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snowcandyz · 2 years

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Eternal Memories

Genre: Fluff + Angst

Pairing: The relationship depicted in this story can be deemed as romantic or platonic, except for Luke, which is strictly platonic.

Summary: Let’s take a walk down the memory lane with all of the Obey Me’s characters!

Warning: Contains spoilers for Season 1 and a little bit of Season 3.

For a better reading experience, play 'Eternal' by Obey Me Boys on loop.

Devildom.

A special place where bittersweet memories were made and eternal friendships were shared.

Choosing to participate in this exchange student program was the best decision you could’ve ever made. Nothing is more valuable than learning about different cultures and making new friends; especially when your friends are of other species.

Not only did you get to learn about the demons, but you also learned a lot about angels. Even humans; you’re own species.

Sure, it’s not always butterflies and rainbows, but what’s life without its ups and downs?

You also discovered your origin while participating in this program, which is unbelievable, to say the least.

And the brothers…

The newfound family you’ve learnt to love and care for.

The family you shared your laughter and cried to.

The family you didn’t know you need.

You were first acquainted with Mammon since he was tasked to take care of you. Although he seemed like a reckless guy, you got to know his hidden sweet personality.

Calling himself your Guardian Demon, the days were always so bright and meaningful with him by your side. Soon enough, you found yourself growing fond of the tsundere.

He’s also the one who kept you safe the most. Never wanting to leave your side out of fear,—or just plain greediness—he’s there with you 25/8.

Always protecting you.

Always denying his affection for you.

And always wanting the best for his human.

Then, there was the whole TSL Quiz incident where Leviathan almost killed you. Honestly, you’re not sure how you sprung back up in no time and asked him to be your friend.

Maybe you’ve secretly admired his passion for his interests?

And shockingly enough, he also offered to make a pact with you.

You began to spend more time in his room; playing the latest video games together, watching the newly released animes, chit-chatting about the light novel he just bought, or just spending some time talking about his goldfish, Henry 2.0.

You learnt that Leviathan is just another sweet demon behind that mask.

Always comparing himself to his brothers, the poor guy can’t find anything worthy to be proud of—which is a lie because you can’t help but feel jealous of his unlimited talents.

And sure enough, Beelzebub also came into the picture not long after that.

This kind-hearted demon may seem angry the first time you two met, but as you learnt more about his past and why he still couldn’t forgive himself over his sister’s death, you knew he’s just trying his best to protect his family.

Known for being Lucifer’s personal bodyguard a long time ago, you found yourself wanting to help him achieve his goal.

And because of him, you vowed to save Belphegor. Because his twin brother is his everything.

These brothers have a complicated relationship with each other; that much you know. And you found yourself wanting to help them in every way possible.

Whether it’s to find themselves or to understand each others’ hidden stories, they deserve to know that at the end of the road, each and every one of them loves each other dearly.

Next was Asmodeus, the Avatar of Lust, a demon who’s full of himself.

You could say he’s a narcissist too. But when you dived deeper into his thoughts, you realised he’s only feeling insecure about himself.

Thinking he didn’t have anything worthy to be shown except for his looks, Asmodeus chose to hide his pain and scars by indulging in others’ praises of his appearance.

Which hurt you so much because you know how kind he is. Besides Mammon, Asmodeus too never threatened to kill you by changing into his demon form.

The underground tunnels incident might have opened his eyes to what he’s capable of doing because he volunteered to make a pact with you himself.

The same goes for the Avatar of Wrath, Satan.

Always walking on edge around the fourth born, you found yourself gaining deeper bonds with him when it’s known to you that he’s still finding his identity.

Born from Lucifer’s wrath, all he could ever feel was anger and rage. He started questioning his identity and self-worth.

He’s insecure about his presence because to him and everyone else, he’s only a mirror of Lucifer’s shadow. Constantly being compared to the eldest didn’t help, especially when the latter is worshipped and glorified by all.

What was the meaning of his birth? Why did he ever exist?

Knowing how he must have felt, you showed him a whole new world besides his fury.

Satan is his own identity.

Smart and knowledgeable, this cat-loving demon is surprisingly very patient with others despite being perceived as a ticking time bomb. And as much as he chanted his hatred to Lucifer, his love and care for the eldest didn’t go unnoticed.

Because of your help, those two found a mutual ground to work alongside each other.

You were getting closer to your goal, and the remaining target was Lucifer.

But you couldn’t comprehend why he’s so mad at you in the first place when you mentioned Belphegor. Did he not love his own brother?

Lucifer had tried to kill you more than once now, and it’s a lie to say you’re not hurt by his action.

After all, you were only just trying to help.

And so, help was what you did when you accepted Lord Diavolo’s offer to go back in time. In order for the brothers to stay together, you had to do this.

You had to sacrifice yourself.

And sacrifice was truly what was done by Belphegor to you.

Even to this day, you could feel that small fire of anger in your heart every time you remembered his action.

You felt wronged, betrayed.

Deceived.

You carried your broken heart away from the family, retreating yourself from them.

Although the impact you have on all of them remained.

Because they kept chasing after you, kept apologising for their past actions and promised to keep you safe ever since.

Belphegor too apologised for what he did. He was wrong to hurt the only person who helped him throughout those times he spent in the attic.

Being with you had enlightened him that no one was at fault for Lilith’s death.

The times you two shared up in the attic made him feel guilty for his hasty action. And your pure intention of releasing him from the attic made it clear that you were only hoping for the best for everyone.

Perhaps he’s too blinded by rage that he can’t see things clearly. And maybe that’s the reason why Lucifer locked him up in the first place.

Belphegor also volunteered to make a pact with you as an apology because he wanted to make it up to you by offering his power.

It was tough to forgive them—especially the Avatar of Sloth—because the pain was still aching in the deepest part of your heart, but somehow, you found yourself wanting to be near them too.

And no matter how much suffering you went through, you never want to let go of them.

Because they’re your family.

The last to ever make a pact with you was the eldest, Lucifer.

Always hiding his true emotions behind his ego and pride, he’s truly the only one you didn’t understand at all. But what you do understand is that he’ll do anything to protect his brothers.

Going as far as to offer eternal loyalty to the Demon Prince, he only wanted what was best for all of his siblings.

Let them throw insults at him.

Let them misunderstand his whole motive.

Let them hate him with all their might.

But he won’t stop defending his brothers in silence.

When you learnt all these traits of him, you couldn’t say no anymore when he offered a pact.

Although truthfully, you’re not even sure why he insisted on it. Since Belphegor was already released from the attic, another pact wasn’t needed at all, right?

His true intention was just to be close to you; to share the same bond his brothers shared with you; to have you as his Master and protect you anywhere you go.

The brothers are complex but you can’t deny you enjoy every second spent with them.

But what about the other friends that you’ve made throughout this whole exchange student program?

They’re also one of the best.

You were the closest with the angels as their kindness towards you touched your heart. Even though you’re from a different species than Luke and Simeon, not once did you ever feel small or worthless around these two.

They took good care of you; cooked you delicious food; accompanied you everywhere you go and even shared many sweet memories with you. You honestly love them so much.

If Mammon’s your Guardian Demon, count on these two to be your Guardian Angels.

To be the guiding light every time you feel down.

To be the warmth and comfort you needed after a bad day.

And to be another reason to smile after you shed your tears.

Not to forget, Lord Diavolo and Barbatos too.

Although they are powerful beings and could easily punish you for your wrongdoings throughout your whole stay in Devildom, not once did they threaten you with their authority.

You were treated as one of their own; like one of the royalty.

You know you’re not truly polite and modest all the time in front of the Future King of Devildom, but Lord Diavolo never told you off. Instead, he welcomed your quirky ideas and honestly, you’re really grateful for that. They are truly your best friends ever.

Barbatos, too helped you a lot in adjusting your life in Devildom. You could always crash into the Demon Lord’s Castle anytime you felt homesick. He’d always be there to give you a home-cook meal—or at least try to because he’s also not too accustomed to Human World’s food.

You cherished these two with your whole heart and wished to keep spending more time with them in the future.

The last but definitely not the least is the Wise Sorcerer, Solomon.

A friend from the same species and the friend that kept you safe in silence. Being your master in sorcery, he helped you through your ups and downs and guided you in every step you took.

People often misunderstood him and called him shady, but you could see his point of view. When you’re cursed to live for all eternity, you had no choice but to watch your close friends die right in front of your eyes.

You also know why he decided to keep things for himself and not share his thoughts easily with others. After all, sharing bonds with mortals will only hurt you deeper when you have to see them off on their deathbeds.

Wanting to see him happy, you vowed to do your very best as his friend. And at least give him some good memories in his long years of living because he truly deserves it.

This journey taught you so much and you’d definitely keep them all locked up in the deepest part of your memories. Everyone had given you joy from your bleak life in the Human World.

You wished for these happy moments to last and to always be by their side, but reality hit harder than you thought. Commitments and responsibilities in the Human World have pulled you off of them. You found yourself getting busier by the day and having no time to return their calls. Even when they sent you messages and invitations to come back to Devildom, you have to reject them.

You hoped to return too. Their laughter could be heard as you reminisced on those sweet times. You couldn’t wait to listen to their jokes, their silly banters with each other and even their corny pick-up lines.

The time spent with them was truly a magical wonder.

Maybe you should clear up your schedule? And pay them a surprise visit? After all, everybody loves surprises!

You smiled as you thought of the idea. You couldn’t wait to see their shocked faces when you returned to Devildom later.

Alright! You’ve decided. You would be paying them a visit next month, so in order to do so, you’d need to work extra hard to clear your schedule for the entire month.

No pain no gain, right? And work hard play hard?

You mentally noted the first thing you wanted to do after arriving in Devildom.

You’ve grown apart for so long because of your massive workload and frankly, you felt very guilty. Not once did they ever stop giving you messages and asking about your condition in the Human World. They understand your situation and always wished for the best.

You’ve read the messages in your free time, but due to the time strain, you couldn’t find the perfect time to reply.

They even called you to check on you sometimes, but to no avail; you still haven’t called them back.

So the first thing you wanted to do when you return to Devildom, was to apologise and give them all a big hug.

Still fantasizing about your journey back home, your phone rang from the incoming notification.

You had hope for one of them to give you a message like they usually did, so you clicked on it.

“Thank you for always playing Shall We Date? Obey Me!

After the great years spent together, it is now time to say goodbye. We regret to inform you that we will be ending service of the game on February 30, 20XX 9:00 PM (PST)

Users will be unable to newly install the application, and in-game purchases will no longer be purchasable.

*The application will not be available for re-installation or updates.

▼What happens after the termination?

Users will be unable to access the games and won’t be able to play the apps after the termination date.

There will be no refund or exchanges for any items and/or in-game purchases purchased in the application. We sincerely apologise to all of our users concerning this issue.

Thank you for understanding and for being a supporter of the Shall We Date? Obey Me! game.”

Your heart throbbed painfully inside your chest as you skimmed through the text once again. You then opened the app hastily, trying to recapture the memories that kept flooding your mind at the moment.

Everyone was there, waiting for you like they promised every day. They were smiling and greeting you with cheerful smiles plastered on their faces.

Your friends, your saviours.

“I was looking forward to your visit,” Barbatos greeted.

“Welcome back…! You’re late!” Luke pouted.

“Aaah, I missed you so much!” Asmo exclaimed.

“Welcome back. It was lonely without you around,” Lucifer sheepishly said.

“You’re finally here,” Belphie said before giving you a smile.

“It’s not like I’ve been waitin’ around for ya or anything… Seriously, I wasn’t!” Mammon pouted.

You couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down to your cheeks.

“Ah, you’re back. I’ve been waiting for you,” Solomon said.

“Hey, do you have any food on you?” Beel asked, still giving you a smile that radiates the whole screen.

“I’ve been waiting for you to show up. There’s this really good manga I thought I’d lend you!” Levi excitedly exclaimed.

“Finally, you’re here. I’ve been waiting for you.” Satan smiled.

“I missed you…truly.” Diavolo looked at you with eyes full of longing.

You had to bite your lips to suppress the incoming cries.

“What is it? I’m right here, so everything will be okay.” Simeon offered you a smile.

Yes, because they’re here for you when you needed them the most.

You held your phone close to your chest as you cried your heart out from all the happy memories that came flashing back.

“Thank you for all these years.”

“We hope you enjoy being with us, just as much as how we love being with you.”

“We won’t forget you. We promise.”

“Because we love you.”

And it is an eternal vow.

The notice used in this story is strictly fictional.

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heyyyharry · 3 years

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Deja Vu (part 2 of 'Drivers License')

(inspired by deja vu by Olivia Rodrigo)

Word count: 2.5k

Read part 1 here

“What the fuck is this?”

Harry flinched as his girlfriend shoved the phone at him. He’d just got out of the shower, hair still dripping wet, but it wasn’t so out of the ordinary that she would start a fight first thing in the morning.

He sighed and gently pushed her phone away from his face. “Baby, if it’s another rumour about me cheating on you...I was with you this whole week!”

“No.” She lifted the phone up to his face again. “That girl just released another song about you.”

Even though Harry didn’t let it show, whenever he heard about Y/N, his heart would always skip a beat. He couldn’t remember exactly when the last time they’d spoken was, but he knew in his last message to her, he’d congratulated her on that new song about him. She’d never replied, and he’d taken it as the answer — they could never go back to the way it was.

It had broken his heart to listen to ‘drivers license’. Y/N had never been the kind of person to be vocal about her feelings. Or maybe she’d expressed it through actions instead of words, and he had been too nonchalant to see? He hadn’t meant to break her heart and leave her in the dust. After all, she used to be his best friend.

“Y/N’s a songwriter. She writes about her own experience the same way I do. Maybe that song is not even about me, babe,” he calmly told his girlfriend, who was standing in front of him with fresh tears in her eyes. He hated to see her cry, and he hated that this wasn’t the first time she’d done it because of him. He tried to reach for her but she stepped back, shaking her head.

“Listen to the song.”

“Baby.”

“Listen to the song,” his girlfriend repeated without looking at him. “Why are you so afraid?”

“I’m not.”

“Then listen to it and tell me it’s not about you, and that she’s not throwing shades at me. I’m so tired of this girl telling the world about how horrible we are as if you had even dated her in the first place—”

“Fine,” Harry exhaled sharply, his eyes pinched shut. He hated that when his girlfriend got mad, she would get so mean for no reason, and the last thing he wanted to hear right now was her insulting Y/N. He knew Y/N. She had always been respectful to his new relationship. However, he wasn’t in the position to tell his girlfriend how to feel about this situation. He knew it was all his fault, so he stayed quiet, took the phone from his girlfriend and sat down on the edge of the bed. His girlfriend stood with her back against the wall facing him, waiting for him to play the song so she could see his reaction to it.

“Go on,” she told him, her voice emotionless.

Harry looked at the song on Spotify. It was titled deja vu. He took a deep breath and one last look at his girlfriend before finding enough courage to press play.

Y/N’s previous song about him had been blasted in every shop he’d visited, all the time when he was filming, every time he was in the car, and now, the moment he heard her voice again, it really did feel like deja vu.

Car rides down Malibu

Strawberry ice cream

One spoon for two…

“Are we there yet?”

“No, stop being so impatient! Just keep on driving!” Y/N said and looked out of the window on the passenger side. The sun was going down, and the horizon was gradually turning the colour of an egg yolk. It was their last day in Miami. They had been filming for every day that week, and this was the only day they could spend just for themselves.

Harry stole a glance at Y/N and saw that she’d finished half the strawberry ice cream while bobbing her head to the song Uptown Girl on the radio. He frowned, making her laugh when she noticed.

“Open your mouth,” she said and fed him a spoon of ice cream.

“Ahh, brain freeze!”

“But it’s good, isn’t it?”

“So good.” Harry licked his lips. The face he made got Y/N laughing harder.

Fifteen minutes later they arrived at a secluded beach. Y/N had found this place when she traveled to this city alone two summers ago and almost got lost.

Together, she and Harry carried their picnic things through a palm forest, and by the time they saw the ocean, the moon had made a fading presence on the pink Miami sky.

Y/N picked up her shoes and ran towards the waves, letting it chase her back into Harry’s arms and nearly knocking him over. Their laughter echoed in the wind as their shadows stretched out long and lanky on the empty beach. In that very moment, it felt to Harry as if they were the only people in this world, and he had a sense of peace that he might never be able to experience again.

“You don’t get to see this in the city,” Y/N said dreamily as she pulled Harry’s jacket tighter around herself. It was dark now, and the sky above them was full of stars. They sat shoulder to shoulder on a picnic blanket, listening to the whispers of the ocean and the wind. Harry used Y/N’s jacket as a blanket because it was too small for him to put on. They’d laughed for five minutes straight when she told him he looked like that monkey from Aladdin and took plenty of photos just to prove the point.

“I don’t want to leave tomorrow,” he said, still looking at the sky.

“Me neither,” Y/N sighed, her shoulder brushing his. There was a pause, and he could feel her eyes on him, so he turned and saw her looking. “When I get home,” she said with a small smile that made her eyes sparkle, “I’ll learn to drive, and when we come to Miami next time, I can drive you to this beach.”

“I’d love that,” Harry said, then made her pink-promise him.

“They went to Miami last week.”

Y/N blinked. The beach and starry sky disappeared in a second, and she found herself once again standing in the fitting room with her stylist and best friend.

“What?” her best friend marched over to where she stood in front of the full-length mirror.

Her stylist was holding the phone up to show her the article. “Here. Harry took that actress to Miami last week.”

“Don’t show her these!” Y/N’s best friend grabbed the phone and put it on the vanity desk as she gestured to the stylist. “You do your work. Enough chit-chatting.”

“I took him there,” Y/N said. She didn’t even recognise her own voice at first because she was too in shock. She didn’t think Harry would do something like that. But let’s be honest -- how much did she really know about him?

It had been a few months since his last text to her, which she had ignored, and now her song had been overplayed, and nobody cared about the drama anymore. The whole world had moved on, and she had, too. Or so she’d thought. Now, seeing these pictures of him and his girlfriend on that Miami beach made Y/N feel betrayed.

“Asshole,” her best friend said and grabbed her shoulders. “Don’t worry baby. You’re prettier.”

Y/N worked up a smile and opened her mouth to say that she was fine, but then she heard someone call her name and turn around. They weren’t calling for her. Just a name similar to hers that had become an inside joke between her and her friends.

The moment she locked eyes with Harry’s girlfriend, her heart seemed to stop as she held her breath, her lips thinned as if to hold back a scream. She didn’t know the girl personally and had never run into her before today. How unfortunate that they had to be in the same room after Y/N had seen those Miami pics.

“What is she doing here?” Y/N’s best friend asked the stylist the question Y/N was too afraid to ask.

“Fitting for an event, I guess,” the stylist said.

Y/N told them to just ignore the others and mind their own business. The sooner they got the measurements, the faster she could leave. Or she could leave right now and come back another day, but that would make it look like the other girl’s presence was bothering her. They were both actresses, and so they would have to run into each other at some point. She must be professional about it. This was normal. Just act normal.

“He’s so unique,” Harry’s girlfriend said while laughing with her team. Y/N didn’t mean to overhear the conversation, but apparently, the girl was making sure that Y/N heard her loud and clear. “We were watching reruns of Glee last night, and he even sang to me and told me he loved me inbetween the chorus and the verse. Don’t touch the jacket! It’s Harry’s and it’s Gucci. We exchange jackets sometimes. Isn’t that adorable?”

“Show off,” Y/N’s best friend scoffed while shaking her head.

Y/N didn’t say anything. In her mind, she agreed with her best friend for a second and immediately felt that she was being petty so she forced herself to just be nonchalant about it.

She could not. She could not ignore the fact that she’d been replaced as if she didn’t matter. Harry was doing all the things he used to do with her with his new girl. Even taken her to that Miami beach. Their place.

Y/N bit her lip and tried to hold back the half-formed tears in her eyes as the stylist went on talking about the fabric. She chose a random one just to get this over with.

“I hope that fucker gets deja vu.”

“What?” Y/N blinked at her best friend, who gave a mean shrug as she glared at the girl.

“He’s probably thinking of you while doing all that shit with her.”

Y/N pondered over it. Over and over. Even after the girlfriend’s laughter had faded down the hallway, and Y/N was also packing up to leave the studio. Her best friend’s words stayed with her as she got into the car and watched the street of London pass by her window.

That night, when she was alone in her living room with her piano. She sat down and started playing a few experimental chords. Then, she cried. Her tears blurred the handwritten lyrics on her notebook as she tried again.

“I have this idea,” she told her manager on the phone before sending the recording. It was three in the morning.

“Oh my god,” her manager exclaimed, sounding much more enthusiastic than he had when picking up her call. “This song...is so gonna win a Grammy!”

Y/N’s song had won a Grammy.

They had talked about it for so long. Harry had encouraged her to pursue a singing career, because she’d started out as an actress but was blessed with the most beautiful voice he had ever heard.

Ironic, wasn’t it? Now he was sitting at the front row and looking up at her as she received the award from an artist she looked up to, for the song written about him. She smiled at the crowd as the light shone on her and everyone was cheering because she deserved this. She said her thanks and expressed her gratitude to her family, her teams and her fans. She didn’t say his name. He hadn’t hoped that she would, because he knew there was no way his name would come with a positive message. So he was kind of glad she hadn’t mentioned him.

His girlfriend squeezed his arm as if she knew what he was thinking of. He smiled at his girlfriend. A smile of reassurance. They had put it behind them and promised to try again after all the fights about the song they were playing right now. Nothing would change after tonight. Because there was nothing Harry could change.

He caught Y/N’s eyes for one brief moment as she ascended the stage. Although he was sure he loved his girlfriend, there was something about that look that made him sad. Would he be happier to come here with Y/N tonight instead of his girlfriend? He wouldn’t know, because that would never happen. He didn’t even know if she still resented him, or if she was still the same person he remembered. A lot could change in a day let alone many months. And it was scary to think someone you used to know so much had become a complete stranger. The opposite of love wasn’t hate. It was indifference. And Harry felt it deeply as Y/N never paid him a second glance.

At the after-party, he worked up the courage to approach her when he found her standing alone texting on her phone.

“Hi. How are you?” he said.

Y/N looked at him as if she couldn’t understand English. If she ignored him and walked away, this would be the most humiliating moment of his life.

But no. She pressed her lips into a gentle smile and said, “I’m good. How are you?”

“Good.” He nodded, wanting to shake her hand, but his fingers stayed glued together behind his back. “Congratulations on your win.”

“Thank you.” She picked up the glass of wine on the table beside them, and Harry knew he’d lost his chance of shaking her hand tonight. “Did you like the song?”

“Yeah. It was good,” he said, finding it difficult to hold eye contact with her. There was something new about her that unsettled him, and he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For speaking out about it.”

“Oh.” Y/N showed no emotion as she shrugged. “It’s alright. I only said the truth. The song was fictional, and I don’t want anyone to get hate for it.”

They both knew it wasn’t true, and he couldn’t tell her that his girlfriend had almost broken up with him for it. Even if he had told her that, he didn’t think Y/N would care. She didn’t look like the Y/N he knew anymore. Suddenly, he recalled that night on the beach, when she was still looking at him with feelings.

“Look, Y/N, I—”

Before he got a chance to form a proper thought for what he was going to say, his girlfriend, who was obviously drunk, shouted from somewhere behind him. “Babe, Jeff’s wearing a tiny jacket! He looks more like the monkey than you!”

Harry looked at Y/N. She held his gaze. The corners of her red lips quirked as she raised her glass. “Deja vu?”

Just like that, she left him standing there all by himself.

