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tiannasfanfic · 2 years

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You Belong with Me: Part 2

Adrian Chase/Vigilante x Reader (Smut)

Summary: Christopher Smith can have some pretty dumb ideas sometimes regarding dating and romance. For his latest ploy, he's trying to get your attention and drags Adrian Chase into playing the ultimate wingman. (Crossposted to AO3)

Rating: Explicit 18+

Author Note: Afab reader with non-binary pronouns. Part two of three on an alternate take on the Fake Dating trope. I haven't posted much in the last few weeks, so enjoy two days of posting in a row from me. 💜🖤

CW: About the same as part one. Canon-typical behavior, light smut including dry humping, intense kissing, hair pulling, groping, nipple play. A bit of angst near the end of the chapter, mainly some self doubt but nothing major.

Word Count: 3,867

When Adrian went over to Chris’ trailer the next day, he intended to tell him he was breaking the whole thing off with you. There had to be better ways to get your attention. Chris managed to talk him out of it, insisting Adrian was making this harder than it needed to be.

“Look, if Y/N wants sex, why not have sex?” Chris asked him. “You’ve done meaningless hookups before and so has she. Why would this one be any different?”

Adrian couldn’t bring himself to admit this was far from meaningless to him at this point, and didn’t really want to either, least of all to Peacemaker. He didn’t want his best friend to hate him, so he decided on what his next best course of action was. He decided this would be to just put you off as much as possible until Chris worked his magic on you.

This turned out to be a lot harder than Adrian anticipated.

For starters, he didn’t realize dating you meant you’d become so affectionate towards him. Since everyone knew about the date and that it went well, there was no reason to hide your interest in him. You weren’t what anyone would ever call clingy, you just found your way into his bubble a lot more often. You’d touch him on the arm or on the back when you passed by him, which made him feel tingly all over. You’d hug him at least once either during the day or at the end of work, which he would happily return. Adrian was surprised but found himself really enjoying it.

Then there was the day you randomly stood up from your desk and loudly announced you were going to the restroom. You got a few jeers from the others about it as you made your way past their desks.

“Didn’t need to know that!” Harcourt called from her office.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” John said.

“No one’s writing a book about you, Y/N,” Chris said.

Leota and Eagly seemed unbothered, but Leota gave you a thumbs up.

Adrian had been about to add his own funny comment into the mix, but then as you passed by his desk, you fixed him with a look that froze him in place. His face turned bright red; his body felt like it was going to spontaneously combust. It was a brief look and was over within moments once you turned into the small hallway leading to the restroom. Once you were out of sight, Adrian realized he had been holding his breath, and he let it out in a rush. Since the desk he had claimed was so close to the hallway, he heard the door to the small restroom open and shut, but not lock.

Adrian’s heart raced, trying to figure out if he was reading too much into things. He had to be. People just randomly announced they were going to the restroom sometimes…right? And that look had to be an accident. Had to be. His first instinct had been to think you wanted him to follow you to the small, private space of the single person restroom. But surely that’s not what you had wanted…right?

You were in there for quite a while, far longer than you normally ever were unless you were having issues. But Adrian didn’t hear the toilet flushing or any water running, which confused him. The walls were thin and the plumbing noisy, so normally he heard those things. He was starting to get worried when he heard the restroom door open. You came back down the hall and Adrian couldn’t help but notice a slightly disappointed look on your face. You caught his eye as you were sitting back down at your desk and sent a small pout in his direction.

Adrian swallowed heavily, unable to deny how sexy you looked just then.

Still looking in his direction, you got a hopeful look on your face and mouthed the question, “maybe later?”

Suddenly, Adrian’s pants got tighter in the front and his face went red again. All he could do was shrug slightly, but that was enough to get a smile from you that made him melt.

Later on, as you were leaving HQ, you invited him over to your place that night. He declined, making up an excuse of needing to patrol, which earned him that pout again. Up close, it was even more effective, and he immediately regretted telling you no.

“How about we catch a movie this weekend then?” you suggested. “Make it our second date?”

While Adrian had planned to put off another date for as long as possible, a movie date was actually a very safe choice. He knew you didn’t like it when people took you to the theater then tried to do things with you during the movie. You actually wanted to watch the movie, not make out, so Adrian agreed to the date.

It was the start of the off season for blockbuster movies since summer was at an end. When the date night came around, the two of you decided on a low budget, independent horror movie that had done well at film festivals. The theater was a bit more crowded than expected, about one third of the way filled, but you were easily able to find two seats near the middle. The middle armrest was immediately flipped up so you could cuddle against him. Adrian draped his arm across your shoulders, both of you wiggling periodically for a little while until you were both comfortable. At one point, you rested your head on his shoulder and he found himself resting his head on yours.

The movie ended up being a lot better than you both expected, but for all the wrong reasons. It absolutely sucked as a horror movie, but it was a comedy to the two of you. Which was terrible in itself since you two were the only ones in the theater laughing. About halfway through the movie, the other patrons started shushing you two. After that, anytime something funny happened, you’d bury your face in his chest to suppress your giggles while he held you close, burying his face in your neck to suppress his own.

After the movie, you invited him in when he dropped you off and he happily accepted, temporarily forgetting why he had been hesitant to do this in the first place.

It took about the same length of time as it did before for the two of you begin a heated make out session on the couch. Adrian remembered why he was so hesitant for another date sometime after your shirt had come off again and you were in the process of removing his.

“Wait, fuck, shit,” he said, pulling himself off of you. “I f-forgot I…um…have to…”

Just like last time, you looked concerned, a worried expression on your face as you raised up on your elbows and watched him start getting dressed. This time, he had been the one to initiate and you were on your back on the couch.

“Forgot what?” you asked.

Adrian made the mistake of turning around to look at you as he was zipping his sweater and froze at the sight, swallowing heavily. You were an absolute vision; your hair tussled from his fingers pulling and gripping at it, your lips a dark rose color from him kissing and biting them, and there was a flush coloring your cheeks that clearly indicated your arousal. Your bra had gotten pulled down slightly, showing a change in color on the skin where the area around your nipples started. One of your feet was on the floor, while your other leg was up on the couch and bent at the knee. There was a pang in his groin at seeing the empty space between your legs that his body had very recently occupied.

“I..er,” Adrian stammered. “Got patrol. S-Sorry.”

While you were understanding still, Adrian could see the disappointment in your face. He quickly made his exit before he could change his mind and headed home.

Fortunately, the next weekend, Chris invited the two of you over to hang out and drink. Adrian felt a mix of emotions knowing this was part of the plan. Soon this whole thing would be over, and he wasn’t sure if that idea made him glad or sad. He didn’t get much time to think about it the night you all hung out though.

The whole evening, Adrian had tried to stay out of Chris’ way so you could get to know him better. He intended to start this by sitting in the armchair, so you’d have to sit next to Chris on the couch. You had other ideas though and sat on Adrian’s lap instead. It wasn’t until he sat on the couch next to Chris that you finally took your own seat; in the armchair Adrian had been sitting in. Luckily, Adrian was in charge of the Uber that night, so he had an excuse not to come in when taking you home first.

Over the next couple of weeks, Adrian managed to dodge going on another date, but the two of you did hang out with Chris a few more times. Those went about as well as the first one. But Adrian was finding it harder and harder to make excuses to avoid seeing you and his desire to continue doing so was rapidly slipping.

Then, one Friday night while he was on patrol, he got a text from you.

Hey, I was thinking you, me and Chris could all hang out at my place tomorrow night instead of the trailer. You game?

Adrian felt like he had rocks in his stomach. You had automatically included Chris in your plans, which meant Chris’ plan was working.

But that’s what was supposed to happen, right?

Right.

Sure, sounds good. I’ll text Peacemaker and ask if he's up for it.

No need to, I already did. I told him around 5pm and he said he has a few errands to do first, so he might be late. He’s bringing his ice chest and ice, want to bring the beer?

That worked for Adrian, and he readily agreed. Hopefully, Chris would put the moves on you tonight and get this over with.

But it became clear from the moment he arrived at your place that the night wasn’t going to be as easy on him as he’d hoped.

Since you had said Chris was probably going to be late, Adrian made sure it was almost 6pm before he got there. He really wanted Chris to get there first, but he still ended up arriving before Chris.

Then he nearly dropped the case of beer when you opened the door to let him in.

You were wearing a pair of loose shorts and a tank top, which wasn’t anything special in itself since he’d seen you in versions of those before. However, these particular shorts were shorter than any you’d ever worn around him. He would remember if you had. And the tank top was lower cut than anything he’d ever seen you wear. He would’ve remembered that, too. It almost looked like a matching set, like one you might buy to sleep in. Which, if he wasn’t too busy gawking, he might’ve recognized it as just that; a cheap and simple, but cute, sleepwear set that you probably got at the dollar store. It wasn’t lingerie by any means, but it did show your body off well.

If Adrian had been a religious man, that would’ve been a suitable time to start praying to god for strength.

Since Adrian was not religious, he started praying to Gary Gygax instead.

The god of D&D was just as good, right?

“You can put that in the living room,” you said, closing the door behind Adrian as he came in. “Chris said he’s really running late now, and we should start without him.”

Adrian nodded, taking the case of beer to the living room as instructed. He grabbed one for each of you and opened them before settling on one end of the couch. You came over to sit next to him, accepting the offered beer.

“Did Peacemaker say what he was up to?” Adrian asked. “It’s not like him to be late when there’s free beer involved.”

You chuckled and shook your head.

“Nope, just that it was taking him longer to get done than expected ,” you said as you picked up the remote. “I figure he’ll fill us in when he gets here. You know how he gets when he’s inconvenienced.”

Adrian nodded in agreement, watching you flip through one of your services to find something to watch. If there was one thing Chris hated, it was things taking longer than necessary. He was sure to go on a tangent about it.

You picked a movie that the both of you had seen but liked enough to pay attention to. After setting the remote down, you scooted close to him like you did at the movie theater. He found himself draping his arm across your shoulders again and you both quietly started watching the movie.

A few minutes in, Adrian really started to notice how good you smelled. Granted, you always smelled good to him, but being so close to you allowed him to really enjoy it. It was a vague mix of your shampoo, soap, and the detergent you washed your clothes in, with your own natural smell just underneath it. It all combined together into something new that he absolutely loved. He found himself tilting his face closer to you, taking it in.

Adrian didn’t realize how close he was until his nose brushed against your earlobe. The moment washed over him then. He leaned in further and down, letting his lips start to trail along your neck. You tilted your head to the side, away from him, so he had better access. He heard you softly suck in a breath at the feeling and lost some of his sense.

He set his beer down on the end table way rougher than he meant to, causing some of it to slosh out of the bottle. Immediately he brought his hand around to take ahold of you by the hair and pull your head further to the side. As Adrian’s lips latched onto the side of your neck, sucking, and biting at your skin, the arm around your shoulders slipped down behind your back, his hand coming to a rest on your waist. He roughly pulled at your body to turn you towards him, making your stretch one leg across his lap. You tucked your other leg behind him between him and the couch, so he was sitting between your legs. One of your arms went around him, your hand coming up to rest on the back of his neck. Your free hand gripped at the front of his t shirt, pulling him to you.

With your head tilted back in just the position he wanted it in, Adrian let his hand come down from your hair to rest on your knee. His lips grazed over the front of your throat as he trailed his hand up the back of your leg to slip under your shorts. A low groan left his throat as his hand made contact with the bare skin of your ass and he realized you weren’t wearing underwear.

You took this opportunity to throw yourself backwards on the couch, pulling him with you so he was on top of you. He quickly arranged himself on his knees between your legs, your ass resting on his thighs, and he leaned down to press his lips to yours in a searing kiss. It was passionate and sloppy, the result of several sessions of buildup that ended in barely satisfactory masturbation for both parties. His tongue ran over your teeth, and you softly nipped at it before sucking him further into your mouth.

Without realizing he was doing it, Adrian snapped his hips forward, roughly grinding his jean covered erection into you. You made a sound that was a cross between a gasp and a moan. This was the closest you’d come to moaning while messing around with him. He did it again, harder and with purpose this time. Adrian got what he wanted, your head tossed back at the motion and a deep moan left your throat.

Adrian pulled back from you at that point just enough to pull your tank top off. He had another revelation then when he realized you weren’t wearing a bra either. He was frantic as he helped you tug his own shirt off before taking one of your tits into his hand. He held himself up over you with his weight on his elbow and dipped his head down to take your nipple into his mouth. Alternating between sucking and softly biting at it, Adrian soon had you moaning and gripping at the back of his head again. The warm feeling on his scalp that you tugging and pulling at his hair caused sent an electric current down his spine and straight to his dick. His hips rolled forward, grinding roughly against your clothed entrance, and making you moan the loudest yet. You returned the movement with your own hips, sweeping them upwards in such a way Adrian swore he felt along the full length of his shaft. He groaned deeply into your breast, his body shuddering.

Suddenly, he pulled himself off of you up onto his knees. Adrian’s hands came to rest on your hips, grasping the waistband of your shorts and looking at you for confirmation. The grin that lit up your face made his heart race even faster and you rapidly nodded as you raised your hips up off the couch to make it easier for him to pull them off.

A car door slammed right outside your house.

Adrian panicked.

He quickly jumped off the couch, swooped your shirt off the floor and tossed it at you.

“Quick, get dressed,” he said as you started to sit up with a baffled expression on your face. “I think Chris just got here.”

“Oh, uh,” you said, watching Adrian start to pull on his shirt. “Chris isn’t actually coming.”

Adrian stopped with his shirt halfway over his head, then slowly pulled it down the rest of the way to look at you.

“What do you mean?” he asked, confused.

You sighed, sitting up halfway on the couch, propped up on one elbow, and looked up at him.

“I lied, I didn’t actually invite him,” you said. “You haven’t wanted to spend time together, but I noticed you were fine with hanging out if Chris was with us. So, I thought it’d be an easy way to get you over here so we could be alone.” You smiled at him suggestively. “I was hoping to make you forget I said he was coming over, then I was going to tell you afterwards. Guess I failed on that part.”

Adrian stared at you, wide eyed and mouth hanging open. You hadn’t put your shirt back on yet, so his eyes wandered down of their own accord. With the way you were laying, your chest was arched up slightly, your tits on full display for him. His eyes traveled lower, seeing your shorts had ridden up even further on your legs and were pulled tight to your form, looking like little more than skimpy underwear.

His first instinct was to jump back on you. His heart, gut AND dick were all in agreement over this, but his head won out. He saw it as part of his unwavering loyalty to his best friend to not get anymore attached to you than he already was.

“I- um,” he stammered, then swallowed heavily and forced himself to look at the ground. “I should patrol then.”

A deep sigh came from the direction of the couch and Adrian heard the springs squeak. He dared a glance up at you. You were now sitting upright with your feet on the floor, and we’re in the process of turning your shirt right side out to put it back on.

There were no words to describe how Adrian’s stomach felt right now. It sort of felt like getting shot, only it was all internal. Both of you were quiet as he finished getting dressed and you went to your bedroom for a moment, coming back with a robe he regretfully watched you put on over the tank top and shorts. It was a long robe, down to your knees, so now you were hidden from him again.

Adrian was about to leave when you finally spoke.

“Can I ask you a question?” you said, voice soft but without anger or any of the other negative emotions that would’ve made Adrian flinch.”

“Of course,” he said, turning back to where you had sat back down on the couch.

You were quiet for a moment, mouth slightly open as if you were still trying to figure out how to words things.

“Am I…doing something wrong?” you finally asked.

Adrian wasn’t sure what you meant, so he didn’t know what to say. This must have shown on his face because you elaborated.

“I’m just really confused because it’s obvious you really want me,” you said, and got up to where you were on your knees on the couch but sitting back on your heels. “And it’s obvious I want you too, right?”

You paused, looking at him questioningly. Adrian nodded rapidly. There was no doubt in his mind what you wanted.

“Okay, that’s as I thought,” you said, nodding yourself. “I’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on to make you keep running out like this. I know you’re not a blushing virgin. It would be fine if you were, but you’re not shy about your hookups as Vigilante. You brag about them all the time, right?”

You paused and Adrian nodded again in confirmation. had to give it to you, your logic skills were impeccable. You were one of the smartest people he knew and figured that’s why you worked for the government.

At the moment though, those brains of yours were taking his pants get a bit tighter again.

“The only thing it could be then is something I’m doing,” you said, concluding your last thoughts. “Which it’s totally fine if you don’t like something I’m doing. Just tell me and I’ll switch things up-“

“Nononono!” Adrian exclaimed, finally realizing what you were saying. “Fuck no, you are doing absolutely everything fucking right. My god, Y/N, you have NO idea how badly I fucking want you right now.”

“Then take me,” you said, looking into his eyes.

It took everything Adrian had not to surge forward.

“I-I can’t,” he hissed through his teeth sweating now from how hard he was and getting no relief.

The two of you stared at each other for a moment, your expression a little frustrated, but still mostly confused.

“Why?” you finally said. “What’s going on with you?”

As soon as the question left those beautiful lips of yours, Adrian crumbled and told you everything.

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whataperfectwasteoftime · 2 years

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Intimidation Tactics / Chapter 5

Pairing: Marcus Pike x f!Reader x Dave York

Rating: E (smut, 18+ only)

Word Count: 4.6k

Warnings: Mention of previous abusive relationship, enemies to lovers, idiots to lovers, oral sex (f receiving), face sitting, switch!Dave and switch!Marcus, sub!Reader, anal sex (m receiving), soft!Dave, feelings, light angst.

Summary: Dave doesn't do relationships. He can't. He leaves behind a string of casualties wherever he goes, whether it's the man who literally died in his arms or the ex-wife who had dealt with long absences for work that he could never talk about, but who had finally left after she saw him washing the blood off of his hands after coming home in the middle of the night. But two warm bodies are wrapped around him, two sets of hopeful eyes looking at him, and your recent activities are still replaying in his mind, making him soft.

A/N: Dave was ALREADY soft in this chapter and then halfway through writing it @honestly-shite posted the latest chapter of Notes on Tutoring and now Dave is even SOFTER just to spite them. SO THERE, MAIA. Thank you to @leslie-lyman and @pedropascalsx for being the loveliest of sounding boards. <3

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Chapter Five - Scars

When Dave wakes, his first thought is to wonder why it's so damn hot in his room.

When he blinks his eyes open and sees the two other occupants of the bed, two twin furnaces making the area underneath the comforter nearly unbearable, he quirks a little half-smile as awareness washes over him.

Dave won't pretend he hadn't wanted this. Expected it, no. Jerked off to the thought of it last night, yes. He never would have guessed that he'd end up with the two of you in his bed.

He remembers the day the two of you suddenly entered his life. Carter had tapped on his office door with the news that two FBI Art Crimes Special Agents were sniffing around Quantum Holdings, the phony business they were investigating.

Dave had pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes in frustration. “Art Crimes…” he had repeated. “Has Quantum Holdings started taking any interest in them?”

"Well, they're still alive and in the country,” Carter had said wryly. “But from what I can tell, they’re starting to close in, so it’s just a matter of time before they… disappear.”

“If they get disappeared, it will mean half the operatives we’re tracking will leave with them, ending up in God knows where to torture these idiots for Government secrets,” Dave had muttered. “This is going to set us back months.”

“They can’t be allowed to continue,” Carter had insisted. “For the sake of this operation and, y’know, their lives.”

“I’ll track them down, put a stop to it,” Dave had said dismissively. “A couple of Art Detectives aren’t going to be that hard to intimidate.”

He had sat down at his desk with two files–two lives–about to look for weak spots he could exploit, anything he could use to convince them that he meant business. If he was being honest, Dave had expected to see the pictures of two old men–perhaps with elbow patches on their suit jackets. When he had opened the first file, what he had seen instead was a pair of warm, brown eyes and an enthusiastic smile–far too enthusiastic for a picture that had clearly been taken for a badge ID. The man’s expression reeked of idealism, of some poor soul who had gone into the Agency actually wanting to change the world for the better. Special Agent Marcus Pike.

The Marcus of now had looked quite a few years older than the photo on his badge–at least a decade older, if not more–but in Dave's opinion, time had only increased the man's attractiveness. There were a few more wrinkles, sure, and his smile had been tempered somewhat by heartbreak, but his eyes were the same deep, intense pools Dave had studied in his file. There was an edge that Dave had been drawn to when they had met that first day in the park, a fierceness that paper hadn't been able to capture. There might have been some chinks in the man’s idealism over the years since that picture had been taken, but the bones of it were still there, informing his obvious passion for the job, for you, and the way he had been more than willing to square off against Dave within five minutes. The tick in Marcus’s jaw that seemed to denote fury made Dave want to shove him against the nearest surface and slot their hips together.

And then there had been you. Too full of pride to admit that you had hitched your horse to the wrong wagon until it was too late, but too tough to be beaten down by life's circumstances. The information on your case was plentiful–you had bravely pressed charges–and in your file was a courtroom sketch of you at the witness stand with red-rimmed eyes, but your chin stuck out in haughty persistence. Dave had stared at it, absentmindedly thumbing his lower lip as he had wondered about you.

The more information Dave had unearthed, the more fascinated he had been by the two of you. Both damaged goods in your own way, both wild and fiery, passionate in what you did for a living, but both so sad.

It had been the perfect weakness to exploit. Throw the two of you off-kilter by airing your darkest secrets to the other–and oh, Dave could see how you pined for each other. He had expected the two of you to act after he had all but spelled it out for you, but he had watched as the two of you continued to be stubborn–both about the case, and each other–until he had to intervene again, causing the three of you to be in close proximity in this pressure cooker of a safe house.

Dave had tried to resist the pull, at first. But the tension between you and Marcus had been electric and contagious. It had been a selfish indulgence, giving Marcus some better clothes–his clothes. Knowing that the man was going to be wearing his underwear and that fucking vee-neck shirt made Dave half-hard when Marcus had left to take a shower, and Dave had resorted to chopping wood to take his mind off of it. The fact that Marcus had the audacity to look better than him in his own clothes was icing on the fucking cake.

