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the-wild-wolves-around-you · 3 years

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hear those bells ring: chapter 3 (a deaf!bakugo x reader fic)

Summary: Bakugo wakes up with his hearing and a bunch of questions.

Pairings: Katsuki Bakugo x Reader; Katsuki Bakugo x You

Rating: M(ature)

Warnings: Blood, descriptions of gore, and adult language.

A/N: Sorry for the wait on ch 3, I had to work over the weekend. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

~*~*~ No spoilers or anything. This is just a self-indulgent AU fic with aged up characters. Everyone’s in their mid-20s. Fic title is from a song called “Achilles Come Down.”

Ao3 Link: Here

Ch 1 Tumblr Link: Here

Ch 2 Tumblr Link: Here

Bakugo woke up confused, disoriented, and pissed off.

He bolted upright, the taste of smoke and ash still on his tongue, but when he whipped his head from side to side, there was no fire, no burning asphalt, no villain, only the empty, dark expanse of his apartment.

But something was still tugging at him, fucking incessantly, and it took him a moment to realize it was his phone alarm.

Red eyes flicked to the device on his bedside table, and even though its continuous siren was like nails on a chalkboard, Bakugo found himself unable to move, unable to stop it.

Because he could hear the alarm. Clearly. Loudly.

He hadn’t been able to hear his phone alarm in weeks, not really. It was nothing more than a muffled tone that petered out toward the end as it rose in pitch and frequency. Thankfully, Bakugo’s internal alarm got him up most days around the sun, but he’d been late to morning patrols a handful of times.

But now…

Numbly, Bakugo finally reached out and tapped his phone. His ears rang slightly in the ensuing silence, but it was barely perceptible, nothing like the perpetual buzzing he’d been living with, like a hive of bees had taken up residence in his head.

The quiet, after so long, was almost… unsettling.

And it was all because of that woman. He was sure of it.

Bakugo pressed his lips into a thin line as he thought about you, the memories of last night flooding back. The blurry image of your face, crouched over him, splattered in a thin mist of red blood and dusted with white plaster. He couldn’t remember much from right after he blasted that villain into the fucking dirt. He remembered the feel of glass breaking around him, and pain, a lot of fucking pain, but then it was black until you appeared. When he’d opened his eyes and met yours, he recalled thinking he should be in more pain, but then you spoke to him and derailed all coherent thought.

Because he’d heard you. Clear as fucking day.

That immediately drew his attention, and so did the blood all over your hands.

There was a lot of it. Way too fucking much for nicking yourself on some glass or whatever bullshit excuse you gave. And Bakugo knew it was bullshit. You weren’t a convincing liar. Well, maybe to some idiot extras you would be, but not to him. He clocked the way you stuttered, the way you fidgeted and averted your eyes. And when you looked at him… fuck, your face was so goddamn guilty.

Why, he had no idea.

But he did know one thing.

You had a healing quirk. There was no other explanation.

Even if he hadn’t just miraculously recovered the hearing that a doctor told him he would never get back, there were a lot of other little discrepancies. His left arm, for one. Bakugo remembered how it felt when the villain’s asphalt wrapped around his limb, the burning, scalding agony of it. But now, the skin was just pink and barely blistered in some places.

Then there was the blood.

When he’d gotten home after ditching the crime scene, Bakugo had immediately beelined for his bathroom to take a shower. But, when he stripped off his hoodie, he realized it was heavier than it should be right before he noticed it was dripping onto his floor. Dripping blood. Without thinking, he’d wrung the hoodie out on the bathroom floor, and a fuck ton of red liquid seeped out of it.

He had immediately dropped the jacket and started scanning his body in the bathroom mirror, but besides the shallow gash on his abdomen, the burned arm, and a few other minor scrapes and bruises, he was uninjured.

But… his back was coated in red, and so were the seat of his dark jeans and boxer briefs. It was almost like… he’d been lying in a pool of blood.

So, you had to be a healer. You just had to be.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to confirm this since the cops had been circling you like vultures. He also hadn’t wanted to be bitched at by any more heroes, or the fucking media, so he made himself scarce.

But he needed to see you again. Needed to hear the truth from your own mouth.

And maybe he could coax you into a deal.

The doctor Bakugo spoke to yesterday obviously hadn’t known what the hell he was talking about. He had made it sound impossible to fix the blond’s ears, and yet you’d somehow done it easily, in the middle of a fucking battlefield.

With that kind of power, Bakugo wouldn’t have to worry about going deaf or designing stupid hearing aids with some company.

With that kind of power, Dynamight would become Japan’s Number One Hero in no time.

But first, he had to find you.

Resolved, Bakugo shoved the covers off and slid out of bed, but before he could make it to his bathroom, someone started knocking on his front door.

No, not knocking. Banging. It sounded like they were trying to break the fucking door down.

“Bakubroooooooo!”

“Gotta be fuckin’ kidding me,” Bakugo grumbled as he padded to his front door. He was only dressed in boxer briefs, but that’s what the idiot got for barging over so early in the damn morning.

The banging persisted, growing louder and more fervent.

“I’m fuckin’ comin!” the blond shouted just before he undid the deadbolt and wrenched open the door.

Eijiro Kirishima, dressed in his Red Riot costume, blinked on the other side of the threshold, his fist still raised to knock.

“What the fuck, bro?” he asked after a moment of just staring at Bakugo.

The blond immediately scowled. “That’s my fuckin’ line. What are you doing breaking down my door at six in the damn morning?”

“Excuse me?” his patrol and agency partner scoffed. “I’m obviously coming to check that you’re not dead since you’ve been MIA for over twenty-four hours.”

“What?” Bakugo frowned. “I saw you yesterday morning for patrol.”

“Noooooo,” Kirishima drawled like Bakugo was a particularly stupid child. “That was two days ago, bro. Then that night, I see you all over the damn news, and no one could get ahold of you all day yesterday. I would have come to check on you sooner, but I’ve been having to play damage control with the media because someone decided to blow up a residential neighborhood.”

“Two days?” Bakugo echoed with a furrowed brow. He’d slept that long?

“Have you been passed out this whole time, dude?” Kirishima groaned as he shouldered his way into the apartment. “I guess that means you got none of our messages?”

“Our?” the blond grumbled as he closed the door and followed the redhead to the kitchen bar.

“Yeah, Denki, Mina, Sero.” Kirishima waved his hand dismissively, marching over to the counter where Bakugo kept the fruit and selecting an apple from the wire basket. “I even asked Izuku to message you, just to see if he’d actually get a rise and response from you.”

“I don’t need stupid Deku knowing about my problems, Shitty Hair,” Bakugo growled before he stomped over to his fridge to see what he had to eat because he was suddenly starving.

“Well, that would imply I know your problems, Oh Great Lord Dynamight,” Kirishima snorted and took a bite of apple. “So, what the fuck happened the other night?”

“I blew up a residential neighborhood,” the blond deadpanned as he turned on his stove, cracking a few eggs into a skillet.

“Yeah, I saw that. I was more wondering about what led up to it.”

“What the fuck do you think led up to it?” Bakugo snapped, rummaging through his cupboard for seasonings. “I was walking home from getting a drink, and a damn villain just popped up in front of me.”

“From what I heard, there were other heroes there, too,” the redhead mumbled around another bite of apple.

“Yeah, fuckin’ useless extras,” Bakugo sneered as he started to whisk his eggs with a pair of chopsticks, throwing in some leftover white rice and a bit of nori. “They obviously weren’t getting anywhere, and the bastard was tearing up the street, so I stepped in.”

“To finish destroying the street?” Kirishima cocked an eyebrow, chewing noisily.

“Fuck off,” the blond said with an eyeroll.

Internally, though, Bakugo knew the redhead was right. He’d been sloppy, careless, probably still borderline drunk. But he’d just been so angry about the doctor’s appointment, his fucked-up ears, his bleak and silent future. He had just wanted to break something, hurt someone, consequences be damned.

Except now the consequences were catching up to him.

Fuck, he didn’t even want to think about what his citizen’s approval rating must be now.

Silence stretched between the two pro heroes for several long minutes, in which Bakugo finished making his breakfast and Kirishima finished gnawing on his apple core. The blond quickly shoveled a few bites of eggs and rice into his mouth, but his scarlet eyes kept flicking over to the redhead.

“How bad?” he finally asked.

Kirishima, to his credit, had learned how to translate Bakugo’s curt grunts years ago.

“Actually, if I’m being honest, it’s not that bad,” he sighed, tossing the apple core in the trash and scratching at the back of his head. “Could be worse. From the reports I read, most of the damage—besides the road—is superficial. Broken windows, charred and peeling paint, a few busted cars that we’re still trying to figure out if our insurance or the city’s will pay for. It also helped that you saved two people. That definitely softened the blow.”

“Two?” Bakugo mumbled around one of his last bites. “I just remember the stupid extra on the street that I shoved out of the way.”

As the memory flashed through his mind, Bakugo frowned. He’d shoved that extra out of the way and got snatched by a giant asphalt hand for his troubles. The blond’s red eyes dropped to his pink and blotchy left arm and then trailed over to his chest. He recalled the sensation of his ribs snapping under pressure, but now only a mild soreness lingered after he took a deep breath. Yet another inconsistency…

“Yeah, two,” Kirishima said and drew Bakugo out of his thoughts. “Do you seriously not even remember your own heroics? And that girl had such nice things to say about you, too.”

“Girl?” Bakugo snapped his head up. “The girl whose… apartment I fell into?”

“Crashed into, dude,” the redhead snorted, but then he narrowed his eyes as a sly smirk tugged at his lips. “But yeah. Sounds like you remember her, huh?”

Bakugo didn’t like the smug look on his friend’s face.

“I remember her fuckin’ yellin’ at me.” The blond scowled. “Like I wrecked her place on purpose and didn’t just save her whole block from a lunatic.”

“I mean, to be fair, if you crashed into my house, bro, I would have yelled at you, too.” Kirishima grinned. “But don’t worry, she’s fine. In fact, when she called the agency yesterday, she asked for you specifically.”

“She did? Why?” Did she want to confess her healing quirk? Fuck, were there side effects Bakugo didn’t know about?

“Bro, seriously.” Kirishima rolled his eyes. “You’re Japan’s Number Two Hero, and you saved her life. And, like Mina keeps telling you, you’re not as ugly when you stop scowling.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Bakugo flipped him off before he went to dump the dishes in the sink.

“Yes, dear.” The redhead smirked. “But, in all seriousness, she called to figure out how to file a claim with our insurance. Or at least that’s what she said, but she also asked how you were doing, and she actually sounded genuinely worried.”

Worried that a random side effect was going to kill him? Or worried that he would say something about her quirk? She’d obviously hidden it for a reason, tried to lie for a reason.

And Bakugo was determined to find out just what that reason was.

“Yeah, well, I’m fine,” he grunted as he rinsed off his plate and put it on the drying rack. “Just a few scrapes and bruises.”

“I can see that,” Kirishima said as he eyed the butterfly stitches stretched across the gash on Bakugo’s abdomen. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t find you dead in a pool of your own blood. That woulda been a real bummer way to start the morning.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bakugo muttered before he averted his eyes to the living room window across from him. “So… what did you tell her?”

“The girl?”

“No, you’re fuckin’ mom,” the blond scoffed.

“Oh, speaking of moms, you might want to text Mitsuki. I called her last night after you ignored my billionth text, so she’s probably going crazy wondering where you are.” Kirishima grinned and then immediately dodged out of the way as Bakugo hurled a fork at him.

“You bastard!” Bakugo hissed. “Now, I’m going to have to see that hag this weekend or she’s gonna fuckin’ barge over here.”

“Maybe you should turn the ringer up on your phone.” The other hero shrugged, ducking again when Bakugo chucked an apple in his direction.

The blond scowled at his friend, but he didn’t reply.

If you and your quirk were the real deal, Bakugo wouldn’t have to worry about missing a call ever again.

When Kirishima realized the projectiles had stopped, he popped his head over the back of the couch and smirked. “But to answer your previous question, I told the girl we would handle the insurance claim on our end if she sent us her info. And I didn’t really have anything to tell her about you since, like I’ve said, I thought you were dead. Kinda. I was at least thirty percent sure.”

“Have you filed the insurance claim?” Bakugo asked.

“No.” Kirishima shook his head. “She hasn’t sent in the info yet.”

“Well… we should go get it from her.”

This caused the redhead’s eyebrows to shoot up into his hairline, and the surprise on his face quickly made Bakugo backtrack.

“I just… want to get this shitshow over with,” he grumbled as he averted his eyes again, but he could feel a traitorous heat crawling across the bridge of his nose. “The longer her apartment’s all fucked up, the longer the press is gonna rake me over the coals. The hero ranking’s aren’t far off, and I’m not going to lose to Deku again over some stupid broken windows.”

“Righttttt,” Kirishima drawled, but his tone was mocking. “Okay, well, I know the hotel the police have set her up at. After we swing by the agency, we can head that way… to get her insurance info.”

He still sounded unconvinced and like he wanted to needle Bakugo more, but the blond changed the subject quickly.

“Why do we have to go to the agency?” Bakugo asked, and he frowned as he glanced back at his partner. “Even if I lost yesterday, my next scheduled patrol isn’t till tonight.”

“Oh, I know.” Kirishima nodded solemnly. “But Nao wanted to have… a word with you ASAP, if I confirmed you weren’t dead.”

“Fuckkkkkkk,” Bakugo groaned as he dropped his head back. If there was anything Bakugo hated more than the press, it was his actual PR manager. That old hag was good at her job, which meant she was always up Bakugo’s ass about something, and he knew she was going to have a field day with this shitfest.

“Yeah, I’d recommend coffee and preemptive painkillers before we head in,” Kirishima said. “Plus, some putting on clothes. Maybe we can stop on the way and get her something sweet as a bribe.”

“No amount of sugar is gonna make that bitch nice to me,” Bakugo grumbled before he spun on heel and started marching to his bedroom.

“Maybe flowers then?” the redhead shouted after him.

Bakugo slammed the door in response.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“This is fuckin’ ridiculous,” Bakugo growled around his cargo, kicking his foot out at Kirishima. “Why did I listen to you? I’ve had to go shopping twice today now.”

“Come on,” his friend laughed as he dodged the blow, which made the bags in his arms crinkle. “You can’t deny the flowers and cookies sweetened ole’ Nao up.”

“To you,” Bakugo muttered, shifting the package in his arms a bit. “She still yelled at me for fifteen minutes.”

“Well, you kinda deserved i—yow!” Kirishima yelped as Bakugo kicked him squarely in the ass this time. “This isn’t helping your image, bro!”

“No one even knows it’s us,” the blond hissed.

“Yeah, I guess the hoodies and sunglasses help,” the other pro hero mused.

“And the fact that we’re carrying all this stupid shit.”

“It’s not stupid.” Kirishima frowned in that earnest way of his, which made Bakugo roll his eyes. “It’s thoughtful to bring gifts to people who are having a difficult time. Especially when you made that time difficult. You basically kicked her out of her house, dude, not to mention her shop.”

A wave of guilt actually washed through the blond, which he didn’t like. It made his throat feel tight and his stomach churn, and he glanced away from the redhead with a scowl.

“Tch.” He clicked his tongue. “It’s not like we aren’t gonna pay for it.”

The excuse felt flat, even to him.

“Still,” Kirishima said as he shifted the bags in his grip, pulled out his phone, and consulted the map. “It must be stressful. So, we’re going to be nice to her, alright? Which starts with the gifts.”

“And how is a fuckin’ fruit basket supposed to help?” Bakugo asked as he glared around the overflowing mound of crinkling plastic and bright fruit that he held against his chest.

“Uh, one, it’s practical. Her apartment’s all fucked up, the power’s probably still out if not inconsistent on the street, and she’s been living in a hotel for two days, so she probably hasn’t had some nice fresh fruit in a while. And two, it looks nice!”

“We coulda just left this shit at the hotel,” Bakugo grumbled. “She has to go back there eventually, right?”

After old Nao chewed his ass out, Bakugo and Kirishima had gone to the hotel the police said they’d put you up in. Except you weren’t fucking there, and the number you left with Kirishima when you called the agency was going straight to voicemail, so here there were, fucking trekking through the city with a bunch of useless shit.

Bakugo just kept reminding himself it would be worth it when he got the truth about your quirk out of you.

“Nope,” Kirishima said and drew the blond out of his thoughts. “The city only pays the first two days after an emergency, unless the villain caused all the damage, but, uh, that’s not the case here, so we’ll be accommodating her until her apartment gets fixed up.”

“At the agency?” Bakugo asked as his red eyes clicked over to his partner.

As the Number Two and Three Heroes, the two of them had built a solid agency together. Bakugo still didn’t care for a bunch of extras riding on his tailcoats, so they had few sidekicks, all of whom reported to Kirishima and left him the fuck alone for the most part. But they owned a nice, sleek building in a nicer part of town, and one of the floors was dedicated to individual rooms with beds and other amenities. They were usually used when Bakugo, Kirishima, or the other sidekicks wanted to crash after patrol instead of going home—which Bakugo did more often than not—but they’d never had a civilian stay on the premises.

Until now.

“Yessssss, at the agency,” the redhead drawled as a shit-eating smirk crawled across his face. “So, you’ll be seeing a lot of her for the next couple weeks.”

“Wipe that stupid look off your face.” Bakugo scowled and shouldered past the other hero, who snickered as he jogged to catch up.

“Take the next left up ahead.”

“Shut up!” the blond growled, but he followed the instructions.

This was good news, though. Bakugo wouldn’t have to trek to this shitty part of town more than he had to.

And he’d have a healer just down the hall.

They marched along in silence for a few minutes, keeping their heads down, but there wasn’t much foot traffic. Bakugo was lost in his thoughts, planning out the questions he was going to ask you once he could distract Kirishima, but the redhead suddenly stopped in front of him.

“Hey,” Bakugo grunted as the fruit basket crinkled against the other hero’s back. He hadn’t even notice Kiri get in front of him again. “What’s the damn hold up?”

“Holy shit, dude,” Kirishima muttered, staring out at the road he’d just turned onto.

“What?” the blond grumbled, shoving past his friend, but then he stopped, too. “Oh… yeah.”

The street in front of him looked much worse in the bright light of midday. The road was a torn-up mess, more patches of dirt and gravel than actual asphalt. Most of the large-scale debris had been hauled away, but black scorch marks covered the sidewalks in long, dark smears. The walls of several businesses also bore charring along the facades, but most of the damage was focused in the center of the street. A crater nearly six feet deep was carved into the middle of the road, and the buildings on either side were blackened, their broken windows gaping voids.

And then there was the hole in what Bakugo remembered as your second-floor apartment. A tarp hung over the wound, but one of the corners had come undone, flapping in the wind and giving split second glimpses into the darkened room beyond.

Guilt crept up on him again, but Bakugo shoved it down, hunching over the fruit basket and nudging Kirishima.

“Come on,” he muttered before he started moving forward, and a moment later he heard the crunch of boots on gravel as the redhead followed him.

There were more people on this street than on the last several, but Bakugo could immediately tell they weren’t customers just passing through. People swept sidewalks, clearing away the last of the rubble and glass in front of their shops. Then a few old ladies stood under one awning shaking their heads, their hands laden with containers of food or gifts.

Guess Kirishima hadn’t been wrong with this stupid idea.

Then Bakugo realized some of those people were starting to look back at him, so he ducked his head further behind the fruit basket, grateful for his hoodie and sunglasses.

But then suddenly he was there, standing in front of your ruined shop. His red eyes immediately flickered upward, but if there was a sign there before, it was gone now, burnt to ash.

“What kinda shop did you say this was?” the blond asked under his breath as Kirishima paused beside him.

“I’m… not sure,” the redhead said with a furrowed brow. “I don’t think she said on the phone. No time like the present to ask, though.”

Before Bakugo could stop him, Kirishima shifted the bags in his arms, lifted one hand, and knocked on the charred metal frame of the front door.

“Hello?” he called through the broken windows, followed by your name. “Anyone in there?”

“Shit!” The squeaking voice was followed by a crashing sound somewhere in the shadows of the store.

Bakugo didn’t speak a lot of English, but he did know curse words, and the sound of it made his lips twitch in amusement.

“Are you okay?” Kirishima called out. “Can, uh, we come in?”

“Yes, I’m fine!” the voice answered back in flustered Japanese. The words were fluent, though, with barely the hint of an accent. “And, um, I-I guess you can come in, but—”

That was good enough for Bakugo.

The blond shouldered past his partner, boots crunching over glass as he ducked into the darkened shop, and Kirishima sighed as he followed.

The interior, if possible, looked worse than the outside. The room itself wasn’t very big, but it was a mess. Two metal rods had been embedded in the left and right walls at odd angles, obviously caused from the explosions, though Bakugo couldn’t tell what they used to be. Several pieces of blacked mannequins were scattered through the debris, and one wall was a charred mess of shelving and fabric, spots of color peeking through the black ash here and there.

In the back, left corner were the remains of a tri-fold standing mirror, the ones where you could see yourself from different angles. Large shards of glass were missing, though, so the image of Bakugo and Kirishima standing backlit against the street was fractured.

Last but not least, in the rear, right corner of the store was a counter that was half collapsed to the floor, behind which stood an empty doorframe that Bakugo assumed led to the back of the shop and upstairs.

And it was from behind this broken counter that you popped up with a dustpan in one hand and a tiny, handheld broom in the other.

The first thought Bakugo had was your face was rather plain… but in a somehow pleasing way. Like if his eyes had scanned over you in a crowd, something about the line of your jaw, the slope of your nose, the delicate quirk of your mouth would give him pause.

His second thought was that his first one was stupid. You were just some extra, of course you would be plain and unmemorable.

But his third thought was something about the color of your eyes was captivating, in a way that was damn fucking annoying.

“Sorry, I was just… cleaning… up,” you said, slowly trailing off as your eyes met Bakugo’s.

He saw the recognition flare in them immediately, followed by fear, and he couldn’t help the frown that twisted his face.

Why were you afraid of him?

“No, we’re sorry for barging in here like this,” Kirishima barreled on, oblivious to the stare off the other two occupants of the room were engaged in. “Didn’t mean to startle you. Oh! I’m being so rude. My name is Eijiro Kirishima, or you might know me as—”

“Red Riot,” you breathed, finally tearing your eyes from Bakugo’s, and you flashed the redhead a half-smile that trembled along the edges. “We spoke on the phone.”

“Yes.” Kirishima grinned, pointed teeth flashing in the dim light of the shop, before his gaze flickered over to the blond beside him. “And this is—”

“Dynamight,” you finished once again, and you looked like you were trying desperately to maintain eye contact with the hardening hero, but then your eyes clicked back to Bakugo. You didn’t flash him a smile. “We’ve met.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Kiri chuckled awkwardly, and his arm jerked like he was going to rub the back of his neck, but the bags in his hands crinkled and stopped him.

“What… do you have there?” you asked, frowning at the bags and the fruit basket the heroes were carrying.

“Gifts!” the redhead declared as he hefted his arms up, and then he shuffled forward over charred fabric and glass and extended the bags to you.

You blinked at him for a second, but you set the dustpan and handheld broom on the counter, where they promptly slid to the floor since the whole surface was slanted. You winced at the loud clatter and tried to cover it up by taking the bags from Kirishima, which crinkled loudly again as they transferred hands.

Bakugo would be annoyed if he wasn’t more grateful that he could actually hear the innocuous little noise.

“O-Oh, um, you shouldn’t have, really,” you started as you peeked into the bags, and then Bakugo swore he saw your eyebrow twitch once you saw what was inside.

“It’s not much,” Kirishima said, and he was finally free to rub the back of his head and neck as his smile turned a little sheepish. “But, what with the state of your… apartment, we thought you might need some new clothes! And comfy clothes are the best after stressful days. These especially are super soft, we made sure of it. And, if you don’t like them, you could always sell them for a good chunk of change.”

The redhead winked at you, not in an overly flirty manner, that was just how he was, but your cheeks flared as crimson as his hair, and your eyes dropped to the floor.

Bakugo took the split instant to get a better look at you and noted you were wearing patched, faded jeans, solid boots, and a bleach-stained orange sweatshirt with some English writing he couldn’t read. Usually, he didn’t really see what other people wore because he couldn’t give less of a shit, but somehow he found your obvious cleaning clothes… endearing. The orange looked good on you, too.

Fuck, maybe you didn’t heal him as well as he thought. He had to be hemorrhaging into his brain to be thinking this stupid shit. Or maybe it was a side effect of your quirk?

He needed to get you alone and get answers.

“Well… thank you, this was very thoughtf—oh, wow, that is soft,” you murmured as you partially drew a sweatshirt out of the bag.

Bakugo instantly recognized the forest green and orange color scheme, and apparently so did you, because your face twitched, and you dropped the garment back into the bag and traded it for fuzzy socks with Red Riot’s signature gears stitched into them.

“These will definitely come in handy, my feet are always cold,” you said with an awkward giggle. Then you cleared your throat to cover up the sound. “Thank you, um, Red Riot.”

“You can call me Eijiro, or Kirishima, whatever you’re comfortable with,” the redhead said with another easy grin. “We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other, after all. Oh! We also got you a fruit basket, and I think there might be a few other sweets tucked in there.”

Kirishima nudged Bakugo forward, and your face rippled through a range of emotions, like your brain was taking a second to catch up to everything the pro hero just spewed. First, flustered embarrassment colored your cheeks, then confusion buckled your brow, and your eyes widened before they looked at the fruit basket Bakugo was extending at you.

“Oh, you can just put it down… um…” you trailed off as you turned to the counter and remembered it was half destroyed. Then your eyes jumped around frantically for some kind of flat surface, but the ruined shop didn’t offer any solutions.

“Told ya we shouldn’t of brought this shit,” Bakugo grunted, shooting a scowl at Kirishima.

“Yeahhhhh, we probably could have just delivered it to your room at the agency, my bad,” the redhead laughed. “But don’t worry, we’ll carry it back for you, along with any of your other things.”

“My… things?” you echoed, sounding out the words like a child, and a frown marred your face. “I-I think I must be misunderstanding you, I’m sorry, I’m American. But did you say my room at the agency? As in… your hero agency?”

“You’re American?” Kirishima asked with wide red eyes. “I wouldn’t have even guessed! Your accent is almost perfect, I thought you were maybe just from like the countryside or something.”

“I thought you said we were supposed to be nice to her,” Bakugo snorted at his partner like you weren’t in the room, and he saw you frown at him out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh, shit, no, that wasn’t what I meant!” Japan’s Number Three Hero immediately began waving his hands in front of his face, his mouth moving twice as fast. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I really think your accent sounds nice! It’s very cute!”

Now, not only did your cheeks flush again, but the red hue traveled down your throat and across your collarbones, peeking out the stretched collar of your orange sweatshirt.

Bakugo found himself half distracted by the sight, but the other half was wondering why he suddenly felt irritation flare up in his gut.

“Okay, you don’t have to take her out on a date now,” the blond snapped, shifting his burden of fruit and plastic.

“I-I think we might have gotten off track,” you stuttered as you clutched the bag of Dynamight and Red Riot merch to your chest. “You said something about your agency.”

“Yes, right.” Kirishima cleared his throat. “We would have mentioned this in our follow up email after you sent in your insurance info, but—”

“Oh, no, I’m so sorry!” you cut him off with a grimace, and you actually dipped your head and shoulders into a bow. “I meant to send that yesterday, but my laptop is broken, and my cell service isn’t great—”

“No, no, it’s fine!” the redhead interrupted this time. “You obviously have a lot on your plate. I just meant that this might seem kind of sudden, but—”

Fucking hell, this was taking too long.

“You’re staying at our agency until we can pay for the repairs to your apartment and shop,” Bakugo said bluntly. If he didn’t step in, the two of you were just going to stammer circles around each other all day. “Starting tonight. We have rooms with beds and shit, so pack whatever clothes or crap you need.”

Your mouth fell open as you gaped at Bakugo. “I… what?”

“You deaf or something?” The words rocketed from his mouth before he could stop them, before he could even think about what he was saying, and he saw the way the question struck you like a physical blow. You flinched, your cheeks paling, and he saw dawning, guilty horror glint at the back of your eyes.

He’d been right. You did do something to his ears.

“Bro, you were just talking about being nice.” Kirishima frowned at Bakugo before he turned back to you. “Ignore him. We’re really sorry about the inconvenience this whole… incident has caused for you, but we’ll take care of everything you need until your shop’s grand reopening, so you don’t have to worry about a thing, okay?”

You continued to stare at the two heroes in shocked silence, your wide eyes clicking back and forth between the two of them as you clutched the bags to your chest like a lifeline.

“That is… all so generous,” you finally breathed, your tone rising in pitch like you were growing increasingly flustered. “It’s, um, a lot to take in.”

“Of course.” Kirishima nodded fervently. “What else can we do to help?”

“Could you leave?”

Bakugo blinked in surprise and then had to stifle his snort.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry!” you quickly followed up when you saw the redhead’s falling expression. “I didn’t mean… I just meant, could I have some time to process this? Um, alone? L-Like Dynamight said, I need to pack a few things, a-and there are some people I need to speak to before, uh… well, is it okay if I tell someone where I’ll be? Like, at your agency?”

“Yessss?” Kirishima said with a confused frown. “Why wouldn’t that be okay?”

“O-Oh, I just don’t really know how the whole hero and media thing works here,” you quickly lied, and Bakugo clocked the way you averted your eyes, the way your throat bobbed as you swallowed thickly. “I-I wasn’t going to post on social media or anything, I barely use that stuff anyway, but one of my customers, Mrs. Kojima, would be upset if I disappeared without saying anything.”

“Aww, that’s sweet.” The redhead grinned before he glanced at the shadowed ruins around him. “What kind of shop is this by the way? I don’t think you mentioned.”

“A-Alterations,” you said, ducking your face in embarrassment again. “My grandparents were a tailor and seamstress. I inherited this place from them.”

“I thought you said you were American?” Kirishima asked, but not in an accusatory way. He was just too curious for his own good and didn’t possess much of a filter.

Bakugo usually didn’t care for small talk, fucking waste of time if you asked him, but he found himself focusing intently on you, awaiting a response.

“I am.” You nodded. “My parents were both born here, but they moved to the States after they married, and I was born there. After my grandparents passed, my dad was going to sell the shop, but I was looking for something… new, so I decided to move here instead about a year ago.”

Bakugo pursed his lips at this new information. If you had a healing quirk, why were you patching up clothes in some little shop all the way across the world from your surviving family? Could it be because your quirk was dangerous?

“Wow, that’s cool,” Kirishima said with an impressed expression that quickly turned sheepish. “Except about your grandparent’s passing. My condolences.”

“Thank you,” you muttered, a small smile tugging at your lips, but then you quickly shook your head. “I-I’m sorry, didn’t mean to give you my whole life story, I tend to talk when I’m nervous.”

“You don’t have to be nervous,” Red Riot laughed like he did when he was meeting shy little kids on the street, flashing his sharpened teeth jokingly and winking in an overexaggerated fashion. “I promise, we look scarier than we are.”

“Speak for yourself, Shitty Hair,” Bakugo scoffed, which made you jump, like you’d forgotten he was there.

And that rubbed him the wrong way for some reason.

Kirishima merely smirked before he partially covered his mouth with his hand and lowered his voice into a stage whisper directed at you. “All bark, no bite, I’m telling you.”

“Stop making me seem lame, you bastard!” the blond growled, but the effect was kind of ruined by the fruit basket crinkling in his hands again.

This actually seemed to startle a giggle out of you, and the two heroes whipped around, one with a grin and the other a scowl.

“See, you don’t need to be nervous,” Kirishima said before he slung an arm around Bakugo’s shoulders. “But we’ll get out of your hair for now so you can have some time to pack and everything. Don’t worry about picking up too much, though, we’ll have cleaning crews in here before we start the remodel, and we don’t want you to get hurt in here. If there’s stuff up in your apartment that you don’t want to bring with you to the agency but don’t want thrown out, make a list, and we’ll be sure to keep everything safe.”

“O-Okay,” you said, still standing there with the hero merch clenched to your chest and a dumbstruck expression on your face. “T-Thank you again, Red--, erm, Kirishima.”

“Of course!” He grinned. “I have patrol tonight, but we’ll send a car to pick you up—”

“No,” Bakugo cut in as he locked eyes with you. “I’ll pick you up. What time?”

The blond could see Kirishima shoot him a look in his peripherals—probably because they both had patrol tonight—but Bakugo ignored his partner, maintaining eye contact with you.

You, meanwhile, squirmed under the explosive hero’s intense scrutiny, your face paling and flushing in turns. “I… no, you don’t have to do that, I can take the train—”

“I insist,” he interrupted again, narrowing his eyes so you would realize he wasn’t going to back down. “Like Shitty Hair said, we caused this… inconvenience, so I’ll pick you up. What. Time?”

You swallowed thickly, your throat audibly clicking. “S-Seven?”

“I’ll be here at seven sharp,” Bakugo said. “And you better be out front or at least answer your phone this time.”

You better not run, he didn’t say, but by the look on your face, you understood.

“Seven sharp.” You nodded, biting your lip as a resigned expression settled over your features. “Got it.”

“Great. See you then.”

With that, Bakugo turned on heel and crunched his way out of your store, leaving Kirishima stuttering apologies in his wake.

But that didn’t matter.

All that mattered was, tonight, he’d finally get you alone and get to the bottom of your damn quirk.

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natashacoco · 3 years

Note

Hi angel, here's my request!

Flo and reader have mutual friends but aren't close since both of them are always traveling, till one morning when Florian wakes up at his friends house after this party and has a massive hangover, he walks to the kitchen and finds reader baking something for the guys and after some chit chat they just click. The end of the story it's up to you, steamy or fluff I simply adore your writing, she could take care of him or something. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I love this request! Here you are babe, hope you love it! And happy New Year’s Eve/New Year. Got this done just in time for the end of the year.

Florian Munteanu x Mutual Friend! Reader

The scene in front of you was something straight out of a Hollywood party scene. The night was slowly trickling into the early hours of the morning, a few stragglers littered here and there as you and your girlfriends made it back to the rented Airbnb. You passed by a large body passed out in the lawn, chuckling as you walked by at how crazy the party seemed to have gotten.

You’d just recently gotten home from taking a solo six month long round the world trip. You had saved your money for two years, researched, planned and counted the days and hours until you finally set foot on the plane to your first destination. To say that the time spent abroad was something you’d not only needed, but accomplished on your own was a feat. You were able to do this on your own, and now nothing was out of the realm of possibilities for you and your future.

The girls had all decided that a night out on the town was needed as a welcome home celebration, especially considering you’d made it home in time for the New Year. You all had dressed to the nines, outfits, hair, makeup, everything was on point. You’d gone out to dinner followed by hours of dancing and drinking at the newest and most exclusive nightclub in town until you decided to call it quits for the evening.

One of the girls boyfriend had rented out the large home as a mashup of a New Year’s party and apparently some kind of party for somebody, you’re not exactly sure who the person is but it must be something big for them to go all out like this.

Following the rest of the girls into the house, soft music is playing off in the distance somewhere, empty bottles of alcohol, cups, plates, and other miscellaneous items are strewn about. You even notice a bra hanging off the banister of the stairway.

You all make your way into the kitchen, pouring yourselves a drink and continue the vibe set before in the evening. You notice another tall guy, this one dressed in a white tee and jeans and a chain that captures the light and makes it hard for you not to stare at him. From the look of things, he is completely plastered in the corner, using his hands like little guns and giggling like a schoolgirl and you can’t help but to laugh. A few of the guys end up joining you and you all catch up, relaying tales of your time abroad.

A short while later people start to head to bed, or find places to sleep. Remembering the guy in the lawn from earlier. “Hey, you guys do know that there’s some big ass white boy in the front lawn right?” You ask, wanting to make sure that he’s accounted for, or at least know he’s there.

“When you say ‘Big Ass White Boy’ are you referring to Florian or somebody else?” your friend Lorenzo asks.

“Don’t know a Florian, so maybe?” you reply.

“You know Florian, Romanian-German guy, tall as a house, corn fed and built like a eighteen wheeler, any of that sound familiar?” he questions.

You look at him with a confused face, nothing of that making any sense to you with that description.

“He’s Mike’s friend, the guy who played Viktor Drago opposite him in Creed II, and he just got cast in Marvel’s Shang-Chi.”

“Oh right, right, right. That guy, I haven’t met him-met him. I think I was told about him in passing, or we always seem to miss one another at parties or get together” you reply.

“I saw him earlier over in the corner, I think he was doing some gun things with his fingers or whatnot. I think I took a video, here, take a look” you friend Cristina says, pulling out her phone and pulling up one of her Snapchat stories. You take a look and immediately recognize the guy from earlier. You look through the stories and see some of his other hilarious drunken shenanigans and tell them that the man you mentioned earlier wasn’t him.

“The guy in the lawn is Masias, one of Sandro and Florian’s friends, more like brother. I think the guys are getting back at him for pulling some kind of prank. Just leave him out there, he’s too big for him to carry” another friend, Theo, replies.

Sleep starts to take over and the last of the party goers decide to call it quits for the night. Those of you who are staying at the house make your way upstairs to begin your nighttime routines. On your way upstairs you see a few guys sleeping on the couch and notice Florian among one of them, his large body taking up a large portion of the couch. An idea comes to mind and you go in search of the linen closet.

Finding a few blankets, you grab a stack and head back downstairs to those sleeping, placing them over each of the bodies to make them comfortable. When you reach Florian, you shake out one of the larger blankets and place it over him. You must have done something to momentarily startle him from his sleep because his eyes snap open suddenly in a sleepy haze.

“Wo bin ich? (Where am I?)” he asks in German.

“Shh, sorry to wake you up, go back to sleep, yeah.” you whisper and nod your head, tightening the blanket around him.

He nods his head in agreement before he closes his eyes and settles into a more comfortable position before falling back asleep. You grab the last of the blankets and make your way outside to the lawn and place it over Masias, making sure that he’s as comfortable as comfort gets for somebody sleeping outside. Heading back inside, you finally make it to bed and settle in.

You wake up early the next morning despite only getting a few hours of sleep, your body still not use to the current timezone you’re in. You decide to get up, the cry of breakfast foods pulling you out of the warmth of your bed.

Making your way down to the kitchen, you rummage through the fridge and freezer until you find some food. You decide on making pancakes, eggs, hash browns, bacon, fresh fruit, coffee, juice, the entire works. You look outside the window, taking a sip of your drink and are amazed to find the now dubbed Sleeping Giant still asleep outside.

“What are you looking at?” a deep voice behind you asks, startling you into giving off a high pitched shriek, almost throwing your drink in the air.

You whip your head around to face the voice and have to crane your neck up to face Florian, his eyes lit up with curiosity as he looks down at you.

“Um, there’s a guy who is currently sleeping outside, he’s been there since last night and I’m just surprised to see him still out there.”

He looks past you to peek outside the window and starts to laugh. “I was wondering where they ended up putting Masias” he says. “I better go and get him, I’m sure the hangover and all the pics the guys took of him is going to be worse than anything else.”

“Oh don’t worry, the sprinkler system will be turning on in about 5 minutes,” You reply. “But I was planning on manually turning them on in about 3.”

He lets out a hearty laugh, his entire body shaking until his laughter starts to sound like some kind of sprinkler system. He wipes at his eyes with the back of one of his large hands and when he’s done laughing, he turns back to the window just as the sprinkler system starts to pop up from the ground and the entire lawn is sprayed with water.

“Well it looks like I may have been wrong about the sprinkler timing.”

Masias’s head pops up in confusion, just as water is sprayed in his face. He gets up quickly, shouting and what you can only come to the conclusion of swearing in German before he looks around at his surroundings to see where he’s at.

Florain runs outside and helps Masias inside, the two of them laughing hysterically. When they return, the three of you start to plate your food and make your way to the kitchen table. The smell of the food permeates throughout the house and soon enough others join you all.

Florian ends up sitting next to you, multiple plates all but licked clean as the two of you get to talking. “I’m Florian Munteanu, by the way” he says, “I don’t think I introduced myself to you earlier.”

“You were a little busy, it’s okay. I’m Y/N Y/L/N” extending your hand out to his larger one to shake it.

“Wait, YOU’RE Y/N?” he asks, his eyes going wide in shock.

“Yes. Why do you say it like that?” you question.

“Oh, it’s, it’s just that everybody is always telling me that we would get along if we met, and every time it seems to happen it seems like we always end up missing one another somehow. ”

“Yeah, life somehow turns out like that, but look at us now, we finally met.”

