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thewulf · 6 months

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Adorably Clueless || Steve Harrington

Summary: Request - So everyone rags on Steve for being stupid right so here’s the idea the reader who is pretty smart acts clueless about a lot of things and asks Steve for help because they don’t like the way the others jokingly call him stupid all the time... Read Rest Here

A/N: We’re pretending Robin and Steve are friends their senior year of high school, everything is moved up a year. Dustin and co are in eighth grade and reader/Steve/Robin/Nancy are seniors. K thanks <3Thank you for the request @loving-and-dreaming

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Y/N

Word Count: 3.5k +

“Can I have a ride to school?” Dustin asked as you slid into the seat next to him running a bit behind this morning. You’d taken a little extra time to make sure you looked a little bit nicer than normal. Steve was around. He was always around. And you’d be lying if you didn’t say you had a little crush on him. You and every girl in Hawkins that was.

You quirked your eyes up to him while pouring the remaining orange juice into your glass, “No Harrington this morning?” Asking inquisitively. Steve had been picking Dustin up early the last few days throwing you out of your normal rhythm with the middle schooler.

He shook his head quickly, “No, we finished that project.” He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Rolling your eyes, you put the bacon and eggs your mom had made up onto your plate in a hurry, “Yeah, sure. Not like I have to go anywhere else.” You snickered knowing Dustin had to walk down the hill to the middle school, you couldn’t be bothered to drop him off then park.

Your mom sighed gathering the attention of both you and your brother, “I’m glad you’re driving him again, Y/N.” She smiled at you giving your hand a pat.

You frowned almost immediately at that comment, “Why? Steve’s perfectly fine at driving him.”

She gave you a tight-lipped smile knowing how you were. You weren’t going to back down from a fight, you never did, “Well, you know what they say.” She chuckled looking at Dustin who simply gave her the same look of confusion.

Shaking your head quickly you deadpanned at her, “I actually don’t mom. Enlighten me, will you?” You snapped back feeling all the irritation bubbling to the surface. Of course, you knew what they said about Steve. He was dumb. He was irresponsible. He would never get out of Hawkins. Blah blah blah. You might’ve believed that in the past but no longer was that the case. After you saw how he treated your younger brother you saw him in an entirely new light. Steve was kind. Steve was sweet. Steve was beyond thoughtful. You were crushing hard on the boy. And you’d done a pretty damn good job at hiding it. Right up until now. You were definitely giving it away now. Dustin’s eyes burning into the side of your head told you so.

She gave another quick, nervous laugh before clearing Dustin’s plate, “He’s just trouble sweetheart.”

“Typical.” You grumbled feeling annoyed as hell by your mother’s dismissal of the sweet man you’d observed over the last few months.

Dustin looked over at you giving you a curious look. You were usually mouthy with your parents but never pushed it too far. This was pushing it beyond what he was used to. And for Steve? He thought that was odd. Especially for you. He’d learned almost everything from you. You were analytical. Smart. Only spoke up when you knew you were right. Why were you defending Steve Harrington so boldly?

“What’s that honey?” She asked turning back to the two of you.

“You of all people shouldn’t believe the gossip. Thought you told us not to judge a book by its cover mother?” Refusing to look at either of them you decided on staring at the plate in front of you.

Her nervous smile gave it all away, “Sure. Now, off you go. Don’t want to be late to school now do we kids?”

You frowned annoyed as hell by the utter dismissal of the conversation. Oh, so typical. Rolling your eyes, you stood not even attempting to clear your plate, “Come on Dusty. We’ve got some learning to do.” You didn’t wait before grabbing your backpack and keys and walking out the front door without so much as a goodbye. Dustin followed quickly yelling a goodbye leaving a very quiet house for a very mouthy woman to deal with.

When Dustin jumped into the passenger seat of your old sedan you looked over at him. He was giving you the weirdest look. Studying you, “What?” You asked deciding to do your seatbelt instead of looking at him. You couldn’t look at him. No, that’d actually give you away.

“What was that about?” He asked not deciding to hold it back.

“What was what about?” You played dumb. It was so much easier. So, so much easier than explaining a stupid little crush that’d go absolutely nowhere.

He shook his head leaning back into the seat, “Steve? You’ve never mentioned his name before. Now you’re yelling at mom over breakfast about him? Thanks for that by the way.” He smiled knowing you’d always have his back.

You shrugged while backing out of the driveway, “I don’t know… You like him. He fills a gap I can’t fill. So why shouldn’t I defend him?” Trying to play it off you were thankful you had a reason to keep your eyes forward and on the road.

He nodded his head not fully believing you as his eyes narrowed in on you, observing you, “Sure, Y/N. That’s all.”

You nod quickly not daring to look over at your overly observant brother. Weren’t boys supposed to be clueless? Why was every single one of them clueless except Dustin? Of course, your brother wasn’t defective like a majority of the male population, “Yup. That’s all Dustin.”

The rest of the ride was nearly silent as Dustin sat there staring at you. He wasn’t going to give it up and neither were you. So, silence it was. When you parked the car in the lot you turned to him, “Not a word is mentioned of this morning to him. Do you need a ride home?”

Dustin smirked. The little fucker smirked. He unbuckled his seat belt and gave you the biggest grin, “Can’t guarantee that and nope. Steve is driving me home. We’re doing some investigating after school.”

You shook your head, “For once. Keep your big mouth shut. What are you even investigating? It’s Hawkins.” Giving him a curious glance, you stepped out of the worn-down vehicle trying not to be too late to class.

He jumped out of the car mimicking your actions, “Again, can’t guarantee that dear sister. And exactly. It’s Hawkins, there’s lots to investigate.” He grabbed his backpack before turning off to head down towards the middle school, “I’ll be back late, let mom know.” He waved knowing it was best to not give you the last word. Whatever. You’d cover for him like you always did. Steve was good for him. Just like Mike, Lucas and Will. It was never lost on you how you were always a touch jealous of your younger brothers ability to make true friendships. You’d only had one true friend. Thankfully, she was in most of your classes. You’d have gone insane have to deal with this whole high school thing alone.

As Steve got to know Dustin more you got to know him a little better too. It got under your skin how everybody so casually called him dumb or stupid. He was neither. He just played a part. A part you were easily able to see behind. He was his true authentic self around your brother, at your house. You’d caught him talking nerdy with your brother and asking questions somebody dumb would never. Steve was a master at his craft. An illusionist who needed to be the center of attention. For the life of you, you couldn’t figure that part of him out. For that you’d have to have a real-life conversation. One you often shied away from. Little did you know Steve was determined to get that conversation out of you, Dustin’s far too shy older sister. The girl he’d been crushing on since his split with Nancy.

He knew he was a goner the first time he really saw the real you. You were arguing with your mom, something he’d learned was commonplace in your household. He was amazed by your ability to express your words. You so flawlessly got your point across in a way he’d never seen. You were in his classes, but he’d never really seen you before. You were beautiful. Especially once your younger brother talked you up without even realizing it. He’d started to fall for you without even having a proper conversation. He wasn’t going to give up though. He wasn’t planning on going to Dustin, but he was starting to run through all his options. Every time he tried to dive in a little bit deeper you gave him that deer in headlights look. A look of knowing he was pushing the boundaries a little too hard. He’d back off. But then he got absolutely nowhere with you. Until you started coming to him for little things. You’d ask him a math question, one you’d obviously know the answer too, but one you knew he knew the answer to as well. Something to boost his confidence. For even you knew he heard the snide remarks about his intelligence. He was human too.

In English you’d ask him a silly grammar rule. In Phys Ed you asked him how to correctly shoot the basketball even though you’d been taught a thousand times over by Dustin and his know-it-all friends. In Spanish you’d ask him a simple question, beaming with pride when he answered back correctly. Little by little you tried to help him in the smallest of ways.

He was doomed, doomed from your sweetness. You’d taken his heart without the simplest of clues to doing so. He was trying to give you all the signs, the signs that showed he was incredibly interested in everything you had to offer. But you were clueless. Absolutely clueless to it all. For as smart as you are you were oblivious to him right in front of you. If he couldn’t figure it out soon he’d have to go to Dustin to get to you. He’d gotten the sense that only Dustin could talk some reason into you.

You’d been a pro at avoiding Steve at school that day. He hadn’t a clue as to why you were being so elusive. You were far too aware of your feelings to even try and approach a semi-normal conversation with the man. Avoiding him was your best option.

“You’re acting weird Y/N.” Kelly, your best friend, said as she spotted your eyes darting the cafeteria at lunch, “Been acting weird all day.”

“No, I haven’t Kel.” Speaking back in an instant you turned your full attention back to her.

A smirk that was eerily similar to Dustin’s danced on her lips as she watched you. Everybody seemed keen on your actions today, “In fact, you’ve been acting a little off ever since a certain Harrington has become friends with your very own brother. Peculiar.”

You rolled your eyes rather dramatically at your friend, “Look at you, jumping to conclusions.”

“You’ve been avoiding him all day Y/N.” She said matter of factly.

Shaking your head, “No…”

“You literally made Mandy trade seats with you in Chemistry today. I don’t want to hear it.” She cut you off.

“You’re annoying.” You sighed.

“And you’re being avoidant. The usual hey?” She grinned knowing she had you there. This was totally your style.

“Whatever Kelly.” Looking away your eyes went wide seeing Steve and his very own best friend, Robin, walking your way, “Gotta go talk to Mrs. Pace about my grade. I’ll see you later?” You stood quickly and ran off before she could even reply. When you turned back you saw the three of them conversing, talking about who knows what. You. They were talking about you.

When you heard the front door open and close you’d assumed Dustin was alone. Your parents were out for a dinner date with another couple they’d been friends for years with. Being miserably bored you were thrilled when you’d heard him come home. Having somebody to annoy made you far too giddy.

“There you are!” Yelling from the top of the stairs you skidded to a complete stop seeing not only your brother but his much taller and much more handsome friend standing in the kitchen with him.

All too pleased with himself he gave you a head nod, “Y/N. Steve’s going to stay for dinner.” He didn’t ask, he stated.

“Sure, I’ll just be up in my room…”

He cut you off grabbing at your arm, “No, I know you haven’t eaten. Sit.” He sounded weirdly like your father.

“I already…” You tried but again he cut you off.

“No, you haven’t. The plate is untouched. Your water is still at the table. Sit.” He pointed to your usual chair. He had you there. He was too damn observant. Only Dustin.

You glared at him but sat down next to Steve who looked all too happy to be sitting there with the two of you. Not even you could lie, he was damn adorable sitting there kicking his feet watching the two siblings bicker back and forth.

Dustin set down two plates in front of you and Steve, “I just remembered. I was supposed to call Mike at 7! We’re supposed to be doing Mr. Ryan’s homework.” He rambled before running off upstairs.

“Dustin?” You called feeling a growing irritation for your meddling younger brother. The little shit just left you to fend for yourself with Steve fucking Harrington? What the fuck?

“Kids a trip.” Steve smiled over at you hoping it’d calm your nerves a bit. He knew you were nervous for some reason. He was anything but intimidating, or so he thought.

Your face broke into a grin knowing his motives. He was a trip, that one was for sure, “You could say that again.” Defeated, you grabbed at your fork knowing you couldn’t really just leave him sitting in your kitchen. Dustin would quite literally kick your ass if you did that.

He nodded his head in agreement, “Your brother is pretty great too. Never thought I’d enjoy spending so much time with a literal kid.” He snickered knowing the optics of the situation were less than stellar.

Finally, you looked at him. And Jesus, was he stunning. It wasn’t fair. He was so damn attractive and then he was so damn kind? Dustin was setting you up, “He get it from somewhere.” You agreed with him while nodding your head.

Steve’s smile grew even wider as he let out a hearty laugh, “He told me you were funny.”

Eyebrows raised you replied, “He did?”

“Yup.” He scooted a tad closer to you. All too thrilled you were finally entertaining a conversation with him, “He says a lot of good things about you.”

Without even realizing it you bit your lip slightly. A little habit Steve had noticed in school as he watched you a bit closer this year. It happened when you were thinking. When your mind was reeling, “Dusty’s the sweetest younger brother. I’m lucky.”

“Well, he’s got a pretty great older sister he watches all the time.” Steve said so casually you weren’t positive if you were hearing

Your eyes snapped back over to his suddenly very aware of why you avoided these conversations. Your cheeks were absolutely ablaze feeling like you could cook an egg off your face it was so hot, “

He smirked, “What? No comeback? He says your infamous for those. And I’d tend to agree. You schooled Mr. Clark the other day.”

Biting back a smile you rolled your eyes, “Dustin has a lot of opinions about me, hmm?”

He leaned forward feeling brazen, “You’re right. Enough about him. More about you.” His chair scooted just a bit closer. He was bold, you gave him that.

“Me?” Your face had to be as red as a tomato now.

“You heard me.”

Trying to be just a bit brave you continued, “Well, what about me?”

His chair inched ever so much closer. Your heart was racing at an uncomfortable pace as he opened his mouth, “Tell me something about you sweetheart.”

Sweetheart? Sweetheart. Damn, that made your already racing heart explode, “What do you wanna know?” It was a whisper. God, you were pathetic. He made you pathetic. A pathetic bumbling mess, “I hate chicken nuggets. I think they’re disgusting.” You said the first thing that came to your thoughtless mind.

He didn’t give you any time to be embarrassed though. He let out a snort before full on laughing, “Chicken nuggets? Really?”

You nodded quickly defending yourself, “I just… I just don’t think chicken should come that way. Not natural.”

He snickered shaking his head but moving his chair even closer. He was almost on top of you now. Surly, he could hear your racing heart, “You’re a trip too, Henderson.”

“Hopefully you mean that in a good way.”

His smile should’ve given you the hint. But you were clueless. Absolutely clueless, “In the best way.”

The two of you were so into the moment you didn’t hear the younger version of you walk down the stairs. To be fair, it had been twenty minutes. He’d just been sitting in his room bored to death and couldn’t take it anymore. So, he walked down the steps. When he walked into the kitchen he’d expected to find the two of you bickering. Just like he and Steve did. But he found the opposite. The two of you… enamored with each other?

He couldn’t hide the small smile creeping up on his lips. He’d all but gotten a confession out of Steve that he liked you. And he wasn’t dumb, you liked him. So, this was meant to happen, right? Plus, if the two of you were together then Steve would be over all the time. A win, win.

But he was bored, your love could blossom another time, “What’d I miss?” He spoke up. You nearly jumped from your seat. Steve scooted away in a hurry.

“Dustin!” You whisper shouted, startled by his sudden presence.

“Son of a…” Steve muttered while glaring at the younger boy.

Dustin gave him a devious smirk, “What was that Steve?”

“He likes you; you know.” Robin set her bag down next to yours on the ground. She plopped down in the seat next to you in the wide-open library.

You looked up from the homework you were working on, “Hmm?”

“Steve. He likes you. Hard.”

Shaking your head, you decided on giving her your full attention, “No, no he doesn’t. I think I’d notice if he liked me.”

She snorted lightly, “You’re adorable. Adorably clueless. He likes you Henderson.”

“Then he’ll tell me himself.” You said so assuredly you weren’t expecting her reply.

“You’re right. He will.” And before you could reply Robin was off as soon as she had sat down.

Before you could focus back on your homework and ignore the weird interaction with the girl you’d come to adore from afar somebody else was in the seat she had just occupied.

When you looked up and spotted him your weak little heart started racing once more, “Steve, what’re you doing here?”

“Here to tell you something.” He smiled leaning back in the chair.

Robin? Robin was written all over this. He couldn’t actually like you. It was more of a thing to say to get her to shut the hell up. But now… now Steve might actually admit something.

“What’s that?”

He kept quiet until you looked up at him. He smiled gently at you. Trying his darndest not to freak you out, “That I like you.”

“You like me?” You asked back so quickly he was sure you hadn’t really processed it.

“Yes,” He nodded quickly, “I like you. A lot.”

“Me?”

He grabbed at your hand, “You.”

“You’re sure?” You couldn’t believe him. No. Not until he confirmed it at least twenty times.

“Positive.” He gave your hand a squeeze trying his best to keep you grounded in reality. Not stuck in that pretty little head of yours.

“Oh.” You’d finally processed his words. He liked you. Damn, he liked you?

“Hopefully that’s a good, oh.” He mirrored your words from earlier on in the week.

A small smile came to your lips, “Yeah, it is… but…” You paused not sure how to ask the question that was itching at the back of your head.

“But?”

“But you’ve never seemed interested.”

He let out a quiet laugh, “Robin was right, you are adorably clueless.”

You gave him a fake pout, “Hey now.”

He shook his head, “I didn’t say it wasn’t cute. It’s adorable. You’re adorable sweetheart.” He grabbed at your other hand, holding both of your much smaller hands in his.

“Hey Steve?” You said after a moment of silence.

“Yeah?”

“I like you too. I like you a lot.” You bobbed your head up and down.

“Tell me then, what do you say? We’ve got a problem and I’ve got a solution. I’m taking you out Friday evening. On a proper date.” Steve proposed looking all too hopefully at you.

You grinned, “I think that sounds like a great plan.”

He let out a small sigh of relief, “Finally, it’s a date my dear.”

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aloesarchives · 4 months

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Tags/Warnings: Fem!Reader/Pronouns, Swearing, Gojo has a hard crush on you, Gojo vs Toji Part 3, The word ass being used, Toji straight up having beef and fighting a bunch of teenagers, Nicknames such as beloved and hon(ney), JJK OCs, Out of pocket moments and sayings, Me being an annoying narrator

[Semi-proofread, informal formatting, and edited as of 12/22/2023 10:18am CST]

Summary: One of the truths behind Toji's beef with Gojo

Word count: 2.8k words

(A/N: I spent 10pm-6am writing this because I just need to or I would never forgive myself if I didn't! I promise I will have some of the "Toji lives" AU posts ready by next week because your girl got her ADHD meds back in stock!! Thank you for being patient with me and my inconsistent updates!!) (12/22/2023 6:05am CST)

💙I love you all! 💙🥰😚💙

💙❤️Please Enjoy!!!💙❤️

The REAL reason Toji has major beef with Gojo is because Gojo had a crush on you during his high school days when you would sub for Yaga in the classroom and training sessions. He did try his best to keep it under wraps but Geto was like,

"Bro, she's the same age as Yaga-sensei. . . Stop reaching, Satoru. . . Do I need to remind you who (L/N)-sama is married to again?"

The Gojo responded with, "Suguru, I don't give a shit about that loser. He's a bum, anyway. The question you should be asking is why (L/N)-dono is fucking married and still in-love to a deadbeat like him. I would have been a better option. Face it Suguru, I'm right."

While Satoru has a point, as Suguru noted, it doesn't change the fact that Satoru was crushing on a MARRIED woman who had TWO kids.

Though it was true, Satoru would have technically been a good husband/father/lover. However, there are many reasons why it must be ruled out.

Satoru is over half your age. Picking him meant allegations and a prison cell. Gojo tried reasoning with you, "But (Y/N)-dono! Age is just a number, give me two years!" "And Prison is just a place, Satoru-kun. I don't want to be labeled as a child predator, let alone be framed for "seDuCinG" the Gojo heir. I want to have a clean record."

While his personality brought you happiness, his carefree nature would clash a lot with you. He can mature but his child-like spirit and carefree persona isn't something you would personally deal with.

He was more of your protégé/junior/student if anything. You saw him more as your son and acted like a parental figure. You wanted to watch him grow and mature. Not become his lover.

To spite the higher-ups and Jujutsu elders(excluding your clan). Given you were a powerful and skillful sorcerer, marrying Gojo would be "BeNeFiCiaL" to Jujutsu society. However, it meant that you were on a watchlist 24/7 and pressured to have an HeIR. It made you physically sick and ill thinking what those old useless dementia white-haired cowards are allow to do that just to better "society" but not its citizens.

You are MARRIED to a man who is trying to step up after his major fuck ups. It's not perfect but Toji is his best trying after you gave him his life and freedom. Since he technically can't leave your home or go to Jujutsu High without your supervision, he's basically househusband duty. And he was getting pretty damn good at it too. Plus Toji's hot, he got you feral and gnawing at your teeth with his signature smile and smirk. And the way his arms flex when he crosses them, or how they feel when you link arms together.

While it wasn't super obvious, okay it was obvious, you always shot down Satoru's playful confessions and light-hearted shenanigans. Basically rejecting him every time. Usually, Suguru would warn you in advance but you know it would happen with each interactions. While you firmly turned him down, you made him understand why it can't and WON'T happen. You still care for him, just never romantically, only platonically and motherly. You made it clear that his "love" for you was just a strong admiration and infatuation disguised as a crush.

Though he was heartbroken, at first. Satoru slowly understand what you mean and his crush slowly fades away as it's replaced with immense respect for you.

HOWEVER, it still linger and not widely known because Toji finally gets word of this through the grapevine. A.K.A, through his two children Megumi and Tsumiki. It happened one day when you brought the two to the school so you can keep a close eye on them since they didn't have school that day. Toji was out doing errands so the two kids are accompanying you. Megumi and Tsumiki were occupied with their books and toys while you taught and trained the students. Megumi and Tsumiki went to find you because they were hungry and you had their lunches. As they looked for you, they see you talking to Satoru. They meet him a couple of times but he's still a stranger to them compared to Shoko or Suguru. So when they see Gojo with you, all alone with no one around, they thought it was major sus.

