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celtic-crossbow · 7 months

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I’m Hot, Sticky Sweet

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Setting: Commonwealth (after series end)

Warnings: Poorly written smut, food and sex, p in v, cunnilingus

Summary: You and Daryl haven’t been able to spend much time together. With only a certain amount of time available, you’re able to make the best of it by killing two birds with one stone.

A/N: I have no idea what I’m doing as a fanfic writer. Please forgive me for this insanity.

“What’s goin’ on here?” Daryl could smell the delicious scent of spices the moment he opened the door. He knew you could cook, but there really had never been enough resources or time for anything fancy. He was salivating by the time he reached the dining room, taking in the spread on the four person table.

The archer was always up before the sun and home long after it had set, helping around the Commonwealth in any way he could. Some days, Mercer would have him beyond the walls, pushing back herds. Other days, he’d be part of the labor responsible for reinforcing those walls. He did what he could, rarely turning down a request for his assistance. Runs were still necessary in order to maintain the life to which you all had grown accustomed. Daryl would be gone for hours, sometimes even days.

He was always so tired. He was sore. He missed his family.

Once Pamela had been imprisoned and Ezekiel eventually took over the position as governor, Daryl was given a larger house. The two of you had turned it down, though. There was a quaint little home, still bigger than the apartment, away from the town center. It was your idea of perfect for your little family. Its four bedrooms were small but none of you had very many belongings anyway.

You settled in quickly. Daryl didn’t worry about Judith and RJ. They were safe in your capable hands. While you fit the role of the stay at home mom, you wouldn’t hesitate to pick up your knives and bring them down on anyone that threatened the safety of those kids.

“Hey, you.” You were beaming at him, a bowl of steamed vegetables in your hand, when Daryl shook himself out of his thoughts.

“S’all this? Where the kids?”

“Well,” you began, wiping your hands in the apron you had just removed. “We haven’t had a lot of time for ourselves lately. Carol took Jude, RJ, and Dog for the evening and I grabbed some extra venison from the market.” When he simply stared at you, doubt eased in slowly and then all at once. You knew you could afford the extra meat. Daryl was paid well for all the hours he put in for the community. The leftovers could be used for his lunch tomorrow and dinner for you and the kids. Still, you twisted your hands in the soft fabric of your sundress and avoided his eyes. “I’m sorry. I should have asked if—”

“Whoa, slow down. I ain’t upset or nothin’.” He had his hands up placatingly, a ghost of a smile adorning his lips. “Just didn’t know if I fucked up an’ forgot somethin’ impor’ant like our anniversary.”

Your self doubt ebbed away into amused adoration. “You remember our anniversary?”

He was taking off his vest and gloves, glancing over at you with a sarcastic smirk. “Yep, s’that one day that looks just like ev’ry other day.” You laughed and gave his shoulder a playful shove. He didn’t let you push him too far and wound his arm around your side to pull you into him. “If we had a way to keep up with that shit, I’d mark that day up with a lil’ heart an’ blame Jude.” He nuzzled his nose against your jaw.

“Daryl, that’s mean.” You chuckled, letting him press a quick kiss to your mouth. He hummed, continuing with his quick kisses while guiding you backward.

“Pretty sure I told ya from the start that I’m a asshole.” He mumbled against your lips, pulling your bottom one in between his teeth. There was no stopping the small whimper that managed to escape your throat, earning a pleasant growl from deep in his chest. You let your arms wind around his neck and tugged at the wavy hair you found there.

“Mmm, Daryl—food—table.” You managed between his increasing assault on your mouth.

“Mhmm.”

He shifted in front of you but kept you close, the legs of one of the chairs scraping across the floor. Soon, the small of your back met the edge of the table but you were already too far gone to care. Your head was thrown back with his lips attached to the front of your neck when his large hands squeezed the backs of your thighs and hoisted you up.

Your ass had barely met the cool surface when he was reaching underneath your dress and dragging your panties down your legs. You could hear the shifting of the dinnerware behind you but couldn’t entertain why that should be concerning. The damp heat between your legs was demanding your focus, and you let yourself be consumed.

“Shirt.” You panted, crossing your ankles behind his back to pull his groin against yours while he removed the offensive garment, tossing it into the void of ‘I’ll find that later.’ Your mouths crashed together again, your hands working open his belt and fly while he shoved your dress up and out of the way.

Tenderness was not on the table tonight, so to speak. Daryl grabbed your hips and pulled you down, wasting no time in entering you. Your mouths separated, your teeth clamping down on your bottom lip while his jaw went slack, satisfied breaths and quiet moans mingling somewhere in the air between you.

“Fuck.” His fingers flexed against your hips, his hold damn near bruising your soft skin. You couldn’t suppress the drawn out moan you offered him as he pulled his hips back, dragging each and every inch of him against your fluttering walls until only the tip remained. He was just as slow pushing back in, swallowing your little sounds of pleasure.

The next few thrusts were faster. The ones after that, faster still. Soon enough, his pelvis was slamming against you. Your small hands gripped his shoulders but couldn’t seem to remain there. You needed to feel more of his skin. Your hands slid down his back and grabbed the waistband of his pants, pushing them down past his hips. Daryl chuckled against your mouth when you grabbed handfuls of his ass and dug your nails in to leave crescent moons indented in the skin.

“I’ve missed you.” You whispered, bowing your head to suck on the skin where you could feel his pulse hammering away. The archer rewarded you with a hard snap of his hips before reaching behind him to pull your hands away. He pressed you down against the table and quickly pulled out, leaving your cunt empty and clenching. “Daryl.” You whined, but before you could sit up, his face was buried between your thighs, tongue lapping and lavishing your clit until it was swollen and throbbing.

“Cum for me.” You heard him growl, his hot breath fanning against your sensitive nub while a finger prodded at your entrance. Daryl slid his middle finger past your opening and began pumping hard and fast, desperately seeking to pull your orgasm from you. He curled that finger slightly, finding that soft spot inside you that had you near screaming and grasping for anything that you could hold onto. Plates and silverware crashed to the floor. You thought one may have shattered. “Did ya not hear me, woman? I said cum.”

Your chest heaved for the breath you couldn’t seem to catch, all cognitive function absent as the coil in your belly began to pull taunt. “Daryl—I’m gonna—fuck, I’m gonna cum.”

“Good girl. Give it to me.” He went back to flicking the tip of his tongue over your clit. You were clenching around his finger in waves now. He knew you were seconds from climaxing. Wrapping his lips around the bundle of nerves, he gently took it between his teeth and started to suck.

“Fuck!” Your back arched off the table, your body vibrating through the throes of pleasure. It started in your stomach and spiderwebbed out through your limbs. Your hands found his hair and pulled, soliciting a deep grunt against your flesh.

When you began to come down, your cunt was suddenly empty. But not for long.

Daryl entered you again, roughly thrusting into your body at a punishing pace that shook the table beneath you. His right hand creeped around the back of your neck and pulled you up to capture your lips in a sloppy kiss that was all spit and tongues and teeth.

He never slowed down, bringing your second orgasm on quickly while he slipped the spaghetti straps of your dress down your shoulders. You let his attentions fall to your neck while you pulled your arms from the straps and pushed both the dress and your bra down, giving the man access to your breasts. He wasted no time in placing his lips around a pert nipple.

“Fuck, Daryl!” Your fingers found their way into his hair once again, urging him toward your mouth. He allowed himself to be led away from your breast but not without replacing his mouth with his hand. “Just—just like that. I’m so close!”

“Yeah,” he panted against your mouth, “me too.”

Neither of you lasted long after, the room filled with your cries of his name and his drawn out moans. You fell back onto the table, still pulsing around him as he softened inside you. Daryl leaned forward to rest his forehead against your upper stomach while you ran your fingers through his sweat-damp hair.

“That was incredible.” You breathed, staring up at the ceiling with a beaming smile.

“Yeah. I missed ya, sunshine.” He said into the wadded up fabric of your dress. You hummed and gave his hair a gentle tug, encouraging him to look at you. When he did, you caught the gleam in his pretty blue eyes.

“What?” You asked cautiously.

“I ain’t nowhere near done with ya yet.” He went for your nipple but your hands quickly left his hair and caught each side of his face.

“We need to eat before we spill something.” Somehow the food had indeed survived.

“Can wait.” He muttered, shaking your hands off. When he tried a second time, you caught him again. This time he huffed in annoyance.

“It’ll be cold. Well—colder.” You pouted. The archer watched you for a moment, ready to pull out and reset the table when he got the most brilliant idea. You saw the spark in his eyes and drew in your brows, feeling a little concerned. “I know that look. What scheme is rattling around in that head of yours, Daryl Dixon?”

With a Cheshire grin, he rose slightly and stretched an arm behind the top of your head, pulling back with a dollop of mashed potatoes on the tip of his finger. “We can both get what we want.” Without giving you time to consider his meaning, the bowman smeared the side dish across one of your nipples, dragging his tongue over it to clean up the mess. Your eyes sparkled.

“You, sir, are a genius.”

More than an hour and a half later, half empty serving dishes still littered the table, but you and Daryl were on the floor, the area around you a complete disaster. Daryl sat next to you, propped up on the wall with his legs stretched out. His pants were up but not buttoned. The left side of his face was dripping brown gravy, a portion of his hair wet with it. Remnants of mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese were smeared from his neck all the down to disappear past his waistband.

You looked no better. Shavings and juices of venison were stuck to the swell of your breasts and side of your neck, anything between that and the lower part of your dress— pulled up to cover you by now— was hidden by the fabric itself. Your hair was a mess, with a half of a baby carrot dangling from a thin strand. What could be seen of your inner thighs was sticky with apple pie filling.

You were both panting and even Daryl mirrored your small smile and chuckled when you looked at one another. He had been absolutely right. You were sated and full.

But you probably wouldn’t serve the leftovers to the kids after all, though you were almost certain Daryl wouldn’t mind taking some for lunch.

You were just about to suggest getting cleaned up when you heard a key enter and then turn in the front door lock. When you heard Carol call “hello,” you snapped your attention back to Daryl.

“You gave her a key?!” You whisper-yelled.

“Why wouldn’t I!?” He returned at the same volume. You gestured broadly at the two of you, and Daryl relented with a nod. “I see your point.”

“What happened?!”

You both turned to the doorway, finding RJ and Judith staring at you with wide eyes.

“What do you mean what— oh.” Carol hurried into the room and her eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hairline. Dog bounded around her leg and immediately began to sniff the floor, licking up any scraps he found dropped or smeared there. Daryl couldn’t even bring himself to correct the canine. “So,” Carol began, crossing her arms, “what did happen, you two?” From the knowing smile plastered on the woman’s face, you knew you needn’t explain to her.

But shit, the kids.

“There, uh—there was a, um, a spider!” You shrugged a shoulder when Daryl gave you a look that blatantly said ‘really, Y/N?’

“A spider.” Carol repeated, licking her lips to wipe away the grin.

“Was huge.” Daryl nodded, carefully avoiding any of the eyes that were on him. “An’ mean.”

“Ew. Did you kill it?” RJ asked with a small cringe.

“Sure did.” The archer lied.

“How big?” Judith queried, crossing her arms like Carol.

“Like—real big.” You supplied, covering your thighs a little more with your dress when you caught Carol looking at the mess there.

“Cool! Can we see?” RJ, who had seemed afraid just moments before was now very interested in this make believe monster arachnid that had slathered both you and Daryl as well as half the dining room in tonight’s dinner before meeting its untimely demise at the bowman’s hand.

“No!” Daryl barked. RJ froze midstep. “S’ uh—s’in the gravy.”

“Gross. I’m not eating that, aunt Y/N.” The young boy curled his lip.

“Of course not, baby.” You soothed, relieved that you two had seemingly gotten away with this.

“Not to mention your bra.” Judith smirked. Your eyes widened. “Your bra is in the gravy too, aunt Y/N.”

Your eyes slid slowly toward where the gravy boat sat, a few feet from Daryl’s leg. The man was already hooking a finger under a strap and lifting the article, staring almost blankly ahead as he passed the dripping thing across his lap and let it dangle for you to grab it.

“Damn huge spider.”

“Bra removing spiders in gravy boats.” Carol nodded, chuckling when Daryl put his red face in his hands and you rubbed the back of your neck. “Right. Well, don’t worry. These guys and that guy,” she pointed to Dog, who was gnawing on a piece of broccoli, “have already eaten. I’ll just go get them settled.”

“Thanks.” You mumbled, looking defeated. Footsteps disappeared up the stairs before you and Daryl looked at one another.

“She ain’t never gonna let this go.” He commented sourly. “Just feed me ta the walkers, sunshine. M’beggin’ ya.”

“If I have to hear it, then you do too.” You chuckled, leaning over against him when he wrapped an arm around your shoulders.

“She won’t pick on ya too bad.”

“She saves it all for you cause I’ll cry.”

“Guess I need to start cryin’ then.” You giggled and tilted your head back just in time for him to press a kiss between your eyes. “Was fun, huh?”

“Yeah, you make a nice buffet, Dixon.”

He hummed, drumming his fingers against your upper arm. “I wouldn’t mind s’more pie.”

“How about a plate this time?”

#daryl dixon #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon fanfic #daryl dixon x y/n #daryl dixon x you #the walking dead #daryl dixon smut #daryl dixon x female reader #Spotify

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eris-snow · 1 year

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𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐈𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐥

Tags: Proposal, gn!reader x bakugou, fluff

Have It All is a really good song that is all at the back of our minds but close to the garbage can of "I don't need to remember this." Makes a great proposal song if you ask me.

Something's wrong with Bakugou.

For one, he ditches his only free day in the month to disappear into thin air. He's gone for 5 hours straight, without a single text or call to notify you as if he was a literal ghost.

Next, after goodness knows how long, he simply forwards a simple image to you. Three words hover right beneath his message. "Meet me now."

An order.

A demand.

You blow out your breath in disbelief. "What the hell is wrong with this guy?" You huffed, shooting up from where you laid down on the couch.

The photo is one of your usual getaway: The sandy beach nearby his parents' house. It was where the both of you would go whenever things got too rough, a practice ever since high school started for the both of you.

You and Bakugou would splay a picnic blanket on the ground, eating fast food while star-gazing as you both fill each other in on the latest happenings that occurred.

Sometimes, you would walk along the shores of the beach, kicking water at Bakugou just to see how he reacts. When you first started dating, he'd hiss at you like a cat, yelling at you as he placed your head in a headlock.

Now, Bakugou simply smirks, cocking a cheeky eyebrow. "You asked for it." He grins.

Maybe it wasn't really romantic when he would chase you around for minutes, scream phrases like "COME HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT." with a completely straight face. But that was just how you and Bakugou were.

He was never like that to begin with.

As the wind combs through your untidy hair, you swiftly take a glance around the sparkling beach that holds so many memories to you. The sand weaves its way in between your toes the minute you step foot on the beach as you glance around in search of your partner.

"I swear to God Katsuki, the second I find you I'll-"

The minute your voice starts to rise, you hear the faint sound of a music track playing from across the beach.

It was where It’s only then that you see your boyfriend, dressed in a full black suit standing in the distance where the track is playing.

“May you have auspiciousness and causes of success, may you have the confidence to always do your best…” Lyrics of a song you knew so well started to be sung beautifully.

Yep. Your boyfriend had definitely gone insane.

Weary but curious, you wandered closer, his frame growing larger and larger until you could hear the music’s instrumentals blaring loudly in the background. “K-Katsuki…?” He grinned at you, microphone held up to his lips as his red eyes locked with yours. “And may the best of your todays be the worst of your tomorrows,” You laugh, hands held up to your face, touched. Bakugou never did anything this corny for anyone. Not even you.

Yet here he was, singing one of your favourite songs whilst standing in a full dressed tux on a beach.

“And may the road less paved be the road that you follow," Oh, god, if this were a dream, don't let anyone wake you up. Bakugou's voice is raspy and perfect, hitting every note with ease as he tips the microphone to his lips.

"Well here's to the hearts that you're gonna break,

Here's to the lives that you're gonna change

Here's to the infinite possible ways to love you

I want you to have it

Here's to the good times we're gonna have

You don't need money, you got a free pass

Here's to the fact that I'll be sad without you."

Bakugou pulls you closer, smirk never leaving his face as he utters a final sentence. "I want you to have it all."

"Katsuki..." You chuckle, shaking your head in disbelief as he drops the microphone down on the sand. "What's all this...?"

Had you missed something? An anniversary, his birthday, a special occasion? There's no other reason for him to be doing such a thing. "Y/n," He finally speaks, and you wonder how he still looks so beautiful in the sunlight, dusk drawing near.

"You are the best, most amazing person on this god damn planet." You laugh, shaking your head in disbelief as he grabs your arms. "Don't you shake your head, believe me. You're the best thing to ever happen to me and don't you fucking deny it."

He steadies his breath as the wind howls around you. "I want you by my side forever." Bakugou's voice is a whisper now as he drops down on one knee. Your breath hitches, mouth agape in awe because there's no way the Katsuki Bakugou-

"Y/n," He breathes, and tears flood your eyes because he just continues on. "I love all of you, with all of my fucking soul."

There's not an ounce of doubt in his voice, his eyes shining with hope and adoration and love as he looks up at you. "Will you marry me?"

You savour this feeling eyes brimming with pearls of water as the ocean roars beside you. He's waiting, the entire world's waiting, but time seems like a fickle thing as you gaze at the man that had captured your heart.

"Yes!" You shout, breathless, wiping your tears away.

"Of course, Katsuki, yes!"

He grins and shoots to his feet, racing to hug you and twirl you around in a circle. "I knew you'd say that,"

The both of you kiss, sweet and perfect. "You're my everything, Dumbass," Bakugou lips when you part.

"You deserve to have it all."

#mha #mha fanfiction #bakugou katsuki #katsuki bakugō #bakugo x you #bakugou x y/n #my hero academia #bakugou fluff #fluff #bakugou katuski x reader

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under-the-cherrytree · 2 years

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Tsukasa, Hanako, and Mitsuba the reader gets jealous that someone gives them something maybe another ghost and they try and copy and are just like"hey!..i-I can do that too!" And they follow them around and then they just tell the other person that they are theirs and to leave them alone and they are just like "are you doing and accepting this because you don't love me anymore!?" *cue cuddles and puppy eyes*

Tsukasa, Hanako, and Mitsuba when s/o gets jealous when someone else gets them a gift❣︎

Warnings: none

A/n: hello!!!

this took me a couple days to write- I’m so slow when writing oneshots that its sad-

Anyways, I hope you enjoy and have a great say or night!!

“Tsukasa!!” You entered the broadcasting room happily, holding a flower in your hand. You and Tsukasa's anniversary was today and you wanted to surprise him this morning with a flower you stole in the school garden. Instead of getting a jump hug from your boyfriend, you were ignored. You turned to see Tsukasa hugging Sakura, laughing and talking with her. He didn’t even notice you enter the room. You put the flower behind your back, walking up to Tsukasa to hopefully get his attention. However, he still didn’t seem to notice you.

“Tsukasa…” You finally spoke out, loud enough so he could hear you. He finally turned to you and smiled.

“Y/n!!! It’s great to see you!!” He didn’t let go of Sakura, instead hugging her tighter. “Look at what Sakura got me!” He pointed to a vase full of red roses.

“She got you roses…?” You turned to him, a bit saddened. Why would she get him roses out of all things?

“Yep!!! She's so nice to me!!” He hugged her tighter but she only grumbled at this. You felt your chest tighten but you didn’t know why. Was it… jealousy? How could you not question why Sakura brought him roses.

“I see… that's nice..” You gripped onto your small flower tighter. Sakura noticed your change in attitude and pushed Tsukasa off of her.

“Tsukasa… stop..” she was hoping he would get the hint but he clearly didn’t as he hugged her tighter. This only made you more jealous, not wanting to see this anymore.

“Oh, I need to get heading to class… see you later, Tsu!” You waved.

“Bye!!” Tsukasa waved back and you left.

“Now that Y/n is gone, we can continue what we were doing!!” You heard Tsukasa’s voice from inside the room. Your grip on the flower tightened as you heard what they said, frowning. Did he forget it was your anniversary or something? You wanted to think positively of your boyfriend and instead of spying on him, you went to class.

You paid no attention to what the teacher said, finding it hard to concentrate at the thought of Tsukasa with Sakura.

The thought killed you.

Once class was over you went to the broadcasting room to see your boyfriend but you only found Sakura there eating her lunch in peace. She noticed your presence and looked up.

“Hello y/n, what brings you here?” She asks.

“I was just wondering where Tsukasa is..” You fidget with your hands.

“Unfortunately not. Also, happy anniversary” She takes another bite from her food. You were about to leave but you wanted to ask her so bad. Ask her why she got him roses on you and Tsukasa’s anniversary.

You knew Sakura really well and you were sure that she was uninterested in Tsukasa but still… it made no sense to you why she would.

“Sakura,” You caught the girl's attention again “Why did you bring Tsukasa roses this morning…?”

“Ah…” this question caught her off guard as she looked down. She already figured you were jealous, and you had a right to be. “He asked me to bring him roses.”

This made you even more confused.

“Why would he ask you to do that…?” You muttered but she only sighed.

“I don’t think I can tell you.. ask Tsukasa later, alright?” She simply told you and went back to eating. However, her answer made you a bit upset. You didn’t get an answer to your question.

You exited the broadcasting room and went on your way to eat lunch. You still held onto that flower that you picked for Tsukasa, some of the petals already starting to fall off. While you were walking down the halls someone quickly ran into you and hugged you tight.

“HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Y/N!!” Tsukasa squeezed you tightly, nearly choking you.

“T-Tsukasa!!” You were a bit stunned, wondering if you should push him off of you or not. He broke the hug and used his wisp to teleport you to the rooftop. He sat you down on the small blanket, sitting down next to you excited.

You were still trying to process all this. He was going way too fast, it was hard for you to keep up.

“Here you go!!!” He handed you a box of chocolates.

“You… you remembered our anniversary..?” You couldn’t help but smile.

“Of course I did!!” he pouted, a bit insulted that you thought he would forget “did you think i forgot?!”

“Well you just didn’t seem like you remembered…” Your smile turned into a frown again as you looked down. While Tsukasa wasn’t always the best at telling emotions, he could tell that something was bringing you down.

“Hey… what's wrong?” He moved in front of you so he could see your face “Did I do something wrong-“

“You didn’t do anything wrong! It’s just.. when I saw that Sakura got you flowers this morning, I didn’t understand why… It didn’t make sense to me so I was a little jealous and I thought you forgot about our anniversary…” You admitted and then you finally looked at him in the eye “I thought that you accepted the roses because you didn’t love me anymore..”

“I don’t see Sakura as anything like that!! I only asked her to get me the roses so I could do this!” He pulled out a framed drawing of you and him. While it wasn’t the best drawing you have ever seen, you could tell that he really tried. The picture also had rose petals in it.

“And I used the rest of the rose petals for the blanket!” You looked down at the blanket that you were sitting on to see it scattered with rose petals.

Your heart sunk again, but not out of jealousy, out of embarrassment. He prepared all this for you but all you had for him was a saying flower.

“Tsukasa… I’m so sorry…” He was taken aback by your apology, looking at you confused “You did all this for me and all I got you was a flower… I thought you forgot..” You held the flower in your hands, gripping it tightly. You felt like such a bad partner for not doing more for him like he did for you. Despite this, he smiled and took your hand in his, sniffing the smile and its scent.

“I don’t care if this is all you got me for our anniversary, I still adore it!!” He hugged you tightly, making you fall back on the blanket.

“I just want to hold you~” He giggles softly, pulling you closer to him by your waist. Your cheeks turned pink as you hugged him tightly, enjoying the moment with your boyfriend.

“I love you, Tsukasa”

“I love you too, Y/n~”

You smiled as you walked down to the bathroom, happy to see your boyfriend, Hanako. You were hoping to have lunch with him since you two don’t get that much alone time together so you wanted to surprise him with your presence! You and Hanako have been together for a couple weeks now, this relationship thing being kind of new to you both. You two tried to be as open with each other as you could, Hanako being a little closed off needed a lot of help with this. So far your relationship has been nothing but perfect.

You were about to open the door and greet him but you heard him laughing in the bathroom. You listened and you also heard Nene’s voice in there, laughing with him.

“Thank you Yashiro!! You are really the best~!” Hanako sounded really happy.

“Of course, I know donuts are your favoite so I thought you would love it if I got you some as a surprise!” Yashiro giggled at how happy he got.

“I do, these are amazing!! I love the way you make donuts!!”

‘He loves the way she makes donuts? You didn’t even know donuts were his favorite...’ You thought as you continued listening.

“Thank you!! Maybe we can have lunch together!” Nene suggested and you felt your heart stop.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea!” Hanako basically shouted when she suggested it.

‘Oh… he's having lunch with her’ I thought as you started walking away ‘There’s really no reason that I should be here anymore…’ You felt yourself swell up with jealousy. You couldn’t help it, you felt like he spent more time with that daikon than with you. It really hurt you but you didn’t want to bring it up.

After lunch was over, you were walking to your class then you saw Yashiro in the halls.

“Hey!!” You grabbed her by her shoulders and turned her to face you, making her look at you “Do you like Hanako?!”

“L-like Hanako?! No, of course I don’t!!” Yashiro shook, very confused about what was happening.

“He is mine! You know that, right?!”

“Yes I understand!!”

