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vgckwb · 1 year

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P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 136: Drifting

The next day, Ren, Ann, Ryuji, and Lena were gathered in the lobby of the hotel. “Say, is it just me, or is this field trip not what you expected?” Ryuji asked. “I mean, outside of a few places, I’m seeing mostly Japanese people.”

“Well, Hawaii actually has a fairly high Japanese population,” Lena pointed out.

“Really?” Ryuji wondered. Lena nodded. “Huh. I thought we’d be getting Alohas left, right, and center.”

“Well, that kind of atmosphere costs money that the school doesn’t have,” Ann said.

Makoto approached the group. “You can say that again,” she moaned.

“Are you alright, Makoto?” Ren asked.

“Yeah, what’s with the low energy?” Ryuji added on.

Makoto sighed. “I had to listen to the taxi driver complain for half an hour. It was exhausting.”

“Yikes!” Lena said.

“That must have sucked,” Ann said.

“Tell me about it,” Makoto said. “I’m used to listening to student’s complaints, but this was something else entirely.”

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Ren asked.

“Well, after this, nothing,” Makoto informed them.

“WHAT?!” Ryuji yelped. “Isn’t the school supposed to plan things to do? I wanna go diving!”

“Apparently, things have been so chaotic that they couldn’t really plan anything,” Makoto said. “Same goes for the fact that they scrambled to get a bunch of third years to chaperone.”

“Ugh!” Ryuji groaned. “If we’re not doing anything, why are we here? We should be back in Japan kicking ass as the Phantom Thieves!”

“Um, you might want to keep it down,” Lena said. “I’ve heard people talking about the Phantom Thieves.”

“Really?” Makoto wondered. “They’re talking about us?”

“Yeah,” Lena said. “They’re saying all sorts of things too.’

“Well, we did just win a fight against an international hacking organization,” Ren reminded them.

“That’s what I’m sayin’!” Ryuji said. “We should be given’ these people more to talk about! Not wasting our time doin’ nothin’ halfway ‘round the world.”

“I know how you feel,” Ann said. “I’m anxious to get back and figure this out too. But as long as we’re here, we should enjoy ourselves. I mean, yesterday was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Hm, yeah,” Ryuji agreed. “It’s just so hard. Having the ability to help so many people, and not being able to use it.” Ryuji looked at Yusuke. “Isn’t that right, Yusuke?” Everyone was surprised that Yusuke had suddenly joined them. “Yusuke?!”

“Traveling abroad gives way to new insights,” Yusuke said, nonchalantly. “I’d prefer if we took as much in as we can.”

“What are you doing here?” Ann asked.

“Yeah shouldn’t you be in Los Angeles?” Ren asked.

“Apparently, they couldn’t land the plane due to a storm brewing on the west coast,” Yusuke answered. “Since it showed no sign of stopping, they changed our destination to Hawaii on the spot.”

“Huh,” Lena said.

“Do you just bring rain with you wherever you go?” Ryuji asked.

“Come to think of it, do you think what happened at the fireworks festival was Yusuke’s fault too?” Makoto wondered.

“Oh, when it got rained out?” Lena asked.

“Were you there?” Ren asked.

“My mom wanted to go,” Lena said. “She likes watching summer fireworks. It was the happiest I’d seen her. Well, until…you know…”

“Right,” Ren said.

“So, does Kosei have any plans for you?” Ryuji asked.

“Not really,” Yusuke said. “This was an impromptu visit, so there was no real time to make any plans. Although, I would like to sketch a few things as long as I’m here.”

Ren smiled. “Well, our school is in disarray, and as such, we don’t have any solid plans. Wanna join us?”

“By all means,” Yusuke said.

“So, what should we do?” Ryuji asked.

The group thought about it for a moment. “Oh, I know!” Lena said. “We should maybe look for souvenirs. I know my host mom wants something. And I might get something to send to my real family too!”

“Aww, that’s sweet of you,” Makoto said. “I bet sis would like something as well.”

“Yah, I should get something for my mom too,” Ryuji said.

“We also should get something for Futaba, Morgana, and Jose,” Yusuke said.

“Well, it sounds like we have a plan,” Ren said.

“I’ll message Shiho to see if she and Mishima would join us,” Ann said. The group got ready to go out for the day.

Soon, they were joined by Shiho and Mishima, and they went looking through the local shops. They spent time looking for just the right things for the people on their list. From time to time, Yusuke would find a scene, take out his sketchbook, and make a quick sketch. They didn’t find souvenirs for everyone, but they made some progress.

As they were walking around, Ann said “All this walking is making me hungry.”

“Same,” Ryuji said.

“Well, we have been walking around for a while,” Makoto said. “I think we should take a break and get something to eat.”

“Where should we eat though?” Shiho asked.

“Let’s see,” Lena said, taking her phone out.

Ren looked around. “Huh. I think we can stop looking.” Everyone else looked over to where she was looking at.

“There’s a Big Bang Burger out here?” Ann wondered.

“Well, it’s pretty big in Japan,” Ryuji said. “They probably wanted to branch out.”

“Oh yeah,” Makoto said. “I recently read an article about the success of Okumura Foods.”

“Ah, the parent company of Big Bang Burger,” Yusuke said.

“Hm,” Lena said, impressed. “They seem to be doing well for themselves.”

“Okumura…” Ryuji said. “Isn’t that the guy on top of the rankings of the Phansite?”

“Ah, you know your stuff Sakamoto,” Mishima said.

“Really?” Shiho said.

“Yeah,” Mishima said. “Apparently, they’re involved in some shady stuff.”

“How shady?” Makoto asked.

“Well, I’m not sure,” Mishima said. “From what I can tell, they do a good amount of unsavory things, but then again so do a lot of companies. Okumura foods might just be one that the people are dogpiling on at the moment.”

“Hmmm,” Makoto wondered.

“Something on your mind?” Ren asked.

“Well, I’ve heard some rumors,” Makoto said.

“Like what?” Ren asked.

“Well, almost all of Okumura Foods’ overseas competition pulled out suddenly,” Makoto said.

“Do you think that they did something to make that happen?” Shiho asked.

“Well…like Mishima, I’m not sure,” Makoto answered. “I could just be overthinking things.”

“Well, it sounds like we shouldn’t eat here then,” Lena said. Their stomachs collectively grumbled. “Well… Maybe just this once…”

“Yeah,” Ann said. “I mean, if we do end up changing this guy’s heart, it’ll be fine, right?”

“I hate to admit it, but…” Makoto said. Their stomachs growled again. “Let’s just go eat.” They went into the restaurant.

As they were eating, Ryuji asked “Do you wanna continue shopping after this?”

“We have a lot of things with us as is,” Ann said. “Maybe we should drop some of this stuff off in our rooms after this.”

“We’ve also been walking around all day,” Lena moaned. “I kind of want to relax.”

“That’s fair,” Ryuji said.

“I want to hit up the beach again,” Shiho said.

“Me too,” Mishima said.

“I’d also like to go,” Yusuke said. “I want to see the marine life for myself.”

“You did seem to really like those lobsters,” Makoto said. “Where are they now anyway?”

“They’re back at Kosei,” Yusuke said. “The school agreed to let them live in a tank in the common area of the dorms.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Ryuji said.

“It’s fascinating, really,” Yusuke said. “Since I’ve been taking care of them, I’ve talked with more students than I ever had before.”

Ren smiled. “Well that’s nice to hear.”

Makoto nodded. “Well, we didn’t get everything, but we did get a good amount of stuff.”

“Eh, I’m sure we can find something before we go,” Ryuji said.

“What makes you say that?” Mishima asked.

“Eh. Just a feeling, really,” Ryuji answered.

“I see…” Mishima responded. They finished eating and dropped their stuff off in their hotel rooms.

They met up by the beach soon after. “Is everybody ready?” Makoto asked.

“Oh, hang on,” Ryuji said. “I need to get some more sunscreen. I ran out. Yusuke, Mishima, wanna come with me?”

Yusuke and Mishima looked at each other, slightly confused. “Uh, sure,” Mishima said.

“Lead the way,” Yusuke said. The three boys left.

Ren smirked. “Do you want to start without them?”

“I think we should wait,” Makoto said.

“But what should we do in the meantime?” Ann asked.

The girls began thinking it over. “Oh hey!” Shiho said. “I’ve been hearing people mentioning thieves from time to time. Do you think they’re talking about you guys?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been hearing stuff like that too,” Lena said. “Maybe we should ask around quick.”

“Ooo, sounds like fun,” Ann said.

“Well, I guess it could be interesting,” Makoto said. The girls went around the area to ask about what the people here know about the Phantom Thieves. Some of them were unsure, but some of them were aware of the Phantom Thieves and their crusade for justice.

Ann giggled. “That was more than I thought.”

“I’ll say,” Shiho said. “Who knew you guys were so well-known?”

“I know we talked about it at the hotel,” Makoto said, “but hearing it is a whole other thing entirely.”

“I know!” Lena responded. “Just hearing someone mention the Phantom Thieves outside of Japan makes my head spin.”

Ren nodded. “They all seem to be fans too. When we get back, we shouldn't let them down.” Their eyes landed on a girl around their age reading a book. Ren recognized her as the girl from the gardening club she kept bumping into. “Hey Makoto. Do you know who that is?” Ren asked.

Makoto looked at her intently. “I think she’s another third year student. But I don’t know too much about her.”

“I see,” Ren said. She walked up to her. “Hi there.”

Haru looked up from her book. “Oh, hi. So you’re a second year, I see.”

Ren nodded. “That’s right.”

Haru looked at everyone else in the group. “Oh. Hi Niijima-san.”

“Hello,” Makoto replied.

“I take it you’re watching them,” Haru said.

“That’s right,” Makoto said. “Um, forgive me, but what is your name?”

“Oh, no need for apologies,” Haru said. “My name is Haru.”

The girls seemed confused. “Haru…?” Makoto asked.

“It’s no use boss,” Hiroki said. The girls turned to look at him. He approached the group. “Haru’s even more tightlipped than I am when it comes to last names.”

“I see…” Makoto said.

“Hiroki-kun!” Haru shrieked.

“Eh heh, sorry,” Hiroki apologized. “That may have been a little blunt.”

“So, you’re friends with her then, Hiroki?” Makoto asked.

Hiroki nodded. “That’s right. I keep her company from time to time when she’s gardening.”

“Hiroki really is a kind soul,” Haru said. “Very diligent too.”

“Eh heh, you’re making me blush,” Hiroki said.

“I see,” Makoto said. “So, how are you two enjoying the trip?”

“I find it very relaxing,” Haru said. “I have a lot on my mind at the moment, so this is a nice reprieve.”

“I’m having a good time too,” Hiroki said.

“Well that’s good to hear,” Makoto said.

“OK! We’re back!” Ryuji called out. He, Yusuke, and Mishima approached the group. “Um, what’s going on?”

Haru giggled. She stood up. “Well, we should get going. Make sure not to stay out too late.”

Makoto chuckled. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Yeah, Makoto’sreally good at keeping us on track,” Ren said.

“Well, I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Hiroki said. “Well, see you later!”

“Take care!” Haru said. The two of them left.

The group watched them go off. Ann turned to Ryuji. “So, did you get your sunscreen?”

“Huh?” Ryuji said. “Oh yeah. We’re good to go!”

“Then let’s GO!” Shiho cheered. The group headed for the beach to have some fun and relax.

Meanwhile, Miss Kawakami was in her room looking at herself in the mirror. She was making various poses. “Hm hm, still got it!” She made a few more poses before her mood soured. “Oh, what am I doing? This is silly. I’m a teacher for goodness sake.”

“I don’t think it’s silly at all,” Maruki’s voice said. Kawakami was alarmed. She turned around to see Dr. Maruki sitting in the chair in her room. “It’s good to feel positive about your body.”

“DR. MARUKI?!” Kawakami shouted. “Wh-What are you doing here?”

“I’m just helping you out,” Maruki said. “Is that a problem?”

Kawakami was confused. “No… I mean… Wha?”

Maruki chuckled. “You look simply stunning.” He stood up. “Now, I was wondering if you could judge me for a minute.” He started taking off his clothes. “I’ve been a little busy, so I haven’t had as much time to work out. I might not be at my best, but I want a second opinion.”

Maruki kept undressing. When he took off his shirt completely, he was jacked. He had rock-hard abs, and bulging biceps. He took off his pants and revealed he was wearing a speedo underneath, as well as thighs thick enough to withstand the weight of the world, and more defined than a word in a dictionary.

Kawakami was beet red. “So Miss Kawakami, what do you think?” She was speechless. Maruki was confused. “Huh? Ah. Perhaps you’d have a better understanding if you felt it.” He walked over to her. He put one hand on her back, one hand on her waist, and pulled her in.

There was a knock at the door. “Miss Kawakami?” Haru asked.

Miss Kawakami was shocked. She looked at the door, and then to where Maruki was, only to see Maruki had vanished. She rubbed her eyes just to confirm. He still wasn’t there. Or rather, he was never really there to begin with. She turned to the door. “Come in!”

Haru walked in. “Is now a bad time?”

“No, it’s fine,” Kawakami said. “What do you want?”

“I just want to go over the post-beach plans,” Haru said.

“Absolutely,” Kawakami said. They proceeded to go over said plans.

Meanwhile in Japan, Futaba was looking over the information Makoto had gathered from Sae’s computer. “Ooooo. What’s this?”

Morgana was in the room with her. “Found something?”

“Maybe,” Futaba answered. “I may need to look some more.”

“You want some help?” Morgana asked.

“Nah, I’m good,” Futaba said. “But thanks for asking, kitty.”

Morgana pouted. “I am not a cat.”

“I guess that’s true,” Futaba said. “So, what would you like to be called?”

“Morgana.”

“Well, I mean, yeah,” Futaba said. “But aside from that, you know?”

“My codename is ‘Mona’,” he continued.

“I mean more informally,” Futaba said. “Like how I sometimes call Yusuke ‘Inari’.”

“Do you do that out of love?” Morgana asked.

“I think so,” Futaba said. “I’m sure we’ll think of something that could work.” She went back to clicking away.

“Hmmmm,” Morgana said. “If you say so.”

There was a knock at Futaba’s door. “Who is it?” Futaba asked.

“It’s me! Jose!”

Futaba nodded. “Come in!”

Jose walked in. “Hi! How are you doing?”

“I’m making some progress on the data I got from Makoto,” Futaba said. “I may need some more time.”

“Oh,” Jose said. “Did I come at a bad time?”

“Quite the opposite,” Futaba said. “I’m getting in the zone, but that would leave Morgana lonely. So maybe you can keep him company.”

“Yay!” Jose said. He walked over to Morgana. “So, what do you want to do?”

“I dunno,” Morgana said. “I usually let Ren lead the way.”

“Hmmm,” Jose pondered. “Well, since we’re here, maybe we could watch a show Futaba has.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Morgana said. “Oh, but we need to go through what she has. Futaba gave Ren some recommendations, and we’ve been watching them, and I don’t want to watch anything we’ve been watching without her.”

“Aww, that’s sweet of you,” Jose said.

Futaba nodded. “Have a look around. My collection is over there.” She pointed them to a stack of DVDs and Blurays. “I have more stuff, including some things on VHS, but you’d need to ask.” The two went over to have a look.

“Hm?” Jose said as he perused Futaba’s collection.

“Found something?” Morgana said.

Jose pulled it out. “Yeah.”

Morgana looked at it. “Compumon?”

“Oh, I LOVE Compumon!” Futaba said.

“Yeah, some people at Kosei told me I should watch it,” Jose said.

“Huh,” Futaba said. “That’s a little odd. It’s kind of an old show.”

“Really?” Jose said.

“Why did they tell you to watch it?” Morgana asked.

“Well, I heard them talking about anime,” Jose explained. “And so I said ‘Excuse me. I want to get more into anime as well. Do you have any recommendations?’ And then one of them said ‘The kind of anime we’re talking about isn’t suitable for you.’ Then the other said, ‘Yeah, you should watch something like Compumon.’ And I said ‘OK. Thanks.” And I walked off.”

“Grrr. Those Jerks,” Futaba said.

“Yeah, I don’t think they meant that in a friendly way,” Morgana informed him.

“Really?” Jose said. “Well, joke’s on them, I guess. Because I’m going to watch it, and have a good time.”

“Well, that’s one way to go about things,” Futaba said. “You know, I could learn a thing or two from you.”

“Oh?” Jose said.

“Whenever people did that to me, I just didn’t watch it out of fear,” Futaba said. “At least, not for a while.”

“Futaba…” Morgana said.

“Well, I mean, I didn’t understand what they were doing until you explained it,” Jose said. “So maybe I still need to learn.”

“Well…that may be true…” Morgana said. “But I don’t think learning something like that would be all that helpful.”

“Well, if it happens again, I could try to figure out a way to counter it,” Jose said.

“If you figure it out, maybe you can tell me,” Futaba said.

“Hmmm,” Morgana pondered. “Well, I don’t know if this is a 100% solid defense, but I think having others to lean on helps.”

“That’s true,” Jose said.

“Huh,” Futaba said. “Well, maybe these things take time.”

Morgana nodded. “It’s not an overnight fix. But it helps a lot. Believe me.”

Futaba nodded. “Good to know.” She went back to going through the information.

“So, Compumon?” Jose said.

“Yeah!” Morgana said. Jose and Morgana set things up and began watching Compumon while Futaba continued looking through Sae’s data. Futaba enjoyed having the background noise, while Jose and Morgana were engrossed with the anime. From time to time, Jose would usually pet Morgana. Morgana didn’t put up a fuss, as he enjoyed it, although he wouldn’t admit it so easily.

Back in Hawaii, Ryuji was wandering around the halls of the hotel, and he was a little frustrated. He was grumbling to himself when he ran into Mishima.”Oh. Hey Sakamoto,” Mishima said. “Why are you out and about?”

“Oh. Hey Mishima,” Ryuji said. “Well, uh, my roommate is having someone over, so I decided to leave them be.”

“Huh,” Mishima said. “Well, as it so happens, my roommate is also off with someone. I guess we’re in the same boat.”

“He’s taking up your room too?” Ryuji said.

“Nah, he went off,” Mishima said. “But I got kind of lonely with me just by myself.”

“I see,” Ryuji said. “Well, I was going to see if I could hang out with Yusuke, but those Kosei teachers are strict. They wouldn't let me through like at all!”

“Huh,” Mishima said. “Well, wanna come to my room?”

“Uh, sure, I guess,” Ryuji answered.

“OR,” Hiroki interjected, “You could come to my room, and the three of us can hang out.”

“Wha?! Hiroki?!” Ryuji yelped. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, you are outside my door,” Hiroki explained.

“Oh,” Ryuji said. “Well, sure, I guess. It could be fun.”

Hiroki nodded. He turned to Mishima. “How about you, um, what’s your name again?”

“Oh, uh, sure,” Mishima said. “And it’s Mishima.”

“So, who are you rooming with?” Ryuji asked.

“No one,” Hiroki said. “We have an odd number of boys in our class. And since I’m on the student council, the teachers figured I’d be responsible enough on my own. Which to be fair, I am.”

“Oh,” Ryuji said. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Hiroki said. “But I am glad to have some company tonight. Come on in.” Hiroki held the door open. Ryuji and Mishima walked in. Hiroki walked in soon after. “I brought some games with me for just such an occasion. Wanna play?”

Ryuji smiled. “Sure. Sounds like fun!”

“Alright then,” Hiroki said. They started playing some games.

In the middle of a game, Mishima asked “So, Hiroki, was it?” Hiroki nodded. “What do you think of The Phantom Thieves?”

Ryuji was a little shocked. Hiroki smiled. “Personally, I’m a big fan.”

“Huh,” Mishima said.

“I mean, what’s not to love? They go around helping people,” Hiroki continued. “Plus, they give me courage.”

Ryuji was a little surprised. “That seems odd, coming from you. I mean, you’re on the student council, right?”

“Yeah, but I can be kind of a coward sometimes,” Hiroki said. “I want to help people, but…I sometimes fear what others might think if I were to do something.”

“Ah, who cares about what others think?” Ryuji said. “The Phantom Thieves do what they do because they believe it’s right, not because of what others think of them.”

“Hm. How astute,” Hiroki said. “Truth is, I want to get to a place like that, but it’s slow going.”

“Well…these kinds of things take time,” Mishima said. “But I’m sure you could talk to someone if you want help.”

“Yeah, like that girl we saw you with earlier,” Ryuji said. “By the way, how do you know her?”

“Oh, Haru?” Hiroki said. “Well, she’s in the gardening club. One day I noticed her gardening, and I began chatting with her.”

“Hey,” past Hiroki said. “You like gardening, huh.”

“Um, yes,” Haru responded. “Do you like gardening?”

“Well, theoretically, yes,” Hiroki answered. “But every time I try gardening, all my plants die before anything can happen.”

“How terrible!” Haru explained.

“Yeah…” Hiroki said.

“Well, if you’d like some pointers, I’ll gladly help,” Haru said.

Hiroki smiled. “I’d like that.” Haru smiled back. “So, what’s your name?”

“Oh. I’m Haru.”

Hiroki was confused. “Just a first name?”

“Well… If people knew my last name, they’d treat me differently,” Haru explained. “So, I’d rather limit how many people know it.”

“Gotcha,” Hiroki said. “You know, I’m kind of in the same boat.”

“Really?” Haru said, surprised. Hiroki nodded. “I didn’t know there were others like that at this school.”

“Me either,” Hiroki said. “Hiroki.”

Haru nodded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hiroki.”

“And that’s how we became friends,” Hiroki said, back in the present.

“Woah,” Ryuji said.

“So, did you earn your green thumb?” Mishima asked.

“Well, you see…” HIroki said. “It turns out I wasn’t doing anything particularly wrong. My asshole brother was just sabotaging my efforts.”

“He sounds like a jerk,” Ryuji said.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Hiroki said.

“It almost sounds like I don’t want to know,” Mishima said.

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Hiroki said. He smiled. “But I’m having a good time with you guys.”

“Same,” Ryuji said.

“Ditto,” Mishima added. They continued playing games. A little while later, Mishima stood up. “Well, it’s getting kind of late. I should maybe head back to my room.”

Hiroki nodded. “Sounds good.” He turned to Ryuji. “What about you?”

Ryuji thought about it. He and his boyfriend probably don’t get many opportunities like this. I think I’ll give them some space. “Eh, I feel like I’ll just sleep here for the night.”

“You sure, Sakamoto?” Mishima asked.

“Yeah,” Ryuji said.

Mishima nodded. “Well then, take care.” He turned to Hiroki. “I had a lot of fun tonight.”

Hiroki smiled. “Likewise. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Mishima said. He left for his room.

Hiroki turned back to Ryuji. “So, do you want to go to bed now, or are you up for a few more games?”

“I think I could do a few more games,” Ryuji answered.

“Sounds like a plan,” Hiroki said. The two of them played together some more, and then went to sleep for the night.

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lockefanfic · 4 years

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Business Trip: Part 38 - Senses

As you devour the smooth, soft skin of her neck Momo’s hands reach for your belt, working the latch with quick, experienced fingers, having done it a thousand times before. With the belt undone she hooks her thumbs into your waistband and pulls your pants down, taking your boxers along with them.

Almost as soon as your cock springs free her hand is on it, and you let a loud sigh escape your lips at the feel of her hands on your shaft again - a handjob wasn’t exactly hard to come by these days for you, but to have Momo’s hands on you again drove the pleasure to another level. The history, the past emotions - it heightened every little ounce of pleasure, every little touch and taste.

Your cock hardens quickly in her grasp, every pump of her soft, long fingers creating delicious little spikes of pleasure that shoot up your spine and directly into your brain. Momo gasps as you suck on the warm spots of her neck and jawline, her pace with your shaft quickening with each moan of pleasure that leaves her lips.

She eventually has enough, and she draws her neck away from your hungry lips to make eye contact with you. You see the same look in her eyes you’d seen so many times before - hazel pools filled with lust and need and want. She licks her lips, drops to her knees, and you feel the breath leaving your lungs involuntarily as she takes you into her mouth.

“I should’ve known you’d be here early.”

“There’s a lot to do,” Hirai Momo says, raising her head from the laptop only briefly to nod a greeting of good morning to you as you enter Red Velvet’s apartment, “I double and triple checked all the tech in here along with all the cameras we placed at the entrances and exits. I had to do it before the sun came up - you know Irene’s thugs could be casing this place as we speak.”

“You’ve thought of everything,” you answer as you step inside the bedroom where Momo had set up her recording equipment on the wooden desk. You take a seat on the bed, where Seulgi had had her way with you the day before.

It was the day of Seulgi’s scheduled meeting with Irene, and a few hours before noon, which was when Seulgi said Irene should show up. You’d arrived early to ensure everything was in place; the others weren’t due to arrive for another hour or so.

“I have to think of everything. This is a big op,” Momo states.

“I know. You’re really going all out.”

Momo stops whatever she was doing on the laptop. Her back is turned to you, but you still notice her head has dipped slightly, as though she weren’t looking forward to the conversation you were about to have. Her hair, done up in a high ponytail, leaves the creamy skin and graceful curve of her neck bare. Her shoulders slouch slightly.

“This needs to go well. I need to take Irene down. I need to prove that I can do this on my own. Without you.”

Her words sting you a little bit, and Momo seems to immediately regret her words, at least partially.

“I’m sorry,” she says quickly, “I don’t mean to say that you haven’t done your part in bringing Irene down. I guess... I just… when we worked together, when I was on your team, I always just followed your lead. You did all the work, made all the decisions. I guess that now that I’m on my own I need to prove I can do it myself.”

She’d started to say ‘I guess’ again.

“Momo, you don’t need to prove anything to anyone.”

“I need to prove it to myself,” she answers quickly.

A few quiet moments pass in silence. Since her reappearance you’d wondered why Momo had been so cold and driven; now that you knew it was because of her desire to prove herself, it explained a lot of the way she acted and spoke to you.

“I’m sorry, Momo. I didn’t know that that was what you wanted.”

“It’s fine,” she answers, shaking her head softly, “I could have been a little more straightforward with you instead of being a bitch to you for no reason.”

“Either way, when we get Irene today this’ll be your win.”

“No, it’ll be ours,” she corrects, “it was your team that got all that incriminating intel right from under their noses. Without it we wouldn’t have anything to prove she did what she did.”

“But it was your team that will actually bag her. The intel is useless if she keeps getting away.”

Her back is turned, but you could sense a small smile appearing on the girl’s cheeks.

“I guess we can call it a team effort,” she admits, and you are happy to find a little levity in her tone. “A team win.”

“You do remember what we used to do after each of our wins back in the day...”

“Take a cab back to the hotel room and fuck like rabbits?” Momo quickly answers, with a snort and a giggle. She turns her head halfway toward you, and you are glad to see a nostalgic smile on her lips.

“Yeah. Sometimes we wouldn’t even wait for the hotel. Remember the supply closet in the convention centre when we were in Frankfurt?”

“Of course I do. Or the cab in Lima? The driver must’ve been wondering why the hell I had your jacket over your lap in the summer heat.”

“I’m sure that wasn’t the first handjob ever given in that backseat,” you say with a smile, “either way it was real awkward making it from the cab to the hotel room with a raging boner.”

Momo giggles, and the sound is soft, musical; it lifts your spirits to hear something so wonderful, because you wondered if you’d ever hear it again. Memories of days gone past run through your heads, and bittersweet smiles paint themselves on your lips. Things were so much simpler then. No danger or drama, hurt or betrayal - only the next business deal to make, the next plane to catch, and evenings of passion and lust with someone you were falling in love with.

“I want things to be that way again,” you say, softly, the words leaving your lips before you even knew you were saying them.

“Me too,” Momo agrees, “but we can’t go back.”

“Why not?”

Momo turns her head back away from you, staring blankly at her laptop screen again.

“It was different back then. It was just me and you, without a care in the world. Before all these other girls entered your life. I don’t mind who you fuck - you know that - but these girls… They all want to be with you.”

“Momo, I-”

“Would they ever leave your life?” Momo asks, pointedly. “Sana is one of the most passionate people I know - and she’s crazy for you. She’d do anything for you, even if it meant risking her career or her friendships. That cop - Nayeon, was it? I know you have history together. Maybe you would still be together, if it weren’t for this job. How do you know she’s not the one? She came halfway around the world for the chance to start over with you. And Jeongyeon-”

Momo’s voice cuts out, a sudden rush of emotion keeping her from finishing her sentence. She raises a hand to her mouth, almost as if physically covering her mouth could keep her from saying something she would regret.

“...she loves you. I guess I always saw it in the way she looked at you, but I just ignored it. I thought it was just a schoolgirl crush. And she pissed me right the fuck off with how she told you about her feelings while she knew we were together… but she was right there with you in that alleyway, before we rescued you. That wasn’t a girl standing by her boss. That was a girl standing by someone she loves.”

Momo takes a few deep breaths to compose herself, and although only a few seconds pass, the time in silence felt like hours.

“And I… I love you too. I guess I’ve always loved you. I guess a part of me always will, no matter what happens today or who you choose to be with. But if we’re going to be together I want to know you’re mine, truly mine, and mine alone. I don’t care about where you stick your dick. I just care about who’s in your heart. That’s what I want. What I’ve always wanted.”

More quiet breaths, more thoughts and memories and emotions running rampant through the heads and hearts of two confused young people - more silence covering it all like an unwanted, uncomfortable threadbare blanket that provided little warmth.

“You’re such a lucky little douchebag,” Momo says with a chuckle and smile that had little humor. “All these stupid young girls, tripping over themselves to let you know how much they want you.”

The silence returns - but so does your answer.

“What about what I want?”

Momo doesn’t answer, perhaps unprepared for your question.

“All of you, you’ve all told me what you want, and why you’re each better than the others. Why I should pick you. But never once has anyone asked me what I want - what I was looking for. And not one of you has considered that maybe, just maybe, I have other things on my mind besides choosing a girlfriend.”

The words spilled from your lips before you could even know you were speaking them, because you knew they came not from your brain but from somewhere deeper inside you. Momo had brought up a good point; each of the girls had made their case clear to you over the past few days and weeks. Each had made clear their desire for you, how much they wanted to be with you. And you’d accepted their declarations and considered each in turn - but not until now had you considered what you wanted.

You decide that what you want at the moment is a little time alone. You stand from the bed and with steps that felt heavier than they should, you begin to make your way to the bedroom door. When you reach the door and begin to open it, Momo rises from her chair and places a hand on your wrist.

You move to step around her, but she steps in front of you as well, her head lowered, as though she were afraid of what she might see if she looked up at you. Behind her, she closes the door, the click of the handle sounding uncomfortably loud in the quiet room.

“I’m sorry,” she finally says, her voice low and quiet. “What we want doesn’t matter if you don’t want the same thing.”

“It’s fine, Momo,” you say, trying your best to control your frustration and the sudden rise of anger in your head, “it’s fine. It can wait until after we bag Irene and finally move on from this mess.”

You move to step around Momo, but once again she blocks you from leaving by stepping in front of you - but this time she moves her face closer to yours, your noses grazing softly.

It only takes a few seconds and a light graze of your faces - but almost immediately the passion that once existed between you reignites. She was once such a central figure in your life, someone you saw almost every day and spent almost every night with; but to have been away from her for so long, combined with the dangerous and intense circumstances you’d both found yourselves in when you finally reconnected - it had all built up, waiting to be released.

Her lips press lightly against yours, and the kiss starts off tamely, as though both of you are testing the waters - but it soon ignites into an ember and then a flame, your lips crashing against each other as you both give in to your desires.

Momo wraps her arms around your neck and you wrap yours around her slim, perfect torso, both of you relishing the feel of each others’ bodies once again. Her tongue swipes across your lips and you let her into your mouth, your tongues duelling the same way they had on so many days and nights. She tastes of peach lip gloss and sweet candy, a treat you’d gone too long without, one that reminded you of simpler, carefree days gone by.

You give her a deep kiss before releasing her lips, diving into her neck and the warm spots there that you knew she loved. She lets out a wordless gasp as your need to press yourself against her in turn presses her back against the closed door. The soft smell of her perfume fills your nostrils like an intoxicating drug, one you long thought you’d sworn off, but one you now greedily fill your hungry lungs with.

The other girls were no slouches when it came to oral sex, each of them pleasuring you in their own way. But none of them knew you like Momo did; and combined with the pent up tension and emotion that had pervaded your every interaction with her since she left your team, it made every entrance and exit of your cock into her wet, warm mouth that much more pleasurable.

Her tongue swirls in circular patterns, focusing mostly on your head, swirling around the tip and beneath it, her right hand pumping at your base in time with each thrust into her mouth, the same way she had a hundred times before. And the reaction she creates in your body is the same; a quickly building pleasure that overtakes your senses from your head to your toes, the kind that removes the existence of anything else in the world aside from the beautiful young woman on her knees before you, and the wet, hot cavern of her mouth and tongue.