As they snuck closer, they could hear bit and pieces of what Gojo is saying to you. Megumi lowkey thinks Gojo is super annoying and acts more of a child then he does. But what catches his ears first was something with along the lines of, "(L/N)-dono, please consider it-" "Satoru-kun, how many time will I need to say no to you? You know I can never feel for you that way. Plus it's bad for me to agree to it. You know that it's admiration and infatuation if anything. Not love."

See Megumi knows you only use love as in 'I love you" to him, his sister, and his dad. But to this dude? Nah, something fishy is going on and Megumi gotta tell his dad about it. Megumi comes running, yelling "Mommy!!!". You and Satoru turn to see your son running to you and colliding with your legs. You crouch down and pat your son's head and smile at your daughter following behind him. Megumi hands your hand tightly as you lead them away to have lunch with your kids. Satoru made a face at Megumi when he saw the kid glare at him.

Once you three made it home, you're in the bathroom changing into some home clothes. Meanwhile, Toji was cooking dinner while Megumi and Tsumiki were waiting for you at the dinner table. As Toji was asking them about their day with you, Megumi brought up Gojo's advances and confession towards you. When Megumi said this, the beef Toji was about to flip plopped right back onto the pan. He looks back at Megumi and asks if there's anything else that he can share. As Megumi shares what he has seen through his perspective, Toji asks Tsumiki to confirm is this is all true, to which she said yes, backing up Megumi's claims.

"Yeah, Papa. Satoru-kun is weird. Even though Mama keeps saying she's married to you, he still does it. Tsumiki saw it too."

"I see... Thank you, Megumi and Tsumiki for watching and taking care of Mama for me. I appreciate it a lot. Can you tell her that dinner is almost ready?"

The kids nodded and went to go get you. After dinner and putting the kids to bed, you were sipping your favorite drink as Toji is doing the dishes. You would have helped him but he said no. While you two were talking, he brings up Satoru and his school crush on you.

"Toji, beloved, you know that it's just a small crush. It's nothing more then puppy love for me. Nothing more and nothing less. And you know that you're the only man that I am willing to give my heart to."

"I know that, (Y/N). But what does this brat got on me to think he's a better match for you? Just because this kid is practically a god doesn't mean everyone will bow down to him. I'm definitely not one of them. And to know that said brat is flirting with you even though you're visibly married with kids, he needs to read the room. I will be going with you to school tomorrow. The kids go back to school the next day, and I already got this week's groceries and cleaned the house."

You would have protested if Toji didn't give you a searing kiss while caging you in his arms. Fuck he looked so hot. Curse him and his good looks *punching the air*.

"Fine, you can come. BUT, Toji you need to behavior yourself. You already knew the deal. You better not be doing any funny business."

"Yes, Ma'am. You're the boss, I promise you." Toji says as he gave you a kiss on the cheek before lightly patting your ass.

After dropping the kids off, Toji accompanies you to the school. Toji is just silent and sits in one of the chairs as you do your lessons. Toji is leaning on the chair with a smirk plastered on his face. Not a care in the world. After a few lessons, you were going to teach and train Gojo, Geto, and Shoko for the rest of the school day. As you went to their classroom, they greet you, especially Gojo. However, the mood changed when they saw Toji walk in behind you, wearing nothing but a black slim fit t-shirt and grey sweatpants. Toji gave a head nod to the teens while he just takes a seat in a chair to lean on it. The three were shock to see him.

Particularly because they did expect him to come with you to the school at all. Suguru had an idea but he hoped it wasn't going to be it. After teaching a lesson, you told the three to practice their curse techniques and let their curse energy loose. While doing so, you told them that you would have to speak to Yaga for a bit on something and would be back 15 minutes tops. You told Toji to behave, and he nodded and gave a thumbs up. As you leave the kids and your husband on the train grounds, that's when the storm started brewing. Toji walks up to Gojo and is 3 feet from him. He smirks while looking at him up and down, sizing him up. Shoko and Suguru are on the sidelines as Toji, a married adult male in his 30s, was beefing with a 16 year old high school student.

Suguru: "Satoru, I don't think this is a good idea-"

Satoru: "Hush now, Suguru. . . It's my time to shine. . . Watch the master at work."

Suguru proceeds to roll his eyes but becomes a little weary after his last encounter with Toji was. . . unideal. Given one of their teachers was shot in the throat by Toji saving Anamai, and himself getting injured. It wasn't something he wanted to constantly get reminded of. But ever since you liberated Toji from the higher ups and explained it to your students, Suguru has slowly been changing his views on Toji. It will take a while but it's getting there. Anyhow, Suguru told Shoko to book it once the two were going to throw down.

Satoru: "So, what brings you back here, Toji~? You just couldn't get me out of that little mind of yours~? You're mad I'm 1-0 with you?"

Toji: "Kid, I'm pretty sure that it's 1-1 since I won our first battle. Anyway, I heard through the grapevine that you gave (Y/N) a love confession. Don't you know it's bad to confess and hit on a married woman who has kids? Were you taught any manners? Then again, by the way you act, you probably have none."

Satoru: "You're just mad, Old Man. That I, Satoru Gojo, would treat (Y/N)-dono better and treat her worth. Face it, Old Man. I'm a better match for her than you'll ever be."

Toji: "Like she ever goes for someone half her age, Brat. Plus, you'll never look at you as a lover ever. You're more of a son to her and that's the closest you'll get."

Satoru: "Well, she doesn't need a bum like you around. Imagine fighting a bunch of teens and getting your ass beat by said teens. Skill issue if you ask me."

Toji: "Watch your tongue, Boy. Remember who made you struggle for the first time in your life and actually killed you. While, you know, fucking up your best friend, the second strongest sorcerer, with no curse energy? I got your ass with no gifts other than being a superhuman with weapons. You can never beat me, I'm just built different, Kid."

Satoru: "You wanna test that, Toji~? You got no curse weapons with you. I can pack you up like you're a school lunch."

Toji: "Kid, please. I don't need any weapons to beat you, let alone kill you. You see this? This is a rock, and I can use it to beat you. I also still have my hands too. And I am more then willing to give it to you, Gojo~kun."

Satoru: "You think I'm scared of someone like you? I've ascended, enlighten if you will. If you even know what that word is. Throughout Heaven and Earth, I alone am the honored one. Remember those words, Fushiguro-san? Remember them good because I will put you six feet underground."

Toji: "I see then, Kid. . . So you're playing God? I guess that makes me a God Slayer then. . . Prepare yourself, Kid. . ."

Satoru: "Alright, bet then, Bozo."

Thus, Gojo and Toji started to go at each other for round 3. Shoko was already gone and the two started fighting in the training grounds. Five minutes have already passed and they have made five decently sized craters. Just as both of them were about to throw a punch at each other, they suddenly felt a powerful presence which halted them. They turn to you walking towards them with a furious face unimaginable.

"GOJO SATORU AND TOJI (L/N) FUSHIGURO!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!?! I LEAVE FOR LESS THAN HALF AN HOUR AND I GET CALLED BACK BECAUSE OF THIS!?!?"

"(Y/N)-dono!!"

"(Y/N)!"

You moved like a blur and appeared next to them vice gripping their forearms tightly. You dragged them to the nearest empty classroom you can find or any room. You were just so livid that you didn't hear Gojo whining about your grip and asking to let you go like a child. As you let them go once you dragged them far enough, you smacked both of them hard on the head. Shoko and Gojo were watching this as Yaga appeared right next to them shortly. It was interesting seeing two of the most broken people in the world kneeling with their heads down in-front of a woman who doesn't have god-like abilities.

"GOJO, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT USING BOTH OF YOUR ABILITIES DURING TRAINING SESSIONS!?!? YOU KNOW THE CALAMITY AND DAMAGE YOU COULD'VE CAUSED!?"

"BUT (Y/N)-dono! He-"

"NO BUTS, GOJO!! AND YOU, TOJI, I LITERALLY JUST SAID NO FUNNY BUSINESS AND YOU'RE ABOUT TO CREATE THE NEXT SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. I DON'T NEED ANOTHER RAPTURE HERE. I'M STILL DEALING WITH THE AFTERMATH FROM THE TWO OF YOU AS IT IS!!!"

"Okay, Hon. I take full responsibility for my actions today."

"YOU BETTER, TOJI!!! YOU'RE A FULL GROWN MARRIED MAN WITH TWO KIDS!!!"

"But (Y/N)-dono, I was not going to kill him last time-"

"NO ONES DYING HERE!!! NEITHER OF YOU WILL NOT DIE AS LONG AS I AM AROUND. I WON'T LET THE BOTH OF YOU KILL EACH OTHER OVER SOME PETTINESS AND A BOY CRUSH."

You start to calm down but you are still firm with them.

"I know this started because of Satoru's crush on me. . . Satoru, I will not love you romantically and date you. Please understand that. I care for you like family and that is said for the rest of you. Yes you, Suguru, Shoko, and Yaga. And Toji, I'm not leaving you for a child. I would be in jail and not working here. . . Geez, I saw this from a mile away but never expected this to happen. Now, you two better behave yourselves or else. You two don't have to say sorry or anything like of the sort. Just don't go tearing at each other's throats when I both am and am not around. Please, for me. . ."

The two looked at each other before saying a soft yeah. After that, Yaga told you to go home early and he would take it from there. You had to patch up Toji a bit but it wasn't anything of concern. From then on, Toji and Gojo just banter and bicker with each other. It's funny to watch except for Megumi since he's seeing his dad beefing with his unofficial adoptive older brother 24/7.

Satoru eventually grows out of his crush for (Y/N) but Suguru and Shoko never let him down. Hell, it's a running gag in the school about Gojo's old crush on you. Gojo always gets super embarrassed about it, especially when you join in but it's all fun and games with you all.

The only person who genuinely hates it is Megumi because the thought of Gojo having romantic feelings for you and trying to woo you made Megumi visibly ill and sick to his core. He would lowkey help his dad beat up Gojo if Gojo's crush on you became serious again.

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💙Author's Notes💙: 💙I am truly grateful to each and everyone of you in showing me that my writing is enjoyable to read!!! I appreciate you all from the bottom of my heart for making my comeback worthwhile! I hate to sound giga cringe but every single one of you that likes, reblogs, and comments on my writing post make me want to continue writing because I know that there are people out there that like what I make.💙 💙So once again, I am truly grateful and feel appreciative that everyone single one of you enjoy what I have been writing. I hope you all stay healthy, drink your water/favorite drink, treat yourself kindly, and take a break because you earned it!💙🥰 ❄️💙💙Happy Holidays to all of you, my GOATS!!!💙💙❄️

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dearest-painter · 11 months

Text

My beautiful child! PT.2

Summary: Mile’s has a younger sibling who isn’t…human to say. Their a demon who cannot go into the sunlight,his parents knows and make them do online school. When he an his siblings go to a place where all the spider people are at…they decided they want a new child and Y/N is perfect material for them!

TW/CW:Yandere behavior, unhealthy behavior, unhealthy relationship,abusive behavior,abusive relationship,Reader is Nezuko,Reader is Miles’s younger sibling,Reader can talk they just make Miles say stuff or make him translate their muffled words,very out of character characters,this is a series,Reader wears the same muzzle as Nezuko,Reader is not a spider-person,Reader wears skirts and oversized hoodies with leggings because they can get hurt by the sun touching their skin but they still have no gender,The whole family knows about Reader being a demon and having to wear clothes to not allow the sun to touch them,people might be out of character,tell me if I need to add more

PT.1

Miles and you just ran away…again as Miguel was chasing you both again. “WHY THE FUCK IS A GROWN MAN CHASING TWO TEENAGERS!?” You were unfazed by this as it was pretty normal at this point. You held your muzzle as it kept trying to fall out, you two ended up in a place where Hobie, Gwen, Peter B, and Mayday where. You both fell but you went flying as you were on Miles’s back but you didn’t get to hurt. You ran towards Miles and made sure he was okay.

“Mmhmhmm?!” “I’m okay Y/N, just a tiny scratch that’s all!” “Mmmhmmm!” “I’m fine really, are you okay though? You went FLYING!” “Mhm! Mhmmmhmh!” Miles sighed happily as you two got up but also hid you behind him as Miguel approached you two. “Peter..what the fuck is your friend on!?” “He’s all bark and barely any bite!” Miles looked at him shocked as he and you just witnessed Miguel chased you down while threatening Miles. You glared at Miguel as it was obvious he was the reason Miles was in distress.

Miguel didn’t know why but he hates how you hide behind Miles and glare at him…he doesn’t know why he hates it. “Miguel, you know Miles and his younger sibling Y/N.” Peter B got in front of you and Miles hiding you from Miguel’s vision. Miguel had his usual annoyed face but smelt blood…who was bleeding? It wasn’t any of the spider-people until he looked over Peter’s shoulder to see you biting Miles’s arm. Peter B looked around unfazed. “You okay kid?” “Yeah, Y/N hasn’t been eating as usual so I’m giving some blood” “what…the fuck are they?” “I ain’t su-“ “A demon, originally they were human but now a demon”

Miguel then felt a sudden hit of responsibility. He can relate to having to eat blood for survival but Miles wasn’t a good brother for you, he was a bad influence on you. Miguel needed to be the dad you need. Soon you stop while wrapping bandages of his bitten arm, you were still hungry but Miles is your brother and you don’t wanna hurt him. “Here…” miles was shocked to see Miguel handing you a blood bag but you didn’t care and drank the whole damn thing. “Aww you have a soft spot for little demon!” “Shut it Parker” Peter B rolled his eyes as Miguel began to rant.

You were holding Mayday again as she pretended to be an airplane, you didn’t talk to Gwen…she doesn’t seem like who she used to be anymore but maybe that’s just you being sleepy! Yeah that must be the reason!

#yandere #please don’t do this #obession #unhealthy #gn reader #platonic yandere #yandere platonic #x gn reader #yandere x gn reader #gender neutral reader #yandere x gender neutral reader #gender neutral y/n #yandere spiderverse #yandere spider man across the spider verse #my beautiful child series #part 2 of many

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remnants · 21 days

Text

thots about tommy wayne under the cut 👇🏾😚👍🏾

ok so in my head he's not from gotham lol (my guy is east coast mean, which is pretty mean, but not gotham mean which translates to being the sweetest guy on earth once you’re within the city limits). he's the illegitimate and son of patrick wayne and his daddy wouldn't claim him bc the affair/one-night-stand/whatever-you-wanna-call-it happened while he was very much married (fuck this guy fr!) and his wife was very much pregnant (oh brother this guy STINKS!!!). anywayyyy elizabeth mitchell isn’t stupid and knows a fight she can't win when she sees one so she leaves gotham for new york when the test comes back positive and patrick won’t pick up her calls.

and things are going good! she's made a little name for herself as a local nightclub singer and she's got a job waiting tables during the day that makes good money and sure things were a little touch and go for a while and sure there were times where she was sure that they weren't gonna make it but she got her baby through school (he graduated valedictorian btw) and now he's in the first year of his pre med undergraduate degree at the local university on a full scholarship (her parenting HER parenting).

so imagine her surprise when the billionaire deadbeat of the hour shows up on her doorstep one day talking about family duty and lines of succession.

patrick amadeus wayne jr. is dead. dead dead dead. and while it wasn't really a surprise to anyone with eyes (weak lungs can only take so many wet gotham winters and the tabloids were saying that the cough he sported at the latest gala sounded particularly nasty), he was by all appearances an only child (francesca wayne could barely get pj out let alone carry another baby to term) and the waynes were fumbling for someone to take his place before the body was even cold.

the transition is as rough as you would expect, what with the stony silences from his father’s wife (stepmother? who knows, not that either of them would ever acknowledge the relation) whenever they cross paths in the manor (francesca wayne never makes an outside appearance in gotham society again after the passing of her son. she enters a period of seclusion and never emerges, spending her days wandering the halls in mourning blacks and lighting candles in prayer), and sometimes being called patrick or pj by the gotham upper class (intentionally or not. though he suspects intentionally because his mother’s side of the family got the monopoly on his looks). it’s very obvious that he doesn’t fit in but hey, free college is free college and his mama is gonna be set for life if he can just see this through.

of course the whole thing doesn’t go over well (a long lost father suddenly appearing on your doorstep and claiming you only because his other kid died would put most people off to be completely fair) but after some yelling and screaming and haggling, compromises are made. in exchange for thomas moving to gotham and being prepped to take over as head of wayne enterprises, his mother is also to be put up in a fancy brownstone on the upper east side and given enough in allowance (in addition to the 18 years of child support she never got) so that she never has to work again and thomas is to be allowed to continue his studies, graduate medical school (in gotham and not at john hopkins like he planned. rip it was literally his dream school), and become a doctor (i like to think becoming a doctor was solely a thomas wayne endeavor. all the wayne men before him were men of business and trade but tommy has wanted to help people his entire life and he’ll be damned if he lets his father keep him from following his dreams). there’s a handshake and signatures signed on a drawn-up contract (because patrick wayne doesn’t do anything by halves and of course he brought the family lawyer to meet his son after 19 years of pretending he didn’t exist) and thomas goes from a two-bedroom apartment in hell’s kitchen to a bedroom the same size (and then some) right outside of gotham city.

and he does see it through, very well in fact! thomas wayne graduates top of his class in undergrad at gotham university as well as in medical school, is granted a residency at gotham general, and eventually becomes the head of surgery. Along the way, he meets a girl named martha, gets married, and has a beautiful baby boy named bruce (after his maternal grandfather ofc) and the rest is history!

#tomi.txt #dc comics #batman #thomas wayne #i had a lot more i wanted to add but it got annoying to scroll through on mobile </3

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chrissturnsgirlll222 · 2 months

Text

second, never first

chris x fem!reader

summary - you grew up hating one guy all of high school but suddenly become friends, but as time goes on feelings develop, only its one sided.

warnings - swearing, kissing, use of y/n, mention of family issues, BOYS (no smut… for now lol)

word count - 1k+

NOT PROOFREAD

watching my parents version of love or whatever you call that completely screwed with my mind growing up. i was called home to my house because my mom and dad got into an argument and i needed to mediate. i defused the situation when i got home but they still continued to argue once i got upstairs.

thinking about tonights events was the only thing that distracted me from everything.

i sat in my room with locked doors trying to avoid the voices from downstairs as my mind races with thoughts about chris. yes our relationship was fake but nothing was fake about me loosing my first kiss to him. no one was around, he was sweet, gentle, and it felt amazing.

i dreamt about kissing chris for months and now i had finally done it. it was better than i could have ever imagined. there wasnt too many things i was sure of in my current life but one thing i knew was that i couldnt wait to kiss him again.

school went pretty much the same as yesterday until lunch. chris and i were sitting in his car talking and getting ready to go into school when chris looked behind my shoulder “dont turn around.” is all he said.

grabbing my face he pulls our faces together and we share a tender kiss and he pulls away. i smile at him and then remember what he said before. out of the corner of my eye i see anna and my old friends slowly driving right past our car in the parking lot. once i remember the plan i put my hand up to his cheek and press another kiss to his lips.

my phone immediately goes off.

wednesday 12:05pm

anna: looking very happy together, so much for explaining yourself…

we both look down at the notification and smile to eachother. “its working.” chris says in a singsong voice and i chuckle. we hear the school bell go off and walk in to school, ignoring the obvious stares and whispers as we walk together. we stop infront of our history class and i give him a quick kiss before we walk in and hear slight gasps from people around. i laugh to myself as people fall for it while im walking into class and sit directly in the back.

“shes such a whore.”

“no a god damn home wrecker is what she is.”

“wait shush shes looking at us.”

i hear the girls in front of me whisper as i sit behind them. they are acting as if we weren’t friends just last week.

this pretty much happened every class i walked into. even tho it was fake and both me and chris knew that people were just believing a lie i couldnt help but be bothered by the comments.

its never nice to hear rumors or gossip be talked about you, no matter the circumstances.

i was walking up to my car and saw someone waiting by my door, hoping and praying it was chris but to my surprise it was carson.

“y/n.” he says sternly. my heart drops.

we were supposed to have a date this weekend, but now im ‘dating chris’. “carson im so sorry oh my god.” i say walking up to him. “no dont apologize, i just wanted to see if the rumors were true but that answer was all i needed.” he says starting to walk away. “carson im really sorry you must think im a bitch now.” i say looking down.

“i dont think your a bitch but a warning would have been nice.” he smiles and walk away.

im left feeling a wave of guilt and shame. carson was extremely kind to me on our date and i just completely led him on and then all of the sudden everyone thinks im dating chris.

“you ok kid?” i feel chris’ hand come up to my shoulder from behind as im just standing in front of my car. turning around i cant even look him in the eye, “chris im such a bad person.” i say tear pricking my eyes.

“what? what happened.” he looks at me with concern. “i just talked to carson. we were supposed to have a date this weekend and i havent talked to him since our date and now were dating.” i say bringing my hands up to my face. “or whatever we are doing.” i add on.

“your not a bad person. its not your fault that you were dumped by your best friend this week. your whole life turned around, making time for carson was not something you were obligated to do.”

