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mona-stay · 3 years

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Secrets part 2 - Peter Hale

Pairing reader x Peter Hale

Warnings, violence, jealously, angst, slow burn, flitty Peter

You take a long breath, thinking that question yourself. After today, Theo’s attitude all you wanted to do was get your stuff and leave. But where would you go. “honestly I’m not sure. I’m gonna see coach use my hand to get out of work. While Theo still here get my stuff and go. The rest I’ll work out later” you say hopeful.

“you know you can always come to me if your stuck, we’re still your friends y/n just because Theo was your boyfriend didn’t mean anything changed with us. Yes Stiles was upset but he got over it” she laughed. Giving you a hug. You’d forgotten how forgiving the Mc'Call pack was.

Once your hand was strapped up, you both left. “If your free later where all going to Derek’s your more than welcome to come” she offers. You tell her you’ll think about it before going back to work.

Coach Finstock took one look at your hand rolling his eyes. “what happened?” he asked.

“fight with my ex” you say watching him laugh. “look any chance I can rest if the day off, we don’t have any practices today and with this hand I won’t be as useful as normal” you ask. To your surprise he agrees and tells you to be in early tomorrow.

You got your bag and started walking to the home you shared with Theo. Feeling dread as you turned the key in the door, taking a deep breath you push the door open to get it over with. You try and ignore the memories you both made in this house.

Walking in the living room you let the tears fall looking at a photo of you both together. You flip the picture down laying face down. It was over, now you had to do what you came to do, pack up and leave.

You started grabbing your stuff from the room, jumping when you hear a voice behind you. “come crawling back” Tracey said with disgust.

“No, but after the way Theo begged me to come back today I could if I wanted to” you sass back wanting to know what she was doing here. You had told in a laugh at the look of hate on her face and the stutter nothing.

You walk past her to get some of your other things. She turns watching you, you can tell she’s trying to think of a way to get to you. “If he’s so into you, why was he with ME , chose to come to ME have ME bouncing on his cock and not you!” she said smug, each time she said the word me she took a step closer, trying to look intimating.

This time you let your held laugh. “oh really, I saw the way he throw you off him. Let me guess the second he walked back after chasing me, he told you to get dressed and get out. Your here now because he’s avoided you and hoping to try and worm your way back in” you tell her.

She looks at you with a blank open mouth expression. The realisation hit you “oh my god I’m right, aren’t I.” You laugh.

“no” she tries to lie but it’s too late you both know Theo dropped her like she meant nothing.

You don’t what came over you, maybe months of feeling the chimera trying to be better than you, pushing you. “what do you think would happen if Theo came home now I told him I was willing to forgive him if he kicks you out if his pack, who do you think he’ll chose, the quick shag he pushed away, or the girlfriend he ran after, cried and begged to take him back?” you couldn’t hide the joy in your face “I think we both know who he would pick”

Tracy looked at you for a second, you tried to read the look in her eyes but they were blank. That was until she launched at you. Groaning in pain as the both of you crashed though the coffee table. She held you pinned under her body, and punches you in the face. Dazed and sore everything was a fast blur, you grab the nearest thing a fallen lamp hitting her in the head with it. The rest of the fight was a mix of you both kicking and hitting each other.

It was Theo and Cory running through the door that stopped you both. They drag you apart Theo’s voice streaming stop and what’s going on. “ask your little slut, she attacked me” you yell, holding your face where it hurt.

“y/n please, she meant nothing to me” he says moving closer to you. Tracey growling from the corner Cory had her pinned in.

You looked at Theo ready to test his loyalty, “really if she means nothing, get rid of her!” you say. A small pause made you fold your arms waiting for his answer.

“baby please, she’s nothing just a pack member, I need all the numbers I can get” he tired to plead with you.

“I can’t look at you both together without seeing you together so make a choice Theo or I’ll make it for you!” you demand. When he didn’t answer, just mumbles a baby please don’t, you look at him heartbroken “fine!” you say walking upstairs to pack your bag.

When you come down Tracy and Cory had gone but you could still see them outside. “y/n don’t go, please you can’t ask me to choose between my pack and you” he pleads. You look trying to find any real emotion in his eyes.

“I loved you Theo, I gave up moving abroad with my sister, my friends here. All for you and you can’t give up one pack member for me, you’d never give up your power for me. I know that now, you say you love me but you’ll always love power more. Goodbye Theo, I hope you find what your looking for” you say holding in your tears as you place a final goodbye kiss on his check, walking out with your suitcase before he can stop you.

You drove to the edge of beacon hills preserve, parking the car sitting on the bonnet, finally letting all the held in emotions out. Lost in your own thoughts, was leaving a good idea, should you have given him a second chance or where do you go next. You wasn’t sure how long you’d sat there for, it wasn’t until you notice it was starting to go dark and cold you moved.

You thought about Lydia knowing Derek’s wasn’t far away, turning on your engine you decide to go. Outside you looked up at the windows debating whether to go in or call first. Lydia my have invited you but what about the others. Before you had a chance to call, a know on the window spooked you.

Peter stood there smiling at you, motioning for you to unlock the door. “well isn’t this a nice surprise seeing you here, I heard you may show up if you left Theo for good” he says happily getting in the car. You didn’t say anything, when he looks at you his eyes scans your face. “he didn’t that to you did he?” he asks.

You shake your head no, “Tracy is responsible for the face n ribs, Theo is only guilty of having a hard head” you say holding up your strapped up wrist.

Peter laughed “I heard you gave him one hell of a punch, stiles seems to think if Theo were human you’d of knocked him out” he says with a tone of awe.

“thanks I think” you laugh “it felt great at the time, if I’m gonna be honest. Now though part of me regrets it, my hand is killing” you joke.

“so you coming up?” he asks about to get out. Your hesitant not sure if your willing to go or not.

“I’m not sure, I don’t know if anyone really wants me there, I was really hoping to catch Lydia, she offered me a place to stay, maybe I can till I sort out where I’m gonna go” you say low

“I’m hurt sweetheart” he says, placing his hands on his chest “you already have my guest room, I guess you really don’t wanna stay with me” he adds with a fake pout. “just joking but my offer is always there, now come on up, I want you there too maybe you can what ever Si-Fi movie Stiles chooses more bearable” you can’t tell if he’s joking or not at the last part.

“okay” you agree, taking one last look in the mirror wiping any make up lines from crying. Peter opened your door, holding out his hand for you. Taking it you step out the car locking it and head to the loft.

Inside everyone seemed happy to see you, even Derek gave you a hug saying he’d missed you. You smile catching the small snarl from Peter. Even Stiles wasn’t harsh with you the most sarcastic thing he said was “glad to see you’ve now seen him for what he is”

You spent the next hour chilling with the group, stiles put star wars on party annoyed when someone would start talking. Your eyes often drifting to Peter, each time you did his would already be on you. He would pull a face or roll his eyes in a way for just you to see.

“y/n, I probably shouldn’t bring this up like this but, have you got somewhere to go tonight or do you wanna stay with me” Lydia asked.

You flash a quick look to Peter who’s now paying attention waiting to hear your answer. Wishing your would go home with him. You smile at Lydia “thanks your too kind but a friend has offered me their guest room for a bit” you say. Not missing the dark and sexy smile Peter gives.

After another hour, the movie ended. Scott and Derek were talking about training both not paying attention it had finished. Stiles asks Malia on her opinion of the film, Lydia and Peter both laughing when she asks what it was about still not understanding why he likes it. You noticed Mason and Liam had switched off, trying to talk quite but every now and then you hear Cory and Theo’s names mentioned. Peter comes and stands behind you whispering into your ear “I’m ready to go, you can stay longer if you want”

You smile up at him saying to give you a few minutes you’d be ready, you had one thing you needed to do first. Peter nods and heads out the flat. While you walk over to Mason and Liam.

“look I know this isn’t my place and I couldn’t help overhearing you before about Cory” you start. Masons shoulders sink as Liam looks defensive by the name. “yes Cory is in Theo’s pack but anything he feels for you is real. And you can trust anything you do or say around him won’t be told.”

Liam doesn’t agree “we caught him sneaking around, working for Theo” his smirk begging you for an excuse.

You shake your head, “no actually, Theo threatened Cory into spying but when Cory refused to say anything useful he was ordered to do it again but by this point I think Cory had feeling for Mason and told Theo he wouldn’t use Mason for information. It was the first and only time that boy stood up to Theo and that was for him.” You tell Liam.

Looking at Mason “it’s up to you but if you like him, go for it. It’s only fear keeping Cory with Theo, remember that” you tell him. Saying bye to the rest of the group you walk out the door catching up with Peter.

You follow Peter the short drive to his penthouse, parking next to his Shelby. Peter took your bag carrying it for you. Once inside he let you get settled as he started to cook. Maybe staying here wouldn’t be so bad you thought.

It had been two weeks since you moved in and Peter was struggling getting to the stage he couldn’t cope any more. It wasn’t that you were a bat house guest, in fact you were the opposite, you helped cook clean and even picked up shopping. His problem was his own feelings.

He couldn’t deal with the way you would walk around in shorts and a vest tops, showing off your legs and cleavage. The easy flirting you both shared, looks smiles winks. The way you would say something suggestive making him ask if you meant it or not. The late night drinks where your fall asleep on his lap and he’d carry you to bed. Most of all he hated putting you in a different bed from his. It wouldn’t have been so bad to just watch you keep telling himself it would never happen but after that kiss last week it’s all he wanted now and had it in his grasp. He hated being a good guy.

This morning was no different, Peter walked out of the bathroom wearing just his sweatpants towel drying his damp hair. Something that started driving you crazy, it was hard to tare your eyes from his toned abs.

Peter watches as you dance around the kitchen making breakfast. His eyes trail your body loving and hating the coaches outfit you wore. Something about your knee high socks and shorts set his imagination wild. “morning” he says making you turn to look at him. He could help but smirk when he see you eye him up biting your lips as your eyes trail down his chest.

“hey” you say “Pancakes?” you offer as you sliding the one you just cooked onto a pile of others. Peter nods coming over to sit by you. “Are you coming to the game today?” you ask him. It was the first game of the lacrosse session and your first as assistant coach.

Peter looked amused “really you think I’d go to a high school sports game, it’s not even basketball. Its much better” he jokes. You knew it was a long shot but maybe with it being a big game for you he might of came. “however maybe I could be persuaded” he adds, with that smirk that makes you weak.

Smiling you slide off your stool, coming behind him wrapping your arms around his neck. Letting your fingers brush his chest hair. Moving closer your lips almost touching his ear “well if you do come, maybe I can find a way to show my thanks later” you try to sound seductive.

The small growl from Peters chest makes you laugh, you wanted to tease him as much as he did to you. Moving back you let your nose lightly brush against his ear. Once back in your seat “maybe you can tell me your favourite meal ill make it for you” you laughed.

Peter was going insane, was she doing this on purpose or if she even knew what she was doing. He shook his head, “such a tease, y/n, I should punish you” he said. Unlike y/n Peter knew what his words did to her and if you want to play games he could too. “do you need to be punished sweetheart” he asked.

You bit your lip hoping he was going to come over and spank your ass, do something to end this unspoken game you both played. You keep eye contact with him as he comes closer, arching an eyebrow waiting for an answer. “you wouldn’t punish me Peter, no matter how naughty I am” you say dragging out punish and naughty.

Peter leaned down hovering his lips over yours, his eyes flicked from your eyes to lips and back again. You felt yourself shift in your seat about to move forward to kiss him. Peters smirk changed, his arm reaches around you stealing the last piece of bacon from your plate, putting in his mouth. Giving a laugh as he eat it. Just like Peter you hated the game but wouldn’t play it any other way.

Seeing as Peter finished your breakfast you get ready for work, saying bye to Peter hoping to him at the game.

You were the first one at the school unlocking the doors hoping the team had improved enough to win. Once coach turned up your day was nonstop, he’d made you pull out the bleachers, check equipment,, direct the away team to their dressing room and now had you listening to one of his locker room speeches.

You couldn’t take anymore of his independence day nonsense, leaving the room you headed out to the field. You seen Mason and Cory both making their way out to watch. You smiled seeing them holding hands “hi” you shout jogging to catch up with them.

“well you two look happy” you say. They both give each other shy glances but both beamed a smile at you.

“I guess we should thank you” Mason said, Cory looked confused. “y/n told me how you stood up to Theo for me. She said I should give you a chance” Mason filled Cory in.

You were about to say your welcome until a dreaded voice filled your ears. Tracy came around the corner making you groan. Since living with Peter you’d put Theo out of your head and being busy with the game you didn’t think about them turning up today.

“so you leave and still meddle with our pack, Cory how will Theo feel when he finds out your a turncoat” She said as she stalks towards you. Cory pushes Mason away, warning him with his eyes to find help, not sure what was going to happen.

You looked at her wanting to scream and shout but you couldn’t. “Tracy if your here for the game then go find a seat, if not then leave students can’t be wandering the halls” you say as professional as possible. Cory smiles a thanks walking off your follow him hoping your teacher like warning was enough. It wasn’t, Tracy steps in front of you her claws out ready to attack.

Mason finds Scott and the others panicking telling him to come quick. Theo watches hearing your name he follows. When Cory runs to them and they all run off, Theo brakes into a run too. When he catches up he sees y/n on the floor, Tracy over her with a bloody nose about to claw at her with Kanima venom. “Tracey! Stop!” Theo roars making his beta jump of his ex girlfriend.

Theo grabs her by the throat holding her against the wall as Scott and Cory help you up off the ground. You wasn’t hurt, well not bad maybe some brushing not that was all. You wanted to go and run at Tracy and Theo not sure who you wanted to hit first.

Lucky for you Coach Finstock was in the hall too “what the hell is going on?” he demanded looking at you all. Scott looked at you and everyone else looked at him. You say his name but he stops you “actually don’t want to know, now everyone asses on the field.”

Theo pushed Tracey away ordering her to move, Scott ran to the field as the others headed to their seats. You looked at coach about to explain but all he did was tell you to get back to work.

The first half of the game went smoothly, BHH were leading but not by much, or at least not enough for coach to be happy. You felt annoyed too, after what happened with Tracy you worried about your job and Peter still hadn’t turned up from what you’d seen, the empty chair next to Malia never filled.

To make matters worse, Theo was walking towards you. You turn away hoping he’d just go away, walk past you and not look your way. Luck really wasn’t on your side today, “y/n can we talk I wanna say sorry about Tracy” he says.

You sigh “you didn’t tell her to attack me, but you can keep her on a leash and away from me” you say about to walk away, find some excuse to look busy.

Theo’s body language changes as you feel an arm come around your shoulder. “hello sweetheart, sorry I’m late” Peter say, not taking his eyes from Theo. You smile, nervous at what he’s doing. “is he bothering you, y/n” Peter asks, pulling you in closer to him.

Theo takes a step forward, huffing out his chest trying to look harder. “were working a few things out, can you leave and get your filthy hand off my girl” Theo says.

Peter couldn’t help himself. He wasn’t about to let Theo worm his way back in and he couldn’t resist a bit of fun. “What is it with you teenagers? You think that you’re so special? You think you can tell me what to do?” Peter said, leaning in to place a small kiss on your cheek. Really getting under Theo’s skin and yours. You feel the heat rise in your cheeks confused by the whole situation. Peters casual flirting, Theo looking like he’s about to blow.

Theo grabbed your wrist dragging you out of Peters gentle hold. “she’s mine” he yelled trying to drag behind him as he squared up to Peter. “go near her and watch” he started to threaten.

“get off me Theo! What the hell are you doing” you scream trying to free yourself. You look at Peter his amused smirk waiting to see what Theo would do next, more importantly what you would do. Once free from his hold “Theo this has to stop, we’re not working anything out we’re over and for good. So just leave me alone”

Theo didn’t move at first. His eyes flicking from you to Peter trying to work out what was going on. “so you and him” Theo says in disgust. “this who you’ve been with!”

“it’s not like that” you say low. You wasn’t lying but you wish he was right, you wanted a you and Peter. You look at Peter unable to read his poker face. “but even if there was it’s none of your business anymore”

Peter played fake hurt “sweetheart you wound me, I thought we had something special” he jokes, making Theo growl his eyes flashing gold.

“Peter shut up your not helping” you say seeing Theo’s anger building.

“now, now y/n, that’s no way to speak to your alpha now is it” Peter practically purrs.

This set Theo off. You imagine it was the word alpha that pushed Theo over the edge. He’d always had a hidden alpha kink the one title he craved. Without warning Theo charged at Peter claws out ripping his V-neck. “your no alpha” and “she’ll never be yours” he shouted.

Peter let the young, stupid chimera land his first two or three hits before flashing his own eyes red. Theo looked stunned for a minute letting Peter swipe his claws at the teen. Both of them now had blood on them and if you did do someone one of them most likely Theo would die.

You scream for them to stop about 5 times but each one fallen on deaf ears. Your only option was to try and stop them yourself. You wasn’t sure which one of them clawed you, but your cry of pain made them both stop.

Theo ran to you asking if you were okay and said sorry over an over. Peter looked down is eyes scanning your injuries, feeling easier when he saw they wasn’t deep. Standing up you look at Theo “No, now just go” was call you could say. Not wanting to argue he did, walking of towards the main gate leaving the school. Vowing to Peter it wasn’t over

You look at Peter who’s eyes were back blue. Part of you wanted to ask him what that was all about, why goat Theo into a fight. What was he trying to prove but didn’t have the energy to. You never got a chance the buzzer sounded letting you know the game had restarted. “shit, I gotta go” you tell him running back to work. You would be surprised if you still had a job come Monday.

The rest of the game had been trying, both team scoring making the leader bored jumping back and forth. One of your players taking an injury masking Stiles come on instead. You hated this, five minutes left and both teams drawing. Biting your nail you watch the tean make their play.

You jump when you feel a hand come around the back of your waist. He rests his chin on your shoulder his other hand finds your hip. “so do you think the wolfs can pull this off” he said not taking his eyes if the game.

You laughed “since when did you care how they play, wasn’t sure you were even gonna come” you say leaning back into his chest.

“since you asked me, if I’m going do something I give it my full my attention” he answers in his flirty tone.

“you know people will start talking, think somethings going on, if you keep holding me like this” you say but not wanting him to move. You look around to see if anyone was watching, Hayden was, in fact she was stirring and talking on her phone, no doubt filling Theo in. “or are you doing this to piss Theo off more” you laugh.

“I couldn’t care less about Theo he’s not worth any more of our time, now he knows ‘who’ I am I doubt he’ll be showing his face again. Also would it be so bad if there was something going on between us?” he asked.

You bit your lip, feeling your heart race. Your about to tell him no until the winning goal was scored seconds before the final buzzer sounds. For once your team won, Bobby was shouting you over making you jump out of Peters arms, “hold that thought” you say running off to your boss. Peter watches you frustrated wishing you’d look at him how you had in his living the night he took you home.

