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redrobinfection · 4 years

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(16) Graveyard

SociallyAwkwardFox’s Spooktober (2018) - Day 16 “Graveyard”

~*~

"How about four out of seven?" Tim asked with a shrug, winding up the toilet paper roll again.

Damian, his fellow barista, threw his roll at Tim's head, missing wildly. He glared. "You cheated, Drake!"

Tim rolled his eyes as he retrieved Damian's roll and began winding it up too. "How could I cheat at coffee cup bowling, ‘Wayne’?"

"You wind your roll too tightly. It doesn't unravel as much when you pitch it and thus has more mass by the time it hits the cups."

Tim raised his eyebrows. "What are you now, a physics major? That just sounds like strategy, dude. You are free to roll your roll as tightly as you'd like. That isn't against the rules."

Damian fumed. "The rules you made up! This is why I said we should use the rice crispy ba--customer."

Tim whirled on the spot, seeing that, indeed, a paying customer had entered their little, semi-enclosed coffee shop. Outside, a few students sat or sprawled over the sectional couches that filled the large basement of the university student union in which the shop was located.

Tim turned and vaulted over the counter. He heard a quiet "-tch-" from Damian as he walked to the hinged raise-able section of the counter and let himself in.

Tim straightened his apron and stepped up the register with a smile. The customer stood about five feet from the register, head tilted back, studying the menu board over Tim's head with bleary eyes. The guy was like a zombie, he was that exhausted. Tim cut his eyes over to the clock on the wall. 3:45 am. Hell of a time for coffee.

Tim glanced over his shoulder at Damian, who was reawakening the cranky espresso machine with deft fingers. Seven hours and forty-five minutes with Damian "the Demon " Wayne down, only four hours and fifteen minutes to go. Tim turned back to their customer and sighed. This was going to be a loooooooong morning.

At second glance, there was something familiar about the guy, but Tim couldn't put his finger on where he knew him. The guy had pretty teal eyes, but they were reddened and dull, like he hadn't closed them except to blink in way too long. He was also pretty well cut, Tim noticed, with clearly muscled arms and pecs so defined that Tim could clearly see them through the man's sweater. Maybe that's how Tim knew him? Maybe he'd seen him in the UREC weight room?

The guy's most eye-catching feature by far was the white forelock that curled down over his forehead. He was the third person Tim had met to have a whitened forelock like that; the other two were fraternal twins who had had small patches of albinism right at their widows peaks which affected both the skin and hair. Tim idly wondered if this guy's white lock was natural too. In any case, it looked frickin' cool, a lot cooler than his own; the best thing he could say about his own hair was that he could pull off the 90's curtain cut plus semi-mullet well enough that he could go an entire semester on a single haircut.

Tim was drawn out of his thoughts when dude finally stepped up to the counter and began to speak.

"Uh, hi, could I get a large, double-shot caramel latte?"

"Absolutely. How many pumps of caramel do you want?" Tim asked cheerily.

The guy looked up from digging through his overly stuffed messenger bag. "Uhh…the normal four should be fine."

"Okay, that will be $6.47. Can I get a name for the order?"

The guy didn't look up this time. "Uh, Jason. Gimme a sec', I know my wallet is at the bottom of this thing somewhere."

"No problem, take your time. It's not like we have a line, anyway," Tim joked.

This guy looked so dead right now--inside and out--that if he didn't find his wallet, then Tim would probably just buy the coffee for the guy himself. He understood better than anyone the sudden need for caffeine at odd hours of the day. He's not sure how he would have finished half his computer science projects this term without a much-needed double-espresso every couple of hours, to be honest.

The guy--'Jason' apparently--finally fished out a small money clip then handed over a student ID card. "Put it on my Dining Dollars, please."

"Yeah, no probl- wait a minute!" Tim cut off, staring. Suddenly, it had hit Tim where he knew this guy. "Aren't you that kid who always sits at the front of Professor Hyatt's nine-fifteen, Tuesday-Thursday, Modern European Literature and answers all the questions?"

The dude raised an eyebrow. "Uh, yeah. Why…? Wait…" He squinted and leaned in. "Aren't you the kid who once tried to sit all the way back in the AV booth, since, and I quote, 'the back wasn't far enough back'?"

Tim grinned as he swiped the ID card through the register. "Haha, yeah."

Damian moved as if to step up to the counter, the guy's drink in hand, but stopped dead about a foot away. He stared.

"Wait. Aren't you the guy who always comes in, gets tea, and sits in the window over there and reads romance novels?" Damian asked, eying him appraisingly.

The dude huffed. "Yes. My name is Jason--by the way--and they're not romance novels, it's classic lit. Now can I get my coffee?"

Damian handed the coffee over the counter, but raised an eyebrow skeptically. "You mean to tell me Rebecca is not a romance novel?"

"Wait, what!? Do you mean Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca?" Tim asked as he handed Jason's ID card back over the counter.

Damian nodded wordlessly. Tim snorted, then said, "That's not a romance! That's a totally a murder mystery! You must be confusing it with Jane Eyre. I get those mixed up too."

Jason nodded in agreement, tucking his ID away before taking his first sip of coffee. He moaned, his eyes fluttering for a moment as he savored in the sweet bliss of piping hot caffeine at 3:49 in the morning, then he looked at Damian and said, "Well, actually, I'll give you that one, uh…" --he paused to squint at Damian's name tag-- "...'Damian'; Rebecca is a modern romance novel by classification, but it's also a crime thriller just like--whazzatsay?--'Tim' said."

He turned to Tim. "I'm not surprised you'd confuse it with Jane Eyre, considering that a lot of scholars believe du Maurier adapted it from Jane Eyre."

"Wait, really?" Tim said with a laugh. "I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking that! Rebecca is like the less boring version of Jane Eyre."

Jason froze halfway into sitting down in one of the arm chairs that lined the wall closest to the door and looked up at Tim as if he had just suggested burning down the library or something similarly unthinkable. "Whaaaaaat?! I can't believe you just implied that any of the Brontë sisters' works is boring!"

Tim laughed again. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I was only twelve when I read Jane Eyre, so maybe I'd enjoy it more if I read it again now--with a mature perspective--but I remember Rebecca being a blast for thirteen-year-old me so…" He smiled, then shrugged.

Jason stared. "Twelve? Thirteen? Jeez. What else were you trying to read that young?"

"I mean, I read Moby Dick the year before that, in sixth grade," Tim admitted, shrugging until his shoulders hit his ears.

Jason gave him a flat stare. "Moby Dick? Moby fucking Dick? You've gotta be kidding me. And lemme guess, you also thought Herman Melville's masterpiece was a load of crock?"

Tim laughed, but shook his head and waved his hands placatingly. "No, no, no. I only understood, like, every fifth word--so.many.whaling.terms!--and it took me four months to get halfway in only to realize there was no way I was going to finish it by the end of the school year--I ended up skipping to the end and guessing for a lot of the AR test questions--but I definitely got the sense that it was a seminal work and that I was just too young to appreciate it. I've always meant to go back and try it again, but I still haven't gotten around to it."

"Why the hell were you trying to read Moby Dick at the age of twelve?" Jason asked incredulously, leaning back in the chair and taking a long sip of his coffee.

"Eleven, but, ah, well, my mom was convinced I had to be The BestTM in everything, so she pushed me to max out my Accelerated Reader level by the end of sixth grade and demanded that I always get the most AR points of anyone in my class, so I read a lot of the 20 point-and-up books." Tim tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I think Moby Dick was 47 points...Rebecca was 25...Jane Eyre was 33..."

Jason stared, shaking his head slowly. "So…what? You're fine with Moby Dick, a romance of the American Renaissance, but a gothic romance of the British Victorian era like Jane Eyre isn't good enough for you? Next you'll try to tell me you think Wuthering Heights is a snooze fest!"

"Well, I mean, I never could get into it, so…"

Jason slammed both hands down on the arms of his chair, incensed. "Okay, Mister, get your butt over here and sit down, we need to have a talk about Victorian Gothic and why, hands down, it is some of the best literature ever written."

Tim laughed again, then bit his lip, considering the offer. He glanced around the nearly empty coffee shop. Then he leaned over the counter and looked out into the lounge--there were exactly four people there and only one of them wasn't completely asleep in their books. Yeah, he could probably afford to humor the man.

He turned to Damian. "Hey, Dames, I'm going to make myself a coffee and take my break. You good to hold down the fort?"

"I told you not to call me that," Damian snapped, but there was no real heat to it; he liked to pretend that he hated the guts of all his coworkers, but Tim knew that he was Damian's favorite. "However, yes, I think I can manage. Go take your damned break, but when you come back I fully expect a rematch in bowling…and don't you dare cheat this time!"