“Honestly, last night when I saw you I thought I was imagining things, imagine my shock when it turns out I wasn’t actually crazy. I’m glad that we finally got to meet.”

“It may have taken us some time, but we made it., it only took us what, 84 years?” You say, referencing The Titanic.

“84 years and worth the wait. Plus, it’s not at a better moment in time I say.”

“How’s that?” you ask.

“It’s New Year’s Eve Y/N, what’s a better start to the New Year than getting the opportunity to get to know you, and I fully intend to get to know you, if that’s okay with you?”

“I would really like that.”

The two of you continue talking throughout the morning, the both of you talking about some of your favorite New Year’s traditions, him telling you about some of the Romanian traditions, such as tossing money into water where people wash their hands, him giving a little sample of Plugusorul and Sorcova-songs that wish good luck, happiness and success for the New Year. You tell him of your own New Year’s traditions, those from your own background and ones you’ve come to make on your own, and something deep down tells you that somehow you and Florian will be making even more in the New Year’s to come.

#florian munteanu #big nasty #florian big nasty munteanu #ask #requested #superficialfeelings #florian munteanu x reader

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venushasvixens · 3 years

Text

Ch. 6 Confliction - Life is but a Dream (Spike Spiegel x Reader)

[A/N] I really want to give a huge, huge thank you to @tebdundy on tumblr for editing and dealing with my constant check ups and stuff, you are so amazing for helping me. It means a whole lot. You can find more of me on instragram, wattpad, and AO3 (under the same username). Okay, onto the chapter!

WARNING: a lot of angst, rejection

Your ship was on fire. Every belonging, every single thing you had worked so hard for was gone. Your guns, clothes, even appliances you had never given a second thought, gone. And it hit you like a shot. The moment you took in that your ship was on fire, you shut down. Your mind began to wander. What did I do to deserve this? Why is this happening to me?

The next thing you could remember was Spike shaking your shoulders to snap you back to reality. You struggled to form a response. You tried to open your mouth, give some indication that you could feel and see him. In reality, the only thing you could really feel was a dull ache in your spine, each vertebrae mounting with an odd, uncomfortable pain.

The shock was setting in.

You blinked, eyes glassy as you watched firefighters put your ship out of her misery. There was no noise. You couldn't feel your fingertips, your face. You couldn't feel anything. Just that dull ache creeping up your spine.

Thoughts spiraled through your aching head, moving so quickly you could hardly keep up. It felt like you were at war with yourself, trying to keep yourself conscious and cognizant of the situation, while you sank deeper and deeper into your head.

This is just a small hiccup.

Just an obstacle that needed to be conquered, a hurdle you needed to jump over.

This is all your fault, you’ll never bounce back.

Everything happens for a reason, right?

Maybe if you hadn’t been so stupid.

You always ruin everything for yourself.

You might as well give up now.

There’s no coming back from this one.

You’re a disappointment.

You’ve failed.

It ate you up like a starving monster devouring a poor soul who crossed its path. Dark tendrils of shame, anger, and sadness weaved into your head, wrapping around your mind and tightening with every passing second. You were going to drown.

Push it down. Push it down. Grieve later. Think now. Grieve later. Think now.

You needed to figure out what you were going to do next. You needed to get out of your head. You desperately tried to claw your way out of this state. Taking a deep breath, you tried to make sense of the chaos around you.

You were sitting on the ground, a blanket draped over your shoulders. You felt the cold stone of the dock under your legs, felt the itchiness of the thick wool wrapped around you. You watched as Jet ran over to Spike, shouting over the sounds of panic that had flooded your head just moments before. Spike was staring at you, his face riddled with concern. You heard him call your name. You didn’t respond.

It was usually so hard to read him, to figure out what he was feeling. But now, it was so incredibly clear. You saw the emotions flashing in his eyes as he called for you again. Loss, guilt, despair, mania, heartbreak.

You felt Jet’s strong hand on your shoulder, shaking it gently.

"Hey kid, you okay?" He said, his brows furrowed.

You swallowed. Do not cry. Do not cry. Wait until you're alone. Push it down.

"I think...I think— a glass of water."

"How much do you have?"

"About 200,000 woolong."

"Well, that ain't much."

"Well, I wasn’t expecting to lose everything I own."

You sipped your coffee slowly as you, Spike and Jet discussed a solution to your giant, unavoidable problem. No matter how much you told them that you were okay and could take care of yourself, they insisted on helping you. Deep down, you appreciated it, because you definitely weren’t okay and wouldn’t be able to take care of yourself, no matter how much you tried to convince yourself.

You picked at the eggs on your plate, imagining sleeping in your own bed right now. Wearing your favorite shirt. Eating breakfast in your small kitchen. Watching the morning news in your room. Maybe have someone with you, showing him everything you owned like an excited child because you were so proud of how far you came from your first bounty to now. Things you’ll never be able to do again.

You felt silly and materialistic, mourning the loss of your belongings. But when you worked so hard for something you wanted for so long, building it up over the years, and losing it all in seconds? It's very hard to not mourn.

You had tried to pack light, to not become attached to material possessions. That was one of the first things that you were told by other bounty hunters. When you had first considered entering this god-forsaken profession, you sought out the help of any bounty hunter you came across, trying to glean any useful knowledge from those more experienced than you. You got too comfortable and started to ignore that piece of advice, and now you’re crying over some clothes and dishes.

But your keepsakes, your souvenirs. Ties to your troubled past. Memories of old friends, places, and happy times. Gone, burnt to a crisp.

"How much is a night stay here in town?" You spoke up, interrupting Spike and Jet’s bickering.

"You don't even want to know. The further you go into the city, the worse the rates are. I looked at a couple of places, and it does not look good." Jet replied, taking a sip from his mug.

"And staying on the streets isn't too good either," Spike muttered.

"Wasn't planning on it, but thanks for the advice." You snapped back.

The tension was thick in the air between you and Spike. Maybe it was because of your interrupted intimacy from the previous night, or the fact that neither of you had slept for the past 24 hours. But you couldn't understand why he was taking his frustration out on you. You hadn’t planned for your ship to burn to ash. You didn’t want to be a burden.

"I have a suggestion. Well, more of a proposal." Jet said.

You perked up. "And what's that?" Even before Jet could say anything, you already felt guilty about it.

"You can stay with us on the Bebop until you find your feet again."

You breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do what now?!" Spike hissed softly.

"But, "Jet held up his hand to Spike, who sighed loudly, annoyed. "I have a few conditions."

It kind of pissed you off how Spike was reacting to all of this. Actually, kind of was an understatement. It really pissed you off, almost offended you on how he was acting. Just a few hours ago, he was desperate to get into your pants, and now he was throwing a hissy fit at the thought of you living on the Bebop. Isn't this a good thing, you being able to spend more time together?

"Just contribute to the Bebop. Whenever you cash in a bounty, set some aside for fuel, food, all that good jazz. Maybe cook dinner sometimes, or clean the bathroom. Other than that, don’t worry about it." Jet said.

A cloud of suspicion settled across your thoughts.

"That's it?" You asked, “Are you sure?”

Jet chuckled. “There’re other rules, but you’ve got a good head on your shoulders. I have a feeling you know how to respect other people’s spaces and belongings. Just don’t do anything stupid.”

You glanced at Spike, who was leaning back, staring out the window. He met your gaze, eyes unreadable once again. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He felt like an entirely new person, one who just wanted you to piss off and leave him to his business. You tried to shrug off his sudden coldness, but it bothered you. It stung.

The walk back to the Bebop wasn't too bad, but trying to initiate a conversation with Spike was difficult. All he did was grunt in response, a few "oh yeah”s and “huh”s thrown in for good measure. You hoped it was because he was tired, and not that he was pissed off that you were going to be invading his space.

The guilt was heavy on your shoulders. You certainly weren’t a freeloader, but you couldn't help but feel like you had already overstayed your welcome. And you haven’t even stepped foot on the ship yet. You didn't want Spike to be distant from you. Even though you had just met him, you wanted him to be closer to you than anyone else. You wanted to reach out to him, hold onto him and never let him go. Instead, he was pushing you away.

You weren’t good with rejection. Rejection defined who you were today and had been a driving factor to almost everything in your life. You had managed to take ahold of those haunting feelings and build them into a hard shell to protect yourself, vowing to never show your vulnerability or true feelings. You had pushed the old version of you so deep down that it would never escape. You had been doing so well, but the last few days had shown you that the hard work you put into being a completely emotionless bitch was all for nothing.

Jet was going into an extensive explanation of the ship, where you could take a shower, where your room was. He explained that the Bebop was once a fishing ship from Ganymede, and how he had fixed it up to be a high-tech, fully functional ship of today (his words, not yours).

"She operates well when treated right. However, some of our crew members would say otherwise." Jet grumbled. "Speaking of, did Faye tell you-"

"I haven't seen Faye since two days ago. Her ship was still gone, the last I saw." Spike muttered, throwing his jacket over his shoulder. "Besides, why do you care?"

Jet held up his hands. "It was just a question. Jeez." Spike muttered something in response.

You suddenly remembered the bounty on Faye’s head, but it didn’t really matter right now. That was all on the back burner for now, seeing as every plan you could think of required a ship that wasn’t the one Faye was living on. And you really didn't want to make enemies of your new crew this early on. All you cared about right now was taking a shower to wash all of last night's events off you and getting some shut-eye.

You wondered whether Jet was aware of your previous intentions of collecting the big bounty on Faye. You had asked him if Faye was joining the group for dinner last night, with no context. There was no answer, but that also could mean he took in what you said and was processing what you really intended to do if Faye did show up at the dinner. Remembering your first meeting with Spike, he told you clearly he doesn't care if she got captured or not. So you have two people who are on opposite ends of the discussion. One is in charge of the Bebop and which bounties to pursue, and the other one likes to smoke and philosophize.

The obvious correct choice was clear, but you decide to choose the latter.

"When you come in, don't be too surprised by some of our unique characters." Jet remarked. "You've already met us two, but there are a few more along the way."

"I like to think I'm also a unique character, so we should get along." You replied happily, a tint of exhaustion underlying in your words. Spike scoffed, walking over to open the small hatch.

"What's that supposed to mean?" You snapped, a full night's worth of frustration threatening to overflow in the form of obscenities and insults.

"Are you talking to me?" Spike said over his shoulder, punching in the security numbers on the small pad. The hatch to the side of the Bebop creaked open, landing on the stone pier with a hard thunk. "I’m tired. And when I’m tired, I don’t put my energy into pulling punches and being nice.Got it, (Y/N)?"

You bit down on your tongue. "Never mind. What were you saying, Jet?"

You could hear a quiet, "Yeah that's what I thought." echoing up into the Bebop. Rolling it off your shoulders, you turned your focus to Jet as you both walked into the ship.

Opening a round metal door, you looked up to see a dimming bulb illuminating the cylinder passage. The walls were yellowing, patched with dark, aging metal, and littered with hazard signs. Jet walked over to a ladder bolted on the wall and began to climb.

"I'll tell you, you’ll get a real workout just getting around this ship." Jet laughed, his voice bouncing off the walls.

"Are there a lot of these around the ship?" You said, following.

"Oh yeah, plenty. But if you stay in the living area, you don’t really need to worry about them. I'll show you around anyway, just in case we need you to get something. We wouldn’t want you to get lost." Jet smiled.

He hopped into the center gravity passage, holding out his hand to you. You grabbed it gratefully, not realizing how much of a drop it was to the floor of the tube until you looked back down.

"Oh damn." You exclaimed, looking down. "That's pretty far."

"It’s just 15 feet. Your eyes must be playing tricks on you." Jet chuckled, closing the metal door. "Alright, so this is the lower gravity passage. It leads to the living area, that includes bedrooms, kitchen and living room, and to the storage area."

Spike was nowhere to be seen in the passage. You assumed he was already in the living room, smoking before heading off to bed. Jet opened a sliding metal door marked “Storage”. You peered into the dark room.

"This is where we keep extra ammunition, supplies, and medical boxes.”

Jet pressed a button next to the storage door, one that opened to the living area. The walls were a gradient blue color, illuminated with warm lighting. The staircase was a dark, metallic gold leading to a dark blue platform. On the floor was a yellow couch, and across from it was a single matching seat. In between them sat a knee-level coffee table with a holoTV, a computer, and someone's breakfast. Jet walked in first, stepping down. "This is the living room.” He pointed to the set on top of the table. “You’re welcome to use the holoTV and the computer, everybody shares them.” He chuckled. “I’m not sure whose breakfast that is, but don’t touch it. People are pretty possessive of food on this ship.”

Right as you took a step in, you heard the light pattering of paws bouncing into the living room. From a staircase leading down, two small light brown ears popped up. Then two big brown eyes peered over, searching for the source of commotion in the room.

"You guys have a dog?!" You asked, practically jumping down the stairs. The small Welsh corgi was seemingly just as excited as you were, running and tripping up the stairs to meet you. You extended your hand, letting him sniff you.

Jet chuckled. "Cute little thing, isn't he? His name is Ein."

"Oh, he's adorable. Who’s a good boy?" You cooed, bending down to rub Ein's ears. He stretched his head out, his little stumpy tail going a hundred miles a minute.

"And usually tagging along with Ein is-" Jet was interrupted by the pounding footsteps coming from downstairs.

"They're back, they're back, they're back!" a scrawny red-headed kid rejoiced, waving their arms about. "Ed was worried, but now Jet’s back, and Ed is okay again!"

The kid's smile stretched from ear to ear, clearly more than ecstatic to see Jet back home. They grabbed the plate from on top of the table and plopped down next to a box with a computer on top. They gobbled up what was left of their food, before bending their head back to get a look at you. "Who are you?"

"This is (Y/N), they're going to be staying on the Bebop for a little bit." Jet replied, walking over to the table. He turned back to you. "Ed is a computer genius and a damn good hacker. You ever need someone to work out some malicious malware, Ed’s your girl."

“Hi, it's nice to meet you." You said, giving Ed a small smile and a wave. She scampered over to you on all fours with her behind high in the air, chattering to herself.

“Stranger, changer, danger! Hihi...”

You laughed nervously, glancing back at Jet, who was standing with his arms crossed, looking amused. The girl stopped at your feet. “Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky the Fourth,” she said matter of factly. Ed grabbed your hand and sniffed. You had met some oddballs in your time, but this one took the cake. She made a face and jumped back, her hands covering her nose and mouth. "Ed thinks you stink!"

You sucked in air between your teeth. Did you really smell that bad, or was it another talent of this child prodigy? That’s so embarrassing. "Is it that noticeable?"

Jet half-smiled. "Doesn't bother me none. Thought I wouldn’t mention it till you could do somethin about it."

He was just going to let you find out later? No wonder Spike didn't want to be anywhere near you. It wasn’t even your first day of being on the Bebop, and you were not making a great first impression.

"Let me show you the kitchen." Jet motioned for you to follow up a small set of stairs through a large circular door frame leading down a small hallway. You turned into the kitchen, completed with a fridge, stove, oven, and a small countertop. The kitchen was dark, the only light in the room was the dimming orange ashes of Spike's cigarette falling on the floor. He was leaning against the countertop, staring down at his cig.

"There you are, Spike." Jet flipped the lights on, revealing a slightly disorderly kitchen. Spike winced, covering his eyes.

"Jesus, Jet give me a warning next time," Spike mumbled, his voice deep and raspy. Your annoyance and anger at him suddenly disappeared. That voice. You wanted to hear that voice again. You wanted to put your hand on his chest and feel the vibrations of that voice. Every time you tried to find some way to be mad at him again, he just had to stand there, looking cool and intoxicatingly seductive. You craved him like an alcoholic craved whiskey.

"Are you finished with the grand tour?" Spike asked, his heavy-lidded eyes looking away from you and Jet.

"Not yet, but I was hoping you could finish it."

"I’m not in the mood for hospitality right now. I'm going to bed." Spike said, making his way to the door.

"Just show her on the way there. And be nice, she's our guest." Jet warned, sorting the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink.

"Yeah, show me some respect." You teased. But Spike clearly was not in the mood. Instead, he turned away from you, rolling his eyes, and walked out of the kitchen

Jet patted you on the back. "Give him a minute, he'll come around."

"Thank you for everything, Jet. It means a lot." You smiled.

"Don't sweat it, kid. Go ahead and get some rest. If anything comes up, I'll send the cavalry after you." He said, gesturing to the living room.

You took a deep breath before heading out of the kitchen. Ed was sitting motionless in a trance-like state, her eyes engulfed with giant goggles. Ein lay peacefully on the couch, watching as you followed Spike down the steps into the living room.

This was the first time you and Spike had been alone since last night. Just hours ago, you were definitely not afraid to touch him. Now, you didn't even want to take a step near him.

"Are you coming or what?" Spike called out impatiently, already halfway downstairs to the lower part of the living area. "I don't have all day."

"I'm here." You raced over, gliding your hand down the rail. Spike continued his way down, turning around a corner. The walk down the hallway was quiet, the silence uncomfortable. Neither of you wanted to do small talk. Spike probably didn’t want to talk at all, but you had to know. You had to ask him.

"Spike?” you asked quietly. You wrung your fingers around each other anxiously. Spike stayed silent, his quick pace faltering before coming to a stop in front of a door.

“Do you remember what happened last night?” You finally asked. Spike seemed to tense up, his jaw clenching. Deciding to press on further, you continued.

“I umm,” you mumbled, “I may have been drunk and you probably were too, but why are you so cold to me now when we were literally about f-“

“This is the bathroom. It has a tub and a shower.” Spike interrupted. Your heart dropped to your stomach. So much for answers. “There should be some clean towels. You can wash your clothes upstairs, Jet can show you where the washer is. Your room’s gonna be the first door you see when you reach the top of the stairs. It’ll be all yours till you leave.”

Spike puffed out a cloud of smoke before making his way slowly down the hallway. You looked at him in disbelief. He definitely remembers. And he’s rejecting it. You and him. Cutting it off before it starts, pushing you away.

You stepped into the bathroom, letting the door shut behind you before tears of anger and resentment started to fall down your face. How can you feel so much emotion for someone who shows none? You lost your home and belongings. You didn’t want to lose anything else.

After a long hot shower, you stood in front of the mirror, combing your fingers through your hair. You were going to have to get essentials eventually, a comb and a toothbrush would be nice. But that would have to wait. You rubbed circles on your temple, your impending exhaustion headache approaching fast.

After drying yourself off, you slipped your old clothes back on. It felt awful putting dirty clothes on your clean body, but you were not about to walk around the ship in a towel. You had already dug yourself a deep enough hole with Spike, you didn’t want to traumatize Jet, the kid, or the dog.

As you wrapped your hair in a towel, you heard shouting from outside. You combed through who it could be. Spike and Jet. Or Jet and Ed. Or Spike and Ein, or Ein and Ed. There were quite a few combinations.

“First fight on the Bebop.” You muttered to yourself. “So excited.”

This was so ridiculous, you couldn’t help but giggle to yourself. All you had to do was walk past and not get involved. Unless it was about you, then you would at least try to defend yourself. You opened the door, listening intently.

“What the fuck-“ more shouting. “And you bastards decide to tell me now?!” A shrill female voice was yelling. A table got knocked over. You could hear stomping and more shouting. “Well, where the hell are they?!”

Whoop, time to hide.

You shut the door and the latch clicked with a loud cathunk. You hoped they hadn’t heard it. You were down a big hallway, there was no way that they could’ve heard it. You had a pretty good idea of who the screaming was coming from, and you were not ready to meet her right now.

The sounds of stomping grew louder, getting closer to the bathroom door. Your fight-or-flight mode started to set in. With how pissed she sounded, stomping and roaring, this may as well be a life-or-death situation.

You rolled your neck, stretching your arms out. If you needed to defend yourself, you were going to have to do it bare-knuckled. No guns, knives, bars of soap, nothing. You flexed your hands, cracking your knuckles. You planted yourself in front of the door. The footsteps outside stopped. This was it! You were ready for anything.

Bam!

The door slid open. Faye Valentine stood on the other side, hands on her hips. She was panting from her ranting and raving in the other room. She smiled, her eyes a little too wide. You couldn’t tell if she was happy, crazy, or surprised.

“Hi there, you must be our newest crew member! My name is Faye, it’s so nice to meet you, girly!” She beamed, her eyes manic.

Not the response you were expecting. “It’s nice to meet you too, I’m (Y/N).” You held out your hand. She took it, her soft palms gripping your hand a little bit too tight. She shook your hand. She kept shaking. And shaking. You pulled back, trying your best to put on a friendly face.

“Sorry if I’m hogging the bathroom, there was an accident last night and I was so dirty, I just had to have a shower.” You smiled, stepping to the side.

“Oh no! You’re totally fine. I was just looking for the toilet, I guess I got lost.” She replied, waving her hand.

“The toilet’s just across the hall from your room, how long have you been here-“ Jet was cut off by Faye’s elbow jabbing him in the ribs. Jet grabbed his side in pain, giving you a half-smile.

“Well, I’d love to chat, but I’m really tired. I’m going to go get some sleep.” You smiled apologetically and gestured to the stairs.

Jet and Faye’s voices mingled with each other, overlapping into a confusing symphony of hospitality and kindness.

“Yeah, no worries!”

“Call us if you need anything!”

“We’ll be right here!”

Smiling, you gave a small wave, turned around, and basically sprinted down the hallway to the living room. You heard Faye hiss, “You didn’t tell me she was a girl, dumbass.”

“I was going to before you blew up at me. If you had let me finish, I would’ve. Why are you so pissed off about another crew member, anyway?”

“I’m tired of all the men on this ship, I didn’t want another one. And I thought they were going to take my room...”

Their bickering trailed off as you climbed up the two sets of stairs to your new room. Ed was still on the floor with her goggles on, humming to herself, seemingly oblivious to the fight that had just happened. Ein cautiously sniffed the overturned table, before settling onto the floor next to Ed, resting his head on her lap. You would’ve said goodnight, but they seemed to be in their own little world and you were happy to let them stay like that.

When you reached the top of the stairs, you saw two doors directly across from each other, one on each side of the landing. Spike had said it was “the first door you’d see”, but that wasn’t particularly helpful in this situation. Hoping you were correct, you quietly walked over to the door to your left, pressing the button to open it.

Your breath hitched as the door opened to see Spike fast asleep in his bed. He snored lightly, sleeping so deeply he didn’t hear the hiss and clink of the door opening. His arms were behind his head and the steady rise and fall of his bare chest was hypnotic. Even asleep he was really, really attractive. You fumbled over yourself trying to shut the door. It finally latched, and you let out a breath.

Sighing, you turned towards the door behind you. This one had to be it. You opened it to see a small, sparse room. Closing the door behind you, you flipped on the light. Pushed up against the far wall was a simple bed, and to your right was a small desk built into the wall with an old armchair next to it. There was a closet in the far corner, but the door was locked and some large boxes were stacked in front of it. They must not get many guests, it seemed like this room was mainly used for storage.

Feeling the ache of exhaustion overtaking your body, you flopped onto the bed. It was surprisingly soft, with a pillow and tan comforter neatly folded on top. You didn’t know how to thank Jet for being so kind and accommodating. Next time you cashed in a big bounty, you were going to set aside some woolongs to buy him a thank you gift.

On top of the pillow, you noticed a pair of black shorts and a yellow button-up. Pinned to the shirt was a note, clearly written in a hurry.

Some clean clothes. You smell like shit.

-S

You laughed. He’s straight-talking, that’s for sure. You slipped on the shorts and buttoned the shirt halfway up. Spreading out the comforter, you crawled underneath. You were already half-asleep, and thinking about how breathtakingly attractive Spike looked asleep relaxed you even more. Your mental snapshot of your accidental encounter was glued to your eyelids. It was never going to happen again, but you got to have one taste of beauty while here.

You gently wrapped your arms around your pillow, thoughts of Spike disappearing into clouds of empty dreams. It was so much better to fall asleep to thinking of someone, rather than no one at all.

And even though it was going to hurt, you would do it again and again.

[A/N] all I got to say is fasten your seatbelts for the next chapter, slut puppies.

#faye valentine #cowboy bebop #90s anime #jet black #radical edward #adult swim #toonami #ein #fanfiction #spike spiegel x reader #spike spiegel #see ya space cowboy

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votederpycausemufins · 3 years

Text

Just about everyone is back together. There’s only a few minor concerning things happening. I’m sure it’s fine.

@petrichormeraki and @helleborusangel

Bad had taken Grian and Jrum back to Jrum’s section of his house, helping plug the bot into his charger. Grian couldn’t find a chair immediately, so he just quickly built one, leaving Bad blinking in surprise.

“So, I don’t think I introduced myself. I’m Grian, one of Jrum’s dads.” And he held out a hand while fumbling for his comm with the other.

Bad shook Grian’s hand hesitantly. “I’m BadBoyHalo, or just Bad. I adopted Jrum while you weren’t showing up.”

“Yeah, Tommy sent me a message about that earlier.”

“Wait so that really was Tommy we saw earlier? He’s not dead?”

Grian shook his head. “No. He’s been living with us and some friends in a different world for a bit now.”

“Oh… then… he’s not going to like hearing some bad news.”

Grian tilted his head, worried. “Why? What happened?”

“Just after those two showed up,” Bad gestured to Jrum. “A message showed up that Tubbo died and he didn’t respawn.”

Grian leaned back in his chair. “Oh, no he’s alive too. My guess is your admin lied to you so you wouldn’t question his disappearance. Philza and Techno have also been away, so anything you’ve heard about them is probably also false.”

“Wait… so if they haven’t been here, who’s dealing with Ghostbur?”

“Who’s that?”

“Phil’s son Wilbur. He died but came back as a ghost and now he goes by Ghostbur.”

Grian looked down at the ground. “Right… Wil’s dead…”

That took Bad off guard. “Did you two know each other?”

“Yeah. Yeah we did. But I hadn’t seen him in years.” Grian then distracted himself by reading his comm finally. “Well it looks like I’ve missed a lot.”

<MumboJumbo> Found EX. He’s seen both the boys. Jrum’s got a nylium problem and Grum is…

<MumboJumbo> I think I want to throw up.

<Tubbo_> Tommy and I were sort of kidnapped by Dream, and I think he also did something to Ranboo.

<Tubbo_> but we’re out now and have Grum. I’ve also got Michael.

[Eyes] Current X-S, Y-S, Z-S

[Eyes] End X-F, Y-F, Z-F

<EvilXisuma> What do you mean Tommy is with you? He’s with me.

<EvilXisuma> give me an answer!

<Ph1LzA> I found Ranboo, but he’s got no clue what happened.

<Ph1LzA> no sign of Dream either.

<EvilXisuma> fuck

<EvilXisuma> that’s got to be Theseus with Tubbo, and he’s going after Dream to try and revive his version of him.

<Tubbo_> Hi! We’re fine now! Mumbo found us, though uh, Theseus and Dream are gone now.

<EvilXisuma> that’s… mostly okay. Has anyone heard from Grian or that pig guy.

<Grian> hey! I’m here! I found Jrum and he’s doing okay now! Though just to get things out in the open, I do not quite remember how.

<Grian> whatever was possessing him is gone now though. Still trying to deal with the angry parent who adopted him.

<Grian> How’s Tommy doing btw?

<EvilXisuma> he’s still not awake.

<Grian> any chance you can bring him here? I’ve got Jrum charging and I think we should all meet up in one place.

<EvilXisuma> Pretty sure the giant thing in this place is also a charger though.

<Grian> It did sound like the boys were split up, so that makes sense. Can you still come over here?

<EvilXisuma> Fine, but only because you blacked out before

Grian sent his coordinates and then set his comm down. Then he started crying. Jrum’s condition had been bad enough and the fact that he still seemed upset at him without the plants controlling the bot hurt Grian. And then Mumbo’s reaction to just hearing about Grum without seeing him was terrifying. What had they done to his kids?

His wings flared open when a large hand touched him and he glared up to see the blurry form of the demon that was helping him. “Don’t touch me right now.”

“Just trying to make sure you were alright.”

“I’m not. My kids are… they’ve… it just hurts. It’s only been a few days but they’ve been alone for months and I couldn’t do anything! At least when they were stuck where we first built them we could visit, but even with everything I have, I couldn’t get in.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you- Have you ever heard of the Watchers?”

There was a slight hum as Bad thought. “Yes, though I haven’t really looked into them. I just know they’re really powerful and occasionally interact with various worlds.”

“Well, I’m that. And I’ve been trained as an admin. And based on what I have learned in the past few days, my mom is literally death, so that’s fun.”

“Is that related to you being able to kill the egg?”

Grian let out a short laugh. “No. That’s uh, Mother Spore. She tried using my body as a host, I tried killing her, we have a bit of a stalemate now.”

“You’re not going to-”

“It’s fine. It helped, didn’t it?” Grian asked.

Bad nodded, it had indeed ended up helping them. “Just making sure it doesn’t cause more of the same.”

Grian nodded before looking back over to Jrum. He was currently in sleep mode as he charged which was fine, but Grian still wished the bot was awake. His eyes then fell on Jrum’s empty arms. He checked his inventory and was glad to find one of the backups on him, so he pulled out a faux diamond block and carefully put it in Jrum’s arms. The bot stirred slightly, but then hugged the toy when it was in his arms.

“Oh, you have another one of those?”

Grian nodded. “Yeah. Jrum and I were out one day and found a trader selling them. We got eight of them for an emerald and a real diamond block.”

Bad’s eyes widened. “You must really love him if you’d spend that much.”

“It’s not actually that much to me, but I would have gladly spent more if it would make him happy.”

Bad nodded and then went over to a chest and pulled out an identical toy that seemed to have been dyed red. “Here, this is the one he had before. He got upset when it turned red. The egg was able to change blue things red and red things to white.”

Grian nodded and took the toy. “I’m pretty sure I can fix this. Just not until we get back to Hermitcraft. I’m pretty spent right now and still need to get us back home.”

Then Xannes was suddenly in the room holding Tommy in his arms. “Get me somewhere to put him down.” Bad jumped up and grabbed a bed for them to set Tommy down on while Grian started checking Tommy over. He looked mostly uninjured, but he seemed to have a large scar that hadn’t been there before over his stomach area. Grian carefully tested the area and was glad to see he was at least reacting to what was going on, but not in pain from the new injury.

“How’s he doing?” Xannes asked as Grian continued to look Tommy over.

“Well, him still being unconscious is extremely worrying, but I’m not seeing any physical injuries other than this large scar.”

“He got killed and revived. I didn’t get a good look at what happened, but I would assume that scar is from what killed him.”

Grian nodded, then carefully worked on sitting Tommy up. “Any head injuries?”

“He ended up against a wall, could’ve been slammed there.”

“Good to know.” Grian moved Tommy’s hair around to see if he could spot anything that was hidden. “You said revived?”

“We have a three life system here.” Bad spoke up. “If a death is important enough, we lose a life. After we lose all three, we’re dead for good. Though there are exceptions.”

“Yeah, Tommy mentioned those. Took us a while to convince him we didn’t have that.” Grian looked over to Xannes. “How do people normally react when they’re revived?”

“Normally they’ve got ghost pains for a while and are more violent.” The helsmit explained. “But everyone has a different reaction. I’m also not sure how different this is from hels, plus the fact that it was an instant revival.”

“That’s probably it then.” Grian frowned. “Makes me almost consider trying to contact Ellen. But she might not be around anymore…”

“Who?” Xannes asked, but Grian brushed him off.

“Our best bet is to try and kill him again and let him stay dead for a few minutes before reviving him again. I… It’s not the greatest thing in the world, but it… should work. And he should be linked to this bed.”

“Wait, are you just going to kill him again?” Bad asked, making sure he was really understanding the situation. “That seems like it would make it worse!”

“I know! But it’s probably that he died and got revived quickly enough that his mind or soul or whatever you want to call it didn’t catch up.” He then sighed, noticing his hands trembling and trying to calm them down. “I mean, I still can’t be sure… but again, best bet.”

Xannes looked skeptical, but relented. “Fine, but we try this once. Even if it only sort of works, we’re not trying it again.”

Grian nodded. “Alright, so I’ll just step outside while you do that… okay?”

“What, you’re making me do it?”

“You’re the one with evil in your name.”

“My name is Xannes!”

Grian held up his communicator. “Yeah, but it’s evil on here, and you got to choose that for yourself, so don’t complain.”

Xannes grumbled, but accepted the answer as Grian stepped out of the room.

“Grian finally got back to us.” Tubbo told Mumbo since his hands were still full from carrying Grum. “He’s also got Jrum with him and I’m guessing he’s killed the egg.”

“The what?”

“Uh, a plant that was possessing people.”

“Ah, EX did mention that.” Mumbo nodded. “Anything else?”

“Well he says he doesn’t remember how he did it.”

“Ah, have to talk to him about that once we get back home to ask if it was a conscious decision or not.”

“And Michael, someone found Boo and he’s okay.” Tubbo told the ziglin, who oinked happily. He then read more and looked back to Mumbo. “Still nothing from Techno though, but Grian wants us to meet up with him at some coordinates. Xannes and Tommy seem to have already moved there.”

Mumbo nodded, pausing to heft Grum up a little to readjust his grip on them. “Which way is it from here?”

“It’s on our current path. Closer actually. That’s the location of Bad and Skeppy’s mansion. Technically the house you had us going towards would have been closer, but only because of the trident path.”

“That makes sense.” Mumbo nodded, before noticing something in the distance. “What’s that?”

Tubbo squinted to make it out at first, but then it was obvious what it was to him. “Pandora’s Vault. It’s a prison Dream commissioned. So far it hasn’t been used as far as I’m aware, but obviously a lot has happened, so I’m not sure anymore.”

Mumbo nodded. If there weren’t more pressing matters at hand, he would be curious, since Tommy had said large builds such as that weren’t common on the server if they existed at all. He was still staring at it when Grumbot suddenly stiffened up and he nearly dropped the bot in shock.

Life Counter active. Entity Check TommyInnit. Death: canon. Life counter: Infinite lives remaining. Commence Respawn.

Just as soon as it had happened, Grumbot was back to normal, though trembling again. Mumbo hugged the bot just a little tighter for a moment before looking at Tubbo. “Are you sure there’s not a faster way?”

“The only other option is still boats.”

Mumbo looked down at Grumbot. There was no way for the four of them to all sit in one boat. He couldn’t row since he needed to make sure nothing happened to Grumbot and obviously the robot wasn’t in any condition to row instead. Theoretically they could manage to get the two of them and Tubbo into the boat if Mumbo scrunched up and continued to hold Grumbot in his lap, but that would involve leaving Michael behind since the child couldn’t row a boat on his own.

“Right, okay. Still walking.”

The group continued to travel, Mumbo and Michael both getting spooked by suddenly getting mining fatigue as they got too close to the prison. There was a small river which they were able to cross easily, but a second wider river had them pause as Tubbo built them a bridge. “The mansion is essentially right on the other side of this river. We’ll just be passing the entrance to the prison first.”

“Is it that place made of quartz in the distance?”

“Yeah.” Tubbo answered, before getting a second look at it. “Looks like they got an extension built onto it though. So that’s new.”

“Might be where the others are. You said they were charging Jrum. I saw the one charger in the other house and it had to be built pretty big. That might be where it’s housed.”

Xannes came out in a few minutes to bring Grian back into the room. “I didn’t need to revive him. He respawned naturally, which isn’t a good sign. Because of that, nothing’s changed.”

“A-Are you sure? Nothing at all?”

Xannes rolled his eyes but did his best to keep Grian from spiralling. “Yeah, but that’s just from trying this. We’re still waiting on the others to show up and they should be able to come up with other ideas.”

“R-Right… I guess you’re right.” Grian nodded before going back to his chair.

Bad moved closer to Xannes and whispered to him. “I’m guessing he’s close with Tommy?”

“Obnoxiously so. I’ve heard a number of stories from Jrum about Grian and Tommy doing something together. Honestly not sure how they didn’t realize they were related in the first place.”

“What the muffin?!”

“...Did… Did you just use the word ‘muffin’ as a curse?”

“Maybe I did! Now what do you-” Bad cut himself off to go back to a whisper. “What do you mean they’re related?”

“The two of them are brothers. Not sure the current state in this dimension, but as far as I know, Grian’s a triplet and Tommy’s younger brother to the three. Same parents too.”

“Tommy’s mom is also a fridge?”

This time it was Xannes’ turn to be shocked. “Their mother is a what here?!”

Before much else could be clarified, there was a whine as Jrum woke up. “Stop yellinggggg. I’m sleepyyyy!”

“Jrum! You know that’s no way to act when guests are over.” Bad scolded, but Grian stopped him.

“Let him sleep. Charging in the middle of the day always messes with his sleep schedule.” Then Grian pulled out a certain shiny blue rock. “Besides, it just means he won’t get any diamonds.”

Immediately Jrum was fully awake and jumping off the bed to grab the diamond out of Grian’s hand. “Give give give give give!!!” Grian tried to hold the diamond up in the air, but Jrum just started climbing up him like he was a tree.

“Calm down! I’m not- mmph! Don’t step on my face! Okay fine! Take it!” Grian gave the diamond to Jrum who instantly put it into his inventory. “I’ve never seen that before.”

Now that the diamond was safely in his possession, Jrum realized exactly who was there and went back to his bed with a slight angry frown. “Well what do you expect when you just offer him up a diamond like that?” Bad asked, going over and patting Jrum’s head comfortingly.

“For him to wake up for it. I mean, he did, but the climbing and being very grabby is different.”

“Again, you offered up a diamond. To Jrum. He’s got a love for diamonds that could rival just about anyone. More than once he killed someone just because they hadn’t put their diamonds in their ender chest quite yet so he took them.”

“Jrum!” Grian scolded the bot, who just got angrier.

“Why do you care? You weren’t here.”

“Jrum, I swear we were doing everything we could to find you and Grum. Your daddy and I would never want to lose you. Some bad people just made things really hard for us. But once we could come to find you, so many people wanted to help because they know how much your daddy and I love you and how much you mean to us.”

“But why’d it take so long?! You should’ve figured it out sooner!”

“Well, you know the stories I’ve told you about my time machine, right?” Grian asked, Bad looking over to Xannes and mouthing the words as a question for clarification. “Well, it was like someone took this whole world and put it in the time machine, so that way everything seemed so much longer for you.”

“Well that’s stupid.”

“It is! But now we’re here. And I know you’re upset. You’re upset like I was at your grandpa.”

And that was what got through to Jrum. Back before any of this had happened, when Phil had first arrived and Grian had been upset at the older avian, Jrum was worried about ending up the same way with his dads. He didn’t want that to happen, but now it was starting to. He started crying and mumbling out apologies, but Grian just hugged the bot and rocked him. “It’s okay. You don’t have anything you need to say sorry for. It was scary and we weren’t there. But it’s okay now. It’s okay.”

The door opened up with a slight slam, making everyone there jump. “Oh thank goodness, you’re all here. Along with… a very tall… man?” Mumbo questioned, his previous train of thought already out the window.

“Demon actually.”

“Alright. Now what was I going to say?”

Tubbo poked his head out from behind Mumbo. “We’re back with Grum.”

“Right! Yes that was it!”

“I’ll get another bed.” Bad said, leaving the room to find one. While they waited, Grian and Mumbo met eyes and smiled sadly at each other, glad that at the very least they had their boys back.

“How’s Jrum doing?”

“Okay. Just upset that he was so angry at us.” Grian answered, rubbing the bot’s back for some comfort. “What about Grum?”

Mumbo frowned and looked down at the bot in his arms. “Not good. He’s a mess to the point I’m worried we’d have to…” He trailed off, not wanting to complete the sentence. “The admin ended up abusing the fact that he was a robot, barely treated him like a person. God… he’s in such disrepair just physically, and while Tubbo said he was speaking earlier, he hasn’t said a word since I’ve seen him.”

“Well, maybe once he wakes up, he-” Grian started to suggest, but Mumbo cut him off.”

“No, Grian, he’s been awake the whole trip here.”

Grian’s eyes widened and he shifted to calmly speak to Jrum. “Can I set you down so I can look at your brother?” Jrum shook his head and held Grian tighter. “Alright then.” Part of Grin wanted to push to get Jrum to say yes, but he also knew that that could just find a way to make things worse.

Bad finally returned with a bed and put it down between the two already existing beds. Mumbo tried to put Grumbot down, but the robot refused to let go and they ended up needing to pry it off of the redstoner. They nearly stopped trying when it was enough to get Grum talking, it simply saying ‘no’ a number of times. But still, they needed to get a good look at Grum, and being held in Mumbo’s arms wouldn’t help with that.

