#either that or more nightmare gang bullshit

[wishing-stones]

Hi, first off I gotta say R&R is definitely one of my favourite Nightmare Gang X Readers and overall one of the best Undertale stories I've ever read. The way you write them and how you added Baggs (which I didn't know existed until I read your story but now I love the little gremlin) is just *chefs kiss*. Secondly, we know how Baggs is when he's in heat, but how do the rest act with their S/O whilst in heat? What happens if they all share a S/O and they all go into heat at the same time?

Ah, thank you! I adore the little gremlin, honestly, and I'm glad I get to introduce so many people to him.

The rest of the guys are pretty aggressive in heat, really. High LV mixed with unruly magic and raging hormones make for an ugly mix.

Killer tries his best to ignore his, but is much more aggressive than usual and instigates a ton more fights. He's loud, he's combative, and he's kind of dangerous. He usually gets chased off to have someone help him with his problem somewhere, since everyone has enough of his bullshit by day 2. Fortunately, if he isn't tracking his cycle, someone else is, and Nightmare is usually fairly good at preempting his assholishness by informing him that he's going on a week-long extended mission somewhere and to not come back until he's got a clearer head. With an SO, he's pretty insistent and a looottt more lewd than usual. Dust is dangerously impulsive and aggressive. He is constantly bordering an LV attack, but... retains a fair bit of lucidity. More than usual. He can't hear his brother during this time, and that just makes things worse. He's terrible at communicating, but he's very good about either taking his suppressants or dealing with it very shortly after onset. He can be a bit demanding of an SO, sometimes dangerous to lay with, but he's always good about seeing to injuries after.

Axe is potentially the most dangerous, as he gets a little more dangerous and a lot more animalistic. The damage to his skull means that some of his finer, more cognitive processes kind of fly out the window in favor of instinct. Fortunately, he likes to sleep through his. He stockpiles some food and hides in his room with the door locked. He doesn't quite trust himself with a partner, to not hurt them or otherwise succumb to instinct. He'd rather wait his out.

Cross is a lot more irritable and kind of aggressive, but fortunately, the one most in control of his emotions and actions. He's very good about suppressants, and he prefers to burn the excess energy by training. He tends to ignore other bodily functions in favor of keeping his mind focused on his work, so... he's been known to drive himself into the ground. Someone usually keeps an eye on him from a distance. He's never taken a partner, prefers to keep to himself, but... if his SO wants to help, he won't say no. He might lose himself a little bit, even, because all of this would be a very new experience for him.

Nightmare is fortunately pretty infrequent, once a year, maybe, but he is dangerous to be around. Highly aggressive and dominant, he will not hesitate to put someone in their place if he perceives an inch of insubordination. Fortunately, he's acutely aware of it, so he's pretty good about dealing with it just about the instant it sets in, if he can. If he's unable to, the boys give him a very wide berth until he comes back to his senses. An SO should be prepared for him-- he's demanding and insistent, and while not an active danger to his partner, has the capacity to be. Rein in those bratty tendencies.

They can and sometimes do sync up, and then the castle is quiet for about a week while everyone stays in separate corners, or flit off to other AUs to find someone to help alleviate their problem.

#k answers #k headcanons #feat. r&r crew #cw spicy content?

[definitely-not-an-alb]

ooh, how do you think molly would grift essek?

Alright. Let’s grift Essek.

First I need to note that any objection along the line of ‘Essek is too intelligent to fall for grifts’ is unnecessary, because whatever you think of Essek’s specific characterisation, assuming you are to intelligent to fall for a grift is one of the major ways people fall for them, in a ‘renowned high pressure social group researcher proclaiming on twitter that Sissy Porn is real and dangerous’ kinda way (look it up it’s some hysterical terf bs).

Gonna use that joke as a sidenote that if I am conflating grifts and high pressure social groups in this, it’s ‘cause as far as I care the difference is how self-aware the people running the show are. Watch any MLM-Doku (and I think we can all agree MLMs are grifts) and you’ll inevitably get to the part about weird aspiration culture bs and group pressure. It’s all one soup.

With that out of the way, let’s establish a baseline: What’s Molly’s reason for grifting Essek? Probably money and also the fun of it/being bored. Considering Kingsley abandoned his perfectly fine shipping company job to run off to be pirate king, I don’t think ‘Molly keeps grifting long after the M9 have become financially stable for shits and giggles and because Jester enjoys it’ is too outlandish a projection. Additionally, I don’t think Molly is great with impulse control nor this whole thing where current actions cause future consequences.

Now; why would Essek fall for a grift. Grifting relies on the dupe wanting something more than having good sense about it. Most people want money, so most girfts are structured around greed, but we know money is no object to Essek (though this does make him a juicy target – what he would barely miss might make a good haul for any grifter). We do know he is primarily motivated by knowledge instead, as well as a desire to be recognized as intelligent and exceptional. Additionally, we know he needs (in the character development sense) The Power of Friendship. Lastly, I think it’s fair to say he subconsciously longs for excitement (happy, fulfilled bureaucrats don’t become heretic spies; nor do they befriend a gang of mercenaries; implicitly, Essek is happier living the life of a wayward refugee-adventurer wizard than that of an Evil Gay Vizier Court Wizard or whatever papers a Shadowhand stamps nine-to-five.).

Being a paranoid bastard makes him a harder target, though the fact that we know he has fallen for someone’s bs before (I’m counting the spectacularly bad decision that is him allying with the Assembly as falling for a grift here. That’s a stupid decision to make!) makes him an easier target. Being so socially isolated makes him an easier victim, too, though his general rejection of people and clear discomfort with social interactions makes him an unlikely target for something like a romance scam. Essek’s relationship to tolerating bullshit is a weird one; on the one hand, he does put up with Jester’s (and the rest of the Nein’s) shenanigans, on the other he clearly knows how to and dares to tell someone to fuck off, and there’s that time he just ditches everyone via teleport (hilarious). So boundaries-wise, he could go either way. Lastly, I’d argue he’s at least somewhat impulsive or at least not risk averse. Always remember we are looking at an NPC next to Sword’n’Sorcery Adventurers – Essek might look cautious next to ruin-trawling wizards, but compare him to Gundula, 55, who works in Insurance and just clicked on a phishing link to claim her Totally Real Oilve Garden Gift Card, and you’ll see what I mean – most people are too risk-averse and unimpulsive to, again, commit treason via international conspiracy and then run off without a moment’s notice to dig around a cursed-ass ruin to save the world from a Cronenbergian nightmare.

Conclusion: He’s rich, he’s bored, he loves pretending to be a spy or grand discoverer, he wants to buy your dodgy foreign papers and incredible discoveries about the Luxon so, so badly and he has absolutely no one left in his life who’ll tell him it’s a bad idea.

So, for example, Molly could Voynich him. All he needs is a battered notebook and some writing supplies, whatever knowledge of what wizards’ and alchemists’ and spies’ scribbles look like he can easily pick up from traveling with the Nein and an opportunity to ask Essek to have a look at this encoded notebook he’s been lugging around all over the continent with him, why, he was at this party in Zadash and everyone else was some boring old pompous wizard (such a bore!) so he pickpocketed one of them, just for the fun of it, but, well, turns out neither Caleb nor Beau can make head nor tails of the weird sign code it’s written in (how tragic, if only someone happened to be so much cleverer than both of them!) and if Essek wants to have a look Molly would be more than happy to lighten his pack. For a small pittance, of course.

What’s small change to Essek is probably pretty nice to have for Molly, even by that level and especially if we’re mostly doing this for the fun of it. Essek gets to fall face first into his desire to show up Caleb, Beau and potentially an unknown Assembly member with his clearly superior decoding, espionage and wizardly skills and gain Secret Knowledge, maybe even Assembly Secrets on top of that.

Arguably, this one does rely very heavily on the fact that it’s hard to prove a negative, or in this case, hard to prove a barely-literate conman’s scribbles are just that. Do keep in mind Essek doesn’t know Molly is a habitual conman, but even so, it’s not a fantastic con (Essek isn’t dumb and knows his arcana after all and Molly doesn’t, or at least not enough to make a proper Voynich).

You could make it a better Voynich by getting Caleb in on it, but instead let’s pep it and turn it into a proper Real Stradivari by changing the hints that this manuscript might be legit to being alchemy-related and adding in a shill. Let’s go with Jester, because she’s down to clown, can lie and has a way with Essek’s boundaries.

So this time around, we aren’t asking Essek outright to buy our bogus notes – instead Molly gives him the whole spiel, hands him the notebook, fucks off with as little time to actually look at it as possible before Jester enters the scene to ask what THAT is and go oh it’s about ALCHEMY well, that DOES look like the signs she saw around Yezza’s house, pretty suuuure, oh, do you think it might be Yezza’s? Do you think Yezza might want it? Do you think she should ask Molly to sell it to her so she can give it to Yezza as a present to be nice because she’s such a nice friend who does nice things?

Honestly, the money part is optional if this is wholly about making Essek look up to see if the ceiling does indeed say gullible (and if Jester is involved, it might well do so! Always better to check, with her!), but a proper Violin Drop concludes with the Grifter returning to take their worthless thing back only to be asked to sell by the victim, who thinks the grifter doesn’t know what worth he has. If it was real, offering to buy the notebook would mean Essek outsmarted a minimum of three people (Beau and Caleb can’t crack the code, Molly is too dumb and illiterate to know valuable research notes from the morning paper) and gets his hands on potentially unknown-to-him luxon-related secrets! Alas, it’s not real, as he will realize soon.

So these are two (related) ways to scam Essek. But there’s a third one I want to mention one that is a lot of cinematic fun and I didn’t know had a name until Wikipedia told me no one does it irl (boo! That’s no fun!). It takes a lot of prep, math, and a lot of people and combines Essek’s obsession with the Luxon’s secrets and Molly’s penchant for passing himself off as psychic.

Molly would need something people in Rosohna bet on, like some kind of sport, preferably one with only two results and places people do said betting on said sport in groups. I’m assuming this exists on account of gambling and sports being culturally pretty universal concepts that love to go together.

Anyway. Imagine you’re Essek Thelyss, and one day a bunch of weirdos show up in court with a piece of the god you’re atheistically-heretically obsessed with. A few weeks later, you, having your ears to the ground about new developments regarding said not-god-pieces, hear one of the weirdos has made a name for himself as a outright oracle, correctly predicting the outcome of Fantasy-Dodgeball (Rosohnas’ favourite sport) perfectly six weeks running. He swears it’s because proximity to the Luxon amplified his inborn and long-trained psychic powers to predict the future.

Now, this is obviously bullshit. Except if Essek, being regrettably acquainted with the weirdos, were to ask, Molly would certainly confirm that sure, he has mystic powers and certainly they were amplified by the Luxon and predicting sport results is a hobby of his wherever they go, does Essek want to see? and lead Essek to a bar where every regular can swear on whatever he likes that Molly has correctly predicted the results of Fantasy-Dodgeball since the first week of being in Rosohna, in fact since before he himself knew the rules or track-record of any of the teams. Not only that, but there’s a second bar full of people Molly can introduce him too. And if he wants, he can certainly come back for a drink in one of them again next week when Molly has done it once more. Just call on Molly, he’ll tell you the time and date to meet some true believers, not all of whom can possibly be his shills.

(And, incidentally, barely worth mentioning, really, since Molly’s psychic blessings from the Luxon are so accurate, he has Exciting Business Opportunities for anyone willing to place more than their weekly betting budget in his trust, and he’d love for Essek to take a look at his powers. For a small compensation of his time, of course.)

Of course Molly can’t predict the results of Fantasy-Dodgeball. Instead, the first week of downtime in Rosohna, he found out what people like to bet on in Rosohna and where, picked one or two places in each district, go there and make predictions with a fifty-fifty split, then eliminate each watering hole where he was wrong each week, slowly cutting his audience back to only people who are getting to know him as That Outlander Who Always Knows The Results of Fantasy-Dodgeball, all the while escalating the story from him being just some dude betting and drinking with the guys to the whole Chosen By The Luxon thing. Considering this is a double-scam involving a faith aspect, he might very well still cash in in places he’s been wrong once only since victims of faith-based scams are very likely to overlook inconsistencies in their scammer’s stories or promised results. By the time Essek gets involved Molly’d be down to one or two places of true believers coming to him for ‘always accurate’ tips and a bunch of other people all over Rosohna he might get some money off based on the faith-aspect. And now perhaps one intrigued high-ranking government official who’s more than willing to overlook the hereticism inherent to the whole thing and is instead very likely to fall in the academic glue-trap of trying to disprove something clearly bogus that you do kind of want to believe in because like.

Wouldn’t it be cool? If the Luxon had more awesome powers? And one of them happened to fall in Essek’s hands, with no oversight and no need to cooperate with someone like Trent or Ludinus? Would he not want it to be real?

Anyway. The real answer to this question is: Enlist Beau to send bogus stuffed bills to Essek’s secretary. Bureaucrat on bureaucrat violence, let’s go.

#critical role #essek thelyss #mollymauk tealeaf #not!fic #the Psychic Sp/orts Bet is a long shot but I just like it so much I'm sorry for having Bad (Cinematic) Taste in sca/ms #anyway. I still want the world where Molly lived and Beau taught him white collar crime #Empire Crime Siblings. The dream #sorry this took so long to answer life was busy #whoever finds my spelling mistakes may happily keep them I am. so tired #now with a read more that still leaves this post much too long damn

[unabashednightmarepizza]

ೃ⁀➷ 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐒/𝐎 𝐈𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐀 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐚/𝐘𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐳𝐚 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐭

ೃ⁀➷ Sano "Mikey" Manjiro, Ryuuguji Ken(Draken), Chifuyu Matsuno, Baji Keisuke

Warnings: Blood, fighting, stabbing, being shot, classic Tokyo Revengers dangers, mentions of sexual assault/r@pe

A/N: I was actually planning to write for more but I got carried away... If you guys want another part, please comment who you want! And damn, the amount of hardwork and patience I poured into this!

Sano Manjiro

• A baby at heart, a monster in gang

•Even though that's how he is known as, you knew for the better that it wasn't completely true. Ever since that one time he crawled on top of you after eating his dorayakis and dozed off, it was hard to take him seriously outside of gang life.

•Don't tell him this though, he will pout 'till you kiss him 🤫😜

• You really didn't remember how you got yourself into this whole gang/mafia mess again. One second you were happy that you finally got away from your family business, the next you're hanging out with Toman and dating their leader.

• Maybe it's a genetic thing 🤔

• Anyways, since your mother was the only daughter of a strong Yakuza family but wanted a somehow normal life, she married your dad who was another powerful mafia leader( huh, ironic isn't it 🤨), two families kinda united and BAM! Maybe, the strongest Mafia was created.

• And then, the ultimate prince/princess/ royalty was born!! The apple of their parents' eyes and the next one in the business. Jokes on your father, your mom threatened him with divorce if he so much so forces you to be a mafia leader.

• Jokes on your mother, you grew up with either seeing blood on your father after a fight or wanted to learn self defence. -Can't Imagine the smug look on your father's face 😏

• So, you became someone feared when your name was uttered. Your mask-which was to protect your identity- and weapons had been a nightmare to so many criminals.

• That was how the gang rules must be, at least to you. Don't hurt anyone, hurt who hurt innocent, never have mercy on them...

• Back to your chaotic life, it wasn't a surprise since you quickly befriended Emma, Hinata and Takemichi after your boyfriend and your bff introduced you to them. Hinata was the sweetest person ever, Emma was a bit obsessed(?) with Draken and Takemichi...

• There was something you couldn't put your finger on. The boy was sweet a minute, then cold the other. You didn't like it and even though you didn't want to question anyone, he was definetly hiding something.

•" Takemichi, you either tell me what's your deal or I'll never make my famous cookies to you and help you with your homeworks."

• Yep, that was enough reasons for him to tell you everything. You listened to every word, not believing him quite well. You put your hands on your knees and went up but before you could open, his next words planted you right there.

• "Your real name is L/N Y/N and you are a mafia leader but because you wanted a normal life, you never told anyone about your backstory. And you didn't tell this to anyone either so either I'm a spy who wants to kill you or what I'm saying is true. And we all know which one is the case... "

•He was right, absolutely right. So you stayed and listened to everything he had to say. How Mikey was a cold and merciless murderer and how almost all of the Toman was destroyed, how he and Draken argued and started to distance because of Pah-chin's stupidity to stab the leader of Moebius.

• After listening intently with knitted eyebrows in anger, you tched and got up, throwing your hands around.

•"That's bullshit! They're like brothers, there is no way they would split their ways like that!! Besides, Mikey? Murderer? I mean sure, he's childish and don't think before he acts but... but... How about me?"

•" Well, I don't know... We were never able to find anything related to you. It was as if... you disappeared..."

• Your mind was on overdrive, trying to think of a plan and not crying because you might be loosing your friends soon. And if Moebius was the trigger then...

•"Takemichi-kun... You said that Moebius was the trigger for the downfall of Toman, right?"

• He hesitantly nodded at you and widened his eyes at the crazy look in your eyes and wondered if he did the right thing by telling you.

•"But... If there is no Moebius, then there will be no fighting between them. I never loved those punk-asses anyways, I'd be glad to destroy them."

•"But, we can try to convince Mik-"

•"You can't. If Mikey decided on something, the chances of him changing his mind is low. Now, come with me so that we can make a plan."

• And now, Takemichi could only hope that you can really destroy this gang so that nobody would be hurt. Seeing Osanai in front of him and beating Pah-chin, he seriously thought you might die and even worse could happen.

•"The fuck you're staring at, punk?"

• And before he knew it, Takemichi heard a voice he knew. He gulped hard and hoped that everything would resolve peacefully.

• "I'd suggest you drop that hand, jackass!"

• All of the members of Moebius and others alongside Mikey looked at the source, only to see you, clad in all black and weapons with your famous mask. All of the Moebius gulped hard and sweated nervously but that wasn't the case for Osanai.

• " Who are you to call me that you bi- ARGGHH!!"

• What happened next is way too much and I don't want to traumatize someone lol. Basically Osanai was left with a broken arm and bruised balls. Seeing that Pah-chin was about to get up, you raised your voice and looked at him harshly.

•" Pah-chin, stay down and don't do some stupid shit! And you, Osanai!! I'm your nightmare and new leader! From now on, all of the remaining individuals of Moebius are mine!! If you don't believe, here. Look at this..."

• Everyone watched your men beat the shit out of every member and drop their now ex-leader. You put the phone away and kicked him for one final time.

•" Now, now~ How many people did you beat to death and how many women did you rape? I'll have to choose a different way to torture every single one of you~~"

• Takemichi did something he wasn't supposed to do in that moment, call out your name.

•When you heard your name and the sirens, you turned abruptly, not realizing the blade both Osanai and Pah-chin was holding. At their screams, you throw yourself away from Osanai and unintentionally stopped Pah-chin's blade. And after your mask being pulled off, Mikey and everyone else felt like they were thrown into ice.

• Mikey could feel a few veins popping out and damn, you looked hot but fuck, you were also in mafia? Why did you never say anything? And was that... your blood?

• You gritted your teeth in pain and looked at Pah-chin deadly which made him gulp. "Y-Y/N..." "Shut up and go away before I do some stupid shit, I'll deal with the rest." "But..." "I already avenged them and will make them pay but the police is coming and I'm the only one to stop them... Draken-kun! Take Mikey away from here and run!"

• Seeing the hurt look on your boyfriend made you look down and prepare your talk to him so that he wouldn't think you were gathering information about the gang and himself... Unknown to you, he was trashing on Draken's shoulders to reach you, not for the reason you thought but thinking that you'll loose more blood and get arrested.

• And Takemichi knew you changed most of the things and after you came back 2 days later, after dealing with that gang and police, you came to Sano house to all of the Toman and with their half-worried, half-not-impressed and you-better-tell-us-everything look, you gulped hard and for the first time ever since you got together with Mikey, entered the house with nerves.

Chifuyu

• I feel like he would already know, apart from him being smart when it comes to you, especially you, you were actually giving many hints

• Hint #1: Your never ending budget

• For some reasons, your money just never ended. He would always see you shopping, with your friends or alone. But honestly? You weren't even shopping for yourself. Emma's birthday was coming and since you saw her eyeing a necklace in the mall, you decided why not take out your black card?

• After getting everything you needed, you just wanted to spare some of your time to the bookshop near the end of the mall to see if they had anything new- which means manga for you and your boyfriend

• Which was a win for you because all the action and romance mangas you've been waiting for was there!

• What you didn't consider was seeing your boyfriend at the same aisle, buying mangas for you- basically the shocked pikachu meme-

• "Babe... What are you doing with all that bags?"

•" Fuyu! I bought all the mangas here for you 🥰"- Sugar mommy who?

•It's not like he doesn't like it, he does- he melts into that sweet and wide smile you give him whenever you'd gift something- but he's just worried for your family budget which earns him a playful wink and a noncholant "It's okay!"

• He just smiles warmly with a blush and thanks you, and offers to read them together in his room shyly which you squeal and hug him thightly- his mother is so close to scold you because you were buying so many gifts to them that she couldn't find anymore spare place

• Suspiciously thightly 🤔

• He knew you worked out a lot, and forced him to do the same, not as harsh at yours though and in the beginning he was worried you would hurt yourself but seeing you lift 350 kg with little difficulty, he wore heart eyes all around for a week straight- my lazy ass could never like wtf, how do people do that?

•"Y/N, are you sure your back is okay?"

•"Yeah, why not?" 😇

• Hint #2: Your Family

• I know I said he is smart but your family literally layed guns open around your house, not bothering to hide themselves and he was still like "Is it for self protection?"

• "Darling, love of my life-"🙄

• You weren't actively trying to hide but your mom? Your mom was making it hard.

• Pretty much Spy x Family vibes

•You were really considering just out right telling him but that would put him on not needed danger. Not that you can't save him but you would pretty much destroy the whole city if he was hurt- and you told him once, after your third date which he waved of as something nice coming from you...

• He didn't expect you to destroy a strong gang that was causing them trouble the next day.

• He was curious as to who did it and actually told you the whole story with his head on your lap, you pushing his blond hair away to smooch his forehead happily with your hands holding his softly.

•"I'm glad you liked my surprise! They talked too much shit about you, Baji-kun, Draken-kun and Mikey-kun! 😁"

• *cue the pikachu meme-d Peke J and Chifuyu*

•You weren't lying when you said you would do anything for him... How could you not when he was being the sweetest boyfriend to you?

• He would help you out with anything you suffered with, be it homework or your make-up, always try to lighten the weight on your shoulders by reorganizing your desk or helping you clean. Or sometimes, when you just needed the normalcy of a simple couple, you would choose a movie and watch with him with your cheeks full of popcorn.

• He would always smile and squeeze your cheeks, muttering a simple cute and kiss both of them which made you blush all. the. damn. time!

• You always felt... safe and home with him.

• For most, it seemed that you two were being dramatic but you were trully, unconditionally in love with this boy. Yes, your family was Yakuza and you were both safe and in danger but they weren't always there when you were a child, needing comfort more than anything...

• Chifuyu was your safe place for your inner child and you desperately clinged on him...

• So, when your late night date that was turned to a Toman meeting was crushed by some shitheads, you surely fumed with anger.

• You just wanted to give your gift to Emma and eat some dorayaki with Mikey, dammit!

• But for some reasons... These assholes seemed familiar, especially their "leader"....

• "Hey! Aren't you the pervert I refused who decided that causing trouble for my family was a good idea!?"

• "He did what?!" Chifuyu.exe has stopped working

• "I'm glad you remembered me, Y/N-chan~ But this time I'm not alone! And I came to get you from that twit!"

• Okay,okay so there are two mistakes he did. Mistakes that had him fucked up. One, assuming your were alone and two... Insulting your baby.

• "Did you just insult our son-in-law?!"

• Yeah, Spy x Family vibes... Remember?

• To sum it all up, Toman was shook, Chifuyu was shook even the bird on the tree is shook at the amount explosives and knives that was thrown around

• Chifuyu, on the other hand, was very worried about both you and your family. You made them all watch on the sidelines, much to Mikey's disappointment, saying that it was a family issue which resulted in with... fire.

•" Hahaha, Chifuyu you didn't tell me that your S/O liked burning things as well!"

• Baji could you please go and fangirl somewhere else? You're encouraging y/n-chan...

• He was shocked yes, but mostly flustered at both himself and your gorgeous form. The tattoo on your back, your hair flowing through the wind and your eyes shining when they met his...

• Stupid, Chifuyu! How couldn't you realize your own s/o being in mafia?!

• Even though his mind was on overdrive, he still noticed your happy form coming closer fo them with a huge smile... Why were you so happy though?? Like you almost killed a whole ass gang?

• "YOU'RE IN YAKUZA!? HOLY SHIT- WHAT THE FUCK! YOU NEED TO TEACH ME THOSE MOVES-"

•" YES, YES OF COURSE MIKEY! BUT YOU NEED TO TEACH ME THAT TRIPLE-"

• In the midst of all chaos, and excitement, you didn't see the same boy running at you at full speed with a very long knife

• But Chifuyu and Draken did

• "Y/N-CHAN, WATCH OUT!" "Y/N, MOVE OUT OF THE...way? Hell nah, I'm not dealing with this."