#harry styles #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles imagine #harry styles fluff #harry styles imagines #harry styles angst #harry styles writing #harry styles x reader #harry styles one shot #harry styles one shots #harry styles x you #harry styles x y/n #deja vu #drivers license #olivia rodrigo

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itsbeaconhillsbaby · 3 years

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city lights, pretty sights || tom holland x reader

a/n: hello again! so i was completely overwhelmed by the lovely response my first tom holland mini fic/imagine/blurb thing received from you guys. and i had a couple more ideas so decided to keep going and see what you all think. once again - i hope you guys are liking these, let me know if you are and if you wanna have a chat about anything tom related - hmu, I'd love to chat!

word count: 1673 warning: none (that i can remember anyways) summary: wandering through nyc late at night still in your premiere outfits; pizza, piggy back rides and cute scenes

“What’s your thoughts on pizza?”

You nuzzle closer into the side of the figure next to you, feeling them guiding and supporting you along the path as you walk together. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t holding on a little tighter than normal. Looking up to him you grinned, hair falling out of the loose style it’d been sitting in all night, the bouncy curls now framing your face, “I love pizza.” You could feel the presence of Tom’s security, walking a little further back giving you both some space, but still close enough that if anything at all happened, they’d be there to get you both home. You approach a tiny little hole-in-the-wall takeaway pizzeria, Tom pulling himself behind you, keeping hold of your hand as you walked through the tiny entrance. “Two slices of your pepperoni pizza please?!” you ask, grabbing a couple dollars from inside your bag and handing it over to the man. the place was empty. “Ay, 2 minutes!” You thank him and lean back slightly, now bracing yourself against Tom as he wraps both his arms around your waist and tucks his chin into your neck. sweeping a couple tiny kisses below your ear. “Have I mentioned how beautiful you look tonight?” he whispers, brushing some hair behind your ear with his nose. “Only every single time you’ve looked at me,” you laugh, “It’s not every day I have make-up artists and dresses delivered to me. But I think you’ll find it’s me who can’t keep her eyes off of you. You were amazing tonight, y’know?” He hums into your bare shoulder, your body vibrating against his touch. Tonight was crazy; and you still couldn’t quite believe that it wasn’t all just some very elaborate dream. You had been making breakfast a couple days ago for you both, spoiling Tom now that he was back in London fresh off his press tour. You had come into the bedroom to tell him everything was ready when he pulled you down onto the bed and into his chest, gently asking if he could bring you as his plus one to his premiere in New York. The days that followed were crazy. Some designers had sent some dresses once they were told Tom was bringing a plus one, all eager to be the first to dress ‘her’. It was overwhelming to say the least. You were brought back from your memory by a saucy pizza aroma, your stomach reacting after now realising how long it had been since you’d eaten. You’d been so nervous all day, and everything was so stressful this morning...this pizza couldn’t come faster. Aside from your rumbling tummy, there was another big reason why neither of you had wanted to go straight home after the premiere. You hadn’t looked at your phones yet. Nor did you particularly want to. You knew the media would have been chomping at the bit to release the photos and articles of Tom and his ‘mystery girl’ - you were making the most of your normality with him before it was all blown to smithereens. Before you could dwell on that thought any longer, two slices of thick NYC pizza wrapped in napkins atop paper plates slid across the counter towards you. Tom unwound his arms from around your body and you both grabbed your slices before giving your thanks and leaving the pizzeria with a jingle of the bell above the door. //// You finished the last few bites of your pizza, leaving the crust before throwing it into the nearest bin. The city lights were glittering, cars still lining the streets despite the late hour. It definitely was the city that never sleeps and you loved it here. Despite it being hot and sticky all day, a cold wind had picked up and the material of your dress wasn’t exactly the warmest. Tiny little goosebumps has appeared on your arms, the little hairs standing up straight. “You wanna head back? It’s getting cold,” tom asked, he shuffled himself out of his burgundy suit jacket and held it open for you to put your arms in before sliding it up and over your shoulders, enveloping you. “-Or we can call a car here?” he continued. You had stopped where you stood, just at one of the entrances to central park. “We can have a car come in about 15 minutes if you want to take a little stroll about the park, Tom?” His security guard had noticed the lack of movement and had come over to see if either of you needed his assistance. “That sounds great, thank you!” you called, refusing to let this day end just yet. “Thank you for today, the paparazzi and the media and all the shouting. It’s a lot to deal with. Would put many off, but you handled it like a complete pro. We did the right thing didn’t we?” Tom asked, keeping his eyes forward to the grassy path lined with trees. “Hey. Look at me.” You turn him to face you, the lamplights highlighting his eyes as they trained themselves onto you, “I knew what I was getting myself into, and no amount of press or media stunts are gonna ruin this. No way. We’ll deal with it - as long as you want to keep making these films, I’ll support you. through the good and the bad, right?” He shifts on his feet, slightly uncomfortable with the conversation. His lifestyle had gotten in the way of his relationships before, you knew that. and Tom felt deeply about the people he loved. It was partly why you loved him and a reason why you’d both agreed to keep you out of the limelight for a while. You knew he was giving you a get out of jail free card. A reason to leave if you needed it. “I’m in this. I promise,” you reassured him. Youu bring your hands up to his face, caressing his cheek slightly, brushing the curls out of his face with your hand, “Since when did you get so soppy anyway?” “What can I say...it’s part of the charm!” you saw that twinkle jump back into his eyes, his playful energy taking centre stage pushing the tiredness, vulnerability and fear to the back of his mind. You continued to walk through the park a little, still within eyeshot of the entrance, careful not to wander too far. Enjoying each other’s company in a peaceful section of this intense city. At that moment, in classic NYC style, the heavens opened up and a heavy rainstorm thundered into the ground. The pair of you started laughing, the rain catching you both slightly as you took cover under one of the trees lining the pathway. You noticed Tom’s security waving you over, your car was here and the stretch from where you were both sheltered under the tree to the entrance was fully open. “Right, hop on!” You look at Tom confused as he squats down slightly, his arms held out behind him. Gathering up your dress slightly, you grip onto his shoulders, count down from 3 and hop onto his back, wrapping your legs around his waist and linking your arms around his shoulders and neck, clinging on with your face pressed into his hair. “Go go go!” You burst out laughing as he makes a beeline for the car, the rain pelting down on the both of you, completely soaking the pair of you to the bone. Your hair whipped around your face and you could hear Tom laughing as he ran, you couldn’t help but join in. You closed your eyes, tilted your head up and let it hit you for a moment, you were by far the luckiest girl in the world. You’d reached the car before you knew it, Tom gently lowered you back to the ground as you hopped back off - keeping your dress off the ground in the hopes not to ruin it completely. Opening the car door and ducking your head in, you slid across the seats, Tom on your heels. “Well, that was unexpected.” Tom looked at you, his full curls plastered to his head - shirt dripping, and burst out laughing, “I love you but you look like a raccoon.” You playfully hit on him on the shoulder before bursting into laughter yourself, “Oh shut up. ” //// Tom was, as expected, trending on all social media the next day. Articles and photos of his past relationships and rumoured romances brought to the surface as your red-carpet photos together came to light. However, the press hadn’t caught the best photos of the night at all.

In amongst all the posed pictures, two slightly blurry but still recognisable photos were moving their way across the internet. One taken by a fan through the window and across the road from the pizzeria - of Tom cuddling you from behind as you leaned back into him dressed in gown and tux. And another, of you with your head back, hair wild, laughing and Tom carrying you on his back, floppy and curly hair, massive grin and eyes crinkling at the sides - taken by another fan, you suspected. As gorgeous as the media pics were, you knew behind them was stress and nervousness from both parties, and you couldn’t help the feeling in your stomach that someone had managed to capture both of you completely natural and free, enjoying yourselves and each other on such a monumental day for both Tom and for your relationship. You liked and saved both the pictures before hearing the click of your phone locking shut as you placed it back on the bedside table. Rolling over you curled yourself behind Tom before he shifted himself onto his back, arm sliding under your shoulders and shifting you into his side. You close your eyes as he presses a sleepy kiss to your forehead and you let yourself finally relax - completely and utterly content.

#tom holland #tom holland blurb #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland x you #tom holland imagines #tom holland fluff #lisa writes #I really enjoy writing these and hope to continue to do so #is it a little ooc?#probably #tom holland fanfic

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stylesann · 3 years

Text

Rebuilding

Steve Rogers x fem!reader

Summary: Steve decides to go back to the 40’s and you hurt.

Warnings: idk? Angst but happy ending

A/N: I have no idea what this is but aaa I feel like it’s bad lol, I just always get in a very angsty and dramatic mood every time that I read a story about Steve leaving so I wanted to do my own twist? Idk, and it’s been yeaaaars since I don’t write anything and also I’m not a native English speaker so I apologise any mistakes. Comments are always welcome 💕 -> written in around 15/04/2021; ->posted 28/05/2021

Masterlist

You stare at the ocean and release all the air you were holding on your lungs. You still felt your body heavy but at least your tears had stoped. You’re fighting hard to keep your thoughts out of your head, to keep your mind calm like the scenario in front of you, an empty beach with the ocean waves rhythmically hitting the shore. The sky had a lot of clouds and it would probably rain soon, but you didn’t mind, it matched you mood.

You could say you were surprised but all you felt was disappointment, sadness and if you were being honest, you felt anger and jealousy. What Peggy had that you didn’t? I mean, you didn’t know the answer and you were sure if you had asked Steve he wouldn’t be able to give you one cause he had spent such a short amount of time with her that he couldn’t be able to actually know all of her. All her flaws, all the quirks. In the past you had thought he didn’t even loved her anymore and was just in love with an image, an illusion he had from his past. But for him to had left you for her you weren’t even sure of that anymore.

You also felt used, replaceable, like you were just kept there cause he couldn’t do better, cause he couldn’t be with her. And now that he could he just tossed you away. You knew Steve wasn’t that kind of guy, but thats how you felt. And no one could tell you how you should feel or deal with it.

So that’s what lead you here. It had all happened hours ago. You saw his old self in that bench and you just felt numb. Bucky tried to hold you, he said that Steve wanted to talk to you but you just left. You had that right didn’t you? You didn’t care about what he had to say, it was all bullshit. You didn’t care about his guilt, or how sorry he was. You didn’t even care to go back to the apartment you shared with him, because you knew if you had gone there you would be stared by a hundred pictures you had with him.

You just wanted to get away. So here you came. You look down to the wedding band on you finger and the engagement ring. You wore both together but it didn’t make sense to have them anymore. You didn’t want any memories from Steve on you so you take them out and feel their light weight on you palm. You knew this was it, it was your way of closure, of ending that part of you life. You take a deep breath and throw them at the sea. There’s no way of seeing them drown but just the thought that you didn’t have them anymore made you lighter.

You turn around, ready to go back to the car that brought you here but you see a familiar figure blocking the way. Bucky.

“How are you feeling, doll?” he says approaching you. You didn’t know how long he was standing there or what he had seen. You wonder if he could see how empty and drained you really were.

“In the moment I’m not feeling anything. I think I’m still mostly numb. But that’s probably for the best, right?” You try to give him a light answer knowing that he lost his best friend too. How could Steve have left him after fighting so long to have him back was beyond you. “Did you know? Did you know what he was gonna do?”

“I did” that was all it took for the tears to start falling from your eyes. Why had Steve told him and not you? You were his wife for gods sake didn’t you deserve at least this? Bucky reaches for you but you push him away.

“Why didn’t h-he tell me? Why did he d-do this?” you hiccup between the words, the tears falling harder than before.

“I think he just didn’t have the guts to. You know he loves you, Y/N-“

“Screw him! If he did, he wouldn’t have done this!” All the feelings you were trying to push down seem to come to surface and tighten their grip on your chest. “I can’t understand why you aren’t angry? Why aren’t you feeling betrayed?”

“He didn’t leave me alone Y/N, he asked us to take care of each other” he has a pleading look on his face while he says that, and you see that the difference between you and him is that he had some time to come to terms with his friends decision, he’s sad but keeping it to himself. He’s trying to be strong for everyone one else who didn’t know, for you mostly.

“I don’t care about what he asked. I’m not staying and I’m not doing what he would want me too. I’m always gonna be there for you Buck, not because he’s wants that but because I care about you. Whatever you need you can call, even if it’s just for a chat, but I’m not staying, i can’t. I am getting into that car and I’m gonna drive away as much as i can, and I’m only stopping when I feel like I’ve put miles between me and this” you say more calm than you were minutes before. You had a plan, it may not be the best one but that’s what you had for now. You didn’t want to be in the same place you lived with Steve, you didn’t want to see the same scenarios you saw with him, you wanted nothing from him. Maybe it was bitter of you, or maybe you didn’t have the best coping mechanism but you needed the distance.

Bucky’s expression seemed to sadden a bit but he understood, he knew this wasn’t easy for you. “I don’t want to change your mind about leaving, so I say the same, if you need anything you call Y/N, got it?” He says as he hugs you firmly.

“Got it” you say in whisper against his shoulder, his arms still around you delaying the last moments he’s gonna have with another friend. You hate to be doing this, he didn’t deserve it you knew it, but you also knew that he wouldn’t be willing to accompany you on your trip, and it was something that you needed to do alone. You were alone.

“You know he wouldn’t have done this if he didn’t know you you be able to rebuild your life, right? You’re a strong person” He uses the same tone of voice you had, he probably just didn’t want to trigger you into making your feelings rise again.

“Everyone has the ability to rebuild themselves, Buck. The fact that I’m strong shouldn’t make what he did alright. And I don’t feel much strong now... I just feel like I’m a shell. And even if I do find someone else, how am I going to let them in? How am I supposed to trust anyone with my heart, when the guy I gave all my heart before completely destroyed me?” A single tear fall from your eye, but you hold the rest back. “I’m going to be fine but I don’t even know what that mean anymore.” He just nods to this, and I know there’s nothing left to be said so I head to the car and take a deep breath holding the wheel. This is it.

I look at Bucky while I drive away, he’s still standing where I left him and I hope with everything on me that he will be fine too. Whatever that means.

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

The sun is harsh on your eyes slipping through the curtains open frames. You turn your head to the other side and you feel a heavy weight on your waist stopping you from moving further than that. You slowly open your eyes to see Franks figure with his arm on you and his head drowned on the pillow.

You turn again to look at the clock to see it marking 8:47 am. Mary would be up soon, so you slip from Frank taking extra care not to wake him up and head to the kitchen to make a quick breakfast.

“Y/N! Y/N! Can we have pancakes today?!” Mary breaks into the small kitchen excitedly jumping around. Today you and Frank would be taking her to her new math club and she couldn’t be more anxious about it.

“What is going on here” Franks rough morning voice appears on the room. He’s rubbing his eyes and seems to be sleeping still.

“We are making Mary her favourite pancakes for breakfast” you answer them as you get the ingredients on the counter. Mary hugs you and sits straight on the table waiting for you to prepare them.

It had been 6 years since the day you left New York and ended up traveling for a long time through the country only to end up here. Florida. It was hot all the time, you always felt warm but it was distant enough from your past and you felt better about it. You decided that you wanted to rent a small place near the beach and so you found a woman named Roberta, that rented a few houses that fulfilled your wish. You didn’t think twice before accepting her deal.

You weren’t carrying anything on you except for the few clothes that you had bought on your journey so the move was quite simple. And you weren’t expecting to fit in so well here but the fact that as soon as you were settled a little girl, who was maybe 7 at the time, had come to you with a lot of questions that honestly you couldn’t answer warmed you up to the place real fast.

The fact that Mary had managed to always meet up with you but you still had to meet Frank was beyond you. She talked a lot about him “Frank did this today”, “oh did you know Frank let me adopt another cat”, “the first cat Frank got us was Fred, he has only one eye”, and so on. You knew more about him that you probably would by talking to him in person, according to Mary herself. She said he was very closed but had a great heart, she even told you the story about him fighting in justice for her guard. It only made you think he was a great guy who would do anything to protect his niece, and you were sincerely excited to meet him, give the person a face.

However, as it appears that his schedule was always all over the place and you always waking around town and spending many hours on the beach didn’t help with your meeting. You didn’t understand at first too how Mary always found you around, but she explained that whenever she wasn’t studying and Frank was going out with his girlfriend Boni, she stayed with her friend Roberta, who quickly became a good acquaintance of yours.

Either way, Mary had been talking to you for weeks when you finally met Frank. You couldn’t believe your eyes and genuinely thought you were delusional. He looked just like Steve, but the moment he started speaking you could see the differences between the two and the helped you find your foot again.

In the beginning you were hesitant about spending time with Mary and Frank, who surprised Mary with the news that he had gotten a more stable job. According to him, he still fixed boats but for a company that payed well. You were happy for him but the memories his face brought still made you want distance.

During the four years you traveled around you had let him go, all of him. You had been trough all the grief stages and learnt how to do well with your own company, you didn’t need anyone else. But looking at his face had the effect of hitting you with a sad resigned feeling and you didn’t like it. But Mary always spoke so highly of her uncle that you knew keeping your distance from both because of memories wasn’t fair.

Frank, of course notice that you never iniciantes any conversation with him and he wondered if Mary had introduced the same woman she said was talkative and affectionated. He asked you about it and it wasn’t until you answered with sincerity that he understood. Since then he was more careful in your presence which you appreciated.

With time though, you warmed up to him, he was a good guy you never doubted that. You became close friends and when him and Boni broke up you helped him. It was a mutual break up but it’s never easy.

You friendship was going great until you notice him treating you differently than he would before and you realised he was slowly catching feelings for you. Obviously being romantically involved with him was the last thing you wanted but you couldn’t bring yourself to change the way things were going between you two and that’s what led you to this moment.

In a car, dropping Mary off to her math club, with Frank by your side and the promise that it would be okay. It had to. You took so long to let him in that now you didn’t want to let go, and you doubt Frank wanted anything but stay. Bucky said the same when he came to visit you and Frank. You look at him and you see him smile at you.

“You think he’s gonna be a mini genius?” He asks looking at the small bump on your belly.

“If he gets MY genes, obviously” I sass laughing.

“Ha, you know the genius genes it’s on my side of the family Mrs. Adler” he chuckles.

“On your dreams” you smile. It you be okay.

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers #frank adler #frank adler x reader

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maneskinrollercoaster · 3 years

Text

~ You Don’t Even Have Fucking Balls To Choose The One You Love ~

Pairing: Damiano David x Victoria De Angelis

Word count: 1754

Warnings: a bit of swearing and a slight angst but apart from that none

Summary: One little kiss leads to something unexpected.

It all started with an innocent kiss. They’ve just won Eurovision and all the excitement and adrenaline was too much. His soft lips met hers harshly and she wrapped her hands around his neck. Both surprised pulled away from each other and started laughing, not thinking much of what just happened between them and quickly ran to others, jumping from happiness.

Their lips met again a month later after they all went off the stage in Poland, both sweaty and exited from their performance, blood rushing in their veins. No one was surprised really, it was well known that between these two there was always a spark of chemistry that none of them could deny. Little did they know that this spark will evolve in something much more than just innocent kisses.

One night he entered her room silently, in a rush of anxiety and woke her up gently, trying not to scare her.

What’s going on, Damiano? She said and sat on the bed looking a him with a worried expression.

He looked pale, without any colors on his face, eyes watery and his hands shaking.

I’m scared, Vic. What if all this is too good to be true? What if everything we’re doing is gonna end in a blink of an eye? He said and Vic not saying anything pulled him closer in a warm hug, wrapping her arms around his neck.

That night he stayed in her bed and both of them, not really knowing why, got lost in each other, trying hard for everyone not to hear their moans and fell asleep with their naked bodies tied together in a warm hug.

It kept on happening more often during the tour. In a rush of adrenaline they would lock themselves in a fitting room behind the stage and have sex to make all the stress vanish.

Fans saw something was happening and the two of them knew that their unusual relationship is being slowly revealed to the world. All the stage glances, naked pool pictures and all the interactions they had with each other suddenly became visible for the internet. They didn’t care though, still enjoying each other’s company and support.

The truth was, they’ve always been the closest with each other. They just clicked from the beginning and enjoyed spending time together, even after recording. They often stayed up all night talking about their favorite bands, singing their favorite songs or just chatting about everything and nothing. And because their chemistry was so good and their friendship so strong, they didn’t see anything bad in their small sexual secret.

Not until Damiano’s girlfriend started having doubts about his loyalty. Don’t get her wrong though, Giorgia loved Damiano and she would never even think of thinking of the idea of Damiano having an affair. But all the instagram edits, all the YouTube videos and all the ambiguous pictures of him and Victoria, made her have second thoughts, whether Damiano is truly dedicated to her and only her.

So when she brought it up, Damiano only then realized, what he was doing. He never was the one to cheat but suddenly he found himself cheating on Giorgia with Vic, which was never meant to happen. After all, they’ve been together for four years and he never wanted to hurt her, let alone cheat on her.

So he lied.

Nothing is between us, amore. Are you crazy? You know that this whole chemistry thing is just for show. Also it’s hard not to suspect anything when we’re trying to keep our relationship private. Damiano said and quickly wrapped his arms around Giorgia to assure her of his lie.

She loved him so she believed him. But she wasn’t stupid though and noticed something was different about Damiano. Since winning Eurovision they haven’t been intimate with each other as they used to be before. All they really did was kissing and cuddling but sex almost vanished.

So he lied again.

I’m so sorry, babe. I’m so stressed with all the tour and recording the new album is taking a lot of time. I didn’t realize that I’ve grown distant with you. Let me fix that. He said and kissed her gently.

That night, Damiano tried to cover up his lies and cheating, with sex, which by the way wasn’t all that great for him. The truth was, all he thought about was Victoria and their little secret.

Time passed by and both of them grew closer and closer with each other, slowly catching feelings and making it obvious that something is in the air. It was harder for them to cover it up so around boys they’ve acted as if they were together. Ethan and Thomas didn’t mind, as much as they felt bad for Giorgia, they loved seeing Damiano and Victoria so happy.

The whole band with some of their friends went on a vacation to Bali. Beautiful views, crystal clear water, amazing weather, and everything would be perfect if not the fact that Damiano brought Giorgia with him. He couldn’t do anything about it though, he didn’t want her to suspect anything and it would look stupid if everyone took their closest people and he wouldn’t take his girlfriend.

Victoria couldn’t stand it. All the kisses, all the hugs and their constant laughter. Damiano looked completely lost in Giorgia and Vic’s heart ached at the sight of them having so much fun together. She wanted to be on her place after all and that’s when she realized that she’s head over heels in love with Damiano.

They couldn’t avoid it - you would say. But Victoria really thought at first that their relationship was strictly sexual and everything else between them was just a friendly love. Turns out she was wrong and her feelings for him were strong and sincere.

She told him then.

I can’t hide it anymore Dami. I can’t hide that I’m in love with you. She said and he looked at her with surprised expression.

Damiano knew his feelings and he knew he felt the same, but admitting it to Victoria and more importantly, to himself, hit him harder than he thought it would. He just then realized that he has to choose between staying with Giorgia and hurting Vic, which would possibly cause making things worse for the band, or staying with Victoria and hurting Giorgia, who after all, always been there for him for the past four years. Pretending wasn’t an option anymore.

I love you, Vic. And I don’t know how, but we will get through this together. He said and hugged her the tightest he could, afraid that she will slip through his fingers sooner than he thought.

Days went by and their new album Teatro D’Ira vol 2 was ready to be released. Many songs were about Victoria and her being more and more involved in their relationship, couldn’t stand a fact that Damiano would spend every night at Giorgia’s place. She couldn’t even begin to imagine him telling her that the songs are about her, lying in her face.

