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lovetorn · 3 years

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Life Was A Willow [Part 3]

Witch Hunter!Dream x Witch!Fem!Reader

Part 1 Part 2

Summary: It's always been hunters vs. witches, right? Not anymore.

Word Count: 3k+

Warnings for Part 3: swearing & cute fkn shit

A/N: the final part, i'm weak :,) anyways, enough sap, i hope you guys enjoyed this series as much as i did writing it. i've been working on it for a long ass time and it's finally finished. thank you for everything, the feedback etc. it means so so much !! i hope you guys like the final part even though it’s a little rushed !!!

“Are you sure this is a good way to do it?” Dream asks, nearly running into Y/n as he turns around. “I don’t want to force this idea on people, they won’t like it.”

The witch nods, pushing the flyers into his chest. “We’ve talked about this Dream; we’re not shoving it down their throats. They can choose how to act when they see the posters.”

Dream grabs onto the papers as Y/n backs away, spinning to collect her sunhat and basket. “Let’s go!”

Making their way from the abandoned cottage, which they made their own little space, they walk towards the castle and small surrounding village. Y/n and Dream walk closer than usual, their hands brushing lightly. Birds chirp and fly around them, their singing lifting the spirits of the pair that stroll below them.

“Have you told Sapnap yet?”

Dream rolls his eyes and sighs deeply at the mention of his best friend. “No. I know how he gets with shit like this, so, I guess he’ll have to wait like the rest of the kingdom.” Y/n nods silently in reply and looks up at the blue skies.

“What do you think the moon is thinking right now?” Her question confuses Dream. “In relation to what we’re doing, of course.”

“I’d imagine he’s happy that we’re doing it—we’re making peace, aren’t we?” His answer pleases Y/n as he hoped it would. He hasn’t really thought about it before.

“I agree! I talked with him last night and he told me good things are coming.”

Dream looks at her incredulously. “You talked to the moon?”

“Of course I can. I’m a witch. What else am I supposed to do when he sits there in the sky? Ignore him?” A small smirk plays on her lips. Dream is unsure whether or not she’s messing with him but chooses to believe her, considering everything he’s learnt recently.

They walk further, nearly entering the kingdom village when a grey bunny hops onto the path and Y/n’s eyes nearly pop out of her head. “Honey!” Her voice is dripping with it.

Dream furrows his eyebrows when he sees she’s speaking to the rabbit. “What? You can speak to animals now?”

The rabbit’s nose twitches while Y/n approaches it, its eyes glistening in the sunshine. “Yes.”

“Why don’t you tell me any of this? It’s cool.”

Y/n shrugs. “You never ask.”

Dream squints at her, watching as she runs her hand over the animal’s soft ears. He inches closer, catching the rabbit’s eye. Its body freezes at the sight of a human and Y/n coos, it’s okay, he’s my friend. Dream tilts his head and squats next to Y/n, reaching his hand out for her to take. Her fingers are gentle when she holds it, pulling him closer so he can pat the bunny. Its fur is softer than he thought and he melts when it stares at him with its big eyes. Awww, Dream breathes. He feels Y/n’s gaze on him before he blushes.

“Dream—”

Suddenly, the tranquil moment is cut with the kingdom bell and the bunny rushes away, ducking into a line of bushes. The pair jump at the sharp noise, Dream’s hand still sits softly in Y/n’s. He wonders what she wanted to say.

“We should go.” She whispers and Dream nods once, but neither one moves to leave. The sun beats down on his neck and Y/n’s hat sits sideways on her head, probably from when she ran towards the rabbit. Dream blinks and decides to leave it, she looks cute.

“Yeah, uh, let’s go.”

The walk through the gates goes smoothly, nobody suspects a witch amongst them as they walk in the crowd.

“Here.” Y/n points at a wooden lamp-post and Dream agrees. The first poster goes up and while they walk away, they hear mumbling from behind them. Craning his neck back, Dream sees people surrounding the poster already; some nod and some curse, but overall, it looks positive.

He leans down to Y/n’s ear. “I think people are going to show up.”

His breath on her ear and the rasp of his voice causes a shiver to go down Y/n’s spine. She turns her head to look at him and sees how close he is, and smiles. She hopes so.

—

“Citizens of Grogington, the war between magic kind and humans has gone on for far too long! Today, we will be presenting the idea of a truce between the two groups.”

Turns out, the entire kingdom showed up for Y/n and Dream’s proposal. The pair stand on a low podium in front of the castle and stare out into the sea of people. Dream spots Sapnap in the middle of the crowd, with the rest of the hunters, and could almost cry when he sees him smile and throw a thumbs up. Y/n stands next to him, her hand dangerously close to his. Her gaze drops to Wilbur who stands in the front row with Niki, despite the complaints from many people behind him—she nearly laughs at the height difference between him and the humans. But, Y/n feels a twinge of guilt when she watches him smile at her before he encourages her to continue.

The presentation continues and nobody leaves and everybody watches with intent. Y/n throws a glance at Dream while he’s explaining the truce and its outcomes. Her heart leaps into her throat when he notices and continues to turn his head to look at her too.

Although there will be a few people against the idea, the majority of the kingdom is keen on peace and that’s all they need to begin the revolution.

After the proposal, Dream helps Y/n off of the podium, her hand placed gently in his. “Dream!”

At the sound of his name, his real name, Dream smiles. George. There’s a patter of footsteps and then Dream is being jumped on by the Prince. Y/n giggles as she watches Dream wrap his arms around his best friend. “I can’t believe you would do this! You're crazy!”

Dream’s laugh is loud and Y/n wishes she could listen to it all day. Dream puts George’s feet back on the ground before he turns to her. “George, this is Y/n.”

Mischief swirls in the Prince’s eyes as his gaze lands on the witch. “Oh, I know. You’ve told me everything about her: the way her eyes look brighter in the moonlight and how her lips are the same colour as cherries—oomph.”

Dream darts his eyes at George, narrowly, his hand placed over his mouth. “Ha, ha, shut up!”

Y/n feels her cheeks heat up and she covers her smile with her palm. “That’s sweet.”

“That’s what he says about your laugh—stop!” George’s voice is muffled but Y/n still hears him and she gets giddy.

“Dream~” She sings. Dream’s cheeks are on fire and he swears the tips of his ears have burst into flames.

George still remains next to him. “Ok, I won’t embarrass you anymore, big man. You can remove your gross hand off my face now.”

Dream drops his arm and watches George hold his hand out for Y/n to take.

Y/n places her fingers in his and swoons when he brings her knuckles to his lips. Dream gets antsy when he notices Y/n giggle.

“Ok! That’s enough flirting, George.” Dream snatches Y/n’s hand from him and holds it by his side. George giggles from beside him.

“Dream, who doesn’t want to be kissed by the Prince?” She teases, reaching up to squeeze his cheek between her fingers. Dream rolls his eyes and swats her hand off his face.

“Dream!” Another voice interrupts them.

“Hey, Sap!” Although he’s excited to see his other best friend, Dream’s tone is wary. “What did you think of the presentation?”

Sapnap’s expression melts to one of awe. “Man, I loved it. I actually came over to apologise for everything I’ve said about it in the past and you know that I love you, and George, and I know I can be a bit of an idiot when it comes to things like this, but—” George slaps his shoulder.

“Ouch! Okay, okay. I’m sorry for being an entitled dick, and I fully support anything you want to do, Dream. You’re my best friend and I cannot let some outdated opinion be a burden to our friendship.”

Dream swears he feels his chest open up and admit the brightest light you’ve ever seen. His heart almost bursts at the sweet look on Sapnap’s face and tackles him into a hug. “Thank you, man.”

Dream unwraps his arms and sighs loudly. “Sapnap! This is Y/n, Y/n is this Sapnap.” Y/n raises her hand to wave at him, her smile beaming but mischievous.

“I know her already, she tied me to a tree,” He laughs, reaching his hand forward. Y/n giggles, shaking his hand. “It’s nice to meet you properly and not when you’re using your cool witch powers to lift me off the ground.”

Y/n nods, her smile still shining. Dream’s heart rate skips as he looks at her. Her face is like the sun. He could stare at her all day and not care about the risk of going blind.

“Yes, Snapmap. I can call you that now, we’re friends!”

The group collectively laugh and they bid goodbye to George and Sapnap. Y/n turns to Dream. “I’m so happy they’re on board with it.”

“Of course George would be. I’m a little surprised about Sapnap, but, nonetheless, I’m ecstatic.”

Y/n takes his hands and brings them up to her mouth. “I’m so happy, Dream.” She places soft kisses on his fingers and then his knuckles. He watches in awe as she does so.

“Hey, Y/n!” Their moment is cut short as Dream twists to see a tall man and a girl walking towards them.

“Wil! Niki!” She releases Dream’s hands and circles around him to embrace the pair in a hug. “Did you like it?”

Her voice wavers slightly and Dream picks it up. Niki nods excitedly. “Yes! Oh my gods, Y/n!”

Niki’s enthusiasm rubs off on Y/n and she almost forgets Wilbur is standing next to her, he’s so silent. She’s nervous about his response.

Looking up at Wilbur, Y/n sees a soft smile on his cheeks. He pulls her into a hug immediately and Y/n wants to cry. “Thank you.” He whispers.

“You’re welcome.” She murmurs into his ear, and his grip tightens around her. Y/n knows why he’s thanking her but doesn’t elaborate to the others when they pull apart.

“We just wanted to come to say hello before we went back home,” Niki says, raising her hand to wave at Dream.

“Oh! This is Dream,” Y/n motions towards him and Wilbur nods once in greeting. “He did most of this, you should be thanking him. I was simply there to observe.”

And although the other two don’t read deeply into the reply, Dream’s eyes cast down to Y/n at her suggestive comment. The pairs bid goodbye to each other and then Y/n spins back to him again.

“Observing, hm?”

A cheeky grin splits her face into two.

—

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

Y/n grasps Dream’s hand and stares up at the large double doors that lead to the Great hall in the castle. Placing his other hand on the door, Dream pushes. The doors swing open and on the other side of the room sits the King. The man looks large in his throne, his dark hair long and crown placed lopsided on his head.

The pair bow before him and then return to their usual heights. The King squints at them and then a smile breaks out. “Dream!”

The blonde lets out a laugh. “Good morning, your Highness.”

“Oh, stop with the titles. I’m James to you, young man.” The King waves his hand around. Dream exhales and steps closer, his hand coming loose from Y/n’s.

“I—We called this meeting to ask for your approval for the possible truce between humans and magical kind,” Dream appeals, holding his breath when he finishes. The King turns his chin up.

“And what has brought this on, Dream?” Dream sighs deeply and takes another step forward.

“I have recently learnt about some of my family history and it has changed my view. My views now pose the same as George’s.” He says apprehensively, fidgeting with his fingers. Y/n stands behind him, chewing on her lip in silence, confused about his recent learning. The King squints again, his glare hard.

“And why do you believe this is a good idea? Hm? What benefits will this bring the kingdom?” He seethes and Y/n screws her eyes shut. She wants to leave, she shouldn’t even be in the castle.

Dream fumbles his words before the witch speaks up. “Your Highness, I believe that peace between your kind and mine will—”

“You brought a witch into my castle?” The King yells incredulously. Dream winces and turns to look at Y/n. But he is surprised when he sees her with a neutral expression.

“Yes, he did. Because he knows that you won’t listen to a human on issues that are only a threat to you. Did you see the citizens of this kingdom when we proposed the idea to them? They were ecstatic, to say the least—”

“Enough. Dream, please enlighten me on the benefits, I’ve been waiting far too long.”

Dream glances at Y/n again and faces the King. He must propose points that appeal to him. “James, don’t you see? A truce between the kinds will be economically beneficial since you won’t have to pay for services that are only implemented to harm magical kinds, like hunters. And the wellbeing of the Kingdom will enhance greatly from the lifted stress of not having to worry about potential dangers—”

“Yes, but those potential dangers will now be inside the Kingdom walls.”

“I understand, James, but if there is peace, then those dangers won’t be a threat anymore.”

“Yes. All we want is peace.” Y/n says, her voice soft from where she stands. Dream steps backwards and reaches back for Y/n’s hand.

King James brings his hand up to rub his chin, his glare is still cold on Y/n. “Kids like you will be the death of me. Even my own son will give me a heart attack before I’m 50.”

Dream smiles. “So, that’s a yes?” The King sighs and drops his gaze to the floor.

“I guess it is. But, if there is any harm placed on my people, there will be bloodshed. Understood?”

Y/n looks up at Dream as they both grin. He looks down at her and their eyes shine with joy and tears.

“Thank you, Sir. I will make you proud.” Dream exclaims, his voice full of excitement and appreciation.

“You always make me proud, son.” The King smiles warmly at Dream before he nods. “Now, go, you have a Kingdom to celebrate with.”

The village roars with cheerful shouts and whistles. As cliche as it is, it's a perfect summer’s day, and it’s not too hot. Magical-kind had been wary at first, entering the kingdom grounds, but soon warmed up when the humans would throw arms over their shoulders and laugh with them.

“Let me down, you fucking crazy duck! Is that what you are? A fucking duck?” A whining voice yells, although there’s a twinge of joy in his words. Quackity has a cheeky smile on his face as he flicks his hand around, messing with some of the younger humans. One of them, named Tommy, has quite the mouth on him, which earns him up in the air, upside down.

His friend, Tubbo laughs from beside the wizard in question. Karl sits behind them, a spell-book in his lap, shaking his head when Tommy’s feet finally land on the ground. “Longer!”

“No~!”

“Tommy! Yes! You’re annoying, so this is what you get!”

The young boy groans again when he feels his body lift off the floor.

The village is alive and full of flashy, bright colours, but, upon the top of the hill in the distance, sits a couple.

The juice from the strawberry dribbles slowly down Dream’s chin. His cheeks blush as Y/n giggles and she reaches her hand out to catch the juice with her thumb, her cheeks heating up too.

The pair had decided their first date would be a picnic on the grass hill that overlooks the kingdom instead of attending the festival. Y/n brought a red and white checkered blanket and a vanilla cake, and Dream brought a basket of snacks and other desserts from the Castle. He had tried convincing Y/n that he didn’t overpack and that he ‘was just a hungry boy’, to which Y/n laughed and told him to shut up.

On their journey there, Dream had pulled a bunch of baby’s breath flowers from the basket he was carrying and shoved them in Y/n’s hand. The action made the witch giggle as she watched him blush. “Thank you, Dream. I love them.” She had said, smiling at him from behind the flowers—the sight made Dream’s heart leap.

Upon arrival, they set up their spot and sat down amongst the ankle-high grass and sparse wildflowers. The sun was light on their skin and the wind blew softly as the pair laid down and watched the clouds pass whilst talking about everything and nothing; Y/n would point out a cloud and say it looked like a goose, and Dream would disagree and say it was shaped like a cabbage, and then they would argue about how the other was wrong and vice versa for a while. They spoke of their childhoods and eventually, Y/n would bring out a book from who knows where and start reading to Dream—who was more than happy to listen to her talk for hours. The two moved from opposite sides of the blanket to right next to each other, Dream’s head on Y/n’s shoulder as she read.

Now, as late morning turns to late noon, the bright blue sky swirls into a fusion of pinks and oranges and then morphs into indigo as the sun dips beyond the horizon—a perfect end to a perfect date.

Dream drops his head to the floor in an attempt to hide his red face. The strawberry juice from Dream’s lips now stains Y/n’s thumb as she moves her hand to cup his cheek, and watches his eyes flutter closed. She traces his scar lightly and her gaze flickers to his lips.

“Y/n,” Dream whispers into the wind. Y/n almost doesn’t catch it. “You know how I told you I nearly didn’t make it when I was born.”

Y/n nods and remains silent as a sign for him to continue. “It wasn’t a miracle at all.”

“What do you mean?” She asks him, her voice soft too.

“My father was a wizard,” The news startles Y/n; she wasn’t expecting that. “And my mother told me that he died because he was defending us from magic, not that he was killed for having magic.”

“Dream…”

“So I just assumed that magic was bad because it killed my father—and I guess in a sense, it did, but not in the way I thought.” Y/n is speechless as she listens to Dream talk, although his voice remains just above a whisper the entire time.

“So that’s why you want the truce? So other children don’t lose a parent like you did?” Dream nods, an outline of a smile gracing his cheeks.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

“Dream, look at me,” She whispers. Dream lifts his head slightly to meet her eye, his enchanting eyes reflecting the orange and pink fire in the sky. She runs her hands down his neck and down to his chest.

“Dream,” Y/n mumbles again, her nose brushing Dream’s lightly. His heart beats quickly and he hopes she can’t feel it through his white buttoned shirt where her hands lay. “Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me that.”

Y/n tilts her chin up in an attempt to meet Dream’s mouth. He laughs breathlessly as their lips bump together, the kiss not really being a kiss yet.

“Just kiss me.” He teases, leaning further back.

Y/n sighs, her eyes closing in annoyance at his antics. “Dream, seriously. I want to kiss you.”

And soon their lips are meeting in a soft pash. There are no fireworks, no goosebumps; just airy headaches and the feeling of finally relieving the ever-growing anticipation of revelling in each other. Y/n smiles, her teeth clanging with Dream’s. He laughs again, pulling her body flush against his.

“I can’t believe it took me this long to make you mine,” He mumbles against her lips.

Y/n visibly cringes. “Gross.”

Dream giggles at her reaction and pushes his lips back onto hers. Y/n pulls away abruptly.

“Wait, does that mean you can do magic?” She asks, her eyes wide with wonder and curiosity.

Dream shrugs one shoulder. “I’ve never tried, but I’m sure if I got the right training from an amazing, gorgeous, intelligent teacher, maybe I could learn.”

Y/n scrunches her nose up and swats his shoulder. “Shut up.”

Dream laughs shortly before he dips his head back down to her lips, his knuckles brushing her cheek lightly. The wind around them picks up slightly and Y/n feels static on her skin before she opens her eyes, turning her head to see glitter falling from Dream’s fingers. “Oh my god.”

Feedback is always appreciated xx

#life was a willow fic #lwaw #dreamwastaken x reader #dreamwastaken imagine #dreamwastaken imagines #dream x reader #dream imagine #dream imagines #mcyt imagine #mcyt x reader #mcyt imagines #dream smp imagines #dream smp imagine #dream smp x reader #dream x fem!reader

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

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Too Loose And You’ll Lose It

Ch9: Lebanon, Lebagone

Co-written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Summary: A few months post their reconciliation, Jake and Stella run a mission with the rest of the team…

Pairing: Jake Jensen x OFC Stella Stevenson

Warnings: Bad language, Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Word Count: 8k ish.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. We do not own any characters in this series bar Stella Stevenson and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

A/N: So the mission detailed here was highly inspired by the second book in the Grey Man series. Locations and a few major details are changed, and the names are completely made up. The Terrorist/Political party- The Lebanese Freedom Party, does not to our knowledge actually exist.

Too Loose And You’ll Lose It Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 8

“Alright, let’s get in position before daylight hits.” Clay looked around as they walked down the narrow alleyway.

“Roger that.” Stella nodded as Cougar replied with a tip of his hat to show he had heard, Pooch also inclining his head.

The four of them stopped by a door to their right, Stella pulling the tool from her utility belt which was fastened around the waistband of her camo pants. She picked the lock in under thirty seconds, a simple job that required a little bit of jiggling, twisting and a good jerk with the torque wrench Cougar was holding to defeat.

“Not particularly high security considering this was a bank.” She mumbled as behind her Cougar chuckled.

Inside it was pitch black, dust rose in clouds, shimmering in the moonlight, which was streaking through the dirty arched windows. Both of them flipped out their flashlights, quickly scanning the room for any sign that someone had been here recently, but there was none.

They crossed quietly and quickly through the main atrium of the old building, taking care to keep to the shadows. The old bank was completely deserted bar a few desks and old telephones which sported thick layers of dust as they moved through, heading for the spiral staircase at the far side.

“We’re clear.” Pooch said as he looked up to the top of the staircase. “This place hasn’t been accessed for years.”

“Lima Six, anything to report?” Clay spoke into his radio and a moment later Jensen replied.

“Nothing on the comms, they’re talking about moving Kilo One out at the time we suspected but it could be a rouse to make sure…but Lima Two knows the code-word should they decide to go early.”

“Okay, as soon as you get movement let me know.”

“Ten-four, One.”

“Okay, let’s get set up.” Clay instructed and the team nodded in agreement as they all set about, placing various pieces of equipment around the place exactly where it needed to be for when their target and his security detail, in which Roque had embedded himself undercover, came storming into the pre-designated building, seeking refuge from an attack outside.

It took them roughly an hour to set up completely, things having to be precisely as Pooch directed. Eventually, when he was happy, they climbed the staircase at the back of the room. Four sets of eyes swept the square below. It was deserted, as was to be expected at such an early hour in the morning.

Stella scanned the buildings, nevertheless, her eyes sharp, looking for any sign of movement around the whitewashed and pebble-dashed sandstone that they had grown accustomed to seeing over the last three weeks or so they’d been in Nabatieh, Lebanon.

“So Khalil should be coming from there.” Pooch raised his arm and pointed to a small road to the right. “The plan is we lay down some fire by his bodyguards as he approaches the podium, and force them to take shelter in the bank, as led nicely by Roque.”

“Why do we want this guy alive so badly, anyway?” Stella mumbled to herself. “If he’s such a bastard, why don’t we just kill him? He’s a terrorist leader.”

“The Lebanese Freedom Party ain’t deemed terrorists all over the world.” Pooch grinned and Stella snorted. “Russia views them as a legitimate socio-political force.”

“Russia basically executes people for being gay” She scoffed. “Forgive me for not taking their viewpoint here as the one to set my moral compass against.” She sighed. “Cougs could take one shot, straight in the head. Boom. Job done.”

Cougar chuckled as he unloaded his rifle and stand, looking up at Clay. “She’s not wrong, Boss.”

“Whilst wiping that particular shit stain off the face of the earth might be appealing, they ain’t our orders. We apprehend alive.” Clay spoke, matter of factly and Stella rolled her eyes.

“Whatever helps us sleep at night, huh?”

****

Stella had to hand it to their Intel department. The start of the hit went like clockwork. At bang on the designated time, Jensen radioed in to say that they were moving out and sure enough, twenty minutes or so later he accounted the SUVs and jeeps had left the compound. He joined the rest of the team little over half an hour later, leaving the dirty van he had been driving hidden down a dark alleyway at the back of the bank, behind the one the rest of the team had arrived in and headed into the dank building, wrinkling his nose at the musty air as he walked in.

“Hey.” He greeted Stella, his hand falling to her shoulder as she sat in the back, her attention focussed through the window, a pair of binoculars raised to her eyes.

“Hey.” She whispered back, her gaze flicking to him quickly, flashing him a smile as she turned back to her spotting.

“So I picked up on their coms that they think Khalil’s personal security have done a sweep of the area.” Jensen looked at them. “Roques done his job nicely. They should be entering the square from the South West corner.”

“ETA?” Clay turned to him.

“Less than five minutes.”

“Excellent.” Clay nodded. “So far so good.”

The next five minutes or so passed in silence, all five of the Officers in the room observing the roads leading to the square just in case. Even though their intel was solid, it was drilled into them that they should never rely on it completely.

“Boss,” Cougar spoke suddenly, his shoulders squaring back, “target approaching. Roughly two miles out.”

“Fuck, I got something coming too from the North East.” Pooch groaned.

“What?” Clay demanded.

“I dunno but it looks suspiciously like an ARV.”

“An ARV?” Clay frowned.

“Yup. They’ve stopped. Six hundred yards out.”

“What do you mean they’ve stopped?” Jensen demanded, snatching the binoculars off him.

“What the fuck do you think I mean?” Pooch replied. “They’re not moving.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Stella growled and Clay took the binoculars off Jensen. She watched as Clay took a look before he sighed heavily and dropped his head.

“It’s the Lebanese Special Service. I recognise one of them from a mission a while back.”

“What the hell are they doing here?”

“I should have seen this coming.” Clay bit his lip. “They’re going to hit him at the rally. The false trail we leaked to them means they think we’re moving on him as he makes his way out of town and up to Beirut. They’re going to get in first.”

“It’s a double cross.” Stella looked at Jake and Pooch as she spoke, the pair of them exchanging a look before all eyes bar Cougar’s, which remained firmly fixed on his target, turned to Clay. “Why?”

“Death to the West and all that.” Clay sniffed. “They’re gonna take him out and try and use USA involvement as cover.”

“Don’t they realise that won’t work?” Stella shook her head. “We’re Black Ops, the thick fuckers. As soon as there’s so much of a sniff that shit is going west, the CIA will leave us high and dry, denying they had anything to do with it.”

“So what’s Plan B?” Pooch turned to look Clay. “I’m hoping you got a Plan B, because Plan A is going to shit.”

“Kilo one still approaching.” Cougar stated.

“You got anything special in your arsenal?” Clay turned to Pooch. “As in blow up an ARV special?”

Pooch blinked. “Yeah, the RPG but…”

“Go get it.” Clay instructed.

Pooch didn’t hesitate, he shot off down the stairs and Stella watched him go before she turned her attention back to the large square, which was roughly the size of two football pitches, busy with people bustling about their everyday business.

“If we get this wrong, the whole square is gonna be caught up in a fucking gun fight,” Stella spoke, her eyes falling on a group of kids in the middle.

There was a pause before Clay spoke again. “Khalil is our main objective; we just need to keep collateral to a minimum.”

Collateral. Stella hated that fucking word. She swallowed and looked at Jensen who gave her a small smile, which she returned before she glanced back at the square.

“One mile out.” Cougar informed.

“Okay,” Clay spoke, clapping his hands together. “Pooch, as soon as the LSS move, you shoot that RPG straight at the fuckers.”

“Gladly.” He nodded, “But, chances are if they’ve got an ARV out there then they’ll already have agents on the ground.”

“It doesn’t matter, all we gotta do is get a shot off first. Once that initial gun crack is heard, Khalil’s security outfit are gonna herd him in here anyway. And hopefully, when the LSS get note their vehicle has gone bang it’ll draw them into blowing cover somehow.” Clay nodded. “At least then we’ll be able to spot where they are.” He took a deep breath. “Cougar, keep watch on Khalil. As soon as you get a viable opportunity to lay down the fire, take it.”

Cougs, who hadn’t taken his eye away from the target sight of his gun simply tipped the brim of his hat again with his finger to show he had understood and Clay turned to the other three of them as they waited instructions.

“What about Roque?” Stella asked. “He doesn’t know about the LSS.”

“He’ll roll with the punches.” Clay rubbed his hand over his chin. “Everyone clear?”

“Clear as, boss, it’s a shoot-out.” Jensen snorted, nodding his head as he gave a chuckle. “Good times.”

“If this is your idea of a good time then I’d hate to see a bad one.” Pooch grumbled and Stella gave a chuckle.

“Hey, Poochy, I just like to see the positive in all aspects of life.” Jensen grinned, holding his hands out to the side, palms up. “You’re just grumpy because Jolene’s finally managed to…ouch!” Jensen gave a yelp as Stella punched him hard on the arm. “What was that for, babe?”

Stella shot him a look which instantly shut him up. Pooch had confided in her, Cougar and Jensen no less than two days ago that Jolene was four months pregnant, but he didn’t want to tell Clay or Roque for reasons that he was keeping to himself, as per his prerogative, she supposed. It had made her and Jensen snort a little, as when Aubrey had found out she was pregnant roughly five months or so ago, the entire world had known pretty much before the pee was dry on the test stick. Jensen’s eyes widened as he realised exactly what he’d been about to say and he grimaced, before turning to Pooch, giving him an apologetic look.

“Kilo One is approaching the square.” Cougar spoke, and they all turned their attention to him, stepping forward to the window, Clay observing their surroundings with the binoculars.

“Okay, focus up Losers.” Clay hushed them all, gesturing to Pooch. “Get ready with that RPG”

Pooch shot Jensen one final filthy glare before he stepped forward, resting the grenade launcher on his shoulder.

“Arty, Jensen, in position.” Clay instructed. “Coms on, code names only.”

They both nodded, Stel picking up a device that had been in Pooch’s big bag of tricks, and made their way back to the spiral staircase.

And then, it all happened at once. Clay gave the order to fire and both Pooch and Cougar took their shots at the same time. The popping of guns, sounds of screaming and yelling and a rather large explosion followed by Pooch’s loud chuckles of glee hit their ears and Jensen looked at Stella as they waited at the top of the stairs.

“I really shouldn’t enjoy this as much as I should.” He grinned, and Stella snorted as suddenly the room below them was full of voices, once of which the recognised instantly as Roque. From their extensive planning, Sella knew that they would likely hustle into the room in a tight cordon, with Khalil in the middle and head to the most secure part of the building, the vault. They had no idea how many of the guard had made it into the building with Khalid, but essentially it didn’t matter. The Losers were one step ahead.

As soon as the group made their way towards the main part of the atrium, through the open double doors which led through the cashier area, Jensen grinned at Stella.

“Hit it, babe!”

Stella smirked as she pushed the button on the device she held in her hand. The large electromagnets that had been placed on the locks snapped into place, firing the four inch thick steel bolts into their slots, securing them tightly, ensuring no one could get out, and no one else could get in. Yells of warnings rang out about the place as the guards instantly wheeled round, their guns raised and Roque’s eyes flickered upwards to where they were hidden on the veranda above. Jensen raised his right hand, his index and middle finger extended and he waved them across his face, indicating that their next move was about to go down. Roque made no sign he’d seen them, bar a quick double-blink.

“I’m sorry, pal.” Jensen grimaced a little as he ducked down and lifted a heavy square box off the floor, flipping the plastic cover up, jamming his thumb onto the red button. “Lima Two is about to deploy, please return to your seats and cover your ears.” He spoke into his coms, giving the rest of the team a warning. As soon as the device beeped to say it was charged, Jensen launched it over the side of the railing where it fell onto the floor below. As soon as it left his hands, he and Stella ducked down, their fingers jammed in their ears, eyes scrunched shut as the device activated.

Referred to merely by Pooch as the S-Fud- ‘Sensory Fuck-Up Device’, the item had been developed by the boffins in the CIA lab to create complete optical and aural disorientation by using ultra violet and bright white lights and a loud, high pitched sound and sonic wave. Even with his eyes screwed shut, the flash of light still bounced off all the surfaces surrounding Jensen, and the hands which were clamped over his ears might have dimmed the majority of the loud wailing siren, which lasted no more than two seconds, but the combination was still enough to leave him feeling slightly woozy as he stood to his feet, blinking furiously, his eyes feeling like he’d stared straight at the sun, his eardrums ringing as if he’d spent hours in a nightclub with music thumping in his ears. Besides him, Stella staggered to her feet and shook her head, pressing the heel of her palm to the space between her eyes. But they had no time to waste. Jake gently shook her shoulder and she nodded to show him she was okay. Together they made their way down the stairs as quickly as they could.

The S-Fud had done its job, all the men were incapacitated to some extent. As Stella’s eyes glanced around she quickly counted six men in total. Three, one of whom was Khalil, were completely unconscious, face down on the floor. Two more, including Roque, were writhing in pain, hand clutched over their ears, and one was attempting to stagger to his feet. In a flash, Stella had nailed him with a kick to the face, and he fell backwards with a thud, his nose shattering as her heel smashed straight into the bridge.

“Did you see that?” Jensen turned to the other three men who had joined them, all looking around the room. “My girl, she’s a bad ass chick.”

“Can you concentrate on the mission in hand for once and not your dick?” Pooch shook his head as Cougar hit the moving guard with the butt of his rifle, knocking him out.

“Your momma concentrated on my dick last night.” Jensen shot back and Pooch groaned.

“Seriously? Momma jokes, now?”

“Shut up.” Stella nudged Jake harshly with her elbow as she walked past, following Clay as they stepped over the unconscious guards, heading towards Roque as he groaned and lay curled up in the foetal position. Clay knelt down and reached out, loosening his tie and the top button of his dress shirt before patting him on the shoulder, as Stella did the same to their target.

“Okay, lets move.” Clay looked up. “Jensen, Pooch, you take Roque. I’ll get Khalil. Cougs, Arty, give us cover to the vehicle.”

The team all nodded, Jensen and Pooch stepping forward, each seizing Roque under his arms. They managed to get him to his feet, each supporting him, their arms round his back as his arms slumped over their shoulders. His feet staggered on the floor as he made an attempt to talk.

“We got you, buddy.” Jensen said softly. “You’ll be alright, just feel like you’ve got one hell of a hangover for a few hours.”

Meanwhile Clay had managed to hoist Khalil to his feet with Cougar’s help, the man a complete dead weight, which he allowed to slump against his right shoulder. With an almighty heave he ducked and then stood, using his legs to rise up fully, Khalil slung over him in a fireman’s lift, his arms dangling freely down Clay’s back.

Without another word, the team moved as quickly as they could to the dead-bolted doors where Stella reached into her pocket with one hand, whipping her pistol out with the other. She clicked the device, which unlocked the glass doors and they made their way across the atrium, the chaotic noises from outside growing louder as they approached the back door to the bank they’d used to enter. Stella flattened herself against one side of the wall to the right of the door as Cougar took aim with his rifle. He looked at her and nodded, and in a flash she reached out and yanked it open, Cougar darting through, rifle held in front of him.

“Clear.” He spoke and Stella moved to allow the rest of the team to step out into the alleyway, taking up the rear.

She spotted the man hiding in a doorway two down before Cougs even had chance to shout a warning. In a flash she fired pistol twice. The first shot hit the guy in the arm, causing him to drop his gun, the second in the knee and he fell to the floor, screaming in agony. Then came another, and another. As Stella and Cougar continued, Jensen, Pooch and Clay heaved their charges to the side of the van, ducking as shots rained down on them. Pooch wrenched open the door, and Jensen hopped into the back, hoisting Roque in as gently as he could, a sharp contrast to the way Clay simply slung Khalil unceremoniously into the back. As Pooch ran to the front and hopped into the driver side, Stella and Cougar both sprinted towards the van, flinging themselves in as the engine started. With a sharp tug, Clay pulled he door shut as Pooch started the engine.

Seconds later, the van roared back off up the alley, the crackle of gunfire from the square growing quieter and quieter as they put more distance between them and the danger. Pooch drove them out onto the main road, towards the point, some six miles or so away, where they would ditch the van and hop into two separate SUVs and make their way to the agreed Ex-fil point at Saida Port roughly a half an hour or so drive away.

Stella closed her eyes, resting her head against the cool metal of the van, watching as Pooch and Jensen hoisted Khalil into a sitting position, securing his wrists with flexi-restraints behind his back. Cougar was busy offering Roque some water, Stella pleased to see their teammate was finally starting to come round. She smiled as Jensen flopped down next to her, his arm looping round her shoulders as he pulled her to him for a soft kiss.

“I love working with you,” he grinned and she snorted, shaking her head as she chuckled.

“Yeah, we’re a regular nine-to-five couple, aint we?”

****

“Stel?” Jake called through the door of the bathroom of their temporary lodgings before he opened it and to be greeted by Stella led back in the bath, eyes closed. She turned her head to look at him. “I was gonna ask if you wanted head out with the guys for a beer and food but you look pretty comfortable.”

She pulled a face. “I’m feeling anti-social.” Jake laughed at her frank answer and smiled as she gave a small shrug. “Sorry, not sorry, but we spent four weeks in a hell hole motel and I’m extremely grateful Clay’s managed to get us holed up in a nice place and not the Officers’ Quarters on base so I intend to make the most of it.”

“Babes, we were both in the army.” He snorted. “Rocks for pillows and all that.”

“Yeah, well it’s been a while since I did that. What can I say? I’ve grown used to the finer things again.”

“Fair enough, I’ll let Clay know you hate them all and don’t want to socialise.” He teased.

“Jakey, we’re gonna be here for by my guess a week at least, plenty of time to go out sampling the finest bars the UK has to offer.” She shrugged, not bothered in the slightest by his teasing. “If you wanna go meet them, feel free. I’ll grab a take out. There were some leaflets pinned to the board in the kitchen.”

“Or…” Jake smirked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, “I stay here, because frankly, that bed looks really comfy and I kinda wanna test it. See how grossed out we can make Pooch.”

“Jerk.” Stella snorted.

“Well, he’s done nothing but complain since we got here about how he has to share this house with us and can’t go in with the others, so I wanna give him something to really complain about.”

“You’re such a little shit.” She laughed and Jake groaned.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what? Laugh?”

“Yeah, it’s making your boobs wobble under the water, and that’s making me horny.”

“You’re always horny.”

“Hornier than usual.”

“Well, I can solve that problem.” She grinned and Jake smirked.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, turn around and shut the door on your way out.”

“Ouch, Stells.” Jake slapped his hand over his heart. “That’s cold.”

“Hmmm,” She muttered, laying her head back and closing her eyes again. “If you’re getting in here you better hurry, or the water will be cold too.”

Jake grinned and in a flash, reached back to grab a fist full of his t-shirt behind the collar and pulled it over his head. As his hands flew to the button on his jeans Stella nodded to the door.

“You better lock that, I know you said you wanted to gross Pooch out but if he walks in on us he’ll be scared for life.”

“And?”

Stella merely arched her brow, “No locky, no fucky.”

With that Jake spun on his heel and flicked the lock, before he turned round and shoved his pants and boxers down in one full swoop and swung his leg over the side of the tub. Stella moved forward so he could settle behind her, his legs laying either side of hers. It was a tight squeeze, the tub in the two bedroomed terraced house wasn’t built to accommodate two but neither paid it any mind.

Stella took a deep breath, closed her eyes and leaned back, her head laying against Jake’s chest as his hands softly rubbed up and down her forearms, his lips pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

They were silent for a while, the pair of them simply contented to stay there for a moment, relishing the peace after a long and tedious mission and the chance to relax for an evening before the debriefs and analysis started the next day in the War Rooms of the RAF Base in Suffolk, England. Often, the aftermath of a mission was more hard-going than the action itself. They’d hash over the events, listen to the CIA operative justify some of the more morally ambiguous decisions made, no doubt the ramifications and political fall-outs, be informed about how the CIA were going to play it and then they’d have to submit written reports, which would be Classified at the highest levels and stored in the top secret vaults in Virginia.

It was part and parcel of being in a black-ops team. They knew the script, having read and played it many a times before. But it was draining and exhausting, one of the many reasons Stella was glad that the actual missions they ran, whilst they could last months at a time, were on the large few and far between.

“You okay?” Jake broke the silence and pressed his lips once more to the back of her shoulder and Stella nodded, tilting her head round so she could look at him.

“I spoke to Rey before.”

“Yeah, how is she?”

“She said she felt the baby move for the first time.” Stella beamed.

“Oh, that’s awesome.” Jake grinned back, “are they gonna find out what they’re having?”

Stella snorted, “dur. You know what she’s like. She’ll want to decorate and buy it blue or pink clothes, plus if it’s a boy she’s got time to mentally prepare seeing as all she wants is a little girl to treat like a doll.”

Jake laughed. “Is it wrong I kinda hope it is a boy?”

Stella grinned. “Nope, I was thinking the same. She’s asked me to be with her when it’s born.”

“I’m not surprised.” Jake wrinkled his nose. “Dick’s gonna be about as much use as a knife in a gun fight.”

“Knives can be very useful in a gun fight, if you know how to use them.”

“Oooh I love it when you talk dirty, babe.” Jensen smirked and dropped his head to kiss her softly. His right hand moved from its spot on her arm to stroking her hip, tracing a path down the outside of her thigh. His fingers softly traced shapes on her warm, wet skin just to the side of her knee before he moved his touch up her leg again then across to her abdomen. Stella sighed against his mouth, as her head lolled to the right. Jensen’s mouth moved, trailing a line down her neck, nipping at the hinge of her jaw.

