talk about.” Mammon gulped, and pulled a chair over next to MC’s. Beel helped her sit back down.

 “Beel, Satan, Belphie, let’s go check on the others. We will have plenty of time later to stay.” Belphegor looked hesitant, but they all eventually agreed and walked out. Mammon stared at MC, waiting for them to say something first. They took his hands in theirs.

 “Did I tease you well enough?” Mammon wasn’t sure at all what they were saying, and his face promptly expressed so. They sighed. “I… I remember you.” A moment of clarity, Mammon decided, and he smiled.

 “I remember you too. It’s been so long.”

 “It has. Please, make yourself at home. Christopher and the kids will be here any minute.” Mammon frowned.

 “You have kids?”

 “Things change in twenty years, Mammoney. I missed you. But I moved on. I’m happy now.” Twenty? So, maybe not full clarity. Mammon could work with that.

 “I… I’m glad. It’s not like I’d be jealous of some human.” MC smiled and pressed a kiss to Mammon’s hand.

 “Why didn’t you visit me?” They asked out of the blue, and Mammon sputtered. He didn’t have an answer. He knew anything he said wouldn’t be a good enough reason. “Mammon, tell me. My heart ached so badly for you. I need to know.”

 “I… I was scared.” He admitted, head hanging low. He leaned closer towards MC, and found that they smelled entirely different. He didn’t like that, at all.

 “Of me?”

 “Of change.”

  A long pause went over the both of them. Mammon slowly looked up, making sure that they hadn’t fallen asleep. They hadn’t, but what he found was even worse.

 Tears streamed down their face silently. They were staring at Mammon, a frown pulling at their lips. He wished he could take back all of the missed years. He knew it was too late to do anything about it, and so even through his cowardliness, held their hands strongly.

  "Mammon.” They wiped the tears from their face. “I need your help.” He was confused, but nodded.

 “Anything.”

 “I’m going somewhere special tonight. I want you to be there. I want you all to be there. So meet me there. I need to find something special to wear…”

 “Where is it?” He asked, confused as ever. He feels as though there hasn’t been a moment of clarity for him this entire time. MC smiled and stood up slowly.

 “I’m coming home. I need a welcome home party. And a pretty dress, or outfit.” They dragged Mammon away from the desk and towards a hallway of rooms. He grimaced at the hospital like setting, but put those feelings aside as they entered a room. MC closed the door behind them.

 “Please, can you find me something to wear?” They sat down and gestured to the closet. Mammon nodded and moved towards the closet.

 After a few minutes of looking through the small closet, he came across a pretty jumpsuit. It was a dark navy color, and he smiled at the thought of his human wearing it. He sat next to MC on the bed.

 “How about this?” MC felt the material, hands brushing over his slightly. He couldn’t help the grin that formed alongside MC’s.

 “Oh, perfect. Do help me put it on.”

 And so he did, careful as not to hurt them when he helped slip the outfit on. MC’s large smile never once faltered, and once it was on, Mammon’s breath hitched.

 “All these years, and I still make The Great Mammon falter?” MC laughed and looked themself over in the mirror. Mammon stood behind them, blush evident.

 “I don’t age like you do.” He whispered, hand on their shoulder. “These feelings are still new for me.” He hummed. “You need one more thing.” MC turned to look at him, confused.

 “Yes?” They asked quietly, just barely above a whisper. Mammon wordlessly took off his leather jacket, and helped slide them into it. They looked back into the mirror.

 “Oh, That’s perfect. Thank you, Mammon.” They laid a gentle kiss on his cheek, before laying back in bed.

 “I thought you were going home? What are you laying in bed for?”

 “Finally, there you are. What are you doing in their room without us, Darling?” Asmodeus’ voice suddenly rang through as the door opened.

 “Asmo.” The human smiled again, and Asmodeus looks as though he was just shot. He ran to their side.

 “Hello! Hi dear, you remember me.”  “Of course I do.”  “Guys, they’re in here.” Beelzebub walked into the room, and suddenly all of the brothers were around the bed. Mammon took their hand in his own.

 “Oh good, you’re all here. How do I look?”

 “Magnificent.” Lucifer answered. MC closed their eyes.

 “Thank you. I’ll see you at the party.”  MC said finally, and the brothers all looked confused.

 “Party?” Belphegor asked, to which he got no response. Mammon started shaking.

 “MC? What party? Where should we go?” Satan asked as well, with still no response.

 “Boys.” Lucifer said sadly, “Come on now, say your goodbyes. It’s time to leave.”

 “But we hardly got to talk to them!” Levi nearly shouted, almost angry. He looked down, staring at the person laying in bed. “That’s not fair! I want to talk to them more!” His eyes welled up in tears, and Mammon stood up.

 “C’mon Levi. It’s time to go.” Mammon tried pulling Levi away, and he only got an elbow in his side as a response.

 “No! I don’t want to! It’s not time yet, I want to talk more!” He sobbed now, standing next to MC. Mammon was about to angrily pull him away again, but Lucifer stopped him.

 “Let him have his time, Mammon. We’ll all need it. Come now, let’s get going.”

 Mammon and Lucifer walked out into the hall, letting the other brothers say their goodbyes. Mammon then moved then further, outside, so he could light a cigarette.

 “You know those are mostly illegal now, Mammon.”  “I don’t care. I need one.” he held it shakily to his lips, and inhaled the smoke. Lucifer nodded.  “I understand. Did you have a nice time with MC?” He asked, and Mammon stared at the ground.

 “They… They kept sayin’ somethin’ about a coming home party they had to go to. Kept sayin’ that they wanted us there. What do you think that means, Lucifer?” Mammon looked up at his older brother and frowned. Lucifer tossed the idea over in his head a few times.

 “I think… I think that just means they weren’t lucid, Mammon. Nobody is, that close. I’d take it with a grain of salt.” Mammon sighed.

 “Yeah, I guess.”

 After probably an hour of standing around, the brothers all came out one by one. They alerted the nurses of what happened, and took their leave. The long trudge home was quiet, and sickeningly sad for all of them. Asmodeus clung to Satan, sniffles being the only sound they all heard. Belphie was on Beelzebubs back again, this time taking the back of their line. He fell asleep shortly after leaving, and Beelzebub made sure to keep him safe. Mammon, Levi, and Lucifer all walked together. Levi with his headphones on likely blaring music, Lucifer with his D.D.D in his hands, staring at directions, and Mammon with nothing to distract himself but the gentle breeze against his face and the sun in the sky. Eventually they made it back to the portal, and then back home, none of them saying a word.

 About a week carried on like this, the brothers stumbling around, all mostly quiet and not wanting to disturb each other. They were all carrying the grief of their beloved friend and none of them wanted to talk about it.

That is, until Barbatos appeared at the front door, knocking loudly over and over and over until finally Lucifer came and answered it.

 “Barbatos, it’s two in the morning. Can this matter not wait?” “It’s extremely urgent, sir.” Barbatos was straight faced, but Lucifer was scared of what may have happened.

“Alright, let’s go then.” “You need to collect your brothers and make our way to the student council office. There’s an important matter to discuss with Lord Diavolo. That’s all I can say now. Rush yourself.”  Lucifer was worried, but nodded.

With major struggle, Lucifer got his brothers up and they made their way quickly to RAD. The brothers seemed to finally be settling into some form of normalcy, a bit of tired quipping between the six of them. Eventually, they all made their way to their chair, waiting for Diavolo. They all shifted and spoke among themselves uncomfortably, Belphegor nodding off again. Diavolo stepped in slowly, grin across his face.

 “Hello, all. It’s good to see you.”  “What’s this about, Lord Diavolo.” Lucifer asked, arms crossed. Diavolo frowned.

 “Why, you don’t look excited at all. We’re celebrating tonight.”

 “What for?” Mammon asked, confused and almost concerned. Knots formed in his stomach again. Diavolo crossed his arms.

“A coming home party.”

The Birthday Party (SC Titanic, Zetta x Adele Series, Ch. 10/2)

Here it is the second part of chapter 10!

Guys, I'm gonna be honest with you: I'm not sure when the next one will be out: it could be Tuesday next week or in weeks from now. So consider this series on potential hiatus. I'm struggling to find words in my everyday life and writing feels quite pointless atm. Hopefully if will change soon but that's the situation atm, I'm sorry.

Little disclaimer-favor: if you do enjoy it, please consider supporting the author & sharing this. A little gesture that means a lot!

Word Count: 3000+

Zetta x Adele Tag: @storyscaped@storyscapefanficarchive@marmolady @animus-and-anima @hayley-carter19 @escako@everlastingchoices @andrxrneda @aestheticsayeed@indescribablechoices @ahrielstuff@bornonawdnsday @nazario-sayeed  @h-doodles @adele-serda@marlcasters@brightpinkpeppercorn @nightwhite13@ramenwithaspoon@michelleconnoly @charliejane-blog @ghost-of-yuri@choicesgremlin @shadeofangelus @mistressofspiesxenia@orange-elephants​

Zetta x Adele Series Tag: @eternal-langdon @nydeiri

➡️ Ch. 1, Ch. 2/1, Ch. 2/2, Ch. 3, Ch. 4, Ch. 5, Ch. 6, Ch. 7, Ch. 8/1, Ch. 8/2, Ch. 9, Ch. 10/1

_____________________ 

Returning to the party still in full swing after my stolen moment with Adele is disheartening. I guess going back to our miseries in this crazy world after experiencing a glimpse of Heaven is pretty much the same feeling. I wonder how poor Dante coped back then. A smiling waiter hands me another glass of sweet alcoholic poison and I put my mask back on, even if I struggle now. I try to distract myself and be entertained by the chirpy conversations and gossips of my guests but my mind keeps running back to her. "I know, I wish this moment didn't have to end" "We'll make our own plays. Whaddya say?" I giggle at their silly jokes and outrageous stories, I retort with witticisms out of a script but I can't hear them, not truly. I'm not here. The Zetta is, not me. I am still in my lover's company. I can only hear her soft voice, our words of love. I don't have time nor will to hear that hilarious improbable story I'll absolutely have to tell Richard or that marvellous recent scientific discovery. I smile, I fake interest and thank God -and myself- I am a great actress.

As I move to another table where Lucille is beckoning me over I look out of the window, taking in the starry sky. I'm surprised but a quick smile cross my lips when I spot Adele hanging in there with a steward I saw around the lifts. They're leaning on the railing and chatting. They look like close friends: maybe they were accidentally reunited on board or is it true what they say? Ships make fast friends. I'll ask her about him. Not out of jealousy, even if I wish I could neglect my party more and run at her side where he stands. Even if I wish I could be the one making her laugh now. I just smile at the two of them, grateful that my troubled love is in good company tonight. God knows if she doesn't need a friend and some happiness after all she went through. And I'm afraid the worst is yet to come...