You brace yourself against the closed door with one hand, your other reaching down to cradle the side of her head as it bobs back and forth on your shaft. You let a sigh escape your lips - a needy, lusty sound - as you watch Momo work. When she looks up at you her eyes are just as wanton as yours, but there is more than just lust there; there is a look of affection, a look of a need fulfilled.

You want more - you needed more.

You draw your saliva-coated cock from the Japanese girl’s lips, and she moans in disappointment at your decision to stop her in the midst of her work. But when you reach down and grasp her by the shoulders and pull her up to her feet, her objections quickly flee from her mind.

You turn her around so she is facing the door, her hands reaching out to brace herself against it, leaving your hands free to explore her tight, perfect frame. She is wearing high-waisted black leggings that cling like a second skin to her small waist, full hips, and the round cheeks of her ass; and as great as the sight of the black spandex was, it looked even better once it was pulled down to her knees. Momo’s perfect, vanilla skin almost glows in the early morning light, creamy and soft, begging to be touched and held and squeezed.

You press yourself against the young woman’s now naked midsection, your slick cock pressing between the round cheeks of her ass and the small of her back. Momo gasps at the touch of your cock on her body, the gasp turning into a long, soft moan as you thrust softly between her cheeks, a prelude, a tease of what was to come.

She squirms against you, grinds her hips and ass against your crotch, her body moving like liquid as she struggles to find release for the need building within her. But you deny her for now - you had to feel more of her, had to indulge in more of the perfect body you’d gone for so long without.

You continue to thrust between her ass cheeks, but as you do so you bring your hands up her naked sides, enjoying the feel of her soft, creamy skin beneath your fingers and palms. When you reach the edge of the short blue crop top she is wearing you dive beneath it, finding that she is wearing a black sports bra beneath it. You dig your fingertips beneath it’s hem and pull upward, feeling her large, round breasts bounce free as you pull it above her full mounds.

Almost immediately your hands are on her breasts, indulging in the feel of her perfect tits in your hands, enjoying their weight and the soft creaminess of them. Your thumbs and index fingers find her nipples, delighting in the fact that they were already stiff with pleasure. You would’ve given anything to have them in your mouth, but you settle for teasing and pinching them with your fingers, twisting the stiff little buds until Momo’s gasps and whimpers turn into full on moans, filling the small bedroom with vocalizations of the physical pleasure coursing through her young body.

Momo’s butt grinds even stronger against your crotch until she is thrusting your cock between her ass cheeks all on her own. With a satisfied smile you release her right breast from your grasp, reaching down past sculpted abs and a flat stomach to the heat between her thighs, finding her almost dripping with need. Her own right hand joins yours at her crotch, her middle finger pressing your own against her drenched lips, pressing your finger down until it slips between the slippery lips of her pussy.

Momo moans - not a simple moan of sexual pleasure; a moan of need, of want, of pure lust. “Fuck me, please,” she gasps.

You decide she’d had enough teasing. Bringing your hands to her slim waist, you position yourself to take her. Momo’s hand at her crotch brings your tip to her wet, slick entrance, the head of your cock pressing between her needy lips.

You thrust into her with one long, smooth stroke - and you both feel the air rushing from your lungs in a loud, unhindered gasp of pleasure.

You both take a few seconds there as you fill her to the hilt; both of you getting that first hit of a drug after a long absence, that sinful depravity of an unexpected relapse.

But you both need more than just that first hit; more than just a promise of pleasure. And so you withdraw your shaft from her body, her pussy hugging it tightly as though unwilling to let it go. It glistens with her juices. She trembles with need.

You thrust back into Momo, then a third time, then a forth - until you settle quickly into a rhythm, fucking the gasping, mewling Japanese girl against the door of the bedroom with quick, strong thrusts. Her body is rocked with each entry into her pussy, the round cheeks of her ass bouncing deliciously with each impact, her spine and back easing into a delightful curve as she settles into your rhythm.

Her gasps and whimpers and moans fill the room, unheeding of the presence of neighbors or teammates or anyone else that could possibly interrupt the pleasure you were building inside her body. You cannot help but join her, her tight, hot body and the wetness of her pussy turning the pleasure in your loins into wordless grunts and gasps.

“Oh, fuck, fuck me please,” she gasps, her words light and breathless, as though she were having more than just lust fulfilled - there is a happiness in her tone, a joy, almost, that something she’d lost had finally come back into her life.

“Fuck, Momo,” you say in return, not capable of coming up with the words to say any more. When you’d fucked in the past your words were dirty, vulgar; now they were filled with some other emotion. Was it joy? Happiness? Nostalgia, at the way things used to be? You didn’t have the time or mental capacity to interpret it, not when Momo’s perfect body was taking you in and out, the tight wet heat between her legs driving you insane with each thrust into her pussy.

You settle fully into your rhythm, fucking her for a few beautiful minutes, neither increasing nor decreasing your pace; both of you enjoying the moment, the pleasure rising within your bodies. You drink in every inch of Momo’s body as you pump in and out of her - the graceful curve of her back, the round softness of her bouncing ass, the glistening wetness of her pussy lips as they take you in and out, lathering your cock with her slick juices each time. Your hands wander - over her hips and back and ass and breasts, never once breaking contact, never once without creamy vanilla skin beneath your fingertips.

You reach up to the bun of hair at the back of her head and give it a light tug, pulling her head back, her throat opening up into a long, lustful moan.

Her hands search for something, anything on the wall to grasp as an outlet for her pleasure - but failing to find anything, she reaches for the desk next to her. The task is made impossible by each thrust into her body, causing her hand to bounce frantically around on the desk; her movement knocks a few notepads and pens to the floor, not that she minded, not that she gave a damn or could even process the mess she was making, not when every thrust of the stiff, long cock into her body was driving her insane with pleasure.

“I… I, oh god, I’m cum-”

You’d seen and felt Hirai Momo orgasm hundreds of times, but the orgasm that overtakes her now is perhaps the strongest you’d ever given her. Her perfect, sculpted body is reduced to a quivering, mewling mess as your next thrust drives her over the edge. She moans. She gasps. But mostly, she trembles and shakes as she cums, her gaping mouth frozen in a seemingly endless moan of pleasure.

Her pussy clenches and pulsates and tightens deliciously around your cock - and it takes every effort not to join her over the edge. For as wonderful as she was from behind you had to have her face to face, needed to see those perfect features while you filled her.

Momo seems to have the same idea, for when she eventually recovers from her orgasm she turns around, letting you regretfully slip out of her body. She almost tears her leggings from her body before turning to the desk and sweeping half of the stuff on it onto the ground. Locking eyes with you, she hops onto the desk and spreads her legs, allowing you between them.

Within seconds you are inside her again, fucking her face to face.

She was a sight to behold from behind, but nothing quite beat watching her face as you filled her again and again with your slick, hard cock, those pretty features contorted in pleasure and lust and fulfilled need. Each thrust into her body gives her breasts a beautiful shock, her stiff nipples bouncing deliciously with each clap of your crotch against hers. The flex of her sculpted abs with each of her breaths, the soft creaminess of her thighs as she spreads them widely to take you inside her, the shaved mound above a glistening pussy and its splayed lips as your cock pumped in and out of her - it all became too much, all became too much to take in at once. It almost embarrassed you to admit you were closer to orgasm than you thought.

Momo lies back on the desk until she is resting on her elbows, giving you a perfect view of her body as you continue to fuck her. She captures both of her large breasts for a moment to pinch her own stiff nipples, before releasing them both so you could watch them bounce with each thrust into her body - just the way she knew you liked. Her eyes, locked on yours, are half-lidded and dripping with wanton desire.

For a few long, beautiful minutes you fuck the young woman on the desk, relishing the feel of every thrust, every entry and exit into her impossibly perfect body. But the feel of her wet, hot silk wrapped around your shaft, her needy and wanton cries of lust and moans of need - they all built up to an orgasm you were simultaneously craving and fearing, because you knew it would mean an end to this experience.

“Fuck, Momo, I-”

“Just cum for me, baby,” she replies, raising her torso from the desk to press her mouth against your ear as she wraps her arms and legs around you, “Please. Cum in me like you used to. Fill me again. Fill me with your cum.”

“Momo… Momo, I-”

“Cum inside me!”

When you finally cum it is like your world has ended; the pleasure overtakes every ounce of your being until you’re unsure whether you’re still alive. The pulsating of your shaft inside Momo’s hot, tight pussy, the feel of filling her body with thick, creamy semen, and the light, airy gasp of her moans are the only physical sensations you are aware of.

You almost forget to breathe - and when you finally regain consciousness, holding yourself up with weak hands on either side of Momo’s exhausted body, you have to remind yourself to do so, taking in large gulps of oxygen to feed tired lungs.

It’s Momo that raises your head with her hands until you are face to face with hers. Her eyes are heavy with fulfilled lust, but also genuine affection. She was someone you loved and someone you might still love - and you see, in those dark brown pools, that she perhaps still felt the same.

She kisses you, and it is a kiss that confirms the way she felt.

---

“This is a pretty big deal, huh?” Minatozaki Sana asks.

“Yes, yes it is,” Yoo Jeongyeon answers, although most of her attention is focused on the bank of laptops and screens in front of her.

Sana sighs to herself, seeing that Jeongyeon was too preoccupied with making last minute adjustments and preparations on her laptop to provide her with conversation. The two are sitting in the back of the van that belonged to Momo and her team, parked in an alleyway a block from Red Velvet’s apartment building. Jeongyeon was in charge of keeping an eye on all the cameras Momo and her team had planted the day before.

Sana fidgets with the backpack on her lap, playing with the zippers the same way an impatient child might while waiting for class to start. Jeongyeon turns her head from the monitors to give Sana a sharp look - and the Japanese girl gives her an apologetic bow of her head before ceasing her play with the zipper.

But soon she is tapping a beat on the backpack with her fingers.

“Sana,” Jeongyeon finally snaps.

“I’m sorry,” the Japanese girl replies, “I’m just… nervous.”

“We all are,” Jeongyeon replies, her tone relaxing somewhat, “but we’ll be okay. This time tomorrow we’ll be laughing about how we’ve finally bagged Irene.”

Sana seems comforted by the Korean girl’s confidence, and she offers her a smile.

There is a knock on the rear of the van, and the door opens to reveal a smiling Yeri.

“Ready to go, Sana-chan?” the young woman asks, her bright face beaming, showing no trace of nervousness given the gravity of the day’s upcoming events.

“Ready!” Sana answers, as brightly as she could. The Japanese girl gathers the backpack that is carrying her recording equipment and hops out of the van, giving Yeri a high five as she does so. Taking a deep breath to gather herself, she begins to walk away towards the cafe opposite the apartment building, where she was to set up her lookout point. Her role was to inform the rest of the team the second Irene arrived on the premises.

After watching Sana leave and giving Jeongyeon a reassuring smile, Yeri returns to her place in the passenger seat of the van.

Chaeyoung, sitting in the driver’s seat, doesn’t even turn her head to welcome Yeri back into the cabin. Her eyes are locked on Sana’s swaying hips as the girl walks towards the cafe. “Damn, Japanese girls are hot,” she says under her breath.

“They sure are,” Yeri agrees as she retakes her seat.

Had Chaeyoung been able to tear her gaze from Sana, she might have noticed something tucked into the back of Yeri’s pants.

---

“She’s here,” Momo says from her seat in front of the recording equipment, “Sana reports she’s alone. Jeongyeon says she’s at the main elevator.”

“Finally,” Jihyo says. She closes up the bulletproof vest she is wearing and draws her sidearm from the holster at her belt before racking the slide and chambering a round. On the other side of the bedroom Nayeon does the same, the thick dark blue vest looking almost out of place on her tiny frame.

The sight of Nayeon handling the weapon disturbed you somewhat; not that you felt she was incapable of handling herself - rather, you had trouble difficulty reconciling the image of the young, naive schoolgirl you once knew with the strong, confident woman who now stood in front of you. As Nayeon reholsters her pistol, some sort of compact Glock variant, she catches your eyes and gives you a sheepish smile. You are comforted, somewhat, in seeing a little bit of the girl you once knew in the woman’s soft, beautiful features.

You open the bedroom door to speak to Seulgi, who is waiting on the living room’s couch.

“She’s here.”

You wonder if there is anything else you could say, any small words of encouragement you could provide the former member of Red Velvet that might help her in some way. But when you see the determination and conviction in her eyes, you realize she didn’t need to be told anything further.

Closing the door, you step back into the bedroom, where the other three girls are standing by.

“Let’s recap. When Irene gets here, Seulgi has five minutes to confront her. Only after those minutes are up do you two go out there and arrest her.”

“I still don’t understand why she gets five minutes at all,” Jihyo states. “This is a criminal matter. We need to arrest her the second we’re able to. Every extra second she spends out there is a second she can use to get away.”

“I promised her five minutes,” you answer. “It’s the least we can do for the work she’s done to get Irene here. Without Seulgi, this doesn’t happen.”

“She deserves it,” Momo adds, giving you a reassuring nod.

“Fine. But the second those five minutes are up, Nayeon and I go in there and arrest her. Then we take her straight to the station for processing.”

“Understood,” you answer.

Satisfied that the plan was in place and the four of you were on the same page, you take a seat next to Momo, accepting the pair of headphones she offers you that are connected to the listening and recording devices in the living room. On the screen of her monitor, you watch Seulgi pace nervously back and forth as she waits for the knock on her door.

“Seulgi, I-”

“No. You don’t get to speak. I ask the questions, you answer them. That’s how this goes.”

“I… I thought you were-”

“What did I just say?”

“Is Yeri-”

“She’s fine. Now stand there and shut the fuck up.”

Their first words are contentious and confrontational. You’d wondered how their first interaction would go; Seulgi, as she often did, set the tone.

Irene looked confused, almost unsure of herself - and it seemed out of place for her character, given your only other direct interaction with her. In her office at SM HQ all those months ago, Bae Irene was cold and calculating, with a ruthless streak that pervaded every aspect of her character. Now she seemed rattled, as though merely seeing Seulgi again had shaken her to the core. Understandable, given what happened the last time they saw each other.

“Do you know… what I had to go through… when you left us behind?” Seulgi asks. While she was obviously trying to remain as cold as she could, the small hints of weakness in her tone betrayed the strong front she was trying to put up.

“Seulgi… please. Let me-”

“Y’know, all those months we spent in YG’s dungeon… I thought about giving up. About letting it all go. But only one thing kept me going, Irene. Just one thing gave me the strength I needed to make it through the day. Only one thing gave me the drive to escape YG. Do you… do you know what that was?”

Irene is shaken as she listens to Seulgi’s words. She fidgets nervously with her jacket, her feet shuffling on the floor nervously. But her face - her expression - was what gave her away. She is a broken woman, as though the very sight of Seulgi had torn down the cold ice queen persona she was so well known for.

She seems unable to even answer Seulgi’s question, and so she merely shakes her head.

“It was the possibility… the idea that I might see you again some day. That I might stand in front of you and ask you just one question. Just one word.”

Irene’s lip quivers, as though she were fighting a vain battle to hold back her tears.

“...why?”

Irene lets an exasperated gasp leave her mouth, as though it were something she were struggling to keep inside. She covers her lips with a hand, her eyes closing.

“Why?” Seulgi continues, “Why did you leave us behind? We cried and sweat and bled together, and when it came down to it - when we needed you most - you left us behind!”

Seulgi’s anger is at the fore now, and she does nothing to fight it, nothing to save her words. She is shaking, her hands balled into tight fists.

“Fucking tell me, Irene! Tell me why you left us behind!”

Through the camera feed, you witness Bae Irene do something you never in a million years thought you’d see - she cries. The tears fall from her cheeks in a glistening spill, down perfect, porcelain skin. She covers her face with her hands, as though her hands could somehow keep her from facing the accusations of her best friend and the dark memories that accompanied them.

“I’m so, so sorry, Seulgi. I-”

“No,” Seulgi demands, and while her back is turned to the camera you could tell from her tone that she too was crying. “No, you don’t get to apologize. You only get to answer the question. Now. Tell me. Tell me why.”

A few moments pass as Irene struggles to control her emotions. Your view of her is shaken; you long thought of her as a cold and calculating villain, heartless and cruel, especially as you navigated the many challenges and dangers she and her company threw your way. But that was all a far cry from the broken, teary girl on the screen of the laptop in front of you.

“I… I… Do you, do you remember… when I was first assigned to take down YG?” she asks, with uncertain words, wiping away tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. She keeps her gaze locked on her hands as she struggles to compose herself, unwilling or unable to match Seulgi’s eyes.

“Yes. You got in close with the YG CEO.”

Irene smiles at the floor, despite her tears, as though she had just heard a joke.

“I lied to you, Seulgi. I lied to all of you. I told you I had the upper hand, had him wrapped around my finger. It was the opposite.”

There is silence for a few moments as Seulgi tries to comprehend what she was saying, and while Irene tries to compose her next words.

“I tried to overpower him, bend him to our needs, the way we always did with other men. But he was scarier than I thought. Instead, he turned it around on me. He used you four to get to me.”

“...what?”

“He suddenly had pictures of the four of you. He knew where we lived, where we worked, where we went out for dinner. He threatened to hurt you if I didn’t do what he said. And through us, he wanted to bring down SM as a whole. But even that wasn’t enough - he threatened my family too, and yours. He even had pictures of Wendy’s family in Canada. I didn’t tell you any of this. I got us into the mess, and I thought I could get us out of it.”

“But I thought… I thought you had him under your control? And that was how you found out about Blackpink, and how we needed to rescue them?”

Irene laughs again, a sad, ironic smile on her lips that carried little humor.

“That wasn’t a rescue mission, Seulgi. That was a kidnapping.”

Seulgi doesn’t answer, seemingly shocked into silence.

“YG relied on Blackpink. They were YG’s corporate espionage division - not their R&D team, like I told you. Blackpink were the ones that stalked our families and got YG their information. Without them their company was going under, thanks to all those scandals they were involved in. Taking Blackpink down was a form of revenge on them - and I thought that it would keep him from threatening us ever again. Once he promised to leave us alone, I’d let the girls go. The less you four knew about it, the better off you were. But things went south during the mission...”

“Jesus, Irene…”

“...and I had to leave you behind. I thought… I thought I could exchange the Blackpink girls for you and Yeri. He insisted I release the girls first. I was desperate and I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to make sure you two were okay - so I released them. But YG didn’t hold up their end of the bargain. They kept you two. And they used you against me, as revenge.”

“How?”

“They threatened to hurt you if I didn’t comply with them. They knew JYP was their next closest competitor, so they told me to do whatever it took to bring them down.”

“So all that backstabbing, hiring Chou Tzuyu and Minatozaki Sana to bring down JYP, hacking their servers - that was all on YG’s orders?”

“Yes,” Irene answers, the word a soft gasp that leaves her lips, as though she didn’t want to say it.

When Seulgi speaks, it is only after long, agonizing minutes in silence.

“That… that’s not enough, Irene.”

“...what?”

“You… you still left us there.”

“I had the Blackpink girls. I thought I could-”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you left us behind. It doesn’t take away the pain-”

“Seulgi-”

“I would have never left you behind, Irene. I would have stood there and fought with you. I would have been captured with you. And I would have been right there with you while those YG fuckers-”

“Seulgi, please. YG-”

“No. No, Irene, No. I don’t give a shit about YG or SM or JYP or whoever the fuck else was involved. No. You don’t get to tell me what to do. Not anymore.”

Tears have begun to fall down Irene’s cheeks again, although she makes no effort to wipe them away, facing Seulgi with as brave a face as she could possibly make. Perhaps she knew, somewhere deep down, that facing Seulgi’s accusations was a punishment she deserved.

“I loved you, Irene!” Seulgi says, her words desperate. “I loved you. I still love you. And when I saw you leave us behind it shattered my heart into a million pieces. That pain, and the pain we endured at YG - it was all because of you. You deserve to feel the same pain I did.”

In the bedroom, Jihyo rises to her feet.

“That’s it,” she says with a hushed whisper for fear of the two in the living room hearing, “that’s all we need. Her time is up, and she’s about to go ballistic. We go now.”

Before you can stop her or say otherwise, Jihyo is already opening the bedroom door, Nayeon close on her heels.

“Seoul PD! Bae Irene, you are under arrest,” Jihyo announces, ignoring the confused protests of Seulgi, Momo and yourself. She begins to read out the list of Irene’s crimes as Nayeon steps behind her and handcuffs her.

The next few seconds are a whirlwind of confusion, an overload on the senses. Seulgi’s anguished cries of anger; Momo trying to reason in vain with Jihyo; Nayeon reading Irene her rights in both English and Korean; Irene’s cold, sad eyes, and the defeated look on her tear streaked face as her wrists are cuffed behind her. It all almost seemed to move in slow motion, the angry and sad and stern tones all blending into one long, incomprehensible blur.

Some time later, you’d look back at what would happen next and remember the utter chaos that erupted all in the space of a few seconds. You remember the way it felt - the sudden, unexpected rush of air pressure. The way you felt it in your skin and especially in your ears. The bright, wicked flashes of light that stole the attention of your eyes before temporarily blinding you with their unwanted brilliance.

And later you’d wonder how someone who’d seen and heard many thousands of gunshots on TV, movies and video games was still utterly unprepared for the sound of a gun firing twice, indoors, from only a few feet away. Gunshots, you realized that day, are greedy, possessive things - demanding every ounce of your attention, against your will, ignorant of your preparation or readiness for the sensations that accompanied them.

When the gunshots finally release your senses from their grasp, your eyes are the first to recover. They register two bodies on the floor lying in crumpled heaps. Your last glimpse of Seulgi is as she’s dragging Irene out of the door and into the hallway, a smoking pistol in her hand.

---

Author’s Note: :O

#kpop fanfiction #kpop fanfic #kpop smut #pov smut #male reader #twice momo #twice #hirai momo

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eideticmemory · 4 years

Text

EVER SINCE NEW YORK V | MATTHEW GRAY GUBLER

Description: I was messaged saying: “If you don’t write a young Matthew enemies to lovers fic featuring an obsession with sucking on boobs then what’s the point 😔.” So, here it is, folks! The ultimate College!Matthew fic.

PART 5! Read Part 4 here!

SOUNDTRACK:

Falling - Opia.

Her - Majid Jordan.

Daylight - Maroon 5.

Word Count: 4,619.

Rating: M.

Warning/Includes: Sexual intercourse, drinking, recreational drug use, a bit of angst.

Spring, Junior Year.

Las Vegas,

Nevada.

“Hey.”

You pulled up the cover, holding it over your body and looking down at Matthew. His head was perched between your legs, and his lips were covered in slickness. “Hey,” you replied. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” he shrugged, and placed a kiss on your inner thigh. “Wanted to ask you something.”

“Right now?”

He laughed, “Oh, relax, princess. You’ll get your nut. I just wanted to see if...maybe, you might wanna go to Vegas?”

“Vegas?” you mumbled. “Why?”

“A bunch of us are going for spring break. I’m gonna be everyone’s tour guide, my mom is putting us up for the week. You should come.”

“You know what?” You smiled. “I should come. I really, really should. So, c’mon, get back to it.” You grabbed onto his hair, twirling it on your fingers.

“Bossy,” he whispered. He leaned down and continued to eat you out. Your head fell back against the pillow, you let out a happy sigh.

“Worst timing ever, Matthew. Ask me in, like, 10 minutes.”

He stopped, gasping, “10 minutes?”

“Fine, 15, 20, I don’t care. Just please—“

It took approximately 16 minutes. Matthew was able to get you off with his mouth in no time, and the two of you tangled together in a sloppy kiss. His cock pushed into you, his hand wrapped around your throat and you went dizzy as he pressed his fingers into your neck. It was three in the morning, soft music was playing through Matthew’s room, the lights were dim. The brief seperation last semester happened, it was over, and you both silently agreed that it shouldn’t happen again.

Since returning from Christmas break last month, you’ve gone back to your late night schedule. Aside from seeing each other in class and parties and hangouts, you spent the hours between midnight and three AM at Matthew’s place. It often left you tired for your 8 o’clock class, but it was worth it. You were getting dicked down — very well, by the way — Matthew and you were getting along, laughing and cracking inside jokes with one another. Things were great. Hence, Matthew’s invitation to Nevada.

“So?” He said, holding you against his chest after the deed was over.

“So? So what?”

“Vegas? Spring break?”

“To meet your mommy?”

“Well—“ he stuttered. “Yeah, it’s her house, so you’ll probably meet her.”

“You gonna bring me home to your mom? And say ‘hey, mom, this is [y/n], my nutty buddy.’?” You laughed.

“If that’s how you’d like to be introduced,” he shrugged. “I was just gonna tell her your name and keep it at that.”

“Wow, I’ve never been so honored!”

You shook his head at you, giggling, “A simple no would suffice.”

You looked up at him, a small smile on your lips, “I’ll go.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll go,” you repeated. “To Vegas. Count me in.”

“Cool,” he smiled. “Cool.”

“Only if Claire can come, too.”

He sighed, “Claire.”

“That’s my condition. Take it or leave it, dude.”

He took it.

You got a few hours rest in your own dorm, and woke up promptly to shower and get ready for class. When you got out of the bathroom, Claire was awake, brushing her teeth in front of the mirror.

“Hey,” you grinned, drying off your hair.

“Morning!” She pipped.

“Hey,” You began to get dressed. “You didn’t have plans for spring break, did you?”

“In what world would I have spring break plans that you don’t know about?” She asked.

“Right,” you nodded. “So, how would you feel about going to Vegas?”

Claire stopped applying her makeup and turned to you, “Vegas?”

“Yeah. We fly out the Sunday before break. What do you think?”

She leaned against the wall, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Sunday...” she whispered. “This wouldn’t be, uh, the trip Matthew’s taking everyone on, would it?”

You took a step back, freezing from buttoning your shirt. “Well...yeah, I guess. I’m not sure, I just got invited by someone else.”

“Who?”

“Huh?”

“Who invited you?”

“Um—“

“Cause I can’t think of anyone in our friend group that would invite you on Gube’s trip, knowing...how you feel about him.” She crossed her arms.

“So...is that a no to Vegas?”

She sighed, shook her head, “C’mon, [y/n]...”

“What?”

“Are you...are you fucking Matthew again?”

Her words hit like a bullet. They blew through you like a disaster, racking your stomach with nerves and knots and fear. You felt yourself falling in this pit of despair, of terror, the realization that your worst fear had come to life. And you could only say one thing:

“Huh?”

“Oh, God!” She shouted. “You are! You’re fucking Matthew again!”

You gasped, “C-Claire, what...what are you talking about?”

“Oh, cut the shit, [y/n]! I saw you guys in the pool at the beach house, okay?”

You sighed deeply, closing your eyes and ducking your head to avoid her gaze.

“Claire...”

“He treated you like trash, [y/n]! He fucked me, he fucked you, and broke your heart—“

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, please. The Roni thing had you depressed for weeks. And I thought maybe Alex was getting your mind off it. Oh, my God, [y/n], tell me you did not dump Alex to mess around with Matthew. Please, please tell me you have not been running around here, letting Matthew Gubler put his dick in you.”

“Stop!” You shouted.

“What is it about him? I used to have to pay you five bucks just to be in the same room as him. Now, he’s got you out at all hours of the night, and running off to Vegas?”

“What’s your deal, Claire?”

“My deal is that you’re my best friend. My very best friend. You deserve better.”

“I’m going to class,” you muttered. You continued to fix your outfit, moving on to your hair — which you quickly styled. You grabbed your backpack and headed out without another word. From you or Claire.

You didn’t mention this spat to Matthew. You just began spending an abnormal amount of time at his place, but he didn’t mind. He welcomed you with open arms, supplied you with an ample amount of sex. He helped you study, waited up for you after ballet practice, and always, always kissed you goodbye when you left.

When spring break rolled around, Claire and you weren’t on speaking terms. She was well aware that all the time you were spending away was spent with Matthew, and she refused to entertain it. She spoke roommate business with you, kept things civil, but there were no late night movie marathons or afternoon lunches.

“I’m leaving for Vegas,” you told her, hauling your suitcase.

“Okay,” she replied, flipping through a book on her bed, and not looking up from it.

You sighed, “Okay.”

Matthew greeted you at the airport, keeping his distance to keep from alerting the rest of your friends to the relationship. “Hey, where’s Claire?”

You gulped, “Um, uh, she’s not coming. I didn’t tell you?”

“Oh. No, you didn’t. Everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine. Hey, how much money do you think I can win in one week?” You changed the subject.

He giggled, “I’m gonna have to keep my eye on you, aren’t I?”

“And keep me close,” you whispered. “Very close.”

You sat separately on the plane, but took the same car to his house. Matthew held the door open for everyone, winking at you as you came in last. His house was charming, had family photos plastered on the wall.

“Aw, look,” you murmured to him, pointing at a baby picture of him on the wall. “Little Matthew!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep it moving,” he rolled his eyes, and put his hand on your lower back, guiding you through the house.

The group gathered in the living room, silently admiring the place. “My boy!” Matthew’s mom exclaimed, rushing from the kitchen with her arms wide open. This big smile grew out on Matthew’s face, and it made you smile instantly. His mom engulfed him a tender hug, holding him close, rubbing his back.

“Mom, you remember everyone,” Matthew said, his arm around his mom’s shoulders. He renamed everyone in the room, pointing them out to her. “And this is [y/n],” he motioned to you, giving you a faint smile.

“Hi, Mrs. Gubler,” you greeted her. You reached out to shake her hand, and she shook it softly.

“[y/n]...” She whispered, subtly glancing at Matthew. “Okay. Nice to meet you, [y/n].”

“Nice to meet you too.”

Matthew quickly ushered everyone upstairs. He showed your friends to the guest rooms, and while they were getting squared away, you waited in the hall patiently. He came up to you, your smiles mirroring each other’s, and the distance between you two was dangerously small.

“So, should I just set up my stuff out here? Lay down in the corridor?” You chuckled.

He shook his head, “Come on.” He grabbed your hand and your suitcase, and led you down the hallway. He pulled you into a bedroom on the right, set your stuff down on the mattress, and closed the door.

“This is my room?” You asked.

“It sure is,” he nodded. “And the best part about it is that, there’s a room right next door.” He took slow strides up to you, a smirk on his face. You let him wrap his arms around you waist, pull you close. “And... tonight, or, every night this week, the door to that bedroom will be open. Real late at night. If you’d like to come check it out.”

“Oh, yeah?” You mumbled.

“Yeah,” he put his forehead against yours, sighing. “I have to go talk to my mom. Be here when I get back.”

“I might be,” you shrugged, watching him as he separated his body from yours. He gave you one last smile before leaving.

Downstairs, Matthew’s mom was cleaning up the living room, talking to his roommate Steve. Matthew took a seat on the couch, kicking his feet up on the table. “Hey, my love! Is everyone settled in?” She asked Matthew.

“Yeah, yeah, they’re getting there,” he replied.

“And your girlfriend?” She added.

He cut his eyes up to her, then Steve. Steve was chuckling under his breath. “I don’t have a girlfriend, mom.”

“Oh? [y/n]’s not your girlfriend?”

“What? No,” he shook his head. “No. She’s not.”

“She’s new. I’ve never met her before.”

“Yeah...well, she...she’s my...uh—“

“Are you guys...are you...” His mom hesitated. He looked up at her, confused, until she raised her eyesbrows at him suggestively.

“Oh, God, mom! Don’t ask me that!” He groaned, hopping up from the couch.

“I’ll explain.” Steve directed at Matthew’s mother. Matthew stopped in his tracks, and look at Steve, his arms crossed. “Matthew’s in love with [y/n].”

“What?” Matthew shouted. “I am not—why would you say that?” His face turned bright red, the words flailing from his lips in jumbled stutters.

“Oh, you really like her,” his mom grinned.

“I don’t!” Matthew’s voice squeaked.

“Matthew, I saw the way you two looked at each other. I saw how you came in with her, how you introduced her. You like her.”

“I’m hungry. Who’s hungry? I’m gonna see if everyone wants to go out for dinner.” Matthew rambled as he left the room.

Matthew didn’t speak to you much throughout the day. He let you ride in his car, but not in the front seat. He started to pull the chair out for you at dinner, but played it off like that wasn’t his intention. It was his idea to show you all a nearby bar, and there, he was knocking drinks back, partying with friends, joking around. When you smiled at him, he pretended not to notice, and ducked his head down. And while your friends were keeping you plenty happy, you suddenly didn’t feel like being out anymore.