He was growing hard against her, Stella could feel it, and the way his fingers were ghosting over her made her skin tingle and her body shiver. "Jake," she whimpered. "Yeah, baby?" His fingers found the tuft of curls and then her nub. "You gonna sing for me, Stells?" He encircled her clit with his fingertip and drew back up. "Let me play that pussy?" “Fuck...” she groaned, leaning further back into him, her body sagging into his. She loved his dirty talk, being so in control for most of the time, she enjoyed letting herself go when it came to this. “Feels good, Jakey.” "Yeah? You like it when I touch you, feel my fingers inside? Stretching you for my dick?" He dipped two fingers inside, his thumb able to press into her sensitive clit. "Jesus, fuck," Stella gasped as he moved into her. The thickness of his fingers felt like she was on fire and had her silently begging his foreplay wasn't long. "So fucking wet already, babe." Jake was enjoying the feel of her on his fingers. It'd been a long while since he'd felt all of her and he hid his desperation well behind dirty words and filthy ministrations. His mouth moved down her neck, teeth gently nipping at her skin as he went, lips curling into a smirk as he listened to her softly groaning. Her hips moving in time with his hand as his fingers curled inside her. Water began to just teeter over the tubs edge but neither paid any mind. Stella's breathy pants bounced off of Jake's cheek as he watched himself finger fuck her. "I love it when you fuck my fingers, baby." "Oh God," Stella squeaked, for she was going to hit that edge and fall right over. The time between, the angst of their mission and Jake's mouth were nearing too much. "Jakey, please," she moaned. "Cum on my fingers, Stells, then I'm gonna fuck you, really...really... good." With each 'really' Jake barely rutted against Stella, just enough to tease her at what he wanted to do to her. He wanted to slide in, slow and deep, her body seated on top his, while he feasted on her nipples and neck. He wanted to be buried into her to the hilt and paint her walls with his seed. Stella came undone as her body quaked against his chest. With a breathy squeak she went rigid and her hand flew from the side of the tub, wrapping around is wrist as she came, her walls clamping around his fingers "Fuck, Stella, turn around baby, sit on my lap." She was as languid as the water around them, her body drowning in ecstasy as Jake helped her turn in the small space. His fully erect and throbbing cock stood at attention, his head just above the water’s surface. He guided Stella just where he wanted her and slowly dipped inside her still trembling walls. The sensation was more than Stella had bargained for and she moaned out loudly as she sank into him. "That's it baby, let them hear you" Jake bucked a bit into her, closing the gap that Stella was slowly shortening, his cock fully inside her and he moaned himself. She felt so good, so tight. Like there was no one else made for him but her. The thought gave him a flutter deep in his belly. She was his, and would be forever, if she'd have him. Stella rolled her hips against his, grinding down the pressure on her sensitive clit while Jake's lips moved over her skin, nearing her pert nipples. His hands wove around her back, fingers pressing into her spine as he bobbed his hips up and down to meet with her rolls. It was a dirty grind, water sloshing out of the tub like waves licking the shore. When Jake found a nipple and rolled it between his lips, his tongue tasting her flesh and his teeth nipping at it, Stella tugged at the little bits of longer hair atop Jake's head as she squeaked out a pleasurable sound. One of Jake's large hands palmed down her back and over the curve of her ass, squeezing her cheek as she rocked all whilst he played with her breasts. The same hand soon found its way between their bodies and pressed hard into her clit before smoothing upward over her tummy and grasping her left breast, kneading it gently. The more he gave, the more she took and before long she was grinding down against him, her breathing ragged as he thrust up, hard, his hands dropping to her hips. “Come on baby,” he groaned as her head fell back, his lips nipping against her collar bone, “fuck, I love you.” “Love you.” She groaned as he thrust up, her hands curling over his shoulders, nails biting his skin. “Shit, Jakey, I’m gonna...” “Cum baby, come on.” His jaw clenched as her body trembled and her eyes fluttered closed, as she let out a broken, whispered groan. As she clenched around him, Jake gave a soft growl of his own, his hips moving slightly faster as he rutted up, pulling her down onto him. The coil in his abdomen that had been tightening and tightening snapped and his entire body surrendered, a surge of warmth spreading from his belly outwards and he stilled, his cock twitching as he came. A few sloppy thrusts later and he stilled with a satisfied him, his hands moving to smooth Stella’s damp hair back off her face as hers cupped his cheeks. She simply looked at him for a moment and he gave her a grin causing her to chuckle as she pressed a soft kiss to his mouth. “Jesus Christ, that was amazing.” Jensen mumbled and Stella grinned, her lips meeting his once more. They stayed still for a moment, soft kisses being shared until Stella shivered a little and Jake helped her move off him so he could get out of the tub and leave her to finish off. He grabbed a towel and his glasses from the basin unit before he dried off, gathered his discarded clothes and headed onto the small landing of the accommodation. Pooch, who was just emerging from the other bedroom shot him a look. “You better clean that damned bathroom before I use it.” He arched his eyebrow and Jensen grinned. “You’re like the best disgusting person I know.” Pooch continued with a snort before he nodded his head to the stairs. “Take it you’re two ain’t coming?” “Already came, Poochy.” Jensen grinned as he walked to their bedroom, laughing as the sounds of Pooch’s groans of disgust hit his ears.

****

Stella woke the next morning to a burning deep in her core and Jake’s face between her legs. Her orgasm roused her much better than any alarm or cup of coffee ever could and as Jake stuffed himself insider her, his mouth nipping softly at her neck, she smiled softly to herself as she realised he’d done this very thing the first morning they’d moved up to college together.

After pulling on her Army Uniform cargo pants, Stella tucked her khaki green tee into the waist and adjusted the belt before she sat down and laced up her heavy boots as Jake fiddled with the collar of his, complaining that it felt tight. When Stella pointed out he was slightly more built than he had been last time he wore it a good few months ago, he grinned and flexed his arms to give her the ‘gun show’ making her snort and shake her head.

They headed out of the house and walked the half a mile to the main gate of the base, flashing their ID and making their way to the Mess for breakfast where they met with the rest of the team, Pooch giving them another filthy look as their antics had continued beyond the bathroom and much later into the night. Once they’d finished eating, they each grabbed a coffee to go and headed down to the War Rooms - a network of conference rooms and IT facilities nestled in a bunker along the runway of the RAF Base - and settled down in the leather seats around the large, polished mahogany table ready for whoever it was from the CIA that would be arriving to give the debrief.

They’d been there for roughly half an hour or so and Jensen was already bored. He was messing around, twirling his pen in-between his fingers, the other tapping against the disposable coffee cup. After a pause, he took his pen and began to draw a face on the white plastic lid.

“What are you doing?” Stella looked at him, having caught his fiddling in the corner of her eye.

“I’m bored, Stelly,” his voice was a childish whine, “where is this guy anyway? We’ve been waiting here for like thirty minutes!”

“Just take the fucking pen off him, Arty.” Roque groaned. Stella reached over for it and snatched it away”

“Hey, that’s mine!”

“Jensen, shut up!” Roque shot back and Jensen turned to him.

“Why? It’s not like anyone is talking anyway.”

“You, you’re talking. As usual. Put a sock in it.” Roque turned to Stell as Clay stood up and walked to the door to see if anyone was coming. “How the fuck do you put up with this?”

“He has his mouth busy most of the time.” Stella quipped as she leaned back in the chair and Jensen gave her a dopey grin.

Both Roque and Pooch let out noises of disgust, Cougar’s chuckle just audible from the other side of the table where he lounged with his feet on the table and his hat pulled down over his eyes.

“Yeah, laugh all you want but next time it’s you sharing the digs with them.” Pooch looked at him. “I’m done.”

“Chill out.” Cougar replied and Pooch blinked.

“Did you just tell me to chill?”

Cougar smirked in response, tipping his hat up slightly to flash Pooch a wink.

“The Pooch is perfectly chilled.”

“The Pooch refers to himself in the third person,” Jensen shook his head, “that’s so not chill.”

“Oh…this just got even better.” Clay’s remark had them all turning towards him, the teasing banter dying off as Roque sat up.

“What?”

Clay simply walked into the room, rolling his eyes. Less than five seconds later, in walked a very familiar face.

“Oh great.” Jake mumbled as Stella blinked, coming face to face with her ex for the first time since he’d stormed out of her apartment all those months ago.

“Good Morning.” Evan greeted them all before he nodded to Stella, a little awkwardly. “Hey.”

“Evan, hi... what are you... what are you doing here?” She asked and Evan took a deep breath.

“It was my intel you guys were running down so I’m here for debrief.”

“That was your intel?” Pooch spoke and Evan nodded.

“Yeah, we’ve been tracking Khalil for a while and reached out to him a while ago to offer him a deal. He declined so we needed to bring him in.” Evan nodded. “His activities were giving us cause for concern, not to mention with the Russians behind him. We needed to make the grab before he got even more power behind his cause.”

Jake sensed Stella tensing slightly besides him and slid his hand over her thigh. Her fingers gently locked over his as she kept her gaze on Evan, who had spotted the subtle movement of Jake’s hand. He didn’t say anything, instead the man’s eyes flicked to Jake’s who simply stared back before Roque chipped in.

“So, we got the guy. Did he give you what you needed?”

“I can’t tell you that.” Evan replied, apologetically. “It’s classified, need to know basis.”

“In that case I don’t wanna know.” Pooch mumbled.

Stella’s mind was whirling. Truth be told, she’d started to think about exactly why they’d been dispatched to capture this particular guy alive, when his type were ten-a-penny all over the place. There was a lot more to it than the fact this guy’s ideologies didn’t fit with those of the Western World. And then, the final little piece dropped into place in her analytical brain and she turned her head to see Clay watching her.

“Did you know?” She asked.

Clay shook his head. “Suspected but…”

“Suspected what?” Jensen looked at Clay then Stella. “Babe?”

She took a deep breath. “There’s a reason why we were on a capture not kill mission. At first I assumed it was to do with not making him a martyr but then throwing him in prison would cause just as much unrest. But that unrest will die down when he’s released in a few months in exchange for his cooperation for details on his Russian backers and arms suppliers.”

The rest of the team looked at her, then to Evan who blinked, his face remaining stoic as Stella shook her head and continued.

“He then lets his supporters know that he and his friends in Russia had a disagreement and he was traded away. He retires to some island somewhere, under the careful watch of the UN and fades away into non-existence.”

There was silence and Evan took a deep breath, “it’s not quite as simple as that, Stel…Stevenson, but yeah, that’s pretty much the basics.”

“God, this is so fucking bent.” Stella shook her head. “It’s no wonder the entire world hates us.”

“You know, considering you technically work for the CIA and the Armed Forces, you kinda signed up for this.” Clay raised his eyebrow as Stella rolled her eyes.

“We tried to negotiate terms with him. He turned them down.” Evan replied, matter-of-factly. “So we sent you in to enforce them. The rest, as I stated a minute or so ago, you really don’t need to know.”

“Yeah, classified, we heard.” Clay replied, leaning back in his chair.

“Did you suspect the Lebanese Special Service would try a double cross?” Roque looked at Evan and the man shot him an apologetic look.

“It was always possible, yeah. But you know how it goes…”

Roque scoffed and Cougar shifted in his seat, Evan’s eyes flicking to him before he took a deep breath and shrugged.

“If it helps, think of the bigger picture. We remove their leader, cut off the Russian support, and suddenly the LFP is nothing more than an overhyped street gang...”

“Yeah, that doesn’t really help.” Jensen wrinkled his nose and Evan shrugged, not quite meeting his eyes.

“Well, that’s your opinion. Not ours.” He cleared his throat, “anyway, it’s done. The mission is over. For now, you guys need to lay low. We’ve cleared it with the RAF for you to stay in the area for a while until all the fuss about Khalil going missing has died down. We’ll be monitoring all the usual lines and channels of communication, making sure no one has your descriptions and doing what we can to keep your faces out of the public eye.” Evan paused. “But, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you what happens if we can’t.”

At that The Losers simply looked at one another. Evan was right, they didn’t need reminding. That was the whole point of the CIA running the number of Black-Ops teams it did. It gave them a way to do the slightly grey area dirty jobs and remain at arm’s length, denying all responsibility if required.

“Any idea on how long that’s gonna be?” Pooch asked.

“Probably be a week, maybe two. But once we’re confident we’re clear, we’ll send word and get you back to the US.” Evan replied.

“So what you’re saying is we got two weeks off?” Cougar spoke and Evan looked at him, giving a shrug.

Pooch grinned and fist bumped Cougar.

“Are you staying here too?” Jensen looked at Evan and he shook his head.

“Don’t worry, I’m flying back to Virginia tonight”

“I’m not really worried…” Jake shrugged. There was a moment where both men simply stared at each other until Clay coughed.

“Right, is there anything else?”

“Mission reports due as usual, next forty eight hours.” Evan turned his head away from Jensen and looked around the team. “I’ve arranged access into the Red Network from the hub on the base. Your liaison officer, Wing Commander Levinson, says he can set you guys up with time on the range or the phys- ops courses too, have you join their drills if you want. Might be an idea to keep yourselves sharp.”

Cougar, Pooch and Jake all groaned at the suggestion of the physical training whilst Roque and Stella looked at one another, nodding.

“Yeah, I can go for that.” Roque agreed.

“And that’s it, other than on behalf of the CIA I wanted to thank you, it was a slick operation. We’re really pleased with how this one turned out.”

The team exchanged looks and soft smiles, before Clay stood up.

“Okay, Losers. Let’s grab some more coffee and then we can regroup. Figure out what we do for the next two weeks.

Movement filled the room as they all stood to leave, and just as Stella had picked up her empty coffee cup, Evan cleared his throat.

“Stella, can I have a word?”

She hesitated and Jake turned to look at her. He opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off. “Jakey, it’s fine. Go, I’ll catch you up.”

He blinked, before he turned to Evan, the glare he gave him positively filthy before he turned and left the room. Evan and Stella stood still watching him go, before Stella turned to Evan, the man giving her a soft smile.

“You look well. Being happy suits you.” His tone carried no anger, and Stella found herself returning his smile before she sighed and shook her head.

“Listen Evan, I...”

“It’s okay Stella,” he spoke, holding his hand up, “I won’t keep you long. I just wanted to apologize. I was an asshole when you broke up with me.” Stella took a deep breath as he continued. “The way I acted and the things I said were horrible. My mother would be ashamed and I just ...” he shrugged. “I wanted to let you know I was sorry, that’s all.”

Slightly surprised at his outwardly contrite tone, Stella simply shook her head. “It’s okay. You were hurt. I hurt you.”

“Yeah you did but that doesn’t excuse the way I reacted. So, like I said, I’m sorry.” He smiled, gesturing with his hand to the door. “And I’m glad that you and Jake are, you know, making it work.”

As he spoke the final like, that tell-tale nerve in his jaw twitched a little and Stella knew that he wasn’t happy, at all. But, given that the rest of his apology had been genuine, she accepted the gesture for what it was.

“Thank you.” She gave a soft smile. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry too. I did like you Ev, it just…”

“It wasn’t meant to be.” He shrugged. “Yeah, I get that now. And hey, no hard feelings. If we hadn’t broken up I’d never have met Talia so…”

“Oh, you’re seeing someone?”

“Yeah.” Evan nodded. “It’s early days, we’ve had a few dates and been away for a weekend. She’s nice, I like her.”

“Good, well I hope it works out.” Stella smiled. There was a pause before she took a breath. “I better…” she jerked her hand towards the door and Evan nodded.

“Of course…”

“I’ll, erm, see you around, yeah?”

“Yeah, take care, Stella.”

“You too, Evan.”

With a final smile at one another, Stella left the room and headed back up the corridor. Jake was waiting outside for her, leaning against the wall of the building.

“All okay?” He asked and she nodded.

“Yeah.”

“What did he want?”

“To apologise for the way he acted when we broke up.” Stella shrugged. “That was it, oh, and he’s seeing someone else. Which is nice. I hope it works for him. He’s a good guy.”

Jensen made a non-committal noise in his throat and Stella looked at him. “Don’t start.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You don’t need to.” Stella rolled her eyes. “Stop.”

“Okay, okay, sorry. I just, well, I don’t know what it is but I still don’t trust him, never have. He’s shady.”

“He’s an intel officer for the CIA.” Stella scoffed, taking Jake’s hand. “We’re a Black-Ops team. Far more shady than he is.”

“Suppose.” Jensen sniffed, as the two of them walked down the side of the building. As they went, Jensen suddenly had a sense of unease. Almost as if they were being watched. He turned his head to glance over his shoulder, but found no one. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head, telling himself he was being ridiculous. They were on a secure Military Base, probably the safest place they could be given the circumstances.

“You okay?” Stella asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” he assured her, “so, the rest of The Losers are in the coffee shop. Pooch is already on his phone checking out local bars, fancy hitting a few tonight?”

“Why not?” Stell grinned up at him, leaning up to place a soft kiss to the underside of his jaw. Jake smiled, and pulled her closer as they headed off to join up with the rest of the team, casting a final glance over his shoulder, once more seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

**** Chapter 10

#too loose and you'll lose it #jake jensen #jake jensen x ofc #jake jensen x original female character #the losers #the losers fan fiction #jake jensen fanfiction #chris evans #chris evans characters

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xoxo-teddybear · 3 years

Text

Oh, The Lies You Tell - Bakugou Katsuki - pt.8

Bakugou x f!reader

Warnings: angst, trauma, abuse, betrayal, fluff, slice of life, smut, cursing, manipulation, possible spoilers, physical harm, 18+, MANGA SPOILERS

Ep. Warnings: ANGST, cursing, manga spoilers

Summary: it’s time for the battle competition! Or so the students of UA think. Just before the battle starts, a portal opens up and chaos is unleashed. Everything would’ve been fine if Dabi hadn’t exposed the truth.

BAKUGOU’S MASTERLIST

Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5 Pt.6 Pt.7 Pt.8 Pt.9

After the long drive, a break, mind-blowing sex, and another long drive, UA has finally made it to the battle competition! The students all marveled in their seats as they looked out the bus windows. The buses for all the schools were parked atop a cliff. The area the students would be participating in was below in and it was nothing but forests, valleys, mountains, rivers, and meadows for miles. This was a race and only the best school and best students will win.

“And welcome to the competition UA,” Aizawa tiredly said. The students all cheered as they exited the bus and stepped foot onto the soft grass. They felt the breeze blowing and felt ready to go. “There’s a building down that path, you can change into your costumes there and wait for further instruction. And Y/N, you won’t be able to be with Rumor on this, so I’ll watch him for the time being. See you all soon.”

The students were excited as they quickly scrambled down the path as Rumor went with Aizawa to wherever.

“Man, after all that time we’re finally here!” Kirishima said. “We’re definitely gonna kick some ass the second we step foot in there,”

“No shit, Shitty Hair. These losers don’t stand a chance,” Bakugou said with a malicious grin. They Bakusquad continued to walk and talk as Bakugou kept his arm around you but he once again noticed your unusual silence.

“Hey..princess, tell me what’s up?” He whispered with a concerned voice. You looked up to him as you snapped out of your haze and stared at him with loving eyes.

“I’m fine Suki...just nervous.” You said with a slight laugh to appear okay. Bakugou took your word for it but still held some concern as he felt somewhere in his heart that there was more to the story.

“About what? You’re one of the best fighters here, you don’t gotta worry about anything. You’ll do great out there Princess. Promise.” He said before he kissed your forehead to reassure you. You gave a nervous laugh as you continued to stare off into space. You were scared.

The league would be coming after you sent the coordinates. Your palms were sweaty and your throat felt dry as you got closer and closer to the assembly building. You wanted to cry so bad for so many reasons. You were lost, you didn’t want anybody to be hurt, you didn’t want the truth exposed....you didn’t want to leave UA...and you didn’t want to leave Bakugou.

Time passed and the others spoke of whatever. You wouldn’t know. You were too busy stressing over the villains upcoming arrival. Class 1-A walked in and took notice of all the schools in the building. Infront of the crowd was a stage and a podium. You felt Bakugou’s grip on you tighten and you laughed as you saw he was looking at all the boys staring at you. You loved your jealous little pomeranian.

Students mumbled and talked amongst each other until a man came up to the podium and addressed everyone.

“Hello students! Welcome to the battle competition, Olympus! Today, all you hero trainees will battle against other schools as you all race to the top of the mountain on the other side of the valley. When you reach the top, there will be people awaiting your arrival to bestow upon you the chalice of victory!” The students cheered at the news and got all riled up. They piped down once the man began to speak again.

“Here’s how this will work. Each class from every school will be given a certain location somewhere out in the field. Don’t worry, it’ll all be at an equal difficulty and distance from the finish line so there’s no advantage for anybody. Once you hear the gun go off, you will all run through the wild to get to the top. Maps will be passed out to each of you right now and along with that, a badge that each of you will get that will tell everyone what team/class you’re apart of and it will connect you and your teammates to one team. Now, classes MUST stick together and everyone must arrive at the same time. Along with the obstacles of nature, some of you will fall into certain traps. There are markings placed at random in the field and once a member of the class steps into it, you will wait until another class gets trapped and you shall battle. Winners get to move on and continue the race. The competition will last for 3 days and if you haven’t made it to the finish line by the morning of the 4th, you must remain where you are so that we can find you and track you by your badge. Everybody clear?”

Students cheered once more as a way of agreement and got ready. “Good. All of you will be directed to the changing areas. There’s over 4,000 stalls, gender is separated, and each student will be able to get their own changing area. Put on your hero costumes and head to your class’s assigned location. Good luck to you all.”

Students got rowdy as they all began to leave the room. You and the Bakusquad stayed and talked for a bit before you kissed Bakugou and left to put on your costume.

You got to your own stall and quickly changed. As you finished you looked in the mirror. You, a villain, dressed as a hero. Comical. But yet, you smiled at the new look. You felt that it really suited you. You snapped out of your gaze and went to the earring hidden in your bag.

“Hello? Can anyone hear me?” You whispered softly into the earring. A minute passed before Shigaraki answered.

“Tell me the coordinates.” You bit your lip in hesitation. Was this really what you wanted to do? You held a shaky breath as you spoke

“43.5647 to 12.8499.”

“See you soon.” And just like that, the call was over. You released a deep sigh in regret and anxiety as you gathered your things and walked to the given location. There you met with all your classmates and Bakugou. He welcomed you with open arms as he pulled you in for an embrace.

“Hey Princess. Everyone already discussed a plan so I’ll fill you in on the way,” He said after he pecked your forehead. Oh his sweet kisses. One of the things you’ll dearly miss when you have to go your separate ways.

“Hi....” Bakugou once again held a frown and concerned stare as your unusual behavior kicked back in. He held you tighter as he tilted your head up by your chin and gave you a loving kiss. He pressed his forehead against yours as your head was still tilted towards the sky.

“What’s wrong Y/N?...Please,” he begged. He knew something had been wrong for awhile and now he was desperate for an answer. You held your breath as you stared at him with sad eyes and a fallen jaw. You squeezed your E/C eyes shut as you shook your head to the ground and placed it against his chest.

“Katsuki, I have to tell you somethi-“

*BANG!*

That was it. The sound of the start of the race. Students began running to the forest and you sighed as you realized this was destiny trying to tell you to not go. You shook off your nerves as you looked towards Katsuki.

“It’s okay, you can tell me later. C’mon,” he said as he grabbed your hand and began to run but with the first step that you took, your eyes glowed and you didn’t see Katsuki or the competition anymore. It was bright and white and all you could see was Korra’s angry face as her eyes also glowed.

“TELL HIM THE TRUTH Y/N!” She yelled with the voices of all the other avatars. Your eyes filled with tears as they shut again and you shook your head.

“I can’t! I’m sorry!” You cried out.

“CHOOSE THE RIGHT PATH!”

“I-I can’t! I don’t know what to do anymore!”

“Y/N!”

...

“Y/N!......Y/N!” Bakugou said as he shook you. Out of nowhere your eyes glowed and you froze in your tracks. Bakugou stopped running when he didn’t feel you follow him and when he looked back he did everything he could to snap you out of your avatar state. After a minute you finally settled and your eyes returned back to normal. You fell into his arms as your groaned in exhaustion.

“Katsuki....?” You softly spoke out as he held you against his chest.

“Are you okay?! What’s wrong?!” He frantically asked. The competition completely left his mind as he shifted his everything to you.

“I’m...im fine. It was just..Korra. She..spoke to me.” You explained.

“Are you okay? Do you need to sit?” He offered as he attempted to walk you to a tree stump so you could rest but you stopped him.

“No, no it’s fine Katsuki....we have to do this competition..” you said with stern eyes.

“No Y/N, I think you shoul-“

“Katsuki.” He looked at you and noticed your serious tone and strong grip as you held onto his arms. “Please.”

“.....okay.” And so you both ran to catch up with your class. You strained and shook off your headache as you thought about your past choices. Fear bubbled up inside of you as you looked towards Katsuki. He seemed focused on the task at hand and so you followed. What you didn’t realize was that under his cool, composed cover, he was nervous. He wanted you to be okay, it was all he yearned for but he also wanted to give you whatever you desired so if going through with the stupid race was what you wanted, then your wish is his command.

You both finally caught up with the class and out of nowhere, a trap was sprung. Denki had stepped into a red zone and all of 1-A’s badges glowed as the ground crumbled beneath them and they all fell into some arena in a cavern. The students plopped onto the ground, some on top of each other, as they all coughed from the dust and examined the area.

“You okay Princess?” Bakugou asked.

“I’m fine Suki,” you reassured him.

“What the hell Dunce Face?! Why didn’t you watch where you were going?!” Bakugou screamed at the poor blonde.

“Cool it man,” Bakugou’s best friend had said as he hooked his arms under Bakugou’s to keep him from attacking the electric boy. “Kaminari didn’t know what the traps looked like. None of us did so it’s good that we can identify them now. All we have to do is wait for another class to fall into another trap so we can fight ‘em and win”

“We’re losing time! Now we have to wait for some dumbasses and if nobody shows up, we’re stuck here! Like losers!” Bakugou said as he huffed and plopped on his ass to the ground infront of Y/N as he placed his chin in his hand. Y/N placed her hands on his shoulders to calm him.

“Kirishima is right, there’s hundreds of kids here and nobody who hasn’t sprung a trap knows what they look like. Somebody is bound to fall down here soon,” you reassured your angry boyfriend. Some of the class settled until a few minutes later, a voice spoke up.

“That you are correct, little mouse. Your opponents are here, but it’s not who you’d be expecting.”

Your eyes shot forward as you recognized the voice.

“Oh no...” you whispered and took your hands off of Bakugou as you stood straight. Everyone turned towards you as they watched you tremble.

“Princess, are you okay?” Bakugou asked as he stood up and held your hands.

“She’s fine blondie. She just knows what’s coming like the smart little puppet she is,” Shigaraki said as he stepped out of the shadows. The class shook and stilled at his appearance and got into defensive positions. The rest of the league popped out of the shadows and the class looked in confusion as they spoke on their concerns.

“What they hell are they doing here?!”

“What’s going on?”

“Should we get help?” The class all asked aloud. You shook off your nerves as you took your hands out of Bakugou’s as he looked at you in worry. You clapped your hands as a gust of wind hit everyone to bring their attention onto you. It was silent as everyone watched you speak.

“..Where are the actual opponents? What did you do to the students?” You shakenly asked. Dabi smirked as he walked back into the shadows and then returned before tossing an unconscious body in front of the class. You quickly ran to him and used your water bending to check on his body and health. The water went all around the poor student until you stopped your movements. He’s dead.

“Heh..you should see the rest of the students, little mouse,” Dabi said as he walked to you and gripped your chin in his hands to make you face him. As he smirked at you, an explosion was sent his way but he jumped and dodged it.

“Get your hands off of her!” Bakugou screamed as he ran to you. He brought you back into his arms as you just stared at Dabi.

“It’s not her you should be protecting, hero,” Dabi hinted. You cringed at his words but Bakugou ignored them as he seethed out a question.

“What the hell do you bastards want?!” He asked and Shigaraki was the first to answer his question.

“Take a guess!” He said as he directed the league to attack. Toga was the first to move as she went towards the girls and attempted to sliced at them. Dabi followed as he sent flames to the ground, but Todoroki was quick and put them out with his ice. The two brothers stared at each other, one with a nonchalant determined face and the other with a cocky smirk.

It was here and now. The attack was happening and it was happening to your class right now. All the students sprung into action as they fought villains, multiple students vs single villains. Sadly, the class were the ones struggling. Bakugou fought at Dabi as he pushed Todoroki away.

“Pick someone else IcyHot! I want this Bastard to myself!” The blonde said before he pounced to the fiery villain. Todoroki shifted as he and Midoriya worked at Shigaraki and you stood in pain at all the violence. You heard screams of pain from your classmates and you felt your own heart breaking. Due to your out of zone state, you couldn’t sense the blue flames coming your way until Bakugou screamed your name.

“Y/N! This isn’t the time for your daydreams! Get your head in the game!” He said. Delivery was a little harsh, but necessary. You quickly snapped out of it as you bended Dabi’s flames away.

“Poor little Y/N. Always a burden, always a bother.” Those words rung in your ears as you advanced towards Dabi. As you jumped mid-air, it was like time slowed down as Dabi’s eyes had slanted as he stared you down. “You sure you wanna do that...little mouse?”

His tone, cold, and your eyes widen in fear. The name, the way he spoke. It was the same voice and degrading name he used when he would attack you as a punishment. You quickly stopped your attack and stared infront of him. You looked up at him in fear as he smirked down at you. You may have changed the slightest bit but you were still a submissive little punching bag to the league. As you both held a staring match, one in fear and one in power, Bakugou blasted Dabi away from you. The black haired man groaned in pain as he felt the burn of the explosion and watched from a distance as Bakugou ran to guard you.

“Are you okay, Princess?” He asked you while he still watched Dabi in caution. You nodded your head and gave a “mhm,” as a reply as you both watched Dabi get up. He and Bakugou jumped at each other as they fought. Bakugou threw punch after punch as Dabi dodged each one while he spoke.

“Princess, Huh? *dodge* Never knew you were into villains Katsuki,” Dabi said as he dodged again.

“Shut up! You don’t know shit! That was her past!” Bakugou screamed as he continued to attack.

“Past?! *dodge* HA! You think your little Princess is an ex-con?!” He laughed in Bakugou’s face.

“She did what she had to!” Bakugou screamed once more. He swung again but Dabi caught his fist this time.

“Really? I didn’t know robbing banks, murdering people, and joining the League of Villains counted as survival,” Dabi said in his face. Bakugou face sprouted a confused look as Dabi threw him back.

“What?” Bakugou seethed threw grinded teeth. Your heart began to race as Dabi continued to talk.

“You don’t know Y/N at all Katsuki.” Dabi said as he gave you the side eye and watched your fearful and angry gaze.

“Stop talking Dabi,” you quietly said, however Dabi still heard. Including Bakugou.

“Your precious little Princess is on our side, hero. She’s a villain. And not just any villain. She’s the best of the best when it comes to the girls.” Bakugou shook his head in anger as he ran back to Dabi and threw punch after punch and kick after kick.

“SHUT UP!” He screamed at the villain but Dabi just dodged and continued. Bakugou was so confused and so angered that his emotions took control. His fighting faultered and Dabi had the upper hand as he attacked Bakugou and threw him into a small boulder. Bakugou groaned as he sat exhausted against the rock. He breathed heavily as he watched Dabi walk to Y/N, take her hand, walk closer to Bakugou, and wrap his arm over her shoulder. “GET AWAY FROM HER YOU FUCKING BASTARD!”

“Heh...do you wanna tell him or should I, Princess?” Dabi asked as he mocked the nickname Bakugou gave you. Your eyes teared as your breath became jagged and you looked towards Bakugou. Katsuki noticed how you didn’t remove Dabi’s arm and just stayed silent.

“Y/N?” He whimpered out as he looked at you for some sort of answer. What the hell was Dabi talking about? Grand theft? Murder? Joining the league? He needs an answer. Bakugou watched you swallow down a nervous breath as you hesitantly spoke.

“Katsuki.....I’m Titania....and...I..I’m a part of the League.” You said with a quivering lip. Bakugou’s eyes went wide as he felt his entire world shatter. The girl he fell in love with and gave his entire being to was an undercover villain. He felt tears stinging his eyes as he spoke.

“W-what?” He questioned. Dabi groaned aloud in annoyance as he threw his head back dramatically and continued the talk.

“Your little girlfriend here is a villain. In fact..this whole attack was her plan,” Dabi smirked out. Bakugou watched you as you kept your head down with a shadow casting over your face. An obvious frown adorned your lips. The lips that Bakugou had kissed a thousand times over and they belonged to the most heinous female villain. Bakugou dropped his head down as his eyes stayed open in shock. He felt a panic attack coming onto him as his breaths got heavier and he freaked out.

‘This can’t be true....She loves me! She would never....she could never do this! It’s Y/N! She’s...She can’t be a villain! She would never lie to me like this...’ Bakugou’s thoughts became too much so he screamed as he got up and ran to attack the both of you. He jumped into the air and released an explosion to the both of you but you both had dodged. When Bakugou dropped back to the ground he quickly ran to you and tackled you to the ground. He pinned you down as he hovered over you trying to scan your face for some sort of reasonable answer or explanation.

“Y/N!” He screamed in your face as he shook with tears falling from his ruby eyes. He watched as your lips continued to whimper and the shadow over your face remained. Dabi used his fire to send an attack towards you both and instead of burning you both, it stung as it pushed you both away. The two of you fell down a tunnel. You both held onto each other as you guys tumbled down a tunnel. When you both hit the ground again, you realized you ended up in a cave away from the fighting. Ahead of you was an opening to the outside world. You continued to lay on the ground as Bakugou stayed atop of you as he cried and whimpered into your shoulder. You gently pushed him off of you as you stood and tried to walk to the exit, but before you’d could take a step, Bakugou quickly grabbed onto your wrist.

You looked down at him with sad eyes as you watched him keep his head down as fat tears dropped from his eyes. He stayed on the ground, seated on his knees as he cried.

“Please tell me it isn’t true, Princess..” he whispered. You felt tears invade your own eyes as you squeezed them shut. You both stayed like that for awhile as you released silent tears.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered as you tried to help Bakugou stand but once he got to his feet he gripped your shoulders.

“Tell me everything! ...NOW!” He screamed with his eyes open and full of tears. You stared at him with an apologetic face as you shook your head.

“We have to go Katsuki, we have to get help.” Bakugou shook his head ‘no’ but allowed you to drag him out of the cave and into the opening. It was getting late and the evening had already started as the blue sky darkened a bit. You stomped your foot into the ground to use your earth bending to figure out exactly where you both were. Once you felt the vibrations, you realized you were too far to even locate the others or even the competition grounds. You guys were lost.

“We’re too far away from everything Katsuki. We should look around a bit and see if we can find our way back.” Bakugou held onto your wrist before you walked again.

“You owe me an explanation when all of this is over, Y/N.” He quietly said with a sad tone.

“...I owe you a lot more than that Katsuki. But I will be giving you an explanation...and with how far we are away from everyone, I might have time to give it to you sooner than you think.” You explained. You and Bakugou walked on with heavy hearts but the both of you both had the exact same question ringing in your minds.

‘What are we now?’

—

You both walked for miles and yet you still got nowhere. Everytime you stopped and checked to see where you guys were, it felt like you guys just got farther away from everyone. You silently begged for Rumor to just find you and regretted not having him just shrink down to a mouse to carry around.

Bakugou trailed behind you. His crying had gone on for some time but eventually stopped, however when it did, his sadness was replaced with anger. He was pissed. He doesn’t know where he was, what he’s doing, what’s going on, and he doesn’t even know who he’s with right now. He’s basically with a stranger at the moment.

Eventually, it grew dark and the sun had set while the moon had began to rise. While you continued to look for a way back, Bakugou was aware of his surroundings and stopped you by grabbing onto your arm.

“Stop walking, moron. Can’t you see it’s dark?” He said as he looked at you with a bored expression. You turned back and scoffed at him in disbelief.

“We’re lost. We have no idea where we are and have no idea how to get back. If we stop now, we’ll lose time and it’ll take forever to get back. And who knows what’s happening now to our classmates?!” You exclaimed. Bakugou shook his head at you when you finished.

“They’re my classmates. Not yours,” truthfully, saying that broke him a bit, but he had to continue, “and if we keep going, we’ll die out here in the wild. We should find a safe place to sleep for the night and find some fire wood to keep warm. Maybe get some food to fight off hunger.”

“We’ll be fine if we keep going. I’ve survived the streets before, we’ll be okay.” You said and attempted to walk again but Bakugou held you back.

“Well this isn’t the streets Y/N. There isn’t a store full of food we can rob when we’re hungry and there isn’t an overhead tunnel at every turn that we can sleep in. This is a forest. So just shut up and listen to me.” He said, his grip on your arm slightly getting tighter. You winced the tiniest bit and Bakugou saw as he quickly took his hand off your arm. He cringed at his action but shook off the bad thoughts. “C’mon, let’s go. We gotta find some shelter.”

You thought about it for a bit and realized he was right. This wasn’t the city. You sighed and bit the inside of your cheek before answering. “Okay.”

As you silently trailed behind Bakugou, you realized you just followed him blindly. It was like he read your mind when he spoke again. “I saw a cave awhile back. We’ll camp out there. Along the way let’s just collect some firewood whenever we see some.”

You followed his orders and by the time you guys made it to the cave, you were all set to sleep. You collected wood for a fire and even leaf piles to sleep on. As you both entered the cave, Bakugou set up your sleeping area and you started the fire with your bending. Once you were done you took a seat infront of the fire and just stared at the bright flame. Here you were in a cave with your....well now you were back to where you started with him. You didn’t know what you two were anymore.

Bakugou finished with the leaves and when he turned around, he saw you sitting on the ground with a blank look. He looked at you with sad eyes and a broken heart before he sighed and sat in-front of you on the other side of the fire. You looked towards him in confusion as to why he sat but then it came to you.

“Talk.” He said as he looked towards you. You stared at him and saw he was working to build up his walls again as if he was preparing himself for disappointment. He was smart for doing so though because disappointment was exactly what he would be feeling. That and probably some severe heartache. You pressed your lips together with a sad look on your face as you came to the conclusion that there was no avoiding the truth now.

“....I’m not who you think I am.” You said and it was like the air thickened as you watched how his jaw clenched and his eyes teared behind his mask.

“My name is Y/N L/N, I’m 16....and I’m a member of the League of Villains,” Bakugou’s breath stilled as he heard the words leave your mouth. He already heard it once but hearing it now as confirmation hurt.

“The story I told you when we were in the kitchen that night was all true. I just left out some details and kind of switched the story around. The place I was born in was a hidden village. The people there had the abilities to control the 4 elements. My parents had me but were killed by the cult I mentioned before. They took my people in so they could use their abilities to create the weapons, but me being so young, I had no idea how to control them. Eventually, I discovered I was the one who could bend all 4 elements instead of just one....I discovered I was the avatar.” You breathed out.

“The avatar?” Bakugou scoffed, “the bridge between the spirit world and physical world? The person destined to bring peace to the world? That’s nothing but a legend.”

“Wellll then I guess I’m a legend so thank you for that compliment.” You said and Bakugou stared at you in shock. He was sitting with the actual avatar. “Blah blah blah, trained with a master, blah blah blah, and that’s when the league found me. They saw my abilities and took me in. But you don’t get to live in the league’s hideout once you join. You work your way up the food chain and so I had to live on the streets and do their dirty work to prove myself. I did it for survival, but in the end, being a villain was all I knew. So I stuck to it. I officially became a member and I eventually became Titania, the best female villain alive.”

“....Why did you come to UA?” He asked.

“I didn’t want to. I came for a job. Aizawa and I were fighting when he took me away while I was injured and offered to take me in and put me in school. Said he saw good in me....obviously he was wrong considering the only thing that triggered me to go was the fact that there was an opportunity to take down UA and prove myself to the league.” You explained. You noticed Bakugou kept quiet and bit his lip as he seemed to have shook a little before asking the next question.

“...What about me? What part did I play in this fucking game you got going on?” He asked. You didn’t look at him the entire time. You kept your eyes on the fire and held a nonchalant face the entire time.

“You were the only part of my UA life that was genuine. I didn’t come here looking for a relationship and I didn’t need a relationship to take down UA.....but then you came into my life. You showed up and something about you...just made sense to me. And it gave me a comforting feeling I never got to experience before. You gave me a break from my chaotic life and it was the refresher I needed.” Bakugou blushed at your confession but still felt sorrow. Your feelings for him were true but that doesn’t change the fact that you lied to him and never told him who you truly were. You were also a villain while he was a hero trainee. This relationship was wrong. He dropped his head as tears began to pool at his eyes.

“.....I still love you, Princess.” He confessed.

“I know...and I still love you Suki..”

“........WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LIE?!” He screamed as he stood up. “YOU LIED TO ME ABOUT WHO YOU WERE!”

“I did a lot of things but I have never lied to you about who I was or what I felt towards you,” you calmly said to his loud proclaims.

“BUT YOU DIDNT TELL ME THE TRUTH EITHER Y/N! ....You didn’t tell me anything. You left me in the dark. You made me fall in love with you...and now I don’t know what to do...” he sobbed out. “You’re a villain...my dream is to be the number one hero...but I love you...but it’s wrong for me to not put you behind bars.”

You just looked at him with a straight face but it was clear you were hurting as well. But you still continued to let him take his frustrations out on you.

“I’m sorry Katsuki..”