“Good!!” You let her go and walked off. You felt a bit of guilt when you left but you brushed it off, not caring. She should know that he is taken and that she can't just have any boy she wants. But you still felt that bad feeling in your chest, the fear of still being able to lose him. You needed to show Hanako that you were a better partner than Yashiro!! You needed to show him just how good of a s/o you could be!

It was the next day and you planned perfectly what you were going to do for your boyfriend. You left a note in his bathroom, telling you to meet him in the garden. You had a picnic set up for him. You made lots of donuts for him and a bunch of different flavors as well since you didn’t know what his favorite donut was.

You smiled brightly when you saw him floating over to you. Once he made eye contact with you he waved which you waved back.

“Y/n!! What’s all this?!” He looked down with a big smile on his face.

“Well I wanted to do something special for you!” He giggled “So I made donuts!”

“Donuts for me?!? THANK YOU!!” He jumped on top of you, hugging you tightly. You two took a moment to hug but he pulled away and sat right next to you.

“So what’s your favorite donut?? I made lots so I’m sure I made it!” You did. You thought of every donut flavor possible so you would have his favorite donut.

“I like plain donuts!!” Hanako told you. You felt your heart sink in embarrassment. Out of all the donuts you made, you didn’t leave a couple plain. You gave each donut a filling or frosting on it. You didn’t think he would like pain donuts, it didn’t even cross your mind.

“I’m sorry Hanako… I didn’t make a plain donut..” You flowed as you looked down in defeat. Yashiro still had a better gift than you.

“It’s okay, Yashiro brought me plain donuts yesterday so-“ Hanako stopped talking when he heard your breath hitch hearing her name.

“Y/n… is something the matter?” He cupped your cheeks so you would look at him and you looked like you were about to cry. You bit your bottom lip, trying to hold back the tears, not wanting him to see you in such a weak state.

“It’s nothing Hanako… I’m sorry I couldn’t make you your favorite donut…” You mutter, trying to turn away but he wouldn’t allow it.

“Don’t say nothing is wrong when there is something wrong…” He whispered to you. “Please talk to me”

“I heard your conversation with Yashiro yesterday… and she brought you donuts and you two had lunch together.. I know that you and Yashiro have been friends longer than we have been friends but.. she knows so much more about you then I do…”

“Y/n…” Hanako quickly hugged you, stroking your hair to bring you comfort. “I may have known Yashiro longer but she isn’t my type… I love you so much more” You hug him back, holding him close to you.

“Thank you, Hanako… I love you so much as well!” You smiled.

“Good!!” He grabbed your shoulders and moved you so you were facing him. He grabbed a donut and placed it in front of your mouth “Say ahh~” He grinned and you took a bite of the donut. He also takes a bite of the donut and smiles brightly.

“Your donuts are so good!!” He moves closer to your ear “You make better donuts than Yashiro could ever~”

You looked around the school for your boyfriend, wondering where he could be. You walked over to a mirror and knocked on it.

“Hello!! Mitsuba?? Where are you?” You waited for a response but didn’t get one. You sighed as you continued looking around for the number three. You soon spotted him, soon realizing that he was hanging out with Kou. You watched for a bit as they both sat and laughed, Mitsuba taking pictures of things as Kou watched. Mitsuba then took a photo of Kou, which shocked you.

Mitsuba doesn’t take photos of people, he only takes photos of things that are important to him. Hell, he hasn’t even taken a photo of you, and you are his significant other! Why would he be so okay with taking a photo of Kou?

Was Kou more important to him then you were?

Despite this bitter feeling inside you, you walked over to the two.

“Hello Mitsuba, Kou!” You smiled.

“Hello loser” Mitsuba scoffed but got hit by Kou’s shoulder.

“Don’t be so mean to them!” Kou scolds “Hello Y/n! How are you?”

“I’m alright!! How are you?”

“I’m good as well! We were just testing out the new camera I bought for Mitsuba!”

“You bought him a new camera?”

“Sure did!!” Kou looked proud.

“Yeah, I have got so many stupid photos of him and his lame earring!” Mitsuba scoffed, causing Kou’s pride to drain from him. You felt your heart sink with Kou’s pride, feeling a sense of jealousy come over you.

Mitsuba never took a photo of you. How does he have so many of Kou? Maybe because Kou bought him a camera? If Mitsuba needed a new camera he could have asked you…

“Hey!! you delete those photos!” Kou tried to grab the camera from him.

“Oh no, someone help me!! A perverted exorcist is trying to assault me and Y/n is just going to watch because they are also a sick pervert!! Help someone!” Mitsuba shouted, causing Kou to become even more irritated.

“Shut up, you nerd!!” He shouted back but soon the bell rang in the school and the boys stopped fighting.

“That's the bell! We should get going!” Kou stood up and turned to you with a smile.

“Right… yeah we should get going” You snapped back in reality.

“Whatever, later losers. I will be with my new camera!” Mitsuba swatted you two away.

You and Kou walked down the hallways in mostly silence. You still felt jealous and you were a bit mad at Kou. How could you not be? You were mad that Mitsuba didn’t like you enough to take a picture of you but he would gladly take a photo of Kou. It wasn’t fair.

“Kou… you know that Mitsuba is mine, right? You weren't trying to make a move on him when you bought him that camera, right…?” You looked at him seriously. This caught Kou so off guard and he stopped walking, looking at you shocked.

“That’s not at all what I wanted to do!! I completely understand that Mitsuba is yours and believe me when I say I’m not interested at all!” He corrected you “I personally don’t see what you see in the pink haired weirdo, but he’s just a friend to me”

“Alright…” You sighed, a bit relieved, but only a bit.

In Mitsuba’s eyes, Kou was still very important to him. More important than you. You wanted to do something for Mitsuba and make him see how important you could be to him too. You didn’t want him to fall out of love with you and you were hoping a gift would work. That a gift would make him want to take a picture of you.

Once your class ended, you made your way to the closest mirror, knocking on it like if it were a door. Soon the mirror turned into a liquid like substance, giving you the ability to walk right through it. Once you were on the other side, you saw your boyfriend standing there with his arms crossed. He opened his mouth to say something but you interrupted him.

“Mitsuba! Take a look at this!” You pulled out your phone, opening it to look up different types of cameras for sale. He walked by your side and watched as you scrolled through all of them, finding the most expensive camera and clicking on it.

“How would you feel if I bought you this?!” You smiled brightly, hoping that it would earn you a photo.

“Pfft- you can’t even afford that!” Mitsuba laughed “Besides, Kou bought me a new camera, so I don’t need another one”

You tensed up.

That’s it.

He chose Kou.

You were never going to get a photo.

You weren’t important to him like Kou was.

“I… I see…” You looked down and Mitsuba noticed this change of attitude.

“Ha!! Don’t tell me you are jealous!” He laughed. Tears formed in your eyes as he started to tease you. “are you seriously jealous that Kou got me a new camera, wow!!”

His teasing soon stopped when he noticed that you started crying. You covered your face with his hands, hurt by his words in your time of weakness.

“Y/n… a-are you crying… I didn’t mean to make you-“

“Why don’t you have any photos of me?! You take so many pictures of Kou but when it comes to me you have none…!” You shouted slightly “Why is Kou more important to you then I am?!”

Mitsuba felt his heart sink as he saw you cry, feeling like it was his fault in a way.

“Please don’t cry Y/n-“

“Tell me!! Do you not love me anymore?!” You shouted at him again.

“You really want to know…” You put his hand in his pocket, taking out multiple photos of you. In these photos you aren’t looking at the camera, you don’t even notice the fact he is taking a photo of you. He took these photos without you knowing.

“You… took photos of me?” You looked up at him with tears in your eyes.

“Of course I did… You are my partner, why wouldn’t I…?” You looked down at the photos and smiled a bit, each one having a memory to him. His cheeks were red, clearly embarrassed about showing you this but showing you anyways.

“I didn’t know you had these… Mitsuba, thank you!” You hugged him tightly, catching the pink boy off guard. He hugged you back, a little resistant at first but he soon melted into the hug.

“Thank you, Mitsuba… You should take photos of me more often..~” You giggled a bit and he blushed and looked to the side.

“Whatever… but please remember you mean more to me then that lame ass traffic safety earring…”

Tagging~ @cobertoravermelhado @bladethrowsshade @hanako-san @sleepless-simp @old-poptart @kazuhalvrz

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skrimbe · 1 year

Text

{MASTERLIST FROM THE PIT}

It's the list of links for my posts! Please notify me if the links aren't working! (Also a lot of them are reblogs)

-BACK TO INTRODUCTION-

Art Posts:

Calypso: pt.1 and pt.2

Oc redraws: pt.1 and pt.2

Ghoul drawings (nameless ghouls my beloveds): Cirrus (this isn't my post btw, i just sent in an ask containing the drawing) and Sunshine

Arty

Expressions chart

NightLight the Ghoulette

Little WIP

NightLight in the Era 4 uniform

Ghoulette drawing!

Ghoul/ Papas Headcanon reblogs with skywarpie and others!

Copia and his father's day gifts

April Fools pranks

Wall drawings

The Ghoulettes and their capes

Ballet shenanigans

Unintentional angst

The cucumber incident

Copia can't bake

When ghouls and papa fly

Terzo is the new headless horseman

Child leashes

The war against knees...

Copia being a good dad

Nihil is a shitty dad but that doesn't stop copia from being better

I got tagged in stuff

Picrew

Music

Shows

HUGS

More Picrew!

My tag game

Music pt.2

Describe yourself in an image from your gallery

Horror movie role!

Shitghosting

Random images

favorite descriptions of Ghost

GHALL PIT PARTY!!!

Ghost Appreciation Posts

Mountain my beloved

The Ghoulettes 🩵

Copia-

Fists of rage

Flying Aether

more Mountain appreciation

Cirrus is going to be the death of me

Mishapocalypse posts and reblogs

it's the 10 year anniversary

he's taken over...

majestic

I would watch this

I'm not sorry

I added pictures

missing cat?

It's time

Where it all began

It's approaching pt.1

It's approaching pt.2

Petition pt.1

Story Time!!!

I feel like shit

I almost froze

It's Friday pt.1

classic books i hated

Do I need to explain?

My speech on Greek Mythology pt.2

BANANA BOY (My son)

My speech on Greek Mythology pt.1

I wanted to cry

I was given fire

It's Friday pt.2

Tumblr is a dumpster fire and the users are raccoons

I dyed my hair once

it sounds like a cult chant

America has something wrong with its animals

Yep

Alarms

Is the bot apocalypse over?

I got my ass beat by picmen in Nintendo smash bros

Watching the ghesties panic

Hehe Star Trek fan

Cards Against Humanity

Year Zero scare

Anyone else do this?

Project time lmao

My babies (cats)

More pictures

First post about them

Updates!

First break

Back from first break (Same link as the link for the time I was given fire btw)

Second break

Back from second break

Questions from the Ask Box!

I am now going to be thinking about this for the entire day

#Masterlist #Finally decided to create a masterlist for my confusing blog

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thegreaterlink · 2 years

Text

Reviewing Star Trek TNG - S4E5 "Remember Me"

I definitely intended to post this on the 35th anniversary of the series’ premiere. It definitely wasn’t just a coincidence.

THE PREMISE

The Enterprise docks at Starbase 133 to pick up Beverly Crusher's old friend and mentor Doctor Dalen Quaice (which sounds like if a foreigner tried to come up with an American name). Meanwhile, Wesley is attempting to create a static warp bubble, but seemingly failing. As the Enterprise leaves the Starbase, Dr Crusher finds that Quaice has disappeared, with no record of him even coming aboard the ship.

MY REVIEW

Yep, we’re finally getting an entire episode focused around Dr Crusher. Only took us… four seasons.

Look, I'm just glad she's not being forcibly impregnated, kidnapped by racial stereotypes or any of the other fucked-up things that have happened to the other women in this show's main cast.

But then again, we still have a few seasons to go before she fucks a candle ghost.

This show is a real piece of work.

Anyway, as Dr Crusher investigates, she discovers that not only do none of the crew remember Quaice coming aboard, but there's no evidence of him existing at all. The rest of the crew are sceptical of Dr Crusher's claims, including O'Brien, who beamed them on board in the first place. When she tries to run an examination on him, she discovers that two of her medical staff have disappeared as well.

By the time she's done with another round of questioning and gets back to her post, she finds sickbay completely deserted, with her entire staff gone. Worse still is the discovery that apparently roughly three-quarters of the crew have vanished from existence.

THE PLOT THICKENS!

Obviously Dr Crusher isn't exactly doing well with the revelation that either she's the only one who's realised that over 800 of her colleagues have vanished from existence, she's the target of some next-level gaslighting or she's just going insane. Even after a talk with Counsellor Troi, she's still not reassured.

Look, all of the images in this review are going to be various characters around the Enterprise, because I guess they wanted to save money on this one.

Dr Crusher goes to talk to Picard, who is honestly kind of an underrated character in this episode. From his perspective, his friend and colleague who he's known and trusted for years has suddenly started claiming that people who never existed have disappeared and that she's apparently the only one who remembers them. And yet he never talks down to her or dismisses her as crazy. Instead he genuinely listens to her concerns and even agrees to order the ship back to the Starbase for a full diagnostic.

When she returns to sickbay and tries to get back to work, only for a vortex to open and threaten to pull her in before disappearing.

Well, that was weird.

Anyway, shit continues to proceed on its collision course with the fan, with another half of the crew (including Lieutenant Worf) disappearing. Dr Crusher is obviously getting paranoid by now, even dreading that Wesley has disappeared when he doesn't immediately respond. She has a talk with him about the possible causes of the disappearances, during which he brings up the Traveller from "Where No One Has Gone Before" back in season 1, one of the first episodes of this show which I actually liked.

Anyway, when they go to leave engineering, Wesley disappears for realsies. Whoopsie!

When she gets back to the bridge, she finds out that THE ENTIRE CREW HAS NOW DISAPPEARED EXCEPT FOR HER AND PICARD, who has absolutely zero issue with believing that a Galaxy-class starship is being managed by two people. I guess he's ignoring all of the empty chairs, then.

Realising that time is running out, she tries to tell Picard something that she's been thinking about for a while.

"For quite some time, I've been meaning to say something to you... I might not get another chance. Jean-Luc, you and I-"

Dammit! We still haven’t gotten any sort of confirmation!

Oh, and Picard disappearing is bad too I guess.

After the vortex from before opens and closes again, Dr Crusher steels herself and takes the helm in the captain's chair.

I doubt we'll ever see that happen again.

Then suddenly we cut to engineering, where Wesley and Geordi are frantically working away at a warp bubble before it collapses once again.

It turns out that the vortex was actually their attempts to retrieve Dr Crusher, because this whole time she has actually been trapped in a parallel dimension thanks to her exposure to Wesley's experiment... an experiment which they decided to test right next to the fucking warp core.

But still, credit where it's due, cool plot twist.

Oh, and as for the crew disappearing... she had been thinking about Dr Quaice's comments about losing people at the time, which I guess is what caused that to happen in the parallel universe? It doesn't completely make sense, but it resulted in a pretty interesting mystery, so I guess it gets a pass.

Also, for those of you keeping track at home, this is the second time an episode's plot has been set into motion by one of Wesley's experiments. Maybe the writers just didn't like him.

The Traveller (once again played by Eric Menyuk) suddenly appears and tells Wesley that he's the only one that can help him return Dr Crusher to the right dimension, which in retrospect is some excellent foreshadowing.

Wow, this season just loves bringing back interesting side characters who should've been reused way sooner. Now if we could just see Bochra again...

Also they need to hurry because the parallel dimension is starting to collapse and will cease to exist in about ten minutes. That's probably important.

The result is a genuinely good climax as Wesley and the Traveller work together to open a gateway, even starting to phase out of space and time in the process.

Long story short, they succeed, Dr Crusher realises that the vortex is her way home and jumps through, successfully making it back to her own dimension. Everybody wins!

So, we have an intriguing little mystery leading to a good plot twist and a compelling climax. Pretty solid episode all around.

7/10 - A lot better than I expected.

Previous Episode | TNG Masterpost | Next Episode

#star trek #star trek the next generation #star trek tng #star trek review #jean luc picard #captain picard #uss enterprise #beverly crusher #wesley crusher #parallel universe #season 4

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heartofsnark · 3 years

Text

Can You Feel The Sun? (Chapter Seven): Flying Towards An Early Grave

Notes: Still posting my little backlog, I will warn in advanced, the next chapter is the heist (finally) AND IT IS A CHONKER, but for now have a little appetizer with some fun times, smut, and foreshadowing!~

Word Count: 10860

Chapter Warnings: heavy foreshadowing, food, blowjobs, groping, protected vaginal sex, car sex

If you haven’t yet, you can read the previous chapter here!~

V’s body is heavy as she gets to her apartment door, ready to curl up into bed and call it a day. She’s exhausted with adrenaline gone. She presses her thumb to the panel. The little intercom doorbell is also the lock, scanning and searching for SID validation. It takes a moment to scan, it seems to be lagging more lately.

Calling.

The intercom says it’s calling, why is it calling? She can hear the automated ringing and her lights inside are probably flashing. It only does this if the SID doesn’t match the apartment owner’s, assuming them a guest. V presses again.

Calling.

She presses harder.

Calling.

She tries her entire hand.

Calling.

She kicks her door, a heavy sound as her boot collides with it. That doesn’t help with the lock, but it makes her feel a little better. Just what she needs; bloody, sore, and locked out of her apartment for who fucking knows why? Her stomach growls as she pulls up the number for building maintenance.

“Megabuilding Maintenance, how can I help?”

“I’m locked out of my apartment,” V signs, her choker translator on.

“What do you mean?”

“The lock isn’t recognizing my SID.”

“Can I get your name and apartment number?”

V gives them the details and they say they’re sending a maintenance guy. All of the services floor is nearly shut down at the late hour, her stomach growling. No doubt the maintenance guy will take his sweet fucking time, so much for getting some decent sleep. She gets a burrito, a Nicola, and a little thing of ketchup from the machines. Sitting on the ground near her door, dumping ketchup on her burrito as she eats it.

By the time the guy arrives she’s finished eating, drinking, and is a little unsure what’s dried blood versus dried ketchup on her shirt. She hops to her feet when she sees the guy walking up, a massive case of resting bitch face. V doubts he wanted to be dragged out at three am to help unlock a door, but it’s not her fault the tech fucked up.

“You V?” he asks, voice gruff and annoyed.

“Yep.”

“Hard day?” His eyebrow raises, gaze focused on her blood stained flesh and chrome.

“Work.”

“Ah… I see,” he nods, “so, what's the issue with your door?”

Night City is one of the few places where one can just admit to being a mercenary for a living, even if it did earn her an odd look. V presses her hand to the lock button again and it once again initiates a call.

“Doesn’t recognize my SID.”

“Hmm, you are V, right?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Who the fuck else would I be? The building has a picture of me on file for fucks sake.”

“Hey, hey, nowadays with enough eddies anybody can look like anybody.”

“If I had an identity worth stealing, you really think I’d be living here?”

“Fair enough, let’s check something,” he pulls out a holo tablet, jacking it into the bottom of the intercom lock, “this will show what the lock is reading it as, try again.”

V keeps an eye on his tablet as she presses her hand back to the lock and the projected information starts to show. And for a moment she sees herself; her face, her name, her information, and all the shit Vik had to set up for her to have SID. Then in a blink of an eye it glitches out and the information shifts. She watches her nearly mugshot like photo shift into that of a man, with short dark hair and dark eyes. V [REDACTED] becomes Robert John Linder. Birthdate shifting from November 12th, 2056 to November 16, 1988. Birthplace shifting from Seven Devils, North Carolina to College Station, Texas.

Who the hell is this old man?

“Looks like it’s reading your SID chip as someone else's, strange, any chance you’ve been spiked by a ‘runner?”

“No, even if I was, not sure why they’d want to make my SID register to some senior citizen.”

“Weird, can’t think of how else this would happen? Seems like it starts to read your chip and then changes to this guy’s. Do you know him?”

“Don’t hang around old folks homes too much, actually. Just some random dude to me.”

“Hmmm.”

“I can promise you, I’m not a ninety year old cowboy man.”

“Somehow I noticed that, actually… looks like the guy is dead.”

“What?”

“Mmhmm, scroll down a bit and there’s the date his death certificate was issued,” the guy shows her, “you’ll probably need to have your SID looked at, see what’s wrong with it. For now, I can unlock it for you and have them add whoever this guy is to registered owners, so, you won’t be locked out until you fix it.”

“Fine, I guess.”

“But that does mean if this guy’s ghost decides to pop in for a visit, lock won’t stop him,” the man jokes, offering the first smile since he’s been here.

“Somehow I’ll handle it, thanks for the help, and if it’s not too much trouble can you forward me the details of that SID info?”

“Sure, no problem,” the maintenance man’s eyes glow and she can feel the very soft warmth and whirr of her neuroplant as it accepts the file.

She gives one final thanks as he unlocks her apartment and she’s finally able to step foot inside. Thankfully her door locks behind her and she makes a beeline for her shower, scrubbing blood and sweat from her skin; finding bruises, cuts, and flesh wounds she hadn’t noticed in the midst of fighting.

It takes her a little longer than expected to wind down for the night, the merc putting in her optic contacts and playing with the bot. Looking through its eyes, she has it twist and climb all throughout her apartment, making herself dizzy until she falls out of bed and bangs her head against the floor. Finally, putting the cute spider looking tech away when she feels the knot starting to form on her head. Then, setting her alarm and sleeping for the night.

V is still tired when her alarm vibrates beneath her pillow, waking her up as the sunlight streams in from her large window, warming her skin. She checks her phone, double checks the time and that Dex hasn’t sent the car for her yet. The young merc rushes through her morning routine; showering, brushing her teeth, dressing, and taking her medication with some Chromanticore in hopes of getting some energy back.

She’s out the door and has her mask on in a matter of minutes, phone buzzing with the message that Dex’s car is waiting for her. As she comes down the steps of her building she sees the same limousine and bodyguard waiting outside of it. But this time when he opens the door for her, there is no Dex, nobody. Chills creep their way up her spine, but she gets in nonetheless, sinking into the leather backseat as Dex’s guard starts to drive them away.

The guard is quiet, doesn’t explain where they’re going or why, V has a feeling he wouldn’t tell even if she asked. So, she doesn’t. Only the radio drones on, a mixture of news and occasional pop music from bands and singers she doesn’t know or care to know; an anouncer coming over the radio to speak somberly.

“Today marks the fifty-fourth anniversary of the attack on Arasaka Tower. Fifty-four years ago a group of terrorists stormed Arasaka Tower and detonated a bomb, which forever changed the history of our dear city. Devastating the lives of millions; thousands dying in the initial attack and more perishing in the aftermath as well. Today we ask for a moment of silence to remember those who lost their lives in this senseless act of violence so many years ago….:”

A beat of silence, barely a moment, then the high energy voice returns.

“Now, after this short music break, we return with the heartwarming story of Stumpy, the three legged puppy who’s gone viral after the use of veterinary cyberware has given the pup a new lease on life!~”

V rolls her eyes, sounds about right, barely a moment for something so somber. No real grief or empathy, time to move on to a cute puppy because that keeps people happy and listening. She watches the city around her change, spotting the Valentino graffiti starting to cover the buildings and that they’re entering Heywood. She sends a heads up text to Jackie, letting him know they’re not far from his house.

A short moment after, the driver is parking outside Jackie’s garage and she watches the older merc walking out. The guard opens the limousine back door and Jackie relaxes when he sees V, climbing into the seat next to her.

“Hey, V, you figure out what’s going on?”

“Was sort of hoping you had…”

“Asked T-Bug, said it’s a surprise.”

“Not sure I like Bug’s idea of surprises.”

“Hey, hombre,” Jackie calls out to the guard as he starts to drive them away, “mind telling us where we’re headed?”

They’re met with silence, because of they are. V nervously wrings her hands as she watches for signs of where they’re going based on the passing scenery.

“Has to be something to do with prepping for the job, just wish I knew what.”

“Speaking of which, you got the bot on you?”

“Yeah, brought it just in case and if Bug’s there she’ll want to take a look. Wonder if there’s any chance of keeping the Flathead after this?”

She knows Dex said it’s a single use toy, but...who knows, maybe she could somehow keep it afterwards.

“Why’s that?”

“Its cute.”

“You think a military grade combat bot is cute?”

“It's a little spider.”

“You find the weirdest shit cute, I swear.”

“It is cute!”

“It’s-” Jackie looks out the window, “shit are we in Corpo Plaza?”

“Maybe we’re just passing through?”

As if only to prove her wrong, the limousine parks outside a store on Senate Avenue, the bright sign says Jinguji. Even looking through the window, it looks entirely like a place that her and Jackie do not belong. Brightly lit, immaculately clean with fancy designer clothes on display.

“We’re here,” the guard tells them and the doors open with the press of a button.

V and Jackie share a look before getting out of the limousine, standing before the Jinguji store like deers stuck in headlights.

“Dex can’t be serious, Jinguji?” Jackie says, scratching at the shaved underneath of his hair.

“Looks…. Fancy.”

“Corp store, designer; a sock in there will cost you a few thousand eddies.”

“I know he says we need to play corpo, but… I don’t know, it feels weird.”

“I’m sure Dex knows what he’s doing. But, uh, you gotta take off the mask, chica.”

“What, why?”