You took an uber back to Matthew’s house, alone, and let yourself in through the back door as he had mentioned earlier. It was nearly two in the morning, pitch black, and you wound up getting lost upstairs. You waltzed into your room, at least you thought so. But when you opened the door, you came face to face with a room covered in movie posters, decorated with spooky trinkets. There was a blue undertone, a full size bed pushed against the wall and it smelled of smoke and mint.

“You found it.”

“Ah!” You jumped, and turned around. “Fuck,” you huffed. “I’ve gotta get you a bell or something. What the hell, Matthew?”

“Why’d you leave tonight?” Matthew asked, stepping in and closing the door.

“I was tired. I wanted to sleep.” You shrugged.

“In here?”

“I got lost. I can leave,” you sighed, and started heading for the door.

Matthew grabbed onto your waist, and pulled your body into his. “What’s up, princess?”

“Nothing. What’s up with you?” You scoffed.

“What’s the supposed to mean?”

“You’ve been weird tonight! Why? Is it your mom? Are you — are you not comfortable with me being here?”

“What? That’s crazy—“

“No, it’s not. Maybe me being here was a bad idea.”

Matthew sighed, and ran his fingers through your hair. He turned away and walked up to his dresser, “You wanna know one reason I’m so excited to have you here?”

You stared at the ground shyly, “Why?”

He rummaged through his things, pulling out a small object that he craddled in his hands. “Because here...I have this.” He held up a sleek, professional looking camera.

You eyed it, stumped, “A go-pro?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “Thought we could put it to use.”

You tried to stifle your grin, “Put it to use?”

“Yeah. Let’s make a movie.”

You laughed dryly, “A movie?”

“Yeah. A dirty one.”

“Um...no!” You exclaimed.

“Why not?”

“Because...icky.”

He chuckled, “It’s not icky. It’s the same thing we always do. Just caught on film. C’mon, please? Pleeeease? I’ll make it tasteful.”

You rolled your eyes and exhaled, eyeing him intently. “Fine,” you agreed. “But, I have one condition.”

“Name it.”

His bed was comfortable, soft. It permanently smelled like him. You laid on your back, your dress pushed up your thighs, and your panties laid on the floor. You held the tiny camera in your hands and had the lense aimed between your legs. You tried not to moan too loudly, Matthew working his mouth on you underneath the bed sheets. He was putting on a performance, twirling his tongue on your clit, sucking on it, humming in delight.

You couldn’t help but touch his nose, admiring the way it sat on his face and grazed against your pelvis. You pressed your fingertip onto the bridge of his nose and ran it down to the tip, smiling down at him. He opened his eyes and peered in the camera. Watching on the camera screen, you couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of his irises, his gaze filled with intensity and lust.

You tangled your fingers in his hair, your thumb tracing his cheekbone, “Come suck on my tits.” You commanded.

He grinned, and he quietly began to kiss up your stomach. You kept the camera close to his face, capturing his every move. His tongue swirled around your nipple, and you had to push his hair out of his face to catch the action. The camera picked up the sound of your whimpers, the sight of Matthew gropping your breasts, his lips on you.

Matthew kissed a trail up to your neck, sucking on your skin, so you could angle the camera and get a nice little shot of the two of you bundled up. “Give me this,” he whispered, taking the camera from your hand.

He sat back and filmed himself undoing his pants, pulling his cock out and stroking himself. “Want me to fuck you?” He asked, and angled the camera at your face. You looked into the lense and nodded, twirling your hair on your finger.

He bit down on his lip, pointed the camera back down at his cock, and pushed the tip into you. He listened to the wet sound of him sinking inside of you, pulling out halfway and them slamming back in. You tensed up and gripped onto the duvet cover, gasping. He immediately focused the camera on your face, watching through the screen as he pounded into you.

“Fuck,” you muttered, your eyes rolling back. Matthew was practically drooling over you, huffing and puffing as he writhed on top of you. His shoulder were too far away for you to grab onto, but you dug your nails into his torso. You face was laced with pleasure and estacy, sweat forming on your forehead, your lips parted slightly.

Matthew’s other hand held onto your face, his thumb tracing over your bottom lip. He continued to record your face as his thumb slid into your mouth.

“Look at me,” he begged. “Look at me.”

Your eyes flickered up the camera, your lips tightened around his thumb and he nearly exploded. “Oh, God, you’re so hot,” he huffed. “You’re so fucking hot, princess.”

You whimpered against his skin, your jaw dropping down to release strangled moans. His hand dropped down to cup your boob, massage it between his fingers. He centered the camera on your chest, watching as your boobs bounced up and down. The camera followed his hand down to your clit, and he recorded himself fucking you and rubbing the sensitive nerve. You trembled underneath his touch, beginning to fall apart.

“You gonna come, baby?” He panted, camera pointed at your face. You nodded quickly, your face hot, your lip caught between your teeth. “Come on, come on my cock.”

His voice sent you over the edge, and the camera caught everything. You — quivering, groaning, moaning, gritting your teeth. It set Matthew on fire. He fucked you through your orgasm, until you were melting into the mattress. His hips bucked into you sloppily, and aggressively, now videoing his cock with the camera.

He moved the camera perfectly, capturing the moment he pulled out and came on your dress. His hand moved quickly to jerk himself off, until every last drop was on the fabric. He crumbled into a fit of breathy groans, hunching over and trying to catch his breath.

“My dress,” you whined.

“Well,” he sighed, shutting the camera off. “Guess you’ll just have to take it off then.”

By the time spring break was over, the two of you had made 5 videos. The number of times you fucked, however, was much greater. You were grateful for an opportunity to get back at him for every hickey he’d given you in the past. You constantly left marks on him that he had to hide from his mother, and you enjoyed every second of his squirming. Feeling much looser and more relaxed in Vegas, the two of you fell into a comfortable rhythm. Still secretive, still sneaky, just...less. You even got up the courage to sit on his lap in front of everyone, and no one said a word.

They did, however, let you sit with him on the plane ride home.

Matthew gave you a kiss on the cheek before you headed back to your dorm. You stepped up to your front door, took in a deep breath, and stared at the peephole. You weren’t ready. Ready to tell Claire everything that had happened. Even though there was no one in the world you wanted to tell more. But she had made her feelings about the situation very clear, and you had to respect that. So, instead of facing up to her right away, you left. You didn’t even think about why, or where you were going. Because the destination was obvious.

“[y/n]?” Matthew said as he answered the door. He looked down, noticing your suitcase still at your side. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I, uh, locked myself out the room. Can I stay here for a bit? Just until Claire gets back.” You asked.

“Yeah, of course,” he nodded, letting you into the suite.

You got to his room and instantly crashed on his bed, feeling so comfortable. “Jet lag?” He laughed.

“Amongst other things.”

“You really need to let your body adjust to the time change.”

“Mhm,” you hummed, pulling the covers over your body and snuggling into the pillows. He laughed at you, and sighed. Then he crawled into bed with you, and you let him hold you close. Thinking you were falling asleep, Matthew lightly ran his fingers down your cheek. It was soft and gentle and felt nice. And you desperately wished for a way to have this. To have him. Without losing your best friend.

But things between you and Claire just got worse.

Over the next few weeks, she not only kept you at arms length, but Matthew as well. Despite living with you, she found creative ways to keep your conversations short and brief, and oftentimes would leave before you got back from Matthew’s. And despite being Matthew’s friend, she managed to avoid him at every party, every class. It just sucked. Because you were so, so happy, and then there was Claire.

“We have to move out,” she grumbled as she entered the room.

“What?” You were stocking your mini fridge, but stopped to look at her.

“They’re kicking us out because of this goddamn virus! Fuck!” She shouted.

“What? Where’d you hear that?”

“The school just sent out an email.”

You rushed over to your bed, grabbing your phone off your mattress. The email notification popped up, causing a vibration in your hand, and you opened the app right away. All NYU students to be moved out of campus housing by Sunday.

“Sunday?” You shouted. “Sunday? They expect me to pack all my shit in 4 days?”

Claire would’ve responded, but she was too busy already getting her stuff together, and you were occupied with rampant thoughts about, well, everything. You’d have to pack. Everything. Clear out your room. You’d have to call home. Have someone help. Fuck. You’d have to live at home. Home. For months. You couldn’t go out on campus, couldn’t see your friends, your friends!

Matthew. Oh, God. Matthew.

He crossed your mind everyday for the next 2 days, as you packed your room into boxes and bags. He didn’t attempt to contact you, probably too busy with his own packing. Your family would be picking you up Saturday morning. So, you felt it best to go say goodbye on Friday.

It was almost midnight, and you had just finished packing. You stood outside of Matthew’s bedroom door for a long time, after having been let in by his suitemate. Before you could knock, the door swung open and the two of you nearly collided.

“Oh! [y/n].”

“Hey.”

“Hey,” he mumbled. “I was just on my way to see you.”

“You were?”

“Yeah.”

“I, uh, I’m leaving tomorrow morning. So, I wanted to come say...goodbye.” The words were hard to push out, and they hit Matthew even harder. His heart sunk to his stomach, and he wanted to do anything, anything, to make it go away.

He grabbed onto your face and pulled you into a passionate kiss. You instinctively gripped onto his shirt, your face contorted in shock and confusion. He pulled you into the room, slamming the door behind you.

“Matthew,” you whispered, but he continued to press his lips to yours. “Matthew.” You repeated as he began to kiss your neck. Your legs started to go weak, your breathing sped up. “Matthew, wait.”

He stopped abruptly and looked you in the eye, your face in his palm. “What is it?”

“I just—“ you sighed. “Are you okay?”

He digested the words for a second, looking down at you with a soft gaze. He kissed you once again, arms now around your waist, chest pressed against yours. You gave in. You both needed this.

It was hungry. Eager. Clothes were torn off in less than a minute. Matthew pushed you onto the bed, tangled his fingers in your hair and devoured your body. He left a trail of hickies from your neck, to your chest, to your rib cage. The sensation was so overwhelming that you couldn’t do anything but stare at the ceiling, attempting to control your breathing.

Soft kisses on your thighs led to an intense session of him eating you out, him pressing you against his face, his tongue encircling your clit. You rolled your hips against his mouth, gasping his name and pulling his hair. He worked himself to the brink, his jaw going numb, until you cried out his name as you came. It was an other-worldly, hypersensitive, super sonic orgasm. And it took you a minute to recover.

His body laid on top of yours, his lips on your neck, his torso between your legs. You whined into your mouth as he pressed his dick in you, slowly, gently, until he was buried inside you. You could feel his arm muscles contracting and relaxing under your touch. His breath hit your shoulder with each quiet groan that escaped his lips. He put his forehead against yours, watching your face as he moved in and out of you at a steady pace.

You hummed softly, and kissed his lips, then his cheek, then his neck. His mouth dropped open, and he couldn’t stop himself from moaning. “Oh, my God, [y/n],” he panted. He never said your name to you. Ever. Very rarely. Especially not in bed. And it tore you apart. You held onto him for dear life and looked him in the eye as you massaged your clit.

Your moans increased in volume together, both of you nearing your release at once. You whimpered uncontrollably, your eyes fluttering closed. You couldn’t see Matthew watching you, but he was. He watched the way your hair framed your face, your expression of pleasure. He placed soft kisses all over your face, and the moment he caught your lips on his, you came. You accidentally bit down on his lip, and he let out a weak moan.

“S-sorry,” you whispered.

“It’s okay,” he nodded. “It’s okay. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, baby.”

He followed his words with a grunt, slamming himself into you. Your chests rubbed against each other’s, the bed squeaked along with the movement of Matthew’s hips. His moans became breathy, vulnerable, and he proactively pulled himself out of you. You dazedly reached down and stroked his cock, watching his face as he trembled. He said your name again, faintly, very faintly, in a fit of moans as he released himself onto your stomach.

You were sticky and sweaty and gross — both of you — but you held each other close, panting and wheezing.

You spent the night at his dorm for the first time that night. The two of you slept cuddled up, his head on your chest, your arms wrapped around each other. At six in the morning, you woke up and slid out of bed without waking Matthew. You kept your vision away from him as you got dressed. And when you were ready to go, you turned to him and admired him.

He looked peaceful, soft. You wanted nothing more than to wake him up, stay in bed with him for hours. But you couldn’t, and you wouldn’t. So you gave him a kiss on top of his head, and you left.

[PART 6.]

#mine #college!matthew #esny #matthew gray gubler #matthew gray gubler smut #matthew gray gubler imagine #mgg #mgg smut #mgg imagine

628 notes · View notes

keykidpilipili · 3 years

Note

Would like to hear your kingdom hearts x fate ideas! It sounds so interesting!! 🙏😄

There's mostly the Destiny Trio+Ansem sod as servants for now but I hope you'll find it interesting to read. For general worldbuilding a reminder of fate stuff. The magus world and especially holy grail wars are pretty harsh: inhuman experiments, the necessary murders to preserve the concept of Mystery thus magic and reach the grail. I developped on how their characters could develop in such environments.

Starting with Sora, since as kh3 he canonically died and he touched the hearts of many people, the throne of heroes has no problems summoning a version of him. His starting class is berserker due to his overwhelming kindness and willingness to help others that is nearly impossible to hinder if you're his master. Heartless manifest in any wars he participates thanks to the Keyblade’s existence. Because of his disney and Square acquaintances remembering him as often searching for his friends, his reason for taking part in the Grail war is to find them. However since in life he never really described those friends in depth to others he met, his memory of them grows fuzzier with each summoning.

Without a solid support system, the countless betrayals and endless hurt he is exposed to and is powerless to stop drain him considerably. As a result his wish starts to drift towards being erased from the throne or the destruction of the latter entirely. Down the line he eventually meets a kind master who convinces him to let go of the utopia and memories he cannot reach(the real sora returned and he has no place to return to in the first place). Protecting the glimmers of hope and kindness he comes across, even if it's ephemeral happiness, he found it valuable to be able to go on. For his alts, there is

Ruler Sora who appears for great emergencies like the universe being threatened and can wield the X-blade(by virtue of kh3) proper. That said he is not the most competent arbiter and will intervene if fighters might involve innocents.

Alter Ego Sora Alter came out because in a very unfortunate war he got in contact with corrupted grail mud. Unsurprisingly the mad teen decided to shelter All of the World’s Evil(Angra Mainya) inside him since the servant wanted to manifest into the world. Naturally this didn’t end well and his sanity took a Deep Dive with him becoming obsessed with removing the Hurt despite spawning curses and darkness like no tomorrow. This version of Sora has a really high chance of accidentally starting a heartless apocalypse if summoned in a holy grail war. He takes longer to heal from wounds since he is some kind of anti/rage form at all times.

Regarding Riku, in base kh his character arc relied heavily on his being scammed by Ansem and tossing people aside for his ambitions. Apart from a single scene in chain of memories, we don't see him interact with Maleficent after that game and thus we remember mostly Ansem being his antagonist. As a result the two are stuck sharing a spirit origin in the same manner as Sakamoto Ryouma and Oryou. Although Riku could try winning a war to wish for him to be his own heroic spirit with the heartless, he doesn't want to risk the latter reaching Kingdom Hearts if left alone. He would probably have great compatibility with young magi who are in dire need of some life orientation and could use his experience as young teen who got scammed(holy grail wars are too scams as a concept).

As for his team mate Ansem has no issue cooperating during wars, dying is painful, he is in no hurry to repeat that experience thank you. Plus he’d rather see Riku win than one of those terrible researchers who suck at 4d chess planning and are not subtle about wanting to backstab you. Impressed he was not when the keyblade wielder asked him if he had put his heart into such hapless magi. Sure he’ll try to get his own wish should he and Riku win however temporary truce is key. Together they have way better chances of survival as their different mindsets cover each other’s weaknesses. Being stuck together with your nemesis is terrible but at least you aren’t alone. As of their class I’m inserting them into Foreigner since the base concept of their relationship in kh1 was Riku being influenced by a being from another plane.

Now here comes Kairi! Seeing as post kh3 and melody of memory, she is training however Kingdom Hearts gotta lend some poh power to the throne. The redhead becomes a temporary servant by doing entire wars in her dreams and comes back to her body whenever they end. Info on Sora’s whereabouts are scarce and if she can get anything from a part time job alongside training with Aqua then all the better. Spoiler alert it didn’t go well. Skills were certainly learnt and her light grew strong, even wielding multiple copies of keyblades inspired by her fellow poh. And yet the sight of all these lives sacrificed for some power trips and science infuriated her. The magi in their basements bragging about their experiments to reach the root as the scent of death permanates the very air don’t brag for very long. The more she saw of the magic world, the more she wondered if that humanity would not be better rid of it all together. More than anyone Kairi knows she was lucky to have a happy childhood after losing her home. Even with Xehanort gone and the memory of him defeated, his essence, the stubborn ambition to reach a greater power no matter the cost, remains. For all those lives sacrificed like chess pieces, all those artificial beings treated as mana batteries, this avenger will destroy magic. Story-wise her heroic spirit form would become its own person after the real Kairi put an end to her tempory contract(which she couldn’t have done if it had been directly with the Counter Force). Gameplay wise aside from her keyblade and regular light magic she can also go into Light/Watcher form which is similar to Antiform but light based. That form is more powerfull but excerbates the light in the hearts around her spawning more watchers, able to aid her but if left alone would attack any life form with stronger darkness than light without caring for the reasons why. It’s also toxic to the environment, the very ground in a wasteland of blank white dust.

#kingdom hearts #fate series #pili rambles #servant oc #pili's fate ocs #KH HS au #kh heroic spirit au #sora #riku #kairi #Am I inserting my kh watcher hcs into this for the Kairi section? Heck yeah I am #pili's au stack #for visuals about the blank white wasteland think of the lostbelt bleached earth or the empty in FF14 #long post

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rhinotheamazing · 3 years

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One Side, Two Lives

Chapter Three

First Previous Next

Hello Brother Dearest!

Warning: mention of eating disorder, swearing, and Remus being Remus

What a wonderful morning. Not. Roman rolled out of bed, literally. He groaned as he got up from the floor and wandered around his room. It was early, maybe around four or something, he honestly couldn’t care too much. Being the ego really sucked sometimes, because if Thomas was feeling horrible and like he wasn’t worth anything, Roman might as well have caught a bad case of the flue. He had woken up with a sore throat and such a stuffy nose that he could barely breath.

“Why, just why must I be the ego?” Roman complained to no one as he messed with his already crazy hair. He sighed, guess I better go get some kind of medicine. He was so out of it that he didn’t even try to conceal his appearance to any others that might be up at that time.

He walked out of his room and lazily walked to the main room. Although the sides did have their own bathrooms and medicines, all of Roman’s was pain pills and and antidotes for different poisons. You’d be surprised what he finds on is adventures, Remus doesn’t exactly know the meaning of “harmless creatures”.

Because of this, their was a bigger medicine cabinet that was open to anyone, Logan made sure that this was put it to place a while ago when Roman came back from a a small adventure and was severely poisoned and out of medicine. To say that he gave some of the others a scare would be a bit of an understatement; though he didn’t really know any of this since he was out cold for the next three days.

When he got to the main room he was a bit surprised to see the anxious side sleeping on the couch curled up with his headphones still on. He was snoring softly and Roman, even sick, couldn’t help but smile at him. He’s like a little cat, so cute. Roman grabbed a blanket that was on one of the other seats and and carefully used it to cover the smaller side.

After that he went over to the cabinet and got the medicine labeled “ego boost”. He hated taking these, they weren’t supposed to lessen depression, they sorta just put Roman in a state of neutral at times like this, supposedly if he takes too many Thomas will think he can do literally anything, and that would be incredibly dangerous. He sighed as he took only half of the small pills, this should lessen his symptoms while still keeping his mental state the same.

After taking it he went back to his room and laid down in his bed. He needed to to get to work but he was just felt so dead right now, he could take a a little break right now right? Your so pathetic, can’t even work though a little cold?

“Shut up you asshole…” and Roman was out like a light.

He woke up a few hours later with a start when something large and stinky jumped on his bed.

“Who goes there?!” He said, a sword materializing in his hand. Not a second after two daggers met his sword.

“Hello brother dearest!” The owner of the daggers shouted. Roman squinted in his lightly dark room and made out the shape of an insane smile and green eyes. He groaned and flopped back onto his bed.

“Hello Remus.”

“What’s wrong Robro? Usually you start yelling at me already for being on your bed” Remus said in a concerned voice. Roman, who had previously had his arm draped over his head, looked up and saw that his brother had mud splattered on his shirt and pants, which was starting to get on his bed. Once again he groaned and without being able to think of a more polite way, he simply kicked his brother of his bed to stop any further damage to his sheets.

“I’m sick Re, its not very fun” he complained to his brother. The green side was about to jump back onto the bed when Roman shot him a glare that could kill. Although he could probably get away from his brother in the state he was in, Remus decided to do the nice thing and snapped away his usual outfit leaving him in some shorts and a green tank top that had the image of a broken heart on it, after that he jumped back onto the bed and laid next to his brother.

“Is this because of the debate from yesterday? Ego a little low bro?” Roman just gave a small nod to tell his brother he was right. He hated being sick, but he had to do something or else he would defiantly feel worse tomorrow, at least emotionally. He sighed as he sat up and walked over to his work desk, if he was a little wobbly he wouldn’t admit it. He looked over the many projects he needed to finish but his mind could barely register any of them.

“You know as much fun as it would be to see you fall on your face five times trying too work, I think you should sit down.” Remus said forcing his brother to sit back on his bed.

“I’m going to go grab you something to eat and if I find out you tried to work I’m hitting you in the head with my morning star. “ he said before he left his brother in his room.

He quickly rose up into the dark sides part of the mind palace and grabbed a couple of snacks. A bole of popcorn, a few juice boxes, two apples balancing on his head, and finally a stick of deodorant stuffed under his arm.

As he walked back to Roman’s room he was careful to avoid the others. He wasn’t afraid of anyone, he was creativity, one of the strongest sides, but he wanted to make a big appearance soon and he didn’t want to spoil that by one of the light sides seeing him.

Once he did get back to his brother’s room he saw Roman trying to sneak his way over to his desk to work. Not having any of this, Remus stuck out his foot and tripped him, summoning a pillow so that he wouldn’t hit his head to hard.

“I told you not to move, you’re sick and you’re not going to be good for anyone if you don’t take the time to get better.” Roman sighed in defeat and got off of the ground, though he was tempted to just lay there and fall asleep.

“Fine, you win Re, but what the hell am I supposed to do in the meantime? You know I hate doing nothing.” Roman said as he flopped on the bed.

“Well you can start by eating,” Remus said, and just before Roman could interject he continued , “I know you haven’t eaten anything today so don’t even try to lie to me.” Roman faked offense, “I would never! I’m the heroic prince, I would never lie.” He said with a smile. Remus snorted at that.

“Yah, and I’m as strait as a ruler, we can do this all day Ro” he retorted. The siblings where used to small squabbles, it was just how they were, honestly it would be concerning if they didn’t get into some kind of argument already.

After their little argument, they decided to have a movie day. Roman of course voted that they watch a Disney movie with a good bit of action, Remus on the other hand wanted to watch a horror movies with lots of gore. Compromising, they decided to to watch an animated DC movie of Remus’s choice that had enough people getting killed to satisfy him.

They were having a fairly good time all in all, but unfortunately for Roman it did not go unnoticed that he wasn’t eating much.

“I swear Roman if you don’t start eating more I will stab you in the gut, one time for every meal you missed.” Remus scolded his brother. Roman rolled his eyes saying that stabbing him wouldn’t be any better for his health, Remus said it would remind him to eat regularly.

“Look Remus, I know you worry about me and I worry about you, but I promise you I’m fine. I don’t go a day where a don’t eat something.” Roman said. It was true, after a very heated argument with his brother a few months ago Roman had made sure to eat a little something each day, even if that something was just a handful of grapes.

Remus sighed, “I know brother but with how much you go adventuring the little amount of food you eat might as well be nothing.”

“Hey, you go out adventuring as much as I do and you eat deodorant for breakfast.” And accidentally proving Roman’s point, Remus took another bite of his favorite flavor of deodorant before glaring at his brother.

“Maybe but you know I eat three meals a day even if those meals aren’t the healthiest. Come on Roman, I’m just trying to make sure you don’t accidentally hurt yourself.” Remus said with the softest look he could muster. Roman sighed in defeat, he hated making others feel bad and being a burden on them. Maybe if he just played along he could convince his brother that he was doing better.

“Okay ok, I promise I’ll do a better job of taking care of myself, what kind of prince would I be if I make others worry for nothing. Can we move on to a different conversation now?” Roman said starting to feel uncomfortable as they continued to talk about his flaws. Remus, sensing his twins discomfort smiled a smile that was a bit to wide and moved onto something else.

“Ok Ro, what have you been working on recently?” Remus said, he knew full well how much Roman like to tell about whatever project he was on. To his immense surprise Roman sighed heavily and flopped onto his back.

“I’ve got a few things that I’m exited to get working on, but currently I’m just feeling a bit overloaded with having to come up with whatever we’re doing in the next Sander Sides video” Roman complained. He only ever complained to his brother since he knew that Remus would figure out what was bugging him wether he told him or not.

Remus considered this and walked over at Roman’s desk that laid on the other side of the bed. There were papers thrown everywhere on it and some of them had a small red x in the corner which he could only guess meant ‘scrap it’ considering his brother’s perfectionist mental state.

I really need to help him work on his self esteem, the self conscious bastard. Remus thought to himself. Well, he couldn’t do much now, but maybe he could buy his brother a bit of time.

“Hey Ro!” He suddenly exclaimed, makingRoman jump a bit. “I’ve got a great news. I was planing for it to be a bit of a surprise but whatever. I’m going to introduce myself to Thomas in the next video!” That got Roman to pay attention.

“Really?! Heck yah! No offense to the others but things will be way more interesting with you around!” Roman was as exited about the idea as Remus. They always had to be careful with their meet ups because of the whole light sides and dark sides thing, but if Remus introduces himself to Thomas it would make a lot more sense if he just popped up in the lights sides area every now and then.

“Of course things will be more interesting, its me where talking about” and just to emphasize his point, Remus plucked off his head and held it under his arms, wearing a smile the whole time. Roman gaged at the display and warned his brother about getting blood on his carpet, even though he himself had done so many a times. Once Remus screwed his head back on, literally, he sat down and explained that he was probably going to give Thomas a light nightmare and then show up when he asks the others to appear to talk about the dream.

Although Roman was not a fan of scaring Thomas in any way, it sounded like a fairly good plan. It would give reason for Remus to appear and Thomas was already having some trouble sleeping thinking about the missed call back and all.

“Sound like a good plan brother, but Thomas is already having nightmares quite often so your probably going to want to make a move sooner than later before we discus the nightmare problem.” Roman said. Remus nodded a bit, understanding the reasoning.

“Alright, he has to make some kind of video two days from now right? Ill just show up the night before so that he makes it a Sander Sides.”

“It’s going to be hard to pretend like we hate each other.” Roman said, the two have been putting up a charade of hatred for each other their entire lives, but it was a lot harder to act like you hate someone when you’re around them and just want to act like siblings.

“Yah, but it should be fine, it can’t be that hard to act like I want to kill you.” Remus said playfully, but he made a mistake in that moment, he shoved Roman in the ribs.

Roman hissed in pain and put a hand to his side. Remus pulled back, that was a really light hit, but he acted like his ribs are- Remus’s face turned into a scowl as he figured it out.

“Roman…” Roman froze at his brother’s voice. Well, I’m screwed. He slowly turned to his brother with a nervous smile. Even though they were the same height Remus seemed to tower over him and Roman knew he was not getting out of this one. “Hey brother, something the mater?” Roman said, his voice shaking and still keeping up his smile.

“Did you get hurt and not tell me dear brother?” Remus said with one of his creepiest smiles.

The two usually helped one another when they get hurt, so when either of them didn’t tell the other, someone got a very harsh scolding.

“Um, maybe? I just went for a walk in the imagination and got hurt a little bit” Roman said rubbing the back of his neck.

“How badly?” Remus asked.

“Oh, not very badly, just a few broken ribs.” Roman answered looking anywhere but his brother. Remus, still smiling like a maniac, put his hands to his mouth, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath in.

“HOW IN THE WORLD ARE YOU SUCH A FREAKING IDIOTIC MORON!” Remus yelled as he shook his brother back and forth.

“I thought I could handle it! I just fought the manticore chimera for a bit and got nocked into a wall. But after that I came right back and wrapped my ribs and got some ice so I’m fine now!” He stated as he tried to defend himself.

“That doesn’t mater you idiot! First of all, you shouldn’t have fought the manticore by yourself you asshole! Secondly you should have come to me when you got hurt! What if it hadn’t been a clean break and a piece had cut up your insides or something!”

“That’s not how humans work!”

“That’s not important right now! You should be resting for a lot longer than one day! Your sick and you have broken ribs! That is a very bad combo!”

“Look, I didn’t mean for things to go as badly as it did, I wanted to blow off some steam and I was off my game a bit.”

Remus sighed heavily.

“Look Roman that’s not the point. How would you feel if I got seriously hurt and and didn’t tell you?” Roman thought about that for a second, he figured that he would probably scream at his brother for getting hurt for an hour of more.

“I guess I would yell at you until you couldn’t hear anymore.” Roman admitted. He thought that he could pull of the act to not make Re worried, but it looked like he failed at that as much as everything else in his life.

“Look, just, come to me when you have a problem. We both got issues and we need to deal with them. It’s better for us to put them out into the open instead of trying to hide them and us finding out later.” Roman sighed and agreed with his brother.

“I get it, if I get hurt this badly again I’ll go to you for help” Roman said, crossing his fingers behind his back. “Can we move onto a different subject now, I could really use a break from real life for a while.”

“Not quite yet brother, you have to promise me you won’t be doing too much until your ribs are at least partially healed.”

“That’s going to take at least three weeks before they are completely healed!”

“Just get some medicine from Logan and take some of your ego pills, you’ll be good in a two weeks tops” Remus said.

“Maybe but we have to do a video before then remember, it was your plan.” Roman pointed out with an annoyed scowl on his face. Remus seemed to think that fact over a bit, then you could practically see the lightbulb appear over his head.

“What if I knock you out for most of the video?”

Roman’s brain short circuited for a minute. “What?”

“Just listen. I could pretend to hit you in the head with my morning star and then you could just pretend to be knocked out for the rest of the video! You can get some sleep and rest while it gives me a more dramatic appearance, its perfect!” Roman did not think this was the best solution they could come up with, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to get Remus to change his mind.

“Fine, if you really think this is the best option.” Roman said. He couldn’t help but give a small smile when his brother lifted his arm in the air proclaiming victory as loudly as he could. The rest of the day the two went over the plan and Remus’s song to make sure everything went right. Roman smiled as Remus started singing “Forbidden Fruit”, I guess having a manic for a brother isn’t so bad.

Finally! I been dying to start writing for Remus. I hope all the people with brothers or sisters could recognized the fear of getting in trouble with them. Well, that all for now humans, have a lovely day, bye!

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@lovelivingmydreams

#creativitwins #roman sanders #remus sanders #duke sanders #princy sanders #virgil sanders #pride!roman #sander sides #thomas sanders #mention of gore #slight mention of eating disorder #my writting

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Ducktales Della Arc Finale and Shadow Into Light Combo: The Shadow War! or The Last Stand of Lena DeSpell (For at least a year)

Hello all you happy people! And today the two arcs of Ducktales i’ve been covering unite for the season 1 finale! It’s been a hell of a ride: We’ve had a family reborn, gay subtext, a warriors homage, an underground adventure, a vacation with the gods, gay subtext, a giant shark made of money, a trip to old Scotland for some family fun shouting, gay subtext, a trip into Lena’s innermost nightmares that also involved a sasquatch for some reason, a heart stopping reveal, a heartbreaking argument due to said reveal and gay subtext. It’s been a hell of a ride and while the Lena train will go on, I feel both acomplished and happy to have finished up the Della arc in such a short time. Never doing that again mind, as it took up my entire schedule and pushed any other ongoing projects out, but i’m still proud to have pulled it off.

When we last left off.. yesterday, The truth came out, the boys lashed out at Scrooge, Scrooge lashed out at everyone, and we all cried. Now Magica looms, our family is broken again and it’s up to two unlikely people to bring them together again. So join me under the cut for some parent trapping, some adventure and even more Weblena subtext than usual, as we enter the Shadow War.

Part One: Night of De Spell!