And you, you… giving him these shy, sweet smiles, the way your lips parted whenever you had looked in his direction, the way you so obviously wanted Marcus to make a move that you were practically vibrating with sexual tension. Dave couldn't possibly be immune to the energy that had been emanating from you for the past day.

Still, the fact that the three of you are currently napping, completely naked in Dave's bed after the best sex he had had in over a year… it's a surprise, to say the least.

Dave slips silently out of bed, not wanting to wake anyone, but when he turns to look back at the two of you, Marcus’s soulful amber eyes are watching him with a mixture of waning suspicion and warmth. Dave gives him a little half-smile and turns to pick his shirt up off the floor.

When he straightens, Marcus is there, having slipped out of bed himself, looking Dave up and down with a little crease on his brow.

Dave knows what he's looking at without having to ask–the scars. There's the knife wound on his ribcage from his time in Kuwait, the burn scars on his collarbone from a time when he had been briefly captured and pressed for information, the puckered scar on the side of his abdomen that's unmistakably a gunshot wound…

Marcus's fingers find this one–touching it delicately with a small frown. His hand trails around Dave's side to find the matching exit wound in the back.

"You've been through it," Marcus remarks softly, his other hand coming to Dave's chest, fingers catching on the roughened skin of his collarbone.

"Mm," Dave grunts.

His eyes fall closed as Marcus presses a kiss to the little crescent scar on his shoulder–

he can't even remember how he had gotten that one.

"I'm sorry," Marcus murmurs, "I've been an asshole."

"Yes, you have," Dave rumbles.

"Shut up and let me apologize."

"It's fine," Dave assures him, tapping his hand lightly on Marcus’s hip. "I'm gonna go find something for dinner."

"What are you two doing over there?" a soft voice calls out from the bed, and Dave and Marcus turn to look.

You're propped up on one elbow, the covers down at your waist, exposing your bare chest. You're beautiful. Marcus smiles widely and approaches the bed again, giving you a gentle kiss, and Dave feels off-balance. You and Marcus have a history that Dave isn't part of. He may have been the catalyst to get the two of you to finally say something, he may have reaped some of the benefits in the form of some incredible sex, but after sleeping on it for an hour or so, it doesn't seem as if there's any guarantee that Dave will be included in the future. He has no reservations that forced proximity is what had caused your little tryst. Eventually, the two of you will be able to leave the safe house, and with it, him.

Shrugging on his shirt and a pair of boxers, Dave mutters something about dinner and ducks out of the room. He fills a glass from the tap and takes a quick sip of water and then simply leans over the sink, his hands clenched on the countertop, trying to breathe. His blood feels as if it’s rushing in his ears, so he doesn’t hear Marcus come up behind him until the man’s hands are on his hips, his mouth pressed to Dave’s shoulder.

"Is this how it's gonna be?" Marcus asks. "Walls back up, just like that?"

"I know what this is," Dave says flatly. "And I know what it's not. I'm not going to get in the way of the two of you."

Marcus snorts, shaking his head. "You don't know shit."

Dave frowns and turns around, another argument at the ready, but before he can say anything, Marcus is taking Dave's face in his hands and kissing him soundly.

"Shut the fuck up," Marcus whispers against his lips. Dave can feel the shape of them–he's smiling.

Dave feels a smaller shape slotting against the two of them, and his arm automatically curls around you as you lean against his chest.

"Tell me this isn't a one-time thing," Marcus says, his eyes searching Dave's. "I need to hear it," he admits, barely audible.

Of course. Marcus Pike, terrified of rejection, of being alone. Dave remembers reading his file–the man who can't seem to keep a relationship, despite longing for one with every fiber of his being. A man who has a tendency to push people away because he comes on too strong, who falls too fast and loves wholeheartedly–of course he wanted that clarity.

But… Dave? Dave? Marcus shouldn't be searching for answers from Dave.

Dave doesn't do relationships. He can't. He leaves behind a string of casualties wherever he goes, whether it's the man who literally died in his arms or the ex-wife who had dealt with long absences for work that he could never talk about, but who had finally left after she saw him washing the blood off of his hands after coming home in the middle of the night.

But two warm bodies are wrapped around him, two sets of hopeful eyes looking at him, and your recent activities are still replaying in his mind, making him soft.

"Not a one time thing," Dave finds himself saying.

"Good," you whisper, your fingers curling into his shirt as if to keep him there with you. Dave kisses your forehead. "I thought you said you were getting food," you add, and he finds himself smiling into your hair.

"Hungry, pumpkin?"

"You two tired me out," you say, pouting your lip in a move that should not be as cute as it is.

"Keep wandering around my kitchen in just a shirt and nothing else, and we'll do it again," Dave responds, patting you gently on the bottom before moving away toward the fridge. You giggle and press back against Marcus, who, holding Dave’s eyes with a mischievous smile, lifts up the hem of your shirt a couple of inches to reveal a hint of your mound. You smack his hand playfully and spin away, skipping over to the sink for a glass of water.

Dinner ends up being two frozen pizzas that the three of you eat on the couch, watching some old movie that Dave doesn't remember the name of, but Marcus had seemed excited about. You are slotted between the two of them, your fingers threaded through Marcus’s while you lean on Dave’s shoulder. It’s alarmingly… domestic. The two of you have very rapidly inserted yourself into Dave’s life–not just as inadvertent houseguests, but as lovers, and the change still feels somewhat jarring. Dave’s life has not been occupied with couch cuddles long before the divorce was finalized, and now he has you slotted against his side while Marcus absentmindedly plays with the hair on the back of his neck with his unoccupied hand, and it’s unnerving how… natural it all feels.

Dave ruminates on this while he stares blankly at the black-and-white figures, not really taking in any of the dialogue or plot, when he feels a drop of moisture on his shoulder. He glances down at you with a little frown and realizes you’re crying silently, tears rolling down your cheek and pooling on the growing damp spot on his undershirt. Dave has no idea what to do about this, no inkling as to the cause, and has always, according to his ex-wife at least, been bad at comforting people.

“Hey,” he murmurs quietly, rubbing his fingers against your thigh. “Whats, um–”

You startle slightly, furiously scrubbing your cheeks with one hand to try and hide the evidence, but Dave–and Marcus, who’d turned at your sudden movement–are already looking at you with growing concern.

“Sweetheart,” Marcus says softly, and you shake your head dismissively.

“I’m sorry,” you sniffle. “It’s dumb, it really is. Please don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“If it’s not a big deal, then you can tell us,” Dave challenges, and Marcus glances over at him and gives him a small, affectionate smile at his deadpan response.

“It’s just been a long time since—well, anything like this, and–” you cover your face with your hands in embarrassment. “And you both already know what the last time was like and it’s–it’s–oh, hell.”

“It’s what?” Marcus asks gently.

“It’s scary,” you whisper. “I’m fucking scared. Because I really like this and I’m scared of how much I like it, and I’m scared that something will go wrong, or that one of you will leave, or both–”

Marcus pulls you into his chest with a sigh, and Dave can see your shoulders are still shaking.

“I can’t speak for both of us,” Marcus says carefully, making eye contact with Dave over your head, “but this is not a temporary thing for me, and I will never hurt you.”

“No,” Dave agrees quickly. “I never will, either. And–” he purses his lips, considering his next words carefully, “–this is new, obviously, and I’ll be honest, I don’t know exactly what this is, but I’m not in the habit of looking for casual arrangements.”

Marcus lets out a shaky breath, the two of them still not breaking their gaze. “It’s like you said earlier,” he says with a small smile. “Life is short. Right?”

“Mm,” Dave agrees. “And I don’t wait for what I want.”

Marcus pulls him in for a fierce hug–of course the two of you are cuddlers–and Dave only hesitates for a minute before winding his arms around both of you.

“I don’t want there to be ‘parts’ to this,” Marcus says quietly into your hair. “It’s the three of us or nothing at all.”

You nod into Marcus’s shirt. “I want that,” you whisper.

Marcus looks at Dave expectantly.

“Three of us or not at all,” Dave repeats softly.

The declaration causes you to turn from Marcus’s arms and press yourself into Dave’s chest instead with one last sniffle. A wave of fury washes over him that someone had hurt you so badly that you are now afraid to be with anyone else. Dave knows his name, your ex. He knows where he lives. He had been tempted to find the man before all of this happened, and now he’s even more motivated.

“I can make people disappear,” Dave comments, gently stroking your shoulder. “I could find him, you know.”

Marcus shoots him a look.

“What?”

—

"Dave," you murmur, sometime later after the movie has ended and the three of you are back in his bed, your clothes discarded for the second time that night. Dave pulls you back until you're flush with him, his cock pressing insistently against you from behind while Marcus swirls his tongue around your nipple.

“I want–” you begin, letting out another soft gasp as Dave scrapes his teeth against your shoulder, “–both? Can I have–ah–both of you?”

“No,” Dave says gently against your skin, and you whine in disappointment. “Not yet,” he amends. “Not tonight. You’re not ready, it will hurt.”

“We can work up to that,” Marcus agrees, kissing your forehead. “Our pretty girl wants to be filled up by both of us? Hard to refuse,” he teases.

“We will,” Dave promises. “Fuck, we will. But I’m going to guess you’re already a little sore tonight, hmm?”

You give a little noncommittal hum, and Marcus nods. “We’ve got time,” he says softly. “No rush at all.

"Where do you want us, pumpkin?" Dave asks in your ear, relishing the way your back arches at his voice. "I think I want to be right here." He gently teases a finger between your cheeks to graze your little hole.

"Yeah," you answer breathlessly. "Oh, fuck."

"Makes sense," Marcus says, his eyes full of mischief. "I wouldn't want to hurt her–I'm bigger."

Dave growls and surges up, tackling Marcus to the bed. "Got something to say, you little smart-ass?" he says through gritted teeth.

Dave pins Marcus and wrenches his arms above his head, holding him still. Marcus makes a broken moan at the action, subtly arching his back and lifting his hips, seeking friction on his cock. Got you, Dave thinks, chuckling darkly.

"I think your partner here has a submissive side to him, pumpkin," he drawls. He runs his nose up Marcus’s jawline, breathing him in, making the other man shiver slightly. "You like being pinned, Agent Pike?"

Marcus laughs breathlessly. "You caught me," he whispers.

Dave shoots you a look. "You heard him," he says. "Sit on his face."

He pulls back, sitting back on his heels and then moving in between Marcus’s legs. Fuck, he's perfect. His cock is flushed and rock-hard–so hard that Dave can imagine it's aching, and his cock twitches in sympathy. You're only inches from straddling his face, but it's Dave that Marcus is looking at with hooded eyes and parted lips.

You move to straddle Marcus’s face as Dave had directed, as he slicks a few of his fingers with lube.

"Wait," Dave says, making the both of you groan in frustration. Dave smiles wickedly. "I don't think he really wants it, yet."

"Oh fuck off," Marcus groans, dropping his head back and closing his eyes.

"Should he beg for it?" you ask, giving Dave a coquettish stare. Oh, you're exquisite. Playing his little game as well as he can.

"Until you're satisfied he deserves that perfect cunt," Dave agrees.

"You two are fucking trouble," Marcus growls.

"You're not doing a very good job of showing her how much you want it," Dave remarks cooly, and he slides a slick finger down Marcus's balls and back, giving him plenty of time to anticipate the moment it breaches him.

"Fuck, please," Marcus groans the minute Dave's finger slips just a centimeter inside him. "Please, baby, I want it so much."

"Who are you begging, tiger?"

"Fuck, both–" Marcus grits out as Dave's index finger bottoms out inside of him. "Baby, c'mere, let me eat that pretty pussy while he–mmff–"

Marcus's begging is cut short by a hard thrust of Dave's finger.

"What was that, tiger? I don't think she heard you."

"I'll make you feel so good," Marcus murmurs. "I want you to ride my face, I'll do anything."

"Anything?" Dave parrots, a dangerous smile on his face. "Do you hear that, pumpkin? He'll do anything." He adds a second finger, and Marcus whimpers, a sound just this side of pain. Dave stills.

“‘m fine,” Marcus gasps. “I’m good. It’s been… it’s been a while.”

“How long?” Dave asks.

“I dunno,” Marcus shakes his head. “Long time. I–I usually don’t like to not be in control,” he admits.

“Why now?” you ask, smoothing the hair off Marcus’s forehead.

“Trust you,” Marcus says quietly. His eyes flick to Dave’s. “Both of you.”

Dave doesn’t know how to respond, so instead he slowly pushes his two fingers further in, thrusting them in and out gently as Marcus gasps on the bed.

"Can I do it yet?" you ask Dave with an adorable pout.

“Think we’ve made him wait long enough, don’t you?” Dave teases.

“Fuck, yes,” Marcus agrees, reaching for you. “Yes, c’mon, sit on my face.”

You move to straddle him, but Dave immediately stops you with a hand on your wrist. “Other way, pumpkin,” he says. “You’re going to watch.”

You bite your lip as you slowly turn around, facing Dave. Marcus immediately grabs your thighs and pulls you down on him, causing your mouth to fall open as he devours you with enthusiasm.

“That’s right,” Dave drawls. “Wanted to see those pretty tits bounce while you ride his face.”

Dave slowly, carefully adds a third finger, taking care not to give Marcus more than he can handle, and Marcus makes a little broken sound into your cunt.

"...And I want you to watch me take apart your little boyfriend here until he forgets his own name," Dave continues.

"Isn't he yours too?" you tease.

"He's about to be."

Dave continues slowly getting Marcus ready. He’s a patient man when he wants to be, deliberately and methodically working the other man open while he licks into you. Finally, when he’s satisfied that it won’t hurt, Dave slicks his cock and lines up, glancing up at you–watching with undisguised lust–and giving you a wicked smile before pushing inside in a slow, steady slide until his hips are flush and his cock deeply seated.

“Fuck, oh my God…” Marcus groans, the words muffled by your skin.

“Don’t stop licking her,” Dave warns. “If you stop, I stop.”

He can see Marcus nod imperceptibly–or rather, he can see your reaction to it when you subtly rock your hips. Despite his posturing, Dave starts slow, taking care to watch for signs of discomfort. Finding none, he starts to relax, fucking into Marcus at a languid pace and reveling in his reactions–the muffled groans, the rapid rise and fall of his chest, and the way his knuckles have turned white as they grip your thighs.

You’ll have bruises tomorrow, little fingerprints that Dave will soothe away with his tongue. You don’t seem to mind–you’re gasping and panting yourself, your forehead creased slightly as you focus on the feel of Marcus’s tongue on you, in you.

“Is he doing a good job, pumpkin?” Dave teases, giving you a wry grin as he starts to thrust a little harder, making Marcus whine softly.

“Yeah,” you breathe. “Yeah, he–”

Dave snaps his hips roughly into Marcus, and you cry out into the room as the resulting “Oh, fuck–” vibrates against your core.

“I think she likes it when you make noise, tiger,” Dave teases. “Should I keep doing that? Make you make more noise?”

“Mmhmm,” comes the broken sound from underneath you.

“Make her cum,” Dave commands. “Make her cum and I’ll let you cum.”

You let out a squeal as Marcus pulls you down harder against his mouth and dutifully starts to send you higher. Dave can tell, now–can easily see the signs that you’re about to fall apart.

“Give it to him, pumpkin, he’s working so hard for it,” Dave drawls, not slowing his pace as he watches your mouth fall open with pleasure as the coil finally snaps inside you. You convulse, rocking involuntarily on Marcus’s face, and Dave can tell that the other man is doing everything he can to keep you right there. He wonders if Marcus’s tongue is pressed deep inside you, so that he can feel your walls clench around it…

The minute you do start to flutter around him, Marcus makes an obscenely filthy sound–and Dave is about to wrap his hand around the man’s cock as a reward when it suddenly twitches violently, and Marcus is spilling on his chest with just the feel of Dave’s cock pressing against something devastating inside of him and the feel of you coming undone above him.

“Oh, shit,” Dave breathes, taken by surprise at the sight of Marcus cumming untouched. It doesn’t take long before Dave follows the two of you, burying himself to the hilt one last time with a groan.

You scramble off of Marcus and lie beside him on the bed, your wide eyes sweeping over him with a growing smile. Dave pitches forward until he’s resting on his elbows, nose-to-nose with Marcus, his cock still softening inside of him.

“You’re holding out on me, tiger,” Dave teases softly. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“I didn’t know, either,” Marcus says with a breathless laugh. “Never done it before.”

The moment is soft and muted, and Dave allows himself to indulge. Marcus is firm and warm underneath him, his chest still rising and falling more heavily than usual as he comes down. You are lying beside them with sparkling eyes and an amused, but sated smile.

"That was amazing," you murmur, and Marcus laughs.

"That's my line," he says, carding his hand through Dave's hair and pulling him down for a kiss.

Marcus makes a soft sound of discomfort when Dave leaves, which he soothes with another quick kiss before leaving to clean up.

When he returns, you and Marcus are wrapped around each other, trading kisses and smiles and talking in low voices. Before more seeds of doubt are sewn in Dave's mind, though, both of you turn at the sound of him coming back and he's met with two brilliant twin smiles.

Marcus gets up, and with a wry smile and a wink, says "I'll be right back. Keep her warm for me, huh?"

Dave obediently slides into bed next to you and takes you into his arms–unconsciously mirroring yours and Marcus's positions.

"Hi," you whisper.

"Hey," he responds, matching your volume.

"I didn't really expect this," you say, biting your lip nervously.

"Me neither," Dave admits truthfully.

"Is it okay?"

"More than," he answers, giving you a kiss on the forehead.

"Did you want this from the beginning?" you ask sweetly.

Dave chuckles. "Not exactly," he admits. "I thought I was going to be going after two old men, and then I opened your files," he says, staring into the middle distance over your head. "And I was met with two of the most fucking gorgeous FBI Agents I've ever seen."

You laugh, pushing at his chest playfully.

"I was surprised," Dave rumbles. "Even more so when you did exactly the opposite of what I had asked. People don't usually do that."

"We're bad at taking orders," Marcus interrupts with a smile from the foot of the bed.

"That isn't how it looked five minutes ago," you quip, making Dave throw his head back and laugh–something he rarely did.

Marcus climbs in behind you and pulls you back flush against him with a dangerous chuckle. "Don't throw stones," he teases. "I get the feeling you don't care which one of us ends up on top as long as someone does."

"I think she prefers it to be me," Dave interjects, raising his eyebrows in contest.

"I said no such thing," you accuse, giving Dave the cutest frown.

"You didn't need to," Dave deadpans. The way you're staring at him, Dave can almost believe his boasting–you're looking at him as if he'd hung the stars, and Dave's heart skips a beat at the affection in your expression.

"I was right," Marcus says with a sigh. "You two really are trouble."

#marcus pike #dave york #marcus pike x you #marcus pike x you x dave york #dave york x you #marcus pike x reader x dave york #pedro pascal

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rays-of-fire-and-ice · 2 years

Text

As Months Go By, As Seasons Change - Part II

Rating: K+/Teen

Setting: through the 17 months between the end of the Fake Karakura Town arc and the beginning of the Lost Agent arc.

Synopsis: Momo resumes her duties as lieutenant, Shinji returns to a role he was forced out of long ago. Both of them are not who they used to be, and neither is the division they must work together to rebuild.

AN: I…I can’t believe it’s taken me this long. To @whipplefilter and anyone who has been waiting on this, I am so sorry!! For those not aware, this is part 2 of my fanfic As Months Go By, As Seasons Change, which you can read here. Some notes before we begin:

Although I recommend reading part 1 to know what’s happening here, in short: Hinamori and Shinji begin to work together to lead the Fifth Division after Aizen’s defeat. Hinamori is trying to come to terms with not knowing who Aizen really was and with working for a new captain, while Shinji is working on building trust in the division and feels responsible for what happened to the division after Aizen took over and betrayed them all. Both are starting to get along, but they’ve still got a ways to go.

A denreishinki is the phone device Shinigami use, and it works both in the Soul Society and when calling from the World of the Living.

There’s a few hints of hitsuhina here, but please feel free to read the interactions as platonic if you want. Also, I don’t go into detail here about how Hitsugaya and Hinamori reconcile. If you’re interested in how I can it’d happen, check out this headcanon post and scroll down to the section where I discuss it. I changed a few details for the sake of this fic, but otherwise it’s basically the same.

The music record Hinamori likes is by Ryo Fukui can be listened to here. The track I imagine she’s listening to in the scene is ‘It Could Happen to You’.

The first recruitment brochure Shinji sees is this one (sorry for the picture quality). The responses on the brochure can be found in the BLEACH Color + databook.

Neirkiri is a type of wagashi, a Japanese sweet/confectionary. I was inspired by the winter collection of this wagashi set here. They're apparently very hard to decorate and even make in some cases, but with Hinamori being as good at baking as she is, I think she'd like the challenge of it and try her hand at making some.

If you want some background music while reading, then I recommend the usuals (basically any somber or calming BLEACH ost track, all of which you can now find on either Spotify or here at Shiro Sagisu's offical youtube...for those who don't know which songs I usually refer to: Recollection I-III, Nothing Can be Explained, World #05, going home, compassion, etc) but also Stronger (Acoustic version) by Through Fire and the entire Losing Today EP by The Living Sleep.

There were quite a few deleted scenes from this fic. However, one did make it as a fic of it's own: For All That Was Lost. It serves as an epilogue for this fic, so check it out if have time.

For anyone who was waiting for this part, thank you so much for your patience! Thank you also for all the kind comments and encouragement from the first part, it really means a lot and motivated me to get this last part done. I hope you enjoy this part as much as the first! :D

____________________________________

The quiet of the office is interrupted by the ringing of Shinji’s denreishinki.

Hinamori bites the inside of her cheek, trying to focus on writing up a report for the latest mission in the Rukongai. It’s the second time it’s rung since her captain went to go get lunch for the both of them – his treat, he’d insisted, but she already made a mental note to shout for him next time. The tune is not the standard beeping most devices have. Somehow, Shinji had gotten a tone she can only describe as ‘jazzy’.

She’s half tempted to answer it, if only to stop the ringing and let the caller know Shinji will be back soon.