The stands started to empty, everyone happy with the result. Some of the dumping their sticks to run off and celebrate. Coach ordering you to pack up. “okay” you call back start gathering up equipment to put away. Peter walks over picking up the lacrosse stick, handing it to you. “guess you still have work to do, I’ll see you later” he says but this he seems off. You couldn’t help but smile he’d actually came to say bye.

“your going? I’ll see you at Derek’s right?” you question.

Peter nodded, “you seem busy so I’ll leave you too it, I’ll see you after” he says

“how about you leave your car at yours we can take mine home. No point both of us driving” you say.

Peter smirks “wouldn’t people think something going on of we did” he mocked your words from earlier.

You look up “would it be so bad if they did” you say back seeing Peters smile change to a more happier one as he goes to turn. “see you later” you say running the sticks into the locker room telling the team to hurry up and get changed. It took you and Bobby Finstock around two hours to fully kick everyone out and lock up the school.

Theo stood in the car park, leaning against your car. You roll your eyes, after today you couldn’t take anymore of his shit. “so your really choosing him over me” he asked, his arms folded.

“I’m not choosing him over you, Theo. I’m choosing not to be with you.” You say honestly.

“but he doesn’t love you, I do” he said back hoping you would belive him. “he’s going to use you, hurt you it’s who he is” stepping closer, now starting to scare you a little, you take a breath trying not to let him intimidate you

“you don’t know what love is Theo. You might be right, Peter might hurt me, he might not but at the end of the day Theo you already HAVE hurt me. Not just by cheating on me but letting power and your pack be more important than me.” You say trying to open your car door.

Theo grabs your throat, pinning you to the car “so you really think I’d just let you leave like that” he roars. You start to panic seeing the crazed look in his eye. “your not gonna walk away and betray me, I’d rather kill you first”. He was now squeezing so hard you couldn’t breath, you vision going burly. “If that doesn’t show love, I don’t know what will” he said. You grabbed his wrists, struggling against his power, kicking your your feet at his shins. The panic was real, you thought you were going to die by Theo's hands. His words drowned out by the ringing of your car alarm. Your vision now completely black, lungs stinging for air, all you wished for was Peter.

It was the voice of coach, that made Theo get go. You fell to the floor, gasping for breath. When your vision came back into focus, you saw Bobby pinning Theo against your car. He asked if you were okay and that Stilinski was on his way, you must have blacked out, not hearing him call for anyone. You nod your okay after getting your breath back and calming down, still refusing to go to the hospital even though Bobby insisted you do. Once the sheriff took Theo away, Bobby asked if you wanted driving home, you kindly refuse getting in your car. Looking at the marks Theo left wondering what your gonna say to the others and how Peter will react.

Read part 1 here

Read part 3 here

#teen wolf #peter hale #derek hale #peter hale x reader #peter hale imagine #teen wolf x reader #theo raeken #tracy stewart #stiles stilinski #scott mccall #lydia martin #Liam dunbar #Mason #coach finstock #Derek hale #part 2 of 3 #teen wolf imagine #peter hale and you #You x teen wolf

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traekenimagines · 3 years

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All The Years To Come: A Theo Raeken Imagine

Request from Anon: Hii,been loving the content so much I haven't even done my assignments😂,I wanted to request one where the reader's birthday is coming up,and since she's Scott's little cousin/beta and a beloved member of the pack of course they are throwing her a party ,but Theo economic situation is not the best ,since he fixed where he's living at (with Liam obviously 😂)but he doesn't have much money ,he starts working double shifts ,and the reader complaints constantly because she doesn't understand the need cause Theo won't tell her , and he even has to work on her birthday just so he can finally buy what she have always wanted (whatever you can think of)and give it to her on the party ,that he shows up to super late(the pack were the only ones left), Wich made the reader mad when she sees him and blows up furiously infront of everyone(poor Theo), until Theo apologizes immediately and explains the reason and gives her the present and she's super embarrassed and in tears ,fluffy ending ( cause you know Theo loves the reader too much )

Hope this is okay for you lovely, and enjoy x

He was late.

It was your birthday, and Theo was late.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if this was the first time his time-keeping had failed him, but for weeks now, he had been skipping out on dates, showing up at your house hours after he had told you he would be there. You hardly ever saw him nowadays, no longer woke up to him smiling at you. He was usually out of the door before then, not getting back until your eyes were slowly closing, giving in after trying to stay awake for so long.

He told you it was work, told you that he had volunteered to work double shifts. At first, you had thought it rather sweet, seeing the change in him, the effort to try and be a better man. But then, you saw the effect on him, saw how he was prioritising his job over you. You weren’t attention-seeking, but it would have been nice to know if your boyfriend cared more about you or about the money.

Maybe he was having an affair. Maybe it wasn’t work at all. Maybe there was someone else.

No, he wouldn’t do that. You quickly shook that thought from your head, not daring to find it again.

The thing was, Theo’s job was putting a strain on your relationship. You fought constantly, Theo arguing that he needed the money to make a better life for you two, you arguing that you had enough to keep you both afloat.

That you were still so young, and didn’t need to think about the future just yet.

That was the comment that had stung Theo the most, and you wiped your hand over your face as you realised that he was probably avoiding you. You wanted a future with him, you did, not meaning what you had said. You were sure he knew that, but it still didn’t make sense why he was late.

On your birthday.

“You okay?” Scott came and sat next to you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. Your cousin didn’t exactly approve of your relationship with Theo, but he was supportive all the same, understanding that the chimera made you happy. You surveyed the room, Liam waiting by the door, checking to see if his roommate would show. “He’ll show up, Y/N, I know he will.”

“I just – I think I might have ruined things. I told him the future wasn’t important. I- ” You stopped mid sentence as Theo entered the room. Sadness and worry turned into anger as you laid eyes on him, the room falling silent as you marched over to him, unable to control your words as they fell from your mouth.

“Finally decided to show your face, did you? I get that you’re pissed with me, or you’re working or whatever, but you could at least answer your phone, instead of letting me sit here and think that you’re dead, or that you’re with someone else. It’s my birthday, and you’re my boyfriend, and you could still have the decency to be here on time.”

Theo looked around sheepishly, noticing how everyone’s eyes were on him. He adjusted the collar of his jacket, clearly uncomfortable with your outburst, before handing you a wrapped-up box. “Um, happy birthday?”

You took the box from him, warily, not quite knowing what to expect it. You took off the wrapping paper, revealing a leather case. You looked at Theo, the softness having returned to your features as you realised that he did actually care. He smiled at you. “Open it, Y/N.”

You did as you were told, hand flying to your mouth as you gazed upon the necklace that lay inside. A silver chain, with a pendant of your birthstone hanging from it. It was beautiful, and you knew it must have cost a fortune. Tears began to form as Theo spoke, confirming your suspicions. “You want to know why I’ve been working so much? It’s all been so I could make your birthday special, so I could get the perfect gift for the perfect person. Y/N,” he moved towards you, placing his hands on your flushed cheeks, “I know you didn’t mean it when you said the future wasn’t important. Just like I know that I want to spend my future with you. So yeah, I might have missed out on most of this birthday, but I’m going to be here for all the rest, for all the years to come. I love you.”

“I love you too,” you spoke through your tears as Theo pressed a kiss on your forehead. He stepped back, and you sniffed. “I’m sorry I was- ”

“You have nothing to apologise for,” Theo interrupted. He took the necklace from the box, holding it up to your neck. “Need a hand putting this on?”

You nodded, smiling at him.

As Theo clasped the chain around your neck, you made three promises to yourself. One, you would never complain about him having to work ever again. Two, you would never take the necklace off.

Three, you would love him for the rest of your life.

Masterlist

#teen wolf #teen wolf imagines #teen wolf imagine #theo raeken #theo raeken imagines #theo raeken imagine #theo raeken x reader #cody christian

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ducissa-animi · 3 years

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A Stupid Idea (Au)

Chapter Five

That night, they welcomed little Bendy between blankets, the cradle would come later, for now the baby had to sleep with his parents.

- What was that," said the dice, caressing one of the baby's cheeks, who fell asleep as soon as he was tucked in.

- I don't know, and I don't want to think about it, if he is an angel, everything is over" whispered Devil lying down next to the child and looking at him fixedly, now he was a father, not even he could believe it, suddenly his mind embarked on other subjects, he wondered what this child would do when he grew up, he thought about what things to teach him and when to explain him the whole matter of Heaven, Earth, Limbo and Hell, he only wished that the child would not be scared and assume the power with firmness, being king is not easy, but with some lessons it is enough to be it.

Dicey on the other hand gave a yawn, walking across the room to the outside, the Casino has to close, and as manager it is his duty to close it.

On the other hand, the angel flew as fast as he could, the weather did not appetite his desires to arrive on time, the light only illuminated his path, as his halo connected with Heaven for it to illuminate.

When she arrived, she went to her room along with others of her class, the others saw her exalted and spilling water because of the storm on Earth.

-Alice, what happened? Where were you, don't you see that we have to present ourselves to the boss," said one of her classmates, adjusting his sandals, others turned to see her standing against a wall, she looked as if she had seen a ghost.

-The room was not that big, but it served for a group of 6 angels, as an office for them, this group is in charge of demonic expeditions, they participated in several wars when needed, they go 3 hierarchies below the Archangels, therefore the contact with them was very tenuous.

Among the winged ones, they saw each other in silence to then go to the call of their boss, they mostly served warrior angels, sometimes Michael, which for them, was an honor of the elders, when they left the piece, she ran to a sack of food, which only contains mana, eating about five and throw herself to a desk, grabbed a sheet any, and moistened a pen in sacred ink.

-Sir, I have news for you, AHG! HOW DO YOU WANT TO BE FORMAL IF YOU WRITE THIS WAY!" he crumpled the sheet of paper and pulled another one out of a box, his hand trembling as he had many ideas to accuse Lucifer of at that instant.

Alice really has a screw loose.

She was created 200 years before Christ (200 BC), at her 6 centuries old, she was taken to the fifth troop going to a war, it was her first time in combat, before she did not use to have feelings or persusations, she only obeyed orders.

Since angels created after the war, they do not have the sense to choose what is right or wrong, they can only obey without a drop of decision. She is flawed so to speak.

The war was about a fight against Chimeras, the latter are winged and malformed beings, praised by humans, they are dark beasts with lion and eagle feet, metal covered wings and deadly teeth.

They broke the rules that were proposed by Heaven itself, for this reason, they had to be annihilated.

Several angels fell due to their lack of cunning as such vermin, Alice was a child at that time, she fought quickly with the Chimeras, for her bad luck, one of them penetrated her lower skull with its sting, inserting its poison that fainted her instantly.

Later she was rescued by other troops, she woke up with a human sense...she felt pain, cold and anguish, angels do not feel that besides love and pain.

She opened her eyes thanks to the poison, she realized that she was doing wrong, that exterminating those beasts was wrong, but she could not raise her voice to her superiors, her mind collapsed for a decade, recovering with that sense later.

If God discovered her, the Archangels would exterminate her, because of her new intellect.

Since then she knew how to live with it, she does not obey orders as such, if she sees something is bad, she kills it even if she was not asked to.

- That's it - on her thin lips a damned smile turned, she crumpled those sheets and took out others to announce that she had work to do, she had to go back to earth and kill the baby, son of the antichrist.

She had already killed several beings far superior to her, what did it cost to cut the neck of a child who had just been born, if she brought his corpse, she would have more attention, maybe she would rise in the Hierarchy!

While her group chanted for others, she looked for the globe to go to the exact place on Earth.

By this time, 3 days had passed on Earth.

Meanwhile on this one, it was dusk as usual, Alice descended to an island near Inkwell, when she landed, the first thing she did was to approach the nearest town, she had to look elegant to make her presence in the Casino, something that would make her go unnoticed in the nest of demons.

Dressing elegant, and somewhat old-fashioned was her solution, once ready she headed to the Casino, taking the human form completely without halo, without wings...

Her heels were so refined that as she walked they seemed to sing sounds of beauty.

Her black hair and pale skin stood out among the others, a lady in black and white.

As she arrived at the Casino, the doors opened to her, along with perverted and insolent stares.

"They most likely sensed my halo" Alice excused herself, she didn't want to think they saw her because of her skimpy clothes .

Con un antifaz y unos movimientos ligeros, procedia a pedir un poco de vino, de repente le valía si la miraban, cualquier idiota que se acercara a tocarla recibiría la sorpresa de una cuchilla orgánica en un brazo, bebiendo de la copa, pensó que armar un total revuelo no era una opción, solo vino a matar a Bendy e irse con su cuerpo, nada más.

-Disculpe señor..?

-Solo hable y ya- respondió el frasco de alcohol con un gran pedazo de bigote entre su nariz y labios.

-Sabe algo acerca del recién nacido?- preguntó ansiosa, ya sentía el sabor de ser alagada por otros ángeles por haber asesinado al hijo del Diablo.

-Recién nacido?, no confundió su venir?- sugirió.

-Vaya- susurró molesta, necesitaba informarse sobre el niño, dónde se encontraba, al ver un sillón libre, se acostó sobre el, probablemente para disimular su nerviosismo

-If I didn't have a nose, it would be more comfortable- she said, fed up with that waiting she located the boy's parents at a pool table, that means they left him alone, a smile widened on her face, if her lipstick wasn't so noticeable, it would go unnoticed, carefully she lifted both feet returning to her refined walk, what did it matter, there was the smell of ink in an inkwell to be traced.

With delicate steps and without alerting anyone, she peeked through a door that was half open.

At the back, he saw little Bendy, staring at the ceiling and lying with his little feet covered, apparently sleeping with his eyes open due to his exaggerated expression.

-What a horror," said Alice insolently, since in spite of being an angel, she hates babies with all her heart, the child's eyes turned towards her, widening and looking at her seriously, he didn't make any movement, he didn't make any noise nor did he scream out of fright, it was easier for her since she wouldn't be discovered, she approached slowly taking a lighter out of her pockets, "hello, son of sin, do you want to play with mommy for a while?

-He answered, preparing to let out the scream of his life.

In no time, so it was, the Casino was silent for a few seconds after hearing the baby's scream and Dicey was the first to react to run to the child, when both parents arrived, they only saw Bendy whimpering in his crib with fire under it, some feathers and the window open.

-Oh shit- said Devil, an angel was here and he already knows it, now Heaven will know the identity of his son and that was not good at all, damn it, he repeated himself over and over again taking Bendy out of the crib and trying to tuck him in with some blankets, he saw a basket and thought of something stupid.

That night, Mugman was away since he had received a reply to his letter from Cala Maria, she agreed to his appointment and let her brother take his turn if that equaled 24 hours, the good thing was that the next day would be a weekend, one to rest according to Cuphead.

But to his surprise, while he was cleaning the kitchen, his boss put a basket next to him.

-What the heck is that," he whispered in annoyance, expecting the worst.

-It's Bendy, and you're taking him home," he waved his tail towards the cupboard and pulled out a box.

-Sir, with all due respect, I can't take your damn son to live with us!

-Not even for a raise?

-How much are you offering?

That same night Cups went home earlier than agreed with the shift, with a heavy basket in hands and a blanket covering it, he is usually known for being a crafty guy who loves beer, so people hinted at him seeing the basket he carried with a slight difficulty.

Moments later of choosing he left the basket in his living room, sitting on a nearby couch and watching it from every possible point, now he was to raise a demon, what a great "honor".

He grabbed a notebook and thought about how to explain it to Mugman when he arrived, tell him that now his boss's son was in his care.

-I want to see you," he asked with a frown, seeing Bendy's eyes protrude from the basket, he hid and showed him his thumb, "maybe I can baptize you with another name... Benito, what do you think?-thumbs down in disapproval.

VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL

#history #story #a stupid idea au #chapter five #chapter 5 #bendy #cuphead #xd #english

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velkynkarma · 4 years

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Big List of FMA Parental Roy Mustang Fic Recs

Recently a family member of mine has been enjoying Fullmetal Alchemist for the first time. I’ve been revisiting it too for fun. While I was at it, I decided to poke through the fandom, revisit old fic favorites, and see if there were any good new ones.

Turns out: there are!

I was always a big fan of Roy Mustang, and especially fics where he acts as a surrogate parental figure for Ed and Al, accidentally or intentionally. It was hard to find good ones though, so I thought I’d throw together a list of fic recs.

Everything here is platonic, and does not focus on romantic relationships. Fics can be from the 2003 anime, Brotherhood, or the manga.

To the Night Sky by Ranowa

Summary: They tell him he lost his mind. He doesn't remember anything else, so he believes them. But if that's the case, then why does he sometimes feel like he doesn't belong here... and neither does that little, annoying, blond kid named Ed?

Comments: In the author’s words, ‘not a traditional amnesia fic,’ and it sure isn’t. Long, eventful, has a ton of hurt/comfort but also a great background plot that ends up becoming more important the farther you go. This author also has a few other great FMA fics that are worth checking out, but this one stuck out to me the most.

War Heroes by Akarii

Summary: Drawn by rumors of a Philosopher's Stone, Edward travels to North City along with Roy and the soldiers of Eastern Command who plan to compete in the North vs. East Training Exercises. However, Ed and Roy find their lives at risk when they get captured by a rebellion group who aim for the end of all State Alchemists and the entire Amestrian government.

Comments: Great adventure fic with some good hurt/comfort, but also plenty of Roy and Ed both kicking ass and taking names. This author also has some other FMA fics that are definitely worth checking out as well, but this was again the stand-out for me.

Number Twenty Eight by Sevlow

Summary: As of today, Edward Elric had been missing for four months, two weeks, and five days.

Comments: An oldie but still a goodie. Ed goes missing, and when he’s found again, he’s a Nina-esque dog chimera in bad shape. With Al on the other side of the country chasing down another lead on his missing brother, it’s up to Roy to try and fix Ed, and take care of him in the interim. Chimera!fic was a dime a dozen back in the days of the 2003 anime fandom, but this was one of the ones that delivered on the premise. Years later, it still holds up and remains a personal favorite, with plenty of hurt/comfort and dark humor moments. Sevlow has a lot of other Roy-centric fics that are equally good, though not necessarily parental!Roy.

Warning: Parts of this fic do get super dark, with references to suicide, gore, and implied sexual abuse during Ed’s missing months.

Bookwrm389: This author had some of my favorite FMA fics back in the day. Imagine my shock when I discovered their FF.net account has been completely deleted within the past year. Thankfully, they only orphaned their stories on AO3, so they’re still available. Since it is an orphaned account now, I can’t link to it for people to browse at their leisure, so here’s individual links to all my favorites:

Gold from Lead ~ There were whispers. There was absolutely no way to stop them. Ed would rip out his spleen if he knew what all those people were insinuating about the two of them.

