#ok time to put the tablet back under my desk for another month
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Weiss
#weiss#rwby#rwby fanart#weiss schnee#fanart#i love her shes my favorite#look at me guys i picked up ther fucking pen for once#thisis a big W in romandom#ok time to put the tablet back under my desk for another month
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And Into The Fire
Chapter 4: A Not-Quite-Plan
Summary:
Months after the Mitchells saved the world, Linda gets a phone call asking if she’s seen two defective Pal MAX bots. Powerful people are after Eric and Deborabot 5000, and it’s up to the Mitchells to protect them.
Check reblogs for AO3 link!
A Not-Quite-Plan
An agent came running into the office just as Mark was about to take a sip of his coffee.
“Ma’am! We’ve got into #009181987!”
Agent Ward turned off her tablet and stood up immediately.
“About time!” She snapped. “Come on, Dr Bowman, this is where we need you.”
He barely had time to grab his coffee cup as she practically dragged him toward the door by his hoodie.
Ever since they’d locked onto the missing Pal MAX bots, Agent Jennifer Ward and her team had pretty much taken control of Pal Labs. Or at least the headquarters where Mark worked.
He’d spent the past week or so locked in his office with the scary Agent Ward herself. The tall woman had ordered him to come into work every day despite the complete CIA take-over of his company, just to keep up pretences for the public. And he also needed to be kept under supervision at all times for some reason. He was basically a prisoner.
Oh well. At least he had WiFi.
After pulling him out of his office (freedom at last!) Agent Ward led him down the stairs to the main work area, which was a large room filled with rows of computer desks.
At the very back of the room were two large screens on the wall. These were usually used for advertising and announcements, but recently they’d served another purpose.
Displayed on each screen was a status. Before now, they’d said the same thing. But for the first time in weeks, one was different.
Pal MAX #012041966
Status: UNRESPONSIVE
Pal MAX #009181987
Status: ONLINE
“Online?” Mark wondered aloud. “So you actually got into it, huh.”
Agent Ward scoffed. “Of course we did. Don’t doubt my team, Dr Bowman. Especially Agent Travis here.”
As if on cue, the young agent that had come to tell them the news before came rushing in through the door behind them, and almost glided straight into the wheelie chair next to the computer he’d been working on.
“Actually, we got through a couple of times.” Travis explained, huffing slightly from having to run. “But we got kicked out before we could change anything. This is the first time it looks stable and ready to be edited.”
“Well, these robots are based on AI.” Said Mark. “They’re not as simple to take down as ordinary machines.”
“Trust me, we know.” Agent Ward sneered. “That’s the reason we’re in this mess to begin with.”
She turned to her team, who all had their fingers poised over their keyboards ready to begin typing. “Delete any excess data and then start to rewrite the functional coding.” She ordered.
“Rewrite?” Mark had been under the impression that they would just delete it all to stop the robots for good. That’s what they were trying to do, right? “I thought-”
“Yes, rewrite. Anything more is classified.”
One of the agents raised their hands. “Uh, Ma’am? All the data here looks pretty messed up. Most of its data’s been built onto the errors presumably caused by defects, we have no idea what it actually does. There's words liked 'brother', 'mother'-”
“Do I need to repeat myself, Barker?”
Even though it wasn’t aimed at him, Mark couldn’t help but gulp at the way Ward was glaring at the poor agent.
“No Ma’am,” mumbled Barker, “sorry, Ma’am. We’ll start the rewrite.”
~-.-~
The three of them raced into the room with Monchi following close behind, probably because he was intrigued by all the commotion.
Linda didn’t want to believe it. Her robo-boys being sick was one thing, but fighting each other? That was truly unbelievable. They would never.
But unfortunately, it was just as Aaron said.
Deborahbot was kneeling on the bed with his back to the door, repeatedly hitting Eric’s screen by alternating between using the clenched fist of one hand and the open palm of another. There was a “clunk” sound with each impact, and Deborahbot showed no sign of stopping.
“Deborahbot!” Linda exclaimed incredulously.
The bot’s head turned 180° to face them but he did not cease the attack on his brother.
“Mother! Other Mitchells!”
“What are you doing?!” Demanded Rick, aggressively pointing at the bot in the bed. Aaron gripped onto the back of Linda’s pant leg in fear.
“I am more defective than my brother.” Deborahbot stated matter-of-factly, his calm voice sounding quite scary compared to the current violence he was inflicting. “I thought if he was more defective like me, he would be himself again.”
Rick waved his arms in annoyance. “That’s insane!”
“Deborahbot, stop hitting your brother right now.” Ordered Linda.
“Ok!”
Linda felt a small stab of guilt in her heart. Since they’d joined the family, they’d all tried their hardest not to order the bots to do anything. By phrasing things the wrong way, their programming would make them obey commands mindlessly, whereas the Mitchells just wanted them to be themselves. The longer the pair of them went without being given an order, the more their individual personalities shone through.
Deborahbot released Eric and stepped away. Two seconds later, once the command had been completed, he held out a warning hand to the family.
“Wait, Mitchells, stop!”
Linda was about to open her mouth to ask why, only she first noticed the movement on the bed.
Movement. On the bed.
Under the blanket, Eric looked like he was shivering. Or, more accurately, vibrating. The screen that had been full of color before was now its usual black self, and his red marker face was visible again. The only indication that anything was wrong was that the small LED in the corner of his screen was flashing an array of different colors.
“What’s happening to him?” Aaron asked from behind her, and Linda nodded to encourage Deborahbot to answer.
“I do not know for certain, but I think that the infiltrators have successfully entered my brother’s system.”
“You’re speaking normal again.” Commented Rick, though his cautious gaze was fixed on Eric, as if he would spring up and attack them at any moment.
“That is why I came to that conclusion.” Elaborated Deborahbot. “They have stopped attacking me, so they must be focusing more on him.”
Unlike earlier, Linda drew up the courage to approach Eric in the bed. His shaking was growing ever more violent by the second, and without Deborahbot keeping him down it was only a matter of time before he fell off the bed completely.
She gently placed a hand on his shoulder and made her voice as soft and calming as possible.
“Eric, honey?”
“Dear, be careful.” Rick warned from behind her but she chose not to listen.
“Can you hear me?”
It didn’t seem like he was going to respond. Feeling defeated, Linda was about to turn to ask Deborahbot what to do next when a voice spoke up.
“User recognised: Linda Mitchell.”
Eric’s voice was even more distorted than Deborahbot’s had been to the point where it was nearly unrecognisable.
“Uh, Mom?”
“Linda, get back!”
Linda understood exactly why her family was scared. The bots had never, not once, called her by her actual name. To not hear “Mother!” come out of Eric’s metaphorical mouth alarmed her, but still she couldn’t bring herself to step back.
“Brother?”
In a similar situation, the bots never called one another by their given names. It was always “Brother”. It only made them seem closer to one another in a way that the Mitchells themselves couldn’t be.
“Unknown user. Verify”
Aaron approached them with caution, one hand automatically searching for his mother’s own. She clasped it tightly.
“It’s like he’s gone back into robot-mode.” Said Aaron.
Linda squeezed his hand in agreement. Out of the two, it was Eric that always seemed more closely related to all the other Pal MAX bots for some reason. Still, Eric was their Eric, and not one of the mindless machines that tried to blast all of humanity into space.
Then a high-pitched whine echoed throughout the room without warning, causing the Mitchells (and Deborahbot, who mimicked them a second later) to cover their ears from the terrible noise. Monchi began to bark.
Once it died down, Rick frowned and used two fingers to massage his temple. “What the-”
“B-Brother!”
Rick snapped his mouth shut and all heads in the room turned to Eric, who was now sitting up straight on the bed.
“Brother!” Deborahbot called back in relief.
Eric's head twisted to face the three extremely shocked Mitchells.
“Mitchells!” Eric cried dramatically, his words accompanied by a more familiar glitch. “You are in danger. Pal Labs is taking over our systems, and it’s only a matter of time before-”
“I already told them all that.” Deborahbot interjected.
“Oh.” Eric muttered softly. “Aww.”
It put Linda a little at ease to see her boys’ dynamic return so quickly. That must mean things were getting better, right?
“Brother, what should we do?”
Deborahbot had always been reliant on Eric for decision-making. Linda had no idea how the bots managed to form such a human-like sibling relationship.
“They’ve already gotten to me.” Said Eric, solely addressing Deborahbot now. “It’s safer if you power me off until they stop. If you wait a while and they don’t, then you might have to go to Pal Labs and stop them yourself.”
Linda’s immediate thought was: No. She was not going to turn off her boy.
“How do we know if they’ve stopped?” Asked Rick.
Eric glitched before shrugging. “My brother might be able to tell you, but-”
He was interrupted by the return of the high-pitched whine. This time, Deborahbot did not cover his ears.
A few seconds later, Eric’s voice was distorted again.
“Status: online. Location-”
He did not get to finish his ominous speech as Deborahbot had quickly moved toward him and placed his hand under Eric’s head. After a few short seconds Eric’s screen went completely black with only his marker face remaining as he fell back onto the bed.
“Deborahbot!” Linda exclaimed in outrage. “Tell me you didn’t-”
“He told me a plan.” Deborahbot said nonchalantly. “First I had to power him off, then-”
“Yeah, we heard.” Scoffed Rick. “But that’s not really a proper plan.”
“It’s a start.” Aaron piped up. “I don’t really know what’s going on but I think the bots have it better together than you do.”
Linda bit the inside of her lip. She did not like how Deborahbot switched off his brother without permission. They were technically under 18 and therefore not adults, so Linda felt responsibility for their wellbeing and safety. She tried her best to keep quiet to avoid snapping at him.
“So... what now?” Asked Rick.
Deborahbot took a moment to look at his brother before turning to face the Mitchells again.
“I don’t want to wait.” He said blankly. “So I think that we should go to Pal Labs and tell them to stop now.”
Comments make my day! :)
#the mitchells vs the machines#tmvtm#fic#tmvtm eric#eric tmvtm#eric and deborahbot5000#eric and deborahbot#deborahbot 5000#linda mitchell#rick mitchell#aaron mitchell#mark bowman#and into the fire
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M’Baku’s Love- Chapter 8
Hey y’all, so um...let just pretend there were a few years between Black Panther and Infinity War. K? Check out my masterlist HERE to catch up and check out my other stories. FYI, when this one finishes I’ll be starting up “Ménage `a Trois”, a T’Challa x OC x M’Baku throuple fic. Check out the preview here!
As usual, let me know if you want to be tagged in anything (even though my tags don’t seem to be working right now😒.)
Enjoy!
CW: Smut, Infinity War spoilers...kind of?
Word Count: 5,719
Monday morning at the Outreach Center, Monae and M’Baku were the main topic of conversation. People had always speculated about the two, but seeing them leave the gala together was kindling for the gossip flames. Before they even arrived word had already gotten around about them, but when the volunteers saw them pull up together it spread like wildfire.
“You think they know?”
“I do not know, nor do I care,” he leaned down and kissed her cheek as they entered the building, coming face to face with Neicey. “Ah, Neicey...how are you today?”
“I’ve been better,” she eyed Monae with a smirk, “but I see you don’t waste any time.”
“Yes, well-”
“No need. Y’all are cute together, by the way.” she said as she sauntered off towards her classroom.
“Well that was uneventful,” Monae said under her breath and M’Baku playfully nudged her as they walked up the stairs to the third floor and he gave her yet another kiss as they separated to go to their respective offices on opposite sides of the Center. When Monae reached her office and turned the doorknob she was met with the sight of dozens of white roses. She wanted to run down the hall, jump on M’Baku, and kiss all over his handsome face, but had to remain professional while at work. She set her stuff down and picked up the card from the bouquet on her desk.
“When did he even have time to do this?” she mused to herself out loud.
She opened the card and the smile on her face grew twice as big.
“A mountain of snow-white flowers from your favorite Jabari chief.”
She held the card to her chest and sighed before moving a couple of the bouquets around to get to her desk. She settled in for the day, but got almost nothing done because she kept looking at the clock, waiting until lunchtime to see her man.
M’Baku was just as distracted in his office as Deontae tried to hold his attention on the task at hand.
“M’Baku, hello?”
“I am sorry, please continue,” he shook himself from his daze.
“That’s the third time you’ve done that in the last five minutes. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong,” a smirk creeped up on his face before he could tamp it back down.
“Mmmhm, if you say so,” Deontae side-eyed him and kept shuffling through papers, looking up at M’Baku from time to time to catch him staring off in the distance with a half-smile on his face.
When noon came around he jumped up from his desk and almost ran over Deontae on his way out the door. He made his way down the hall until he got to the art wing of the center. There she was, his love, coming out of her office just as he rounded the corner.
Their eyes met and he pulled her in for a quick kiss before grabbing her hand and walking her towards the stairs and down to the first floor.
“What are we having today?”
“Sushi? I’ve been craving fish and there’s that one place you like with the veggie rolls.”
“Sushi it is, then. How has your day been…” he trailed off at the sight of Deontae with his mouth wide open.
“I knew something was up with you,” he said excitedly, happy to have been right. “So this is a thing now?” He gestured between the two of them and smiled.
“Yeah it’s a thing,” Monae wlooked up at M’Baku and they smiled at each other. He put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple, pulling her in close.
“Awww, y’all are cute...and reminding me I’m tragically single,” he sighed, putting his head back down into his tablet and bidding them adieu, shuffling back in the direction he came from.
By the time the two got back from lunch, the whole Outreach Center was abuzz with the news of the new couple. So much so that when M’Baku visited her classroom before the end of the day, even the kids knew, though they always suspected.
As the days passed by, M’Baku and Monae formed a routine. He basically moved into her apartment and every morning they would wake up and have slow and steamy “good morning” sex before showering and cooking breakfast together. They’d arrive at work and go their separate ways before meeting up for lunch around noon, then he would stop by her class before the end of the day. Every time, the kids greeted him with their bright, snaggletoothed smiles and a chorus of “Hiiii Mr. M’Baku!” before he took his place in the back of the class and watched her do her thing. Every now and then Kehinde would ask M’Baku to sub in for him on the drums and he’d gladly oblige. After class, they’d go home to her apartment and one of them would cook for the other or they’d order in. Their nights were spent either passed out on the couch with the tv watching them, or staying up all hours exploring each other’s bodies.
She kept the thermostat low for him, but he noticed she looked uncomfortable all bundled up around the apartment in her fuzzy socks and old college hoodie, so he turned it back up for her one day while she was out running errands. When she came home and felt the temperature, she was worried that he was maybe sick or something, but when he explained the change to her she had to take some time to compose herself upon realizing just how much he cared for her. After a few days, he got used to the sparing use of the air conditioner. Especially since the warmer it was, the less clothing she wore around the apartment, and he loved seeing her in little skimpy outfits or nothing at all. Even when it wasn’t sexual, the sight of her body warmed him from the inside out.
They even got to know each other’s families. M’Baku called his mother, Ada, once or twice a week to check in, and one day Monae loudly ran into the room fussing to him about some dance competition show kicking off the best contestant and Ada heard everything. She was tickled by her vivaciousness and the two of them spoke on the phone. Now every time M’Baku calls his mama she wants to speak to Monae. She was quickly becoming her favorite and it only slightly annoyed M’Baku.
A month into their relationship, Monae’s sister Jazz came to visit and he moved back into his place for the weekend so as not to crowd the small apartment. Neither one of them got much sleep, both missing the feeling of their lover’s body pressed up against theirs through the night. Jazz and M’Baku got along great, though, and Monae often caught herself wondering what it would be like if the three of them could be one small happy family. She shook the thought out of her head every time, reminding herself of his duty to his people.
Their relationship wasn’t all sunshine and roses, though. Monae had a nasty habit of pulling away from him at times when she got sad thinking about his eventual departure, but that always came to an end when M’Baku fucked the attitude right out of her. He tried his best to not think about leaving, even though the date grew closer and closer, but it constantly crossed his mind. He was just better at hiding it.
Almost every night they laid curled up in bed, talking the night away and stealing every last second they could with each other, but for some reason this night was different. When she climbed off his still throbbing dick and plopped down next to him, he could tell something was bothering her.
“What is it, my love?”
She looked at him with the saddest eyes he had ever seen.
“That right there. ‘My love’,” a single tear rolled down her cheek and he reached out to wipe it away, but she turned her face away from him as more tears appeared.
M’Baku sat up against the headboard, already aware of where her mind was. He was there too. They only had a week left and both of them wished they could stop time to avoid the inevitable, but it was coming fast.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to cry-”
“Babygirl, it is ok to cry about it,” his voice cracked and she looked up to see tears threatening to fall from his eyes. She curled up on his lap and the two of them sobbed into each other for what felt like hours.
“Do you...do you think you’ll come visit the Center?”
“I do not think I will be able to make it often, but I will visit when I can,” he kissed her temple and rested his cheek against the top of her head as she sniffled.
“Y-you’ll have to get married to some beautiful warrior princess and she’ll give you a bunch of big ass Jabari babies-”
He chuckled and she smiled at him before her face turned sad again.
“I don’t want you to forget me, but I know you’ll have to.”
“I could never forget you, Monae,” he tilted her chin up towards him and kissed her lips softly. She pulled back and stared into his big brown eyes, reddened from his tears.
“M’Baku, I need you to do something for me…”
“Anything, my love,” he pecked her lips.
“I-I can’t see you off...I can’t wave goodbye while you take off in the Talon, I don’t think I can do it. I need you to be ok with that, I can’t watch you leave me.”
He nodded in understanding and wiped her tears.
“I understand, babygirl.”
He stroked her hair softly and the two of them stayed silently cuddled up all night, until they drifted off to sleep.
--------
“A little higher on the left, Rodney,” Monae instructed and she stood back, looking at the banner the kids had painted for M’Baku’s going away party. He adjusted his side and she took another look at it, giving him a thumbs up. “Perfect!”
Rodney hopped down off the step ladder and dusted his hands off before taking a look at the banner, himself.
“You know, he’s gonna love it,” he said, turning to Monae and flashing his adorable crooked smile. She wanted to smile back, but the most she could muster was a lazy smirk. She was still worried about making sure every little thing was in place for his going away party, but she knew he’d love it. Some of the older kids had drawn “We’ll miss you, M’Baku!” in graffiti on the banner and the younger kids had added their colorful handprints.
“I hope so,” she whispered under her breath and let out a sigh.
“Rod’s right, you gotta relax Monae,” N’Jadaka came up on her other side.
“I just want it to be perfect for him, is that a crime?”
“No, but you know he’s a simple man. It’s the thought that counts and you’ve really put your heart into this,” he said as he watched the kids rehearse their choreographed Jabari dance. Their faux fur-accented costumes looked so cute and Monae had a few volunteers and other instructors to thank for doing such a good job on them. N’Jadaka’s eyes met hers and he grinned, “You know he’s gonna miss the fuck out of you, right?”
“Yeah I know.”
There was silence for a moment before N’Jadaka cleared his throat.
“Anyways, just give me the signal and I’ll go grab him and bring him down here,” he said before walking away to sneak a snack from the refreshment table.
Monae smiled warmly thinking about the royal family’s willingness to help her plan M’Baku’s going away party and how they helped keep him busy over the past week to keep him from finding out about Monae’s surprise. She shook herself out of her thoughts for a moment to do one final check of the party before she had N'Jadaka go retrieve M’Baku.
The vegetarian-friendly snack table was fully stocked despite the prince’s best efforts, and the kids’ mountain range and gorilla-themed art hung proudly on the walls. Volunteers, staff, and some kids and their families had gathered at the Center after hours to say goodbye to M’Baku who had quickly become a favorite among the kids and adults alike.
“Ok,” she took a deep breath, “I think we’re ready...I think I’m ready.”
She went to go find N’Jadaka and let him know it was time, and the prince disappeared to go collect M’Baku. He texted her when they were almost back and she queued up Rodney and Kehinde on the drums. M’Baku walked in the room to see her leading kids of all ages in a Jabari dance he had taught her. His smile was so big it probably reflected all the way to Jabari Land, and a tear came to his eye as he took in the banner above their heads. He watched as Monae and the kids’ feet stomped in rhythm to the drums and as the performance came to an end he was the first to applaud, clapping harder than everyone in the room. He went over and lifted her in his arms, spinning her around and planting a kiss on her lips, ignoring the chorus of “ewwwwww” coming from most of the kids and “awwwww” from most of the adults. When he put her back down she wiped away the tears that had escaped from his sad eyes.
“I’m glad you like it,” she smiled warmly at him, biting her bottom lip.
“I love it,” he kissed her again.
“I have a gift for you when we get home.”
“This was not enough?” he laughed and she playfully slapped his strong chest.
“No it wasn’t. I think you’ll like that one too.”
“I am sure I will love it,” he kissed her nose before they separated to give other people the chance to say goodbye to him too. She brought him a plate from the refreshment table and he kissed her cheek to say thank you while he spoke to some of the parents he met several weeks ago at the Open House. He had made quite the impression on a lot of people and those people all wanted to tell him goodbye, so the party went pretty late. As the numbers dwindled Monae started to clean up the space before a voice interrupted her.
“Why don’t you let us handle it?” Shuri offered, seemingly coming from out of nowhere with her cousin begrudgingly following behind her.
“Are you sure?” Monae was hesitant since this whole mess was her idea in the first place.
“Monae, go be with your man, we can handle this,” said the princess, taking the trash bag from her hand without waiting for a response.
Monae smiled at Shuri and thanked her before sauntering back over to M’Baku as the last person left the party.
“Ready to go?”
“More than ready, talking to so many people is exhausting.”
She giggled and they made their way back to her apartment, stealing glances and kisses whenever they could on the car ride home. When they got to her apartment he attacked her mouth with his and pushed her back against the door.
“Thank you. You did not have to do all of that, but you did and it was beautiful. Seeing you dancing like that turned me on so much,” he buried his head in the crook of her neck and kissed her softly before licking a stripe up to her ear and biting her earlobe. She let out a whimper before weaseling out of his grasp, making his eyebrows furrow.
“Uh-unh, not yet Daddy.” She dipped into the second bedroom, that she had turned into her work space, and returned with a large gift-wrapped box that looked to have some weight to it. When she set it down on the kitchen table he looked at her questioningly. “Don’t just stare at it,” she laughed and pulled out her phone to record him.
He tore at the paper and ripped the tape from the box before opening it. When he saw the contents more tears came to his eyes. She had given him her copies of all the books from their “Captain America Lists” plus a couple of her favorites.
“I thought you’d like my old beat-up books since they have my notes and scribbles in the margins. It’ll be like we’re reading together.”
He reached his hand out for her and she took it, intertwining their fingers as he pulled her into him for a hungry kiss.
“I love it, thank you Babygirl.”
Her hands rested on his chest as his arms circled her waist before their foreheads connected and they began swaying from side to side. He started humming and she recognized the song, but couldn’t quite place it.
“What is that? It sounds familiar,” she said, resting her head where her hands were and moving her hands to around his broad shoulders.
“Remember Nia’s party?”
“Mhm.”
“It is the song we danced to in the hallway outside her apartment, I looked up the lyrics and found it online. It is ‘Collide’ by EarthGang and Tiana Major9.”
She beamed against his chest, “I love it.”
M’Baku tilted her head up towards his and looked her head in her eyes, “And I love you.”
“I love you, too...more than anything.”
Their lips met in yet another hungry kiss and she jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as he carried her to the bedroom. He carefully laid her down and kissed down her body before she brought his face back up to hers.
“I want you inside me.”
He obliged, undressing himself slowly and watching as she did the same. When their lips met again he climbed on top of her and slowly pushed her back into the pillows. His fingers traced her lower lips and found their way inside her, getting her ready for him until she grabbed his wrist and shook her head.
“Now.”
M’Baku lined himself up with her opening and slowly slid in until he was fully sheathed inside her. Neither one of them moved, imprinting the feel of the other into their brains and bodies forever. When their hips both started to roll into each other slowly they both moaned in unison and he pulled his dick most of the way out before entering her again as deep as he could. He did this over and over, rolling his hips and hitting that spot in the back of Monae’s pussy that made her mind go numb.
“M’Baku, baby,” she moaned as she felt him deep in her soul and he growled into her upon hearing the way his name tumbled from her lips, picking up the pace but still digging impossibly deep inside her. “Oooh Daddy, you’re so deep.”
She wrapped her legs around his waist, not wanting to ever let him go as he grinded his hips into hers, making tears fall from her eyes from both pleasure and sorrow. He kissed them away and continued to rock her world.
“I-I’m-”
“Mhm, I can feel it, come for me,” he leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Cum for your chief.”
That sent her over the edge and the tingling feeling she felt in her pussy gave way to a flood as her body tensed and released. She pulled him in deeper and her nails clawed at his back as she spasmed beneath him. Feeling her contracting around him almost sent him over the edge with her, but he wasn’t done with her yet. She released her legs and he pulled out, immediately diving between her legs to clean up her mess. The moan she let out was so loud it had to have woken up the neighbors, but his tongue continued to circle her overstimulated clit until he latched his lips around it and she came in his mouth. He tongued her into one more orgasm before flipping her over and raising her hips. She stuck her ass out for him and he wasted no time getting back inside her.
This time he wasn't so gentle. He grabbed her throat, pulling her back into him, deepening the arch in her back until she lifted completely from the bed and leaned back into his chest as he gave it to her good. One of his strong hands pulled her hips back into his as he whispered sweet, filthy nothings into her ear.
“I love you, Monae.”
“I love how you feel around me.”
“I love how you say my name when I hit this spot right here.”
“M’Baku!” she yelled as his hips dug deep and his dick hit right where he said he would.
“Mhm, just like that.”