What she finds strange though is that Shinji may have warned her a situation like this might happen. Three months ago, when during their first week working together, he gave her permission to answer it if it rang three times and he wasn’t there to answer it. He told her chances are the calls would be from his Visored friends in the World of the Living.

Had he known something like this would happen? How often did he speak with these people?

Eventually the ringing stops, and Hinamori relaxes. However, it’s not even a minute later when it starts up again. Whoever is calling must urgently need her captain, but it feels rude to answer another’s denreishinki, even if she was given permission to do so.

Her hesitation keeps her rooted to the spot for five rings, but it becomes too much. She forces herself to stand and rush over to her captain’s desk. Before she can think twice, she answers the device. “Hello, this is Hi-”

“Who is this?!” a young woman’s voice shouts from the other end. Hinamori holds the denreishinkai from her ear as the woman continues to yell, “Why do you have Baldy’s phone?!”

Surely this can’t be one of his friends. “I, uh…this is Lieutenant Hinamori?”

There’s a few seconds of silence. “Has he got others answering his calls now cuz he’s too much of a coward to face me?!”

“Oh, no, he’s just gone to get lunch. I can pass on a message? W-Who am I speaking to?”

“I ain’t saying until I know Shinji is there. It’s an emergency and we need answers!”

“Hiyori, calm down. Who’re you talking to?” says a man in the background.

“Some lieutenant!” the woman says to the other. “I think she’s Shinji’s.” Then, back to Hinamori. “So he’s got a girl as his lieutenant, huh? Has he told you’re his ‘first love’ yet?”

Hinamori bristles. “H-His what?”

“Huh, guess he hasn’t then. If you really are his lieutenant, I don’t know how you put up with him. When you see him next, kick him in the back of the knees for me, will you? And tell him to – oi, give that back! Hey, Love!”

There’s a scuffle, but after a moment, the man’s voice comes over the phone. However, Hinamori can still hear Hiyori yelling and carrying on in the background. “Sorry about her,” the man says. “Who am I talking with?”

Hinamori swallows with a nervous smile. “This is Lieutenant Hinamori. Who am I speaking with?”

“Aikawa Love. We’re calling because we need to ask Hirako something, but doesn’t sound like he’s there.”

“Uh, no, I’m afraid not. I can let him know you called though.”

“Yeah, if you co – Oi, Yamada, Hachi! You were supposed to hold her back! Hiyori, stop clawing at my arm!”

Aikawa and Hiroyri argue on the other end, clearly fighting over the denreishikai. Hinamori attempts to say something but falters. To think one of them is Hiyori, the same person Shinji was livid had been cut down in the fight several months ago. These really must be his friends, but they seem so…dysfunctional. She feels bad for thinking that, but the arguing hasn’t stopped on the other end.

Just as she considers hanging up, Shinji slides the door open. “Sir…”

“What’s got you looking so freaked out?” Then he notices the denreishikai. “Who’s calling?”

“Aikawa-san and Hiyori-san.”

Shinji’s eyes widen at the mention of the last name. Without warning he drops the two bento boxes on to her desk and snatches the phone off of her.

“The heck did you say to her, Hiyori?!” he exclaims into the phone.

“Ha, I knew it!” she hears Hiyori yell back. “You were using your lieutenant to answer the phone!”

“I was not! I was getting lunch!” He pulls the device away from his ear and rushedly whispers to Hinamori, “Start eating without me, this’ll take a while.”

He gives a snark retort to Hiyori as he storms out of the office and into the courtyard. Without looking away, Hinamori takes one of the bento boxes, opens the lid, and starts eating. From her desk, she can make out pieces of their conversation – if she could call the gnashing of teeth, sarcastic remarks, and exasperated sighs a conversation. It sounds like Shinji hadn’t paid rent on the warehouse they were staying in before he left, but he insists he did and that they needed to talk to the owners. He insists not leaving that warehouse because it’s the best one they’ve ever had and that the owners never once came to see what they were actually using it for.

It's so strange to see him loud and argumentative, moving so fast and making wild gestures with his free hand. He’s usually so nonchalant, at most grinning or laughing when something amused him. These people though, his friends, they got a different side out of him.

Hinamori didn’t know what to make of the Visoreds when she’d been told about them by Nanao. The fact there existed beings out there with both Hollow and Shinigami abilities bewildered her, almost made her consider just how blurred the line can become from thinking on the implications of having such powers. She hasn’t asked her captain about the powers he isn’t allowed to use anymore and she doesn’t plan to, but she still can’t help but wonder what it’s like for him, Rose and Kensei, and for the others on the other end of the phone.

As the minutes tick by, Shinji mellows little by little. The frown disappears and his lips are twitching, wanting to smile despite the exasperated tone his voice holds. The conversation moves on to other things she doesn’t understand – Shounen Jump, cafes, magazines, humans. As he speaks he slowly walks around the garden and fans himself under the summer sun. Hinamori thinks to gesture for him to come under the shade, but she doesn’t want to interrupt. Eventually, he walks back and sits on the veranda steps, back turned to her.

Why did he come back?

It’s not the first time Hinamori has wondered, but this is different. Until now she’d thought about the question in relation to why he’d come back after being away from the job for so long, or why he’d come back to place that’d once banished him. Now, seeing him like this with the people he called friends, and hearing how he spoke about the World of living, obviously missing some aspects of it, she wonders what drew him back to being so far away from it.

Regardless, Hinamori gets the feeling this is the first of many times she will witness her captain be like this with these friends of his.

______________________

“Is that…a fan?”

Shinji halts. Half bent over, he peers over his shoulder at his puzzled lieutenant. “Yeah, figured it was getting too hot in here. I didn’t think you’d know what this is. Was hoping to give you a demonstration and ‘wow’ you.”

Hinamori shakes her head, trying to hold back a smile. “I already knew because Hisagi-san brought one back from the World of the Living a decade ago. This won’t cool down the whole room though.”

As if to emphasis her point, a gust of hot wind blows in from behind her. Autumn was only a few weeks away, but it seems summer wasn’t going to go without being the hottest Shinji had ever experience.

“Well, unless you can get someone with an ice-type zanpakuto in here, this’ll have to do,” Shinji says, only half meaning to sound affronted.

Something shifts in Hinamori’s expression, her eyes blinking in surprise. Did she think she’d actually insulted him?

Shinji presses the first button to make the fan move from side to side and the second one for the highest setting. He almost sighs in relief when the cold air smacks him in the face.

“As is, there will only be fifteen of us in here,” he says more neutral. “So, it should be fine, right?”

“Actually, Higuchi-san told me this morning he won’t be coming,” she says while sliding the door closed. “He got advice from Fourth Division to not do any advanced zanjutsu or kido training until they’re sure his sprained wrist is completely healed. Also, Isawa-san isn’t feeling well, he has a cold.”

“At this time of year?”

Hinamori shrugs as she hands him the training agenda. “I’ve had a few in summer myself.”

“Explains why I didn’t see him at the mess hall this morning. I’ll visit him later.” Shinji looks over the document. “We got everything ready?”

Hinamori gestures to the far end of the room, where the practice swords lay on the racks. “We only need those if I’m not mistaken.”

“Yeah. I guess we should do a run through before the others arrive.”

When Shinji hears the low inhale and exhale from her, he knows Hinamori is about to say something a lot of weight behind it.

“Before we do, sir, I’d like to make a request.”

He looks up, and resists the urge to raise a brow at her apprehensive expression. “What is it?”

“If possible, I’d like to request half a day’s leave this Friday.” Before he can speak, she quickly adds, “I promise I’ll complete all of my work by Friday morning and I won’t leave anything for you or Isawa-san to finish. However, it’s okay too if you’d prefer I don’t go on leave, I understand.”

Shinji snorts in bewilderment. “Well, this isn’t like you. You finally learning the importance of taking a break?”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. You can go on leave, Isawa and I will handle things.”

She lets out a breath, her shoulders falling in relief as she bows her head. “Thank you, sir.”

“You could take more time if you wanted. You’ve been nonstop since you started again.”

“Oh, no! I couldn’t, and there’s no need as it is! I just need the half of day.”

“To do what? Going to visit your friends in the Junrinan? World of the Living?”

“No, none of those…” She stares down at her shadow, cast along the floorboards to her left. “I’ll be speaking with Captain Hitsugaya.”

His smile drops. He’d been wondering when this would happen.

He hadn’t missed the way she looked at Hitsugaya a few weeks ago at the joint captains and lieutenants meeting. Shinji had glanced back at her at one point, only to find her head turned in the direction of the Tenth Division captain. Her sadness and apprehension were apparent, as obvious as the melancholy she experienced whenever she says Aizen’s name. He’d looked away, but in his peripheral, he knew Hitsugaya was glancing at her too.

The way she walked out of that meeting, as if the wind had been knocked out of her, it almost made him order her to go talk to Hitsugaya. He didn’t, instead asking her what was wrong and receiving a vague answer. He hadn’t pressed further, seeing that this was probably territory he wasn’t equipped to deal with. There was something personal about it, something he felt only the her and Hitsugaya would know how to navigate through.

He lowers the training agenda documents to his side and asks, “I take you’ll be meeting up with him then?”

“We agreed to meet at Tenth Division’s main barracks. It shouldn’t take long.”

He almost clicks his tongue, but instead shakes his head. “Take the whole day off.”

Hinamori's mouth falls open. “There’s really no need-”

“For something like that, you’ll need the whole day. Isawa and I have things covered.” When she’s about to argue back, he leans forward and uses the training agenda to point at her. “Don’t make me order you.”

That stops her in her tracks. She blinks once, and her surprise dissipates to an incredulous smile and snort. “You’d order me to take more leave, sir?”

“If I have to, yes.”

“But that’s…that’s so silly.”

“It ain’t if my officers aren’t taking the leave they need. For something like, you’ll need it. Trust me.”

Her small mirth fades, as if remembering why exactly she was taking leave in the first place. The fan arcs back, blowing cold air over them, but neither moves or says anything.

Again, he feels he’s treading into something he knows very little about, but he decides to put the final nail in the coffin. “How long has it been since you two last talked? A while I bet. You’ll have a lot to catch up on then, yeah? Not just about what happened back then, but other stuff. Stuff you always talk about when you see each other.”

For a brief moment he thinks back on his few phone conversations with Visoreds in the World of the Living. He’s certain he’ll get used to communicating with them like that, but a part of him misses not seeing them in person.

She sighs through her nose. “I suppose. Even before the fight against Captain Aizen, it’s been so long since I last spoke with Hitsuga – I mean, Captain Hitsugaya.”

“Well, if that doesn’t tell you you need the whole day off, I don’t know what will.” He continues, with a lighter lit, “Clearly you’ve been working too much that all though think about is getting back to work.”

Her lips tilts in a tiny smile, and she bows her head. “Then, thank you, Captain.”

____________________

After she shuts the door behind herself, Hinamori lets out the breath she’s been holding in.

Her heart flutters, her eyes sting, and the jitters are starting to calm down, but none of it dampens her relieved smile.

It was a moment in the making, something she simply couldn’t avoid for the rest of her life even if she wanted to. Regardless, she’d been so afraid of how she would approach it all. Hyourinmaru makes her apprehensive still, and to feel that way about a part of her childhood friend is enough to break her heart a little. His zanpakuto is more than just a weapon to him, but that is all she can see it as for the time being.

She’d never seen such expressions on Hitsugaya, his face transforming from guilt to sorrow to unfiltered relief. She’d told herself she wouldn’t cry, but it happened not even five minutes within meeting him.

It had started with apologies and tears, then long pauses and uncertainty. It wasn’t until she brought up her recent visit to the Junrinan that things started to calm, and it was almost like falling back into their old rhythms. Of course, it wasn’t exactly like before, and perhaps it never will be again. That thought doesn’t sadden her, for she already had hope from reconnecting with him today.

What had partly inspired her to finally take the plunge, she realises, was Shinji’s conversations with his friends. Seeing him speak freely with those he hadn’t seen in months, people he had lived and struggled with for decades, it made her think of her own friendships. It made her remember what it used to be like for her and Hitsugaya.

The memories of that day on the battlefield won’t leave her, but their power over her has diminished.

It’s been a long day, and despite her mirth, exhaustion weighs heavily behind her eyes and limbs. She considers whether she should have a nap or get dinner. As she does, her curtains flutter in the gentle breeze. She’d been so anxious this morning she’d forgotten to shut her window.

She closes it, and as she turns back to her room, her gaze lands on her bookshelf.

The warmth in her is cools when she spots a book Aizen gifted her decades ago. It occupies its own space at the top. She’d put it there to get it far out of sight as possible, but to also not forget it was there entirely, for the day she’ll get rid of it.

She prays that one day she’ll have the strength to burn it to ashes.

____________________________________

“Sir?”

“Hm?”

“May I ask you a question?”

Hinamori watches her captain step down the ladder with a tome. He hands it to her before going back up.

“You don’t have to say that before you ask me something,” he says, nonchalant.

She’s aware, but it still feels wrong to just ask personal questions without a lead up. She takes the second tome he passes down to her and shuffles to the side, allowing him to move the ladder further down the bookcase.

“When will you be going to the World of the Living next?” she asks.

Shinji freezes. He's deciding whether to take her question seriously or making a joke out of it. It doesn’t take him long to choose.

“Trying to get rid me already?!” he chuckles.

“Of course not, sir!”

“Oh suuuuure. Bet Matsumoto-san has a party planned and you volunteered to use the barracks’ hall, didn’t ya? I know her birthday's coming up, she strikes me as someone who holds big drinking parties to celebrate.”

Why does he have to escalate things like that? Her indignation must show because his chuckling turns to laughter.

He waves a placating hand. “All right, all right, in all seriousness. I don’t plan to go for a while. Did you want me to get you something while I was there? I can just ask Urahara to convert something and send it over if you want.”

Huffing out a breath, Momo continues, “I only asked because it occurred to me that you, um…haven’t seen your friends in a while.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, a slight tightness coming around her heart. “We used to encourage our subordinates to see their friends outside the division when possible. Captain Aizen said it was good to socialise outside of the groups we know.” Then, quieter. “In hindsight, maybe that was… something else he, um….”

With his back to her, she can’t gauge her captain's reaction. His fingers continue to slid along the spines of books and tomes, only stopping when finds one they’ll need.

“It might’ve been a tactic, but regardless, it’s good advice.”

She’s too bewildered to respond, and only snaps out of her stupor when Shinji waves a book in front of her face. She wanted to say the same, but feared doing so would somehow align her with Aizen.

As he climbs down, Shinji says with a smile, “It went that well with Hitsugaya, huh?”

At times like this he surprises her with his perceptiveness, so much so she forgets to correct him on her childhood friend’s title. “What makes you say that?”

He shrugs. “You saw him yesterday, right? So, judging from that question and that you’re not moping about, I’m guessing it went well. You don’t have to talk about it, though. It’s your business.”

She smiles softly with a nod. “It did go well. I’m glad I spoke with him.” She casts her eyes back to Shinji. “I suppose it’s made me reflect on connecting with those you haven’t seen in a long time, especially when you’ve known them for so long.”

Taking the hint, Shinji’s face falls into one of contemplation. Hinamori only has under a minute to take it in, because then he resumes his usual grin. “I get your point. Once we wrap things up for the new wave of recruitment, I’ll think about visiting the World of the Living.”

“…I’m glad, then.”

He steps down and then off the ladder. “Actually, speaking of, the first lot of graduates for the year are due soon, right?”

“Yes, in three months I think.”

“Right, we should get on to promotion. Lets work on it next week, yeah?”

___________________________________________

Shinji frowns at the clock on his desk. Taking her sweet time getting here.

He wouldn’t mind normally, but this is Hinamori; in the six months he’s worked with her, she has never been late. At worst, maybe she’s a few minutes behind, usually rushing in and apologising for ‘being late’. Now it’d been almost thirty minutes since they were meant to start work on the recruitment brochure.

Another minute passes before he’s had enough. He walks briskly out of the office and to the archive storage room. He’d asked her last week while arranging this task to get relevant documents and older brochures so he could get a better idea of how they were done these days.

She isn’t in the archives, but his eighth seat, Katsuro Hoshino, is.

“Yo, you seen Hinamori around?” Shinji asks him.

“No, sir,” Hoshino says, closing the tome he holds. “I just came in, but I do sense traces of her reiatsu here.”

“She probably left a few minutes before you came then.” He goes to leave, but the tome his subordinate holds catches his attention. “What’re looking at that old thing for?”

“Oh, ever since the Lieutenant did that demonstration a few months ago, I’ve been looking to improve my bakudo spells.”

Coming from you, this isn’t a surprise at all. Hoshino is always looking to improve himself, always asking for feedback on his performance in training or after a mission. If he ever messed up, he insists on correcting his mistake. If he ever got praised for something, he’d ask how he could make it better Sometimes it’s too intense for Shinji’s liking; it reminds him of the officers from Second or First Division, always perfectionists with ambitious goals or too strict of a code.

But then, he did come from one of the lower districts, and the captain found one of the main types of officers to come from there were like Hoshino: ambitious, always looking to reach higher, always looking to provide for anyone they had back in the Rukongai, and generally sympathetic to those who came from the lower districts. He needs people like Hoshino, to understand those from the districts he was never in.

“What about the manual in our library?” Shinji asks.

“All copies are on loan, sir.” Hoshino hoists up the tome with a smirk. “It may look old and doesn’t include certain spells or have the depth of the more current edition, but it’s still helpful. We kept it around for a reason, right?”

“…Sounds like she inspired some of you.” And judging from the way they spoke of her before, it’s not the first time that’s happened. Shinji turns to go. “I’ve gotta find her. I’ll see you around.”

Out of the archives room, he puts out his senses for her. It takes a moment, but he detects her reiatsu coming from the back of the division, near the training grounds. The heck is she doing there? But what’s more concerning, what makes him start jogging in her direction, is the way her reiatsu flickers, like a flame caught in a gust of wind.

It’s not a minute later when he finds her leaning on the veranda railing, her back turned to him and her head bowed. She hasn’t noticed him, doesn’t even flinch when an orange autumn leaf flutters down from the maple tree and brushes past her arm. It lands at Shinji’s feet, joining the others on the floorboards.

It takes a lot to make Shinji concerned or worried, but something about the way she holds herself, the way her reiatsu flickers, and the fact she was here instead of closer to the office has him on edge. Rather than say anything, he watches her carefully as he steps outside and shuts the door behind himself, loud enough for her to hear.

Hinamori startles and twistsaround, eyes wide and face pale. “Oh, Captain…”

He frowns at the papers in her hands and slowly approaches. “What’re you doing here?”

“I was…” She bows her head in shame. “I got distracted.”

“I can see that. What by?” he asks, trying to keep his voice neutral.

She holds out the papers to him without raising her head. He waits several seconds for an explanation that never comes before he takes the documents. At seeing a familiar face on one of the old brochures, his frown deepens. He shuffles through them, and almost all of them have Aizen on their covers, and her name is credited at the bottom of each as the artist. If it weren’t for the subject matter, he’d compliment her again on her drawing skills. “Ah, I get it now.”

In his peripheral, she lifts her head, eyes still wide. “I’m so sorry! I got caught up in….” She straightens, trying to put on a brave face. “Come on, let’s get back to the office, you can look at those and get started on the brochures.”

He tucks the documents into his sleeve and steps in her way and holds hands up. “Hey, take it easy. We gotta get back to work, sure, but nothing wrong with taking a breather. Besides, I just finished that paper stack you left me and I could use a break.” For emphasis, he rubs the back of his neck. “Feeling a little tense, you know?”

The urgency leaves her, but in its place is guilt. He withholds a sigh, and instead jerks his chin at the barracks over his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go grab a tea.”

A few minutes later they’re in the kitchens, with Shinji pouring boiled water into a teapot. Normally Hinamori makes this – she brews some of the best teas Shinji has ever tasted, had the whole thing down like an art form as far she he’s concerned. However, at her slackened shoulders and tired expression, he’d gone to the cabinet and pulled out the canister of tea leaves without a second thought.

She watches him now from the island counter, sitting on one of the stools they’d purchased a few weeks ago. Aside from the teapot, it’s one of the few ‘modern’ looking things in the division. It’d taken some convincing, but he brought her around on the idea of some new furniture. She’d even mentioned thinking about getting a couch for the office just two days ago while glancing through one of his magazines.

“Wanna go back to the office or somewhere else?” he asks while tossing the leaves into the infuser.

She fiddles with her hands for a beat. “Can we stay here?”

Well, most of the division is out, I guess. Just for assurance, he slides the kitchen door shut. “Sure.”

When the tea is brewed, he brings the teapot over and pours it into two cups. As he comes to sit on the stool next to her, he hands her one. She smiles at him while wrapping her fingers around the clay sides. “Thank you, Captain.”

She blows over the rim, dispelling the steam, and takes a tentative sip. At her small nod, he knows the tea good enough.

“So, wanna tell me what happened out there?” he broaches.

Whatever small comfort the tea had given her flows out. She stares down into her cup, the ends of the steam brushing over her face and the shadows under her eyes growing darker without the light on them.

Shinji considers himself a patient man – with a few blonde-haired, red tracksuit-wearing exceptions – and knows despite his own concerns, there are just times he shouldn’t step into something someone isn’t ready to share yet. “Look, if you don’t wanna talk about it, it’s fine. Just don’t let it stew in you, yeah? Keeping that stuff in can mess you up, so whether it’s me or someone else, don’t let it build up.”

“I’m sorry, Captain.”

“Don’t apologise.”

She hesitates. “It’s not my place to question your decisions, but…”

“Isn’t it, though? If a lieutenant can’t question their captain’s decision and choices, what kind of division is that? There’s a reason why they put two of us in charge, and it ain’t just because if one of us gets sick the other has to take over.”

The corners of her lips twitch up into a ghost of a smile for too brief of a moment. “Well, then, if I may ask…why did you reappointment me as lieutenant?”

He thought she’d ask sooner, but now that she has, he changes his approach at answering her question. “Well, why did you decide to come back in the first place? What made you decide to become a Shinigami?” he asks instead.