Comments: Ed gets kidnapped by insurgents to be used as ransom against his father. The problem? Thanks to the rumor mill, everyone thinks his father is Colonel Roy Mustang.

Your Son ~ "I'm not your father. It's not fair that you can affect me this much." A military function becomes a nightmare when Ed accidentally takes a poisoned drink meant for Roy.

Comments: Exactly what it says on the tin. Somebody tries to assassinate Roy, and Ed gets caught in the crossfire. Excellent hurt-comfort. Also features Maes Hughes being awesome, and Roy having an existential oh my god am I a dad????? moment.

Tempest ~ Ed is adamant that he doesn't need a father. And it's only when he's about to lose the closest thing he has to one that he understands how very wrong he is.

Comments: Has a solid dose of both action-adventure and hurt/comfort and found family moments. It’s the full package.

Shadow of a Doubt ~ It was meant to be a simple inspection, but a disturbing dream makes Ed uneasy and fearful. His anxiety intensifies when the mission takes a dangerous turn, putting his and Mustang's lives at risk. Can he hold it together long enough to save them both?

Comments: Another nice, long fic with a good combination of action, hurt/comfort, and family moments. One of my favorites.

Likeness ~ One morning mere hours before an inspection, Roy is amazed to receive absolute proof that his young subordinate is growing up.

Comments: A surprisingly adorable fic in which Roy ends up being the one to teach Ed how to shave.

Bonus fics that aren’t specifically parental Roy but do still have some hilarious Roy and Ed interaction:

Military Courtesy ~ Ed learns how to do a proper military salute and promptly drives the Colonel absolutely insane (or not)

Who’s the Alchemist? ~ A Who’s on First parody that goes exactly like how you’d expect but still had me cracking up

Name Calling by Lost_And_Longing

Summary: From the start, Roy Mustang had always believed in Edward Elric. Even after he'd learned the horrific story of their attempt at human transmutation, Mustang had just looked at Ed and offered him a chance. He'd come when Ed was despondent, weak, and helpless...and offered him a way out. Maybe that was why, out of all the men Ed knew, Roy was the closest thing he'd ever had to a father.

Comments: A 5+1 based on all the different names and titles Ed uses for Roy. Has a nice dollop of humor, hurt/comfort, and parental moments.

Of Hospitals and Health by ReminiscentRevelry

Summary: Al is still recovering after the Promised Day, so Colonel Mustang pays him a visit.

Comments: Post-series (although not by much). A nice fic where Al actually gets a little moment with Mustang. Most parental Roy fics are with Ed, so this was a nice change of pace as well as as sweet little fic in which Roy shows he cares about both of the Elrics, even if only one is technically his subordinate.

Twelve Cups of Coffee by BeyondtheClouds777

Summary: Roy finds a sleep-deprived Edward in his office.

Comments: Just a cute little one shot in which a freshly appointed State Alchemist Edward Elric overworks himself trying to find the solutions to his and Al’s problem, and Roy makes sure he knows not to push himself too hard.

Point of Exhaustion by Took-Baggins

Summary: Roy never thought he'd be the one to be there when Edward finally pushed himself too far, but when the Fullmetal Alchemist suddenly collapses there's no one else to hold him down until he can stand again.

Comments: Another fic in which Teenagers Are Just Bad At Knowing How To Take Care Of Themselves, so the adults step in to make sure they do. Ed’s not eating or sleeping properly when he’s so obsessed with getting Al’s body back and makes himself sick. Features both a parental Roy and a parental Hawkeye, because both of them are fed up with the smallest youngest member of their team not properly taking care of himself and are not gonna let that stand.

When the Rain Falls by Marcellebelle

Summary: Colonel Roy Mustang has two problems: Edward and Alphonse Elric.

Comments: Still a WIP, but the first two chapters are definitely promising. A sickly Ed calls Roy asking for help when his brother is kidnapped, and now Roy has to find one and make sure the other is taken care of. Really looking forward to seeing where this one goes.

As always, if you take the time to check any of these out, try to leave a comment or kudos for the writers and their hard work!

#long post #fic rec #Fullmetal Alchemist #Roy Mustang #Edward Elric #Alphonse Elric #Parental Roy is my jam ok #FMA

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mochegato · 3 years

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Capturing a Dream

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Chapter 3 – Betrayed

“I don’t understand American pies.” Chimera mused as she pulled an apple pie out of the oven. “It’s like a tart but not as good. Just make a tart.”

Conner looked up at her in annoyance. “If you don’t want to make it, don’t make it. Why are you complaining? And why are you even wasting time making it instead of sleeping? Today was the first day in two weeks you could have slept past 6 and you’re doing this instead.”

“I’m in America, I want to try making an apple pie. I just don’t understand it. And I’m making it because I like baking and I promised Wally I’d make him one a few weeks ago and he keeps asking.” She hummed examining the highly decorated crust. “Maybe I’ll understand once I eat it. And I’m fine.” He looked at her disbelievingly. “I am. I’m fine.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “A little tired… and stressed… and anxious… and tense… and thinking is hard… and… yeah.” She looked down and let out a quiet sigh before snapping her eyes back up to Conner with a strained smile. “But that’s normal for me. I’ll be fine.” She downed the rest of her double espresso with a wince. “Blaah. That tastes horrible. I wish I could taste the pie now to get that taste out of my mouth.”

He huffed at her annoyed by her refusal to take a nap. “If you want to know what it tastes like, take a bite. And if you’re tired, go to bed.”

“No! It has to cool down first. I’ll try it after I get back, along with sleeping.” She looked over at the clock and sighed. “Speaking of which, I need to get going or I’ll be late.” She took off her apron and turned to Conner with a stern expression. “And don’t let Wally eat it before I get back. I mean, don’t let anyone, but Wally’s probably the only one you have to worry about.”

“Fine. But you’re sleeping when you get home.” Conner stated firmly. She rolled her eyes at him and started moving toward the exit. Conner moved to intercept her, looking at her with softer eyes. “I’m serious, Chi. You need to sleep. You’re not thinking straight anymore. You almost forgot oven mitts when you got the pie out just now. You’ve been getting home really late and leaving really early for two weeks now.”

“Who knew you were a mother hen?” She smiled wanly at him. “You better watch it, I’ll tell the rest of the team. You’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Then I’ll tell them why, then you’ll never hear the end of it.” He threatened with a smirk.

She looked up at him scoffed. “Pfft. Artemis won’t care. Kaldur will speak to me about the importance of sleep, but will trust me to know my own body. Robin will warn me about how dangerous it is to go into a fight without the proper amount of sleep and will keep an eye on me during our missions from now on, but other than that will not mention it. Wally is the only one that will be a problem, but I can buy him off with baked goods. You however, you they’ll make fun of constantly.” She grinned smugly at him but her smile faltered when she saw the deeply concerned look in his eyes.

She sighed lightly and looked at him earnestly. “It will all be better next week, I promise. I just have to make it a few more days. Everyone I’m working with is in the same state. This is just a really rough time of year. We knew this was coming, that’s why I’ve been off missions the last week and a half and I’ll be off missions for another week. But once this week is over… It’ll be better. I’ll be better. I’ll sleep. I promise. But right now, I need to go.” She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile and left to change.

Conner scowled at her but moved out of her way. “I’m going to hold you to that.” He yelled over his shoulder to her retreating back.

She closed the door to her room quickly and locked it behind her. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her teammates, but accidents happen. If one of them got too excited or concerned and forgot to knock, her identity could be outed and she would have to leave. She looked longingly at her bed. She wished it was as simple as Conner made it seem. She would love to take a nap, there just wasn’t enough time right now. It was Fashion Week starting in two days and they showed in three. There was no sleep for anyone in the fashion industry right now, and that included her. She sighed and looked away from the bed calling her like a siren with the possibility of beautiful, peaceful dreams. “Trixx, divide.”

Trixx did a few summersaults in the air and started searching around the room. Again, not that Marinette didn’t trust her teammates, but mind control was a thing and maybe, just maybe playing Among Us with the rest of the team had made her paranoid, so it had become common practice for Trixx to do a sweep of the room for any bugs before Marinette completed her detransformation. It was a ridiculous precaution and she felt stupid doing it and annoyed because it cost her time when she needed it, like now. But the overwhelming guilt she would feel for not doing her due diligence was far more threatening to her. But in moments like this, it played in her favor.

“Something is not right. Someone’s here.” Trixx whispered in her ear.

Marinette wasn’t sure if he was referring to her room or the cave, but either way, she needed to get out now. More importantly, almost the whole team was here. She needed to warn them now. “Eat now, as quickly as possible.” She mumbled under her breath, scanning the room, ready to fight if the infiltrator was hiding in her room. Trixx made her proud by eating his cookie in one bite. “Trixx, Kaalki, Unify.” She called out quietly. As soon as the light washed over her she grabbed a handful of treats for the kwamis, throwing them into her flute as she bolted from the room to find Conner.

She finally found him after only a few minutes. Conveniently, he was with Aqualad and Kid Flash as well. She ran at him and jumped into his arms. He stood stock still, unable to move due to the shock of the unexpected closeness. They touched… occasionally, but not like this. He was utterly unsure how to respond to this. Not that it was unwanted, he would love for them to do this more often, but this had come out of nowhere.

Kid Flash stood up and watched uncertain. He definitely wasn’t a fan of this, but knew enough to know something was going on. He scanned the room searching for an indication of the impetus for it.

Conner opened his mouth to ask Chimera what was wrong but she spoke before he could. She whispered quietly enough for just him to hear her. “Something is wrong. Someone is in the Cave. Someone who shouldn’t be. We need to get everyone out. Now. Without raising any suspicion in case they are watching.”

Conner’s eyes darkened to a dangerous glint and he wrapped his arms around her protectively. He whispered “Got it” quietly into her ear. He pulled away from her just slightly and looked to the others, “Chimera’s been stressed lately. I think a walk would help. You guys coming?” If anyone had been watching them that cover story would match with their earlier conversation and not set off any alarms. Hopefully, Chimera wouldn’t kick his ass too hard for outing that she had been stressed.

Kid Flash jumped forward, “That sounds fun. I’ll go. What are you stressed about? What can I do for you to help you? I mean… is there anything I can do to help?”

Chimera gave him a strained smile. “Sounds good. Aqualad?” She turned to him and gave him a pointed look, trying to communicate the secret to him with her eyes.

Aqualad gave her a questioning look and slowly nodded at her. “An outing sounds calming.”

She smiled anxiously at him. “Great, let’s go… now.” She immediately started speed walking backwards toward the exit, refusing to wait another second for all of them to get out of there and silently urging them to hurry as well. The rest of the Team only got a few steps before an explosion rocked the cave.

Conner’s world went into slow motion as he watched the fire ball burst behind Chimera. Her hair fanned out around her head in what would have been a beautiful effect if it wasn’t due to the pressure of the explosion reaching her first. He watched in horror as she was lifted off her feet and thrown across the cave.

Conner raced over to her, kneeling down next to her. He pushed her hair out of her face to see how badly she was hit. He felt the back of her head to see if there was any identifiable damage there. She had no outward injuries but she wasn’t opening her eyes. “Chimera! Chimera come on. We’re not done yet. Chi!” He yelled at her. His heartrate rocketed even higher when she didn’t respond.

They were under attack and Chimera was injured, unable to protect herself. He cursed under his breath and picked her up, holding her close to his chest to protect her if another attack came. He looked over to Aqualad and Kid Flash. They were in defensive positions already scanning the cave for threats.

“She knew someone was here. Did she say who?” Aqualad asked, darting his eyes around the cave.

“She felt something was off, but didn’t know what. She wanted us safe while we figured it out.” Conner answered, still focusing on Chimera, looking for any signs of her status and pulling her even closer to his chest when she didn’t give one.

“How is she doing?” Kid Flash asked looking around the cave for anything that might be a threat.

Conner looked back down at Chimera, willing her to wake up. As if in response to his desire, she groaned slightly and reached her free hand up to her head. “Chimera, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay. I’ve got you.” He reassured her in a strained voice. She looked up at him and gave him a weak smile, closing her eyes and falling limp again. Conner opened his mouth to urge her to wake up again but never got the chance. A wall of water hit the team. The force of the water ripped Chimera out of his arms and pushed him in the opposite direction.

<><><><><>

The room was hot. Not just hot, burning. It felt wrong… and blurry. How were things blurry when her eyes weren’t even open? Why was everything hot and fuzzy? Why did her lungs burn? Chimera groaned and tried to open her eyes. It was harder than she expected. It was like her body knew she didn’t really want to see the situation she was in, which just meant that she really needed to open her eyes so she could deal with the situation, whatever it was.

Her eyes finally jumped open when she felt something move under her. She jumped only slightly, not nearly as much as she would normally, her body was still fighting her. She wanted to prepare to fight whatever was moving under her but her body wanted to continue resting. She cried out in pain and scrunched her eyes closed again as the effects of her movement hit her. She heard a scream that sounded vaguely like her name from somewhere far away but couldn’t manage to turn towards it.

She fought to process what she had seen in the short time her eyes were open. Kaldur, she had seen Kaldur, and… orange? Fire? Why would there be fire? Maybe she was by a fireplace. She should move away from it, her mind hazily advised. She tried to move away from the heat, but it seemed like it was coming from all around her. She moaned in pain again at the effort’s effect on her body.

“…mera, can you …e?” She could hear someone talking, but they sounded… no wait, they sounded close? She tried opening her eyes again. But her body was still slow to respond. Maybe if she just opened one eye? That might work. She concentrated on opening one eye at a time. The images seemed to come to her on delay, or maybe it was her mind that was on some kind of 5 second delay. Kaldur filled up her vision.

He was touching her head gently. It felt wrong. Why was he doing that? She tried to scrunch her face in confusion but she wasn’t sure if her face was responding correctly. “Chimera? Can you hear me?”

Oh, that’s why he was touching her head. She had… something had happened. She was hurt. He was checking her. “Chimera! Can you create a portal?”

She stared at him blankly. Why would she create a portal? That was what Pegasus did. She was… Chimera. She was Chimera, her mind hazily supplied for her. She wasn’t Ladybug anymore. She wasn’t sure if she could use her voice yet so she attempted to nod instead. Surely she could, right?

“You need to create a portal under us to somewhere safe. Can you send us somewhere safe?” He looked at her urgently. They must be in trouble.

She looked around, or at least tried to. “Superboy and Kid Flash are captured too, but safe for now. We need to get out so we can help them. Robin and Artemis are running around trying to fight the Reds, but if we can get away, we take some of their leverage.”

She looked blankly at him again. That probably made sense but thinking hurt right now. Her ability to process things logically was severely impaired, but Aqualad was their leader. She trusted him to think for her. “Somewhere safe, Chimera.” He repeated.

She thought about the words. Safe. Somewhere safe. Not home though. Not with friends. She couldn’t compromise her identity. Somewhere safe Aqualad could see… “Chimera! I know it’s hard, but we need to move!” He urged her.

Safe…

“Voyage,” she whispered in a broken rasp.

She whimpered in pain again as she landed hard on Aqualad from their 6 foot drop onto a hard metallic floor. She wasn’t even sure where she had sent them and it was too bright to look around.

“Lower the lights!” Aqualad yelled to whoever was around. “Good job, Chimera. You brought us to the Watchtower.” He reassured her gently before turning away to yell again. “We need help in here!”

“Chimera, do you have enough strength to create an illusion of us so they won’t know we’re gone?” Aqualad asked gently. “I know you want to sleep and you can as soon as our teammates are safe. Chimera, I need you to try. Can you do it?”

She kept her eyes closed as she processed what he was asking. Could she create the illusion? What if she needed to create another portal? Would she have the strength? Could she take the time to transform? “Need to see where,” she croaked. She would detransform and retransform while they were getting the video set up. “Need to detransform. Secure. No cameras.”

Aqualad nodded at her, not that she could see it. “I need a secure room, now!” he yelled at whoever he was talking to. “And water or an IV.”

He picked her up and headed to a room she could use. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get see if we can communicate with Artemis and Robin.”

Chimera reached out for him and grunted to get his attention, talking seemed like so much effort. She grabbed her flute, took an earpiece and some of the treats out of it. She tossed the earpiece to him and set the treats on a nearby desk. He looked at her surprised. “Magic” she responded simply. She didn’t have the time or inclination to explain further.

Aqualad nodded to her and left the room. She gave Aqualad a few seconds to communicate with Robin before she detransformed, taking the earpiece with it. Kaalki popped out as soon as she detransformed and looked around the room unimpressed. “This facility is not befitting one as glorious as me.”

Without the second suit to help prop her up, Marinette’s legs gave out under her. She fought to stay conscious. The explosion she could handle, normally. She’d experienced far worse fighting akumas. However, wearing two miraculous was draining already, add to that all the stress she had been under in her civilian life, the little sleep she’d been getting the past two weeks, the explosion, the fire she had been sitting too close to, whatever had caused her lungs to burn, and using her powers before she was ready, and she was struggling to keep the push to oblivion, a long dreamless sleep, at bay.

But, her teammates needed her. Conner and Wally were still at the mercy of whoever had invaded their cave. “Hurry” she rasped out. Kaalki looked at her bored before seeing her state and snapping to attention, rapidly eating her sugar cube.

“Ready, Guardian.” She stated firmly.

Chimera didn’t even bother wasting energy nodding in response. She quietly whispered “Unify”. As soon as the transformation took effect, she felt a fresh wave of energy rush through her. Not a lot, but enough, she hoped. Enough to get through this. Enough to save her teammates. She pulled out her flute and played a melody. “Mirage” she mouthed.

God, she hoped this would work. She had never tried a mirage from this distance and without any visual reference, but she was trusting her familiarity with the cave and the fact that she had just voyaged from that spot to ground the magic. It made sense right? Actually, nothing made sense right now. She was going to go on blind faith for this one.

She stumbled out of the room she was in and wandered toward where she thought Aqualad might be. She was sure he wouldn’t be too far. Once he spotted her, Aqualad rushed over to her side, assisting her to where he was talking with Superman. “Are you sure it is a good idea?” Aqualad asked in a tone that suggested he had asked this before and still hadn’t received a response he liked.

“Yes. We’re coordinating with Black Canary. We will both come in through the zeta tubes at the same time. Once there we will be able to fight the Reds. They will be entirely focused on us, giving Robin and Artemis the opportunity to free your friends.”

Chimera frowned at him. Her brain might not be working full speed yet, but she knew that was a bad idea. She wasn’t sure why, but she knew it was wrong, she just needed to figure out why. Superman turned when Black Canary appeared on a screen behind him. Chimera couldn’t follow their conversation. She was too focused on the screen next to it, showing Conner and Wally chin deep in water and two figures that looked similar to Red Tornado attacking Robin and Artemis and almost hitting Wally and Conner in their attacks.