Tim rolled his eyes and groaned, then turned toward trying to coax Ol' 'Spressolino--their affectionate name for the cantankerous espresso machine--into spitting out a double-shot for him. "It's not cheating, but fine, we'll do it your way," Tim replied. "But I'm telling you, you have to buy those rice crispy balls. I definitely don't want to have to explain to Barbara why some of the food on sale looks like it went through the spin cycle in a dorm washer."

Damian grinned smugly. "My pleasure. It will be a small price to pay in order to ensure your swift defeat."

Tim shook his head, grabbed his espresso in one hand and two biscotti off the front counter in the other, ducked under the counter drawbridge, then slid into the armchair across from Jason. He offered one of the biscotti to the other man and Jason accepted the free food with an appreciative smile. He already looked ten times less zombie-like, thanks to the caffiene, and he was honestly pretty damn attractive.

"Okay," Tim said, peeling the wrapper off his own biscotti and dunking it into his bitter cup of joy, "Educate me."

Between sips of coffee and bites of biscotti, Jason began explaining his thoughts on the romantic period of literature, but barely a minute into his lecture, a plastic-wrapped, ball-shaped rice crispy treat about the size of a cantelope whizzed by their feet and crashed into the ten extra-large paper coffee cups arranged in a bowling triangle at one end of the coffee shop, scattering them in a definitive strike.

Jason jumped in his seat and looked around wildly. "What the fuck?"

Tim sighed. "Daaaaaaamiaaaaaaan…"

"Shut up, Drake! I'm practicing. I need to hone my skills and adjust my form so I can thoroughly crush you in our next round," Damian called back. He marched from the counter to the end of the shop to retrieved his plastic-wrapped projectile.

Jason blinked in confusion. "I repeat: what the ever-loving fuck?"

Tim sighed again, then explained, saying, "It gets pretty boring in here during the graveyard shift, so we invented a game, coffee cup bowling. Normally, we'd sleep or study, but Damian finished his exams two days ago and I don't really study for exams, per se-"

"And sleep is for the weak," Damian finished, nodding as he walked past them carrying his sweet, gooey ammunition.

Tim nodded sagely, in agreement. "Sleep is for the weak."

Jason glanced over Tim's shoulder at the coffee cup bowling 'pins' and then over his shoulder at Damian as he lined up another throw. "You guys are insane," he declared.

Tim made a dismissive gesture. "I mean this is my third graveyard shift in a row and Damian here is almost 20 hours into a 24-hour stint. After that much sleep deprivation, you'd lose your sanity too."

Jason tilted his head in acknowledgement. "Fair enough."

"If you want, you're welcome to join us after we finish our coffee and literature talk," Tim offered amiably.

Jason watched as Damian threw another strike, sending one cup so far it landed in the pot of the ficus in the corner, and raised his eyebrows. "You know what…why not." He turned back to Tim with a grin. "I could use a bit of fun before I go back to work on my Native American Lit paper."

"Are you a lit major?" Tim asked curiously.

"I am."

Tim nodded. "That makes sense."

"And you?"

"I'm a CS major--computer science."

"That makes sense," Jason echoed, grinning.

Tim grinned back at him and waved a hand. "Okay, so as you were saying…?"

"Yes, as I was saying…"

Jason continued his little lecture while they continued sipping their coffee and nibbling on the biscotti. When they had finished--the coffee, not the discussion, because Tim was pretty sure Jason would go on for hours about literature once you got him started--they joined Damian in a game of "ten-cup."

It was in the middle of this heated battle of cups and marshmallow-bonded puffed-rice cereal balls that their next customer found them fifteen minutes later. The man, dressed in flower printed leggings and a black hoodie with "Gotham University Aerial Arts" printed across the chest in blue, took one look at them and grinned.

"Oh, hey! Coffee-cup bowling! I love that game! Do you think I could interrupt you guys for just a sec to get some hot chocolate?"

All three of them--the two baristas plus their customer--turned and stared.

"Hot… wait, what?" Jason said, laughing a little. "Man, it's like 4:30 in the morning. Why are you getting a hot chocolate at 4:30 in the morning?"

The man laughed, too, shrugging before he explained, saying, "I don't like tea or coffee all that much, but I just finished a 20 page paper on ethics in police enforcement and I need a pick me up. I need to get my warm fuzzies going again."

Tim rolled his eyes and sighed, moving back toward the counter to get the man his drink. "You're going to end up being the cuddliest cop on the street, Dick."

"You know it, Timmy!" the man--'Dick' apparently--exclaimed, pulling Tim into a bear hug when he made the mistake of passing too close to Dick on his way to the counter. The hug escalated into a full on octopus hug as he lifted his legs to wrap around Tim's hips. Tim, for his part, ignored the grapple, opening the leaf in the counter and hobbling over to the drink bar with the human cephalopod still attached.

Damian and Jason stared. Damian cleared his throat and eyed Dick with poorly disguised interest. "Wait, do you know this man, Drake?"

Tim blinked dully as he turned around, a cup in one hand and a packet of instant hot chocolate in the other. "Yes. He's my brother." Dick made a squeeing noise and nuzzled his head into Tim's neck. Tim sighed. "My adopted brother," he amended testily.

Dick laughed, dropped his feet back onto the floor and stood up. He nearly wrung Tim's neck as he tried to hug him around the shoulders. "Awww, don't be like that, Tim. We haven't seen each other in two whole weeks and I needed my Tim-hugs! Gotta meet my cuddle-quota."

Tim shook his head and handed the hot chocolate back over his shoulder. "You're insufferably, insatiably clingy when you're this tired, Dick. Go home and sleep."

Dick finally released him to take the drink. He took a sip of the hot chocolate, sighing in appreciation. "Thanks, Tim, and yeah, but, only if you do the same. You're just as bad as me when you haven't slept, if not worse."

"Can't. Working," Tim answered curtly, vaulting the counter to escape before Dick's grabby hands could reach for him again. His brother wasn't wrong; Tim was always up for a good cuddle after a long stint without proper sleep, but he didn't like public displays of affection.

Dick took one look at the nearly empty coffee shop, the three of them, their game, and then laughed out loud. "Ahhh, the days of getting paid to drink coffee and make up games at 4:30 in the morning. I kind of miss it."

"Would you care to join us," Damian asked abruptly. Dick brightened.

"Absolutely!"

And so that was how the four of them ended up bowling for empty coffee cups with rice crispy treats the size of spaghetti squash while blasting ABBA’s greatest hits--Dick's terrible, wonderful idea--until the sun rose and their shift ended, at eight AM.

By the time the four of them walked out the door, Dick was trying to convince Damian to join him in the aerials gym before breakfast, and Damian, clearly eager to do anything with the handsome college senior, accepted readily. Jason and Tim, on the other hand, were back to discussing literature over coffee--now focused on the merits and downfalls of contemporary science fiction and fantasy as an art form--and making their way to the East Campus Dining Hall, so they could continue their discussion over breakfast.

Tim snorted softly as he listened to Jason list all the ways Dune defined an era of sci-fi/fantasy, then smiled at the way Jason took his hand--without seeming to realize it--to pull him forward after the crosswalk light changed out of Tim's line of sight. Oh, yeah, this one was totally gay/bi/pan and he was definitely asking him out the minute he saw the opportunity, Tim decided.

He smiled. Who would of thought he'd come out of last night's graveyard shift not only having seen his demon coworker and his older brother hit it off--of all things!--but having met someone for himself too! He laughed, thinking, you never know what crazy things you might see, or the people you might meet, at the campus coffee shop at 4 o' clock in the morning!

#my writing #christmasriverswrites #jaytim #dickdami #tim and damian #pre-relationship #college au #no capes #new for 2020!#barely edited; life is rough right now 🙃

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guessimjoiningthespidermanfandom · 3 years

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It Takes Two to Tango

Peter Parker x bisexual!reader

Peter Parker x fem!reader

Peter Parker x black!reader

Peter Parker x villain!reader

Warnings: Language, guns, knives, violence, self destructive behavior, mentions of mania and depression, mentions of bipolar disorder, descriptions of tattoo guns, slight slut shaming maybe, a bong, allusion to corrupt government, mentions of prostitution, mentions of parental neglect, and mentions of piercings.

Word Count: 6.5k

Songs: Drew Barrymore- SZA, No Role Modelz- J.Cole, Baby Blue- Action Bronson, Little Dark Age- MGMT, Gansta- Kehlani, Shutter Island- Jessie Reyez, Good Days-SZA, King’s Dead, Kendrick Lamar, and Saint Bernard- Lincoln.

“Which was odd because usually he talks the most on these rides. After we got over the initial awkwardness of the whole fire and Vulture thing we fell back into the way of things. Well if he was going to play this game I would too because what’s that saying? It takes two to tango.”