I do my best to lose myself in the complicated story about a common acquaintance my friend is sharing with the ladies and it works, to some extent. At least until when Sabine comes find me and invite the whole group to stand as the waiters pick up the table moving then toward the wall to clear space. Oh, we'll have some dancing! Even the musicians are now moving to the center of the far wall to be heard best. The crowd, myself included, is delighted and in awe. As the first chords of my favorite waltz start playing, everyone is looking for their partners and hurrying to finish their drinks. I drain mine, trying not to think of how much I would love to have this dance with my love no matter how inappropriate it would sound to many here. I ditch the Baron though -that lovable shark isn't fast enough this time!- and a couple of other hopeful admirers to hold Lawrence's hand. "Shall we dance, darling?" I smile encouraged you at him. We both long for a partner we can't pick out in the sun: let our shared sorrow fade away on the note of The Blue Danube, my dear friend. Lawrence understands or so it seems by the bittersweet yet thankful smile he offers me. He reads the unwritten and hears the unspoken words too. My poor dear Lawrence... We chat like old friends as we sway among the crowd. He's not only a brilliant director but also one of the finest dancer I've ever met. He blush a little when I sing his praises and just shrugs saying he has loved dancing. Typical, humble Lawrence... He lowers his voice a little when he thanks me for inviting him to the party, "well, me and Felix". He looks touched when I assure him that I wouldn't have had it any other way, I deeply value our friendship. "Me too, Zetta. You can count on me" he beams before his melancholic smile reappears. "If we close our eyes, we're in a fancy ballroom in Vienna" he whispers, leaning close and guiding the two of us into a graceful turn. I'm about to share a memory of my youth there with him, when I was blinded by the beauty and luxury of the imperial aristocracy there when ruckus erupts from the other side of the room. Surprised cries and laughter ring as the guests stop dancing and the music ceases. "What? My party is not over yet" I playfully protest, pouting. I'm suddenly nervous. I fear the time has come: time for the squalid yet hurtful family theatrics, time for James's show. I try to find out what's going on but I can't make my way through a crowd of ladies and gentlemen stretching their necks and whispering to each other. My fears are sadly confirmed when I catch the baritone voice of the Baron saying "Good show, Miss Carrem. Getting smart with you, was he?" "I'm afraid I cannot stand overfamiliarity. I apologise for making a scene" My love's voice is a bit shaken: is it anger or fright? Concern and fury take hold of me and I shutter my jaw. Lawrence squeezes my hand and I am grateful. "It is I who should apologise, on behalf of those who call themselves gentle..." the Baron continues but James interrupts him. "Oh do be quiet!" His tone is harsh, pure drunk rage. The crowd seems to lose interest in the argument and the music resumes but I'm still wary. I know James is up to something and it's just a matter of time. "I'm sure it's nothing, Zetta. A little misunderstanding...and Miss Carrem knows how to take care of herself" It's Lawrence. I turn to him and he's smiling reassuringly down at me, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze. I feels so grateful for his lovable kindness right now, an anchor in a troubled sea. I nod and try to shake my bad gut feelings away. "Why don't we take a break and enjoy the waltz with a drink?" he adds, gesturing to the drink table near the window. I compliment his idea and let him guide me through the crowd. The cold her of the night cools me down and I take a long breath to soothe my nerves. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I'll be spared the drama. Unlikely but I can still hope right? I almost sink the glass of sherry Lawrence hands me, triggering a concerned look that I dismiss, claiming I'm perfectly fine. I just needed a break, I'm not twenty anymore, I grimly joke. "True Beauty never ages, dear Zetta. A beautiful soul defies the cruel compass of time" Lawrence proclaims with a smile. I ask him what poet wrote that line because I can't recollect it in the moment but I'm not surprised in the least to hear that he is the one behind that sweet thought. I pull him into a hug whispering thank you into his ear. When we part, he encourage me to make a wish. "It's your birthday, after all: isn't it a tradition in America?" he asks. I'm still considering and rambling when Felix and Sabine approach us. The party is going well and the guests are enjoying themselves. They just wanted to check in on the honeree, Felix says. Lawrence shows our empty glasses making a funny face and we all laugh. I ask about the little incident before. Felix assures me once again that it was nothing. I turn towards my little Napoleon for confirmation. "Oui, Madam. Nothing more than a quid pro quo. You know how it is. Youth" Sabine says but the look in her eyes tells a different story. "Miss Zetta, any chance you'll make an appearance in our documentary?" Felix intervenes, quickly changing the topic. "We would be most honoured" Lawrence adds, beaming. "A little tribute to one of the finest passengers of the liner" I give a soft laugh, playing with the idea. Maybe I could, after all. A quick cameo. It wouldn't take too much time. I playfully brush them off calling out their flattery but they assure they had considered it over the last few days on board. "It would be a pleasure and an honor" Felix bows. I sigh contently, my eyes wandering from one admirer and friend to the other. "Very well then, my dear friends: I'm in! Why don't we meet...let's say over breakfast or lun-" I start but I stop mid-sentence. Behind my back, an hysterical laugh echoes through the café, drawing the general attention. Conversations and music fades away and an awkward tense silence settles. Cold runs down my spine and I fear my face suddenly goes pale as I recognise the voice. Jamie. It's time. I must endure this bad farçe. I inhale sharply. You can do this, you are a great actress and you survived worst days. You survived Franz. Get ready, Zetta. On scene in three, two one... When I turn, he's stalking towards me, shirt stained with wine and an hysterical light gleaming in his bright eyes. He's dragging Adele along like a puppet. A disheartening picture compared to my fondest memories of him. "Excuse me, Aunt, I merely wished to offer a toast: my salutations on this glorious occasion and-" he exclaims, raising his glass and sloshing wine over the edges. "You interrupting to chew the cud, here, James? Get to the point" I sound a bit harsh, as if annoyed of another interruption. I roll my eyes as I would do with a problematic kid throwing a tantrum and forgetting his manners. Ironically, it's what he's doing, even if he's no longer a child. A weird, unpleasant smile crosses his face. Maybe he was expecting my reaction? "And a fond farewell to your secretary" he adds menacingly as I take a sip of sherry. I narrow my eyes at him over my glass, half annoyed, half amused. Bring it on, Jaime dear. "A farewell? And why might that be?" I see Sabine tensing up at my peripheral. James looks so pleased of himself as he takes the stage like a practiced professional. He doesn't realise he's just behaving like a pathetic buffoon to my -and most guests's -eyes. "To put it simply: Adele is a confidence woman who agreed to come abroad the Titanic to help me destroy you" "Come again?" I fake surprise as the crowd gasps and starts whispering. The attention and the look on my face renew his foolish fervor. "I brought Adele to help me ruin your marriage to Richard King, to keep him from ruining our family... For the price of her freedom, your secretary was to get close to you, discover your worst secret, and deliver it to me." He stops, making a dramatic pause. And now I know: it's the moment of truth. Time of Adele's choice. I stand, concealing my inner turmoil and fears, as the crowd basks into this unexpected juicy coup de theatre. When he speaks again, his mouth twists with a rage I've never fathomed he could hide inside. "She failed!" She...protected me? Even knowing at what cost... My eyes instinctively search Adele's but James is not done yet. "And now she'll go back to jail, where I found her" he shouts, spiralling out of control but loud enough to be heard by everyone. At the word "jail", the crowd utters a collective gasp. He wants to publicly humiliate her since he can't get what he was looking for. Because she dared refuse him the key to my ruin. I wish I could just drop the act and slap some sense into him. What pains me most is seeing him succeeding, to some extent. Adele is frowning under that low blow. I throw glares at everyone taking a step back from her as if she suddenly turned into a criminal or an insect. Miserable bastards... My love proves herself to be superior to all this, again. She straightens up and addresses the crowd, providing explanations she doesn't owe to any of us" "I was arrested for public disruption at a protest for women's rights. I'm not proud of having been jailed, but I'm not ashamed of what I was fighting for" she says, grimacing. Then she looks at me and I smile at her, hoping to convey all my respect, deepest affection and admiration for my sweet brave revolutionary. Let me help you now, my angel. I turn towards James and my smile loses all its warmth. "Bravo, James. You're quite the schemer" I knew he would be confused. I'll deny you something too, Jaime. You won't get an ounce of the despair you wanted. You won't see me crying and crumble under your betrayal: I'm not a Julius Caesar stumbling underneath your dagger. "That's all you have to say? You've been played. She was hired to ruin your marriage-" "She was, wasn't she?" I cut him short. "But she has a conscience, and a lot of courage" I take a pause before smiling again, cold and victorious. "Adele told me all about your terrible plan" His jaw drops and his rosy cheeks pale. He grabs Adele's arm and starts drunkly ramble again. "You - what? No. This doesn't change anything. I'll take you back-" This time Adele interrupts him, spitting the harsh truth right in his face. "Your only power was your wealth, and now that's gone. Along with the trust of your only relative" He releases her and I wonder if he finally realised what a fool, what an ungrateful fool he has been. Adele's right, James. When he turns to me, a desperate look on his face, I brace myself for his tears. Him begging for a forgiveness I'm not sure I will ever be able to give him. Apparently, I haven't learned my lesson: men can't be trusted. Men will always lie to you. "She's the one blackmailing me" Adding insult to injury, Jamie dear? "No, James. She's not" I'm cold and firm, despite the heartbreak I feel growing inside me. "You'll value the word of this secretary over your own blood?" His disbelief quickly turns into rage again. "I value my own sense, James; your plotting was plain as that smirk on your face" My voice is sharp: yes, I want to hurt him just like he hurt me. I want him to feel ashamed and sorry for what he did to me, to Adele. My sharp retort provokes some nervous giggles soon silenced in our audience. I sense fury building up inside him until it explodes. He bangs on the table with his fist, making everyone jump. "I'll get to Hileni, then, I'll hold her, I'll make you tell Zetta's secret-" Is he even speaking to Adele or...to himself? Honestly, I cannot tell. And I'm grateful to Matteo for intervening. I don't know what he's whispering into his ear but it seems to work. James seems to remember himself. For a split second, sadly. He straightens his cuffs and gives us all a tight, cruel smile. "Off to send word to the authorities, then" he says and turns to Adele and me. "As I said before, say your goodbyes" Then he walks away as the unabashed crowd part the way for his supposed grand exit. When he's out of the room, the guests are puzzled, unsure of what they just witnessed. They look at each other asking the neighbour or their partner what our family farçe was. I'm afraid this is just the beginning of another sorrow but the worst is gone. For the night, at least. I let out a long, exhausted sigh: God knows if it wasn't tough but I can breathe now. We can breathe again. And plan a counter attack to his pathetic scheme. I instinctively reach for her hand and take it into mine, uncaring of the crowd around us. "I didn't think the boy would actually do it" Yes, I tried to convince myself of that. I wanted to believe that he was apparently better than he actually is, that he wouldn't stoop so low...but what is my life if not a collection of disappointments from men? "Should I be worried?" There's a hint of concern in Adele's voice. I can't blame her: I don't recognise my nephew anymore, I can hardly tell how seriously we should consider his threats. "I doubt it, but he's not to be underestimated when his pocketbook is in peril" I know my answer offers little comfort but I continue, squeezing her hand to prove my loyalty to her: "Whatever he tries, though, I'll be by your side" Adele smiles down to our hands before meeting my eyes again. "I have faith in you, Zetta. Thank you" Despite I can see more than understandable concerns and fears written all over her face, she squeezes my hand back. I take a deep breath. The weight of the latest events is washing over me. "I'm going to retire to my room and prepare a message to my lawyers. If anyone can figure out a way to  keep you out of jail, it's them" "Are you certain?" I give my love a sad smile. "There's little certain in this life, sweetheart, but lawyers with a high hourly rate? They're as close as we'll get" We just smile at my little mot d'esprit. "This wasn't exactly the soirée I wanted, but I suppose the truth had to come out sometime." I continue. I look at her in the eye as I add: "You're a true friend, Adele" I lean towards her so only she can hear. "And I'll wait up for you tonight, if you'd like" Please come find me later, my love. We will find a way to keep you out of trouble, we'll meet the dawn if need be and forget our sorrows and the unpleasantness of this soirée in each other arms. To my surprise, Adele wraps her around me, pulling me into a tight embrace. It takes me a moment to process it but I've never felt closer to tears. Surrounded by the familiar warmth of her body. I know someone is probably, surely staring with a bit of curiosity and malice after the melodrama we offered for free tonight but I don't care. Not now. So I hug her back and give a quick gentle stroke to her cheek as I part. After one last lingering weak smile at her, I gesture Sabine that it's time for our retreat. With the last ounce of strength left in me to keep my act on, I wave diplomatically at the gossiping guests and take my leave, my little Napoleon in tow. The show's over, lads. The show's over...

