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simplydannie · 3 months

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The siblings have done their time in prison… and now… they are released back from where they came… the under belly of Rageous. Life is different down here. More struggle, more loneliness… all they have is each other now. But their struggles follow them as they learn someone up top is still after them. And now the thug bosses of Under Rageous are all after them…But being poisoned by the Troll makes life a little harder.

Part 2 || Part 3

Security left them at the elevator. This was the only way to the underside of a Rageous… where the lower class… the nobodies lived. Those on top hardly batted an eye on what would happen down there. Each region had its own laws. Since Velvet and Veneer were originally from the under side of Rageous, well, they were being sent back… the laws there could deal with them.

…..DING…..

The elevator door slid open.

The siblings stood there in the silence. The sounds and lights of upper Rageous illuminated the darkened under Rageous cities… but it still wasn’t enough. They cautiously stepped out of the elevator… it closed behind them and went back up…. Here they were, back in square one.

All they were allowed to bring back down were a few belongings, and that was it. The siblings were completely de-glammed of their fame persona. Velvet still sported her high ponytail. Instead of her glittery outfits she settled for a red, oversized hoodie she wore over a skin tight black mini dress. Her heels were gone, instead she sported some black combat boots. On her wrist a pink crystal bracelet Veneer had gotten her years ago that the upper atmosphere of Rageous allowed her to keep.

The only one who seemed pleased to be out of his glimmer and glammed persona was her brother. Veneer still had his famous swooped up green hair. Like his sister, he also wore a red oversized hoodie and skinny wavy pants with black combat boots. He wore a purple beanie over his green hair… before their rise to fame, he’d always love to wear beanies… Velvet always hated it.

They stared into the dark silence of Under Rageous. Music and laughter could be heard far away. Velvet pulled up her hoodie and began walking in the direction they had instructed them too.

“Hey Vels wait!” Veneer called out as he grabbed his duffle bag running after her. She had ignored him all those months at the Mount Rageous Detention Center… she was still continuing to ignore him now.

“Vels….Velvet! Come on sis, how long are you going to keep ignoring me?” He called out as he followed close behind her. They walked into the main streets… still empty, voided of people.

“How about forever?….. Traitor.” She replied.

“That’s not fair! I had to do it.” He told her.

“No you didn’t you moron!” She pulled back her hoodie and turned round look him directly into his eyes. “We had everything Veneer! We were at the top!” She gestured to the lights above them…Mount Rageous. “Now we’re back where we started!”

“Just because we were on top doesn’t mean it was right. Didn’t you see yourself Vels? You were going mad! And our manger didn’t do anything to help us. She had us torture Floyd!” Veneers expression saddened… he missed the little Troll… unfortunately he never came to visit them… he never returned his letters. Veneer never blamed him, but he still felt hurt.

“And what now? We’re better off out here!” She exclaimed.

“No. But I have an idea. Maybe we could reach out to Floyd!” He said happily.

“You think he’ll have us back after what we did! What? You want to be a happy family gain?” She teased.

“… we could.” Veneer responded.

CLINK!

The sound of metal hitting the ground sounded in the distance…

“Maybe we should keep it down and just get home.” He said.

“Whatever.” She turned to keep walking.

THUD!

She walked straight into someone.

“My bad.” She said. Velvet looked to the see suspicious stranger she ran into. Pale skin, fawxhawk stringy black hair. When he smiled, he bared his sharp teeth… a popular cosmetic procedure done in Under Rageous… made them seem more menacing.

“Hey there gorgeous.” He hissed in a snake like voice. “Where you two headed?”

“Oh! We’re just going home- OOF!” Veneer began to speak until his sister elbowed him in the ribs.

“We’re just walking through. So excuse us…” Grabbing her duffle bag, she turned her brother around to walk the opposite direction. But in there way stood another Rageoun, same pale skin with dark pulled back green stringy hair. He wore some cyber type specks around his eyes….the two Rageoun thugs surrounded them. Veneer instinctively got in front of Velvet.

“Were they going to send us escorts?” Veneer turned to ask Velvet. She shook her head.

“We know who you two are. Heard who you were before your rise to fame, and now, well definitely somebody of high value now.” The sharp tooth Rageoun smiled.

“Didn’t you hear, we were frauds. Not really somebodies are we.” Velvet replied.

“Yeah well despite that, word is, someone up there is still interested in you two. They told my boss that they pay a really good price if we found you and brought you to them. Of course my boss says he’ll pay us double who ever found you. And what do you know, here you are.” He smiled a toothy grin.

The other thug grasped Veneer firmly by his arm, dragging him away from his sister. He struggled, trying to pull away. A dark vehicle was awaiting for them at the end of the street.

“Hey!” Velvet cried out as she reached for her brother. The sharped tooth Rageoun blocked her way.

“You can come peacefully or not. They didn’t care what condition we brought you in, so long as you were alive…. Kind of.” He laughed. He grabbed a Velvet by the arm pulling her along with him. Looking frantically about she grabbed the nearest thing that came in her grasp… a metal pipe.

SMACK!

She hit the thug behind the head. He cried in pain releasing her. Velvet quickly moved away. She ran towards the other thug who still held Veneer.

SMACK!

She hit the thug upside the head knocking him unconscious.

“You okay?” She asked as she helped up her brother.

“Well that’s a nice welcome isn’t it.” He said sarcastically.

“Let’s get our bags and AH-“ She was yanked by her ponytail and pulled backwards. Velvet smacked the light post hard, knocking the wind out of her, sending a pain down her back and head. Through blurred vision she could see her brother struggling with the sharp toothed thug. The thug was bigger, stronger… he had Veneer pinned to the ground. Velvet could see him pull something from the side of his boot…. A knife.

“I wonder how much that face will be worth if I marked it up a bit.” He said gliding the knife across Veneers face.

At that instant something overcame Velvet. Her eyes began to glow pink…. A sudden rush of anger…

“VENNIE!” Before she knew it was behind the thug.

SMACK!

She hit him.

SMACK.

She hit him again.

“DONT YOU EVER TOUCH HIM AGAIN!” She screamed as she kept beating the thug with the metal pipe.

“Vels!” Veneer screamed. But she couldn’t hear him… she was in a blind rage. “Vels! Please stop!… VELS IM OKAY!”

She stopped. Her breathing was heavy. As she calmed down, the pink around her eyes faded away… it was then she could see what she had done.

“…oh…my….god.” She murmured…. The thug lay there…beaten up… and motionless.

“Is he…Oh my gosh!” Veneer began breathing quickly, tears forming in his eyes, his anxiety kicking in. Velvet turned to her brother to try and calm him down.

“I don’t know what came over me… he was… he was going to hurt you Ven…. I couldn’t stop.” She turned back to look at the guys lifeless body…wherever they to came from, there had to be more.

“Veneer look at me. Veneer!” She grabbed his face looking him dead in the eye. “You’re going to have to trust me. Let’s get our bags and run. Just follow me.” She threw the metal pipe she had and grabbed her duffle bag. “Ven please come on!”

It took her brother a moment to recollect his thoughts… she was protecting him… that’s all she was doing… right? He quickly grabbed his duffle bag and took his sister’s hand. They both ran off deep into the under parts of Rageous.

They were alone. They didn’t know where to go, where to hide…and they were in trouble.

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lau219 · 5 days

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Enemies with Benefits

Part 6

Previous part here

…………………………………………………………………………….

“What do you mean you’re quitting? You can’t quit!”

Elise stood in front of Y/N’s desk as she was sitting in her office in the back of the club. After she’d told her what happened, Elise had been at a loss for words, but once Y/N had told her she was quitting, she found her voice.

“There’s no way I’m working for that bastard,” Y/N replied. “I’d rather scrape dead animals off the highway than work for him.”

“But if you quit, who’s going to be the head manager?” Elise asked, panic on her face.

“That’s for Shelby to figure out.”

“But who knows who he’d hire to replace you? It could be some inept moron who has no idea what they’re doing, or a control freak dictator who makes everyone miserable. Either scenario could ruin this place, and that’s if everyone doesn’t quit first.”

“Then he’ll get what he deserves,” Y/N replied.

“But what about all of us?” Elise asked her. “You’re just going to leave us? You’re the reason we all work here, Y/N.”

“I know, but I can’t—” Y/N began, but Elise continued

“And what about all the work you put into this place? You made this place what it is. This is your place.”

“Try telling that to the bank,” Y/N replied bitterly.

“But what about us?!” Elise asked again. “You can’t just leave us!”

Pausing, Y/N looked at her, and it broke her heart to see how upset Elise was. It was also breaking her heart to have to walk away from her club, but she didn’t see any other option. She had no idea what she’d do instead, seeing as how the Shelby’s owned every other place in town now, too, but she just couldn’t work for them, for him. No way.

“I’m sorry, Elise,” Y/N responded. “Really, this is killing me; you know how much I love you guys, and love this place. But it’s the principle of the thing. This guy bought this place out from under me and acted like he was giving me a choice. He’s taken away from me the one thing that was my own, that I worked so hard for. And all because he’s so obsessed with owning everything in sight that he couldn’t leave well enough alone and be satisfied with having his name on every other place around here. He’s an arrogant, selfish bastard.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” came a voice from the door behind them.

As Elise turned around and Y/N looked past her, they found Polly Gray standing in the open doorway to Y/N’s office. A large handbag hanging from the crook of her elbow, she was looking at them with a slightly hesitant smile. As Y/N recognized her and registered that she was standing in her doorway, she defensively glared at the woman.

“Door up front was open,” Polly said by way of explanation as to how she’d gotten inside in the middle of the day. She jerked her head in the direction she’d come from and then offered another smile.

“If you’re here to defend Mr. Shelby, I’m not interested in hearing it,” Y/N said to Polly, still glaring, her guard up. “In fact, I’m not interested in hearing what you or anyone from your family has to say, so you can see yourself out by the same way you came in.”

Polly gave a single shake of her head before answering.

“I’m not here to talk about Tommy, darling. I’m here to talk about you.”

Y/N’s eyes were still narrowed.

“Why would I want to hear anything you have to say?”

“Because, just as we agreed upon when I met you the other day, I, too, think Tommy is a cocky, greedy asshole. And as much as I love that boy, I have no hesitation in knocking him down a peg or two, which is why I’m here.”

Elise slowly turned back towards Y/N, her eyes wide as she registered what Polly had said. After looking at Elise for a moment, Y/N returned her gaze to Polly.

“Why should I believe that you’re not here with some ulterior motive to help your beloved nephew make my life even worse?” she asked her.

Polly reached into her bag and pulled out a short stack of papers secured with a binder clip. She held it up as she spoke.

“Because I’ve taken from Tommy the contract he intends on having you sign when you agree to work for him. When you meet with him again, you’ll see that what I’m showing you today is exactly what he’ll present you with at that time. You’re going to look it over ahead of time and be fully prepared with your own set of requirements from him.”

Y/N shook her head. While she was surprised by the fact that Polly did, in fact, appear to be on her side, she still had no intention of working for Tommy Shelby.

“I appreciate the thought, Ms. Gray, but I have no intention of working for your nephew,” Y/N said to her. “I’m sorry to tell you that you wasted your time coming down here.”

Polly lowered her hand that held the contract and tilted her head slightly.

“Believe me, darling, I’m as pissed as you are at the moment, but before you make any final decisions, I want to make sure you really know what you’re giving up.”

“I’m not giving it up,” Y/N replied, narrowing her eyes. “It’s been taken from me.”

“And I want to help you get it back,” came Polly’s reply.

Assessing her for another moment, Y/N finally shifted her focus from Polly to Elise.

“Can you give us a few minutes, Elise?” she said.

“Yeah, sure,” Elise replied, then gave Y/N a wide-eyed look of uncertainty before she turned and walked through the doorway, passing Polly, who stepped inside after Elise had gone by and closed the door behind her.

“Are you often cleaning up your nephews’ messes, Ms. Gray?” Y/N asked her, realizing she sounded rude, but not caring, regardless of the fact that Polly was apparently here to help her.

“Please, call me Polly,” she replied. “And let’s just say that I should be getting my name embroidered on a custodian jumpsuit for the number of messes I’ve cleaned up.”

Y/N nearly smiled at her remark, and after stepping further into the room, Polly spoke again as she made herself comfortable at the metal chair in front of Y/N’s desk. Definitely not the plush office environment she was used to, Y/N thought as she recalled Tommy’s office.

“You’ve got a great place here,” Polly began as she set her bag down on the floor. “The fact that you got it to this all on your own only makes it all the more impressive. I know how successful you are here.”

“Thank you,” was all Y/N said as Polly’s eyes met hers. There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Polly spoke again.

“Listen, everything about the way Tommy went about this was, in my opinion, wrong. He should have handled it much differently, however, I want to be sure that you understand that what he did may not have actually been the worst thing.”

Y/N raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

“You tell me that you think he’s an asshole for what he did, and then you defend him for it?” Y/N shook her head. “I don’t think we’re as much on the same page as you think we are, Polly.”

“His intention wasn’t to lead you on,” Polly said. “Well, maybe it was at first, but after meeting you, he changed his mind. Rather than buying your place and giving you the boot after the fact, he decided that he wanted to keep you at all costs. That’s because he was so impressed by you. Every other place we’ve bought, he’s fired the previous owner and manager and hired someone new.”

“And I’m supposed to be flattered enough by that fact to overlook that he essentially lied to me about his intentions?”

Polly cocked her head.

“It wasn’t so much that he was lying, as that he wanted to get you to hear him out before you knew about the sale. He figured that if he waited to try to discuss his offer to you after the sale, that you’d be so upset that you wouldn’t even listen to him. He wanted to make sure you knew what he could offer you.”

Y/N shook her head again in disgust.

“The fact that he was so arrogant as to take that approach only makes me more confident that he’s an asshole,” she said.

Polly gave a sympathetic smile.

“Like I said, I don’t agree with how he went about all this, but the fact is, this place still had money owed on it. And it’s true that that was brought to the bank’s attention before he even met you. After the purchase of the last club, Tommy immediately began looking into buying this place, and when he went to the bank to do some research, all the forgotten details about the property’s outstanding balance were unintentionally revealed.”

Y/N’s wary expression softened somewhat as she listened to Polly, who continued when Y/N said nothing.

“After that, it was already too late. The bank then had every intention of collecting the balance, and Tommy assumed it wasn’t anything you could afford.”

At that, Y/N scoffed and rolled her eyes in annoyance at Tommy’s presumptuous attitude, but Polly gave her a knowing look that Y/N had to acknowledge – it was true that the balance was nothing she’d have been able to pay.

“It wouldn’t have ever been an issue if he hadn’t been so hell-bent on owning every club in this city. If he hadn’t gone snooping around, this would have stayed forgotten,” Y/N said.

Polly gave her another knowing look.

“Come on, Y/N, you and I both know that it was damn lucky that this hadn’t been discovered before now. If it hadn’t, it would only have been a matter of time before it was, and then, what? The fact that Tommy found out first instead of the bank is actually in your favor.”

Y/N snickered.

“How do you figure that?” she said to Polly.

“Because he then immediately bought it,” Polly answered. “If the bank had found out before Tommy came around, they would have simply seized the property back from you. Tommy buying the place saved you from being put out on your ass.”

The truth was, Y/N had come to this exact realization after leaving Tommy’s office several days prior. Since she wouldn’t have been able to afford to pay the balance, she knew she would have been at the mercy of whatever the bank decided to do to her. But it was the way he’d handled it and the fact that he was so greedy about owning the club in the first place that had her so upset.

“Look, I understand that this balance would have turned me out on my ass,” Y/N said as she looked at Polly. “But it’s the whole way he handled it. Rather than explaining the situation and being honest with me, he chose to tell me only what he wanted to tell me, bought it out from under me, and then sprung the news on me without any sort of warning. It’s the principle of the thing.”

Polly smiled sympathetically.

“Believe me, darling, I understand. As I said, I don’t agree with how he went about it, either, but Tommy has his own way of doing things. And as hard as I’ve tried over the years, there are some habits you just can’t break. But despite that, you can still have everything you had before.”

Y/N frowned.

“I don’t want to condone his actions by agreeing to work for him,” she said. “And I won’t have everything I had before, because the place won’t be mine.”

“Not as in having your name on the deed, no,” Polly conceded. “But is that so horrible if you still get to function as you were before?”

“Yes, because it was mine,” Y/N replied. “I owned it. I worked hard to pay for it, I made it what it is, and it belonged to me. You just don’t understand.”

At that, Polly leaned forward.

“On the contrary, love, I do understand,” she said. “You’re talking to a woman who’s a member of a family full of greedy men who make every decision without consulting anyone else first. I have hardly a thing to call my own, including a moment’s peace.”