A/N: Hold on tight a lot goes down and it’s not looking up anytime soon.

Series Masterlist Previous Part Next Part

I was running faster than I’d ever had before the heels I had been trying on? Not helping my case. Since this is apparently my brand now I backed myself up onto the edge of the building.

I had a gun trained on me.

“Come with us Y/N please,”

“No! Who the fuck is Y/N?”

“Don’t play dumb ma’am we’ve done extensive research on you and we see you’ve done the same with us,”

I rolled my eyes.

“Fuck you! I have no idea what you’re talking about and this is harassment,”

“You’re cornered there’s no way out,”

The man wasn’t going to shoot me. No one would’ve come all the way out here and have chased me for this long when they had a gun if they were really planning on killing me. They would’ve done it already. And if this was who I thought it was I was not going with them.

“Just come with us, we’re on your side, we’re not trying to hurt you,” That sounds exactly like someone who was going to hurt me would say.

“Yeah says the man who has a gun aimed at me,” I rolled my eyes.

“This is simply a safety precaution, just make this easier for everyone,”

I looked back at him before making my decision. I was getting the hell out of here now.

I bent backwards towards the street underneath me. Instead of free falling I put my hands behind me going into a backbend kickover grabbing onto the ledge.

Using my legs as a propeller I launched myself closer to the wall. I’d gotten lucky and the walls had protruding bricks that I could scale.

The man who I think was from SHIELD was hot on my tail. So I had to move fast. I scaled my way to the nearest balcony jumping into the pool in a leap of faith.

I’d made it in thankfully. Guess my story wasn’t over.

Then I had to run. I was running down the streets. Thankfully this was New York and no one would bat an eye at someone who was drenched head to toe running down the street. They’d just pass me off as another nut job and go about their day.

So much has happened I feel like this is an episode of shameless. You really were too busy to tune in last week you skank ass bitch? I almost died twice and I still managed to check in, whatever, just pay attention to the next clip.

“So that building exploded and that loud siren noise I think I told you about was going off in my ears and when I left the plane with Vulture and Spidey were fighting by a crashed plane and Vulture put too much power onto his wings and they were gonna blow up. And I got mad like fucking top of the anger iceberg mad. So when I was like on the verge of blacking out like fucking fire came out of my hands and disintegrated those wings. Like they turned to ash before my very eyes. Then I had a panic attack of course and that’s pretty much it,”

“Uh… I just called you here to tell you I found something about that SHIELD guy who came after but, I’m glad you’re okay,” Felicia told me.

“Sorry… I guess I got too excited,”

“What'd you find?” I moved over to her in her spinning chair.

“Look and see for yourself,” She moved out the way.

I sighed plopping down onto the small twin bed.

“I know what you’re doing,” I said, picking up a piece of popcorn.

“What are you talking about?” Carmen asked as if she was genuinely confused.

“You’re trying to trick me into eating and sleeping, which is totally not fair because if I want to wallow in self pity I should be able to,”

“I know what happens when it gets bad and I’m not letting you get there again,”

I sighed again. She is always claiming that she sees herself in me and she wants me to be the best version of myself.

She acts like since she’s one year older than me that she’s my mentor or something.

Plus she also thinks I have an undiagnosed and untreated bipolar disorder so who’s to say everything else she says isn’t a lie also.

We were watching a Wrinkle in Time and I knew I was going to cry when the girl’s dad came back. I always did and I didn’t want to cry today.

“Wanna go do something?”

“Sure... Where are we going?”

“Out,”

I tried on a lot of Carmens clothes and ended up wearing the most extravagant outfit I’d ever worn. I felt extremely giddy for no reason in particular. I was wearing a puffy skirt and corset. We were walking about the streets of Brooklyn with no clear destination in mind just talking.

“I just find it funny that all you have to do to be famous on Tiktok is be white and skinny like smoke a cigarette in a subway station or some shit,”

“Why don’t we get famous?”

“Now how would we get famous,” I poked.

“I’m offended that you don’t think we could,” She stopped on the side of the street.

“Gimme your phone,” She demanded in a kind way.

I plopped it into her palm.

I’d honestly forgotten where I was for a second because I’d zoned out yet again. She put the phone back in my hand and she had made a Tiktok account for the both of us.

She was only checking to see if I liked the account name because she took the phone right back afterwards.

I didn’t mind.

“I should get a tattoo right?” I asked, putting another one of the chamoy gummy worms in my mouth.

“How many do you have now?”

“I think like twelve?”

“And that’s not enough for you?”

“Noo! I like the ones I have. I just want a bigger one.”

“Then do it?”

We were actually in walking distance of a tattoo parlour I just didn’t trust them. Never cheat on your nail tech or hairstylist and it goes the same for tattoo artists.

Two subway rides later we were in Queens. I walked up to the front desk and was about to ask for my go to artist but she walked out the back room before I had the chance.

“Y/N, ‘s that you?” She asked.

“The one and only,” I twirled around in my dress.

“This dress is very different than your usual style but I can’t say I don’t love it,” She pulled at the fabric then glanced up her eyes, lighting up in recognition. She gasped “Is this Carmen?”

I nodded “My bad lemme introduce you to each other. Carmen this is Enchantress and you already know Carmen apparently,”

I’d played a Russian roulette sort of thing with my tattoo Pinterest board just clicking one with my eyes closed. Then there was the buzzing of the gun moving along my skin. Puncturing it in a way that felt extremely bittersweet.

I never understood people who said tattoos hurt. I could always barely feel them. They felt like a simple scrape over your skin. Also at this shop they still give you the wrapping for your tattoo but it’s filled with ink still so you can move it around in the bubble. I like messing with the ink sack. I think that’s why I come here so often.

I was admiring the tattoo on my lower abdomen in the mirror when I was startled.

“Wait!” Enchantress exclaimed, starling me “I just realized you got a piercing. Come here,” She beckoned.

She turned towards me

“It’s actually super straight, did you do this?”

I opened my mouth to respond when Carmen answered for me.

“No, some girl did it for her in her school bathroom,” I really gotta stop telling her everything. She’s always snitching on me.

“I want to be mad but I can’t because it actually looks super healthy,” She titled my chin up to get a better view “However if it gets infected I’m beating your ass,”

We exited the shop after I paid well, Carmen paid but I’ll pay her back. There was a pretty hefty discount too, because Enchantress loved me apparently, I loved her too. She’s an older sister figure like my role model. I mean she was when I was a few years younger. I think I’ve grown out of role models.

I felt a sharp uncomfortable sensation in my body which sort of felt like those anxiety brain zaps but located in my abdomen.

I looked behind me and there was something off about this man who was standing a few feet behind me. I accidently made eye contact with him and he bolted off.

Weird.

“Y/N are you even listening to me?”

“Huh,” I turned in Carmen’s directions “Sorry what'd you say?”

“I was saying that since you got a tattoo, I’m gonna cut and dye my hair,”

“Cool what color?”

“I don’t know yet let’s go just to CVS ‘nd decide there,”

I was sitting on the kitchen counter behind the chair Carmen was in as I applied the bleach to her hair singing along to the song playing.

Why is it so hard to accept the party is over?

You came with your new friend

And her mom jeans and her new Vans

I set the bowl of hair bleach onto the counter hopping down to get ready for my favorite part of the song.

And she's perfect and I hate it

I sang it loudly moving my hands around like I always do releasing my energy. It was almost like therapy. Who am I kidding SZA is therapy.

I used the bathroom and I couldn’t find soap. I looked under the cabinet and found the soap. I also found something else I wasn’t expecting to see. I brought it back into the kitchen with me.

“You have a hello kitty bong?”

She grabbed it from my hands examining it.

“Well actually I stole it from my sister,”

“No way, this is Dinah’s? Because she just got ten times cooler,”

“All I know was she got back in college, then she just stopped using it,”

I finished Carmen’s hair which for some reason she trusted me enough to cut curtain bangs for her honestly they didn’t look too bad. It was just very time consuming.

“Okay but are you sure, how’d you know he’s gay?” Harry questioned leaning back to look at the kid again.

“Just watch,” I raised my voice just enough for him to be able to hear me “Charlie!”

He turned around as if he were stunned that I was talking to him.

“Who me?” He asked.

“Yes you,”

“Oh,”

“So can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah sure I guess…”

“What’s your favorite Percy Jackson book?”

“The answer Lightning Thief is pretty basic but it’s my favorite or maybe the Titan’s Curse, I’m not sure,”

“Okay cool, thank you,” I turned back to face Harry “See,”

“That doesn’t prove anything but okay,”

“He knew more than one book in the Percy Jackson series that tells me all I need to know,”

“I know more than one Percy Jackson book,” He eyed me.

