#caught up for 13 and we both stopped watching on time. i was recording them.

[deanwasalwaysbi]

How long did your first watch of Supernatural take you?

If it was still on, how many years did it take you to catch up to the live series?

#spn tumblr #spn #desticule #2-3 years. a friend kept talking about it and then id watch when i was sad and basically live text them while watching #they always thought i was in much later seasons than i was and had very little memory of it #caught up for 13 and we both stopped watching on time. i was recording them. #watched 14&15 after the finale in one go. saw the confession and rolled my eyes wondering how they were going to 'no homo' this one #went online for the reaction and saw misha call it a 'homosexual declaration of love' and 'y yo a ti cas' #only THEN did i let myself get excited. #original content #spn group think #say in the tags #spn tag game

[poppy-metal]

Demure

Wc: 4k

Pairing: eren jaeger x reader

Cw: car sex, fingering, emphasis on reader being innocent and a virgin. reader is armins little sister. corruption kink

you're 6 years old when you first meet eren jaeger. apparently he'd run off some people that were bullying you big brother, armin. you admire him and mikasa immediately.

you're 8 and he's 11 when you get a scrape on your knee from playing tag. eren runs into your mothers bathroom to fish out the first aid-kit, you know he just doesn't want you to tattle, you never would anyway, but he pulls out a pink band-aid with little ariels all over it and places it gently over the cut. he stays there for a few beats, soothing the skin around the hurt area with his thumbs. his big bright green eyes look up at you, "better?" and that's the first time your heart skips for a boy.

you're 11 and he's 14 when armin starts becoming protective. "he's had like. 5 girlfriends in middle school, who knows what he's gonna be like in high-school"

it intrigue you, for some reason.

you're 13 and he's 16 when he taps furiously on your window at night, wild eyed and wearing a t-shirt and sweats. he falls ungracefully on his ass when you let him in, though he grins at you from the floor. "thanks, squirt"

you wince at the nickname, knowing it solidifies you as someone only platonic to him. armins little sister and nothing more. "what's this all about?"

he gets up and swipes imaginary dust off his sweats, looking around your room. its absurdly girly. he picks up one of your plushies and tosses it up, then catches it, peering over at you and grinning. "i hope you never change," he sighs and flops down onto your pink sheets. "girls my age are fucking psychos"

you creep closer to him, snatching your plush back. "im sure there's something you're leaving out there. im not completely dumb, you know"

he waves his hand, "yeah but you're....i don't know? innocent or whatever. you don't care about shit like boys and drama"

i do care about boys, you think, watching the way his shirt rides up to expose a hint of tan skin. you look away, squeezing your plush to your chest. "im gonna grow up eventually, ren"

he sighs and sits up, looking at you from under his ridiculously cute floppy brown hair. "Just promise me you won't go boy crazy"

you roll your eyes and sit down next to him, he leans in and licks a broad stripe against your cheek with his tongue, grinning "we have cooties"

you swat at him and wipe your cheek, groaning and calling him gross. "i know that. you and armin never let me forget how gross boys are", you side eye him. "what did you even do? really?"

he looks to the side, only now having it in him to look the least bit sheepish, "my girlfriend may have caught me with my hand down historias skirt..."

"EREN JAEGER!!!"

yeah, boys really are gross. but not eren, no he's beautiful and magical and makes you feel all the fluttery things. but he's also a player, a bad boy, dangerous and completely off limits. maybe your crush should have ended there, but of course it didn't.

You're 15 when you go on your first date with a boy. until now you haven’t allowed yourself to even think about men outside of the enigma that is eren jaeger, but that’s a lost cause, a stupid crush you need to let go of. and despite what eren thinks, you’re not that innocent. not in your head anyway. you’re a girl and you have fantasies. 

the guy is nice, armin likes him enough. big and tall and humble, reiner brought you flowers for your first date. the age difference is a little weird, he’s in erens grade, a senior, but you think its harmless. you’re turning 16 soon. the date goes well, you smile and giggle alot, and reiner seems smitten by the end of it. he even goes as far as to kiss your hand when he drops you back off at home, at 8pm sharp, just like he promised. he was kind and sweet, and you liked him, but you wonder what it means that there were no flutters in your belly, not like when you’re around him…

you’re still thinking about that when you open the door, and walk inside. the house is quiet, and you wonder where armin is, and eren. thinking they both must be in armins room, you go to the kitchen to get a glass of water, stopping on your path there when you see eren on the couch. he’s lounging back, hand idly wrapped around a gaming controller as he watches you.

you glance around him. “where’s mimmin?”

he doesn’t take his eyes off you. “annie called”, he leans forward a little, propping his chin in his palm as he observes you quietly for a moment.

you squirm in place, his eyes are too hot. “oh” and you make to start moving again but his voice stops you. 

“so. braun, huh?” his tone is hard to discern, the words coming out cool and detached, but his eyes are that intense green. 

“yeah” you say, shifting on your feet. “he was nice. kissed my hand and everything”

“sounds like a dream” and that is definitely said sarcastically. you bristle but eren is already turning away from you, facing the TV. “didn’t think he was your type though” 

because erens been your type since forever, you guess he’s right. reiner couldn’t be more different in both personality and looks, but maybe that’s a good thing. “maybe he can be” you say softly, looking at your feet. you dont see erens eyebrows jump, or his lips twist disdainfully. 

“If you wanna settle for missionary the rest of your life, then sure, go ahead” he sounds a little miffed and that confuses you. makes you look up. you don’t even know reiner that well, but you feel the need to defend him from erens usual snarky jabs. 

“not every guy that doesn’t live on Xbox and fuck half the school is a bland guy” you huff. you feel a little guilty for calling him out but he started it. eren hated preps, that was obvious, but its not like he was a model person either, if his long track record of promiscuity was anything to go by. reiner wasnt boring he just…..wasn’t eren. but that wasn’t a flaw. It shouldn’t be. 

“you been keeping tabs on me, princess?” eren asks wryly, smirking now. you just glare at him, quirking a brow and daring him to prove you wrong, to say he’s better. 

he doesn’t. he just looks at you, sets his controller down and does that tick he’d developed since he was young of jiggling his knee, tapping his finger on it. “don’t go on more dates with him” 

you squint your eyes, “and why not?”

“because i said so” 

“you’re not my boss” 

“because..” he scratches the stubble on his jaw, gaze looking far off as he stares at his bouncing leg. “guys shouldn't touch you” 

your mouth pops open. you get that, right now, you’re too young for stuff like sex, but being touched? everyone your age had boyfriends, why should you be any different?

It feels a bit like deja vu when you tell him, “m’not staying innocent forever. dating and s-sex are apart of life. you do it, why shouldn’t i?” 

you didn’t really get his whole overprotective bit, armin, who was your brother, wasn’t even this bad. he’d seen happy almost, when you told him about your date with reiner, even, so you really don’t see where eren is coming from. 

erens lip curls in a smirk and he points a finger at you. “that’s why” he says. “you can’t even say the word sex without stuttering. what’ll you do when you see a cock for the first time?” 

your skin heats, hating that he’s right. “I’ll grow out of it” you promise him. 

he huffs a laugh. “sure thing, dork” but then his face gets serious. “you don’t need to change though. sex is lame, i promise.” 

“you seem to have alot of it, so there must be something good about it” 

“for me, yeah” he grins. “but im selfish. most men are, and you deserve better than some highschool tumble with a guy who looks like he can’t find the clit to save his life” his eyes weigh you down. “just keep bein’ you. If i come back from college and hear that you’re the towns tramp stamp, m’ not gonna be happy” 

and that’s that. 

you’re 16 when eren leaves for college. you get to 18 without ever being touched. 

you’re 18 and you wish you hadn’t begged armin to let you come to this stupid bomfire party. it’s just the first time he’s been home in the 2 years since he’d left for college, and you know that means eren is back too, though you have yet to see him. he’s supposed to be at the party though.

you wonder if he’ll react to having seen you after not for awhile, if he’ll look at you different now that you’re grown. you’re wearing a simple pleated white skirt and a pink top, the picture of innocence you’ve always been, never changing. 

being around so many people makes you uncomfortable, you want to cling to armins side, but you don’t want to be annoying so you tell him its okay to leave you. your eyes scan the mass of people on the crowded beach as you nervously hold your solo cup to your chest. 

your eyes stop their nervous skittering when they land on someone familiar. 

college eren is completely different and yet wholly the same since you’d last seen him. he’s wearing a red bomber jacket, over a black t-shirt and skinny jeans, scuffed converse kicking in the sand as he shifts from one foot to the other. you peep tan skin, a hint of a tattoo peeking on his neck and….and black hair. he’d dyed his hair, and, is that jewelry on his ear? rings on his hand?

he’s smiling easily with a pretty blonde and...and reiner. talking to them like old friends as he tilts his head back and laughs, taking a swig from his cup. he’s still chuckling and shaking his head when his eyes flick distractedly over, rove over you and then stop. even from all the way where you are the green of his eyes pins you in place. the warm glow of the bonfire dances across his features, and you see the bastard has a lip ring as well. he takes his time cataloging you and you do him, before his lips tilt, he hands off his drink and he makes his way over to you. 

your whole body is tense with nerves as he gets closer and closer.

when he’s standing in front of you, the smell of his cologne wafts over you. his smile is small and genuine. “hey, pip” 

pip as in short for pipsqueak. you have to fight the urge to grin at him, your cheeks warming pleasantly, even though you groan out loud. “m’ not little anymore” 

“I can see that” eren eyes rake over you, linger on your bare legs before dragging slowly back up. his eyes feel like a caress and when they meet yours again, you’re already tingly. you’ve never been touched sexually, and just one look from eren has you wet between the legs like nothing. “still dress like you wanna be an extra in a Bratz commercial” 

the tension disputes as you swat his arm. “shut up!! Its a fashion choice, not like you’d know. dressed like a wannabe rockstar” 

“aw, c’mon. you’d be my groupie right?” 

you roll your eyes. “you wish, jaeger”

“mm” he hums softly. “s’cute though. always has been” 

before you can even register the compliment, he’s leaning forward to peek into your cup, swiping it easily from you. “underage drinking, are we? left you for a couple years and you go rebel barbie on me” 

you squawk as he chugs all of your drink back in one gulp, crushing the cup in his fist and tossing it behind him. “ren! I wasn’t even drinking it. It was..” you wave your hand around. “for the aesthetic”

“uh huh” he drones, but then he jerks his chin. “i’ll get you another one to stand around and look pretty with then. C’mon”

cute, pretty. the compliments are gonna make your heart fly out of your chest if he doesn’t let up. you follow him as he leads you to a keg, one that’s a little ways away from the bustle of the party, close to the parking lot where you came in. 

you shyly say ‘thank you’ when he fills you a cup and hands it to you, proceeding to lean back against a car as he goes back to observing you.

to distract yourself you mumble, “you can’t just lean on a strangers car for the sake of being cool” 

the grin is back. “you think im cool?” when you glare at him he rolls his eyes and slaps the hood of the car. “she’s mine, pip. you can untwist your panties” 

you blink at him, “since when did you get a new car? and when did you dye your hair?” 

he looks at you curiously, drumming his fingers. “do you not, like. follow me on instagram?”

you look away, kicking your feet in the sand. hesitantly you admit, “didn’t wanna miss you, so i didn’t look” 

he doesn’t say anything to that. the silence stretches between you, making you nervous. should you not have said that? you guessed it was weird, after all, but it was true. If you’d looked at how erens life was progressing without you there to see it, you’d have cried and been a total lovesick girl about it. 

he finally breaks the silence. “do you have a boyfriend?” 

you look back at him. “uh...no? do you?”

the smirk you wanted ghosts over his lips again, and your eyes are drawn to his lip ring when he tugs it between his teeth. “nah, you know me. unattainable” 

“yeah, i know” you say under your breath, thinking of how eren jaeger had been an unattainable fantasy for you for years. 

“so no current boyfriend or…?” 

“no boyfriends...ever” its embarrassing to admit, but less humiliating than admitting that the reason that was is because you’re in love with your brothers best friend, the very man standing before you now. 

“that’s kinda tragic, pip” eren hops up on the hood of his car and fishes a cigarette out of his pocket. he waves a hand at you, “you’re rockin’ a bod like that and no one’s bagged you? thought you’d be beating down options with a bat by now” 

you watch the smoke that plumes in the air, the way it coils and wisps, and really look at eren. he’s tragically beautiful. his no black hair is boyishly messy, tangled around his head in a dark halo. his face is sharp and tan, his eyes striking and making you feel like you’re sinking into the sand beneath your feet.

you’ve wanted him for so long, it makes you ache. years and years of pushing away men and declining confessions for this man in front of you. you’d never expected anything from him, but you couldn’t move past the fantasy in your head. couldn’t imagine giving any of your firsts to anyone but eren. 

“you told me to stay innocent” its out before you can stop the words, they just fumble out, spilling from your lips and into the air like the smoke.

eren stills, pauses from where he’d been about to take another drag. his expression is unreadable. he flicks the ashes from the cig on the sand, stumps it out under his foot as he hops down. the wind ruffles his dark hair as he just looks and looks and looks at you. 

“yeah?” and oh, jesus, if the rough gravel in his voice doesn’t make your cunt warm immediately. “and you listened?” 

you squeeze your thighs together, an action that draws erens gaze between your legs. to late to back down now, you think, and wet your lips. “y-yeah. I did” 

“you didn’t let any boys touch you while i was gone?” eren continues and he draws closer, creeping towards you.

you shake your head, silent as he comes in front of you. he reaches up to delicately push a strand of hair behind you ear with one of his ring fingers. he keeps it tucked behind your ear as he towers over you, staring you down. “you’re still my innocent little girl, huh?” 

you wonder if this is how it feels to be seduced, seduced by eren jaeger no less. his eyes are warm, and they make you feel warm from where the rest on your eyes, and then, your lips. they part under his gaze, on instinct. “I am, ren. always have been” 

his eyes darken, and the finger behind your ear becomes his whole hand sliding to cup the back of your head, slowly fisitng your hair in it. “shit” he tilts your head up. “you can’t say things like that, baby”

baby, baby, baby. your head swims. you’re on autopilot now, speaking without thinking and you think that’s good because if you were thinking clearly you wouldn't have the courage. “i’ve always been your good girl. no one elses” 

you have one second to hear his exhale before his lips are crashing against yours, and oh. oh, he’s good. you feel the metal of his lip ring against your bottom lip as he slides his tongue in your mouth, eating you up.

“god, you’re sweet” he nips your lip. “knew you would be”

you pant into his mouth, your hands curling on his chest, “y-you’ve thought about me?”

“‘course i did, im not blind” he pulls away. “I just really like my dick and didn’t want it chopped off. armin is scary” 

you know he can be when he wants to be, knows if he saw eren ravishing his little sister against his car right now, body parts would be strewn about. and that’s just from armins verbal warfare.

you look at eren demurely from under your lashes, “i don’t want anything to happen to your…” you trail off at the end.

erens eyebrows climb up his forehead, he presses close to you, tugs you to him. “my…” he prods, eyes glinting with mischief. 

you look away, pouting. “know i can’t say it” you mumble, hating that even now, saying vulgar words is embarrassing for you.

erens chest shakes with a laugh. “you just sucked my tongue down your throat, pip, and you can’t talk about my cock? you’re precious, c’mere.” he starts walking backwards, towards his car. “we gotta be sneaky about it but-” he dips down to kiss you again, once, twice. “i really wanna touch you” 

you gulp, and nod, let him pull you to his car and open the backseat for you, climbing in after you. he shuts and locks it behind him and then he’s facing you, eren jaeger giving you his full attention. looking at you like he wants you, like he’s seeing you, like he wants to do alot of bad things to you.

you place a shaking hand on his shoulder. “im- i dont know what to do..”

you want to impress him, but pretending you’re good at something you’re not won’t do that. eren doesn’t like liars anyway. 

he scoots close to you, pulling you halfway onto his lap until you’re sitting comfortably against him. you bite your lip when you feel the hard ridge of his cock pressing against your ass under your skirt. one of his hands settles on your bare thigh, scooting it up just barely.

“you ever watch porn, sweetheart?” erens breath puffs against your ear and you squirm on top of him. 

you push down your own embarrassment, resigning yourself to be a big girl and be honest. “s-sometimes” 

“yeah?” god, why does just that word turn you on so much? “tell me what kind of stuff you watch when you touch your little pussy” 

his vulgar words go straight to your cunt, at the same time his hand slides up your thighs and slips under your skirt. you close your eyes when you feel the tip of his finger trace over the band of your panties. “they’re always a couple..” you gasp when his hand dips inside, palm cupping over your pussy. “a-and the guy has dark hair..”

“Imagining anyone in particular?” eren teases, but you hear his breath catch at the same time yours does when he sinks one long finger inside. the folds around your slit part seamlessly around the intrusion, sucking his finger in like your pussy wants it there. “so wet, baby. keep talking for me?”

ever the good girl, you push through the tingles and the heat spreading down your legs, the slick sound of his finger fucking in and out of you filling the silent car as you struggle to find words. “s-shes always inexperienced. Its her first time and...and hes gentle” you moan a little when erens thumb comes to swirl around your clit, hips lips finding your neck. he’s teasing another finger at your tight entrance when you swallow another groan and try to keep talking like he’d asked. “he’s gentle but he takes. t-takes what he wants”

“mm” eren hums, tongue sliding against your skin. you gasp when the tip of his ring finger edges in beside the other one, stretching your tight passage around his digits in thorough little twists of his fingers. “that’s real good, baby. you like the sound of that, huh?” 

eren hooks his chin over your shoulder, bunches your skirt around your waist so he can see where your little pussy is clenching and squeezing around him, clit engorged and throbbing for attention. when you don’t answer, he continues, using the slick dripping down your slit, gathering it and then pushing back into you. “I bet” he says, low, husky. “In those videos, he eats her out real nice, yeah? makes sure her little virgin cunt is wet enough to take his cock”

“y-yeah” you pant, holding his wrist but not pulling it away, pushing him more towards you. you’re starting to grind down against the pleasure, walls rhythmically fluttering around his fingers, fucking yourself on them without even knowing it. he curls them, and your head thumps back against his shoulder as you cry out. 

“i’ll give that to you” eren promises, pumping his fingers faster, his other hand coming up to cup one of your tits over your blouse, giving it a squeeze. “gonna take you home after you cream around my fingers and lay you out on your bed” he kisses your cheek, holding you firm against him when you start to twitch and writhe. “lick this little flower open. wanna feel your thighs squeeze my face when i drink the cum from your pussy, get you all loose and wet and then i wanna feel you drip down my dick when i slide it inside”

“oh god, ren!” you jerk in his hold as you feel your orgasm crest over you, gushing down his palm, as you ride his hand, milking it as tingles shoot across your whole body. A milky, creamy film rests around his knuckles when he slides his fingers out of your weeping cunt, still pulsating and twitching from the come down. 

he rubs the excess slick around your folds and clit, rubbing it in. you whimper and he chuckles and kisses your cheek. 

you sag against him, fucked out. eren brushes some hair from your forehead and kisses it. “wannabe punk pounds sweet virgin pussy into her bed” 

you look at him, confused and dazed “huh?”

eren grins at you. “s’ gonna be the name of our porno” 

#poppy speaks #eren jaeger x reader #eren jaeger smut #aot smut #i hate this kinda but oh well #woof #eren jaeger imagine

[dreamwritesimagines]

Burn The Witch 13 - Trouble [Bucky Barnes x Reader]

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support and feedback my loves ! ❤ Here’s the next chapter, I hope you like it as well and please let me know what you think! ❤ Thank you! ❤❤❤

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female Reader

Warnings: Enemies to lovers, fake dating, mentions of blood, sex, violence, death, manipulation, language, guns, knives.

Summary: Fights can be inevitable.

Series Masterlist

Oh God damn it.

This mission was not supposed to include anything from your real life, and it certainly was not supposed to include your real life ex-boyfriend.

Not only was this going to make things very, very complicated, it also put the entire operation in danger. No part of the background that was specifically created for your cover had any details on your ex relationships and you didn’t think you would have to come up with something now.

Well. For what it was worth, you weren’t the one who came up with it.

“Just joking man. I’m her ex-boyfriend but no worries, I pose no danger.”

Bucky didn’t even dignify that with an answer and you heaved a sigh, trying to control the anger bubbling in your stomach.

“Yeah,” you managed to say, “Yeah, we used to—um, we used to date.”

Bucky frowned, “Didn’t you say you moved here two months ago?”

“I did move here two months ago.”

“We used to date back in Oregon,” Julian explained and Bucky huhed.

“Yet here you are.”

“Yeah you know, the big apple,” Julian motioned around you, “I just got a job here and I figured I could come and see Y/N. Small town people have to look out for each other, you see.”

You gritted your teeth, watching him with narrowed eyes.

“She took you there yet?” Julian asked Bucky “Cannon Beach?”

“No,” you answered on his behalf and Julian clicked his tongue.

“I guess you could take him with you when you visit next month,” he said, “Surely you are visiting next month?”

“I don’t think I am.”

“Come on, no way.” he said, his voice filled with disbelief. “It’s sand castles contest time, you love that contest!”

Right.

Julian had always been the best at playing the civilian and memorizing the back story of any cover. He was great at lying and that was why every mission you had gone on with him was that easy, he could fool anyone.

Including you.

“She came in fourth place two years ago, she made this dragon castle, you should’ve seen it.” He told Bucky, and you rolled your eyes.

Fourth place.

Easy enough to make someone believe, hard enough to find a trace of on the internet.

Julian was an asshole for sure, but he was a great spy and now you were beginning to remember why though every mission with him was a success, you had still avoided it even before your break up.

This was what he did, he took over every single assignment, no matter who was the leader.

Not this time. This was your mission and your mission only.

“Y/N, did you….” Julian let out a chuckle, “Did you tell him about the time your grandma caught us at the—“

“It was good so see you,” you cut him off, glaring at him “But you should probably go now, I’m kind of busy.”

Julian paused only for a moment before holding up his hands, gesturing surrender.

“Okay,” he said, “It was nice to see you too. Again.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“It was nice to meet you Bucky,” he said, “Take care of yourself, Y/N.”

He walked away from you and you closed your eyes for a moment, leaning your head back to the wall.

“Fuck this shit,” you murmured under your breath without even realizing it wasn’t something your cover would say, and opened your eyes to look up at Bucky.

“Was he bothering you or something?” he asked you and you scoffed.

“Please,” you muttered but then pulled yourself together. “He’s not…that type no. Just annoying, that’s all.”

“Are you sure? Because I can—“

“No,” you shook your head fervently, “No, please don’t. It’s fine, it’s just— who he is.”

How dare he?

How dare he try to take over your mission? You had put so much thought into this, coming up with multiple strategies, trying to convince yourself that-

That you were doing the right thing. Even if you felt yourself getting lost in this cover, it didn’t mean that Julian could swoop in and take this over as if you were a rookie agent in need of help.

This whole assignment belonged to you, not to anyone else.

If you were going to betray Bucky’s trust and feel like the most terrible person in the world, the least you could do was not let Julian take the credit.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” you attempted to change the subject and Bucky tilted his head.

“Come on Y/N, don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?”

“You don’t have to pretend like it’s fine,” he shrugged his shoulders, “I mean you don’t have to pretend, ever.”

Okay, this was too much. You could almost feel your defenses going up, the whole hangover and stress and anger and now Bucky being able to tell you were faking something, it was all getting the best of you and if you weren’t careful, you would say something you would regret later.

“I’m sorry?”

“I just,” he took a deep breath, “Sometimes you’re like…too good to be true, you know? And Sam has this theory that you’re—you’re somehow you’re doing this for me or the people around you but you don’t have to.”

“You think I’m pretending?” you asked, your voice coming out way too defensive for your own cover but you could hardly care.

You were slipping, and you didn’t have the luxury to slip. It seemed to take Bucky by surprise because for the first time since you had met, you were-

Aggressive. That was the word. Less like your cover and more like your real self.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” he said and you let out a bitter chuckle, nodding.

“Yeah,” you said, “Okay. I’m kind of busy you see, I have so much to do at the shop so I should probably go back inside.”

“Y/N—“ he started but you pushed yourself off the wall.

“No it’s fine,” you managed to say, “This is me not pretending, for the record. I’ll see you later I guess.”

With that, you walked past him and went back to the milkshake shop, fury still poisoning your insides.

                                                 ***

You could hardly wait until you could go back to the base. Even though you thought that by then you would have calmed down, that didn’t seem to be the case.

You were fucking good at your job, and you were going to prove it to anyone and everyone. Without any help.

“Is he here yet?” you asked Chloe who rushed to greet you as soon as you stepped out of the elevator into the base and she cleared her throat.

“Who?”

“Don’t even, I know you heard what happened,” you cut her off and she shifted her weight.

“Yeah. I read his report.”

“Exactly. Where is he?”

“Okay, before I tell you where he is I feel like it’s important that you remember we’re not supposed to kill our own agents,” she said, “The paper work is a nightmare.”

“Where is he?”

“Keith says it’s considered rude to kill your team members.”

“Chloe,” you looked her in the eye “Where is he?”

She heaved a sigh, “In the training room.”

“Great, more weapons to use,” you muttered as you walked away from her to walk downstairs to the training room. Anger was pulsing through your veins and you kicked the door open, making the pair currently trying to hit each other stop.

“Get out,” you nodded at the other agent and Julian let out a small chuckle before he wiped his face with the towel. The agent rushed out of the room and you narrowed your eyes at Julian.

“You look upset,” he commented, “Want to exercise it out of your system?”

“What the fuck was that?”

Julian uncapped his water bottle to take a huge sip. “Come on, I saw an opening-“

“You made that opening,” you cut him off, “And crossed the line.”

“Oh please,” he waved a hand in the air, “It worked out perfectly fine.”

You could barely control your voice now, “You almost blew my fucking cover!”

“I would never,” he said, “Trust me, if anything I did you a favor.”

You dug your fingernails into your palms, “A favor?”

“Yeah. Guys love competition, an ex-boyfriend being in the picture will even speed up the process.”

“This is my mission.” You said through your teeth, “You don’t get to make spontaneous decisions without running them by me first.”

“When was the last time you had a proper fight?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You always get cranky if you haven’t had a good challenge in a while,” he stated, “A good fight. I take it your boyfriend doesn’t tire you out enough?”

The innuendo wasn’t lost on you and you let out a small chuckle.

“You couldn’t tire me out if you tried.”

He tilted his head, “Is that a promise?”

You shot him a look and lunged but he easily dodged you, scowling.

“Come on Y/N,” he taunted you, “I won’t hold back, you shouldn’t either.”

“Oh don’t worry, I won’t hold back.” you grinned at him and darted to grab at him but he twisted your hand to push you back, making your back hit the wall. You pulled your hair into a ponytail and jumped to wrap your legs around his neck, spinning in the air to shove him to the ground. As soon as you both fell, you straddled him and pulled the dagger out of your boots to raise it and slam it to the ground right next to his head. A sly grin pulled at his lips as if he was having the time of his life.

“Look at you babe,” he said, “You got even better.”

You were very, very aware of the position you had both found yourself in. You used to find this whole thing hot, it was like foreplay to you. Mock fighting, training, all of it -especially with Julian- it used to be your second favorite activity.

Now, all you could think about was just how much more fun it would be with Bucky.

Maybe Julian was right. Maybe you were just a wild card.

A smirk curled your lips and you leaned in slightly to lock your eyes with his, looking down at him.

“My mission,” you growled. “Not yours. The next time you try to control what’s mine, I won’t be so nice.”

You pushed the dagger into your boot again and got off of him before storming out of the training room, still trying to keep your anger in check.

For some reason, you had a feeling it wouldn’t work.

                                               ***

No matter what you did for the rest of the evening, it just wasn’t enough to calm you down. Now to think of it, it wasn’t even completely about Julian and his nonsense, it was because—

You didn’t want Bucky to think you were pretending, even if you were.

Just because it was a cover, didn’t mean your reactions and the happiness you felt with him was fake as well. But he could still tell something was off— Sam could still tell something was off despite your best efforts.

Great.

You poured wine into your glass and changed the channel, trying to decide whether you should go and bug Keith or not. You heaved a sigh and tore your eyes from the screen to lean your head back, nibbling on your lip.

Dealing with feelings was much more difficult than taking down a target.

You groaned to yourself and took a huge sip of your wine, but before you could grab your phone you heard the doorbell ring. Your head shot up and you grabbed your gun to walk to the door, but as soon as you looked through the peephole to avoid yet another mistake like actually opening the door to Julian, you froze.

Bucky.

….Fuck.

“Um- just a second!” you called out before rushing to your room to hide your gun, then quickly looked around the apartment to see if there was anything that could tip him off. Overall, it looked perfectly civilian and you ran a hand over your face to pull yourself together.

Your cover was supposed to be angry at him.

You threw your shoulders back and walked to the door to open it, then leaned sideways to the doorframe, your lips pulled into a slight pout.

“Hi,” you murmured and his gaze lingered on your shorts and flimsy tank top before he looked away for a moment.

Ah.

Compared to 1940s, it was almost the same as you opening the door in your underwear.

“Hey,” he said and held up a small box of bagels. “Listen, I know you’re angry but um…I was hoping we could talk?”

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Keith’s door opening and he stepped out but as soon as he caught the sight of Bucky on your doorstep, his eyes widened and he froze. He quickly fixed his jacket so that it would cover his gun tucked into the back of the waistband of his jeans and gawked at you.

“What the fuck?” he mouthed and you got momentarily distracted, causing Bucky to follow your gaze over his shoulder to Keith.

And Keith, the badass spy, probably the only spy in the whole division who could give you a hard time in a fight, whom you had seen take down five armed soldier by himself with no weapons-

He waved at Bucky.

“Hi- hi neighbor,” he stammered as he turned to you and you shot him a forced smile.

“Hi.”

“Thanks for the cookies, I was going to bring you your plate the other day,” he said, “Do you need it now?”

Translation: Do you need back up?

“No, no,” you shook your head, “No worries, it’s fine.”

“Alright then. See you later.”

You cleared your throat and took the box from Bucky.

“Come in,” you turned around to walk to the living room, hearing him close the door behind him. It didn’t take him long to step into the living room and his eyes darted around as if trying to take in as much as he could. You figured it was natural, homes always gave clues about who their owners were.

Not to mention, as an ex-assassin he was automatically finding the nearest exits and things to use as weapons.

You would know. You did the same thing whenever you were in a new place.

You peeked into the box and frowned.

“What is this?”

“To be honest with you, I have no idea,” Bucky admitted, “It’s supposed to be a bagel. I just asked the guy to give me the most modern and weirdest combination.”

“Is this—is this glitter?”

“He said it was edible glitter, yeah. With lavender and cheese with honey.”

“Why is there two of them?”

He put his hands into his pockets. “I figured I could try one.”

You blinked a couple of times, “You want to try a lavender cheese honey bagel with edible glitter.”

Even the sound of it seemed to be painful for him but he pressed his lips together and nodded fervently. “Mm hm.”

You tried to stop the smile threatening to warm your face and put the box on the coffee table before looking up at him.

“Bucky, listen—“

“I’m sorry,” he cut you off, “That comment back there, it was so uncalled for.”

You crossed your arms, “Why did you say that though?” you asked, “Is that—is that what you think?”

“No,” he shook his head fervently, “Of course not.”

“Then?”

“I don’t know if I can give an explanation without it sounding incredibly weird to you.”

“Try me.”

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” he said “It’s like— the way you are, it’s like someone somehow looked into my whole life back in 40s before everything and saw every single detail of what I wanted and made you.”

Yeah. That was exactly what you and the division had done.

“I’m not used to…” he motioned at you, “This. It’s like you’re too good to be true, like you’re perfect, does that make sense?”

A dull pain flipped your stomach and you stared up at him, trying to ignore your throat tightening before you went to sit down on the couch.

“I’m not,” you rasped out, “I’m not perfect. You’ll see it sooner or later.”