Only on Principal | afi | part ii

masterlist part i

pairing: ashton irwin x ofc

warnings: angst, hurt/comfort, slow burn, mutual pining, fake (semi-coerced?) relationships, injuries, implications of anxiety

word count: 4.4k

a/n: sorry this took so long, I just recently restarted classes and I never have the time to write. I wish I could say the next one will be sooner, but I haven’t even started it (oops). I do have an idea of where this will go moving forward, so hopefully, once I can get around to writing, it will go quickly. 

~~~

It’s nearing 10 o’clock when Ashton pulls up to the building Hylla described, a brick building with tall windows, two stories high. The sign above the front door reads The Ink Pot, but he passes it by in favor of following the small alley to his left, as per her directions, where he found a small side door.

He hesitates before knocking, knowing he’s a few minutes early. He’d spent the past week kicking himself over the way he had treated her, and he was anxious to see if she would still be upset by it.

The door swings open, snapping him from his thoughts, to reveal Hylla, holding a mascara wand and small, squirming dog. “Hi, you can come on up, I’m not quite ready, yet.” She motions for him to follow him up the stairs just inside the door. “You can chill wherever while I finish up.”

Hylla disappears after setting down the small pup, who immediately scuttles over to Ashton, at the top of the stairs. He crouches down and scratches its ears lightly, giggling when it attempts to climb into his lap. “Well, hello there.” He moves to sit on the end of her couch, leaning back down to continue petting it.

Hylla comes back a minute later, shaking her head in amusement at her dog, who is now lying on Ashton’s foot while he scratches her stomach. “Are you being needy, Karma? Worst guard dog I’ve ever seen,” she teases, laughing as the dog gets up and barrels into her shins.

“What breed is she?” Ashton asks, brushing a bit of dog fur from the bottom of his jeans.

“A mini Australian shepherd. She’s super smart, but she’s also a total brat.”

Ashon giggles, and she immediately yearns to hear the sound again. She mentally scolds herself, reminding herself that she needed to keep their relationship amicable for the next eight months.

“Are you ready, then?” Ashton asks, breaking the slightly awkward silence. He stands and slides his hands into his pockets.

“Yeah, I just need to put this little one somewhere she won’t cause trouble.” She herds Karma into a corner of the kitchen full of dog things, closing a baby gate to keep her there. Upon watching this, Ashton notices that most things he could see are baby proofed.

Gesturing to the nearest baby lock, he asks, “Do you have a kid?” then quickly backtracks. “Wow, that was really blunt, sorry.”

Hylla just laughs, brushing it off as she pulls on her shoes. “No, like I said, Karma is super smart, but she loves causing trouble. She knows how to flip light switches, open cabinets, doors, the fridge, so: baby locks.”

Ashton laughs, a full sound from deep in his chest. “That’s amazing. In theory, that would be great, but I could see how she could make a mess, though.”

Hylla makes a small noise of affirmation, and they head out. They make small talk on their way, allowing the radio to fill stretches of comfortable silence.

Ashton parks a few blocks from the coffee shop, giving them a chance to be spotted before they enter. He gives Hylla a small, reassuring smile before hopping out of the car, opening her door. He helps her out of the car, lacing their fingers together as they make their way to the shop.

A handful of fans recognize Ashton, but none make a fuss about Hylla’s presence, being kind without prying.

They choose to sit at a bar along the front windows, keeping an eye out for the paps that were bound to arrive. They continue to keep their conversation light, occasionally speaking to fans that approach.

After some time, they notice the herd of paps outside had grown to a size plenty more than sufficient for their purposes. They meet each other’s eyes before rising from their seats in unison. 

Ashton takes Hyllas free hand in his, squeezing lightly. “You ready?”

She smiles back and nods, using her drink to gesture for them to leave.

As soon as the door opens, they’re overwhelmed by flashes. Ashton makes a point of ignoring the cameras, leading Hylla toward the pier, where it would be more difficult for the paps to follow.

Hylla tries to keep her head down, knowing there are already enough pictures of her face for Twitter to find her. The noise was overwhelming, with questions being shouted over each other, and Hylla is forced to press closer to Ashton to keep her balance as they fight their way through the crowded sidewalk.

One man pouches forward, gripping her arm tightly and asking a question she doesn’t quite hear. She freezes, eyes going wide as the man’s grip grows tighter. Immediately, Ashton puts himself between the two, dropping her hand in favor of pulling the man’s off of her and pushing him back. As soon as she’s freed, she stumbles back, heart still racing, and watches Ashton shoo away everyone who hasn’t already taken their cue to leave.

Once they are gone, he turns back to her, concern pinching his features. “Are you alright?” he asks softly, lightly brushing his fingertips over the bright red marks left on her elbow. 

“I’m okay,” she says quickly, “just a little shaken up— I wasn’t expecting that.” Her reply comes almost too fast for Ashton to believe her, but he just nods, drawing her closer to him, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead before continuing toward the pier. 

Their silence is comfortable as they walk, filling the long stretches between bits of small talk.

Occasionally, a fan will ask Ashton for a picture, and Hylla happily takes the photos, opting to stay behind the camera, despite several invitations to join them.

They eventually find themselves at a picnic table, their gazes drifting between each other and the water.

“I’m actually kind of surprised we didn’t get more questions today,” she mentions, absentmindedly running her nails through the groves in the worn wood.

Ashton shrugs, drumming his own fingers on his thigh. “They usually aren’t the type to pry, but those pictures are probably trending by now.”

“I suppose it’s nice how they don’t track you everywhere. I imagine that would get old.”

“It can when it happens a lot, like when we’re on tour. Usually, it screws up plans more than anything.” He pauses for a second, taking in the sounds of the boardwalk before looking back to her. “So, I still don’t know much about you. Where are you from?”

“I grew up in Long Beach. My mom grew up in the LA area, but my dad is actually from Puerto Rico.”

“Puerto Rico, I think you might have mentioned that last week.”

She raises her eyebrows a bit, shocked he remembered. “Yeah, I did.”

“Does that mean you speak Spanish?”

His voice is genuinely curious, but Hylla can’t help but tease, “How original, no one has ever asked me that before. But, yes, I speak Spanish.”

“Well, I’m sorry I asked,” he says, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “I feel like you mentioned your mom, too. Are you a family-oriented person?”

“Yeah, my entire family is pretty close.”

“Mine, too. Do you have any siblings?”

“Two brothers and a sister, plus a few cousins I’m super close with.”

Ashton gave a quick glance around, making sure everyone was out of earshot before speaking. “This whole thing must be hard then, not being able to talk about this.”

“A little, but I’m honestly so busy I don’t get to see them half as often as I’d like to even have to avoid talking about it. I assume it’s gonna get even harder with this being public now.” Hylla spoke quietly, also concerned about potential eavesdroppers. “This probably isn’t the place for this conversation.”

“You’re probably right,” He said, standing up from the table. “Should we move this somewhere more private?”

He held out a hand, which she took, lacing her fingers in his as they made their way back up the pier. “What other things should you know about me?”

“Well, apparently you speak Spanish. Any other fun talents you’ve been hiding from me?”

“You already know I do art. That takes up most of my time.”

“Other than tattoos, what kind of art do you like to do?”

“Uh, a little bit of everything, I guess? I do a lot of digital things because they’re the easiest to get to clients that commission me, and I can print them into stencils. I paint, sometimes. As long as I have a pen and something to write on, I’ll doodle. How about you? Any random talents you’re holding out on?”

“Nothing spectacular. I can whistle really well, but I suppose that goes with the music thing.”

They spend the rest of the walk back to the car chatting, talking just enough to fill the silence. They had almost made it back to the car when they saw a few more paps; though, they appeared to be less pushy than the ones they encountered earlier.

Hylla’s first reaction was to ignore them, avoiding direct eye contact, but Ashton smiled at them, politely telling them he would answer any of their questions. She was honestly surprised they left graciously, allowing the pair to go about their business.

Ashton opened her door for her, allowing her to climb into the passenger seat before getting in the car himself. Neither of them spoke until Ashton pulled into traffic. “Are you doing okay? I know all of this can be overwhelming.”

Hylla shrugged, running her fingertips over the seams of the center council. “I’m fine, I wasn’t really as prepared for dealing with them as I originally thought, but it’s something I’ll just learn with time, I guess. Honestly, the fact that they just left when you asked them to really shocked me.”

“They aren’t all quite as pushy as the ones this morning,” Ashton assured her. He made quick glances at her while he drove, debating whether he could hold her hand without people around. “The shoving and mobbing is something we hardly ever have to deal with around here, and security is usually with us in places where the pushy ones like to show. Speaking of which, how’s your arm?”

Hylla hadn’t really had much time to think over the morning’s events, so she was surprised to see how dark the bruises were when she looked down. “It looks worse than it feels. It’ll probably be pretty sore tomorrow, though.”

“Once we park, I can take a look at it. I might have something at home that could take care of them.” He couldn’t help but feel guilty, partially responsible for what had happened. “We probably should have iced it earlier, stopped it from getting this bad.”

Hylla shook her head, shrugging off his concern. “It really doesn’t hurt, Ash. It’s not a big deal.”

“I know, but I hate that they hurt you. I should have expected something like this.” He speaks quietly, shifting his eyes back to the road.

“This isn’t your fault, Ash,” she said, not even thinking as she put her hand over his on the gearshift. “You know that, right? I signed up for this. This whole thing doesn’t need to make me your responsibility.”

Ashton’s fluttering heart sank at her words, feeling pushed away. “I know that we really aren’t that close, that I don’t necessarily need to, but I’m still worried about you, and I still care that you got hurt.” His face is red as he pulls into a park’n’ride, catching her gaze before quickly averting his eyes. “Is it okay if I take a look at your arm?” His words are cautious, not wanting to overstep any boundaries or make her uncomfortable.

“That’s fine, Ash.” She twists slightly in her seat to face him more and whisks the knuckles of her uninjured arm over his cheek to bring his attention back to her face. “And, thank you for caring, even if you don’t really have to.”

“Of course, Hylla. I’m not about to just ignore you as soon as we aren’t in public, even if I technically can.” He speaks softly, but with a tone of finality that affirms his words. 

Hylla hums softly in response, taking more reassurance from his words than she realized she had needed. 

He takes his time inspecting her bruises, softly grazing them with his fingers. Ashton sighs, his tone softer when he continues. “I know I wasn’t particularly pleasant when we first met, scratch that, I was a total douche, and there isn’t an excuse for that, but I really would like us to be friends, to be able to enjoy each other’s company if we’re going to be spending so much time together.”