She gives him a puzzled frown, but when he says nothing else, she answers, “I couldn't leave my position behind. I feel responsible for everyone in our division. I wanted to make sure they were all right, and to try and help them through everything that happened.

"As for your second questions...I came here from the World of the Living, and while I no longer remember anything from my time there, I do remember a Shinigami sending me here. I don’t remember his face or voice, but he was kind. He assured me when I was scared that I would be okay, that I’d be going to somewhere safe and live another life.

“I wanted to help other Souls the same way, but also…” She clenches and unclenches her hold on the cup. “I think I always knew there was something in me. I didn’t know it was spirit potential at the time, but I could feel something burning in my veins. I needed to find a way to channel it, and I had a feeling the Academy could help me with it.”

It was just as Shinji had suspected; he almost felt like patting himself on the back for guessing it correctly. “And there you have your answer.”

She blinks at him. “I don’t see how.”

He smiles sincerely. “Truth is, it doesn’t matter too much why I kept you on. What matters is you didn’t forget why you wanted to stay on as a Lieutenant or became a Shinigami in the first place, and the reasons you gave are enough on their own.”

“That sounds…awfully sentimental for you, sir.”

“That’s because it is, but it’s the right answer. My previous captain taught me that when I asked him why he promoted me to third seat.” He gives his usual grin. “Needless to say, I wasn’t an idiot and didn’t question him again when he promoted me to lieutenant a few years later.”

At her deepening frown, he wonders if he went about this the right way. He sighs through his nose. “You asked me because you’re doubtful about your position. Am I wrong?”

He takes a sip of tea, and she eyes the sleeve where he’d stashed the brochures. She purses her lips and takes in a breath, making her shoulders rise.

“I thought if I just looked at him, maybe I could move on. It didn’t work, all it did was bring back memories I don’t want to remember.” It came out of her in a rushed confession and Shinji froze midway through it, leaving his cup a few inches from the counter.

Something in her crumbles, but she doesn’t hunch over into herself or turn away from him. She swallows before continuing. “When you asked me to go get the brochures, I thought I could handle it. I don’t know why, but I never realised how often I drew Captain Aizen on the covers. When I saw his face over and over again, it made me not want to be here.” She shakes her head. “I almost ran away, but I stopped myself. I can’t run from this, but even so…I’m still not strong enough to be a lieutenant or…” She trails off, at a loss for words, then takes a long sip of her tea.

It’s a risk, but Shinji puts his cup down and brings out the brochures, laying the pile on the counter but not spreading them out. The one on top is of a smiling Aizen, wearing those blocker glasses and with a branch of Sakura behind him.

“You chose to not run after seeing these, and you should give yourself credit for that. You could’ve chucked them, or burned them.”

"B-But they’re official documents, I couldn’t.”

Shinji snorts. “A shame, but I’m thinking Central Forty Fix wouldn’t take you to task if they found out who’s face is on these.” He let’s out a bitter sigh. “I would’ve, if nothing else to get rid of the blocker glasses. They always pissed me off, especially when I found out he never needed them in the first place--"

“How do you do it?” The question practically burst out of her, and it catches Shinji off guard. He blinks at her almost horrified expression; he's not sure he’s ever seen her so stricken.

“How do I do what?” he eventually asks.

“You…You talk about him and say his name without…”

“Time.”

“Huh?”

He slides the top brochure, revealing the second one beneath. Aizen stands in profile on a veranda, head tilted back and smiling at something in the sky; behind him, in Hinamori’s neat writing, it says ‘Come join Fifth Division’. The way she drew him made that smile look so genuine, but he can imagine it was the same one he’d given everyone over a hundred years ago; it never quite reached his eyes, and perhaps she’d also seen it but drew it as though it did.

Shinji finds himself remembering moments with Aizen he’d pushed away for years. The good and the bad. He imagined his lieutenant is experiencing the same as she taps a finger on the corner of a brochure from four years ago.

“It takes time,” Shinji elaborates, listing his head to one side. “I had a hundred years to think about what happened. I don’t hate him any less, but it gets easier with time to think about what happened and to talk about him.” He narrows his eyes. “You know what he did back then, right? To me and the others?”

She nods, somewhat apologetically. “Kira-kun and Ise-san told me.”

“Right. There’s one thing they wouldn’t have told you though. I knew from the start something wasn’t right about him. I could never put my finger on it, but I just knew there was something creepy about him. I thought keeping an eye on him would stop him from doing something. When he revealed himself to be behind the attack, he showed I’d been the fool this entire time. I played right into the bastard’s hands, had been this whole time.”

“H-How so?”

He gulps down his tea, his mouth suddenly drier. Even after all these years, for all his talk of ‘it takes time’, he’s nervous to bring up that night with her. What’s he so anxious about? “I thought I chose him, but as it turns out, he chose me. I was the perfect candidate to keep up his façade, because he knew my suspicion would only blind me to the true him.”

Tears rim in Hinamori's eyes. It hits close to home, and he can understand why. Aizen had used his suspicion against him, and he’d used her admiration against her. Like with Shinji, he’d chosen her, but made her think her admiration led her to him. He took whatever emotion he strongly resonated within others and used to it to hide his intentions and true self from them.

The silence between them stretches out for another minute before she speaks up, voice quiet. “I’m sorry you went through that.”

He shakes his head. “Not your fault. It’s no use comparing suffering, but even so, what you went through I imagine was worse.” He taps the brochures. “The way you drew him, it shows what you thought of him. I bet that bothers you too, huh?”

For a moment, her lips draw into a tight line while she thinks of what to say next. “Sir, forgive me, but…why are you telling me all of this?”

Because he wants her to know she isn’t alone, that what Aizen had done to her had been done to him too. Also, on some pathetic level, he wants to own up for his costly mistake and apologise to her indirectly. He’ll be dying before he ever admits the latter though.

"Did I say too much?" he says. "Sorry, probably made ya feel uncomfortable."

"Uh, no, it's not that!" Hinamori quickly reassures. "It just seems like so much to share is all. If it were me, I know I wouldn't be able to."

"It kinda the reason why I did." He gestures to himself with his cup. “It was so you get an idea of what’s ahead. It’ll take a long time for you to deal with all this. Based on experiences, there will come a day when wake up and go about your businesses, and you realise you haven’t truly thought about him or what happened. You’ll think about it there and then, sure, and there will be days where it has you by the guts. It’s just a matter of remembering that those days come and go, like any other.”

He pours himself another cup of tea as she sighs quietly.

“Out of everyone, you’re the only who talks about him to me,” she says.

“I figured it’s good to talk about him, the good and the bad. Well, it’s all bad, let’s face it, but…he had his moments, every now and then, whether I liked it or not.”

Hinamori thought the same, he can tell – like her expression when he agreed that seeing friends outside of the division was good advice.

He raises the refilled cup to his lips. “Unfortunately, that can make it harder, but if you accepted it as ‘it was what it was’, that gets easier too.”

Somehow, Hinamori’s shoulder fall even further when she sighs. “I wish I was older.”

The sombreness prevents him from cracking a smile at that. “What’d mean by that? Most people your age wanna stay young forever.”

“It’s not like that.” Her fingers trails away from her cup and rest on the edge of the counter. “There’s nothing great about being young, because you don’t know how to handle things like this properly. I feel like everyone in the division is moving on. They even pulled up the ayame, the calligraphy he did isn’t on the walls anymore, and barely anyone but you says his name around me. It’s like he never existed, and maybe…maybe that’s how it should be. It feels like the right thing to do…and somehow, also the wrong thing. He existed here, and I hate…I hate that I still remember good things about him. It’s been so long since…since I didn’t feel like this. I wish it was…”

He frowns; something about her words struck a deep cord within him. “Wishing ain’t gonna solve your problems, dummy! You think you got out of that Fourth Division bed from wishing? You think I kept you on as a lieutenant because you could wish things in and out of existence? You gotta face it every day, head on, all the memories you have him, whether they’re good or bad. Those feelings and thoughts will be there when you wake and still there when you go to sleep, but you don’t let it keep you lying there doing nothing. Yeah, maybe getting rid of things around here helps some, but everyone’s got their own way of dealing with this shit, right?”

He softens a little when he realises she taken aback. “It’s okay to take a breather, though. You don’t have to force yourself so hard into getting over it. You’re figuring out how to deal with this shit, but you don’t let it get to you, I’ve seen it. You get up everyday, work your ass off, and look out for everyone. Give yourself some credit.”

He has the sudden urge to busy himself, and he does so by flipping over the top brochure and reading the back of it. His brows furrow deeper at the responses Hinamori had provided to the four questions. Shit. He’s quick to flick it aside and flip over the next brochure. She answered for this one too, but the responses were more positive. He doesn't bother to read Aizen's answers.

“I understand.”

He turns his attention back at her. Her eyes are still rimmed with tears, but there’s also a new, hard clarity in them. It reminds him of their first week when she’d affirmed that a division would need change but it couldn’t be done all at once. Her determination is fierce, but now it doesn’t come from a place of wanting to do right by her division. Right now, it’s come from having overcome something inside and wanting to keep moving forward, one step at a time.

“I should be more present, is what you’re saying,” she clarifies. “I don’t get to be being an adult who can deal with things like this by wishing in the present. To become that person, I need to do something in the here and now. I become that person by facing everything head on, not by retreating or wishing for it.”

His grin reflects his pride – at this rate he’s going to start acting like one of those proud fathers he used to cringe at. “Well, look at you being all wise. By the time you get older, you’ll be wiser than the Head Captain!”

She gives an incredulous snort. “That’s too much, sir!”

“I don’t know, you’re on the right track to being that way.” He tips his chin upward. “Though I probably shouldn’t say too much, it’ll go to your head. How about we make it that I said all of that just now? I’ll give you credit as my inspiration, and this way you don’t have to feel all shy about it!”

She’s laughs, almost doubles over, as tears streams down her reddening cheeks. He finds himself chuckling along with her. It’s the longest she’s laughed around him, and there’s something freeing about it. Perhaps it’s to comfort herself, to release the stress this entire situation had brought about.

After their laughter died down, and she has regained her breath, her smile becomes shaky. “It seems easier said than done.”

“Well, no one ever said it was easy, and if they did, they’re an idiot. You’re on track, just remember that.”

“Thank you, sir,” she says after a pause.

They both take a sip of tea, sitting in silence. At some point they’re both looking at the brochures. Shinji only leaves the first ten out, deciding the rest weren’t needed. They stare at the covers, all but one with the man who had brought them down. Yet, Shinji thinks, he also ended up uniting them them.

The good and the bad, Shinji thinks, allowing a bitter smile. He hates the irony of it.

The only one to not feature Aizen is of a shrub of suzuran. It takes up move of the page, expect for a space where Hinamori had written ‘We look forward to meeting you! Let’s work hard for Fifth Division!’

For some reason, the question his captain once asked him comes to mind, and Shinji’s smile softens. Say, Hirako-kun, why did you become a Shinigami?

____________________________________

Shinji hitches his scarf higher up, but it does little to brace him for the cold outside. Stepping out of the First Division, a gust blows through the courtyard, dusting the bridge in front with thin patches of snow that had gathered on the railing.

Around him, the captains all have different reactions to the cold, most showing their dislike for it by either huddling into themselves or commenting on it. However, there’s a few who barely flinch, and one of them is walking on the bridge like it’s just another sunny day. He’s also the one Shinji needs to talk to.

“Yo, Captain Hitsugaya!”

Said captain stops and looks over his shoulder at Shinji as the other captains move past him. “Hirako.”

Shinji slows his walk and waits for the other captains to be out of earshot. “Huh, still not referring to me by my title,” he teases. “Have some respect for your elders, will ya?”

“Most ‘elders’ act their age,” he retorts, but there isn’t much bite behind it. “Besides, you’ve told the others to not refer to you by your title.”

Despite his grin, Shinji frowns in annoyance. “I still can’t figure out how you and Hiyori weren’t two peas in a pod.”

Hitsugaya only snorts derisively in response while looking off to the side and folding his arms into his sleeves. With the snow falling on either side of the bridge and the white that already covers the courtyard below, he looks very much like he belongs in the landscape as an icy figure in the middle of it all.

With all the other captains gone, closes the gap between him and the younger captain as he digs his hand into his sleeve. “I won’t keep you long. Just had to fulfill a request.”

Hitsugaya turns back, eyebrow rising. “Request?”

“You have a birthday tomorrow, and I only know that because…” Shinji pulls out a small box, tied closed by a blue-ribbon bow. “…Hinamori told me.”

Hitsugaya switches his bewildered gaze from the box to Shinji and then back again.

“Hey, don’t get your hopes up, this ain’t from me,” Shinji snarks. He holds it out to him. “She wanted me to pass this on to you, seeing as she’ll be too busy to come by and visit.”

Hitsugaya is slow to take his gift, but Shinji gets the impression it isn’t because he’s surprised. He tries to make it look business-like, but there’s a slight reverence to the way he takes hold of the side held out to him, and the way his eyes are glued to it, following it until he draws it right in front of himself and holds it in both hands, it’s as if it’s the only thing that mattered right now.

Shinji expected Hitsugaya to just thank him and head off to his division. Instead, he deftly undoes the ribbon, letting the ends hang over the sides of one hand while he pulls the lid off.

For a few seconds, the furrow in his brow disappears and his lips part. Save for a few glares, Shinji’s never seen any expression other than a stoic, determined frown on the boy’s face before, but he’s isn’t sure what he’s more surprised by: the subtle softness that settles in the younger captain’s eyes or the strange jolt of relief he feels. Where did the latter come from? And what exactly was he relieved about?

He sets the thought aside for later and watches as Hitsugaya plucks out one of the treats from the box; a nerikiri with snowflake decorations on it.

“She made them this morning,” Shinji explains. “She was actually pretty torn up about not getting to see you on your birthday, but she’s got a long meeting today, then tomorrow she’s organising some missions and then we’re wrapping up some admin things.”

“It’s fine,” Hitsugaya says under his breath. He puts the sweet back with the others and closes the box. “Birthdays aren’t a big deal anyway.”

“Well, they are for her, so you better thank her next time you see her.”

The look Hitsugaya gives him says, Obviously I will.

Shinji can’t help it though, and he raises his hands defensively while teasing, “Hey, don’t freeze me, I’m just the courier.”

Hitsugaya sustains his glare for a moment longer, but then mellows, his usual frown returning while he stashes his gift away in his shihakusho. “In that case, tell her I’ll thank her when I see her next.”

“Like when you have one of your lunches planned?”

The younger captain’s eyes widen at that.

“She told me about your plans together. I always keep telling her to take all the time she wants but she insists on getting back in time to finish her work. I think it’s nice you two still catch up every now and then.” Shinji starts to leave, raising his hand in a casual wave. “Well, my work here is done. I’ll pass on your message.”

He only gets a few steps away before the younger captain speaks up. “Oi, Hirako.” He stops, and after a beat, Hitsugaya shuffles a step towards him. “Hinamori mentioned last time that you were thinking about a joint training session with my division.”

That makes Shinji twist back around. “It was just an idea. I noticed in the records our divisions haven’t done any joint training in a while. Thought it might be good for both of our subordinates to become reacquainted with each other.” His grin widens. “Who knows? Maybe you and your men can learn a thing or two from Hinamori about kido, and we’d learn something from you and Lieutenant Matsumoto.”

Hitsugaya nods to himself.

“Is that a yes then?” Shinji asks.

“I’ll ask Matsumoto what she thinks, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she agrees to it. We can discuss it further next month.”

“All right, I’ll hold you to it.” At the fresh breeze that blows through, Shinji crosses his arms and asks, “Hey, in the coming days, reckon you could shift this weather away? Make a little warmer maybe?”

Shinji knows the urge to resist an eyeroll when he sees it – Hiyori and the others had done it enough times. He’ll take it over the piercing stares the younger captain used to fix him with during the first month back as a captain.

“No,” is all Hitsugaya says.

Shinji shrugs in defeat. “Ah, well, I tried.” He spins on his heel and continues his exit. “See you around, and don’t be a stranger to the division.”

He can feel Hitsugaya’s gaze on him for the entire length of the bridge, but unlike his first month, he can sense it’s not out of suspicion.

He’s almost halfway back to his division when he thinks back on the relief he felt, but now he has an answer.

We grew up in the same district and have been friends since. He always works hard, and he picks up new skills really quickly. He can be a bit mean too, but really, he’s kind. It took me a while to realise, but he looked out for me during the Ryoka invasion. That’s what has always stood out about him though…He looks out for everyone, even when no one sees it.

Shinji had to admit, after interacting with the younger captain the first few times, he’d thought Hinamori’s view as being too biased. She saw the good in others, and perhaps it affected how she recalled certain memories about them. He hadn’t told her about how her friend had damn near interrogated him, asking probing questions about his Hollow powers and his intentions for the Fifth Division. He’d initially concluded that yes, the kid was a genius, but he was also a brat.

But then he thought about what had happened in the battlefield more, and then learned more about the captain through Rangiku.

He may have grown up in the Junrinan, but that boy would’ve gone through hell. With hair like that and the icy aura that radiated off him, Shinji can imagine Rukongai Souls, with and without spirit potential alike, would see he wasn’t like them. Hinamori had befriended him though, had known him for several decades. She saw the good in others, believed in them wholeheartedly, perhaps to a fault, but even so…

She must have been kind-hearted and compassionate since she was young. It wasn’t something Aizen had fostered within her to further his plans somehow.

Despite knowing this for months now, it feels good to finally get confirmation in a way. Knowing that, Shinij suspects Aizen thought two ways about her kindness: that it was both a weakness to exploit and he also a trait for a good lieutenant, even if it was for appearances sake.

In some bitter way, he wonders if even Aizen on some level knew her true strength, and had treated her the way he had after he revealed his true self to punish her for it. The same may have gone for Hitsugaya, who had both his left limbs severed by Aizen. The cruelty of such an attack hadn’t escaped him, not when he and others had received smaller wounds in comparison.

Shinji grins, because despite trying to prove otherwise, those two were still standing because of the very things Aizen saw as a weakness.

____________________________________

Hinamori catches herself bobbing her head to the record playing in the background. If she were alone and didn’t have so much to do, she could see herself abandoning the paperwork and dancing around the room to the tune. It’s strange how the music can help her focus on her work but also make her want to dance.

“Who’s this one by?” she asks her captain.

Shinji is lounging on the couch with a music magazine, a scarf around his neck in place of his usual tie. “Fukui Ryo. Why?”

“I like it.”

Shinji grins without looking up. “Well, finally. See, I told ya there’d be one you’ll like, and a good choice too.”

She eyes the record collection, now taking up two shelves of one of the bookcases. He has more in his room, stacked in his closet with no space to keep them. “I’ve been meaning to ask, sir.”

“Hm?”

“Where did you get so much music?”

“I worked in a music store for a little while. Got a bunch of records for discount prices.”

“You had a job in the World of the Living?”

She sounds more incredulous than intended, and it’s likely why he laughs. “Of course I did, dummy! How else do ya think we could afford to stay in a warehouse?”

Hinamori lets out an embarrassed chuckle. “Ah, yes, of course.”

“It wasn’t my only job either, but it was one of the better ones. Aside from getting records, I learned about different musicians and got into collecting CDs too.”

At least Hinamori knows what the latter are, Hisagi had brought a stack of them and a CD player back from the World of the Living a decade ago. “You don’t have any CDs though.”

“I prefer vinyl, there’s something classy about them.”

Hinamori thinks to end the conversation there, but now she’s too curious. “You mentioned other jobs, what were they?”

Shinji closes the magazine and leans back, and Hinamori takes it as a sign this is going to be a long story. As he begins, she sets aside her writing tools and shifts away from her desk.

“I worked in a café at one point, learned how to make coffee. It’s nothing like the instant stuff, it’s better. Next time you’re in the World of the Living, you should go to a café and try for yourself. Before that, I worked in a department store for a few years, mainly in the accessories section. It’s where I learned how to tie a tie, so it ended up coming in handy I guess.”

She thinks of the numerous accessory and clothing stores in the Rukongai. Maybe it was because the tie he wears around his neck or the clothes he had from the World of the Living, but she can see him working in places like those.

“Had a couple of desk jobs too, but they got boring fast.”

“What’s a desk job?” she asks.

“Basically what we do, but more soulless.” He grins at his own pun, and Hinamori tries to decide whether to let out a pitiful laugh out or cringe.

She cracks in the end, both cringing and laughing. “Honestly, sir.”

“Hey, you think I’m joking, but it’s true! They got me to sit down all day and just write stuff that wouldn’t make much of a difference to most humans. It wasn’t fulfilling and I quit the first one. The second one I got fired from. Hiyori was pissed at me both times.

“The others had jobs too, but you didn’t hear anything I’m about to tell you, all right? Lieutenant Kuna was the first of any us to get a job, usually got them in candy stores or at themed cafes. Captain Muguruma was working in a kitchen at one point, it’s how he learned to cook as well as he does. After that he worked on construction sites or in warehouses. Captain Ohtoribashi worked in the same department store I did for a little while, but he got bored and went to work at an antique store, was a background extra on some TV show, then at a concert hall.

“Hachi never got a job, his size gave him away and we needed someone to keep an eye out for Hollows, so he just stayed at wherever we had our base at the time. Love tried becoming a mangaka for a bit but never had the talent for drawing, so he ended up working in convenience and book stores to get manga magazines on discount. Lisa worked in a couple of adult stores, at a themed-café, gave being a hostess a shot but it didn’t last long, and then at a bookstore, and Hiyori always struggled to hold down a job.”

“W-Why was that?”

“Come on, you’ve heard her over the denreishinki. She’s had the most jobs out of all of us. She’s been a housepainter, courier, janitor at a lab, had a few stints as a lab technician – they actually double checked her records every time she applied for those jobs, ‘cause she didn’t look as old as her identification said. There were others she had, but I can’t remember them all.”

Shinji rests his head on the back of his chair. “We didn’t go looking for jobs initially, first we had to control our Hollow powers. After that, we more or less took it in turns. A few of us would go get a job while the others trained, then we’d switch or one or two of us would keep working for a little while longer. Helped us stay afloat in the World of the Living and integrate into it better.”