It was Y/N’s turn to give Polly a sympathetic smile.

“What I’m trying to convince you of here is to pick your battles,” Polly continued. “You may not like the way Tommy went about this, but you still have the opportunity to run your business just as you were doing before, as well as now also seizing the other opportunity he offered you. With all that being the case, is it really worth walking away from a place and people that you love?”

As much as she hated to admit it, Y/N knew Polly was right. But there were still plenty of questions.

“How do I know that he’ll let me run the place the same as I was before?” Y/N asked her. “How can I be sure he won’t just take control and overturn every decision I make? And what about any other sneaky shit he may try and pull?”

Polly smiled.

“That’s why I brought this,” she said, lifting the contract out of her bag and setting it in front of Y/N. “You’re going to look at it beforehand so you can review the terms he’s proposing exactly, and make your own demands and counter-offers. This way, you can be sure that you’re not going to be blindsided by anything Tommy does.” Polly then paused for a moment before continuing. “Although, when it comes to you, I think it’s safe to say Tommy will give you just about anything you want.”

Y/N frowned with uncertainty.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“He likes you,” Polly replied. “And he respects you.”

Y/N scoffed.

“He has a strange way of showing it,” she said. “Someone needs to tell him that actions speak a lot louder than empty sweet talk.”

Polly grinned.

“I think you’re the perfect woman to get that point across to him.”

Y/N smiled back. She couldn’t believe she was actually considering working for them, and as she thought more about everything Polly had said to her, she was reminded of something.

“You said when you first got here that you wanted to help me get this place back,” she said. “How do you think that would be possible?”

Polly grinned again.

“I still stand by everything I’ve said so far – you can make this as positive and beneficial of a situation for yourself as you want it to be,” she said, her eyes twinkling with a bit of mischief. “However, no one is more in favor of a woman like you owning a business than me. And there’s also no one more in favor of teaching Tommy a lesson.”

Polly paused before she continued.

“If there’s one thing Tommy finds even more enticing than a business deal, it’s a bet. I think you could get your club back if you propose a little bet of your own.”

“Like what, for instance?” Y/N shook her head in loss for ideas.

Polly’s grin was nearly devilish.

“You bet Tommy that if, within the first six months of working for him, you get at least five of the other clubs turning a fifty percent increase in their current profits, then you get your club back – full ownership, no strings attached. If you’re able to pull it off, then you get what you ultimately want and Tommy has to accept that he can’t own everything. If you don’t pull it off, then you’re no worse off than you were, and you still have your job with Tommy as the owner.”

Y/N smiled momentarily at Polly’s idea, but then she frowned.

“Why would he agree to that when there’s nothing in it for him?” she asked.

Polly gave a smug look of certainty.

“Because for Tommy, the enjoyment comes from watching the bet play out, not the final outcome. Besides, regardless of if you meet the fifty percent on enough places, you’ll have no doubt done enough to at least increase profits, and that’s money in his pocket. So, he’s benefitting either way.”

As Y/N processed all that Polly said, a mischievous smile of her own began to slowly spread across her face. After a moment, she focused on Polly again.

“I’m not going to make any of this easy on him,” she said.

“Good,” Polly replied as she smiled back at her. “I was hoping you wouldn’t.”

Part 7

@nyxxie-pooh @xsweetcatastrophe @febris-amatoria @hannibellector @natalie--rushman

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@ceirinen @devotedlyshadowytheorist @alltoowellbeneaththemangotree @judig92 @fairytale07

@galactict3a @runnning-outof-time

#modern tommy fic #modern tommy shelby smut #modern tommy shelby x reader #modern tommy #modern tommy shelby #modern peaky blinders #18+ only

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marzgurl · 10 months

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Hi there, @katkit-42 , just saw your tags and thought, actually, that's not a bad thing to elaborate upon.

This is another kinda long post, which I think most people should read, too, but I'll be kind and put the bulk of this behind a cut here. Please do take the time to open it up and read it, though.

The real answer is, this whole experience has been me balancing out being mortified by a lot of the things that have happened to me with the fact that everybody involved in the whole thing has also been a complete and utter moron. Any time I even slightly start to get scared, I have to remind myself (or even have my husband remind me) that these are the absolute stupidest people we're talking about, none of whom are wholly capable of completing something so horrific, no matter how serious about it they might be.

I hadn't said it in the previous longpost, but in 2019, it was very clear that Vic had intended to sue me along with Monica, Jamie, Ron, and Funimation (although that never happened). I had received an E-mail copy of a letter of preservation from Vic's very, very stupid lawyers. I'll go ahead and share that here.

It was moronic for a number of reasons. One, I was told it was sent to two different E-mail addresses I have, one of which never arrived. Two, it's written REALLY badly. Three, it supposedly was also delivered via certified mail. Here's the problem: they mailed it to an address in Inglewood, California.

I have never lived in Inglewood, California.

But I know why they THOUGHT I did. Because in 2018, while walking from where I was living to my car to go to work, I got mugged! I had just recently moved and had been filling out paperwork for new jobs and things, and the bag they took still had my social security card, ID, and even my passport in it, which somebody later used to steal my identity. I remember the cops calling me back in a week or two after my mugging asking me questions because they believed they'd found people associated with who mugged me, and they asked me if I'd ever lived at an Inglewood address, and I told them no, and they were like, "Okay, great, pretty sure we know exactly where they are, thanks." So, I hope the guys who mugged me enjoyed having my identity and receiving a letter in the mail saying they were possibly gonna get sued. Thanks for taking one for me, muggers.

I mention this to say Vic has had me in his sights for a LONG time. A good four and a half years now at this point. Although I'm not the one that had any stories of him assaulting me, I was the one who made sure that people could SEE the stories of other people telling THEIR stories, and he HATES that. Clearly, he hates that a LOT.

Vic has vaguely mentioned me NUMEROUS times on his livestreams, saying, "I'm not gonna name names," but clearly intending everybody to know it's me he's talking about. In 2022, he referenced how I have a donation button on my Twitch channel and in the past have occasionally had drives to help me make ends meet. This is despite the fact that my husband and I were both working full time, but life in Los Angeles is hard. Despite this, Vic has this to say:

"These are people who start crowdfunding campaigns to pay their bills. What does that tell you about them? These are losers, everybody. These are people that are for whatever reason so disgusted with their lives--so unhappy with their lives, and instead of, like, working or going out there and, you know--and building something or creating something, they want to sit at home on their computer and look for ways to trash me an other people they don't like. And then they ask you to give them money to pay their bills. Pathetic. Pathetic. *weird snarl* Anyway--"

I feel like a donation bar isn't a "crowdfunding campaign", but we don't have to nitpick here. Vic has also expressed though private E-mails with various individuals that he believes I used crowdfunding to pay for a "cat funeral", which he also found to be distasteful. So, this was clearly a jab at me, but he got the details of it wrong. In 2019, my 14-year-old cat Siren was very sick. I was trying to get her healthcare and wasn't sure how I was going to pay for it. My friend--NOT ME, SOMEONE ELSE ENTIRELY--asked me if it was okay if THEY set up a GoFundMe to help me find a way to save my cat. THEY created the GoFundMe, and some people donated, and we did all we could to save Siren before it was clear that she was too far gone, and we lost her. We did NOT raise funds to have a funeral for her. Not in the slightest. The fact that this is what Vic is telling people is disgusting, and cruel to the idea of somebody who has ever had to deal with the loss of a beloved family member. On top of this, if you have ever struggled to make ends meet, let's not mince words here--Vic thinks you are "pathetic". He thinks if you don't make money, you just aren't working hard enough (even if it turns out you and your family all work full-time and take side gigs just to cover everything). Of course, he also seemed to believe that I didn't have a job at all (a long-running conspiracy theory among his fans, just because they couldn't figure out who my employer was), when I was providing hard evidence of being actively credited for my work as a subtitle and closed caption editor in the anime industry (the very same anime industry Vic was kicked out of).

But it's weird that he thinks you're a loser if you crowdfund to pay your bills! Is that not precisely how you managed to sue the very women you assaulted, Vic? To this day, the "Vic Kicks Back" GoFundMe is still open, and has raised nearly $300,000 dollars--a significantly higher amount than anything I've ever earned via Twitch donations.

In May of this year (which is exactly when Farah was ramping up her online harassment campaign against me), Vic once again vaguely talked about me, but got all the details wrong yet again. Since I can only embed one video, I'll link to this second clip here, which someone else has uploaded to Twitter.

Everybody knows Vic means me when he says that prior to 2019 I only had about 800 followers and now have more like 18,000, all because I was talking about him. Which he's very much over-inflating. I'd already had several years of a career of being an online content creator. By 2019 I had 16,000 followers. I've had my account for something like 14 years. I'm now over 19,000, pushing 20,000. That growth from 2019 to 2023 seems relatively normal to me. It was a very gradual growth that honestly doesn't look all that much different from the growth I'd had since 2009. Even one glance at Social Blade will confirm this is true.

He also keeps saying we've never met (such as in the video clip linked above). But we have! We very much have! I have video of myself--video from EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO--walking up to Vic with a camcorder and him talking directly to me. Feel free to go and watch it for yourself. You can hear my voice and everything!

AND SO! I say all this to say that I have long been aware of how much Vic Mignogna hates me. Vic Mignogna HATES ME SO. SO. SO. FUCKING. MUCH. He has done everything in his power to belittle and discredit me as somebody so much smaller and weaker and completely different from who I actually am, deliberately lying about facts of my life that I can actively prove false at any given moment with a plethora of receipts.

But you wanna hear the real eye-opening thing? In April of this year, just before Farah started going on the attack, Vic was on his livestream yet again making a very ominous statement. Once again, I link directly to it here since I can't embed it for you.

"I'm already in the middle of looking into some very aggressive retaliation and resources to deal with that."

Now, at the time, we all just thought he meant he was FINALLY gonna pursue a lawsuit against me, which, let's go bro, I'm fuckin' ready to go any time, man. But as it turns out, this sure does line up a whole lot more with the timing of Vic's Red Lobster dinner conversation with Farah about starting a cyber warfare campaign against me, on top of maybe possibly probably murder!?!?!? We know that Farah started her cyber warfare just later that very same month, so that sure sounds like convenient timing to me!

My husband and I had joked for a long, long time, like, "You know, he hates me SO damn much. You think he wants me dead?" And it was always kind of a, "Haha, yeah, we're joking, but what if for real?" And then when Farah started E-mailing me and telling me it was probably very real, I mean... yeah, katkit, that did shake me for a bit. I got the E-mail from Farah while my husband was at work, and it stopped my productivity for the day dead in its tracks. Even though it was clear that they had seriously overlooked really obvious facts (like the fact that I was literally not even going to be in the same state as Anime Expo, the event where Vic wanted me hurt), the fact that he wanted me hurt at all was concerning. Also, it was concerning to me that, if Vic at all stopped being a complete and utter fucking moron and realized I'd VERY PUBLICLY already been announced as a guest at a convention in Texas that very same weekend, it might actually be EASIER for him to have someone come to that event and hurt me, because Vic also still lives in Texas. He himself used to live in Houston, where the event was taking place, and likely still had connections there. Delta H Con is really little, without a lot of security. There was only one possible hotel for me to stay in. I was scheduled for panels and to be at my table all day, every day. Where I was going to be at all times was easily tracked for the entire weekend. To that extent, yes, I was very scared.

In fact, over that first weekend of July, I was very prepared to die.

I started trying to spend more time with my husband, trying to be more conscious of how I spoke or reacted to little things, just in general trying to be nicer and more loving. I started spending more time loving on my two cats who I love very dearly, wondering if I only had a limited time left with them. I started preparing folders of information I wanted to make sure my husband had if for some reason I didn't come back from Houston alive.

In the end, obviously, none of that was necessary. Though I guess I can't say that it was in any way a bad thing to spend more time focusing on and loving my family.

Ultimately, I guess I was saved by the stranger who sent me all those screenshots from Farah's Discord server. Surely, they have no idea what they did. To that person, I thank them. I had no idea it was going to save me, either. Had I not had those screenshots to post online and knock Farah loose from her war path, she might have continued to pursue me until she had something she really could have done to harm me for real.

Now, that's just disrupted that specific plan. Whether Vic will continue to want to pursue my death in some other way, I have no idea. I guess I am a little bit more on guard now than I was before. But also, I know there's only so much I can do. All I can do is just keep going and pretending there isn't this weird dude with a life that he could totally control all on his own and live in peace but instead wants his ability to prey on young women so badly that he would literally kill a woman to be able to continue to get away with doing it.

For right now, though, I'm mostly okay. I'm continuing to do my work, I'm going to see a movie tonight that I had a hand in localizing, and I'm feeling grateful for that success. Thank you for checking in on me. It's very kind of you. I hope you're doing well out there for yourself, too.

#anime #vic mignogna #assault #cheating #cw #death threats #harassment #voice actor #youtube #murder plot #update #updates

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ladykailitha · 1 year

Text

Star Child Part 6

Yeah...I’m going to hold out a little bit longer on who Steve’s ACTUAL security is going to be. Next chapter though. But we get to meet the indomitable Corroded Coffin manager this time.

For the next few chapters Eddie and Steve will be dealing with separate shit so the angst will be high, but have no fear Happily Ever After is the end game. I promise.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Steve pulled into the Motel 6 parking lot to find a woman waiting for him. She was dressed in a black suit with a pale blue button down. Her long hair was pulled back in a neat pony tail. Steve knew that this was his security.

He got out the car and grabbed his bag from his trunk. He walked over to her. “Hellfire Security I assume?”

She nodded. “You’ve got good instincts. That will help. I’m Janice Montgomery.” She stuck out her hand.

Steve shook it. “The CEO, I’m impressed.”

She laughed. “I was in the area and needed to go west, so I figured we could make the trek together.”

Steve sighed in relief. That made better sense. He hated being treated differently. “Works for me.”

“I booked us two rooms and scoped out the area,” she said. “So we’ll be good tonight. Then tomorrow we’ll begin the drive out to LA.”

Steve blinked. “We’re driving?”

Janice smiled. “Your manager, Robin Buckley told me you’re afraid of flying?”

He ducked his head and blushed. He scratched his cheek. “Bad experience flying to Europe for the first time. So I avoid it when I can.”

“Fair enough,” she said. “She also said you don’t mind staying at bigger hotels, but prefer places like this?”

Steve nodded. “I’ve been told by other security teams that they’re not as secure, but...”

“But people fawning over you makes you uncomfortable?” Janice suggested.

He nodded again.

“Happens to the best of them,” she said softly. She squeezed his shoulder.

Steve sighed in relief.

“Let’s get to bed and we’ll start first thing in the morning.”

“Is seven too early?” he asked.

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re a teen idol? Because I thought there was a law that your lot didn’t get up before noon if they could get away with it.”

Steve laughed. “I wake up at 6am most days to go for a run. Or if I’m home in LA a swim. I don’t understand how people can sleep that late.”

She shook her head. “Usually partying until three or four in the morning. Which I understand you don’t do.”

He shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Under contract to not get into any trouble. So I don’t do that anymore.”

Janice raised an eyebrow at ‘anymore’ but said nothing. She would contact the label tomorrow and let them know her company would be in charge of Steve’s security. Until then. She had herself an unusual client. And she loved those.

The next day at the Corroded Coffin sound check it was a little awkward.

Jeff and Brian tuned their instruments and kept throwing glances at each other as if they were daring the other to broach the subject.

“You guys are wusses,” Gareth finally bit out. “What these morons are trying not say is that we’re sorry about last night. We shouldn’t have made fun of Steve that way.”

Jeff sighed. “Yeah, man. You were right. We don’t know if it’s just us or if he sees other bands.”

“Especially when we were talking him up the last three days,” Brian said. “We were dicks and we’re sorry.”

Eddie huffed angrily and rubbed his eye. “I know. I just wanted tonight to end as well as it had started. And it didn’t.”

Brian nodded. “Yeah, I feel that. You just keep striking out with this guy and I know you’re worried that we might have scared him away.”

Eddie threw himself back against the seat he was in and his lip twisted. “It’s not just that. I think he was trying to befriend you guys, too. Remember this is the guy that got his start in a group and now he’s solo. He travels with stage musicians. And you can’t tell me they’re always the same ones. So I think he wanted to hang with you guys too.”

The three other members of the band looked down at their shoes.

Jeff scratched the back of his neck, Gareth fiddled with his drumsticks, and Brian scuffed the floor.

“We really fucked up, didn’t we?” Brian asked after a few moments.