“I completely understand why you acted the way you did that first day; I probably would have reacted the same way if our roles were reversed. You didn’t get a choice in the situation, and I was the person they were forcing onto you, so you lashed out. I’m not upset about you having feelings, Ashton, and I also want to be able to enjoy each other’s company throughout this.” She paused in a way that suggested she wasn’t done talking, but couldn’t bring herself to suggest that their relationship could go further than just friends.

Hylla was snapped from her thoughts when Ashton’s gentle hold on her arm trailed, taking her hand in his, drawing her gaze back to his. “I’m glad we both want that.” He wore a light smile on his face, gently stroking her hand with his thumb as he spoke. “Those bruises are getting kind of gnarly. Want to maybe get some food and head back to mine so I can clean them up?”

His tone is meek, bracing himself from the rejection he feared, expecting her to ask him to just bring her home. Despite her reassurance that she understood, he still was worried he had screwed over anything that could have ever possibly happened between them with his behavior.

“That sounds good.” She squeezes his hand, smiling at him. He sighs lightly with relief, taking her acceptance of his offer as a good sign. With a small, mischievous smile, she mutters, “Feels good, too.”

Ashton barks a loud, sudden laugh and throws his head back, completely caught off guard by the change in mood. He continues to giggle as he pulls back into traffic, heading toward his house. “A pun at my expense? Already?” He trails off into a fit of giggles, his smile growing further. “Oh, you are just gonna love the guys.”

Ashton falters, worried he’s jumped too far ahead of himself, despite the fact that they both knew that she would be meeting the guys sooner rather than later, but Hylla's unfazed. “It’ll probably be even harder for you to keep this from them than it will be for me to keep it from my family.”

Her comment throws him— he hadn’t even considered the fact that he couldn’t tell the guys about the nature of their relationship. “I guess we never did finish that conversation, did we?”

She shrugs off the question, hiking one knee to her chest and leaning against the door. “I don’t really know what else to say. I mean, it’s going to suck keeping this from them, but what more is there to dwell on, really?”

Ashton takes a quick glance over at her, sensing that the situation bothered her more than she was letting on, but decides not to push the matter. “Tell me about them.”

Hylla tilts her head just enough to stare, quirking her eyebrow at his request. 

“They’re clearly important to you, so, tell me about them.” She smiles, shaking her head as she thinks.

“Well, Kendall is the oldest, she’s 28. She loves to tease, and is bossy as hell, but her heart is always in the right place. Micah’s 26. He can be a little protective, but lets me get away with everything because he’s a total softy. Kian’s only twenty, but protective to the point of overbearing and likes following the rules. He loves playing tough guy, and hates acknowledging that I can handle myself. Issac and Lydia are my cousins, but we spent so much time together as kids that we’re practically siblings. Lydia is 27, and Issac’s my age— actually, he’s two days younger than me and I will never let him forget it.”

Ashton smiles as she rambles, listening attentively to her stories with the people she cares so much about.

She trails off in the middle of a story from her childhood, blushing when she realizes they’ve stopped in Ashton’s driveway. “Sorry, I got a little carried away.”

“Don’t be. They sound amazing.” They both exit the car, walking up to the house. “I wish I got to see my family more, but the guys are like my brothers, now.” 

Ashton opens the door for Hylla, stepping in behind her and dropping his keys into a bowl by the door. He kicks off his shoes, and Hylla follows suit before continuing to stand awkwardly, unsure of how to proceed.

Ashton shows her to the kitchen, telling her to make herself comfortable before disappearing upstairs to grab some things for her arm. Hylla perches herself on a stool at his counter, pulling out her phone to see the pictures of them starting to trend.

Ashton returns carrying an assortment of first aid supplies. He chuckles lightly when she shows him her screen, mildly impressed that they’ve already seemed to have identified her, along with several of her socials.

“Twitter really is better than the FBI, aren’t they?” He nods, pulling a stack of takeout menus from a drawer.

“What are you feeling for lunch?” he asks, flipping several of the menus to face her.

She glances up from her scrolling, returning her phone to her pocket. “I’m not picky, but I’m always a sucker for Thai.” She pulls a few menus from the stack, allowing Ashton to pick from those.

Once they’d placed their orders, Ashton sits facing her, inspecting her bruises again. He holds her arm gently, careful not to put more pressure than necessary on the sore area. He rubs a balm over it before wrapping it with a soft ice pack, smiling at her gently.

“You really need to stop feeling so guilty about this, Ash.” Her words stun him, and he meets her eyes again. “This is not your fault, and your guilty face is making me sad.” She jokingly pouts at him, earning herself a giggle.

“I know,” he sighs lightly and sits up straighter, twisting to face the counter, “but I can’t help but feel bad that being around me got you hurt.” He has his own small pout, fuming over the incident.

“It’s a bruise, Ashton. It’s not even that bad.” She moves the compress, poking it harshly to prove her point, but the small wince she makes nullifies it. “Okay, maybe it’s a bad bruise, but I’ll be fine. I’ve probably given myself worse bruises running into tables, so you can stop worrying so much.”

Ashton resituates the compress, holding it there to keep her from moving it again. “Was awful to you that first day, and now this happened. I can’t help but think that you're gonna hate me if this sort of thing keeps happening.”

“I’m not a dog, Ash. A few bad days aren’t gonna train me to hate you.” She chuckles a bit, smiling warmly. “I already told you that I’m not mad about you being in a mood that first day and that this isn’t your fault. You don’t need to be so hard on yourself.” She reaches out to cup his face, rubbing her thumb over his cheekbone soothingly.

Her touch feels natural, and Ashton has to restrain himself from leaning into it. “I’ll try to stop worrying so much, but you need to leave your ice pack on so it actually starts healing,” he teases, placing his hand on her knee, brushing the inside of it with his thumb.

“Deal.”

They remain in a comfortable silence for a bit, enjoying each other’s touch within their own little bubble, until the doorbell rings, startling them both. They jump apart guiltily, breaking their worry free bliss, and they both flush. Ashton sighs lightly before moving to answer the door, already missing her touch.

Hylla readjusts in her seat, trying to process the moment they shared. She ached to return to it, to pursue a romance outside of their contract without regard for the consequences, but she chastised herself, unable to push her worries from her mind. No matter what happened between them in private, they would be forced to regularly see each other until their contract expired, and she wasn’t sure she could keep something like that to herself for so long.

Ashton comes back with their takeout a minute later, firmly refusing to allow Hylla to pay him back for her meal. Once they are both settled with their food, he rekindles their conversation for a third time. “Tell me more about your family.”

Hylla thinks for a moment on what she should start with, surprised at how interested he is. “Well, my dad’s family is from Puerto Rico; They moved here when he was eleven. My mom’s family came over from Southern Europe before the first world war. They’re both deeply connected to their cultures, so we have a lot of strong traditions. Between running the shop and now this, I don’t get to see them half as often as I’d like, but we try to make a point of doing big family dinners as often as we can— which you will most definitely be getting dragged to at some point in the near future. There is no way they will let me get away with not bringing you around more than once, now that we’re public.”

Ashton chuckles, heart fluttering at the prospect of meeting the people that were so important to her. “Well, I’ll give it a week at most before the guys start showing up here unannounced to try and meet you, so I guess we’re even there.”

“Speaking of meeting people, we’re going to need a solid story of how we met because my family will pick up on anything that doesn’t quite match up, so our details need to be on point without seeming rehearsed.”

“The guys won’t necessarily need details, but if the situation seems weird, they’re gonna start asking questions we probably won’t be able to answer.”

“So we need details and a vibe.”

They sit quietly, only the sounds of their chewing disturbing the thoughtful silence as they run through scenarios. They occasionally bounce a few ideas off each other, shooting down the ones that would spark too many questions, before settling on meeting at a farmers market they both occasionally shop at.

They discuss the details of the meeting, occasionally jotting down details to remember, until long after their food has been finished. The conversations strayed frequently, and Hylla longed to hear more about the man beside her, who she suspected was holding something back, giving few details of his own life when she tries to reciprocate his curious nature.

Even after the details had been arranged, their conversation flowed easily, but Ashton remained reserved, worried if he shared too many of his own experiences, he’d lose sight of what he has in common with Hylla. He could recognize so much of himself within her— valuing her connections to her family and culture, the strong sense of creativity she pursued— despite the fact that they led completely different lives, and he clung to that connection, terrified she would lose what little interest in him he hopes she has without it. 

What Hylla does learn about him is mundane, but she adores the knowledge, nonetheless, They exchange random favorites— foods, movies, authors— and other small things, keeping their conversation light until Hylla decides she’s stayed her welcome.

Upon arriving home, she immediately takes Karma for a walk, taking some time to think over the predicament Ashton presented. She’s close with her family, and has never been good at hiding things from them. If one of them directly pointed out something was weird about the couple, she isn’t sure she will be able to keep up the act.

Her worries continue to pester her as she sets things up in the shop for the next morning, and while she attempts to sleep. Eventually, after giving into her insomnia, she pulls a sketchbook from the pile on her desk and settles back on top of the comforter to draw.

She doesn’t pay as much mind to what she’s drawing as she does to blending each part into a single piece. She starts with thin line work, dainty lines flowing to the edges of uncompleted figures, but quickly switches to thicker, bolder marks, all but overtaking the delicate start to the piece. When she comes back from her place deep in her thoughts, and takes the time to examine what she’s done, she is shocked at the wholeness of the piece. Even without the detailing of a finished piece, it seems cohesive and clear-cut, as though it told a story.

The upper half of a wolf vaguely encircles the dainty, loopy outline of a girl holding a flor de maga, a Puerto Rican hibiscus flower, as though using it as a pen. The wolf’s teeth are bared, but its expression is soft and curious as it faces the girl, who appeared to be unbothered by the beast’s presence, focused on the image below them. In roughly the shape of a tiara, vague figures of half sketched people struggle toward a man holding a flag, standing firm against strong winds. The piece bleeds with emotion, feelings of passion, admiration, understanding, and inner strength.

Hylla stays up until the wee hours of the morning, shading and adding details to the piece until she feels as though she’s done it justice. It’s raw, and she doesn’t quite understand why the textures and patterns work together, but everything fits together in a way that satisfies her. Finally, she moves the sketchbook to her nightstand, sprawling out on the bed to get some sleep before she has to open the shop.