I”ve come around on the episodes being treated as two parts in reuruns and on Disney +. They were BUILT to be chunked up later as there are clear breaks between episodes, said chunking is to make reruns on tv easier.. and it makes my job easier as it gives me clear act breaks. I’ll still cover them all in one article, but it makes it easier to recap it when I have two clearly defined acts, something that’s been a struggle when reviewing episodes that just aired like Let’s Get Dangerous! and the Last Adventure!, hence why I switched to breaking down the episode instead for the latter. So I really can’t gripe about something that dosen’t really affect anything negatively, at most it just adds credits to both episodes, and HELPS me a lot.

And it really helps with this one as like most of the episodes for the Della arc... the first half of the finale is two plots that don’t really intersect that much aside from Magica mimicking Scrooge on the phone to keep him from going to the dinner. Other than that they don’t really impact each other until the end of the first part. So i’ll be covering both plots separately, and then just the episode as a whole for part two.

Good. Let’s get quackin.

Everyone But Scrooge and Lena in Parent Trapped:

It’s three days after the end of the last episode and everything still sucks: Webby is desperate to try and get her family back but none of them are hearing it and Dewey and Huey are taking it an extra mile and throwing their mementos from their adventures in the bay. Louie however dosen’t want to and it’s the one bit of an otherwise great episode that does not work for me as he’s not keeping it for sentiment: it’s a solid gold Kopesh. As someone who makes about 30 bucks a month and gladly sells stuff he doesn’t need, this annoys me on a fundamental level. Sell the damn thing and buy yourselves some food or some ninja turtles dvds like me.

So Webby is worried they might leave soon and she’ll be back to almost no one but Launchpad assures her they aren’t going anywhere.. right as Donald, desperate to help the boys cheer up and relating to what their feeling, offers to take them where they always wanted to go: Cape Suzette! Spin it!

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The Sea Ducks’ even on the flier. Baloo was a legend.. I hope he enjoys his retirment on Cocaine Island as Secretary of Goodtimes under President Snowflame. So our dynamic duo spiral into panic at the thought of loosing their family and best friend respectively.

Webby: Someone’s gotta remain calm here Launchpad: So you? Even Launchpad knows he isn’t the adult in the situation between him and an 11 year old girl. So they come up with a plan. It’s time to parent trap those sons of bitches. They’ll host a heartwarming dinner reminding them of all the good times, invite Scrooge as the suprise guest and then spring the parent trap. Probably also sing Let’s Get Together given the two people we’re dealing with and given Beakley’s age she likely showed Webby both. Sidenote... I really wish we’d seen more of these two. It’s a team up we only got this once but both Webby and Launchpad being friendly weirdos with a lot of heart but not a lot of common sense made them the dream team and make this part of the plot hilarious and help lighten the mood given the heavy stakes.

So later that day, we cut to Huey and Lewey who are looking into Cape Suzette.. and find themselves not as excited anymore. They wanted to go all their lives.. but it’s clear that traveling the world.. it’s just another port town, not much more or less adventuerous than Duckburg, and was likely only appealing because it wasn’t here. They’ve flown higher now, seen more and while they won’t admit it... they probably really DON’T want to leave Scrooge forever. it sounded good a few hours ago, it sounded great 6 months ago but now.. it’s just not the same. Dewey is all for it.. but that’s because Dewey was the one who took everything the worst. He put all this effort into finding his mom, into this whole big hunt... and also put all his faith and love and future into scrooge, so having that all puleld out from under him without the maturity to get that he lost a lot too, combined with his natural stubborness, has lead him to dig in. But before hec an convince the other Webby and Launchpad slip them the invitation. The boys accept, probably because with a child’s handwriting it could only be either Webby or Launchpad.. Donald set out traps for Doofus after the last time.

So they take over the kitchen with Donald confused and upset and then just grumpy after.. they explain their making a farewell dinner. And one of them is his friend. And the other one is his boys surrogate sister. And their offering to make him free dinner and brought all the fixings when he’s out of a job

So naturally their attempt at a parent trap is about as subtle as a Killdozer through your living room, with Webby having made replicas of all their adventures out of food. Launchpad provided drinks.. that are melted popscilces (”There’s a riddle on the stick”). God bless you thoughtly dumb thoroughly beautiful man. So naturally this really isn’t working at all, not helped by Scrooge not showing up thanks to Magica, and Beakley showing up because Webby made the crucial mistake of thinking Launchpad could think bout anything but Darkwing Duck, Planes or a Darkwing Duck Shaped planes clearly so he gave her an invitation telling her NOT to come.

Webby’s attempt to get them to remember Scrooge fondly gets no-sold, though in a very touching way as Dewey, clearly sensing what she’s trying to do instead picks Uncle Donald, with Huey, Louie and Launchpad all joining in saying he’s Loyal (Dewey, who also uses it as a jab at scrooge because he’s being a little shit this episode, and not in his usual fun way or Louie’s usual fun way), Thoughtful (Huey), Passionate (Louie) and that he likes his sailor suit (Launchpad). It brings the duck to tears and as a big fan of Donald, I love this a lot and it shows that, even if Dewey is doing it to take a jab at his uncle, they really do love and apricate their uncle and all he did despite perferring scrooge for the last 6 months. They may love their rich uncle.. but Donald’s there Dad and nothing can take that away from him.. not that a lack of an emphasis on his role as their adopted dad in season 3 didn’t try. They love him and wether they realized that because of what happened with Scrooge or always felt this way and just never expressed it, i’ts sweet. For the record I feel while they loved him it took till this for Dewey and Louie to appricate him while Huey, being a sweetheart and the most like him out of the three, always did. Launchpad attempts to use a bouncy castle to fix things for some reason.. the inner machinations of his mind are an enigma.... or just this on a loop.

You make the call. Beakley naturally, being a spy with decades of experince and someone with half a brainn, figured out their parent trapping them.. but to the suprise of both and the audience she agrees. The family’s been apart too long and she’s fully on board with keeping it together. It makes sense both just in the context of season one and with the reveal of the finale. For the former, she’s watched Scrooge be miserable and withdraw for a decade, and was the one who acitvely encouraged him to spend time with the boys. Sure she wasn’t happy about them moving in, but that settled quickly and last episode she was every bit as worried about the boys as she was her own daughter. She WANTS her best friend to be happy and knows he and his family are stubborn as hell, and knows that our dream team’s heart is in the right place.. but they have about a third of a brain cell between them when it comes to social situations. The finale just adds to it by not wanting Webby to loose her dad or the rest of her family because her dad’s being an idiot. And as a third I just thought of, now we know Beakley’s only ever had one family member before joining the McDuck family, she likely wishes she’d had one and dosen’t want Scrooge to loose that. It’s also a VERY touching moment: Webby forgave Scrooge easily out of desperation, Launchpad did because he’s nice.. but Beakley while justifably pissed at the time and pulling Webby out of there til lhe stopped being a shithead, given the “your not family” comment, despite having EVERY reason to shun him too.. she gets that right now her best friend needs her to keep his family from running off.

She also wins easily, making a pie that scrooge liked and taking it away saying they don’t want a reminder of that “awful man”.. before giving them Scrooge’s side of the story, if through double negatives Launchpad dosen’t get. She points out he spent nearly all his money, that their mother was her own woman who made the decision, and that Scrooge spent TEN YEARS looking for her, the entirety of her lives and only stopped because he was on the brink of loosing everything. That starts to turn the boys minus Dewey, but the killing stroke is her pointing out a very simple fact: he lost someone too and all their doing is cutting out their family and costing him more people for something that wasn’t ENTIRELY his fault and he spent a decade trying desperatly to fix.

This gets Donald, whose the first to say they should go home. “This family has been apart too long.” To me, while I wish the show had built it up more.. i’ts Donald realizing how WRONG he was. He shunned his uncle and while he was right to be mad.. Scrooge did everything he could to fix things, and not trying to reconcile cost him a decade with the only family he has left that he cared about. Cost the boys their uncle and is NEVER what his sister would’ve wanted. And now he’s enabling the boys to make the same mistake he did, his own anger in the past making them think their resitment and shunning is okay when it’s not helping anyone. All he’s done is hurt someone he loves, someone who is easily his second father and teach his boys to do the same. That has to stop. It’s a great bit of character.

Huey and Louie are natually easily convinced while Dewey refuses to at first and cries.. before joining in, letting go of his anger too forced to finally realize the truth, or at least what I feel it is: He attacked scrooge because he didn’t want to admit his mom wasn’t perfect, that after all this time he found out she DID do something bad, if not villiaonous, by leaving them and taking the rocket before it was ready, something reckless and selfish, and admitting Scrogoe wasn’t the only one responsible.. was admitting she left him. He finally lets go... just in time for a giant eruption of purple from the mansion. Wuh-oh.. as for why let’s go back a few hours. Boys?

Scrooge and Lena in Night of De Spell!

So a few hours ago Magica is still using Lena’s body, to the point that when Lena is able to force her out for a second she genuinely FORGOT she was there. That’s horrifying..nothing to add there that entire sentence was just really fucking terrifying.

So naturally she plans to use Lena’s body to get back to the mansion only to find out the kids left from Launchpad (this is before he entered the other plot), but gets in anyway by manipulating him by faking that webby said something about him being weak.

That being said.. he is in a VERY bad place, beginning the series running gag of characters eating nothing but Pizza and having pizza boxes everywhere as a sign of depression, as the mansion is littered with it despite, as mentioned before everyone only having been gone three days. He’s not even wearing his robe, instead wearing a dirty undershirt and rolling around. He’s so horribly depressed and miserable. Magica being kind of nuts can’t fathom why he’s miserable and keeps trying to make him Tea.. which leads to something like this for about 7 minutes.

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Granted i’ts more by accident he avoids Magica poisoning him but still. Also before we move on I have to give props for the animation here and Kimiko Glenn’s performance. She plays Magica perfectly (as Magica only uses her own voice when not around scrooge), and the animation shows off the diffrence between owners of the body incredibly well.

Eventually Magica realizes he’s not faking it and dosen’t want an easy win. She’s waited a decade and a half for this she wants at least some fight. So she manipulates him, talking about family (Not that sh’es a good family member but we’ll get tot hat), and how it weighs you down.. likely also beliving given what we know about her backstory, that he belivies that. That what he said to poe back then was accurate, not realizing.. he changed.

So he decides to go back to baiss and get rid of everything.. except the dime and Magica being too eager for it gives the game away, so she simply bites him and takes it and... frees herself with the power of the eclipse. After 15 years Magica is free, at full power and quickly imprisons our heroes.

Scrooge naturally tears into Lena before blaming his family for it.. before she shuts him up, pointing out that Magica got in here BECAUSE his family was gone. Had Webby been here she would’ve realized something was off and stopped her, as would the rest of the family. With no one left to watch his back and his insincts dulled by misery, he was an easy target. She WISHES she had his family. She realized too late that what she wanted wasn’t freedom.. it was somewhere to belong, somewhere where she’s loved and people care about her. Actual parents or parental figures, a warm bed, and a place where no matter how much you argue your welcome at the end of the day. To have a home. Scrooge takes both things in and thanks her for making him realize he was a moron, she was right.. and that if she helps him get out of this.. she has a place in said family. Naturallly though given this is only part one their beaten easily once they escape: Magica turns Lena back into her shadow, more on that in a minute and traps Scrooge in the dime, and so part 1 ends with Magica ascending at full power and Donald giving the natural response “Aw Phooey”. Time for an intermission...

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Part 2: Day of the Ducks!

So we pick up where we left off.. with Magica’s manical laughter and Dewey wondering.. who the hell is this? Webby fills him: Ancient sorceress, mortal enemy of scrooge usual stuff between them. Except in this version she’s leagues more powerful. She’s also voiced by Comedic Actress and Former Doctor Who Star Cathrine Tate who I haven’t complimented enough int he roll but will now. She easily rolls between comedic and thretaning in an instant and was perfect casting, able to be delightfully hammy.. and unspeakably vile and abusive.

Back to the plot Magica proceeds to make things worse by moving her base from the Mansion to the bin... and summoning ALL the shadows of the citizens of duckburg. We also get a few neat scenes as a result: Glomgold tries to force his to stay but gets dropped in the bay.. and suprisingly is not a throaway gag but a gag that leads to the setup of his plot next season and the introduction of Kev, who comissioned this episode,’s faviorite character. More on that someday. Fenton does some stargazing.. and naturally when his turns into an evil shadow ghost tries to summon his armor.. and instead his shadow steals it.

Finally Gladstone’s... gives him 20 dollars because of course it does. All nice littlle nods and in fentons’ case setup for later.

So while Magica begins her gloating, she had a long speech prepared, our heroes back at the boat try to come up with a plan. They do end up getting unexpected reinforcements: Gyro, Manny, and Little Bulb all show up as their shadows emerging destroyed the glass in the underwater lab. “That’s it no more underwater labs! it’s volcano’s and abandoned castles from now on!”. Well the last one worked for the Mads for a while. i’d of gone for it. Though fair play while they do keep Gyro’s cool underwater lab next time we see it and the windows break security shutters activate to prevent another flooding. Likely Scrooge wouldn’t pay to move the whole thing i’m betting. Fenton also shows up so with most of the supporting cast at this point in the show present, they can begin the raid.

Donald does try to squak out a plan.. but it’s here an intresting idea of the series pops up: No one can understand donald. Well some people can, but not everyone can and even the boys mostly take it from context.. or at least Dewey does. This causes Donald to angrily chase Dewey around

So Gyro, not having the time for any of this, shoves a thing in his mouth, phrasing. This is the Barksian Modulator, a nod to Carl Barks and how Donald could speak in the comics and thus gives him a Don Cheadle voice.. wait.. does this mean comics Donald is voiced by War Machine too? I’ll table that. The point is he can speak clearly and in the sliky tones of Don Cheadle. Not as sexy as Keith David but i’ll take it. I also appricate Cheadle being fully game for this, doing a silly promo video about his roll here, likely taking a bit of a pay cut to do voice acting, and even doing donald’s trademark untitllegble raises. I do WISH donald got to give his badass speach in his own voice as Anselmo would nail it, but he got plenty of good performances before and after this and the gag of having an academy a golden globe and sag award winning actor with tons of charsima as Donald’s intelligble voice was too good to pass up. He even gives out an ah phooey! Such a legend.

So he gives a big inspirisng speech and a new motto of “Ducks never back down” that Dewey uses afterwords to diminishing returns. Andddd has the kids stay on the dock for their saftey SEEMINGLY having leanred nothing. Seemingly being the key word. Just to jump ahead a bit his assault team of him and the other adults goes decently: They are overwhelmed, but Fenton is able to improvise a ray gun, and then uses little bulb to turbocharge it. It’s awesome and shows the guys got talent with or without the suit. Beakley keeps the boat safe as she can (and gets as frustrated as donald, which is great, showing i’ts not so easy is it?)< and Gyro gets captured and is disapointed when he tells magica he’s only an aquantince when asked instead of a friend, though let’s be fair here... Scrooge REALLY does value gyro and did not want him to die. Are they friends... eh I dunno, but I do think he’s more than aquantince. Gyro also deserved it after putting Manny and LIl Bulb up against each other for the job. That will teach you to try and unemploy keith david! Launchpad also gets the awesome task of crashing into the bin as a distraction, though Magica keeps tossing him back, which at least does the job... he also gets a TRULY magnificent moment where he leaps onto the plane, singing his own version of the darkwing duck theme song. Fucking amazing and a shame they never called back to this at any point once Darkwing was introduced. I’d pay money to see them both do that.

So meanwhile with the kids, they naturally say nerp to staying behind. But they need someone who could help them bring them in. In Webby’s actual words, which I am not paraphrasing nor manipulating “Like a noble teen ne'er-do-well who can break into anything, including your heart?” And just in case you think i’m reading too much into things this is her face after saying that.

That my friend is a face that just SCREAMS

There’s no straight explination for this face or this line, and for anyone whose going to bring up the sisters thing in the finale 1. Sisterhood is complicated and sometimes not literal and 2. she was trying to keep Webby from walking into what she thought, correctly, was a trap. I’m doing this NOW because I forgot to in the review, and want to make it painfully clear i’ts okay to ship them as long as you don’t do sex stuff. Their chlidren. It’s gross. Don’t. It is precious.

So they head to Lena’s and find the place deserted and kinda messed up.. and find her Journal which reveals her secret origin: 15 years ago, though her age is not exact and even frank’s said that and while we do see her fully formed as a teen, that might of been an artistic thing we don’t know. Point is 15 years ago Lena was born when Scrooge sealed Magica’s phsyical form away in a dime during their final battle on Mt. Vesuvius, her base in the comics and original series, so she constructed Lena out of her shadow to act as her minon.

Webby of course is heartbroken, feeling Lena used her and all that bad stuff, though the boys comfort her, saying she’s still got them.. not getting the diffrence between familial love and romantic love but point is they know how Magica got out and what she did with scrooge, but they still need to get inside.

Huey, I think, Gets an idea and they swim underwater to emerge from Gyro’s flooded lab. Louie also gets his Kopesh back.

Naturally though their own shadows go after them but Dewey cleverly disapates them: since their shadows they need light to exist, and a simple hit of the fuse box disapates them. Presumibly since Magica was forced to make Lena into a more indepdnent and unique being, she’s immune to this hence why this has only happened to magica’s shadow before.

So they continue making their way up, facing Louie’s old nemisis THE STAIRS in a whopper call back.. only to find the bulk of the shadows, inclduing ShadowdGizmoDuck, waiting.. only for Donald to show up just in the nick of time. Turns out het PLANNED for all of this: he knew they wouldn’t stay put if he told them to and would find their own way in, thus allowing his force to be the bait. Fucking brilliant.

So our heroes head inside while Donald takes on an army single handed.. if with his modulator bugging out.. and given he and Beakely enter the bin via the office entrance later, he BEAT THE GIZMODUCK ARMOR. If you needed proof donald is a legend, there you go. Goodnight.

Anyways our heroes head inside, and when asked what they do, Dewey manages to give his own badass line “Do what we do best make trouble”. What follows is an awesometastic final fight with every one of the kids using their own talents against Magica in one epic clash. Huey simply asks the questions he has while dodging Magica, throwing her off ballance, and nearly getting her weakness out of her. Louie uses his faster speed at burrowing in the gold to easily dodge her and to get her to break a mirror and claims it was a curse. While she dosen’t buy it he eventually uses his silver tounge to wear her down... and leave her open for a kick to the ribs. “Ow my ribs”. Magica drops the dime and it’s clear our first two boys were just the warmup. This is the headliner and she is pissed, coming at Magica with everything. While we’d seen how badass Webby was all season.. this is her crowning glory. The moment that shows she’s not just the best of the kids she EQUALS Donald and Della in martial combat, if not in experince and easily keeps the pace with Magica, railing at her for taking her family and her friend away. Magica tries gaslighting her by saying Lena wasn’t real.. only for lena to come back.

In one glorious moment, Lena shows off how far she’s come, defying Magica at FULL power to return and fight back, keeping her off webby and giving Dewey, who magica kept from getting the dime seconds earlier, heads for the dime. She’s gone from going with her aunt for her own selfish reasons.. to fighting her with everythig she has left knowing she won’t surivive.. and Webby gets proof that Lena really did love her. Wether she tricked her or not.. she loved her.. and sadly enough to die for her as Magica, after telling Lena “your not family” after Lena calls her aunt, seemingly destroys her and a furious webby attacks in grief and rage. The “your not family part” also gives horrifying context to magica’s abuse: she likely abused Lena.. because Lena wanted family.. and Magica just wanted a minion.. and now we know her backstory.. she already LOST the only family she thought she had and hardenred herself, refusing to loose anyone again and thus took it out on an innocent child like the heartless monster she is.

However while Lena’s temporary death didn’t stop Magica.. it gave Dewey a dewstraction and he got the dime back. He tearfully apologizes to Scrooge.. before having to run again, but both have genuinely and finallyr econclied, putting away their own anger and pride and hurt and restoring the family good. Dewey uses the dime to block as Magica corners him.. and that desepration move frees Scrooge. We then get another hell of a fight as Scrooge easily counters her, uses his cane as a sword.. and THANKS HER. As far as he knew without her he’d of lost his family..w ith her , and with Lena, he found the strength to welcome them back in and they came for him when he needed them. This , given the Poe thing, infuraties her MORE, though this time she deserves him making her feel bad and using his douchebaggery against her, and he disarms her of her staff, which breaks on Donald’s head. Magica is dewpowered without her staff and without her amulet which was absorbed into Lena. Laucnhpad also gets a moment by bodyslamming her from the plane. She escapes, why they don’t go after her I have no fucking clue seriously guys what, but the point is for today our heroes have won. The bin, mansion and most of the city may be damaged.. but the family is whole again, cemented by scrooge callign out his nephews names (Minus dewey.. but intetoinally this time) and saying “Curse me kilts i’ve missed you”. After years of pain, hurt and sorrow..the family is whole once more and as they enjoy a midnight swim together, the future is all ahead of them.

But there’s only one thing.. or rather one person missing. And as we close out the episode and the season we cut to the moon.. where Della is watching a newscast.. and sees her boys for the first time. And we hear her for the first time. SEQUEL HOOK BITCHES.

Final Thoughts on The Shadow War!:

Shadow War is an EXCELLENT capper to the season and both it’s arc, tying both together beautifully by having Scrooge’s misery over his family leaving him vunerable to Magica. Any complaints I can muster are minor nitpicks, it ties in everything that had happened up to this point into a neat bow while leaving two big sequel hooks for next season for each arc. Though it’d take their sweet time, and some weird rescheduling from Disney , to get to the Lena one. It’s heartfelt, satisfying and awesome in every measure and is only the weakest of the three finales because the other two had even more shit to work in after seasons of hard work building up this world, with larger stakes and what not. It also has great symmetry with Woo-ooo and had the series ended here, and taken out the stinger.. it would’ve been decently satisfying. Thankfully it didn’t and we got two more knockout seasons after this and a whole other arc to cover at some point. It’s still utterly fantastic and still worth your time. Now for something new as this is the first story arc for a series i’ve finished, and as such ...

Final Thoughts on The Della Arc: I”ll get to the Lena arc, both for this season and as a whole, once I finish this retrospective. But for now how does the Della Arc hold up after all this time? Decently. It does have i’ts problems: The pacing is pretty bad: the arc is staggered out fairly but the size of it’s mystery coupled with the lack of any real info about Della for the entire goddamn season when this is her first big roll in anything, is annoying and will never not be even though we now have all the answers.

So while i’ts not perfect.. it’s still pretty damn good. They took one of Disney’s greatest lingering questions that went purposfully unanswered.. and answered it.. turning it into a masterful series of character pieces and using it to drive Dewey as a character. This was his arc and it shows depth to him: in most episodes he’s mostly pluck and adhd, but the arc shows off the hole left by not knowing his mom, his determination.. but also his selfishness and stubborness. It really fleshes the kid out and makes you root for him even when he’s fucking up a lot. The character work with EVERYONE, from Dewey in general to Webby and Donald in Ithaquack, to the other boys on the sunchaser to Scrooge in the last two/three eps, to Beakly in the same.. ther’es just lots of great stuff in this arc and way too many great moments to dismiss it. The pacing may of been shot, we may not have learned mcuh about della.. btu sometimes adventure is about the journey not the destination, and the journey AND where it took us were both phenominal so yeah. It’s a good arc. Not the series best, but a good start.

As for the Lena Arc i’m saving my throughts on that till we finish it as unlike this arc, which leads into the next but isn’t 100% connected to it, her arc extends for the rest of the series character wise, story wise and weblena wise. So we’re not done with this retrospective and i’ll save my thoughts for when we get to season 3. But Covering the della arc was a lot of fun, exausting but fun, and again any future arcs that aren’t paid for will be staggered out and any interlocking arcs that are paid for will have both paid for. Now with that out of the way..

NEXT TIME ON SHADOW INTO LIGHT: Lena gets SO JEALOUS as Webby makes a new friend and everyone gets a new faviorite as Violet is introduced! Meanwhile Beakley is desperate to prove to her 11 year old grandaughter she has friends and decides to befriend launchpad. Shenanigans insue. See you next week!

Next Time on this blog: It’s back to Amphibia! It’s time for some Zelda action as our heroes go to the first temple. I’m expecting either a giant spider or a shadowy ghost version of andrias. Don’t let me down show!

Until then, stay safe, follow me on patreon and on this blog and i’ll see you at the next rainbow.

#ducktales #the shadow war #scrooge mcduck #dewey duck #webby vanderquack #lena sabrewing #weblena #magica de spell #huey duck #louie duck #donald duck #fenton crackshell cabrera #gyro gearloose #many the headless manhorse #little bulb #bentina beakley #gladstone gander #flintheart glomgold #della duck

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stitchandani · 3 years

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Why didn’t Lilo show up to meet Stitch like they promised in 2019. Or at least tell him she couldn’t make it? I know the anime explained it, but from what I hear, it’s a pretty flimsy excuse.

Doverstar Excellent point. This is the big question, isn't it? She did show up, she was just too late. Lots of details under the cut! READ IT IF YOU WANT THE MAIN EXPLANATION, EVERYONE. I don't wanna repeat it a lot (but I will)!

When Lilo graduated college, she had about a day in between the ceremony and her flight back to Kauai to pack up, say goodbye to her schoolmates, and get on that plane. She went home to Kauai to be with her very pregnant sister Nani and brother-in-law, David, and to begin a brief, long-distance relationship with her fiancé, Zeke Lau.

Stitch was slated to return to Kauai in the evening a week after Lilo graduated and came home. He was coming back from his year-long missions in space given to him by the Galactic Alliance. Lilo was on Kauai before Stitch that day, but something happened to prevent her from meeting him until much, much later that night:

Nani went into labor that morning and had the baby (her son, Kai), but it was a hard birth. For one thing, Kai was premature, and for another, Nani had to have a C-section, which is pretty rough on a person. (Don't worry, no gory birthing details would ever be shown in the storyline or artwork! These are just details you'd need now.) The point is, the situation was so fragile, Lilo couldn't get away for ages. She opted to be with Nani during that evening, and knew she'd be late. She tried to get a message to Stitch (and to Pleakley, who was off-planet for a research trip). She didn't reach either of them (by this time Pleakley's ship had crashed on an asteroid belt, so he had no contact with anyone). Stitch didn't have a communicator on him; he had no idea that Nani had gone into labor that day. The last time he'd spoken to the family (the last time he'd had intergalactic service to reach Earth out in space) had been a week earlier. That evening, he had come right off the B.R.B 9,000 with Gantu and Reuben, having used teleportation devices to appear in Jumba and Pleakley's Bed-and-Not-Breakfast (their big red ship behind the house), because that was the quickest way to the beach where he was supposed to meet Lilo. Without pausing to say hello to Page, Gunner, or even Angel in the ship, he headed straight for the rendezvous point. Meanwhile, Lilo was stuck in the hospital further up inland on the island, trying simultaneously to reach Stitch and to find out where the doctors were taking baby Kai next for Nani. It was a super stressful day, to say the least, for all involved. I agree that the anime didn't provide a sufficient explanation for their split, other than the lines "Just because [Lilo] has [a] new boyfriend now and is all washed up with 626...." and "The Little Monster was given a mission by the Galactic Alliance" and "My sister Nani was having a baby and I couldn't get away". That and some flashback scenes in Season 3 Episode 23 were all we got, and it seems so lame and out-of-character that Lilo never called Stitch to tell him it was a misunderstanding, and that Stitch didn't wait as long as was necessary to see her again like they promised. That's why I made Stitch and Ani in 2010. I wanted all those hints we got in the anime to come together and make sense. I mean, why would Stitch not wait? Why did he give up? Why couldn't Lilo reach him? What would make them stop trying and split like that? The answer lies in 2 things: Lilo getting older, and Zeke Lau. I thought, there had to be some reason why Stitch would just leave like that when she didn't show up. There had to be more to the story. So I created more. Lilo and Stitch had been emotionally drifting apart ever since Lilo left for college. Stitch couldn't come with her, and though they called each other and stayed in touch, the addition of Lilo beginning a serious relationship with my character, Zeke, in college (hey, her daughter in the anime had to come from somewhere!) put a strain on their friendship. Stitch has always been the type of character to get bent out of shape when he feels that Lilo is forgetting him in favor of someone or something else. He gets angry, jealous, naughty, frustrated, very insecure. And Lilo has always been the type of character to prioritize other things over Stitch for a while before she realizes it's hurting him. Examples? I'LL GIVE YOU EXAMPLES. IT'S NOT OUT OF THE REALM OF POSSIBILITY THAT, GIVEN ENOUGH REASON, STITCH MIGHT LEAVE LIKE THAT. READ IT AND UGLY SOB, GUYS:

Stitch gets jealous of a puppy in one of Disney's story-collection books, in a story called Doggone It, Stitch!, and he feels like Lilo doesn't like him anymore because she's taking care of this actual puppy, so he feels forgotten and disappears, and Lilo finds him at the dog pound watching the puppies (she knew he'd be there, it's really cute) to find out how to act cute like they are so that, and I quote "Lilo like him again".

Stitch gets jealous of Finder in the series and tries to out-do him in everything, because Lilo gives Finder more respect and chances to preform than she does Stitch.

Stitch gets jealous of Mr. Stenchy in the series and literally allows Gantu to trash the house and steal him because Lilo gives him more attention than she does Stitch.

In Elastico (again, in the series), Stitch RUNS AWAY FROM HOME because Lilo's special hula dance has taken priority over him and his cousins, and Stitch feels left behind by her poor treatment of him and leaves the family!

In Phoon, he's furious that Lilo leaves him at the house to go and impress the new hula fusion girls in the gated community, and scoffs at Pleakley's fond observation that Lilo is "growing up".

In Stitch Has A Glitch, winning that contest to prove herself to her mom is suddenly the "most important thing in Lilo's life", and she doesn't see that Stitch has a huge problem and is malfunctioning, and she and Stitch fight and argue throughout the film, and he leaves the island (because he feels too dangerous to be around his Ohana) and Lilo never helped him figure out what was really going on. She was too preoccupied with feeling worthy of being her mother's daughter (fair).

Keoni Jameson is a pre-teen kid in the series on whom Lilo has an enormous crush, and in HunkaHunka, Morpholomew, Melty, and almost every other Keoni-centric episode, Stitch unabashedly displays his disdain for Lilo's crush. He thinks it's gross and silly and even though he tries to help Lilo win Keoni over several times, it's clear he doesn't approve. He crumples up her picture of Keoni and throws it in the trash. He makes gagging sounds when she sighs and fawns over him. He groans when Lilo puts off rehabilitating HunkaHunka so that she can spend time with Keoni. He never gets jealous, because Lilo doesn't really neglect Stitch for Keoni, but the idea of Lilo having a crush on someone isn't met by Stitch with anything resembling happiness or approval. Just tolerance.

Now, when Lilo is older and leaves for college and has new friends, Stitch understandably is unsettled at first and feels a little lost without her. Then she re-meets Zeke, and then they start dating, and suddenly Stitch is feeling more forgotten than ever. This isn't like Keoni. Lilo is actually in a relationship with this boy, and it moves fast, and they're headed toward marriage, and Stitch is wondering if things will ever be the same again. He doesn't want to hear about Zeke or talk about Zeke, and he's so rude and nasty about it that he and Lilo end up fighting a lot during the years she's in college. They both say horrible things to each other, and it gets so bad that by the time he's in space for those missions and she's in her last year of school, they still call one another but it feels like it's a risk just to have a conversation. So many things have been said over the years that they feel like they're on thin ice with each other, and everything is uncomfortable. They never resolve it, so it's always hanging over them. Stitch refuses to let Lilo share with him how things are going with Zeke (who she loves, and who is important to her, so that's not fair of Stitch as her best friend to do) and Lilo refuses to call Stitch's feelings anything other than petty jealousy (which is not true of Stitch's feelings, and that's not fair of Lilo not to take them seriously). So they are both wrong. But they never talk about it and confront the main problem, because neither of them want to give in even though they're both quietly hurt by the other all the time, so it's just this cloud hanging over them every time they talk. That's why, when Lilo doesn't show up on the beach, Stitch literally can't take it anymore. This is the final straw for him. Lilo didn't show up, and she promised to show up, and he waits until the sun is almost set and she's still not there and there's no word from her. Did she even come back to Kauai? Is she still on Honolulu with Zeke? She's forgotten all about him. She doesn't care about him. He gives up (he shouldn't, but he does), and he leaves his tiki necklace (which he promised never to take off in Leroy and Stitch, so it's a clear message to Lilo there, yup) on a branch where she can find it and leaves the planet, devastated. He goes on a joyride and doesn't really have a plan, and ignores one or two calls on the ship's communicators from Lilo (he's still crazy upset). Jumba goes after him after a day passes, but they get sucked into a black hole, which transports them 8 years into the future (unbeknownst to them), they end up somewhere else for three more years, reunite with Lilo, and the rest is Stitch and Ani. For Lilo's part, she finally gets away from the hospital when things have calmed down, and it's pouring rain and the sun has set, and she reaches the rendezvous point and Stitch is gone. She finds his necklace and realizes what that means, and she stays on Kauai for another week trying to get in touch with him. Jumba leaves to bring Stitch back and neither of them return. Lilo is absolutely crushed and tries everything she knows to get in contact with Stitch, but Stitch doesn't answer any of her calls. (She doesn't know he and Jumba got sucked into a black hole; Stitch might've answered those calls later if the black hole hadn't happened.) The fact that they've fought so often for 4 years now, and Stitch left his necklace behind and won't answer her when she tries to reach him, really hits her hard and communicates to her that he's never coming back and it's over. She doesn't see Pleakley or Jumba again either. You can imagine how much pain that causes Lilo, to be forgotten and left behind by her own Ohana. Suddenly it's just her, Nani, and David again (and Kai). She can't handle it. Being on the island with all of Stitch's cousins is too much, and Lilo runs from the reality that she might never see Stitch, Jumba, or Pleakley again, and goes to Honolulu to live indefinitely. She gets married to Zeke Lau, they have Ani, she reunites with Stitch years later, and the rest is S&A.