“i know but i just feel awful you should have heard how he spoke to me.” i break.

i havent cried about any of this shit yet but it all just kind of hit me. the rumors, anna dropping me, me fake dating chris, carson, it all hit me like a bus.

i just stand there crying in front of chris as the parking lot starts to become empty. i feel chris wrap his arms around me. i bury my face into his chest as his hands are around my shoulders and the back of my head. “come on kid. its still november and freezing.” he leads me to my car. getting in the passenger seat he just sits there in silence while i cry in front of him. “chris do you think were making a big mistake, i mean im happy were doing this but what happens to us. how long do we keep this going.” i look up at him.

“we can deal with that when it comes to it.”

i hold on to my steering wheel and tears continue to fall out of my eyes. chris reaches his hand over to me and wipes them for me.

i look at him while he does this for a while, my eyes trail to his lips. i look back into his eyes and hes already starring into mine.

i know its wrong and i shouldnt but i move my face to his and kiss him. he pauses as there is no one around to see us but kisses me back.

the world seems to stop when im with chris. even if everything about our relationship is fake, every time we connect our lips i feel fireworks around me and my surroundings go quiet. i place my hands around the back of his neck and pull away. “more practice.” i smile.

he stares at me with kind eyes and i wipe my eyes once more.

thanks for reading xx

taglist: @sleepysturnss @blahbel668 @alorsxsturn @w4nnabeurs @junnniiieee07 @waydasims @accio326 @bitchydragonparadise @matthewsturnioloswifey @iloveneilperry @stunza @realuvrrr @jennss23 @tubl-mc @lilsstvrn

a/n: hope you guys are enjoying the more emotional side of this story!!

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whetstonefires · 6 months

Note

I hope you're having an excellent day 😊😊😊 What about Wei Wuxian as Naruto?

Thanks! It was pretty good. I organized my embroidery floss and took advantage of being alone in the building to dance around like a maniac for about 20 minutes. My cat hated it. My knees aren't sure they approve either.

Wei Wuxian as Naruto has a lot going for it right out the gate. Orphaned sunshine boy protagonist types, now we're cooking with propane. They're even both fox coded!

However, at the risk of stating the obvious, if Wei Wuxian were Naruto he wouldn't be Naruto anymore. That is. Fundamental to Wei Wuxian is that he is brilliant and talented and he damn well knows it. He would excel without effort in ninja school--not as much as he did in Jiang Sect unless he unlike Naruto was still getting personal mentoring in honor of his late father, but still.

Difference is, when this Wei Wuxian slacks off in class and the teacher tries to embarrass him, if he reels off the correct answer and then reinvents senjutsu from first principles in a creepy-sounding way for a lark just to show off, the teacher is not going to think that he's just like his annoying late mother. (Though he'll still have one. Kushina and Cangse Sanren are fairly similar Dead Mom archetypes too.)

The teacher is going to think things like, no real child would say that shit and I'm expected to teach the monster fox that killed my family basic ninjutsu I hate this I hate this we're all gonna die.

So basically this Wei Wuxian gets his Yiling Laozu reputation mod as part of the starter pack. I don't think he'd handle it super gracefully! But not the worst, either.

Not even as badly as he did in the actual version, probably, on account of he doesn't know his own dark secret. So he can't self-isolate to protect it. Though him pulling away from people once he does learn would be cool.

He'd probably have forged slightly stronger social ties rather sooner than Naruto did, even if he was just as neglected and radioactive; Wei Wuxian doesn't care what people think of him nearly as much as Naruto does, but in some ways he's a more genuinely social person, and he's got much better social intuition, so it's easier for him to figure out what people want and either do that or not do that on purpose.

He'd have at least a bunch of casual friends. Mostly civilians, and other kids from ninja school whose parents told them not to play with him but they did anyway.

Wei Wuxian cannot do therapy no jutsu. He does not have that ability to confront and exist with emotional discomfort or that intensity of interest in what is going on with other people.

He does however have some level of Friendship Beam Attack (the plot to some extent hinges utterly on how effectively it hit Wen Ning) and it would presumably be more effective, in a shounen context.

But that's the thing, Wei Wuxian isn't really built to confront shounen manga style problems. Or, well, he is, but he's overbuilt for them; they're his bread and butter. One of Naruto's key motifs, early on at least before we got into the heavy power creep, is not being a genius.

Wei Wuxian, by definition, is a genius. He is the kind of guy who walks up to shounen manga sorts of problems scaled to what ought to be his level, handles them, and goes 'what, like it's hard?'

Wei Wuxian is designed to be destroyed not by external threats but by his own loyalties, politics, and lies. (Which was a point of confluence with Itachi I didn't really touch on because the flow was so different lmao.)

He's also, otoh, designed to be destroyed. Naruto is designed to start off artificially low and climb steadily up toward heaven. (Ymmv on how this worked out but he sure did escalate.)

You have to pick which schema to apply when performing the fusion--I mean, it's not either-or, the whole deal with Wei Wuxian is he goes through the entire arc of a tragedy and then comes back to life and stars in a romcom. These things can superimpose and stack. But there are structural decisions that have to be made early.

So anyway, Wei Wuxian as Naruto is not going to enter the Genin Team phase of life with the same priorities, even if he has largely conducted himself about the same way hitherto. 'Proving himself' so 'people will accept him' is not a motive that works for this character--you basically have to give him actual precious people earlier just to get him to care about attaining ninja rank at all.

Otherwise he would probably much rather loaf his way through his teens stealing jutsu and making trouble. Which is the well-adjusted reaction to the idea of becoming a child soldier, like. He likes recognition but 'showing off' is a reason he does dumb fun things, not difficult high-commitment ones. He's like if Shikamaru had ADHD and no parents.

Being twelve is going to make him dumber, but I can't see it making him not the kind of person who stops caring about his marks in school if the teacher is hostile.

If Wei Wuxian here isn't acting out of appreciation for the Hokage raising him, or something like that, you have to give him a practical motive to enter military service like 'Konoha stops supporting orphans out of the public purse at thirteen so he's got to get some kind of job and ninja is the least boring option' which. Is significantly less like either Naruto or Wei Wuxian in terms of reasons to do anything, and starts getting into solidly OC territory.

The whole fact that Konoha's worldbuilding centers around an attempt to move away from decentralized clannish social organization and promote the idea of shared, communal social institutions and (in theory) civil society, and the ways this does and does not work out for people especially considering it is still a relatively small military dictatorship, honestly interfaces super interestingly with how, in Mo Dao Zu Shi, one of the underlying challenges backstopping all character choice is that there is no feasible alternative to the clan system, and you have to pick a family-faction to depend upon and submit yourself to, or face the world with no safety net.

Like. Huh.

.....Kishimoto is honestly unusually-for-shounen well-grounded in the genres he's riffing on tbh, for all my bitching there were some very good reasons his work found such success; I would have liked to see what kind of story he produced without the insane pressures of the Weekly part of Weekly Shounen Jump. I wonder if he'll ever publish again. For all I know he already is lmao.

So anyway, however we manage it we get Wei Wuxian on his genin team with like. Lan Wangji and Mianmian or whoever. Actually that's hilarious. Yeah, make it lwj and lqy, both of them so done with his shit.

Setting up some wild role-reversal here--Lan Wangji being the one to go Away and Wei Wuxian asking him to stay? Or Naruto-person leaving into the dark, and Sasuke-person remaining and calling for him to come back? Either way. Getting some inversion. Tasty.

Where does this leave Jiang Cheng, though? Because in a lot of ways Uchiha 'Deuteragonist by Editorial Mandate' Sasuke is straddling both roles.

In many ways Wangxian is much more like if Naruto had an endgame romance with Neji. Which is a great ship tbh, I saw very little of it back in the day?? In a series with a smaller cast or with less Sasuke Creep (not sasuke being a creep, it's like power creep) it would probably have done numbers.

...Naruto going away for that timeskip really limited his opportunity to make connections in the village huh.

I guess it depends on the kind of narrative you're trying to put together. On one hand, you can do Jiang Fengmian as the rather-more-involved Third Hokage, with Jiang Cheng as an aged-up Konohamaru kind of figure. And then Jiang Yanli is standing in as both Iruka and. I know I know the ramen guy's name. Ichiraku. Soup! XD Emotionally significant soup!

But with a different backstory than either lmao. Kurama very possibly killed Yu Ziyuan in this universe, though I can't visualize her as a midwife.

[[[Why do I have so much Naruto lore on tap, there is no life value in knowing Sarutobi Hiruzen's wife was at ground zero of the Kyuubi attack because she was the expert overseeing Uzumaki Kushina's childbirth a;kdj;lafdks. I do not remember the things I was actually studying in high school nearly this well.]]]

(Actually Jin Ling is Konohamaru and Jiang Cheng is aged-down Asuma. But whatever.)

And in this case Wei Wuxian's genin team is Lan Wangji and Mianmian under idk who. Lan Qiren, possibly, although he seems more the Ebisu type. Lan Xichen? (It's not like he can serve as a plausible Itachi. Can you imagine.) Actual Kakashi, possibly; we can't replace everyone with mdzs characters; the cast sizes don't square.

Kakashi training Wei Wuxian is very funny to think about. He deserves this.

Or on the other hand for a different pacing and focus, the genin team is him, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli under Jiang Fengmian, who dies sometime after or probably during the climax of the chuunin exams. And Sarutobi stays Hokage, and probably doesn't die during the chuunin exams. And we aim for a Naruto/Neji kind of romance storyline lol.

What is the Lan Wangji equivalent of Neji exposing his caged bird seal in front of god and everybody and ranting (it is very unclear at what effective volume though you'd think the proctors would have shut him up if he could be heard from the stadium seating that shit was sedition) about his traumatic backstory and the deep injustices in his family's system of hierarchy? I'm gonna say Not That.

Wei Wuxian versus Lan Wangji important ideological-conflict bonding duel in the Chuunin exam finals sounds excellent though.

Either way Wei Wuxian is going to get much more thoroughly involved in the ugly ninja politics than Naruto ever did, and he's going to hate it so so bad and at least temporarily lose so so so hard. A likely story element is he becomes troublesome enough he winds up having to flee the village ahead of a scheme by Danzou to (fatally) rip the Kyuubi out of him and implant it in some thoroughly conditioned ROOT kid.

Maybe Wen Ning?? Idk. I'm mostly saying this because Wen Ning 1) canonically gets Victimized and Transformed and 2) shares some notes with Sai. And this means he's leaving, in part, for Wen Ning, which ties into some plot and character stuff from their original narrative. You could make it work.

Also him taking the replacement human sacrifice with him when he books it would be hysterical.

Anyway he's branded a missing nin and it is, canonically, illegal for him to tell anyone who doesn't already know about the kyuubi thing, so both Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji are appropriately what the fucking fuck and receive no adequate answer. This is a workable plot element.

Either the Jiangs or the Lans are the Uchiha, here, which has its own story value, lots of fun to be had. Gotta engineer a way he's protecting Jiang Cheng--does Danzou want to make him the jinchuuriki? Is Orochimaru or his replacement making a play for Jiang Cheng's bloodline limit, whatever it is, fun if it's eyeballs, and Wei Wuxian bargains to give him a jinchuuriki instead? Hmmm.

You want an inside and an outside threat, the obvious viper and the political spider, so you can silo information and make sure nobody entirely knows what's going on.

If it's Jiang Cheng who's assigned the role of bloodline limit macguffin, I have the very wicked urge to cast Yu Ziyuan as some combination of Itachi and Obito. Very Vader kind of effect.

Jin Guangyao as Kabuto, excellent, I need that innocent smile and those torture skills. This may require making Jin Guangshan much smarter than he really is just to fill out the ranks, or again you can keep Danzou as himself.

Tsunade is amusingly enough occupying an overlapping Baoshan Sanren and Wen Qing position; given one of them impersonated the other that time you'd have to do something with that. She's also got some Yu Ziyuan vibe up ofc. Tsunade just contains an entire franchise's supply of girlboss tbh.

Who could possibly stand in for Jiraiya, nobody, but at the same time. Wei Wuxian (with internal sapient asshole nuke) apprenticing under Jiraiya of the Sannin sounds like enough problem-creating goofy jackass genius clown energy in one place to open a singularity. That's too much. No narrative could survive.

Anyway someone please feel free to write this, I am intrigued but also will 100percent never ever put in the time it would take to realize any version of this concept.

#ask #hoc est meum #ramblebrambleamble #mdzs #naruto #fusion #meta #ig?????#return of the son of the jane bennet cinematic universe #fanfiction #the thing about protagonists is they require a story #if lwj is neji then mianmian is tenten #who is Rock Lee?#hard work...pays off...but lwj holds him in contempt...there is no such person????#actually it would have to be Wen Ning #he's friends with Wei Wuxian and lwj's petty jealousy grudge is even fiercer and pettier when he is thirteen #haha then wwx casually ships lwj/lqy while lwj resentfully imagines wwx/wql #phantom love triangles that do not exist! two of them!#beautiful #if you need wen ning elsewhere then disrespect rock lee's name and plug su she in as their third #this is so fun and so not productive i have so many other things i should be doing a;ldsksdf;#i play a lot with the dog thing but i'm pretty sure #the number one creative reason wwx is afraid of dogs is just #that's a traditional way for foxes passing as humans to give themselves away #motif~~~~

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love-toxin · 1 year

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Curious question: How would Bully!Eddie treat their kid? Would it he be nice and sweet for their daughter? Would he be a bad influence on their son (kind a passing the torch to bully a girl he likes just like he did with reader)?

/evil dances

(cws: bully!eddie, mentions of violence (not domestic), cursing, overprotective eddie, a lot of parenting talk.)

bully!Eddie's daughter is absolutely spoiled. he falls in love with her the first second he holds her, he buckles when he hears those gurgles and his heart shatters when he sees her face scrunching up just before she cries. it's kinda like falling in love with you all over again, (by then it's obvious he's completely head over heels) because she looks just like you, her smile and her skin and her laugh, and Eddie has this deep urge to just protect both of you. he knows exactly how brutal the world can get, hell, he's seen that fear in your eyes when he tormented you throughout school. so his little princess not only gets whatever she damn pleases that he can afford (and so do you, cause holy fuck that epidural was huge and pushing that baby out was fucking metal) but he's also overprotective to the max, keeping his girls close at all times and often making threats to anyone that wants to hurt you that he'll bash their fucking skull in with a wrench if they step foot in your direction.

with his son, however, the mistakes Eddie's gonna make have worse consequences than if he turns his daughter into a spoiled daddy's girl. Eddie's got a loooot of that toxic masculinity ingrained in him, and even when he's conscious of it, there's a lot of passive toxicity that he doesn't even notice he's spreading until it slaps him in the face. Wayne gets called much more for advice when he has a son, because Eddie knows that he's a good guy unlike himself, and his uncle can usually steer him in the right direction or correct his behavior or language so he doesn't teach it to his son. he's gotta be a lot more careful with how treats you, too--obviously he still babies you like a princess just as he would after you birthed him a daughter, cause he's still in awe that you went through that whole pregnancy and delivery and you can still manage to smile at him. if it were him, he'd probably be throttling himself in his sleep.

and he'll be pretty proud of himself--he's way better than his dad, and he's certain he's on the right path to showing his son how to defend himself and stand up for himself, while also showing respect and being kind. seeing his mini-him rise where he fell, and not having to work so hard towards being a decent human being when he's older. but there'll come a day where you're serving dinner, and your son will be fussy with eating his vegetables, and with little fists clenched in frustration at being told to eat what's on his plate, the five-year-old will stand up on his seat and tell you you're a bitch.

and you'll be shocked to hear that word from his mouth, upset at how angry he sounds, and terrified that this is all gonna be the end. that Eddie's gonna lose his cool for the first time in years now, or he's gonna let it slide and tell you to get over it, or somehow encourage it. you're not even half a sob into crying, though, when Eddie puts his hands on your son--not to teach him a lesson like he was with a belt, but to pick him up and carry him to the chair in the corner.

"we do not use that language in this house, and you will not speak to your mother that way. I never want to hear you say that to a girl ever again."

he growls through gritted teeth, ignoring the kicking and screaming of a tantrum as he walks away, and only gives him a lick of attention if he gets up, in which Eddie swiftly picks him up and sits him back in the time-out chair. but in the meantime, he walks over to you with a gentle hand on your shoulder, and takes you into his arms to hold you as you cry. and it all defuses pretty quickly after that--cause your son isn't a bad kid at all, he's a bleeding heart if anything, and soon he's crying and saying sorry when he calms down enough to hear you crying. it's a little cathartic for Eddie, though. the conversation he has with his little man once everything's cooled off--how he spells out why he got in trouble, why it's not okay to lash out when we're angry, and that we have to protect the ones we love especially the women in our life--Eddie really gets a good grasp on his own behavior once that's done, and probably decides to drop one of those nasty habits he still has; smoking, or drinking, or cussing. cause he doesn't wanna raise his son the wrong way and have to protect you from him one day--and all the same, he doesn't want his sweet boy to grow up and have to protect you from Eddie, not anymore. you deserve a lot better than that, and so does your sweet, kind mama's boy, who he hopefully can give a sister to when you're ready to make your family a little bigger.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #bully!eddie munson #eddie's angelface #st 4 #stranger things #ellie writes #anons

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shy-urban-hobbit · 6 months

Text

Modern Au kid fic! Platonic Aiden and Lambert (Aiden and Lambert are both 14. Geralt and Eskel are early twenties).

CW for eye trauma and injury description.

"C'mon, everyone knows you're like a god damned guard dog when it comes to your boys." Guxart pleaded.

"And you're hoping I'll extend that to your boy?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Vesemir ran his free hand over his face as he listened to the man on the other end of the line. He knew what he was getting into when he became a foster parent almost twenty years ago. However, he hadn't had any requests like this since taking Lambert in a decade ago and Guxart's kids were a whole different matter. It wasn't his fault the Dyn Marv Group Home had essentially been a sinking ship when he took it over. He was doing his best to turn things around but it was a slow process and there was no denying a good portion of the kids needed support which not many people were equipped to provide as a result of his predecessors management style, whilst a good number of the remaining kids had priors.

"Look, real talk." Guxart suddenly sounded exhausted, "He's my responsibility and for obvious reasons he can't stay here. Right now he's in a bad way, physically and mentally. I need to put him with someone I can trust won't take advantage of that. I need to know he's in safe hands. Please, Ves."

Vesemir sighed. He really hoped he wasn't going to regret this, "When can we expect him?"

"Any idea what this is about?" Eskel asked as he slouched on the old sagging couch.

Geralt shrugged and gave a grunt as he replied to a text (probably Yen), "Group text. I got the same information you did."

"Ass." Eskel gave his brother a playful swat.

"Alright you two." Vesemir emerged from the kitchen carrying three sodas, "I'll fill Lambert in when he gets back from school, but there's some details I'd rather he not know right away."

"Sounds serious." Eskel said, both he and Geralt leaning forwards in their seats to show they were listening.

Vesemir nodded, "Guxart called me. We've got an emergency placement arriving in a couple of hours straight from hospital, lad around Lambert's age."

His adopted sons wrinkled their noses, Vesemir cut them off before they could say anything, "I know you have past issues with the Dyn Marv kids. But Guxart assured me the worst Aiden's ever been slapped with is weekend detention."

Eskel perked up, "Aiden? Lambert's Aiden? Fuck, I gave him so much shit about him being imaginary."

Vesemir shrugged, "It's possible. It's not an uncommon name though."

"So why was he in hospital and why is he coming here?" Geralt asked

"He got attacked by a group of older kids. Naturally, for his own safety he can't go back to the group home while the investigation is ongoing and Guxart didn't want to ship him across State with fresh trauma."

"For how long?"

"Depends how long the authorities take. All I know is that the ringleaders are going to be up on assault charges. Possibly even attempted murder."

"Attempted - what the fuck did they do to him?"

"I didn't want to ask over the phone, his social worker will fill us in on everything when he arrives. That being said, you two know the drill for new arrivals. Geralt, you go do a junk food run and grab some essentials while you're at it, I've got no idea what he's going to be bringing with him so just the basics for now. Eskel, give me a hand getting the spare room ready."

Lambert kicked an empty can into the gutter, scowling down at his shoes. Another day of bullshit taunts and teasing and still no word from Aiden after almost a month. He wasn't dumb, he knew Aiden would have a reason and he knew what the deal was for care kids. He'd probably been moved to a different home or something with no warning and no choice, it happened. Still, Lambert thought his friend would have at least replied one of his emails or something to let him know (Aiden didn't have a phone. He said it was more hassle than it was worth trying to prevent it from getting stolen), not just act like he didn't exist anymore. Long distance friends were a thing, right? Lambert kicked another can. Fuck it, he was done. If Aiden wanted to ghost him then two could play at that game. Fuck friends and fuck him.

"Home." He called out, nudging the door closed with his foot.

"Stop kicking the door and get in here." Vesemir called from the living room, "I need to talk to you about something."

"Fucks sake, I haven't even done anything." Lambert groaned "I've literally just walked through the door."

"I know you haven't. Stop bitching and sit down."

Lambert slumped into the room, taking in the spread of pizza, burgers, hotdogs and cake on the coffee table. That could only mean one thing, "Who's the new guy?"

"That's what I want to talk to you about, but I need you to promise you'll keep a cool head first. Ok."

Lambert shrugged.

"He got here about half an hour ago straight from the hospital. He's pretty beat up."

"Sucks for him. He got a name?"

"Aiden. About your age."

Lambert shot to his feet, "About this tall, dark hair?"

"Yes. But before you - Lambert !"