• Everyone screamed at you bit their voices died down when you lifted your leg high, making a perfect line with your other foot on the ground and roundhouse kicked him hard...

•"Ahh, my precious daughter! Always reminds me of her mother- CHIFUYU-KUN!? Y/N, YOUR BOYFRIEND IS DEAD! MY POOR SON-" -- ever the dramatic dad😒

• Widening your eyes and running up to him, not bothering with the blood on you, you slapped him to wake him up but unfortunately, all of this were too much for his poor heart and you just chuckled amusedly and gathered him to lay on your back...

• Now, you had three missions

• Mission #1: Wake your sleeping beauty up

• Mission #2: Gather all your friends and take them to your home to treat and have dinner with

• Mission #3: Prepare your tools to teach the perverted man and his family that no one messes with Yakuza

Baji

• THE BIGGEST SIMP ❤️‍🔥

• Really though, you never actively tried to hide who you were from him. He just didn't ask anything so where was the point of going to him and say "hey, y'know I'm a mafia leader, one that's so strong, and by the way my family wants to...meet...you?"

• Yeah, your nerves wasn't because of him meeting your family. It was more like, being scared of your mom's reaction at you dating a delinquent and you not telling the truth to your boyfriend.

• You sat down on the table, picking at your lips anxiously which made Baji raise his brows at you curiously before walking towards you, ruffling your hair.

• "'S something wrong, babe? Wouldn't want your pretty lips to be chapped,here. Use this."

• Like goddamn, this man knows every single product you use 😤 What a gentleman...

• Anyways, back to the headcanons.

• He could tell there was something very big and important going on with you since you were mostly carefree and don't give a shit for the most part. The nerveous eye twitching, biting lips, fidgeting on your seat... All of them indicated that you were pretty much stressed. But about what?

• He pondered a bit, thinking he forgot something or that... maybe something happened to your little kitten or or your parents!!

• Homeboy, don't show that you're a family man that much 🤭

• "Babe, you know you can tell anthin'. What got my beautiful so worried, hmm?

• If it wasn't that you were about to die, you could have melted right then and there. Arrrgghh, there goes the smooth yet raspy and sexy voice of him that makes my knees weak...

• You looked at him up and down and took a deep breath. "MYFAMILYWANTSTOMEETYOUBUTIDIDN'TKNOWHOWTOTELLYOUDON'THAVETOAGREEIFYOUDON'TWANTTOBUT-

• Well, that's... definetly an interesting way to tell your boyfriend...😅

• And now, you were walking hand in hand with him who was just chuckling at your expression while rubbing his thumb accross your knuckles delicately.

•"baby, you don't have to be so nervous. I know I'm not the brightest at academy or the perfect boy but I'll not back down from my feelings if they disapprove of me..."

•"Bitch, why are you putting yourself down when I'm the one who didn't come clean!?😤"

• Yeah, guess what stupid shit you have done? Come on, I'll give you a second!

• Thinking fucking out loud

•"huh? What do you mean? Is there something you didn't tell me?"

•"W-Well... haha, you see actually... yes, there is... BUT PROMISE TO NOT GET ANGRY!"

•All I can say is that he wasn't impressed. Like come on!! Can he even get angry at you?🤔 He didn't even get mad when you kidnapped his cats!! And don't laugh, that's a serious matter!!

•I swear, I'm not. Besides, how would I when you are acting all cute like that, he said.

• You fanned your face because you were feeling 🌠 THINGS🌠 Can you please do your simping later in the corner Y/N🤔🥲

•" You see... I never mentioned my family but there is something you-"

•" Is that the boy you were talking about, darling? He looks like such an amazing one!"

• Yep, your mother... was literally a blocker. And you didn't even realizd she opened the door and was looking at you both!

•"Mom! How did you open the door like that, it's heavy!"

•" I'm not a mafia boss for nothing darling!"

• Your boyfriend was shook, mouth open like a fish, looking between the woman in front of the porch, the guards and then at you...

•"You're in... mafia?"

• Well, after explaining literally the family history to your boyfriend, who was more like a giddy kid who was being taught how to bike, you waited for another reaction from him. Your father was sitting there with that scary scowl that made many die of heart attack and you didn't want Baji to be on the list...

• What you didn't see coming was that they bonded over their love for exploding things.

•" Honey, don't get me wrong, he's a very handsome, young boy who loves you a lot but... Couldn't you find someone who is not the replica of your father?" 🤨😑😐

• Yes, he was violent and enjoyed fighting a lot but if there was one thing he loved more... It was you.🥰

• You were the first girl that didn't run away from him when he was being extra violent or run after him for his good looks. You had seen a completely different, soft side of him when he was holding a few kittens between his large hands in the corner of the street, secretly playing with them.

• Those kittens, coincidently, were the same ones you would always feed before returning home. And after that, was history.

• His gentleness when it came to you, him leaving everything when you needed him, your late night dates that you hid from your parents, his warm hugs and soft voice when he was talking about you, always insisting to carry your stuff even though he knew you were capable, how he would always offer his jacket even though you could see the redness of his cheeks because of the cold...

•"No, mom, I couldn't... He's everything and even more I wanted."

• Your mother trully saw herself in you at that moment, remembering how she had fallen for your father and smiled cheekily when she caught the redness that started from Baji's neck up to his ear.

• "So, young boy... How long have you been sneaking my daughter out?"

• It could have ended with a disaster if it wasn't for the smirk your father was trying to surpass and your mother hitting his chest jokingly, telling him to not scare the young lovers. You didn't realize but Baji was holding your hand that was on his lap thightly with a lovesick smile.

• He made a mental note to kiss you as if there was no tomorrow and bring you gifts to show you how gratefull he was to have you in his life. And hot for being able to kick his ass❤️‍🔥- Your father definetly didn't give him the "break her heart or I'll kill you" talk, he rather said "Break her heart and she will break your bones" talk, which was the hottest thing he had ever heard about you.

#tokyo revengers imagine #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo rev x y/n #tokyo revengers x y/n #mikey tokyo revengers #baji tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers chifuyu #mikey x reader #mikey imagine #sano manjiro x y/n #sano mikey x y/n #sano manjiro x reader #baji x reader #baji keisuke #baji imagine #chifuyu x reader #chifuyu fluff #chifuyu x y/n

[doofus-and-dragons]

As promised, I'm back on my httyd bullshit. Here's a list of things that don't make sense unless you watch the shows (idgaf if they're cannon or not, they should be for the background of small details!!!)

1. Grump.

Grump is Gobber's Hotburple in Httyd 2 and 3. But not in httyd 1. So this begs the question: Where and when did Gobber get Grump? The answer? Race to the Edge S3 E12, "Last Auction heros." Gobber and Snotlout go to Viggo's dragon auction undercover, and Grump is one of the dragons for sale. Without that episode, Grump is just a dragon they shoved into the second movie for shots and giggles.

2. Inferno

Inferno is a blade that Hiccup created himself that lights itself on fire using monstrous nightmare gel and can eject and ignite zippleback gas. To the casual watcher, he just showed up with it in the second movie. But Inferno is ALSO from rtte! Inferno's first form comes from S3 E9, "Tone Death." Hiccup then works further on it, but Inferno as we know it is actually based on a version of the blade that VIGGO GRIMBORN, the villain for most of RTTE, made.

3. The Deadly Nadder(? Looks like a nadder) plushie

Although this is a small detail that is only seen in the background of the later Httyd movies, it is still a detail that first appears within the SHOW'S cannon lore. According to S1 E17 of Riders of Berk, the toy was made by Valka when Hiccup was a baby. However, tiny Hiccup was so scared of the toy that he threw it in the ocean. Trader Johann managed to get ahold of it, and the episode was about the riders trying to save with mystery item because something happened to Johann's ship. I don't remember what. Something about smoldering smoke breaths, I think.

4. Skull Crusher

Skull Crush is Stoick the Vast's Rumblehorn in Httyd 2 and 3, who is later inherited by Eret, son of Eret upon Soick's death in Httyd 2. But again, where and when did Stoick get Shullcrusher? Because it seems like he just appeared. Well, I have that answer! Skull Crusher first appears in S1 E8, "Crushing It." In the episode, the gang is tormented by a Rumblehorn who keeps destroying their camp. Hiccup asks his Dad for help, and his Dad is able to train and befriend the wild dragon.

5. Hiccup's flight suit

In Httyd 2 and 3, Hiccup has/is trying to perfect a flight suit attached to his armor. Now, this could just be seen as Hiccup being a silly inventor off-screen, but it ACTUALLY shows up in Race to the Edge! S1 E12 "The Next Big Sting" actually opens with Hiccup trying out his first design for the flight suit. He does it many times, each time having to be saved by Toothless before he crashes into some form of rock/sea stack (much like in Httyd 2).

6. Hiccup's aging

I saw a post either on here or on tiktok the other day where someone was complaining about how different hiccup looked between 1 and 2. In 1, he's like...what...13?15? Where as He's about 20-21 ish by Httyd 2. To fans who don't obsess over something and consume all the media like I do, this would be a bit of a shock. I mean, you go from this:

Immediately to this:

Where as fans of the shows had this progression:

Much easier to swallow.

7. The Bewilderbeast

This is, again, something that could be choked up to the writers wanting more than just 7 species of dragons. HOWEVER, this dragon is actually the center point of the last few episodes of Race to the Edge. We learn a little bit about the dragon over the corse of the last season, which takes place just a year or two before Httyd 2.

9. VALKA HERSELF

I watched Race to the Edge long before I watched Httyd 2, so I had 0 clue the Hiccup's mom was still alive or what her mask looked like. But in the last bit of the last episode of race to the edge, guess what we see?

VALKA TAKING THE BEWILDERBEAST EGG.

In conclusion, these show's should be considered cannon to the HTTYD universe just as much as fucking Homecoming should or what ever. These are amazing and fill in so many continuity

#im very passionate about this #can you tell #i think the shows should be cannon #this isnt all but its all i could think of im tired #httyd #httyd rob #httyd dob #httyd rtte #httyd 2 #hiccup horrendous haddock lll #httyd stoick #stoick the vast #httyd gobber #gobber the belch #httyd valka #valka haddock #analysis #kind of #rambles #ramblings

[tonopahfallshq]

Name: Alexandra "Lexie" Paisly Scott Age: 31 Occupation: Owner of Mon Cœur Cafe Time living in Tonopah: From the age of 11 to 18, she returned at 23 and has lived there since Neighborhood: Downtown Gang Affiliation: Sons of Silence Hangaround Face Claim: Kat McNamara

Biography:

Alexandra Paisley Scott, Lexie, was born on November 5th, 1991. The youngest of three siblings; Her adopted brother James was 8, and her half-sister Blake was 4, when Lexie came into the world kicking and screaming. Lexie had been a quiet baby, so quiet in fact Rose had been worried that something was wrong. She didn’t have to worry long because when it got to the time for Lexie to start talking, she started and never stopped. The  older she got the more rambunctious and loud she got. From the outside it seemed she was just like her older sister, only unlike Blake who used happiness as a shield, Lexie really was just that happy.

Growing up in Boston, Lexie wasn’t really a troublemaker, she was an outgoing, sweet and charming individual… who always seemed to just be able to find trouble. Or in her words, trouble just seemed to always find her. She didn't go looking for it, it just showed up. Like the time one of the girls in her class just happened to trip while she was passing Lexie’s desk. Lexie hadn’t stuck her leg out on purpose, it was just bad timing. The move from Boston to Tonopah Falls, while mostly for her older sister, her parents were hoping it would have a calming effect on their youngest. It had not. Like the time she'd been arrested at 14 because a friend dragged her to a rave that just happened to be taking place at the mall after hours. Or the time she’d gotten arrested at 15 for joyriding with her friends, she hadn’t been driving she was just in the car! Or the time at 17 that she’d gotten arrested for trespassing in one of the old buildings downtown, she’d been dragged there your honor. See trouble just found her. It was totally bullshit but she’d maintain her innocence until she died. She was a perfect angel.

One reason she was able to get away with the things she JUST HAPPENED to do, was the fact that she somehow managed to get mostly B’s all through school. She’d be the first to admit she wasn’t as smart book smart as either of her siblings, she’d never be valedictorian or salutatorian but she also wasn’t stupid. Something that came in handy when it was time for college. She might not have gotten accepted into an Ivy league school, she did get accepted to NYU’s Libral Arts school, and if you asked her that was just as great. Her first year was going to be spent in Florence, so she’d spent the summer after she’d graduated high school, living with Blake in her New York apartment. Her older sister always spent her summers in the city, and Lexie jumped at the opportunity to spend time with her before they were both off to different places once again.

Florence had been a huge awakening for Lexie, she’d fallen more in love with art, food, and her French roommate. The year she spent there for school had been a dream, a dream she didn’t really want to wake up from. And then it had turned into a nightmare… that was a bit of an exaggeration… Sophie, it turned out, wasn’t as in love with Lexie as she’d been with her. In fact the other girl had a boyfriend waiting for her back in France. A year apart to explore and experiment. Lexie had been an experiment, and heartbroken. Returning to America, while she buried the bad feelings about Sophie, she buried herself in the great things about the year abroad. So much so that after graduating with a Global Liberal Studies Bachelor of Arts degree, she applied to the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. A year later she had a double major in Restaurant & Culinary Management, and Culinary Arts.

Finally Lexie found her way back home, a business plan in mind and the drive to make her dreams come true. Now seven years later she had a successful cafe nestled in the very downtown building she’d once gotten arrested in. Mon Cœur, My Heart in French, a sligh homage to her first love but an even bigger one to her half-sister who’d constantly told her that that was what she was to her.  

Headcannons:

Head cheerleder in high school, following in her mother’s footsteps.

Speaks three languages. Blake had spent years teaching her French and the year abroad came with an Italian language course.

Has a Great Dane named Kitty

Lives in a three-story building, the first floor was her cafe, the second floor was where Leyla Bayrak’s Photography studio was, and the third floor was split into two apartments. One was Lexie's (formally Blake’s) and the other was Leyla's

If you got your pictures taken at the studio, it usually came with free food from the cafe and at the cafe you could find many of Leyla's photos hanging on the walls.

 Unlike her sister, Lexie didn’t join the Sons until after she’d returned seven years ago. It had been a toss up on if she would or not. Yes her father had been President of the Boston chapter before the move back to Tonopah, but he hadn’t brought Lexie around like his Dad had brought Blake.

Is pretty sure she’ll never actually fall in love with another person again, Sophie had been a special case. And she didn’t think it was just the heartbreak talking.

While Blake had inherited their grandfather’s motorcycle, Lexie had been given their fathers a few years ago.

Her second arrest had been handled by her parents telling the police to keep her overnight. She may have learned, from a prostitute no less, the best way to kick someone ass if they tried to mess with her. She was still very proud of that knowledge.

When she’s not at work can usually be found watching Twitch streams or dragging her niece around town.

#lexie scott. #sons of silence. #female. #tfhq.characters

[toxiic-wastee]

hey buddy, I’ve got a request

how does the duwang gang (+Hazamada and Mikitaka and maybe even Yukako 😳😳) react to reader sending dumb shit at 3 AM? like memes or what happened in their dream. modern AU kinda because of textin and all, also gender neutral preferred.

sorry if you’re working on something else, thank you buddyyyyyy 🐎🐎🐎

IM WORKING ON DIFFERENT 7 SMUT REQUESTS BUT THIS IS BETTER. THIS IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT IT IS 3:12 PM AND IM IN THE SHOWER WHILE WRITING THIS ON A TUESDAY SO LETS SEE HOW FAST I CAN WRITE THIS WOOOOOO. Idk who you count as the Duwang but Ik who I count so. Can be read as romantic or platonic (except for Koichi it’s romantic for him)

Josuke

-you remind him of Okuyasu tbh, the memes, the stupid ass dreams, the rants and you being sleepy and dumb.

-it’s so funny to him though.

-Tomoko took away his video game console for 2 weeks because she caught him talking to you at 4am.

-you told him about what happened in your dream and he mentally face Palmed, he gave you a resting bitch face picture once and you saw his hair all messy and you laughed at him so much. (Even going as far to threaten to leak the photo)

-there’s probably a group chat if you and Josuke and Okuyasu and Josuke just has to put up with your guys’ bullshit lmao.

Okuyasu

-what makes you think he isn’t doing the exact same thing to you??

-you guys get no fucking sleep I swear. you both constantly text, and the fact you're just as weird as him makes him so happy, youre his 1st best bud, mans dont even care about Josuke anymore.

-he wakes up early so he can go to your house and walk to school together so instead of texting you abt his dream he can yell it at you.

-he probably sends you old vines.

Koichi

-Ayana found him asleep with his phone buzzing due to you spamming him at 3am.

-he isn’t awake very late, he goes to sleep early. So when you first start spamming him he adjusts his sleep schedule to be able to text you. He probably gets caught talking to you a couple times by Mrs. Hirose, she’s so nice and sweet though. she gives him a warning and invites you over to spend the night and makes you guys food. But Ayana eavesdrops and reports to her mother about your guys’ conversations..

-he genuinely thinks the stuff you send him is funny and he giggles silently at all the stupid shit you send him.

Rohan Kishibabe

-he is so fucking pissed.

-“Y/N why would you interrupt me for your childish stories?”

-he probably blocks you :/ (he unblocks you later tho,, only to block you again the next night, it’s an endless cycle.)

-After a while he enjoys your goofy stories about your dreams, he may smile at your memes sometimes but never to go as far to actually laugh.

-you guys probably call often, Rohan is good at multitasking and can call while drawing his manga.

-as long as you don’t tell anybody your calling him during work hours he doesn’t care. (He doesn’t want the gang calling him while he’s at work, ur the exception)

-if he is up late and texts you it’s probably him giving you a list of shampoo, soaps and cleaning products because he says you stink.

Yukako Yamagashi

-As seen in most of Yukakos episodes she doesn’t enjoy people goofing off a lot, she’s strict and focused. Which is so beautiful I love her-

-She doesn’t mind you going off task and not sleeping though. Mainly because you spend the time texting her. She adores you and the stuff you find funny. She isn’t one for memes but I can see her liking memes after you spam them.

-whenever you tell Yukako about your dreams she always laughs and chuckles, she sends back long detailed paragraphs in response but if she’s too tired she send small paragraphs with poor grammar.

-She probably sends you pictures of herself at night, mainly her getting ready for bed with a smile, to remind you to “Go to sleep, we have a long day ahead of us! ❤️”

Hazamada

-he’s the type to send cursed images, you can expect horrifying shit to look at, I kinda feel like he would send pictures of dead animals with the words “Pablo dead” over them?? If this stuff freaks you out it’s gonna be a fictional animal, probably from a manga he likes.

-he tells you about his dreams too, he usually has nightmares but telling you helps him laugh it off.

-sometimes Surface steals Toshikazu’s phone and texts you, and if he does it means Hazamada is asleep. Toshikazu will take a picture of the sleeping Hazamada and send it to you saying “bitch fell asleep at 9pm.”

Mikitaka

-he doesn’t have a phone, you’d probably have to buy him one. Or he’ll steal one. Either works 🤪

-he is amused by your ranting, he finds it very enjoyable.

-he doesn’t understand many of your memes but he always laughs.

#mikitaka jjba #mikitaka #jjba #hazamada #hazamada toshikazu #toshikazu #jojo #jojos bizarre adventure #discord #jjba x reader #josuke x reader #josuke higashikata #Okuyasu #Okuyasu nijimura #mentions of Ayana Hirose #mentions of Mrs. Hirose #koichi hirose #koichi #Rohan #Rohan kishibe #Rohan jjba #diamond is unbreakable #diu x reader #Yukako yamagashi #Yukako x reader

[paintedkinzy-88]

Uhhhhh,maybe some Fluffydream (Ccino x Dream)?

Unfortunately,this ship has few shippers and fanarts.

Look. Look look look.

First off you came to the right multishipper.

Secondly, when I first read this, I thought “oh yeah that’s cute I can get behind that.” And now I am all fuckin in, I’ve been thinking about it all day, it’s so incredibly pure and adorable fhsjfbjsbd am HOOKED.

Anyway welcome to Kinzy’s Rarepair Rambling Session, proceed if you want to o-o

First off, two secretly depressed beans more willing to help others than help themselves. But like Dream’s a lot more persistent about that bullshit. As soon as he entered Fluffytale he knew something was up, but this little barista was too sweet to suffer like that. So he checks up on him regularly, gives him good dreams, helps out in the cafe if he has time, gives him someone to talk to. Whole nine yards.

That eventually escalated without them really meaning it to. Now Dream’s turning off Ccino’s alarm and working the morning shift just so he can sleep in longer. He’s reminding Ccino to take breaks and eat and drink some damn water. He’s worrying about the other skelly constantly without realizing it. He’s basically wearing himself thin instead just for this cute barista and he doesn’t really know why, Ccino’s just so sweet to talk to.

Ccino, of course, fuckin takes notice of that tho. He confronts the idiot about it, have a little heart to heart, either confessions are made here or further down the line idk I’m just rambling thoughtlessly here.

They are. The softest of couples. They don’t make out in public but by gosh are they gonna hold hands or hook elbows everywhere they go. They’re both little and big spoons depends on the day. Ccino knows exactly what coffee/tea Dream needs, and Dream brings him lunches and sweets from all across the multiverse. Plus, with Dream’s intent? Fuck those pastries in the cafe just got 10 times better and that’s saying a l o t.

Usually the Kitties come and go depending on who’s coming to the cafe that day, but not Dream kitty, he’s there 24/7 now and doesn’t leave Ccino’s side for anyone.

Now, Dream personally comes to his place when he senses Ccino’s having a bad night, curls up next to him to let his aura (and of course his company) calm the little skelly down. But, being the tired Guardian he is, Dream often falls asleep beside him as well without really meaning to. Fbsjbdjs

The worst arguments they have are over who’s gonna wear the soft sweater that day, and occasionally Nightmare (since Ccino swears he’s so nice when he and the gang visits, you just gotta get through to him, but Dream’s been trying that for years, it’s not that simple!)

ANYWAY SORRY I HAD MANY THOUGHTS TODAY HBCFJBFRY.

What have you done to me, Anon. What have you done.

#am drowning in rarepair hell #got me Inkmare and FluffyDream fUCK #undertale #undertale multiverse #asks #Ccino sans #Dream sans #Ccino x dream #fluffydream ship #Fluffytale #dreamtale

[agrippaspoleto]

Huttslayer’s boys

I have challenged myself to write more by only posting art if I write something about it. We will see how that goes. For now enjoy queer cowboys bickering with each other. Also on AO3.

Poe stood outside their hideaway, staring into the red glow of dawn. He touched his neck absentmindedly, the space where the rope burn had left its traces. Sometimes he still dreamt of that moment where he had lost the ground from under his feet and the rope had cut the air from his lungs. In his nightmares Finn's saving shot never came. No bullet pierced through the hemp stealing his live. And Solo's piercing gaze and cruel smirk never wavered. The dreams reminded Poe that he was living on borrowed time. Had been for a long while now.

"Poe, dammit."

Poe turned towards the door of the abandoned little farmhouse their group of ragtag outlaws had taken shelter in, to see Finn, fully dressed for the last watch, staring at him exasperated.

"I told you to wake me, when the dreams get too much."

Poe smiled fondly, noticing the orange bandana he had given to Finn a few months ago around his friend's neck.

"You needed the rest."

"So do you, nerfherder."

Then Finn sighed.

"Well, if you're awake already, you can make yourself useful and keep me company."

He didn't broker any arguments just grabbed Poe's hand and pulled him to their vantage point.

Finn hated it when Poe got like this. All self-sacrificing and strong walled. As if they weren't close, as if they weren't carrying each other's sorrows together. It drove the whole gang nuts because it meant Poe would do something reckless - which wasn't really the problem, all of them were reckless - but Poe had a tendency to gamble with his life, as if it didn't matter. As if he wasn't their rock as much as they were his. As if he didn't deserve good things.

Poe who took so much care to make Finn believe that he was a good man. That no matter what racist bigoted white folk thought, he was a person who deserved freedom. Who deserved love.

How Poe ever had come to the conclusion that he didn't deserve Finn's love was beyond him. As if Finn didn't love the reckless idiot with all his heart no matter how unexperienced said heart was with romantic feelings. It didn't help that Poe seldomly talked about the occurrences that had made him an outlaw. Finn suspected a connection to the brand on Poe's arm, a capital S. But his friend had never seemed inclined to explain and Finn didn't want to cause him pain.

So, he just sat there next to Poe, their sides touching from shoulder to knee. He felt the other shiver in the morning breeze and rolled his eyes.

"Grab the blanket over there, your shivering is louder than Jess'es snoring."