So one day she asked him.

Did you tell her, Dami? Victoria asked, entering the studio where Damiano was preparing instruments.

He promised Victoria that he will talk to Giorgia and end things with her as soon as it’s possible. He tried to avoid it, buying Victoria little gifts and filling her ears with sweet words and I love you’s but he knew that she isn’t dumb and that sooner or later she will demand explanations.

Tell who about what? He played dumb and he couldn’t believe that now he’s lying to Vic too.

Her cheeks turned red from anger and her eyes wide opened, gave him a death stare, not wanting to believe his confusion.

Are you kidding? Still nothing, he looked at her with a fake surprise on his face. Giorgia? About us? Don’t play stupid Damiano, you know exactly what I’m talking about! She raised her voice and Damiano gave up.

I didn’t. I’m sorry. You need to give me some more time. She just got out of the hospital, I can’t just go and slap her in the face with the fact that i cheated on her.

Her going out of the hospital is not an excuse! You were supposed to tell her a long time ago and yet you didn’t. Why? Victoria didn’t care if they will argue at this point, she wanted to get the answers and she wasn’t leaving anywhere without them.

Damiano didn’t know what to say. He was a coward, and after a long time he finally admitted it. He was too scared to tell Giorgia, he didn’t want to hurt her and for the first time in his life, he didn’t have the courage to tell someone how he really feels.

You know what, forget it. You don’t even have fucking balls to choose the one you love! Victoria shouted and stormed out of the studio, shutting the door the loudest she could.

She wasn’t the one to get hurt ever but she’s really fallen for Damiano and over the time their bond got stronger. She really felt like he was her soulmate, someone she was always looking for. But now she was crying over a guy for the first time in her life which she promised herself that’s never going to happen.

The tension between them was obvious. Thomas and Ethan could see that something is wrong, but not wanting to make things worse, they let them be. The concerts were less charismatic and their energy wasn’t showing that much, which made fans suspect too.

But the thing that happened next blew everyone away.

I wanna be your slave I wanna be your master. Damiano whispered to the microphone and quickly walked up to Victoria, pulling her in for a passionate kiss.

The crowd went crazy, they were screaming, crying and taking pictures, throwing things on the stage like flowers and clothes but Victoria and Damiano forgot about everyone around. It was only them, kissing on the stage and millions of butterflies flying in their stomachs. The feeling was indescribable, finally being able to do it in front of the fans, but Vic felt even more special because in that moment she knew that Damiano stated his feelings towards her.

It took me a while but the truth is that I would always choose you. He said, leaning his forehead against hers and they both smiled, enjoying each other’s presence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello everyone!

Just a little disclaimer, this one shot is not by any means meant to send hate towards Giorgia or anything like that. It’s also not meant to harass Victoria and Damiano, it’s a pure imagination for all those who like to see some Damoria content.

I hope you enjoyed reading! ❤️

Tag list: [ @teenyweenynightghost , @superchrystaldrug , @unitersmoonshine ]

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wulfies-kpop-fanfics · 3 years

Text

The Rest is History → Jeon Jungkook

↳ Pairing: Jungkook/Reader

↳ Word count: 1,679

↳ Notice: Italic sentences are spoken in English.

⁙ Summary: Jungkook comes up with a plan to get you back after your best friend comes to Korea for a vacation, stealing you away in the process.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jungkook stirred awake as bedsheets rustled and his arm suddenly was no longer draped over your side. He groaned, turning over and huddling into himself, wedging his hands between his knees. It wasn't until he heard the soft click of his bedroom door that he fully woke up, curiosity outweighing his fatigue.

His eyes fluttered open and a yawn escaped his mouth. "(Y/N)?" His voice was met with no answer, and through the darkness, he felt that your side of the bed was empty. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. Maybe you had just gone to the bathroom, but when he checked the time, he wasn't so sure. 3 AM.

Jungkook had realized more than once that you had gotten up at this exact time in the middle of the night; every single day for the past month. He had let it slide, never suspecting much because he trusted you. Today, however, he was determined to find out why this was always happening. He peeled the blanket from his body and stood up from bed, quietly making his way out of the bedroom.

Across from the bedroom door was the door to the computer room, where you and Jungkook had desktop elaborate setups and nerdy decorations sprawled about. You had a keyboard and Jungkook had his own mixing station as well, the room a safe place to think and compose. Jungkook smiled when he saw light coming from the bottom of the door, immediately knowing you had gone in there.

He approached the door and furrowed his eyebrows when he heard you giggle, a little lost on who would be discord calling you this late at night. Ever so gently, he turned the doorknob and pressed the door open, hoping that you wouldn't be startled. He almost didn't notice that he was holding his breath, trying to ignore the pang of jealousy and worry in his chest.

All of his tension was released into a sigh when he saw you, curled up in a star wars blanket and sitting cross-legged in your gaming chair, laughing quietly at a video feed of your best friend, who was cloaked in daylight. He smiled, leaning against the door frame and watching the two of you talk. He worried for nothing, but he still got to see how adorable the two of you were while you were interacting. He couldn’t catch all of the English you were speaking to the monitor, but he still found it all so endearing.

He had seen Rhiannon a few times but had never met her in person. You talked about her all the time, how she was sweet, funny, smart, and always there for you even when you had decided to move to Korea on a whim. You had told Jungkook once that Rhiannon was actually the one to convince you to follow your dream, and as a result, met and fell in love with him. Rhiannon was still attending college in Canada, having taken a longer course than you had. Jungkook's eyes widened and he began to blush wildly when he realized he was standing where the webcam could pick up his image and now Rhiannon was pointing at her screen, causing you to turn around and see him standing in the doorway.

"Hey baby," you say sweetly. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"Not really," Jungkook said quickly. "I was wondering why you were awake, though."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Here, let me leave the call." You turned around, facing your monitor. "Sorry, Rhi, but Kookie woke up. I should go back to bed. Talk soon,"

"So this is why you're always getting up at 3," Jungkook softly says as you hang up and shut down your computer, turning back around and standing. Quickly you move across the room to embrace your boyfriend, who immediately melts into the hug and sighs.

"Yeah," you say softly, "she gets home from work around now and... I miss her a lot. I'm sorry if I woke you up, I don't mean to."

"It's okay, baby," Jungkook runs his hands up and down your back. "Let's go back to bed. Do you think that maybe she can get some time off of work?"

You begin to follow him back to your bedroom, "What do you mean? I guess I can ask her, but why?"

"Well, I have a few extra bucks… maybe she can come for a visit. It's summer vacation for her college, right?" Jungkook smiled down at your shocked face.

"Y-yeah! Are you sure?"

"Anything for my baby and her best friend."

After weeks of planning, Rhiannon had gotten two weeks off of work and gotten the most obscure flight possible so that Jungkook could accompany you to the airport. You had even prepared a silly rainbow sign with her name on it to greet her when she got off the plane.

"There it is, that's the flight from Toronto!" You grabbed Jungkook's hand and began pulling him to the exit gate before he could react, excitedly jumping about as you walked. The two of you waited for a little while by the exit gate until the passengers began to file out from the check-in stations. Sign be damned because as soon as you saw Rhiannon's face in the small crowd, you dropped it and took off running.

Jungkook couldn't help but smile beneath his face mask as he stayed behind to avoid the crowd. Jungkook watched you essentially pounce onto your best friend, toppling both of you over into a giggling mess of hugs and noogies. That was how the rest of his day went, watching quietly as you and your best friend wreak chaos wherever you were; as you collected her luggage, walked through the airport, drove home and settled her into your guest room.

On the third day of Rhiannon's visit, you had spent so much time with her that Jungkook had actually begun to feel a little jealous. You had taken her into the heart of Seoul, to a mudflat and to an NCT concert all in the first few days she was here. Even though Jungkook knew you hadn’t seen each other in a long time, he still wanted you to himself for a little while. So, he devised a plan. The first step of that plan was eavesdropping.

Jungkook had been in the kitchen making a sandwich on the morning of the fourth day, yawning and feeling a little lazy when he heard the giggling. He was almost used to it at this point: girls will be girls. What he found interesting however was the faint mention of Yoongi. With a mischievous grin, Jungkook set down his sandwich and began making his way to the door of the guest room. He pressed his ear up against it, listening.

"This is another picture of Kookie and I while they were filming a bangtan bomb- and there's Yoongi in the back. I have no idea what kind of expression that is, but it's a goal of mine to find an excuse to use it as a reaction image one day." Jungkook smiled when he heard you speaking.

"Ah, you're so lucky you have so much time to spend with them!" Rhiannon responded. "You're just lucky in general."

"Hm, I suppose, but hey, once you graduate you'll be able to find a bomb job too, right?"

"Yeah," Rhiannon agreed softly. "Let's keep looking. What other Yoongi pictures do you have saved?"

Yoongi. Jungkook caught the name, even if it was in English, and he grinned mischievously. That was going to be his angle. Licking his lips, he stood up straight and rapped his knuckles on the door.

"You girls okay? I can make you a snack if you'd like before I head to dance practice," he called sweetly. "Unless… you wanna come with me." Jungkook already knew he had won when Rhiannon was the one to open the door a few seconds later, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"You'd really take us to dance practice?" She asked, her voice nearly reaching a squeal. You appeared behind her, searching Jungkook's expression.

"Yeah, why not?" Jungkook tilted his head toward the front door of the apartment. "Better choose quick cause I gotta leave in a few."

With that, Rhiannon was already bolting past him with a giddy smile on her face.

You took Jungkook's hand, smiling and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing," Jungkook said with a laugh. "Nothing at all."

Jungkook wasn't one to outright call himself a genius, but he certainly felt like one. He introduced Rhiannon to everyone once you both had followed him up to their practice room, and before the music started you all shared a small snack. Yoongi already seemed taken with Rhiannon's polite yet giddy attitude, smiling brightly at her with a blush as soon as she began making conversation. It was almost too easy.

Jungkook danced with confidence, making sure to shoot plenty of confident smiles and winks your way, but blushing as soon as you crossed one leg over the other, raising one eyebrow at him.

When it was time for a break, you got up and passed Jungkook his bottle of water. "Those two are really hitting it off," you comment idly, latching onto your boyfriend in a hug.

"Yeah, they are," Jungkook agreed. "It's really cute,"

"Did you plan this, you little sneak?"

Jungkook nearly burst into laughter. "Maybe a little bit, but I wasn't expecting them to glue themselves to each other," he nods in their direction, your eyes following his gesture. "I just wanted you all to myself again."

Rhiannon and Yoongi were practically glued to each other, chatting away quietly. The ways they looked at one another reminded you of you and Jungkook when you first met.

"Seeing that look from the outside is really endearing," you comment, pressing your ear against Jungkook's chest, listening to his heartbeat. "If they start being like that so quickly,"

Jungkook grinned triumphantly, "the rest will be history."

#jeon jungkook #jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook x reader #reader insert #kpop imagine #kpop scenarios #kpop fluff #kpop fanfic #bts #bts imagine

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spencers-renaissance · 3 years

Text

Honeysuckle

Summary: The BAU decide to head out for a picnic one summer afternoon, but they’re soon rudely interrupted by a bee sting and anaphylactic shock. Seeing Spencer carted off in an ambulance is not exactly how they expected the day to go.

Tags: whump, angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, hurt spencer, friendship, medical conditions, severe allergic reactions

Pairing: Derek Morgan x Spencer Reid

Word Count: 2.3k

Masterlist // Read on AO3 // Bad Things Happen Bingo

Spencer had initially been wary of Penelope’s invitation to picnic in Meridian Hill Park one beautiful summer afternoon — he burned way too easily and didn’t like exposing himself to insects more than absolutely necessary — but as soon as she’d mentioned Derek was going, he’d given in. He wasn’t about to turn down an afternoon spent in the sun with his best friends and boyfriend. It was a rare day off for the team: one not even spent hanging by their phone expecting to be called in any minute, so they were all insistent on making the most of it.

He’s the last one to arrive, spotting the others sat in the shade of an oak tree, already laughing as they get stuck into their first drinks of the afternoon. Despite his initial hesitations, as soon as he feels the sun on his face and sees his friends he’s immediately glad he turned up and he hurries over to join the rest of the team, his own contributions to the picnic in hand.

“Pretty boy!” Derek shouts, grinning widely as he jumps up from his lazy position on the blanket to wrap Spencer in a hug, before pulling back slightly to kiss him. He can already tell he’s a little tipsy, and although Spencer doesn’t drink he has nothing against everyone else letting their hair down and having fun; God knows they deserve it.

His relationship with Derek is only a few months old, and he still relishes every moment he gets to spend wrapped up in his arms.

“Hey guys.” His words are muffled slightly by Derek’s shoulder as his boyfriend is reluctant to let him go, but as soon as he’s released, he turns to match everyone’s wide grins.

“Did you bring the strawberries?” Emily asks, levelling him with a faux-stern look that she can’t maintain for long, melting back into her relaxed smile soon enough.

“Of course.” He takes a seat on the picnic blanket only to be immediately wrapped into a side hug by Penelope. He hugs back before beginning to unpack his bag.

“What about the icing sugar?” she asks, and her stern glare isn’t fake at all: Spencer knows how seriously Penelope takes a) organisation, and b) sweet treats.

“Who do you take me for?” he laughs, retrieving the fruit and sugar from his bag and taking a swig of the cool lemonade he’d packed in his thermos.

Sometimes he wishes he could go back in time and show lonely, teenage Spencer pictures of days like these. One day, he’ll be twenty six, working at his dream job, and spending his days off in the warmth of the East Coast sun one Sunday afternoon surrounded by his best friends, kissed by his boyfriend at every opportunity. They’ve never asked him to be anything other than exactly who he is, inviting them into their group and doting on him relentlessly, loving him just as much as he loves them.

It’s a luxury you only appreciate when you’ve known the loneliness of summer: when the hum of the AC is the only sound in your stuffy, humid dorm room, and you’re researching the effects of methane on winter weather patterns as you long for cold weather again, because then at least then you don’t have to listen to the excited shouts of friends outside anymore, then it’s acceptable to isolate yourself inside with only yourself and books for company.

He shakes himself out of his miserable recollections and reminds himself to be in the present. Emily has her head in Penelope’s lap as they discuss which incarnation of Doctor Who is the best while JJ and Derek discuss the new jogging park opening up across the border in Virginia. He knows which conversation is more suited to his interests and immediately goes up to bat for the Seventh Doctor, which manages to engage him in a spirited debate with both women.

Soon, though, they find themselves all discussing their workplace embarrassments and recalling the funniest moments from over the last few years, and Spencer loses himself in the heat of the afternoon and the warmth of his friendships. He’s gorged himself on all the strawberries and sandwiches he could stomach, and as the afternoon stretches longer and evening approaches he lies down on the blanket and rests his head in Derek’s lap, mirroring Penelope and Emily. His eyes flutter closed as his full belly and heat of the sun tire him out, and Derek’s fingers thread themselves through Spencer’s long hair, a light and welcome touch.

The haze of his friends still chatting around him as he dozes comfortably is interrupted, however, when he feels a sharp pinch on his wrist and seconds later, he’s fighting for breath. He launches upright, wheezing as he claws at his chest, trying desperately to fill his lungs with enough air.

“Spencer? Oh my God, Spencer, what’s wrong?” Penelope cries, immediately by his side as she looks him over frantically, not knowing what’s happening.

“Derek, call an ambulance,” JJ directs, taking charge as she rushes to Spencer’s side as well. “He’s in anaphylactic shock. Spencer, listen to me, do you have your epi-pen with you?”

Her words manage to get through the panicked haze and light-headedness as he can’t get enough oxygen. He can feel his face swelling and his heart racing, but he’s still coherent enough to point to his bag.

“He didn’t eat anything, though,” Emily says, panicked and confused as she watches her friend have a medical crisis while she’s powerless to help.

“He’s allergic to bees,” JJ says, keeping calm as she prepares the epi-pen and administers it to Spencer’s thigh. “One must have stung him for some reason.”

“There!” Penelope points to the bee sting on Spencer’s wrist and JJ lunges for her bag, rummaging until she finds her credit card which she uses to carefully slide under the stinger and remove it, preventing any more venom from flowing into Spencer’s system.

It’s clear after a few minutes that the epi-pen hasn’t worked: Spencer still feels like he can’t catch his breath and the world is fading slowly as his heart beats out of control and his organs can’t get enough oxygen.

He feels himself be moved gently by various hands as JJ directs the others until he’s leaning up as comfortably as possible against Derek’s chest as Penelope elevates his legs to keep blood flowing to his vital organs.

“It’s okay, Spencer,” JJ says loudly, right in front of his face. It’s blurry and out of focus and he can feel himself losing consciousness fast. “The ambulance is on its way.”

It’s the last thing he hears before he collapses completely as he passes out.

⭐️

It’s dark outside when Spencer finally wakes up. His bed is warm and comfortable and he lets himself listen to the somewhat comfortable steady beeps of the heart monitor and movement of staff and patients around the ward before finally opening his eyes to scan his room.

Derek’s sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair right next to his bed, sketching what Spencer can only guess are plans for the property he’s just taken on, an empty jello cup balancing on the armrest of his chair.

“Sandwiches and strawberries not fill you up?” he asks, voice croaky as he cracks an eye open. He can’t help but smile, too. He has the best boyfriend and the best friends anyone could ever hope for.

Derek’s head snaps up as he hears Spencer’s voice, setting his notebook and jello aside to grab for Spencer’s hand. “You are something else,” he chuckles. “Your first thought when coming round from a medical disaster is an observation of my eating patterns.” He shakes his head fondly. “ But you know I can’t pass up a tub of jello.”

“That’s true. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you say no when it’s offered.”

“You’re one to talk, pretty boy.”

They lapse into short silence, accompanied only by the quiet beeps of the machines. “Sorry I scared you,” he whispers eventually, feeling guilt wrap itself around his stomach.

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not your fault.” Derek looks sincere as he holds Spencer’s hand tighter, careful of the IV in his wrist. “The doctors… they said it was a severe attack, which is probably why the first epi-pen didn’t work. They’re monitoring you overnight to make sure there was no damage to your kidneys, I think. I’ll go find a doctor to tell them you’re awake.”

He moves to get out of his seat, but Spencer pulls him back down, as well as he can when he’s still feeling weak. “No, just… don’t leave,” he asks, his voice coming out a little too pleading for his liking. “Stay.”

The idea of being alone right now twists his stomach; the idea of being without Derek so desperately scary.

“Okay, okay, baby,” Derek relents, sitting back down and running a soothing hand through his tangled hair, Spencer’s eyes fluttering closed at the contact. “I won’t go anywhere if you don’t want me to.” Instead, he presses the button for the nurse.

“Where are the others?” Spencer dares to ask after a few seconds of quiet.

“The nurses weren’t too happy with four people in here,” Derek chuckles. “I’ve been updating them by text; I’ll tell them you’re awake in a minute. JJ saved your life, you know. None of us had any clue what was happening but she was the only one who kept calm and the only one who got us through those awful minutes waiting for the ambulance to show up.”

“I know,” he whispers. “I told her I was allergic to bee stings years ago. It was just an off-hand comment, it never feels like that big a deal… this is only the third time this has ever happened. I guess I don’t feel the need to bring it up.”

“Well that off-hand comment saved your life, pretty boy.” Derek squeezes his eyes closed for a second, and when he opens them the emotion written on his face is heart-wrenching. “God, I can’t believe I could’ve lost you. There were a good few minutes there when I didn’t think you were gonna make it and after… Tobias… I was just so scared.”

Spencer’s stomach clenches at that, imagining the roles reversed is terrifying just as a hypothetical. He can’t even begin to imagine how Derek felt. He reaches a hand out to touch Derek’s face gently, squeezing his hand with the other. “But you didn’t lose me,” he murmurs. “I’m here, I’m okay.”

“Yeah.” His voice is barely a whisper as his eyes close again. “Is it bad that I kind of want bees to go extinct now?” he asks with a wet chuckle a few moments later.

“Derek!” Spencer laughs weakly, acting scandalised. “Bees are fundamental to the global ecosystem. Civilisation would effectively collapse if bees went extinct, it’s definitely not worth eradicating bees for the sake of me avoiding the rarity of anaphylactic shock, not according to the laws of proportionality. It’s actually frightening how fast the bee population is depleting though… did you know that there are only about 2.5 million honey-producing hives left in the US? That’s down from 4.5 million in 1980 and the loss has largely been attributed to colony collapse disorder—”

“Ah, Doctor Reid, you’re awake.” A smiling nurse bustles through the door and comes to check his vitals, fiddling with one of his IVs before taking a step back. “How’s your breathing? Is the nasal cannula okay or would you prefer a full mask?”

“The cannula’s good,” he says, smiling politely. Really, he just wants to get back to telling Derek all the bee facts he can recall. He has some really good ones itching to be let out. “I’m breathing fine, just feel a little weak still.”

“Good. Your vitals all look stable, so a doctor will be round in the morning to talk you through your treatment and medication. Is that okay?”

“That’s fine, thank you,” Spencer nods, and she gives them one last smile before leaving the room and sliding the door shut quietly behind her.

“I should bring her back in,” Derek chuckles as the nurse leaves the room. “She missed out on your bee lecture. Fascinating stuff.”

“Shut up,” Spencer huffs, sinking back against the pillows. “You don’t deserve to hear my bee facts.”

“No,” Derek protests, grinning widely. “I’m joking, baby, carry on. You were telling me about colony collapse disorder.”

Spencer knows that, of course — he does have an eidetic memory after all — but it makes him smile that Derek remembers exactly where he was in his spiel. Maybe Penelope’s onto something when she says that Derek is “whipped” for him. (It had taken at least fifteen minutes for Spencer to fully understand what she meant by that, mostly because he kept asking about the etymology, history, and statistical usage of the word and she kept rolling her eyes, which he would then insist was not an answer.)

“Colony collapse disorder is depressing,” Spencer sighs, feeling quite tired all of a sudden. “I don’t feel like explaining it.”

“It doesn’t sound great.” Derek goes back to threading his fingers through Spencer’s hair. “Why don’t you tell me your favourite three bee facts, and then you can go back to sleep”

Spencer hums, giving it a bit of thought before replying. “Scientists trained bees to score goals in bee soccer in return for a sugary treat, which is especially interesting because they have brains the size of a poppy seed. They communicate with one another by wiggling their butts. It’s like their own language, they tell their nestmates where to go to get the best food. Bees also live in loads of different places, not just in the countryside. My favourite place they live is in marshes and wetlands, because I love insects that live in watery areas.”

“I’d pay to watch bees play soccer,” Derek laughs quietly. “You’re so smart, baby, I’m so proud of you.”

Spencer sighs happily. “Love you,” he murmurs, eyes closing against the exhaustion.

“I love you more.”

Spencer isn’t awake long enough to argue with him.

taglist: @criminalmindsvibez @strippersenseii @hotchgans @suburban--gothic @takeyourleap-of-faith

#my writing #moreid #derek morgan #spencer reid #derek morgan/spencer reid #derek morgan x spencer reid #moreid fic #criminal minds #criminal minds writing #criminal minds fic #spencer reid whump #spencer reid angst #moreid whump #moreid angst #moreid fluff #hurt spencer reid

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depressedhatakekakashi · 3 years

Text

Kakashi Week- Day 2: Hatake Legacy/Au

My Father's Son

Words: 2662

AU: Mafia Au

@kakashiweek

Warnings: Mentions of Blood, Mention of Sakumo's Death

Every time there was someone in need of rescuing from the precinct, without fail, Shikaku sent Kakashi. Even though he had an entire gang full of people that he could use, he always chose to send Kakashi.