It follows what happened in the flashbacks and hints given by the anime, but you'll notice I didn't mention that Stitch and the others ended up on Izayoi after the black hole incident. This is because, while that is technically canon, Stitch and Ani is meant to be seen either way. They could have ended up on Japan. Or they could've ended up somewhere else. Either way, the theme of Stitch and Ani hinges on the fact that Lilo and Stitch were apart for so long. The theme is forgiveness, and that's why I kept the idea that Lilo and Stitch had a falling out, a misunderstanding, and split up for a while. He didn't have to meet Yuna or anything. But I wanted the anime's explanation to make a little more sense, and there is evidence for it if you work at it. So. That's the story. You'll get loads more details on it throughout the blog, but that is the reason why Lilo failed to meet Stitch.

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puckngrind · 4 years

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What’s In a Name: 5 - J. Toews

Chapter 5

Where we left off: Jon and the Blackhawks won the 2015 Stanley Cup and he elects to celebrate with Bekah at home vs. going out on the town.

Warnings: smut, language

Word Count: 3,405 (felt way longer when I wrote it)

Series Masterlist ) Puck ‘n Grind’s masterlist

Titles.

It’s hard to title something when you just don’t know what to call it or admit to it honestly. Bekah loved watching Jon and his team regain the title of champions. It gave him this energy as they enjoyed the time they spent together. Bekah was nervous when Jon told her his family was going to come over. They decided having dinner in was better than out since the entire city was electrified after the win. With that his family came over for dinner the night after the win but everyone kept the conversation more to the week’s plans of celebrating and not Jon and Bekah’s connection. Bekah wondered if Jon asked them not to discuss it or was it just not an issue for them? She observed the Toews family more than anything.

A phone call changed all that was planned when Bekah had to leave before the city celebrations for the cup. Jon knew he couldn’t beg her to stay when her boss called needing her back early and gave her the vacation days back times two. Bekah promised to use them all on him as she kissed him hard before heading into Midway and back to Ohio. Her presence was missed as he hoisted the cup for the thousands of fans who lined the streets and packed into Soldier Field. With so many eyes on him he really only wanted hers right there next to him. Then just like that he was back home in Winnipeg and their text and phone conversations continued like normal.

By the end of the summer, Jon and Bekah were laying in bed in his Chicago home when they decided just not to label it. The months between her leaving after the cup and his training camp starting they found a few times to see each other. He made a couple trips to Columbus on the way to or from vacations and work requirements. Bekah found herself on a plane a few times for a weekend in Chicago when he was there. He mentioned his days with the cup but then dropped it after she started talking about a major project. He also wondered if the spotlight of his career was part of it. He never spoke the words to her but it was almost constantly in the back of his mind. They enjoyed the time together but their lives didn’t quite mesh once the season started and they both knew it.

What the two couldn’t deny was that the sex was amazing and the friendship they built was different than any relationship they had with anyone else. Bekah was a complete open book with Jon. He knew the completely unfiltered Bekah even more than her own family or even Brynn. Jon confided in her in ways even he was shocked by sometimes. She wasn’t caught up in the fame of his world and venting about all of it seemed easier with her. Yet, at the end of the day, being in a defined relationship just wasn’t realistic so they decided friendship was perfectly fine.

Finding time throughout the season was rough. It added to the fact that a friendship would be the only thing that would work. Bekah had a big project for Christmas and Jon had the flu during All-star break. The timing just didn’t work and the tension was felt by both once the end of the season rolled in.

Jon: are you coming to the game tonight?

The Blue Jackets were playing the Blackhawks and Bekah was already at Brynn’s waiting for her to go.

Bekah: Maybe...

Jon: are you wearing your CBJ sweater or mine?

Bekah: I said maybe, Tae.

Jon: I know you are coming. I just need to know if I need to look for that stupid thirds sweater or the far superior one you own.

Bekah pulls her lip into her teeth to contain the smile.

Jon: that’s mine. I think you know what I’m hoping to see 😉

“That’s Jon isn’t it?” Brynn emerged from her bedroom with her self-deemed lucky Blue Jackets sweatshirt on. “Are you telling him you are betraying our friendship and wearing that?” Brynn’s face contorts looking at her best friend in a Blackhawks jersey curled up on her couch.

“Rin!” Bekah huffs out.

“What? Our team....excuse me, my team needs as much cheering as possible. It’s been a rough season and today is our last game and Chicago already made the playoffs,” she gives her bestie a sly smile, “but I get it.” Brynn flutters around her home before finally getting in Bekah’s car.

Bekah’s phone buzzes as her and Brynn enter Nationwide Arena.

Jon: I’m skating during warmups but I’m a healthy scratch. Just don’t want you to worry.

Bekah cusses and Brynn looks over and mouths what?

“Well, maybe I should have worn something else?” Bekah flashes the text to Brynn as they walk.

“Greeeeaaattt. They are resting him because this game doesn’t matter. He will be in the press box then.” Brynn points up as they stand at the top of their section.

Warmups start and Bekah crosses her legs tight when Jon’s eyes meet hers. It had been months since the two saw each other in person and while she thought the desire to be under him was gone, by the look on both of their faces you could tell that just wasn’t true.

“You two are eye fucking each other with an audience.” Brynn whispers into Bekah’s ear.

“What? No. Rin. We are friends.” Bekah feels the flush coming to her cheeks.

“Friendship my ass...” Brynn says under her breath as the teams skate off.

Jon: I can see you, Beks

Bekah: what? When you were on the ice?

Jon: Now. I might be in the rafters but you are in a sea of blue with my jersey on. Still looks smokin’ hot on you.

Jon: from every angle 😉

Jon sends a picture of Bekah and Brynn from his seat. Bekah turns around and looks up. She can see the top of his head leaning out the box.

Bekah: I see you too.

Jon: Can I see you tonight please?

Bekah: I guess.

Jon: I’ll meet you in the lobby after the game.

“I’m guessing I’m riding home with Derek?” Brynn leans into Bekah at the end of the game.

“Yeah.” Bekah feels the warmth return to her cheeks.

The game ended and Bekah found herself standing in the Blackhawks team hotel’s lobby waiting for Jon. Pacing and attempting to take in the surroundings. She was glad she had a decent t-shirt on under her jersey because looking like a fan girl waiting for the team was not a look she was going for. Especially after how long it had been since she was face to face with Jon without plexiglass between them.

“Hey Beks.” Jon’s voice whispers from behind her. She jumps and turns.

“Tae! Long time, no see.” She goes to hug him and he catches her lips in his with his hands on her face. Releasing her face he slides one of his hands into hers and leads Bekah up to his room.

Jon pinned her to the door as he locked it in place. “Sorry I didn’t play tonight.” Jon sucks on the spot behind Bekah’s ear.

“Sorry your team didn’t win.” Bekah laughs as she runs her hands up the inside of his suit coat. Pulling at his shirt.

“Well it looked like your team lost from your outfit choice. Speaking of, where is it?” Jon pulls his finger along the collar of Bekah’s shirt.

“In my car. Didn’t want to seem like a fan girl waiting for you in the lobby or...what do they call the girls who just want to sleep with the players?”

“Bunnies. And damnit Beks, you are not any of those things that’s for sure.” Jon lifts Bekah up by her thighs and she whimpers.

“It’s been awhile Jon...” Bekah whispers in his ear her voice unsteady.

“I know. I’ve missed you and this.” He doesn’t let up pressing her against the door.

“I mean you are the last man I’ve slept with.” Bekah admits biting at her lip. Jon leans back to look her in the eyes. Her hazel green eyes looking for something.

“You think you aren’t the last woman I’ve been with?” Jon kisses her lips then pulls back making sure she’s hearing the words he’s saying. “Beks. I’ve only slept with you since the All-Star game in 15.”

“Seriously? But we aren’t...” Jon kisses her lips in desperation.

“Beks. Yes.” He kisses her again and she moans in his mouth. “Can we please get undressed? I’ve been fantasizing about this moment for way too long.” Jon carries Bekah to the bed and undresses her slowly. Taking time to praise her body and kiss every inch of exposed skin. Bekah does the same as he hovers above her. Loving the way that Jon’s muscles tighten under her touch. The connection between them is undeniable. Words no longer needed to find the perfect spot. The night is long and slow taking their time and enjoying each climax together.

“When does your playoff games start?” Bekah whispered as Jon spooned her.

“Uh...in a few days.” Jon kisses the shell of her ear. “Can we talk about this?” Jon’s fingers graze the left side of Bekah’s rib cage where the words Always yours were tattooed in a half cursive half print text. “This is definitely new.”

“Oh, um....yeah. I got a tattoo. Do you hate it?” Bekah’s fingers find Jon’s and interlaces hers with his as he continues to rub over the words.

“I like it. What’s it mean? If you want to share.” Jon pulls Bekah’s body further into his.

“I found an old birthday card from my grandpa around Christmas. He use to always sign my cards always yours, Gramps. That’s his handwriting.” Bekah spoke softly.

“That’s really special Beks. I’m just surprised you didn’t tell me.” Jon kisses her temple.

“You were thinking you were dying of the flu then pissed you sat out a game because of said flu. And then I wasn’t sure how to bring it up. Oh hey. If we ever have sex again I have a tat.” Bekah winces bringing back her thoughts that have plagued her brain for most of the beginning of 2016.

“Well I’ve been thinking the same thing about if we’d be here again honestly. Minus the new ink part of course.” Jon admitted.

Their conversation continued until both fell asleep with their bodies intertwined. The next morning Jon was sitting on the bed when Bekah woke up.

“Babe, we gotta get going. I have a bus then plane to catch.” His lips graze hers.

“Sorry. Someone kept me up all night.” She stretches out her arms and wraps them around his neck.

“Yeah, wasn’t as tired just watching the game.” Jon chuckles. “Let’s get ya to your car and I’ll see you in a few weeks?”

The Blackhawks playoff run was short lived. They lost in seven. Bekah picks up her phone at the end of game 7.

Bekah: Text when you want to talk.

A few hours later she got a response.

Jon: Thanks Beks.

She didn’t hear from him all week and she didn’t text him again trying to give him space. Brynn tried to get her to go out for drinks after work but all Bekah wanted to do was curl up and watch mindless television. Pulling into her parking spot she noticed a man in the car next to her. Not really looking she got her bag and headed towards her door.

“Beks?” Jon’s voice echoed off the wall. She slowly turned around to see Jon standing with a bag slung over his shoulder about 10 yards from her.

“Holy shit! What are you doing here?” Bekah clutched her chest realizing how startled he made her.

“Uh...I went to the airport to head home and changed my ticket.” Jon closes the distance.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” She smacks at his chest and he captures her hand in place. “I haven’t heard from you since Monday.” Her eyes meet his and they were soft but intense.

“Sorry.” Was all he said but his face said there was more.

“Come in. If I knew you were coming I would have stocked my fridge for ya.” Bekah turns the key and they both kick off their shoes. Jon removes his bag and places it on the bench next to the entryway.

“It’s okay. We can order in or go out or whatever.”

“How long are you staying?” Bekah heads back to her room and Jon trails behind her sitting on her bed as she heads to the closet.

“Monday morning flight. I have some things to take care of at home. Plus Mom wants to celebrate my birthday.”

“Oh when is your birthday? I don’t think you’ve ever told me.” Bekah leans out of her closet pulling on one of Jon’s old shirts she kept.

“Um...today.” Jon admits.

“Jonathan Bryan Toews...TODAY is your birthday! Well we are going out for dinner. Hold on.” Bekah returns to her closest and finds a dress that is flirty but not too fancy and re-emerges.

“Damn Beks. I don’t think I’ve seen you in a dress before.” Jon stands and wraps her up in his arms.

“Well, we don’t exactly see each other with clothes on frequently.” Bekah smirks up at him.

“True. So where are you taking me?” Jon kisses her lightly.

“Hmmmm. Oh! The Guild House! It’s newer and I’ve never been. Plus I’m sure your face can get us in if there is a wait.” Bekah rubs Jon’s freshly shaved face and pats. “28 looks good on ya Tae.”

“Thanks Babe, I’m starving. Let’s go.” Jon pulls Bekah under his arm and the two make their way to the Short North.

Dinner was easy and they easily slipped back into their comfortable rhythm. Bekah got annoyed when Jon refused to let her see or pay for the bill. He just laughed it off.

“I know why you love this city.” Jon looks around as the they made their way back to his rental. “It’s a big city but feels very small town too.”

“Best of both worlds really.” Bekah smiles watching Jon explore a part of the city he’s never been. “Chicago is amazing but you know that.”

“Yeah.” Jon breathes out as they reach the car.

By the time they hit Bekah’s door their need for each other was felt. Jon presses his body against Bekah and wraps his arm around her abdomen holding her it him as she struggles to get the key in the door. His breath hot on her neck. “Tae, you are getting birthday sex just let me get the door open please!” She looked up at him as his eyes danced.

“Birthday sex eh?” He let his hand go from her stomach and backs up a little.

“Go ahead and head to my room. I need some water. Need anything?” Bekah kisses him.

“Only you.” Jon smirks and kisses her forehead as he retreats to her room. Bekah felt the blush in her cheeks as she got a glass of ice water and walked into her room. Jon was comfortably laying in his boxer briefs and carefully moved her larger colorful pillows off the bed. “Those are new yes?” He eyes the pile and back to Bekah who was placing the water on her nightstand.

“Yes. They usually take of up that side of the bed.” She points where Jon is laying. And his eyebrow shoots up but he doesn’t say anything as Bekah pulls her dress over her head and climbs in next to Jon. He kisses her with his hand holding her in place. She breaks for air. “Do you trust me?”

“With everything Beks.” He whispers and she wiggles out of his grip, toes over to her dresser and opens her top dresser drawer pulling out one of his ties. “How do you have that?” His eyebrow raises.

“It’s yours. You left it at one point.” She smirks climbing in and straddling Jon. She leans down and kisses him hard. His breath hitches. “Ready birthday boy? No touching.” He nods and she ties the tie around his eyes. Kissing down his chest she eyes her water and reaches for a piece of ice. Lightly touching it to Jon’s chest.

“Woah. Fuck. That’s cold Babe.” He jumps and she laughs.

“My hockey man doesn’t like the cold? Odd...” she moves the ice down the center of his chest and his muscles retract in it’s wake. Jon mumbles something above her head. “You good there Tae?” He nods his head and Bekah takes in his clenched jaw and hands tightly gripped on pillow. Tracing his abs with the ice she licks and kisses the trail. Jon panting and his hips jolt up. Bekah hums as she works her way to his waistband and she slowly pulls down his briefs settles her self between his legs. Placing the remaining ice in her mouth she starts kissing up his thigh then kisses his tip. Jon jolts and swears as she slides her mouth over him.

“Damn that’s so hot but also very fucking cold Beks.” Jon huffs out. “Can I touch you yet?” He’s breathless with his request.

“Is that what the birthday boy wants?” She licks up his length and takes in how unglued he has become under her.

“Yes. Very much so.” She slides up his body and loosens the tie. Jon grabs her hand and removes it while leaning up to kiss her. “My turn!” He grunts and flips Bekah onto the mattress. Removing her bra and panties with ease, Jon eyes Bekah’s glass. He pulls an ice cube from it and places the cube in his mouth. Starting at her nipples, Bekah’s body jolts with the sensation. Jon hums in the satisfying way she moves under him. He drops the ice cube between her breast and follows with his tongue as it slides down her body then keeps going down to her core. Sucking hard eliciting moans with every move he makes. Forgetting the ice on her navel, Jon moves his body back up and kisses Bekah passionately as he slides deep inside her. Finally letting go of their built up highs and praising each other as they come down from the overstimulation.

“Happy birthday Captain.” Bekah breathes out trying to catch her breath.

“Maybe I would call you Captain after that Beks.” Jon laughs as he kisses her temple.

“Funny Tae.” She buries her face in his chest. “I’m gonna need to change the sheet. You melted an ice cube on my stomach.” Bekah giggles as she feels the wet below her hip.

“Or just roll over.” Jon moves her body with ease and kisses the top of her head as she’s on his chest. “Come to Sedona with me this summer.” Jon whispers.

“What?” She says in his chest.

“We’ve both talked about how we love hiking and well...I have a trip planned before Worlds...and you should come with me.”

“Uh...Jon.” Bekah sits up and slides off him.

“Yes Beks.” His voices is soft as he brushes her hair out of her face.

“Jon, what are we?” Bekah leans further away from him to look deep into his brown eyes.

“What kind of question is that?” Jon’s nose scrunches up.

“Well we clearly are friends.” Bekah starts.

“Yes, the best of.” Jon finds her hand and intertwines his fingers wiggling them.

“And the sex is amazing...” Bekah closes her eyes with that unfinished statement.

“I fully concur.” Jon moans to verify his agreement.

“But what do you call this? What’s it’s title?” She motions between them.

“Does it need a name Babe?” Jon kisses her lips.

“I mean...We just...I don’t know Tae. I guess no.” Bekah huffs out.

“So back to my original question. Sedona....end of June? Yes?” Jon nudges her.

“Sounds doable.” Bekah laughs

“Doable huh? You know what’s doable?” Jon moves on top of her with a look that tells her she’s in for it.

“Poor choice of words I guess.” Jon laughs and dips down below the sheets. “Or not.”

#what’s in a name fic #WIAN #tazer me 19 #jonathan toews fic #toews tuesdays #j toews fic #jonathan toews #love a damn blackhawk 🤦🏻‍♀️

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kenzieam · 4 years

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Beauty and the Blackheart - Chapter Four

@jewels2876 @moonbeambucky @jeremyrennerfanxxxx123 @iammarylastar@captstefanbrandt @badassbaker @pinknerdpanda

I know I’m forgetting people, sorry. If you want in, hit me.

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Rating: M

Warnings: Language, general nuttiness, smut, major angst

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We finally learn a little bit of Bucky’s tragic background.....

FEEDBACK IS LIFE, Y’ALL, LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT ME TO CONTINUE POSTING OR NOT

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Morning came too soon, and Lev found herself suffering from a dual hangover; both from the tequila and from Bucky’s actions.

What had he meant when he’d said he wished to God he’d done different?

Her head ached and her body throbbed yet the worst, or maybe best, part was she could still feel Bucky’s fingers, gently caressing her nape, the strength in his arms when she’d clung to him, mistaking him for Clint.

Goddammit, it had felt good, he had felt good, his touch settling something deep inside her that had been alone and restless for far too long.

Lev thrust her hands through her hair, then scrubbed her face with her hands. A quiet knock at the door made her raise her head.

“Yeah?”

Clint’s apologetic face appeared. “How are you feeling?”

“I need to leave, Clint. It’s no good if I stay.”

His lips turned down, eyes dropping to the floor, but Clint nodded. “Yeah, Bucky…. Bucky’s had some bad shit happen in the past, it’s… it’s probably best if you...” He trailed off, unwilling or unable to continue then seemed to perk up a tiny bit. “Will you wait until tomorrow to leave? I’d really like to spend one last night with you.”

Lev’s heart warmed at the thought, just Clint and her, brother and sister, spending some quiet time together; what she should have done from the start, rather than getting tangled in the tattoo shop and Bucky. “Of course. Want to order some pizza? Watch old ‘80s campy horror like we used to?”

Clint positively beamed. “Yeah, I’d love that.” He turned to leave then hesitated, looking back at Lev before turning to leave again, but still he didn’t move, shoulders slumping.

“Come here.” Lev called quietly, waiting until Clint sat silently on the edge of the bed, reaching over to take his hand. “I’m sorry. Whatever is messed up between Bucky and I, that’s on me. Everything was good until I got here. I don’t want to come between you guys, or make you choose between us. I was just visiting anyway, so now I’m leaving a little early, that’s all; it’s okay.”

Sorrow flashed briefly in Clint’s gaze but they both knew she was right. “It sucks.”

“Yeah, but you’ll just have to come and visit me then.”

“I will.” He met her eyes and nodded. “We always go too long between seeing each other, that’s going to change. I miss you, kid.”

Lev felt a pang in her chest and her voice caught as she whispered. “I miss you too, big brother.”

Clint swallowed, then cleared his throat aggressively. Big sappy displays were not his thing, and in truth, they weren’t Lev’s either. He stood, almost abruptly and swiped at his cheek. “See you tonight,” a thought seemed to hit him then and he hesitated before adding, “would you mind if Steve came over too? He’ll be upset to hear you’re leaving; he’ll want to say goodbye.”

“Of course, yeah. That’d be great.” Lev sighed, relieved that Clint had thought of it. It would save her having to go to the shop, maybe running into Bucky, to say goodbye to Steve herself.

Clint nodded, threw her a sad grin, then left.

Lev considered mooning around in bed for a while, wallowing in the disappointment of her current situation, then threw the covers back with a groan, forced her feet to touch the floor.

You win some, you lose some. She wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, she knew that, and she and Bucky just hadn’t clicked, there was no shame it that, only if she stubbornly refused to acknowledge it, continued to force herself into his space would it become wrong. Leaving was the best option for everyone.

Then why did it hurt?

If leaving was the right thing to do, then why had she found herself driving by the local hospital more than once, watching the comings and goings of staff and patients, imagined herself working there, part of the rush and crush?

No. It did no good to drown in the ‘what if’s and if only’s’. Her life was a three-and-a-half-hour plane trip away, not here.

She needed a shower and, while the hot water pounded her bare skin, she made herself not think about everything.

Later, Lev found herself in the backyard. There was a small pool that she’d shamefully underutilized, and tall fragrant trees blocking any nosy neighbours from spying. Sprawled on her stomach on the lounge chair, Lev surfed idly on her laptop, having already booked her flight home for tomorrow and now letting herself drift, catching up on friend’s Facebook pages, something she rarely had made time for in the past. A pang hit her as she read, seeing how everyone seemed to have a life, a family, children on the way. All Lev had, all she’d concerned herself with for years, had been her education, her upcoming career.

Had she wasted her life? In her one-track mind approach to everything, had she missed out on all the good stuff?

No, she decided firmly. She was still young, now that her education was out of the way, she could start really living, reaping the rewards that years of sacrifice and discipline had brought.

The sun was warm on her bare shoulders and Lev giggled at herself. She was even starting to tan, something she hadn’t done since junior high, when she’d flirted briefly with the track team to round out her academic record before quitting to take an extra chemistry class.

Pushing the laptop away, Lev rested her cheek on her crossed arms and closed her eyes. She imagined laying on one of the tattoo tables at the shop, getting her first real ink. Would Bucky’s fingers be as soft working on her tattoo as they’d been against her nape last night? Would his breath tickle her skin, the heat of his big body warm her? Would the same tingles she felt every time they’d accidentally brushed up against each other race through her as he drew on her virgin skin? She realized now what had always made her edgy around him, and she wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t experienced it herself, but there was a low-level charge between them, a humming energy that colored and heated the air around them, swirling and tangling and, for better or worse, binding them.

As she lay there, she imagined Bucky’s touch moving lower, trailing teasingly along her suddenly bare back to reach the curve of her ass and Lev shuddered, but not in a bad way.

Even when she’d avoided him at the shop, she’d still hungered for glances of him, quick snatches of his hands, large and veined and tattooed, gentle as he worked yet looking so strong and dangerous. He’d proven that last night, breaking that guy’s nose at the bar and literally wrenching her from her seat before brushing back her hair so carefully, enfolding her in his embrace so securely.

What would it feel like to have him inside her, to feel him grip her hips and drive himself home between her thighs? Lev was not a virgin but only barely, her tentative explorations with a classmate, almost clinical in their detachedness, had been more like studying than anything else and she’d not gotten off, not with any satisfaction anyway.

But it would be different with Bucky, Lev mused. He was experienced, he knew how to touch a woman, how to bring her pleasure. She’d covertly glanced at the sizeable bulge in his jeans more than once, felt her womb clench at the thought of feeling that push inside her. If he kissed her with half as much raw desire and want as she’d seen him suck face with some of those girls then she might ever come from that alone, convulsing in his arms when he hadn’t even really touched her yet.

And God, the thought of those long, dextrous fingers brushing at her folds made her shiver, toying with her clit, spreading her juices-

“Hey,” A deep voice called tentatively, and Lev startled out her daydream, nearly knocking the laptop off the chair above her. She shook her head, peering at the speaker and felt her face go beet-red.

Of course, of course it would have to be Bucky standing a few dozen feet away, looking like tattooed sin himself, probably able to smell her arousal in the air.

Lev scrambled to cover herself, cursing her impulsive decision to lose her pants and lounge in only her tank-top and panties, the blanket she’d brought out too far away to reach.

Goddammit, why had she decided to slut-it-up now?

Sensing her discomfort, Bucky strode forwards and grabbed the blanket, holding it out to her with averted eyes. Gratefully Lev took it, sitting cross-legged and wrapping the blanket around her.

Bucky studied her for a beat, just long enough to make Lev drop her gaze, then looked around. Walking towards the other lounge chair, he pulled it closer and sat with a sigh, scrubbing his hands on his jeans. Lev waited, not at all sure why the hell Bucky was here, and what he was going to say to her.

“I overheard your brother telling Steve… you’re leaving?” He bent over, clasped his hands together, forearms resting on his thighs and studied his fingers, not meeting her gaze.

“It’s for the best.” Lev mumbled. “You don’t like me, and I won’t come between my brother and his friends.”

“I never said I don’t like you.”

Lev snorted with derision, barely believing her ears. Really? He’d never said he didn’t like her? He didn’t need to, he’d shown that he hadn’t, every fucking day.

Bucky glanced up at her snort then dropped his head again, ears reddening as he correctly read her thoughts.

Lev waited, not trusting herself to speak again without flying off the handle and destroying whatever fragile tie brought Bucky here today looking so humbled and studied his form instead. She’d gazed at him time untold already, covertly but, with the reality of her leaving and probably never seeing him again, her eyes greedily devoured him now, committing him to memory for the inevitable dark times of regret ahead. Tattoos crawled his neck to his impossibly chiselled jawline visible even beneath his beard, the colors vibrant and lines strong, Clint’s best work. His left arm, apparently grievously broken some years ago and repaired with pins and screws, was covered in a full cyborg sleeve, right down to his hand. Steve was responsible for it and it blended seamlessly with his musculature, flowing with a startling realism when he moved. The other arm was covered in a full sleeve as well, but as a myriad of images tied together, entailing untold hours of work and resulting in an image that took hours and multiple viewings to fully capture and appreciate all the details, all the way down to calloused and scarred fingers, his touch startingly tender when he wanted, bone-crushing when he didn’t.

He looked like the last person someone like Lev would be attracted to yet, as she gazed at him, a yearning that took her breath away clawed around her heart; a small voice deep inside whispering a plaintive but implacable ‘mine’.

The full effect, of his massive frame, beard, long hair, heavily tattooed body, leather and denim attire and general ‘don’t fuck with me’ aura made him an intimidating presence but, right now, he was making himself vulnerable, showing a side to Lev that his outward appearance made it look like he didn’t have.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered again. “Whatever chance I had…. I’ve fucking lost you now, haven’t I?” His voice cracked and Lev stared in shock at his bent head.

What? Where the hell was this coming from? When had he ever wanted a chance with her?

“I… I don’t understand, Bucky. I didn’t think you ever did.”

“I did.” His voice was so low Lev almost missed it. “God, I did, I do.”

A sudden rush hit Lev, a swell of conflicting emotions; confusion, curiosity, anger and, oddly enough, sympathy for the man in front of her. It would have been so much easier to stay away, wait the few short hours for Lev to leave forever and never think of her again and yet… he’d come to her, looking and sounding broken.

“Her name was Amelia.” Bucky said unexpectedly. “Everyone called her Ami. She was serious, driven, disciplined… she was like you.” He raised his head briefly before dropping it again. “We were night and day, but I loved her. Even back in high school… fuck, I loved her. She had all these plans, you know? This big fancy career, what she was going to do, when and where and I was going to be there with her. I mean, I was apprenticing with Steve, but you can do that anywhere, I could’ve gotten a job in a shop anywhere…. I just wanted to be with Ami, you know? I was happy with just that.”

His exhale was unsteady, and Lev tensed, a sick feeling building in her stomach as she connected the dots. There was no woman named Ami hanging around the shop, no ring on Bucky’s finger, just a steady stream of faceless women.

“I sold my Harley to buy her engagement ring.” He sighed heavily and Lev was shocked to feel the beginnings of tears prick her eyes. “I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me and…. She laughed. Laughed in my face.”

Lev felt a rush of rage at this woman, how cruel, how goddamn heartless, to laugh when someone is making themselves so vulnerable like that? Taking a chance and asking you to share your life with them?

“’Why?’ She asked,” Bucky spat, fists going white at the knuckles as he clenched them. “’Why would I marry someone like you?’” He swallowed hard. “She told me I was crazy, to think we’d ever had a future. She said I was a disappointment, I had no goals, no dreams or ambitions beyond being a loser, that only crooks and druggies became tattoo ‘artists’ and that I needed to get serious and grow up.”

A tear coursed down Lev’s cheek. Even at her most angry, her most hurt by Bucky’s treatment of her, she never would have gone so low as this Ami woman, especially with someone she’d supposedly loved, enough to give him the impression of a potential future between them.

“She left. I haven’t seen her since.” He took a deep breath, let it out with a heartbreaking resignation. “I stayed apprenticing because it was all I had. Steve, Nat, tattoos and eventually, your brother. And I’m not a loser, I have a business with my two best friends, a successful one and I’m content with that… but I haven’t let a woman close since her. I fuck and forget because it doesn’t hurt. I’m upfront with them because Ami wasn’t with me, there’s no illusions. And then you walked into my shop.” He looked up finally and the riot of emotions darkening his eyes made the thin remains of her restraint fail and the tears fell unheeded down her face.

“I thought I’d loved Ami but,” he shook his head. “It was nothing compared to what hit me when I saw you that first time, and… it scared the fuck out of me because it was happening again. I was falling for a woman with the same drive and desire to succeed as her. And I hated that, this… weakness of mine, to get caught in that again, like the first time never happened… and it pissed me off so bad and terrified me at the same time. I did all I could to keep you away, but I couldn’t help it sometimes…. sometimes I just had to be close to you, sometimes I couldn’t hide it anymore. I fought so hard to push you away because Ami broke me but… if I let myself love you and you did the same, it would kill me this time.”

Lev stared, horror and sorrow taking her breath away.

Wow.

Of all the things she expected to hear from Bucky, whatever explanations or excuses he might have offered to maybe justify his actions, she’d hadn’t imagined anything like this because, why would you? Who would ever think that another human being could be that cruel, especially to someone they’d given at least the impression of loving? If Ami hadn’t wanted to marry Bucky, fine; if she’d thought him unambitious, whatever, but she hadn’t needed to crush him like that.

What pain did he hide behind those supernatural eyes?

She was getting a good look at that pain now, coupled with a deep regret.

“I…” He began but trailed off. Fists clenching again he continued. “I just needed you to know that; it was never really about you, you’re-” his voice cracked again. “You’re going to make some lucky fuck really happy one day and this is all on me. What’s happened between us is my fuck-up, not yours. Never. yours.”

Without conscious intent Lev stood and moved to sit at Bucky’s side. She had no idea what she was doing, but his pain cleaved her in two. Bucky lifted his head, turning eyes dark with regret her way. Only a foot away, Lev could see the moisture gathering there, the tightness at the corners of his eyes as he fought back emotion; he exhaled, a long, low sound that wavered as his gaze dropped to her mouth.