"What is it with you and bossing me around today?" Poe asked, but he still grabbed the blanket and Finn tugged it around them both. There was a slight red tinge on Poe's cheeks now which had nothing to do with the red of the rising sun.

"Because you don't take care of yourself."

"Oh yeah? I don't think you have any leg to stand on, Mr I-can-rob-a-bank-in-a-white-town-all-by-myself."

Finn winced.

"Touché, that wasn't one of my proudest moments. But we needed the money to get you ransomed before you and Rey took matters in your own hands."

Poe bumbed his shoulder.

“And we did it anyways."

"Yeah, you set a saloon and half a town on fire! You were very lucky no innocent bystanders where hurt. And you broke your wrist and your leg."

Poe's face squinched up as it always did when Finn was about to win an argument.

"Okay, that wasn't one of my finest moments either. But I couldn't let you risk your life like that for me."

"So, it's totally okay for you to sacrifice yourself for me but when I do it for you it's wrong?"

Finn could see it in Poe's face, it was exactly what he was thinking, but at least Poe knew he wouldn’t allow him to say it.

"Dammit, Poe. I don't want to lose you. Especially not to preventable bullshit."

"Finn..."

"Don't you bloody Finn me, Dameron." Finn growled, "I love you, you and your reckless, idiotic and idiotically attractive arse! I don't want to have to fucking bury you if I can help it."

He held Poe's gaze who was staring at him with a gaping mouth. Apparently speechless for once.

"If I had known that a love confession was all it needed to shut you up, I would have done it ages ago."

Finn shook his head fondly and gently pressed his hand to Poe's jaw.

"And close your mouth, you gonna catch flies like that. Ain't gonna kiss you with decaying flies on your tongmmms..."

Hands grabbed his face and a hot mouth descended on Finn's. It was wet and full of tongue, but it was exhilarating. After what felt like a too short eternity their lips parted, but their faces stayed close. Close enough that Finn felt Poe's hot breath on his cheeks as they panted, out of breath as if they had just run for miles, lips glistening with their commingled spit.

"You are such a dick, Finn", was the first thing Poe said after a while.

Finn laughed out loud.

"You like my dick, Dameron, admit it."

Poe groaned and let his head fall into the crook of Finn's neck.

"I ran right into that one, did I?"

"Yep", Finn popped the p obnoxiously, but happy.

Poe curled into him, wormed his hands around his waist and pulling him close.

"Are you sure about this, Finn?" he asked into Finn's neck.

"Despite what you might think I don't go around handing out random love confessions."

Finn's hand curled around Poe's arm where he knew the brand had been violated into his love's skin. He caressed the scarred flesh remembering Poe tending to his own burns on his back. He hadn't necessarily understood his feelings back then, but he had already known that he wanted to hold on to them as fiercely as possible.

"I'm scared, Finn. People don't always understand."

There was a light kiss placed on Finn's neck.

"The people who matter already know, Poe. Probably did before we did. The rest thinks we're outlaw scum anyways."

He felt Poe's smile not only from the movement of his lips but also the release of the tension stringing through his body.

"I had crush on you the moment you had wrenched the bag off my head after you had shot me from the gallows like a modern-day Robin Hood."

Finn chuckled.

"Of course you did."

"What about you?"

"Well, I was scared shitless and you were so roughed up, swollen eye and bloodied. No time for crushes or feelings. So, for me it was when we reunited after the shootout at Takodana, when you told me to keep the jacket."

"It really did suit you."

Finn nodded.

"I'm still pissed I lost it."

Poe lifted his head and held Finn’s gaze.

"I'm just happy I got you back in one piece. I couldn't care less about the jacket."

Finn felt the warmth spreading through himself and kissed Poe again, sweet and slowly. Savoured it.

Just as somebody cleared their throat behind them.

"If this is how you keep watch it's a miracle we haven't been ambushed yet."

Both jumped apart to see Leia Organa smiling smugly at them.

They tried to come up with something to their defence, but she just held up her hand, effectively shutting them up.

"No excuses, boys. Own it. Was about time anyway. The tension was stifling."

Poe groaned and Finn felt his face heat up. He knew Leia saw his embarrassment clearly enough despite his skin being too dark to blush visibly.

She shook her head and grabbed them both in a tight embrace.

"I always knew you would be good for each other. Your mum would be proud of you, Poe. And your father is going to love him."

Poe sniffled as he held on to them. An old wound hopefully closing if not healing.

"Thank you, Leia" Finn whispered for both of them.

Leia clapped their cheeks with a bright smile, genuinely and unguarded in a way one rarely saw from her these days.

"You're welcome, boys. Now hush and make an old frail woman some coffee, so she can wake up properly."

Poe saluted her and grabbed Finn's hand to tug him into the house. Finn turned to Leia one last time and mouthed 'thank you' again. His heart ready to burst from happiness.

Inside the house Poe kissed him again, fast but chaste but with a smile so bright it lit the whole room. The he turned and grabbed coffee grinder and the beans, while Finn readied the stove.

"Finn", Poe said over the grumbling of the coffee grinder and Finn turned to him as he was filling the pot with water.

"I love you too."

Finn's heart skipped a bit and the joy he felt in that moment lit up his whole being. He also overfilled the water pot and nearly killed the fire, but Poe was there right next to him cleaning up the mess. As he should be, it was his fault after all.

#stormpilot #finnpoe #finn star wars #poe dameron #western AU #rating teens up #rating t #getting together #first kiss #agrippa writes #agrippas art

[warmrainonawinterday]

So. Season 2 of Netflix's The Witcher, huh. I was disappointed.

What I liked:

- Jaskier's singing 💜

- proper screen time and lines of dialogue for the bruxa as well as Nivellen's confession that he raped the priestess being served as a gut punch at the end rather than being either omitted or admitted off the bat

- the dynamic between Geralt and Ciri is genuinely heartwarming

- I like the thought behind getting a more expansive look at Nilfgaard and what kind of person Fringilla is and what exactly the elves are up to. The execution was... meh, but I appreciate the effort.

- Fringilla paralizing and killing those guys in the dining hall

All the things I disliked:

- What I wanted was a plotline involving Yennefer that would deepen her character. What I got was bullshit. What was the fucking point of her losing her magic and running around like a headless chicken for the entire season leading up to her flimsy "betrayal" of Ciri to basically not matter and just be used as an excuse for another cheap action setpiece for the season finale. Was the Yen & Cahir Roadtrip really worth the screen time only for the audience to not even really learn any new information about Yen or Cahir in the process in the end. I also thought it was useless to spend so much time on Tissaia and Geralt believing Yen to be dead when we know the entire time that of course she isn't

- With Yennefer apparently on the run now, is the show going to adapt the coup without Yen and Geralt attending the ball?

- Vilgefortz and Tissaia... why? What does this add?

- it is baffling to me that the show had Jaskier and Cahir meet now, kind of? Is Jaskier just going to do a double take and side-eye him extra hard when he shows up in Baptism of Fire and joins the gang on the Road Trip To Find Ciri? Are they not going to recognize each other? "Hey Geralt, don't worry about the man who haunts Ciri's worst nightmares, I saw him travelling with Yen not too long ago, he's not that bad"?

- the (non-book-canon) 'conflict' of "Do Yen and Geralt only fake love each other because of djinn magic?" remains unresolved/is swept under the rug, not to mention the extremely lazy Geralt and Jaskier friendship reunion (resulting from yet another non-book-canon conflict)

- the sheer amount of (at times really cheap-looking) huge monsters that Geralt fights made them feel like video game quest boss battles and this got stale and tiring and boring real fucking fast. And not once was there a great battle sequence with Ciri and Geralt properly fighting together

- Not enough Philippa Eilhart content considering just how many times her owl form was shown

- With all this focus on the elves, where the FUCK are the Scoia'tael and why have they never even been referred to by name yet?

- What a waste of potential to have Ciri only stay at Melitele's temple for a few hours instead of getting the book plot of her actually getting an education there and slowly forming a bond with Yennefer on her own without Geralt being present. As cute as the instant-family bond of the show was starting from Ciri walking in on Yen and Geralt, it didn't quite feel earned.

- Falka's introduction to the show's lore was badly done. Also, no one wanted or needed extended Stregebor screen time, I am sure of it

- The half-hearted adaptations of the book monologues that Triss directs at Geralt (and the other witchers) fell sadly flat

- Why WAS Ciri constantly training by mindlessly beating the shit out of a. thin air, and b. an unmoving straw dummy. That's not fight training, that's dance choreography. I wanted to like the "parkour training course" more, I imagined it to be more complex and longer than it was

- Justice for Eskel. I also don't know how Netflix could possibly expect me to care about the deaths of some of the witchers when they barely got referred to by name and had no real space to develop personalities or a bond with Ciri.

I am not that much of a book snob that I am just crying about any and all book changes. In fact, I have a personal laundry list of Book Canon that I would love to have never happened or be changed beyond the point of recognition. It's just that with a character dynamic like that of Yennefer and Ciri it is baffling to me how anyone could look at the season two finale and think it was an improvement in comparison to the source material. Seemingly done just because the show needed flashy action scenes for the finale which, yeah, admittedly, isn't really found in Blood of Elves.

#the witcher spoilers #wiedźmin #the witcher #lauren I trusted you to get the books right and then your (co-)written eps are my least favorites :(

[nat-20s]

what’s poppin everyone please have this fun lil writing warmup/short story inspired by me thinking “Dancing in the Moonlight” was definitely 100% about werewolves

~*~

“So, this your first transformation?”

The counselor? Leader? Tour guide? Asked this with a perfectly jovial tone, as if the typical social mores surrounding, ugh, lycanthropy, didn’t apply to her. They didn’t know what exact title to call her, and her name tag just said “Luna”, which, reflecting on it, either was a joke on her part or a reflection of her parents’ sense of humor.

Picking at the scabs from last month, they cringed and replied, “No. Uh. Second.”

Luna lets out a low whistle. “Oof. That sucks. Guessing you got bitten rather than inherited the ol’ wolfman gene?”

“That’s...kind of personal?”

Unlocking the front door of the log cabin that served as King Harvest’s Headquarters, Luna shrugs and says, “Shit, sorry. Forgot the whole weird stigma around your source of the once monthly nightmare, as if it fuckin matters. Also, I know, I know, ass out of you and me. Hey, you got any dietary restrictions? Gluten, peanut allergies, the like?”

Voice flat, they tell her, “I’m vegetarian,” and waits for the obvious response.

As they wander through the cabin towards the kitchen, Luna flipping on the light switches, generic club music starts to filter in. Instead of the obvious response, Luna asks, “You like veggie burgers? Or maybe pasta? I’d offer salad, but that’s really not gonna cut it for tonight.”

“I ate before I came.”

With a snort, she tells them, “Oh yeah? Did you have about 4000 calories?”

“No? Why would I have?”

Sweeping out her arm, she gestures at the food laying out on the counter and tells them, “Then eat up! 4000 is really a minimum for the night if you don’t want to feel like someone physically beat out all of your energy in the morning. 6000 is more the target area, but we got, hmm, about 15 minutes before things get uncomfortable, and half an hour max before things get dire.”

They glance down to the food, and, admittedly, the broccoli alfredo does look pretty appealing. Still, they have to ask, “Is this a cult?”

Luna lets out a bark of a laugh that has nothing to do with her (maybe) being a werewolf. “Okay, first of all, what kind of cult is like ‘fuck yeah, we’re a cult’? Secondly, despite the first thing, I can say that we’re not a cult. I know how “King Harvest: Center for Movement Therapy” sounds, both clinical and vague enough to be suspicious as hell, but I didn’t come up with the title, blame my long deceased dad for that one. Plus, ‘King Harvest: Bitchin’ Wolf Dance House’ probably wouldn’t look good on the grant applications.”

“Grants?”

“Oh yeah. This bad boy’s been publicly funded since its opening in 1972. Hence no membership fees.”

“Is that why animal control is giving out your business card? Are they one of your sponsors?”

“Nah, that’s just Jack. Me ‘n’ him go way back, hell, to his park ranger days.  I mean, yeah, I think he’ll campaign for us, but mostly I think he just hates capturing a wolf in the night only to have a naked, trembling human in the morning, and he knows that our program significantly reduces the odds of that happening, at least in this neck of the woods.”

They let out a hum, then glance back down to the food. As appealing as it down look, they’re still about..30% convinced this is an elaborate organ harvesting operation. Or sketchy sex thing.

Apparently sensing their hesitation, Luna says, “You got a favorite chip?”

“Salt and vinegar.”

Grabbing a sealed family sized bag from the overhead cabinets, Luna tosses it to them. “If you come back next full moon, either eat enough in advance or have a real meal here. That being said, excuse the turn of phrase, you should wolf that down. It’s sure as hell better than nothing.”

They catch it, and the bag opens with a puff of air that speaks to a reassuring lack of tampering. As they toss a chip into their mouth, Luna grabs a water bottle from the fridge and places it down next to them. “So? Any questions for me? We’ve still got about ten minutes before we have to go out there.”

Rolling their eyes, they tell her, “No. None at all.”

“Great! Soon as you’re done eating we’ll get you started.”

“I was being sarcastic.”

“Yeah, no shit, smart-ass. Seriously, what are your, we haven’t got much time.”

“I don’t know? The whole..thing? I mean, how is it supposed to..work? Like? At all?”

“You ever see Amok Time?”

“Is that relevant?”

“It’s a yes or no question babe.”

“And if I say no?”

“Then the explanation is going to be a lot more technical and take a lot longer, ultimately to likely make less sense.”

“...I’ve seen it.”

“Great! So, Pon Farr is basically this chemical blood imbalance that results in fuck or die disorder, yeah? But then Spock neither fucks nor dies, and eventually the vulcans get their shit together and find out that an intense fight can serve the same function, and the blood fever chills out. Lycanthropy operates on a similar enough basis for comparison. You’re compelled to act out on energetically heavy base instincts, returning to the ways of the wolf or whatever. Traditionally, that’s done through running and hunting, which has, historically, been a crapshoot at best. Theoretically, sex can also get the job done, but I’m sure you can imagine how that gets extremely dicey extremely quickly. Either restraints or isolation has been implemented for a while, but, c’mon, they’re bandaid solutions, and they’re far from foolproof. Luckily for us all, my grandmother decided to connect back with her ancestors, and there was a handful of stories having huge festivals to deal with ‘moon violence’. She tried it out, and, yeah, dancing works.”

“That sounds…”

They don’t know how that sounds. Made up, mostly.

“Like a bunch of hippie bullshit? Yeah, it kind of is, Grandma Josephine was a huge hippie, but it’s hippie bullshit that works. In fact, let’s go see the others, it almost always makes things clearer.”

Figuring that whatever they’re about to see can’t be worse than their transformation last month. They head through the sliding glass door out the back, the thump of the music suddenly loud enough to be felt in their chest. The sight that awaits them makes them drop their chips and let out a gasp. Barely able to speak, they exhale out, “None of them...they’re not wolves. How..how??”

Indeed, the roughly forty people jumping to the pulse of whatever they’re listening to (some to the in house DJ, some, apparently, to what’s playing over the large headphones they have adorned), resemble the image of a wolfman much more accurately. They bare claws, fangs, elongated snouts, upright ears, and  serious amounts of hair, but they’re on two legs, and moving like humans. Some of them are even singing along to the lyrics, which really shouldn’t be possible.

Luna grins, making it obvious that she’s used to this level of shell shocks. “Ultimately, you do have to give into some damn rigorous instincts. But dancing is a human instinct, not a canine one, so you end up, well, humanoid. Pretty nifty, huh?”

“And they all..they all keep their minds? I didn’t...they don’t blackout?”

“Not since we banned alcohol in the 90s! Here, watch this.”

Luna nods her head at the DJ, and the DJ, obligingly, turns down the music for a moment. The members of the crowd not listening to their own music pause, then look towards the door. She cries out, “Hey gang! HOW WE ALL DOIN’ TONIGHT?”, and gets a mix between a howl and “WOO!” cried back. The DJ then turns the music back up, and the general movement of the crowd resumes.

They should be more skeptical. They want to be more skeptical, they were just minutes before, but it’s hard to disagree with something right in front of you. “This will work for me? I just..have to dance?”

“Well, it’s not guaranteed. Few things are. But we have yet to have someone turn violent on us. If you start to fell yourself slipping from consciousness, though, I do ask that you start heading further into the woods, as to not hurt other guest. If you find yourself just getting tired, there’s beds inside, and a fair amount of pillows around the edge of the quote unquote dance floor, if you end up in more of a nesting mood. Also, I recommend taking off your shoes before you start.”

“What? Why?”

Luna gives a pointed glance at the dancers’ feet, which, ah. They’re about twice as large as normal and at least twice as sharp. The converse on their feet would be no match. “Ah.”

“Ready?”

They shove off their shoes and place the remainder of their chips aside. “As I’ll ever be.”

Good thing, too, as they’re starting to feel an uncomfortable pressure in their chest that was the prelude to disaster last month.

Luna strides to the center of the dance floor, which is really a plush lawn surrounded by forest. The crowd naturally moves around her, and she yells out, “Aiyana! Play my song!”

Aiyana gives a nod, and the opening notes of “Dancing in the Moonlight” start to sound out. “Seriously?”

Luna shrugs, grinning like a fool, and says, “It’s a classic!”

“It’s cliché at best.”

Luna shrugs, and then begins dancing. She’s hardly elegant, but she is dazzlingly joyful in her uncoordinated movements. As the song reaches the first chorus, she gives a twirl, and in the split second it takes, she’s transformed. They blink in shock, not knowing you could transform that seamlessly, that quickly, that painlessly. Luna in half wolf form is just as expressive as the human Luna, and she gives a nod over her shoulder as if to say Come on.

Feeling somewhat foolish, they start to bop their head to the tune. Luna lets out a huff and grabs their hands, spinning them around and forcing them to get moving. At first, it’s them indulging Luna, but as they let themselves get lost in rhythm, they feel a stretching sensation in their face and limbs. It’s not unpleasant, more like when you wake up and work out the tension in your spine. They open their eyes and look down at their hands, now covered in fur in and made for slashing. It didn’t hurt. It didn’t hurt, and they’re still themselves, and they had no idea that full moons could be like this, maybe for the rest of their lives.

They turn their head to the night sky, and their body can’t help but continue to dance. Despite all their fear, all their dread, “movement therapy” worked, and they can admit, at least to themselves, that they feel warm and bright.

#my writing #nats journey into writing short stories based on 70s songs continues lmao

[icybeanheadcanons]

ok ok ok ok I frickin LOVE this blog and finally got the courage for an ask so here we go (only if you wanna, no pressure)- how would Nightmare's Scary Band of Sanses (nightmare, error, killer, horror, and dust) react to a SO who's incredibly badass but kind of crazy? Idk man I'm just thinking of Jack-Sparrow/Mad Hatter type deal; they'll go on what seem to be completely hairbrained schemes right in the middle of battle exept they always EnD Up WOrKinG as if they were genius, thought out plans all along (no one can tell if the SO's incredibly smart or just insane; the SO never confirms which so most just say they're both). nobody knows what this SO is thinking at any given moment. jus gimme fluff and headcannons for an absolute wild card being lovey dovey with a band of au destroying murderers. thank youuuu~

OH I LOVE ME SOME CHAOS GREMLIN, I haven’t gotten too many asks yet for Nightmare, error, killer and dust, as they are the newest editions to the blog. My horror sans isn’t apart of their gang either, as he is just trying to heal from a life time of trauma. (but frankly, the idea of Axe getting a bunch of off their rocker friends showing up at his house, eating his food, bringing him things like little magpies is absolutely hysterical) 

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

Nightmare

He doesn’t understand a single thing you say to him EVER. He doesn’t know how to process positive emotions very well, but he tries very hard. He concludes the wrong thing, constantly. The fact your around him at all, is the absolute hardest thing, for him to process, of all the things. He complains, but frankly, it doesn’t sound even remotely genuine. “You spout nothing but bullshit don’tcha??” You tell him and he’s losing his mind. “yOU  ARE THE ENTIRE MONARCHY OF BULLSHIT??” 

“That’s why I can say it!”

“nO.”

He’s frankly, a big cuddler, one of the biggest signs his words are nothing but bullshit. He sounds exasperated, but he’s smiling. You try to stop cuddling him and he’s pulling you back, or finding some other way to interact or have some semblance of touch with you. 

Error

Teach him the bullshit madness, how do you do things? You... improvise?? Terrible, disgusting, keep your fucking secrets then. For some reason he just, cannot accept that you just Do Things (tm) and its the funniest god damn thing in the world. Everything you do is so not put together and yet, like the mad lad that you are, they WORK. He’s happy you’re with him. He’s not big on touch, its overwhelming and upsetting, so words and the like is enough for him. Its his love language frankly. He doesn’t realize, but you’re part of the reason his schemes fall apart the way that they do. In a comical villain sense. He is one, but you increase that factor tenfold. He’s busy, doing his thing, and you interject with some form of question. “i’M GLAD YOU ASKED-” and there he goes, going off the deep end of his trauma, and absolutely, wrong, conclusions that the multiverse is in need of elimination. 

Killer

He thinks you’re HILARIOUS, and frankly, he’s correct. You guys just kind of go places together, goofing off. He’s distracted from killing when you’re around. You make him laugh and smile for real, and with that, the numbness wears off. The flood comes out and he kind of randomly has a mental breakdown at times, and you just. Scoop him up. Talk him down, and through it. And once he’s done, you both head back out to do more stupid shenanigans. Its easy to be with you, and he’s able to just vibe a little more, like an exhausted demon who decides to start going fishing because murder just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Dust

Papyrus thinks, you should probably calm down, but he thinks Papyrus is WRONG and that you’re GREAT. He’s not really making any sense either, but its okay because you just. Get it. You get that his brother is there, at least in his mind. You get just telling him he isn’t, makes things worse and just upsets him. You help him set up a nice greenhouse, and just, name all his plants with him. You have so many plant babies. Look at em. You don’t judge him, and so he’s able to be so much more open with you. You don’t look at him like he’s insane, or like he’s lost his marbles. He feels like he makes sense and belongs with you. No one understands the two of you, but you guys get each other and that’s all you really need.

Axe

You remind him of a stray cat who can’t sit still. You crawl in through his window, yelling that you come baring gifts, excited and enthusiastically. He’s your tired, aggressive boy, who doesn’t have too much oomf anymore. He never liked what he was doing in the underground, and he’s happy to be on the surface. He always makes sure the window is unlocked so you can come in, as it is your preferred method of entering his house. He never knows when you’ll come, but you always do. And frankly, its sweet that you meet him in the middle everywhere you two go. Every once in awhile, he lets you bring him on an adventure, just for kicks. 

#horrortale #horrortale sans #ht sans #DT sans #dusttale #dusttale sans #error sans #nightmare sans #ask #headcanon #undertale headcanons #undertale headcanon #undertale imagines #undertale imagine

[loversamongus]

Lovers Among Us - atla smau

masterlist / part 17 / part 18 / part 19

a/n: Zuko and Y/n’s conversation under the cut!

With both crutches under your arms, you made your way to the door and opened it. Sure enough, Zuko was standing there just as he said. You caught a quick glimpse of him leaning against the hallway wall with his arms folded, but he immediately straightened up when his eyes met yours. You felt your stomach drop a little and you had the sudden inclination to worm your way back inside the room where your friends sat still watching the movie. Surely, a man with razor hands and a decaying face who kills you in your nightmares is less frightening than this leap you’re about to take. Zuko must have felt your apprehension though because he held the door wide to help you through it and rested his hand on your shoulder to guide you across the threshold.

“You know, once I get a boot instead of these crutches, this will be a lot easier,” you said, more of an attempt to calm the hurricane of butterflies boarding up in your gut. “I could probably kick Sokka pretty hard with the boot, now that I think about it.”

Zuko didn’t respond; he only smiled. You would not have thought much about such a small smile, but recently everything about Zuko seemed to become a permanent fixture in your mind.

For the first time, you noticed just how small Zuko’s smiles actually were. So small, in fact, that if someone were not looking close enough, they may just assume his face was resting in his typical trademark scowl. How wrong they’d be though, you thought. They’d just be searching for his smiles in the wrong place. His real smile was in his eyes. There was a glow and warmth in his eyes. It was both inviting and comforting like a steady fire on a cold winter day. Zuko quirked an eyebrow, which you noticed immediately as you had just then registered that you had been staring at him through that entire internal monologue. Suddenly the carpeted hallway became very interesting. And the heat on your cheeks? Definitely from the temperature in the hallway. Or the strain of crutching around. Yep. That’s it completely.