Eddie sighed. “I don’t know, man. I don’t know.”

They went out onto the stage for the soundcheck as their manager ran around making sure that everything was setup properly. Chrissy Cunningham was one of the best managers in the business and Corroded Coffin was happy to have her. She had been in LA meeting with their agent Dustin Henderson to make sure they didn’t accidentally cross streams over the recent tour dates.

But she had only managed to get in late last night and missed the concert but barely.

She bounced onto the stage. “Hey, guys, we might have to cancel tonight.”

All heads turned to her in shock. “The venue has changed hands since the last time we were here and I don’t like the look of the bartender or the spotter.”

“Fuck,” Gareth hissed.

“Did they at least read the rider?” Jeff asked.

“Not a Pierre or red M&M in sight,” Chrissy said dryly.

Shit. They added the fancy water and red M&Ms to make sure the venue actually read the rider. And if they weren’t there it was sure bet they didn’t read the parts on how heavy their equipment was or when the lights should go up.

Brian looked up at the rafters and grimaced. “Ew, gross.”

The other four looked up to see grease and dirt and filth clinging to the rafters.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Eddie cursed. This was bad. “Cancel it. Find a park willing to take us with such short notice. If not, full refunds.”

Chrissy nodded. She pulled out her phone and immediately began making calls.

A roadie came up to them. “Hey, guys. We need to get this stuff off the stage, now.”

All four of them looked at each other in shock. “What do you mean?” Jeff asked.

“I just heard the owner talking to one of the waitresses and he was telling her that the guy that was supposed to repair the stage upped his price by a thousand so it never happened.”

“Shit!” Gareth hissed. He shot up from his seat and all of the band helped the roadies get their equipment off the stage and back into the bus.

“What are you doing!” the owner screamed when he saw them packing up.

“This is unsafe,” the roadie who had warned them told the guy. “I’m not having my guys get hurt because you can’t be assed to keep this place up to code.”

“I’ll sue!” the owner screamed.

“You can try,” Jeff said, “but you didn’t read our rider so, you broke contract with us first.”

The man started sputtering and a couple of the bigger roadies stood guard to prevent the man from trying to stop them.

Chrissy hung up the phone and walked over to where the man was spouting obscenities at the band.

“Mr Dallas?” she asked sweetly.

He stopped screaming and looked her over. “What can I do for you, princess?”

She smiled. “I have the health department and liquor license people on the way over here to shut you down. And I have a pretty good idea that you have been dodging your taxes, too. So the IRS will be informed as well. Have a nice day.”

Mr Dallas looked at the bartender and the two of them made a dash for the backroom, but it was too late.

The liquor license people had called the cops and they were being invaded. The band and roadies gave statements and vanished into the night, giggling and heckling the owner.

Once on the bus, Chrissy smiled. “All right, we’ve got a large park nearby that is willing to house the concert. But it’s going to be a hell of a mark up and it’s going cost a lot in merch sales too.”

The band groaned.

“And I am assuming, Chrissy the fair,” Eddie said waving his hands, “that you have already started checking up on our other venues, yes?”

She batted her eyes at him. “But of course, Eddie the Banished.” She winked and got on the phone.

“Dustin,” she greeted.

They got set up at the park and Eddie didn’t like the look of it. There was too much of a chance of people getting hurt.

He bounded up to Chrissy. “Hey, babe. I hate to add you to your already growing pile of shit you have to deal with tonight, but if you can swing it, I want extra security.”

Chrissy looked out at the growing crowd with pursed lips. “I’ll see what I can do. I’ve got Dustin working the other venues so I don’t have to worry about that.”

Eddie nodded. He almost felt sorry for the other venues.

Almost.

Dustin was a tough and tenacious agent and when he got going it was hard to stop the guy. It why Eddie had been with him for so many years. He knew his band was in safe hands if Henderson was talking to the venues.

Soon it was time to rock his heart out.

“Thank you everyone for being able to come to our little impromptu jam session,” Eddie said, stepping up to the mic. “The original venue was a shit show, I wouldn’t recommend it. At all. But let’s get to what you came here for!”

He started playing, turning his head to bob to the music as Gareth came in on drums.

“I want to make you mine!” he screamed into mic. “Your body next to me, Fitted together like by design. You set me free!”

The crowd went wild. Eddie working out his anger and frustration at the way everything ended last night. The way their previous venue had shat all over everything because they were greedy bastards. The way that Chrissy had to step in and take over because without her, they probably would have played and gotten hurt.

All that rage, hurt, and anger channeled into his music and it pushed the crowd to a fevered pitch.

Finally when the note was played and the final encore performed, Eddie felt at peace. That was the real reason he did this. It was a way for him to channel his emotions constructively.

He loved it.

Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16

Tag List: @thegingerrapunzel @artiststarme @yes-im-your-mom @tiny-enthusiast @scheodingers-muppet @abstractnaturaldisaster @steddieassheg0es @nelotegreitic @anaibis @failedstarsandgoldenclouds @novelnovella @anything-thats-rock-and-roll @gleek4twd @gregre369 @whatthemeepever @cutepumpkin4 @spectrum-spectre @livelaughlexa @ohlook-afrog @linkydinky06 @goodolefashionedloverboi @moonshadows-13 @eboyawstenn @avacrebs @bejeweledbaby

#My writing #stranger things #steddie #rockstar au #song fic #ladykailtiha writes

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hockeylvr59 · 1 year

Text

I Got You || Nathan Mackinnon

Authors Note: This is my entry for @antoineroussel‘s winter fic exchange 2k23. I wrote for @raysofcrosby who requested an OC fic and left most things open to my creative process after we agreed that it would be Nate. This was a concept that I dug out of my ‘someday I’ll write’ pile and I’m so glad I did. Song inspiration is I got you by Leona Lewis but the overall concept comes from season 8 of SYTYCD with Marko and Melanie’s lyrical hip hop (linked under the tag 047 on my page). This one got a little away from me and even changed a bit as I was writing it but I really hope you enjoy it.