Whether it was because Kakashi was able to make even the most seasoned cop tremble at the mere sight of him, or because he was somehow also able to smooth talk his way out of any sort of trouble he was faced with, he wasn’t quite sure. If he had an answer, he’d do something to fix it. To get Shikaku to send someone else, anyone else.

Just not him.

Climbing off of his motorcycle, he headed straight for the police station. As he made his way up the stairs, police officers who had been chatting to each other while watching him from afar scrambled to get out of his way. Desperate to put as much distance between them and Shikaku’s ‘Scarecrow’.

It was these moments that made these stupid little trips worth it. Seeing just how his reputation had bled into every corner of the city, and straight into the souls of cops. The people who would usually stand tall and proud, confident in their freedom to do as they please with the law supporting their actions.

“Pathetic,” he huffed, using his shoulder to shove the door open and stepping into a building that was all too familiar to him. Not just because of all the visits he had made in the past two years to pick up those unfortunate members of Shikaku’s gang who had been picked up by the cops. Sometimes because they had actually done something wrong, and sometimes just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It was his job to find out which one it was today. If he had to drag an idiot out of there and scold them for getting caught, or if he was going to have to argue with a cop or two about why they actually weren’t allowed to just arrest someone and throw them into a cell for existing in a public space.

“Look who’s back,” A familiar redhead moved in front of him, her finger poking deep into his chest as she looked at him through the motorcycle helmet that he still wore. “You know the rules. No helmets on when you’re in the building.”

Swatting her hand away, Kakashi huffed. “And you know that I’m not taking it off,” he reminded her. “Can we stop wasting time, Kushina-San? You know I’m here to pick up the man you whisked off of the street in front of the coffee shop on 156th. I’d appreciate if we skipped the argument today and you just handed him over.”

“Mmm, sorry Can’t do that,” Crossing her arms over her chest, Kushina smirked up at him. “See, we actually have evidence on this one. His fingerprints were all over the knife we found at a crime scene a few days ago and…”

“Do you have enough proof for a conviction?”

“I…what?”

“You heard the question,” matching her stance, Kakashi watched as she narrowed her eyes. “Do you have enough proof for a conviction? If not, then you might as well release him. We all know you’re not going to find the proof.”

Kushina opened her mouth for a rebuttal, but before she could get a single word out a hand came down on her shoulder. Pulling both of their attention to the smiling blond now standing at her side. “Now, I think that’s a rather unfair assumption, but it doesn’t matter,” Minato responded with his usual cool demeanour. An attitude fitting a Police chief. “We can’t just release a suspect to you because you walk in here looking intimidating, Scarecrow-san.”

It was always interesting hearing the ‘San’ after his nickname. Like the Chief of Police was trying to show him some respect, even knowing that he was a member of Shikaku’s gang and a feared name among other gangs.

“And why can’t you?” he asked, dropping his hands to his side and resting the right hand on his hip. “If you have solid evidence against him, I’ll just bring him back.”

“And you think that’s enough?” Minato chuckled. “The word of a man that half of my officers would love to see behind bars?”

“Are you saying that you don’t trust me, Minato-san? I’m hurt. I thought we were starting to build a trusting, open relationship,” The sarcasm is so thick that he’s pretty sure even the dumbest cop in the room could hear it. “What if I give you my word? If you can actually produce evidence to prove he did something wrong, I’ll bring him back myself.”

After all, what use was a person if they weren’t careful enough to clean up after themselves? If what Kushina was saying was true, the bastard was already in trouble for leaving behind a knife with his prints. There’s no way that Yamato approved him for the big jobs before making sure he learned not to be a careless idiot.

“Again, that’s just words,” Minato sighed. “I have no proof that you’ll keep your word. For all I know, you’ll get him out of here and immediately transfer him far away so that we never see him again.”

Proof. That was a hard thing to come up with on the spot, and there was no doubt that Minato knew that. That he was counting on his failure to produce the kind of proof that would work for him. Something that would actually give him even the tiniest bit of trust in the man standing in front of him.

Glancing over the Police Chief's shoulder, Kakashi focused on the wall on the other side of the room. There, for everyone to see, a fine selection of pictures on display. Past chiefs that had done their duty and retired. Spending the rest of their days in a comfy home with family surrounding them until they finally died of old age. Each of them dressed up in their best uniform with a smile on their face and a proud look in their eyes.

Though there was one picture that stood out among them all.

It didn’t stand out because of the way the Police Chief looked in the picture. For any random passerby, he was the same as every other picture on the wall. A proud man doing his duty, protecting the city that he loved so much.

Behind the smile though, there was a story that only a few knew. One of a life cut short with bullets and blood. Of a child standing over his father’s body, blood staining his tiny fingers as he cried for help.

A story that was known among the officers of this station. Whispered among each other as they stared upon the child sitting outside of his father’s office waiting for someone to come pick him up. To claim guardianship over a boy who had lost everything, and had no one.

“I have proof,” he spoke softly, his hand leaving his hip and coming up to undo the buckle under his helmet. The room around him suddenly went quiet, all eyes turning towards him as he undid the buckle. Even Kushina had her full attention on him now, eyes wide as she watched him grab the underside of his helmet.

As he pulled the helmet off, his hair fell free. The long silver ponytail falling against his back was met with gasps, and as the helmet slides off he can feel the tension in the air. Thick enough that he’s certain he could cut it if he felt the urge.

“S-scarecrow…” Opening his eyes, he met Minato’s gaze. A soft smile on his face that looked nothing like the one in the picture. A smile he had been told many times growing up resembled his mother more than anyone. “I-“

“I think you know that’s the wrong name,” He offered, sunken eyes focused on the police chief. “Though, I guess you wouldn’t know any better, hmm?”

Scanning the room, he focused on one of the many cops that had been so afraid of him moments ago. Watching him with cautious eyes as he made his way into the station, and never letting him out of his sight.

“Ahhh, you’ll know it,” he smiled at the older man, chuckling when his words were met with stuttered confusion. “Come on, don’t tell me you forgot. It hasn’t been that long, has it?”

Twenty years. It would make sense if they had forgotten his name, it wasn’t like they had ever cared to remember it even when he made daily trips to the station before his father took him to his school. Most of them would simply pat his head and smile down at him, perhaps offering him a cup of water or a treat while he waited outside of the office while his father quickly sorted out his day.

“K-Kakashi.”

He was actually surprised to hear his name being spoken. Not just because someone managed to remember it, but because of who it was who had spoken it. Out of everyone in the room, he didn’t expect to hear his name from Kushina of all people.

“Kushina, how…”

Taking a step back, Kushina narrowed her eyes. Taking a moment to examine the silver-haired man standing in front of her. Almost as if she didn’t believe that he was real. “When we first started here people always talked about Chief Sakumo and his son,” she explained. “I heard so much about them that I got curious and decided to check out his old files. It didn’t take long to find information on the Chief’s death.”

Rolling his shoulders, Kakashi tried to force himself not to clench his jaw. To keep that same relaxed appearance he always had when he was in front of people. The last thing he wanted to do was show weakness.

To allow anyone in the room to know just how much it hurt, being reminded of his father’s end.

“You were listed as missing, presumed dead,” she growled. “You vanished from foster care when you were twelve.”

“I got bored,” he stated. “There was nothing interesting going on in that place, and the schools weren’t any better. What was I supposed to do? Hang around and become a cop like you?” his mouth burned when he spoke. Anger boiling inside of him. “I wasn’t going to sit around and wait to become another body on the floor.”

“And you think this is the escape you need from that?” Kushina bit back, taking a step forward and poking him in the chest. “You think that this is the life your old man would want for you?”

“Don’t-“

“Afraid of the truth?” She growled, swatting Minato’s hand away when he tried to grab her shoulder. “Scared to face the fact that you turned into the exact type of person your father would be ashamed of? The type of person who made him a body on the floor!?”

Calm shattered.

For the first time in years, Kakashi felt the anger he worked so hard to keep hidden deep inside of himself boiling over. Breaking through the calm facade that the ‘Scarecrow’ was so well known for.

Now wasn’t the time for anger though. The last thing he wanted to do was give Kushina and Minato a reason to put him behind bars. He had worked too hard to get where he was. Struggled and fought too much for his anger to be his downfall.

Taking a step back, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

One

The memories flooded his mind. His father’s smile, the way he’d put a hand in his hair and mess it up, the sound of his laughter. Memories Kakashi had tried so hard to bury. The ones that were better to forget.

Two

His heart beat slowed. Returning to a steady pace and easing the pain in his chest caused by the vibe grip that was his anger.

Three

“It doesn’t matter what he thinks,” He spoke calmly, opening his eyes to meet Kushina’s gaze. The anger still boiling deep inside of him. Fighting to get out even as he tried to push it back down into hiding. “He’s not here.”

Four

“You can’t seriously-“

“Kushina.”

` Five

Finally the anger gave in, allowing him to shove it back into that small corner of his soul where it always sat, waiting for him to find a quiet deserted place to let it out.

“What my father would have wanted for me holds no weight over my life,” he continued. “He’s dead. He has been dead since I was a kid, and if anyone in this room had wanted me to have a different path perhaps they would have done something about it themselves.”

Eyes darting around the room, he watched as every single cop diverted their gaze away from him. Shame evident in all of their eyes.

“Now, I believe the issue we were talking about was my trustworthiness,” he continued, finally meeting Minato’s gaze once again. “You said you needed proof that I would keep my word. Do you have that proof now?”

Bright blue eyes stared at him, only breaking eye contact long enough to flick back towards the picture of Hatake Sakumo hanging on the wall before returning. “Alright.”

“What!?” Kushina spun around to face Minato, her eyes wide with surprise. “You can’t be serious. Minato if he leaves we’ll never see him again!”

Sighing, Kakashi directed his attention back to the red-head. “I told you, didn’t I? If you find any substantial evidence against him, I’ll bring him back myself.”

“There’s no reason we have to trust you,” She snapped. “You’re a thug, Scarecrow.”

Hearing his nickname being used once again, Kakashi sighed.

“I am also the Son of Hatake Sakumo,” he stated firmly. “Regardless of what you think of me, that fact will always stand above all others. And as much as I hate every single coward in this room-“ murmured protests filled the station. Words of anger and aggravation spoken just low enough that Kakashi could barely make them out. “I will never disrespect my father so much as to lie to the person who took his job.”

Kushina’s mouth hung open, no words leaving her lips for the first time since he had walked through the door. For once, Kakashi had managed to stun her into silence, and the feeling that came from that knowledge was beautiful.

When all was said and done, he was going to enjoy bugging her about this moment for years to come.

“Fine,” straightening herself up, she met Kakashi’s eye. “I’ll hold you to that.”

A challenge. He could handle that.

“You know how to get hold of me if you do end up finding anything, right?” Watching as Minato signalled to one of the other cops, Kakashi allowed his eyes to wander over. Lingering on the officer as he made his way towards the back where all of the cells were. “Of course, if you’re having trouble contacting me you can always stop at my favourite Coffee shop. I could always do with a free cup while you’re proving his guilt to me.”

As if the last five minutes didn’t exist, vanishing into distant memory, Kushina squared off on him once again and started arguing about ‘not buying gang members coffee’ and ‘having better things to do’

Statements that Kakashi knew were bold-faced lies. Kushina would buy him a coffee even while complaining about him being a cheap bastard and saying she had better things to spend her money on, and as much as she refused to admit it she would love every second of it.

Because if Kushina didn’t have him to challenge her, she’d be bored. They both knew that even if they would never say it out loud.

#Mafia Au #hatake kakashi #kushina uzumaki #minato namizake #kakashi week 2021 #Kakashiweek2021 #Kakashi week fic

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alfredosauce50 · 3 years

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You’re gonna go far, kid [Punk! England x reader]

Synopsis: Ever since coming to England to study, you haven’t had the time to do what made you come in the first place--tourism! The only friend you have is an exchange student from Russia, Ivan, so why not kill two birds with one stone? He schedules a little playdate with Arthur, a local, so he can show you around the hottest spots in London. You two immediately hit it off. Ivan is quick to notice his interest in you, so he starts teasing the poor man and making things hard for him. Camden is the last destination, and there’s no saying when he’ll ever see you again. Will he be able to get over himself and ask you out before the night ends? Note: Attractions are italicized and have a link to a picture. Wordcount: 4,641 The reader is referred to as she/her.

This was the day you had been dreading, and yet, looking forward to. The first part was easy to explain. Picking up your hot latte, you set it down after a quick sip. You didn’t even have time to enjoy it. Not when you were typing away at your keyboard like a speed demon. You promised your friend you would finish your assignment before today’s meet-up, but your procrastination habits were a bitch. Nevertheless, you were eager to uphold your side of the deal, even if it meant stressing your hair out to get it done.

So long as he didn’t show up before you were done, right?

After burning your tongue for the second time that morning, you let out a small groan at the sting you felt but gasped at what you saw outside the window. It was a sound made from genuine terror--rather than the quiet streets of London at seven AM, you spotted a man pressing his face right up to the glass. And he was staring at you, menacingly.

Anybody would’ve been creeped out by the sight, but you knew the guy. “Aha--Ivan! Hey! Morning?” You began rather awkwardly.

He waved in response, and his glower melted away in exchange for a childlike smile. “Dobroye utro, (F/N)! I hope that’s not your assignment you’re doing.” He hummed, placing two hands on the glass to peer at your screen from outside. Oh shit. Glancing briefly at said screen, you turned it away before clicking the upload button.

“Of course not.” You grinned, shutting your laptop immediately after. “I was just... Surfing the net. Checking Instagram. You know?”

“Is that so? I’m gonna check.” He made his way inside. And in no time, he was looming over your shoulder to start browsing through your internet history. You, on the other hand, were sweating balls.

“You’re so funny, (F/N). Who checks Instagram on their computer?”

It seemed like only yesterday he was the oblivious exchange student from Russia who had no concept of social media. He had been a country bumpkin through and through, but a few semesters after befriending you, your influence rubbed off on him. Even you had no idea what went through your head when decided to talk to him, the intimidating new kid who spoke broken English, but there was no turning back now. He was attached to you by the hip and picked up on your habits faster than you could deal.

He only became more of a menace when he discovered Twitter.

A displeased expression contorted at his expression when he saw that there was no evidence of you ‘surfing the net’. Google Docs couldn’t possibly count, after all. “... Hm... Apparently, not you. Why didn’t you finish this yesterday, sunflower? Remember our promise?”

You sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. I passed out last night. But hey, I technically finished it before you came, didn’t I?”

He craned his head from side to side in thought. “Maybe. But if you hadn’t, you know what that means.” Ivan coiled his arms around your neck and a sickeningly sweet smile curled up at his lips.

“You will come with me to Moscow for Christmas!”

A chill ran down your spine at the thought. Going to Russia was bad enough. But during Winter? You were never good with the cold. If you could barely handle London, Moscow was out of the question. “Oh God, please no.” He nodded giddily. “I’m never going to Russia. Maybe I’d consider it during Summer, but--anyway, that’s not the point here! I didn’t break any promises so I won’t be turning into a popsicle this year. Got that?”

He pouted. “Aw...”

“You damn sadist.”

“Hehe.”

“I wonder how you even became friends with him. Arthur, was it? Poor dude.” You mumbled, but he didn’t look all too offended.

He tapped his chin and hummed. “Now that you mention it.” Then, he let out a short laugh. “It’s a long story. Let’s just say it was a happy little accident.”

“Unfortunate.”

“But don’t worry! I don’t plan on bothering you as much as him today.” Ivan clarified, earning a slow nod from you. Phew. The clock was inching closer to eight and you weren’t much of a morning person, so hearing that was like music to your ears. “That’s why I wanted you to finish your work yesterday. I want him to be the only one making mistakes! It’s interesting to see him mess up and get embarrassed.”

You had to wonder if he was using ‘interesting’ as a synonym for fun because he was clapping. “... Ivan, you really are a sadist.”

The two of you stayed in that café for another hour or so, ordering some breakfast during your stay. Once the table was cleared and the bill was paid, you and he caught a bus to the London eye. You could marvel at the iconic ferris wheel for a few minutes as you walked up to the London aquarium next to it, your first stop. The building was huge to start with, and it didn’t look like they’d be storing fish in there considering how fancy it was. But wasn’t everything in England fancy?

“He should be waiting in the front. Look for a short grouchy man with a bad taste in fashion.” You shot him a weird look, beckoning him to elaborate.

“... And blonde hair.”

“Alright. I guess I’ll try my best.” Glancing around the sea of people filled with tourists, couples, and families, you skimmed the crowd for someone who fitted the description--but to no avail. It was only when they walked up to you both did you find the guy. He had short and choppy blonde hair that framed a heart-shaped face, and under his fringe was a pair of lime green eyes staring on with a neutral expression. And did Ivan say he had bad taste?

You couldn’t agree. Yes, his charcoal pants were ripped and he had a bandana tied around his neck with a Union Jack on it. But he still had a kind of style you liked. Under his black leather jacket was a gray shirt, and combined with the piercings in his right ear, you couldn’t help admiring him for a second.

“Arthur! I was wondering if you were trampled because we couldn’t find you.” Ivan began, causing the said man to furrow his brows. And boy, were they thick.

“You just arrived, so don’t start now you twat.” He grumbled. Ivan never teased you for your height, even when you were a little shorter than the Brit. He always found it cute, but you figured it was only because you didn’t care. The Russian always found amusement in poking fun at others, after all. “Anywho, I’m glad I won’t be spending the whole day alone with you.”

Turning to you with a soft smile this time, he held out a hand for you to shake. “Kirkland. Arthur Kirkland.”

You shook it, but not without a laugh. It hadn’t even been a minute since meeting him, and his personality seemed to clash violently with his appearance. He sounded so prim and proper, but his outfit screamed punk rock.

“(L/N). (F/N) (L/N).”

He released you from his grip. Placing his hands on his hips with an accusing stare, he felt a grin upturn his lips. “Are you copying me, (F/N)?”

“I don’t know. Do all British people introduce themselves like James Bond?”

Arthur clicked his tongue. “... Not all of them. Just a force of habit.”

“Mhm. Right, right. Well, it’s nice to meet you, Arthur. I’m a student here too and I could only imagine how busy it gets for you--so thanks for coming out today!” He didn’t respond to those comments and simply nodded.

Ivan stayed quiet in the back, but he was probably reading the atmosphere like he always did when he didn’t speak.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” The blonde turned on his heel and closed his eyes. “As much as I’d like to stay out here and chat, we can do that in the aquarium. Wouldn’t wanna waste our tickets, do we?”

While the group of three wandered slowly through the establishment, Ivan lingered in the background while you walked in the front with the Brit. For the first ten minutes, you’d look at him expectantly, gesturing for him to join in the conversation. As the mutual, wasn’t he supposed to be the icebreaker? He’d shake his head every time, offering you a smile as if to say, go and make some friends. But soon, this brief spell of irritation morphed into gratitude.

“I’ve been here probably a hundred times, so don’t take it personally when I don’t seem as excited as you.” Turning to him to watch his face as he spoke--which was filtered through a bluish tinge from the Antarctic setting-- you only caught a brief glimpse of it before he turned away. Huh. Maybe it was just you not paying enough attention.

Either way, what came out of your mouth next would surely grab his.

“Don’t worry about it. But hey, this is the first time you’ve been here with me, so look alive, won’t you?” It happened to be a slip of the tongue, something bold and improvised, but luckily, he reacted fairly quickly before the regret set in.

“Oi, you better not be flirting with me already,” Arthur grumbled, feeling another smile come as he heard you chuckle. Since when was he this expressive? He pinned it on the fact that he was starting to have a little fun himself.

“Couldn’t imagine it.” Before he could add anything else, you hopped in front of the penguins and started waving your friend over with great gusto. “Ivan, c’mere. Arthur, mind taking a photo of us?” Once he joined your side, the two of you held up peace signs for the Brit to snap a photo.

“Ivan, change your pose. We can’t have both of you doing the same thing.”

The said man moved his peace sign to the back of your head so he could stick two fingers over it. “Is that better?”

“... Better.” Trailing his emerald eyes to you, he felt his cheeks heat up a touch at the sight of you grinning ear to ear. What the fuck, Arthur. Just take the damn photo. And that was exactly what he did, showing you both right after. Whatever just happened, he boiled it down to him idealizing a stranger. That was right. He had yet to get to know you, so his perception of you couldn’t be any better at this stage.

But there was one thing he couldn’t deny.

“Damn, I look really ugly in this. You two better not post this anywhere.” You settled a hand over the screen to lower it with a nervous laugh. Then, you looked away, and what was that? You looked a little flustered.

You were cute.

Hanging his head to look at the photo, he knitted his brows together. You? Ugly? He couldn’t imagine it.

“... I bet I could take an even uglier one of you.”

Spinning back to him, you folded your arms. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.” He shook his head slowly, and the amusement in his voice made it blatantly obvious he was lying.

“That’s what I thought.”

Walking off at that, Ivan followed. Because he was behind him, he could brush his shoulders against his. Arthur looked up at that, but almost wished he didn’t. Ivan was smiling down at him so shrewdly, it was threatening. Then, he raised a hand to his mouth so he could laugh softly. “Huhu. You like (F/N)~”

His eyes flew open and blood rushed up to his face. “What the hell gave you that impression? I literally just met them!” As adamant as he sounded, he knew deep inside he liked you, but only platonically. Your personality was refreshing, and talking to you was as easy as breathing. Even if it wasn’t platonic attraction, he was endlessly frustrated the other figured it out earlier than he could.

Whatever it was, he was certainly more sociable than usual, even to the point of being a tease. And not to mention the rosy cheeks. Maybe he should’ve just kept his trap shut--otherwise, his huge outburst let Ivan milk the obvious. Fuck. He even started to giggle like a schoolchild.

Giving him a rough shove, he muttered a string of curses under his breath. “I bloody hate your arse, you know that?” He hissed, his face now redder than a tomato. God, why he did have to be born so pale? Every slight change to his complexion was jarring, and it was embarrassing.

“Don’t hate me because I’m right,” Ivan hummed, joining his side as your back came into view. “Once you realize, it’ll be too late. I’m not letting you have (F/N). I will always be (F/N)’s number one.” Lighting up at that, he skipped off to you in the front. “Wait for me, sunflower! Don’t leave me alone with Arthur!”

Arthur stopped in his tracks and clenched his fists. How annoying. If he was going to continue being a little tyke, then he figured he’d up his game as well. He didn’t know what that exactly entailed yet, but he’d do it. Ivan didn’t even sound like he wanted anything more than friendship, so what was with that? Pointing a finger at him as he walked off with you, his face scrunched up.

“What did you even call me out for then, you idiot? I’m supposed to be guiding you both!” Picking up his pace at that, he slotted himself between you and him. Flashing you a brief smile, he gave Ivan another push without breaking eye contact. “It’s a tight fit for three, so he’ll stay in the back.”

“Hey, no fair!”

By the time the whole aquarium was toured, you and Arthur were laughing to yourselves while leaving through the exit.

But the joyful atmosphere was short-lived.

The Ferris wheel just outside was the next stop, and the Brit offered to splurge a little to have a carriage without strangers. That way, you could run around as much as you wanted, even if that meant leaving the two men to sit in their lonesome. While Ivan was sitting on the bench in the centre out of his own volition, the same couldn’t be said for him.

Sitting back to back to the other, he pressed his legs firmly together and leaned over in a hunch. Then, he dug his hands through his hair, all while keeping his round eyes fixated on the ground. His heart couldn’t stop pounding, and his head was spinning like a carousel. What was he thinking, taking you here? That was right. This was an iconic destination you couldn’t miss, that was why. He was initially planning on staying back there on the ground, but you were so excited, he couldn’t help but hop on with you.