You were quiet the rest of the walk to the car. You were quiet for the car ride to the Jasmine Dragon. While you said nothing, your decided to be quite the chatterbox. In addition to noticing and now appreciating all of Zuko’s little quirks, you also began to reflect on memories of your friendship with Zuko. You remembered when you first became friends with him and almost pulling an all nighter just texting each other. You remembered going to the farmer’s market with the gang, and splitting up to cover more group. Zuko stayed with you and carried all the fresh produce you picked out. For months the two of you kept up an inside joke about the man at the cabbage stand. You remembered how much you missed him when he went home to the Fire Nation one summer. You remembered the instant joy you felt when he came back early and being stricken with concern when he said he won’t be going back home for awhile. You remembered when Iroh was sick and had to be hospitalized for some time and Zuko called you at 3 in the morning just so completely lost. You remembered how you did the same thing when your grandmother was died. He rushed over to your room immediately and just hugged you until you felt something again. And you did feel something back then. But what, you didn’t know. So you pushed it aside and carried on.

The car door opened, jolting you out of your thoughts. You turned to see Zuko offering his hand. “We’re here,” he said, and you took his hand which guided you out of the car. He had already taken your crutches out from the backseat and handed them to you.

Silently, you thanked the heavens for giving you a best friend who has his own set of keys to his uncle’s tea shop. It was late and the Jasmine Dragon had closed hours ago. While you still wished Freddy Krueger would just come and kill you now, you were glad that you and Zuko would at least have some privacy. He gestured for you to take a table while he flipped on a few lights and shuffled to the back to brew up some tea. Of course, he returned after some agonizing, nervous foot-tapping moments later with your favorite blend.

“So,” he said.

“So,” you echoed.

“I’m sorry for walking out earlier.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

It was quiet for a moment and you desperately sought to find something interesting to fixate on other than Zuko thrumming his fingers on the table. The tea. The tea is nice. Good, although Zuko definitely added too much honey. You smiled though, knowing that despite his subpar tea making skills, he always remembers what you like. You could have been happy just sitting there, but Zuko broke the silence.

“What are we doing?”

“Well, I’m trying to stomach this overly sweetened tea. What are you doing?”

“Y/N…” This time Zuko’s eye did not smile at your attempt for lightheartedness. Try as you might, this was going to be a serious conversation.

“I don’t know, Zuko.”

“You have to know something,” he scoffed. Looking up, you caught him rolling his eyes and leaning back in his chair so that he could cross his arms again.

“Don’t you scoff at me. You got us into this mess.”

“Me?” he asked incredulously. You could practically hear the yell he was biting back. An opening. He was frustrated. You could convince him that this wouldn’t work. That you’re better off as friends because your friendship has already survived fights and your stupidity. But anything more? What kind of stress could that put on the both of you? What if it created cracks in the foundation?

“Yes, you. If you hadn’t walked out and caused a scene, we’d be enjoying a movie night or killing Sokka again.”

“I just apologized for walking out!”

“And I said you have nothing to apologize for!”

“YOU JUST SAID I CAUSED A SCENE!” His voice rose and his hands fisted through his hair. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he tried again. This time his voice was much softer, gentler.

“Why are you pushing me away?”

A worthy counterattack. You could feel his tugging on your heart strings. But you are a fortress, you will not crumble. This is for the best of your friendship, you reminded yourself.

But then he looked up and you looked away quickly. He moved his head to try to recapture your attention.

“Y/N,” your name on his lips was almost a whisper, a prayer really. You hesitantly looked back at him. “Ask me when.”

“When what?”

“When I knew that I love you.”

You felt your eyebrows shoot up towards your hairline and your jaw slackened in shock. Immediately, that hurricane of butterflies roared again. In your stomach. In your heart. In your throat. Can a fortress withstand an army of thousands of butterflies?

“When?” Your voice was faint, but you heard the simple question fall from your lips.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“Zuko!” you groaned and facepalmed. “Why would you have me ask you that then?!”

“Because it wasn’t just one moment,” his voice had not changed from that soft tone. “There were so many moments that made me realize I love you.”

You could only gulp down a couple butterflies before he continued in a passion of communication.

“The first time I heard you laugh. When I see you hug my uncle. When you cried snot on my shoulder after watching Coco. I can’t narrow it down to one moment. All I know is when I’m with you, since I’ve met you, I’ve been genuinely happy. Hell, I look forward to just sitting next to you in class—“

“Why?” you interrupted.

“Why do I like sitting next to you in class?”

“No. Why do you love me?” Your voice was so quiet that a pin dropping to the floor would make more noise.

“I don’t think I could pick one reason either.”

“Try. Please.”

He paused for a moment to think, to choose the right words. All through his thinking, his eyes never left yours.

“You know me,” he said finally. “You listen to me and… you care about what I have to say. You know what will make me smile or what to say when I’m upset, even if I don’t want to talk. You know what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking. I love the way you lo—“ he caught himself and looked down at the table. “I love the way you care about me.”

Silence invaded the Jasmine Dragon again. It settled for a while between the two of you and you digested Zuko’s words. He said you know him but you have absolutely no idea what to say next.

“Okay,” Zuko the silence breaker spoke again. “I did all my talking. It’s your turn now.”

“My turn?” It was your turn to ask incredulously.

“Yes, your turn.”

“I don’t have anything to say.” Zuko’s words may have collapsed an area of the fortress but you began rebuilding brick by brick.

“Bullshit,” he almost laughed, but there was no mirth in his voice. “You wouldn’t have come to the door if you didn’t have anything to say.”

“Zuko, I--” you began, only to get cut off again.

“Don’t lie to me,” he said seriously. “Actually, I still have my fifth rule to use. Rule #5 is Y/n has to be honest with me.”

“Really?” you deadpanned. “Of all the possibilities, that’s what you come up with?”

“If it gets us to have this conversation, then yes.”

It was quiet again. Avoiding his gaze again, you look down at the table. Now you were most definitely pushed up against your last wall. A white flag would have to be raised. You were only tried to think up the words for your declaration of love surrender.

“Zuko, I--” you tried again. “I’m afraid.”

“Of me?”

“No,” you had to laugh. “No, of course not. I’m afraid of losing you.” Your honesty suddenly gave you a second wind, quiet and shaken voice be gone. Now you were animated in your best attempt to express yourself. “What if, what if we don’t work out?” you pleaded for him to understand. “What if it doesn’t work and you stop loving me and we start to hate each other and then we don’t want to even be in the same room as each other and then our friends will have to take sides and then the whole group falls apart?”

Zuko took a moment to take in your plea. You could tell her was considering what would be the best response. “Do you think that would happen if Sokka and Suki break up?”

“I already told Suki I’m taking her side no matter what so....”

You both laughed, and seeing Zuko smile again relieved some of your nervousness. It was so easy to talk to him. So easy to be honest with him. 

“I guess it depends then,” Zuko started up the conversation again. “If you maybe... felt the same way about me.” A small smile formed on his lips again but this time there was hesitancy in his eyes. You felt the urge to start rebuilding the fortress again but you promised to follow Zuko’s fifth rule of honesty. There was no turning back.

“I do,” you replied surely and you made it a point to make eye contact with him. You noticed the hesitancy slip away and the warmth and glow of his eyes returned. 

“Then you’re not going to lose me. If it doesn’t work, then fine. I’m your best friend first and foremost and you are mine. But I love you. And I want to see where that takes us.”

It wasn’t the first time he said he loved you during this conversation but for the first time, you felt complete ease overwhelm you. As if this was exactly where you were meant to be. With the person you were meant to be with. Fear and insecurity had washed away.

“Okay,” you smiled. “I love you, too.”

a/n: lol more to come, but back to screenshots for part 19 :) hope you enjoyed!

taglist (open, just send me an ask!):

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[miraculouscontent]

“Truth”-related asks:

Anonymous said:

I just watched truth and man, we didn't need any of that... I'm so tired...

Anonymous said:

Me after reading that summary: We coulda had it aaaaaaaaaaallllllll, decent wri-itiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingggggg

Anonymous said:

oh. lukanette breakup. how surpri— oh wait, no it wasn't.

bunnybunblitz said:

Me, skimming your summary of truth: life is a nightmare life is a nightmare life is a nightmare abort abort

Anonymous said:

Truth was a living nightmare, and that's the truth!

*defeated sigh*

Anonymous said:

The way all that just make me start disliking Adrien so hard wow I have enough of him so hard can they get ride of him for one damn episode?

Anonymous said:

Wow! Writers got on completely new level. They somehow made people to be annoyed with Adrien, even without putting him in episode.

My meme image of “I’ve had enough of this dude,” about sums it up.

It’s almost impressive???

Anonymous said:

I have the impression that you should slowly gather materials for "Treatment of Marinette S4"

You know, when you’re right, you’re right.

Anonymous said:

Hey there... Got a lil rant, I hope you don't mind in sea of anons you're probably getting. I guess if show didn't treat Marinette as their favorite punching bag and lukanette as a thing to get over with to be back on love square bullshit I wouldn't be this salty. We all knew lukanette isn't a endgame, but we actually care about Luka ans Marinette as characters and as a couple, and we knew there was a break up brewing.

But I mlb writers for setting things up, canonizing them over provocative tweet and leave them to dust right at the beginning of s4. And, oh sweet irony as they kinda accidentally made Lukanette totally better than love square (let's be honest if they knew what they were doing we wouldn't get any breakup from narrative and character development standpoint),,, because their heroine for once is loved and appreciated but that's another discussion and they hate that for her. Also, thomas arstruck can suck my toe.

I don't know what's your opinion on soulmate and destiny thing, but I'm totally in opposite. I remember The Good Place (love the series btw!) quote about how soulmates are made with love and nurture of people and not some cosmic forces. And to see how show is pushing for Destiny ™️ I'm kinda disheartened. But I guess I never really liked love square execution in the first place when it turned out that Marinette is butt of the crush joke for 3 seasons and there's 0 development from that. Like Thomas, that's not funny running gag. Thanks for reading! Hope you're doing well!

Thank you for the rant, and I agree!

It’s so strange how all their attempts to push for the love square just push me more towards Lukanette. How do the writers do that???

Anonymous said:

Yeah that point where she exclaims Luka in shock just angered and confused me. She LITERALLY transformed because Luka was akumatized. And her being shocked is only there to get her under the truth spell.

This episode is held together by knots and strings at this point.

Anonymous said:

Wow, "Ladybug likes Chat Noir humor." Then why every time Chat Noir makes puns, Ladybug looks like she wanted to strangle him on spot.

Ladybug = us

At that point, they should’ve just said, “[The writers] like Chat Noir’s humor.” Like--writers, please don’t use Ladybug as a tool to simp for your sunshine boy, it looks really pathetic.

Anonymous said:

Based on the ellipses you used I'm guessing you're not a fan of Jagged talking about the "Guitar is my only family" song.

Oh, no actually... I mean, I do because it’s there to torment Luka, but the ellipses was because of the intentional pause in the episode. Jagged was looking sympathetic

Anonymous said:

Truth was awful, the only good thing we got out of it was a Lukanette date (yay :'D) and we got to know Luka's father (although we all been knew).

Honestly if we could find a way to edit it so Luka and Marinette properly kissed then we’d just chop it out of the episode and call it the only canon thing.

asexual-individual said:

So, given that "Truth" didn't introduce the protection charms, I'm going to take a wild guess that they're not introduced until after "Gang of Secrets", meaning that Marinette won't get any close friends that it's safe to tell her secret to.

I was legit so sure that it was a guardian benefit and now I’m just left confused/curious about what causes CharmBug. Like, what, do you get CharmBug by purifying your one thousandth akuma???

Anonymous said:

I am absolutely positive no one quality checks these episodes before they’re sent out. Ladybug getting caught off guard on Luka being Truth even though she knows he was akumatised, and the horribly upbeat music playing as Marinette lies in bed absolutely defeated is so bad there’s no way this was double checked before it was sent out to TV stations

At this point, I’m convinced that they don’t care and are jamming through episodes as fast as they possible can.

cobraonthecob said:

I'm willing to bet that the writers go through critical and salt blogs just to see what the fandom's thinking, and then they think we're serious and they sprint with whatever we say.

guys please reconsider and also lower your alcohol levels

Anonymous said:

It was awful in general, but why add the paternity thing in the break-up ep? It detracts from, well, everything else and makes obvious they are copypasting fan theories instead of thinking of plot points.

I really do think they knew that Luka being upset over Marinette’s secret wasn’t enough to akumatize him so he needed something else.

Anonymous said:

Let me get something straight: The episode was explicitly about Marinette going on dates with Luka and that they were together. Yet Juleka is once again part of the shipping squad with obligatory "Marinette is only weird because she's with Adrien"-theories, and she's totally cool with that?

Yup! :3

guys I just adore mob mentality, did you know.

guys--

Anonymous said:

Ok, but the fact that everyone considers Marinette’s crush on Adrien to be her big secret is stupidly unrealistic. They KNOW they’re all aware of it - the girl squad even figured it out by themselves before they were told and think it’s totally obvious (as long as you’re a girl cause guys are clueless about feelings right). As far as they’re concerned it’s not actually a secret so they SHOULD be spilling the things they think only they and Marinette know. I mean, I can think of dozens of possibilities for Tom and the rest of the girls already, but Alya?

We had a front row seat to the damning secret Alya knows from back in season 1, but I guess asking this show to acknowledge continuity is too much. Still, the episode could have been so much more interesting if Alya had said, “Marinette’s the one who really gave Adrien the scarf for his birthday, but he looked so happy thinking it was from his father that she couldn’t bear to tell him that Gabriel hadn’t actually gotten him anything.” (I suppose reminding people of that wouldn’t fit into the writers’ poor attempts to make Gabriel sympathetic though 🙄).

Lol, just imagine the entire battle being sidetracked by Luka being brought to tears by how selfless and sweet his girlfriend is while Shadow Moth is too distracted by how this will ruin his reputation to get him back on track.

JKHJDSKGFSG

YES.

ALL OF THIIIIIS.

THIS IS AMAZING.

Anonymous said:

Marinette deserves to tell Luka she's Ladybug and have some support on her side tbh, it's disgusting to see the writers breaking up clearly the only thing that brings her joy and peace currently

HONESTLY.

And judging from that one trailer, she IS going to tell someone her secret and it’ll probably be freaking Alya; you know, the girl who blabbed about her Adrien crush to Nino and is thus THE LEAST TRUTHWORTHY PERSON. (”bonus” if it’s before the amulets)

I’m having nightmares already about Alya distrusting Lila because Marinette is Ladybug and not because Alya believes in Marinette. DX

Anonymous said:

Now that it’s been confirmed (in the worst way possible) that Jagged Stone is in fact Luka’s (and possibly Juleka’s?) father, how would you handle the whole mixed family aspect considering Jagged and Anarka’s relationship, Jagged and Penny’s, Anarka and Penny’s, Jagged and Luka’s (and Juleka’s?), and Penny and Luka’s (and Juleka’s?)? Topics like mixed families and family relationships are something that needs to be handled sensibly and sensitively given how it hits home for a lot of real-world people. Since we obviously can’t trust the ML writers to handle such topics the way that they deserve to be, how would you go about it knowing what we know up to this point about each character on their own and how they interact with one another?

Luka and Juleka were “accidents,” but Anarka kept it a secret from Jagged since Jagged was already hyped up to go on his next tour and Anarka knew their relationship was crumbling (possibly he already dumped her as his guitarist and she was annoyed about it). Jagged eventually learns that he has kids and is hesitant towards the idea, but because of him doting on Marinette (who’s the same age as his kids), he opens up to the idea.

Anarka and Jagged in present are mixed between tolerating each other for the sake of their kids and being chaotic best friends. The bad blood died out a while ago and there’s occasional tension but because Anarka is a single woman not interested in Jagged and Jagged is single with a possible thing for Penny, they make it work

Anarka and Penny have an awkward relationship. Penny wants to schedule time for Jagged to hang with Luka and Juleka and Anarka is confused at the very concept of a schedule, like just take them whenever okay??? isn’t it easier that way??? and Penny is like, “...oh, I guess so?”

Jagged and Penny, it depends on if they’re in any sort of relationship. If they’re in a relationship, Penny is either open to the idea of him learning to be good with kids if she’ll eventually want kids with him, or mixed because these are another woman’s kids and it’s really awkward. If they’re not in a relationship, then Penny could also be mixed since she’s crushing on him but I could also see her either finding it sweet that Jagged wants to hang out with his kids or finding it a hassle to schedule them in.

Jagged and Luka is rough. Luka has so many conflicting feelings on his idol ending up being his father. Jagged will probably even comment on Luka’s shirt + necklace and all of Luka’s merch in an attempt to bond but that kind of comes off desperate/awkward and Luka’s not about that life. I could also see Luka taking all the stuff down and swapping out his shirt, but being hesitant to remove the necklace because it’s a gift from Marinette. He might try to wash off the signature. He knows it’s not Jagged’s fault exactly but Anarka seemed to have bad blood with him and even if they get along now, Luka’s bitter. Jagged meanwhile wants to connect with Luka because hey musician energy!! but is gonna mess up a lot and say a lot of awkward things. Marinette will probably have to be a middle man between the two because it’s easier for them to talk with her around.

Jagged and Juleka don’t have a significant relationship at first. Juleka never care who her father was and she wasn’t crazy about Jagged Stone like Luka was. Jagged does try to connect with her but they clash majorly due to Jagged being so “loud” and Juleka being so quiet. Jagged will see it as a huge accomplishment the day where Juleka says something coherent (i.e: not a mumble) to him.

Yeah though, keep in mind for all of this that I’m not a family relationship kinda girl, so this isn’t my forte (I’m probably the most sympathetic to Jagged out of the whole fandom; not to say I agree with his actions but I have a history of hating babies and children, so not cool of him if he ditched Anarka but like, I get it, doesn’t make him better but I get it from a non-realistic standpoint of “ew, parenting”).

Anonymous said:

You know what? Imma gonna ignore canon for a bit more than I’ve been doing. The only thing I take away from “Truth” is that Marinette loves Luka and Tikki looks adorable in hats. That’s it have a good Saturday! 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

Anonymous said:

If there’s one small detail that I thought was genuinely cute this episode, it’s Tikki posing in the mirror with her little hat collection.

Ahaha, those are good takeaways!

And yes, Tikki looked good in hats, but at what cost. (guys, where’s our jealous Tikki episode where Tikki is jealous of the attention Marinette has to give the other kwami wait no they’d just make it Marinette’s fault go back go ba--)

Anonymous asked:

Am I the only on squicked out by how Adrien acts all noble and claims he would never force Ladybug to tell him anything, but when it becomes apparent that he has to ask her a question before the akuma can he goes all ‘what are your three favorite things about me?’ :3c I mean, he had decent amount of time to think up a bunch of innocent questions that couldn’t hurt her in any way like ‘what is your favorite color?’ or ‘do you like cookies?’ or even ‘what’s the capitol of France?’ But instead he basically demands she compliment him. Coming from a guy who spent most of the last two seasons refusing to take ‘no’ for an answer that’s a bit… icky.

THIS

He could’ve phrased it in any way and he used it to get compliments from her. :|

At least Ladybug asked a legitimate question about how he felt about her guardian status.

Anonymous said:

I had this idea for an episode: Luka finds out that Marinette is LB because he is in danger. Let's say he gets yeeted off a building by an akuma and Marinette (in her civilian form) jumps after him, transforms while Luka sees it (he's shook, obviously), she grabs him and saves him from falling. I think that would be pretty epic, do you think you could write a one-shot based on that idea if you feel like that? I would forever be thankful. Have a nice day!

I like the idea, though I feel like that’s been done a lot before in identity reveal fanfics.

Anonymous said:

You know, despite them all getting interrupted, I thought the attempts at Lukanette dates was really cute. Luka picking up Marinette from school, the two trying to see who is the biggest jagged fan, getting ice cream at Andre's, it's really cute! I only wish Hawkmoth and the writers weren't such dickheads.

It’s so adorable!

Like--show, you aren’t doing a good job at getting me off the Lukanette train.

Anonymous said:

Are you sure the Lukanette breakup wasn't Marinette's fault? I mean, the episode frames it like she's refusing to tell the truth, even if it's for a good reason.

I’m not sure when I said that the episode didn’t frame it as her fault?

Things are ALWAYS Marinette’s fault, it’s literally a rule of the show.

Anonymous said:

You know the truth episode actually gives more reasons for lukanette in my opinion based of its description you said. Luka is ridiculously understanding and also almost manages to fight off hawk moth as well as taking probably a week at least for him to get to that and yet he, while he’s upset, still tries to be there for marinette. Also makes the relationships she has with her friends and family worse if the secret they think she has is that she likes adrien while dating Luka.

YES!!

And oh my gosh, I feel the friends and family comment so badly. Just throwing it out there, maybe you guys don’t actually support her???

Anonymous said:

How do you feel about Luka having no negative reaction to this whole "Marinette loves Adrien" thing? I understand that he isn't exactly the jealous type, but still, it seems weird to me that he just accepts it while Marinette is dating him. I love Luka a lot, but in this situation his reaction was just so unrealistic...

Honestly, I find it really interesting. Plus, it’s Truth who’s being told those things, not Luka, and Truth has other priorities.

And--I mean, I’m positive that Luka got into the relationship knowing that Marinette wasn’t completely over Adrien. She wanted to see if they’d work and he wanted to date her. It’s both of them being a little selfish in a way and I like that.

That’s why I think he doesn’t have a big reaction to the Adrien call. He seems amused more than anything, and Luka is empathetic also so he knows not to take Marinette’s stammering/mistakes to heart because she doesn’t mean them. We already had evidence of that in “Desperada.”

writingamongther0ses said:

Even if Lukanette had stayed together, I have a feeling Alya would complain that it's not Adrien...which could lead to a character growth opportunity for her when her complaining leads to Luka getting hurt when he overhears and becomes an akuma. But that's too interesting.

Interesting character relationships??? In THIS show???

never

Anonymous said:

After watching Truth the only thing I can feel at the moment is bitter. Not angry, not sad, not disappointed. Just bitter.

Bitter’s a good way of putting it, yeah. *sigh*

Anonymous said:

The fact that the second episode released managed to get a bingo really says a lot about how predictable the show's garbage fire writing.

I KNOW, RIGHT??

I knew the Lukanette episode would be a big card filler but DAMN.

Anonymous said:

I hated all of Truth, but perhaps the worst part was how hard they tried to remind you that, no matter how much of a good time Marinette and Luka have together, it's Adrien who Marinette will end up with in the end. From Alya rudely insinuating "girl, you're acting stupid, is Adrien at your house?", to Luka receiving a PICTURE of Adrien from a kwami, to Marinette talking on the phone with Luka while her Adrien pictures are in the background, to Marinette CALLING LUKA ADRIEN, to Truth demanding that people tell him Marinette's secret, only for them ALL to say "She's in love with Adrien Agreste.".

It's absolutely anger-inducing because it tries too hard to let the audience know to forget about Luka because Adrien is lurking in the corner and he and Marinette are endgame. The fans are right, Luka IS a second choice, but not in the way they think. Luka's a second choice, not for Marinette, but for the Miraculous Ladybug world. for the WRITERS!!!

But what bothers me the most is that everyone saying that Marinette loves Adrien is accepted as truth even when Marinette herself says she's over Adrien. Her words are ignored, how she feels is ignored, because everyone else(including the girl squad, when they're supposed to be her "friends") tells her that she's supposed to be in love with Adrien, and so she "has" to go along with it because ENDGAME. It's the show saying "stupid naive Marinette, you're too immature and dumb to know how you really feel, let someone else do the thinking for you!"

Meanwhile Adrien moving on with Kagami is accepted even when he still flirts with Ladybug(and forces her to build up his ego when he asks her what she admires most about him; I know it was a spur of the moment thing, but meta-wise, it was obvious love square pushing.), because "he's trying to respect her feelings and date someone else!" It's one of the main gripes I have with the show: that teenage girls are too emotional and confused to know what they really want, but teenage boys are mature and rational enough to make up their minds about who they love without holding any animosity towards anyone.

The all-white, all-male writing team pushes the Chinese girl's feelings aside and forces her to hide and erase them if they're not want they want her to feel, while the white boy gets congratulated with a pat on the back for doing the bare minimum and always, ALWAYS, takes the moral high ground(even in superhero form when he's supposedly goofy.). When she's the lead.

"Luka's a second choice, not for Marinette, but for the Miraculous Ladybug world. for the WRITERS!!!“

LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

It’s just tiring. It’s not even me being sick of the love square, but it being forced into everything when it’s not even relevant. The episode strategically throws more and more of Marinette’s Adrien crush (I did the math, I know this) into the mix and it provides nothing but the same tired jokes. Heck, they keep leaning on the lucky charm Marinette let him borrow (not GAVE, let him BORROW) back in Season 1 because they basically have nothing else to go off of.

#category: salt #episode: Truth #other: ml spoilers #other: ask and answer

[in3ptbean]

𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒕 06 - 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒏

"If I cut you off, chances are, you handed me the scissors,"

Request: Number 6 w/ Frank Morrison 

Warnings: The works 

Summary: OK, so I went with a ‘before the realm’ and then an ’in the realm’ aspect with this prompt. Bare with me Chiefs. 

Want to request  a prompt? 

  Prompt List 

Masterlist  

(Not My GIF) 

The night was still young according to Frank, and you wanted nothing to do with it. 