“SORRY ISNT GONNA FIX ME Y/N! SORRY ISNT GONNA MAKE ME STOP LOVING YOU! SORRY ISNT GONNA STOP ME FROM BEING ANY LESS CONFUSED!”

A silence fell over the two of you. Bakugou was so hurt and it was all your fault. He didn’t deserve this. None of them did. And yet you still followed through with this horrible plan. You knew what had to be done.

“Let’s just get some rest..we should start our search for home again in the morning,” you said as you got up and walked over to the sleeping area. But this only triggered Bakugou even more.

“Rest?! REST?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME Y/N?! YOU’RE JUST GONNA DROP THE CONVERSATION LIKE THIS ISNT FUCKING IMPORTANT?!,” he said with tears in his eyes as he stood and screamed at you.

“YES! THIS ISNT FUCKING IMPORTANT! IF IT ISNT OBVIOUS, WE’RE DONE. OVER. SO LETS JUST FORGET ABOUT THIS AND FOCUS ON FINDING OUR WAY HOME!” You screamed back. The cave grew empty as silence filled the air. Bakugou felt his heart die in his chest. He loved you, even though you were a villain he still loved you. He didn’t want this to be over..but you? You were really willing to drop this relationship? Just like that?

“So..that’s it? You’re not even gonna try for us anymore? You’re not even gonna fight for us to be together?” He asked with tears in his eyes.

“......there is no more ‘us’ anymore, Bakugou.”

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amara-scott · 3 years

Text

Confessions

Movie: Harry Potter (Maurauders Era) Characters: Remus Lupin x Reader Categories: Fluffy and Sweet

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It was a cold winter morning when Lilly woke me up to join her at breakfast. I groggily complied, following her without having exchanged a word. I am not a morning person. And she very much knows that. But she is my friend and leaving her to go alone on a Saturday morning would be too cruel. Simply because of one person. James Potter- we all know they are meant to be. They are both just too stubborn. Well, Lilly is. James would marry her right there and then.

"Thanks again, (y/n), you know I can't handle him. Especially not in the mornings." I just smirk, nodding.

But my smirk is wiped off my tired face as soon as I catch a glimpse of Remus. Remus Lupin. Aka the death of me. Those brown locks and shy smile drive me mad. Sure I didn't tell anybody, everyone would make fun of me for it. Just like they do with Potter and Evans. Besides, I know he doesn't feel the same. He has a huge crush on that Gryffindor Girl that has luscious golden locks and full, pouty lips. It's hopeless, really. But Lilly has other plans as she drags me with her, right up to the Marauders.

"Good morning, beautiful Lilly-flower. How did you sleep?" There's the reason why I'm here.

"Shut it Potter, not today." Lilly mutters as she sits down opposite him and pulls me down next to her. Her small blush obvious to everyone. I sit down. Right next to Remus. I try not to show my excitement. Or how nervous I've gotten all of a sudden. And definitely not turn toward him.

It must have been too forced which is why Sirius sends a smirk my way. I raise an eyebrow in return.

“Why so tense, (Y/N)? Can’t handle the beauty in front of you? You seem overwhelmed-“

“Actually, let me stop you right there, Sirius. Nothing of the above.” Remus chuckles next to me but it turns into a muffled cough, which catches my attention and I can’t help and turn too look at him. The first time I really do today. And a sense of hurt fills me as I see his scared face. Another rough night. I lift a hand to touch his shoulder but decide against it mid-air.

“Remus, are you alright?” He doesn’t glance back just pokes at his food and still holding a fist to his lips after the cough. He shakes his head and ignores my question. I frown and turn back forward, trying to feel hungry. Actually, trying to feel anything but a void in my stomach. And hurt. He never ignored me. Sure, he is frank sometimes and maybe doesn’t always looks me in the eye when we talk but- he never once ignored me.

“Soo, are we going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?” James asks, trying to cut the tension at the table but I can’t hold it in anymore and am scared they will see my glossy eyes.

I shake my head and stand up briefly. “Sorry.” I speed walk down the table and out of the Great Hall. I only stop once I reached the common room and decide to sit on the couch until classes would start. Who needs food anyway. I bury my head in a book and nearly miss to leave for our first class. Potions. Funny enough this is the only class I usually sit next to Remus because James sat next to Lilly the first time. Now I slow down my walk and hope he might have switched seats. When I enter though Remus is glancing around until his eyes land on me. I freeze for a second but gulp down my nerves and take my usual seat next to him.

It’s quite for a while. I don’t look over and he doesn’t say anything. Not even raising his hand when I can clearly see he did his homework and knows the correct answer.

A paper ball lands on his side of the desk which catches my attention. I don’t want to be nosey so I don’t try to read what’s written there. But I get where it must have come from by the look he is sending over to Sirius. Sirius gestures wildly at him, looking stern and I frown until he points over to me and our eyes meet- he quickly whips his hand up and ruffles his hair, sending me an awkward smile with a wave. Then turns back around.

I frown but don’t question it any further, trying to also ignore the eyes I feel on the side of my face. I Scribble down on my parchment but can’t help and notice Remus clearing his throat a couple times. After the third time I sigh and glance up. He’s wringing his fingers below the table and his eyes dart up as he sees me looking up. His eyes growing wide for a second before he sends me a small, uneasy smile.

“Hey.” He whispers. I can’t help but let my gaze linger on the scar below his eye. It looks painful and I quickly relax my face as I notice I’ve been cringing at him.

“Hi.” I reply and have to send a smile back. I can’t stop myself. He does that to me. Goofball. I am about to turn back to our task as he opens his mouth, inhaling- as if to say something. But he stops himself.

I raise a brow at him and wait. “What’s up?” Is add, trying to encourage him to keep going.

“I- I just-“ he smiles down at his hands and turns toward me slightly, “-I wanted to apologize. You probably think I’m absolutely rude and, and insufferable-“

He wants to ramble on but I glance up to the podium to see McGonogall sending us a suspicious look. I turn back to Remus, taking one of his fidgety hands and he stops talking, looking down at our hands.

“Remus, it’s okay. I still like you- let’s get back to work and talk later, alright?” I give him another small smile and he sighs, sending one back, nodding.

It took a short moment longer before I let go off his hand and turn back forward. I shield my warm cheeks from his view with my hair covering them now. The grin on my face suppressed.

___

“So- who’s up for a ride on our magnificent sled this fine evening?” James asks as he rounds the couch of the common room where Lilly and I sit, reading and talking. Our eyes go up to him as Sirius joins his side, throwing an arm over his shoulder and sending us mischievous smile. I roll my eyes and glance over to Lilly who’s sighing. But she wears a smile, her eyes finding mine.

“What do you say?” She asks me and I shrug my shoulders, standing up and throwing the book onto the soft cushioned couch.

“Why not, it’s beautiful outside.”

“Remus is coming as well~” Sirius is singing teasingly as he walks off with James to get ready, but not without winking at me over his shoulder. My eyes grow wide at his remark. Does he know? I tried really hard to hide that crush.

“-(Y/N)? Let’s go, come on.” Lilly pulls me out of my trance and pulls me after her at my sleeve.

“So, what’s that with you and Remus?” She asks, a small grin on her lips.

“What do you mean? Nothings going on.” I reply, maybe too quickly because Lilly sends me another big goofy grin and I roll my eyes, as she rummages through her stuff, throwing a beanie at me and one of her gryffindor scarfs.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” She mumbles and we jog back down to the common room, waiting for the boys.

As they join us, James picks up a squealing Lilly and runs ahead. Sirius carries the sleds and nods at us. “See you there, losers.” He runs off as well, yelling after them. Now it’s just Remus and me. Peter needed to rest, he’s been sick for a few days already, enjoying his peace in Madame Pomfrey’s Medical Wing.

“Are you going anywhere special this Christmas?” I ask, trying to cut the tension I felt growing. I loved that we quietly, without saying a word, decided not to run after them. We kept walking normally.

“No, just staying home, what about you?” I bury my hands deep in my pockets as we step outside, the wind instantly blowing across our skin.

“No, neither do we. My grandparents are coming over this year tho, so- that will be interesting.” I mumble and he chuckles, I glance up at him.

“I couldn’t hear what you were saying.” I realize I’ve talked into my scarf and push it down a little, my face now warm anyway.

“Hey! Watch out-“ I can’t even look at the source of the voice when a snowball hits me right on the cheek. I stumble, squeezing my eyes shut but Remus holds me before I slip.

I blink my eyes open, Remus wiping at my cheek, frowning. “Are you alright?” I nod quickly, staring into his warm eyes.

“Guys, come on!” Sirius whines and runs over.

“Seriously, be more careful Sirius.” Remus mumbles, quite annoyed as he turns to him, his hand leaving my hair, where he had also tried to get the snow wiped away.

“Aw, are you mad I threw snow at your girlfriend?” He smirks and folds his arms. I stare at the icy ground now and Remus says something under his breath while bending down and collecting a pile of snow, Sirius quickly runs off and giggles. Remus runs after him, holding his beanie as it’s slipping off.

“Get back here, Black!”

I hide my smile behind the scarf and walk toward where Lilly is watching James, who seems to struggle with a spell. He rearranged his glasses, his cheeks slightly tinted pink as he sends a shy smile over to Lilly. “I nearly got it.”

“Hey, why aren’t you sledding yet?” I ask as I join Lilly’s side.

“James wanted to make the sled bigger so- more people could fit on. But-“

“-I nearly got it, okay?” He clears his throat again and gulps. He gets so flustered, trying to prove himself to Lilly. It’s absolutely adorable. “Enlargio!”

I take a step back and Lilly follows suit. The sled grows in size, not too much either. Well, I guess successful?

“See?” He smirks and gestures toward his accomplishment. Lilly claps, her mittens muting the sound.

“Well done, you mighty wizard.” I add and he glares over, taking a pile of snow quickly. I hold my hands up.

“Sorry, sorry, please don’t- I already got enough snow in my face for today.” He chuckles and we look over to Remus still running after Sirius, he finally tackles him to the ground and pushes a snowball into Sirius’ face. We all laugh at the scene and walk over, up the hill.

“Hey, let poor Sirius go, I think he learned his lesson.” Lilly states and I nod, smirking at Remus as he stands up, out of breath, just as Sirius.

The latter stands up too, wiping himself off the snow and flares at Remus.

“What was that for anyway?” James asks and Sirius smirks through his white lashes.

“Yeah, Remus, what for?”

“I just- just don’t be so rude to-“

“-to, (Y/N)?” Sirius finishes for him and I roll my eyes, Remus sighing.

“Yes.” He grits out and I raise a brow at them both. They are standing now, facing each other again, Remus looking ready to throw another snowball if Sirius kept talking. And Sirius- well he just doesn’t know when to stop.

“Why don’t you just tell her that you like her? Maybe then I’ll stop.” He grabs more snow and strides my way, throwing a look over his shoulder at Remus. I shriek and turn, running away. But I am no way as fast as he is. He grabs me around my waist with one arm and lifts me up, laughing as I try to wriggle free. He holds his other hand close to my face, turning us to face the others.

“Come on Remus, you know what to do-“

“Sirius, stop, I’m gonna get sick-“

“I like her, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“Don’t tell me, Remus, tell her-“ Sirius turns me further and I stop struggling, looking at Remus. He seems in conflict but shuts is eyes for a moment. When he looks back at me he gulps and steps forward.

“I- I really like you. A lot.” I want to throw my scarf and beanie off, that’s how hot I got and run toward him. Telling him I feel the same. But before I can even say anything I feel cold snow. My eyes back closed. I step on his foot now causing Sirius to finally let me go.

Remus is by my side once again and helps me with the snow. “I’ll kill him.” He whispers and runs his thumb across my cheek.

“You may. But- not without-“ I lean up and holds his face as I press a kiss to his lips. Brief but all I needed to tell him I return the feelings. He smiles down at me, his face now warm and eyes lingering on my lips and back up my eyes.

“I’ll be right back.” He adds quietly and runs around me, Sirius not noticing at first so they both stumble to the ground and throw snow at each other.

Lilly walks up and James follows suit. “Well, that took longer than expected- I owe Peter 5 galleons now.” I whip my head toward him and frown, he looks back at me, startled. “Did I say that out loud?” I nod at him. “Oh oh.” He turns around and runs off, me hot on his heels and Lilly joins me.

“Come back here, Potter!”

_________________________________

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#imagine #remus lupin x reader #remus imagine #remus x reader #maurauders #maurauders era

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givemeweasley · 3 years

Text

The Mailing Voice

Fred Weasley x Reader

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: Death and lots of angst, if you’re not tryna cry keep it moving

-----

Until you were eleven, you didn’t know magic existed.

The magic you knew of was in fairy tales with a beautiful princess or an evil sorceress. Handsome princes coming to rescue the damsel in distress. Magic was something to be dreamed of as you fell asleep, not something to be learned or realized.

Then you got a letter in the mail and it changed your life.

Someone from what they called the Ministry of Magic came to explain the circumstances to you and your family. How you possessed magical abilities and were to be educated at a school called Hogwarts.

You went expecting to be exposed to ways to manipulate the world around you with only a wand at your disposal, you didn’t expect yourself to encounter the one magic you cherished above all others.

Love.

Fred Weasley was at first just a friend, a comfort to someone who didn’t grow up in the magical world. Fred and George took you in and made you feel safe. When you were all pronounced Gryffindors, that bond strengthened.

You cheered for them at their Quidditch matches, you suffered detentions together, you studied in the library, ate in the Great Hall, and you even spent summers with them at the Burrow.

Life was brighter with them around, but it was Fred that held your heart. And one sunny day at the pond behind the Burrow, he told you how you held his own heart.

From that day on, the two of you were inseparable. He was truly your soulmate. The prince to your princess. The person you had dreamed of since before you knew magic to be real.

“Y/N?”

You blinked away your tears before looking up into George's face. His eyes were red around the edges and you tried hard not to let your own brokenness show.

“You ready?” He spoke softly.

Your throat closed up rendering you unable to speak. So you nodded instead and grabbed his offered arm. He was clad in a black suit and forgetting the circumstances, he had never looked better. You nervously brushed off nonexistent dirt off your own black outfit. George cleared his throat.

“You look beautiful, Y/N.”

You fought the tears that threatened to readily spill at the slightest provocation as you looked up at George. It was the first time you had really looked at George since- since the incident.

In a lot of ways, you saw the love of your life. But in the ways that truly mattered, he was gone. But you knew you weren’t the only one breaking. So you gathered what little courage was left and spoke.

“So do you, George.” It came out splintered and cracking, but he heard all the same. A soft smile curled his lips.

“No one’s ever told me I looked beautiful before.” The joke made you crack a hint of a smile as well. It gave you a little more strength to face what lay outside.

As George pushed open the door of the Burrow and led you outside, you had a moment where you saw something different.

Instead of rows of people dressed in black crying over what was gone, they were dressed in bright colors crying over what was to come. You would’ve been escorted by your father, not George. Dressed in a beautiful white gown that complimented every inch of your body. You’d be holding daffodils and sunflowers, not a single white rose.

You’d be gazing into the eyes of the man you loved with a smile on your face, instead of blankly staring at the black casket that lay at the end of the grassy aisle.

Finally, George sat you down and made his way up to a small podium. You didn’t really know how many people showed up, nor could you care enough to look behind you to see. Your eyes were glued on the final resting place of the future you could’ve had.

“I just wanted to say thank you for coming as we-” George cleared his throat again before exhaling and continuing. “As we lay to rest a man who meant a lot of things to a lot of people. For some he was an inspiration with his brilliant inventions and ideas, for others he was a friend who showed unwavering loyalty and love to those he cared about, and for an even smaller few he was family who pranked and teased us all until we couldn’t stand him but couldn’t help loving him still, for me-” George let a tear slip down his cheek silently. “For me, he was the best twin anyone could ask for. There are things I will never know how to put into words, and Fred and I’s bond is one of those things.” He looked down at the podium as if he couldn’t stand to look at anyone anymore, before glancing backwards at the casket. But despite his head being turned, everyone heard the next words he spoke quite clearly. “It seems so unnatural to be born together and to die apart.”

Whatever tears you had fought so hard to contain spilled down in waves at that.

George turned completely and laid a hand on his brother's casket. “I miss you already, Fred.” Before he came and sat down next to you.

You grabbed George’s hand and clutched it tightly. The only sense of comfort was felt in that connection between your hands. You tried so hard to tune out the sobs of everyone behind you and the words spoken by the others. Your heart was already so broken.

Instead you managed to tear your eyes away from the casket and gaze upwards into the sky. It seemed awfully unfair that the sky was filled with beautiful full white clouds, the sun shining brightly between them. The sky was stark blue and almost glimmered with brightness. Everything was beautiful, and you hated that it seemed like the earth didn’t care about its loss. You hated that somewhere, there was someone who didn’t know that he died and your world would forever be changed.

After everyone had finished their remarks, the casket was lowered into the ground, and people began to leave after approaching you and George to express their deepest condolences.

You sat in that uncomfortable chair until the sun began to set, you didn’t even notice George had already gone too until you heard him from behind you.

“Should I tell her to come inside?” He whispered, barely loud enough for you to hear.

“She’ll come inside when she’s ready, dear.” Mrs. Weasley responded.

“But-”

“Let her be.”

But you wondered if you would ever be ready when you so badly wanted to crawl into the casket and lay beside him. You didn’t know if you could live without him.

Shakily, you stood and sat down on the grass beside the now covered grave. You brushed the dirt and the headstone gently.

“I’m scared, Fred.” You whispered so softly you knew not a soul on Earth would’ve heard you. “I’m scared I’m going to forget what you looked like. How your nose was more straight or how your eyes were less slanted at the edges. I’m scared I’m going to forget your voice and how it sounded in my ear at night in bed when you told me you loved me. I’m scared I’m going to forget how you felt. That the calluses on your hands, which are so familiar to me I could count the ridges, will be forgotten in time too. How it felt to be in your arms and how your lips tasted. How your shampoo smelled fresh after a shower. I’m so scared, Fred.” You swallowed as the tears poured down your faces watering the soil below you. “I don’t wanna forget you.”

At that your head collapsed into your hands as sobs wracked your body. Your body was shaking and heaving as you mourned. You felt so hollow. So lost.

And then you felt arms wrap around you.

You leaned into the embrace as your tears began to slow and you began to hiccup. You didn’t know who it was, but you were glad they were there with you.

“I love him.” You murmured, staring down through the dirt into a face that would never smile again.

“I love him, too.” Mrs. Weasley cried softly pressing a kiss into your hair. You turned and wrapped your arms around her before breaking into tears again.

The two of your cried there together until the sky was dark and your shadows were cast by the stars that cried with you.

-----

You stayed with the Weasleys for a week before returning to your flat in London. George offered you to come live with him above the shop, one that you readily accepted.

Stepping into your apartment felt like stepping into a past life. There were takeout boxes on the coffee table, papers and bills on the kitchen counter. There was an open box of Fred’s favorite cereal still sitting in the last place he left it. The pictures of the both of you and your Hogwarts friends littered the flat.

And it was so quiet.

You picked up the one you begged Colin to take of the two of you at the Yule Ball. You were laughing wildly as Fred dipped you and kissed you heatedly. Your fingers ran over the picture before setting it down again.

“Twelve new voicemails.” Your answering machine called out. You already knew they would be one of two things: condolences or bills.

But you needed a distraction.

So you softly made your way into the kitchen where the phone hung on the wall.

A short memory flew to the forefront of your mind when you taught Fred how to use a phone when you still lived with your parents. They didn’t mind Owls, but you figured if you could teach Fred how to use a phone it would make your correspondence quicker. He loved it. He used to yell into it in broken English like he wasn’t sure if the telephone could be trusted with full sentences.

But he eventually got the hang of it.

It made you smile even as tears gathered in your eyes once more.

You pressed the button that played all the messages.

“Hey, Y/N. Just wanted to check up on how you were doing. Call me when you feel up to chatting.” Hermione's voice rang out over the speaker.

The next few were bills, as you predicted. Another several after that were more condolences that you couldn’t bear to listen to in their entirety.

You pressed the button to the last, but for a few seconds nothing happened. You sighed and walked away to your bedroom so you could begin packing.

You were in the living room when you heard him.

“Y/N?”

Your head snapped to the kitchen.

“I- um- am not sure if this will work. But I wanted to leave you a mailing voice. I don’t know how things are going to go today and just in case, I wanted to give you something to remember me by. If-” You heard yelling in the background. “ONE SECOND!” He shouted before his voice softened again. “If I don’t make it, I love you. I love you more than pranks or the shop. Don’t tell George I said it, but I love you more than George. I don’t want to leave you, and I don’t think I will-”

You fell to the floor sobbing.

“But if I do, I know you’ll be okay. You’re stronger than me. Just don’t forget to be happy. I’d hate to think that I make the woman I love sad for the rest of her life. Especially when I’ve made it my life's work to make people laugh.”

“FRED!” You heard George shout.

“I’M COMING, YOU GIT!” He shouted back. A laugh bubbled out from between your lips. “Anyway, love, I’ve got to go. I love you and I’ll see you soon.”

You stared at the voicemail machine for longer than what would be deemed normal. But for the first time in weeks, you felt a sliver of peace within your chest. He wanted you to be happy.

You knew you couldn’t do that today, or even tomorrow.

But you knew that one day, you would remember how.

Taglist: @huffledor-able541 @sarcasticallywitty15

#Fred Weasley fic #Fred Weasley x reader #fred weasley #fw #angst #Fred Weasley imagine #George weasley #Harry Potter #Harry Potter fic #x reader #fred weasley x reader

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seokiloquy · 3 years

Text

The Language of Flowers Pt 3 - Tsukishima Kei

AU: Gang/Organized Crime

Requested (kind of? multiple people + myself lol)

Tags/Warnings: FEM! Reader, innuendos, mild swearing, mild (ish?) violent descriptions/use of guns

*Note on the poem* I found this on Google and tried to find out who wrote it but I couldn’t. So, if you recognize this and know who wrote, please let me know so that I can give credit. Also, I added an “and” :)

Word Count: 16k+

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3

Love’s Flower

It started with a budding friendship between two lonely souls,

And a cautious relationship of two former foes.

The blossoming of love’s flower covered in delicate thorns.

We nurtured and tended it and it soon grew

Into a blossom of love sweet and true.

My precious flower, I am so blessed that I found you.

“Again,” said Tsukishima.

Padded mats covered the practice room floor, providing a thin layer of protection from the hard ground below. (Y/N) groaned and rubbed their eyes before melting into the ready stance that Tsukishima had taught her. Across from her, Hinata stood head-to-toe in protective gear and a pair of punching mitts in front of him. Both of them were panting heavily as sweat dripped down their foreheads. They’ve been at this for hours.

It had been four months since (Y/N) had found out about Tsukishima’s leadership of the Karasuno gang and the incident happened—Tsukishima was shot and (Y/N) was injured.

During that time, she would come over each week, give him flowers, and then he would make her train for a bit—teaching her to defend herself and ways to fight back if necessary. (Y/N) had been a little apprehensive for Tsukishima to even train her, especially during his recovery, so they started small.

Most of the time, it would just be her, Tsukishima (sitting on a chair), and a punching bag; other times they were joined by another Karasuno member so that she could practise against another person.

Today, Hinata had drawn the short straw, but even so, anyone who was curious came to watch. Then, each time after training, without fail, she would fuss over Tsukishima for getting out of bed for too long. (Y/N) tried to hold back as he got better, but she would remind him that he was still recovering; not just physically, but mentally too. (Y/N) didn’t care that he had gotten shot before or had suffered the worst injuries, it would still take a toll on him over time whether he believed it or not. The least she could do was protect him in her own way.

(Y/N) had been a ball of fire at that time. While Sawamura and Ennoshita dealt with most of the business end of Tsukishima’s life, she made sure everyone rested and ate in her time of taking care of Tsukishima.

Even now, he was sitting down now per (Y/N)’s request. (He was always reluctant, but she had told him that if he didn’t ‘sit his ass in that chair’ she would leave). The Karasuno members took much joy in that.

They held off going into in-depth conversations while Tsukishima was still recovering; however, they did decide earlier on that both of them wanted to continue their relationship. It was one of the first things they spoke about.

Then, once he was out of the wheelchair, he and (Y/N) spent a lot of time talking about their relationship. Some were short, like whether or not she wanted to know about what they did in full—that was a hard no on her end, except if it concerned her directly (which she didn’t think would happen)—and some were much longer and still ongoing, like the one they had about safety—that one led to a huge argument.

Despite that argument, (Y/N) liked the training she was being put through. She felt stronger and more sure of herself. In a way, she was thankful for the training, but she was definitely not letting Tsukishima know that; though, a part of her felt like Tsukishima already knew that, the way he did with most things.

(Y/N) also knew that she was getting pretty good at it regardless of Tsukishima’s grunts and hums of disapproval. Every now and then, when she caught a glimpse of him, there would be a faint smile playing on his lips—the one where if you were to blink, you’d miss it.

“This seems like a cruel and unusual punishment,” Hinata mumbled, but slipped on the punching mitts and fell into a back stance, bracing himself.

(Y/N) ran through the routine one more time. Hinata was a lot stronger than he looked, small but packed a powerful punch and deflected her hits with ease.

“Good,” Tsukishima announced, standing up and stepping onto the mat.

(Y/N) made a face. She would have believed his claims more if she didn’t notice the little limp in his step and the flinch in his face when he stood up.

(Y/N) pushed her feelings aside and looked around. She saw hints of pride on the other Karasuno members faces. She had grown close and comfortable to the group within the few months, learning their names slowly and small personal things about them. They were the ones who dropped her off and picked her up at her flower shop; and the ones who were stationed outside of said flower shop, which was an entire other argument between (Y/N) and Tsukishima.

At first, she was angry at him for assuming that she needed any form of protection. She had lived by herself for a while now and nothing bad happened. (Y/N) didn’t know why Tsukishima heavily insisted upon it and every time she would ask, he would give half-answers. Ones that were true, but never gave the full information.

But she also saw how much it relaxed Tsukishima once she—begrudgingly—agreed to both the training and the Karasuno members were trailing her. It was like a weight she couldn’t see was lifted off his shoulders. This was something that I could sacrifice, (Y/N) thought, this was something that I could control that kept everyone a little safer.

That also led to the Karasuno members spending a lot of time in her shop, cleaning up and organizing the flowers while they were there. Most of the time, they asked her for things to do like they weren’t used to sitting still. (Y/N) didn’t mind having them around. Maybe she should ask them to help repaint the shop.

Everyone around her had come to love flowers, and she had come to love everyone around her.

Tsukishima was by her side in a moment. He looked at her fondly and reached up to tuck some loose hair behind her ear. He was hesitant to show affections like this in front of Karasuno, but as their relationship grew, he seemed to let his guard down and do it almost automatically. “You did well, (Y/N).”

(Y/N) unconsciously wrapped an arm around his waist. She felt the subtle lean of his weight and compressed a smile.

“Hey!” Hinata protested, taking off his protective gear. “Why don’t you ever tell me that when I train! I never got my hair tucked behind my ear with affection when I did well.”

(Y/N) laughed.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes and turned his attention back on (Y/N). “Are you going to stay for a bit? We can order food.”

“She gets food too?” Hinata exclaimed, throwing down his gear dramatically. “Unfair.”

(Y/N) looked over at Hinata and smiled. “It’s food for everyone.” She looked pointedly at Tsukishima. “Right, Kei?”

Tsukishima huffed and tugged on a piece of (Y/N)’s hair. “I guess.”

“Oh,” she added, “thank you for helping me Hinata.”

Hinata beamed and patted his chest proudly. “Anytime (Y/N)!”

“Do you want to shower before we eat? You can use the one in my room if you want,” Tsukishima said.

(Y/N) smirked and arched an eyebrow. “Why? Want to join me?”

Tsukishima froze, heat rising to his cheeks. His mouth kept opening and closing like a computer glitching.

“I like it when you’re here, (Y/N),” said Kageyama, coming to join their little group in the center of the mats. He crossed his arms and had a smug look on his face. The semi-crowd around them had dispersed and everyone went to do their own things, taking up their own training. “When you’re here, Tsukishima is always a little speechless. It’s amusing.”

Regaining his composure, Tsukishima grumbled, “You’ve been spending too much time with them, (Y/N). They’re bad influences.”

(Y/N) giggled. She leaned into Tsukishima ever so slightly, resting her head against his arm. “I’m just joking Kei. And yes, I would like to shower.” She nudged him in the direction of the door. “Walk me?”

She twisted back just enough to high five Kageyama before walking off with Tsukishima through the door. He had pulled away from her and interlocked their hands instead.

Though she had been in and out of the building for a couple of months, (Y/N) still got confused in the hallways; someone always had to lead her to the correct doors, exits, and entrances. Every turn looked the same and all the doors were unmarked. The walls were a dull off-white colour that made (Y/N) frown whenever she looked around. The flowers that used to line the hallways died once Tsukishima got injured and couldn't tend to them. Maybe she should teach the other members some flower etiquette and caretaking.

“Can I put flowers in the halls? I keep getting lost….” she asked. It would add some much-needed colour to the place and mark the hallways like landmarks.

Tsukishima smiled. “You can do whatever you’d like.”

“Great!” she said, turning the corner with Tsukishima, which led to a dead-end with an elevator. Tsukishima hit the up button. “I was thinking of putting red roses that lead to the elevators and hallways that lead up to your room. Oh! And maybe some sunflowers near the common room. It’s always so dark in there. I’ll need tables or more podiums—”

Tsukishima laughed, his shoulders shaking as he did.

She frowned. “Why are you laughing?”

He shook his head, grinning brightly like sunflowers. “I just—I really love listening to you talk. It’s like music.”

(Y/N) looked away, heat rising to their cheeks, as the elevator doors opened. He led her inside and hit the button to the top floor. Once the door closed, he turned so that he was facing her, leaving barely any space between them.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi.”

“You shouldn’t be walking.”

He smiled. “I shouldn’t?”

“Yes. I read that if you don’t rest properly during your recovery, then you could worsen your injuries and—”

“(Y/N),” he said gently, “we talked about this.”

She let out a puff of annoyance. “I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

Tsukishima raised his hand and brushed her cheek gently with the back of his fingers. He traced her jaw down to her chin and placed two fingers under it, tilting it up slowly. “I don’t want you to get hurt, ever.”

(Y/N) closed her eyes. She had seen him train before. He fought with full force, fiercely like a lion. She had seen him knock someone to the ground with little force—the night they had met. And she had no doubt he was capable of more, more that she didn’t want to know and couldn’t imagine. That was another conversation they avoided, one that she never wanted to bring up.

She couldn’t see Tsukishima, the one in front of her, the one that held her hand, the one who whispered bad jokes in her ear and wanted to know more about flowers, hurt anyone. It was the only part of herself where she allowed such ignorance.

“You shouldn’t tease me in front of everyone,” he said in a voice low.

“Really?” (Y/N) smirked, moving closer so they were touching. His heart pounded against her chest. She could feel the rise and fall of his breath. “I thought you said I could do whatever I’d like.”

Tsukishima matched her smirk. “Maybe we should renegotiate?”

Before she could answer, Tsukishima lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers gently, as if he was asking for permission to kiss her. In a quick motion, (Y/N) wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips fully against his.

He smiled into the kiss as he slid his arms around her, bringing her closer and holding her tighter. His lips were soft against her own. (Y/N) moved her hand to cup his cheek. She heard the ding of the elevator and was about to pull away, but Tsukishima only turned his head to deepen the kiss, his hand slipping down to her waist. (Y/N)’s hand slid up into his hair.

Someone cleared their throat loudly.

(Y/N) jumped back, her face burning. Tsukishima remained composed, though, she noted, a light dusting of pink rested on his cheeks.

(Y/N) turned and saw a half-amused, half-embarrassed Sawamura on the other side of the elevator holding a file.

“Who’s speechless now?” Tsukishima whispered in her ear.

She glared at him. “Shut up.”

Sawamura cleared his throat again. “Sorry to, uh, interrupt. But I need to borrow Tsukishima.”

(Y/N) stepped out of the elevator and gestured for him to take her place.

“You know your way there right?” Tsukishima asked, straightening out his glasses that had become skewed. “And you can add all the flowers or podiums you like, (Y/N), anywhere.”

She clicked her tongue and then smiled. “I guess I’ll have to make do without you in the shower.”

Sawamura’s eyebrows shot up but he didn’t say anything.

The corner of Tsukishima’s lips tugged up. “Wait for me in the room after your shower, okay? I won’t be long. I’ll take you to your store and we can look for flowers to bring here.”

“Take your time,” she said. “I’ll wait for you.”

“Don’t,” Tsukishima said once the elevator door closed.

Sawamura smirked and pressed an elevator button. “I didn’t say anything.”

He handed Tsukishima the file wordlessly. Tsukishima had sent Sawamura to gather information about the shooting three months ago. Random shootings didn’t just happen, not since Tsukishima had become the leader of Karasuno.

The blond opened the file.

“It took some time, but we found the car,” Sawamura said looking forward, crossing his arms. Tsukishima noticed he did that a lot, like an automatic defensive pose. “It was abandoned in another prefecture, completely trashed, no license plate either. Just a one-use type thing. No way to trace who it belonged to. I double-checked with Nishinoya and he thought the same thing I did.”

“That it belongs to her?”

Sawamura sighed. “There’s no way to prove it, but yeah, we think so.”

Tsukishima nodded. “Yamaguchi was right then.”

Sawamura barked out a laugh. “The kid knows his stuff. It’s a wonder how he’s still alive.”

“He’s only alive because she wants him to be. The moment that stops…”

“I know.” The light tone faded out of Sawamura’s voice. He didn’t like the situation any more than Tsukishima did. Though he was one of the last members to join, Sawamura had become one of Tsukishima’s most trusted people. Tsukishima didn’t realize how much he relied on him until one day when Sawamura was injured and took some time to heal. That was the most hectic two weeks of his life since becoming a leader.

Sawamura cocked his head to the side as the elevator opened. The two stepped out and headed toward the common room. “From what you told me about her, Yamaguchi’s former boss, I think you should tell (Y/N).”

Tsukishima gritted his teeth. “It doesn’t concern her.”

Sawamura pivoted so that he was standing in front of Tsukishima. They were just in front of the common room doors. Tsukishima could hear Nishinoya and Hinata’s loud voices carry through the hallway. “I think you’re wrong.”

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes. “Watch yourself Daichi.”

“Kei. You have a personal connection to this person. The person who knew where you and (Y/N) had your date, the person who killed Yamaguchi’s sister,” Sawamura shot back. His voice was unwavering against Tsukishima.

“What’s your point?”

“How is what she did any different from how you’re retaliating against her? Or how Yamaguchi wants revenge and how we’re helping him achieve it,” he continued. “The easiest path to revenge is through the people they care about and that includes the person who is currently taking a shower in your room. It may not concern her now, but it will eventually.”

Tsukishima bit his tongue.

“You see it, don’t you? Somehow, they are watching what you do, Tsukishima, and who do you spend all your free time with?” Sawamura paused and took a breath. “I have a bad feeling about it and I haven’t been wrong before, you know that.”

“I’m not telling you this to be an ass, okay?” Sawamura sighed. “I’m telling you this because you seem almost in denial about everything. I’m telling you this because (Y/N) deserves to know what she’s getting into. Fully. Not just the pretty little things.”

A silence filled the hallway. Tsukishima took a deep breath. He had promised not to lie to her, not to keep secrets and to tell her when things involved her. He had never broken a promise before and he wasn’t going to start with (Y/N).

It would be a tough conversation. He knew that once he told her, he would have to face all that he feared; the blood on his hands, the things he had to do and was never proud of.

Tsukishima couldn’t imagine how (Y/N) would react. A part of him didn’t want to tell her, to lie to her for the rest of his life, to keep her as far away from this as possible. It would be wrong if it began to involve her. Would he be able to live with himself if he didn’t tell?

“I’ll tell her the moment her name comes up,” he agreed.

“Good.” Sawamura nodded and placed a hand on the door handle. “What do we do now, boss?”

Tsukishima straightened his back. “What we always do. We plan and stay alive. You say they’re watching me? Maybe we should give them something to watch.”

Sawamura chuckled and patted Tsukishima on the shoulder.

“You really care about her don’t you?” said Sawamura softly. He turned back and gave Tsukishima a small half-smile before opening the door and stepping through it to join the rest of the members.

Tsukishima watched as he entered the room. The Karasuno members smiled at Sawamura and gathered in their usual way, around the table that sat in the center of the room. The room fell hushed but welcoming and warm. They respected him and he respected them.

“More than anything,” he whispered and stepped through the door.

Yamaguchi felt a lot more scared than he wanted to be.

The sad part was that he woke up that morning feeling pretty good. He had been left alone for the past couple days and was able to catch up on school work and visit his sister’s grave—the place where he had buried her ern, beside her favourite tree in the park they used to play in as children.

Tsukishima was warming up to him too; Yamaguchi could feel it. Tsukishima was never unkind, but he looked at Yamaguchi as if he had committed a crime and was kept at a distance. If only he could find out what that was about, then he’d be good to go.

The meeting they had three months ago lasted hours. Tsukishima had questioned and questioned him until his throat hurt from talking so much. Sure, Yamaguchi was a traitor, spilling the secrets he knew of his former gang, but he really couldn’t give two shits about it.

His sister was dead. He knew who did it. And he couldn’t do anything about it.

But Tsukishima could.

He even offered Yamaguchi to stay at Karasuno’s Headquarters until things settled down, somewhere far away from the heart of the building, but still a safe and warm place. However, he had wanted to stay as close to his apartment for as long as he could. Luckily, the neighbour next to him allowed him to sleep on their couch until the lease was up. She was a nice old lady that had known the both of them since they moved in. She didn’t know the details, one that his sister was found dead in their apartment.

Yamaguchi thought that he could still live there, his sister loved this place even if it was just the two of them. But it felt haunted. He couldn’t sleep in his room, wake up and then walk into the living room where he found his sister.

He closed his eyes. He should have listened to her when she told him not to take the job.

It still didn’t feel real. Sometimes he would sit on his neighbour's couch and found himself looking at the door expectantly like his sister would walk through the door with ice cream in hand.

Yamaguchi had felt grief before, and it wasn’t something he expected to feel in a long time. So, he put all his energy into the one thing he wanted: revenge.

The day took a steady decline when he opened the door that afternoon and saw a bouquet of flowers wrapped in a pale yellow paper with a letter neatly placed on top of it. Yamaguchi hesitated. How long have they been there? He hadn’t opened his door since yesterday night. That left more than 12 hours open for someone to place them.

He grabbed his keys off the table near his door and shoved on a pair of shoes. Yamaguchi looked from left to right slowly, in case it was a fresh placement.

He picked up the flowers. They were dark purple, almost black in the centre with light green specks stemming out from it. The dark purple travelled to the edges of the petal-like veins of blood as the petal itself until it gradually turned lighter, becoming a pure white.

Yamaguchi tucked the flowers carefully between his elbow and chest and opened the letter.

Dearest Yamaguchi,

I hear you’ve found a new group to give your talents to. Exciting. I wonder how long you’ll stay with them. You weren’t with us that very long either, so maybe you weren’t meant to stay with anyone. A little birdy has told me that you’ve been spilling our secrets. I guess it runs in the family.

But go ahead. Tell them everything you know. It doesn’t matter much to me. You’ve never known much.

I hope you have fun running around for Kei. How is that bastard? Well? Breathing? Always doing the same thing?

How am I, you ask? I’ve spent a lot of time thinking, planning. Maybe that was one of his traits that has rubbed off on me. Maybe another would be my liking towards flowers. There's beautiful poetry to them, don’t you think? Some mean happiness and love while others are dangerous and resentful.

Anyways, I hope you find something new in your life. We both know that you don’t have much at this moment because…Well, you already know, don’t you? Would it hurt if I said it?

Love always,

Yukiji

P.S. The flowers aren’t as pretty as the girl who wraps them. Aren’t I right, Kei?

“It came with these,” Yamaguchi said through the silence. He held up the flowers.

When Yamaguchi had read the letter outside his apartment, it jarred him. Yukiji was mocking him, mocking his sister’s death. Mocking Karasuno and Tsukishima.

The same shattering silence and uneasy feeling that Yamaguchi had felt continued into the room once Sawamura finished reading the letter out loud to Karasuno. Everyone in the room stared at Tsukishima, ready to do anything at his word, but Tsukishima only looked at the flowers in Yamaguchi’s hand.

Yamaguchi eyed Tsukishima weirdly. His hands were clenched into fists by his sides and his jaw was tight. A fire burned in his eyes.