Fuck. Maybe Ivan was right about him. But he wouldn’t let him know it. Speaking of the guy, he didn’t know if he was sitting there by choice, or just rubbing it in. While he was incapacitated by fear so he couldn’t even stand, he was sitting there because he wanted to.

“You should’ve stayed on the ground if this was going to happen.”

Arthur screwed his eyes shut and tightened his arms around his stomach. “... Shut up.”

“I was just saying.” Ivan murmured, looking at him over his shoulder. Poor guy. He really was down bad, wasn’t he? Down bad for you, that was. Too bad Arthur was hoping he wasn’t convinced--but it was too obvious. So all Ivan wanted was to prove his point, and later on, keep you away from him. But maybe he’d save it until after the ride was over. “... This ride is thirty minutes long. You’ll live.”

He heard the other groan. “Thirty minutes? How long has it been?”

“Mm... Ten.”

“Fuck me.”

Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be long before you would pull away from the railing and return to the company of the two. Arthur had been praying that somehow, you’d leave him alone sitting there, pathetically, but he couldn’t expect something so cold from you. So while he hung his head, he wasn’t surprised to feel your hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, you okay?” He heard you ask, but he never looked up.

“... Yeah. Just give me a minute.”

“I have. Ten, actually.” Taking a seat beside him, you leaned down to peer at his face, which was a few shades paler than normal. He didn’t even have the energy to respond, and kept his eyes fixed to the ground. Concern immediately contorted at your features, especially when he looked so shaken. “Arthur, you look a little sick. What’s wrong? Can you talk?”

He shook his head slowly before managing a weak smile at you. “Sorry, love.” It didn’t even faze him he just called you that. He was far too uncomfortable to feel the embarrassment from a nickname he should’ve saved until a little later.

“I’m not... Too good with heights. Never have been... I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.” His voice was slow and faint, and you were beginning to suspect he was having a panic attack. “... Sorry if I seem a little lame.”

“No, of course not.” You frowned. “Things like this happen. Just breathe with me, okay? You can do it. Just count to ten.”

Arthur took a deep inhale. “... Okay.”

Around ten minutes later of these exchanges, he calmed down some, especially when you kept on reminding him that the carriage was finally descending. Once the ride was over, you had to help him up and walk him out. Now that he had his two feet planted firmly on the ground, it didn’t take long for him to recover. Even then, you remained rather cautious and stuck with him on your journey to Soho. By the time everyone took their seats in Circolo Popolare, a beautiful Italian restaurant Arthur so kindly booked, you were still looking out for him.

Leaning over to rest your head on the table, you glanced up at his face with a soft smile. “... You okay now?”

A light blush dusted his cheeks and he nodded. You didn’t need to be this observant with him considering he was well now, but he loved your attentiveness. It wasn’t something he was used to. “Yeah, I’m fine now. Thank you. Now quit worrying about me, alright?” Rubbing the nape of his neck at that, you couldn’t help lingering on his body language for a moment.

It didn’t matter what he dressed like, or what his personality was. He could be endearing when it came to it, and a total softie too. And the thought made you smile even wider. If he thought you were cute, then you thought he was adorable. “Fine. I’ll leave you alone.” You slowly turned to Ivan, the action making Arthur tense up a little.

Reaching out to your hand, he took it. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

The feeling of his warm fingers around yours made your heart skip a beat. Did he just? Your thoughts manifested into your look of shock, and you darted your eyes over his neutral expression to try and decipher it. Before you could come up with anything, there was a phone in your face, followed by a flash.

“Wha--?”

He turned the screen to you to reveal a photo of you, and in your opinion, it was the least flattering picture anybody had ever taken of you. “I said I’d take an uglier photo of you, didn’t I?” Arthur grinned, the words acting like a cold splash of water to bring you back to reality.

“... You sneaky little shit.” You growled. “Delete that right now!”

“How about no?”

“I’ll never forgive you for this, Arthur.”

“I think you already have, love. You’re smiling right now.”

You stared at him wordlessly for a few seconds. Then, out of nowhere, you reached out to snatch his phone right out of his hands. Tapping furiously on the screen to get rid of it, you heard his chair scrape back violently as he tried to retrieve it. “Why, you--”

But it was too late. Gone forever. Lost in the abyss of cyberspace. And so, he immediately channelled his frustration by jabbing his fingers into your sides. “If I can’t have that photo of you, at least let me do this!” You burst into a fit of laughter so loud, nearby patrons turned their heads. Only then did he pull away, leaving you to recover through breathless wheezing.

“Fuck you, Arthur.” You whispered, but it was on an affectionate note more than anything. As you glowered at him from your seat, you never noticed Ivan doing the same thing, but he was glaring at the Brit for an entirely different reason. Arthur had to be the most self-aware person out there, and to make a scene in a restaurant like this? He really fell for you, didn’t he?

When he realized Ivan’s scorching gaze burning into him, he froze.

Not just out of how intimidated he was, but the epiphany that he was right all along. Why else was he acting so out of character? The only explanation was this--in the short time of being with you, he may or may not have developed a little crush. But that was no problem, right?

All he needed to do was to ask you out.

But that would prove a task easier said than done, especially when Ivan decided to attach himself to you by the hip after that stunt. That cunning bastard knew what he was doing. After a little window shopping around Bond street and Mayfair, he stuck to you like a tattoo, and kept it up until night fell. While the group walked around Camden, Ivan kept you by his side with a firm grip on your hand.

When you asked why he was suddenly so clingy, he simply justified it with, “It’s dangerous for small people like you to wander around at night!”

But Arthur called bullshit. Especially when the other went ahead and smirked at him right after saying it. Maybe he liked you too, but was refusing to admit it. How hypocritical. If not, then he probably didn’t want you making friends when you were the only friend he had. Whatever it was, he wasn’t about to back down so easily. Camden may be the last destination for the night, and perhaps, the last time he’d see you again for God knows how long, but it was his trump card.

If this didn’t sweep you off your feet enough to get you to pull away from Ivan, nothing would.

As a town famous for its thriving nightlife and punk culture, it encompassed everything he was passionate about, and he’d give anything to show it to you. So he included a visit to the bar here on the agenda today, one that hosted live music. While you and Ivan got comfortable in your seats, Arthur never made a move to sit down.

It was already dim inside, so you never noticed him leave. The next time you saw him, it was a few minutes later when he was on stage with a few other musicians. Leaning forward with surprise, you watched him strap on a bright red electric guitar. Walking up to the microphone, he adjusted that. No way.

You were still trying to process him being a professional performer, but a lead singer as well?

The second he strummed the strings to start a guitar riff, he opened his mouth to start singing.

Play this while you read

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youtube

Show me how to lie, you're getting better all the time

And turning all against the one is an art that's hard to teach

His fingers never stopped moving as he belted out note after note. His voice was so different to how he talked, you had to do a double take. He sounded a little more rasp, a little more punk. To say you were impressed was an understatement.

Now dance, fucker, dance, man, he never had a chance

And no one even knew it was really only you

While he jammed out on stage, he was electric. The energy in the bar exploded, and he had everyone singing along. You could almost see the confidence in him shoot up from the excitable crowd, because he was smirking.

Nice work, you did.

You’re gonna go far, kid!

Turning his head to you as he sung that line, you raised a hand to your mouth. Whether he did that on purpose or not was a mystery. But no words could describe how attractive it was. Hell, it even made you mind blank for a few moments. This was Arthur? He was like an entirely different person! Needless to say, you were completely star struck.

You couldn’t even make out what Ivan was telling you when the music was blaring in your ears. But you didn’t care. Arthur had you caught in a trance with his voice and guitar all until the end. When the song finally ended, the band bowed graciously and threw up hand signs as the audience erupted in applause and cheers.

When he stepped off the stage, you didn’t hesitate to run up to him. There, you practically pounced on him for a tight embrace. “Oh my god, you were amazing! I didn’t know you could play so well! And sing, too! Why didn’t you tell me!?” You exasperated, pulling away to be met with his dazzling smile. It was the first time you’ve seen him so energetic, as if performing sparked a fire inside him that burned with youthful intensity.

“I was dying to show you all day. I wanted it to be a surprise, and I had to save the best til’ last, didn’t I?” He grinned, feeling his heart swell up with warmth as he watched you light up.

“Well, good on you! I loved it!” Squeezing him again, you felt his chest shake under his laughs. When you pulled away, you reached up to cup his face. But it felt so natural in the spur of the moment, even he didn’t seem to care.

“Thanks again for today, Arthur. I really appreciate you taking us out today. You completely blew me away.”

The way how you phrased it reminded him of why he was here in the first place. That was right. He still had to ask you out. And with Ivan watching on from afar, this was his chance. The thought reddened his cheeks, but while you had his face in your hands, he couldn’t feel more comfortable. “Is that so? If that’s the case, how about I take you out again?” His expression grew serious. “A proper date, I mean.”

It was your turn to blush, but you managed a quick answer.

“No need to look so serious, love. Of course I’ll go on a date with you.”

He chuckled and leaned in to peck your lips. “Stealing my vocabulary now, are we?”

“Stealing kisses now, are we?”

“Touché.”

Now a third wheel of the group, he breathed out a soft sigh and rested his cheek on his hand. “I guess my job here is done.” It didn’t really look like it, but he had been trying to play the wingman all along. Arthur was always one to go a little crazy when he wanted something, and only more so when he was desperate. So all he gave him was a little push in the right direction.

Maybe he would thank him later, but for now, he’d leave you two be.

This is a request. Thank you for requesting.

#hetalia fanfiction #hetalia #aph #aph england #england x reader #aph england x reader #arthur kirkland #request #oneshot #hetalia x reader #Axis Powers Hetalia #Axis powers ヘタリア #alfredosauce50 #hetalia fanfic #ivan braginsky #aph russia #aph russia x reader #reader insert #x reader

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charkyzombicorn · 3 years

Text

Okay thought up a quirk and a villain motivation so I'm gonna put it on Izuku because reasons.

The quirk is called Picture Perfect

⚠️Trigger Warning⚠️

Whoever Izuku takes a picture of (physical picture, digital doesn't count) is frozen, disappearing from the real world and only existing in that photo. Izuku doesn't discover his quirk until he's about 14, he was given the diagnosis of quirkless and no one uses polaroids anymore so it wasn't exactly easy to catch. Since he was 'quirkless' for a whole decade, his dad left and him mom had to work two jobs to support them both and he started coming home beaten bloody by his classmates and after ten years Izumi Midoriya is always tired. She rarely looked happy anymore, and Izuku couldn't help because the whole world seemed to be crushing her. And when Izuku is 14, he decides to get a polaroid so that he can start putting more than just his idol on his wall.

It's his mom's birthday, he made her her favorite dessert and picked up some shifts at the library so she wouldn't have to work that day. She was smiling the brightest smile he'd seen in years and he used his polaroid for the first time to take a picture of his mother. So he was terrified at first when he realised he'd accidentally trapped her, deducing that it was his quirk and that he could let her out if he tried. He almost did, but then he saw the smile on her face, frozen, happy. He put her picture down on the table and left, going outside and testing his quirk on a few strays to make sure he could absolutely get his mom back without hurting her. He went back home an hour later and he realised something.

She was frozen, happy, she didn't have to worry about anything in there, the world wasn't crushing her, she was safe. Keeping people safe and happy is what heroes did, wasn't it?

He carefully used double-sided tape to fasten the picture to the wall without tampering with the ink. That's what he was doing, he was protecting her from all the harsh things even pro heroes couldn't protect people from.

He didn't tell anyone, if he did, they would make her go back to working herself to death, they would take smile off her face. He wouldn't let that happen. He stopped going to school, he left his house with only a few pairs of clothes, some money, and his mother safely stashed away pressed in a hardcover cookbook. He had to give up the idea of UA, but that was okay, because he was gonna be a hero to protect people for all the harshness of the world instead of just villains.

He thought it was selfish that he had the power to freeze people in bliss and only gave his mother said freedom, so he marched up to the first homeless man he saw and explained his quirk, offered the man a trouble-free existence.

To his surprise, the man seemed horrified at the idea. He said he would keep his life and the hardships that came with it, and sped away as if Izuku were crazy. Izuku didn't offer anyone else, wandering around the red light district looking for a cheap hotel to stay the night. He ended up accidentally going in circles and it was starting to get dark when he came across an alleyway, and some part of his gut urged him toward it.

Eventually his steps became wet and he looked down, in the dim light he could barely see a figure to he turned on the flashlight on his phone. He threw up a second later. There in the middle of the alley was the corpse of that same homeless man, mangled and broken and not breathing. If he had just listened to Izuku this never would have happened, he would have been happy and alive and as well as his mother. He ran away, tears clouding his vision because he couldn't protect this one.

Next time, he didn't ask. Instead, he offered the homeless woman a sandwich and talked to her. It seemed she didn't get that sort of kindness often because she brightened at the wide-eyed little boy she met. They chatted and laughed and it was one of the best days the woman had had in months of misfortune. He decided to capture her, which he thought sounded much worse than it was. He whipped out his camera and told a lie about taking pictures of people he helped in the community for a school project and she obliged happily. He put her picture in the cookbook for safe keeping.

He kept doing this, for every down-on-their-luck person he came across, he was reported a missing person along with his mother so he started dying his hair and wearing a medical mask, purely to keep all his pictures safe and happy.

But then the news started getting on with all the missing persons, and he was labeled a villain. He knew why, the general public don't know how happy they can be, forever. He was given the name Broke Bandit, which was a rather dumb name, but a bit fitting considering he mostly took pictures of people who were down on their luck money wise. He started being more careful, only making people happy when they were alone because he'd already done too much good to give it all up now. He was helping people, no matter how much the public wanted to twist his motives. He took odd jobs to keep himself fed and housed, occasionally sleeping in empty bachelor pads and borrowing money from wallets that wouldn't be needed where their owners were. The UA exams passed and his Kacchan got into UA just like he always wanted, Izuku was so happy for him. But then UA was attacked by the league of villains and that wouldn't do. How could Kacchan be happy if he wasn't safe at his own dream school?

He did research, but that wasn't enough. He started taking up different kinds of odd jobs. People traded people for information, a few questionable individuals but if they were consorting with these types the people he captured must have been bad types. He gave away the photographs with minimal questioning, not releasing them from their pictures though. Even if these people wanted to kill the people he captured for them, he wouldn't let them hurt. That wasn't was heroes did.

He found the LOV base too late, Kacchan was kidnapped by those bastards and that wouldn't do. He made his way there as quickly as possible, he picked up a few tricks capturing people before they could see him, and he got into the base with a bit of struggle. He positioned himself right behind the chair they had crudely strapped Kacchan to, and got his camera ready.

He took a picture of everyone in the room from just above Kacchan's head so he wouldn't be captured too, and every villain disappeared into the tiny piece of paper.

He walked into view of his former bully, waving the picture casually as if he weren't internally bouncing off the walls with excitement to see his oldest and only friend. But before he did, he had business to take care of.

He held up the picture, showing the final moment of the LOV. "They're all in here, trapped until I let them out." He said evenly, before gently opening the blond's palm and placing the picture there before closing the fist, hearing the paper curl and crinkle. "Destroy it." He said, staring down at his friend with a mad glint in his eye.

Red eyes went wide, his jaw clenched before he started hurling insults like they were still five and he was having a tantrum. "What the fuck?! No! Why should I believe you?! Fucking asshole! I'll kill you! Why would I kill them I ain't a damn MONSTER!!" He struggled harshly against his restraints, accidentally making his palms sweat more.

No, Izuku couldn't get rid of the LOV, the credit would go to an unknown mask instead of Kacchan, and Kacchan wanted to be number one. Taking down a whole villain organisation that even got past All Might would surely help Katsuki more than him. He sighed, and decided once again, since people refused to see the bigger picture, he'd give it to them free of charge whether they liked it or not. He hooked a finger under his mask, and pulled it down. He smiled kindly at his friend, who suddenly looked like he'd seen a ghost.

Then all the rage that had been collecting over all those months since Deku had disappeared made him slip. He lost control and reflexively made an explosion big enough to decintigrate the tiny photo.

Ash fell through the teen's fingers as he realised he had just killed people. He struggled against his restraints more harshly, hissing and spitting barely comprehensible threats.

Izuku's work was done, so he tugged his mask back up before putting a finger over his covered mouth. Katsuki froze. "Don't tell anyone I was here, then you won't get all the credit for such an amazing feat, ne?" And he left.

Katsuki told. And Izuku had never felt more betrayed when he saw his face on the news of the cheap motel TV talking about all his heroism as if he were evil. He cried.

He needed advice, but he had no one. So after a lot of debate, he got out his mother's picture, still smiling in front of her birthday cake as she was when he'd taken her. He released her.

She stumbled backwards, losing all the colour in her face and falling as if she hadn't used her legs in months, her puples like pinpricks. She looked up at Izuku and everything she emitted was fear, not tainted with relief or happiness at all. Izuku didn't understand.

He tried to explain what happened, but she didn't say a word, she kept crawling away from him feebly as if he were everything bad in one small package. "Y-Y-You're a murderer." She said, and Izuku would have revelled in hearing his mothers voice again after so long were it not for the words.

"What?"

"I was there, I couldn't move, you let people die, you killed people, you trapped people." Her voice got more steady as she got more angry but it barely covered a portion of her skin-bleaching fear. Izuku blinked at his mother.

"I-I was just trying to help--" his words made her flinsh as if she didn't know he was her son.

Suddenly anger flooded the teenage boy. "I gave up UA to try to keep you happy, I gave up my name to protect people from killing themselves with all the hardships of this world! I gave my life to keep bad people off the streets and to keep people happy!! I lost everything, and now you won't even look your own son in the eyes?!" He hated this, he gave everything and she was looking at him like this. Angry tears flowed down his cheeks as he harshly grabbed the polaroid still hanging from his neck, and his mother scrambled to try to stop him even though all she could do with the lack of practice moving was crawl.

His next picture of her wasn't happy. She was pale, crying, pathetic, reaching for the camera with wide eyes that held nothing but fear for her only son. He crumpled up the paper into a crude ball, stomping out to the hotel parking lot and burning her picture on the concrete, followed by everyone else he kept safe in his cookbook.

If everyone insisted he was a murderer, if he was going to be punished as a murderer no matter what he did, he might as well be guilty.

#bnha #its a bit long but hey #villain deku #and a bit of #bakudeku #if you squint

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thatfanficstuff · 3 years

Text

Time Travel - Avengers

Pairing: Tony Stark x Loki with Daughter OFC

Warnings: nope

A/N: Okay so this isn’t what you normally see from me. At all. Last year I offered to write a fanfic for the winner of an auction benefiting the Australian wild fire relief efforts. Wren won and requested a fic. (and then was super patient when my health took a nosedive.) The pairing (family) and basic idea were theirs. I was super happy with how it turned out and they agreed I could share it here. So enjoy something a little different I guess.

***

Frigga Stark had been in the past for nearly three months by this point and she was so ready to go home. It wasn’t that she was completely unhappy here. Her powers and abilities had assured her a ready place in the Avengers even if she had just appeared in the middle of a fight with no warning. But living as a stranger in the midst of her family was so much harder than she thought it would be.

Everyone had been friendly enough of course, but she missed bear hugs from her super soldier uncles. She missed late night movies and chats with Nat and Wanda. She missed Thor having her pick up Mjolnir every time he saw her and laughing that booming laugh of his when she did. And Clint had been teaching her to fly the quin jet.

Most of all she missed her dads. Tony and Loki were both here of course but they were just so different from the men she knew in the future. For one they still hated each other so there was no joking or teasing between them. For another, they were awesome dads and she missed the thousand little things they’d do every day to let her know they loved her. Things she’d never take for granted again.

Fortunately, she’d inherited some of her birth father Loki’s abilities and had been able to disguise herself since her arrival. Wouldn’t want to interfere with the future and all that. That had all come crashing down yesterday when she’d been knocked out in the middle of the battle. Her disguise faded to show her natural dark hair and striking green eyes. It also revealed she was about 10 years younger than she’d been leading them all to believe.

Due to her injuries, they’d allowed her to postpone the interrogation until today. Because that’s what it was going to be. Not a discussion or a talk. No, a straight up interrogation. She hated when they were mad at her. The only thing worse is when they were disappointed. Fortunately, that didn’t happen very often.

“Captain Rogers requests your presence in the conference room in fifteen minutes, miss,” Jarvis’s voice filled her room causing her to sigh. She’d ask for more time but knew it would be pointless. They’d already been more than accommodating. Hell, she was lucky she hadn’t spent the night in a cell somewhere.

“Thanks, JARVIS,” she said as she sat up and ran a hand through her hair. After hurrying through her morning routine, she threw on a pair of sweats and t-shirt. She padded through the halls, making it to the conference room right on time.

She took a deep breath before pulling open the door to step into the room. Fear shot through her as she took in the others. Every single person that meant anything to her was crowded into this room and they had no idea who she even was. That by now familiar pang of loneliness flooded her chest and she did her best to shake it off. They’d moved all the chairs around so they were all on one side of the table while she was left a single seat on the opposite side.

“Morning,” she said as she sat.

For a long time, no one said anything as they studied her. She couldn’t bring herself to meet their eyes, afraid of what she’d find there. Instead, she kept her gaze locked on her hands where they tangled together on the table.

“Why?”

Her head jerked up in surprise at hearing Wanda’s voice before anyone else’s. Frigga cleared her throat. “Why?”

“Why lie?” the other woman clarified. “Did you think we would turn you out because you were a child?”

“I’m not a child,” Frigga corrected automatically. It was an argument she’d had with her family many times. “I’m fifteen.”

“Oh, fifteen,” Bucky exclaimed. “Well, excuse the shit out of us, kid.”

“Really, Buck?” Steve said glancing over at his friend.

Frigga couldn’t stop the smile that came to her lips. This was familiar. Comfortable. She shook her head. She might as well get this over with. She took a breath to fortify her nerves. “None of this is as simple as it seems. And you probably won’t believe half of what I have to tell you, but I’ll tell you everything. I have too.”

“And why should we believe that you’re suddenly going to be honest about everything when you’ve failed to do so up until this point?” Tony asked.

She shook her head. “Because it doesn’t matter anymore. Not now that you’ve seen me. The real me I mean.”

Looks of confusion were exchanged amongst the others causing Frigga to chuckle. “Maybe I should just start with how I came to be here. Three months ago, there was a lab accident. My dads were attempting to combine magic and tech to create a time travel device. They were explaining every thing to me when I bumped into the table. It knocked something off and I automatically reached out with my magic to catch it. Next thing I knew I was here. Seventeen years in the past.”

She shrugged. “Why this particular time? I have no idea. I altered my appearance to keep from affecting the future.”

“Why would us knowing what you look like have any affect on the future?” Steve asked.

Tony narrowed his gaze and pursed his lips. “I think the better question is who her fathers are.”

The look on his face told her he already suspected the answer. After all, how many people here would invent a time machine? And how many used magic? “I was born via a surrogate using genetic material from a female egg donor and Loki of Asgard. When I was two, Dad got married and Pop adopted me. My real name is Frigga Maria Stark.”

There was a moment of silence before the room erupted into chaos. Her family argued with each other and shouted questions at her which she ignored. Not surprisingly, the men who would become her fathers were silent. They exchanged a measuring look with each other before looking back to Frigga. She smirked when she saw the hint of a blush on Tony’s cheeks.