“‘Cause its fucking Jinguji, they’re not gonna let you through the door looking like that.”

“You’re one to talk, you got a ketchup stain on your shirt.”

“Firstly, that’s blood. Secondly, you’re a wearing a jacket you stole off a dead guy last week.”

“Not like he needs it!”

“Jackie, V!” A voice yells out, drawing the merc’s attention into the doorway of the store, T-Bug in realspace, wearing a black netrunning suit, “would you gonks stop bickering and get in here?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the mercs speak and sign in unison, falling the netrunner into the corp store.

There’s a large lit up advertisement at the back of the store. Gold decor dripping down from the ceiling, plush white couches, and an ice bucket with champagne. To her surprise, there’s no other shoppers within the store. A man in a tailored designer suit sits at the desk, greeting the two mercs as they walk in.

“Welcome to Jinguji, an oasis of elegance!~”

V gives an awkward nod and wave. She’s not sure what else to do. She doesn’t belong here; she knows that much. A dirty black leather jacket under the bright lights and old raggedy boots on shiny polished floors. The merc wants nothing more than to run out of the store, some of the clothes she sees displayed are nice, if she’s being honest. A few bit tacky for her taste, but others are cute or sexy with dramatic flair, but nothing she would ever really have a reason to wear.

“Mind telling us why the fuck we’re here, Bug?” Jackie asks and the netrunner chuckles.

“To get into Konpeki, you two will have to look the part. Rather than blindly guessing what will fit, Dex is flitting the bill and getting you both some corpo threads,” T-Bug explains, taking a seat on on of the couches.

“Where is everyone?”

“Store is rented out for the next couple hours, discretion. V, did you bring the bot?”

“Got it in my bag.”

“Lemme see, got to make sure it’s in working shape.” V puts the bot down on the table, T-Bug opening the case and looking over the bot, running diagnostics that the merc can’t begin to understand,

“Right this way, you two, I’m sure we’ll find something perfect for both of you,” the man who greeted them, grabs their attention again, “but it would be easier, if I have a full idea of your features, miss.”

“Told you,” Jackie taunts and V elbows him in the side, slowly taking off her mask and she feels bare. And she knows people have seen her face before, but this is work and it just feels… wrong.

“Wonderful, so we’ll begin with the gentlemen, I think you’ll find we have a wonderful array of fine suits in our men’s department.”

The man, who’s fancy name tag says Zane, shows them a vast collection of suits. They range from slick classic black ones, deep navy blues, florals, brights, embroidered, and every color she can imagine. Its hard to imagine the big merc in any of them. She’s always seen him in muscle shirts or his favorite red and black jacket. His eyes seem to land on a red suit with gold detailing.

“Well-”

“Point is to blend in, not stand out, Jack,” T-Bug calls out, scolding him without having to even look at him or his choice in suit.

“Just black then.”

“Wise choice, sir, our tailors will get your measurements and get the perfect fit for you.”

Another employee guides Jackie to a fitting room and V feels the sudden urge to sink into the ground, Zane’s attention now solely on her. She scratches at her cheek and flips on her choker translator.

“Now, what about you? We have plenty of formal options in women’s fashion as well. A more androgynous business suit or perhaps a dress?”

She’s shown mannequins dressed in tight body con dresses with various necklines, materials, colors, and a few well fitted pants suits. Her eyes are drawn to the dresses, if she’s being honest. She has a rather small collection of skirts and dresses, for off days, but she never has a chance to wear anything more formal than a sundress or mini skirt over leggings. These dresses are dramatic, gorgeous; some with mesh inlays or cut outs.

But, like Bug said; they’re there to blend in, not stand out. This isn’t an outfit for fun but for work and if something goes wrong, the last thing she needs is this going to shit and having to battle in a tight constricting dress or too high of heels.

“I think a pants suit in black would be best; keep it simple.”

“Understood.”

V taken to a fitting room, given the chance to put on the ready to buy pantsuits in privacy. A stark white button up blouse, black blazer, and black slacks. And she knows immediately it will need to be tailored to suit her; the pants longer than her legs and the shirt loose around her chest. The tailor comes in after a moment and begins measuring, marking where things need to be taken in and raised. V left trying not to get embarrassed each time the measuring tape is wrapped around a part of her.

“Is there a way to make the blazer sleeves easier to roll up?” She signs once her arms are done being measured. The material is stiffer and harder to get tight around her elbows when trying; she wants her Mantis Blades easily used.

“Hmm, lets see, maybe it’d be best to use it more like an accessory rather than wearing it properly?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you could just wear it over your shoulders like a cape,” the woman drapes it that way across V’s shoulders.

“Not my thing.”

“Then you can carry it, like this,” the woman shows holding the jacket back over her shoulder with her fingers hooked in it’s collar. It looks alright, casual enough, though having a jacket and not wearing it still reads as strange to the merc.

“I’ll consider that.”

“It can also help keep you cool. Now, lets talk about makeup, hair, and shoes.”

V listens and nods as the woman gives recommendations; getting V a pair of low heeled black synthetic leather shoes. Then going into advice on hair; recommending french twist, a bun, or a low ponytail depending on how formal V wants to go. The woman recommends simple classic makeup styles and a few other tips for the merc to meet her full corpo potential. Finally, with measurements, adjustments, and everything marked; V is allowed to change back into her street clothes. She leaves the room, seeing Jackie already in his regular clothes again and sitting next to T-Bug.

“We have all the measurements down and will begin altering the clothes immediately.”

“Good,” T-Bug confirms with Zane, “remember we need them finished and delivered to The Afterlife by five.”

“I assure you, our tailors are already on it.”

“V,” T-Bug calls out when she sees the short merc, “got something for you.”

V sits down on the couch, watching as T-Bug sets out a pair of white hearing aids. They’re designed like her normal ones, just more boring.

“Hearing aids? I already have those.”

“These are special, optic camo. No corpo worth their salt has anything less than top of the line phonic implants, with press of a button or a thought, these will go invisible.. They’ll work just like your regular ones, but look like you’re wearing nothing. Try them out.”

She switches her blue hearing aids with the new ones, they fit well and she pushes the thought of turning the camo on. V catches her reflection in a mirror in the store, she can feel them, but see nothing.

“Perfect, no one will be any the wiser. This also means no signing or translator.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I know its not ideal, but it’s just the reality of it. Corpo types like this; lose your hearing, new implants. Vocal chords fried, get a new set in gold. Get paralyzed, new legs or entire nervous system. Go blind, new optics. They see you signing or using hearing aids, you’ll stand out like a sore thumb.”

“I get it.”

“No sweat, I’ll do the talking, V,” Jackie comforts her and then turns his attention to Bug, “So, what now?”

“We’ll go over the full plan this evening at The Afterlife, you two need to be there by five. We’ll talk with Dex and you’ll be in Konpeki by eight tonight, relic in hand before midnight strikes.”

“So we get to kick back and relax until five?”

“As long as you’re there by five and ready to go, I couldn’t care less what you do, Jack.”

“Said this place was rented out, right?” V asks, noticing a dramatic purple dress that reminds her of a certain tarot card reader’s favorite color.

“Yeah, why?”

“How much longer is this place reserved?”

“Another hour, maybe two and again, I ask why?”

“Ow, hell that for, chica?” Jackie looks up when V kicks him in the shin.

“Call Misty, dumbass. Buy her something nice, make a date out of it before we go on the job.” V tells him, remembering Misty’s concerns from the other night. It might ease her mind a bit to have a nice afternoon with Jackie, dress shopping and a fancy lunch in City Center. Just a chance to enjoy themselves.

“Dex is nice V, but sincerely doubt he wants to pay for Misty a new dress.”

“Oh no, if only one of us had scammed ten grand off of Militech, oh wait,” V says, pulling the Militech credchip from her bag and sees the twinkle in Jackie’s eyes.��

“You serious, V?”

“Should get her a hell of a nice dress, maybe you a suit, and a nice fancy lunch; play corpo for an afternoon.”

“Shit, V,” he takes the credchip from her fingers, “what’d I do without you?”

“You two are going to make me puke,” T-Bug says, rolling her eyes while Jackie is already calling up Misty.

“Just wait until Misty gets here and the constant pet names start, you’ll really lose your lunch.”

“Ugh, more reason to get out of here, I’ll be taking the Flathead with me to keep in working shape.”

“Can I ask you something before you go?”

“Got more code you need me to check?”

“Not quite, had an issue with my SID chip last night, was wondering if there was a chance I was hacked?”

“You get spiked, jaina?” Jackie asks when he finishes chatting with Misty.

“Don’t know, couldn’t unlock my door last night, reader thought I was some old dude.”

“Hmm, SID hacks are tricky, we’re going to be using one for your covers in Konpeki. But they usually only alter your ID a bit and die after so many hours. Thing is, that wouldn’t really benefit anyone.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, I don’t think anyone would get much out of pretending I’m some ninety year old dead fuck.”

“I can jack in, see if I find anything in your soft.”

“Sure, if you don’t mind.”

V shifts her back to T-Bug, sweeping her hair off the nape of her neck and showing her neuroports. The netrunner pushes some loose strands out of the way and slots her personal jack into V’s biomon. A few moments pass and V can feel her cheeks flushing a bit, a weird feeling to having T-Bug directly touch her and jack in to her tech. This is the first time they’ve met in person, may even be the first time Bug has seen her face.

“Everything looks clear to me, SID is registering as yours, no signs of a hack,” Bug explains, jacking out.

“Weird, maintenance guy showed last night it was showing as some dead guy.”

“Strange, must be some sort of glitch.”

“Or you’re being haunted.”

“Haha, very funny, Jackie.”

“Hello… “

A soft voice calls out and V lights up seeing Misty poking her head into the fancy luxury store, looking every bit as nervous as V had been. Jackie is up and rushing towards Misty in a heart beat, pulling her into a hug and twirling her around, kissing her head.

“You’re here, mi carina.”

“Babe,” Misty says, giggiling as she’s put back down on her feet, then steps up on her tip toes to kiss Jackie’s lips.

“Gonna puke,” T-Bug comments low under her breath and V tries not to laugh.

“V, Bug,” Misty smiles at the two, “glad I got here before you two left out.”

“What’s up?”

Jackie walks Misty over closer to them, large hand on her hip as she rummage through her purse. After a moment, she pulls out three beaded bracelets. A mixture of beads in black, gold, and blue mottled with gold. T-Bug is already raising her eyebrow and V’s not sure how well Misty’s spiritualism will go over with the runner.

“These are protection bracelets. Lapis lazuli, black tourmaline, and gold sheen obsidian. They’re all meant to help with creating a protective spiritual barrier, it should keep you all safe from negative energies and frequencies.”

“Ay, you still in knots over this, mi alma?”

“It would just make me feel better knowing you have a little more protection, babe.”

Misty slides the biggest of the bracelets onto Jackie’s wrist and he gives her a soft smile, kissing her temple before starts to give the others to V and Bug. The young merc slides it on with a smile and T-Bug takes it in hand, with a less enthusiasm.

“Thanks, Misty, I appreciate it,” V tells her and elbows T-Bug in the side, earning her a glare, but the netrunner plays nice.

“Thanks…”

“I know it’s not much, but a little protection is better than none and should keep energies bright.”

“Right….”

“Well,” V cuts in before Bug can say anything else, “we’ll be getting out of your hair, have fun you two!~”

“Thanks again, V, see you two at The Afterlife.”

Jackie waves them off, Bug packing up and V putting her usual hearing aids in their case, away in her pocket. The runner and young merc leave the store, Dex’s guard already left a while ago, so V will have to either call her car or use the public transit. Come to think of it, she’s not sure how she’s going to kill time until its game time.

“V,” Bug stops her outside Jinguji before they go their separate ways for now, “gotta ask, you really believe in that spiritual crap?”

“No, but she does and it makes her happy, so, why not?”

“I guess, if she really thinks a bracelet is going to save us from Arasaka.”

“Won’t kill you to accessorize a little, Bug.”

“Whatever you say.”

They say their goodbyes and V is left thinking again about what she wants to do to pass the time. She could do a few short gigs, but her mind is preoccupied with the heist. Ultimately, V finds herself taking the NCART to El Coyote Cojo. Mostly just because she’s bored and maybe something or someone there will occupy her time. The bar isn’t too active at the early hour and she doesn’t see Mama Welles around.

“V!” Pepe greets her when she walks through.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Same old, same old. Jaquito is still out, Senora Welles is out shopping, but Jake is taking out the trash in the back if you want to say hi.”

“I think I might go and do just that.”

Playing grab ass with one of her go to lays seems like a solid way to waste her time. V walks through the bar and out one of the backdoors that open to the alley with the dumpster. Sure enough, Jake is there tossing away a trash bag. He’s around 6’5 about as tall as Jackie, muscular, with a head of ginger hair shaved down on the shades and a thick beard.

She throws her arms around his waist, feeling the muscle underneath his shirt. He teases his fingers over her forearms, the chrome of his Gorilla Fingers cyberware sending a soft chill through her skin.

“Hey, V, new chrome?” He runs over the chrome patterns in her arms.

She hums against his back in response, not wanting to move. But, he twists in her arms. He cups her face in chromed fingers, for a moment, his browns furrow in confusion.

“No hearing aids?”

She pulls away, enough space for her to sign.

“Camouflage ones, it and the blades are necessary for the gig.”

“Oh yeah, Jackie’s been talking everyone to death about this heist you two got planned. He better be damn glad no one here’s got loose lips.” His hands drop from her face and loosely wrap around her waist, fingers starting to graze over her ass.

“Can’t blame him for being excited.”

“Hmmm and you?”

“Nervous.”

“Figured as much,” he squeezes her ass, “you looking for a distraction?”

“If I wasn’t I wouldn’t be letting you grope my ass in broad daylight, now would I?”

A low dry chuckle echoes in his chest and he dives in for a kiss. It’s quick and rough, his beard scratching over her skin before he pulls away. She can’t help but giggle as he pulls her back into the bar, hand still shamelessly on her ass.

“Pepe! I’m going on lunch break!”

“Yeah yeah, go on.”

“C’mon,” Jake guides her out of the bar, “lemme at least buy you lunch first.”

“You actually trying to be nice today?”

“Something like that.”

V settles into his passenger side seat as Jake climbs behind the wheel. They pull away from El Coyote Cojo, driving around Heywood and finding a drive in to go through, Burgers, fries, and pop bought; Jake finds a relatively empty place to park meanwhile V has already begun taking the pickles off her burgers.

“So, you wanna actually talk about it?” Jake asks, taking a bite of his burger.

“Not much to talk about,” she signs with salt covered fingers and a mouthful of fries, “biggest job of our career. Nerves are natural.”

Not to mention the shady client, the fact they’re robbing Arasaka, the fact they’re robbing Yorinobu specifically, the fact they have to play corpo, that V will have to force herself not to sign, and that every fiber of her being is screaming that something is going to go wrong. Then she has the weirdness of her SID chip fucking up on her mind as well.

“Yeah, but you overthink, so I know that little brain of yours is spinning in a billion directions.”

V shrugs, “No more than usual, so, what’s been going on with you?”

“Not much, been thinking of quitting the bar.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, get to work the day shift so I can pick the twins up from school and spend some time with them. But, day shift in a bar basically means staring at a wall and waiting for Senora Welles to cut me a paycheck.”

“You don’t like getting paid to sit around and look pretty?”

“Not gonna lie, it’d be hard to find a boss as forgiving as Senora Welles.”

“Not every boss would let you take an hour or longer lunch just to play grab ass with me?”

“Eh, pretty sure if she knew what I was doing with her precious adopted daughter, she’d already have me fired.”

“Oh please, she’s known you longer than me.”

“Yeah, but she likes you more, you’re basically her kid and I’m her employee,” he pauses watching V roll her eyes, “you know, she’s been worrying a lot about you and Jackie, lately. She knows things are getting riskier with the merc work and-”

V quiets him with a kiss, not wanting to hear another word of this. She comes to him for a distraction. The kiss is messy and he tastes like greasy fast food, but she’s sure she’s not any better, pushing her tongue into his mouth. She cups his jaw with one hand, scratching over his beard and as he deepens the kiss, she drops her other hand into his lap. He’s already half hard in his jeans, pressing into her touch as she gropes him through the denim. Jake curses against her lips, breaking their kiss.

“You talk too much, honey,” she chastises him, a soft smile on her lips as she undoes his belt buckle, he lifts his hips, allowing space to pull his pants and boxer down just enough to get his cock out.

She pulls her legs up into her seat, on her knees so she can fully lean over the center console into his lap. V pushes hair back behind her ear and takes his dick into her mouth; not bothering to tease, swallowing around him. The taste of him on her tongue causes a heat in her center to stir, getting slick between her thighs as she bobs her head up and down. He groans as she strokes and sucks him, teasing her tongue ring along the head of his cock. The bitterness of his precum and the salt of his skin making her dizzy with need.

His chrome fingers slide across the expanse of her back, reaching out to grab her ass. He gropes and fondles her through her pants, the rough feeling of her jeans and panties being pressed against her sensitive wet folds. Jake curses as V alternates between sucking, licking, and taking him as deep into her throat as she can.

He tugs on her hair, bleached strands wrapped around chrome, pulling her mouth off him. Drool covering his cock and her lips. She pouts at him for stopping her, cheeks flushed and breathing heavy. He gives her a swat on the ass, barely hard enough to sting.

“Want inside of you.”

That’s all the explanation he gives and she pulls away, thankful that the windows of his car have steamed from body heat, she begins to quickly strip off her clothes. Its clumsy as she tries to strip down in a car seat, throwing her jacket off into the back, kicking off her boots, before yanking her pants and panties down in one fluid movement. She curses herself for not wearing a skirt or something with easier access. A part of her mind recognizes how stupid she must look, still in her shirt, bra, and her socks staying on after tugging off her pants. But lust has killed her ability to think, just wanting him inside of her. Jake has rolled a condom on, but otherwise has simply watched the flustered merc strip down.

V’s easily able to jump into his lap, straddling him and having her back to the steering wheel. She steadies herself with one hand on his shoulder, the other lining his cock up with her entrance, sinking herself down onto his dick. She’s slick enough that she takes him all in one movement, both cursing out at the feeling. The stretch of his cock inside of her and the tightness of her cunt around him. Jake digs his nails into her hips and bounces her on his cock, fucking up into her. He takes complete control, setting a brutal pace that leaves V reeling with every thrust. All she can do is wrap her arms around his neck and moan against his sweaty skin, accepting each harsh movement of him inside of her.

The tension inside of her grows tighter with every thrust, every smack of skin against skin like a strike of a match trying to grow a larger flame. She can’t think, can’t focus, every thought consumed with pleasure and a desire to be pushed over the edge. Bruises form on her hips where he hold her, where he uses her for pleasure. The chair of his cheap car creaks with each bounce and a few thrusts slams her lower back into the steering wheel, but she doesn’t care, couldn’t if she tried. She whines and whimpers against his skin, feeling her end nearing.

And then the tension snaps, orgasm hitting her fast and hard, she digs her nails into his skin, squirming and writhing as she moans out her pleasure. Mind a haze as she’s overwhelmed with her pleasure. He thrusts a few more times and she nearly chokes at the continued stimulation, the feeling of him fucking into her already sensitive cunt. Then he curses, bringing her hips down fully to meet his own one last time before he cums, spilling his seed inside the condom.

V rolls off of him and back into the passenger seat, hating the empty feeling Her skin is sweaty and flushed, as much she hates it, she needs to get her clothes back on. Fumbling to get her pants and panties out of the passenger side floorboard. Pulling them on and shoving her feet in her boots. V waits as Jake ties off the condom and adjusts his jeans, opening the car door and tossing the condom away into a nearby dumpster.

The Night City air feels cool compared to the heat of the car after fucking, she watches him light up a cigarette outside of the car and grimaces. He climbs back into the driver's seat, keeping the window rolled down and she makes a gagging sound as the smoke hits her nose.

“You coming back to the bar with me?” He asks, blowing smoke out of the window.

“No,” she signs, thankful the choker translator can survive sweat, “I’ll catch the train back to Watson.”

“Let strangers see you sweaty and fuck-dazed?”

“Well, it’s a good look for me.”

“Can’t really deny that, now can I.”

She rolls her eyes and grabs her jacket getting out of the car, walking away on still slightly wobbly legs. V takes the train back to Watson, fiddling with her holophone the entire way. The merc gets off at the stop closest to her megabuilding and makes her way to her apartment; lock recognizing her on the first try.

V checks the time and decides to get ready to go to The Afterlife. Those nerves she had managed to fuck away for a moment creep up on her all over again. She shakes her head not wanting to focus on her anxieties, she strips down and grabs a shower, cleaning off the sweat from her liaison.

The merc pulls her hair back in a small low-set ponytail and does her makeup to the recommendations of the stylist. She gets dressed and uses the new camouflaged hearing aids, she takes her mask with her too. Though she knows she can’t wear it into Konpeki, she’ll still be walking into The Afterlife. That thought alone twists her guts into nervous knots.

The Afterlife is the go to bar for the top of their game, Major Leagues mercs and fixers. It’s where the biggest deals are made, the easiest place to catch a drink and a job, but only mercs or fixers of a certain standard are allowed through its doors. Jackie brags about the place like it’s heaven for mercenaries. If they’re going to become regular fixtures of the bar after this, then she’d prefer to maintain her usual level of anonymity for fixers moving forward. She’ll drop the mask when they’re finally in corpo threads.

V slides on Misty’s bracelet as well, fiddling with the beads meant to provide some form of protection. Her mind goes back to Misty’s tarot card reading, while she doesn’t put much weight on it, her friend’s fortune telling often sticks with her. The Wheel of Fortune is sticking out to her; she could care less if the cards thinks she’s stupid or if she’s about to fall in love, the latter of which so ridiculous she can’t help but dismiss it. But the idea of conflict sticks out, fear of the heist going wrong has been heavy on her mind. Something always goes slightly wrong, no job is perfect. But this has the highest stakes she’s ever encountered.

V has new cyberware, the best possible tech and upgrades from Vik. She has Jackie, her best choom and partner in crime who’s never let her down. There’s T-Bug, her friend and brilliant netrunner who could bring half of Night City down if she wished. Their fixer is Dex, one of the best in regards to his job, he has everything to gain by having their backs covered. They have military grade tech and an inside look into Konpeki. They are going in under the best possible circumstances.

She has to remind herself, review this again and again, that if something goes wrong someone there should be able to take care of it. But, those nerves don’t fade even as she leaves her apartment.

The Afterlife isn’t far from V’s apartment, practically a hop and skip downtown. Barely five minutes pass before she’s under the roofed alley, nearing the club. Vivid cyan and purple graffiti across the wall, trash along the way.

“Porque ya tengo planes para esta noche!"

The voice is familiar, Jackie’s and V pressed her back to the side of the vending machine, he’s telling someone he already has plans for tonight. He sounds frustrated, like he’s on the verge of pulling his hair out.

“Virgen Santsima, ma! Te vas a enterar mañana,” a beat of silence, “también te quiero, ma."

The conversation ways on her, he’s talking to Senora Welles. Remembering Jake talking about her feelings, that the matriarch has been worrying herself half to death. And it sounds like Jackie has been on the receiving end of that worry for a while. V pulls her mask on and rounds the corner past the vending machine, stepping in front of the main entrance of The Afterlife. Her friend standing in the doorway under the harsh green light.

“Heh, about time, chica,” he greets, tucking his phone into his pocket, she catches the blue of Misty’s bracelet mingled with his usual gold ones.

“What’s going on?”

“Ehhh, y'know. She's worried about me - whatever. Can't help herself, y'know - checkin’ to see if I'm not rottin' in some dumpster… like most of the Welles boys. Been worse lately.”

“Why’s that?”

“Started climbin' our way up. Got more an' more knives out there, waitin' to stab us in the back. Higher stakes, higher risk. She can see that.”

“Look like you’re about to keel over.” V reaches out, touching the red blotches on his skin, stress and sweat inflaming his skin.

“Years of merc work, and yet, still sweat like a roasted pig when I talk to my ma. It's really startin' to wear on me. More tell her everythin's OK, more I feel like I'm straight-up lyin’.”

“Well, hopefully you had a nice date with Misty at least.”

“Went about as well as talking to my ma right now,” he scratches at the back of his neck, “for two women who don’t get along, they sure agree when it comes to worrying about me.”

“They worry because they love you, worse things in life than people giving a damn about you.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t matter none. Not anymore, Afterlife, here we come, baby!”

Jackie changes the topic and she can’t really blame him for it, rubbing his hands together and practically cheering in excitement. This is everything they’ve talked about, everything they’ve said they want. So, why does she still have a lump in her throat?

“Afterlife… we’re really here.”

“Does not get any higher, choom. And you know somethin' else? We fuckin' earned it, chica!”

“No point in standing around then, is there?’

“Ready to get your cherry popped?” he laughs leading her into the club, “Yeeeah! Come on!”

“Little late for that one, Jack,” she teases as they make their way down the stairs, a pair of double doors opening up for them. A short step down into a small hallway with mercs and fixers alike talking under the green glow of a sign bearing the club’s name.

“Place used to be a morgue - you believe that?”

“Really?”

“I know, right? Way before our time, that. When proper burials were still a thing.”

They come to another set of doors, through the small window V can see the true club main room beyond them. But a man stands guarding them, around Jackie’s height and a similar bulky build. Cyberware indented along his jawline and nose. His face is stony, eyes sharp when Jackie and V stop before him, then he puts a large hand out in front of him.