That right there was as honest as you could be with him. You rubbed at your eyes and grabbed the wine glass to take a huge sip as he sat down beside you, his gaze fixated on you.

“I’m sorry too,” you said, “It was an overreaction, it’s just… Julian’s effect on me.”

He stayed silent for a couple of seconds as if he had no idea how to approach the topic.

“Rough break up?”

“You could say that,” you scoffed a laugh, looking down at your glass, “I mean….you think you know a person, right? And they have no problem with proving you otherwise, prove that you didn’t know them at all. They—they betray your trust and everything was a lie all along and—“

And just like that, the realization hit you like a ton of bricks, making you stop talking.

You were doing exactly the same. It was just another version of the betrayal you had seen from Julian, and you were doing the same thing to Bucky.

He thought he knew you, and you would prove him otherwise, and betray his trust and walk away when this mission was over. In fact, by the time it was over, he would hate you even more than you hated Julian.

You cursed under your breath and took another sip of your wine, trying to ease the crushing guilt making you feel almost breathless.

“Sorry,” you managed to say, “I didn’t mean to unleash it on you, I just don’t want him anywhere near me.”

“I could pay him a visit if you want?”

You pulled your brows together, distracted for a moment before you tilted your head to the side.

“What?”

“To warn him to stay away from you.”

“Uh, I appreciate the chivalry,” you said, “But I can take care of myself.”

“Never said you couldn’t,” he pointed out, “It’s just the old-fashioned thing.”

“Oh the old-fashioned thing?” you repeated with a smile and he shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah,” he said, “You know, taking care of my girl.”

You thought your heart would leap out of your throat as the warmth spread through you before the idea of betraying him hit you once again. The words felt like they were trying to escape from your mouth, the urge to come clean getting heavier and heavier before you leaned in to brush your lips against his, making him wrap his arms tight around you to pull you closer. You settled in his embrace, the back of your eyes burning but you blinked a couple of times to get rid of tears. He nuzzled into your hair, inhaling your scent.

“Can we stay like this for a while?” you asked and he smiled, pressing a kiss on top of your head.

“Sure thing,” he said and nodded at the TV screen, “What is this movie about?”

“I don’t know, it has cars and criminals,” you said, the guilt making you feel almost nauseous, “Bucky?”

“Hm?”

He would never understand what your confession actually meant, but you felt as if you would choke if you didn’t say it.

“I like who I am when I’m with you.”

A chuckle rumbled in his chest before he reached out to caress your cheekbone.

“Makes two of us darling,” he murmured, “I like who I am when I’m with you too.”

A bitter smile curled your lips and you bit inside your cheek to control yourself, sniffling inaudibly before you closed your eyes, enjoying his warmth.

Chapter 14

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #tfatws #the falcon and the winter soldier #marvel #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes imagines

[imagines4thefandoms]

F*K idk what to name this (Leroy Jethro Gibbs x reader

Word count:4k+ um by bad

summery: Y/n come back from vaca looking different. will it change Y/n and Gibb’s relationship?

requested: no

"So how was your vacation," Ziva asked.

"Great, i saw my family and i only wanted to shoot myself once," you replied.

The elevator doors opened and y’all walked to y’all’s desk. Tony and McGee looked up from their desk and welcomed you back. You walked to your desk behind McGee and put your stuff down. You grabbed your bag of souvenirs and walked over to Tony.

"Welcome back (Y/n)," Tony said. "What did you get me.”

"Tony my nephew is more mature than you and he is five," you said throwing a tie and a baseball to him.

You walked over to Ziva and gave her a purple scarf and match hat. McGee caught the new computer game you got him.

"How this game isn't out yet," ha asked.

"My brother in law works for the company and he owed me a favor.”

"Thanks (y/n)," Tim replied.

You walked over to your desk, grabbed the coffee cup you got Gibbs and filled it at his coffee shop for him and placed it on his desk.  

"Welcome back (l/n)," Gibbs said walking into the bullpen and sitting at his desk.

He threw away his empty coffee cup and looked at the one on his desk. It suddenly got a little too hot so you took of your NCIS hat letting your hair fall from under the hat. You looked around the bullpen and noticed everyone was staring at you.

"What is something on my face," you asked.

"Your hair," Tony stated.

"Oh right. My baby sister is in cosmetology school,” you explained running your hands through your now red hair. “She needed to practice for her test and I drew the short straw. It was supposed to wash out by now but she mixed up her temporary and permanent hair dyes,”

Everyone kept staring at you even Gibbs which was weird but they stopped when Gibbs’s phone rang. Tony and Ziva were looking at Gibbs while Tim and you were grabbing y’all’s bags but when you turned around Gibbs was still looking at you. He grabbed his gun and shook his head as he hung up the phone.

“Lets go. We have a dead marine in a park,” Gibbs said leaving the bull pen.

We all followed Gibbs to the elevator. There was this tension in the air once the elevator doors closed. Gibbs usually was so comfortable around you. The two of you were the closest out of the team; but now he was avoiding you. When the elevator doors opened he couldn’t wait to get out; of course he could just want to hurry up and solve the murder of the marine. Tony and Tim raced to the car to get shotgun but when they opened the door Ziva sat in the seat.

“To slow boys,” she said buckling her seat belt.

Gibbs as always drove while you were sandwiched between DiNozzo and McGee. The drive consisted of  Tony playing with your hair, Tim messing with some gadget, Ziva was asking you questions about your vacation. Gibbs was silent the entire drive but he kept looking at you in the rear view mirror; but every time you locked eyes he quickly looked back on the road. Once you got to the crime scene everyone got out and you put your hair up in a pony tail.

The park contained a large grassy plain, a decent sized play ground for kids, and two acres of trees. The marine was one the bench in his civilian clothes. The marine was Sargent James Brian McMatthews. Aside from the fact that he was dead, he looked heathy. Sargent McMatthew didn’t have any obvious wounds explaining how he died. Ducky pointed out the same thing.

“Jethro I can’t tell you how this poor man died til I get him on my table. You know that,” Ducky said.

“Thanks Duck,” Gibbs said.

Before Gibbs even had to tell you, you decided to look around the area for clues. As you were looking you noticed Ducky call for you. Ducky gave you a hug once you got to him. Jimmy was bringing McMatthews into the back of the Medical Examiners van when he stopped and looked at you.

“Your hair (y/n),” Jimmy pointed out.

“My little sister did this,” you replied twirling your hair around your finger.

“It suits you my dear. I’m curious has Jethro seen your new hair do,” Ducky asked.

“Yes but he has been acting a bit weird this morning,” you informed Duck.  

“Well it’s nice to have you back my dear, but I must go I have an appointment with Sargent McMatthews,” Ducky said giving you another hug.

You went back to looking around the crime scene to look for evidence. While looking around the trees your saw a foot print. You measured the show print and took pictures but before you could look around more Gibbs called you.

“Did you find anything,” he asked.

“Just a foot print about 2 klicks west of where the Sargent was found,” you informed your boss.

He gave you nod and walked away. After about twenty minutes you and everyone else collected all the evidence you could and headed back to the office. This time on the car ride you got shotgun while the three musketeers sat in the back. Tony as usual was speculating on how Sargent McMatthews was killed, while Ziva slapped him because he was insensitive.

“Hopefully since we collected a bunch of clues at the crime scene we can solve this crime fast,” you said to no one in particular.

“Clues,” Gibbs asked looking at you sideways.

“Sorry evidence. I have spent a whole week watching nothing but Scooby Doo,” you said holding your head in your hands.

“Zoinks,”Tony said laughing.

Ziva slapping Tony while Tim was hiding his laugh hoping that Ziva didn’t slap him too. Gibbs looked over at you and gave you a small smile. You could just tell that you were not going to live  this Scooby Doo thing down. At the office, Ziva and I brought the evidence down to Abby while Gibbs when to see Ducky and Tony and Tim were gathering information on the victim.

“(y/n) you're back,” Abby yelled as she ran over to you. “And your hair. It’s hot.”

“I missed you too abs,” you replied hugging her.

“So besides the hair. What’s new Scooby Doo,” abby asked laughing.

“Seriously. Was it Tony or McGee.”

“I can’t reveal my source.”

“My guess is Tony,” Ziva said placing the evidence on the table in the lab.

“Just let us know when you have something Abby,” you asked as you left the lab.

“I always do,” she called.

Once the elevator doors closed Ziva asked you what Scooby Doo was. After explaining that it is a kids show about solving mysteries she let out a small laugh. You laughed along with her. Ziva and Abby have become like your sisters and no mater what happens you can’t stay mad at them.

The two of you joined DiNozzo and McGee in the bull pen. They found out that the sergeant worked at the Pentagon.

“Looks like it’s gonna be a difficult case, RUH ROH” Tony said mockingly.

Gibbs walked into the bull pen with his cup of coffee and slapped the back of Tony’s head. Gibbs told him to stop messing around. Tony then shared all the information that him and Tim found out. James B McMatthews was married with three kids and was a part of something very top secret with the Pentagon. McMatthews has no record, no affair, not even a speeding ticket.

Gibbs’ phone rang and it was ducky telling him that he had some information for him. Gibbs looked at you and motioned for you to follow him to Ducky. As y’all got into the elevator, Gibbs yell ‘Someone tell me what the hell he did for the Pentagon.’ The tension in the air formed again when the elevator doors closed. You glanced at Gibbs from the corner of your eye. You always noticed how attracted you were to your boss but when you joined his team you swore to push that thought out of your head. It helped that he had those Gibbs rules. Rule 12: Never date a co-worker. As the doors opened on the floor the morgue is on you instantly hear Ducky call Gibbs name.

“Hello again miss (y/n). How was your vacation,” Ducky asked now that the two of you were not   at an active crime scene.

“Duck, the body,” Gibbs said before you could answer.

“Right. Well this young man had no visible injuries. No cuts or bruises or even a broken bone,” Ducky said walking over to the body.

“So how did he die,” Gibbs asked monotoned.

“At first glance I couldn’t find any reason for this poor man to end up dead at a park. Upon my second look over the body I noticed this little puncture along his hairline. It seems to be from a needle. Besides that, there is nothing wrong with this man. It’s like his heart just stopped.’ Ducky said covering McMatthews back up.

Before Gibbs could ask ducky if he knew what was in the needle, I got a text from abby saying, ‘I know what was in the needle 😱🎉.’ I showed the text to Gibbs. He thanked Ducky and we headed up to Abby’s lab. When the doors opened on abby’s floor, she was standing right there and grabbed both of our hands and pulled us into the lab.

“First, Gibbs don’t you think that (y/n)’s new hair makes her look hot,” abby asked.

“Abs,” was all Gibbs replied with.

“Fine, later. Well this footprint found at the scene did not belong to our poor sergeant. It’s from a side 13 shoe.”

“The indent looks weird. The pressure of the foot print is lighter at the tip of the shoe then the rest of the print. Who ever was here was wearing shoes that were way to big for them,” you pointed.

“Correct, you get a Scooby snack,” Abby said handing you a cookie.

“You bet I do,” you said taking the cookie and taking bite of it.  

“Can you tell us the actual shoe size of the person who was standing in those bushes,” Gibbs asked.

“how dare you doubt me. No Scooby snack for you. It’s a size 9. Oh and after Ducky found that puncture wound and swabbed the area. The swab didn’t give me anything but I got to thinking of what could have been in that needle so I ran his blood again.”

“And you found a match.”

“Yes I did Gibbs. Batrachotoxin. From this cute little guy,” abby said making a picture of a cute yellow frog pop up on her computer screen.

Gibbs kissed Abby’s cheek thanking her and he stole a cookie before we walked out of the lab. After another slightly awkward elevator ride, we walked into the bull pen and Tony had just hung up his phone.

“Boss, I call about his file but they said they have to personally read us in.”

“Okay. Ziva you look up where a person could get their hands on Batrachotoxin while DiNozzo and I will go to the Pentagon while McGee and (l/n) will to talk to the wife,” Gibbs ordered as he grabbed his gun and jacket.

“I guess the gang is splitting up,” McGee joked.

Before Tony could make another Scooby Doo joke, Gibbs was already in the elevator and Tony had to hurry up because Gibbs wasn’t going to hold the doors for him. McGee and you left after y’all got McMatthew’s home address. When we got in the elevator, you looked at McGee and took a coin out of your pocket.

“Head you drive, Tails I drive,” You said before flipping the coin in the air.

You caught the coin and flipped it on the back of your hand. After looking at the coin it showed that Tim was gonna drive to the Vics house. Of course since Tim was driving it also meant he had control of the radio; which wasn’t awful but after having to only listen to Disney for a week you needed to hear your own music.

It took a while to get to the McMatthews’ house. There were three kids playing in a gated front yard with the front door open. Once Tim pulled up to the house the kids stopped playing and ran inside. One minute later a woman came out trying to find out why her kids ran in scared.

“Can I help you,” she asked walked towards us.

McGee and I held up our badges announcing that we were NCIS. She opened the gate and lead y'all inside her house. The kids stayed inside so Mrs. McMatthews closed her front door. She lead y’all to the liver room and when into the kitchen and brought back two cups of coffee. Before we started talking, one of McMatthews’ daughters came up to you.

“Are you Ariel,” she asked me.

I looked over at McGee and gave him look to let him know that I was gonna keep the kids occupied while he talked with Mrs. McMatthews.

“Yes I am,” I replied to the little girl.

She grabbed my hand a pulled me away. We walked out of the living room and up the stairs to a door with the name Sarah on the door. She pulled me into her room and went to her closet to grab something.

“You’re my favorite princess,” she said holding out a little mermaid costume.

“Why thank you, Sarah.”

“Where is Eric?”

“Oh um he is back at the castle working.”

She nodded her head like she totally understood and then asked you to play with her for a bit. After about fifteen minutes, McGee came into Sarah’s room looking for you. You turned to Sarah and told her that you had to leave. She walked with the two of you downstairs and before you walked out of the door she called out “tell flounder I said hi.”

McGee told you about his conversation with Mrs. McMatthews and how James and some guy named Andrew Ferguson had gotten into a fight two days ago about something at work. On the ride back to the office you and McGee were messing around and speculating what the vic could have been doing for the pentagon. McGee thought it had to do with some secret weapon while you suggested something more plausible (aliens).

“Aliens really, you spend too much time with Tony,” McGee laughed.

Back at the office, you and McGee decide to split up the work. While he looks into Ferguson’s military life, looked at his personal life and tried to figure out what they were arguing about. Gibbs and Tony returned from the pentagon as you were combing through Ferguson’s financial records.

“What did the wife say (l/n)?” Gibbs asked standing in front of the tv.

“She told McGee about a fight the vic got in with a guy names Andrew Ferguson,” you responded pulling up a picture of A. Ferguson.

“We pulled his military records but there is nothing on his record,” McGee added pulling up his military files.

“He doesn’t even have a parking ticket. But I was going though his financials when you got back,” you informed Gibbs.

You were combing though his financials when Tony and Gibbs pulled up the files they got from the pentagon. Apparently Sargent James was on a classified team of people teaming up with the NSA and CSA to monitor a major rebel group in the middle east that has ties to ISIS. Ziva came into the office and let Gibbs and the rest of the team know what she found on the toxin. The name Jonathan Whitlock was mentioned.

You were half paying attention when a weird charge appeared on his account. There were multiple weird changes from a offshore bank accounts. You sent the charges to the tv and walked over to where Gibbs was standing and took the remote from his hands.

“There are some weird charges in Ferguson’s bank account. They started about 18 months ago and if my math is correct it adds up to 150,000 dollars,” you reported clicking though the evidence.

Gibbs grabbed his coat and pointed to Ziva and they left, you guessed, to pick up Ferguson. While Gibbs was out, you went down to see Abby. As soon as you got off the elevator, abby pulled you into her lab and she sat you down in a chair.

“So, how was your vacation and why is your hair red,” abby asked sitting in a chair in front go you.

“It was fun. It was nice spending time with my family. And my little sister in in beauty school and she needed practice,” you explained to abby.

The two of you caught up, and abby told you about what happened while you were away. Which wasn’t much just normal stuff like Tony being stupid and teasing McGee and flirting with Ziva, and Gibbs started another boat. The two of you just sat in the lab eating “Scooby snacks” til you got a text from Gibbs telling you to meet him in interrogation.

You left abby and went to go meet Gibbs. Once you got to the observation room you saw that Gibbs was in there with Ferguson but they weren’t talking. Gibbs looked at the glass and you just knew that he was telling you to go in there with him. You exited the observation room and went next door. After walking into the interrogation room, you took a seat next to Gibbs.

“So why were you and Sargent McMatthews fighting two nights before he was murdered,” Gibbs asked.

“We weren’t fighting. It was just a heated argument. Coworkers do it all the time,” Ferguson defended.

“(Y/n) do you get in heated arguments at work,” Gibbs asked looking at you.

“No I mean unless my coworker does something incredibly stupid,” you replied ignoring Ferguson. “So what incredibly stupid thing did you do,” you asked looking at Ferguson

“I didn’t. I didn’t, ” he responded dragging if hand across his mouth.

Gibbs looked over at you then opened the file in front of him and pushed the file in front of Ferguson. He looked at the papers then looked up a Gibbs. He closed the file and pushed it back.

“I don’t know what that is,” he said tapping away at the table.

“You should. Its your banking records. It shows that there are multiple charges added to your account adding up to 150,000 dollars over the past 18 months,” you said opening the file back up and pointing out the charges.

“My guess is that those are payments from you selling military locations and secrets to enemies in the middle east,” Gibbs said leaning back in his chair.

“And your pal Sargent McMatthews found out. That’s why you two had a ‘heated argument’ two days ago. He found out that your were selling out fellow soldiers and threatened to report you,” you interrogated as your leaned closer to Ferguson.

Ferguson started sweating. Gibbs noticed it too.

“But you couldn’t have that happen so you went to your cousin Johnathan who so happen own a golden poison frog. You extracted the toxins from the frog then injected Sargent McMatthews so he wouldn’t tell your CO,” Gibbs informed.  

“Because of you fellow marines died,” Gibbs spoke angrily almost yelled.

“No one was supposed to die. The information I gave was just supposed to help them transport drugs nothing more,” Ferguson exclaimed. “They promised that no one was going to die. James was gonna tell and if anyone found out I would be labeled a traitor. I didn’t want to kill James he is my friend…was my friend. Everything just got out of hand.”

Gibbs looked over at you and then slid a legal pad across the table. Ferguson started writing his confession. You and Gibbs got up and walked out of the room. The two of you walked back to the bullpen and Gibbs sat at his desk to work on the paperwork and you did the same.

“(Y/n) its nice to have you back,” Gibbs said not even looking up from his computer.

By the time you were done with the paperwork, Tony, Ziva, and Tim has left. You looked out the skylight and noticed that it was already dark. Gibbs got up from his desk and walked over to yours.

“It’s late (y/n) go home,” he instructed putting on his coat.

“I love my family and all but there were moments where I wanted to be here working. Plus I have paperwork I still need to finish,” you responded to him.

“It can wait til tomorrow,” he replied grabbing your coat and holding it out for you.

“I really should finish.”

“Ill buy dinner.”

“Sold,” you claimed grabbing the coat from Gibbs.

A smile grew on his face and he shook his head at your antics. He waited for you to grab your things and then the two of you went to the elevator. When the elevators closed that awkward tension filled the enclosed room again.

“Gibbs are you ok. You have been acting strange all day.”

“Your hair,” he whispered.

“Right I going to make an appointment to fix it.”

“No, I like it. It suits you,” he said standing directly in front of you.

The tension increased ten folds and the desire to kiss him was strong. You cleared your throat and took a step back from Gibbs. He walked you to your car but as you were starting it something happened and the car just stopped working. You turned off the car and just slapped the steering wheel.

“Ill drive,” Gibbs said opening your door.

You got out of your car and the two of you walked over to Gibbs’ truck. The ride to Gibbs’ house was quiet a bit awkward like the elevator but it was the nice kind of awkward quiet. Once you got to Gibbs house he got on his phone and ordered takeout from (favorite restaurant) and ordered you some (favorite meal).

“Abby said your building another mysterious boat,” you inquired as you took off your coat and placed it on the couch.

“Mysterious,” he questioned.

“Come on Gibbs you constantly build giant boats in your basement and you magically get them out. Ergo Mysterious.”

He opened the fridge and handed out a beer and headed down to his basement. You followed him  down the familiar stairs. In his basement stood another damn boat. Gibbs placed his beer on his work bench and proceeded to sand down the boat.

“Ok Gibbs how many does this make 27,” you asked him jokingly.

“I think its actually 28,” he jokingly responds.

“Funny man.”

You walk over to him and just watch him sand the boat. He looks over at you and holds out the sandpaper in his hands. Switching between looking at him, the boat, and the sandpaper in his hand you shake your head.

“Oh no. I don’t want to mess up the boat.”

He grabs the beer from your hands and place it next to his. Gibbs grabs your elbow and pulls you to where he was standing. Standing behind you, he places the sandpaper in you hand and guides it along the boat.

“With the grain,” he whispers in your ear.

You were stick between a rock and a hard place or in this case wood and your boss. Being this close to him made your face turn as red as your hair. His lips stayed within centimeters of your ear as he kept whispering “with the grain”. You couldn’t help it, so you turned your head towards his and you could feel his hot breath on your face.

His lips, in this moment, just looked so kissable but you knew it couldn’t happen. Not with Rule #12. His blue eyes starred into your (e/c) eye. You unconsciously liked your lip then held your lower lip between your teeth. Seeing you biting your lip drove Gibbs crazy. In that moment he couldn’t stop himself. He closed the little space there was between the to of you and pressing his lips roughly against yours.

You could taste the beer off his lips and his scent of sawdust and bourbon filled your nose. He pressed your up against the boat to deepen the kiss while your hands found their way to his hair. This was better than your ever dreamed and you dreamed of this moment a lot. Your hands wondered from his hair down his back then to the button of his polo. He took his shirt of once he felt your cold hands on his lower stomach. After his shirt was off his lips attacked your neck sucking and biting it.

A moan escaped your lips which brought a smile to Gibbs’ face. His hands moved from the boat to the buttons on your shirt. The paste at which he was unbuttoning your shirt was agonizingly slow. But once it was done you quickly took it off. You hands went back to his hair this time you pulled him so close to you, it was like his entire weight was one you; that didn’t matter you liked feeling this close to Leroy Jethro Gibbs. His hands went down your sides to your hips and stopped on your ass. He gave it a light squeeze then grabbed your left leg and wrapped it around his hips. On instinct you did the same with your other leg, leaving the only thing from making you fall on the floor to be the force of Gibbs’s body pressing you against his unfinished boat.

Once again your hands roamed this gorgeous man’s body til it reached his belt. Your took it off and started to unbutton his pants but had to stop when his doorbell rang. He let you down and just stared at you.

“Thats the food,” he said grabbing his shirt and putting it back on.

“Im not hungry anymore,” you replied fixing your messy hair.

“You should eat anyway. Your gonna need your strength,” he said as he went up stairs leaving you gasping at the thought of what’s for dessert.

#leroy jethro gibbs imagine #gibbs imagine #gibbs x reader #ncis imagine #ncis

[cacoetheswriting]

champagne problems, ch.13

Chapter Thirteen: Happiness is a butterfly: An impromptu “bachelorette” leads to more than you expected. A/N: chapter is titled after this song if you want to listen while reading. Word Count: 1.7k Warnings: swearing, brief talk of heartbreak & breakup/s, alcohol consumption, intoxication, angst, and finally a bit of fluff !!

series masterlist

A/N: i can’t believe after this chapter, there is only two left!! from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone that’s been reading / liking / commenting / reblogging - it genuinely means the world to me!

-

Loud chatter mixed with drunken laughter carried through the bar, creating the perfect Saturday night atmosphere. The various raucous discussions were accompanied by old jukebox melodies, fighting a battle of who can make more noise - man or machine.

The space carried a stench of sweat, cigarette smoke and spilled drink. While listening to Penelope’s incoherent ramblings, you took a mental note of needing to throw the clothes you were currently wearing into the wash the second you got home. If you were sober enough to do so, that is.

“Okay, okay-” Emily began, still laughing at whatever it was Penelope had just said. “Personally, I think a more important question is who wants another drink?” She glanced between the group of girls who all lifted their empty glasses into the air, cheering loudly.

It was a pretty unanimous decision to still throw you a bachelorette party. The BAU ladies wanted a night out and you were happy to provide them with an excuse - primarily because the months have quickly passed into May and you figured it was finally time to stop wallowing in self-pity.

Penelope invested in a fake engagement ring; “No-one will know the difference and this way we can get free drinks.”. She also arrived with a bag of typical bachelorette knickknacks from the dollar store, plastic tiaras, and bright pink sashays - a ‘BRIDE’ one for you, ‘MAID OF HONOUR’ for herself, and ‘BRIDESMAID’ for the remaining ladies.

When the night started you honestly felt quite silly celebrating something that was no longer happening. You felt like a fraud. Fooling all of these people into thinking you were happy and about to embark on the best journey of your life, when the reality couldn't have been more different.

You were utterly alone and pathetically in love with someone who, you were convinced, didn't love you back.

Penelope volunteered to help Emily with getting the drinks while Tara took the time to go and freshen up in the bathroom.

“Sooo... are you still thinking about leaving the bureau?” JJ asked, sliding into the now empty spot beside you. She placed an elbow on the table to prop her head up as she waited for you to answer.

Her question caught you off guard. Taking the last sip of your current margarita, you furrowed your brows together. “What? I don’t even... what?” 

JJ didn't answer. Instead, she let out a relieved laugh. “I knew Spence was playing with me. And I told him, I told him there was no way, absolutely no wayyy you would ever leave, or even consider leaving.”

“Spencer?” You probed, hopping to make some sense of what she ways saying.

JJ nodded her head, her hand clearly struggling to hold it up. “He came by, gosh... this was shortly after your breakup with Ethan? And he let lit slip that the surgeon had come by his place and told him you were leaving the BAU...” Her voice faded out when she noticed the perplexed look on your face. Even in her inebriated state she could tell you had no idea Ethan and Spencer ever spoke alone. 

“Shit, did I say something wrong?”

“No, I-I... I don't think so? I’m just... confused.” And as the words escaped your lips, a sudden urge overcame you. If it wasn't for the alcohol cursing through your veins right now, perhaps you would have left it alone. Perhaps the feeling would have passed. Instead, however, you sprung up on your feet and hastily grabbed your handbag.

“I have to go.”

JJ immediately sat up. “Go? Go where?”

But you didn’t want to get into it now. No, you had much more pressing matters at hand - at least your drunken mind thought so. You decided to leave the explaining to Penelope and Tara, who reappeared at the table with Emily and a new set of cocktails. You shot them both a knowing look, and before either of them got a chance to protest, you hurried in the direction of the exit.

The ride to your destination was a blur - partially due to your heavy intoxication, and partially due to the adrenaline you were now experiencing. You weren't even sure how you managed to hail a taxi or how the driver understood the address through your muddled breaths. You were simply glad they did.

Your whole body was shaking. You still weren't entirely sure whether what you were doing was a good idea, but it seemed like there was no other option as JJ’s words rang in your ears - “... the surgeon had come by his place and told him you were leaving the BAU...”. What did she mean by that? When did this conversation even happen? You had so many questions circling your brain, you could only hope they'd get answered once you arrived where you were heading.

Once the car stopped and you paid your fair, you managed to exit the vehicle in one piece and stumble, fairly elegantly, to the front door of the apartment block. The stairs proved to be the real enemy of the night as your legs failed to coordinate with the wooden steps. But once you reached your goal, the struggle of getting here didn't seem as important anymore.

With your hand formed into a lousy fist, you knocked and knocked and knocked until the door swung open.

“When was Ethan here?” You asked, not willing to waste any more time.

Spencer stared at you completely dumbfounded. He blinked, unsure at first whether you were really here or if his mind was playing tricks. Truthfully, he’s imagined this happening many times in the last few months - you finding out the truth behind that night. Especially with the context of your voicemail still lingering in the air every time he saw you.

“Fuck.” You breathed, one hand rockily landing on Spencer’s chest. He instantly reached to grab you and hold safely you up in position. Completely unfazed by your sudden closeness, with your free hand, you brought your knee to your back and you loosened the strap of your heel.

Spencer watched you silently, the overpowering whiff of your perfume mixed with alcohol hitting him like a brick. He quickly took note of the plastic tiara in your hair and the sash wrapped around your rather loose outfit. All that went through his head in that moment was how happy he was you got here safe and sound.

“Do you need me to drive you home? Or, ehm, or call you a cab?” Spencer raised a brow as you regained your wobbly stance, your hand still clinging to his sweatshirt as if it was your only lifeline. Which judging by your... condition, it surely was.

You scoffed, unintentionally blowing your loose strands of your hair away from your face. “Don’t be a jerk, don’t call me a taxi.”

The handsome doctor smirked. “A jerk?”

You nodded. “And do not think for a ss-second, you’re getting away with answering my question.”

“I had a feeling you would say that.”

Spencer carefully led you inside the confide of his apartment. With one arm wrapped tightly around your waist, he closed the door behind and guided you toward the couch. You plopped down with a gentle bounce and he couldn't help but chuckle.

“Let me get you some water.” He offered, but you grabbed his arm and using all of the strength you could muster, you pulled him down next to you.

“Answer my question first.” You mumbled while placing your hands on his cheeks and gaping into his hazel eyes. Gosh, he had such pretty eyes.

Spencer swallowed before licking his lips. Your proximity should be making him nervous, but he felt nothing of the sort. Instead, he found himself shuffling in closer.

“Please, Spencer... I need to know.” The plea was gratuitous because deep down you already knew the answer. You just needed him to confirm your suspicions.

As the tears started to form in your eyes, the brunette doctor sighed deeply. Now was his only chance to set the record straight. He might not get another one, in fact he knew if he let you leave tonight without telling you what really happened he'd lose you permanently. Even as a friend.

Now or never, he thought, then proceed to explain.

And you listened. You listened patiently and attentively, letting the waterfall of tears escape and trail mascara down your face. His words were slowly sobering you up. Everything was starting to become clear once again.

Spencer always loved you. He never stopped loving you. He never wanted to end things, he simply did what he thought was the right thing to do. The right thing for you because your happiness was more important to him than his own. He still loved you. He loved you.

By the time Spencer was finished, the alcohol had completely faded from your system. Your arms instantly draped around his neck, and you fell into his comforting embrace. Attaching yourself like a magnet. His hand landed at the back of your head, fingers tangling in your hair. Basking in your warmth. He whispered apologies into your ear, repeating over and over again that he will never let you go again.

You believed him.

When you finally pulled away, the tears had stopped falling. Using his thumb, Spencer gently wiped the lone droplets that remained on your face. There were so many things he wanted to tell you, so many things he wanted to do with you, but at least now he knew he didn't have to rush. The chase was over.

His fingertips traced along your jawline before settling on your chin. The two of you gazed into each other’s eyes, because in this moment you were the only people to exist. The only people to matter.

“Can I kiss you?”

A smile circled your features. “As if you have to ask.”

His mouth brushed against yours with tenderness and care. You melted into him completely, glad he was taking his time because the first touch of his lips on your sent a jolt down your spine. One hand slid from your chin up your cheek, cupping your face, while his other hand graciously moved up and down your arm.

Your lips parted from shocking overwhelming sensation in your body. You hadn't realised just how much you missed his touch, not until his hand traveled from your arm to your neck. His fingertips brushing across, not quite landing in any particular place, as his tongue eagerly slid into your mouth.

Conveyed in his kiss were over a million loving thoughts and conversations previously left unspoken. The pent up tension, built up over the occurrences of these last few months, suddenly exploded. In the moment, in this kiss, you were both your pure selves.

He was yours, and you were his.

Forever.