Hunger joined the pain and he looked back up into her eyes, the power in his gaze gripping her in place, drawing her closer and their lids fluttered closed just as their lips touched, a tentative brushing before his hand reached up and cupped her jaw, curled around to cradle her head and hold her close as the kiss deepened, grew hard and passionate as floodgates long held close burst open. It was all teeth and tongues and desire and Lev couldn’t stop a moan against Bucky’s mouth, which he answered with a primal sound, low in his chest. Grabbing her waist Bucky pulled Lev to straddle his lap and she moved eagerly, tightening her thighs around his hips, inhaling sharply when he squeezed her leg, growling in barely leashed need.

She could feel him, hot and hard, pressing against her core, one large hand guiding her hip, grinding her against him then the other was rucking up under her shirt, cupping her breasts, thumb rasping over her nipples.

“Fuck, baby-” Bucky groaned against her mouth and he was all she could see, hear, smell, feel and taste, completely capturing and overwhelming her senses and Lev wanted nothing more in that moment than for Bucky to tear her clothes away and drive inside her, make her scream and writhe beneath him, feel him release inside her with a groan.

This is happening too fast.

“Wait-” Lev gasped, heart hammering.

Bucky pulled away only far enough to rest his forehead to hers and panted, chest heaving, eyes closed, and face twisted with pain.

“I-” He began, a heartbreaking crack in his voice then he stopped again, taking a deep breath. “You’re right.” His hand tightened on her hip for an instant before he gently pushed her off his lap, standing before Lev could find her voice to argue, to tell him what her brain was scrambling to form and communicate.

No, don’t go. Not like this, I just meant slow down.

“Bucky-”. Damn her panicking nerves, her flustered heart. Just say it. Spit it out before he got the idea that you didn’t want to continue, that you don’t hunger and ache for him the way he does for you.

If Bucky saw her struggle, if he understood it, he chose to ignore it.

“No, Lev.” He took a step back, fists clenching. “It’s better this way.” He hesitated, then turned to leave.

Lev watched him go, her breath clawing in her throat, torn between wanting to call out to him, and remaining silent. Tears pricked her eyes as she watched his wide, powerful frame, now slumped with regret, disappear through the gate and, when she heard the faint rumble of his bike from down the street, she let them fall.

Why hadn’t she called out to him?

Because.

This was the least painful way to part. He’d explained why he’d behaved the way he had, and while it didn’t change their past, at least it would help Lev lay it to rest. The kiss changed nothing, the fact that it was the most visceral experience of Lev’s life only showed how closeted and sheltered she was, nothing more, nothing as foolish as love or soulmates or passion.

But watching him go right now had hurt worse than anything else, worse than his most venomous, snapped retorts, his sullen silences and the long days without catching even a glimpse of him.

Something inside him called out to something inside her and made the snow globe inside her settle, let her soul take a deep breath. This had been hidden by Lev’s confusion and anxiety, Bucky’s bristling and shields; but he’d peeled a part of himself back last night, dropped the mask of anger long enough for Lev to see the damage beneath, and today he’d fully bared his heart to her, let her see all his grievous wounds. And rather than driving her away, it had cracked something kindred open in her. The load she carried; the balls Lev forever felt like she juggled weren’t so life-or-death; she didn’t feel like she was hanging on by her fingernails and needed to constantly move to stay afloat when he was near her and, while her brain hadn’t yet caught up to this, her heart had.

But it was too late now. The moment was over, he had left, and she was leaving tomorrow.

She needed to drop it.

**************************************************************************

Lev yawned heavily, rubbing at her bleary eyes, not caring that she was most likely smudging her mascara. She hoped briefly that the Karen and her spawn would be on this flight, at least her strident complaints would help keep Lev awake.

After Clint got home, with Steve at his side they’d ordered pizza and sat down to watch gory, campy ‘80’s slasher movies and Lev had done her best to stay present but her brain refused to concentrate, Bucky and her pending departure forefront on her mind. The sorrow and misery on his face broke her heart and she’d hardly slept at all, tossing and turning, Bucky’s words, his gentle touch endlessly haunting her; she lost count of the times she reached for her phone, wanting to call him, but pulling back at the last moment.

Stopping at a coffee kiosk, Lev ordered a black eye and sipped it carefully, inhaling the comforting aroma. Due to her broken sleep, she’d left too early and consequently, had arrived at the airport too early as well and now wandered, pulling along her small carry-on and shouldering her backpack.

Clint had clients this morning and hadn’t been able to accompany her and for that, Lev was grateful. It was hard enough forcing herself to step onto a plane without her brother’s eyes on her as well. Their parting this morning, before Lev had gone out to meet the waiting taxi, had been full of unsaid words and choked back entreaties. More than once Lev caught Clint watching her with forlorn eyes, chewing on his bottom lip like he was fighting not to speak up and beg her to stay.

More than once on the way to the airport Lev opened her mouth to ask the driver to turn around, then closed it again.

Sometimes doing the right thing hurt, sometimes the correct path was the rockiest and Lev knew she would bleed for a long time over this, but it was the best thing to do.

Lev glanced up at a large clock on the wall of the terminal and sighed, they would be boarding soon. She pulled absently on the strap of her backpack and tried not to think about what she was leaving behind. The shop, the life, it had started to grow on her as she’d spent time among Clint and his friends, and she was genuinely sad to be parting from it all.

Especially Bucky. There had been something there, between them, right from the start and it hurt to leave without exploring their connection further, especially after that scorching kiss, but it was happening, she was here, she was leaving soon, and that was it.

She looked down the terminal, gaze trailing absently over the various people hurrying to their destinations, bumping into each other, throwing impatient glances at slower ones and was horrified to feel the prick of tears in her eyes as she acknowledged the fact that she was searching, waiting for Bucky to come running to her, to beg her to stay.

But there was no sign of him.

No. She wouldn’t cry. A bird may love a fish, but where would they live?

The intercom above buzzed, then Lev’s flight was being called to board and she turned, closing off her emotions.

***********************************************************************

Lev grimaced as she swallowed the mouthful of cold coffee, dropping the paper cup in the nearest garbage with a heavy exhale and a frown. When was the last time she’d had time to stop and pour herself a fresh one? Three hours? Four?

Tonight at the Emergency Department was especially chaotic and while Lev revelled in the crush and rush, in the never-ending movement that made it that much easier not to think about her life, it was draining. Ever since she’s arrived home three months ago and called up her mentor to accept his offered position, Lev had done her best to stay in motion, to stay busy and distracted and while she would be paying off the remainder of her student debts left over after all the scholarships she’d won far earlier than she’d anticipated, deep inside something was missing.

An ache had taken residence in her chest and refused to leave.

The worst part was she knew exactly what that ache was and how to cure it, but she couldn’t.

She’d left, and Bucky hadn’t come for her. He’d acknowledged, like her, that regardless of the pain, staying apart was better for both of them and there was no medication or treatment offered in Lev’s ER to combat that.

“Hey,” Kaylee, one of the trauma nurses and Lev’s few friends, bumped her shoulder gently as they both leaned on the unit’s main desk, conserving their energy for the next emergency. “You going to do it?”

Lev fought not to grimace, dropping her head to hide her expression. Kaylee had been trying for the last two weeks to pin Lev down for a blind date with one of her brother’s friends and while the little brunette sprite was persistent, so far Lev had managed to dodge her.

“I don’t know-”

“C’mon. You need to go out. Ever since you visited your brother you’ve been dragging your ass around!” Kaylee was never one to mince words and they’d formed a close friendship during Lev’s residency here, but sometimes the woman was insufferable.

“I have not been dragging my ass.” Lev hissed, trying to mask her irritation. She loved Kaylee and knew she was coming from a place of concern and friendship, but right now…. especially now, Lev didn’t want to hear it.

“He’s nice, tall, has a good job.” Kaylee continued, deciding to take a circuitous route to her point. “He’s really excited to meet you!”

Lev made a face. She’d had a chance at nice, tall and a good job before, and look where it had gotten her, although Bucky, in truth, hadn’t met the ‘nice’ part until just at the end.

“What’s his name again?” Lev stalled for time, furiously figuring out a way to escape.

“Stuart Pierson.”

Stuart. Levka and Stuart Pierson.

Not nearly the same ring as Levka and Bucky Barnes.

STOP IT.

“Kaylee, I can’t. I’ve got back to back shifts for the next week-”

“You know Trent wants them! He’ll take them off your hands!”

“And I’m still moving in-”

“Damn girl how long is that going to take? You bought a studio!”

“I’m just busy right now, okay?”

Kaylee fixed her with a Look, head tilted and hand on hip. “He’s not worth your time, Lev. Forget the gangbanger, okay?”

Lev winced, not for the first time regretting telling Kaylee about Bucky. She’d kept it general, not given his name or any real details about what had happened between them, and now Kaylee had this Hell’s Angels figure in her head, convinced that Lev had been ‘slumming’ it and the best thing to do would be to jump on the nearest WASP, namely Stuart Pierson.

But Bucky wasn’t a hood, and she hadn’t been slumming it. He’d been a decent guy that she’d gotten off on the wrong foot with and, rather than correct that, she’d left.

“Got a new one coming in.” Agnes, the old battle-axe unit clerk broke in. She’d been running the ER longer than anyone else and even the biggest asshole doctors respected and feared her. In truth, she was a secret sweetheart, as long as you provided covert homemade cookies and Starbucks every now and then.

“Got it.” Lev replied, instantly falling into her professional mentality. Although she was hella young compared to other doctors in the hospital, right now she and Dr. Abbott were the two most senior in the ER and he was sleeping in the lounge, an absolute bear to wake up.

Hurrying to the nearest sink, she quickly washed her hands then reached for supplies. Gown, goggles, booties; the ER could get messy rapidly and, as her heart began to beat faster in anticipation, Lev found her worries melting away. Later, after she’d stabilized the patient, after the adrenaline had worn off, it would be back, but Lev lived for this oblivion now.

Agnes called from the desk, relaying the EMT’s report and Lev listened carefully, forming a picture in her mind of what needed to be done.

“MVA, thirty-one year old male, t-boned at an intersection. Multiple breaks, possible internal bleed-” Agnes continued in a professional clip, reading off the man’s blood pressure, pulse ox, breathing rate and other pertinent information in short jargon indecipherable to the average listener.

“Morphine given on-route, but patient is combative-”

Interesting, most people wanted the pain gone, but others were confused and fighting everything, still tangled in the chaos of their accident.

“Multiple LOC in the field but awake now-”

Head injury? On top of internal damage. Lev would need to page the surgeon on call and get a neuro consult.

The sirens became louder and Kaylee joined her, gowned and ready, all grim attention and anticipation. Suddenly, the bus was there, backing up to the bay as the doors flew open. One EMT jumped out and pulled on the gurney, joined by ER staff to unload it.

Lev saw bare skin and blood, heard the EMT speaking but turned her focus on her new patient.

“Trauma One, let’s go!” An oxygen mask covered part of the man’s face and he was fully locked down in a body brace on the stretcher, standard procedure especially with a potential head injury. Lev got glimpses of denim and a torn t-shirt, but most of the man was obscured by swarming nurses and machines, bandages and tubes.

Grabbing her penlight, Lev leaned over the man’s face.

“I’m Dr. Barton, I’m here to help you. I just need to check your pupils, follow the light please. Can you tell me where it hurts?” The words fell from her mouth, well-rehearsed and practiced.

The man tried to speak but his voice was lost in the chaos. Lev peeled back an eyelid and shone her penlight, searching for his pupil’s reaction. First one, then the other, both equally reactive, good.

With a tearing sound, the remains of the man’s t-shirt were cut from his torso and Lev studied him clinically. Plenty of lacerations and contusions, to be expected, and a troubling shadow in the lower quadrant- Jesus the man was cut, and not just by glass, his musculature was incredible and there was something so familiar about the ink-

Oh Jesus.

“Bucky?!” Lev gasped.

#bucky #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #au bucky #au bucky barnes #au bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky and lev #bucky x lev #au bucky romance #au bucky drama #au bucky smut #au bucky fanfic #tattoo bucky #au bucky angst

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kikifeliz · 3 years

Text

THE WEEK AHEAD: May 3 - May 9, 2021

By Kiki Feliz

♑️♉️♍️ Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo

More action this week than last, which is good! Last week was about planning — and in some ways, planning poorly or neglectfully. I saw last week that some of you are struggling with your identities, figuring out who you really want to be in this world & how you want to present yourselves to others.

This week, I see some of your ideas about who you are starting to take shape on the physical plane; I also see that you are putting your heart into it more! Not necessarily emotionally, as in self-love, but like courageously. Think about how they say athletes etc. have “heart,” meaning they are dedicated for the love of the accomplishment/the love of the game. The self-love aspect will come, but for those of you who know about the Tarot, this reading is dominated by Wands (spirited, organized action & courage) rather than Cups (emotions).

I see you’ve been fighting your intuition, likely about spiritual work that needs to be done. There’s a lot of resistance and defensiveness here. It looks like some of you are trying to protect yourself from something. For some, it’s from a player-type romantic figure; others of you may be trying to protect yourself from addictive behaviors and substance abuse.

You seem to be fighting a problem that you are wholly responsible for; something you’ve conjured up in your own head. Ultimately you have complete power and control over this situation, even if it doesn’t seem like it. Even if the opposition (the addiction or the romantic interest) does have some standing here, that doesn’t really mean anything — it’s standing that YOU have given them. Tear it down whenever you’re ready! If this means going to rehab for addiction recovery, do that. If this means cutting this person down from the pedestal you’ve built them, DO THAT! The pedestal might not even be that high (meaning you may not actually consider this person to be that dope) but still, cut that shit down. STOP FUCKING SPYING ON THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA!! It’s not helpful lmao 😂

Take a rest from engaging with whatever this is, and go find some respect. Whether this is respect from your community of likeminded people or self-respect, you need to figure out for yourself. Either way, focus on other people and other, healthier social activities. Maybe get off of social media for a few days altogether. Go hang out with people you haven’t seen in a while. Go for a hike and spend some time outside! But most of all, you need to give this old pattern a rest and cleanse your system of the person/substance so you can move forward.

Once you do this, I see things moving very harmoniously for you! Drop the ball on recovery, however, and you’ll be right back in the cycle of juggling dumb shit and self-sabotaging, taking away valuable resources from your own brain and/or wallet that you could be using for something else more valuable in the long run.

I don’t need to tell you that this addiction/person is bullshit, you already know. This situation may have brought out a side of you that you don’t like; maybe you have even resorted to negative manipulations in order to try to get what you wanted from this situation, or to score (relevant in both the sexual & drug-related sense of the word).

If it’s a person, maybe you thought that you were meant to be together ~/*if only you could outlast the competition*/~. This is simply just NOT TRUE. This is NOT an episode of The Bachelor!

If it’s a drug/alcohol issue, you may have stolen from your parents to fund the habit or done other things as an act of rebellion against tradition. Either way, I see you struggling mentally to win this fight, but not for long. There may even be some enablers in your life that you will have to eliminate.

You are strong enough to win and you do have a community of people cheering you on! Take that hype then use that as fuel to help you remember why it’s important for you to win this battle. Or, alternatively, rather than “hype” it could be negative reactions to the situation told to you by friends and family... maybe they didn’t like how someone was treating you, or how you were treating the community or yourself as a result of your contact with this person/substance. Either way, your community is far more important than this person or this substance. Remember that! There is absolutely hope on the horizon for success in leaving this situation behind.

Something fated is going to happen for y’all very soon! This may have to do with an adventure you’ve been waiting to take the next step on, a trip you’re already on to a new destination for those of you who are planning on traveling, or a goal you’re already pursuing. It may be the rebirth of a long-awaited dream, one that you’ve been stuck reflecting on for a while. You may have thought this dream was dead, but the universe was just waiting for the right time to give it to you.

You’ve had a lot of struggles, but I see you coming into a period of light, independence, joy and work. Some of you may be recovering from really horrible incidents, like depression, sexual assaults, thefts, break-ins, and anxiety, but I want you to know that recovery is imminent and I see you consciously taking a hold of your recovery through acts of joy and through your work!

Whether this defeated feeling you may have stems from addiction or a negative incident that had a bad effect on your psyche, I want you to know that recovery is a PRACTICE and it takes time. And that’s okay! Just keep the lines of communication open with yourself and others; most importantly be HONEST with yourself and you will absolutely be capable of taking back control over your life. Big CEO energy here — get ready to make some executive decisions soon!

Keep in mind that nothing happens overnight and that you will need to work hard on all of your goals in order to accomplish them. Temptation (that trap, that pit) is always going to be there, but you have to take the reins and drive around it, or go consciously in the other direction. This will be hard and it will take longer than you expect; you will also have to confront your shadow side in order to succeed long-term, which will be scary. But approach yourself with love and positivity. In the meantime, do what you can to make yourself feel attractive. This is the start of a whole new you! That person is worth patiently and consciously doing the work for, right?

In love, if you’re dating, it looks like some of you may be caught up with some lies, infidelity, or self-sabotaging (either by you or by someone else). If this is the case, declare your independence and GTFO. Seriously. This situation is giving off bad vibes anyway. It may take a while for you to trust enough to love again, but you absolutely will. You are attractive, kindhearted, and sweet! That’s an irresistible combo.

If you’re single and thinking about approaching someone romantically this week, you can... but you probably aren’t ready, and the attempt may come off as immature and poorly planned. If you really think this person is your soulmate, then I would advise giving it a better effort. The person you plan to approach may be very defensive or shut off. Be prepared to bring on a Major Romantic Gesture if you want to seduce them and take down their walls! Regardless, take a chill pill on the social media stalking, bud — you’ll just psych yourself out. Go outside and hang out with your friends instead!

If you’re in a relationship, it looks like silly squabbles may be coming between y’all, but I do see a possibility of them being resolved with some balance. Sometimes you just have to agree to disagree. Change the subject, have some patience, and if you are really at an impasse, then take a break to yourself to reflect. Otherwise, things could get ugly and we don’t want that! Is there something you’re being willfully blind to? Something you are ignoring? I see it becoming a big problem later on.

For those of you who are committed, someone in the relationship may be judgmental about the other person’s friend group (are they bad influences?? Perhaps. But that’s none of their business if everyone is adults). If this is the case, suck it up and go find some work to do... they aren’t going to change their friends for you, so let it go. Domineering attitudes will not help the matter. Just compartmentalize the time you spend with those people and leave it at that.

You and your partner are allowed to have your own independent lives, so let that happen. If this is an issue, I see it being unresolved for quite some time. But if you stay open to the love and to helping each other grow, and remind each other how attractive you find each other, despite the negatives, I see you bringing this back from the brink of death and successfully turning over a new leaf/making it to the next chapter in the relationship!

#capricorn #taurus #virgo #horoscope #kiki feliz #horoscopes

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gustafsnightangel · 4 years

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Shattered Lives Ch 18 Pt 2

“Thank you for the pick me up today.” He murmured as they snuggled together in bed that night. He was glad the day was done and she was cuddled in beside him. His beacon in the darkness, home. She rolled so she was looking down at him.

“Don’t go where I can’t follow love.” She said gently and kissed him with that sweetness that filled his heart.

“I won’t.” His eyes searched hers for understanding and found it along with pain, this was hurting her and he wished it didn’t. “I’m not.”

He kissed her gently. “Sleep love you’re so tired.” His fingers threaded into her hair and he kissed her softly, that lingering softness that calmed her.

“I’m going to miss you. I know it’s just overnight but I’ll miss you holding me.” She whispered, she was being clingy but she was miserable.

The past weeks with a brutal workload and no sex had been a blunt slap to the face. They were both busy, equally stressed, tired, and that tended to put a dampener on the whole sex side of things. She knew he was emotionally stressed, his own anxiety high, the self doubt had started to creep back in and that’s why she hadn’t pushed. She didn’t want to stress him out further or trigger the crushing anxiety and depression she could see starting to consume him. She couldn’t help wonder if she was no good for him. She knew he was dealing with his baggage, Ana and all her shit, but she felt useless. Did she still matter to him she wondered, did her comfort and support mean nothing? Don’t be an idiot she swore silently. That was her own insecurity showing and she hated it, hated feeling it, hated questioning his feelings for her when she was just beat to hell.

“I’ll miss you too love.” He kissed her. “Sleep.” He kissed her head breathing in that scent he’d miss so much.

She was worried about him as he woke super early to dress and leave for his flight. The last time he’d gone away feeling like this he’d almost hit rock bottom. Thankfully it would only be for tonight. It was shitty timing but it was life. He had his career, she had hers, this time their schedules just sucked, there was no other way to put it.

“I’ll be back in time for the twins game.” He murmured as he stood on her threshold. It had been a while since they’d stood there to say goodbye.

“It’s ok if you can’t love, they’ll understand you’re traveling.” She kissed him longingly.

“I should be back in plenty of time.” He stroked his fingers through her hair. “Besides I promised them, so I’ll be there.”

“Go now, sooner you go the sooner you’re back.” She smiled and his hand cupped her behind the neck and kissed her so her mind was suddenly fuzzy.

Say it now you fool. “I’ll call you when I land.” That wasn’t it. “When I’m about to fly home.” Nope, that’s not it either, chicken shit. He pushed the button for the elevator.

“Don’t shut me out love.” She murmured and kissed him, tears threatened but she held them in.

“I’m not, I promise I’m not.” He kissed her tenderly. He was though, he was hurting so much he’d shut her out to protect her, protect her from him. He’d protect her from what that bitch had made him at all costs.

“Be safe please.” She nodded as the elevator dinged.

“Always.” He said stepping into the elevator.

She watched the doors of the elevator close, stepped back inside and locked her front door. Leaning her head against it the tears started. Would he tell her or was that one big fucking lie too she wondered? Together, making it work, was it all bullshit to him? “And you need to just go back to bed.” She hissed. “You’re being stupid and needy and clingy and you need to knock that shit off.”

He hit his head against the elevator wall repeatedly on the way down as if it would knock some fucking sense into him. He was irritable in the car on the way to the airport and on the plane. Pulling the new notebook from his messenger bag and looked at the three photos of Sildie and wondered what she saw in him really. Closing it he put it away and pulled out the other notebook and started to write, all the reasons why she shouldn’t be with him. When they landed in Helsinki he’d successfully emptied his mind and indicated beside each reason what ones lead back to Ana. He was digging her out a word at a time.

She was making the boys school lunch when his text came through.

I’ve landed, miss you.

It was much shorter than she’d expected but knew he was busy so she let it go even though it stung. He was working now, it was time to knuckle down. She did it and he had to as well. Then why do I feel like I’ve lost him she thought? It was on her mind though as she drove the kids to school, dropped Lily at daycare, and parked for the day at the courthouse. He had completely shut her out and it hurt.

It hurt that he wouldn’t talk, wouldn’t open up. He knew he could be vulnerable with her yet he chose to keep it all closed up inside him. She could see it was destroying him, slowly eating him from the inside out. She’d deal with this when he got back. There was only so far he could push her away before the their relationship was no longer important enough to fight for. Is that what he wants she thought, does he want me to get so angry at him I’ll just walk away? Is he done with us? Was the anniversary week just too much for him? Are we too much for him?

Well if that’s what he’s thinking he was in for a rude awakening she thought, halting anymore toxic thoughts screaming through her head. She’d fight for him, for them. “He might let Ana win but I’m sure as shit not going to. That bitch has taken enough from him and she’s sure as fuck not taking him away from me.” She spat and parked the car. “And she doesn’t get to fuck with my kids.” She stood at the doors to the courtroom and took a few deep breaths, she couldn’t bring all that baggage in with her, she couldn’t implode right before work. Steadier she opened the huge wooden door and stepped inside.

With her day done she texted him the family photo from the day in the snow, the short video Brendan had taken of Lily hitting him with a snowball, him scooping up a larger snowball and hitting her with it. She stared at it wondering what had gone so wrong that day to put him where his mind was currently at. There was something about that day that had sent him into a steep tailspin.

With the kids in bed she hammered away at her reading and notes waiting for some sort of reply that never came. By the time she’d crawled into bed she wondered if they meant anything to him at all and knew that was bullshit. She was tired and stressed which made everything blow itself out of proportion.

He stared at the family photo she’d texted him, laughed at the video and smiled through tears. Why hadn’t he said it that day he wondered? It was perfect, the perfect day. Would he get another chance like that? Had Ana fucked up the best thing to ever come into his life? More to the point had he let her fuck it up?

His sleep was fitful with thoughts of Sildie leaving, nothing but his empty apartment to come home to, no kids, no Lily. He sat bolt upright and breathed shakily, the fear trying to rob him of oxygen.

“Nothing like a 2 am panic attack to really get you in the mood for the day.” He spat looking at the clock beside the bed as he flipped the light on forcing the air into his lungs. “Breathe idiot. Just fucking breathe.” His eyes would be hanging out his head by the time they went to the interview he was so tired.

He made a coffee and sat at the small table fishing out his notebook. May as well purge as I’m up and my minds already in that mode he thought. That was his one big fear he thought as he sat and sipped his coffee, Sildie not being in his life, no kids to come home to. What if she got tired of him, tired of all this Ana bullshit before he was finished dealing with it, purging it? He thought about calling her, had his thumb hovering over her number for a good thirty minutes before he decided to let her sleep, she was exhausted and stressed enough without his shit compounding it.

He wrote for a bit and then switched gears, closing the door on Ana before the interview was essential, self preservation. He finalized their weekend getaway and scheduled the painters to take care of Sildie’s office. He still had to clean that room out when he got home, not something he was looking forward to. By the time he was dressed and staring down a microphone he was already beat to shit mentally and emotionally. He just wanted to be on a plane home to Sildie and the kids.

She sat at the twins soccer game Friday night fuming. Not at the fact his flight was delayed, that was unavoidable, the boys would understand. No, she was fuming because she had to hear it from Daisy. Every text she’d sent him was answered with silence, no reply, no answer, nothing since he’d landed yesterday. Total fucking silence like she didn’t exist. To add to it her case had blown up in her face as well today and she’d have to spend the weekend saving it.

The twins were heartbroken. Liam with his two goals and a smile plastered on his face as he came off the field and over to them. She’d watched that smile falter when he didn’t see Gustaf. He’d promised them he’d be there, and he’d broken that promise. She’d recorded it but it wouldn’t be the same. It was like they were suddenly invisible and she was about done taking his silence as an answer.

She understood that shit happened, she understood that he was busy and still adjusting to their current living arrangements, but a text to say I’m fine but I can’t make the game wasn’t too much to ask. That was all he had to say. She wasn’t one to guilt trip, but a fucking answer was courtesy, especially when dealing with seven year olds. She got the kids home and showered while she ordered pizza and sat to read. Liam hadn’t stopped crying, Finn wasn’t much better and Brendan was pissed.

“Boys look at me a minute.” She said gently and eventually all eyes were on her. “I know he promised and I know you’re upset, but his flight was delayed and there’s really nothing he could have done to get here in time ok?” She knew this was going to blow up in her face when Gustaf came through the door. She’d tried calming them down since they got in the car but it would be what it would be.

Gustaf finally got the key into the door of her apartment, home at last he thought and he was beyond tired. Turning the key and opening it he walked in on a sight that was less than happy, he’d expected it with his delayed flight. Finn ran to him in tears and hugged him around the legs. He looked at Sildie then Liam.

“I HATE YOU.” Liam screamed and ran into his bedroom slamming the door so hard that Lily cried out sharply at the sudden noise and woke up. Sildie looked to the ceiling and sighed, the day just got better and better she thought sarcastically.

She saw Gustaf kneel down as she went to settle Lily. Let him handle it she thought, she’d had enough thrown at her tonight from three angry kids and her case blowing up in her face. Sure it was dumping it in his lap but she could only do so much on her own. Brendan poked his head out of his room and said a quick hello before heading to bed to read. Gustaf could tell the teen was furious.

“Finn what’s wrong?” He asked already knowing what as he dumped his messenger bag down on the floor and hugged the kid tightly.

“You promised you’d be there.” He sobbed. “You promised and you weren’t there.” He pushed Gustaf away as he sobbed, both hands against his chest barely moving him but the gesture wasn’t lost on him.

“I know I did. My flight was delayed and I wasn’t in the air until your game had started.” He kissed him on the top of the head. “I’m sorry Finn. I really am. Is that what Liams upset about too?” He asked gently and the kid nodded.

“He scored two goals.” He sniffed and looked at Gustaf. “And you weren’t there.” He said a little louder.

Fuck he swore internally as he breathed a careful sigh out, it figures the one day I’m not able to make it. That would explain why Brendan was pissed and Sildie looked as if she was about to peel his skin from his bones. He was so fucked, he was so utterly and completely fucked.

“I’ll come talk to him in a moment ok?” He reassured the kid. Finn stomped back to their bedroom closing the door loudly but not slamming it like his brother had and didn’t come back out. He wasn’t happy with Gustaf either.

Sildie came out a little while later once Lily had gone back to sleep and closed the hall door.

“I should talk to Liam.” He said softly to her. He just wanted to pull her into his arms and breathe her in.

“I’d leave it tonight. He’s beyond upset.” She said quietly, she was fuming on the inside and was determined to give him the benefit of the doubt and not explode at him like she wanted to do.

“I’m sorry Sildie.” He felt like shit.

“Nothing you could have done.” Her smile was slight. Except maybe talk to me about whatever’s eating you she thought, her temper was still simmering. “Except maybe called me, text me. I don’t know send a fucking smoke signal.” She snapped, her voice was quiet. No not quiet he thought, wounded, he’d hurt her, hurt the kids and now he felt like shit.

“It was a mad rush love. By the time we got through traffic and on the plane, then it was delayed and...”

“Daisy with you?” She asked, cutting him off. She really didn’t want to hear the bullshit excuses. “Because she had the time to text me after I’d texted you about six times with no answer.” She was angry, and she’d had enough of being kept at arms length with him.

“I’m trying Sildie.” He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. He couldn’t lose his cool with her or fall apart and he felt like doing both.

“No, you’re avoiding. You’ve shut me out. You’ve shut the kids out. If you can’t guarantee you’re going to be here, don’t promise that you can. Brendan understands, the twins aren’t old enough to really grasp the concept yet.” She snapped out.

“Sildie I’m sorry I...”

“Don’t, just don’t. Unless you’re going to tell me what’s eating you, what’s been eating at you for weeks now, I really can’t do this tonight.” She said and left it at that as she walked away to sort out her case notes ready to take to the office tomorrow, leaving him standing in the middle of the room. Her abrupt end to the conversation stunned him. He’d hurt her to the point of she couldn’t stand to be in the same room as him. He could see the pain ripple off her, the shield she’d put up between them as she tidied her work at the end of the table.

“I’m gonna go.” He said half in a daze. “I’ll sleep at my place tonight, let things calm down.” He choked on those words as they didn’t really want to be voiced. Although it killed him to say it he needed time, he couldn’t handle this right now either, he couldn’t hurt her or the kids any further.

“Oh.” It felt as if he’d physically punched her in the gut. “Ok sure.” She said softly trying to keep her emotions in check as her hand gripped the back of a dining chair so she wouldn’t collapse. She suddenly felt weak and lightheaded at the thought of him not sleeping next to her tonight. She hadn’t expected him to want to just leave.

“I’m sorry Sildie I need time.” He did, he was tearing them apart and it had to stop.

“I understand.” She did, it was too much for him, but she also had to brace herself that this was the end. She watched him walk to the door, grab his bag and quietly walk over her threshold and close it behind him. Gone she thought, he had just walked out, walked away from her and the kids and it cut her so deeply she had to sit as her legs went to jelly.

She felt sick, like legitimately puke her guts up sick. The thought of him not being beside her, not waking up to that beautiful soul she adored, the kids not seeing him in the morning. She let the tears come, let them fall, had she just broken up with him, were they over?

Admittedly she hadn’t made it easy on him. She was angry and hurt and basically told him she didn’t want to hear it. How much crap was she supposed to take in one evening anyway?

“Way to go idiot.” She mumbled and let the sobs come. Her gut roiled and she had to try and breathe to stop dinner redecorating her floor.

She cried herself to sleep that night in an empty bed. He had pushed her so far away she felt she may never be able to reach him now. She was worried he’d started using again, drinking again, had Ana finally got to him that much he’d lose his sobriety over it?

Gustaf woke to a pounding in his head. No, he thought opening his eyes and frowning, that was someone pounding on the door, his front door. He got up and slipped his sweats on while moving toward the door, opening it he was forced to look down.

“Liam?” He was puzzled. It was really early in the morning. “You ok? What’s happened?” He looked at her apartment door and didn’t see any lights on. Had something happened to Sildie? Did the kid sneak out? The sobs tore from him as he hugged Gustaf’s thigh tightly.

“Hey.” He soothed and sat down pulling the kid into his lap. “Hey, little man what’s wrong?” He asked gently. He wondered if Sildie knew he was out here, highly doubtful and when she found out he’d have one furious woman on his hands.