Chimera gasped and grabbed Aqualad at the sight. He followed her line of sight and muttered under his breath, “They know we’re here. Robin set up a video for us.”

“We need to leave now.” Superman stated, moving toward the tubes.

“NO!” Chimera yelled with as much force as she could. As soon as the word came out of her mouth she faltered and fell back into Aqualad. “Robin patched in?” She asked Aqualad.

“Yes.”

She turned back to Superman. “Retribution. Punish them.” She said raspingly.

Superman glared at her. “We know our jobs, Chimera. We can handle them.”

“She’s right. We should trust Robin and Artemis to handle this.” Aqualad responded supporting his teammates. “We can coordinate with them and they can execute it.”

“We don’t have time to play games.” Superman chided them. “We need to act now.”

“Act wrong.” Chimera said quietly.

“With all due respect…” Superman started bringing himself to his full height before getting cut off by Batman.

“I agree with them. The Reds have shown they are willing to kill the Team. They have tried several times already. The only reason Superboy and Kid Flash are still alive is because they need them to draw out Artemis and Robin. Once it becomes clear they have lost that leverage, they will have no reason not to kill them and no reason to hold back. They could raze that entire cave and everything in it if they feel threatened. Robin and Artemis might be able to escape but Conner and Wally won’t be able to escape it.” Batman stated firmly.

“You don’t know that.” Superman retorted.

“You don’t know they won’t. You hope they won’t, but they have shown every indication that they will. We should work with Artemis and Robin to come up with a plan.” Batman argued.

“I think we have a way to do that,” Robin added. “If we can create an EMP emitter, we can short circuit them.”

Batman nodded at the suggestion, “That should work. Good thinking, Robin.”

“And you have one of those on hand?” Superman asked doubtfully. “We don’t.”

“No, but we can make one, right KF?” Robin answered with a smirk.

“Totally doable… ya know, if we had more time.” Kid Flash responded with a wince.

“How is Chimera?” Superboy called loudly enough for them to pick it up but quiet enough not to attract the Reds.

“She is weak but awake.” Aqualad reassured him.

The voices around her kept talking, but Chimera was having trouble keeping up with them. She slumped into Aqualad and let her teammates do what they needed to do. She focused on maintaining the mirage. After a minute she heard someone say ‘distraction’ and she perked up. She knocked her hand into Aqualad. “Illusion will disappear in a minute. Need to go back to the room.”

Aqualad nodded at her. “Chimera says she will make our illusion disappear in a minute, or on your mark if it’s sooner.”

There were more words but Chimera wasn’t listening, it took too much effort. She wasn’t sure if she could make it through detransforming without passing out, but her teammates weren’t safe yet. Conner wasn’t safe. She could and would stay awake. She set her jaw and looked up at Aqualad. He picked her up and carried her to the room. “I’ll let you know when to drop the illusion.” He said quietly.

She didn’t respond as he closed the door. She just needed to make it through the next few minutes. Just a few more minutes. She could do that. “Now, Chimera.” Aqualad called to her.

Instead of calling off the illusion, she called off her transformation, serving both purposes and saving a tiny bit of energy. “Hurry,” she begged Trixx before he could complain. Trixx didn’t bother responding, he just ate the cookie Chimera had pointed out as quickly as he could. “Ready,” he announced in record time. She quickly called on her unification again and felt the energy surge through her. A few more minutes then she could sleep.

She opened the door to find Aqualad waiting on her. He gave her a tight smile before picking her up again and carrying her to the screens. “Every little bit helps,” he affirmed.

She grabbed his arm again when she saw Robin laid out by the Reds. Superman said something to her but she couldn’t waste the energy to listen to what he had said. She was too focused on Conner and Wally.

“Artemis is still out there,” Aqualad reassured her. “Robin got close but got caught before he could complete…”

He was cut off by Chimera screaming “Voyage”. He turned back to the screens to see Artemis surrendering and the water rising over Superboy and Kid Flash’s mouths. He couldn’t see where the portal she had created was at first, but then noticed the water draining slightly. He looked to the corner of the screen and saw a hole appear in the water. He looked over to Chimera to see her concentrating hard on the screen.

It wasn’t enough and Chimera knew it. The portal she had created wasn’t enough. The water was draining, but not fast enough. At this rate they were going to die. Conner was going to die. She clenched her hands into fists and touched them together in front of her then slowly pulled them apart, muscles straining like she was pulling elevator doors open. She groaned and her body started shaking under the strain of pushing the magic in ways it wasn’t intended.

Aqualad looked back to the screen and watched the portal expand slowly, mirroring her movements. The water started ebbing quickly and within a few seconds, Superboy and Kid Flash’s mouths were above water again. The Reds snapped their heads to the portal, trying to figure out what had caused it. It was all the distraction Artemis needed to fire her arrow and complete the EMP emitter that Robin had started.

As soon as the arrow connected, completing the circuit, the video cut out and Chimera fell to the floor, breathing hard. Aqualad kneeled down next to her to check on her while Batman and Superman tried to raise the Cave. “You need to go to the infirmary.”

Chimera shook her head at him. “Imposter.” She rasped out.

“She thinks there’s an imposter here?” Batman asked.

Aqualad looked at her for a few moments before responding slowly as he figured out what she meant. “No, it’s a game. She means she doesn’t feel safe here.”

“This is the Watchtower. If there is anywhere safe to be, it is here.” Superman commented coolly.

“We thought that of the Cave.” Aqualad responded in the same tone.

“I’ll take you to the infirmary and stay with you.” Batman offered. “Superman and Aqualad, meet up with Black Canary and go to the Cave, free Superboy and Kid Flash. Check on them and see if we can figure out what happened. Aqualad, I will keep you updated on Chimera.”

Aqualad waited for Chimera to give him a nod indicating her agreement before he acquiesced as well. Batman stepped forward and pulled Chimera into a princess hold to carry her to the infirmary.

“You’ll have to detransform so I can give you an IV, unless your suit can somehow become penetrable. But even so, I need to see how you are doing without the magic supporting you.” She looked around the room analytically. “I’ve turned off the cameras.” He reassured her. She nodded slowly at him and called off her fox transformation, allowing Trixx to make a pass around the room, confirming Batman’s statement. Once Trixx confirmed the room was safe and surveillance free, she dropped the last transformation, collapsing sideways on the bed as soon as she did.

He rolled her on her back and gave her a quick check over. “I’m going to give you some pain meds too, Marinette. I’m pretty sure it is mostly exhaustion and over exertion, but I want to be safe, you took a bad hit and a lot of strain on your body rescuing your team.” She nodded at him. “You should feel it pretty quickly.” She nodded absentmindedly again.

He waited a few minutes for the drugs to take effect. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I can see colors.” She slurred drunkenly.

“Between the exhaustion and drugs, you might be able to.” He smirked at her. He looked at her appraisingly morphing his face into a stern look. “If you’re going to stay on the Team, you need to figure out a balance.”

“Not my strong suit. I was supposed to be on vacation this week.” She tried to give him a pointed look but the effect was lessened by the slight blur in her words. “You promised a week off. This was not a week off.”

He smiled wanly at her. “No, it was not. But I meant you’ll have to find your limits. You saved your teammates, but you could have gotten yourself killed with that last stunt. You can’t do any good in the future if you kill yourself today.”

She stared at him as though she were trying to make sense of the words he was saying. “But I was fine. I did stay within my limits.”

“Barely. The mission is greater than one incident. If you’re going to last in this business, you’re going to have to sustain yourself.”

She glared at him, or at least she was trying to, she wasn’t sure if she actually was. She took a deep breath and gathered the rest of her strength and focus to respond to his chastising. “But still within them. How do I learn limits without pushing them? You say I can’t do any good if I don’t survive today, but neither can they if they don’t survive. And my teammates will always be my priority over the mission. I won’t let the mission become my priority. Ever. I trust my teammates. I will treat them as important and their input valuable, because it is. I will treat them as the family they are and make sure they know they deserve love and respect and have mine, that they are more important to me than a mission. I won’t ever become you. I won’t ever lose my heart. I won’t ever become the darkness to defeat the darkness.” She gave him a lightly repelled look before blinking a few times. “Oh,” she said softly as her eyes closed.

Batman watched her as she slept and patted her head with a bittersweet smile. “Good.”

Tags:

@mickylikesstuff @mystery-5-5 @roguishredaxion @vroomtaka @laurcad123 @just-an-observer-ignore-me @emimar7 @moonlightstar64 @maribat-writing-and-prompts @aespades @yokomisaki @glastwime859 @mysticknown @lozzybowe

#maribat #capturing a dream #marikon #connette #connerette #Marinette x Conner #conner x marinette

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mellointheory · 3 years

Text

inhaling smoke, i just awoke pt. 2

Red is curled up on his couch, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and a rapidly cooling styrofoam cup of instant noodles clasped between his hands. He ate about half of it before he got distracted by the tv, and the rest served better as a heat source, honestly. It was criminal how cold his apartment was; he was wearing his earmuffs inside, for God’s sake.

There’s a knock on the door and he looks up, setting the cup of cold, soggy noodles on the coffee table. He gets up, still swathed in his blanket, and shuffles across the floor to open the front door. Antfrost is standing there, wearing the same thick green coat from earlier that day, with a long shape that looks suspiciously like a firearm strapped to his back underneath it.

“Are you ready?” He asks.

“I’m always ready.” Red pulls his blanket off and balls it up, chucking it back over at the couch. He picks up his baseball bat, giving it a quick once over to check the coat of red and white paint, then slots it into the straps on his back. His bag is sitting next to the door, the velvet pockets lining the inside carefully packed with the pots that he’d chosen. The sedatives Antfrost had requested, swirl pale yellow in their black cushioning. He’s brought some additional ones just in case; shimmering harsh pinks and purples and blues in the shadows of his bag. Antfrost peers inside his bag and nods in approval.

“How far away is it?” Red asks, stepping outside and closing the door behind him. Antfrost leans against the door while Red locks it, his face peering out of the depths of his green hood. His eyes do glow a little, soft blue light that Red would probably have to get very, very close to have reach him. He adds that to the bucket list.

“It’s close enough to walk; we should have time. And I don’t want to get there until after the doors close.” Antfrost turns and starts walking. His tail is tucked away again, safe from the cold that bites at Red’s hands and face when he follows.

“Can I call you Ant?” He asks. “Antfrost is kinda long, you know.”

Ant shrugs. “I guess I don’t mind.”

“Fantastic. Okay, and what’s your plan then?” Red shoves his hands into his pockets as they reach the street. It’s snowing again. Flakes land in his hair and on his shoulders and melt when they touch his skin.

“They close the doors after everyone’s finished betting.” Red can tell from the bitterness and focus in Ant’s voice that this wasn’t a spontaneous thing; he’s been planning this for a long time. “It’s a warehouse that they took over and repurposed. There’s still catwalks on the ceiling and ways to get in from above. I can drop the gas you made and knock them all out and steal the chimeras.”

“That seems like a solid plan.” Red agrees. “What were you planning before you got me to make this for you, though?”

Ant taps his waist. “I was gonna try to get them with the tranq darts I have, but this will be a lot more effective.”

Red shudders at the thought. “You know tranq darts aren’t immediate, right? They take time to work into your bloodstream.”

Ant is silent. Red quickens his pace to catch up--he has longer legs than him, but the cat hybrid moves with more speed and lightness than he does--and looks the man in the eyes. Ant is only about half a head shorter than him, but the hybrid has his shoulders hunched and is looking down so Red has to lean over a bit.

“You knew that, didn’t you?” He repeats.

Antfrost squints up one eye gingerly. “Maybe….?”

“Jesus, you’re lucky you found me.” Red straightens up and continues walking.

“Well, I’m not sure about that yet,” Antfrost mumbles. Red chuckles.

He can tell when they’re getting close to the chimera fights, because he can hear the cheering. Antfrost pushes his hood back as they approach, his head craned up to scan the side of the warehouse. His ears twitch, little flakes of snow falling on the soft fur and standing out against the dark brown in the harsh lights of the warehouse.

“There’s a ladder over there.” Ant points up, bounding lightly over to the rungs. As he runs his tail untucks from wherever it was hidden away, furling out behind him. It swishes in Red’s face when he mounts the ladder after the hybrid, almost brushing his skin. He wrinkles his nose, eyes crossing when he tries to focus on it.

The snow on top of the warehouse is undisturbed except for Ant’s footprints in it. Red follows the hybrid across the roof to the mouth of a heating vent that arcs from the concrete. The metal tube channels sound and warm air up from the warehouse inside; one of them welcome and the other not. He can hear cheering, and snarling. Ant’s ears flatten back against his skull at the sound and his tail begins whipping around like an angry snake. There’s a quiet growl that Red half thinks is coming from the hybrid’s throat.

“What now?” Red asks, partially to distract Ant from whatever rage is welling up inside his little catboy heart.

“Inside.” Ant ducks over and clambers inside the mouth of the vent. Red glances down inside before he follows. It’s a short drop that Ant somehow managed to make silently, then the thing levels out. He adjusts the bag slung over his back and eases himself down inside as slowly as possible. Nevertheless there’s a quiet clang as his boots hit the metal, and Antfrost hisses a quick shush at him. Red drops to his hands and knees and starts crawling down the vent after the hybrid.

“There’ve been far nicer reasons for me to get on my knees for someone,” he whispers. His voice echoes a little against the metal walls. It’s dark in the vent, and he can only barely see the movement of Ant’s tail in front of him. It’s a pity, just a couple more degrees of visibility and he’d see something much more pleasant to look at.

“This is a little bit more important than sucking dick,” Antfrost’s voice wafts back at him.

“Agree to disagree.” Red says. The noise of the cheering below them is now too loud for him to hear what Ant says in reply.

Antfrost’s back drops down from Red’s view and he sees the vent has opened up. When he looks out he finds a catwalk spanning the ceiling of the warehouse, with Antfrost already crouched on top of it. Below them is a throng of the cheering, shouting audience surrounding a ring in the center of the floor made out of concrete barriers. Two chimeras are fighting in the ring, a blur of blood and fur and scales. Red has a strong stomach for gore, but that doesn’t mean he finds it at all pleasant to see what the things are doing to each other.

He lands on the catwalk next to Antfrost. The hybrid jumps, then shakes himself.

“Give me the sedative,” Ant whispers, holding out his hand. His eyes are focused on the ring below.

Red reaches into his bag and pulls out one of the glass bottles; luminous pale yellow liquid swirling behind the glass. He reaches to put it in Ant’s palm, then pauses.

“What’s your tolerance level?” He asks.

“What?”

“Chemical tolerance. You’re a hybrid--it’s definitely been documented for you.” Hybrids are treated like second class citizens; shuffled around to keep more survivable areas of the city habitable for normal humans. Most hybrids have their chemical tolerance marked down somewhere so the government knows what areas they can dump them in without having them immediately die. Red has unusually high tolerance for a human, which is part of why he chose this line of work.

“I don’t know, seven?” Ant whispers back.

“It’s on a scale of one to a hundred, idiot.” Red reaches into his bag and fumbles around for a mask. There’s a screech from the creatures below.

“Red, they’re dying.” Ant says, trying to snatch the bottle out of Red’s hand. Red relents and shoves it into the hybrid’s palm. He pulls out the other two bottles he’s prepared, waiting as Ant arches back his arm to throw.

It’s a work of art, his aim. The first bottle lands directly in the thick of the audience and shatters, the liquid inside turning to gas the second air touches it. It balloons outward, clogging the air with thick yellow mist. Antfrost grabs the second bottle and hurls it so it breaks directly in front of the double doors that serve as the exit. The people down below are panicking; it’s like stepping on an anthill.

Red is good at his craft. A few seconds, and they’re already collapsing. Antfrost throws the last bottle; ensuring the entire warehouse floor is coated with heavy yellow fog. There are hybrids and cyborgs, here and there, who are only momentarily confused by the attack from above, whose systems are too resilient to the gas and are now gathering their bearings. One of them looks up and sees them.

Antfrost tackles Red to the catwalk. It shakes when they hit the metal and he’s momentarily stunned, to stunned to even protest. He still hasn’t gained his breath back when one of the cyborgs on the floor opens fire, bullets punching into the railing and barely missing them. Ant leaps off Red, whipping a crossbow out from under his coat. He aims down below, pulling the trigger. Red is still on his back trying to reinflate his lungs, and he can’t see if Ant managed to hit any of his targets.

A bullet strikes uncomfortably close to his head and he rolls upright, charging across the catwalk with one hand shoved into his bag. He fumbles for a bottle, then stumbles as something severs one of the wires from which the catwalk is hung. There’s the screech of metal and they plummet.

The good news: most of the onlookers collapsed near the edges of the room, not in the center where they fall, and the only casualties are two of the four hostiles still on their feet. The bad news: there are still two people trying to kill them.

Red Red struggles to his feet, yanking his baseball bat out from the straps on his back. Antfrost glances over at him, just for a moment, then leaps backwards as the cyborg swings a fist at him.

Red doesn’t have time to spare concern for Ant, because there’s a hybrid with claws and fangs and a nasty grin on her face charging at him. She has three arrows bristling from her shoulder, and she’s unsteady on her feet. He sidesteps, grips his bat firmly in both hands, and slams it into her shin. She collapses, lashing out at him with a clawed hand. He hops backwards on one foot to avoid her, stomps the tip of the bat to the ground to stabilize himself. She lurches forward, dragging herself with her good side, and sinks her claws into his calf. Red’s first reaction is, he must admit, a dumb one. He tears himself away and is rewarded with claws ripping through the muscle of his leg. Fucking Christ it hurts.

He falls just out of the reach of the hybrid. She has too much tranquilizer in her bloodstream to get up again and she’s already going under. Red tries to reach for his black bag only to realize he dropped it when the catwalk fell.

Catwalk.

Cat.

Antfrost.

He snaps his head up to see Ant dangling from the grip of the cyborg. The hybrid snarls, his hands wound around the arm at his throat. His claws are fully extended and scrabbling against the black metal.

Red screams the first thing he can think of as loud as possible.

“HEY, CUM SLUT.”

The cyborg whips his head towards Red, glowing yellow eyes narrowing. His grip loosens in his momentary distraction, and Ant thrashes forward, sinking his teeth into the man’s shoulder, where metal meets flesh. Red wonders what he has to do to get the catboy to bite him like that.

The cyborg hisses a swear and slams Antfrost to the concrete. Red panics and grabs the fallen baseball bat on the ground next to him. He hurls it towards the fallen hybrid.

A brown-furred hand snaps up and snatches the bat out of the air. Ant rolls backwards, dodging a punch from the cyborg, and leaps to his feet. He bends his knees, grips the bat, and swings.