She stroked the back of his head as his left hand came up and around to play with her nipples before trailing down and rubbing circles over her clit.
“Cum again.”
And she did, over and over throughout the night. He somehow held off, and it wasn’t until she took control and lowered her ample hips onto his dick that he began to feel his composure slipping away. She bounced herself up and down, flexing her kegel muscles around him and paying special attention to the tip of his dick before corkscrewing her hips down so that they met pelvis-to-pelvis. M’Baku let himself go and succumbed to her charms, moaning her name as he released deep inside her. Her hips still moved in circles, draining him of every last drop as she leaned down to lock lips with him. Their kiss was slow and deep and her hips continued to wind on him, pulling whimpers out of him that she had never heard before.
“Monae, please,” he begged, which only egged her on more. She hopped off his dick slowly, tightening her pussy walls on the way up just to fuck with him, and dropped to her knees before taking his throbbing dick into her mouth.
“Ah, fuck!” his legs shook and he came again down her throat as she sucked him dry, jaws working overtime to incapacitate him. Once she was satisfied, she reached her hand out to him and he sat up, disoriented from his orgasm.
“You ok?” she giggled.
“Yeah, yeah, I am...girl you almost killed me,” he said with a laugh, which she joined in on as she sashayed into the bathroom to turn on the shower. They both got in and scrubbed down before M’Baku took it upon himself to eat her pussy again, wanting to taste her one last time. Monae was thankful that the water hid her tears as she held onto the back of his head, wishing she could feel this feeling forever, but knowing their time was at an end. When she came she burst into tears and without a word he finished cleaning her up before carrying her from the shower. He dried her off and lotioned her up before sliding one of his t-shirts over her head.
She sniffled and looked up at him as he cared for her with tears in his eyes, too proud to fall at this moment. She placed her hand on his face and the dam broke, sending tear after tear from his eyes.
She returned his favor by getting him ready for bed as they both cried and sniffled before crawling into bed and curling up with each other. She buried her face into his chest and swung her leg across his body while he ran his fingers over her hair and his other hand traced symbols of love and protection into her thigh. They both silently prayed over each other, wishing the other to find happiness, before dreamland confiscated their consciousnesses.
Monae could barely sleep, instead choosing to stay awake and listen to his soft snores. Around 6am he started to stir as usual, so she closed her eyes and pretended to still be asleep when he carefully unwrapped her arm and leg from around him. He slid from under her and sat on the side of the bed just staring at her face as she breathed in and out. He got up momentarily and pulled something from the drawer he kept his things in, which had been emptied out a couple days ago with the exception of a couple things Monae wanted to keep. She felt him sit on the end of the bed and heard the sounds of a pen on paper. It took everything in her to not open her eyes and say something, but she had told him she couldn’t watch him leave and she still couldn't even though her lack of sleep forced her to hear him leave her instead.
He finished scribbling on the paper and placed it on his pillow before leaning over and lightly kissing her forehead so as not to wake her. It took all of Monae’s strength to keep her tears from falling as he walked across the room and shut the door behind him. She opened her eyes and stared at the paper beside her as she heard him sniffling in the hallway. She heard Juju meow and he let out a little laugh as he reached down to say goodbye to her.
“Take good care of her for me,” he said to the cat, who purred at him as he scratched her head.
She heard him pick up his bags and it wasn't until the front door closed behind him that she allowed herself to break down. Tears flowed from her eyes as she sat up in bed and held her knees to her chest, wailing as she finally allowed herself to feel the pain of him leaving her. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever see him again, but even if she did he could never be her M’Baku again. He’d have to be Lord M’Baku, Chief of the Jabari, Husband to _____. He’d have to produce heirs and she would just have to go on about her daily life like she never fell in love with the Great Gorilla. She curled up into a ball and reached for his note to read it as best she could in the sliver of sunlight that shone into the room, when she noticed something roll off the pillow onto the bed. It was a small ring made of Jabari wood that was just the right size for her, so she slid it onto her ring finger as she looked down at the note.
My Chieftess,
I am sorry for leaving you this way, but I cannot say goodbye to you either. I really do not know what to say here other than I love you and I always will. I will miss you with my whole heart, Monae, but you will always have a piece of me with you. This ring is an exact replica of my chief ring, but in your size. Wear it and think of me, as I will think of you every time I look at mine.
Until we meet again…
Yours always,
M’Baku
Her eyes overflowed with tears and her body jerked as she sobbed even more, careful to not cry on the page that she’d keep forever. She stared at the ring on her finger and felt like she was floating among the clouds with him instead of being dragged down by the weight of it like her previous ring from the nonfactor named Derrick. Looking back, she couldn’t believe she thought that was love, but now she knew what real love felt like and she could never go back. Though it was hard to picture herself with someone else, she knew it would probably happen one day, so she silently thanked her big mountain man for teaching her how she deserved to be loved.
--------
Two months passed by and M’Baku still could not get her out of his head, even as the council paraded eligible bachelorettes in front of him on a daily basis. Ada said nothing because she knew of the situation, but she also knew M’Baku was well aware he would have to pick a wife soon. Most days he sat on his throne with a pout on his face, barely listening to whatever the current discussion was and daydreaming of his love.
Monae wasn’t doing much better, but the kids knew why she was sad and did everything they could to cheer her up. Of course their smiles made her happy in the moment, but when she went home to her apartment it just felt empty and sad. She had been toying around with the idea of visiting her great aunt, Sarah, back home for a change of scenery and finally decided she’d take off for a couple weeks to get her head back on straight.
The Outreach Center was running just fine, even though M’Baku’s presence was missed, until one day N’Jadaka and Shuri were called back to Wakanda for an emergency. T’Challa had Nakia stay in Oakland because someone had to run the Center in their absence, but Monae secretly wondered if it was more for her safety than anything. She had asked Nakia what was going on, but even the queen of Wakanda had no idea. Monae closed her eyes and said a quick prayer for her friends and her love to stay safe, but when she opened her eyes the sight before her shook her to her core.
Children and workers were disintegrating before her eyes and screams rang out among the untouched. Monae reached out to grab a volunteer as she slipped away, but all she felt was dust. She and the few adults left tried to calm the children, but it was no use since they themselves were horrified by what they had just witnessed.
They heard honking from multiple cars and screaming before a van crashed into the front lobby, no driver in the seat. The children clung onto the adults as everyone tried not to panic.
Nobody knew what happened, but half the world's population disappeared in the blink of an eye. Monae’s sister and great aunt were untouched, but her friends were gone. Juju made it, but most of her neighbors had been taken in what the news was now calling “The Blip”.
T’Challa had lost his sister and his mother in The Blip, which in turn caused the Center to lose the heads of its Social and STEM programs since Nakia decided to stay in Wakanda. When he and N’Jadaka returned to take in what was left of their staff and kids, they decided it was best to close the Outreach Center’s doors until they could find more staff and department heads. Most of the kids had disappeared and the few that remained were too traumatized by what they saw there to want to stick around.
When they visited Monae’s office they found her frantically running around trying to organize her things to keep her mind off of the chaos going on around her. When T’Challa cleared his throat and she looked up, she made eye contact with him and she knew by the look on his face...he was gone.
Monae decided that with the Center closing she would move back home, so she packed up all her stuff, and she and Juju went on a cross-country roadtrip from Oakland to Nashville. When they arrived at her Aunt Sarah’s house she was so thankful to be in the arms of a loved one that she broke down into tears. They both held each other and cried, and when Jazz showed up a couple days later the three of them hugged each other tight, not wanting to let go of the only family they had left.
About a week later Monae realized she hadn’t gotten her period yet, but chalked it up to the stress of The Blip and moving across the country. Another week passed and still, no period. She began to worry and then Aunt Sarah made an announcement at breakfast one morning.
“One of you is pregnant.”
Both girls narrowly avoided a spit take.
“Excuse me?”
“What do you mean ‘pregnant’?”
“I had a dream about fish last night...so which one of you is it?” she asked, looking from Monae to Jazz and back again, waiting for one of them to say something. Silence stretched over the table and when Jazz and Monae locked eyes, she broke.
“I think it’s me. I-I don’t know for sure yet, but I’m late.”
“Aww baby, it’s ok,” Sarah said as she reached out and comforted her niece.
“No it’s not, M’Baku he...he’s gone.”
“Yeah, but if you tell him-”
“No, Jazz he’s gone gone. The Blip took him,” she hung her head and played with the wooden ring on her finger.
There was silence around the table again, but this time Aunt Sarah broke it.
“So do you want to keep the baby?”
The two younger Johnson women looked at their great aunt in shock, surprised she would even ask instead of just assuming.
“I don't even know that there is one yet.”
“Chile between my dreams and your period not showing up, you’re pregnant. Go pee on one of them lil sticks, you’ll see. Now, what are you gonna do, baby?”
Monae thought about her options. Even though her mom had two kids by the time she was Monae’s age, she didn’t feel like she was ready to have children yet. Had the father been someone else, she wouldn’t even have to think it over, but this was M’Baku’s baby. She had a chance to have a little bit of him with her always, and especially now that he was gone forever she couldn’t help but want to have him around in whatever way she could.
“I’m keeping it.”
Aunt Sarah nodded in understanding and Jazz squeezed Monae’s hand.
“I’m gonna be the best Auntie I can be to that little Jabari.”
“Second best,” Aunt Sarah said with an attitude as she got up to hug Monae close. “We’re here for you honey.”
Next Chapter
Taglist: @devnicolee @maddeningmayhem @theblulife
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The Smoothie - HSMTMTS SickFic
I’ve had this story brewing in my head and saved for a couple months on my desktop, so figured I’d finish it up.
Set during Season 1 - Ricky gets sick when E.J. gives him a smoothie out of revenge to become the lead in High School Musical. But, Nini doesn't believe him. Read the story on AO3.
Opening night was just four days away and flu season had struck the students at East High as Spring sprung.
Sniffles, coughs, and tissues, oh my.
Miss Jenn constantly had her students applying hand sanitizer every five minutes. “Hand sanitizer check!” she would shout with the clear bottle in her hands demanding the students to put out their hands.
Backstage, Ricky stood around chatting with the other cast members as Seb and Carlos performed Bop to the Top when EJ approached him holding an orange-colored smoothie in his hand.
“Hey, Ricky!” he exclaimed walking toward the boy.
“Nini asked me to bring this to you. It’s Strawberry Mango, she wanted you to try it” EJ explained him, handing the boy the cold orange drink.
Ricky furrowed his brow, suspicion sinking in. He stood frozen holding the cold drink wondering where Nini was. She hadn’t shown up to rehearsal yet, but he had just seen her in fifth period.
“Alright, thanks” Ricky said grabbing the smoothie from his hand and took a long sip. He let out a refreshing Ahh after pulling away from the delicious beverage.
Then, EJ ran on stage after hearing a faint call of his name from Ms. Jenn.
Wow. It’s pretty good, Ricky thought to himself and pulled out his phone to text Nini about it.
R: Hey, thanks for the smoothie! Really good.
N: What smoothie?
R: The strawberry mango one u got me?
N: ??? I didn’t get you a smoothie.
Ricky looked up from his phone in confusion. Why would EJ do that?
R: Oh? EJ gave it to me, and he said you got it for me.
N: What? Ricky, I didn’t even have a smoothie. Are you pranking me or something?
Ricky threw his hands in the air in distress and locked his phone, leaving Nini’s message on read. Now, he was more confused than ever.
“Ricky! On stage now! Come and get some hand sanitizer!” Ms. Jenn shouted through the auditorium.
The Next Day
Ricky woke up in his bed shivering and covered in sweat. His throat felt raw, his nose was congested, his body ached, and his head was pounding.
This can’t be happening, he thought to himself , covering his face with his cold pillow.
Then, there as a knock on his door.
“Ricky! Get up. You’re going to be late for school” his father said as he opened the door to see his son lying in bed.
Mr. Bowen studied his son for a second before he asked, “You okay?”.
Ricky coughed into his fist which just made his throat hurt more.
“No. Not really” he croaked, wincing at the pain in his throat.
His father immediately walked over to his son’s bed to feel his sweaty forehead for a fever.
“Wow, you’re really warm. You stay home today. I’ll call the school and tell Ms. Jenn you won’t be at rehearsal” Mr. Bowen told his son.
Ricky scrunched his face in annoyance.
“No! Dad, I can’t miss rehearsal. We open in three days” he cried, wincing at the pain talking gave him.
“Then, you have two days to feel better and you have an understudy. I’m sure Ms. Jenn wouldn’t want you coming in this sick, bud” Mr. Bowen said frowning at his son.
Ricky groaned and threw his head back down into his pillow.
“EJ” he muttered.
“What was that?”
“Nothing, I was just trying to clear my throat,” Ricky said and curled up onto his side, hugging his pillow.
What felt like hours later, Ricky woke from a deep sleep.
“Hey, sorry to wake you. I just wanted to let you know I’m working from home today to take care of you. I know I’m not your Mom and she’s probably way better at this. But I’m trying” Mr. Bowen told his son as he held a bottle of red Gatorade in his hand and two blue capsules.
Ricky smirked at his Dad’s statement. Since his Mom left, his Dad was trying his best under the circumstances she had given them. He did wish his Mom was here, just like the thousands of other times he wished for her to come walking in the door but never did.
“Thanks, Dad” Ricky croaked and took a swig of Gatorade, chasing it down with the pills.
“Not a problem, bud. Also, I found the only thermometer in our house. It took me a while. I texted your Mom, but she didn’t answer” he said frantically holding up an ear thermometer in the air.
Ricky changed positions in his bed to let his dad put the thermometer in his left ear.
“A little high, but nothing we can’t manage. Get some rest and keep drinking this” he pointed to the Gatorade bottle on the nightstand beside him, “so you don’t get dehydrated” Mr. Bowen explained before leaving his son.
Ricky’s phone buzzed.
1 Notification from Nini
1 Notification from We’re All in This Together GC
Nini: Where are you?? We have an Environmental Science test today. We were going to study together :/
Ricky: Home sick. Sorry
Nini: Ricky. Are you serious? Opening Night is three days away. Did you even listen to Miss Jenn’s rules?
What was Nini even saying? Why would he get sick on purpose? He was really starting to like this acting thing.
Ricky: Yeah, I listened to her. Idk how I got sick, but I feel like shit ok?
Then, the message turned to read. Ricky threw his phone onto his sheets, rested his head onto his pillow, and drifted back to sleep.
“Ricky?” a petite voice called to him.
He woke up in a fog feeling groggy trying to make out the person in his room.
“Huh?” he called out to the voice and wiped the sweat off of his forehead.
Nini stood at the end of his bed.
“Nini? What are you doing here?” he asked, panicked.
“Your texts worried me. I’m going back to rehearsal, I just needed to pick up a few things at home. So, I stopped by” she said smiling softly.
Ricky coughed into his fist and sniffled.
Nini frowned.
“You sound awful” she mentioned.
“Thanks,” Ricky said sarcastically taking a sip of his warm Gatorade.
“I think E.J. got me sick,” he told her putting the hood of his sweatshirt over his curls.
“What? You’re not serious. E.J. wouldn’t do that” Nini refuted putting a hand on her hip.
Ricky shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know? But I felt fine before he gave me that smoothie. Then, I woke up like this!” he said emphasizing his sickly body.
“It’s flu season. It could just be a conscience. Anyway, I really have to get back to practice. But I’ll be back later” she said standing by his bedside, frowning at his condition.
“No, I don’t want you catching this. If both of us are sick, there’s no show” the boy expressed in between coughs.
“Ricky. This isn’t my first rodeo! I know how to prepare for flu season during Hell Week” she exclaimed. “Get some rest and I’ll see you later” smiling back at him before exiting the room.
“Bye,” he said and checked his phone filled with notifications from friends and crewmates and Miss Jenn wishing him a speedy recovery.
Maybe: E.J.
Hey Ricky. It’s E.J. Heard you’re not feeling well. Hope you feel better soon and don’t worry about a thing! – Your Understudy
Ricky groaned at the message which just caused him to cough again.
Then, his door opened again, and his Dad stood in the doorway.
“Hey, bud. How ya doing?” Mr. Bowen asked.
“I’ve been better” Ricky replied snarkily.
“You’re probably due for another dose of medicine” he suggested holding up two new blue tablets and a package of Saltines.
Ricky nodded, silently thanking his father, and took the tablets with the remaining liquid in his Gatorade bottle.
The last time Ricky woke up, his guitar was strumming.
He had to be delirious at this point, he thought to himself. After dreaming he was running around East High trying to make it to the stage but finding a dead-end every time, he was stressed enough.
He rubbed his eyes and saw a silhouette sitting in the corner of his room on his rolling desk chair. Nini Salazar coming into focus.
“Hey!” she sang softly, putting the acoustic guitar down against the wall.
“Nini. What are you doing here?” Ricky asked, panicked, clutching his comforter tightly.
“It’s okay! I just came to apologize” she said, sitting closer to the boy, now on the edge of his bed.
Ricky shook his head, confused.
“For what?” he asked her.
Nini laughed, “For defending E.J.” she began.
Ricky rose his eyebrow at her. “Today, when I got to rehearsal he said, he was glad the smoothie worked!” she exclaimed, “I couldn’t believe it! I’m so disappointed in him. That’s not the E.J. I know and loved,” she said, slapping the bed as she explained the situation to him.
Ricky winced as the bed shook. His head throbbing as she explained her conversation with E.J. more.
“I told you,” Ricky snickered hoarsely.
“Don’t strain your voice” Nini said frowning at the state of his voice.
He shrugged at her and yawned.
“So, I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you,” she told him, smiling softly.
Thanks, Ricky mouthed to the girl.
“You’re welcome. Now, you rest up because we have a show to do! And I’m not doing this with E.J.” she said, smirking.
Ricky returned the smirk and got settled back into his bed and closed his eyes.
The light went out in his room and the sound of the door shut.
#hsmtmsts#sickfic#ricky bowen#ricky bowen sick#ricky x nini#ej caswell#sickfic writer#sickfics#hsmtmsts sickfic#hsmtmts season 1
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Beat the Heat--NSFW
Inspired by a prompt from @voltage-vixen‘s Summer of Smut Writing Challenge but took waaaaay too long for me to complete, and I missed the deadline. Anyways, thanks to @voltagesmutter, @passagesthroughpages, and Lia_Jones (all amazing writers themselves!) for all your help! Dedicated to all Victor stans, and my Discord family!
Please see this amazing artwork that inspired my fic!: https://m.sg.weibo.com/user/2173912080/4472175635540915
And also this Karma owned by MLQC:
Link on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25654276
I sprinted into the LFG lobby, out of breath. I was late. Again.
Cindy spotted me, and quickly gestured towards the stairs. “He’s been waiting for you, go on up.” I groaned, still out of breath, then crossed the lobby. Great, I thought as I ran up the stairs. Another lecture on punctuality, coming right up. I stopped before the office door, taking a moment to catch my breath before knocking.
“Come in,” came the clipped reply. Even better, it sounded like he was already in a bad mood. This should be fun. I entered, closing the door behind me. Victor was sitting at his desk, skimming something on his computer. He looked up, removing his glasses and placing them next to his desk calendar. “It is 2:33.”
I grimaced. “I’m sorry.”
His normal poker face had been replaced with a scowl. “What time did I say to be here?”
“2:30.” It didn’t matter how close we had become, some things never changed. When at work, Victor was always in prime CEO mode, any trace of my shy and sweet boyfriend disappearing the moment he walked in the office doors.
“It seems your memory is indeed working today, despite all evidence to the contrary. So perhaps you like to explain why that was not the time you entered my office?” Being on the receiving end of a Victor-Li-is-irked glare was never a good experience, but unfortunately, that was often the position I found myself in.
“Our printer jammed at the last second, and wouldn’t print a contract that my 1:30 client needed to sign before they could leave, so I was stuck there calling maintenance and then waiting for them to show up, and then waiting for them to fix it, and then--”
“Stop. I’ve heard enough.” He rubbed his temples, eyes closed. “You do realize this is the modern era, yes? Contracts can be sent over email, and signed digitally. We will need to discuss your company’s disturbing lack of adaptation to current technology at another time; you have wasted enough of it already. Begin your report.”
“Right.” I pulled out my newly purchased tablet and cleared my throat. “As you can see, we exceeded our predicted revenue this month. Views that we lost last week were not just recovered, but doubled.” I fidgeted a bit under his intense stare.
“I implemented the ideas we discussed last week, and they were successful For future consideration, I’d like to bring to your attention--”
The soft whirring of the air conditioning of the building sputtered to a startling halt. I paused, and looked at Victor for direction. He sighed, and picked up the phone on his desk when it began to ring. “Speak.” I heard a hurried voice on the other end, and watched Victor’s frown deepen. “What?” More frantic explanation from the voice, trying to appease him, and then Victor hung up.
“Something wrong?” I asked, hoping that an urgent matter had come up, so that I could move my report to later when he would hopefully be in a better mood.
“The air conditioning stopped working. It will take a few hours to fix.” I groaned internally. It was the middle of July, peak season for hot days, and Victor’s office was directly in the sun’s path at the moment, the windows offering no protection from its heat. He shed his suit jacket, draping it over the arm of his chair. “Continue,” he commanded.
“Uh,” I scrambled to remember my place. “For future consideration, I’d like to bring to your attention trendlines predicting future revenue on episodes based on current events.” I began to sweat, already missing the almost too cold climate I had complained about in the past, and vowed to never do so again.
“Our most popular episodes to date have been ones related to current issues in the news. Our recent collaboration with Loveland TV gave us access to topics and resources that we might not have had otherwise. Therefore, I propose that we begin a new series to be aired in conjunction with local news stations beyond just Loveland TV that would cover oddities addressed in daily reports.”
Ok, the heat had officially become unbearable. I took off my white cardigan, putting in on top of my bag. Victor did a double-take, eyes widening. Uh oh. I forgot how casual my dress was. I tried to distract him with the report. “The series would cover not just super powers, but also delve into the psyche--”
“Stop, stop.” Crap. He was still staring at my dress. “What do you think you’re wearing?!”
“Uh, a sundress?” I responded dumbly. He glared at me. I fumbled for an excuse, though not knowing why I needed one exactly. “It’s the middle of July. I know it’s not formal business attire without the cardigan, but it’s hot in here without the AC. I thought you would understand that and be ok with me not wearing it considering the circumstances.”
He gaped, apparently shocked. “You thought wrong. Do you seriously not realize how alluring that dress is?”
Wait what? “Huh?”
He shook his head. “Dummy, you are astoundingly naive sometimes. Wearing that to any presentation, including this one, leads the audience to focus not on your proposal, but your physical assets.” I blushed, and covered myself a bit with my arms. He continued. “For example, I missed everything you presented after taking off your cardigan. Be thankful this was only a weekly report meeting, and not an official proposal for more funding with the entire board present.” He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk.
I looked down, ashamed. “I really am sorry, Victor. That would have embarrassed both Miracle Company and you; I understand now and I will do better in the future.”
“No, you misunderstand me.” He stood, and strode quickly towards me, crossing the room in a few broad steps. He grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look him in the eye. “The only person who should see you in outfits of this nature is me.” It was the hunger in his eyes that made me realize I was no longer talking to the CEO of LFG, but Victor Li, my protective and now aroused boyfriend.
Desperate lips met mine, taking my breath away. I was always weak for his kisses, this time literally. My knees gave in a bit, and I held onto his arms as he pushed deeper. I eagerly reciprocated, a need for his touch growing rapidly under my navel. We broke apart for only a moment, before he claimed my lips again and ran strong fingers up my neck and into my hair, gently nudging my face closer to his.
Victor was not a man of many flowery words, but he made up for it in his actions. Every kiss we shared was so fervent that you would think it was going to be our last. Even in moments of raw passion, it was obvious how deeply he cared for me, and I fell more in love with him each time our lips united. This kiss was no exception; I sank into his yearning for me, throwing my arms around his neck.
Suddenly, strong arms wrapped around my thighs, and I felt myself being lifted into the air. I scrambled to wind my legs around his waist, holding him tighter. We were intimately closer than before, and I could feel his heart pounding in his chest. It amazed me that I could have such an effect on the seemingly stoic mogul, that I could be the one to break his cool. His lips captured mine once more, then he impatiently moved us towards his desk.
“Hold tight,” he instructed, using one arm to awkwardly clear off the desktop, sending pens and his mouse flying. He set me atop it, beginning to suck at the pulse point above my collarbone, when reality hit me.
“Wait, stop,” I whispered harshly. He immediately backed away, arms to his side.
“What’s wrong?” Concern overtook ardor, and he scanned my figure. “Did I hurt you?” That thought seemed to shake him a bit.
“No, nothing like that,” I quickly reassured him. “But...should we really be doing this in your office? People might hear, or worse, what if someone came in?”
His confidence immediately returned, desire resuming its place in his eyes as I mentioned others overhearing our stolen moment of passion. He smirked, leaning in close.
“Let them hear.” He continued his attack on my neck, but I wouldn’t be swayed just yet.
“Victor,” I chided. “I’m not comfortable with someone catching us in your office. That wouldn’t look good for either of us.” He stopped, judging my sincerity, then walked away.
“Wait, where are you going?” I asked, reaching out an arm towards him needily, missing his warmth already. Had I angered him?
“Relax, dummy.” He strode up to the door and turned the lock, its satisfying click signaling his intentions. He turned and smiled devilishly. “No one is going anywhere until we are finished.”
He hastened back to me, as if I were his prey, strung up and waiting for him on a platter. He kissed me again, and loosened his tie to quell the sweltering heat. I grabbed for his shirt, undoing the first few buttons before he stopped me with a lick to a particularly sensitive area behind my earlobe. He undid his tie the rest of the way and set it down beside me on the desk. I finished unbuttoning his shirt, untucking it roughly. I gulped upon being met with the sight of his broad chest. As if controlled by some unknown force, my hands ran over his torso, brushing his collarbone and hips alike, searching for any point of contact with him.