Warnings: angst, minor cursing // Word Count: 4,747 + song lyrics

~~~~~~~

A place to crash

I got you

No need to ask

I got you

Just get on the phone

I got you

Come and pick you up if I have to

Emily Bowers learned one thing a long time ago. She would do anything for Nathan MacKinnon. And she was fairly confident that he knew it. Their meeting had felt inconsequential at the time and yet somehow they’d managed to become friends.

But friends were all they’d ever be because when they’d met he’d already had a serious girlfriend. Alexandra was fine, Emily had met her and had absolutely nothing against her, she was easy to like. She seemingly adored Nate and put up with him even when he was being difficult, often providing Emily the chance to be the one to call him out and tell him when he was seriously being a moron. And Nate adored Alexandra. Emily could only hope one day to find someone who looked at her like that.

Of course the couple had their fights like all couples do, but lately those fights seemed to be occurring more frequently and didn’t blow over as easily.

So when Nate called her around 2am one night Emily already knew what had happened before she picked up the phone.

“Hey Em…” He mumbled, “Sorry for calling so late…”

Before he could even finish she was replying with a sigh.

“Where are you? The airport?”

Nate’s soft ‘yeah’ filled her ears and though Emily was worried, she didn’t hesitate, staying on the phone with him as he grumbled softly about how cold it was while she threw on sweats, a hoodie, and boots and grabbed her wallet and keys to head to her car.

Following Nate’s directions to the private charter side of the airport, it wasn’t long before she pulled onto the empty lot where Nate was standing talking quietly to someone who appeared to be part of security. Unlocking her doors, Nate approached her vehicle and opened the backdoor, tossing his bag inside before opening the passenger door and folding himself into the seat.

“Hey.” He whispered gruffly and tiredly. “You’re the best.”

“And don’t you forget it.” She couldn’t help but tease softly, feeling proud when that drew the slightest smile onto Nate’s face. “I take it you want my couch?”

Nate’s nod as he turned to lean against the window answered her question and so Emily drove home with her unexpected overnight guest. She didn’t need to know what had happened to know that this had been a rough fight but like always she was sure that after a night of space (though she could never understand how they needed more space after Nate had just been on the road) things would settle.

Arriving home, Emily pulled out extra pillows and blankets from a closet and as she sat them beside where he was sitting on the couch he reached for her hand, his palm warm against her own.

“Thanks Em.”

“I got you. You know that.”

What's weird about it

Is we're right at the end

And mad about it

Just figured it out in my head

I'm proud to say

I got you

Go ahead and say goodbye

I'll be alright

Go ahead and make me cry

I'll be alright

Emily knew that Nate was planning on marrying Alexandra. After all, he’d been sending her pictures of rings for the past two months soliciting her opinion on what she thought Alex would like since she was a girl and all. Still, knowing it was coming didn’t make it sting any less when her phone dinged with a photo of Nate kissing Alex as she showed off that brand new extravagant engagement ring Emily knew Nate had spent a small fortune on.

I’m so happy for you. Enjoy the moment.

Though she sent the words, Emily knew the meaning behind them was hollow if not a lie and she couldn’t help but wonder if Nate did too somewhere deep down.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be happy for him, because she did, he deserved to be happy. It was just that in a way, that picture signaled a further shift in their friendship, one that she wasn’t sure was sustainable looking forward.

After all, do friends ever last long when one has their heart broken by the other?

Grateful that she was at least at home alone and not out in public, Emily pulled her knees to her chest and sobbed softly letting the past three years of emotions finally wash over her after being bottled and shoved deep down for so long.

It wasn’t fair for her to feel like this. She knew that. She knew that Nate had done nothing but stay within the boundaries that had been set back when they first met. This wasn’t his fault.

It had been her fault that she’d fallen a little bit in love with him knowing that those feelings would never be returned. It was her fault that she continued to let him use her as an emotional backstop when things had gotten hard in his relationship. It was her fault for hoping that someday maybe things would be different. It was her fault for wanting more than he could ever offer.

But knowing it was her fault and not his didn’t make it hurt any less.

So today, today she’d let herself cry and mourn what was never to be. And tomorrow, tomorrow she would get up, rebury all of those feelings, and support Nate through the craziness of wedding planning with his bride to be.

And it might not happen quickly but someday, someday she’d be alright.

And when you need a place to run to

For better for worse

I got you

Ain't falling apart, or bitter

Let's be bigger than that and remember

The cooling outdoor when you're all alone

We'll go on surviving

No drama, no need for a show

The sun was shining, it was warm but not overly hot, it was a perfect day for a wedding. Entering the church that Alexandra had picked, Emily felt a swirl of emotions. Today was the day that Nate would officially be married. Dipping off towards the groom’s room, Emily knocked on the door before smiling as Gabe opened it, waving her into the room.

“He’s a little anxious. Maybe seeing you will settle him down.” Gabe whispered, motioning to where Nate was standing looking out a window, the tension visible in his body. Nodding, Emily moved across the room toward her best friend. When Nate noticed her he opened his arms and Emily stepped into them wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

“Big day.” She whispered. “And it’s beautiful out, which is perfect.”

“Yeah.” Nate agreed, squeezing her tight. “You look pretty.”

“Thanks.” Though she knew it was just an offhanded polite comment, Emily banked it in her mind nonetheless. “You look dapper, and you’re still sober, which I suppose are both good signs.” She could feel him roll his eyes at her even without looking up at him and after a moment he pulled away ruffling his hair until she had to reach up and fix it.

“I should go get to my seat but I just wanted to check in first.” She added. “Next time I see you, you’ll be a married man.” There was a twinkle of excitement in Nate’s eyes but also an undercurrent of nerves which she assumed were only to be expected at this point.

***

It wasn’t long after she settled into her seat that Nate and his groomsmen appeared at the front of the church for the ceremony to begin. As he stood there, Emily could see how uncomfortable he was at the venue and she bit her lip remembering how contentious that decision had been. She hoped Alex was happy to have gotten her way.

Emily had figured that it would only be a few minutes after Nate took his place before the bridesmaids would start filtering down the aisle followed by Alex. But she couldn’t help but peek at her phone in her purse noting that the wedding was supposed to have started already. Seeing Nate fidget, Emily quickly slipped out of her seat and out the back of the church going in search of the missing bride. Instead, she found the bridal room completely empty. There was scattered trash signaling that people had been here but there were no people and no bags of personal belongings. Stepping further into the room Emily saw a ring box sitting on a table with a note tucked under it and keys beside it.

Peeking at the ring box revealed Emily’s worst fear as it contained the ring that had been on Alex’s hand for the last year. She had left. Just up and left him standing at the end of the aisle. Grabbing the items, Emily raced back to the side entrance of the church the groomsmen had come through. Once there she cracked the door open trying not to draw the attention of the entire guest list.

“Gabe.” She whispered quietly drawing the groomsman’s attention. “You gotta get him out of there.”

Seeing the panic on her face, Gabe nodded and announced that there must be a dress mishap or something and that they’d be right back.

Leading the group out of the church Gabe mouthed to her asking what was going on and Emily glanced around before mouthing back ‘she left’. With wide eyes, Gabe looked at Nate who was completely befuddled but still relatively calm as he followed the rest of the groomsmen back to the room.

“She left?!” Gabe whisper yelled, his face turning angry.

“Left her engagement ring, house keys, and a note.” Emily whispered, waving the items in her hand. “It’s not our place to read the note but considering there is literally no one and nothing else over there I think it’s safe to say she’s gone.”

“Fuck that.” Gabe murmured, snatching the note and unfolding the simple piece of paper. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. This wasn’t what she expected, my ass.” He continued, rubbing at his face before handing the note back. “Fuck. What’s the plan?”

Swallowing hard, Emily rubbed her sweaty palms on her dress. This was not how today was supposed to go and while a part of her thought maybe she’d be relieved, she wasn’t. Nate didn’t deserve this.

“Get him out of here. I don’t care where you take him so long as it isn’t here or home. Get him drunk if need be.” Emily started. “And turn his phone off.”

“I’ll take care of that I guess.” She continued, tipping her head toward the still full church. “And then I’ll go pack up all of her things at the house, he’s not going to want to see that. And I’ll text you when that’s done.”

After ensuring that she had his cell number and he had hers, Gabe disappeared into the groom’s room upon her direction to just hurry and get Nate out of there.

Emily knew that Nate was going to be confused and hurt and she hated that but all she could think about right now was doing as much damage control as possible. With Gabe texting her that Nate was reluctantly out of the building, Emily took a deep breath and stepped back through the church’s doors.

“May I have everyone’s attention?” She said with as loud and strong of a voice as she could. “I know Nate and Alex appreciate everyone coming today. However I regretfully inform you that the bride has decided there will not be a wedding today.” Gasps went up throughout the church and she let her eyes meet those of Alex’s family who seemed just as surprised by that news as everyone else.

“I cannot speak any further on behalf of the bride, but Nate requests that everyone please give him the time and space to process these developments. He also requests that you please feel free to proceed to the reception venue as the food and drink has already been paid for. Again thank you all for coming.”

Stepping down from the front of the church, Emily took a few deep breaths trying to calm and focus herself. A moment later Nate’s parents and sister raced through the doors she had just exited and she approached them with a sad smile.

“He’s with Gabe and the groomsmen. I told them to take him anywhere that wasn’t here and feel free to get him drunk.” She murmured softly. “I’m going to head over to the house now and pack up all of her things.”

“What the hell happened?” His mom Kathy questioned, already close to breaking down herself.

“I didn’t read the note because it’s not my place but Gabe did and murmured something about ‘this not being what she expected.’ So I don’t know.”

After talking between themselves for a moment, Graham murmured that he was going to text Gabe about where they’d gone and Kathy asked if she could come to the house. Nodding because a second pair of hands would make things go faster, Emily asked Sarah if she could go pick up some boxes and packing tape and bring them to the house.

****

It was dark by the time everything that screamed Alex in Nate’s house had been packed up and loaded into Sarah’s rental car to take over to a storage unit for Alex to pick up whenever she was ready.

With Sarah and Kathy gone, Emily moved to change Nate’s sheets after texting Gabe that if Nate wanted to come home he could. With Gabe replying that they were on their way only a few minutes later, Emily sent a thumbs up and settled down at the island with a bottle of water, again breathing deeply to keep all the bubbling emotions under control.

Though Nate was drunk when he walked through the door, he wasn’t quite as drunk as Emily had been expecting. Still, Gabe urged him up to bed and as he did so, she got water and pain meds ready to be at his bedside when he awoke. Heading upstairs, Emily watched as Gabe settled Nate into bed and frowned as mumbles of ‘I don’t understand why she did this?’ filled the room.

“No one does.” Gabe murmured back softly. “But get some sleep man you’ve had a hell of a day.”

With Nate seemingly on his way to sleep, the two stepped out of the room and closed the door.

“I’m gonna stay with him if you want to head home.” Gabe declared with a yawn.

“Gabe, you have a wife and kids. Go home. I’ll stay with him.” Emily insisted. Eyeing her for a moment, Gabe nodded and murmured softly that she was a good friend and Nate was lucky to have her.

“I could say the same for you.” She replied. “Now go.”

With the house finally quiet, Emily sunk into Nate’s couch tugging a throw blanket she had gotten him over her legs as she tried to settle down to sleep for a few hours.

When she awoke she was a little surprised to hear Nate in the kitchen, the smell of eggs filling the air.

“Hey…” She whispered cautiously, not sure how he was going to be feeling this morning. Though he looked tired and a little worse for wear, he also seemed relatively stable considering.

“Eggs?” He asked, voice a little gruffer than usual.

“Sure.” Emily replied, honestly starving as she had been so focused on doing whatever she could for Nate last night she hadn’t eaten since lunch the previous day. Sitting up at the island counter, she just let Nate cook not wanting to interrupt him.

“Was thinking…” Nate started out of nowhere making Emily jump a little. “You don’t start your new job for a couple more weeks right?”

That was not a topic that Emily was expecting Nate to bring up but it was true that she was off for a few weeks between jobs.

“Want to come to Fiji with me?”

Nate had glanced over his shoulder with the question and Emily could only meet him with a blank look.

“I mean the honeymoon was already booked and paid for and I’m not going to not go…” Nate mumbled. “Thought maybe you’d want to come…drink, eat, tan, swim, just chill.”

Though it seemed a bit taboo to go on someone else’s honeymoon, Emily could tell that Nate really didn’t want to go alone and when else would she get a chance to go to a beautiful resort in Fiji.

“You know what…sure. I’m in.” She declared. The way Nate’s whole body relaxed told Emily it was the right decision and as he slid a plate of eggs across the island to her there was even the smallest trace of a smile on his face.

“Awesome. Eat up and go pack. Flight leaves at 3 so I’ll swing by at noon to get you.” Blinking a few times, Emily tampered her surprise because of course the flight was leaving today. She definitely needed to rush to get ready though because she certainly hadn’t planned on going anywhere.

But now, now she was just going to go with the flow.

****

Three things popped into Emily’s head when they arrived at their villa on Royal Davui Island in Fiji. First…the travel had been a complete bitch and she was exhausted. Second, she had never seen a view this beautiful in her entire life. And third, though she should have expected it, there was only one bed. At least the couch looked comfortable enough.

“Nate…this is stunning.” She declared immediately opening patio doors to step outside onto the balcony. It was truly paradise in every way. She could literally just spend the next week sitting here and staring at the view.

First though she needed a shower, a change of clothes, and possibly a nap.

Checking the first two off the list, Emily saw Nate sitting in a chair off on the living room patio and she moved over to him, surprised to see drinks and food waiting there already.

“Figured it had been awhile since we ate.” Nate declared motioning for her to sit. Everything looked absolutely delicious and Emily couldn’t wait to dig in. But Nate was holding up his drink in toast and she wasn’t going to leave him hanging. “To new chapters.” He murmured softly.

“To friendship.” Emily echoed clinking her glass against his before taking a sip. If the drinks were this good she was about to spend this whole trip more than a little buzzed.

Enjoying their lunch, Emily just gazed out at the view once again amazed at how stunning this place was. There was a certain peace that came from being here, to finally be still after all the chaos.

Deciding that that nap sounded like a great idea, Emily moved to lounge on the couch under the cool ceiling fans and though the room was bright, sleep came easy.

Her nap was followed by a trip down to the white sand beach with Nate and exploring the rest of the amenities on the island before they settled back at their villa for a private dinner.

When it came time for bed, Emily moved to settle on the couch once again and though Nate looked like he wanted to say something, he kept his mouth shut.

Overall the next few days were similar, Emily and Nate dined together but they didn’t always spend the whole day attached to each other’s sides. Nate used the fitness center on the island while Emily curled up on a lounger tanning and reading. Nate went hiking while Emily enjoyed the plunge pool at their villa.

They did go on a scuba excursion together and there were the couples’ massages Nate had arranged which had been slightly awkward but for the most part they just relaxed whether they were together or off on their own.

On the fourth morning, with Emily having awoken while Nate chose to sleep in, she sunk into the plunge pool just relaxing and looking out at the ocean as the sun rose. After about twenty minutes she heard footsteps before Nate’s voice softly asked if he could join her. Nodding, Emily shifted along the edge and Nate approached her, sinking down beside her.

Neither said anything, just watching the new day start. Shifting, Nate’s leg brushed against hers under the water and Emily startled a bit not expecting the skin to skin contact. It wasn’t unpleasant, just unexpected. And though he apologized, Nate’s energy felt like it had shifted. Over the course of the past few days he’d been pensive which made sense given the way his life had just been upended and Emily couldn’t help but wonder a bit what he’d been thinking.

“Are you sleeping okay on the couch?” He eventually asked. “Because it’s a king sized bed. It wouldn’t be that awkward to share it. You know if you wanted to…”

Emily had known Nate long enough to know that while he may have phrased it in a way that put the ball entirely in her court, he wouldn’t have said anything if it wasn’t something he wanted at least a little.

“I mean I guess I could be sleeping better.” She admitted leaving it at that and knowing that he’d draw the rest of the conclusions for himself.

Sharing Nate’s bed that night after spending the day paddle boarding and snorkeling once again had been surprisingly comfortable and it wasn’t a surprise to Emily when she ended up tucked under Nate’s arm with his chest pressed against her back. It likely wasn’t a surprise to Nate either and if it was he played it off easily getting up to go get a morning workout in.

While he did that, Emily soaked in the jacuzzi tub before settling down with another book. She was 100 or so pages in when Nate flopped down beside her on the other lounger.

“So Alex texted asking if I had gotten the ring, keys, and her note.” Nate stated.

“They’re uh on your dining room table.” Emily murmured, peeking over at him.

“I know.” Nate sighed softly. “I saw them.” He paused. “I told her I didn’t understand why she had walked away. Or why she had waited until we were literally getting married. She hasn’t responded yet. And I don’t know what to expect if she does or if she even will. Was it my fault Em? Was it something I did? Something I didn’t do?”

Closing her book, Emily sighed and twisted to sit up and look at Nate. It was clear that this had been bugging him for more than this morning but that he had finally worked his way through it enough to talk about it.

“I can’t answer that Nate. I’m not Alex so I don’t know what it was that she was expecting or why she waited so long if she wasn’t happy and didn’t say something first. But regardless of her reasons, the way she went about it was shitty. I know that and I know you know that. You deserved better than to be stood up at the altar with just a flimsy note of excuse and no warning.”

Nate mused over that for a second before murmuring that Alex had also inquired about getting her things.

“Your sister already sent her the info for the storage locker.” Emily replied. “So you can just ignore all of that, it's been taken care of.”

Looking lost in thought, Nate sat there for another fifteen minutes before murmuring that he was going to go take a nap. Knowing that he needed as much space as he wanted to sort through it all, Emily returned to her book just basking in the backdrop knowing that they were leaving in the morning and not wanting to waste a second of the view.

Just wanna say

I got you

After spending most of the day sitting and reading, Emily decided to go for a walk and when she returned another private dinner was set up.

“God I’m going to miss this food.” She declared calling out to where Nate was leaning against the balcony.

“Yeah.” He agreed though it was clear that he was as lost in his thoughts now as he had been earlier.

It was another quiet meal with her not pressing him to talk about whatever it was on his mind. While he took the dishes outside for the staff to retrieve, Emily leaned against the balcony as the sun started to creep lower in the sky.

And though she heard Nate’s steps return, she expected him to lean against the railing beside her. Instead, he stepped behind her, sliding his arm around her waist in a reverse hug.

