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elisaphoenix13 · 3 years

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Never Too Old (Or Young)

It was a rare morning that Tony got up before Stephen or the girls, so he took the opportunity to get up and go downstairs to make himself a cup of coffee. He may have been awake, but he wasn't quite aware, which was something the coffee would help with. Tony yawns and pours the coffee into a mug when it finishes brewing and he walks over to one of the windows to blearily look out as he drinks his...what did Harley call it? His anti-murder juice.

Each sip he took woke him little by little until he noticed a white smudge on the window in front of him. What the hell? Tony tries to rub it away with his finger, and that's when he realizes that the smudge was on the outside. It looked nothing like bird poop, in fact, it was a solid white. It had a specific curve to it…

The engineer takes a step back when he notices another white smudge out of the corner of his eye, and he sighs heavily when he sees the smudges all over the windows. They were everywhere. It took a couple more thoughtful sips of his morning coffee for things to finally click and Tony realized they were stickers.

"These damn kids," Tony huffs as he walks into the living room.

The likely suspects were Peter and Diana. He considered Harley for a brief moment, but not only would it be hard to place so many stickers on the outside of the tower windows in the Rescue suit...but he was also passed out on the couch. Textbooks were all over the coffee table, the floor, and even a couple were on the teen himself which was a dead giveaway that he had been studying all night. Why he was in the living room instead of up in his room was beyond Tony, but he shrugged it off before carefully taking off the boy's glasses and setting them aside.

Stephen was the one to suspect Harley's far-sightedness a couple of years ago, and the boy had been so relieved that there wasn't something seriously wrong with him. The sorcerer had kept a close eye on Harley after almost a week of complaining of headaches, and the boy would squint while doing homework or reading, pull the book farther away, and even rub his eyes.

Maybe in the hopes of fixing his vision.

So Stephen took him to a specialist since he and Bruce didn't exactly specialize in optometry. The doctor confirmed Stephen's suspicion and they got Harley some prescription glasses which clearly made a difference when he started wearing them. No more furrowing brows, no more headaches, and he got his homework done faster since he wasn't using most of the time to try and see it in the first place.

Tony had a suspicion that William liked them too.

Just as Tony was about to throw a blanket on his oldest son, Levi beat him to it and draped itself across the teen. "Why didn't you do that before?"

"It can only do so much without me." Stephen says as he descends the stairs holding Lucy and with Athena trailing behind him.

"One of our kids decorated the windows." Tony tells him as he puts his coffee down on a book free surface to take their youngest. "And the tree is miraculously still standing."

"That's because Tibbs is in Peter's room. We have a whole day of prying him away from it ahead of us." Stephen rolls his eyes and heads into the kitchen to make himself some tea and a bottle for Lucy.

That was made and handed to Tony before breakfast was started. Thomas and William join a few minutes later and the younger of the twins joins Stephen in the kitchen to help as Thomas retreats into the living room. It turned into a typical morning after that. The rest of the kids woke up, some of the Avengers came up to join the family for breakfast, and sometime in the middle of that chaos, Harley woke up and cleaned up his study mess. Breakfast was eaten and Harley and William made plans to do some last-minute Christmas shopping.

It definitely wasn't a date.

Peter and Cassie had their own plans and Peter was currently showering while his girlfriend went back downstairs and got ready. It was relatively calm then...at least as calm as it could be with as many people as there were. Stephen was reading on the couch with Athena next to him with her head in his lap, and he periodically pet her head as he read. Tony had disappeared down to the lab with Lucy to undoubtedly turn her into a grease monkey, and Valerie was coloring on the floor with Diana. Thomas...was somewhere not dying or getting into trouble so that was enough for them. Harley disappeared as well which was weird since William was still in the living room with the girls.

Stephen nonchalantly turned a page in his book when Peter screeched. The wolf lifted her head at the same time Stephen, Valerie, Diana, and William looked up toward the bedrooms, and Peter soon came out of his room with only a towel around his waist with blue splotches all over his skin.

"HARLEY!" Peter shouts and Stephen sighs.

A prank. Specifically the one where a showerhead was filled with dissolvable dye capsules or Kool-aid powder. Harley was nowhere to be seen and to Stephen's surprise, William burst into hysterical laughter. Peter gave the younger teen a look that was a mix between annoyance, bewilderment, and what looked like glee. Probably because William was actually laughing about something.

"I-I'm sorry!" William sputters through bouts of laughter.

Peter huffs. "Mom, have you seen Harley?"

"Nope." Stephen says as he flips a page in his book and Athena lays her head back down.

Peter looks at William. "Tell your boyfriend it's on!" He disappears back into his room to scrub the blotches off his skin, leaving William to sputter.

Stephen chuckles and returns part of his attention to his book when William ends up blushing bright red.

"You should kiss him." Diana finally says and William's eyes widen.

"Wh-what?!"

"You should kiss Harley. You both like each other." She repeats. "You're worse than Uncle Quill and Uncle Scott."

"He doesn't-"

"He does." Stephen says and turns another page.

"Hey, Will! Come on!" Harley says from the elevator.

William turns a deeper shade of red as he gets up to join Harley, and Stephen hears the older one ask him if he's okay as the elevator doors close. Maybe his and Diana's little confession would be just the push William and Harley needed but then again…

"Boys are stupid."

"Diana." Stephen scolds lightly.

"They are." She mumbles.

"Who's responsible for the stickers?" The sorcerer asks.

"Petey. He crawled on the windows outside and put them on."

"I suppose you supplied them?"

"Nuh-uh. Valerie."

Stephen looks back up from his book and raises an eyebrow at Valerie who definitely looks a little guilty. She pouts up at him with her big blue eyes, and he sighs in defeat. One would think that with seven kids he would be immune to the puppy eyes but he fell for them every time. He was pretty sure the kids knew it too.

No. He was positive.

"Bye Mom! Be back later!" Peter calls out as he races down the stairs and through the door to the stairwell.

"Have fun." Stephen manages to say before the door shuts.

"Mama, look." Valerie holds up the paper she was coloring on and reveals endless scribbles that covered the whole of it.

"It's very beautiful. Do you want to hang it up?" He smiles when her eyes widen in excitement and she nods.

The two year old gets up and walks over to the cloak floating nearby and holds it up to Levi. The cloak happily takes it, and with a cartoonish flourish that briefly made Stephen feel like he was in one, Levi tacks it to the wall with the other drawings. When it claps the folds of its collar together, Stephen knew they were in far too deep. Even his cloak was domesticated.

"My children have turned an ancient relic into a nanny." Stephen bemoans.

"Daddy said you started it." Diana says and Stephen huffs.

"It was one time and that was when Peter was turned into a baby. The cloak was the only one that could reach Peter when he was climbing the walls and the ceiling." Stephen closes his book. "Speaking of your daddy, since he smuggled your sister into the lab, why don't we go to the store?"

"Can I come?" Thomas suddenly says from next to him.

"Get your coat."

In the meantime, Stephen takes the girls upstairs to get them dressed and once they all have their coats on, he opens a portal to the store. Thomas of course returned while the girls were getting ready, and went through the portal after picking up Diana. Stephen huffs fondly when Diana giggles loudly and picks up Valerie to follow them. It took a couple of years, but the twins were finally comfortable asking for things but it was usually still necessities. It was still kind of rare for them to ask for things they wanted.

"'tena?" Valerie asks and waves at the wolf behind Stephen. "'Tena, here!"

Athena comes through the portal and Stephen rolls his eyes as he waves his hand to get her service vest on. It would at least lessen the looks, which only left the 'is that a wolf' whispers. Yes. Yes she is.

"If you weren't so shy of strangers, I'd say you would grow up to be a politician or a world leader."

"Nah, Val?" Thomas cackles. "She's too nice."

"Also a good point. Push the cart please?"

Thomas nods and puts Diana down so he can grab a cart and they walk through the aisles of Target. Diana was happy to 'ooh' and 'aah' at every piece of clothing she saw and Valerie soon ended up in the seat of the cart when Stephen's hands began to tremble a little too much. He then had to attempt to redirect Diana's attention away from the clothes because he was pretty sure she had twenty versions of the sundress she was looking at. Cassie was the one that took her shopping for clothes anyway. It was their thing.

"Aww…" Diana pouts but goes without a fuss to the bedding aisle.

"Why don't you help me pick out some sheets for your sister?"

"There's one with stars on it." Thomas points out and grabs the set to hand to the seven year old.

Diana rolls the set around in her hands with a scrutinizing gaze and then shakes her head. "No. She needs animals."

She looks up at the selection of bedding and finally points up at a set with little brown rabbits. Thomas grabs it for her and after she scrutinizes it like the one before, she smiles and nods and holds it up for Valerie to see.

"Do you like it Valerie?" She asks and the two year old grabs it and scrunches her brows at it before smiling.

"Bunny!"

Stephen chuckles. "I'll take that as a yes." His phone then rings and he takes it out of his pocket to answer it. "Yes love?"

"Heyyyyy Honey…" Tony starts and the sorcerer instantly narrows his brows in suspicion even though his husband can't see.

"What did you do Tony?"

"What? Nothing! Everything's fine! FRIDAY just told me you were at the store and thought I'd tell you that we're low on diaper wipes." Tony answers casually.

"Lucy is covered in grease again isn't she?" Stephen asks flatly.

"It suits her."

"She is two weeks old! Give her a bath. A proper one."

"Yes Duchess." The mechanic chuckles. "We do need more wipes though."

"Noted."

Stephen hangs up and rolls his eyes as he directs the kids to the baby section. Wordlessly, he grabs at least three packs of wipes before grabbing a fourth just in case. Tony had a habit of wiping down Lucy with diaper wipes whenever she was down in the lab with him and she got dirty, but Stephen didn't even know how he managed that. Her motor skills were still nearly non-existent and he wondered if maybe his husband used her as a rag.

He wouldn't put it past Tony. He got tunnel vision whenever he got invested in a project. Stephen couldn't complain though. Lucy loved being in the lab with her father and Tibbs, and whoever else happened to be in there with them. Granted, she slept through most of the chaos, and when she didn't, she was very helpful to Tony.

Baby noises were apparently helpful.

"We better hurry and finish up so we can go save your sister." Stephen says.

"It might be too late." Thomas jokes.

They finish their shopping and Stephen opens a portal back to the penthouse where they find Tony giving Lucy her bath. Before Stephen can even open his mouth, he sees the baby tub in the sink and makes a strangled noise when he finds the water in it nearly pitch black.

"I'm afraid to ask...but what happened?" He asks through clenched teeth.

Tony looks up and actually looks a little sheepish. "Domino effect I think? Something backfired, Tibbs was startled...and I think he knocked over a box of dust."

"I wouldn't be surprised. You barely clean the lab." Stephen sighs. "I hope you found a baby underneath all that filth."

"I did. She's very cute too. Can we keep her?" Tony holds up their naked baby daughter and grins.

Stephen can't help but chuckle.

"You get to change the diapers."

"Always stuck with the dirty work." Tony grumbles.

#ironstrange #stephen strange #tony stark #supremefamily #mama bear stephen strange #mama bear au

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ask-impure-vessel · 3 years

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I don't know if this will reach you at the right moment in time Vessel but, peace friend, The Wyrm has already shown he cares for you greatly and you have done him no disservice or wrong. This may simply a matter too important to discuss elsewhere and His Majesty may be too caught up in his own troubles to understand the affect he has on you.

[Note: Frank discussion of anatomy, anxiety/panic attacks, unreality, post-traumatic stress, past abuse, suicide, disordered eating, self-harm, stuff about the Abyss with all that entails and other such unpleasantries. Strap in, folks!]

The vessel felt like their body was somewhere a few steps to the right and back of them. Their father said nothing as he led them down to the workshop.

You don’t understand. You don’t-

There’s a distant panic in Vessel’s voice. They still keep walking, they must. The order was given. Despite what happened in the Abyss, control still belongs to the Pale King.

It was as if nothing had changed at all.

For the first time, they begin to resent that. The workshop is the last place they want to be, for multiple reasons besides the temple that was to become their agonizing grave. This is not a place that holds any good memories for them, not a single one.

They arrive in that darkened place, the birthplace of moulds, all thousand of them-700 kingsmoulds, 300 wingsmoulds-where Wyrm's research led to the vessels that rested in the infirmary and that walked into the room. The king shrugged off his silken robe, leaving on a shirt that still covered what was considered a decent amount in Hallownest, showing off the truth of his form; it had been a while and Vessel Hallow was shocked by the changes to his father's form.

He was a being of pure white carapace, plates with softer flesh between, especially around the joints; his skin was sunken, his belly not just thin but almost concave instead of convex. He looked a bit muscular, but mostly because he appeared to be starving. He was dull in color, the white often not as bright as it could be, looking almost dirty with a lack of nutrients to look glossy and nice.

Wyrm could subsist on soul like a vessel, but that didn't mean it was pleasant for him to do so. He was much like other bugs in physicality, fueled by food, water and having to use the toilet to flush out what his body didn't use of those things. His genitals were internal, just like any bug, his shirt covered where that was hidden.

His secondary set of arms were more visible now, as was the lower half he usually ambled upon: multiple legs and a long tail that terminated in a pointed end. His tail was thin, almost collapsed with the lack of care.

What was more alarming were the splotches of black. His hands were absolutely covered in it, just beyond the wrists but the lines that raced upwards were far more concerning. Void taint was a part of Hallow's body but for a pale being, such a sight promised long, lingering agony. The absolute rigid calm their father practiced suddenly became a lot more impressive.

It left Hallow in minor shock.

Father, are you dying? Have you already assured your death? Was it on purpose that you inflicted starvation and void poisoning upon yourself? I can think of few less painful, lingering deaths.

"Come. Please kneel so that I can more easily examine you and the changes to you." He activated the door seals and waited in a clear space.

<Father, I-> The vessel walked and knelt, words cutting off with anxiety.

Wyrm activated and checked on the seal on Hallow's mask. "Interesting, joining with the Lord of Shades didn't disengage this? I hadn't expected that. It must have been greatly weakened over the course of my rule and being forgotten. I had thought them already dead." He muttered and began to ghost fingers over the notches Hallow had. "Where did the Kingsoul go?"

That had been a question Hallow had been dreading.

A hand touched upon Hallow's chest. "There it is, if changed greatly at your breast. It became your core? Brace."

It was more warning than Hallow usually got; sharp pain radiated through their being, as something touched their heart.

<Father, it. It hurts.> The vessel gasped out. They were not words sufficient, but they were descriptive enough for their use.

"Please bear it a little longer. This is a very beautiful charm that has become your heart even if it is taboo to my being."

The pain grew to shocking agony, then to a fading sensation, Hallow felt like their body was a distant, cut off thing.

<Father, please. Stop!> The vessel spoke in growing horror, fear and concern.

The Pale King was faced with a decision then-and let go of the charm. Sensation slowly returned and the vessel gasped on the floor, curling in on themself on the floor as mind and body reconnected. It was painful as the disruption the Pale King had inflicted and the vessel would have gagged if they could on the feelings of revulsion they now felt.

They instead wept on the floor, black tears falling onto the ground as they shivered and their mind turned to things they did there, the pale Wyrm unheeding to a child's pain in the terrible silence; the screams that echoed only through the void, the vessel capable only of displaying stiff trembling to their master.

They recall the efforts to ensure they could learn magic. The painful process of 'installation' over being taught the theory that took place here. The studies that involved dying here and their shade. When the various seals were made on their shell and mask, the burning magic that had kept burning on their mask for days from them. They had done nothing but suffer in this room and this day had proven no different.

"Vessel, I. I'm sorry, that went too far." The king stroked their mask, making a soothing sound, a purr that Hallow hadn't heard before.

Hallow felt the dam burst and sat as they cried, for all the things they'd wanted and had never had. That Wyrm was holding them now, comforting them now, touching with loving intention rather than with cold intent of science or with violence. The feelings were somewhat positive, but many were bitter, some even bordered on hate and disgust that they didn't know what to do with. They had so many things to say, for themself, for the things that had been done to them and the things they'd missed out on. For the way their father had run away the moment their emotions had become known like a damnable coward. That had been a choice Hallow had been denied, they couldn't say no-yet this day, for the first time, they had asked for their father to stop.

And he had listened.

The Pale King let Hallow get out everything they'd needed to, to calm down and recover from… whatever it was that he'd been doing to them. <This one doesn't want to be experimented on again, or studied. This place, it brings back bad memories for it.> Hallow spoke, in a shaking mental voice. <It is painful for this vessel to be here.>

"Oh, Vessel. I had no idea it was that upsetting. Let's go to my study, then so you don't have to be here. You never have to come in here again." The King promised and led the shaking knight from that terrible place.

They settled down in a chair this time, the king likewise going seated. "I will apologize. That was too far, I needed to explain what I was doing and why-to ask for your permission. It's not easy to break old habits. I noticed you dropped first-person pronouns in your stress." He spoke frankly with sadness.

<This one supposes not. It felt like it was… dying.> Hallow shuddered. <Did you pull this vessel away to speak, or was it to satisfy that curiosity?> They asked tiredly.

"A bit of both, admittedly. To ask you how you're feeling, but that's… obvious, right now and is very much my doing." He sighed and leaned forward. "I'll have to be invasive one more time, I'm afraid but perhaps not this day, to let you recover. I need to set you free and I intend to."

<You'll… free this one from its bondage?> Hallow rephrased in mild disbelief.

"Yes. As my final order in that bondage, for the rest of your life should something happen and I am unable to undo that binding-I order you to act of your own free will and feelings, as you see fit and judge is right. I relinquish control over your will and mind. There will need to be magic done to completely remove the binding, but it will no longer function."

<It will thank you, father once this one is wholly free.> Hallow spoke diplomatically. They couldn't exactly forgive him entirely yet if the harm was still there.

"I understand. You are a higher being now, truly. While you could read the language of the gods and make things function that are for gods, you didn't have a few aspects that would elevate you from a child of higher beings to purely one yourself. However, you do not have worshippers and as much distaste as I have for the god that was, that will need to change for your own health."

<That must be why the Lord of Shades said they were very, very starved. Speaking of, father. Why are you starved?> The vessel spoke pointedly. <This one believes they can ask some pointed questions and get answers in return. You owe it at least that much.>

"I. Eating is a currently disgusting endeavor to me. Certainly, I did like it once and ate but. Since the vessel project started, my. My enjoyment became nil." He replied honestly. "My shame steals the joy out of anything I do."

"I do not regret having you for a child. I regret that I killed so many and the crimes committed against the siblings who didn't make it. I regret how I've treated you. I don't know if I could make it up to the survivors but I will at the least try for the time I have and make sure your siblings do not go through the struggles you did." The king chose his words carefully. "I believed I had no other recourse. No other choice that wouldn't see my people dead or entirely enslaved to the Old Light-but I do not think I deserve forgiveness for being a kinslayer, for my mistreatment of you. I have been something to you for sixteen years. Would have been that for two years more, so you could have your final moulting and complete your training. I would have nailed that armor to your carapace and left you to her tender mercies. In that, I was wrong. I intended to kill myself once I was sure my people were safe and could carry on in my absence."

<It knows. It realized that when it went down into the Abyss before becoming the Shade Lord.> The vessel spoke, voice thick with pain. <You're dying, aren't you father. That's why you don't mind sacrificing yourself to the Grimm Troupe either. You are dying and you want to die.>

"I've done too much to live or to allow myself the pleasures in living. The situation in Hallownest is my fault. Your pain is my fault. The many, many broken masks in the Abyss are my fault. I am a kinslayer, who committed infanticide of his own children. Even a god doesn't get forgiveness for those kinds of horrible actions. I deserve the suffering you children experienced. I deserve the deaths I visited upon the children I deemed not good enough. Yes. I am suffering void poisoning, it is an agony I bear constantly. My light holds it at bay enough that I can live five more years without drastic actions." He spoke bluntly.

"Exposure to void with proper protections isn't deadly. A bug can be scarred by void without dying, in fact the exposure can have beneficial effects such as on the ageless mask maker. Void poisoning in mild cases caught early enough is treatable. So I suppose yes. I did that to myself deliberately." He spoke numbly. "It's… actually a relief to admit that. I wasn't expecting that."

<It's not treatable now. You're dying. How long do you have left?> Hallow felt like the ground was opening beneath their feet.

"No, even I will succumb to a case this severe having gone on this long. Five to seven years, depending." Wyrm spoke clinically. "Your mother doesn't know, but she's not very curious and finds my company odious these days. I don't want her to know."

<You aren't the only one. Would you die as a member of the Grimm Troupe?> Hallow pondered.