He placed feather light kisses all over my face and neck, brushing my cheek; my eyelids; the small v formed by my collarbones. As lovely as his display of affection was--and it truly was; not often did we get a chance to bask in the other’s devotion--it wasn’t quite enough. I needed more.
I ran my hands down his abdomen, grabbing for his belt buckle, but he caught my hand in his and tsked.
“Someone needs to learn to be patient.” His hands left me, and I let out a whine. He picked up the flimsy piece of fabric that lay beside me and wrapped it around my face, covering my eyes.
“Is this okay?” I heard a soft whisper beside my left ear.
His breath tickled me a bit, paused in anticipation of my answer. I hold absolute control over him at this moment, I realized with a small gasp. The power was a heady feeling; Loveland’s most eligible ‘bachelor’ was all mine, treating me as if I was some queen to be worshipped. Although he was leading most of the action, I held the ropes. And I would be ever so careful not to abuse this gift. What’s more, after years of having to take care of myself on my own, I now could trust him. Completely.
“Yes.”
That one word spurred him back into action. He quickly fastened the makeshift blindfold behind my head, careful to avoid knotting my hair with it. I heard a low groan, and then my skirt was pushed up, warm hands rubbing slow circles on my inner thighs.
“You have no idea what you do to me,” he murmured, his lips brushing mine, sending shivers down my spine. "There is nothing I would not do to keep you safe and happy."
I bucked my hips towards his, searching for any friction to relieve my need. Suddenly, I felt a hand over my underwear, massaging my clit leisurely. I let out a breathy moan. Finally. His steady fingers ran back and forth across the fabric, gentle yet firm in their ministrations. "Faster, please Victor," I gasped, spreading my legs. He obeyed, for once, going faster and faster until all fear of others intruding disappeared. I could only think about him, his touch, and my palpable desire to become one with him.
I could feel a flush rise in my cheeks, the sounds coming from my mouth garbled and brimming with pleasure. I reached blindly for him, needing to touch him for stability; so that I could hold off my climax a little longer, but was met only with air. I let out a whine. I heard a chuckle from somewhere in front of me. Seconds later, strong hands guided mine to his shoulders; his warm body moved closer, parting my legs further.
I was already beyond wet by this point, and I felt ready for him but knowing Victor, he wouldn't enter me until he was sure I was relaxed and ready for him. "Please, hurry up, I need you, now," I urged.
Surprisingly, he decided to grant my request. I heard the soft clink of a belt buckle being undone followed by a rustling of fabric. I hooked my ankles behind him, wanting, no, needing him in me as soon as humanly possible. A hand ran through my hair, and then my underwear was pushed to the side; in one fluid motion he had both lifted me into the air and entered me with a soft moan. I gasped, throwing my head back and digging my fingers into the well-defined muscles of his shoulders.
The sensation of him inside me was more intense in the dark. I felt so safe, protected and satisfied in his arms. It was as if all my fears and worries had melted away. I knew that he would shield me from any incoming darkness that dared to threaten me. He pulled back for a moment, then slowly slid inside me once more, giving me time to adjust and savor the feeling of us, united as one.
We maintained a comfortable rhythm, my hips grinding down to meet his as I panted against his neck. There was no need for words; anything that needed to be said was communicated through movement and small gasps and moans. I realized that I could no longer hear the ticking of the wall clock, its telling absence revealing that time was no longer in motion.
I drew in a breath to mention it, but he suddenly changed to a different angle, shifting me in his arms, and sparks burst behind my eyelids. “Don’t you dare stop, right--right there!” I practically screamed. He hummed in confirmation, building speed. I let out a series of whines, bouncing down into his thrusts in desperation to add to the surging, rising tide of pleasure that's only just out of reach. I could hear Victor’s pleasure as well in the short, cut off breaths he let out.
“Are you close,” he ground out, ever the gentleman in refusing to come before me.
“Very,” I replied, concentrating on my climax, adding a finger to my clit. A few more strokes, and it hit me--hard. I screamed out his name and clenched around him. He gasped, and I felt a warmth inside me as he tightened his grip on me. The waves of pleasure taking hold of me ebbed slowly; suddenly, I could see again, tie dropping to the floor.
Victor cradled me close and kissed the top of my head. We remained entangled in each other’s embrace for a few moments longer, catching our breath. He slid out of me, but didn’t let me go. I buried my face in his neck, flushing at the whispered “I love you” that came from beside my ear.
Suddenly, the ticking resumed and the space that was only ours returned to being shared with the rest of the world. I was gently set down on the desk, and I grabbed a tissue to clean myself up. We began to redress and had almost finished when there was a knock at the door.
“Sir, the mechanics from Four Seasons Heating and Air have arrived,” Goldman’s voice came from behind the solid wood. “Would you like to direct them or should I handle it?”
Victor gestured at my cardigan, “That goes on; tightly,” he said in a low voice, then he grabbed his suit jacket and approached the door. I buttoned it quickly, barely finishing in time before he swung the door open.
There was an awkward silence as Goldman took in our appearance. He did a quick double take, then stammered an apology. “Sir, I--uh--”
I flushed brightly; there was no way to conceal what we had been up to. Only Victor stood stoic as always, not caring about our disheveled state or the smudge of my lipstick on the corner of his mouth. “Mark me as booked for the next two hours,” he announced, glancing at his watch. “I expect the air conditioning to be up and running when I return.”
“Next two hours--but sir! You have the meeting with the investors from--” Goldman was cut off with a glare. Typical. I felt sorry for him.
“Did I ask for any feedback? I said that I am booked for the next two hours. Make any schedule changes necessary in my absence.” He put an arm around my waist and led me out of the room in the direction of the elevator.
“But sir!” Victor paid him no mind and as the door closed, he pulled me into another kiss.
“How do you feel about lunch at Souvenir?”
“Mm, sounds great!” I replied, smoothing down his slightly rumpled shirt. Oh! Pulling back with a smile, I suddenly laughed. “Victor!”
He frowned. “What.”
“You forgot your tie!”
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Kwami Christmas
For @quickspinner ‘s Month of Miracles, Day 16: kwami gifts
AO3
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"Marinette! What do you want for Christmas? The kwamis want to give you something to show gratitude for how well you treat us" Tikki happily asked.
"Thank you, guys, but I don't need anything. Any material thing, at least" she sighed, sadly. "Thank you anyway. I'm happy to have you around”
Tikki wasn't content with her answer. She had been observing Marinette throughout the years, and she knew her well enough to know when she wasn't happy. And she hadn't been for a while. That's where the gift idea came from, anyway. But… what would make her the happiest?
Tikki entered the Miraculous box and called for a kwami assembly. With Sass and Plagg with their respective owners, Tikki took the role of leader in the box.
"Guys. I need ideas for Marinette's Christmas present. What information have you gathered?" Tikki asked, hitting the improvised table (an empty roll of thread) with her hand.
"What about some cookies?" Mullo suggested. "She loves cookies!" The other kwamis raised their cheerful voices in agreement, but Tikki cut them short.
"No. We can't compete with her parents' cookies. We need something more special. Kaalki, any idea?"
"Let's give her kwami glitter. She'll be fabulous with it!"
"I doubt she would be happy with her body glowing in glitter forever, nor glowing in the dark. Any other ideas? Pollen?"
"What about a crown? She's our queen, isn't she?" 'yes, she is!’ The rest of kwamis responded.
"Mm… could work, but let's consider other ideas. Ziggy?"
"A magic comb! She'll be able to comb her hair without damaging it thanks to the magic!"
"Marinette's hair is already silky and beautiful, but we can add it to the list. Ok, next. Xuppu?"
"A banana tree! I love bananas! I bet she does too"
"Discarded.” ‘Whyyyy’ Xuppu cried at Tikki's blunt rejection. “Trixx?"
“A flying carriage! Like in that story! She could travel anywhere if she had it, even to-"
"Wayzz?"
"What about something that warms her heart?"
Tikki's attention was caught for the first time since their assembly started. "That sounds right. Any idea of what could that be?"
"Hot chocolate? Longg suggested.
"A kwami magic blanket?" Roarr added.
"A love potion?" Ziggy mentioned.
"Isn't that forbidden…?" The ox kwami said.
"Yes, it is." Tikki answered.
"Something made with love?" The rooster kwami said, earning the looks of the rest of the kwamis. "She's been so sad since that boy left Paris..."
"You mean Plagg's owner or-?" Fluff asked.
"That's right!" Tikki finally shouted, hitting the pseudo-table with her hands. "She's been longing for some love. She told me Adrien wasn't what she expected, that she regretted having chosen the wrong boy at that time"
"Do you think she still regrets it, even now?" The pig kwami asked.
"If this is about the blueberry boy, I would say she does" the fox kwami affirmed.
"How do you know that, Trixx?"
"Because I've seen her sighing at his photo before. Haven't you noticed? Her eyes filled with love and hurt. She even cried once"
"Oh, no! Poor Master Marinette!" "Let's help her!" "Yes, let's give her love!" the kwamis cried for their guardian.
"Guys… we can't change people's hearts, you know that…" Tikki said.
"What if he feels the same? It's been a long time but maybe…" Nooroo said.
"You're right! We have to contact Sass and-" Duusu exclaimed.
"We don't even know where he is… He left Paris, didn't he?" The dog kwami asked.
"Oh no…" "what can we do now…?" "Is there a way to contact him?"
"I have an idea. I can go to his sister, my previous owner. I'm sure she'll tell me" The tiger kwami suggested.
"Stop, Roarr. You know everyone has forgotten about the Miraculous. Except those who has used time-related ones, either Sass or Fluff"
"What about Alix, then? My previous owner?"
"Didn't she have a crush on the blueberry boy too? I don't think it's a good idea…" Longg dismissed Fluff’s idea.
The discussion followed for some minutes, but Tikki wasn't listening. She kept thinking what they could do to know if Luka's feelings remained the same. Sass’s kwami cycle was a few years further, but maybe, there could be another way. There had to! Tikki re-read the list:
Cookies
Magic glitter
Crown
A comb
Banana tree
Magic flying carriage
Hot chocolate
Magic blanket
Love
'Music' Tikki thought. Remembering how the blue boy used to play his guitar for her. Her eyes finally glowed in hope. "Guys. I think I've got it!" she exclaimed.
"Really!?" "Tell us!" "Woohoo!"
"I need a minute to check on something. I'll be right back!" And with these words, Tikki left the Miraculous box.
Outside, looking at her surroundings, she saw how Marinette had fallen asleep in her desk. She had her earphones on and trails of tears at the corners of her eyes. Tikki covered her with a blanket and took her earphone out to listen to the music. It was indeed Luka's song, the one he composed for her many years ago.
She then moved into her smartphone and searched for the boy's more recent songs. It had been 5 years since he had left, even more since they first met, but the tune under his songs, even if hidden and faint, remained the same to Tikki's experienced ears: Marinette's tune.
The discovery reassured her plans.
She entered the box again, ready to share her plans with her fellow kwamis.
"Guys! You know how kwamis can't be recorded, right? But that's not entirely true. We can listen to each other's voice recordings. I remember hearing Plagg through the phone before. It's not impossible"
"What's the plan?" Barkk asked.
"I want you to get what's on the list ready for Christmas. Can you do it?"
"Of course!" They all agreed, happily moving to their tasks.
"You'll have the best Christmas present ever, Marinette", Tikki said, kissing Marinette's cheek before secretly using her tablet to carry on with her plan.
_______________________________________________________
And just like that, Christmas arrived.
"Merry Christmas, Marinette!" The kwamis congratulated the guardian. Marinette giggled and answered back "Merry Christmas"
"We have some gifts for you!" Tikki exclaimed.
"Oh, guys, it wasn't necessary, you know? Thank you" she said, welcoming the presents.
"What's all this?" She blinked.
"Wear it!" they enthusiastically exclaimed.
Marinette put on a silver tiara with blue and pink diamonds, and the kwami magic blanket over her shoulders, like a cape. She then put some glitter on her dress and shoes. She looked like a princess.
"Wow! This is so pretty! I feel like Cinderella" she giggled. "Thank you very much"
“You’re welcome!” They said, Tikki signaling them. “We have something else for you”
“You do?” Marinette blinked again.
“You need to sleep first. Sorry Marinette” Tikki said, while Duusu cast some sleeping magic on her, putting her under sleep. “Time for the plan, everyone!” Tikki smiled, using Marinette’s phone to give a call to an old friend.
_____________________________________
Marinette could listen to some music. New music to her ears. It sounded like chants, coming from somewhere far. Far away. She opened her eyes to see she was on a deserted island with only a banana tree and some bushes on it. “Xuppu!” she heard a low voice complaining.
“Tikki?” she called. “Where am I? Is this a dream?”
Marinette felt like crying at noticing her surroundings: alone on a deserted island, in the dark night, just as if she was inside her own lonely heart. She curled to hug her knees as soft whimpers left her throat. ‘This is the worst Christmas ever…’ she whispered between hiccups.
All of a sudden, she heard some water splashing and saw something coming from the sea. She wasn’t sure what, but it was getting close. She was afraid it was a shark, but instead, she soon realized it was a tiny boat. “Help!” she screamed and waved, and it wasn’t until the boat was almost at the coast that she realized who was on it.
“Luka?” she gasped. ‘Could this be true? This had to be a dream- no doubt’, she thought.
His surprised expression could match her own. Both of them were hesitant to take a step closer. ‘It had been five years. Why would they meet now?’ Marinette felt her stomach twirl at how sour destiny could be. Luka stayed silent, trying to understand what was going on. ‘Where was he? Why was Marinette there? What happened to Christmas?’ But everything lost its importance when he noticed the tears in her eyes.
“Marinette” he called, and her body reacted in a jolt. “What happened? Why are you crying?”
Marinette finally lifted her face to meet his blue eyes. Her glowing dress was, along with the moon, the only source of light. “Luka… Is- Is that really you…?” she asked.
“Yes, it’s me. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? What happened? Where are we? Don’t cry, please” he begged, taking a few steps closer.
“I- I don’t know… I woke up here all alone and it was all dark and lonely and Tikki and the kwamis disappeared and- This must be a dream, right? There’s no way this is real”
“Probably, yes. When I woke up I was on the boat, lost in the middle of the sea. Then I saw something glowing and I moved towards that direction, looking for the land. I didn’t expect you to be the one glowing...” he explained. “You look beautiful. Thank you for guiding me here, Marinette. I’m happy to see you”
“Luka!” she jumped to hug him. “I- I was so scared! I- I-”
“It’s ok, Marinette. I’m here now. We can use the boat to-” Marinette’s grip tightened around him, and he immediately got worried. “Marinette…”
Luka hesitated. As much as he wanted to hold her, he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to. She had made her choice back at the time, and it hadn’t been him. ‘What claim could he have now, after years of an unreciprocated love he couldn’t move on from? Wasn’t it a dream, though? It had to be. Hasn’t he dreamed of her multiple times before? It didn’t need to be different now’, he convinced himself.
And he hugged her back, overthrowing all the piled up love he had for her. Marinette’s gasp was cut by her need for ask, enjoying the fantasy hug for as long as she could.
“Marinette…” he whispered again, close to her ear. In response, she pressed her body to his even closer, in need of contact. Their heartbeats were fast, in unison, and they stayed together until the chants from before alerted them.
“What’s this music?” Luka asked, giving her some space.
“I- I don’t know…” she answered, still clinging to his body.
“Should we go search for land? The boat must be- Oh, no. The boat is gone. Sorry Marinette” Luka apologized. “I should have brought it closer to the sand”
“It’s not your fault Luka. This… This sea is probably my heart. Meeting you here has just reminded me how much I regret the past, so the sea level increased. It’s not your fault. It’s mine”
“Is this… your heart? I thought it was mine… Your heart should be a happy sunny place. You deserve to be happy, not like me. What happened? What's here that darkens your heart so much?”
Marinette could only cry. ‘You’, she wanted to say. Would he believe her, though? If this was her dream, he would probably return her feelings, and when she wakes up, she would be sad and disappointed. She wasn’t sure if she should be enjoying this tiny happiness in the form of an illusion. Before she could say anything, a shooting star fell in front of their eyes. The stardust cleared up to transform into a magical flying carriage, similar to Cinderella’s.
“Now there’s no doubt this is a dream” Luka stated. “Why don’t we try to enjoy our time while we’re here, Cinderella? Just like old times…” He smiled at her but, instead of waiting for an answer, he lifted her light body and seated her in the carriage, getting on after her. “Let’s go”
A rainbow suddenly appeared as a road to guide them. Marinette was still unsure of how to cope with the fueling emotions going through her heart, while Luka kept looking at her from under his lashes in his usual loving eyes- the expression he only showed for Marinette.
“Luka” Marinette called. “Isn’t that the Liberty?” she pointed.
“What?” He reacted in surprise. “No way… It sank just before I moved, remember? The day you- rejected me.” His words felt like a stab in her heart. She had rejected him before, and that was her deepest regret in her life. “Let’s go see it. It’s a dream, after all”
The carriage stopped at the Liberty’s deck and Luka helped Marinette to step down from the flying vehicle. “Wow, so nostalgic… It’s exactly as I remember it. As expected of dreams. Are you cold?” He noticed her trembling and grabbed a blanket to cover her. “Here. Look. There’s some cookies and hot chocolate, too. Let me prepare you some. Wait here”
“NO!” Marinette shouted. “I- I’ll help!”
“Of course” Luka smiled. “Do you think we’ll remember this when we wake up?”
“I don’t know…” Marinette answered.
“I wish I could meet you like this when we’re back in the real world. I’ve missed you, Marinette. A lot more than you could imagine” Luka said, reaching for his favorite mug.
“STOP!” Marinette shouted loudly. Then, her eyes became sad and focused on the man in front of her. “How do you expect me to go back to the real world after this sweet dream? This is where I rejected you! This is where the moment I regret the most in my life occurred!”
Luka waited a few seconds in silence before he spoke again, making Marinette tensed up as she waited. “Why don’t you use this dream to fix your regret, then? Isn’t this what dreams are for? Tell me, Marinette. What do you regret?”
“I regret-” she started, but he cut her.
“I regret letting you go” he started, reaching for her hand. “I regret not trying harder to make your feelings turn to my direction. I regret leaving your side. I regret not having contacted you in all these years. I have so much regret I could never move on” He said, staring at her incredulous eyes. “I’ve never forgotten you, Marinette. You’ve always been the song in my head- even now”
Marinette felt like crying. Of course he would say kind words for her in a dream. Of course he would love her back in her sleeping palace. But she was happy. Why wouldn’t she? Seeing his relieved face gave the courage to speak up.
“I regret making the wrong choice. I regret rejecting you when you were obviously the right answer, the one for me. I regret having noticed too late. I regret never telling you my feelings. I regret not being brave enough to contact you all this time. I regret not having kissed you… But- If this is a dream and I can fix that… I want to do it right this time…” Marinette moved closer to him and cupped his cheek. “I love you, Luka. My life can’t ever feel complete without you”
And before he could answer, she leaned for a kiss on his lips. A kiss he welcomed. The kiss he had been starving for for years. The kiss he always wished for but could never force on her. The only kiss that mattered to them.
And then, the clock marked midnight.
“I guess it’s time to wake up…” Marinette whispered, not wanting her sweet dreams to end. “I wish this magical dream would never end...”
“I love you, Marinette. More than anything.” Luka said, kissing her again. “Will you give me your shoe, Cinderella? Or maybe your heart?”
“I’ll give you my shoe. I can’t give you something that’s yours already” She kissed him again before holding her arms tight around his neck. “I don’t want to wake up”
“Me neither…” Luka mumbled, keeping her close. “Can I call you sometime? Even if you don’t remember this dream… Is it ok for me to miss you? To love you?”
“I’ll be more than happy to receive a call from you. I’ve been hoping for one for so long now…” Before Marinette could lean in for another kiss, the bells rang again. “I guess it’s time to go. Here. I’ll give you this. It's a magic comb I received from the kwamis. It has some kwami glitter on it, just like the one on my dress and shoes. A lucky charm for our next meeting…”
Marinette took one step behind, and then another. Their hands irremediably split, but not before Luka kissed one of them hissing a low ‘I love you’ to her. As she took another step behind, she could feel her heart warm up… and before she could notice, she opened her eyes: back in the real world.
She woke up with tears in her eyes, but a relief and warm feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time. “Luka…” she whispered.
“Marinette!” Tikki called. “How was your dream?”
“Tikki! Was this your doing? What have you done, you little trickster!” Marinette said, happily tickling the red kwami. “Thank you Tikki, I had the sweetest dream”
“That’s not all, Marinette!” Tikki exclaimed, and the rest of the kwamis approached with her phone. The screen showed an unknown room, but a familiar guitar on the table. ‘Could it be…?’ her heart rate increased in expectation.
“Sass? Could you explain to me what just happe-” he said, and noticed the phone screen. Luka blinked in confusion, looking at his hand and back to the screen. Then, he lifted his hand to show Marinette its contents: the magic comb. Marinette gasped and that was everything Luka needed as an answer: they had shared their dream.
“So… emm…. Hi! Long time- No, that’s not right. Tikki! What’s the meaning of this!? I need answers!” She screamed in embarrassment, making Luka laugh.
“It’s Christmas magic, Marinette! Our magic is stronger during Christmas. We wanted to give you a present that would warm up your heart! Did it work?”
“It did” Marinette said, aware that Luka couldn’t see or hear her kwami’s explanations. “Merry Christmas, Luka”
Marinette’s heart grew warmer with Luka’s smile. “Merry Christmas, Marientte”
After a long video call where they confirmed that what happened was actually real, they confirmed their feelings for each other and set up a date to meet again. When the call ended, Marinette spoke to the kwamis. “Thank you. Thanks to all of you, this is the best Christmas ever. I love you”
The kwamis reunited by her side for a collective hug. “Anything to make you happy” Tikki answered.
THE END
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I would love it if you could do a story on everyone’s reactions when they find out Deeks and Kensi are finally dating back in season 6. I remember Callen naming in order everyone who found one by one. It was so funny.
A/N: So this takes a couple months after “Humbug”.
***
“So how was everyone’s weekend?” Kensi asked as she sat down behind her desk. She seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood that couldn’t be completely explained by the sunny day and the large cup of coffee she carried.
“Good,” Callen said vaguely. Rolling his eyes at him, Sam offered
“Michelle and I took the kids hiking.” He glanced across the room at his partner, suggesting that that was the proper way to spend a weekend. “What about you, Kensi?”
“Very nice. I spent a lot of time with a friend,” she replied, unable to hide a slight blush.
“Ooh, a friend,” Sam teased, his dimples showing. “Did this friend happen to be of the male variety?”
“Definitely male,” Callen decided. “I haven’t seen Kensi blush that much...ever.” Fortunately, Deeks walked in, whistling a cheery tune. He swung his bag onto his desk and greeted everyone cheerfully.
“You seem to be in an exceptionally good mood,” Callen commented.
“Maybe that’s because I had an exceptionally good weekend,” Deeks said, flashing a bright smile.
“Doing what?”
“Exercising.” He winked at Kensi, his grin playful.
“You’re this happy from exercising?” Sam asked, eyeing him dubiously.
“Yeah, it was very...invigorating,” he said, glancing at Kensi again who narrowed her eyes at him. She stood up abruptly.
“That reminds me, you owe me a sparring match.” Deeks followed her with surprisingly little complaint. As they left the bullpen, Callen watched them with narrowed eyes and then shook his head, chuckling.
“I can’t believe it, they actually did it,” he murmured to himself.
“Did what?” Sam asked distractedly as he looked down at his computer.
“They’re together.” He nodded towards the empty hallway.
“Kensi and Deeks? No.” Sam chuckled. “No way. We’d know for sure if they were.”
“You don’t think all that talk about friends and exercising wasn’t obvious enough?” Callen asked. When Sam continued to look dubious, he held up a hand and started ticking off points. “Ok, to start with, ever since Christmas they’ve been coming in at staggered times. They used to come in together all the time and never said a thing. They keep making pointed comments about their ‘extracurricular activities’, but neither of them seems jealous. Don’t you think that’s a little strange? I mean, Kensi usually gets jealous if a woman even thinks about touching Deeks.”
“Maybe...” Sam said, still sounding a little unsure.
“And, I heard them making plans on Friday to spend the weekend together. They clearly didn’t realize I could hear them. Some of the comments were...let’s just say, suggestive.”
“Damn.” Sam said, sounding a little stunned. “That means I lost the pool. I can’t believe I didn’t see it.” Callen shrugged, but seemed pleased that been the first to catch on. “How long has this been going on for?”
“Mm, I’d say around Christmas. Oh, did I forget to mention I saw them kissing out on the ice rink?” Callen added.
“You could have led with that, you know,” Sam said irritably. He shook his head again, then glanced down the hall. “I just hope it doesn’t distract them.”
***
“Ok, I have some things to take to the burnroom,” Nell told Eric, holding a stack of files. “I’ll be back in a few.” A few minutes later, she balanced the files on her hip as she reached out for the doorknob.
“Deeks!” Nell jerked back in shock at the sound of Kensi’s voice, half sigh, half admonishment. She stared at the door, barely breathing as Deeks responded.
“Sorry, I told you before I’m very sensitive there.” There was a noise that Nell very much hoped was just a kiss. After what seemed like a ridiculously long amount of time, he whispered, panting in between words,
“I thought, we agree-oh, you are so evil-not to do this at work.”