“You’re gonna be okay Nate.” Emily whispered. “I know it’s hard now but you’re going to get through this.”

“Did you read it?” Nate asked, his voice low in her ear.

“Read what?”

“Alex’s note.”

“No Nate. That wasn’t my place.” Emily insisted. “That was a note meant for you.”

“Except it had your name on it.”

Before she could insist that no it hadn’t, Nate had placed a crinkled piece of paper into her hand. There plain as day in Alex’s handwriting was Emily, not Nate written on the front. How had she not noticed that? Unfolding the paper Emily started to read the message that had been intended for her eyes not Nate’s.

So that was where Gabe had gotten his mutterings and he’d stopped reading right there. Continuing on, Emily found herself biting her lip.

By the time she had finished, Emily had practically stopped breathing. That was…a lot. Her brain was spinning and her legs felt weak. Thankfully Nate’s arm secure around her waist held her up. He’d obviously read the letter a few times even if it was never met for him and Emily couldn’t help but feel guilty. Alex had left because of her. This was her fault.

With her legs collapsing completely, Nate’s grip tightened even more and he shifted them back to the couch, pulling her onto his lap.

“I got you.” His words were muffled by the press of his mouth against her bare shoulder but she heard them loud as day. How many times had she said those same three words to him in the past four years? And yet coming from his mouth they felt completely different.

They sat there with his nose just teasing against the skin of her shoulder until the sun had sunken fully in the sky and her breathing had regulated.

“Em…” He started softly, his voice vulnerable. “I know it might not be time just yet but when it is….I think I want to take that chance. Will you take it with me?” Her nod was instinctual, there was no other explanation for it, but it was enough for Nate’s shoulder’s to relax. “Yeah?” He questioned.

The kiss that followed could barely even be called a kiss but it held a promise. As Nate cupped both her cheeks, his lips grazed against hers faintly before his forehead pressed against her own communicating without words.

I got you.

#nathan mackinnon #nathan mackinnon imagine #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #hockey imagine #hockey imagines #colorado avalanche #colorado avalanche imagine #the winter fic exchange 2k23 #047 #cavalanche

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phobia-sweets · 1 year

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Hope you don't mind but can ya write Arkham-verse Scarecrow & Riddler with S/O who was a former Arkham Security Guard before they fell for them and later joined them?

after this is posted i'm rewarding (actually punishing) myself by playing iron banner

Arkhamverse! Riddler & Scarecrow x reader

Warnings / Notes: uhhhhhhhhh captivity is briefly mentioned lol and riddler is a lil bitch

SCARECROW

- Before the croc incident, Many guards avoided dealing with Jonathan more than was necessary. He knows how to get under people’s skin, he doesn’t need his toxin to scare people. People that had dealt with him in the past knew this. The Toxin just made his job easier, more effective.

- So guards took turns dealing with him so that no one had to be with him too much. Especially after he managed to poison his doctor with fear toxin he disguised as cologne.

- But you found him intirguing. Fear is a strong motivator. You knew this, working as a guard – A lot of them would try to scare patients into obedience, which worked. It obviously didn’t work on Jonathan, which frustrated some of the guards. Your approach with him was more polite, if anything.

- But it was just that all hell broke loose on arkham island when you were sick at home. You wouldn’t have even known about it if it wasn’t for the news being all about it. Of course word came from your coworkers that Crane was nowhere to be found, but a bag of his toxin and mask was laying in the sewers, where croc was. You assumed the worst.

- As far as everyone was concerned, The scarecrow – Jonathan Crane was dead. Until he showed up, his face replaced by burlap and thread.

Hiding behind barrels of what you presumed were fear toxin, you held your breath. Your colleagues always said your curiosity would be the death of you. It surely started to seem that way as you listened to Jonathan Crane’s gravelly voice as he talked to someone – a soldier? He didn’t seem the type to work with soldiers. But then again, it’s been quite a long time since he ‘died’.

“May I help you?”

In your panic, you hadn’t heard the soldier leave and footsteps approach you. Looking up, you were met with blank, milky eyes and the sight of four needles attached to a gauntlet. You’d admire the craftsmanship if it weren’t for the fact that they were dangerously close to your face.

- Were you drugged? Probably. You don’t really remember.

- what started out as captivity turned into you helping around in Gotham before his announcement of, well, feargassing Gotham.

- When did feelings join the equation? A bit before halloween. Did you make them known? Not exactly. Jonathan didn’t seem like the person to bother with feelings that weren’t fear or terror. But you swore you could catch him quietly chuckle at some of your quips or comments.

RIDDLER

- You were probably one of the only people that actually bothered with his riddles – whether you got it wrong or right, you would try to answer them. ‘Maybe it’ll keep him off my skin’ you thought. It did not.

- If anything, it made him bother you even more. If you got them wrong, he’d obviously insult you, but if you got them right…? He would compliment you as if you were a stupid child. Very demeaning.

“Mr. Nygma, I’ve brought you your food.” You said nonchalantly, setting the tray on a table. Nygma quite often refused to eat in the cafeteria – said something about being surrounded by complete morons and how he could feel his braincells dying the more he had to spend time in there. So, As you seemed to be the only guard that didn't care about his insults on your intelligence, you volunteered to be the one to bring him his food. Arkham wasn’t exactly known for bending to the patient’s wills, but as much as Edward wouldn’t attack you, no one wanted to listen to his insults.

“I have billions of eyes, Yet I live in darkness. I have millions of ears, yet only four lobes. I have no muscle, yet I rule two hemispheres. What am I?” Edward’s voice echoed.

“Ah, the… the human brain? Right?” You guessed, facing to look at edward. He simply gave a quiet “hmph.” And resumed reading his book. Turning around, you left.

-time skip to when either he escapes or you helped him escape. Why did you help him? Not even you knew how or why, but you fell for him. Hard.

- Trying to see if he felt anything towards you was hard. Especially since he would avoid answering some of your questions and being… well, himself, with his riddles and big words.

- When you began actively helping him with placing his trophies around Arkham city, bringing him whatever tools he needed, he seemed to start… relaxing in your prescense? Atleast he wasn’t as irritated in your prescense as he was before. A good sign, hopefully.

#arkhamverse scarecrow x reader #arkhamverse riddler x reader #jonathan crane x reader #the riddler x reader #scarecrow x reader #edward nygma x reader

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wheredidhiseyebrowsgo · 2 years

Note

I was wondering if you knew any fics with Scott being a good friend? I feel like people villainise Scott too much, and that they ignore that fact that they've been friends for literally nearly two decades. I don't really mind the ship, I just rally want a Good Friend Scott McCall fic for once.

Hi @woopy-doopey! @kevaaronday made this fic and said "Ngl i do love a good bad friend scott fic, but good friend scott always hits the spot!"

You Can Stay As Long As You Want by jacyevans (5/5 | 26,116 | Teen | Sterek) When Derek arrives upstairs, Erica takes one look at him, rolls her eyes, and takes the bags of groceries from his hands.

“So I see Mr. 5B has arrived,” she says, leaning against the counter, shoulders shaking with laughter.

Derek hates his pack.

Stiles and Scott are the new tenants in Derek's apartment building. While Derek and Stiles attempt to ignore their burgeoning interest in each other, their respective packs make sure nothing will keep the two idiots from falling in love - except maybe the faulty elevator.

Then There Was You by WaitASecondWhat (4/4 | 16,913 | Mature | Sterek) Stiles Stilinski was Scott's best friend and no one could say anything different. They had been friends since they were babies. Unfortunately Stiles had to move to New York when he was 11 to see if a special doctor could help his mother, Claudia. They couldn’t and she died that year. Stiles' dad didn’t expect her to pass so quickly and had already secured a job so they stayed. It had been 6 years but they were still as close as ever. Except Stiles didn’t know about the whole supernatural thing.

Then Stiles comes back and happiness, crushing on Derek and angst ensue.

the banana bread incident by Thealmostrhetoricalquestion (1/1 | 10,287 | Teen | Sterek) "Is this a plastic spoon?" Stiles demands in disgust. "You do realise that there's actual cutlery in the kitchen, right? I'm surrounded by morons who don't know how to use a kitchen."

“I know how to use a kitchen,” Derek protests lazily. “It’s just that all the other spoons were dirty.”

“There’s this revolutionary new invention,” Stiles says, widening his eyes in mock-amazement. “It’s called a sink.”

In which there are tiny pink shorts, a kissing gate, a cat called Pumpkin and a plethora of awkward moments.

Scott McCall’s I Saw It First by WhereDestiniesMeet17 (1/1 | 5,875 | Teen | Steter) It's as he's drifting off to sleep that he has revelation number three. They have no fucking idea. Not a clue that they are in love, much less with each other. Scott laughs so hard that he wakes not only himself, but half the pack.

Or the one where Scott figures out that Stiles and Peter are in love way before they do. Meanwhile, they have monsters to take care of.

Diary Of An Overworked Nurse by RoryMarx (1/1 | 4,636 | Gen) If you have it… we’ll do something,” Scott suddenly said, and then they were hugging.

Crystal looked at them, could feel the other adults do the same, and the only word she could describe the hug with was desperate. Scott and Stiles clung to each other like two people afraid to drown. It was heartbreaking. These teenagers loved each other. No matter what the MRI showed today, Crystal knew Stiles wouldn’t just have his dad to count on – he would also have Scott.

OR: Over the years the nurses and doctors of Beacon Hills Memorials watched Stiles and Scott grow up - they saw a lot of tears, hugs, laughter, and grief.

5 Times Scott and Stiles Celebrated Their Humanity + 1 Time There Were Werewolves

Hold the Sugar; You’re Sweet Enough by Dani Mahealani (1/1 | 2,846 | Gen | Sterek) Stiles loves his friends, he really does. But as he’s making Derek’s latte, he catches what Scott’s written on Derek’s cup and groans.

“What are you, twelve? You know Derek already has my number. He’s had my number. We text every day,” Stiles says as he works on the latte.

Scott looks over at him from the register with the most innocent grin in the world and shrugs. “I know, but I wanted to make a statement.”

Stiles rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “You mean adding ‘+ SS’ underneath his name and drawing a heart around it wasn’t enough of a statement?”

“If you’re not going to flirt with him yourself, I’ll just flirt with him for you,” Scott says, shrugging.

or the one where their meddling friends decide it's high time for stiles and derek to get their acts together and date

Summertime Fling by TheSlyestFox (2/2 | 2,740 | Teen | Stiles/Brett) After all the supernatural drama over the last few years, Stiles is ready for a break. Summer brings the perfect opportunity for a respite when he signs up for a painting class through the local community college. He loves his pack, but a little R&R is just what he needs to reset for senior year. His plans go awry when Brett Talbot unexpectedly joins him at his table. He's annoyed at first, but Brett's flirtatious and jovial personally cuts right through his defenses.

#teen wolf #sterek #stiles stilinski #derek hale #stiles and scott #anon

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abihastastybeans · 11 months

Text

@wolfstarmicrofic - July 2023

Prompt no.7: Cousin (ao3)

Word count: 193

Sirius winced when the foul smelling liquid ran down his back.

“Hold still,” Remus ordered, rummaging into his bag for bandage.

“Why can’t you just do it magically?” Sirius asked, gritting his teeth. The wound at his back was starting to itch and he started beating the pillow beside him to keep himself from scratching his fresh wounds.

“Hold still,” Remus repeated. “I don’t want to fuck up the spell and leave you with scars.” His hands slotted through Sirius’ and he unrolled the old bandage, slowly wrapping it around his torso. Sirius grunted in pain.

“Merlin, that hurts. I wonder what curse it was…”

“Well, you should’ve had that in mind before you went mouthing your dear cousin,” Remus spat.

“Who knew Narcissa had grown a spine and had started hexing people?” Sirius retorted. “She was being a moron and you’re stupid if you think I’m just going to let them talk.”

Remus sighed and secured the end into a fold. He gently wrapped his arms around Sirius’ middle, hugging him but making sure not to touch his wound. “You need to be safe, Sirius.”

Sirius' shoulders relaxed. “I know,” he whispered.

#wolfstar #wolfstar microfic #abi's fic

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ridiasfangirlings · 10 months

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An AU where Homra are a group of thieves (like Robin Hood steal from the evil rich and give to the poor and all) and their next target is the Fushimi's who had just come to the city for business stuff. Saruhiko is had left his family long ago and joined the special forces in a different city and is annoyed that his job right now requires him to protect his family's riches while they're there. He wishes he could help the thieves rob the place instead but it'd be trouble for his group. Unless...?

Fushimi being like oh no you’re stealing all my mother’s money how terrible do you need some bags to carry it in XD Imagine Homra as vigilantes stealing from the indolent rich and giving to the needy, they’re wanted all around the country but the normal people support them. They focus not just on the rich but specifically those who got their money through illicit means, like the types who exploit their workers or war profiteering or just general corruption, and they have like a whole information network to help choose their next target. One day second in command Kusanagi says they have a new job, Fushimi Kisa is transferring a large amount of physical cash from one of her businesses to her personal vaults and the money will be stored briefly at a fortified house in a nearby town. They won’t have a lot of time but it will be easiest to steal the money then, so they begin planning to rob the house.

Meanwhile Fushimi works for the government special forces group and has been put in charge of guarding Kisa’s money. Kisa’s wealthy enough that she knows who to bribe — er, influence to get special treatment. Of course special forces leader Munakata wasn’t too pleased about it, he didn’t even want to send Fushimi (suspecting from the same family name and Fushimi’s reaction that they’re related and that Fushimi doesn’t have much contact with his mother) but Kisa insisted, assuming that even if she doesn’t care for her son he should at least have enough sense to want to protect his inheritance. Fushimi of course hates this, as soon as his shitty dad died he left the family and he’s never asked for a cent from them, and having to guard Kisa’s money makes him feel sick.

He’s still doing his job but imagine he’s kinda half-assing it, if he wanted to he could make this the most secure place in the country but he doesn’t even care. As he’s sitting there bored out of his skull he finds himself thinking that wouldn’t it be great if someone just came and stole all this money right now, which is when he suddenly senses that he’s about to be attacked. Fushimi dodges and Yata’s fist passes right over his head. Fushimi moves into a defensive position as Homra approaches, Totsuka noting that oh dear it looks like we lost our element of surprise. Kusanagi considers what they should do next, if they all attack at once they can take this single soldier down but it’ll cause a fuss. Yata complains that he doesn’t even know how this guy saw him coming and Fushimi snorts like what a moron it was so obvious I was about to get hit.

Mikoto strides forward and Kusanagi asks if he wants to solve this quickly so they can get the money. Fushimi’s all ‘so you want to steal all this money, huh’ and Yata’s like that’s right we’re the great Homra, we steal from the rich and give to the poor. Fushimi’s like how stupid but then imagine he shrugs and starts to walk away. Yata’s like wait what’s going on and Fushimi says he’ll disable the security system and make it look like a glitch, you idiots have ten minutes until I’m back from my break and everything starts working again, by the way my back-up’s sleeping two doors down if you could just knock him out lightly for me and drag him over this way.

The Homra guys all exchange looks and Yata’s like this is a trap right, Fushimi shrugs and says it’s up to you if you want to believe it. He moves out of sight and after a few minutes Homra can see the security system shutting down, Kusanagi’s like well this was unexpected but they decide not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Meanwhile Fushimi is so very sorry about the place being robbed, maybe if Kisa hadn’t hired a shitty private firm to work as his backup the guy would have been able to guard the door while Fushimi was on lunch break. And there’s nothing he could have done about the incredible coincidence that the power for the security system went on the fritz right as those awful criminals showed up, what a shame that’s what you get for hiring amateurs, nothing he could have done really.

#k project #Fushimi saruhiko #Talking K #Fushimi being like oh no what will I do #anyway #he has all kinda of alibis for why he had nothing to do with this and it isn't his fault #bc he's good at covering his tracks

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not-a-space-alien · 2 years

Text

Savage Sunset Chapter 17S

Story masterpost

Complementary chapter

In this chapter: birdy =w=

Content/Content warnings for this chapter: Aftermath of torture, broken bones, heavy emotional distress, nonconsensual bondage/restraint/being trapped, gag/muzzle, poison (sort of), suicidal ideation, homophobic slurs (reclaimed usage), teeth pulling (off-screen)

They finished the drive there just for posterity. They found the area where the confrontation had taken place, the persons of interest long gone, evidenced only by the abandoned sawhorses that had been used to block the road, shoved off to the side. Ari drove slowly past it, then pulled a U-turn and rolled past it again in the other direction.

She pulled the van over to the side and got out, walking around and kicking the nearby innocent shrubs whenever they got too close.

Lex dragged herself out, aimlessly walking around. “What are we looking for?”

“I don’t know,” Ari muttered. She walked in a straight line, mimicking the driveby she’d just done. Lex followed, not really searching for anything. Just feeling…bad.

Ari made a beeline for a shrub at the base of the hill and pulled a bedraggled object from underneath it. It was a satchel, stained and still dripping with red liquid.

“Fuck,” said Ari. She inverted it, and out dropped the familiar sight of one of the plastic bags of blood that had been in their fridge, emptied, contents soaking the bag and ground beneath it. Something else also fell out–a book, mercifully spared by being wrapped in a plastic bag.

“We took this from his house,” said Lex tearfully, reaching down and picking up the book. “He–All he wanted to bring was the blood, and this one book?”

Ari grunted, throwing the bag back down on the floor. “Fucking idiot. Fucking. Fucking moron. Got himself killed. Got him–he kind of deserved it. He was kind of asking for it.”

Lex unwrapped the bloody bag and dropped it to the ground, taking the book in both hands. The Natural History of Viruses.

All his books had been like that. He was a nerd. They’d managed to accidentally torture and murder a nerd vampire.

“Let’s go,” Ari huffed, legging it back to the van.

Lex opened the book and saw a note on the title page, written in a fancy, looping handwriting.

To my dearest turtledove,

I hope this will start making you feel more at home. I want you to be comfortable here.

Love,

Priscus

Lex snapped the book closed, hugging it to her chest and crying. He was a person, he’d been a person and there had been those that’d loved him and given him gifts and had pet names for him. And he was gone, turned to ash because of Lex. And Ari, too, she supposed, but she could never bring herself to blame something like this on Ari. Only on herself.

“Hey,” said Ari nastily. “Let’s fucking go.”

Lex furrowed her brow, crying harder, and walked back to the van.

Lex got in, and they both just sat there for a moment.

“Sorry,” said Ari.

Lex said nothing.

“Let’s…let’s go do something nice. Let’s get brunch.”

An hour or two later, and they were in a booth at a diner with a smorgasbord of brunch food in front of them. Ari had already eaten through a decent portion of it. That was what she did when she felt bad. Instead of crying like Lex, she got snippy, and ate her feelings.

“Okay,” said Ari, setting down a muffin. “We fucked up. But what do we do with our mistakes?”

“We don’t let them happen again,” said Lex.

“We learn from them. So let’s ask ourselves, what went wrong, and how do we prevent it from happening again?”

“I don’t know if I want to be a vampire hunter anymore, Ari,” said Lex tearfully.

Ari sighed and took a sip of coffee. “Christ. I guess I could be a security guard or something.”