Do you want me or do you not? I heard one thing, now I'm hearing another

-

A/N: as always i’d love to hear your feedback! if you would like to be added to a taglist, please let me know. thank you for your continuous support. with love, mal. x

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story taglist: @girloncorneliastreet, @haylaansmi, @rexorangecouny, @l0ve-0f-my-life, @obsssedwithjustaboutanything, @aperrywilliams, @sassy-hades, @rainsong01, @reverdevivre, @dracomikaelson, @softieekayy, @lunaofcrows, @andrewhoezierbyrne​, @blameitonthenight21, @lyl-26, @do-yr-research, @nazifa94, @stepsofthefbi, @chatterbug2-0, @calm-and-doctor, @halseysunset, @ellesgreenaway, @chipot-lol​

tags not working: @radtwinkie

#champagne problems series #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid angst #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fic #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid story #spencer reid x oc #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfiction

[incarnateirony]

An anti dressed up as a shipper, an idiot, and a terf all walk into the same bar.

It’s the same picture person.

A lesson.

Warning: if the title doesn’t give it away, queerphobic content comes up in this from the other party being documented.

So, some of you may have watched a twitter exercise yesterday.

It started simple: concern trolling white knight “for the writers” comes in to angrily declare fans doing something tagged in support of them about Destiel was “out of line.” She claimed things like “Misha was gaslit into supporting Destiel”, and pulled all kinds of stunts.

She immediately got on a soap box yelling “I HAVE A LIT CRIT DEGREE, I KNOW AUTHOR INTENT” of course implying she knew better than EVERYONE around her how to read text. She then pulled, of all things, @chill-legilimens​​ ‘ article about the network gods gutting the show out of the internet, and somehow misread it SO FUCKING BADLY -- SO FUCKING BADLY -- she thought it aligned with HER. She argued that fans influenced the writers, essentially, and basically pulled the exact opposite of the very clearly delivered message there out. When it was pointed out we know this author and even sometimes help edit their pieces, and she was, flat out misreading it while bragging about how good she is at deciphering text, it turned into a SHITSHOW.

I had watched her give a large group of queer people 2 days of runaround, while they tried to be polite, and similarly tried to prove everything while she proved nothing. Just preached. After 2 days of them exhausting themselves on her, I came in doing my blunt & savage thing, because fuck civility culture when it’s used by oppressors. Of course, she immediately started tone policing, while herself being an arrogant shitbrick the whole way.

She continued to preach author intent and talk down about “headcanons.” You see, she knew the authors very well. Berens’ name was mentioned in passing, and she came back with. “Who’s Berens? Is that the author of the article?” after Deirdre’s name had been directly cited in associated with it about 15 times.

(credit: @judgehangman​ )

But it gets better. She started pulling the “authors have said Dean is straight.” line. Now, at this point, we had already sourced her at least four pieces of information (quite formally too: SPN Official DVD Collection Season 8 episode 13 creative commentary, Edlund and Sgriccia; Dissent Magazine The Attack Queers Bob Berens review; the books in the office with screenshots, and more.) So we issued one simple request: Okay. Source.

For the next-- I shit you not-- 10 hours she bricked the thread to death, finding any and EVERY rabbit hole she could try to venture down. For the first hour or two a few of us tried to actually debate her newly raised points, but still gave reminder that we were waiting for her source. Every tweet was an opportunity for her to drop a 15 tweet thread trying to derail onto a new topic, and often clarifying she had no idea about any of it (Edlund, Sgriccia, Berens, Dabb--who she couldn’t spell the name of--and Deirdre all became an amorpheous blob in her retelling that she swore she looked at sources and wasn’t convinced, while she crossed all the data and comments about the sources). She tried to challenge that anyone could know all the writers and episodes just because she proved she couldn’t, even when multiple people expressed it to her extremely rapidly with not just author and director listings, but cross references on when they overlapped and major elements (like the 15.20 shot 19 tree being the Kim Manners memorial tree). She randomly babbled about Kripke once. Lied her way through and claimed those sources were vague. Etc.

But at some point, I decided, we’re not playing this distraction game. You wanted a debate, you claim you have a lit crit degree, and thus know the entire art is Argumentation. A source, if you’re declaring knowing author intent. One source. Any time she dropped a distraction tweet, I replied to her thread with things like a list of our sources vs her lack of any and a reminder. I installed a counter ticker. How many times had she been asked to either recant her point or give a single source?

Someone made a list of the logical fallacies she used in the argument. It was two tweets long and still missed several obvious ones. That didn’t stop her. Neither did the dozens of requests for a source or a recant. Onwards, she marched, derailing time and again. She brought in a buddy to try to distract, but he fell out real quick when he realized “the burden of proof lies on the arguer” shot him and her both in the feet in record time and he ducked out. 

Other greatest hits came out like “Dubs (Dabb’s) fanfic books”, and calling the ability to list authors and episodes “headcanons.”

Over time, the dialogue shifted: see, she came in trying the snide “enjoy your headcanons” downtalk, but as time and time again she was pulverized on every point about the show, or the authors, or anything else while STILL never even giving a single source to even her FIRST POINT and running distractions, it became a reality-- she was told, “We’ll enjoy our canon and author intent. You can enjoy your headcanon of... Dabb’s fanfic books and Lord Barons and the writers being collective hallucinations and whatever else in your hot takes about the show content itself” and she FLIPPED SHIT. 

As the ticker for sources approached 100, she started becoming flustered. Before that, even, she started repetitively misgendering Ezra (no tumblr to link in), and Ezra screenshot their bio of they/them and asked them to adjust. Ignored. Ezra linked this request and asked it to be addressed again, and again, and again. 13 times. Ezra linked it 13 times. She even replied to several of them. No avail. No change. Not until literally any and every tweet in her vicinity either had “source?” or “address gender?” for her to reply to did she flee there, and write some giant write-around of “oh, I didn’t see this, sorry” but still refused to actually use it. Or “I’ll use the right one now.” No, just completely strickened pronouns from her vocabulary with Ezra moving forward, after not one mistake, not two, not five, but 13 answers.

At this point, I notice a trend: throughout the entire conversation, she had flip flopped on my pronouns, clearly confused as to what to call me. As I generally don’t care (honestly I prefer he but meh), it didn’t ping me as something to react to while she switched religiously between “he” and “she”. But I realized now, despite all of that confusion: she never once thought to use “they.” Also earlier we found tweets of hers that, while now declaring herself bisexual, she used troublesome wording in the past to blur the line on if she was an ally or, as she phrased it “maybe less than 100% straight in the bell curve” in other conversations.

I mutter about this on the side to Ezra and some friends, but continue on towards the 100 ticker that was the goal to show people in this digital terrarium how disingenuous most people you argue with are -- an exhibit for the class. They know they’re lying and have been caught, but will not cede to admit “oops, I guess I was wrong.” but rather stick, unironically, to their own headcanons about things. After all, they vaguely sorta apologized even if suddenly just refusing to use any pronouns at all on Ezra after that. And she’s so quick to disappear into 15 tweet bombs of distraction trying to play victim for being held accountable at this point, we just didn’t jump to a conclusion on that, alarming as it is.

So. You know. Source.

At this point, she RANDOMLY starts evoking the fact that like, How Dare, She Watched Gay Men Die To AIDS, She Is A Great Philanthropist How Dare How Dare. 

I’m sorry, did you just evoke the blood of our dead to run away from the most basic scrap of accountability in what is literally the first wave of a lit debate because for the last 10 hours you have refused to take the necessary steps to move on to the next point? Did you... just... evoke the ghosts of gay men that were genocided to, essentially, pull up a smokescreen and run away from being party to queer erasure? Or even just? Giving a source? or admitting you were wrong on one point in a debate? Wow, you really just did that. 

Naturally, people involved got pissed. Her Sources ticker hit 100, but at this point, all that haunted her was how completely fucking vile and inappropriate that was in this discussion. 

She got blocked. She then tried to glom onto anyone that hadn’t blocked or muted her and run the same argumentation points she had earlier been decimated in the argument with, while yelling “I ship Destiel too! I wanted them to have sex too! Why does this make me the bad guy?” around the block and hoping nobody actually read the thread. She tried to pitch the “headcanons” point of view again, hoping a new audience would lick her boots. She was, largely, ignored; given a few more comments about her leaving the conversation losing all points and only covered in the blood of our dead she was so proud of; blocked by a few more. (unsurprisingly, if you check her actual tweet history, she seems more invested in Megstiel but)

This is when CommaSameleon -- a professor with two lit degrees and a primary focus in teaching the art of Argumentation -- literally -- stepped in. She initially tried to engage the fact that, well, this woman not only can’t argue out of a paper sack but wasn’t even arguing, she was just running in circles and distracting from all the points and hadn’t addressed a single lit point directly while preaching down at people. But Sam, also, noticed something. This woman kept changing things like “queerphobia” to “homophobia.” Sam mentioned this kinda puts off TERF vibes (I think Sam picked up on the gendering thing herself too.)

Her response? Which she deleted since? But Discord’s embed helpfully saved?

Her inacted non-apologies remain weak, especially in any form of debate be it lit or now queer topics.

Oh I’m sorry, let’s recap her viewpoints: TERF is a slur. “They” is made up and should be avoided at all costs. The blood of dead gay men are a token to use in a lit debate you’re avoiding responsibility in. After this, “authors are headcanons” is suddenly not your worst take, but fascinating that you 13 times didn’t even read the blatant ass screenshot. And I mean, these weren’t subtle or easy to miss these 13 times.

100. She had 100 chances, literally, on a timer, to give a source or shut up with her platforming until she had one. Instead, she chose every rabbit hole she could manifest to disappear into, only to be met by another request for a source, and not moving on until we address the first points. We’ve given ours, now you give yours. Instead, you choose this. This is the hill you choose to die on, rather than admitting, “Sorry, I guess I was wrong” or “I guess I heard that somewhere, my bad.” 100 chances. 13 direct QT requests to address gender which she replied to but didn’t reply to until cornered (and still didn’t, truly, reply to), and “TERF is a slur.” Oh, and after waving around the dead men’s blood she also suddenly Can’t Be A Terf Because She Adopted Two Trans Kids. Lord help those children. Or, you know, the more realistic thing is she’s just manifesting all kinds of bullshit at this point to save face, which is probably why she deleted all the related tweets that show she’s a giant-ass TERF.

So anyway, this is very much a lesson on:

Paying attention to how people manipulate conversation to erase genuine discussion and debate.

Paying attention to WHY they do it. Motivation on methods and tactics will clear up a lot.

Figuring out HOW they try to sound woke about shit and when it’s entirely fucking vile and inappropriate to pull

And by all above points, figuring out that these people are among us, and how NOT to let them influence your conversations.

I don’t care if it’s about a discussion on a ship or show or anything else. People do this. A lot. Extremely dedicatedly, if the 100 asks doesn’t make that clear. 

Stop letting people railroad your conversations with disingenuous bullshit.

So anyway in honor of this I made everyone a gif

Use at will. It’s tagged anti-terf if you want to use the search feature on it.

UPDATE: 

Just went and checked. She went and deleted literally her entire side of the conversation, hundreds if not thousands of tweets. Luckily, Ezra mentioned repeatedly -- and I do trust them inherently -- that they were saving the entire conversation, so that zip file exists somewhere. How fascinating, after she accused us that we would want to delete tweets. Someone realized they had a bad look and giant failure all around.

Also, a related anon that links to an earlier part of this conversation I didn’t even document where she was crying about “cis erasure” [x] This shit went on so long I legit forgot about that.

#supernatural #spn #destiel #anti-terf #debate

[moonbeambucky]

Hey Neighbor (Part 14)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader, Billy Russo x Reader Word Count: 6039 Warnings: fluff, light angst, mentions of cheating

Summary: You had a plan and then life came along with one of its own. With your future almost derailed you worked hard to get yourself back on track and finally everything seemed to be going right… that is, until your new neighbor moved in.

A/N: Major cringe warning everyone.. I can’t wait for your reactions! 😂 A huge thank you to my wonderful beta Sam @buckyofthemyscira​​​​ Feedback is always appreciated! 

PART 13 | HEY NEIGHBOR MASTERLIST

Bucky pulls off his headphones, pressing a finger to the keyboard to stop the music he’s reviewing, taking a moment to pinch between his brows. He gets up to stretch his legs, grabbing the empty beer bottle along with him for the short walk to the kitchen. He tosses it in the garbage with the rest.

He doesn’t like drinking this much but lately he hasn’t been feeling great. His music has been stagnant, devoid of life and energy. Thinking about it only makes him feel worse, a painful reminder that deadlines are coming up and what little he’s created is absolute shit.

The knob squeaks as he turns the faucet, letting the water turn to liquid ice before he runs his hands through them, splashing it up against his face. He hears the hiss of the pipes next door and his heart sinks.

It’s Y/N’s shower. He looks towards the wall wondering if she’s alone, quickly shaking the thoughts out of his mind. He shouldn’t care if she’s alone or not. She’s in a relationship and it shouldn’t matter.

Bucky tried really hard to not think about her. He promised himself he would get out there and find someone and well, it hasn’t exactly worked out. In the last three weeks he’s been on a dozen dates. Most of the girls could barely hold a conversation, while the others were less exciting than watching paint dry.

He fucked a few of them even though he said he wouldn’t. That wasn’t the point of these dates but Bucky needed the distraction. It was hard hanging out with everyone, it didn’t matter if Y/N was there with Billy or if they were not; Bucky wasn’t sure what was worse.

Over the last few days he has been messaging someone new who’s been doing a pretty good job of keeping him entertained. Bobbi, she works at a gym Uptown. She’s worked extremely hard for her body and flaunts it in most of her photos and sure, Bucky would love to hit it but there’s something more that keeps him drawn in.

She’s so direct, talking to him as if they had known each other for years. He loves checking his phone to see her latest message, a smile already stretching across his face when he sees a long text about something that happened at the gym. Apparently a lot of characters workout there and she has an endless list of horror stories she couldn’t wait to share with him.

They planned a date for the end of the week and Bucky was very excited to finally meet her. It was promising, the idea that he could be happy with someone just like… just like everyone else.

You hug yourself a little tighter as you walk down the block, feeling the cool breeze move right through you. Billy seems to be in his own world, his head gazing down to his phone as it had been through most of dinner. You didn’t voice your annoyance though because it would only make things worse.

Billy’s been in a bad mood ever since the Feds came knocking at ANVIL’s door. A few former employees were recently involved in a string of armed robberies and Billy was questioned about it. Word got out and he lost a big account as a result.

Obviously the situation is upsetting but it’s not just that, Billy’s been distant lately. You’ve been spending a lot of time together but maybe that’s the problem, the honeymoon period might be over. You know it’s a normal part of any relationship but the idea that things could change so drastically doesn’t make you feel great.

“Hey watch where you’re going,” an unfamiliar voice barked.

Your head turned quickly to find Billy getting in the face of the stranger he apparently bumped into.

“What did you say to me?” Billy’s dark eyes sharpened like a bird of prey closing in on its target. His nostrils flared as he snarled, staring down the other man until he backed away with his tail between his legs. Billy looked him up and down, a smug smile creeping across his face in silent victory.

A heavy arm fell around your shoulders as Billy pulled you closer to him when he began walking away.

“What the hell was that?” you asked after a long beat of silence.

He faced you with the same incredulity he gave the man before. “That was people knowing better than to get in my way.”

Your stomach churned with unease and that silent alarm inside you was going off. You needed to get away from Billy, for tonight at least. By the time you got to the front of your building you figured out an excuse you hoped would work.

“Hey so, I promised Elena I would head in early tomorrow. Paperwork’s been piling up and medical records have been on our case about it. So, can we raincheck this?” You smiled, using your best doe eyes to seem sincere about it.

Billy stared you down, looking for the slightest crack in your expression. It was something he had always done, reading people, checking for lies. You know it’s a product of his upbringing, with so many broken promises made by a faulty system.

“Yeah. Yeah that’s fine,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Remember I got us Knicks tickets.”

You nodded in agreement, gasping slightly when he caught you off guard by his kiss. It was the last thing on your mind but you gave in, opening your mouth to his forceful tongue. Anything to keep up appearances, for tonight.

Billy watched you enter the building and you waved back at him right before you disappeared for the hallway, finally able to take a breath. On the way up to your floor you wondered if you should talk to Wanda about what happened. It was kind of late though and even though she would want to hear everything about it you didn’t want to disturb her.

As you approached your door you looked towards Bucky’s. Maybe he could give some advice from the male perspective. Then again you didn’t want to bother him either. Bucky’s also been pretty distant lately and you’ve barely seen him in the past month. Maybe everything’s changed, your relationship, your friendships. Change is supposed to be good but this felt all wrong.

You couldn’t find a comfortable spot on your bed, tossing and turning, kicking off the covers, pulling them back up again. Nothing seemed right. There was too much on your mind and you couldn’t relax.

“Shut up brain, just shut up!” you begged out loud, grabbing your phone to find something to distract yourself.

Scrolling through your playlists you tried to find one that wouldn’t give you the urge to stay up and sing along, and then you stopped on the perfect one. It was Bucky’s playlist, Greatest Cinema Scores. Grabbing your headphones you laid your head back on the pillow as John Williams carried you to dreamland.

You groan, rolling over to one side. It’s still dark out. You don’t want to look at your phone but you give in anyway. Two in the morning. At least you still had a few more hours of sleep. Your stomach spasms forcing you to get up, hurrying your paces to the bathroom because the weird rumbling has you convinced you might not make it in time.

It’s five past two in the morning when all hell breaks loose. Hell translating to everything you’ve eaten this evening coming up and out of you from both ends. It’s not pretty. Tears are streaming down your face as you puke into the garbage can you’re rapidly filling, trying to catch your breath in between painful heaves. The other end isn’t much better, hot liquid expelling itself from your body; stomach cramps, body spasms all doing their part to add to the mess.

Ten minutes pass by the time it’s safe to leave the bathroom. Your throat burns with the remnants of vomit, your ass is on fire and you curl back into bed, brushing aside the tears from the corner of your eyes. Your reprieve is short lived as your stomach grumbles again and you rush across your apartment, giving yourself over to the porcelain throne.

More comes out of you than you’ve taken in and you wonder about the science of it all. When will it stop? Dinner was simple, a glass of wine, a small house salad, chicken parm and some vegetables that come out whole as you peer into the soupy garbage held out in front of you. A whiff of the stench makes you gag again setting off another round of vomiting.

Everything hurts. Tears burn hot against your skin as you cry alone, half naked and in need of a shower at this point to clean yourself up. Elvis died on the toilet, is that how you’re gonna go too? It seems entirely possible at this point.

By the time the sun begins to peak out through the large buildings you’ve exhausted your body of all its worth. You’re shaking as you change into clean pajamas, crawling back into bed, barely having the strength to raise your phone to your ear as you leave a message for Elena, telling her you won’t be able to make it in today.

Sleep doesn’t come easy, not when you’re still getting out of bed every hour to get rid of every part of your insides. Isn’t it out of you already? You think back to dinner and the slightly pink chicken you thought at the time was your imagination or bad lighting. Dammit.

You text Billy, telling him you have food poisoning, hoping his seafood and linguine didn’t leave him in the same position you were currently in. After the hundredth trip to the bathroom you opened up your fridge looking for something. You squirm as you look at the orange juice, however tempting it is the acid would probably burn through you. Your mouth waters looking at the forbidden food, aka anything that isn’t a plain cracker. Do you have any of those? Nope. How is it possible you don’t have a single thing you could possibly eat?

The trek across your apartment and back to your bed seems like it went on for miles and now you shake with chills, wrapping yourself up in the blanket as you text Wanda begging for her to come over with Gatorade, ginger ale and crackers.

You whimper out loud as you feel your stomach gurgling, it wants another round versus the toilet where you’re going to lose. By the time you come out again you’re sweating, shaking on weak legs as you cry yourself to sleep.

In another hour you’ve woken up, thankful for the returned text that she would come by before heading to work. After your latest round in the bathroom you trudge to the front door unlocking it, and move to your couch where you plop face down. You text Wanda, telling her the door is open, and try to shut your eyes until the inevitable happens. Because you know it’s going to happen again. For some reason you’ve been cursed and there’s nothing you can do about it but suffer.

You aren’t sure of how much time has passed but you hear your door opening, bags rustling in hand and the tiniest smile spreads across your face.

“Wandaaa, my butthole hurts,” you whined, lifting your head up off the couch slightly to groan even more. “It’s like a volcano that’s erupting hot brown lava. There’s so much of it Wan. It won’t stop. My ass is vomiting shit.”

“Wow Y/N, that’s quite a visual.”

Oh no. Panic surges through you when you realize that was not Wanda’s voice. A weak arm pushes you up from the couch where you turn around to find Bucky somehow looking at you in the eye after he heard your very blunt confession.

You’re stunned into silence, not knowing what to say because you had just said far too much than you ever wanted to. Suddenly you feel nauseous again but for a different reason.

Bucky shifted one of the bags he was holding into his other hand so he could send a small wave in your direction, trying not to burst out laughing as he said, “Hey neighbor.”

“B-Bucky, what are you doing here?” you asked, sinking back down onto the couch because you couldn’t support yourself anymore.

“Wanda texted me, said she wasn’t able to get these to you before work.” He set the bags down, walking closer to you and crouching down by the couch. “Are you okay?”

Your head shook a little before you answered. “No. I think I’m dying. I’m puking up my organs.”

“Oh yeah? Which ones?” he chuckled.

“My intestines, definitely my stomach… maybe a kidney or two.”

He cracked a beautiful smile that somehow made you feel better just by looking at it. Bucky reached the back of his hand out to feel your forehead. You were a little warm but you didn’t feel feverish.

“Well I’m here now and I brought all the good stuff you need. Will you let me help you?”

Tears filled your eyes as you replied, and Bucky smiled again. He emptied the bags in your kitchen, taking out a bottle of ginger ale, Gatorade, crackers and some instant white rice.

“How about a little ginger ale to settle your stomach, yeah?”

Bucky brought over a glass that was less than half filled. Sitting next to you, he helped you sit up and you waited for the room to stop spinning before you took a few small sips as he told you to. Your hand was shaking and Bucky took the glass from you before you spilled it.

You didn’t think a few sips of ginger ale would be a magical cure but you wished it would. You felt so shitty… which seemed fitting, but it really wasn’t funny. You leaned against Bucky, closing your eyes as you sighed in frustration. It was comforting to feel his arm around you, and hear his whispers that everything would be okay.

“Are you nauseous? Do you need to…”

“I just don’t feel good,” you cried against him.

Bucky pressed his lips into a thin line, wishing there was something more he could do for you. When Wanda texted him he had shot right up, threw on clothes and raced to the store. He wished you had asked him, that you were as close as you used to be but he understands why you might not have wanted him to know.

The briefest thought about Billy crosses his mind. Did you tell him? Was he going to come in and take care of you? Would you shove Bucky aside if he did? But Billy isn’t here, and Billy isn’t important. Right now this is about you and doing whatever he can to help.

“Hey doll, do you want to try and eat something?”

You barely process the nickname as you think about how your stomach is feeling. It’s still too early to try and eat so instead you ask for some Gatorade, hoping that might make you feel a little better.

Bucky brings it back, along with a wet washcloth he places on your neck, feeling your skin prickle at his touch as he moves aside the collar of your shirt. It’s a nice relief for the short while it lasts. You head back to the bathroom again but at least you didn’t vomit this time. You’re thankful since you’re really not sure you have the strength to even handle throwing up anymore.

Back on the couch you lay your head down on Bucky’s thigh, curling your body into a fetal position as he lays a throw blanket over you. You don’t realize when you’ve fallen asleep but you wake up at some time later to find the sky is lit in a golden glow of the afternoon sun. Bucky assists you with sitting up, helping you quell the dizziness with more sips of Gatorade and ginger ale.

You feel brave enough to eat, hoping that one single cracker will not send you back on the hell ride through your digestive tract. Bucky can’t help but smile as you nibble on the cracker slowly like a hamster.

“What did you eat that got you sick?” he wondered.

“New Italian place on 23rd and 8th. Bad chicken. I mean, I thought it was good at the time but I don’t think I’ll be going back again.”

“Good to know. I’m gonna cancel my plans tonight,” he said, digging his phone from his pocket.

“Yeah, definitely go somewhere else.”

“No, I’m cancelling the whole date.”

Your head spun as you turned it too fast to face Bucky. “You have a date tonight?”

His head shook before he began speaking. “Nope, not anymore. I want to stay here and take care of you.” You began to protest but Bucky insisted. “Y/N, I really want to do this. Please, let me help you.”

The fluttering in your stomach made you wonder if you needed to rush to the bathroom again but it didn’t feel the same as before. Instead you smiled softly, thankful to have Bucky’s kindness. It was nice to know someone wanted to take care of you.

In the moment you scanned the table for your phone, remembering the text you sent out this morning. Billy still hadn’t replied. Maybe he’s sick too or maybe… well you don’t have the energy to think otherwise at the moment.

Your mouth is watering, craving anything and everything that you can’t have. Even the drinks have to be sipped slowly otherwise you’ll set your stomach off again. It’s so unfair. Why is this happening? And why is every commercial food related?

“Bucky, can you change the channel?” you begged.

He switched it to a show about animals, that’s fine, that’s… not fine. The TV shows a raccoon eating delicious red grapes and you feel the tears begin to flood your eyes. You huff against Bucky’s leg, not bothering to change the channel because there was no point. You couldn’t eat and you probably never will again. Was that being dramatic? Maybe, but right now you’re not in the mood to think sensibly.

“I feel bad askin’ but is it okay if I order food? I know you can’t have any and I really don’t want to make this worse for ya.”

Bucky is staring at you with big blue eyes, hoping his small request isn’t too much of an offence at the moment. You almost wanted to say no but you couldn’t, it’s not Bucky’s fault you ate bad chicken.

“Pizza? Really?” you whined after he placed his order.

His eyes grew big with panic and he was about to call back and cancel his order before you stopped him.

“No, no. I’m sorry Bucky. It doesn’t matter what you eat, I’m gonna want everything so enjoy yourself.”

You pouted, grabbing the throw blanket to pull it over your shoulder as you adjusted your position of resting on his leg, shutting your eyes until he got up to answer the door when the pizza arrived.

“That smells really good,” you said, frowning as Bucky opened the box.

He was hesitant to take a bite, feeling guilty as you looked at him. “Can I make you anything? Think you could handle some rice?”

Your head shook and you took out another single cracker, chewing on it slowly as Bucky sat down beside you with a few slices.

“I’m sorry Y/N. You’ll feel better soon, I promise. And when you’re up for it let’s get pizza. We still haven’t kept our promise.” Bucky’s mouth dropped open in response to your confused face. “Our pizza quest! Remember? Eat our way through the city to find the best pizza!”

“Oh yeah!” You smiled for the first time, bright and beaming across your face and Bucky was happy he was able to bring that out in you. “We definitely have to do that.”

The night continued with Bucky putting on Galaxy Quest for you both to watch. Halfway through the movie you went back to the bathroom, missing a call from Billy. Bucky couldn’t help but look over as your phone buzzed, seeing a picture of you and Billy smiling together.

A moment later a text came through and he knew he shouldn’t read it but he couldn’t help himself. Bucky looked towards the bathroom to check that you weren’t about to come out before he grabbed your phone, reading Billy’s text.

Billy: Wtf Y/N where are you? Did you remember the basketball game?

Bucky placed your phone back on the coffee table, remembering to unclench his jaw as your bathroom door opened. What an asshole. He didn’t even ask how you were.

“Your phone rang,” Bucky reluctantly said as you sat down again.

He watched as you read the text, typing back furiously. Another buzz and you were responding to Billy again, your face getting angrier the longer the back and forth messaging went on.

“I’m sorry, that was rude,” you said, tossing your phone on the table. “Let’s put the movie on.”

You got comfortable against Bucky, ignoring the buzz of your phone. The texts didn’t stop coming in and you tried your best to ignore it and pay attention to the movie but Bucky could clearly see you were upset.

“You can answer that if you need to.”

“I really don’t want to. Billy’s so concerned about wasting money on tickets, not once has he even mentioned the fact that I’m sick. Did he not get my messages?”

Bucky bit his tongue, not wanting to say something he might end up regretting, especially if this isn’t the end of you and Billy like he hoped. Why would he hope that? He’s dating now. Or at least he thought he was.

He cancelled his date with Bobbi tonight without hesitation, just so he could take care of you. She seemed cool about it, asking if he was free tomorrow and Bucky agreed to another date but the longer you stay curled up beside him the less interest he has in wanting to see anyone.

The warmth of your body against his lulled Bucky into a deep sleep. It wasn’t the most comfortable, slumped on the couch in a mostly sitting position but he didn’t want to move, not when you had fallen asleep before him. You were exhausted from everything you went through so your sleep was more important to him than the cramp that developed in his neck overnight.

You woke up, slowly opening your eyes, rubbing the sleep from them as you realized you weren’t in your bed but on the couch resting your head against Bucky. You watched the rise and fall of his stomach through the soft sweater he wore, the one that most certainly left tiny marks on your cheek from leaning against it.

Looking up at Bucky you smiled at the way his head was tilted to the side, eyes shut peacefully as small puffs of breath left his mouth. You thought about everything Bucky had done for you, what was supposed to be a simple task of dropping off ginger ale and crackers turned into his whole day being rearranged just to take care of you.

You wanted to do something nice for him in return, it’s something you’ll have to think about when your head’s not as light as it feels. Slowly you begin to sit up, taking a few sips of Gatorade from the bottle that was left on the table. You feel… better but still not great.

It’s daring but you aim to eat two crackers, hoping it won’t set off your stomach. It was grumbling with hunger but you knew better than to give in with actual food even though you were craving pancakes.

After sitting up for a while you didn’t think you felt dizzy anymore so you got up slowly. You felt the weakness in your legs as they carried you across the room but at least your trip to the bathroom was normal. A regular pee was a lot better than everything else that came out of you yesterday.

“G’morning,” Bucky said mid-yawn as you opened the door, seeing his sweater rise up to reveal a sliver of his toned stomach as he stretched his arms out.

“Morning Bucky.” You smiled as you made your way beside him again, reaching your arm across his stomach as you settled back against him, nuzzling your head on his chest.

Bucky loved this but absolutely hated that he needed to use the bathroom and therefore ruin the way you cuddled up against him. “I’m sorry doll. I’ll be quick,” he said, rushing up off the couch.

Doll. You liked that nickname. It was a little on the old fashioned side but it was endearing. Billy called you babe which was fine and all but it definitely didn’t have the same effect as doll. The thought of Billy made you roll your eyes. You would have to speak to him today but you really didn’t want to.

“Alright, where were we?”

Bucky’s voice rang out as he opened the door, walking back towards the couch. He moved his neck from side to side to crack it before he sat down again, letting you cozy up to him.

“How’re you feelin’ today?”

“Better. I think I might try some rice later.”

“Just let me know and I’ll make it.” There was no hesitation in his offer, just pure tenderness in wanting you to get better.

The morning was spent cuddling on the couch until Bucky’s stomach began grumbling worse than yours. He got up to make himself something while you insisted you weren’t ready for anything more than crackers and ginger ale yet.

“I’m gonna take your garbage out and head home for a quick shower. You think you’ll be okay? I’ll be quick.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thanks Bucky.”

He was thankful you didn’t tell him not to come back. You seemed much better than yesterday and you probably didn’t need him but Bucky really didn’t want to leave. Sure he had work to do but this was more important. He wouldn’t have been able to get you off his mind anyway so he might as well be useful.

During Bucky’s absence you debated talking to Billy, knowing it would probably end up in a fight but you didn’t have the strength to do that yet. Besides, you hadn’t done anything wrong so there is no need for you to be chasing him down.

With the little energy you had you decided to freshen up. While splashing your face with some water you noticed the broken blood vessels in your eyes, the result of straining so much to throw up. Fun stuff.

It was a bit of a struggle to get undressed and changed into new pajamas and you had to lay down in your bed before the room stopped spinning. Thankfully Bucky had come back and was able to help you.

He handed the glass of Gatorade to you, rubbing slow circles of comfort on your back that seemed so natural for him.

“You need to eat something Y/N. Think you’re up for some rice now?” he asked softly, gazing at you with concern as he awaited your answer. You gave a simple nod and Bucky leapt up to get it started.