“It’s your fault for wearing those jeans,” Kensi said. There was a faint crashing sound-Nell hoped it wasn’t anything breakable. “Oh my god, you’re so ha-“
“Ok, and it’s time for me to go,” she muttered, giving herself a shake. Filled with a mixture of morbid curiosity and horror, she turned around and quickly started back down the hallway. Nell sincerely hoped she would be able to get the sound of their moans out of her head.
“Hey, I thought you were going to the burn room,” Eric said, passing her on the stairs. He was holding his tablet and seems headed for the bullpen.
“Um, yeah, but...something else came up.” She looped a hand around Eric’s elbow and pulled him in the opposite direction. He didn’t protest or ask what she was doing, which was good, because she had no idea what to say.
Half an hour later, when Kensi and Deeks finally showed up, looking remarkably put together but suspiciously chipper, she eyed them knowingly. Now that she wasn’t faced with the possibility of hearing something obscene, she found it somewhat amusing, and intriguing.
She also realized that both Kensi and Deeks had been way happier and ease the last couple months. She should have realized what was going on.
***
Hetty held back a smirk as she watched Kensi and Deeks walk into the bullpen holding hands. They were the first to arrive and clearly didn’t realize they were being observed.
Hetty had known something changed in their relationship the moment they returned from their shortened Christmas leave. Despite their best efforts to be discreet, it was obvious; there was a glow about them both.
Not to mention the fact that they kept trying to pretend they weren’t spending time together. She saw Kensi squeeze Deeks’ hand and then they separated, only then remembering to glance around them.
Hetty lowered her head before they noticed her. Apparently it hadn’t occurred to either of them, that the lack of physical contact was completely abnormal for them.
Holding back a sigh, she prayed that it wouldn’t interfere with their partnership, or their work. So far it hadn’t, but only time would tell. For now though, she intended to enjoy watching them squirm.
She would never understand how her very best undercover agents could be such deplorable liars when it came to their personal lives.
***
“You know, I think I heard Sam say he was going in there,” Eric said, stepping in front of the men’s locker room door, effectively blocking Nell. She frowned at him and he smiled back, like it was a perfectly normal thing to do.
“You’re acting weird,” she said, narrowing her eyes.
“No I’m not,” he insisted, swallowing harshly under the force of her glare. “I just don’t want you to walk in on Sam changing. Or anything else.” As he said the last part, he had to hold back a shudder.
He’d been trying to locate Kensi and Deeks. They weren’t responding to his texts and as a last resort, he had checked the locker room camera. It was set to record, but they rarely used it for obvious reasons. He wasn’t even sure the team remembered it was there half the time.
Which would explain why when he’d checked the camera feed, he’d found Kensi and Deeks in the middle of a heavy make out session. There were some things you could never unsee. He held back another shudder.
“Is there something going on in there that I should know about?” Nell asked.
“No. No, believe me, you do not want to see what’s going on in there,” he said firmly. Rolling her eyes, Nell tossed her head back briefly and sighed.
“Please tell me Kensi and Deeks aren’t making out in there too?”
“No, of course no...wait, what do you mean in there too?” He stared at Nell, partially relieved that he didn’t have to keep this a secret from her and partially offended that she hadn’t told him before this. “How long have you known?”
Nell shrugged.
“Mm, maybe a couple weeks,” she said, then stared at the door, making an exasperated sound. “Seriously thought they would have more discretion than this.”
“This is Kensi and Deeks we’re talking about,” he reminded her. “So what do we do if someone asks where they are or if tries to use the locker room?” Eric asked as they walked back to OPS.
“Try redirection and if that doesn’t work, pretend we don’t know anything.” Nell decided.
“I’m happy for them,” Eric said after a couple minutes. “You know, aside from the part where I had to see Deeks shoving Kensi against a wall and ripping her shirt off.”
***
“Do you think they realize everyone in this building knows they’re together?” Callen asked a few weeks later as Kensi and Deeks left at the end of the day. They’d made up some ridiculous and totally unnecessary excuse for why they were leaving together, exuding an almost unbearable amount of sexual tension.
“I doubt it,” Nell said, then added, “And it’s not quite everybody. What about the motor pool and Granger?” Callen nodded.
“I’ll give you Granger, but not the motor pool.”
“How did they find out?” Sam asked.
“Apparently Stewart overheard them planning a weekend getaway. It spread from there.”
“Unbelievable.” Sam shook his head. “They couldn’t keep it a secret for even two months.”
“Oh, they’re young. Let them enjoy themselves,” Hetty said, coming up behind them suddenly.
“You’re blasé attitude wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that you won the office pool, would it?” Callen asked shrewdly.
“Perhaps.”
“I was so close,” Eric said sadly and Nell patted him on the shoulder.
“Cheer up, we always have babies to bet on next.” There was a series of groans as they walked out together.
***
Thanks for the prompt, anon! Hope this is ok.
A/N: I don’t know if there’s any situation in which a camera would be allowed in a locker room, for obvious reasons. But it worked for this scenario.
#ncis la fanfiction#densi#post humbug#sam hanna#g callen#eric beale#nell jones#hetty lange#anonymous prompt#ejzah fanfiction
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Five times Joan accidentally got a dog and one time she didn’t
Zoey x Joan
All ages
Fluff, humour, a little bit of emotional hurt/comfort
Zoey, Joan, Mo, several dogs Joan has no right owning...
Joan keeps accidentally acquiring new dogs. Until one time, she doesn't. Zoey doesn't know what to say.
Read on AO3
The first time: Burberry
“Sorry I’m late,” Joan said, sliding onto the bar stood opposite Zoey’s. “Work was chaos.”
“No problem,” Zoey responded with a smile, sliding a drink across the table towards her partner.
Seeing the drink, Joan’s eyes lit up. “You’re a life saver.” She put her bag on the table and reached eagerly for the drink.
When they’d arranged to meet for a mini-date after work at a nearby bar, this one sans karaoke, neither of them had anticipated Joan’s meeting with the board members running quite so late. Still, she was here now, and Zoey wasn’t going to let anything else ruin her night.
That was, of course, until Joan’s purse moved of its own accord.
“Uh, Joan, did your bag just move?”
Joan, who was busy sipping her cocktail, frowned before looking to her bag. “Oh. Yeah. That’s Burberry.”
Zoey squinted at the bag. “It says it’s Louis Vuitton,” she said, pointing towards the lettering all over the purse.
Joan rolled her eyes, smiling at her partner’s lack of awareness. “Yes, the bag’s Louis Vuitton,” she said, reaching for the purse. “It’s Burberry making it move.”
She opened the bag then, and the tiny head of a white miniature Poodle popped out, looking a little surprised by its surroundings.
“I thought she was arriving tomorrow,” Joan continued conversationally, as though she hadn’t just revealed that she had a puppy in her purse in a bar. “But my dog person screwed up and dropped her off today instead.”
Not quite knowing what to say, Zoey stared at the dog for several long seconds. Finally finding her voice, she tore her gaze away from the puppy to look to the brunette opposite her. “Cute dog.”
“She is,” Joan said happily. “You know, I’ve usually only had big dogs. They’re much better at scaring away paparazzi and stuff. But Burberry seems quite nice.” She frowned then. “I just hope Tomford and Hermés get on with her.”
“So, uh, you didn’t mention you were getting another dog,” Zoey said slowly, still a little baffled by what was happening.
“Oh yeah, well, I didn’t know. Not until lunchtime, anyway.” Joan frowned. “I think I may have subscribed to something?” She waved a hand dismissively. “Whatever.”
“You think you subscribed to something?” Zoey echoed. “What, like a dog-buying service? Do those even exist?”
The older woman fixed her with a look. “Zoey, if people want it, it exists. I’m sure there are dog-buying subscriptions. I mean, I pay my dog person to buy me dogs. That’s their job. Maybe I signed some subscription agreement when I signed the contract.” She shrugged, and took a sip of her cocktail. “I’ll have my lawyer look into it.”
Burberry, still in the bag, was starting to whine a little then, and she was attracting attention from other patrons.
“I’m not sure we should have a dog in here, Joan,” Zoey said then, noting some of the looks they were getting. “I mean, they serve food.”
“But I promised you a date night,” Joan responded with a frown.
“We never said the date night had to be out of the house,” Zoey offered, realising her partner felt bad about them leaving so soon. “We can go to my place, or your place, and watch a movie or something.”
“And you’re alright with that?” the other woman questioned.
Already slipping off her chair, Zoey smiled. “I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise. Come on.”
Taking Joan’s hand, she tugged her from her seat. Joan grabbed her purse and followed the redhead towards the door.
The second time: Gucci
Joan hurrying into a meeting barely a minute before they were about to start was odd. She was a woman who hated people who weren’t punctual, particularly when it came to work. That hadn’t changed since taking over as temporary CEO of SPRQ Point, and Zoey couldn’t help but survey her partner with concern.
Of course, there was no way she could raise her concern in the middle of a business meeting, so she bit her tongue and turned her attention to her tablet while Joan hurried to get herself ready. It wasn’t until something was practically shoved under her nose that the redhead blinked up at her partner.
“Hold him, will you,” Joan said, sounding distracted.
On autopilot, Zoey accepted the small grey French bulldog and settled the puppy in her lap without question. A few people around the table frowned, but nobody dare ask questions as Joan began talking about the latest SPRQ Point device they were launching.
In all honesty, the puppy was pretty well behaved. Zoey suspected it was a little stunned, possibly too stunned to react to what was happening around it. The puppy sniffed her tablet, and her, and squirmed a little, but seemed alright with being sat on her lap for the forty-minute presentation. Occasionally, some of the other coders, team leaders, and managers around the table would shoot Zoey and the puppy a confused look, but they all seemed to know better than to say anything.
When the meeting was finally over, and people vacated the conference room, Zoey let out a sigh of relief.
“Care to tell me where this little guy came from?” Zoey asked Joan pointedly as the older woman put away her notes and tablet.
Joan glanced up in the middle of sorting through her things, before returning her attention to her bag. “Well, it turns out that subscription service doesn’t run out until the end of the month.”
Zoey blinked. “Uh... What?”
That earned her a look. “The subscription service, for the dogs. You know; the one we cancelled after I got Burberry last month?”
Considering the puppy had crashed their date night, Zoey wasn’t likely to forget, so instead she nodded. “But we cancelled it before the end of last month. So what’s with this little dude?” She held up the dog to emphasise her point. The dog yawned.
“Ugh, apparently they take the subscription money in the middle of the month, not the end. So by the time we’d cancelled, I’d already paid for this month. Hence,” she pointed towards the bulldog, “Gucci.”
Gucci yawned again, and curled up in Zoey’s lap. “Well,” the redhead sighed, “he is cute...”
“Exactly,” Joan said definitively. “Now come on, I’m treating you to lunch.”
Then she swept Gucci up from Zoey’s lap and disappeared out the conference room door.
The third time: Prada
“You know,” Zoey said with a poorly-hidden smirk, “when you texted to suggest a picnic in the park for lunch, I didn’t realise you’d be bringing a friend with you.”
At the teasing comment, Joan rolled her eyes, and looked over at the Australian Shepherd puppy asleep between them. “I’m sorry, ok? I don’t even understand where this one came from.”
“Well, guessing by the breed, I’m gonna say... Australia?”
Joan gave her partner a look at that, clearly unimpressed by the joke. “I’m serious, Zoey! I don’t even know if I’ve paid for her! And, of course, she had to be delivered right before I was supposed to meet you for lunch...” She shook her head, picking at the food she’d bought them both for lunch. “I was going to take you to that new Italian place.”
Zoey’s eyes went wide at that. “The... The super expensive place?”
Joan nodded.
“Oh.” Zoey didn’t know what else to say. “You really don’t have to, Joan. I, I mean, I’m fine with a picnic. Actually, I think I might prefer it. Not- not that I don’t like going out to eat with you, but it doesn’t have to be fancy restaurants all the time.”
Joan looked like she was about to say something then, but her phone buzzed and she rolled her eyes. “Ugh. Probably someone calling me back for a meeting-” She frowned when she saw the message. “Uh. It’s my dog guy.” She blinked, reading the message silently. “Huh. Apparently I did order Prada here.”
Zoey wasn’t surprised by that. Just a little confused. “I thought you’d gotten rid of your dog guy? You know, after Burberry and Gucci showed up? I mean, this will be your fifth dog, Joan. You’re outnumbered five to one in your own house!”
“I cancelled the subscription, I didn’t fire my dog guy,” Joan clarified, before fixing Zoey with a look. “Do the dogs bother you?”
That made the younger woman frown. “Uh, no? I love dogs. It just... It seems like a lot, Joan, particularly given how much you’re working right now.”
Joan sighed then. “I know. I know. No more dogs from now on. I’ll fire my dog guy tomorrow.” Then, she held out a box of expensive-looking chocolate truffles. “Chocolate?”
The fourth time: Cartier
“Ok, so I lied.”
The defeated look on Joan’s face, coupled by the Great Dane puppy she held under one arm made a smile blossom across Zoey’s lips despite what the puppy signalled.
“Joan,” Zoey said then, trying to adopt a serious tone even as she wanted to laugh at the sight of her partner with such an adorable puppy, “I thought we agreed no more dogs right now?”
“We did,” Joan nodded furiously in agreement, “and I absolutely intended to stick to that. But I kind of didn’t... I didn’t fire my dog guy, ok? I lied about letting him go.”
Thankful that the office was pretty much deserted due to the lateness of the hour, Zoey sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. “So you didn’t fire your dog guy like we discussed?”
“No,” Joan admitted, “and I’m really sorry about it. But it turns out he was so pleased that I’d decided to keep him on that, well, he gave me Cartier here.” She indicated the puppy dangling under one arm then.
“Your dog guy gave you a free dog for keeping him on?” Zoey clarified, not entirely sure what to make of it.
“I tried telling him that we’d said no more dogs for the time being, but it would have been rude not to accept the gift.” Joan moved towards Zoey’s desk. “We don’t have to keep him, Zoey. I know we agreed that five dogs is enough. But...Well, Tomford’s been sick, and it feels so quiet in the house while he’s at the vet’s, and-”
“Joan, I love you, but you have four other dogs at home. And besides, we’re picking Tomford up tomorrow, and I’m not sure how he’ll feel about a puppy running around the place.”
“He doesn’t mind Prada or Gucci,” Joan said, although Zoey could tell be her tone that she knew her argument was weak.
“He’s used to them, Joan. He’s lived with them for ages. I mean, I’m not a dog, maybe Tomford will be fine with another puppy. And I know that you’re stressed out about him not being well. But seriously, you have to tell your dog guy not to get you any more dogs for, like, the next six months.”
Joan’s shoulders slumped at that, but she nodded. “I guess you’re right.” She looked around then, apparently only just noticing how quiet the fourth floor was. Seeing they were virtually alone, she looked back to Zoey with a soft smile on her face. “I love you.”
Zoey smiled back. “I love you too. Why don’t you wait downstairs, I’m nearly done.”
Joan moved towards the elevators then, before pausing and turning around again. “Does this mean I get to keep Cartier?”
The fifth time: Dolce & Gabbana
“Joan? Care to explain?”
Zoey Clarke stared at her partner, waiting calmly for a response. It wasn’t that Joan was twenty minutes late to movie night. It was why she was twenty minutes late to movie night.
“I told you I was getting another dog,” Joan reminded her, a little put-out. “You knew what I was doing.”
“Yes,” Zoey agreed, folding her arms across her chest and surveying the two puppies under Joan’s arms. “But you said one. I’m counting two. Did you buy two dogs without telling me?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Joan said, rolling her eyes. “I only ordered one. But, apparently, they’re inseparable and had to come as a pair. I got the other one free.”
“You got a ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ offer on German Shepherds?”
“Ugh,” Joan huffed. “Yes! Why is that so hard to understand?”
Ignoring her partner’s annoyance, Zoey arched an eyebrow. “What exactly are you going to do with two more dogs?”
At that, the brunette scoffed. “Uh, feed them, train them, look after them?”
“But Joan, you’ve already got four dogs! I know you’re upset about losing Tomford and Hermés so close together, but this is kind of ridiculous.”
Frowning, Joan looked to the two puppies she held. She surveyed them for several long moments before letting out a reluctant sigh. “I’ll call my dog person tomorrow. Tell him I don’t need any more.”
Zoey gave her a small smile. “Good.” She looked to the two puppies. “They’re cute. What are you calling them?”
At that, Joan grinned. “They’re brother and sister,” she informed her partner. “Zoey, meet Dolce and Gabbana.”
The first time: Armani
When the knock on her apartment door came, Zoey rushed to answer it. Joan was already ten minutes late to pick her up for their date, and the last thing she wanted was for them to get accosted by Mo and be even later.
“You’re here- Joan?”
Zoey blinked, as Joan breezed into the apartment in a gorgeous black dress. However, her eyes were instead on the live animal clutched under Joan’s arm.
“Joan,” Zoey repeated, “is that a bear cub?”
“Huh?” Joan asked, before glancing at the brown, furry animal under her arm. “Oh, yeah. I think so. The man claimed it wasn’t, but it sure as hell isn’t a dog.” She plopped the animal onto Zoey’s couch then. “Can I leave him here?”
“W- Wha-” Zoey spluttered, wide-eyed and still staring at the blinking bear cub.
“Just while we’re on the date,” Joan continued then. “I mean, we have reservations at that new Italian place, and you have no idea who I had to kill to get them.” She looked at the bear. “He’ll be fine for a few hours.”
“Joan, we can’t leave him in the apartment!” Zoey argued.
The older woman frowned. “It’s only for two, three hours tops. Besides, he’s tiny. He’s not going to do much damage.” She looked around at the decor. “Although there’s not much to damage...”
“Joan!”
“Oh, Zoey, Armani will be fine! Just put some water down for him.” Then, she headed for Zoey’s kitchen.
“Armani? You named the bear Armani?” Zoey followed her partner, wide-eyed.
“Yes. Why, did you have a better suggestion?” Joan pulled a bowl from a cupboard and filled it with water, before heading back into the sitting room and placing it on the floor.
Zoey hurried after her, baffled at the conversation they had to have. “Joan, you can’t keep him. He’s a wild animal! Or, well, if he’s not wild then he’s been stolen from a zoo! Either way, he can’t live with you.”
“I know,” Joan shrugged. “I would have sorted it, but I was already running late, and the man kept insisting he was a dog even though he wasn’t, so I thought ‘to hell with it!’ and brought him with me.”
Exasperated, Zoey threw her hands up in the air. “So you paid the guy?”
Joan waved off her concern, though. “Eh, wasn’t much. Only $500 or so.”
“You bought a bear, Joan! I’m pretty certain that’s illegal.”
“Then I’ll pay the fine and give Armani to a zoo or something. Zoey, I don’t intend to keep him. I’m not stupid.”
“But you named him Armani!”
“Because it suits him. Now, are we going to continue arguing about Armani, or are we going to dinner?”
Before Zoey could respond to that, Mo breezed into the apartment.
“I thought you two had a hot date? Why are you here, arguing about fashion designers- Oh, hello...” Mo trailed off at the sight of the animal on Zoey’s couch.
“Joan accidentally bought a bear,” Zoey explained with a sigh, folding her arms across her chest.
“I ordered a dog,” Joan clarified.
Mo winced. “Well, that’s not a dog.” He considered the animal for a moment. “Cute, though!”
At that, Joan grinned. “Isn’t he? Zoey doesn’t want to leave him alone in the apartment, though.”
Mo brightened then. “Oh, well I can look after him.”
Zoey arched an eyebrow at her friend. “You want to look after a bear cub for the night?”
“Sounds like fun,” Mo shrugged, seating himself on Zoey’s sofa next to a baffled Armani. “Besides, how many people get to look after a real life bear cub?”
Zoey stared for a moment, trying to process exactly what was going on, before shaking her head in frustration. “Fine,” she said, grabbing Joan’s hand. “But the minute we get back, we’re calling animal control, or the zoo, or something. We’re not keeping a bear.”
She tugged Joan towards the door then, ignoring her partner as she called “Bye, Armani!” to the animal. As she turned to close the door behind her, she just had time to see Mo lean down towards the cub.
“You and I are going to have a lot of fun, Armani!”
Rolling her eyes, Zoey slammed the door shut and tugged Joan down the stairs.
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The Angel
Containment Facility 204
60 miles south of Fairbanks, Alaska.
-Modern Day-
A single black Osprey VTOL flew over the snow covered land, a full moon helping illuminate the nighttime sky. The winds caused some turbulence but the pilots were experienced enough to handle it, the single passenger however found it to be a little rough. The passenger shifted in her seat to look out the window at the expanse of white land and the mountains they were heading towards, in the distance she noticed some dark clouds which the moon helped outline. Another gust of wind shook the Osprey, and before long the snow began falling again, thankfully their destination was in sight. The lights of the mountainside were like a Christmas tree, lighting the way for them to land, the Osprey's twin engines slowly turned upward allowing for it to land on a massive helipad. Once on the ground the woman grabbed her two suitcases and got blasted by the cold air as the ramp was dropped.
A couple of men in uniforms immediately came up to her and got her to a waiting vehicle nearby. They drove from the helipad and into an open illuminated tunnel, just as the snow began to fall. A perk of getting stationed in Alaska during the winter months. The first thing she noticed upon entering the mountain was the massive interior hanger which held several other Ospreys. The car then drove down another tunnel and stopped at a service entrance for the personnel.
"Now ma'am, go inside to the front desk, they'll show you where to go." The driver said.
"Thank you. I appreciate the help." She said before grabbing her suitcases and heading inside. Once inside she was greeted by one of a pair of men at the front desk who stood and asked;
"Ms. Clark?"
"Yes. That's me." She replied, putting her hood down and removing her beanie.
"Do you have your ID badge?" The man asks
"Yes right here." Clark said, taking it out of her jacket pocket.
The man looked it over and checked against the file on the computer.
"Please place your right thumb on this." He says whilst putting a small scanner on the counter. Clark obliged, taking her gloves off and placing her thumb on the scanner. After some more typing the man gave back her badge before asking her to follow him, leading her down a hallway to an elevator. Next to the doors was what looked like an electric lock where the man inserted his ID badge, once the light turned from red to green a hidden plate opened next to it, revealing a scanner with the outline of a handprint. The man put his hand in the outline, a line of light quickly ran the length of his hand before a green arrow pointing up above the doors lit up.
"When the doors close, put your badge into the lock, follow the instructions given and you'll be fine." He says.
"Thank you." Clark replies.
"Enjoy your stay, ma'am." The man said before walking away. A few moments later the elevator rang and the doors opened. Once inside, Clark put her ID badge into the lock and a hidden plate opened to her right revealing another handprint scanner and a retinal scanner. A small screen also lit up with a set of instructions; the first being 'Place right hand in the scanner.', once she did so, another instruction came onto the screen 'Look directly into the lens.'
Clark looked into the lens and a pair of lights scanned both her eyes. When the lights stopped she blinked with relief, and the last instruction came on-screen 'Report to Dr. Malcolm on Level 4.' Clark pressed the number 4 button and felt the elevator beginning to descend. She unzipped her winter coat and undid her light brown hair which stopped at her shoulders. She took a deep breath, nervous of what would happen next since this was new to her. She glanced at her watch, 9:45 pm, not terribly late but she didn't ponder it as the elevator opened again, this time welcomed to a reception area that split into a couple of hallways. She was met by a receptionist, a young woman with auburn hair tied in a bun and dressed in formal business attire, who happily showed her to Dr. Malcolm's office. The women entered as the man inside was in the process of putting some files away and locking the cabinet. Dr. Malcolm was easily six feet tall, had long blonde hair with some grey mixed in that was tied into a ponytail, clean shaven with an angular face, and dull grey eyes. He also had faint bags under his eyes, probably not the type of man to get much sleep.
"Ms. Clark, welcome to Containment Facility 204." Dr. Malcolm said, shaking her hand firmly before leaning against his desk.
"Thank you, Doctor." Ms. Clark said standing in front of him.
"My name is Dr. Howard Malcolm, I am the Head Researcher and Overseer for this facility. I'm sure you have many questions but I'm also sure you are tired so I'll show you where you'll be staying and get you settled. Shall we?" He asks, leading the way out of his office and holding the door for her. Clark followed him down a hallway and up some stairs to another hallway where there were multiple doors on both sides with room numbers. They stopped at a room near the end of the hall and Clark noticed the lock required a key card.
Dr. Malcolm stepped aside letting her do the honors. Clark inserted her badge and entered, being welcomed with what looked like a high-end hotel room. It had a full sized bed, a bathroom with a shower, a small living area with a tv and workspace, and even a kitchen with a fully stocked fridge. It was devoid of decorations but that could be fixed in due time. Clark put her suitcases at the foot of the bed before taking her heavy coat off.
"Make yourself at home, and in the morning we'll get you set up for your job here, anyway I'll leave you to it. Goodnight Dr. Clark." Dr. Malcolm said, closing the door before she could reply.
Dr. Clark quickly got acclimated after a simple dinner and getting unpacked. Without much else to do she decided to go to sleep even if she was still a bit nervous.
Awakened by her alarm, Clark stumbled out of bed and made some coffee before taking a quick shower and having some toast. She then got dressed in a plain blouse, skirt that went past her knees, plain black flats and some light makeup, first impressions and all. She got a knock at her door as she put on her lab coat and attached her badge.
"Yes?" She asked through the door.
"It's Dr. Malcolm."
Clark opened up to the man who waved with a smirk.
"Morning Ms. Clark, How was your first night?" He asked.
"Good. I was about to come and find you actually." She said
"Well, if you're ready I'll give you the tour and get your security clearance settled." He said.