“I’m sorry I was angry at you and slammed the door and said that I hated you and woke Lily up. I don’t hate you.”

“It’s ok.” Gustaf soothed, he understood and held onto the kid.

“No it’s not. I want my dad.” He sobbed and held onto Gustaf tighter. “I want my dad but he’s dead.”

He wasn’t equipped for this he thought as he held the boy. Certainly not now he’d walked out on Sildie. He sent a silent curse to the heavens that he was in such a state mentally and emotionally he hadn’t picked up on the grief vibes with the kid.

“You’re the only dad I’ve got left.” His cry tore Gustaf apart. It was more than not being there at the game and he kicked himself, he should have seen it. Had you not been so in your head with Ana you would have seen it you moron, he thought bitterly.

“I’m so sorry.” He murmured softly to the boy. “I messed this up Liam and I’m sorry.” He held the kid and let him purge it.

“Ama?” Finn called and shook her awake. She snapped her eyes open at the terror in the kids voice her gut dropping like a stone.

“Finn you ok love?” She asked bleary eyes and trying to surface from the partial coma she’d fallen into. Dead to the world was an understatement.

“Liams gone.” He stuttered over the sobs.

“What do you mean gone? He’s probably on the toilet or something.”

“No he’s gone.” The kid cried. “The front door is open.”

“The fro...” She threw the covers off, and scrambled out of bed hastily pulling her robe on. She flipped the light on in the living room but she didn’t need it to see the door was wide open. She checked on Brendan and though about waking him but held off for the moment.

LIAM?” Sildie called and Gustaf heard the terrified panic in her voice and looked to the ceiling, this was not going to end well.

Storming to the front door she could faintly hear a kid crying and a soft voice soothing, and let out a shuddered breath of relief. She knew that voice. Looking at Gustaf’s apartment door she found him wedged in the doorway with Liam in his arms. His eyes met hers and she felt the grief well up inside her, she saw the pain in his. Liam was safe and she breathed the fear out, though she was about to strip the hide from his ass, both of their asses come to think of it. This was the last fucking straw.

She dropped to her knees in front of Finn and hugged him fiercely. “I want you to go back into your room and stay there for the moment ok?” She wiped his eyes. “Thank you for coming to get me I’ll be next door with Gustaf and Liam.” She kissed his brow and saw the slight nods between sobs.

“Can I crawl into bed with Brendan?” He asked softly.

“Of course, but give me a little time with Liam before you come out ok?” She kissed him again and watched him walk to Brendan’s room before standing.

Gustaf knew she was going to rage at him, he could see it on her face as she walked toward them. He’d take it even though it wasn’t his decision to sit with Liam at three in the morning on his threshold.

“Liam Michael O’Rourke get up, right now.” She snapped crisply. He could hear the barely contained fury.

“Go easy Sildie.” Gustaf said softly, watching her carefully. The woman was about to implode.

“No, easy is not how this goes Gustaf. Get up Liam.” Her anger was boiling, no he thought, not anger, pure undiluted fear at Liam not being in bed tucked in safely. The kid slowly climbed out of Gustaf’s lap and stood near Sildie with his head hung and still crying. Her heart broke to do this as he clearly needed Gustaf, but his behavior was unacceptable.

“Back home. Right now.” She said that low tone rippling off her, the lawyer in her the only thing keeping her in control. “Sit at the table I’ll deal with you in a moment.”

Gustaf watched as the kid went through the front door of her apartment and his heart plummeted.

“Sildie he came to me and beat on the door...”

She held up her hand and he stopped talking, it was the smarter thing to do at this point. She was beyond reason and no doubt scared out of her mind.

“I’m not angry at you for this, Liam snuck out and I’ll deal with that in a moment. Although had you decided to sleep in our bed instead of walking out he might have just curled up with you instead of sneaking out.” She snapped, he deserved every bit of her fury because he’d done exactly that.

“Go easy on him he just poured his heart out to me.” He said calmly, he wouldn’t provoke her fury, it would only end badly for both of them. He didn’t care if she raged at him, he deserved it but he’d shield the kid if he could.

She shook her head. “No. He doesn’t get easy when he just scared twenty years off my life. Gustaf I thought someone had broken in and taken him.” She was shaking now and he reached for her as he stood wanting nothing more than to curl her into him and soothe, give her comfort, beg her forgiveness at pushing her so far away it seemed like he’d never get her back. The half step she took as she backed away crushed him.

“You’re angry at me.” His heart broke, had he lost her?

“You know Gustaf, I’m not angry at you for missing the soccer game, shit happens your flight was delayed and there was nothing you could do to change that. What I’m angry at was I had to hear it from Daisy when I got no answer from you. I hadn’t heard a peep from you since you landed in Helsinki. What I’m angry at is you’ve shut me out completely, pushed me so far away these past weeks I don’t know how to reach you anymore.” She scrubbed her hand over her face. She was tired, stressed, and angry, never a good combination to have a rational conversation especially at three in the goddamn morning after her kid had scared her half way to an early grave she thought. “You know what, I’m going to stop there before I say something I can’t take back.” She put her hand up and stepped back further as the tears started to fall.

“Sildie.” He started and backed off with the furious look she gave him. He’d made everything fucking worse.

“Don’t. I’m beyond angry, I’m hurt, my case is in the toilet, and I just had the fright of my life being woken by Finn at three in the morning beyond hysterical telling me his brother was missing and the front door wide open.” She choked back the sob that wanted to come and they would when she was alone because apparently she was now. “I can’t do this with you on top of everything else.” She whispered and sucked in the emotions. She looked at him and saw the overwhelming pain looking back. She took a steadying breath before she opened her mouth again. She was angry with him but she still loved him.

“Come over for breakfast if you want to, for the kids at least, but right now I have to go deal with Liam.” She said stiffly, letting the lawyer take over so she wouldn’t completely lose it. The kids always came first.

“I’m at breakfast with my sister tomorrow.” He said softly not wanting to add fuel to the fire and hurt her anymore than he already had. “And I forgot to send that to you.” He sighed, furious at himself for just realizing he hadn’t updated the calendar they shared and wanted to just disappear. Everything he said right now hurt her and drove that hurt deeper, pushing her further and further away.

“Of course you did.” She muttered and without another word, she turned and left him standing there, she couldn’t look at him anymore, couldn’t take anymore tonight.

She walked through the front door, closed it quietly and turned to see Liam still crying, head hung low. He knew he’d done the wrong thing. She wouldn’t lose her shit at him but he’d terrified her.

She sat beside him and lifted his chin with her fingers so he’d look at her. “You have every right to be angry at him for breaking a promise, but you don’t get to scare me like that Liam, ever. Your brother was terrified something had happened to you, so was I. I thought someone had broken into the apartment and taken you.” Her breath caught. “I love you Liam and I thought I’d lost you for good.” Her voice cracked as all that emotion came flooding back. That fear, overwhelming, totally consuming fear.

“I’m sorry.” He crawled into her lap and sobbed holding onto her for dear life.

“I know love.” She kissed his hair and settled him. “You could have come to me, we could have gone to see Gustaf tomorrow.”

“I’m sorry. I just wanted my dad.” He sobbed and her heart broke. “But he’s dead.” So he went to the only other person that had been like a dad to him. Now she felt like shit after ripping into Gustaf just now, but the guy needed to know she wasn’t putting up with being shut out of a relationship that affected more than just the two of them. It impacted the kids too, and so did him walking out tonight.

“I understand love, but you can’t run off like that, ever.” She hugged him while he let it all out. She smiled as another pair of arms came around her.

“Sorry Finn.” Liam sniffed.

“Don’t scare me like that.” The kid said softly and hugged his brother tighter. “I can’t lose you.” He cried and Sildie felt that pang of grief spear through her soul for her brother, he’d left her too.

“Ok to bed now, both of you, sleep some more, and Liam?” She said softly and the kid looked up at her. “No video games for two weekends. Chores and homework will be done without question or fuss. I understand why you needed Gustaf and I’m ok for you to go to him but your actions were not ok. Next time you let me know where you’re going.”

“Yes Ama.” He said with no argument, the kid had some smarts. “I’m sorry.” He hugged her tightly.

“I’m sorry too love. I’m sorry your dad’s not here for you.” She kissed him and he looked at her and smiled.

“But Gustaf is.” He nodded and went to his room leaving Sildie wondering what on earth he’d said to Gustaf.

She sat at the table and let the tears fall. The overwhelming fear that she’d lost Liam ripped itself from her and Gustaf wasn’t here this time to pick up the pieces, to hold her. That was its own pain. Was this the end for them she wondered? What else could she do? She couldn’t force it out of him, he had to want to tell her, he had to want to trust her and let her in but every time she gave him an opening he shut her down and shut her out. All that was left for her now was to be angry at him and she didn’t want that either.

She felt arms around her shoulders and the sobs came harder. Brendan. He’d held her, just held her while the adrenaline of the morning cried it’s way out of her.

“You ok?” He asked as he sat at the table.

“No.” She shook her head and told him about what Liam had done.

“He was pretty upset.” The teen said gently.

“Yeah and it’s understandable, I get it but he can’t run off like that. Scared twenty years off my life.” She said softly. “It’ll be ok B. I need to get showered.”

“Have some tea first. I’ll make it.” He said and went to the kitchen. “Where’s Gustaf?”

“He went home for the night he had something come up.” Like a livid girlfriend who didn’t seem to mean anything to him anymore. Was that being mean, was she being too needy she wondered? “Alice will be over in a while to sit with you guys today.” And I’ll just dip into the “Lilys bedroom fund” to pay for it she thought bitterly. Gustaf was supposed to watch the kids this weekend while she worked but that didn’t seem to matter to him anymore either. She knew he had a life, had his own shit to do and respected that, but he’d left her high and dry with no communication about anything on their calendar even after she’d told him just before he left for Helsinki and he’d agreed. She had no idea where or what he was doing so she could organize the kids around that.

She sat with Brendan, watched the sun come up and sipped tea. Brendan sat in the one seat and read his book to Lily as she played, while Sildie took a shower and readied for the day. Alice would be over soon to care for the kids while she went to the office. Life went on and Gustaf didn’t seem to care one way or the other.

She knew he was battling some dark shit. But she was left hanging between work obligations and kids when he went home last night and breakfast with his sister this morning. “So much for we’ll make it work.” She muttered bitterly as she dressed. She was being pissy and she knew it and right at this moment she didn’t fucking care. She had to get through today and tomorrow at work, deal with kids that were hurting because of Gustaf, and face her own pain, he’d left. Quinn has left and now Gustaf, she was on her own, again.

Gustaf sat at his table stunned as he scratched away in his notebook as the tears flowed easily. He was an idiot and may have just lost the best thing to have ever happened to him. She was so angry with him and had every reason to be. He’d not texted her like normal, he’d shut her out, he’d shut the kids out, and worse he’d left, he’d walked out last night and left her. With those thoughts still heavy in his mind he showered and headed to see Eija.

It was around seven that night when he knocked on her door. He figured after last night he’d tread lightly after what she’d said and ask permission into her apartment. He wanted to... hell he didn’t know what the fuck he wanted anymore or what he was doing. She’d probably slam the door in his face for real this time.

His forehead furrowed when Alice answered the door and then looked to the heavens mentally kicking himself further. He’d forgotten he was watching the kids while she was at the office this weekend.

“Hi Alice, can you hang a moment while I get a change of clothes?” He asked and hoped she’d let him in and do some of what he’d promised.

“Sure.” She said smiling. “Sildie wasn’t sure what time you’d be back from work.”

“Thanks, not really with it today, long week.” He said and went to grab his messenger bag and clothes. She’d lied to Alice for him saying he was at work, and that made him feel like shit too.

The kids were at least happier to see him. Liam hugged him and they talked. Yes he had punishment but she’d gone easy on the kid even though she’d felt like locking him up and throwing away the key if her outburst was any indication.

Brendan was happy to see him but a little standoffish. He had a feeling the kid knew something was up. Lily came to him with a dad dad and it hit him how much he loved hearing that. He got the little lady to bed, got the twins settled and came out to Brendan sitting at the table with a pot of tea.

“When is Ama due home?” He asked sitting across from the teenager, he suddenly felt like shit for the past few weeks and what he’d dragged them into. Or more to the point what he’d dragged into their lives.

“Probably around ten.” He said softly. “The big case she’s working on blew up in her face yesterday they’re doing damage control or something like that.” He shrugged.

All Gustaf could do was nod. Because he hadn’t talked to her he didn’t know what was going on with her life. No wonder she was so stressed and angry last night, his shit had only exacerbated it. Fuck, he thought, he was so fucking fucked.

“Anyway I need to get to bed. I promised I wouldn’t swindle more time from Alice so I guess that means you as well.” He snorted and left Gustaf to his thoughts.

“Night B.”

“Night.”

He poured the tea and grabbed his messenger bag, his scripts were still tucked inside waiting for his attention. He’d work on things while he waited for her. He just hoped it didn’t make things worse.

It was well past midnight when she all but fell through the door exhausted. They had somewhat saved their case. She shut the door and flipped the lock and it was only then she noticed it was very quiet. Alice must have fallen asleep, not surprising she’d had them the entire day.

She turned and stopped dead at the sight of her lanky man at the table and felt her heart stutter, that choked sob at him being here hovering ready to leap out. She couldn’t go a round with him tonight she was beat to hell and her emotions were still too raw. She wanted to fucking rage at him but knew her fiery temper would only exacerbate things.

He felt the emotional flinch at him being here and wondered if he hadn’t lost her already. He stood and went to her the silence stretching between them unbearable.

“I can...” He choked and just said it. “I can leave if you want me to.” He didn’t want to go, he wanted to curl up with her, her warmth, her scent. He’d missed her. “I just wanted to sit with the kids like I’d promise you I’d do.” Even though he’d totally forgotten and fucked that up too.

“Right now Gustaf I want to shower and pass out, I’m exhausted. If you want to stay, stay. If not, I’ll understand.” It ripped holes in her heart to say it but he’d hurt her so much and she didn’t have the emotional energy to do this, to fight for him from whatever Ana had left in her wake.

She stepped past him and dumped her work on the table noticing his own stacked neatly at the end and almost lost it.

“Goodnight.” She said softly and went to her room almost in tears. She wanted to have him stay, curled against her. She longed for his warmth, his arms around her, his smell. The tears fell as she hung up her suit and ventured to the shower. The bed was still empty when she came out and she curled up alone, again. They were fooling themselves to think this could ever work, isn’t that what this had just proved? “How do I help him Quinn? Do I need to full on go nuclear and lose my shit at him before he gets the fucking point that I love him, I care about him? I want to help but I can’t if he won’t talk to me. I can’t when I’ve got to work to feed the kids. He left, he just fucking left.” Her sobs were quiet now into the pillow as sleep claimed her.

He itched to go and lay beside her but couldn’t. He’d done the one thing he’d promised her he wouldn’t do, he’d hurt her, he’d seen it clear as day in her eyes. He packed his messenger bag and went home quietly. He now had to figure out how he was going to fix their relationship, on top of everything else. Maybe some time apart was better, let it all calm down, had they been fooling themselves he wondered?

He dumped his bag and went to his gym, wrapped his hands, slipped them into the gloves, with two gentle taps to steady the bag he breathed out and slammed his fist against it.

She read the note he left on the teapot over and over again the next morning not really believing what she was reading.

I’m sorry Sildie. I’m no good for you like this. You deserve better, the kids deserve better. Maybe we were kidding ourselves.

Not only did it enrage her it made her gut sink. Was he giving up? She didn’t know what to do, there was too much going on with work, the kids, his current emotional state, her own current emotional state. She knew she was shutting him out now but she couldn’t function if she didn’t, it hurt to think about it. She left the kids with Alice and headed back to the office, work had become her sanctuary.

He was sitting with the kids when she got home at ten and left no sooner that she’d walked through the door. During the week he came over when the kids got up and home from school, yet went to his apartment at night barely a word between them. She’d left him to his soul searching. She’d asked him to tell her, almost pleaded with him to let her in but he wouldn’t. She couldn’t force him to talk to her and he’d shut her out so completely she wasn’t sure if he ever would.

She was at the office late Wednesday when Brendan called her in tears.

“Brendan, slow down love, take a breath. What’s happened?” Her stomach clenched.

“I’m at the rink and Gustaf’s not here. He’d promised to come and was going to drive me home, he said this morning he’d be here and he’s not. Ama what if something’s happened to him? If his car...” The boy was beyond it. “What if he’s had an accident and he’s...”

“Take a breath love. Take a breath. I’ll come get you ok? I’ll come get you and we’ll figure out what’s going on ok? It’ll be fine, he probably got caught up with work.” She said quickly. If he thought she was angry on Friday he was about to learn what fucking livid looked like up close and personal she thought as she hung up and called Gustaf. She tidied her desk, grabbed her keys, and headed out. There was no answer.

“What a fucking surprise.” She muttered as she drove. She was going to flay Gustaf alive.

#gustaf skarsgard #gustaf skarsgard fanfiction #shattered lives

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a-marlene-s · 5 years

Text

Futuristic Miraculous: Part 1

Couple: TerRI, Terry Mcginnis x Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug/Batman Beyond

Genre: Salt, hurt/comfort, friendship, and possibly more.

Summary: With her childhood friends close by, Marinette knew she could take on the world, even when dealing with a certain lair. It all first started with taking a job for being Jagged Stone’s personal designer and that resulted with her being in Neo-Gotham. All the while Terry is facing the fact he is the new Batman and dealing with all the past Robins wondering what Bruce was thinking in taking in a new kid into the cruel world that is of Superheroes.

Terry McGinnis x Marinette Dupain-Cheng: Futuristic

Tag List: @battysorciere

TerRi Sever: https://discord.gg/2qCNdjs

Age List:

Bruce: 60

Dick: 43

Barbara: 42

Jason 39

Tim: 37

Damian: 34

Terry: 16

Marinette: 16

Penny R.: 32

Marinette refused to cry or look away as her classmates waiting to be picked up to go to the local airport. She could see many of them sneering, glaring or just giving her looks of pity. Then there was Lila… just giving a look that reminded Marinette of a cat that caught the canary.

At her right, Nino held back a snarl that threatened to escape his lips at the sight of Liar mocking his friend. At Marinette’s left, Kim is trying his hardest to hold back his own anger at what was happening. It’s completely unfair how things had turned out for Marinette. She had done everything she could for this trip to happen Neo-Gotham and for it to blow up in her face has become the last straw for her.

Marinette tried so hard to take the high road that the only thing she got out of it is broken friendships. Along with just seeing how depressing the world could be. It has been well over a year since Lila came to Paris and destroyed her life to the best of her abilities. Unfortunately for the Liar, Marinette has two best friends that managed to see through the lies and are now stand by her side through it all. Even going as far too foregoing Neo-Gotham for her.

With everyone’s back turn, Lila took the chance to send a menacing smirk to Marinette before boarding the bus with the rest of the class. Marinette’s eyes narrowed as everyone ignored them as the bus drove off, leaving them in its dust. This hurts.

Not as much as seeing the hurt in their faces when Lila’s reign over them comes tumbling down.

“Kim, Marinette, Nino, I have your work packets for the year.” Ms. Mendeleiev approached the three students with three large packets of work. “I stapled my contact information in each packet. I will have the rest of your work on my website by the end of the month. The packets should be more than enough until then.”

“Thank you, Ms. Mendeleiev for your help.” Marinette thanked her instructor as she and her friends took their respective packets.

“If it means undermining, Miss Bustier, they by all means.” Ms. Mendeleiev snorted, she looked at her students, seeing the determination in their eyes. “If I was your homeroom instructor… things would have never gotten this far, I hope the three of you know this.”

“We know, Ms. Mendeleiev.” Marinette smiled sadly before she started to smirk. “I suppose we should be heading to the airport too if we want to catch our flight.”

“Penny said that a limo will be picking us up as soon as we give her a call.” Nino mentioned.

“Yeah, let’s call her! I want to see the looks on their faces when they see us flying first class!!!” Kim laughed.

Ms. Mendeleiev could only shake her head before she turned on her heal to leave. “Keep up with your work and keep me posted on your work.”

“Thank you, Ms. Mendeleiev.”

-.-

Tim drank what feels like his hundredth cup of coffee in the past hour, it might as well be his hundredth cup of coffee at this point. He was supposed to be in Paris for just a simple and much needed vacation. But of course work has to come first before anything. This resulted with him waiting in the airport with a bunch of high school students that are to go back to Neo-Gotham with him as part of an exchange program set up by his associates and his old Alma mater.

Now… this wouldn’t be an issue. The actual issue being the fact that the one that did most of the work to make this program possible isn’t even here. Tim doesn’t buy that whole, ‘disciplinary actions’ and all that other crap the teacher tries to shove down his throat. He ignored the rest of it and had emailed the associate that had put this together to send him the report from the missing student.

What Tim read made him wonder what the hell is going on in Paris. It makes it appear that they made the poor girl do all the dirty work and pushed her out of her own project at the last minute. As much he wants to forgo this trip, he has to keep up appearances as a CEO. Plus, who knows… maybe the kid will finally get a break from them.

Win-Win? No… it’s a lost for the girl that did everything she could to get her class to go on this trip. For nothing on her end.

“I happen to know Dick Grayson’s daughter, Mar’i Grayson! We are the closes of friends you know~”

Tim’s neck nearly snapped when he turned his attention to one of the French students. Once look over, and he could tell right off the bat she’s lying. First off… he knows all of Mar’i’s friends, safety precautions and to weed of anyone that wants to use her for connections. Second… this brat never spends a single day in the Manor and knew his own kids!!!! Tim guesses that the fact no one recognize him and assumed he’s some random employee that was supposed to be their guide or something.

Otherwise, the liar wouldn’t be spinning her tales otherwise.

“Why the hell are you here!!!”

Tim turned around to see three teens talking animated to a pink haired adult that is showing them a pamphlet. Considering they were all in the waiting terminal to catch the next plane, the four were blissfully unaware of their surroundings. That was until Miss Bustier approached the group but the woman that was holding the pamphlet pushed the teens behind her. Whatever was said by both adults, clearly made the teacher go on edge and the pink haired woman to smirk smugly at her.

With a heavy sigh, Tim drowned down his hundredth cup of coffee and headed towards what he suspects to be trouble.

“Marinette, Nino and Kim are under my supervision.” Penny stated, her expression neutral to hide her contempt. “I have their parents’ permission, the school is notified and that is all you need to know.”

Bustier’s mouth went agape at the woman’s words, even more so at the sight of her student’s smirks that were directed her way. Those three were supposed to be back at the school, not here in the airport. Not being here, waiting for the same plane as they are. She shook her head and tried to say something when it was announced that their flight is about ready to board, informing everyone to get to their spots.

“We must get going.” Penny said, pushing past Bustier and the rest of the students that decided to surround them. “We to get in line.”

Kim and Nino took hold of Marinette and pushed through the crowd as it appeared their fellow classmates were not planning on letting them through. The last thing they needed is more fuel to the fire by having Marinette being singled out for something she didn’t do. Again. Marinette for her own part, ignored the glares and everyone’s attempt to get her attention. As of now, they are not worth her time.

Marinette did however stick out her tongue out at Lila when she caught the other teen glaring at her. Might as well have some fun for now.

Tim, who had been watching, watched as the Marinette Dupain-Cheng be pulled away by her friends by her… friends? Classmates? Whatever she considers them, considering how majority of them were not comforting the now crying Liar. The Liar kept crying on and on how Marinette supposedly had stepped on her foot on purpose.

“Miss Bustier, is there a problem?” Tim asked, causing the French teacher to suck in a deep breath. Ah, she forgot about him. Figures. “Well?”

“Just a miscommunication is all.” Bustier tried to say.

“I assume that was Miss Dupain-Cheng?” Tim asked, raising an eyebrow at Bustier. “The one that is supposed to be dealing with disciplinary problems?”

“She chopped off Lila’s hair!” One of the teens seethed out as she tried to sooth the Lair’s tears away. “And she just stepped on her foot.”

Tim looked at Lila to see that her shoes were scruff free, her hair… well, it’s in a bob. He could only shake his head. Oh, how much he wants to cancel this trip. He’s close to doing it too. Taking in a deep breath, he looked back at Bustier. “Far as I am concerned, she is not part of this trip. You have no control over them. You, however, have control over the rest of your students. Now go get in line, we are about to board.”

-.-

Tim sat in his first class seat, asking the stewardess for a large cup of coffee. When he gets back home, he’s going to apologize to Bruce for all the shit he ever pulled on him throughout the years. This doesn’t include his own kids, but that is beside the point of it all. He had to deal with a bunch of whiny teens that are going on and on how the evil Marinette getting first class seats while they all have coach. Evil this, evil that, and here he was talking with said evil person, chatting away on her dream of becoming a fashion designer and how the Jagged Stone has hired her personally to design his clothes while he’s on tour.

It also helps that the woman from earlier, Penny Rolling is Jagged’s agent and confirmed her story. From what Tim could summarize what had happened was that Lila Rossi had cut her own hair to the point it was unsalvageable and blamed it on Marinette, claiming the designer did it. No one took Marinette’s side except for her two friends, Kim and Nino.

Despite the fact that Marinette was with Kim and Nino when this… accident had occurred, no one bothered to listen to reason. This caused Tim really regret not canceling the trip for the other Parisians. That was until Penny made mention that there was no point in going up against the girl… at that instant. If the girl wants a to be the center of attention, oh, she will get it.

Tim couldn’t help but laugh at the agent’s words before he quickly sobered up. Despite the fact Marinette and her friends are still going to Neo-Gotham, but they won’t have the same experience as the others… although, thinking further into it, it wouldn’t be all that great of a trip for them if Rossi keeps trying to sabotage them at every step.

At least they found a way to enjoy their time in the city…

“Excuse me, Mr. Drake…?”

Tim looked up at one of the stewardess to see her holding a note. “Is something the matter?”

“You have a message from one… Dick Grayson” The stewardess replied uncertainty, handing over the note to Tim.

Tim took the note and a raised eye brow. He watched as the stewardess scurry of before looking down at the note. Unfolding it to see what was written on it only caused both eyebrows to shot up.

Check the Neo-Gotham news!

Tim pulled out his cellphone and turned it back on. By the time his phone had booted up, he was bombarded by many missed texts, lost calls, and many news notifications all stemming from his home city. When he went to check on the latest text, he got another notification from a news station he follows.

Tapping on the notification and the headline of the article has him quickly making a group call with all the former batboys.

Tomorrow is Here, The Return of Batman!

“Okay, which one of you did it. Which one of you is the new Batman… What did you expect, Jason! I haven’t been in the same country, let alone continent… I don’t know, Damian! Bruce prefers to be alone and hardly bothers to talk to anyone outside of the family… Thanks Dick… Let’s get this straight, whoever this new Batman is, is none of us… That’s what I thought.” Tim pulled his phone away from his ear as Dick, Jason and Damian started to argue among themselves on whatever is going on in Neo-Gotham. Apparently, there’s a new Batman and they have no clue who took on the old mantle of the Dark Night. Or as the Tomorrow Knight as people are taking to call him as now. Taking in a deep breath, Tim put the phone back by his ear. “I’m on a plan heading back home. I’ll talk to Bruce about this… What do you guys mean you won’t be here until then?… Just get here as soon as possible.”

-.-

Terry double checked that he has all of Bruce’s medications counted before placing them all in a small plant along with a sandwich and a steaming cup of tea. If he’s going to be dubbed Bruce Wayne’s part-time assistant, he might as well play the part. He has nothing against it, the old man is giving him the opportunity in becoming the new Batman. Plus, but the looks of it, there was really no one there to help Bruce as often as needed. Mainly making sure the guy doesn’t have a heart attack by doing the simplest of tasks… like saving him.

Terry shook his head as he picked up the tray and headed towards the room where Bruce is with Ace. Taking in a deep breath, he made his way to his new mentor.

Pushing the door open, Terry caught Bruce putting something away in his coat. He raised an eyebrow but made no comment. For all he knew it was other medication Bruce doesn’t want him to know about. “Remind me to go grocery shopping later. For a rich guy, your pantry is pretty bare.”

“Alfred used to keep the place stock…” Bruce briefly mentioned, reaching over to Ace to scratch his head. “Tim mainly just whatever he thinks is best for me…which isn’t much.”

“Tim?”

“One of my sons. You will be seeing him often as he pops by to make sure I’m properly taking care of myself.” Terry could hear the eye roll Bruce did at the mention of taking care of himself. “If you see a thirty something year old male that looks like he’s on the verge of collapsing… it’s him.”

“Is… is this the same man that took over Wayne Enterprises?” Terry enquired, placing the tray on a small table next to Bruce’s chair.

“He is. Out of my four sons, he took the most interest in taking over the company.”

“Got it.” Terry grumbled, taking a seat opposite of Bruce. He watched as the older male take his sandwich and eat it uninterestingly. A thought popped through his head suddenly, causing him to tense. “All your sons were past Robins and the occasional Batman… right?”

Bruce eyed Terry suspiciously before nodding, taking another bite from his food. “Your point?”

“Did you tell any of them about me?” Terry asked.

“I did not. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them barges through that door… right about now.”

Slam!

The doors of the room slammed open to reveal a very sleep deprived male, frantically looking around for who knows what. When his eyes landed on Terry, his slowly blinked over to Bruce and back at Terry before leaving the room. An awkward silence filled the air when the sound of the front door being slammed open and shut.

Terry looked over at Bruce just to see the man still munching on his sandwich. “Who was that?”

“That would be Tim.” Bruce said without missing a beat.

Terry looked taken aback at that statement. The same guy that’s supposed to look after Bruce, the same guy that looks like he’s going to keel over? Yeah, no. Tim looks like he hasn’t slept in months and is need of a proper meal. “…And he now the head of Wayne Enterprise?”

“I’m one of the chairmen.” Bruce stated.

The sound of the front door being slammed open reverberated throughout the seemingly quiet manor. Stomping all the way to the room Terry and Bruce are in. Tim came back, staring at Terry with a wide variety of emotions. “Who are you? Did Bruce adopt you? What’s your backstory? What’s your name…?”

Terry looked taken aback, he looked over at Bruce, hoping for some sort of help. Nope. The old man just took his medication and used his tea to drink it down. “…”

“Well?” Tim questioned, storming into the room. He now stood in between Bruce and Terry, waiting for the teen to answer his questions. “Who are you?”

“His father used to work for Wayne Enterprises.” Bruce butted in, emphasizing on a particular word.

This only caused Tim to raise his hands into the air in defeat as he caught drift on Bruce’s meaning of the words, used to. “Great…. He did take in another one… If you’ll excuse me, I need to talk to my brothers.”

With that, Tim one again left the room leaving being a very perplexed Terry and annoyed Bruce.

“What the hell was that?” Terry questioned.

“…He gets like that whenever he’s off his coffee.”

-.-

Marinette, Nino and Kim did their best to ignore how Neo-Gotham gave them the creeps. It was clear the city needed massive cleaning up when it comes to crime. From what they had gathered, things had deteriorated since Batman had hung his cape for good. Shortly being followed by his former sidekicks. Since then, crime has risen to the point it makes them wonder if the city will ever be crime-free.

Maybe they’ll help while they are in the city for the time being.

“Spots On!”

“Shell On!”

“Show Time!”

-.-

Tim sat in front of the computer mainframe inside the Batcave, on a multi-line video chat with Dick, Barbara, Jason and Damian. “You know him, Barbs?”

“Terrence ‘Terry’ McGinnis has multiple run ins with the GCPD. Even serving a three-month stint in juvie for running with a street gang.” Commissioner Barbara Gordon said, her expression stern and not at all liking the fact that Bruce had managed to find someone to take over the mantle of Batman.

Jason whistled at that. “Damn. What this kids’ home life like?”

“His father was murdered the other night… in order to keep him quiet.” Barbara said, her eyes narrowed down onto Tim. For his own part, Tim wanted to earth to swallow him up. “Something about one of your business partners, by the name of Derek Powers, was creating a formula and one Warren McGinnis was a part of the research division of it.”

Once more, Tim slumped further into his chair as he thought over the business deal he had with Derek Powers. It was nothing out of the ordinary really. They both had something the other needed, and Powers just wanted to use the Wayne’s Labs for further research on a formula. Nothing out of the norm really! This has been done multiple times with different companies in the past. But it appears this time around… it was anything but the norm.

“Powers had Warren killed. Terry found out, and wanted payback. What’s new?” Damian rolled his eyes not at all amused by the entire situation. “I just want to know how he managed to get the suit.”

“Bruce is refusing to tell me anything and all of you know how he is.” Tim said, fixing himself back into the seat before he had the chance to fall off it.