Red painted that bat months ago in red-and-white stripes out of paint he mixed himself. It was combined with a little chemical mixture that turned acidic when it moved at a fast enough velocity. Red had never been able to swing it fast enough to get those decorative stripes to transform into something that could burn through whatever it hit in milliseconds

.Antfrost, on the other hand, can.

The bat sheers straight through both of the cyborgs legs, eating through the metal like it was butter. The cyborg hits the ground, his legs severed at the knee.

Ant gives an incredulous look at the bat in his hand, then lowers it and bounds over to Red.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“Claws.” Red says brightly, trying to ignore the warmth seeping from his leg and the burn of the gashes through his muscle. He likes pain sometimes, in certain circumstances, but these are not the type of circumstances he tends to enjoy.

“Do you have a painkiller in your bag?” Antfrost drops to his knees next to Red.

He screws up his face. “Something like that.”

Ant turns and leaps over a few inert bodies, grabbing Red’s bag from the wreckage of the fallen catwalk and bring it over. He puts it down and latches his hands under Red’s arms, pulling him into a sitting position.

Red unzips the bag and pulls out a small vial that shimmers a tantalizing blue.

“You know, they say never get high off your own supply,” he says wryly as he uncaps it, “but this is an exception.”

It tastes like melon milk and fizzes a little as it goes down. Damn, he really is a good producer. The lady who ran the pharmacy he worked at couldn’t make one of these taste good for the life of her.

The pain in his leg fades and he relaxes. Antfrost has climbed into the ring and is picking up the two sedated chimeras, carrying them carefully to the empty cages next to the ring and laying them down inside. He takes the cages outside through a small door labeled Exit, and through a rising haze of uncanny calmness, Red wonders if he’s just leaving. He would be concerned about it, but even with his high tolerance the drink he took is getting to him. He doesn’t feel high or buzzed, just calm.

Ant runs back inside, empty handed this time, and comes over to Red. He bends down to look him in the eyes.

“Are you—were your eyes always that…shiny?” Ant asks.

“Yeah, it’s from exposure.” Red replies. He stares back into Antfrost’s eyes: large blue wells, with his pupils widened in the low light.

“All the chimeras are loaded into a truck out back. Can I carry you?”

“You can pick me up any day, Ant.” Red tells him.

The hybrid slides his arms under Res’s back and legs and heaves him up, walking carefully to the door. His arms are warm and his fur is soft where it brushes against Red’s skin.

Antfrost helps him climb into the passenger’s seat, then runs around the front of the truck to sit behind the wheel. He starts it with the keys still in the ignition and spins the wheel, pulling out from behind the warehouse.

Their section of the city is already near the outskirts, and the drive probably doesn’t take long. Probably. Red’s thoughts wander as Ant drives, thinking about animals and chimeras and acid paint. He snaps back to reality when they’ve officially left the city. It’s easy to tell, because outside is a wasteland of hills and trash.

Ant pulls over on the side of the road and stops the truck.

“Can you walk?”

Red glances down at his leg thoughtfully. The effect of his mixture is wearing off, and it stings slightly, but he nods anyway.

They unload the cages one at a time, driving a little way in between each one. The chimeras run as soon as Ant opens the cages, smart enough to head for the hills.

The last one they unload is the larger of the two that were in the ring when they broke in. It’s still sedated, so Ant leaves the door wide open and then sits on the ramp of the truck to wait for it to wake up.

Red climbs up beside him, shivering a little at the cold night air. “What about the other one?”

Antfrost casts a glance back into the truck. “It’s not doing so good. Too hurt to let out.”

Red looks at the cage with the aforementioned creature. It’s some kind of cat creature with horns and spikes on its back, its shoulder torn open in the fight. It sleeps fitfully.

“Are you sure they’ll survive out here?” He asks.

Ant rests his chin in his hands, hunching his shoulders. “I mean, I did.”

“You lived out here?”

Ant nods. “I’m not actually from Hypixel City. I lived out here until some people came promising opportunities and riches. It was bullshit. I was barely any different from them.” He nods at the still sleeping chimeras in their cages.

“They made you fight?”Ant nods. “For a while. Then Bad came and got me out.”

Red stares at Ant’s ears and the velvet-soft fur on them, the pads on the palms of his hands, the twitch of his nose. He sneezes, rubbing at his whiskers with one hand. Red wonders about the kind of madman who looks at the catboy sitting next to him and forces him to fight in a pit for entertainment.

“I’m cold.” Antfrost says suddenly. Red deliberates for a second, then scoots over and wraps a hand around the hybrid’s shoulders.

“What about you?” Ant asks, staring at the open cage on the ground and the sleeping chimera inside.

“What about my past? Well, nowhere near as bad as you.” Red laughs at the thought of comparing their childhoods. “I have unusually high tolerance for a human, so i started working for a pharmacist. Maybe I accidentally mixed something wrong and blew up the area.”

Ant gives him a sideways look. “Maybe?”

“Maybe.”

The hybrid chuckles, letting his head rest on Red’s shoulder. “Thanks for doing this, Red.”

“For you? Anything.” The words are bold, but he’s not in the mood to hold back his thoughts at the moment.

Ant doesn’t reply, but there’s an unmistakable rumble in his chest that Red immediately identifies as a purr. They sit there for a long time, under the moon in a wasteland, waiting for a creature to wake up and leave its cage.

They talk, about colors and toxins and friendships and names. They sit there until the chimera wakes up slowly, stretching its limbs, and scrambles out of its cage as fast as possible.

And in a toxic wasteland under a yellow moon, sitting on a stolen truck, Red kisses the love of his life for the first time.

Three years later and he wakes up to the chill of a winter morning.

Antfrost is lying next to him, curled around him to soak up as much heat as possible. Red moves to get up, but his boyfriend mumbles something in protest and somehow wiggles even closer to him. Red relents and lies back down, wrapping his arms around the hybrid.

And, finally, his hands aren’t cold.

#velvetiscake #antfrost #ppcrew cyberpunk #mello writes #long post

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dagranwrites · 3 years

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i have been doing an awful lot of thinking about dani and vlad’s attempts to clone danny and it’s been giving me headaches for various reasons, so here are some thoughts

i have been mulling over the fact that dani was stabilised by using the ecto-dejecto, which increases a ghost’s strength and apparently has worked infinitely for her since application and there is just... so much to unpack here

for my own sanity’s sake i will start by focusing on her ghost half, though we don’t actually know how ghost dna works, for all that we know, hell we don’t understand everything abt dna as it is - “genetic structure infused with ecto-plasm” is not as helpful as canon thinks it is!

on a very basic level this could mean exactly what it sounds like at face value, which might even explain why the ecto-dejecto only needed to be applied once, bc ecto-plasm doesn’t seem to shift states easily once it’s stable

i already hate how much this breaks reality, because look, we’re like mouse in matrix rn explaining to neo that the machines don’t know what tastee wheat actually tastes like and the sludge pudding they’re eating may be actually the taste of cornflakes but nobody knows bc the machines botched the job AND MAYBE THAT’S WHY SO MANY THINGS TASTE LIKE CHICKEN

like we can base ghost dna off of our dna, we can say that despite being coated in ecto-plasm it works like regular human dna as long as the halfas are in their human form, but none of this is real so we already don’t know

so maybe canon worked out for once

but maybe also ecto-plasm is its own genetic material on a technicality effectively making danny, vlad & dani chimeras and at this point we can throw my previous statements out of the window again and have to define how ecto-plasm works on a genetic level and how it works together with human dna

which is a level of pandora’s box i will not get into today, but basically what i am saying is that dani might actually still have unstable ghost powers and needs regular shots to stabilise her, but how would she even do that without the ecto-decjecto? does she eat ecto-plasm her fellow ghosts? does she get cravings for the green goop? is there human food that allows her body to self-regulate so she gets other cravings? is there a type of medication she could take? is she actually the cannibalistic vampire plasmius could have been?

okay, okay, let’s just leave that for whatever it is right now and look at her human half

dani’s human half was never stabilised

did it need to be? look, i’m no expert in genetics just really enthusiastic, but when she was dissolving it didn’t look like she was just shedding her ghost half but her entire body was going goopy so i’d say she was at risk as an entire being so yeah her human half should have required some stabilisation too

our dna is actually not something that’s set in stone, it’s quite unstable tbh, but it also has a ton of ways to repair itself entirely unprompted by outside influences, so technically we could say that since she was the only sapient clone it’s safe to say her human body is generally stable enough to deal with normal ranges of dna machine broke

however she has ecto-plasm in there! whatever the heck it is now, it’s in there! and she was melting!

so i am going out on a limb here and say that anything that destablises her ghost half automatically destablises her human half, the basic principle of this actually works on regular dna

if the her human dna is generally unstable there are really only two ways this can go and both are bad and i am going to deal with neither bc they would completely hijack any other plot that may been previously present in your fic

but then there is also the matter of her being a clone in the first place

how much research went into that, it’s not like there are cloning for dummies books

how many theoretical degrees does vlad have, is his scientific field just “yes.” bc it’s all of them??

genetics, bio-engineering, micro-biology, neuroscience and some form of medical degree is some of the stuff that comes to mind for me

ghost lore & biology are not real degrees but i’m pretty sure vlad has whatever it takes to get them

when dani first shows up she is said to be a 12 yrs old biologically and a couple months chronolically, which tells us a lot actually

cloning dolly the sheep took over 200 tries, so it’s fair to say that vlad ended up with a whole lot of experiements that failed shortly after conception and that he managed to get three living clones before dani was even a thing is immensely impressive

it also tells us that he was able to speed up the ageing process/development of their growth through means unknown to us

however, i do not believe that any amount of accellerated cell growth gave dani knowledge

hear me out for a moment, it’s very likely that dani actually had the brain chemistry of a 12 yo when she woke up, and having that would have given her a number of advantages over baby clones

that gives her an incredibly good base level for processing the world around her, taking up new information and assessing it, as well as being able to clearly “voice” (and i use that word loosely here) her likes and dislikes, 12 is also a very good age for molding a brain, especially when it’s empty, very impressionable age still

but that’s it

i don’t believe she popped out of that tank ready to take on the world with a plethora of knowledge bc vlad injected it into her brain matrix style, we don’t know enough abt the brain yet to do that and even if we could, we couldn’t do it at that speed and time is something vlad does not have when it comes to cloning, it’s not like baking a cake, he wouldn’t have been pressing a button and popping clones out of tanks like they’re muffins!

i will fight anyone who tries to tell me dani knew what a fork or a goddamn toaster was when she met danny (ok no i actually imagine vlad taught her table manners but you get the gist)

for a long time, probably the entire span of the rest of the show since her creation and first meeting danny, anything she did, she would have done for the first time in her entire life 9/10

being 12 and being able to speak would actually cover most of the gaps for her, but her speech would have likely included a lot of “this” and “that” and “there” and her behaviour would have been mimicking people more than often not to stand out, and she probably would have parroted people for a while to learn new words (i think she keeps a notebook full of things new to her)

so i believe those few months after her creation before she was sent after danny, vlad finally got to take a shower and shave and dress nice again, while suffering severe caffeine withdrawal for a couple days, and he’d just teach her stuff

a few months isn’t enough to cover everything, but just enough if he’d done nothing but that

it would have gotten dani familiar with basic things like walking, using words properly, and flying, just as much as what a fork is, table manners but also how cars and electronics work and what she was supposed to expect from the outside world, and since she was the first one who was self-aware vlad would have doted on her, if only bc he’s proud of his achievement

it would also explain why dani was willing to trust him blindly up until the last moment, or why she calls him “dad”

dani’s ghost half being primarily strengthened might explain why she primarily lives as a ghost bc it could simply be more comfortable for her when it comes to states of being, but it could also be because the ghost world is less judgey when it comes to her lack of experience in being alive

i mean?? they’re ghosts?? many of them died prematurely and would have missed out on so many things they otherwise would have gotten to experience? i bet dani just feels more at home when she’s with them, more like she belongs

this is neither here nor there, but i believe she and danny have some level of shared empathy, it’s not like luke and nell from haunting of hill house, just enough to easily read each other

#fandom: danny phantom #character: danielle fenton #character: vlad masters #type: text post #type: gif #danny phantom #danielle fenton #dani fenton #vlad masters #vlad plasmius #i couldn't actually find out how long it took #until they were able to clone dolly the sheep #but i doubt science can just crank out #200+ possible baby sheep #in like #two weeks #so i reckon it took at least several months #but probably more than that #which means that vlad speedran cloning #sdkjsdfksslkg #vlad is like #like that one math guy #who had a bet going w one of his friends not to do drugs for a month #bc he used them to sleep less and do more math #and like he made it!#but his comment was like #sure but now mathematics has been set back by a month #vlad whenever he has to stop doing science like a madman #science just has been set back by a month #which field?

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buzzykrueger · 3 years

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The double loss of a childhood - a not-so-brief analysis through Gon and Kite

WARNING: MAJOR CHIMERA ANT ARC SPOILERS //

First of all, this is kinda messy because I was writing and power went off </3. I wouldn’t even call it a meta, more of a psychological analysis.

It's so complex the way Togashi works through symbolisms. Gon and Killua had to let go of their childhood and childish behaviors. Had to make challenging choices. While two of the few grown ups who cared about them and gave proper attention to their relationship, are the perfect imagery of children: new Kite and Bisky.

These two are the greatest and overall positive influences within Gon and Killua lives in terms of adult Hunters, always looking out for the boys. Both of them are experienced, opposing the appearance of a child.

The irony is that, while Bisky and post-CAA Kite look like children (Kite is a child now, to be honest), Gon and Killua are, actually, real children facing painful and forced coming of age, enduring conflicts that even adults can fail to cope with properly - and this has been acknowledged by Knov and Shoot, also two experienced Hunters that got mesmerized by how those two kids could still fight, despite everything they saw and been through.

Anyways, Gon and Killua got their emotional development and their lack of experience put under extreme conditions, forcing them to break their dynamic without proper thinking, basically facing the war, the complexity of morals and relationships like adults.

That said, I’ll won’t be deeply working some points that I’m assuming you are all familiar with, like Gon’s reaction because Kite has been the fuel of his search for approval and being valued, or like how difficult it is for Gon not to handle things alone.

First of all, Kite is indeed Gon’s fuel for his journey. For the first time, someone cared to tell him the truth about Ging, and made him feel a little bit important. Noticed. Someone stayed by his side, for a short moment, and gave him a reason.

And if you take into account that he died two times before Gon’s eyes, it makes everything more shocking for the kid.

“Huh, what do you mean?”

Pitou has killed the physical adult Kite, but the rebirth itself “killed” the father figure imagery that Gon saw in Kite. Resembling now a girl of similar age as Gon's, Kite can not be kept as a replacement for the mentor and father Gon didn't have. And this is a heavy loss, because it took Gon’s goal away from him.

It's also a very smart and symbolic way to end this desperate journey around the urge of becoming deserving of proud, especially from Kite, the one who gave his life a purpose. Because Gon has stated, back in chapter 7, that “Kite seemed to be prouder of him (Ging) than he was of himself”, so he wants to walk the same steps as his biological father to make someone proud of him the same way. He can't project his goals around others anymore - and like the Koala Man said, the heart must be fed, or you’ll end up doing the same things again and never getting satisfied with the outcome. What you seek must be found in yourself.

But what Kite sees, in this chapter called Repentance (337) is that Gon is probably not ready for the amount of reflection waiting for him. Kite then sees no good in weighting his shoulders any more. The moment where he asks Gon “sorry about what?” is important, because it’s where Kite and the readers get to understand that Gon needs a break before realizing it.

Kite, then, avoid this subject. Gon is not ready.

Instead of throwing the truth about what was the real issue here, Kite first gives Gon craved the most: he praises him for being able to defeat a stronger enemy that Kite himself could not.

The boy’s reaction, though, it’s not what we would’ve expect from Gon.

Gon shows no trace of excitement over the fact he has accomplished his first goal - he was able to impress Kite. But, why is this so important? Because this is a breaking point for his journey. Gon doesn’t feel like he cares about this anymore. If Kite is not the same, he shouldn’t be either. If being approved doesn’t mean the same, meeting Ging is pointless. His past self has died, alongside with Kite - figuratively and directly speaking.

The troubled boy acknowledges that "if it wasn't for Killua (name separated from the rest ‘cause he has his special spot) and everybody else, I wouldn't be here". This means a lot for Gon’s development and grief, because the moments where he feels he’s messed up or must redeem himself, he doesn’t mind getting hurt or overcoming fear in order to handle “his mess” all alone. If he proves himself and protect the ones he loves, he will do it. But he needed help, and this is something he doesn’t feel proud of.

That’s when Kite shifts the engine once more.

It’s useless to make Gon feel better addressing old desires. Like Kite himself, Gon also got a second chance. They are both letting go from their past.

With a sweet tone, Kite breaks the cycle of the strong father figure: it's the same for him. Kite, the major inspiration for Gon, says that he didn't make it alone, too - and that doesn't make him less strong. He can’t be this parental figure anymore, maybe he didn’t even know he was. The only thing he knows, is that there are different types of strength. They are not weak for having friends and needing help.

With this, Kite closes the curtains. A strong and admirable Hunter, that wasn’t any less powerful for needing help. Gon shouldn’t be ashamed of this kind of strength: the power of making others wanting to be with him. Something that could not coexist with following Ging steps - Gon must belong to himself and separate him from others’ expectations.

That’s the final act of the mentor Kite, where he dies as a projection. Funny is, this moment with Kite holds some good parallels with the next chapter, where Killua and Gon part ways. Though I don’t think they’ve meant 100% the same, there are some hints that Killua also kept the soil fertile for Gon - but this is yet to be addressed in a future post.

Back to the story, Kite’s not a parent, not even an grown man anymore. He pushes Gon forward to meet Ging, because that’s the one thing that will end this cycle, definitively. No one to look up to, to pursue admiration from, and getting blind from fear of being weak and left behind. He must face change. This desire to be approved even if it costs his life has reached an end. This part of his journey must be accomplished - and left behind.

Gon can now center his journey around developing his self-esteem, thoughts on himself after knowing his own worth. He has a lot to make up for with Killua, but he had been forgiven. The soil is fertile once again, the seed of self forgiveness can grow. He can come up with a goal that centers around love with proper growth and responsibility, without others having to make up for self-esteem he lacks. He’s a traumatized child, that probably never put much thought on how lonely and scared he felt before he acted, and his coping mechanisms mimics his lack of experience.

He can now be free of the thought that, if he sacrifices this "undeserving being" he is on his mind, people will choose not to leave. Because giving up on his life wasn’t the right way to let them feel safe around him. They’ve left anyway. Everyone thanked him and look like they’re not mad, and he has found his father, but why things still look... unsatisfying? What meaning Ging even holds for him, still?