Clark nodded before following Dr. Malcolm through the halls of the facility. They passed multiple other Researchers and men in security uniforms, the researchers carried files and iPad devices but they still managed to wave or say a morning greeting. Before long, Clark and Malcolm arrived in the main control center where she was given an iPad that, among other things, showed a map of the level she was on. She noticed how it was rather Labyrinthine in design, but with the map handy she'd adapt with time. Dr. Malcolm explained how the facility housed many creatures that resembled folkloric creatures but each was unique in a way. Each of the creatures were separated by level as were the researchers who studied them. Dr. Malcolm introduced the head of security, a tall imposing man with broad shoulders and short black hair named Andrew, to Clark. He asked her for her ID badge which he told her was only a temporary one, he showed her to an area with a camera and a blue screen. Andrew took her picture, a couple minutes later, she had a new ID badge and finally turned a mic toward her.
"Ok, last thing, speak your full name and credentials." Andrew said pressing a button on the desk next to the mic.
"Dr. Amelia D. Clark, PhD in Philology." She said.
Andrew then typed on the computer before speaking again;
"Ok, the software now recognizes you as part of the staff. Congrats." He said with a smirk.
"Thank you." Clark replied.
"Now onto the reason you are here. Follow me please." Dr. Malcolm said, having Dr. Clark follow him as he walked and talked;
"Dr. Clark, you were selected out of a roster of one hundred and fifty individuals, and only your credentials stood out the most. Received your Master's from the University of Pennsylvania, top of your class, and you did your field study at the British Museum and the Louvre. All impressive." Dr. Malcolm said.
"Well yes...so where am I gonna be placed, and why was I chosen?" She asked
"You'll be placed with Research Team 18, they're looking into one of the creatures stored here. One that's quite...unique." Dr. Malcolm said.
They came to a room with a few other researchers working on a number of different artifacts. On one table was a tablet covered in writings that looked like some form of cuneiform, another had an ornate dagger covered with similar symbols along its edge, and the two last tables had many jewelry pieces from a necklace and rings to bejeweled bracelets. One Researcher came up to the duo, an older man with balding hair and some grey peach fuzz on his face but he still seemed able for his age.
"Dr. Clark, this will be your lead researcher Dr. Luke Allen. Dr. Allen, meet our latest addition, Dr. Amelia Clark." Malcolm introduced.
"Oh yes, the new linguist." Dr. Allen said, extending his hand to her.
"I'm actually a Philologist sir." Amelia replied, shaking his hand firmly.
"What's the difference?" Allen asked.
"A Linguist studies languages spoken today, including dialects used by small populations, while a Philologist studies ancient texts and the evolution of ancient languages a linguist would consider "dead" languages because they only exist in writing, like Sanskrit, Old English, and Old High German." Amelia explained.
"Well then, what language did you study?" Allen asked.
"My focus was Assryiology." Amelia answered.
"If you would, I'm certain our guest is awake by now. And I think it's safe to say that Dr. Clark likes a challenge on her first day." Dr. Malcolm said, looking at Amelia.
"Well, I guess no time like the present." Amelia replied.
"Alright. Good luck." Dr. Malcolm said before taking his leave.
Dr. Allen escorted Amelia through a couple of corridors and down a hallway with several contained creatures. The cells themselves were made of impact resistant metal and the doors looked like glass but it let out an electrical pulse when touched. In one cell was what resembled a massive feline with a wolf-like head that paced back and forth snarling at the researchers as they passed. Another cell had a polar bear but it was larger and had bony horns protruding from its body. It took a swipe at the door before getting a powerful shock that made it recoil.
Dr. Allen showed her to a quieter passage that held some of the more docile creatures, like a supersized elk that reminded her of a Megalocerus and an overgrown bison that appeared to have bony plates on its head and shoulders. While amazed, Amelia was surprised when they arrived at a pair of heavy doors with a hand scanner next to them. Dr. Allen scanned his hand and the doors began unlocking before opening, Dr. Allen stepped in first followed by Amelia. Inside was a circular room comparable in size to Amelia's room, it had stacks of books, magazines, even DVDs and CDs. In four corners of the room were cameras, one of which focused on the researchers as they entered. There was a bed in the corner that had been made and a TV playing a popular show on the opposite end, what surprised her more was the one watching it. The figure turned off the TV, setting the remote aside before standing to turn towards the duo.
He was humanoid, easily seven feet tall, dressed in a gold and white robe with vestments draped over his shoulders, and smooth, tanned skin with golden hair that showered down his back. He also had a pair of feathered wings that sprouted from his back. Amelia was first stricken by how handsome he was but then saw he was hovering in place.
"Good morning Dr. Allen." He said.
"Good morning Subject 11572. This is our new addition." Dr. Allen replied.
The humanoid turned to Amelia and extended his hand to her. Amelia took it and began to introduce herself.
"Hello I'm-"
"Dr. Amelia Clark, PhD in Philology, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Among other things." He said.
"Uhm." She responded.
"Yeah he does that. Anyway, this is Subject 11572, we often refer to him as the Angel for obvious reasons." Dr. Allen says nonchalantly.
"Apologies if I overstepped." The Angel said.
"Oh it's fine, I'm just starting to get used to things here." Amelia chuckled. The Angel smirked in response.
"Dr. Clark will be responsible for studying you from now on. I'll be monitoring the interview from the observation room. Good luck." Dr. Allen said, taking his leave.
Amelia nearly protested but figured this could likely be a test so she took a deep breath and turned back to the Angel.
"May I offer you a seat?" He asked, hovering to the side to offer a couple of chairs.
"Sure. Thank you." She said taking a seat just as the Angel followed suit.
Amelia pulled up the file on the Angel and read some details while the Angel sat patiently, she couldn't really gauge his emotions if he had any to begin with. She finally spoke by reading off his bio.
"This file says you were found in 1976 on one of the Aleutians. How'd you arrive there?"
"I chose to come to your world as an ambassador. The portal sent me to the islands, I was found by the local tribesmen who welcomed me with food and drink. Your agents found me, I surrendered and I've been here ever since." He responded.
"Ok, how did you know my name and credentials without me or Dr. Allen telling you?" She asked.
"I am able to tell a lot about a person by reading their aura." He says
"Aura?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"All humans have an aura, a byproduct of the magical lifeblood that exists in all Creation. I can see and gain a basic understanding of a person by simply reading it, such as if they are good or hold other intentions. However by physically touching a person I can see many more details, like their name, family, etcetera." He explains.
"What did you sense from me and Dr. Allen?" Amelia asks.
"Dr. Allen hides no ulterior motives but he has his own problems like many humans. He is trustworthy despite being easily irritated. Your aura is nervous but good, you're worried you won't do a good job. Perhaps due to your past experiences of clumsiness." The Angel speculated.
Amelia blushed in embarrassment before continuing.
"So do you have a name? Or are you ok with being referred to as "Angel"?" She asked.
"My name is inscribed on the tablet I brought with me, I cannot tell you it though. And for the sake of simplicity, I've allowed myself to accept the moniker." He says.
"Why can't you tell me your name?" Amelia asks curiously.
"Telling you my name creates a bond that cannot be easily broken, and allows you access to my knowledge. However, the cost for such knowledge could overwhelm your mind to the point of insanity, if it doesn't destroy you outright. By learning my name, that is a sign that you could stand a chance of surviving and retaining what I show you." He says.
"Sounds simple enough." Amelia said with a nervous chuckle.
The Angel chuckled with her and she caught him with a faint smile, she blushed in response.
The interview went on for roughly another hour before Amelia was called to conclude it. She thanked the Angel and exited the room meeting with Dr. Allen as the doors shut and locked behind her. Amelia then asked Dr. Allen to show her the tablet, when they got back to the research room, Amelia began studying the object. It was 12 inches tall, 6 inches wide, half an inch thick, had rounded edges, and looked like it was made of some metallic alloy but it was considerably lighter. Etched into its surface were symbols that covered only the front side, they resembled the writings of ancient Babylon which gave Amelia a lead.
She downloaded scans of the tablet onto her iPad while also trying to see if she recognized any of the symbols herself. The other researchers helped by getting her some books and journals on cuneiform, and lots of coffee. Many hours passed and Amelia was only able to translate a few sentences talking about a great mission and a person to bring unity. Amelia finally decided to hit the hay and took her iPad with her to her room, she made a sandwich for dinner and showered before looking at the scan of the tablet. She finally decided to let her iPad go through the translation program through the night so she could get some sleep.
The next morning, Amelia got up and went about her routine, just finishing her first cup of coffee when her iPad suddenly dinged. Upon opening it, the program had finished its translation, which excited her enough she immediately began reading. In essence the tablet spoke of a civil war between the forces of Creation, in the end the rebellion leader was cast from the realm along with his followers. The realm of Creation elected one of their own to go to the Earth so that he could teach mankind the importance of unity even among enemies. To see past the differences of one another and instead see what makes them human.
The strange thing though was the last sentence was incomplete simply reading 'The Watcher has been chosen, he will be known to mankind by his given name of-' with the last word unable to be translated. Amelia got ready for the day and took her findings to Dr. Allen who, after reading the translation, told her to see if she could decipher it. As she poured through journal after journal, she grew frustrated due to not finding what she needed. As a result she sat at her desk staring blankly at her open books and iPad which had the untranslated word that vexed her mind. Suddenly it came to her.
The word consisted of six letters not just Babylonian but each letter was from a different language of the region. One was from the Sumerian language, another from Assyrian, and Amorite. She wrote out the letters in order, finding them to make sense as she translated them down to the English alphabet. Finally it spelled a name she could read but, despite her eureka moment, she didn't want to reveal it just yet. She went to Dr. Allen, who then took her to see Dr. Malcolm, and needless to say he was surprised by her discovery.
"I think we should consult our guest." Dr. Malcolm said, leading them to the holding cell. This time the Angel was reading a book with a hard cover and a title in Italian. He closed it before standing to greet the trio as the door closed behind them.
"Doctors Clark, Allen, and Malcolm. How are you all this day?" He asks.
"We believe that we have finally translated your tablet, and your name, thanks to the work of Dr. Clark." Malcolm said.
The Angel's brow arched as he turned to Amelia.
"You believe you know my name?" He asked.
"I do, and though I am new here I also believe that these two can be trusted with your secret." Amelia said.
"For security purposes, this device was programmed with your name, whenever your name is said the device will distort it. Keep in mind though that my superiors will be able to hear the unaltered version. Knowing this, are these measures satisfactory?" Dr. Malcolm asked, showing a small recording device.
"They are." The Angel said after a moment of thought.
Once the measures were in place, Dr. Malcolm and Dr. Allen let Amelia take the lead.
"Your name...is Anauel."
The Angel, who was hovering in place, landed on his feet. His eyes had a glossy glow before but they now took on a more human color, that of a bright blue.
"You are correct." He said before he took a seat, the rest following suit.
"You have many questions, I will answer them as well as I can. No holding back." Anauel said.
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Why So Jaded? Chapter 3
Chapter 3! Woo! In case you missed it, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, FFN and AO3 Enjoy!
Part 3
Buddy Pine had always had more than one plan. Getting caught and working for Phillip on his dime had been his contingency plan if the nanochip thing had backfired. But he never expected Phillip to be so accommodating or so generous. But having Violet be the liaison was the icing on the cake and to have her be his heir apparent was a fitting twist considering their shared history and he had had no problems with that part of the contract. He hadn't been this productive since before the incident a decade ago. And for the last few weeks, almost a month, the hours following her visits were always the most exciting as far as progress was concerned. He was finding his spark again and keeping alive and well, he even starting drafting and designing from scratch again. This was working out perfectly.
All he needed was time. Time to prove to Violet at least that he was not the same man he was a decade ago. He had been honest when he told her that Syndrome died. Because a part of himself did die that day and he had no interest in reviving him and his attraction to her was undeniable.
"Good morning Ms. Parr," Buddy greeted when he heard the door open at 9:00am which had been Violet's chosen time to come in the mornings. He had learned to recognize her walking pattern, it was smooth and fluid yet light and precise, almost cat like.
"Good morning Mr. Pine," Violet replied evenly. "Mr. Sebastian sends his congratulations on the nanochip redesign, it has increased workload by your projections exactly and has earned you an additional 1.4 million dollars as of today." Violet informed him. Happy because it had earned her the same amount as well since she and Buddy would both be getting 15% each of all the sales, leaving Phillip and his company to earn the remaining seventy percent.
"Excellent, what else?" Buddy inquired, knowing Violet preferred to lead with good news before delivering the bad.
"Mr. Sebastian now has 5 new projects to add to your ever increasing roster." Violet informed him as she made a swiping motion from her tablet to his as his own tablet and electronics received the new project data before she rubbed at her temple and winced.
"You ok?" Buddy inquired as he watched her thoughtfully.
"Yeah, just a bad headache," Violet answered dismissively. "Now Mr. Salazar wants to know exactly how much titanium alloy you will need for the VIC project? And what tensile strength will you need to have the silicon wafers at?" She continued as she went down the list in her own tablet.
"I'm going to have to look over my calculations again and I'll shoot you an email with the specifics. How long have you had the headache?" Buddy inquired as he watched her closely, getting flashbacks of when Mirage had similar headaches and how much she used to suffer with them.
"Why does my headache matter? It's a headache, it will go away eventually and with enough Advil." Violet defended, her irritation clear in the way she seemed to snap at him because the pain was sapping every ounce of patience she had today.
"Supers don't usually just get headaches that can be cleared up with over the counter pain killers, they usually need something stronger, especially with your skill set as a Super, you're more likely to have inflammation in the central cortex." Buddy blurted out before looking up to see a practically seething Violet, he was at a loss as to why before it dawned on him of how he would know something like that. He could see it in her eyes, they burned a luminescent shade of ultraviolet for a moment. He could see that she wanted to kill him and the static electricity in the lab was so high the electronics started to warble and wane.
Violet was livid, how dare he have the audacity to speak of such things! She wanted to know how many supers he had lured to their deaths, how many had he interrogated or tortured and experimented on for his research before zeroing in on her family. She wanted to beat those answers out of him. She struggled not to do just that, she struggled to keep herself composed as her grip actually crushed her tablet which caused Buddy to jump and step away before she had to pull her rage back and put an emotionally void mask to her facial features as she struggled to remain in control and not kill him.
"If you have anything else you need for your work, you can contact my assistant, Leslie." Violet managed to bite out before turning and leaving quickly, keeping on her toes to keep her heels from making any more noise on the floors, once out of the lab she raced to the elevator and was thankful it was empty when it finally reached her. She leaned against the elevator wall once the doors closed and tried her best not to have a panic attack as she could feel the panic whirl in her chest and make it hard to breathe. These headaches were getting out of hand and were wearing her down and she cursed herself for having such an obvious and light trigger that he seemed to know exactly how to set off. She barely managed to make it to her own office to her safe room before she broke down and cried, an instinctual forcefield encompassing her like a security blanket. How could she keep acting like none of it happened and he was just another one of Phillip’s colleagues?
Back in the lab Buddy was kicking himself for not seeing how that could have backfired. And for the first time there was something added to his guilt, shame as he was cussing himself out for messing up so bad.
Meanwhile Phillip who was watching and listening to the conversation via security cameras was practically running to Violet's office. He had a hunch this would happen eventually and he had to make sure she would be ok. He got to her office and went straight to the safe room he had specifically built for her. He keyed in his code and the book shelf concealing the safe room moved away to reveal Violet sitting down and curled up in a ball, her knees to her chest as she hugged them and rocked herself, he could see she was shaking but he knew better than to try and touch her now, the forcefield around her would keep him from physically touching her. He couldn't hear her because the forcefield kept any noise she was making inside and would thus make talking to her impossible until she took it down. But what he could do is sit as close to her as possible and wait for her to notice him there.
After a moment she did look up to see him there and let down the forcefield before he crawled to her and put his arm around her shoulders and held her close and did everything in his power- super or not- to comfort her as she crawled into his lap and held onto him tightly.
"I'm sorry," He whispered into her hair as he kissed the crown of her head as she continued to sniffle into his shoulder as the other arm was wrapped tightly around her as he took up rocking her himself. He could count on one hand the number of times this had happened before and he was just grateful she let him in this time.
"How did he know?! How does he know shit like that?! He shouldn't know that, especially about me," Violet cried, feeling vulnerable in the worst way and feeling like she was a little kid again. With that henchman as he was hunting her through the forest and was hiding in the water. She felt like she was drowning in anguish and anger and rage and hurt and heartbreak and she just wanted her dad to hug her and hold her in his big strong arms up to his massive chest and make her feel perfectly safe again but for now, Phillip’s arms and chest would have to do and she was grateful for him.
"I don't know, but I'll find out ok? It's going to be ok, I promise, I swear on my life it's going to be ok. Where are those pills we made for you?" Phillip asked, trying to get her to look him in the eye as he reached for her face and held it in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe away her tears and streaking mascara.
"I only have 2 left, I was saving them for when it got really bad." Violet tried to explain as she buried her head deeper into his chest, hoping the counter pressure would give her some relief. Phillip pulled her hair down from the bun and laced his fingers together behind her head and applied pressure into his chest, trying to help give her more relief.
"Does that help?" He asked.
"Yes, thank you Phil." Violet said in thanks as she reveled in the relief the counter pressure was providing as she did her best to regain her composure. She hated feeling like this, let alone be seen like this. But Phillip was special. He never thought less of her or think of her as weaker. It just helped him appreciate that even though she was a Super, she was still human and thus, imperfect and had weaknesses and limits. Phillip counted himself lucky to be able to witness this side of her and he had worked so hard just to get to this point with her.
"Now where are the pills? I'll make sure you have more before these wear off," Phillip offered.
"In my top left desk drawer." Violet answered before Phil managed to get up and pull her up with him before he carried her over to her desk and simply set her down on it then looked through her drawers for the meds before he found them and gave them to her as she used her coffee still on her desk to down them both.
"Have you been able to get any sleep lately?" He asked as he noted the dark circles under her eyes that she had tried to cover up with makeup.
"Yeah, I got a whole six hours last night," She answered.
"How much Ambian did it take to get that?" He asked worriedly.
"A hundred and twenty milligrams."
"Fuck Vi, that much should have put you in a coma." He realized.
"I know, but I just wanted to sleep so badly that I kept taking 2 tabs every hour until I finally fell asleep." Violet explained as she slowly got up and sat in her desk chair before letting her head rest on the desk's surface.
"Vi, why didn't you tell me it was getting this bad?" Phillip asked as he leaned against her desk next to her.
"Because there are a thousand and one other things that are more important," Violet groaned as she continued to lay her head on the desk and waited for the painkillers to kick in while she focused on not throwing up.
"Violet, I would not have the best doctors cooped up in a lab working 14 hour days trying to come up with the best solution possible if I didn't think that you and your health were important if not equally or even more important than my own. Promise me that you'll tell me when things are getting bad or if things get worse." Phillip urged her.
"Ok, ok, I promise," Violet said as she steadied her breathing, the painkillers beginning to take effect.
"Thank you, now I want you to do me a favor, take a few days off, go to the spa, get a massage or something and relax, read a good book and don't use your powers. Because the more you use them the worse this seems to get. Can you do that for me?" Phillip prodded.
"Yeah, I can do that, but what about Syn..Mr. Pine?" Violet asked, catching herself.
"Don't worry about it, I will deal with him personally if I have to and he will answer to me about this incident." Phillip placated. "And you start now, I'll go down to the lab to get you your meds, just stay here."
"Deal," Violet agreed as she kicked off her heels for her feet to rest.
Phillip went down to the lab and got Violet the special painkillers that have been designed for her and checked in on the sleep aid they had been also working on for her and got as much of that as they had as he informed them of her recent dose as the doctors rewrote the prescription. It was highly unusual for an employer to take such an intense interest in his employee but Philip considered this extremely special circumstances because Violet was so much more than an employee, she was a friend. A true one he felt and while he knew that Violet didn’t need him, he was becoming more and more dependent on her and was still hoping that when it was all said and done, she would stay with him and while they both had agreed not to pursue a romantic relationship, it was awfully hard for him to keep things strictly business between them. Especially after that first incident when they had been locked in his safe room for a week. It got very physical then and he had found himself craving her more and more and he had time to win her over. He also dealt with anything and everything having to do with Violet he did himself. It's not that he didn't trust his other secretaries and assistants but, he felt better knowing that because he handled it, it was done right.
He saw her off before going to Buddy's lab himself.
"Mr. Sebastian, I was wondering when you would come and see me," Buddy remarked, despite the slight nervous edge to his voice. He had been wondering what ramifications there would be for upsetting Phillip's little 'pet', remembering what lengths he used to go to when it came to anyone or anything that messed with Mirage.
"Well Mr. Pine, it seems you've been busy, making exceptional hardware, offending my staff," Phillip listed off casually, but there was quiet rage to his voice that Buddy immediately picked up on.
"I didn't mean to offend her. I just noticed she was in pain, I didn't mean to upset her," Buddy defended as Phillip took a long hard look at him.
"I'm going to ask you something and I need you to be honest in your answer. Do you have any design or intention of bringing harm in any way, shape or form to Ms. Parr?" Phillip gravely questioned.
"Of course not," Buddy answered.
"But given your history, especially with the Parr's..." Phillip began.
"I know, I'm the last person who should be put anywhere close to any of them but things change, especially in the time that’s passed." Buddy countered.
"I'm aware that you know a lot about Supers, and I know better than to ask exactly how you know..." Phillip began.
"Natalia," Buddy interrupted. "Natalia, or Mirage rather, had similar powers that Violet has, Tali suffered from extremely painful and debilitating headaches too, they were so bad she used to "joke" about drilling a hole into her head to relieve the pressure. Whenever she used her powers, especially her invisibility extensively. Supers are wired differently, they even have extra brain components, Supers who can turn themselves invisible, tend to have larger central cortex's. It puts pressure on the rest of the brain, that's why the headaches are so intense and hard to cure." Buddy explained. "That's how I know about it. I almost had a cure too at several points. But everything I came up with impaired her powers and she always needed to use her powers. Always. The Agency..." Buddy began as he did his best to fight the tears that came to sting at the corner of his eyes at all the memories came flooding back and what surprised him was to feel all that rage he had against The Agency rear it's ugly head as he fought to remain composed and in control of himself and his emotions.
"The Agency knew damn well it was hurting her, hell it was killing her and they didn’t give a single fuck. The needs of the many always outweigh the needs of a few right? And it’s not like she didn’t want to do the missions, she always did and it made her happy to feel useful and helpful and as long as I could come up with the right painkiller for the headaches and keep her in the field, she was happy. All Supers, the good, the bad and everything in between, they always have an itch that only Super work can scratch. They just sent her on mission after mission all while she was working for me, because she had the skill set to be useful in the more "clandestine" work and out of the public eye. To the point the villains never knew she was ever involved in their downfall. No matter what I did, whatever I provided them or tried to find other Supers to take her place on all these missions, they liked to remind me and her who she really belonged to and it took turning on me and exposing me to the fullest and deepest degree for her to break free of them and finally get the out she needed. I lost track and count of how many times and all the different ways I proposed to her, but she never accepted because she knew that The Agency could turn on her if she didn’t walk the line and it would have made both of us targets. Especially when Supers were under ban, she was used even though she was relatively young when all that happened because she was older than me by a decade and she was barely a teenager then. Of course she’s fine now, or so I assume. She’s perfectly fine being a trophy wife for just another rich, powerful billionaire playboy because there's so many of us these days and I used to lay awake at night and wonder what he had that I didn’t that got her to say yes to him but not me." Buddy revealed. Remembering how he used to cradle her in his arms and rock her and squeeze her head to give her counterpressure and swear he would find a cure if it was the last thing he did and the beautiful but fatally flawed relationship they had. But it was still...never enough.
“I see how you are with her. You depend on her a lot. And as much as you like seeing the way I react to her and act in her presence. She’s practically your everything and I know that you know that you’re pretty screwed without her. It would probably take what? A hundred? Two hundred people to do all the things she does on her own by herself. She’s irreplaceable. Funny isn’t it? We get all this money and power and make ourselves as desirable and needed as possible while individually independent as we can be, then a girl comes along and she makes it all feel useless and worthless and they make you realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you and that you aren’t the most important person in the room, let alone the world or the universe- that they are. And no matter what we do, what we give, what we invent, how we try to help- at the end of the day and when all is said and done, they don’t need us, and it stings like a motherfucker. But if you’re lucky- they’ll want you and if they want you and genuinely care about you, then that’s all that matters.” Buddy confessed, not sure why he was telling Phillip all this. But he felt... absolved to a degree to get it off his chest and he wished with all his might that someone had told him all this fifteen years ago.
“If you had a time machine, would you do anything differently?” Phillip asked.
“Absolutely. I’d do everything differently. I would have dropped my grudge against Mr. Incredible at a very early age and recognized that I had a very unhealthy obsession with him and gotten my ass into therapy much sooner than I did. I still would have built the empire. But I would have tried not buying Tali. Because that was my fatal mistake, I tried to buy her with a salary that almost equaled mine. I got her stock options, I got her investments and I got her so set up that she technically didn’t need me or anyone else but I did it because I didn’t know how else to try to woo her because I will admit I'm not the most handsome, charming guy and I overcompensate and I would have never used her the way I did and I would have just let her be, no strings, no contracts, nothing. Just let her do whatever she wanted. I realized after the fact that she never really let herself really be her true self around me. The line between Natalia and Mirage was pretty blurred to the point, I never knew the difference between the two and I was foolish enough to think they were one and the same. The altruistic Supers are always the same person in and out of the supersuit. But the best ones, the most effective ones are the ones that you would never suspect are their Super persona.” Buddy revealed.
“So what do you advise?” Phillip asked thoughtfully, intrigued yet pleased he was getting all this from Buddy.