"No, time is frozen in a sense for a member of the Troupe. As a sacrifice, my original body would likely be immolated, the presence of void cast out as anathema to it as well. It's not got a will of its own so expelling it for the Nightmare Heart would be doable. It's just not for me between having a corpus much closer to mortal form and my diminishment as a god."

Hallow rubbed a hand over their chest. <Father, please free this vessel today. Now.> It was firm. <This vessel just wants to love you as themself. Not as your property, as your child. Whatever you have done, it does not know if it can forgive, but love. Love is something this vessel has always been able to give.>

The first time Hallow had ever demanded anything for themself and only themself.

Tears came from the king's eyes. "As you wish, Lord of Shades my child."

The bindings lit up as the king touched, claws digging into the mask with a strange sensation that felt like it should hurt but didn't. The light burned, the mark burned. But the claws were quick, chanting even and fast. Soul pooled around the king's hands.

The chains broke and Hallow felt a weight come off, something they hadn't realized had been there for a very long time. The remnants would be there, like an invisible scar until they moulted, but then-then it would be gone.

It would take time for them to understand what they'd gained and lost at once. <Today I learned that this one's father is not brave. Please. Please live. Even if your crimes are too much for your heart to bear. Stop running away. Please. Face what you have done, face us who you have wronged. It's not too late.>

"...I can try. I love you, my child." He touched foreheads with Hallow, a familial kiss. "For all you vessels, I will try. I don't know how anymore, but I can still learn."

Hallow is not an adult. They are, however, now free of their father's chains.

#hollow knight #hk pure vessel #hk pale king #the choice

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ldrmas · 4 years

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Intrulogical Day 7 Free Day Submission

~ Hey Guys. I wasn’t originally going to have a submission today but I couldn’t leave this alone. I had to see Remus in the Beeltejuice get up. Or at least see it as much as I could since i can’t draw for frick sake. I’m too deep in the fandom that I couldn’t leave it alone. So a story is what you get. My basis of the look is Will Blum’s Beetlejuice Musical look. Here’s the look here

Okay so here we go. Intrulogical Week Day 7 Free Day! Warnings is that There is no Smut but heavy neck kissing. And Implied Sexual Teasing! This is also to go with my Octololli story and my Day 5 submission that Logan has a suit kink. ~ Halloween Day in the mind palace was usually like a regular day. It depended on the year. Usually it was just a regular day but at 7 o clock that was when the party started. Roman would spruce up the common room and they would have a Halloween movie marathon. A combination of horror, Disney Halloween, and fun Halloween movies. They needed the combination because Patton couldn’t do full horror movies. He would be a mess for the next several days if they tried it that way and they didn’t want to inconvenience Thomas like that. This year was going to be the first time all of them would be joining the party.

This year was also so bad that Roman had the common room ready right at 7 am sharp. He wanted to enjoy this day for as long as he could. The sides were free to do what they wanted to do during the day but Roman made them all promise to start the party at 5 pm. They all agreed to his conditions. They would meet back in the common room and would start the party on time. Logan hid out in the lab Remus had made him on the Dark side of the Imagination Kingdom. He would never admit to any of the others, but Logan had got dressed in his Halloween costume around noon. He played around the lab like a mad scientist possessed. After being denied being Doctor Frankenstein that one year he was thankful that he could finally wear the costume and not have to fear Roman changing it. He might have been acting silly but at least he was having fun. He could admit that. It might have been the powers of the Imagination finally getting to him but for today he could let it happen. They all needed a little fun in their lives after how bad this year had been. Time passed and he made experiments causing explosions, potions that had no purpose, and he even made a notebook and pen set that would copy his notes as he talked to the pen. He didn’t let the disappoint show on his face as he heard a knock upon the lab’s door. “It’s open.” He called out as he turned to a burner he had going and began to turn the flame down. The only reason someone would be coming into the room would be because it was near 5 o clock. He could hear footsteps stepping up to him. He reached for the water bottle he had within reach and took a sip. All the evil laughing had made his throat raw.

“It’s showtime, babe.” Logan paused as he recognized the line and the voice. He looked up at Remus for only a second then had the decency to at the last moment turn his head away as the water spat out of his mouth. Remus out right laughed as the water came out of Logan’s mouth and the poor Logic side started to cough from doing so. “What’s wrong, babe? Did I surprise you?” The Dark Creative side was dressed as Beetlejuice from the Musical. Remus had done an excellent job at recreating the look. With powers unlimited it wouldn’t have been hard for him to do so but still he could have half assed it as well. Logan should have known that Remus didn’t do anything half assed. Remus had taken the time to make sure the suit was the exact copy of the look from the musical. His jacket was covered in mossy splotches and was frayed where it should be. He had the stripped under shirt and pants plus his shoes were scuffed to accommodate the look. His tie was practically glowing even in the fully lit laboratory. He didn’t give himself a full beard, but he did still have his mustache that was tinted green. His hair was also standing up, wavy, and tinted green as well. The two had watched the musical because Remus had found a copy and had really loved it. Logan wasn’t one for musicals, but he was one for making Remus happy. Besides the fact that the main character was in a genuinely nice suit throughout most of the play helped Logan to like the show. Once they had both seen it Logan had admitted that it wasn’t the worse and he had somewhat enjoyed it. The glow of happiness from Remus at his statement had made his meta-fiscal heart flutter. He should have known Remus would chose this as his costume for Halloween. He knew Logan’s kink was suits so any character wearing a suit was one Remus was going to pick out of the others. He never missed a chance to make Logan blush. Which was what Logan was doing now. He was a little flushed from the choking on the water, but he could admit it was because Remus looked so hawt. The character fit Remus really well. Remus knew how to be demonic. Just like now, Remus knew his weakness was suits and to wear one that Logan would have to gaze at all night long would be the death of him. “Did I know how to pick them or what, babe?” Remus smirked as he adjusted the lapels and tie. Logan was still turned away from him but he knew eventually the Logical side would look at him again. “You…” Logan cleared his throat one last time to ease the ache from the laughing and now from his coughing fit.

“…Yes, Remus, you picked a …an ideal choice of wardrobe. “ Logan admitted as he finally turned back to the Dark creativity and settled his eyes upon him again. He used all his willpower and strength to not let a blush devour his cheeks and face. Remus smirked slyly as he ran a black fingernailed painted hand through his defining gravity green hair. “You did too, babe. I love it when you play mad scientist. You’re giving me a boner!” Remus laughed as he pulled out a femur bone from behind his back and waved it in front of Logan’s face. He smirked as Logan lightly smiled at the dumb recited joke from the play and took the bone from the dressed up creativity to set it on the table. “So Lo, you having fun?” “Yes. Very much. But I suppose its time for the party, that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? I don’t have a clock in the lab so I must have lost track of time.” Logan sighed sadly as he looked at his work bench to make sure all the work wouldn’t cause any more harm while he was out of the lab. “Yeah, Roman’s been whining for you. Saying we can’t start the party without you and all that but…” Remus chuckled as he moved Logan to face him then trapped him against the table. He placed his hands on either side of Logan before bringing a hand up and burying into Logan’s sweat slicked hair. He tilted Logan’s head to an angel before settling several pecking kisses right on the spot where the green colored being usually would leave a dark angry claiming hickey. “…We could just stay here and do something more fun instead. I’m dying here, babe, I wanna hear ya say my name.” Remus recited the line perfectly and a pleasurable shudder soared through Logan’s body at the words. It was tempting. Very tempting. They hadn’t gotten to hang out together as much as they would have wished these past few weeks. To finally have a chance to be with Remus alone again was so enticing that Logan almost said yes. But this night was important to them all. Holidays was usually mainly Roman’s thing but Halloween was also really important to Virgil. Plus he couldn’t bring himself to say yes when this would be the first year Janus would be included as well. The snake being didn’t do holidays as much but even he had been truthful to Logan and admitted that he was rather touched that they would be spending the holiday together for once. So no matter how much he wanted to stay with Remus all night and make those beautiful sounds that Remus was hoping for he still shook his head. He eased his hands between them and gently backed Remus away from his neck. “As much as I know that we both want to do such a thing, it wouldn’t be fair to the others. Let’s go to the party. You and I have time to be together like this after the others have had their fill of us.” Logan said with a small smile. He also leaned forward and kissed Remus tenderly to keep the promise that once the party was over they could do whatever Remus wished. Remus smiled into the kiss but eventually pulled back releasing Logan from the table. He still took his white gloved covered hand in his own though to start walking them out of the lab.

“You’re right, babe. On we go, cause like I said, it’s showtime!” They left the imagination kingdom as Logan laughed. Yes, it was show-slash-party time indeed. ~ And there we go. I hope you all have enjoyed. Thank you all for being part of Intrulogical Week. I have had soo much fun! I Love this musical so much so if you do too feel free to message me so we can talk about it!

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avis-writeshq · 4 years

Text

Akaashi Keiji x Reader - 青いバラ (Blue Rose)

Pairing: Akaashi Keiji x Fem!Reader

Summary: Blue rose - a flower of the genus Rosa that presents blue-to-violet pigmentation instead of the common red, white, or yellow. Blue roses are often used to symbolise secret or unattainable love.

Warnings: VAST MENTIONS OF DEATH, mentions of blood, slow burn, ANGST, fluff if you look carefully, and 9k words of me procrastinating and trying very hard to keep the fic alive. ALSO HANAHAKI DISEASE AU BC I’M ADDICTED :D

Other: Yo, sorry for dying on you giuys for like, a while. School started up again this week but it was online and I was procrastinating on legit eVerYtHiNg oop so, anyway, hugs and kisses, hope you enjoy this fic because I am so freaking in love with Akaashi it isn’t funny anymore.

Ngl, this fic took like 2+ weeks to complete, and my editor can attest to that :’) Hope you guys enjoy and don’t let this flop. Your requests are coming out soon so thank you for your support! Also I need a nice anon fam to keep nmme happy and occupied during quarantine :)

Word count: 9.1k

Editor: @creative-hours-open

Things you probably wanna know, for all you ‘x reader’ illiterates:

(Y/N): Your Name

(H/C): Hair Colour / Color

(E/C): Eye Colour / Color

(N/N): Nickname

***

You don’t remember when these feelings came to be. You don’t remember when you first felt your heart skip a beat whenever he walked past you. You don’t remember the first time you started replaying all your conversations with him in your head when it was 3 am and your brain wouldn’t shut up. You don’t remember the first time you blushed when he sent you a soft smile after you stared for a second too long. No, you don’t remember those things; but you do remember the first time a small blue rose petal appeared in your hand after you coughed too hard.

Hanahaki Disease: Hanahaki Disease (花吐き病 ) is a disease where the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. It can be cured through surgical removal, but when the infection is removed, the victim's romantic feelings for their love also disappear.

For months you lived with this disease not even your parents knew. How could they? After all, they were each other’s first love – their love wasn’t one-sided and besides, you didn’t want to worry them; you can get through this yourself.

Right?

You leaned over the bucket, velvet-soft petals tickling your throat before pouring into the overflowing bucket. Tears prickled the sides of your eyes, threatening to spill just like the petals that scattered to the ground.

God, does this ever stop? You coughed again, gasping for air as you sat on your knees on the cold tile floor. Shit, what time was it? You have school today! Coughing one last petal out, you emptied the bucket into a plastic bag and threw it to the side, grabbing your school bag and rushing out the house.

You couldn’t be late… the bus leaves and waits for nobody. You ran as fast as you could to the bus stop, stopping only to get oxygen back into your system. You still had the wind knocked out of you from spewing rose petals all over the bathroom, but you made it just in time.

The bus was basically full with the only seat that was empty being…

Shit.

You genuinely thought of flinging yourself out of the bus or just standing, but that wasn’t an option.

“Hey, sit down, will ya? I can’t move if you don’t,” the bus driver grunted as you flinched.

“S-sorry, sir…” you mumbled, holding your breath when you sat in the only seat available.

Clutching the bag in your lap tightly, you tried your best to ignore the awkward presence next to you. You went to the same school as him! You shouldn’t be feeling this uneasy…

“Ah, (L/N) (Y/N), right?”

Fuck.

You raise your eyes to meet his eyes. “Yes…? You’re Akaashi Keiji.”

He nodded, giving you a once over before finally saying, “Did you go to the flower shop beforehand?”

“No…?”

“You have a flower on your shirt,” he explained. “Well, a petal.”

Your eyes widened and you looked down at the collar of your shirt. Lo and behold, a bright blue petal was tucked away, but you can see most of it poking out. You felt your cheeks flush in embarrassment.

“Oh… ha ha… thank you?”

He nodded. “It’s fine…” He was quiet for a moment before murmuring, “blue looks good on you.”

***

Why did he have to be in the same class as you? Every single time he was near you, the flower in your lungs thought that it would be a wonderful time to bloom. Right after the bus stop, for example, you coughed your lungs out into a janitor’s basket before forcing your way to class.

Biology, the first class of the day and he was a foot away from you. Did the gods have something against you? Twenty minutes into the class, you felt yourself on the verge of another coughing fit.

You raised your hand meekly, and the teacher looked at you, an eyebrow raised in mockery. Your other hand was covering your mouth as you forced the bright blue rose petals down but you couldn’t. You let out a cough, a few petals falling into your hand. Begrudgingly, the teacher lets you go to the bathroom, and you run out the door frantically.

‘How pathetic,’ you thought to yourself as you coughed out more petals. The roots were getting deeper, you can tell. You cough harshly once more, and a small rose bud falls onto the tiled bathroom floors. ‘Get over yourself. He won’t look at you twice.’

But you knew that. You knew that more than the next person. So why… Why couldn’t you get over him? Each cough hurt more than the last, and the toilet was full of small blue petals. Some had small splotches of blood on them, and you could smell the metallic scent of the blood overtaking the soft scent of roses and tears. You wiped your tears with the cuffs of your school blazer. No more, you willed yourself, stepping out of the cubicle.

Splashing cold water on your face, you let out a breath as you stared at yourself in the mirror. When did you stoop so low? Your eyes were blotched with tears and your cheeks were hollow from not eating. This was just too much. You clenched your eyes closed, tears rolling onto your cheeks as you did. You shook your head; time to get back to class.

***

“Hey, are you okay?” Aneko asked gently as you nibbled on your lunch.

You mustered a smile to please her. “I’m okay.”

“You had a coughing fit this morning; I don’t think you’re okay.” She gave you a disapproving look and you couldn’t help but flinch under her scrutinising gaze.

“It’s just a cough. It’ll pass.”

You can tell she doesn’t believe you, but your silence finishes off the conversation. Well, it should, anyway.

“(L/N)-san, are you feeling alright?” A voice asks from above you, and you felt your heart drop.

“Akaashi-san. Yes, I’m okay, thank you.” You don’t look at him, eyes drawn to the bento in front of you as you fought the soft blush on your cheeks.

“If you keep coughing, the nurse should be able to give you some medicine,” he says gently, his eyes looking at you from above.

Your eyes flickered to his for a second. “I don’t think there’s a medicine that can help me.”

He opened his mouth to respond but is pulled away by a loud and boisterous third year. “AKAASHIII!!!”

“They need you,” you said, closing your bento. “I have to go. Let’s go, Aneko. Thank you for your concern, but I really should get going.”

“But-”

“AKAASHIII!”

He sent you one last look before running after his friend. You just stayed silent, clenching your fists in your lap as Aneko shot you a confused look.

“I didn’t know you were friends with Akaashi,” she remarked, frowning at you. “What happened?”

“Aneko,” you murmured, tears prickling your eyes, “do you know of the Hanahaki disease?”

Her eyes widened. “Don’t tell me…”

You just sent her a wry smile before running to the bathroom.

***

Another disastrous day. The bus was relatively empty on the way home, probably because some of the boys had afterschool volleyball training. Pulling your phone out of your blazer pocket, you opened up Google.

‘Is there a way to get rid of the Hanahaki Disease?’

Multiple sites came up; some were even websites of hospitals that claimed to get rid of the disease.

You pressed on a tab that seemed to answer your question.

‘Surgery can help, but I had a friend who was unable to feel affection after the surgery.’

‘You should confess first!’

‘The medical bills are really expensive, but it’s worth it.’

‘Would you rather suffocate from flower petals or lose the ability to love? My sister did it and she regrets it all.’

‘There’s a guy who does it in India for cheap.’

‘The cheapest is 150,000 yen. Good luck.’

You groaned, closing the tab and leaned back in your chair. Could this day get any worse? How were you supposed to get 150,000 yen, anyway? Even if you could afford the surgery, there was no way your parents would even allow you to take it. Hugging your bag closer to your chest, you let out a sigh. The only way to get rid of these emotions was to either have the person love you back, get over him, or surgery. There was, of course, the prospect of drowning yourself in bleach, but you didn’t think that your friends and family would agree to such ‘extreme’ methods.

‘Dammit, Akaashi, you’re giving me problems when I need it the least,’ you thought to yourself, as you stepped out of the bus. How long does it take for this disease to kill you, anyway?

The answer was six months. According to your research, you have had the Hanahaki Disease for a minimum of four months, so you were basically on the verge of death. In other words, you had 2 months to either take the surgery, get him to fall in love with you, or die. The options didn’t seem too promising.

Your parents weren’t home today, as usual. A note was waiting for you on the kitchen bench and you suppressed a sigh.

‘Dinner is in the microwave. Don’t skip your dinner.

~ Love, Dad’

You skipped dinner anyway.

***

School counsellors were really… different. They’re not teachers, but they teach you valuable ‘life lessons’ when you really need it. They’re not nurses but they take care of you when you’re hurt. Well, they take care of you when you’re hurt mentally.

According to a lot of other students, the counsellor at Fukurodani could either be your best friend or sworn enemy. But at this point, you were desperate. You really needed advice and you couldn’t just ask your friends. No, that wouldn’t work out. After all, they were as insane as you.

“Tell me whatever you need to tell me,” she said with a gentle smile as you looked around the room that enclosed you.

The room was really… childish? Ladybug wall stickers decorated the walls topped with a huge cat poster plastered by the door. And still you questioned yourself, God, what were you supposed to say?

You had it rehearsed in your mind, ‘I have the Hanahaki Disease,’ but when it was your turn to talk, your tongue was glued to the roof of your mouth.

The woman across from you, bless her, just sat there with a patient nod. She handed you a pen and paper.

“Can you write it for me?” She asks as she puts her glasses on.

You did as you were told.

You watched as she read over your scrawl and her jaw dropped. It just… dropped. You’re not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but her jaw dropped as she gaped at you, glasses askew.

“The Hanahaki Disease… are you sure?”

You raised an eyebrow as if to ask, ‘I have rose petals coming out of my mouth and you think I’m not sure?’

She sighed, leaning back in her chair. “You know, that is very dangerous. Have you consulted a doctor? Have you told your parents?”

“I don’t want to worry anyone,” you mumbled, “my parents aren’t home a lot so they wouldn’t have time to take me to the doctors, and the surgery is pretty-”

“You’re considering the surgery?” She cut you off, mouth open and surprised but there was more to that; she was… concerned.

You grimaced. “What else can I do?”

She raised an unamused eyebrow but a ghost of a smile spread on her face. “You can try telling him?”

The thought alone made you feel sick. “I don’t think I can. He obviously doesn’t like me that way.”

“Have you tried talking to him?” She prompted, taking out a notepad to write in before nodding at you to continue.

“We only had one decent conversation and that was about English homework. We’ve only talked once outside of school and…” you fell silent, averting your gaze. “Why would he like me, anyway? He has volleyball to put up with, and his grades are perfect. He doesn’t need a love interest entering his life.”

The counsellor sighed, looking you dead in the eye. “The most important thing for a relationship to bloom is communication. If you can’t hold a conversation now, how is that supposed to help you in the future?”

You hated it when important people had a point. “It gets worse when I’m near him.”

“Just imagine you’re talking to a friend,” she said kindly, before proceeding to ask more questions.

***

You stepped into the class halfway through your fourth period. All heads turn to you as you lowered your head in embarrassment. Meekly passing the teacher a late slip, you took your seat behind Akaashi Keiji.

You couldn’t bring yourself to say anything when class ended and everyone packed up to get ready for their next class. However, the first move had already been made.

“Akaashi was asking about you,” Aneko said as you grabbed more books out of your locker.

Your eyes widened, flickering to hers for a split second. “What did he say?”

“He wanted to know if you were alright. I was getting worried too, y’know; you were in the counsellor’s office for a lot longer than I expected.”

“She wouldn’t stop talking,” you said in a half-hearted explanation. You didn’t want to go into the details.