Without a word, Tsukishma walked over to Yamaguchi and asked for the flowers in his hand. Tsukishima turned them over delicately.

“Are those from…?” Nishinoya hesitated and swallowed. “Are those—”

“Yes,” Tsukishima said absentmindedly. He took the thin wrapping paper between his fingers. “It’s from (Y/N)’s shop.”

“Who?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Do you think she knew?” Hinata asked. His voice had gone low and his eyes grew dark. “All the times I’ve been at (Y/N)’s store, Yukiji has never been there.”

The Karasuno members nodded in agreement.

“When did (Y/N) wrap the flowers? This week? This morning?” said Kageyama, glaring at no one in particular.

“I don’t know,” Tsukishima whispered.

“Does (Y/N) know who Yukiji is?” Azumane said, looking nervously between Tsukishima and the flowers.

Sawamura glanced at Tsukishima from the corner of his eye. “She doesn’t. . .”

Tsukishima shoved the bouquet back into Yamaguchi’s hands and took the letter from Sawamura. “Excuse me,” he said, and then dashed out the door.

Yamaguchi looked around wildly. Everyone seemed on edge, jittery like they didn’t feel safe. He was used to Karasuno’s secrets being kept from him. He would still need to do a lot to gain their trust, but if this (Y/N)-person had something to do with Yukiji and his sister’s death, then he needed to know.

That was a part of Yamaguchi’s and Tsukishima’s deal. Any information that could prove that Yukiji had murdered his sister—not that Yamaguchi needed proof it was her, he knew it was, he wanted her to admit it—would go through him as well.

And yet, everyone seemed to know something that Yamaguchi did not.

“What’s going on?” Yamaguchi asked. None of the other members met his eyes. “Who’s (Y/N)?”

The moment Tsukishima left the common room, he broke into a run, down the hallway and up the stairs to (Y/N). A part of him ran faster, scared that she wouldn’t be in his room, that she had left.

He had spent enough time at her store to know how flowers looked like when they were freshly wrapped. She would have had to do them this morning right before he came and picked her up.

He stood outside the room willing his heart to beat slower. He wasn’t gone long, only an hour or two. Whenever Karasuno had meetings, they always ran long. He didn’t want to barge into the room frantic and tongue-tied.

Tsukishima unfolded the note and read it again, and again, until he memorized it. He tucked it into his inside jacket pocket and laid a hand on the door handle.

Relief flooded through Tsukishima when he opened the door and saw (Y/N) sound asleep, lying in his bed. A pillow was tight in her grip and she laid slightly in the middle of the bed.

Tsukishima walked over to her slowly and sat on the edge of the bed. One of (Y/N)’s hands was resting face-up on the mattress, the same hand that Yamaguchi had cut. Sugawara said that it had healed nicely but a scar still remained.

He took her hand in his and ran his fingers over the scar.

(Y/N)’s hand squeezed around his finger.

“Kei?” Her voice was tired and rough.

“Hey,” he said.

She dug her head further into his pillow. “Are you done?”

“Not yet,” he said softly. “There's something I need to tell you though.”

(Y/N)’s eyes fluttered open at the tone of his voice. She lifted her head and started to blink profusely, as if trying to wake herself further, which created an odd expression on her face as she did.

Tsukishima laughed and quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

(Y/N) furrowed her eyebrows, a small pout on her lips. “Why are you laughing at me?”

Tsukishima smiled. “Nothing,” he said.

He locked eyes with her. They were still droopy from tiredness, but clear and comforting. Tsukishima remembered the day he first saw them; he couldn’t meet her gaze then, but now all he wanted to do was look into them. He knew then, that he couldn’t lie to her. Everything that was happening and everything that was going to happen suddenly became real.

At his hesitance, (Y/N) frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Tsukishima moved closer to her. He swallowed and tightened his grip on her hand. “You know that I adore you, right?”

A small smile tugged at her lips, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Kei, what’s wrong? You can tell me.”

Tsukishima looked down and focused on her hand, rubbing it gently with his thumb. “I remember feeling really lonely when I grew up even though I had my family—I loved them, they loved me, and nothing was wrong—but that didn’t change anything for me. So I just learned how to be alone and accepted it.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He returned his gaze to (Y/N). “What?”

“I’m sorry that you were lonely,” she repeated sincerely. (Y/N) hesitated momentarily, then said, “It makes me sad to think of you alone.”

Tsukishima smiled to himself. He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it gently. “I have a lot of reasons to be with people now and want to be with them. I didn’t even realize the lonely feeling faded until it became nothing but a memory.”

His voice was barely above a whisper but stayed steady as he continued, “You know, I have always loved this neighbourhood. I never thought that I was one to grow attachments to parks and streets. But, this is the place where my parents met. This is the place where I made a new family too, everyone inside this building, whether I admit it to them or not. They know. And I love it even more now because this is the place where I met you.”

“Kei…”

“I never thought that I would end up doing something like this,” he added abruptly. “Something that has such a close relationship to death.” Tsukishima didn’t know why he felt like he had to justify his choices, but he wanted her to know. Even though (Y/N) wasn’t irrational or would judge him, he felt that revealing more about what he did for Karasuno would drive her away.

“Why did you?” There wasn’t a hint of malice or acid in her voice. Some of the uneasiness went out of Tsukishima.

“My parent’s business was going under and I wanted to help. But no one would hire me. That is until one of the former Karasuno members came up to me and offered me a job as a low-level member. Since I was young, I would just walk around and gather information about other gangs or just people in general. My parent’s business survived, did well since then, and I slowly made my way up the ladder from there.”

(Y/N) bit her lip. “Why did you continue?”

“I had to stay a bit until my parents were stable, but by the time there were, I had already moved up a bit and I liked what I was doing.” He shook his head. “Karasuno was different from other gangs from here. All of the things I overheard were how other gangs wanted more money and to gain more power. They would do—they would do a lot of unspeakable things to get it. They still do. There are some who do the same thing as Karasuno, who we have alliances with, but they're farther away from us.

“I want Karasuno to still be like the one that I knew, trying to help anyone who needed it, to make this place feel safe. The people here aren’t stupid, they know what goes on. If I can help make the place that I love safer, then I want to. That’s why I continued.”

“Even if it means...hurting people too?” she asked.

Tsukishima closed his eyes and let out a breath. When he opened them, (Y/N) had moved closer to him, leaning forward from her spot. Her eyes were wide, more alert than before, and locked onto his.

“I’ve tried other ways before (Y/N), I really did. Someone has to do it, and that someone just happens to be me. I told you before that I hate doing it—I hate myself for doing it. If, at the end of the day, my actions help someone who needs it or didn’t even know they needed it, then I can live with all I’ve done wrong so that no one else has to.”

(Y/N) didn’t say anything. She grasped their held hands and pulled him closer. Carefully, he laid down beside her, his head rested in the crook of her neck as she brought her arm around to hold him. She turned, planted a light kiss on his head, and then rested her head against his.

He could hear the rhythm of her breathing along with the notes of her heartbeat. He hid a smile. This could be a strong contender for his favourite song, coming only second to her voice.

“I know,” she sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I understand why you ask.”

“Thank you for telling me, Kei.”

“That isn’t what I wanted to tell you, actually,” he said.

(Y/N) sank further into the bed. “Tell me later. I think I need a longer nap.”

Tsukishima groaned internally. As much as he wished he could, he didn’t want to. He allowed himself another moment like this, comfortable and safe in her arms. He wanted to kick himself as he pulled away and rested his on the pillow beside hers. They were untangled from each other now but remained facing one another.

(Y/N) sighed. With her eyes still closed, she said, “It’s important, isn't it?”

“Yes.”

“Go on.”

He took a deep breath. “When it was time to pass on the leadership of Karasuno, I was one of the candidates—”

“Obviously,” she muttered, opening her eyes ever so slightly.

Tsukishima laughed. “I was one of the candidates,” he repeated, “but I wasn’t the only one.”

(Y/N) arched an eyebrow. “I’m guessing this has something to do with that person then?”

“Yes.”

She pursed her lips and then said slowly, “Does this have anything to do with me?”

Tsukishima offered her a small smile. “It does.”

A calculating look formed in (Y/N) eyes, one that unnerved Tsukishima slightly. She sat up, and he followed suit. “Please continue then.”

“Her name is Yukiji Kumiko. We joined Karasuno around the same time and we were—” He broke off. Tuskishima hadn’t thought about Yukiji until Yamaguchi brought her up. It had been such a long time since he had last seen her. He wondered if she would look into his eyes with the same fiery hatred that he remembered.

(Y/N) tilted her head. “Together?”

He shook his head. “No. We were really good friends, maybe even best friends at that time. We practically grew up together in Karasuno. She was still here when I first became the leader and she was happy for me. I would have been happy for her if she got it, too.”

“If the two of you are on good terms...then why do you seem so sad when you talk about her?” (Y/N) asked.

“Do I?” He chuckled mirthlessly. “I guess that would make sense.”

“What happened?” she said softly.

“The passing of leadership is very strange. Some of our alliances—other gangs we would work with—were fine with the change, but others said that they were loyal to our former leader, not to me. So I went with Yukiji, her brother, and a few other members to go over things with one of them to see if we could keep the alliance in any way.

“It started okay. Then...things were said and it went downhill, like straight downhill. Most of us barely escaped with an inch of our lives, but her brother got injured pretty badly and didn’t make it.”

“I’m sorry,” (Y/N) said.

He swallowed. “You didn’t do anything. But, apparently, I did. We had an argument after and she blamed me and left Karasuno shortly after. I wanted to talk about it more to see if I could do anything, but I couldn’t find her. I haven’t spoken to her since.”

“I hate to ask,” she said, glancing up to meet his eyes, “but did you have anything to do with it? I mean, I don’t know how meetings like that are supposed to go, or what was said, but is there a reason she blames you?”

Tsukishima paused. He had thought about it thoroughly when it happened, replaying the conversation over and over again, every action and breath, and always came up short. “She told me that we should have just let the alliance go when they questioned Karasuno’s change in leadership, and if we never went then her brother would still be alive. But I had to at least try, I didn’t think that it would go so terribly.”

(Y/N) took his hand. “It isn’t your fault, Kei. You couldn’t have known.”

“Maybe I should have.” Tsukishima gritted his teeth. “I’m their leader, (Y/N), they expect me to think about these things, to give them instructions and help them, to know better.”

“Perhaps,” she sighed, “but doesn’t anyone who goes into this life know the risks? You told me before that this is a dangerous job, anything could happen, anyone could—anyone could die if one thing goes badly—you, Hinata, Sugawara—how do you enter this world without knowing that and already halfway accept it?”

Tsukishima's eyes widened. Please don't say that; he wanted to say. The words died on his lips.

He wanted to reassure her, tell her that everything was going to be fine and then they were all going to live until they were old and grey. But how could he talk her out of something that he didn’t believe himself? It would be a losing battle against himself.

(Y/N) shook her head dismissively. "It’s not your fault, okay?”

He nodded numbly.

A nervous smile took over her face. “So, uhh, what does this have to do with me?”

Tsukishima blinked. His hand went to his pocket. “Remember the night you were attacked?”

“I do,” she said. “It’s the day I met you.”

Tsukishima flushed.

“What about it?” she pressed.

“Those have been happening for a couple of weeks before you were attacked. We had just met, but I wanted to know who did it, not just for your sake, but for everyone so we’d be able to stop them. We traced your attack back to this kid, Yamaguchi. But by the time we found out, I had been shot and Yamaguchi requested to meet with us.”

(Y/N) shifted uncomfortably in her spot. “What did he want?”

He took the paper out of his pocket. “He worked for the person behind the attacks and when he reported back that I stopped him, he found his sister dead in their apartment a couple of days after. He believes that his former leader did it. Yamaguchi wanted us to help him prove that it was her in exchange for information about the attacks and anything else we’d like to know. We’ve been looking into it for the past couple of weeks.”

“Her? Yukiji?” (Y/N) asked.

Tsukishima nodded and handed her the note. She looked at him quizzically before reading it. Once she was done, she handed it back to him.

“She came to my shop to buy flowers?” (Y/N) asked. She looked away, knitting her eyebrows together.

“There was a bouquet of flowers, along with this letter, in front of Yamaguchi’s door,” he said. “He just came with them right before I came here. I know that you don't want to be a part of this life, but you said that if it ever concerned you, then you would want to know. I’m sorry.”

She was silent for a moment, then said, “Can I see them?”

“See what?”

“The flowers.”

“If you want to,” he said. He stood up from the bed. “They’re downstairs in the common room. Everyone’s there too, including Yamaguchi. Is that going to be a problem? I can ask him to leave.”

(Y/N) stood up after him and straightened her clothes. “It’s fine. I think I would like to meet him, actually.”

Tsukishima nodded slowly. “Okay.”

“Does everyone know about Yukiji?”

He opened the door and they began to walk to the elevator. (Y/N) was right, if he hadn’t lived in this building for most of his life, he would definitely get lost. “Yeah. Once we found out that she was Yamaguchi’s former boss, I told them.”

The elevator doors opened. Tsukishima flushed remembering the last time they were in an elevator. He was about to say something about it, but saw her eyes set forward and the small frown on her lips and decided against it. (Y/N) still needed to process everything that he told her and it didn’t help that she had such little time to do it. So, they rode down in silence.

They arrived at the door of the common room. As always, Tsukishima could hear the loud voices through the walls. (Y/N) reach of the door handle, but Tsukishima placed his hand on top of hers.

“Wait,” he said.

(Y/N) laughed nervously. “There’s not more to the story is there?”

He shook his head. “No. It's just—I’m so sorry, (Y/N).”

“About what?”

Tsukishima took a deep breath. “I’m sorry that you have to do this—being dragged into something you don’t agree with, something that you never wanted because of me.” He paused. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she said.

“It’s not,” he said forcefully. He drew her away from the door and shoved the palms of his hands to cover his eyes. “How did we get here? I feel like I’m condemning you to a sad ending.”

(Y/N)’s face was blank for a moment. “Are you saying this because of what I said earlier? About going into this world—your world—half-accepting death?”

He didn’t say anything.

“Do you know why roses are red?” she asked.

Tsukishima blinked quizzically. “Is this a riddle? Like ‘why is the raven like a writing desk’?”

“No,” she said and then smiled, the one that showed her teeth and made her eyes light up. Tsukishima’s heartfelt lighter looking at her.

“In Greek mythology,” she continued, “all roses were originally white. The flower itself came up from the water with Aphrodite. Much later in her life, the other gods laughed at her pride and vanity claiming that she could make anyone fall in love with her. Then, as a joke, they made her fall in love with a human. Ares, upon hearing that, became jealous and sent a boar after him. As Aphrodite ran to save him, she pricked her foot on the thorn of a rose bush. Since then, roses were red because they run with the blood of the goddess of love.”

“Oh,” he said stunned. "Was she able to save him?"

"No, she wasn't."

He frowned. “Is that real?”

She shrugged. “If you believe it to be. Even with the tragic ending, I’d like to believe it's real, to find curiosity and meaning in mundane things in life makes it a much more enjoyable world to live in.”

A look crossed his face. "Maybe we should stick to happier stories."

"It could be happy if you want it to be."

A dull silence filled the hallway.

(Y/N) locked onto his gaze. A determined look flashed through her eyes. “I don’t look at death the same way that you do,” she said slowly. “You have different experiences with it—but if I look at you, knowing what kind of life you lead, I can’t see or delude myself to believe that you are invincible. I would hurt too much if I believed something like that and then have you slip away from me. I don’t want you to think I said that because I think you will die, I said in hope that you don’t.”

Tsukishima let out a ragged breath, his voice was barely above a whisper. “I won’t die.”

Her voice cracked. “But you don’t know that, do you?”

Tsukishima took a step closer and wrapped his arms around her tightly. He pressed a kiss into her hair. “I won’t die,” he repeated. When he heard her about to protest, he continued. “I won’t die because I have you now. What type of person would I be if I left you here?”

She held him tighter. “A shitty one.”

He laughed, his body shaking as he did. (Y/N) pulled away from him and rubbed the back of her hand against her eyes.

“How did you know about that story?” he asked lightly.

“When you work with flowers for most of your life, you learn things.”

“I think...I want to believe that their love carried on through red roses,” he inquired, walking back to the door and placing a hand on the knob. “If roses are red now, then their love must still exist.”

(Y/N) raised her eyebrows and stood frozen for a moment. She moved to the door caught up to him before he could open it. “I told you that with a different purpose in mind, actually.”

His smile was back on his face. “What for then?��

(Y/N) bit her lip and then rested her hand on top of his. His hand was rough underneath her fingertips. “If roses are red because of love, then, mystically, what if blood is too? Forget about science for a moment, humour me. That would mean our blood is red with love, that people are made to love each other. That’s how I know you can never condemn me to a sad ending, Kei. We were made to love each other.”

She broke off. Her thumb rubbed carelessly against his knuckles. Tsukishima was speechless. How did they get here? He thought. What did he do to find someone like her? He didn’t think he should question it; he should just accept it and discover all the ways that he could remain by her side as long as she allowed him to.

“Any ending with you is going to be a happy one,” she said and opened the door.

Kageyama eyed Yamaguchi. He was standing away from everyone else, farthest from the door of the common room and kept his head down. He still held the flowers delicately in his hands. All of the times that he had come to the Karasuno headquarters, they made sure that (Y/N) was at her flower shop. They didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable, nor did they want her to think they just let any person come in and out of their building with ease.

In a strange way, (Y/N) had been integrated into Karasuno in a way Kageyama never thought was possible. Oddly enough too, he enjoyed her company.

Kageyama didn’t want to say it out loud—he never had much luck saying things the way he wanted them perceived—but he didn’t understand why Yamaguchi was so on edge around them. No one at Karasuno was going to jump him.

He only spoke to Tsukishima comfortably but Kageyama felt that was going to change too. Once Tsukishima had left the room to see (Y/N), Yamaguchi asked repeatedly who she was. Everyone had shared looks around the room, silently debating what they could say. Everyone at Karasuno already knew, so there wasn’t anything to hide here but Yamaguchi was neither an outsider or a member.

In the end, all eyes had fallen onto Sawamura.

Sawamura cleared his throat. He placed a firm hand on Yamaguchi’s shoulder. “Tsukishima can tell you.”

Tanaka barked out a quick laugh.

Sawamura smiled crookedly. “Do you remember the person you attacked? The night you met Tsukishima?”

Yamaguchi squirmed. “I do.”

“Her name is (Y/N).”

Yamaguchi’s eyes had furrowed and then morphed into a mixture of realization and astonishment. Slowly, he said, “Does she have anything to do with my sister?”

“Your sister?” Sawamura asked. “No, she doesn’t.”

“But you said that she wrapped the flowers that were in front of my door. Wouldn’t they have worked together or something?”

Hinata shook his head, a serious look took over his eyes. “(Y/N) owns a flower shop. When you attacked her, Tsukishima was there right? That’s how they met. Yukiji probably went there when none of us were to get them, but it doesn’t mean that (Y/N) knew who she was or tried to help her. Yukiji probably just went there because she knew that it would bug Tsukishima.”

Yamaguchi blinked, cocking his head slightly. “Why would that bug Tsukishima?”

“Because they are so sweet on each other that it makes me want to get all my teeth removed,” Kageyama muttered.

Ennoshita smacked him on the shoulder. “Kageyama!”

Kageyama rubbed his shoulder. His eyes widened and his lips tugged downwards into a frown. “What? He was going to find out eventually. It’s not like they hid it in this building. Plus he's not going to tell anyone.” He turned his glare to Yamaguchi. “Right?”

Yamaguchi winced but nodded his head vigorously.

“Plus,” Kageyama added, “if this goes where I think it’s going to go, then it really doesn’t matter who knows what. What matters is who’s going to be alive after this ends.”

Sawamura clutched his jaw. “We already know that, Kageyama. Let’s just take a breather, okay? Yamaguchi, I’ll answer the questions you have, but let’s just wait for Tsukishima to come back before we go jumping to conclusions.”

Everyone nodded meekly and dispersed into the room. Yamaguchi drifted over to Sawamura for a bit before drifting off into the far corner of the room.

“How long do you think they’ll be? (Y/N) and Tsukishima?” Hinata asked, scratching his head lightly.

Kageyama scoffed. “Who knows. I guess it depends on what Tsukishima decides to tell her and what she chooses to do with it. It’s a lot to take in.”

“Do you think that she would leave?”

Kageyama shook his head. “I don’t think she would. I’ll be right back.”

“But I have questions!”

“Ask someone else.”

Kageyama made his way over to Yamaguchi. He was picking at the petals of the flowers and mumbling to himself.

Kageyama sighed and clicked his tongue. “If you keep pacing you’re going to create a draft.”

Yamaguchi stopped abruptly. “Oh, sorry.”

“I didn’t mean—look, are you okay? Because we probably have a long night in front of us and I don’t know how much help you’ll be if you look like someone in here is going to murder you.”

“Sawamura said that there’s a good chance that (Y/N) would be coming down with Tsukishima. I just...don’t think I made a good first impression. With anyone.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?” Kageyama asked, raising his eyebrows.

Yamaguchi shrugged. “I was worried that everyone in here hated me, but at least I know why everyone looks at me strangely. Are all of you close to (Y/N)?”

Kageyama hesitated. “We’re used to having her around.” After another pause, he added, “Don’t worry about first impressions. When all of us first met (Y/N), we pointed our guns at her.”

Yamaguchi half-smiled. He opened his mouth to say something else, but the door creaking open caused him to stop. Everyone’s attention was trained at the two people who were walking in: (Y/N) looking at Tsukishima and Tsukishima smiling at (Y/N).

He heard Yamaguchi swallow.

Tsukishima took note of the room and straightened his back, turning his attention to the rest of the room. His stare landed on Yamaguchi and hardened. A look of indifference settled on his face.

(Y/N) looked around the room briefly. She smiled lightly to everyone. “So, uh, how is everyone?”

It was easy for (Y/N) to spot Yamaguchi. He held flowers in his hand and had been speaking to Kageyama in a low voice.

When Tsukishima had said that he was a “kid”, (Y/N) didn’t expect him to be a literal teenager. He was scrawny but clearly strong. She remembered the determined nervousness in his eyes when he had turned her around and slashed a knife across her. She remembered when she collided with the lamp post, her hand stinging and throbbing, and the way he had looked at her: terrified.

She was scared then, but she wasn’t now.

(Y/N) had told herself on the way to the common room that she would not forgive this person. She wanted to hold onto the grudge and loath in it. But where would that lead her? To hold onto a piece of herself that was angry and scared? To always have a part of herself be stuck at that moment in time?

She walked up to them, shoulders back, gaze steady. She smiled at Kageyama and then focused on Yamaguchi. He was frozen, eyes widened and mouth slightly ajar.

(Y/N) gestured to the flowers. “May I?”

He nodded stiffly and slowly placed the flowers in her hand, careful not to touch her. (Y/N) turned, opening herself up to the room, and then looked down at the bouquet.

“Petunias,” she said, pushing the wrapping aside to get a better look. “I think I put this together last night, maybe this morning. They mean anger and resentment.”

“Fitting,” Kageyama muttered.

“They could also represent the feeling of hope and desire,” (Y/N) added. She caught Tsukishima’s eyes and bit her tongue. “Though, I don’t really think the latter definition was the intention.”

Sugawara sighed. “That only tells us what we already know.”

“Well, they clearly know where I work and live. That’s not exactly comforting.”

Nishinoya narrowed his eyes. “They would have to be tailing you or Tsukishima. We thought about that, but why just buy flowers? All of us had been on rotation at (Y/N)’s shop, so they chose a moment where we weren’t there. They could’ve just done something worse instead of just buying flowers.”

“To send a message?” Hinata suggested.

“A bigger message would’ve been spent if they just took (Y/N) or something,” Kageyama said. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Sheepishly he added, “No offence.”

“It’s fine,” she said. “I understand. Kind of, at least. This is still very strange to me.”

Tsukishima crossed the room to her side. He took the flowers out of her hands and tossed them aside. He interlocked their hands gently as he said, “We have a rough plan of what to do. We were talking about it earlier, but since they are following us, I think that we should give them something to watch.”

“Like lure them out?”

“Yes,” he said. “I think that if we could—”

Yamaguchi coughed awkwardly.

Tsukishima raised his head and glared.

“Is something wrong?” (Y/N) asked.

Yamaguchi looked as if he had been shocked by electricity. “Uhh, yeah, I—” He cleared his throat. “I think they were trying to scare you.”

Sawamura folded his arms across his chest. “Go on.”

“Well,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. “You—Karasuno—are known to be isolated from everyone else since Tsukishima became leader. You didn’t cut ties with all of your alliances, but you did with most of them. Word gets around.”

Yamaguchi looked at Tsukishima, chin up, eyes set. (Y/N) recognized this look, the same determined nervousness. “You seem to make plans and follow through. If you were threatened or attacked, you’d lay low for a bit and then counter attack. You fall into a pattern. I think that Yukiji, especially if she knew you before this started, would get used to it and anticipate it. I think that she purposely did something, like buy flowers at (Y/N)’s shop, to scare you into a reaction.”

“So we’re supposed to do nothing then?” Tanaka tsked. “That seems worse.”

Yamaguchi shook his head. “You do something that they wouldn’t expect, something that you wouldn’t do or wouldn’t have even thought of, but you make it look like what you would do.” He looked around expectantly. “I can try to fill in the blanks of what Yukiji would do, but I don’t know how much that would help. I wasn’t exactly a star player in their game.”

(Y/N) felt Tsukishima go stiff by her side. She glanced at him. His mouth was set into a line and his gaze was locked onto the floor. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking and even if she was a mind-reader, she probably wouldn’t have understood it, not in the way the other people in this room would. Is there always going to be a closed-off part of him that she wouldn’t be able to open?

“I know what Yukiji would do,” he said at last. (Y/N) felt the back of his hand brush against hers lightly. She closed her eyes as the weight of his eyes fell on her. “And I know what I need to do, but it involves you.”

There it was. The one thing she wished he wouldn’t say because she knew that if he asked, she would say yes.

(Y/N) opened her eyes and was grateful to see that most of the Karasuno members were looking away or giving her half-clam looks. She knew that none of them would resent her for her decision. She didn’t want to do it, but now it became much more than herself. She was a part of it, maybe even more than she knew about, but Yamaguchi had lost his sister, innocent people and Karasuno were being threatened. If she could stop that, put an end to unnecessary hurt, she would.

Tsukishima whispered next to her ear in a low voice, “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but if you choose to do it, I swear that nothing will happen to you.”

She felt like she had this conversation before. You can’t promise that, Kei.

(Y/N) turned to him and smiled. “What’s the plan?”

He smiled back at her, but his eyes were unsure. Guilt. “Well, I make a phone call.”

Yamaguchi looked around (Y/N)’s shop and understood why everyone liked being here. It was warm and had a lingering scent of earth and floral perfume in the air. It felt a home away from home.

He watched (Y/N) as she walked around her shop. It wouldn’t open for another ten minutes, but she had spent more than half an hour aligning pots and inspecting each flower, picking out the ones that looked wilted and sometimes regrouping bunches of flowers altogether.

Do not let her out of your sight. A cold shiver travelled up Yamaguchi’s spine thinking about the words Tsukishima had told him. He had pulled him aside once all of the pieces of their plan were put into place. You want forgiveness from me? Do this one thing and you have it. Yamaguchi wasn’t sure that Tsukishima meant what he was saying, maybe he just said it because he knew it was what Yamaguchi wanted to hear.

He wasn’t entirely sure why Tsukishima had trusted him with (Y/N). For the sake of the plan? But he wasn’t going to betray him. Making sure that everything on his end of the plan went smoothly was the least he could do for Tsukishima, (Y/N), and Karasuno. Still, something gnawed inside of him, slowly taking away pieces of his innocence and replacing it with guilt.

(Y/N) was kind to him—but he had learned that she was kind to everyone, so that wasn’t much to go on. She had let him into her shop when he arrived, smiled at him, and offered him something to drink. Soon after, a lull carried over the shop. He didn’t know if he should ask her if there was something he could help her with. Would she even accept my help after what I did?

Every time she turned her hand, baring her scar, he resisted the urge to flinch. A permanent mark.

He checked his watch. Time was quickly ticking away. They all knew that every plan meant taking a calculated risk on their lives.

Yamaguchi cleared his throat. “(Y/N)?”

She peeked over her shoulder, placing down a basket of flowers. “Yes?”

“I’m sorry.”

Her back still turned against him, he saw a slight hesitation as she picked up a flower and turned around. She balanced on the edge of the table, twirling the stem of a flower in her hand. “About what?” she asked.

(Y/N)’s face was unreadable to him.

“I’m sorry that I attacked you,” he said. He took a deep breath. “I don’t have any excuses; it was something that I chose to do at that moment. You don’t have to forgive me or even accept this as an apology, I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry and it won’t happen again.”

The corner of her lips quirked up. “You won’t attack me again?”

“Anyone, at all.”

(Y/N) sighed. She took a step closer to Yamaguchi. “I’ve been receiving a lot of apologies lately.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “I got one from Tsukishima earlier, and now one from you; both because of something that was in your control and completely out of it.”

Yamaguchi tilted his head to the side. “What?”

“I was sorry to hear about you sister.”

“Oh,” he said. He focused his gaze on the floor. “Thank you.

“Tsukishima told me about what happened.”

Yamaguchi winced. “I’m not blaming her for what I chose to do. I hurt you before my sister died.”

“I know. You only joined Yukiji’s gang because of your sister, right? To make ends meet? That’s how Tsukishima joined Karasuno. I don’t think that I can fully blame you for trying to survive. Did you hurt anyone else before me?”

Eye wide, he shook his head.

(Y/N) head up her hand. The scar was glaring across her palm.

He looked away.

Carefully, like a winding branch, she said, “I don’t forgive you, Yamaguchi.”

His heart fell. A part of him knew that if (Y/N) wouldn’t forgive then neither would Tsukishima. It was selfish to think about it, but without forgiveness, he would never be a member of Karasuno, and without them, he didn’t know where he would belong. It was an odd partnership, but one that he could see working out at the end. He didn’t want to be alone again.

“I can’t forgive, yet,” she continued, “I don’t know you. But if everything goes...well today, then I can try to forgive you. I don’t want to hate you, Yamaguchi.”

Yamaguchi looked up. The tension went out of his shoulders. There were millions of chances in the world; the one that he took when he picked up the knife that scarred (Y/N)’s hand and the one he was given now. This would be a choice that he would not regret. “I would like that very much. Thank you, (Y/N).”

She walked towards him, the flower stretched out in front of her. He took the flower and rolled the stem between his fingers.

“About the hand,” she started, wiggling the fingers of her scarred hand, “I think we’re even from when I punched you in the face.”

Yamaguchi laughed. He touched the bridge of his nose. “On cold nights, I can feel it burn.”

(Y/N) grinned. She stepped away, unlocked the front door, and flipped the sign to say the shop was opened.

“After what happened, with me and your sister, I can understand why you wouldn’t want to hurt anyone. But I learned that if you want this job, live the life you’re living now, hurting people will be inevitable,” she said, making her way back to the counter.

“I know,” he said. “I don’t want to hurt people unnecessarily. What I did, that only spread chaos. I want to do something better. Even if I only help one person.”

“I think that you and Tsukishima would make really good friends.”

“Maybe one day. If he decides to forgive me. I doubt that would be anytime soon.”

“It might be closer than you think,” she said. “He’s a softy.”

“I think I doubt that even more.”

(Y/N) laughed as she looked through the clear glass of the front door and shop windows. She propped up her elbow on the counter and rested her head in her hand. “Do we just wait?”

“Wait for what?” a voice said behind her.

(Y/N) jumped. Before she could even turn around, the shape of a gun hit her hard on the head and she crumbled to the ground.

Yamaguchi flinched, drew his gun, and aimed it at the figure. The figure stepped into the light. Their dark hair gleamed in the light and her eyes were sharp and cunning. She held a gun in her hand and raised it to meet Yamaguchi’s.

He glared at the women that stood where (Y/N) once stood. “Yukiji,” he growled.

“You should drop your weapon, Yamaguchi.” Her lips curled into a cutting grin.

He tightened his grip on the handle. “You should drop yours.”

“I outnumber you.”

Yamaguchi opened his mouth to ask what she meant when he felt the cool barrel of a gun pressed into his back. He let out a breath but didn’t lower his gun.

Yukiji smirked. “Ready to die? So soon? You don’t want to live for Karasuno now?”

The barrel pressed harder into his back. “I died when my sister did.”

Her smirk grew. “How about I change the game?” In a quick motion, her gun was trained on (Y/N). She looked smugly at Yamaguchi, almost daring him to take the shot.

Yamaguchi froze. He was so consumed with rage once he saw Yukiji that he forgot that the person he was supposed to be watching laid defenceless on the ground. He had one job and he screwed up. If Tsukishima didn’t smack him if they got out of this, he would smack himself.

Yukiji placed her finger on the trigger. “How about I ask you again. Drop it.”

A second passed before he crouched down and placed his gun on the floor. With his hands raised, he stood up straight, his eyes never leaving Yukiji’s. He was going to tear her apart limb from limb.

“That’s better,” she said. She looked down at (Y/N) and tilted her head. “She is very pretty. Tsukishima must be happy. I plan to change that.”

(Y/N)’s a lot more than pretty, Yamaguchi thought, but you wouldn’t know what that's like, would you know. “What do you want?”

Yukiji snapped her head up. “I didn’t expect you to cave so soon, Yamaguchi. I gave you one job, caused attacks and panic in Tsukishima’s territory, but you couldn’t even do that. And then you ran to him without a second thought. Pitiful.”

Yamaguchi gritted his teeth. He wanted to scream at her. He wanted her to live with a wound that would never heal. Not yet, he told himself, not while she has a gun in her hand. Soon.

“I don’t like traitors; people who turn their back on others. You going to Tsukishima might have been good. I get to kill birds with one stone.”

He shook his head. “All you’re doing is adding fuel to the fire. Even if you kill me and Tsukishima, it wouldn’t do anything.”

“Actually, I think that it would help me a lot.”

Yamaguchi thought of his sister. When her nose would scrunch up when he would tell her a joke. When she brought him ice cream every week when he was younger. When she would hug him and he fell while playing, scraping himself bloody.

“It will heal and the pain will go before you know it,” she would tell him.

Yukiji had replaced all of that with the image of her lifeless body on the floor of their apartment, never to laugh or smile again.

“Haven’t you lost someone?” he asked.

Her grin faded. Her lips pressed into a hard line. She nodded to the person behind him. “A brother.”

Yamaguchi felt a sharp pain on his head and then nothing.

Yukiji prided herself in the way things had worked out. She now had two hostages, both people that she knew Tsukishima would come after. Actually, she wasn’t sure about Yamaguchi—how close they had gotten or if Yamaguchi meant anything at all, but it was better to take all that you can get than leave something important behind.

With her feet up on the dash of their car, she glanced at the rearview mirror to the trunk. Yamaguchi and (Y/N) had laid on the floor of the trunk, their hands and ankles tied. She could have had someone else in her gang come for them, but she wanted the job done right. They would only get one chance that this and she’d be damned if she let some low-level member mess this up.

Yukiji had waited to strike back at Tsukishima for a long time. She had no doubt in her abilities to hit and take down Karasuno as a whole, she could plan for that within a week without blinking. She knew Tsukishima cared about everyone there, but she wanted something more, something that would hurt him like a well placed stab wound—a pain that would only grow and remain until the only thing left was a pool of blood and a body.

She heard Yamaguchi stir in his sleep as they pulled into her building’s hidden garage entrance. Her driver must have heard him too because he parked the car, turned to her, and asked, “Should I hit him again?”

“No. He won’t be doing much of anything once we’re done with him, so let him have his fun.”

Two people emerged from the building and her driver came around the car to open the trunk.

“Take them both to the basement and put them on opposite ends of the hallway,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Yamaguchi woke with a start, cold water soaking through his clothes and hair making him shiver and cough. He was sitting on a chair, his wrists were bound behind him and his ankles tied off together. He looked around frantically.

The room was almost too dark to see anything in the distance—he couldn’t tell where the room ended or started—and the only light came from an exposed light bulb that hung above him, shining down only a circle of light that enclosed him and the edge of a table. His best guess was the basement, the only floor in the building that didn’t have any windows.

He couldn’t see (Y/N). Panic filled his chest. Damn it.

“You don’t like her too, right?” a chilling voice said. Yukiji stepped into the light. She held a baseball bat in one hand, leaning on it as if it were a cane. “That would be sad.”

Yamaguchi frowned. He pulled at the rope that held his wrists. “I made a promise.”

“Some promise-keeper you are.” She held her chin up and took a step closer to him. Yukiji swung the baseball bat in a high arc and rested it on her shoulder. “I meant what I said. I despise traitors.”

Yamaguchi kept his mouth shut. From what Tsukishima had told him, he learned that Yukiji had a thing for theatrics. She would make a show out of all of the things she did to gauge a reaction. He just didn’t know how long she would keep up the show before she called a curtain call.

Yukiji circled him. “Do you like your head?”

He took a deep breath.

“Should I take that as a no?”

She came back to stand in front of him. Her eyebrows pinched together as she pursed her lips. “Maybe I’ll ask (Y/N) the same question. From what I know, she and Tsukishima talk a lot. I wonder if she’ll remember all those flowers if I bash her head in.”

Yamaguchi gritted his teeth. “I do, in fact, like my head.”

Yukiji smirked. “You’re so easily riled. It reminds me of someone else that I had in this chair a couple of months ago.”

“Why do I remind you of this person?” He played along.

“You might know her,” she said, “liked ice cream, and lived in an apartment.” She eyed him up and down. “She kind of looked like you too.”

Yamaguchi stilled. His body felt like lead; his blood slowly drained from him. “Shut up,” he said in a low voice.

She laughed. “You sound so much like her. Stubborn. She didn’t scream that much though, so it wasn’t as fun. I had to end it the quick way”

Yamaguchi bit his tongue, holding back all of the words he wanted to scream at her. Just a little longer, he told himself, just a little longer. He let out a breath. His mind flashed back to the letter Yukiji had sent. “I guess it runs in the family.”

“I guess it does.”

“What did you do to her,” he spat.

Yukiji lifted the bat from her shoulder and pushed the end of it into Yamaguchi’s chest. “It’s not what I did to her, it’s what she did to me.”

She balanced the bat in her hand, holding it as if it were a mighty sword, and swung.

(Y/N) heard footsteps and...gunshots? She couldn’t tell. All she could think of was how her head pounded and that opening her eyes made it worse. Her head rested on the floor and her arms laid behind, but by the way her wrists burned, she could only assume that they were tied together at one point.

She closed her eyes and tried to sit up. The human body was definitely not made to be hit in the head. (Y/N) thought back to her conversation with Tsukishima.

They had been back in his room after they finalized their plan. He had raised his hand to brush against her cheek, hesitating only a moment before dropping it. “There’s a good chance that they’ll knock you out.”

“You can’t really prepare for that, can you?”

He shook his head. “We’ll be right behind you.” He paused. “It’s not too late to back out. Everyone would understand if you did.”

“It wouldn’t end if I do.”

Tsukishima took a step forward, closing the gap between them. He hugged her tightly. “Then I need you to do three things for me.”

She nodded and rested her head against him. “If they want to know things about Karasuno and they try to...hurt you for it, tell them whatever it is. It’s not worth you.”

(Y/N) stifled a flinch. “Okay,” she whispered.

“The second,” he continued, “if there’s a chance where Yamaguchi could kill her, and you’re not putting yourself in harm's way, then try to stop him. If you can’t, then don’t.”

She furrowed her eyes together and took a step back. “Not to sound morbid or on the side of death, but why not?”

Tsukishima sighed. “When Yamaguchi brought Yukiji back to our attention, we tried to find all the information we could about her, the people she had dealt with, and the building she operates out of.”

He went to his nightstand and pulled out a photo. “Another gang that we work with, Neokoma, they’ve been tailing Yukiji for a bit because she’s been messing with their area too, probably as a way to gain more territory. Taking out someone big is a good way to have a strong reputation.

Tsukishima handed her the photo. Two girls stood outside a black brick building. One of them had pin-needle straight dark hair—Yukiji—and was viciously yelling at another person who had their head turned in the direction of the camera with their gaze on the ground, ashamed.

(Y/N) squinted and brought the photo closer. “The other girl kind of looks like Yamaguchi.”

“It’s Yamaguchi’s sister.”

(Y/N) blinked. “But I thought that she didn’t know anything about what Yamaguchi did, that she died because of what Yamaguchi did.”