“Yeah and you’re gay,”

He just huffed. Got him there.

“He still wouldn’t fuck you though,” I sat tucked my legs underneath me.

“Whatever shouldn’t you be in your class? Which is it again?”

“Physics,”

“Oh…”

“Oh what? Don’t oh me,”

“You’re avoiding Peter,”

“I’m not avoiding Peter,” I totally was. Just Harry thinks I’m doing it because I like him. I didn’t tell him that but I might've let him believe it, because how do you even go about telling someone Hey I’m avoiding the person because fire came out of my body and they saw it. I’d sound insane.

As I was walking to the gym and by to, I mean away from, but that’s not the point, I could’ve sworn I saw the same man from Saturday in the window near the crowd of students.

Accompanied by the same gut feeling.

I pushed my way into the gym. To avoid him. I bumped into someone. Off instinct I got defensive but then I heard an

“Oh, sorry. Sorry!” Once they’d turned around I realized it had been Peter. Just my luck.

“You’re fine that was basically my fault anyway,”

I was going to just walk over to one of my friends but they weren’t here and Liz literally just left the school. So I had no escape.

Well there was one escape. There’s always a way out.

“Y/N!” The female gym coach called.

“Yes?” I rolled my eyes.

“Where are your gym clothes?”

“Probably in the locker room...”

“Why aren’t you wearing them?”

“I didn’t feel like it,”

“You need to change for your grade, participation is important,”

I picked up my backpack off the floor before pushing open the doors to the girls locker room. Instead of going towards my locker I headed straight for the metal doors leading into the hallway. I went to the space I always seemed to drift to when I had nowhere else to go.

The teachers bathroom.

I know that sounds weird but it’s the only one I can lock. I stole a key a while back when I went to get my phone back from one of the teachers.

I guess Carmen was a psychic or something because one of the videos she’d posted on our group account of us eating in the dresses, me getting that tattoo, and dying Carmen’s hair had blown up.

I did not see her take any of the clips but the proof was right in front of me.

The video had half a million views and I assumed that was because of all the comments helping pushing the algorithm.

Some of them were nice like

hey lol

you’re both gorgeous omg

That tattoo is cool af

I want to be you

I should pay you to do my hair lmao

I can't tell if i want to be you

The other half were like

No child should be getting a tattoo you look so young

That is the devils sign I’m praying for you.

Why please Go To God✝️✝️🙏🏻🙏🏻♥️

Im praying for you

At first I was confused as to why half of the comments were people praying. Then I realized it was because Carmen had on her pentagram necklace.

I’m definitely not complaining about the comments though because they got me that many views, likes, and follows, but the ignorance upsets me. A pentagram only represents Earth, Air, Water, and Fire it’s about balance.

I think it’s cool, kinda like the Avatar. It has nothing to do with Satan. I didn’t really want to think about Fire. I was still freaking out about Friday. It hadn’t happened again so maybe I dreamt it or something.

Somehow I spent the rest of gym and half of what should’ve been me heading to detention responding to every Christian’s comment with something dumb or witty.

I was walking towards the detention room and was startled by Peter. Again.

“Hey Y/N?”

“Yes?”

“Um… this is gonna sound insane but,” he paused looking down fiddling with his hands.

My face twisted up in confusion as to why he still hadn’t spoken.

“Are you gonna to speak…”

“Oh. Oh!” He looked back up “Yeah you remember my internship right?”

“Yeah…” I guess he was going to act like I didn’t know about him being Spiderman again.

“So now Mr. Stark is interested in you and wants you to come with me upstate,”

“Why me?”

“I’m not sure, but if you’re coming someone is outside waiting for us,”

I’m sure this was just another attempt to lure me into some SHIELD mess. However Peter had no idea about Thorn or any of the other fucked up shit I’d done. So it would look suspicious if I didn’t go. Because what kid or any other person wouldn’t want to meet Tony Stark.

“Okay then, what are we waiting for?”

The ride there was completely silent. I spent the whole time texting Carmen as she complained about her boyfriend. I really hated him oh my God. Peter had gone into the building about 15 minutes ago.

“Okay, if he’s always getting on your nerves and trying to control you why are you still with him?” I asked in the snap meant for Carmen.

“You know why, I’m not going to say it because then you’d get mad at me,” She sent a video back.

“Thank you I do not want to hear about your boyfriends dick-,” I was interrupted by a knock on the window “Okay I can’t talk got to go,” I sent the video before sliding across the seat pushing the door open.

“What happened?” I asked as Peter sat back in the car.

“It was a test,” He said, providing no further elaboration.

The back window was rolled down and the guy who drove us here. Happy, I think. There is no way that was his real name. He stuck his face in the window.

“Hey, the boss wants to see you now,”

I turned back to Peter and whispered.

“The boss? Am I about to walk into some mafia meeting,”

He just laughed at that.

“We don’t have much time,” Happy urged.

As we began walking the halls of the giant building as I pocketed random trinkets that I could sell for a quick buck.

“So what’s your real name?” I asked Happy since this whole time he was leading me it was a silent ride.

He continued to ignore me.

So I asked again. I could tell from his body language that I was getting on his nerves.

I asked twice more and by the time the last sentence came out of my mouth we’d already reached our destination. He walked away not before mumbling a quick I hate kids.

“Y/N it’s nice to meet you,” Tony greeted as he reached out to shake my hand. I allowed it.

“You’re a lot shorter in person,” I pointed out after releasing his hand.

“Not the first time I’ve heard that,” He reached for a bowl putting something in his mouth. “Grape?” He offered.

“No thank you,” Not like they’d be poisoned or anything, no one had even gotten the chance to question me yet. Also there was the fact that he was eating them but this could be a Princess Bride situation. Not taking any chances.

“Okay,” He clapped, dusting his hands. “Let’s get to the point now,”

“So I’ve been informed that you had an instance with pyrokinesis,” He continued after I nodded. “I was hoping to research this to get to the bottom of this,”

“So you want to use me as a lab rat?”

“No of course not, the research would be used purely for your personal benefit,”

For my benefit my ass. They were going to turn me into a lab rat or a soldier.

“Okay I’ll think about it,” Thought about it. A hard hell no.

“If you do choose to do so since you are a minor I’ll need parental consent,”

“Of course,” I nodded.

There was a pamphlet that I wasn’t going to read. I wasn’t really going to ask for permission. Was I? If I wasn’t then why was I back at ”my” house.

I just missed my bed, it was messy but it was mine.

I started sobbing for no reason at all. Maybe it was the old sketchbooks on my bed, or my mom's broken jewelry box. It could’ve been the smell of incense that never left from the lack of ventilation. It was probably the pile of crystals on my dresser. Then again it could’ve been the nazar eye amulet from the broken bracelet on the ground or the hole in the wall where I used to keep my favorite knife. Maybe it was all of those things. Maybe it was so much more. Maybe it was something different entirely. Maybe it was the colors of the wind. Who knows.

My eyes stung as my eyeliner dripped down and into them. I blinked the tears away as I went through all my clothes and I mean ALL my clothes.

I found another bodycon dress. I slipped it on after stuffing a few other articles in my bag. I continued searching to the very back of my closet and I found an old purse. There were at least $50 in the back pocket and in the front pocket there were- Oh.

There was a small plastic bag with at least 500gs of Xanax. I must’ve left them there after Washington.

I wasn’t going to take them. I really wasn't; I just put them in the bra. You know for safe keeping. I heard the front door open and made a break for the balcony.

Although I’d regularly seen my sisters. I still hadn’t seen my dad since I’d left. They’d seen him a couple times though he was fine with the idea of them staying at our grandma’s for who knows how long. He doesn’t care as long as he’s still got that girlfriend of his. I can only imagine what he told her about us not staying with him.

I jumped down the stairs of the fire escape and my heart almost jumped out of my chest. As something hit my calf.

I looked down to see it was just Salem climbing up my leg. I lifted her up to my chest nuzzling the top of her head.

“Hiii baby!” I cooed in a baby voice.

I now more carefully made my way down the steps so as to not disrupt her. Now I was going to go straight to my grandma’s house to drop off the clothes, but I wanted to go shopping before it got too late.

I already had no money so I have no idea why I thought it was a good idea but there I was with a $300 charge on my credit card.

I probably looked insane walking around the mall with a cat in my backpack and black streaks underneath my eyes.

If you’ve never done this I highly recommend it. Every subway train comes with carts and the last cart is a door with railing and no other restrictions. You can just sneak into the very back.

The wind hitting your face is the most freeing thing in the world and you can scream as loud as you want and no one will hear you. That fact can be unsettling to some but to me it’s beautiful.

Releasing your true emotions to no one but you and yourself. I closed my eyes holding onto the railing with one hand and Salem in the other. I put her back into my backpack before sitting down.