Lambert didn't hear as he charged up the stairs and down the hallway to the usually empty spare bedroom and immediately started pounding on the door, "Aiden?! "

The door cracked open and Lambert couldn't hide a wince. Vesemir wasn't kidding when he'd said Aiden was pretty beat up. The skin of his arms which wasn't covered by his t-shirt and bandages was covered in bruises. He had the fading evidence of a black eye whilst the other was covered by a patch of surgical gauze, a fresh, bright red scar poking out of the top and disappearing into his hairline. He smiled at Lambert awkwardly, "Hi."

Lambert threw his arms around him in a hug before remembering he was supposed to be mad and turning it into a light shove, "You dick! Why didn't you tell me you were in hospital?"

"I would have if I could but I was in an induced coma for two weeks and it's not like the hospital had a computer lab."

"Wait, you were in a coma."

"To give the internal shit a chance to heal. I'm all good now though. Well-" he pointed to his gauze covered eye, "Mostly."

"What happened anyway?" Lambert asked, moving into the room to sit on the bed.

"Jad and his gang jumped me. This happened when Vi decided to get a flick knife involved." Aiden moved to sit next to him, eyes on the floor and fists clenched. "They couldn't save my eye."

Lambert had never heard his friend sound so small, "Shit, Aiden."

They sat in awkward silence, Lambert not really knowing what to say after that. Luckily they were both saved by a shout of, "Boys, everything ok? If you want food I'd get down here before Geralt eats it all!"

Lambert grinned at his friend, "Hot dog eating contest?"

"You're on!"

#the witcher #the witcher fanfiction #lambert/aiden #aiden/lambert #witcher aiden #witcher lambert #lambert

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mackjlee9 · 2 years

Note

HELLO ODUEGRFBYEICEO; You started twst?? omg thats so cool ahah

frick so your gonna write for twst now right? wow your a blessing yes another twst content for male readers;; ack im so excited! i've been following you in wattpad before so i wanna tell you, your writing is wonderful<33

so hah i cant think of what to request.. lets start simple i guess how about Ruggie? can i request fluff and angst, where ruggie is pining for his chilhood best friend(m/n) but he just cant fcking cross the line between friends to lovers, so he just pins and pins but deny it everytime m/n seems to reciprocate his feelings(which he does). and when a potential love rival occurs ruggie is determined to confess before m/n even thinks about being in a relationship other than him.

you can remove some stuff if you want but thank you!

have a good day or evening to ya! <3

Ruggie is so cute 🥺, must protect the little hyena.

Also... How is this so cute, what?

Ruggie Bucchi x Male!Reader [Fluff]

Masterlist.

Game; Twisted Wonderland

Ruggie and (M/n) have known each other for a long time, pretty much since childhood, so they've been best friends for at least ten years.

(M/n) and his family moved to his neighborhood when he was six, and not having any kind of animalistic traits made them stand out quite a lot, and kids used to avoid (M/n) when the rumor of his parents being powerful magic users got out. But Ruggie didn't care about that.

He was the first and only one to talk to the boy, who was always by himself during school break and walked home alone, ignored by the rest of the kids.

They became friends really quickly, becoming almost inseparable.

And together, they were attending Night Raven College. Well, the problem was that (M/n) wasn't in the Savanaclaw dorm with him, so Ruggie only saw him during class and at the cafeteria... well, sometimes, since his senpai, Leona, always sent him over to bring him his lunch. It was difficult, they couldn't spend as much time together, since their dorms were kinda against other dorm students staying over for the night.

And some Savanaclaw third years have tried to fight (M/n), even if fighting is prohibited on campus, with or without magic, unless it has been officially announced.

To Ruggie was a little stressful, the judging stares of everyone from (M/n)'s dorm, his instincts told him to leave immediately, which would make him feel tense and anxious, and that made him stay less and less every time it happened.

He was sad, a little heartbroken too, not being able to see his best friend as much as he used to, not being able to spend time with the person he loves...

Yes, Ruggie is deeply in love with (M/n), but he was never able to do anything about it, the fear of rejection, and the anxiety it gave him when he thought that (M/n) might hate him too. It was too much, so he just kept quiet about it, watching how he started to get along with his classmates and dorm mates.

He was pining for the other male, reminiscing the times they spent together all those years ago as he rested his cheek on his hand, his bright blue eyes staring into the distance as he dozed off at the memories. He felt goosebumps on his body whenever a memory of (M/n)'s body pressed against his flashed through his mind.

Ruggie always denied it, to him it was obvious that (M/n) didn't have feelings for him, and yet, his hugs seemed to last longer, leaving a lingering feeling on the spots where they touch, and a flustered reaction whenever they would stare into the other's eyes for too long.

It was impossible, (M/n) never showed clear signs of liking him back -of course, whenever they were visible, Ruggie would just deny them and convince himself that he was reading into it too much-.

However, one day, Ruggie witnessed something that left him with a sour taste.

Someone, another guy, was sitting a little too close to (M/n) in class, clinging to his arm like a bitch. Damn dude was even flirting with him, completely ignoring what Crewel-sensei was teaching, therefore, distracting (M/n) too.

The (h/c) haired male seemed a little uncomfortable with how close this guy was, and he would attempt to back away every once in a while, showing an awkward smile.

This kept repeating itself, and whenever Ruggie would sit with (M/n) during class, at the cafeteria, or come and stay a little while at his dorm, he always felt a threatening stare on the back of his neck. Seeing Ruggie and (M/n) so close to each other made this mob character pissed, resulting in dragging (M/n) away from the hyena every chance he got.

Ruggie wasn't happy with that, and the week after, when he was coming back from bringing Leona his lunch, he overheard a conversation ahead of him. Mob-kun was talking to mob-two and mob-three, who seemed to be staring at mob-kun expectantly.

"Are you ever gonna confess?" Mob-2 said, and Mob-3 nodded.

Mob-kun only sighed and smiled brightly, "I'll do it today, since we're in the same dorm I'll just go to his room and ask him to be my boyfriend," both mobs started an early celebration for the new couple on campus, without noticing the twitchy ears hiding around the corner.

Ruggie felt his heart beating loud in his ears as his body felt heavy and cold with anger and anxiety. He had to do something, he couldn't risk it.

He didn't want (M/n) to date Mob-kun, not now, not ever!

Ruggie started running his way back to their classroom, since (M/n) had to stay behind for something Trein-sensei told him to do, so he was hoping he would still be there.

And he was.

Walking into the classroom with loud steps, Ruggie's breath was heavy and ragged, his mind fuzzy and cloudy, not really planning what he was gonna do, he just did it.

(M/n) looked up from the pile of books he had to bring over, and he took a few steps closer to his best friend.

"Ruggie? What-?"

"Mob-kun is gonna confess to you later today and I can't allow that! You were my crush first, I fell in love with you first, I've known you for way longer than he, and, and..." With his (e/c) eyes opened wide in shock, (M/n) was only able to stare at Ruggie as his face flushed red, his blue eyes getting teary as he moved his arms around frantically, as if trying to get his point across, which he did but not because of his exaggerated, rapid movements, "I won't let him take you away from me! You're... You're mine and I should've done something to prevent this from happening but-"

Feeling his body getting covered with goosebumps as he processed what was being said to him, (M/n) started calling out Ruggie's name over and over again to no avail, he wasn't even paying attention anymore, spilling out all the words and feelings he had been bottling up for many years now. His small body was shaking, whether it was from adrenaline, anger, or anxiety, he wasn't too sure.

"Ruggie..." Sighing as he realized his attempts at getting his attention were futile, (M/n) stepped close enough to bring him closer by his waist, his other hand cupping Ruggie's face as he leaned down to kiss him.

Wide, bright blue eyes stared at him in surprise, and the moment their kiss broke the eye contact was inevitable, a darker red blush colored Ruggie's face as he snapped back to reality, realizing what just happened and everything he said without thinking.

His first instinct was to press his face against (M/n)'s chest instead of running away. He felt safe in his arms and it had been so long since the last time they hugged.

"Are you done now? I wanted to say something too, y'know?" Gently holding Ruggie's face, (M/n) made him stare up at him, the glossy look in his beautiful blue eyes made his heart pound faster and louder. He leaned down, pressing their foreheads together, and softly whispered, "I love you, Ruggie, I've always loved you... Since that day when you talked to me and asked me if I wanted to play with you."

Ruggie blinked, baffled at the confession. Has (M/n) really been in love with him for that long? Yes, he's always loved him, unconditionally, but he was too scared to say something earlier.

"And I'm... beyond happy to know that you like me back," hugging his smaller body, (M/n) hid his face in Ruggie's neck, even if he had to bend down a little further.

Smiling wide as happy tears ran down his face, Ruggie hugged (M/n) back, tighter than he's ever hugged him before.

"I'll never stop loving you, (M/n), so... we'll be happy forever."

Extended ending

"...Who's Mob-kun, by the way?" Ruggie blinked a few times before pulling away from their hug with a small chuckle.

"No one, now," holding onto (M/n)'s hand, Ruggie started heading to the door, "Let's go to the cafeteria before lunch break is over."

#ruggie bucchi #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x male reader #male reader #one shot #reader insert #x reader #fluff #ruggie bucchi x male reader #twst ruggie #.mackjlee9 writes #ruggie bucchi x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #twst x male reader

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mariaofdoranelle · 1 year

Text

Cowboy Like Me

Merry Yulemas, @morganofthewildfire!!

This fic stands somewhere between your answer to that post, an Evermore song (for obvious reasons), Arobynn being Arobynn (though mine isn’t near as bad as yours), and angst (as much as I could, probably not much)

I stepped out of my comfort zone a lot to write this one, but I’m excited about it! It was really fun to write, and I hope you have fun reading it too ❤️

Word count: 7,5k

Warnings: cursing, light smut, Arobynn, mentions of addiction, blackmailing, one punch

Disclaimer: this fic does not contain actual cowboys because I think it was a metaphor in the song and they’re not my area of expertise lol for actual cowboy content, please check @leiawritesstories’ fics

The tennis court was covered up with some tent-like thing, Aelin could finally pay attention now that her son was entertained by one of the games. They were in a Beltane celebration at his school, and she liked to keep a close eye on her little terror.

Most moms liked to sit a bit far and gossip while the school’s staff took care of their kids, but a mistake coming from Aelin wouldn’t be perceived the same, so she focused on watching Finn and kept it to herself, now that Enda wasn’t coming to these things anymore.

She knew she should at least try to have fun for her son’s sake, but she missed her friend. The gold-digger and the gay dad. Aelin and Enda made quite the outcast duo.

“Galathynius.”

Aelin glanced away, no need to look at the person to know who it was, since he was the only one who refused to call her by her husband’s name. She had no idea why, though. Aelin knew damn well what Enda’s cousin was after when he took over Aidan’s school responsibilities, and she was sure she wasn’t part of his plan.

“It’s Hamel,” she said in a stern voice and looked back at the kids. “No moms for you to seduce today?”

“I’m on it.”

Aelin sighed and finally looked him in the eye. “I’m not divorced, you know?”

He raised his eyebrows. “I’m not following.”

“Isn’t that your type?”

The corner of his lips twitched before he answered, “Married isn’t my usual option, but I don’t discriminate.”

Refusing to engage in whatever he was thinking, Aelin turned back to watch the kids. That was one of the reasons she missed Enda. Befriending him felt comfortable. Enda felt safe. Enda didn’t try to flirt with Aelin and make her remember she had a husband that definitely wasn’t waiting for her at home.

This wasn’t a recurrent issue, since Rowan preferred to give his attention to the single moms. Not that she cared about it. It just irked Aelin that while she was criticized for marrying into wealth, the same people would praise Rowan for caring so dearly about his little cousin — and trying to do pretty much the same as her in the meanwhile.

A clear of his throat. “You don’t seem to be enjoying the party.”

“I’m watching my son.”

“The email was very clear about not needing to.”

Aelin sighed. “So what? You want me to join the ladies at lunch?”

He offered a hand and gestured to the parents dancing. “We could join them.”

Aelin didn’t need to look around to know they were being watched. As they always were. She didn’t mind the gossip and people having a low opinion of her, but her husband did. And she needed him to stay safe, so she had to care about appearances too.

“Dancing is a dangerous game.”

The corner of his lips tugged up. “I can deal with the gossiping moms later.”

Aelin didn’t doubt that for a minute. And she was well aware of the many ways he dealt with them.

However, before she could think, she took his hand and let him lead her close to the band, where a few people were dancing already. She didn’t recognize the songs, but they didn’t sound too strange either.

“I’m not sure I can dance to this.”

“It’s very Doranellian.” When they were both in place, Rowan said, “Just follow my lead.”

She let him take her hand and tried to mirror him, and keeping up with his precise movements took enough of her attention to make her forget about all the people watching them. When Rowan brought her chest closer to his, she feared he might hear her heartbeat pounding. When he spun her around, she could feel a small, fluttering feeling in her stomach. When Aelin was laughing by being twirled around, she saw the smirk on his face and a million red flags quickly replaced her joy. This was just one of his moves, wasn’t it?

When the song ended, she said, “This was fun, but I’m not sure what you’re doing, since I’m not your... target audience.”

He frowned. “What are you implying?”

“I’m just saying that Enda never struggled to be present at school for Aidan, but suddenly his cousin is all over the place covering for him, and in the meantime flirting with the rich moms. I find it very convenient.”

“And what makes you think I’m interested in anything but their lovely personalities?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Seriously? After Remelle?”

Rowan grimaced before saying, “You have a point, but the question is still there.”

Aelin shrugged. “Takes one to know one.”

A small, heavy thing tumbled into Aelin’s leg, and she knew before looking down that it was her son.

“Mommy! Can I go to the jumpoline? Please, please, please, plea—“

Aelin wiped some sweat off his forehead with her hand while answered, “Okay, where’s—“

Finn and Aidan both took off in a full sprint before she finished the sentence. Rowan was on her side as she leisurely followed behind the kids, but it was still better than the two of them dancing and touching and being that close to each other.

Sighing, she refocused on her son. Thinking about Finn was always a good way to keep herself on track. His strawberry blonde hair was bouncing as he jumped with anticipation on the line for the jumpoline. Aelin had to be careful with the pronunciations around his dad, but this one was way too cute for her to correct. Besides, the likelihood of seeing Arobynn anywhere near a trampoline or listening to his son talk about his day was close to zero, so it was a safe one to keep.

“He’s a great kid, you know,” Rowan quietly said while they watched the kids play.

“Which one?” she teased.

He chuckled. “Both, but I meant Finn.” Rowan sighed. “We were all concerned about Aidan being too withdrawn, but his demeanor improved a lot later. I think it has to do with Finn.”

The only thing Rowan could see outside was a small smile on Aelin’s lips, but her chest was blooming with pride. Her son didn’t do anything other than being a little ball of energy he always were, but still. Aidan was still a shy kid, but he was an eager participant in all of Finn’s shenanigans, the two of them thick as thieves on making her hair turn gray. Not that this was a concern for the Whitethorns and their already silver hair, though.

The boys eventually came back to them, and Rowan crouched down and whispered something on Aidan’s ear that made his eyes go wide. Like cascading dominoes, the little boy approached Finn and muttered something that made her son’s eyes sparkle, and he didn’t spare a second before hugging her leg and doing his best attempt at puppy eyes.

“Mommy, can I go to Aidan’s house? Please, please, please...”

As Finn uttered his string of pleas, Aelin squinted her eyes at Rowan, trying to figure out what he was tricking her into. She was in a really tight spot, considering how big were the chances of her son throwing a major tantrum if she says no. And apart from a suspicion, she had no reason to say no. So she didn’t.

Everyone seemed satisfied by Aelin’s confirmation of their plans. The kids bounced and cheered while Rowan quietly smirked at her, knowing his trick had worked.

This is gonna be one of those things, it seems.

They let the boys go on a few other activities at the school before leaving, time enough for Aelin to be sure about what she was doing and let her chauffeur know about their change of plans.

“That’s a nice car,” she complimented with a hint of curiosity when the kids were out of earshot, running towards Aidan’s small backyard playground. Rowan’s car blended in easily with what they usually saw at the kids’ school, but it was the kind Aelin only started seeing in her twenties, after exchanging social circles.

He tensed. “What are you suggesting?”

Aelin raised both hands in surrender and entered the house without waiting for him. Rowan was making jokes about hitting on the school moms less than two hours ago, she didn’t expect him to get uncomfortable when she was about to tease him about his fancy car. There was no reason to, since getting expensive gifts was part of dating people with expensive lifestyles. It was all part of the game.

Inside the house, one of the housekeepers was preparing snacks for the kids while Aidan’s nanny watched them, and it didn’t take long for the ladies to tell Aelin that Enda and his husband were away for a few days on a holiday trip. She frowned, disappointed. It had been too long since their last Wine and Paw Patrol evening. Aelin missed her friends.

“Are you that upset to be alone with me?” a voice that had been haunting her all day whispered on the shell of her ear, making her shiver.

Aelin looked around, making sure they were really alone and took one step closer, looking him in the eye. “I spent the whole day trying to figure out what you’re doing, Rowan.”

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Me too.”

Well, at least he knew it made no sense. Aelin knew what his goal was, and she had nothing to offer him in that sense. In fact, from Enda’s stories, she knew very well that her upbringing was a lot worse than his.

“You haunt me,” Rowan finally blurted. “I’ve always seen you, because it’s impossible not to, but there’s these little things...” He scratched his forehead and sighed. “It started when I’d stop everything to listen to Finn when he was talking about you. And then I’d get a funny feeling before picking Aidan up, and...” He threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t know, okay? I know you’re married, as you keep reminding me, but I can’t focus on the women I should be focusing on when you’re around. It’s annoying, it’s ruining my plans, and I can’t stop.”

Aelin thought her heartbeat was too loud for her to hear anything, but she did. Loud and clear. As clear as her awareness of Rowan’s pine scent and his breath mingling against her. One thing she wasn’t aware of: how did they end up so close. Aelin was given a choice, and her answer would consist on that one step that was left between them.

Damn her for feeling like this after one spark of attention. Damn her for letting Rowan put her in a position like this. Damn her for needing to hold on to her marriage for safety.

Aelin rested her forehead on his and sighed. “I’m married.”

“Like I’ll ever forget.”

“I’m not reminding you, I’m reminding me,” she whispered.

Rowan chuckled, but it sounded a little too bitter. “I think that makes it even worse.”

“Yes, it does.” Aelin said while slowly running her shaky hands up Rowan’s chest, until they reached his neck.

“You don’t need to,” he rasped when she was closing the gap between their mouths.

“Yes, I do,” she breathed a millisecond before feeling Rowan’s soft lips on hers and his rough hands progressively holding onto her waist for dear life. It felt like each strong beat of her heart sent sparks through her whole body, and she knew damn well Rowan was the one to ignite her. He smelled like home and Aelin could say their bodies against each other was heaven, but he touched her like sin itself. She understood what he meant when he said she didn’t need this, but she did.

She needed his tongue against hers in a frenzied pace as he backed her against the wall.

She needed his hand pulling her hair to give him space to explore her neck, her small whimpers making him groan against the soft skin of her neck.

She needed their bodies stumbling together towards the spare bedroom.

She needed this.

She needed him.

˜˜

Five months later

No matter what Aelin told herself on that first day, it wasn’t a one-time thing. It wasn’t only one time a week, but she also couldn’t say it was one time a day either. There was no way to pretend that promise wasn’t complete bullshit.

Aelin blinked and snuggled further against Rowan, refusing to accept that she’d just waken up from the best nap of her life.

He kissed her forehead. “Did you get a good nap?”

She nodded and hugged him tighter. Rowan was the best human pillow. Remembering what they were there for, she rolled them over and stayed on top of him.

“I’m ready now,” she purred while sliding her hand through his naked chest.

“I don’t think we have enough time left, love.” He rubbed the wrinkle of disappointment in her forehead and pecked her lips. “We can still laze around a little, though.”

The gym Rowan worked at was closed today for renovations, so they had planned to spend some time together in bed. Having sex, not napping. Not that it was the only activity they did together, but their chances to see each other were a lot slimmer when Arobynn was in town, which was currently the case.

Aelin had found the perfect excuse to leave the house alone and had put some red lingerie on, but she was extra drowsy by the time she got at his apartment, and this had been harder to avoid in the past days. Rowan didn’t seem mad, though.

Looking at the watch on his nightstand, they had indeed lost a lot of time, but not all of it.

“Can I counteroffer with a quickie?”

Rowan snorted and laced their fingers together, a small, silly smile aimed at them. “We can’t be late to pick up the boys.”

Just like that, her heart began to ache because of what he’d just said. It felt too domestic, too close to what would be if Aelin could be free. They hadn’t talked about it or discussed what their relationship meant yet, but it wasn’t enough to make her stop wondering.

The need she felt for him on Beltane had only increased, and it was frustrating how much Aelin was ready to admit she wanted more.

The fluttering feeling inside her ribcage felt a lot like love, and it scared her because it wasn’t part of her plan, and it certainly wasn’t part of his either. If he felt the same, which Aelin had no idea.

She had never looked for love, neither before nor after she fled Terrasen. Aelin knew someone out there needed love as little as she did, wanting only a pretty wife to smile at investors and senators as much as she only wanted someone to provide for her.