“(L/N)-san, you went to the counsellor’s office?”

You wanted to shrivel up and die. You didn’t prepare for this! What were you supposed to say now?

Letting out a small breath, you turned around to face him. “Yeah, but I’m okay.”

“Is your cough getting any better?” He asked gently, peering down at you with concern.

“Yeah, I’m getting better,” you lied, praying for the little flower growing in your lungs to disappear in this short moment.

He nodded, “I’m glad. Ah, and I photocopied my notes from the previous classes. They should cover the lessons.”

You swallowed thickly, fighting the heat that clouded your cheeks.

You stuttered out a timid response. “Thank you…”

He sent you a small smile before taking his seat. You felt sick all over again and coughed out some more petals. Aneko’s eyes watched you with concern as you faked a smile.

“I’m okay. I don’t need to go to the bathroom for this,” you said, hoping to calm her nerves.

“I’m taking you to the doctor’s after this, got it? Screw your parents, you need some medical advice,” she deadpanned, her tangerine eyes staring into yours and you can’t help the sigh that escaped your lips.

“We’ll talk more after class,” you promised before sitting down and going over the notes Akaashi made for you. Your heart hammered in your chest as you read his kanji. Unsurprisingly, it was neat. But then again, what were you expecting from Akaashi Keiji? He seemed to be the type to take everything quite seriously.

Ten minutes pass. Then twenty… thirty minutes later and you wonder to yourself, I didn’t cough once?

***

“How long did you say you had this disease for?” The doctor asked.

“According to Google, around four months,” you answer, fiddling with your fingers.

“Any particular reason you didn’t come with your parents?”

“They had work.”

Aneko hummed to confirm your statement. “She’s alone for most of the time. That’s why I am here to help!”

“Right…” the doctor eyed her before turning back to you. “Have you talked to him?”

“Why do people keep asking me that?” You mutter to yourself, digging your nails into the palms of your hands.

The doctor let out an exasperated sigh. “Unless you can earn yourself an ungodly amount of money, the only thing you can do is hope to earn his affections. That or the flowers in your lungs will kill you.”

You knew that. The words seemed to fall on deaf ears because, hell, you knew that better than anyone in the room. Were you the only one with this disease? Everyone you talked to, everyone you confided in… they never seemed to have this disease. Your parents were in love with each other as soon as they met. The school counsellor has never been in love with anyone before. Aneko and her boyfriend have known each other since they were kids and fell in love relatively quickly while this doctor makes the Hanahaki Disease sound so simple. As if it was nothing more than just a small phase or bump in one’s life.

Bull shit.

You didn’t want this disease any more than the next person. Why? Because the disease hurt; it hurt a lot. The worst thing about it was the fact that there was no actual cure. The disease itself was kill or be killed; kill your feelings, or kill yourself. There was not an actual cure. Scientists didn’t know how the flower itself blossomed in one’s lungs. They didn’t know how to cure it.

The worst part? The Hanahaki Disease claimed the lives of more people than traffic accidents and suicide combined. People weren’t necessarily scared of the disease. They were just… uneasy and you understood why.

One thing was for certain though; the Hanahaki Disease was based on genetics. So somewhere along the line, one of your family members was affected by this particular disease. Of course, your parents probably never even thought about the possibility, so they probably didn’t test if you had the gene.

Man, you really hated your parents sometimes.

You left the doctor’s office silently, eyes downcast. Your knees trembled from below you and you felt as if you could collapse any minute now.

“Aneko,” you murmured, stilling yourself and looking at her. “I didn’t cough when he was there.”

She frowns, “What do you mean?”

“When Akaashi was next to me, I didn’t cough a single petal. Not even once did I cough. I only did when class ended.” You showed her a weak smile before continuing. “It probably doesn’t mean anything though, does it?”

“This is why you need to talk to him,” she said before stepping in front of you with her hands on her hips. “You’re dying, (Y/N). That isn’t something you should be taking lightly.”

“I know,” you whispered, avoiding her eyes. “It’s not that easy you know. He has things to do and… he doesn’t need this right now.”

She nodded, continuing to walk down the street. “I’m a pretty shitty friend, huh?”

Your eyes widened, and you gape at her.

Quickening your pace to catch up to her, you glared. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know how you’re feeling right now. I’ve never been in your situation and I… what am I supposed to say to you?” Her voice is rising and you noticed that she had stopped walking altogether. “You’re always the one taking the shots and helping me. You’re the one who introduced me to Eito. You’re the one who stays up late to help me with the assignments I put off. You’re the one helping everyone with their problems. You’re always giving, (Y/N), you’re always the one who puts others in front of yourself!”

Tears leaked out the sides of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. You opened your mouth to say something but she cuts you off.

“This is the one time you’re meant to be selfish. This is the one time you’re supposed to put yourself first. All you do is give! People –” she choked on her tears before saying – “people envy you, you know? I envy you! You’re usually so happy… you’re so willing to help others, even if they’ve done you so much wrong!”

She wiped her tears with her arms, but they kept coming. “This – this is the one time you need help with something and I can’t even do anything!”

She’s crying harder and all you can do is watch on. Fat tears dropped to the cemented ground as she wails louder. “Be selfish for once, (Y/N)! Please… I can’t lose you!”

You’re crying now, too, but you don’t realise it until you taste the salty tears from the corner of your mouth. They spilled silently as you watch Aneko, your best friend, sob into the sleeves of her jumper .

If anyone was around, they would think that you were weirdos. Two random teenage girls crying their eyes out in the middle of the street wasn’t a natural occurrence.

You wipe your tears away with the back of your hand and offer her the most realistic smile you could muster. “Let’s head home, okay? We can binge that sports anime you’ve been meaning to watch.”

She sniffs, the last of her tears splashing to the floor. “Okay.”

***

You’re both late to school the next morning but you don’t really care. Aneko leaves at 5am to sneak into her house that was two blocks away from yours. You’re racing to gather your things so that you can do your homework in the bus.

After puking out another bucketful of rose petals in the bathroom, you’re bolting out the door to catch the bus. There were more places to sit now, and if this was any other circumstance, you would have sat as far away from Akaashi as you could.

‘TALK TO HIM!’ You order yourself and you do before you could change your mind.

You pulled out your geography homework. From the corner of your eye, you note how Akaashi’s eyes do an onceover of your work. Trying to block him out, you began to answer the questions.

What metropolitan area is the largest in the world not bordering a body of water?

What the heck? You blanched at the question. You don’t remember this being in the textbook! You screamed internally, and you have half a mind to pull out your phone to do some research.

“The answer is Johannesburg, South America,” a voice from beside you says helpfully.

You look up, your eyes are met with gentle navy eyes. Your cheeks burn as you look away. How is it possible to have such pretty eyes?

“Oh… thanks,” you mumble, and you let out a breath. “Hey, Akaashi?”

His eyes widen and he clears his throat. “Yes? Is everything okay?”

“Uh… thank you again for photocopying your notes! It was really nice of you! I would’ve gotten them from Aneko, but her handwriting is… questionable,” you laughed lightly, easing yourself into the conversation. “Thanks for caring, is all I’m trying to say.”

The smallest of smiles makes its way onto his face and he looks at you with sincerity. “I’ll always care, you know?”

“Wait, really?” You blink twice at him, confusion swirling in your chest.

He nodded at you, looking out the window. “I care more than you think.”

***

The conversation replayed in your head over and over again, and you can’t help but stare dreamily out the window. When lunch began, Aneko snapped her fingers in your face, bringing you out of your daze. You flush, looking up at her as she grinned down at you.

“So… what happened with Lover Boy over there?”

“Nothing,” you wave her off, trying to ignore the blood that rushed to your cheeks. “We just… talked.”

She wiggled her eyebrows at you teasingly. “So are you guys, like, together yet?”

“It’s not that easy,” you mutter, raising an eyebrow at her. “Love doesn’t just appear, it builds over several conversations and it takes time.”

“Not all the time; Eito and I had love at first sight,” she swooned lightly, and you rolled your eyes at her antics. “Anyway!” She exclaimed, slapping the table. “You have to talk to him more! You like him, right?”

“Obviously,” you deadpanned, giving her a look of amusement.

“Then go talk to him!”

With that, she pulled you out of your chair and pushed you out of the room.

You rolled your eyes, “That wasn’t very Plus Ultra of you.”

“(L/N)-san?”

You spun around to face the person, a small smile on your face. “Hi, Akaashi-san! Yeah, Aneko threw me out of the classroom.”

“Oh, I see,” he nodded in understanding.

“AKAASHIII!”

You jolted out of surprise, eyes widening when you see a third year look down at you.

Akaashi let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Bokuto-san. What are you doing here?”

“What’s wrong with seeing you? You’re annoyed of me, right?” A pout rested on his face, and you couldn’t help but question his strange hairstyle as you looked up at him.

“Um… hello? You’re Bokuto Koutarou, right? The captain of the volleyball team?” You forced a friendly smile.

“You must be (L/N) (Y/N)! Akaashi talks a lot about you!” He grinned at you with an owlish expression.

You felt your cheeks tinge red. “Really?”

“That’s enough, Bokuto-san. You’re scaring her,” Akaashi sighed before turning to you. “Ignore him. Do you want to watch our volleyball practice after school? You seem to be interested.”

You flush pink. “I don’t want to be a bother…”

“I invited you. It’ll be fine.” A small smile made its way onto his face. “I’ll take you after school.”

You grinned, “Okay!”

***

Aneko beamed at you, pinching your cheeks while she was at it. “Aw, (Y/N), I’m so proud!”

You rolled your eyes, pushing her hands away from your face. “He invited me to watch his volleyball practice; it’s not that big of a deal.”

“It is when you like him!” She cheered, the smile on her face widening. “You’re gonna cure that dumb disease and you’re gonna get a hot boyfriend. I rate that ten out of ten.”

You don’t respond, instead finding your phone much more interesting.

“Huh? What are you doing? (Y/N)…” You could practically hear the pout in Aneko’s voice.

You moved your hand away, blocking the screen so that she couldn’t see who you were texting. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Then show me!” She whined, before a sly smirk rested on her lips. “Oh, I see. You’re texting Akaashi, right?”

“What makes you think that?” You flushed, looking away from her.

Aneko grinned, patting your head in jest. “Have fun with him, (Y/N)! Don’t forget me, alright?”

You couldn’t help but laugh, knocking her hand once more. “Alright, alright. Now go away, Eito is waiting for you.”

She nodded, brushing her mousey brown hair out of her face. “Text me tonight, yeah?”

You hummed in agreement before turning back to your phone.

“(Y/N)-san,” a voice called out, and you felt your cheeks redden.

You let out a breath before smiling up at the setter. “You don’t have to add honorifics, Akaashi-san. We’re friends, right?”

“Then call me Keiji,” he offered, looking down at you.

“Keiji,” you said slowly before nodding. “Then call me (Y/N).”

“I’ve always liked your name,” he remarked nonchalantly. “Come on, we have to get to the gym, okay?”

With a slight skip in your step, you followed him to the Gym 03. He slid the door open, revealing multiple yellow and blue balls flying over volleyball nets. They flew from all directions, and stray balls seemed to be more dangerous than the actual people. The people in the volleyball team were tall, big, and intimidating. You couldn’t help the little shiver that crept up your spine.

You felt a hand rest on your shoulder and you looked up at Akaashi. He sent a reassuring smile your way.

“They’re not as scary as they look,” he promised, taking you up to the high rises. “They’re a bunch of babies when you get to know them.”

You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped your mouth. “I’ll take your word for it, then.”

Watching from above, you noticed the way everyone on the team worked together; how they cheered each other on and the way they dealt with Bokuto… everyone was a lot friendlier than you thought they were.

But all the peace and happiness you held was cut short as your stomach lurched and you felt your heart thunder in your chest. Your lungs suddenly started wheezing for air and you stumbled down the stairs. Trying your best to open the gym door as inconspicuously as possible, you bolted to the nearest bathroom to empty your lungs.

You gasped for air, coughing wildly as petals spilled out of your mouth and onto the walkway. Droplets of blood fell into the palms of your hands before inking the ground. Thorns tumbled out of your mouth, scratching and wounding your throat as you staggered to the bathroom, the metallic taste of blood filling your mouth and taking over your senses. Your left hand leaned against the side of the gym, and you tried your best to stabilize yourself, but trying seemed to be futile.

Sobbing from the pain, you fell to your knees as petals and rose buds fell out of your mouth. God, this could not be happening right now.

Breathing heavily, you furiously wiped the tears and sweat off your face. You looked around you at the mess of blood, flowers, and thorns. You stared at the dark green thorns that scattered around you, and you couldn’t help but feel another wave of dread wash over you. Why…? Why was the disease getting worse? You thought that everything was getting better; Akaashi was talking to you more and you were making so much progress with him as well! So why was it getting worse?

You sucked in a breath, trying to regulate your breathing as you wiped your tears away. Your lungs burned in your chest as you got up from the ground, trying your best to clean the mess you made. Somehow managing to make it look like someone didn’t commit murder with a bouquet of flowers, you made your way back to the gym.

Forcing a smile, you slid the gym door open. All eyes turned to you and you felt a blush rise to your cheeks.

“Um… I had to go to the bathroom,” you said shakily, avoiding any and all eye contact.

“You were gone for a while,” Akaashi noted, “are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, I just needed to get some air, y’know?” You faked a laugh before waving him off. “I’m fine, really. Go back to practice, Keiji.”

He nodded silently, glancing back at you for a split second.

“AKAASHIII! It’s your serve!” Bokuto exclaimed. “NICE SERVE!”

Picking up the ball, Akaashi let his eyes wander to you as you sat at the high rises. He felt his heart tug in his chest as he threw up the ball to serve.

Don’t lie to me.

***

Practice ended a while later, and you had done your best to not gawk at your long-time crush. Sure, you have seen his games before, but that was live on a screen. This was different. Here you could feel the thud of the balls as they hit the floor violently, and you could feel the heat and exhaustion leaking off the players; you don’t feel that kind of thing through a screen.

“Thank you for letting me watch your practice,” you said, bowing respectfully at the coach and the two managers.

They smiled, and the coach replied, “You’re welcome back any time.”

“(Y/N), I can walk you to the bus stop if you would like?”

You felt yourself panic internally as you stood in front of the open door. You didn’t need to turn around to know who it was but you do anyway.

Opening your mouth to say ‘no’, you found that the only word that escaped your voice box was, “Sure.”

“I’ll change first, and then we can go.”

You answered with a slight nod, and the pain you felt just moments ago filled your thoughts. Shaking the feeling off, you waited by the gym doors.

“So, you and Akaashi?”

You felt your heart leap to your throat as you spun around to face the person. It was Suzumeda Kaori, one of the team managers on the volleyball team. She smirked at you, sending you a knowing look.

“We’re just friends,” you said bashfully, but on the inside you wished that what she said was true.

She didn’t believe you for a second, “Really?” She asked drily, the smirk on her face widening by a second. “So… you don’t like him?”

“I… never said that,” you said under your breath, and you felt your cheeks burn in embarrassment. “We’re just friends though. I doubt he even knew I existed until a few weeks ago.”

“Huh,” she remarked, before picking up a stray volleyball. “Whatever you say, (L/N)-chan.”

“(Y/N), are you ready?” Another voice cut in, and you nodded your answer to the question.

The walk to the bus stop was calm as the cherry blossoms fell and drifted over the two of you. It was nice, to say the least. Every so often, you found yourself glancing at the setter through the corner of your eye before forcing your gaze to turn back to the path. You groaned internally. You were falling harder, and the fact that you practically had a ticking time bomb planted in your lungs wasn’t helping.

“I’ve noticed you and Bokuto are really close. When did you meet?” You cringed slightly at the poor excuse of a conversation starter, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“I met him last year when I first went to the club. He said that my tosses were good,” he smiled slightly at the memory, and you felt your heart skip a beat.

“That’s pretty cool. He’s really loud, so I was surprised when I found out you were both friends.” You let out a small laugh.

He nodded in understanding, “I get that a lot. He’s not that bad when you get to know him. When I introduced you, you looked pretty intimidated.”

“I was… surprised. He’s really loud and he’s quite the character.”

“He’s a good guy; and he’s reliable.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

Silence is the only thing that followed as you waited at the bus stop. Akaashi had taken sudden interest in his shoes, and you were trying to wrack your brain for a conversation starter.

“I forgot to ask,” he said, cutting the silence. “Are you feeling any better?”

You blinked at him, clueless for a moment before it dawned on you. “Oh, yeah, I told you I was fine, didn’t I?” You shot him a reassuring smile. “I was just feeling light headed in the gym. It was really warm.”

“Ah, right, that makes sense. I’m glad you’re feeling okay, (Y/N).”

Why was he able to make something as simple as your name sound nice? Blood rushed to your cheeks as the bus pulled to a stop, and the both of you took a seat. Cheeks still flushed red, you focused your vision on the window. There were a few scratch marks here and there, and you watched as the cars drove past. Red car, blue car, black car, black car, white ca-

“Are you hungry?” A calm voice questioned from beside you.

You opened your mouth to answer, but you didn’t need to.

Your stomach growled at the mention of food.

Keiji chuckled softly before handing you a curry bun. “Here.”

You eyed it warily, “Do you have one? I don’t want to eat your lunch or anything… and you’re the one who was doing the physical activity.”

“I have one right here,” he said, pulling out an identical bun. “Have it.”

You hesitated, but took it gratefully, taking small nibbles. “Thanks.”

The rest of the bus ride was relatively quiet, the both of you having small snippets of conversation throughout the ride. The bus lurched to a stop, and you glanced outside the window to check what stop you were at.

“Ah, this is my stop, Keiji. Thank you for accompanying me; it was really nice of you.” You grinned, showing a clumsy bow before picking up your bag. “Thanks for the food as well!”

“You don’t have to thank me, (Y/N). I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” He smiled gently.

With a final wave, you stepped off the bus before making your way to your house, cheeks warm and a goofy smile on your face.

Meanwhile, Akaashi sat in the bus, staring wistfully out the window. With a final sigh, he picked up his phone and clicked ‘call’ on a particular contact.

“Bokuto-san. I need your help.”

***

You returned to school the next day, expecting for the day to be the same as every other one but when you stepped into the classroom, you found a strange biological piece of matter on your table.

A single blue rose with all the thorns cut off on your desk. It was just… sitting there. You suddenly felt sick. Who the hell confesses to someone with a blue rose? Albeit, it was a very pretty flower, but it wasn’t something one would confess with. That is, if this one was a confession. What happened to the red and white roses at the flower shop? It was nowhere near Valentine’s Day or White Day, so there shouldn’t be a shortage of supply.

The only conclusion you could make was the fact that someone knew about your disease. Someone must have seen you. Your stomach churned with anxiety as you picked up the rose. There wasn’t a note to go with it, so there was no way for you to find out who delivered it to you. Then again, the rose might not have been for you.

“Ooh, Whatcha got there?”

You yelped at the sound of your best friend’s voice, nearly dropping the flower in your hands.

“Don’t creep up on me,” you grumbled, shooting a glare at her.

Aneko grinned, plucking the rose from your hands. “What’s this? From a secret admirer, maybe?”

“I think someone knows,” you said abruptly, crossing your arms over your chest. “Did you tell anyone?”

“What? You know I don’t talk to anyone but you and Eito and I didn’t mention anything to him.” She frowned, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe Akaashi knows?”

“Why would he know?”

“He invited you yesterday to watch practice. You did say that you had a coughing fit right?” A sly smirk made its way onto her face. “Maybe he got worried when you left the gym and followed you.”

You let out a sigh as you took a seat at your desk. Resting your chin on the palm of your hand, you looked at her expectantly. “He wouldn’t like me; he probably just thinks of me as a friend.”

Bending down to reach eye level with you, she flicked your forehead, and you yelped in pain. “Stop being a baby and tell him.”

“It’s not that easy!” You countered, rubbing the area she flicked. “I can’t just magically make the disease go away by confessing. He has to like me too!”

“You’re not making it any easier,” Aneko pointed out.

You shot her a fiery look, hitting the top of her head with a maths textbook. “Shut up, Aneko.”

She pouted at you before taking her seat. Akaashi entered the classroom moments later, taking his usual seat in front of you. You felt your heart hammer within your chest as you stared at his usual unruly mop of black hair.

You did your best to focus on the task at hand. However, trying to focus on a class you had zero interest in was becoming a problem. Staring at your very blank page of paper, you were very close to screaming. What was the lesson on again? Was this maths or geography?

“Ah, (Y/N), Eito wanted to talk to me about something. I’ll see you later!” Aneko exclaimed, and you brought yourself out of your reverie.