For the most part, Grumbot was still the same as when Tubbo had found it. The only difference was the screen flickering back and forth between the one it had been stuck with and its regular face. Also, instead of lying down on the bed normally, the moment Grumbot was on the bed, it curled up into a ball.

It hurt Grian to see his son in such a state. He didn’t realize he had been holding his breath until Mumbo was next to him taking deep breaths for him to follow with. He slowly helped Grian lie down on the bed with Jrum, obvious to the fact that the avian needed rest with everything going on around him.

Xannes pulled Tubbo out of the room at one point, and when they returned, the two of them were accompanied by Phil and Ranboo who talked in hushed tones. When Grian had finally gotten to sleep, Mumbo took Jrum into his arms to discuss things with everyone else.

Tommy pressed his hands against his closed eyes. He hated how sore he felt, but he supposed that’s what happened when you get your last life taken. Then he paused. If he lost his last life, was he alive? Tommy pulled his hands away and opened his eyes. He didn’t look see through, but his skin definitely wasn’t supposed to be ash gray.

He cursed and got out of his bed, looking around. That was his bed, but not from the SMP. The wood around him was all from Grian’s old hobbit hole, and the last place he had slept before… well before everything happened.

Tommy started looking through chests, glad to find a spare comm in one of the chests. He turned it on and was glad to see it was one of the backups X had made him after the first time he managed to break one. He hadn’t wanted to accept it at first, but apparently a number of the hermits lost or broke their communicators a lot, so he was more willing to take one.

<TommyInnit> Alright, hey guys. Guess who is having a crisis

<TommyInnit> btw, how long has it been since I left?

<GoodtimeswithScar> What seems to be the problem?

<Xisuma> Not that long. Definitely under half an hour.

<TommyInnit> I think I’m dead.

<TommyInnit> I died in the smp and I guess I lost my last life, but I respawned here

<Iskall85> Okay, and?

<TommyInnit> Well I didn’t respawn right. I look like I came out of some of those photos Grian had of demise.

<Rendog> black and white?

<TommyInnit> Skin yes, clothes no. blood is currently blue.

<Xisuma> I’m on my way over

<StressMonster> Does it hurt?

<TommyInnit> I mean, I’m sore? But not really. It’s not raining, right?

<joehillssays> nah, you’ll be fine Tommy

<TommyInnit> Okay.

<TommyInnit> panickign more now

<TommyInnit> i cna;t fucking get outside

<ZombieCleo> Someone blocked the door?

<TommyInnit> np. Nothing theere.

Tommy had tried going outside, but ended up running into something invisible. He tested it and found it was just a sort of invisible wall in front of the door. He remembered Xannes making something similar to trap dream in, so for a moment he thought it was the helsmit's doing. So Tommy broke a hole into the wall and tried going through that. But he just ran into another invisible wall. Had it been just outside where he mined, he would just be upset, but this time it was right in the space where he mined. He tried not to panic too much, but it was hard not to.

<TommyInnit> i’m jus stuck

<TommyInnit> help

#hermit!tommy au #hermit!tommy #grian #watcher!grian #grian xelqua #avian!Grian #badboyhalo #jrumbot #evil xisuma #tommyinnit #mumbo jumbo #grumbot #tubbo #michael_beloved #ghostinnit

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octoberink · 3 years

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In His Hands Part 3

When I woke up, relief coursed through me. I was home. In my own bed. It was all just a bad dream. Kade had been nothing more than a nightmare. I smiled and almost teared up at the thought. It had felt so real. My hips still felt sore from how he held me.

When I stirred a bit in my bed, I noticed that my hips really did hurt. Alarm pulsed through me at that. I sat up and looked around with dread. No. No, it had to be a dream. I can’t still be here!

But I was. In the massive room that held what looked like my own belongings in my size. I curled up into a tight ball, and squeezed my eyes shut. Please, wake up, Taylor. Come on, wake up! This isn’t real!

I felt like sobbing again. So, everything that happened yesterday actually happened. I was kidnapped. For my own good, apparently. And for the rest of my life, I’m stuck in a world of giants. Living with one who knew nothing about personal space or empathy. And I will never see my family again.

I quickly wiped away the tears on my face when the ground began to tremble beneath me. His footsteps grew louder the closer he came to my room. I heard a knock on the door frame.

“Mornin’ buttercup.”

No. No, no, no. Please, just go away.

“How’d you sleep?”

Leave me alone!

His steps got closer.

Goddamnit.

I twirled around to face him, ready to kick and scream if he even reached out to pick me up. I just woke up, thinking I was home due to his people’s trickery, and I’m not home. I’m here. With the likes of him. I just wanted a few moments to myself, was that really too much to ask for?

Kade was, of course, wearing only a pair of black boxers. They were loose-fitting, thankfully, so that his low-hanging fruit wasn’t staring me down in the face. But it still, for some odd reason, made my face warm up as if I was the one who should be embarrassed to be seen mostly naked. I looked away, scooting further into my bed.

“You’re blushing.”

Screw you. I shook my head, and looked up as he bent down to my level on the floor. He was all smiles. Just like yesterday. Doesn’t this guy have anything more than a creepy smile, or a scary glare to offer? I thought that because he at least looked so human, despite his size, he would have the same range of emotions as one. But maybe I’m wrong.

“You like what you see, dollface?”

Oh, for the love of f—“No, I don’t like what I see, Kade,” I muttered. “I don’t like waking up, thinking I’m home, where I’m supposed to be, and that you were nothing more than a nightmare, only to realize that you are all too real, and I’m imprisoned here for the rest of my life.” I dramatically gestured to my bed, the room, and even him. “No. I don’t like what I’m seeing.”

He smirked at my words with a small chuckle before slightly shaking his head. “Well, someone’s crabby in the mornings. I’ll have to remember that.”

I looked away feeling completely hopeless with this guy. I can’t believe I’m here.

“I’ll have to come up with something to make your mornings better.”

And my initial reaction to those words was surprise. And gratitude. Would he really try to think of me like that? To help me? But then I remembered this was freakin’ Kade, and I pushed the feeling away. I glared up at him, skimming my eyes down to his bare chest. I noticed a few scars on him. He did mention that he was in the army years ago. Had he been in battle? Is that where those scars came from? Before I was caught staring again, I quickly shifted my gaze back to his smug face, derailing that train of thought from my mind.

“You could start by at least putting on a shirt, instead of walking around in your house, ninety percent naked with a woman you just met,” I muttered. “Sorry, not met. Kidnapped.”

And I actually thought I saw his grin waver a bit at my words. But it was hard to tell with him. He shrugged at me. “Fair enough. Anything else I can do for you, princess?”

No more nicknames! I almost yelled, but held it in. I didn’t want to push my luck with this guy. One thing at a time. Otherwise, he would just do the opposite to get under my skin. Like walk into my room one morning completely naked. And the last thing I needed to see was a giant p—

I chased that thought process away. I needed to focus. This was no time to picture my giant captor in his birthday suit. I sighed heavily, trying to remind myself to breathe. “I just need a few moments, Kade. Please.”

He hesitated. And I looked back up at him when he didn’t respond to me right away. He was watching me closely. Hardly a smile. It made me worry. Did I push it too far? Is he mad at me? But Kade’s stupid grin was back, and he stood back up to his full height. “Sure thing, squirt. Any requests for breakfast?”

Like I could eat after this morning. But I did hear my stomach growl, and I knew it was important for me to at least try. I needed to take care of myself. I wasn’t going to see my family again. And if they were going to go through the end of the world with the knowledge that I was at least alive, then I owed them that much.

I shrugged at Kade. “What do you have?”

He crossed his arms and took a moment to think. “How does bacon and eggs sound?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

Appeased, Kade also nodded, and turned to leave the room. When he was out of sight, I sighed heavily once more to calm myself. At least he didn’t grab me the moment he saw me. Would that change for good? Would he change the longer we lived together? I doubted it, honestly. I was doing my best to prepare myself for a lifetime of hell with him.

But maybe that wasn’t fair of me to do. Maybe I needed to give him a chance. I need to give all of this a chance. This is my life now. And if I tried to fight it every second of every day, then I would only end up hurting myself. I would drive myself insane if I didn’t accept things. Like truly accept it. Maybe I needed to get used to him holding me. It’s not like I can get up and down from things in his house like his couch, or table on my own. I have to be open to this.

But don’t accept what he believes. I felt a shiver speed down my spine at that. He believes I’m only here to be his pet. His rescued little companion. But I’m not. I’m a person. And I can’t let myself think the way he does for a moment. Because the moment I do, I lose sight of my worth. Of who I am. And he may be able to take everything I have away from me. But he can’t take that.

Feeling a bit braver—and honestly a bit more satisfied with my current mental state than I had anticipated—I finally got out of bed, noticing I still had my clothes from the other day on. And they felt dirty. I turned to the dresser that looked just like mine from home, and reached out. The moment my fingers touched the wood, I felt my heart pound in sorrow. And fear.

I’ll never go home again.

The thought tempted the tears in my eyes, but I had to fight it. I needed to stay strong through this change. My situation could be much worse. I don’t know exactly how, considering I was in a brand new world with rules and ways of life I had yet to learn. But I had a strange feeling that I could be in a worse place.

With someone who wants to hurt me.

The sudden fiery anger and defiance within me fueled the rough way I pulled open the top drawer. That’s how. I’ve already been through worse with the kind of person who only lives to hurt others. To abuse and manipulate them.

It took everything in me to try to push away the memories that flashed like lightning through my skull. His rough hands. His sharp voice and black eyes. I gripped the drawer with one hand, and used the other to pull at my tangled hair. But regardless of how hard I pulled to distract myself, he wouldn’t leave my head.

You’re selfish, Taylor.

Some days his words hurt more than his fists ever did. The way their echoes continued to haunt me like a cruel phantom wore me down. But it’s been so long since I’ve dwelled on him for more than a few moments. Why now? Why won’t he leave?

Why won’t you just go away?

Because you feel guilty. And you should.

I shook my head at the way his voice filled my skull. My heart wouldn’t stop pounding. My hands started shaking. It was as if he was in the room with me. As if he was breathing down my neck in this very moment. I could almost feel his warmth on my back.

Something touched me, and I jumped in fear and alarm. I twirled around in surprise to see Kade. He had bent down to my level and watched me closely with a serious expression. He slightly tilted his head at me. “You okay?”

I stared up at the giant man with wide eyes. I haven’t had one of my “moments” in months. Almost a year, actually. I used to have them regularly after the incident. But ever since I had a major breakthrough with my therapist, they haven’t really been around much. So, why did I have one just now?

I could see Kade edge closer, and I quickly nodded to answer his question. “Yeah. I’m fine, sorry.”

He continued to observe me for a moment. “You sure? I called your name like ten times, and you wouldn’t even look at me.”

He did? Oh, my god. I didn’t even hear him. Or feel him enter the room. I looked down with a shrug. “Sorry, I was just distracted.” It got quiet. I could feel his deep gaze continue to stare at me. Waiting for me to explain. To tell him the truth. Not that it’s any of your business. I looked back up at him. “I was just about to change.” I took a quick glance into the drawer. And sure enough—as I had hoped—there were clothes. Clothes that looked my size and style. Kinda creepy. I turned back to Kade. He still stared with a rare frown on his face. “I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

His eyes flicked up and down my small frame. And he smiled again. “Wanna shower?”

As much as his words pinched at my nerves, I was actually glad he brought that up. “I guess, but how—”

Without warning, his hand reached out, and his fingers wrapped around my waist. The soreness from the other day returned, causing me to squirm uncomfortably in his clutch. I had to close my eyes again when he lifted me up. I felt his other hand cup beneath me so that I could sit. His fist around me loosened, but never fully let go.

I dared myself to open my eyes when he started moving. I wasn’t ready to look down. But being able to see things from his perspective was interesting. Or at least, what it would be like to be his chest. I was pressed firmly against it, feeling his heartbeat vibrate my skull. I also just noticed that he had put on a shirt like I had asked. Which was nice. Regardless, I could still feel the warmth of his skin seep through the fabric and warm up my back.

He walked out of the bedroom, and turned right down a little hallway. As he turned left to a new doorway, I caught a glimpse of two more doors at the end of the hall. One was rather skinny, so I think it could be a closet or something. And the other must be his own room.

I focused back on the space we had entered. Yup. The bathroom. And of course, everything was enormous. How was I supposed to do anything in here? I could feel Kade’s grip tighten on me as his other hand disappeared from beneath my legs. I closed my eyes when he lowered me to the floor. The moment my feet touched the ground, I struggled to get out of his hand.

He released me with a small huff of amusement. I turned around to look up at him with confusion. He smirked in return. “So, this is the bathroom. The place to take care of whatever you need to take care of.” He gestured to his right where the giant sink was. “Take a look.”

I turned to the massive cabinet that held the sink, and felt surprise reach me. There was a door. My size. It was next to the regular cabinet door one would have to get access to the pipes. I cautiously stepped up to it, and opened it. A light blinked on at my presence. And inside the extra space, and right beside the large pipe was a toilet. Next to the toilet was a small sink. And a stand-up shower. The perfect size for me.

I looked up at Kade with surprise as he observed me. “What do ya think, sugar?”

I cringed at the nickname, but couldn’t help the next words that escaped me. “Thank you, Kade.”

“No problem, cupcake,” he winked. “Why don’t you freshen up, and then we’ll eat?”

I nodded. And when I saw his hand begin to reach for me again, I backed away. “Wait, I can walk to the room. I’ll get my own clothes. I don’t mind.”

He hesitated. As if he was going to ignore my words. But he eventually nodded, and left the bathroom without another word. Once the floor seemed to stop trembling from his weighted steps, I made my way back to the bedroom with my things. It took a few minutes, but I really didn’t mind. I’d rather walk several miles than be picked up over and over just to get from one room to the other.

I searched the drawer I had opened for something to wear. Something simple and comfortable. I grabbed a pair of black leggings with a bulky, soft sweater. It was a calming lavender color. Exactly what I needed today. I grabbed some socks and other things I needed before making my trek back to the bathroom.

The moment the hot water hit my back, I felt like I could breathe again. I closed my eyes, and pictured myself in my apartment. In a safe place. A familiar one. And I felt sad again. Would I always feel this sad when I thought of home? Would I feel empty for the rest of my life? It was hard to distinguish between the tears and the water on my face. But I took in a deep breath. And I slowly let it out.

I needed to stay calm and positive about this. I was alive and well. And my family would hopefully gain that knowledge soon. I just wanted them to be at peace. The end of the world would be enough to deal with when it arrived.

I should be there, though. I should be with my family when it happens. I still didn’t understand why I was chosen among so many others that could offer something better for humans when they have to come here. I’m not a therapist who can mentally help them accept things here. I’m not a doctor who can heal someone when they’re sick or injured. I’m not rich, or powerful, or well-known.

I’m just...me.

As I scrubbed every inch of my body down, I noticed the dark spots on my hips. As I had thought, his grip left bruises. They didn’t hurt as bad as they looked. Although, I wondered if I mentioned this to Kade if he would be gentler with me. The thought of having him leave marks like this just by picking me up rolled my stomach with dread. I can’t even imagine how easy it would be for him to break a bone.

I had to immediately push that thought away. Thinking like that would only scare me more. That was the last thing I needed. Regardless of how much I didn’t like him, I had to learn to trust him. To rely on him. Only because I didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

Instead of focusing on the negatives of our living situation, I tried to picture us eventually getting along. Like the other day when we had talked about his favorite color. It felt normal for a moment. And I held on to that moment. It was a good feeling. A good memory to have. And it might help me accept things here if I made more moments like that with him.

After feeling fully clean and cozy from my shower, I dried myself off and changed into new clothes. Everything had already been available to me here. The shampoo and conditioner. Soap and a razor. The towel. Everything. And when I had put on the bulky sweater, I noticed it smelled like Kade. He had this strange, cheap cologne smell in his house. And it was now in my clothes.

But instead of being annoyed by it, I held the fabric to my nose and smelled it again. Something about this was also familiar. I couldn’t put my finger on it. But it brought me the slightest bit of comfort. After a few more moments to myself that I knew would be a rare occurrence, I opened the door. And Kade’s massive foot was there. Waiting for me.

Barely even a moment to myself.

I exited the space, and looked up at him. His eyes seemed to sparkle as he gazed down at me. His smirk still plastered on his rough features. “Feel better, buttercup?” he murmured.

I nodded, carefully holding my dirty clothes as if they would break. My stomach growled again, and I caught a whiff of bacon sizzling through the air. It did smell really good. I was glad to finally be hungry enough to eat.

Kade, of course, carried me through the hallway and to the kitchen after taking my dirty clothes. He said he would have them washed by the end of the week. He walked down the hallway, past my room. And just before the entrance to the living room, he turned right. It was an enormous kitchen. At least for me. For someone Kade’s size, I can imagine it would be average. He placed me on his tabletop beside the cooked eggs and bacon. There was even a plate of toast, already buttered. My stomach grew louder with anticipation.

Kade set down the small plate and silverware set from the other day, and sat across from my position. And we silently began to eat. I noticed that he was quieter this morning. Maybe he’s the kind of guy that needs coffee and breakfast to turn him into himself.

No. That’s not it.

He didn’t look tired. He seemed distant. Distracted. He mindlessly chewed on his bacon with eyes staring into the unknown. To a place I couldn’t go. I almost asked him if he was okay, but I stopped myself. I was honestly enjoying the silence between us. And I should savor it. Something told me it wouldn’t happen often.

He caught me staring when his eyes finally lifted to me. I tried to quickly move my gaze back to my almost empty plate, feeling my face warm up. I didn’t want him to know I was staring like that. And with any touch of worry I might have been showing. I quietly chewed my food, ignoring his eyes now gazing at me.

Damn it, Taylor. Now he’s going to open his big fat mouth and—

“Taste okay?”

I glanced up at his voice. His eyes flicked back and forth from me to my plate. I nodded. “Yeah, it’s good.”

He still wasn’t smiling. Was he mad? Did I do something wrong? Should I dare myself to actually ask him if he’s okay? He looked at me almost expectantly. As if he wanted me to ask. I held back a heavy sigh. “You okay, Kade?”

That’s when I realized he hadn’t been looking at me. He was staring just past me. Lost in his own thoughts. When I said his name, he seemed to snap out of his daze, blinking away the remnants of his daydream. He finally looked at me. And he smiled. “What was that, dollface?”

Why is he acting so weird this morning? It’s like he’s a completely different person from yesterday. “I asked if you were okay,” I regretfully murmured.

He seemed somewhat surprised by my question. Yeah, me too. But instead of rubbing it in my face that I showed even the smallest bit of concern for his well being, he shrugged at me, and shook his head. “I’m fine. Just didn’t sleep well.”

So, tired-Kade is a better version of fully-awake-Kade? I didn’t know what to make of this. Of him. Instead of dwelling on it for too long, I decided to try and take advantage of it. I put my plate on the tabletop beside me, and leaned forward into a more comfortable sitting position. I looked up to see him eye me with question. “Kade, there’s something we need to talk about.”

And I swear I caught a gleam of despair flash across his dark gaze at my words. But I wasn’t sure if I saw it right. He cleared his throat, pushed his own plate aside, and leaned forward to rest his arms on the table. He stared down at me, and nodded. “Sure thing, peanut.”

I looked away, twiddling with my thumbs a bit. “So, while I was showering, I noticed something. Um,” I hesitated. Would he even believe me unless I showed him? If it came to that, then I would. But until then, I was staying right where I was. “My hips are a little bruised from being picked up.” I looked at Kade again. And his eyes held what I could only describe as some sort of panic. Before I could even rethink my words, I tried to reassure him. “I’m fine. A little sore, but I’m okay. I was just wondering if you wouldn’t mind not p—”

His hand cupped my back and pulled me in closer to him before I could finish. One hand gently but firmly gripped me from beneath my arms to keep me steady, while the other pinched at my shirt. I struggled in his hands, writhing with fear.

“Kade!” I yelped when his fingers lifted my shirt. “Kade, stop!” I then felt the edge of my pants lower just a little. And I fought him. I kicked at the hands that awkwardly held me, and yelled again. “Kade! Let me go! Now!”

At my screams, he finally released me. I crawled away from him, lifting my pants back to my waist, and pulled my shirt down. Red consumed my vision with a mixture of rage and fear. My heart was pounding madly in my ears while my hands shook from the scare.

“What the fuck was that?” I yelled. The red curtain blinded me, leaving me to simply scream at him. “I don’t know what your problem is, or how you came to be such an entitled jackass, but I’ve had enough!” I stood on trembling legs, and back away. “You can’t just grab me like that whenever you want, I’m a person too you know! If you wanted to see the bruises, all you had to do was ask, Kade! All you have to do is treat me like an equal, not your goddamn ragdoll!”

The curtain was finally lifted when I heard his chair scrape against the floor. Kade stood up and turned around. He took a few steps over to a coat rack. He grabbed his jacket. Opened the door to the outside world. And as soon as he exited his house, he slammed it shut.

*~*~*~*~*

Kade had been gone for hours. I glanced at the clock on the stove again, and felt dread consume me. Four hours and counting. It was past noon. And even though my stomach growled, I was very far from being hungry in the slightest.

I was shocked with myself. I had finally cracked. I screamed in full-blown rage at a giant man who had the strength to crush me in his fists. What would happen when he came back? Would he ever come back? Maybe he went to his Director to get someone else to take care of me.

I sighed heavily. A part of me was proud of myself for finally saying something to him. For fighting back when it was necessary for me to. I’m not usually a fighter. But something about Kade changed that in me. Something about this place and my permanent situation has made me defiant. I was never like that. Like Kade had stated before, I was a submissive person by nature. I allowed people to take advantage of me, and kept my true thoughts and feelings bottled up.

But lately, I’ve been a different person. And I have my therapist to thank for that. I learned what I was worth, and how to value that. How to keep it safe. How to fight for it. I’ve never had the chance to fight for myself like this. I haven’t really needed to since the incident. And while a part of me felt good and proud of what I accomplished, there was another part of me that felt guilty.

I know Kade’s intention was to see the bruises for himself. I could see the panic and despair in his eyes when I mentioned them. He was upset about it. Was he afraid he wouldn’t get his money if someone found out? Would I be taken away to a new caretaker?

I don’t know. I don’t know anything.

My thoughts were broken by the sound of the door opening. I looked up to see Kade had come back. He kept his back to me as he put his coat on the rack, and locked the door. And he stood there for a few moments. Hands on hips. Quiet. Back facing me.

I didn’t know what would happen now. What I had done by screaming at him like that. I certainly didn’t regret what I told him. But how it came out was something I wish I could go back and change. I stayed in my sitting position on the table, waiting for him to do or say something. Anything. When he just stood there, I decided to finally speak up.

“Kade?” I murmured.

He didn’t respond. He just stood there. And my immediate instinct was to apologize. To fix this from my end. I had nothing to be sorry about, but it was a habit. A habit that always got me out of the trouble I had put myself into. It always made things better and easier between me and the other person when I apologized first. If it would get him to talk to me, or even look at me, I would suck it up, and do it.

“Kade,” I tried again. “Look, I’m really s—”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, Taylor.”

His words were cold. But his voice was gentle. I didn’t know how to feel about his response. I sat quietly. Unsure of what to do or say now.

“You’re right,” he continued. “I could’ve just asked.” He finally turned around to face me. And the guilt in his eyes almost made him look like a stranger. He slowly made his way back to the table. And sat down. His eyes locked onto mine. No trace of amusement in his stare. No smile, or tug of a smirk on his lips. He was dead serious. His voice came out as nothing more than a whisper as he shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

I was so shocked by this version of Kade. The way he looked at me with sincerity. The way he apologized. He meant it. And I was relieved at that. I felt hopeful. But my screaming voice from earlier haunted me. And he couldn’t be the only one to apologize. I shrugged at him with my own words. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that,” I murmured. “I’m sorry, too.”

He shook his head again. “Nah. Sometimes that’s what it takes to get through this thick skull of mine,” he smirked. He took in a deep breath, and slowly let it out. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Taylor.”

I looked away, bringing my knees up to hug them tightly. “I know.”

I glanced back up to see him staring down at me. In thought. His smile wavering the longer he watched me. He swallowed as if nervous about something, and stood back up. He began clearing away the table from the cold remains of our breakfast. “You hungry?”

I wasn’t. At all. But—“Sure,” I replied.

Kade fixed us lunch, and we ate silently together at the table. After we were done, he stared down at me with furrowed brows. He crossed his arms, clearly thinking hard about something.

I shrugged at him. “What?”

“I was thinking of watching a movie,” he replied. “But we need to figure out a new way of carrying you.”

He wasn’t wrong. I looked up at him, just as lost. Then, I realized there was a rather simple solution. I stood up as he continued to think. “Put out your hand,” I replied.

He cocked a brow at my command but complied. Kade offered an open hand toward me, palm facing up. I reached out, and hesitated. His hand was just so large. I wondered if I would ever see someone my size again. But I had to stay focused, and chased the train of thought away. I gently clutched his fingers and pulled down.

His hand rested a few inches above the tabletop. I looked up at him, wondering if I should be asking for permission first. Oh, like he really cares. This is what he wants afterall. To get you comfortable with him so that you’ll watch movies and laze about whenever he wants.

Hey, I scolded myself. There are worse lives to have, Taylor.

Kade watched me with a small smirk as I pointed to his open hand beside me. “I could just sit, right?”

He nodded with his familiar smile lighting up his face. “Of course, munchkin.”

I took a moment to gage the best way to sit in it. His fingers ever-so-slightly twitched with anticipation. I took in a breath, and carefully lowered myself into his palm. When his hand began to move up, I quickly grabbed his thumb to keep myself steady. When I got to his chest, I expected him to stop. But I kept moving up.

I turned to see him keep me at his eyes. He gazed at me. Smiling. Cheeks slightly rosy. I continued to grip his thumb with everything I had. While it may have hurt when he picked me up, I’ll admit I felt secure in his grip. Sitting in his cupped palm like this felt dangerous. Especially at this height. As if I was on an amusement park ride with no harness.

His fingers gently curled over my thighs to hold me better as if he read my thoughts. Kade continued to stare. Getting lost like he did this morning. I don’t know where he went when he wandered off in his head. But it certainly made me curious.

“So,” I began, breaking the silence between us.

Kade was drawn out of his thoughts and focused back on me. “So?”

I shrugged up at him, hugging his thumb tightly. “What are we watching?”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Thank you all for being so patient for the next part, I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! I wanted to have part 3 out before Christmas, and I actually did it! (which is a lot for someone like me who isn’t very good with meeting personal deadlines lol) Anyway, I hope you all like the story so far! We got some emotional bits this time around, and next chapter will hopefully be up soon! Enjoy! :D

#giant #tiny #Giant/tiny #short #story #writing #writers #art #cartoon #artists on tumblr

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fanfoolishness · 4 years

Text

getting better all the time (SUF)

Steven confronts the Gems about a test they gave him years ago. Angst and anger and a little hope. One month after ‘I Am My Monster,’ Amethyst POV, 4150 words.

***

Things were… getting better. At least, Amethyst was pretty sure they were.

(They certainly couldn’t get any worse than Steven hunched and glowing on the floor, gasping those terrible things, crumpling, vanishing, swallowed up in a monster so massive he dwarfed the Diamonds —)

But that was over. They’d finally gotten through to him, finally gotten him to realize how much they all loved him. It had been a whole month. He was talking to a human therapist and spending time with the three of them again, and she could see glimmers of the old him coming back. That had to be better, right?

There were times she wasn’t exactly sure, though. Maybe it was normal when humans were stressed, those days where he snapped at them over every little thing and glowed pink and cried, or days when he slept so long Amethyst would have been jealous if it didn’t scare her a little bit. None of the days ended in Steven the monster (he’d looked so scared, somehow, even through the fangs and the roaring voice), so she told herself to stop worrying.

Then again, that’s what she’d told herself before this all happened. I knew. I knew something was wrong.

Like, this, just now, she wasn’t sure about. Steven had come down from his room at a normal time, sleeping in until mid-morning but not until three in the afternoon. He’d had a few jokes for them. He’d made breakfast with her, laughing when she did the old egg-in-the-eyes trick for him. He’d settled in on the couch with a cup of tea instead of bitter black coffee. He had even said yes when Pearl suggested they watch a movie together. He’d picked something silly, Crossroads Jones and the Lost Diadem, a goofy old movie about an archaeologist hunting treasure. Amethyst hadn’t seen it in years. Progress! It was good, right?

So why, an hour into the movie, was Steven sitting there with his hands tightening around his mug until it cracked?

Garnet was the first to notice, of course. Amethyst watched with concern as Garnet gently removed the mug from his hands, getting up and putting it carefully in the sink. “Steven, we don’t have to watch this movie if you don’t want to.”

“Of course I want to,” he said, but his voice sounded weird, and just as he spoke the picture shorted out. He jumped to his feet and turned the TV off, looking embarrassed.

Amethyst gave Pearl a worried look, then turned back to Steven. “You okay there, bud?” she asked.

“Yes, of c --” he started to say. Then an irritated look crossed his face as if he was remembering something. “No,” he said instead.

“Thank you for telling us. Would you like to talk about it?” Pearl asked carefully. Amethyst could tell she was thinking of the house meetings they’d been having, where they’d started trying to hammer out what they could change in their own behavior to help Steven.

One of the rules Steven had given them was Just don’t... corner me. I’ll try to talk more, but I need you guys to give me space sometimes too. Amethyst relaxed as Pearl tried to look casual instead of panicky.

Good job, P.

Steven exhaled heavily. They all stared at him, then realized they were staring at him, then all looked at each other instead. Garnet removed her visor, letting it vanish in a twinkle.

“So… ugh, this is hard,” said Steven. He closed his eyes for a moment. “One of the things I’ve been, um, talking about in therapy… Dr. B’s been trying to encourage me to talk about things when they bother me, instead of pretending I’m fine.”

“We want to listen, Steven,” said Garnet, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Yeah, but… sometimes my problem is with you guys?” he said in a rush, not meeting their eyes. Amethyst watched him carefully, trying to figure out how a movie about a nerd hunting treasure had bothered him, and what it had to do with them.

“Dude, that’s okay. Sometimes we mess up. Sometimes we really mess up, and if we did, we want to fix it,” said Amethyst. “What did we do this time?”

Steven flinched. “You didn’t do anything today,” he said. “It’s just, the movie -- did that last scene remind you of anything?”

Pearl considered. “Well, the humans were in danger,” she said slowly. “Did that bother you? Like when we would go on missions and they would get too dangerous?” She sighed. “Sometimes I wonder what we were thinking, taking you to some of those places —“

“No, no, that’s not what I mean,” said Steven. “Not exactly. I mean, things were gonna get dangerous at some point no matter what. You guys couldn’t keep me away from Peridot and J— Homeworld stuff, that wasn’t your fault.”

“They were seeking treasure in the movie,” said Garnet, laying a hand over her mouth as she thought. “As you sought our approval. But we failed to give you what you needed —“

“Oh jeez, no,” said Steven, clearly annoyed. “No, it was —“

Amethyst exclaimed, “Oh yeah! They just almost got crushed by a giant rock in a cave! It’s like my room in that test we gave you! Oh man, did you get squished by that thing? I mean, it wasn’t supposed to actually hit you —“ She stopped, remembering that they hadn’t told him about the failsafes.

Steven gave her a pained smile. “Yeah. That’s what it reminded me of, that test. It -- uh, it didn’t go the way you guys thought it did.” He laughed, a nervous sound, and paced around the living room. His feet padded against the floor.

“What do you mean?” asked Pearl, tilting her head. “You did so well. You passed every obstacle --”

Steven shook his head. “You still won’t admit it.” His hands were fists. He slowly opened and closed them, again and again, staring at his palms. He opened his mouth. “I didn’t pass it. One of Garnet’s spikes came down on me. It would have broken some more of my bones, probably — um, I don’t remember if I told you guys, but we found that out at the hospital —“

“Your bones were broken?” Pearl yelped, thunderstruck.

“What? Seriously, what?” Amethyst squawked. “When?”

“Steven!” cried Garnet.

“I don’t know exactly,” said Steven, shrugging uncomfortably. He bit his lip. “I have some guesses? Like any time I actually had a bruise or a cut. I think my gem healed a lot of stuff right as it went down, but anything I actually remember hurting… I think it might have done really serious damage. There were x-rays… my bones have all these old fractures —“

“I’m so sorry,” gasped Garnet. She stopped leaning against the counter and stepped forward, raising her arms to give Steven a hug. He pulled away from her, shaking his head again.

“No, I mean, that stuff is bad, and we should probably talk about that too sometime, but that’s not what I was… it’s not why the mug cracked.” He waved a hand and kept pacing. “Can I just finish saying what I’m trying to say?” There was an edge in his voice, a hardness that made Amethyst wince.

“Sorry,” she said quickly.

“We’ll stop interrupting,” said Pearl, but there were big tears in her eyes. Amethyst nudged her and she wiped them away, trying to smile encouragingly at Steven.

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say — you guys rigged the test. All of it. So it didn’t work at all. That stupid rock chasing the guy in the movie, t just reminded me of that.”

“But you seemed so happy afterward!” Pearl protested.

“Yeah, you were super proud!” Amethyst said, trying to figure out why Steven was so upset. Okay, so maybe he’d realized he couldn’t really mess up the test, but why did that matter?

Garnet looked as confused as Amethyst felt. “I don’t understand,” she murmured. “I saw you passing the test, and becoming more confident in your powers, like we hoped. And you did start becoming improving so much afterwards --”

Steven held up a hand. “Maybe that’s what it looked like? But not for the reason you think. I went over this with Dr. B a week or two ago, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell you guys but I think I have to, or it’s gonna keep bothering me.” He crossed his arms over his chest, sucking in deep breaths through his nose and letting them slowly out through his mouth. “It’s not just that it was rigged.”

“What do you mean?” asked Pearl.

“I sneaked out through the back of the test and made it outside into the temple. I overheard you guys --” He rubbed at his eyes. “You said you were bad at helping me. You said you didn’t know what I needed. That I couldn’t lose my confidence again. And Garnet said there wasn’t anyone like me, that there’s never been ‘anyone or anything like Steven.’”

“Oh, no, Steven, we never meant for you to hear that --” Pearl cried.

“Crap! We were bad at it!” Amethyst swore.

“And -- and I wanted to yell at you, all of you -- I was so mad you gave me another fake test, that you didn’t trust me for real -- that you wouldn’t actually ever let me fail at something --” He was pacing harder, footsteps louder on the wood floor, breathing heavily, a pink flush starting on his cheeks. “But you know what I thought? You know what I realized? I realized that there was something I could do right.”

He laughed a little, but there were tears starting in his eyes. “I realized that I had to take care of you. I couldn’t let you know that I knew. So I pretended -- I lied -- so you would all feel better.”

He sank back down onto the couch, burying his face in his hands, sniffling. “And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. Lying. Telling everyone I was fine. Pretending I never messed up. Because that way, no one would ever have to feel bad because of me.” He let out a long, shuddering sigh. “And we all know how that turned out.” He waved angrily out at the ocean.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Amethyst stared at the floor. She could see Steven marching out of the final test chamber, his little arms and shoulders stiff, his face frozen. And they’d all been so worried that they’d messed it up again, that they were never going to be able to help him be a Crystal Gem or use his powers, and they had to figure it out. They had to help him. What if Homeworld was coming? How could they protect Steven when it was just the three of them? They had to try and help him get stronger, they had to get him to stop beating himself up. They had to help him use Rose’s powers in case he had to protect himself. But they had no idea how to do it.

She remembered how tense she’d been, how they’d all watched him approach in silence. And he’d suddenly become so happy. The way he talked up each of their parts of the test! The grin on his face, the way his eyes lit up! And Amethyst remembered how proud she’d been. How proud they’d all been, folding him into a sweeping hug, grateful that they’d finally gotten it right.

Except he lied.

“We fucked up,” Amethyst mumbled.

“Amethyst! Language!” Pearl snapped, scandalized. Then her face softened. “Yes. You’re right.”

Garnet sat on the end of the couch, folding her hands together and gazing sadly at Steven. “I didn’t know.”

“Well, I didn’t want you to,” muttered Steven. “I mean… I wish I’d been honest. Maybe it wouldn’t have messed me up so much if I’d just said something. Or if you could admit I failed. Sometimes it was scary, feeling like I could never do anything wrong because I’d disappoint you.”

It echoed in Amethyst’s mind. You all think I’m some kind of angel, but I’m not that kid anymore! She swallowed.

“Steven,” said Pearl, reaching out and gently laying a hand on his shoulder. “You were a child. We should have realized you were upset.”

“We messed up, man. We didn’t know what we were doing,” said Amethyst, leaning against Steven’s other shoulder. He leaned his cheek against hers reluctantly. “Is that why you never wanna tell us when something bothers you?”

Steven snorted. “Well, there’s a lot of reasons, but I guess that’s one of them.” His voice softened. “Like I felt like I had to take care of you. Like I was only good if I could keep you guys from feeling bad.”

“Steven, our feelings are our own,” said Garnet. “They are not your responsibility. You don’t need to protect us anymore. We should have been protecting you all along. Even from ourselves.”

“You’re right. You should have. You didn’t!” he burst out, jumping back to his feet.

They fell back against the couch, staring at him. Crap. That was another one of the rules he’d asked them to follow. Please don’t stare at me if I’m freaking out. It just makes it worse.

Amethyst tried looking out the window, but out the window she could see the ocean, and the ocean was where he’d fought the Cluster, where he’d screamed and nearly poofed them, where he’d cried in the ocean air for an hour afterwards, inconsolable --

“Why did you even want me to live with you?” he shouted, and she forgot her effort not to stare at him when she realized he was flaring pink. It glowed through his skin and hair, but his eyes weren’t diamonds, they were still Steven’s, scared and upset. “You had no idea what to do with me! You were all messed up from Mom dying! Pearl, you almost killed me more than once, Amethyst, you hated yourself so much I think I learned how to do it from you, and Garnet, you made me feel so small all the time -- I love you guys but you have to admit, my childhood was fucked up!”

He stood alone in the middle of the living room, chest heaving, pink hands curled into fists, tears streaming down his face.

“We wanted you to live here because we love you, Steven,” said Pearl, her voice shaking. “We wanted to teach you about your heritage. And we wanted to protect you.”

“I -- I know you love me, that’s not --” His voice was strangled. His hands rose up, fingers twisting into his hair as he grimaced. “Sometimes things were just so hard!” His voice rang through the stillness, a burst of energy that rippled through them all and sent the coffee table shaking, but nothing cracked. He clapped a hand over his mouth, looking panicked, his shoulders heaving.

Amethyst fought back tears of her own. Don’t make it about you, she told herself firmly. You gotta help him! “Steven?”

“Yeah?” he whispered raggedly.

“You’re right. Things sucked sometimes. And you had to go through all of that, and that sucks, too. And you’re mad because sometimes we made things worse, right?”

He nodded, staring at her with wide eyes with his mouth clamped shut.

“This is really hard for you. That’s okay. But is it cool if I do one of your exercises with you?” she asked, getting to her feet. She hoped this was the right thing to do. Steven himself had suggested it a week or two ago, but she didn’t know if it applied now. Hopefully it did.

He laughed, and it was more like a sob. “I -- I guess. Yeah. Okay.”

She took his hands in her own, trying to remember what he’d told them. “Okay, you tell me if we’re doing it right. Deep breath in?”

He took a deep breath, following her lead, and nodded slightly through his tears.

“And deep breath out?”

“Yeah,” he said softly, dropping his head so that it leaned against her own. His hands trembled in hers.

“That feels pretty good, right?” she said, trying to keep her voice strong. “Let’s do it again. Deep breath in….”

She felt a hand on her shoulder, then another on the other side. Garnet and Pearl stood on either side of her and Steven, all of them taking slow, calming breaths.

Steven lifted his head up after a few minutes, his face blotchy but peach-colored again. “You guys aren’t… mad?”

“No, Steven, we aren’t angry,” said Garnet, wiping her eyes. “We wish we’d made different choices, but we’re not upset with you. You spoke a lot of truth. I know I can seem… distant, but I never wanted to be distant from you. I wanted to protect you. I’m sorry.”

“Steven, I’m sorry too,” wept Pearl. “I’m so sorry. I should never have let my pain affect you. I just… I didn’t know what to do after your mother died. It hurt so much to talk about her, and sometimes I made choices I regret because I felt so lost --” She kissed his cheek. “I love you so much, Steven. I wish I had known how to show you that.”

“I mean, I still knew,” he said, giving her a wavering smile. “And you haven’t done anything dangerous with me in years. Unless you count Steven Tag.”