The burn of tears rushed to your eyes as you thought about Bucky. He was so eager to make sure you were okay, taking out your garbage that was filled with various bags full of vomit without hesitation, spending every minute of his weekend just to take care of you. He even cancelled a date.

Something inside your stomach twisted at the thought of Bucky actually dating someone. It’s not like him sleeping with someone was a surprise to you but apparently in the last month you’ve drifted apart from him, unaware he had started to date people instead of just sleeping with them. You’re not so sure why this makes you feel so… well, you’re not really sure how you feel about it but you know you feel something.

None of this should matter though. You have been dating someone for two months. Someone you thought you loved but this past weekend has taught you a lot about Billy. Not only has his change in demeanor put you off but the fact that he hasn’t shown any concern for you over this weekend really makes you want to end your relationship.

Bucky happily brought over a small bowl of white rice. There wasn’t much in there to begin with but you could only manage a few teaspoons before you had to stop. The worst part of it all is that you were so hungry but you really couldn’t eat much, and certainly couldn’t chance upsetting your stomach anymore no matter how badly you wanted to shovel the rice down your mouth.

The afternoon was spent on your couch again, cuddled up against Bucky as you continued to watch movies. His arm was around your shoulder and occasionally you felt his hand rub up and down over the curve of your arm. You smiled against him, letting yourself enjoy however long you could have Bucky like this.

In the back of your mind you thought about him dating again. Whoever he ends up with would be the luckiest girl ever, to have someone as kind and caring as Bucky take care of them as he has been with you. You chew on your bottom lip remembering the shared kiss on New Year’s Eve. Yeah, it was safe to say you would be completely jealous of any girl that ends up with him.

While attempting to have a little more rice you watched Bucky respond to his phone that had gone off a few times. It was hard not to glance over at him, imagining what pretty girl he was probably talking to.

What you didn’t know was Bucky was talking to a girl, Bobbi, cancelling the plans they had rescheduled for today. He didn’t bother to reschedule again and Bucky knew it was stupid not to but somehow the weekend he’s spent on your couch made him lose all enthusiasm for dating someone. Logic tried to reason with him, remind him that you were in a relationship but it was hard to deny the way he felt about you, how he’s been feeling for a long time now.

Bucky can’t stop staring at you, watching as you finish up the rice from earlier. He’s hated seeing you in pain but being able to help you this weekend has been such an honor.

As the sun set you realized you were not at all prepared to go back to work tomorrow. You probably could use another day off but since you weren’t throwing up anymore you wanted to at least give it a shot. Besides, Tony had been relying on you a lot recently with the logistics of getting The September Foundation prepared and you didn’t want to disappoint anyone.

“I need to take a shower.” As you stood up you felt a little dizzy and Bucky had his arms around you just in case. After a moment of a few deep breaths you felt a little better. “I’m okay,” you assured him.

Bucky didn’t quite believe that so he poured more Gatorade and handed you the glass.

“I’m not leaving you.” Bucky wiped his hand down his face realizing how forceful that sounded. “I mean, I won’t leave until you get out okay? I don’t want you to slip and fall or anything.”

“I’ll leave the door unlocked just in case but now I feel like I’ve jinxed myself,” you joked. Having Bucky hear your vivid description of shitting was bad enough, you really didn’t want him to find you passed out in the shower.

Bucky lowered the volume of the TV to barely above mute, wanting to listen out for anything out of the ordinary. He heard the shower turn on and a minute later the curtain pulling as you stepped in.

A text from Sam pulled his attention away from listening and he opened the message, his jaw clenched as he scanned the photo attached. It was Billy, with his arm around another girl. She was short with dark hair pulled into a bun, dressed professionally and Bucky questioned if he was jumping the gun at thinking the worst. Maybe she worked with Billy or maybe it was his sister.

The next text that came through proved his theories wrong. Sam captioned the picture of Billy kissing the girl with “Asshole.”

Bucky: I’m with Y/N now. She’s been sick all wknd I don’t think she knows about this.

Sam: Do you want to tell her or should I have Wanda come by? She’s ready to rip his head off.

Bucky: So am I Bucky: Fuck. Bucky: idk maybe Wanda should talk to her?

There was nothing Bucky wanted more than to tell you what an asshole Billy was but he didn’t want to be accused of using it to his advantage in any way. Bucky would be there with everyone else to support you through this but as a friend only. You deserved better than Billy no matter who you ended up with.

“Bucky!”

The sound of your voice in distress makes him pop up from the couch. He runs to the door, fear coursing through his veins as he hopes you’re okay. Inside the steamy bathroom he finds your head poking out through the shower curtain, the rest of it pulled close to your body not to reveal yourself.

“I forgot to grab a towel,” you said, smiling. “They’re over there.” A bare arm slick with water points behind him and he grabs a towel from a shelf. “Thanks,” you said, taking it from him, watching as he nods awkwardly before shutting the door.

Bucky’s cheeks are flushed from the brief humidity and the sight of seeing you in the shower. Well, not that he saw anything but just the idea of it has his heart racing.

Ten minutes later and you were out of the bathroom, changed into new pajamas, these ones covered with a cute cactus print, brushing through your still wet hair.

Silence filled the room as you finished your post shower routine of putting on a variety of moisturizers and facial sprays and Bucky felt like he had overstayed his welcome. You were winding down even though it was still early, and truthfully he had a weekend’s worth of work to catch up on.

“So there’s more rice on the counter, plus an unopened bottle of ginger ale too, and if you need anything else you know where I live.” He chuckled uncomfortably at his bad joke. “Really though if you need me please call me okay? I’ll come running.”

He didn’t mean to sound so desperate but it was true.

“Thank you so much for everything Bucky.” You threw your arms around him for a hug, melting deeper into him as he wrapped his arms around your body.

Neither of you realized the other didn’t want to let go but you made the move to reluctantly pull apart. Bucky had spent his whole weekend doting on you, you didn’t want to force him to stay any longer.

Bucky smiled as he gazed upon you, the way your eyes shifted down before staring back up at him. He leaned in slowly, pressing his lips to your forehead and a surge of electricity went racing through you. His kiss lingered and the longer he made contact with your skin the more you wanted to press your lips to his.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he said, walking away slowly towards the door.

Your heart was caught in your throat as you locked it behind him, letting out a deep, longing sigh, and the realization that you might have feelings for Bucky.

PART 15

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes au #billy russo x reader

[novantinuum]

Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: T

Words: 1.3K~

Summary: His family’s not present, the third time he runs away. They never see the creature he becomes.

Early corruption AU.

I’m back! Future updates are likely to be slower as I am starting a new job soon, but at very least I have now settled into my new home. I share some writer’s meta on the AO3 version.

If you read this and enjoy, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3 as well. Thank you! <3

____

“So, I’ve been doin’ a lot of thinking,” Amethyst begins one day, propping her chin against the raised lip of the lava pool as she lounges on the floor at the center of the temple’s burning room, which they’ve started to use as their meeting space again.

Pearl— standing beside one of the lower branches of crystal pipes— tiredly glances her direction, nodding for her to speak. Even Garnet’s head tilts in interest, which is quite an accomplishment given her recent uncharacteristic silence. She suspects that she’s been busying herself scouring through whole galaxies of possibilities, although she’s not sure what good that will do without any reasonable intel to guide that vision. It’s been well over a week and a half since Steven’s gone missing, and beyond the existence of what they suspect is a corrupted Gem and footprints leading towards the water, they have no further clues. No inklings as to where Steven might have disappeared to, no hits from Greg’s posters, not even any leading tips from Homeworld or any of the outlying Gem-inhabited planets. And as for this particular creature... they’ve only met a single eyewitness. A human, who briefly caught its silhouette against the backdrop of sunrise. Perhaps if it ran further inland it would’ve tripped one of their old corrupted Gem surveillance sensors, but they never placed any in the oceans. They barely have any means to survey the oceans.

“I’ve been talkin’ to all sorts of people the past few days, right?” Amethyst says, widely gesturing as she rolls onto her back. “All Steven’s friends. People in town who knew him pretty well. And pretty much everyone agrees that he was actin’ pretty weird these past few months. Sadie described him as overly-tense. I called up Lars on his ship, and he kept saying that he was genuinely worried about his mental health, or whatever. Greg told me the same thing. And Connie. And basically everyone else.”

Pearl rhythmically flexes her fingers in and out of a fist against her side, her features rapidly curling into a scowl. “And what does that have to do with his disappearance?”

“Uh, potentially everything?” she snips back, throwing her hands in the air above her. “Y’guys, you’ve been making so many assumptions, but we barely know anything! You can’t just blindly throw out the idea that the whole corrupted Gem thing and Steven are linked without at least considering it.”

She grimaces, not even bothering to filter out the full intensity of her bitterness in the audience of such a ridiculous, illogical notion. “Amethyst, we’ve talked about your little ‘theory’ already. And everyone agreed that it’s impossible.”

“And yet it’s true that Steven has defied the impossible before,” Garnet comments suddenly, adjusting her visor.

“Are you defending her?” Pearl gasps, turning towards her old friend with her mouth agape with shock.

She crosses her arms, evidently unbothered by the weight of her subtle betrayal as she lounges back against the entryway. “I’m not defending nor rejecting, merely acknowledging a possibility.”

“Yeah, see?” the younger Gem chimes right back in, quickly pushing herself to her feet to rise to her full height. (Which blessedly— if she’s aiming for intimidation— isn’t much.) “Garnet gets it! Steven’s different than us. Always has been. His powers just do what whatever the hell he’s feeling, right? He feels happy, he floats. He feels spooked, bam! Bubble. He feels like an old man, he literally turns into one. And recently, it seems like he’s been feeling pretty crappy, which probably wasn’t helped by us getting all up in his business after he crashed the van.”

She squints. “Is this going anywhere?”

“Yes,” Amethyst stresses, peering right up at her, her eyes flaring with an urgency and passion Pearl admittedly hasn’t seen her wielding in quite some time. “Because I also talked to Jasper the other day. And she gave me the last piece of the puzzle I needed.”

The quartz steps back to address them both, hands nervously fidgeting with the frayed stitching of her missing sibling’s wool jacket.

“I gotta admit, this isn’t easy news, but it has to be shared.” She inhales tightly, briefly closing her eyes as she does so. “I’m pretty sure the reason Steven had her in the bathroom is that he was trying to heal her with the diamond essences he keeps there. Because he shattered her, in a duel.”

Pearl freezes. The kinder reality she’s stubbornly nurtured within her mind ignites and burns to cinders in an instant, hard light thrumming through the thin circuitry of her extremities at such an unimaginable pace that her form barely manages to keep up with the strain. She nearly crumples to her knees upon the sheer anguish of the revelation, only narrowly catching her fall to remain upright. Across the room, Garnet appears to be on the brink of splitting apart. She... shards, her primary instinct screams for her to violently discard every last bitter tasting word Amethyst has spoken into the furthest recesses of her mind, to rot and decay there for the rest of this cursed eternity, and yet still her picture perfect memory chooses to taunt her with details of the recent past... with the hauntingly damning fact that— when she checked the bathroom after watching Steven warp away, the last moment any of them laid eyes on him— the bottles of diamond essence had indeed been sloppily spilled into the bathtub.

“Her words, mind you, not mine,” Amethyst continues, no amount of stabilizing calm in her tone able to mask the slight tremor under the surface. “You can ask her yourself, if you want.”

“No,” she whispers, hot tears budding in her eyes as she presses her hands to her mouth. “That’s not what happened, it can’t be...”

“So, returning to my theory, you have a kid who’s already feeling terrible, someone whose powers do whatever he’s feeling. A diamond. And then he makes the worst possible mistake: he shatters someone. Accident or not, it don’t matter. Because maybe then... he starts feeling like a monster. Becomes a monster.”

“No,” she shakes her head vehemently. “No, no. Corruption doesn’t work that way, you—“

“Like, think about it!” Amethyst interrupts, striding towards her again. “Really think about it! All we know for sure is—“

“Amethyst, you have to STOP, this—“

“—corruption was caused by the Diamonds, but besides tha—“

“—you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking abo—“

“—how it actually works is like a total mystery!”

“NO!” she explodes, plunging the room around her into a dreadful silence. “You weren’t there, but I WAS!!” The burdens of her personal history grow heavier still as she jabs a decisive finger square at the center of her chest, continuing her impassioned tirade with water trailing down her cheeks in thin rivulets all the while. “I watched as that horrid corrupting light slammed against the surface, nearly obliterating any living Gem in its path, I watched as my friends and allies lost all control over their forms and became a twisted shadow of their former selves, I watched all of that!! So you don’t get to tell me what I do or don’t know about corruption!”

Amethyst’s expression sobers considerably in the audience of her outrage. Pointedly, as if expecting rescue, she turns her gaze to Garnet, who has her arms hugged around her middle as if holding herself in one piece. Quite honestly, after the horrid news they’ve just become privy to, she probably is.

“We should move on to a new subject,” the fusion states frankly, once again avoiding any clear stance on the topic. “This is clearly making Pearl very upset.”

The quartz’s eyes alight in clear indignation. “Y’know what? Fine,” she spits, shoving her hands in her pockets and storming towards the doorway. “If both of you are gonna be that sensitive, I’ll take my ideas somewhere else. But just for the record?” she says, whirling back to face them mere inches before passing through the temple’s threshold. “The reason Steven keeps running away is staring back at us in the mirror. You just refuse to see it. And that’s not my problem.”

#su #su future #pearl #amethyst #garnet #su fanfiction #my writing stuff

[thero0ks]

My Most Treasured Items

Reiner receives a letter from someone in his past.

No happy ending, just angst.

Season Four spoilers

Trigger Warnings: Detailed description of death/corpses, brief discussion of childhood abuse

The detour had never been in the battle plan. Hanji and Levi would probably be pissed if they knew she’d taken an alternate route. She had studied the map for weeks to know the layout of the city, so that this detour would only add a couple seconds to her time. That’s why she took off a few moments earlier than everyone else. Her feet landed in the alleyway. Peeking her head out to check the Main Street she found it was empty. Rushing to the lone mailbox she pulled out the crisp white envelope. Having taken great care to avoid any wrinkles in the delicate paper she gave the envelope a soft kiss before placing it in the mailbox.

Four years later she would be able to speak her peace. Her shoulders relaxed. A weight lifting off her as she took off in the air once more to rendezvous with the rest of the squad.

* **

They sat around the table discussing Zeke’s betrayal. Reiner proposed an immediate counter attack. They left the meeting agreeing to think on the matter.

Entering his own barracks he found a letter placed on his bedside table. The flowing script pulled at something in his memory. Amber eyes flickered over to the name of the sender and his heart stopped. Y/N L/N.

His legs gave way as he sat on the edge of the bed tearing open the letter. Another Devil from his past had come back to haunt him.

To my beloved Reiner,

What would I do if I had 13 years to live? I’ve thought about the question for four years now, and I still don���t have an answer. By my calculations you only have a year, maybe two left?

I know your love for me was forced, and I truly apologize for the turmoil I caused you. A devil like me is hard to love for someone like you. The bitter truth that you were always enough for me, but I was only another sin that stained your hands is a hard thing to bear. I guess I have a knack for loving the wrong people. Perhaps that’s my punishment for the sins of my ancestors? Isn’t that what you Marleyans say?

You said a lot of things four years ago, but I didn’t get to say a word. I just watched you leave, and dealt with the aftermath of all my friends dying. For the record, I never wanted any of this. I think all this death is senseless, and I meant what I always said that this world could use more love.

I guess this world doesn’t have a place for dreamers.

I wanted to hate you for choosing them over us, but I realize that’s your home. It's easy to hate something you hold no attachment to. Loyalty is a strong trait, and it’s something I wanted to curse you for. I looked at you leaving me as a betrayal, but how can you betray something or someone you were never loyal to in the first place?

I guess that’s what I’m trying to say. I forgive you for not choosing me, but I also ask that you forgive me for not choosing you anymore either. There is not a decision either one of us could change that would have put us on a different path. For both of our sakes I wish to allow you a glimpse into my dreams.

I choose to believe in a world where we made all the right choices. One where we ended up together, happy, and surrounded by all our fallen comrades.

Maybe you have no desire to see me in that way. Perhaps every stolen moment we had was nothing more then something you did to pass the time. I want to believe the man you showed me exists, because everything I showed you was real.

Even after four years I cannot hate you. I hope your heart softens when you think of me too.

With love,

Y/N L/N

A tear splashed on the cream colored paper. Reiner’s hand moved to his cheek trying to recall the moment his eyes leaked water. His heart ached at her words.

Every time he recounted his time on Paradis to other Marleyans internally he always ended the statement with “except her.” Never had he said it aloud, but never had he lumped her in with the rest of them.

He remembered the night when she finally opened up about herself. Growing up in poverty, her abusive father, and the inner turmoil she felt about loving the man that abused her. He’d been so angry when she recounted the abuse to him, and the confusion he felt when she expressed empathy for the monster.

Gripping the letter he realized he had been a different monster to her. Wasn’t that his goal? Make the Devils of Paradis suffer? Then why did he want to beg for forgiveness at her feet for the sins he committed against her?

Running his hand through his hair he straightened the letter. Rereading it, hoping for poisoned words to jump out of the page. He deserved every verbal lashing she could bestow upon him, but he knew they would never come.

He wanted to write back to her. Tell her there wasn’t a moment he regretted leaving her on that island to rot. How her heartbroken look still haunted his dreams. Mostly he just wanted to assure her that he too wanted desperately to believe that in some alternative universe they would be together forever.

Here he was encouraging a full scale attack on the island. “Forgive me for not choosing you anymore either.” The hope of a relationship between the two had been crushed with that statement, but love still lingered in their hearts.

She was exactly what he needed. His bed felt cold without her. He still had issues going to bed alone, because she wasn’t there to coax into bed. Knowing her soft heart would melt if he told her he couldn’t sleep without her.

It was such a strange thing that someone so small was friends with the dark. She often told him she found peace when darkness coated the earth. Perhaps that’s what made it easy for him to fall asleep in her arms. He’d tried to tell her he was a monster, but she’d always kiss his forehead, and assure him that he was a good man, and that she would love him no matter what.

A knock on the door pulled Reiner out of his thoughts. “What is it?”

Porco poked his head through the door, “we have all the Devils bodies. Magath wants you to take a look,” Porco said, gripping the door knob. “See if anybody essential to their military is among them.”

Reiner sighed, folding the letter up and tucking it away before following Porco down to the yard where the bodies were being kept. The gate guards gave them a nod of acknowledgment as they passed.

Several rows of bodies were laid out and Reiner inspected each. They were all new faces. The attack on Paradis they launched four years ago had wiped out the scout regiment.

Reaching the last row he caught sight of a female corpse. The (dark/light) hair looked familiar. His feet seemed to echo off the pavement. Stopping in front of the body he took her in. Her soft curves had grown cold and stiff. Several bullet holes littered her body, and her neck was twisted in an odd angle. Bile rose in Reiner’s throat as he took in the soft cheeks, and her eyes that once held so much warmth were nothing but an empty abyss devoid of life. The color now dull the light long gone out.

Tears streamed down his face as shaking hands reached out to her. Nothing felt like her as he touched her cold skin. He hadn’t felt the sting of pavement as he fell on his knees to grip her hand and brush the hair from her face.

Porco remained silent. Taking in Reiner’s actions. Porco couldn’t find it in his heart to judge the man for falling in love with a devil. Especially when he had watched the woman die.

“I should have taken you back to Marley.” Reiner babbled, amber eyes fixed in the past.

“Reiner, she chose to attack Marley,” Porco tried to reason.

The large man rounded on him. “You know nothing about her,” he seethed. “She never wanted any of this.” Running his fingers through his hair. “All she wanted was to find something more out there than hell she was living in.”

“You can’t blame her death on yourself.” Porco reasoned.

“She would never have come here if it was not for me,” Reiner stated, as he removed a leather pouch that was strapped to her thigh. A bitter laugh escaped his lips as he pulled a small stone out.

* ** “Hey L/N!” Reiner said tossing the small stone at her.

A squeak escaped her lips as she lifted her hands to block her face. The stone making an audible thud against her ribs. “You didn’t even try to catch it,” Reiner said, picking the stone back up.

“Well I’m sorry, I grew up with an older brother who would have just pelted me with the rock,” she huffed. “It was a natural reaction to go into defense mode.”

Reiner let out a laugh at the thought of an elder L/N terrorizing her. “It’s a lucky rock,” he said offering the rock to her. He held the perfectly round stone between his index finger and thumb and her fingers brushed against his to pluck it out of his grasp.

“What makes it lucky?” she inquired. Curious eyes flickered up to catch his gaze.

He simply shrugged, “it’s perfectly round. That’s gotta be lucky.”

His answer seemed to satisfy her. “If I make it through our next mission without dying I’ll believe it’s lucky,” she said tucking the stone away in her leather pouch she kept secured to her thigh.

“What’s in your pouch?” Reiner asked, his head tilted as his gaze focused on her legs.

“My most treasured items,” she said with a shrug. “Tell you what Braun if I die before you, you can have my pouch and whatever is in it.”

Reiner ruffled her hair. “You’re not going to die as long as I’m by your side.”

* **

“The only time she wasn’t suffering was when I was lying to her,” Reiner murmured, the guilt washing over him at the sin he most regretted. The luck in the stone had finally faded Reiner thought numbly, or maybe it was the belief in the luck that died.

Perhaps he should be honored that a piece of him was counted among her most treasured possessions. A black and white photograph was the next thing he pulled out. It was a portrait, and Y/N was dressed in Marley’s finest. Joy seemed to be radiating from her face. Reiner’s guilt seemed to lessen. It was possible she had found a way to move on in her daily life.

The next thing he pulled out was a love letter. Reading through it he was surprised to find a small hand drawn portrait enclosed. The letter and portrait signed by Jean Kirstein. By the letter it was a different kind of love. It was the kind of love made for slow mornings, and gentle hearts. It was built for smooth sailing, but was never meant to survive the storms that life threw. Perhaps she knew that, and cherished the safety Jean had brought her for the period of their relationship.

The fact was that Reiner’s relationship with her had been built to weather storms, but he had set sail without her, so she was left to weather the waves without a life preserver. Somehow she’d clawed her way to the shore to try and rebuild what he had taken.

The last thing he pulled out was a small leather journal. Flipping through the pages he found some entries dated to cadet training, and her last entry was the night she died.

“Magath is going to want to read that journal,” Porco stated. Breaking the silence that he had given Reiner to go through her belongings.

Reiner tucked the items back into the satchel. “Can you give me the night to read through it?” Reiner’s downcast eyes took her corpse in one last time.

Porco nodded, “yeah just give it to Magath tomorrow.” Porco gave Reiner’s shoulder an awkward squeeze before leaving him.

Reiner tried to figure out how to say goodbye to the last thing in the past he cared about. The soldier was officially gone, and the only thing that remained was the warrior. All he wanted was more time. His thirteen years were almost up, his best friend and the love of his life didn’t have as much time. Perhaps they would be waiting for him. All he wanted was to see their smiles at the end of all of this. He was tired of fighting, and he was tired of being alone. “We’ll be together again soon,” he vowed, closing the door on death one more time.

#reiner x reader #reiner braun x reader #reiner braun #reiner braun x y/n #reiner braun x you

[writing-red]

from the dining table

draco malfoy x reader (mentions of harry potter x reader)

summary: You and Draco broke up and he is trying desperately to get in touch with you even though he knows exactly why you aren���t picking up the phone (song fic based on harry styles’ from the dining table)

request: @runninglownad​ hii! can i request a draco imagine based on from the dining table by harry? thanks sooo much <3

warnings: this is super angsty, breakup, toxic relationship, sad anger and drinking

a/n: I hope you enjoy!! and photo credit to @fixedunit​

word count: 2.1k

Woke up alone in this hotel room

Played with myself, where were you?

It was seven when Draco finally decided to stop fighting the insomnia. Thoughts of you claiming his mind and making him entirely unable to find sleep. The white hotel sheets were curled around him, pillows on the floor, broken glass shattered around him like an unholy halo, and the room in total disarray. He laid there, staring at the ceiling, unsure of what to do with himself, unsure of what to do with himself now that he had lost you. He so desperately wished that he could squeeze his eyes shut only to open them and find you laying there next to him, wishing desperately to see that incredible beaming smile of yours, the one that would turn your cheeks rosy red.

He rose from the bed and navigated around the mess on the floor to get to the bar in the room. With a heavy hand he poured himself a scotch, as he continued to think of you; the feeling of your lips on his, the lines of witty banter you always seemed to whip out of nowhere, and the idea that he may never hear the rasp of your voice in the morning again.

Fell back to sleep, I got drunk by noon

I’ve never felt less cool

He abandoned the glass dragged the bottle back to the bed, putting on the television as a distraction. He couldn’t seem to find a program that didn’t make him think of you, he couldn’t get the sound of your sweet and joyous laugh echoing through whatever space you held.

Tears streamed down his face as he downed the scotch, he felt like an absolute child. Crying over a girl, drinking, and sleeping. The pattern was pathetic and the last thing Draco Malfoy was, was pathetic. Yet it seems you could reduce him down to a blubbering child and all he would think of is how terribly he missed you, and how badly he wanted to smell your deep ambrosial perfume. By the time he woke up again the digital clock next to the bed was flashing 12:13 as if it was mocking him, goading him to wake up and get over himself. 

We haven’t spoke since you went away

Comfortable silence is so overrated 

Why won’t you ever be the first one to break?

Even my phone misses your call, by the way

Your voicemail, the one you had recorded with him, your voice was happy, and it sounded as if you would never be sad again.

“You’ve got Y/n” joyful, happy, in love. “I am buuuuusy and I am so very sorry I missed your call but shoot me a text or leave a voicemail after the beep and we shall speak at another time! Thanks.”

“Y/n, darling?” he muttered. “Look I know that I fucked up, and that you don’t want to talk but can we please just go get coffee, I want to see you, and I don’t want to end things on that note. Please, I know that we aren’t getting back together, I just, Y/n I need to see you.”

“You’ve got Y/n! I am buuuuusy and I am so very sorry I missed your call but shoot me a text or leave a voicemail after the beep and we shall speak at another time! Thanks,” Draco was mocked by the shrill beep that followed the sound of your voice.

“Hey, I’m sorry about all the voicemail’s and all of the text messages, if you don’t want to see me please just tell me so. Look I just, Y/n, I am miserable and I really just want to apologize for everything face to face. Please don’t just ignore me.”

“You’ve got Y/n! I am buuuuusy and I am so very sorry I missed your call but shoot me a text or leave a voicemail after the beep and we shall speak at another time! Thanks,” Draco listened solemnly as the voicemail played wishing this wasn’t the only way he could hear your voice.

“Look, I get it if you don’t want to talk to me, just, tell me yourself don’t just ignore me. Please,” he was desperate, to see you without tears streaming down your face, tears he had caused.

I saw your friend that you know from work

He said you feel just fine

I see you gave him my old t-shirt

More of what was once mine

Weeks past and Draco didn’t hear back from you. He knew that you were forcing him to move on and he didn’t want to accept it but he knew that he had no other choice. He was back to work, back to normal, although no matter what he did he couldn’t seem to get the thought of you out his head. He was drinking, more than usual, smoking more than usual, and he had destroyed his fair share of hotel rooms. It was time for him to start living his life again.

You had always loved coffee, going to coffee shops, trying out different drinks, people watching, you had made the whole ordeal a habit for Draco and now it was a way for him to hold onto you. He thought that if he was lucky enough he’d catch you at one of them.

Today he went before work, luckily he had skipped the morning coffee shop rush and there were just a few other people inside the shop.

“I’ll have a black drip coffee, and a croissant,” he said, handing the barista money.

“Here’s your change, and it’ll all come up at that bar over there,” she said gesturing to the end of the bar.

“Thanks,” Draco said kindly as he stepped over to where the barista had gestured to wait for his order.

“Malfoy,” he heard a familiar voice.

“Potter,” Draco said, surprised to see the man you had both gone to school with, and who you now worked with.

“Nice to see you, what have you been up to recently” Harry asked him.

“Just work,” Draco observed Harry, the man he had always been so jealous of, for a moment when his eyes caught something similar. “That’s a bit of a posh shirt for you isn’t it?”

“Ah- it was in Y/n’s flat, I mean she gave it to me because it was in her flat and it’s my size and all that.”

“Got it. I think that’s mine,” he said, his eyes still on the shirt as the barista placed his coffee and pastry on the bar in front of them. “Tell Y/n I say hi?”

“Sure thing mate, she’s uh doing pretty alright,” Harry offered and Draco nodded, swiftly exiting the coffee shop refusing the urge to start crying over you again.

I see it’s written, it’s all over his face

Comfortable silence is so overrated

Why won’t you ever be the first one to break?

Even my phone misses your call, by the way

Potter. You had to choose Potter of all the men you knew to sleep with. It was as if you were trying to hurt him, trying to drive the knife further into his heart. That night Draco proceeded to call you all of thirteen times, four of the calls sober, and the other nine varying levels of drunk until he finally blacked out.

All he wanted was to hold you one more time, to hear you talk over a movie, shout out the lyrics to some old Bon Jovi song, watch you dance atop your kitchen table, you were always the perfect antagonist to silence and now it seemed that silence was all he could hear. People would speak to him and he couldn’t hear it, he would try and remember the sound of you, your singing, your voice, your laugh, but his memories of you were only pictures.

Maybe one day you’ll call me and tell me that you’re sorry too

But you, you never do

The ringer on his phone was always on, and when it buzzed he picked it up as quickly as a man could. Although, he was routinely disappointed to find that it was either Blaise, his boss, his mum, or a hotel calling to let him know of the damages done and the charges he would incur. But it didn’t matter, none of those calls mattered because they weren't you.

He just wanted you back, and all he could do was call and call, while picturing you lying in Harry Potter’s arms. You had chosen to be with Potter, and you had chosen to leave Draco, and Draco just couldn’t cope with your choices.

Woke up the girl who looked just like you

I almost said your name

He didn’t know this ones name, and he didn’t know the last one’s name. These girls that circled through his bed, each of them vaguely resembling you in one way or another. Today he awoke to seeing your nose, and your hair on someone else. Sleeping with these women upset him more than it comforted him, but it was at least something to do with himself.

“Y/-” he stopped himself. “Hey, I’ve got to go to work.” He said, shaking the girl awake.

“Can’t I just leave after you?” She groaned, her eyes still closed.

“No, get up,” Draco said as he got out of bed and pulled the duvet off of her. “Now,”

“Fine, I’m going,” she said, taking her time to draw herself up. “And I promise I won’t be back.”

And there she went, another person lost whether he wanted her or not. All he knew how to do was drive people away. He didn’t want to get over you, ever since your trip to New York you had been the love of his life. But now he resolved to living his life as a ghost, constantly in terrible silence without you.

Comfortable silence is so overrated

Why won’t you ever be the first one to break?

Even my phone misses your call, by the way

Taglist -  @sarcasticallywitty15​​ @fred-love-bot​​

#Draco Malfoy #draco malfoy fanfiction #draco fanfiction #draco x reader #draco malfoy x reader #Draco Malfoy angst #harry potter x reader #harry potter fanfiction #from the dining table

[jaxsteamblog]

Flirt

Click here to read the entire fic on AO3

Katara straightened her crown in the mirror, turning her head side to side to make sure it was straight. Her wavy hair had resisted the pin, and the thickness certainly fought the top knot, but she had eventually managed to get the thing on.

“Are you sure it doesn’t look silly?” She asked.

Zuko came into view behind her, sliding his hands around her sides to hold her lightly. 

“As silly as mine does in modern clothes.” He replied and kissed her soundly on the cheek.

“I don’t think it’s made for hair like mine.” She muttered.

“Sounds like a design flaw, not a you flaw.” 

“Mmm.”

“Mmm?”

“MMM.”

Zuko kissed her cheek again and backed away. The loops usually at the side of her face had been pulled back to start a simple sort of braid. The beads were still present, and she was wearing her necklace, but the crown stood out as an accessory.