“Wait what?” You glanced around, but the classroom was pretty much empty.

“Wait, Aneko-”

But she was already out the door. You groaned, hitting your forehead against your table in frustration.

“I really should have paid attention,” you muttered to yourself, squeezing your eyes shut.

A small shuffling sound next to you snapped you out of your daydream and you looked up at the person.

“Keiji?” You couldn’t bring yourself to say another thing, your mouth opening and closing as you thought of what to say.

“You seemed to have trouble with the lesson,” he said gently, holding a book out to you.

You blinked at it warily before gingerly taking it. “You don’t have to do all this for me. And… how did you know that I couldn’t concentrate?”

“Aneko,” he responded, looking at you intently. “You can borrow my notes.”

You watched as his eyes wandered to the rose that was on your lap and you felt your cheeks burn. “Ah, this is nothing! It was on my desk and I guess someone put it there. I don’t know who, but-”

“Do you like it?” He asked, his eyes ghosting over your face.

“Yeah… it’s a shame it probably isn’t meant for me, though.” You offer a shy smile.

He nodded briskly before patting your shoulder. “Do you want to watch practice again today?”

“Really?”

“Why not? It gave everyone else motivation and you enjoyed it, right?”

“Yeah, I did! It was really cool watching everyone work together like that; your tosses were amazing! It seemed to get the whole team to bond. You’re really focused on the court. I guess you have to be when you’re the control centre of the team.” You shut your mouth abruptly, and your cheeks reddened even further. “Sorry, I’m rambling aren’t I?”

“I don’t mind,” he said tenderly, a strange fondness on his features. “We’ll go to the gym together at the end of the day.”

You beamed. “I look forward to it!”

***

The rest of the day goes smoothly. Well, as smooth as it could be. Halfway in your third period, you choked on a thorn and had to be excused for a full half-hour before returning to the class. For most people in the class, you were either faking to skip class or you were genuinely sick. Strangely enough, your teachers seemed to understand your situation and didn’t question when you left the class randomly.

Wonderful, you thought to yourself for the umpteenth time as all heads turned to you when you had returned to class, I’m absolutely pathetic.

You could still taste blood when you walked with Keiji to the gym, but holy shit, you wished that this could end.

And you realised that maybe it would end; very, very soon.

“Akaashi-kun!” A high pitched voice rang in your ears and you flinched slightly.

You and Keiji were just about to leave the school when a girl with bouncy yellow curls pushed her way between the two of you. You blinked, confused and rather insulted as you stumbled backwards, watching the girl cling onto Akaashi’s arm. You watched as his jaw clenched in agitation.

“Can I talk to you?” The girl asked with a sickeningly sweet smile as she side-glanced you before hissing, “Alone.”

He nodded wordlessly as he followed the girl.

You were no stalker; you were no eavesdropper either. Looking up at their retreating figures, you tried to find a reason as to why you should stay put. Your lovesick brain didn’t have a good enough reason.

“Akaashi-san, I like you!”

You choked as you clapped a hand over your mouth when you heard her high-pitched voice screech a confession.

“Thank you, but I like someone else,” Keiji’s monotone voice said, and you let out a breath of relief.

That was good, right? Maybe it was you! Or maybe it won’t be. You groan inwardly, steeling yourself as you listened to their conversation.

“I’m sure I can be better than her!” The girl exclaimed and you rolled your eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I like her very much.”

Oh. You slowly made your way back to where Akaashi had left you, thoughts running through your mind. How were you supposed to compete against her?

Moments later, Akaashi returned to your side, hands stuffed in his volleyball jacket.

“Did you wait long?”

“No, not really. The bus is coming, we should go.”

He nodded, wordlessly walking beside you. The silence that followed was, to say the least, awkward. You had a feeling he knew you were listening in to his conversation, and he knew you were uneasy about the entire situation. Tugging nervously at your bag strap, you couldn’t help the glances you sent from the corners of your eyes.

“Hey, Keiji,” you interrupted the silence and he turned to you, eyebrows raised as a signal to continue. “Uh… do you want my number? You can tell me when you have practice so I can bring extra food.”

“I don’t mind bringing you food, (Y/N),” he said, but a small smile was etched on his face. “I’ll give you my number, too then.”

And so, numbers were exchanged and the apples of your cheeks were flushed in happiness. That was progress, right?

The bus pulled to a stop, and you hopped up from your seat. “Thanks for walking me to the bus again. See you tomorrow!”

Dropping your bag to the floor, you slumped onto your bed, a small yawn slipping from your mouth.

From: Akaashi Keiji

Did you make it inside safely?

You grinned at your phone, quickly typing in a response.

To: Akaashi Keiji

Yep!

To: Akaashi Keiji

Thanks again for letting me come to practice!

From: Akaashi Keiji

Do you want to come to practice tomorrow?

You couldn’t hold back your squeal.

***

Three weeks passed in a blink of an eye and your friendships with the volleyball team grew. Aneko was still going out with Eito, and that would mark their second year of dating. Unsurprisingly, they dragged you into their two year anniversary, so you were forced to third wheel with them. That was when Aneko found out that you and Akaashi were texting a lot. She gave you hell for it.

“Four weeks,” Aneko remarked suddenly, crossing her legs as she rested against your bed.

You glanced up from your homework, “What do you mean?”

“You have exactly four months to live.” Hugging the pillow in her arms tighter, she looked up at you. “What are you gonna do about it?”

“What am I supposed to do about it?” You mutter, spinning your chair around to face her. “I’ve done everything I could.”

“But you haven’t even told him yet!” She countered, clenching her fists.

“I don’t have to tell him anymore! He…” You trailed off, recalling the words he spoke a few weeks prior.

“I like her very much.”

His words carwled back into your mind and you managed a wry smile. “He said he liked someone. That’s all I heard.”

“How do you know she isn’t you?” Jumping up from the floor, she shot you a pointed look. “Tell him you like him. There’s no point in both of you liking each other and not acknowledging it by confessing.”

“But what if it isn’t me? I’ll ruin a perfectly good friendship,” you argued, folding your arms over your chest as you reciprocated the look.

She groaned, grabbing hold of your shoulders. “Then he doesn’t deserve you. You have to tell him! The whole story!”

“No promises,” you laughed, shaking her hands off of you. “Get off!”

She rolled her eyes, the smile seemingly stuck on her face. “I’m really happy for you, (Y/N).”

“Thanks, Aneko,” you grinned up at her, “You’ve always supported me with everything.”

“Then support me with a meal!”

“Fine.”

***

Fortunately for you and Aneko, Akaashi had invited you to his usual Wednesday practice with the volleyball team. The whole team treated you like an extra manager, asking you to bring refills if they really needed it. Despite knowing that there were already two managers, you were perfectly happy with helping them out while you could. However, while the team was fine with you joining practice upon invitation, people seemed to take their enthusiasm for you being there an invitation in itself.

One of those people just happened to be Etsudo Emiko, the blonde girl who confessed to Keiji a few weeks ago. After he plainly rejected her the first time, she decided to take it upon herself to barge into the after school volleyball training. Unfortunately, when the other managers complained about her being a distraction to the team, Etsudo brought up the fact that you were allowed to watch the practices freely. As much as the coach wanted to take their side, he knew that the only way to get rid of Etsudo was to stop allowing you to attend the practices. The problem was, while Etsudo did virtually nothing to help the team, you motivated the team in multiple ways.

Nevertheless, Etsudo was allowed to attend the volleyball practices if she didn’t bring anyone else to which she swiftly agreed. Hence, the three weeks of patience testing began.

“Keiji! You did so good!” Etsudo’s high pitched voice reverberated through the gym.

The rest of the team let out quiet groans as the girl ran down the stairs to latch onto the setter’s arm. He let out a frustrated sigh, tugging his arm away from her. Not relinquishing, she trailed after him, completely unabashed.

“Am I the only one who hates her?” Kaori asked, her nose scrunching in disgust as she pumped a volleyball with more air. “You’re the one who likes Akaashi. I’m surprised you can even stand to be in the same room as her.”

“She’s totally annoying,” Shirofuku Yukie, the other manager, remarked. “The whole team knows that there’s something going on between you and Akaashi.”

You managed a small smile, “There’s nothing going on between Keiji and me. He probably doesn’t even like me that way.”

The both gave you a piercing look. “Are you stupid?” They asked together.

You don’t respond, eyes trailing back to Keiji. Etsudo was still clinging onto him, pouting up at him with her big green eyes.

A small cough erupted from your throat, and a lone petal found its way into the palm of your hand.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” you said awkwardly, dropping the ball you were holding to the floor.

“Are you-”

“I’m fine,” you responded by default, “I’ll be back in ten.”

With that, you ran out of the gym, a hand over your mouth as more petals dared to fall.

Why was the bathroom so far away?

You gasped for air as petals and thorns spilled to the ground, your tears following after them. Blue rose buds stained with blood escaped your throat as the metallic taste filled your mouth as dark red thorns scraped the delicate skin. The pads of your fingers dig into the red brick wall, the skin scratching as you dropped to your knees.

Despite the obvious pain and the salty tears that streaked down your cheeks, you couldn’t help the sarcastic laugh that you let out.

“Déjà vu really is the worst.”

A violent cough erupted once more, and you inhaled a shaky breath as more petals drifted to the concrete floor. As they did, the gentle patting of footsteps distracted you for a moment before the footsteps stopped directly beside you. Panic rose inside your chest. You needed an explanation!

While you wracked your brain for an excuse, a hand rested in the middle of your back.

“Breathe, (Y/N),” a gentle voice whispered.

If you died now, would Aneko kill you?

… Probably.

Your coughing died down after several minutes, and you wiped your mouth with the back of your hand.

“I’m sorry,” you mumbled, eyes trained to the mess in front of you.

“What are you sorry for?” Akaashi questioned, crouching down to be level with you.

“I’m disturbing practice, aren’t I? What’s Bokuto gonna do without you?” You shot a teasing smile at him, but it didn’t quite meet your eyes.

Keiji sighed at your answer. “Don’t answer with another question, (Y/N).”

“Sorry,” you said automatically, cheeks flushing in embarrassment. “I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

“Who is it?”

“What?” You stuttered out a response, looking up at him for a second.

“Who is it?” He repeated, his gunmetal eyes boring into yours.

“Why do you want to know?” You asked, getting up from the ground to gather your mess. “It’s not important, anyway.”

He was silent as he rose to his full 6 feet form looming over you. “Not important?” He repeated, mostly to himself than to you. “How can you say that about yourself?”

“Well I’m obviously not lying,” you countered, pointing to the floral monstrosity at your feet.

The muscles in his jaw tightened, and you noticed the way played with his fingers. He was worried – nervous, maybe. “You can die from this. I’m not as oblivious as you think I am.”

A sarcastic laugh erupts from your throat, but it comes out more as a strangled chuckle. “Sure, Akaashi. Whatever you want to believe.”

The look on his face darkens, and you avert your eyes from his. When was the last time you used his last name? His watchful eyes glanced over your face, trying to read your emotions. If he could read Bokuto, he would be able to read you, right?

Absolutely.

“I know you’re scared, (Y/N). You need help to get better.”

“Do I, though?” The eye roll you pulled off had you feeling a little guilty, but at this point you were done with everything. “I don’t need to get better.”

“Why do you keep saying that?” He demanded, the tension in the air growing thicker by the second.

“Maybe because it’s true!”

“I’m saying it’s not!”

He let out a frustrated grunt, eyes shutting for a moment as he thought of what to say. “You mean a lot to everyone.”

You scoff, “really?”

“Have you thought about Aneko-san, your parents, the team? What about-” He stops short, shutting his jaw closed as he averted his gaze.

“What about what?” You ask tentatively, your eyes still fixated on the mess in front of you.

“… Me.”

Your eyes flickered to him, the slight hunch of his shoulders as he stood.

“Have you…” A forced smile made its way onto your face. “Have you considered the possibility that he might be you?”

The silence that followed seemed to taunt you and you berated yourself internally. Did you hear wrong? Did he say something else? Maybe you were mistaken.

In split seconds, you felt a pair of gentle arms surround you, wrapping you in warm embrace. You had the slight temptation to laugh – were you in some shoujo manga or something? But instead, you return the hug, burying your face into the crook of his neck.

“I really like you, Keiji.”

“… I really like you too.”

***

~The End~

All characters except for the reader and my OC’s (listed below) are the work of Haruichi Furudate (古館春一). This is not part of the canon work by any means. I do not claim ownership over the characters or the Haikyuu storyline and plot. Without Furudate Sensei’s work, myself as well as many other writers are unable to create these stories.

My OC’s:

Fukuhara Aneko(福原あねこ)

Hasegawa Sakura (長谷川さくら)

Emiko Etsudo (えつどうえみこ)

199 notes · View notes

lcnelyinthesky · 4 years

Text

that time - kenma x reader

a/n: good evening! i feel like i haven’t written in ages, but maybe i kinda wish this wasnt the piece i was coming back in with. in any case, here she is.

based on that time by regina spektor

genre: angst

warnings: heavy mentions of drug use and suicide.

word count: 1.4k

Do you remember the time when I found a human tooth down on Delancey?

It was a perfect spring day. The flowering trees existed in all of their beautiful glory, painting the green grass with splotches of pinks and purples. You walked around a park, looking to meet up with your boyfriend Kenma.

Hey, remember that time we decided to kiss anywhere except the mouth?

Your boots clunked around your feet with every step you took. The legs of your baggy jeans rubbed against themselves as you walked, creating the slightest vibration. The light cotton of your shirt melted into your skin. Your hands found each other behind your back, fingers interlocking. You looked around at the trees and benches and people in dark clothes as you strolled along the paths.

Hey, remember that time when my favorite colors were pink and green?

You remembered the past fondly, a small smile creeping to your face as you thought about the first time you met your kitten. You were at a party with your friends, passing drunken stories around the circle you had formed together. Your pastel pink shirt was tucked into your olive green pants, the fabric held together by a grey belt with a chain attached to the loops. You moved the silver links around in your fingers when a group of guys came in, a particular one catching your eye more than the others.

Your fingers anxiously fiddled together while you dug deeply into the yellowish eyes of the man standing above you, who proceeded to shoot you a coy smile. He sat down next to you, maroon fabric of his shirt folding as his posture faltered.

He took a liking to you instantly, both of you clicking as stories continued to pass around the room. You giggled as his face turned red every time a so-called “Kuro” poked fun at him.

Hey, remember that month when I only ate boxes of tangerines?

You were just broke college students, but you made it work. Your shared, albeit small, income covered the rent of a tiny studio apartment and you figured the rest out somehow. None of that really mattered though, because you’d take waking up in his arms, engulfed in his cinnamony scent, over a dorm any day. He was always so cute in the morning. His sleepy eyes told you they loved you without him uttering a word. His hair would be in every single direction but he wore it so well.

So cheap and juicy, tangerines.

Kenma spent most of his time at home. You’d carry him to bed after he passed out at his post, eyes glued to a monitor. You’d lay his exhausted body in bed before you went to shower, and when you’d come back to him, his position would have changed entirely. You’d climb in next to him and face him while he slept. The scent of orange on your breath became something that could never fail to lull him to sleep.

Hey, remember that time when I would only read Shakespeare?

You were always one with spurts of energy, whereas his energy was constant and unwavering. You’d randomly tell him something you wanted to do and he’d laugh, causing a flame that allowed you to actually get it done.

“I’m gonna memorize Lady Macbeth’s monologues. All of them.” You looked up from your phone at your boyfriend. His gaze met yours as his mouth twisted into a smirk and his eyebrows raised.

“Definitely, baby. I’ll learn Macbeth’s and we can be them for Halloween.” He laughed at you slightly, but it was all out of love. It always was.

Hey, remember that other time when I would only read the backs of cereal boxes?

You sat at the kitchen table in a trance, staring down the box your breakfast came from. Kenma walked in, sleepily trudging towards you, and asked what you were doing. The words came in one ear and out the other, an empty haze going over your brain. He went to the kitchen and tried to hide the clinking of a pill bottle with a story about a woman he saw in the park. He swallowed something mint green with water, before asking you--once again--about your blank stare.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Kenma walked over to you and placed an arm around your back, bringing you back to reality. You shook your head and looked up at him, asking flirtatiously if you could join him in a morning shower. He stuttered out an “okay”, but that’s when the worry started.

Hey, remember that time I tried to save a pigeon with a broken wing?

“Kenma! Hey!” You shouted, panicked in front of your apartment complex, a bird in your hands. The sky was a pale grey that contrasted heavily with your bright yellow shirt. The terrace attached to your living room had someone standing on it now.

“What the hell is that?”

A street cat got him by morning, and I had to bury pieces of his body in my building's playground

You wore black the next day. Something in you became used to the lack of color. It wasn’t exactly a change in personality, and it sure was subtle. Kenma never noticed when your closet’s colors started to fade. Nothing confused him when you left your pink shirts at the laundromat on purpose. Yet he was so observant elsewhere.

I thought I was going to be sick

But maybe something went too deeply into his brain, occupying his every thought. Nothing really seemed too different because his focus was always deep in a video game, but then you beat him at Mario Kart.

Hey, remember that time when I would only smoke Parliaments?

He wasn’t as sharp with a controller in his hands. He stopped falling asleep at three in the morning, sometimes turning in at as early as ten. He started spending more time away, walking down the alleyways between office buildings before and after his normal desk job.

Hey, remember that time when I would only smoke Marlboros?

You woke up at seven one morning to an empty bed, knowing you fell asleep next to your boyfriend at twelve the night before. You rubbed your eyes and stretched your arms, walking twenty feet to see a blob of dyed blond hair and plushy black fabric.

Hey, remember that time when I would only smoke Camels?

The bags under his eyes were deeper and darker than you had ever noticed them. His eyes fluttered open at the soft touch of your hand and he groaned at the brightness of the light.

Hey, remember that time when I was broke?

“Shit, y/n. My neck hurts.” His arm reached around to massage the back of his neck, wincing his eyes shut at the light movement.

“What’s this about, Ken?” Concern littered your face and nipped from your voice. He came back to reality slowly.

I didn't care; I just bummed from my friends

“I- uhm. I got too warm and had to sleep on the couch. Sorry, baby.” He seemed genuine. He put on a genuine face for you. The stutter made you doubt him.

Hey, remember that time when you OD'ed?

You were still strolling about a park, waving hellos to birds as they flew by. The black denim of your baggy jeans rubbed together, creating the slightest vibration. A tear fell from your squinting eyes at the memory. The happy facade you created fell quickly and all at once.

Hey, remember that other time when you OD'ed for the second time?

You were looking to meet up with your boyfriend Kenma at the usual spot. He would be sitting there happy to see you, ready to push your hair from your face the second you sit down next to him.

Well, in the waiting room while waiting for news of you

Plot 34D. There were always flowers placed in the small vase. Kuroo came every three Thursdays. You typically went on Saturdays.

I hallucinated I could read your mind

“Hey, Kenma. On the way over here I was thinking about that one summer I only ate those tiny oranges! Remember how you always said they reminded you of your friend Shoyo?” You giggled, tear falling onto the well-maintained grass. “I stole one from a little farmers market in town and ate it right there. You would’ve scolded me so bad.”

And I was on a lot of shit too, but what I saw, man, I tell you it was freaky

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abloomntime · 3 years

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A Bloom In Time Ch 1 A Flower Princess Lost

An non-beating heart is a bad thing to most, but not a bad thing if you were already dead and didn't need anything like that of course. Snatcher is a complicated spook that already has everything he wants now and with two little kids constantly playing in his woods and asking him to join, he has more than enough of his mushy love anyways. But when a familiar face and secret pops up, it may prove that the beating of love may still come from beyond the grave.

*******************************************************************************************

Warning: Mentions and briefly explains Snatcher's death.

Would it be so wrong to say I love you when you obviously didn't love me back the way I loved you? Would it be wrong to say I would I like you more than any other thing when you didn't see me more than a stranger? Would it be so wrong to want to hold you when you would be confused at my touch? Would there be any world where we were aloud to be together, with your hair flowing like rose petals and eyes of the beautiful blue sky. Where no one would stop them and no duties got in their way.....But it wasn't meant to be because no amount of begging or asking would probably change the way you see me right now. The smile I'm giving you as you talk about the flowers like they were your proud children and you were mother nature. You would make the best mother nature. With your fiery passion and gentle kindness. You always listened to me. Didn't pressure me to picking. Always smiled and never EVER treated me as some fairytale prince I wasn't, which is why after all these years of knowing you and loving someone who I know definitely loves me, but for all the wrong reasons, and as much as I love her back...I think I love you more.