Losing his first goal is like losing his past self, and his childhood. Gon can’t walk backwards, though he comes back to Whale Island, things are not the same anymore, just like him. Losing the imagery and the person Kite is a twist of cycle, losing the urge of meeting Ging is cutting ties with this past self and this mad search for his own value in wrong sources, and now he has to understand what he wants and can do the way he is.

He must figure it out on his own, how he can grow from this and how to fix things before he finds a new goal. He has found something more important than the thing he was once hunting. Or better saying, someone. Someone that should’ve, yes, shared his feelings instead of creating distance - but he knows this certain someone left him with a smile because he cared. Killua will never overbear him, but can’t be the one to analyze everything for him anymore.

Gon has been forced to slow down and think, because in loneliness, there’s no one to impress. There, is where his identity will be found.

When you care about yourself, you learn how to take care of others. True, changing hurts. Losing childhood hurts. Losing strong beliefs and having to reconstruct yourself is a process. Bereaving children mostly don’t get proper attention because their anger, isolation and dismissive attitudes are often scolded than embraced, because they’re expected to endure loss like adults.

The dead don’t come back to life. Last minute, saved by the most important person in his life. But changing is the only inevitable thing while living. Kite was that important, but he must go away from the responsibility Gon has, unconsciously, put him through. Now, his journey consists of a blank page, waiting to be written once again with this new self, in order to learn how to fix his relationship with the one he loves the most. Killua wasn’t planned to exist in Gon’s life. They didn’t expect to run into each other, but as soon as they did, they’ve slowly changed their goals. Things seem off right now, but there is no room for replacements or masks.

Gon might have not noticed, but his goal wasn’t the same already. Meeting Ging brings not the same feeling anymore, especially because Killua was the first thing running Gon’s mind when thinking about this meeting, a major indicative that Killua was, already, his top priority over his father - and maybe he never put a second thought on that, the way Gon is single-minded.

But now there is room for a lot of thinking, and there’s something we must remember, an optimistic hint that I’m saving its analysis for the separation meta:

“Gon is not the type to break a promise twice”, Killua has once said.

#gon #kite #gon freccss #hunter x hunter #hxh #meta #??? not quite tho

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darkdevasofdestruction · 4 years

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Primum Non Nocere ~ Gregory House x Katrina Black

This may or may not be a personal fic I make for myself, that everyone is welcome to read in case they miss House or sth, so yeah, enjoy the clown fiesta.

There are many words that can describe Doctor Gregory House, all of them ranging from “Brilliant Doctor” to “The Biggest Asshole”...However, there is one person who ever called him “Sweet”, and each time, she got called insane.

Even Stacy, who dated him for so long, looked at her as if she suddenly became a chimera or something, which speaks volumes for his character as a whole.

It’s been 15 years since Katrina moved to America, and 15 years since she begged Lisa Cuddy to allow her to practice Medicine and learn directly from the hospital itself, even though she barely finished highschool and was beginning Medicine University.

Lisa had no reason to accept her, but she was much too sweet and convincing, doing everything asked, from cleaning, to nursing, helping her with management stuff, and then, as years passed, she started clinic duty and steadily, but fast-paced, she achieved her dream of becoming a successful cardiologist, going as far as becoming the new head of the department, since the old one retired.

Just as expected, she became friends with Lisa, James and Greg very easily, and each of them treated her in their own way - As her mother, as her confidant...And as her Mentor, of sorts - As Gregory House was the harshest and biggest jerk in the world, but not even the coldest man alive could resist her weirdly innocent charm.

She was the one to remember the gruff man’s every birthday and give him gifts she made herself - Nothing big, but always meaningful, like a winter scarf, or cute little decorations, engraved medical things and so one - And of course, on every Christmas, apart from gifts, she would bring him marshmallow hot chocolate and other festive decorations for his office, so he won’t feel lonely or bad.

Sometimes he didn’t even realise it, but every time he needed a proper diagnostic opinion, or his interns screwed up, he’d page her, not exactly caring if she was busy with clinic work or with an important surgery, and he’d make fun of her for rushing for “No reason”.

Life is definitely difficult for a shy, young foreigner, all alone in the world, but somehow, with the help of this few people, she managed to find something that she lacked her whole childhood - A true “Family” and a place to call “Home”.

But for Gregory House, this woman, Katrina Black, has always been an enigma he couldn’t deduct - The greatest mystery that crossed his path - He wanted to know her, to understand her, to learn about her and her pain and maybe, for once, he won’t feel as miserable.

The past 5 years especially, after Stacy left him and he ultimately had to live in pain, addicted to pain killers, and while he got more and more bitter, he also began to appreciate, at least in his heart, the unconditional kindness and attention he receives from her

And so, here we are, 15 years after the moment that changed everything in their lives...

“It’s not inflammatory process. It’s not a clot, because Chase’s angio says so. And it’s not cancer, because her tush is perfect. Anybody else got an Aunt Elyssa with weird stuff?” House limped into his office, looking at the three subordinates that were sitting around aimlessly. “...Maybe it’s worth looking into-” Cameron began, but was quickly cut off by the elder one, who looked at the angio once again. “I though you said Carly’s angio was clean.” Gregory blinked, putting both angiograms on the board for a better peripheral view. “It WAS clean.” the Aussie insisted again. “You guys see the problem here?” House asked in his usual over the top way. “There’s no indication of any abnormalities, no lesions, no spurs, no mastis-” Foreman got up to get a better look at the pictures better. “Well, if you guys don’t know, how about I call for the help of our lovely foreigner? I bet she’s gonna be angry for getting her out of whatever surgery she has, but...It’s in the name of science, after all!” he gave a mocking smirk at the trio as he hit CodeRed on the pager.

As expected, it didn’t take long for the girl to arrive, despite being in full surgical outfit, blood still on her gloves and her scrub cover, panting from having to run all the way there.

“What happened?! Are you okay?!” she tried to speak, despite barely being able to catch her breath. “Nothing really. Nothing that would result in the immediate death of a patient, clearly, and as you can see, I’m perfectly fine as well. Why ever would you hurry up like that out of a surgery?” Gregory fooled around, watching the crestfallen expression on her face, as she took off her gloves and scrub covers, revealing the cute and childish green scrub that had foxes on the top. It was her signature style, really - Always wearing the cutest, most childish scrubs, with various animals or flowers, and she was the only one who did that, despite her age, and didn’t care about anyone’s opinions. In fact, others kinda found it pretty nice too, almost giving off a more light and hopeful approach to a hospital. “So...Let me get this straight...I was in the middle of an open heart surgery...And you paged me while I was stitching it back together...With a code red, nonetheless...And I put my subordinate to cover for me, thinking that something happened to you or whatever patient you have...And instead, I find you here with no problem, loitering around with the three stoogies - No offense -...Having a party. Woaw, Greg, be careful, you are overshadowing yourself with every passing day.” Katrina groaned, throwing in the bin the discardable surgery objects and hopped on his desk, crossing her legs together nonchalantly. “Awwww, you love me, don’t you?” he retorted in a fake sweet tone, making the girl shake her head and chuckle. “Yeah, of course, who doesn’t?” she could barely keep herself from grinning at his silly self. “So what’s the real problem? What did they do?” “We are trying to see what’s wrong with Carly’s angiogram, and I figured perhaps the gorgeous eyes of an exotic, successful, intelligent woman, would be able to see the problem of another successful and intelligent woman.” he tried to speak with more honey than he ever did, just for the laughs. “The girl kissed by fire should dye her hair again. Also...It came to my understanding that most people have...A left and a right leg, right? Why does the angio have two left feet?” she asked, taking her hair out of the ponytail and messing it around. “Et voila! Without even knowing the patient’s problems properly, you saw the wrong when these guys didn’t. See, I told you the foreigner would get it faster than you.” House limped back to pat her head, looking at the three with judgement. “So...Who screwed up something so basic? I wouldn’t have expected someone that works under you to do such a stupid mistake -... No, wait, it was Chase, wasn’t it?” Kat smirked, looking at the Aussie with a playful glint in her eyes. “Wh-What?! Why did you think it was me?!” Chase looked at her with revolt. “Are you trying to tell me it WASN’T you?” she pressed on, watching him blink and get back in his chair. “How did you know?” Greg challenged her, only to see her shrug. “He seems like the only one to screw up something like this because he was trying to charm the pants off some nurse.” she spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You are absolutely correct! Oh, and, stop messing with your hair, you’re leaving strands everywhere.” he grabbed her wrists, and just for a split second, his beautiful icy blue eyes peered into her fawn-like green ones. “Well...Every fire has cinders and ambers, doesn’t it. Now that you basically dragged me out of the surgery room, you have to keep me around for the case. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind me purrrowling around, would you?” she joked around, just as Chase got up, staring at the angios he screwed up in complete disbelief. “Yeah. Sure. You do that. At least I’ll have someone competent around.” he nodded his head, a bit awkwardly. “That’s impossible! It can’t be - “ Chase tried to defend himself, despite having no excuse. “Or maybe it was Jenny. How come some resident signed this radiology report? Were you even in the room?” House reprimanded the blond doctor. “I’ll redo her angio- “ Chase tried to defend himself, but was quickly shut down by his superior. “You’ll do nothing!” an angry House was a scary House, which made the room atmosphere tense as hell. “Eric, go do the angiogram, please.” Kat muttered, simplifying the problem. “...I can’t believe I did that.” Chase turned around to look at his fuck up, making the red haired girl sigh. “That’s what happens when you think with the wrong head at the wrong time.” with that, she flapped her hand to dismiss both of them, dragging House to sit down, worrying about his leg. “I am surrounded by idiots.” he dragged a hand down his face in anger. “Yeah, I know what you mean...But they are not stupid, in the long run. Just...Distracted sometimes...At the wrong times, sure, but...They have redeeming qualities too.” she tried to defend them a bit, while also calm him down, knowing very well that nobody can think straight while angry. “Yeah, I know. But neither you, nor I, have ever been distracted by trivial things like this. Speaks volumes about someone’s priorities.” he retorted just as tauntingly as before. “Well...He’s still young...And he knows he’s attractive for most people...I don’t know. I can’t really defend him for this one.” she looked down, sighing. “Then don’t. It’s not your job to defend everyone or try to make me feel better. Look at you. You’re young, beautiful and smart, but not once did I see you being distracted by some boy. Chase has no excuse.” he cut her off, making her smile in understanding, nodding blankly. “Yeah...But you’re the only one who sees me that way. You...And James and Lisa...You’re the only ones that I trust to tell me the truth and be genuine with me...And you’re the only ones who talk to me or hang around me without wanting something out of me. Sometimes things are more complicated than you see at the surface.” her voice became softer, almost melancholic, something that was completely out of character for her, or at least, that’s what he thought.

House was about to open his mouth and interrogate her, in his own weird way, only for his office room to get opened and have Vogler and Cuddy walk right through. With an ever so quiet curse from the girl, she bit her lip and raised her head, trying not to look worried or intimidated.

“What a pleasant coincidence, finding both of you here. I see neither of you conformed to the rules yet. Are you trying to have an anarchy together? Not wearing proper clothing?” Vogler look down at the two of them, which made House blink in confusion at the girl sitting on his desk. “Well, I know I don’t wear a coat ‘cause it’s itchy and tacky...But as far as I’m aware, if my eyes haven’t gone wild from the LSD, Katrina’s wearing a medical scrub.” the man started playing with his cane, only to see the girl shoot him a warning look, mouthing for him to shut up. “Animal scrubs are unprofessional. Nobody in the hospital wears them, and there is no benefit to them.” the businessman refuted with ease. “The benefit is that I make them myself, they are comfy, and people find them nice to look at. My patients feel calmer and more reassured seeing cute things. It makes them see past their health issues, even by a few seconds. And children and teenagers especially love it.” the girl explained herself calmly, before biting her lip and speaking a bit lower. “I’d recommend you wear a cute scrub too, I’m sure they are more comfy than your business suits. Maybe you’ll lighten up and realise we are in a hospital and we work with people, not with documents and money.” “Haha, you’re pretty funny. Now I see why the two of you are always together. You have a knack for breaking the rules. Or, better said, you completely disregard the rules as if they don’t exist at all for you.” Vogler’s voice seemed to get darker and more threatening. “It’s just a coat and a scrub. House works from his office, and he wears suits, I don’t see how that’s a problem, the same as my scrubs, there’s no rule anywhere saying I am strictly forbidden from wearing cute tops. Do you really feel your authority so undermined by two people in this huge hospital wearing different things, despite not getting in the way of their pristine perfect work? Or perhaps you feel some kind of weird...Inferiority complex that you must hide and keep in check by walking all over everyone as if we are doormats?” Katrina spoke without even looking at anyone, only staring ahead, coincidently, at the messed up angiograms, and for a few seconds, she could almost feel her own legs getting screwed up from the malicious vibe emanating from the businessman. “Katrina...” Lisa brought her out from her trance, sharing a look of worry together, knowing very well they’re screwed either way. “It’s not about what rules are out there or not. It’s about the rules that I make, and making sure you are team players. If you are not, then...I believe we won’t be able to cooperate for much longer. Especially if Dr. Cuddy isn’t able to keep you in control.” Vogler threatened, before turning away and leaving, while Lisa gave her a pitiful look, following behind him. “...Fantastic day, isn’t it?” Katrina put her hands on her face, sighing in frustration. “Do you really make your own scrubs?” Greg asked, making her turn her head to look at him, before nodding. “Yeah. Want one? I can make you a pink one with lots of flowers and smiley faces.” she joked half-heartedly, which made him realise the annoying businessman was affecting her more than him. “Don’t be ridiculous.” he shook his head, getting up, patting her head. “What else do I have left after what just happened.” she stretched, cracking her fingers and spine, as she hopped off the desk, just as her pager started ringing. “Good luck with your patient, Greg. I have to go. If anything happens, page me...But no code red during surgery this time, please.” she gave him a tender smile, leaving the room, making him look after her.

What was it about her today that made her seem off? It has to be only Vogler, right? What else could it be. The patient, however, has many many symptoms, and no actual disease yet. Fascinating!

As time passed and he got to treat his patient, and even lied to the transplant committee so Carly would get a new heart, and nobody, except for Wilson and Black, who were there, knew about that felony he committed.

On the other hand, during this time, Katrina has been working day and night with barely any rest, other than the tons of coffee she had to down to keep herself awake. There was something very uplifting about overworking, and no, not only your heart rate.

“Hey, Kat.” Wilson raised his hand up to salute his friend, which made her stop in front of him, albeit a bit spazzic like a meerkat, but nothing too out of the ordinary. “Hey, James, how are you?” she smiled at him, walking slowly together to whatever place he was heading to. “Pretty good. Wanted to grab lunch, how about you?” he asked politely, putting his hands in his coat pockets. “It’s lunch already? How time flies...I forgot to eat again. Too bad.” she chuckled sheepishly, grinning at him. “Anyway, have a great meal, I have a surgery to prep for.” “You should still eat something, you can’t live on coffee alone.” James muttered with concern. “Thank you for your concern, James, I appreciate it. I have to hurry now, eat for me too.” she chuckled, stopping in her tracks, waving him goodbye. “Wait, hold up, I wanted to ask you something.” he stepped closer to her, bending a bit so he could speak without anyone lese hearing. “Do you know what House lied about? At the committee? I know he lied, but I don’t know what about.” he asked, making the girl sigh and shake her head. “No, sorry, I don’t know. If you want, I can ask him when I’m done with the surgery.” she suggested, seemingly interested herself. “If he tells you, that would be great. He seemed to stop himself from telling me because I am a member of both the board and the transplant committee...Which you are as well. Good luck.” he points out, both curious and frustrated with his friend. “Well that’s interesting...Okay, you’ve got me hooked, I’ll see what I can do and I’ll tell you as soon as I find out. Laters.” Kat winked at him, rushing to do the surgery.

However, she didn’t have to do much work, for when she was almost done with the surgery, House himself made his way into the room, examining her working, before speaking.

“How would you fancy dinner tonight?” he asked, which made her look at him, raising her eyebrow in confusion. “Did you talk to James by chance?” she questioned right back, doing the finishing touches. “Yeah, how’d you know?” he asked jokingly. “Oh, you know...Just the usual thing of me forgetting to take care of myself. So, where do we go?” she asked, finishing the sewing and turning around to exit the room. “My home. We get take out, fall asleep since it’s already past midnight...I came with the motorcycle, I even brought your cat helmet, come on, I’m hungry, don’t question so much.” he put his arm around her shoulder, bringing her to the parking spot. “No room to complain much, is there? Is it really past midnight? I feel like I just talked with James a little ago...” she muttered, taking the helmet and putting it on. “Time flies fast when you’re having fun, they say.” House pointed out, starting the engine.

For the rest of the night - Or early morning rather - They finished eating and were relaxing by the piano, playing “My Way” by Frank Sinatra and other fun, classical, beautiful songs, humming the lyrics and reveling in the fact that there were no cases for a while, and no worries, at least for what Vogler is worth.

“Say, mind if I ask you something?” Kat asked, turning her head to look at him. “Yes, a hooker came by just yesterday, how did you know?” he gasped dramatically, looking right back at her. “Oh, just a lucky guess. However, my question was going to point more towards the patient you just had, who needed a heart transplant. I and James were curious about your little white lie.” she chuckled at his jokes, which made him blink at her and frown. “Sorry, doctor-patient confidentiality makes me unable to say anything. As well as ethics. Those are very important rules that everyone must follow for a better place to live in, don’t you think?” she never really understood why, but those back and forth playful banters always made her laugh. “Oh yes, of course...Ethics...How could I possible forget about Ethics? Perhaps you have a dictionary so I can look it up once in a while. And now, for the real reason...I can assume it was something psychological? Some mental illness that nobody was supposed to know about?” she smirked right back at him, only for him to look at her for a brief few seconds and nod abruptly. “Bulimia and self-harm.” Greg answered, which made the girl smile sadly. “Figured it would be something like this...Many women like her have self-issues and they get desperate and lonely to the point where they find the only relief from stress and self-hatred in overworking and terrible coping mechanisms. Buuuut she proved to you she wanted to live, and you fought for her and saved her. That’s amazing. You...You are amazing, you know that, don’t you?” she praised him, a soft smile on her face of something that may or may not resemble admiration. “Where are you getting at with that? It’s almost like you’re praising her...For something.” his voice lowered a bit, almost as if he was interrogating her. “Praise is a big word...Although she is a great woman, without a doubt. I was actually praising you, above all else...And...I was just wondering...Would you...Would you do the same for me? Should I have been in the same position as she was.” she asked, as a matter of fact, which made the other doctor raise his eyebrow at her. “Why would you be asking something like that?” it was clear that by now, the atmosphere got a little bit tense, until she started randomly playing “Carol of the Bells”, such a beautiful, uplifting Christmas song, yet House could almost smell the nostalgic undertones it had. “You are being very weird, Katrina.” “Oh, come on, lighten up, it was only to satisfy my scientific curiosities. Christmas is coming, I haven’t slept in two days, I’ve been drinking so much coffee that I think I’ve transcended into another universe altogether...And everyone is weird in their own way, you can’t tell me otherwise. Now come on, answer me, don’t be such a killjoy.” she grinned, nudging him playfully with her shoulder as she got closer to him, trying to get him to stop thinking it was some greater problem. “...No.” he answered solemnly, which made the girl blink and tilt her head to the side like a confused puppy. “No...You won’t do the same for me, or No...You won’t answer?” Kat asked softly, hoping to get a straight answer out of him, but that’s never the case with House. “Figure that out when you go to sleep tonight. Good night, Kat.” Greg said, getting up from the piano and making his way to his dormitory, leaving the girl alone.