“Never make your relationship with her about the money or the power or any of that bullshit. And don’t make the possibility of staying with you about what she could earn or inherit or anything like that. That's ultimately an insult to their character. Because our greed doesn’t rub off on people like them, they're surprisingly content with little, it comes from their upbringing which more often than not is really humble. In fact make it effortlessly easy for her to walk away from you at any point in time without any retaliation, without backlash and every good thing you've ever promised, make good on it and make it so that the only reason she would stay is what she genuinely feels for you. Make it about honesty and communication and honest to goodness chemistry and the like. And if you’re keeping anything from her, remember that every secret you keep from her is a reason for her not to fully trust you. And if you have any superpowers, either good or bad, never use them on her if you don’t absolutely have to, like if it would mean something like saving her life or if you have, stop and be honest and upfront about all of it , the good, the bad and the ugly and even all the parts that make you wonder if she would even look or speak to you if she knew about. She’s a Super who’s used to spy work, her life’s work is about secrets. She won’t want any in her real relationships. I knew one Super, he was a Villain, and he was known as the Love Machine. He had the power to seduce anyone he wanted within a radius of like, half a mile, it was ridiculous. Then he met a Super who was immune to him. And the more he tried to use them on her, the more repellent to him she felt and when he was finally genuine with her, she never believed him because of his powers and believed that any feeling she had towards him, were because of his powers, when in fact, the feelings were genuine, but she still refused to believe it and when she left him- he ended up drinking himself to death. And I was stupid enough to not learn that with Tali until it was far too late.” Buddy admonished as Phillip simply stood there and considered him thoughtfully.
"Come with me," Phillip invited as he turned and escorted Buddy two floors up to where he had the doctors working on Violet's condition.
Buddy looked over the schematics and her last MRI scans and fought not to cry or gasp. "Oh no. She's way worse that Mirage ever got, is she dying?" Buddy asked Phillip.
Phillip took a deep breath and nodded yes.
"Does she know she's dying?"
"No, because we are on the verge of curing her, no use in upsetting her now," Phillip answered.
"Well what are you using to cure her?" Buddy pressed before Phillip wearily showed him what they were currently using and what else they had already tried and what they were about to try as Buddy's spark was like a bolt of lightning in his brain as it kicked into gear.
"I can fix this, I can fix her," Buddy claimed. "Give me a few weeks working with these guys and maybe a few months of trials but give me access to my old data banks that The Agency took and I can have a cure," Buddy promised.
Phillip paused to look Buddy over before nodding again. "Ok, but you better deliver Pine." Phillip went over to a control panel and gave Buddy access to the databases containing all the research that had been confiscated from Buddy's Island the decade prior along with all the research that had been done since then, along with access to the Medical Lab he was currently in and a security tag so he could go from his own lab to the medical lab on his own. "By the way, Violet is now on medical leave, Mrs. Tyner will be your liaison for everything until she gets back. But anything you need for this project you will tell Tyner and you will keep Ms. Parr out of it. Understood?" Phillip posed.
"Understood," Buddy agreed before turning and bringing up all his old data and instinctively taking control of the medical lab.
Phillip left work and went to a florist and got some nice flowers before he went over to Violet’s apartment to check in on her.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Violet asked as she came to the door.
“I came to check on you. Are you feeling better?” He asked hopefully.
“I am, come on in. I take it these are for me.” Violet smiled at her flowers before he gladly handed them over to her as she took them and got a vase from the top of her fridge to put them in.
“I got a spa day planned for tomorrow.” She informed him happily.
“Good, I hope you enjoy it. You’ve earned it.” Phillip grinned.
“Aww, thank you.” She cooed.
“So, can I talk to you as Phil instead of Mr. Sebastian?” Phillip carefully asked.
“Of course, Phil is always allowed to talk about whatever he wants to.” Violet grinned happily as she got a bottle of wine out.
About four months into this assignment, “Phil” and “Vi” were code for when they just wanted to be themselves and friends and not as employer and employee or Super and Protectee or handler and asset.
“So I talked to Mr. Pine about the incident this morning.” Phillip began.
“That’s a Mr. Sebastian tone though.” Violet noted with a frown as she went ahead and opened the bottle of wine because “Phil” and “Vi” often Netflix, Pinot Noir and Chill kind of “friends”.
“Ok so I asked Buddy about it and he confessed that how he knew about it, was Mirage, or as he referred to her- Natalia or Tali for short.” He furthered as he gratefully took the glass of wine as he took the seat at her breakfast bar and took off his suit jacket and tie as she hopped up in the other and turned to face him.
“Oh, so they were very intimate. I’m her protégé and I don’t even get to call her by her real name.” Violet professed as she made a face before she took a big sip of her wine.
“Yeah, so turns out that’s how he knows about the enlarged central cortex because she suffered headaches just like you and in between his own supervillain agenda, he was working on a cure for her. He knows that all Supers who use invisibility have that. So, it wasn’t nearly as awful as I thought it was going to be. And he reassured me that he harbors you no ill will and has no designs on you.” Phill assured her.
“Do you believe him?” Violet raised a curious brow at that.
“I’m not sure.” Phillip answered.
“Good because I don’t.” Violet insisted.
“What would it take for you to believe him?” Phil asked.
“His dead body.” Violet answered honestly which got Phil to crack a crooked grin.
“Ok. Well maybe one of these days you’ll get that and I hope it brings you closure and peace.” Phillip offered before he clinked his wine glass with hers.
“Thank you Phil. That’s very sweet.” Violet grinned. “So can I jump your bones while you’re here?” Violet asked with a waggle of her eyebrows.
“Hell yeah.” He adamantly as they came together quickly and kissed passionately as they moved each other to the bedroom where they spent the remainder of the afternoon in each other’s embrace as Phillip was proud of himself for not using his powers to get her in the mood. While he knew that Buddy had spoken the truth, he would be taking Buddy’s advice, but he still had his own ideas about how and when he was going to implement them and once they were both sated they laid in bed and looked up at the painting that Violet had installed on her ceiling in the apartment as Phillip sweetly combed her soft hair with his fingertips as Violet simply basked in the afterglow of a great orgasm. Orgasms with Phillip were always out of this world because of his powers and she didn’t mind one bit he used them for that purpose.
“Want to go out to dinner?” Phillip asked.
“Sure.” Violet readily agreed as she got up and went to put on her supersuit.
“Come on Vi, don’t put that stupid thing on! You won’t need it!” Phillip complained.
“Phil, we’ve been through this a thousand times. Every time I don’t wear it, I end up needing it, every single time, without fail. At this point I put it on to make sure that nothing happens and that I don’t need it.” Violet argued as she continued to pull it up over he naked body.
“Just one more time, let’s just try one more time. Please? Pretty pretty please?” Phil begged from the bed as he sat up and steepled his hands like he was praying.
“Where did you want to go out to dinner?” Violet asked as she paused in putting it on as the top half simply hung around her waist.
“Wherever you want to go that you’ll feel you won’t need to wear that.” Phil answered as he gestured to the suit.
“Fine, Sumo’s.” Violet answered as she pushed the suit off her legs.
“Yes!” Phil cheered happily.
“Thank you thank you thank you.” He thanked her as he came over and kissed her soundly before he got redressed in his suit as she slipped into a sexy little dress to go out with him to dinner and once they got to Sumo’s, they happily got all kinds of Sushi and Ramen and other Dim Sum dishes.
And while they were eating Violet noticed she felt especially warm and fuzzy and frankly almost love drunk towards Phillip but knew he was using his powers to make her feel that way as she mentally fought those feelings because she knew they weren’t real, and not genuinely hers. Mirage had always warned her that mixing business with pleasure had it’s perks but also it’s dangers and warned her to never, ever go to bed with someone she wouldn’t feel absolutely free walking away from in the morning, let alone free to put a bullet in their head if she needed to. And that if at any moment she felt that she was in too deep and too attached that that’s when the highest danger would inevitably come and always remind herself that it was still, just a job, just a mission, just an asset and that if at any moment, he could turn from asset- to target. And she needed to be removed enough emotionally to pull the trigger herself if need be.
But one look at the way Phillip was looking at her told her that he was already too attached to her. But she needed him to be for this mission to be a success. He had asked her to be his girlfriend several times over by now and she had always turned him down and instead told him to ask her once her contract was up. And that seemed to satisfy him. And they agreed that their relationship would remain ‘friends with benefits’ until then and that they were open and free to pursue other romantic relationships until then. Thus- why Phillip used the ballerina/model types like tissues. But Violet felt that if he honestly, truly loved her- he would wait for her, wait however long it would take. And every time he used a girl, it was another layer added between her heart and his and honestly helped her keep her heart and her emotions to herself.
She still spent the night at his place though and Phillip gladly sent her in his Rolls-Royce to the spa and even ordered extra treatments for her and paid for her visit and Violet left that spa looking and feeling like a goddess before she insisted that she could come in on Monday which Phillip caved and agreed to.
On Sunday though, she was sent new medication which Phillip himself dropped off and once he left she was sent a video by Leslie of the conversation that Phillip had had with Buddy and Violet just watched it over and over again. She was blown away by Buddy's observations and his insights had been spot on and completely accurate and most importantly, completely honest and genuine and for the first time, she believed him. She knew that Phillip used his powers on Buddy to get that confession and thus why Phillip left it at that. And it was because of that video that she began to let go of her own grudge against him and slowly, but surely, she started to look at him and not see Syndrome anymore. Just...Buddy Pine, a colleague.
#Why So Jaded?#Why So Jaded Chapter 3#Synlet#Buddy Pine#Bartholomew Pine#Violet Parr#Phillip Sebastian#love triangle here we come#Corporate espionage AU#Modern AU
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two slow dancers
Summary: "Who are you dating? Do I know him?"Dan snorts."Phil," it comes out easy and natural, Dan's brain processing what he said a second too late.
or dan and phil are best friends and neighbors and secretly (not so secretly) in love but from Dan's POV.
Second part of you fill my head with you
Word count: 2.7K
Rating: G
(read on ao3)
Dan doesn't even notice the first lie, it slips through his lips like dry sand escapes your fingers when the wind blows. He must show a lot of conviction because Rina believes him without a fuss and she doesn't usually believe in Dan's excuses.
She wants Dan to go on a date with a friend of her’s, she has been nagging Dan for a whole week. It's Friday, at this point Dan is in a state of total annoyance.
"Where is this coming from?" Dan squints at her. "In all the months I have known you, you haven't cared about my love life."
She makes a face. "Ok, maybe my friend saw a picture of you and has been bullying me into getting him a date with you."
"Well, that's flattering," Rina rolls her eyes, Dan ignores her. "But I don't think my boyfriend will appreciate me going out with some other dude."
Her face lights up at the word boyfriend, Dan can see the moment it happens, her eyes go wide and her mouth hangs open.
"You didn't tell me about your boyfriend!"
Dan shrugs. "It's pretty recent."
"Who are you dating? Do I know him?"
Dan snorts.
"Phil," it comes out, easy and natural, Dan's brain processing what he said a second too late.
Dan is not going to think why it feels so right to say it, he's sure the guilt will come later anyway.
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
Dragging his feet against the floor while he makes his way through the hallway, Dan reaches his door. He’s standing in front of it but changes his mind at the last second. He turns around. There's another place he would rather be at.
Dan gets his key out and opens the door like is his own home, he ignores the feeling of buzzing bees in his stomach and twists the doorknob. Sometimes, Dan likes to pretend this is his life and he gets to come home to Phil every day, and kiss him hello and goodbye and goodnight and kiss him and kiss him and kiss him... But he ruined his chance.
Phil’s apartment is quiet when Dan enters, that’s a rare occurrence, Phil is usually home when Dan comes back, with food already on the way and maybe some board game set up.
“Phil?” Dan takes his shoes off by the door. “Phil, are you here?”
A noise comes from the room, it sounds like a soft whine. Dan rushes in.
“Phil?”
He's a lump on the bed, curled up on himself. Phil whines again.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Dan sits on the edge of the bed.
"Head hurts,” Phil mumbles, sounding miserable. Dan pushes the hair off his forehead.
“Is it really bad?” Dan makes sure to use the softest voice he can, to not disturb him. “Did you take your tablets?”
Phil shakes his head.
Dan goes fetch the tablets, he knows where Phil keeps them. It’s not the first time he has witnessed one of Phil’s migraines, he knows how bad they can get. He goes to the kitchen and fills a glass with cool water before going back to the room.
“There you go,” Phil sits up to take his medicine. “You look like a kicked puppy,” Dan gives him a warm smile
Phil pouts. “Lay with me,” he says, making grabby hands towards Dan.
The bees inside Dan’s stomach start buzzing harder, Dan wouldn’t say no to Phil.
Dan takes off his coat, realizing just now that he’s still wearing it, and slips into the bed behind Phil, he wraps an arm around Phil's waist and rests his open palm on his stomach.
“Missed you,” Phil mumbles before falling unconscious again.
In moments like this Dan tries to remember he did this to himself.
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
“You have a boyfriend?” Estelle asks, cornering Dan in the break room.
“Rina told you?”
“Of course she did, she’s my wife,” she puts her hands on her waist and gives him a look that makes him feel like he’s in trouble.
“You’re not married.”
“We’re beyond that,” Estelle shrugs. “Why didn’t you tell us before? Haven’t you thought about all the double dates we could have been having all this time?”
“It’s pretty recent,” he repeats the lie he told Rina just the other day.
“Phil is your neighbour, right?” Dan nods. “I mean, it was just a matter of time, you’re always talking about him.” Her whole demeanour changes after she says that and she smiles at him. “Anyway, I’ll stop bothering you but you owe us a date.” She points a finger to him seeming far more threatening that someone so short and so sweet-looking should seem before leaving the room.
Dan has gotten himself into a big mess, he knows Estelle and Rina won’t stop pestering him until they meet Phil. Dan likes them, they are great people and they took Dan under their wing when he first got his job, he thinks of them as his friends and he hates lying to them. Still, he can’t just tell them the truth, Dan’s still filled with regret from the things he said.
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
Phil has no business being so cute, with his rosy cheeks and pretty blue eyes, tipsy from the wine they had with dinner. Martyn and Cornelia’s sofa is too small for the four of them, Phil stands in front of them for an awkward second before Dan pulls him to sit on his lap. Phil giggles and Martyn and Corn are unfazed, Dan wonders if they think there’s something between him and Phil. He hopes they do.
Dan wraps his arms around Phil’s waist and squeezes, maybe he can blame it on the wine but he feels it wouldn’t be fair, he touches Phil because he wants to and he can only hope Phil feels the same autonomy of his actions when he rests his head on the crook of Dan’s neck and puts his hands over his.
Everything feels easy with Phil, everything but words. Dan always thought he was eloquent enough to make himself understood, the problem is he’s also pretty impulsive and easily frightened, it seems.
When Dan first met Phil he was terrified, he thought Phil was an amazing person and he couldn’t believe someone like him was interested in Dan, at the moment he convinced himself he was doing Phil a favour because Dan was just going to disappoint him. Those were other times, Dan likes to think, now he knows his own worth and he knows he would never hurt Phil intentionally.
The real problem is that he doesn’t know how to communicate that to Phil, at least not with words. Maybe one of these days Phil will realize that every single one of Dan’s touches is full of intent and love and all the words Dan can't bring himself to say.
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
Dan has been moping around all day, he must admit. Phil left early to visit his parents and Dan was cut short of his Phil time. Maybe he should be doing a better job at masking it but he misses Phil and he dreads going back home because he won’t be there.
Rina notices Dan’s mood because her desk it too close to his and she always seems to have time to check on Dan at least ten times a day, she says she’s perceptive but Estelle says she’s nosy, Dan doesn’t have an opinion, it’s nice to have someone caring about him.
“Why the long face, hun?” she asks, sitting on top of his desk without a care in the world.
Dan answers before thinking too much, “Phil’s away.”
“Oh, no. Have you been left all alone?”
Dan pouts and nods.
“Poor baby,” she pouts back at him. “We should have a sleepover!” Rina smiles again, holding her hand close to her chest and putting on an excited face.
Dan doesn’t see why not to agree, he needs something to lift himself anyway and he would like to have some fun and not be alone.
“I’m down if you and Estelle don’t mind a sad giraffe invading your home.”
Rina laughs. “We don’t mind. I’ll text you our address in a second,” she waves him goodbye and gets off the desk.
Dan spends the rest of his shift being grateful for his friends -and thinking about Phil, but just a little.-
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
“You think Phil will be free next weekend?” Estelle asks out of nowhere.
Dan is laying between them on their bed a little full of pizza and a little drunk. He’s caught off guard for a second while he scrambles his brain for a credible lie.
“I could ask him but he has been very busy lately,” Dan feels awful for lying to them, he’s a shit friend and he doesn’t deserve them. “But I promise I’ll convince him to do something all of us together soon.”
“That’s alright,” Rina chimes in, Dan thought she was already asleep for how still she was. They might have had one too many Mojitos. “We just want to know the guy that has our Dan's heart,” she drapes her arm and her leg around Dan and reaches out for Estelle’s hand, their joined hands resting on Dan’s stomach.
“Serious talk,” Estelle says. “Does he treat you right?"
"Yeah," Dan says all high pitched, feeling his face get flushed.
"We just want you to be happy," Rina cranks her neck in an awkward angle to drop a kiss on Dan's cheek.
"I'm happy, I promise," it looks like the lies will never cease.
"If he ever hurts you, you just tell us and we will spray paint 'bitch' on his wall."
Dan snorts, "I'll keep that in mind."
He definitely deserves the ‘worst person in the world’ award.
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
The domesticity of going grocery shopping with Phil hurts Dan deep to his non-existent soul. He finds himself wishing, once again, that this was his life.
He pushes the cart, Phil beside him trying to read his messy handwriting because he couldn’t write his shopping list on his phone or just try to remember what he needs and die when he inevitably forgets something like normal people do.
They stop by the cereal aisle and Phil takes his time choosing one, Dan gets his phone out and scrolls through Instagram, he sees Rina posted a picture of the day of their sleepover, she and Estelle are sitting up on the bed, Rina is pecking Estelle’s cheek. They are bending in a strange way to avoid crushing Dan, that is still sleeping between them. The pic is captioned ‘perfect centrepiece’.
Dan huffs out a quiet laugh and likes the post, he’s thinking of a clever comment when Phil taps him on the shoulder.
“Should we have granola for breakfast?” and then with a mischievous tone. “Or eggs?”
The implication that they’re having breakfast together makes Dan’s heart beat faster but he tries to keep a neutral face, better if Phil doesn’t know what a simple thing like the promise of shared meals can do to Dan.
“We’re vegan,” Dan reminds him.
Phil makes a face and puts the granola in the cart. He doesn’t have to, Dan thinks, he is the one trying to be vegan and Phil is just his friend, it’s not like they live together and have to accommodate to each other’s life habits or can take conjoined decisions, this food is for Phil’s place and Dan’s veganism shouldn’t affect the way he shops and yet Phil cares, he wants to do things with Dan, do things for Dan.
This is the kind of moment that makes Dan want to be brave for once and talk to Phil about what he feels and admit that he screwed up at the beginning of their relationship but he always talks himself out of it.
The supermarket is not a great place for love declarations anyway.
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
Dan suspects he has reached his lowest point when he fakes a call to get out of another double date planning conversation, he can’t keep making excuses to avoid introducing his alleged boyfriend to Estelle and Rina. He could say that he broke up with Phil, though they might not believe it. Maybe he could say it was something mutual, that they decided they were better off as friends.
His stomach turns at the idea, even a fictional breakup would be too much for his already bruised heart, if he actually had Phil he wouldn’t give him up as easy as this, he would try to make it work.
Maybe he’s just setting himself off for rejection but Dan decides that he’s going to tell Phil how he feels after the Holidays, he just doesn’t want to ruin that for Phil so he’s going to wait.
For now, he’s going to try to convince Phil to show up to a lunch date with Rina and Estelle as Dan’s boyfriend.
Without him knowing.
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
Of course, Phil shows up despite not having an idea of what is going on. Of course, he plays along even if he is notoriously mad. Of course, he’s the perfect fake boyfriend. Of course, Dan is more screwed than he was before.
Phil really is the perfect boyfriend, Dan reckons. He’s nice to Dan but still has a sense of humour to tease him and bant with him, he’s charming and pretty and Dan is sure Rina and Estella have bought the act.
Dan has bought it too if he’s being honest, he feels like he’s being allowed to have a peek into the life he could have had if only he hasn’t pushed Phil away. Phil is the best person in the world and Dan is an imposter.
By the end of the date, Dan has convinced himself there’s no way Phil still wants him and he should keep his distance
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
Phil needs time away from him, Dan repeats in his head over and over again until he makes himself think he believes it.
Not knocking at Phil's door every time he comes back from work gets harder every time, not having Phil there to share every moment it's killing Dan. But confrontation is worse.
Dan can't handle Phil's disappointment, Phil's anger. What if Phil hates him for being a liar? What if he doesn’t want to be friends with Dan anymore? What if he moves out and Dan never sees him again?
Dan doesn't even want to think about it.
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
When the power goes out and Phil comes into his apartment Dan can barely believe it. He forgets that he’s scared of the dark and just jumps into Phil’s arms, too happy to know Phil doesn’t hate him to care about the absence of light around them.
They talk and Dan confesses he was scared of fucking up everything between them and Phil tells him he loves him despite everything. Things still feel a little tilted, they have a lot to talk about, but Dan has the feeling they will work it out at the end.
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
Phil is a big fan of double dates. Well, probably he’s just a big fan of Estelle and Rina. Dan can’t blame him, they’re amazing.
They all hang out so much Rina ends up pointing out Phil’s new lack of responsibilities and Dan has to come clean about his lies. He’s lucky they’re just mad at him for about five minutes. Estelle says she’s too glad it worked out at the end to be angry and Rina says she only forgives him because Phil is sweet, not because of Dan, he’s an asshole. It’s better than what he could have ever asked for.
And Dan gets to be with Phil, as unbelievable as he finds it.
They’re on the sofa, Dan’s arm over Phil’s shoulders. It’s nothing they wouldn't have done before but it still gives Dan a trill, he's Phil's boyfriend, he has his arm around his shoulders and Phil is cuddling into him. It's not different and yet it's completely different. There are no excuses or pretences, they’re free to love each other.
Good thing this is Dan's life.
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Beauty and the Barnes (5)
FANDOM - MARVEL MCU
PAIRING - Bucky X Reader
WARNINGS - Lots of Smut, Light Hints of Non/Dub-Con, Prostitution, Swearing, Dark Bucky. (I can’t stress enough that this is kinda dark, Buckys an asshole and the kind of behavior that goes on in this fic is in no way acceptable in the real world)
When your father falls deathly ill you fall into a lifestyle you would have never predicted for yourself. Selling your body as a high-class escort isn’t ideal but it’s the only way to find the money you need to help your father, until your first client offers you another way.
Bucky’s mean, coarse and gets a kick out of watching you squirm but he is willing to help your father. All you have to do is sign yourself over to The Winter Soldier, body and soul.
Trapped in The Avengers compound, serving as a PA to a man who’s an absolute beast you find yourself wondering if there’s such a thing as a happy ending?
Masterlist
Chapter Five
“I’ve been on hold for an hour! He’s a patient, how hard is it to put me through to a patient!” You snapped.
You had been trying all day to get a hold of your father but it was like some kind of impossible task. After being passed around to three different departments, several different nurses and one orderly you had been put through to a very nice elderly man who was not your father but was so happy someone had called to speak to him that you had ended up talking to him for a whole hour and promising you’d call again soon. You had then finally been given a separate number for the patient line and were still on hold.
“No, no don’t put me back on hold!” You hurriedly begged in vain.
You groaned as the repetitive notes of the chirpy hold music played.
“Excuse me, can you sign here?” The delivery man asked, again.
You mouthed an apology and signed the screen quickly and balancing the phone between your shoulder and ear picked up the food delivery you’d had brought in. There was a communal kitchen as well as a small kitchenette in each room and after asking around you discovered Bucky preferred to use his own. With a little help from Friday you brought up Bucky’s order history and managed to construct a shopping list from it. Your tablet beeped with a notification from the laundry department in the basement, asking you to come pick up Bucky’s laundry and you whined.
You were exhausted. It was only mid morning and you were half dead on your feet. You managed to get the shopping put away and ran down to the laundry, still listening to the awful hold music. Armed with piles of carefully wrapped dry-cleaning you managed to get into the elevator and sunk against the wall, smiling politely at the man sharing the elevator.
“Do you need some help?” He whispered.
“I can manage, thank you though.” You shook your head and sighed.
“Are you sure? It’s just, you’re limping.” He pointed out.
Your face suddenly felt very warm.
“It’s just the heels.” You lied.
You couldn’t exactly admit you were walking funny because your super soldier boss had bent you over and fucked you that morning.
“Ah. Well if it’s any consolation, I think you look amazing in them.” He grinned, looking at your legs.
“As a matter of fact, your approval has made the pain incredibly bearable.” You said sarcastically.
“Well, I’m glad I can help. Let me know if you change your mind about accepting some help.” He said, winking and slipping out of the elevator doors as the whooshed open.
You kind of wished you had actually admitted why you were really limping. You got out of the elevator after him, hoping to make a quick run for the corridor.
“I’m Ben” He told you.
“Hi Ben, bye Ben.”
You would have felt a lot more victorious about your escape if you weren’t still on hold. To contend with the practically permanent ache between your legs, you now had a crick in your neck. You had to use your elbow and a lot of awkward leaning to get the door to Bucky’s room open.
“Oh thank god you’re here!” You exclaimed when you saw him standing in the living room.