Senior year was almost over and you were straying the ‘Legion’ with every passing day; and Frank wasn’t having it. 

You sat in the living room of your apartment,  working to your hearts content on an APUSH test form your computer. You were enveloped in silence. Nothing more than the flicking of textbook pages and the ticking of the clock to keep you company. 

It was a Thursday night and tonight marked the fifth day that you failed to show up at the abandoned resort on the outskirts of Ormond. You weren’t in the mood to deal with Frank and his little piss party; Frank was an asshole to only took a liking to you because you were pretty and Julie was a major hissy-fit bitch. Suzie and Joey were the only ones you could really stand to be around during the nights you’d rarely go out with the group of delinquents. 

A sharp knock caused your head to snap towards the windows, jaw clenching at the sight of Frank ‘FuckFace’ Morrison glaring at you. You rolled your eyes and flicked him off, opting to let the boy get into your home on his own that to stand up and open the door for him. 

Another knock; louder and urgent. You looked at him again, eyes locking with his own, watching as he nodded his head towards the door. You glanced at the high hanging clock on the wall. Nearly midnight. 

You suppressed a groan as you heaved yourself up. You quickly opened the door, and returned to your seat continuing to type away on your computer, as Frank walked in, closing the door. 

“You didn’t show up today,” He stated, sitting on the edge of your desk; watching as you typed away hurriedly . “It’s the sixth night-” Of course he was keeping track. 

“Fifth actually,” You interrupted, ignoring the pointed look he gave you. 

“So you know, good,” he muttered, glancing around the apartment. He had only been  here once, and lord knows that was the only party you were ever gonna throw; It took three days to return it to it’s sort of original state. “Suzie was looking forward to seeing  you-” 

“I told her she could stop by anytime she wanted. Same with Joey,” You weren’t going to take his shit anymore. You didn’t want to live life as a  degenerate. You wanted to get out of this godforsaken town and find a name for yourself. “Unless you didn’t wants them to come see me,” 

Frank’s jaw clenched, and he moved to stand. You were too focused to see the mischievous look in his eyes, and too unraveled in the test to notice his hand moving towards the back of the computer. 

Your hand froze as you reached for the mouse, eyes wide as you watched the screen buzz out  before going black. Frank snickered, a sly smirk growing on his face as he watched you turn to look at him. Your eyes were the size of dinnerplates, and you face had grown to a  distinct shade of red. 

There was a rage building inside of you, one you never  experienced before. You chest heaved, jaw clenching tightly as you ground your teeth together. 

“Get the fuck out,” Frank frowned. “Now,”  

“What the hell are you-” 

“Get the fuck out Frank!” You cried out, shoving your chair behind you to stand up.  

“What the hell is your problem?” He asked as you shoved him towards the door. 

“You want to know what the hell my problem is, Morrison?” You hissed, swinging your door open, “You! You and your little group of fucked up idiots!” With a shove, Frank stood on your doorstep, watching you with wide eyes as you pointed a finger at his chest. “You aren’t a little kid anymore Frank! You’re old enough to rob a fucking corner store, you’re old enough to take care of your fucking ‘dad’! Get your shit together!” 

You slammed the door in his face, your own still burning with anger. You let out a frustrated yell, sliding to the floor with your back against the door. You were done with his bullshit, and if it meant you having to get the hell out of Ormond, you were willing to do just about anything. 

You awoke on the ground, skin glistening with the small patches of snow. You stood, eyes wide as you took in the same resort you used to hang around a few years ago. Brows furrowed in confusion, you glanced around, moving towards  the resort with caution. 

Last you checked you were searching the neighboring towns for a sign of the missing teens. This was either a really fucked up dream or your worst fucking nightmare.  

Walking into the lodge, you looked around once again. Everything looked the same; from the tagged walls showcasing your name beside Joey’s and Franks, to your plush arm chair resting against the wall.  

‘What the hell?” You walked towards the stairs,  ignoring the sudden spike in your heart beat. You treaded lightly, picking it up to a jog when you heard a loud urgent yell. 

Frank  grinned underneath the mask, scoffing at  Felix’s failed attempt to pick himself off of the ground. He straddled the German, raising his knife, heart racing at the blood lust that ate away at his very being.

Before he could strike, however, he was shoved off the German by an unseen survivor, and promptly knocked to the floor. Frank let out a yell, jaw clenching at the sight of the new survivor helping the German up and shoving his towards the lodge. Quickly, Frank stood, lunging for the survivor, only to have them crouch down, and shooting, sending him towards the ground with a thud. 

“What the fuck-” 

“Morrison?” The teen failed to  get up, seeing as you had managed to disarm him and hold him down to the ground. “What the fuck are you trying to do?” You hissed. Frank let out a yell, struggling to get up and get you off of his incapacitated form. “Calm the fuck down-” 

“You left!” He yelled, throat tight as you ripped off his mask, “You left us! You took your shit and left us!” He yelled, 

“What the hell are you talking about?” You hissed after he shoved you off. 

“That night  in  ‘89,” He hissed, running for his knife. You eyes never left his  swaying form, knowing that the Frank you had known from your teen years was no longer here; rather the embodiment of malice and resentment. “You left us to fucking rot, you bitch,” 

He ran  at you, slashing your arm before moving to strike again. You hand grabbed his own, twisting it back before wrapping your left arm around his neck. You squeezed your arm tightly, making sure he dropped the knife before nudging him forward and  throwing the knife over the lodge. 

“You four were stuck in a fucking wonderland!” You yelled out as he grabbed your collar. “We were all growing up and all you cared about was your little fucking gang! For the love of God Frank, I wasn’t going to be dragged into whatever the hell you had planned and I’m glad I fucking didn’t,” 

The Legion leader shoved you against one of the large boulders, keeping you there as he tried to find his knife. 

“You were one of us! You joined us-” 

“Because you wouldn’t leave me alone! You were everywhere I looked and you wouldn't leave me the fuck alone!”  

“You left us,” You knew Frank had abandonment issues, but you never thought he’d ever take it to heart. A loud, siren like ringing  shook the earth beneath you. “Like you never, ever cared about us. You just cut us off!” 

"If I cut you off, chances are, you handed me the fucking scissors,” you hissed, noticing the blonde man from before waving you over.  You quickly  shoved Frank back, leaving him standing by the rocks in a state of disarray, before running towards the blonde. 

Frank picked himself off the ground, watching as Felix led you to the exit gates, before the Entities’  ominous mist consumed his very being. 

#dead by daylight x reader #dead by daylight #dbd #dbd killer #slasher #slashers imagine #the legion x reader #the legion #the legion imagine #felix richer #frank morrison x reader #frank morrison #frank morrison imagine #x reader #x you #slasher x you #requests are open #request #prompts are open #prompts #IneptBean

[fictionalabyss]

Protector : Despair.

Pairing : Dean x Reader, Sam, Brady, Alex (oc), Abby (oc)

Word count :    2,233

Warnings : Panic/fear,  stalking/following (mentioned), nightmares, protective Sam, scared Alex. Series TW : Domestic Abuse is a constant topic- be it mentioned, or actually happening.

Continuation of this series was commissioned by : @iflostreturntosteverogers

Part 20 of Protector.

Masterlist • Patreon • Ko-fi.

You sat licking your lips and looking down at your phone. Today had been a day from hell. Scariest day of your life since the day your ex husband had shown up at your door and beat the shit out of you. And this time, there was no Dean to make it stop. You’d been home for a bit now, unable to relax, unable to stop your mind from coming up with the worst possible scenarios.

Alex had left school when he spotted Ash outside doing a walk of the perimeter, stood up mid lecture, grabbed his books, his bag and walked out. He knew if a patched member was at the school, it meant trouble. He’d burst into the house almost in a panic, making sure you and Abby were okay, telling you Ash had given him a quick rundown.

Now he was with his sister in the kitchen, keeping her occupied while Sam started on an early supper to distract everyone.

Looking down at your phone, you sighed and scrolled through your contacts before selecting one and hitting call.

“Sullivan and Rothman, how can I help you?”

“I’m calling for Tyson Brady.”

“Name?”

“Y/N Winchester.”

“Hold please.”

It took a few minutes, but then the elevator style hold music shut off and you could almost hear the smile in Brady’s voice when he picked up with a “And what can I do for the biker princess?”

“Hopefully help.”

���What’s wrong?” his tone had changed completely and you could almost picture his lawyerly frown.

You licked your lips before filling him in. “Remember when Dean was arrested?”

“Yeah, Bakers bullshit stunt to buy time, what about it?”

“Baker told some guy who I was, that I was Dean’s wife. He was a guy from a rival MC or gang or something, I don’t know… but-”

“But?”

“He’s following me.”

“You’re sure?” You nodded even though he couldn’t see you, and it was almost like he just knew before he asked “How?”

“Someone sent Dean pictures of me and Sam in the front yard yesterday. He said the only thing other than the pictures was a PObox. There was no name, no nothing-”

“So you don’t know it was him.”

“Not for sure, no..”

“You got the PO number?”

“Uh, no. Dean didn’t tell me.”

“I’ll call him for that..” you heard rummaging and then quiet. “That can’t be it, though..”

“No.. today, I saw him.”

“The guy? Where?”

“Grocery store. He was following me, watching me.” you swallowed, looking down again as tears filled your eyes once more. “I’m scared, Brady.. It was just me and Abby, and he was there, he- he just stood there and watched us.”

“When?”

“About an hour ago? I called Sam crying, he ran to the store and the guy was just gone. What if it’s him who sent the pictures to Dean? It means he knows where I live. Dean’s flipping out, I’m scared he’s going to do something stupid in there and I’m scared this asshole is going to get me out here, and- I- I didn’t know who else to call but you..”

“Hey, relax, okay? Look, you did good calling me. I’m going to officially represent you, okay? I’m not just Alex’s lawyer anymore, I’m yours now. Look, I’m gonna grab the next flight in, okay? Might be a few days, but I’ll come down, I’ll meet up with Dean's lawyer and see what we can find out about these pictures, and I’ll file another report against Baker.”

“I’m so fucking scared…”

“I know. I know. You’re not alone, are you?”

“No. Dean made Sam move in a few days ago.” You glanced up as Brutus padded into the room. Patting your thigh, he came over and rested his head on it, head tilting to encourage you to scratch behind his ear. You were happy to obliged.

“Okay. That’s good. How’s Alex?”

“Freaked out too. I sent some MC guys to make sure he was safe at school, it freaked him out and he rushed home.”

“Look, I’m about to check for a flight. I see you when I get to town. I’m also going to reach out to Dean’s lawyer. If I find out anything before I see you, I’ll call.”

“Thanks, Brady. I don’t know where we’d be without you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. See you soon.”

As you hung up, you ran your thumb along the side of your phone. You wished Dean would call again, just so you knew he was okay, that he hadn’t done something stupid. “Please..” you whispered while staring at your screen. “Please please please..”

“You okay?” You looked up at Sam standing in the doorway, and he sighed. “Of course you're not. Did you call Dean’s lawyer?”

You shook your head. “Brady. He’s uh- he’s gonna come down. Get up Bakers ass again, talk to Dean’s lawyer for me..” you bit your bottom lip and started to chew on it. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Being here. That day. Today. Brady. Take your pick.”

“You’re family.” he gave you a soft smile. “Go on up and take a warm shower. Dinner won't be ready for about an hour, so you’ve got time. I know it’s hard for you to relax, but-”

“I’m pregnant, so I need to try. I know.” Sighing, you dropped your phone onto the coffee table before making your way to the stairs, Brutus following behind you at first but he stopped to sit next to his master. “Sam?”

“Hm?”

“Thank you.” without another word from either of you, you made your way up the stairs and into your bedroom. Once the door shut behind you, you leaned on it and looked around. Pictures on the dressers, his clothes, his things, this was the hardest that it had hit you that Dean wasn’t here, he couldn’t protect you. Letting yourself slide to the floor, you gave yourself a few minutes to cry.

You were running, running, always running. Running from something, something you could feel more than see. A feeling, one of dread. Terror. The kind of terror that left a pit in your stomach and made you want to throw up, but you couldn’t, you had to keep running. Running through the streets, running through trees, through houses, the scenery always changed but you weren’t getting anywhere, you weren’t getting any farther away from it. You were running with something hot on your tail and no end in sight.

Tears streamed down your face, sweat clung to your skin as you pushed yourself harder, faster, frantically looking as you ran, looking for your safe place. Looking for Dean.

You skidded to a halt in the endless aisles of a supermarket when you came face to face with a man you’d only ever seen. He was massive, giant, built like a tank that could never be taken down. He took up the whole aisle, you couldn’t see anything, not even light beyond him. He was darkness and dread that swallowed it all up, and he had his eyes set on you.

You turned and ran, back down the way you’d come. A glance behind you showed you that he was following. Not running, but keeping up all the same.

And then you slammed into something. A hard body that sent a chill of terror down your spine.

You were shaking as you looked up at him, a face you’d hadn’t seen in years, not even in your worst nightmares. “No..” you shook your head frantically trying to get some distance from him. “No.. no.”

“Where’s my son?”

“Please…” you begged, stumbling as you stepped back and fell to the ground. You tried to scurry away only to bump your back against legs. Dread and terror now towered over you. The man who tried to kill you once, and the man who wanted to do it now. “Please.. This isn’t real.” you  sobbed, backing against a shelf and curling up as small as you could. “You’re not real. You’re not real. You’re not real..” the words on repeat as all light was blocked out and your world got dark. It suddenly felt like you were falling.

Despair.

There was no help, no one was coming to save you this time. They had you trapped and cornered and it would hurt even more than the last time, you knew that. You were surrounded by darkness and pain that wouldn’t relent and no one was coming to save you this time.

This was it.

He’d finally kill you.

“Please..” you sobbed before letting out a pained cry.

You hear a crash and barking, then feel someone grabbing at you. It puts you in a panic, you start screaming, louder and louder, pushing, fighting as you get pulled up to sit.

“Hey! Hey, relax, it’s me, it’s Sam.” You keep fighting, eyes now open and darting around in fear. It’s your room, you’re in your room but is it real this time? Is this really Sam holding your shoulders. “Hey. It was just a bad dream, I’m here, I’ve got you.”

You looked at him, searching his face for truth. “Are you-”

“I’m real, I’m here.” A large hand cupped your cheek, his attempt at grounding you again, proving to you that he’s in fact right there to save you from whatever had put so much fear in you. Your hand went to his chest. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and feeling the warmth of his skin under your fingers proved to you he was real. He was real. He was here, and he had saved you. You didn’t say a word, the tears started pouring out again and you let him wrap his arms around you. You sobbed against his shoulder. “It was just a bad dream.” he soothed, hand smoothing down your hair and down your back before coming up and repeating the movement. “It was just a bad dream. I’ve got you.”

Hearing the creak of the floor boards, your eyes opened again to see Alex in the doorway, his eyes full of worry. “Mom?”

Sam lets you go, even though you’re still shaking, even though the tears haven’t stopped yet, he lets you go. “Alex.” you breath on a sob, and he’s rushing in to you, all but throwing himself against you as you wrap your arms around your son, clinging to the back of his shirt as you cry.

“You scared me, mom. I heard you screaming and I-” You duck your head, burying it against his shoulder. “I haven’t heard you scream like that in so long. Not since dad.”

“He was there.” you whisper against him. “He was there, him and that guy.. They- they had me trapped and no one would help me.” you were shaking with sobs again. “I couldn’t get away. I couldn’t get away.”

Alex started to rock you, side to side like you had done to him when he was small. “Yeah.” Alex nodded. “I remember those dreams.” Alex sighs now before whispering. “I have them too.”

It's a few minutes of quiet between you, Alex gently rocking you while Sam quietly watched, his brow still furrowed with a worried frown. “I know you’re probably too old, but-”

“I’ll stay, mom.” He pulls away now, still holding you, but now he’s looking in your eyes. “If you need me, I’ll stay. Just like Dean always did for me.”

You sniffle, hand now cupping his cheek as you smile at him and nod. You’re so proud of him, proud of this brave and strong man he’s growing up to be. “I love you.”

“I love you too, mom.” he smiled. “Let’s try and get back to sleep, okay?”  You nodded, both of you letting each other go as you laid back, letting yourself get comfortable again, as Alex got in next to you.

“How about I get Abby.” Sam says quietly from where you find him standing by the door. “You need your family right now.”

“Thanks, Sam.”

He gives you a smile before he walks out. A moment later, you hear him coming back up the hall with a sleeping Abby in his arms. You pull the blanket down, and Sam lays her between you and Alex so she’s nestled right in the middle. Pulling the blanket up, Abby just shifts and rolls so she’s facing Alex, making him smile at her before he closes his eyes.

When Sam pulls away from the bed, you look over at him. You don’t realize you’re afraid he’ll leave until he speaks in a soothing tone and promises “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here, I promise.” You watch him as he walks around to the foot of the bed and gets comfortable in Dean’s armchair by the closet. “Get some sleep.” he says as he tries getting comfortable.

Once you’re sure he means it, that he isn’t leaving, you wrap your arms around Abby and duck your head so your nose is in her hair and breath in the scent of her watermelon shampoo.

You’re not alone.

You’re not alone.

You’re not alone.

He can’t get you.

He’s not real and you’re not alone.

Finally, you close your eyes again and pray for better dreams as you feel the weight of Brutus jumping onto your bed and curling up on top of your feet.

*If you like this, please consider supporting my work*

Tagging :  Protector : @jaycc7983 @volleyballer519  @meganlpie  @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo  @londoncallingbutiwontpickup    @valsworldofcreativity   @samsgirl93 @delightfullykrispypeach​

Dean - @akshi8278​  @adoptdontshoppets​   @evyiione​ @karikatz12481​ @idksupernatural​  @deandreamernp​

SPN -  @sandlee44  @just-another-busy-fangirl  @mrswhozeewhatsis   @deanandsamsbitch  @deans-baby-momma  @thebescht @67-chevy-baby @supraveng   @musiclovinchic93 @holyfuckloueh  @ksgeekgirl   @hobby27 @maddiepants  @roxyspearing @onethirstyunicorn​    @fandom-princess-forevermore     @kalesrebellion   @deanwanddamons​   @thoughts-and-funnies​

All tags - @sorenmarie87 @artemisthebadger @winchesterprincessbride @iflostreturntosteverogers @akfonkin @rebelminxy @foxyjwls007 @onethirstyunicorn @shaelyn102 @supernaturalenchanted  @kazkingdom   @babypink224221  @emoryhemsworth    @ilovefanfic86​  @pie-with-hunters​   @anaelsbrunette​   @feelmyroarrrr​  @letsdisneythings​   @cdwmtjb8​   @notyourtypicalrose​ @xostephanie​ @ilovedeanspie​ @defenderrosetyler​ @amandamdiehl​

#protector #dean x reader #dean winchester fic #reader insert #biker!Dean #dean #deanfic #dean winchester #biker au #au #dean au #spn #spnfic #spnau #supernatural #supernatural fic #supernatural au

[artzychic27]

Evillustrator Part Deux

These people have some nerve. Barging into the art classroom, his safe space, the only place in school where he can be himself without people looking at him weirdly. He can be loud and goofy and show his art without fear of being judged. But they just had to ruin it. By 'they' he means his classmates. Not the smart ones like Marinette, Alix, Rose, and Juleka. Yes, that sounded a little rude, but it was the truth! Ever since Lie-la came along with a big mouth full of lies, it's like the rest of the class had lost a good chunk of brain cells. He knows they're trying to be nice and accommodate for the 'disabled student', but they can't tell a con-artist when they see one!

Lila's been nothing but a thorn in the art club's side since she arrived, and all because they knew she was nothing but a lying, manipulative creature. So far, she's lied about Marinette doing a bunch of stuff she'd never do to her and almost got her expelled, Alix spray painting half of her wardrobe so Mylene, Sabrina, and Alya had to buy her more clothes with their money, Juleka cornering her in the bathroom and telling her to kill herself so the goth girl got detention she didn't deserve, and Rose stealing her lunch money which is how she afforded those cute new ballet flats and the other students had to buy Lila's lunch for her. Now it was Nathaniel's turn.

What has Lila said about him? She didn't really lie, but more like got on his bad side by suggesting he should find a new writer since Marc's work was "amateur", making little jabs at his art by saying loudly for the class to hear that her work has gotten many comic book artists' attention which then led to the class telling Lila that she should introduce them to Nathaniel. He said no, of course, since the artists were either dead or not real and they did not react well. They said he was rude, Lila was trying to help, and that's how he became one of the bullies of the classroom.

But then one morning, Lila told everyone that he stole her artwork. They were hesitant to believe her even despite believing Nathaniel was a bully since they knew he HATED art thieves with a passion, probably more than Marinette hated Hawkmoth. But when she showed them the hideously bright orange sketchbook with a crudely drawn cursive L on the cover in black sharpie and flipped through the pages slowly so the class could admire what Nathaniel realized was other artists' work he saw on Instagram that she was claiming as her own.

After seven long minutes, Lila finally stopped on a page that had the class immediately go off on Nathaniel when they recognized that it looked exactly like the art, the original art, on the school website. Alix and Marinette tried to defend him the best that they could, but the sausage-haired brat was a step ahead, saying that she sometimes brings her sketchbook to school and keeps it in her locker because she was always so nervous about what people would say about her art, and Nathaniel must've broken in, took a picture of the page, traced the art, and passed it off as his own. The class was torn, but they were leaning more towards Lila’s side because 'Why would Lila lie?'

Throughout the entire day, Nathaniel was forced to listen to the class asking if he was jealous of Lie-la's art being 'far better than his' (Her words), interrogating him to see if he stole anyone else's art, and they even had the gall to tell Mme. Bustier what Lila had told them. He missed his lunch and was instead tortured by Mme. Bustier lecturing HIM on why art theft is wrong, and that he needed to be the bigger person and apologize for stealing Lila's art. No matter how many times he explained to the woman that Lila lied, she just wouldn't listen! He had so much more respect for Marinette than he already did. She would go on and on about Mme. Bustier telling her to be an example and apologize when she was the one who was wronged. He was going to learn how to bake and make that girl some macarons. When she finally let him go, lunch was already over! Thank God Marc, the best boyfriend in the world saved him half of his sandwich and an apple. He did not apologize, and he had no intention of doing so.

The rest of the day was spent with his actual friends coming to his defense every five minutes when one of them would try and get him to apologize for stealing Lila's art. And when they weren't doing that, they were tracking down the people whose art was stolen by Lila when Mylene found the art Lila had traced on Instagram and Twitter. It's like they're her personal guard dogs. He wanted to knock some sense into them and go- what Lila inappropriately calls- 'feral-mode' on them; a nod to his bipolar disorder. Going against his instincts, he went to Mme. Bustier about what Lila had said about him being Bipolar, but she told him, 'Oh, but Lila doesn't understand your condition. It's your job to explain it to her.' ... He just wants Hawkmoth to come in here and have an Akuma pummel this woman.

Finally, the day was over, they were all gone, and he could now spend time with his friends and a real teacher without being yelled at or accused of being an art thief... For about seven minutes.

"Just apologize," Alya urged.

With a glare, Nathaniel yelled, "For the last. Damn. Time! I didn't steal any art!" Where was M. Haberkorn when you needed him?

"Then explain why Lila's art is in your sketchbook!" Kim demanded.

Lila sniffed, "Nath, if you're jealous of me, I could have-"

"Why the hell would I be jealous of you of all people?"

"Don't be so rude!"

"Why are you saying this stuff?"

"Lila didn't do anything to you!"

"Guys," Alix snapped her fingers to grab their attention and quiet them down, "Nathaniel loathes art thieves. Why would he steal someone else's art? And what would he have to gain from it? He's already the illustrator for one of the best damn comics in Paris, and he's won contests with some of his work." She shot the redhead a proud look before turning back to her classmates, "So do tell us. Why would Nathaniel steal another person's art?"

None of them could come up with an excuse. None of them except Lila just when the art club thought they had won, "Well, maybe he was just insecure," she ignored Nathaniel's offended look and continued, "I didn't want to say anything, but some students were looking at his art on the school website and said it seemed... Amateur compared to mine."

Marinette whispered to Juleka, "Oh, she did not just say the A-word."

Alix coughed into her fist, "Bullshit!"

Alya glared at the pinkette, "Stop ganging up on her!" She turns to Nathaniel, "And Nath, you need to stop being jealous of Lila just because some people prefer her art-"

"Will you shut up already?!" Nathaniel screamed, stunning his classmates at his outburst. "I am not jealous of Lila! I never will be jealous of her because there's nothing to be jealous over!”

Nathaniel let out a sigh. He didn't mean to yell, but they were all just so frustrating. He was telling the truth and they couldn't see it. They're choosing to believe a liar they've known only for a few months over someone they've known for years. They all knew Nathaniel was the resident class artist and not once has he stolen another person's art; it was a level he would never stoop to, not even if you paid or threatened him to.

"Dude, you need to chill," Nino calmly said.