Since the app is addicting, and you can’t tell me it’s not, I opened Tiktok and the first thing I saw is a guy pouring what I hoped wasn’t I thought it was into a bowl.

So naturally my first reaction was to make a video about it because who doesn’t overshare on the internet.

“Tell me why,” The track rumbled underneath me, making Salem whine, I picked her up letting her cuddle into my chest.

“Okay, I have a cat now but-” The track rumbled again “It’s so fucking loud but tell me why I opened this hellfire app and see some dude pouring cum into a bowl, I hate everyone,”

Within like six minutes of me posting it I had multiple likes and comments.

The only reason being is that Harry dueted.

I gotta say being the kid of a mayor and a multimillionaire gives you some form of clout. So he had a pretty heft following.

Harry’s similar to me in the way that we’re mean to our friends. So naturally we’re ”mean” to each other.

“You look stupid,” Harry claimed in his video “Also who’s fucking cat did you steal put it back and get in the trains properly and go wash your face,”

I hadn’t even realized I was on my new account at first.

Of course I made a response video.

“First of all this is my cat, her name is Salem and she’s adorable” I mean not really but she belongs to no one else, and I feed her. “Second, ignore my eyeliner. I actually think it looks kinda cute,” Lie, It just made me look crazy. “Also how'd you even find this account so fast? Stalker. I’d advise you shut up before I post your phone number then you’d have to ward off groupies. I’m sure you’d like that though.”

I’m pretty sure the majority of the people in our comments thought we were being serious. So in turn they commented things like I have no idea who you are but I’m on your side, is this gonna be another scandal, or here before the news is talking about it.

I’m not complaining. His history of scandals got me to 5k followers for the pure assumption that I was involved in some other secret.

My mind was moving at 100 miles per hour. It felt like I was on a whole bottle of adderall. I was going somewhere. At least I remember I was supposed to be somewhere. I’m pretty sure my grandma’s house was where I was going. Right?

“No weapon against you shall prosper mija,” My grandma squeezed my hand “You are stronger than you know,”

“I know. Thank you,”

I’d got here and we had a 30 minute conversation about my mental health without outright saying anything about mental health. It was just mostly her taking shots at my dad. With the exception of her telling me I was dressed like una furcia.

“Okay well,” I pushed up off the couch “I just came to bring some clothes and I need to get back anyway,”

“Get back to where, where are staying?” She asked.

“Oh you remember MJ right?” I lied.

“Oh yes, I like that lil’ girl,”

I went into the guest room to where my sisters were staying. I could hear rustling as I got closer to the room. I flicked on the lights. To see both of my sisters asleep. It was only 10:30 so that was highly unlikely.

“I know you’re not sleep it’s just me,”

They peeled open their eyes, sitting up.

“I come bearing gifts,” I announced kneeling down next to the bag.

I placed the bag on the floor carefully so I wouldn’t hurt Salem.

Sapphire squealed when she saw her.

“You got Salem? I missed her!”

“Well actually, I just brought clothes,” I dumped them on the bed “Aaliyah come here?” I asked.

She hopped down from the bed.

“All of Sapphire’s clothes are over there but I know we’re like the same size so pick what you want,” I told her.

She took at least half of what I had but I wasn’t complaining because at least she wasn’t going behind my back and taking them.

“Okay but like am I really allowed to hate my father like cause,” I tried to move only to immediately lose balance “Shit- but like can I even hate my dad if I do the same shit he does, like maybe, maybe it’s like some contractual blood magic shit and I’m just destined to be a shitty person,” I was sending videos to some group chat I didn’t know who was in it because I couldn’t really read the name I just know Harry was the only one responding.

“I get it being like your parents is scary but you’re not and I won’t let you be like that, now get some sleep please,” Harry reassured.

“NO! It’s like,” I struggled to get the sentence out “It’s like crazy because before I existed it like someone fucking planted this, like it- it’s a-,” I hit my forehead on each word as if I could physically knock them out. “It’s a seed in my brain and it’s only going to grow as I get older and I’m just gonna be an asshole, it’s fucking happening already and I-“ Carmen came into the living room I flipped the camera onto her “Say hi!” I slurred.

“Y/N you okay?” She said making her way over to me. I stopped the video and sent it.

“I’m fine how are you?”

“I thought you went to bed,” she ignored my question.

“I did. Then I couldn’t sleep,” I leaned back onto the couch. She crouched down next to me feeling my forehead.

“You have a fever,” She claimed.

“No I don’t! Why does everyone keep saying that?” I whined.

“Are you high?” She moved closer to my face.

“No I’m not fucking high,”

“You’re slurring your words,” She pointed out moving into the kitchen “What’d you take?”

“What?”

“I said what’d you take,” She going into one of the cabinets “I know you’re not drunk because you don’t smell like alcohol and you don't smell like weed, so I’ll ask you again,”

“I didn’t take anything, I'm not high!” I explained.

“It was Benadryl wasn’t it?” She came back into the living room and handed me a glass of water. “You know that stuff kills people,”

“Yeah I think I of all people would know that,” Truth is I wasn’t lying. I didn’t take anything. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, maybe sleep deprivation.

“True,” She sat down on the floor next to me “You know how I said I can tell when it’s getting bad,” I nodded. “Well like I was saying before it’s getting bad for you-”

“No it’s not,” I interrupted “I’m literally the happiest I’ve ever been today,”

“I was getting there,” She held her hands up in an attempt to placate me “That’s just the calm before the storm it’s mania,”

“I’m not manic! Stop trying to psychoanalyze me I’m perfectly fine,”

I must've woken Salem up because I could hear her footsteps as she paddled over to me and sat in my lap. It’s like she knew when I was getting angry.

“That’s the thing you’re not fine, just let me know when you’re ready to admit that,” She pushed off the ground using her hands “Try to get some sleep please and thank you,”

I think it was the weight and warmth of Salem on my chest that finally lulled me to sleep like a weighted blanket.

“Sapphire!” I yelled to catch her attention “Stop running you’re gonna hurt yourself,”

She slowed down before making her way back to Aaliyah and the other kids at this birthday party.

I sat back down on the table’s bench before getting back on my phone. I saw this post one time about how people use technology to distract themselves so they can't have the chance to have a depressive thought. Then I decided to prove that theory wrong so I put my phone up and I thought.

And boy did I have a lot to think about. The biggest thing on my mind was why. Why did Tony Stark come after me? Why did the guy with the gun come after me? Why did my mom feel the need to make an “Incase I die” video? Why did she have connections to people like Kingpin? Why did she even know Wade? Wasn’t he some science experiment gone wrong?

Then that got me thinking what if I was a science experiment gone. What if that’s why Tony Stark wanted to experiment on me. What if that was under the orders of someone from SHIELD, because how would he have known about me otherwise.

Welp, there was only one way to find out.

“Okay I’m in,” I settled. “What do I have to do?”

“Uh are you sure?” Tony asked.

“Positive,” I affirmed.

“Well first we would probably do some blood tests and an MRI. Then see where that takes us.” He looked back over at me “Can you do this tomorrow?”

“Yeah tomorrow works for me,”

“Great,” He clapped his hands together “I’ll send Happy to pick you up from school,”

“No it’s fine I can get here myself.”

“It’s a different location,” He revealed.

“Okay tell me where it is and I’ll make it there myself,”

“I can’t not even I know where it is,”

“Fine, I’ll do this, but only if I can bring a friend,” I requested “You know for safety reasons?”

“Safety reasons? Do you not trust me?”

“Not really…”

“Wow okay, you can bring this friend,”

“Who doesn’t trust Iron man?'' I heard him mutter to himself as I made my way out of the building.

I always thought the apocalypse would come in colors. The sky flashing from red to pink to purple to orange. Then there would be a loud sound almost like the Big Bang. Then nothing. I had a vivid imagination when I was younger.

I guess I was wrong though because it was already here and the sky was as blue as ever. And the air was as humid as ever in this crusty ass building.

“I told you already I’m not a soldier you’re gonna have to pay me for this,” I spoke into the comms.

“Shh,” Tony hushed “Just wait for your target.”

Life hadn’t been all that bad. Just for the past two weeks I’d been training with Peter since at the end of the week that I agreed to testing, Spiderman joined in the Avengers officially. Which, good for him I guess.

Trying to get my brain back on track now. I’d been training with Peter and now we’re going on our first mission. I was not loyal to Tony at all. Nor would I ever be. I’m not calling him Mr. Stark like Peter does either, he doesn’t deserve it. I was trying to look up my mom with the information Felicia gave me and I saw she was listed as level orange in a shield file. Whatever that means.

One thing it meant was I couldn’t back out just yet now.