“All those vampires we killed were people. They–they had families, and–”

“Now hold on a second,” said Ari, slamming her cup on the table. “You can’t blame us for that. Most vampires do come into human territory to hurt people. Quite–quite viciously. They know the risk they’re taking to do that. I mean, Christ, there’s a huge sign at the border with skulls that say HUMAN TERRITORY - KEEP OUT - VAMPIRES WILL BE KILLED ON SIGHT. We can’t try and interview every single one to make sure they’re really a bad person.”

Lex deflated. “I–I just wish there was some way it didn’t have to be this way.”

Ari’s gaze drilled into her. The waitress came over and refilled her coffee, and Ari didn’t even try and flirt with her. As soon as the waitress left, Ari leaned forward and hissed, “And you think I don’t?”

Lex put her head on her arms on the table.

“It’s easy to just say that, Lex. Everyone wishes that. You didn’t realize until now the vampires we were killing were people? You don’t look them in the eye as they die? Because I do. Every time. I know I’ve killed innocent people by accident. You’ve been lying to yourself if you didn’t think you have, too.”

“Don’t talk to me this way,” Lex snapped. “It’s not okay for you to talk to me this way.”

Ari leaned back and crossed her arms. “This was a risk we were taking when we became vampire hunters. It's not avoidable. Just by practicality, just because of how dangerous vampires can be if we give them a chance. We just had to decide it was worth the risk to save all the innocent people who would be hurt if we didn't hunt vampires. Did you not fully understand that? Were you not prepared? We know there are vampires who aren’t bad people. We know that. But we can’t tell that at a glance, and we’ve already taken as many steps as possible to ensure the only ones we run into are the ones who are here to hurt people. Sometimes someone will end up as the unlucky exception.”

“I know that,” said Lex. “Stop talking to me like a child. I’m not stupid.”

“You sure act like it sometimes.”

“You always do this. You always take it out on me.”

“You act like you’re better than me because you don’t have the stomach to own up to–”

“Which one of us was it who–”

“You did this when–”

They stopped arguing, breaking off and looking away with red faces as the waitress came back to give them the check.

“Let’s not fight,” said Ari. “I’m sorry. We’re both upset. We shouldn’t fight. Let’s talk about this more later.”

“I’m sorry, too,” said Lex.

They paid the bill and went home. The ride home was a long, miserable 45 minutes. They kept the radio on, and the CB radio, but all was quiet.

They came into the house, and Lex started crying again when she saw the remnants of Valen’s belongings in the living room.

Ari sighed. “I’ll start…taking this back outside, I guess. Why don’t you go lie down?”

“Okay. Thanks. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Lex shuffled into the dining room. She stared at the ground, sniffling, and then noticed a blinking light out of the corner of her eye.

The answering machine. Someone had called and left a message.

She pressed play, and the tape spun. “You’ve reached the dyke patrol,” said Ari’s voice, the outgoing message. “We aren’t home. Catch ya later.”

Beep.

“Yo, what’s up dyke patrol,” said Bailey’s voice from the machine. “This is fagtown here, it’s about, uh, 8:25 and we’re pulled over at a payphone right now. We’ve got a special little something for you locked in the trunk. Call me back when you get this. We should be home any time after 9AM.”

Lex ripped the phone off the wall and started mashing buttons as Ari came in. “Was that Bailey?” said Ari.

“Yeah,” said Lex, heart racing. “Holy shit.”

Ari leaned in so both their ears were near the receiver. It rang, and then:

“Yo,” said Jerome’s voice.

“Jerome,” said Lex, tears welling in her eyes again. “It’s Lex and Ari. We got your message. Please tell me–”

“Oh, yeah,” said Jerome. “Girl, listen, you are both so bad at lying. Like, I knew Lex was bad at lying, but Jesus, Ari, I’ve never heard you that nervous before.”

“Cut the crap,” said Ari. “Get to the point.”

“Right,” said Jerome, “Well, listen, you never submitted a pair of fangs to prove that you killed Nick’s, erm, ‘research sample,’ so hearing the way you were, uh, panicking to try and get that vamp alive made it preeeeeetty obvious you’d lied and kept it, and something had gone wrong. So we figured we’d just snap it up before anyone else could get to it, and let Nick keep believing it was dead.”

“Is he still alive?” said Ari.

“Yeah,” said Jerome. “Although I’m sure he’s not gonna be happy with us when he wakes up, so if you could get over here–”

“Th-thank you,” said Lex tearfully. “Of course, of course we’ll come right away. Thank you, thank you so much.”

“You owe us one.”

“Of course.”

“And you’ll have to explain to us, er, why you want this one alive so badly.”

“Yes. Yes, of course. Thank you so much. We’ll come over right now.”

“All right, see ya.”

“Bye.”

Lex hung up the phone, and she and Ari just looked at each other for a minute before taking each other in a tearful hug.

***

Ari drove the van partway up onto the sidewalk and didn’t bother fixing her parking job before they both leapt out and ran to the front door.

“Dammit!” said Lex, wading through some obstructive, distinctly out-of-season Halloween decorations blocking part of the porch. “Get out of the way!”

She reached around the enormous fake spider and through the cotton cobwebs to ring the doorbell. Bailey opened the door a second later, leaning against the doorframe with a smarmy grin. “Who’s there? I’m not interested in anything you’re selling.”

“Very funny, shithead,” said Ari, all but shoving past him to get into the house. Lex thought they really ought to be more polite, considering Bailey and Jerome were doing them a huge favor, but she was so, so antsy to see–

She rounded into the living room and saw him, on the couch next to Jerome. Muzzled, cuffed, chained to the radiator, the whole nine yards. He looked so, so scared, eyes puffy from crying, but oh he was alive. “Valen! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.” She sat on the couch and took his hand.

Valen’s eyes stayed on Ari, fearful, as though he were expecting her to punish him. But she just leaned him into her chest, putting her arms around him. “There you are. There you are, we’ve got you.”

Holy shit. Ari never did that with anyone besides Lex. She must have been way, way more upset than even Lex had guessed.

It was only at this point she registered what it was she was looking at on the coffee table in front of her: A pair of canine fangs next to bloody pliers. “Wh– Did you–Did you fucking rip his teeth out?” She imagined poor Valen, helpless and restrained and in pain as Bailey and Jerome held him down and took pliers to his mouth.

“We need to submit them to prove we killed him,” said Jerome. “You know that.”

“Nick was probably suspicious when you didn’t do that,” said Bailey.

“We did it while he was asleep,” said Jerome.

Lex lowered her hackles a little, then scoffed, “Whatever.” She leaned Valen’s head to the side to access the buckle keeping the muzzle on. “Shh, shh, it’s okay, I’ve got you.”

“Are you sure that’s safe?” said Jerome. “Like really sure?”

“Yes,” said Ari. She’d had enough of people assuming Valen was dangerous.

The muzzle came off, a string of bloody saliva stretching out after it, his newly freed mouth gasping and panting. “There we go,” Lex cooed, palming his cheek, trying to steady him as his eyes wheeled about in terror. “There we go, there you are, sweetheart.”

“I’m–I’m sorry,” said Valen, instantly in tears. “I’m–I’m sorry I ran away.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” said Lex. “Can I have the key for the cuffs?”

Jerome produced the key, but then retracted his hand before Lex could grab it. “You have some explaining to do. We nabbed him because you obviously wanted him alive.”

“Right,” said Lex. “I will, but–can–can we explain it after we–he really doesn’t like being tied up.”

“As long as you’re sure he won’t try anything.” Jerome handed her the key. She unlocked the wrist cuffs, dropping them to the ground, then she detached the chain from the collar on his neck. “There, is that better?”

“Th-thank you,” he whispered.

Lex stroked the nape of his neck. He hunched in over himself, refusing to make eye contact.

“This is Valen,” said Ari. “And he hasn’t committed any crimes, so it’s not right to punish him.”

Bailey and Jerome looked at each other. “You’re…you’re sure?” said Bailey.

“Yes,” said Lex. “Valen, do you want to tell them?”

Valen trembled, entire body tense. His lip quivered and he dipped his head. “Please kill me,” he whimpered.

“Wh-what?” Lex gasped. Oh god. Oh fuck. This was all their fault. They had to fix it. They had to. She couldn’t live with herself. She couldn’t. “No, no, we’re not going to kill you, sweetheart. Hey, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“It hurts,” he said, wobbling. “It hurts, it hurts so bad and it’s never going to get better.”

“Hey,” said Ari, and her hands squeezed his shoulders. “You’re feeling really bad right now because of temporary things. Don’t make any permanent decisions right now.”

Lex’s hand squeezed his. “All right, all right. It feels bad physically or emotionally?”

“B-both,” he wailed. “Please, please have mercy on me. I–I’m sorry.”

“This is weird,” said Bailey. “Geez, this is weird.”

Lex glared at them. She knew what he meant, of course: it was rare to see a vampire expressing any emotion other than anger, or indignation, or anything outside the range of things they would express in combat. It was rare to talk with one, and listen to them talk about their feelings, and beg for mercy.

“Shut up,” Ari snapped, expressing the impatience Lex felt at the commentary. She hugged her arms closer to him. “We’re still going to help you, Valen. All right? Let’s unfuck this thing together. We’ll help you dig yourself out.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, hands still in his lap, seemingly afraid to accept any of the comfort being offered to him.

“Now, what is it that hurts?” said Ari. “Physically? What can we fix?”

“The–the–The si-silver dart is still, is still–”

“Jesus, that hasn’t worn off yet?” said Jerome.

“N-no,” Valen said. “Please, it hurts, please, please.”

Jerome got a stunned look on his face. “I…I didn’t know it hurt that badly. I’m sorry.”

“Why wouldn’t it hurt?” Valen wailed. “Why–Why–”

Lex leaned into his field of vision, tilting his head to look at her. “All right, don’t get worked up. Focus on what we can do now. How can we help you?”

He sniffled. “I–I–Please, pl-please just–knock me unc-uncon–knock me out again.”

“Really?” said Ari.

“It–It’ll wear off, I think, I think it will wear off.”

“Okay,” said Ari, squeezing him reassuringly. “Okay, we’ll do that. What do you want us to do longer-term? Where were you trying to go? You went south.”

“The–the border.”

The border? Fuck, he’d been going in the complete opposite direction if that’d been his goal. Was he really that panicked, that he’d flee without making sure he knew where he was going?

“Do you want us to drive you to the border?” said Ari. It wasn’t safe for them to drive him into vampire territory. But, if he wanted…

“Pl-please let me stay with you, ma’am, if–if–if you’re still amenable to–to hosting me,” Valen stuttered.

“Of course,” said Lex. “Of course we will.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” said Ari. “Are you just saying that?”

“I c-can’t be on my own like this,” said Valen. “It–it already didn’t work.” He seemed a little more at ease now, though, by the offer to let him go.

“All right,” said Ari. “Then we’ll knock you out, and when you wake up, you’ll be back at home. At our house. Nice and safe.”

“In the ducky pajamas?”

Holy shit. Lex tried not to smile. “Sure, if that’s what you want.”

“We did it with a knife to the neck earlier,” said Bailey. “Was that okay?”

“Y-yes,” he said. “That’s–that’s the fastest way. But, but maybe make it bigger this time? So I–so I’m out for longer. Please? If that’s–if that’s okay.”

“Of course that’s okay,” said Lex. “Are you ready?”

“Wait, b-before we do that… Can I ask something?”

“Yes, what is it?”

He flushed and looked down. “Can I…Can I p-please hold the bird?”

The bird...? Oh, he was talking about the cockatiel. Lex hadn't even noticed; the cage was currently covered in a blanket, but she'd seen it in the past, when she'd been over here before.

After a moment of silence, Jerome and Bailey both burst out laughing. “What, Princess D?” said Bailey. “The scream queen?”

Valen kept his eyes down, very red.

“Sure, man,” said Jerome. “What the hell, sure you can hold the bird.”

Valen let out a gasp of delight, smiling despite himself. There were two huge gaps where his fangs had been, but Lex’s heart warmed by the sight anyway. “Thank you.”

Jerome walked over to the bird cage and slid the blanket off of it. The bird had moved to one leg with its beak buried in its wing, and it looked at the humans with half-lidded eyes, as though irritated at being woken up.

Jerome slid the cage door open and stuck his hand in, and the bird stepped up onto his fingers. “Hey, little miss, you wanna come meet someone new?”

Jerome came over. The bird’s crest rose again, and it tweeted.

“Hold your hand out,” said Bailey, taking Valen's wrist and manually positioning his fingers. Valen’s hand fell again as soon as he let go, so he replaced his supports. Jerome set his hand so it was touching Valen’s.

The bird stepped up onto Valen’s finger, and everyone cheered.

***

Tag list <3

@annablogsposts

@cc1010foxy

@darlingwhump

@emcscared-whumps

@nicolepascaline

@oddsconvert

@pumpkin-spice-whump

@soursagas

@thecyrulik

@whump-cravings

@whump-for-all-and-all-for-whump

@whumpycries

@whumpsday

#hurt/comfort #angst #whump #vampire whumpee #whumpblr #my writing

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renee-writer · 7 months

Text

Loved Her First Chapter 108

This chapter is all by the brilliant @omgbarbiegurl 😁

AO3

Mercy wiggled against her bonds, desperately trying to figure out where she was.

She jumped when she heard a door unlock, and then open.

The echo told her they were in a small space, perhaps a cabin? Footsteps tapped against the floor before the blindfold was pulled off.

She took a quick glance at her surroundings. She was right, they were in a Cabin, sparsely furnished. Not any weapons she could see, but she could make a few on the run if needed.

Maybe.

She moves her gaze to the captor and almost wants to laugh.

Of course, it would be Adam, like the idiot Browns, morons never give up.

“Hello Adam.” Mercy said politely.

He looks surprised, like he expected her to be hysterical or some other nonsense.

She was raised in the wilds of North Carolina; had witnessed death, pain, childbirth, and Hope nearly being raped.

She had also witnessed a murder, but she was sure no one knew what she had seen.

Modern things would always make her nervous, but villains that kidnapped were nothing new in her world.

“Well you seem fairly calm, I expected you to be hysterical.” Adam said.

“Why would I be hysterical? That would slow down my ability to escape.”

Adam blinked, and then started to laugh.

“Please Mercy, we are miles into the woods-”

“Boston doesn’t have woods, well they do, but no place a person can have a cabin.”

“Well perhaps we are a little away from Boston then.”

“You wouldn’t go far, you like having access to things.”

Ian had changed into some new breeks and a shirt that David had given him. They were close to the same size and while strange, he liked them.

David had not been able to tell them much, just that he had been hysterical enough that the Police had been called by Campus Security when David found Mercy’s things messed up.

“She is very studious; she is never one to just leave her books scattered around.”

Faith nodded. “Do you have her things, maybe if we look through them, we can find something.”

David handed her parents her bag. Faith and Ian went through it very slowly, sifting through the items.

Faith smiled at the picture of herself that Joe had taken with his camera, but she was startled by a folded-up piece of paper next to it.

She unfolded it, and her heart stuttered.

It was a realistic drawn picture of Ian, eyes warm and welcoming, lips parted in a smile.

She showed it to her husband, fingers trembling.

“She kept a Likeness of me.”

“Clearly she missed you more than she let on.”

He nodded, tears in his eyes. “We are going to get her back.” He said firmly.

He turned to David. “Now tell me everything of this Adam.”

Mercy rubbed her wrists. Adam had finally untied her, and left again with an order for her to make some food.

There were cold cuts and some bread. She could make sandwiches, if he was expecting a full meal, he was not going to get it.

Before she started, she did a quick cursory look for something sharp. There was nothing, not even a fork, just spoons.

“Damn.” She muttered the curse under her breath, but grabbed one of the spoons from the drawer and tucked it into her pocket. She grabbed another and set to work making some sandwiches.

Her thoughts of what to do were startled as the door opened.

Adam appeared with some firewood.

The pair looked at each other, before Adam spoke.

“I have some contacts in Boston, ears to the ground as it were. Apparently, your parents have come into town.”

Her hand faltered, but she steadied it.

“My Daddy is quite the hunter; he learned from an actual Native. He will find you, and he will kill you.”

“Please, I have covered my tracks well.”

She turned to offer him the sandwich on a plate. “So you think.”

His face contorted, and he slammed his hand down onto the offering, which caused it to crash to the floor.

“So I know. You think anyone is going to rescue you? Be able to find you? Please.”

Mercy said nothing, merely dropped to her knees and started cleaning up the mess on the floor.

Adam stomped off, not noticing when Mercy stuck a shard of the broken plate into her pocket.

#my writing #outlander fanfic #omgbarbiegurls and I 's #loved her first #chapter 108 #jamie and claire #cannon divergence #outlander fandom

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writingmaidenwarrior · 1 year

Text

Just the usual morning

I think @flashfictionfridayofficial prompts are helping me to get a WIP lol Last week's piece lived in my head rent-free and expanded over the last days, and today's prompt gave me a good excuse to write some of the new characters. This will be some cozy slice of life fantasy thing in the long run.

Reki curled up with a small poof of fire under the pot of water for tea while Amon rummaged around to find his googles. Maud stood with her hip rested at the table and watched him run around like a cow in a thunderstorm, while the scent of the herbs and scrambled eggs slowly filled the room. It was a thankful, slow morning, and she knew to cherish them as they came. She knew visitors were coming before the knock on the door came because Reki lifted her little dragon head curiously. With the knock on the door, the faint sound of metal sounded off, giving away it was the royal guard. There were only two reasons for them to appear on her door step that early: Either one of them was hung over and didn’t want to go to their guard’s healer or Meir. The uproar outside said it was Meir. The moment she opened the door, said former royal guard hung between two of his old comrades, looking like he had a run in with Death himself, but still with this aloof smirk on his face that lit up his amber eyes under this unruly mop of black hair. They had him in a secure grip by his shoulders to make sure he wouldn’t run away, like he ever would. “Good morning, Maud, I am sorry to disturb you but…” She waved them off and motioned inside. “You know the way, guys.” They dragged him inside and threw Meir on a free chair. Reki immediately scurried over and seated herself on Meir’s lap. Love-sick little dragon. The higher-ranked guard nodded to the other one he could leave and waited for him to be out of the door before he addressed Meir. “I can’t keep doing this.” “I never asked you to, Kellen.” “We are friends, moron. That’s the least thing I can do.” “You mean beside throwing me in a cell?”, Meir asked while scratching Reki’s ear. Kellen sighed defeated. “Make sure he will stay away from a pub for one night”, he said towards Maud before he left off. She already had the small jar with salve in her hands and put it in front of him. “You know he tries to help”, Maud reminded Meir softly, and left for the last preparation of the day. “I know”, he sighed, just as defeated as Kellen moments ago, “But he has to understand it would be better for him to stop caring.” “Says the man who cares too much”, Amon teased, finally with his googles in his hands. A boyish smile was all Meir could muster as a reply as he opened the jar and started to apply the salve to his bruises. “Where is Iskra? She isn’t here yet?” Meir’s eyes scanned the room for the young tiefling bard. “Probably overdoing it again.” Amon placed the bread and eggs in front of Meir with a look that left no discussion as to eat. Maud came back with the blue vest that carried the tree emblem, identifying her as an official healer. “Another one I need to keep out of the pubs for tonight.” The door swung open and a heartily yawing Iskra stumbled inside. She barely managed to put her lute aside before she fell into the last free chair. “You are barely awake, sweets”, Meir softly admonished and grabbed the pot of tea to pour her a mug, adding extra honey for her voice. Maud and Amon shared an amused look. Ever since Iskra came to the city and became part of their unusual horde, Meir became her protector. Only he knew what he saw in her. “Thanks. The patrons just left.” “You need to take better care of yourself, sweet love”, Amon advised, “There is no use in grinding yourself to dust. Take a day off.” Iskra’s snoring was the only sound, her head in her hands.” “Go to work, I’ll carry her to her room”, Meir snickered at the sight, “And I promise no gambling tonight. It will be enough of a game of luck to keep her entertained.” “True words. A bag of fire ants is easier to handle than her when bored”, Maud laughed and patted his shoulder, “And get a bath, you stink.” Laughter erupted at Maud’s comment.

#writblr #writing #flashficfriday #wynne writes #cozy slice of life fantasy