"Your Highness? Are you alright?"

He snapped out of it and yellow eyes blinked up at the lady who's stolen his heart. The fairytale romantic love of a Queen with beautiful blonde hair and emerald eyes was the first to catch him heart and he fell hard for her, but overtime that vision started to blur into one of fiery red passion and smelt of flowers. He could imagine his Queen in a wedding dress of pure white and covered in lace, but now he couldn't get the idea of how the maiden with red hair would look shyly looking at him in a dress of white, flowers in her hair and a red hue to her face as he held her close, wedding bells sounding as he promised her he would always love her. Forever.....But he should get his head out of the clouds. From the day he was born, his parents and Vanessa's mother had an arranged marriage for the two royals, and he didn't think even though she was Queen now, she'd let him go so soon with how attached she was....and how forcing his parents were about this. So he smiled at the confused face on the beautiful woman with hair of the rose.

"I'm perfectly fine. Vanessa's just been....A b-bit cranky lately. So I wanted to surprise her with some flowers today. M-Maybe that'll help calm her down. "

That got her attention when she rose a brow at him and asked a question that made him flinch. "Is this like the time she banned everyone here from eating bacon?"

He waved her off. "N-No, no. She was only concerned about my health, a-and she's right. Bacon has too much fat. I could loose a few more pounds and eat healthier.''

Her beautiful blue eyes ran over him with a raised brow. She looked like she wanted to say something but didn't and instead smiled and pointed a hand to the flowers around her in her stand. "Well, how can I help you this time, Prince-y? We have a fifty percent discount on mixed wild daisies this week, more sprouted up than expected, but they smell great and multicolored. A colorful rainbow bouquet would brighten up anyone's day!"

He looked at the many flowers she was pointing to and smiled and nodded. "Y-Yeah. Vanessa's loves any flowers I give her! These are perfect! You know what, I'll take some thanks!"

She smiled and went to work on getting the flowers. Cutting them and getting the pretty pink paper to wrap them in so he could present them to his beloved Queen. He couldn't help but smile at the gentle way she handled the flowers ...but remembered. He didn't have any pons to pay her with. He spent the last on them on getting Vanessa an anniversary gift yesterday after she insisted he'd better do something to make her happy and 'prove he still loved her by not forgetting. And he didn't. He got her a beautiful bracelet with beautiful blue saphires studded into it and was getting her flowers on top of that....But- When she turned back to him with a smile, flowers ready to go...It was like it was stupid but-...He immediately held up the bracelet to her without question, smile on his own face. She blinked at the sudden gift held out to her before looking back up to his face in question.

"Take it. I-...I-I got three others at home just like it," he lied with a smile but it felt like the right thing to do at the time, "Besides. I-I don't have any pons on me right now."

He stared at him more. "Oh, no. I couldn't!" She held up her hands. "I couldn't possibly just accept it like that. Here." She held the flowers out to him. "You buy so much anyways. This time it's on the house."

"NO!" He insisted. Gently placing the small bracelet into her hand while staring into her eyes. "I may be a prince but even Im not above getting things for free just because I buy a lot of it. You obviously put so much work into growing such beautiful flowers and I won't let hard work like that go under paid."

They ended up just holding hands unintentionally for a few seconds as they talked and smiled. Neither noticed the beautiful golden sunshine haired woman with beautiful green emerald eyes suddenly stopping and watching from the dark corner of the alleyway. She stared in absolutely horror as she watched her prince, her beloved perfect prince holding hands with a...a...A PEASANT GIRL!! This girl with bland red hair that looked like it was dunked in tacky red paint and gotten red splotches all over her face, dirt smudging her tacky dress and obviously dirty and not fit for anyone other than another low life peasant like herself. AND YET THERE THEY WERE!! Holding hands, smiling, and giggling like they were...A Happy couple..NO! NO!! HE WASN'T ALLOWED TO LOOK AT ANYONE LIKE THAT!! HE WAS ONLY SUPPOSED TO LOOK AT HER LIKE THAT!! HER! THE ONE WITH EYES OF EMERALD GREEN AND PERFECT HAIR SHINIER THAN GOLD!! FAIR SKIN AND BELOVED BY HER KINGDOM!! RICH AND COULD GIVE HIM ANYTHING HE ASKED!! THEY WERE THE ONES THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO GET MARRIED WITHIN A YEAR'S TIME!! THEY WERE GOING TO ADOPT ONE OF THE CHILDREN FROM THE VILLAGE TOGTHER!! HE COULDN'T WAIT TO HAVE A CHILD BUT SHE WANTED TO WAIT UNTIL A FEW YEARS INTO THEIR MARRIAGE BEFORE HAVING ONE!! IT WAS GOING TO BE THE PERFECT THING FOR THEIR IMAGE!! ADOPTING A CHILD OF NONE ROYAL BLOOD AND LOOK LIKE ONE OF THOSE FAIRYTALE STORIES!! THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO DO THAT TOGETHER AND HE'S.....He's holding hands with someone who's not fit to even be in their story beyond a lowly subject!! With tears stinging her eyes she hiccupped and turned to run back into the darkness of the alley, if she would've stayed a little longer she would've seen the florist hand over the bouquet of flowers meant for her to he beloved prince and him paying her with the golden bracelet. The movement out of the corner of his eye made him look towards the swift movement and he easily recognized that fancy green dress running back into the shadow of the alleyway.

He jumped almost dropping the flowers he was just handed. "Vanessa!?" The florist looked to where he was looking but didn't see the woman that dashed into the alleyway as he stared in confusion. "Vanessa?.....Why did she run away so suddenly?"

...The florist shrugged lightly with a smile. "Maybe she was embarrassed she walked in on you getting her flowers?", she suggested.

....He gave a smile. "OH! Of course! She's considerate l-like that." He gave an almost nervous smile and turned back to her before bowing. "T-Thank you for your help once again...Ms. Poppy."

She waved her hand. "Oh, don't mention it! It's always to see just a nice man be so considerate and give the gal he loves so many flowers."

The gal he loved...Heh. He guessed that was true. He still loved Vanessa in some way or another...but lately..he wasn't too sure about things, but he was sure she was right. Vanessa was just in a bad place for a few years. Her mother was sick and dying slowly, she just got crowned Queen a month ago after her mother had an accident, her new duties were overwhelming her, and with him still doing his princely studies about law it musn't be easy for her. But like any betrothed, he was going to try and work through these problems together. But he still couldn't stop smiling after he left the Florist to her work. Cute freckles and blue eyes clouding his vision. He was sure as soon as Vanessa saw these flowers she would perk right up! She always enjoyed it when he brought her gifts like these- OH! How wrong he was. As soon as he got to the manor, Vanessa's vacation spot away from her huge castle, everything suddenly felt....off somehow. Like a tense and thick aura was in the air, so thick one would have to use a battle axe to cute through it, but upon further searching he found her. Vanessa, his beloved Queen with golden hair, weeping in one of the hallways, back faced to him and of course the sight pained him. What could've brought her to this state of being?

"Vanessa?!" She flinched when he shouted her name and came near her. The sound of his footsteps stopping just behind her. "Sweetheart? W-Why are you crying?" Sudden worry came over him. Oh no. Did she think he forgot their anniversary?! That made him hold out the flowers with a giant smile. "Don't cry. I-I got you these! Look. A-Aren't they beautiful?"

".....How could you betray me, Philip?" Her voice growled out. And he took a step back, was it just him or was the room suddenly darker? They needed to open up the blinds more. But the shadows seemed to come from her as she growled again in a voice that was clearly NOT the sugary sweet voice of his beloved maiden. And betrayl?? What was she talking about? "How could you CHEAT ON ME!? AFTER EVERYTHING WE'VE BEEN THROUGH!! ALL OUR LIVES WE WERE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER!!" Her form slouched over as the shadows continued to consume her and her once beautiful emerald eyes twitched with a red of rage and anger he'd never seen before tears beginning to consume her eyes, or the one eye that was exposed to him at the moment. He froze just staring at her in horror as the same distorted voice asked another question. "How could you give your heart to that PEASANT GIRL!?"

He stared at her in absolute fear as she growled like some wild animal at him, "W-WHAT?! You mean-...N-NO!! Nonono! You have it all wrong!" He held up the flowers with a strained scared smile. "I wasn't cheating on you! I would NEVER cheat on you! I was paying her and got you these! S-She grows the most beautiful flowers in the land, and you deserve no less than the best!"

"LIAR!!" The not-Vanessa shrieked like she was a banshee making him almost drop the flowers. "I SAW YOU HOLDING HANDS!! AND LAUGHING AT HER JOKES!! FUNNY HUH?! WELL I HOPE PLAYING ME FOR A FOOL WAS WORTH IT, PHILIP!! GUARDS!!"

As if being summoned out of thin air, two heavy footsteps of the iron dressed guards came stomping down the hallway and like an idiot he looked back to her with pleading eyes. "Vanessa! I wasn't I swear to you! I was merely paying her for the flowers n-not giggling at her jokes! AAH!!" He yelped in fright when he was suddenly surrounded. two giant armored arms snatched him and wouldn't let go!

She giggled without any humor. "Oh, Philip. You played me the fool for so long perhaps a punishment is in order for you. Take him to the celler and CHAIN HIM!!! I never want to see his face again.....And then seeze the florist. No crime against me shall go unpunished."

WHAT?! POPPY!! "W-WHAT?! VANESSA, PLEASE NO!!" Two arms latched onto him and no matter how much he kicked and struggled he couldn't get out of their grasp. The flowers dropped to the ground as he reached out for her one last time. Her tears forming deadly ice to match her cold heart. "P-PLEASE!! DON'T HURT HER!! SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!! VANESSA!! NOOOOO!!!"

He weeped and weeped when he was painfully suspended in the air by his wrists. The coldness taking over him as he hiccuped and mumbled to himself and choked on those tears. He didn't know how long he stayed down there actually. TIme flies when you couldn't see what was happening but he was sure he never stopped crying for all that time as he got weaker, and weaker. Just getting colder and colder as the cold seeped into his very core...he was almost gone. Looking back up towards the ceiling and through his tears he wondered what was going on up there. He couldn't hear anything but he hoped Poppy was alright. He'd never forgive himself if Vanessa did anything rash. He hiccuped. His beloved queen. This was all his fault.

"I-Im sorry. IM SORRY! IM SORRY!! IM SO SORRY!!" He yelled to the empty air knowing full well no one could hear him. But Vanessa was not the one he was apologizing to. The maiden of feiry red hair and ocean blue eyes. "I-Im s-so sorry, Poppy. *hic*"

The cold crept further and his body felt light, somehow his shadow was extending, his life force fading into it as those handsome brown eyes closed to the darkness and numbing-

"I-...love-..."

The shadows and darkness consumed him. The shadow enlarging and morphing and contorted into a being of power and enhanced abilities. A gasp escaped the creature as it looked down at itself. At the same time moonlight shown through the window and what was left of the prince and his willpower faded away into the moonlight, so when the creature looked behind it, the prince was gone from the chained wall. The prince with his heart split into two by his heart splitting between two and found attachment in two very powerful elements of dark and light. Moonshine and shadows. The creature looked down at his new self....feeling his grin widen and a powerful laugh that many would come to fear vibrating around the basement of his new found freedom.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!''

***************************************************************************************************************

"GAH!!"

Something wacked his head and he immediately jumped to the air. If he still had lungs he would probably be panting and looking around wildly around the room he was in. No cold walls caging him in. No coldness seeping into him. No Vanessa or chains or....Poppy. Instead a small pale little girl was staring up at him with concern as she watched his confused face darting around the area....He was on her ship. Her strange cute ship of the small seven year old in front of him. He had been laying on the pile of pillows she had and looking around the area as if he was afraid for a moment. Before he sighed in releif and reached up a clawed hand to rub at his head and hair. Staring down at the little girl standing upon the pile of pillows, holding one dangling in her hand, which he guessed must've been the thing that wacked. He sighed again and slowly lowered himself down look at her better.

"Kid. It's already pass your bedtime probably. What are you doing up?"

Her head tilted and those blue eyes blinked at him before a tiny hand reached out and poked his face where a nose should obviously be if he was human and he rose a brow. "Boop!"

"....Did you really just wack me with a pillow for THAT? Kiddo, you should really find better reasons to wake me up." Two clawed hands gently reached down and picked her up from under the arms. She dropped the pillow from her hold and instinctively wrapped her arms around him as he floated her back down to her bed, the covers were already pulled back from her getting up and her friend snored away happily on the floor next to her bed....He made a mental note to get her a bed sometime. Bow couldn't be expected to keep laying like that on the hard floor, he gently placed the young child on the bed and went to pull the covers back over her-

"You were mumbling something funny." She said making him stop and blink at her.

"Oh yeah?" She nodded. Dang nightmares. He barely had any, but he still got the occasional blast from the past. Wasn't being a cursed prince fun? He pulled the blankets up and she snuggled down with her stuffed toys he hand crafted for her. "And uh..What exactly did you hear me say?"

She shrugged again as she was recovered and he started tucking her in. "Your head was in the pillows." He went to roll his eyes when something grabbed onto his hand. And he looked at her wide excited smile spread across her face. "Can you tell me a story?"

"Squirt, I already read you the one you wanted with the space unicorns," he grumbled remembering the ridiculous book the girl begged him to read to her.

"Yeah. But I always sleep better with a story, and if I don't sleep I'll get up and bother you again." She gave him that cat lipped smug face and he groaned lifting a hand to rub his face and look down at the child in the bed. Before sighing and giving in. She was right. He'd done this too many times to not expect a sudden pillow attack from the hyper story deprived child.

"Fine." He turned back to the bookshelf by her bed and looked over the many childish covers. "Which one do you want now? Space Adentures? Starella? Planets and Star Maps?"

"Your story!"

He paused, and snapped his head to her wide eyed. "What?"

She giggled and turned to her side yawning a bit before speaking. "I want you to tell me one of your stories."

..."My stories eh?" She nodded and he hummed. That..wasn't a very good idea. All the books he read were either lawyer/law books (what better way to help make his contracts better) and scary or mysteries books that were uh...N-Not suitable for children her age lets say. Plus he didn't have any on him at the moment so he guessed he could just make one up? How hard could making up a story for a kid be. She'll fall asleep if he just told her a story about a talking flower making friends with a bumble bee. His hand reached up to rub at his head again before looking at her now clutching the C.A.W agent plus he made her after telling him her adventures in the movie studio. ..."Ok, Ok! I'll tell you one I witnessed a long time ago....In a book. But you gotta promise to go to sleep." She hummed 'Mmm-hmm' and smiled patiently at the ghost who groaned and rolled his eyes again. Why was he doing this?...Well he just had a nightmare about his death-again- and talking about it even twisting the details sounded nice. Not that he'd ever admit it to the little girl. "Once upon a time there was a beautiful flower Princess named Poppy, and a-"

"Pop? Why is she named after a soda?", the kid interrupted blinking confused and he scowled.

"Not 'soda pop'. Poppy. Poppy is a kind of flower on this planet, Kid. Now don't be a rude little lady and let me finish the story unless you want to be grounded from them." She shut up and curled back down into the covers to his satisfaction. "Good. Now like I was saying! There was a flower princess POPPY not soda pop, an evil which named....'Veronica', and a stupid, stupid king." She raised her hand like in a classroom. "....*sigh* Yes?"

"Why was he a stupid, stupid king?"

"You'll see. Now" He grabbed her lamp and pulled the shade off, letting more light flood everywhere and she blinked at the sudden brightness, which a snap of his powers shadows slithered up the wall and formed the outlines of three people. Two women with their dresses and one wearing a witch hat, and a man wearing a crown. They moved as he talked and she watched amazed. "You see. WAY, WAY back before your great granny was even born there was these three. Like I said the Flower Princess was very beautiful. Her hair was a rose red and her skin was as soft a-as their petals. She had the most wonderful patience listeningto her friend The Stupid King, and his p-problems...."His face saddened for a moment as the king and princess shadows held hands platonically...."B-But..she didn't know the king was in love with her. You see...He was too cowardly to tell her or anyone else because he was betrothed to the Evil witch Veronica-" ANother raised hand. "...Yes?"

"What does 'betoofed' mean?"

"Betrothed, Kid. Not betoofed. You know contracts right? How you legally have to follow them because you promised to?" She nodded. "Well basically means the Stupid King promised to marry the witch a long time ago."

..She cocked her head. "But he doesn't love her. That's not like Starella and the Milky Way Prince. They fell in love before they got married."

He chuckled. Even a seven year old could clearly see the stupid logic in arranged marriages and she didn't even comprehend them yet. And his situation, but he shrugged before making the king turn around and ....ECK!! Kiss the hand of the witch who looked like she was giggling. "Well, you're wrong. He DID love her. A long, long time ago before she became evil."

"Why didn't he break with her like in the movies?"

He shrugged. "Promises are sometimes h-hard to break for some people. And he still cared about her in some way, the witch was really, really pretty too, and I guess he just couldn't see past her beauty and wanted to try and make things right."

"That doesn't sound like a healthy relationship." She held up a hand in knowing. "Conductor always says*ahem*!!" She tried to do a bad impression of the old bird and he smiled. "Lassie! If ye ever get yerself whatever the aliens call a wife, at thee first sign of trrrrrouble ask 'er if she loves the money ya makes with mah' movies. If she says yas, she's a no good golddigger and leave before she takes ye kids and house and most of ye money too!!"

He laughed a couple times and Bow stirred in her sleeping bag. Not waking up but almost as he stared at the proud Hat child. "Well that's good advice kid. But she wasn't a golddigger-"....His face slowly contorted to a scowl and looked down. "She was in love with a fairytale. She loved the Stupid King for being like a King from a story. She never loved him for who he really was as long as her fairytale wasn't tampered with. She was clingy, selfish, nothing was never good enough unless it was expensive, and she demanded all his attention all the time. ....Until one fateful day-" He waved his three fingered hand at the shadows and it contorted until it showed the witch with slated eye holes and the king and princess holding hands....platonically of course. "The witch saw the King And Flower Princess holding hands...AS JUST FRIENDS." He stressed. "Nothing romantic. Just two friends holding hands for a little bit. And she got really, really jealous. In fact she got so jealous-" The shadows contorted to the king looking sad behind a cage. "-she blamed him for breaking her heart and locked him away forever. And then she-" The shadows again contorted to show the witch still angry and this time over a cauldron. "-cursed the Stupid King's and Princess's kingdoms. All the plants died, all the animals ran away, and everyone...." he couldn't say they froze to death! "..T-They moved on from there. But karma struck her good and-" She raised her hand again. "...What now?"

"What's 'karma'??"

"It means he got revenge. Justice? Whichever one you wanna call it." The shadows formed to show the king opening the door to the cage and running. "The Stupid King managed to escape and get free, but the Witch's spell backfired. She cursed herself too and was trapped forever in her home, the black magic keeping her inside the cave she dug, but it was too late. The Princess was gone and he never saw her again. The shadows formed one more image of the King holding a flower with his head down in shame."

"WHAT?!" Bow stirred again and Snatcher shushed her. "He never saw her again?" She asked more quietly. "But that's not fair! He loved her so much!"

He shrugged sadly and put the lamp shade back on, making the shadows disappear and he sighed, "It's not all bad. He's free and he got to go rule again without worrying without pleasing anyone else. Not all stories have a happy ending kid, even if it's half decent like this." He stared down to the floor with a frown...before reaching over and ruffling her hair which she giggled at. "It's also a very important lesson. Don't let yourself be blinded in bad situations and don't let someone use you like that. Ok?"

"I'm never gonna fall in love! Yuck!!" She stuck her tongue out and he smiled.

"Good, good. You don't need to fall in love when ...well you're stuck as a kid for all eternity with me now don't you?"

"NOPE!! I don't like that mushy stuff anyways!"

He smiled wider. "Good. Good. Now go to sleep. I need all the energy you can get to fix the well tomorrow."

She giggled again but yawned and slowly closed her eyes and snuggled back into the blackets. As he smiled he looked back to the giant windows, as he looked to the darkned and frozen abyss of the planet they were above a frown slowly returned to the ghostly prince's face as he slowly floated over to the window. Placing a cold hand to the cool glass and watching as it slowly ticked by and he sighed once again.

"Sorry, Princess. I had to be the stupid king to do that."

"Snatcher...I can't sleep. Can I have a glass of water?" The Kid's voice piped up again and he chuckled.

"Sure, kid."