~~~

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Sanders Behavioral Health, Chapter 1: Virgil Starts Freaking Out More Than Usual

Trigger warning: mental health stuff. Major mental health stuff. For the whole fic.

Group Therapy AU. Prinxiety and Logicality eventually.

Three hours.

Three goddamn hours of his life dedicated to therapy. Every. Single. Day.

Except weekends. At least he still had his weekends.

When his father had told him of the “amazing” news, Virgil was seriously rethinking going back to his old family.

Coming from an abusive home to a place where others cared about him was jarring, to say the least. Parts of it he adored. Not being punished for coming home a couple minutes late? He couldn’t say he wasn’t grateful. But since his time at his new family’s house, he had been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and a hint of OCD. And when his parents put him in therapy for the first time, he found it dull, but a good escape from his bad thoughts.

But when his therapist suggested Sanders Behavioral Health, he was apprehensive. Even more so when she told him that three hours of his day would be dedicated to working on his anxiety. His social anxiety, mostly. Virgil had stared at her in disgust, why would he ever want to go there? Why would he want to go somewhere that would give him more anxiety, on purpose, rather than stay at home scrolling through YouTube?

He was even more disgusted when his adoptive father had happily agreed to look into it.

Yes, Virgil wanted to get better. God, he wanted to get better so bad, to be away from the thoughts that plagued his mind. That’s what he told himself, at least.

Maybe he didn’t want to get better. Maybe he wanted to stay in his room all day because that was what he was used to. He was content at this stage, and so what if he was destroying his future and the potential for happiness? He was here now and he was content, wasn’t that good enough?

He would never say that to his therapist. If he did, she would tell his dad, who would in turn tell his mom, and they’d worry about him more. If this was the life he had to live, then so be it.

So here he was, in the lobby room of the building he had dreaded coming to since they made the first call to get him into this institute. He hunched over in his hoodie, idly scrolling through his phone, trying to collect his thoughts. What if he made a mistake? What if it turned out he had been faking it this whole time and they got mad? What if he did something embarrassing? Oh, god, what if they hated him? What if-

The lobby door slammed open. Virgil jumped in his seat, his father gently putting a hand on his shoulder. In stepped a boy that looked just about the same age as himself. Oh, for the love of-

“I HAVE REETUUURNED~,” the boy sung, arms spread as wide as he could with a binder in his hands. “No need to fear, your Prince is here!” Virgil pursed his lips.

“Yeah, ‘prince’, my ass.” he mumbled, looking back down at his phone. The boy spluttered indignantly, to Virgil’s confusion. That wasn’t even a good insult, so why was the boy getting mad at him? Oh god, oh shit, I already made an enemy-

“Roman, please just sign in.” The front desk lady said with a small smile. The boy, or rather, Roman, blushed, with an “oh, right” as he did as he was told.

Roman slumped down in a seat, turning to the only other kid in the room.

“So, Mr. Professionalism, I know it’s only my second proper day here, but what’s with the tie? You wear it every day or somethin’?” Roman’s posture remained slouched and easy-going, the opposite to the other, who was indeed wearing a tie. Tie guy’s posture was pristine and collected, his face not revealing any emotion, except a slight glare.

“I do not. I wear a different tie every day. It is unsanitary to wear the same thing every day. And when I sleep, I change into the proper wear. I would also like to point out that it’s pronounced some thing . With a g. Proper pronunciation is important, lest you confuse someone who is not as knowledgeable with our language. And my name, is Logan. Thank you.” Logan, apparently, finished his monologue with hardly a change in expression. Both Virgil and Roman looked a bit disoriented.

“Allllrighty,” Roman started, ignoring Logan’s hiss of “it’s pronounced al right ”, “Welp, glad to see I’m not the only one who’s early! Don’t you think the weather is great today? So sunny!”

“I do not wish to engage in small talk.” Logan said, returning to his book. Roman blinked at this, his head darting back a bit. He quickly returned to his confident persona and turned to Virgil.

Oh no , was his only thought before he was forced into conversation.

“SOO, Emostein, what’s your opinion on the weather? Since Necktie over there refuses to be nice, that is.” Roman said with a flourish of his hand.

What was he supposed to say? That he never went outside enough to appreciate the weather? That he would rather not say anything? That this whole thing was pushing him to the verge of a panic attack?

So, instead, he murmured, “Emostein?”. Goddamn it, that was dumb-

“Why yes! Like Frankenstein, but judging by your apparel, I had assumed you were emo and listen to My Chemical Romance all day. Am I wrong in this?”

Virgil shoved his head in his hands, blushing from embarrassment. “Ugh, no, you’re not. You don’t need to point it out, though…” He grumbled. God, he hated social situations. Even if it distracted him from the anxiety surrounding this new therapy group.

Whether he had bad luck, or the fates hated him, he couldn’t decide as the door to the rest of the building opened in perfect irony.

“Virgil?” The woman called with a smile. He hugged his few items closer to him as he stood up, making his way through the entrance. He glanced back at the lobby, where yet another kid was entering.

Then, the door was closed.

--

The woman introduced herself as Rebecca, or Becca for short. She led him on a quick tour of the building before the others were scheduled to come in, something he was grateful for. The place was smaller than he expected. She led him through the cafeteria (a cafeteria? what?), the doors of a couple staff, the bathroom, the check-up room, and the individual rooms. The individual rooms, as she explained, were for when you needed to focus on an ‘exposure’ and couldn’t handle distractions from other people.

Virgil quickly decided he liked these rooms.

Becca let him choose a room, and had him write his name on the whiteboard in front of it. As he did, he heard the entrance door open and a loud voice groan out, “UGHH, but I don’t wanna go in yet!”. Uh oh, people alert! He quickly slipped into the room, Becca joining him soon after.

“While you’re in this program,” she started. “you will be doing exposures, which means you’ll be directly facing the anxiety. It’ll be tough, but the goal is, when you get out of the program, you’re more used to these situations, and when you encounter them, you don’t freak out as much.” At that, she smiled, as if she hadn’t just diminished his already depressed mood.

“Does that sound good?” Becca continued, tilting her head to the side. Virgil stared at her as if she just told him the Sun was purple (not that he would mind that… purple was a very nice color.).

“Not really,” came his reply. “sounds terrible.”

Becca’s smile became just a little more stressed.

“I get your point, but I disagree. See, here and now, you’re not okay. Do you agree?” she stated flatly, and at his small nod, continued, “It’s because you’ve been in this slump for too long. It’s ruining your mood, and unless you do something about it, it’ll just get worse. If you want to get better, you have to do something about it.”

Virgil sighed. Yes, he understood, but he had the right to dislike this.

Becca explained a few more things about the program before handing him a small stack of papers and leaving him to mull over in his silent suffering.

He doodled in between the questions he had just answered as he waited for Becca to come back. Just the classic questions, ‘What do you want to work on while here at Sanders?’, ‘How would you describe your average mood?’, ‘What is (or are) your diagnosis?’, etc.. He glanced at the clock. 5 minutes. He tapped his foot. Fiddled with his hoodie strings. Kicked at the wall. 10 minutes. Hm.

Sanders Behavioral Health had a rule against phones being in the building, for privacy reasons… but, taking a glance around, he couldn’t see any cameras. And he had snuck his phone in by slipping it into his boots when no one was looking. Then there was the fact that no one was in the room with him…

Whipping out his phone, he quickly found a position where his phone was hidden enough that the average passerby wouldn’t notice and opened it up. What to do, what to do…

He scrolled through Tumblr, and responded to a few messages on Discord. He was in the middle of typing one out when there was a knock on the door.

Jumping, Virgil quickly turned to the door while desperately trying to hide his phone. He couldn’t fit in past his shoe in time, could he hide it in his hoodie so the visitor wouldn’t see it? Think fast befo-

The door opened, a stranger walking in. The stranger smiled.

“Hello! I’m Nurse Vicki. You’re Virgil, right? I need you for just a moment so we can do checkups, if you’ll come with me!” Vicki grinned, holding the door open wider. Virgil slid the phone into his hoodie pocket. There was a chance of it being noticed, but it would have to do.

When brought into the nurse’s office, she sat him down and started asking questions.

Are you suicidal? Yes.

Are you going to school regularly? No.

Are you eating healthy? Probably not.

And on, and on, and on, until finally, she took him to track his weight and vitals, and escorted him back to his room. Still no Becca.

The second Nurse Vicki left, Virgil quickly took his phone out and situated it where it wasn’t easily visible in his boot. Yes, it did rub against his foot painfully, but that was just the price he’d have to pay. Without his phone, he felt even more anxious. He knew it was stupid, but what if he got a call? What if he got hurt? What if someone else got hurt? Virgil needed the phone, and if that included sacrificing his comfort, he would do it.

Now, what was he supposed to do? 20 minutes had passed. He studied the vandalism done in pencil on the wall, but that quickly got boring.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

He drummed his fingers on the table.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

He thought about what he was going to do tomorrow- wait, no, that gave him more anxiety.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Sighing, he leaned back and studied the ceiling. Maybe he could fall asleep here. Or maybe he’d just get in trouble for that.

After what seemed like ages, Becca returned. Gathering up the papers, she led him outside the room.

“We aren’t going to start anything today, but I’ll show you the timers and computers. Here’s the check in sheet for them,” she motioned to the top of the computer cart, a basket with multiple stopwatches in it next to the sheets. “and the top row of computers are assessment computers, while the bottom are normal computers. Today, you’ll be getting an assessment computer.”

Stepping aside, she let him check out a computer. As he was writing down his name, another person came in from a second hallway. The loud boy from before- Roman?- glanced in their direction before doing a double take. Cringing slightly, Virgil prepared for Roman to burst out with a loud “hello!”.

Only Roman did nothing of the sort. Once Becca greeted him, he motioned awkwardly to the timer in his hands before walking down the hallway and turning into a staff’s room.

O ...kay?

He may not have known Roman for long, but that seemed entirely uncharacteristic. Pursing his lips, he finished filling out the sheet as Becca and him walked back. Well, almost. Becca stopped in her office for a split second before returning with a binder and a dazzling smile. Virgil sunk into his jacket with a ‘dazzling’ scowl.

Back inside the room, Becca gave him the binder and led him through all that it entailed, before signing him into the assessment computer. And once more, Becca left him to fill out the assessments alone.

Which was fantastic.

Another round of repetitive questions he’d answered a thousand times before-

In the past 7 days how often have you not able to stop feeling sad? Often.

--felt alone? Always.

--feel everything in your life went wrong? Always.

--feel like you can’t do anything right? Often.

--it was hard for you to have fun? Always.

He supposed a lot of this came from his past family. And, geez, these were not nice memories to go through. But being pushed around and starved for days on end was bound to take a toll on you, and it sure as hell did in the case of Virgil. It was part of the reason he wore hoodies all the time, to hide the- the- oh god he was not ready to think about this right now.

Shaking his head, Virgil returned to the questions, feeling worse than he had. He felt a tear trying to surface and quickly closed his eyes. Not here , he thought. Not now, I can’t. They’ll make fun of me for it.