“I know it’s a flame, but doesn’t it look a bit like a crescent moon?” He asked.

“That’s a stretch.” Katara said.

Skittering claws came into the room and Katara turned as Druk bounded toward her. He was less than a year old but already the size of an adult owl cat. His wings were still clumsy and he could only fly short distances, yet his legs were powerful enough to send him racing down hallways.

He terrified the palace staff and greatly annoyed the also still alarmingly growing Mister Whiskers. 

“Don’t.” Zuko warned both Katara and Druk. Both of them ignored him and Druk launched himself at Katara, making her stagger as she caught him.

“He can’t jump up on people like that.” Zuko grumbled. “It’s poor manners.”

“Aww, my sweet baby just wants attention.” Katara cooed, rubbed her nose against Druk’s snout. He smelled like soot and heat, and Katara cuddled his chest close to her face. He nipped at her crown and Zuko sighed in annoyance.

“A dragon shouldn’t be carried like a toddler. It’s undignified.” He said finally and Katara turned to him. 

“How dare you say such a thing about our boy.” She said. 

“This is why he’s a brat when you’re gone.” 

“Of course, he misses his momma.” 

“You both are deranged.” 

Katara kissed Druk’s scaly head and set him down. The dragon hopped indignantly, blowing out bursts of flame.

“You know he’s going to be a terror when we have actual children.” Zuko said, holding out his arm. Katara linked to him and held on with her other hand.

“Why do we even need anymore? Let’s just crown Druk and the Fire Nation can have an actual dragon as it’s Fire Lord instead of making up all these fancy honorifics for you.” Katara said.

“If history is any indication, they might not tell the difference.” He agreed.

Walking out of their bedroom, Druk followed them closely. Having returned with a dragon, the court and the city of Caldera had changed its attitude toward Zuko. The rest of the world still thought dragons were extinct, so Druk was a miracle bestowed to their Fire Lord as a sign from the spirits. As they had all sworn an oath never to speak of Ran and Shaw, no one disabused people of that notion. 

Now, even the prime minister had quelled his adversarial politics. 

Ozai and Azula both had been recorded as having thrown massive fits about it. 

Katara and Zuko headed toward the ballroom, watching with wry amusement as the staff jumped out of Druk’s way. When they reached the massive double doors, Katara called Druk and held him again, knowing that he didn’t do very well in large groups of people. 

“Fire Lord, Fire Lady.” A member of the house staff jumped when he opened the door, seeing the royal couple on the other side. 

“We wanted to see how everything was progressing.” Zuko said.

The man glanced at Druk, curled in Katara’s arms and she smiled back at him. 

Being favored by a dragon was also helping her image at the palace as well.

“Of course.” The man said, stepping to the side. 

Katara followed Zuko inside and looked around. While Zuko himself wasn’t overly interested in celebrating his birthday, there were expectations for the Fire Lord. These expectations somehow included the Water Tribe Ambassador rearranging all of the flowers. 

A sour faced man approached them, bowing obviously to Zuko and leaving Katara in her place at his side.

“Is everything to your liking, Fire Lord?” He asked.

Zuko turned to Katara and idly scratched Druk’s crest. 

“Lady wife?” He asked.

“Yes?”

“Everything pales in comparison to the luminary beauty of yourself. I am unable to adequately judge these offerings with you standing so close to me.” 

Katara smiled and had to keep herself from laughing.

“How can I do any better? The light of your loveliness blinds me to anything else.” She remarked. 

“My most prudent and beloved queen, I beg that you give me some words to describe this room that does not degrade your glittering visage.”

“Oh honorable husband, for that you would have to leave my sight and I could not bear to stand in such darkness.”

“I think,” The sour faced man said bitterly. “I will have to trust the Fire Lady’s most esteemed brother then?”

“Sokka is a marvel, I think that might be best.” Katara said, wrinkling her nose and giving the man a patronizing look. 

The man bowed to them both and walked back to the activity. Zuko did laugh softly then and Katara turned back to him.

“Light of my loveliness?” He asked.

“Glittering visage?” She countered.

“Hey, the words may have been stuffy, but they were still true.” He replied.

“So what words would you really use?” Katara asked. 

“Hmm,” Zuko thought and took some of her hair in his hands. He stared at it as he rolled the strands under his fingers.

“I would start by saying how devious fate must be to make my love part ocean spirit as I most certainly am in danger of drowning when you’re around.” He started and twirled her hair around his fingers. “You take my breath away, but also, there are times when I don’t feel like coming up for air.”

“Zuko!” Katara whispered sharply, her face heating up in a flash. 

Zuko only smiled and released her hair.

“I would say that thank the spirits you’re brilliant because I lose all sense when I look at your face, because your beauty is enough to make a fool of any man.” He continued. “And I’d quite like an opportunity to play the fool soon.”

“Spirits, you are brazen.” Katara said with a laugh. Her grip on Druk tightened and he squeaked in annoyance. 

“Sorry Druk, I’m displacing you as your mother’s favorite.” Zuko said and scratched Druk’s neck. 

“You are always my favorite.” Katara said. “No matter what season it is in the Poles, I only feel like the sun has returned when I’m with you.” 

“I don’t see how I can compare when you are always the one lighting up the room.” 

“I wish I could paint with ink the same shade as your hair so I could write every character with the same kind of elegance.” 

“I wish I could train birds to sing in the same notes as your laughter so I could hear your joy every morning.”

“My laughter? I wish I could keep your voice with me because it soothes me better than the sound of a far off thunderstorm.” 

“I am going to vomit all over the floor if you two don’t stop.” Sokka interjected.

Katara lowered her face, blushing, but Zuko chuckled.

“Aw come on! They were being really cute!” Thuy added as she approached from behind them.

The twins that hung around Thuy, who Zuko swore were harmless, watched them with different levels of interest. Suzu looked gleeful while Zula looked bored. Or mildly irritated. She was harder to read.

“I see my wife every other season. You’re lucky we’re out of our rooms at all.” Zuko said.

“Zuko!” Katara blurted while the three teenage girls burst out laughing. Sokka only sighed and tapped the heel of his hand against his forehead. 

“Can we play with Druk, Auntie?” Thuy asked, changing the subject.

“Please.” Katara said, holding Druk out even as he clung to her in protest. “He needs to potty.”

“Thank you Auntie!” Thuy said and forcefully took the dragon, running off with him before he could break free of her grip. Suzu jogged after her and Zula walked stoically after. 

“Okay you two, try to focus for long enough to look at these terrible centerpieces.” Sokka said. “I think I’ve managed to salvage them.”

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#zutara #fanfiction #jax writes #zutara month #modern au #the fic that prompts built

[toontails]

Toon Quest|| Reader Insert

Chapter 2: Roadkill

The muffling sound of speaking woke Y/n up from her slumber, as any other morning, the birds their sweet melody. The sun was given the chance to shine through the clouds, it rays lighting up each crevice of Y/n's room. She must have forgotten to close the blinds last night, she still felt the fatigue drag her down into slumber. Her eyelids giving off a burning sensation and...something else. She was sore, causing slight discomfort. Her hands were stinging painfully as well as her torso. Sitting up quickly, Y/n lifted her palms. Looking down she saw two blisters like burns on both of her palms. The palm of the skin was torn, her hands felt almost numb and stiff, looking at the red tissue, Y/n realized it was a people burn. From the lasso that she was holding so tight onto. Last night she didn't feel a thing, most likely because she was worried about a hundred other things and the fact her adrenaline was pumping from fear and being overwhelmed. Lifting her shirt slightly, she peered down at her torso, not much noticeable other than a colored bruise that was forming. 

"I need to be more careful.." She whispered to herself. 

"Y/n!!" Her mother calls her from down stairs. Y/n looked over towards her nightstand. Reaching over to her phone. She picked it up and plucked it from it's charger and looked at the time. 

11:13 AM

She quickly slipped from out of the bed. Thankfully her legs aren't sore to the point she felt like she was walking on stilts. Scurrying over to the bookbag where she passed the book safely. Opening the bag, she saw the book indeed was still safely tucked away. Closing the bag up again, Y/n got up and walked from the room. 

-

Hearing soft laughter from downstairs, Y/n stood at the last step, the staircase led to the corridor to the living room. Where she saw her mother, Bendy and Henry Stein. Henry was standing next to M/n. His hands in his slacks pockets. Dark circles under his eyes, no doubt from the busy work. Bendy stood at the end of the coffee table holding a tissue paper, where he stuffed the tissue paper into the fist of his palm on his other hand. Once the tissue was no longer in sight he opened his palm to reveal nothing, the tissue nowhere to be found. M/n laughed slightly, clapping at the many harmless magic freaks Bendy showed her. 

"I didn't know you could do that." M/n told Bendy. Bendy's smile widened. "Oh, I dabble." 

Y/n noticed that Bendy actually wore clothes this time—not that he really needed to anyway. He still had his white bow tie. What was added was black dress pants and white suspenders. Looking more dapper than he originally looked. 

"Oh! Y/n. Glad you're up, did you pack your bags? You're leaving soon." Y/n's optics flickered away from Bendy and over to her mother. Y/n gave a welcoming smile to Henry, who smiled back as well. 

"I'll pack right now. I should be done in a few minutes." Y/n answered. Her mother nods, leaving her daughter to take care of her business. Y/n started to walk up the stairs, but abruptly stopped before glancing back over at Bendy, who caught hindsight of her. She motioned him to follow her and then, she walked back upstairs. 

-

Scuffling through her dresser, Bendy slowly closed the door behind him as he glanced around momentarily. 

"Where's Panchito and Oswald?" Y/n asked. Bendy turned his gaze over to Y/n, giving her a questioning gaze. Yes. He knew who Panchito was, but was oblivious to the fact the toon rabbit they were with last night was named Oswald. 

"Oswald?" He asked slowly. Y/n looked at him and gave hina questioning expression as well. "Yes. Rabbit, remember?" She raised an eyebrow, and Bendy soon made an expression of realization. 

"Oh him. They're both at the studio. I hid them in the lower section of the building." He said. Y/n nods before taking out the set of clothes and carrying them over to the bed. Placing the clothing on the bed as she then glanced at her palms. 

"I got a rope burn when we were crossing leaping over the street." She showed her palms to Bendy who walked over and gazed down at her hands. 

"There's bandages in the car, we'll bandage you up in there." 

Once hearing that there was a first aid kit in the car, Y/n was relieved to hear that she wouldn't have to sit hours in the car with sore and burning hands. But. After a while of picking out clothes. Grabbing her toothbrush. Wallet, phone and phone charger all in one book bag along with the book. The two set off to finally start their adventure. 

"Where's Henry going? Isn't he driving us back to the studio?" Y/n asked Bendy, she grabbed the book bag and placed it on her shoulders. Bendy looked away from the window and shook his head. 

"Of course not. Him and M/n have a business errand to run with the board, what is it? I don't know, I've heard it's a big thing that a new company is innovating but, he's riding with M/n." He said. Y/n nods, it wasn't rare that Henry and her mother had meetings they constantly had to be to. Changing the topic as she held the straps of her book bag. She grinned at Bendy. 

"You were being put through the ringer last night." She laughed. Thinking back in the punch Bendy received from one of the beagle boys. Bendy froze for a second. His always lasting grin faltering a dipping down for a second. 

"Oh please. You all should be thanking me. I worked under pressure and took the first blow." 

"At this point you're just a walking punching bag. Come on—"

"A walking punching bag? Why I—forget it. Let's go." 

-

"Okay, and remember, indoors at 8PM. Not too late, remember to eat dinner, and don't forget! Take pictures!" M/n pressed a kiss to Y/n's forehead before pulling her into a hug, Y/n returned the gesture before pulling away. Bendy stood in the doorway of the front door, arms behind his back. Walking over to him, M/n waved at her daughter. 

"Bendy, please. Keep her safe and out of trouble." M/n said. Bendy smiled and nodded. "Oh please. I won't let her out of my sights, she'll be as safe as a kitten Mrs. L/n." 

Bendy hooked his arm around Y/n's arm and escorted her out the house, her mother waving the two goodbye with a soft expression. Henry was standing next to her as well, lifting a hand to wave the two goodbye as well. 

"Alright toots, let's roll."

-

Arriving at the studio, Annie—yet again was standing at the receptionist desk, Y/n trailed behind Bendy who walked past Annie, she was too busy talking to some other employee from another department to notice the two. Once making it to a hallway, right in front of an elevator, Bendy pressed the arrow that would take them down into the studio. Which made Y/n wonder. 

"There's a lower section of the studio?" She asked. Bendy looked away from the studio and back to Y/n, which. He soon nods. 

"Yes, that's usually where the head composer of the music stores most of the instruments when not in use in the recording booth. And also other stuff is stored down there, I usually go down there to break something just because." Bendy didn't seem to be bothered at the fact he admitted purposely breaking something—well. Not much of a surprise as he was the definition of a mischievous trouble maker. A small airy laugh came from Y/n before she looked over to the elevator doors that opened with a automatic; 'ding'

The two stepped into the elevator, once in the elevator Bendy yet again pressed a button to the lowest floor of the studio. 

"How did you sneak them in here last night?" Y/n asked. 

"The emergency exit."

"...." Y/n looked at Bendy with furrowed eyebrows. Bendy noticed and his pie cut eyes looked over to her. "What?"

"Me and Panchito came in through the emergency exit and we almost got caught." She said, the memory basically playing vividly in front of her. Bendy lets out a snarky laugh. 

"Tough luck, toots. I can fool basically anyone there is—"

-

"Hey! Watch my horns you vile woman!" Bendy shouts. Alice Angel—another one of the company's loving and famous characters, had her hand on Bendy's hand. And her knee on his back, basically pinning him to a wooden table that was in the hallway—more of a desk that was in front of the elevator where Bendy and Y/n once stood in. But upon reaching the last floor, they were met with two figures in front of the elevator. Alice Angel and Boris. Alice being the one who was mostly on the side of suspiciousness and hostility, which ended with her pinning Bendy to the table. And Boris holding onto Y/n by her book bag. Y/n didn't take much of a chance to try and free herself as she didn't want to appear too much of a bad person as the two thought she was. 

The basement area was much different from how the upper part of the building was. The floors weren't linoleum, instead it was a dusty wooden floor, with various rooms—which seemed to not be in use—but. Her focus wasn't much on the aspect of her surroundings, but more trying to get on the good side of Alice and Boris. 

Alice leaned down next to Bendy's head. 

"Where's your other two friends, huh? You think that stunt you pulled last night got past me and Boris? Sure the others, but I'm positive there were more of you than just the gal' over there." Alice motioned towards Y/n, who was slightly lifted from the ground by her bookbag by Boris. Who mostly had his focus on Bendy. 

Bendy soon made a noise and then gave Alice a betrayed expression. 

"Are you really interrogating me?" He asked, moving his lower body to not cause a strain to his chest that was pressed harshly into the desk. 

"Yes, I am. Maybe I wouldn't be if you weren't so sneaky—I mean. How did you even slip past Henry like that?" Alice scoffed, Bendy made a blank expression for a moment, deep in thought, Alice then turned her gaze to Y/n. 

"You. You're Y/n, right?" She asked. Y/n was debating to really answer her question—was she in trouble? No she couldn't be—she was positive that Boris and Alice were Bendy's friends—-they literally work in the same company and industry. 

"Yes..I am." She replied. Alice then looked back at Bendy. Who had yet to reply. 

"What are you two up to? I wouldn't be so on edge if you came straight forward and told me." She said. Bendy snorted and smiled. "Oh please, toots. You think if we were doing something illegal, I would tell you?"

"Well are you?"

Bendy opened his mouth to speak, but—he seemed to stop himself before closing his mouth slowly. Alice then quickly pushed herself away from Bendy. Placing her fingertips to her mouth in bewilderment, a light and dainty gasp emits from her. 

"Bendy! Stop pulling my leg—are you serious?" She said. Bendy gets up from the table, fixing his bow tie before looking at Alice. Boris finally spoke up, placing Y/n on the ground. 

"And what exactly did you do?" Boris asked. 

"Oh please. I didn't do anything illegal—"

"Hola!" Bendy quickly turned around and was met with Panchito and Oswald. Who managed to track down where the sudden commotion was coming from. Alice gasped at the two new toons. Boris' ears perked up slightly at the two. Oswald looked between Alice and Bendy, knowing the two made a mistake with their sudden appearance. Oswald proceeded to try and grab Panchito's arm to drag him away from the eyes of the two new toons. But. Panchito took sight of Y/n and shot towards her, Y/n wasn't able to respond quick enough when she felt his arms encircled her body, her footsteps becoming unbalanced as Panchito yipped in glee. 

"Ah! Mi cariño,¡Te veo tan mal!" He let her go and quickly took both of her hands. Y/n had a smile on her face at the boisterous and affectionate rooster. A nice feeling came from someone that cared about her with so much passion with little time. It seemed he cared a lot for his friends and the people he surrounded himself with. 

"Wh—wait—who? Bendy!" Alice quickly moves her attention back over to Bendy. Who only gave her a patient expression. Alice motioned around them, as if wanting him to explain all of what was happening. 

"Explain!" 

"Okay! Come on! God!"

-

The 6 stared down at the black leather book that was sitting on a dusted wooden table in the lower area of the studio—where they still resided in. Bendy explained in the exact same sense that the three managed to figure out last night. The reason for the book and the two other toons along with Y/n. Boris had a hand in his hip as he stared down at the book. Alice had her eyebrows furrowed. With Bendy finally telling her all of what was happening, she was no longer hostile or angry like she once was several minutes ago. Oswald had yet to speak. Instead opting to keep his mouth zipped as Bendy was the one to reiterate and retell everything. 

"So...if me and Boris tried to open the book—we wouldn't be able to?" She asked. Within listening to Bendy and hearing the fact the book chose people—specific people—specifically, Y/n, Oswald, Panchito and Bendy.

Alice could only grow curious if she would be a chosen toon—not to mention, a bit jealous that Bendy—out of all toons out there—was one of the chosen. 

"Go ahead. Open it." Bendy had his arms behind his back with a growing grin, Alice cautiously watched him before she placed her fingers on top of the book before picking it up. Y/n could watch at first as she tried to slightly open the book—but surprisingly the book was shut tight. As if it were locked to the teeth. This was her first time seeing the book do something by refusing to open to someone other than her and the three other toons. 

Boris' ears perked up yet again, looking over at Alice as she tried tugging at the book harshly. 

"Gosh—this thing is….locked...tight." She strained her last word as she tried to pull and tug at the book. But to avail or amount of power, did it open. 

"Whoa…"  Y/n whispered to herself...that..was something new and..that confirmed to the fact that she was one of the 12 chosen people for the book. 

"Let me try!" Boris snatched the book from Alice, who yelps in surprisement. Boris tried to open the book as well, but as for Alice, he received the same. It wouldn't open, not a budge. But he didn't seem to stop. Instead he pulled harder and harder.  Alice tried to grab at the book, but Boris moved away from her. 

"Hey! Give it back!" She said. But Boris didn't reply and continued trying to get into the book. Alice seemed to have enough of Boris hogging the book. She turned over and took a wooden plank—that seemed to have been pulled from the floor. Turning back over to Boris. She rose the plank above her head and quickly slammed it down on Boris's head with a loud; WHOMP!

Boris was stiff as a board. Dropping the book onto the floor. His two black pie cut eyes turning into two X's as if the plank killed him! Stars and birds tweeting appeared above his head and he dropped to the ground with 'Thud!' 

Still dazed at the fact he was hit in the head.  Y/n covered her mouth with a gasp—yet a sniffle of laughter—seeing how animated they were in front of her and not on screen was way different. 

"Wasn't able to hit one of the boys with an object in so long—I still got it." Alice quipped, a smile appearing on her face before she reached up and fixed her halo. Bendy walked over and picked up the book that was by Boris' foot. He walked over to Oswald and handed it to him, which Oswald took gracefully. 

"It's not a toy." Bendy told the two...even though Boris seemed unresponsive. Alice huffed. 

"But, why is it picking select people, surely the book has to be a warning for something," Alice said. 

"We're learning as we go. We don't know what it is that's making this book go on a scavenger hunt." Oswald replied. Bendy nods in agreement with Oswald's answer. Alice tapped her elbow with her finger for a moment. Panchito and Y/n stood next to each other silently watching them all speak—well. Now besides Boris. 

"You said some person with a trench coat was after the book, right?" She asked. Oswald seemed to grimace at the mention of the anonymous person. "Yes. Him, he wants the book. Reason why he held me hostage, so I can be his personal key for the book." Oswald said. Alice looked as Oswald, and her optics flickered towards the book momentarily. 

"How did he know you were one of few people to access the book?" She asked. Oswald—surprisingly had an answer for that. Lifting a hand he tapped his chin in deep thought. 

"Well, now that you've mentioned it. I remember overhearing about a witch that he went to to track me down. Or—as he said. Feel my energy in the area, which I could assume that's how he found me." Oswald said. 

"A witch? We have those down here…?" Bendy mumbled under his breath in deep thought. Alice ignored the devil and thought for a moment. 

"Magica." Y/n piped up. Oswald, Alice, Bendy and Panchito looked over to her when she spoke up. 

"The duck, she must be the witch that man spoke to. It wouldn't be too far from wrong—but I wouldn't exactly say I'm right either." Oswald shook his head as Y/n spoke. 

"No, no. Now that you've said something about her, I believe she must be the witch he was talking to. Why else would she and the beagle boys be at the bar last night to get me and stop you and the others." Oswald said. Alice hummed slightly to get everyone's attention. 

"Me and Boris can be in sight while you all are out of town." Alice suggested. Boris had groaned after finally lifting himself from the ground. Rubbing his head from the impact of the wooden board. 

"What for?" Bendy asked. 

"Well, if you all will be out of town. Who knows what would be going on down here. Seeing you all don't have a clue what your objective is it would be best to have others who can keep eyes out for what's going on—and in case you all haven't noticed, tons of news went down in the past week." She looked at the four and then crossed her arms. Bendy didn't really seem too pleased with getting help from Alice but he had to admit..she was right. He rarely cared for anything media wise—political wise—or...damn near anything in that field. 

"No th-"

"She's right, Bendy. Honestly I haven't taken a glance at a TV to see what's going on with the tension between toons and humans in some time, it would be best to have someone have tabs of all what's going on that might be a reason for or a build up for causing this book to wake up." Oswald agreed with Alice. Y/n soon raised her hand slightly. 

"I agree too. I didn't know anything about the book of Vida until I was here yesterday watching the news segment with you. We can't just go into everything blindly. We need to have at least some info." She said. Panchito looked between Oswald and Y/n. 

“No miro las noticias.” He adds.

"Fine. You can collect Intel." Bendy gave in. Alice smiled and nudged Boris. Who still was a bit dazed—but was still listening to the conversation. Alice soon placed her hands behind her back. Boris had squinted his eyes and looked at everyone with a dumbfounded expression. 

"What? What are we talking about?" He asks slowly. But Alice ignored him and continued to talk, clapping her hands together she then shouts. 

"Alright! In case you four are unaware—there is a rising tension between toons and humans." Alice announced. Bendy raised an eyebrow (?) And soon made a gesture with his hand for Alice to continue. 

"Okay? What about it?" He asks.

"That can be a clue. Obviously something is stirring up, causing conflict between both groups," She said. Boris—who had been silent and trying to catch  on to all of what they were talking about, finally understood what the topic was about. Lifting a glove hand slightly, he spoke. 

"Oh yes, that. Toons for some reason are experiencing a lot of episodes, causing them to not only do harm to others, but for themselves." He states. Oswald ears slowly rose and he thumped his foot on the wooden floor, as if he had a thought. Y/n noticed, but she didn't say anything.  Though she couldn't see too many connections, she could sense Oswald knew something. 

"Yes, I've heard about that…" Oswald starts. Bendy didn't seem to understand anything as he only looked at the small group. 

"Recently it seems toons—for the most part, popular toons—ya' know. Actors and actresses haven't been too pleasantly taking things too...uh. Well." Oswald said. Alice nods, before she starts to take over yet again. 

"Recently we know about one case with a toon lashing out on one of her agents out of anger for—as the headline claimed; Not caring for her—whatever that means." Alice placed an index finger on her cheek. Her dark eyes sliding down to the floor in thought. 

"And, for the most part, most confessions and news headlines are pretty much similar. Toon gets angry at a lady for not treating her equally, toons not being able to have a say in their own shows, the list goes on—and we even have some toons committing some crimes such as…" Alice turns her gaze over to Panchito, who was still standing next to Y/n. 

"Robbery." She finishes before continuing. Her eyes looking at the group.

"What I'm saying is, there seems to be a rise of toons wanting more equality causing them to act out maybe from anger and or retaliation. And some for the most part, taking the destructive side of things, which are causing humans to be a bit—overwhelmed?—ah, I wouldn't say that, bu—" Alice was cut off by Bendy who waved his hand and clicked his tongue—as if the topic wasn't something that he cared for. 

"A few angry toons? You think that's the problem?" He asks Alice. Alice pursed her lips for a moment, shaking her head at Bendy's careless reaction to something that could turn into something potentially serious in the future. 

"Bendy, this is serious. It may not seem to be the answer to the reason why that book is on the lookout or search—but it's something to keep an eye out for—for all we know. This might escalate into a scenario where this could be the reason why the book is searching for people to stop this." Alice explains, and Y/n agreed with her. Though there was a good chance the tension between toons and humans isn't the answer to the book, that could be something to keep an eye out for in the future as it could turn into something much more serious and maybe even dangerous. 

Out of all things. No one needs humans and toons fighting each other. 

"She's right Bendy, if humans start seeing toons as a threat, we don't know how this could end or what would happen to toons further down the line. It may seem small now, but it can be serious in the future." Y/n interjects, Bendy turned his gaze to Y/n. 

"What do we look like, the Justice League?" He mocks, repeating what Y/n said from last night, and it seems the tables have turned. Y/n rolled her eyes at his childish reaction. Though...she didn't know what to expect coming from Bendy. 

"That's what you told me last night, right? What do you all expect us to do? Restore justice and equality back between humans and toons if all goes bad? And wave a finger at them and say;" he then stepped to the side and looked at the side of him, and shook his index finger, as if scolding a child. 

"Now be nice."

He then regained his posture and placed his hands behind his back. 

"No. That doesn't work like that.  If all, go to—I don't know—the white house and demand them to do their job to stop all what's happening."

Boris was about to lift a finger to wave. But seeing he didn't want to get involved in the mess of a conversation. He slowly put his arm to his side and stayed silent yet again. 

Though, Alice rubbed her temple and shook her head. 

"I...agree with Bendy." Oswald pipes up. Y/n looked over at Oswald and furrowed her eyebrows. Bendy then smiled widely—as if making a point. 

"What? You too? Why?" Y/n questioned. Oswald lifts the corner of his mouth for a second—as if thinking of what to say. 

"It's—a long story. I understand where Bendy is coming from—but Y/n. We can't put our focus on society and their problems— not when we potentially have one that revolves around a man in a trench coat, and I'm positive he has nothing to do with the problem between toons and humans, we have to focus on him and getting the rest of our team together." Oswald said. Y/n let out a slight huff through her nose. 

"Whatever...fine.." She muttered and looked back at Alice. Oswald was about to speak to her again when he noticed her sour response to his explanation. But, Alice spoke up before he could try to speak. 

"Well, me and Boris will keep tabs on them, along with anything else that may come by as questionable." Alice said. 

"Great, are we done? Okay! Let's hit the road!" 

-

Y/n sat in the passenger seat of the car, her hand hanging out the window, the wind brushing against her hand as the car drove down the road. The buildings passed by and the feeling of the warm sun invading the car—in which Bendy decided not to turn on the AC for whatever reason. 

Panchito and Oswald were in the back of the car, Panchito often shuffling around to find something to distract himself. Due to the fact, Y/n didn't want to drive, yet. Bendy took the responsibility of driving. 

"So.." Suddenly Oswald shuffled to the front, his upper part leaning on the arm rest, looking between Bendy and Y/n. 

"How long will it be to get to Orgeon?" He asks. Y/n didn't have the answer to that, so she turned to look over at Bendy. 

"Well, we left late, thanks to Alice. So most likely we won't arrive until late at night at around 11PM or so. The drive is 10 hours, if we don't make any stops." Bendy replied. His eyes focused on the road. Oswald nods and soon Y/n's eyes tracked across the dashboard of the car in search of the GPS or some sort of system to help guide them to Oregon, but—no doubt. She didn't see the device anywhere. 

"No stops? Does that include potty breaks?" Panchito asks, soon squeezed by Oswald, who moves over to give Panchito room to peer up at the front of the car. 

"Yes, we can take bathroom breaks. But nothing else, I'm assuming you have to use the bathroom?"

"No."

"Then why did you a-"

"We need a GPS." Y/n interrupts. Bendy looked away from the road and to Y/n. The corners of his mouth twitching—oh yes! The GPS! how could he forget?

"Okay, we're making a stop."

-

After an hour of driving down a one way road. With lots of fields—letting them know they've made it out of town. They spotted a gas station far to the side. Not much business going on—but good enough to get up on gas just in case, and look for a GPS to use—alongside with buying snacks so not many more stops can be made. 

Closing the door to the car, Y/n waited for the three toons to get out of the car. Looking around, she could smell the familiar smell of gasoline and tar pavement. Looking at the janky store. Y/n grimaced. 

"This place looks horrible.." She said. Bendy walked past her. He nudged her arm as he did so. 

"It's an off road gas station, toots. What do ya' expect?" He said as he walked towards the store. Soon, Y/n followed after. Hearing shuffling behind her, she looked over her shoulder and saw Oswald and Panchito following after her. Pushing open the glass doors to the store. Y/n was met with a simple gas store with 3 aisles—as any other gas store would have—nothing too extravagant. 

"A convenience store?" Panchito muttered under his breath. He stood next to Y/n and Oswald stood by her other side. The three looked at what the store had to offer as Bendy was busy talking to the cashier for a GPS—if the store had any. 

"I'm getting some chips." Y/n walked off to one of the aisles, in search of at least some decent snacks to keep her filled throughout the drive. Once seeing the small selection, she randomly grabbed the variation of chips and some candy bars for everyone. With a hand full of snacks she wandered back out of the aisle. So happening to walk past Oswald and Panchito who were by the slushies stand. Panchito was sitting on top of the slushie machine, the lid was open and he was digging around in the machine, digginging around in it as Oswald was holding down the lever to drink from the slushie machine. It seemed Panchito was pushing the slushie down the tube so more could come out as Oswald held down the lever and drank from the machine as if it were some sort of water fountain. Y/n quickly walked over. And with her foot she nudged Oswald's ankle. 

"Hey! Hey—you two. Stop it—-Panchito, get down from there. Now." Y/n ushered and scolded at the two. Meanwhile Bendy was watching as the person was counting the money Bendy gave, the cashier didn't even bat an eye to where the three were. Bendy soon landed his eyes on a small green box—a GPS—just what they needed! 

Though it was behind the cashier. Meaning he would have to ask to purchase it. 

"The GPS. How much would that be?" Bendy asked. The cashier soon looked over their shoulder to the box that was on the shelf, looking at the price tag that Bendy didn't so happen to see. The cashier turned back around and replied. 

"That'll be one-eighty," They replied. Bendy's tail went stiff as he glanced back at the GPS. "A dollar and 80 cents?" He asked slowly—-not no surprise, the cashier shook their head before replying. 

"One hundred and eighty." They corrected him. Soon—Y/n stood next Bendy. Dropping the bags of chips on the counter, after scolding at Oswald and Panchito, she finally got them to behave—appropriately. Only to be met with Bendy, who was in deep thought. 

"What are you making that face for?" Y/n asked Bendy. His pie cut eyes were slanted—as if he were in deep thought. His semi-permanent smile lowered as if he were frowning—yet he wasn't upset—just thinking. 