“We did go a little all-in on that, didn’t we?” Pearl mused, her tears slowing. She wiped them from her eyes, gazing fondly at him.

“It was fun, though,” he admitted. “It’s not like everything was bad, you know? It just feels that way sometimes. Especially now that I’m finally trying to figure things out in my own head. All the bad stuff feels so big it kinda overpowers everything else right now.”

“We want to help you,” said Garnet. “Even if it’s difficult for us to hear. You deserve to be able to share your feelings with us.”

“Even if it hurts,” said Pearl.

“I’m sorry, Ste-man,” said Amethyst, flinging her arms around his waist. It was still hard to believe sometimes how tall he’d gotten. “I know I had my issues. I’m sorry I let them be yours, too.”

He ruffled her hair with one hand, sighing. “Thanks. All of you.”

“How are you?” asked Pearl.

Amethyst lifted her head up from his chest, gazing up at him. Steven looked exhausted now, wiped out the way she was starting to get used to after moments like this. Moments. Fights. Venting. She wasn’t sure what to call it.

“Tired,” he said. His eyes were puffy. “I’m sor--” Another deep breath. “I’m not supposed to keep apologizing,” he said quietly. “At least not for everything. Dr. B was very clear on that.” He considered. “I’m sorry for yelling. But I’m not sorry for telling you guys why I was upset.”

“Good,” said Amethyst. “Apologizing too much isn’t healthy.”

“Pfft, you never apologize,” he chuckled.

“Dude! Did I not just apologize two seconds ago?” Amethyst cried, pretending to be mortally offended with a hand over her chest in her best Pearl impression.

“Okay, okay,” said Steven. He jammed his hands into the pockets of his jacket, then looked around at each of them in turn. “Are you guys… How are you guys?”

“You said something that needed to be said,” said Garnet. “I’m disappointed in myself, and I regret how our mistakes have affected you. But those feelings are for me to worry about, not you, Steven.” She brandished a double thumbs up at him.

“I’m sorry you were carrying around that secret for so long,” said Pearl. “We were trying so hard, and I wish -- I wish we’d done things differently. And I wish you hadn’t overheard us.”

“I’m fine,” said Amethyst. She suspected she might go into the temple later and scream her head off at how badly they’d apparently messed Steven up with that one day, a day she used to be proud of. But that was for her to deal with, and Steven to find out about never. Though what if that was part of the problem? Argh.

She amended, “I mean, I’m super bummed that our test backfired and made you feel like you couldn’t talk to us. Of course I am. And it sucks that it hurt you bad enough that a stupid movie brings all of that back for you and makes you frea-- makes you so upset.” Her words weren’t coming out right. Why was it so hard to say exactly what she felt?

She gave up and tapped Steven square in the chest. “So what do you want to do now?”

“I guess we could see how the movie ends,” said Steven, wiping his eyes. “Might as well. We’ve made it this far and it can’t be any worse than the CPH reboot.”

“Would you like some cocoa? I can make some for you,” said Pearl cheerfully, though her smile was a little too wide to be entirely genuine.

“Sure,” said Steven. He shook himself free of them and flopped back on the couch, turning the TV back on. The static was gone, the picture crisp and clear.

The movie wasn’t complicated. It was loud and ridiculous and there were too many silly stunts that humans definitely couldn’t perform on their own. It was exactly the sort of thing that was her favorite, and yet she couldn’t focus on it.

She just kept glancing up at Steven out of the corner of her eye, watching him sipping his cocoa, watching him to see if he’d really said what he needed to say. But every time she did so she fought multiple versions of him, images of younger Steven telling them, again and again, not to worry about him; images of the Steven of a month ago, glowing pink, taller than Garnet, insisting shrilly he was fine, he was fine, everything was fine; images of Steven in the temple surrounded by star-shaped balloons, his smile so wide and happy and fake.

They’d really hurt him.

More than once.

And she didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to fix things that had happened years ago, how to make up for all her flaws and Pearl’s and Garnet’s and Rose’s. All she knew was that Steven was heading into human adulthood with -- what did humans call it -- scars, scars that ran through his brain like they apparently did through his bones, and she was part of the reason why.

So she curled up against him and poked him in the side to make him laugh and fetched him more cocoa when the mug ran low. He giggled when she poked him and laughed uproariously when Crossroads Jones ran into a pit of weasels. But the rest of the time he watched the movie with little shadows under his eyes, a puffiness that hadn’t been there earlier this morning.

The movie ended, credits rolling to bombastic music as bloopers played.

“That was… a movie,” said Garnet.

“It was incredibly historically inaccurate,” said Pearl. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“It’s an action movie, P, they’re not supposed to be like real history,” said Amethyst.

“It was all right,” said Steven. “Even with… you know.” He dropped his gaze. “Thanks for listening, guys.”

“How are you feeling these days? Overall?” asked Amethyst.

She wondered what he would say. Fine! Things are so much better! I’ll be back to normal in no time! She ached, thinking of him squashing everything down again, pretending for their sake and his own.

Steven shrugged, quirking his mouth to one side as he thought about his answer. “Some days are pretty good,” he said. “Sometimes I feel like my old self again. But some days are still so hard I -- I get scared it’s going to be like that day last month. Like I’m gonna explode again into something I can’t control.” He shivered. “But most days are like… this. With parts that suck. And parts that are pretty okay. I dunno.”

“You know what I think?” asked Amethyst.

“What?”

“You just told us things are less than good. You yelled at us about something we screwed up, and yeah, it sucked to hear it, but we got it out in the open. And you’re not pretending everything’s fine when it isn’t,” she said.

Pearl and Garnet smiled at him. He didn’t return the gesture, looking confused. “So?”

“I dunno, man. To me, that seems like you’re getting better, even when it doesn’t always look like it. And hopefully… we’re getting a little bit better at helping you.”

Steven raised his eyebrows, then smiled slightly. “Huh,” he said. “I guess that’s not so bad.”

“We love you so much, Steven.”

“All of us.”

“And don’t you forget it,” said Amethyst, hugging him tightly.

He sighed contentedly, hugging her back. “Love you guys.”

She sank against him in relief. Yeah. Things were getting a little better, all the time.

#suf #steven universe #steven universe future #amethyst su #steven universe fanfic #fanfoolishness' steven universe fic #fanfoolishness steven universe fic #it was an interesting challenge to show both steven and the gems improving #but there's still some problems in how they communicate #and that will always be true to some extent #but hopefully they can all keep getting better

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not-close-to-straight · 4 years

Text

Hexes and Honeysuckle (Four)

We dive into a little bit of Bucky related angst in this chapter but don’t worry, Tony comes riding to his rescue like everyone’s favorite feline Prince Charming.

MASTERLIST

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

“So you can’t in fact do an invisibility spell.” Bucky re-lathered up the washcloth and continued scrubbing at the stains on his arm. “Or did you confuse invisibility with ‘blueberry flavored soul staining ink’?”

“To be fair, I didn’t take into account the different ways a spell would affect a feline form versus a human form.” Tony sank further into his giant bowl of soapy water, nothing but his little face above the bubbles and massive amounts of hair floating around him in a halo. “I didn’t expect the explosion, neither did I expect the ridiculous color.”

“Clearly.” Bucky dunked his head back into the bathtub and soaped up his hair. “How long is this gonna stay on us?”

“Do you remember the witch Wonka?” A bubble landed on Tony’s nose and the feline went cross eyed trying to stare at it. “Had that weird house and got in trouble for being careless with his spells?”

“No.” Bucky shook his head. “Don’t pay much attention to other witches, Tony. What does Wonka have to do with me being blueberry blue?”

“Uh…. nothing. Nevermind.” the bubble popped and Tony went back to splashing idly, watching soapy lines of blue fade out of his fur and turn the water almost purple. “You shouldn’t be complaining by the way, you look great in blue. You should be thanking me.”

“I should be shaving you.”

“Eh.” the familiar gave a kitty approximation of a shrug. “Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.”

It was easier after that, after one good spell and one acutely horrible spell and a wonderful camaraderie bloomed from shared blue skin, hair and fingernails.

Tony would be sassy to the day he died but at least now his comments were layered with something almost close to affection, the bite missing from his sarcasm and literal bite missing from any moments of annoyance that inevitably sprang up.

Bucky took peas out of the dinner rotation entirely and bought chicken at the market to shred and prepare the way Tony demanded requested, read his spells out loud so Tony could correct any mispronunciations and at night he even put a pillow over at Tony’s side of the bed so the cat would stop poofing it away.

When the day to day things worked without devolving into chaos, non magic related moments started inching towards domestic and maybe even friendly and as the days rolled into weeks, the heart to heart bond that was so essential to witch-familiar relationships finally began to spark between the pair.

“Peggy told me I needed to learn some humility.” Tony offered one day as he shredded dandelion blooms for their next attempt at a potion. “She told me I was too young to be half so confident and when one of my spells got out of control and nearly hurt someone, she got mad.”

“Spells get outta control all the time.” Bucky paused in his mixing and re-read the incantation for the third time so he wouldn’t screw it up when it came time to recite. “I’m still scrubbing blue outta my scalp from the invisibility thing. Sometimes people get hurt. Why was she so mad?”

“She said it should scare me that someone was almost hurt. But I said that they weren’t actually hurt, so why did it matter.” the familiar tipped over his bowl and pawed the dandelion out onto the table. “So she hexed me into this form till I learned some empathy and humility.”

“Uh huh.” Bucky scooped up the dandelion and added it to the mix. “So how’s that going?”

“Well, I’ve been a cat for about a billion years now so you tell me.” Tony batted at Bucky’s hand when the witch tried to add too much liquid. “Stop that, you’re doing it wrong.”

“You’re rude.” Bucky batted the cat right back. “Billion years, huh? Is that why your hair’s gone gray?”

“WHAT?!” Tony puffed up instantly, eyes wide and ears laid back and aforementioned gray fur fuzzed out. “I am not gray! I am not old enough to be gray!”

“Sure you are.” Bucky countered with a sly smirk. “How old are you in human years, anyway?”

“It’s rude to ask a cat their age.” Tony sniffed primly, settling his fur back down and going back to his spell. “If I was a lady, I’d slap you for being pertinent.”

“You not being a lady hasn’t stopped you from slapping me.” the witch stated, and checked off the last ingredient on their list to make sure the potion was ready. “You slapped me earlier today cos your eggs were runny.”

“I struck you lovingly with the soft side of my paw cos you cracked a raw egg on my plate and told me to quit yowling for food.” Tony corrected, and scooped up just a tiny bit more of dandelion leaf to add to the bowl. “And for the record, I’m still young for a witch. Just over two hundred.”

“Twice my age, huh?”

“Yeah, you’re a baby witch.” Satisfied Bucky wasn’t going to blow the roof off the cottage with a mismatched spell, Tony decided his work was done for the day and rolled over into the patch of sunshine on the table to sun his belly. “Thank goodness you have someone powerful and wise like me to show you the way.”

“Is that what you’re claiming these days?” Bucky hesitated, then hesitated again and then finally reached out to give scritches on the familiar’s soft belly. “That you’re powerful and wise instead of hairy and spiteful?”

Tony cracked an eye at the witch, then wriggled a little closer and closed his eyes again. “Who says I can’t be all of the above?”

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

“Can you hear me?” Tony tapped on the wall a few times and watched closely to see if the witch huddled inside the glass cage reacted at all. “Bucky? I know I said your dreams were boring but I’d take it back if you’d just acknowledge how absolutely cool I am for being able to dream walk out of my familiar form.”

The witch didn’t answer just like he hadn’t answered the past several times Tony had let himself into Bucky’s psyche and wandered around the empty surface.

“Why do you do this?” Tony slid down onto the floor and crossed his legs, propped his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. “Most witches practice for decades before learning how to physically control their dreams but you can actively choose where your consciousness goes when you sleep despite having set the table on fire this morning. So why do you choose to lock yourself up in nothing?”

The silence was almost painful against Tony’s ears and he wondered idly if being stuck as a cat for so long had translated into his human form having weird catlike issues like enhanced hearing.

“Are you worried about nightmares?” he asked through the barrier. “About your magic flexing and hurting someone?”

No answer.

“We should plant honeysuckle.” he told dream-Bucky. “It keeps evil spirits away and maybe if we keep them away in your waking hours, you’ll be able to dream instead of hiding away in here. You look lonely and I don’t really like that.

No answer.

“...Bucky?” Tony swallowed uncomfortably. “I’m getting worried about you.”

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

“We should plant honeysuckle.” Tony told the witch the next morning. “We should plant an ash tree too, and at least some sunflowers but also definitely honeysuckle.”

“Why’s that?” Bucky looked exhausted today, dark rings under his eyes and hair rumpled from tossing and turning all night. He hadn’t slept well the last several nights, his usual dream meditation interrupted by the feeling that someone was watching, lurking, that something was hovering just out of range of his safe space inside his own head. It hadn’t felt malicious, hadn’t felt dangerous, but the presence had disrupted his calm anyway and after several days of hardly any sleep, Bucky was miserable and faltering.

...and scared, because when he was overly tired the nightmares were always worse and he didn’t want one tonight or any time soon. “Why uh-- why honeysuckle, Tony?”

“Cos it’s pretty.” Tony kept his eyes trained on the toaster, watching carefully, closely so when the toast popped it wouldn’t scare him off the counter like it had done yesterday. “And it keeps the evil spirits away.”

“But then you wouldn’t be allowed in the house anymore.” the witch said tiredly.

“Oh har-dee-har-har.” The familiar’s ears flattened warily when the smell of nearly finished toast reached his nose and he tensed in preparation for the noise. “Fine, don’t plant it. I’m allergic anyway and would just sneeze the whole time.”

“That sounds exactly like something an evil spirit would say. What are you hiding beneath those whiskers, cat?” The toaster pop!-ed and Tony yowled and fell off the counter right into Bucky’s outstretched palm, because the witch remembered the familiar splatting onto the floor the last time this happened. “Were you scared of toasters when you were human?”

“I’m not scared of toasters!”

“Say’s the pussy cat with his claws digging into my wrist.” Bucky hefted the cat onto the counter and went to wash his hand before going back to cooking. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Tony glared at the offending appliance. “My magic is linked to iron which is the base of everything steel and I think cat-me has taken that link and magnified it to the point of--”

Bucky just looked at him, and Tony sighed. “Basically my magic is so compressed in this form that it comes out in weird ways, and the longer a timer ticks down on anything remotely mechanical, the harder everything vibrates through me. It’s annoying.”

“You got a headache?” Bucky was exhausted but he still took the time to scratch at Tony’s ears gently. “Would honeysuckle help with that? Drive the evil spirit of technology from your body by way of allergies?”

“Keep talking and I’m gonna--”

Tony shut up when the witch unplugged the toaster and the hum buzzing down the familiar’s spine finally eased. “Oh. Thank you.”

“Yeah, kitty.” Bucky gave up on breakfast and stumbled back towards the bed. “I’m gonna sleep some more, okay? You okay out here alone?”

“I’m an apex predator, Bucky. I can handle being alone in a countryside cottage for a few hours.”

“You’re forty pounds of irritation and claws.”

“I am sixteen pounds at the most”

Whatever Bucky mumbled in response was lost in his pillow as he fell face first onto the mattress, and after a quick nibble at not quite cooked bacon and eggs, Tony jumped from counter to table to floor and trotted over to the bed.

“Can I come up, too?”

The witch mumbled something that might have been, “When have you ever asked before doing anything?” and Tony took that as permission to leap onto the blankets and pick his way towards the pillows. Bucky rolled over a little bit and hugged one of his pillows tighter, hiding his face beneath his long hair and groaning quietly when Tony booped at him. “Leave me alone!”

“Tell me about your magic.” Without the buzz of plugged in appliances running through his veins, Tony felt like he could finally breathe and he nudged in close and booped at Bucky’s nose again in appreciation. “Do you know anything about it at all?”

“Think it’s linked to nature.” the witch pushed the feline away again and rolled onto the other side so he didn’t get a face full of fur. “Maybe winter. Dunno what it feels like to be powerful, but I always feel better when it’s cold, when it snows.”

“Okay, Elsa.” Tony wibbled and wobbled as he crossed the pillow so he could see Bucky’s face again. “When winter comes we’ll try some outdoor spells. Get you grounded to nature and see what happens.”

“When winter comes.” Bucky repeated. “You think you’ll still be here when it snows?”

“Bucky bear, at the rate I’m going I’ll be here till the world ends.” Tony turned in a few circles and burrowed down into the blanket to sleep next to Bucky. “Lucky you, huh?”

Bucky finally smiled a tiny bit and rested his hand on the big cat’s rear, petting lightly until Tony’s tail lashed out to smack him in the face as a warning to stop.

“Sheesh. Sorry.”

“I’m trying to sleep and touching my butt just makes me horny.” Tony reprimanded and Bucky grimaced, “Yikes that’s weird, don’t say that. You’re a cat, Tony.”

“I might be furry and feline, but I’m still a man.” the familiar snipped. “In my human form, my butt would put you on the floor. You’d actually drool over the roundness of my rear.”

“Annnnd on that note, I’m gonna face the other way.” Bucky turned back to the other side of the bed and Tony grinned to himself and settled in for a mid morning nap.

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

Everything was white and still until it wasn’t, and then Tony was running as fast as he could across the endless space to get to Bucky, to get to the screaming and the noise and the horror that had forced its way through the walls of the witch’s mind.

The thing had tentacles, had multiple heads and rows and rows of teeth. It was blood red one moment and then vile black the next, a Hydra monster and a nightmare, a cursed creature set loose by another witch’s wrath, and the demon from Bucky’s past.

Bucky was screaming, the Hydra monster screeching, the witch scrambling back against the walls of his self made cage and covering his face with his arm, the creature shoving through the cracks in the glass and reaching-- reaching--

“Bucky!” Tony slammed both hands onto his side of the wall and shouted for his witch. “Bucky! Let me in so I can save you! Let me in so I can save you!”

The far wall shattered beneath the weight of terror, teeth and tentacles and stench roiling over the shards to rush towards the stranded witch and Tony dug both hands into his hair and cursed his helpless, cursed his Auntie for taking so much of his magic, cursed himself for being so foolish and cocky to end up in the position when he couldn’t even help someone who mattered.

Tony screamed his frustration to the white nothing outside the box of horrors, then set his teeth and straightened his shoulders, called every bit of dormant magic from his bones and pulsed it out through his hands in a bolt of bright blue.

The glass melted beneath his magic and Tony burned his legs as he climbed over the molten edges but he didn’t let it stop him as he raced to Bucky’s side. “I’ve got you!” He cried over the noise of the monster, over the sound of Bucky’s screams and the way they landed physical and awful on his soul. “Bucky, I’ve got you! Hold on!”

Another blast of power towards the monster and the thing recoiled with a shriek, Tony kept one hand over Bucky’s eyes and kept the other palm out towards the Hydra, shoving the mass back through the cracks of the walls, pushing it far enough that he could move the atoms of the glass and weld them back together. It was an ugly scar across a previously pristine wall, a disfigured slash across what had once been protecting the witch and there was a lesson there, a metaphor about Bucky’s past and the scars cat-Tony didn’t have but human Tony kept hidden beneath his clothes.

But now wasn’t the time for personal reflection or whatever lesson Tony needed to learn. Right now Tony needed to rescue his witch and this was a dream which meant he had no trouble scooping Bucky’s bulk up into his arms and running towards the melted wall and away from the thud-thud-thud of the Hydra throwing itself against the other side and the moment Tony set foot over the barrier of the room--

--Bucky woke up screaming, crying, thrashing around in the bed and Tony just curled as close as he could, meowing and trying to purr and trying not to cry in shared pain as his witch sobbed into the pillows.

“It’s okay.” he whispered and Bucky bit out a frustrated curse. “Bucky it’s-- it’s okay. We’re gonna be okay. I promise.”

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

The afternoon sun was warm and golden through the windows of their cottage when Tony finally got up the courage to go and sit next to Bucky. The big brunette had been wrapped up in a quilt and staring out at the empty garden for hours now, and when Tony jumped up onto the arm of the easy chair, Bucky only shifted a little and sighed.

“You uh--” the familiar cleared his throat. “You’ve spent decades working on a spell to keep yourself from dreaming, haven’t you? Cos when you dream it’s only nightmares?”

“...yeah.” Bucky’s voice was hoarse from screaming and Tony nudged a cup of tea closer to the witch. “Must not be a real good spell though, or you wouldn’t have gotten through.”

“You knew that was me?”

“Your voice is the same.” Bucky muttered. “Voice and your hair, human you and kitty you have got sorta a dumb amount of hair.”

It should be a joke but Bucky was so tired and miserable that Tony couldn’t even smile. Instead he hooked his claws in the quilt and tugged it down past Bucky’s left shoulder so he could see the red star, then down a little further to see the mess of scars and pushed his forehead onto the ruined skin in a moment of deep sympathy. “I’m sorry about what happened to your coven.”

And after another minute, “And I’m sorry I was so callous about you not knowing any magic when we first met. How old-- uh, how old were you when it-- when the Hydra--”

“I was twenty five.” Bucky’s pale eyes closed when a soft soft paw patted at his mark. “Not even old enough to have started any training. The old covens like Lehigh, they raise witches meant to be connected to nature so the first thirty, forty years are all spent getting to know the Earth Goddess. They figure if we know the name of every plant, every seed and sapling and the way the water talks then when it comes time to use it with magic, we’re a step ahead.”

“Not a bad theory.” Tony loafed out next to the witch, tucking his paws under his body and his tail in close to his side. “So you weren’t only young, you barely knew anything at all.”

“I didn’t know nothin’.” A flash of anger in Bucky’s voice, there and gone before it amounted to much of anything. “Sure didn’t know enough to help when that thing came outta the water and killed everyone I knew. Didn’t know enough to figure out why Alexander hated us enough to kill us. Dunno why--”

Softer, “Dunno why I survived.”

“Bucky--”

“Should’ve been swept into the sea right along with my home.” the witch finished in a broken whisper. “Stead’a wandering around for seventy years fuckin’ useless.”

“You’re not useless, you feed me, don’t you?” Tony twitched his whiskers and tried to make his witch smile. “In your dreams, why glass?”

“Sometimes it’s easier to see what’s out there than to close my eyes and pretend I can’t hear it coming to get me.” Bucky finally shifted over towards Tony and the cat immediately met him halfway, leaning in so he was tucked to the witch’s side. “Cos I already know, you know? I already know what’s coming, and it scares me every time but it’d be worse if I didn’t look.”

Tony was quiet for a few beats. “You think you’re saving yourself by walling out the nightmares but really you’re just walling yourself in.”

“Huh?”

“Your dream box.” Tony said softly. “It keeps the bad things out until it doesn’t, but then in the scary moments it keeps you trapped. You need a door.”

“If there’s a door then all the scary things can get in too.” Bucky sounded like he might cry again, hopeless and angry and Tony meow-ed at him comfortingly.

“Make it an escape hatch. A secret tunnel. A bat cave.” Bucky’s brow scrunched down and Tony clarified, “I forget you don’t know the same people I do. The familiar Bruce is a bat in animal form, and he’s freaky as hell but he’s got the coolest house I’ve ever seen.”

“Tony--”

“We call it the bat cave, cos the guy is batty.” the familiar explained, and waggled kitty-brows at the witch. “Get it?”

“You tell bad jokes.” Bucky reached over with his right hand to scratch behind Tony’s ears. “An escape hatch, huh?”

“Just one that you know about.” Tony promised. “You and um-- maybe me. Just in case.”

“Just in case.” the witch finally smiled a little bit and the familiar climbed into his lap, then stood on hind legs to boop their noses. “What was that for?”

“I’m glad you didn’t get swept away with everything else in Lehigh.” Tony said slowly, carefully, the act of being honest about his feelings something he wasn’t particularly used to. “Cos you know, cats hate water. It ruins my hair.”

“Of course it does.” Bucky scooped Tony up in his arm and pressed his face into all that fur. “Thank you for saving me, Tony.”

...and as they sat there in the sunshine, a little piece of Tony felt saved too.

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

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

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#ncts fics #winteriron #tony stark #bucky barnes

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halothenthehorns · 3 years

Text

RITA SKEETER’S SCOOP

Harry couldn't say he was particularly happy with where the last chapter had ended. He in no way wanted to live through another blow out fight of Ron and Hermione's, his sympathetic feelings for Hagrid were still leaving him wanting to run down to that hut right now and make sure his friend was okay, and as always that tournament and the next task hovered just on the edge of his mind, ready any moment to lash out and remind him of just how much worse his life could get if he got complacent. He just knew that if he had all his memories he could be telling his family right off the bat all the bad to come, save them the trouble and worry of trying to figure this out along with him, but wanting had never really gotten him anything, so he flipped to the next chapter with a heavy mind.

Gryffindor's were much quieter on the end run of their holiday, many yawning complaints punctuating their avoided homework. Hermione was one of the few avoiding this, as the next morning Harry spotted her bushy head again. After he asked, she confessed she'd had to use nearly a whole jar of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion to keep it up last night.

"My parents would be thrilled," James chuckled.

At Harry's confused look, James realized he'd never mentioned, "oh yeah, my parents invented that." All while mussing up his own hair for emphasis.

Harry wasn't sure if he was supposed to be laughing or not, but when Lily read his look correctly she properly explained, "I do believe it was his mother's way of trying to keep her husband, and wayward son at some restraint. It didn't work, but it is how they built most of their fortune, the rest hadn't been very well kept."

"Hope someone informed you at some point you inherited the irony," Remus tried to laugh at the unpleasant reminder, though hopefully at least the Ministry at some point would have told Harry of this.

She added that it was much too much work to be doing every day,

"Can't really blame her for that though," Remus agreed.

while cuddling with her cat.

Ron and Hermione seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement not to talk about last night.

"Better than how I was picturing it," Lily grimaced.

"I was hoping for a little more than just an argument," Sirius pouted, "those two really should have more than just a talk."

"I preferred it," Harry disagreed, "at least I didn't have to deal with the awkward conversation that would have been."

"Don't be such a romantic Harry," James smirked.

Instead they were being more formal to each other than normal. Harry broke into their uneasy silence by explaining all about Maxime and Hagrid.

"Not like you had anything else to share about that night," Sirius snorted.

Hermione was at first surprised by the news of Hagrid's half-human status, but didn't have nearly the reaction of Ron.

"Okay, I'll take that," James smiled, pleased at least one of Harry's friends had their same initial reaction. She'd been that way about Remus as well, but it was always good to know that extended.

She did admit that she'd had an idea about him, of course he couldn't be a full giant as they were twenty feet tall,

Harry blinked in surprise as he tried to imagine that, clearly even the dragon for scale hadn't been accurate enough.

but she couldn't understand the prejudiced against them either, it was the same ignorance as werewolves.

"While not entirely accurate," James sniffed.

"It's a close approximation," Remus muttered.

Ron looked like he was going to argue with her for a moment,

"With what?" Sirius raised a sharp brow, clearly ready to give a snappy reply right back.

"Don't know," Harry shrugged, "he never answered."

but clearly decided against it, instead turning back to the homework he'd been ignoring over break.

"Ah the righteous and bitter end," Lily agreed.

Harry was having a hard time concentrating, but instead was starting to feel nervous again.

Harry groaned and muttered something under his breath, half wishing he could go back and dwell on that ball again.

The date of the next tournament felt a lot closer from this side of Christmas,

"Was afraid of that," James muttered, shifting in his seat a bit at the approaching thought.

and he had no clue what to do about his egg. He began opening it at least once a day to the wailing noise, but nothing new ever happened.

"You know doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is a sign of insanity," Remus pleasantly informed him.

Harry gave him a halfhearted glare, like he wanted to demand for some better ideas, but decided he'd only be more annoyed when he actually got a good answer.

He pried at his mind for some hint of what the noise could be, but never got up to anything useful. He instead tried shaking the egg, or asking it questions,

"At least there's a different attempt," James smiled.

and still nothing changed. Then he chucked it across the room, which didn't make a difference, though he wasn't surprised that time.

"I'm sure it made you feel better though," Sirius gave a smirk he was sure was helpful.

Harry had not forgotten the hint that Cedric had given him,

"Kind of hard to forget about such an odd moment honestly," Remus agreed.

but he was not going to be taking advice from him if he could avoid it.

"And I honestly can't blame you," Lily shook her head ruefully, "but that vindictive streak is only going to hurt you."

Harry huffed and muttered something indistinct.

Cedric's advice hadn't even seemed helpful the more he reflected. At least Harry had told him outright what was coming, Cedric's idea of a fair exchange had been cryptic at best.

"Yeah, my feelings," James nodded.

He wouldn't be taking that from the man who was now walking down hallways with Cho in hand.

"Well now he's just rubbing it in," Sirius grumbled.

Lessons returned and while Harry stashed away the egg in his trunk, the golden object seemed to way as heavily on him as his bag.

"You might benefit from that though," Remus tried to say without a smile, "an idea might strike you at any time if you keep chewing on it."

"Actually, I find that not thinking on something actually leads to better ideas when it pops back up later," James countered.

"I'm sure you two could discuss this all day," Lily cut them off.

Snow was still thick and fast on the grounds as they headed down to Care of Magical Creatures, but as Ron pointed out, at least the skrewts catching everything on fire would keep them warm.

"There's the bright side!" Sirius chirped.

When they arrived though, their normal teacher was nowhere in sight, instead a new lady stood in Hagrid's spot.

"You said what now?" James demanded, trying to lean over Harry.

Harry nudged him back out of the way, still frowning down at the papers as a nasty feeling was starting to grow in him. Not towards this woman in particular...but something bad about this.

She barked at their approach,

"Well I dislike her already, using my phrases," Sirius had his eyes narrowed suspiciously at the pages and missed the groans.

telling them they were late.

Harry asked where Hagrid was, and she introduced herself as Professor Grubbly-Plank, and that she would be the temporary teacher for this class.

"Why?" Lily yelped first.

"If we knew, I'm sure you wouldn't be asking," Remus muttered, earning himself a scowl but allowing Harry to continue reading with increasing agitation.

Harry repeated where Hagrid was, and she merely stated he was indisposed.

"Indisposed," Sirius repeated the word slowly and carefully.

"You don't think this is still him being upset over Maxime?" James frowned. "I mean come on man, I'd be upset to, but this is kind of..." he trailed off with a sad shake of his head.

Harry recognized the unpleasant laughter behind him,

"Now who's the only person I can think of laughing at a time like this?" Sirius growled.

and turned surprised to see Malfoy and his Slytherins'.

"Sometimes I hate it when I'm right," Sirius finished his rhetorical question.

All of them looked gleeful,

"All of them," Lily couldn't help but groan, having grown quite tired of Harry categorizing all Slytherin's by Malfoy.

"Yep," Harry fully embraced that one this time, though explained, "but I get the feeling most of them were smiling not to see Hagrid for once. He wasn't exactly ah, a popular teacher." Harry's face showed quite clearly he didn't agree with that statement, he'd stick by Hagrid no matter his poor choice in lessons, but yes even some of the Gryffindors had looked rather relieved not to see him for once.

and none of them looked surprised to see the new teacher

"What is going on?" Remus asked slowly.

"Oh but when I ask that, you mock me," Lily grumbled at his side.

Grubbly-Plank took no notice of any of this as she instructed all of them to follow her. They treaded behind her, past the Beauxbatons horses shivering in their pins,

"I imagine those in particular aren't used to our climates," Remus muttered to himself, as their winters tended to be a bit harsher than the greater France that wasn't in the mountains. Then again, maybe Beauxbatons was somewhere in the Alps or the likes, so he let it go.

The trio followed, but Harry glanced back over his shoulder at Hagrid's cabin, noticing all the curtains drawn shut, and worried if he was sick?

Lily cooed, wriggling on the spot as she pictured the poor dear needing a cup of tea and a blanket that was across the room, too sick to go and fetch it. Hagrid was not known for falling ill, so if that was it then this must be bad. Hopefully Madam Pomfrey had been down to see him and Harry would go and confirm this.

Harry instead caught up to the teacher and again asked why Hagrid wasn't hear, and she told him not to worry about it, as if he were being nosy.

"Well normally I'd agree," James said, his tone explaining the exact opposite.

"But as you consider Hagrid a friend, I think she's being to crisp," Sirius sniffed.

Harry snapped back he was worrying, and where he was?

She pretended not to hear him.

"Well that was just rude," Remus huffed.

Instead leading them to the fringes of the forest, where a unicorn was tethered.

"Darn," Sirius sighed, "I kind of wanted to see another professional try and handle those skrewts. Prove to the lot of them it's not all Hagrid's fault they're hard to manage."

"I think I'm relieved," Remus disagreed, "since we've well established Hagrid probably shouldn't even have those. Having someone like a substitute teacher finding out about them probably wouldn't be helping him feel better right now."

Most of the girls oohed at the sight of it, while Lavender whispered how beautiful it was, and how it had been caught?

"It's not that hard if you know what you're doing," Remus began babbling at once. "What you want to do is get some raw, precious metal untampered-"

"Thank you, Professor Lupin," Sirius quickly cut him off before he launched into an hour's worth of lecture notes. "Either let the teacher talk or give Harry the highlights later when I can avoid you."

Remus stuck his tongue out at him for now.

The steeds coat was so white it made the surrounding snow gray in comparison. Its golden hooves were pawing nervously against the powder while it tossed its horned head at their approach.

Grubbly-Plank snapped her arm out, catching Harry in the chest before he could move closer as she instructed only the girls were to approach closer, they preferred a woman's touch.

"Sexist beasts," James pouted. "You know that can really hurt a guy's feelings."

Lily was giggling too hard into her hand to respond.

She and the girls continued forward, while Harry turned to Ron and whispered if he had any ideas where Hagrid was?

Ron began to suggest something about the skrewts

"I really don't think a skrewt could hurt him that badly," Sirius winced at the thought.

but Malfoy cut off behind them it was just him shamefully hiding his ugly mug.

"Wish you were," James snapped back.

Harry regretfully turned to demand of him, but then Malfoy handed out a newspaper.

"Oh this can't be good," Lily groaned, as it had yet to mean anything remotely that this whole book when it came to a paper.

Harry was getting a nasty feeling rearing inside him in full agreement with her, now positive this bit of paper had everything to do with Hagrid.

Harry snatched as he and all his doormats crowded around him to read the big head title: Dumbledore's Giant Mistake

"Oh no," Lily groaned at once with an already settling sense of doom.

"I am completely sure she did," James growled right back, his eyes already narrowing with hate for this.

"How does she have the right to do this?" Harry demanded. "First me, now Hagrid, we haven't done a thing to her, why's she doing this?"

"You're asking something that does not have an easy answer," Remus sighed. "I have no idea how to explain her, or the people who read this garbage which only encourages her."

"I still say Harry and Hagrid should do something about her," Sirius sniffed.

The paper began by stating Dumbledore as the eccentric title he was, and how controversial most of his teachers were,

James and Sirius already felt on edge, something spiteful ready to be shot out at a moment's notice as their minds flickered to one person in particular. If Skeeter was going to span this article over all of Dumbledore's appointments, this could end up even worse for more than Hagrid.

the most recent appointment that of ex Auror Moody, a jinx happy man who shouldn't be let around kids.

"Well that's a little harsh," Remus couldn't help a little smirk. "I'm sure he hasn't gotten that bad."

"Remember who you're hearing this from," Lily reminded, choosing not to point out that from what she'd heard so far, that had actually sounded fairly accurate.

Moody was a law abiding citizen compared to the part human in staff.

Harry could sense someone wanting to cut him off again with a string of protests for that statement, but Harry was getting a little desperate now to see what Skeeter was really going to say about his friend so pressed on.

Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year,

"I sincerely doubt he admitted that to you," Sirius grumbled under his breath.

had been gamekeeper at the school for nearly fifty years under Dumbledore employment, but last year he'd gained an upgrade as Care of Magical Creatures teacher through mysterious influences,

"Mysterious influence?" Lily raised a sharp brow. "How about how knowledgeable he is over creatures? I say that's plenty influential."

over many more qualified applicants.

Remus felt bad about it, but honestly he may have given credit to that one at least. No matter how much he liked Hagrid, he clearly wasn't particularly good at this field. That didn't mean he wouldn't be as outraged as anyone if he lost the job, Hagrid was working on it.

An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking man,

Harry muttered something foul under his breath about that.

Hagrid had been using his title to terrify his students with gruesome creatures.

"Flobberworms and hippogriffs are hardly horrific," James scoffed.

Lily's mind flickered to the idea of the skrewts, which she'd classify as fairly horrifying, but in no way wanted to give Rita a point so didn't acknowledge it.

Dumbledore had done nothing against the man despite many student complaints maiming's, and of how frightening everyone found him.

"Only one kids gotten hurt and it was his bleeding fault, Hagrid hasn't maimed anyone!" Sirius snapped in outrage at that pure fiction.

Reports of being attacked by a hippogriff,

As that was of course what Sirius had meant, Harry forced himself to keep reading slightly louder, even though he more than agreed with the others muttered insistence that was his idiotic fault.

and nasty flobberworm bites had been given by Draco Malfoy.

"Did he really just say that?" James demanded, now looking faint at the levels of idiocy. "Anyone with a brain knows that flobberworms don't have teeth!"

"Whoever agreed to have this in the paper has got to know how much bull this is," Lily agreed.

He went on to say how everyone hated Hagrid, they were just too scared to admit it.

Hagrid clearly knew about this and cared nothing about it, as recently this year he'd admitted to illegally breeding his own invention of Blast-Ended Skrewts,

"Oh Hagrid, you didn't," Remus groaned into his hands.

Lily was rubbing furiously at her forehead, her mind suddenly scrambling to try and think of a way to get him out of this mess as she offered, "well, it could be her word against his. Unless she was somehow recording the conversation verbally, she couldn't prove Hagrid said that. Honestly I don't really believe he did, she's dastardly enough to find out, well some other way."

"That's only mildly encouraging," James huffed.

highly dangerous crosses between manticores and fire-crabs.

Remus couldn't help but roll his eyes as he thought back to first hearing about these things, and not exactly pleased he'd been right in the end.

This was a highly illegal offense that should have been handled by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical creatures, but clearly Hagrid found himself above such things.

Lily opened her mouth to snap something back, considered it, then closed it and slumped back. Yeah, Hagrid should pay a fine or something for that one at least, but certainly not on account of someone as vile as Skeeter putting him in this light.

All this not enough, Skeeter had even found that Hagrid was no pure-blood like he'd claim,

"When has he ever pretended otherwise?" James snapped at once. "Not that anyone should even bother asking in the first place, but even if you did he'd have the right not to answer like he does!"

but in fact a half giant, his mother being Fridwulfa, whereabouts unknown.

"Why does she know that?" Harry's frown deepened. "I didn't even think Hagrid knew that, the way he was talking to Maxime about her."

"I, honestly have no clue," Lily's tone matched Harry's. "I suppose the Ministry might have a registry of all known giants left in Britain, whether they have locations for them or not. Skeeter could have gotten ahold of that and picked any name on the list."

"What she calls facts are so loose I'd believe that," Remus shook his head in disgust.

Creatures known for being violent that had decimated their own numbers with their wars, they were also known supporters of You-Know-Who during his reign.

Harry fidgeted uneasily with the pages, thinking that this seemed truth enough with all Ron had told him as well. He thought back to how Rita had painted him in her previous articles, and his worry increased that now people would be thinking all this stuff of Hagrid as well.

It seemed that Hagrid had inherited his mother's bloodthirsty ways.

"How on earth could she say such a thing?" Remus snarled in outrage. "Hagrid's one of the kindest people you could ever meet! I can only think of a handful of times I've ever even seen him shout at someone!"

"I don't care her reasoning," Sirius snarled. "She's going to regret them."

In a shocking twist, the man had seemed to form a friendship with the fame Boy Who Lived, could this perhaps be a plot to get closer to the boy who caused He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's downfall? Harry Potter could be dangerously unaware of his friend's heritage.

Even though Harry had really only found out less than a week after this article, it didn't change his opinion that he wouldn't have cared no matter when he found out. Hagrid could have introduced himself as such and Harry would still look at him the same way, so Skeeter suggesting otherwise only managed to grind him up father.

Dumbledore seemed to have no care of informing young Mr. Potter of these dangers.

"Dumbledore'll sooner turn on Hagrid than eat Fawkes," James snapped.

"And any students who complain to him otherwise can see the door," Sirius agreed.

Harry finished and looked up to see Ron with an open mouth, recovering enough to whisper how she'd found out?