"No, he doesn’t." Everyone turned to the source of the new voice and saw Marc standing at the doorway with his red pencil case. The art club students became relieved when they saw the writer. Marc was a reasonable, level-headed person who could find red flags easily. He'd talk some sense into them all and maybe their Lila nightmare would be over. During lunch, the art club explained to him why Nathaniel was missing, infuriating the green-eyed boy. Because of Rossi, his boyfriend was forced to miss lunch and endure a lecture by a teacher who should really consider pursuing a different career. "Nathaniel is not an art thief." He brushed past them and made his way over to his boyfriend before kissing his cheek.

"Marc, don't defend him just because he's your boyfriend," Mylene said. And in response, Marc rolled his eyes.

"Even if we weren't dating, I'd still defend him." He points to Nathaniel's sketchbook as if asking for permission to hold it. With a nod, Nathaniel hands Marc his sketchbook, and the writer flips through the pages until he stops on the page with the sketch that started this mess. On the page is a full-body sketch of Ladybug, running with her hair out of its pigtails and flowing through the breeze. It took all of Marinette's will-power to not blush when Nathaniel showed her and the others before posting it on the school's website. What she loved most was that she was not wearing a skin-tight bodysuit, but instead, she was wearing battle armor and actually had on shoes. Maybe she could ask Tikki for an upgrade on her current suit.

"Nathaniel always uses the same art style," Marc pointed out. "During lunch, I caught a look at some of the pages in Lila's sketchbook and noticed that she had about ten different art styles. The sketch she claims Nathaniel stole looks very similar to his usual style." Before Lila can defend herself, Marc continued, "And I also noticed that your line art is very dark."

Marinette realizes what her cousin is insinuating and adds, "He's right. Most line art is light so that when an artist makes a mistake, they can easily erase it." She smirks, "So, care to explain why your line art is so much darker compared to Nathaniel's?"

Lila stammered for a response, "I... We-well my wrist-" Before she could say anything else, Alya rested a hand on her shoulder and said, "You don't need to explain anything to them. We know your innocent." After nodding in agreement with Alya, the students headed out of the classroom. Alya pulled Lila out and didn't notice her smirking viciously at the art kids or Alix giving her double middle fingers.

With a sigh of exhaustion, Nathaniel sat down and rested his head on the table. "What is wrong with them?" he groaned. Rose patted his shoulder sympathetically, "It's okay, Nath."

Marinette shook her head, "I try to remind myself that it's not their fault; Lila's manipulating them, but it takes a lot to convince myself that."

Marc took the empty seat next to Nathaniel and brushed his bangs to the side so Nathaniel could see him. "Are you okay?" Nathaniel nodded and mumbled, "Thanks, Rainbow." With a smile, Marc kissed his forehead, slid Nathaniel's sketchbook toward him, and pulled out his journal, "Let's just enjoy the quiet while we still have it."

Juleka nodded as she grabbed her bass, "Yeah, maybe I'll just fake being sick tomorrow."

"Nope!" Alix exclaimed. "There's strength in numbers, Jules. If we all have to suffer, then so do you." Juleka responded by strumming a few cords on her bass.

The rest of the class, sans Chloe and Adrien, decided to spend the rest of their day, cool off from earlier, and cheer Lila up by getting some of André's ice cream. Poor Lila didn't have any money on her because she donated almost all of her cash to her favorite charity, one that helped children from lower-income families. Ivan, being a nice guy, paid for her cone and Lila promised she'd pay him back... Yeah, like that would ever happen. Five euros and all she got was plain vanilla because André couldn't see her being in a relationship with anyone.

"Girl, maybe he just messed up," Alya told her. "André is getting old."

Nino reluctantly nodded, "Yeah. Maybe that's it." He's been getting ice cream from André since he was five, and the man was never wrong. He predicted his first love by giving him cotton candy, peach, and blueberry ice cream, and his future love with tangerine, lemon, and raspberry. If André gives you vanilla, that's it. No love for you. 'But why would Lila end up without love?' he wondered. She's nice, charitable, always meeting exciting people. It confused him.

If Nino could hear what was going on through Lila's head, he'd take it all back. 'Stupid Marinette. Stupid Alix. Stupid Rose. Stupid Juleka. Stupid Marc. AND STUPID NATHANIEL! That idiot has some nerve going against me! Just wait, Kurtzberg. I'll ruin your reputation so bad that not even your freak boyfriend will look at you! With that spineless coward of a Principal on my side, I'll make sure no school will take you!' "Guys, this was sweet of you, but I just wanna go home," she said in a tone that contrasted her inner voice.

Alya smiled and pulled her in for a hug, not noticing the scowl on the Italian's face, "We understand. Maybe you can draw something to make you feel better."

'Yeah, I'll find a sucker on Instagram, make a few tweaks, and have you all eating out of the palm of my hand.' "Yeah," she sighed. "That always cheers me up. I'll see you all tomorrow!" She waved then headed off in the direction of her home. Then once she was out of view, she ran towards the school and threw her ice cream on the ground, not caring about the pigeon she just hit. She was not going to let that stupid redhead get away so easily. She already had a ton of sinister ideas going on in her head about what'd she'd do to Nathaniel the second she caught him alone and those art club brats aren't there to help him.

Once in the school, Lila waited around a corner for him. So that no one would suspect anything, she pretended to be texting on her phone. It took five minutes until finally, Nathaniel walked out of the classroom with his sketchbook in his hand. Lila's original plan was to jump him and drag him into an empty classroom so she could threaten him to comply with her or she’d drag his reputation through the mud, but Marc was with him. She couldn’t have witnesses, or this would never work. But then everything worked out in her favor. The idiot was too distracted by his boyfriend to notice her or that he dropped his sketchbook on the floor when trying to put it in his messenger bag.

She quickly picked up the sketchbook once they were gone, and darted for the locker room. She looked around to make sure no one was there and opened Nathaniel’s prized possession. She scowled at all of the drawings of Marinette with hearts around her. “Obviously has no taste,” she muttered scornfully then continued flipping through the pages full of drawings of Ladybug, and her frown worsened the more she looked. He should be drawing a REAL hero like Volpina. Then she found a few pages with drawings of that boyfriend of his.

“Disgusting,” she sneered, then immediately tore out the page with a drawing of the two boyfriends hugging. She aggressively threw the book to the floor and stomped on it with the dirt sole of her boot, tearing and crumpling a few pages and damaging the spine. She picked it back up and proceeded to tear out more pages before getting a cruel idea. She went into the girls’ bathroom, turned on the faucet, and dropped the sketchbook into the sink. A twisted smirk spread on her face as she watched the water turn an array of colors. Satisfied, she pulled it back out and turned off the water before leaving.

She wasn’t done just yet. She looked for Nathaniel’s locker, which was easy. All she had to do was open every locker until she found the one with photos of Marc taped inside. Lila gathered up the pages she tore out, crumpled them up, and threw them into the lockers along with Nathaniel’s ruined sketchbook. By the time he opened his locker tomorrow, the pages will be dry and everything he’s drawn will be unrecognizable. Slamming the locker door shut, Lila walked out of the locker room feeling proud of herself, but not before she added a little insult to injury and taped a sticky note with an insulting message onto Nathaniel’s locker door. Tomorrow morning, Nathaniel will learn what happens when you cross Lila Diabla Rossi.

Nathaniel was not having a great morning. He accidentally set his alarm clock for the wrong time last night and woke up and three in the morning. He couldn't go back to sleep so he decided to do some late-night sketching until he felt tired. The only problem was that he couldn't find his sketchbook. He wanted to tear his room apart and look for it, but he didn't want to risk waking up his mom and having her come in, wondering why he was up so early. So he waited until it was 7:00 am when his mom was up and getting ready for the day.

He looked all around his room but couldn't find his sketchbook anywhere. 'It could be worse,' he thought to himself. He lost his personal sketchbook and not the one he used for his and Marc's comic. Now that would be awful. But losing his personal sketchbook was just as bad and embarrassing. It still had some of the sketches he did of Marinette back when he had a crush on her and some fanart from animes he wasn't comfortable showing anyone except for Alix and Marc, who showed him some fanfiction that only he was allowed to read.

"Maybe I left it at school," Nathaniel told himself once it was pretty clear that his sketchbook was nowhere in his room. Taking a few breaths to calm down and assure himself that maybe someone found his sketchbook and took it to lost and found, he got ready for the day.

After getting showered and dressed, Nathaniel made his way downstairs to have breakfast with his mom. Hearing him walk into the kitchen, Aya looked away from the stove and greeted her son with a smile, “Morning, sweetie.” Despite Nathaniel smiling, she knew something was wrong. She could tell by the way he was clutching his messenger bag and darting his eyes around the room like he was looking for something. “Is everything alright?” she asked. When he didn’t answer, she asked, “Did something happen at school? Was it that Rossi girl?” Ever since Lila first lied about her son, Aya would always take some time out of her schedule to listen to him vent about the dreaded girl. And in Aya’s opinion, she sounded like a real nightmare in need of a spanking.

“Yeah, but she’s not what I’m upset about,” he answered. “I can’t find my sketchbook. The black one?”

Aya immediately turned off the stove and went to hug him. Nathaniel loved that sketchbook. His father got it for him when he was seven and used up all of his other sketchbooks. It was one of the things he had to remember him by. “Well, maybe it’s at school. I’m sure you’ll find it, sweetie.” Seeing him smile, Aya kissed his forehead and went back to making breakfast, “Now go sit down sweetie; the hash browns are almost done.”

With a nod, Nathaniel sat at the table and thought to himself over and over, ‘You’ll find it, you’ll find it, you’ll find it.’

When he arrived at school, Nathaniel only had fifteen minutes to look for his sketchbook until class starts. He rushed into the library where the lost and found box was stored and asked the librarian for access to it. He took Nathaniel into the break room where a large bin sat in the corner of the room between two shelves filled with items too large to go in the bin. Quickly, he sifted through or tossed aside anything that wasn't his sketchbook. Textbooks, jewelry, one shoe, pants, a purse, but no sketchbook. With a frustrated groan, he put the items he tossed back in the bin so the librarian wouldn't get on his case for messing up the break room. "Where is it?!" Once out of the library, he kicked a wall in frustration and continued to look around for his sketchbook.

He remembered walking out of the art classroom with it, so it wasn't in there. If it fell out of his bag, someone must’ve found it. But why didn’t they take it to the lost and found? Maybe they put it back in his locker. None of the lockers have locks, so if a student finds something that another student lost, they put it in that student’s locker. Maybe someone did that. He still had seven minutes left, so he ran down the stairs, moved through crowds of students in the courtyard, and went into the locker room.

Once at his locker, Nathaniel furrowed his brown in confusion when he saw the orange sticky note stuck to his locker door. He took it down and read it, “‘You deserve this.’”

Still confused and a little anxious by what the note meant, Nathaniel slowly opened his locker, expecting a bucket of paint to fall on top of him or a spring-loaded boxing glove to knock a couple of his teeth out… This was way worse. There at the bottom of his locker was a dingy black book with crispy pages like someone had poured water on it and left it to dry in his locker. He found a few crumpled pieces of paper and unfurled them. He felt like he needed to throw up. These were sketches of Marc, Marinette, and some rough sketches for comics. He realized that they were from his sketchbook and a look of dread spread across his face when he realized that the dried-up book in his locker was actually his sketchbook.

“No, no, no, no!” He quickly took it out and tried flipping through the pages to see if anything had been salvaged, but he could barely turn them without a piece breaking off due to the dry paper. He flipped to the back of his ruined sketchbook and immediately started crying. There was smudged writing that he could barely read, but he could make out what was written at the bottom, ‘Make something amazing, kid. -Dad’ He clutched the book close to his chest and slowly slid down his locker and sat on the floor where he silently cried to himself.

The butterflies fluttered around as the window opened and illuminated on Hawkmoth. He smirked cunningly when he felt a powerful wave of emotions coming from Francoise Dupont. The Akuma hotspot.

“Such feelings of rage, and even more of sorrow.” He beckons for a pure white butterfly to land in his open palm. “This poor, disturbed boy.” He covers the butterfly with his other hand and fills it with dark magic using the Miraculous. Hawkmoth uncovers the butterfly, now an Akuma, and it flutters out of the window. “Fly away my beautiful Akuma, and evilize that boy!”

The Akuma flew over the city and towards the school where its target was. It phased through the walls so no students or teachers would see it, and went into the locker room where Nathaniel was still crying. He lifted his head up at the sound of its wings flapping and with a yelp, he got up and ran around the room to avoid the Akuma. Soon, he was backed into a corner with no way out. He turned his head away from the Akuma and shut his eyes tight as the evil butterfly merged with his sketchbook and turned it pitch black. The glowing, purple Akuma symbol appeared over his face. Nathaniel gripped his hair as Hawkmoth spoke to him, “Welcome back, Evillustrator.”

“Stop it,” he cried. “Not now.”

Hawkmoth paid close attention to the emotions he was feeling right now. It was mainly anger from having his sketchbook destroyed, but he was also grieving. A feeling Hawkmoth knew all too well. He could see the Akumatized object in his head and saw the damage that had been done to it. As a fellow patron of the arts, he knew the importance of a sketchbook to an artist. But there was something special about this one. Perhaps someone he lost gifted it to him. He spoke, “But why not? I too understand the pain of losing a loved one. Let me help you.”

“You’re not going to help me.”

“But I will. That sketchbook must mean something to you. Don’t you wish to find the one responsible?”

"..." Nathaniel’s look of fear morphed into a scowl when he realized who could have done this, “Yes.”

Hawkmoth smiled, “I won’t stand in your way this time. As long as you bring me the Miraculous, you may use your powers however you please. Do we have a deal?”

“Yes, Hawkmoth.” Black mist bubbled up from his sketchbook and engulfed him. Seconds later, Evillustrator stood in place of Nathaniel with an upgraded outfit. His windswept hair is brighter and more vibrant, fading from orange to purple, to black. He had on a white v-neck tailcoat with four dark purple stripes and three circles colored red, yellow, and blue printed on, a black shirt that had darker cuffs with red, yellow, and blue buttons and a red swan neck collar, white gloves, purple pants, and red boots with a slight heel.

He lifted his right arm where his tablet was attached, tucked his repaired, dark purple sketchbook under his arm, and began drawing. Materializing out of thin air was a fake Nathaniel. With a smirk, Evillustrator handed the Akumatized object over to him and said, “You know what to do.” With a nod, fake Nathaniel opened the sketchbook to an empty page and pressed it to Evillustrator’s chest. Immediately, he disappeared in a flash of purple light. Nathaniel turned the book towards him and saw a sketch of Evillustrator motioning for him to leave. He closed the book and made his way to class.

Lila tried very hard to suppress a scowl when she saw the fake Nathaniel walking into the classroom with the sketchbook, she was so sure that she destroyed it. Was it all just a wonderful dream? No! She knew she destroyed that thing! But, wasn’t it black? She needed to destroy it so that redhead would learn his place. Before she could make her way to his and Marinette’s desk in the back, Mme. Bustier walked in, “Alright class, take your seats!”

‘Later,’ she thought to herself then went to her seat next to Alya.

Mme. Bustier began writing on the board, "Today, we'll- OW!" Out of nowhere, a baseball hit the side of her head, much to the shock of the class. She picked up the ball while rubbing the side of her head, "Where did this come from?"

Lila immediately shot her hand up and pointed to the back, "I bet it was Marinette!"

"I am way back here and it hit the side of her head!" She yelled, "If I had thrown that ball, it would have nailed her right in the back of the head!" The students on her side and the students on Lila's side got into a heated argument. Adrien tried to calmly tell Lila's side that Alix was right, but they just talked over him. Chloe, who didn't care, filed her nails. Mme. Bustier clapped her hands, trying to grab their attention, "Class, please!" They settled down, making her let out a breath of relief. "Now, Alix is right about the ball hitting me on the side," Alix shot Lila a victorious smirk. "We'll figure out who did this later, but let's just get to our lesson." She set the baseball down on her desk, eyeing it warily before turning back to the board.

Marinette rolled her eyes. It was way too early for Lila to be pulling this kind of crap. Also, where did that baseball come from? The windows aren't open, so it didn't come from outside. She turned to Nathaniel, intending to ask what he thought. None of the art club students really paid attention to Mme. Bustier's lessons since she rarely taught anything. And when she was teaching, Lila would steer the lesson over to an hour-long discussion about how she was related to some major historical figure. Marinette was pretty sure Vlad the Impaler and Catherine the Great weren't related.

Before she could say anything, she noticed him just staring at a page in his sketchbook. Just staring, not drawing. She couldn't see what he was looking at because he was holding the front cover of the book up. And what's even weirder was that he seemed to be nodding. When he saw her staring, he immediately closed his sketchbook and turned his attention to the front.

'Strange,' Marinette thought to herself then continued half-listening to the lesson.

Ten more minutes in, and Lila was telling a story about being the distant relative of some witch hunter from the Salem witch trials in the states. This allowed the art club kids to text each other on their group chat while everyone ate up whatever Lila said. But Marinette made a new group chat without Nathaniel.

Something's Up

Alix: Care 2 explain??

Rose: Is something wrong?

Juleka: You forgot Nathaniel.

Marinette: That's what this is about. There's something... Off about him today.

Alix: Oh, thank God! I thought I was the only one who noticed.

Rose: What's wrong with Nathaniel???

Alix: He's just all zoned out or something.

Marinette: I caught him nodding at his sketchbook.

Alix: I don't even recognize that one. All his sketchbooks usually have designs on them but that one is just solid purple. 🤔

Juleka: Now that you mention it... When everyone was arguing about the baseball, I noticed he didn't say or do anything. Just stared at his sketchbook.

Rose: That's odd.

Marinette: Maybe he's having an off day?

Alix: I did see him bump into the door frame when he walked into the classroom. So... Off day?

Juleka: Off day.

Rose: 👉🏻Off day👈🏻

Marinette: Off Day. Okay, Lila's wasted twenty minutes and we have two minutes left of class... Any weekend plans?

Rose: Family reunion! Can't wait!

Juleka: Luka and I are gonna watch a bunch of trashy high school movies from America. I'm interested in this one called The Outcasts.🍿🎥

Alix: Promised Jalil I'd do some nerd stuff with him.🤓

Marinette: Baking 🥐, sewing 🧵, typical day.

BRRRRIIIIIIING!

Marinette: And once again, we've learned nothing.

Alix: Ah, the glorious history of nothing.

Rose: My cousin majored in the Fundamentals of Nothing.

The students gathered their things and headed to their next class. As Nathaniel was packing, Mme. Bustier called out, "Nathaniel, can you stay for a minute?"

"Are you gonna be okay?" Marinette asked. At fake Nathaniel's nod, she left with the others, leaving him and Mme. Bustier alone.

The first thing she said was, "Nathaniel, I hope you apologized to Lila." When he didn't answer and just stared at her blankly, she sighed, "Nathaniel, I understand that you're upset."

"Upset doesn't even begin to describe how I feel, Caline!"

"But it's not Lila's fault," "Excuse me?!" "She just wants to make friends, and by antagonizing her," "You mean exposing an art thief?" "you'll be preventing her from doing so. Now, I expect you to apologize to Lila before the end of the day." "Or else, what, Caline?!"

The fake Nathaniel opened the sketchbook slightly, and immediately, a flaming arrow shot out of it and was dangerously close to hitting Mme. Bustier's foot. She looked at the redhead in shock before slowly backing away as he opened his sketchbook. "N-Nathaniel, wh-what are you- Aah!" The fake has pressed a blank page on her arm, and she disappeared with a scream. He turned the sketchbook towards him and there was Caline Bustier, now a pencil sketch hitting her fists against the paper and screaming to be let out. She was silenced by fake Nathaniel turning to the page with Evillustrator.

"Make sure there are none of those idiots left." With a nod, the fake shut the sketchbook and left just before the next class arrived.

Seventeen minutes in Mendelieve's class were spent learning about physics until the science teacher left once M. Damocles made an announcement over the PA system, telling the teachers to report to his office. That left Lila to take over and talk more and more about herself without the science teacher telling her to stay silent and pay attention. The art club was just minding their business in the group chat but listened closely when Lila started spewing lies about her famous artist uncle. They knew where this was going, and Alix got ready to fight tooth and nail for her friend. Finally, Lila brought up what happened yesterday, causing the students to give the fake Nathaniel wary looks or glares

"So," Kim said as he approached fake Nathaniel. "are you finally going to apologize for stealing Lila's art?"

Marinette huffed, "Guys, for the last time, Lila is lying! Nathaniel is not an art thief!"

"Well, let’s just see if that’s true," Alya said as she pulled out her phone to record and expose Nathaniel as an art thief. Before she could grab the sketchbook out of his hands, her phone was wiped away from existence. "MY PHONE! Where'd it go?!" Fake Nathaniel looked down at the sketchbook and smirked because he knew Evillustrator had something to do with that.

Alya continued to look for her phone, "It just disappeared out of thin air!" she exclaimed as she looked under the desk, believing she dropped it and didn't notice. "How does that just happen?!" As she and a few other students continued searching for her phone, Mme. Mendelieve walked back into class with a look of concern to replace her usually stoic face.

"Class, you wouldn't happen to know where Caline went, would you?" she asked. Everyone either shook their heads or said no. "Odd. No one can find her, When her next class went in, she was gone." She looks to the fake Nathaniel, "Nathaniel, you were the last to leave. Did she say she'd be going anywhere?" The fake looked like he was about to say something, but nothing came out. He instead shook his head. With a sigh, Mendelieve continued, "If she's not found or we don't hear from her in two hours, the school day will end early so the teachers can call the police to conduct an investigation." There were some scattered whispers. "I'm sure Caline is fine. Now, let's finish the lesson." The students who were helping Alya look for her phone comply and sit back down in their seats, but Alya kept searching for her phone, "Alya, sit down."

"But I can't find my phone," she said. "It just disappeared right out of my hand!"

"Miss Cesaire, you can try to look for it later," she said sternly. "But right now, we need to continue our lesson. Sit down." Alya reluctantly did so, and Mme. Mendleieve resumed what she was teaching the class before Damocles made his announcement. While she taught, Alix glanced over at the fake staring down at his sketchbook like Marinette said he was earlier. It was so weird. He was just staring and not doing anything. And how did Mme. Bustier just suddenly disappear without a trace?

Thirty minutes passed, and the students headed to lunch while Alya stayed behind to look for her phone with Nino helping her.

Fake Nathaniel managed to slip away from Marinette, Alix, Rose, and Juleka who were walking to the cafeteria as a group, something they did in case Lila tried anything, and he was now hiding in the locker room where Evillustrator was giving him instructions. “Kim often goes to the pool during lunch to practice,” he whispered. "Get him when he comes in." Right as he said this, the door was heard opening. The fake peered around the locker he was hiding behind and saw the athlete walking in and going to his locker. No witnesses were around. He opened the sketchbook to a blank page and sneaked over towards the athlete as he was pulling his gym bag out of his locker with some struggle.

When Kim finally managed to pull his bag out, it slipped out of his hands. The force he used flung the bag behind him, and it hit the sketchbook, making it disappear. Kim looked around to see where his bag went but only saw the fake, who shut the sketchbook before Kim could see what was on the pages. "O-oh. Hey, Nath." When he didn't answer, Kim sighed. "Silent treatment. Deserved that; I get it. Look, man I-I don't want to believe you stole Lila's art, but uh... I mean, why would Lila lie?"

"Because she's evil! Get him, now!"

"Still upset with me, huh?" He chuckled when the fake still didn't say anything.

"You have three seconds. Three."

"Again, I wanna believe you didn't do it."

"Two."

"But you and the girls have been kinda... Antagonizing her a bit?"

"One!"

The fake immediately clutched his left hand like he was in pain, getting Kim concerned. "Nath, what's wrong?!" He uncovered the fake's hand and was repulsed to find that his fingers were starting to vanish. "Oh my God!" Before he could say or do more, the fake mouthed, 'I'm sorry'. Then he opened the sketchbook and pressed the blank page to Kim's face. He disappeared with a scream. Fake Nathaniel dropped the sketchbook in favor of clutching his fingerless hand. The akumatized object was opened to the page with Evillustrator's angry glare, "Hesitate next time, and I'll erase your arm!”

The fake nodded frantically before letting out a sigh as Evillustrator drew on his tablet, making his fingers reappear. As he headed to the door, he heard a slight shuffling sound and turned around to see Myléne standing right outside the girls’ bathroom with her mouth agape.

”N-Nathaniel?” Myléne stammered as she began to slowly back away.

Fake Nathaniel approached her with the sketchbook opened to a blank page. Another silent ‘Sorry’, and Myléne was gone and trapped in the sketchbook. He flipped the pages back to Evillustrator, “Better. Now don’t stop until you have Rossi and those assholes!” The fake didn't want to do this, but he had to; it was how he was drawn. He was made to be a pawn in his creator's revenge plot, but he didn't want to do that. Evillustrator gave him the same personality he had pre-Akumatization, so this just felt wrong to him, but he couldn't go against his commands.