Tsuksihima shrugged. “That’s what Yamaguchi said, but I asked my friend about it, and he said that she had been spotted with Yukiji for almost two years. Yamaguchi only joined a little more than six months ago. Maybe a part of her death was because of what he did, but it looks like she had a hand in her own death, too.”

“Have you told Yamaguchi about this?”

“No.”

“Kei, you know that you should.”

“I can’t,” he argued. “He already wants her dead. If I tell him this, then it’s going to make him doubt every single thing that his sister has done. And he can’t doubt and still do his part.”

She shook her head. “Has withholding information ever been a good thing?”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a good thing. He can hate me, but he has to be alive to hate me. With this information, it would make him reckless and unreliable. It could get him killed and you killed.”

(Y/N) handed the picture to him. “Why does she need to be alive?”

“She has the answers to all of the questions that Yamaguchi could have and if he kills her because his emotions clouded his judgement, he won’t realize that until it’s too late.” Tsukishima took the picture back and put it back on the nightstand. “And I think that killing her wouldn’t benefit him at all, it might make things worse for him.”

He reached out for (Y/N)’s hand. “Don’t tell him, okay? There might be a chance that Yukiji will throw it in his face, but I don’t think she’ll do much besides dangle it in front of him like bait.”

She sighed and tightened the grip on his hand. “You’re willing to risk that?”

“No plan is perfect. Sometimes we have to improvise.”

“And the third?”

“Please be careful. Please.”

The ringing in her head stopped. The noises outside the door grew louder. She couldn’t tell how much time had passed or if she had been going in and out of consciousness, but she did know that she didn’t want to stay here like a sitting duck.

She wanted to find Kei. If the footsteps outside were what she thought it was, then he could be here. She got up slowly, not wanting to risk the chance of standing up too fast and feeling light-headed. She took hold of the doorknob and leaned closer to the door, waiting for a lull of silence. When one came, she twisted it.

Nothing happened.

(Y/N) tried again and glared at it. Of course, it would be locked dumbass.

She heard a close gunshot and jumped back. The room she was in was completely bare, nothing to help her break out or defend herself with if someone came into the room—there weren't any windows, just the door.

(Y/N) walked back into the center of the room. She froze as she saw the doorknob jiggle. If it was someone with a gun or a knife then she didn’t have much of a chance. Tsukishima only taught her how to defend herself when someone was attacking her. But if Yukiji wanted to kill her, she probably would have by now.

The door moved again. As quickly as she could, (Y/N) laid back down on the ground where she originally woke up. If it was someone on Yukiji’s side checking on her, they’d just look in close the door again. If it was someone else, then they would have to come closer to her and if they touched her, she could try and handle it from there.

Tsukishima said that once they were inside the building, someone would come to find her and bring her out. But she couldn’t be sure that the person on the other side of the down was trying to prevent her death or make it happen faster.

She heard the creak of the door. The gunfire had stopped, distance shouting had taken its place. The footsteps neared her and stopped in front of her. She felt their breath on her skin as they placed fingers on her neck.

Her eyes flew open and met a pair that she didn’t realize. With surprise on her side, she turned her body, hooked her ankle around his, and pulled. The man fell on his back with a groan.

(Y/N) got up and bolted to the door.

“Wait,” he called, “Tsukki sent me.”

She stopped. “What?”

“Yeah,” he said, getting up. He rubbed the back of his head—a messy black head of hair. He was a little taller than Tsukishima and despite the hard fall, he had a lazy grin on his face. A read jacket clung to his body. “I probably should have led with that. Sorry. I’m Kuroo from—”

“Nekoma,” she finished. Tsukishima had told them that they were getting help from someone he knew. If Yukiji expects us to do it alone, then we don’t. “Tsukishima sent you? Where is he?”

Kuroo shook his head. “I’m supposed to take you out of the building. He was very clear about that. And if he’s going to not kill me for throwing him a surprise birthday, I’d like to be in his good graces.”

He strode up to her. “Come on.”

(Y/N) backed away. “No. I’m going to find Kei. So, you can either come with me or let me wonder on my own.”

Kuroo laughed. “I like you. He’s at the other end of the hallway.”

“Is it...safe? To go out?”

“As safe as possible. Tsukki was right, there weren’t many of them, but we still have some people checking the rest of the building just in case.” He shrugged, walked to the door, and opened it for her. “There could be an axe murderer lurking around the corner though.”

“Good luck with the birthday party,” she said, peeking her head through the door and to either side of the hallway. (Y/N) spotted Kageyama, Hinata, and a boy with dyed blond ends peering through a door on the opposite end. “I’m sure he’ll love that.”

Tsukishima stepped in front of the gun. “Yamaguchi. Don’t.”

He had been right about Yukiji. From the intel he gathered, along with Neokma’s, he knew that she was bluffing. Sure, she had a smart mind, making her gang seem as though it was bigger than it was—grouping the same people together and splitting them up, making them think as though they were a specific team and there were more groups like them, but in reality not having more than twenty-five people.

He was certain that she would take them back to the building she occupied and not some other location. The resources that Tsukishima had came from time and connections and a new gang like Yukiji’s couldn’t afford a secondary location.

The one thing that was less predictable was Yamaguchi. He couldn’t control how much Yukiji could tell him or how Yamaguchi would react. Tsukishima could only assume that he would react either badly or really badly.

It was a calculated risk.

Tsukishima couldn’t be sure what rooms they would be held in either. He directed Kuroo to take the end closest to the garage while he took the other.

He hoped that he would find (Y/N), but finding Yamaguchi might have been better.

Kageyama, Hinata, and himself took care of the guards at the door. Once Tsukishima found the key on the guard’s belt, he ordered the two to stand guard. He saw Yukiji standing over a slumped body in a chair with a half bloody baseball bat in her hand.

Tsukishima raised his gun and fired. Yukiji dropped her bat and gripped her shoulder. He ran towards them, making it just before she could reach her own gun. He grabbed her area and twisted it. She shouted and he brought the butt of his gun down on the back of her head.

He turned and focused on Yamaguchi. It looked like he took some hits to the body and maybe a punch to the face. His shirt had droplets of blood on them, but he looked otherwise okay.

Tsukishima untied his wrists and ankles. “Yamaguchi?”

Yamaguchi’s head raised. “Did you know?”

He didn’t have to specify.

“Only the bare bones.”

“You should have told me.”

“I’ll tell you after we get back to Karasuno and find (Y/N).”

Something like a growl came from Yamaguchi. He tackled Tsukishima to the ground and grabbed his fallen gun. Yamaguchi stubbled up, leaning chained the chair he was tied to for supposed. He aimed it at Yukiji. Yamaguchi's hands were shaking, causing the gun to make a rattling sound. He looked drunk, but to Tsukishima he only looked unpredictable and dangerous.

Tsukishima got to his feet. “Yamaguchi.”

“She killed my sister. She was about to tell me something about her and then she started hitting me with that.” He jutted out his chin to the fallen bat. “I want her gone.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

Yamaguchi glared at him, his hand stilling for a moment.

Tsukishima raised his hands and stepped in front of the gun. “Yamaguchi. Don’t.”

“Tsukishima,” Kageyama called warningly.

“It’s fine,” Tsukishima said. He met Yamaguchi’s gaze. “I can’t let you kill her.”

“Why the hell not.”

“Please, don’t,” said a soft voice from behind them.

(Y/N) walked into the room with Kuroo behind her. Tsukishima let out a breath. She’s okay. Her eyes were wide and trained on the gun that was in between himself and Yamaguchi.

Tsukishima glared at Kuroo. “You’re supposed to talk her back to Karasuno.”

“You didn’t tell me how scary she was,” Kuroo countered. “She tripped me when I found her and then lectured me all the way down the hallway. She also threatened to wander around the building by herself. What was I supposed to do? Tackle her?”

“Yes.” Tsukishima could feel himself smiling.

“Yamaguchi,” (Y/N) said. She threw an irritated glance at Tsukishima and took a step forward. “Put the gun down.”

Yamaguchi shook. “My sister would have—”

“Your sister is dead,” (Y/N) said firmly. Yamaguchi whipped his gaze to her and so did Tsukishima. What was she doing?

“Your sister is dead,” she said again.

“Stop saying that,” Yamaguchi shouted.

“You told me that the choices you make are your own. I’ve never met your sister, but would she want to have your conscience burdened with killing someone?”

Tsukishima looked down.

(Y/N) took another forward. “You told me that you wouldn’t hurt anyone unnecessarily. I know that you hate Yukiji, but her death is unnecessary. It will hurt Tsukishima because I know he’s going to try to stop you. It will hurt me. And it will hurt you. Don’t let Yukiji control your life anymore.”

Yamaguchi looked back at him. Tsukishima nodded once, confirming that he would try to stop him even if he was the one with the gun. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, but as I said, I only know the bare bones of the situation. The only person who can answer all of your questions is Yukiji. Once she does that, you can choose what we do from there.”

Yamaguchi looked at (Y/N) again and then threw the gun across the room. “I expect you to keep that promise.” He turned around and walked out.

After everyone was back at Karasuno, Sugawara took it upon himself to check everyone. Only Azumane and Kinoshita had major injuries—Azumane with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and Kinoshita with one to the leg. Everyone else only had minor injuries.

Once he checked (Y/N), he told her that she looked okay, but to take it easy just in case—not heavy lifting or strenuous brain activity and to get lots of rest. If she felt even a little bit sick, she was to go to the doctor or come see Sugawara again.

“You can stay here if you want,” Tsukishima offered.

(Y/N) hesitated. “Thanks, but I think I want to sleep in my own bed.”

Tsukishima nodded. He felt like something was off; he couldn’t put his finger on it though. He drove her back to her shop, stopping a few blocks away from it. Yukiji might not be a threat anymore, but he didn’t want to give anyone who might be watching them any ideas.

“Walk with me?” (Y/N) asked.

“Of course.”

“Exciting day,” Tsukishima said, opening the car door for her.

“More like a terrifying day,” (Y/N) suggested.

“Like I said, exciting.”

Silently, they walked hand-in-hand down the street. Occasionally, she would bump her arms against his playfully. They were a little bit away from the store when (Y/N) stopped. Her eyes were shadowed and shiny.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I don’t want to lie to you, but I feel like I am.” (Y/N) took a deep breath. She took his other hand.

“(Y/N)—”

“Wait,” she said. “Let me finish or else I’m never going to say it.”

He nodded slowly.

“When I was in there, I wasn’t worried because I knew you would come. Plan or not, I just knew. I thought that I would be scared, but nothing was as terrifying as seeing Yamaguchi hold that gun to you.”

He swallowed. “He wasn’t going to put the trigger.”

“It doesn’t matter. I know what I want, Kei,” (Y/N) said, “and I want you. But I can’t live knowing that you are going—or could—die at any time. It makes me feel so scared all of the time. I thought I could do it, but I can’t.”

“I could quit,” he said quickly. “I’ll quit and let Sawamura take over.”

(Y/N) smiled. “You can’t and we both know that. You love what you do and I know you can’t hand it off like it’s nothing.”

Tsukishima didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to tell her that she was right. He couldn’t give up something that he’d spent most of his life bundling up to. He wanted to, but he couldn’t. “You’re breaking up with me then?”

(Y/N) let go of his hands and smiled. “If you ever decide that you want differently —truly want differently— and you could live with yourself without the inevitable violence or putting yourself in harm's way, you know where I’ll be.”

“(Y/N),” Tsukishima whispered. “Please.”

(Y/N) sniffed and hastily wiped the tears off her cheeks. She took a step forward and placed her hands on either side of his face. She looked at him for a moment. Tsukishima saw a lot in her eyes. Sadness and happiness. Clarity and uncertainty. He saw his future before him; far away, but it was there, like a street light at the end of a dark road. Small, but something that he could work towards.

She tilted her head up and placed a final kiss on his lips. He closed his eyes. He wanted to remember every breath and touch, every moment that wouldn’t happen until he found his way back. Please don’t let this end. Please let me stay here. Please.

(Y/N) pulled back. “I’ll be okay,” she said. “Take care of yourself, Kei.”

She walked a few steps away.

“I’ll wait for you,” he said, “until I’m ready and you’re ready; I will wait.”

(Y/N) turned back and smiled. She shook her head. “No. Don’t do that for me. If you can be happy, then be happy. I don’t want you to miss out on anything life has to offer you because you deserve too much to let it go.”

“I didn’t say that you have to.” Tsukishima laughed. “But I will,” he said, “You’re worth the wait.”

Tsukishima watched her go.

Epilogue

Tsukishima sighed and opened the file in front of him. When he took this job, he didn’t expect there to be so much paperwork. He expected no paperwork, but, at the time, he clearly didn’t understand how hard it was to put up a good fake business.

He missed (Y/N). She made everything seem lighter and easier. He drove to her store sometimes, waiting at his usual spot a few blocks up the street. He wasn’t sure about no-longer-in-a-relationship etiquette, but he was sure that showing up at her store was not the way to go.

Even after the first week passed, he thought that the feeling of missing her would go away, but it never did. Tsukishima waited another month, and the feeling only grew.

His gaze drifted to the empty vase on the corner of his desk. If she were still here, there would be flowers in that vase.

“Tsukishima?” Sawamura stood at the door, his hands behind his back.

“Is he still down there?”

“He hasn’t left.”

They had taken Yukiji back to Karasuno. She was in one of the old rooms that they used to hold people in before they got their secondary locations. The few times they tried talking to her, she had only smirked and looked away.

Yamaguchi hadn’t left the guarding door, the one that led to the compartment of rooms that Yukiji was in. It was as if he was afraid of her getting away. He wanted answers and the only person who could give them to him wouldn’t say anything.

Tsukishima might have to talk to her. He avoided that part of their building. Maybe he could make a deal of some kind and get her to talk. Maybe it would ease Yamaguchi’s mind.

Sawamura walked up to his desk.

Tsukishima looked up at him. “Sawamura?”

“Yes?”

“How would you feel about leading Karasuno?”

Sawamura’s eyebrows jumped up. “Really?”

“Not today, maybe not even soon, but one day. I still have to finish some stuff here. You have everyone’s respect, you have mine, and you practically run this place anyways.”

Once the shock was off, Sawamura looked steady at him. He could see the wheels turning in his brain, wondering why he was offering such a job. But if he noticed anything, he didn’t say it.

“I would be honoured.”

Tsukishima nodded. “Good. Did you need something?”

Sawamura smiled and brought out a bouquet of flowers from behind him. Tsukishima stilled. Red roses.

“These were in front of the hidden entrance. It’s addressed to you.”

Tsukishima took them and turned them over in his hand. He could picture (Y/N) making them, sitting behind her counter and carefully wrapping them.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Sawamura said and left the room.

Tsukishima flipped over the note. He smiled at the familiar loops of (Y/N)’s hard writing. He looked back down at the roses on his table and reached over towards the empty vase that sat on the corner of his desk.

Maybe he would consider his retirement as the leader of Karasuno earlier, just to hear her laugh, see her smile. He promised her that he would take his time and maybe he would too. Either way, he got up and went to fill up the vase, knowing that whatever he chose to do, a happy ending was waiting for him.

Red Roses

Love runs through our veins to our heart

And my heart is always opened to you

(Y/N)

Hi :) I’m bacckk

Maybe I’m on a Taylor Swift kick (with the release of love story and soon fearless (fearless is probably out by the time I finish) but I always think/listen to Sparks Fly (“my mind forgets to remind me that you’re a bad idea”) when I write this lsdkjfla anyways….

Did I name the character Yukiji halfway through writing this because I finished Kamisama Kiss? Yes, yes I did. Do I absolutely adore Tomoe? Yes, yes I do.

Also: to anyone who has requested something in early September (?) to November (?) ish (maybe even earlier) and it fell into my portion of requests, I’m so sorry for the wait. They will be up before the end of summer though or hopefully sooner, but I’ll take special care in writing them so that they can be the best they can be. Summer will be full of writing.

Thank you for waiting.

I hope that you enjoyed this last bit of the story. Even if it was written over a long period of time (sorry if it doesn’t feel continuous or feels weird (?) this is the first thing I’ve written for a while that’s not academic so it might not be the best...)...I’m not sorry about the ending through kdjfs I think that it would be too easy if everything had a clear-cut happy ending, but if you ask me, they do end up together fully in the happy ending they created for themselves. They just need a bit more time. Sorry about the info dump too...I’m working on that...and if it felt like it fell flat? It felt like that to me...

I had the most fun writing these ones. My knowledge of flowers has grown exponentially and I kind of love flowers now -Kiwi

Ahhehehe Downcline. Now I have to beet Kiwi again for the longest fic TT. though I know just the one that might do it ~Bacon

I would laugh but I would be the one to edit it skjdfk - Kiwi

Posted: 02/05/2021

#tsukishima kei #tsukishima x reader #tsukishima kei x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

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parkersbliss · 4 years

Text

High Up There | T. Holland

Paring: Tom Holland X Female Reader

Warnings: Language

@dylanstilinskiposts requested: LISTEN I am obSESSED with interviews w Tom x reader so please do one where it’s Tom and reader on Ellen’s game of games and they’re doing the one where a persons in the air on a harness and their partner is like “_ can name 5 cities!” Or somethin like that y/n is in the air and Tom on the ground and they’re bickering the whole time like when KBell and Dax did it please I’m BEGGING

WC: 1.3K

Masterlist | Taglist

...

"Welcome to Ellen's game of games!" Ellen announces. "Today we are playing you bet your girlfriend with Tom Holland and (Y/N) (L/N) against Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton!"

Tom's hand is around your waist, pulling you close as you all wave at the camera. He presses a soft kiss to your cheek, causing you to blush and scrunch up your nose. Ellen goes on about the rules of the game and turns toward the couples.

"The way this game works is both Natalia and (Y/N) will be strapped into these two harnesses, blindfolded, they will be suspended above this mattress." She motions to the setup where both you and Natalia were currently strapped into, "Tom and Charlie will stand behind the podiums and I will announce a category, like cereal. Tom will say, 'I bet my girlfriend can name six brands of cereal. Charlie can either challenge or bet higher. They have thirty seconds to complete the bet. If she can't, she will drop and if she can, the other person drops. The first one to hit the mattress loses, Are we ready?"

Everyone nods their heads and Ellen pushes a button, causing you to be lifted out of Tom's arms as he slips your mask over your eyes.

"Good luck, darlin' don't lose this for me," Tom winks.

"I won't lose if you don't bet like you do at pubs."

Tom places a hand over his heart while walking to stand behind the podium, "And here I thought we were a team."

"Your first category is boy bands!" Ellen said.

"I bet my girlfriend can name eight boy bands!" Tom said.

"What?" You shriek. "Eight? I can barely name three!"

Tom shrugs from his place on the ground, "Oh well, guess you'll drop."

"TOM!"

Charlie chuckles, "I challenge."

Natalia groans from her stop beside you, "You're kidding me!"

"You have thirty seconds, go!"

"Wait, what? No, no oh my gosh," You panic.

"C'mon babe!"

"Jonas brothers, the Beatles, shoot, oh big time rush, crap does one direction count?"

"They just made a comeback!" Tom shouts from below.

"Backstreet Boys! Five seconds of summer, Tom help me!"

There's a terminal beep that goes off signaling the end of your time.

"Unfortunately, I have to drop you now," Ellen said, a smile evident.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" You cry, curling yourself into a small ball.

"Are you ready?"

"NO!"

"She means yes," Tom interjects.

"I do not!"

"I have to drop you."

"Yeah, yeah okay," You agree, bracing yourself.

"I'm right here, love!" Tom calls out, laughing at your state.

"This is your fau-" You don't get to finish your sentence as you begin to fall, you scream, feeling your stomach drop when the harness tugs you back into a resting position.

The crowd interrupts into laughter and you cross your arms, "not funny."

"Our next category is Netflix shows!"

Charlie immediately buzzes in, "I bet my girlfriend can name eight Netflix shows!"

"I bet mine can name nine!"

"Thomas Stanely Holland I am going to kill you!"

Tom chuckles, "Sure love, we'll see about that."

"Let's see it," Charlie smirks.

Natalia groans from next to you, "This is so unfair! Okay let's see," She begins listing show, starting with her own. "To all the boys?"

"That's a movie!"

"Wait no!"

The timer beeps and Natalia drops, you're not sure how much but you hope she's on your level.

"Moving on, types of dance!"

"Any hints, darling?" Tom asks. You give him six fingers.

"Eight?" he jokes.

"Tom!" You warn.

"Okay, okay, I bet my girlfriend can name eight types of dances."

"You div!" You shout at him. Eight. This bastard.

"I love you!"

"I hate you!"

Tom pouts, but obviously, you can't see it.

"I'll challenge," Charlie decides.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes," Tom answers for you.

"Oh boy, ok. Ballet, Jazz, contemporary, hip- hop, ballroom, musical theatre, salsa and uh," You curse under your breath.

"One more!"

"Tom shut up!"

"I did it all the time when I was little!"

"Tap!"

The crowd cheers as you take a deep breath, knowing you'd be safe. Natalia drops again, Charlie stutters a sorry through his laughter. Natalia scowls him. She only had one drop left while you had about two or three.

Ellen pulls out the next card, "Disney princesses!"

"I bet my girlfriend can name six Disney princesses!" Charlie said.

Tom smirks, "I bet my girlfriend can name seven!"

"Eight!"

"Nine!"

"Alright, let's go," Charlie challenges, clapping his hands together. "You got this Natalia!"

Natalia groans, "No, I don't! Good going!"

Charlie winces but gives her a thumbs up even if she can't see it. Making Tom laugh.

"Ready?"

"Yeah, I think so. Okay, um, Ariel, Belle, Aurora.. shoot, Rapunzel, Cinderella?"

The crowd cheers Natalia on, making her laugh nervously.

"Three more!" Charlie encourages.

"Ahh, uh, Jasmine, Anna and uh, the one who sails! What's her name, oh Moana!" The Timer cuts Natalia off right as she says Moana.

"That was nine! Alright, that means you're being dropped, (Y/N)."

"No, no, no, no!"

Tom laughs, "scared?"

"You'd be too if you were strapped into a harness blindfolded!"

"Love, you forget, I'm Spiderman."

"Whatever, listen when I get out of this harness I am goi-" Tom gives the signal to just drop you and cut off your rambling. You shriek as you drop, feeling your heart pound. God, how you missed the ground at this moment. You were so going to murder Tom after this.

Ellen pulls out the final card, "Makeup products!"

"I bet my girlfriend can name nine products!" Tom shouted. You felt pretty confident with that. Nine was probably your morning routine.

"Ten!" Charlie bets.

"Eleven!"

"Twelve!"

"Charlie!" Natalia screams.

"Thirteen!" Tom said, grinning.

"Challenge accepted," Charlie agrees.

"Are we ready?"

"Uh-huh," You said, running through all the products in your mind.

"GO!"

"Foundation, concealer, eye shadow, baking powder, blush, highlighter, bronzer, mascara, eyebrow gel..." You trail off, racking your brain for more products.

"Lipstick, Lipliner..."

"Two more, darlin'" Tom said, hands clasped tightly together.

"Brow pencil and false lashes!"

Tom cheers, "Yes! You did it!"

You take a deep breath, laughing at your boyfriend's excitement. You could imagine the shit-eating grin he was wearing right now. Ellen drops Natalia, a soft thud signaling she hit the mat.

"Tom and (Y/N) win! You may take off your blindfolds!"

Natalia rips hers off, sitting on the edge of the mat as Charlie comes to her side. You slide yours up to rest on your forehead.

Tom runs to stand at the edge of the mat, "You did it!"

You roll your eyes, "you're in for it when I get down."

"I can drop you now," Ellen offers.

You laugh nerveously, but nod your head knowing Tom would be right by your side when you fall. Ellen pulls the lever and you feel yourself scream for a second, eyes screwed shut as you collapse onto the matt. Tom immediately runs to your side, scooping you out of the harness. He places you gently on the ground and you cross your arms, glaring at him.

"Oh C'mon baby," He said.

"You're the worse," You said, arms still crossed. Tom chuckles pulling you into his chest, "Mm but you love me."

He places a gentle kiss to your forehead, and you (begrudgingly) wrap your arms around his torso and pull him a bit closer. You look up at him and press a soft kiss to his lips. Tom grins, "See? You love me."

"Don't push it Holland."

Tom puts his arms up in surrender.

"Wouldn't want one of your Spidey stunts to go wrong," You wink.

Tom's jaw drops as he looks into the audience, "Do you see what I have to deal with?"

"I said don't push it!"

"I love her though!" He quickly says, the audience laughs as you and Tom both interlock hands and run off stage.

"One of these days Holland I will really murder you," You smile.

"Just not today," He concludes, kissing you again.

Tagged: @honeybittersweet

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simplybakugou · 4 years

Text

The Villain -- Ch. 8: Coming Clean

A/N: the fact that I started this in 2018… I’M SO READY TO FINALLY FINISH THIS SHITTY STORY SO I'M SORRY IF THIS IS ACTUAL GARBAGE, I'M JUST DONE WITH THIS LMAO

Pairing: villain!bakugou x female!reader

Warnings: swearing; a little steamy 👀

Word Count: 3,539

Remember, if you want to be tagged in future chapters, comment below and I’ll add your username to the list!

LINKS TO NEW CHAPTERS

✐posted 06.03.2020✐

Bakugou kicked open the door to the Kamino Ward, feeling absolutely enraged with his fists clenched at his sides. “Where are you, Warp Gate fucker?!”

Kurogiri felt himself flinch behind the bar as Bakugou trudged inside the building, slamming his palms down onto the table. Even he felt himself shudder under the piercing gaze of his vermillion eyes, shifting in place in discomfort.

“What is it, Ground Zero?” Kurogiri asked.

“What the fuck did you do to the Comission Center? I didn’t give you any orders to pull that shit,” Bakugou grunted, feeling his palms sweat as little sparks erupted from his palms subconsciously.

Kurogiri looked back at Bakugou plainly. “With all due respect, Ground Zero, I don’t think what you’ve been doing has been benefiting the League of Villains. In addition…”

Kurogiri paused looking up to meet Bakugou’s gaze. “It seems to me that you have personal feelings for (H/N), which is what is holding you back. And frankly, I do not support this as our cause is completely different from those heroes.”

Bakugou laughed humorlessly, not believing a single word he was hearing. “Alright, let’s say you don’t trust me, which I don’t give a fuck about because I’m the leader for a reason. But who the fuck was with you ‘cause there no way in hell you’d be able to cause that much damage with that shitty quirk of yours.”

Kurogiri sighed. “The second person in question was a fake. There was no one else there. I used explosives to cause the damage to the area. Those heroes misread what they saw and relayed the information incorrectly. We must increase the pace in which we’re taking to finalize our goal: destroy every single hero there is.”

Bakugou scoffed, nodding along to his story. He didn’t believe what he was saying, realizing that Kurogiri was most likely covering for the person most likely behind all of this. Nevertheless, Bakugou was willing to put up with Kurogiri’s antics… for now.

“Alright… I’ll let it go for now, but next time tell me first before you do some dumb shit like this,” Bakugou said curtly, pushing back and moving towards the exit. He stopped in his tracks, looking back at Kurogiri in annoyance. “And I don’t like that shitty girl either so get that thought out of your fucking ass!”

***

“Are the reporters all out there?” You asked, wanting to peek behind the curtain in the conference hall.

Tsubaki, the one who called you immediately following the incident at the Hero Public Safety Commission Center, peeked through the curtain gasping at the sight. “There’s so many of them out there!”

You sighed, your heart feeling heavy due to the large amount of people in one room awaiting for Natsuya’s speech as well as the reason for the press conference. Although you were never close to him, you felt awful about what had happened to Hawks as he was a major hero when you were still a teenager in U.A.

“I’m surprised Yamashita got so many people here at once in such a short amount of time!” Tsubaki exclaimed.

You nodded in agreement. “I mean, what else would you expect from the Chief of Police?”

Natsuya emerged from the conference room where other officers, the head of the Hero Commission Center, and other officials followed. Natsuya shot you a small smile, his nerves skyrocketing as he was instructed to go out onto the small stage placed in front of all of the reporters. The curtain pulled back and flashes of cameras glowed in the room as the reporters rapidly took pictures.

Natsuya took a deep breath, standing in front of the podium as he was chosen to deliver the news to everyone. You stayed behind the curtain with Tsubaki and other heroes who attended.

“The events that took place yesterday were horrific and outright evil. We have confirmed that the villain Kurogiri and an unidentified second villain were the ones responsible for this atrocity. We have also confirmed that villains Dabi and Ground Zero were nowhere to be seen during these events, therefore are not responsible. Nevertheless, the League of Villains are still held accountable for this, and will be held accountable for the health damage that hero Hawks faced. The hospital also confirms that Hawks had his quirk taken away from him through the Quirk-Destroying Drug that hadn’t been used for years since Shigaraki was the original leader of the League of Villains.” Natsuya continued to relay crucial information to the crowd as they typed vigorously, trying to keep up with him as he spoke.

“What do you plan on doing, (H/N)?” Tsubaki asked you, half-listening to Natsuya and half-anticipating what you were going to say.

“If it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear now,” you stated. “We have to take down the League, no matter who stands in our way.”

***

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?” Natsuya’s concerned voice came through the speakers of your car as you drove down the highway.

“Stop worrying about be, Tsuya, you’re going to burst a blood vessel,” you joked. “I’m just visiting home. Things are getting suffocating so I just need a breather.”

“Alright, let me know if there’s anything I can do,” Natsuya said, causing a smile to tease at your lips.

“I know I can rely on you for anything. I’ll talk to you later.” You ended the call, parking your car in front of your childhood home. Exiting your vehicle, you stood in front of your house where your father still resided, hesitant to enter. Your fingers curled into fists, deciding to not go in anyways and you made your way towards the opposite direction of the street.

Since your mother’s passing, your father had been adamant about his disapproval of your passion and profession. No matter how many honorary medals or titles you earned, your father never approved of anything. By the time you had officially become a pro, having just graduated from U.A., your father vowed to never speak to you again. It had been years since you’d spoken to him and you were nervous to encounter him again despite how many times Natsuya, who still was in contact with him, pushed you to make the first move. But you simply couldn’t.

You didn’t know where you were going, your feet taking you down the trail. Your old neighborhood was quiet and pleasant, trees, flowers, and bushes littered almost everywhere. That was why it felt like second nature for you to walk to the old park by your home, one that you and the rest of your friends from U.A. would spend time after school. But once you had finally reached the park, you felt heartbroken at the sight.

The previously lively park with acres of land and trees had been ripped apart, now a construction site with heaps of trash littering the area. It had been too long since you had last been here so you knew things would be different. Nevertheless, you hopped over the fence that stood in front of the site to keep away trespassers. You didn’t care about the consequences at the moment, wanting to sit somewhere, not caring where it was so long as you were able to clear your head somehow.

There were numerous cranes and other machines and equipment scattered across the yard. Having picked a random one, you used your quirk to push yourself atop an excavator. A deep sigh escaped from your lips as you looked out into the horizon. You could see your house from here and even some of your friends’ old homes. You stared particularly at the biggest house in the area, the Bakugou house, that was now empty. After Bakugou had turned to the League, his mother and father left the city and no one knew where they resided now. It seemed wherever Bakugou went, he brought pain and misery along with him.

“The hell?!” A certain gruff voice exclaimed from beside you. You looked to the left, eyes widening at the sight of Bakugou staring back at you with a similar expression. He was lying on the ginormous machine. You hadn’t noticed him as the space was so large and your mind was racing at a thousand miles per minute that you couldn’t even acknowledge his existence.

Before you could open your mouth to utter even a word, Bakugou was quick to jump down from the machine, avoiding you at all costs. But you were even quicker to create a gravel barrier between him and the fence using your quirk, trapping him in the space. Bakugou cursed under his breath as he was too flustered to react quick enough. You created an elevator-like step underneath Bakugou’s feet, maneuvering him back up the excavator. He didn’t utter a word nor did he attempt to flee this time, staring at you silently as he stepped back onto the machine.

You were surprised, looking at him curiously. “You’re not going to try to run, Katsuki?”

Bakugou sighed, plopping back down onto the metal surface, criss-crossing his legs. He scoffed, avoiding your gaze. “And you’re not gonna arrest me, hero?”

You rolled your eyes, pulling your legs to your chest. You wrapped your arms around them, leaning your head on your knees. “I’ve got a lot on my mind right now. And what about you, villain, you’re not going to wreak havoc on a city?”

Bakugou smirked at your wit, shrugging. “You’re not the only one with a lot on their mind.”

You sighed for what felt like the hundredth time all day. You were tired, absolutely exhausted. It seemed like you were battling the whole world at times, especially with the best pro heroes being targeted now. What happened to Hawks made you feel unsettled, like the League was going after specific heroes. It didn’t seem right that just as Hawks had advised for you to back down from any League related business, he was permanently out of commission. And it made you feel disquieted as the fear that Bakugou was behind this attack was in the back of your mind, no matter if he was there at the site of the attack physically or not. It made you feel like you couldn’t continue fighting for his innocence and you had to hold him accountable now.

“Were you the one behind the attack at the Hero Commission Center?” You asked bluntly, astounding Bakugou with your straightforwardness.

“Tch, as if I would be behind the attack that hurt my fucking boss.” The words echoed through your head, despite Bakugou mumbling it in an attempt to not let you catch on. But you heard every word, the words that you were waiting to hear for years.

“What? Your boss?” You repeated in shock.

Bakugou’s vermillion eyes flitted over to you, shining brightly against the beam of the setting sun. “You heard me. Hawks is my boss.”

He chuckled humorlessly at your bewildered expression, your lips parted as you attempted to find the right words to say and your eyes like the shape of saucers. “Got nothin’ to say? It’s what you’ve been waiting for all this time.”

“You’re an idiot,” you grunted, angered to no end. Bakugou looked at you, confused beyond words.

“What?” He knew one day he would have to come clean to you, the one person who saw through his act. He anticipated tears, confusion, shock, and happiness. But you were reacting in a way he had not expected.

“It’s about time you came clean!” You exclaimed, your voice echoing through the streets.

Bakugou closed the space between the two of you, clamping a calloused hand over your lips. “Be quiet! You’re gonna let the whole world fucking hear!”

You shook his hand from your face, turning your body to face him completely. Crossing your hands over your chest, you glared right at him. “Tell me, tell me everything.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes, looking off into the distance and avoiding your gaze once more. “There’s nothing to it really. Hawks and the Hero Commission Center came to me right after the Kamino Incident to act as a double agent. Those shitheads still want me working for them to find the real leader behind the League but I’ve got no clue right fucking now.”

He glanced over at you, and although he would never admit it, he felt slightly intimidated under your glaring stare. “What? That’s everything, I mean it.”

“So you have nothing to do with the League, right?” You clarified, wanting to make sure that Bakugou was innocent. “You never hurt a single person, right? All those people are telling lies, right? You didn’t kill Shigaraki?” You were referring to all the people who were witnesses and victims under Bakugou’s supposed kidnapping.

“Can’t say I’m completely innocent. I’ve definitely hurt people, punched a civilian or two to make sure my act was solid and believable. But I didn’t kidnap or kill anyone.” Bakugou felt slightly relieved once your stare faltered a little. “All I know is the real leader is acting like me and putting up with my act. Seems like whoever it is, they want me to take all the heat and blame for now. And that person’s the one who killed ole crusty face, not me. I was just the one who found his body and was blamed for it.”

Your brows furrowed in confusion. You had dreamed of this day, the day where everything would make sense and you would understand Bakugou’s actions. But here you were, utterly confused beyond belief. “Why would the real leader go along with your act? How is it benefitting them?”

“My guess is that it’s probably someone on the other side. A hero, officer, someone in the commission center? One of those fuckers has to be fooling all of us and running this shit on the sidelines.” Bakugou paused momentarily, looking ahead. “With me around, that asshole can put the blame all on me while working with that Warp Gate fucker. But I’m close, I know that for sure. Soon enough I'll be allowed to finally be free and not have to worry about living this fucked up life anymore.”

You continued to look at him, smiling at the sight of the ends of his lips curling upwards a little. You had missed that smile. “And what do you plan to do? Once you’re free and don’t have to follow anymore orders?”

Bakugou shrugged, running a hand through the ash blonde spikes on his head. “Do whatever the fuck I want. Can’t be a hero, that’s out of the question. I’ll worry about that when I’m free.”

You smiled and nodded, a weight lifting off your shoulders. You felt a surge of relief run through your veins, a feeling you could never describe into words. You felt proud for believing in him all this time, believing that he was innocent. And you missed him, missed your dear friend from childhood.

“It must’ve been lonely… dealing with this and losing your adolescence,” you muttered, looking away from Bakugou and looking down at the horizon where the sun had painted the sky with orange and pink hues. Bakugou looked over at you, startled by your statement. There you were, not blaming him for anything, not for the lies or the deception. Instead you were selflessly worrying about him and the time that was taken from him living his life.

“Calling me an idiot… you’re the real idiot here,” Bakugou grumbled, narrowing his eyes at you.

You looked over at him, confused by his words. “What?”

Bakugou stood up, taking a few steps towards you, and kneeling down in front of you. His face was inches from yours, alarming you from his quick movements. He stared into your (E/C) eyes for a moment, sighing again and looking down at your feet. “I was told that all I had to do was keep this act up and soon I’d be done. But now Hawks is outta the picture and I don’t know what the fuck to do. I can’t do this alone, I need help. That asshole behind this is probably gonna pull another one on me and then I’ll be helpless. My head’s all fucked up right now.”

“And as if my head isn’t already fucked from all this villain-hero shit goin’ on…” Bakugou swiftly pushed you back down onto the cool metal surface of the excavator, his body hovering over yours and his hands pinning yours on either side of your head. His legs straddled your body down as his scarlet eyes pierced right through yours. A whimper escaped your lips as your cheeks heated up from the proximity of your bodies. Bakugou stared down at you, his face twisted in dubiety. “You’re makin’ it worse, driving me fucking insane. You’re the only one who’s ever believed in me, and you’re driving me insane. You’re making me fucking fall for you.”

The world felt still in that moment and you didn’t even feel the breeze drift off in the air. All you could was the intimidating stare Bakugou had on you, sending shivers down your spine and his touch sending electricity down your veins. “What are you-?”

Before you could finish your question, Bakugou closed the gap between your head and his, slamming his lips on yours. A gasp escaped your lips as he pushed his lips roughly against yours. He lowered his body on you, hips grinding into you. You pried your hands free from his hold, one hand clutching his blonde locks while the other gripped onto the nape of his neck, wanting him closer to you. You felt hot and bothered, bothered at how turned on you were by this whole situation.

Bakugou’s lips were warm and soft against yours, moving in a rhythm you were having difficulty keeping up with. He made your body feel a way that you had never felt before as you felt hot yet cold at the same time. You were gasping for air, moans escaping your lips as you could barely keep up with his body grinding against you. You had never felt this way, no one made you feel this way, not even Natsuya.

That was when yours hands went down to Bakugou’s shoulders, pushing him back up and his face away from you. Bakugou stared down at you, angered that you had cut this moment short as you both attempted to catch your breaths and come down from the high you were on.

“Natsuya…” You uttered simply, causing Bakugou to scoff harder than he ever had. He didn’t care for your police boyfriend, never really caring for him even when you were teenagers.

“Forget it,” Bakugou grunted, standing to his feet and jumping down to the ground.

“Katsuki, wait!” You called out, sitting up and looking down. But you were too late, he was already gone.

***

You kicked a loose piece of gravel on the path, your hand shoved in your pocket as you made your way down the cemetery. Your other hand went up to touch your lips as the images of Bakugou’s body atop of your own made you feel both flustered and guilty. You cared for Natsuya so much as he was your closest friend and you had just quite literally cheated on him. But he never made you feel the way Bakugou did when he was around you. Nevertheless, it didn’t excuse your actions and you knew you had to make it right once you got back.

But now you stood in front of the main reason why you even visited your hometown: to see your mother.

You knelt in front of her tombstone, clapping your hands together and bowing your head. “It’s been a while, Mom. I’m sorry I haven’t visited.”

A sigh escaped your lips as you sat your rear down in front of her grave, staring at the engraving of her name. “I don’t know what to do, Mom, I feel so conflicted. I’ve been waiting for this moment, waiting to find out about Katsuki’s innocence. And now I know about it, and I think he was indirectly asking me for help. But he… asked me in such an odd way, like he had been waiting a long time to do… that.”

Your hand rose and pressed against the cool stone, your finger tracing the engraving. “I want to help him. I want to be there for him while also doing my job. What do I do, Mom?”

You sat there for a few minutes, as if you were waiting to hear a response. You chuckled, shaking your head at yourself. What am I even doing?