"That's a very good question," Lily sniffed. "Hagrid's hardly spoken of this to anyone, we only know of one! Who's she been talking to to get ahold of all this?"

"You don't think Maxime did it?" Remus asked uneasily.

"I should bleeding hope not," James shot off at once. "She'd be under just as much bombardment as he is, seeing as she's the exact same thing!"

"Maybe she made a deal with Skeeter, Maxime would share all this if her name was forever left out of it," Sirius said in disgust. "Besides," he added in heavier tones, "I think that's just a little naive. It's really not that hard to work out if you do a little digging, most people just wouldn't bother to think on it. We know that Skeeter's not that kind though if she really wants to, my question is why Hagrid? What'd he do to deserve this?"

"You think it's just second hand so she could go after Dumbledore?" Remus offered. "He was mentioned just as often, his face is public enough Skeeter would always enjoy taking shots at him, and his staffing choices are a brilliant way to do so."

Harry sat there chewing on his tongue while all of this was going on around him. None of this was completely lining up with what he was feeling, something more directly involved in Rita's means to pull this off...but then he noticed that they'd mostly wound themselves down around him. Still angry as all get out and wanting to go give Skeeter a good shove up her nose with her own quill, they were now much more antsy to hear from Harry what the fallout of this would be for Hagrid, which Harry unhappily turned back to the book to oblige.

Harry though directed at Malfoy what he'd meant about how everyone hated Hagrid!

"Didn't exactly lock in on that part," Sirius rolled his eyes, "that was just Malfoy being Malfoy."

Gesturing wildly at the paper about the stupid statement of getting a flobberworm bite, they didn't have teeth!

"Which I would hope anyone with a pair of eyes reading that tosh would make them understand the level of credibility it should be given," Lily stated.

"Which is none at all," James finished.

Crabbe was laughing, clearly pleased with himself for the lie.

"I doubt he had the capacity to even come up with that on his own," Sirius snarked. "Malfoy probably spent hours coming up with that load!"

Malfoy was more than pleased with himself as he told this should put an end to Hagrid's teaching.

"What does he have against Hagrid?" Remus demanded of nothing. "He's been set on getting him fired from the beginning, and for what?"

"No, bleeding, clue," James got out through gritted teeth. Truth be told they were all well aware it was simply Malfoy seeing anyone who wasn't like him shouldn't even have the standard of living as more than a servant, but it didn't make it any less terrible to hear.

Malfoy had always thought he'd just swallowed too much skele-gro, now the parents were going to have kittens about this half-giant.

"They can all bite me!" Sirius barked.

They'd be worried about their kids being eaten.

"You'll be top of the list," James pleasantly informed.

Harry began shouting at him, but then their teacher snapped at them to pay attention.

They all startled just a bit, that paper having completely erased from their minds where Harry even was.

Grubbly-Plank was still discussing the creature, but Harry was so angry he didn't hear a word of it.

"It's good to know you don't get so easily distracted by shiny objects," Remus mumbled under his breath.

Class was dismissed, and Parvati wasted no time in stating she hoped that teacher stayed.

"Why hasn't Hermione cursed her yet?" Lily raged. "I've had almost as much reason to despise her as Malfoy lately!"

"It really does hurt that we seem to be the only ones upset on Hagrid's behalf," Harry agreed bitterly, thinking only of himself and his two friends right off the bat.

It was good to have finally gotten a proper class over something as gorgeous as a unicorn, and not monsters.

"That class has to show you all manner of creatures," Remus instantly corrected, trying to lighten his scowl like he'd correct any complaining student, "not just the pretty ones. It's not your job to like them, but to learn about them."

'Still think I could do without Hagrid introducing more of them,' Lily thought to herself.

Harry shot back at her what about Hagrid?

Parvati was unconcerned as she said he could still have his gamekeeper's job.

"That's not the point!" James shot back. "Hagrid has just as much right to that job as anyone, and he's never done something so egregious to lose it. He knows his creatures, he's just at a learning curve!"

Parvati's attitude had been very frosty towards Harry since the ball, and while Harry reflected he should have given her more attention during the night, she seemed to have had a good time without him.

"Credit that you at least acknowledged that after the fact," Lily sighed, "since I doubt you, or even Ron, apologized."

Harry gave her a blank look, it hadn't even occurred to him.

She certainly enjoyed telling anyone who would listen about her plans with a Beauxbatons boy.

"I can't even begin to pretend to care," Sirius grumped.

Hermione caught up with them in the Great Hall, going on about the good lesson,

James' temper looked ready to fire again at Hermione agreeing with Parvati, but Remus quickly cut him off, "she doesn't know about the paper yet, in fact neither of those girls did." He also couldn't help but rebuke Lily, "Give Hermione a chance."

saying how she hadn't learned half of that lesson yet,

"Now that I find hard to believe," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I'm not shocked," James shrugged, "she spends more of her time studying spells than creatures. Can't expect Hermione to know everything."

Harry cut her off by shoving the paper under her nose.

Hermione reacted like Ron, demanding to know how she'd found out about this?

Harry had no clue, as he'd never told anyone. He guessed that she'd been mad about Hagrid not spilling beans on Harry so went looking for some on him.

Lily's mouth flopped open at the idea while James began steaming at once. "That's the pettiest reason in existence for doing this!"

"Can't pretend I'm surprised if you're right though," Remus groaned as he fidgeted with the baby in his lap to keep him entertained during this unpleasant mood.

Hermione offered Skeeter could have heard when Hagrid had been talking to Maxime.

Something was going off in the back of Harry's head as he heard that, absolutely confident Hermione was right and waiting for Ron to agree he may have picked her out.

Ron said they would have noticed her.

"I don't know," Sirius shook his head, "that garden was a slew of loose conversations that shouldn't have been overheard. I can imagine Skeeter getting away with some charms and blending in to even sneak up on a few."

Then Ron added on that she wasn't even supposed to be there that night, Dumbledore had banned her from the grounds.

"That's yet to stop her," James snorted.

Harry offered that she might have her own Invisibility Cloak,

"Perish the thought," Remus crinkled his nose in distaste of what all she could do with a thing like that. Even a cheap one could cause problems.

how she'd use it to spy on people's conversations.

Hermione pointed out that the two of them had done that.

"That was an accident," Harry muttered to himself while he saw them all try to stifle just a bit of laughter for Hermione being right on that one.

Ron blustered that had been an accident! What was Hagrid been thinking, saying all that stuff out in the open for anyone to hear?

"Well Ron is kind of right on that one," Sirius sighed. "Hagrid should have had that in his cabin or something, less chances of what happened, well, happening."

"Nobody should have been listening in in the first place," Lily shot back. "Anyone should be perfectly entitled to have a conversation wherever they want without being listened in on."

"Yeah, but the more private ones, I mean you really don't want to risk having those walked in on for any reason," James shook his head, as he thought back to all the times they'd practiced their animagus training in the Shrieking Shack for this very reason.*

Harry decided they'd go see him after their Divination class, tell him he had to come back.

"Oh, this can't be the reason Hagrid's hiding in his cabin!" Lily yelped. "I'm still convinced he must be sick on top of this, there's no way he'd..." but she trailed off miserably as they all realized that yes, Hagrid could very well be trying to hide himself away after seeing this. The idea of him losing his job because of something like this would be devastating to him.

"Is he not even going to try and fight back," Sirius pouted. "Keep going to classes until someone tries to forcefully remove him, that would be a sight."

"I'm worried that could only cause more harm than good," James sighed.

Remus was keeping himself quite for this bit at least, still hoping his name wouldn't come up amongst his friends for this paralleled problem.

When Hermione didn't immediately agree, Harry demanded of her that she did want him back.

Hermione held herself stiffly for a moment, stating she wouldn't deny having enjoyed a proper class for once,

Lily shook her head sadly, honestly feeling a bit on Hermione's side for that one. The only proper lesson Hagrid could really claim was the Hippogriffs, which had ended in disaster, and those fire-salamanders. Of course she'd have a temper if anyone tried to remove Hagrid from his position, but well, perhaps Hagrid should consider asking for some advice from Grubbly-Plank.

but hastily tacked on of course she preferred Hagrid at Harry's furious look.

"That's the least she should have gotten," James muttered bitterly, "I'd have started shouting at her."

That evening after dinner,

"I think I'm actually disappointed to have missed that evenings Divination lesson," Remus huffed under his breath, "they're usually good for a laugh."

"Not this time," Lily agreed just as quietly back.

they did indeed head down and knocked on their friend's door, but though they could hear Fang begging to come out, no one answered.

"Maybe he's out on the grounds doing his Gamekeeping as well," Sirius offered without hope. "He doesn't always take Fang to do that."

"Why would he be doing that and not his teaching?" James sighed, "He's either sick or avoiding people, and this doesn't account for both."

"Well I would hope he wouldn't be ignoring them," Lily's lower lip was starting to jut out in the start of a pout. "He must know Harry doesn't care."

They waited for at least ten minutes, Ron even trying by knocking on a few windows, but then they trudged back to the castle, Hermione demanding what he was avoiding them for? Hagrid must know they didn't care.

It seemed that Hagrid did care, as there wasn't a trace of him that whole week, and they kept with their substitute.

They were all starting to get very antsy now. Hogwarts without Hagrid just wasn't picturable.

Malfoy was gloating at every possible opportunity,

"Of course he was!" Sirius broke and shouted that very loudly. "Because we can't just go one bleeding instance without hearing his opinion about it!"

Harry was rubbing absently at his ear and Remus was having to comfort a now fussy child at the outburst, but no one really looked angry, they were all at their breaking point between the stress of the Tournament and now this. Malfoy just kept managing to push every one of their buttons.

saying such things as how Harry was the only one missing the elephant man.

Harry looked as tense and ready to snap at a moment's notice right along with his godfather if this kept up.

"You know," Remus sighed, feeling tense and snappy at having to deal with a wailing child just days after a full moon managing to give him the beginnings of a headache, caught Harry's expression and scolded both him and Sirius. "Just once I'd like to see you lot walk away from a fight. Not everything needs to end in threats."

"Hark, look who's talking," Sirius began grinning at him at once.

Remus looked more than happy to back down, looking pleadingly at the book to keep going to avoid whatever tale Sirius was fixing to share, but it was Lily who said, "No, no, I want to hear this." While reaching out and taking the baby away. Remus now let his head hang as he realized he wasn't getting out of his mouth's timing and instead began fingering his wand like he wanted to sew his lips together in preparation.

Remus sighed and slouched back into the couch, while Sirius had already began without prompting. "Well the first thing that came to my mind was this day before a full moon. Despite everyone protesting however, Moony here decides he's going to go spend a normal day in the school like everyone else, exams were less than a week away and he refused to miss out on classes." Sirius paused to give Remus a winning smile, who was already groaning and grumbling under his breath how much he hated his friends for bringing this up.

"Well by the time potions rolled around," James picked up when Sirius hesitated to long, "we'd almost convinced him to skiv that class and take a nap, we were all going to honestly, since, well since the three of us never liked that class much." By this time, he'd almost grown used to that odd cold spot that lived in his chest for having to revert that story a bit, but for the first time it in no way dampened what he was telling.

Whether Remus noticed this, or just decided to get the worst over, he finished for them, "James got me to agree just as Snape was walking past, so of course the only thing he heard was me agreeing with Prongs it was a good idea to skip class and take a nap. He called me the Marauders yes man," he finished with an ugly scowl.

"Now Moony's a grumpy little thing on his best days before the full moon," Sirius chirped when his friend seemed to want to end the story there, but Harry should know all of these details. "So before either of us could even finish blinking, Remus spun on the spot and cursed him-"

"-In front of a crowded corridor-" James tacked in.

"-which caused old Snivellus' tongue to get stuck to the roof of his mouth. It was nice having the silence for a few moments until Madam Pomfrey got him fixed." Sirius finished with the air of one finishing an epic tale.

Harry couldn't help it, and didn't really try to stop it, as he started laughing at the lovely mental image. Even Lily joined in after a moment, giggling like crazy, even if it was a tad righteous considering her ever growing hatred of him of late.

"You two paint me in such a bad light," Remus told them all tragically, though the lingering smile on his face showed no real way to contrast what his tone tried to show. "I was an angel, all the teachers said so."

"They just caught you the least," James waved him off with a crazy smile still in place, his face turning an ugly puce color for a moment before he told Harry, "ah, someone else took the fall for that, so Moony never got in trouble. Don't let him fool you though, he's just as bad as us."

Harry gave him an easy smile, it wasn't hard to guess who had been blamed judging by his dad's expression, but this had finally dragged on long enough he decided he wanted to get back to the book and see how this had played out.

There was a Hogsmeade visit halfway through January.

"Are you really telling me you didn't retaliate to any of that stuff?" Lily demanded.

"I really tried not to if I could help it," Harry muttered with regret. He'd had enough practice by now trying to avoid all things Malfoy, but it wasn't always easy.

Hermione was very surprised that Harry was going,

"Why wouldn't you?" James yelped.

"Why does Hermione seem to have a constant disagreement with you always going," Sirius rolled his eyes.

as she reminded the silent common room could help him figure out that egg.

"I doubt the level of quiet actually helps anything," Remus snorted.

Harry lied on the spot he didn't need it, he'd almost worked that egg out.

"I can't even blame you lying to her," Lily sighed, "she acts more like your mother than your friend most days."

"That's rich coming from you," Sirius told her, which she happily ignored.

Harry felt guilty as she praised him for doing so, but consoled himself he still had five weeks to really work it out, and that was plenty of time.

"Oh please don't keep thinking like that though," Lily groaned reproachfully. "That deadline will creep right up on you."

Harry tried, and failed, to look innocent of this most likely happening, leaving them all just that little more stressed than they were before, and they hadn't even be aware that was possible.

Yet if he went to Hogsmeade, he might have a chance of running into Hagrid.

"I don't see Hagrid in a Three Broomsticks mood," James disagreed.

"Maybe more like his own private storage in his hut," Sirius sighed.

They passed the Durmstrang ship on the way to the gates, and noticed Viktor Krum had decided to spend his day in swimming trunks on the deck of his ship.

"Is he mad?" Remus yelped, goosebumps erupting on his skin at the thought.

"He did say it was colder where he came from," Sirius shrugged without remorse. "If he thinks he can handle it without freezing to death, that's his problem."

"You're just so caring of everyone," Lily tisked at him.

Harry hardly noticed them, his mind puzzling why on earth he should think it a good idea to maybe pay more attention to that lake...

His slim body showed as he climbed onto the side, and dived right in.

"He's mad!" James still balked at the idea.

Harry stated he was mad as his head came to the surface.

Sirius was shaking himself vigorously at the idea as well, but was aware enough to smirk at the mimicking pair.

Hermione pointed out it was colder where he was from, this might be warm to him.

"Warm is putting it strongly," Lily shivered, wrapping her baby's blanket just a smidge tighter around him.

Ron voiced that there was still the squid to think about, though he sounded more hopeful than anything.

Causing a collective snort of laughter from all even if it was an empty threat.

Hermione noticed the tone and frowned at him, saying he really was nice, and he actually liked Hogwarts better, he'd told her so.

"Not what I'd go bragging to him about," Remus shook his head, now wondering if Hermione was either trying to, poorly, make him jealous, or actually being as ignorant as Ron about what the two of them were really dancing about.

Ron did not respond. He really seemed to not be trying to start a row with Hermione, but that hadn't stopped Harry finding a miniature plastic arm under his bed the other day wearing Bulgarian Quidditch robes.

"Now what on earth would have you making that connection?" Sirius asked redundantly.

Harry kept his eyes scanning through every shop window they passed, until finally he suggested they try the Three Broomsticks.

"He's not exactly hard to miss, even bending over something," James shook his head. "I'm sure a quick sweep would have done the job."

Harry didn't respond, he'd still been holding out hope that his eyes had been deceiving him.

The pub was as crowded as ever, but one quick sweep proved that Hagrid wasn't here either. Harry slumped his way up to the bar, feeling he may as well have stayed behind and listened to that egg wailing after all.

"I'm surprised you haven't at least tried putting water into the egg or something," Remus tried to offer when he saw how gloomy they all were getting, and at least the egg was a better problem to focus on than Hagrid. "Cedric's tip was odd, but soap and water were clearly heavy hints."

"And give him the satisfaction that he'd both asked out Harry's date, and helped Harry with this," Sirius shot back with a frown.

"Don't curse your nose to spite your face," Lily shrugged, on Remus with that one.

Harry muttered something indistinct about how unhelpful this all was.

Hermione caught sight of Ludo Bagman though, grumbling if he was ever in his office?

"I suppose it is odd to see him out of his office so much," James arched a brow, "tournament aside."

"He's allowed to have social visits, not all Ministry employees are Percy's," Remus said.

He was sitting in a shadowed corner with goblins.

"That's not a social visit," Sirius pointed out.

"Well it could be," Lily backed Remus up just for the joy of annoying the other two. "He could have goblin friends." She knew as well as them that goblins didn't have wizard friends, the two rarely interacted outside of contracts and deals, so this was indeed an odd sight.

Bagman seemed strained in the faint lighting as he spoke to the three, who all had arms crossed and looked menacing in the shade. Harry reflected it was very odd to see this outside of an event, he hadn't seen Bagman looking so tense since the night of the Dark Mark incident.

"I remember all that," Sirius nodded along. "You think he ever got his money back from whoever stole it?"

"If not, maybe that's what he's talking to them about," Remus cocked his head to the side. "Explaining what happened. Maybe they have some way to track down who robbed him."

"Wouldn't surprise me," James shrugged, "even if they don't work for Gringotts, goblins have this eerie way of tracking down gold."

Bagman seemed to notice Harry then, and quickly excused himself to come have a word, that boyish face coming back at once.

Whatever curiosity they held for his situation though vanished in that instant. They felt bad for his troubles, but his continuing to chat up Harry like this still managed to rankle them every time.

He called a pleasant greeting to Harry, saying how he'd been hoping to run into him.

"Really? Been hoping the exact opposite," Sirius grumbled, wondering when he'd grown to dislike the mention of both the Quidditch stars running around Hogwarts.

Then he asked Harry for a private word, asking Ron and Hermione to scoot along.

"What's he up to now?" James demanded, thinking that if he had to listen to anyone else giving Harry paternal advice lately he'd really lose his temper.

The two agreed, grabbed their drinks, and went for a table. Bagman led Harry into the opposite corner as far away from everyone as he started by congratulating Harry. He thanked him, but kept silent and waited for the real reason of this, as he could have done this in front of his friends.

"It's nice of him to at least start polite," Lily rolled her eyes.

Bagman seemed in no hurry to get to the point, his eyes occasionally flickering back to his goblin guests.

"What would he be nervous about them for?" Remus asked in surprise. "He's supposed to be asking for their help?"

"Search me," Lily shrugged.

Bagman noticed Harry staring at them as well, and Bagman explained that it was a nightmare trying to communicate with them as they only spoke Gobbledegook, and as he only knew one word that meant pickaxe, it was hard pressed to be talking.

"Okay, then you should have brought a translator," Sirius rolled his eyes at the absurdities this guy kept pretending was explaining.

Harry asked what they were doing then, and Bagman quickly gave a nervous laugh before saying they were looking for Crouch.

Harry only had a moment for his gut to wrench, informing him that was a flat out lie, before a quick shot of pain in his head reminded him quickly to let it go.

"Why would goblins be looking for him?" Remus questioned with a deep frown.

Lily tried to work out, "I guess I can kind of see how they'd be looking for the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, there are foreign goblins after all, but what are they asking Bagman for? They should be up at the Ministry asking all of this."

"Got me," James grumbled, more than happy to move this along.

Harry asked why they were here then, shouldn't they be at the Ministry?

Bagman uneasily answered that he actually didn't know where he was.

"That's not even that surprising," Sirius snorted, "I don't think I'd call them friends."

No one did, he'd stopped coming to work.

"Wait, what?" All five of them yelped in surprise. Even Harry, who knew the least about Crouch, found this mind boggling.

"Did he die?" Lily managed to splutter out first. "That is the only explanation I can fathom for this."

"Bagman wouldn't be talking like this if so," Remus countered, his mind spinning to try and think about this mess.

"What is with the Ministry lately?" Sirius scathed. "Can't seem to find one department that hasn't wanted to make me burn the building down lately."

"At least make sure Mr. Weasley's not there," Harry shrugged much to Sirius' amusement and agreement.

He'd been gone for weeks now, his assistant Percy had been running things and telling everyone Crouch was ill.

"I'm really starting to think that you might be onto it Lily," James couldn't help but frown. "Unless Crouch has had something really big happen to him, this is the only way to explain what's up with the Crouch I know." It wasn't a particularly pleasant thought for any, but nobody argued it.

He'd only been sending in notes lately, but then Bagman quickly tacked on not for Harry to go mentioning that. Didn't want Skeeter finding out, or she'd turn it into another Bertha Jorkins story.

"And there was a time I praised that journalism and the Ministry never mixed," Lily snorted, Merlin knew Bagman was right in that instance.

Harry asked if there was any news on her, and Bagman said no, though he had people looking.

"Of course," Remus rolled his eyes, "like of course you should have months ago."

They were all feeling rather fidgety at the reminder that a body would never be found.

Harry privately thought it was about time as Bagman explained how odd it was. There were confirmed reports from her family that she had arrived in Albania, but on route to visit another person she'd vanished.

Sirius was starting to chew on his own tongue to convince himself not to start the speil of diatribe he wanted to launch because of what that vile rat had done.

They'd yet to find an explanation, as she wasn't the type to elope.

"At least that's a kind explanation," James hissed.

Then Bagman came back to himself, demanding what they were doing talking about all this nonsense.

"Agreed," Lily couldn't help but huff, "quit being a walking distraction every time you appear."

Bagman instead asked how Harry's egg was coming.

"Oh, this again," Sirius' brows shot up in surprise.

"I can't pretend I don't find it sweet he's helping you," Lily frowned, "but I still can't figure out why?"

"Playing favoritism to the Boy Who Lived?" Harry offered bitterly, though somehow even saying it out loud didn't feel right.

Harry lied again and said he was doing fine.

"Can't fault you for lying to him though," James smirked.

Bagman seemed to guess that wasn't the truth, as he lowered his voice and said he'd taken a liking to Harry, since he hadn't volunteered for any of this.

"Thank you for the reminder," Remus said stiffly.

"Where was this attitude at the ball?" James snapped, "You seemed to find it plenty of fun then."

His voice kept lowering all the time until Harry was reading his lips,

"Well he is technically cheating doing this," Sirius shrugged, "but he couldn't have found a better place to do it."

that all Harry had to do was say the word and Bagman would drop some hints.

Harry worded his answer carefully into a question, that he was supposed to be doing this alone,

"Why are you turning him down?" Lily asked in surprise. Honestly she wouldn't even blame him if he did accept the help, Harry shouldn't have been in this stupid tournament anyways, so anything and anyone he could use to survive it wouldn't be pestered by her.

"I saw him as trying to cheat too much, it just felt different than anything before," Harry shrugged, trying to understand this feeling he had about the old Quidditch player who'd been nothing but kind to him.

so as not to accuse the head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports of breaking the rules.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Remus agreed, his pessimistic mind starting to wonder if this was some part of the tournament and Harry was being set up.

Bagman agreed that was the case, but no one could deny they wanted a Hogwarts victory.

Harry asked if Cedric had been offered help. Bagman's face flickered for a moment before he admitted he hadn't.

"Probably lying," Remus offered, then explained what he was thinking.

"Wouldn't put it past them," James agreed at once, "that's pretty tricky."

"I've never heard of anything like that in the previous tournaments," Lily cocked her head to the side as she thought it through.

"Maybe no one's ever fallen for it, so no one's ever recorded it," Sirius smirked.

Harry diverted by promising he didn't need any advice, he pretty much had it all figured out. He wasn't entirely sure of himself why he was turning down the help, but somehow asking from Bagman felt different than asking of his friends or Sirius.

"Glad I'm above him on the list," Sirius sniffed.

Before Bagman could keep trying, the twins appeared, offering to buy him a drink.

"Oh good," James brightened. "This always turns out fun when they're around."

Bagman looked disappointedly at Harry as he turned down the red heads.

"Aww, why not," Remus pouted. "I really wish we'd get to hear more about them and their joke shop already."

Fred and George looked quite as disappointed as Bagman, who was surveying Harry as though he had let him down.

"He must be a really good actor," Lily shook her head at him, agreeing with the boys he was better spending his time helping out the twins than Harry.

He excused himself from the lot of them, slipping out of the pub, when the goblins hastily followed.

"I thought he was trying to explain to them about Crouch?" James did a double take. "What's he ditching them for?" Looking quite as affronted as those goblins probably did.

"That man seems to have no mind," Sirius rolled his eyes, wondering if one to many bludgers had erased his memory of everything lately.

Harry went back to his friends and explained what happened, and Hermione was shocked at the news. Then pointed out Harry didn't even need the offer, because he said he'd figure it out already.

Harry uneasily agreed.

"You keep telling yourself that Harry," Remus snorted, "I'm sure saying it will get the job done."

Harry stuck his tongue out at him.

Hermione switched back to disapproving of Bagman, saying Dumbledore wouldn't like to hear about this cheating going on.

"I still think our idea's better," Sirius said with just a tad of pompousness in his voice no one could miss.

"It was my idea," Remus tried to correct him with a fond smile.

"Making it our idea by default," Sirius countered at once. "You know you get your best ideas just by being around us."

"Why do we put up with him again?" Lily asked the baby in her lap, who merely babbled as answer.

Then she hoped he was at least doing the same for Cedric, which Harry corrected Bagman had denied. Ron scoffed and said who cared about Diggory anyways, which Harry did agree with.

"Sounds like he doesn't need it on this task," James quietly muttered to himself.

Hermione switched to talking about those Goblins, and Harry explained what Bagman had told him.

Ron's first comment was to say Percy was poisoning his boss,

Five collective snorts of laughter were given for Ron's wit, or at least what they hoped was a joke.

as he probably thought if Crouch croaked he'd get the job.

"He'd be the youngest ever," Lily couldn't help but point out, "it's one step closer to what he's really aiming for."

"Don't encourage him," James scolded.

Hermione gave Ron a don't-joke-about-things-like-that look,

"Why do you have names for all of these looks?" Sirius demanded between cackles. "How often do you get them?"

"I made a chart once," Harry told him with an innocent enough smirk, "but she burned it and made me swear not to say."

"Well she's not here now," James pleaded.

Harry shook his head adamantly though, insisting, "oh no, I'm not doing anything to get on Hermione's bad side."

and instead said those goblins were still odd, shouldn't they be talking to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures rather than Crouch anyways.

"Also true," Lily agreed, "I guess the two departments might be delegating, with someone so young at the helm or-"

"Lily," James cut off his wife, "I have begged you not to try and get into office politics with me unless it's Harry's nap time."

Remus gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, he'd received that comment a few times in his life as well.

Harry reminded how many languages Crouch knew, maybe they were looking for an interpreter.

"He is not the only interpreter in that Ministry," Sirius adamantly shook his head, "I cannot be wrong about that."

Ron tried to laugh her off, asking why she was so worked up over the poor 'ickle goblins now? Was she going to start another group named S. P. U. G.? Society for the Protection of Ugly Goblins?

"While a little on the nose," Remus got out through some chortling.

"Credit to Ron for thinking of them," James finished easily.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, saying goblins didn't need anyone's help, weren't they listening in Binns class about goblin rebellions?

"Did she really just ask that with a straight face?" Lily demanded, "I've never met anyone besides her who would answer other than no."

"You know it's true when Lily agrees with us," Sirius nodded along.

Harry and Ron said no together.

"That about covers the whole school's answer right there," James snorted.

Hermione answered that they were very clever and more than capable of standing up for themselves, unlike house-elves.

Ron was no longer listening, but watching the door and interrupted to say uh-oh.

"I can imagine Ron said that often when he realized he got her into a tangent," Remus sighed, now watching Sirius and Lily uneasily as he hoped those two fighting wouldn't cause another eruption in here.

Rita Skeeter had just entered.

"That is much more cause for uh-oh," Lily puffed up at once, several things on the tip of her tongue she couldn't wait to throw at that person for doing this to first her son, then Hagrid!

She came in already chatting with her photographer, bought drinks, and went searching for a seat with the trio glaring all the way.

"You are much kinder than any of us," James snarled, "I'd have booby trapped her chair before she even knew which one she'd be picking."

"I'd pay money to see it," Lily happily agreed.

She was talking fast and looking very satisfied about something,

"Ruined somebody else's life already has she?" Sirius got out through gritted teeth.

which seemed to be why someone didn't want to talk to her?

"I cannot think of a single reason," Remus stated with transparent sarcasm.

What had he been doing with those goblins?

"Waiting for you to ask obviously," Sirius sneered.

Showing them the sights, how ridiculous that was.

"Hark, there's some blessed irony, watching her get lied to," Lily scathed. Admittedly she didn't particularly like Bagman, but he was much lower on her list than Skeeter.

Skeeter was already saying how she should try doing some digging on him, coming up with a snappy title on the spot, but needing a story to come along.

"She comes up with those titles before she even-" James sputtered off when he realized how absurd it was to be criticizing this excuse for a writer.

Harry loudly shouted that she was already set on ruining someone else's life.

"Oh Harry," Lily groaned. "Are you trying to start trouble now?"

"He's a bit of a late bloomer," Sirius couldn't help but grin, "but I'm willing to encourage this behavior, especially towards people like her."

"I wasn't going to be able to leave without saying something to her for what she did to Hagrid," Harry snapped at no one in here.

This caught Skeeter's attention at once, beaming at the sight of Harry as she asked him to join her.

"She, cannot, actually be, that, oblivious," Remus gaped at the idea that she was still putting on pleasantries around him!

Harry snapped back he wouldn't come near her with a ten-foot broomstick.

"Never get tired of your word choices," James praised.

Demanding what she'd gone and done that to Hagrid for?

"Because she got off topic of you for five seconds and needed someone else to harass," Remus sneered.

Skeeter raised a penciled brow at him, stating people had a right to that truth.

"Not at the expense of a good man's job," Lily spat back.

Harry shouted back no one cared that he was half-giant!

The whole pub had gone silent by now, Rosmerta didn't even seem to notice the drink she was pouring was overflowing.

"You know it's got to be dramatic for her not to be stepping in," Sirius shook his head.

Skeeter recovered quick enough, digging in her bag for her Quill and asking Harry if he'd like to give an exclusive piece then, on the Hagrid he knew.

"No, I mean it," Remus insisted like he was sure he was talking to a dummy. "She cannot actually think he'd still give her a breadcrumb, let alone-"

"She's either the most oblivious person in the world," Sirius shook his head in disgust.

"Or the most heartless for it not even registering," James finished.

"I choose the second," Lily sniffed.

He could give details of their unlikely friendship, how he may even be a father substitute?

James nearly snapped at that one. He was sick and tired of every single male being compared to him as of late when Harry had never even met him! Glory his son was technically the same age as him now meeting him for the first time! Sirius he'd hold back, Bagman was inconsequential and more mildly annoying, but Hagrid actually had been there for some of Harry's most important firsts! Hogwarts letter, Diagon Alley, even his first Quidditch game, and it wasn't bleeding fair. The only thing actually stopping him was that it wasn't Harry who'd thought it, just Skeeter spurting off some more. Still, it wasn't making him feel much better when he glanced at Harry and saw that he wasn't exactly looking to deny the comparison, he was too busy still glaring at nothing that he wished was Skeeter herself.

Hermione stood up, her butterbeer clutched in her hand as though it were a grenade.

"There's a pleasant thought," Sirius chuckled low in his throat, trying to help his best mate move past these constant pangs that must be breaking his heart. James didn't seem to hear him.

Shouting at Skeeter that she'd just do anything for a story.

Rita snapped at Hermione she was being a silly little girl,

"Silly little girl?" Lily raised an imperious brow. "She has no idea who she's talking to."

"I can't wait for her to find out," Sirius said with a wolfish grin.

and not to talk about these things.

"Not surprised," Remus scoffed, "of course she'd treat Hermione like dirt, she's not a name."

Skeeter knew things about Hermione that would make her hair curl.

"Then why don't you publish your article and be done with it," James rolled his eyes, clearly thinking he was calling her bluff.

Hermione did not respond, instead marching out with Ron and Hermione at her heels.

Harry glanced back long enough to see the green Quick-Quotes Quill already on the move.

"What on earth is it even recording?" Lily demanded of nothing.

"Nothing good," Remus shook his head, thinking Hermione had just picked quite a fight.

Ron warned her Hermione would now be her next victim.

"I really can't see Skeeter writing anything Hermione would care about," James sneered. "She's proven at every turn she doesn't let other people's mocking get to her."

"The only times she's snapped is when someone insulted her intelligence, or friends," Sirius nodded along, that predatory smile still dominant. "Skeeter's done both. Can't wait to see what Hermione pays her back with."

Hermione was not concerned, but instead shaking with rage as she screamed about that woman going first after Harry, than Hagrid.

"I will genuinely pay Hermione to assist with this in any and all ways," Remus cackled at the promise of this.

"Another reason you should have stuck around," Lily snarked at him under her breath. He gave her a hurt look for the shot, but wasn't going to start that argument again.

Ron said he was serious,

"There's a good idea," Sirius snapped his fingers with pleasure. "Get me involved, I need something to do with my free time, this will bring back some good memories."

"As if you aren't involved in enough," Lily scolded him at once.

Hermione could get herself into trouble.

Hermione didn't think a thing of it, saying that Prophet couldn't scare her into hiding! She was walking so fast the boys were practically jogging to keep up. Harry hadn't seen her this mad since she'd slapped Malfoy.

"I thank you for that treasured memory," James beamed. They were all still angry at Rita of course, but Hermione's reaction was pure gold to anything they could have done, or in this case were incapable of doing, so cheering her on felt best.

She went on to say Hagrid wasn't going to be hiding from her anymore, he never should have let that waste of a human do this to him!

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Lily's smile stretched so wide, she couldn't have been prouder.

She broke into a run then, back onto the school grounds, and stormed up to Hagrid's house, yelling his name and pounding on his door.

"That'll give him a start," Sirius stated ruefully, "he might even come bursting out thinking you're in trouble with that."

"Whatever gets him out," Harry shrugged without remorse.

She only got a bit of yelling in about how that foul Skeeter woman shouldn't have been able to do this to him, and to get outside, he was being- but was cut off by the door opening via Dumbledore.

Harry read that with such an astounded look that quickly flushed in embarrassment, that alone would have caused their laughter, but the thought of the headmaster getting the pleasure of hearing all of that through Hermione's screeches had already caused them all to burst. It only subsided as quick as it did, and Harry quickly kept going, so they could hear the rest of this.

He pleasantly greeted them with a good afternoon.

"Well it sort of was, there for a moment," James shook his head.

Hermione's voice was now contrast in the face of him, as small as could go as she said they'd wanted to see Hagrid.

Dumbledore's eyes were still twinkling as he stated he'd gathered that.

"So glad he could take a hint," Remus got out around his chuckles.

Then he invited them inside.

"Well it'd be rather embarrassing to turn back now," Lily smirked.

The moment they stepped over the threshold, Fang bombarded them and Harry had to ward off the boarhound. Then he spotted Hagrid slumped over the table. He'd clearly been crying, and his hair was at the other extreme, so unkempt it looked like tangles of wire.

"Actually I thought it always looked like that," Sirius snorted.

"Shut it Padfoot," James quickly shushed.

Harry greeted him, but Hagrid only gave a hoarse hello back.

Dumbledore instructed they all needed more tea, and a wave of his wand made a tray appear along with a few miniature cakes.

Harry couldn't stop his mind floundering for a moment as he really wanted to ask about this display of magic creating all of that into existence, but then he remembered his first trip to the kitchens and how the house-elves had a set up just like this, and Dumbledore had probably summoned that in his own way.

They all took seats at the table before Dumbledore asked Hagrid if he'd heard what Hermione had been shouting.

"I'm sure Trelawney heard what she was saying," Remus gave a toothy grin.

Hermione went pink with embarrassment, but Dumbledore continued that these three proved what he'd been saying, they still wanted to know him, judging by their actions to break down the door.

"Well that's going a bit far," Lily shook her head fondly, "more like dent it for now."

"Though I'm sure if he hadn't let them in, it could have escalated," James sighed with longing at how that could have turned out.

Harry blurted that of course they did! How could he let that Skeeter cow, though quickly corrected himself and apologized to his headmaster.

"I hardly find that the foulest insult you could have used," Sirius snorted.

Dumbledore simply stated he may have gone temporarily deaf and hadn't the faintest clue what Harry said, now watching the ceiling and twiddling his thumbs.

"Oh I missed this," Remus gave a breathy laugh and tried to speak all at once. None of them had even begun to forget what he'd done to Sirius, and possibly even Remus and Harry, but at least there was still the man sitting there. The true leader of the Order, the man who would stick by his friend's side no matter what and offer whatever comfort he could. He may have abandoned Sirius when he needed him most, but even now he was slightly making up for that as far as Sirius was concerned by sticking with Hagrid, and clearly still Remus on some level.

Harry went back to talking to Hagrid, saying that Hagrid shouldn't that, well that woman

"Nice catch," James winked at Harry.

get to him.

Dumbledore stated Harry was living proof of what he'd been trying to convince Hagrid of. Dumbledore had already shown Hagrid letters of previous students of his who threatened mayhem if Dumbledore did anything against Hagrid.

That still managed to increase their smiles to another degree. Hagrid had been gamekeeper for countless generations, and an apprentice to the job even before that. He'd never harmed a soul and in fact had been an honest comfort to anyone and everyone with just the tiniest offer. This in fact managed to give Sirius and James a conspiratorial look at each other, now fully intending to throw in Remus' face later when they had a better chance that the same would be spoken true of him if it had ever gone this far, not that Remus had stuck around to find out.

Lily's heart did manage a painful twang though, as she realized that she wasn't one of those to have sent such a thing, it was never a pleasant reminder.

Hagrid still sniffled that not everyone would feel the same.

"He can't honestly expect universal popularity?" Sirius raised a staunch brow, his tone carrying as much, "and even if he didn't have that much support, it should be the real ones who matter like Harry."

"Um, thanks," Harry muttered, feeling bashful at the unexpected praise and quickly reading to cover it.

Dumbledore gently scolded that if Hagrid expected everyone in the world to like him, he'd be in this cabin forever.

Lily gave a soft sigh and yet couldn't stop a smile. Happy as she was to see Dumbledore acting the way she'd always known him to again, even his wisdom filled words now weren't making his past crimes against her son feel much better.

Explaining that he hadn't his position at school for a week before he got letters of complaint. What was he to do? Barricade himself away?

"That would have been a sight," James rolled his eyes.

Hagrid reminded none of them were half-giant.

Harry snapped back that he still had some unpleasant relatives, look at the Dursleys.

"Best point you could have made," Lily griped.

Dumbledore agreed on that point, reminding of his own brother Aberforth,

"Where have I heard that name before?" James asked with his head cocked to the side.

"Err, isn't that the guy from the Hog's Head?" Sirius asked as he raked his brain.

"That smelly old guy?" Remus scoffed, "probably a name coincidence, there's no way it's the same person."

who had been prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat.

Harry spluttered in shock at that, something very hard trying to smack his memory into thinking of something, but the others thought it was suppressed laughter at such a tale, so Harry was instantly distracted by Remus saying, "before our time, only ever heard rumors about that."

"I didn't even know Dumbledore had a brother," Lily said in surprise, then she went cross eyed as she realized, "err, Albus, because his brother would be called that too, oh you know what I meant."

Harry felt disappointed that they clearly didn't know more about Dumbledore's brother, but didn't press them for more.

That had been all over the papers, but Aberforth had never acted differently. Well, then again Dumbledore wasn't certain his brother could read, so that may not have been bravery...

This time Harry couldn't help but laugh a small bit along with the others, Harry still eagerly pushing for any details, "so you've never heard anything about Dumbledore's siblings?"

"We've only heard gossip about a brother," James said in surprise, "think my parents mentioned it once as a joke, I wasn't even sure that was true. I doubt he has even more."

Harry slumped back in disappointment, his mind clearly unwilling to let this one go though. Still, the headache won in the end and he forced himself to keep going.

Hermione put herself in then, begging Hagrid to please come back.

Hagrid let a few more tears trickle out but didn't answer.

Dumbledore took to his feet and made his answer for Hagrid, saying he refused his resignation.

"Oh Merlin, he actually tried to quit," Sirius pouted.