“But with you all not being human, how did no one see that you didn’t age? Did you have special gigai?”

“Nah, just regular gigai. We didn’t all get jobs in the same area and got some in towns and cities nearby. Also kept low profiles outside of work, didn’t get too friendly with anyone at any job, didn’t stay at the job for more than four years, and never made contact with anyone from old workplaces. Think we only got caught out a few times, but usually came up with some excuse.” He looses a chuckle, but there isn’t much humour behind it. “Remember one time I bumped into a co-worker from one of the jobs I had. Didn’t recognise her at first, she’d gotten really old, but she sure as hell recognised me. Had to lie to her and say I was the son of the man she used to work with and that my ‘old man’ died years ago. Didn’t feel good to lie, but couldn’t risk her finding out.”

Hinamori knew about Shinji’s first time as captain of the Fifth Division, but what he and the others had done in the gap between when they’d been forced out of the Soul Society and now hadn’t even occurred to her. He’d lived amongst humans, had to learn their customs and ways, and at times lied to them to keep his true self from being known, all the while likely dealing with the betrayal of someone he thought he knew and the place he’d once called home turning their backs on him. She didn’t know much about the Hollow powers he possessed, but if what Kira and Hisagi had told her was true, it’s something each other captains had struggled with for decades to reign in. They only had each other in a world they knew very little about.

Her heart tightens, and she raises a fist to her chest. “It must have been hard for all of you.”

“It could be at times, but we didn’t have a choice. Just had to keep going, a step at a time.”

The words he’d spoken to in autumn come back to her.

I had a hundred years to think about what happened. I don’t hate him any less, but it gets easier with time to think about what happened and to talk about him.

You’ll think about it there and then, sure, but then it’ll happen again, and again, and again, until the time you spend thinking about it gets less and less.

You gotta face it every day, head on, all the memories you have him, whether they’re good or bad.

Hinamori wonders if she should finally ask him ‘why did you choose to come back?’, but thinks better of it. She has grown to not feel uncomfortable asking more personal questions, but that one still feels like a bridge too far for her. Still, hearing him recount about his friends the way he does, she wonders once again why he and the other two Visoreds decided to leave them to come here.

“You know, now that I think about, I reckon you and Hachi would get along real well.”

Hinamori comes out of her thoughts, but realises her captain is talking to himself.

Shinji leans forward, as if a great idea had just dawned on him. “He’s an expert in kido, can cast spells level eighty and above with little trouble. He could probably teach you a few things, maybe you’d show him a thing or two as well.”

She shakes her head to herself with a smile, doubtful she could show such an experienced user anything new.

Shinji crosses his leg over his other knee and looks to the ceiling in thought. “Love would probably get you to draw his characters for the manga he’s always wanted to write once I tell him how good you are at drawing. Lisa is a reader beyond the perverted stuff, reckon she’d have a few recommendations for you, and Hiyori…actually, you should stay away from her, she’ll probably try to soil my good name and get you to tell her stories about me.”

Hinamori laughs nervously at that, but Shinji is focused on whatever idea he has going on in his head. Without his grin, it’s one of the most serious expressions she’s seen on him, but there’s something open about it at the same time. She thinks to ask him if he’s all right, but stops when he nods to himself. “Yeah…One day, I’ll take you to meet them.”

She’s stunned for a moment, but it slowly dawns on her. It feels like she’s been let into something exclusive almost, and she smiles. She’d only heard these people over the phone, knew how chaotic they could be, but also now realising how close-knit they must be. They only had each other in a world they knew very little about; despite their arguing and antics, she knew from watching her captain to talk them he cares about them, and they care about him just as much.

To meet the people who he had led, and who had helped him survive and deal with Aizen’s betrayal, it feels special. “I think I’d like to meet all of them too.”

He gives her a lop-sided grin. “And while we’re there, let’s grab a coffee at a café. Maybe then that’ll convince why we need to get an espresso machine in the kitchens.”

______________________________

“Oh…”

It only hits Hinamori once she steps through the doors to small courtyard

“Something wrong?”

Rangiku looks back at her with her brows raised in question, but Hinamori can’t get over her revelation.

I haven’t thought about him at all this morning.

In fact, now that she thought about it, it wasn’t just this morning; she can’t recall thinking about him yesterday either. She’d been so occupied with planning an excursion to the World of the Living and then the reports she had to catch up on, she hadn’t thought about him once.

When Hinamori doesn’t answer, Rangiku fully turns to her. “Did you forget something?”

The question shocks her, and she laughs at the irony of it. “Actually, I did.”

Rangiku’s eyebrows raise further and raises the stack of reports in her hands. “That’s not like you, you’re usually organised for this sort of thing.”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing like that.” At her fellow lieutenant’s puzzlement, Hinamori finds herself smiling wider. “It’s just a thought I had for a while, I hadn’t thought about it.” She sighs. “Although now that I’ve realised it, I’ll probably start thinking about it again.”

But now that she’s had the reminder, will she go back to thinking about him? If she did, would the fleeting moment of freedom disappear to never surface again?

You’ll think about it there and then, sure, and there will be days where it has you by the guts. It’s just a matter of remembering that those days come and go, like any other.

Shinji’s words give her courage, but looking at her friend, she can’t help but wonder how she’ll judge her. Even now, more than a year after the battle, everyone avoids speaking Aizen’s name in front of her. She knows they mean well, and although not as painful as it used to be, hearing his name still brought some sadness to her heart.

Of course, there are some she can’t mentioned him to still. When she said his name and title in from of Hitsugaya on one of their lunch breaks together, he tried to keep his expression indifferent, to appear as if it didn’t affect him, but she didn’t miss the way his shoulders hitched up a fraction, the corners of his eyes tighten, or the clenching of his jaw.

She knows everyone means well, but it can’t keep going on like this. She can’t grow that little bit more if she doesn’t share this with one of the people who helped her get to where she is now. “I just realised I hadn’t thought about Captain Ai…no, Aizen Sousuke. I hadn’t thought about him since yesterday morning.”

Rangiku’s expression shifts to one of sympathy. Hinamori wonders if she’s had a similar experience when it came to Ichimaru. Did she have moments where she realised she hadn’t thought about him that day?

“What do you need to do?” her friend says.

It’s refreshing to be asked rather than told. You should go rest. Don’t strain yourself. Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to bring him up. “Nothing. It’s funny, though… sometimes he comes up in conversation when I talk with Captain Hirako. I would’ve thought it’d make me feel worse, but actually, it’s been helping somehow.

"It’s okay to say his name, and it’s okay it talk about him. Even if it makes me sad, I think I’d rather that than avoidance now.”

Her response surprised Rangiku. After a beat however, a soft smile curves on her friend's lips. “If you’re sure.”

Hinamori nods, then lifts up her own pile of paperwork. “We should get stuck into these before Captain Hitsugaya gets back.”

“I’ll owe you more than a shopping trip for helping me with these!”

They sit on the veranda, completing reports that Fifth and Tenth Division were involved in. One was for the three joint training sessions they’d completed over the course of last week, others were field reports. It’d been Rangiku’s suggestion to work outside, and although not usually Hinamori’s first idea when working on official documents, she can understand why now that she’d settled down to work. It’s a clear spring day, with no wind and the sun warming their feet. Scents of various spring flowers fill the air, and somewhere in the distance, there’s both the clashing of training swords and light-hearted, indiscernible chatter amongst a group of unseated officers.

Rangiku breaks the silence as she hands a report over to Hinamori. “When I think about it, it’s been a year since you started working with Captain Hirako, hasn’t it?”

Hinamori hums in ascent. “It was a year last week, actually.”

She’d reflected on the morning of the ‘anniversary’. It had somehow both been a slow and fast year that’d passed, filled with struggle and triumph for herself and her division.

Sometimes she’d find herself wondering down the halls and temporarily be transported back to how things used to be, with everyone happy and content, smiling and jovially greeting each other in the hallways. That had remained the same, but there was something different about it too. A few subordinates sported new accessories, some had gotten haircuts, and others simply spoke more freely than before. There was a time where she both longed for the old days and feared that any reminder of those memories would make her stop, becoming unmoveable and unchanging, fearing to stake another step forward.

Those memories will remain, there is no escaping them. It didn’t mean she couldn’t create new ones though, similar but different. Better, in some regards.

She hadn’t brought up the ‘anniversary’ with Shinji, but she thought he remembered too when he brought up – more than once - how he needed a holiday after working so hard. She went to voice her agreement with him, but he’d turned to her with a rare sincere, close-lipped smile, and she lost her words as he’d pat her shoulder on the shoulder on his way out to – at his instances – buy lunch for them.

He is a strange man to her, even to this day. His default expression were either nonchalance or a wide, toothy grin. His tastes in music, fashion, and decor are bizarre but oddly charming in their own way. He spoke freely, sometimes with no filter whatsoever. He wasn't afraid to show his annoyance or tease her or speak about a man who had caused both of them so much grief.

He's sharp too, able to perceive things beneath the surface, and he worked hard to gain everyone's trust. He did so not to manipulate or for some ulterior motive, but to work and collaborate with the subordinates to make the Fifth Division better.

Regardless, he still loathes paperwork and makes almost any excuse to get out of doing it. At worst it drove her up the wall, forcing her to show her annoyance through a tight smile or calling him on his denreishinki and asking him to return to the division. He could be flippant with orders too, usually issuing them for minor or trivial matters rather than situations that called for a direct and authoritative response.

He didn't always outward show it, but she knows he cares deeply for others, especially his Visored friends. It was a genuine care, one that ran through the conversations he had with subordinates asking how a relative was going, or if they had visited that store in the Rukongai yet. He was patient too, allowing her to speak her mind when she was troubled, but also knowing when the conversation needed to end. His kindness also showed in those moments, when he'd offer her advice or a glimpse into his experiences with Aizen.

He believed in her, even as she sat in the Fourth Division confused and melancholic. He had given her a chance she imagined would have made some hesitant. His unfiltered approach inspired a sense of freedom in her, to express herself more openly.

She owes much to him, and hopes perhaps selfishly, she has been able to help him just as much as he has helped her.

Looking at Rangiku, she recalls all the times they’d spent together since she regained her position. At lieutenant and Women’s Association meetings, she was always by her side. On the rare chance they had break times that aligned, they spent it together, shopping in the Rukongai. She always had words of encouragement, believing in her even before she was out of the Fourth Division.

There was a time when she’d apologised for being a burden and for taking so long to recover. Now, bows her head. “If not for you and Captain Hirako, I don’t think I would be where I am right now. Thank you again, Rangiku-san”

“Like I said before, it’s nothing. I’m just glad you’re feeling better.” Her soft smile returns. “You’ve definitely come a long way.”

Hinamori gives a tepid shrug. “Thank you. I just have to keep going, no matter what.”

“We all do. In the end, all we can do is keep moving forward, right? ”

She thinks about Genji and the rest of the Fifth Division, about the Renji, Izuru, Nanao, and the other lieutenants, about her friends in other divisions, and about Hitsugaya and those in the Junrinan.

She recovered in Fourth Division believing she was alone, being left behind by the very same people she thought about. I will have to move forward on my own, but how? she'd thought.

When her captain comes to mind, when she pictures him with the people in her life, it brings a peacefulness she she hadn't felt in a long time, and a single word comes to mind.

Together.

_____________________________

The world moves in streaks around Shinji, and the air is thicker than before he went into First Division’s meeting hall. The news is still fresh in his mind, threatening to break his nonchalant expression.

Hinamori, who jogs to keep up with him, is looking at him wide-eyed with shock and disbelief. “We’re at war…with the Quincies? H-How can that be?”

“Those bastards were crafty, they found a way to survive.” He shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter who it is, we’re at war now.”

His words are slow to sink in, but after a moment she nods. “Then we have to let the division know.”

She summons a Hell Butterfly and relays a message for Genji to gather all their officers in the main hall for an emergency division, even those patrolling the Rukongai and the World of the Living. After sending the butterfly away, Hinamori asks, “Do we have a prediction for when they’ll strike?”

“All we know is what they did in First Division. Anything else, we’re shit out of luck. Don’t know when they’ll strike or how.” Shinji is sure his expression has well and truly cracked now.

“Sir, about my lieutenant’s meeting.”

“What about it?” He’d snapped the question without meaning to, but Hinamori doesn’t flinch.

“Kira-kun brought up something that might be of interest” she says. “He suspected that the invasion, the disappearances in the Rukongai, and the disappearances of Hollows were all connected. He noted that the report for the missing resident was conducted by Twelfth Division, and also that sandal prints were found in district sixty-four, but residents don’t have footwear in the lower districts.”

“What’s his point?”

“Twelfth Division may have taken those Souls. Kurotsuchi-san couldn’t provide us with any information, but Kira-kun is going to report this to the Captain General.” She shakes her head. “If it’s somehow connected to the Quincy invasion, why would Captain Kurotsuchi take those Souls? It’s so callous.”

“Shit. So Twelfth is up to something too? I should’ve known, Kurotsuchi is always up to some shit.” His eyes narrow. “What the hell is happening?”

Less than two years of being a captain and now he has to lead his division into a war. Organising the inevitable patrolling and drills around the Seireitei he can handle, but breaking this news to them, what the hell was he supposed to say?

He only comes out of his thoughts when Shinigami scramble past him and Hinamori. They go to different divisions, rushing to emergency meetings no doubt. He hadn’t even realised until now she’d been listing off everything they’ll need to do.

“…patrols for the lower districts, in case they go missing. I know we shouldn’t interfere with the matters of other divisions, but if Kira-kun doesn’t report to the Captain-General right away, Captain Kurotsuchi might try to expunge more Souls, especially now that Kurotsuchi-san knows we’re aware. Then there’s…”

She fades out again, because far in the distance up ahead is the Fifth Division insignia. Beyond the main entrance, Shinigami are running to get into the main barracks, a few almost tripping over themselves to get inside.

He can’t take the traditional route. Without a second thought, he leaps from the balcony to the rooftop down below and Hinamori follows. Any other time he’d tease her for breaking conduct, but the gravity of the situation weighs heavy on both of them.

They’re three jumps away from landing on the wall of Fifth Division’s main entrance when Hinamori calls out to him. “Sir, wait!”

He almost stumbles when she grabs his sleeve. He whips around and any exclamation he has dies in his throat when he sees her hunched over despite the firm grip she has on his uniform.

She’s a little out of breath, but she asks, “What’re we going to tell them? We have to get our plan straight before we address them.”

How the fuck should I know? No, he knows exactly what he’ll have to say. He’ll have to look every single one of his officers in the eye – seated and unseated, new and old – and tell them they’re at war, and they all know what that means. It means life won’t be the same, whether it’s for a few days or a few years. It means the new recruits get their first taste of real battle not against Hollows, but against opponents probably even stronger than them. It means the division member next to them is more likely to wind up dead. Shinigami are taught to be prepared for battle, to die in combat against enemies of the Seireitei and those that threaten the World of the Living and the balance all the worlds stand upon. It doesn’t stop them from fearing death or battle, doesn’t stop them from forming bonds with each other and mourning the losses of fallen comrades.

It’s over a hundred years ago all over again. It’s waking up to discover he has a Hollow residing in him, whispering in his ear, threatening to take over. It’s the pitying but determined look of Urahara swearing to make things right for him and the others somehow. It’s realising he didn’t know what to do or where to go in a world so foreign to all of them. It’s realising the others are looking to him, confused and unsure, to be a defacto leader. It’s knowing he took on said role in part because he was partly responsible for the what they had all become.

And in the decades in the World of the Living, it was not just the Visoreds he was responsible for. Even from afar, he was responsible for every officer in the Fifth Division and whatever Aizen was doing to them.

And perhaps Hinamori sees the conflict within him, because she straightens, let’s go of his sleeve, and leans away a fraction. Whatever she’s about to say, he gets the impression she’s been waiting to speak aloud for a long time. “This is likely not the time or place, but maybe, somehow, it will help you as it helped me.” Then with more certainty. “Why did you come back? And…why did you become a Shinigami?”

He could almost choked at how she threw his own words back at him.

Why did he come back? Because in his foolishness, he’d let the bastard in. And then when he and others were cast out and left to pick up the pieces in the World of the Living, Aizen took his place and shaped the division how he saw fit. He manipulated everyone, deceived them into being blinded to his true self no matter how close he seemed to let them get to him. Shinji had let him in, thinking he could stop him when needed, only to become part of his plan.

He’d let the bastard in, and the damage he had caused to everyone in the division was on his hands.

But that was neither here nor there. It’s been over a year, in fact, since then. The division isn’t what it used to be, sure, but it isn’t how Aizen left it after his betrayal either. And there was always that one thing that remained, that stood against every test thrown at it: the division’s sense of comradery and dedication in the face of horrendous odds.

He looks at his lieutenant, who just stares right back at him. Of all of them, she embodied those very feats.

He gives her a strained smirk. “Ain’t that a little personal for a time like this?”

She doesn’t back down; it doesn’t surprise him. “Perhaps, but maybe now is the time to remember why.” She turns to their division in the distance. “All them will be thinking it, on some level. ‘Why am I here? Why did I join the Gotei Thirteen?’. I know during times like these, you can forget why you’re here, so you ask yourself those questions to try and remember.

She softens a fraction when she brings her attention back to him. “The day you asked me why I became a Shinigami, it reminded me why I joined in the first place and why I chose to resume my position as lieutenant of the Fifth Division. It reminded me that there was a time before all of this when things were different, better maybe, but that I had a goal to work towards.”

She takes another step to him, now having to crane her neck slightly to look him in the eye. “You don’t have to tell me why, but remember, Captain.”

It hadn’t been for any noble reason. He knew he had spiritual potential and knew he couldn’t stick around in the Rukongai if he wanted to get anywhere in this next life. He’s briefly taken back to different moments in his life: to his first day as an unseated officer, to meeting Hiyori and the other Visoreds before they were changed, to meeting Aizen and knowing something was off, to having to say goodbye to his old captain, and finally, to becoming a captain the first time.

Somewhere along the way, on some level that he’d only ever spoken aloud to a select few, it had become about helping others. It had become about protecting those he cared about, and ensuring he could call somewhere ‘home’ with them.

When he becomes present again, he knows it’s not a time to get sentimental. You need more than sentimentality to win a war, but you also needed more than a skilled swordsman who fights only for duty. In an indirect way, that’s what he’d learned while at the Academy.

It’s neither the time nor place to be vulnerable; he’ll thank her for grounding him and helping him remember why he was doing this beyond some attempt to make amends later. However, he gives a determined grin as he says, “See, this is why ya need two people running a division.”

Her smile mirrors his and she gives a firm nod. They’re a team, a good one. A better one than either of them had in the past as Shinigami in the higher positions. However, the moment vanishes when his smile drops and he glances at Fifth Division’s insignia.

“We ain’t gonna mention the stuff about Twelfth Division,” he advises. “If Lieutenant Kira really is going to the Captain General about that, then that’ll be dealt with. I reckon Kurotsuchi isn’t going to lift a finger to get more Souls, not when he’ll have to answer to the Old Man.” He swallows and has to resist the urge to grit his teeth. “We’re going to tell them we’re at war, and whatever you listed off before. Sound good?”

“Yes, Captain.”

With that, they leap off the rooftop and land in their division’s main courtyard. They waste no time as they race to the main hall with their fellow officers. Some try to ask him and Hinamori what’s going on, but all his lieutenant does is to gather in the hall for a briefing.

Everyone’s gazes are on him from the moment he and Hinamori enter; to think more than a year ago, half of the room couldn’t look him in the eye. There’s a barrage of questions from some as he and Hinamori traipse to the front of the hall. Somewhere, Genji and a few other seated offers call for a hush.

By the time he stands before all of them, most of the talking and shouting has stopped. What strikes him more than seeing every officer in the same room together for the first time since Hinamori returned is how most of them look at him. They see him not as a lifeline or an answer, but as a captain. Yes, there is confusion and fear, but there’s also trust.

Then there’s his lieutenant, who stands at his left, completely quieting the room with a firm order. She wasn’t even two years away from the battle that had plunged her into a deep depression. She’d barely had time to breathe and rest. She still called Aizen by his title, though thankfully without the melancholy that used to plague her voice and posture when she referred to him. Hell, he’d even heard her refer to him without his title twice in the last month.

She doesn’t realise her own strength – in her compassion and belief of others – because it had been turned against her. If she can make it out of this war - no, he's going make sure she absolutely does - there’s a long road ahead for her still. Even so, she’d come so far. There’s a confidence in her stride where once there had been hunched shoulders and muted steps. She smiles far easier and can say Aizen’s name without the melancholy she’d been weighed down by. Shinji would like to take credit for it, but really, she pulled herself out of it.

He won’t fool himself into thinking he’d ‘redeemed’ himself somehow by nudging her in the direction of recovery, but knowing she has his back in this, it’s a comfort he never realised meant as much as it did now.

She looks to him, and in her gaze is not the doubtful and lost girl he first met in Fourth Division. There's concern and worry, but she’s strong, has proven as much time and time again since they started working together. There isn’t a hint of admiration for him, but there’s a belief in him. And after everything that happened over a hundred years ago and everything they’d worked on together, he believes in her too.

He shifts his attention back to all of subordinates. He finally addresses them, his voice echoing around the hall.

"I'm sure most of you are already aware of what's happening. There are some things you all need to remember before I get into the details. During times like this, don't forget for one second that our duty is to protect the Soul Society and the worlds beyond our own. We are Shinigami, we are to protect the Soul Society at all costs, and with our lives.

"More than that, however, remember we are the Fifth Division. We went through hell recently, but we have come out the other side. That wouldn't have happened without all of your strength and commitment. We will protect each other and we have each other's strength.

"We will not let the Seireitei fall, and through hell and high water, we will not let the Fifth Division fall."