“And who might you clowns be?”

“Jackie and V,” the taller of the mercs says with a grin, “Dexter Deshawn is waitin’ on us.”

The bouncer gives them a look and V is glad for her mask helping hide her emotions. His expression is dismissive, looking down on them, making her feel all at once that she has not earned her place in this club. A baby merc, new to the city, barely six months under her belt and she’s standing at the Afterlife. How the fuck did she get here?

“Yo, Dex. Got two live ones sayin' they're here to see ya,” his optics glow as he calls Dex, “Yeah? All right, then. Says he needs a second or two. Go get yourselves drinks or somethin'.”

The doors open to a green and cyan lit club. Music louder as the barrier breaks away, people fill the room. Some sipping on alcohol and other’s puffing away on cigarettes; the smell of nicotine and booze wafting from the bar.

“Way ahead o' you, viejo,” Jackie laughs and leads the way in.

V follows him around the corner; the large bar coming into full view. It’s lit green, the same neon sign reading Afterlife at the top of it. A bartender in a blue button up slings drinks to the patrons. Floor to ceiling columns, like tubes, are places around the club each filled with water with a dancer twirling around inside with strategically place chrome clothing covering the most private parts of them. Everything is basked in that green neon light, despite being surrounded by mercs like her, she feels so completely out of place.

Jackie marches proudly across the bar floor, stride confident and unwavering.

“This is it… The heart o' Night City! That's it right there - beating. Hear it?” he proclaims as they pass by rows of half closed off booths, “Can you imagine? Susan Forrest, Boa Boa, maybe even Morgan Blackhand… All sat on those stools, fell asleep on that same bar.”

Jackie sits in one of the barstools, beaming and brimming with excitement. His eyes wide as he takes it all in, the place he’s dreamed of for all his years. V climbs into the seat next to him, placing an elbow on the bar, leaning her head onto her hand, as she shifts to face him.

“Doubt that puts us in the same league as them,” V teases, Morgan Blackhand brought down Arasaka Tower. They’re stealing a biochip, hardly the same thing.

“Oh, but we are. They just don't know it yet,” Jackie tells her with a wink and she can’t help but roll her eyes.

“We-”

V drops her hand when she realizes Jackie’s attention has gone elsewhere, an older woman walking past the two. She’s nothing unusual, older looking than most of the crowd here, sure but nothing immediately stands out to V. An older woman with long gray hair shaved on one side and a bright yellow cropped sweater, She marches her way across the bar and into a blue lit booth, moving past a guard.

“'Ey. See that old lady there?”

“Yeah, didn’t know grannies were your type,” V taunts him again, he’s always given her shit for her taste in older people, yet he’s ogling some grandma?

“Fuck off,” he playfully smacks her, but nearly knocks her from her chair, “that’s fuckin’ Rogue, best fixer in all o' Night City.”

“Thought Dex was the best?”

“Pff… Rogue was linin' up jobs when Dex was still shittin' in diapers, heh. Place belongs to her.”

“What can I getcha?” The bartender cuts in, hands down on the bar in front of them. She’s a woman with long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and a soft round face.

V doesn’t drink on the job, something she’s always stuck to. But, this is Jackie’s dream and she knows how he likes to celebrate. If nothing else, their banter has failed to undo her nerves, maybe booze will do the trick.

“You order,” she signs to Jackie and he grins.

“You drinkin’?”

“Special night, pick me something nice.”

“Two Tequila Old Fashioneds with a splash of cerveza and a chili garnish.”

“A duo of Johnny Silverhands, comin' up,” the bartender starts to put the drinks together, “somebody did their homework.”

“Guessing the dog ate mine,” V signs, confused because what the fuck is a silver hand?

“Age-old tradition. Drinks're named after our regulars,” she explains, putting the drinks down in front of the mercs.

“What’d I have to do to get a drink named after me?”

“Snuff it,” she grins, “ In mind-blowingly spectacular fashion, Mid-op'd be best.”

“Aah, what a beaut of a tradition!”

“Steep price for a drink, not going to lie,” V signs, letting her nerves speak for her, if only for a moment. Her guts are in knots, she can only hope the alcohol will untangle. All of the merc’s usual stress relieving tactics other than a weed brownie, have failed to do much of anything.

“Hey, everyone's gotta go sometime, right? Why not in style? Death’s nothing but the final flourish!”

“To hitting the major leagues,” she signs, holding her shot in the other hand.

“To becoming legends.”

She pushes her mask just up above her mouth, careful not to smudge her lipstick and they throw back their shots. Smooth but strong booze with a kick of spice from the garnish, a burn in her throat. Not her style, but she’s had worse. She pushes her mask back down, regarding the bartender, her nametag says Claire.

“So, who else can I drink here?” She still has no idea who Silverhand is, but maybe there’s a name she does recognize, reading the posted drink menu.

“All on the menu…”

“'Cept there's a spot missing. Morgan Blackhand, right?”

“Heh, true. Morgan's yet to make up his mind he's dead or still kickin',” Claire tells Jackie and V rolls her eyes.

“Think he’s still alive? It’s been years,” Jackie asks Claire.

“No way he’s still alive,.” The radio was just talking about the devastation of the tower going down, if that many folks were killed who were just near it, then there’s no way someone who was in the tower survived.

“Why not? Look at Rogue. Peeps from that era - a species unto themselves.”

“And one day we’re gonna be there too,” Jackie probably proclaims, “speaking of which, name’s Jackie Welles if you want to write down my recipe.”

“Sure.” There’s a playfulness in her tone, just going along with Jackie’s whims.

“Shot of vodka on the rocks, lime juice, ginger beer… oh, and most importantly - a splash of love.”

“Haha, I'll remember that.”

“Gag,” V signs just to see the glare Jackie levels her way, the playful smack of her arm.

“Okay, what’s your drink then?”

“Literally, the only thing I drink is like cherry cola with a splash of bourbon.”

“You know those are usually supposed to be reversed, the bourbon and coke.”

“Maybe so, but, and hear me out… cherry cola tastes better.”

“Heard you were Dex’s latest finds,” Claire tells them.

“Just biz, no big deal.”

“How'd you know?” V raises an eyebrow behind her mask.

“My job to know. Look around - how do you think meres earn their reps? Through gossip rivaling that of schoolgirls, that's how.”

“Mr. DeShawn see you now,” a booming voice rings out behind the mercs, turning around she sees Dex’s bodyguard. The first time she’s heard his voice.

“Love to hang, imbibe the vibe, but we got an important meeting,” Jackie tells Claire, getting up from his seat and V following suit, throwing some cash down on the bar.

“Break a leg.”

“This way,” the bodyguard tells them and the mercs falls in line behind him. He leads them around the bar, past the crowd and through a door towards the back of the club. The lighting shifting, more blue than green as they walk past another vending machine.

“Damn, holmes, you're huge... Work out?” Jackie asks, unable to stand the silence.

“Hmm.” A vague grunt as they pass through another door, the music fading as they get further from the main bar. But V can just hear the starting beat of some old dad rock, something about losing another day to pointless drudgery.

“Same here, y'know, in the ring. You do some kinda exotic shit? Kempo? Ninjitsu?”

Nothing as they turn another corner.

“Think you could take me, drop me?”

“Jackie…” Why must he sound like he’s picking a fight with the guy?

“In here,” the guard says, stopping and standing in front of another door.

"Este pinche tipo..."

The door opens and they’re greeted to the first room with warm lighting, though it just seems to be a storage corner. With a cabinet and vending machine. But to the left are barely see through walls of a booth that takes up half the room, through them V can just see T-Bug’s outline and leather couches.

They walk around, the front of the booth opened. A wrap around black leather couch goes around the back wall and left side of the booth. Dex sat on the back portion, talking into a holo about Excelsior and cold hard eddies. T-Bug sat to side, a table in the center of the room with the Flathead, Jinguji boxes, and shards placed on neat little index cards. There’s a small disconnect leather seat in the right corner, next to the door.

“Gotta bounce,” Dex hangs up, “well, if it ain’t Miss V.”

“Whole family in one place! Hah! Finally!”

“That’s one way to put it,” T-Bug teases and a shine of blue catches V’s eye, the netrunner wearing Misty’s bracelet. She can’t help but smile.

“A’ight, then… Set your butts down comfy,” Dex tells them. Jackie plops himself onto the larger couch next to T-Bug, comfortably spreading his arms over the back of it while V takes the smaller seat, putting her at an angle to see everyone. She stifles a laugh, seeing Jackie’s leg excitedly bounce up and down.

“Sweet booth, is it soundproof?”

“Jackie…” T-Bug scolds and V stifles a laugh.

“Now, now, Mr. Welles is right. We gon' be goin' over some sensitive material. But if it's all right with y'all, I'd like to start with a question for Miss V… Evelyn Parker - how'd you fare?”

All eyes on her, stomach still twisted in a vise, this is her chance. She’s got to tell him, but she doesn’t want Evelyn hurt. Some fixers will go to any length to get revenge on a client or merc who does them dirty. But, he’s got a right to know the shit she pulled.

“Intel was good, brain dance was exactly what we needed….”

“So, she just wanna see wha'ss good, or was there somethin' else?”

“Honestly?”

“Wouldn’t ask for anything else, Miss V.”

“She’s high risk as far as clients go. Shady as fuck, naïve as all hell, and genuinely thought she could make me another offer.”

“Another offer?” Dex’s brow raises about his sunglasses.

“Wanted me to cut you out for more cash, told her no, of course. But, wouldn’t do business with her again, if I were you.”

“Cut me out… shiiiit, now that’s rich,” Dex laughs, Jackie nervously laughing along, “Clients... never learn, do they?”

“You’re not pissed?”

“Lived in NC too long to blow my top every time some amateur thinks they can take me for a ride. Parker ain't the first and sure as hell won't be the last.”

“Fair enough,” V lets out a sigh, thankful if nothing else that Dex doesn’t seem prone to getting too mad at Evelyn. Maybe she’s being too kind, but she can’t help but think Evelyn is more naive than malicious when it comes to the offer. A stranger to the merc world.

“I do appreciate you sharin' this info, though, Miss V. You see, trust… …is essential in any partnership that's to be long-lasting and fruitful.”

“Figured you had a right to know, so, what’s the plan?”

“This.”

Dex gestures towards the shards on the table, V takes the one in front of her and slides it into her shard slot. UI and graphics lighting up her mask, a map pulling up on the tech.

“Me and Dex've already covered the fine detes. Ops wise, should be a stroll on the beach.”

“Elaborate, I wanna hear it.”

“A Delamain'll drop your asses at the front door of Konpeki Plaza,” a picture of the hotel shows, then two names, “You'll stroll right in thanks to your false identities. Then, with Bug's help, you'll breach the hotel's subnet…”

“Mine and the Flathead's help.” Images of the hotel’s interior and the bot flash by.

“Last but not least, you slip into Yorinobu's penthouse and klep the Relic,” his words bring up images of the heir and his suite.

“Goes without sayin' we do this on the hush - ideally no bodies, not a one.” The shard shows them The Relic and then blips out.

“You'll have T-Bug on comms for the duration. Time for your burnin' questions.”

“What’s our cover?” V asks, they’ve been told a thousand times they’ll be acting like corpos, but that’d be hard to do if they have no idea what their story is suppose to be.

“Hello, Ramón Victorino,” T-Bug looks at Jackie and then to V, “and you’re Hannah Conwell.”

“Ramón - yeah, OK. What do we say we're there for?”

“Biz as usual. Corpo arms deal. Case anyone asks, you there for a bogus meetin' with Arasaka's defense rep - Hajime Taki. Anything else?”

“How do we get in the penthouse?”

“Yorinobu's got barely any muscle. Hardest part'll be penthouse security. If we wanna disable, we'll need to neutralize Konpeki's dweller - elite ‘runner monitoring the hotel's subnet twenty-four seven. Only catch is there's no way to get in the dweller's den from the outside.”

“Hold on, how you want us to get inside a room you can't get into?”

“Trust me when I say whatever hitch you think up. T-Bug's solved it already”

“This is where the Flathead comes in. You'll have to get him in the ventilation shafts, guide him to the dweller and force the dweller to… take a break. Flathead'll stay there, jacked into the dweller, but thanks to that I’ll be able to roll out your red carpet into the penthouse.”

“Anything else?”

“Transports a Delamain?” She has no idea if the company has an ASL sign like most other corporations and doesn’t have time to think of one on the fly.

“Preemest cab company in all Night City… Nada mal,” hackie tells her.

“DeShawn don't ever work with anyone but the best. I consider Delamain just that.”

“Yeah, who needs creepy, nosy cab drivers when you've got a clean AI to get you from point A to point B in style?”

“And how he bags a permit to operate every year's still a mystery.”

“If everythin' goes as planned, Delamain'll drop you back here. If things get sticky, he'll head for the safe house.”

“Which is?”

“The No-Tell Motel. Quiet, no questions asked. Make our next move from there. But I'm flat certain that won't be necessary. Though, there is one more consideration for if it does.”

“What’s that?”

“Hate to put you on the spot, Miss V,” Dex explains, “but if shit goes sour, I’m gonna need to know who I’m letting into the hotel. Mask can’t go with to Konpeki, so I’d sure feel a hell of a lot better if I knew what was hiding behind that thing.”

“Oh… yeah, that makes sense.”

Even if she’d have Jackie with her when shit goes down, Dex is trusting her with this heist. The least she can do is trust him to see her face and not write her off or sell her out to The Herd if the chance arised. Not that she can see that happening anyway…

“Don’t even know why you wore the thing in, V,” Jackie teases.

“Well, there are other fixers here, didn’t want to give away my face…”

V carefully pulls off her mask, feeling exposed all over again, a new set of eyes on her face. The merc knows how she looks; five feet with a head of bleach blonde hair and big gray eyes. Not the picture one conjures in their mind when they think of a capable, strong, badass merc. Sprinkle in her disability and the reactions to her deafness; most people think she’s not a threat, weak.

“That what you’ve been hiding behind that mask? All that fuss, for what?” Dex laughs.

“Hard to take,” she stumbles over her English trying to sign at the same time, “be taken- seriously sometimes when you’re five foot nothing, deaf, and look like…”

“Gutterpunk Barbie,” Jackie cuts in to tease, earning him a sharp kick to the shin.

“Fuck off.”

“Trust me, Miss V, you pull off this job; ain’t nobody in their right mind gonna underestimate you”

“That’s the hope...”

“Any other questions?”

“I got a question. When do we get to the real reason we're all here?” Jackie asks, shooting a wink V’s way.

“Now's a good a time as any. Fresh talent gets thirty percent always, but I'm willin' to make an exception in your case. I'ma cut you a nice, juicy forty as a bonus for your honesty, V.”

“Much appreciated.”

“Ka-ching baby!~”

“Last thing, Konpeki's got a strict no-iron policy. Security gates, the works. So you dawgs'll leave your lead-spitters in the ride, take the Flathead inside in its case.”

“Got your suits from Jinguji on the table.”

“¡Chido!”

“Thanks, Bug.”

“So, not to count chickens, but when'll we see our eddies?”

“All depends how Ms. Parker unrolls herself or her role, but a week, two tops is my guess.”

“And what do we do in the mean time?”

“You sit tight, heads down, 'cause ol' uncle Arasaka be watching. Now, as that ol’ Greek dawg says, life's a banquet - so don't go thirsty, but don't get drunk, either,” he tells them as he leaves the booth, “Your chariot awaits outside.”

“My cue to delta, too. Gotta prep to jack in, be there when you come on comms. Any other issues, now's your chance,” T-Bug tells them, shifting her feet and something catches V’s eye. Delta V emblazoned on the netrunner’s boots, was that there before?

“Plan - your take?” V shakes the thought from her head, must be a brand or a runner thing V doesn’t know.

“Enough, I hope, to put me in a luxury Creton Villa from which I'll never set foot in cyberspace again.”

“Send me a postcard?”

“No offense, but I'm gonna burn any and all bridges - need a clean break.”

“Gonna take Misty’s bracelet with you?” Jackie teases, grinning because he caught it too.

“Shut up,” she tells him, rolling her eyes.

“Uh, just realized something, what’s gonna happen to our clothes? I don’t want to lose my mask…”

“No worries, put them in the boxes, we’ll have ‘em sent back to your places.”

“Alright then, lets get this show on the road.”

“Let's get to work, go ahead and get changed, Delamain is parked out front, uh, okay-”Bug starts to trip over her words when the two mercs start taking off their jackets, “you can use the bathrooms.”

“Eh,”

Jackie and V shrug their shoulders, the outfits are right there. Not much point in dragging them out to the bathroom. The pair shared a bedroom for the better half of six months, a room with one bed. They’ve seen each other naked plenty, boundaries destroyed a long while back.

“Why do I bother,” T-Bug rolls her eyes and leaves the booth, letting the pair change.

V kicks off her boots and takes off her socks, Jackie tugging off his jewelry first.

“So, you’re nerves still going crazy?” Jackie asks her as she tugs off her shirt, his own tossed off.

“What do you mean?” She tugs off her pants, both mercs soon standing around in their underwear.

“Can’t hide that shit from me, chica, been giving me twice as much hell as usual. You’re freaking out.”

“High stakes, Jack, of course I’m a nervous mess. Means I give a shit.”

She pulls the slack on and tugs on the white blouse, buttoning it up. The two of them putting on the corpo clothes, similar in look. Black slacks, white button up tops, black suit jackets, and Misty’s beaded bracelets for protection. Each perfectly tailored for their body types.

“Don’t sweat it so much, V, we got this.” He sticks his fist out.

“Sure fuckin’ hope so.” She bumps her fist to his.

Their street clothes are packed away in the boxes, V puts in her optic contacts and slide on her heels, then they start to make their way out of the booth. But, Jackie stops her with a hand on her shoulder and he taps his throat. She catches on taking off her choker translator, neck feeling bare and odd without the tech. With that they leave out through the club, Jackie carrying the Flathead case and the smaller merc keeps her head down as best she can. Her stomach still in knots as they spot the Delamain in the parking lot.

Her life is about to change forever; hopefully for the best. She’s on the cusp of having everything she’s wanted since she’s come to the city. The verge of earning the respect of everyone in this city and finally feeling like she’s someone, like she’s done something.

So, why does she feel like she’s about to puke?

#cyberpunk 2077 #cp2077 #johnny silverhand #silverv #jackie welles #t-bug #dexter deshawn #female v #aidan v becker #aidan becker #original female v

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likelightningafterthethunder · 3 years

Text

Like Lightning After the Thunder: Chapter One: Damned Smile

Fic Summary:

His breath wavered as he stared into Katsuki’s eyes. He knew he could get out if he tried. He could knock Katsuki out, hope that no one else would find them, and run back into the shadows where he belonged. Katsuki may have had him pinned down but he was in Denki’s range now and it would take little effort to send a charge through Katsuki to paralyze him temporarily.

It would take barely any additional effort to kill Katsuki.

As the sparks began to charge, lighting up the air around him, Katsuki refused to back down.

–

Katsuki always knew he was destined for great things.

He didn’t think he’d have to turn his back on all he’s ever known to get there.

Rating: T

Warnings: Eventual major character death, implied/referenced child abuse, psychological trauma

Other Tags: Bakugou Katsuki/Kaminari Denki, slow burn, alternate universe - canon divergence

Read on Ao3 (links to corresponding chapter) or read below

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Fic navigation to read the fic on tumblr

Even years later, that damn smile haunted his dreams.

There was absolutely no reason for him to still think about the event. Everything had been taken care of when it had happened― injuries were treated, authorities alerted, information secured, and a press conference to tie it all up in a big red bow. There were no loose ends, no surprise second coming, no physical reminders of what happened lingering in his daily life. Katsuki would have labeled it as done, dealt with, and no longer relevant, shoving it aside in his memory so he could focus on actual important shit.

Except his mind had different plans.

When he was lucky, he could completely forget about the event for months. Other times, his dreams would be filled with nothing but that damn smile, taunting him with its silence. He could usually predict when the dreams would come― the anniversary of the event for example― but other times, it seemed like anything could trigger the memory. He once saw a bright yellow balloon and for the rest of the day, every time he closed his eyes he saw that damned smile, never wavering despite the curses and insults Katsuki spewed.

He wanted to forget it. He wanted so desperately to forget it. For the image to erase itself from his mind, for it to take the feelings away with it. He could deal with the anger, he could always deal with the anger, but when his memory reminded him of the wave of hurt and betrayal that nearly blinded him…

When his alarm jolted him from his sleep and freed him from the smile, he couldn’t get out of bed fast enough. He woke up drenched in a cold sweat, sheets singed and smoking lightly as he unclenched his hands, and Katsuki was, for once, very relieved that not all of his sweat was explosive. He slapped the singes a few times to ensure that all of the embers were put out before heading for the bathroom, cursing under his breath as he flinched at his own reflection in the mirror.

There was nothing particularly wrong with his appearance, if you didn’t count the dark circles under his eyes from a fitful night’s sleep or his clammy skin, but after being plagued by the smile, Katsuki could barely look at himself. His reaction to the smile made him feel weak, like he couldn’t handle himself and that there was something wrong with him. It was just a smile after all. There was no reason for him to react to it like a nightmare, no reason for him to lose sleep over it or to feel overwhelmed by emotions at the thought of it.

Yet when he saw the smile and saw how the corners of his mouth were tugged a bit too tight, how his eyes were open a bit too wide, how the only shine in his eyes were the reflections of light on tears that refused to fall…

Katsuki cursed.

The icy cold shower did little to help distract him from the memory, nor did his morning run nor the steaming shower he took after. He wasn’t supposed to head into the agency today, so he didn’t have any planned beatdowns for today, and yes he probably shouldn’t be hoping for it, but part of him hoped for a sudden emergency villain so he could distract himself by focusing on beating some villain’s ass into next week.

A few hours later when his phone refused to stop buzzing, Katsuki wondered if throwing his phone across the room until it stopped would be close enough to beating villain ass to work. He reluctantly decided that talking to people so they’d leave him alone was probably less hassle to deal with than having to replace his phone and distribute his new number (even if it would give him an excuse to ghost some of these damn extras).

A few individual texts and a group text were the cause of the buzzing. As the group text’s new message count continued to rise, he figured it would be easier to respond to the individual texts first. Just in case he changed his mind about destroying the phone.

Four Eyes (Rocket Legs): Hello Bakugou, this is a reminder about the upcoming Class A reunion. As the head of the reunion committee, it is my duty to ensure an accurate headcount for the event, and I have yet to receive your response about your attendance. Please ensure to respond via the following link by this Friday at 11:59PM. [Class A 10 Year Reunion RSVP]

Four Eyes (Rocket Legs): In case you missed the previous messages regarding the reunion, the event is March 28th starting at 7PM at the Shinjuku Hotel in Musutafu. If you need to rent a room for the night or the weekend, please alert the Shinjuku Hotel staff that you are part of the Class A reunion party by next Wednesday for an event discount.

Katsuki frowned. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to the possibility of being surrounded by all of his former classmates and even less at the idea of being socially obligated to spend the entire evening with them. At least when he met up with his friends elsewhere, he could always claim needing to leave early so he could make the last train or that work needed him to come in early the next day.

He closed out of the conversation, figuring he still had a few more days to decide if he really wanted to deal with his classmates for an entire evening.

Midoriya: Hey Katsugou! I was wondering if you’re going to go to the reunion? Tenya said the deadline to RSVP is coming soon and we haven’t heard from you, so I just thought I’d check in!

Katsuki: The fuck is Katsugou?

Midoriya: Oh sorry!! Typo!!

Midoriya: Anyway, are you coming?

Katsuki closed out of the conversation and moved on to the next one.

Shitty Hair: Katsuki! Are you coming to the reunion or not dude????

Katsuki: Fuck off.

Shitty Hair: Aww dude that’s no way to talk to your best friend, you know you love me!!

Katsuki: I’m blocking you.

He did not, in fact, block him. But he did close out of Eijirou’s texts.

Save for the newest text sent directly from Eijirou, all that was left was the backlog of texts in the group text. It had kept going off while he was reading the other conversations, so Katsuki figured it meant that everyone was either off for the day or on their lunch break.

Raccoon Eyes: guys!!!!! the reunion is COMING UPPPPPP!!!!

Raccoon Eyes: i cant wait to s

Raccoon Eyes: ee all of u guys again!!

Tape Face: lmao you saw us last week

Raccoon Eyes: yes

Raccoon Eyes: an eteRNITY ago

Raccoon Eyes: and like

Raccoon Eyes: kats left early so we didnt have everyone

Raccoon Eyes: so it doesnt count

Shitty Hair: Yeah Katsuki don’t leave early next time!!

Raccoon Eyes: we just have to hold him hostage next time

Raccoon Eyes: or like

Raccoon Eyes: AMBUSH him

Tape Face: i can always tape him up

Raccoon Eyes: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES

Raccoon Eyes: tape him to the wall

Raccoon Eyes: and then like

Raccoon Eyes: steal his wallet

Raccoon Eyes: cant get on transit w no moneys

Raccoon Eyes: ei and han hold him down

Raccoon Eyes: i run to hide his wallet where he cant fi

Raccoon Eyes: nd it

Raccoon Eyes: probs keeps kats tapped to the wall all night

Raccoon Eyes: free up his arms so he can have a drink????