"Thank goodness Dumbledore doesn't let all of the best teachers walk out," James said with an obvious look at his favorite teacher, who was clearly ignoring both his friends.

Dumbledore expected him back to his regular schedule Monday, no excuses. He bid them all good evening, and then left.

Hagrid still couldn't help crying a bit, in between stating what a great man Dumbledore was.

Ron absently agreed as he asked for a cake?

"And there's Ron keeping us on point," Remus snorted to try and bring his own amusement up.

Hagrid happily pushed the tray towards him, brushing at his eyes and admitting he'd been an idiot. His dad would have been ashamed of him. Then he realized he'd never showed them a picture.

Lily couldn't help but coo with sadness for the poor dear, but at least he was finally starting to look up.

Hagrid got up and went rummaging through a drawer coming back with a photo of a much younger Hagrid standing next to a man with the same eyes, beaming with pride. Hagrid was already a good eight feet tall in the photo judging by the tree,

"Merlin, can you imagine sharing a dorm with him," Sirius shook his head. "He'd take up all the beds."

"You know what house he was in?" Harry asked curiously.

"Gryffindor," Remus shrugged, "about the only thing he'd ever share about his time at Hogwarts."

but judging by his face, hardly eleven. Hagrid explained this had been taken just after he got his letter, his dad had been so proud, as he wasn't sure if he'd be a wizard because of his mother.

"If one of your parents is magic, then you are going to be a wizard," Lily said stiffly. "It is only in extremely rare cases otherwise. I wish wizards would understand that."

"Good luck getting it through so many thick skulls," James grumbled.

Sadly he hadn't lived long after this was taken, he'd died in Hagrid's second year, before he was expelled.

Lily's frostiness at persons unknown melted at once as she wanted to go right back to comforting Hagrid for that travesty.

Dumbledore had taken care of him after that, got him this job. He was always willing to give anyone a second chance.

Sirius felt himself give a horrible little twitch, now a little bug forever going off in the back of his mind why he'd been left out of that when it seemed to be true for every other person, bloody hell the man trusted a Death Eater more than him apparently.

He'd let anyone join Hogwarts,

Remus couldn't help but flush happily as he smiled at the reminder, his mind still boggled some days even after he'd spent seven years there that he'd gotten the experience.

as long as they were magical. He knew all you had to do was give them a chance no matter their families. Some people didn't understand that, they'd hold your heritage against you, or pretend like nothing was wrong and they just had big bones like they were ashamed; but Hagrid wasn't.

"Think he took Maxime to heart," Lily sighed in sympathy, still hoping there was someone else out there for Hagrid rather than that stuck up old bird.

His dad had always told him never to be ashamed. He was right of course, and he'd never forget to live by that. Big bones, he'd show her big bones.

"Hagrid just has no filter," James chuckled lightly. "If those kids didn't know what he was talking about, it wouldn't exactly be hard to guess from all that."

"Yet we still love him all the more for it," Sirius chirped.

The three of them tried not to exchange looks, Harry would rather take fifty skrewts for a walk than admit they'd overheard him talking to Madame Maxime,

"That is the best comparison I've ever heard," Remus told him after a bit more laughter.

but Hagrid was still talking, apparently unaware that he had said anything odd.

"He's actually getting worse with years," Lily giggled, "at least by now he should have cut himself off and corrected that he shouldn't have told you that."

Now turning on Harry with bright eyes that when he'd first met Harry, he'd reminded him of Hagrid. Parents gone, and so sure he wouldn't fit in at Hogwarts.

Harry's smile was a bit more forced now as yes, he did remember all of that quite well, but he'd never been happier to be wrong.

But look at him now, school champion!

"Still don't know if I'd go so far as praising him for that," James muttered to himself, now wanting to curse Skeeter for a whole other reason. She just had to put that poisonous little thought in his head, now he was even feeling resentful of Hagrid!

He looked at Harry for a moment and then said, very seriously,

Sirius worked furiously for a moment before actually putting on a fair impersonation of Hagrid's West Country accent, "well if he can be me, then I can be him."

Everyone was plainly distracted from whatever they'd been thinking to either groan at him, or in Harry's case to laugh, which had been the whole point so Sirius smiled, more than pleased with himself.

that what he'd love more than anything was for Harry to win, to show them all you didn't have to be a pureblood to be something.

"Err, I'm fairly confident I don't know any of the other champions blood status," Harry said in surprise.

"It's the principle Hagrid's going for," Remus shrugged, "you are an underdog of sorts being the youngest."

"Actually Fleur would make his impact better," Sirius couldn't help a little smirk, "being part human and all with her veela status."

"I like Harry better, so let's stick with him," Lily chuckled.

Gently asking how Harry was doing with that egg?

Harry quickly fudged like he had to everyone else, and Hagrid gave his first real smile.

"Worthwhile lie," James beamed anew, he really couldn't stay mad at Hagrid after such a sweet little speech.

Claiming, 'that's my boy.'

...okay, maybe he could a little, but at least his tick of annoyance went unnoticed.

Lying to Hagrid felt even worse than anyone before, so as Harry went up to his dorm that night, he decided it was time to shove his pride away. He couldn't let Hagrid down, it was time to check out Cedric's hint.

"Was wondering when you'd break on that," Lily chuckled, giving her baby's nose a friendly little tweak as Harry got up to hand the book to Remus.

HPHPHPHP

*maana999 offered the question of where that was being taken place if not the Room of Requirements, this had always been my running idea.

#Harry Potter #fanfiction #GoF #Marauders #reading the books #James Potter #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #Lily Potter #Jilly

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 3 years

Text

After much watching...I cut it down to 5 anime and 1 short.

Suppose a Kid… 1

I am not writing out that full title every time! Anyways, here’s the first “real” debut of winter 2021.

For some reason…this series reminds me of Pokemon. Probably how at the start, Ash tries to get along with Pikachu by doing all sorts of things like what Lloyd is doing here. (<- learnt protag’s name through synopses)

The name “Shouma” rang a bell and I was right – Shouma is voiced by Souma…Saito.

The Japanese title has “monogatari” on the end there…so it probably doesn’t fully translate into the English title.

These orange flecks in Lloyd’s eyes are kinda distracting…

Isn’t Kunlun in China, though…?

If this is just going to be Marie yelling…I don’t see why I should stay. (<- turned volume on for everything so far)

*facepalms* Lloyd is so dense…

That fight scene’s not very good…

…oh great. Selen’s fallen in love with Lloyd already…*sigh*

The missing princess is certainly going to be a plot point later.

Wow, that tiger looks impressive! If only they could’ve done that for the fight scene…

…oh great, Selen is a low-key yandere…

Didn’t Lloyd say he sucked at combat…? Anyways, I’m not keeping this. The designs are colourful and the tiger was good, but it’s meant to be a comedy and it’s not funny.

Hortensia Saga 1

Here for Ume! He’s voicing a guy called Defloitte Danois.

I-Is that CGI? So early on into the anime???

*a dude gets bitten into by the werewolf*…welp, at least this series isn’t afraid of its own gore.

I had a sinking feeling our real protag was Alfred…and I was right, according to the OP.

Huh? The song goes silent for a second near the end…what the heck?

The book appears to use English, albeit English so faintly inked in you can’t quite tell what language it is.

Alfred, governing Albert…? Isn’t that a bit redundant?

I swear all the female voices in this anime are squeaky as all get out…

All these high fantasy anime – or heck, any high fantasy series full stop – ever justify why the country is worth fighting for. It’s why I find war stories pointless and senseless.

You can tell from the voice and short stature “Marius” is Mariel…but she uses boku, which is why Alfred can’t really tell the difference. (Also, he wasn’t privy to the fact Mariel cut her hair.)

This almost smacks of a game tutorial. The CGI is still there…it’s not as bad as other examples I’ve seen, but you can tell it’s CGI when you look at it.

Roy’s kind of pretty, in a generic way.

A close-range archer! Ho, you’re kinda impressive yourself, Roy. (The feeling of a game tutorial has disappeared by this point.)

Hortense…of Hortensia…how confusing.

The scruffy guy you keep seeing with the dark hair is Defloitte. Keep an eye out for him for me, would you?

The ED seems to consist mostly of…anguished pop screams. *cringes slightly*

Anyways, this anime isn’t bad. It’s quite average though and its CGI could easily get worse.

Kumo Desu ga 1

…you know I don’t like 1st person cam, yeah?

…this is just Kumoko (as I’ve heard her being called) yelling so far…plus there’s quite a bit of CGI.

I like how the ED has an English overlay and the style they’ve used for it. The music, though…? Nah.

Wait a second? Millepensee? Shin Itagaki? That would explain the CGI!

“…a spider that just happens to have my memories.” – A butterfly dream, huh?

…well, at least this anime is well aware of the genre space it inhabits. Maybe you could say…it’s an isekai light novel, so what? *groans from the audience*

…well, you didn’t really “bring” your “brother’s” (?) corpse in case of an emergency, now, did you?

…welp, to have guts, you must eat guts. I guess that’s how it goes.

What’s a “skanda”?

This anime’s quite monologue-y (as expected of an LN). I can live with it, but I don’t know if it can carry the entire thing through the season.

…humans? Haven’t seen them almost all episode. What are they up to?

These designs sort of look like SAO’s. They’re not a dealbreaker yet, but they could be down the line…

This ED seems to take cues from Cop Craft’s OP (same studio). It also has some…“Aggretsuko rage”, I guess you could call it.

2.43 1

…Another confusing title, I see. I normally don’t do sports anime, but I’m here for Ume.

*sees the colour of the volleyball* - Basically anything volleyball has to collaborate with volleyball maker Mikasa, doesn’t it?

This anime seems to like putting characters’ thoughts on the screen for dramatic impact. The CGI is sort of visible, but not a dealbreaker.

I’d thought I’d heard of this OP artist before, but it turns out I haven’t.

This series has a nice sense of force. You see those moments where the ball squishes, or when Yuni presses against the wall without thinking? Those.

LOL, way to burn Yuni, Chika…

These transitions are a bit hard to detect. I think I like Akudama’s more overt ones more.

LOL, Dr Popper (sic).

The serves are nothing special. Haikyuu does the same thing from the episode I saw of it. (You know I don’t like Haikyuu, yeah? Dropped it after 1 episode because everything I heard the fans talking about caused me to connect the dots.)

The way Yuni blushes…it’s more than someone usually would, even if it is out of embarrassment. It may just be the entertainment I consume, but I could swear that’s going somewhere in more of a BL manner.

I get the feeling Chika has a bit of Virgo or Taurus in him somewhere. The sort of guy who nags at everyone to do stuff his way is probably like that.

Pocari Sweat (unaltered).

I gave myself dimples by puffing up my cheeks and poking them until they became permanent. I guess you can do the same thing with ambidexterity…?

For some reason, I can detect Chika’s jealousy when he discusses blocks and natural talent.

…wow, this anime is pretty serious for a volleyball anime.

The ED scene where the face is replaced with flowers is pretty creepy. Like Jigokuraku or something.

Cells at Work!! 1

What are these blob creatures you see in the OP, anyway…?

I think I remember reading something that the numbers assigned to the cells aren’t arbitrary – they’re hexadecimal colors, e.g. RBCs get shades of red as their numbers.

D’aww, Platelets warm the heart. They really do.

Platelets have a master…? I thought they were all just lil’ kids.

“What the cell’s going on?!” – Oh, I remember seeing a tweet about this. I love that pun! Kudos to whoever was responsible for that.

LOL, no. 4989 dancing in the background.

Hmm…those nets look like CGI.

…uh, I did not need that shot of the Megakaryocyte’s camel toe…that’s distubring.

Wait, Backward Cap is a she?!

Aw, lookit WBC being a dad. That’s cute.

Backward Cap = Ushiromae-chan.

Is that…a construction worker holding a giant pudding?!

Cells at Work Code Black 1

This anime is called “black” due to black companies. It’s Code Black to avoid being racist, I guess. I’m looking forward to it because it’s undoubtedly going to show a dark side to the main series…

…and there it is, the RBC complaining.

I assume OJT = on the job training.

I knew “pespin” (sic) was a typo. It’s pepsin.

Now that I’ve been working at customer service for two years (give or take COVID), I can see where the senpai RBC is smoothing over the relations.

…that also means I know where to suppress my emotions. I’m not a person who opens up to people easily without getting used to them, so people never see me as suitable for customer service anyway, but it’s the only experience I have so *shrugs*.

…oh gosh. I haven’t seen these words since…the time I was still learning biology.

…*sigh* Rookie RBC is worried about boobs.

The fact Senpai lost his iconic hat…is kinda sad, actually.

“Don’t let his resolve be for nothing.”

Hmm…does the male WBC from the main series wear black fingerless gloves?

I thought I’d heard of this artist before…but turns out I just can’t distinguish really autotuned artists from each other…(lel)

…and stuff goes ka-blam. It’s the spiritual successor to HypMic, even if I wasn’t asking for it. (LOL)

Back Arrow 1

…I heard you said “hot guys”? (Yes, I am predictable as all get out.)

What’s with that episode title…?

Stereotypes, eh? I kind of expected as much from the promo, but where’s the title character…?

…was that yuri fanservice? I can’t quite tell because it was the aftermath of an action scene, but I can see the shippers gearing up in my head.

…after a bit of waiting, there he is. Back Arrow himself. He kind looks like Takuto (Star Driver).

“I’m not trying to hide anything!” – Well, that’s…true.

…*sigh* Why do girls always have more feminine-looking mechs? (Plus this one has boobs…*sighhhhhhhhhhhh*)

So it seems mechs in this anime are the form of one’s conviction and they have skills along those lines, eh? An interesting concept.

…you do realise I abandoned an entire anime based on a joke about lucky underwear? However, this anime is so absurd and just keeps running with the joke that I just can’t say no to it. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from volunteering at a charity store, it’s that when it comes to selling stuff, you can’t say no to a lot of stuff…including selling potentially used underwear, so long as it’s not dirty or stinky.

Whoa! Those things break?!

Why does the title card mention the wall...?

Anyways, I…like it, surprisingly enough. Let’s keep going.

Back Arrow 2

…eh? Didn’t expect inflatable clothing, LOL.

I suspect Shu Bi is scheming something.

What’s the long thing…?

“…tomorrow might not come.” – A good reminder to have in these times of COVID.

Peath = Peace. (Heh. What a stupid name…*thinks about the name “Quattro Bajeena” suddenly* Okay, “Peath” pales in comparison to that.)

What is that creature that circles in the sky…?

I know this is meant to be a serious fight, but…that attacking guy’s hat seriously looks like a bamboo stalk and so I keep seeing it and trying not to laugh.

I only just now realised there’s CGI. CGI these days is getting much better than it used to be.

Tomozaki 1

LOL, Yontendo. It’s clearly Smash Bros + Nintendo Switch and the character designer was also around for Iroduku, so that’s why this style looks familiar.

…lemme guess, since this is a romance, it’s likely NONAME is Aoi. Or some other girl.

I would pay for a romance where it’s the girl building the guy up to be presentable, instead of a girl building other girls up to be presentable a la Ageha 100%.

Didn’t the anime show us Tomozaki reflecting to himself, though…?

“…rules working in combination.” - Well, there’s social norms (e.g. knock before entering a room), laws, contracts, societal standards (e.g. in Japanese society, you bow to others as a greeting or apology)…(continues to blabber on for a bit)

I think Aoi said something like “onitadaku”, but I’m not sure what the joke is there. Oni is in there, sure, but what’s the original phrase she’s playing off?

…LOL, it’s a good time to remind people to wear a mask.

LOL, Krout.

Anyways, this seems decent. I like how it’s going the way I want it to.

Tomozaki 2

“…make sure I’m nearby…” – Okay, that’s just being pushy, Aoi.

Minami and Hinami…so confusing…

*Minami chomps on Natsubayashi’s ear* - …okay, that’s not a thing girls do in real life unless they’re lesbians. This is likely trying to take the fanservice route.

They didn’t even show why the “kiss” was broken up…meaning they were doing it to make potential girl-on-girl look hot. Just great.

*Aoi touches Tomozaki’s butt* - Dude, that’s groping…

I didn’t think we’d get the story on Aoi’s “hexactly” so soon.

…well, that episode just made me feel mildly bitter. I’m dropping it here.

Praeter 1

…aw s***. Only a few seconds in and this looks like a terrible game…

It’s like someone barfed paint across Durarara…

The only time the background buildings look any good are when there’s a fight scene…

These Seals (or whatever those designs are called) seem to act like mini shields. Update: They’re called tattoos.

That transition was a bit fast for my liking…

Seems like the series is mildly peppered with Greek terms.

“To Infinity and Beyond” by…some author I can’t really read the name of.

Suddenly, they throw in more characters…?

Where does Eiji keep those bullet cases of his…? In his jacket?

Having a guy die in the 1st episode is cheap. I mean, we don’t quite care for him yet – it’s too early in the anime for that.

Now there’s Norse terms on top of the Greek ones…

Even more characters? You kidding me?

Lemme guess, Eiji gave up his tattoo because Yamato inspired him and now he’s a goner.

Welp, the weight of the world is in your hands, Yamato. Including that dead dude on your back. (<- sarcastic)

Sk8 1

I’ve been hearing good things about this anime! Let’s go! (<- about a week late to the debut)

That politician is probably relevant…probably someone’s dad, if HypMic taught me anything.

LOL, a beef. They call this stuff “beef”? Where’s the chicken? (<- joke from HypMic)

Haemanthus…apparently a flowering plant from S. Africa.

That’s rare, you don’t see Canadians in anime all that much. I was just thinking as I came home from volunteering how you know British people all have fancy names like William and Australians are Johnno, Danno etc., but Canadians? No clue. Update: Apparently you’d call one Arnold or something just as generic…?

Why are all foreigners in anime half-Japanese with the mother being the Japanese side, anyway?...Because people can make their character speak Japanese while looking foreign. Right. Moving right along.

Ahh…I understand your plight all too well, Reki.

…Hmm. It seems Reki’s surname is written kiya, but read “Kyan”. His name literally translates to “history (calendar/age) of bravery (military might)” Update: Turns out his surname is 3 characters (read “kiyan”, although I’ve never seen that final character ever being read as “n”) and his first name is one, so his first name is just “history (calendar/age)”.

Even I suck at balancing on bikes and stuff (…yeah, I still can’t ride a bike even though I’ve done so many other things in my life) and I know you have to support yourself with one foot on the ground before you do things like trick flips. I may not have observed Tony Hawk all that much, but he was on the periphery of my knowledge.

“What’s your hourly wage?” – Ouch, I feel ya, Langa.

Koko ni netete actually means “Lie down here”, but…okay.

These eyecatches are cute.

That’s a cute fox.

Yikes! 60 mph = approx. 97 km/h!!!

Random umeboshi, LOL.

Aghhhhhhhhhhh! Cherry Blossom’s so pretty~! I love him already!

Thank you, based Bones!

Something that can be enjoyed, even without sound: this is why I enjoy both action and comedy anime!

Okinawa? We’re in Okinawa?

Well, that was cool! I didn’t even ask where the location was until the end. Update: Why is this anime sometimes called Sk8 the Infinity anyway…?

Horimiya 1

Horimiya…I’ve been aware of this series for a while. There’s even a Chinese volume of it at a library close to me, although due to contact tracing I haven’t bothered to check it out.

Oh, I bet Hori is the otaku!

Ooh, Marketing Script!

Because I’ve been behind on the premieres, I’ve seen enough to know this boy with the chain is Miyamura.

…argh! Miyamura is cute! Y’all were right!!! (<- likes blushing bois)

I bet there’s going to be an emergency meeting!

“Sorry, it’s egg time!” – Oh, I’m laughing so hard! So that’s the context behind the Wonder Egg Priority meme!

“…see these?!” – Well, it’s not like you have a tattoo or some-*Miyamura shows his tattoos* Never mind…

Oh, I just realised they even animate the minute movements of the eyes Miyamura does…cool.

Notice how Miyamura is blocked from the other guy due to the window.

Miyamura goes “Ishikawa-kun” but “Hori-san”…hmm. No wonder he’s letting Ishikawa get Hori.

The problem I find with romance series is that they’re generally tied to heteronormativity. Hori is coded with red silhouettes and Miyamura with blue…*sigh* Whatever happened to gender ambiguity?

Good heavens, what is up with this ED?! It looks like Pocoyo! (…Does anyone else know that cartoon…?) Aside from that quibble, this anime is great though.

Mushoku Tensei 1

Apparently this is the grandad of all isekai. Why it took so long for an anime of this…who knows?

…and of course this guy’s a loser virgin. Go figure.

*sighhhhhhhhh* He’s just ogling this woman’s boobs…

…oh, sorry. I was so distracted by the man candy, I didn’t care about Rudy.

I-It’s actually quite refreshing to not have an OP protagonist from the get-go for once. (Or maybe I’ve developed such a disdain for isekai since SAO rolled around that everything here suddenly feels fresh.)

You can see the birthplace of isekai without having watched any of the others right here, it looks like.

“…what’s the point of incantations?” – To make it easier for you to cast spells, I gue-spoke too soon.

…wow, they shamelessly showed off Rudy’s privates. I know he’s still young at this stage, but that reminds me of how I dropped Dragon Ball around the time Goku was shown the same way (which is…very early on, by my own admission).

I believe, based on the name of the spinoff I see in the 7 Seas emails, the magic tutor is called Roxy.

You’re thinking about marriage?! At your (reincarnated) age?!

Oh no! The tree again!

LOL, Rudy’s acting like a kid who’s been in COVID lockdown for a while.

I think what most of the isekai that spun off from here missed is that the loser is job age. Losers at life at job age are relatable and high school geniuses are relatable (albeit sometimes insufferable), but losers who become NEETs for no reason whatsoever and then get banged up by Truck-kun are not.

Anyways, this was good, but a risky kind of good, since it seems like this male gaze will continue to be around as Rudy gets older.

Update: Dropped after learning Rudy was a paedophile in his past life.

Update 2: Apparently the anime toned down this paedophilic tendency of Rudy’s, so...now the verdict is that I move on while I let other people tell me if this is true of the anime or not.

Kemono Jihen 1

“Kemono Jihen” means something like “creature incidents”. I wonder why Funimation didn’t change the name…?

Kabane means “summer wing”.

Kanoko Villa, I’d assume, is named after the deer (the name means “deer’s child”).

My experience with Sho Aimoto (creator of this manga) is reading a bit of Hokenshitsu no Shinigami. (That, by the way, reminds me of Nube, but it’s nothing spectacular.) However, Hokenshitsu no Shinigami has a very detailed artstyle…That’s why I’m pretty shocked Kemono Jihen has such a scratchy one…

Ooh, edamame!

Oh, I see…this is like Furuba or a werewolf story, huh? Rather than a Natsume Yuujincho sort of thing.

…I thought Inugami and Dorotabo had seen everything of each other because of bathing together…I guess not, then.

…is Yataro going to die?

It seems the “immortal demons” are oni, so…why subtitle them as “immortal demons” and not just “demons”?

Ohhhhhhhh…this shite’s good. It seems to have a throwback feeling to it, moreso than even Yashahime or a lot of the sequels I’ve seen recently.

Cells at Work!! 2

I was going to move right along to Wonder Egg Priority because I’m really behind on the debuts right now, but I accidentally opened this up while I was cleaning up so I might as well watch another episode or two before setting it aside.

He’s dead, Jim. (<-joking)

…gosh, these walls look like Hover all over again and that’s from 1995…

LOL, these background cells don’t even have any details. They’re basically stick figures with fat bodies…

I think that phrase that appeared, “Take good care of B Cell!”, may be a pun on Give My Regards to Black Jack (written with similar Japanese, “B Cell wo Yoroshiku!” vs. “Black Jack ni Yoroshiku!”).

LOL, “you sure have the guts”…while they’re in the guts.

The certificate says something about it being presented to someone in the face of bravery, I think (<- just looked at it briefly).

“You have a good head on your shoulders,” says the T cell as WBC struggles with the disguise…stuck on his head.

Wonder Egg Priority 1

I’ve been hearing this series is surreal, but no more surreal than Flip Flappers. So…I don’t know if I’ll like it or not.

What’s this K?(?96…?

There’s a sunflower on her raincoat…so that’s why I saw a post called “You’re the sunflower”. Personally, that just reminds me of Post Malone.

Those Seeno Evils…they’re CGI, aren’t they?

As Boueibu once said (but I may be paraphrasing here), “nothing is more scary than free”.

…to be honest with you, I haven’t had a best friend for at least 2 years now. I only really feel close to people who are like me and who I have sustained contact with over many years, so I end up cutting contact with people after we part ways and never trying to fix it.

I always find it slightly absurd when anime girls get a little pudgy and go, “I’m so fat!” (See, for instance, the Dumbbell series.) Or, in this case, Ai’s going, “I’m so ugly!” when there’s nothing wrong with her. She’s only a bit different from everyone else due to her heterochromia - she doesn't have any physical or mental difficulties.

IChu 1

Here for Ume and, of course, dem bois. Bring it!

I seem to remember one of the magazines called an “Ichu” “an idol egg” (i.e. a fledgling idol)…More egg puns for me, then.

I found him! Ume! He’s Akira Mitsurugi! Update: Turns out that’s Toshiyuki Toyonaga…Oops. (Ume is actually Lucas from I*B.)

Huh? For a second, I imagined Akira with a dubbed voice. Of course, I could only be dreaming, because idol anime normally don’t get dubs, but…it was interesting to think about.

LOL, “Onsta”.

This Akio-type character is popular lately. The sort who’s timid but has an outstanding talent they themselves might not see.

…uh, but Kocho means “Principal”…?

An idol bear?!

Torahiko is crazy…(Note the tigers. Tora = tiger.)

Specifically, that’s black coffee with no sugar.

As much as I want to keep watching this, I’ll hit pause on it here. There’s much better offerings this season.

YuruCamp s2 1

…grandpa’s writing is so…neat.

*glares at CGI car…*

This OP just doesn’t compare to Shiny Days, y’know…?

OOPArts.

Talking pine cones! They’re back!

Curry rice! Literally had some of the Japanese-style stuff the other day. It was great.

All this talk about jobs…I personally don’t like jobs because I like to work at my own pace (hence one reason why I’m working on being a translator), but…money…I’m jealous, girls.

I’m trying not to rely on the subs for those texts that appear on the screen so that I can keep my reading skills up…I kept up with them for the most part…but then I got distracted by the croquette sign at one point…

“…buy you some local food?” – That’s omiyage, normally translated “souvenirs”. “Local food” actually does make more sense in that gap, though.

…man, I’m jealous that the girls all got jobs suitable for their personalities and everything. Lil’ ol’ antisocial me sucks at retail, even after 2 years.

Design-bu 1

LOL, that man and his bunny. Update: That’s Unabara-san.

…geez, these utaite are everywhere now. I’ve seen 96neko, USSS, Eve and more being more central to anime song creation…

Thise characters in the OP seal (<-the stamp, not the animal) are saiyou, meaning “recruited”, or in this case, “accepted”.

OEM = original equipment manufacturer.

Hrm…you can tell it’s a giraffe by description, but…that “base everything on the horse” is interesting as you could count several things as horse derivatives. Also, the angels’ names are all standard Japanese names with natural components to them (Ueda = upright rice field, Shimoda = frost rice field etc).

Is this pink-themed guy…a guy? Or a crossdresser? Update: That’s Kanamori-san.

I like how the suits have little wing-like flaps. Also the wings on Shimoda’s back.

…I never thought an anime episode would make me so concerned about giraffes.

That guy in the green I remember from the Wave x Tendebu (Heaven’s Design Team) collab, his name is Kimura.

Oh, so there is a bird like that!

The random wiggling the chibis do in these short segments…it’s a bit disorienting. (<-Just a small quibble of mine.)

Oh! Galapagos effect!

Agonistic: “polemical; combative.” I thought they meant “antagonistic”.

Oh man, that punch line was great! It took me a while to get into the spirit of it, but this anime is great!

Update: Oh, that’s where those nature names come from! They’re actually meant to be gods! (Or…named after gods…?) Also, Ueda vs. Shimoda (the “shimo” could be the kanji for “below”).

Ex-Arm 1

I’ve heard this anime looks bad…even well before its debut. How bad? Let’s find out.

*stifles laughter* From the first pan, I know this anime is doomed on my list. Even Praeter was better than this!

*stifles laughter again* This OP really does look as bad as the stuff I was seeing prior to winter 2021! Like a game I shouldn’t take out of my archives! (It’s not as bad as Hover’s graphics, but still…that’s from 1995. Cut it some slack.)

That’s the 2nd Kimura this season…

Yugg is just…ugly. Never try to render elaborate eyelashes in CGI again, people.

Dimension High School was better than this because at least that had puzzles. This is even jankier than that!

Wait, why is Akira 3D when his dad is 2D? It’s not that obvious, but I notice these things. Update: That’s not his dad…but close enough. (That’s his brother.)

…and here comes Truck-kun! (LOL)

This would be good…if it weren’t rendered in the jankiest CGI known to man…

Alma’s gun strike doesn’t have a lot of force to it.

The fire is rendered so terribly…*stifles laughter*

This part with a disembodied Akira is what I assume I got up at 6 am for…but I can’t hear it, due to background noise. Remind me to confirm this later. (Minami’s mouth is rendered so terribly…augh.)

No force to any of these recent motions, either.

LOL, this censorship.

Wave 1

Ever since this project was announced, I’ve been watching developments unfold on Anime News Network. I knew it would get an anime or something similar I could follow…and now here I am. I mentioned in the Sk8 comments I have basically zero knowledge of surfing, so…this is very unexpected, in one sense.

Was that a drone…?

“Wizard of the Waifu Board”?! Are you kidding me?! (LOL)

There seem to be shots where I can see the CGI here, but…anything’s better than Ex-Arm. Let’s say that.

Actually…yappe is a derivative of yabai, meaning “cool” or “crap” (in an ironic sense). So it would probably be better to translate it as “Surfing’s the greatest!” or “Surfing’s the coolest!” Anyways, what I was thinking before I was going to say this was that the waves are so enticingly animated, it feels like a summer anime. Basically the only other anime I’ve ever said that for is Grand Blue.

If I’m understanding where Isokichi’s name comes from right, “iso” is the character for seashore or a rocky beach (磯).

LOL, the teacher just wrote “Show must go on.”

Hayama, Kanagawa. Kanagawa’s capital is Yokohama, so it’s not quite Tokyo, but somewhat close.

“Murphy”? I have zero clue what that means.

Oh, I see. The title is translated that way due to context. Now that I can accept.

I just burst out into laughter when I realised Nalu hasn’t dropped or put down his ukulele once.

BSD Wan! 1

Here comes my past to haunt me…aside from me being a fan of BSD, I’m here because I influenced this series. How so? Once upon a time in the now-distant year of 2016, I was a scanlator for a brief period. Most of the work I’ve done hasn’t influenced the world at large, but this is the most influential manga I had a hand in working on.

Oh no! They’re starting with the dog AU?! (That comes from pretty far into the manga, IIRC. Further than my work was on it, at least.)

It’s Rashomon, but Rashoken (that last bit means “dog”). Hence Ruffshomon.

Basically, they just insert dog-related words everywhere…don’t make me explain every one!

Ouch, I can only imagine how much pain it was to translate Inu Shikkaku. Literally, it’s “No Longer a Dog”, but how would anyone make it in line with the other puns…?

I wasn’t fully aware of how the dog AU was connected to the main Wan series because I haven’t really looked at it after I quit due to aggregators, but…that was a nice fakeout. Also, I was concerned as to whether this was going to be a full-length ep or a short…seems like it’s a 10 minute short, so I have more chances of taking it.

…oh gosh, that pose! I remember it! I worked on this one! (Now that I know it’s a TV short, I won’t cover future episodes, but I want to at least finish this one because I started it.)

I think they added a bit there. I remember Kunikida’s and Yosano’s were in the manga, but not the other members or Fukuzawa going “the wind is smiling” + Kenji working on the roof at the start.

Oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh, I remember Rampo. I think I had to approximate how he would say stuff with Pocky in his mouth, but Slug (current scanlator) went the extra mile and stuck food in his mouth to do the same panel.

It seems to make a short ep., they strung a bunch of the chapters together. Also, I don’t think we ever found out what Yosano’s puddle was and that was…probably for the better.

Oh yeah…I think I remember this one.

Now I remember it! I remember having fun explaining what a youkan was.

Whoa, Higuchi scrapped the SFX! That wasn’t in the original…

The ED seems to be an Atsushi cover of Namae wo Yobu yo.

Oh noooooooooooo! The flower gazing episode! That’s the one I remember most, because I was trying to figure out how to translate 移動 while making it smooth-sounding English…(I remember the final result was something like, “Move! Move~!”

Dr Stone: Stone Wars 1

Final debut! Let’s go~!

The last time this series was on the air was about 1 year ago. I can remember that far back…

I like how that recap is framed as Gen talking to the kids.

Senku overcomes every problem with science.

…not much to comment on here.

5 notes · View notes

ineffablegame · 5 years

Note

GO prompt idea? Spending time with the Them after the apocalypse, Aziraphale gets a nagging thought that he can never have children. Crowley is there to comfort.

I’m sorry, but this ended up being quite different from your prompt! I hope you don’t mind (if it’s any consolation, I’m doing something in a similar vein in a bigger work!).

Also published on my Ao3.

Rain

It’s Gabriel who plants the seed in his mind, oddly enough – odd that one of the beings least enamored of Adam Young could rouse Aziraphale to the boy’s defense.

They are at their customary check-in meeting, the sort that have become distinctly less customary since Armageddon failed to occur. Crowley warns Aziraphale not to attend constantly, fretting that they will discover the ruse or overcome their fear and destroy him, but Aziraphale is less concerned. Upstairs scarcely knew him before Armageddon; they cannot possibly know him now.

Besides, skipping meetings has always bothered him. He might have gone native, as it were, but he still believes in punctuality and doing things the Proper Way.

“Well, Aziraphale,” Gabriel says, a little too briskly to be casual, “it sounds like everything is going…” A pause, the phrase as expected delicately skirted. “…as usual.”

“Indeed.” Aziraphale clasps his hands behind his back and slants a look at the other Archangels. Sandalphon and Uriel stand at a distance, Michael a few daring steps closer. All three look like startled deer, frozen on the cusp of bolting. Feeling a little smug and a little sorry for them, he says, “Well, I suppose I should be on my way.”

Gabriel nods with a tight smile and turns on his heel. As the Archangels stride out, Aziraphale catches a scrap of their muttering, Sandalphon’s reedy whine: “…if only that Antichrist boy hadn’t…”

“If only someone hadn’t mislaid him,” Michael adds.

“We should have dealt with that brat long ago,” Gabriel says. He never bothered to learn the trick of quieting himself, has never considered that someone may not want to hear him. His voice carries. “Thrown him into the ocean. Like the Nephilim.”

Seated alone on a bench in St. James’s Park, Aziraphale stares into the middle distance. His mind is far away, his skin insensate to the warm drizzle of rain as it gathers like clotting blood. His thoughts are a wound, at once raw and knitted, oozing and bandaged. His gaze may be vacant, but his ethereal senses are immersed in another place: a place of scabby knees and dirt-crusted fingernails, of sunlight skewering through branches and the rapid percussion of cards snapping on tire spokes. Aziraphale is physically in London, but his thoughts circle Tadfield in silent flight.

There they are, in Hogback Wood – three children, one Antichrist, and one former Hellhound. The children are all dressed in striped shirts and tattered jeans. The girl, Aziraphale forgets her name, she has a bandana cinched around her head, wiry wisps of curls escaping every which way. The bespectacled boy wears a carefully-arranged eyepatch. The grubby boy is sleeved in smeared ink marks on both arms, designs that bring Crowley’s serpent mark to mind.

Standing at the center of their group, a wooden sword clasped in one hand – little more than a short stick tied to a long one, playacting hilt and blade – is Adam Young. He lifts his chin, resolute.

“You’ve mutinied for the last time, first mate Brian,” he says in a tone of unshakable authority. “Now you gotta walk the plank.”

“But it wasn’t just me!” Brian protests. “Wensleydale made me do it!”

“Actually,” says Wensleydale, “I’m only the pirate cook.” His voice is the tonal equivalent of a side-eye. “I can’t make you do anything.”

“I told you,” Adam cuts in, “you can be first mate next time. Brian’s first mate now because he picked the longer straw. ‘Sides, without you, we’d all starve on the high seas.”

“Why’re the seas high?” Brian asks, unperturbed by his death sentence. “Are the waves taller than normal?”

“Don’t be stupid,” the girl sneers. “It means they’re full of adventure.”

“Pepper’s right,” Adam says. “It’s only a figure of speech.”

Aziraphale’s mind floats, unbidden, away from the bickering children. It floats away from the time and the place, rising and rising through the years, the decades, the centuries, the millennia. It alights in another world, an older one. A harder one.

He sees them, each face stark and cut-glass precise even in memory. The children before the flood. Most were ordinary, of course: human through and through. But there had been others. Children with an uncanny brightness in their eyes, children who were stronger, sharper, and more beautiful than the others. They grew immense, formidable, and left their human playmates behind to wriggle and rot in the dust. People whispered that such children were favored by God, but that was only propaganda. Giants, the Hebrews called them. Nephilim.

Heaven’s mistake, that’s what they were: children born of unions between angels and human women. Back then, when the world was new, the angels had looked upon God’s favored children with envy. Envy breeds contempt, and contempt breeds a desire to see a foe laid low. And what better way to ruin the humans than to defile their women?

Aziraphale had never been involved in the mess with the Nephilim. Perhaps he had been soft toward humans, even then, or perhaps he had unconsciously seen the writing on the wall and known to keep his distance. He was but an innocent bystander.

“Not the kids,” Crowley had said, the words tinged with shock, disgust, horror. “You can’t kill kids.”

God hadn’t liked the Nephilim. She hadn’t liked a great deal of things about the new world She’d made. And so, in Her infinite wisdom, She rent the world apart. A handful of humans survived, but not one of them carried a drop of angelic blood in their veins.

Aziraphale had thought himself an innocent bystander. Now, looking back, he wonders.

Lost in the mire of memory, Aziraphale is startled back to the present by a blow of occult energy. Reeling, hands unconsciously clutching the seat of the bench, he strains his sight on Hogback Wood. Adam Young stares back at him, brow furrowed.

Then, abruptly, the Antichrist is sitting beside him on the bench. The stick in his hand is transformed, a sword gleaming with tongues of hellfire. The angel startles. “A-Adam. What a pleasant—”

“Why’re you watching me?” Adam asks, without venom or preamble.

“I…” Aziraphale trails off, considers making excuses. Decides against it. I don’t know.”

Adam gives Aziraphale a narrow look, and the angel fights an urge to shrink back. This boy could crack open his head like an egg, spill out his thoughts in stringy runnels. Aziraphale knows this, and so does Adam.

“I could make you tell me,” the boy says, “if I wanted.”

Aziraphale remembers uncanny eyes, minds as keen as honed blades. “If you wanted to, yes.”

Adam swings his legs and stares at Aziraphale. Drizzling rain clings to his curls, runs down his face in rivulets. Droplets hiss and steam off the burning steel of his sword. “Where’s your friend?”

Aziraphale blinks, thrown. “I… I don’t know.”

“Seems wrong, you without him,” Adam remarks.

“It is,” Aziraphale admits, and is startled by his own candor. Adam must be leaning on him, just a little. “Now, that’s hardly sporting.”

“You were spying on me.”

“Aha. Point taken.”

“Seems to me that if someone tries to shoot you and then spies on you, you should be allowed. A little.”

Aziraphale gives a nervous titter. “W-well, you do forget that we helped you. Between those two things.”

“Yeah.” Adam lifts his sword, considering. Firelight plays hellish and bright across his face, and his gaze is distant. “Guess you did.” He lowers the blade and looks at Aziraphale. “What’s wrong, then?”

“Nothing,” Aziraphale sighs. “Only I’m very old, and I’ve made many mistakes.”

“Huh.” Adam shrugs. “I don’t see why grown-ups are so stuck on what they did wrong. They can always try and do better.”

Aziraphale turns and stares, owlish, at the boy. He sits, slouched and rain-damp and grubby, all the power in the universe clasped in his fist.

“Your friend’s coming,” Adam says. “I think he’s worried, so I’ll go.”

“Oh.” The sound is barely more than a breath. “Well. Until next time, Adam.”

“Bye.”

When Crowley happens upon Aziraphale – looking for all the world like he’s out on a stroll, belied only by the tense line of his shoulders, the briskness of his steps – he finds the angel alone. Aziraphale looks up at him and offers a faint smile. “Crowley.”