In the end, the only thing love did was cloud your judgement and keep you off track of what matters. Her goal was keeping herself and Finn safe. There was nothing more important than that. Aelin had no idea what she was doing with Rowan, but she also didn’t have it in herself to stop.

“Come back to me,” he interrupted her thoughts, gently stroking her jaw with his thumb.

She shook her head, trying to focus back on their moment, and looked at his watch again.

“I have 23 minutes to blow your mind,” she purred before kissing down his body.

˜˜

The kids’ shrieks were quieter than usual from the huge playground where the pickup was, probably because most of them had left already. Rowan sat quietly on a bench alone, watching Finn and Aidan go wild on the merry-go-round.

The Whitethorns always waited with her son when she was late so Finn wouldn’t be alone, which always made her chest bloom with affection. She was never too late like today, but it happened often because Rowan always got there annoyingly early. She stood next to him, only stroking his shoulder for a second because it was the closest they could get in public.

“I’m sorry, Arobynn—“

“What about him?” Rowan interrupted her with a thick voice.

Aelin swallowed. “He was getting ready for a flight. That’s why I’m late.”

“Then you’ll have time to spare. Lucky me.”

She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to understand what changed since she left his apartment earlier today. The only explanation didn’t make sense, he knew that it got harder for her to—

“Darling, why are you taking so long?”

Holding her breath, her heartbeat skyrocketed the second Aelin felt her husband’s hand sneaking its way through her waist, gripping it firmly and making her spine go rigid. She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it.

“Why is he still playing?” Arobynn hissed through his teeth for only her to hear.

Aelin nodded and went to Finn. Sometimes she let him play a little more before going home, but he’d probably understand that this wasn’t an usual pickup.

As soon as she called her son’s name, he squealed and went running towards her, but his demeanor changed as soon as he saw his father there. Finn stood a little straighter and walked, rather than sprinted, towards Aelin. After he gently took her hand, the both of them went to meet Arobynn on the playground’s edge.

Rowan was still sitting with his jaw set as her husband carefully studied his sour expression. Aelin didn’t dare sending him any sort of silent message.

“Finlay.” He patted his son’s head the same way one would do to a dog and mentioned for them to leave.

“Bye, Uncle Ro.” Finn waved at him before leaving, Rowan’s face unreadable as he waved back at them.

Aelin wasn’t given enough time to read into this situation, though.

Arobynn tightened his grip around her waist. “I had no idea I have a brother. Care to explain?”

Her body was completely stiff when she answered, “He’s Aidan’s uncle, Finn must’ve copied how he’s called.”

Frowning, he turned his face to Aelin completely. “Who’s Aidan?” She didn’t get to answer him though, since Arobynn gazed at one old car and scoffed. “This school doesn’t seem near as exclusive as I was told it’d be.”

Following his gaze, Aelin hoped he didn’t notice her small, unavoidable smile. Rowan stopped using his fancy car not long after they started seeing each other. She didn’t know why, but her chest still swelled with triumph when she saw him driving something that wasn’t given by another woman. It was silly, she knew it, but Aelin was possessive enough to be jealous of women who could give him all the things she couldn’t.

“Mommy, I’m hungry,” Finn murmured to her when they were inside the car. “Can we have pisspaghetti when we get home?”

“Of course, baby,” Aelin said while brushing his hair back with her fingers, trying not to chuckle.

Arobynn cleared his throat, his expression displeased.

“Finlay,” he got his son’s attention, not noticing how stiff his shoulders looked when he was called by his full name. “How’s your speech therapist?”

“What’s a speesh dewapist?”

Arobynn’s phone started ringing, one small blessing, but his stern look said everything he couldn’t while on the phone. Fix this.

She wouldn’t even bother telling him that mispronunciations were expected for a four-year-old.

Aelin’s shoulders sagged in relief when she saw her husband’s private jet from the window. Arobynn’s trips were a small blessing between all the monitoring and unfulfilled expectations. She was well aware she had the life of her dreams, but sometimes it felt like a curse.

His company was about to launch in Wendlyn, so he was needed a lot there. Aelin stayed in Doranelle for Finn, since leaving Rifthold had been distressing enough for him. If they moved to every country Arobynn was needed, they’d become nomads. There was also another reason she wanted to stay at Doranelle longer, but it wouldn’t please her husband in the slightest.

“It’s good to be with my family.” He raised an eyebrow at Aelin after loading his baggage. “I travel a lot, but I never forget that we need each other.”

“Good.” Aelin sent him a small smile, hoping that she didn’t look thrown off. She knew exactly what Arobynn was implying, and he knew that. He always made sure she did.

He scooted closer so Finn wouldn’t hear and placed a strand of Aelin’s hair behind her ear. “You family needs you right here with us. Do you think it would be fair to little Finley to grow up with his mommy in jail?”

Aelin immediately paled, and her reaction made her husband smile. It was what usually happened after Arobynn reminded of the chokehold he had on her, but he’d never stop reveling on her panic.

“Behave,” was the only thing he said after a soft kiss on her cheek and a pat on Finn’s shoulder.

Fiddling with her wedding ring, Aelin took deep breaths as she watched Arobynn’s plane fly away. She was safe. Finn was safe. She was free to care for him. They were both safe. The only thing that made her stop reassuring herself was her son not knowing how to read the room.

“Mommy.” He was poking at her leg incessantly. “Pisspaghetti?”

Well, it was very hard to say no to those puppy eyes.

On the drive to a themed restaurant Finn liked, he was babbling about his day at school, and it was hard to stay in a bad mood while hearing that squeaky voice filled with excitement.

Aelin was listening to him intently and asking questions when needed, but her attention shifted when her phone pinged. However, Aelin zoned out when she read what the notification was about, her heart dropping when she saw its content.

Your period is 50 days late

˜˜

Enda seemed surprised when Aelin came to his house, but his confused look turned to an amused one when Aidan came barreling in his dinosaur pajamas, rushing Finn inside.

“Tell me I didn’t forget today’s Wine and Paw Patrol day.”

Wine. Ha. It’d be a terrible joke if he had meant it as one. Aelin quickly apologized for showing up unannounced as she stepped inside, and her shoulders sagged in relief when she saw Arobynn’s car driving away.

Truth was, Aelin was panicking. Her fingers were shaking when she bought three pregnancy tests and sent to Enda’s address, and she hoped her voice and demeanor didn’t betray her when she asked to change routes.

Technically, she couldn’t be pregnant. Arobynn’s gossiping staff couldn’t dream she even suspected being pregnant, because her husband loved being a father so much he had a vasectomy less than a month after Finn was born.

She didn’t blame the house staff, they were paid to do that, but if they rattled on her even on eating too much carbs, finding a pregnancy test would be way too scandalous.

“Aelin, you’re pacing.”

She blinked and looked around, noticing that even the kids were looking confused at her. Forcing herself to take a seat in front of her friend, she took a deep breath, but even then couldn’t relax on the couch.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Enda’s eyebrows were squished together like he was trying to figure her out.

“I bought pharmacy stuff!” she blurted, trying to distract him until... well, Aelin had no plan, but she did know that telling Enda in front of the kids that she may or may not be pregnant of his cousin wasn’t a good idea.

“You do know I have pharmacy stuff here, right?”

Aelin’s phone pinged with the notification telling the delivery guy was almost there, so burst to the door while plastering a fake smile and saying, “It’s ladies’ pharmacy stuff, I doubt you have those!”

She heard a joke about Enda’s testosterone-filled house not having any ladies’ products indeed and got the bag with three little boxes inside, going to the bathroom as fast as she could go while still being polite.

Locked inside the bathroom, Aelin skimmed through the instructions and started the procedure. Her shaky hands and constant sweating weren’t helping, but she did it anyway.

Aelin had no idea what would happen to her, it could go anywhere between Arobynn suggesting an abortion — which she didn’t want to do — to kicking her out. And she was ready to face the consequences, as long as the two three of them were safe. But Finn… Arobynn had always been hard on him, and Aelin would never let her son pay for something she did. The same thing applied to the little one that could be on their way. Or not.

She considered waiting an extra minute when her timer went off, but it wasn’t necessary.

All tests were positive.

Holy rutting gods. Aelin was pregnant as fuck.

Fuck.

No, not fuck. This was good. Babies were good. Finn was the best thing that ever happened in her life, and she had no doubt this one would be too. But.

Her chest got too tight, Aelin’s numb fingers shaking as she threw it all away and remembered Arobynn’s not-so-subtle reminder.

Do you think it would be fair to little Finley to grow up with his mommy in jail?

Aelin backed herself against the wall, feeling dizzy. She couldn’t leave him. She couldn’t stay with him. She was a bad mom for letting her kid live with someone as heartless as Arobynn. She’d be a terrible mom for leaving him at his dad’s mercy.

A few knocks on the door didn’t ease much of her panic.

“Aelin, is everything alright?” Enda asked from the other side of the door, “You know, if you need help, I did marry a very hot doctor who’s—“

She startled him by quickly opening the door, wide-eyed.

“I need legal advice.”

After Aidan lent Finn one set of pajamas and the boys were tucked in because it was getting too late, Aelin was led by a still very confused Enda towards his office. Her heartbeat was pounding the whole time, and it didn’t help that it took a long time to calm down her little terror enough to make him sleep. The longer it took for her to discuss things with Enda, the more he sent her concerned glances, increasing her anxiety.

“I might be going to jail,” Aelin blurted when they were finally sitting face-to-face in his home office.

“Go on.” Enda’s brows were pinched together, his full attention on her.

Aelin took a deep breath. She had never talked to a lawyer about this, trusting when Arobynn said he’d take care of it, but it wasn’t working anymore.

“My mom started struggling with addiction when I was eight.”

She moved to adjust herself in her seat, but her knees were a little shaky. She scratched her head, trying to figure out how to explain everything. God, Aelin should’ve prepared what she was going to say.

After a deep breath, she continued, “Once, when I was fifteen, my dad let me help search the house for drugs after she went to rehab. He’d always spend days looking and flush them in the toilet, but I didn’t. I sold them all.”

Aelin averted her gaze to the wall, to embarrassed to look her friend in the eye now. Her cheeks were probably burning, but Enda’s gentle squeeze on her hand was reassuring enough for her to keep going.

“You see, my dad really loved my mom. I did too. But he loved her so much he’d rather get evicted than give up on her. He’d always pay for the best therapists, medications, rehab facilities, even when we couldn’t afford to. I don’t know if my dad ever found out, but I sold every drug I could find in the house to pay the bills, until I turned 18 and left to Rifthold.”

She didn’t notice she was crying until Enda handed her a box of tissues.

“Anyway,” Aelin continued, “I ended up known by some dealers, and one of them, Cairn, reached Arobynn after we got married and I started making public appearances. Probably recognized me from a magazine or something and decided to take advantage of it.”

Enda hummed. Scratching his jaw with pinched eyebrows, he asked, “What did you do?”

“Nothing.” Aelin leaned back on the couch and sighed. “Arobynn is keeping him quiet, as far as I know. He won’t ever let me forget about it, so I think it’s still going on.”

“You’re telling me you’re being blackmailed by two different people?” her friend asked with his elbows leaning on his knees now, his voice filled with concern.

Aelin swallowed, and the closest thing to a response she could give him was a shrug. It was too weird to say her own husband was blackmailing her, but Aelin couldn’t find another word for when he used her past to make her behave in a certain way.

“This is a lot to work on, but first…” Enda sighed. “Are you going back to Erilea?“

“I don’t know.” And she meant it. She wanted her family to be safe. As confused as she was, Aelin knew that. Apart from that, there was nothing holding her or Finn back in neither place.

“Aelin, we don’t have extradition treaties with Terrasen.”

She blinked. “What?”

“We can try to get you out of this of you want to go back there, but you can’t be arrested in Doranelle for something you did in Terrasen. If you stay, you’re free.”

Aelin blinked, her body completely frozen as she tried to process what he’d just say.

You’re free

These two words running around her mind over and over again. She’d never get tired of them.

Dear Mala.

She was free, wasn’t she?

˜˜

It was Aelin’s first day being poor after seven years, and she couldn’t be more excited about it. She even rode the bus. Thrice!

Well, Enda did offer his car, but it’d also be her first day behind a wheel in seven years, so she didn’t trust herself with it.

Last night, after talking with Enda, he offered his place until she had her things figured out, so Aelin packed her and Finn’s essentials as quickly as she could and came back. Arobynn probably knew she’d left his mansion with two suitcases by now, but thankfully he hadn’t reached out.

She decided to contribute by dropping the kids at school, and only then realized she had no driver, no valid drivers license, and no money to pay an uber to a school that far. But she did have enough money in her wallet to pay the bus, which reminded her she needed a job. Immediately.

And her lack of job made Aelin think of another thing she needed. Silver hair, green eyes, muscles for days, father of her unborn baby. Yes, him. Aelin had just started figuring things out on how to rebuild her life, but one thing she was certain of is that she wanted him with her. Restarting together.

Apart from a job, Rowan and her kids, Aelin didn’t have much plans. When she was younger, the only thing she dreamed of was what she liked to see in the movies — pretty gowns, elegant parties, shopping for days on end —, but now that she already knew what it was like and the price that came along with it, what she needed was a calm, comfortable life with her family. Preferably with Rowan on her side.

The school looked exactly the same as it did yesterday and every other day when she got there, but it felt completely different to Aelin. Probably because she felt completely different.

Her eyes quickly spotted Rowan leaning against a column with crossed arms while he watched the playground.

His greeting lacked enthusiasm, and she had just remembered they weren’t in the best terms yesterday. She hoped her news would change it, though.

“I made a decision, and I need you to make one too.”

He hummed while nodding. “What did you decide?”

“I left Arobynn.”

Rowan’s head took a sharp turn her way, his eyes wide. “You... what?”

And that’s when a fist slammed into his jaw, making him stagger backwards when she noticed Lyria Desrosiers’ husband, who was currently fuming.

Rowan didn’t fight back. He had his hands up in surrender as he dodged another punch when the school’s security pulled them apart. Aelin just stared at the scene, too stunned to think.

“Stay the hell away from my wife,” Mr. Desrosiers barked with a reddened face and eyes bulged. The security guards let him go a moment later after he seemed a little calmer, and the only thing he aimed at Rowan was a mocking, malicious grin. “You can keep the car, though.”

Her stomach dropped. The car. Was it the car Rowan drove her in on the day they got together? Aelin guessed it had been a gift, but to have it rubbed in her face felt different. And why was Lyria’s husband only calling him out now? Was he... no, he wouldn’t be with the two of them at the same time, would he? Aelin flinched just to think about it, and that was when Rowan seemed to understand what was going on.

“Aelin.” His mouth opened and closed as he collected his thoughts. “You know I wouldn’t.”

She looked around, the whole playground blatantly staring at them, and she felt small, rather than New Aelin from a few minutes ago. The kids were staring too, and it was then that she remembered that her main goal was always to keep Finn safe. Mainly from having an incarcerated mom and being at evil dad’s mercy, but it also included avoiding witnessing public displays of violence.

Aelin took both frozen, wide-eyed children by the hand and left the school.

The boys only asked her what happened once, and didn’t say anything after she told them she’d explain it at home. Truth is, she didn’t know what was going on herself. Yes, it was pretty clear that Rowan and Lyria were or used to be a thing and she gave him the car, but Aelin was still trying to figure out what it meant.

His words from earlier couldn’t leave her head. You know I wouldn’t. It was pretty clear that he did have the affair, so did it mean that he wouldn’t be with both women at the same time? Why did Rowan care about her opinion on this when Aelin was literally married while they were together?

It’s not that she didn’t care about this herself. The thought of “sharing” Rowan made her want to pull out Lyria’s chestnut curls out of her head. But if there was something Aelin couldn’t preach him about, it was fidelity.

At last but not least, when Aelin made plans about her new life today, she’d never considered that Rowan might not want to join her. Even if he was too shy to admit it out loud, his goal had been clear from the start: marry rich. A jobless single mom born in the slums of Orynth was a far cry from that, and Aelin felt silly to think he’d change her plans for her. They still had the pregnancy to go through, but the reality of her situation was hitting her like a brick to the face.

Rowan’s car — the old one — pulled up close to the bus stop she and the boys were at, but she didn’t enter when he invited them in.

Aelin was frowning. “I’m the one who’s supposed to pick them up today.”

“No, Enda told me you were dropping them.”

Yeah, he was probably right. Her conversation with Enda was pretty much about dropping the kids at school, but she thought picking them up too was implied.

Rowan looked up and sighed. “Can you please just get in the car?”

They silently complied. Rowan silently rode the car. The mood was so somber all of them did nothing but stay silent, until Aidan’s small voice interrupted whatever was going on.

“Uncle Ro, why did he hit you?”

“I did something that made Mr. Desrosiers upset.” He looked at the boys through the rearview mirror. “But you can’t hit people, okay? Even when you’re really upset.

Aidan hugged his backpack and nodded. “What did you do?”

Rowan swallowed, his shoulders slumped. “It’s a grown-up thing, but don’t worry.” He quickly glanced at Aelin. “It’s not important.”

“But why did you do it if it’s not important?” Aidan insisted.

Rowan bumped his head against the seat and sighed, but Aelin interrupted to save him from all the questioning.

“Boys, what do you want today for dinner?”

“Pisspaghetti!” Finn shouted, and Aidan nodded in confirmation. Good. Whatever happened with Rowan, it didn’t mean she’d like to see him go through The Toddler Inquisition.

˜˜

When they got there, Enda’s husband wasn’t pleased in the slightest to hear about how Rowan got a swollen jaw.

“I told you picking Aidan up to seduce the moms was a terrible idea.”

Rowan’s eyebrows went up. “How was I supposed to meet someone while working at a men’s-only gym?”

“I could do pretty well in a men’s-only gym,” Enda’s husband scoffed, “And you could’ve used fucking Tinder instead of the school, man.”

“Okay, I got it, now could you please help me out?” He gestured to his jaw.

“What do you want me to do? It’s a punch, not a stab.” The doctor handed Rowan an ice pack. “I’ll go check on the kids.”

It was just Aelin, Rowan and another huge stretch of silence at the kitchen after he left. She knew she had things to discuss with him still, but her vision was carefully set on the fridge’s blue outer lights, even if he was sat on the stool next to hers.

“Lyria and I ended things before we got together. I even sold the car. No idea why her husband approached me only today.”

Aelin nodded. “Very honorable of you to stay faithful to a married woman.”

“You left Arobynn.” Not a question.

“I did.”

She could see his small nod through her peripheral vision. “Why?”

Aelin sighed, too spent to throw all her teenage traumas on him. It wasn’t only that she needed to tell him. Aelin wanted to tell him. But not now. Just remembering how emotionally draining it was to do it yesterday made her go into mental fatigue.

“It’s a long conversation, but what matters is that I’m free now.”

“Did he do something to you?” Rowan snarled, his posture completely tense.

“No,” Aelin lied while rubbing the back of his hand, trying and succeeding to reassure him. Technically, he did do something. But by the look of it, Rowan would be in Wendlyn to do Mala knows what before Aelin could explain everything. “I’m safe, I promise.”

More relaxed, he inquired, “You wanted me to make a decision earlier.”

Aelin scratched the back of her neck. “You see, I’m going to do a lot of rebuilding. My life, I mean. And I’m going to get back on my feet, and it’ll probably be messy, but I was wondering if you wanted to be there with me. Officially.”

“Fireheart.” He caressed her cheek with his thumb, looking deep into her eyes. “Of course I want to be with you. Officially.”

She beamed. “Yeah?”

“Sure.” Rowan brought their lips together in a quick, passionate kiss. “I love you.”

Aelin had no idea how to describe how she was feeling inside. Butterflies. A horse race. An inner earthquake. She cradled his face and kissed the tip of his nose, his lips, chin, and trailed kisses until she reached his ear and said, “I love you too.”

Grinning, Rowan pulled her by the waist and kissed her lips against the counter. What started as a joyful kiss got each time hungrier until she was sitting at the countertop and they were grinding against each other, Aelin tugging at his hair while he sneaked his hands underneath her clothes.

“Bedroom,” she croaked when his mouth found that spot between her neck and her shoulder.

Rowan grabbed the back of her thighs to carry her there, but stopped. “Do you have a condom? I think I forgot mine.”

“Too late for that,” she murmured.

Rowan only noticed what she’d just said when she froze first with the same realization.

“Aelin...” He carefully placed her back on the countertop. “What do you mean?”

What a terrible way to announce a pregnancy, she thought. But they were already there, so she might as well go on with it. Aelin took his hand, fiddling with it.

“I may or may not be pregnant.”

His eyebrows rose up. “You may or may not?”

Aelin ran a hand through her hair. “Look, I peed on the stick three times and they were all positive. But I didn’t confirm at the doctor, so yes, I may or may not. But there’s a good chance the sticks are right.”

The more she spoke, the more Rowan’s smile grew. “So you may or may not be pregnant?”

Aelin slowly nodded, still studying his expression.

“And you want us to be together?”

Aelin nodded with more confidence this time, encouraged by his cheerful expression.

Instead of saying anything, Rowan gave her a bone-crushing hug and pecked wherever his mouth could reach from his position. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Aelin gently kissed his lips and wrapped her arms around his hips.

He just carried her and kept lightly twirling around the kitchen, Aelin wrapped around him like a koala while they exchanged kisses and I love you’s.