#Snatcher #a hat in time snatcher #A Hat In Time #a bloom in time #hat kid #vanessa #florist #The Florist #snatcher x florist #flowercrown

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starshine583 · 4 years

Text

Le Paon Part 3

(bringing this back!!! It feels like it’s been forever now!)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 4

Felix stared up at the night sky. A crescent moon painted the streets in silver hues, creating a euphoric atmosphere in the city.

After He agreed to help his Father, they’d gone back up to Gabriel’s office, where he was shown what a miraculous was.

“This was your mother’s.” He’d said, handing Felix a peacock brooch. “I’m sure she’d want you to have it.”

To say Felix was surprised when a blue orb emerged from the jewel was an understatement.

“Go.” His father had instructed once the orb introduced itself as Duusu. “Try out your new powers. See what you think.”

His gaze shifted from the moon to his feet as he jumped across another rooftop. The extra strength from the suit propelled him forward, and he made a soft landing. Though the reason he obtained the miraculous was a bit overwhelming, He found the feeling of magic flowing through your veins quite addicting.

Felix continued running, noting the additional stamina he now possessed.

I think I’m starting to get the hang of this. He thought with a smirk, his shoulders relaxing with each new leap.

Then his foot caught on the edge of a rooftop.

His moment sent him tumbling onto the next roof. He managed to turn onto his back while skidding across the tiles- somehow even that was quiet -and grabbed the air for an obstacle to stop his fall.

His hand landed on the frame of a window, and he winced when his body jerked to a halt.

“Spoke too soon..” He grunted, pulling himself up. His reflection stared back at him, though he was hardly noticeable in this costume.

A dark blue waistcoat clung to his figure, large, sparkling feathers sprouting from the end of it. His navy blue pants- which matched his navy gloves -faded into Indigo, high-heel boots which were lined with a fuchsia color that shimmered in the night sky. Indigo feathers trailed along the collar of his waistcoat, tickling his neck slightly as they swayed with the wind.

His hair, now dyed the same indigo color as his boots, was slicked back and pinned up with three small feathers that matched the end of his waist coat. A dark blue mask covered most of his face, stopping just above his eyebrows and dipping just below his nose. The mask was lined with the same pink color from his boots, making his fuchsia eyes pop. The finishing touch seemed to be his light purple skin, blending in perfectly with the rest of the colors of his suit.

Over all, the outfit reminded him of a soft dream, something you’d expect night time to look like should it ever take form in a person.

Now that he was firmly on his feet, Felix let go of the window, getting ready to start off again when something else caught his eye.

A splotch of red in the reflection, one he knew wasn’t coming from him or the streetlights.

Felix turned around to see the silhouette a person perched on a rooftop not too far away from him. Pictures and reports floated through his mind of the heroes of Paris, specifically a woman in red. If he remembered correctly, she had announced herself as “Ladybug”.

His feathers shuffled behind him as he crept closer. Her back was turned to him, knees tucked against her chest and chin resting on her crossed forearms. Her pigtails brushed against her shoulders from the night air, but she didn’t pay it any mind, probably lost in thought.

He was so focused on her that he didn’t notice the slight dent in the roof. His foot slipped just enough to break one of the tiles, and before he could even wince at the mistake, she was on her feet and glaring at him.

“I-I’m not a threat!” He blurted out the first thing that came to mind, tensing when she reached for her weapon.

Ladybug hesitated, hand hovering above her yo-yo.

“You’re not a threat?” She repeated, her bluebell eyes looking him over with suspicion.

Well, not yet. He refrained from saying, instead holding his hands up and shaking his head. He did need her miraculous, but they both appeared to be having a rough night, since they’re out at 3am. Surely that could wait until morning.

Ladybug let out a slight gasp, finally taking in his appearance.

“You’re another hero.” She thought aloud, excitement lacing her tone.

Felix coughed, trying to hide his laugh of irony because.. Not exactly.

The red-clad heroine sat back down, half facing him and half facing the city. “When did you get your miraculous? I didn’t see you during Stoneheart a few days ago.”

Felix awkwardly sat down next to her, tapping his fingers on the rooftop. “It’s more of a.. recent development.”

Ladybug giggled- an unusually pleasant sound - and nodded in understanding.

A small silence passed between them.

“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” She said softly, eyes trailing back to the glow of the city. “One day, you’re an ordinary citizen, just trying to make it through highschool-”

So she was in highschool? That’s an uncanny coincidence. He might have passed her in the halls a few times and didn’t even know it.

No, he’d never be that lucky.

“-the next, you’re deemed the ‘Protector of Paris’ and given amazing super powers.” The red ribbons tied in her hair swing back and forth as she shakes her head. “It’s just such a big responsibility. I’m not even sure I’m the right person for it.”

Felix shrugged. “Being responsible for everyone’s safety is undoubtedly stressful, but I think you’ve already proved that you can do it. It’s only natural to be uncertain when it comes to big decisions. Just don’t let your insecurities hold you back.”

Why he was giving her advice, he didn’t know.

Ladybug pulled a small smile, shifting to face him again. “What about you, then? Aren’t you nervous about this whole Hero business?”

Oh, he’s definitely nervous, but not for the reasons she thought.

“I guess you could say that.”

She chuckled towards his response. “Well, I’m sure we’ll both do great.”

Felix forced himself not to cringe. “Yeah. Great.”

To his relief, she stood up just then, unhooking her yo-yo from her hip. “I better get going. It’s late.”

He stood as well, nodding in agreement. “That’d probably be best. Goodnight, Ladybug.”

“Goodnight..” She trailed off, a blush of embarrassment coming to her cheeks. “Ah, I’m sorry. What’s your name?”

Felix blinked. What was his name? Goodness knows he couldn’t go by “Felix” in this get-up.

His eyes swept over his outfit once more, considering the feathers and the brooch.

“..Le Paon.” He finally answered, pleased he was able to come up with it so quickly. (Even though it was extremely bland and simple)

Ladybug smiled, flinging out her yo-yo. “I look forward to working with you, Le Paon!”

With a final wave, she pulled on the string and swung away.

Felix stared after her, feeling a tad guilty from seeing how sweet she is. It’s too bad he’s going to have to take her miraculous.

~~~~~~

“Finally decide to get up this morning?” Felix remarked, sparing a glance towards Adrien as he poured his morning coffee into his thermos.

“Well, I figured your tactics would be more aggressive this time if I didn’t.” His brother replied light-heartedly, opening the fridge.

Felix hummed. “That’s true. I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t get to use my catapult idea.”

Adrien snorted, causing Felix to smirk.

He set down his thermos, moving for the silver platter on the counter instead. The chef made him chocolate truffles last night, upon Gabriel’s request. Felix despised sweets, but his kwami, Duusu, apparently did not. In fact, truffles were probably the only thing it would eat.

The lid clinked against the counter top as he set it aside to slip the treats into his bag. He made sure the container was air tight so chocolate wouldn’t melt all over his stored items. Felix’s gaze flicked to Adrien, wondering why he hadn’t asked about the sweets yet.

Adrien rummaged through the fridge without a second thought, pulling out a wheel of Camembert cheese, according to the label. He then proceeded to put a slice of it in his shirt and the rest of the wheel in his bag.

Felix scrunched up his nose. “Why are you putting Camembert in your shirt? Do you want to smell like a dead bird?”

Adrien jumped, his hand gripping his bag like he was protecting it for some reason.

“Oh- uh- well-” His eyes darted this way and that, most likely trying to find an excuse.

Then his gaze landed on the tray of chocolates. “W-why are you putting truffles in your bag? You hate sweets.”

Felix scoffed towards the obvious dodge.

“It’s a special brand.” He answered shortly and smoothly. That’s how you deal with unwanted questions.

Adrien nodded awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“..Can I try some?”

“No.”

~~~~~~

Felix looked over the multitude of brushes splayed before him. Why did he agree to join the art class again?

“Now,” Claude began, grabbing one of the thicker paint brushes and holding it up with a grin, “Painting may look easy, but there’s actually a lot more stuff going on than you think.”

He dipped his brush in a small can of blue paint, carefully letting the excess paint drip off, back into the tin. “For example, you can’t put too much paint on your brush- it’s tempting, I know -or else your picture will look just like a blob of color. You won’t be able to add details.”

Felix simply nodded, though he wasn’t paying any attention to the instructions. His father had drilled into him the importance of art since he could recognize red from blue. Therefore, painting was a skill he’d already acquired over the years.

“When you start painting,” Claude continued, either ignorant of or completely ignoring the fact that Felix didn’t care, “you’re going to gently stroke the canvas. Different strokes create different patterns and depths of color. This will come in handy when you’re trying to do waves or trees or something.”

Felix plucked a few brushes from the tray, along with some colors, and began painting the first thing that came to mind. Greys, blue, yellows, reds- he used all sorts of colors while Claude yammered on about “merging the colors” and “balancing what’s too much or not enough”.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes of non-stop talking, Claude turned to him with a satisfied grin. “It’s not actually that hard, but it’s okay if you don’t do well at fir- WHAT.”

The art club, who’d been quietly working on their own projects, looked up at Claude’s outburst. Curious, they crowded around the two to get a look at the art piece.

In the span of time it took for Claude to finish his tutorial, Felix managed to paint the city of Paris shrouded in darkness with ladybug sitting on one of the rooftops, the only source of light. He’d just been thinking about their late night talk, and painted the moment he first saw her.

Everyone stood slack-jawed at the supposed masterpiece. Then they all started talking at once- questions, compliments, grumbles of envy from Claude.

“That’s.. Really good.” Marinette muttered, her cheeks strangely a few shades darker than usual.

Felix felt his cheeks heat up as well, only confusing him further. “Ah. Thank you. My Father thought it very important to know how to work fine arts if I’m to inherit the Agreste company one day.”

“And you were going to tell me this when?” Claude asked emphatically. “I just explained painting to you for twenty minutes for nothing!”

Felix shrugged, setting down his paint brush. “It’s not like you were going to stop talking anyway.”

The other art members snickered, and Claude huffed, crossing his arms.

“Well, since you’re so skilled, Why don’t you teach me?” The brunette proposed.

Marinette gasped, clapping her hands together in excitement. “Oh, Claude, that’s a great idea!” Her smile then fell as she whipped around to face Felix. “As long as that’s okay with you, of course. No pressure.”

Felix held back a smirk. This girl couldn’t be any more bipolar, but she was also considerate. For that, he was grateful.

“I do enjoy painting, so I don’t see why not.”

A bright smile graced her lips again, and for some reason, a sense of satisfaction spread through his chest.

“Great! What do we start with first? Backgrounds? Figures? Layers?” Claude asked, already prepping his paint brush.

The other artists shuffled around the room to gather their own paint brushes and canvases. Felix got a blank canvas of his own, pushing down his nerves as he set it up. While he is skilled in the art of painting, he’s not certain that he’s skilled in the art of teaching.

“We’ll start with the background.” He began, brush pointed and voice steady. “What would you all like to paint?”

“An explosion!”

“Maybe a cafe?”

“I want to paint a dog!”

Felix sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “A unanimous vote would be preferred.”

“What about Chat Noir?” Marinette suggested, ever so softly. “I mean, you painted Ladybug. So, it makes sense to paint her partner, now.. Right?”

Felix hummed, subtly wishing she’d have the confidence to speak louder. Aside from the soothing nuances of her voice, Marinette was extremely creative and intelligent. (one needn’t know her long to see that) It was simply a waste to hide such brilliance behind unreasonable insecurities.

“Are we all in agreement then? We’re going to paint Chat Noir?”

The other students nodded.

“Good. Now, the background. You want to start with-”

A low rumbling swept through the classroom, causing Felix to pause.

“What was that?” Nathaniel frowned.

Another rumble, this time larger. The easels around them started rattling.

“I hope it’s not another akuma.” Claude said, holding his canvas to keep it from falling.

What happened next felt all too fast. Another rumble shook the school, and cracks split the ceiling above them.

“Take cover!” Felix managed to yell as it caved in.

Everyone dove for a desk. Chunks of drywall fell in all directions. The wooden easels splintered into nothing. Dust flooded the room, practically suffocating the students inside.

“Is everyone alright?” Felix asked after a moment, pushing some loose drywall off of his leg and brushing off his clothes. Thankfully, he’d had enough time to slip under a small art table.

There were a few coughs and groans in response, but no screams of pain. Felix took that as a “yes”.

“And what do we have here?”

Felix felt every inch of him tense up.

A hallucination. He had to be hallucinating. Maybe a stray piece of drywall hit his head the wrong way, and he hadn’t noticed. There’s no way his Father could be this inconsiderate.

Sure enough, a man in a construction uniform stood overhead, holding the chain of a large wrecking ball along with a malicious grin.

“An art room, huh? What an open, creative, constructive place.”

Felix hunched his shoulders, immediately searching for his bag. Where did he leave it? Why didn’t he keep Duusu in his pocket instead?

The akuma started swinging his wrecking ball. “The exact things I want to destroy.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his head, waiting for the blow. Then-

“Not so fast!”

Another voice came onto the scene, and the akuma growled in frustration.

When he looked up again, Ladybug was there, tall and strong in the daylight. Felix watched as she drove the akuma back, nowhere near as fragile as she appeared the night before.

Guilt flooded his chest at the thought. They’d talked last night, hadn’t they? Now he had to face her again. As her enemy. How did he get roped into this?

The image of his comatose mother flitted through his mind.

Felix sighed, ripping himself from underneath the desk to find his bag.

This isn’t permanent. He told himself. Just get the jewelry to save Mother, and everything will be fine. You can apologize later.

After rummaging around for a few minutes, he finally found his bag caged underneath some drywall where his easel had been. He tugged it out the rest of the way, wincing when the strap snapped on one side. There was no time to mourn the loss, though, as Ladybug and the akuma could still be heard overhead.

Felix tucked the bag between his arm and side and darted out of the room before either party could notice. The bathroom sounded like a decent place to transform.

~~~~~~

Ladybug used her yo-yo to shield herself from the excess debri of The Constructor’s attacks. That’s what the akuma had called themselves, anyway. She managed to lead him away from the school, though escaping the classroom hadn’t been easy. Thank Ladybug’s Luck that she happened to be closest to the door when the ceiling collapsed. At this point, Marinette just hoped Felix and the others were alright.

“This akuma needs to construct a better attitude. Don’t you think, My Lady?” Chat Noir quipped, landing next to her with a Cheshire grin.

“Oh, good, you’re here.” She replied with relief, ignoring his comment. “Now all that’s left is Le Paon.”

“Who?”

“He’s another hero I met yesterday.” Ladybug explained, pushing Chat to the side to avoid Constructor’s wrecking ball.

“I thought we were the only heroes though!” Chat yelled over the deafening sound of the crumbling buildings around them.

“Stand still, why don’tcha!” The akuma roared, swinging his wrecking ball at them again.

Ladybug and Chat Noir separated, barely missing the wrecking ball that passed between them. They realized only too late that a civilian had wandered onto the scene of the battle, directly in the line of attack.

A cry of panic escaped Ladybug as she threw herself forward to help the innocent bystander, but she was too slow.

Thankfully, a certain night-themed hero wasn’t.

All she saw were the sparkling feathers, then the wrecking ball hit the ground and sent concrete flying into the air.

Ladybug forced herself to breath as they waited for the dust to clear.

“You’re supposed to be getting the miraculous, not murdering the innocent, you idiot!”

Her knees nearly buckled from relief when she heard Le Paon’s curt tone, and she let out an incredulous laugh when she saw him on the rooftop, holding the civilian safely in his arms.

“Wait, what?” Chat furrowed his eyebrows. “Did he just give the akuma an order?”

“Did he?” Honestly, she was too focused on their wellbeing to notice what he said. Either way, that couldn’t be right. Le Paon was on their side.

Le Paon set the civilian down, and stepped back for a running start. Without hesitation, he leapt off the roof. The feathers at the end of his coat spread out like a fan, seeming to carry him through the air.

Ladybug was so mesmerized by his grace that she didn’t realize he was coming too close. His heel connecting with her chest knocked her out of her trance.

The air was ripped from her lungs as her back slammed into the rooftop.

“Why?” She choked out, still reeling from the shock. Weren’t they supposed to be a team? What was happening?

Through the blur of her tears, Le Paon winced. “Apologies. I’ll be quick.”

His fingers slipped around her left earring, and Ladybug finally pulled herself together enough to start thrashing underneath him.

Suddenly, Le Paon grunted, and the next thing she knew, Chat Noir was helping her sit up.

“Some hero.” The blonde bit off, glaring at Le Paon.

A few feet away from them, Le Paon clutched his side, eyeing Chat’s staff with malice.

He then turned his glower to The Constructor. “What are you waiting for? An invitation? Get their miraculous!”

The Constructor scowled at him, but started swinging his wrecking ball again.

Chat Noir scooped up Ladybug- to her surprise -and used his staff to hoist them onto another roof.

“I thought you said he was a hero!” Chat said, setting her down behind a chimney for cover.

“I..I thought he was.” Ladybug put a hand to her chest, blinking back the tears. They’d only known each other for a day, so why did his betrayal shatter her like this?

She shook her head. Now was not the time.

“Lucky Charm!”

Miraculous magic shimmered in the air, dropping a thin, wooden object into her hands.

“A..paintbrush?” Ladybug squinted, turning the item over in her hands.

Chat scrunched up his nose. “What are we supposed to do with that?”

Ladybug hummed, shifting her position to scan her surroundings.

Crumbling buildings.. Spilled art cans.. The Constructor’s wrecking ball.. Le Paon..

“I’ve got it!” She grinned, hopping up from her hiding place and throwing out her yo-yo. “Chat, get ready!”

Ladybug swung passed the paint cans and dipped her brush in the paint.

“Hey, Constructor!” She called as she waved the paintbrush in the air. “This block looks like it could use a touch-up. What do you think?”

The Constructor growled with fury, throwing out his wrecking ball.

Ladybug dodged it and smoothly landed on the roof with them.

Le Paon jumped for her. She slid underneath him, using the paintbrush to streak paint across his suit as she went.

The akuma whirled around, aiming for anything colorful, and ended up hitting Le Paon square in the chest.

“Now, Chaton!” Ladybug yelled with a smirk. Was it bad to say seeing the backstabber go flying felt good?

“Cataclysm!”

Constructor’s wrecking ball, to her triumph, disintegrated into nothing before them. The purple akuma came flapping out, and Ladybug swiftly captured it.

“Bye, bye, little butterfly!” She waved.

Her hand moved to her earrings when she heard the familiar warning beep.

“That’s our queue.” Chat remarked, holding up his own beeping miraculous.

“Pound it!” They said together, bumping their fists.

At least one thing worked out.

~~~~~~

Pain. Pain and agony filling his chest and his head and- Just a nagging throbbing everywhere, really.

Felix groaned, shifting on the pile of garbage bags he’d landed on. That was.. not how he expected that to go. Of course the heroes weren’t going to just hand over their miraculous on a silver platter, but they fought hard, especially for a couple of teenagers.

Glowing ladybugs swarmed the city streets, restoring the destroyed buildings. The magic came to wrap around his body as well, and He felt the aching subside within seconds.

Felix sighed in relief and pushed himself to his feet.

“Well, isn’t that convenient?” He muttered, noting the paint streak had also washed off of his suit. It must be one of the many powers of Ladybug’s miraculous.

Felix grimaced at the reminder, a different kind of pain swelling in his chest. The look on her face when she found out he was on the other side cut him deeper than he thought it would. It’s not even like he’d known the heroine that long!