"The GPS cost an arm and a leg—that's what." He replied to her. Y/n squints her eyes in confusion, her eyes sliding over to where Bendy had his gaze pinned on. And it was the GPS.  And it was almost 200 dollars...at a gas station?! 

"Here you guys go." The cashier handed the two their bags, which Y/n took.

"Come on. We'll just use my phone for now until we run into another gas station." She told Bendy, which he turned from the box in defeat at the fact he couldn't purchase the god forsaken device. And with that, the small group walked from the store and back over to the car that was parked by one of the pumps. Y/n opened one of the back doors and tossed the bags to the back seat were Oswald and Panchito would be sitting. She noticed a small white cardboard box on the floor with the symbolic red cross. That must have been the first aid box Bendy was talking about. 

Reaching into the car, she grabbed it and opened the box, thankfully it had box filled with band aids and bandages, taking out the gauze and the peroxide to kill whatever germs would have gotten into the rope burn, Y/n placed the box down on the seat and opened the disinfectant bottle. Pouring the liquid on both of her hands. Oswald spotted Y/n with the bottle, she saw his figure stand in front of her, causing her to glance away at her hand. 

"What?" She asks. 

"Need help?" Oswald peered down at her hand and noticed the two burn marks on both of her palms. His ears raised slightly—almost cautiously. 

"What happened?" He asks. He reached down towards the car seat and grabbed the wrapped up gauze in the white box before. He took Y/n's left hand and started wrapping her palm in the bandage. 

"It's a rope burn." She answered. Oswald nods—putting his focus on wrapping the bandage comfortably around her hand, after doing so—and surprisingly ripping the bandage without scissors needed, he moved to the next hand, Y/n looked at her now bandaged left hand, flexing her fingers to make sure it wasn't too tight, but no doubt, Oswald wrapped it up just fine. Y/n looked away from her hand and to Oswald—who was still focused on wrapping her hand up, with a small smile when he was finished Y/n thanked him. 

"Thanks. I probably would have done a shit job wrapping it up." She said. "No problem." He returned the gratitude and placed the gauze back into the white box. 

Placing the pump back in its holster, Bendy finally spoke up;

"Alright, let's go-where's Panchito?" Bendy looked away from Oswald and Y/n and across the small gas station. The rooster was holding onto something—tugging it back, looking closer, they could see that he was trying to keep the book from floating away. Which Panchito saw that the three were looking over, his talon lifting from the ground as he tugged harder back to the ground to keep the book from floating away. 

"A little help?!" He cried out. Soon the three rushed over to Panchito, Y/n hopped up and grabbed a hold of the book to tug it back down. Oswald grabbed Panchito's talon and tugged him back down to the ground. Bendy grabbed Y/n's ankle to tug her back down as well. Being the anchor for the book did help momentarily. But with a split second the book shot from both Panchito's and Y/n's grip, causing them to fall to the ground. The book didn't fly away as suspected. Instead it tossed itself to the concrete and the book flipped open. Pages flipping one after the other. 

Y/n groaned in exhaustion. Hitting the ground abruptly like people did in those films were nothing like real life. It was painful. 

Bendy was about to walk over to pick the book up. But Oswald placed a hand in front of the demon toon, stopping him from walking. "Wait. Let it do what it needs to do." He said. Which Bendy listened to Oswald. Soon the book stopped from it page flipping and quickly a page ripped itself out. The beige tinted paper levitates above the open book. The Golden tint that Y/n and Panchito saw from last night, surrounding it yet again.

Soon, it folded itself up into what resembled to be a paper airplane. 

"...what..?" Y/n muttered. Heaving herself off the ground to look at the paper. But before anyone could interject the paper shot off! Out of the gas station and down the one way road. That same transparent trail leading the way. Y/n soon caught on. 

"It's just trying to lead us." She told the three. Panchito was silent for a second before understanding what she meant. "Oh yes, like it did last night to Bendy." He recalled. Bendy muttered something under his breath, most likely about getting hit by the book abruptly. 

Oswald soon interjected realizing how mostly blind he was for the last few hours. 

"Who exactly is in Oregon that we're going to talk to?" Oswald asks. Y/n walked over to the now still book, and picked it up. 

"Donald Duck. Or so we're assuming. The location is in Duckburg, and Panchito knows someone from down there—which is Donald." Y/n explained. Oswald had taken a short moment to think to himself...now why did that name sound so familiar..? Donald Duck….Donald Duck...Oswald was positive he heard the name somewhere. As his foot gently thumped against the pavement as he tried to recollect that familiar name. Y/n closed the book after making sure nothing was damaged. Soon she started walking back to the car. 

"Come on! We're knocking off too much time, we need to make it there at least before midnight."

-

Ah, as the four make their way to Oregon, let's move over to Duckburg, shall we?

Yes, Duckburg. A city filled with—well. Toons. And ducks of course. A popular town in Oregon, most popular for the renowned gazillionaire, Scrooge McDuck. The man who solves mysteries and rewrites history. Also home to a stubborn and low tempered duck, known as Donald Fauntleroy Duck.

The sound of the water breathing and the creaking of the sailboat. A white duck sat in a wooden chair by the edge of the sailboat, his head leaning in the crease of his arm as he lazily stared into the water that rippled in motion from the sailboat rocking back and forth ever so slightly. 

The nylon rope that attached itself from the dock to the boat, creaked with the motion of the boat. 

Donald rarely ever had silence, just. Pure silence. With most of his time being taken up with caring for his 3 nephews, now that their mother was back...there was really no need for him to keep much of an eye out for the 3. It has been almost 3 weeks since his 3 nephews left town to spend time with their mother that they so rightfully deserved. Yes. It was a break from the 3 rowdy boys, but they left a presence—Donald missed his three nephews. And he wasn't used to the silence that now endeavors the sailboat. 

Scrooge, yes. Was still in town, but was busy doing his own thing...being rich, obviously.

You would think with the current plethora of time, someone who spent years taking care of kids would find something to do with their alone time—such as a favorite activity or even sleep. But Donald couldn't find anything to do. No one to talk to—as if he had many people to converse with anyway. He quit being in the industry starring as a toon a long time ago, and he didn't think about going back, ever. Especially with the new toons he's seen on TV. 

Maybe a trip? No, he'd much rather have went on a trip with the boys instead of being by himself. 

Continuing to pass the time by listening to the serene ambience around him. He suddenly flinched at the feeling of something sticking in his feathers. 

Donald stood up with a grunt and reached back to pluck something from his tail feathers. Once bringing it to his view, he saw it was folded paper—that resembled an airplane. Furrowing his eyebrows, Donald turned around to see who would have thrown the paper at him, but was met with no one but the buildings from the town and—well, nature. 

"What the…" he looked back down at the paper, assuming by accident the wind caught a hold of it, that way it hit him. He crumbled up the paper. And tossed it to the side. Where it landed in a nearby trash can. 

Donald fixed his black sailor uniform before taking a few steps forward to go inside, but the trash can jolted slightly. As if someone kicked it. Donald flinched and whipped in the direction to face the trash can. His feathers ruffled up—now he was cautious. The trash can jolted yet again, causing it to tip over, and out rolled the balled up paper that Donald tossed in a few moments ago. Along with a few other things that were tossed away. 

"..." Donald stared at the paper with wide eyes. Looking to the left and then to the right, he took a few steps forward, stopping in front of the paper, with a webbed foot, he gently kicked the paper—which it rolled slightly. As it rolled the paper uncrumpled itself. Laying flat as if it were never crumbled, not a crease shown. This was..odd. Donald never seen anything like this before. Of course his Uncle Scrooge dragged him to odd and life threatening adventures, but those adventures hadn't happened in a while. 

Reaching down. Donald picked up the paper. The golden aura illuminated slightly under the sun. Words had been scribbled onto the paper in what seemed to be in ink. Donald lifted a finger to see out of curiosity if he could smear the ink.  Which he couldn't. Holding back onto the paper with both his hands he read aloud the words on the paper. 

"Just...keep following..the trail…" Donald ready slowly. Squinting his eyes gently. Looking up to see if he could see a trail. He saw nothing. Looking back at the paper. Donald tilted his head in confusion. 

"What?" He asks himself. As he spoke, the paper lit up slightly. His confused statement was soon written down on the paper. 

'What?'

"Whoa…" he said in awe. Donald tilted the paper, took a look to see if he can try and activate anything that can happen, but—he couldn't. Quickly flipping the paper back to the right position to see ink was once again writing another statement. 

'What? Hello?'

Donald soon was starting to think that maybe he got in contact with someone through the paper…? But how?

He was trying to register all what was happening and how to react. Obviously, what he was holding was no ordinary paper. 

"Hello." Donald replied, and as it did it once before. His statement was written down in the paper—for whoever was receiving it, to reply back. This was...exciting. New. But...odd. Where did this paper come from and why is it here? 

And way over, Y/n was the one who had replied to Donald. 

Six hours had passed in the car. Panchito was sound asleep in the back. As Oswald was looking out the window, watching the fields pass by. Bendy was still driving and as for Y/n...she discovered something new about the book. 

The book laid open in her lap. She stared down at the greeting;

'Hello.'

Whoever it was was receiving what she was saying as it wrote whatever she said down. And the same coming from whoever was on the other end. 

"Hey, for some reason I'm able to speak to someone on here." Y/n turned to look at Bendy, and then turned her gaze to Oswald.  Oswald looked away from the window and to Y/n. Leaning forward he peered down at the book in her lap to see the words screaming on the paper as if some sort of transcript.

"The book can talk too?" Oswald asks. He soon heaved himself up, slightly nudging Y/n to scoot over with his foot. 

"Scootch." He said. Y/n complained slightly. But moved over towards the left so Oswald could sit by the door. Plopping into the seat, Y/n saw the book wrote down what Oswald said. 

'The book can talk too?'

Which, whoever read it. Already replied by the time Oswald sat down. 

'Book? What book? My name is Donald'

Y/n mouth slowly opened as if she silently gasped. Oswald read the reply as well. His ears immediately shot up, almost hitting the ceiling of the car. 

"Look! Bendy, it's Donald!" Y/n shows the book to Bendy. Who finally focused on the new topic. Glancing at the book. His focused expression soon turned to one of surprisement. 

"Wait—how did—"

"Wait! You mean, Donald Duck?!" Oswald shouts. In what seemed to be anger. This caused Panchito to snort and abruptly wake up. His eyes squinting at the sunlight. Bendy glanced at the road and to Oswald. As Y/n gave Oswald a puzzled yet cautious expression. 

"Are you mad?" Bendy asked. Oswald looked between the two, his arms crossed for a moment before he increased them to try and think of an excuse. His ears lowered slightly. "No." Was all he said. Now he knew. Donald Duck. The Donald Duck...how did he not know..?

Y/n slowly looked back at the book to see another reply from Donald. 

'what's going on?'

"What does it say?" Bendy asks, he was too busy staring at the road to read the book. But Y/n took care to read out the question Donald asks. 

"He asked what's going on." She repeats. Soon, Oswald took the book from her hands. 

"We'll explain when we get there, it's me, Oswald and three others, short story, we have a book. And we need to see you. So be there and stay there." He said. And the exact words were written on the paper. A few seconds later, a reply from Donald scrawled on the paper. 

'Oswald? Why if it isn't my pal! Who're the other three? When will you be here?'

Y/n and Oswald read the reply and soon Bendy glanced over at Oswald. "You have some sort of vendetta or something against him, or?" Bendy trailed off to see if he could get an answer from Oswald. The rabbit muttered something before reply. 

"I'd rather keep it to myself. And no, I don't have a problem with him." Oswald replied. But Y/n wasn't too focused on their conversation, but more with trying to get to know the new member of the team, and that being Donald!

"Hi, my name is Y/n. Long story short, there's four of us right now, and we're looking for nine other people, what you're holding onto right now, is a piece of this book, I'm only assuming if we can communicate from a piece of paper, you're one of the people of our team that we're looking for, as Oswald said. We're on our way to Duckburg, stay there, and we'll tell you everything."

Y/n's short explanation copied itself onto the paper as it did before. Oswald leaned closer to look into the book. 

Soon. Donald replied. 

'Alright, I'll be here then.'

Donald even gave the address to them, even though the faint golden hue that was leading them down the roadway was enough. It was good to have his address as well. 

"Well this made this a thousand times easier." Bendy spoke up. Y/n closed the book with a nod. Leaning back into the seat, which wasn't much room as Oswald was squeezed into the seat as well. But he didn't seem to want to move either way. 

"We should be there by nightfall. So we'll have plenty of time to speak to Donald and get him caught up." Oswald glanced back out the window. Y/n looked over at Oswald. Who once again was back into his pool of thoughts. Y/n turned slightly to look into the back of the car. And found Panchito sound asleep yet again. His sombrero was now on the floor as his head leaned on the window, sleeping peacefully, Y/n was sure Panchito was exhausted with the amount of traveling he did to find Y/n and the others. He deserved the rest. Sitting back yet again, Y/n watched the road pass by. Bendy yet again placing his focus on the road. 

-

"Y/n. Wake up—-wake up….Hey!"

"Ow!" Y/n flinched at a painful pinch to her arm. Her eyelids shooting over and her optics turning over to meet Bendy's pie cut eyes.  He was standing on the passenger side, the door was open. And Oswald was seen in the background standing next to Panchito.  Behind them was a sailboat. The sun seemed to have been down for hours as the stars were out, the moon as well. Shining brightly in the sky for all to see. The lights on the sailboat glimmering in the chill night sky. 

"We're here. You were asleep the entire ride here." He adds. Y/n for a moment was disappointed at the fact she was asleep for so long, missing half of—well she didn't miss anything serious. But—either way, she wished she was up for the majority of the ride. 

"What? Why didn't you guys wake me up?" She unbuckled herself. Grabbing the book and her book bag that was on the floor. Placing it back in the bag and zipping it up. Y/n tossed the book around her shoulder and closed the door behind her. Bendy then stood next to her. 

"Trust me. We did. But that doesn't matter, we're in Duckburg now, and I believe this is Donald's address." Bendy motioned towards the sailboat that Oswald and Panchito were standing in front of. Y/n's eyes widen in awe. 

"Whoa…" she didn't know anyone that lived on a boat house..it was..cool to see actually. 

"What time is it?" She asked. Walking over to the other two. Bendy trailing beside her. Oswald glanced at his wrist—where a wrist watch would have been. 

"11:45PM before midnight." He said in a sly tone. Bendy squints his eyes. 

"But you don't have a wrist wa—"

"Donal!!"

"Panchito?!" 

Bendy, Oswald, and Y/n looked over to see Panchito sped across the dock and onto the boat, crashing into a white feathered duck. Donald Duck. 

Panchito laughed in excitement, locking Donald in a tight hug. Donald doing the same with a smile stretched on his beak, he seemed shocked to see Panchito, a look of familiarity and security washed over his face, Panchito hopped from one talon to the other as his tail feathers ruffling, he took a small step back to take in the sight of Donald, Donald did the same.

“I didn’t know you would be here! I haven’t seen you in so long! You’ve gotten taller, time surely does pass huh?” Donald spoke, his tail feather wagging repeatedly from pure joy, Panchito laughed and nodded his head, he extended his hands to motions towards the three; Oswald, Bendy and Y/n, Donald looked over and spotted the three, almost forgetting they were there. They were standing by the bridge of the dock that connected to the sailboat, Y/n had her focus on Donald and Panchito, and their interaction with each other, it was unbelievable on how the two knew each other and had such a tight and close bond, it was nice to see how exciting their first meeting was.

“This. These are my friends!” Panchito said, Donald’s eyes

Immediately went over to Oswald, who was already looking at Donald, the white duck perked up yet again before he walked away from the dock and over to the three, Panchito trailing right behind Donald.

“Oswald! I’m so glad to see you!” Donald extended his arms and almost immediately pulled Oswald into a hug, it seemed Oswald tried to back away from the hug by taking a step back and putting his hands up, but Donald didn’t seem to notice, wrapping his arms around Oswald, the rabbit deflated at the hold before wrapping his arms around the sailor in a warm hug.

“Yeah...good to see you too, buddy.” Oswald mumbled to him. Bendy looked at Y/n, which Y/n did the same. They both shared the same expression; they both know each other too?

“Oswald, you didn’t tell us that you knew, Donald.” Bendy told the rabbit, Donald pulled away from Oswald at Bendy’s statement, but he didn’t look at Oswald for answers or curiosity, he turned his gaze over to Bendy, Bendy! Donald has seen Bendy plenty of times on TV, though, he hadn’t personally met him, his nephews enjoyed watching the demon on screen, watching as Bendy did tons of crazy acts to other toons he forgot the names of, he was of the generations newest cartoons to be introduced, and Donald was curious to see that the same demon was right in front of him!

Bendy smiled and waved at Donald before taking a step forward to shake Donald’s hand, which Donald took hold of Bendy's hand, the two shaking each other’s hand.

“Hiya! My name is Bendy, it’s an honor ta’ meet the Donald Duck! I’ve see tons of ya’ shorts, and y—”

“You kiddin?! It’s an honor to meet you! It’s nice to see rising toons out here, you’ve been such an icon lately!” Donald and Bendy went back and forth in a conversation that Y/n slipped away from when she caught sight of Oswald, Oswald was still standing off

To the side, watching the two speak, they

Sound like businessmen of some sort, as if they could finally, Relate to each other in some way or form, Bendy and Donald momentarily being in their own world, Donald tagging in Panchito who stood by them, listening to their conversation.

Oswald didn’t seem too interested in the conversation, his left hand rubbing his right arm up and down slowly before he looked off somewhere else, Y/n didn’t know too much about Oswald, but she was certain there was something there about him that made him act the way he did, his sudden angry outburst, his strange way of showing a greeting to Donald, now thinking on it, Y/n didn’t know much about Panchito either—other than he lives somewhere in Mexico and not America, and Bendy—she also didn’t have much about him either.

“Y/n!” Y/n looked away from Oswald and over to Panchito, who a few meters away was beckoning her over to Donald and Bendy, the other two looked at her as Panchito had his arm wrapped around Donald’s shoulder, once he saw he got Y/n’s attention, he smiled widely and said; “Come here Querida, come meet my closest friend!”

Y/n placed a smile on her face and walked over to the three, Donald immediately held out his hand for a hand shake, a smile stretching onto his beak. Y/n took his hand and shook it.

“Nice ta’ meet ya’ toots!” He introduces, Y/n felt her smile widen, such positive energy from meeting a new person once again invaded the air, she knew of Donald Duck, of course who wouldn’t? Meeting him was a nice feeling she didn’t even think she would have the chance to get. 

“Hi, my name is Y/n, Y/n L/n, it’s nice to meet you, Panchito seems very fond of you,” Y/n looked over at Panchito who smiled at her, looking back at Donald he laughed lightly.

“Yes, seeing you Donald was the last thing I expected, especially in this circumstance.” Donald seemed to perk up slightly at the end of Panchito’s statement, of course, they were there for a reason! Not just to have a reunion party.

“Oh yes, you guys mentioned a book, right? Come in, we’ll discuss it inside.” Donald waved his hand for the group to follow him inside the sailboat, Panchito trotted beside Donald, wrapping an arm around Donald’s shoulders as the two started their own conversation, Bendy lifted his arm slightly towards Y/n, causing her

To look at his arm with a puzzled expression, until quickly after she caught on and wrapped her arm

around his arm, but Y/n took sight of Oswald when she glanced over her shoulder to him, he trailed behind, and Y/n noticed a look of contemplation on his face, she then decided to unhook her arm from Bendy’s. Bendy slowly stopped walking and looked over at Y/n.

“What’s wrong?” He asks her, Y/n motioned towards Oswald.  “You go in, I’m gonna have a talk with Oswald,” she said, Bendy looked at Oswald

For a moment, who noticed the two stopped walking and he did too. Bendy looked back at the sailboat and then back at Y/n. She motioned for him to go in with her hand. “Get Donald caught up, we’ll be in there soon.” She said, Bendy nods before walking off without a second thought, looking away from Bendy’s retreating form, she heard footsteps near her, looking back over to her opposite side she saw Oswald standing next to her.

“You seem a bit disconnected.” She started, Oswald ears raised as he stared at the open door of the sailboat house, the golden warm glow spilled from the corridor. 

Y/n could only assume it was because of the sudden occurring events from the past few hours and the fact that Oswald kidnapped the odd man that they all know could obviously deem him as their enemy.

Looking away from the boat, Y/n looked at Oswald, though he didn’t turn to look at her, instead he spoke slowly.

“No, no, I’m fine. Just exhausted.” Which was partially true, Oswald wasn’t able to get a good amount of sleep last night back at the studio nor in the car on their way to Oregon, Duckburg, but that was only a portion of his obscure change of emotions. Looked around at the quiet dock that led to a small neighborhood, Y/n turned around and walked back over the car, parked on the side by the sidewalk she spoke to Oswald. “Come on, we’ll talk in the car.” She said as she walked to the car to unlock it, which was surprisingly still unlocked. Oswald looked at her for a moment with wide eyes, he was...surprised, no one really took the chance to speak to him, whether that would be on a serious and

personal level, or just in general. So, he followed her.

Once inside the car, with Y/n sitting in the driver seat, she stared out the window for a moment, looking up at the dark sky, the stars shining in the sky and the full moon shining down on the quiet neighborhood, the chirping of crickets in the thickets and bushes and the the buzzing of cicadas hiding in the trees, leaning back in the chair the cool air was now crisp and comfortable to sit out in without having the car running for heat to not freeze the death. Oswald sat in the passenger seat and closed the door once he was seated. 

Once hearing the door close Y/n looked back over at Oswald. “I didn’t know you knew Donald,” she tried to start the conversation with the rabbit, Oswald rested his elbow on the arm rest of the car as he looked at Y/n. “Yeah, we know each other, we go way back. I guess you can say.” He answered her. Y/n nods before looking back to the drivers side of the window, she didn’t know much about Oswald to sit and interrogate him about how distant he reacted to certain things, she really didn’t know him enough to demand him to spill his problems to her—if he even had any to begin with and it’s just Y/n misinterpreting his emotions—which she hope it wasn’t that latter. She was trying to find the comfortable route to have Oswald speak to her if he was upset about something, to her, it was better to have a group that’s all on the same page and agree with each other. But, Oswald seemed to already start the conversation himself.

“I uh—want to apologize when we were at the studio, and I agreed with Bendy,” he starts. Y/n tried to think back on what he meant, she took a few moments and realized the small meeting they all had back at the studio with Alice and Boris. Looking back at him, she waved her hand lightly, as if dismissing the thought.

“Oh no, you’re fine—you guys are right, we need to focus on what really matters,” though she slightly agreed with her own statement, she was still on the fence with the 2nd problem growing at hand with society, but thinking on it more...there’s not much she can do to change the mind of society. 

“So, tell me about yourself? What do you like to do?” She asks, folding her hands on her stomach so she can put her full attention on Oswald. Oswald’s ears rose, almost touching the roof of the car. “Well, I didn’t expect that question for you—hm...let’s see. I like to travel, I love to meet new people, I used to collect enamel pins, but I gave them away.” He names off several things, and Oswald seemed pretty much like an average toon.

“Why’d you sell the pins?” Y/n asked. Oswald only shrugged slightly, he didn’t have an explanation for that—or just didn’t want to tell her. 

“Just didn’t want to keep up with them anymore.” Was his only answer. Nodding, Y/n was silent for a moment.

“How often do you get out?”

“Not as much as I should—what are you my therapist now?” He joked playfully at Y/n’s question, Y/n smiled before shaking her head.

“So, are you really lucky or do you just assume you are?” That question was actually at the back of her head for hours, Last night when Oswald was angry that his ‘luck’ was gone and then later that night, it came back with the situation with the semi-truck rolling, which—that was pretty damn lucky.

Oswald seemed to smile smugly and slick his ears back as if slicking down a hairstyle. “I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but—I am a fairly lucky rabbit.” He winks, Y/n laughs at his silly expression.

“Okay then, hopefully that luck will help us out along the way,” Oswald snorted and shook his head lightly.

“Eh, I dunno, Donald’s luck is pretty bad.”

“He has bad luck?” 

“Unluckiest Duck, no one gets stuck with all the bad luck than Donald Duck,” Oswald said. That was interesting, bad luck and good luck? That surely must come in handy.

Sitting in silence looking out the windows and taking in the serene silence. Oswald felt..happy and at peace that someone took a time from their day to have a short one on one conversation with him. 

“Hey!” Oswald and Y/n looked over towards the passenger side window to see Panchito in the doorway on the sailboat. He waved his hand for the two to come onto the boat.

“Come on!”

-

Walking into the boat house, the warm air coaxed Y/n’s figure, Bendy was busy speaking with Donald, he took Y/n’s book bag which had the book in it, Donald was—surprised, not only had the book opened for him—as they all suspected in the first place, this was an odd scenario he had ever been in! Watching as Donald then placed his hand on the book, as the four had done before, he quacked in surprisement when the golden  light traced his hand on the page and wrote his name down.

Donald looked down at his palm and then the book, Bendy placed the book on the table that he and Donald were standing near.  “Well! That’s that, welcome to the team,” Bendy grinned at Donald, who looks over at Panchito, Oswald and Y/n—who were all watching him.

“Well—what’s next then?” He asked, Bendy closed the book and placed it back into Y/n’s bag. “Well, we can’t say, we so far have been only looking for the rest of the team.” Oswald answered, Y/n nods.

Donald looked at the group and thought for a mere second.

“Well, how about this? You all stay here tonight, and when morning comes, we have a meeting on what the next move should be, you all drove all the way here, so rest should be the first thing in the list.” Y/n was glad not only did Donald have them somewhere to stay, but to seemingly be someone on the team to make the plans—and Y/n could only imagine how much structure they would need in their growing team.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Y/n answered, Bendy then motions towards Y/n. “Well, the lady said it fellas,” he said. 

“I call the couch.” Oswald made a straight walk to the couch that was a few meters away, Y/n realized the living room and kitchen was attached, not much of a surprise as this was a small section of the sailboat that could be lived in, small, but

Comfortable for one person.

“So, Donald, are you going to be tagging along with us whenever we leave town?” Y/n walked over to the table Donald was still standing at, next to Bendy. Donald smiled and nodded. “Oh man, will I?! I’ve been meaning to get outdoors in some time, Spending time with my best pal—“ he looked over at Panchito, who wandered over to stand beside Bendy and then Donald looked at Y/n.

“And you guys as well! This would be great.”  He replies, that’s good! He wanted to tag along, making things a lot easier. “Ah? Wonderful, this should be fun, I have all these wonderful people around me!”

Panchito extends his arms, motioning towards everyone in the room, a wide smile stretched onto his beak. 

“Do any of you have an idea where the others might be located?” Donald asks, Panchito’s arms lowered to his side, Bendy then shook his head.

“We don’t have a clue, but the book for the most part led us to the right people. So, we’ve pretty much been relying on the book to be our guide.” Bendy replied, Y/n agreed with him, yes. For the most part they have been just blindly following that book to lead them to the right person, which for the most part has been proving itself as good. Donald seemed to make a questionable expression, but shrugged it off. If they managed to find him, who was he to disagree with how they were doing their seeking game to find the rest of the team.

He walked over to a corridor on the side of the room, that seemed to be a small hallway. “I’ll go and get more blankets, I’ll be right back.” Donald then disappeared down the halls, Panchito, Y/n and Bendy watched before the three looked at each other. 

“This was a lot easier than I expected.” Y/n said. 

“Tell me about it, I thought it would take ages to find the guy.” Bendy walked over to the couch that Oswald was busy occupying, placing the book bag on the side of the couch before sitting down. Despite being asleep for half the ride, Y/n did feel fatigue start to seep into her body, despite the fact she was asleep for the majority of the ride, she was still tired from not being able to properly sleep in the car. 

“Can we get breakfast tomorrow? All day we’ve been running off of chips.” Y/n pipes up, her optics slowly observing the decor of the room, a pretty simple living with, with a couch—one love seat, a coffee table and a TV. Oswald was about to answer Y/n until Donald walked back in with a pile of blankets, which were really 2 blankets, he stumbled over to the couch due to the big blankets causing him to loose footing slightly, dumping the blankets between Oswald and Bendy, Donald let out a sigh of relief.

“There, those are the ones I could find, if you need anymore I can go get more.” Donald said. Oswald looked at the blankets and shook his head. “This should be fine, Donald. Thanks.”

Y/n grabbed a blanket and tugged it from the pile, The blanket was big enough to sleep just fine—not that it mattered? Any sort of blanket or pillow Donald would have gave her she would have gracefully taken, she wasn’t complaining—after all they all were at his home.

Walking over to the love seat, she took notice that Panchito was seated on one side of it, Though, there was still space for her to sit down next to him, which she did. Panchito noticed and turned his head to look at her with a smile.

And for the rest of the night, it was filled with silence and...sleep.

-

“Okay. I’m not gonna tell ya’ this another time, mutt.”

The lights flickered on, Boris squinted his pie cut shaped eyes at the sudden light, a small grunt escaping his mouth. He was sitting at a desk that was cluttered with paper—music notes—and other blank pieces of unused paper, the desk lamp turned towards him, the light shining in his eyes as Boris was squinting his eyes to get the light from his face.

“Where’s Bendy…” 

Sammy stood across the desk, his hand on the neck of the lamp that was pointing at Boris, a suspicious expression written in his face, his question—sounded more like a statement than a question. Boris' eyes flicked up and down Sammy, who still had that suspicious glint in his eyes.  Boris soon rolled his eyes.

“Out of town, like Henry told us.”  Was his simple answer, Sammy scoffed before pushing himself away from the desk. 

“Ah, bullshit. Do you really think I’ll fall for that? He’s up to something.”

“He’s always up to something.” Boris blankly added in, Sammy waved his hand, As if dismissing Boris to make him silent.

Soon, a new voice popped in.

“Samuel, can we please leave now? I need to read over the new script that just came in, and you’re wasting my time.” Boris and Sammy looked over, Alice was seated in a chair as well, behind the desk—next to Boris. Boris' ears perked up.

“When did you get here?” He asked. Alice sighed before turning her gaze to Sammy, her leg crossed over the other.

“Now, darling. What is it that you want? As said, Bendy’s on a short vacation, most likely to get away from you and ya’ bickerin, you had him behind the eight ball making him practice his music segments,” Alice was very fluent in her words, covering up the fact that she indeed knew where and what Bendy and the others were at and their objective, but she was a strong toon and wasn’t going to break or falter under Sammy’s gaze.

Sammy lifted the corner of his lips in a quick scoff.

“I wasn’t pushing him, he was the one who can’t keep a straight alto for one verse. But that’s besides the point. Alice? Weren’t you the one that grew suspicious of him from that night? You were basically all around the studio yapping about putting the fella in a stronghold for keeping a secret,”

Alice looked at Sammy for a moment, the cogs in her brain turning.. was she really that mad? Wow, she needs to work on that.

“I’m over it now, not my business.” She  crossed her arms, Sammy sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Fine, I got work to do anyway.” He turned around and walked over to the side of the room, flicking on the lights in the meeting room, he then opened the door.

“And don’t forget, practice your lines, This is the 3rd time this week you forgot a whole verse, Alice.” He said as he walked out the room, closing the door behind him. Alice watched the door for a moment.

“What’s his deal?” She asks Boris, Boris tapped the table with his index finger. “Most likely mad he can’t finish a drafted music sheet.” 

She stood up from the seat, dusting her black dress. Taking a small sigh she then looked over at Boris.  “Okay. Back to the real news, have you collected anything last night? Any information?” She asks the wolf. Boris thought for a moment. 

“Hmm..I dunno. Nothin’ too eye catchin’, I would remember more if you didn’t hit me in the head.” He eyed Alice for a moment before standing up from the seat, Alice only hummed before going back to task at hand.

“Well, I couldn’t find much of anything last night either, other than Tommy’s small infatuation with pine cones.” She said. Alice walks around the desk, and over to the door, Boris follows behind her as the two exit the room and into the hallway. It was the next day—9AM to be exact and many people were already in the studio, doing their jobs and whatnot.