When fake Nathaniel nodded, Evillustrator arched an eyebrow and asked, "Can you speak?" He opened his mouth and tried to say something, but nothing came out. He shook his head. Evillustrator started drawing on his tablet, "Hold still." Fake Nathaniel's throat glowed a bright purple before dimming. "Say something."

"S... So... Some... Ting. S-something?"

"So glad I caught that. Now go!" Immediately, the fake put the sketchbook back into his messenger bag and left.

“Hey, Nath,” Marc greeted the fake as he sat down at their lunch table.

Fake Nathaniel smiled. He had his real counterpart's personality and all of his memories, so he knew exactly how to act and what to say (Now that he had a voice). “Hey, Rainbow.” He kisses Marc’s cheek and ignores the stinging sensation he’s feeling in his hand as one of his fingers is being erased. Evillustrator made him and can easily destroy him if he does something he doesn’t like. Apparently, kissing Marc is one of them.

”So, where were you?” Alix asked as she popped a grape in her mouth.

“Oh, I-I remembered that I left my locker open, and went to close it,” he fibbed.

“No point in that, Nath,” she shrugged. “Anyone can just go in and take whatever’s in a locker."

Marinette nodded in agreement, remembering her expulsion, then asked, “So, what do you guys think happened to Mme. Bustier? She couldn’t have suddenly disappeared; we all just saw her.”

Alix leaned back in her seat, uncaring, “Does it really matter? I think we could all use a break from her.” Juleka nodded, “Maybe Mendeleiev will be our substitute and actually put Lila in her place.”

”One can dream,” Rose sighed as she leaned on Juleka, making the goth girl wrap her arm around the blonde.

Juleka looked around the room. She furrowed her brow then asked, “That’s weird. Kim and Mylène aren’t here.”

”Well, Kim probably went to the pool,” Alix said as she looked for the activist. “But where’s Myléne?”

”Maybe she-“ Before Marc could finish what he was about to say, the doors slammed against the wall as Alya stormed in with Nino trailing close behind.

”Nino, a phone doesn’t just disappear like that!” she exclaimed. “There’s probably an Akuma around here!” Immediately, the cafeteria broke out into whispers about if Alya was right about the Akuma. “And Mme. Bustier suddenly disappearing? Explain that. She wouldn’t just ditch her job like that.”

”Tell it to the person doing most of her work,” Marinette muttered, making the students at the table laugh. Mme. Bustier would always force Marinette to do her work for her and say that they’re the duties of the class representative when really, the woman is just lazy to do the work herself. And when Marinette refuses, Bustier will use the ‘I’m disappointed in you’ voice until Marinette complied.

”You think this is funny?!” Lila whined. “Mme. Bustier and Myléne are missing, and it’s probably because there’s probably an Akuma loose in the school!”

Alix groaned, “Mind your own business, Rossi!” A couple of the students that were on Marinette’s side snickered. “And it’s called making light of a situation. Less negativity, fewer Akumas. You're welcome.”

”Why are you guys always so rude to me?” Alya asked before pointing to Marinette, “First you let your jealousy cloud your judgment,” then to Juleka, “you’re always telling Lila to kill herself,” Alix, “you ruined her clothes,” Rose, “you stole her money,” then Nathaniel, “and you plagiarized her art because you’re jealous of her, too! Why do you guys hate her so much?”

”Because she’s a liar,” Marc murmured. "Simple as that."

“I’m not!” Lila yelled with fake tears in her eyes that masked the glare she was sending the boy. “Why does no one believe me?!” Sabrina went to console her.

”We believe you, girl,” Alya reassured. “And we’re gonna prove you’re innocent...” Her eyes trailed to Nathaniel’s messenger bag, “Starting by proving Nathaniel did steal your art!”

Before the fake artist could react, Alya already had his messenger bag in her hands and now the akumatized sketchbook. “Lila, get your sketchbook, we’re gonna...” Her voice trailed off when she saw the moving sketches of Mme. Bustier, Kim, and Mylène, begging to be freed. The other students gathered around Alya and looked in horror at students and teacher trapped in the sketchbook.

Max pointed at the fake, “You-you’re the Akuma!”

With a sneer, he snatched the sketchbook out of Alya’s hands and pressed a blank page to Max’s face. He disappeared and was now trapped inside the sketchbook, alarming the students.

“Th-the sketchbook’s g-gotta be an Amok,” Nino stammered as he pulled Alya away from the fake. “H-he doesn’t even look like an Akuma!”

“There’s no Amok, and I’m not the Akuma.” He flips to the page with Evillustrator. “He is.” As the students stood in shock, the fake tore out the page, and it glowed a bright purple before morphing into Evillustrator, glaring menacingly at the Akuma Class.

”N-Nath?” Marc stammered as he cautiously approached his Akumatized boyfriend.

“Then who’s he?!” Alix grabbed the fake's wrist to prevent him from running and glared at him.

Evillustrator scoffed. ”He's not important.” Then, much to the fake's horror, he put the eraser to his tablet.

”No! Wait!” The fake cried as he was erased from existence, horrifying the students, Marc especially. The sketchbook dropped to the floor with a thud.

“H-how did-“

”Ask her!” He points a shaky finger at the Italian girl. “You,” he draws a lock on his tablet, “will not get away with what you did!” A couple of students, Marinette being one of them, managed to escape the cafeteria right before Multiple locks appeared on the doors, making it impossible for the others to get out unless they were crazy enough to jump out of the window.

”I-I didn’t do anything!” She lied while rubbing her eyes to look like she’s crying again. “Why are you trying to hurt me, Nathaniel?!”

”It’s Evillustrator, now!” He drew a missile on his tablet, and that same missile appeared next to him. The students ran for the doors and tried to pull the locks off, but they were too strong. “NO ONE LEAVES UNTIL SHE’S GONE!” He points his pen towards Lila, and the missile goes after her as she runs around the cafeteria screaming for help. Seeing that they weren't going to get out of this, the remaining students ducked under tables and chairs.

Ismael and Ivan ran towards Evillustrator to try and grab the pen, remembering how that was the Akumatized object last time Nathaniel was Akumatized. Quickly, he jumped out of the way, causing the two boys to collide and fall to the floor, groaning in pain. Evillustrator grabs the sketchbook off the floor and pressed a blank page on them, making the two boys disappear into the sketchbook.

Seeing that the missile was getting closer to her, Sabrina quickly got up from under a table and tackled Lila to the floor before the missile could hit her. It instead crashed into a wall, creating a massive hole that allowed the students to escape. The art club students stayed behind, though, hoping that they could calm their akumatized friend down. Evillustrator was about to run after them, but Akux grabbed his wrist.

”Nath, wait!” she pleaded while trying to not look like she’s afraid of the enraged Akuma that used to be her best friend. “Let’s just talk about this, okay? What did Lila do to you?”

Evillustrator’s glare softened as he looked into Alix's eyes. He needed to get his revenge on Lila but she was keeping him from doing that... “Forgive me, Alix.”

”What?”

Before Alix knew it, she was trapped in the sketchbook, shocking the remaining members of the art club. Marc was about to approach him, but Evillustrator held his sketchbook close to his face, making the writer back away. “Don’t make me do something I will regret, Rainbow,” he warned then ran out of the cafeteria.

Many of the students took refuge in the locker room, their main place to hide during Akuma attacks in the school. They begged Damocles for months to actually build some sort of Akuma safety shelter in the school, but it was always the same thing, 'There's not enough money in the budget.' Well, there certainly was enough for him to create a secret compartment hidden behind the wall for his Owl stuff. Thinking about how much of the money they made during fundraisers being spent by him to create those toy weapons often gave the students horrible headaches.

The students flinched when they heard Evillustrator's booming voice from the second floor of the school, “WHERE ARE YOU LILA?!” A few brave students looked out the window and saw Evillustrator erasing the walls to every classroom he passed by. “YOU’RE WEAK, YOU KNOW THAT?!” He erases the door to a storage closet, revealing two very scared students cowering at the sight of him. The students not targeted by him couldn't help but feel sorry for the Akuma. Whatever Lila did must have been awful to make Nathaniel this upset.

With a frustrated yell, Evillustrator got the two students with his sketchbook. Once they were gone, he jumped down from the second floor and into the courtyard, making the students get away from the window, hoping he didn't see them. Jean Duparc looked around to make sure everyone was safe or not doing anything to attract the Akuma. A few were nervously biting their nails or twirling their hair, others were texting their parents, and next to him, Aurore and Mireille were updating their blog, 'BugOut & CatChat'. Instead of recording Akuma battles like Alya with the Ladybug, they analyzed the akumas and gave descriptions of their powers, let the public know of the Akuma's location so they could avoid it and so Ladybug and Chat Noir couldn't find it. And just for laughs, they critiqued Hawkmoth's fashion choices for Akumas. So far, there was nothing about Evillustrator's new outfit that needed critiquing. He bumped Trouble Maker down to 2nd place on the 'Best Dressed Akuma' list.

“Come out now, or so help me, I will-!” He stepped to the side when Ladybug’s YoYo flew right past him and retracted back to the spotted heroine standing at the top of the stairs. “You’ll have to be quicker than that, you pest!”

Chat Noir dropped in next to Ladybug, “Well, what’s got him so steamed up?”

“Lila,” she groaned, making Chat roll his eyes in annoyance at the mention of the liar. He's given that girl enough chances, as Chat and as Adrien. He was done. ”Let’s get this over with.”

The two heroes ran towards Evillustrator and were already dodging giant boxing gloves, buzz saws, and pitchforks drawn by him. Ladybug threw her yoyo, which he ducked under then drew something on his tablet. A hole that Ladybug would’ve fallen into if Chat Noir hadn’t grabbed her hand in time appeared under her feet.

Evillustrator drew two more buzz saws and sent them at the heroes. Chat Noir quickly got in front of Ladybug and spun his staff, making it act like a shield that deflected the saws. One sliced through the middle of a bench, revealing Lila. He smirked, "FOUND YOU!" He threw his sketchbook at Lila, but she ran out of the way and it hit one half of the bench before coming back to him like a boomerang. Evillustrator continues throwing his sketchbook at the liar while also drawing projectiles whenever the sketchbook was out of his hands. The first round of projectiles was easily deflected by Ladybug and Chat Noir, but there were just too many on their second round. One of them gets one of Ladybug's pigtails, cutting off a few inches and making her hair look weird. Another one nicked Chat on the ankle. He whispered a curse and clutched his ankle.

With Chat Noir subdued, Ladybug had to protect both of them and deflect the rest of the projectiles while Evillustrator went after Lila. As he chased her up the stairs, Evillustrator drew a couple of darts that pinned Lila to a wall by embedding them through her clothes. As she struggled to get free, Evillustrator calmly approached her while drawing on his tablet. "Don't look so afraid Lila. You had this coming after what you did."

"I didn't do anything!" she screamed. "It's not my fault that people like my art better than your-" She's silenced by a cleaver appearing in Evillustrator's hands.

He chuckled darkly, "I am going to enjoy this." After aiming for her head, he threw the cleaver. Lila turned her head away, believing that the cleaver hitting the side of her head would be less painful than it hitting her face. She waited, but the cleaver never came, and there was a 'clank' sound. Lila opened an eye and saw that Chat Noir, being supported by Ladybug, had deflected the cleaver with his staff.

"Took you long enough!" she complained. "Get me down from here!"

Ladybug took a deep breath as she assessed the situation. She could either be a hero and save Lila, or still be a hero and rid the world of Lila... 'Fine!' She made her way over to the sausage-haired girl and slowly took out the darts, and was clearly trying to keep herself from stabbing Lila with the very sharp ends. Once the last dart was removed, Lila pushed Ladybug into Chat, making him stumble a bit and lose his composure before making a run for it.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Evillustrator yelled, enraged. He grabbed Chat's staff while the leather-clad hero was still gripping it, and flung him over the railing, making him fall and crash onto the hard courtyard floor.

"Chat!" Ladybug called out. Angered, she threw her yoyo at the Akuma, but he caught it and opened his sketchbook, much to Ladybug's horror. Before the weapon could make contact with the page, Chat's staff extended and the end hit the side of Evillustrator's face. He fell to the floor and clenched his jaw. With him down, Ladybug ran for the sketchbook, only for a glass wall to appear between her, the Akumatized object, and Evillustrator. He drew something else on his tablet, and multiple swords appeared, all pointed at Ladybug.

"Stay out of my way!" He growled. Ladybug swung all around the courtyard as the swords chased after her. Seeing that there were still some students around, she led the swords into an empty classroom and proceeded to dodge them there. Seeing Chat Noir about to vault over to him, Evillustrator drew a giant boxing glove that knocked Chat down to the floor. He was in the middle of drawing an anvil when suddenly, a gloved hand grabbed his wrist. He looked up to see who had the nerve to stop him, but his anger diminished when he saw that it was Marc. "Rainbow, what are you doing?"

"Nath, you gotta stop!" Marc pleaded as he intertwined his and Evillustrator's hands.

"You don't know what she did, Marc!" He exclaimed. "You weren't there! Now let me go!" He tried to pull his hand out of Marc's grasp, but the writer wasn't letting go. 'Rossi's getting away! I can't let her get away with this!' With some reluctance, Evillustrator raised his sketchbook and tried hard to ignore the sad look in Marc's eyes. Just as he was about to press the page to his chest, Marc was pushed to the side, and the page instead was pressed to Rose's face, making her disappear into the sketchbook.

"ROSE!" Juleka and Marc cried out.

Evillustrator hit his fist on the metal railing in anger, "DAMN IT! SEE WHAT ROSSI'S MAKING ME DO?!" Hurridly, he drew a jetpack that appeared on his back. He pointed to Chat, "If you or Ladybug get in my way again, I WILL ERASE YOU BOTH FROM EXISTENCE!" Before he took off, he noticed Alya peering from around a corner. She was recording the fight using Nino's phone. When she noticed his eyes on her, she quickly made a run for it, but Evillustrator was faster. He hoisted the journalist over his shoulder.

"You're coming with me!" he yelled. "I want you to be there when Lila finally gets what's coming to her!"

"Wh-what are you- AH!"

Evillustrator flew out of the school just as Ladybug ran out of the classroom with her pigtails missing a couple of inches, one side strand missing, and some cuts on her face. She knew Evillustrator was a dangerous Akuma. He nearly drowned her and Chat and almost killed Chloe with a buzzsaw, but this was next level brutal. Hearing a groan, she looked and saw Chat Noir slowly climbing up the stairs with a slight limp. "Chat, are you okay?"

He shook his head, "No, m'lady. He got my ankle bad."

"Ladybug, Chat Noir!" Nino called out as he and Sabrina approached the two in-pain heroes. "Are you two okay?"

Ladybug gave a nod, "Yeah, we're fine. And don't worry Nino, we'll get Alya back."

Nino let out a breath of relief before Sabrina said to Ladybug, "Hey, after you were helping Lila down, I-I saw her push you. A-and before that, she sounded so rude when you were trying to help her." Ladybug frowned at that. She's saved that girl's butt so many times, and not once has she shown any gratitude. "Are you two having a fight, or-"

"No. We're not."

"Then why-"

Chat cut Nino off, "They're not friends, okay? Never have been, never will be."

"... Lila was lying?" Sabrina whispered to herself.

"And the sun sets in the west," Juleka muttered, making Marc give her a little nudge with his elbow.

The two bespectacled students cast each other looks of disbelief. Lila was lying about being friends with Ladybug, and she pushed the heroine into Chat, knowing he was injured and trying to fight Evillustrator. If she lied about that, what else could she have lied about? Pulling them out of their thoughts was Aurore and Mireille running over to Ladybug and Chat Noir with their phones.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir!" Mireille called out. "Alya's live-streaming right now." She hands the spotted heroine her phone, and the screen showed a live stream of the Ladyblog. Alya was in an odd position with a look of clear terror on her face that she was trying to mask with a brave smile. "He-hey, viewers! So, I am..." She looks down, and her eyes bulge before she looks back at the camera, "About a hundred feet above the ground right now, and I have nothing to hold onto! B-but don't worry. I mean, I'm slung over an Akuma's shoulder like a sack of flour, but at least he's not handsy like Pharaoh." She panned the phone to Evillustrator. "Care to comment?"

Evillustrator looks to the phone with an enraged look. "Lila Rossi, if you're watching this, I will find you! Be sure of it! And I might consider letting you live if Ladybug and Chat Noir hand over their Miraculous!"

Marc felt a tear about to escape out of the corner of his eye. What did Lila do to Nathaniel?

Alya panned the phone back to her horrified face. The fear of falling from a great height didn't phase her anymore. Now she was scared of the possibility of seeing an Akuma murder someone. Finally, much to her relief, they landed on a balcony.

"Wh-what are you doing here?!" A woman yelled.

Ladybug paused the video, "Thanks, you guys." She turns to Chat, "You gonna be okay?"

Chat gives her a thumbs up, "I'll be fine." He extends his baton, ready to vault out of the school. "Let's go!"

The two heroes swing and vault out of the school and head over to where Evillustrator is, leaving Lila's former followers to awkwardly stand with her haters.

"... We tried to tell you," Marc told Nino and Sabrina after a long, uncomfortable silence.

"Evillustrator, this is going too far! Let her go!"

Evillustrator glared at the Italian woman tied up and gagged on a couch. Floating over her were about ten daggers, all of the blades sharpened to a deadly point. "Yes, spare the mother of a demon spawn," he said sarcastically. "You said that you'd stay out of my way!" He turns to Alya, who's trying to inch out of the room. "Don't. Go. Anywhere. And keep rolling! Let's see if Lila Rossi is all she claims to be."

Mme. Rossi lets out a loud muffled response. The Akuma approaches her and rips the duct tape off of her mouth, making her let out a pained yell. "What are you talking about?! What does this have to do my daughter?!"

Evillustrator gives the woman a pitiful look. It's sad how this woman doesn't know what her daughter has been up to. Well, now she'll know.

"MAMA!"

"Perfect timing," Evillustrator smirked as Lila ran up the stairs and into the living room.

"Mama, don't listen to him! He's an Akuma, and he's trying to hurt me!"

Evillustrator chuckled, "Well, that's not the whole story, is it?" He turns to Alya, still recording, "Paris, let's see how committed to her lies, Lila is. Would she put her own mother in danger just to avoid the consequences?" He approaches the scared and very confused woman. "Irene Rossi, your daughter has been claiming many things recently. Confirm a few things for me, okay?" Irene nods frantically. "Great. And if Lila tries to save face, then... I'm so sorry she's your daughter." He draws a ball and chain something on his tablet. That same one appears around Lila's ankle, preventing her from escaping. "Now, Irene. Tell us, have you ever met Prince Ali?"

Irene furrowed her brow in confusion. 'What is he talking about?' She shook her head, no. "What are you-"

"He's trying to make me look bad, mama!" Lila wailed. "Please, don't answer whatever he asks! It's a trick!"

"Damn, Lila," Evillustrator whispered. "I thought you loved your mother." He pointed to one of the daggers, and at his command, it dropped down, dangerously close to hitting Irene's shoulder and embedding itself into the couch cushion. All three women and everyone watching the Ladyblog Livestream let out horrified gasps. "This is what happens when you lie," he taunted. "So, you've never met Prince Ali? So, that would mean Lila's never worked on Go Green charities with him."

"What?!" Irene shrieked. "Prince Ali doesn't even work with Go Grene charities! He's devoted his time to helping children! Lila, what have you been telling people?"

Before the brunette has a chance to speak, Evillustrator interrupts, "Next question. Are you the descendant of a fox hero named Volpina?" Alya's jaw dropped at that question. "Did anyone in the family ever pass along a necklace with a fox-tail pendant down to Lila?"

Irene shook her head, "No! No one hasn't!" She glares at Lila, "The only family heirloom passed down is a wedding veil with the brides' names stitched on!"

"M-maybe you just didn't know about it!" Lila lied, much to Irene and Alya's shock. They saw what happened when she lied, and she's still trying to save herself. "Nonna passed the necklace down to me because she-"

"LIES!" Another dagger came very close to hitting Irene's foot. She managed to move it out of the way at the last second. "So shameful. Letting your mother face the consequences for your lies? Is there no level you won't stoop to, Lila?" When she didn't answer and instead glared at him, he asked Irene the next question, "Why wasn't Lila in school for what was it?... Three months?”

“I was told that school was closed due to an Akuma outbreak and that Ladybug and Chat Noir were too incompetent to stop them.”

”By Lila?”

”...” She nodded, ashamed, “Yes.”

Evillustrator smirked, “Well, while your daughter was relaxing at home, she’s been telling everyone that she was really in Achu with Prince Ali.” He adds, “And it takes Ladybug and Chat Noir about three hours to defeat an Akuma, so they’re not incompetent like your daughter says they are.”

Irene hung her head. How could her own flesh and blood be so deceitful? And how could she risk the life of her own mother like this?

”Aw, that’s so sweet!” Chat exclaimed as he and Ladybug landed on the balcony and made their way inside.

”Nathaniel, you’ve already exposed Lila,” Ladybug tried to reason. “Just hand over your Akuma so no one else gets hurt!”

”My name is Evillustrator!” he growled. “And that wasn’t even half the lies she’s told!” He turns to Irene, who’s gone pale learning that Lila's told more lies. “You thought those were bad? Just wait until you see what else she’s hiding.” He draws a gas mask that appears over his face and a smoke bomb that releases purple smoke all around the living room. There are some scattered coughs that decrease as the smoke clears up due to Ladybug and Chat Noir spinning their weapons. They act like fans and blow the smoke out of the window. When the room clears up, Evillustrator, Lila, and Alya are gone, but Irene still remains tied up on the couch with the daggers still above her.

“Where’d they go?” Ladybug wondered aloud before Chat went to go untie Mme. Rossi.

”Th-thank you, b-both of you,” she stammered while eyeing the still-floating daggers. “I-I am so sorry for what I th-thought of you, I’m sure you’re both-“

”Ma’am, it’s alright,” Chat told her. “Lila was the one making us look bad; you didn’t know.”

"Maledetto," Irene sighed and buried her face in her hands. “Looking back, some things Lila has been telling me did seem far-fetched. The school being closed for months, every student and teacher being akumatized, the people working for the media have been held hostage." The heroes give her unbelieving looks. "Yes. I realize how dumb it sounds now, but I'm new to these... Akumas, and Miraculous. I... I thought I could trust her."

Ladybug rested a hand on the woman's shoulder and gives her a sympathetic look, "We'll set your daughter straight, Mme. Rossi. You can be sure of it." As the woman smiled, Ladybug called her for her, "Lucky Charm!" The object that dropped down into her hands was, "A ram's horn?"

Chat Noir scratched his head in confusion, "You gonna play a little tune?"

"That's also what convinced me you two weren't capable," Irene said. "You rely on random objects to defeat an Akuma?"

Ladybug looked around the room, trying to find a way to use the Lucky Charm, "Well, they do help in battles. I just need to figure out how to use it."

"Hey!" Chat piped up, "Isn't there a Goat Miraculous?"

Ladybug recalled seeing a Goat Kwami when she was battling Kwamibuster, and she wore horn-shaped barrettes. "You're right, Chat! Go and follow Evillustrator, I'll be with you soon." With a salute, Chat was gone. Before she left, Irene told her in a low, threatening voice, "Bring her back, so I may give her the punishment she deserves."

Ladybug tensed, "Well, with what Lila's been doing, she'll probably be out of your hands and in the polices'." She left before Irene could ask what she meant, leaving the Italian woman to sulk in her living room.

'What did she do to him?!' Marc wondered over and over as he sat in the art room with Juleka, furiously writing his feelings down in his journal. Both of them needed a break from the guilty look of Juleka's classmates and decided to spend the rest of the day in the art classroom. It was so quiet without the others.'That sausage-haired jerk deserves what's coming to her!... Maybe not death.'

Juleka takes a peek over Marc's shoulder to read what he's written. Her eyes go wide when she sees the many words Marc has used to describe Lila... Well, he was right. "You feeling better?" she asked.

Marc looked up from his journal and turned to face the goth girl. "... I need worse words for her." Juleka chuckled and took the seat next to him. "I have used every curse word and insult I could think of to describe Lila, and none of them are strong enough."

Juleka pulls out a pencil, "Try this." She writes something down on the corner page of his journal and has him look at it, leaving Marc's face a crimson red. "Eh?"

"Juleka," Marc gasped. "Wh-where did you-"

"You won't believe what mom said around me," she smirked. "One of them was actually Luka's first word." Her amused expression turns sour, "I still think those words are too good for Lila, though."

"Every curse word is too good for her," Marc joked, making Juleka laugh. Cutting off their amused laughter was the sound of something hitting a window. They turned around and saw Ladybug standing on a ledge right outside the classroom. They ran over and opened the window, allowing the heroine to come inside.

"L-Ladybug, what are you doing here?" Juleka asked in awe.

"The Lucky Charm told me to come here." She turns to Marc, "I'm gonna need to borrow you for a while, Marc." The emerald-eyed boy stood, frozen in shock. Ladybug. The Ladybug wanted to borrow him! Realizing that he's just been staring at her for a while, he snapped out of his daze and nodded.