And yeah, maybe it was illogical to worry about being made fun of for crying in a literal therapy building, but maybe Virgil wasn’t thinking quite right at that point. Maybe he wasn’t thinking quite right often.

Or maybe he was just stupid.

--

The last time Becca returned to his individual room was to bring him out to the cafeteria for something called ‘recreational therapy’ which included doing “fun things” with the other patients.

Great.

After putting away his computer, he was instructed to leave his new binder in the cafeteria and to bring a pen or pencil with him.

He didn’t have either and had to ask someone else for it. Oh, god…

Dodging around the others in the cafeteria, he made his way back to Becca and quietly asked for a pen, and, to his disappointment, didn’t get one. He turned around to face the 3 other patients, forced to consider the options as to who might have a goddamn pen.

The others were all the people he had seen in the waiting room earlier. Only one of them he hadn’t really gotten to know, which was the boy in light blue. He was talking to the loud one, ugh, what was his name again… Roman! Yes, he was talking to Roman. Listening in on their conversation he found that they were talking about… dogs? Well, Light Blue was nearly screaming about dogs while Roman was looking a little bewildered at just how loud this boy was about dogs. Which only left Tie Guy, Logan, to ask. If he didn’t have one, Virgil would have to walk out and ask a staff, so asking the scary one it was.

Glancing towards his binder, Virgil saw that he had 3 pens next to it, black, red, and blue. Bingo!

“Hey uh,” he started once he reached Logan. “Um, can I… uh, sorry, can I borrow a pen? Please?”

Logan’s gaze jerked towards Virgil, then back to his pens. “No,” he stated bluntly. “I only have one black pen. As you can see. ”

“But… I could just… use the red or blue one? I don’t really care that much about colors…” Virgil, to say the least, was hella confused. What was this kid’s deal? First the whole tie thing, now Virgil wasn’t able to use one of his three pens? There was no need to be so rude.

“No, you can’t. Red is for spelling errors and blue is for grammar errors. Everyone knows that. You cannot just use a red or blue pen for normal writing!” Logan nearly growled out. Virgil took a few steps back, was it okay for him to be around this guy?! Was he safe?

He felt a tap on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin. Whipping around, he was faced with Light Blue holding a pen. He let out a sigh of relief.

“Heyo! I’m Patton,” Light Blue said. “I couldn’t help but hear your conversation, so sorry for interrupting, but I have a free pen you could use instead! It’s no big deal to me!” Patton’s smile was nearly blinding as he held the pen out. Grabbing the pen, Virgil felt a little… unnerved. Maybe it was just the anxiety talking, but this guy seemed way too nice to be here. Maybe he was just about to leave the program?

“Uh, thanks.” Was the only thing he said in response before retreating to the corner of the room. He could see Becca hovering around the computer before telling them she would be back in a second.

Well ain’t that just fucking great .

“Ooh, scandalous~!” Roman yelled as Becca went to leave the room. “Leaving a bunch of teens unsupervised? Didn’t take ya for the type.” Virgil looked at him. If he remembered correctly, Roman had said this was his second day. So, why was he so… extroverted? He, along with Patton, didn’t really feel like they belonged in this group. Patton seemed too bright and happy, and Roman seemed too loud and confident.

“You is not pronounced ‘ya’.” Logan huffed. Roman turned to him looking a bit confused.

“It’s… not that different, though?”

“Every little thing matters, Roman. I’ve explained this to you before, so why do you continue to lack the capacity to understand it?” Roman spluttered at this, the insult obviously getting to him.

“I was just telling you my opinion, and you don’t need to… insult me over it! Believe it or not, I don’t like being called stupid!” Roman spat out.

Uh oh.

“I did not call you stupid. It seems as if you came to that conclusion yourself, yet I will not deny it.”

“ You implied it you-”

Before Roman could finish, Becca, in all her glory, opened the door and invited them to follow her. Well, maybe invited wasn’t the correct term, but Virgil was well on his way to a massive anxiety attack and couldn’t give a shit.

Once Becca had led them outside and had them all introduce themselves, she gave them a simple two-sided sheet of paper.

“Today, we’re going to be doing a people scavenger hunt! On the paper, there’s a bunch of questions, and it’s your job to find someone who fits the criteria! Once you do, they should sign your paper. Try not to use the same person for most of the questions! Sounds great, don’t you agree?”

“Yay.” Virgil muttered unenthusiastically, curling into his hoodie when both Roman and Patton turned to him.

“Miss Becca, there are four of us. Statistically speaking, it is unlikely for us to be able to fill out the entirety of this sheet, especially with questions like the 13th, which says ‘Someone who has red hair.’ As you can see, none of us have red hair. I must recommend that you reprint this paper with questions we can properly answer.” Logan attempted to smooth down his hair in the wind as he spoke, his paper resting on a clipboard, because of course Logan had prepared himself with a clipboard while the rest of them had to combat the wind attempting to blow their papers away.

“It’s okay, Logan,” Becca smiled sweetly. “You don’t need to answer all the questions before we go back in.”

“Yes I do, or the assignment is incomplete!”

Smile dropping, Becca motioned for the others to start as she turned to talk to Logan. And with that, Virgil was forced to communicate with the last two.

Already, Patton and Roman seemed to be chatting, which left Virgil to awkwardly stand by while they filled the paper out. Virgil could feel his breathing quickening, why did Logan have to be picky? He could be talking to him, which would be better than just standing here with nothing to do!

Roman turned to him once he had gotten the paper signed, smiling slightly at him before skimming his eyes through the paper. Wait, he took it back, he wasn’t ready to talk yet oh no-

“Do youuu….. Like mint ice cream?” Roman asked, looking up from his paper with a smile. Silently, Virgil nodded. After signing the paper Roman gave to him, Roman stayed, looking expectantly at him. What? Oh! He’s expecting a question quick choose one!!!

Looking at his own paper, Virgil chose the first question his eyes landed on.

“Do you, um. Do you speak another language?” He stuttered out. Roman brightened.

“¡Sí! Hablo español.” Roman was bouncing on his heels, grinning impossibly larger. At Virgil’s dubious stare, he seemed to deflate, a small blush growing on his cheeks. “Sorry, uh, yes, I speak Spanish.”

As Virgil handed him the paper, he had more time to stand awkwardly. Roman had hoisted his leg up and was now balancing precariously on one leg while writing against the other one. His tongue poked out from between his teeth as he tried to not fall over.

Roman had green eyes. While Virgil didn’t usually make eye contact, he couldn’t help but notice while this kid was right in front of him . Virgil had always adored green eyes in people, they may be more rare but they were so pretty and-

Roman glanced up at him, and Virgil quickly flushed. “Do you want me to fill out the green eyes question, too? I’m pretty sure I’m the only one of us who has green eyes, so… y’know… while I’m here, might as well, yea?”

All Roman saw was Virgil’s small nod, which Virgil was grateful for as his mind was screaming at the current moment.

Is this guy psychic what the hell how’d he know EXACTLY what I was thinking??? What???? No, Virge, calm down, he can’t be psychic- BUT WHAT IF HE IS????

Once Virgil got his paper back, he turned once more and was suddenly face-to-face with Patton’s smile.

“Heya kiddo! Have you been on a boat ride?” At Virgil’s shake of his head, he continued. “Hm, okay, have you been to a park in the past few months?

On and on the activity went. Surprisingly, Virgil quickly found himself actually enjoying the activity. Roman and Patton were easy to talk to, if slightly disorienting to the extreme introvert.

Unfortunately, the universe seemed to hate him, because after about 10 questions with the others, Logan stormed back into the building, leaving Becca alone. Becca sighed.

“Sorry guys, but I legally can’t leave him or you without a guardian, so if you could follow me please we will go back inside.”

Back inside, Becca took them to the cafeteria, where Logan already was, meticulously rearranging his binder. When Becca approached him, he hissed out, “I will NOT be doing an assignment where I am forced to fail.”

The three looked at each other, Patton seeming to be the only one who knew what was happening. He gave them a sad smile.

“Logan came here before me, but he told me he has extreme OCD. Basically, he gets anxiety when things don’t go the way his mind tells him they have to.” Patton whispered to them. “I think he has a sort of… fear of failing, so he gets the bad feelings when he can’t finish an assignment. Well, more bad feelings than the average person.”

That made sense, Virgil supposed. While he was told he had a bit of OCD, he wasn’t exactly briefed on all the ins and outs, only diagnosed with it. So he had no definitive answer as to what exactly it was, but from what he had heard, that seemed to fit with the behavior Logan was showing.

A couple minutes passed, Virgil tapping his foot aimlessly. He stared at the ground as Logan continued to bicker, and as Becca desperately tried to calm him down. Eventually, Roman spoke up and told Becca that it was check-out time, which apparently entailed them filling out a sheet of paper before they were able to leave.

Thankfully, Becca told Virgil that he didn’t have to fill a check-out sheet today, which left him awkwardly tapping his pen against the table. He noticed Roman doodling in a blank space on the paper, mouthing the lyrics to a song Virgil couldn’t decipher. Patton was watching the clock after he had finished, which left Logan to be the only one still filling out the sheet.

Once they were finally blessed with the absence of silence in the form of Becca loudly exclaiming that they could start sharing aloud and dear God would Virgil have to do that tomorrow? They were finally allowed to leave.

After signing out and riding the elevator down, with all the other patients and their parents in the cramped space, they finally exited the building.

“So, what’d you think?” His dad asked as they walked to the car. Virgil simply shrugged in response.

And maybe, Virgil enjoyed it a little bit, just a little bit. But he wasn’t going to admit it after he claimed so adamantly that he would hate it the days prior.

The ride home was spent with Virgil telling his online friends what had happened in therapy that day, a task that would quickly become routine in his days at Sanders.

And maybe, just maybe, he was feeling a little bit better at returning the next day.

Maybe.

          ( WOLFGANG NOVOGRATZ, 24, HE / HIM ) i heard the trees whispering about NICO ASHWOOD the other day. they said the bison falls NATIVE has lived here THEIR ENTIRE LIFE, and that while they might only be a NHL GOALIE, they also COMMUNICATE & HAVE MEMORY TOUCH WITH BUILDINGS. if you saw them, they would remind you of FROST ON LEAVES JUST CHANGING COLOR, 6 AM RUNS, THE SMELL OF HOMEBREWED COFFEE, & ICE SHAVINGS ON FRESHLY ZAMBONIED ICE. ( ollie, 21, est, they/them ) 

CHILDHOOD : nico was born and raised in bison falls to a comfortable life --- two working middle class parents who never struggled to make ends meet but also never lived in the great opulence of some of the mansioned bison falls streets. his childhood was honestly quite uneventful ; his relationship with his parents positive with the usual bumps that come with growing up. his mom is a high school teacher and his father is a mechanical engineer who works locally for like some car tech company. he went to a well-known private catholic all boys school.

COLLEGE : nico went to quinnipiac on an athletic scholarship to play hockey. he, to the surprise of his peers, studied civil engineering with a structural concentration while he was there. he was uncertain as to his future in pro-hockey --- goalies take a notably long time to develop and he’d wanted the insurance just in case. he finished out his degree. part of him still harbors a dream to have a hand in designing for an nhl arena. he was also in a fraternity for his final three years.