“So. Why do we need to be the lookout for intel again?” Boris asks. Lifting a hand to scratch behind his ears. Alice walked down the hall with a confident stride in her step. She fixed her silky hair before she pushed up two doors that led to the office area of the building.

“Boris, hun—we’ve been over this.” Alice said. The sound of people chattering, keyboards, paper and other machines filled the air. Walking over to a desk—similar to the receptionist desk at the lobby of the building—Boris stood next to Alice as the two looked at Annie who was looking through a set of papers.

“Sorry we’re late Mrs. Bell. Sammy had us in a hold again.” Alice smiled at the lady. Annie looked away from the papers and to Boris and Alice. Giving the two a welcoming smile she lifted two stacks of paper and placed them on the desk, in front of Alice and Boris. 

“Ah, no worries dear. Here’s the new scripts that just came in last night. I gave Henry’s Bendy’s script whenever the fella gets back in town.” Annie told the two. Alice nods as she lifted a pen from a cup that was on the desk and wrote her name down in the screenplay—to keep track of it.

“So, how has your mornin’ been Ms. Bell?” Boris asked. Though he didn’t take his eyes off the screenplay.

Annie had gone back to organizing the many papers on the desk—she always wanted all her desk organized.

“Pretty well, got here early since my nephew went back to Colorado for school and I didn’t have to make him breakfast—Henry told me earlier he saw a restaurant that didn’t Allow toons. Turns out there’s a law now that has been passed about a week ago where any human that doesn’t feel safe about toons has the will to not allow them in certain establishments. Crazy because I never even been notified from any article or news report about the crazy new law—to be honest that’s just horrible.”

This caused Alice to fumble in whatever else she was writing on the paper, the crooked line on the paper was soon ignored as Alice looked at Annie. Boris did the same as well. Annie sighs and shakes her head.

“I know Deary. Disappointing. I never knew this would be like this. The board last night had a meeting with Henry. Lately there have been some complaints from parents that Bendy’s appearance is too inappropriate for the kids, you know. Since he resembles a demon and all. But—that’s an issue we can’t fix no matter the complaints—but—he said that the board wants the entire cast out for a meet and greet to show a good face for the show—you know. Not to have any heads start turning to us with this whole toon debacle. Last thing we need is people trying to talk bad about you all just because.” Annie said. Boris tilts his head slightly.

“They want us to do a character meet and greet to show that we’re...good? Basically. Tha—“

“Seems like a bunch of bologna!” Shouts a scruff voice. Alice sighs as her shoulders sunk. An expression of annoyance written on her face. Three toons walks over, the show's antagonists— yet 3 silly and lovable characters.

Charley, Barley and Edgar. The one speaking, the head honcho, Charley. The toon pushed Boris and Alice over to squeeze between them. Lifting a forearm to lean on the desk and look at Annie.

“3 screenplays, if ya’ will. Make it snappy.”  He grins. Annie only lets a small laugh out, picking up three screen plays. She hands them over to Charley, he takes them and toss them behind his back, the three script books flew in the air and back down—aiming right above the eyepatch wearing toon, Barley.

Barley looks up and the two scripts fall onto him, causing him to fall to the ground with a; “oof!” He lifts a hand up as if to say something, but the 3rd script falls onto him with a loud; Thud!

“So, where’s Ben-man? Am I late to somethin’ or what? And why the hell is Sammy runnin’ around shoutin? We ain’t even start blocking the script yet.” Charley stands up straight and looked between the three.

“And what’s with the faces?”

“We!—“ Alice clears her throat from the sudden shout—she didn’t have time for Charley and his obnoxious and egotistical attitude! She was

More focused on speaking with Annie about the discussions Henry had with the board.  

“We were discussing something, Charley. Now if you don’t mind. Can we continue it without you being a disruption.” Alice places her hands together as she smiled at Charley, her cheeks prominent as she gave him an innocent expression. Her golden halo flickered for a moment. She was lying. 

Charley stared at her for a moment with furrowed eyebrows.

“What are ya’ bluenosin’ for? What are ya’ ladies gossiping about this time? I wanna know my onions too!” He looks over at Boris. 

“Yer in on this too or something’?! gee biz—what the hell am I? Dirt? Let me in too!” Charley then started to complain about not always being in on the fun. Alice signed and rubbed her temple at the complainants.

“Oh hush, Charley. Bendy is out of town. And we’re discussing how the board meeting went last night for Henry.” Annie stopped Charley from talking. Charley rose an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

“Oh? Ya’ meant how Henry’s been pullin’ his own hair about how the peeps have been getting angry about Bendy being a demon toon—if ya’ ask me. We should just put him back in a Tutu, that’ll make em’ shut up. Or are ya’ talkin’ about how Henry plans on Havin’ us interact with people at this kids birthday party next Friday.”

“A what?” Boris and Alice said in unison. Alice slammed her hands on the table.

“A birthday party?! What idea is that? How would that help the view on toons—that makes no sense!” Alice sighed and rubbed her forehead. Annie sighed softly.

“Well, Alice. It’s for the best right now. Business things—that’s what I also say when things don’t make sense.” Annie told Alice. 

“Squeak Squeak!” Edgar waddled over. Speaking in his own language of squeaks. Charley nods—understand what the spider toon said.

“Yeah, me too.” Charley agreed with..whatever it was

Edgar said.

Alice picked up her script and took Boris by the collar of his shirt and started to walk away.

“Thanks for the info, Annie. C’mon Boris. We got work to do.” Alice dragged Boris—he stumbled behind her, Edgar waved goodbye as Boris waved goodbye back. Barley still on the floor. Mounted by the three scripts and Charley looking at the two with squinted eyes.

“Is it me—or does she seem more quippier than usual?” Charley asks Annie. Annie raised an eyebrow.

“That’s not even a word.”

Edgar watched as Alice and Boris walked away. The spider toon followed after them, stepping over Barley—who was still on the floor and groaned when Edgar climbed over him. Charley noticed that the spider butcher was walking away.

“Ed, where are ya’ goin?” He calls out. But Edgar didn’t reply.

Meanwhile, Alice walked down the hall, muttering something under her breath, her halo flickering ever so slightly, Boris looked up at his angel friend halo and unhooked himself from her grip—which she didn’t seem to notice. Boris caught his balance and started walking next to Alice.

“Take a breather.  Who knows, maybe going to a kids birthday party to spend time with them won’t seem too bad after all.” Boris said in an optimistic tone, but Alice wasn’t having it. Scoffing—the angel shook her head before she turned around and moved to stand in front of Boris. Boris noticed and stopped walking as he gave her a puzzled expression.

“No, don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter how fun the party is! Why do we need to create this—this—this facade, to make sure the audience don’t look at us as if we’re the lunatic toons that are making those crimes, we already had that case with Joey—but that was a few years ago, but still—we’re alive just as much as humans are too—on goodness me, don’t even get me started on the restaurant issue—who do those people think they are—“ Alice went on and on, complaining, but it seemed more like she was venting. Which Boris took notice of. His ears slowly standing on its ends and his tail wagged quickly.

“Wait, Alice. You’re doing what we’ve read from those news articles, complaining.” Boris piped up, cutting Alice off. Alice looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Yes Boris, dear, obviously I’m complaining—isn’t that obvious—this is—“

“Toons are retaliating.” He cuts her off yet again. Alice stared at Boris. And soon caught whim of what he meant. Alice stared at Boris for a moment. Of course! Toons are reaching their end—they tired of being tossed around like—Well toons! How didn’t she and everyone else not see it to begin with?! It was bright as day.

“Squeak!” Alice looks over, behind Boris to see Edgar, Boris turns around and moves to stand next to Alice so he could look at the spider toon.

“Squeak squeak!” The spider started to squeak incoherently. Waving his two arms around—whatever it was, he wanted to tell Alice and Boris.

Boris only tilts his head in confusion, he could never understand a word Edgar was saying—but it seemed Charley and Barley could always understand their butcher friend just fine.

“What?” Boris muttered. Alice stared down at Edgar.

“Eddie, honey...I can’t understand you, we—you know this.” Alice said softly. Edgar slowly lowered his arms and looked between Alice and Boris. But he didn’t give it—he seemed very determined to tell the two whatever it was he needed to say.

Edgar hopped up and down. Baring his fangs as he came from his mouth. Soon lifting both his arms up, way above his head. Resembling ears before hopping around. Putting his two arms down he extended his arms as if aiming towards something he emitted a small; “pew! Pew!”

Then, he stood up straight and tall. As if to hold a broad and confident stature. 

“Uh—horseback riding!” Boris shouts. Alice made a noise before nudging her elbow into Boris’s arms. He grunts and looks at her. 

“What? I thought we were playing charades?” He said innocently.

“No, he’s obviously trying to tell us something, But I don’t know what it is..” Alice tapped her chin. Boris inhaled and was about to say something, but Alice cut him off.

“And it’s not horseback riding.” She told him. Boris deflated and his ears flattened against his head.

“I can never have fun..”

Edgar could see the two were still having problems understanding him. Standing there he tried to find a conclusion to make him more understandable. Soon, he scurried away down the hall. Alice opened her mouth to shout after him, but as quick as lighting. Edgar zipped back over and was holding a book—which was just some random novel he took from someone’s desk. Opening it, he dropped it to the floor and zipped away yet again—and back over! This time with a trench coat covering his body—due to him being a small toon. The coat mauled him slightly, but that wasn’t Alice’s concern. Edgar soon opened the trench coat, revealing himself—he wore pencil mustache by his—Well where his nose should have been.

Edgar let out squeaks similar to a cackle before he picked up the book and a triumphant expression rid his face.

“Wait…” Alice whispered. She placed a finger on her temple that...pencil mustache—it resembled someone she was familiar with.

“Boris—did you understand him?” Alice looked over at her Wolf friend. Boris looked away from Edgar who looked up at them with a gleam of hope.

“Uh—“ Boris' tail sagged slightly. Alice crossed her arms.

“Boris!”

“Hey! I’m running off of an oatmeal bar I ate this morning, give me a break!”

Alice waved Boris away before turning her head to look at Edgar. “Eddie, are you telling us you saw Bendy with three others?” Alice asked Edgar. And he nods! She was right! She was on the right page! And not only that—she got answers! A lead! Gosh, she sounded like a detective.

“Were they a rabbit, a rooster and girl?” She asks yet again. And he nods. 

“Where were you when you saw them?” 

Edgar points up to the ceiling. 

“Stargazing? I know right, I heard the stars were out that night, did you see any shooting stars?” Boris asks. Edgar shook his head frantically before pointing up at the ceiling again. Alice raised an eyebrow.

“So, you weren’t outside?” 

He shook his head.

“Then where were you?” She asks. And yet again, he points to the ceiling, this time she looks up and sees a vent. Looking back down at him she then wondered;

“You were in the vents? Why?” She asks. Edgar only shook his head side to side as if saying; ‘so-so’

“Long story?”

“Squeak squeak.”

“How come you didn’t tell Charley and Barley?” She asks.  Edgar shook his head before baring his teeth and lifting his hands up to his head resembled horns.

“You knew Bendy wouldn’t want that?” She asks. And he nods. 

“So you saw whoever was in that trench coat the others were telling me about? Bendy told me and Boris everything. But have you seen that man in the trench coat?” Edgar shivers at Alice question before

Nodding. He pointed at the pencil mustache that was still on his face.

“Well whoever it is has a mustache.” Boris said. Edgar nods—but he didn’t end there. He motioned around their surroundings, as if signaling the area.

“I don’t understand you..” Alice said—shaking her head. What did he mean? What did he mean?

“Do you know for sure all the details on who was in that coat?” Alice asks. Edgar paused momentarily, shaking his hand; so-so—like he did before.

“How did you even see em’ you followed them?”

Edgar bashfully nods his head. 

“You know this would be much easier if we just had Charley translate for us. No offense, Edgar.” Boris quips. Alice shook her head. “What? No, I

Specifically told the others that whatever they shared with me and you before they left town, stays between us. I mean..come on Boris—they have a stolen book, we can’t just go around telling anyone. Most certainly not Charley and Barley, Edgar is now an exception because it’s obvious he has more in depth details about what he saw, plus. I like him.” Alice placed a hand on Edgar’s head. The arachnid smiled and purred softly.

Boris crossed his arms.  “Biased much. But fine, we’ll do it your way..”

“There is no, ‘my way’—it’s the most reasonable way

So no one gets in trouble.” Alice reasoned with Boris. Boris hummed in acknowledgment. 

“Okay, well can he at least write it in a piece of paper? I hate charades—it’s giving me a headache.”

“Fine, let’s go, then later in, we’ll have to contact the others—Detective Alice—wow, never knew I would hear that title—sounds catchy!” She boasted and turned around to walk down the hall with a cheerful stride in her step.  Edgar follows behind, squeaking happily.

“Oh brother..”  Boris muttered and face palmed before dragging himself to follow Alice and Edgar.

-

Y/n was still asleep on the loveseat. The blankets was lifted close to her face—cascading her in warmth. Her head leaned in the armrest of the couch. One leg posted up on the other armrest as her other leg hung off the couch. 

Slam!

The front door opened harshly and stumbled in..Panchito.

This caused Y/n to flinch. Her heart jumping in her throat as she sat up quickly. Bendy was asleep on the floor, and his head was under the coffee table. When he flinched and sat up. His head hit the table. His hand shot up and held his head as he grunted painfully. Oswald slowly opened his eyes. Which were squinted.

“Panchito—what—why aren’t you asleep? Why are you outside? What’s wrong?” Y/n rubbed her eyes, the blanket fell off her as Panchito walked into the living room.

“I have found—this!” He extended his arms and opened his palm. Showcasing...a turtle. A small turtle. 

“I found this little guy by the dock! Isn’t he so cute! I will name him. BB—no! Chirp. Because when I found him. He was making a chirping sound—“

Bendy soon got up and walked over to Panchito.

“Did you really wake us up for a stupid turtle? Go throw it out!” 

“Can you guys keep your voices down please, gosh..” Oswald turned his back towards the three and lifted the blanket to his face. Panchito moved the turtle away from Bendy—so the demon wouldn’t try anything as he suspected.

“But—he is so cute. Look at him.”

“It’s a turtle. Put it back.”

“No!”

“Hey!” Oswald shouts before sitting up and turning to look at Bendy and Panchito. The two looked over at the rabbit.

“Cut it out! It’s too early for all that!”

“Actually.” Donald suddenly appeared in the room. Standing near the front door. The sun is brighter than usual. All the way in the sky. Which was odd for a morning sunrise...

“It's 1 in the afternoon.”

-

Placing the book on the hood of the car. Y/n opened it and started flipping through the papers to find the map. The sun was out and it was pretty hot out. Finding the map yet again been marked with a small ink dot, the last ink dot that marked Oregon was gone.  But—that didn’t matter. Seeing Idaho was marked for their next location was a big relief as Y/n was glad they didn’t have to travel overseas to get anyone. And the fact that Idaho was next door to Oregon—the drive wouldn’t be no longer than maybe 8 hours.

“Okay guys, the next location is Idaho.” Y/n turned around and looked at the four toons that waited for her. Donald raised an eyebrow.

“Idaho? What’s in Idaho?” He asks. Bendy snickered and looked over at Donald.

“I don’t know—pppft—get it? Idaho? I don’t know? Hahaha!” He burst out laughing at his corny joke—that really wasn’t a joke to begin with, but he found humor

In it. Oswald lowered his ears and gave Bendy a fearful expression. Looking between Bendy and Y/n—who didn’t even crack a smile at the joke. Oswald spoke up.

“He—he uh...he doesn’t do this often...right?” He asks her. And Y/n hope he didn’t, sitting in a car for 8 hours listening to puns and jokes? She'd rather walk the way there or catch a bus.

“What? No one likes my joke? C’mon! That was hilarious!” Bendy was still laughing through his words. Panchito was silent for a moment. At first he didn’t get it, until he muttered it under his breath again. Soon a look of realization took over.

“Oooh! I get it! Ahaha!” Panchito laughed along with Bendy. “That’s the stupidest joke I’ve ever heard.” Donald said. A blank expression on his face. Not even moved by the joke. Y/n closed the book and walked over the car door and opened the passenger seat.

“Alright! Come on! Let’s hit the road please, I wanna be there before nightfall.”

-

Y/n watched as the many cornfields passed by—leaving Duckburg about 2 hours ago with no hassle. And it was good that they didn’t need

To take a break. Though, now, with five people in the car, there wasn’t much room as there was to begin with. Oswald did squeeze back up into the front to

Sit in the passenger seat with Y/n again. Panchito and Donald were catching up with each other, talking about their own business. The book was on Y/n’s lap as an hour ago, she was looking through the papers just out of curiosity. Oswald did seem to be on the verge of drifting off to sleep. 

But after 40 or so minutes passed. They were now driving in a small town located at the edge of Oregon called ‘WallowDale’—which Y/n knew nothing about. Looking at the green welcome sign. It seemed like a pretty generic town, more so how Y/n would see it as from those cliche TV shows with the kids that lived in the small towns where everyone knew everyone. The town seemed peaceful and nice—the mountain's way in the distance gave such a serene atmosphere. 

“You think they have a diner down here somewhere? We should get something to eat.” She said to no one in particular. Oswald opened his eyes—he wasn’t sleeping, more enjoying the sound of the car driving down the road to replace the fact he was abruptly woken up in the morning, or, the afternoon to be correct.

Bendy heard Y/n and snapped from his train of thought from whatever he was thinking about.

“Yeah. I guess food sounds good right about now.”

-

Stretching, Y/n lets out a strained groaned, feeling relief of the tension leaving her legs, even though they only made it almost 4 hours in the car, she needed to stretch her legs. The soft wind traveled between her fingers and the sun coaxed her in its warmth. Looking ahead of her, Y/n looked at the small establishment—a family owned diner. 

“Wow, it looks nice in this town!” Oswald whistled as he took in the small Argo-town. It seemed a bit rural—yet a comfortable place to be.

One of the kids that were seated in the pavement watched as the five got out of the car. A look of awe ridden on his face. The chalk the kid was playing with slipped from his hand and onto the pavement. Toons—they were toons! He’s never seen them before! 

Y/n heard the kid gasp and she looked over at the kid to see his eyes glued on her four tooney friends.

“Is this a parking meter?” Bendy didn’t pay attention to the kid—as he didn’t see him, but had his focus on the parking meter. Oswald was standing next to Y/n—but had his attention still in his surroundings and Panchito and Donald were still talking.

The kid waved at Y/n once moving his gaze to her. She smiled at him and waved as well. The kid raised his chalky hands to his mouth and smiled bashfully. What a cutie.

“Okay, come on.”

-

Inside the diner, classic 50s rock music was heard. The smell of food—whatever was cooking wafted in the air and it smelled delicious! The AC was on, and it immediately cooled down Y/n and the others. Y/n could see the theme of the retro diner, some people were dancing by a jukebox, which caught her attention. She stopped walking and watched as at least 7 people were dancing by the jukebox fluently and gracefully! Some people in their booths and seats clapping along to the music and cheering the people. 

“Hm—impressive.” Oswald said. Panchito‘s feathers shook as he hopped from one talon to the other, dancing along with the music rather silly like. This caused Y/n to laugh, a smile widening.

“I like it here. It’s nice. Don’t you guys think?” She asks the four. Donald quickly nods. “I hadn’t heard about this town, but man isn’t this place snazzy.” He said. His eyes trailing over the details in the restaurant. 

“I agree.” Oswald agrees. Looking away from the people dancing and over to Panchito who just needed to move—dance. He took ahold of Y/n’s hands? Which caught her by surprise. But she did happily hop around with the rooster. Bendy looked away from the walls of old black and white pictures that caught his attention. Looking over at Panchito and Y/n dancing, a smile quickly appeared on his face.

Afterwards a stout man pushed the flappy doors open that led to the kitchen. He lets out a boisterous laugh, holding a silver serving player with a plate of food on it. He held a spatula and with that spatula he ringed a service bell.

“Jeremy! Your food is ready!” He shouts. Placing the plate on the counter. He must have been a chef as his white stained apron gave it away.

Y/n lets go of Panchito's hands once hearing the loud voice.

“Ay! Alex! The hot cakes are delicious!” Shouts at a customer. Alex—who Y/n assumed the chef's name was. Laughs and waved his head.

“Thank ya! Thank ya! Now—“ the room went silent as the majority of the diners' customers looked over at the chef, was he about to make an announcement?

“I’m glad you all are here fer’ me and my sweet gal’s anniversary! Ain’t that right, shnookums?” Alex placed a hand on the wall and gave it a love filled expression. Bendy gagged, causing Y/n to nudge him to shush him.

“This building brought me many memories! Fifty years everyone! Alex’s Diner!” The customers clapped and cheered for the owner—now that Y/n realized. Alex smiled and nodded at the annocumemt and the cheers.

“Thank you, thank you—and I—“ he immediately stopped talking when his eyes landed in Y/n and four others. An eyebrow raised at the group...were they..not supposed to be there? The eyes on them caused an anxiety to start bubbling in Y/n. Was this a private event? What happened?! Her fingertips went cold and immediately her throat went dry.

“May I help you all? Are you folks lost?” Alex asks. Y/n opened her mouth to speak. Her hands wringing around the straps of her book bag.

“Hi—I’m—we’re sorry. We wanted to eat something and leave, but if you all are having an event, we can just leave?” She didn’t want to make her statement sound like a question, but he did anyway.

“Did you all read the sign before coming’ in?” Alex asks, though his question sounds like a trick question. A hint of sarcasm in his voice? It was something!

Y/n gave a wavering smile. Grabbing Panchito by his wrist, Oswald by his wrist and grabbing onto Donald and Bendy’s tie, she started to back away, bringing them with her.

“Oh? So this is an event. We’ll be on our way then.” She quickly said—stupid move! Why didn’t she see it from the beginning instead of blindly walking in.

“No-no! Dear, come! Sit, I will serve you!” Alex waved a hand to beckon her over to the stool at the counter. Y/n stopped walking and felt a bit of relief.

“Your friends will have to wait outside though.” Was his catch. Y/n hands slipped from her friends. She glanced behind her, to see no one. Who was he talking to?

“Us?” Panchito asked. Pointing a thumb to his chest. Alex nods.

“Yes sir, In case you four toons hadn’t read—“ Alex reached behind the counter and pulled out a flip sign. A pale blue lining around the board and in black words read; ‘No Toons Allowed’

“What?!” Donald shouts abruptly. But, Alex nods. “Yep, but I can serve the young lady. Come sit, I’ll get you something, on the house, dear.” 

Y/n furrowed her eyebrows...when was that a thing? And why was it allowed? That can’t be! It had to be his own store policy.

“This is your store policy?” Y/n asks. 

“Countrywide law. Just been accepted as a new optional choice for business owners like myself. Love it or hate it, it’s my rule. Now come sit.”

“No! She’s not sitting, Y/n, let’s go.” Donald took a hold of Y/n’s wrist and started to walk towards the door, but Oswald stopped Donald.

“No, she can stay and eat if she wants, she hasn’t eaten all day, we’ll be fine.” Oswald swatted Donald’s hand away from Y/n’s wrist. Which he lets go. Donald crumbled under his breath.

“Ay—girly. You gonna let these toons decide for you?” One customer asks. Y/n looks over to the customer. But ignores him. Bendy slightly nudged Y/n to

The door. “She makes her own decision just fine, thank you.”

“Bendy—no, if Y/n wants to eat here, then she can. Come on, we’ll wait outside.” Oswald said, once again nudging Bendy away, Bendy swatted Oswald’s hands.

“Ay! Keep yer’ hands off me, I already had to listen to Mr. Sal over here.” Bendy threw an insult at Alex. Which took note of. Alex raised an eyebrow and looked at Bendy.

“You got a problem with me, pal?” Alex crosses his eyes before eyeing Bendy. Bendy tsked and strolled over to the counter.

“All the problems, ya’ old geezer!” 

“Well shit..” Y/n muttered under her breath.

“Panchito! Do something.” Oswald whispered under his breath to the rooster. Panchito—didn’t seem to have a plan in mind. He’s never been in a situation like this before.

“Oh please? If I don’t want a couple of pencil strokes waltzing into my fine diner! Then I damn sure don’t one walking in, especially you demon look alike.”

“Hey!” Y/n shouts.

“Don’t talk to him like that!”  She glared at the owner. Alex looked at Y/n and squinted his dark eyes. “You lookin’ for trouble too, kid?” 

“You wanna get to her? You’ll have ta’ get through me. Pork. Chop.” Bendy points his gloved hand at Alex’s nose. The customers murmured in shock.

“Alright! Party’s over.” An accented voice shouts. Panchito, Oswald and Donald moved away from the entrance of the diner. A sheriff walked in. His boots and spurs clicking—for whatever reason he was wearing them..

The shades in his face was dark and he held a toothpick in the corner of his mouth. Donald panicked—Panchito—they almost forgot! He can’t be seen! Looking around quickly. Donald picked up an empty mop bucket and slammed in on Panchito’s head. Panchito wobbled almost dazed like at the sudden impact. The sheriff looked over. At Donald, who nervously smiled at him, leaning his elbow on the bucket that was on Panchito’s head as if he were casually leaning. 

“You toons heard the man. No service. Now scram unless you all want a free ride to the office.” The officer  told the group.

Y/n rubbed her clammy hands together and walked over to Bendy and grabbed him by his tie and dragged him away from the counter. Him and Alex staring each other down. They needed to leave immediately before that officer found out about Panchito and the book—which would be tough to do—but she felt that any officer would have eyes like a hawk that can find out just about anything.

Pushing the doors  open, strolling back outside. Y/n ran her hands through her hair.

“That was..that was something new.” She said. Walking over to the car and opening the passenger door. Bendy fixed his tie.  “When did that become a...thing.” He grunts. Hinting towards the new Policy. Or, law.

“Whatever it is, we need to be more careful and start reading, that’s for sure.” Donald said, taking the bucket off of Panchito’s head. Panchito blinked at the sunlight and lifted a hand to rub his head under his sombrero. 

“You toons got kicked?” Asked a voice. Bendy didn’t even bat an eye as he had his eyes closed, trying to think of a new place to eat at.

“Not now, Oswald…” Bendy muttered. Oswald slowly closes the car door once he opens it.

“I didn’t even say anything..” Oswald said. Y/n looks at Oswald and then Bendy.

“You heard that too?” Y/n asks. And Oswald nods quickly. “Me too.” Donald adds.

“Oh my g—-down here you Idiots!” Donald quacks and his hands quickly flew to his tail feathers. Quickly standing next to Y/n with an angry expression. “Hey! What’s the big I-“ he stopped in his track when he saw a small toon—a bird—a blue bird. Y/n squints her eyes. 

“You kinda look like the birdie in my neighborhood.” Y/n said. The bird nods. “That’s because I am sweet cheeks.” The bird—really packed a voice. His voice was much deeper than you would expect from a dainty little bird. Panchito gasped.

“Whoa? Have you followed us? What a cute litt—“

“Don’t finish that sentence.” Oswald told Panchito, his hands up to shield his face as if the bird would attack him instead of Panchito.

“Hey! What’re guys doin? Come on—we gotta hit the road.” Bendy walked around the car and

Looked at the four. Y/n motioned towards the blue bird. “Talking bird.” She told him. Bendy looked at her and turned  to look at the bird. The five standing next to each other as they all looked down at the bird.

“I’ll make this quick and easy! Alright, my name is BB, short for blue bird—thank the narrator.”

No no, thank you, Blue Bird.

“Who?” Y/n raised an eyebrow as she looked around for whoever the blue bird could have mentioned.

“Oooh! I was going to name my turtle that!” Panchito smiled. Oswald squinted his eyes before looking at Panchito.

“Where did that turtle go anyway?” He asks. Panchito deflates.

“Bendy threw him to the pound. mi corazón está triste…” Panchito sighs.

BB looked at the group and shook his head slowly...they all were so...silly.

“Never mind that.” BB said. But it didn’t stop there, Y/n raised her hand.

“You kinda sound like Samuel L. Jackson.” She said. Donald shook his head and tapped his beak.

“I was thinking more like Morgan Freeman.” Donald adds. Y/n then nods and lets out a laugh. The two snickered together. The bird whistles to catch their attention.

“Attention, please”

“Right, sorry.”

“Sorry.”

“Now, I’m your guide to help you. It may seem crazy. But I’ve been guiding you all this entire time—well. You all have been technically guiding yourselves, and I am so proud of this team of what it’s made. Especially the night when you three found each other.” BB looked at Y/n, Panchito, Bendy and Oswald. 

“So...you’re the book?” Panchito asks. BB shook his head.  “No, I’m not. The book is itself of course. I’m a piece of it. The navigator. Donald, that paper you received. I sent it to you. I’m soul bound to the book—-promised from the kings eons ago for when the day comes, this book will fall in the right hands with the right people. That being you five—and more to come. I’m no guardian, no knight, god, or anything—too much. I’m your helper. Your guide. Look at me as your personal GPS.” BB finishes. Y/n nods slowly—it made sense on how the sudden times the book would know where to locate everyone.

“So, you’ve been marking down the locations on the map?” Y/n asks BB. And he nods. “Correct.”

“I suppose you’re also responsible for when the book randomly flies off?” Bendy asks, yet he holds sarcasm in his tone. A lot of it. 

“No, the book has a mind of its own, use ya’ brain. Or do demon toons have any?”

“Hey!”

“So, we’re heading to Idaho now. That’s where it’s marked off for our next location. Do you have any information on who we were supposed to run into?” Donald tilts his head as he asks the question.

BB tapped his talon on the pavement. “I’m only here to help guide. That’s information you all will collect.” 

“Would you happen to have any info on what’s going on?” Y/n asks. And BB shook his head.

“Guys. I’m a navigator. I was only created for this purpose only. Anything outside of helping the people that wields that book to getting where they need

 To be, that’s outside my realm.” He said. And he seemed genuinely sure about it. But Y/n wasn’t complaining. They had a navigator. And that’s all that matters.

Oswald scoffed. “Wait, how do we know you’re telling the truth?” He asks. BB motioned towards Y/n, more her book bag.

“I’m in the book. You can read about me! Now!” BB flapped his wings? Lifting off the air and his talon snapped and that same golden trail, shot down the road.

“Idaho, off you go.” The bird took off to the sky. Oswald blinked slowly and the five of them looked at the sky and saw the bird flapping away. Y/n looked back at the street...yeah. That was more than enough information. 

-

Two figures were tossed into a cage. The metal clanking together as the gate was slammed closed and locked. 

“Just wait till boss see these bad boys..” a voice chuckled. A toon stood in front of the gate. Staring at the two captured toons. Their kidnapper had characteristics of an animal as the 2nd one also as well. 

The toon inside the cage shot up and and started banging on the bars—he took the bars in both hands and shook them.

“Let me outta here! I oughtta give you a piece of my mind!” Shouts the toon as his kidnappers sauntered off somewhere on the side of the room. 

“Hey, Doug. You think boss’ll give us a raise cuz Zip and Zot lost the rabbit?” Asked one of the kidnapper toons to his co-worker—Doug. Doug was busy dialing on a phone, a cigar placed on the side of Doug’s mouth.

“He damn sho’ betta’, i ain’t hunt these good for nothing’s down for no bread—and Jack—shut that toon up—I CAN’T EVEN HEAR MYSELF THINK!” 

“Cuphead! Give it a rest!”

Ah yes, Cuphead and Mugman. The brothers that were always sewn to the hip. Always together, found themselves in a pickle…

Cuphead quickly turned around. His hands shot to his head. “Give it a rest?! We’ve been ‘napped Mugs—for some prissy uppity smoker—and his idiot side kick!” Cuphead shouts in anger. Mugman gave him a blank expression before blinking.

“You’re embarrassing me.”

Cuphead and Mugman stared at each other for a moment. Cuphead blinks. “What?! Mugs—I don’t have time for t—OW!” Doug grabbed a lot of Cuphead’s straw. Cuphead gagged as if he were choking and couldn’t breathe. Doug lifts the phone to his ear.