˜˜

It had been three weeks since Aelin had moved in with her official boyfriend of three weeks, and she was already sprawled on his bed like it had been hers for years.

When Rowan suggested she and Finn would move to his apartment instead of staying at Enda’s, Aelin felt smug, thinking it was because he couldn’t keep his hands off her. Wrong. Actually, it was true, but he had an ulterior motive.

Keeping an eye on Aelin and the baby. And be cool Uncle Ro to Finn, since three weeks wasn’t near enough time to become a father figure. But they’d get there.

The thing is, the moment she dropped her suitcase at his place, Rowan became a mother hen. A dadzilla. A Buzzard.

For instance, in the name of “respecting the hormones”, he refused to wake her up from her constant naps, which made her miss cute moments like Rowan taking Finn to the park. She had just waken up to a picture of her son in a swing showing off all his baby tooth at the camera, and her chest swelled with affection to see Finn adapting to his new life so well.

Well, only new house, actually. The divorce process was still in the beginning, but Arobynn was still paying for Finn’s school, and getting back at Aelin wasn’t enough reason for him to want his own son. They still had a lot ahead of them, but Enda’s friend was an insanely good lawyer.

Two very different footsteps sounded through the hall, and Aelin didn’t have much time to think before the bedroom’s door burst open, hitting the wall behind it and making her cringe a little.

“Mommy!” her little terror squealed, throwing himself on the bed she was at.

Aelin chuckled and kissed Finn’s forehead. “Did you have a good time at the park?”

“Good! Rowan gave me chocolate juice.”

Rowan was watching them from the doorstep, a smile on his face as he got closer with both hands on his pockets. “That one loves chocolate. No idea who he got it from.”

Aelin smiled back, until she noticed something.

“Finn...” her eyes narrowed at his feet. “What do we do before laying on the bed?”

Her son only giggled in response, absentmindedly mocking her authority. She took Finn’s shoes off while Rowan carefully placed his boots beneath her bed, then the three of them were just lazying in bed.

Aelin’s quivering pregnancy stomach was under control. Finn quickly fell asleep from being too worn out, but he mentioned wanting pisspaghetti for dinner at the park. She was starting a new job tomorrow, and Rowan needed to be sure for the umpteenth time that she wouldn’t overexert herself in her sedentary work.

This. This was the thing Aelin didn’t know she wanted her whole life. As they spent just another Sunday together, she knew she was never gonna love again.

TAG LIST

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#rowaelin #throne of glass #rowaelin fanfiction #rowan x aelin #rowan whitethorn #aelin ashryver galathynius

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blackbutler-readerinsertsandjunk · 8 months

Note

(separate) Headcanons of the P4 and/or their fags (excluding Arden) having to take care of their younger child-age sibling please!

When the cricket tournament ended the day, and everyone already went home, they find their little sibling when they're cleaning up, in the pitch or hiding under a table and eating, not knowing they overstayed their welcome

And now they have to watch them until someone comes to pick them up, but the kid has to be carried or holding their hand, or they're going to wander off and the last thing they want is a child disappearing in their very big school full of stairs

that very last line is fucking sending me

THEIR VERY BIG SCHOOL FULL OF STAIRS

I don't know why but it's making me laugh so much, so uh-

also this was too many for a headcanon set (my limit for those is 5 characters) so I did reaction-style instead, hopefully it's still what you're after!

Ah, damn, he can’t believe he forgot about his sibling! Eh, well, to be fair, he’s pretty sure one of his parents was supposed to take the kid home, weren’t they? Although he could understand his father ‘forgetting’ a child, he can’t imagine his mum not realizing she left without them. While he might be a little frustrated, he still does what has to be done in looking after them until his mum gets there. He’d prefer to just hold their hand; if they insist on being carried, though, he’ll do it. It’s also possible one of his friends may end up holding the kid for a few minutes… at least his friends are trustworthy!

Tsk… he knows this has to be his stepmother’s doing, because his father wouldn’t dream of leaving his sibling behind if he’d known. He’s definitely bitter about it simply for the fact that he already knows the woman is irresponsible; this is just the latest thing. Of course, the last thing he wants is his sibling wandering off into trouble or getting lost. Despite that this shouldn’t have happened, it has, so he’s going to carry them round till one of his parents shows up. Whoever shows up undoubtedly finds him good-naturedly trying to gently wrestle his glasses back from his sibling who’s trying them on.

Oh, dear, what in the world has happened? Tsk, tsk, his poor little sibling, having been forgotten about! He’s not quite sure how it happened, but he’s glad they’re still here and safe. Munching away on something under a table. At least they’re alright, and he can wait for someone to come pick them up and take them home. It’s funny, because, well… even though this is his sibling, Joanne can’t help fawning over them! And Edgar thinks it’s precious, that his friend is willing to assist in looking after the little one. The child is his family, so he’ll carry them for a while… however… if Joanne would like to for a bit, there will be no complaints to be heard.

… Oh. This. Is not good. He doesn’t blame Lizzie for letting it slip her mind to take their sibling with her, of course, it’s just… somebody should have noticed!! He’s quite worked up about it, though he does his very best not to let that cause him to run away with his emotions. This is a problem with a solution, and until that solution comes to pass (until his parents or Lizzie come to pick up the little one), he’ll do what he always does: the right thing. He gladly parades around with his sibling’s hand in his, keeping them occupied by showing them his favorite parts of the university. If he does that, they might not even realize what happened. The fewer tears and tantrums, the better.

Goodness, this is quite the mix-up, isn’t it? Surely it wasn’t on purpose, so he has no ill feelings toward his parents. Things happen. One might assume he’s of a generally negative, poor disposition, but it’s actually not true, and never more obvious than when he’s trying to entertain his sibling. He smiles often whilst he’s holding them, and he never lets them out of his sight. Even when he hands them off to one of his friends for a moment, they’re back in his arms very quickly. Are there things he’d probably rather be doing, like painting? Perhaps. Does he still enjoy getting to spend time with his sibling? Of course. And until one of his parents shows up to collect the little one, he’s going to gladly soak up the extra time with them.

This is… certainly not a good look, for him or his family. He doesn’t really think it’s acceptable that this happened; there’s just nothing he can do about it. All he can do is look after his sibling and try to figure out the best way to keep this from happening again. Although he will be visibly unhappy with his parents when they show up, it’s not because he has to take care of his sibling. He’s actually delighted to get to take care of them… it’s just that he can’t believe his parents overlooked that they were missing a child. Still, he keeps his sibling’s hand firmly in his, marching them around the cricket field in cadences that manage to be both silly and serious. If nothing else, he’s a very good big brother who knows how to make his sibling giggle.

Oh! How unfortunate that in the bustle of everything, his poor little sibling was left behind! Normally his parents would never let that happen, so he knows it was a one-time accident. Plus, he’s positively tickled to get to spend more time with his sibling. He feels a little bad that they were hidden under the table and apparently still hungry with no one noticing! He’s fully prepared to just carry them around to keep them out of trouble, and also because he loves being close to them like that. He’s just so affectionate in general, as long as his sibling will tolerate it he’s overjoyed to cuddle them while walking. His parents will definitely find the two of them in the library, with Joanne eagerly reading one of his favorite (age-appropriate!!) books to his sibling.

Tsk… the mere idea that something like this could happen means he and his family need better ways of keeping track. He has so many sisters, it’s easy for one sibling to get lost in the shuffle. Well, what’s done is done, so he’ll have to think of a way to prevent it from happening again while also looking after his sibling. He does feel lucky to have a while with them that his other siblings don’t get, and although he’s forever unsure how to deal with it, the fact that they cling to him when they’re scared means that something about him comforts them. He’s… glad he can be that for them. The only thing he can do is try to keep them calm, walking around with them. Initial surprise aside, it’s really not so bad at all.

Aaaaah, no, his poor little sibling!! It’s alright, it’s alright, big brother is coming to the rescue immediately! He’s not particularly surprised that his sibling was left behind, in all the chaos of the day, but it’s his duty to look after them until someone can come take them safely home. Not only does he take his responsibilities as big brother seriously, he also adores getting to spend even more time with them, so this is a happy accident as far as he’s concerned. He carries them around and shows them every part of the school that he likes, and introduces them to all his friends. (He’s quite pleased that they give Maurice a kiss on the cheek!) When all’s said and done, once someone comes to get them, it’s most likely that Soma is placing his sleeping sibling carefully in Agni’s arms with one last farewell and smooch on the forehead. What a great day!

#Black Butler #Kuroshitsuji #Cheslock #Clayton #Edgar #Edward #Gregory #Herman #Joanne #Lawrence #Soma #reaction #platonic #familial #drama #fluff #MY BOOOOYS!!! I'M SOBBING #one hell of a queue

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aeonchangeling · 2 years

Photo

“So, what time is lights out?” Luz asked as they set their plates onto a cart. Said cart was being pushed by one of the floating bronze robots, collecting dishes, glasses, utensils and the fabric napkins to be taken back and cleaned.

“Eh, ten to midnight usually,” Danny shrugged, “Breakfast starts getting served at around seven for the little kids and eight for us teenagers.”

Hunter gagged on the last bite of a dinner roll.

“Wait… what time are we supposed to be up?”

“Yeah, don’t most classes start at eight AM or earlier?” Luz was now confused herself.

“Yo, at a normal school maybe,” Jake interjected, “But in case you haven’t noticed, nothing about this place is normal. The teachers ain’t gonna force a bunch of cranky teenagers, most of them with crazy weird powers, to wake up before sunrise.”

Hunter seemed to be staring in stunned silence and muttered something about six AM and his palisman chirped at him.

“I… guess it makes sense,” Luz put a hand to her chin, “Then what time do classes start?”

“Get this!” Randy had a semi-wild grin as he began to answer, “Nine o’clock! Crazy am I right?”

“That’s… late,” she didn’t know how else to phrase it. She’d never gone to a school that started later than eight in the morning, not even Hexside! “Well, it’s also in case anyone has a night terror and wakes other people up,” Danny shrugged. “Night terrors? What do you mean?”

Danny paused and stared at her for a moment, as if the answer was obvious.

“...Luz, most of the kids here have saved entire worlds, been in fights where the stakes were life and death, saw things that shouldn’t physically exist, met gods, and went through horrifying stuff… Post-traumatic stress disorder kinda runs rampant around here.”

“...oh… when you put it like that…” “Heck, I’m pretty sure I count as being dead already.” “Que?!” “Yeah, you saw my powers earlier right? They’re ghost powers!” “He literally said “Going Ghost” and “I’ll use my ghostly wail” when we were fighting the goblins,” Jake smirked as he leaned back, “Didn’t you figure it out from all that?” “It happened so fast I didn't process either of them!” Luz slammed her hands on the table and leaned in closer to Danny, “Ghost powers! Explain! Now please!” He blinked, staring in surprise… and then laughed. “Damn, I think my parents would like you. They’re always trying to learn more about ghosts!” “They are?” “Yeah, but not in a good way,” Randy butted in. “What do you mean by “good way” exactly?” Hunter finally decided to join the conversation. His palisman was now trying to get him to take half of a cherry it had pecked in two. He took it without looking away from the others. The boys looked at each other with the same exasperated expression, Danny sighed and explained, “They’re ghost researchers/ghost hunters. They want nothing more than to catch a ghost to dissect, vivisect or…” “Tear it apart molecule by molecule.” All three of them recited it in such perfect unison it reminded Luz of an old horror movie. She wondered if it was a case of them practicing, or they just genuinely heard it often enough.

“...wait… your parents are ghost researchers… but you’re a ghost? How does that…?” “Lab accident,” Danny shrugged like it was the most casual thing in the universe, “They actually made a portal to another world, but it didn’t work right away. When I checked it out later, it turned on while I was inside and ZAP! Next thing I know, I’m stumbling out, phasing through my best friends’ hands when they tried to catch me, and there’s a swirling green portal behind me!” It was now Luz’s turn to stare, her eyes the size of their dinner plates and jaw hanging wide open. “Your parents… made a doorway… to another world?” “Yup,” he nodded, “It’s called the Ghost Zone, Ford classifies it as an “Underworld” and apparently, it has more doors leading in and out of it than most other ones he’s come across.” “Really?” “Yeah, but they open and close at random, so unless you build one yourself, it’s next to impossible to know where one’ll be. And apparently it’s one of the places people actually go when they die, but it isn’t the only one.” Something slammed on the breaks in Luz’s brain, the wheels screeched loudly and crashed into a concrete wall. “Wait hold on! Did you… did you just say… it’s one of the places… implying there’s more than… oh man… are you saying there’s more than one afterlife?” “That’s what we’ve found so far, yeah, but Ford’s only done a little bit of research into it so we don’t know a whole lot yet. Let alone how someone ends up in one place over another after they die.” Luz could feel her head spinning, overwhelmed by such reality changing information in what had to be, at most, a minute and a half of conversation. “...is that a big deal here?” Hunter’s voice pulled her out of her head and back to reality. By all things good, sane and reasonable… he had no idea how loaded his question was.

“Hunter… humans have been fighting and debating over what happens to us when we die since before recorded history… it’s… saying it’s a huge thing doesn’t even come close to how big it is. The idea of there being more than one afterlife is earth shattering! Entirely new religions could spring up from this fact alone! Wars could-”

“What do you mean spring up? What, do you have multiple belief systems or something?”

She was a little annoyed that her tangent about potential conflict had been cut short, but her brain was still spinning inside her skull. She decided to focus on the conversation in front of her and remain grounded, rather than try to go further down the rabbit hole. She took a long, deep inhale through her nose, folded her hands together and exhaled her answer.

“Yes, actually.”

At this, his eyes visibly grew bigger. In an instant she realized that such an idea had never occurred to him before.

“Wait… what? But… don’t you know what made you? Who made you?”

“Not… exactly? Some religions believe a god or multiple gods made us, but scientifically speaking, we probably evolved from some basic life form over the course of millions and millions of years… it’s… it’s not like it is with the Titan.”

There was an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air between the two of them.

“…but… Danny-that’s your name right?”

The boy in question nodded.

“Danny said the others have met gods, so those beliefs have to be right.”

“That’s where it gets complicated.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a familiar redhead.

“Theodora!” Luz exclaimed, happy to see the pink girl again.

“Hey guys, glad to see you made it here safely,” she tossed her hair with a small giggle, “Sorry but I just couldn’t help overhearing what you were talking about.”

“Sure you couldn’t,” Danny frowned, “Just like you don't intend to brag about all the places and things you’ve seen.”

“Oh Danny, you hurt me! Honestly, Strickler told me their tour was interrupted because of you boys-he’s looking for you by the way, Jake- and asked if I could finish showing them around! I was just coming to get them when I caught what you were talking about. And as a globe trotting heroine, I think I can offer some uniq-“

“Oh for the love of cheese just get to the point already!” Randy exclaimed as he threw his arms out over the table.

“Hmph! Fine. Long story short, I’ve come across all sorts of creatures from different parts of the world, from very different religions and whose stories have something to do with that area’s beliefs. You know the story of Medusa right?”

“Well, yeah,” Luz nodded.

“I don’t,” Hunter looked frustrated at the question.

“Okay, well, she was once this beautiful woman who was a priestess in the temple of Athena, the virgin goddess of war and battle strategy. As one of her priestesses, Medusa was expected to stay a virgin as well, but being Ancient Greece, one of the gods couldn’t-“

“Don’t finish that sentence!” Luz yelled, covering King’s ears.

“Hey!” the tiny demon flailed, “I wanna hear the story!”

“Trust me buddy, you don’t wanna hear this!”

Hunter went noticeably pale as he slowly began to realize what was about to happen in the story.

“Ahem… anyway,” Teodora sat down to continue, “She was… “attacked” by Poseidon, god of the sea, and because of the fucked up way the ancient Greeks viewed stuff like this, Medusa was the one blamed for the assault. As punishment, Athena cursed her, turning her into a horrifying monster with snakes for hair, and if you gazed upon her, you would turn to stone.”

“…and what does this have to do with our conversation exactly?” Luz questioned, holding a squirming King in her lap.

“Don’t you remember what I said when we were at your house? My friends and I met her.”

“…what?!”

“Well, okay, it was her ghost but still. Point is, us running into her proves at least two Greek gods exist, or used to anyway. Where it gets interesting is why we were in Greece in the first place.”

“Which is…!”

“We were on a trip around the world to stop Quetzalcoatl.”

Her arms suddenly went slack and King squirmed free, before glancing back at her in concern.

“…Luz?”

“I… I’m sorry… did… did you just say… Quetzalcoatl?”

“Yup!”

“…the Aztec god… that Quetzalcoatl?”

“The one and only!”

“…I… should I be worried about the lack of human sacrifices or-“

Hunter and King both leaned back in unsettled confusion.

“Nah, things are cool with him now, don’t worry, but it does prove that multiple gods from more than one religion do exist. Oh! And we also met Fenrir, ya know, the giant wolf chained up under Yggdrasil, AKA the World Tree? So you can throw the Norse gods in there too for good measure!” “...that’s three pantheons of gods… how does that even work?” “Well, best we can figure is each pantheon has a limited area of reach, and not every god that we have stories about actually exists. For example, the earth isn’t trying to eat us all so Cipactli probably isn’t real.” “...what’s a Cipat- Cipact- Ci- whatever you just said, what is it?” Hunter asked in noticeable frustration. “In the Aztec creation myth, Cipactli was a primordial monster that the earliest gods had to kill, otherwise it would eat anything they created. They then turned its body into the land but since it kept trying to come back to life, the gods made blood sacrifices to keep it from destroying their creations. It’s something the Aztec people later did as well… including cutting out people’s hearts.” “...human… I have a feeling she’s lying but you-” “She isn’t,” Luz squeaked, “I… I’m not an expert on all the details of the Aztec people but… yeah that’s all pretty much right.”

“…oh Titan I think I’m going to be sick.”

King laughed a little, but it sounded half-hearted. After a moment, Hunter piped back up.

“Wait… if you have multiple belief systems-“

“Religions,” Teodora corrected.

“Whatever-if you have more than one, then why aren’t there fights about them? About which one is correct or-“

“There are and have been. Even full on wars have been fought over it.”

Hunter looked like someone had smacked him in the face.

“…how do you humans survive?”

“Sheer numbers and being very hard to kill in general,” Jake shrugged, “Either way, no one really knows the answers to any of those questions so we just do what we can to survive and enjoy it.” “...that’s one way of phrasing it,” Luz groaned, supporting her head in her hands. “Hey, all I know is that yokai like tengu are real and I’m leaving it at that,” Randy put his hands up, “My suit is made from the feathers of one.” “Tengu?” Hunter questioned. “One second, I know this one,” Luz put a finger to her forehead, digging through what she remembered of her favorite series, “Tengu, tengu… a Japanese demon, or yokai, associated with birds of prey like crows, they’re also associated with mountain tops and the wind. Theatrical masks depict them as having long noses, um…” “...how do you know that?” Randy asked in surprise. “...I…uh… like anime… and it isn’t always accurate… so I did my own research.”

“Damn… you’re good at it then.”

“You think so?” “Yeah, you got it pretty much right, though uh, the tengu connected to the suit seems to be the only one of its kind, we haven’t found any others like it.”

“Anyway!” Teodora was examining her nails as she interrupted, “We should probably get going if we’re gonna finish that tour. You boys wanna join?”

“Sorry, I got English tutoring in a bit,” Danny groaned, “I hate English.”

“I still gotta talk to Strickler and I’m supposed to be on playground duty so I’ll have to jump to that right after, sorry dude,” Jake shrugged.

“Ninja practice,” Randy rounded it out.

Teodora groaned, “Fine, I’ll show them around, on my own. C’mon guys.”

She hopped up from her seat and gestured for them to follow. They hesitated for a second before hurrying after her. “So, how are you guys liking the place so far?” Teodora questioned, boots clicking on the floor. It was the same question they had been asked in the doctor’s office. “It’s… definitely something,” Luz stated, “I kinda love it, dragons and all that, but it’s kinda crazy.” “Oh yeah, I heard about the goblin attack. How’s your leg?” “Well it doesn’t hurt anymore, Dr. Lake did a great job.”

“She gave us candy!” King chimed in excitedly.

Teodora chuckled warmly, “Yeah, she may be a doctor, but she’s a total mom first. Woman’s an angel on Earth, I tell ya.” Luz smiled at this. “Is she the only member of medical staff here or are there others?” “Well… kinda,” she did the so-so gesture with her hand, “There’s at least one other guy here, but he’s not an actual doctor.” Luz’s mind instantly went to an anime she liked, one of the characters was a back alley doctor who did several illegal medical procedures for a pharmaceutical company as well as the mob… oh and how he was in love with a Dullahan who rode a motorcycle! “...Teo… is there an unlicensed doctor working here?”