After allowing chaos to reign for a moment longer, she took off the necklace she was never without. She sat it on the table and pushed the button on the side once. It opened to reveal a picture of her with her dads. She slid it over. Pietro was the one to take it from the table. “This proves nothing. This is easily faked.”

She said nothing, just watching as they passed her most prized possession amongst themselves. Loki and Tony lingered over it longer than anyone else. Finally, Tony was the one to give it back to her. “As much as I hate to say it, Speedy’s right. You’re going to have to do better than that.”

She smiled and placed her locket back on the table still open. She pressed the button on the side twice this time. A hologram of the same picture projected above it for a moment until it was replaced with one of Loki spinning her in the air when she was a toddler. A moment later his voice filled the silence. “My princess. I will love you until I take my last breath and beyond. There is never a moment that I am not intensely proud of you. You will conquer anything you put your mind to, and I cannot wait to witness it.”

That picture faded away to be replaced with one of Tony and her laughing with their arms draped over each other’s shoulders. Tears pricked her eyes but didn’t fall. “Hey sweetheart. I love you more than you could possibly imagine. Every day with you has been an adventure and I can’t wait to see what’s next.”

Again and again pictures faded to be replaced by another with a message to match until it had gone through everyone in her family. Frigga wiped her cheeks quickly as the last message played. Gods, she missed her family. The silence was thick and heavy as she snatched her locket from the table and put it back around her neck where it belonged.

She cleared her throat. “There was a mission last year. Everyone was going to be gone for at least a month. It was the first time I was going to be left alone without any of you. Pops made this and gave it to me the night before you left.”

“We left a fourteen-year-old alone for a month?” Sam sounded appalled.

Frigga chuckled. “No, you left me with Happy for six weeks. But every night before I went to sleep I’d play it. I still do actually. Even when you’re all home.” She took a deep breath and looked at each of them in turn. “I’m sorry I lied to all of you. About everything. Now, I just want to go home. I miss my family.”

Bucky huffed. “What are we? Chopped liver?” He grinned and Frigga looked at him in surprise for a moment before she giggled. Which made him laugh and soon everyone in the room was laughing.

Finally, Tony clapped his hands as he stood. “Well, let’s see about getting you home, kiddo.”

***

It took three more weeks before they were ready to send her home. Everyone gathered in the lab to say their goodbyes until finally it was just Loki, Tony and her. Loki tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked into green eyes so like his own. “Are you sure about this?” he asked her.

Frigga shook her head. “Not at all, but we’ve got to try.”

Loki pulled her into a hug with a sigh. “I know.” After a long moment, he released her. “Remember to focus. If what we suspect is true, you’ll be pulled back as soon as you slip into the time stream but focusing your magic can only help.”

She nodded. “I remember.” They were counting on her dads to have set up a beacon of some sort in the future. It was almost guaranteed that they had. After all it was what this Tony and Loki would have done.

Tony was next to wrap her in a bone-crushing hug. “I’ll miss you, kiddo.”

“No, you won’t.” Loki, Wanda and she had come up with a memory spell so they would all forget who she was and what she looked like once she was gone. When she returned to her own time, she could reverse it.

He laughed and gave her that cockeyed smirk. “All right. Let’s do this.”

Frigga nodded once and prepped her magic. Tony flipped on the machine and it glowed with Loki’s green magic. She added her own purple strands to the mix and the room flooded with bright white light. She closed her eyes against it as she felt like she was floating toward something. When her feet hit the ground, she pulled back her magic and opened her eyes.

She stood near the back of the lab. A device pulsing with blue light stood on one of the tables nearby and she smiled when she saw it. Beacon. The lab was quiet even though it was occupied by two of her favorite people. There had evidently been nothing about her arrival that caught their attention as their backs were turned toward her. Bruce quietly typed away on his laptop while Tony sat at his desk. Some invention or another was scattered on the table in front of him but he wasn’t working on it. He was bent forward with his head in his hands and even though she could only see the back of him, Frigga could tell he was utterly exhausted.

Tears flooded her eyes. “Daddy?” She hadn’t called him that in years. Her voice was quiet and if it hadn’t been for the sudden jerk of his shoulders, she would have been afraid he didn’t hear her. Both heads snapped in her direction. Tony stood with tears running down his cheeks but he didn’t move toward her, afraid she’d disappear if he did.

Only when she hurried to him, dodging tables as she went did he move to meet her. His arms wrapped around her in the tightest hug he’d ever given. “Oh my God, Frigga. We were beginning to think we’d never see you again.” He pressed kisses along the side of her head, but didn’t release the hold he had on her.

“I missed you so much.” She was now openly weeping. She heard a sniff from behind her, but kept her arms wrapped around her dad. “You okay over there, Uncle Bruce?”

“Y-yeah. I’m just so happy you’re home,” he answered while obviously crying.

“Friday, get Loki down here right away, but don’t tell the others just yet,” Tony ordered as he finally released her to look her over.

“Of course, sir. Welcome home, Frigga. It’s good to have you back,” the AI responded.

“Thank you, Friday.”

Tony’s hands stayed on her arms, not wanting to completely let her go just yet. His gaze ran over her from top to bottom. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I’m sure Bruce will want to make sure there aren’t any lingering effects but yeah, I’m good.”

The door to the lab opened and Frigga glanced over, her heart racing. Her dad stepped in, frowning at the book in his hands. She recognized it as one of her grandmother’s spell books. He was obviously looking for more ways to get her home. “What do you need, love?” he asked without looking up.

Tony stepped to the side so his husband would have a clear view of their daughter but he didn’t say anything. Loki glanced up with a frown when he didn’t get the expected answer. His eyes went wide and the book fell from his hand as he saw Frigga.

She launched herself at him and he caught her, lifting her from the floor in a tight embrace. “Oh, my beautiful, beautiful girl. You came home to us.” He ran a hand through her hair as he held her. “I knew you’d find a way. I missed you so much.”

For the first time in months, the tears on her face were happy tears. For the last four months she’d wanted to be nowhere other than where she was right at this moment. Nothing could be better than this. Tony soon joined their hug, Loki shifting one of his arms so it surrounded his husband and brought him into the fold. Another moment later and they all rocked as Bruce joined in as well. Okay, she stood corrected. This was even better.

#frostiron fanfiction #loki x stark fanfiction #daughter ofc #avengers fanfiction #time travel

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amberwild420 · 3 years

Text

one step back, two steps forward (pt. 7)

masterlist

Dragon and snake and the chaos

Classes went on without a hitch, Lila didn’t returned after the first humiliation. Alya who was still glaring at Marinette despite all that went down, but Marinette ignored her.

She realized a lot of things now. Like how if they were really her friends then they would never had just believed the liar and started bullying her. If they were really her friends they would have asked her permission and asked for help not demand her to be at their beck and call.

She needed to talk with Tikki. And about Adrien being chat noir. She needed to take away his miraculous. There is nothing more problematic than her black cat being corrupted because he wasn’t the true cat. She needed to find one. The faster the better.

Lunch time came rather faster and both girls walked out, not before stepping on the foot that sticks out to trip them or rather Marinette. The howl of pain made Kaylan smirk, and wink at the pink haired skater who glared at them.

Are you not worried that they may become an akuma?

Marinette became worried when she saw anger on Alix’s face. It was enough to attract akuma.

I would rather they become akuma when they are angry than to bottle up all the emotions before exploding and become the deadliest akuma.

Kaylan said pulling the girl out before heading towards the bakery. Stopping in front of stairs, she turned towards the designer.

My mom is a psychiatrist. Well……….more like a freelancer. Um….. She saw all the videos of the recent akuma. That’s the conclusion we came to.

Marinette nodded and both started towards the bakery.

The first akuma we faced was so full of negativity that even my mom felt it. As a psychiatrist she know when someone is bottling up negative emotions and she can definitely feel it. It’s like a second nature to her.

So she told you that the akuma would be weaker if a person was not bottling up the emotion?

Not exactly but, yes. The nurse that got akumatized……..she came at some point the very same day. My mom gave her a coping mechanism where she can let go of all her emotions and not get akumatized.

Wait that can happens?

Kaylan smirked. She looked smug. Was that a valid trick?

Marinette looked like she wanted to say something but they reached the bakery.

Mari-hime! It’s good to see you here.

Ma-ma-Marinette. Your song is rather clear.

Turning they looked at the pair. The girl was Asian descendent. She had short navy bob and sharp brown eyes, that soften up at the sight of the designer but when they turned to Kaylan they turned sharper. She was glaring at her.

The boy looked older than them. The dye in his hair was more prominent. He looked like a musician with his punk rock style. He looked rather calmer than both of them.

Kagami! Luka! You came!

Marinette quickly hugged them before gesturing toward Kaylan.

Meet Kaylan, she is new to our class and sits next to me. And she’s my friend. I wanted to introduce her to you guys.

Of course Mari-hime. I’m Kagami Tsurugi and I challenge you to a duel.

Kagami! No!

Kaylan Fox and I would be pleased to dual. Having a challenge always excite me no matter physical or mental.

Please don’t!

Poor Marinette kept looking at the girls who shook each other’s hand with as much force they could exert. None of their expression flattered.

The musician looked rather amused at their antic, when they released each other, he introduced himself.

Luka Couffaine. Normally I would do the intimidation but if you can survive Kagami than I’m sure you can live mine.

There’s no way I’m hurting Marinette. I would rather hurt those who hurt her. Someone like a certain liar.

That caught their attention and they looked at her and then at Marinette. The designer sighed and nodded. The smiles that passed between three of them were all the same. Sadistic.

Marinette regretted introducing them. She heard Tikki sniggering quietly before leading them all up towards her room. She really prayed that Lila can live with these three teaming up. They are all vicious individually and together they will be unstoppable. Just thinking about the chaos they will cause in the future makes her head hurt.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kagami and Luka were head of MPS (Marinette protection squad). With Kaylan, their strategist for petty revenge, they felt that they can now work far better. Their stories of Liar turned to her becoming akumatized and lead to the conversation earlier.

But seriously did that actually work?

Marinette asked. While it might be a healthy mechanism to let go of the emotion for a limited time before composing themselves but with an emotional terrorist on lose it would be too good to be true.

My mom and I do it every day.

She giggled picturing how ridiculous they must have looked.

It’s more like letting all your stress, anger and frustration out in one big scream and then drink some water to cool down. It’s likely to attract akuma but once you have cool down it won’t be attracted to you.

(yes. this works. letting out your frustration by screaming, loudly cursing and angrily punching the pillow, can help you cool down faster. I tried all of these. and I felt far lighter than before.)

They frowned, still not believing at her. She shook her head with a smile before taking out her phone and calling someone.

Hey mom, do you have something on the schedule for today?

The trio raised their eyebrows.

………………

No I mean are you free or do you have an appointment or …….

……………………..

Yes but number increased to three.

……………….

I still need to ask if they are free, hold up. Hey, I know it’s on short notice but can you make time for dinner today?

She looked at Marinette who stood up and ran to her parents. Kagami and Luka took out their phones to call their parent.

I can make time!

Marinette came running before bending to catch her breath. Luka nodded too. Kagami was looking a little reluctant but when Kaylan gestured she passed the phone to her.

Moshi, Moshi, Tsurugi-san!

………………..

Kagami looked alarmed but focused at the girl talking to her mother.

Kaylan Fox. Kagami o yūshoku ni shōtai shitakatta nodesuga, de~yuaru mo yakusoku shimashita. Kagami ga watashitachi no yūkō-tekina kyōsō no tame no jikan o tsukuru koto ga dekiru koto o hontōni nozonde imasu.

(I don’t know a speck of Japanese, I’m just using google translate and if you find some thing wrong with the translation blame google, not me)

(Kaylan Fox. I wanted to invite Kagami for dinner and we even promised for a dual. I really hope Kagami can make time for our friendly competition.)

……………….

Tokuni arimasen. Shikashi, yori budō ni katamuite imasu.

(Not particularly. But more inclined towards martial arts. )

…………………

Mochiron chigaimasu. Watashinohaha wa seishinkai de, keganin ga inai koto o kakunin dekimasu.

(Of course not. My mother is psychiatrist and can make sure no one is injured.)

…………………

Mattaku chigaimasu, mama. Watashi wa machigainaku jibun no kachi o shōmei suru jikan o tsukuru koto ga dekimasu.

(Not at all, mam. I can definitely make time to prove my worth.)

……………………

Arigato, Tomoe-san.

The call ended and Kaylan turned to her own phone.

Sorry for the wait but yeah all of them are coming.

………….

Just dinner. Sleep over have to wait. Boundaries mama. Respect the boundaries.

……….

Sure. Take care and don’t stress. The last thing I want for you is to become an akuma.

She turned to the trio, taking in their various level of surprise.

What?

You managed to persuade Tomoe-san/my mother?

Both girls spoke at the same time but Kaylan still under stood.

It wasn’t that hard. When I said I would come and prove my worth as her daughter’s friend and the mention of our competition, she was very much persuaded. By the way I got her number and she invited me for another match at your place. Hope you don’t mind.

Kagami shook her head. The small twitch of her lips didn’t go unnoticed. True Tomoe-san is rather strict with her daughter but when it comes to good influence and worthy friends she lets her daughter keep the company.

It’s good to have someone who can speak Japanese. They’re just learning.

Kagami gestured at the other two.

I speak a lot of languages. English isn’t my first one. We move a lot. So learning language is rather compulsory to make sure I don’t get ‘tricked’.

(language barrier can be a reason why tourists get scammed.)

She air quote tricked.

Japanese was my third language, right before English. First it was Chinese because I was in Beijing at that time then it was Hindi because a few of my mother’s family member were in India and I learnt it while we had contact with them and I took French when we were in America. So yeah!

She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but turned her gaze towards Kagami, looking at her expectedly. The said girl smiled and started counting.

I speak Japanese, French, English, Chinese and I’m learning Mandarin.

I speak French, Chinese, I’m learning Mandarin and uncle Jagged and penny are teaching me English. Kagami is teaching me Japanese that’s for now.

French, English, learning Japanese. If you count me swearing like my mother then the sailor language

Now that’s a language we have to be wary of.

The amused chuckle that left her lips initiated the laughter session before they started to get to know each other before they return to school.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The classes after lunch were quick to pass with a few glare here and there but no ne dare to openly antagonize the young designer. Especially now that Lila wasn’t there to fan the flames.

Seems like the morning humiliation was more than enough to keep her down.

Kaylan mused before listening to the teacher.

_______________________________________________________________

Okay she was wrong! Like really, really wrong!

So let’s backup.

The day without Lila was rather peaceful. I mean if there is no liar to fan the flames then there is no new rumor and no one glaring at them or rather at Marinette. Well the morning humiliation was something.

Marinette sighed and relaxed when the last bell rang, with no Lila and fake friends around she had so much time.

Marinette! How could you?!

Aaaaaand there goes the peaceful day she hoped. She must be really tired or angry because she scowled openly at her former best friend.

What did I do this time Cesaire? Lila isn’t even in the class. What did I do to her this time?

She isn’t here in the class that’s why you sent her nasty texts! She sent me the screen shots of all nasty things you have said!

And yet she still doesn’t wants to file a cyber-bulling complaint.

Ah! Maybe that’s why she talked back. Kaylan stood right behind her, putting her chin on Marinette’s shoulder smiling coldly at the class in front of them. They looked rather intimate.

Tension rose to the roof and the temperature dropped several degrees making several of them shiver. Alya gritted her teeth shoving the fear at the back of her mind.

Well maybe because Lila is too nice for her own good and didn’t want Marinette to get in trouble.

And yet, you the ever so poetic justice, still want to trouble Marinette.

The bluenette giggled before covering it up with a cough. Kaylan had so many comebacks that she could never get tired of listening to them.

Many of their classmates shuffled nervously. Sure Lila had said a lot of times that she didn’t want Marinette too be trouble but Marinette needs to know what it was like to be bullied. Before any of them could say anything, Kaylan lightly pushed Marinette towards the door.

Before they can make their way out, Kaylan said.

Oh and Cesaire! Be a bigger person and a good example. I’m sure Marinette can be nice if you show her how to be a good example.

They left the school halls before any of them could comprehend.

taglist:

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@mlnchlymrshmllw

@gyrsaker365

@elmokingkong

@bookblokeanoid

@rainbowunicornspluscake

@irealydontcare

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@kristycocopop

#miraculous ladybug #one step back #two steps forward #original character #ml salt #class salt #marinette needs a hug #marinette protection squad #someone give Marinette a hug

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wastelandcth · 4 years

Text

lovebug - cth

summary: a moment captured by ashton leads to an engagement present that the doves had no idea would ever exist.

author’s notes: alright guys, this is all thanks to the most amazing ask that left me floored and eager to write this up. i hope you all enjoy this and that lovebug is stuck in your head as it was mine for the past couple of days.

warnings: pure fluff and dovey (for once) being a soft human towards her soulmate, calum.

masterlist || request

It had happened almost by accident, a moment that was meant to be shared by just the two of them. But Ashton found himself in a lot of these moments when it came to Calum and Dovey, in little pockets of time where it seemed like they were both too lost in one another to realize anything else. He'd been early, the first guest to the monthly band family dinner that the Doves had been hosting since moving into their new house a few months back, Dovey claiming that they needed an excuse to use their new kitchen and what better way than celebrating with the band. He'd walked in through the side door which he knew Calum always kept unlocked since it was closer to his home studio and the guys could just come in and work on songs without ringing the doorbell and having Duke bark up a storm. He had expected to see the two of them procrastinating on making dinner, which was usually the case when it came to band dinner night, but he was instead met by the two of them dancing along to lovebug, a song that reminded Ashton of the Doves in general. He wasn't even sure why he did it but in an instant, he had his phone out and he was recording the moment, a fond smile on his face as he watched his best friend fall further in love.

Calum loved family band night, he loved being able to spend time with his brothers and their partners, and he especially loved the part where he got to show Dovey new recipes to cook together. They'd been making a new Italian recipe, the smell of fresh tomatoes and herbs filling the kitchen as they both worked in silence, the only sound around them was of the knife against the chopping board and the music playing from the speaker on the counter. Calum had been lost in cutting up some basil that he almost missed the soft gasp that left Dovey when she heard the familiar guitar notes playing from the speaker. Calum recognized the song almost immediately, knowing that it was one of Dovey's favorites because as she had told Calum multiple times during their car rides or when cooking, "the Jonas Brother's were the best band ever and no one, not even The Beatles could compare. Well except maybe your band, Cal, but even then, Lovebug is a banger." Calum never argued with her on that because he knew how special the band was to her and she wasn't wrong, Lovebug was an absolute banger.

Calum had set the knife down on the counter and made his way over to Dovey, his arms wrapping around her waist as he sang quietly along to the song. He couldn't help but smile as he saw the way Dovey's eyes lit up and her arms wrapped around his shoulders, to pull him in closer. They were both singing to one another, swaying along to the guitar as the world seem to just blur until it was just the two of them swaying and taking each other in.

It wasn't long until the song started to speed up and Dovey pulled away from him, a fond look still in her eyes as she squeezed both of his hands in hers. Calum had been admiring her ever since he pulled her into his arms, wishing things could always be this way and the pressure of touring or promoting would go away. He hadn't told anyone yet, besides Mali who had gone with him to what seemed like every jewelry store in Los Angeles, but there was a box with a ring in it hidden in his office. He'd bought it a month before, his heart racing every time he thought about getting down on one knee to ask Dovey to spend the rest of their lives together, to become one. He'd been trying to plan the perfect time to ask her, to make it a day she wouldn't forget but it just seemed like life kept getting in the way and Calum kept getting whisked off to a different city for a performance. He'd been planning on taking her next time he was pushed onto an airplane and just ask her in the most romantic spot he could find but-

"Now I'm! YEEEEAAAAHOW!"

Calum's thoughts were once again interrupted by Dovey, who had seemed to take her performance of the song from dancing with Calum to a full on air guitar performance while she bounced around him. Calum's laugh echoed through the kitchen as he watched the love of his life rock out to a Jonas Brothers’ song while they were meant to be making dinner. He couldn't help but join in on the fun, whipping his head back and forth as he joined Dovey in playing out the guitar riff as he sang along, knowing that Dovey was the one for him and that he was going to be marrying her one day.

Ashton, who had been staring at the couple and recording them, stifled his laughter and shook his head as he watched them both dance along to the song. He slipped out of the hallway, making his way back to the side yard as the two lovebirds were left panting and in a fit of giggles from their performance. After looking back at the video, he opened up his messages with Calum and was about to hit send when Calum walked out of the house and called his name, the message long forgotten as he saw Calum struggling to juggle a bag of recycling and a very excited Duke on a leash.

Ashton had gotten a call a few weeks later, Calum speaking way too fast for him to understand and sounding like he had just run a marathon. After telling him to calm down and take a deep breath, Ashton couldn't help but chuckle as he heard the good news about an engagement and Calum asking him to be his best man. Without hesitation, Ashton agreed and congratulated the couple as he switched the call to Facetime, grinning as he saw the Doves with flushed cheeks and teary eyes. With promises of a celebration of their engagement and another round of congratulations, Ashton hung up the phone before Dovey could start crying again and started planning a time where everyone could get together.

It had started off as a group chat, late one night when Ashton's worries about not getting a present for the Doves' engagement party had him scrolling through homeware websites until all he could think about was Dutch ovens and air fryers. He'd sent out a message to everyone he could think of that had had the honor of spending time with the two weirdos known as the Doves, it was a simple request really, one he knew he'd get plenty of replies from.

"Can you guys send me any videos you have from the Doves?"

It wasn't long before he and Andy were looking through all the videos Ashton had received and sorted through the best clips. After a few hours filled with both of them laughing at how perfect Calum and Dovey were for one another, Ashton's present was complete and ready for the Doves to see.

Calum had been obsessed with holding Dovey's hand ever since she had started wearing her engagement ring, running his hand over the thing gold band every time he had the chance to. Whenever they were out running errands or hanging out with their friends, his hand would be tightly grasped in hers, his eyes looking down at the ring every once in a while to admire it. Even as Calum drove them to the address that Ashton had texted them at the beginning of the week, with promises of free booze and a celebration of their big news, Calum couldn't help but glance at the ring that was adorning Dovey's hand.

The party had been filled with lots of congrats from the Doves' friends and family who had all found themselves in a courtyard hidden in the middle of the wine country where flowers decorate the walls and love flowed throughout. It was filled with delicious food and a lot of champagne, not that anyone was complaining too much. But it wasn't until Dovey and Calum found themselves in the middle of everyone facing a projector screen that Ashton had been setting up for the past few minutes with Andy that everyone had settled in their seats and waited with anticipation. Calum looked around the crowd, confusion clear in his eyes as he tried to figure out why everyone was watching them both him and Dovey.

"So as we all know, we're here to celebrate the fact that these two lovebirds have finally decided to tie the knot!" Ashton grinned as he clapped his hands and chuckled when everyone followed him. "And to celebrate that, our good friend Andy and I have decided to make a video, with the help of many of you here today, to show exactly why these two lovebirds were meant to meet."

Calum's head cocked to the side as he listened to his best man speak, his eyebrow raising as the projector screen switched from plain white into a picture of him and Dovey with a kangaroo when they had visited Calum's family back home and taken a trip to the zoo. As the picture faded, Calum heard Dovey's laugh playing out from the speaker near the projector, a video of her and Calum from one of the many game nights they'd attended playing out.

As the rest of the video played out, Calum's laugh joined Dovey as the scene switched and a video of both of them at the latest album release dancing along to Wildflower. Different moments in time showed the way Calum and Dovey's relationship seemed to be something more than either of them realized, something more than just two people who loved each other. It was moments where Dovey was laughing over Calum spotted her from the stage and they both waved at one another, moments where they were both asleep on a couch while their friends argued over the rules of a game, moments where they seemed too lost in one another to even notice anyone recording them.