#momo hinamori #shinji hirako #toshiro hitsugaya #rangiku matsumoto #bleach #sousuke aizen #genji isawa #hiyori sarugaki #love aikawa #fanfiction #brotp: the fifth division #hitsuhina #IT'S FINALLY DONE!!#I'll probably have to come back and edit for grammar and spelling #later though...I need to take a nap

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beardedmrbean · 4 months

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1.'This exploitation cannot continue': EU urged to ban unpaid internships

In 2023, nearly half of interns (45%) were unpaid and 67% didn't have full access to social protection, according to the latest data. Unions are now pushing for a law banning unpaid internships across the EU, before the upcoming elections "shake everything up again". Read more.

2. Farmer protests: Several key roads, including to Brussels, still blocked by tractors

Farmers' protests continued on Tuesday, with tractors blocking major roads up and down the country, which is disrupting another morning rush hour. Read more.

3. Belgium records higher rate of medical mistakes during hospital stays

French-speaking Belgians are significantly more likely to experience a negative incident during a hospital stay than patients in 15 other countries surveyed under the same OECD model. Read more.

4. ‘Utterly appalling’: Belgian prisons reach record number of inmates

The number of people detained in Belgian prisons reached 12,012 on Monday, a new record. Trade unionist Eddy De Smedt (VSOA) says overcrowded conditions are "utterly appalling" for inmates and staff alike. Read more.

5. Paris less popular among Belgians for summer break due to Olympic Games

The French capital is usually a top destination among Belgians booking a short trip, but due to the high costs of hotels as a result of the Olympic Games, their interest has shifted to other cities. Read more.

6. Dutch confectioner Tony's Chocolonely posts record sales

Dutch confectioner Tony's Chocolonely saw a record turnover of €150 million for the financial year 2022-2023, nearly a quarter higher than the previous year 23.2%. Read more.

7. Hidden Belgium: La Grande Poste

The central post office in Liège was a sad sight for 20 years. Known as La Grande Poste, the Neo-Gothic building was completed at a time when Liège was one of the world’s great industrial cities. Read more.

#nunyas news

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ao3feed-spirk · 7 months

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Captain's Logs

read it on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/51544768 by Android_And_Ale Inspired by This Tumblr Post: https://www.tumblr.com/eternalthyla/682270542609498112/mylittleredgirl-quasi-normalcy-startrekships?source=share --- “Alright everybody! Gather around! Commodore Mendez held a PADD in one hand and a whiskey sour in the other. “It’s time for everyone’s favorite quarterly holiday!” Three nearby Lieutenants started rhythmically beating fingers against their table in a mock drum roll. Mendez puffed out his chest, beaming at his team. “The revelation of Captain James Tiberius Kirk’s latest official logs!” The whole room took a breath. When they exhaled, twenty people erupted in laughter. “Now, now!” Commodore Mendez took another sip of his drink. “I’m sure these logs are entirely credible, professional, and…” he grinned down into his drink, unable to keep a straight face. Words: 4868, Chapters: 2/2, Language: English Fandoms: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F, M/M Characters: James T. Kirk, Spock (Star Trek), Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Assorted Starfleet Flag Officers Relationships: James T. Kirk/Spock, Original Vulcan Character(s)/Original Character(s) Additional Tags: Star Trek - Freeform, Humor, Captain's Log (Star Trek), What if Starfleet Actually Enforced Their Anti-Fraternization Rules?, Blatant Flirtation, vulcan hand kink, Based on a Tumblr Post, James T. Kirk Loves Spock, James T. Kirk is a Good Friend, Sneaky Spock (Star Trek), Kirk's relationship with rules, Starfleet Command's dubious decision process, Reputation Politics, nothing here should be taken seriously, Have a little chuckle, as a treat, spirk, Spock and Jim have an interesting network of friends read it on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/51544768

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #spock/kirk #kirk/spock #spirk #spockxkirk #kirkxspock

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naturalrights-retard · 1 year

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The banking crisis has just begun.

Last Friday, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded regional lenders, including U.S. Bancorp, Zions Bancorp, Bank of Hawaii Corp., Washington Federal Inc., Western Alliance Bancorp, Associated Banc-Corp., Comerica Inc., UMB Financial Corp., First Hawaiian Inc., Intrust Financial Corp., and First Republic.

After posting its latest quarterly results and reporting that its deposits dropped 40 percent to $104.5 billion, shares of First Republic Bank slumped nearly 50 percent today.

With the banking blues worsening, CNBC reported that the “SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) and SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) lost more than 3 percent as financials weighed on the market. Western Alliance Bancorp and PacWest each slid 4 percent, while Charles Schwab shed almost 3 percent.”

And of course, there is the Credit Suisse debacle, which, according to the Financial Times, suffered $68.6 billion in outflows in the first quarter as clients fled the stricken bank: “In light of the merger announcement, the adverse revenue impact from the previously disclosed exit from non core businesses and exposures, restructuring charges and funding costs, Credit Suisse would also expect the investment bank and the group to report a substantial loss before taxes in [the second quarter] and 2023,” Credit Suisse said.

The Worst is Yet to Come

The socioeconomic crisis spreading across the globe was self-inflicted by reckless record low interest rates and cheap monetary policy since the Panic of ’08.

And making a bad situation worse, the coming crisis was further exacerbated by central banks and politicians flooding economies and equities with free and cheap money to fight the COVID War. Besides the economic consequences of fighting COVID, the economic, mental, physical and spiritual damage inflicted upon the citizens of the world is incalculable.

As we had forecast back in March of 2020 when the COVID War was fully launched, among the serious damage is the Office Building Bust… which is now, some three years later, just making the mainstream news.

In the U.S., the first to initiate the work-from-home trend was the tech industry… whose stocks flourished as people stayed home, worked from home, shopped from home, ordered food from home, learned from home, and were forced by politicians to stay-at-home. In fact, if you went out to the beach, park, bar, gathered with friends, or went to church, you were fined and punished. Indeed, so draconian were the COVID War mandates that people were not permitted to see dying loved ones in hospitals and nursing homes.

And now, thanks to the geeks who by their deeds and actions supported the draconian COVID War, tech-city San Francisco is now among the worst-suffering major cities in America: homeless fill the streets and crime has spiked. Indeed, with people stealing what they can, Whole Foods flagship store in downtown San Francisco shut down last week.

Making a bad situation much worse, San Francisco’s office vacancy rate, according to JLL real estate, has soared to 30 percent. According to CoStar Group, across the nation, with the vacancy rate at nearly 13 percent, it is at its highest level since they began tracking back in 2000.

And beyond the office buildings, as we reported in great detail, the businesses that depend on commuters are losing money and/or going out of business.

Therefore, on the banking front, with commercial mortgages accounting for nearly 40 percent of the median U.S. bank’s loans, according to KEW Research, and about 13 percent of the big banks—and with interest rates rising so the building owners have to pay more on their floating loans as they suffer from far less revenue—the worst of the banking crisis has just begun.

With the value of commercial office buildings down some 20 percent, Morgan Stanley analysis shows that with nearly one-third of the nearly $5 trillion in commercial real estate loans coming due before the end of 2025… the crisis is “front-loaded.”

LAST WEEK: EQUITIES SLIP ON BANK NEWS

Bank stocks continue to show mixed results as banks deal with recent turmoil in the U.S. financial sector and analysts see tighter conditions ahead for lenders.

Truist Financial shaved 6 percent off its share price Friday when it reported earnings that fell short of forecasts; Western Alliance’s stock added 2.4 percent after the bank announced that deposit outflows had dwindled.

“Given what’s happened with financial sector stress, we see greater lack of clarity now, given the potential for tightening lending conditions and that continues to raise questions on the outlook,” Lisa Erickson, chief of public markets at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, told The Wall Street Journal.

For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked down 0.2 percent. The NASDAQ lost 0.4 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was down 0.1 percent.

Recent news on the economy also was mixed.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s index of manufacturing activity dropped by 8 points this month, falling to -31.3, marking its eighth consecutive month of decline.

Only 3 percent of firms polled reported an increase in business, while 35 percent said business had slowed.

The survey results “spooked investors that a deep recession may be on the horizon,” the WSJ noted.

However, overall U.S. manufacturing data showed business activity at an 11-month high. Service businesses are at their busiest in 12 months.

The higher numbers contributed to a rise in prices, stirring recurrent worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue raising its base interest rate more or longer than expected.A Silicon Valley Bank location in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Trends Journal photo)

Treasury yields rose Friday, with the 10-year note paying 3.570 percent compared to 3.546 percent Thursday. Yields rise as securities prices fall.

Spot gold slipped, ending the week down 0.8 percent at $1,995.10 at 5 p.m. U.S EDT on 21 April.

Brent crude oil’s price gave back 5.4 percent this week, reaching $81.66 at 5 p.m. U.S EDT on 21 April. West Texas Intermediate crude moved down 5.6 percent to $77.87.

Bitcoin fell 5 percent through the week, trading at $28,000.80 at 5 p.m. U.S EDT on 21 April.

Abroad, markets were mixed.

The London FTSE 100 rose 0.6 percent and the all-Europe Stoxx 600 gained 0.4 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei ticked up less than 0.01 percent, while the South Korean KOSPI was down 1.0 percent.

In China, the Hong Kong Hang Seng index fell 1.5 percent. The mainland’s CSI Composite lost 1.4 percent and the SSE Composite 1.1 percent.

YESTERDAY: STOCKS MIXED AS INVESTORS AWAIT EARNINGS REPORTS

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 66.44 points, or 0.2 percent, to 33,875.40 and the S&P 500 was up 3.52 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,137.04. The Nasdaq was down 35.25 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,037.20.

With 170 companies in the S&P 500 set to release corporate earnings this week, as we have reported, the expectations are low.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield on Monday traded down to 3.53 percent.

As we note above in the ECONOMIC OVERVIEW section of this Trends Journal, the big news on The Street is finally seeing what we had long forecast: the banking crisis has just begun.

Elsewhere, London’s FTSE was down 1.93, or 0.02 percent, to 7,912.20 and the benchmark STOXX600 was down 0.03, or 0.01, or 468.97.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was up 29.15, or 0.10 percent, 28,593.52 and South Korea’s Kospi was unchanged at 2,523.50. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 115.79, or 0.58 percent, to 19,959.94. China’s Shanghai Composite 25.84, or 0.78 percent, to 3,275.41 and the Shenzhen Component was down 133.42, or 1.17 percent, to 11,317.01.

OIL: Brent crude was up $1.07, or 1.3 percent, at $82.73 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate finished the day up 89 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $78.76.

Oil prices benefited from a weakening dollar and there is optimism that China’s May Day holiday will give a boost to oil consumption in the country after years of COVID-19 lockdowns.

Investors were also waiting for the Federal Reserve meeting due next week that The Street anticipates will result in a 25 basis point interest rate hike. FXStreet noted that OPEC+ production cuts have pushed the price of WTI upward. There are also plans by the oil cartel to announce another production cut in May.

TRENDPOST: As the economy goes down and interest rates go up the economies will slow down and so too will oil consumption. However, as demand goes down OPEC+ will lower supply which will in turn keep Brent Crude in the $80 per barrel range. And as we note there are always the wild cards such as war in the Middle East. Should military conflict break out between Israel and Iran oil prices will soar above $130 a barrel which will in turn crash equity markets and economies.

GOLD: Spot gold was trading up 0.3 percent to $1,988.69 an ounce and U.S. gold futures were up 0.4 percent to $1,999.20.

Reuters noted that the U.S. dollar eased 0.5 percent and hit a one-week low—which makes the yellow metal less expensive for foreign buyers. The precious metal fell after hitting $2,000 last week on concerns that the Federal Reserve will keep increasing interest rates.

Markets are currently pricing in a 91 percent chance of a 25-basis-point hike, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

TRENDPOST: Gerald Celente has called gold the best safe haven asset and sees great upside at current levels. Again, we forecast gold prices will go down when the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rate 25 basis points next Wednesday. After that, should the Fed hold interest rates and begin to lower them the dollar will greatly weaken and gold prices will rise much higher.

BITCOIN: The world’s most popular crypto was trading down, in the $27,450 range most of yesterday after trading at around $28,250 on Friday, and near-term optimism for bitcoin seems confused.

Standard Chartered wrote in a note Monday that it sees the crypto jumping to as high as $100,000 by the end of 2024, after the high-profile collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature.

Geoff Kendrick, an analyst for Standard Chartered, wrote that the banking upheaval made a good case for a “decentralized, trustless and scarce digital asset.”

CNBC noted that he said “we believe the much-touted ‘crypto winter’ is finally over.”

TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal sees the value in bitcoin, but has warned that government oversight could be its death knell.

Chamath Palihapitiya, the tech investor, seems to agree. He told the All-In Podcast that he believes “crypto is dead in America.” The comment was jarring coming from a former crypto advocate who once predicted bitcoin would hit $200,000.

“The United States authorities have firmly pointed their guns at crypto,” he said after indicating that cryptos were blamed for the recent banking crisis.

TODAY: DOW FALLS 340 POINTS AS BANKING CRISIS COMES BACK INTO FOCUS

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 344.57 points today, or 1.02 percent, to close at 33,530.83 and the benchmark S&P 500 was off 65.41, or 1.58 percent, to end the day at 4,071.63. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also shed 238.05 points, or 1.98 percent, to close at 11,799.16.

The big news on The Street today was new fear that the regional banking crisis will turn into a massacre.

First Republic, which recently announced that deposits fell $104.5 billion in the last quarter – or 40 percent, announced that it will begin implementing cost-cutting measures and cut its headcount by up to 25 percent. Its stock fell over 49 percent to hit a record low.

The San Francisco-based bank has said its deposit activity stabilized after a sudden rush drop after the high-profile failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature.

Mohamed A. El-Erian, the economist, tweeted early today that the price reaction “is a reflection of markets recognizing that deposit stabilization is necessary but not sufficient. The bank also faces other challenges, including on account of funding costs, the shrinkage of its balance sheet, and provisions.”

The consumer confidence index fell to 101.3 in April, which marks a 9-month low, according to the Conference Board, the business research group.

Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economics at the Conference Board, said it looks as though consumers fear a looming recession and believe inflation will remain persistently high.

“Overall purchasing plans for homes, autos, appliances, and vacations all pulled back in April, a signal that consumers may be economizing amid growing pessimism,” he said.

The Commerce Department also said today that new home sales increased 9.6 percent to an annual rate of 683,000 last month, which was higher than expected.

London’s FTSE was off 21.07 points, or 0.27 percent, to 7,891.13 and the benchmark STOXX600 was down 1.89, or 0.40 percent, to 467.08. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was up 26.55, or 0.09 percent, to 28,620.07 and South Korea’s Kospi was down 34.48, or 1.37 percent, to 2,489.02. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 10.54, or 0.32 percent, to 3,264.87 and the Shenzhen Component was down 168.00, or 1.48 percent, to 11,149.01.

TREND FORECAST: The Banking bust has just begun. As interest rates rise, more money will flow from the banks into more profitable investments. And when the Office Building Bust hits the banks and there are more bank failures, the money flowing out will dramatically increase.

Among the safe-haven assets beyond money market funds, we forecast that the worse the banking crisis becomes, the higher gold prices will rise…to well above $2,000 per ounce.

OIL: Brent crude was down $2.01 a barrel, or 2.44 percent, to $80.71 and West Texas Intermediate was down $1.67, or 2.12 percent, to $77.10.

Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth, told Bloomberg that the crude market is in “wait-and-see mode with trading dominated by short term strategies as opposed to real investors.”

“Longer-term investors aren’t going to make real bets until there is clarity around China’s recovery and U.S. recession,” she said.

Fears of a recession in the U.S. are resurfacing due to a hawkish Federal Reserve and a weakening economy. There are also fears that the Chinese economy – which beat expectations in the first quarter to grow by 4.5 percent – does not maintain its momentum.

GOLD: The yellow metal was trading up $7.40, to 0.37 percent, to $2,007.20 an ounce as of 4:23 p.m. ET.

The precious metal benefited from falling Treasury yields. The 10-year yield was at 3.43 percent and the 2-year was selling at 4.03 percent. Higher Treasury yields generally put pressure on gold prices because the precious metal is a non-yielding asset.

Gold buyers are also considering future Fed moves on interest rates.

TREND FORECAST: Again, as we have forecast, gold prices will rise sharply when the Fed stops raising interest rates and the dollar weakens.

BITCOIN: The world’s most popular crypto was trading up about $371.10, or 1.35 percent, to $27,885.80 a coin as of 4:24 p.m. ET today, as some skeptics wonder if the digital coin could fall back to $20,000 in the near term due to interest rates, slowing economies, and government oversight.

Crypto bulls have noted the important role bitcoin can play as a store of wealth in countries like Argentina, which has seen its peso fall by 99 percent compared to the U.S. dollar since 2018. Coin Telegraph reported that bitcoin hit a record high in “Argentine peso terms following persistent inflation in Argentina.”

The report went on to say that the country’s currency continues to be battered.

“Traders were paying as low as 460 ARS to buy $1 from the black market on April 24 — more than double the official spot rate that pays 220 ARS for the dollar,” the report said.

TRENDPOST: Bitcoin has been trading consistently in the high $20,000s and was up today despite the stock market slipping. Watch for bitcoin to stay in this range until the Fed announces its next interest rate move next week. If the Fed raises rates by another 25 basis points, what for bitcoin – a non-yielding asset – to trade in the $24,000-$26,000 range.

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denimbex1986 · 9 months

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'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One director Christopher McQuarrie addresses Barbie and Oppenheimer's negative impact on his film's box office. Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt for the seventh film in the long-running action franchise, which earned strong reviews from critics. Despite strong reviews, however, the latest sequel has struggled financially, with excitement around the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon ultimately eclipsing Hunt's latest adventure.

Now, in a recent interview on the Empire Spoiler Specials podcast, McQuarrie addresses Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One's box office defeat at the hands of Barbie and Oppenheimer.

McQuarrie chooses not to focus on his own film's financial shortcomings, but instead expresses his excitement for fellow filmmakers Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan and what the success of their movies means for cinema. Check out McQuarrie's full comment below when asked about the "tsunami" that is Barbenheimer:

“I couldn’t be more delighted. We meant what we said when we went out and bought those tickets. I meant what I said when I went on Twitter – my last ever post on Twitter – and said, ‘Go pink or go home.’ Could not be more thrilled for Margot [Robbie], who I think is an extraordinary talent, a mega-star. And I’m delighted for the validation that the movie gives to that part of Margot that is that mega-star. And I hope the lessons learned from that are applied. Couldn’t be more thrilled for Greta.

“Chris Nolan… you want to talk about between a rock and a hard place? You want to talk about a guy whose movie was a three-plus hour R-rated drama with nudity that leaves you feeling quote-unquote 'devastated’. That’s a tough sell. That’s one helluva marketing strategy. And he won. He called it like Babe Ruth and he won. God bless him. Congratulations. That’s fantastic.

“And it’s a triumph for original movies. It’s a triumph for films that are not sequels. And in the case of Oppenheimer, a drama. What movies used to be all the time. Tom and I just look at each other all the time like, ‘Man, it’s just about quality.’”

Why Barbenheimer Beat Dead Reckoning Part One

When it comes to movies, this year has been an interesting wake-up call for several big-budget action franchises. After disappointing performances from Fast X and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Mission: Impossible 7's performance strongly suggests that audiences might be craving new things instead of additional installments in long-running franchises.

That being said, Mission: Impossible 7 has been a hit with those who saw it. Unlike Fast X and Indiana Jones 5, the new Cruise film hasn't been really divisive in terms of its quality. Really, then, Mission: Impossible 7's underperformance can seemingly mostly be boiled down to bad timing. The film was only able to play for less than 2 weeks in IMAX, a format that has traditionally been strong for the franchise, before Oppenheimer took over all the screens due to pre-existing agreements.

The lack of premium large format screens was undoubtedly a major blow, but excitement for both Barbie and Oppenheimer was also way higher than really anyone had anticipated. Both films have broken records and shot past projections. In hindsight, clearly, Paramount should have moved Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One's release date, and it may have enjoyed a much more profitable run.'

#Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning: Part One #Christopher McQuarrie #Tom Cruise #IMAX #Greta Gerwig #Barbie #Christopher Nolan #Margot Robbie #Fast X #Indiana Jones 5 #Barbenheimer

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thevindicativevordan · 2 years

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Thoughts on James Gunn taking over DC films?

You are the first person to ask me about all the twists and turns related to DC of late. Disappointed in the rest of you, are my hot takes on the latest gossip not why you all keep coming back? Well let's jump in, first up a minor character I have more than a passing interest in: Superman.

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Five years, two major Superman projects meant to reboot the character, and... we end up right back with Cavill. Hamada's departure cleared the way for Cavill to return as the "main" Superman, with the help of the Rock of course. Between Jim Lee and the official DC Comics/Superman social media accounts welcoming Cavill back, and the trades putting out that WBD is eager to get another solo Superman film starring Cavill up and running, the Abrams/Coates project is all but dead already. No need for a new reboot if you're going to keep using the guy the previous regime planned on replacing, especially since they've passed on everything Abrams was working on thus far. Plus Hamada seems to have left on very bad terms, he didn't even take a production deal to smooth his exit, and he was the main backer for this project, I doubt Zaslav has any intention of greenlighting whatever Hamada projects in development that are left.

How do I feel? Well cautious would be the right word. I've made no secret of the fact that I thought Snyder sucked and I'd rate Cavill's acting as "wooden" at best. Perhaps with a new director and scriptwriter all the people who hail Cavill as the definitive post-Reeve Superman will finally get something they can point to in order to convince me, perhaps not, he did say For Tomorrow was his favorite Superman story - and if that's what he chooses to adapt with his second chance I fully expect him to crash and burn yet again. However he also mentioned wanting to fight Brainiac in old interviews, and his last pitch for a solo with MacQuarrie was rumored to essentially be Superman and the GLC teaming up to fight Brainiac. Lose the GLC and I'd be game, at this point all I want is an Aquaman tier Superman movie. Something fun that makes a billion and gets DC to greenlight more interesting Superman projects on the comics side (and maybe we could even get a video game too). Adapt Johns Brainiac arc which lets you use Sasha's Supergirl too, and I think it's possible to make a Superman movie that reviews well and crosses the billion dollar threshold at the box office.