“Does he gave a family?” Dick asked quietly, almost being talked over by Jason demanding Tim to demand for more answers.

Once again, Barbara answered. “He’s now living with his mother and had a younger brother.”

“Do they get along?” Jason asked.

“They do. More so after Terry’s return from juvie.”

“You know something…” Jason mused, he wasn’t facing the screen anymore, paying more attention to whatever was on his phone. “If I didn’t know any better…”

“Which you don’t.” Damian butted in.

“Shut it squirt!” Jason shot back.

“I’m not a child anymore, Todd!”

“That’s enough!” Dick said, breaking up a possible fight. “No more fighting. We’re not children anymore.”

Jason tsk’ed but continued with his train of thought. “The kid looks a lot like Damian when he was around that age.”

At this, everyone turned their attention to Damian who’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, nearly choking on a beverage he was drinking. “Let me assure you, I am not like father who sleeps with random women.”

“…You got to admit… Terry has Bruce’s chin…” Dick pointed out.

Silence…

“Who wants to bet Bruce didn’t wear a condom?”

A sharp ring interrupted any possible bets, Tim reached up and started to figure out what set off the alarm. Pulling up a screen that showed something… really, really… really odd. “So… a ladybug, a turtle and a monkey walked into a movie theater that’s being held up in gun point…”

TBC.

If anyone wants to be part of the tag list, don’t hesitate to ask

#TerRi #Terry x Marinettte #terry mcginnis #marinette dupen chang #ml #batman beyond #dc #crossover #batman #ladybug #miiraculous laadybug #maribat #Part 1

209 notes · View notes

dammit-stark · 4 years

Note

i am OBSESSED with royalty aus

fun fact: red, white & royal blue by Casey mcquiston is actually my favorite book (tied with Emma by Jane Austen, obviously) but anyway this was heavily inspired by the plot of that book so I hope you like it! - p.s this turned out to be like 1.8k words soooooo here it exists now okay

DROP YOUR FAV AU IN MY ASK BOX (OR JUST ANY IDEA IDC) AND ILL WRITE IT FOR YOU :)

...

“We’re supposed to hate each other,” Tony insists, head hanging off the side of his bed, his feet cushioned in the onslaught of pillows by the head board. Nat sits criss-cross applesauce in his peripheral vision, flipping through a magazine, “It’s not my fault he’s a pompous ass and we’re star-crossed nemeses.”

Nat stops flipping to look at him under an arched eyebrow, “Star-crossed, Tony? Really?”

“Oh, shush, you know what I am. We’re total opposites. My dad got elected by the people into the greatest country in the world, and he was born into the crappy inbred monarchy whose ass we beat centuries ago.”

Nat doesn’t look up from her magazine this time, “Didn’t your dad fund his campaign with the millions of dollars he got from his inheritance?”

Tony pauses. In the silence, he can hear the blood rushing to his head. He chooses to ignore Nat’s logic, “I really don’t think that’s relevant here.”

Nat gets to the last page and the flimsy pages clap noisily together. She points an accusatory finger at him, “I don’t care if you think he’s the Loch Ness monster, it’s a royal wedding and you’re the first son of the United States. You’re gonna have to suck it up and be on your best behavior.”

“Oh, no, Nat,” Tony coos sardonically, still hanging upside down, “Are you afraid I’m gonna embarrass you?”

With a complete straight face, she throws her magazine at him, and stands so she’s towering above him. He has to stretch his neck to look at her.

“Yes, she says. I absolutely am. Now, what do you want on your pizza? I’m hungry.”

As it turns out, Tony isn’t humanly capable of staying on his best behavior at the royal wedding. He definitely embarrasses Nat, and maybe, sorta, totally causes an international incident in the process.

“It’s not my fault,” He tells Nat on the jet back to the States, still hanging somewhere in the precarious limbo between disastrously drunk and world-endings hungover, “He started it.”

Nat just glares at him, “I was standing right there, Tony. I watched you push him first.”

“I-“ There’s not much point in arguing, “Yeah. Dad’s gonna be pissed, isn’t he?”

Nat sighs, a long, never-ending sigh that makes her sound decades older than she actually is. Tony has that effect on people.

“Don’t worry about your dad, Tony,” She tells him. This time, she’s flipping through a classified file folder instead of a dime-a-dozen tabloid edition, “We’re gonna fix your mess, as per usual.”

Tony can feel the hangover rearing it’s head over the drunkenness, and he sinks into his chair, eyes closing, “You’re the best, Nat. Thanks.”

Nat rolls her eyes as Tony falls asleep, “Yeah,” She murmurs under her breath to herself, “Damn right I am. Dumbass.”

It turns out that Nat’s solution to Tony’s antagonistic little international incident is to make it seem like the whole The-First-Son-Just-Pushed-A-Beloved-Prince-Into-His-Brother’s-Wedding-Cake thing seem more like a frat boy-esque ribbing gone bad. Tony hates the plan, and he tells Nat as such.

“This is a horrible plan. It’s not gonna work, and it means I have to spend an entire weekend with Prince Pissy Pants.”

They’re on the private plane again, flying back to England to fix Tony’s mess.

Nat rolls her eyes, and punches him in the shoulder, “Get over yourself, Stark. If you don’t want to hang out with your so-called nemesis, then stop getting drunk and pushing people into wedding cakes. This is your own fault. We’re fixing your problem for you. Get over it.”

Tony rolls his eyes, but otherwise consents, “Whatever.”

Nat passes him a file folder.

“What’s this?”

“The Prince’s interests. Study it. Learn it like it’s the back of your hand, and then study it even more. If you get caught in a lie, Stark, you’re beyond dead.”

He gets two lines in before he tears narrowed eyes away from the paper to suspiciously meet Nat’s expression, “Did he get one of these about me?”

“Yep.”

“What was in it?”

“Your interests, Stark.”

Tony does not envy whoever got assigned that task. He wonders how accurate it’ll be. He obediently reads through the Prince’s interests among an uncharacteristic silence. Nat almost thinks he’s grown up until he breaks said silence with a snort.

“His favorite book is Great Expectations? Nerd.”

When they land, Tony remembers why he pushed the prince in the first place. Yeah, the alcohol did half the work for him, but- something about the Prince’s stupidly perfect, absurdly handsome face just makes Tony want to start shoving people into cakes. Surely other people have the same urge.

“Mr Stark,” The Prince says as greeting. He doesn’t even offer a hand for Tony to shake, just smiles with his hands folded together, “It’s a shame these are the circumstances that you-“

“Yeah, yeah, you’re very polite, I get it. Prince Steve here to save the day with his antiquated, impeccable manners. Yippee-kiy-yai.”

Tony counts it as a win that he sees a flicker in that smile, but it crests back to sparkly perfection with a blink of the eye. There are cameras. Tony sees Nat out of the corner of his eye, glaring beside a distinct row of security, somehow looking the most intimidating of all of them. He smiles back, pasted and ridiculous and spiteful, his whole body tensed and relaxed at the same time.

He smiles winningly for the cameras.

Later, at the hospital, Tony wonders how Mr Prince Perfect can put on such a facade, even with sick kids. Because that’s obviously what this is. He watches from across the room as Prince Steven kneels beside a sick kid’s bedside, smiling kindly, and talking to the little girl with her baby yoda doll tucked into the crook of her arm.

It’s not until Tony has completely committed to his eavesdropping that he realizes there aren’t any cameras around to capture Steve’s amiability. That’s the first moment Tony thinks oh, maybe this guy isn’t as fake as I thought he was.

“You totally wouldn’t be Han Solo,” Tony interrupts because he’s totally an asshole and he knows it (that’s the different between Tony and Prince Stick-Up-Butt, he at least owns his assholery), “You’re a textbook Luke Skywalker if I ever met one, Prince.”

Steve’s responding grin is surprisingly left-leaning, and the kid in the hospital bed is giggling.

“Are you gonna try to tell me that you’re a Han Solo then?”

“Actually, I-“

“Because you’re not,” Steve’s totally serious except a slight twinkle in his eye, one forefinger tapping against his own knee as the little girl sits enraptured by the ridiculous conversation occurring just above her, “You’re Anakin through and through. Not in a bad way, just-“

Tony doesn’t mean to come off as truly surprised as he really does, but the way he shuts his mouth immediately gives him away, “No,” He says, “You’re right.”

Steve’s lips punch off at the corners in an amused, vaguely self-satisfied way that makes Tony want to soberly push him into another cake so expensive you need to take out a mortgage to eat a slice. Before Tony can needle him back, the prince is smiling back at the kid, a gentle hand on her arm. Huh.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Wendy. Thanks for talking about Star Wars with us.”

And like the smug bastard he is, Steve gracefully stands from her bedside and leaves the room. Oh no he won’t. Tony follows, angrily.

That’s how they end up in a near-empty hospital hallway together. And subsequently, it’s also how they’re pushed into the closest nearby maintenance closet by the nearest secret service operative, tripping over themselves and invisible equipment alike as they’re safely hidden away. It’s also how they end up on the floor, joints every which way, elbows menacing and in all the wrong places as they cajole violently among the brooms and buckets.

“Your elbow-“ Tony grunts, “Is in my side, Steve.”

“Yes, well, my elbow wouldn’t be in your side if your elbow wasn't in my shoulder.”

“Get your shoulder out of my elbow!”

“Why do you hate me?” Steve cuts him off, a hiss in his voice. Ooh, Mr Perfect Prince can actually get angry. Exciting.

Tony takes a deep breath. Or- as deep of a breath as he can take without drawing attention to their tight little maintenance closet/hideout.

“You’re not real. You’re fake. Everything you do has been trained into you, it’s annoying.”

“I feel pretty real to me, Stark.”

“You just- it’s a persona. You’re a persona. And the whole world blindly loves you for it.”

In the dark, Tony chews on his bottom lip- a chronic bad habit of his.

When Steve responds, his voice is low, even lower than it necessarily needs to be to keep attention away from their location. He can’t tell in the dark, but Tony thinks his head might be bowed. He can practically hear the thoughts in the prince’s head. But then again, they’re physically close enough, practically spooning ridiculously on the ground, he might as well tap directly into Steve’s mind they’re so close together.

“Do you think I want to be a persona, Tony? Do you think I did this to myself? I’m still me, I’m just- guarded. It’s not up to me. There’s a lot more to the world than my place in it.”

Tony’s quiet. It’s a much more real answer than he’d expected. He’d half expected the prince to spit on him or something, dig his elbow extra far into Tony’s side or something. Instead he gets this vulnerable little morsels of honesty, and Tony has nothing to say.

“I-“

Tony’s cut off by blinding light. Nat whips the door open.

“Ew, what are you guys doing on the ground? Why are you spooning?”

Steve hurried to his feet, cheeks visibly red, “The threat?” He demands, and Tony’s surprised Nat doesn’t demand a full sentence like she usually does, the cocky bastard. She nods succinctly.

“A false alarm. However, we’ve deemed it safest to move onto the next event.”

“Great, thanks,” The Prince says, and moves off down the hall, disappearing behind twin EXIT doors.

Tony’s still on the ground when Nat swivels back to look at him, a smug smile on her face.

“You hate each other, huh? Is that what you’re calling it nowadays?”

Tony rolls his eyes, “Oh, shut up, asshole, and help me.”

But he hadn’t had to tell himself deflect, deflect, deflect, and he’s pretty sure something about being stuck in a children’s hospital maintenance closet changed his feelings on the guy. Something about it.

As Tony walks to his next event, he has to push to keep the prince out of his idle mind.

When he departs for the United States hours later, Tony leaves the prince with his phone numbers.

“To corroborate our stories or whatever,” He tells Prince Steven, though he’s sure Nat isn’t convinced, “So we don’t have to keep going between these losers.”

Prince Steven accepts the offering with a smile, and Tony gets on the plane, leaving Britain behind him one last time.

#royalty au #drabble #stevetony #rwarb au #I hope this makes sense even if you haven’t read the book #I’ve been meaning to write this for 6+ months so it was awesome to finally do it heh

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miss-tc-nova · 4 years

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Business Pitfalls - Jaehee Kang x Fem!Reader Pt 2

This series isn’t going to be very long. I’m practicing writing shorter stuff.

~~~~~

Part 2: Let the Adventure Begin

It’s been a few weeks since I courted Jaehee Kang into joining me on my adventure. We’ve had several meetings and I couldn’t be more convinced that I made the right choice in my partner. She’s already formed an agreeable contract and adjusted our caffeine tour. She’s incredible.

She gave her boss her two-week notice the day after we came to an agreement, which I have to console her is the right choice for her to follow her dream. I’m proud to have already gained her trust. Jumin Han, however, did not seem to take the news lightly and is being difficult about choosing a new assistant. But I keep the woman on the straight path.

I wait out front of the C&R building, waiting to pick up my partner and take her away. Before long, the front doors open and out she comes, followed by a peeved looking Jumin Han and a young man.

“There you are,” I greet.

“Sorry. There were a few more loose ends than I expected,” she apologizes. Today has not been easy on her and I can guess why.

I take the box of personal belongings from her hands. “Don’t fret. Today’s just for preparing for our trip tomorrow.” She seems a bit surprised at my carrying her things but lets me do so. My eyes slide to the culprit of her anxious behavior. “Good evening, Mr. Han.”

His hot, silver eyes narrow. “Miss _____. What are you doing here?”

“Just as I said: I’m picking up my partner so we can get ready to fly out tomorrow. Not that that’s really any of your business.” I turn back to my car to place Jaehee’s things in the back seat while she reminds her former boss and the nervous blonde of a few things.

Jaehee bows to the heir. “Thank you so much for the opportunity to work with you, Mr. Han. I will be forever grateful and take the things I learned under your guidance into the future.” Always so polite, even though I know she’s been terribly stressed out working under this man. “Good luck, Yoosung. Don’t hesitate to call if you’ve got a question.”

“Uh, thanks Jaehee,” the young man replies.

She waves to them and returns to me, a smile of relief on her face. “Are you ready?” I ask.

“Yes.” She’s stepping into a new life and looking forward to it.

“Do you get off on stealing people from high-paying jobs and comfortable lives to risk everything?” I pause and look back at Mr. Han who’s probably never lost anything to anyone his entire life unless he intended it. “You can’t even guarantee that this café of yours will succeed. So why would she choose you over me?”

Jaehee looks almost mortified but I simply open the door for her. As I close the door behind her, I reply, “The answer is simple, I gave Jaehee the opportunity to chase her dreams, treated her like a person, and she accepted,” I reply. “Sure, we might fail, even a few times, but this is what she wants to pursue and I’m supporting her in that. But I’m sure we’ll be just fine with Jaehee’s exceptional skills. In the end, I understand she needs more than just money to be happy in her work.”

It’s like I’ve illuminated a corner he’s never noticed before. “Than what should I have done differently?”

“Granted you run a corporation and I’m pursuing something she dreams of, I don’t think you were ever going to win.” I shrug. “But there might’ve been a fighting chance if you let her run a project of her choice—There’s no way she could have failed. Maybe given her a vacation or more time off. Stopped treating her like a slave. Everyone needs money, Mr. Han, and I understand that she was nearly invaluable to you, but she’s not just another asset you use up until it’s worthless.” I give him a smile. “You reasonably take care of your people’s morale and they’ll take care of you. Now if you’ll excuse me, my partner and I must be going.” I give him a brief wave and a friendly smile. “Good luck, Mr. Han.”

Walking around my car, I sit in the driver’s seat and take a deep breath. “I’m sorry for talking about you as if you weren’t there. I know you are entirely capable of speaking for yourself.”

My apology seems to catch her off-guard. “Uh, no. It’s alright. But…Do you really think we’ll be successful with just the two of us?”

I can’t help but beam at her. “Of course.” I start our car down the road. “Now take off those fake glasses and get ready to try on some dresses!”

“What?!”

Turns out, Jaehee has become so accustomed to the business life that she’s completely lost when it comes to shopping for something more elegant. She’s like a nervous deer in the store and I have to insist that she try some off the dresses on. I admit that I had some fun playing dress up with her. My biggest goal for the little shopping excursion is just to get her to loosen up and get to know her. We’ve had a couple lunches together but I let her get away with making them far more formal than necessary. Ultimately, she doesn’t pick a dress but I do; in fact I pick two.

Excitement sparks between us, even if she is anxious about what this new chapter will bring her life. I’m so wound up it takes everything I have not to insist she spends the night at my place so we can go straight to the airport in the morning, but I remind myself she’s not quite as outgoing as I am and would probably prefer some breathing space. It takes a few cups of chamomile to get me calm enough just to lay in bed.

~~~~~

I got no sleep but I don’t care. I’m up and about and banning myself from touching my phone because I’m sure I’ll start pestering Jaehee the moment I do. I gave her our schedule so I know she’ll be ready on time but I’m ready to start this adventure. I’ve checked and double checked my bags, the tickets, and the schedule just to keep myself busy. Because of the time zone differences, we’re leaving in the afternoon and it’s killing me.

Finally, it’s time to leave and I call a taxi to go pick up Jaehee. She’s still nervous with an air of enthusiasm when she answers the door.

“Hey, you ready to go?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect! Then let the adventure begin.”

Security sucks and waiting at the gate is boring but they finally start calling sections to board the plane.

“Hey, that’s us,” I hum, grabbing my carry on.

Jaehee’s eyes widen. “You booked us First Class?!”

I give a sheepish smile. “It’s all they had when I booked two weeks ago. It’s no Business Class but I hope you don’t mind.”

“You should have gotten us Economy seats,” she scolds. Even in her scorn, she can’t bring herself to be more forceful with me. I wish she’d get it in her head that we’re equals.

“I know,” I sigh. “But I didn’t know I was going to have a business partner the first time I booked. Then I found you and I wanted us to sit together. Next time I’ll be more prepared, okay?”

She also sighs and glances away. “Okay.”

Comfortably seated, we get ourselves situated for the long flight ahead of us. As I should’ve guessed, Jaehee immediately pulls out a pair of binders that are jammed full of papers and at least a dozen tabs each.

“Wha’chu got there?” I ask.

“Oh, just some work stuff.”

I scoot closer. “Like what?”

“Um, menu ideas, branding, advertising, décor, pretty much everything I’ve been thinking about.”

She lets me slide the second binder away from her. “Oh, I see you’ve been looking at the booths I wanted. You’re really on top of this, Jae.”

“Um, thank you. Can we talk about the menu? There’s a couple items I was thinking we could learn to make.”

“Sure.” I push up the armrest between us to get a closer look at her notes.

I know work can’t be all fun all the time, but Jaehee really makes it interesting. And she certainly takes on her fair share of the load, making this far easier on me. Even more, she understands a lot more of the number crunching than I do; I thought I had everything down but clearly I did not. She’s definitely the person I needed.

Eventually, we call it quits on work and relax, as much as we can on a plane anyway. Leaning against the window, I begin to doze.

My brain jars awake when I feel something against my shoulder. I turn my head to see the top of a familiar brunette head. Immediately, a wave of contentment rolls over me and I adjust to make the situation more comfortable for the both of us. However, there’s something else swimming around in my chest as I look down at Jaehee’s sleeping face. I don’t mind being used as a pillow or cuddling up a little with friends but there’s something about her that makes this different. I care but something in the back of my brain is telling me that it’s more than that. When the recognition clicks, my stomach flips.

What am I doing?

Despite the red flags waving violently, my arm falls across her back and I settle in for the rest of the flight.

#jaehee kang #mysme jaehee #mystic messenger jaehee #jaehee x mc #jaehee x reader #fem!reader

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katjacksonbooks · 4 years

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Ummm, I started this romance last year at some point and then put it away, as I often do. But now that the world feels super bleak (super SUPER bleak? what’s the scale for everything sucks and I hate it all?) I’ve decided to add this story to my list of things I want to finish soon-ish. (I mean, it’s me tho, so what does soon even mean?)

Anyway, if you want to read a preview of Alien Escape (erotic ffm) and meet Drea, a girl with big dreams and a plan to get as far away from her toxic parents as she can, read on!

CW: allusions to domestic violence and emotional abuse

Also, if you’re wondering if I really have face inspiration for an alien couple, the answer is yes. I do! Y’all should watch Star Trek: Discovery!

Prologue

“Shut up!”

“You shut up! All you do is come in here and whine like a baby until you get your way.”

“When have I ever gotten my damn way in this fucking house? I work my fingers to the bone—”

“Where? When? Doing what?”

“Oh, fuck you! Someone’s gotta keep food on the table in this damn place—”

That’s about when I tune them out. My parents have the same fight every three to four days, like clockwork. It’s not really about anything, or not about anything specific; they just like to fight and really dislike each other. Mom hates living in Ohio, and she’ll never forgive dad for moving us out here. Dad hates living in Ohio too, but he refuses to admit that this was ever his idea. Money’s tight. There’s nothing to do. Neither of them can keep a job. Somehow, this is all my fault.

Different day, same bullshit, and why I don’t bother listening.

We all learn things from our parents, and mine taught me early and often that we all have lots of times in our lives when we can make decisions to not stay with people we barely know and can’t stand. My parents had more roads to escape than most.

My life as I know it might never have happened if their casual fling — without birth control, because dad didn’t believe in it — hadn’t turned into an unexpected, but obviously expected, pregnancy. That could have been a wakeup call, followed by a visit to a Planned Parenthood and an important life lesson learned, except mom was from a hardcore born-again family and didn’t believe in birth control or abortions. She believed in premarital sex, though, so I’m still trying to make sense of that faith system, but the damage was done. The damage being the mess those two made of my childhood because, even though they could have decided to co-parent or something, they apparently felt compelled to stay together. Why? I’ll never know, and I’m convinced they don’t know, either. My earliest self-realization wasn’t “This fucker took my nose!”, it was “My parents see me as a burden.” Can you imagine? Being barely old enough to sit up without wobbling and knowing, somehow, deep in your bones, that the two people who should love you unconditionally, don’t? It’s not a great life, just in case you need to see it in black and white. To my parents, I was just another mouth to feed, the thing that kept them bound to this person they hated more each day. Their entire relationship and my entire existence were just one bad decision after another, and the soundtrack to my entire life has just been this same argument.

They bickered all over New York in the almost-identical shoebox apartments they could just about afford, during our road trip West and ever since we settled in Akron. They don’t even like each other enough to shake up these knock-down, drag-out fights. Maybe a cheating accusation here, or a “Who ate the last piece of chicken?” there, but other than that, nothing.

The most interesting part of my life was that year just before they finally decided to move to Ohio. Dad had tried to feed me and mom some fairytale about how life would be different here — fewer people, better housing, more trees, less pollution and a stronger family unit. I never believed it, because in each of the yarns he spun, I was still with them — both of them — and there’s no happily ever after with them around; not for me, at least. But mom had been swayed, and next thing I knew, we were in a beat-up Ford truck, the entirety of our belongings packed precariously in the bed and heading West. Surprise of all surprises, none of dad’s stories had been true.

Well, okay, let me be fair. There are technically fewer people in Akron than the Bronx, and the house we’ve been renting since we arrived is bigger than those small New York apartments, but besides that, my parents’ dysfunctional relationship and my shitty life are business as usual.

There were more trees when we got here, but I’m not giving dad credit for that since most of them were cut down about a year after we arrived to make room for the new pipeline running right through our backyard. That’s why the rent’s so cheap.

My parents fight about that, too.

The move wasn’t a Band-Aid to their relationship, and it certainly didn’t make my life better — not that anyone was worried about me — and as far as my parents are concerned, every problem in their life is my fault. They fight about it regularly and then circle right back around to being united against me, and that’s why as soon as mom banged the pot of spaghetti on the kitchen table, I scarfed down my portion and excused myself immediately.

Their problems aren’t my fault, I know that, but there’s no reasoning with them. It’s best to just disappear. I headed upstairs to my room with a mumbled “homework” and waited. Once I heard them start sniping at one another, I did what I always do and climbed up to the attic and out onto the roof. This is the only place where I feel safe, emotionally, if not physically. If I’m being honest, I really shouldn’t be up here. It’s slippery, and a bunch of the tiles are a good gust of wind away from falling off, but if my choices are inside my parents’ house and up here, the roof wins every time.

Out here, there’s enough space to escape my parents’ incessant fighting. The late spring air is a marked change from the stifling, probably not-quite-safe gas heat in our house. On a clear night, I can stand on the eastern edge of the roof and see all the way downtown, not that there’s much to see there. I mean, I can see the marquis of the Burger King where I work, but I’m not interested in that, so I usually look in the opposite direction. There’s not much to see there either, just a few farmhouses surrounded by large fields and the pipeline.

But I’m not looking at any of that. I put my earbuds in my ears, turn my music up as loud as it goes and lay back on the roof to stare at the clear, dark blue sky. Sometimes, I haul my sketch book up here to draw, or pull my old astronomy textbook out and try to identify the constellations, but whatever I do, I say a prayer that my singular wish will come true. All I want is to get as far away from my parents as fast as I can.

My classmates are preparing for college, and lots of them want to enlist, but my only real goal post-graduation is to get away. I’ve worked out any number of escape routes up here. Instinctually, I know that I can’t just move to Columbus or Detroit. Those cities aren’t far enough away, and I’ve long been worried that my parents’ obvious co-dependency means that I need to put some serious miles between us if I want to have a chance at real freedom.

I toyed with the idea of leaving the country, but Burger King money doesn’t stretch nearly that far. Right now, I’m making just enough to give my parents one of my checks a month to help with household bills — and keep them off my back — and split the second between my cellphone bill and savings account. After three years, I have enough money saved to absolutely get the fuck out of Akron in exactly six months on my eighteenth birthday, and I plan to do exactly that, but I’m still working out the kinks in my escape route.

I’ve done the math, and I can either buy a decent used car or a plane ticket to California. Every time my dad comes home and tells mom that his paycheck was docked for calling in or mom hides yet another online delivery from dad, I’m tempted to go for the plane ticket, but I usually talk myself down from that impulse because I’m sensible, unlike my parents. Even though the thousands of miles away from here is attractive as fuck, I know that once I get off that plane, I’ll be broke as hell.

On the other hand, the rusty Honda Civic I have my eye on at the used car dealership downtown is sensible. It has less than 100,000 miles, good mileage, and if push came to shove, it could double as a temporary home. It wouldn’t be a six-hour plane ride to California, but I’ve got enough money that I could put some real distance between my parents and myself and have enough to really start the rest of my life.

But when I’m up on the roof, I also have another secret fantasy. It’s not real, but when my parents are really loud, and I worry that the yelling and crashing might turn to the sound of fists hitting skin and bone, I dream of space. Forget California or Tokyo, I wish I could go to the moon or beyond. There’s a tiny, terrified girl inside me that knows in her bones that the only way to really escape my parents is up above me. Sometimes, I lay back on the roof and imagine what it would be like to know that I was far enough away that I’d never have to hear my parents wake me up arguing again. It’ll never happen, but some nights, daydreams of flying up into the sky are the only things that make me feel safe enough to fall asleep. But just like with San Francisco, I bury that deep inside myself and calculate how many shifts I need to work to have the full price of the used Honda. The sky is my fantasy, just like Ohio had been my parents’, but that Honda Civic is the real path to freedom.

The sound of glass breaking hits my ears in the quiet between two songs, and I jump at the shock of it. I tap my cellphone screen to pause my music. I pull the earbud from my left ear and listen, trying to figure out which part of the argument they’re at now.

“Do you feel better?” dad yells at mom.

I roll my eyes, shove my earphone back into my ear and press play on the music again.

Mom likes to break dishes when she’s really frustrated but trying to hold it together; it’s why the few dishes we have don’t match. I suspect she’s gonna drag me to the Goodwill tomorrow to look for a replacement for whatever she’s broken, and I can’t have that. I pick up my phone and tap out a quick text message to my boss, Peter. In a plea that he’s very familiar with, I tell him that I’m available to cover any shifts tomorrow. Peter’s a good guy, and I know that he’ll do what he can to get me a shift, even if it’s just a few hours or closing. I’ll take it, and he knows I will. I’ll also immediately put whatever extra money I get directly into my savings account and readjust my timetable to purchasing the Honda and getting the fuck out of here.

The music builds to a crescendo and mercifully drowns out my parents’ screaming as I look back up at the sky.

On nights like tonight, the moon is so clear and big that I swear it’s close enough to touch. I stretch out my right arm above me, squint one eye closed, tilt my head to the left and pretend to capture the moon between my thumb and forefinger. I smile for the first time in what feels like hours, maybe even days.

And then I see it.

While I’m looking, a small speck in the sky moves across my vision, only visible because it passes the light of the full moon. At first, I think it’s a distant star, or maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me. I blink, and something in the sky moves again. Whatever’s up there, it’s too far away to see clearly, so I sit up, trying to make sense of it all. It’s moving too slow to be a shooting star and too fast to be…well, literally anything else. I pull my earphones from my ears, as if it will sharpen my vision. I stare up at the speck that’s now bigger, closer; close enough for me to realize that the one speck is actually a cluster of distant lights. I’m not looking at a star or a planet but a constellation that’s moving in formation towards me. Toward the Earth.

But that’s not possible. I know that. I aced astronomy.

“What the fuck?” I whisper to myself.

As if in answer to my whispered question, those bright not-stars seem to move faster and get bigger in the large pane of sky above my house as they get closer. The lights seem to fill the sky of this boring ass town with a pipeline running through it dangerously close to the local drinking water; this town my parents hate that I can’t wait to escape.

I shake my head and turn to the right. My eyes land on the pipeline cutting through the fields behind our house. I can barely remember a time when it wasn’t the first thing I saw when I woke up in the morning. I’ve read dozens of articles about what it is and how much time it’s probably shaving off of my life. I guess the environmentalists were right and assume that thing must finally be leaking. It has to be. Because how else do I explain what I think I’m seeing in the sky?

And when I tilt my head back to look up there, I gasp and jump to my feet.

In the handful of seconds when I’d been looking away, those not-stars seem to have come closer. Like real close. Now they’re so close that no one can mistake them for stars because no stars have ever been so damn clear in the sky or moved so fast. I watch as they get closer and closer, and then I shriek in shock as the constellation breaks apart.

If I’m hallucinating this, whatever the pipeline is leaking is grade-A lethal shit.

The lights disperse so fast that I actually miss it. One second, there’s a cluster of lights heading toward me, too many for me to count clearly. The next second, I blink. Then the next second, there are only five lights still above me, but I can see turquoise blue light streaks in the sky heading in thousands of different directions. And then in another second, those five lights begin to slowly move apart, still descending, closer to the Earth’s surface. They’re landing, I realize, and my mouth falls open.

“Fuck,” I breathe as my mouth curves into a smile so wide it hurts.

Now that there are fewer lights and they’re even closer than before, I can just about recognize what’s hovering in the sky above me. They’re ships, and not space shuttles like the ones I’ve seen in my social studies textbooks about the moon landing. These not-stars are huge, bigger than the biggest plane I’ve ever seen in the sky, maybe even bigger than the entire town, and they’re not US-made shuttles or like anything I’ve seen of Russian or Chinese ships. These big, hovering ships look like they’re covered in shimmering jewels, glittering as if reflecting their own sunlight. “Fuck,” I breathe again.

“Drea, are you up there? Girl, get off the fucking roof, we can’t afford no emergency room visit. Do you hear me?”

I hear my dad yelling at me. I do. I just don’t give a shit, because there’s an alien spaceship in the sky almost directly above our house — an actual fucking spaceship — and this is infinitely more interesting than him reaming me out for being on the roof again. Besides, I hear the moment when he sees what I’m seeing and stops caring that I might stumble and fall off the roof. I hear the choked gasp that comes from his lips just before my mom bangs out of the front door, still yelling. I hear her words cut off when she sees the ship too, the final confirmation I need that I’m not having a pipeline hallucination, but still, I don’t care.

Because I’m speechless. I know, deep down in my gut, that this ship is going to change everything about the world I’ve ever known, and I can’t help but feel elated. My body feels light, as if I weigh nothing more than my fantasies. I swear I could float up to one of those ships, and that’s exactly what I want to do. I want to bang on the door of a ship and beg them to let me in, because I can feel the surety along every inch of my skin that this ship is going to be my way out. This ship is going to get me as far away from Akron and my parents and that damn pipeline as possible.

My mother’s scream is a delayed response to seeing the impossible, and it rips into the quiet night. She keeps screaming and screaming, but dad and I are too mesmerized to stop her. Eventually, I hear our neighbors begin to file out of their houses, probably when they realize that mom’s screams are different from their regular weekday fights. I hear them gasp and cry out. Babies are crying, and other people’s screaming joins mom’s. There’s even the sound of the hurricane warning blaring out eventually, but none of those noises seem to touch me; not anymore. It’s like they’re far away because I’m already gone.

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