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nyx-lyris · 8 months

Text

best laid plans - h.f.

fighting your own heart is among the hardest battles in the world.

ruth erwin is a college student at nyu in pursuit of a degree in english literature. though a bit older and more experienced than most of her peers, she has no trouble settling into university life once again. she decides to take a class in coding to spice up her schedule a bit - only to find herself struggling more than she would like.

in search of assistance, she finds herself in the office of one harold wren, her gentle and mysterious professor. she finds herself drawn to him, wanting more from him, despite the forbidden nature of such a relationship.

harold, too, despite his better judgment, finds himself wanting more and more of this lovely student of his. he knows there are a hundred and one things that stand between them, but he can't help but feel drawn to her.

but, when her number comes up, the two are placed in an impossible predicament. with so many dangerous secrets standing between them and so many unforeseen variables tying them inextricably together, the way forward seems cloudier than ever. what, in the end, will prevail?

chapter one: in the beginning

whatever ruth had been expecting upon walking into professor wren’s class it hadn’t been this. the scene before her was colorful, to say the least, and she nearly dropped her bag at the sight. several students were crowded in the middle of the computer lab, shouting and cheering at what sounded an awful lot like a fight. she recognized several faces in the crowd - a bunch of freshmen and sophomores who were required to take this class for their engineering majors. the professor had yet to arrive and ruth wasn’t about to let a bunch of idiots ruin her first day of class after she’d had such a lovely summer break.

“hey!” she shouted. a couple of helpless onlookers turned, but few others reacted. she cleared her throat and tried again.

“hey!” she yelled, a little louder this time. a few more people looked up but it still wasn’t enough.

she huffed and rolled her eyes. “do you morons want me to call campus security? the police maybe?”

the cheering and shouting stopped, although the sounds of punching took a bit longer to dissipate.

"some of you i’ve caught doing some pretty shady stuff on campus,” she continued. “i won't go into detail, but i’m pretty sure most of you don’t have enough money to bail yourselves out of jail - or have families who care enough to do it for you.”

the silence in the hall was deafening.

“now, if you don’t mind, i’d like to enjoy my first day of class.”

she caught a few eye rolls and middle fingers as the students began to take their seats. she took a seat near the front of the room, heart pounding.

a moment later, the professor entered the room, looking frazzled.

“i apologize for being late,” he said, quickly unpacking his briefcase. “i had a bit of car trouble this morning.”

professor wren had a gentle face. he appeared to be at least in his fifties, with wide, intelligent blue eyes that sat behind a pair of dark, square glasses. his brown hair was spiky, likely touched up with some kind of hair gel and he was dressed in a suit, modest but neat.

“i’d like to formally welcome you all to an introduction to coding,” he continued, his careful eyes drinking in every detail of the room. “i hope sincerely you will enjoy this class, even if some of you were not placed here of your own volition.”

he began to pass out the syllabus, explaining in a calm and measured voice about the assignments, grades, and his office hours. he walked with a pronounced limp, ruth noted, and she wondered briefly how he’d been injured. she was willing to wager it was an old injury as there was an element of complacency to his gait. perhaps he had been in a car accident many years ago? taken a particularly bad fall and never healed quite right?

professor wren had returned to his desk at the front of the class by now and ruth realized she hadn’t heard a single thing he said. she felt herself flush slightly at getting so caught up in her thoughts. he was just a professor - what did it matter how he was injured?

“coding is something of an art form,” he was saying. “it requires patience, dedication, and precision to achieve one's desired results.”

the professor’s eyes swept the room again and he seemed to sigh quietly as if he knew his words were falling on deaf ears. ruth found herself leaning closer, wanting to hear more.

“this class represents only the beginning,” he continued, his voice strangely heavy. “the tip of the iceberg. though you may not appreciate it now, there is much more to coding than meets the eye.”

a week later found ruth at the door of professor wren’s office, looking rather sheepish. the assignment he’d given shouldn’t have been that hard. it was so simple, just a basic function - and yet here she was. she huffed as she stared down the door, contemplating whether it was really worth all this trouble. this wasn’t the first coding class she’d taken - although, she admitted to herself, that was over ten years ago now, and she’d never been all that good at coding to begin with.

she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reminding herself that her professor wouldn’t think any less of her if she came in and asked for help - it was his job to assist his students, after all.

finally, she opened her eyes and knocked on the door.

“come in,” a muffled voice sounded from behind the door.

she took another steadying breath - why am i so nervous about this? - and opened the door, stepping into his office.

the room was well-sized, for an office, and brightly lit from the sunshine outside. there were several file cabinets behind and to the left of him and, to the right, was a small cabinet bursting with books and decorated with a few fake plants. his desk stood front and center, organized but not overly neat. despite its friendly appearance, there was something off about the office, though she couldn’t say exactly what.

“hello,” professor wren said, pulling ruth from her thoughts. he smiled gently up at her. “how can i help you today, miss...”

“erwin,” ruth answered. “ruth erwin.” she hesitated a moment, blushing. oh, get over yourself.

“i’m having trouble with the assignment you gave us yesterday,” she said.

“oh, of course,” he answered. then, gesturing to the chairs in front of his desk, “please, sit.”

ruth pulled her laptop from her bag and quickly pulled up the code she had written for the assignment. it had been a bit of a pain just to pay for and download the necessary software onto her computer. she knew technically she hadn’t needed to - she could have just used one of the computer labs on campus - but she had convinced herself it would be easier to simply have it on her own machine than to rely on the school’s computers.

“now,” he said, settling into the chair next to her. “what seems to be the trouble?”

though the issue with the code itself was a simple fix, ruth stayed longer. she had only barely scraped by in terms of understanding the last time she’d taken a coding class, and she was determined to truly understand what it was she was doing this time around. that and, though she would never admit it out loud, she found professor wren’s presence comforting. he was well-spoken and his voice was soothing. it was apparent he felt strongly about the subject of coding as well - he described it in an almost poetic way, and ruth could hear the undercurrent of passion in his words as he spoke. it was rare to find a teacher so passionate about that which they taught - and his fervor was inspiring.

by the time ruth left professor wren’s office, she had a much better handle on the current subject than before, though she was certain this wouldn’t be the last time she visited his office. she’d never been the best when it came to programming, and she would need all the help she could get - at least that’s what she told herself.

prev chapter - next chapter

a/n: hello everyone! chapter one, as promised. i hope you all enjoyed this, though it is kind of short. i will add a directory of the chapters to my pinned post so you guys can find each of the chapters as easily as possible. i will also upload this to ao3 and i will leave a link to that as well. please let me know if any of the links don't work - i'm kind of new to this and i might do it wrong lol. anyway chapter two will be posted next sunday, so look forward to that.

thank you guys so much for reading!

@javicstories - tagged, as promised! (i hope it worked lol)

ao3 link to best laid plans

#person of interest #harold finch #john reese #michael emerson #harold finch x reader #harold finch x oc #person of interest fanfiction

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blankdblank · 1 year

Text

The White Dove Pt 43 - Bee Happy

@devilishminx328. @theincaprincess, @lilith15000, @jesevans, @jiminapickle

The White Dove Masterlist

7 more chapters left, and before I get into posting the new version of the Poke series that follows this it’d be really awesome to hear what you guys think of this series. Got a bit deflated seeing that out of the long series I’ve been putting my all into this year the ones that got the most attention were one shots written within the past few months. And if you do enjoy my one shots for their wild, crazy and adorable ideas my series have so many more than them and I tend to have a corvid sense of mind, attention for a story I may or may not be stuck on can go a long way to helping me shake loose some ideas to keeping my stories going.

Trust me when I say I write my stories for me, no one loves my 100+chapter monster sized series like me. Feedback and brainstorming does help considerably to help me finish those as I seem to have a problem containing my army of plot bunnies that explode into stories. Really it boils down to the fact that over the past three years I’ve had barely five weeks off through the entire pandemic and its onset of panic, as I’m an essential worker. I write to stay sane, even if my ideas often seem illogical and beyond out there. So if you like it/ hate it/ just want to spam my ask box to distract me on my work breaks feel free to let me know. Hope your corner of the world is turning smoothly and safely, getting cold out there, and rainy in mine. :)

*.*.*

Straight up to block a manual on a big block engine your forearm rose at Buster’s warning to the attack otherwise signaled by a shout of, “BEE!” Out of the famous Boxer came the uncharacteristic outcry. “IT’S IN YOUR HAIR!” He all but screeched in a tight grip of your arm to jerk it lower readying to swing the book again with that hand.

Before the five bodyguards fanned out around him, bulky over six foot tall and two times broader than him, could take hold of you to tear the bees from your hair hard into his cheek you landed a blow. Launching him off his feet for the press spectacle of the week as the heavyweight champ got knocked out cold by a girl over a foot smaller than him and not even half his weight. Tires gave off a screech and a door was heard to open.

“They’re hair clips, you moron.” The men being filmed by passers by who had been filming the famous face stood in place as you asked them, “You gonna pick up your trash?”

“Hey,” was panted in your glare laced turn back the way you were aimed from Happy Hogan who had gotten out of the car in a wish to help you against the bodyguards to the fighter who was out cold and unresponsive on the sidewalk. “There you are, I got the car here.”

“Okay,” you said softly and he guided you without touch around him and the car to sit in the passenger seat to the start of irritated honks for his car parked the wrong way on the street. Stepping away from the mini medley of a few whistles, claps and jeers from the crowd of passersby.

“Ya, ya, I hear you.” He said hurrying to get back in the car and buckle up to turn the car around asking as he drove, “Where you headed Pluto?”

Stealing a look your way as you adjusted your book filled school bag atop your lap while your fingertips adjusted the ends of your layered floral skirt with sheer petal shaped panels laid over your stocking coated legs. Off the shoulder of the arm that blocked the book your open maroon cardigan slumped to show the sweetheart top to your sleeveless dress that would easily fit under your uniform later. The color on your cardigan matching the shade of your wedges that had straps all down the tops of them secured by buckles to match the buttons on the cardigan.

“I wanted to thank you. Took me a good couple months to get my lungs up to snuff again, not counting my gut from the internal bleeding. But I’m here thanks to those shots of yours. Tony’s had me all but on bed rest to give me time to get back up again out in Sacramento, just got back and saw you, had to stop and give you a lift.”

“Well you didn’t have to thank me. I was going to get some food before my shift at a candle shop.”

He nodded, “I’ll drive you, what were you thinking, burgers, Mexican, soul food?”

“There’s a nice lady at an Applebee’s nearby whose grandson needs a new semester of payments on a laptop he’s loaning for school. I have a few bucks for the donation tin.”

“How’d you learn to throw a punch like that? He’s got to be double your weight at least and you stopped his swing like it was nothing.”

“Learned to fight from a three time welterweight champion, that moron is useless in a fight without a parade and fanfare around him. Man’s terrified of a creature that helps to keep the planet alive and tried to hit a child in the head at the sight of one, biological bee or hair clip alike.”

“Welter-,” he glanced at you, “Bucky, right?” making you look his way, “Cap says you were a student of his. I’ve looked up his record.”

“Right.”

“Boxing’s changed a lot since those days. In the pictures he has bulked up a great deal.”

“He got Stark and Erksine’s serum too, but he got it while locked in a POW cage.” Making him flinch another glance your way. “I’m his best student and most likely his last. After all, can only go down from here.”

You said making him smirk, “My boxing coach said the same thing about me.” Accented by a chuckle from him, “And if that guy tries to give you a hard time legally I can have Tony on him in an hour.”

“Man in unconscious thanks to a girl. I would love to see him make a media circus about this. Like the Bee Movie come to life, mid trial sharing the false narrative that bees all deserve to be exterminated and feared by everyone not just those with allergies. Followed by a glaring slow motion play by play of the swing of his hefty book and the punch that leveled him after sure to ruin his career and reputation for the rest of his career if he didn’t crack his skull on the sidewalk.”

“Then again only people able to get past Tony would hit the major wall that is the US Military. Has anyone talked to you about those shots of yours?”

“I haven’t even graduated High School yet. No they prefer MD’s or PhD’s. All I do in my parents’ study is gate keep the machine that makes the compound they designed. Doctors there handle the rest.”

“Well clearly you are a brilliant person, came up with those shots, or Misique did, she uses those too.”

“I make them, my allergy shots too. A more generic take on my parents’ work, they’re actually mostly made by bee byproducts.”

“This one, right?” he asked and you nodded.

“Yup.”

Up front he parked and walked with you inside, looking around at the faces of people who seemed to recognize you by frequency of visits and not by name while his face to them seemed more familiar but in an uncertain way. Orders were given and atop the page your notebook was open to on top of the couple books that made your bag awkward to lay comfortably on your lap he saw the first of a slew of dinosaur comic sketches that made him smirk.

“You make comics?”

Briefly you sighed unwrapping the straw to go in your drink that had just been brought to counter his lemonade he ordered. “I have to write a speech for graduation. Logically my brain can only focus on comics.”

At that he chuckled and started to share a few of his own miseries on public speeches gone wrong and how he barely remembered his graduation, just the fire that ruined the after party and prom as well set ironically by the homecoming queen. The story of how he became a boxer led to how he met Tony after his career ended to be his bodyguard soon growing to best friends and even finding out they were Mates. Including several examples of his speeches he did miserably on. In a wave of his hand over his meal he said, “You know for all the ego and swagger I can’t think of a speech or invention he hasn’t second guessed himself on. Why he misses most of his speeches actually.”

Before he put the car in park outside the candle shop he said, “You didn’t have to save me,” making you look at him, “I know, I didn’t have to give you a ride or pay for lunch either. A lot of people would have ran away.”

“I’m not scared of people dying. Death is a walk we must all take to move onwards to our next path. You healed well is what matters.”

“And you’ll be fine, when in doubt try writing a short speech on dinosaurs and gradually shift it away from being about dinosaurs, or be fun, leave the original version could be one of a kind.” With a nod you climbed out of the car at his words of encouragement to let him get back to where he was needed. He felt better in having interfered and said something to you. This didn’t make you even, not in the slightest, but at least it answered the gnawing urge to find the girl who saved his life and kept him company until he was taken by the professionals to continue the efforts given to prevent further damage or time to allow him to slip away.

Inside the back room at the shop into your stewardess like uniform you eased with thoughts that turned from your regrettable speech looming on the horizon back to the phone call you had to make. Bees, on the news the video blowing up online were the joking focus of the clip. The prize fighter laid out after a try to beat a young woman with a book to kill what he took as a live bee. He was still in the hospital and being questioned by Detectives after Gwen had confirmed for her father the obvious identity of the child in question targeted by such violence.

Eddie as your closest adult had been contacted and on his own made a call to Matt Murdock in case the fighter tried to take this to court, if the courts would let him. Already for the attack he had been dropped by his fight representatives, two sponsors and was on the verge of being dropped by his management team. Double handedly he held the book he threw his weight into swinging at the at least momentarily unknowing young woman reading off a notebook.

Late and on the way home after your shift was over time lined up and you dialed the number to the company where you got the supplies for your sail. With the subway stop in sight your phone was raised to your ear in the sound of a second ring of the line. A man’s voice answered the line in Norwegian answered the line. “This is Thor of X, how might I direct your call?”

“Hello, yes, this is Pluto Pear I was calling about an order I received.”

“Viscountess,” he said alerting others inside the office to whom he was talking, “Yes, there is an issue with your shipment?”

You could hear the shift of your call being put on speaker as the manager you had met quietly eased into the room. “Not an issue on your end. I repaired the mast and had to extend on the length more than I anticipated so now the new dimensions had my original miscalculation all the more obvious. So I am not certain if this is the proper channel to go about this but I was wanting to request more supplies.”

“You have called the proper number I can put that order in here. Can I ask how far through the sail the first shipment lasted?”

“A little over half of what I require.”

Smiles spread through the room as the man confirmed with a few hushed nods and written notes from the manager that had him reply, “We are all proud to continue help on the project of such a sacred ship. We shall send a double of the original order to you swiftly and shall go personally assemble the order as soon as I input it into the system.” Thanks were broken off to awkward silence as you looked at the phone as they hung up to input and complete the order.

Months since the delivery more than once they had been found wondering or even asked if they had any news on the progress of this mysterious sail. Now they knew at least you were halfway through and were going to be sent more than enough to cover whatever length of sail the ship required. Still there was no clue as to what the design was but the press could take the tip they did get and try to work from there.

All they knew was the tip that it was going to be handmade at least partly by you. So lists of sail making companies within New York and states around it had been compiled with lists of reporters and interns to make cold calls to see if any of them were helping with the process and could be coaxed to send a hint of the design or shape at least. And as they continued that the King would be invoiced and contacted for the delivery, for which one of your planes would be used to deliver the order as soon as possible to not put off any schedule arranged for the task.

Eddie at the subway platform stood in wait for you, having just come from Murdock’s office he looked you over asking about the phone in your hand. “Someone call you about the punch?”

“No, um, I called about the sail materials. They said they’re sending double the first order.”

His brow arched up, “Double, as in a second similar amount? Or double double in one go?”

“I have no clue. Suppose we’ll see when it gets here, they said they would send it swiftly. That is a lot of wool if it is double.”

“At the worst you’ll have to make us some blankets and sweaters and anything else to use up what is left over.” Making you giggle to yourself.

“Well at this rate hopefully there won’t be much left over, especially after the weatherproofing test swatches.”

“How’s the hand? I talked to Murdock and he’s got an ear out in case anything stupid happens.”

“Knuckles are a bit sore, but he tried to hit me in the head with a book on big block engines, hand to swat someone’s hair I get, but whacking a stranger in the head with a book is beyond reflexive.”

“Happy was there?”