This would be one deep inside job.

“Peter?” I whispered into the comms

“Hello?” He asked.

“Where are you?”

“I’m guarding the entrance like I was told too?” He asked more than stated.

“Well, come here,”

“But Mr. Stark said-“

“I don’t care what Mr. Stark said come here,” I interjected without even thinking about the fact he could’ve been listening in somehow.

“Yes?” He questioned once he was standing in front of me.

“Take my role for a second,” I pulled my gun out the holster “You know how to use a gun right?”

I thought back to the last time we’d actually fought as our alter egos. Except then he didn’t know it was me and he still doesn’t. He definitely didn’t know how to use a gun then let’s just hope he did now.

“You know what, I don’t have time just take it,” I placed the gun in his palm before speeding off.

“Wait!” He called out “Aren’t you defenseless now?”

“I’ll be fine baby boy,” I called back.

I made my way into the farthest depths of the warehouse. I’d been here once before. That was before I knew Felicia and we’d gotten into a scuffle about a diamond. Let’s just say I was young and I went home bruised that day.

Apparently I was under the impression she had it and she was under the impression I had it this whole time. So maybe. Just maybe it was still there. It was somewhere in the back last time I checked.

There it was. I grabbed it and recoiled when I heard a voice accompanied by the sharp zap in my body.

“Looking for something?” They asked. I turned around only to be faced with a large burly almost Frankenstein looking man.

“Oh yeah I was looking for you actually, you just made my job a lot easier,”

As if my words were a signal for him. They probably were. He lunged forward towards me with his left side fully open. I evaded and left a sharp kick to his side.

He wailed out in pain before slinging me backward as I tried to reach for the diamond off the floor.

I skidded across the floor before hopping back to my feet.

“I found the guy,” I spoke into the comms.

“Who are you talking to?” The target teased.

“Your mom,” I taunted.

“Hey!” He cried.

“Where are you?” I heard Peter ask I didn’t get a chance to answer because the man swung at me again.

That hit made contact with my shoulder. He continued to swing and I continued to walk backwards. I realized almost too late that I was backing myself into a corner.

I’m not sure where or who I heard this from maybe Wade but sometimes the only point your opponent has his guard down is mid punch.

I scrambled for my knife, fingers dancing around the holster on my waist as my feet continued to slide along the pavement underneath me. Just as the man swung at me again I sent my knife towards his torso. Except it didn’t make contact. And I had never missed before, especially not from this close.

I was confused until I realized it was because I heard that all familiar wet sticky sound of Spider-Man’s web shooters except this time I was glad to hear it.

Peter webbed the man's arms and mouth all while my fingers went lax in shock for only a moment but one moment too long.

The knife clattered to the ground making a noise that drew Peter’s attention. I tried to swipe it away with my foot but Peter had already grabbed it.

“This is Thorns knife,” He spoke calmly and I wasn’t sure if it was directed at me or if it was for himself.

“And how would you have Thorns knife unless you were,” I saw his eyes light up as he made the connection. “Wait, you’re Thorn, holy shit, I’m so stupid how’d I not notice before,”

“Peter seriously you can’t tell anyone,”

He looked up as if he were just noticing I was still there.

“Don’t worry I won’t be saying anything at all,”

Yeah, this was definitely the apocalypse because I don’t know if it was just me but life was ending.

Another silent ride and I realized exactly what he’d meant when he said he wouldn’t say anything. He was giving me the silent treatment.

Which was odd because usually he talks the most on these rides. After we got over the initial awkwardness of the whole fire and Vulture thing we fell back into the way of things. Well if he was going to play this game I would too because what’s that saying? It takes two to tango.

Taglist:

@tomdiddlyumptious

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dcbbw · 4 years

Note

Hi, I'm here to request Riam Riley demanding that Liam make Forbidden Falls more accessible for her and the babies per our convo 😂😂😂😂

Hi, @burnsoslow! Thank you for the ask, #mykarev. So, this definitely did not go the way we discussed but hopefully you like it anyway!

Riley’s body swayed as she held an 8-month-old Fric in her arms; the sand was warm and gritty beneath her feet. In front of her, Liam smiled as one arm snaked around her waist, his hand coming to settle on her hip. In his other arm, he held Frac.

The royal family and their friends were at the private beach where the social season’s beach party had been held. Governance was hard work, and everyone had been stepping up the past few months to keep Cordonia prosperous and at peace. Liam wanted to do something to show his appreciation, and Riley suggested a day at the beach.

There was food, a volleyball net, and music; currently Bob Marley’s Jamming was playing. Riley laughed as she held her son in front of her, gently bouncing him to the song. The babies were slathered in sunscreen, wore wide brimmed hats on top of their thick curls, and tiny sunglasses over their eyes.

Fric giggled before squirming, indicating he wanted to get down. Rileypulled him close to her body, before plopping on the beach blanket. She sat the baby on it, laying her head on Liam’s shoulder as he settled next to her. The twins picked up their plastic sand shovels, beating them against the soft fabric. They babbled softly to themselves, occasionally stopping to observe what the other was doing.

“This was a great idea,” Riley said as her eyes scanned the beach.

Maxwell, Drake, Rashad, and Ezekiel were playing a game of volleyball. Kiara, Penelope, and Madeleine were tanning. Olivia, Hana, and Leo were at the buffet, perusing food options. Crystal blue water lapped at the shore, it’s sounds muted by the music, which was still blaring.

“We should dip the babies’ toes in the water,” Liam suggested.

“AAACK!” Riley hollered as Frac took off his sunglasses, trying to pull them apart.

Liam chuckled as he pried the glasses from the toddler’s chubby hands and placed them gently back on his face. “Master Frac, I need you to keep these on.”

Frac waved his arms as he chattered in gibberish to Liam, as if explaining why he needed to take them off. Liam said “Oopa” as he lifted his son, planting a kiss on the chubby cheek.

Riley looked at Liam curiously. “You always say that when you pick them up. What does it mean?”

“It’s a version of …” Liam thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. “Upsa-daisy! My father used to say it when I was younger.”

Riley was silent. She had forgiven Constantine before his death, but she had never made peace with the man or his actions. But she wouldn’t deny Liam the good memories he had of his father.

“We haven’t been here since social season,” Riley observed.

“We sneaked away to the Forgotten Falls.” Liam smiled at the memory. “Where I first confessed my love for you.”

Riley scoffed as she straightened Fric’s hat. “You chickened out!”

“I jumped, didn’t I?” Liam demanded.

Riley smirked as her finger traced a lazy line up Liam’s thigh. “I had to drag you!”

“You are exaggerating, my love,” Liam said as he nuzzled Riley’s neck.

“I wish we could go back.”

Liam arched his brow. “We can!” He spread his arm out towards the rest of the beach. “We have babysitters at our disposal. We can sneak away and be back before the twins’ feeding in an hour.”

Just then, Drake and Hana walked over, both sweaty from the sun. “What’s happening over here, other than wedded bliss?” Drake asked as he pinched Fric’s cheek.

“Hey, Drake,” Riley purred.

Drake looked at the Queen suspiciously. “What do you want, Brooks?”

“A babysitter. For about a half hour,” Liam replied.

“Forty-five minutes!” Riley corrected.

Hana laughed as she tickled Frac’s belly. “I’m happy to babysit. Do they need to be changed or fed?”

“We’ll be back before feeding, but just in case, bottles and jars of baby food are in the cooler, and the diaper genie is here.” Riley gestured to the diaper pail sitting on a corner of the blanket. “Diapers and wipes are in the bag.”

“You guys go on. Hana and I got this.”

Riley and Liam kissed their sons before standing and sliding their feet into flip flops.

“Make sure they keep their hats and glasses on. And don’t sit them on the sand, they’ll eat it.” Liam cautioned.

“We got you! Now, go!” Drake ordered.

Grinning, the royal couple clasped hands, and headed for the trail that would take them to the falls.

Hana and Drake exchanged knowing looks, not seeing the twins watch their parents walk away. The boys began to cry, and Drake and Hana busied themselves soothing the babies.

At the falls, Riley and Liam sat on the banks of the plunge pool, staring at the majestic waterfall as endless volumes of water poured over craggy black rocks. The rushing water and surrounding lush greenery muted the sounds of the beach party. Riley kicked her feet in the water, causing it to splash and ripple.

“I miss this place,” Riley murmured.

“Me too,” Liam agreed.

Riley turned to look at Liam, a question in her eyes.

“What?” Liam asked.

“Am I the only person you’ve brought here?”

“I told you then, this is a special place. I don’t share it with just anyone!” Liam argued.

Riley continued to stare at her husband, an expectant look on her face.

Liam furrowed his brow. “Does it make it a difference?”