Calum glanced over to Dovey, who had been watching the video while squeezing his hand every time she laughed, she had a soft look on her face, one she rarely ever showed to anyone except for Calum when sleep was so tempting but she wanted to stay up and talk the night away. Her eyes were focused on the video that was playing in front of them, too lost in reliving those moments where she thought that no one had been watching nevertheless recording. It wasn't until Calum heard the familiar notes to a song that Dovey loved that he saw the tears forming in her eyes. His own eyes moved back to the screen, watching that moment from weeks ago in their kitchen where they had danced along to a Jonas Brothers' song and had gotten lost in each other, never realizing that Ashton had been recording them.

It was the moment when Calum had realized that he had needed to ask her to marry him as soon as he could, it was the day where after everyone had left Calum had booked them a trip away where the two of them could take each other in and where no one could stop him from asking her what had been on his mind for a while now. It was all in front of him and Calum felt the breath sucked out of him as he once again was hit with the realization that Dovey, who would have dance parties with him in the kitchen and then proceed to fight with him over the fact that celery was not a delicious treat, was his soulmate and there was no way he was ever going to let go of her, the ring on her finger shining almost as bright as their smiles as the video ended with the one and only, Lovebug.

#calum hood blurb #calum hood imagine #calum hood one shot #calum hood fic #5sos blurbs #5sos imagines #5sos oneshots #5sos fics #calum hood #5sos #5 seconds of summer #gemma writes #this was one of my favorites

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roseinaugust · 3 years

Text

Like an Old Enemy

I'm Still Better Than You

Summary: Miraculous Enemies AU. Gabriel Agreste has the Black Cat Miraculous in his possession, so when his wife, Emilie, "disappears," he sends his son, Adrien, undercover to pose as Ladybug's partner. Two years later, the once famous duo are sworn enemies. Marinette might have loved Chat Noir once, but now she would stop at nothing to defeat him. Adrien will do whatever it takes to bring his mother back. Best friends in their civilian lives, Adrien and Marinette find obstacles and complications when they can no longer deny their love for each other. But will they be able to understand and forgive the mistakes of their past? Or will they be doomed to end as bitter rivals a second time?

Rated: T

Pairings: Ladybug/Chat Noir Enemies, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Mutual Pining

Word Count: 1,984

Read on: ao3

It’s not like tormenting innocent Parisians was particularly high on Adrien Agreste’s list.

In fact, he rather disliked the whole ordeal. But what did it matter when he had the chance to bring his mother home? Why should he care about these inconsequential citizens when he could fix the mistake that has haunted him for two years? Yes, Adrien would do anything to bring his mother home—even if that meant working alongside his father to steal the Ladybug Miraculous.

They say, “time heals all wounds,” but the wound from his mother’s disappearance had scarred, leaving him rough, jagged, and in constant remembrance. Two years have passed since that restless morning when Adrien first slipped on the ring of the Black Cat. He was two years older, and she was still gone.

Adrien stood before the grand portrait of his once picture-perfect family. Presenting the Agrestes: world-renowned fashion designer Gabriel on the left, actress and philanthropist Emilie on the right, and their son, model and teen superstar Adrien, in the middle. He remembered the agonizing hours spent posing for the painter. Gabriel’s hands clutched both Emilie and Adrien’s shoulders, leashed like dogs with collars.

He felt the phantom touch of his father’s fingers digging into his collarbone as Adrien recalled the long hours trapped under Gabriel’s thumb. Internally, he had screamed. Adrien wanted to break free from his hold—wanted to ask for help—but all anyone saw was a handsome boy smiling with his picturesque family. If only they noticed how desperately Adrien had clung to his mother; her hand clasped tightly in his. Emilie was his beacon of courage; the bravest person he knew. Clinging to her hand, Adrien had hoped that one day they might break free from Gabriel's grasp. How foolish he had been.

Like the light from a candle snuffed out too quickly, his mother had vanished, leaving only the thin curls of smoke, promising a warm return. But that return would only come if he succeeded. He has already failed once, and he would not fail again.

As he stared at the ostentatious oil portrait, Adrien’s gaze lingered on his mother. Throughout his life, Adrien never understood how someone like her could ever love someone like his father. Now, two years after he lost the only person who ever truly loved him, he couldn’t help but wonder how she could have left Adrien behind.

Marinette was falling, again.

She silently wished Ladybug’s super agility carried over into her civilian life as she collided with the concrete outside Collège Françoise-Dupont. Her palms scraped against the gravel, breaking her fall. Marinette heard laughter—no doubt from Chloe and Sabrina. She was used to that duo delighting themselves at her displays of clumsiness. What a great start to a new school year.

“Are you okay, Marinette?” A concerned voice asked from above her. She raised her head slightly, to see Adrien Agreste’s outstretched hand. Her heart skipped as he helped her up. Instead of dropping her hand, Adrien squeezed her fingers lightly and turned it over, palm facing the sky. Her skin came alive as he rubbed his thumb over the rough skin.

Marinette pulled her hand from his grasp and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She chided herself for the blush that spread over her face. Adrien was her best friend; she can't act like this around him. “Oh! I’m fine. Clumsy as always.” She was thankful her voice came out steady; better to trip over her feet than over her words. The corner of Adrien’s mouth quirked upward before he bent down to retrieve the textbooks Marinette discarded when she fell.

“You should be more careful,” He grinned, slinging the books in the crook of his arm. “You could get hurt one of these days.” Marinette held her arms aloft to receive her books, but Adrien ignored the gesture.

Marinette dropped her arms and scoffed. “With my track record, it’s bound to happen someday.” A shrill tone rang from the bell, warning the starting of class. Adrien moved the stack of textbooks into his opposite arm. He cocked an eyebrow and raised his newly vacated elbow towards Marinette.

“Well, let’s make sure that day isn’t today.”

Marinette's cheeks flared for a second time as they linked arms. She was thankful for his stability as he led her up the stairs. Surely she would have fallen again without him. She released him at the top of the stairs and ducked her head, letting her hair shield her face. They entered Mlle. Bustier’s class and took their seats in the second row. Adrien slid Marinette's books across the desk they shared, stopping only when they were in front of her.

“Thanks.”

“Anything for you, Mari,” He gave her one last smile before returning his attention to the front of the classroom. Marinette tried to steel her expression. Why was it that every time she started to feel normal around Adrien again, he would smile and knock her back down to the sputtering fool that love always made her?

Marinette attempted to concentrate on the lesson, but her eyes slipped more than once to the boy that sat on her left. She didn't want to be in love with him. She didn't want to be in love with anyone—not again—but she especially didn't want to be in love with Adrien Agreste. He was charming, funny, and vulnerable when he was with her. He was everything she could ever want. But she knew another boy that fit that description, and he ruined everything.

No, it was better this way. Marinette could keep her feelings down. It was better than putting her trust in another too-perfect boy and getting her heart broken. Adrien shifted next to her. His knee gently brushed against hers underneath the table. She averted her gaze in attempt to look nonchalant.

Marinette turned her attention towards the window just in time to see a small purple butterfly fluttering past. She stood up suddenly, interrupting her teacher, "Mlle. Bustier? Can I go to the restroom?" Marinette didn't wait for permission. She raced out of the classroom and ducked into the vacant bathroom. She didn't bother locking the stall as she called on her transformation, "Spots on!" The black and red spotted jumpsuit spread around Marinette. With a wave of her hand, the magical mask appeared, covering her eyes. She was Ladybug: defender of Paris.

She leapt through the bathroom window, tossing her yo-yo to swing across the busy Parisian street. She had to reach the akuma before it found its victim—or even worse, before Chat Noir found her. Hawkmoth’s akumatized villains had been getting more and more powerful. She wasn’t sure how much longer she would be able to fight them and fend off Chat Noir at the same time.

A figure fell from the sky, landing in front of Ladybug, and cut off her path to the akuma. She halted, stopping a mere inches away from her enemy. She was face-to-face with the boy she once loved, before he destroyed everything. There was a time where Ladybug thought she knew him inside and out, the only exception being his identity. Now, he stands before her with a stranger’s heart. The Chat Noir she knew and loved was gone. Perhaps he never existed.

“Chat Noir, what an unpleasant surprise.” She said, grimacing, and twirled her yo-yo to form a shield. Over his shoulder, Ladybug saw that she was too late. The akuma found its victim, M. Ramier. He was a quiet man, often unfairly criticized for his interest in pigeons and a frequent victim of Hawkmoth’s akumitizations. M. Pigeon, his akumatized form, was more of a nuisance than an actual threat. If she could incapacitate Chat Noir long enough, Ladybug could defeat M. Pigeon with plenty of time to be back before her science class began.

“Yes, because I am so delighted to see you, Bug.” Chat Noir’s eyes narrowed, menacingly. “This is exactly how I like to spend my time.” He pounced, swinging his retractable metal staff towards her. Ladybug deflected, observing her surroundings to form a plan. Ladybug could defeat them—if only Chat Noir would stop talking.

“You know,” she said throwing her yo-yo as a grappling hook towards a lamp post, “You are more then welcome to stop working for Hawkmoth. Just give up your Miraculous, then you can do whatever you like.” She swung around the lamp post and kicked Chat Noir in the chest, sending him flying towards the opposite end of the block. “Though I can’t imagine you liking anything,” she said, more to herself than to her enemy.

Chat Noir wouldn’t stay down for long. She darted towards the akumatized man flying around the park on the back of hundreds of pigeons. He circled Officer Roger. It was time for a little luck.

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug called up her magical power. A red and black spotted slingshot fell from the sky into Ladybug’s hands. She inspected her environment, connecting the invisible dots that formed her plan. She took note of crumpled tickets scattered on the ground by Officer Roger and M. Pigeon’s position above a lamppost.

Still determining her next move, Ladybug sensed motion behind her and dropped to the ground as Chat Noir attacked. He stumbled briefly from her sudden movement. Crouching, Ladybug swung her leg out and knocked him to the ground. She stood, ready to end this unpleasant affair, when Chat Noir locked his legs around hers. His momentum forced their positions to flip. She was on the ground, grimacing at Chat Noir who kneeled above her

“Face it, Bug, you’re just not as good without me.” He leaned over to take her earrings.

“I might not be as good,” Ladybug grunted through bared teeth, “but I’m still better than you.” She pushed up, shifting his balance enough to free her arms and elbowed him in the face. His objective forgotten as his hands reached instinctively for his nose. She kicked him back, giving herself room to scramble to her feet. While Chat Noir was still distracted, she reached for her yo-yo. It wrapped around Chat Noir’s wrist seconds after it left her hand. She flung Chat Noir as far into the Parisian sky as she could before releasing him. “Bye-Bye, Kitty.” She said smugly.

Ladybug didn’t have much time before she transformed back into Marinette. She ran to the pile of discarded tickets and placed one in her slingshot. The ball arced through the air, not unlike Chat Noir, and hit the congregated pigeons keeping the akumatized villain aloft. The birds scattered slightly at the ticket’s disturbance. Ladybug shot off a few more crushed citations in quick succession. It caused enough disruption for the birds to scatter, dropping M. Pigeon. She threw her yo-yo, catching him by the ankle, and hoisted him upside down from the lamppost. The bird call fell from around his neck. Ladybug crushed it under her foot as she lowered the deakumatized M. Ramier so the ground.

"Time to de-evilize!" Ladybug shouted as she captured the akuma. A purified white butterfly flew peacefully into the morning sky.

“Thank you Mlle. Ladybug,” M. Ramier said, picking up the tickets from Officer Roger.

“Of course, M. Ramier!” She smiled politely at the man before throwing her Lucky Charm into the sky. “Miraculous Ladybug!” Swarms of the magical insects cleared the damage caused by the akumatized villain. “Wish I could stay and chat, but I gotta go. Bug out!” She waved and swung through the streets, trying to find a secluded place to detransform.

She landed in an abandoned alley behind Collège Françoise-Dupont. “Spots off,” she said, swapping her magical suit for the pink skirt and white polka dot blouse she chose for the start of school.

“Pound it,” she whispered dejectedly to herself before crawling in through the bathroom window.

#Miraculous ladybug #ml fic #ml enemies au #ml #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ladybug and chat noir #ladynoir #adrienette #this is my first fic #the other chapters are really long so I probably wont post the entire thing on tumblr #I changed a lot with this au so if anything seems confusing please message me here or on ao3 #my fic

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quicksilversquared · 3 years

Text

The Wavering Peahen: Chapter 7

When Nathalie started feeling oddly ill again, both she and Gabriel were worried that the Peacock Miraculous might somehow (impossibly) be to blame again.

So naturally, they pick someone else to be the Peacock for a bit. You know, as a test subject. Except the new Peacock… doesn’t exactly know that.

links in the reblog

Marinette was really glad that the picnic broke up as soon as the ambulance vanished around the corner, because she couldn't get home fast enough.

Was the pin real? It had to be, since otherwise Tikki wouldn't have sensed it. But why on earth would Hawkmoth think that giving Lila a Miraculous would be a good idea?

And how did Lila's strange illness fit into it all?

"I suppose she could just be sick and that part could have nothing to do with Hawkmoth at all," Marinette told Tikki as she dug the Miracle Box out from under her bed. She had to talk to Wayzz right now and see if he could shed any insight on the absolutely astronomical levels of crazy that the past half-hour had been. "But she's been sick for most of the time that Pavona was out and about. Why would Hawkmoth let someone who was sick fight alongside him? If I were him, I would want someone healthy out with me. Whenever I'm sick, I don't do as good of a job fighting. Sneezing and coughing just throws me off and leaves me open to attacks. I mean, maybe he doesn't have any other choice, depending on what happened to Mayura, but still."

"Normally I would say that it's probably just a coincidence, but the Peacock's energy seems off again." Tikki was frowning. "I would have thought that Hawkmoth would have fixed the Miraculous once he got his hands on Master Fu's translations, and it certainly seemed like that was the case when Mayura started coming out to battles all the time. I might be wrong, since I'm not the expert, but my guess is that Lila got sick because of the Miraculous."

"I'd just ask- what was it, Duusu? But honestly, if his energy is off, I don't want to charge in headfirst. If I get sick like Lila, then I won't be able to fight as Ladybug." Marinette glanced over the box, then tapped the section for the Turtle. "So I want to talk to Wayzz first. He was the one who was always with Master Fu, so maybe they talked about whatever was going on with the Peacock." There was also the issue of whether it would even be safe to pull Duusu out when she wasn't transformed. If he felt any loyalty to his previous holders- which he might, after being with them for what was really a decent amount of time- then she might be running the risk of him seeing her identity and then escaping and bringing it back to Hawkmoth.

She wanted to believe that that wouldn't happen. That Duusu would be excited about being saved. But she had heard stories about kwamis getting attached to terrible holders before, when their viewpoint got warped around so that they thought their villainous holder was in the right, and as one-half of Paris's superhero team she just couldn't take any chances.

"Hopefully Wayzz and Master Fu discussed the Peacock," Tikki said as Marinette pulled the Turtle out. "If they didn't, we're going to be going in blind."

"Not completely blind. Wayzz is sensitive to what's going on with the other Miraculous and the auras around them. It should help." A green light flashed across the room, and Marinette grinned as Wayzz showed up. "Hey, buddy!"

"Marinette! I sensed a disturbance- a change in the aura around the Peacock- wait! It's close- very close- it's inactive!" Wayzz spun around in a wild circle, then made a beeline to the pile of fabric that was Lila's scarf, digging through it until the Peacock pin was exposed. "You have it! It's here! It's broken, but it's here! Duusu has been saved!"

"So it is broken again," Marinette confirmed. "How would it have gotten like that again? Are the Miraculous really so easy to damage?"

Wayzz shook his head, one paw stroking the Peacock pin as he talked. "Not at all! It's just that when it was fixed last time, it was not fixed correctly. Master Fu saw to that. When he was writing down the translation for that particular spell, he deliberately wrote down one step incorrectly. The spell would appear to fix the Miraculous, and then gradually wear off as time goes by. He did that just in case he lost the translation or it was stolen from him, since he knew that it would make things very difficult for you if the Peacock was fixed for good." Wayzz sighed. "I believe that he thought that the 'repair' would wear off a whole lot sooner, but those sorts of things are hard to control. I suppose it did end up doing what it was meant to, though."

"Eventually, yeah." Marinette grinned, then sobered a little. "Though I honestly would have preferred that it take out Mayura instead of Pavona. Then we would have at least gotten an insight to who Hawkmoth might be. With Lila, though, I just know that the only reason she's connected is because she doesn't like Ladybug."

There was a chance, of course- probably (hopefully) a really good chance- that Duusu would be willing to help and give them clues towards Hawkmoth's (and Mayura's) identity, but clues could only go so far. There were millions of people in Paris and the chance that she and Chat Noir would actually put together the supervillains' identities with only a few clues was pretty low. They could call up the police to help, of course, but even the police didn't know everyone in the city.

"I wonder how much manipulation went into getting Lila to go along with Hawkmoth," Wayzz commented. He raised an eyebrow at Marinette's dubious look. "...if any?"

Marinette shook her head. "I doubt that there was any manipulation. He probably offered up the Miraculous and she took it right away. And I'm definitely not going to let Lila get away with that. She's old enough to know that she shouldn't be working with a supervillain."

"I think even a little kid knows not to work with a supervillain!" Tikki agreed emphatically. "Remember that little kid that got akumatized a month after the attacks started and was super upset about it? He couldn't have been more than six or seven, but he knew that working with a supervillain was a bad thing and wouldn't calm down until you convinced him that being akumatized didn't count as working with Hawkmoth."

Marinette nodded. That had been pretty heartbreaking, actually, and she and Chat Noir had ended up running a whole publicity campaign affirming that akumas weren't responsible for their actions and that they were victims, not villains. No one chose to be akumatized, they had said- which wasn't strictly true, presumably Mayura had allowed herself to get akumatized to create Scarlet Moth and Marinette wouldn't be surprised if Lila had willingly and eagerly accepted a corrupted butterfly (or five) as well- and people shouldn't beat themselves up over it. People should try to avoid getting akumatized or causing akumatizations, of course, but they weren't the villains. Hawkmoth (and Mayura and Pavona, of course, but they hadn't been around at that time) was.

Of course, that was entirely beside the point at the moment. Lila hadn't been akumatized this time around, she had accepted a Miraculous from a supervillain willingly. That was different.

"I can probably say that a classmate of Lila's found the pin on her and alerted me at once," Marinette decided after a moment's pause. "So that's how we found it, and that's how we establish the first connection. Then we add on that the Miraculous has been broken and her symptoms are consistent with the use of a broken Miraculous, so we're positive that it wasn't planted. Or wait, no- I shouldn't mention planting at all, that would be dumb of me. I can just say that that's, uh..."

"Extra confirmation that she was indeed the one holding the Peacock most recently," Wayzz suggested. "Or that that makes it undeniable that she was Pavona, that way you're not suggesting that there was any uncertainty about Pavona's identity once the Peacock came to light."

Marinette jabbed her finger at him. "Yes! I like that. Hang on, I'll write that down. Now, next question- how soon should Chat Noir and I tell Paris about Lila? Right away, or do you think we might be able to catch Hawkmoth off guard if we don't publicize that Lila's identity was discovered?"

Tikki perked up. "Ooh, the second one! I would talk to the police and the hospital right away, though," she added. "To make sure that no news stories run about Lila's collapse. Maybe it's not likely, I don't know, but just in case."

"They probably wouldn't release names for several days anyway, but that's a good idea. The police will understand why we don't want to risk tipping Hawkmoth off, in case he doesn't already know somehow." Marinette pulled out her phone, opening the secure messaging app that she and Chat Noir used and shooting her partner a message. She wanted to let him know what was going on as soon as possible. If they could both be there when Duusu came out, that would be great. As she sent it, another thought hit her. "Wayzz, will it be dangerous for us to pull Duusu out considering that his Miraculous is broken? Will it affect us like it affected Lila?"

Wayzz shook his head. "It shouldn't. Lila got to the stage that she's now at by repetitive use of the Miraculous. Heavy repetitive use, and recent, from what I'm sensing around Duusu's aura. Which is odd, considering that Hawkmoth hasn't been active today...or this week at all."

Marinette gasped, stabbing one finger into the air as a revelation hit her. "That's how Lila got the photos! Today she had pictures of herself with all sorts of famous people, including Ladybug," she added to Wayzz when he looked confused. "To make her stories seem more true. I figured that she had just been using Photoshop, but I bet all of those celebrities were actually sentimonsters plus a poster behind her."

"Somehow, I am not surprised." Wayzz let out a long sigh. "Fitting that that would be her downfall, really. She must have used the Peacock's powers a number of times in a very short timeframe to become as ill as she did at the end. You will simply be pulling Duusu out and not transforming or using his powers, which means that the broken magic from the Miraculous won't affect you at all."

"Good." Marinette let out a long breath- that was a load off of her shoulders- and then checked her phone as it buzzed. "Chat Noir is available now. I'm telling him to go to Master Fu's old parlor- Hawkmoth never found that, so it should be private and safe enough. We can pull Duusu out there, so both of us can talk to him at once." She slipped the Turtle bracelet onto her wrist. "Is there anything I should be bringing along other than the Miraculous, Wayzz?"

"Some fruit, if you have some to spare!" Wayzz told her. "Duusu loves fruit, and I'm sure that the lying girl didn't give him enough. She seems the sort to only give the bare minimum and then snap when asked for anything more, which- ironically- would have just sped up the rate at which she was affected by the Miraculous being broken. You don't have to take a ton, but a snack would be nice."

Marinette nodded, already headed for her trapdoor. "That's easy enough. We always have fruit sitting out for snacks. No one is going to think anything of it if an apple and a couple of bananas go missing, that's what they're there for."

It took almost no time at all to grab the fruit, gather up the pin (and the scarf) and then hightail her way over to Master Fu's old shop. Going in felt a little odd- she had to slip in a back window as Ladybug instead of going in the front door as Marinette, and the shop had a distinctly abandoned feel to it instead of feeling like a home- but it was the best place they had to work out of. Chat Noir was already there, waiting anxiously in what used to be the living room.

"What's going on?" Chat Noir wanted to know as soon as she came in. "You said it was urgent? There's not some sort of invisible akuma or something, is there?"

"No, no akuma," Ladybug told him, pulling a pillow and a box that sometimes served as a sort of table over next to him. "There was an, ah, incident at one of the local parks not very long ago. Lila Rossi- you know, the liar girl- she passed out and fainted. And when Marinette was checking her over, she found...this." Ladybug reached out, depositing the Peacock on their box-table. Chat Noir's eyes went wide. "And Tikki and Wayzz have confirmed that it's the real thing."

"No way! That's- but how was Lila- I mean, I guess it makes sense considering how Pavona acted, she always seemed to think that she was more of a threat than she actually was. But- wow." Chat Noir let out a long breath, still staring at the Peacock. "How lucky is it that she just happened to be sick and passed out right then? Now Hawkmoth is down an ally, and maybe we'll get some sort of lead."

"It's not entirely luck, really." Ladybug tapped the Miraculous. "You remember how we thought that it was broken before, right? And that Hawkmoth fixed it? Wayzz said that Master Fu didn't write down the correct translation of the spell. He altered one step so that it would look fixed and feel fixed for a short while and then wear off. So the Miraculous has been making Lila sick, and then she used it a bunch- that's what we're assuming, at least- to fake some photos with famous people, and that was enough to push her over the edge into- well, she hadn't woken up yet from what I heard, so who knows? Maybe she's in a coma."