My hunch is S&L will get to keep running until MoS2 is ready, which I predict will be in 2025. Two more seasons then for S&L, for a total of five, which isn't a bad run at all for the show. Maybe Hoechlin will even get to show up in a film adaption of CoIE if that ever happens, he deserves it without a doubt.

Oh and I guess the Rock wants to have a Black Adam vs. Superman fight. Look just use Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam as your foundation for that and it might be entertaining at least. I predict Black Adam's overall box office return to be around $500 million (maybe $600 million if it releases in China), enough to keep Johnson in the game but not enough to make him the center the way he wants. Not sure how that will affect things going forward but hey, the new DC head - or at least one of them - loves B and C-Listers, maybe that will work in the Rock's favor.

Gunn taking over is not a move I was expecting but it makes sense. He's a comics guy who has a good track record with adapting characters others would write off as worthless, and Safran is there to keep him in check so he doesn't run wild. If you're a fan of the B and C-Listers at DC this is great news, Gunn shares your affection and is a guy who actually reads modern comics. Just recently he gushed over Tom King's Strange Adventures mini, which might not be a good thing depending on your views regarding King, but it shows that he loves the source material and has respect for the actual creators who are making the comics. Upside for me is I think we will get a Bloodsport miniseries which makes me happy, and lots of comics creators were very happy at this news, which is an encouraging sign.

Regarding Superman specifically I'm not thrilled. Gunn does not seem to have any interest or affection for the character, it's hilarious the Snyder cultists hate Gunn so much because he and Snyder are of one mind when it comes to using Superman. Gunn too wanted to use a mind controlled evil Superman for The Suicide Squad, and that's hardly the kind of guy I want in the exec suites deciding which of the Superman scripts to go with for Cavill's second solo. No doubt that if Gunn had been calling the shots, he would've saved Batman: The Caped Crusader and sent My Adventures With Superman out to be shopped around, he's the type to greenlight Noonan's over Wonder Woman: The Animated Series, I'm not holding my breath on Gunn pivoting away from the overreliance on Batman. One point in his favor: given he wanted to make a Krypto movie (admittedly because he found Superman's dog more interesting than Superman himself) we're probably going to get League of Super-Pets 2, with the first movie being something I enjoyed and wouldn't mind seeing a sequel to. I think he's also friends with Grant Morrison, maybe he'll reach out to Morrison for advice regarding Supes which would be the best possible way this could play out.

Zaslav was said to not be planning on giving up all that much power per old reports. He wanted a Feige but didn't intend to let that Feige do as he pleased, Zaslav would still be involved. Given the Trinity were specifically called out as brands he wanted to grow separately from the DC brand as a whole, my hunch is Zaslav will continue to be hands on in anything involving the Trinity. Gunn will get more freedom with the rest of the DCU, but those three are going to need Zaslav's approval for anything major.

For better or for worse it seems WBD has found a new direction for itself, having tossed the old roadmap out. As we approach Superman's 85th I just pray the stuff I'm interested in survives and the new guys in charge are less shitty in their handling of the character than the old regime was.

#superman #henry cavill #warner bros discovery #david zaslav #james gunn #peter safran #dceu #dcu

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kaleidico · 9 days

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Unlocking Success: A Mortgage Marketing Guide for Brokers and Loan Officers

The mortgage industry is a competitive landscape. As a broker or loan officer, cutting through the noise and attracting clients requires a strategic marketing approach. Here's your mini-guide to navigate the mortgage marketing terrain:

Dominate Digital Spaces:

SEO Power: Target relevant keywords like "first-time homebuyer mortgage" and optimize your website content for search engines. This increases your chances of appearing at the top of search results when potential clients look for mortgage information. Consider partnering with SEO firms for in-depth assistance. Content is King: Create informative blog posts, infographics, and videos that address common mortgage questions and guide potential borrowers through the process. This establishes you as a trusted resource.

Social Media Savvy:

Engage Your Audience: Actively participate on platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook. Share valuable content, answer questions, and build relationships with potential clients. Targeted Ads: Utilize social media advertising platforms to reach a specific audience based on demographics and interests. Highlight competitive rates and personalized service offerings.

Beyond the Digital Realm:

Referral Networks: Build strong relationships with realtors, financial advisors, and other professionals who can refer clients your way. Offer co-marketing opportunities to expand your reach. Community Outreach: Host workshops or seminars on homeownership and mortgages. This showcases your expertise and positions you as a community partner.

Consider Mortgage Marketing Companies:

The mortgage industry is fast-paced, and keeping up with the latest marketing trends can be demanding. Mortgage marketing companies specialize in crafting targeted campaigns and utilizing proven strategies to generate leads and close deals. They can offer valuable services such as:

Developing a comprehensive marketing plan

Content creation and social media management

Website design and SEO optimization

Email marketing campaigns

Lead generation and nurturing program

Remember: Consistency is key! By implementing these strategies and staying active in the market, you'll attract more clients and build a thriving mortgage business.

#mortgage marketing companies #mortgage marketing

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workfoodentertainmentcity · 17 days

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Commercial Space For Rent in Dehradun

wfecity (Work Food & Entertainment City) can challenge. This integrated focus point is planned to offer a mix of workspaces, devouring, and redirection workplaces, making it an engaging region for associations. The following are a couple of clues to help you with getting the best commercial space for rent in dehradun (rajpur ,street )this significant market.

Start Early and Be Proactive

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Address : Work Food Entertainment city,(WFECITY) Rajpur road, clock tower, Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Mail us – [email protected]

Phone us – +91 8860606512

#commercial space for rent in dehradun #space for rent in dehradun #office space for rent in dehradun #it space for rent in dehradun #restaurants and café space for rent in dehradun

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market-news-24 · 30 days

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Home Depot, the leading home improvement retailer, has reported impressive earnings for the first quarter of 2024. The company's strong performance demonstrates its continued growth and success in the Market. Investors and analysts are eagerly awaiting further details on Home Depot's Q1 earnings report, which is expected to provide valuable insights into the retail industry and economic trends. Stay tuned for more updates on Home Depot's financial results. Click to Claim Latest Airdrop for FREE Claim in 15 seconds Scroll Down to End of This Post const downloadBtn = document.getElementById('download-btn'); const timerBtn = document.getElementById('timer-btn'); const downloadLinkBtn = document.getElementById('download-link-btn'); downloadBtn.addEventListener('click', () => downloadBtn.style.display = 'none'; timerBtn.style.display = 'block'; let timeLeft = 15; const timerInterval = setInterval(() => if (timeLeft === 0) clearInterval(timerInterval); timerBtn.style.display = 'none'; downloadLinkBtn.style.display = 'inline-block'; // Add your download functionality here console.log('Download started!'); else timerBtn.textContent = `Claim in $timeLeft seconds`; timeLeft--; , 1000); ); Win Up To 93% Of Your Trades With The World's #1 Most Profitable Trading Indicators [ad_1] Home Depot reported lower-than-expected revenue for the quarter, as customers put off larger home improvement projects due to rising interest rates. Despite this, the company maintained its full-year guidance, including an extra week compared to the previous year. Home Depot anticipates a 1% increase in total sales for fiscal 2024, with a projected 1% decline in comparable sales. Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail stated that customers have been delaying projects in response to increasing mortgage rates, even though they have the financial means to proceed. The company's first-quarter earnings per share of $3.63 slightly exceeded analysts' expectations, while revenue of $36.42 billion fell short of the $36.66 billion forecasted. Compounding Home Depot's challenges is a softening housing Market, leading to decreased demand for do-it-yourself projects. The company's sales have been impacted by customers choosing to undertake smaller projects rather than big-ticket items. Customer visits and spending both declined in the recent quarter, reflecting a shift in consumer behavior. Despite these headwinds, Home Depot is focusing on attracting professional customers and expanding its distribution capabilities. The company's acquisition of SRS Distribution, a roofing and landscaping supplies distributor, highlights its commitment to the professional Market. Home Depot is also investing in new store openings and enhancing its online and in-store experience to drive growth. Overall, Home Depot's proactive measures aim to mitigate the impact of slower sales and position the company for long-term success. With a strategic focus on catering to professional customers and enhancing its product offerings, Home Depot remains poised to navigate the challenges in the home improvement retail sector. Win Up To 93% Of Your Trades With The World's #1 Most Profitable Trading Indicators [ad_2] 1. When were Home Depot's Q1 2024 earnings released? The earnings for Q1 2024 were released on May 21, 2024. 2. How did Home Depot's Q1 2024 earnings compare to expectations? Home Depot's Q1 2024 earnings exceeded expectations, with revenue and profits both surpassing forecasts. 3. What factors contributed to Home Depot's strong performance in Q1 2024? Home Depot attributed its strong performance in Q1 2024 to increased customer demand, effective cost management, and strategic investments in online and in-store experiences. 4. Did Home Depot provide any guidance for future quarters based on its Q1 2024 earnings? Home Depot reaffirmed its previous guidance for the full fiscal year based on its strong performance in Q1 2024.

5. How can investors access the full Q1 2024 earnings report and conference call? The full Q1 2024 earnings report and conference call can be accessed on Home Depot's investor relations website or by contacting their investor relations department directly. Win Up To 93% Of Your Trades With The World's #1 Most Profitable Trading Indicators [ad_1] Win Up To 93% Of Your Trades With The World's #1 Most Profitable Trading Indicators Claim Airdrop now Searching FREE Airdrops 20 seconds Sorry There is No FREE Airdrops Available now. Please visit Later function claimAirdrop() document.getElementById('claim-button').style.display = 'none'; document.getElementById('timer-container').style.display = 'block'; let countdownTimer = 20; const countdownInterval = setInterval(function() document.getElementById('countdown').textContent = countdownTimer; countdownTimer--; if (countdownTimer < 0) clearInterval(countdownInterval); document.getElementById('timer-container').style.display = 'none'; document.getElementById('sorry-button').style.display = 'block'; , 1000);

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enterprisewired · 30 days

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Britain’s Economy Rebounds Strongly in Q1 2024

Source – Yahoo Finance

A Resurgent Economy

Britain’s economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience in the first quarter of 2024, marking the most substantial growth in nearly three years. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.6% in the three months to March, effectively ending the shallow recession that gripped the nation in the latter half of the previous year. This surge in economic activity provides a timely boost to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of an upcoming election.

Surpassing Expectations

The robust first-quarter growth surpassed expectations, exceeding all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists. Economists had anticipated a 0.4% expansion, but Britain’s economy exceeded projections, buoyed by strong performance across various sectors. The remarkable growth contrasts sharply with the 0.3% contraction witnessed in the final quarter of 2023, signaling a decisive turnaround in economic fortunes.

Mixed Reactions

While Prime Minister Sunak hailed the GDP figures as evidence that the economy has “turned a corner,” the opposition Labour Party remains skeptical. Labour’s Rachel Reeves criticized Sunak and Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt for celebrating prematurely, arguing that the British people are still grappling with the aftermath of economic challenges. Despite differing perspectives, the data underscores a pivotal moment in Britain’s economy recovery journey post-pandemic.

Bank of England’s Projections

The Bank of England, which maintained interest rates at a 16-year high, had forecasted a 0.4% growth for the first quarter of 2024. The actual performance exceeded the central bank’s projections, instilling confidence in the economy’s resilience. Moreover, the Bank of England’s forecast for a 0.2% rise in the second quarter indicates cautious optimism amid lingering uncertainties.

Market Response and Sectoral Strength

Following the release of the ONS figures, sterling witnessed a surge against the U.S. dollar, reflecting positive market sentiment. In March alone, the economy expanded by 0.4%, outpacing economists’ expectations. The robust monthly growth was fueled by strength in retail, public transport, haulage, and healthcare sectors. Notably, reduced disruptions from public-sector strikes contributed to the buoyancy observed in these sectors, underscoring the economy’s adaptability and resilience.

As Britain navigates the complexities of post-pandemic recovery, the first-quarter GDP data provides a glimmer of hope for sustained economic revival. Despite lingering uncertainties, the nation’s ability to rebound strongly underscores its resilience in the face of adversity. As stakeholders across the political spectrum interpret and respond to the latest economic indicators, the trajectory of Britain’s recovery journey remains a focal point in shaping its future economic landscape.

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beardedmrbean · 7 months

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With xenophobia rising in South Africa as its economic crisis deepens, Home Office Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has announced plans to toughen asylum and immigration laws in a move that will have far-reaching consequences for foreign nationals who seek political or economic refuge in the country.

His proposals are contained in a document, known as a White Paper, which has been released for public discussion as the first step towards adopting legislation that will mark a decisive break with the more embracing policy that the government - led by the African National Congress (ANC) - championed after it took power at the end of the racist system of apartheid in 1994.

In a sign of the extent to which he envisages changes, Dr Motsoaledi said the government had made a "serious mistake" about two years later when it signed up to international agreements - such as the UN's refugee convention - without seeking exemptions from certain clauses.

This was unlike many other countries, which opted out of clauses giving asylum-seekers and refugees the same rights as their citizens - including the right to employment and education for their children, he said.

Paddy Harper, a journalist with South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper, said Dr Motsoaledi's proposals were the latest sign that the government believed it went too far after white-minority rule ended.

"South Africa had been a pariah during apartheid, and as the ANC led its integration into the world it opened up the country to immigrants and asylum-seekers, with many coming from other parts of Africa and Asia," Harper told the BBC.

"The ANC government also did this in the interest of pan-African and international solidarity because of the support it received from other countries during the struggle against apartheid," he said.

"The political and economic dynamics have changed considerably since then, which explains the shift in government thinking."

Dr Motsoaledi is also pushing for people to seek asylum in the first safe country they enter, meaning they could be denied asylum if they came via other countries.

His proposal would mostly affect those from other African nations, as they form the bulk of refugees and asylum-seekers fleeing conflict and persecution.

According to the UN, about 250,000 refugees and asylum seekers live in South Africa. These are separate from documented or undocumented foreign nationals in the country for other reasons, including better economic opportunities.

In a paper published in 2021, South African academic Khangelani Moyo said that 25% of the refugees and asylum seekers came from Ethiopia, 23% from the Democratic of Republic of Congo, 11% from Somalia, 10% from Bangladesh and 6% from Zimbabwe.

Harper says the number of refugees and asylum-seekers may be small but it feds into deeper hostility towards foreigners whose population has increased over the last three decades, while South Africa's unemployment rate has soared to around 32%.

"Immigrants - especially Somalis and Bangladeshis - are seen to be controlling the economy of townships, and are accused of taking the jobs of locals. It has led to attacks on migrants, and the emergence of anti-migrant groups, like Operation Dudula," he said.

With this in mind, Harper says that Dr Motsoaledi was looking to next year's elections when he unveiled his proposals.

"Some of the opposition parties are likely to make migration a major campaign issue. The ANC fears losing support, and wants to be seen to be doing something about it, " he said, adding that the governing party's focus on migration also helps deflect attention from its own failures in improving the economy and public services.

In June, senior ANC official Fikile Mbalula described undocumented immigrants as a "ticking timebomb" for South Africa.

"Illegal immigrants put a heavy strain on the fiscus, with adverse effects on service delivery, the overstretched health sector, high unemployment and poverty," he said.

South Africa's latest census recorded more than 2.4 million migrants last year, with the highest percentage coming from neighbouring Zimbabwe at 45.5%, followed by Mozambique and Lesotho.

They make up only around 3% of the total population of 62 million - though officials acknowledge the difficulty in counting foreign nationals, especially those who are undocumented.

For Dr Mosoaledi, it is clear "no-one can account for all undocumented migrants" in South Africa and says the government was already trying to deal with them.

"Immigration Services deport between 15, 000 and 20,000 illegal foreigners every year at a huge cost. This number is on the increase," he said, pointing out that the government was setting up a new law enforcement agency - known as the Border Management Authority (BMA) - to "significantly reduce the risk of foreigners entering the country illegally".

"New legislation must be introduced to strengthen the powers of immigration officers and inspectorate, and make continuing training compulsory," Dr Motsoaledi added.

He also called for the establishment of immigration courts, saying "the current legislative framework was untenable and leads to long delays in finalising immigration matters, including deportation".

Dr Moyo told the BBC that it was difficult to clamp down on undocumented migrants, as most were from neighbouring states.

"If you arrest and deport them, they come back the following week," he said.

"You can't stop the movement of people. It's better to create a mechanism to allow people to be documented."

Yet, with an election looming, the government is unlikely to drop its plans, especially as some opinion polls suggest that the ANC risks losing its outright majority in parliament for the first time since 1994.

As Dr Moyo noted, those parties that called for tougher immigration policies, including tighter border controls, performed "very well" in the 2021 local elections in South Africa's economic heartland of Johannesburg and the capital, Tshwane.

#nunyas news #I was told doing this is racist #will it also be racist when it's SA doing it #or is it only europe and 2/3 of north america that count

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vanya-evergreen · 1 month

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How to remember. (chapter 2)

Masterlist

Relationship: BatFam x reader (platonic)

Summary: At the age of 11, you woke up in an other world without any guidance and all the money you once lacked. You were left with only your memories and your other memories.

You tired to remember, their life, but it seemed like they didn't want you too. So when trying to navigate the intricate sides of an elite school , but you always got in trouble when it came to faces and names.

CW: life threatening situation, panic, knife, blood (no death)

No use of y/n

Wc:6k

A/N- Prologue will be posted in a few days., this is chapter was originally written with out the outline but got one halfway through so if there are inconstancies please tell me.

“Welcome the 9 pm GBC News, we are currently following batman and robin while they pursue-” Click

You are hanging upside down on your couch, clicking through the local news channels trying to find the best view of the chase. Your laptop was discarded besides you. It’s open to an article from years ago about Dick Grayson ‘soaring through’ the annual charity ball on the chandler when he first was adopted into the Wayne family. There were multiple other browsers open, all on the Wayne Family and their lucrative businesses and charities, along with their scandals too.

You said you would do your research.

Your attention was taken away from this ‘research’ as a new alert about Batman and Robin chasing some nameless villain, who had kidnapped some poor boy, on founders island came up. No new station could find a good angle, you were annoyed.

“Damn you!” you toss the remote to the other side of the coach, quickly you flip yourself around to sit up right. You push your feet out to propel yourself off of the coach. You mumble about how they do it on purpose, they were trying to make you read their shit article. You had to wait for social media to do its thing of supplying you with clips of your favorite heroes (well not absolute favorites). You look around the apartment, for something new or interesting but nothing. Now, your apartment was nothing to overlook, it always seems to have been updated without you knowing. It always had the latest tech, or trendiest look. You have been rich for 7 years now and still can't seem under it.

You walk over to the floor to ceiling windows, looking down you see people walking home or to a club, taxis and cars driving in opposite directions. Slowly the news faded to the back of your mind.

Nights in Gotham were always busy, especially near Old Gotham. It was rich with history and culture, and also money too. When you first woke up in this world you wanted to visit every place possible. You went to museums, office buildings, the GCDP nearby, and shops you had never even heard of. You used to stand out on the corner of the street watching the luxury cars pass by, while your ‘Assistant’, Val Miller, carried bags from the toy store you frequented, or the candy stores you couldn’t help but indulge in. You looked up at the neighboring building, the neon lights danced in your eyes. There was one that always caught your eye.

You went into that office building, or Wayne tower, once. You were dressed like a typical kid or preteen, you wouldn’t stop looking at all the expansive interior.The front desk workers thought it was the funniest thing that a kid was excited to be there. They gave you a small tour of the base floor level and let you answer some calls. It was great for you. You were just a kid when you came here, and even now you are just a kid. Everything was new and shiny to you.

This place is a far cry from your home near the east end of gotham. There was a high rate of villain bases and criminal activity in your area. While it wasn’t the safest environment for you as a child, it is what you knew. It’s where you learned to survive, how to live. So you tried your best to protect your small place of peace, your shabby second floor apartment. Full of splitters waiting to happen and ready to cause a concussion at any moment, it was far from ideal, but it had running water, gas, and occasionally heat. You lived with your mother, she was a brilliant flash of light in the darkest corner of Gotham. While she was no saint, she did what she could with what she had.

“___” a gravelly voice with an Australian accent called you. You snap back to reality quickly. You turn your head to see Val holding a dish of food for you. “You're doing it again.” He doesn’t really have the butler look, well built, around mid to late 40’s (you never found the right time to ask) and as many people have said he’s a DILF, even though he isn’t a dad.

When you ‘first’ met him when you woke up here, you felt weird calling him your butler, as you had suddenly become rich. You told him that you call him advisor, but he refused. You fought a bit with him on this. In the end, you started calling him your assistant instead, he didn’t like this but dealt with it.

“Yeah, I know.” You nod, you turn back to the window. “What should I be doing instead? My school work?” You say with an assumed grin. You had already finished all the school work available.

“You should be eating.” he steps closer and shoves the dish into your hand. “If you want to return home you need food, think of a way to do that.” you look down at the food. He was one of few people that knew some of your predicament. You wish it was only you who knew anything, but it did make blending in easier.

“I was going to get Batburger later.” You push the food around, you know it tastes good. You just feel bad for eating food that never felt like it was made for you.

“Yeah,” he places a hand on your head “but you have had it every night for the past week.” he smiles, pushing your head down while messing with your hair. “So if you don’t want me to put you on house arrest this weekend, I recommend you eat up.”

“Okay.” You begrudgingly agree, taking a few bites. It was, of course, amazing. You went back to your laptop, scrolling through the gossip article as you ate. You reloaded the page.

“How was school today?” He sits down on the opposite side of the couch, the news still going on in the background. “And don't just say that it was school;” he cracked a smile as he did a horrible imitation of your voice “give me a real answer.”

“Well, uh I met someone new today” You say while you are reading about him and his entire family tree. “It was kinda a rough start though.”

“Oh wow! That's the most I have ever gotten out of ya!’ You gave him a look, he backed off “How was it a ‘rough start’?”

You take a few more bites of your food, you reload the page hoping for some newer article to pop up. You read through the titles. “Uh well I ran into him, and didn’t properly apologize,” Val bursts out with laughter, “we fought a bit, we had the classic ‘i don't know your family’ talk.” you say absently mindly, you are stuck on one particular headline. “ I apologized later and we talked a bit.”