Riley stared at him a moment longer, then nodded her head. “Who, Liam?”

“Riley …”

She pushed his arm; it was a little too forceful to be considered playful.

Wincing as he rubbed his arm, Liam answered her question. “I bought one other woman here. Girl actually, as we were both teenagers at the time. She wouldn’t jump with me.”

Riley looked down at the ground, plucking blades of grass. “Mary Prescott?”

Liam nodded. “Yes,” he said softly.

Riley exhaled a long, loud sigh. “I cannot stand that woman.”

Liam looked at Riley. “Why? It was a long time ago. And I found the woman who was meant for the falls, for the briefcase, … who was meant for me.”

“Because she hurt you, Liam! Unnecessarily! I don’t want you to ever hurt!”

Liam chuckled lightly. “My protector! Are you going to stop kissing Yu and dancing with Annabelle Parsons?”

Riley frowned. “Don’t be silly! They’re the glue holding our marriage together.”

Liam laughed out loud. He placed his hand over his heart, a wounded expression on his face. “But it hurts me deeply, love.”

This time, Riley did push him playfully. Liam pulled Riley closer to him. “Don’t hate Mary Prescott, Riley. She … she was raised to not believe in love, and to seek her happiness in other ways. I found you and say prayers of thanksgiving every day that you never left. That you saw me.”

Silence while Liam’s fingers combed through Riley’s hair. She kissed his neck. He tasted of sun and slightly of sweat.

“I’d like to try for another baby,” he said quietly.

Riley stiffened. “I don’t know if I can give you that, Liam. It took us so long to get the boys. And we lost Little One before them. Honestly, I’m scared.”

Liam kissed her hair. “I’m not saying right away. And I’m not talking about ovulation charts and sex at specific times on certain days. I want it to happen naturally. We’ll talk to Dr. Felger. If she gives us the go ahead, I ask you keep an open mind.”

Riley burrowed herself in Liam’s side. “Can’t we just have sex?”

“Of course, love. All the time if you want.”

“We have twin boys under the age of one, and no nanny.”

Liam raised his eyebrow suggestively as he grinned down at Riley. “But we have babysitters right now.”

“I have sand in my butt crack.”

Riley’s eyes looked to the top of the waterfall. “I want to jump off with the boys one day.”

“The legend says only lovers get the blessing.”

“I think the Lady of the Waterfall would make an exception.”

Liam’s eyes searched Riley’s before capturing her lips in a deep kiss. When they separated, his hand cupped her cheek. “You’re my honey: warm, sensuous, sweet. I’m so in love with you, Riley Brooks.”

Riley wrapped her arms around his neck. A smile curved her lips. “I recall the last time we were here, you said I was ‘tart’,” she reminded him.

Liam rubbed his nose against hers. “I stand by that statement.” He pulled away to look over at the falls. “We should jump before we head back.”

Riley looked at him dubiously. “Is there an elevator or something to get up there? Because the last time I climbed up there was twenty pounds ago. And you had to help me then!”

“I like touching your skin!”

“Yeah, well, now there’s more of it and not willing to risk injury so much anymore. Install an elevator, and I’ll go with you.”

Liam smirked as he lifted himself from the ground. His arm reached out, and Riley latched onto his hand, pulling herself up. “Where are we going?” She asked suspiciously.

“The waterfall has a secret.”

The couple walked in silence around the left side of the waterfall, batting and swatting at low hanging branches. They reached a clearing; carved into the side of the waterfall were stairs that led to the top of the cascade. Riley looked at Liam with accusing eyes.

“How long has this been here?”

Liam began to climb. “Are you coming, love?”

“It’s been here the entire time, hasn’t it?”

“Don’t dawdle! We have children to feed!”

Riley grumbled under her breath the entire trip up. When the reached the ledge, she drew in a breath at the view. Until she looked down.

“I’m still scared of heights.”

“It’s still best not to think about that.” Liam grabbed her hand. “Can we make this a tradition? Every year, on our anniversary, we come here to renew the blessing?”

Riley brought his hands to her lips, kissing his knuckles. “Until we can’t climb anymore.”

The couple looked at each other with wide grins. “Ready?” Liam asked.

Riley nodded, and the pair leapt from the top of the falls.

Again.

Their shrieks of fear and excitement drowned out the whispered blessing from the Lady of the Waterfalls.

Again.

Tagging: @sirbeepsalot @wannabemc2 @jared2612 @katedrakeohd @hopefulmoonobject @custaroonie @jovialyouthmusic @thequeenofcronuts @amomentofsinclairity @bobasheebaby @ao719 @sashatrr @marietrinmimi @ladyangel70 @gardeningourmet @umccall71 @angi15h @romanticatheart-posts @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria @blznbaby @tabithacarlisle @bbrandy2002 @ab1901 @janezillow @debramcg1106 @radlovedreamer @lodberg @thecordoniandiaries @ramseyandrys @caroldxnvxrs @princess-geek @burnsoslow @annekebbphotography @merridithsmiscellany-blog @queenjilian @emichelle @indiacater @loveellamae @forthebrokenheartedthings @kingliam2019 @texaskitten30 @glaimtruelovealways @zaffrenotes @bebepac @liyanin @dibberdipper @choiceslife @ac27dj @the-soot-sprite @gnatbrain @seriouslybadchoices @sanchita012 @anotherbeingsworld @atha68 @aworldoffandoms @hopelessromanticmonie @amandablink

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kurtty-drabbles · 3 years

Text

House of M au (redone) part 8

N/A: I´m happy with the reviews. Yes, Scott took Jean´s last name because he wants to be Mr. Grey-puns are welcome here- anyway, the story will continue. Now, more about my Witch Queen of my heart.

@dannybagpipesarecalling @tieflingteeth @muninandhugin

The news channel has the liberty to express its concern ever since the fiasco on the Queen´s palace. This is an ironic spin, as the media, often label Wanda as being a totalitarian ruler who controls the media to say whatever she wants to further her own agenda.

Hard to think how allowing anyone any means of communication openly talk-sometimes even mock- the last incident in her home could help her in any way.

Wanda is pacing back and further as the anchor of channel 5 is re-telling the incident one last time. "As the royal advisory reported, the situation is under control and no one has gravely harmed thanks to the play of such illusions, according to some witness, many saw their worst fear come to life" the reporter points to the panel. "fire, snakes, zombies and much more to what was a peaceful night. No information regards who did such prank" and the TV was shut off by Quicksilver.

Pietro watches his sister pacing back and forth. Her twins- Tommy and Billy are sleeping, both ignorant of the fiasco that happened- and Lorna is waiting for her older sister to say something. This is an old dance between the siblings.

Finally, Pietro is the one to interrupt the dance, metaphorically speaking, as Wanda´s magic is flowing too freely. "Wanda? who do you suspect is behind this?"

And as for magic, again only metaphorically speaking, she halts her moves and bites her inner lips. Her red eyes slowly returning to her natural color-some would say, never to her face, that red is her natural color- and stares at her family.

"Lorna, you may not know this, but, father used to have a revolutionary group" Pietro snorts and Wanda promptly ignored him. "called the League of evil mutants, yes, it´s tacky name"

Lorna shakes her head. "I knew about that, and...the name is a bad attempt at irony, father wasn´t very good at this, wasn´t he?" Lorna asked trying to lift the mood. A rounding failure on her part.

"In that group, there´s a man called Mastermind" Wanda bites her inner lip and looks at Pietro. "Don´t go overprotective on me, but, the creepy old man used to make moves on me... 15 years old"

Pietro´s face turns a dangerous shade of vermillion. Wanda has to admire this face for a moment, they´re twins, connected in ways people can´t understand, she can feel his fury as she can feel it mellow out.

Pietro took a few low sighs. "If you didn´t tell me back then is because you could handle yourself...still, I´m pissed I never knew about that until now"

Wanda could mention how Janet Van Dyme used to hit on him, even with the age difference above them, however, Pietro is not as smooth and suave as people would like to believe. He never noticed and Wanda never let the older woman take advantage of her innocent twin.

"My point is, the man once tried to bribe me with promises of a better life and his illusions should have sealed the deal" Wanda´s tone is nonchalant. "I didn´t, of course, I´m Scarlet Witch...not a toy and I teach him the difference between magic and illusion" her grin is similar to Magneto.

(Few would say that to her face. Wanda has no white hair. Wanda has all the bad signs of Magneto if provoked)

Lorna looks back and forth to her older brothers. "ok, and you think he´s back? Retaliation for you told fuck yourself?" Lorna is a princess and she feels this is more than enough reason to use the F-bomb.

Wanda shakes her head. "The man didn´t seem heartbroken as he slept with Paula" Pietro shurgs and Wanda won´t elaborate how that was awkward or how their father could make some background check for his minions. "anyway, my point is...Mastermind has many daughters and Mastermind was killed 2 years ago."