You rose to your feet, making your way back to your car until a blunt object hit the back of your head, causing your body to crash into the dirt. Your head was throbbing and you felt the object hit the same spot again, a scream erupting from you in pain as you attempted to take a look at the perpetrator.

A man laughed. “You couldn’t just keep your nose outta this one, huh, hero?”

And just like that, the world went black.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Tagging: @chims-kookies @bokunoheroes-stories @iamthe-leaf @simplysymphonic @mylittlesunshineblog @imyourliquor-youremypoison @sunflowerchild27 @geesshoku @ghoularaki @katsukiwonu @kotakingly @tyongflight @sparkexplosive @minniepresents @thorohdamnson

#bakugou x reader #katsuki bakugou x reader #bakugo x reader #katsuki bakugo x reader #my hero academia #my hero academia imagines #boku no hero academia #boku no hero academia imagines #boku no hero imagines #katsukibakugou #bakugo #katsuki bakugou #katsuki bakugo #bnha bakugou #katsuki #kacchan

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gumnut-logic · 4 years

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Thank you ever so much for all your support of this fic. It has floundered in places, but I think it is much more solid now and going in a direction I can control. Of course, it has just past the 20,000 word mark, so much for the fabled ‘ficlet’ I set out to write. ::ponders writing twenty fandomversary fics of that length and falls on face::

I’m working the next six days straight as it is my shitty weekend this week. I will keep writing, but results may vary as I get worn down by work. What gets doen, will get done. Work cramps my style.

This is for @soniabigcheese one of the mainstays of this wonderful fandom :D

-o-o-o-

The crowd erupted.

“Virgil, sit down.” It was hissed at him as the roar overtook everything.

Everyone was shouting.

Veronica was calling for order, but no one was listening.

That one woman kept staring at him. He couldn’t help but feel responsible for her tears.

“Do you admit responsibility for the sixty-three deaths in New York?”

“That was an apology!”

“Why did you let it happen?”

It was an avalanche threatening to sweep him away.

Then someone got a hold of a megaphone. “You people are disgusting!”

It was like an extra knife, twisting in his gut. Virgil looked down at the wooden table in front of him. After images danced in his eyesight.

But the megaphone continued. “How can you treat these men this way? How many of you have had loved ones saved by International Rescue? I have! We owe these men everything, you ungrateful slimes!”

Virgil’s head shot up. What?

On the other side of the crowd, almost opposite the woman who had accused him, were a group of people all dressed in green. Beside them were other groups of colours – yellow, blue, gold and red. Above this rainbow were more placards, but their message was considerably different.

‘Virgil Tracy saved my boy’.

‘I’ve been saved and so have you.’

‘Rescued by International Rescue.’

‘Leave IR alone.’

The one that screamed out in blue ‘Scott Tracy, will you marry me?’ held a different message altogether, but the spirit was there.

The woman holding the microphone was dark-haired and unfamiliar.

The hub bub had died down just a little and Virgil found the ability to breathe again.

The woman’s eyes caught his and the determination and the…trust in them was a physical thing that up and slapped him.

She didn’t let him go.

He was International Rescue.

He saved people.

Again, the crowd reacted to him. Much more must be showing on his face than he was aware, because a tension settled over the people below. Eyes darted between the woman in green and Virgil’s stare. New questions popped up, but they were quieter and finally, Veronica was able to take control of the proceedings.

“Thank you for your consideration.” Her pursed lips added sarcasm and not a little admonishment to her words. “Scott and Virgil Tracy are here to answer a few questions, but before we start, Mr Tracy has a statement.”

She stepped back from the lectern and Scott stood up, his fingers brushing gently over Virgil’s shoulder.

Scott exuded command. His brother was putting every bit of himself into projecting confidence and power.

And he was succeeding.

“Several accusations have been made against International Rescue in recent days.” He paused, letting his words sink in. “Regarding Hurricane Lucy…myself and my brothers are grieved at the loss of life caused by the storm, and the damage to the environment incurred by the oil spill.” Another pause, eyes raking the crowd. “Despite repeated attempts to launch, we were restrained by the Global Defence Force from saving those in danger.

“We wanted to, but we were forced to sit and watch when we could have prevented so much.

“And for that reason, we share your grief.”

Blue eyes raked the silent crowd. “Regarding the incident in New York…” A whimper to their left and Virgil’s eyes were once again forced to land on the woman who had lost her son.

The tears were gone and he only found hatred in her eyes.

He drew in a breath.

Cameras flashed yet again.

“Virgil! We trust you!” It was loud. It was sudden. But it whipped his eyes away from accusation to the other side of the crowd once again where that colourful group of people projected support.

His heart twisted.

He felt Scott’s eyes on him, before his brother retook control of the crowd. “Regarding the incident in New York. We are investigating the cause of the accident, but I can assure you that it was not pilot error.”

He held the crowd with his eyes and Virgil found even more admiration for his brother. Scott knew exactly what he was doing and he was doing it well.

His brother took a step back. “Thank you for coming.”

Several reporters twitched at that, arms shooting up with a sudden fear they were about to lose their opportunity to speak with the Tracys.

Intelligent and powerful, Scott looked down on them and held them with his eyes just that moment longer before breaking the spell and returning to his seat beside Virgil.

Virgil stared at him.

Okay, wow.

His brother turned to look at him and blue sparkled as one corner of his lips curled up just a little.

Oh, confident and suave Scooter who was fully aware of his skill. It distracted Virgil from dark thoughts and he suddenly realised that he was as subject to his brother’s spell as the rest of the crowd.

Smart ass.

Veronica took the stand again. “We have time for a few relevant questions.”

Hands that had dropped under that blue-eyed bewitchment shot up again. Veronica turned to Scott, non-verbally handing him the floor.

And Virgil realised that Scott had returned to his seat for only one reason.

To support his younger brother through this.

Virgil let his shoulders drop.

Control of the crowd returned to Scott.

The commander eyed the cluster of journalists, raised a hand and pointed to one on the right. “Ned?”

Virgil blinked. It was indeed Ned Cook. Scott and the reporter had a long term, ongoing antagonism. Cook had chased International Rescue across the globe, attending as many rescues as he could. Having once encountered a frustrated Scott in person, and then been saved by Virgil during a building collapse not long after, he was very pro-IR on every front.

Scott still had words with him time to time. The man always had to push the boundaries and Virgil knew his brother found him irritating.

Virgil just worried the man was going to get himself killed.

But he was a fair reporter and would relay the facts.

Dark hair and eyes bounced between the two Tracys. “So, what you are saying is that International Rescue was not responsible for either incident?”

Scott tilted his head. “Mr Cook, what I am saying is that we are not responsible for being unable to assist during Hurricane Lucy. That blame lies entirely with GDF Command. We have recordings of their direction during the crisis and the extent we tried to help. We were vetoed on all fronts.”

“Why didn’t you fly anyway?”

“And give the GDF an excuse to ground us permanently? Risk all the future lives we could save?” Scott sighed. “We can only help those who want to be helped.”

That set the crowd rumbling. There were shouts of ‘we wanted help’ and ‘please help us’.

Virgil found his eyes drawn again to the left.

The woman was still staring at him with accusation in every line.

He shied away.

“What about the New York disaster?” Cook wasn’t letting them off the hook.

Scott remained calm. “As I said, we are still investigating.”

Virgil was aware of all the eyes on him.

Scott pointed at another reporter.

The man straightened. “Eddie Kerr, sir. I’d like to address Mr Virgil Tracy.”

Scott glanced at him sideways, but Virgil nodded.

All the attention turned to him.

“Virgil, what were your thoughts when that slab of concrete dropped on those sixty-three people?”

Virgil’s throat tightened and he had to clear his throat, but he found his voice. “Sixty-four, my youngest brother was also under that concrete when it fell.”

“But he survived. The other sixty-three did not.”

“I tried, Mr Kerr. God, I tried. It shouldn’t have happened.” A hand landed on his arm and cameras flashed at him again.

God, he was the vulnerability.

“You did your best, Virgil” The megaphone again. “We know you-” She was cut off.

His eyes found the green woman wrestling with a police officer. He appeared to be attempting to take away the megaphone.

Virgil stood up. “No, leave her alone!”

“Virgil!” Scott hissed at him again.

He turned to his brother. “She has the right to speak, Scott. Just as much as anyone else here.” Turning back to the crowd. “Leave her be!”

“You don’t control the police, Mr Tracy.” It was sneered from somewhere down at the front.

Scott rose beside him, tension in every line as a woman in a suit stepped out of the crowd. She had an intensity in her step that spoke of confidence and a right to be where she was.

On the other side of the plaza, the green woman was joined by one dressed in red and a man in blue. More police ran to the scene as the woman struggled. The crowd murmured uneasily.

“Mr Tracy!” The woman in the suit was being held back by IR Security. Gerald, in fact, Scott’s personal attendant. “I’m from the Office of the Commissioner of Justice.” Her tones were sharp and her identification was literally shoved in Gerald’s face. The officer frowned as he focussed on the document. Eyes darted up to Scott and confirmed her identity.

Cameras were flashing again, almost blinding Virgil as his brother nodded. Gerald let the woman through, hovering behind her, hand on his stunner.

She sauntered up to the podium, eyes cold and accusing. She slapped a clear flimsy down in front of Virgil as Scott shifted closer, all towering protectiveness.

The woman ignored him. Attention solely on Virgil, “You’re summoned, Mr Virgil Tracy, to answer for your actions.” Her finger tapped the electronic slip and the flimsy flashed acceptance.

Virgil stared at her, but she ignored him, and turned to Scott. “You don’t control everything, commander. You will answer for your actions.”

She spun on her heel and strode off into the crowd.

Virgil found his mouth open and shut it.

The light and noise of the crowd rose up and consumed him.

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Scott Tracy #Virgil Tracy #nuttys fandomversary

78 notes · View notes

writing-the-end · 3 years

Text

Chapter 31- Respect

Masterpost

A Wizard Hermits tale (AU, designs, ideas belongs to @theguardiansofredland)

TFC, as the leader of the Guild of Hermits, has a job to do. But he also sees them as family, his sons and daughters. And sometimes young souls need to learn a thing or two.

________________________

Iskall can hardly hear his own teeth chatter against the howling wind from the mountain peak, his heavy breathing attempting to take in the cold, thin air at the top of the world. His words are tossed off the mountain as soon as he speaks them. “Why couldn’t we take the tunnels to the mines? It would be mega faster, TFC.”

“I promised to the ZIT boys we’d deliver this to the Shrine of Natasiel.” TFC huffs, turning his head to look at the three youngsters following him. He trudges through the snow, fur lined boots and clothes bracing him from the cold winds. Iskall and Mumbo share similar thick down coats, but Cleo is still in the same overcoat and pantaloons as she’d wear at sea. She’s already dead, the cold doesn’t bother her.

Cleo growls, jumping off the path that TFC stumbles through. She trudges ahead of TFC, forging her own path through the snow. Despite hardly being able to see the ground five paces ahead of her, she continues forward on her own. “Where even is the Shrine?”

“The top of the mountain, isn't it? I-I’m not sure, I’ve never gone here. But this weather...my word is it dangerous!” Mumbo stutters out his words, but he’s not sure if it’s because he can’t remember for sure or because he can feel his breath freezing in this throat. A heavy gust of wind catches on Mumbo and Cleo, sending the two stumbling towards the cliff face. If it weren't for TFC grabbing their collars, they’d be meeting Natasiel in person.

“Nothing is as dangerous as me!” Iskall booms, raising his voice above the weather. “You can’t take me down, mountain! I am an S-Class nuclear mage, I take your nature and turn it on it’s head with my magic!”

TFC shakes his head, continuing forward. In his frozen, gloved hands, he grips the tattered banner as tight as possible. He’s not losing such precious cargo entrusted to him. It’s time to lay them to rest, to give the guild long gone some peace.

Zedaph handed the banner to TFC before they left, fingers tightening for a second before letting it go. “This belongs somewhere better than that bastard’s office. Can you take this to Hanshaa’s mirror? Let Natasiel take care of them.”

Of course TFC took the banner, took the route to the tallest mountain in Lairyon. Mount Hanshaa, the crown to the Queen of Death. And at the peak, the Shrine of Natasiel. TFC has only been up here a few times before, to pray to Natasiel and thank her for her work. To protect those alive, and care for those who have moved on.

And of course Iskall has to challenge everything. Whether it's a creature on the side of the road or the mountain itself, he can never back down from a challenge. TFC lets go of Mumbo and Cleo, and climbs higher into the sky. They’re almost there, he can already feel the soothing calm of Hanshaa’s Mirror.

“I...I don’t think I can do this, TFC. I can hardly breathe, and it’s so cold. I’m not cut out for climbing this, or any, mountain.” Mumbo complains, hands shaking when they clasp onto the guildmaster’s. He hauls the newest member of the guild over the lip. Just one more face to climb, and they’ll be there. So close, and he wants to give up. Cleo, on the other hand, refuses his offer to help, her green skin digging through the ice, snow, and rock and pulling herself forward.

“We’re almost there, Mumbo. You’ve already made it.” TFC breathes, lowering his voice as the wind lowers it’s howls. A sense of calm washes over TFC, watching the snow settle. “Just one more climb, I know you can do it.”

Over the lip, and there on the peak. On top of the world, the Evershade mountains tumbling out beneath them. The winds are quiet, playing with flecks of snow and dancing down the mountain. Peace comes from the fierce bite of snow, and at the center of the peak, the Shrine of Natasiel sits.

Despite it being well below freezing, the round pool has not a single vein of ice in it’s waters. Perfect and calm, not even snowflakes breaking the mirror. In the reflection and around Hanshaa’s mirror, the shrine opens. Multicolored flags flutter in the wind, stone statues resting beneath the pennants. Intricate carvings in stone and wood, offerings to Natasiel, poems of love and loss, food for friends and family, and blankets against the cold. At the center of the shrine, the guardian of Hanshaa stands. A stone monument, intricately carved feathers and fur of Natasiel’s griffin, with it’s head tucked and eyes closed, watching the world unfold before it and the shrine guarded by it’s gaze.

Sprouting from the snow and rock, against all odds of survival, delicate blue flowers glow in the low light of the snowstorm. Petals as thin as paper, bursting from the ice, opening their white pistils to the thin air. The rarest, the most beautiful flowers in all of Lairyon, fighting the harsh climate at the top of the world, growing around the goddess of the dead’s shrine. Finding life in the cold, the death, rising in the meditative peace at the water’s edge.

A calm and quiet washes over TFC, Mumbo and Cleo. But Iskall finds no sense of reverence upon seeing the shrine. He does notice the flowers, and stoops down low. Fingers wrapping around the slight stem, gripping and tugging on the hardy plant. Silence is broken by a loud, harsh shout that nearly teeters Iskall off the edge. “Don’t pick it!”

It’s TFC, one hand crossing Iskall’s torso and pushing him back, the other still gripping the tattered banner. The snap was severe, but not aggressive. Enough to make Iskall stop, but not enough to scare him. “Why not dude? It’s just one itty bitty flower among hundreds.”

TFC lets go of Iskall’s arm, turning back to the griffin statue. Open eyes watching them as the guildmaster kneels in the snow. He gazes at the old banner, the embroidered symbol frayed and color faded. A guild long gone, murdered for power. Massacred for control. He’s here to lay them to rest, to give Zedaph, Impulse, and Tango the peace they deserve. “It’s not about that.” He whispers, looking over his shoulder and boring his gaze into Iskall like a mole in the dirt. “It’s about respect.”

Iskall steps back, his foot scraping off the ledge of the mountain. His heart leaps into his throat, the wind picking up just enough to cause him to teeter. Just one gust, and he’d be plummeting to the earth. Falling from the top of the world, and no way to stop it. No one can fight gravity- even Grian will eventually plummet if he doesn’t counteract it. In that heart pounding moment, no way to stop a gust of wind from sending him over, he realizes that there's one thing he cannot fight. He cannot challenge. Life and death, and that thin line between it. He has to respect that.

And he has to respect life and death. Especially in the presence of Natasiel’s shrine, the goddess of death’s realm so close. The wind dies down and Iskall can regain his footing. He stumbles forward, away from the mountainside, side stepping from the flowers and sitting beside TFC. All four hermits take in the silence, the sound of the strung flags flying in the wind the only commentary to the world. It’s an eerily calm silence, a reverence and connection to those who passed on. Iskal looks down at the banner, ZIT’s first family destroyed by Dolios. He may not be able to challenge life and death, but he will challenge dark magic. And win. “Can...can I put it up?”

TFC raises an eyebrow, but when his eyes lock with Iskall’s, he can only see respect glimmering back in his green eye. Even the blue jewel shines with the same calm TFC feels in his body. He offers the ensign to Iskall, who picks it up as gently as he would an unstable rod of iskallium. Fingers tight enough to keep from losing the fabric, but laid out between his arms.

He stands, walking past the pool, watching the water reflect the sky and himself. Careful not to step on a single flower, he approaches the guardian of Hanshaa’s Mirror. The guardian of the shrine, protector to the entrance of the underworld, Natasiel’s griffin companion. Strong, stony eyes watch Iskall as he approaches, climbing up the podium and avoiding the precarious rock cairns stacked around the statue. A cold brush of wind causes Iskall to shiver, fingers sapped of heat by the stone statue.

“It’s mega cold up here, but you still keep watch.” Iskall wraps the banner around the stone statue’s neck. He folds the insignia out for all to see, and knots the tattered ends together. “Watch over them, for our friends. They’ll keep you warm.”

He steps back, watching the gold and blue press against the stone, blocking out the wind. Behind him, he hears Mumbo sniffle, tears freezing on his cheeks and at the corners of his eyes. TFC reaches out, patting Iskall on the back. His son, if not by blood then by guild. And a soft expulsion of breath escapes Cleo, mist dazzling in the air. “I can feel souls here...they’re at peace. It’s so calm, so content.”

They remain in silence for a little longer. Just taking in their time at the top of the world, in between life and death, at the shrine to the goddess of death. Watching the glassy pool, the snow drifting in the air and waltzing through the flowers. TFC stood first, one hand over his heart and whispering thanks to the guardian before turning around, eyeing the descent they must make now. Mumbo stands beside him, tucking his fingers under the pits of his arm. “I can’t believe we climbed all of that to make it here.”

“You have more strength than you give yourself credit for, Mumbo. You climbed the tallest mountain in Lairyon, you are one of the strongest mages I’ve ever met. Just because a task seems daunting, you shouldn’t doubt yourself. You are more than the sum of your parts, Mumbo Jumbo.” TFC glances over his shoulder to the others, then begins his descent. And all but Cleo accept his help.

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

From the tallest peaks of Lairyon, to the depths of the kingdom are where the group find themselves next. Swallowed whole by the mouth of the Golden Hearth mines, they follow a set of hastily drawn directions marked on a scrap of leather. The dwarven miner they had interviewed was more interested in returning to his mining than telling a bunch of mages where they noticed missing gems.

And for the first time ever, the hermits see TFC lose his parental demeanor. He’s a kid in the candy store, bouncing from deposit to deposit. He pulls free a chunk of amethyst, admiring the deep purple hue with glittering excitement in his eyes. The deeper they go, passing miners and other mages connected to the earth, he can’t help but pick up a pickaxe of his own and mine out a few crystals to add to his collection. Kyanite as dark as an unlit cave, pyrite that lusters against the illuminating energy from an iskallium rod.

Cleo strides ahead, plucking a torch from the wall. “This way. Come on, we have to find Esten’s Spring.”

“Hold up, Cleo, take a breather.” TFC pauses, grabbing at her shoulder and forcing her to stop. She can’t keep running through the mines this way. “Esten’s Spring is deep, one of the deepest parts of the mine. It’s hardly been explored, and the underground river leaves it unstable.” None of them know how to explore caves like TFC does. They didn’t grow up playing in caves, didn’t spend their early years mapping out the crystal mines. They can’t read the seams in the stone, the rolling of rockfalls.

Cleo raises the fire, distracted by the ores and geodes that gleam against the light for a second before returning to her trailblazing. She doesn’t need anyone’s help but herself, she is strong and clever. She knows the way all by herself. She’s independent, even in a group. She’s the captain of her own ship.

The narrow passage opens up to a deep, yawning chasm with only a broken wooden bridge to cross the immense drop. Cleo looks over the edge, biting her lip as she notices sharp stalagmites piercing through the darkness, teeth of some ancient stone beast waiting to swallow an unsuspecting miner whole.

Beside her, TFC hums. “Let me rifle through my bag, see if-”

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence. Cleo strikes her saber between a stone pillar and the ground, tipping it forward and pressing a magic circle against the stone. The rock erodes, decaying to sand at her fingertips, and with one swift yank of her blade it falls across the canyon. She flashes a smile over her shoulder, and struts across the bridge.

She got lucky, TFC knows that. She did that all on herself, but had the rock fallen the other way, they all could have been crushed. She could have hurt herself. As strong as she is, no mortal can withstand the crushing blow of the very earth itself. But Cleo just keeps moving, on her own journey deeper into the caves.

Whether crawling through gaps, jumping across chasms, or skirting across ledges, Cleo was always ahead of the others, doing things her own way, and refusing help. She doesn’t need help. She’s strong, she doesn’t need anyone’s help.

TFC stops, hearing the sound of water dripping through the teeth that rise from the ground and fall from the ceiling. He clambers through the mouth, stepping between the stalagmites and into the open well. “Here we are. Esten’s Spring.”

For a moment, the only light within the cave is the luminescent rocks, a soft glow that ricochets across the smooth stone, casting shadows along the walls and turning the cavern ceiling into a reflection of colors. Arches and ledges run along the side of an underground river, crystals beneath the water illuminating and rippling all around them.

To any person, Esten’s Spring was a godly sight. Gems as tall as buildings and wide as tarasques growing from the earth. But for a mage like TFC, who’s magic draws from the earth and it’s shimmering gifts, it was enough to bring tears to his eyes. Rare stones buried deep in the belly of the earth, all collected together and growing in one mutually exclusive place. Stones that would never be seen in any other place at once, all here. But with such beauty also comes danger. “Watch your step, hermits. The ground is unstable.”

Cleo hardly hears TFC’s warning. She’s already charging ahead, like a ship into battle. She notices a mar in the earth, dirt overturned and scraped aside. And the rusty, dusted ground turned grey like ash. “He’s been gathering them from here.”

Dolios was here. Multiple times, if the marks and stains of darkness were any indication. All across Esten’s Spring, the ground has been uprooted, entire clusters of crystals missing from their perches. Of course he would create the crystals here. In the depths of the mines, the dangerous passage deterring even the bravest miner from wantonly exploring this deep. And here, among the rarest, strongest crystals in all of Lairyon. They were ripe for his corruption, and for TFC to know he’s stolen them from here is heartbreaking.

“He has no respect.” TFC grumbles, picking up a broken quartz stone. Spared from the staining of dark magic, left shattered on the ground. He takes without remorse, without respect for the mountains or the land. Mining isn’t just about taking. It’s about giving back as well. Thanking Lairyon and the Earth god, Esten, for such amazing creations. He feels Iskall’s hand come to rest on his shoulder, a knowing gaze on the mismatched eyes. Even Iskall knows to respect nature now.

“To think, we’ve gone to the highest peaks and the deepest abysses, and no matter where we go, his darkness still follows.” Mumbo breathes. To think that he’s made it to both places, he’s still not entirely sure how. It’s like TFC said, he has to believe in himself, even when he thinks he couldn’t do it.

Cleo’s shoes skitter as the ground beneath her feet collapses, the lip of the ledge falling into the underground river. She doesn’t have time to deal with the past, and whatever the boys are up to. If they hope to stop Dolios, they need to cut off his supply of crystals. Stop him from making more, and for TFC to round up more crystals to use in his spells.

A dim corner catches her attention. All along the cavern, shadows are cast from stalagmites and stalactites. But the purples, greens, blues, yellows, and reds of the incandescent crystals turn even the darkest corners into a misty glow. But down a passageway, one place is devoid of all light. As if the rock swallowed it whole.

Or the crystal within it. Cleo scrabbles across an arch, careening off the rock wall and ignoring the light shower of stone dust in her hair as she comes face to face with the gemstone. It’s taller than her, the faceted edges a milky white, rising like a tower with thin lines perpendicular to the ground. Except for the peak of the tower, which was darker than night. Night still has light, color, whether from the moon or the stars. This is pure darkness, empty of all color, all light.

Dark magic. Dolios must have been trying to corrupt this gem, to use it to siphon magic like the crystal in Gildara, at the championship. “Cleo? Where’d you run off to now?”

She turns, slapping her hand against the crystal. “I found one in the works!” She yells, her voice making droplets of water fall from the cavern ceiling. “I can take care of this myself.”

TFC looks up, eyes following Cleo’s bright orange hair, the white crystal, and the cave wall that it rests against. And he sees the seam in the rocks, the thin planes of stone on the precipice of gravity. The soft shower of dirt, sprinkling like pixie dust in her locks. The dust turns to pebbles, pebbles to rocks. “Cleo, look out!”

The cavern roof collapses inward, and TFC has less than a second to react. His hand is already digging into the depths of his bag, pulling out a jasper and clasping it in his gloves. By the time the rocks have turned to boulders, he’s already summoned his magic and is casting the spell. He pushes his hand forward, and Cleo stumbles back.

His last sight of her is that bright red hair, pale green skin and fear written across her face. Boulders ricochet into a pile, cutting Cleo off from the rest of the hermits. Mixed with the clattering of rock, the soft sound of bone cracking and skin scraping. Iskall and Mumbo race forward, but TFC grabs them both.

“We have to help her! She could be buried!” Iskall howls, fighting against TFC.

“Hold on! The rockfall is still unstable.” He huffs. It kills TFC to have to wait as well, but rushing in will only lead to more disaster. “C-Cleo, can you hear me?”

“I can hear you! There’s a boulder, it’s pinned me to the ground.” A soft chuckle escapes, but it’s strained and high pitched. “Better my leg than the rest of me.”

TFC steps forward, brushing past Mumbo and Iskall. One of which is about to succumb to his nervous jelly knees, the other racing alongside their guildmaster. “Just stay calm, Cleo, we’ll get you out of-”

“I can do it myself!” Her voice snaps through the stone wall. “I don’t need to wait if I just-”

“Cleo no!” The rockfall shifts, growing thicker. Boulders roll towards the boys, and a stifled yelp can be heard through the cracks.

“S-see? I freed my leg. Now I...now I just need to break this wall.”

“Stop, Cleo! You’re going to hurt yourself.” TFC’s voice is strong, but soft enough to make Cleo pause. “Let us help.”

“I don’t need your help! I’m strong enough on my own!” TFC and Iskall leap backwards, a boulder narrowly crushing them both.

“But true strength is knowing when to reach out for help instead of letting it destroy you!” TFC shouts, his voice echoing across Esten’s Well, causing droplets to fall from stalagmites and ripple across the underground river. His harsh breath is the only voice, and TFC brushes back his hair, his braid. “Cleo, you’re one of the strongest hermits in all of the guild. We all know that. How many other of us are literally too strong for death to hold us back? But sometimes there are things that can’t be done alone. No one is stronger than the mountains themselves. It takes an army of dwarven miners to take on the earth. Each one of them strong on their own, but stronger together. Let us help you, let your family help you.”

Silence fills the cave, thick and hot against the stale air of the deep chasm. TFC’s ears prick at the sound of fabric shuffling through the wall of boulders. His shoulders fall, believing that Cleo is attempting to do it on her own again. That is, until her voice calls out. “I will come back as a ghost if you three crush me. I will come back and break your legs.”

Iskall grins, neon green magic reflecting off the glittering gem for his eye, meeting Mumbo’s worried expression. And together, with Cleo’s commands, they free her from the stone tomb. As Mumbo clasps Cleo’s hand and helps her stand, TFC notices a pale blue gem laying at his feet. Stooping low, he picks up the crystal. Iskall peeks over his shoulder, seeing the rock. “Whatcha got there, T?”

“I’ve never seen blue moon quartz in my life. Guess Esten hid it from Dolios.” TFC chuckles, and pockets it. “Let’s get back to the surface before his blessing turns to a curse.”

#light of lairyon #lol #hermitcraft #hermitcraft fanfic #hermitcraft au #wizard au #wizard hermits #wizard tfc #wizard cleo #wizard iskall #wizard mumbo #tinfoilchef #iskall85 #iskall #zombiecleo #mumbo jumbo

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robinrunsfiction · 4 years

Text

I See Stars

Pairing: Teacher!Gerard Way x Teacher!Female Reader Rating: General Requested By: None Word Count: ~6,000 Author’s Note: A few things about this story. First, this is one of the stories where the moodboard came before the story. Second, I specifically chose to name the school what I did because there is an actual school named that and I know it because my Dad went there when he was a kid, not just because of the song, but it does work on that level too. Third, the story and the title were inspired by the song Starz by Ben Kweller which you should listen to sometime if you haven’t before, like on repeat while reading this. Lastly, this is just really fluffy. Like... that’s it. I’m not kidding. There is no twist, I’m being 100% honest with you. Life is hard enough lately, let’s just be happy and read some damn fluff yes? Yes, ok enjoy.

"I would like to welcome everyone back for what is sure to be another successful year at Our Lady of Sorrows Academy," Headmaster O’Connor announced from his place behind the podium.

(YN) looked around the auditorium excitedly, taking in the way the teachers seemed to be grouped together. Most of the faculty seemed like they were older, probably working here for many years, but she did spot a couple of others that seemed to be about her age. She wished she hadn't been so early so she would have had an excuse to sit by them as they seemed very friendly with each other, and she was hoping to meet new potential friends.

“I’m happy to welcome some new staff this year. Barb Jones will be teaching algebra,” an older woman stood up and gave a wave. “And (YFN) (YLN) is joining the English department,” the headmaster announced. (YN) stood as well and smiled, hoping that she was making a good first impression. She'd been hired on to replace a teacher who had retired at the end of the last school year and she realized that this probably meant she had large shoes to fill, but the challenge excited her and she was beyond excited for the increase in pay and prestige that came with teaching at a private preparatory school with a stellar reputation like OLSA.

After a few more introductions and a bit of a pep talk from the Headmaster regarding expectations and achievement, the teachers were dismissed to their classrooms before the departmental meetings began. (YN) found her room near the front of the building and before opening the door, she took a deep breath and realized that she had finally made it, she had her own classroom full of possibilities. Not a space to share with other teachers who would rearrange the desks, or fill the drawers with empty pens and dried out markers, and put up stupid posters that would ultimately get vandalized.

She opened the door and took in the room. The walls and two tall bookshelves were bare, waiting to be filled, and the desks were in neat rows. She went to the windows that looked out on the tree lined street and smiled thinking about how the leaves would glow when autumn settled in. She walked around to the desk in the front of the room and ran her hands over the smooth, cool wood. She sat down into the chair and spun around in it while giggling with delight until she heard voices coming down the hall and she stopped and straightened up.

She couldn’t wait for the new school year to begin.

(YN) had never felt so relieved to hear the lunch bell ring.

As the students filed out of the classroom, she sank down into her desk chair and held her throbbing head in her hands. The first day wasn’t supposed to be like this. She expected some of the students would be excited and maybe some would be bored or irritated that summer was over, but instead they were aggressive about the curriculum, asking questions she wasn’t prepared for and pulling no punches. After a deep breath, she grabbed her bag, got up, and started walking in the opposite direction of the noisy cafeteria.

Eventually she found herself in a stairwell and decided to go up. When she opened the door at the top of the stairs, she was blinded by the bright sunlight of the early September afternoon. She blinked a few times before propping the door open with her bag, and sat against the brick wall. The noise of the city just beyond the walls of the building was loud as it always was, but it felt less imposing than the noise of the students confined within the school below her. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath, centering herself. For a moment she finally felt just a little relaxed.

"What are you doing up here?"

(YN)'s eyes snapped open. Standing over her was another teacher, hand on one hip, coffee in the other. "Sorry, I just needed some quiet, I didn't-" she apologized as she scrambled to her feet.

“It’s fine, it’s fine!” He laughed. “I just didn’t expect anyone else to be here, it’s been my secret getaway since I started working here,” he said sitting down next to where she had been, leaning against the wall. (YN) didn’t know if he expected her to leave him alone until she realized he was smiling up at her and patting the ground next to where he was sitting. “I’m Gerard Way, I’m in the art department. You’re (YN), right? The new English teacher?”

“Yep, that’s me,” (YN) nodded, relaxing a little as she sat down.

“So what brings you up here?”

“I’ve got a massive headache. I thought I was prepared for the first day, but the environment here is so much more overwhelming than my old school. These kids are…”

“Intense?”

“Yes! That’s exactly it!”

Gerard laughed. “Yea, that’s what happens when most of the students are expected to get into the Ivy League.”

“At least I can brace for the afternoon,” (YN) sighed. “How long have you been working here?”

“A couple years. I never felt like I fit in with a staff until I started here, which is strange given that it’s such a traditional environment, but I’ve met two of my closest friends working here.”

“Who are they?”

“Ray in the music department and Frank, he teaches political science and social studies.”

“Oh yea, I think I’ve seen them at one meeting or the other.”

“They’re good guys,”Gerard nodded before glancing down at his watch. “I hope your headache is better, the lunch hour is almost over.”

(YN) nodded and stood up. “Thanks for not kicking me out of your secret hideaway.”

“Feel free to come up here anytime,” Gerard replied as he got to his feet as well. He held the door open for (YN) as she picked up her bag.

“Maybe I will,” she nodded as she waved and headed off to her classroom.

The afternoon went by a bit more smoothly than the morning had. The last class of the day had been dismissed and (YN) let out a sigh of relief when there was a knock on the door.

“Excuse me, Ms. (YLN). do you have a minute?”

(YN) looked up and saw one of her sophomore students at the door. “Yes, how can I help you Sadie?”

“Well there are a lot of academic organizations and sports teams, but I want to start a new club, so my college applications can be more well-rounded, and we need an advisor.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“A creative writing club. I have a few friends who are interested, but we don’t have a formal organization yet. Would you be willing to supervise it?” Sadie asked pleadingly.

“Sure! That sounds like a really good idea. When would you like to have the first meeting?”

“Can we start next Tuesday after school? I can make fliers tonight.”

“That works for me. I’m honored you want me to help.”

“You were my first choice,” Sadie smiled. “I can tell you’re kind of nerdy, like me.”

(YN) laughed lightly. “Well, I can’t argue with you on that.”

“Own it,” Sadie grinned. “Anyway, thanks Ms. (YLN), I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said before hurrying out. (YN) shook her head and smiled. It had been a long day, but this was exactly what made teaching worth it in the end.

It was a few weeks into the school year when Gerard was called for a meeting with Headmaster O'Connor.

“Mr. Way, I’ve given you a bit of leeway regarding the expectations of instructors here, but in the interest of fairness to the rest of the faculty, I must insist that you start meeting the standards of your employment as a teacher at OLSA that have been neglected,” Headmaster O’Connor explained.

Gerard sat up straighter in the chair and cleared his throat. “What do you mean by that?”

“It’s expected that all faculty advise at least one club or team.”

“Oh, Ray and Frank are running the music club, right? I’ll help with that.”

“No, we limit the number of advisors per organization to two so that there is a good balance throughout the school and no club has to go without, or we have an organization with more adults than students. You’ll need to find something else. Also you might find yourself spending more time volunteering at things like sporting events, it will only help you in the long run around here.”

“I’m not the sporting event type,” Gerard clarified.

“Fine, social events then. We just do not want these tasks to fall on some of our other already overburdened staff.”

“So someone complained I wasn’t pulling my weight?” Gerard smirked.

Headmaster O’Connor chuckled and shook his head. “Gerard, I like you, that’s why I hired you. You’re a much needed breath of fresh air in this school. But yes, some of our more senior staff think that maybe you are due to be pulling a bit more weight.”

Gerard sighed. “Ok, I’ll see what I can do.”

The next night Gerard had stayed late hanging up the first art projects the students had completed in the small school gallery. As he walked down the hall toward the front entrance to leave, he thought he heard music despite the late hour. He turned down the corridor and saw the lights were on in the room where the music was coming from. He peeked in the door and couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face when he saw it was (YN), straightening up the classroom as she softly sang along to the song. He knocked on the door frame and she whipped around.

“Gerard, hey! You’re really good at startling me,” she laughed.

“Sorry,” he realized that it wasn't the first time he had done that and felt himself blush. “I was just wondering what you’re still doing here?”

“I’m advising the creative writing club.”

Gerard’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I didn’t even know we had a creative writing club, that’s cool. I’ve been writing and drawing my own comic books for a long time now.”

“Seriously? That’s really interesting! We just started the club a couple weeks ago, so please feel free to drop by our next meeting.”

“Tuesday after school?”

“Yep,” she smiled.

Gerard nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve recently been informed by Headmaster O'Connor that I should be advising a club.”

“Even better! Different creative perspectives would be great for the students,” she said turning off the music and gathering her jacket and her bag. “Ya know, I’ve always wanted to get into comic books, but I just don’t know where to start. There are so many, it’s kinda overwhelming.”

“I could bring you a few from my collection and you could try,” he offered as they walked out of the school.

“I’d appreciate it! Well, I’m going this way,” she said nodding down the street as the sun began to set, illuminating them in a warm orange glow.

“I’m going this way,” he pointed the opposite direction.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she smiled and waved. Gerard waved and watched her head up the street for a minute before he turned to head home.

The fall semester seemed to be flying by and (YN) was adjusting well to the new school, but the highlight of each week was definitely the creative writing club meetings. The small group of students were fantastic writers, bringing both short stories and poetry for the other students to listen to and offer advice and critiques. (YN) also found that she enjoyed the time she got to spend with Gerard. As promised, he started bringing her comics to read and she devoured each one so they could spend time after the students left discussing the characters and plots.

It was late fall when the faculty of OLSA sat in the auditorium for their biweekly meeting. Gerard found himself tuning in and out of the meeting because as an art teacher, a lot of what was being discussed didn’t apply to him. Then one of the history teachers got up and started talking about organizing the winter formal that was in a couple weeks, catching Gerard’s attention.

“With the students’ help, we have the DJ booked, and decorations and refreshments planned, but what we really need are a couple more chaperones.”

“I’ll do it,” Gerard spoke up, causing both Ray and Frank to look at him like he grew two heads. But he didn’t notice as he was trying to see if (YN) had heard. To his relief she was looking over with a smile on her face.

“Oh, great! Thank you Gerard,” the history teacher replied.

“Are you seriously going to chaperone a dance?” Ray asked as they walked down the hall after the meeting was over.

“Yea, well O’Connor was on me to help out around here more,” Gerard shrugged.

“And it has nothing to do with the new English teacher? What’s her name again?” Frank chided.

“(YN) and I don’t even know if she’s gonna be there,” Gerard countered.

“I bet she will be, she’s always volunteering to help out. She seems really nice.” Ray nodded before heading off to the music wing.

“Lucky you then,” Frank flashed a wicked grin at Gerard before heading up the stairs to his classroom. Gerard just shook his head and made his way to his own classroom for the start of the day.

(YN) walked into the gym as the DJ was finishing setting up his equipment. The lights in the gym had been turned off and the room was illuminated by strand after strand of fairy lights, like stars in the night sky.

"Hey," she heard someone say behind her. She turned to find Gerard, dressed especially nicely for the event in a well fitting suit.

"Hey, you look nice!" She greeted him with a smile.

"You too," he replied. He seemed a little in awe and she was glad the lights were dim, as she knew she was blushing.

"So what do we need to do?" Gerard asked after a moment of silence hung between them.

"Haven't you chaperoned a dance before?" She asked. Gerard shook his head in reply. "Well, if it's anything like my old school, when the students start arriving, we just make sure they don't spike the punch, or get in any fights, or dance too inappropriately."

"Oh, yea, that makes sense," he nodded, feeling slightly foolish for even having asked.

Soon the DJ started playing and students began trickling in. They mostly stuck to the walls, huddled together, glancing across the room at other groups doing the same. But then as more and more kids started to arrive, the dance floor began to fill up and the night got into full swing. (YN) and Gerard watched the crowd from the edges along with the other faculty that volunteered to be there and thankfully everyone seemed to be on good behavior, making their jobs easy.

After many fast songs, the DJ finally switched to a slow ballad. (YN) watched fondly as the students paired off. It reminded her of the dances she went to when she was in high school and all the good memories that she had there. That was part of the reason why she wanted to become a teacher; because even though those years can be difficult, she knew they could also be so important and rewarding.

"Do you wanna dance?" Gerard asked, pulling (YN) out of her thoughts.

"Oh, sure," she nodded.