Tape Face: explosion palms dude

Raccoon Eyes: oh u right

Raccoon Eyes: he can just have a cup w like

Raccoon Eyes: a REALLY REALLY long straw

Raccoon Eyes: make sure u tape him up w his hands behind his back

Tape Face: you got it

Shitty Hair: He’s in this chat guys he’s going to see the plan

Raccoon Eyes: whatevs we can still totally blindside him

Raccoon Eyes: ANYWAYS

Raccoon Eyes: ure all going right?????

Tape Face: ya I rsvpd a while back

Shitty Hair: Yep!! Wouldn’t miss it for the world!

Raccoon Eyes: what about u kats

Raccoon Eyes: kats???

Raccoon Eyes: KAAAAAAAAAAAAATS

Raccoon Eyes: k

Raccoon Eyes: a

Shitty Hair: I’ll text him separately

Raccoon Eyes: t

Tape Face: he probably has this muted lmao

Raccoon Eyes: s

Raccoon Eyes: !!!!!!

Raccoon Eyes: how dare u ignore us

Raccoon Eyes: after everything weve done for u!!!!

Raccoon Eyes: thought we were ur ride or die hoes

Raccoon Eyes: dont tell me ur not going!!!!!

Raccoon Eyes: im so offended

Raccoon Eyes: how could u do this to us kats

Shitty Hair: Maybe he’s at work today?

Raccoon Eyes: boo

Raccoon Eyes: how dare he prioritize wo

Raccoon Eyes: rk over us

Raccoon Eyes: his best friends

Raccoon Eyes: the suns of his life

Raccoon Eyes: the bit of happiness in the cold

Raccoon Eyes: cold

Tape Face: coooooooooold

Raccoon Eyes: COOOOOOOOLD

Raccoon Eyes: thing he calls a heart

Shitty Hair: Lmao

Tape Face: its got a bit of warmth

Tape Face: most of it is his temper

Raccoon Eyes: boom boom POW

Raccoon Eyes: well while we wait for kats

Raccoon Eyes: help me pick some photos for the slideshow!!

Tape Face: are you doing only UA pics or some stuff since then

Tape Face: somehow iida managed to not specify lmao

Shitty Hair: The info email was like ten pages, how did he miss it

Tape Face: idk

Raccoon Eyes: ive got plenty for both!!

Raccoon Eyes: momo said pref UA pics but some new stuff is good too

Raccoon Eyes: show how far weve come n all that

Tape Face: oh cool let me get some opinions then too

Shitty Hair: Anyone have any pics of the camping trip from second year?

Raccoon Eyes: before or after todoroki and kats’ fight turned it into a icy hot springs

Shitty Hair: Both lmao but probably before it went to hell

Raccoon Eyes: image.png

Raccoon Eyes: ofc ive got us chillin in the springs

Raccoon Eyes: well most of us

Raccoon Eyes: kats u never get in the water w us :C

Raccoon Eyes: lets go to the beach next time!!

Tape Face: hed prob boil the water w you in it if you dragged him in lmao

Tape Face: spicy acid time

Raccoon Eyes: id like to see him TRY

Shitty Hair: Don’t tempt him lmao

Raccoon Eyes: image.png

Raccoon Eyes: i got like a shit ton more

Raccoon Eyes: should i send some of THE FIGHT

Shitty Hair: Maybe not

Tape Face: yes

Tape Face: well

Tape Face: depends on how many pissed off katsuki pics youre putting in lmao

Raccoon Eyes: OH

Raccoon Eyes: OHHHH

Raccoon Eyes: OHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Tape Face: ?

Raccoon Eyes: dude

Raccoon Eyes: do u have the POMERANIAN pic

Tape Face: o shit

Tape Face: image.png

Shitty Hair: I still think Katsuki should’ve taken that pup home

Shitty Hair: They’re matching!

Tape Face: image.png

Tape Face: i also have this one

Tape Face: when she tried to bite his nose off lmao

Raccoon Eyes: kats couldve named her king explosion murder

Raccoon Eyes: or just murder

Raccoon Eyes: p sure she wouldve tried to murder kats at least o

Raccoon Eyes: nce

Tape Face: lmao she basically tried when he found her

Shitty Hair: Maybe it’s for the best that he didn’t keep the pup

Tape Face: look what i found

Tape Face: image.png

Raccoon Eyes: AWWWW YES

Raccoon Eyes: LOOK AT USSSSS

Raccoon Eyes: we look FABBBB

Shitty Hair: Is that from the dance?

Tape Face: ye

Raccoon Eyes: guys what if we recreate that pic at the reunion

Raccoon Eyes: the fits?

Raccoon Eyes: immaculate

Raccoon Eyes: the pose?

Raccoon Eyes: perfection

Tape Face: hotel?

Tape Face: trivago

Shitty Hair: I’m down for recreating some pics!

Raccoon Eyes: yessssss

Raccoon Eyes: u have no choice either kats u gotta do it

Raccoon Eyes: wherever u are

Shitty Hair: Oh he replied!!

Raccoon Eyes: SWEET

Raccoon Eyes: what he say

Shitty Hair: He said fuck off

Tape Face: as expected

Shitty Hair: Lmao he threatened to block me again

Tape Face: thought he said he was blocking you last week

Shitty Hair: Yea exactly

Raccoon Eyes: HOW RUDE

Raccoon Eyes: as punishment for not paying attention to us

Raccoon Eyes: im gonna send this

Raccoon Eyes: image.png

Tape Face: LMAO whend you make that

Shitty Hair: Is that Katsuki with a cat face and ears

Shitty Hair: Dude I don’t know if he’s going to kill you for that or for the pink hair first lmao

Raccoon Eyes: lmao made it just now

Raccoon Eyes: well MAYBE if he ANSWERED us

Katsuki: Delete it.

Tape Face: O SHIT

Tape Face: you summoned him

Raccoon Eyes: NO I WILL NOT

Katsuki: Delete it Raccoon Eyes or else I’m coming for you.

Tape Face: are you coming for the left shoes and shittin in them

Raccoon Eyes: NOOOOOOO not my shoes!!!!!!!!

Tape Face: its just the left shoes tho

Raccoon Eyes: BUT THATS MY FAVE SIDE

Katsuki: What the fuck are you two going on about?

Raccoon Eyes: DONT COME FOR M

Raccoon Eyes: Y LEFT SHOES KATS IM SORRY

Katsuki: I’m not coming for your fucking left shoes. Or any of your shoes.

Katsuki: I will be coming for you if you don’t delete that picture, though.

Raccoon Eyes: FORGIVENESS

Raccoon Eyes: I BEG

Raccoon Eyes: PLSSSSS

Katsuki: Delete the picture.

Raccoon Eyes: ugh fiiiiiiiiiine

Raccoon Eyes: its deleted

Raccoon Eyes: i wont send it to momo for the slide show

Katsuki: Good.

Raccoon Eyes: IF U COME TO THE REUNION

Katsuki: Fuck off.

Shitty Hair: C’mon Katsuki!! It’ll be fun!!

Tape Face: ya it wouldnt do if we didnt have our exploding star

Raccoon Eyes: ill send momo WORSE if u dont come

Raccoon Eyes: nd u wont know WHAT til AFTER

Raccoon Eyes: so PLSSSSSSSSSS

Raccoon Eyes: PRETTY PLSSSSSSS

Raccoon Eyes: PLS COME TO THE REUNION

Raccoon Eyes: ill spam u a lot worse if u dont show us proof of rsvp

Raccoon Eyes: pls kaaaaaaaaats

Raccoon Eyes: kaaaaaaaaats

Raccoon Eyes: k

Raccoon Eyes: a

Katsuki: Ugh fucking fine, I’ll do the RSVP now then.

Raccoon Eyes: t

Raccoon Eyes: YAY

Four Eyes (Rocket Legs): Good afternoon, Bakugou! I just wanted to confirm with you that I have received your RSVP for the Class A reunion. As a reminder, if you need to rent a room for the night or the weekend, please alert the Shinjuku Hotel staff that you are part of the Class A reunion party by next Wednesday for an event discount.

Katsuki: image.png

Katsuki: Four Eyes is watching the RSVP form like a fucking hawk apparently.

Raccoon Eyes: YAAAAAY URE RSVPD!!!

Shitty Hair: You know him, always dedicated to his work

Tape Face: sweet

Raccoon Eyes: are u guys getting rooms

Tape Face: yea musutafus too far for a round trip

Tape Face: esp since itll prob end late

Shitty Hair: I got one for the weekend!

Tape Face: wbu mina

Raccoon Eyes: booked a room already!!

Raccoon Eyes: kaaaaats wbu

Raccoon Eyes: u should

Raccoon Eyes: we could have a brunch or lunch or s/t thats just us

Raccoon Eyes: plsssssss kats

Katsuki: I’ll think about it.

Tape Face: better than a no lmao

Shitty Hair: If they run out of space or if you decide last second, you can room with me dude

Raccoon Eyes: awww why not a yes

Katsuki: I haven’t asked the other Four Eyes for the time off yet.

Tape Face: is this four eyes no4 or no15

Raccoon Eyes: four eyes no69

Raccoon Eyes: no wait

Raccoon Eyes: no420

Tape Face: haha blaze it

Raccoon Eyes: BLAZE IT

Shitty Hair: It’s number 7

Katsuki: Fuck you, I don’t have that many Four Eyes saved in my phone.

Shitty Hair: I’d be surprised if you had 420 contacts period dude

Raccoon Eyes: would b hilarious tho

Katsuki: Yes, it’s Four Eyes number 7.

Shitty Hair: I was right!!

Katsuki: Why would I ask any of the other Four Eyes for time off? They’re not my fucking bosses.

Tape Face: dunno

Raccoon Eyes: idk maybe ure secretly dating one a

Raccoon Eyes: nd have to confirm that its ok

Raccoon Eyes: ARE U SECRETLY DATING A FOUR EYES

Raccoon Eyes: U HAVE TO TELL US IF U ARE

Raccoon Eyes: URE LEGALLY OBLIGATED

Tape Face: o shit

Tape Face: scandalous

Katsuki: Shut the fuck up, I’m not dating anyone, secret or not.

Raccoon Eyes: thats what they all say

Katsuki: Whatever. I’m not dating anyone.

Raccoon Eyes: kats n four eyes no420 sittin in a tree

Raccoon Eyes: k

Raccoon Eyes: i

Raccoon Eyes: s

Raccoon Eyes: i

Katsuki: I’ll blow up all of your left shoes when you’re not home.

Raccoon Eyes: n

Raccoon Eyes: NO

Raccoon Eyes: IM STOPPING DONT DO IT

Shitty Hair: Hey what do you guys think of this photo

Shitty Hair: image.png

Tape Face: dude yes

Raccoon Eyes: AWWWW OUR FIRST BILLBOARDS AS PROS

Katsuki: Do we really need to send them pictures? It’s not like we fucking forgot this stuff already.

Tape Face: you can be a killjoy if you want lmao

Tape Face: im sure mina will send more than enough to cover for you

Raccoon Eyes: U BETCHA

Raccoon Eyes: image.png

Tape Face: lmao why do you have a pic of katsuki throwing ei

Shitty Hair: I still can’t believe you did that bro

Shitty Hair: WITHOUT WARNING TOO

Katsuki: I gave you plenty of fucking warning.

Shitty Hair: Saying “I’m throwing you” AS YOU’RE THROWING ME is NOT PLENTY OF WARNING DUDE

Raccoon Eyes: im always ready to document golden moments

Katsuki: Shut the fuck up. We won the training exercise so what’s it fucking matter?

Shitty Hair: YOU THREW ME!!

Katsuki: Tape Face caught you before you could get hurt.

Shitty Hair: YOU /THREW/ ME!!!!!!

Tape Face: barely caught

Katsuki: Whatever.

Raccoon Eyes: im still impressed by how eASY u made that look

Katsuki: What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?

Raccoon Eyes: o look conveniently timed distraction photo spam

Katsuki sighed as he continued the conversation, commenting here and there on the photos his friends sent for judgement. In retrospect, he probably should have tried to talk to Shion first, since there was a chance she would have denied the time off for the reunion. Although, knowing her, she would have accepted just to force Katsuki into socializing. He opened up a new text message, figuring that if Shion did decide to deny the time off, he would at least have a screenshot to send to his friends explaining the sudden change in plans.

Katsuki: I need March 28th and 29th off.

Four Eyes (Shitty Shion): Do my eyes deceive me? The great Katsuki Bakugou, asking for time off?

Four Eyes (Shitty Shion): I’m amazed! Usually I have to ask you to take the day off!

Four Eyes (Shitty Shion): Nay, not ask, but force!

Katsuki: Are you going to give it to me or not?

Four Eyes (Shitty Shion): Depends! What do you need the time off for?

Katsuki: Class reunion.

Four Eyes (Shitty Shion): Oh those are fun!

Four Eyes (Shitty Shion): Fill out the proper time off paperwork and have it on my desk by Monday. I’ll approve the time off.

Four Eyes (Shitty Shion): Just keep your phone on you in case we need you to come in for an emergency, but I’ll try not to ruin your reunion with work.

Katsuki: Thanks.

Well, so much for an easy way out.

Katsuki pinched the bridge of his nose when he noticed that his phone had already accumulated another thirty texts in the past few minutes, no doubt primarily from Mina. He scrolled through the backlog, sending a few mostly empty threats when he saw photos he did not want projected for the entire class to see, freezing when his gaze met a pair of familiar amber eyes.

Shit.

In his scramble to close out of the photo, to escape the genuine smile that somehow was more haunting than the one in his dreams, he left the group text completely. He briefly thanked his past self; he’d impulse or rage quit the group text plenty of times before that this wasn’t unusual behavior. If he was lucky, his friends wouldn’t have noticed the timing of his departure and would assume he was just fed up with the notifications or the conversation.

Shitty Hair: You okay, Katsuki?

A weak laugh escaped Katsuki’s lips as he read the newest notification. Of course Eijirou noticed.

Katsuki: I’m fine.

Shitty Hair: Okay

Shitty Hair: We don’t have to talk about it

Shitty Hair: But if you want to, I’m here dude

Shitty Hair: I’ll tell the others that you left so your phone would shut up and not to add you back yet

Katsuki: Thanks. Really.

Shitty Hair: No problem dude

Katsuki put his phone down, silently praying for the smile to leave him alone.

When he finally laid down for bed that night, he repeated the short prayer, for a peaceful night’s rest free of the smile, of the hurt, of the pain, of the guilt.

But as always, the smile came.

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bakugou katsuki #kaminari denki #bakukami #kamibaku #katsuki bakugou #denki kaminari #bnha fanfic #mha fanfic #story #from the creator

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itsybitsylemonsqueezy · 4 years

Note

Man I hope no one chooses the angstier prompts cuz that would break my heart D: #29 for the soulmate prompt to make up for whatever heartbreak Majima might have had over Y6? :D

I mean... you’ll. You’ll find out when you get there, I'll just leave it at that.

29. the one where your soulmate’s ghost haunts you when they die

“We had soba last night, what’d’ya want from me?” Majima complained, rifling through the pantry.

“Majima? Something wrong?” Saejima frowned, stepping into the kitchen from the living room.

“Hmm?” Majima popped his head over the door, “Oh, nothing, nothing, just talking to myself.”

“Mmm, alright...” Saejima’s lips thinned, unconvinced. “If you’re not feeling well, we don’t have to do this right now,” he offered.

“Nah, quit worryin, I’m fine,” he muttered, waving Saejima off as he kept sorting through the pantry, “I was thinking buckwheat noodles for dinner, what’cha think?”

“Sounds fine,” Saejima nodded encouragingly, “Want me to pick up anything from the store?”

“Nah, we’re good. I got scallions and shit. Unless we’re out of those pickles ya like.” He closed the pantry door, a group of ingredients in his arms that he spread on the counter for prep later.

“I think we’re good,” Saejima said, remembering checking, “But,” he hesitated and softened his voice, “We gotta get going, we’re going to be late.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Majima sighed, pushing past him into the hall, “I’m putting my shoes on, let’s go.”

Saejima frowned after him. He always got a little funny around the anniversary. So this was probably nothing to worry about. Just what grief was like for him, probably. Still. Saejima pulled Majima’s warmest coat from the closet and piled it onto his brother’s shoulders.

Majima rolled his eyes at him.

“It’s still chilly out,” Saejima protested, “And you ain’t as young as you used to be.”

Majima snarled, zipping up his coat. “I’m not too old to kick your ass, old man,” he hissed, baring his teeth.

Saejima snorted. “Try it, we’ll see where it gets you.”

“We’ve still got time-” Majima started, even as he pushed open the front door.

“No, we don’t, out!” Saejima ordered, blocking the path back inside and ushering Majima further out where Akiyama was waiting with the car.

They drove together, amicably quiet, out of the city to a quiet little shrine on a hilltop. It was new, at least compared to the ones around it. The stone work wasn’t stained by rain yet and the name carved into the smooth black stone was as fresh and bright as the day they saw it placed there. Kiryu Kazuma.

It had been five years now. Heart disease. Kiryu had joked that at least it wasn’t violence that made his end. Not that that kept anyone’s spirits up in the last days. Majima had... he hadn’t been well for a long time after it. He was... better now. Much better than he had been. Saejima had moved back in with him, to help him cope and that had done him some good.

It wasn’t enough. 25 years hadn’t been near enough; Saejima knew that. His brother deserved more time with the man he loved. Maybe it was a lesser cruelty than other ways this could have gone, but Saejima couldn’t help thinking that Majima was always somehow only allowed half of the happiness other people enjoyed.

Each of them spoke their piece to Kiryu, letting him know everything that had been going on since they last spoke and how they missed him. Haruka had been the day before and Daigo was just leaving when they got there. They nodded, smiled, chatted for a bit, but always with a cautious look at Majima who wasn’t really... present when they were here. None of them said anything. Silently they agreed that Majima got to go last and take as long as he wanted. Akiyama and Saejima stood at the car, watching him carefully and staying bundled for warmth.

“How’s he been?” Akiyama muttered, finally broaching the topic.

“He tried to pick a fight with me earlier, so I’m taking that as a good sign,” Saejima confided, “I think it’s getting easier for him... I think.” He grimaced.

Akiyama nodded. “I remember how he...” He couldn’t finish.

Saejima bit his tongue, the memories of Majima screaming himself hoarse a wincing flash across his mind. He remembered picking him up, catatonic, and gently sponging him in the bath, only to have Majima start crying all over again as soon as he warmed up. Saejima turned hard on the valve of memory and forced it shut. He focused up on the current Majima, leaning over the grave, his lips moving as he murmured his thoughts to the air.

“He wakes up crying less,” he eventually said, voice gruff. He could feel Akiyama flinch next to him. “He smiles some days. More and more, all the time. It’s good to see.”

Akiyama let out a breath. “That’s... that’s a relief to hear. Does he um...?”

Saejima turned to him, raising an eyebrow. Akiyama rubbed his cheek, trying to put words to whatever it was. “Does he still, y’know, h-hear him?”

Saejima’s face went flat. All too recently he’d come home to find Majima sitting on the couch, leaving space for another person, talking animatedly with Kiryu-chan. He’d watched Majima’s face fall as he took in his reaction. Majima wouldn’t speak to him for the rest of that day. “Not that he’ll tell me,” Saejima finally answered.

Akiyama faced front. “Can’t say I blame him. I’d find it comforting too. If something ever happened to Hana, I think I’d-”

“Well, it’s really none of your fucking business, is it?” Saejima interrupted, voice tight.

“...yep,” Akiyama agreed, nodding briskly, “Yeah, that’s fair.”

Majima finally turned back to them and waved. They both waved back and pretended not to watch Majima walk down the path towards them to get back in the car. He didn’t look upset. He looked tired, but not like he’d been crying. Saejima knew that Majima was well-aware he was being handled with kid gloves. And that he probably resented it. But Majima never brought it up so Saejima couldn’t very well rein himself back, not when the result of Kiryu’s death had been such... desolation. Majima was probably the strongest person Saejima knew, but... Saejima wished he didn’t have to be.

“Making buckwheat noodles for dinner, ya can stay if ya want,” Majima offered when they got out.

Akiyama beamed. “Ohhh, it’s tempting, but I promised my wife I’d be back in time for her famous sour beef. I’ll bring you a plate next time. Or you can come over-!”

“Tch, yer such a sap,” Majima rolled his eye, “Get goin’, before yer wife thinks we killed ya.”

Akiyama smiled sheepishly and waved to them as he rolled off.

“I’m fine, ya know,” Majima murmured after he was out of sight.

Saejima raised his eyebrows slightly. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Ya reek of worry, bro,” Majima tsked, walking back inside, “I’m not... I’m okay. I know that I haven’t been. But I’m okay. Thanks for... y’know.”

Saejima squeezed his shoulder hard before taking his coat and hanging it back up. “We wouldn’t want you out there alone.”

“I know,” Majima nodded, “It’s kind of ya. So thanks.”

Saejima nodded and let Majima make dinner unmolested, tentatively convinced that today was a good day.

Dinner was warm and filling and Majima didn’t so much as tremble all night, even at bed time.

“You sure you don’t want me to sleep with you tonight?” Saejima frowned in on him on his way to his own bedroom.

“And listen to ya snore all night? Fuck that,” Majima groaned, ducking his head under the covers, “I’m exhausted, let me sleeeep,” he whined.

“Alright, alright,” Saejima held his hands up and flicked the lights off, “I’m just right down the hall if you need anything.” He hovered a second longer, watching Majima nod under the covers, then left dutifully.

Majima poked his head back out when Saejima has left and flipped over on his side. “We can be together now,” he murmured, stroking a face in the darkness.

There was a pause for the other figure to speak, a space on the pillow for their head to rest. Majima swallowed. “I know I say this all the time, but I miss you so much,” he whispered, “always... I know ya know. I know ya know that, Kiryu-chan. ‘Cause ya with me all the time.”

If another figure was there, it was given time to nod, to reach out and hold, to press its face close and whisper soft reassurances.

Majima sniffed. “I hate that fucking shrine... but ya heard all that earlier,” he sighed, rubbing his face and adjusting, trying to shrug out of the tears, “I’m just glad ya here with me. You’ll stay with me, right?” He blinked hopefully.

The figure, if it had had fingers, would have brushed Majima’s face. The figure, if it had had heat, would have pressed him close to melt in his warmth. The figure, if it had had voice, would have whispered, “Always.”

Majima relaxed, feeling hands that weren’t there, and warmth that didn’t burn, and a voice that didn’t breathe. “I love ya, Kiryu-chan. Wait for me.”

And Kiryu would.

#Kazumaji #sad fic #Welp. Ya get what ya ask for.#Majima Goro #Kiryu Kazuma #Saejima Taiga #Akiyama Shun #new prompt list soon!#just finishing up the last couple #I promise more fun times soon!#cryingcow

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burning-clutch · 4 years

Text

The Not So Grim Reaper

Read on A03 Here Pairings: None Trigger Warnings: mild blood and cartoon style violence Author: @burning-clutch (Team Ghost) Word count: 4291 Prompt by: All-hail-trash-prince / KitKat Cat FFN: the-trash-prince

-------

It was the third anniversary of the half death day of one Daniel Fenton and said teen was not exactly sure how to feel about the matter. He had been contacted by none other than the master of the timeline, Clockwork, to let him know that today was going to be a big important day for him…

So he was understandably nervous…

The ancient ghost had taken a vested interest in him, sure, but Danny was pretty sure it was mostly to spite the Observants who had their hands in the old ghost’s work. Regardless of the reason though, when clockwork spoke or rather wrote him a note or some other such thing, he knew well it was important and he needed to heed whatever it was. At least it was a Saturday, so he didn’t need to worry about school, however, when his ghost sense went off causing him to exhale a wispy billow of cold air, he silently wished that the ghosts could give him a couple of days off a week as well.

With a reluctant sigh, Danny transformed in his bedroom before taking off and heading off towards the location he’d felt the strongest pull from the ectoplasmic disruption. It was downtown, a great start overall, though what was odd was as of yet there was no destruction… no running people trying desperately to escape an ethereal threat…

It was uncomfortably calm actually…

Danny frowned and spun about trying to focus inwards to locate where the pull was. His eyes flashed open in an instant when he felt it, his ghost sense going off for a second time as he honed into the feeling. Whatever ghost had decided to pay him a visit today was powerful. Scarily so to elicit such a strong reaction from his ghost sense.

He flew up towards the ghost, he was eager but weary. There was no outright attack yet so he wanted to hold out hope that whatever ghost was up here was peaceful.

Danny was not prepared for a lanky ghost in a solid black robe looking out over the city from the highest building in Amity. Danny opened his mouth to speak but the stranger beat him to it. “Ah, Phantom… or do you prefer Daniel? Or some other such derivative of that?” the ghost asked, not even shifting in the slightest.

Danny was unnerved by that. The ghost had a deep voice, gruff but buttery smooth… it had a strange resonance in it that made it sound both soothing and unsettling at the same time. Still, Danny was on guard. Ghosts could go from zero to a hundred really fast, and he’d been bitten by that ruse far too often to have not learned at this point… Still, he was always an optimist and any chance to get out of this without a fight he’d take it.

“And you are?” Danny asked, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible to this potentially dangerous and powerful spectre.

“Oh silly me, how rude.” The ghost chuckled out before turning around with a flourish. The ghost was bone white and rail thin, with ruby red eyes that shone with mirth around a deep navy blue iris. With the black cloak closed all Danny could see was the white glow around him and the elongated face of the ghost. As he laughed he revealed a long set of fangs both upper and lower hidden away by bone white lips.