“Psh! What? No, nothing like that! One of the guys just has healing powers is all! Not a perfect cure all for every medical thingy out there, but it’s good to have it on hand if there’s ever an emergency.” “...there’s someone here who can use healing magic?” Hunter asked, seemingly intrigued. “Yep, he’s a total sweetheart too, but he can only heal injuries and that’s it. Things like infections and viruses are completely outside his ability to do anything about. That’s usually why we go to Dr. Lake first before asking him for help. Like, if someone has a blood clot or something, his powers would risk making it worse.” Luz’s eyes widened, she had never considered that. When you hear “healing abilities” you think of cuts and broken bones, not nuanced medical issues. “What’s a blood clot?” They both stopped and stared at Hunter, she mentally noted this was starting to become a pattern. “...you seriously don’t know?” Luz asked, looking mildly concerned. “No… why, should I?” “...I guess it makes sense you don’t know, the Boiling Isles didn’t exactly have the right tech to start understanding clots or how they’d work. I think I remember my mom saying something about doctors only starting to get an understanding of them in the 1920’s-” “And she’d be right,” Teodora had pulled out her phone and was quickly scrolling through what was probably a medical history article, “But to grossly over simplify for you Blondie, blood clots are how our bodies stop bleeding, close wounds and basically start the healing process.” “Doesn’t that take a long time though? Why not just use healing mag-” He stopped himself when he remembered where he was. His cheeks and ears went bright red for the second time that day. “Uh, nevermind.” “Okay, now there’s something I gotta ask!” King raised his arms up high, “How the heck do you guys deal with boo boos here? If you don’t have healing magic, how do you make them go away?” “...we just put bandages on them and wait,” Teodora answered. “...but band aids come from the Healing Coven, don’t they?” “Not ones in the human realm buddy,” Luz scooped him up, “They just go over the boo boo and our bodies heal on their own with time. The band aids are meant to stop the bleeding and keep it clean so it doesn’t get infected, which would be even worse.” She noticed Hunter lightly touch the scar on his cheek.

“Okay, so, enough medical stuff, we’re here on a tour aren’t we?” Teodora announced, “C’mon, I’ll show you to the playground, I bet this little cutie would just love it!” She booped King on his little skull nose, making him giggle. “That actually sounds like a great idea,” Luz smiled, “Are there a lot of other little kids here?” “There’s some, most of them are here with an older sibling but there’s a few exceptions.” She looked at King… yeah… yeah, that tracked.

“Just be nice to the other kids when you play with them,” she told him as Teodora led them through the mansion and to the backdoor. Luz didn’t know what to expect when they walked out, but it certainly wasn’t this. The backyard was truly massive, and like the front of the mansion was surrounded by the towering wall fence. However, it was not nearly as impressive as what was in the center, like some prominent gem in a crown. The entire playground was new, in a way she had never seen before. She had seen new equipment be added to parks and playgrounds at the schools she attended, but she had never seen one where absolutely everything was new. There were no signs of rust, age, wear or tear, the paint was still strong, saturated and vibrant, nothing sagged, it had barely been touched. It had everything you’d expect from a playground, swings, a slide, a seesaw, monkey bars, and a single large structure in the middle that was perfect for games of tag or hide and seek. There were fewer than twenty little kids running around, ranging from early elementary school to middle schooler age. A good number of older students meandered around, keeping an eye on the children. She could feel King get excited as he tried to squirm from her grasp. “Yes… YES! This will make for an excellent kingdom to rule over!” “Later King, we still need to get the layout of the rest of the school first,” she cooed, “We can play tomorrow though!” “Hmph!” he crossed his tiny arms in a pout and squinted his eyes, which allowed him to notice something between the gaps in the playground equipment, “Hey, what’s that? Behind the playground.” He pointed a claw in the general direction of whatever it was that he saw. “Oh, that, c’mon, over here,” Teodora said, walking a few dozen paces to the right. From this new angle, they could see something… unexpected. A hole. There was a massive, crumbling hole in the back of the wall fence, debris and rubble was scattered on the ground from whatever had caused it. “...you… are aware that’s a massive security breach… right?” Hunter asked slowly, physically feeling his brain struggle to process what he was seeing, “Not to mention a general safety hazard.” “Well, yeah, technically, but nobody’s stupid enough to try and attack us. Besides, it makes it so much easier to get in and out of the forest this way. As for the safety thing, we just avoid the rubble, there’s a clear enough path in the middle.” “Is it that big a deal or something? The forest I mean,” Luz asked. She kind of liked the hole, having such easy access to the forest reminded her of the Owl House and eased some inner part of her that she couldn’t name. “Well the school may be weird, but the forest has all sorts of crazy stuff! Oh, and right past the wall, there’s a downward incline, and at the base, there’s a small clearing, so you don’t hit the treeline right away. We use that spot for target practice, projectile attacks, weapons, and our more… dangerous stuff. There’s more room there than the sparring ring, so it’s less dangerous for potential bystanders.” “Dangerous?” King questioned, suddenly very interested, “How dangerous?” “Well, if you got lucky, the worst you’d deal with from some of those attacks is broken bones, tinnitus, lost limbs, disembowelment, just to name a few.” “And that’s more than enough details for us to hear!” Luz interrupted, “Sorry to keep circling back to this, but you said that stuff in the forest was crazy, right? What kind of crazy?” “Ah right, sorry, got sidetracked. Well there’s a colony of gnomes, fairies, size-changing crystals, the “Jurassic Sap Hole” as Stan puts it, manotaurs-” “You mean minotaurs?” “Nope! There’s also an enchanted meadow you can summon that has unicorns-” “UNICORNS?!” She grabbed Teodora by the lapels and pulled her in way too close. “THERE ARE UNICORNS OUT THERE?!” “...okay one, chill, two, back up, and three, yes. Yes there are.” The squeal that followed was almost high-pitched enough to shatter glass. “Don’t get your hopes up though,” Teodora tacked on, “The unicorns that live around here are grade A jerks!” “JUST KNOWING THAT THEY’RE REAL IS ENOUGH!” Luz had seemingly lost all control of her volume and was even bouncing on her toes and flapping her hands. “...you’re really into this kind of stuff, aren’t you?” “Well uh, yeah! Sorry, is that weird, I-” “No no, it’s just… Most new arrivals don’t get this excited about all this stuff. They’re usually too overwhelmed by everything.” “Oh uh… well… I kinda always wanted something like this to be real, and after what happened on the Boiling Isles… I didn’t know if I’d get any of it back at all, let alone… all this!” She turned and gestured to the school. “...ya know what? Fair enough,” Teodora had a sauve smile, “You’re definitely more lively than most of our new arrivals, especially for one who was attacked by goblins not even three hours ago, but I like it! We always need a little more weird around here.” Something in Luz’s chest fluttered like a small bird. “That’s… really close to something my mentor told me once,” she rubbed her arm awkwardly, “She said… “We weirdos need to stick together” and… it resonated with me, ya know?” “Oh man, I like her already! And I’m pretty sure everyone else here would agree with her on that too!” Luz smiled and she felt King hug her. “Anyway, there’s still more to see, c’mon!” Teodora next led them to a heavily reinforced room, simply called “The Rage Room.” It had been made as a place for the students to vent their frustrations and trauma in a destructively cathartic way that was safe for all involved. She explained that sometimes the best way to deal with internal strife was to get violent, and rather than get into an actual fight, destroying a bunch of the robots that did the chores around the mansion was the best alternative the staff could come up with. The room was heavily padded, white cushions covered every inch of the floor, walls and even the ceiling! Two panels were left unprotected, one was in the upper right corner, the robots would apparently fly in through. The other held a large window for supportive loved ones to watch through, and to wait out the storm. She also explained that when someone’s trauma was triggered and those around were able to recognize it in time, it was common curetsy for them to guide the person to the room as quickly and as safely as possible… And then she showed them the construction grade noise canceling headphones. Apparently, screaming was common during some of these sessions and despite the room being heavily padded, it wasn’t enough to muffle the screams of some particularly powerful and/or heavily traumatized students. Luz had originally thought they had been overkill, until Teodora mentioned one of the students was able to scream so loud it cracked stone… It was also that same student had punched the hole in the wall fence… However, the part that disturbed her the most was the fact he had apparently been holding back on that particular incident. Luz was curious but also very scared of this individual. The next room they were shown was the communal TV room, where a single, massive, wall mounted screen kept company with a couch, a love seat, a coffee table and more pillows, blankets and bean bags than they could keep track of. Apparently, the students had regular movie nights, which regularly turned into sleepovers as they fell asleep huddled together and covered in snacks. It was currently occupied by two little girls playing video games, one in a pink dress with a yellow flower on it, shiny black shoes that matched her headband, and with blonde hair that curled up into a horn-like shape. The other had purple hair in a bob style that curled to frame the edges of her face, eyelashes so thick none of them could see her eyes, she wore a dull blue t-shirt with an 8-bit video game character, a pleated gray skirt, dark gray leggings and boots. This duo of Mandy and Gaz, as Teodora so helpfully named them, shot surprisingly terrifying glares at the intruders, as if warning them to leave. They wisely chose to comply. The room after that was locked up tight, because apparently, new students needed to prove they were responsible enough to be let into the Armory. King scratching at the door at the promise of weapons for his “new army” made Luz agree that rule was probably a good idea.

The next room Teodora wanted to show them was one she was clearly excited about, even running ahead a few times. This room was high up, requiring them to go to the top floor and into a hallway that was otherwise unimpressive. The only thing of note was a small door in the ceiling, the kind that led up to an attic. The pink girl astral projected herself up to the ceiling to open it and pulled down a ladder before swiftly returning to her body.

“This way~” she sang before climbing up quickly. The trio looked at each other before following her lead, Luz being curious, King excited and Hunter skeptical. What should have been a dusty old room full of boxes and forgotten possessions was instead incredibly clean… and held perhaps the coziest structure Luz had ever seen. It was a massive blanket fort.

There was no other way to put it, what stood before them was simply the biggest blanket fort any of them had ever seen, with the room being lit by fairy lights that hung from the walls. The fort took up a massive amount of space, the main body of it vaguely reminded Luz of a circus tent, with the whole structure seemingly supported by something within, and had seemingly grown outwards from there. “This is our personal project. Everyone loves this thing and sleepovers are pretty common in there,” Teodora explained. “It’s… huge!” Luz exclaimed, spreading her arms wide, “How did you-” “Some trial and error, iron willed stubbornness to make it work, and just finding the whole thing fun!” “Can we sleep in it?” “Probably not tonight, there’s still a little more for you guys to see, not to mention showing you your actual rooms.” Luz had honestly forgotten about them having dorm rooms. In her paperwork, she had confirmed she didn’t mind the idea of having a roommate, but now she wondered if she’d actually get one, if there was one even available, and what they’d be like. King would obviously be rooming with her, she wouldn’t bunk somewhere and leave him alone for anything in the world at this point! She also worried about Hunter, he had made his desires of a single room painfully clear, saying he had to focus on finding a way home over chatting with an unwanted bunkmate. He sometimes added that he was the Emperor’s right hand man and therefore was used to sleeping alone, even going so far as to sleep on the couch back in Connecticut when King and Vee had been more than happy to share her room.

“Now c’mon, there’s a few more rooms left for you to see.” Teodora’s voice pulled her back to reality and as much as she wanted to crawl into the blanket fort, she made herself follow. Exploring it could wait until she had a full lay of the land as it were. She led them to a door on the first floor and opened it, smiling brightly as she said, “This here’s the library.” The smell of old books filled the air and Luz smiled brightly. The library was on the large side, not as big as the one back in Bonesborough, not by a long shot, but it easily dwarfed the ones in her old schools. The room radiated with warmth, helped in no small part due to a fireplace with a stone hearth with a small fire flickering away. Bookcases filled the room, all carefully organized and sorted, with signs making it clear what each section was. There were the typical “Fiction,” “History,” and “Manga” genres, but the inclusion of “Magical Studies” and “Supernatural Phenomena” were far more eye-catching. It was all so cozy one could easily doze off and she loved it!

“...this is… quaint,” Hunter frowned, “Not nearly as impressive as the library back at the castle but-” “Sh, let me have this moment,” she shushed, “This is better than most human schools ever get.” “Ugh, books,” King groaned, “Boring. Nice place for a nap though.” “You say that as if we didn’t write a bestseller together,” she smirked down at him. “Writing is one thing, actually reading is another.” “Buenas noches!”

A Mexican woman stepped out from behind one of the bookcases and she was a vision of beauty! She wore a light green blouse and pink skirt with frills at the end with bright red high heel shoes that matched her lipstick perfectly. Long dark curly hair cascaded down her back like shining obsidian and her brown eyes sparkled like diamonds! Freckles danced across her rosy cheeks and gold hoop earrings complimented her face. Luz wondered for a second if she might be some sort of nature goddess in human form, she was just that beautiful. She instead settled on the idea she was just the kind of person who was naturally that stunning… and more than likely a favorite teacher to elementary school students, she just had a feeling about that one. “Buenas noches Maria,” Teodora smiled, “Don’t have a lot of time to talk tonight, I got wrapped into showing the new kids around and we still have a few more places to go before we’re done.” “Oh, that’s a shame,” the woman, Maria, said with a hint of disappointment, before looking at them with a smile as warm as freshly baked cookies, “Good evening children! My name is Maria Rivera, I’m the head librarian here at the school, but please, just call me Maria. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Luz fumbled with her words for a brief second before physically shaking her head to get it screwed back on right before saying, “Buenas noches! I’m Luz Noceda, i-it’s very nice to meet you ma’am!” Her laughter was bright, like the jingle of bells. “No need to be so formal, cariño. I know the school is a lot to process, but you can relax here. It’s very calm and grounded here, it’s an important part of settling in after all.” She would have chuckled nervously if King hadn’t decided to climb up onto her shoulder to introduce himself. “I’m King Clawthorne! Question: Is it alright if I take naps in here?” Maria chuckled at the forwardness of the question. “Only if you don’t snore too loudly.” “Yes! Perfect napping spot acquired!” Hunter rolled his eyes at the display before calmly approaching. This woman was the furthest thing from a threat that there could possibly be. Plus, he respected librarians, and he had no doubt he’d spend a lot of time here, reading whatever material he could get on the matter of returning to the Boiling Isles. Might as well ingratiate himself to her while he had the chance. “Good evening ma’am, my name is Hunter,” he held out his hand politely, “Golden Guard and right hand to Emperor Belos, it’s very nice to meet you.” “It’s very nice to meet you too,” she smiled at him and shook his hand. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a very boisterous and theatrical voice. “Maria, my good woman, have you seen my copy of a Brief Reconfigulation of Troll Lore, I swear I had it here just a moment ag-”

The trio froze when they saw the owner of the voice emerge from behind the bookcases. It belonged to a creature that was in no way, shape, or form, human. It was big, very big, roughly seven feet tall, with light blue skin, long ears, dark blue sideburns but no hair on the top of its head, instead having a pair of horns, and a flat orange nose that went up and down the center of its face. This did nothing to distract from the fact this thing had six eyes, all of which were a matching soft red-brown color with yellow sycra! It also had a slight underbite, causing its lower canines to stick out of its mouth. It had four stubby arms, equally stubby legs, old brown suspenders with a pack on each hip, and its body seemed to be covered in strange carvings. It was almost cartoonish looking but at the same time intimidating.

There was just a brief second of surprised silence from the creature before it smiled, opened that massive mouth and spoke. “Ah, hello! You must be our newest students! Welcome! I am Blinky, and I will be your Magical History teacher!” “...you’re a teacher?” Luz managed to squeak out. “Indeed! And what might your names be?” They were too stunned to answer, this Blinky creature had caught them so off guard that while trying to process what they were seeing, they briefly forgot their names. Their guide seemed to be snickering at their stunned reactions. Maria, quickly catching on to what was wrong, answered for them. “Blinky, this is Luz, King and Hunter,” she gestured to each one as she spoke their name, “Teodora here was just showing them around the school!” “Ah, excellent! Exploring the halls of academia! We always need more eager young minds! Never enough of them I say!” King, the first to snap out of his shock, pointed a claw and demanded, “Okay, what in the hecking name of the Titan are you!?”

A human might have found this question exceedingly rude, and taken offense, but Blinky, being anything but human, merely laughed jovially! “Oh I like you! As for what I am, I, my good creature, am a troll!”

“Wait… a troll?! As in the kind of fairy tales and stuff?” Luz asked, her brain finally catching up to the situation.

“To an extent, though, some of your human stories aren’t always accurate. Pleasure to meet you all!” “It’s nice to meet you too Mr Blinky sir!” she reached out and eagerly shook three of his hands before gasping, “Is your skin stone!?” “Indeed it is! All trolls of my kind have skin as such, though some other variations have flesh just a little less squishy than your own! Much like… oh what do you call them again? Calluses?”

“Whoa…! Wait, going back to what you said before… you’re going to be teaching us about magical history?” “Indeed, there are many major events that have taken place around the world that were kept hidden from as much of the world as possible, including the very fact that we exist at all! Not out of malice mind you, but for our own safety, and for humanity’s as well.” The way he spoke held an incredible weight that Luz couldn’t properly describe, but it was clear that whatever reason these creatures had to go into hiding was a good one. “...I’m assuming this is all stuff you’re gonna go over in class?” “Why yes, of course! Do not worry now, I’ll be more than happy to get you caught up with your new classmates!”

“Yes, even more jabber from him! My brother does love to hear himself talk.” A new voice joined the conversation, and another troll lumbered out from behind another bookshelf. He was shockingly similar to Blinky, being green instead of blue, with hair on his scalp, including a single shock that was snow white. However, the major point of notice was his six eyes were milky and unseeing. He was reaching his arms out to find his way, his head turning left and right. “Been that way ever since we were whelps, you could not ever get him to stop! Even Mother struggled to reign in that tongue of his!” “Ha! You’re one to talk, Dictacious!” Blinky growled, “You were worse than I could ever hope to be. And watch your tongue in front of my new students! Why if I were not so kind, you’d be exiled, out on your own a long time ago, don’t think I’ve forgiven you for your treasonous ways!” “Oh, you wouldn’t! We are family!” “Try me!”

The light blue troll threw himself at his mint-colored counterpart, knocking him flat on his back and began to wildly smack at him. Dictacious desperately tried to hold him back with his lower pair of arms, and fight back with the upper set. However, as it was clear neither of them were warriors, any attempts of hand to hand combat were reduced to the most basic attack possible! It was a nerd troll slap fight, and it was a hilarious sight to witness. “Oooooo~ the girls are fighting!” Teodora exclaimed in giggling delight as she took pictures, “New reaction images abound~!” “I thought this was a library,” Hunter stated as they rolled into a bookcase, “Are they supposed to make this much noise in here?” “Oh Dios mío,” Maria sighed, “No, but with trolls it’s hard for them to do anything quietly. You children should continue with your tour, I’ll break these two up.” “Aye aye Mama Rivera!” Teodora saluted before taking a few more pictures, grabbing the others and leaving, slamming the door behind them. “...are those going to be okay?” Luz questioned. “Yeah, they just have some bad blood between them. I never got the full story but their fights are always fun to watch!” To get to the next room, she led them to a massive bookshelf in the hallway, and she chose to make a point of how big and heavy it looked… Before swinging it open like a door on a well greased hinge, revealing an antiquated elevator behind.

“The last few places for you to see are down below,” she smirked, and Luz felt herself getting excited again!

Once they were all inside, Teodora pulled on the lever and they went down, down past the ground level, past where a normal basement should be, and kept going. As they continued downward, they noticed there was a small panel with about half a dozen buttons on it, going up and down in a single line. The bottom button stood out, due to the large number of notes stuck around it, all shouting warnings of “Do not press!” “Under construction!” “Incomplete!” “You will probably die if you press this button!” They finally stopped at an odd room, it was poorly lit, coming in shades of black, gray-purple and largely lit by computer monitors. The only brightly lit spot in the room was a large work table, but it was far too similar to a surgical table one might see in a hospital for Luz to find it comfortable. “First, we have the lab of our very own mad scientist, Jack Spicer-” Teodora began, only to be loudly interrupted. “That’s “evil boy genius” to you missy!” The red-haired boy from the sparring matches leaned out from behind a large console, looking miffed at the description of himself. In one hand he held the head of one of the school’s robots, in the other was a blow torch that was still very brightly lit and Luz tried not to look directly at it. “Oh c’mon Jacky, “boy genius” isn’t quite as grandiose as “mad scientist” now is it? Plus, I’m pretty sure your eighteenth birthday is due soon, if not already passed.” “What do you want, Teodora?” the boy, Jack, sounded like he was extending his patience already, “I have a lot of work to do and don’t have time for your dumbass games!”

“I’m just showing the new kids around is all,” she said in a teasing voice that was knowingly faking innocence.

“Yeah right,” he finally turned off the blow torch before turning to the newcomers, “Did she tell you I made the robots who do all the crappy chores around here?” “...no,” King admitted bluntly before Luz could even think to stop him. “Well I do, they’re mine, my own design and everything. If you break them, I’ll send a bunch of them after you and disable the killswitch.” “...what about the ones in the rage room?” Luz questioned, brow slowly raising. “Those are bought and paid for by the school. Once they pay me, it’s out of my hands. If they get smashed, they get smashed. Just means I have to build more so I keep making a profit.”

“...I guess that makes sense,” she said, “So… you’re really a mad-I mean-evil boy genius?” “You got it! Remember this face kid, because one day, IT’LL BE RULING THE WORLD!” Jack then cut loose with a shriek-y, high-pitched laugh, that made it very hard to take him seriously. “HA! You think that’s impressive?!” King pointed at the young genius before raising his arms over his head, “I’ll have you know that one day I, King Clawthorne, will be the king of all demons! I will be a great and powerful despot, my enemies will cower before me and my armies shall ravage the land in a wave of fire and brimstone! You can have this world though, it doesn’t have any demons.” “Oh, is that a fact, Fluffy?” Jack slammed his hands down on the table and leaned over the tiny demon in what should have been an intimidating manner. “Yeah!” “Oh yeah?!” “Yeah!” They glared at each other, leaning in dangerously close and squinting as they got closer until Jack broke the silence.