“Aziraphale.” An edge rasps along the syllables of his name. “You should’ve let me know you were back.”

“I only just arrived.”

“Still.” Crowley’s mouth slants, purses. Aziraphale wants to learn the corners of that mouth, the softness and demand. “You could’ve…”

He really was worried, Aziraphale realizes. All the fretting and discouragement – all to cover his fear.

Aziraphale stands and Crowley trails off, knowing before he’s aware. The angel has made many mistakes over the millennia – things he’s done and things he’s left undone – and suddenly it seems the simplest thing in all of Creation to do one good thing, and enfold the demon in his arms. Crowley is angular but pliant, stiff for just an instant before seeming to melt against him, into him. His mouth tastes of rain.

“Oh,” Crowley says when they part. His face is flushed up to the tips of his ears. “Huh. Missed—missed me, did you?”

“I did,” Aziraphale says, smiling gently. “For a very long time.” He takes the demon’s hot, damp hands in his own. “Let’s go back to the bookshop.”

“Right. Right.” Crowley coughs. “Right.”

“I have a Bordeaux that would be quite to your liking.”

“Hnngh. Right. Yes.”

“Do you mind if we walk? I’ll cover you if the rain gets worse.”

“I know you will.”

“Of course. Let’s be off, dear.”

“Lead the way, angel.”

#rcglasses #good omens #ineffable husbands #good omens fanfic #good omens word prompt #long post #these just get longer and longer don't they

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marshmallow-phd · 5 years

Text

Crash Course

Guardian Angels are everywhere. They look out for their charges and keep a distance. But why? What happens when they get too close? The answer is love. And between an angel and a human, it is the most forbidden connection.

Genre: Angel!AU

Pairing: Chanyeol x Reader

Summary: Chanyeol wasn’t the most graceful angel. He could be loud, clumsy, and a little overbearing. But he usually could keep himself secret from humans. That is, until things go very wrong when you discover him in your apartment in the middle of the night....

A/N: Part 5 of the @wolveswithblackpearls angel series! (moodboard made by the adorble admin S!)

Kyungsoo I Sehun I Baekhyun I Jongin I Chanyeol I Junmyeon

This is what happened to Chanyeol since he wasn’t paying attention. Granted, he wasn’t the best when it came to the finer details of things like Junmyeon or Kyungsoo, but he thought he was doing a decent job in sneaking around your house quietly. Even if he did accidentally make a small noise, you wouldn’t be able to see him, right?

All he was trying to do was scare away the real burglar. And he’d done a good job, making the potential thief think the owner of the apartment had come out and opened the sliding glass door. He’d gotten a kick out of watching the criminal scurry down the fire escape, slipping several times on the old metal steps. But Chanyeol’s concentration was completely broken when he accidentally tripped over his own feet after laughing a little too hard and sent one of your plants crashing down to the floor, breaking the terra cotta pot and spilling the soil all over your cream colored rug. He stared at the disaster he’d created.

“Oh, no.”

He scrambled to put it all back together when he heard the creak of the box spring and careful footsteps coming from your bedroom. Debating back and forth, Chanyeol weighed his options. He could just disappear, but leaving the mess he created might cause you unnecessary panic. So did that mean he should stay? Should he let himself get caught? That was completely against the rules. He’d be in so much trouble….

Chanyeol still hadn’t made a firm decision when he heard the squeaking of the floorboards from the hallway. Every muscle was frozen, unmoving as he tried to command them to shift from their current position. He needed to leave. Fast.

You rounded the corner, a steel baseball bat held high in the air. Chanyeol wanted to laugh at the sight of you, but he had to keep his full concentration on not being seen. With the current state he was in, he could easily slip and accidentally reveal himself. However, he wasn’t the only one not paying full attention.

Barefoot and still in your pajamas, you made your way around the living room. You barely glanced at the broken pot before searching the rest of the room. Chanyeol watched closely, worrying about the shards of the pot scattered around.

“Shoot!” you hissed. Falling to the floor and landing on your backside, you whimpered as you inspected the cut.

Chanyeol jumped forward, forgetting all about staying invisible, and reached out to take care of his charge. “Are you okay!”

Yeah… that just made things worse.

“Holy crap!”

You scrambled and swung the bat at his legs. Chanyeol jumped in time to miss being hit with the steel bar. He stayed floating there in case you decided to try again the other way. Your eyes grew big at his anti-gravity abilities.

Several times you opened and closed your mouth in a humorous fashion. Chanyeol wanted to giggle at your expression, but he was able to hold it back. Right now probably wouldn’t be the best time to start laughing at you.

“W-what… are you?” you asked between heavy breaths. The bat had fallen from your hands and you were leaning back, almost… afraid of him? Why would- oh, right. To you, he was a stranger. A stranger who could fly.

Right, Chanyeol, think.

“How did you get in here?” you demanded, feigning a bit of bravery.

Chanyeol pointed to his right. “The sliding glass door.”

You pulled your eyebrows together, flickering your eyes between the space where his feet weren’t touching the ground and the balcony door. “What are you, some overgrown Peter Pan?”

“Huh?” Chanyeol shook his head. “No! I was keeping a thief from breaking in here. He had a knife and I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“So, Superman, then?” you mocked.

Landing back on the floor so he was now sitting cross-legged in front of you, Chanyeol sighed. “No, that’s not it either.” He scratched his scalp as he weighed his options. He could lie. Maybe say that he was just a ghost or this was all a dream, but that didn’t sit right with him. “I’m not really supposed to be telling you any of this….”

You scoffed. “You broke my pot. You owe me.”

Chanyeol pouted at that. He didn’t think that the revelation of the existence of his species really amounted to a fallen plant, but he couldn’t really argue that without giving himself up anyway.

“So...” you egged on. “Are you going to come out with it or do I have to get the bat again and chase you out of my home?”

“It’s not nice to threaten an angel with a bat,” Chanyeol snapped. Then he cringed. Oops.

But rather than looking at him with awe or amazement, you laughed. “An angel? Yeah, sure. Okay. I think I’d believe the Superman story a little easier.”

Chanyeol’s jaw dropped. “An alien with superpowers is easier to believe?”

“Than an angel? Yes.”

Well, now you were just revving up his competitive spirit. He reached for your foot, determined. “Here, I’ll show you.”

You dodged his grip. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to heal your cut,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“Are you serious?” you asked as you eyed him suspiciously.

“Yes,” he nodded. He held out his hand, palm up. “Now, give me your foot.”

For a moment, it seemed like you wouldn’t give the appendage up. Chanyeol waited and fought with his patience. He needed you to trust him. Why? Well, he didn’t really have an answer, just that he couldn’t leave without knowing that you believed him and didn’t think he was a mad man or some made up superhero.

Eventually, you slowly began to lift your foot, placing your ankle in his hand. “Just don’t plant any alien eggs in there, okay?”

He laughed at your absurd reference. As he kept his eyes trained on the gash, he lifted his other hand. A warm, golden glow surrounded his fingers before spreading over to your foot. Your eyes widened, finally giving him that sense of awe he’d been waiting for. When he was done, you took back your foot, inspecting the now pristine area, save for the slight coating of soil.

You let out a short laugh, then smiled up at him. “You know, that just supports the superpower theory, right?”

Chanyeol groaned. “Are you kidding me? I just made a cut heal in a few seconds!”

“Yes,” you agreed. “But that could be an explanation for a lot of things. It doesn’t necessarily scream ‘angel’.”

“You nearly died after being stuck in an elevator last year.”

“W-what?”

Chanyeol scooted closer to you. What he really wanted to do was to grab your hand, but that didn’t seem like the best idea. It was a traumatic experience for you and it was cruel enough just to bring it up again. “Last year, you were in an elevator at work when it suddenly stop. At first, you thought the power was out, but then it shook. Then it tilted. You were alone and scared. It took nearly an hour for the firefighters to break the doors open. As soon as you were free and back on the floor, it crashed down to the basement.”

You swallowed thickly, glassy tears pooling on your bottom lids. “How did you know that?”

“I’m your guardian angel,” he said. “I was there.”

Rather than giving him thanks, you scoffed. “Then why didn’t you get me out of there sooner?”

“Who do you think was holding up the cables?”

You stared at the giant strange man sitting across from you. The options as what to believe or even think at the moment had you at a complete loss.

“If you were there,” you said slowly, “why didn’t you just get me out? Use your angelic gifts to poof me out of that death trap?” To this day, you couldn’t take the elevator without having flashbacks. The very idea of stepping into one sent you into a panic attack.

A guilty look came across the angel’s face. “We’re not supposed to interfere to that degree. Not in a noticeable way, at least. I would never have let anything happen to you, though! I made sure you got out!”

Your head was spinning. The man – angel – who’d woken you up from your sleep was insisting that he was also the reason you’d survived the accident last year. And you believed him. The inspectors afterwards had said that the cable had snapped fairly quickly and you shouldn’t have been rescued in time. A real life miracle, they called it.

“Thank you,” you whispered.

The angel’s eyes grew bigger than they already were, shocked at those two small words. “What did you say?”

“I said ‘thank you’.” Sure, you’d said it quietly, but you figured he’d be able to hear you with ears like that. “You know, for saving my life. I guess, twice now if there really was a burglar.”

“Huh,” was his only response.

You frowned. “What?”

“Nothing,” he replied, quickly waving his hands in front of him to chase away any doubt of honesty. “I’ve… never been thanked before, that’s all.”

“Never?”

“Nope.” He shook his head and then shrugged his shoulders, “It’s just… part of the job.”

“A rather underappreciated one, don’t you think?” you teased with a small smile. This angel, with his goofy grin and soft features, was… well, he was kind of cute. And the way his expressions jumped from one emotion to the other with such ease was drawing you in.

You groaned internally. Only you would start this situation out ready to start swinging a bat and then end up with a crush on your guardian angel. Clearing your throat, you asked, “So, um, do you have a name? Or am I supposed to just call you ‘angel’ from now on?”

That small, sideways smile bloomed into a full blown grin that outshined a full moon. “It’s Chanyeol.”

“Chanyeol,” you repeated, liking how the syllables flowed together, like leaves on a creek. Oh, great. Your thoughts were starting to get poetic with his name. You should get out of there. “Well,” you stood up to your feet, faking your tiredness with stifled yawns and overdramatic stretches, “I think I should head back to bed. Work in the morning and all.”

Chanyeol’s smile dimmed noticeably. “Oh, okay.”

“But I’ll see you around?” you asked hopefully.

He nodded, the light coming back. “Yes. Absolutely.”

“Good,” you smiled back. “See you around, tiger.” Before you could change your mind, you marched on back to your bedroom and shut the door.

Where, exactly, you’d be seeing Chanyeol was the real mystery.

When you woke up the next morning, the plant was cleaned up. Its new place in the trash bin was the only evidence that last night wasn’t a strange dream you had from that different tea flavor you tried before bed. Shrugging it all off as unimportant, you made yourself a quick breakfast and got ready for work.

It was an odd feeling, going through your normal routine while knowing of the possibility that there was an angel watching over you. And what if he wasn’t the only angel around? Were there dozens on this floor of the company building, just hanging around and making sure nothing happens to the humans they’re charged with? What embarrassing things had those strangers seen you do?

“Hello!”

“Holy crap!”

The sudden voice right next to your ear made you jump, spilling the steaming coffee from your mug onto your arm and stinging the skin. You glared up at Chanyeol while trying to lightly pat the throbbing area.

“I’m sorry!” Chanyeol quickly took hold of your arm, placing his warm palm over the skin. That strange glow was back and the pain subsided in seconds. Little drops of coffee still fell from your arm, but at least you wouldn’t have to go find some ointment for it later.

“I’d say you come in handy, but really it’s only when you’ve caused the injury in the first place,” you grumbled as you refilled your mug.

Chanyeol dropped his head in shame. “I’m sorry.”

Why did he have to look so vulnerable like that?

Placing a knuckle under his chin, you lifted his head just enough so you could look him in the eye. “Hey. I was just teasing. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Accidents happen.”

A ghost of his usual smile was beginning to appear, making you sigh. Then he frowned again. “Is something wrong?”

You shook your head, plastering on a smile. “No. Not at all. Why?”

“You seem… down,” he explained.

“I’m at work when I’d rather be doing something else,” you told him. It was partially true, but it was also partially a lie. It wasn’t the reason for your heavy heart at the current moment. Wanting to change the subject, you glanced around, remembering where you were in the first place. “How did you even get in here? It’s the tenth floor of a high security building.”

A boastful gleam sparkled in his eyes. “The angel way, of course. Don’t worry, you’re the only one who can see me right now.”

Your jaw dropped. “You can do that?”

“Yes,” he nodded proudly. “It takes a lot of concentration, but I can make sure that only you see me.”

“So, I look like I’m talking to myself? Fantastic.” Because everyone here didn’t think you were weird enough as it was.

“Do you want me to be seen so you don’t look crazy?” he offered.

“No!” You grabbed hold of his arm as if that would be the one thing that kept him invisible. “The last thing that needs to happen is you being dragged out of here by security.”

“Alright then.” That boy even had the audacity to wink at you. His demeanor changed then. Tilting his head as if he was trying to listen in on a faint conversation, his eyebrows pulled together and he frowned. “I have to go. I think I need to check on another charge.”

“Another charge?” So, you weren’t the only one he was looking out for? Well, there went your specialness.

He nodded. “I’ll… be back. Okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” You didn’t quite believe him. What need would he have to come back?

Chanyeol gave you a small wave before disappearing with a pop!

For the millionth time, you reminded yourself that he was an angel, a higher being that was simply meant to look out for you and make sure you didn’t die before your time. In no way was it appropriate to start crushing on him or be sad when he had to leave.

But damn if he didn’t make it hard.

And he just made it harder with his frequent visits at work. And your apartment. And random times when you were out and about.

You were sure that he just wanted someone to talk to. He wasn’t actually popping by because of you necessarily, but you were the one human being who knew of his existence, so it made sense for him to take relish in having someone to talk to. That didn’t stop you from looking forward to his appearances, though. Which was why today you were in such a sour mood.

You hadn’t seen Chanyeol since yesterday morning after weeks of having him randomly show up multiple times a day. His presence and frequent drop ins while you were at the copy machine or reaching on your balcony or even one time right when you were getting out of the shower. Yes, you were wrapped securely in a towel, but you’d never seen someone’s face get so red before.

Did you do something to scare him off? Was it something you said? Did he get in trouble by a higher up for talking to you too much? All these questions and more kept bouncing around in your head, making you completely unaware of your surroundings.

“Hello? Earth to (y/n)?” A hand blurred in front of your face, making you jump.

Yoon, a fellow coworker, was smirking at you. “Daydreaming?” she teased.

You rolled your eyes. “Got to have dreams to do that. What’s up?”

Yoon motioned with her head to the big office behind her. “Mr. Kang wants to see you. Urgently, he said.”

You groaned. Mr. Kang preferred to use you as his errand runner for some odd reason. He seemed to like you, but when he was constantly making you run files and papers all over the building, you had to wonder sometimes.

Pushing your chair away from your desk, you stood up and headed over to the big, open office of Mr. Kang. You knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open and peeking your head in.

“You wanted to see me, Mr. Kang?”

Your boss looked up from his computer. “Yes! Come in!”

You obeyed, coming to a stop in front of his desk. Mr. Kang handed over a very official looking portfolio and you took it cautiously.

“I need you to go up to the sixteenth floor and have Miss Havard sign that so we can close this deal. It needs to be her only who signs it and I need you to bring me back the original, if you would.”

You nodded once. “Of course, Mr. Kang.”

Before you could exit the office, he called out to you one more time, making you suppress a sigh.

“Yes, sir?”

“I need that done as quickly as possible. The client is waiting to hear back from us and I don’t want to keep them waiting any longer than they have to.” He face melted to a soft, sympathetic look. “There’s construction going on in the stairwell and so… the elevator would be faster. You’re the one I trust to accomplish this, so please, try, at least.”

Oh. Fantastic. Breathing in deeply, you nodded again and headed out.

It was a huge probability that it would be faster for you to run up the six flights of stairs and dodge the construction workers than you just standing there in front of the elevators, frozen. You hadn’t even pressed the button yet.

“Come on,” Yoon urged, pressing the “up” button for you. “I have to go up to the fourteenth floor,” she explained when you gave her a confused look. “I’ll travel up with you and show you that it’s completely fine. Then you just have two floors to make it on your own.”

“Okay,” you whispered. You could already feel your breath becoming shallow and that haunting, familiar tightness in your chest was creeping up. Oh, please don’t let me throw up.

The ding of the elevator scared you but you didn’t fight when Yoon guided you into the tiny death box. As soon as the doors closed, you pressed yourself up against the wall and kept your eyes on the glowing numbers, watching as the floors slowly move up. By a miracle, it didn’t stop on any other floor, prolonging your ride of terror, before hitting the fourteenth level.

“You got this,” Yoon encouraged as she held the door open. Of course she could say that. She was safely off the elevator and in the hallway. To try and make you laugh, she held up her fist and shook it once. It only slightly worked as the door slowly shut closed.

Closing your eyes, you focused on your breathing, hand squeezing the metal bar that ran around the inside of the elevator like a belt.

Two floors, you told yourself. Only two floors.

Then the elevator stopped.

You opened your eyes, thinking you’d arrived at your floor, but the red lights still read “15”.

Then the lights flickered.

“No, no, no, no, no, no.” You pressed the “open doors” button over and over again, trying anything to make the elevator move or let you out.

Nothing helped, nothing worked.

You began pounding your firsts on the metal barrier, crying out for anyone to hear you. “Help! Someone, help! I’m stuck in here! Help! Chanyeol!”

On the other side, you could hear the faintest of voices gathering somewhere above you. Great. You weren’t even fully on a floor.

“Who’s in there!” someone yelled. You were barely able to say your name as the sobs broke out. “Don’t worry! We’ll get you out of there!”

The elevator shook and you scrambled back into a corner. Not again. How could this happen again?

Grunts and muffled orders carried on in the space above you. The trembling you felt all over refused to stop and silently in your head, you began to say your goodbyes.

But you saw light again. A hole just big enough for you to crawl through emerged as several men pried the doors apart. You scrambled up to the space and climbed out with help from your rescuers.

“Don’t worry,” one of them said as they tried to comfort you by rubbing your arms with their palms, “you’re free. Paramedics are on their way to check you out.”

Even though he was trying, you weren’t soothed at all. Looking around, you searched for the one face you really wanted to see, but he was nowhere to be found. Some guardian angel he was.

Crap.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Chanyeol appeared in your living room, spinning in circles to try and find you. He knew you were here. When he’d gone to see you at work after chasing around a few other charges who were trying to be the next Evel Knievel, he’d heard about what happened only a few hours earlier. He should have known something was wrong. That gut instinct had kicked him, but he thought that you were fine and maybe just accidentally cut or burned yourself again. It was a habit he’d witnessed more than a few times over the last few weeks. But he was dead wrong.

The odds of being stuck in an elevator twice – in the same building no less – were astronomical and yet it happened to you. And he wasn’t there to protect you.

“(y/n)?”

No reply.

Slowly he made his way down the hallway to your bedroom. He called out for you again, but still he was met with only silence. However, when he opened the door to see if you were in bed, he was met with a pillow to the head.

“Get out!” you ordered.

“(y/n), I’m so so-” Smack! Another pillow met its target – his face. Chanyeol rubbed his nose as that one particularly hurt. Who knew you had such a strong arm?

“I said get out!” you sniffed. Now that he had a proper look at you, Chanyeol could see that your eyes were puffy and the tip of your nose was raw from crying. You were in an oversized t-shirt and shorts. The covers were scrambled about on top of the mattress as if you couldn’t find a comfortable way to lay. Yes, you told him to get out, but Chanyeol elected to do the opposite.

Taking off his shoes and jacket, Chanyeol slid into the empty spot next to you and pulled you into his embrace. You didn’t fight him, but you remained stiff against him. Chanyeol rested his cheek against your forehead, rocking you back and forth.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” he whispered. “I should have been. And I want to take it back. But I’ll stay here with you. I promise.”

Slowly, he felt you relax against him. Soon, you were bringing your own arms up and wrapping around his waist to pull in closer.

“I was so scared,” you hiccupped. “Why me?”

Chanyeol felt so defeated as he admitted, “I don’t know. But you won’t take another elevator in your life, even if I have to fly you everywhere.”

You actually chuckled against his chest. “I like the sound of that.” Leaning back, you wiped away the tears that rolled down your cheeks. “And I’m sorry. I know that it’s not your fault. You have other people to look after too. I can’t blame you when something goes wrong.”

“Yes, you can,” Chanyeol declared as he cupped your cheeks. He couldn’t stand the crushed look your eyes were giving him. While he’d always had a slight fondness for you… lately, you’d become the most precious thing to him and he’d almost lost it. “I should have been there. But don’t worry. From now on, I will be.”

You tried to shake your head, but Chanyeol’s hands kept you mostly in place. “You don’t have to promise me that. You said it yourself that you have others to look after.”

“But they’re not you.”

Your breath audibly hitched in your throat. But unlike the movies he’d seen where confessions like this led the other party to be frozen in place, you acted.

You had absolutely no idea what came over you. There was just something in Chanyeol’s words that kick started your bravery and the next thing you knew you were leaning in and connecting your lips to his. It was supposed to be a quick, chaste kiss, something prompted by your highly emotional state and his pretty words encouraging you. But you didn’t even get a chance to try and break it up before he was pulling you back in for more.

An angel shouldn’t be able to kiss like this. He definitely shouldn’t be pushing you down onto your back, pressing you deeper into the mattress. But every touch was gentle, treating you glass and letting you take any chance you wanted to end it. Of course, you didn’t. This was a situation you’d allowed yourself on more than one occasion to think about. Not a single one of those daydreams amounted to this, however.

When Chanyeol slowly pushed himself up onto his elbows and effectively ending that heated first kiss, your breaths came out shallow and your head felt dizzy. He stared down at you with those big round eyes so full of adoration that you shrank back.

“What is it?” he said, his breaths just as quick.

You shook your head. “Nothing. I just… I don’t think I’ve ever been looked at like that before.”

“Well,” he smirked, “you’d better get used to it. Because I won’t look at you any other way.”

Soaring on your own cloud nine, you snaked your arms around his neck and pulled him back down. If he was going to look at you like that then you were going to give him a kiss worthy of it.

“Chanyeol, slow down!”

But the big idiot did not slow down as he soared through the air, spinning around and laughing at your fear as you buried your head in his chest. The solid mass you were clinging to for dear life vibrated as he kept releasing teasing chuckles. He tended to forget that falling from this height would actually kill one of you.

“You can look now, (y/n).”

You whimpered, afraid that it might be a trick.

With only one eye, you peeked out over your shoulder. You were surprised to find a brick wall obstructing your view. Venturing out a little further, you realized that you were in a safe spot between two buildings near downtown. Releasing a sigh of relief, you put yourself sound on solid ground once again.

“Let’s not do that again,” you huffed, looking up at Chanyeol with a glare.

He ruffled the top of your head, making you swat his hand away. “Are you saying you didn’t have fun?”

“Yes,” you snipped. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. I’ve almost died twice by elevator, remember?”

“But you’re with me,” he reminded you. “Nothing will happen while I’m-”

A smoking black arrow fired out of nowhere, barely missing you as Chanyeol spun you into his embrace and faced his back towards the danger. The arrow stuck itself into the crackling mortar between the bricks of the building. Little wisps were still floating of the charcoal neck and the feathers were blacker than a raven’s.

Chanyeol kept you close as he searched around the area for the marksman. But the area was clear.

“What was that?” you asked worriedly.

“Demon,” Chanyeol hissed. He marched over to the arrow, pulling it out of the wall and inspecting its details.

“Those are real, too?”

He nodded. “This isn’t good. I’ll have to tell Junmyeon.”

“Who’s Junmyeon?” You were fairly certain you hadn’t heard him mention any others by name.

“Though not officially, he’s sort of our leader in this district.” Chanyeol grabbed your hand and held it tightly. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”

“How bad it is, Chanyeol?” He knew what you meant. You could tell by the way his shoulders dropped and the heavy exhale he pushed out through his lips.

“I don’t know, (y/n). I don’t know.”

#exo #exo angel au #exo angel!au #exo guardian angel au #exo guardian angel!au #chanyeol x reader #park chanyeol #exo fanfiction #exo fanfic #exo series #Crash Course

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cravingcrazewriting · 4 years

Text

Doubts {Treebros}

A/N- This is for the DEH gift exchange! @sincerely-us They're @unoriginalurl77, and one of their prompts was Evan has a bad day, cue hurt/comfort. Trigger Warning- mentions of cutting

The second Evan can't get out of bed, he knows it'll be a bad day.

He couldn't feel anything. Whatever emotion resigned from the day before had completely left, leaving him feeling numb. Well, emotionally numb. It felt like there was a giant weight of expectations and wants everyone expected from him but he just couldn't.

He couldn't even get out of bed.

"Evan? Aren't you going to get ready?" Heidi knew Evan usually got up early so he had plenty of time to eat and get ready to go. She was a bit worried, but she tried to have a little fun with him, for both their sakes.

"I— I can't," Evan choked out, bunching his blankets up and shutting his eyes tight.

"You can't?" Heidi asked slowly, almost to herself. "Is it one of those days?"

He was freaking her out, making her worry, just like always. She'd have to call in and waste her time. She could be resting but no, no Evan had to have issues, like usual. He had to keep bearing her down, keep being a burden, keep being worthless.

"I'll take that as a yes," oh, he hadn't said anything. Faintly, he registered her sigh and run her fingers through his hair. The familiar touch was grounding and nice. "I'll call in for you, okay?"

Evan could only nod as she pulled out her phone and called the school. He didn't catch everything she said, just that he wasn't going to school. Everything else was faded and a blur. It didn't feel real. Nothing felt real.

After Heidi left, Evan fell asleep for an hour. When he woke again, he saw some eggs sitting on his nightstand, and was reminded of the fact he hadn't eaten anything, from the emptiness of his stomach. He willed himself to slowly sit up from the confines of his blankets, and carefully took the plate onto his lap so he wouldn't spill it (even if he did, he didn't think he was in the right mental state to clean it up).

Heidi always made pretty much everything great, which was a shame she wasn't home as much, but it was a treat when she cooked for Evan. Part of his mind scolded him for making her use probably the last of the eggs when she could've given him pop tarts or something. Evan sucked in a breath and closed his eyes tight, trying to will away those thoughts. He fisted his blankets as he tried to stay calm and not spiral. They didn't use eggs much, anyways. There wasn't a lot of harm done, and they could go a week or two without them.

Once he managed to relax, he set the plate back on his nightstand to put away later and grabbed his phone, and well. He wasn't expecting a barrage of messages.

Con: hey were r u?

Con: r u ok? I'm hella worried

Con: should I get ur math??

Con: fuck it

Con: I'm getting ur math

Con: r u sick? I kinda just wanna skip and come see u

Con: evvvvv please answeeerrrr

Evan shook his head, finding those messages from his boyfriend just a bit endearing. Briefly, he knew it was around third hour and that class was still in session, but he couldn't ignore him, because would Connor get the wrong idea? Would he be bothered by what he'd say? He'd hurt him if he ignored the message because it'd seem like Evan didn't care enough to reply, which was not the case, he did care, almost too much, and then Connor would break up with him, his mom would see how heartbroken he was, get even more worried, and he'd end up being one of those guys that couldn't leave his house due to an overbearing family member.

It was extremely unlikely, but Evan's mind was all over the place that day. Deep down, he knew it was unlikely, but some parts were far too probable.

Evan: Just taking a mental health day. I'm okay.

Evan: You can come after school?? If you're not busy??

Evan: I just don't want to make you skip.

After an agonizing few minutes, he got a response.

Con: hell yeah i'm coming over. Gotta be crazy not to.

Ironically enough, that was enough to make Evan smile a little.

Con: and ur not a burden. Don't care how many times I have to say it, cuz I always will.

Con: I love u, Ev.

Con: <33333

Evan: I love you too, Connor. So fucking much <333

Evan tried to use Connor's words to motivate himself. He was loved, he was loved, he was loved, he stubbornly kept telling himself as he moved to sit on the side of the bed, and elevated himself upwards, stumbling only once to regain his footing. He took the plate and let out a breath.

'Small steps,' he thought to himself. 'Small steps. Take it at one, small step at a time.'

It wasn't anything big, but he made his way to the kitchen, washed his plate with a few others, and put it in the dishwasher for a more thorough rinsing later on (when it was full, at least). Afterwards, he walked out onto his backyard porch, in need of some fresh air.

Evan let out a small breath, leaning against the wooden railing as he gazed at the trees that stretched outwards beyond him. Normally, he would've been freezing, as he was only wearing grey shorts and a long sleeved blue t shirt, but in that moment, it didn't bother him. The only thing he could register was his own thoughts that made him spiral further and further downwards.

'He was completely worthless. It took him hours to get out of bed when it's supposed to come naturally. He can't talk to people, he can't do anything worthwhile. So many people have it worse than he does. He's just a burden on his mom and Connor. He's a burden on Alana, Zoe, and Jared. They don't care. Nobody does. It's all just an act, a sham. Why would they care?'

Evan spent almost an hour outside, crying softly as he held onto his arms. The bitter air was only warming up slowly and slowly, but it wasn't enough for his body. Deep down, he knew he had to go back inside. He assumed he was pretty much guaranteed to get a cold at this rate, but he didn't want anything worse.

Warmth cascaded all through Evan as he re-entered the empty house. His body felt like it was ignited as he got uncomfortably warm. He rubbed at his arms as he went to the bathroom to try and cool down.

He shed his clothes quickly and stepped into the shower, flinching at how cold it was. He didn't have the willpower to change it, though, because really, that was why he went in. To cool off, that was all.

Evan caught a glimpse of his hips and legs. They were barraged with various scars, some short and ending roughly while others were long and carefully planned out. He began to shake slightly, willing his eyes away as he curled his hands into fists. Despite trying to shake away the self deprecating thoughts that clouded his mind, he began to cry. He felt ashamed of those scars, and he wanted to heal so badly. While granted, none were very recent, there had been some lapses he wasn't proud of.

He spent a half an hour inside the shower, occasionally letting a couple of tears drop from his eyes, and once he's out, he feels awful about the time he took, and that the water bill would probably go up because of him.

Evan didn't feel like changing his outfit drastically, as he slipped on some sweatpants to forget about what caused his (second) breakdown in the first place. After he grabbed his phone and a blanket, he curled up onto the couch with said blanket and began watching whatever was on television. He didn't move from his spot, despite knowing he needed to eat lunch, but couldn't find the motivation to.

Con: hey Ev, I just got out and I'm coming to see u rn :3

Evan: You can just come in when you get here. Just ring the doorbell for a forewarning

Con: got it. Omw

About ten minutes after their short conversation, the doorbell rang, and a moment after, Connor stepped inside.

"Hey Ev. Doing okay?" His expression had worry printed all over.

When Evan attempted to reply, he realized he hadn't uttered a single word all day. So, he cleared his throat and said, "Kinda."

"Your eyes are red," one thing Connor was trying to work on was not jumping to conclusions, but he still slipped up more than he cared to admit.

Evan couldn't deny a statement like that. So, he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Can I— is it okay if I touch you?" Connor took a seat beside him, keeping a little distance.

Evan, who didn't feel like using his voice, just nodded.

Connor scooted closer to him, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "You wanna talk about it?"

Deep down, he sort of wanted to, but at the same time, he couldn't because it was too much. "Um— later?"

"Okay," he whispered, giving his shoulder a little rub. "What'd you need right now?"

"A distraction, p-please?" Evan was shaking slightly, and leaning into his touch.

Connor seemed happy to oblige, as he began talking about stuff that happened at school. Heidi had apparently told his mom that Evan wouldn't be there, but he didn't learn this till fifth hour from Jared, after they'd already established that. He talked about how Alana apparently didn't take mental health days, but that she hoped he'd feel better. Apparently Zoe had been worried at first too, because she informed Connor of a small routine they had. When they were passing from first hour to second hour, they'd cross paths and wave. Connor surprisingly found it nice as they had their own thing.

He then launched into rant about the math teacher, how she didn't know what she was doing, and how easily she gave up on kids. Apparently she told Connor he just wasn't going anywhere in life (that was absolutely not true at all, she said that to other students), and he had to resist the urge to just scream at her with how wrong she was, because that'd just prove her point.

When he was done talking, Evan cleared his throat, "Er, I'm ready, now."

"Okay," Connor moved his arm from his shoulders to grab his hand. He was waiting for Evan to start.

He took a deep, slightly unsteady breath, and began, saying, "This morning I couldn't get out of bed. I just... c-couldn't face the world as the disappointment I am. I couldn't— I couldn't force myself up, everything was just— t-too much."

Evan spared a glance at Connor, who looked upset at this new information, but didn't say anything. He made a gesture for him to continue.

"I managed to fall back asleep. When I woke up uhm, mom l-left some eggs for me and you texted me. So I did all that.. s-stuff and went outside. It just... hit me, that I'm b-burdening everyone, that all of you would be better off without me," Evan feebly rubbed at his eyes. He didn't want to start crying for a third time that day.

He felt Connor's grip on his hand tighten. "Evan, no... that's not true at all. It's okay to need a break, or to break down, because I know you'll get back up. That's what you always do, and that's what makes you so strong. If you... were gone now, I'd be heartbroken. I wouldn't know what to do with myself, but mostly, I'd wonder how I could've helped.."

Evan sniffled, and rubbed his nose.

"You're my light at the end of the tunnel. You help me find my way and keep me going. If I lost you, I’d be lost,” he smiled sadly. “I love you, Evan, and I’ll try to be the same for you.”

He was crying again, but this time, it was happy tears. He pulled Connor into a hug and whispered, “Thank you, Connor. I love you, too.”

And as he felt Connor’s arms wrap around him, he finally felt okay.

#treebros #connor #connor murphy #evan #evan hansen

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carryonmywaywardwriters · 5 years

Text

Love How You Hate Me - Sam x Reader

A/N: It’s late, but I wanted to get this up before I crash. Hope you all enjoy <3

PSA: I am NOT a minor friendly blog. If you are below 18, please come back when you’re older. I don’t want to lose my blog because you were too eager to grow up. If I discover you, I WILL block.

Series Masterlist

Upcoming Warnings: Show level violence. Mentions of childhood trauma/sexual abuse sprinkled in (not super detailed. I do have my limits). Smut. A lot of detailed smut. Kidnapping. Near death experiences. Etc. Individual chapters will have different warnings as needed. Read at your own risk.

Word Count: Roughly 3,500

“Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs. With the boombox blaring as we're falling in love. Got a bottle of whatever, but it's getting us drunk. Singing here's to never growing up.” You bellowed along to the song heartily as you stirred the yellow concoction in the pan. Dancing a little in the purple short and lavender tank pajamas you'd donned the night before.

Dean hadn't mentioned the conversation you two had the week before. Instead, leaving it to settle on your shoulders. He knew just how to apply the pressure without doing much work. Forcing you to consider every angle. As if you'd ever truly leave the bunker.

His unease left you in a predicament, however. If you retaliated, the older Winchester would believe that you were miserable. So rather than raining hell on the younger brother, you simply backed away. Remaining almost, but not quite, civil.

Sam seemed almost disappointed in the lack of response. But, he didn't challenge it amazingly enough. It was nearly peaceful inside the cement walls for the first time in...well, ever.

The night before, Dean had announced there was a ghoul active a few states over. Naturally, he had to go. And along with him? His brother. Or, so you assumed.

Peace and quiet deserved a celebration. Homemade juice paired with farm fresh eggs fit the mood. There was no need to scramble madly to feed the larger than life men. You could let down your guard for a little while. Make yourself a nice breakfast.

“Song suits you,” Sam's voice made you jump as he walked over to the coffee machine, bed hair game strong. You watched enviously as he brushed his long locks back into place with just his work worn fingers. That isn't natural.

“What are you doing here?” You stared at him as if he was a ghost. His lips tugged up slowly. No doubt enjoying your obvious horror.

“Dean left. Not me.” He shrugged, simply. His body seemed to grow larger as he straightened to his full height. Silently daring you to challenge it. “Said he had it, and that was that.”

“Great.” You rubbed your forehead. The tightness climbing at the base of your skull indicated a tension headache moving in. All of the possible repercussions of Sam staying behind danced through your mind. It never ended well. The bickering and hostility grew to unbearable levels without the older brother as a middle man. Not that you'd tell Dean that. Not after the conversation you'd had with him. There was only one way to rectify the situation. “Here.”

Without missing a beat, you plated and slid the perfect omelet you'd slaved over, over to the monster himself. He didn't move an inch. Squinting at the dish as he inspected it. Your eyes rolled before he could even speak.

“What kind of poison is it?” He quirked his brow while poking at the plate. The lack of retaliation from the fish incident left him even more distrustful than usual.

“Every kind of rat poison known to man. I paired it with a touch of hydrochloric acid for a bit of extra bite.” An exaggerated kiss to your fingers emphasized your inner chef. When that only earned a side eye, you sighed. “I was making it for me, but then you had to go and show your ugly mug.”

While Dean taunted his brother for his 'pretty looks, you went to the opposite end of the spectrum. You figured that he needed his ego knocked down a bit. Even if it was the furthest thing from true. The Winchesters had genes that would make the Greek Gods jealous. Rivaling even Zeus when it came to sexual escapades. It was ridiculous.

He took it warily; making a point to sniff the eggs when he thought you weren't paying attention. Another small poke to the yellow fluff ensued. Finding nothing obviously wrong, Sam finally lifted the fork.

“I get sick? Expect something worse than the fish.” He warned before taking a small, experimental bite. You watched as he chewed slowly. Trying to discern if there was anything questionable mixed in.

“Oh, please.” You turned back to the ingredients you'd left out and started making another one for you. “Some of us aren't quite that devious.”

Well, all of the time. You'd definitely put a laxative in his food once or twice after one of his worse 'pranks'. And, might have set up a booby trap or two for him to walk into. Based on the way his eyes flashed your way, he definitely was thinking of those moments.

No one said a word after that. You flipped the new concoction while trying to ignore the hazel gaze that watched every move you made. It made you wonder what was dancing through that too smart head of his. Maybe a new method of torture?

You left him in the kitchen, choosing to go to the library to finish your breakfast. Escaping his presence as soon you could. Not caring in the slightest if it miffed him.

Once you were done, you scanned the thickly lined bookshelves. It was useless. Instead of the unlimited lore you had access to, you pulled out a favorite of yours.

A gentle, relaxed sigh left you as your body dropped into the cushioned chair that rested in the bit of a nook. However, the reading didn't go as smoothly as you'd hoped it would. Instead you stared at the words until they all seemed to blend into a giant muddle.

After what felt like hours, you gave up. Your cell was yanked off of the floor, where you'd set it. The number could have been dialed in your sleep. Sure enough, after three rings, you got the voice you wanted.

“Ghost busters.” Dean answered, making you shake your head lightly with a small smile. It had become his new catchphrase. The man was nothing if he wasn't able to geek out.

“You didn't tell me you were going on your own.” You went straight to business. After all, you were still more than a little unnerved from the younger man's stare. “A little warning would have been nice. I almost had a heart attack when a rouge big foot walked into the kitchen.”

“I just needed some time to myself, Y/N.” Guilt dripped from Dean's voice as he talked. “Look,” A weary sigh left him, “if you need me to come back, I will...but, if you don't? You'll just have to deal, okay?”

“Hey,” You sat up straighter. His tone worried you. Dean didn't like to show any kind of weakness. Ever. “You're okay, right?”

“Yeah,” He answered, but it fell flat. “Like I said. Just needed a little space. I haven't had any real alone time in a few months.” While you'd had plenty. As annoying as Sam Winchester could be? Human socialization was necessary. You could deal.

“I get that...” You trailed off, looking towards the shelves. “Just...be careful.” You knew he was a competent hunter, and then some. He'd saved the world. But, you always felt better when he had Sam by his side.

“Hey, you, too. Try to not let him get you too worked up. I don't know why-”

“I don't either, Dean.” You sighed, and rubbed your forehead. It was a discussion you didn't need. He needed reassurance. “I'll be good, okay? If it gets too crazy, I'll bail until you get back. Promise. Just...go let off some steam, and then come back to us in one piece.”

“Will do, sweetheart.” You heard the smile in his voice. He loved it when you mothered him. Took some of the weight off his shoulders. “See you soon. Don't kill my brother. It's a pain in the ass to get him back.”

“You better. And no promises.” His hearty laugh made you feel slightly better. It made him sound more alive, at least.