“My name is Mortimer, Morty for short if you’d rather. Most people prefer it anyway.” the ghost, Morty mused with a small tap of his white slender finger to his lips. “Ah well, that’s not important what is as that you’re a prompt kid, and I like that. Pleasure,” he stuck out a hand to shake.

Danny eyed the hand suspiciously before grasping the pale appendage into his own. There was a cool and electric feeling radiating from Mortimer, that just screamed of power, but the literal grim grinning ghost before him seemed nice enough.

“Right, introductions out of the way, now we can get down to brass tax hm?” the pale ghost said releasing Danny’s hand and clapping his own together with a soft and chalky sounding smack.

“What?” Danny blinked stupidly. “You're a tax collector ghost?” he asked, making a face of confusion.

“What? Oh Ancients, no! I am a collector of sorts and you Phantom,-”

“Are going to be the newest thing in your weird collection? No thanks.” Danny scoffed having interrupted the ghost.

“You don’t even know what the offer is and besides it’s not exactly something you can refuse being what you are, and how you have handled yourself up until now,” Morty said with a flippant wave of his hand. “Your fate was sealed into this the moment Clockwork took an interest in you.”

“Clockwork? Where does he fit into this? With you?” Danny huffed feeling a little more angered by the second now.

“Well, it’s your third death day right?” Danny nodded. “Well, today is when you officially transition from a kid to a teen, well from a ghostly standpoint anyway,” Morty said with a tilt of his head revealing a thin whisp of flame like hair that looked to be hardly there at all on his ebony ectoplasmic flesh.

Danny blinked a few times as his mind caught up with that. This guy had mentioned Clockwork and Clockwork had mentioned today would be important… So… “You’re who I was supposed to be looking out for today?” Danny asked.

“I mean maybe? Were you told a reaping recruiter was comin’ to get you?” Morty asked in kind. “Because if you were that makes this a whole lot simpler.”

“A what?” Danny barely got out before the other ghost grabbed his arm and thrust him forward into a ghost portal. Instantly Danny engaged his flight and rounded on Morty, fists flaring only to stop cold when he saw where he was brought.

The literal valley of death.

Morty now had out a scythe as tall as he was, with a blade that was half the length of the pole. The blade, seemingly made of a blinding white plasma dipped into the portal and closed it in an instant. Morty then spun the scythe banishing the weapon to whatever unworld it had come from.

The weapon itself was impressive enough, but the fact that it matched the exact description shape and apparently portaling powers, from what he remembered the reaper ghosts were usually seen to wield… Danny was very glad he didn’t try to attack this ghost now.

“You really are a reaper.” Danny gasped out, staring wide eyed at Morty.

“Yes, I thought I’d mentioned that? No? Eh, well we’re here now and we’ve got work to do boy!” Morty said with a motion aimed at the halfa to get him to follow.

Reaper ghosts were dangerous, said to kill a living person with just a touch of their hand… Danny’s eyes widened as he stared down at the hand he’d shook Morty’s with earlier. Did that mean…? He rubbed at his neck as he followed, thankful to feel the slow and shallow ‘Ka-thump’ beneath his gloved hand.

“Wait, you mentioned you were a recruiter?” Danny asked moving quickly to catch up to the other ghost.

“Yep,” came the simple reply with a popping P. “And you’re here because-.” he trailed off with a wave of his hand urging Danny to put two and two together.

“I’m being turned into a reaper?” Danny hazarded out his guess.

“Got it in one kid. Congrats. Morty said with a nod of approval.

“Wait… Why me?”

“Well, the main one is you being a demi-ghost. You’re between the life and death binary system. Meaning, you yourself are the focal point in that scale of life and death,” the reaper responded.

“What about Vlad? He’s a halfa too…” Danny asked, genuinely curious.

“Indeed he is, but you are not like him in the slightest when it comes to personality. Tell me do you know what we do? What job does a reaper ghost have?” Morty asked, turning to look at Danny over his shoulder.

“You take the souls of the living, collecting them and forcing them to die…?” Danny asked nervously. “I don’t want to kill people though! Even if they are on some list or however you decide who’s time is up!” he argued to Morty. He really didn’t want to kill people…

“Ha! No, Why does everyone always think we deal in the living? Life and death are something that can’t be influenced by us.when your number’s up it ain’t us that's coming to kill you, nature does that plenty well on its own.”

“Then-”

“We deal in the souls of ghosts,” Morty stated. “When a living thing dies, regardless of whether they become a ghost or not, the souls flow to the ghost zone. If they do become a ghost it means they had an obsession that was stronger then the pull of the zone’s core, the collective.” Morty explained.

“That much I know… It’s a basic concept.” Danny nodded curiously now as the reaper led him into a catacomb beneath the garden they were standing upon a moment ago.

“Right, well, what do you think happens to ghosts who’s obsessions get out of hand to the point the ghosts themselves are a danger? Or ghosts that get trapped in the human realm? That’s where we come in. if they’re a danger it’s our job to force them into the collective. And the easiest way is to slice the obsession right out of them, slicing through their core with your scythe. No obsession, no reason to be and the ghost is absorbed into the collective.”

“That’s still killing people! Even if they’re ghosts I still can’t-” Danny shook his head unable to think of himself potentially killing or ending a ghost… he would be no better than Dan then…

“Well you’re not killing or ending, you’re returning them to the collective. Alternatively, you can also repair a broken core so long as the ghost isn’t too far gone. Putting down troubled spirits is our main service as a reaper, secondary is that making sure the collective stays as exactly that, a collective. We make sure nothing in the zone ventures too close, and nothing in, comes out.” Morty said with a sharp look about him as he said that.

Danny offered the reaper a sheepish smile, before turning away from the glowing gaze to look about the catacombs. There were a lot of dirt torches on the walls and doors and really not much beyond that, but suddenly the door to his left was the most interesting thing on the planet. “You do not want to know what happens when something comes out of the collective and back into the ghost zone,” the reaper warned in a stern tone.

Danny flinched his gaze snapping back into the ruby eyes of the reaper.

“Besides most commonly it’s a reaper’s job to retrieve stranded ghosts from the human realm and lead them home to the zone. A starved ghost is not something to take lightly after all. And that brings us to why we’re recruiting you, and not the other halfa.”

“Because I’ve been doing that as it is?” Danny tried after a moment of the other ghost looking at him expectantly.

Morty grinned at that. “HA! Nice once again in one, and they said you were a dunce,” the ghost chuckled as they finally stopped to enter a large wooden door with a golden trim.

“Who did?” Danny asked as he followed the ghost inside.

“Don’t worry about it. Just pick out a scythe that calls out to you,” Morty waved him off dismissing the insult on his intelligence easily.

Danny couldn’t bother to rebuttal though when he laid eyes on the weaponry in the room. They were in a word gorgeous. All glowing with an array of coloured blades and handles and the teen’s eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

“Woah…” was about all he could get out as he gently reached out to try to grab a scythe with a bright white handle and a blue blade. As soon as his hand touched the pole Danny recoiled from the shock he’d received from the weapon.

“Nope, that one didn’t like you kid,” Morty said amused. “A reaper’s blade is special to them, and only one reaper can wield a blade, so much so that if a reaper is destroyed the blade shatters along with them. It’s an extension of yourself,” he explained.

“So then… how do you know?” Danny asked, trying to grab another one with a black pole and purple blade, only to recoil with a hiss and suck on his now burned finger.

“You really need me to answer that one kid?” the reaper asked leaning against the door and crossing his arms.

“...No…” Danny grumbled. The teen sighed looking at all the blades in the rows of weapons. They were all scythes and all slightly different, though some not by much to their neighbours. With a thoughtful frown, Danny explored the shelves.

Morty watched the teen go eyes shining with mirth as he looked on into the rows and rows of weapons. As a halfa, he would become an angel of rebirth, a force to be reckoned with and eventually a great ruler. Until his one-hundredth death day, he wouldn’t know of that tidbit and instead would remain in their ranks as a reaper.

Danny sighed after the tenth or so blade zapped him, he decided to try a new tactic. He closed his eyes and focused like he would when normally looking for a ghost with his ghost sense. These weapons felt like more than just average weapons after all perhaps they had a bit of life er, rather death in them? And so he focused and walked forward, moving along eyes closed until his hand rested in front of a rack. He blinked his eyes open and scanned the handles in front of him. It was easy to pick out the one that he thought was calling to him after that.

The handle was deep black with coloured sparkling glowing speckles all along the shaft, swirling and pulsing shifting slowly all along the handle. They looked so much like stars that Danny’s core fluttered eagerly at the sight of that alone. When he grabbed the handle, he felt the sheer burst of power that flowed through him and it was both intoxicating and worrisome.

He quickly regained his focus to stare at the white blade that pulsed and flickered with just the tiniest bit of blue. It reminded him of a comet’s tail with how it waved along when he moved the weapon. It was gorgeous and he knew it was his.

“Oh, that’s a beaut’!” Mort said with a low whistle almost right into Danny’s ear, causing the teen to jump into the air and float there staring angrily down at the reaper. “Now you’ve got that I gotta teach ya how to use it, well the basics, then from there you’re to come back here every week til we deem you ready to don a cloak.”

“I- right… so where do-” Danny didn’t even get the chance to ask as no sooner had he started Morty ripped a hole into space with his own summoned scythe and grabbed Danny dragging him through the portal. “Training…”

“En- Garde boy!” Morty called, pointing the butt end of his scythe to Danny. “First things first summoning and banishing your blade, then portals, and that should do it for today. I’ve no doubt you’ll figure out fighting with it on your own after that.”

“Yeah, ghost attacks in my town are far too common…” Danny admitted.

“Well now you can portal them away,” Morty said with a chuckle. “I think that’s why humans all think us to be bringers of death, we’re often seen bringing newly dead ghosts across the threshold to the zone… but you being a halfa you can stay in the human realm and not have to worry as much about ectoplasm intake. It gives you a huge advantage.”

With a final amused shake of his head, Morty went into army Sergeant mode. Like the flip of a switch, Danny was suddenly being worked over the proverbial coals. He wasn’t sure how long it took him to be able to summon and banish the scythe, but he was suddenly overly glad that there was only two things the reaper had wanted to work on.

Once he had successfully done the summon and banish three times in a row they moved on to portaling. And this was where Danny felt the drain.

He had to push his power into the blade to keep it rigid and allow himself to actually use the thing to cut. That alone was hard, but trying to force his power through the scythe to make the portal… after his third attempt, he was already almost ready to pass out.

Push the power into the blade then past it, force it to burst out of the blade and reach into the human realm, then spin the energy around the blade to pull open the portal. He knew the concept Morty had drilled it into his skull by this point, but for the life of him…

Danny panted leaning forward using his new weapon to hold himself up. He was almost ready to transform back…

“Is that all you got?” Morty taunted. “If it is we’ll be here a lot longer. You’re not getting out of here unless you can portal out yourself. Do you have a clear destination in mind?” he asked again for the fifth time.

“Yes, I do… I -I don’t think I have enough power.” Danny wheezed out.

Morty shook his head. “You don’t, but your scythe does. You’re only supposed to use your power to supplement and direct that of your weapon. Now try again with that method.”

Danny sighed and readied himself before standing up once more. With a deep breath, he readied himself and tried to talk with his scythe as weird as it sounded at first to his tired brain.

“To Fenton works come on now… “ Danny urged. With a force of power from his weapon pulling from his own energy pool he swung his blade and sliced down. The curve went through space and sliced the fabric between dimensions open.

With a triumphant cheer, Danny whooped out to his teacher. “You’ve done well kid. Now remember, to close it stick the butt of your weapon into the centre of the portal and give a small pulse of energy.” Morty said with a bright grin. “And I’ll see you next week.”

With that, the Reaper ghost gave Danny a salute before opening a portal of his own and taking off to wherever it was he went when not on duty.

Danny on the other hand eagerly flew through the portal, dispelled that, banished his scythe and B lined into bed practically collapsing onto the plush surface with a tired and sore groan. It didn’t take him long after that to fall asleep.

-.-.-.-

It was dinner time when Danny woke up, or rather Jazz had brought up some leftovers to him after telling his parents that he was sick… Still, it was an easy win for him to sleep the day away and he’ll take any chance he can get for that.

Jazz was easy to dissuade from pressuring him too much after he simply said ‘ghost problems’ she dropped it begrudgingly, and he was able to shoo her out of his room to eat his meal in relative peace.

Or at least half of it since his ghost sense went off not too long into his meal.

With an angered groan and a forlorn look to the mac and cheese loaf he had been enjoying, he transformed and headed out to knock some annoying ghost sideways… and for once he was almost hoping it would just be the box ghost.

When a missile came flying towards him a few seconds later he knew that hope was dashed. Even more so when Skulker moved in himself to try to toss a weighted net at him.

With a quick blast of his plasma the net was no more but the missile he’d dodged before rounded back on him, slamming into his back and launching him down to the ground.

He pulled himself up with a groan and a small huff of annoyance escaped him when he saw an almost identical him shaped hole right beside the one he’d just pulled himself out from. “Well at least I’m consistent…” he muttered in annoyance, before launching back up towards Skulker.

“I have you this time whelp!” The robotic hunter called out aiming a blast towards his prey.

Danny threw up a shield before grinning to himself and summoning his new weapon. “I got something new for my death day and I wanna try it out!” Danny called. “Hope it gives me a new edge.” he offered quickly, swinging the blade around, doing his best to look cool, before pointing the business end of his scythe at Skulker.

The self proclaimed Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter paused upon seeing the weapon. “That can not be real,” he scoffed out though the worry in his tone was clear as a crystal bell.

“Like my new toy Skulky? I got myself a new upgrade!” Danny proclaimed channelling a bit of power to solidify the wispy blade into a solid and keen blade. With one two handed strike the thing struck true and sliced Skulker’s hand clean off as if it were butter.

Skulker would be sweating if he were capable… as it were he could only stare at the halfa in dread and slight awe. “It’s real, isn’t it…” he gulped.

“Very.” Came Danny’s amused reply as he decided to try something. Focusing hard on the area in the ghost zone just outside Walker’s prison Danny turned and stuck the air right beside Skulker. To the teen’s absolute delight a portal appeared in all it’s spinning glory. “It worked!” He chirped before kicking at Skulker to toss him through it.

The bewildered robotic ghost hardly stood a chance and sailed through the portal with a yelp of dismay. To think the prey he’d been hunting all this time was a reaper!? It made him all the more valuable… Skulker reoriented himself before trying to zip back the way he’d come only for the portal to suddenly vanish leaving him stranded on this side.

Danny meanwhile, was elated. This was going to make his job of protecting Amity a whole lot simpler. He wouldn’t need to worry if he forgot his thermos ever again! It was a good feeling. He swirled his scythe around like the leader of a marching band with far too much flare, simply enjoying how natural the weapon felt to him.

His exceptional high feeling was cut short however when Valerie’s voice hit his ears. “What… What was that?”

Danny squawked, he didn’t even hear her coming up behind him! He clutched the scythe to his chest, the blade’s wispy form flickering along with his ghostly tail and aura. “What?” Danny blinked stupidly.

Ever since Danielle Danny had shared a shaky alliance with the huntress, though it was more of a stay out of my way and I won’t shoot directly at you, sort of thing. Still, any sort of relief from attacks, he’ll take.

“That scythe… it’s new.” Valerie commented suspiciously.

“Oh, Yeah! I’m three now so I got a cool toy! Apparently, I’m a reaper ghost. Neat huh?” Danny grinned doing his best to keep up his playful hero persona. He spun his weapon around a few times before vanishing the thing and taking a bow.

“A reaper?” Valerie asked carefully, floating a little bit further back from the male now.

“Yep!” Danny exclaimed popping the P and straightening back up to properly face Valerie. “Oh! But I’m a reaper for ghosts, not one for humans,” Phantom added placatingly, hands up in a hopefully soothing manner. “You can still touch me it’s fine!” he added barely making out the frown behind the face shield the huntress wore.

Valerie grimaced further at that. “I’d really rather not.”

“No seriously, it’s fine. Come here! Let’s hug it out!” Danny called arms open wide and a shit eating grin in place.

Valerie called out a curse to him and fired a volley of blasts forcing the halfa to dodge and fly back. “Try that again and I’ll put a hole through your head.” she hissed.

Danny’s grin never faltered and instead simply used his bodily manipulation powers to do just that. While Valerie shuddered Danny tried again for the hug arms wide.

“Ugh, you're impossible.” She grumbled, firing a blast with pinpoint accuracy through the hole he’d made in his face.

“Come on Val~ That’s not nice.” Danny teased smiling brightly, only to yelp and zip off when she brought out her thermos threateningly.

The citizens of Amity park that night were witness to an hour’s long game of cat and mouse, as the Red Huntress chased the elusive Phantom about. Though if asked about it later Phantom would insist it was all in good fun. Even if the burn on his backside begged to argue otherwise…

And as Phantom learned more and more from the reaper ghosts, he became a better and more efficient hero to the people of Amity.

The approval ratings going up felt nice too.

-.-.-.-.-

Complete:

Total word count: 4291

#Phic Phight 2020 #Danny Phantom #phic Phight #danny #Skulker #a reaper #mistery #maybe a tad of humor

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wanderfan2000 · 3 years

Photo

Old dusty scrolls in which curses are written. Becoming a zombie right after your bitten. Dancing ghost mimes that bounce just like springs. The dry mouth and shivers that True Terror brings! OH GROP! WHAT ARE ALL THESE TERRIBLE THINGS?!

Happy Halloween, Wanderers! Yep that is right, the spooky season is finally here and it’s going to be fantastic! Now as November and the holidays are going to be invading tomorrow, I decided to was time to go back and say one final farewell to my Halloween wallpapers for this year!

October was a huge success. I got to celebrate the 7th anniversaries of Wander’s first three Halloween episodes. The Pet, The Prisoner and The Bad Guy. Also, I loved seeing the adorable WOYtober countdown created by @perrybearwaks and sharing my Countdown To Halloween 2020 with you all too!

These three spooky heebie jeebie wallpapers were such fun to have around during this spooky month! But soon, your going to be seeing them a bit different tomorrow and Wander Over Rewind makes its delightful return on Sunday November 1st as the 7th anniversary of The Troll can’t come soon enough!

What are we waiting for? LETS GET HALLOWEEN 2020 STARTED!!!!

“And without anyone to scare, those Phantomimes are powerless to petrify any more people...right?”

- Wander.

#My Wallpapers #Wander Over Yonder #The Heebie Jeebies

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callboxkat · 4 years

Note

Omg these Second Chances mini fics fill my heart so much. Could I ask about Roman’s first time going out to eat with his dads I mean Logan and Patton?

Ah, yes. Roman and his dads friends. Anon, I may have gone a little overboard, but I regret nothing. This was just supposed to be a bullet point fic, but I think we’ve established that I don’t know when to stop.

I still included the bullet point fic at the end, of course, which kind of turned into an outline :)

A Spicy Celebration

Author’s note: This takes place between when Roman gets his job offer and when he starts actually working. So, between Pressure and Puzzling it Out.

Summary: It’s Patton’s and Logan’s anniversary, and Patton decides that the best way to celebrate is for everyone to go out to a fun restaurant!

Warnings: food mention, insecurity, nostalgia, guilt (this is mostly fluff I swear–)

Word count: 2790 (Like I said, I don’t know when to stop)

Second Chances Masterpost!

Writing Masterpost!

…

Roman admired the coloring page he was working on. He had admittedly gone a little outside the lines, but he really liked how it was turning out. He enjoyed taking simple coloring page designs and making complex drawings out of them. This page had come from an old coloring book that had once been Patton’s, until the other man gifted it to Roman, saying that he would probably never get around to finishing it.

“Ready to go?”

Roman jumped and looked up. Logan stood in the doorway of the guest room, wearing his jacket and with his hair combed even more neatly than usual.

Roman awkwardly set down the colored pencil he was using. “Go where?” he asked, very much pretending that Logan hadn’t surprised him.

“My apologies, I was under the impression you knew. We are going out to a restaurant tonight, since it is the anniversary of my and Patton’s relationship.”

Roman’s mouth hung open slightly, processing. “Wait… you don’t want me to go with you guys to that, do you?”

Logan frowned. “Why wouldn’t we? Val is coming, too, if you are worried about being a….” He paused, as if trying to remember the phrase he wanted to use. “A ‘third wheel’. Not to pressure you, but Patton also seems excited at the prospect of all four of us going, and he might be disappointed if you do not.”

“Well, we can’t disappoint Patton,” Roman said, smiling uncertainly.

“So, you will come? We’re hoping to leave within the next ten minutes, if you are.”

Roman nodded. “Count me in.”

“Splendid.”

About five minutes later, Roman was ready. He dressed in one of the dress shirts and a pair of slacks that Patton and Logan had gotten him for job interviews, wanting to look nice for the anniversary dinner even though it wasn’t his anniversary. When he came downstairs, though, he was a little disconcerted to see that he might have been a bit overdressed compared to the others (except Logan, but he always dressed like that). No one said anything about it, though; and they all went out to the car. No one told Roman where they were going, so he simply allowed himself to be ushered into a seat. Patton, in the driver’s seat, was smiling, while his boyfriend sat in the passenger’s seat looked fondly exasperated. It was a common expression on him these days, Roman noted.

Val was seated beside Roman in the back seat. Things were a little tense between them at times, still, but she seemed to be warming up to him. She seemed to notice his confusion and leaned marginally towards him with a smirk.

“Just go with it, don’t worry. Patton chose the restaurant. We’re all just along for the ride.”

Soon, they pulled up to a Mexican restaurant, which Roman could tell even from the outside wouldn’t be all that authentic; but it had a cheery atmosphere. When they turned off the car and got out, he could hear faint music spilling out of open windows and the door whenever patrons came and went. Colorful lights glowed within.

When they stepped inside, Roman could tell why Patton liked this place so much. String lights shaped like white sombreros or pink llamas or red, green, and yellow chilies were strung along the windows and across the ceiling along with sheets of colorful papel picado. Cheery music and the sounds of chatter and conversation filled the air. Whatever wall space wasn’t taken up by various art pieces, photographs, and even a small guitar or two was painted a warm honey mustard yellow. A large Mexican flag hung in the entryway. Past the counter where a waiter stood ready to seat the guests, Roman could see tables with bouquets, pitchers of salsa, and bowls of chips set out on them.

Perhaps it was all a bit much, and Roman was very aware of how stereotypical the place was, but honestly, he was okay with that. It was stereotypical in a fun way.

“Hola,” said the waiter, picking up a stack of menus. “Four of y’all tonight?”

“Yep!” Patton said.

The waiter led them to a corner table and set down the menus, making sure they were all comfortably settled before they went off to tend to their other tables.

Val had already opened her menu, scanning its contents as she absently reached for the chips and salsa. Patton was showing Logan one of the llama string lights, pointing out how cute it was and saying that he had to see if he could find where the restaurant had gotten them.

Roman opened his own menu, like Val; but unlike her, he was more focused on the prices he saw there than the items themselves.

“Oh no,” Patton whispered, giggling. Roman glanced up to see that he’d spilled a bit of the salsa on the table.

“No harm done,” Logan replied, handing him a napkin.

Roman went back to the menu. The prices glared back at him.

I should just stick to the chips. Maybe a side of yellow rice or something. He glanced towards the sides menu, biting his lip.

“Hey, no!” Patton said, visibly upset. Roman looked up sharply, startled, and realized that he must have mumbled that out loud.

“Don’t just get a side,” Patton insisted. “Get what you want, or I’ll fight you.”

Logan patted his boyfriend on the back. Val glanced between them all, one eyebrow raised. Patton was far from threatening, but Roman felt his ears burn.

“Okay, okay,” he quickly relented. Patton relaxed.

“Don’t worry about the price,” he said. “It’s our treat.”

“As long as your order is within reason, you may request it,” Logan added.

Roman nodded, staring down at the menu.

Not long after, the waiter materialized over Val’s shoulder.

“Can I get some drink orders?” they asked, pen and paper at the ready, a pleasant smile in place.

Roman, who had conveniently just stuffed a chip full of salsa in his mouth, quickly waved for someone else to go first to save his poor dignity.

Val looked up at them. “Horchata, please,” she requested.

“Oooh, I want the hot chocolate,” Patton said cheerfully. “The Mexican one? It sounds good.”

Logan glanced at his boyfriend. “Ah,” he asked the waiter, “how spicy is the Mexican hot chocolate?”

“It’s a little spicy, but we can make it on the milder side, if you’d like?”

“Yes, I think that would be good,” he said, nodding. He turned back to his boyfriend. “What do you think, sweetheart?”

“Oh, okay,” Patton replied, smiling. “I wouldn’t want to lose my taste buds because they choc-a-lot of spices in there!”

Logan groaned at the pun, putting his head in his hands.

“Nice,” the waiter said, his customer service smile turning more genuine.

“I will have a lime soda,” Logan said into his hands, enunciating to be understood. “And I would appreciate an additional horchata, as well.”

Roman guessed that horchata was for Patton, in case the hot chocolate or his food was still too spicy for him.

The waiter turned expectantly to Roman. Thankfully, this time, he didn’t have any food in his mouth.

“Um…” Roman scanned the drinks, not actually having made a decision before this moment. “I’ll have the hot chocolate, too.”