“Why?” He asked, looking stricken.
“I have your clothes but I’m not allowed in your room so here.” You said, flinging them down on the couch.
You straightened your back with a groan.
“Who are you on the phone to?” He asked, tilting his head to listen to the music with a confused look.
“The clinic, I’m trying to speak to my father, I’ve been trying all day. I have to go pick up and fill out the requisition forms for some kind of rifle you asked for? I don’t know. Bye.” You told him with a friendly wave and rushed back out of the door.
He stared after you for at least five minutes before he finally moved.
“Friday, where’s Stark? I need a favour from him.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sometime after you’d eaten lunch, someone had finally taken you off of hold to tell you that your dad was with his doctors and you should phone back in a couple of hours. After you hung up you banged your head against the desk a couple of dozen times. You had been assigned a small, modest office. It had a desk, a chair, a filing cabinet and a window and that was it.
“Friday?”
“Yes Miss?”
“Do I really have to fill out all these forms for a rifle? Can’t I just go buy it myself?” You grumbled.
“It’s a 70 thousand dollar piece of weaponry.” She informed you.
“What? Why? Why does he need a 70 thousand dollar rifle?” You yelped.
“I believe he lost the last one.”
“HOW?”
“Got knocked out of my hands during a fight with Hydra operatives in the Balkans last month. Didn’t have time to go back for it, was busy trying not to get blown up. Well, actually I was busy trying to stop Steve getting himself blown up.” Bucky answered, opening your office door.
“Oh. Well that’s fair… Captain America probably costs a little more to replace.” You said sheepishly.
“This room is depressing.” He noted, looking around.
“Well, It’s an office not The Magic Kingdom.” You told him.
“You like it like this?” He asked derisively.
“No, but I haven’t exactly had time to redecorate. Besides it’s fine, I’ll add some personal effects later.” You said, looking around.
“Give me your tablet.” He demanded.
You handed it over nervously and he immediately started fiddling with it. There was a ringing sound coming from it when he handed it back and you looked at the screen with a frown before the ringing stopped and suddenly you were looking at your father face.
“Dad?”
“Sweetheart! Hello! *cough* Can you hear me?” He shouted.
“Dad, yes! I can hear you! Are you ok?” You asked frantically.
Bucky smiled softly at the way you brightened straight away, gazing down at the screen with concentration.
“I’m just fine. You were right, this is a wonderful place. They are taking such good care of me. Do thank your bosses for this won’t you?”
You looked up to do exactly that but Bucky had already slipped away.
“I will daddy, I will. Tell me everything.” You demanded.
“Well they have me on *Cough* this new breathing apparatus.” He said, holding up the oxygen mask to the camera.
“Are they nice? Are they smart?” You demanded.
“Very nice, just lovely. Very smart, they know lots of big words.” He assured.
“You’re coughing less.” You noted.
“Yes, they gave me new medication. *cough*. It helps with the symptoms.” He said.
“Dad, how are we talking? You don’t have a tablet, you don’t even have a cellphone.”
“It was delivered a few minutes ago, with very clear instructions on how to turn it on. I thought you sent it.” He said excitedly.
“No… no, it wasn’t me.” You said, the corners of your lips turning up as you realised what had happened.
“Well tell me *cough* about this new job.”
“It’s… hard work. But I think I like it, it’s not as difficult as I thought it would be.” You admitted with a grin.
“Should you be calling? Are you *cough* at work right now?” He asked with concern.
You waved a form at him.
“I’m working, don’t worry.” You laughed.
“Good, good girl. Well don’t *cough* be letting me distract you. I’ll still be here when you get home. I even know how to charge this contraption, the instructions were *cough* very helpful!” He said cheerfully.
“Ok, well I’ll call tonight ok? Oh and there a man in room 4a, very nice man. His name is Donald Beaton, go say hello.”
“I will sweetheart, goodbye. I love you.”
“I love you too daddy.” You said, blowing him a kiss and hanging up.
You gently placed the tablet down on your desk and took a deep, shuddering inhale before you were springing up and running out of the door. Your heels clacked against the floor, pain forgotten as you raced through the compound. You found Bucky about the enter the gym.
“Bucky!” You called.
He turned around to look at you and you pulled to a stop in front of him , breathing heavily. He raised a quizzical eyebrow you. He tensed up as you put your hand on his shoulder .
“Thank you.” You said firmly, looking deep into his eyes.
He nodded shakily and licked his lips, finding them suddenly dry. When you leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek all the tension disappeared under your touch as he practically melted into you. When you pulled away he nearly stumbled and when you walked away, throwing one last smile over your shoulder at him he just stared after you, awestruck. When you turned the corner, out of sight he brushed his fingers across his cheek and walked backwards, away from the gym.
“Isn’t Bucky meeting us?” Sam asked.
“Guess he’s late.” Steve shrugged, setting up the punchbag.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You balanced a bag of Chinese takeout against your hip and a locked case with a 70 thousand dollar rifle in your arms as you dragged your very very tired self back to your office. You still had a mountain of forms to fill in so you were planning on having a working dinner. You dropped the stupid rifle haphazardly on your desk and very carefully placed the bag of food next to it.
“Well I cam to see if you wanted dinner, looks like you already have that covered.”
You looked up in alarm at Ben who was leaning against the windowsill, smirking at you.
“Do you have an appointment?” You asked.
“For dinner?”
“To be in my office.” You snapped.
“Do I need one?”
“Yes…”
“Can’t make an exception, just for me?” He asked with what you assumed was supposed to be a charming grin.
“Nope.”
“How about grabbing some dinner with me? I’ll even let you wear flats.” He asked, stepping forwards.
“Oh will you? How kind.” You said, rolling your eyes.
“So, shall we?” He asked.
“No.” You said flatly.
“No what?” He asked, smiling away.
“No, we shan’t.” You clarified.
“Ok… I can meet you in the somewhere if you like?” He offered.
“Just because you can it doesn’t mean you should.” You said.
“I’m confused.” Ben said, frowning quizzically at you.
“Perpetually I bet. I don’t want to have dinner with you, now or in the future, but thank you for asking.” You said politely as you could be bothered.
“Well how about coffee?” He tried.
“I’m not interested.” You told him straight.
“Breakfast?” He pushed.
“Still a no.”
“Are you seeing someone?” He enquired.
“No.”
Unbeknown to the two of you, this was the point when Bucky approached your office door and paused, hearing your voices.
“Then why not have a drink with me?” He tried.
“Because I don’t want to.” You informed him, again.
“I bet I can change your mind.” He smirked.
“You can’t.” You stated.
“Give me a chance.” He asked, growing irritated.
“Nope.”
“Well now you’re just being rude.” He admonished.
“And you’re being desperate.” You retorted.
“Listen, you’re pretty and you’re new around here so maybe you don’t get how it works. If a man, especially one with a much higher position than you is nice enough to ask you to dinner, it’s polite to accept.” He snapped.
“And I really shouldn’t be rude should I? it’s unbecoming.” You said with a chastised expression.
“Exactly.” He said, pleased he’d appeared to get through to you.
Bucky snarled lowly and put his hand on the door handle when your saccharine sweet voice stopped him.
“Alright then. Thank you so very much for your generous and gallant offer good sir but I am afraid I must politely decline on account of the fact that I simply do not want to accept.” You said.
“Why the hell not?” He demanded.
“Sarcasm seems to go over your head and no is not a word you comprehend, that gives you low intelligence points. You’re misogynistic, pushy and kind of creepy so charisma points are low as well. You’d need to be absolutely drop dead gorgeous to counteract both of those things enough for me to want to spend time with you and the fact that I have said no should tell you all you need to know there.” You listed off.
He gaped at you. Outside, Bucky smirked.
“Whew, I’m pretty winded. You have a lot of flaws to list, you should work on that.” You said, waving him towards the door.
“Stuck up bitch.” He muttered under his breath, storming out of the office.
He didn’t see Bucky, concealed in a shadow as he scurried away. Bucky resisted the urge to step out of the shadows and teach the sleaze a lesson, you’d already done that. He smirked again as he remembered the way you’d cut the man down with your words. He moved back towards your office, desperate to see if you would accept his offer of company.
That was when you finally noticed the huge bouquet of red roses on your desk in a crystal vase. You looked around for a card, but there wasn’t one. You didn’t want Ben’s company and you certainly didn’t want his flowers. Scoffing at them, you swept them off the desk and straight into the bin. You didn’t see the card that had fallen off the desk and landed under it and you didn’t see Bucky Barnes stood in the open doorway behind you with a wounded expression.
By the time you turned around to slam your office door closed, there was no one there and Bucky was halfway down the corridor wondering why your rejection of his affection was making his chest hurt so badly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Belle: *Is nice to Bucky*
Bucky: *Goes soft*
Belle: *Is mean to someone else*
Bucky: *Gets hard*
@spnqueen02 @nogardsoahk @chipilerendi @youwerespared @jessieray98@nochampagnesocialist@scarlettswxtch@dropthepizza346 @jsmith509 @musingpredilection
#Bucky x Reader#Bucky fic#Bucky Barnes#The Winter Soldier#Winter Soldier x reader#Bucky x You#Bucky x Y/N#Bucky x OC#Tony Stark x Reader#Avengers x Reader#Platonic Avengers#Captain America X Reader#Steve Rogers x Reader#Steve x Reader#Bucky Smut#Bucky series#Bucky fic. Bucky Barnes#Smutty Bucky#Dom Bucky#Hate Sex#Slow Burn#Steve Rogers#Captain America#Tony Stark#Iron man#Peter parker#Spiderman#Sam Wilson#Falcon#Falcon x reader
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Adrinette April 2019 Day 18
Well.... the cats are finally herded. Unfortunately this was quite the delay for me. Here it finally is, part 5 of the 2 parter. :( Enjoy!
Part 1 - The Valentine
Part 2 - Love rivals
Part 3 - Beach
Part 4 - Confession
@adrinetteapril
Day 18 - In the rain
Adrien and Nino started planning on what Adrien should do now that he realized that he liked Marinette.
Adrien was all for telling Marinette that he knew about there not being another boy and having spent all this time with her he realizes that he likes her and would like to get to know her better.
Nino took off his cap and smacked Adrien lightly on the head with it. “No. Bad Adrien, bad. If you tell her any of that you are going to freak her out.”
“But I want to be honest with her.” Adrien was rubbing his head.
“There is honesty and there is non-useful information. You tell Marinette you know there was no other guy, she’s gonna starting thinking about how you might think she was lying to you. Alya tells me all about how she can over think things and get carried away.” Nino stood up and started pacing with his hands clasped behind his back.
“You want to take things slow. You come on too strong and she will freak. It doesn’t matter that there was no guy, it only matters that when you started cheering her up, you realized that you like her as more than a friend now.” He looked at Adrien with a hand on his chin.
“I think she has liked you for quite a while. At least a year, I remember Alya telling me about how Marinette was going to make sure she didn’t mess it up this year. Possibly meaning she had a card for you last and never sent it.” Nino paused for a moment, “Time. That is what you need. I know you won’t like this but I think you need more time just getting closer to her. She’s possibly liked you for a year or more. If you take another couple of week or maybe a month of hanging out with her, just you and her, she might not freak out when you ask her on a ‘proper date’.”
“This should also give her more time to ‘get over’ the other boy.”
Adrien stood up and bowed towards Nino, “Since when did you get so wise about romance, oh love guru. I remember a long while ago you wanting my help with asking Marinette out yourself.”
Nino chuckled, “Alya. She is a whole lot of loving. Ya learn stuff to keep your girlfriend happy.”
They sat down and over snacks they formulated a plan that would have Adrien asking Marinette out in 4 weeks. Then they played more games in celebration until Adrien had to leave.
--------
The following school week was incredibly agonizing for Marinette. By the weekend she was almost ready to lose her mind.
“Tikki, am I loosing my mind? Was Adrien paying me a lot of attention this week?” Marinette looked at the little kwami who was munching cookies on the desk.
“I think so. I think he’s spent more time with you this week than last week.” Tikki finished her cookie and floated up to Marinette.
“Oh, this is not good.” Marinette groaned. “Adrien’s been getting closer to me because of a lie Tikki. That’s not a good foundation for anything.”
Tikki tried to console her chosen. “Marinette, you got sad because you thought you would have to give up on your feelings for Adrien. He noticed you were sad. It doesn’t matter why you were sad, just that he wanted you to be happy and so he is trying to cheer you up.”
“I wouldn’t have been sad if I had been able to give Adrien the card instead of Alya taking it and me getting so embarrassed it was with all those other cards that I had to ask for it back.” Marinette argued back, “I could have left it there. I could have let Adrien see it amongst all the others and he either would have read it or just ignored the whole lot. I made myself sad and now Adrien’s paying attention to me because of that.”
“Marinette,” Tikki crossed her arms. “Adrien didn’t start liking you the moment you asked for the card back. He didn’t start liking you when you told him there was another boy. He didn’t start liking you when you told the ‘lie’ that the boy didn’t like you back. Adrien’s just been paying you more attention. You can’t be sure that he like you that way right now. And If he does, then he’s probably grown into it.”
Marinette thought about that, “Umm, ok. There is a chance he still just likes me as a friend and not romantically.”
“That’s right Marinette,” Tikki hugged Marinette’s face. “For now, just be his friend and if it changes later, then you can worry about it.”
“Thanks Tikki,” Marinette hugged her kwami back. Ready to try and face the next day she’d be at school.
--------
It was Tuesday and Adrien had some time in his schedule. He had cleared it with Nathalie that morning so he could go help Marinette study for science class. He knew she was having trouble in it so it was a good reason to spend time with her and not Nino and Alya.
When he went home for lunch he was surprised by his father wanting to speak with him. He went the study.
“You asked to see me father?” Adrien said as he stepped into the room.
With out looking up from his tablet Gabriel said. “Nathalie has informed me that you wish to use some of you time to help a female friend study.”
“Yes father. She’s having trouble in science and I thought I could help her.” He nodded.
“Who is this girl?” Gabriel intoned.
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Adrien answered.
His father’s fingers stilled on the tablet and he raised his eyes to make contact with Adrien.
“She is the girl that designed the feather bowler that won in the contest last year?”
“Yes she is.” Adrien nodded.
Gabriel paused a moment, then looked back down at his tablet and started typing again. “I would prefer you come back home for dinner but if she needs extra help please let Nathalie know you will be staying there. Do not be late.”
Adrien was surprised. “Thank you father.” He didn’t know how to take it, but his father was letting him go over to Marinette’s and even stay later if needed. He was not going to argue or even question it.
--------
Rain had started just after lunch. It made the rest of the afternoon seem grey. Marinette had been surprised when near the end of physics class Adrien had come over and said that he had noticed her having trouble with what the teacher was explaining. Would she like some help? He had a rare free afternoon and could go over to her place to explain whatever she was having problems with if she was interested?
She had said yes and now it was after school and they were heading out to her place above the bakery. Their umbrellas kept knocking into each other as they started walking.
“I have an idea,” Adrien said. “My umbrella is bigger so we can both get under it and it will be easier to walk.”
Marinette blushed and slid underneath Adrien’s umbrella, closing her own and putting it away as she did so. After walking a little more they kept bumping hips. Adrien changed the hand holding the umbrella and said, “Can I put my arm around you so we’re walking more comfortably?”
Shocked Marinette could only look at her shoes and nod. Adrien slid his arm around her waist and they headed off towards the crosswalk. There weren’t many people walking but they had to wait for traffic. As they stood there Adrien squeezed Marinette to him without realizing it.
Marinette’s heart couldn’t take it. “Adrien!” She almost yelled as she pulled herself out from his arm and turned to face him. “I lied!” She kind of moved out from under the umbrella but the rain made her get back under.
Adrien wondered what was going on, “What? What did you lie about?” He started to panic.
Marinette screwed up her courage and started, “There never was another boy. I made the Valentine for you and I was planing to give it to you and to tell you how I feel about you. But Alya grabbed the card from me and it got put into the pile of all the other Valentines that you got and you were sad that so many girls would give you cards without really knowing you. I got embarrassed and didn’t want you to see my card in the same light so I asked for it back and said there was some other guy that I wanted to give it to and you were so keen on knowing how it went and I couldn’t tell you about it. So I faked not being able to give it to him and then you encouraged me to give it to him, but it was actually for you, and I couldn’t give it to you.”
Marinette ignored the little slap sound that came from her purse and continued. “So I just kept it and after a bit you still seemed interested in if I had given it so I said that he turned me down and then you started trying to cheer me up and get over the guy. When really I was not feeling great because I felt like I wouldn’t be able to ask you out or tell you how I really feel because you thought I liked some guy, and all this attention is messing up my thinking because I really would like to hang out with you, but not because you feel sorry for me getting turned down by a non-existent boy. And we shouldn’t be friends based on a ....”
Adrien couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing. The merry and full sound finally made it’s way into Marinette’s thoughts and she stopped babbling to look at him. “Hey this is not funny” She stomped her foot.
“I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing at the situation.” He put his free hand on Marinette’s waist to pull her closer. Thunder rumbled and a small flash of lighting went off somewhere. “Out here in the rain was not the best place to tell me all that.”
“oh.” Marinette shyly looked at her hands and blushed.
“I rather say this somewhere out of the rain but I should tell you. I know there was no ‘other boy’. Don’t ask exactly how I found out. It’s a little embarrassing. Let’s just say Nino noticed something and helped me see something.”
Adrien looked down lovingly at Marinette and moved his had from her waist to her chin. Slowly tilting her face to look up at him. “When I thought that you were sad about not having the courage to give the ‘other’ boy your Valentine, it bothered me. I didn’t like seeing you sad. I wanted to see you happy. So I urged you to talk to the boy hoping that would make you happy. Then later when you said he turned you down, that kind of hurt me. It bothered me more than you not being able to talk to that boy. I couldn’t figure out what I was feeling, but I just knew that I wanted you to be happy. So I tried to cheer you up. And,” Adrien paused to rub the back of his neck, “Some-when, while trying to help you get over the guy, I kind of, started to like you. A lot.”
Marinette’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears and emotions she couldn’t place. “You like me?” She whispered.
“Mm hm.” Adrien nodded, placing his hand back on Marinette waist. “I do.”
Marinette tentatively placed her hands on Adrien’s chest and moved closer, shyly tucking her head under his. Adrien moved his hand around her back and pulled her close. They stood that way for a moment. Thunder pealed and a crack of lighting startled them both.
They laughed at the shocked looks on each others faces.
“Ok, shall we continue to my home?” Marinette asked, pulling back and turning towards the bakery.
“Yes we shall.” Adrien offered her his arm, and she took it. “I did mean what I said about helping you with physics. Father actually said that I could stay later and help you more if needed. Maybe we can use that time to get to know each other better?”
“Yeah,” Marinette said. “Wait, you mean you could stay for dinner if you wanted? You father approves that?” She blushed from the roots of her hair to halfway down her neck. Her parents were going to want to talk to Adrien and she wasn’t sure how that would go.
Adrien laughed again, “I don’t have to if I would be imposing. We can just do the homework and studying.”
“Mmmum,” Marinette shook her head. “If the studying gets even close to dinner time my parents will want to talk to you.”
It was Adrien’s turn to blush a bit. He did not realize that going over to her house might mean her parents wanting to talk to him. “Well, umm, I guess, we’ll just have to see how the studying goes and see what happens after that.” He smiled down at her.
The lights changed in their favour (once again) and they started off. Studying, pastries and possibly dinner were in their future right now and they’d take it one step at a time.
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After so long I thought that the feeling had gone away, that the idea of self-harm as a means to make myself feel again or as a means of making all the overwhelming feelings dissipate had become nothing more than just an old method I had used when I didn’t have the right outlet. Yet here I am, in my lowest, darkest moment in a long time immediate turning to it when everything became too much. And it wasn’t just the idea of performing self-harm that made me break, it was the fact that I had thought about and sought out my medications to try and kill myself, as I knew deep down that simply adding a few more scars to the hundreds that cover my thighs and arms wouldn’t be enough this time, as the feelings I was being overwhelmed by would just come back as soon as the moment was over.
Little issues build up quickly when you simply brush them off and don’t think about them. Little problems at work that you choose to keep quiet over, slight hiccups with friends that you hold your breath over. Small issues with family members that you pass off as simply normal feelings that come with your relatives. These have all built up over time for me, as I somewhere along the way decided that the best way for me to get better was to change myself, that the only way to truly move on from everything that has happened to me would be made easier by simply becoming a new person entirely. A person who likes to socialise, someone who steps out of their comfort zone regularly, who likes to go out and drink.
But the weight of all these choices has come crashing down, and it did so as soon as I face my first problem early this morning, and every little issue and surprise just made it that much worse and that much more overwhelming.
I tried to be different, but that just isn’t in the cards for me. I don’t drink, I don’t like the memories that come with it that I more than often have to push to the side. I hate socialising with people while I am trying to work and study. I don’t like to message people often as I like my alone time to just be my alone time. I hate drugs, I have seen enough and heard enough stories from my parents and the overdoses that they’ve seen and the aftermath of their ill-fated choices to know that no good could ever come from them.
I am done pretending, I am done changing myself so that I may feel some kind of acceptance from the people who I have surrounded myself with.
I am done being ashamed of who I am and the past I have had to endure.
I am done pushing things down and pretending that little things are easy for me to deal with and that the mediocrity of everyday like isn’t completely overwhelming to me and my senses.
So who am I?
I am the voice behind every single one of these letters, poems and notes.
I could just be another faceless person who sits in front of a computer screen.
But I have never properly introduced myself, my issues and my demons. I have simply mentioned them in fleeting, and very rarely put my voice to them when people ask me about my fears and problems.
My name is Emily, a 21 year old who, like everyone our age is struggling with figuring out who they are and where they are going.
I am someone who suffers from depression and social anxiety.
I am also someone who has been sexually assaulted 3 years ago.
For a year and a half I spent my life pretending that nothing had ever happened to me, I went through a short phase of being upset and angry, but I pushed past it quickly, throwing myself back into my school life and social circles. I tried dating people, all the while ignoring that sick feeling in my stomach that I now know is the feeling of mistrust. I tried hanging out with friends while ignoring that small voice in my head that would tell me that they would all do the same thing to me when given the chance. I studied my ass off while trying to pretended that I hadn’t screwed myself over and would never get the marks necessary to graduate and get into the course I wanted to.
I did this for the last half of year 12 and almost my whole first year of university. And then I met someone who I hadn’t seen in that year and a half, and their apology sent me spiralling. The next thing I knew I am sitting at my desk before work balling my eyes out while trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I spent countless hours over the following 2 weeks in and out of the doctors trying to find which medication would work best for me and trying to find a professional who I could open up to. I was made to take time off work and spend my days lying in bed because I felt no need to get up. I spent my days sleeping because I didn’t have the energy to get out of bed.
When I was driven to my first appointment with Margaret I was sceptical, why was I meant to all of a sudden open up to this stranger when I couldn’t even open up to my family. How was I meant to talk about my feelings when I felt like I had none at the time. I was sent to see a psychiatrist and given script after script of anti-depressants, sleeping tablets and an epileptic medication. Because regardless of my expressed fears of being given large numbers of scripts and being given the ability to potentially horde my medications, my doctor decided that the best way to help me was drugs, and then drugs for the side effects, and then drugs for the nightmares. Soon my life revolved around set times for medications and doctor visits.
All the while I never had to speak about what had happened, I just had to deal with the fact that I simply no longer had the capacity to process and deal with more than one emotion at a time. Because when I was happy I felt suspicious because with happiness comes joy, and pride. And I felt like these feelings were false and only due to the high doses I had been taking and would just ignore them. When I felt sad I was often plagued with anger, disgust, fear and self-loathing. These emotions would drive me to the point of tears, I would have moments where I felt like I couldn’t breathe. So I shut them all out, and let this little bit of pressure slowly grow in the back of my head. And as I would quickly come to discover, the numbness I would feel and the pressure in my head that would build until that was all I could notice would only be released if I hurt myself. A quick reminder that I can feel before I would shut down again.
I started small, punching a pillow, and then my desk, and then any hard surface I could find. But bruises on my hand made it hard for me to work without customers asking questions, so I moved onto punching my legs, letting them become black and blue from the times I would spend just sitting there hitting them, over and over again until I would realise that I had been doing it for a long time. But just as quickly as I started I stopped and moved onto something else; cutting myself. Running a pair of scissors or a knife along my forearms and thighs, watching the blood droplets form before solidifying. Knowing that they would hurt for a while, and itch while they were healing.
I had found an outlet that I did not tire of, but it left me with marks that I would soon view with disgust, and then sadness, and then they would be so overwhelming that I would hurt myself again just to stop it from overwhelming me. I bear these scars and do my best to cover them, I always wear jeans or dresses that won’t show them, I always have a jacket or long sleeve shirt on. I avoid going out when its cold as that when they turn pink and they feel like flashing neon lights. I began to fear if people would see them and immediately judge me, assume that I did it for attention. I quickly resigned to staying at home, where my mother would see them and not say a word, where my father was never around me long enough to notice them, where my brothers and sister were all either simply too young to understand or old enough that they didn’t want to be around their “weird and sick” sister because they thought that it might brush off on them.
I did all of this for months on end. Because I still never had to reflect on what had happened, I began to admit that something was wrong, but I never had to talk about the subject of my assault. Purely because I hated the term assault. If you tell someone that you’ve been assaulted there are so many different types of assault that come under that umbrella, and people never know whether or not to assume the most or least extreme scenario. So I would simply tell them that something had happened, and no I didn’t want to talk about it. Because almost everyone I told would look at me with pity and give me their half-assed apologies and ask if I was ok; or they would judge me and make the stereotypical comments of “she was asking for it” “Well you should have dressed more modestly/appropriately”.