“...I think I like you.” “I think I like you too! Wanna be friends?” “Oh absolutely!” The two shook hands, leaving the teenage onlookers very confused. “...what just happened?” Luz asked after a moment. “Nonsense in its purest form,” Teodora sighed and placed a hand to her forehead. “Shouldn’t we be worried about him proclaiming he’s going to take over the world?” “Nope. He is exceptionally bad at it, he can come up with schemes or whatever but they always fail in the end. So we kind of just let him do his thing and then karma stops him for us. Despite that, Jack’s one of our super geniuses around here, when it comes to fixing things like cars, TV’s, consoles and computers, he’s the one we go to. However, he doesn’t do anything for free. You need to pay a price.” “And what price is that?” Hunter asked, his hand instinctively shielding his palisman. “Favors usually, get him some supplies he needs, some positive reinforcement if he’s down, maybe help him bribe someone… or just give him a few pudding cups, that always works.” “Hey I like pudding,” Jack meekly defended.

“We know Jackie, we know. Anyway, we have to get going, we have two more sub-levels before the tour’s over.” “Then can we finally retire to our quarters?” Hunter sounded a bit grumpy. “Yes Blondie, I’ll take you to your rooms once we’re done, don’t worry.” “C’mon King,” Luz sighed as she scooped the demon up, “Oh, and Jack? My name’s Luz, it’s nice to meet you.” She held out her hand to shake. He looked surprised for a second before smirking in a malicious way and shaking her hand. “Likewise.” She had a feeling he was going to be chaotically fun! They returned to the elevator and went down to the next level. This room looked like it came from another planet! There were strange computers and consoles in various shades of blue, with strange lights that seemed to be more decorative and aesthetic in nature than having any function. The monitors for the machines seemed to be panes of glass with unfamiliar programs on them, and odd, angular symbols floated in the air. The room resonated with loud rave music, making Hunter cover his ears as a strange orb that seemed to be omitting the music flashed in different colors as it floated past. At the main console was a latino boy, with curly brown hair that stopped at his shoulders, and he seemed to be dancing to the music as he worked. He wore a bluet-shirt with a soundwave on it, black sweatpants and white sneakers, a surprisingly mundane outfit compared to what they had seen so far.

Teodora was smiling as she tapped the multi-color ball, suddenly stopping the music and surprising the boy enough to make him notice them.

“Hey!”

“Hey to you too Krel,” she smirked, “I just needed your attention since we have some new kids that I’m showing around.”

“Aye aye aye, you had to mess with my music to do that?” he had a lovely hispanic accent, in Luz’s opinion anyway, “A simple hello would do!”

“You’d be too caught up in your music to hear me. It’s happened before and you know it,” she poked him in the chest for emphasis. “Ugh, can we just make this quick? I have a lot of work to do and three new songs to finish for my next DJ gig.” “Yeah yeah, relax, we’ll be out of your hair in a minute,” she then turned to the others, “Introducing his royal pain in the ass, Prince Krel Tarron.” “King-in-Waiting! King-in-Waiting! You know what I am! Get it right!” At this introduction, the trio has very different reactions “He’s royalty?!” Luz exclaimed.

Hunter fell to one knee in a genuflex, followed by saying, “Your majesty.” As for King, he scampered up onto Luz’s shoulder and excitedly exclaimed, “Yes! A fellow monarch! We can be tyrant buddies!”

Without missing a beat, Krel pointed a finger right in the tiny demon’s face.

“I do not know who you are or what you are but I will have you know that I am no tyrant! I had to save my people from a coup and my sister and I will never subject our people to the horrors General Morando made them suffer!”

“Chill your royal britches there buddy,” Teodora stepped forward, spreading her arms to separate them, “He’s only a little kid, Krel, he’s just playing a game or… something.” “No I’m not!” King protested as Luz put a hand over his mouth. The King-in-Waiting raised a brow at this. “Look, we just got off on the wrong foot,” she said before pulling the young demon off her shoulder before extending her hand out, “Can we start over? My name’s Luz, this is King and… uh… that’s Hunter,” she looked down at the witch in question, who was still on one knee. Krel looked them over, silently, before allowing a small smile to grace his features and took her hand, “Krel Tarron. King-in-Waiting of Akiridion-5.” “Oh cool! ...I… have no idea what that is.” “It’s another planet.” Luz stared blankly for a second. Three seconds. Five seconds. Fifteen seconds. Repeating the process she had done back in the dining room, she folded her hands together, pointing her index and middle fingers up as she took in a very long, very deep breath through her nose. “You’ve been to other planets.” “Yes.” “...and you’re the… King-in-Waiting of one?” “That is correct.” “...you went to another planet… not another realm.” “HA! Earth is the other planet to me! Akiridion-5 is where I’m from!” “...so you’re an alien…” “Yes.” “...I’m storing that information away to process later… but at the same time-” “Oh no!” King covered his ears, it was the only warning they got before Luz squealed in delight, though this time she had the forethought to cover her mouth with her hands. “...well isn’t she exciting,” Krel groaned, wincing at the muffled, high-pitched noise.

“Huh, she’s gonna lose her voice if she keeps this up,” Teodora stated, hands over her ears.

The excited latina took another deep breath, and with her voice shaking said, “Okay… Okay I’m good… but I’m going to have a bunch of questions for you later!” “Just make sure they’re intelligent ones, please! I get a lot of really stupid ones when you humans find out I’m from another planet!” “I make no promises! Such as… wait… this school has more than one super genius?” “More than one…? Ha! If you mean that hack, Jack Spicer, he’s barely a genius at all! I could outsmart that gloober at anything any day of the week!” “Okay… but why do you guys need your own labs? Wouldn’t it make sense for you both to share one?” “Again, HA! Double HA! Never in a million years would I ever share a lab space with that bumbling buffoon! He’s a threat to himself and everyone around him!” “That and super geniuses don’t like sharing~” Teodora half-sang, “It makes them cranky and they argue over who’s turn it is to use the wrench!” “THAT IS NOT IT AND YOU KNOW IT!” Krel shouted as she shot him the most smug grin she could possibly manage. “Not to mention their stuff is totally incompatible. Ever seen what happens when alien tech from another planet is haphazardly slapped onto magitech because two super genius idiots can’t keep track of their own projects? It makes space fold over on itself, the school ends up in a pocket dimension, and the teachers need to fix it so we can return to regular reality… oh and they both end up in detention for three weeks.”

There was a long, heavy pause. “...did that actually happen or is that just a hypothetical?” Luz squeaked. “You understood all that?!” King exclaimed, “Those weren’t even words!” “Of course I understood it! I’m a nerd of all colors, including sci-fi!” “Huh… I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Teodora smiled, “But to answer your question, it came close to happening. Ford realized what was going on and shut it down but it was a close call.” “Once! It only happened once!” Krel protested. “Yeah yeah, whatever,” she waved her hand dismissively, “Anyway, we had to add on a second lab before the two of them accidentally got us all killed. Now, we have one last stop before I can take you to your rooms, so let’s move it people!” She grabbed Hunter by the back of his shirt and with a hard jerk, began to drag him along the floor. She pulled him towards the elevator door despite his yells of surprise and protest at the indignity of it all! Luz watched the sight for a moment before turning back to Krel and offering a meek wave. “It was nice meeting you!” She scampered off after the others, and caught a glimpse of the young royal waving back before the elevator doors closed. Their final destination was the second to last button on the elevator’s panel, and was even further underground than the two labs. It came to a stop with a cheery ping as to a room that was different from anything they’d seen in the entire school. Large consoles lined the walls, many of them with bright glowing screens that showed some form of data being analyzed and processed. Others showed strange locations that were unlike any they had ever seen before, slowing all of them to a stop and making them stare. Among them were strange futuristic cities, a cave of fire, rolling fields of saturated colors, a black realm of swirling green energy and floating islands, an endless wood with strange lights and a world made entirely of chalk drawings. “Whoa…” “Those are just some of the worlds we’ve found,” Teodora smiled at their reactions, “Which brings me to why we’re here.” She walked to a doorway that had another, much larger console, covered in buttons and levers. It was connected to a massive black screen, indicating that whatever machine they were connected to was clearly turned off. Nearby was a window, looking into a massive chamber, but they only had a second to glance inside before Teodora led them into the chamber itself, which was seemingly made from an underground cave. Rock and dirt made up most of the walls, ceiling and flooring, but it was the machines that caught their attention. A few more consoles lined the walls, wires stuck out of them, connecting from one to another, pipes crawled up the walls and disappeared into holes drilled into the stone ceiling.

In the center of the room, a pole stood out, a single, bright red button stood atop it. Beyond it was a series of steps, leading up to a strange, upside down metal triangle, with a large hole in the center, that was ringed by strange symbols and markings. The strange machine was horrifyingly massive, almost the height of a two story house, a cable was hanging from the top of it, and a familiar figure was strapped into it, using a soldering iron on some internal wiring. “Hey Ford! You guys missed dinner again!” Teodora called up, pulling the man away from what he was doing. “Oh, good evening Teo! Sorry I completely got lost in my work and I-” He looked down and spotted the trio. “Oh-Oh my! You three! You’re here! Lemme just-” he banged on the machine with his fist, “Fiddleford, get out here! Our new students are here!” A panel suddenly swung open, and a wild-looking man peered out, releasing an equally wild laugh. He was wearing an old brown pair of overalls, a cast that covered most of his left arm from the elbow down with only his fingers poking out, a large brown, and brimmed hat sat upon his head. He also had a long white beard, almost as long as he was tall! “Hoo-wee!” he exclaimed in a southern accent, “Nice ta meet’cha kiddos!”

“Children, this is my partner, Fiddleford McGucket, he owns this building! We couldn’t have the school without his cooperation!” McGucket climbed out of the hole in the machine, crawling across it like some sort of strange gecko, and revealing he also wore no shoes. He made his way over to Ford and grabbed onto the cable that supported him. They lowered themselves down to the floor and quickly walked over to the students. “Our deepest apologies, we got caught up with our work and completely lost track of time! How long have you been here fo-” “Hours. They’ve been here for hours,” Teodora interrupted, “They already had a run-in with goblins, they’ve had the usual tour, met some of the others, and all that’s left is to show them to their dorms.” “Ah, gracias, Teodora,” Ford stated awkwardly. “We also saw your brother,” Luz added, “At the sparring ring!” “Ah, so you’ve already met Stanley!” “Well, no, we didn’t talk to him, we were watching and didn’t get the chance to actually speak to him, but we did think he was you at first.” “You two look way too similar!” King snapped, pointing at him. “Heh, well, we are twins, it runs in the family,” Ford smiled with a shrug, “Anyway, it’s thanks to his efforts that I was able to return to this dimension after being gone for twenty years. So if you see his less… pleasant side, please, just remember that he does mean well.” “Less pleasant side? What do you mean by that?” Hunter asked, suspicion dripping off his voice like venom. “That’s sibling talk for annoying habits,” Luz smirked. “We should know!” King proclaimed as the two of them fist bumped. “That and uh… he does have a bit of a criminal record,” Ford scratched his cheek awkwardly. “Pft, c’mon man, what did he do?” Luz smirked, “Speeding tickets? Loitering? Maybe a drunken brawl or two?” Ford looked very uncomfortable, McGcuket and Teodora however cackled with wild laughter. “...I’m nowhere near right am I? My mentor set a uniquely high bar for me.” “T-Try regular tax fraud,” their guide choked on her laughter, “Counterfeiting, shoplifting, voter fraud, reckless driving, resisting arrest, escaping police custody, trespassing, stealing from government property-” “WAIT WHAT?!” “And that’s just some of the stuff he did last summer!”

“Oh he would definitely get along with Eda!” King’s tail became an excited, wagging blur. “So he’s a menace to society!?” Hunter exclaimed in disbelief, “How can you let a man like that near your students?! He should be locked away to be reformed!” “Now now children,” Ford put out his hands to calm them, “Yes my brother has a checkered past but these days he focuses his efforts on the school and our students. If there’s anyone I’d trust your safety with, it’s him. Now then,” he clapped his hands together, “Enough about that, I’m sure you’re wondering what this is.” He gestured to the large machine he and McGucket had been working on, and a sense of great importance seemed to radiate from it. “This is the portal. It’s an improved version of the original one that sent me away all those years ago. This model is made with newer tech, and a better understanding of how the worlds work! Twenty years makes so much difference, but with the information we’ve learned from your fellow students, we’ve made progress faster than I ever could have predicted!” “Wait… this… this is it… this is the thing that’s gonna get us back to the Boiling Isles?” Luz asked, pointing quietly at it. “Yes, it is. It's the culmination of a lifetime of work and research, and once we can locate your world, you’ll be able to use it to return.” “It… It does work… doesn’t it?” Hunter asked, his voice choking. “Yes, it does, it just needs time to power up first. Obviously we have to turn it off when making repairs or improvements, and those take time, but it does work.” “...where did you get the Titan’s blood to make it work?” “Titan’s blood? I don’t know what you’re referring to, young man, but we use toxic waste to power it.” “TOXIC WASTE?!” Luz exclaimed in disbelief, “Isn’t that dangerous?!” “Well the kind we need is largely inert. You’re alright so long as you don't have prolonged and unprotected exposure to it. It’s like taking an X-ray, a single exposure won’t hurt you, but doing it twenty times a day for forty years will definitely destroy your cells and give you cancer.” She stared in disbelief at his analogy. “Spending too much time with Rick Sanchez there Fordsy,” Theodora said with a disgusted look, “Could have left out that last bit.” “Ah yes, sorry, the company I kept during my time in other dimensions wasn’t anywhere close to what you would call normal.” “Apparently not.” “Either way, once we have our current modifications to the portal done, we’ll fire it up and start looking for the isles. However-” Of course, there was always a catch. “We need as much information the three of you can give us about the world as possible.” …okay that wasn’t nearly as bad as the trio had been expecting. “Didn’t you go there?” King piped up, “You should know what it’s like.” “I only saw a small part of a singular town,” he explained, “And that was years ago, things can change very fast in a very short amount of time. If we opened the portal to that world but it showed us a location none of you were familiar with, we might not realize it’s your world and we’d continue the search elsewhere.” All of their stomachs dropped at that implication. “That’s why we need as much information as you can offer, any tiny bit of extra information might be the key to helping us recognize it.” “I… what do you need to know?” Luz asked, only to muffle a yawn as soon as the words left her mouth. “Oh, nothin’ right now youngin’,” McGucket piped up, “We ain’t even got the thing up an’ runnin’ yet! And ya’ll still need ta see yer rooms! Ya can tell us what ya’ll know later! Fer now, why don’t cha all head on topside to get some rest? It’s been a long day for ya and yer probably dern near ready ta collapse!” Luz had to admit he was probably right. They had been up early that morning, rode a plane across the country, had the worst car ride of their lives, went on a tour, gotten attack by goblins, met dragons, ghosts, ninjas, saw a fight, had an amazing dinner, and were only just now finishing the aforementioned tour. She was probably going to fall asleep the moment she laid down and the adrenalin had the chance to leave her system. “Teo dear, could ya-” “I’m on it!” She grabbed the trio again and pushed them towards the door. “Let’s get you guys to your dorms and then some sleep huh?” “I don’t need sleep!” Hunter protested, “I need to learn about getting back home!” “Trust me buddy, it isn’t going anywhere, and tackling the problem with a clear mind will be a lot better than doing it when you’re half asleep!” “...Luz…” King tugged on her legging as they walked, “Is that thing really gonna get us home?” There was a twinge of painful hope in his tiny voice. “...of course it will,” she had tears stinging her eyes as she said that, and a lump forming in her throat. She hoped it would. Teodora took them up to the second floor and to the hallways with the dorm rooms. They could hear others talking and laughing beyond some of the doors, some early to bed early to risers maybe? “This is your room Hunter,” she gestured to a thick brown door, “A single, just like you asked.” “Thank you, Teodora,” he said stiffly but politely before entering, “Goodnight.” He closed the door with an audible click, soft enough to not be disturbing to others on the floor but loud enough that the three left in the hallway could hear some force in it. “Hmph, Mr. Personality right there,” she frowned. Luz’s room was in the other hallway. The door was the same as all the rest, but just standing there, staring at it… it felt heavier somehow, without her ever touching it. She took a deep, shaky breath, before reaching out and opening the door. It wasn’t quite as simple as she had been expecting it to be. To the left was a queen sized bed with pale blue sheets and a matching comforter, decorated with at least six pillows and drawers for clothes underneath. A small bookcase sat at the foot of the bed, waiting to be filled, and the wall beside it was also bare, ready to be decorated and personalized. Her bags were sitting next to the bed, as if they had been waiting for her this whole time. On the right hand side was a loft bed, with a small desk under it, books and clothes were scattered haphazardly around that half of the room. A short string of fairy lights hung around a small cork board that hung on the wall that the desk was pressed against, a small lamp stood on it, illuminating a small collection of books. They seemed to primarily be on coding, but there were also a few textbooks on advanced math Luz couldn’t quite recognize. “Oh, hey, you’re here.” From the top of the loft bed, a smiling face looked down at them before heading to the ladder and hurriedly climbing down. It was a girl, maybe a little younger than Luz but she couldn’t be sure due to her height. She had autumn red hair tied back into a ponytail, black framed glasses, was wearing a red and tan letterman jacket over a burgundy hoodie and blue jeans. “You must be my new roommate!” “Uh, yeah, I’m Luz Noceda, and this is King Clawthorne.” “Hiya!” the little demon waved. “Whoa, talking stuffed animal!” “I’m a demon!” he corrected. “Ah, demon, got it, sorry. I’m Tulip Olsen, nice to meet you both,” she smiled, holding her hand out, Luz was happy to shake it. “I’ll leave you guys to settle in and bond,” Teodora smiled as she headed for the door, “Get along guys!” She closed the door behind her and they were alone.

“So…” Tulip looked at them awkwardly. “Um… before we talk or anything, is it alright if I call my mom first? I promised her I would and it’s getting late back home, she’s probably worried by now.” “Oh yeah sure, go ahead.” “Thanks…” Luz opened up her bag and pulled out her phone. She quickly opened up her contacts on FaceTime and tapped the one for her mom. It rang only twice before it was answered. “Hello?”

“Ola Mamá!” “Luz! How are you mija? Are you alright? Are you settling in?” “Mom, Mom, I’m okay, really! I just got a bit caught up with some things and only just now got to my dorm room.” “Only now? Haven’t you been there for a while? Was your flight late? I checked online but everything left on time.” “No nothing like that Mom, we actually had a private jet pick us up, don’t ask me how that got arranged, I have no idea. As for why I’m so late, we had to get the grand tour of the school, find out where everything is, meet a few of the other students, had dinner… had a small run-in with some local pests but it was alright in the end!” “Local pests?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m alright, we’re all alright. Oh! This is my roommate, Tulip!”

She turned her phone so the redhead could be seen on screen.

“Hello,” she greeted politely.

“Ola,” her mom said with a small wave, “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too ma’am.”

“Anyways Mom,” she turned her phone back to show her, and let out a yawn, “I… I kinda wanted to apologize. For the whole fireworks and snakes thing back at school. I… was so caught up in my own head with how it would look that I didn’t realize how dangerous it was. I kinda got a wake up call when I got here and just… I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for that.”

“Luz… oh mija, you look so tired, do you need to go to bed?”

“Not yet, I still need to unpack my stuff. I probably will as soon as I’m done though.”

“Alright, you can tell me more in the morning love, I’ll… I’ll leave you to settle in.”

“Alright Mamá… I love you.”

“I love you too mija.”

It took a moment for her to work up the ability to hang up, but when she did, she began to feel choked up. King hugged her tightly as she did.

“Here.”

She hadn’t heard Tulip walking over towards her, but now she was standing by her bed and holding out a box of tissues.

“Gracias…” Luz took a handful and wiped her eyes.

“So… your mom knows the truth about this place?” the redhead asked softly but awkwardly.

“Y-Yeah… w-why wouldn’t she?”

“It’s just… well… Not all of the parents who send kids here do.”

“They… they don’t?”

“Nope, if they don’t know about the whole other worlds thing, or if they don’t believe it, Ford portrays the school as some specialized therapy school for kids with trauma or behavioral issues or something like that. My parents certainly don’t know.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah, they think I just ran away… which I kinda did, I just wanted to go to Computer Camp, ending up on the Train wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Train?”

“I’ll tell ya later, c’mon, I’ll help you unpack.”

“...thanks Tulip.”

For the next half hour, the two girls and the tiny demon put away most of Luz’s more vital belongings; decorative and personalized belongings could wait until tomorrow when she was more awake. King only a few minutes before the long day finally caught up to him and he fell asleep on one of the pillows. Luz sat down on the bed a few minutes after they finished, rubbing his back and humming Spanish lullabies to him. The exhaustion caught up to her all at once and before Tulip even realized it, both of her new roommates had fallen asleep within five minutes of each other.

#Wayward Strays #The Owl House #American Dragon: Jake Long #Danny Phantom #randy cunningham: 9th grade ninja #tales of arcadia #legend quest #xiaolin showdown #gravity falls #infinity train #crossover #fanfic

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