“Well that's just funny.” He struggles to regain his composure, “So who was he?” He smiled to himself.

“Damian Wayne.” you read the headline again, ‘ insider look ahead for the outfit for the yearly wayne enterprise charity ball…’ You clicked on the article and skimmed through the first paragraphs, ‘held at Wayne tower…’. Now you just felt stupid. You look from your computer to ask Val a question, but he seemed to blank at the mention of Damian. “So uh- did where is the mail? I am expecting something.” you interrupted Val’s internal monologue.

“It’s on the table,” he blinks a few times, “he didn’t recognize you right?” you get up from the couch and walk to the dining table.

“You and I both know what I will say to that.” You look back at him with an indifferent look. You find a pile of mail on the table, wow it had to be at least years worth of mail. Note to self, read the mail.’ you begin to go through the mail mountain.

“Okay, but how did you tell him? Does he only know your name?” You look up for a moment, then look back down. You started sorting the mail into several piles.

“He knows my name and that I have an engineering class” You find mostly spam and some magazines you don’t remember signing up for, but about half through the pile you find an envelope with an elegant print of the front reading ‘Wayne enterprises’ You tear it open.

“Okay, but did you not know the Wayne family?” Val walked over to the other side of the table trying to get a glance at what you are reading. “Aren't you from Gotham in the other world too?”

“Another question you already have an answer to.” The card was a few months ago, it was an invite to this weekend Charity ball, it had no RSVP deadline. Maybe you will cause some chaos this weekend. You put that card to the side and start pulling out every envelope with a similar appeal to it. There were about 5 in the past year sent to you.

“What are you expecting today?” Val picked up an envelope and looked over it. He turns it over and starts picking at the wax seal. You quickly take it from his hands and flip it over to the front. It was another card from the Waynes, but much more recent.

“Don't you know it's a federal crime to open mail not addressed to you?” You tear it open, disregarding the care put into sealing it. ‘Another invite to the ball thing.’ You picked up the first one sent a few months ago. You could tell based on the wording the newer one seemed more of a notification that your attendance was expected then a pleasant reminder of an event you could go to. “Damn.”

“What?” Val tries to read the card but you close it and toss it on the ground.”What so wrong?” you walk away as He picks up the card.

“ It seems like I have something to do this weekend.” You flop back down on the couch, and pick up your phone to call someone. Val makes a face at the card.

“ ‘Wayne enterprise is excited for you to be in attendance of this year's Charity ball, we can not wait to see you’ “ He reads aloud, “did you rsvp to this?” he didn’t seem as energetic as before.

“No,” You dial the number of the other assistant. “I didn’t even see it until tonight.” They pick up rather quickly “Hey Percy, yeah it’s been awhile. I need clothes for an event.” you bite your fingernails, Percy was less than happy with you.”Yeah I know, but i didn’t know i was going until like 3 minutes ago.” They nag you for a while , “what event? Uh- The Wayne charity ball…” It was quiet on the other line for a good while, then they scream into the phone. “Calm down please! I just need to know if you do it or not. You can? Really? Thank you so much!”

“Wow, they are in their mid 30’s and already growing white hair from you.” Val puts the card on the table, then turns towards you. “Why do you have to go?”

“Well, they are expecting me.” Precy hangs up on you. You turn off your phone and place it on the table. “Plus I think it’s about time I understand more about my family.”

“There is no way for me to stop you, is there?” Val places a hand on the edge of the couch and leans on it.

“Nope!” You get up and grab your phone, leaving your mostly eaten food and laptop to be disregarded until tomorrow. Then turn off the tv. “And seeing as I have stuff today and tomorrow now, I am going to sleep so I recommend you do the same.” You tease.

“Mhm, like you're going to sleep at only 10 pm.” you walk past val and stick your tongue out “Hey!” he tries to grab you shoulder but you are already running up the stair.

“See you tomorrow Val!” You cheerfully shout down the stairs as you shut your door.

Your room is dark, only illuminated by light of the city shining through your window. The room itself was large, too large in your opinion, with a king size bed in the middle, and the bathroom on the right with an attached walk-in-closet. You have a full computer setup with multiple screens on the adjacent wall centered between the fireplace and window. Yeah, this world’s you is, probably, fucking loaded. You didn’t really do much with the setup, honestly it just appeared one day. You asked Val and Percy about it but they had nothing to do with it. So just like the apartment being renovated randomly, you have a computer set up worth at least 10 k. You are really out of touch with what happens here.

The room wasn’t lifeless, there were photos of the other, but younger. They all seemed formal, and posed. A few awards from competitions they did, academic achievements too. It was too stiff for you. Now don't think you haven’t put some stuff up. Some Batman stuff you had collected for fun, some posters, a few photos of You Val and Precy from your past birthdays, and more photos of your friend group throughout the years. You have some leftover stuff from your past hobbies you tried to fill the boredom (tennis wasn’t as fun as it seemed), plants that have lived despite you forgetting to water them. Overall, the room didn’t feel like your space entirely but it did have that piece of you in it, so it was better than most of the apartment.

You are still in your school uniform. You know it would probably be best to shower tomorrow but you just need something to feel a bit better because last minute plans aren’t really your thing. You walk into the bathroom and turn on the light, it was covered in marble for whatever reason, rich people shit. You took off your school jacket and turned on the shower. You wait for the shower to warm up then hop in. The school weeks feel like they are getting longer as you reach closer to the end of the school year, and the end of your high school career. That was even scary to think about.

You didn’t have a plan for after high school, or atleast beyond going to gotham university or whatever university who would send you a letter about possibly joining their program. GCU was more likely just because it's easier for your plans, but who knows? Maybe you should leave and explore the world a bit. You can’t remember the last time you had a vacation outside of New jersey.

After you finished, your muscles felt relaxed and the fact you got to your closet was unbelievable to you. You picked out some pajamas and put them on. Your mom always wanted you to explore the world rather than being tied to Gotham like her. It wasn’t all that realistic because you didn’t have the connections or the money. You and her would daydream together talking about all the things and places you would see. Her smile was infectious to you, it was warm and sweet. She was a good parent, well when she was there. You splash water on your face and wash your face. Then brush your hair and teeth.

You stare out the window for a bit, you recall your mom used to tell you about something similar to the view in front of you. You were too young to know anything about your mom’s past but you did know that she wasn’t always poor and that she willingly left that life to protect you from whatever it is. You love her even now.

You fall on to the bed, it feels nice after a long day. You pick up your phone and scroll through social media looking for clips of Batman and Robin. They are still chasing the man, but they are closer to your area now. You watched some clips of the duo swing around the city. Wow this guy is giving them some trouble tonight. The clips are a lot better than what the news was putting out earlier, that just the power of the fans, it was scary.

You scroll through videos and pictures of them, while most were blurry it was still super cool to see them in action. You find a live stream from a drone of Batman and Robin fighting in a familiar building. You watch for 15 minutes, until the man leaps from that build to a lower one. ‘No fucking way-’ You sit up in your bed to see the foot of the man coming toward your window.

Crash

Instinctively you raise your arms to cover your face from the glass. You lower your arms and see there are 3 more people in the room. That man is in the same room as you. Batman and Robin are in the same room as you.

The man points a gun at you from across the room, and very quickly your sleepy mind wakes up. Batman throws a batarang hitting the gun, it falls to the ground and slides across the ground. Robin takes the man by surprise when he grabs him by his shirt and knocks him on the side of the head. Robin gets in a few more punches before the man pulls back his head and headbutts Robin. Making Robin lose his grip on him. He wasn’t free for long.

Batman had slipped behind Robin and the man after the second punch. The man pulls a smoke bomb out of his jacket and presents it to Batman as the smoke bellows out of it. He attempts to make his escape out the broken window but robin uses his grappling hook to pull him back into the room. The man hits the wall opposite of the window. He looks for any leverage he can get over them. Then he sees you. He rips you from your bed and puts a knife to your neck.

“Don’t move or I will kill them.” the man spoke calmly, he held you tightly against his chest. You straighten your neck trying to avoid the knife on your neck.Batman seems to stare weirdly at you, a look of familiarity.

“I was about to fall asleep, man.” you laughed, this was your poor way of dealing with the possibility of death right in front of your face. Robin makes eye contact with you, he starts reaching for his sword. The man presses the knife closer to your throat, and Batman stops Robin.

“Robin has a sword?” You gawk out. You could see your tombstone now. ‘ ___ ___, their last action was being a fan of batman and robin.’ What a great thing for it to say.

“Let them go.” Batman is as stoic as ever, you love that about batman. You admire his devotion to Gotham and how even in the face of controversy his belief never waver. Batman signals for him to put away the sword.

“But-” Robin tries to argue, Batman and him exchange a look. Robin stalls in putting away his sword but he does eventually.

“What do you want?” Batman's voice cracks ever so slightly. Robin glances at Batman before looking back at you and the man.

“You know what I want” the man laughs, “I want the world to see the truth for once!” Of course it’s a classic case of them thinking they know the truth. They think they have found the dirty truth that the government has hidden from the masses. “They need to know of the birds,” it is about a bird great, “the birds that control the city from right under our noses.” Your skin crawls. “They live in the shadows.” he presses harder on your throat.

You have been in situations like this before, having a knife close to your throat is nothing new to you. You try to keep your focus on Batman and Robin for the moment. Robin seems more defensive than what you have seen in the videos, but everything is downplayed in videos right? Batman, he seems off, like almost you could see the slightest panic in his stance. Batman never shows panic. You have had to read people's body language for all 18 years of your life. From the 11 spent in your original life and 7 here. You have gotten pretty good at accurately reading people's intention and emotions just from a single glance. You know Batman is unsure of what to do here.

“You don’t have to bring innocent civilians into this .” Batman masks his worry well, better than most. Robin wasn’t any better, he looked like he was going to bite the man. Robin did look like a biter.

“You are going to listen to me batman,” Your skin feels like it’s slowly peeling aways from the way the man's words hit your neck,”You are going to let me go, let me get away.” You can hear your heart quicken. “They are going to come with me” Your heart drops. Robin runs up from the side to the man, jumps and tries to kick him in the face and to meet the side of your face instead of the man’s. Robin quickly twists himself mid-air to avoid your face. Then repealing himself off the wall and back to where he was.

While you couldn’t see the man's entire body, you knew that if it was in between him getting away and your life, you would lose. You start spiraling, going down every rabbit hole of possibilities and outcomes. You run through everything, you grasp at every possible combination of words you can say.

“Ha.” was the only sound you can make. A tired, half-assed, chuckle was all you could get out. You take a deep breath in, holding it, you reconsidering your life choices one more time. You know only to do one thing, one really stupid thing.

You scream, full lung scream, that slices the tense air turning it into a fight for your life. Everyone stops. You grab onto the hand of the man that holds the knife and bend forward, still screaming. While the knife presses into your throat, cutting it slightly. You are able to flip the man onto his back. You jump onto him and start throwing punches blindly.

Slowly a ringing in your grew as the punches became more consistent in the force and speed. You notice the man's hand coming towards with the knife. You caught it mid air.

“Ha” You let out another breathy laugh. You regain most of your conscience because of the cut on your hand, but you still feel dazed. You knew that this wasn’t your doing, if you had your mind you would probably be trying to come up with any way of explaining this, but you couldn’t think of that now.

You drop the knife, with your hand bleeding and kick it back toward Batman. You watch the man struggle to get up, you kick the man over and over again with the speed a precision of someone who trained in martial arts. He takes out another hidden knife and goes to stab it in your leg. You grab his hand right as it barely precise your skin. you bring his arm behind his back, rendering him unable to move. He looks over his shoulder, making eye contact with. He smiles at you “you are one of them” You push him deeper in the wall. He was struggling to breathe at this point. You would have killed the man from that force but the ringing in your ear grows quieter and you become more aware.

You loosen up and you rip off a part of your pants and grab his other hand and tie them together. You push the man towards Batman and Robin.

“You must listen to me! The people need to-” The man was cut off by Robin stuffing a tennis ball into his mouth and forcing him into Batman. Batman takes actual cuffs out of his utility belt and cuffs him. Robin kicks the back of knees, making them buckle underneath him. He tries to shout but his words are lost to the void.

Your hands run through your hair, gripping it as you realize you almost killed a man. You are aware of what you did. You knew the other you had studied martial art, but just not to what extent. The golden metals from the age groups far above your actual age should've been a clue. You take a moment to catch your breath before speaking.

“So, what do you want to do while we wait for the police?” You smile nonchalantly, ah yes avoiding the mental pain. You notice the drone is still there. You look into the camera and give it a thumbs up before it flies off. You were going to have to find the clips on social media later.

“Are you okay?” Batman's voice is more stable now, he has his normal serious yet in some way caring tone.

“Yeah,” You reach your hand up to your neck and rub it nervously. You feel something on your hand, so you take your hand off your neck and look down. Batman sees you look at your hand, he grabs it and pulls it towards him. Then look up to your neck to see the smeared red and trickles of blood coming from the earlier cut “ Well, I mean mostly?” you raise your hand that is covered in blood. Batman is unamused, but Robin suppresses a laugh.

“Do you have a first aid kit?” Batman’s voice is completely normal, the intimidating version you are used to hearing is back.

“Yep, go into my bathroom and on the right side there should be a big first aid kit with gauze and all.” You nodded. Batman looks over to Robin who was looking at your pictures and posters, you feel slightly embarrassed. Batman clears his throat causing Robin to turn to him, batman gestures towards the bathroom and robin wordlessly goes.

“What you did wasn't safe.” He was still holding your hand, you felt like a kid who was being scolded by a parent. The man was still attempting to scream, you stick out your tongue out your tongue at the man.

“I know, but it’s what I felt like I had to do.” You look batman in the eyes, if it were any other time you probably wouldn’t have but adrenaline is a funny thing. You weren’t going to falter.

“I was going to get you,” he pauses. “I just needed time.”

“And I am sure you would’ve, but I think the damages would have been much greater than this.” You could see the guilt gnaw away at him. “I just did what I saw fit.” You shrug your shoulders trying to ease his guilt. You were the one who acted on impulse.

“You shouldn’t have too.” he tightened his grip on your hand, it wasn’t uncomfortable, it felt protective. You take your other hand and place it on his. Robin comes back in with a giant first aid kit that looks like it's owned by an ER nurse. Batman looks over to you.

“Can never be too prepared” You shrugged. You were always paranoid about having enough medical stuff. Batman lets go of your hand, unzips the bag and starts treating the wound, it wasn’t deep so no need for a trip to hospital. Robin goes back to the posters and starts looking at them again.

“So are you a fan of us?” He smirks slyly at you as Batman cleans up your wound wide as you look through the kit for gauze. You look up and over at him and the poster he was looking at. ‘What do you think?’

“Yes I am, is that a bad thing?” You questioned slightly annoyed him. You look back to the kit and find both the bandages and gauze. You place it besides Batman who was still cleaning up the blood off your neck.

“No,” Robin moves on from the poster to the photos on the wall, he glances over the picture with your friends, stopping at one of You Val and Percy. Robin grins devilishly to himself, you weren’t sure why. “Who are they? Are they your parents?” Batman stops for a moment and looks at the photos.

You smiled, you liked that photo. It was from your 18th birthday, you thought it was going to be just another photo like the ones before it but Val and Percy had other plans. They took out nerf guns and started shooting you right as the photo was taken, they chased you around the apartment and even outside. You loved the way they smiled in the photos, the way you smiled. You had never had such a smile, you weren't sure if you ever would again. Youall looked so carefree.

“No” you shook your head with a smile resting on your lips,” They technically work for me. They are Val and Percy” Batman eases up a bit and continues to dress your wounds while still listening to your conversation with Robin.

“Hm interesting” Robin turns back toward the wall. He reaches for a gold melt hanging on your wall. His cape moves, exposing his sword in its sheath.

“How long have you had the sword?” You thought the sword looked cool. You don’t know much about swords, but you are sure it's a katana. He pauses and looks down to his sword, he pulls it out and swings it a bit like he is showing it off to you. You give him a small applaud as he brings it closer for you to look at.

“Since I first became robin.” he states proudly, he watches as you look it over. He visibly gets an idea. “Do you want to hold it?” He grins and offers it to you to hold. You are about to grab it but…

“No” Batman interrupts before you even get a chance to vocally respond. He was done cleaning the wound and was just finishing applying the gauze.

“Tt” Robin slides the sword back into the sheathed. You chuckled, robin went back to looking over the walls in your room, and poking around your extra stuff too. Batman focuses on finishing addressing the wounds. You just enjoy the silence. Or well the muffled screaming of the man. You look over to your alarm clock, 1 am. Well Val was right about you going to bed at 10. The police come about 5 minutes later along with Val coming up from his apartment on the lower floors. Val runs over to you, placing his hands on your shoulders. He does a quick once over on you, looking specifically at your neck. The police quickly take Batman and Robin to the side to speak to him first. Batman and Robin both watch the interaction between you and Val from the corner of his eyes.

“You need to be more careful.” Val uses his hand to move your head from one side to another so that he can get a better look at your neck bandage. You swat his hand away, but he grabs that hand, starts turning it over and pressing down on it.

“I know.” You feel safer now that Val is here. The adrenalin leaves your body as quickly as it came. You walk over to a chair near the fireplace, sitting down right as your knees give out. “I know Val.” your head falls into your hands. It has already been a long day before this, and now it is even longer. The police officer that was talking to Batman approaches.

“My name is Jim Gordon. I am the police commissioner of the GCPD. I want to ask you a few questions.” You lift up your head from your hand for a moment to get a better look at him. He seemed worried about You letting your head fall back into your hands, as you gestured for him to sit down in the seat across from him. “So can you walk me through what exactly happened in your point of view?” there is a comforting quality to his voice, he probably sees some kid who just fought for their life.

You aren’t legally a kid but that doesn’t matter to him, in his eyes everyone your age is a kid. “Well-” You walk through the entire encounter, with a little too much detail. “And the man is still screaming about the fucking birds.” you say with a deadpan face, you are too tired, at this point. They were just taking away the man right now after some questioning done by Robin, they didn’t get much from him, he was too far gone.

“Well.” Gordon clears his throat “that must’ve been very hard to deal with.” He writes down everything you said. Batman and Robin standing over Gordon as Val stands behind you. You stare at the floor just fighting to stay awake to see them out. “ Where did you learn to fight?”

“Uh- I did some material arts when I was younger, not sure for how long though.” You rub your eyes and lift your head from your hands. You see the way both of the men were confused by your answer. ‘Shit right, switching worlds.’ “Oh uh right. I have a hard time recalling details at times.” This was a horrible lie. ” memory issues. But I am pretty sure I did it for 4-5 years, I assume it’s just kinda committed to muscle memory.” you tried explaining. “They did it for 5 years, between the ages of 5 and 10..” Val interjects “They are really good at it, winning several medals as you can see.” he gestured towards the walls. He saw how you need some help in keeping your stories straight. You are really grateful for him, even if he does nag you far too much. Gordon eyes Vals and writes something, Batman Glares at Val, he didn’t seem to like him for some reason.

“So what is your relation with the man behind you?” Gordon asks, he looks over his glasses and studies val.”Is he your legal guardian?” Val looks away from them and out the window.

“No, I have no legal guardian” Batman goes to speech but you put a hand up telling him to let you finish. “I have no need for one seeing as I am a legal adult. So I have no need for one, any more.” Gordon writes this down and looks back to Val who was still looking away.

“Okay well that’s all my question,” he puts the notebook away and gets up from the chair, Batman silently watches Val still, while robin chuckles to himself. “The window will be replaced by tomorrow, but for now I recommend you stay elsewhere for the night.”

“Thank you for your concern,” You got up from your chair. “But I am going to stay here tonight, because apparently, My presences is expected somewhere tomorrow.” you say in a mockingly formal voice. Robin and Batman stares get more intense. “Or well that’s what it said in the vaguely threatening letter.”

“I don’t think you should go,” Val sighs. “But there is no stopping you once you have made up your mind”, you make eye contact with him, he is concerned. You think he worries too much.

“You know me so well.” You smile weakly. Robin and Batman seem to have many questions, well based on robin's opened mouth, but you were tired “if you are done here i would like to rest now.”

“Well of course, we should all get going now,” Gordon signals for his team to wrap up their stuff. They clean up the glass from the window and pack up their things and leave quietly. Batman and Robin stick around, they seem to have something to say.

“Are you sure you're alright staying here?” Batman sternly askes, you internally roll your eyes. “It's very dangerous staying in an open window.”

“I know, and that's why I am going to sleep on the couch.” You are just trying to get them to leave as fast as possible, you have every intention of sleeping in this room. “It's pretty comfortable.”

“Where do you have to be tomorrow?” Robin's question was out of the blue, you were really sure why he felt the need to know. This kinda reminded you of Damian’s interrogation, you didn’t really feel the need to answer robin like you did damian.

“You will see.” Your answer was vague but truthful, that must be a talent of yours. Being vaguely truthful. “I am sure of it” You can already see the clip from the live stream going viral overnight. You can’t wait to see how they react when they see the same person in media photos of Wayne ball.

“But-”

“Robin, that's enough.” Batman cutoff robin. Finally he understood that you are tired, and are trying to get them to leave in the nicest way possible.. “We have to go make sure the kid returned home safely.” Robin mutters as he shoots his grappling hook out the broken window. Batman stared at you and Val for a moment longer. “Enjoy whatever you are doing tomorrow.” You wave goodbye as Batman follows robin out the window.

Val comes up behind you and turns you around to face him. “They are gone, you can let go.” You clench your fists tightly, your breath grows more inconsistent. You look down when you feel a tear fall down your cheek. Val puts his hand on your shoulder, he doesn’t know what else to do. You didn't make a sound, you were never a loud crier as a kid, you never felt like you had the right to be. You look up, your face holds no frown or smile, it barely even holds a readable expression. You and Val stand there as your tears fall, you make no attempt to stop them. no loud sobs, nor words of panic, just a silent exchange of understanding between you and him.

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