HOCKEY : hockey is a huge part of nico’s life ( obviously ) and always had been. he gravitated towards being a goalie at a pretty young age because of the responsibility that comes with the position and the control it affords him. he did a brief one-season stint when he was eleven at forward, and maintains that the different perspective made him a better goalie despite the fact he remembers little from it now. he was the starting goalie for quinnipiac his junior and senior years ( practically dragging them through playoffs his final year ), and allegedly considered for co-captaincy his senior year though it was ultimately given to someone else due to his position.

DEVELOPMENT : after quinnipiac, nico realized a dream and signed a contract with his childhood team, the bison falls griffins. he’d attended development camp there the summer before, but had assumed it was little more than a cup of coffee for a longtime fan. but the organization obviously saw more in him in his senior year. he spent two years with the griffins’ ahl affiliate the rennington ravens. his third season with the ravens, he was called up unexpectedly when injuries plagued the griffins’ goalies. he then played so well that he remained with the big club the rest of the season ( this past one ). there was an unexpected jump in his development, and he hopes with work he can make the team out of training camp in september.

QUIRKS : he definitely lives up to the whole “goalies are weird” thing. his nickname is still up for debate, but he’s “ashwall” on pretty much all social media. he thinks he’s being clever and funny. he’s the type to kiss the net posts after pucks go off them in game, and likes to spray water from his waterbottle and watch the droplets fall -- it calms him down. he uses bauer and only bauer. his number is #35 for no particular reason.

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS : though nico spent a few weeks in the team hotel on his call up, he is no longer there. he also didn’t want to sign a lease in case that jinxed his chances in september with the team ( #Superstition ). though technically he could move back into his parents’ home, he has no desire to. luckily, an old friend in robin holt offered him her spare room. he has gladly taken it for at least the rest of the summer -- after that, who knows.

PERSONALITY :  nico is extremely laidback and it takes a lot to phase him. it helps him keep cool in games and bounce back quickly when he does let in goals. he likes to have fun a lot, on and off the ice. it’s like he has a switch in his brain that has him going from goofy to serious in a snap. however, he is also EXTREMELY superstitious and one thing he does not fuck around with is his pre-game routine – it remains the same every single game. do not mess it up ; you’ll regret it.

MISC PERSONALITY REFERENCES : nico goaltending as a kid ; definitely nico at some point probably not that long ago...

APPEARANCE: 6′3″ with a solid athletic build. surprisingly flexible and is capable of doing a full split ( comes in handy in the crease… ). he typically wears t-shirts ( from various hockey tournaments, running races, any event with a free t-shirt tbh ), athletic shorts or sweatpants, and sliders. he doesn’t wear a hoodie or jacket until it’s at least below 40 and maybe not even then.

HABITS: he is very much a morning person and enjoys going for early morning runs to start his day -- after sun salutations. he’s almost always the first person up wherever he’s staying ( though robin is rivaling that rn ), and will make coffee for anyone who may be headed out. he does love a good party though and can & will stay up all night. that was moreso in college than now, but hey... he naps A LOT. he can and will sleep pretty much anywhere. at quinnipiac one of this brothers probably started an instagram of him knocked out in random ass places. for all his height and lanky limbs, nico takes up as little space as possible when he sleeps ; typically curled up in a ball on his side. it’s RARE that he sprawls out completely. there’s no real reason for this, but maybe it makes him feel safer. he has a hard time paying attention if he’s just sitting somewhere, so he’s very prone to doodling. he keeps a notebook on him at all times for this purpose, and often can be found sketching something in it before games as part of his pregame ritual.

HIS ABILITY : nico has the ability to communicate with buildings and in some cases, glean snatches of memory from them with touch. it was something his grandmother in his mother’s side had, but not his mother. it’s hard for him to explain, because buildings are not quite SENTIENT in the way humans are, but they have thoughts and observations. it’s like a VIBE he gets. ( if this is confusing... which fair... pls just read this that i wrote which was lowkey the inspo for bison falls lmaooo )

CONNECTIONS :

since he’s from bison falls... like anything ?? i like working off chem and vibes so i’ll be reaching out to you guys personally after i read ur intros. i’ll be starting a connections page soon to keep track of everything.

OOC :

          heyo, my dudes. i’ll ollie && i am also your admin !!! sorry this wasn’t ready to go right from the drop, but i’m super excited to get things going. bison falls has been in the works for over a year now and i can’t wait to see where it goes !!

I wrote another fic!!

Title: The Color Yellow

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug (again... what can I say, I’m obsessed lol)

Word Count: 1,710

Summary: That moment in Collector when Adrien sees his broken childhood drawing on the ground. Flashbacks ensue.

AN: The moment that this fic is based off of is an important moment that’s kind of overlooked. It’s not particularly memorable, in and of itself, but I kept thinking that there was probably a story behind that, and well... here it is. Also I wrote most of this after midnight so it might not be super refined but ideas don’t stop till you write them all out lol.

Keep reading under the cut (or read it on AO3)

He couldn’t move.

He was six years old, gap-toothed and slightly cross-eyed, with more colors of crayon at his disposal than he could ever dream of.

Well. Maybe that wasn’t quite true. Maybe he could move. More like he wasn’t willing to try.

But he’d only needed four colors that day. The classics.

The house was empty. His father was gone, off to who knew where. To the basement, to his room. It didn’t matter where. Adrien could never tell the difference.

Red. Green. Blue. Yellow.

He tried to remind himself what he was doing here--they were trying to stop something horrible from happening. They were searching for Hawkmoth.

He’d had plenty of practice coloring with the classic four. He knew them well, from evenings in restaurants where he always scribbled furiously on the kids’ menu. He never went inside the lines, always drew his own thing. And he’d show his parents his masterpiece every time, once the night was over.

Hawkmoth, who at the moment was still at large, who Ladybug thought she had finally pinned down.

Every time, Gabriel Agreste would dismiss whatever work it was, and every single time, Emilie would smile down at Adrien and compliment it. She’d ask him to describe it and suggest areas for improvement, like adding binoculars so the people in the picture could see better, or putting in another bird so the first one could have a friend.

Hawkmoth, who might be his father.

And then, later, to Gabriel, when she thought Adrien couldn’t hear: “Leave him alone. He’s got a creative spirit, Gabe. He’s got it inside him. You’re the only one who doesn’t see it.”

The whole room was trashed. Mannequins smashed, ceramic vases hurled off of shelves, panes of glass lying shattered on the floor. Photographs in frames that sported spiderweb cracks littered the edges of the room.

Adrien knew artists were hard on themselves. He knew they got in their own heads. He knew they drove themselves crazy from the inside out.

But he had done this.

This would be his biggest masterpiece, his museum debut. ‘Six years old and already making history,’ his mother would say theatrically, grinning and tickling him until his stomach hurt from laughing.

And his father would look at the drawing and smile, a real one, one of those lopsided, carefree grins that he only sported in old photographs. ‘I’m proud of you,’ he’d say.

Adrien had driven his father insane. From the outside in.

He worked quickly, a six-year-old man on a mission, tongue poking through the space where he had recently lost his front tooth. There was still a slightly bloody stump from where his gums hadn’t quite healed, and it made the tip of his tongue taste like salt every time he touched it.

It was all because of that stupid book.

He sketched it out with a pencil first. The mountain peaks in the back. The roundness of his father’s glasses, the twist of his mother’s hair. Adrien came out quite a bit taller than he really was, compared to them, but no matter. It didn’t have to be realistic, not really. It just had to be visible.

Adrien could almost see his father in the room, walking around and smashing things. Picking mannequins up over his head and throwing them down onto their sides so they cracked. Kicking vases. Perhaps ranting to Nathalie.

He had to ask Nathalie to show him his mother’s best dress so he could get the pattern right. It was strange, little swirls and clouds and dots all working together. Nathalie had obliged, holding up the gown for him as he sat with his legs crossed on the floor of his mother’s closet, his small hands weaving the spots and swirls on the page. On the way back to the long dining room table that was doubling as his great workspace, Nathalie had asked about the drawing.

“It’s for Mom and Dad,” Adrien had whispered, looking around as if his parents were going to pop out of a corner at any moment. “But it’s a secret. Don’t tell.”

Nathalie nodded dutifully, and the corner of her mouth twitched up. She’d winked at him.

He’d winked, clumsily, back.

Adrien could see his father. Unleashing a tornado on his office, his face red and his lips pressed tight with anger. Picking Adrien’s drawing up and flinging it across the room with such gusto that it shattered on impact.

Blue for his pants, red for his father’s pants, green for the grass beneath their feet, and little accents all over his mother’s dress...

Adrien’s heart was in his throat. He’d done this.

And layers and layers of yellow, waves of blond hair.

He, Adrien Agreste, had done this. He might as well have just broken all of the things himself.

He’d finished the masterpiece with a dripping yellow sun, a bright misshapen oval hanging above his mother’s head. It shone down on the three of them, all proudly wearing wide grins, holding each other’s hands.

It was because of him and Plagg and that stupid book…

When he finished, he’d first shown it to Nathalie. She rarely ever smiled, but she did that day. A full smile, teeth included, accompanied by a professional nod. “I’m sure they’ll love it.”

There was emotion clouded in her voice when she spoke. He didn’t understand it then.

It was all because of him.

They’d eaten dinner together that evening, the three of them and Nathalie. It was Adrien’s favorite, spaghetti and meatballs, the ones that his mother made just right. Emilie told everyone a story of when she and Gabriel were young, and it was the first time Adrien had ever heard Nathalie laugh out loud. Adrien and his mother both laughed so hard they had to stop eating. How Adrien loved his mother’s laugh--when Emilie was laughing, she became the color yellow, sunny and bright and wildly contagious.

And it was working on everybody. They had all caught a case of the Emilies. Adrien could’ve even sworn up and down that he saw his father smile.

God. He wanted to turn back time so badly. He wanted a second chance, a third chance, a million more chances.

After dinner, when all of the dishes were packed away, Nathalie had gathered his parents in the living room and set the stage, and Adrien had emerged brandishing his drawing. He handed it to his mother first, and she was silent for several seconds, taking it in.

“Well?” he’d asked. “Is it okay?”

She’d put a hand to her mouth, which Adrien thought was a bad sign, but then she spoke, so softly it was almost a whisper. “Wow. This is… wonderful.”

She put a finger to the page. “That’s me, right? And that’s your father?”

Adrien had nodded, almost like a bobblehead, wild green eyes wide in his face and gap-toothed mouth grinning.

“And there, that’s you… this is beautiful. Look, Gabe.”

She’d handed his father the drawing, and Adrien’s breath caught.

Gabriel Agreste had surveyed the doodle once, twice, taking in every line, every color.

And he must have still been carrying a case of the Emilies, because he nodded in approval, so subtly it could have been an accident.

It was just like that. No critiques, nothing. Quick and painless.

Adrien turned back to Nathalie, and she, too, must still have been afflicted with the Emilies, because she winked at him for the second time that day. He’d winked back, and it filled him with gold.

“This is beautiful,” Emilie had repeated, “but I think it’s missing something, don’t you?”