“Ya, he was impressed with the punch. Thanked me and paid for lunch and dropped me off after. Also talked a bit on his graduation and his own trouble with speeches, Dean Morita said I have to get a speech ready for graduation.”

“Whoa,” he said, “Top two huh? Do you have a hint of what you might say?”

“Not a clue,” you said making him smirk and loop an arm around your back to kiss you on the top of your head.

“It’ll be endearing and wonderful, I just know it. And we’ll see how the idiot tries to face things in the morning.” Taking you home to fix up something to eat and have a film playing while he worked on a story to follow up the exclusive you had given him by texts that beat other news outlets and you worked on some school work.

Torn ligaments in the neck of the boxer had him in a neck brace and cuffed to a hospital bed awaiting word of the charges. Injuries his team tried to pose as old hat had flared up due to the blow, not caused by the altercation to save face. An early morning buzz on your intercom turned your focus from the dishes you were doing after you had eaten the breakfast you had whipped up. “Who is it?” you asked pressing the button on the speaker box by the door.

“Captain Stacy and Detective Dodd, can we come up and talk to you?”

“Sure, top floor.” The second button to let them in sent a buzz to let the casually dressed duo make their way up the several flights of steps to find you waiting in the doorway in a baggy flannel and knee length sweats. “Hello, I have muffins, or some juice?”

Mr Stacy entered first with a grin and accepted the offer as the female detective behind him shared in a glance over the crowded apartment due to the loom system and slowly rotating spools hovering over platforms. She confirmed her own choice of juice to his internal sense of happiness as for how you had furnished your place to suit the personality he knew you had.

Over the top of glasses filled with juices saucers with muffins on them were rested on your way to the green sloped couch they chose to sit on. Bruises on both your knuckles on the punching hand and the hand shaped bruise on your other forearm visible by the sleeves rolled up on the baggy shirt had their eyes linger on them.

“Thank you,” they both said accepting their saucers and juices before you shifted to tuck a leg up and sit on the cloud shaped couch facing them. She asked, “You aren’t eating?”

“I just ate. I was doing dishes.” You answered folding your fingers together across your lap.

Mr Stacy said, “Well, Pluto, we came to talk to you about the Crazy Horseman guy who was filmed attacking you on the street.”

“I’m sorry, he calls himself the Crazy Horseman?” you asked making the duo chuckle. “Mr Hogan knew who he was but didn’t say his name. I suppose if that is his name hitting strangers with books in on brand then.”

She asked with a serious expression on her face, “The video shows he just approached you and swung the book in his hand, was that the beginning of the attack?”

“He shouted about my bee hair clip and I look up and a book is coming at my head. Not much to add to the video.”

Several questions came to fill out the event to add to what Happy had been questioned about confirming what they knew already, but now with pictures taken of your bruised hands and forearm. Mr Stacy asked, “Are you staying home today?”

“I have some more work to do on a paper but I have an afternoon shift at the book shop later.”

And Mr Stacy said, “Let us know if anything else happens or anyone bothers you, or you do end up going to the hospital. We’re gonna do what we can to keep him locked up and away from you.”

He gave the assurance and coated in some foundation your bruises were disguised a bit as you continued the process of shifting the store to ready for the impending back end of the winter season theme boxes. Several religious and holiday based books were arranged to the first sound of radio updates of the Christmas celebrations being set up within the city with reminiscing of years prior. Delivery of trees to decorate were claimed to be easier now that Tony Stark was Iron Man and did not require to shut down streets to drive the trees in by tradition like his father did decades prior.

Across an open notebook during lunch by the time you had to head back sketches and notes were made of the transporter you had used on Svartalfheim. The runes you learned so far in the translations of the fables helped to fill in the translation of the page of Asgardian runes on the menu alongside a few more from dreams of designs Yggdrasil had shared over the years. Woven branches on your sail design already had a single one standing out and the time after your shift would be centered on pouring over those notes again to see what your brain could stir up.

A crowd of people who had come to bother you about the charges against the fighter did linger a while at your job, unsettled greatly at your silent stares up at them to when a security guard had called cops to take them in for intimidation against a witness. Only to have more people drop by but be forced out of the building by Susan Storm with an invisible barrier flinging them out into the street. “Hello Pluto,” she said with a kind grin brushing her blonde ponytail off her shoulder to drop over her back.

“Hello, Miss Storm.” You answered continuing to unload a new crate of books inside the children’s book area on a low shelf. “Need help finding a book?”

“The boys were curious on how you were doing. Heard you got attacked yesterday.”

“I trained with a boxing championship honestly I can take and give a punch.” You said making her shift her legs to crouch in her pencil skirted dress at your side.

“We also know you’ve been to another dimension Chickadee is from. Reed is curious as we all are of what that was like. What we could learn. Why Howard Stark was so important for her to save so many times.”

Up to her eyes yours swiveled to land on them to say, “Everyone is important. Everyone has a role to play. I’ve shared what I’m willing to. Digging into the aftermath of the atom bombs only took us so far and society learned nothing, we still focus on nuclear energy. People are so swift to bypass that war is bloody and the bodies of those sacrificed for it to see the supposed benefits we reap.” You stood up to carry the next group of books to the shelves a few feet away causing her to rise up as well looking you over curiously. “No matter what I tell you the world will justify use of something that could ruin the planet and countless lives to be the one to bring about a new power source.”

“There is a new power source?” she asked and you turned to look at her.

“I found an Asgardian ship out of the bottom of the ocean powered by an engine wrapped around the core of a star,” you said causing her lips to part slightly, “There is always another power source, and you don’t have to leave the planet for it. Just because the human race imagines to have answered all the pertinent questions concerning our planet and its past our people and the planet will suffer because of it. You want to take power sources from other people, I couldn’t have imagined such a brilliant mind had grown so complacent to stop asking questions.”

“And what sort of question is he supposed to be looking for?”

“Why Earth?” you said plainly turning to grab another set of books when you put the ones in your hand down. “Asgardians, Krulls, Kree, that purple Thane guy and his bird faced buddy. Countless races have been here, to this planet, why? The planet is alive, it speaks, and no one listens. It has the answers, but I suppose if he wants to explore space and ignore the planet and go mingle with other races then more power to him he can find the answers on his own.”

“Why would you keep what you’ve seen to yourself?”

“How many people have you watched die?” you asked gaining a voice crack of a response. “Do you know the extent of cruelty humans will aspire to for answers? I spent eight years being put to that question of how much cruelty I could take. I know exactly what so called curiosity and hope for better humanity costs. What I tell you results in human test subjects to the tune of billions of humans on this planet unwillingly to answer for curiosity of what could possibly be gained. What I tell you has a price, and it’s not some printed word of a consequence I know the pain, I bled, I burned, I screamed and cried for years after getting free. I know, what it costs. And I will not release that on innocents.”

“It can’t be that bad.” She said weakly making you glance back at her a moment.

“Next time I get the chance to go there I’ll do my best to time it near you and give you a shove. Then we can see what you’d be willing to release on the planet so Reed can slap his name on it.”

“Why are you so upset about this?” she asked following you around a shelf only to reach out and use her thumb to smudge the thin layer of foundation to reveal the bruise on your forearm. “You’re hiding bruises?”

“Children are more popular here during winter seasons. No reason to scare them.”

“You really won’t tell us?”

“You know that scene with Gandalf when he says he can’t carry the One Ring for Frodo and he says for what the ring could access through him would be far worse no matter his good intentions and wishes to wield it for good? I don’t make weapons, and Reed out of past experience has given his tech to the military. The world can see what they are capable of with a bigger stick than the other guy. People are important no matter who it upsets.”

“Does your arm hurt?”

“My knuckles hurt worse than my other arm,” you said making her look to your other arm seen mostly due to the blouse with three quarter sleeves you had on under your apron that shifted to show slices in your worn jeans and the neon leggings underneath. Even your heeled boots you had on seemed to be on their last legs making her feel worse about pressing for details as you clearly should be at home resting.

“Why aren’t you home?”

“I have a job. People depend on me. I have worked through worse.”

“When do you get off, I can give you a ride home.”

“Hours, don’t worry about it.”

“You shouldn’t be walking home alone.”

“I’m short and bruised, not helpless. Come January I’ll be an adult legally. I’ve lived alone since I was 14, I walk alone a majority of the time. You can’t honestly imagine one moron could scare me away from going to work and keeping my freedom.” Picking up the empty crate you went to get a second saying, “Have a nice day. I can get home on my own.”

“I can’t believe he actually filed a countersuit,” Eddie grumbled with arms crossed.

“Well I did ruin his career according to him.” You said nudging the empty stack of spools you had brought back down to the garage where the next shipment was being delivered by a crew who confirmed they would take the empties back to reuse them. His brow arched up as he felt upset enough to not stop the chatter of the Hive he heard through Venom who were spying on the culprit in his hospital bed still under observation. “Guess we can see how far the courts will let this go.”

“Well Murdock said he’s gonna talk to some Judges about that. Prosecutor already is hot and heavy to have him moved to jail and refused to accept any type of deal with less than five years in prison for assault on a child.”

“Well I got a call that they got a call, grandfather said the embassy for Denmark sent a rep to the Prosecution, apparently there were a few there already from other embassies. Tried to say that I could have security if I wanted but I said I rarely get accosted by book wielding boxers then got complimented on my right hook.” The last statement had him chuckle to himself as you glanced at the strip of sail draped over the arm of the mast you put there to give a hint of the pattern showing two acorn filled squares.

The section was folded over to not show much more and with a grin you greeted the delivery crew who opened the back of the truck and unloaded clearly double the amount of the first shipment. The empties were loaded up with a subtle snap of a picture of Eldfalls and the sail as a clipboard was readied to let you sign for the delivery.

Noise outside showed the proof of the barriers up that kept the press at bay while this lawsuit nonsense was going on, crews who had been camped out outside your building only to find their equipment fail when you came into sights. Days you had been shutting down and ignoring tries to interview you just leaving Murdock and Eddie to willingly take the brunt of it between scalding word sent through the embassies of a child of Scandinavia being attacked physically and then legally by such a useless coward.

Weeks avoidance of the press and over lunch alone at the library table with your Asgardian notes and sketches of what you had dreamed up. Transporter sketches and lists of menu options from the medical bay machine all made a confusing layout of images a few teachers and the librarian stole glimpses at passing by. Like dna woven rings held internally a ring of material your brain still was working over to try and tap then bring to focus what you were seeing. It was admirable at least to some on how you were focusing on something and allowing this to blow over.

Not that it would take much longer as he would miss a court date and be found dead by a bad mix of a paralytic with his pain meds. A move that as the news would speculate something sinister was behind it the Punisher made a big show of support by burning a skull into the front of his home that was still roped off by police tape claiming the kill for himself even if it wasn’t exactly his usual signature method of kill. Now beginning a new court debacle of his relatives out to fight over the supposed money he had left behind only to find out he was near to a million in debt and highly dependant on his matches to keep afloat.

Pt 44

#Escaped Child Assassin #Happy Hogan #Susan Storm #Eddie Brock #Venom #Symbiotes #Found Family #Matt Murdock #The Punisher #surprise attack #hurt/comfort #Captain Stacy #Marvel

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ashthemadwriter-archived · 2 years

Text

Challenge Accepted

-Part 1

Pairings:Suna x Fem!reader

Warnings:Robbery, Cursing, Punching, Violence, Etc

Summary:Being a spy for an underground organization is a tough nut to crack, let alone being one the best spies, and youre enjoying every second of it. However, things change when you bump into Rintarou Suna, also one of the bests but from your rival organization, during an important mission.

Word Count:1.4K

A/n:English isn't my main language so sorry if theres any mistakes in the following text.

This is just the beginning...

MasterList ⇝ Part 2

"Oikawa! I said point the fucking flash light on my hand, not on my eyes! I cant see shit like this!"

When people hear the word "Spy", many things come to their minds. Going to difficult missions pretending to be someone you're not, knowing how to handle a fight when things get ugly and having professional acting skills. These were the terms that could describe a spy, or a good one at least; but a spy's job is to go undercover and gain important information that nobody else has the balls to get their hands on, not to go rob rich ass bastard's Coffer.

Which was the reason why you and your partner Oikawa, one of the best spies of the Organization, were in this mess.

"Chill out, Girl! Youre not cleaving an atom, you know"

Oikawa was a good spy, even more experienced than you; which explained why he was so popular among the other members, Though his good looking face and cheeky manners werent exactly ineffective in the case. But the boss also trusted him, and that was surely not because of his handsomeness or charm.

Oikawa was good, but he always turned into a fucking moron when he wasn't interested in the job, and unfortunately, the "job" was not exactly killer everytime he got paired up with you.

"Wanna unlock in yourself, then?"

"My sincerest apologies, My lady; where did you want me to lighten up again?"

Oikawa was many things, and "A best partner" was definitely one of them. not because of how helpful he was during the mission, you prefered doing things on your own anyway; but because he could make you laugh at shitty moments, like this one.

"Clown"

You chuckled, stuck your ear to the iron wall of the Coffer while spinning the combination lock, carefully listening to see if you could hear a particular "Tik" and then end this nightmare, but unfortunately, today was definitely not your day.

"You're hurting my feelings, Y/n Chan! That's so cruel!"

"Im sorry. You happy? Now shut your mouth so I can open this damn thing and get this shit over with"

Maybe it really wasn't easy for him to be serious at this moment. Oikawa was in charge of tricky missions, he had even dealed with the president's security gaurd once, so it was natural for him not to give a shit about this mission. You weren't exactly happy either, this was most certainly not the reason why you got up at 4am, wearing tight black sheath. That was why you wanted to end this mission so badly, but Oikawa being a dumbass was clearly not helpful at all.

Though the mood lightened up a bit when you finally heard the Coffer's door getting unlocked.

"Oh, thank god! C'mon! Grab the files and lets get the fuck out of here!"

Oikawa chuckled, bending over to grab the black bag he had brought with himself, until you heard quiet, careful footsteps that surely did not belong to any of you.

"Oiks, someone's coming!"

"Say less"

If you were in any other circumstance you could easily just beat the shit out of the interrupter, but the boss specifically ordered you to do this mission quietly. No fuss, no fights, only clean work.

You and Oikawa were already hiding out somewhere in the corner of the office when a short, weird looking guy stepped inside. But it wasn't his looks that appeared to be weird;

it was the fact that he didn't even bother to turn on the lights. He just carefully looked around, shone the flash light he was holding around the room, and quickly went for the money in the Coffer you suffered to unlock with so much pain.

Weird.

If he was the building's security gaurd or something, then why the hell was he acting like this?

"Are you thinking what i'm thinking?"

"Yup"

Well, the night was finally getting interesting.

"On three. One...Two...Three!"

you both got up at the same time and went behind the man, who was too busy packing the money in Oikawa's bag for himself that he didn't even seem to notice you two.

Oikawa let out a nervy chuckle as he hit the guy in the arm.

"Hey! The hell do you think you're doing?"

Thankfully the room was dark, so the man couldn't see the way you were both dressed; or else he wouldn't have thought of you as the building's owners.

"I-Im sorry! P-Please forgive me! I promise i won't ever go stealing again!"

"You think it's that easy? So a pitiful scumbag like you dares to attempt on stealing my money? MY MONEY?"

you smiled at the sight and snatched the bag from the man. It was obvious that Oikawa was enjoying himself. Anyone could tell that from the smug look on his face.

"I won't ever do it again! Please have mercy on me this time! I dont wanna go to jail!"

The man was shaking in fear. He was on his knees, practically begging him to let him get away. It wasn't exactly a pleasant scene, since you were not really different from him tonight.

"Well, you should have thought about that before getting your hands on my belongings"

"Let him go. It's not worth it"

Oikawa showed you a devilish look before turning his head back to the man, and grabbed his collar.

"How about i teach you a lesson instead of turning you in to the cops, hm?"

"Seriously, leave him alone. We're gonna be late"

"Fine! party pooper"

"Are these the files?"

The boss carefully grabbed the papers and looked through them. They didn't look really interesting, but it seemed like he had a different opinion.

"Yes sir, these were all that were in the Coffer"

"Hm...interseting"

"And which part is exactly "Interesting"? cause I seem to be failing to notice" Oikawa mumbled while looking through his phone. He had the fun he wanted with that man, but he wasn't completely satisfied with the results.

"Well it is interesting, but the rest of the mission doesn't concern you. Only her" The boss put the papers down and smiled at your surprised reaction. You sure did not see this coming, but was really curious now that it seemed like an important job.

Oikawa shared a glance between you two before pouting and whining like a big baby. "What do you mean this doesn't concern me? She and I are together in this!"

"No you're not. You were just nagging in my ear, telling me to give you a real mission next time!"

You giggled and tried to reach the files while observing the bosses action, and when he blinked meaning that it was ok for you to touch the case, you started reading the file out loud.

"The giant atomic bomb...project?"

"Yup. That's what all this is about" The boss was now wearing a serious look, trying to choose his next words carefully.

Well,You sure did not expected this.

"Ok...so,what does it have to do with us? It says here that it's worth millions of Dollars!"

"That is why we need to get our hands on it"

The smirk that appeared on your face was definitely the sign of satisfaction. This was kinda like the robbery you did a while ago, only bigger.

Much bigger, much better, and undeniably much funner.

You didn't particulary cared about the money, but the work was absolutely going to be Challenging.

Who were you to turn down such a big opportunity to have some fun? Maybe you could break some noses, smash a few heads and kick some balls while you were at it.

"But you gotta be careful, cause obviously, we aren't the only people who have their eyes on this treasure. Other organizations are probably going to poke their nose into this mission, that's why i need you to be very careful. Oikawa is a known agent, but since you started working here a few month ago and were able to keep your cover, nobody knows about your identity and your fighting skills and instinct are definitely different from a rookie's; Therefore, you're our best choice. So, can i trust you, Agent Y/n L/n?"

Your lips curled into a wide smile as you turned your head up, just to see the same look on your bosses face. He knew your answer beforehand, but clearly there was something enjoyable about it coming from your own mouth.

"You can count on me, Sir"

To be Continued...

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