You hung up with him. Nothing else needed to be said. Not at that particular moment. If you could put off the unpleasant discussion of room and board longer? You would.

You tapped your fingers restlessly against the table you were seated at. Processing the situation you'd found yourself in. Wondering just how long you could go before the temporary peace fell apart.

Dwelling on it got you nowhere. Instead, a huff left you as you lifted your book. Determined to turn away from the real world for a bit. Miraculously enough, it worked. You lost yourself in the story.

“You're reading Dracula?” The incredulous sound of Sam Winchester yanked you out of the plot sometime later.

He stood there, head tilted as he took in the sight. His laptop in hand. No doubt preparing to search for a hunt of his own.

“It's a classic. Don't know why you're so surprised.” You didn't bother looking at Sam. Hoping he'd simply go away. As if you were ever that lucky.

Truth was, you had a shelf in the library to yourself. Classics and newer novels alike lined it. He had just never paid attention to what you'd brought into his home.

“Never known you to be a fan of classic literature-”

“You don't know a thing about me,” The book didn't lower as you spoke matter-of-factly. Trying to focus on the world in front of you. “You didn't bother trying to get to know me. Ever.”

You'd made a point to take note of things he liked back in the beginning. Attempted to discover things he enjoyed doing. A wasted effort, in the end. However, you still remembered enough.

Sam, though? He'd just ignored everything he couldn't use to harass you. As if all those other pieces of you didn't exist. At one point, you'd been bitter about it. That time had long since past. Leaving you with only a practical attitude towards it all.

“That's not-”

“Name one thing I like.” That time, you did finally set the novel down. Brow raised as you waited. Not really expecting him to come up with anything. You knew better.

“Bram Stoker.” Was the best he could manage with a small frown tugging at his pink lips.

“Doesn't count.” If you rolled your eyes any harder, they were sure to get stuck. “You literally just learned that, Sam. I've been here how long?” That seemed to sink in. For once, he looked almost uncertain in his dealings with you. His weight shifted uncomfortably “Look, Dean's gone. So, let's just make this easy for once. Speak frankly. I'm a bit tired of whatever game we've been playing. I have no idea what I did to become the one person you can't stand. And honestly? I don't care to know by this point. I'll stay out of your way, and you can just enjoy your time off.”

“Y/N-”

“Don't go feeling bad, now.” You got to your feet, holding your book. Glaring up at him for the almost kind tone he'd manged. You didn't want him to show you pity, or remorse. “It's a little late for that...” A deep, steadying breath left you. Calming yourself back down, you straightened your spine. “If you have a problem with me being here, I'll have Bane pick me up. Stay with them-”

“I-I'm not getting the blame because you're looking for an excuse to bail on Dean,” You'd never seen eyes that changed colors so fast. And yet, his did as they flashed. Darkening in that barely contained anger of his; nostrils flared.

You'd done it again. Pressed those buttons that no one else seemed to hit. Only you couldn't understand why.

“Bail on Dean?” You couldn't hold back the snort. The idea so foreign that you could do nothing more than dismiss it. “The only one I'm willing to bail on is you, Sam.” You grabbed your dirty dishes and cell phone before leaving without another word.

As you walked away, Sam couldn't tear his eyes away from your back. Unable to do more than think about your words as he took over your seat.

You weren't wrong. As much as he hated to admit it to himself. When it came to you? If it wasn't something he could use to piss you off, he was clueless.

He turned his head away as you disappeared, glancing over at the shelf you'd claimed. Staring at the books, but not processing any of it. Much like he'd done with you.

Even when you tried making peace over the coffee incident, he'd pushed you away. Right from that first day, he'd been the one bent on confrontation. Not you. Once you'd stooped to his level, it had become comfortable. The one person he could be a boar to without remorse. Well, almost. Some days, he nearly felt guilty.

He didn't quite place what it was about you that made him act like such an ass. It couldn't be boiled down to one particular thing. It was just you in your entirety. But, when it came to the things he disliked? There was a list.

He despised the way you seemed to lead his brother on. More than once, he'd caught you sneaking into Dean's room at night and then leaving in the morning. And yet, you never even hinted at anything more being a possibility between you two. Pretended it never happened.

Dean might not have realized it, but he deserved far better than being used as a sex object after everything he'd been through. His brother deserved the good life. A wife. Maybe some kids. Hell, even a dog.

The longer you kept him on the hook, the longer it would take for him to find what he really needed. Sam tried to not interfere in that area in Dean's life, but that didn't mean he approved of the way you went about it all. Not in the slightest.

The scariest thing about you? You didn't ever hunt. He didn't even think you could. You knew the book work. And while that had its pros, he hadn't seen you put it to use. Not once. Training to stay in shape? That was a joke.

Your lack of skill was a threat. It was dangerous- mentally and physically- for both his brother and your mutual friends to be attached to someone who couldn't defend themselves. If you didn't break his heart by walking away, you'd do it with your inevitable death.

And in their lives, it was inevitable for anyone who couldn't fight. That's just the way things worked when someone was involved with a Winchester. If anyone understood that, it was the younger brother.

Sam sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose lightly. There was more. But, those two? Those were the main ones that would destroy Dean. That would end up taking down Sam with it.

You were entirely right. He didn't know you outside of the outline he'd mentally created. Of the list of negatives. Though, he'd never tell you that. Maybe I owe it to Dean to try a little harder, Sam thought to himself. With a sigh, he gave in; adding as an afterthought, and I guess I owe it to her, too.

“Go out and meet some people, Y/N.” Alice chimed over the phone. Sounding all too bright for someone in her condition.

“I have met people, Alice.” You sighed, kicking your feet towards the head of your bed while your head hung off the front. Something you'd never quite grown out of. “Too many.”

“Fine. Let me elaborate.” She huffed into your ear, making your lips twitch. Suddenly understanding Dean's amusement when you pulled out that tone. “I'll try to be as blunt as possible here. Be warned.”

“I'm listening.” You answered, knowing it was going to be something completely off field. Sure enough, she didn't disappoint.

“Go have hot, sweaty sex with an orgasm giving god that you have no intention of ever seeing again.”

Sam and Dean would have had a heart attack if they heard their precious, little Alice speaking in such a matter. But, you? You'd heard it all. It didn't even earn a blink in surprise. She'd have been wholeheartedly disappointed in the lack of response.

“I'm almost positive that you just want to live vicariously through me.” You chuckled. Although, if you were being honest with yourself, the idea was tempting.

“Damn straight.” She hissed. Latching onto the plan with claws out. “I haven't been able to have sex in forever! Do you realize how miserable it is? To be forced to be celibate when your hormones are amped up? This is worse than period horny, Y/N. This is horny in a way you can't even begin to imagine until you go through it. High risk pregnancies are the worst!”

“Obviously I can't imagine.” You rolled your eyes at her theatrics. “You're aware that I can't miraculously absorb your ridiculously horny state, right? Me meeting a hot stranger and going to pound town isn't going to ease your misery. At all.”

“I told you. I'll live vicariously through you. Besides, you need a good time. Get you out of the funk you've been in lately.” She was as observant as Dean when it came to you. And you didn't care for it. Not in the slightest.

“Says the one who can't leave her couch.” You retaliated. Sounding more like a bratty child than ever before.

“And I'm still enjoying living more than you. When is the last time you did anything just because you could. Something that was just for you, and you alone? You're constantly waiting on the Winchesters, or on us.” She sighed heavily. As if it had been weighing on her heavily. “I know you thought you'd enjoy the role of 'stay at home mom'. And I know you wanted something less intense. But, you and I both also know that you miss your wild child days.” Part of you couldn't help but to wonder if pregnancy gave her some kind of sixth sense. “A happy medium isn't bad. It wasn't for us, but you? You're different. You're going to go insane if you don't kill off some of this funk.”

“I'm going to let you go for the night, Alice,” You pulled yourself up, cradling the phone with your shoulder. Knowing there was truth to her words. The twitchiness was creeping back on.

“Remember. Hot. Sweaty. Stranger.” She emphasized, knowing exactly what was running through your mind. You ended the call. Only to sit and mull over her words.

You'd hated life under the system as a kid. Bouncing from house to house. Promises of adoption that never came through. You'd run away from it by the time you were sixteen.

To survive, you hustled men at bars. Picked pockets. You lived on the road, in a car you'd hot wired. You'd teased and taunted men to get free drinks and food. Whatever it took to survive.

Once you started hunting, you used the adrenaline rush as a drug. It consumed you. You drank too much, and had no trouble manipulating people to get what you wanted. You let off extra steam with a string of one night stands. Over time, it only grew worse.

Meeting Bane a few months in hadn't helped you slow down. If anything, he'd aided in the trouble. Needing that same level of high from his own demons.

The homes created a second person inside of their victims. It'd been a side of you you'd kept locked away in a failed attempt to encourage people into letting you into their lives. Telling you to let loose. Do whatever, whoever, you wanted when you wanted.

It was surprisingly Alice, your equal in the hell raising department, that helped you lose a little steam years after you'd left your final home. You still didn't understand how it'd come from someone you'd met while dancing on a bar, chugging vodka from the bottle.

By the time you'd met Dean, the couple been more than ready to retire from the life. You? You wanted to remain involved, but you didn't want to die guns blazing. Somehow, you'd ended up playing 'housewife' more than anything.

And in that moment? It wasn't settling right. Stomach twisting, Alice's words danced through your mind again. Your inner minx, who had remained dormant for so long, was starting to become restless. All the signs had been there.

To hell with it... She's right. Your lips pulled up, and a bit of weight that you weren't even aware you'd been carrying left your shoulders. Time for a little, well earned, trouble...

Part Three

Tag: @burningmusicmachine

#supernatural #spn #supernatural fanfiction #spn fanfiction #supernatural reader insert #spn reader insert #sam #Sam Winchester #sam x you #sam x reader #sam x y/n #sam winchester x reader #sam winchester x you #sam winchester x y/n #sam reader insert #sam winchester reader insert #sam fanfiction #sam winchester fanfiction

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emospritelet · 5 years

Note

Okay prompt request for dark heart remix! 26) “How can I go forward when I don’t know which way I’m facing?“

[Ch 1] [Ch 2] [Ch 3] [AO3]

Last time, Gold gave Belle a swanky apartment to move into and they agreed it was probably best they took a day to calm down before speaking again.

Please send me a prompt from this list or this list to fuel the angst and smut

Gold had booked a hotel suite for the week, but no matter how comfortable the bed was, or how dark the room, he was restless, and by four o’clock he had given up on the idea of sleeping, and got up to make some coffee. He drank it looking out on the darkened park, waiting for the sun to rise and listening to the news with half an ear. Rain was falling, lashing the windows in streaking trails limned in silver. He wondered if Belle was sleeping well. Whether she got enough rest. It didn’t look like it to him, and he hoped her stubbornness and righteous anger wouldn’t prevent her from accepting his help.

He was still angry over the fact that she had waited so long to tell him, still furious about the conditions she had chosen to live in rather than ask for his assistance. She and the baby could have burned to death in a fire and he would never have known. He focused on that anger rather than pick apart and study the desperate tangle of emotions that had burst into life in the deepest recesses of his brain upon learning that he was about to be a father again. There was too much fear and regret there for him to handle, and so he did what he had been doing for decades with unwanted thoughts and feelings, which was to shove them aside and ignore them.

The sun rose, a fact discernible only by the lightening of the sky. It was heavy with dark clouds, those at the horizon glowing red as embers. It seemed as though the rain would continue. Gold put on more coffee, and took a shower while he waited for it to brew. His usual morning routine of a wash and shave made him feel a little better, and he pulled a robe around himself and checked the time. Still reasonably early, but the city was coming to life, and so he poured the coffee and placed a call to his lawyer, Ella Deville.

“Alexander Gold,” she drawled, when he was put through. “It’s been too long, darling. How are you?”

“Fucking livid,” he said sourly. “I need some advice.”

“Whenever you need advice it makes me money, so do go on.”

He rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help grinning.

“I presume everything’s going well on the Misthaven building deal?” she added.

“Very well,” he said. “Except for the top floor corner unit. Looks like I’m going to lose money on that one.”

“Why? It’s a perfect location, and the market’s in reasonable shape, all things considered.”

“Nothing to do with the property,” he said quickly. “It’s actually why I’m calling. I - I’m kind of letting someone stay there. Rent free.”

“You’re not usually known for your soft heart, darling,” she remarked. “It’s one of the things I admire about you. What’s caused this sudden crisis of conscience, and how is my excellent advice going to help?”

“This isn’t the usual real estate deal,” he said. “You may need to refer me to someone else. It’s a family matter.”

“Well, now I’m going to keep the case just to be nosy.”

Gold took a sip of his coffee, wincing at the heat of it on his tongue.

“It’s my - well, my ex, for want of a better word.”

“Your ex?” She whistled. “My my, this is a first. The reclusive Mr Gold lets slip hints at a social life. Tell Auntie Ella all the sordid details, you bad boy.”

“Certainly not,” he said dryly. “It was a bad break-up and I wasn’t expecting to see her again.”

“And now?”

He hesitated.

“She’s pregnant.”

There was a moment of silence at the other end of the line.

“Well,” said Ella. “That must have been quite a shock.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” he muttered.

“I suppose congratulations are in order,” she added. “I presume she says it’s yours?”

“Yes.”

“And you have doubts?”

“I - I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m not saying I think she’s lying, but - well, we hadn’t spoken since the break-up. I have no idea what she’s been up to.”

“Of course.” He could hear her scribbling. “She could be playing you, and we certainly can’t discount it. You’re a very rich man, after all, and that has to be a better prospect than whatever lumbering college boy caught her fancy one drunken night, hmm?“

Gold closed his eyes as he remembered what Belle’s boyfriend looked like. Was he the father? Had he abandoned Belle over the baby, leaving her no choice but to come to him? Would she really be that cruel, to make him responsible for another man’s child? To get his hopes up only to crush them? Could you blame her if she did? You did it to her after all. You led her on, then broke her heart, and destroyed the both of you in the process.

“Alexander?”

He blinked, clearing his throat.

“She must know it’s the sort of thing that can be tested,” he managed.

“Oh yes,” said Ella. “But desperate people do stupid things, I find.”

“Yes,” he whispered. “Yes, they do.”

“Well, I suggest a paternity test,” she said briskly. “Easy enough, and quick. A simple blood test should do it, and then you’ll know. One way or the other.”

Gold felt a momentary chill at the thought of the result being negative.

“Right,” he said. “Yes.”

“If the test is positive, we can talk about next steps,” she said. “Any initial thoughts on what you want to do?”

“I want to exercise my rights to the child, of course,” he said curtly.

“Yes, but there’s a myriad of options in that field,” she said. “If you think things are likely to get nasty, I may need to get one of my colleagues to handle the case. Ursula is a fantastic family lawyer, as well as being an excellent kisser.”

“I’ll rely on whatever you advise,” he said. “I - I hope we can come to an agreement without the need for that, but she’s stubborn.”

“I suppose it’s early days,” she said. “What are your initial thoughts on the ideal outcome?”

Gold ran a hand through his hair, short, damp strands licking against his fingers.

“I - I want to make sure she can’t take it from me,” he said. “I need to ensure that. I want to be named as its father, to be equally involved in raising it, to have equal say in any decisions about its life, education and welfare.”

“Hmm,” she said. “I see you’ve given this quite a bit of thought.”

“Well, it’s not like I spent the night sleeping, or anything,” he said sourly.

“Why don’t we make sure there’s a right there to be exercised, first,” she said. “Let’s do the test. We can worry about the complications afterwards. Is she seeing anyone?”

“I - I don’t know,” he said. “She lives alone.”

“I see. Well, once we get the results, you can start planning your future,” she said. “Should take about a week. When is the baby due?”

“May fifth.”

She made a strangled sort of noise.

“And you’re only calling me now?”

“I only just fucking found out!” he snapped. “Hence me saying I was livid!”

Ella tutted slowly.

“Just how much of a giant arsehole were you to make her not talk to you until she was seven months pregnant?”

His mouth twisted.

“I believe you can guess the answer to that.”

“Hmm. That bad?”

He winced.

“Probably worse.”

“Surprised she called you at all, in that case.”

“Can we leave the character assassination for another day?” he said shortly. “Will you arrange this test?”

“You’ll need her consent.”

“Oh, I’ll get that, I assure you,” he said grimly.

“Let me make a few enquiries, and I’ll get back to you.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I’m staying in Boston, by the way. Just call me on this number.”

He hung up, slipping the phone into his pocket and turning back to his coffee. Just under twelve hours before he could see Belle. Just under twelve hours that he had to fill to keep his mind from concentrating on the worst that his imagination could produce. At least she was unlikely to run away, in her current condition. At least there was that.

After Gold had gone, Belle went to run herself a bath, and explored the apartment properly. It really was beautiful, the furniture sleek and expensive, the rugs soft and thick beneath her feet. She looked in the kitchen cupboards, finding a multitude of cans and dried goods, and the fridge, which contained a wide variety of vegetables, fresh milk, cheese and butter, eggs and cream and fresh juice. There was a sliced loaf of bread on the kitchen counter, one of those artisan loaves with seeds in the crust. She was hungry, but exhausted, so she made herself a sandwich and ate it at the kitchen table, washed down with a glass of milk.

Taking a bath felt like true luxury, and she stayed there until the water was tepid, wrapping herself in a thick towel when she was done. The bed was king-size, ready made with heavy cotton sheets and a dark grey eiderdown, and Belle curled up in it, a cup of tea steaming on the nightstand. The apartment was beautiful, but a part of her worried that she had moved into a gilded cage, from which she would find it hard to escape. A cage where Gold could swoop in and take their baby if she ever displeased him.

She was anxious, and her sleep was restless because of it. Waking up to pouring rain didn’t help, but she made herself scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast and ate it at the kitchen table, looking out over the city as it started to come to life. She had a view of the park and tree-lined streets, and she had to admit that it was a much better start to the day than in her old apartment, where she would have been listening to the couple next door yelling at each other. She would have to make the best of losing some of her freedom, for the sake of the baby.

The rain had eased a little by the time she got to the university, and she headed straight for the coffee shop, where she found Emma juggling a pile of books in one arm and a large coffee and Danish in the other. Belle took the coffee from her before she could drop anything.

“Thanks,” said Emma, nodding to a free table. “How are you? You look kinda beat.”

“Yeah, didn’t sleep well,” said Belle, and hesitated. “Alex tracked me down.”

Emma’s eyes widened, and she shoved her books onto the table.

“Wait right there!” she ordered, wagging a finger before hurrying back to the counter. Belle took a seat, watching listlessly as Emma ordered a tea and another Danish and hurried back, shoving them across the table at her. She shrugged out of her heavy coat, pulling the woollen hat from her head.

“Right,” she said. “What happened?”

Belle launched into an explanation of everything that had happened between them the previous evening, and Emma listened, only interrupting to snort loudly or curse Gold out. By the time Belle had finished, though, she was looking thoughtful.

“He seriously said he’d take the baby if you didn’t do what he wanted?”

“Pretty much.”

“You think he was serious?”

“Oh yes,” said Belle dryly. “I think he meant every word.”

“What an asshole.”

“That’s one word for him.”

“Well, we just have to make sure he can’t follow through on the threat,” said Emma.

“So - do as he says?”

“If what he wants means the baby’s safe and you get to keep it, then yeah.”

“Ugh.” Belle sat back, pulling a face.

“Just saying.”

“I know,” sighed Belle. “I know it’s the sensible thing to do, I just - I hate that I don’t have options, you know?”

“I know, honey.”

“He just - he just waltzes back into my life with his perfect suit and his stupid perfect haircut and looks down his nose at me and I have to dance to his bloody tune!” groused Belle. “I was already well aware that I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, I didn’t need a reminder!”

“You’re doing fine!” said Emma soothingly, reaching for her hand and squeezing.

“I’m not, I’m - I’m a mess!” said Belle, feeling tears sting her eyes. “I have zero control over my life and I’m just - just winging it every bloody day! How can I get through life like that? How can I go forward when I don’t know which way I’m facing?”

“Honey…”

“You think I don’t know what he saw the moment I opened that door to him?” Belle went on, gesturing with a hand. “I’m pathetic!”

“Belle,” said Emma sternly. “Stop. Breathe. You’re one of the least pathetic people I’ve ever met. You’re just going through some pretty serious life events right now, okay? It’s enough to throw anyone off their game.”

Belle huffed air out in a long breath, slumping in her chair a little, but nodded. Emma squeezed her hand again, and reached for her coffee.

“How’s that paper going?” she asked. “You get all those resources you were looking for?”

“Most of them,” said Belle, tearing a piece off her Danish and popping it into her mouth. “Professor South gave me some good feedback on my last piece, so I’m hoping I can build on that. You?”

“I have about fifteen hundred words of my criminology paper, and most of that’s crap,” said Emma bluntly.

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“Okay, maybe only thirteen hundred words is crap.”

Belle giggled.

“You want to get together for a study session this weekend?” she asked. “Turns out I suddenly have a lot of space to work in.”

“Sure. If you let Neal and Henry bring dinner over when they pick me up.”

“It’s a date.”

Belle reached for her tea, taking a sip, and Emma took a bite of her Danish. She watched Belle as she chewed and swallowed, reaching for her coffee again.

“So,” she said. “Baby daddy’s given you a new apartment?”

“He hasn’t given me anything, he’s letting me stay there,” said Belle morosely.

“Still.” Emma took another bite. “Gotta be better than the old place. I kept telling you it was a fire hazard.”

“Yeah, well, beggars can’t be choosers, right?” said Belle. “And now I’m dependent on him.”

“Not forever,” said Emma reasonably. “When you finish college you’ll be in a way better position. And at least it seems like he wants to help out, right?”

“I guess,” she said despondently. “I just - I hate feeling powerless.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Emma took a slurp of her coffee. “But you need to think about what’s best for the baby. And sometimes that means swallowing your pride. Believe me, I know.”

“Yeah.”

Belle picked up her Danish and took a bite, and Emma tilted her head.

“You said he’s coming over tonight,” she said. “You want some backup?”

Belle shook her head as she chewed and swallowed.

“I’ll be okay,” she said. “We need to talk about what we’re gonna do, I know that. I just hope we can do it without me wanting to strangle him with his own tie.”

“Try sleeping with him,” suggested Emma cheerfully. “I’m willing to bet you could bang your way to a better deal.”

Belle shot her a flat look.

“Okay, that’s a piece of advice I definitely won’t be taking.”

“Really.” Emma’s voice was flat. “How does he look?”

Belle groaned, slumping in her chair.

“He cut his hair,” she said gloomily.

“So?”

She sat forward again.

“He used to have this long hair,” she said. “It sort of came to his jaw and it was really soft and it used to brush my face when—” She pulled a face. "Well, you know.”

“And now?”

“He’s cut it all off.”

“So that’s good, then,” said Emma. “He looks like shit?”

“No! That’s the problem!”

Belle slumped forward, letting her head thump onto her folded arms.

“So, getting back to my sleeping with him idea,” said Emma, and she raised her head.

“I’m not doing that!”

Emma winked at her, popping the last piece of Danish into her mouth and licking crumbs from her fingers.

“We’ll see,” she said. “I give it a week.”

#ashmarie220 #fic: twisted fate #rumbelle fic #my fic #rumbelle

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phantomphangphucker · 5 years

Text

Gray's A Ghosties Host - Phic Phight

Prompt Creator: @latterdaysaintvampire Prompt: During a high-stakes chase, Danny’s parents’ newest invention has shorted out all his powers, except one - possession. Summary: What to do when the boy who possesses your heart is literally possessing your heart?

No warnings Italics means thinking that the other can hear

“What are you doing, Phantom?”, The Red Huntress watches Danny Phantom carefully as he falls out of the sky onto her board. “Uh, not a whole lot of time to explain but you see that”, Phantom points aggressively to the faintly glowing red centipede as he continues, “yeah needs to be stopped and my shit ain’t working, so could I jack your body for a bit?”. Red opens her helmet to gape at him, to which he just sighs, while the centipede draws closer, “over-shadowing, get with the program. All my other powers are fried”. Red throws her hands out to the side, “why the hell would I! I could beat it with my own body better than you could!”. Phantom groans and flails a bit as Red swerves to avoid the centipede, “because you don’t know how to beat the thing and I don’t have time to explain!”. Red glares at him and he makes a pouty face at her, Red facepalming, “fine! But don’t turn off my consciousness or whatever!”. Phantom groans again but nods, quickly slipping inside.

“You know that unconscious shit happens naturally, pretty damn hard to force it not to”

“I don’t care, my body not yours”

“Yeah yeah, now how do I use your goo blaster thing?”

“Right elbow, twitch like you or I or whatever, have an inch”

“Well that’s vague”

Phantom can feel Red mentally glare at him but he just rolls her eyes. Shooting her board forwards and maneuvering it with ease, as he chases after the centipede; which has unfortunately gotten pretty far away by now.

“Phantom, how do you know how to use my board?”

“Uh, I’ve done it before. That and it’s pretty straight forward”

“What! When?! And bullshit I took days of practice to maneuver it this well”

Phantom quickly jerks to the right as the centipede tries to smash his tail into them.

“When I got us out of the zone, when Skulker abducted us. I got you home my way, which yes, meant over-shadowing”

“You ass! But fine, good enough reason”

“And Red, your board is way easier than my tail and that’s attached to me”

Phantom manages to use her blaster after a few tries which he can feel her snickering about. Shooting off the goo to melt away some scales on the mid-back of the centipede. Ducking low on the board he flies them in. Phantom’s kind of glad for the full body suit right about now, since this thing is dripping ectoplasm all over them. Red pipes up again as Phantom is flying them through twists and turns of what’s basically a giant maze, all lined with what’s basically egg sacs.

“Okay this is disgusting, you are helping me get this off my suit”

“It’ll be a lot worse if those sacs burst, which will happen if I, or I guess we, don’t find the right one in about 30 seconds”

“Well you fucking better, driver”

Phantom mutters out loud, “that’s what I’m trying to do”. Flying past one of the offshoot hallways Phantom jerks to a stop, flies backwards and speeds down the hall. Smirking the whole time, “found you”.

“Care to explain why I couldn’t just play scavenger hunt myself?”

“One, I could sense about where it is. And two you can’t just shoot it, that’ll make everything way worse”

Phantom feels quite satisfied with himself at Red mentally grumbling to herself. Phantom starts rubbing Reds hands on the sac and a bunch of lights show up in it. He starts tapping the lights wildly in a specific pattern, that he forced himself to memorise after one too many unpleasant encounters with this thing.

“How many times have you had to do this?”

Phantom completely ignores her, which she mentally glares at him for. But watching the sac turn green and liquify, Phantom grins, “Hell yeah!”.

“More times than I like and here comes the unpleasant part”

“Um what?”

After about a second or two the entire ghost just liquifies into very wet jello like green ectoplasm. Half climbing and half swimming, Phantom gets them to the surface and sits them down on Red’s board, shaking the ectoplasm off her hands.

“This is disgusting, again you’re helping me clean my suit”

“Try doing that without a helmet. Shit gets into everything. And yeah sure, I’m not an ass”

“Well, could you get out of me now?”

Talking out loud, “yeah yeah, sure”. But before he has a chance Red’s suit electrocutes him and results in him knocking Red out cold, accidentally. “What the fuck!”, shaking her head he tries to actually hop out of her but nothing happens. “Oh fuck”, mentally poking Red back into consciousness.

“What the hell Phantom!”

“Your suit shocked me, or us, lost my grip on the not knocking you out thing”

“Fine”

Phantom shifts a bit awkwardly on her board.

“There’s uh, a bit of a problem though. I can’t seem to get out now”

“What! Did you even try?”

“Of course I tried! I’m not an asshole and no offence but I like my own body. Preferably not inside someone else’s, even if it’s you”

“Uh, you’re not half bad yourself but seriously, you can’t get out?”

Phantom nods her head but tries again anyways, this time Red can actually feel him trying to get out but both can tell that somehow the suit is stopping him. Frowning, Phantom flies them into an alleyway.

“Okay that’s weird, it would be really dumb for my suit to have a feature like this. I’m guessing we’re in an alley so you can deactivate my suit?”

“Yup, not about to reveal you in broad daylight”

“I don’t even know how I feel about that, you’ve revealed me before”

“Only to your own dad. To stop you from a damn suicide mission”

Phantom shakes her head and deactivates the suit, or at least attempts to. Talking out loud, “uh, unless this works differently from last time, we’ve got another problem”.

“Oh come on! I bet you anything that weird ectoplasm is at fault here”

Sighing, “yeah probably, I swear I had no clue though”

“I believe you, this doesn’t really benefit either of us”

With a groan, Phantom summons Red’s board out again and flies them both to her place. Landing in her bedroom,

“I’m guessing you have suit repair stuff”

“Yeah, though my suit’s self-repairing, usually. Just grab the diagnostic machine from my closet. It looks like a PDA but red and pointy”

Phantom chuckles as he pulls it out, looking exactly like what she described. Thinking to himself about how Tuck would love to get his hands on this. Flopping down on her bed,

“Now open up the panel on the underside of my left arm and plug it in. It’s just a push and pop, I’m sure you can do that”

“What do you take me for, a moron? Well, you’re absolutely right”

“You’re awful”

Phantom leans them back on her bed as he waits for the machines results. He can’t help but smirk at a couple of the glow-in-the-dark stars on the roof.

“You know, I can fell what you’re doing with my face. What? My stars not to your liking?”

Phantom can feel the sarcasm there and chuckles almost loudly at that.

“Red, my ceilings covered in them. Hell, I’d stick these fake ones on everything if that wouldn’t make me look insane”

“My knowledge on lairs is pretty small, Phantom. Couldn’t you just make literal stars everywhere?”

Phantom laughs again as the machine starts beeping, grabbing it as he responds to Red.

“Pretty sure Amity Park would have problems with me doing that. Might make it hard to drive or live with literal balls of flaming gas everywhere! Even fake ones would make things difficult, for everyone involved”

“Wait, all of Amity is your lair?!”

Phantom nods as he stares at the screen, “Uh, the hell does any of this mean?”. Rubbing Red’s neck, “and yes all of Amity is my lair, though I have my own little room inside Amity as well”.

“That’s major contamination, need a system flush. We’re stuck for a bit and seriously? Why is there such a ghost issue then? Shouldn’t you be able to keep them out or whatever? And you better not be messing with people”

Phantom can feel her glare, though he can tell she’s more curious than genuinely angry.

“You can’t just keep ghosts out, all you can do is make your lair a place they really don’t want to go. Tons of humans is pretty well attracting them, looking to mess around with them. Amity would be a very unpleasant place for anyone but me to live, if I went out of my way to make Amity unappealing to ghosts. And there’s nothing wrong with a prank or two”

Phantom rolls her eyes at Red’s continued glaring, “I don’t mean anything nasty, so chill. You know me better than that, I’d hope”. Sitting up and glaring at the little device, “so system flush?”.

“Just push the green button, red one and blue one, at once. And you’re right, I do know you better than to be mean. Thanks, I guess, for not screwing with Amity. Lots of folks live here. You really are as protective of the people as much as the town, aren’t you?”

Phantom nods and smiles warmly as he pushes the buttons. Jumping a bit at the sudden weird tingling and movement in her bodies veins, but shaking his head a bit amused at Red’s mental laughter.

“Trust me having two or four bodies feels weirder, that was just unexpected. I forget your suit is literally inside you and part of you. And what? You gonna sue me for being a protective little shit. I care more about the people than the town. Buildings can be fixed, people just can’t”

Phantom can’t help but shiver at some old memories. He could feel Red’s shock, though he’s glad she seems kind of happy.

“I’m not sure I want to know what your sudden disturbed feeling was. But that’s good you care about the people. Man, I really used to be a dick to you”

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t really care much about myself getting hurt. And no you don’t, I wish I didn’t. Well, sorta; it’s complicated. Anyway, how long does this take?”

“We are both messes, but about six hours”

Phantom flops them back down on the bed and fiddles with Red’s fingers in front of Red’s face. Blinking her eyes a bit before muttering, “oh well that’s, uh, not actually good, shit”.

“Oh now what?”

“Well, the stupid weapon that shorted my powers is gonna wear off in about an hour. And they’re going to be a bit squirrely”

“So what? You’re just going to use them at random?”

“Pretty much, only easy to use ones though. Might fall through the bed a couple of times or start sneezing ice”

“That is going to be very weird, it won’t hurt me will it?”

Phantom rubs her neck and chuckles awkwardly,

“Uh, can’t say I know for sure. But it is safe to use my powers in someone else’s body. This really isn’t a power I use much”

“That’s just great. Well, try not to hurt me”

“Of course, and I’m guessing you’ll need to sleep at some point?”

Thinking to himself, about how he really needs to himself and he’s not even a regular human.

“Duh, which is going to be a whole new level of weird. Do you even know how to sleep?”

Phantom can’t help but start laughing his ass off, putting Red’s arm over her eyes. “Sometimes I think I don’t, god! But yes, hell yes”

“Not sure why that’s so funny, ghosts don’t sleep so it’s a damn valid question”

“It just is. Just chalk it up as another weird aspect of the enigma that is Phantom”

“How do you manage to be so powerful, horrible and cute”

Phantom coughs, caught a bit off guard, “what was that?”.

“Uh”

Phantom laughs playfully at that complete lack of a response, “well then”.

“Jerk”

“Oh come on, you’re all those things too. I’m just not embarrassed to say it, well, think it; in your general direction. But at least you weren’t 24 years old this time ”

“What? What the fuck? You’re less of a jerk now, but what?”

“What the fuck is a pretty accurate way to describe time travel. You look pretty good with a buzz cut by the way”

“That’s insane, what uh, what was I like?”

“Pretty much the same, didn’t really talk much. You realised I was from the past, called me cute and then passed out”

“Wow, somehow that feels really lame”

“That was the only real highlight of that day. Pretty shit day. Come to think of it, every-time time travel is involved shit gets really messed up”

“You really are a mess”

Phantom scrunches her face up a bunch before lifting her hand to her face, completely invisible.

“Holy shit, you weren’t kidding. How did neither of us feel that”

“My powers are extremely natural to me, like blinking or breathing to you. It can be harder to not use them than to use them”

“That’s weird even if it makes sense, I guess it’s like how I don’t notice my suit doing its thing in me anymore”

Phantom shakes her head but feels a fair bit embarrassed,

“Even from the very beginning, it was like that for me. Half the time I was using my powers on accident and usually didn’t even notice”

Phantom can feel her snickering at him

“Goddamnit that’s adorable, oh hell”

“I like how you go from mocking me, to being embarrassed”

“Oh shut it”

“I don’t think I will”

Red mentally yelps as the two phase straight through the bed and floor. Phantom has to latch onto a ceiling light to keep them from crashing into the living room. Phantom silently watches Mr. Gray walk from the living room into the kitchen, before phasing then back into Red’s room. “Well, that was eventful”.

“More like nerve-racking”

“Eh, nothing much phases me anymore”

“You’re awful”

“Then you must have awful taste in men”

“You’re a child!”

“So are you!”

“You’re a ghost...”

“So what? Why care?”

Phantom sighs a bit as he sits them down cross-legged on her bed, she doesn’t think anything at him for a bit.

“We’re not the same, you’re literally possessing me right now”

“No one is the same, and you have a nanobot suit in your veins. How is that not just as weird as my powers?”

“You, you’ve thought about this before”

“Like I said, or thought, I’m not embarrassed by my interest. Hell, most ghosts and even a few humans, know how I feel”

Phantom rubs Red’s neck, “though I’ve been called an insane idiot many times for it. I guess it is kind of absurd and stupid to be interested in someone who’s trying to kill you”.

“Wait, so you’ve been, interested, in me since almost the beginning? Yeah that is pretty stupid, I really was trying to destroy you”

“Heh, yeah I know. My self-preservation was pretty well butchered by the time you popped up”

“Can’t really say mines all that intact either, but this is just so weird”

“Red, for as different as we are, we are also very similar. Hell, our “jobs” are basically the same. And we’re both out to lunch compared to the rest of our kinds”

“True, I don’t know if this would be more or less awkward face to face”

“You’re the awkward one here, I’ve been owning this shit pretty well publicly for years”

Phantom can feel her embarrassment as he rolls over to stretch out a bit, blinking at the layer of ice they’re laying on, “well there’s an ice breaker for you”.

“Pft you’re awful, it’s not even broken”

“Oh you know better than to tempt me”

“Don’t you dare!”

Snickering, “I’m the scary ghost boy! I do what I want!”

Phantom flicks a corner of the blanket, shattering it off, “HA!”. While Red mentally laughs.

“So, you going to own your shit now too? Or do I need to make more horrible puns for you actually admit you like me”

“God damn you, how are you so just out there? With everything? And yes I’m still hung up on the ghost thing, but you really don’t care do you?“

“Nope, I really don’t. Two humans, two ghosts, a ghost and a human, or something else entirely; I see no real difference. Though, I’ll never get over Boxy getting with the Lunchlady. They're going to be so confused at the baby shower, I fist fought their kid before they even started dating”.

“Oh my god, that is really ew. I think this kind of shit is why you are so self exposed. No matter what weird shit you show publicly, there’s something weirder unsaid or did”

Phantom scratches Red’s head with her hand, “you might just have a point there”. He then flings her hand over the top of the garbage can, clearly seeing the glowing green forming ectoblast.

“Well I hope nothing was hidden in there”

“Why would I hide stuff in a garbage can? That’s asking for it to be thrown out”

“Must you insult me so”

“Seriously? What even are you?”

“A mess that’s what. A spooky mess”

“The spookiest”

“A spooky that you likey”

Phantom puts her hands behind her head and smirks while Red mentally groans.

“So...”

“Oh my god”

Red doesn’t get to properly respond as Phantom snaps her head to the side, ghost sense going off. “It’s been all of three hours”, with a groan Phantom flings them up off the bed and sticks her head out the window to look around.

“What even was that? And what are you looking for?”

“Ghost, that was my Ghost Sense. Goes off whenever a ghost is near”

“Oh my god, you have built-in ghost radar and ghost tracker”

“So do you?”

Phantom jumps about a bit, making sure he can make her body float reliably, as Red thinks at him.

“From nanobots, not my own natural body, but point. And you know none of my suit is usable right now, right?”

Phantom smirks, “yup” as he vaults them out the window. Flying low to the ground, off to where he can sense what turns out to be a snake ghost.

“Please don’t crash me”

“Flying might as well be my number one skill, Red”

“And your powers are being crazy right now, so your point?”

Rolling Red’s eyes, “oh please, have a little faith”. As he shoots off an ectoblast at the snakes head, “that’ll give ya something to sink your fangs into!”. Only to snap Red’s head towards Skulker as he shoots a capture net around the snake. The two, technically three, float there for a bit while Skulker slowly tilts his head. Until Skulker smirks, tosses his catch over his shoulders and gives the two of them a thumbs up, “well whelp, that’s not how I’d go about snagging a lady but a fellow hunter always congratulates another on a successful hunt”. Phantom, snapping back at the retreating ghost, “I asked first, you metal ass”.

“You really weren’t kidding about that either. Am I seriously the only one who didn’t clue in?”

Snickering as he flies them back to her place, “well most humans don’t know and ghosts are horrible gossips, but I’m pretty sure you knew; sort of”.

“That makes no sense”

“I’m an enigma remember”

Flopping down on Red’s bed and crawling under the blankets, “comfy”.

“Glad you approve, not sure how you’ll handle sleeping for the first time in however long”

“Like a very scary baby”

“More like a cute one”

Phantom raises her eyebrow, “Oh is that so”

“Alright fine, I like your ghostly ass ok? And not in the just friend's way. The interspecies thing is still a mind trip though”

Smirking contently into her pillow, “well now I can die happy”.

“Don’t you dare”

“Be happy or die?”

“You’re awful and we’re a mess”

“Well then, I’ll remind the reaper to bless this mess”

“You are an affront to god, now let me or us or whatever sleep”

“Oh you have no idea”

Red wakes up after only an hour or two of sleep, thinking to herself, she’s mentally blaming that on Phantom.

“You still here, Phantom?”

“Yeah, you can’t get rid of me quite yet”

“I think I’m ok with that”

“Same, but I’m still jumping this body-sharing ship when I can”

“Good, cause we so need an out of my body talk, you cute ass spook”

End.

#phic phight #phic phight 19 #Danny Phantom #phantom #fan fic #phan phic #Valerie gray #romcom #romance #phantomphangphucker #have a fic suck my dick #team human #possession #over-shadowing #gray ghost

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