Sighing, she continued to play “Summertime” from Gershwin to calm herself down, before getting up herself and walking all the way to her home, albeit not a long walk, yet still relaxing thanks to the cold outside that relaxed her.

The next day, Katrina walked in around the clinic with her big Triple Espresso Caramel Latte cup, going around to do her clinic duty, only to get paged by House once again, most likely to help with another diagnostic, or point out some obvious idiocy one of his subordinates has done.

On the way there, she spotted the big bad wolf, so she hid behind numerous people and quickly ran up the emergency stairs to escape her fate, until she got to the diagnostician’s office, catching her breath.

“Why did you run? There was no code red this time.” he asked, wagging his cane around. “Yeah, well, code V from Vendetta spotted me, so I had to pretend I didn’t see him. The emergency stairs are a blessing, sometimes.” she chuckled, leaning, on the glass wall, taking big sips from her coffee. “Have you thought about what I said last night?” he asked, and by then, the eyes of the onlookers seemed to go back and forth between those two. “I would have...But as you can see, I didn’t exactly sleep last night. Again.” she gave him a sarcastic, exaggerated grin. “Yeah, I can see that. You look dreadful. Do you make it your personal mission to go in the Record book for the idiot who refused to sleep the longest?” he limped in front of her, making her sigh and roll her eyes. “It wasn’t for lack of trying, okay? I go to bed, it takes hours to fall asleep, and when I do, I have nightmares and sleep paralysis, I wake up startled and restless, and there is that, I can’t fall asleep back again because of overwhelming anxiety. Are you happy with my answer?” she looked up at him with an almost annoyed look in her exhausted eyes. “...Nope.” House dragged his answer a bit, as if he was thinking over some rationalisation of her behaviour. “Are you taking pills?” he asked again, popping a Vicodin pill. “Uh...Should I?” she muttered, blinking questioningly at him. “Maybe. If you don’t already. I’m not entirely sure if you are or not, unless you tell me.” he pointed out as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Or maybe I need a long vacation in the Maldives. Or to go back home in Europe. Who knows, maybe sleeping in the Sun, on a beach chair, hearing the ocean waves would prove to be a great way to fall asleep and actually...You know...Sleep!” she shrugged and turned around to leave, but he hooked the semi-circle part of his cane around her neck, bringing her back, making her yelp in shock. “Are you sure you’re alright? You’ve been acting off recently.” he limped in front of her, blocking the exit. “Ah, yes, of course. An anomaly in an otherwise boring human who is bound by routines. How could I forget how much you love solving these anomalies? But, you see, I’m not your patient, so I have to ask you to refrain from trying to diagnose me, and return to whatever your guy has.” she tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t budge, which only made her sigh in aggravation. “I think...You are hiding something.” House pushed her with his cane just enough to look at her better. “Yeah, you’ve got me. Something completely unexpected...Like...Vogler giving me a hard time and threatening to fire me, despite being the head of the Cardiology department...And Christmas is approaching and I’m as lonely as always...Oh, and, how could I forget, my family wants to visit. My family. Who hasn’t contacted me in like 15 years. Suddenly wants to visit me. I’m SURE they want to have a very nice, lovely chat with me. Now that you know how miserable my days have been lately, can I go back to being miserable in my own department, where I can actually do something productive with my time?” it wasn’t often when she got so worked up, but it was clear she was stressed out and needed some way to vent or relax. “Don’t you want to know the answer to your question?” he looked down for a few seconds, before looking in her eyes, noticing how her eyes were puffy and droopy, and her bottom lip was quivering lightly. “...I don’t know.” she muttered, moving past him and going back to the clinic to do her job as she’s supposed to.

Of course, Vogle continued to be a problem for everyone, Christmas passed and she was just as lonely as every other year, so she drunk herself to sleep while listening to old school songs from her native country, because no matter how silly they were, they still made her feel happy and nostalgic.

Things continued to go array for everyone in the hospital, so bad and so hard that the evil businessman called for a board meeting to fire House, which caused a shit ton of problems for everyone, especially Kat, Wilson and Cuddy...But the only ones who refused were the first two, which escalated to another meeting right then to fire them...On her own birthday, barely a week and a half after Christmas.

“Doctor Wilson, Doctor Black. I was hoping you were gonna miss this one.” Vogler said as soon as the two entered the office room and sat on their chairs next to each other. “A man is the sum of his actions. Here are a few of Dr. House’s. He violated a D.N.R. and was charged with assault. He brought a termite into the O.R. and spat on a surgeon. He accepted a Corvette from a patient who was a known member of the New Jersey Mafia.” the businessman began, only to get stopped by one of the surgeons. “Ed, look-” he tried to reason, but was harshly cut off. “Edward.” Vogler looked sharply at him. “Edward. You look at anyone’s career, you can find things that are-” the surgeon began to speak again, only to get quickly shut down. “These are the last 3 months! He’s personally had more complaints filed against him than any department in this hospital.” Vogler continued, and James tried to reason this time. “Okay. He’s screwed-up. He’s miserable. And he should probably re-read the ethics code, but it works for him. He’s saved hundreds of lives.” Wilson explained, but it was clear Vogler was on a war path. “He is a drug addict who flaunts his addiction and refuses to get treatment! He is a disgrace and an embarrassment to this hospital.” this statement made the red haired girl groan in annoyance and let herself fall back on the chair. “No, he’s not a drug addict, that’s what YOU want to see. How would you feel if your leg was in excruciating pain because of a surgery choice you had NO choice over, and yet, you still had to work, save lives, and think properly? House MAY look like he’s some kind of insane jerk, but he is known all over America for being THE best diagnostician and was able to save people that otherwise, in the hand of ordinary doctors, would have died. Oh, and, those complaints have always been revoked or solved once the patient...You know...LIVED! You just want him fired ‘cause he’s not being your obedient lap dog. If you are so brave to speak ill of a person when he’s not around, why don’t you also have the guts to speak the truth?” she leaned forward to glare at her enemy, as Wilson put his hand over hers, trying to calm her down. “Says the one who’s always by his side, helping him indulge in his nefarious medical fantasies. Let’s keep this simple. Either he goes, or I go.” Vogler spoke, making Katrina rest her chin on her hand, watching him closely. “You shouldn’t personalise this.” Lisa tried to reason, but this guy was over the limits. “And by I, I mean my hundred million dollars. How’s that for personalising?” he started at poor Lisa, who was in a huge dilemma. “Who knew adults could be so petty? You give us money for a reason, and then you threaten to take it away because one doctor, the only one who cares about his patients more than anything, does his job as he is supposed to. Very mature.” Kat sneered at him, rolling her eyes at him. “Gregory House is a symbol of everything wrong with the health care industry. Waste. Insubordination. Doctors preening like they’re kind, and the hospital is their own private fiefdom. Health care is a business, I’m gonna run it like one. I hereby move to revoke the tenure of Dr. Gregory House and terminate his employment at this hospital, effective immediately.” Vogler declared, which made the red head jump up from her seat and slam her hand on the desk. “Since when can you decide for everyone? Are you some sort of God or what? You are WRONG Ed. First of all, Gregory House is the ONLY doctor in this hospital who is capable of being perfectly objective and save ALL his patients, even from the weirdest, most unexpected diseases! Secondly, yeah, we ARE Gods, in a way! We actively get ourselves in the line to save hundreds of lives, we...We HOLD their fates in OUR hands! He is not the problem, and Health Care is NOT supposed to be a business! This is not a business corporate, this is a HOSPITAL! A place where we, DOCTORS, save lives! You wouldn’t get it, you’re not a doctor! You didn’t have to see people in agony, begging to be killed, nor did you have people crying in happiness for being saved! You know absolutely NOTHING of medicine! You have NO right to fire Gregory House, just like you have NO right to tell us, who spent over 10 years of our youth studying constantly, and more than 10 years having this healthcare as our everyday life style, that we should do this for money, and not for the people!” the room went silent from the shock of her outburst, since nobody, in 15 years, saw her so agitated, and yet, she was right...Against the wrong man. “Fascinating and touching speech, I must say. Now I know what I have to deal with. Now then, let’s resume to our votes. All in favour of firing Dr. Gregory House?” Vogler asked, cheekily raising his own hand, which was slowly followed by everyone, except for Katrina and James, who looked at each other with worry, letting their arms fall back from the table and holding hands for comfort. “Dr. Wilson? Dr. Black?” Vogler tried to nudge to give in, but it was for naught. “Opposed.” both of them answered in unison, knowing that either way, they’re screwed. “The...Motion is defeated.” the business man sighed, letting silence hang in for a few seconds, before speaking again, in a chirper voice. “Dr. Wilson, Dr. Black, would you mind leaving the room, please?” “Excuse me?” James asked, frowning in confusion at his words. “We’re going to take another vote.” Vogler explained, as if it was nothing. “We are board members. We have to be here when you vote. You can’t void our votes by making us stand in the hallway. And, as far as I’m aware, you need notice and at least one business day before you can reconsider any matter.” James continued, knowing very well that he can’t prolong the agony. “We’re voting on a different matter, which you are conflicted out of.” Vogler stood up, looking solemn over everyone. “How can we be conflicted out of? What is that even supposed to mean?” Katrina asked, looking at Lisa, who seemed to have an apologetic look on her face. “This vote is whether to dismiss Dr. James Wilson and Katrina Black.” everyone looked down hearing that...Katrina and James were a completely different matter, compared to House... “Oh, great, yes, fire everyone who is speaking the truth and doesn’t go by your stupid business idea. Newsflash, not everybody is a greedy fuckass like you are. Some of us are here because that’s why we wasted our life for! Saving! LIVES! If you guys, after so many years of working together, think that I and Wilson should leave, then fine, sure, vote yes. But if you’re doing it because of this guy...Then congratulations, welcome to communism. Trust me, I’d know, I’m Romanian.” looking with disgust at that guy, she grabbed her friend and left the office without another word, and when they got far enough, she slammed her back on a wall, pulling at her hair. “At least I know why House likes you. You were right. You have always been an admirable doctor. I hope one day he will appreciate you as he should. Its not like he has many people who actually tolerate him...” James put his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her out of having an anxiety attack, until Vogler came by, looking as menacing and narcissistic as usual.

He threatened both of them, saying they have the option of leaving the hospital, otherwise he will destroy them...Which means that there was at least one person who voted to keep them there.

There was no point in trying to comfort each other, so instead, they went to their own offices, packing up everything they owned. However, instead of packing, Katrina stood criss-crossed on her desk, looking at her prized possessions on the shelves, including her awards, diplomas, random little plants and flowers, cute decorations...And a fox that had a heart in its mouth, that she received as a gift from House, Wilson and Cuddy when she became the head of the Cardiology department.

She didn’t even realise how tears were falling down her face, she almost felt numb to it all, but in reality, her heart hurt like hell and she couldn’t imagine how life would continue to go on from now on.

The sound of the door softly opening was blocked away by her personal phone ringing, and with a lethargic move, she raised her phone, without looking at the caller ID, and answered.

“What do you want?” Kat sighed on the phone, not having the strength to fake cheerfulness as she usually did. “Oh, sweety, hi, how are you?” ...it was her mother...What a coincidence. “Why are you calling? You haven’t contacted me since I left the country. I’m not sure you realised the passing of time, but it’s been over 15 years.” the girl sneered over the phone, clutching her grip on it. “Don’t be like that, darling, I just wanted to see how my eldest daughter is doing! You see, we want to visit you tomorrow, and -” her mother began, but was quickly cut off by her daughter. “You’re in America?! Why in the world are you here?! You NEVER left the country!” her alarmed reaction was rightfully explained, as her mother only laughed fakely. “Well, you see, your sister is very sick and she needs organ transplants and...You are a perfect match! Your sister really, really needs your kidney, liver and heart, and -” of course the only reason she’d call is because she needed her... “You...Called...So that I would kill myself...And give my organs to your precious daughter...Because I don’t deserve to live, but she does...Sorry, you might not have been informed, I’m a stone cold bitch without a heart, and I’ve always been. If you want organs, beg to a transplant committee, otherwise, I’m not giving my life to some stupid bitch who thinks she’s better than me. Oh, and, by the way, in case you’ve forgotten, you already disowned me long ago, so there’s no reason for you to call anymore. And don’t call me to the funeral, I won’t come. Bye.” Kat aggressively slammed the phone lid close, before throwing it on the ground, putting her head on her hands and finally breaking down to cry...

But there were no tears.

There was only exhaustion.

“Hey.” the low voice of Doctor Gregory House echoed through the room which made the girl squeak in surprise and turn back to look at him with wide, frightened eyes. “Don’t you know it’s rude to sneak up on people?!” she accused him, clutching her blouse where her heart is supposed to be. “I knocked. You didn’t answer, I let myself in. I...See you’re not having the best day.” Greg pointed out, which only made the girl roll her eyes and turn back to look at her shelf. “Yeah, no kidding.” she snorted, her hands grasping her ankles as she looked down. “Why did you come here? Did Wilson tell you what happened and you came to throw some pity words and say how you saved the patient? If yes, then go ahead, I’m listening...As always.” she waved her hand around, urging him to talk and stop being so awkward, but the silence seemed to cut them with a laser. “...Thank you.” the words she never heard uttered from his mouth before shocked her so much that she turned around to look at him, holding the eye contact that she was barely able to hold with anyone. “You...You? Gregory House? Are...Thanking...Me? For what? You never thanked me for anything I did to you, so why the change of heart? Did Wilson’s golden tongue melt your heart and mellowed you?” she taunted him to get him talking, but his expression didn’t seem as harsh or condescending as it usually did, instead, he seemed to be...Almost apologetic? As if he realised that his actions of being himself hurt the people he cares about. “Do you hate me?” Greg asked, which made the girl frown and blink in confusion. “You...Think that I gave up the best thing I’ve ever had, which is my job here, because...I hated you? I loved this place because you were here...And James and Lisa...But now that it’s all over...What are the odds of someone hiring all three of us at once, and...Lisa miraculously becoming the head of another hospital and...Yeah, I’ve got nothing, it’s all ruined. Guess I can finally get a vacation. Anything else you want to say before I fuck off completely out of your life, just as you wanted to?” it was clear that she was exhausted and just wanted to go home and be herself with no more veil of lies covering her. “You...You are too good for jerks like me, Katrina. You should hate me. I repeatedly ruined your happiness time and time again.” House muttered, looking down at the floor. “Right...I’m sorry for caring about you, I guess...If that’s what you want me to say. Stupid Katrina, huh? Always caring about others and forget about herself. Always so miserable and helpless, but nobody seems to notice. Stupid, lonely Katrina, who has no friends and no relatives to care for her...Who only want her alive to donate all her organs to her sick sister and she can just die for all anyone cares. Now, thanks for telling me that I should hate the only person I actually gave a damn about and trusted whole-heartedly. You made your point, as usual, you want me out of your life, I will do just that. Have a not-so-miserable life from now on...At least you.” she wiped her face from the tears, waving her hand for him to leave her alone already, as she looked at shelves again and hugged the fox tightly to her chest, burying her face in it. “The answer is yes.” was the only thing House said as he left her office, his head hung, and for the first time in ages, he felt his own heart aching at the sight of the girl crying.

While he did as he usually does, spending all his time saving his patient, she drank herself to sleep, day and night, listening to sad songs, singing them at the top of her lungs, hoping it would be therapeutical, but at some point, she forgot what it meant to be properly rational, and she touched the forbidden stash she was never supposed to use.

And in the end, at whatever god forsaken hour of the early morning, she called someone, and dearly hoped they would answer. She had no idea why she called this person...Maybe because he was the first person in the calling list, or maybe there was some other underlying reason that she didn’t want to accept.

Apparently, being drunk out of your wits out on the terrace of her penthouse, while singing at the top of her lungs some silly or depressing Romanian songs, as outside was freezing cold and snowing heavily...But she didn’t feel the cold, despite how light she was dressed...It wasn’t enough make her feel something again.

“Katrina? Do you know what time it is?” a gruff, sleepy voice asked on the other end of the line. “N-No, not really. I wasn’t even sure who I called. Sorry.” she sighed, as she started to cry. “Are...You crying?” a rustle from the other side resembled House getting up rapidly from the bed. “I-I think so, y-yeah. I...I didn’t realise I was crying. I-I don’t even know why I called you.” she gasped, taking another shot of vodka mixed with chocolate bailey’s. “Are you drunk?!” House spoke in a higher voice, obviously shocked, putting on his coat. “You don’t even drink!...I’m coming over.” “N-No, y-you can’t! You can’t see me like this! And...And I have to know something very important from you! It’s VERY important! Life or death important!” she raised her voice into the phone, unkown to him, as she was fidgeting back and forth on the couch, which made House stop in his tracks just as he touched the door knob. “What is it?” he asked in a way so she would try to calm down. “D-Do you...Do you hate me?!” the desperation in her voice was something so foreign for him to experience, but something so usual for her. “What?! What’s that question, why in the world would I hate you?! Katrina, what did you do?!” he slammed the door shut, rushing towards his motorbike. “I NEED to know that! Just answer this simple question! Please, Greg, just answer!” her voice became more strained and desperate. “...Of course I don’t hate you. I couldn’t. Not you.” he sighed, getting up on his motorbike. “No matter what I did?” she started sobbing by now, which really worried the man. “Yes, of course, now hang in there, I’m gonna be there in a few minutes.” Greg put his phone on speaker, in his jacket, so he could still talk to her, as thankfully, their homes were pretty close to each other. “Greg...I-I’m...I’m afraid...I...I did something bad...Something very bad...” she turned around on the couch she was lying on, watching the sky as she shivered, snow falling on her, as she took another shot. “Katrina, I’m waiting at the elevator. What did you do?” House kept tapping his foot until that dreadfully slow elevator pinged, showing it got to the bottom floor, then got in, waiting to reach the pent house. “I...Took pills...” she muttered, clutching the box of pills. “How many?” he asked urgently. “I-I don’t know! I’m drunk, I’m hurting, I’m desperate, I’m lonely and I had a bottle of pills...One, two, three, four, five...And then it’s all blurry...But the bottle seems pretty empty...And I’m scared of an OD...” she explained over the phone, and then, she heard the front door slam close, and next thing she saw was a tall figure rushing in front of her, then he crashed on the couch on the terrace, and he pulled her to his chest, putting his jacket around her shoulders, his hands on her face, trying to warm her up. “You...Absolute...Idiot!” Greg scolded her, which only made her chuckle weakly. “I really am, aren’t I?” she said as more tears fell down her face. “You really don’t hate me, do you? Now that you know?” she clutched tightly to his Tshirt, as he could only sigh and hold her tightly. “No. I don’t hate you. I can’t...Now show me the pill bottle.” he told her, and suddenly, he felt her fall limp in his arms, just as she pointed to the empty, knocked down bottle of anti-drepressants. “What did you do...” Greg muttered in horror as he dragged her to the bathroom, getting her in the bathtub, completely dismissing his aching leg, as he used the shower tap to get warm water on her, while he made her vomit all the pills she downed, hoping she wouldn’t need to go to the hospital, and obviously, that nothing would happen to her.