“Alright, sounds good… and will y’all be needing another moment to decide on food? If not, I can take that now, and it’ll get out quicker.”

Logan slowly removed his face from his hands, sighing as if needing to recover from Patton’s pun.

Patton folded his menu. “Oh, well, I’m ready, what about…?”

After a moment, they agreed to go ahead and order. Patton went first, asking for the veggie taco meal. Logan, after him, ordered chicken fajitas; but of course, he had to point out as he did so that fajitas were an American invention, and not a truly authentic Mexican food.

“Yes, yes, Lo, you said that last time one of us had fajitas,” Val said, rolling her eyes at her brother. “I’ll have the… ‘Mega Spicy Chicken’.”

“Oh, really?” the waiter asked, looking at her appraisingly. “When they say ‘mega spicy’, they mean it.”

Roman glanced down at the menu and quickly found what the waiter was talking about. The dish had four flaming chili peppers printed next to it.

“I’m sure,” Val responded cheerily, closing her menu.

“I’ll get that, too,” Roman said impulsively. Val glanced at him.

Sure, it was spicy, but Roman was a proud Latino. He could handle it. Plus, since Val had ordered it, Roman was pretty sure that Logan would consider the order’s price to be “within reason”. Most of the prices on the menu weren’t all that expensive to the family, he knew, especially since he got the idea that they didn’t eat out often; but it was a nice reassurance regardless.

“Okay,” the waiter shrugged, writing it down.

…

As the waiter set down everyone’s drinks, they smiled and said, “Just so y’all know, we have a special going on right now. If you can eat an entire ghost pepper in thirty seconds, without drinking anything until you’re done, your drink will be free.”

“Oh, sign me up,” Val said, grinning.

Not to be outdone (and happy to potentially lessen the bill), Roman said, “Me too.”

Logan’s eyebrows went up, and Patton started protesting before Roman had even finished speaking.

“Wait, Roman, you don’t have to do that, we’re perfectly happy to—”

Roman waved them off. “No, no, it’s okay, promise.”

Patton frowned at him. “But… it’s a ghost pepper.” He whispered the words “ghost pepper” as if he was afraid that an actual ghost would hear them.

“I know, Pat,” Roman said, smiling confidently and sitting up straight with a dramatic flair. “I shall vanquish this beast, don’t you worry!”

Patton gave him one more worried look, but he didn’t argue further. Val, meanwhile, gave him a knowing look, taking a small sip of her horchata.

Despite his projected confidence, Roman was already starting to have doubts when the waiter walked off. He had a feeling he might regret this. Roman could handle some heat, but ghost peppers were some of the hottest peppers out there.

It was too late to back out now.

Within a minute, the waiter was back. With a mariachi band.

At first, Roman thought that maybe they just happened to be walking by each other, that maybe the restaurant had hired the small band to walk around sometimes and play. But, no, they were definitely all headed to their table.

“Oh my god,” Val said, hiding a laugh behind her hand.

The waiter stopped before their table, a microphone and two small plates in hand.

“Buenos noches, everyone!” the waiter said into the microphone, their voice carrying easily over the music. Roman barely registered the incorrect Spanish, suddenly very nervous. “Two of our patrons have decided to take up the ghost pepper challenge tonight! Let’s cheer them on!” Based on the grin on the waiter’s face, this was their favorite part of the job.

Cheers went up all over the restaurant as the waiter set down two small plates, one in front of Val and one in front of Roman. They were each plain white, empty save for a single, 3-inch-long orange pepper. Val grinned, appearing both amused and a little embarrassed by the attention.

Roman was pretty sure his face was burning red even though he hadn’t yet taken a single bite of the pepper. He was not expecting so much fanfare to come with this challenge.

He glanced at Patton and Logan. Patton had started bouncing in anticipation, his hands pressed together; and Logan clapped politely, looking around at all the other customers watching them.

It can’t be that bad, Roman told himself, delicately picking up the pepper by the stem.

He was wrong.

Tears sprung in his eyes with the first bite, his mouth immediately aflame. He quickly choked down the rest of the pepper. His throat tried to close up, rejecting even the thought of swallowing it, but Roman forced it down. He panted, opening his mouth for the waiter to see that he’d swallowed it. He barely heard the cheers as they announced that he’d done it.

Val finished a second later, and the cheering got louder. The mariachi band resumed playing, louder than before, and the waiter clapped, glee on their face.

Roman had already snatched up his glass of water, and he was chugging it. He finished the whole thing, reached instinctively for his hot chocolate, remembered that it was spicy, and instead grabbed the extra horchata that Logan had ordered. Logan watched in amusement as he did, but Roman didn’t even think about the fact that he’d stolen it until half of it was gone.

Realization struck him, and he slowly moved the drink away from his lips even though his mouth was still burning. “Um… sorry,” he gasped, setting it down. He wiped at his eyes with the hand that hadn’t touched the pepper. He hadn’t noticed when the band and the waiter left, but they must have done so at some point, for they were alone again.

Val, who had drunk quite a bit of her own horchata, was clearly trying not to laugh. Her eyes, visible over the rim, were crinkled with humor.

Logan chuckled. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “That was quite amusing to watch.”

…

Roman tried very hard not to laugh, watching as his former nemesis carefully cut up his fajitas with a knife and fork.

“Ah, behold,” Val said, her tone suggesting that this was not at all unusual, “the one true way to eat a fajita.”

“It’s neater this way,” Logan claimed, lifting a forkful to his mouth.

As if to demonstrate, Patton picked up one of his veggie tacos. When he went to take a bite, about a quarter of its contents fell out the other end. “Whoopsie-doodles!”

The corner of Val’s mouth quirked up. “Maybe,” she admitted, going back to her own food.

Roman, meanwhile, had some regrets about ordering his own spicy dish. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the ghost pepper had been, but the heat seemed to build the more he ate. He drank quite a bit of his water, trying to cool down his poor mouth.

After a while, Logan silently pushed the extra horchata in his direction, casting him a knowing look. Roman gratefully accepted it, since it seemed Patton didn’t want it. The younger man was happily eating his messy tacos and drinking his hot chocolate. No one pointed out the mustache the drink left on his face.

With the blessing of the horchata helping to quell Roman’s burning mouth, he found that he quite liked the food. And for most of the rest of the meal, they ate, and they talked, and they cheered along with everyone else when another patron decided to try eating the ghost pepper.

Roman almost forgot about his hot chocolate, until Patton asked him if he liked it, seeming confused about the fact that the cup was still full.

“Oh—yeah, it’s really good!” Roman assured even though he hadn’t taken a sip yet, picking it up. “Sorry, I got distracted.”

“No need to be sorry,” Logan assured, before taking another careful bite of his fajita.

Regardless, Roman took that moment to take a sip of his hot chocolate. It had cooled somewhat, and it wasn’t very spicy. Perhaps they had made his mild, too, like Patton’s. But the taste of cinnamon was strong. He felt a strong sense of familiarity—it wasn’t quite the same, but it really reminded him of….

A lump rose in Roman’s throat. He set down the mug, not having expected that reaction.

Val snorted. “You ate a ghost pepper, and now the hot chocolate is making you tear up?” she asked jokingly.

Roman forced himself to laugh, reaching for the horchata even though he didn’t need it. “Alright, you caught me, I’m a disgrace to my Latino brethren.”

Thankfully, the moment soon passed.

They went back to just talking and enjoying the rest of their meal. Roman didn’t touch the hot chocolate again, but he ate nearly half of his entrée. Logan continued to eat his fajitas with a fork, attracting snickers from a couple of kids seated at a nearby table. The waiter stopped by a few times to refill drinks and check in on them. Patton told the story of how he and Logan had met, talking mostly to Roman since he was the only one who didn’t know the story. And they all went home with plenty of leftovers.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad night.

…

And now, the bullet point fic!!

…

-This takes place between when Roman gets his job offer and when he starts actually working. So, between Pressure and Puzzling it Out.

-Everybody goes out to celebrate the anniversary of Patton’s and Logan’s relationship!

-This is after Val decided to give Roman a chance, plus Logan’s her brother, so she’s part of the gang

-No there’s nothing weird about them all going shut up

-This is Patton, he wants his famILY to celebrate with them

-Roman is ushered into a car without knowing where they’re going. Logan seems a bit exasperated, Patton is smiling, and Val just smirks and tells him that it’s Patton’s idea and to go with it

-They go to a not-so-authentic but quite fun Mexican restaurant

-On to the restaurant.

-It is a sight. We’re talking string lights shaped like red, green, and yellow chilies, colorful banners, papel picado, cheery music spilling from the speakers, and waiters walking around with platters of food and drink. There’s bouquets of flowers, pitchers of salsa, and bowls of chips on the tables. It’s one of those places where there’s art and various decorations all over the walls, including photos of famous people who have eaten there (it’s a small number, but more than Roman would have expected). A Mexican flag is hung behind the counter where a waiter waits to seat people.

-Maybe it’s a bit much, and maybe a little stereotypical, but admittedly in a fun way; so Roman rolls with it.

-they get a table in one of the corners, and they’re all given menus. Roman is a bit overwhelmed, looking at all the prices

-He accidentally mumbles aloud that he might just stick to the chips and salsa and a side of yellow rice, and Patton threatens to fight him if he doesn’t get something more than that

-The waiter comes back to give out water and take their orders

-Roman had just put a chip in his mouth so he frantically waves for someone else to go first

-Patton gets veggie tacos, Logan chicken fajitas (“Fajitas are actually an American invention, not a truly Mexican food” “Yes, Logan, you said that last time, too” (Val)), and Val gets just about the spiciest thing on the menu, something called “Mega Spicy Chicken” There are four flaming chili peppers next to it.

-As a proud Latino and a lover of taking up challenges, Roman gets the same thing.

-Doing so has the added bonus of Roman being able to reassure himself that he’s “allowed” to get something with that price

-Roman and Patton both get Mexican hot chocolate, Val gets horchata, and Logan gets a bottle of lime soda. He also wisely orders an extra horchata for Patton, very aware that Patton does not deal well with heat

-When the waiter returns with the drinks, they claim that the restaurant is having a special where if you can eat an entire 3-inch ghost pepper within thirty seconds, your drink is free

-Val happily accepts, and, not to be outdone, Roman does the same

-Patton starts to protest, saying Roman doesn’t have to do that just to make his order cheaper, and Logan’s eyebrows go up, but Roman just waves them off, saying it’ll be fine. Val knows what’s up and looks at Roman with a glint in her eyes.

-Roman is already beginning to have regrets

-And then the waiter returns with the peppers. And a mariachi band.

-Yes, a mariachi band

-“Two of our patrons have decided to take up the ghost pepper challenge tonight! Let’s cheer them on!” the waiter calls out over the music. This is clearly their favorite part of the job.

-Cheers go up all over the restaurant. Patton is bouncing, Val’s grinning in a simultaneously amused and embarrassed way, and Logan politely claps. Roman’s gone red and he hasn’t even eaten the pepper yet.

-The plates are set down. Plain white and empty save for a single pepper in the middle.

-How bad could it be? Roman tells himself.

-Turns out, pretty bad

-He does finish the pepper though

-He downs his entire glass of water, and, knowing that his Mexican hot chocolate is spicy, shamelessly steals about half of the extra horchata before he can think about it

-Val’s eyes are watering, and she also drinks quite a bit of her horchata, but she’s also trying not to laugh at Roman’s reaction

-He even gets a chuckle out of Logan

-“You did it!” Patton cheers. “You didn’t die!”

-Logan eats his fajitas with a fork and knife. Roman tries not to laugh. Val and Patton are clearly used to this, but that won’t stop Val from teasing him about it.

-Patton, meanwhile, keeps losing the insides of his veggie tacos when he goes to take a bite

-Roman has regrets about ordering his spicy food, and Logan knowingly hands over the extra horchata, since Patton seems okay without it. He has his water to counteract the spice in his hot chocolate, and the veggie tacos aren’t very spicy

-Roman waits until near the end to actually take a sip of his own Mexican hot chocolate

-They went light on the spice, but the cinnamon is strong. Roman gets a little choked up at the familiarity

“You ate a ghost pepper and now the hot chocolate is making you tear up?” Val asks jokingly, unfortunately noticing but fortunately not understanding what’s actually happening

-Roman laughs along with her. “Okay, you caught me, I’m a disgrace to my Latino brethren.”

-The moment passes

-They go back to happily talking. Logan and Patton talk about how they met, since Roman doesn’t know the story, drinks get refilled, music plays, Logan keeps eating his fajitas with a fork. It’s fun.

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #ts valerie #ts sides #ts roman #ts logan #ts patton #sanders sides fan fiction #fanfiction #ts fanfic #second chances fic #anon

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nikita-swervin · 5 years

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Rumors

As the oldest house in Forks, Washington, it was no surprise Wintervale Estate was rumored to be haunted. The whole town knows the story, or so they thought. The 75th anniversary of the town was next year and planning was underway. As a high school student and a staff writer for the school webzine, I was tasked with writing an article about a point of interest, as were other writers. Our sponsor and teacher had given us a list of topics to consider, the Estate was one. In true teenage fashion, meaning we couldn’t think up our own ideas, we made a card for each and drew lots.

Yep… you guessed it, I was the unlucky person to get Wintervale Estate. Sure, I had heard the stories, the speculations, and rumors, but I never thought I would ever dig into the history of the house, let alone set foot in it. But, we are getting ahead of the story. My journey down the rabbit hole began where many often do… with a trip to the library.

With my boyfriend, Edward Cullen, in tow, I drove to the town’s small library. He was a history buff like me and often accompanied me on research trips, whether it was for a school assignment or some personal knowledge. I loved that I he came with me. When he found out what I was writing about he was intrigued and had it not been for the fact we had three more classes, we would have been at the library sooner.

I approached the circulation desk and waited patiently as Ms. Cope finished with a phone call.

“Ah, Bella,” she greeted, putting the handset down. “What can I help you find?” She quirked an eyebrow at me before greeting Edward.

Ms. Cope was a good friend and avid reader like me. She knew my taste in books and would always have two or three of the new arrivals set aside for me, however, it was the middle of the month and a good two or three weeks before the next round of new books. “I’m working on a story of the webzine,” I started, pausing a moment.

She motioned with her hand for me to go on.

“It’s about Wintervale,” I said, leaning closer to her and whispering.

“I see.” She eyed me over rim of her glasses for a long moment and then moved her gaze to Edward before nodding. “You two can handle it and might be able to make things right.”

“Make things right,” Edward echoed. “What do you mean?”

Ms. Cope said nothing and turned her back. Opening a drawer, she retrieved a set of keys. She came around the desk and kept walking. I took that as to follow her.

We walked down the stairs and into the basement. The lights flickered and there was a low buzz. Much like upstairs, books lined shelves however they were so dusty you couldn’t read the titles and some had cobwebs dancing in the wake of Ms. Cope’s passing. We came to a stop in front of a wooden door. I could barely make out the faded word – ARCHIVES.

“I don’t know the state of this room. It has been at least a decade since anyone has requested to see the documents within. Darn technology. It ruins all the fun of research.” She unlocked the door and handed me the keys, indicating the key to use to lock the door back up and promptly left.

I looked over my shoulder at Edward. He shrugged. “I guess we have the run of the place,” he said, walking around me and placing his hand on the doorknob. “After you.”

I shook my head and Edward chuckled, moving into the room and feeling for the light switch. The light was dim but would do. There was a long table in the middle of the room, ten file cabinets lined the rear wall opposite the only door, three or four bookcases side-by-side to our right, and two ancient microfiche readers to the left. I set my laptop down on the surprisingly dust-free table and started it up. Moving toward the file cabinets, I looked at the neatly printed labels on the front of the drawers. Each label had a year on it, going back to before the town was recognized by Washington state.

Where to begin? I thought as Edward moved toward the bookcases.

I walked over to the file cabinets. The drawers were labeled with years going back ten years before Forks was officially recognized by the state. Oldest house, I reminded myself and opened the drawer from 1935. Reels of film greeted me and appeared to be labeled with date ranges. Not knowing when the estate was built, I didn’t want to grab one at random and hope it had an article or image on it.

“Did Ms. Cope seem like she would be much help, Edward?” I asked.

“No. There is a lot of books and annuals on the shelves, but without basic information, how do we know where to start?” He turned and leaned back against a shelf.

“Your mom?” I suggested. Edward’s mom, Esme was an interior designer and knew the insides of almost every house in Forks. She was also a history buff. “If she doesn’t know, she might be able to tell us who could help.”

He pulled his iPhone out of his pocket and hit a series of spots on it. A few moments later, his mom’s voice was filling the air. “Hello.”

“Hey, Mom. Bella and I were hoping you could help us out with some information on Wintervale Estate.”

“Wintervale,” she whispered. “What are you two planning?”

That was a strange question. Esme knew the school webzine was working on articles for the 75th anniversary of the town. “That’s the topic I was assigned for the article,” I answered. “We are at the library doing research and can’t find anything. Do you know when it was built? Or, who would know?”

The line went dead. Edward looked at the screen. “She hung up.”

“She knows something, but doesn’t want to tell us is my guess as to why.”

“Web search it is.” Edward sat down at my laptop and connected to the libraries Wi-Fi. He plugged in the name into Google and hit enter. He found a Wikipedia page with a brief entry.

WINTERVALE ESTATE – Half-way house for those released from the mental institution with nowhere else to go or the family refuses to care for them. Builder unknown as is the date of construction. All attempts to obtain information have failed.

There was a single picture of a young man standing next to a brick column with a gate just visible. There was sign the read Wintervale. The photo was sepia and what laid behind the column and gate couldn’t be made out. Edward hit back and went to several other sites. None of them had any useful information or built on the Wikipedia entry.

“Okay, so what do we know from the stories we heard growing up?” I asked.

“Hmm,” Edward said, tapping his chin. “I was always told to stay away from the abandoned house.”

I nodded. My dad and grandmother had both warned me away. “When I asked why, I was told that it was not safe to go into. That the floorboards on the porch and the house where rotted and couldn’t support much weight.”

“Same. My parents didn’t want me to get hurt. Then there are the rumors of it being haunted.”

I scoffed. “Rumors are always floating around but that doesn’t mean they are true.”

Edward shook his head. I was a skeptic in all things supernatural and he knew it. Ghosts, goblins, witches, whatever are characters in stories nothing more. Haunted houses were thrilling but when all is said and done, it was trick wires and people in costumes doing the scaring. To think there are real spooks haunting an old, broken-down house was plain ridiculous.

“I’m going to go and talk to Ms. Cope. Maybe she can give us a starting point,” Edward said, getting up from the table and stretching. “After all, she did say ‘maybe you can make things right.’”

We trudged back through the basement stacks to the stairs. Blinking in the bright light coming through the windows, it took us a moment to find Ms. Cope. She wasn’t at the circulation desk. We found her in the office on the phone. She looked up and raised a finger, ending the call with a few hushed words.

“Find what you needed?”

“No. We need a little assistance,” Edward said. “Do you know when the house was built?”

“1935. There should be film for the year. Maybe an annual. Anything else?”

I shook my head. “That gives us a starting point.”

Back in the basement, I went to the cabinets and opened the one for 1935. There were six reels. I brought out all and gave half to Edward. He went over to one of the readers without me having to ask. I sat at the other one and loaded it.

It was the second of my reels, that I found a brief article.

February 8, 1935

Groundbreaking at Wintervale Estate

The Cope family has broken ground today on westside of town, but it was not without incident. A terrible snowstorm felled a tree. One large limb hit Phineas Cope, breaking his leg. The young boy of six is expected to make a full recovery.

“Edward,” I called once I finished the brief article. “The Cope family owned Wintervale. Do you think Ms. Cope is related the original owners?”

He turned and looked at me. “Good question. Write it down and we’ll ask her.”

I went back to the reels. Going through three more months before finding another article on the same reel.

September 29, 1935

Death at Wintervale Estate

Six-year-old Phineas Cope has passed away for complication of his broken leg. The doctor is baffled as to the cause. When questioned the doctor replied the leg had healed nicely. However, the family spokesperson said the leg was weak and could not support boy’s weight for long periods of time.

I made note and found in October’s paper Phineas’ obituary.

“Bella, have you found anything about Phineas?”

“Two articles and his obituary. What did you find?”

Edward reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. “I found an article about his mother, Mary, seeing him at the bottom of a hole right as cement was being poured. She was later institutionalized and died still claiming her son was alive.”

“When did she die? And where?” I asked as I scribbled down the information.

“Mary died on her son’s birthday, December 2, 1935 in her room at Wintervale.”

I felt my face scrunch up. “When was the house finished?”

“A month before her death,” Edward answered. “The reporter speculated she was haunted by her son.”

Something was I had heard came to the forefront of my mind. Rumors about the house and its occupants, but if it was abandoned then how was in occupied? I told Edward what I remembered.

He chuckled. “Always the skeptic, Bella. I’ve heard the same and believe Mary and Phineas never left. We should go check out the house. Look in the windows.”

I shivered at the suggestion. “I don’t know. I have enough for the article.”

“Bella, Bella, Bella. We have a mystery to solve. Something to set right. The truth to find out. What really happened to Phineas and Mary? Why did it become a half-way house? Where’s the reporter? The truth seeker?”

Edward looked at me, hard. “You’re not scared, are you?”

“No. Why would I? I don’t believe in ghosts.”

“Then let’s go. We can always come back. For now, I think we have enough question and old newspaper articles are not going to help answer those questions.”

“What about the annuals,” I said, digging my feet in. I wasn’t scared in the least bit. And Edward’s questions were good.

“We can come back, Bella. I’m sure Ms. Cope will let us back in. I don’t think we will find our answers here.” He stood and held out his hand. “Come on. Be adventurous.”

I rewind the reel before standing. After cleaning up, we left the room and informed Ms. Cope we were leaving and would possibly be back.

#oswc2019 #writing #writing challenge

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shield-agent78 · 5 years

Text

Mission Report (Pt. 3)

Makeup

Parking: Bucky x OC

Warning: fluff, applied sex, mentions of pregnancy

Rating: R

A/N: unpublished part of Linguistics. Bucky makes up for being an ass big time. Let’s just say he does it well.

We stood in front of the Quarter house looking at it for a moment. The French architecture on it was stunning. "Wow," was all I could mutter.

"You an't seen nothin' yet," James said taking my hand and pulling me through an iron gate that he just typed a code into. "Look," he said his voice a little husky. A small courtyard with large trees stood before us. In the center sat a three-tiered fountain. The moonlit shinning off the pool of water that rested in its basin. I made my way over to it skimming the dripping water with my fingertips.

(Narrator POV)

He shoved his hands in his pockets as he watched her intensely take in the beauty of the courtyard. With her being a romantic, he knew that she would love it, and he wasn't wrong. Confirmation came when Ema looked back and him and beamed.

"It's beautiful but why did you bring me here?" She asked softly.

"I just wanted to prove something to you," Bucky said his eyes not leaving her body.

"What's that?"

"That I love you," he said in almost a wispier. He sifted his gaze downwards taking a moment to gather his thoughts. Bucky's eyes met hers again as he continued as Ema gaped at him her lips partly open. "I have never regretted us and never will 'cause I love you so much for that." Bucky pulled her to him looking down at the woman who was his world. "Besides I figured we could have some time along from all the craziness and maybe even see your family." His lips ghosting hers.

"Thank you." Her words mumbled against his lips as she played with his short hair.

"For what?" Buck asked as he rubbed his hands up and down her back.

"Proving it." She gave him a slight giggle which broke all his will power. His lips crashed into hers making sure his tongue got into that mouth of hers. She moaned and wrapped her hands tightly around his neck. By the time they broke, they both had the look of love and lust in their eyes. "Inside now." He grumbled.

"Alpha male." She replayed with a small laugh as she took off her heels holding onto his shoulder.

"You know that still amazes me that you can grow and shrink three inches in a matter of seconds." He teased her as they walked up the stairs to the entrance.

"James, you do realize that you are all right?" Her giggles filled the air and bit her lip to stop them. He gave a chuckle as his lips moved towards her ear.

"Bite that lip again and I'm going to take you right here on these stairs." Bucky reached for the keys in his pocket as Ema trailed kisses down his neck. He was barely unable to compose himself as he slid the key into the lock. The locked clicked as they almost tumbled inside the door together as their lips met again. With a quick shove, the door closed and locked behind them.

He pushed her gently up against the wall of the living room and looked at her lovely. Her breath hitched as he placed kisses on her collarbone near her dress up to the back of her ear. Her hands undid his uniform jacket buttons he struggled it off quickly laying it across the back of the couch.

"What did you say about taking me, Sergeant?" Ema said as her hands worked on Bucky's tie as she bit her lip. His eyes immediately darkening with each word. He pulled her away from the wall and spun her around unzipping the back of her dress with his flesh hand pulling than pulling it off of her and watching it fall off her body. Bucky gazed upon her with lust in his eyes as she stood there in a black lace bra and panties. Quickly his own shirt and paints were removed and placed over the couch along with her dress. He turned facing her again running his fingers through her hair losing it up so it fell around her.

(Bucky POV)

"Do you have any idea how much I'm in love with you?" I moved closer to her as she stepped back against the wall giving me a little smile. I cupped her face with my fleshed hand looking at her intensity. "I thought I had lost you. I can't lose you." I placed my forehead against hers. "Stay."

"Always" she answered me sweetly placing her hand on mine. "Besides you already asked me to stay before and I did remember." I chucked.