And yet, that didn’t lessen the guilt festering at the back of his mind as he ran back to the school. (detransformed, of course) Honestly, Felix was more than happy to drop all of this ludicrous nonsense in an instant, but they needed to get Emilie back somehow. Unless his mother suddenly woke up tomorrow morning, this was their only option. Hopefully, whoever was under the mask would understand.

~~~~~~

As soon as she landed in a secluded alleyway, Ladybug dropped her transformation and sank to the ground, hiding her head in her knees.

“Ugh, I’m such an idiot! How could I have been so stupid!”

“You couldn’t have known.” Tikki insisted, brushing her holder’s hair.

“But I should have!” Marinette shot her hands into the air. “I’m Ladybug! I need to be more alert!”

She tried to convince herself that it didn’t matter, that she would take him down all the same- just like his apparent partner, Hawkmoth. But the underlying betrayal and hurt she felt was undeniable. Despite only talking to him once, it felt like Le Paon actually understood her. She had hoped She’d be able to have a partner to trust and confide in. Not that Chat Noir wasn’t trustworthy, he was just a bit too playful is all. It didn’t feel like he could be serious. Le Paon seemed to get it, though- the struggle, the pressure, the uncertainty.. Maybe he was being pushed into this too? That would explain why he saved that civilian earlier..

Marinette groaned, digging her fingers into her hair. No, of course he wasn’t being forced into this! Saving the civilian was just a ploy to catch her off guard, and last night was nothing more than a facade to get close to her.

Le Paon was a villain, whether she liked it or not, and they would take him down just like the rest.

Tag List: @im-here-for-the-content @novicevoice @mewwitch@minightrose @frostymoon11 @multishipper1needshalp@unabashedbookworm @unholykrow @trubel43@kaydenth3gayden @stardustrevoutionx @legendaryneckjudgestudent @aurordraws @crazylittlemunchkin

#Le Paon AU #I'm bringing it back!!#It's been so long!#Hope you guys enjoy!

259 notes · View notes

missmaxime · 4 years

Note

Mouth; room; close; keen

You really know what you’re asking, haha. I cherry-picked for the first three, because as it turns out I use those a lot. And fyi under ‘Close’ is a small excerpt of the Joan/Rio fic ;) 💕 MOUTH From ‘Shine a Light Now (This Time it’s got to be Good)’

“Apparently I am ‘overqualified’,” Beth complains dramatically, putting extra emphasis on it by adding sloppy air quotation marks. Phoebe starts opening her mouth to ask because she cuts her off with: “Find my Family a Pet, Season 5.” Phoebe sputters, grabbing a can of coke to rinse her mouth and spitting it on the pavement. “It’s animals, elderly ánd kids, the three circles of hell. Rookie stuff, damn sure you’re overqualified.”

From ‘Wild at Heart’ Chapter 5

Paul put the bag down, leaning onto the reception desk. “You don’t want to join me and Marissa for breakfast?” he asked. “I hear it’s delicious here.” Rio encircled his arm around Beth’s waist, squeezing it. He clacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Beth grabbed ahold of his hand, dragging it onto her belly. “Maybe we’ll join you tomorrow, Rio and I have an important appointment.” Rio stroked her through her coat, and Paul picked up on the hint.

From ‘If worst comes to worst, I left a note’

“Y’know what ya getting into?” he asks. She smirks. “Do you?” His eyes get darker and her attacks her mouth again, slipping his tongue between her lips. She circles her hand onto the back of his head, pulling him into her more. And, as much as she hates to admit it, it’s nothing like she ever experienced. Not with Dean, not with the two boys she kissed before, this is something more, and it’s frightening. Frightening, but thrilling.

From ‘The Kaleidoscope of Love’

And she surges back into him, claiming his mouth. Their lips sliding over each other, erupting sparks in her chest she can’t remember feeling. Their position frustrates Beth, sitting next to each other, so she takes it upon herself to pull back from him – the groan he releases almost embarrassing. She doesn’t let him wait long, climbing onto him so she can straddle him. The trail his warm hands leave on her skin as he lets them travel up from her knees to her thighs, before sliding them under her dress is mesmerizing. She kissing him briefly on the lips. “More,” she breathes, quite sure her pitch is quite uneven.

From (WT) ‘Come on baby, won’t you show some class’ [aka Mick locks Beth and Rio in a storage room because he’s tired of their shit]

Rio lets his fingers travel along her panties, feeling how wet she already is for him. He chuckles at that, increasing the pressure. “Yeah, you want me, don’t you darling?” He says, now slipping two fingers between her folds, feeling the heaviness of her wetness flooding his hand. He leans his head in, putting his mouth against her ear. “Don’t you?’ he asks, but sucks her earlobe in before she can answer, retracting a very repressed moan from her. That just riles her, and she tries to retract her bend leg from the table. But he grasps her ankle, keeping that leg in place. He reaches out with his other hand, buttoning open his pants, pulling down those and his boxers far enough to extract his lid. “Don’t, do, that,” he says, licking her face on one side in one long stroke. And she revels in it, against her better judgement.

From (WT) ‘Get Well Soon’ [or the S3 deviation I started writing before S3 aired - FYI Orla is the realtor the girls use to find a store]

The day went by in a blur at best. Beth and Ruby had been cleaning the worst of the storage rooms for almost the entire day. Next they had painted the front-side of the store all white, immediately changing the look of it from depressed to welcoming. And when Orla entered the store around two she even took of her mouth mask. “Look who got this place close to presentable,” she stated, looking around somewhat impressed. Ruby threw her paintbrush into the turpentine. “I’m sure it still smells like fish,” she sighed. “Well, yeah,” Orla admitted. “But at least now it’s thinly masked by chemicals. And as you can tell by my face that’s something I’m way more comfortable with,” she joked. Ruby laughed, kind of surprised by Orla’s sense of humor. “I did hear it’s a bad idea to shoot anchovies up your forehead anyway.” Orla shrugged. “I’ll try anything with a success rate of over 85%, so bring it,” she smiled as she put a bunch of papers on the counter.

ROOM From ‘Wild at Heart’ Chapter 5 (apparently I use this word a LOT in this chapter, Imma cut down on that one haha)

“No, we’re good,” Salazar answered. She exited the same way the game. “Got enough estrogen in the room as it is, right?” he said, grabbing his teacup and raising it to Rio. Who answered by raisin his own cup. Beth looked at him with disdain, she failed to hide it. She tried to separate this business Rio from the Rio she knew from the wedding, and even though she could fracture herself easily, breaking him up into different people was way harder. “Are you kidding me?” she shot at Rio. He gave her nothing. “We were in business before I was in your bed, you should give me some credits,” she said angrily. “My ass is on the line here too. And I sure as hell have more on that line than you do!”

From ‘If worst comes to worst, I left a note’

“Why didn’t you like me last time?” she asks. “Think you wouldn’t be interested.” Beth is taken aback by that, and it shows. “Why? You liked someone better?” she throws back. He laughs genuinely and shakes his head. “Nah. Just thought I’d was a bit out of your wheelhouse.” “Why?” she asks. But the buzzer goes off, and he wastes no time getting to the other side of the room to get to his next date.

From ‘The Kaleidoscope of Love’

Turner’s been on holiday with his boyfriend for a week in Bora Bora, and since he’s the only one who talks to the matches she doesn’t really have anything to do. She has already cleaned the front office and the break room and the cabinet with office supplies after two days, so now her most potentially productive activity is putting colorful post-its on her own face. Fortunately, just before she feels like her last braincells are dying off, the phone rings. And she scrambles to sit up in her chair, grabbing the horn. “Love Inc, Amber speaking, how may—” “Amber!” It’s Turner. He sounds agitated. “Well, hello sunshine,” she smiles, feel her own teeth crack at the faux sweet tone of it. “Cut the crap,” he orders. And she can’t really make out a lot of background noise, but the loud voices in the background, and actually – altogether chaos, don’t sound too promising. For him though, this sounds like all the opportunity for her.

From ‘A Tail to Remember’ [AU where Beth suddenly sprouts a tail that acts on her deepest desires]

“What?” she croaks, her voice still paralyzed by sleep. She rubs her eyes with the back of her hand, and when she can see well through the dusk of the room, she sees Dean laying face down onto the ground next to the bed. “You pushed me!” he’s upset, face crowded with angry splotches of red. And, did she? She looks at where she’s at; still very much on her own side, not even close to the middle. “How?” she asks confused. He’s being all angry-toddler about it, gathering his covers and dumping them on the airbed. “I’m sure you just had a bad dream,” she offers.

From ‘Get Well Soon’

Beth let the curtain drop back again and focused on the envelope, as she walked back to her room. She turned it around in her hands, there was no address, no stamp. She dropped onto the bed as she opened the crimson envelope in her hands, extracting the midnight blue card from it. In swirly silver printed handwriting it said ‘Get Well Soon!’ surrounded by differently shaped stars. Beth almost sighed in relief, recognizing the print from Lucy’s Etsy. When she opened it though, it felt like she was being doused in icy cold water. ‘Thinking of you lots!’ was staring at her, mocking her with a scarily recognizable handwriting even without the weird e’s he usually wrote. Without another thought Beth threw the card into a corner, dimmed the lights, and crawled into the bed, hoping it would swallow her while she would fight her nightmares that night.

CLOSE From the ‘Untitled Joan Holloway/Rio’ fic

“I did tell him I’d give him a dollar if Mick would be there in promised time. He lived up to expectations,” she explained. Rio turned his head. “Give him two,” he ordered Mick, before returning his attention back to Joan. She felt great with Rio ignoring the line of people waiting outside to get in, the bouncer opening the door without even giving them a questioning look. Inside was a whole different experience than the rundown outside gave. It was still kind of dark but the lighting and music gave it an intimate and welcoming feel. He escorted her to a booth close to the bar, looking out onto the dance floor. It was very obvious she was one of the very few white people here. “What’s your poison?” he asked, signaling a waiter. “Maybe some bourbon?” she asked. He ordered a bottle of the good stuff. She liked that. She turned her back to him. “Would you mind, taking the pins out?” she asked, her chin pushed against her shoulder as she looked at him expectantly.

From ‘Wild at Heart’ Chapter 5

Beth drops her bag, and moves in on him. “You know, I shot that window pretty good last time,” she says haughtily. “Yeah, when you were on your feet,” he says. Beth takes the gun from him. And she’s taken back to that one night Rio shot Dean in the chest. And by now she’s pretty sure he wasn’t totally honest about not knowing if that shot would leave him alive. Especially after what she now knows she can do with a gun, much less Rio, who has years and years’ experience on her. “So, did Sal get back to you?” she asks, while she takes a stand close to him, taking a hold on his gun.

From ‘The Kaleidoscope of Love’

It’s all he needs to fully attack her mouth. Entangling his hand in her hair, pulling her in as close as they can get. Their lips slandering, navigating to tend to each other’s needs, sucking and biting, both teasing and tending with conviction. She smiles a little when she thinks about the lipstick marks she’s probably leaving on his face, takes pride in marking him, letting everybody know what they’ve been up to. The thought makes her bolder, rocking her hips against his, a movement he immediately answers, groaning into her.

KEEN NOTHING (*le gasp*). Well, there is once, but it’s in the chapter of Shine A Light Now (This Time it’s got to be Good) where I’m working on now, and that’s just too rough of a draft.

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yastaghr · 4 years

Text

Robes and Glitches

Reaper and Error dance around each other, but are nonetheless drawn in.

For @silverdragonms because of @freshouttaparsnips 's art drive.

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21551536

Reaper stepped through the portal into absolute chaos. Dust floated in the wind, attacks littered the snowline, and several trees were on fire. The oddest thing, though, was the gaps. There were these white gaps in the fabric of the universe with raw code unraveling around the edges of them. Reaper had never seen anything like them. That kind of power was terrifying.

The god froze as a beam of raw magic ripped through the air just behind him. He teleported into the treeline, for once happy that his invisibility kicked in the moment he hit a new world. He couldn’t afford to be seen. Not when someone was wielding that much magic as though it were a children’s toy. He was lucky that blast had missed him. They sure as hell couldn’t see-

“hEy yOu! WeIrDo iN ThE BlAcK RoBe! WhAt tHe fUcK ArE YoU DoInG HeRe?”

Reaper spun around and stopped dead. There, staring right at him, was a black boned skeleton. His hands had red and yellow tints. His eye sockets were red with multicolored eye lights. His teeth were yellow. Error bars and glitches were sprinkled all over his body. But the weirdest thing about him was the expression on his face. He looked like he had seen a ghost, but in the most pissed off way imaginable. Huh.

“yEaH, yOu! ThErE'S No wAy yOu'rE FrOm tHiS UnIvErSe. I AlReAdY KiLlEd tHe sAnS HeRe. So gEt tHe fUcK OuT Or gEt rIpPeD ApArT At tHe sEaMs, I DoN'T CaRe. It's nOt lIkE It mAkEs aNy dIfFeReNcE To mE.”

With that, the strange skeleton opened what Reaper could only describe as a command console. One of his hands went up to the blue lines that poured out of his eye sockets and...pulled them away? The blue lines glittered like starlight on black ice. They moved like living strings and tied themselves on lines of code in the console. Then Error yanked and the code fell apart.

Reaper barely managed to jump through his portal in time to avoid the white gaps of dying code that were racing towards him. He panted, staring at the space where it had been, and collected himself. Slowly, a wicked grin spread across his face. This was going to be fun.

-----

The shorter God of Death heaved himself out of his chair and grabbed his scythes. They fit comfortably in his hand. He’d finally started to get used to them. Life would hate to know it, but now he hardly had to think about them in battle. That was helpful on excursions like this. The first few times Reaper hadn’t known what he was going into. Now he could tell the signs easily. He’d get to see his mysterious black skeleton again. He couldn’t wait.

He stepped through the portal into the familiar chaos of Glitchy’s warzone. He dodged bones and lasers that rocketed out of the countryside. There were at least two magic signatures, which meant someone was still alive in this world. Reaper followed the attacks back to the center of Snowdin. He floated in just in time to catch the final rip of blue strings on bone that dusted the local Sans. His ghost hovered for a moment. Reaper shifted his grip on his scythes and sliced into him, sending his soul on to the next world.

“oKaY, wHaT ThE FuCk? YoU'Re sErIoUsLy aPpRoAcHiNg sTaLkEr sTaTuS, rObEy. AnD WhY ThE HeLl aRe yOu hElPiNg mE?”

Reaper turned with a muffled grin to face Glitchy. The other looked...ragged. One arm was in a makeshift sling. Two fingers on the other hand were tied together. There was a raw scrape on his right cheek and forehead. Reaper’s smile vanished completely. “what happened to you?”

Glitchy’s frown deepened into a scowl. He said stubbornly, “i AsKeD fIrSt.”

Reaper humored him. “it’s my job. i reap the souls of the dead and send them on to the next world. you just usually erase the world before I get a chance.”

The black skeleton looked belligerent. “i hOpE YoU ArEn't tRyInG To sAy i sHoUlDn't dO ThAt, CaUsE ThAt aIn't hApPeNiNg. ThEsE FrEaKiSh gLiTcHeS NeEd tO DiE, aNd nO OnE ElSe iS DoInG A GoOd eNoUgH JoB.”

“i know that. i’m a god. i can see the way the multiverse is getting overcrowded. i really don’t want to find out what happens if we run out of space,” Reaper said with a shudder. It was a popular topic of conversation among the gods. He hated hearing all the theories, because they seemed to only be getting worse.

Glitchy blinked at him, then preened. It made Reaper’s soul glow inside to see the happiness on his face. “wElL Of cOuRsE. i'm gLaD YoU CaN SeE It mY WaY. sOmE PeOpLe,” Glitchy spat, “aRe bEiNg sTuPiDlY DeNsE.”

Reaper narrowed his eye sockets. “is that why you’re so beaten up? because someone’s trying to stop you?”

Instead of answering, Glitchy pulled up his little console. Reaper sighed and opened a portal back to his world. He probably should count himself lucky that Glitchy spoke as much as he did. Next time, he promised himself. Next time.

------

Reaper didn’t know what it was about this time that felt different to him. The list was the same, the setup was the same, it was timed perfectly- but his instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong. And his instincts hadn’t betrayed him yet.

They screamed even louder when Reaper arrived in the dying world to total silence. No blasters, no battle music, no carnage. It wasn’t right. He could feel the magic signatures of two...no, now it was just one monster. It was a very familiar monster, but his magic didn’t feel right. Why in the world would Glitchy be crying for help?

Reaper soon found out. He’d followed the screaming magic all the way into Snowdin. There he found the familiar carnage...sort of. For some reason the whole battlefield was covered in splotches of paint. It wasn’t a part of the AU, no indeed. Not with the paint laying across several burn marks and broken attack bones. Another conundrum to add to Glitchy’s file. That was one more question for Glitchy to constantly dodge. Great.

He almost missed the black-boned skeleton when he was scanning the town. A groan drew his eyes back to a large patch of paint. If he’d been a human, his face would have blanched. Blood mixed with the blue puddle. Bones were sticking out everywhere, and these weren’t attacks.

Reaper knelt next to the severely injured glitch he’d come to be fond of. Glitchy’s skull blinked at him, then scowled. At least he was conscious. That was a plus. “oF FuCkInG CoUrSe iT WoUlD Be yOu. WhAt aRe yOu gOiNg tO Do, ReAp mE? hAtE To bReAk iT To yOu, BuT I'M PrEtTy sUrE I CaN'T DiE.”

He ignored the other and started gathering up all the bones into the folds of his robe. That made Glitchy panic. “hEy! WhAt tHe fUcK? i kNeW YoU WeRe a fUcKiNg sTaLkEr, BuT I DiDn't tHiNk yOu'd gO ThIs fAr. I NeEd tHoSe! GiVe tHeM BaCk!”

Reaper sighed and fixed his gaze to Glitchy’s. “you’re too badly hurt to recover on your own. i’m taking you to a healer, and i can only carry so much in my two hands.”

Glitchy rolled his eyes. “yOu'rE StIlL A FuCkInG StAlKeR. i dOn't eVeN KnOw yOuR NaMe.”

“reaper,” he said quietly.

“hUh?”

“my name is reaper,” he repeated slightly more loudly as he stuffed some of Glitchy’s messed up clothes into his inventory.

Silence reigned for a few seconds. Then a muffled voice said, “I’m ErRoR.”

Reaper’s eye sockets widened as he stared at Error. Had...had he actually volunteered information? About himself? Without prompting? He must have hit his skull really hard in the battle. That was the only explanation. “well then, error, i hope you like flowers, cause the best healer i know is obsessed with them.”

Error rolled his eyes. “nOt aNoThEr sWaP AsGoRe. I'D NeVeR HeAr tHe eNd oF It iF I WeNt iNtO HiS TeRrItOrY WiThOuT PeRmIsSiOn aGaIn.”

Reaper grinned at him as he picked up Error’s skull. “good thing it’s not one of them, then. i’m taking you to meet life herself. count yourself lucky, because she is still super picky about who she lets into her garden. sanses are, like, the only ones besides her children.”

The glitch harrumphed. It was cute, he looked so grouchy with his face scrunched up like that. Wait, what? “fInE, tHeN. aT LeAsT I WoN'T HaVe tO DeAl wItH ToO MaNy pEoPlE PoKiNg aNd pRoDdInG Me. I MiGhT NoT Be aS HaPhEpHoBiC As i uSeD To bE, bUt i sTiLl fUcKiNg hAtE AnYoNe tOuChInG Me.”

Reaper paused in front of the portal he had opened to Life’s garden and blinked down at Error. “but you seemed fine with me touching you.”

Error’s skull blushed an interesting yellow color. Yep. Reaper was definitely smitten. Great. Why did it always have to be the dangerous ones? “s-s-sO WhAt? I JuSt eXpEcTeD It fRoM SuCh a fUcKiNg sTaLkEr. ThAt's AlL!”

Reaper hid a grin. Dangerous and a tsundere. Fucking score.

#reaper x error #destructivedeath #glitcheddeath #sanscest #afterdeath #yastaghr #undertale #reapertale #error!sans #error sans #errortale sans #reapertale sans #Reaper Sans #life #toriel #sans

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stillnotfromcanada · 4 years

Text

X-Bastards part 2

No one said anything, they just stared at him.

One girl was staring at him, smiling.

“Oh My God, You’re Kid Omega!,” she squealed.

Quentin felt a shock of painful memories flood through him. He never wanted that name to ever be brought up again.

“No, sweetie,” Quentin said softly. “I’m not anymore. I grew up. It’s just Quentin.”

He looked to his right, a stack of files were placed on the table. He walked over, started to look through them. These were files of all these kids.

They were thoroughly detailed, judging from their thickness. But some of the information was blacked out or said [REDACTED].

What the actual hell?, Quentin thought.

He walked up to each one of them, and gently set their file in front of them.

“Emerald,” he stated, placing the file in front of a teenager covered in freckles and half her orange hair buzzed. “What are you in here for, young lady?,” he asked.

“Threatening a student, sir,” she said, beaming. She was incredibly proud, just slightly pissed she was caught.

Quentin nodded, smiling kindly. Next, was a pink haired student with large eyes. Oversized vines made his hands and arms.

“Dominic,” Quentin put down the file. “You?,” he asked, wanting to know why this preppy looking kid was in here.

“Arson.” The way he grinned was semi-chilling.