“What?” Adrien had asked.

She’d reached out an arm to draw him into her lap. “You’re an artist,” she’d said, tapping his nose. “It needs a signature.”

Gabriel produced a pen from his coat, and Emilie handed it to her son, her eyes filled to the brim with a kind of wild excitement. Adrien had taken the pen, but he’d hesitated, hand hovering over the page.

“Go on,” Emilie had encouraged, smiling so wide she was almost glowing. “Sign it.”

So he had, in blocky kindergarten handwriting, in the deep black ink of the pen. He’d marveled at his own name, at the six letters beaming up at him from the page. They claimed the drawing as his own, a declaration that Adrien Agreste made this masterpiece with his own two hands, determination, inspiration, and four different colors of crayon, all sitting loud and proud on the paper.

It told the world that he was here.

Emilie had picked her son up and swung him around until he started to laugh, and then she had brought him into her arms. He had clung to the fabric of her shirt, the satin and cotton and his mother’s skin, a smell that he swore he’d never forget.

“It’s perfect,” she had whispered.

Adrien wanted to pick the drawing up, piece together the shards of glass into one pane again like time had never touched them. He longed to fix it, reverse it, go back. He wanted, he wanted, he wanted. He felt like his skin might shatter with the pain of wanting. Something had seized him around the heart, and it was collapsing him.

He was driving himself insane. From the inside out.

Like father, like son.

When Ladybug next spoke, it nearly scared him out of his wits--he could have been standing there seconds or hours or days. She looked at him sideways, coated with concern. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

He closed his eyes so his mother and his father and six-year-old self disappeared, and he could see the splash of colors and blocky signature and shattered glass no more. He forced himself away, and the memories all left him alone, one by one--his father’s hidden smile, Nathalie’s laugh, that feeling of wonder that filled him when he signed his name.

The color yellow was the last to go, lingering in his eyelids for a few final seconds. A shock of blond hair and a feeling of warmth and a golden sun, dripping light onto him and his parents like a promise.

He opened his eyes and turned away. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s keep going.”

Title: Roses are Red

Character: Miles Morales

A/n: Happy belated Valentine’s day from your favorite spiderboi

•

You looked down at your desk with a look of pure anguish on your face. In a fit of rage, you tossed you pencil off to the side and sat back to look at your work with a huff.

To put it nicely, it looked horrible.

You picked up the sketchbook you bought from the art supply store on the way home. You held it an arm’s length away from your face, seeing if maybe some distance would increase the quality.

When that proved useless, it took all of your will power to not shove open your window and throw the whole thing out of it.

You pressed your back against your chair, catching a glance at the evergrowing pile of crumpled attempts sitting in your wastebasket. And you could’ve cried right there.

Tomorrow was Valentines Day, and hear you sat trying desperately to make a decent picture for Miles.

The two of you weren’t necessarily dating. It was more of a let’s very clearly have a thing for one another but ignore our emotions till we die sort of situation.

You didn’t expect Miles to do anything in return, but you thought it would be nice to draw him something special as a token of your affection.

Only the problem was that you weren’t anywhere near as good of an artist as he was. Everything you put on the paper just seemed so ugly and nothing looked good enough.

As time crept mercilessly onwards, your frustration only grew. You could feel your anxiety settle in at the base of your stomach and you contemplated forgetting about the whole thing.

What if he took one look at your pathetic drawing and laughed?

The rational part of your brain told you that you knew he’d never be so cruel, especially not to you. But the doubt in the back of your mind was coming in and making itself comfortable.

It certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying. This had been the second sketchbook you’d purchased to try and create him something that was good enough for him.

But you were really falling flat.

You looked over at a framed photograph of the two of you, the happy expression on both of your faces made you smile.

Miles was just so sweet, and you liked him more than you probably should’ve. Heaven knows if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be stressing about a simple present as much as you were.

You closed your eyes and took a deep inhale to calm yourself down. Maybe you were just thinking too hard about this, so you decided to approach this from a different angle.

•

“You don’t think she’s mad at me do you?” Miles asked, staring up at his phone screen.

He had tried messaging you a couple of times since classes ended that day. This had been the fourth day in a row that you had skipped hanging out at lunch or during your free time at the end of the day.

Any time he would ask you to go see a movie with him or hang out on the school grounds and let him show off his new designs, you’d give him a half handed excuse about how you had too much homework to catch up on.

Miles knew you well enough to know that something was up. Sure, you would procrastinate on your work from time to time. But this felt very off, you were usually never this behind.

Yesterday, he even offered to help you finish up your assignments. But you quickly told him you had it under control before you took off without another word.

Truthfully, Miles was beginning to worry. Did you not want to hang out with him anymore?

He looked over at your gift sitting on his nightstand and suddenly felt very self-conscious about giving it to you tomorrow.

This would be his very first Valentine’s Day with someone to show his affection towards. And if he was being 100% honest, he had been very excited to spend the day with you.

But now he was just worried.

“You know (Y/n) better, probably busy with something and can’t get to the phone.” Ganke chimed in, turning away from his monitor to give Miles a reassuring smile.

“Yeah,” Miles said, scrolling back on some previous text messages between you two, trying to see if he had said something to make you upset with him. “I do know better.”

•

You came into school the next morning with a skip in your step and a smile etched onto your face. Somehow, someway, the stars had alligned and you had managed to make a gift you were happy with.

Class Committee had gone into school early that morning and taped flowergrams to people’s lockers. When you got to yours, you were surprised to see a red rose taped onto the door.

You beamed, gently pulling it off and twirling it in your hand. You knew it had been from Miles, he had tried to casually ask you what flowers you liked for no reason in particular.

You placed it in the very top shelf of your locker, setting it right on top of Miles’ present for safe keeping until the end of the day.

The rest of the day passed by as normal, the only difference was that Miles was now the one absent from lunch. He had missed a Physics test from the beginning of the week, so you had no time to explain your sudden disappearances.

“You really threw him for a loop there,” Ganke said, attepting to catch a grape he tossed into the air in his mouth. “I actually felt bad, almost revealed your whole surprise right then and there.”

You looked up from your math homework. “He was worried?”

Ganke nodded. “Miles thought you were mad at him so that’s why you kept bailing on lunch.”

You snorted, “He’s such a dork.”

“A dork you looove.” Ganke cooed, breaking off into a cackle when you chucked one of your own grapes at him.

“Don’t think I forgot about you though,” You said, reaching into your bag and sliding a giant pack of gummy worms over to him.

Ganke gasped dramatically and pulled them to his chest. “You know the way to my heart.”

•

Miles stared at the clock in his final class for the day, it felt like the bell would never ring. Ganke had told him you definitely weren’t mad at him, so now all he wanted to do was see you.

As soon as the bell rang, he was at the door and in a full on sprint to get to your locker before you had a chance with leave without him.

He turned the hallway and saw you just as you pressed your locker door shut. Your bag was already on and he saw the carnation he had gotten for you in your hand.

The sight made him equally relieved and flittery in his stomach. Relieved for fact that you were holding it was solid proof you really weren’t mad at him. And the other because he had never gotten flowers for someone he liked before and the reality of it made his head want to reel.

With this newfound reassurance he bounded up to with a big smile and placed his hands over your eyes to block your vision.

“Guess who?”

He felt you chuckle and it made his smile beam.

You pretended to contemplate it with a few very dramatic hums before a funny idea came into your head. “Is it Spider-Man?”

If a sentence could kill someone, Miles would’ve dropped dead on the floor. He truly couldn’t get his brain to form a sentence but he realized if he didn’t something soon it would make things worse.

Miles faked a laugh and released his hands. “So now we’re playing games? I see how it is.”

You turned around to face him and smiled. “I just wanted to see your reaction. It’s not like you could actually be Spider-Man.”

A thought ran through his mind, ‘This is great, this is your get-out-of-jail free card, take it and run with it,’ but the more prideful side of him couldn’t help but feel slightly offended and curious for your reasoning.

“What makes you think I couldn’t be?” He asked, trying to make it sound as casual as possible.

Your brows furrowed slightly as his sudden question and you laughed. “I don’t know?” You posed as a question more than a statement. “Probably because your Mom would kill you before any supervillian could if she found out.”

Miles couldn’t hide his laugh. “Alright, you got me.”

You looked at him and the nervousness over giving him your gift was starting to settle in again. Should you wait? Should you just get it over with now while there was still time to run?

“I got something for you,” You began, before stumbling over your sentence. “Well not really got, I made it.”

Miles felt his face get all warm. “You made something for me?”

You got flustered and felt to shy too say anything else, so you nodded. You had been holding the sketchbook against your chest, so you held it out to him.

“It isn’t very much, but I tried to make it personal if it couldn’t be good,” You said, undoing the leather strap that held it together.

Miles flipped through the pages. Each page from cover to cover was filled with doodles, some were of the two of you, and others were just funny little comics that you knew would make him laugh.

There was the time when he convinced you take old sheets and cut them up to make ghost costumes you could both wear around. But because Miles never ties his shoes, he tripped in his costume and fell smack on his face.

Normally you would’ve rushed over to help, but seeing this giant blob of white hit the floor with a shrilly cry was too much, and you laughed for about ten minutes instead.

You watched Miles flip through it. Each time he’d laugh or smile, you felt a tiny bit of pressue ease from your shoulders. Maybe you hadn’t done too bad afterall.

When he got to the final page, there was a small message written on it along with a picture of the two of you taped to the inside of the back cover.

For the very best person I know,

It isn’t much but I tried to put in all the thought and love I could muster

Happy Valentine’s Day

Miles just stared at the final page, his fingers running along your handwriting as an almost overwhelming amount of emotion ran through him.

The silence was starting to make your anxiety build up again and you rolled back and forth on your feet. “It’s alright if you don’t like it.”

He looked up at you like you were crazy. “You’re kidding? This is now the most important object I own.” He stated proudly, closing it up and holding it close it him.

You laughed and it made his chest feel light.

“Really though, thank you for making this for me.”

You bashfully shrugged your shoulders. “It’s the least I could do for you.”

“Gonna make my gift look like nothing.” Miles said, taking his bag off of his shoulder so reach inside and pull out a wrapped package.

You looked wide-eyed at it and then looked back at him. “You got me a gift?”

“Well yeah,” He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “What kind of valentine would I be if I didn’t. I have a reputation to uphold.”

You smiled and took his gift, slowly peeling off the wrapping paper. It was a painting on an art board of the two of you, ironically of the same photo you had taped to the back of his book.

It was beautiful, his art always was. The colors were super bright and you could help but trace your fingers along the visible brush lines.

“I think we compliment each other well,” Miles teased, looking down at the painting with you. “You know what, that was genius, I should make cards or something.”

You laughed and turned to him, placing your hand on his shoulder and reaching up to place a kiss on his cheek, right near the corner of his lips.

“It’s wonderful, Miles.”

He froze right on the spot, his face felt

so warm he worried he might burst into flames right on the spot. When he felt your lips leave his skin he actually let out a giggle.

Miles immediately cleared his throat to cover this and suavely leaned in close to you, taking your hand in his. “Let’s see if we can catch that movie we missed earlier.”