"Oof, that's- well, honestly, that's well-deserved." Chat Noir let out another breath. "It's a good thing that we found that out with the supervillains, at least. Imagine if we had gotten the Peacock back somehow and tried to fix it ourselves! That could have been really dangerous."

"I wouldn't have done anything to it without consulting all of the kwamis first," Ladybug told him. "And then I would have made sure to have Wayzz keep an eye on it, since he's best with the auras. I wouldn't feel confident enough to fix a Miraculous myself without supervision to actually use it afterwards without triple- and quadruple-checking to make sure that things actually went the way they were meant to. And- and Master Fu would have known that."

Chat Noir nodded. "That makes me feel better. I'd be pretty lost if you got sick and then vanished off of the face of the earth."

"I'd stop way before getting to the coma stage, believe me. One cough, and that Miraculous would be retired to a corner until I could contact the Order." Ladybug took a deep breath, her eyes returning to the Miraculous. "I haven't talked to Duusu yet. I didn't think it would be safe to at home, and it made more sense than interviewing him by myself and then trying to remember everything to pass it along to you. Besides, if Duusu gives us a lead to who Hawkmoth is, we should both be here."

"Ooh, fingers crossed that we get a good lead." Chat Noir settled down, shifting anxiously on his heels. "Ready to talk to him now?"

Yeah." Ladybug gave herself a shake, then straightened and turned her attention fully to the Miraculous, focusing on pulling Duusu out without actually touching the Miraculous. It took a minute, but then the Miraculous lit up with blue light. It glowed for a long moment, and then a blue bubble popped free. It glowed brighter and brighter, and then burst. Duusu yawned widely, then blinked blearily over at them. After a moment, his eyes widened and he shot up in the air.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Duusu exclaimed. "I've been saved! You would not believe the terrible people that I've had to put up with, it was awful!"

As it turned out, Duusu was an absolute gold mine of information. Maybe he couldn't say the names of his former captors, but he could certainly talk and talk (and talk some more) on about them until there was absolutely no doubt in Ladybug and Chat Noir's minds about who Hawkmoth and Mayura were.

And then Duusu kept talking, on and on and on. He complained about Lila ("Such a little brat, and so full of herself!") and about Mayura ("I don't know why she's going after a married man, he's hardly a looker or kind or a good dad or anything, no redeeming qualities at all!") and about another, previous holder, who apparently had been kind, if perhaps a little manipulative sometimes, and who was currently in some sort of cursed coma related to her use of the Miraculous in Hawkmoth's sub-basement lair.

Ladybug had to roll her eyes at sub-basement lair. What kind of unnecessarily dramatic (and rich) villain needed two lairs in the same building? It was absolutely excessive and ridiculous.

"Okay, so Hawkmoth is Gabriel Agreste, Mayura is Nathalie Sancoeur, and Emilie Agreste isn't missing, but a former Peacock and is hidden under the house," Chat Noir summed up once Duusu finally stopped talking for a minute in favor of inhaling some of the fruit that Ladybug had brought along. Her partner looked more than a little shaken, his face so pale behind the mask that Ladybug was starting to wonder if she would have to call for another ambulance. "Uh, is there any way to- to get her out of the coma? To heal her, I mean?"

"Once my Miraculous is properly fixed, the energy that I sapped from my users should slowly return," Duusu told them. "Well, as long as the they have my Miraculous on them. It won't work without that contact. They might need a little medical attention and maybe a boost from a potion or two to get the process really going, but unless the damage runs deeper than I can sense, it should be a pretty straightforward process to fix everything!"

Ladybug nodded, part of her mind already combing through the potions and spells that she and Chat Noir had gone through together. There were a couple that might be of some use, though she would want to do a bit more digging through things and consulting with the kwamis before she gave anyone any potions.

There was also, of course, the question of how they were meant to heal Lila- and possibly Nathalie as well, depending on how she was doing- without running the risk of them taking the Miraculous and running with it. Handcuffs and 24-7 supervision could only go so far when magic was involved.

The other part of her mind was- well, it was mulling over the discovery of the supervillains' identities. After all, that was what she and Chat Noir had wanted to learn for months now.

She wasn't as surprised as she thought she would be, really.

Part of it was the fact that she had suspected Mr. Agreste before. He had had the Miracle Book and had a butterfly as his brand's logo. He had a motive with his missing wife. He had the money and job security needed to vanish for hours on end to somewhere secluded and safe to unleash his akumas on the world. And, to top it off, he wasn't a very nice person. It was pretty easy to imagine that he would think that the rules didn't apply to him and that causing other people suffering and fear and distress was just a minor inconvenience that could easily be ignored.

And then the other part... well, both she and Adrien had commented on how odd it was that Lila, Nathalie, and Mrs. Agreste had all come down with the same symptoms at separate times. Once Lila collapsed and Marinette found out that she had been Pavona and the Peacock Miraculous had been what had caused the odd illness, that oddness had been nagging her from the back of her mind, begging to be noticed.

Marinette hadn't paid it as much attention as she might have otherwise because there had been a lot going on that had also needed her attention, but if she had had a couple minutes to give it a proper think over, she probably would have come to the same conclusion that she had now. With that one piece of the puzzle it would have all snapped into place anyway, even without Duusu's helpful comments. He had just sped the process along and ensured that they were absolutely 100% positive about the supervillains' identities.

"I guess the most pressing question now- well, other than how to fix the Miraculous- is how to deal with defeating Hawkmoth and then approaching all of the stuff with Lila," Chat Noir said hesitantly after a few moments had passed. "Mr. Agreste is out of town at the moment, I've heard, though he's coming back- er, tomorrow, potentially? At least that's what I've heard."

Ladybug blinked at that, puzzled, before giving herself a shake to refocus. How and why Chat Noir knew Mr. Agreste's schedule off of the top of his head was anyone's guess, but it also wasn't immediately important. If she remembered, maybe she could ask him about it later. "I got to talk to Tikki and Wayzz about that before coming here, actually. We thought it would be a good idea to go to the police and catch them up on what is going on, and then they could restrict what information gets released so that we don't tip Hawkmoth off about Lila collapsing and us getting the Peacock back ahead of time."

"And should we tell them about who Hawkmoth and Mayura are, or just Lila's identity?"

Ladybug let out a long breath. Honestly, she wanted to talk to Tikki about that to really feel good about her decision. After all, she was just a teenager with experience fighting akumas and pretty much all she had talked about with Master Fu was in regard to their battles, not what she should do once they had figured out who Hawkmoth was. "I mean...maybe? I don't- I don't know if I want to risk them trying to take over now, but I'm coming up a bit blank on ideas."

"Right." Chat Noir leaned back on his pillow, clearly deep in thought. "Well, if we want to surprise Hawkmoth- Mr. Agreste- then we want to get him before he has the chance to find out about Lila. So I think we should find out when he's going to be back for sure, and catch him coming off of the plane."

"Hopefully Mrs. Rossi hasn't contacted him already." Presumably she wouldn't have- after all, with Lila likely in a coma, Mrs. Rossi was probably too overwhelmed to think of doing anything like contacting Lila's employer- but it never hurt to shut down those possibilities before their advantage could get spoiled.

...honestly, it was a bit questionable as to if Mrs. Rossi knew about Lila's modeling at all. Somehow Ladybug doubted it.

Chat Noir frowned. "I hadn't considered that. But assuming that she hasn't yet, maybe we could ask the police to ask her not to spread any news about Lila? Then Mr. Agreste would come back unprepared, and we could catch him and Na- er, Mayura at the airport. If he tries transforming there, everyone will see him and he'll know it."

"If he knows that we already know, it might not matter," Ladybug pointed out, but she could see his point. "I think that's a good idea."

"If it helps, Mrs. Rossi doesn't know about Lila's modeling!" Duusu chirped helpfully, finally emerging from the slowly shrinking pile of fruit. "It was all a secret! I'm not sure if she would have allowed it or not if she had known, but Lila didn't really tell her mom anything. She can't stop it if she doesn't know about it, right?"

"I feel like Lila took that approach with most things," Ladybug sighed. She looked over at Chat Noir. "I feel like we probably thought about everything. Ready to go talk to the police?"

"In a minute?" Chat Noir had curled up on himself, his eyes on Duusu. "I'm just... I know we have to work fast, but everything is still sinking in. I just can't believe that everything is coming together and finishing so quickly."

Ladybug nodded, re-settling on her cushion. Honestly, they could use a few extra minutes before they headed out, just to decide what they wanted to say. "I know what you mean. I never imagined that we would learn Hawkmoth's identity this way. It feels really strange to be planning his defeat instead of just beating him during a battle."

"Mm-hmm." Chat Noir had a rather funny look on his face. "...yeah. But I- I'm glad that we did find out this way, instead of during a battle. Now we can, uh, prepare."

"Exactly!" Ladybug smiled over at him. There was a fair amount of trepidation creeping in- now that the shock was starting to recede, there were a whole lot of possible problems and things to consider that were threatening to overwhelm her. The takedown wouldn't be terribly complicated, but how they wanted to deal with the fallout, and getting Duusu help, and what should or shouldn't become public, and- and-

But that could all wait. Right now, there was finally- finally- an end to all of the endless battles in sight, and she wanted to focus on that.

Gabriel Agreste was pleasantly surprised when he woke up on the last day of his business trip to a continued lack of news about any sort of superhero-supervillain activity in Paris.

If he was being entirely honest, he hadn't been completely positive that Lila would follow his instructions to not go out with the Peacock, even with his threats. Her ego was big enough to fill a mansion, and she had proven time and time again during her time as Pavona that she thought that her strategic planning was eons better than anyone else's, even though that was nowhere close to being true. He had had to whack her and her ego back down to make her into an even remotely competent partner, and he had worried that she would just bounce back and act out again without him there to issue corrections immediately.

Perhaps he would have had a more restful week had he collected the Miraculous from her before heading out on his trip and simply returned it afterwards, but his worries about if Lila would disregard his orders hadn't really surfaced until it was far too late to do anything about it.

"I do wonder how we should approach using the- the bird," Gabriel murmured to Nathalie, letting his voice drop into a whisper so that none of the other passengers in first class would overhear. "Like how much longer we should allow the girl to use it. We're not going to get any closer to the jewels with her assistance, but you seem to be feeling better now that you've had a break from using the pe- using the bird."

"I'm inclined to believe that my illness was a coincidence, given the fact that Ms. Rossi has not complained about feeling sick despite the rigorous pace you've set," Nathalie told him. "And I've been thinking about my return as well, and came up with a potential approach. If you bring her back out onto the battlefield for a couple of fights- let me finish, Gabriel, do not interrupt- and then reclaim the- the bird. I will use it and look just like her, atrocious outfit and all, and then we can take them off guard. They will be expecting a weak opponent and an easy monster and instead, come face-to-face with- well, me."

Gabriel hmmmed, stroking his chin. "Ah, yes. I like that idea. You might have to tr- to use her form before," he added, glancing around to make sure that no one was listening in. Thankfully, it seemed as though everyone in the rows around them either had headphones on or was asleep. "To get used to the difference in height and the, ah, outfit." He had to shudder at the thought. Pavona's outfit was one of the most garish and tasteless things that he had ever seen. Frankly, it was a bit concerning that Lila was spending so much time around fashion and had still managed to come up with that. "Speaking of Ms. Rossi and her health, I think it might be prudent to call her up for a shoot before you return, just so that we can see her in person and ensure that she isn't hiding an illness."

Nathalie tapped at her tablet. "Of course, sir. How soon should the shoot be?"

"After several attacks. She has gotten some time off from them, after all." Gabriel tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair, a sharp staccato as he thought. "Let's allow for three or four in quick succession. That way, if she has any symptoms, they should be at a detectable level."

"A solid plan, sir."

Gabriel only nodded in acknowledgement.

The remainder of their flight passed quickly. Gabriel sipped away at the wine that he had bought earlier in the flight- enough to take the edge off of the mind-numbing dullness of travel, not so much that he would appear remotely incapacitated once he had to get off the plane- and sketched while Nathalie took advantage of the airplane Wi-Fi to take care of her emails and plan out both his and Adrien's schedules for the next two weeks.

It wouldn't do to return behind schedule, after all. There was a lot of work that went into running a company like Gabriel, and it was getting harder and harder to fit everything in around their increased number of akumatizations without anyone noticing. Every spare minute had to used wisely.

Hopefully everything would be sorted out soon. With Nathalie's suggested plan, Gabriel figured that they should have the Miraculous in their hands by the end of the following week. Then they would have Emilie back, so there would be no need to continue the time-consuming akuma attacks, and she would be able to help both him and Nathalie with their work. They could get caught up, and then Gabriel would be able to expand several of the fashion lines and use his extra time to continue growing the business into a few new countries.

Emilie would probably insist on them going to a few of Adrien's fencing tournaments or basketball games or something, but Gabriel could always bring along his tablet so that he could continue working and wouldn't be wasting so much time on such frivolities.

"We got an email from Adrien's school yesterday afternoon," Nathalie commented as the plane started its descent, swiping at something on her tablet and then setting it aside as the announcement to put electronics away came over the intercom. "I hadn't looked at it before, since it wasn't marked as urgent, but it sounds like there was some sort of incident during one of their class outings. It doesn't go into details, but I suppose we should ask Adrien about it."

"I imagine that it's just some schoolyard drama, but yes, I suppose." There was, of course, the off chance that something moderately interesting had happened, but based on prior emails the school had sent out, it was far more likely that someone had tripped and scraped their knee and then someone else had felt faint at the sight of the blood or something ridiculous like that. "I do wish that the school was a bit more discriminating about what they bother parents about. If I wanted to know about every inconsequential detail about what is going on at school, I would ask Adrien."

Nathalie nodded. "Precisely. I suppose that they had to deal with complaints from overly-involved parents who wanted to know every detail about what their kids were doing and that's why they felt the need to send something out- and for something that didn't even happen on school grounds or during school hours, either."

"Ridiculous."

Nathalie nodded, and they fell silent as the plane finished its descent and landed. As soon as they were stopped at the gate, Nathalie was up and pulling their carry-ons down from overhead. They were almost the first people off, striding up the jetway towards the airport. It would mean a longer wait for their luggage, but Gabriel much preferred that over sitting in the plane for any longer.

"Do you think that you'll be checking in on Ms. Rossi tonight?" Nathalie asked. "To update her on the plan?"

Gabriel shook his head. "No, for several reasons. Since she's Adrien's classmate, she's likely to be aware that I was gone as well, and she's likely find out that I returned today. That's the problem with us including her at all. She's too high-maintenance and spoiled. I worry that if I tell her that I'm going to be taking the pin back ahead of time, she'll try to stab me in the back and run off with it. I'll give the attacks a break for another day or two, then do an attack and visit her afterwards. I think that would be best."

"And then when you want to take the pin back, just do it the day of," Nathalie agreed as they stepped into the airport. "Wise choice. I'm looking forward to not having to deal with her anymore. Or, well, not having to deal with her on that side of our lives. I suppose she still serves a purpose as a spy at the school."

Gabriel sighed. Honestly, he would rather not have to deal with such an unpleasant child, but she was a mildly useful tool. "Yes, at least for a while longer. As soon as we get-" he lowered his voice "-the Miraculous, then we can drop her like a hot potato. She's a pain in the rear at photoshoots, she's been holding up the entire proce-"

He never got to finish his sentence. Out of nowhere, Nathalie got sent flying as a black pole slammed into her back, and Gabriel found himself hog-tied and dragged sideways abruptly, with no chance to defend himself. His face hit the floor with a smack and his nose started stinging as he was yanked across the cheap airport carpet, fibers and dirt and stray tiny stones scraping across his skin. The sensation- along with the tearing noise that was almost definitely coming from either his jacket or his pants or both- was a distant concern, though, behind the absolute panic that was welling up in Gabriel. He thrashed frantically, trying to catch sight of who had roped him, but there were too many people around. There were shouts of surprise and panic from the crowds as people started running away, tripping over luggage and other people as they did.

Gabriel was yanked across another few meters of carpet before coming to an abrupt stop, still face-down on the carpet. There was something uncomfortably sticky across his cheek, and now-

Now there was definitely a foot pressing down on his back, holding him down. It didn't feel that big, so Gabriel tried to thrash.

The foot pressed down harder, clearly stronger than its small size indicated.

"Look at what came off!" a male voice called, and Gabriel twisted his head just enough to see Carapace straightening up, a scrap of fabric in hand. Just a little further back- where smooth floor switched to rough carpet- Gabriel's red and white-striped clip-on ascot lay on the floor, having apparently popped off-

-wait. Carapace?

No. No no no no no no no-

"One butterfly-themed brooch!" Carapace announced, waving the scrap of cloth around. "That was easy!"

"Nice!" a female voice cheered, and Gabriel's eyes shot over to where Rena Rouge and Chat Noir were handcuffing Nathalie, who... well, it looked like she might have been thrown into the coffee shop area when she was initially hit by what must have been Chat Noir's baton. "No last-ditch transformation attempts!"

"What-" Gabriel croaked, his mind spinning as he tried to piece together what was going on. It sounded like they knew that he was Hawkmoth and Nathalie was Mayura, but how was that even possible? They had been careful! They had made sure to not go in and out of the mansion from as Hawkmoth and Mayura- well, at least not from any visible entrances or ones that could be connected to the mansion- and they had never been unmasked in front of anyone. They made to detransform in hidden spots that didn't have any cameras, if they decided to detransform somewhere that wasn't in the mansion. "No, I'd like that back, it- it has a picture of my wife in it, it's very special to me-"

Carapace snorted. "Yeah, I bet it's special to you, Mr. Supervillain."

"Welcome back to Paris," Ladybug said cheerfully from where she stood on top of him, her friendly smile a little too wide, a little too toothy, just on the edge of dangerous. "By the way, you're under arrest."

Paris flew into an uproar as soon as the news of Hawkmoth's defeat reached the public, shock and joy filling the streets. The police wasted no time in releasing the official story that Ladybug and Chat Noir had fed them, which was that a classmate found the Peacock Miraculous on the civilian Pavona while administering first aid following Pavona's collapse. She had grabbed it to give to Ladybug and from there, the superheroes had been able to piece together the clues that led them to Mr. Agreste and Ms. Sancoeur.

Hawkmoth and Mayura's identities had been known as soon as the arrest was made, of course. People in the airport had seen the superheroes making an arrest and waving a pin around, and it was easy enough to put two and two together. The police had initially declined to confirm the reason for the arrest, but it hadn't been long before it was obvious that no one was buying it.

The public then turned to the next question: Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth and Nathalie Sancoeur was Mayura, but who was Pavona? Perhaps she hadn't been on the battlefield as much as Hawkmoth or Mayura, or for as long, and really she had been more or a minor annoyance for the superheroes (and a source of amusement for the rest of Paris, who rather enjoyed seeing the supervillain constantly getting beaten up), but she had joined the supervillains and needed to face the consequences.

This time, the police declined to release any names right away. They might have confirmed- with Duusu's help and with the recording of Hawkmoth recruiting Lila that they had found at the Agreste mansion- that Lila's participation was 100% voluntary, but since Lila was underage, they wanted to be more careful.

Needless to say, the superheroes were not thrilled about that, particularly once Lila's estranged father appeared and looked like he might be moving to use his connections- connections that did exist, unlike the ones that Lila claimed- to keep Lila's involvement on the down-low. She would still go to jail- no connections could make the evidence go away- but no one would know. Everyone in her class- in the whole school, really- would remember her as the super-cool, super-nice student who was going to save the world, only to be suddenly felled by an illness and then vanish.

Lila didn't deserve that. She had been a supervillain by choice, and that made her fake everyday-superhero persona an insult to everyone who actually dedicated their lives to helping others.

And so the superheroes tipped the scales, so to speak. All it took was them mentioning in the ex-supervillains' hearing range why Lila had taken ill so suddenly and intensely that she had collapsed and spilled the beans. Gabriel Agreste had been so thoroughly infuriated about the fact that Lila had gotten sick from her own entirely selfish use of the Miraculous instead of just by using the Peacock for his cause that he had told reporters who Pavona had been himself during a press conference several weeks after his arrest.

Once upon a time Adrien might have felt a little bad about manipulating his father to do his dirty work for him, but not anymore. After all, Lila deserved to be exposed, and Mr. Agreste really couldn't get in any more trouble than he was already in.

Besides, Mr. Agreste had made Adrien put up with Lila during photoshoots and study sessions that Adrien had objected to, so if he looked at it that way, his father owed it to him to ensure that Adrien wouldn't have to listen to his classmates gushing about and worrying over Lila for who-knew-how-long going forward.

As was to be expected, the truthfulness of the story was questioned when it first broke, but it didn't take people long to figure out that there was no point in Mr. Agreste lying. In fact, since his identity had been figured out due to Pavona's collapse, he was bound to be pretty motivated to take her down with him.

Besides, Lila had, in fact, passed out at a park and was still in the hospital. All of the details fit, and Paris was convinced.

After that, it wasn't long before the police confirmed Pavona's identity. Lila's father had raged, but at that point, there was no point in denying it any longer. Everyone knew the truth, and it wasn't long before all of Lila's other lies came to light, too.

Lila's reputation was in the trash and- well, no one could say that it wasn't very well deserved.

"Well, at least one good thing came out of Lila being here," Adrien commented as he and Marinette watched the latest news coverage on the upcoming supervillain trials in her family's apartment. Ever since they revealed their identities to each other, they had been practically attached at the hip as Adrien came to terms with his father's betrayal and anxiously waited for news about his mother's condition. It had been hard at first, but now that Mrs. Agreste was definitely on the mend- as the only non-villainous Peacock holder, it had been a unanimous decision to let her use the Miraculous to heal first while they figured out security measures for healing Lila and possibly Nathalie- he had been much more cheerful. "After all, she sort of caused Hawkmoth's downfall, even if it was sort of indirectly and very much by accident."

Marinette giggled, curling closer to his side. "Ooh, imagine her face when she realizes that. She joined Hawkmoth to try to cause my downfall, and it completely backfired on her."

"D'you think it would be rude if we sent her a thank-you card as superheroes once she finally gets healed?" Adrien mused, and then immediately shook his head. "No, never mind, that would be rubbing it in. Not a very good look for superheroes."

"I think that there will be plenty of people reminding her of that without us chiming in." Onscreen, the news gave way to a commercial break and Marinette muted the TV so that they didn't have to listen before turning all of her attention to Adrien. "I'm glad that everything worked out in the end, at least. It'll be nice to have our class go back to normal."

"It will be," Adrien agreed. He smiled over at Marinette, reaching over to take her hands. "Though I wouldn't mind there being a few changes to our old normal, Buginette."

Marinette's answering smile was shy. "Oh? I don't suppose the changes that you're thinking of just have to do with the fact that we won't be skipping class all of the time to fight akumas?"

"That'll be a bonus, sure, but it wasn't what I was thinking of." Adrien flashed a smile at her before his eyes dropped down to their joined hands. "My Lady, I was wondering- well, you know that I like you and, uh, I was kind of maybe getting the impression that, uh..."

Marinette couldn't hold back her grin as her poor kitty floundered. She let him try to recover for another second or two, then leaned forward and cut him off with a kiss. Adrien startled, then immediately melted into the kiss, his smile so wide that she could feel it.

The last couple of weeks had been tough, what with Adrien's father getting arrested and then immediately having to deal with getting the Peacock fixed so that they could start healing Mrs. Agreste (and eventually Lila), but they were past the worst of it now. Now they could start moving on and settle in to a new normal.

And honestly, neither of them could wait.

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #The Wavering Peahen #marinette dupain cheng

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