He placed one hand on her waist and took her hand in the other. She placed her free hand on his arm and looked up at him as they started to sway to the music. Her heart was pounding and she was glad they were keeping a safe distance apart so he wouldn't notice it.

(YN) really liked being around Gerard, she was glad he had found his way to her classroom and started helping with her club. He was so easy to talk to, and she looked forward to running into him every day whether in the hallways or up on the roof. But now under the twinkling lights, it was like she was finally hearing her heart for the first time. She didn’t just like Gerard as a friend, she realized she had a full blown crush on him. She looked up at him and he smiled down at her fondly causing her cheeks to burn red again.

It was far too soon when the song ended, but they lingered hand in hand, searching each other's eyes for some kind of sign. Suddenly there was a shriek across the gym and they both looked over to see two boys shoving each other.

“Sorry,” Gerard said before hurrying across the gym to help break up the scuffle.

(YN) sighed. She had to remember that dating a coworker could be totally against the rules, she never had reason to check the employee handbook to find out. And if things went wrong she’d still have to see him every day. She knew she’d be better off just pushing her feelings aside, but that didn’t change the fact that they were there.

“Hey Ms. (YLN)?”

“Yes Sadie?” (YN) addressed her student as the others filed out of the room after the first class back from winter break.

Sadie glanced over her shoulder to make sure they were alone. “Are you and Mr. Way dating?"

(YN)'s eyes went wide. "No! Why would you think that?"

"I dunno, I was thinking about it over break and it just seems like there’s something between you two at the writing club meetings and you'd be like super cute together! I bet you're dating by the end of the year, if not married, before I graduate!"

"Sadie, you can't ship your teachers, it's not appropriate."

"You know about shipping?"

"The internet was around 10 years ago when I was your age ya know," (YN) replied snidely.

"Well, you should at least consider it because it'd be really cute," she grinned before turning and hurrying out of the room.

(YN) sat back in her chair and let out a sigh. She had considered it, she considered it almost every day since the dance, and she couldn't help but wonder if he had too. She opened her desk drawer and started digging. Finally she found the binder she was looking for and turned to the index. Not finding the topic of interest she started flipping through, skimming page after page, excitement and nerves growing. Finally she reached the end and then went back through again. After a third check she shut the binder with a grin.

"Any plans for the night?" Gerard asked as they walked out of the building that evening. After the last class of the day he had come to her classroom to talk about the latest comics he had lent her.

"No, but umm, do you maybe wanna go get dinner?" (YN) asked, her eyes hopeful.

A grin spread across Gerard's face. "Yea, that would be great."

"There's a deli a couple blocks over I really like," she suggested.

"Let's go," he smiled, shifting his bag up his shoulder and adjusting his scarf against the cold January wind.

"I guess I never asked, but do you live close?" (YN) asked.

"I live in Jersey with my little brother Mikey," Gerard explained.

"Oh, doesn't the commute get long?"

"It's not bad. Gives me time to listen to music and read, whatever," he shrugged. “Are you nearby?”

"Yea, I live with a roommate a few blocks up."

“Are you from the city originally?” Gerard asked

“No, I moved here after college, you?”

“Again, Jersey,” Gerard chuckled.

They continued chatting until they arrived at the diner. (YN) was relieved that their evening was going as well as she hoped it would. Maybe Gerard just liked her as a friend, but that didn’t change the fact that she was having fun spending time with him. After their meal was finished, they walked back into the cold night air, but neither made a move to leave.

“I really enjoyed hanging out with you outside of work,” Gerard said.

“Same,” (YN) nodded.

“We should go on another date sometime soon,” he replied almost a little nervously.

(YN) smiled broadly. “Yea, that would be cool,” she agreed, trying not to sound too over eager. They exchanged a lingering hug before they both headed off toward their homes.

The next morning (YN) walked into her classroom and noticed that something had been left on her desk. The night before she and Gerard had discussed their favorite coffee shops and their regular coffee orders, and on her desk was a coffee, fixed just like she liked, a fresh stack of comics and a note that read ‘Thanks for the wonderful dinner last night, can’t wait to return the favor. xo G’ She felt herself blush and stifled a squeal of delight, but quickly recomposed herself as the students began to file in for the first hour of the day.

(YN) and Gerard had been on a few dates, mostly just grabbing coffee or dinner after work, but finally they were on what felt more like a real date than any of the others. They had met up on a Saturday afternoon to grab lunch and then they were browsing (YN)’s favorite bookstore.

“I feel like as an English teacher everyone expects that my favorite book should be some kind of classic novel, or Shakespeare, or something, but honestly I just really like a clever mystery,” (YN) explained as they walked through the rows and rows of books.

“Really? What’s your favorite?”

(YN)’s eyes scanned the shelves. “Here it is,” she said, pulling out a book. “It’s a mystery series based around a witch museum in England. It’s written from the point of view of the protagonist and it’s so funny and smart.”

“It sounds good, I’ll have to get it,” Gerard smiled, taking the book from her hands.

“You don’t have to do that, you can borrow my copy, I have the whole series,” she smiled, placing her hand on his and looking up at him with a smile. "I'd really like to have someone to talk about it with."

"I could listen to you talk forever," Gerard replied, the words tumbling out of his mouth and (YN) couldn't mask the surprise on her face. "I really like you (YN),” he confessed after a moment.

"I really like you too Gerard," she replied, barely above a whisper. As if in slow motion, they found themselves leaning in, their lips so close, but not touching as she glanced up at him for one more second before closing her eyes and his lips pressed against hers.

Just like when they danced, her heart felt like it could burst out of her chest. For a moment she wondered if he could feel it, but as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer to him, she didn't care. All that mattered was this moment with Gerard that she'd been thinking about for what felt like ages, in her favorite bookstore, in front of her favorite book no less. (YN) was certain it really couldn't get any better than this.

(YN) and Gerard’s relationship continued to get better and better through the cold winter months. Gerard delighted in finding any excuse he could to drop off little notes or gifts for (YN) to find in her desk during the day, like on Valentine’s Day he even left a rose with a cute little drawing of the two of them together for her to find.

"Me, Ray and Frank were gonna go check out this band tonight, do you wanna come too?" Gerard asked during their lunch hour a few weeks later.

"I don't wanna intrude," she objected.

"No, I want you to come along. I wanna finally let them know that we're," he trailed off as he reached over and took her hand.

"Going out?" She filled in.

"Yea, because I want the world to know you're my girl," he said with a blushing smile.

"Well in that case, sure, I'd love to go along," she smiled. "And for what it's worth, I couldn't be happier to be your girl,” she said leaning over and placing a kiss on his cheek.

That evening (YN) walked into the small venue and spotted her three coworkers at a table in the corner. "Hey guys," she greeted taking the open chair next to Gerard.

"Hey, how's it going?" Ray smiled.

"Good, what a long week though," she sighed. "I dunno if midterms are harder on us or the students."

Frank hummed in agreement as he took a swig of his beer. "I hear ya."

The group settled into a comfortable conversation until the first band took the stage. (YN) found herself having a lot of fun and not like the odd one out as she previously worried she would be. The guys all had encyclopedic knowledge of music, and it was fascinating to listen to them talk.

“I still wanna start a band, I haven’t been in one for ages,” Frank announced.

“Who is gonna wanna see a bunch of teachers play music?” Ray countered.

“Wasn’t Sting a teacher? And Gene Simmons at one point?” (YN) offered.

“That’s true,” Frank nodded.

“Well if you need a singer,” Gerard shrugged.

“Wait, you can sing too?” (YN) asked, eyebrows raised. What she didn’t notice was the look being exchanged by Ray and Frank.

When the main act took the stage, Gerard slid his chair closer to (YN)’s, and put his arm around her shoulders. (YN) settled in, resting against him forgetting that the others were unaware of their relationship.

“Oh, so this really is a thing?” Frank said looking between the two after the first song was over.

“Has been for a while,” Gerard replied with a sly smile.

“I should have known,” Ray laughed. “I could tell something was up, I just couldn’t tell what.”

“Yea, I'm happier than I have been in a long time," Gerard replied, pressing a kiss to the side of (YN)'s head and she smiled contentedly.

"So if the art room’s a rockin, don't come a knockin?" Frank winked and Ray groaned.

"Come on man," Gerard sighed, feeling his cheeks burning red.

(YN) rolled her eyes. "See this is why we didn't say anything."

"I'm kidding!" Frank laughed. "You guys are really good together. I was wondering how long it would take you to realize it."

Despite their friends knowing about their relationship, Gerard and (YN) were still keeping things as platonic as possible while at work. Luckily they had been hanging out so much before they started dating, appearances didn’t change much when they ate lunch in one of their classrooms, or met up for coffee before work and walked in together.

One morning (YN) overslept, having stayed up late reading the latest collection of comics Gerard had lent her. As she rushed through her room getting ready, she grabbed the first black cardigan she found draped over the back of her desk chair and threw it on, before hurrying off to work. The day passed uneventfully until she noticed a familiar student lingering after class.

“Hi Sadie, what’s up?” She asked pleasantly.

“Ms. (YLN), is that Mr. Way’s sweater?” Sadie asked.

(YN) tried to keep calm, but her mind was spinning. She had realized by her second class of the day that she had grabbed Gerard’s sweater that he had left at her apartment, but she didn’t think for a second anyone would realize it. “What? Why would you think that?”

“The paint stain on the elbow. I bumped into him with my palette in class one day and he got paint on his elbow. It looks just like the stain on your elbow.”

“Must just be a funny coincidence. I like to paint too, I must have stuck my elbow in my paint and didn’t notice,” (YN) shrugged.

Sadie nodded her head, but (YN) knew by the look on her face that she didn’t believe her at all. “Ok. Well, then that's another thing you two have in common.”

“Shouldn’t you be going to your next class?” (YN) asked with a tight lipped smile and Sadie accepted that she wouldn’t be getting the answer she was seeking that day and left the room.

“So where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” Gerard replied with a smile and glanced over at (YN) in the passenger seat.

Friday had become their regular date night, and that evening they went out to Jersey, got in Gerard's car and started driving away from the city. (YN) laughed lightly and shook her head as she watched the trees fly by. The spring evening cooled sun as the sun began to lower in the sky, and Gerard pulled into the entrance of a county park tucked out in the country.

“I like to come out here when I want to get away from the noise and crowds of the city for a while,” Gerard said as he pulled into the parking lot that bordered a small lake.

They got out and Gerard grabbed a bag from the backseat, pulling out a blanket. Gerard led the way to a bench at the edge of the sandy beach and wrapped them both in the blanket as the sky glowed golden above them.

“This sunset reminds me of that day,” (YN) started.

“When I stayed late and ran into you,” Gerard finished.

“Yes!” (YN) laughed.

“Can I tell you something?” Gerard asked, almost a little sheepishly.

“Hmm?”

“I thought you were cute from the first time I saw you, but I think I started to have a crush on you that day.”

“That’s adorable,” (YN) grinned. “I think I realized I had a crush on you while we were chaperoning that dance.”

“I only volunteered to do it because I thought you would be there,” Gerard replied.

“I thought you said O’Connor was on your case?” She said elbowing him playfully.

“Well that too, but I’d rather impress you than him.”

(YN) just hummed in agreement and put her head on his shoulder. “Wait, is it gonna get dark enough out here to see stars?”

“Yea, that’s why I wanted to come out here with you.”

“Aww, thanks Gee,” she replied snuggling closer to him as he drew the blankets around them even tighter. They watched the stars start to appear overhead as the sky grew dark. There had been so many quiet moments when Gerard and (YN) spent time together, but this felt extra special as they were so very alone, away from the whole world.

Once the cold air couldn’t be fought off by the blanket, they made their way back to the car and drove back toward the city. Gerard wished he wasn’t driving so he could watch her. That’s what he had done for most of their time in the park, watching her watch the stars above with a look of awe and wonderment and he was certain he hadn’t felt this way for someone before. (YN) glanced over at Gerard and smiled. He reached over and took her hand and placed a kiss on the back of it.

(YN) yawned when they arrived back at Gerard’s house and got out of the car. “Thank you for the lovely evening.”

“Do you wanna stay over?” Gerard asked. It wouldn’t be the first time, but the simplicity of the evening felt special and he didn’t want it to end.

“Yea, I’d love to,” she nodded as he took her hand and they headed inside together.

"Aren't you gonna be late for school?"

The words split through Gerard's slumber and he sat bolt upright, (YN), already sitting up, had a look of confusion and shock that must have matched his.

"What time is it?" She gasped.

Gerard grabbed his phone off the coffee table. He didn’t even remember falling asleep on the couch the night before. "8:04, oh my god we’re late!"

"Why didn't my alarms go off?!" (YN) asked in a panic, grabbing her own phone to see what was wrong. "Oh my god, that’s right it's Saturday," she replied, sinking back on the couch, putting her head in her hands with a weary laugh.

"Mikey! That wasn't funny!" Gerard shouted at his brother who had retreated back to his room with a bowl of cereal.

(YN) laughed. "It was a little funny."

Gerard laughed lightly and ran his hand through his black hair. "Yea I guess,” he said as he looked up at (YN), the sunlight through the curtains illuminating her face. He noticed the makeup from the night before was smudged a little bit around her eyes, and her hair was messy from sleep, but to Gerard she looked like the most perfect thing he’d ever seen. He recognized the same feelings from the night before and it dawned on him. "Hey (YN)?"

"Yea?" She asked looking up at him, eyebrows raised.

"I love you.”

(YN)’s expression softened at the words. “I wanna say something clever, but I can’t think of anything better than I love you too, Gerard.”

Gerard sat up and grabbed her face between his hands and kissed her as deeply as he could. When they pulled back, breathless, Gerard rested his forehead against hers as they both smiled at each other lovingly.

“Are you guys just gonna makeout on the couch all day?” Mikey asked.

“If it will bug you, then yes,” Gerard retorted. Mikey huffed in annoyance on his way to the kitchen.

“Just like that your first year at Our Lady of Sorrows Academy is over,” Gerard smiled from where he was leaning against the door frame of (YN)’s classroom.

“And what a year it was,” (YN) replied, placing the last of her things that she was taking home in her bag. "It's going to be weird going from seeing you almost every day to not,” she pouted.

"You make it sound like it's a Jane Austen novel and we'll only be able to communicate by letter," Gerard laughed as he pushed himself off the door frame and walked over to her.

"Would you write to me from all the way in New Jersey?" She giggled.

"I'll write you a love letter every day," he said wrapping his arms around her. "Even days when we're together. I'll hide them for you to find later."

(YN) grinned and buried her face against his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him as well. "You're too cute," she mumbled before looking up at him. Gerard smiled back before leaning in and kissing her.

"I knew it!"

Gerard and (YN) jumped apart and turned to see Sadie in the doorway.

"What are you still doing here?" (YN) asked frantically.

"I remembered a book I had in my backpack that I needed to return to the library. But I knew it! I told you back in January that you'd be dating before I graduated! Now you just need to get married before I graduate, I can't wait for that!" Sadie was practically dancing with excitement.

"Have a good summer Sadie," Gerard said with a wave, encouraging her to leave.

"See you next year!" She called as she skipped off down the hall.

"Please do not give her the satisfaction of asking me to marry you before she graduates," (YN) groaned, rubbing her forehead.

"Well there goes my plans for the next year’s first day assembly," Gerard sighed and (YN) rolled her eyes. "I'm kidding, but just tell me when you're ready, sugar."

(YN) grinned and leaned up to kiss Gerard again. "For now, let's just get going to Frank's party cookout. We don't wanna be late."

Gerard smiled and nodded as they walked out of the school hand in hand.

#gerard way x reader #gerard way fanfic #gerard way fan fiction #gerard way imagine #my chemical romance fan fiction #my chemical romance fanfic #my chemical romance imagine

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generic-usernumber6601 · 3 years

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@gay-vampire-with-a-violin remember that creepy list about abandoned churches that I said id write stuff on? This is that.

Tanner stared at the list, unsure wether to laugh or burn the offending paper. Some old man on the street saw him up by the church, and snuck up on him. Tanner thought it weird how he didn’t hear the man, and how he had just handed him the list with no questions and no answers. He turned around the corner of the outside wall of the church and was gone.

Studying the list again, Tanner found a few holes. How was that man to know that sleeping in the church after sunrise would poop Tanner in another dimension? The man was very much still in this one, so he had to have not slept there past sunrise. Even then, if he had, he came back so that part would be untrue too. Tanner walked around the back of the building, looking for any holes as he kept scanning the list again.

Most of them didn’t make sense. Don’t sleep on a pew. Don’t bring wine. Don’t bring a flashlight. Reading things doesn’t work? Books can’t be altered so they’re blank, or so their languages are wrong after they're published! What was so wrong with wine and pews? How did that man know to give this list to him?

Tanner shoved the list in his backpack, frustrated at the little amount of sense it made to him. He found a hole in the massive brick wall of the church shortly after, just big enough for him to squeeze through.

In the church, a shadow danced with joy. A new victim. A new plaything. The shadow watched the newcomer with great interest as he stepped through the wall and into what was once the back hallways. It smiled, and followed along.

Walking down the hallway, Tanner found himself at a stairway. He could either go upstairs, downstairs, or turn around. The light from the hole was dimming, so he dropped his travel bag to the floor, pulling out a flashlight and a map of the building he was able to snatch from the local shop. Flicking his flashlight on, Tanner got a look at the dirt and layer of dust that covered everything. The concrete of the stairs leading downward was cracking, leaving its stability in question. The wood of the stairs leading up was rotted and smelled of mold, and one foot on the bottom step told Tanner all he needed to know; Danger.

Tanner spun around and walked the other direction, hoping to find a way to the other floors that didn’t involve questionable stairs. Passing the hole he came through, his flashlight darted to a door, coming off of its hinges and a dirty stained glass window at the top of it. Wood rot was set into the door, and what was supposed to be its twin was on the floor in shambles, as if someone had thrown something through it.

The shadow watched from the ceiling inside what was once where services were held. It smiled to itself as it watched the man climb through the door, looking at the bowl of once-holy-water. ’Touch it‘ the demon thought, not wanting to spoil its presence to the newcomer yet.

Tanner was disgusted at how the water looked. Filled with leaves, grass, worms and mold, the dish holding it couldn’t be seen below the filth. He drew back, wanting to throw up. The rest of the room wasn’t much better, with holes in the roof and walls. Some collapsed areas ruined pieces of art, the podium where a priest would once stand, and the pews dotting the room. The pews that weren’t collapsed were rotted, and a squirrel ran across Tanner’s field of vision.

What Tanner didn’t see was the shadow eating the squirrel whole, and advancing towards him.

In the distance, an organ plays it’s melody, haunting but sweet. The demon smiled, making itself known.

Tanner didn’t like the organ sounds. They were nice, but he was supposed to be alone. He hadn’t heard anyone else enter, but maybe they’d entered through another way?

Tanner turned around, and saw a being of pure black. The only reason Tanner could comprehend that it was even there is because he could see bright colored clothes on the beast. Terrified, Tanner turned around and ran, looking at the ground.

He hit a wall and fell backwards, his head pounding. As he was losing consciousness, Tanner could hear the sound of many people laughing, their voices reverberating off of the church walls.

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acraftedmistake · 4 years

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A Person Who Has Never Played MCSM Writes A Story About MCSM Chp. 12

YEEE CHP 12 I may be tired but I had a BANGER time writing this chapter.....

Enjoy!!

Uncomfortable. That was the only word Jesse could use to perfectly describe the nave he sat in. Pure, unfiltered discomfort.

Two days after Lukas’ funeral, Nell came knocking on his door in the middle of the day saying her ‘support group’ was getting together soon, and offered to walk him there. As she guided him out of Obsidian Town and through the seemingly infinite field of grass, past the northwest forest where the once-active shrine laid, a horrible realization consumed Jesse’s mind: he’s going to be surrounded by enemies with no protection. No sword, no arrows, nothing.

He had been too consumed with the loss of Lukas to properly plan his visit to the ‘support group’, he had practically forgotten about Nell’s offer as well, but there was no point in dreading his past poor planning now.

Here he sat in the nave, hundreds upon hundreds of feet below the surface and away his friends, of The Awakening.

Jesse was unsure when the service would begin. Every eternal minute he waited was another nail being impaled into his head, telling him this was the worst decision he’s made in his entire life.

What was he doing here?

‘You’re here for Lukas.’ He reminded himself. Not just Lukas, but for Aiden, Maya, Gill, Cassie, and Stella too. They were his friends as well.

Nell must’ve seen Jesse’s hands shake as they rested on his legs, she reached and held one of them, giving him a smile. Jesse gave her a small, forced smile in return.

Jesse was seated in the middle of a bench, pressed between Nell and a middle aged man, in the third row of the nave. There were seven rows, fourteen including the other benches on the left side, and they were all packed. He scanned the nave and everyone in here. They were all sitting and talking to one another. Not a single person was standing. If Jesse attempted to leave now, they’d all notice.

The chattering of the people, which was the only minimal source of comfort Jesse had, turned to hushes, then to silence.

Jesse brought his attention to the front of the room where the stage stood, it had hanging banners, red flowers in pots, redstone torches aligned on the walls, and three men who stood behind the podium. The names of the eldest, white haired man and the older, dark skinned man to the right had slipped Jesse’s mind, but he remembered the horribly pale, blond man to the left of them: Cecil. Out of the three, Jesse, Aiden, and the others fought Cecil--back when he and Radar worked together--the most.

The eldest man, with a smile on his wrinkled face, began talking. Jesse couldn’t listen. He can’t. He tore his hand out of Nell’s and gripped onto the edge of the bench in front of him, focusing on the stone floor below, breathing in and out of the mouth hoping it’d calm his nerves. He remembered the older men being blind, but Cecil wasn’t. What if Cecil spotted him in the crowd? What would he do? Would he run? Fight his way through?

Why didn’t he tell his friends where he was going? Why didn’t he tell them about Nell? He should have. One of them could have joined him. He’d feel safer. He’d be safer.

Jesse heard the creaking of wood followed by tens of footsteps. He brought his eyes back up to see the people from the first row form a line by the small staircase that led to the stage.

“Are you alright?” He heard Nell ask.

He nodded as he watched a person step on stage, approach a basket set on the podium, place something inside, nodded, then stepped down. Another person repeated this process.

“What’s going on?” Jesse asked, continuing to watch the people.

“People’s payment.” Nell answered.

Jesse’s body jolted. Payment?

“I didn’t bring any money--!” He felt the panic begin to rise again.

“Relax, you’ll be okay.” Nell hushed him, “You can ‘pay’ with a confession.”

The people of the second row stood and came to the stage as the first row returned to their seats.

“What? What does that mean? What should I even confess?”

“When you step up there, put your hand over the basket and tell a truth.” She vaguely explained.

Jesse looked back at the people. Maybe him sitting in the third row made it hard to properly see what the people were doing, but it seemed everyone was giving money. He didn’t want to be the only one. What if he let important information slip? The men heard his voice before, they were bound to know it was Jesse. Maybe he could deepen his voice, confess in one quick breath, then leave. He still needed to come up with a confession, even a white lie would do.

Nell nudged him, “Don’t worry, people have confessed to some pretty awful things before.”

She directed his attention to the people sitting beside him, who had risen from their seats, and began walking to the stage. Nell hoisted Jesse up by his arm and began guiding him to the line.

“If you confess to something embarrassing, I’ll be sure to make my confession worse.” Nell promised. Her tone was optimistic and fueled his anxiety rather than helped it.

Jesse prayed for the line to go slowly, that the truths people told would be long and time consuming, but instead he found himself moving closer to the stairs every few seconds. Each step he took, he could make out more of the men’s appearances. Every strand of hair, every crack and wrinkle in their faces, the scars of severe burn marks, and every other despicable detail. They repulsed Jesse.

When one person stepped off the stage, the men would turn to the next person coming on. Each time they turned their head, Jesse swore Cecil’s eyes locked onto his.

“Thank you.” Jesse heard the oldest say to the middle aged man. When the man walked off, they brought their heads to Jesse’s direction.

‘You’ve fought them before.’ Jesse told himself as he put his weight on the first step.

‘Just be quick. Get it over with.’ He dragged his feet across the wooden planks, his eyes beholding the men before him. He saw Cecil had now closed his eyes, a light smile on his face. The same smile he wore whenever he witnessed Jesse and his friends in misery.

Jesse stood in front of the podium and hovered his shaking hand over the full basket.

“I once…” Why was his voice so brittle?

The dark skinned man lifted his head upon hearing Jesse’s voice.

Jesse swallowed, “I once broke my friend’s sword. I felt awful, so I made him a new one. He never found out.”

He pulled his hand back, ready to leave, but the man on the right stepped close.

“I don’t believe I recognize your voice.” His voice was deep and deceitfully calm. A smile was on his face, and his foggy eyes created the illusion of softness.

“Is this your first gathering?” The man asked, his hands were clasped together.

He doesn’t want to do this anymore. Please. Please let him sit back down. Please let him go.

“Yes.” Jesse answered quietly, looking down.

“Ah, it is always wonderful hearing a new voice.” The man raised one hand and placed it on Jesse’s shoulder. Jesse’s body stiffened.

“I am Brenner. Who might you be?”

Jesse felt all eyes in the nave pierce through him. He could feel them watching. Don’t panic. Don’t cause a scene. Don’t.

His mind couldn’t create a false name in time, “Jesse.”

Brenner’s smile grew, he pulled Jesse close and spun him around to face the crowd.

“We have a new member in our family!” Announced Brenner as he held Jesse close.

Jesse looked on in horror as the audience stood up and cheered for him. His eyes darted over the crowd; from complete strangers, to kids, to elders, to people who lived in his town, they all watched him. Clapped for him. Celebrated his presence.

He wanted to go home.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jess studied what little of the shrine he could make out. Had it not been for the sunlight outside, it’d be nearly impossible to see the ruined shrine’s interior. The inside actually looked far nicer than what Jess imagined. When he heard the words ‘abandoned shrine’, he expected massive cobwebs, walls seconds away from crumbling and a ceiling moments away from caving in, or giant, collapsed columns with their remains spilled over the floor. But amazingly, the place was in decent condition.

The walls and floors had minor cracks throughout them, the biggest being those the size of Jess’ arm, and there were four, sturdy columns in the room that supported the ceiling. Speaking of which, chunks of the ceiling were missing, most likely due to the quakes throughout the years, and had fallen onto the ground and the benches. Rain must’ve seeped through the cracks above, as mold had formed in the corners of the room, on the benches, and on the thin, red carpet that led to a broken, battered stage at the end. An odd, earthly scent clashed with a powerful, rusty odor which Jess’ stomach wasn’t sure how to feel about.

“This place’s definitely seen better days.” Gill said aloud. His voice echoed through what was once a nave.

Maya took out two torch sticks and struck them against the wall, setting both ablaze. The room brightened, tinted orange by the fires, and two doorways became visible. One was on the left of the ruined stage while the other was in the center of the left wall. Neither appeared welcoming.

“Here.” Maya handed Aiden a torch.

The four followed the moldy carpet past the benches then stopped in front of the stage. Jess turned towards it, beholding the torn banners and the eerie symbol placed between them. Something about seeing the symbol in a wall of a forgotten shrine, luminated by a flickering source of light, made Jess feel as though the shrine were haunted.

He dragged his eyes away from the symbol and locked onto the door-hole by the stage.

“Should we start our search there?” Jess pointed to the hole.

Aiden glanced at the door then shook his head, “Nah, we wanna go through that one.”

He pointed to the other doorway, which was more refined and had a wooden frame unlike the one Jess suggested.

Aiden walked around the benches and headed to the doorway, the others followed behind.

“I’m not sure where that leads to, but I do know this hallway branches off to a bunch of different rooms.” Aiden explained, extending his hand with the torch in front of him as he entered said-hall.

Jess followed behind Aiden, Gill and Maya behind him, small bits of ember occasionally flying into his hair. They truly needed the torches, not only because of how dark the hallway was, but because the smoke overpowered the putrid smell of rust and mold.

It didn’t take much walking for them to soon encounter their first door, however, they didn’t enter just yet.

“Hold on, I want to check something.” Aiden said, and continued walking through the narrow, pitch black hall, the light of his torch revealing five more worn down, wooden doors as he passed them. The brightness of the fire faded the further he went, but before he became completely consumed by the darkness, fire and all, he stopped. His whispered cussing bounced off the walls.

“You okay?” Gill asked, squinting at the flame of Aiden’s torch, barely making out his silhouette.

“Yeah.” Aiden huffed, returning to his friends, “Remember those stairs that led to the real big room underneath?”

“Uh huh?” Gill responded.

“It’s been completely blocked off by rubble. Even if we managed to move the rocks, I’m pretty sure the trip down wouldn’t be safe.”

“That’s alright.” Maya said.

She glanced at the walls, “We got six rooms to search through. They should have something.”

“Exactly.” Aiden looked at the three.

“We’ll go in pairs. Maya and Gill, you check out the rooms on the right side. Jess and I will go through the ones on the left.”

“Got it.” Maya approached the first door she saw and swung it open with her free hand.

Gill followed behind, “We’ll holler if we spot anythin’!”

Aiden didn’t waste any time, he opened the first left door at the beginning of the hallway and tilted his head, signalling Jess to follow. Not that Jess needed to be told, he was already rushing inside, eager to see what the first door had to offer.

What laid in the room they entered were the remains of a small library. Towering bookshelves covered the walls, a few had fallen to the floor and broke into pieces, and were filled with dusty books of a variety of sizes. A tattered ladder with missing steps leaned against a bookshelf which stood beside an old writing desk, who had clumps of black ink all over it’s old, wooden top. Chests, all closed, were placed in front of bookcases by the desk, and had a few books on their tops. The stone floor had a large, round, torn carpet with intricate golden-yellow and deep red designs sewn into it, along with the symbol Jess saw before. Despite how worned it seemed, the carpet was still in good condition, and looked as though it took months upon months to make. It made Jess wonder why someone would leave it behind.

By the door they came through, there were two unlit torches on each side. Aiden fed fire to them; the combined strength of the three flames revealed tiny symbols painstakingly carved into the walls. As Aiden started removing the books from the chests, Jess brought himself closer to what walls weren’t covered by the shelves and started running his fingers over the symbols. As he felt each bump, scratch, and tiny hole thoughtfully chiseled into each unique symbol, he imagined what Olivia would do if she beheld what he saw.

She would get on her knees, fingers would carefully trace each individual line that created each miniscule detail, trying to figure out what each shape represented or what the shape was meant to be. She’d wonder how long the symbols have been around for, and how important they were to the people who created them.

Speaking of wondering…

“How many shrines are there?” Jess asked his first question.

Aiden looked up from the chest and thought for a moment, “Around Obsidian Town or around the world?”

Jess slowly raised his brows, “Do you know how many shrines are around the world?”

“No.” Aiden chuckled, “But there’s four known shrines around our town, I wouldn’t be surprised if that number shrunk with all those quakes over time though.”

Aiden moved to the next chest to the left of him after he found nothing, and began digging around, “Apparently The Awakening has been ditching old shrines and building up new ones whenever something goes slightly wrong for years.”

His fingers reached the bottom and felt a soft, sandy substance, causing his eyes to brighten.

“They did it again after we beat ‘em, nice to know some things never change.” A smug smile spread across his face. He took his hand out of the chest and saw the tips of his fingers coated in a red, glittering dust. He grabbed the leather pouch from his jacket’s pocket, opened it, and carefully started transferring the redstone powder into the bag.

Jess, not wanting to stand around and only ask questions, brought himself to a chest on the farther left side of the library, and started searching as well.

“Was there a specific reason why these were built?” He asked, hand digging through the forgotten items, “Are they all made for worshipping The Hero, or is each one built with a specific reason? Do people live in them?”

“I dunno about people living in them--” He halted and swore under his breath as the red powder slipped through his fingertips and clouded his vision red.

“You’d probably have to ask Hadrian and Mevia for more details on shrines. Or Gill.”

Aiden scraped as much of the powder he could and poured it into the pouch, “Most of them were made for worshipping. The Shrine of Eyes? Worshipping, but was also used for attempted summonings.”

Jess remained still for a minute, staring aimlessly into the chest as he thought to himself.

“Why do people worship The Hero?”

Aiden opened his mouth but quickly closed it, clenching his teeth.

“That’s…” He pressed his lips together, “We only know the surface level of The Awakening. Radar knows a lot more, but he probably won’t share much.”

He closed the chest and tightened the strings of the pouch, “The Awakening has this crazy theory that The Hero is a god who’s been banished to another dimension--another universe?”

Aiden stopped to think, then continued, “He was made to represent the worst in everyone, the exact opposite of the Impossible Man. I also remember a lot of people linking the earthquakes we get with The Hero judging us and ‘trying to escape’ his banishment. There’s a lotta theories out there.”

He stood up, “So my only guess is The Awakening hopes them being suck-ups will be enough to make The Hero spare our world. It’s such a weird rabbithole I don’t wanna get myself into.”

“All I need to know is they’re doing bad things,” Aiden slammed the chest closed, “and we gotta stop them.”

“Don’t they have a lot of members?” Jess tilted his head, “Isn’t it overwhelming?”

“Didn’t stop us last time.” Aiden grinned, but his pride was short lived as he remembered something.

“But first we need to get our Jesse back.” Aiden mumbled as he dragged his feet to the next chest.

Jess could see a sadness form in Aiden’s eyes as he began searching through the chest.

‘Ask another question. Change the subject.’ He told himself. Jess glanced at the carpet then back at Aiden.

“What’s the uh, what’s that symbol supposed to be?” He pointed to said-symbol in the center of the carpet.

Aiden turned to the rug, “Oh, that. It’s supposed to be The Awakening’s empty eye. It’s their way of showing loyalty.”

Jess focused on the empty eye and scrunched his brow, “How?”

“Shoot, you’ve never seen it before, right. Well it’s--it’s when you do this.”

Jess watched Aiden begin to roll his pupils to the back of his head, further and further till only his thin veins were visible on his empty, white eyes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stella tapped her foot impatiently, her worried expression growing. Cassie Rose was leaning against the wall by the door of the old, wooden house, her hands in her hoodie’s pockets. Olivia stood in front of the door, staring at the “Closed” sign, the once bold red bleached by the sunlight.

All Olivia could do was keep facing the store, she could hear the footsteps and chatter of the citizens walking along the road, which only made her bury her face into the hoodie more, praying no one would recognize her. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact the people here were active at night, just imagining people enjoying their breakfasts and heading off to work at 9 PM weirded her out.

“Maybe we came at a bad time.” Stella said out loud, her fingers picking at the skin of her face.

“He said he’ll be here in a few minutes, we just gotta wait.” Cassie tried to reassure her friend.

“I know, I know.” She took a couple of deep breaths to settle her nerves. These past minutes felt like hours.

Cassie looked at Olivia, “You got a Hadrian and Mevia back at your place?”

Olivia quickly glanced at the redhead, “Yes, they were the more… Interesting people.”

“Yeah?”

Olivia kept going, “They ran games, liked sending people to mines, sadistic--oh my gosh, they were so twisted. I think they were the worst senior citizens I’ve ever met.”

Cassie bursted out into laughter, Stella didn’t comment on Olivia’s description. She didn’t need to. Her bugged eyes said it all. Olivia’s cheeks got hot.

Cassie took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, “That’s great. Would love to meet them one day.” She said through chuckles.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, our Hadrian and Mevia are nothing like your’s. They just run a little shop and dress a little weird.” Stella said, clasping her hands together.

Olivia grinned, “Mine’s dressed pretty weird too, it’s nice to know they have one thing in common.”

Cassie Rose opened her mouth, ready to say more, but the doorknob started jiggling. Faint clicking sounds could be heard on the other side. Stella and Olivia stepped back, and the door swung wide open, the small bell tied to the knob dangled wildly.

“Hello, girls!” Greeted a jolly looking Hadrian, “Sorry bout the wait, I--”

Hadrian’s eyes locked onto Olivia’s face. His body froze, his mouth hung open, and before Stella or Cassie had the chance to say anything, he swiftly slammed the door in their faces. The three stood there awkwardly and exchanged concerned expressions with one another.

Stella leaned forward, ready to knock again, but Hadrian cracked the door open and barely brought his face out.

“You…” He said in a whisper, gazing at Olivia, “You wouldn’t happen to be from… From another universe, would you?”

Olivia blinked, Stella and Cassie looked as surprised as she did.

“Who did--” Stella sputtered, “How did you--”

“Hadrian? Who are you talking to?” The four heard Mevia coming closer. Hadrian jumped and shut the door again. The girls listened to the muffled conversation; Hadrian said no one important was there, Mevia kept pushing to see who it was, Hadrian kept refusing, then the two started shoving each other. The ruckus continued growing until Mevia successfully kicked the door open.

She let out a loud gasp and pointed to Olivia, “Please, please tell me you’re from another universe.”

Olivia saw Mevia’s barely contained smile and wondered if she really needed to answer her.

“I am.”

Mevia was beaming. She slowly turned to Hadrian, who was clutching onto the door frame, her smile growing stronger.

“Don’t do it.” He pointed at the blue haired lady. Mevia opened her mouth.

“Don’t you say it.” He growled.

“I…”

“Mevia, I swear to all things possible--”

“I was right~!” She sang, her finger jabbing into Hadrian’s arm.

He hung his head in defeat and loudly groaned, “You were right.”

“I’m confused, what’s going on?” Stella questioned, giving the two a baffled expression.

Hadrian pushed up his glasses, “I’ll tell ya inside.”

As the girls followed the man into the store, squeezing their way through the tight spaces and carefully stepping over the scattered candles, he went on to explain what had happened after Jess, Aiden, and Gill had visited. He repeated everything he’s been told by Jess and Aiden to Mevia, they both took note on how out of character he was, along with Olivia being mentioned, and that’s when Mevia theorized the possibility of another universe coming into play. Hadrian told the girls he thought her idea ‘was the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard’, and ‘there’s no way, it’s impossible’, but turns out he was wrong. Mevia wore a smug smirk as he talked about his loss.

Throughout the summary, Olivia watched Hadrian gesturing with his hands, holding her breath every time his thick, unbuttoned, dusty yellow and purple striped cloak swung close to the flames of the lit candles. If his cloak wasn’t making Olivia nervous, then it’d be his long, striped pants that looked as though they’d get caught on the many items laying on the floor, or hooked on whatever was sticking out of shelves, and make him trip. The only article of clothing he wore that wasn’t considered a hazard was his pinned, yellow dress shirt, which was somewhat covered by his loosely worn cloak.

Olivia didn’t even want to start on the flowing red and black dress Mevia wore. While it had laces tied around her chest to keep it from slipping off, the dress’ straps would slide down her shoulders, and the fabric would fly everywhere every time she spun around to face the girls. How could they wear outfits like these in this mess?

But was it fair for Olivia to criticize their jumbled store?

She thought back to her home, how she had an entire room dedicated to creating redstone contraptions, and how disordered it was. Powder was smeared everywhere, half-crafted items and broken materials would lay on every surface, her tools and torches were sloppily thrown onto tables; calling her workshop ‘messy’ would be generous. When Olivia scanned Hadrian’s store, she couldn’t help but find charm in it’s chaos, and feel the importance and history of every object placed in this store.

“I can’t breathe.” Olivia heard Cassie mutter. She turned to see Mevia giving the redhead a crushing hug.

Mevia let go, “Sorry, sorry! I’m just excited my favorite girl came to visit! I’m a little sad Gill’s not with you though.”

Cassie wanted to comment how their last visit was merely two weeks ago, and the fact they also lived extremely close to each other, but she decided to let Mevia’s enthusiasm remain.

Stella had taken a seat on one of the many cushioned, wooden chairs who faced the small stage, while Hadrian was searching through a tower of boxes.

“I know we gotta have one flint’n steel here…” Hadrian said, taking junk from the box by the handful and dumping them onto the floor.

“It’s for a crafting recipe Aiden found in your journal.” Stella explained.

“Oh no, ain’t mine!” Hadrian said, “Got it from some crazy bearded guy. ‘Sides, you know my handwriting’s nicer than that.”

The two continued conversing.

‘I guess Stella already told them what’s been going on.’ Olivia thought to herself.

Mevia suddenly jumped and faced Olivia, “You! I have so man--so many questions!”

She was choking up. Olivia and Cassie noted her voice cracking.

“You okay?” Cassie asked the older woman.

Mevia nodded wildly, fanning her eyes, “Yes, perfectly fine! It’s just really, really weird to see her again, you know?”

Despite her shaky tone and the few tears running down her eyes, she was beaming. She didn’t look too sad, and she certainly didn’t feel sad over seeing this Olivia.

“I’m only a little overwhelmed. Thinking about--” Mevia rubbed her eyes and took a quick breath.