"Y-yes! Of course!"

"Smooth," Juleka whispered.

Ladybug wrapped her arm around Marc's waist and threw her yoyo out of the window. Once it wrapped around something, it pulled the two out of the classroom, leaving Juleka alone.

"... Might as well go home," she said to herself before gathering up her stuff.

Once she and Marc were on top of a roof, Ladybug moved them to hide behind an air vent, away from the public view. "Marc, what I'm about to ask you is very important, okay?" Off his nod, she pulled out a hexagonal box in front of her. "Marc Anciel, here is the Miraculous of the Goat, which grants the power of Compassion. You will use it for the greater good. Once the job is done, you will return the Miraculous to me."

Marc was speechless. He wanted to faint, scream, and jump up and down like a child on Christmas morning. Ladybug. Was asking him to assist her in saving Nathaniel... But what if he failed? Nathaniel would stay an Akuma forever, he'd fail Ladybug and Chat Noir, and-"

"Do you accept?" Ladybug asked, concerned when Marc didn't give her an immediate response like the previous heroes. "Marc, I trust you. And Nathaniel needs you."

"... I'll do it."

With a smile, Ladybug handed him the box. Marc opened it, revealing two hair clips in the shape of horns. There was a bright flash of light that had Marc shielding his eyes for a moment before looking up at the goat-like creature floating in front of him. All he could think was, 'I WANNA PET THEM SO MUCH!'

"Hi!" She greeted, "My name's Ziggy, and I'm a Kwami! It's a pleasure to meet you!" She flies around Marc, making him chuckle. "I love him already!" Ziggy squealed as she nuzzled against Marc's cheek. "Okay, to transform, you just gotta say, Ziggy, Fleece On!"

With a nod, Marc put the clips in his hair, where they turned into crescent moon-shaped clips.

"Ziggy! Fleece On!"

Ziggy flew into one of the hairclips, transforming them both back into their original design. Marc swept his hand over his face, making a black mask appear around his eyes. A golden sheep's bell appeared on his choker necklace. The magic spread from the bell and formed a white hoodie with black trumpet sleeves, white gloves with black fingertips, black pants held up by a white studded belt, and black and white combat boots. He ran his fingers through his hair, making fake goat ears appear atop his head, and his hair became an inch longer with the tips dyed white. Finally, he reached up into the air and caught a shepherd's crook that materialized in the air. He spun it around before tapping it on the ground.

Capricorn was ready!

All of Paris' citizens stood before the Eiffel Tower, eyes glued to their phones as they watched the LadyBlog live stream with anticipation. Firefighters stood all around the structure with large trampolines ready to catch someone. And at the very top of the Eiffel Tower were Alya, filming the fight between Chat Noir, Stormy Weather, and Mime, both drawn by Evillustrator, said villain plucking at a rope tied to the railing, and tied at the end of the rope was Lila, dangling thousands of feet above the ground and screaming to the top of her lungs.

"Come on, Lila," Evillustrator told her as he continued messing with the only thing keeping Lila from becoming a stain on the ground. "Make things easier for yourself, and tell everyone the truth."

"I'M NOT A LIAR!" she screeched.

Evillustrator snarled before ducking out of the way of one of Stormy Weather's lightning bolts. "You'll do anything to keep up your act, won't you?!" He drew a throwing dark on his tablet and aimed it for Lila's head. She managed to swing out of the way just in time, much to Evillustrator's frustration. He let out a sigh before saying, "Fine. Have it your way." He draws a blade on his tablet, and that same one appears in his hand.

"NO!" Chat Noir yelled before he was pinned to the floor by one of Mime's invisible objects. His staff was out of reach, and he could barely move. Stormy Weather approached him with her parasol, and zapped him with an ice blast, freezing him in place.

Hawkmoth's symbol appeared over Evillustrator's face, "Evillustrator! Forget the girl! Take Chat Noir's Miraculous! Unthaw his hand!"

"She's made my and my friends' life a living hell, and you expect me to let her GET AWAY WITH IT?!"

In his lair, Hawkmoth swayed slightly due to being overwhelmed by Evillustrator's emotions. How can one boy feel so much rage? He looked through the Akuma's eyes and saw him putting the blade close to the rope holding up his follower. Hawkmoth didn't care for Lila, but he wasn't that cruel. Plus, if she died, where else is he gonna find some selfish civilian willing to work for him and get rid of a couple of Adrien's bad influences in exchange for the hero's downfall and a modeling contract? "That's enough!"

Hawkmoth was physically restraining Evillustrator from cutting the rope. The Akuma struggled to regain control, "Why are you defending her of all people?! You got a soft side for Rossi, Hawkmoth?!" He sneered, "What is she, your follower or something?..." He gets the use of his body back and smirks when Hawkmoth says nothing. "Your silence says a lot."

Alya and the citizens watching from down below gasped. Some inexperienced model was secretly working for Hawkmoth? She was working against their beloved hero! Hawkmoth felt like he was about to pass out from the massive wave of emotions. For once, he was praying for Ladybug to show up and de-akumatize the victim. Once this was over, he needed a long break. Screw the jewelry, this headache was awful.

Evillustrator hummed, "Well, less of Hawkmoth's followers, fewer problems." He slashed the rope, and Lila plummeted to the earth with a blood-curdling scream.

"OH MY GOD!" Alya screamed as she dropped her phone.

The firefighters tried to pinpoint where she would drop, and the police stood by, ready the question the girl (If she lives). Lila was halfway to her doom. She clenched her eyes shut and waited while thinking to herself, 'I'm lucky enough to have gotten out of there without him exposing me! That pest better get here in time!' Right as she was at the second level of the tower, she suddenly stopped falling. It felt like something was hoisting her up. She opened one eye and turned her head to see who caught her. (Maybe gain some sympathy while she's at it) "Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for-"

"Cram it, Liar Rossi," Capricorn sneered as he pulled Lila away from the balcony using his crook, and set her down. He unhooked his weapon from her jacket and ran off to help Ladybug.

"HEY!" Lila screeched, throwing away her kicked puppy act. "Aren't you gonna untie me?!"

Capricorn just smirked, having no intention of helping her, and vaulted his way up to the summit of the Eiffel Tower.

Ladybug spun her YoYo, deflecting each of Evillustrator’s projectiles while occasionally using her weapon to hit the ice Chat was trapped in and free him.

”So Ladybug, tell me.” He drew a few throwing stars, “Is Lila really your best friend?”

Ladybug flung one of the projectiles into the throwing stars, making it explode on impact. “She hates me! I try to be friends with her, but she swore a vendetta on me!” She backflips away from the sketchbook before it could pull her in. “Hell, I’m pretty sure she wants me dead! When I was fighting Oni-Chan, she tricked Chat into leaving me!” At the mention of her partner, she threw her YoYo at the ice block once again, creating a few cracks along the surface. “So to answer your question, we never will be friends! Ever!”

Alya felt her hands shaking as she struggled to keep her phone up. She owed Marinette, Nathaniel, Alix, Rose, Juleka, and Marc a huge apology when or if this is all over. So far, it’s not looking good.

Ladybug threw her YoYo once more, intending to grab the sketchbook, but it instead wrapped around a sheet of flypaper. When she retracted it, Ladybug had some trouble separating the two, and just got both of her hands and weapon stuck to the paper. Evillustrator drew a ball and chain around the heroine’s ankle and calmly approached her.

”I won,” he sang as he reached his hand over to grab the earrings. Alya cut her phone off and shielded her eyes. She wanted to know the heroes' identities, but not like this.

But a second before the earrings were in his grasp, Evillustrator was whacked to the side and fell to the ground. While getting up, he watched as a figure dressed in black and white used a shepherd’s crook to break the chain connected to the 100lb ball, and the ice trapping Chat Noir. “Who are you supposed to be?!” He snarled.

He smiled, “The name’s Capricorn.”

Without saying a word, Evillustrator furiously drew a missile on his tablet that appeared and went after the heroes. While running, Ladybug finally got the flypaper off and threw her YoYo around Alya. She flung her over to the elevator and yelled, “Go!” Alya complied and quickly went inside the elevator to avoid the fight.

As he and Capricorn ran, Chat came up with an idea on how to get rid of the missile. To the new hero, he shouted, “Launch me!” With a nod, Capricorn ran ahead of Chat, got down on one knee, and locked his fingers together. Once he was close enough, Chat leaped into Capricorn’s hands, and the latter launched him into the air. Chat called out “Cataclysm!” as he went over the missile, and slid his hand across it, turning it into black ash.

”Nice one, you guys!” Ladybug commended as she rejoined the fight.

“Well, I couldn’t have done it without ewe,” he shot Capricorn double finger guns, making Ladybug roll her eyes and Capricorn stifle a laugh. Seeing Evillustrator drawing something else, Ladybug said to the new hero, “Capricorn, use your power. You can connect with Nathaniel and figure out what’s wrong!”

He nodded, “Cover me!”

Ladybug and Chat Noir ran towards Evillustrator, just as he was finished drawing three buzz saws. Chat Noir got in front of Ladybug and deflected them while she called for another Lucky Charm. It was a box of tissues. She set those to the side and went after Evillustrator, wrapping her YoYo tight around him. He kept his sketchbook clutched close to his chest and had no intention of letting go.

With him restrained, Capricorn yelled, “Connection!” And his crook was illuminated by a bright white light. He calmly approached Evillustrator, ignored his threats, and tapped his forehead with the crook. In an instant, Capricorn was no longer at the Eiffel Tower; he was at someone’s home. He looked around and recognized the place thanks to the furniture and photos framed on the wall. He was at Nathaniel’s house.

”Where’s my lil’ Leonardo?!” A playful voice called out followed by some giggling. Capricorn looked towards the door and saw a tall man with dark red hair and turquoise eyes walking in with a bright smile and a bag in his hands. Capricorn recognized the man. He’s seen his photos every time he goes over to Nathaniel’s house. It was his father, Maison Kurtzberg.

The man smiled as a child with long red hair wearing paint-splattered clothes ran into his arms. It was clear to Capricorn that the boy was Nathaniel.

”We really gotta cut your bangs, kids,” Maison laughed as he ruffled young Nathaniel’s hair, making the child laugh.

”Oh, leave him alone,” a voice Capricorn recognized as Aya’s said. “he likes how they look.” The seven-year-old nodded in agreement with his mother, making Maison chuckle.

”Well then, how are you gonna be able to see when you’re drawing in your books?” he asked.

”Oh, our little artist used up all of his sketchbooks,” Aya simpered while Maison just looked astonished.

”All ten of them?” Aya nodded. “Well then...” He hands Nathaniel over to Aya and reaches into the bag his holding, “It’s a good thing I bought this!” He pulls out a black sketchbook with a white outline of a paintbrush, pencil, and pen on the front. The young boy’s eyes gleamed under his bangs, and he made grabby motions with his hands, either to get to his dad or grab the new sketchbook.

Aya giggled and kissed her son’s forehead. “We really need to get him to talk more.”

Capricorn smiled at the scene before it faded away and transitioned to the school locker room. He looked around and saw Nathaniel, standing at his locker and frantically flipping through the torn pages of a black book. Upon closer inspection, Capricorn realized that it was Nathaniel’s sketchbook, the one his dad bought for him.

‘So that’s what Lila did,’ he thought bitterly.

When Nathaniel broke out into tears and sat down on the floor, Capricorn approached and kneeled beside him. “... Nathaniel?” He looked up at him with a tear-stained face and murmured, “I’m sorry.”

Capricorn placed his hands on Nathaniel’s shoulders, “You had every right to be mad. You-“

Nathaniel cut him off, “Took my anger out on everyone! I-I trapped my classmates, I hurt Ladybug and Chat Noir, I tried to kill Lila!” He covers his face with his hands and cries harder, “I almost hurt Marc...”

Capricorn wanted to tell him, ‘No you didn’t.’ But that would reveal himself as Marc.

”My classmates are gonna hate me even more for what I did to Lila. Don’t make me go back out there...”

“I won’t.” He moves Nathaniel’s hands out of the way and cups his face in his hands. “But you can’t stay Akumatized forever. I get why you’re upset. That sketchbook came from someone very important to you and she took it away...”

Nathaniel sighs and holds his hand against his cheek. “...”

”... If it makes you feel any better, Evillustrator exposed Lila as Hawkmoth’s partner.”

Nathaniel looks up, hopeful, “He did?”

Capricorn nodded, “You won’t have to worry about her anymore. She can’t hurt you or your friends again.”

“... The Akuma's in my sketchbook,” he said, right before the locker room faded away.

Capricorn looked around and saw that he was back at the Eiffel Tower. In front of him was a heavily crying Evillustrator, no longer bound by Ladybug’s YoYo. He slowly loosened his grip around his sketchbook and handed it over to Capricorn. The goat hero took it, turned around, and tore the book in half. The pages scattered onto the floor and morphed into the people Evillustrator trapped in the sketchbook. Finally, the Akuma fluttered out of the book.

”No more evil-doing for you, little Akuma!” Ladybug caught it with her YoYo. “Time to de-evilize! Gotcha!” Emerging from the YoYo was a pure white butterfly that fluttered up into the sky. “Bye-bye little butterfly.” She looked around for the tissue box Lucky Charm until she saw Capricorn using a handful to wipe Evillustrator’s tears away. With a smile, she took the box and tossed it into the air.

”MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!”

The tissue box burst into thousands of magic Ladybugs that flew across the city. The people released from the sketchbook were placed back on the ground, all of the damage caused by Evillustrator was fixed, Chat and Ladybug’s cuts from earlier were healed, everything erased was restored, and Lila was no longer tied up. Finally, the Akuma’s magic washed over Evillustrator, leaving Nathaniel curled in on himself.

Ladybug and Chat Noir fist bump, “Pound it.”

Chat Noir looks off to the side and notices something lying on the floor. He walks over to it and picks up Nathaniel’s repaired sketchbook. “Hey,” Nathaniel looks up and gasps when he sees his sketchbook, “this yours?” He hands it over to the redhead, who immediately takes it.

”Th-thank you,” he whispered in disbelief as he flipped through the pages. Everything was there. He furrowed his brow in confusion, “I-I thought the Miracle Cure could only repair things caused by the Akuma.”

Ladybug wasn’t sure how to answer that. Maybe the Miracle Cure could fix Akumatized objects that were previously damaged, she thought. Before Ladybug could reply, he YoYo beeped. She switched it to the phone setting and saw a LadyBlog Livestream, only Alya’s phone was pointed to the floor. Did she know she was live right now?

”Please! All it takes is a few tears, and everyone will think Hawkmoth manipulated or blackmailed me!” It was Lila.

”Did Alya plan this?” Ladybug wondered.

”Clever girl,” Chat said.

“And just wait until tomorrow. Those idiots will fall at my command and attack that asshole, Kurtzberg! Maybe I can get them to tear up his sketchbook again! No doubt Ladybug's fixed it."

Capricorn‘s grip around his weapon tightened when she said that.

She let out a fake whine, “‘Oh, Nathaniel tried to kill me! Lock him away!’ See? It’s that easy!”

“I’ll tell everyone!” Alya retorted.

”And who’s gonna believe some lousy tabloid writer?” She taunted. “One word from me, and you’ll be a social pariah like those f*g art kids!”

Ladybug wanted to punch that girl so badly... Eh, let Paris take care of her.

”What the hell did you do to her?!”

”Well, let’s see... Threatened her, told her she’d lose her friends, and succeeded. Framed her for theft, cheating, and assault. Then I got her expelled so I could have Adrien all to myself."

Chat Noir held back the bile rising in his throat.

”So, I’m gonna go on a limb here and say you’ve been lying about every single thing.”

”Took you long enough, idiot! I hope you like sitting alone tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’ll be rich from taking that dumpy bitch’s charity money, and modeling for Gabriel.”

”And meanwhile, Paris will be hunting you down.” Alya pans the phone over to her smug face. “You heard it here, Paris. Lila is working for Hawkmoth, has been tormenting students and Francoise-DuPont, stealing charity money, and she’s homophobic.”

She pans the phone towards Lila’s horrified face. “So Lila, how does it feel to be the most hated girl in France? Oh, look at that. The comments are rolling in- Wow, everyone really hates you.”

Officer Raincomprix steps in between the two girls, “Miss Césaire, we’re going to need that phone for evidence, please.”

”One minute sir,” the video pans to her face, “Babe, if you’re watching this, I’m sorry. Your phone’s with the cops now. Okay, here you go.” The screen cuts to black.

Chat Noir couldn’t help but laugh, “I love that girl!”

Ladybug ran her fingers through her hair and grinned, “It’s over! She’s gone! She’s finally gone!” She turns to Capricorn with a bright smile, “Capricorn, why don’t you take Nathaniel back home? I’ll meet up with you later.”

With a nod, the goat hero scooped up Nathaniel into his arms and leaped away. Ladybug and Chat Noir swung and vaulted off, feeling very relieved knowing that they would have to deal with Lila anymore as civilians or heroes.

Capricorn landed right outside Nathaniel’s home and gently set him down.

”Thanks,” Nathaniel said as he shyly looked down at the ground. “A-again, I am so sorry about-“

”Nathaniel, it’s fine,” Capricorn reassured him. “You weren’t in control. I’m sure everyone will understand.”

Nathaniel smiled at that, “Thanks.”

Then, without thinking, Capricorn pulled him in for a hug, which Nathaniel returned once he got over his surprise. This lasted for a few more seconds until Nathaniel said, “I- uh... I have a boyfriend.”

Capricorn mentally facepalmed. ‘You’re not Marc right now! Nathaniel is not Capricorn’s boyfriend!’ "Sorry." Awkwardly, he pulled away and the two boys looked away in embarrassment. Finally, after an uncomfortable silence, someone called out, "NATH!" It was Alix, running towards him with Rose and Juleka. The latter narrowed her eyes at the goat hero, making him tense up and worry she'll figure out he's Marc.

"Oh, shit!" Alix cursed and she engulfed Nathaniel in a bone-crushing hug. "I thought we lost you, bud!"

"We could hear everything while we were in the sketchbook," Rose piped up. "They know Lila's lying!"

"Everyone in Paris does," Juleka smiled. "A police car drove by me earlier and I saw her in the back seat."

Alix cackled, "You should have seen their faces, Nath! It was priceless! Bustier was rocking back and forth like a mental patient, Max was face-palming over and over, and Mylene? Whoa! Don't get me started-"

Rose pointed to Capricorn, "Who's this?" Alix and Juleka turned their attention to the new hero.

"Sweet!" Alix pumped her fist in the air. "A new hero! And he helped take down Rossi!"

Capricorn's elation from the compliments turned to concern when Nathaniel asked, "Wait, where's Marc? Is he okay?!" Before Capricorn could come up with an excuse, Juleka answered, "Oh, his moms called him home," she fibbed while occasionally stealing glances at Capricorn. "I was gonna go with him, but my mom needed me home for something, too. He's probably still there."

Capricorn furrowed his brow. Did Juleka know?

"Thanks, Jules!" The four of them watched him run to Marc's house. With them distracted, Capricorn took this opportunity to quickly vault away once he heard his clips beeping and go look for Ladybug.

Capricorn met with Ladybug in an alley near his house and said the de-transformation words. "Ziggy, fleece off." The goat kwami flew out from the hair clip and hovered next to Marc, nuzzling his cheek as he removed the clips.

"That was so much fun!" Ziggy squealed. "Can you call on him again one day? Pleeease?" She put her flipper-hands together and gave Ladybug dough eyes, making her and Marc laugh.

"We'll see," Ladybug giggled. She gives Ziggy a little pat on her head before pulling out the box. Marc set the clips back in and said goodbye to Ziggy before she flew back into the horn-shaped clips.

"Thank you, Marc." She tucked the box away then pulled out her yoyo, preparing to swing away. "I knew I picked the right person for the job. Now, I suggest you go make sure Nathaniel is alright."

Marc nodded, "I will."

"See you soon, Capricorn." Marc wanted to ask what she meant by that, but she was already gone. He let out an excited squeal before running to his house. He waited outside for about three minutes until he saw Nathaniel running towards him.

"Nath!" The two ran towards each other and met each other with a tight, loving embrace.

"Rainbow, I'm so sorry," Nathaniel whispered, taking an exhale before asking, "Are you okay?"

"I should be asking you that. Nath, what Lila was... It-it was fucked up." Nathaniel nodded once he got over the shock of hearing his boyfriend curse. "But she's gone, now. She can't hurt you, me, Mari, anyone anymore."

With a smile, Nathaniel kissed Marc, and he melted into it as he wrapped his arms around Nathaniel.

The next day, the art club kids walked to school together. (Marc made sure to set an alarm for Marinette) They wanted to be prepared for any random apologies from the Akuma class or any reporters swarming the schoolyard looking for Hawkmoth's latest victim. When they realized DuPont was an Akuma hotspot, news crews would always go to get an interview from the Akumatized student or teacher. So far no reporters yet, much to Nathaniel's relief, but there were a few police cars parked outside.

Around them were a few officers questioning the students and teachers as they made their way to the doors. Before they could go in, the doors swung open, and four police officers walked out, escorting Mme. Bustier and M. Damocles to the police cars. Marinette asked Nino, who walked out a second later, "Are Mme. Bustier and M. Damocles getting arrested?"

Nino shrugged, "I heard the school board decided to do an investigation when Lila mentioned missing months of school and getting you expelled without any proof. Some people from the board came, talked to them, and, uh..." He slipped off his cap and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't think we're gonna see them for a while, Mari."

Marinette couldn't help but grin at the news, "I don't have to be the class example anymore!" Nino's eyes bulged at that. "I-it's a long story. I'll tell you later."

Nino chuckled before giving the group a remorseful look, "I... I'm sorry I didn't believe you guys."

"Don't sweat it, Lahiffe," Alix said. "You guys are just too nice and naive to notice when you're being conned."

Nino furrowed his brow as he processed what she just said. After a moment of silence, he said, "Thank... You? Well, school is canceled for today and the class is going to get some ice cream. You guys in?"

"Yeah!" Alix cheered. "Let's get some ice cream and apologies!" She sat on top of the stair railing and slid down.

"There they are," Kim said, pointing to Nino arriving with the art students. The Akuma class tensed up as they approached. Some were going over their apologies in their heads while others were figuring out what to say, especially to Marinette and Nathaniel. "Alright," he took a breath, "let's do this, guys."

Before any of them could apologize, Alix spoke, "Yes, yes. You all were idiots, we're smart, you're sorry, and promise to listen to us when we say someone is lying."

"... Y-yeah. Ba-basically," Kim stammered. "But seriously, you guys, we're sorry we took Lila's side."

"We've known you guys since we were kids," Mylene remarked. "We should've known you guys couldn't have done the stuff Lila said you did."

"Yeah, you should've," Juleka muttered, making Rose nudge her girlfriend with her elbow.

Alya walked over to Marinette with a sad smile, "Any chance you guys might forgive us someday?"

Marinette smiled and pulled the girl in for a hug, "Alya, shut up. I forgive you."

The creole girl smile and wrapped her arms around Marinette, "Thanks, Mari."

"... But if this happens again, I will physically knock some sense into you all until you admit that I'm right and beg for mercy," she whispered. The students just stood there, disturbed by what the sweetest girl in class just said.

Alya slowly back away from Marinette and nervously chuckled, "Got it, girl."

"Now, Alya," Alix piped up, "guys, isn't there someone else you want to apologize to?" She gestures over to Nathaniel.

Alya wasn't sure what to say to Nathaniel. The only time they really interacted was yesterday when she accused him of stealing Lila's art. So, taking a deep breath, she said to him, "Nathaniel, I... I jumped the gun, there, I'll admit it." A few nodded along. "When I think about it, the more I realize that you'd never steal another person's art."

"I mean you went into a fifteen-minute rant during history when we were talking about some art thief," Ivan brought up. He chuckled at the memory before stopping abruptly. "Yeah... Sorry."

"I forgive you guys," Nathaniel smiled. "Just don't do that ever again or I might also knock some sense into you guys."

To change the subject, Max brought up Capricorn, and now that was all anyone could talk about. Marc blushed when some of the girls called his hero persona cute. Was he? He didn't really get a good look at his outfit. As they rambled on about the new hero, he and Nathaniel went to get some ice cream.

"So, what'd you think of Capricorn?" Marc asked.

Nathaniel hummed in thought before answering, "I like him. He really helped me out there... Plus, he's kinda cute." Marc tried to fight back a blush. "Not as cute as you, though." Marc wasn't sure how to respond to that. "He was really understanding about why I got Akumatized and he even convinced me to hand over my Akuma."

Marc feigned surprise. "Really?"

He nodded. "Do you think he'd mind if we put him in the comic?"

Marc pretended to think about it for a moment, "I don't think so."

AO3

~Taglist~

#Evillustrator #marc x nathaniel #Badass Nathaniel Kurtzberg #lila gets exposed #Goat Marc #goat miraculous #ml salt fanfic #class redemption