“Ay boss? How far are ya’ from downtown? We got your toons that witch told me about—a brand new one—-yeah—mmmhmm.” The kidnapper spoke on the phone and soon let go of Cuphead’s straw and walked Off to continue the conversation alone. Snapping his fingers at Jack—the second kidnapper. To watch

Cuphead and Mugman.

Cuphea gasped for air. Placing a hand in his chest. Mugman looked over at Jack. The...kidnapper wasn’t too on the bright side as he was..digging in his nose, not even paying attention to the two.

“Hello, sir?” Mugman calls out. Jack turns around and looks at Mugman—Cuphead gleaming at the toon.

“Hi, can you atleast tell us. Why are we here in this..” Mugman looked around the dim area, the spacious building resembled a warehouse.

“Warehouse? I presume?”

“Yuh.” Jack said. Mugman nods slowly.

“Why are we here?”

“Oh! Cuz boss needs y’all’s! He’s tryna plan sumn’ big! And the witch lady can feel people that a—-“

“Hey, ya big lug, shut up.” Cuphead told Jack...which he did…

Mugman glared at Cuphead.

“Why did you do that? He was gonna tell us something valuable and you went running your big mouth again, you nut!”

“Look at him—what makes you think he knows anything? I bet if you tell him to play under a beehive, he’ll do it! Look at him!” Cuphead and Mugman looked over at Jack, who was looking off into the spacious area. A small smile on his snout.

“Hey,  Jake?” Cuphead calls out. Jack looks at Cuphead and smiles. “It’s Jack.”

“Yeah, John. Anyway, when is your boss getting here?” He asks. But instead of Jack answering. Doug did. He stepped back into the room, arms behind his back with a menacing grin.

“He’ll be here soon. Very soon.”

There was silence...and then Cuphead spoke up.

“Okay good, because I guess I gotta speak to the higher ups to get it through you, and this idiots thick skull to let us go!!”

“Cuphead!”

-

A/n: this uh—took a longer time than I expected. Sorry. AND—sOrry the chapter is so long—I really hate short chapters, plus I have so much that I want to be seen in one chapter, But. I promise I’ll make it short in the future. I felt this character was as good as the first.

I’m sorry y’all don’t hurt me.

But! Hey, we got no characters! 😭

I do wanna say, I love the Butcher Gang. Especially Edgar. Such a delicate character.

But, I want to say thank you to all of you out there that commented and gave me support! Thank you!!! I did not expect this to go in anyone’s liking, and I am really surprised! So thank you!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

See you all in the next character. 😊

#ducktales 2017 #ducktales #bendy the dancing devil #bendyxreader #bendy and the dark revival #bendy and the ink machine #animanics 2020 #panchito pistoles #Jose Carioca #donald duck #oswald the lucky rabbit #yakko wakko and dot #Cuphead #mugman

[fiddlepickdouglas]

Viva Las Vegas, Pt. 19 - The Masters

Summary: Sunset Curve Alive AU, Willex, what are they up to?, 3.6k

@trevor-wilson-covington is the bestie who makes these lovely edits, we stan supportive friends

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18

Willie was back in Vegas, wandering through the street late at night. He was just leaving the hotel, like he’d just dropped Alex off by the front doors, knowing that he was saying goodbye and couldn’t stand to leave it on a heavy note. Still, he moved onward without looking back. He was just going to enjoy the memory that he had of the green eyes and the waves and the way he’d been nestled against Alex’s chest with fingers in his hair and wearing the hat and feeling like a handsome prince at the look on Alex’s face and - yeah, he was just going to cherish it forever. Without ever having another chance. Rock stars didn’t keep promises like that, no matter how much they meant to. The second Alex made it big, he would forget him, Willie was sure.

The journey from the hotel back to Caleb’s house was incredibly short. He looked back toward the street in bewilderment, unsure what could have happened. Sure, Willie knew his shortcuts, but he’d definitely clocked that journey numerous times.

As he walked up the drive, he rounded the corner and to his horror found the shed already ablaze. Stepping back in terror, Willie stiffened as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, Caleb loomed over him with a monstrous look in his eyes. He seemed to grow larger by the second and his face became twisted and grotesque. Then he opened his mouth, letting out a cry of rage as his eyes began burning a fiery purple and he raised his arm as if to strike.

“I told you to clean up this mess!” he cried.

Running away from the house, Willie was only just able to escape his attempted blows. His feet seemed to slam against the pavement, and his breathing was too loud. Looking up momentarily, he somehow had already arrived at the diner, and that was in flames too. Willie couldn’t help the small cry of distress that released from his throat, almost like a sob. Changing direction, he eventually came to the hotel and watched as it was already crumbling apart as it burned. Fear and confusion consumed him as Willie continued running with tears streaming down his face. The bodega was on fire too. And so was Roy’s. Anywhere that Willie tried to run to roared in fiery destruction.

He was sitting inside the truck, but it was empty. Nobody sat in the driver’s seat - nobody smiled back at him. All Willie could see was that the truck was burning but he couldn’t open the door to escape. He tried rolling down the window but the flames got too high and he had to roll it back up. The door wouldn’t unlock or be forced open. Willie could feel himself suffocate in the confined space, feel his pulse rising. The ever encroaching doom of never making it out shrouded him like it was its own force.

“Willie!” A banging could be heard on the window and Willie looked up to see Alex frantically trying to open the door on the other side. Pressing his hands up against the glass, Willie shook his head, telling him it was no use. Alex just kept tugging on the handle and pounding his fist on the window in desperation, and didn’t seem to be affected by the flames consuming the truck as he did so. All Willie could hear was his name striking against the glass with every fistfall, but no change in Alex’s ability to save him. The agonizing sound repeated, slowly fading back as everything darkened and became more muffled, and then finally his mind regained consciousness.

Sitting up in bed, Willie sucked in a breath and huddled himself close. Taking a few seconds to try and let his pulse calm down, he looked over and found Sheldon had been curled up in sleepy contentment against his stomach, and was already stretching to find another place to sleep. Picking up the cat and cuddling him into his chest, Willie scratched his favorite spot behind his ears, hoping to convince him to continue sleeping at his side. Hearing Sheldon purr helped slow his excited heart rate.

Thank goodness it had just been a nightmare. But why had it been so terrifying and bizarre? He had already been through the loop with the one that went backwards, and now having everything go down in flames and being teased with the hope of rescue? Willie didn’t think he wanted to know what it meant. It was beginning to be a pattern now that dreams like that had a significant meaning. He was afraid of what the meaning of this one might be.

Sheldon took advantage of his loosened grip while he was caught up in his thoughts, and scuttled off of the mattress into the dark. Sighing heavily, Willie laid down and pulled the covers over himself, trying to get back to the same level of warmth and comfort as before. Nothing was bringing him back into a state where he could easily drift back to sleep. The wonder of the ocean in Alex’s green eyes didn’t help this time because it only brought the echo of his voice crying Willie’s name. He could only focus on missing the feeling of his cat curled up beside him.

“It’s gotten worse,” Alex said over the phone. Willie was just finishing another shift at the record store when he’d gotten the call. It’d been a few weeks since their first date and Alex hadn’t even been able to call in that time. He didn’t know how he’d been able to handle months without him after that whole day filled with absolute bliss. It was great to hear his voice again.

“How much worse?” Willie asked.

“He’s been doing this thing where he criticizes the tiniest things, but then he uses every bit of persuasion to make us nod and say yes to what he wants. At first we fought it, but now we just do what he says and then hate it later. It sucks.”

“That’s how he started with me,” Willie told him. “I didn’t know any better, so it was worse.” So much worse - his mind had been so addled with the loss of memory and new information had been frightening for a while. He’d merely been a toy in Caleb’s puppeteer hands.

“Yeah, and now he’s watching us like crazy. He’s never stayed in L.A. this long. He’s there from the second we’re in the studio to when we leave.”

“Huh,” Willie replied. “I think I might be to blame for that.” A cruel memory arose of all the times he’d ignored Caleb’s imposed curfew and then been asked what he’d been up to.

“It doesn’t even feel like we’re doing music anymore,” Alex lamented. He’d been fired up when he had started the conversation, but the way his energy flickered out pained Willie too much. Alex hadn’t had a chance to be open with him about why music was so important to him, but Willie was able to take a few guesses.

“So what are you going to do?”

“Well, the guys and I have been talking…”

Willie rode in the back of the van with Alex and Reggie as the guys carefully rolled up into the alley behind the studio. They all remained hushed, but the anticipation in the atmosphere was electric. Each of them scrunched their faces at the sound of squeaky brakes as Bobby slowed to a stop and parked beside a door. He hadn’t spoken a word for the entire drive, but Willie shared a glance with Alex, both of them full of nerves and adrenaline, and they each held in awkward laughter. Luke got out as quietly as he could, made a careful sweep of the premises, and then unlocked the door before signaling everyone to get out.

“So you want to be in on this?” Alex asked. He had just told Willie their plan to get back at Caleb and it immediately got him excited.

“Of course!” he told Alex. “I’d give anything to make him pay back for everything he did.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say,” Alex said. Willie could hear his smile from the other end.

As they each carefully entered the back end of the studio, Willie caught the stench of cigarette smoke in the first place they entered and covered his nose. While they continued further in, Bobby lit a flashlight.

“Ow!” Reggie immediately covered his eyes from being accidentally blinded. Bobby winced as he moved the beam away from his face.

“Sorry!” he whispered. “It’s hard to tell what’s what in here, it’s so dark.”

“When are we going?” Willie asked.

“Next Sunday night.” Alex told him. “Caleb should be out of town that weekend. Plus we have a few things that need to be ready first before we go for it. But I wanted to make sure you were totally in before we put all the plans together.”

Willie smirked. He wasn’t sure if Alex was aware he was tickling his rule-breaking side, but he wanted to think that maybe he did know. For someone as sweet as he was, it sure was nice that he didn’t try to stifle that side of Willie.

“Are you and the guys gonna pick me up?”

“Yeah. We’ll come around...eleven? Does that work for you?”

“Yeah, that works perfectly.”

“Okay. I can’t wait to see you.”

Willie had to suck in a breath at those words, already wishing he didn’t have to wait an entire week.

“Can’t wait to see you either.”

They had gone all out with wearing black together and everything. Luke had been really vocal about it because Willie guessed he’d always wondered what a heist would be like. Did this count as a heist? It didn’t involve taking money or precious gems or anything - not even stuff that didn’t already belong to them, technically. In any case, it was definitely somewhere past midnight and due to the circumstances the guys had to break in to get what they wanted.

Willie followed them through the hallway, intrigued. This was where Alex had been spending a good deal of his time. Where Caleb had come and continued to spread lies. What the man wanted with them Willie was still unsure of, but he wondered if he’d been part of drawing Caleb’s attention to them. He didn’t like the possibility of having dragged them into his mess, but maybe it would be over soon. Alex put a hand on his shoulder and he immediately responded with an encouraging smile as warmth spread all over him.

 Luke was shuffling through the key ring. He hadn’t explained where he’d gotten it from and Willie honestly didn’t care to ask. The fact he had one instead of picking every single lock was impressive.

The door opened to reveal the studio they’d spent the past months recording in and Willie looked around at all the strange things he’d never imagined inside. So many different kinds of microphones and cords, stands for all sorts of things, smaller rooms to the side, headphones hanging everywhere. It seemed so different from just playing a show somewhere. Alright, maybe that was the point, but still, Willie was in wonder about how this somehow meshed with Alex’s rock n’ roll world. He didn’t want to laugh, but this place seemed so...wrong for the guys of Sunset Curve. Not because it was just any recording studio, but this particular one made him picture a bunch of guys in pressed business suits making some easy listening record. He would’ve tried to tell them not to sign here even if Caleb weren’t involved.

While he looked on, the rest of them began taking out all of their equipment. Quickly, Willie aided Alex in carrying out different pieces of his drum set. He had to be especially careful carrying out any cymbals so they didn’t make any noise, moving at a ridiculously slow pace. The rest of the guys packed up their guitars and amps and they managed to somehow place everything in the van so it fit tightly and securely.

“Is that really everything?” Willie asked, peeking inside once they’d hauled everything out.

“We’ve done this plenty of times,” Reggie told him. “Not the breaking and entering thing, of course, but the whole packing all of our stuff into Bobby’s trusty van.” He patted the side of the van affectionately. “It’s like Tetris!”

“Her name is Thelma, thank you,” Bobby teasingly corrected before he disappeared back inside the studio.

Reggie got flustered as he followed him. “I...wasn’t calling her Tetris…”

Willie chuckled as he shut the door and brought up the rear. This time the guys went into the booth behind the studio and began looking into every box and drawer they could find. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking for, but Willie still joined them anyway. What were masters even supposed to look like? After filtering through everything they could, Luke and Bobby stood up.

“I’m not finding anything,” Luke said. “Anybody else?”

Alex rose from where he’d been kneeling over a box.

“Nothing.”

“Gonna be honest, I have no clue what I'm looking at,” Willie told them. Reggie peeked over into the box he’d been rifling through. After a few seconds, he shook his head.

“Nope, nothing there either.”

“Ahh, I figured they wouldn’t be here, but I thought we should look anyway, just to cover all our bases,” Luke admitted.

“Where else were you planning on looking?” Bobby urged slightly. He glanced at his watch. “It’s almost one already.”

“Everywhere man, what else?”

“Luke, we can’t spend all night here,” Alex said.

“Okay, guys” Luke defended. “We can split up or something and get things done twice as fast.” The guys looked around at each other, although it was obvious what the pairings would be.

“Okay, Alex, Willie, you two can go together. Bobby and Reggie, come with me.” Willie instinctively took Alex’s hand as they looked at each other, both smiling a little. “Just don’t get stuck in a closet together or something.”

“Really, Luke?” Alex remarked. “Us? In a closet? Choice words, man.”

Luke only rolled his eyes and shook his head with a smirk as he followed Bobby and Reggie. Alex turned to Willie, also shaking his head at his friend.

“Okay,” he said. “Come on, let’s go.” 

Hand in hand, Willie followed Alex into another storage room, having difficulty getting his mind off the now-forbidden closet scenario. Maybe they could find the masters and then kill some time? He’d gotten a chaste little smooch as he’d entered the van and plenty of knee touches, but as they were already in the middle of breaking in, why not take the chance to make out in a closet while they were at it? The kind of story that would make for later? The memory? It was too tempting.

“I won’t lie, I definitely thought you guys knew where these masters would be,” Willie told Alex as he pulled open drawers full of file folders. Alex sighed as he shut the drawer he’d been searching.

“I should’ve told you we were guessing at best,” he said. “But we really did think they were most likely going to be in the mixing booth. Or, I guess, all of us excluding Luke.”

“What are you guys going to do if they’re not here?”

Running both hands through his hair, Alex thought for a little bit. It appeared their plan lacked a great deal of thought toward contingencies.

“So next time you tease me for forgetting what busses are, I’m just gonna bring this up - ”

“Shut your face,” Alex laughed, playfully shoving at his shoulder, making Willie giggle. “This isn't even close to that. Anyway, I guess we would just have to come up with a new plan. I mean, no one would even know we came tonight as long as we don’t get caught.”

Willie placed his on Alex’s back assuringly and for a moment they simply shared a look of hope. His hand slowly trailed from his back and held the side of his face, gently rubbing his thumb along Alex’s cheek.

“We’ll find them,” he insisted softly. Placing his hand over Willie’s, Alex’s eyes emanated gratitude and he gave a small smile.

“Thanks for coming,” he said, returning the tender tone he’d been given. Shrugging casually,  Willie shut the last drawer, making sure everything remained as it had before. He trailed Alex as they headed back out and almost immediately clashed into the other three boys.

“So we’re thinking it’s in...the office,” Luke told them.

“The office?” Alex asked in disbelief, apparently understanding what that meant. All the guys looked at each other with uncertainty, none more than Willie himself.

“The office?” he repeated. “Is that supposed to mean, like, Caleb’s, or something?”

“You guessed it,” Bobby replied, gesturing toward him dejectedly. “And it’s the one that Luke definitely doesn’t have a key for. So unless you’re good at picking locks, we came here for nothing.”

Willie wasn’t sure what it was, but at hearing Bobby say that it was like lightning struck in his mind. Sitting back on his heels, he looked between each of the guys, landing his gaze on Alex last.

“Actually, I think I can,” he told them seriously. “I’m not sure, but...I don’t know how, but I think I know this.”

“That’s a better chance than none at all,” Luke said with the slightest hint of confidence. “Anyone got something we could use?”

“Ope!” Reggie immediately began digging into the pocket of his pants and shortly procured a bobby pin. As everyone stared in bewilderment, he merely shrugged. “I had to do my sister’s hair this morning; I think it turned out pretty okay.”

“Alright, well hand it over,” Luke demanded. Reggie passed it to Willie and they all gathered around the door of Caleb’s office.

Kneeling and licking his lip, Willie concentrated on placing the bobby pin correctly into the lock, pressing his ear against the door and listening as he slowly turned the pin back and forth. A couple minutes of distilled silence passed as everyone held their breath, watching him carefully work with the lock until they all heard a satisfying click and Willie cracked a wicked smile. The whole band exhaled in relief as he turned the handle and pulled the door back.

“Come here,” Alex said, pulling him into a quick kiss with both hands before venturing into the room. A very twitter-pated giggle let loose from Willie’s throat that he tried not to dwell on because of how embarrassing it must have sounded. Reggie smirked as he passed them, nodding in approval.

“Awww, yes!” Luke cried as he found what he’d been looking for: the master copies of their newly finished album. According to Alex, the mixing and rendering had only been finalized a couple days before and they had more of Caleb’s stamp of approval on them than anything close to their songs. They couldn’t finish ruining his business without them. This was only half of their plan, anyhow.

As Luke filled his hands with the precious records in victory, an alarm immediately began blaring into everyone’s ears. They all looked around in panic before they all rushed toward the back door of the studio again, hands over their ears.

“Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit!” Luke repeated, clutching the masters to his chest.

While they were almost out the door, Reggie stopped as he caught sight of the recording booth again, an odd look in his eye.

“Reggie, come on, we’ve gotta go!” Bobby called to him.

“No, I’ve gotta do this!” Reggie shouted back, heading inside the booth. Willie watched in confusion as he unbuckled his jeans while leaning with his back against the glass of the booth. He lowered the back of them until he could press his entire rear end up to the window, trying his best to make a print in the glass. Bobby sighed in exasperation and shook his head as he rushed to get behind the wheel of his van.

Reggie finally left the window, struggling to pull his jeans back up as he hurried toward the van again. Alex stood back as he climbed into the same seat that he’d had before, and then made to clamber inside himself before bright lights illuminated them from behind. Turning and raising an arm so he couldn’t be blinded, Willie stood petrified at what he saw.

Caleb Covington stepped out of his vehicle, a look of fury that struck his very core. Suddenly, Willie could feel flames beginning to devour him, and the way the man had leered over him in his dream made his blood freeze. He’d once been completely trusting of this same creep who had his gaze fixed on him with pure hatred. He could hear the pounding on the glass. He could also hear the sound of his name.

“Willie!” Alex tugged on him harshly, dragging him backwards into the van and slamming the door shut before Willie even realized what had happened. Snapping out of his trance, he looked up as Alex was gripping his hands tightly and Bobby floored it out of the back of the alley. He couldn’t help but stare back toward the fading headlights where Caleb’s figure was still silhouetted in a desperate stagger, and he thought he heard that same cry of rage.

He felt a sensation on his hands and looked down to see Alex planting a kiss on his whitened knuckles, rubbing them over with his hand. His face was full of concern, and a bit of his own fear mirrored back. They kept wary eyes out the back window of the van, but ultimately didn’t see Caleb following them. After a few blocks, Willie finally felt he could let go of the breath he’d had trapped in his lungs and pressed his forehead against Alex’s. That had been terrifyingly close, but they’d made it out. That’s what mattered.

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #fanfic #jatp fanfic #sunset curve #alive au #willex #willie #alex mercer #luke patterson #reggie peters #bobby wilson #julie molina #caleb covington #viva las vegas #vlv #the masters #fiddlepickdouglas

[angst-fairygodmother]

Light Fingers (The Umbrella Academy)

Diego’s vigilantism brings him repeatedly across the path of a young cat burglar. But as he finds himself developing feelings for the thief, he begins to wonder if there’s more to her than meets the eye, and whether they’re really on opposite sides. And as their relationship deepens, it brings with it a plot involving his estranged adopted father, and threatens to destroy all of them.

CHAPTER 13: DARKNESS FALLS

Word Count: 2362 Pairing: Diego Hargreeves x Reader Rating: T Content Warnings: swearing, references to violence (canon-typical), heavy angst, sort of spoilers for TUA season 1? Cross-posted to AO3: here

Previous Chapter: Confrontation || Masterlist

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Two weeks after your visit to the Academy, and everything that followed, a headline caught your eye as you poured coffee for a couple at the diner. ‘Eccentric Billionaire Reginald Hargreeves Under Federal Investigation. Crimes include Smuggling, Arms Dealing, Fraud’ screamed out at you in bold black print and you barely managed not to scald yourself as your hand trembled.

Your mind was racing. It hadn’t seemed real, when you were making phone calls and “visiting old friends” and whispering in the right, or wrong, ears. It was a stab in the dark, that you never expected to amount to anything. But it seemed like someone, somewhere, had listened and moved on D.S. Umbrella and your father-in-law.

A bubble of elation built up in your chest. Unable to contain yourself, you yelled out that you were taking your 15, despite the earliness of the hour, and jogged down the street to pick up a copy of the morning paper for yourself. As you scanned the article, more snippets jumped out: “midnight raid,” “suspicious and hazardous materials,” “illegal within city limits.” They also mentioned looking into his accounts, heavy investigation into recent break-ins at the warehouse that authorities suspected were to cover up evidence, and a re-examination of the adoption records for his now infamous Academy of children. That last one made your heart skip a beat. You hadn’t wanted to drag Diego or his family into any of this, and certainly not risk having his world flipped upside down. Still, there was hope nothing would come of that bit, and he would never have to be involved, and everything else was well worth it.

With a giddy giggle, relieved and stunned that things were going better than you could have hoped, you tucked the paper into your bag and returned to work, feeling lighter than you had in a while.

~

“This is insane,” Diego said, dropping onto the couch, head in his hands and the copy of the paper you’d brought home on the table in front of him.

“Is it?” you countered, sitting down on the far end and tucking your knees up to your chest. “We knew he was up to something…”

“But not this! Why would he raise us the way he did if he was a criminal?”

“Covering his tracks maybe? Or there’s something bigger here we haven’t put together.”

“You’re not even a little surprised by this,” there was something flat to his tone.

You shrugged, knowing that he knew you too well to deny it.

“What did you do?”

“Technically, nothing.” He fixed with you a firm, unamused expression that made you sigh. “I just talked to people. Gossip, anonymous tips, that sort of thing. I didn’t really think anyone would listen.”

His jaw clenched as he struggled to reign in his anger. “Who else did you talk to?”

“A few journalists, some law enforcement that Patch put me in touch with who wouldn’t ask too many questions, some folks in my line of work. That one clearly didn’t go anywhere, or we would have heard by now, especially if there’s an investigation too.”

“Thieves?”

“No waitstaff.” You rolled your eyes.

“What for?”

“I thought...I figured if some other crews went in, free looting, it would make it harder to figure out what we took, cover our tracks some.”

“That doesn’t make sense. He already knew we were there. Y/N, what aren’t you telling me?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s done now. I’m sure nothing will happen, the authorities are probably in his pocket, and if not...Prison for someone like your father isn’t even that bad. It’s a penthouse, just one with a 24/7 guard at the door.”

Diego looked annoyed but didn’t say anything else. You bit your lip, the silence tense over the two of you.

“I’m sorry, Diego. I just thought...it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

He grunted in acknowledgement. A moment later, he stood, silently getting ready for bed, despite the relatively early hour, and went to bed without a word. You waited, fighting back tears, still curled on the couch. You didn’t expect Diego to be thrilled the way you were that something was happening with Reginald, but you also hadn’t predicted this anger.

“Y/N,” he called softly, an indeterminate time later, making you jump. “Come to bed, sweetheart.”

~

Things in the household felt fragile after that, even the dog could sense that both you and Diego were tip-toeing on eggshells, waiting for the outcome of the investigation, like the Sword of Damocles.

And then it dropped, with a breaking news bulletin, one that made you almost grateful that Diego had a late night at the gym. You wrapped your arms around yourself, shuddering, as you watched an all too familiar building go up in smoke.

“No one knows what, if anything, was taken by the miscreants seen fleeing the warehouse shortly before the explosion, or why they chose to destroy the structure so definitively,” the news anchor said, the rest of her words blending into a drone in the back of your mind.

At some point, you fell asleep there on the couch, waiting for Diego to come home, startled awake in the morning when the door slammed shut.

“Diego?” you asked, frowning and rising to greet him. “Are you okay?”

He laughed bitterly, shaking off your hand on his arm and stepping away. “You’re really asking me that, Y/N? After everything you’ve done?”

“What are you talking about, Diego?”

“I’m not an idiot Y/N.”

“No but evidently I am, because I genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about, baby.”

“Don’t,” he growled, shaking his head again. “D.S. Umbrella. Thieves, an explosion. You’re honestly trying to tell me you had nothing to do with it?”

“I didn’t! Not...directly!” you protested. “I promised you that I wouldn’t go after him, so I called in friends who could, who would.”

“How is that any different?”

“I...you said yourself that he was dangerous, and he proved that to me. And I got scared okay? I panicked, and when I saw a solution, I took it. Torch and burn, and salt the earth seemed like a good idea.”

“And Luther? Was he part of your plan or just an acceptable casualty?”

“What do you mean?” your frown shifted from one of upset to confusion.

“Pogo called, last night. Dad sent Luther to the warehouse had he got caught in your friends’ chemical explosion. He’s lucky to be alive.”

There was a slight hitch to his voice as he spoke, and you knew that despite the years of tension between them, hearing such news about his brother had shaken Diego badly. And you hadn’t been there for him. You reached out for his hand, to comfort him as you usually would before recoiling.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen. No one was supposed to get hurt.”

Diego scoffed in disbelief, nostrils flaring angrily. “Why should I believe you?”

“Because I don’t hate your brother, and I had no reason to want that. Because your father was the one who sent him in, alone and probably unprepared even though he knew better than anyone what hazards were in there. Because I’m your wife, and I wouldn’t lie to you, not when it mattered. Because I never wanted any of this, I just couldn't sit back and do nothing.”

“Why not? And give me a straight answer this time, Y/N.”

“While you and Luther were busy getting out all your boyhood aggression or whatever, I tried to find answers just like we planned. Only instead I ended up having a nice little chat with Reginald. And he said that everything was staged, that it was an audition. That I passed. And he threatened you, and he called the Academy a failed experiment.”

“You never said anything to me.”

“I didn’t know how,” your voice was sharp, pleading. “I have even less answers than I did when we started. All I have is that your father didn’t care about you, but he did about me, for something. He was willing to let you die to test what I could do. He was okay with the idea of hurting you to keep me in line. I...I had to protect you. So I did the only thing I could think of to do.”

“We’re s-supposed to be a team.” His eyes were still dry, but you could see the pain written across his features, and you closed your eyes against the sight.

“I know,” you said softly.

“W-w-we could have figured it out t-to-tog-gether if you had ta-lked to me…”

“We tried that Diego,” you wanted so badly to reach out for him. You hated that you couldn’t. Not now. “It had us spinning in circles.”

"So you just shut m-m-me out?" His lip quivered.

“Would you have done any differently?” you gave up on even trying to keep your own emotions out of your voice, tilting your head in question as you looked at your husband, the man you loved, and said words that you knew were breaking both your hearts. “Honestly?”

He was painfully silent, lips pressed together and eyes downcast as he considered your words, and what his answer would be. Rather than let the question continue to stew, you forged onward, almost afraid of what would happen if you didn’t.

“I’m truly sorry that Luther got hurt, and glad he’ll be okay. But I still stand by what I did. It was the right choice to make. If anything, it worked out better than I had hoped.”

“H-how could you say t-tha-that?” despite his stutter there was outrage in his voice now, raising the pitch to almost a shout.

“If it’s him or you, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no choice. I’m not sorry for that.” You shrugged. “And maybe almost losing his last loyal son will be enough to get your father to back off, to rethink, stop doing...whatever it is he’s doing.”

Diego’s body tensed and his eyes narrowed to a glare, the full fury and hatred locked inside suddenly directed at you. There was no trace of the pain in his voice now and it made your blood run cold.

“Luther’s an asshole, but he’s m-y family.”

“I know that, Diego. And I know how much family means to you. That wasn’t how I—”

“You know, you’re starting to sound a lot like my father.”

You stared at him, aghast.

“You’ve been just like him this whole time, haven’t you?”

“What?” you couldn’t keep the break and horror from your voice, didn’t want to.

“All this scheming and planning. Using the rest of us as puppets. It’s all about the so-called greater good. And screw anyone that gets in your way.”

“Diego, that’s not—” You tried to pull your emotions back into check but couldn’t. Hot, desperate tears pooled in your eyes before spilling down your cheeks.

‘Not what?’ you froze to ask yourself. ‘Not fair? Not true? Isn’t it though? Wasn’t he completely right, that you and Reginald were circling each other, playing a game with each other? Lay a trap, dance away from it. Steal a piece of information, change it’s meaning. Capture a bishop, sacrifice a knight. Move and counter-move. For months now.’

“I’m going to the gym tonight,” he said, making a dismissive gesture when you remained silent for too long. “I can’t do this anymore.”

He turned on his heel, throwing a few things in a duffle bag haphazardly.

“Maybe this was a mistake,” you said quietly as you watched him pack, rooted in your spot in the living room.

“Of course it was a mistake!”

“I don’t mean things with your father or D.S. Umbrella,” you took a deep, shuddery breath. “I...I mean us.”

“What?” his voice dropped, all the anger leeching away as he hesitated in the middle of folding one of his turtlenecks.

You took a shuddering breath, “None of this would have happened if we hadn’t gotten tangled up trying to pretend we fit together, in each other’s lives.”

“Y/N. Stop.” He shook his head, words clipped and forced. “Don’t say that.”

“Say what Diego? What we’re both thinking? I love you, so much. More than I can possibly say. But...I don’t think that’s enough. I was...we were better off alone. Everyone was.”

“That’s not t-true.” He took a step toward you and you took a step back. He looked like the world had just dropped out from under him.

“Tell me I’m wrong. Please?” you begged, voice and lip trembling. “If you can say that, after everything I’ve done, after all of this, I’ll believe you. But...don’t say if it’s not true.”

“That’s it?”

“I don’t know.”

Your gut gnawed at you, the still image of the burning warehouse catching in the corner of your eye. It felt like he was going to forgive you, even for a moment, for that, for Luther, and you couldn’t fathom that. And the more you spoke, the more you found yourself meaning the words. You loved him, and he loved you, and that could only hurt.

“I should go,” he said, half-heartedly, almost asking you to stop him.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

His keys rattled as he picked them up, and the door closing behind him seemed louder than you had ever imagined possible. It felt like one of his daggers was protruding from your chest. You couldn’t breathe.

“Diego, wait!” you called shakily, throwing open the door but not quite chasing him into the hallway.

He stopped but didn’t turn around. Silence hung like a wall between you. Your tongue felt like lead. What could you possibly say to undo what you had just done?

The minutes dragged on, the silence unbroken.

With a sigh you could almost imagine wafting back to flutter over you, he started to move again, and you stood there until his back disappeared. Only when he was truly gone, did you sink to the floor.

“Goodbye Diego,” you murmured, the words trailing off into a sob.

#And No One Lived Happily Ever After. The End #I mean technically there's an epilogue and some sort of sequel but this is the 'end' #the epilogue isn't going to make things better I promise #13 is an unlucky number right? :/ #how to break your reader's heart (and your own) in 2.5k or less #an essay by Shye #Light Fingers #Diego Hargreeves x Reader #The Umbrella Academy fic