For the whole night and morning, he didn’t move from there, only holding the girl, checking on her at regular intervals of time, making sure her vitals were still normal... Until she heard a string of incoherent mutters, begging him not to leave her alone and that she doesn’t want to to be away from him.

Oh, Kat, if only you knew what kind of effect you had on him...What kind of pain you were making him feel...The grief of being betrayed by Stacy, the one he thought was the love of his life, and then the painful leg...And now you, someone he cares so much for...

She deserves so much more...She is so much better than he is, House thought, and yet, the selfish part of him, the one that was quickly beginning to gain terrain against his sensible one, desperately wanted to cling onto her and have her be his lover together.

Funny how the ones who look to be the healthiest and happiest are in reality the best actors and nobody knows if there’s ever anything wrong with them. Which only made her kindness and feelings towards him more genuine, he thought. She’s in constant pain, just like him, it was no wonder she could sympathise so well with, unlike everybody else...Or maybe she was just empathetic enough? More like Pathetic, she’d say, no doubt.

Time passed at an irrelevant pace, until she finally began to stir in her unconscious state, and finally, she fluttered her eyes open, making Gregory sigh in relief, and as soon as they made eye contact, her cheeks began to turn a hue pinker.

“Greg...? Why are you...? What happened...?” Kat muttered, clutching her head in pain. “You don’t remember anything from last night?” he asked, frowning in confusion. “...Sorry. I know I was pretty sad...And I was listening to music from my childhood at home...And I started drinking...And I remember the bottle of pills taunting me...And from then on, it’s all blank. Did I...Did I call you...?” she clinged on his shirt to get into a sitting position. “Yeah, something like that. Can you stand? You need to change into dry clothes before you catch the Rhino thing.” he joked, making the girl smile softly. “Oh no, not the Rhino thing!” she chuckled, and with a bit of help, she got up, and was able to change into proper, warm clothes. “I’m starving, wanna go eat something? I have some coupons for the Chinese restaurant just down the street.” she hooked her arm to his, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Sounds like a plan, let’s go. But before that, you must promise me never to do something like that again.” House looked at her with seriousness in his eyes. “Okay. I promise. I...I don’t know why I caved in like that. I always promised myself I’d never go that far...I fucked up once, but in a different way...And...I guess in my drunk state I didn’t realise that no matter how many pills I take, the pain won’t go away...Drunk people are really stupid, aren’t they” she chuckled awkwardly, lowering her head in guilt and shame as she used her chopsticks to get some noodles. “...People in pain do stupid things sometimes.” Greg muttered, letting silence take over them for a few minutes, before speaking again. “Happy late birthday, Katrina.” his words made her look at him with eye, confused eyes, before taking out her phone at looking at the date, realising she spent her whole birthday drinking. “I...Completely forgot...Guess now we’re even, huh?” Kat smirked, pointing her chopsticks at him in amusement.

Not much time later, House called Kat over to his office at evening, and everyone dear to her was there, celebrating that Lisa managed to get rid of Vogler once and for all...Of course, of the 100 million $ too, but that’s besides the point. They were back in business, the shock family, ready to save more lives again!

Everything went back to normal - Or well, the normality that was entrapped in their weirdness - But it was THEIR normality. A chaos of going back and forth, arguing, almost killing patients, and then, saving them miraculously.

However, nobody is safe from illness, and one day, during some diagnosis discussion, Kat was pacing back and forth, thinking and saying her ideas for the others to refute or agree to, only for her to abruptly stop in her tracks, her back facing everyone as she coughed.

“Haemoptysis.” she muttered, only for House to grimace. “Haemo-what now? Last time I checked, our patient didn’t cough nor spit blood.” but instead of answering, she coughed up a bit more, her hands covering her face. “Vertigo...” she spoke again, in a much fainter voice. “What the hell are you babbling about?” he hit his cane on the ground, only to see her taking a few steps forwards, albeit, a little wobbly. “I’m...Gonna...” and just as she uttered those words, her legs gave out, and she fell, the only reason for not hitting the ground being Greg’s Godly reflexes which ensured he caught her. “Damn it, not again...What are you three sitting around for? Get a crash cart and a nurse!” House scolded his interns, who rushed to do just that. “What did you do this time, Kat...” he shook his head in disdain as he brushed her gorgeous crimson hair out of her face.

She looked so peaceful now, unconscious, were it not for the blood on her chin and hands, but now, unlike last time, she didn’t look like some kind of undead who was ready to give up her life at any given moment out of sheer misery and self-hatred.

As soon as she was taken away from his arms, he refused to go look over her...He didn’t want to admit it, but he was afraid that, since he cared so much about her, he would become unreasonably subjective and he may completely screw up her diagnosis. Greg hoped with all his heart that it was nothing life-threatening, but blood in her lungs was no easy, nor simple thing.

Wilson visited her and held her hand, Cuddy visited her and kissed her forehead, even his subordinates went to check up on her because they wanted to...Even her cardiology colleagues went to see how she was doing...

But not him. Never him. Because if he did, he was screwed for life.

No matter how much he wanted to deny himself, however, he couldn’t help but find himself in her room, in the middle of the night, sitting on a chair besides her, holding her hand in both of his, kissing it and thinking of her diagnosis.

That is, until her hand suddenly started to shake, startling the doctor besides her, as she opened her eyes, panting for air.

“Hey, you okay?” House asked, squeezing her hand gingerly. “Urgh, yeah...Just had a nightmare...Followed by sleep paralysis. Again. Nothing new, here. Uhmm...It may sound as a bit of a deja-vu, but what in the world happened?” she sighed, getting into a sitting position, looking at him. “You tell me. You coughed blood, got dizzy and fainted. Did you take anything? Felt bad or something?” he asked, making the girl scratch the back of her head awkwardly. “Nothing that I haven’t felt before, really. I have anxiety, I frequently experience restlessness, problems with breathing, arrhythmia, sometimes dizziness and stuff. It’s inconvenient, but you get used to it, so I didn’t took any pills, especially not after that scare a few days ago. Do you...Think it’s because of...My fuck up?” she looked worriedly at him, but he only looked down, thinking. “Not so fun being on the other end, huh?” House smirked before shaking his head. “I have no idea. We need to do some tests on you before we can confirm anything. But you’ll be fine, that much I can guarantee.” he promised, which made her smile sadly, leaning back on the pillow, squeezing his hand back. “Can you stay with me a bit longer? I, uhm...You know...Problems sleeping...When I’m with someone...I tend to sleep better...And a close to a full night. I-I don’t know why, but it’s always been like this.” she brought up the hem of the blanket to cover her face. “Then get a boyfriend and sleep with him. You’re young, smart and beautiful, there’s nothing stopping you from that.” Greg muttered in a low voice, almost self-deprecating. “Yeah, that’s easy. If men actually went out of their way to talk to me...And that hasn’t happened in 15 years, so, as you say, Mazel Tov. That, and I’m afraid of people.” she sighed, biting her lip in embarrassment. “Whaaaaaat? No boyfriend in 15 years? No action? I don’t believe you.” he took off the blanket from her face, only to see her blushing face. “You’re the only person that I never lied to. I’m great at lying and deceiving and all that...But yeah, I know, I’m pitiful, don’t have to remind me. Why do you think my life is mostly spent in the hospital. I’m not as lonely as I’d be at home.” she looked away, snatching her blanket back. “You don’t have to stay. It’s much more comfortable sleeping in a bed, especially with that leg of yours.” “Yeah, it would be. Now close your eyes and get some sleep.” and so, he didn’t budge from her side the whole night, and she didn’t wake up from nightmares or restlessness.

Days went on, and she kept on getting tested, and House was beginning to get more and more angry at the fact that he wasn’t able to properly diagnose her faster, and he was becoming unbearable for everyone around him.

On the other hand, just as Lisa and James were visiting her, trying to keep her company, when the two people she never expected to see again burst into her room with wide grins on their faces...Which in turn, made Kat drop her phone on the ground from the shock.

“What the hell...?” the red haired girl’s bottom lip quivered in anger. “Kitty-Kat, darling, we missed you so much! You haven’t come home in 15 years!” the mum stepped forward, ready to throw her arms around the girl, but she was met with hostility as Kat dragged herself backwards in the bed, away from her, pure disgust glowing on her face. “Don’t you dare touch me! And don’t you even think about calling me that nickname! I don’t care if you’re my parents, you never gave a damn about me, so don’t pretend to do now that THE perfect daughter is terminally sick and needs a quick organ donation that would ultimately KILL the useless, unwanted, worthless daughter!” Kat sneered at them, untangling the respiratory oxygen tubes who got knotted in her sudden gesticulation. “Kat, are you alright...?” James walked next to her bed, trying to calm her down, only to get yelled at. “No, I’m not! Get them out of here before I get a restriction order!” she continued to glare at them. “Come one, Kitten, don’t be like that, we came all the way from Europe to see you, when you didn’t even give us a call! I don’t know why you hate us.” the dad gave an awkward smile, as if he was embarrassed by his problematic child. “You didn’t call once to tell me Happy Christmas, or...Or Happy Birthday...You didn’t congratulate me on finishing University or on...Literally anything. And now, you come to me only to make sure that I actually die so you could take away my organs and make sure your favourite daughter keeps on living...And you’re actually...You really...Have the guts to ask me WHY I hate you? I hate you because you never cared for me, that’s why!” she gripped the hand grasps of the bed, not realising that House also got in the room. “No need to be so selfish, darling, it’s just a few organs that you could live without! We managed to find a heart transplant, we just need a kidney and part of your liver!” the father tried to negotiate, only for her to grit her teeth. “You know what? I hope my sister dies the most painful death there is, and that you go off after her. We may be blood related, but I was never your daughter. And you know what? Just to make sure...You think you can get my organs? Here’s my response to that!” in a fit of rage, she ripped her oxygen tubes, which continued with violent coughing and some blood. “Why the hell do you even want me to treat you when all you do is get yourself in self-harming situations? First, you OD on anti-depressants while drunk, and now you’re cutting off your oxygen supply to prove your point that you have mummy and daddy issues and that you’d rather die than...Die? You’re just a selfish, immature girl with suicidal tendencies whenever things don’t go her way. You think I’m gonna lie to the transplant committee for someone like that? Because the answer is NO!” House limped in front of her, speaking with so much hatred that it made the girl cry and shake, crestfallen at the words she heard. “And you just had to go ahead and tell everyone that I’m fucked in the head. I wonder how much that is gonna up my chances of actually...Making friends and...A boyfriend...Y’know...Literally anyone who’d actually give a fuck about me. So...Yeah, thanks, you’re right, I’d rather die than being humiliated by the only person I ever actually had any genuine feelings for, because I’m sort of a sociopath with relationship traumas. So, if you could do me a favour, before I pass out, pick these two idiots and get yourself out of this place before I call security, okay? Thanks, bye.” and just like that, she started coughing up more blood, and fainted.

Seeing her being a reckless idiot drove House through the roof, and he realised that maybe, his dad wasn’t the only one to need a “Parent Of The Year” award, but even so, the fact that Katrina was so angry that she felt the need to be so overly dramatic to prove a point, and to have Cuddy kick them out of the hospital, sure was meant she was desperate, and for good reason. No wonder she never spoke about her family, or about anything about herself, unless it meant some nostalgic things about her country and other things that could come up as funny when told properly.

But why the hell does she have to make everything so much more complicated to him, especially now that he completely screwed up everything and she hates him.

How the hell did he manage to fuck up like that, just when he finally got ready to tell her how he feels...How he GENUINELY feels, without having to get full-sarcastic-jerk mode, and just telling her that he’s over Stacy completely and he’s ready to commit to her...And he just ends up basically telling her that he hates her, which is a complete lie.

Great job, Gregory House. The only thing you’re capable of doing is diagnosing and saving people, and sometimes, even that fails. Good thing she was okay, and with some anti-coagulant medicine, the clot that was causing her pulmonary embolism completely disappeared, and she was all ready to go.

Ever since that day, House didn’t visit her, her parents completely disappeared, and James and Lisa were completely pitiful, which only made the girl miserable. Thanking whatever deity existent that it was the last night being stuck in the hospital as the unfavoured party, so she went up on the roof, sitting on the little wall edge, looking up at the starts on the sky, putting the saddest song she ever knew to play on her MP3 player, which was “Daca ploaia s-ar opri” from Cargo, and as she softly sang the lyrics, the door opened and the sound of tapping cane was heard,

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“I have no idea what the words are, but he song seems pretty sad. What gives?” House limped towards her, which only made her groan and roll her eyes in annoyance. “Aaaand you had to ruin the most emotional song as well. Great, what is next on your long list of destroying? I have no dignity, no pride anymore...My health you can’t legally screw...And there’s nothing else on the table is there? I have no heart anyway. So why are you here?” she asked, not even bothering to look at him. “Would you believe me if I said I came here to apologise?” House asked, getting closer to her, then turning his head to look up at the stars as well. “After what you pulled in that room...No. I don’t believe you anymore. You’re a jerk. You’ve always been one, but not to me, and not enough to actually hurt me. Now you did. Congratulations. You lost a friend...Not that you’d care, anyway. You’ve proven me that enough. You can go now.” she sighed, hugging her knees to her chest. “Yeah, I know, I fucked up. I got scared when I saw you pull that stunt, I panicked and...That happened. And I’m sorry about that. I admit that much.” he said as he put his coat around her, hoping she wouldn’t die of cold or something. “Fantastic, the asshole knows how to apologise. Congratulations, you are amazing. Now, do you actually expect me to believe you, or what are you trying to accomplish?” Kat asked, giving him a sarcastic smile. “Before you got sick, I was...I was going to ask you out. But then you got sick, and in turn I got worried sick.” Greg began to explain, only to get cut off. “No, you’re lying or pitying me. You don’t like me. I’m not...I’m not Stacy, or...Or Lisa. I don’t challenge you with every turn you take, I’m not a jerk to you, I am...Practically nothing like the women that you have been interested with, so excuse me for not believing a word you say. I was sick, vulnerable and pitiful, you were miserable, you heard that I haven’t dated in 15 years, you thought I was desperate for love, but trust me, after what happened when I was 17...I don’t think I want anything like that again.” she tsked, looking away from him, laying her chin on her knees. “I know I’m a jerk, but does that really sound like something I would do?” his voice sounded almost hurt at the implication. “...No, it doesn’t. But I also don’t believe that you like me and you’re not saying that just because you heard my dying words...Allegedly. You’ve said your speech, now you can go, and we will continue our work as it always was, without having to see each other, so no more paging me when it’s convenient to you either. Goodbye.” she waved her hand to dismiss him, but he didn’t budge. “What will it take for you to believe me? I will give up my parking spot for you. I will play the guitar for you. I...Will convince Wilson to give me his stupid dog so you could visit him more often. I don’t know, you know I’m horrible with these things called emotions. But I want you to know that what I say its genuine...And apart from what I said today, I never lied to you. So, if you ever have it in your heart to believe me and give it a chance...I’ll be waiting. And...I’ll be here to listen to you talk about your pain as well.” he confessed, and as soon as he turned around to leave, she quickly extended her arm to grab his wrist. “You...Really...Mean it?” she muttered, not daring to look at him. “Because if you fuck up, I swear I’m going to do something completely unethical and against the Hippocratic oath. Primum non nocere, they say. First of all, don’t do harm. I’m completely fine with killing you, because, in case you don’t know, I’m a sociopathic, heartless foreigner with no morals or ethics.” she smirked at him in amusement. “There’s nothing wrong with a bit of Nocere, if you have the Vicodin for it. Fire-Kissed girls are said to kiss the best. If we test that theory and it’s true...Then I think we both know we’re gonna work pretty well. If you want to.” he looked at her, putting her hands of her face, looking at her tenderly. “I really hate that I was made broken from the making in factory to be completely unable of hating how big of a jerk you are. Why is it so...Endearing, when it comes from you, but completely repulsive when it comes from anyone else? I can’t tell, and it’s annoying, because I can read people to a T. On the other hand...There is another saying...Vixens always get what they want. Maybe I finally scored the big jackpot.” she chuckled, pulling him down in a soft kiss, the feeling of warmth and love lingering on, intoxicating them even after they parted. “Yeah. I was right. You’re like my own fix of Vicodin or Amphetamines, and I’m completely addicted to you.” he flashed her a charming, playful smile, before kissing her with even more fire and passion than before. “Careful, you don’t want to OD, do you? You’ll need a detox or rehab.” she laughed at him, putting her hands over his, kissing the inside of his wrist. “Oh, please, I’d OD on you ever day, as many times as you want, and I’d have no regrets. You know what they say...Tout le monde necessite La Petite Mort.” he retorted just as cheekily, which in turn, made her laugh merrily. “I can’t believe-! You just...You just said that-...! You’re an incredibly, annoyingly good flirter, especially because I told you those pick up lines before...But don’t forget about me.” she shook with laughter, winking at him mischievously. “Wilson’s ex-wives always praise him for being the best. I’ll prove him I’m better than him at everything. Especially this.” he chuckled, sitting next to her, putting his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his chest, kissing the top of her head. “You better not talk about...That...To Wilson...Or Lisa...Or anyone, for the matter, or I swear, that little death you’re talking about, will be more literal than metaphorical.” she threatened him, poking his sides. “Oh, no, I’m scared of a little fox biting my nose while I’m asleep. Whatever could I do?” he mockingly called for help, which, as usual, made her laugh. “Jerk.” she grinned, hugging him tightly, cuddling closer to his side. “Yeah. I’ve been called that a lot.”

#house md #gregory house #gregory house x reader #gregory house imagine #gregory house x oc #james wilson #lisa cuddy #katrina black #robert chase #allison cameron #eric foreman #house md x reader #house md imagine

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