"How can I forget. Still, see you standing there in that blue dress telling me you had to go." I gave her a pretending gruff look. She placed her arms around my neck and began running her fingers through my hair.

"Complaining? I closed my eyes leaning into her touch.

"Hmm" I groan as she kissed my neck leading up to my jaw. I moved my left arm to her back and began trailing my fingertips up and down it.

"Sergeant?" Ema ghosted against my lips.

"Still has an intoxicating effect" I smirked.

"Good cause right now your talking too much." She moaned as I dipped my head down kissing her gently between her breasts. "And going way to slow"I looked up at her giving her a small wicked grin.

"So not in the mood for nice and slow?" She shook her head no. "Need to hear it from you Doll," I grumbled.

"No Sergeant," Ema said innocently as she looked at me through her eyelashes while she ran her hands down my chest brushing against my hardening cock before stopping a moment to pull me closer to her.

"Dame baby and I thought I was bad," I teased before slamming my lips against hers causing her to moan.

"James" She moaned out painting when our lips parted.

"Tell me what you want. What you need." I mumbled as I kissed her down her neck.

"You. Augh." I nipped her and kissed her up the other side. "Winter. Baby please I want sex with you Winter." I stopped knowing now what she wanted, rough makeup sex. I looked at her and gave her a smirk as I slammed my lips against hers pushing her up against the wall while holding back her left hand in mine while she melted into me.

We spent the rest of the night with each of us fighting for dominance in the bed. I spent the night making her shatter around me so many times that we both lost count. Proving it over and over to her that I was hers.

(Narrator POV: 1 1/2 Months Later New York-Their Apartment)

He sat up bed leaning against the headboard. His brown locks starting to grow back along with the scruff on his face. Black shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants that hung low on his waist.

Several files covered his lap as he read and jointed notes in each one before putting it to the side. Ema walked in and leaned against the door frame watching him as he worked wearing a pj tank top and pair of gray shorts. "Hey, baby how's it coming?"

"These mission reports are going to kill me yet," Bucky said grippingly. He looked up to see her standing there. "Give me another hour Doll ok and then I will be done." Ema gave him a sweet smile.

"Sure but then ya putting them down cause is our anniversary and we're off. I'm going to watch some tv I'll be back in an hour." Bucky just smiled to himself as she walked out. He hadn't forgotten. In an hour it would be midnight and all he wanted was to finish the reports so he could be with her.

An hour later Ema sauntered into their bedroom towards him. "Put them down," she said teasing him as she took the files off his lap and placed them into the nightstand. Bucky couldn't help but grin at her boldness. He loved it. "Whoops," She pretended to drop one of the files onto the floor which earned her a sly smile and a chuckle that radiated from his chest.

"You do that Doll and see what's going to happen." He pulled her onto him as she straddled his waist her bent legs underneath her on each side of him. His flesh hand on the inner part of her thigh his fingers stroking it gently while his clocked fingers rested on her back. She held onto her arms and gave him a little sigh. Bucky blues eyes met her before speaking.

"So I have an anniversary present for you." She cocked an eye at him. "Since you like my dog tags so much I figured you would like this." He moved his hands to the nightstand picking up a small box. Ema placed hers into her lap. "Happy anniversary honey" he opened the box and dangled a round diamond necklace in his hands for her to see.

"Buck!" She cocked her eyes at him. "I thought we said little gifts." Her voice teasing him.

"It is little" he replied with a cheeky smirk as he carefully hooked the necklace around her neck.

"It's beautiful. Thank you I love it." A kiss on his lips was his reward. Ema pulled away and looked down nervously and then back up to him. "Now I kind of feel silly about your gift. It's not a lot just a little something."

"You know that doesn't matter to me," Bucky replied with a little laugh. "Just as long as my girl is happy."

"Ok," Ema said as she pulled out a small rectangular box wrapped in black paper. Bucky unwrapped it and gave a curious look at the box that resembled the one you would place a watch into. He glanced back up to her as she spoke nervously. "James open the box please." Slowly he opened the box his mouth gaped a little as he saw a pregnancy test with a plus sign on it. He looked up at her with a huge smile on his face.

"Doll? You're pregnant." His couldn't contain himself. Ema gave him a little nod yes and bit her lip nervously. "I'm going be a dad."

"Yep. Your not upset hugh?" His lips crashed into hers as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Does that answer your question?" He mumbled into her lips as she let out a small moan.

"Yes, Sergeant," Ema said her voice full of flirtation as she giggled as Bucky pulled her underneath him. "You know Dr. Cleo says I'm due February and that she is going to keep a close eye on me and augh!" His hands brushing against her inner thigh as he wrapped her legs around his back.

"You talking too much." She let out a slight moan as he continued to move his hands up and down her body pulling at her at the tank. "Right now Doll I want to hear you moan." He looked up and down her body with a loving glare. He began kissing up her neck behind her ear.

"Buckey" Her moan was like music to his ears. He stopped and looked down at her.

"Much better my love," he said smugly as Ema giggled. She placed her hand on his cheek.

"I love you, James."

"I love you to Doll."

@jewelofwinter @teamcap4bucky @kombatfather1796 @sherrybaby14 @shreddedparchment @xxloki81xx @toxic-pineapple @hoewkeye @marvelandotherfandomimagines @littledarlinhavefaithinme @verygraphicink @carryoncaptainrogers @chuuulip @hiddles-rose @hufflebucky

#bucky barnes #avengers #bucky #buckybarnes #winter solider #buck #bucky x oc #james barnes #bucky x reader #marvel #wintersoldier

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lethal-chiralium · 6 years

Text

ghouls | {t.h.}

a/n: :) this is for @loki-the-fox ‘s Halloween Writing Challenge!!! <3

warnings: flangst? is that a word? also, cussing (hi I’m an aggressively positive yet assertive with cussing)

summary: ghosts and demons still haunt you, ghouls pull you astray. but down the stairs comes your tommy boy, and he’s here to stay.

Another Halloween spent alone, you thought as you dipped your spoon into your bowl of whipped cream. Tom’s always gone around the fall, never falling short of leaving before Halloween. Why such a scary day to be so excited about?

It’s your favorite holiday and the day you and Tom got together two years ago. Usually, you’d go trick o’ treating with friends but tonight, you wanted to be alone. You could say that about all days, really. Any day without Tom is a day you wanted to be alone, but you always forced yourself to go out with friends. Tom always wants you to be social, but when he isn’t around to cheer you up, what the point of being negative all day around other people?

You sigh, eating another spoonful of whipped cream. You didn’t really like pumpkin pie so you ate the whipped cream instead; it was better than eating your mom’s pumpkin pie because let’s be honest, it’s less than stellar. You were going to spend Halloween with your two year old niece, but your sister told you that she was getting sick. So, you figured that staying home was your best option. You had whipped cream, candy galore, and horror movies to keep the aching feeling of loneliness at bay, where you hoped it would stay.

Your phone buzzed on the counter, and looked down, seeing your favorite picture of Tom (he was smiling so happily into the camera at a restaurant, you couldn’t resist taking a picture). Your mood suddenly perks up a bit, seeing that it was almost five in the afternoon and he hadn’t called you all day. You slide your finger across the screen then place it against your ear.

“Baby!” Tom giggled, and you smiled.

“Tommy!” you spoke happily back, as you put the spoon back into the bowl.

“Happy anniversary, darling. I hope you’re having a wonderful day.” His voice was so happy and gleeful, you wanted to pull him through the phone so you could kiss him.

You smiled. “It’s going better now that I’ve talked to you, happy anniversary, Tommy boy. Wish I could’ve sent you something, your manager said that you wouldn’t be able to get it.”

He sighed, but he then giggled again. “Did you get my present?”

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. You had gotten home an hour ago from the office. “Your present?”

“Did Harrison not call you?”

“No?” You snatched the spoon from the plastic bowl before you clicked on its lid, and you started towards the fridge. “Was he supposed to?”

“Well, yeah, he was supposed to call you when he dropped it off. It’s special.” He spoke softly, and you sighed. You figured it was going to be a prank of some sort, knowing Tom.

You opened the fridge and placed the whipped cream on the top shelf before closing the door. “Is it now?”

“Yep!” He giggled even more. “Oh, he just texted me. He said it’s in the bedroom. Big ol’ box, can’t miss it, he said.”

“Jesus, Thomas, if this is a prank I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

Tom laughed again. “No no, it’s not a prank, darling. Just an anniversary gift for my sweetheart.”

“Whatever, you dolt. You’re gonna prank me because it’s Halloween.” You grumble, as you started towards the staircase. Your eyes darted to the pictures that hung on the wall, and you noticed it again. The hairs on the back of your neck stood up. “Babe, I’ll call you back when I find it.”

“What? Why-” You quickly ended the call as you walked up a few more steps to one of your favorite pictures on the wall. Your eyebrows furrowed as you slid your phone into your pocket. This picture wasn’t on the wall two days ago, you thought, as you pulled it from the wall. You gazed down to it, and something in your stomach hit you, the feeling of nausea came up.

On the glass and frame were three large claw marks that you noticed before; the picture was of the time you and Tom danced at your sister’s wedding before you two were dating. It was special because it was the first time you had ever met Tom, and it was one of the times where you knew you had found the one.

“What the actual Hell is going on? This has happened three times now.” Your voice was harsh, as you started down the stairs. You walked towards the dining table and you placed it down on the surface. The claw marks looked deep and were definitely from an animal.

“Just like the rest of them.” You mumbled, as you turned the frame over and began to move the little locks away from the inside of the frame. This happens every single time Tom is away, he has never witnessed it. You’ve had to throw away frames, glass, and family pictures and you had no idea what was happening. You were convinced that the house was cursed, and you had no doubt about it at this point. But you’ve learned to live with it; no poltergeists have come crawling out of your TV yet, and anything that has no family ties hasn’t been touched. It was strange, it wasn’t like anything you read about the ghost getting angrier and angrier to the point that the person’s almost killed, it was like this child that liked one thing and one thing only: to scratch up your prized possessions. “Whatever, I’ll deal with this later.”

You move away from the frame and back towards the stairs, your body was shaking but you didn’t notice; the claw marks were normal now, even if they were terrifying. Your feet were light on the staircase, as you reached the landing. You turn to the right, and you begin down that hallway, looking at every picture to make sure that they weren’t damaged. Your stomach was knotting even tighter, you didn’t notice that your hands were shaking. Not only did sentimental things get damaged, you would wake up to footsteps in the halls. It’s an old house, you hear things but it takes pressure for wood to creak.

A familiar song began to play in your head, trying to distract you from the aching feeling of being watched as you walked slowly towards your bedroom.

“God knows I tried, God knows I tried,” Your mind hummed, as chills were sent up your spine. You forgot how much you hated being here alone; you felt like you were in one of those demonic houses in Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural. Your hand gripped the doorknob when you arrived at your bedroom door, and you saw the massive box Tom was talking about. Relief set into your bones as you walk forwards and looked at the massive box that was wrapped in pink wrapping paper and a gold bow, a smile tugging at your lips.

The box was as wide as a car, half the length, and half the height, and you knew immediately it was the massive bean bag you’ve wanted for weeks. Your hand grabbed your phone that was in your pocket, and you quickly dialed Tom.

It only took two rings for him to answer, and a giggle escaped your lips.

“You better not have gotten me what I think you did.” You mumbled as you pressed your phone to your shoulder with your head as you walked forwards, grabbing the bow and untying it.

“Maybe.” He laughed.

You rolled your eyes as you tore away the paper, a massive box was left. You unfolded the box and you smiled. Your guess was right: a massive (Y/F/C) beanbag sat there. “Thomas Holland, I love you so much I might fly out there and strangle you.”

“You don’t have to, babe.” He commented, and you shake your head.

“Now I have to come see you! I’m going crazy in this house without you, Tommy.” Your hands grabbed the beanbag and you began to pull it out of it containment. Once it was over the side and out of the box, you threw the beanbag on the floor behind you. You turned and smiled, your heart warming up. “Thank you so much, baby. Happy anniversary, Tommy Boy.”

“Did you see the other thing?” His voice was hushed now, and your eyebrows furrowed.

“I swear to God-“ You spun on your heel, and your jaw dropped, so did your phone. Your heart practically stopped.

“Hello, darling.” Tom’s curly hair and bright smile made you want to explode, but your smile got even bigger when you lurched forwards and hugged him with a bone-crushing force. Your face was buried in the small of his neck, your arms around his chest as tight as you could as tears escaped your eyes. You thanked God that he was home for your anniversary; for him banishing that poltergeist that seems to have infested your home. “Darling, what’s wrong-“

“You’re home, you’re home…” You blubbered, your terror had left your body the second you made contact with him. You hated being alone here, you hated being without him for five months. You hated the damn ghost that seemed to follow you like a damn puppy.

Tom hugged you back immediately, his face buried into your hair. He missed this house and he missed you; he hated being anywhere without you, it killed him. “Oh, darling…”

You were shaking, you couldn’t tell if you were excited about Tom being home or terrified of the things you saw less than five minutes ago. “Don’t leave me here, please, don’t ever leave me here again.”

You pulled your face away from your boyfriend reluctantly, and he did the same, but he kept the soft grip on your hips just as they were. His smile dropped when he saw your tears, his eyebrows furrowed. “Y/N?”

“I’m going crazy, there’s something in this house, I’m going crazy, don’t leave.” You rambled and Tom shook his head.

“There isn’t anything in this house, darling.” “We have a fucking poltergeist in this house and I swear to GOD if you don’t get rid of it-”

Tom stopped your little angry outburst with a kiss, and you melted in his arms once again. His hand was now placed on the back of your head as he pulled his lips away form yours, and he pushed your head to his shoulder. “There’s no ghost, baby. It was just Haz messing with you.”

“For an entire year?!” You practically screeched, and you tore away from Tom, anger bubbling in your stomach. You grabbed your phone from the floor as Tom began to laugh, and you dialed Harrison’s number faster than the speed of light.

“Hello?”

“HARRISON JAMES OSTERFIELD, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

taglist: @goldendais @dsakita @i-am-a-tea-pot @tired-sunflower-writings

#tom holland #tom holland x you #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #harrison osterfield #spiderman #spiderman x y/n #spiderman x reader #spiderman x you #halloween #2spooky4river

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friendlyneighborhoodborg · 5 years

Text

Marc Appreciation Week 2019| Day 7: Future| “Rough Draft“

So yeah, it’s late, but I finished it anyway. Thanks to everyone who read this and everyone who participated in the event. Now that I have a bunch of time on my hands, I’m gonna enjoy the heck out of all your guys’ work.

Disclaimers were in Day 1.

Chapters:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

AO3 Link

(Exactly 2000 words, because I’m not always as insane as I’ve led you to believe.)

Desperately, Rose pounded on the door to the house’s basement.

“Please!” she shouted. “Anyone! Help!”

But she realized it was no use. No one was coming down to save her.

All was silent and dark.

Until she heard a noise from the far corner.

“Is someone there?” she croaked, squinting in the darkness.

She didn’t squint for long. There was a bit of light in the room, though nothing was casting it. It just existed.

Then, there shimmered into visibility a floating figure: a woman all in white. White jumpsuit with a black cross over her chest and chains on her wrists near her gloves, white boots that hovered just above the ground, and a bright white cowl that sucked all other light from the room to feed its glow. There was no color around the face, mouth, and eyes. Her hair, which flowed around her head like twisting snakes, was a royal violet.

Rose knew her immediately. Akuma or not, she’d know that face anywhere.

“J… Juleka?” she gasped, horrified. “It’s you?”

“Rose.” The figure sneered. “Where were you when I needed you?”

“I…” She struggled to make her words work. “I was—”

“You left. You left me alone with a room full of strangers.” The villain hovered higher, leering down at her. “You do know how I get in crowds, right? Typical; no one even noticed when I started breaking down. No one even saw the butterfly come to me.” She grinned maliciously, showing off pointed teeth. “But they saw me. And oh, how they screamed.”

“I-I thought you were having fun.” Rose backed away from her akumatized girlfriend. “I thought I’d just keep you from socializing.”

“I wasn’t having fun! Or did you think because it was Halloween that the spook was in her element?”

“I’m sorry!” she bawled. “I just wanted you to be happy!”

“I was happy, Rose.” The specter came close and stared her in the face. “I was always happy, standing next to you. Didn’t you see that?” She held up a gloved finger. “Don’t answer that. If you understood…” the chains on her wrists glowed an ominous purple, and her hands clenched into fists, “you wouldn’t have left me alone.”

“Juleka… I’m sorry. I didn’t know…”

Ghostlight narrowed her eyes and raised her arm. “Too little, too late.”

................................................................................................................................

Outside, Ladybug had finished tying up the police officers, just as they began to regain consciousness.

“Alright,” she seethed. “I’ve been having a bad night tonight, so I’m really not in the mood. Tell me where Ghostlight is right now.”

One guard blinked awake. “Ladybug?” he said. “What are… what happened?”

Chat Noir cursed. “She must have released her hold.”

“Thank goodness,” Reverser panted. “These guys were tough. You guys do this all the time?”

“We face mind-control baddies more often than not,” explained Mighty-Illustrator. “They always go for one of us heroes, and we’ll end up having to fight them. Usually Chat.”

“Hey!” the feline hissed.

As usual, it was Ladybug’s duty to keep the boys off each other’s throats. “Possession’s not her main power, though, so it wasn’t as bad as it usually is. Her poltergeist attacks ripped cars off the street. We’re lucky we’ve got our suits, or there’s no way we would’ve walked away from that.”

“Yeah, but,” Reverser approached Ladybug, now nearing hysterics, “you’ve got a plan, right?”

“Almost. We’ve got to get close enough to land a hit and find her object.”

Mighty-Illustrator looked back, at a house where many of the occupants were running out of it screaming. “Well, looks like we’re getting that chance.”

The heroes looked on as Ghostlight herself appeared in the doorway. “Well, well,” she snarled. “Four against one? I thought superheroes had honor.”

Ladybug struck a heroic pose. “So many others have tried to take our miraculous before you, and now our team’s bigger than ever before. You never stood a chance!”

“Yeah!” shouted Chat Noir. “Give up the ghost while you can!”

“Not so fast, creeps,” their adversary cackled. “There’s been a slight change in plans, courtesy of my good friend Hawk Moth. Let’s see… if one monster’s too much for the newbie to handle, how will he fare with two?” She held up two fingers. “A phantom and a witch.”

Ladybug grit her teeth.

She had green skin and pink hair, styled like a blooming flower. Familiar black garb, complete with a swirling masquerade mask, adorned her, but now she had a new black cloak to match Ghostlight’s.

“Bonsoir, my pretties,” trilled Princess Fragrance, brandishing her perfume gun. “Did you miss me?”

Rose stared at the page, then quickly flipped it back and forth over the back cover. “There’s no more?” she whispered, flipping through as though searching for another, secret page. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Nath replied, smiling. “You like it?”

“How could you do this!?” she shrieked, almost lunging at the two of them. “How dare you make me feel things and then stop writing!”

Juleka laughed from behind him. “That’s a good sign. You got to neck-throttle levels of hiatus frustration.” She leaned back in thought. “Last one that did that was… was it the Warrior Duchess season 2 finale?”

Rose spun on her heel. “Don’t even bring that up.”

Marc shrugged, fingering his copy of the draft. “Just be glad we got all this in one week. I mean, it’s not perfect, and we haven’t even colored or proofread it. But, uh, I think it’s pretty good for a first try.” There was a general chorus of agreement in addition to Rose’s insane cheers.

“This was so worth putting off the budget meeting,” Marinette said, flipping through her own copy of the rough draft. “Sorry I haven’t been in much. But that was really fun, you guys, I can’t wait to see more.”

“Well, we can’t wait to make more.” Marc gestured to the issue. “Consider this a sneak-teaser.”

“PLEASE!” Rose screamed. And then, quieter, she added, “But don’t over-stress yourself, your happiness and health are important.”

Marc smiled. “I’ll try.” Nathan nudged him playfully, and he added. “We’ll try.”

“But don’t slack either,” Juleka countered, taking another look at Ghostlight. “Dude, Nath, that’s an awesome outfit. Way better than that plastic Barbie dress.”

“Rose was a consultant on that,” her designer confessed. “Coincidentally, consider it an anniversary gift. A proper romantic supervillain rampage, coming soon.”

Rose had stars in her eyes as she looked over at her. “And sure to be just as cool as how we got together, right Julie?”

“Yep. Speaking of…” Juleka started to close the distance.

“Upupup!” Rose halted, moving backwards and whipping out her phone. “Wait for…” she checked the time. “Two more minutes.”

Nath raised an eyebrow. “Are you still not allowed to hug each other? Alix…”

“Don’t look at me,” the suspect denied. “Rose served her time already.”

Juleka jerked her thumb at Rose. “Yes, but now she wants to wait until our ‘official’ anniversary before I can kiss her again.”

“May 19,” Rose recalled dreamily. “2:39 p.m., she kissed me on the cheek in the middle of us taking a selfie.”

“We both tripped and fell over right as she took it.”

“It was so dashing of her.” There was not a trace of irony in that assessment. “I’ve got it framed over my bed.”

“Not the worst selfie I’ve ever taken.”

Marc was the only one who laughed at the punchline. Everyone else only pretended to.

“You didn’t happen to get the exact time I kissed you, did you?” Nath asked.

“Why?” Marc challenged. “Fancy celebrating our one-day anniversary with a proper date?”

“If you’d like to. And if you’re free. That superhero movie just came out.”

“I’ve already seen it, though.”

“Well, would you object to seeing it again?”

“Not at all.”

Marinette glanced between the two of them awkwardly. “I missed something, didn’t I.”

Rose’s phone beeped. She cheered, “It’s time! It’s time!”

“Yes!” Juleka spread her arms. Rose gleefully jumped into them, squeezing tight, and the goth peppered the top of her hair with kisses (the benefits of dating someone a head shorter than her).

“Ugh,” Alix muttered, turning to Nath. “Promise me you two won’t get like this.”

“We’ll try,” Marc assured her. “At least in front of you.”

“In front of anyone.” She shuddered. “Why do sweethearts need to flirt in public? They’re already together, they don’t need any more prompting.”

“Well some people can’t help it,” Marc explained. “I mean, look at his face. That face was made for flirting.” He turned to Nath. “I hope you don’t mind me flirting at that face.”

“Is that all I am to you?” he asked. “Just a face?”

“No… well, actually, yes. But then I think most of us are faces, aren’t we?”

“That’s rather bleak, isn’t it? Treating a mask as the genuine article?”

“Not really. If you’ll permit me to wax poetic.” Marc sat Nath down at a stool and looked at his face. “You are… two crystal-blue eyes who see me for who I am. You’re two ears who listen to me and a mouth that converses with me.” Nathan started to blush in response, which prompted Marc to get closer and touch his cheek. “Two blushing red cheeks I can hold, gorgeous red hair I can do this to…” He ruffled up Nathan’s hair. “And a nose I can do this to…” He tapped the nose impishly. “And two lips… well, maybe later. And you’re the sum of all the expressions of every emotion I’ve seen you act on. Don’t underestimate a face. Especially not yours. While its appearance is subject to change, it remains consistent for whoever uses it.”

Nathan had turned about as red as his hair. “Seriously, is that, like, effortless for you? I don’t really know what to say to that.”

Marc looked at him, prompting.

“There’s no way I can top it,” he protested. “It’s your words… your words are all so beautiful.” Marc’s eyes won him over, and he sighed. “Fine. I’m no good with words, but I’ll try.” Cheerfully, Marc ushered him off the stool and stole his seat.

Nathan coughed and began. “I don’t really think I saw you right. Not until you were telling me how happy you were when you wrote. I felt like I had found someone like me.” He stopped talking, unsure how to proceed and eyeing the others, everyone nose deep in their comic, warily.

“Hey,” Marc caught his attention. “Don’t worry about anyone else. And… I won’t judge anything you say. Just try saying something. Anything you want.”

“We’re both screwed up in our own ways. You just… you kept coming back, and I’d never be able to do that. I’d run away and hide, and pretend you didn’t exist. I did do that, the first time.” He frowned, remembering. “That was a mistake.” He shook his head, trying to focus. “You have persistence. You have wit, and you have charm and a style… just everything I wish I had. And it was through all that, I got to know everything else—the whole thing. I saw you, and… here we are.” He bit his lip. “I guess we’re a thing now?”

“Sure thing,” Marc laughed. “You did great, champ.”

“No. It didn’t really make sense.”

His partner smiled. “It never does.” He leaned in once more, and was greeted by a warm set of lips chastely pressed on his own.

Rose clapped softly, the teacher averted his gaze, and Juleka gave them a thumbs-up. Even Alix had to smile. “You guys rock,” she said. “Now back to work, you two.”

Only then did the boys realize that everyone was watching them.

“Okay,” Marinette announced. “I definitely missed something.”

As Rose pulled her aside to fill her in, Nathaniel and Marc went to the back of the room where no one would bother them. “Way to kill the mood, Alix,” Nath complained.

“Thank you,” she bowed. “It’s what I’m here for.”

So that’s that then. Day 7, all done and done.

I’m going to sleep.

#Marc Appreciation Week #marc anciel #nathaniel kurtzberg #rose lavillant #juleka couffaine #alix kubdel #marinette dupain-cheng #julerose #nathmarc #fanfic #well i'm gonna sleep

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