Quentin nodded.

Next was a frog looking mutant. Splotches of black covered her body. She lacked certain digits on her fingers and toes, which were oversized. Her naturally purple hair was completely buzzed down to where Quentin could see her scalp.

Quentin smiled gently.

“Sonya,” he placed the file softly.

“I did not stop Dominic from starting the fire,” she explained in a Costa Rican accent. “But it’s not my responsibility!”

“I am too your responsibility,” Dominic said smiling. “Dads said-“

“To look after you, not stop you from being stupid! It is his life, not mine! He wants to start fires? Fine! But what does that have to do with me, huh?! I am not his babysitter!”

Quentin did not sign up for this family drama. He moved on to the next student. He smiled. He recognized the green skin and feathers immediately.

“Eden! How the hell are you? I haven’t seen you since you were a baby! How are you?”

The son of Kubark, Prince Eden of the Shi’ar empire. Quentin hadn’t seen Eden since he lost the Phoenix Force almost 17 years ago.

“Hi, Mr. Quentin. I’m good.”

“C’mon, stand up so I can see how tall you’ve gotten!”

Eden stood up, looming over Quentin. Standing at 6 feet tall, he dwarfed Quentin’s 5’9 self.

“Jesus, look at you! God, 16 years just flys by. Love what you did to your hair by the way. What are you in here for, my man?”

Eden had dyed his hair red to match his father’s. A touching sentiment.

“Helping me,” Emerald smirked. “We got caught shaking up a student. No big deal, but we hadn’t been caught in almost a year. Shame to lose that streak, right, Eeds?”

Eden nodded. Quentin could see she was the mastermind and Eden was the muscle. Did Kubark know?

Quentin noticed the last student avoiding eye contact.

“Last, but not least. Enrique.”

This teen looked older than the rest, dressed in pink, and had a serious demeanor.

“So?,” Quentin asked.

Enrique looked confused.

“Why are you here?,” Quentin elaborated.

“I don’t belong here.” Enrique stated very bluntly. They had a deep voice that carried a light Osakan accent.

“Ok, then why do you think you were falsely brought here?”

“I don’t know.”

“I can answer that!,” Emerald said loudly. “You didn’t want to do a group project with me.”

“I would get a better grade if I worked alone.”

“And despite everything, you’re still stuck with me.”

Enrique buried their head in their arms, groaning softly.

“Headmistress Pryde sent me here because she doesn’t want me to get a good grade.”

“Essentially,” Emerald agreed.

Quentin made an assessment. These kids were subjected to a rigid system. They didn’t fit correctly into the mold, and were punished for it. It was unfair.

“Quick question, kiddos. How do we get this door unlocked?”

“I can open it if you want,” Emerald said.

“Please, because I’m taking you on a field trip!”

“Is that allowed?” Enrique was nervous. Bad enough that they were punished for asking questions but now this ugly man was taking them and a bunch of underaged teens out of the school? It didn’t seem safe.

“Who gives a fuck, I’m in charge and I say you kids have suffered enough. Come on, let’s do something fun!” Quentin walked up to Enrique. “What’s something you want to do?”

Enrique felt uncomfortable with him staring and shifted their gaze downwards.

“Bubble tea?,” Enrique said, very unsure & nervous.

“Oh Fuck Yeah!,” Emerald cheered.

“Never had it,” Dominic admitted.

“I guess it wasn’t popular back home,” Sonya said

“Ohoho, you two are in for a life changing Experience!,” Emerald said, slinging her arms around the both of them. It was kind of hard with Sonya being taller.

“I want blueberry, and I hope they don’t run out this time,” Eden said, mandibles quivering.

“I know this place that serves awesome sushi and bubble tea. I’ll buy you kids dinner.”

“Back home is better,” Enrique said, walking to the door Emerald had unlocked.

“Well, can’t help you there, but I can recommend the tuna tacos.”

“I like tuna,” Enrique said softly. They noticed Quentin staring at them. “Please, stop staring at me.”

“Sorry. It’s funny, we have the same eye color!”

Enrique didn’t look at Quentin directly, only glancing at his iris. Pulling out a compact mirror, Enrique saw he was right.

“Funny,” Enrique repeated.

#quentin quire #i ams serious comic book man #my ocs #writtenbybitchhands #enrique #sonya #eden #emerald #dominic #x bastards

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insomniac-dot-ink · 5 years

Text

You’re Not Handling the End of the World Very Well

genre: superheroes, end of the world, wlw

words: 3k

summary: After all of civilization has properly and meaningful collapsed, there are only a handful of meta-humans and villains left on the empty world.

So what happens when the villains win? When the planet has apocalypse-d and it’s all gone to shit? The real question is what do super-villains threaten heroes with now that everything else is gone.

The world’s over. Lucy Goren just wants her damn dog back.

Ko-Fi ⭐Patreon ⭐ WordPress⭐Twitter ⭐ Ao3

story for one of my patrons for ‘Random-Pick-a-Prompt’ event for April!

Lucy’s boots scraped across the chunky rubble on the floor. It echoed low and grating across the empty space, a reminder, no, a very tired and heavy-handed statement.

Lucy looked over the gloomy, remote hallway, cast in long shadows and flickering fluorescent lights overhead. She rolled her eyes gracefully at it. It was an underground government facility that had long since been abandoned, bombed, and then abandoned again. Cracks spread in fine spiderwebs from the concrete ceiling to the wall, with little peak-holes into the dark ethers of the building.

She stepped around the next heap of rubble and made her way toward the nearest fire exit at the end of the hall, technically, she could fly there, but what would be the point?

The exit sign blinked red and cast a fiery neon glow across the grey walls, a splotch of color in the faded dingy surroundings. Water dripped from somewhere far away and stagnant air entombed the hallway.

A speaker crackled to life from a black box in the corner, staticy and jumbled, it had obviously been jerry-rigged together recently compared to every other broken thing in the dilapidated setting.

It started with a laugh. A simmering boundless sound, building and rippling off the walls, echoing down the hall and toward its demise situated directly up it’s own arsehole.

Lucy kept her eyes focused straight ahead and made no move to acknowledge it.

“It’s been too long, Lady Remix.” The voice purred as the laugh died, “I suppose you’re surprised to see me again.” “Yeah,” she responded without venom. “I kinda thought you’d manage to choke on your own spit by this point?” She tipped her chin up, unwashed blonde curls tickling her shoulder tops. “Since it’s so bullshit flavored and all.” The laugh returned, hot and pleased with itself. “My, my,” the voice radiated a perfectly practiced sense of glee. “Someone updated her vocabulary. Tired of being a role model for ungrateful brats, hmm?”

Lucy made a face up at the ceiling, “You’re the only left who thinks I’m a big deal Stephanie.” She said dryly and reached for the exit door, putting her hand on the cold dented handle. “But I’ll kick your ass into next Tuesday to be my own damn role model this time.”

She opened the door and stepped into a drafty stairwell, a damp cold crawled up her spine numbly, it smelled metallic and dusty.

“Lady Remix,” the voice tutted gently, “Your confidence becomes you. But I’m afraid you’re too late.” Lucy grimaced and looked up the endless grey steps both below and above. “You’ll have to go down the rabbit hole to meet your fate, little hero!” She cackled, “And see exactly what your chivalry has brought you.” Lucy simply held up her middle finger to the camera this time. She carefully oriented herself in space, getting a sense of her body, her beating heart, and boxy solid surroundings. She touched off from the ground.

This trick had taken years of training, sweat and tears, to be able to reorient empty space itself and allow her to float.

When Lucy was a teenager she had risked her life in a toxic oil field (as you do) and managed to stop a major spill into a local water supply. She had gotten terribly sick afterward and assumed it was over. However, a mysterious figure arrived and asked if she’d like to change her fate, reorient her dying cells and everything else around them.

She was 17, she completely and totally accepted. She had been gifted the power of Spatial Manipulation, she could reorient anything within seven feet of her. That was a long time ago, it gave her a headache if she thought about it too hard.

It had seemed worth it at the time. Now she just snorted lightly.

She stared up at the speaker in the stairwell, tracing the wires with her eyes: following the cables upward and into the wall. Lucy gave a shallow smile and then threw herself toward the next story, gliding past the gaps in the stairs and doors hanging off of their hinges.

“I said down the rabbit hole, little bunny,” the speaker said tartly. “Down. Stop that.”

Lucy quickly made her way to the second story of the underground facility, confirming her own hunch. A big red door sat with the word ‘Restricted’ painted in bulky white letters across it. The letters looked freshly applied.

“Ugh,” Stephanie did not sound pleased.

Lucy twisted the locked door away, reorienting it in space to gape wide open and reveal a dark, noisy room. The place buzzed with machines and beeping monitors, appearing to be a vast repurposed storage area with only various fuzzy glowing silver screens to give it light.

Wires criss-crossed the floor, sloppily taped down and sprawling out from the center like messy vines. A personal generator hummed in the corner, computers heaped on top of each other in a maze of defunct tech, and one central enormous screen bathed the area in alien wintery light.

Lucy took a breath in through her nose and landed heavily, she let her shadow cut a long and imposing silhouette across the concrete floors, backlit by the stairwell lights. The inside smelled musty, warm, and like corn chips that had gone incredibly stale.

A giant chair faced away her, high-backed and on a set of little rolling wheels, it was positioned directly in front of the main staticked screen. Lucy didn’t bother to inspect anything and simply strode in, letting her voice fill the room. “Where is my damn dog?” She growled. “Mmm,” Stephanie’s voice was low and rumbling, the door slammed loudly shut behind Lucy. “Have you finally learned the lesson?” Lucy groaned, “Oh my God.” “After all this time,” the other woman turned slowly, painfully slowly, her face caught half in the shadows and half light of the screen. “Have you finally learned the price of loving?” Lucy made a face, blinked several times, and then turned around in a tight circle. “Kitt!” Lucy called loudly, picking her way across the floor. “Kitt, come here girl!”

“Your precious pup is-” “Shut up, Steph.” She said dryly, “Literally nothing is stopping me from re-orienting your heart outside of your damn body.”

Stephanie paused for a moment, obviously startled, her mouth pinched shut and twisted off to the side. Lucy crossed the room to a darker corner, an area evidently lived in: strewn with clutters of trash, a mini-fridge, raggedy sweatpants, and a mattress all shoved to the side.

Lucy looked back to Stephanie mildly.

“Haven’t you heard?” Stephanie puffed herself up, recovering neatly, she tossed her head back with a flare. “There’s nothing for you to orient, hero... I never had a heart to begin with!” “Oh my God,” Lucy massaged the bridge of her nose. “Are we doing this? Are we still doing this?” “Oh precious, ignorant Remix,” she simpered, purple lipstick catching the light in an easy smirk. “Pure, brilliant power will never stop. It never rests for the foolish heroes of the world! Those easily worn down and broken. I am endless.” “Have you been just,” Lucy glanced at the pile of trash in the corner, “holed up in this shithole this whole time? Stephanie,”

“For I am!” She continued blithely.

“That mattress has mold on it.” “THE HEGEMON.” Lucy gave her a completely toneless look, twitching and unamused. “Are you done?” She looked her up and down. “Because I am.” “I don’t know the meaning of ‘done’! I am The Hegemon and you will know LOSS and GUILT, those things subjected to me at a young age, a blessing of pain that gave me insights into human nature itse-” “First of all, last time I checked your name was Stephanie Brewster and you worked in accounting for seven years.” Stephanie frowned dourly at that. “And I don’t care.”

Stephanie’s nostrils flared. She was a wry, bony woman with short, wild black hair that stood up like a faux-mohawk with too much product. She had a pair of purple goggles covering eyes and patented dark shiny lipstick. A black lab coat was buttoned all the way up to her throat and tall shiny black boots clad her calves.

Her usually purple nails were chipped and bitten down to their very nubs, she looked softly more restless than usual, shifting in place and drumming her nails on the arm of the chair endlessly.

“God this place smells awful,” Lucy kicked an empty tv dinner tray. “Steph, this is so bad.”

Stephanie sniffed loudly, petulance entering her tone. “Well you aren’t looking so great either.” That was a fair statement. Lucy hadn’t showered in an uncountable number of days, her dirty blonde curls much dirtier than usual and slouchy jeans ripped around the cuffs. She wore a dingy pink night shirt, beaten up gym shoes, and a lumpy sports bra from an unknown era.

Obviously, her face was maskless and when she caught her reflection in the dead tv screens she looked back at her own bloodshot, baggy eyes. Her skin looked slightly sickly and too pale, she had even lost some of her iconic round hips and full figure.

People magazine called her an ‘Icon of Plus-Sized Girls Everywhere,’ but that was by Hollywood standards and her thighs had been mostly muscle back then. That was all a lifetime ago.

“Kitt!” She cupped her mouth and called, “Come here girl, let’s go home.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Stephanie wheeled her chair around, trying to keep Lucy’s attention. “She’s not coming.” Lucy turned slowly, thoughtfully. She put her hands on her hips, “How attached are you to your teeth Steph? 32 always seemed excessive to me. But we could discuss.”

Stephanie pulled back in her chair, expression tensing. “You’re being kind of an asshole right now.” It was almost a whisper.

Lucy rolled her eyes, “Yeah, well, the world ended and you stole my dog.” She stomped her way over toward the villain, “Only one of those things I can change.”

Stephanie looked away, tone shifting from it’s usual mocking drawl. “Oh, it’s not that bad.” She frowned deeply, “Minnesota is still fine.” “Ugh,” she groaned loudly, “Pestilence got them last month. You’ve really been here this whole time, huh?” She wrinkled her nose at several packs of energy drinks stacked in the corner.

Stephanie got to her feet, unfolding her body like a lithe house cat stretching out, she tilted her head to the side. “I took shelter.” She said aggressively, “It’s what Gentlemen Damnation said to do for us Chosen.”

“Do we really have to call him that?” Lucy did another aimless turn in place. “Like, I know he painted it in blood on all major monuments. But considering those were destroyed too maybe we can stop?”

Stephanie crossed her arms over her chest. “He is the new and eternal lord of Lamb’s Blood New Earth. What else would we call him?” Lucy scratched her chin, “I’m thinking ‘Gunk I Find in between my Toes During the Summer’.” “Well, I mean-” “Burst Pustules on the Buttocks of Men in Unwashed Saunas.” “That’s kind of a mouthful.” “Ratty McRatman, the Sequel. Baby Whose Birth Certificate is an Apology Letter from Trojan. A Barnacle on the Ballsack of-” “Yes, I get it,” Stephanie reached for some sort of electric staff, “How long have you been saving those up?” She shrugged listlessly, “When is the last time I saw your face?” “Haha,” she turned around, “If I had known your banter had become so… unpolished. Well.” Lucy took a couple threatening steps toward her, “Enough.” She moved her hands quickly, “It’s almost Kitt’s dinner time and I just found a DVD copy of Space Jam buried last night. I have shit to do.” Stephanie cleared her throat, “I see you’re impatient for my hand to be played.” She tried to plaster on a new taunting smile, “I have a series of challenges even you will lose heart at! The grit of heroes tested by my might and ingenuity, tested- only to find themselves,” she licked her lips, “Lacking.” Lucy narrowed her eyes, and then took a sudden step toward her, bringing Stephanie into her zone of manipulation. She re-oriented the other woman upside down in space, Stephanie flailed for a moment, reaching for her weapon.

Lucy quickly re-oriented anything in her pockets and staff to the other side of her. “On a scale of one to ten, how fond of breathing are you?”

Her eyes went wide, “What?”

She separated the villain’s air supply from her lungs.

Stephanie’s face went two shades paler and she started clawing at her throat and kicking in space, arms pinwheeling and trying to right herself and gasp for air. Lucy’s eyes just narrowed further. “Now.” She growled. “Where is my dog?”

Stephanie kicked and spittle dripped down the side of her mouth, she gaped for another couple of strained seconds. Finally, she pointed toward the space under her enormous office desk off to the side. Lucy let her fall unceremoniously to the floor and made a beeline toward the desk.

She knelt down quickly and caught sight of a wire cage pushed into the corner. She pulled the thing toward her and exhaled. A lumpy form lay on top of a thin blue blanket, the chest of her floppy brown beagle rose and fell gently inside.

She managed a smile and unlatched the cage, reaching in to pet the dog’s side and scratch her behind the ears. Kitt didn’t stir, but Lucy knew it was only a heavy sedative.

She carefully gathered her dog into her arms and turned around.

Stephanie was sprawled on the floor, gasping for air and clutching at her chest. “That was,” she rasped and unsteadily sat up. “Completely against The Code.” “Don’t you get it?” Lucy strode over, reaching the scientist and taking her purple goggles in hand, she tore them off her head. “The Code is gone. The hero society is collapsed. Everybody’s off planet or dead,” she bore her teeth. “You won.” Stephanie’s eyes were an animated misty grey and flicked all around the room until they landed on her own empty open palms. “Yes. Gentlemen Damnat- David.” She said softly, “he said we’d win.” “Yeah,” Lucy jerked her head up to the ceiling, holding her dog close. “Woopee. He got what he wanted. Society’s over and villain’s are stealing my damn dog.” She looked down again sharply, “She’s just a dog Steph!” Stephanie’s chin dimpled delicately, “I wasn’t going to hurt her.” She looked away. “This isn’t how you play.” “I know.” The weight, the heaving immeasurable weight, settled on her shoulder tops. Lucy fell to her knees and sat dully on the floor next to her. “The rules are gone. It’s over… you all got what you wanted.” Stephanie scratched the back of her neck, “I don’t think everyone was supposed to… go.” She said quietly, “Just the foolish and soft-hearted and those who toted light and selfishlessness above the-” “Yeah, yeah,” Lucy put her hand up, “Have fun reveling in your victory. Imma go watch Space Jam with my dog.” Lucy got up to leave, knees creaking and a warm body limp in her arms. Her thoughts drifted over to the task of flying all the way home from here, even in its death throes D.C. was a nightmare to navigate.

“Wait,” Stephanie called weakly, “Lady Remix.” She carefully addressed her, “It wasn’t my plan to create The Four Horsemen. I didn’t know…” “Duh,” Lucy shook her head, “You were like, a C villain at best hun.” Stephanie wrinkled her nose, “Can’t you call me Hegemon once? For old times sake?” “No,” she said flatly, “You can call me Lucy though.” Stephanie balked, “Absolutely not,” she scrambled back, “terrible.” It was Lucy’s turn to laugh, “God. You’re so old school.”

Stephanie slowly crawled to her feet again, much less nimble and calculating than before. “Yes.” She said slowly. “It’s not as if David gave us much of a choice on how to rebuild the world,” she looked toward the dark corners, the outside. “Not even an email.” Lucy shrugged, “He took out a lot of villains too I heard,” she said offhandedly, “Everybody. And anyone who made it out just left the planet.” Stephanie considered her for a long moment, “Not you?”

She looked back to the door, “Not me.” She sighed, “duty and all that I thought.” She scowled at the door handle, “Plus… not everyone deserves off-planet.” Stephanie burst out into a dark laugh, voice resonating to it’s rough purr. “Deserve? What hero language! An arrogant mechanism of the weak to justify their own actions.” “Seriously?” “Right. Sorry.” Stephanie took a couple hurried steps toward her, hair askew and bright grey eyes surveying the area. “So, where are you now in the fight?” Lucy took a step back, “Nowhere. You can tell your master I’ve thrown in the towel,” her eyes unfocused, “there’s no one left to save.” Stephanie opened her mouth, and then closed it. She looked down at the floor unhappily, “There’s your dog.” She said in a controlled tone, “And you.” Lucy shot her a tense look, “Goodbye Stephanie.” She adjusted Kitt in her arms to reach for the door. “If you bother me again I will be more off Code than you know.” She didn’t stop her as Lucy shouldered the door open and started climbing the last of the stairs back outside. She was halfway toward the faceless metal exit door when she heard a number of hurried steps chasing after her.

Lucy stopped in place but didn’t turn.

“He really ruined it you know.” She started babbling, “He really missed the point we were all trying to drive home.” Lucy sprouted a lopsided smile and glanced over her shoulder, “What are you trying to say?” Stephanie drew herself up, “I may have been a C villain but even I know this isn’t how it was supposed to go, and I should,” she licked her lips, floundering slightly. She hunched her shoulders, “and what kind of woman of action would be if I didn’t do something?” Lucy threw her head back and laughed, it was filled with all that suffocating weight of the ages, “Are you going to be a hero now?” Stephanie put her hands on her hips, “Absolutely not!” She looked away petulantly, “hero? God no.” Her gaze followed her upwards, back to the door. “Are you?” “I don’t think so.” She reached for the door and it swung open, pouring in the ashen light of the storm clouds and empty roads. “Want to come?”

She blinked a couple times, frowned, and then nodded stiltedly.

They walked out into the broken world together.

#wlw #sapphic #short story #superheores #original story #f/f #my work #dark comedy

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