Well fuck you then.
Those people had no idea what happened or how their words affected me. I very quickly got sick and tired of people asking me if I was ok, because no one wants to know the real answer, they simply want to say that they asked in order to make themselves feel better. People say they are sorry because they have no idea what to say and don’t want to ask questions. I began to feel sick to my stomach when people would look at me with pity in their eyes and give me a small pout. I began to hate socialising even more, and hated even uttering a single word about what happened.
But that’s the question you have now, isn’t it? You know that I have been assaulted, and if you are good with your math skills you would have figured out that I was a little over 18 when it happened.
Well, I don’t really know how to tell you if I’m honest. For how much detail is too much? If I simply said that a group of people thought it would be a funny way of payback would that answer your question or leave you with more? What if I told you that I had never had sex before that night and that I had never had a partner before that moment? Would you be curious or would you begin to feel sorry for me and send me messages of sympathy?
Well, without too much detail to bore you, but enough to give you an idea as to how it managed to fuck me up so badly; I was invited to a girls house around the corner from mine. I had known her for about 12 years, we knew each other like the back of our hands. So when she had heard of a rumour that I had slept with one of her boyfriend’s when they were going out she decided that she should get even with me, regardless of the act that I was never one for such things. She got her dad as well as a bunch of her friends to spike my drinks with alcohol and give it to me without knowing, getting me drunk to the point that I couldn’t move. The best way to describe it is my arms and legs felt like they were jelly while also feeling like they were so heavy that they were made with iron. A guy I didn’t know entered the room. The rest of it I’m sure I don’t need to go into detail for you.
I lost my trust in a lot of people after that moment. I found myself uncomfortable around every man I ever met. People coming up behind me gave me panic attacks, and still often makes me shudder involuntarily. I can’t stand the thought let alone the act of anyone touching my neck and it immediately reminds me of his hands wrapped around it as a means to scare me and keep me quiet. The idea of having sex became something utterly repulsive because my first experience was so scaring, so how could anyone find the act enjoyable?
I have begun to overcome these issues overtime, but they all still remain in some shape or form.
And up until this point, they have been the only part of me that has always stayed the same since that moment.
And I am tired of having only my experience being the only thing that has connected me with my old self, I am tired of changing who I am and what I do in order to fit in with the people around me who will never change.
Yes I can be loud and overbearing at times, and if there is a subject I am passionate about then there is a good chance I won’t know when to shut up. But I also love being alone, I love the idea of walking around by myself with my earphones in blasting music anytime and anywhere. I love having moments of childish fun, but I also enjoy being an adult, going out and having a coffee or visiting an exhibit.
I hate being in large groups, I find myself very uncomfortable. Loud places scare me and I try to avoid them, and if there is a group of young people hanging out and laughing then I will immediately try to excuse myself. I hate going out just for the sake of drinking to get drunk, I don’t mind a drink or two, but you will often find me chasing them down with several glasses of water to try and avoid getting drunk. I try not to be alone with men, as I don’t want to begin to feel uncomfortable around them. I can’t stand jokes about rape and suicide. Because I’ve experience one and attempted the other twice, and it was not funny either times so if you don’t shut your mouth then believe me you don’t want to see me do it for you.
I think I’ll take a little moment to distance myself and try to at least be me, or at least, become somewhat similar to the me that I was in high school. So that means no regular updates about what I am doing. No steady stream of messages to hang out every second day. Because that’s not me. I tried to be that person, and I couldn’t do it.
Honestly, it’s killed me a bit,
And if I’m being brutally honest,
It’s lead me to those moments when I’ve almost let it kill me.
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Personal Trainer CH.2
Tagged: @alinakerrin @erinisawriter @fannistwrites @riftversus @requiemdelune @lefttowritee @pazwrites @writing-in-the-margins @sauwrites @delphwrites @thewritertiffany @theouterdark @xanderswriteblr @youngdumbxlit @jess---writes @jadeswritinggarden @between--alleys @bzrtales @bonewrites @niva-writes @natalierosewrites @between--alleys @supersaiyansadie @velvet-moss @dolphin108 @blackandwhitesunsets @godxblooded
Masterlist: 🥊🥊🥊
I was back from a long weekend of ice packs and Tylenol tablets, I decided to stop by Donnie’s Gym.
Once I walked in I was greeted by my Uncle who is also my coach. “What are you doing here?” He had a look of concern when he saw my face, I could already tell he was staring my nose which was still swollen from the events prior.
I roll my eyes and walk past him, looking around the building. I can sense that he is following behind me; I turn around we are face to face now, that's when I start to speak. “Look I know you said I can’t compete again until I win a match but-”
I got interrupted by his laughter. Then his tone got serious. “You haven’t won in 2 months Azalea...No”
I scoff, I wasn't taking no for an answer. I continued. “Look we can try different cities...different countries-”
He motioned his hand back and forth between me and him. “We?”
I nodded my head.“Yeah I was thinking we-”
Again I was interrupted by him, he turns to me his eyes focused on mines, he grips both of my shoulders softly. “These girls come in here fighting for their life...kill or be killed. People actually die in the ring, I don't want you being the next victim….this isn't a game this is real life”
I brush him off, chuckling. “Your over exaggerating..I'm not gonna die, I'll never let another girl get the best of me anymore”
Now it's his turn to chuckle. “You real tough now huh?”
“You damn right”
“I'm not taking you on” he walks past me, walking towards the back where there were some girls practicing. I could already tell in his demeanor he was getting aggravated. He cups his hands over his mouth and starts to yell.
“WE AREN’T SOME PRISSY BALLERINAS THAT ARE GRACEFUL AND SOFT...WE ARE BOXERS WE ARE HARD, WE ARE MIGHTY, WE FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHT TO BE IN THE RING. WE ARE CHAMPIONS!”
After hearing that I got pumped all over again, I grabbed some gloves nearby that was sitting on the ground. I climb into the 20 foot square ring. “Listen up”
“Get out the ring Azalea!” I hear my Uncle yell out.
Ignoring him I walk in the middle of the ring, I take off my necklace and hold it up. “This necklace my boyfriend gave me...worth $400 whoever can knock me out in under 10 seconds get its.”
“What I gotta put up for it” I hear someone say. I look to where the sound was coming from, I smirk at her. |Rachel Otis “The Cheetah”| 12-1-0 | 13 wins by knockout |
“Put up your hands” I start to put my gloves on, I feel someone tugging at my shirt.
I look down and see My Uncle. “What are you doing?!”
“I'm going to prove to you that I am a champion”
He shakes his head side to side,“You don't have to prove anything to me..you are going to get your shit rocked” He warns.
I move out the way so I can get in my stance. I hear my uncle again, “Put on your head gear”
“I don't need it” I skip back on the ring, I turn back around and touch gloves with her. I back up and throw a couple of punches to the body, I could tell she was losing her footing so I used that against her, moving to opposite side every time she moved. Eventually she got caught up and I got her, sending an uppercut, she falls down in the ring.
To say I was on a high was an understatement, I felt like I was on top of the world. I hop on the ropes of the ring and yell. “What did I tell you!! I still got it...send someone else in, I'm ready”
I see Uncle Don shaking his head, I know he didn't believe in me but now I'm showing him; I'm showing everybody i'm back and I'm better. I see someone step in front of the ring. Helena “The Firecracker” Kingsmith |29-0-0 | 20 wins by knockout | “I’m next….I’ll knock you out in 4 seconds”
Uncle Don turns to Helena. “You need to warm-up?”
Helena cracking her neck staring directly at me, I can tell she’s out for blood. “No, I got it” She walks past him and hops into the ring. “You ready to rumble?”
“Less talking more fighting” I stare back at her, but before I start I take my uncle’s advice and put on some headgear. After I get situated I walk up to her, ready to touch gloves but she shook her head no. I proceed to back up in my corner and someone rings the bell.
It all felt like a blur, 4 seconds later I'm face down on the mat. One punch to my face and I was done. I lay on the floor struggling to breathe, I spit out my mouthpiece and I hear my uncle in my ear.
“I told you...you aren’t ready”
I finally get myself up, resting on my elbows. “No I am ready, just tell me what to do”
He sighs, he grabs my arm helping me back up on my feet. We both walk over to the front desk where he gets out the first aid kit. “That’s not my job to tell you what to do, I'm supposed to teach you and your supposed to know what to do.” He takes some cotton balls out and starts to press it on my now tender nose. “Look Azalea, I already told you I'm not working with you anymore”
Just then I hear Helena come from behind my snatching the necklace out of my hands, before she walks out she turns to me. “My mother will love this necklace”
Damn.
Griffin is going to be pissed.
¤ ¤ ¤
I was on facetime with my mom who was telling me about how my dad was attempting to fix the garage door. When the conversation died down, she finally focused her attention on me. “How was your day?”
I move the camera closer to my bruises on my face, and then I bring the camera back out frowning. “How do I look mom?...I got my ass beat in front of everybody”
I hear her on the other end, probably laying in her bed watching her favorite t.v. show- The Discovery Channel. “What did your uncle say...is he going to take you on?”
“He dropped me”
“What? Isn't he family”
I set my phone down on my coffee table and I bring the now melted ice pack from my face, walking over to the kitchen. I mumble to myself. “Yeah….I guess family don't mean shit to him”
“Oh honey-bun, me and your father are here...Are you gonna continue fighting?” I hear her say.
I shouted back. “Of course I am...it’s in my DNA”
I think back to my birth father, he was one of the best boxers in the state of California, my birth mother left when I was 8. She went to go live with another man so that left me and my father, he took care of me. I remember going with him to the tournaments and my Uncle Don was right beside us, It was us against the world.
When I turned 12 my dad got into heavy drugs and drank a lot, he would come home and just start yelling and breaking all of the furniture and then when he would wake up the next morning he didn't know what had happened.
It just kept getting worse, to the point that CPS got involved and I got taken away, by the time I was 15 I had been in about 10 foster homes...hated all of them. I finally got adopted by my amazing mother and father who have treated me like the princess I am, they let me keep in contact with my Uncle so he has been training me for fighting in the ring ever since I was 16.
After having my flashback I got a new ice pack out from the freezer and walked back in the living room, grabbing my phone and sitting down on the couch, Indian style.
“What are you gonna do if you don't have a coach?”
“I don't know..” A bright flash of color caught my attention, it was coming from the t.v. I grabbed the remote and pressed unmute.
“Hi I'm Fiona Wescott, With my unique 5 point plan I will put you on the path to get the training you deserve.”
I start to remember the fight, then the fight after the fight. Her name, it rings a bell...I pause the tv. “Fiona...that name sounds familiar”
After a few seconds of me trying to relay back the memories of my previous match, I remember her face. “Mom I gotta call you back”
I fish out the woman's business card, from my purse.
Fiona Wescott
(362)-425-2526
Here for your boxing needs
I click on the phone icon on my phone and press the numbers, it rings for a few seconds before I hear her pick up. “Fiona Wescott….”
“Hi yes I was calling for an appointment to meet with you.”
She continues. “Ok, your name and what time?”
I start to walk over to the my fridge, checking my calendar for tomorrow. “Is 2 good? And I'm Azalea”
“Yeah….I'll see you then.”
Well I might as well give it a shot.
#writers#writeblr#new writers on tumblr#my writing#writing#current wip#wip#my wips#creative#creative writing#black writers#black excellence#black art#poc#poc reader#poc author#suspense romace#aesthetic#lbgtq#thriller#creepy#secrets#lies#crime#murder#pyscholgical#pyschopath#introduction
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Vines Chapter 1 - Teacher
It’s hard to rest. It’s hard to not give up. But you have to keep going forward.
Notes: Hopefully the next chapter is less of a downer. Be prepared for it to get spooky!
Prologue: Here
Siarl belongs to @herpalerp-derpin Samantha belongs to @bluepiizza/ @littlepixiebutchbitch (I don’t know which one to tag you under) Felix belongs to @metaveil
Chapter 1 - Teacher
Rose sprinted down the corridor to the room in the sick bay that she shared with Felix on Cloud Carrier Epsilon. Her shoes were in her hands, bare feet thumping against the ground. There was no time to slip them on because she was late once again. The young medic knew Felix was going to kill her. This had been the fourth time Rose was late for her duties.
The young woman burst into the room, startling the taller and older man inside. Papers for his hands fluttered to the ground. He glared daggers at Rose. All she had to give him in response was a meek smile.
“Good morning, Felix,” Rose shyly greeted.
“What’s so good about it?” Felix grumbled, stooping down to pick up the papers to a file. “You’re late again, there are new recruits coming in, and now Siarl’s file is all over the ground!”
Felix stood out from the other medics. This was mostly thanks to a freak accident involving nuclear power and Monsuno essence. The man towered above everyone in S.T.O.R.M, his skin was so pale it was almost translucent, and his hair was a shimmery white. His looks paired with his personality made him practically unapproachable to most people aside from Rose. Being Charlemagne’s brother didn’t help get him friends either. But Felix didn’t exactly take just anyone as good company.
Rose crouched next to Felix. She took the papers the older medic had already picked up and continued gathering the rest.
“I got this,” she smiled apologetically at Felix “, you go gather the other files for today’s appointments. Siarl is assigned to me anyways.”
Felix stood with a huff. “I’m glad you got the downer job instead of me.”
He walked to the cabinet and began to sort through all the files. Rose sighed as she finished gathering the papers. Felix didn’t show it, but he did care about Siarl’s condition. That was his nephew after all.
“I’m going to go check up on our guest,” Rose said as she headed towards the door that led from their shared office space to Siarl’s room.
“Don’t call him that,” Felix snapped “, this isn’t a bed and breakfast or something.”
Rose laughed nervously as she stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. She was greeted to the rhythmic beeping of Siarl’s heart monitor. It was steady as ever. Rose headed to the sink in the corner of the room. She watched the thirteen year old boy’s chest rise and fall.
After washing her hands and putting gloves and a face mask on, Rose began her daily routine with Siarl. She checked his vitals, washed him, changed his clothes, changed the sheets on his bed, replaced the bags for his catheters, and made sure he was getting enough water. The young medic made sure to change gloves and wash her hands in between each step of the process. Later she would feed him through a tube. It was hard work, but vital for the boy’s health.
When Rose finished up with changing the child’s bandages she removed her gloves and washed her hands one final time. Rose walked over to Siarl. She gently brushed the boy’s bangs out of his face with her burn covered hand. Rose noticed how similar her wounds from Earthshaker were to Siarl’s. It made her feel a kinship to the boy.
As Rose entered back into the office Felix stood from his desk to greet her. He looked down at the small, young woman.
“How is he?” Felix asked.
Rose shrugged, “The same as always. At least he’s not getting worse.”
Felix nodded. He pat Rose’s fluffy hair. She tilted her head in confusion at the sudden moment of affection. Felix gave a brief, nervous cough.
“Are you sleeping ok? To say you look tired would be an understatement right now,” Felix tilted Rose’s head up so he was looking into her eyes. “Is your medicine working?”
Rose shook her head, “I still have the chronic pain all over the left side of my body.”
The Core-Tech merger had been rough for Rose. It wasn’t trying to get along with the S.T.O.R.M troops or follow Jon Ace’s orders; it was her own body’s fault. When Earthshaker mauled her, it almost killed her. The whole left side of her body was severely burned and left her bleeding out. When One-Eyed Jack and the Desert Wolves found her they had the crazy idea of using some Monsuno essence they had stolen to heal her. It had worked in its own twisted way. Unlike Jon or Felix, Rose had barely changed. Her wounds closed up. Recovery was difficult, but doable. It appeared that she was going to live with only a blind left eye and horrible scarring all over the left side of her body as a consequence. Boy was she wrong.
It seemed the stress from battling the forces of Klipse and Professor Tallis had strained Rose. She started collapsing, coughing up blood, and began to have seizures. When Felix examined her, he discovered Rose had internal wounds from Earthshaker’s attack that did not heal. The past few months had been filled with surgeries, rehabilitation, the development of chronic pain, and testing medicines. Rose was cracking under the pressure, but didn’t want her friends to see it.
“Well I’ll see what else I can give you,” Felix sighed as he placed his hands on Rose’s shoulders. He was trying his hardest not to show worry, but the wrinkles in between his brows gave it away. “I can’t have you shirking your work.”
Rose grabbed his hands, giving her superior a big smile. “How about we just run away and start that bed and breakfast together?”
Felix rolled his eyes and went back to his desk to fill out paperwork. Rose was about to go to her desk when the Core-Tablet on it chirped. The young medic gave the device a tap, pulling up a message.
“Hm, it seems dad wants to see me for some reason.”
Commandant Marshall Jon Ace’s office was relatively comfortable. Instead of just the basic furniture that had furnished the office since it was built, Jon added a few family photos to the mix. A few were of him and Rose at different ages in her life. One of them was when she was three and he had taken her to a carnival on his off time. Another was of Rose first joining the Strike Squad as their field medic. She looked so shy and scared standing next to Alpha, but X-Ray had a hand on her back to steady her. The two most recent photos featured Rose with Team Core-Tech, Dax’s arm slung around her and all the kids grinning. The one on his desk was of him and Rose just after he had been rewarded the title of Commandant Marshall. She was hugging him so tight, so happy to have him back and not Toxic Ace.
Rose had been Jon’s daughter since a recon mission years ago. It was only a team of two: Jon Ace and Trey. The two were still only elites at the time. Their goal was to find any survivors in a decimated town brought to ash from some sort of bomb. Jon had pulled her out of the rubble and had taken it upon himself to raise her. She was only three and could barely say her own name. He didn’t know what possessed him to keep the tiny child, but he’d stuck with his decision and tried to be the best father he could be at only age 23.
Jon would not call himself Father of the Year, but he thought he’d done the best he could. He felt he had done more than Jeredy Suno. Jon loved the man, but the way Jeredy was so absent from Chase’s life disturbed him. At least Jon let Rose know what was happening. He made sure Rose understood Charlemagne was losing it and that she needed to go find Chase to keep him safe. Jon just chalked up Jeredy’s odd behavior as a side effect of Sophia Suno’s disappearance along with the amount of intense stress that Charlemagne’s work put him under. The Commandant hoped that with Sophia’s return and some therapy Jeredy would get better. Chase really needed him.
Currently Jon was sitting at his large desk. His fingers drummed the desk rhythmically as he watched the large door. He hoped Rose hadn’t gotten lost again. This was important. He had finally found a way for his daughter to feel important to S.T.O.R.M even with her disability. Jon knew being barred from Core-Tech’s missions and not being able to leave the cloud carrier was beginning to wear her down. She needed something to occupy her time.
A reluctant knock sounded from behind the door. Jon smiled softly.
“Permission to enter!” he called.
The door slid open, revealing his daughter’s small frame. As Rose entered she smoothed out her uniform to the best of her ability. The medic gave a salute.
“Yes dad-! Um! I mean, sir!” Rose stammered out.
Jon chuckled, “At ease, Rose. It’s just you and me. You’re allowed to call me dad. Come have a seat. You look tired.”
Rose took the invitation, flopping on one of the plush couches of the room. She still had no idea what Jon could want from her, but at least she was resting her aching muscles. Her good eye followed Jon as he got up and sat next to her. Jon reached his arms around Rose and pulled her into a hug.
“You know I love you, right?” he asked.
Rose hugged back tight. She missed her dad. He had to work all the time since he was S.T.O.R.M’s boss now. It was rarely ever just the two of them. She knew there wouldn’t be any dad and daughter vacation time for a while either.
“I do,” Rose mumbled into his chest.
They pulled away from one another, Jon still smiling. Rose hadn’t seen Jon not have a super serious face in a long time. He must be really excited about something.
“I called you here for a really important reason,” Jon said.
Rose’s heart fluttered. Was he going to ask her to go on a mission? Was she going to get to join Core-Tech on a mission? Heck, she’d take a recon mission with Strike Squad! She just wanted to leave the base for a while.
A knock at the door brought Rose out of her thoughts. Who could that even be? She didn’t know Jon had called others.
“Come in,” Jon instructed.
The door slid open to reveal a girl that was maybe only one or two years younger than Rose. She wore one of the new recruit uniforms that cadets usually brandished right after getting out of boot camp. Felix had mentioned earlier new recruits were coming in today. Maybe this one was just lost.
Rose studied the girl. She had bright, excited eyes. Her light blue hair was ruffled and soft looking. A card key hung around her neck so she could get into different wings and rooms until S.T.O.R.M’s database registered her handprint for the key pads.
“Samantha reporting for duty, Commandant Marshall Jon Ace, sir,” she said with a grin.
“At ease, Samantha,” Jon Ace ordered. He stood and shook the girl’s hand, his large hand engulfing her smaller one. He then turned his attention back to Rose.
“Samantha is a new member of S.T.O.R.M that’s still trying to find her place here. She was working with the cooks below deck, but it wasn’t working out,” Jon explained.
Rose wrinkled her nose. Was that why food was coming up extremely burnt or disgustingly undercooked lately? Dax had been joking that someone new must have been in the kitchens. Jon continued.
“I figured that you of all people know how hard it is to find a place in S.T.O.R.M. I was hoping you could take her under your wing as your apprentice.”
Rose felt a mixture of shock, pride, and anxiety. She felt honored that her father deemed her worthy of teaching another all there was about being a medic, but she didn’t feel ready. Plus, taking an apprentice meant rarely leaving the ship. She wouldn’t be able to be a field medic anymore!
“D-Dad-! I mean Commandant Marshall Jon Ace, I am honored, but I’m only seventeen. I’m still training under Felix. Isn’t he supposed to still be teaching me? I’m his assistant,” Rose feebly tried to excuse herself from the situation.
“I think it would be good for you to move up into being an actual medic. You can still assist Felix, of course. But Samantha will now assist you and in return get valuable knowledge to help those around her. Doesn’t that sound rewarding? It would be just like when Ryu took you as an apprentice when you were only thirteen and when Felix took over your training after S.T.O.R.M and Core-Tech merged. I know Samantha is only slightly younger than you, but you have years of experience and knowledge on her. She needs your guidance.”
“B-But-!” Rose whined.
Jon crossed his arms. He was getting defensive. “Rose, I understand things have been difficult for you lately. This is a lot to adjust to. The last surgery you had to fix a hernia in your stomach was really hard on you physically. I have to relieve you of your duties as field medic for at least several months.”
“Dad! I-!” Rose began to argue.
“And before you say anything else, I talked to Team Core-Tech about it. They all agree that it’s better if you stay here till you get better. Once you’ve healed more I’ll let you go on missions again. We don’t need to be in the middle of a vital mission and you collapse under the stress or have a seizure. Are we clear, Rose?”
“Yes, dad,” Rose mumbled.
“Pardon? I didn’t hear you,” Jon’s eyes bore into his daughter. “Look at me when I’m talking to you, young lady.”
Rose looked up, eyes resting on Jon’s lips. He never understood why she couldn’t look others in the eyes. “Yes, Commandant Marshall Jon Ace. I understand.”
Jon grunted, “Good. Now go take Samantha and get to know one another. I know when Team Core-Tech returns from their mission in Coastal City you won’t be able to separate yourself from Dax the rest of the evening.”
Rose flushed red. She glanced at Samantha who looked equally as awkward to be present during this argument. The young medic rose from her seat. Before leaving Jon stopped her at the door and enveloped her in another hug.
“I’m sorry I snapped at you, Rose. I’m just so worried. I want you to be happy and safe. I promise you, as soon as you show some improvement I’ll assign you to a mission,” Jon said this soft enough so Samantha could not hear. He didn’t want his image to slip too much in front of the new recruit.
“I know dad. I’ll see you after dinner,” Rose replied with a reluctant smile.
Rose left the room, Samantha following quick on her heels before the door slid shut. Rose turned to face the girl. Samantha was tall enough for Rose to have to look up to talk to her. What was with everyone being so much taller than her?
As soon as Rose faced her, Samantha let out a giddy laugh. She grabbed Rose’s hands tightly. The trainee’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Oh my krag! I am so excited to meet you! I can’t believe I’m training under you!” Samantha said with so much cheer in her voice that Rose could put a taste to the sound of her voice. The sound was like a fizzy root beer float on her tongue.
“Th-Thanks,” Rose stammered “, it’s n-nice to you meet you too.”
“You can’t imagine how excited I was when Jon sent me a message on my Core-Tablet saying he wanted me to work with you! You of all people!”
“I don’t really see what’s so special about it?” Rose nervously laughed. It was hard to stay calm around this much energy bottled up in one human. She had a feeling Felix was not going to like her.
“You’re so good at your work! You know every plant, ever. You’ve saved people’s lives! With, like, plants!” Samantha cheered.
“Oh, um, I was just doing my job. You’ll see. You’ll save people too,” Rose shyly replied.
Samantha softly smiled down at Rose. Rose turned around and began to walk off. Samantha caught up to her in a few strides and grabbed her new mentor’s hand.
“Where are you going?” Samantha asked.
“To show you the medical wing,” Rose replied “, I need to show you where you’ll be working with me. I also need to introduce you to Felix.”
“You mean the Ghost of the Sick Bay?”
Rose stopped in her tracks and turned around. She looked up at Samantha, a serious look in her eyes.
“Please, for the love of all that is good in this world, do not call him that. Unless you immediately want to be on his shit list. Which, trust me, you don’t,” Rose shook her head “, Rule number one of being my apprentice: Leave Felix alone. Let me talk to him.”
“Yikes. I guess I have lot to learn, huh?” Samantha chuckled.
Rose sighed, “You have no idea.”
#monsuno#vines#writing#I hope the grammatical errors aren't too bad#I have trouble catching them#jon ace#oc#rose#siarl#felix#samantha
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