“Okay, questions!” She clapped her hands, “What am I like in your universe? Is Hadrian a killjoy like he is here?”

“I heard that!” Hadrian shot back.

“You were axe-crazy and Hadrian was a real bad liar.” Olivia said. Mevia bobbed her head.

The woman then recalled something, her eyes sparkled and she rushed to the top of the cluttered stage, grabbing a cracked head from the pile of statue remains. Mevia held the head with both hands and spun it around so it’d face Olivia and Cassie when they caught up with her. The head was a man with an unchiseled beard and a determined expression.

“Do you have your own version of ‘The Impossible Man’?” Mevia asked, tossing the head from hand to hand as if it were a toy.

Olivia opened her mouth and thought for a moment.

“I… Actually don’t know much about The Impossible Man.” She did remember her book describing the man, but her knowledge was still limited. It’d be nice to hear more about him from a person who lived in this universe.

Her response was met with the dropped jaws of Mevia and Stella.

“Shut UP!” Mevia threw the head to the ground, “You don’t know?!”

“Mevia, please be careful with the statues.” Hadrian pleaded.

“Sorry! Anyways! Quick lesson!”

Mevia slid to the center of the stage, “Picture this:” She started, flicking her hands up and splaying her fingers.

“You have a man who’s done it all! Traveled across the world through the most wild biomes, fighting different, ferocious monsters and making companions along the way! He’s explored the deepest oceans and the tallest mountains!” She swayed herself over to the statues again, fingers running along the edges where stone had cracked.

“He destroyed countless beasts in the Nether and single handedly slayed the dragon in The End!” She said as she swung an imaginary sword.

“But isn’t that--” Olivia began, but was interrupted by Mevia.

“Impossible?” A grin crept across her face, “Exactly.”

Olivia went quiet for a moment.

“For someone who’s done so much,” She said, “why isn’t he called by his name?”

Mevia shrugged, “Well, no one knows what it is! He’s been called a number of names throughout generations, from Aaron, Alex, Daliso, Milagro, to--”

“Steve.” Hadrian added with a chuckle.

“Oh, that’s my least favorite one.” She laughed. “But I don’t think it matters what his name is. He impacted our world, he represents the good in everybody, people see themselves in him, he’s an inspiration, and I think that’s what’s important.”

Mevia stepped off the stage, “Heck, he inspired Hadrian and I to explore the world when we were younger!”

“Good times...” Hadrian commented, a warm smile on his face.

Olivia sat on a chair closest to the stage--Stella had gotten up to help Hadrian search through the boxes--and thought to herself. She pondered about The Impossible Man and her universe.

“We had The Order of the Stone,” Olivia said, “They were a group of people who killed the Ender Dragon, along with going on many adventures.” She chose to leave out the fact The Order lied to everyone about the dragon, she didn’t want to ruin the mood.

Then Olivia recalled a detail, “You and Hadrian were a part of The Old Builders! There were two other members: Harper and Otto. Do you have them in this universe?”

Mevia’s smile weakened, a flash of sorrow flickered through her eyes, and her shoulders dropped.

“Used to.” She answered

Olivia’s face fell, “Oh, I’m… I’m sorry.”

Mevia’s hand swat the air, “Don’t be! Don’t worry, it’s all in the past now. Back in our adventuring days.”

She walked to a small, round, brown table covered in papers in pens, knelt to the floor, and placed her hand on a loose wooden plank. She removed the plank and took out a diamond axe.

“We may not leave our house as much anymore, but if something or someone dangerous breaks in, we’re more than capable of taking care of ourselves.” She gripped the axe, holding it over her shoulder, and focusing on the wall in front of her.

“The second something dangerous waltzes in here--WHAM-O!” She chucked the axe with all her strength. It flew across the room and hit the wall, releasing a loud crack and causing Stella to jump. The axe was now stuck in the newly formed hole in the wall.

Mevia turned to Cassie and they high-fived.

“Please do not throw axes in our humble store.” Hadrian whined, rubbing his temples.

“I needed a visual demonstration!” Mevia exclaimed.

“No you did not!” He grumbled.

Hadrian shoved the boxes aside and brushed himself off. He came to Cassie and Olivia, Stella following behind, and showed them the flint and steel he had found. Whoever had owned this--whether it was Hadrian himself or a stranger--really made the most of it. The firestriker was crooked and stained with soot, the tool was practically useless.

“Thank you again, we really appreciate your help.” Stella said.

Hadrian handed her the item, “Not a problem. Now get outta here! Shoo before Mevia decides she wants to show you three more ‘visual demonstrations’!” He chuckled.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The library only offered redstone powder for Jess and Aiden, while the room next to the library had been taken over by debris, so any items that could’ve been in there were crushed and not worth the risk of getting harmed if they attempted to move the rubble. The last room at the very end of the hall held weapons and many, many dead redstone torches. Aiden was able to find enough powder to completely fill the pouch and last him and his friends for the rest of the week. Jess kept mental notes of everything to tell Olivia what he’s learned during his time here.

Aiden tightened the strings of the pouch, ready to get the others, when a series of knocks caught their attention. They turned around to see Maya and Gill standing in the doorway.

“Any luck?” Maya asked.

“Lotta dust.” Aiden said, showing her the heavy pouch. “What about you?”

“We got several pieces of flint!” Gill answered, lightly patting the jacket pocket he put the rocks in.

His eyes scanned the room, “Hey, I got stabbed here!”

Jess looked at Gill, then at the room, then back to Gill. What was he supposed to say? Gill sounded optimistic, was he supposed to apologize? Laugh nervously? Stay silent? Was there even an appropriate way to respond to what he’s said?

“Good to know?” Jess said, his eyes wide.

Maya changed the subject, “We found a storage room, we thought we’d find some gold there, but a lot of the chests were empty or destroyed.”

“That’s okay, just glad we got something. We should get going though, I don’t think there’s anywhere else we can look.” Aiden said. Before they returned to the nave, the group double checked the six rooms to make sure they didn’t leave any torches lit, then began their walk through the tight hallway.

“Maybe we’ll run into some gold later on?” Jess suggested as they continued walking.

“I don’t think people leave gold laying around.” Aiden turned his head a bit to face Jess with a smirk, “But maybe, who knows.”

Once they got out, Aiden, Gill, and Maya were discussing the flint and steel crafting recipe, and how things would play out depending on what Stella was able to translate when they returned home. As the three talked, Jess caught a glimpse of the door hole by the stage from the corner of his eye. He brought his head around and stared into it.

“Can I look through there?” Jess asked.

The others brought their attention to the hole.

Maya thought to herself for a moment then said “I think there’s only one room at the end. You probably won’t get much outta it.”

“Just in case?” He tilted his head.

“Alright,” Aiden agreed, “but make it fast.”

Jess nodded and scurried through the doorhole, entering another narrow hallway. The hallway, much like the previous one, was nearly pitch black. However, the further he went, the colder it got. As he descended further into the hall, his eyes were no longer any good. He had to rely on his hands to feel for doors.

He stopped when he felt his foot hit the end of the hallway, but something felt off. He lightly kicked the dead end and realized he was standing in front of a door.

“Told you there was only one room.” Maya said. Jess almost jumped out of his skin, he didn’t think it was possible to walk quietly through this ancient place.

Maya could hear his quick breaths, “Sorry.”

“It’s good, we’re all good.” Jess collected himself then faced the door again. He extended his arm and let his fingers run against the rough, jagged, wood, trying to feel for the knob. Once his hand came into contact with a cold, round object, he wrapped his hand around it and turned.

He opened the door a crack. That’s the most he could open it. He thought the door might’ve been stuck, so he pressed his body against it and pushed harder. It didn’t budge.

“Can you not open doors?” He heard Aiden whisper.

“No, something’s blocking it!” Jess whisper-shouted back. He peeked into the crack.

The first thing he noticed were the stone bricks stacked halfway to the door and prevented him from completely opening it. The second thing he noticed was the room was empty. Actually, that wasn’t true, there were stains on the cracked floor, a ladder on the left wall, and on the wall across from the door were two lit redstone torches. While the other rooms were ruined and in poor condition, it was clear people had used them, lived in them. This room was devoid of life.

‘Wait…’ Jess peeked back into the room. Why were the torches lit?

He scanned the room again; his eyes landed on the ladder which pulled his attention to the ceiling. There was a trapdoor. Where did it lead to?

“I think... “ Jess mumbled, “I think someone’s been in here.”

The air became frigid.

“Let me see.” Aiden said, pulling Jess to the side. He got close to the crack and studied the room.

“Who wou--” Aiden started but immediately shut up and pressed his head against the door.

“What’s up?” Gill asked, who was quickly shushed by Aiden.

The four stood in silence for a moment, then they heard it. The faint sound of footsteps nearing the trapdoor. While they weren’t approaching the trapdoor itself, they were close. They were coming from above.

Then voices.

“We’ll start… He gives us… Or…” A deep voice said.

Aiden could only hear bits and pieces, which was far more than what the others could understand.

“Few days… Should… Portal…”

Aiden’s body tensed when he heard the last word. He listened for more, but the voices dwindled and he was left with a haunting silence.

He carefully closed the door then faced his friends, “They’re planning something.”

“What? Who is?” While Jess was confused, Maya and Gill seemed to know what Aiden was referring to, and were instantly on edge.

“We gotta go. We need to tell the others.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cassie, Stella, and Olivia were sitting around the coffee table studying the items, the recipe, and the old flint and steel. Cassie kept rereading the directions over and over, attempting to make sense of them, while Stella held the flint and steel from a distance, rotating it around to get every angle of the tool. Olivia was sitting on the floor, brainstorming how they could possibly craft the odd variant of the flint and steel along with thinking about what Mevia had told her.

Olivia felt a yawn coming and attempted to suppress it, not wanting to come off as uninterested in what they were currently doing, but failed.

Stella peeked at her, “Oh right, time difference! Do you need to sleep?”

Olivia wasn’t sure what time it was; their trip to Petra’s was about an hour or two long and she had no idea how much time they'd spent in Obsidian Town, but it was obviously late. The sky was now a deep blue with stars scattered throughout, and the waning gibbous had risen high.

Olivia shook her head, “No, I’ll be okay, we need to figure this recipe out.”

“That’s true, but Cassie and I are well rested and we’re going to be busy all night. You shouldn’t force yourself to stay awake.” Stella said.

Olivia stared at the table for a minute.

“If I wake up early enough,” she started, “I could continue working on the flint and steel. I do know my way around redstone, so if Jess and the others bring some back, I could definitely make some progress.”

Admittingly, she’s never seen redstone be used for flint and steel before, but hopefully her and Jess would be able to figure out what to do.

“Sounds perfect!” Stella clasped her hands together.

“What the heck’s taking them so long anyways?” Cassie asked, looking up from the paper

Olivia didn’t know how far the shrine was from town, but it's been nearly half an hour since they’ve returned from Hadrian’s, and the others had yet to return. She started wondering if Jess needed to rest as well, but remembering how enthusiastic he was to join Aiden on his scavenger hunt made her doubt that.

Suddenly, the front door swung open and Aiden, Jess, Maya, and Gill rushed in. Before either of the girls could greet them, they began frantically--and sloppily--explaining what had happened at the shrine. Their words would clash together, everyone was interrupting and talking over each other, no sense could be made.

Stella raised her voice, “Please--One at a time, please!”

“Yeah, all I could hear was flint and something about a door.” Cassie said.

Olivia popped out from behind the girls, Jess gasped and ran up to her.

“Olivia! Gosh, I found out a lot of weird stuff, and we went down this hallway, and--” Olivia put her hand up to quiet Jess down.

“I would love to hear what you’ve learned, and I’d like to share what I’ve found out as well,” Olivia breathed in, “but I am also getting tired. Why don’t we go to our room and we can talk there?”

“Oh, yeah, fine with me!” Jess turned to Aiden, Maya, and Gill. They needed a moment to tell Stella and Cassie what happened, he could come back down after he and Olivia were caught up.

As they headed towards the stairs, everyone gave quick goodnights and returned to discussing what had happened in the shrine.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gill had hurriedly told the girls about what materials they found, while Maya was in the process of telling them about the empty room and what they had heard. Aiden was sitting on a bar stool and had placed the pouch of redstone dust on the table. He leaned back, trying to relax, but his whole body felt stiff.

Those voices had to have belonged to Awakening members, barely anyone went anywhere near the shrines, even he and his friends rarely went to them unless necessary.

‘Were they talking about the portal in the Shrine of Eyes?’ He asked himself, clenching and unclenching his fists.

‘Or are they creating a new portal?’

Aiden heard footsteps from the second floor. Olivia and Jess, most likely.

‘We’re gonna need to alert the guards, have them keep an eye on who’s going to the mines or acting suspicious--’

Another sound came from above him again, this time, a clattering sound. Aiden glanced at his friends who rather didn’t notice, or didn’t care, about the noise.

‘What are they doing in that room?’ Aiden thought, bringing his head to the ceiling as he listened to more footsteps.

The guest room was on the right side of the house.

His bedroom’s on the left.

His bedroom’s above him.

The noise was coming from his bedroom.

Aiden scrambled off the stool and told his friends he’d be right back. He rushed up the stairs, his breaths becoming faster and shorter with each step, and opened the door. His eyes darted around. The window by his desk was open. He took a step in, scanning every inch of his room, thinking the intruder could still be inside, but then the world froze when his eyes landed on his bookshelf.

Olivia’s hat.

It was gone.

He didn’t have to look out the window, he already knew who it was. He rushed out of his room--colliding with the wall--and ran down the stairs nearly tripping several times, and bursted out of the house, not giving his friends a second of explanation.

He sprinted through the busy streets of the town, shoving whoever he couldn’t avoid out of the way. When was the last time he ran so fast the world had been reduced to streaks of colors, and the wind that rushed past him had muted all sounds? He can’t remember, but it doesn’t matter right now.

The instant his foot stepped through the entrance, his head whipped around, looking for any signs of the man. How Aiden wished the sun was still up; the light the moon and stars provided wasn’t enough.

Standing here panting wasn’t helping, he needed to start looking. Fast. Maybe the forest to Petra’s? Or maybe he could run along the town’s border and run into him.

Aiden’s mind flooded with the possibilities of where he could go, but then he looked ahead and saw something--someone--in the distance straight ahead getting smaller and smaller.

‘Get him.’ Aiden’s mind commanded.

He darted off, holding his breath as he got closer and closer to the man, soon being able to make out his red suspenders and dirtied, white shirt.

“JESSE!” He shouted, still running towards him.

Jesse turned around, a look of absolute repulsion was on his face. He held Olivia’s hat to his chest.

Aiden screeched to a halt and hunched over, taking in mouthfuls of air.

“Jess--” Aiden began, still heaving.

“Where did you find this?” Jesse muttered, hugging the hat tighter.

“We--I found--” “WHERE?!” Jesse barked, taking a step closer.

Aiden brought his eyes to Jesse, whose hands were shaking and pupils had shrunken.

Lie. He needs to lie. Say whatever he can to get her hat back. What would his friends say when they find out he let it get taken?

“Look,” Aiden started through heavy breaths, “that doesn’t matter. I need to--”

“Doesn’t matter?” He heard Jesse repeat in a sharp hush. Jesse stared at Aiden with his mouth parted, he was gripping the hat so hard his knuckles were turning white.

He dragged himself closer to Aiden, “Doesn’t matter? Doesn’t matter!?”

He kept repeating those sickening words over and over, getting louder and louder as he brought himself closer and closer to Aiden till he was practically screaming them into his ears.

Jesse grabbed the collar of Aiden’s shirt and pulled him down to his face, locking onto him with his wild, bloodshot eyes.

“After what I’ve been through…” Jesse’s voice was shaky, “You think you deserve her MORE!?”

Aiden’s jaw clenched. He could see the green of Olivia’s hat from the corner of his eye. His hand immediately shot out and grabbed a strap of the hat, holding onto it like his life depended on it. He tried pulling it closer to him, but he dragged Jesse along with it, who refused to let it slip his grasp. ‘Don’t rip it. Don’t rip it.’ Aiden told himself.

“You have everything Lukas owned, and you can’t let me have this one small thing?!” Jesse growled. His free hand was beginning to curl into a fist.

“Because I--”

Jesse didn’t want to hear his sickening voice, “Because you ‘need’ it! Because you and everyone else thinks you’re so great! Because you’re selfish!”

Aiden couldn’t see Jesse’s fist flying towards him in the darkness until--

CRACK

Bright colors invaded one eye while the other could vaguely make out Jesse’s hand swinging back to his face. He didn’t have time to move, he could only squeeze his eyes and brace himself for the impact--

CRACK

Colors flashed, and despite not knowing whether his eyes were still closed or trying to adjust to the darkness once again, and his face burning to the point he thought it was melting off, he still held onto the hat.

Don’t hurt Jesse. Don’t hurt him. Take the hat and go home.

He could feel anger flooding into Jesse’s body when he realized his grip wasn’t weakening.

“You just hate seeing me happy, don’t you?” Jesse hissed. He began scraping the heel of his shoe against Aiden’s leg, hoping to shred his skin off. He hated fighting Aiden. Hated it. Not only did he have to look at his miserable face, fighting him wasn’t nearly as fair as fighting Radar, or Stella, or Cassie.

“You know I wou--”

Jesse began to pry Aiden’s fingers off the strap, bending each finger in unnatural angles. The strap was beginning to slip.

“You can’t stand not having any attention! It always has to be about you!”

“Jesse--”

“Just like the day Olivia died!”

“SHE NEEDS IT BACK, JESSE!” Aiden shouted.

Jesse gasped and let go of the hat, causing Aiden to fumble back with it.

“Who?” Jesse asked in a whisper.

What did he just say?

Why did he say that?

Why?

The world and all it’s sounds came to a stop. All Aiden could hear were those questions booming through his head, clashing with the sound of his pounding heart, and the blood rushing through his body. His eyes were stuck on Jesse, he was trembling from anger and impatience.

“Who needs it back?” Jesse asked again, still in a harsh hush.

“Stella.” Aiden lied, but he sounded so serious he could’ve fooled himself.

“Stella found it, and she wanted to keep it by Lukas’ stuff…” He wanted to add more, but he couldn’t think of anything else.

But he didn’t need to.

Jesse only nodded, his hands still fists, as he began walking backwards. His eyes were still piercing through Aiden as he stepped further and further away until he turned and ran through the field.

Aiden watched as he grew smaller and smaller, and when he could no longer see any part of Jesse, he ran.

Cold sweat rushed down his face as he bolted back to town, back to his friends, with only one question blaring in his mind:

What did he just do?

#SO MANY PAGES #LIKE 23????#LOTTA FUN #hhnhnhnhnhnhnnhnhi sleep now #good night.......#mcsm #minecraft story mode #mcsm aiden #mcsm jesse #mcsm olivia #mcsm gill #mcsm maya #mcsm cassie rose #mcsm hadrian #mcsm mevia #mcsm stella #APWHNPMCSMWASAMCSM #AU fic #fic

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batskulldrag · 4 years

Text

Phoenix by Fallout Boy

A human Au where Patton and Logan adopt Patton’s estranged nephew.

trigger warnings for abuse, PTSD and anxiety

included are mentioned brotherly creatwins, sympathetic deceit and no OC. any other character is either another youtuber, one of Thomas’s friends or a character from 2017′s Dream Daddy.

Word count is obscene, I'll post weekly chapters

Chapter one: The Things We Lost in The Fire by Bastille

Patton brooded into the house and scanning the living room only to find it empty, made a beeline for his and Logan’s bedroom. Fate had one nice thing in store for him because Logan was there silently grading papers at his desk. Before giving his husband a chance to comment on his sudden appearance Patton dropped his head onto Logan’s shoulder. Logan automatically reached up a hand to stroke Patton’s ash blond hair.

“Bad day I assume?” Logan asked as soothingly as he could muster.

Rather than answer Patton sank to the ground and flopped his head down on Logan’s lap.

“That bad?” Logan continued to pet his hair.

“Have you seen the news?” Patton mumbled, his voice blocked with hands and defeat.

“No, I haven’t.” Logan was hesitant and let on concern. “What happened?”

“My nasty, no account bully of a brother is back in town and trying to run for local office.” Patton snorted. “And he’s lying about our family.”

Logan’s eyes narrowed, unimaginative as he was, he saw a flood of potential falsehoods that could earn anyone a landslide of pity votes.

“What does that beast have to say for himself?”

Patton let out a sound that was almost a sob.

“You don’t have to tell me, I’m sure I could look it up.” Logan sighed, still stroking Patton’s head. “And more importantly, I’m sure we can debunk whatever he has to say.”

“The implications will still be there, even if they’re wrong. And people might say that we’re the ones who are lying.” Patton slid more of his body onto Lagan’s lap.

“I know.”

“He’s saying that our mom was a homophobe, and that she made him …” Patton tilted his head away and coughed. “Sleep with a girl to ‘cure him’ or something. That’s not fair. He was the homophobe.”

“That’s his explanation for his son?”

“And his campaign on how much he cares about other sexualities.” Patton rolled his eyes.

“Patton, why don’t you go ahead and post our senior prom pictures on Sharebook?” Logan said gently, but with a sinister smile that his companion couldn’t see.

“I don’t follow.” Patton met Logan’s eyes.

“Your mother was the one who took most of those pictures. Payton isn’t that much older than you; how does he intend to explain that change in opinion?”

“Logan you’re a genius!” Patton threw his arms around him.

“I know.” The other smiled.

# # #

Logan remembered prom night vividly, more vividly than graduation in fact. All it took to remember every detail was just a brief look over Patton’s shoulder at their first picture to bring it all back. Patton’s braces that he had haphazardly tried to paint blue by eating nontoxic paint, granting him blue teeth and colorless braces. It didn’t faze him though. He was still beaming with his entire being. A nerd in a tan suite with stained teeth. No one could touch him.

And of course, Logan himself, who hadn’t changed much appearance wise since high school. Smiling reluctantly as Patton stretched an arm around his shoulder as they both stood in front of the open door.

“Logan, sweetheart you look so stiff try to relax.” Patton’s mother teased.

“Maybe I should move my arm.” Patton said quickly as he pulled his arm away.

“Yeah Pat.” Roman chimed in from behind them. “Leave room for Jesus.”

Roman was one to talk, he all but had his date sitting in his lap on the ride over. They both turned to see him strutting up the driveway. At the time his hair was dyed red, which made it look like his head was on fire. Did that shake him? No. He proudly wore red hair, a white tuxedo and a matching rose in his buttonhole. Elton John would have called it overkill.

“You forgot this calculator watch.” Roman announced holding out a corsage of forget-me-nots and baby’s breath.

“Oh, Logan you got me flowers!” Patton squeaked, clasping his hands together and pressing them to his chin.

“Logan, is your dad single?” Patton’s mom interjected again.

Logan felt himself blush and looked out the door for an escape.

“No, he’s still married to my mom. Sorry.” He responded flatly, hoping they would just think he didn’t get the joke.

“Oh, a little baby person!” Roman suddenly exclaimed as he darted inside, heading directly for the pram in the middle of the living room.

“Careful not to wake him up.” Patton called to him.

“Why’s he out here?” Roman whispered, looking up from the baby.

“He was a little fussy, so I brought him down here where it was cooler.” Ms. Foster explained.

“I thought Payton was here taking care of Virgil.” Logan added. “After all he is his father.”

“Payt’s up in his room studying for his LSATs, besides Virgil’s only a few months old. He doesn’t have it in him to be troublesome yet.” She leaned over the pram and cooed. “Unlike his daddy who cut five teeth at once and his uncle who bit everything.”

Both Roman and Logan laughed at this while Patton just stood there quietly.

“It wasn’t that bad.” Patton mumbled.

“Yes, it was, that crib we’re using, you chewed one of the legs off. And I swear Payton started sprinting before he could even walk. So, I had to be on constant look out for him, lest I step on and kill my own baby.”

“We should go.” Patton pointed towards the door in an effort to escape.

“Wait, Logan, you need to put the corsage on Patton.” Roman pointed at the pair of them.

“Why?” Logan asked blankly.

“Tradition.” Roman stood tall and crossed his arms.

“Fine.” Logan tilted his head back and sighed.

Patton’s mother got a picture of the moment. The rest of the evening was horrible. The car that they all shared broke down and they had to walk to the gym. They showed up an hour late and covered in sweat and grease. Then a few morons threw punch on both of them during the slow dance. The lights constantly flickered as if they were going to go off, giving him a migraine. And finally, two people backed him into a corner and tormented him until he had an episode. Which everyone thought was hilarious, so they laughed while ‘the retard’, as he was known, threw a tantrum in the corner.

That was when Patton showed how amazing he really was. He wielded guilt like a weapon and tore everyone down to below sea level. He threatened to tell peoples parents, he swore to treat them exactly the way they had treated Logan. He labeled each and every one of them a sociopath and declared that he would see to it that they all went to hell. After Patton’s rant and Logan’s episode Patton just took him outside and they spent the rest of the night there.

That had been the moment when Logan fell in love with that boy. Covered in sweat and punch and coming off the heels of a tantrum he fell in love with Patton. And he knew Patton loved him, come what may. Graduation didn’t hold a candle to that.

# # #

“Are you somewhere fun?” Patton’s voice cracked through the memory.

“Yes.” Logan looked back over to Patton. “I’m here.”

Patton beamed back at him and went back to his pictures. There were a handful of their graduation, several of Patton once he finally got his braces off. And many different pictures of Patton feeding Virgil smashed chocolate cake on his first birthday. Patton’s demeanor dropped and he sighed heavily. None of them had seen Virgil since he was a baby.

“I hope he’s ok.” Patton thought out loud.

“I’m sure he is.” Logan lied, taking Patton’s hand in his.

# # #

I’ll kill him. Payton thought viciously as yet another reporter asked him the same question.

“Mr. Foster, how do you explain the inconsistencies between your description of events and the pictures your brother posted online yesterday?”

“Patton must have come out after mother passed away.” Payton said smoothly. “And after seeing what she did to me, who can blame him?”

They seemed to accept that. Good. He scoffed under his breath; they were all too lazy to investigate anything, so they just took everything at face value.

“But Mr. Foster,” A familiar voice that didn’t belong to a reporter chimed in. “An examination of these pictures also shows her at Patton’s high school graduation, which took place after prom. Is your mother a ghost?”

Payton looked across the crowd and saw the instigator. A man of moderate height and muscular build wearing a fedora with a press card in the band. To match that he also wore a brown three-piece suit and glasses of the same color. He didn’t even look like he was from this time era.

“You cannot prove that prom preceded graduation.” Payton argued, knowing that it was a horrible lie. “And you cannot prove that it is our mother in the picture with him.”

“Ok. But I can.” The time traveler challenged. “Other pictures of your mom would prove that she is indeed pictured in Patton’s graduation, with his boyfriend. And high school functions such as prom always proceed graduation. It’s senior prom, not post-graduation prom. Also! Patton has blue teeth in the prom pictures, but the blue has faded off in the graduation pictures.”

Many of the reporters murmured and turned to the stranger.

“Ok Roman,” Payton leaned against his podium. “Did someone put you up to this or are you on your own?”

“I’m on my own. And I stand alone in the halls of people who look things up. These are dark days indeed.”

“Pay no attention to that drama queen back there please.” Payton sneered. “He’s friends with my brother.”

“So now I have become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” Roman said loudly, pressing one hand to his heart.

“Isn’t that from the bible?”

“Have you read the bible?”

A hushed murmur echoed through the crowd. When did this become a roast off?

“Roman, leave before I call security.”

“This is a public gathering; you can’t throw me out.”

Much to Roman’s dismay and his own delight he indeed could throw him out. But the damage had been done, everyone’s questions now reflected what Roman had pointed out. And worse still several of these dullards had now been bitten by the research bug. They may start thinking for themselves against all odds.

Speaking of things that thought without permission Virgil had beaten him home that afternoon. His gangly, yet somehow short form was slumped on the couch staring at his phone. His school uniform was in disarray around him. He had his blazer on his lap like a blanket, his tie hung over his shoulders and his shirt unbuttoned almost to his waste and he had added an old hoodie that was probably decomposing by now. Why didn’t the bastard just go ahead and get naked? What a slob.

And, if he were to be honest, he thought Virgil was ugly. Most teenagers are and his son reflected that. Virgil had scattered acne and freckles on a pasty white face that he had the decency to cover up with makeup, hollow eyes, violet in color making him look every bit the mutant he was, and black hair that he kept in a stupid fashion. Who the hell even had bangs anymore?

“Sit up straight, you look like a corpse.” Payton snapped at the figure.

“Dead bodies are cool.” Virgil retorted sitting up proper.

“Don’t test me you bastard, I’ve had a very hard day.” He pointed to the defiant brat. “And I will not be challenged by a teenager who still wets the bed.”

Virgil backed down but shot him one last glare.

“I haven’t done that in a month.” He mumbled.

“And I haven’t done that since I was four. You’re nine years late.”

Virgil slumped his shoulders and pulled his hood up to conceal the fact that his ears were turning red.

Good. You stay where you belong. Payton thought coldly.

“I told you to sit up straight.” He said tauntingly.

Virgil stood up and walked to the stairs.

“Why doesn’t daddy love me?” He mocked Virgil as he walked. “I wonder.”

Virgil stormed up the stairs and into his room. He would have punctuated this tantrum by slamming the door. But his room didn’t have one.

# # #

“Have you seen the news?” Roman yelled, bursting into the room and slamming the door open.

“Roman, how many times do I have to tell you not to slam the door?” Logan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“What’s up Roman?” Patton asked tilting his head to the side.

“They’re investigating your brother for mishandling campaign funds, and they found out that he left that law firm he worked for under suspicion of tampering with evidence. And something about hiding information or something.” Roman monologued.

“If he was a lawyer then he would be required to share any evidence he obtained with the opposing counsel, even if it hurt his own case. It was started after the Brady vs Maryland case, during which-”

“Logan, not now.” Patton squeezed his shoulder gently. “Is that all, Roman, is Virgil ok?”

“I – I don’t know. He’s just kinda in the background of all this.” Roman’s posture dropped. “What if we ruined his life!?”

“Oh gosh, if Payton gets sent to prison it’ll be all my fault!” Patton jumped off the couch in terror. “I’m a horrible brother! I’m a horrible uncle! I’m a horrible person! I ruined his life in three days!”

“We’re going straight to hell!” Roman pulled on his jacket as if he were trying to pull himself together.

“No, stop. Both of you.” Logan stood up to reason with them at eye level. “No one’s going to hell, or prison … well I can guarantee no one’s going to hell.”

“What have I done!?” Patton dropped to the floor and curled into a ball. “I’m a horrible person!”

“Patton. If your brother is guilty of what they accuse him of, then he only has himself to blame for being in trouble. All you did was innocently post a few things on Sharebook to set the record straight.”

“Roman,” He continued. “What you did was stupid, but I don’t think it caused anything but a few jokes around the water cooler.”

A loud gasp came from the floor that led the other two to believe that Patton was crying.

“I can’t do this. The guilt is killing me!”

“You didn’t do anything! Payton is in trouble with the law because he broke it. That has nothing to do with us!” Logan objected.

“But the pictures.” He looked up tearfully.

“Only served to prove that your mother was not a homophobe.”

“And Roman?”

“Is an idiot.”

“Hey!” Roman protested.

“But he also had nothing to do with this.”

“What about Virgil?” Roman asked softly from the doorway.

No one knew what to say.

# # #

It had been five days since Patton’s idiotic meddling on Sharebook, and the worst part was that Payton couldn’t figure out if it was intentional or not. His younger brother never could have thought of something like this. But he did have that drama queen, and that retard he married. One of them might have done this.

“Dad, can we talk?” Virgil interrupted him, typical.

“What could you possibly want?” He glared up from his work.

Virgil was still in his pajamas, wearing no makeup and looking like a member of the living dead. Before speaking he turned away and coughed violently.

“Are you sick again!?” Payton growled. “I swear if I let you lose in the wild, you’d be dead in an instant. I don’t know what’s keeping you alive; it’s certainly not a higher purpose. There, now we’ve talked. And I’m worse off for it. Now scram.”

“Is all the stuff on the news true?” Virgil rasped.

“I recall telling you to go away…”

“Fine, don’t tell me. I’ll just have to decide for myself.”

“Knowing you, you’ll side with the masses. Keeps people from having to think. You’d like that.”

“Why are you teeing off on me!? All I asked for was a yes or no answer.”

“That’s a lot of back bone for somebody who hasn’t shown me his final report card yet.” He didn’t even look up. “We had to do summer school last year and they still held you back. If either of those things happen this year… well no point in speculating over things that won’t happen.”

That was the thread he needed to pull evidently. Virgil retreated.

Before going to his room Virgil stumbled into the bathroom and threw up. His heart was beating its way out of his chest, the room was spinning.

Spinning

He fell to the floor, arms and legs both feeling like static.

No! not another one! He dizzily protested, forcing in several ragged breaths just have air.

Hell only knows how long he was laying on the bathroom floor before he calmed himself down. But he somehow managed and dragged himself back to his room. It wasn’t long before he passed out on his bed.

# # #

It’s now been nearly two weeks since everything started. Virgil hasn’t gotten over whatever he caught this time. But his dad hasn’t been home too much lately, so there was still solaced to be found. He lay in bed, sweating from fever and almost let himself dare to have hope. His dad may end up in prison before the summer was over. Maybe he could testify. He could tell if his dad was in prison, hell he’d scream it from the rooftops if his dad wasn’t around to provide consequences.

# # #

Payton set the smoke detector down on a table in the hallway and looked in Virgil’s room. Virgil was passed out in his bed, no doubt out of his mind on cold medicine and looking pale and tragic. He slid into the room and stood over him.

“Poor Virgil.” He scoffed, wiping his greasy hair off his sweat covered forehead. “I really tried to want you. Hell, I wanted to want you. It just didn’t work out that way.”

Virgil coughed lightly in his sleep and turned over uneasily. Everything that kid did was uneasy. Payton picked up the half full bottle of medicine on the nightstand and stared into it apathetically.

Virgil jolted bolt upright and coughed violently. Payton quietly watched him fight for air.

“Why are you in here?” Virgil panted, already trembling with fear.

“It’s alright.” Payton said softly, placing the back of his hand on Virgil’s forehead. “I’m just checking on you.”

“Why?” Virgil recoiled from his hand.

“You’re sick, aren’t you?” Payton cupped Virgil’s face in his hands. “I just wanted to make sure you were ok before I left.”

Virgil settled into his hands and stared up at him. Hope dotted itself in his unnatural eyes. He was helpless to resist temptation. Sucker.

“Alright. I have a meeting tonight.” Payton ran his hand through Virgil’s hair. “But tomorrow I’m taking you to the doctor.”

“Why?” Virgil jolted back. His eyes lit with terror.

“No, I’m taking you to get this sickness checked out.” Payton purred. “You know I’d never hurt you for no reason.”

“No?” He squeaked.

“Of course not. Have I ever hurt you when you haven’t done anything?”

“No?” Virgil’s breathing sped up.

“Of course not. Now drink your medicine and try to get some sleep.”

With quivering hands Virgil took the bottle from him and drank it obediently.

“There’s a good boy.” Payton smiled.

As a finishing move Payton tucked Virgil in before leaving. Virgil shivered the entire time. Payton couldn’t tell if he was excited to have the attention of if he was just that terrified. It didn’t really matter.

Either way, Payton had the little parasite right where he wanted him. And today that meant he was right here in bed, sound asleep. Dead to the world.

Payton stopped in his study and dropped the rug over the lamp’s newly frayed cord. He ‘accidentally’ left the lamp on before he left. As far as anyone would ask.

# # #

Roman was feeling high on life. He was on his way home from an excellent performance of The Lion King in which he, being one of the only people who could sing and dance and sit through the makeup process to audition, had played Mufasa one night and Scar the next. Both were amazing parts. Just think two on stage deaths, and a solo on villain nights. And who doesn’t love a villain?

To cap off this evening he had become quite close with the actor playing Timonen, who was especially charming. Yes, things were lovely. He nearly lost control of his motorcycle at the thought. As he steadied himself back, he checked the clock in the center, it was very nearly midnight.

“Well, I’m sure the love birds are done with their date night by now.” He said out loud, nearly drowned out by his engine.

Roman nodded to himself and looked for a driveway to turn around in. Preferably one where nobody was home to bother with his bike. He was a gentleman after all. Roman pulled into an empty driveway and made a U-turn back towards the road.

But something leaked into his helmet and stopped Roman in his tracks. It was the unmistakable smell of smoke. He dropped his bike and whipped around to see the house behind him glowing with flames and billowing thick black smoke. Without a second thought he tossed his helmet to the ground and called for help.

The house itself was a two-story building that was fairly isolated from neighbors. And there wasn’t another soul outside, so no one had seen the fire yet. While Roman was giving the address the windows in the bottom floor exploded, punctuated by the sound of sirens in the distance. It looked like everything would be ok… luckily, no one was home.

No! He was wrong! It’s not ok! The glow of the fire had illuminated the figure of someone on the second floor trying to break the window. The room they were in was already on fire. Not having time for caution, Roman bounded towards the house. He could hear the firefighters behind him yelling for him to stop as they pulled up, but he had already leapt onto the landing by the time the words sank in. He could jump surprisingly high; as a dancer he had the legs for it. He pulled himself up the gutter, wrapped his jacket over his fist and with one blow he shattered the window and the person jumped out, coughing up both lungs.

Both he and the sole survivor were blown back by a gust of hot wind. It was like Satan had roared at them. Obviously dizzy from inhaling so much smoke the survivor, who looked no more than twelve fell back when Satan roared and slid down the roof. Roman leapt for him and saw the kid grab hold of the same gutter, and lose his hold falling to the ground feet first. Roman jumped down after him and scoped him up gently, he was still breathing. But not very strongly. He ran the kid to the nearest ambulance.

# # #

‘F’ is for friends who do stuff together…

Patton groggily pulled his phone off the nightstand. Why was Roman calling at one in the morning?

“Ehlo?” He mumbled into the receiver.

“Hey friendo …” Roman’s voice was hesitant. “Can you come get me from the hospital? I know it’s late, but I’ve had a night.”

“Hold that thought kiddo.” Patton said calmly, before turning to Logan. “Logan! Roman is in the hospital! My friends are being punished for my sins!” He panicked.

“We’re married.” Logan mumbled, not even half awake.

“We’ll be right down to get you honey.” Patton faked a cool demeanor over the phone.

“I heard you yelling. And, I should point out that I’m not hurt.”

# # #

“Roman what happened?!” Patton rushed over to him.

“Well, there was a fire…” Roman began.

“At the theater!? Was anybody hurt?! Did Remus start the fire!? Is he back so soon!?”

Patton looked down and saw that Roman’s right hand in a cast.

“You are too hurt! Why did you lie to me!?”

Logan stepped up and pulled Patton back by the shoulder.

“Everything’s going to be ok Patton. If Roman was badly hurt, they wouldn’t let him leave just yet.” He said calmly. “Now let’s just let him tell the story.”

“Ok.” Patton mumbled, burying his face in Logan’s shoulder.

“Ok, on my way home I encountered a house on fire. So, I called the authorities. Then I saw that there was someone trapped upstairs. So, I jumped onto the landing and broke the window with my fist.” Roman explained slowly and without any of his normal flare.

“Why would you do that? You could have been killed?” Logan asked, flustered at Roman’s general lack of caution.

“There was someone in there! A little kid trapped in a fire! Wouldn’t you have?”

“If emergency services hadn’t yet arrived and there was no time to wait, I suppose I would. Had such services arrived?”

“…” Roman looked down. “Yes.”

“Are you ok?” Patton asked softly.

“Yes, it’s just a few cuts. And apparently, I punched the window wrong and broke my wrist. I don’t think I’ll be able to do the matinee tomorrow. I’ll call Robert to pick up my bike.”

“Is the kid?”

“They haven’t told me how he is. Apparently only family gets to know the details.” He rolled his eyes.

“Hippa laws.” Logan added. “Standard doctor/patient confidentiality to protect the privacy of the patient…”

“Don’t you start.” Roman pointed at him angrily. “All they told me was that he’d be fine.”

“Did the police take your statement?”

“Yeah. An unfortunate number of officers are familiar with me. And they almost exclusively know me as the guy with the crazy twin.”

“Speaking of brothers…” Patton interrupted almost as if he were in a trance.

The other two turned in unison to see what Patton was staring at so intently. And speak of the Devil there was Payton.

#logicality #platonic lamp #logan sanders #logan x patton #patton sanders #roman sanders #sympathiticdeciet #trans deceit #sanders sides #romanxemile #parental moxiety #parental analocical

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