"Great story sis, still not seeing the point here" Lorna states trying to imagine a younger Wanda and Pietro along with their father. Even in her mind, there´s zero chance of a positive and fatherly outlook for Magneto and his first kids. That really makes her look down at her ring. Magneto gave this ring to Lorna and to this day, she has no idea why.

"My point is...only someone of the Mastermind family could make those illusions and only one person in that family was powerful enough to pull that off" Wanda states composed.

Pietro answers for her. "Reagan!"

Wanda nods. "Lorna, when dad acquired this land...he didn´t get this by making legal and honest deals. He made a deal with Mastermind and well, I think he didn´t want to fulfill his part"

Lorna narrows her eyes for a moment. Allowing her body to slouched on the chair-completely breaking the princess image- as she tries to remember the "official version" as to how Genosha came to be.

"Dad told me...he buys this land...was that a lie?"

"Yes, he stole this land...but, it was a useless land that had no use for anyone...father is still a criminal, we can sympathize to the motives" Pietro offers magnanimously. "but we can´t forget he was willing to throw our lives away to achieve his noble goal"

Lorna now bites her lips. Yes, she can´t forget that.

"So, what we do? Go after this Reagan woman and tell her to stop?"

"Well, that would be a plan...if I knew where this woman is"

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Rogue Darkholme is used to many things. Having to wear a frilly dress in some events, sure, she can do that-she´ll look positively murderous, but, hey she can do that- having to coordinate a hasty exit as people are shouting in panic for snakes, fire and zombies are ready to kill them even though is an illusion? She can do that, however, she can´t do one thing.

"Kurt, NO!" Rogue uses all her big sister move to impose her denial on Kurt´s request. The azzure man is having none of this.

"Kurt, YES"

Rogue groans in response. "Kurt, she´s a civilian" Rogue has no inhibition to point at Kitty who is pretending to read her newspaper as if this is a common occurrence.

Rogue facepalm herself. "Kurt, she´s a civilian. She can´t be inside the intelligence of Genosha. She can´t participate in the mission"

"Uhm, excuse me! I was one of the few people who wasn´t affected by the illusions, just saying" her sing-song tone is noticed by Rogue who brown furrowed at such declaration.

"Kurt, you don´t have to drag your new girlfriend to missions! What mother will say"

Kurt pouts. "I´m more professional than that, plus, she could be an asset as you know, she´s immune to illusions...not everyone in our department has this luxury" the last part is chilling cold and it seems Kitty won´t be briefed about what Kurt is talking about.

Rogue mellows down. She nods. "Ok, fine, she can come with us....but mom will have a word with you, civilian"

"Kitty! My name is Kitty Pryde. Not civilian, you´re losing the cool aspect now...Kurt, you´re cooler than Rogue now"

Kurt's fist bumps the air.

Rogue is bemused.

#house of M redone #wanda maximoff #she can be a good sister to Pietro is not that hard marvel writers #Pietro maximoff #lorna dane #Kurtty yet #kurt wagner #kitty pryde #Rogue is still the coolest #Lady Mastermind #Mastermind is a creep

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thehelleniclunarwitch · 5 years

Text

Home [Chapter Two]

Home 01

Just a reminder that this story is pre-written so I tried my hardest to make sure I took out my OC’s name and replaced it with y/n. Also, this story is all over the place there’s a plot in there somewhere, I promise lol.

xoxo,

Inky

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

Damian sat on the edge of Y/n’s bed. The two were going through her photo albums. They had made it through their first week together. It was a little weird for them all. Y/n wasn’t quite sure how to handle all four boys. But they were slowly starting to make things work. Damian could see them eventually becoming a real family.

“Do you ever stop missing them?” Damian asked as he looked at a picture full of Y/n’s friends and family.

Y/n looked over at him sadly. She missed them every single day. Her heart still hurt just thinking about them and what they’ve all lost in the great battle. Damian was staring at her and she had to hold back the urge to start crying at the thought of her dad and the others.

“No, I don’t. Every day it gets a little easier, but they are always on my mind,” Y/n answered.

Damian felt bad for Y/n. She had lost a lot in the past few years. Sure the Avengers were able to reverse the snap, but it was Y/n who had been affected the most. She ended up getting Bucky back but ended up losing them both in the end. Steve was gone sacrificing himself for his husband and his daughter. Bucky died protecting Y/n and Peter. Her godfather, Tony was gone, her Aunt Natasha was gone as well. Thor was off doing god knows what with the Guardian’s in space.

After the death of Tony, Steve, Bucky, and Natasha, Bruce had disappeared off the face of the Earth. Clint had moved even further away with his family. Sam stayed with Y/n for a while. Y/n was glad to have her uncle back. He made things a little easier for her, but the notion of knowing that both of her dads sacrificed themselves for the greater good still crushed her to this day.

“Have you heard from Uncle Sam recently?” Damian asked.

“Yeah, he’s been trying to locate Bruce. He keeps offering to come home, but he’s right we have to find Banner,” Y/n answered.

The door to Y/n’s room pushed open and the other three boys came storming in.

“There you two are!” Jon growled.

“What’s wrong?” Y/n asked.

“It’s hot as balls out,” Freddy complained.

Y/n gave him a look.

“Yeah and nothing against you Y/n, but your place doesn’t have air conditioning,” Billy whined.

“I can take you out back and hose you down,” Y/n said with a grin.

The boys all glared at her. She sighed and glanced at the clock. It was a quarter to two. The sun and heat were only going to get worse. She needed to come up with something quick especially since they only had a few weeks left of school and she was going to have to keep them busy this summer. Y/n suddenly had an idea.

“Go grab your swim trunks, towels, and anything else you’re going to want to entertain yourselves,” Y/n said.

“What are you up to?” Jon asked.

Y/n grinned. “You’ll see. Go!”

As the boys all ran off, Y/n headed downstairs to pull out the large cooler and start packing a picnic. Y/n filled the cooler with sandwiches and small baggies of chips. Different veggies, fruits, and stuff to drink. Billy and Jon were downstairs first.

“Can you two take this out and load it into my SUV?” Y/n asked.

“We’re on it,” They grinned.

As Y/n turned her back to yell for the others she heard Billy yell “Shazam!”

Y/n whipped around to see a goofy grinning Jon standing there next to a grown-up version of Billy.

“That is not what I meant,” Y/n sighed.

Billy grinned at her his goofy grin. “It’s getting the job done, right?”

She shook her head and went upstairs.

“Freddy. Damian. Let’s get a move on it,” Y/n said.

The boys said nothing. Furrowing her brow, Y/n headed down the hallway. She could hear the whispering. As Y/n neared the bedroom she could hear the two teens arguing with each other.

“Just put it back!”

“Help me it’s heavy,”

Y/n pushed open the door to the bedroom. She saw the boys on the floor trying to shove something back underneath the bed. The red, white, and blue caught her eye. Her father’s shield was halfway in Freddy’s lap.

“Here let me help,” Y/n said.

The boys froze at the sound of her voice and slowly turned to look at her. Y/n knelt down next to them, lifted the shield off Freddy’s lap and pushed it back underneath of the bed. Freddy and Damian looked at her with wide eyes.

“Y/n, we’re really sorry, we,” They both burst out.

“Hey, chill, it’s fine,” Y/n said with a forced smile, but they both could see the sadness in her eyes.

“Y/n,” Freddy began.

“Are you two packed and ready to go?” Y/n asked.

They both nodded. “Great, then let’s go,”

Downstairs, the four teens shuffled out of the house with their bags. Y/n remembered the sunscreen in the bathroom and hurried back to grab it. As she came out of the bathroom her phone began to ring. Eddie’s face popped up on her screen.

“Hey Eddie,” Y/n answered.

“Hey, my interview is running late so I won’t be home until at least dinner time,” Eddie said.

“That’s alright, I’m taking the boys out on an adventure,” Y/n replied.

“Oh?” Eddie said.

“Yeah, so we’ll be home late too. I plan on grilling out tonight when we get back,” Y/n told him.

“Okay, did you need me to pick anything up?” Eddie asked.

“Um, no, I got everything last night when I went grocery shopping,” Y/n said as she stepped out of the house and locked the back door.

“Oh okay,” Eddie said.

“Alright, well I guess I’ll see you when you get home,” Y/n said.

“Hey Y/n,” Eddie began.

“Sorry, Eddie, but I gotta go the boys are screaming my bloody head off,” Y/n said before hanging up on him.

Y/n hurried over to the SUV. She whipped open the door and looked at the four boys.

“What in the world is going on?” Y/n asked them.

The four teens stared at her.

“Come on now, there had to be a reason for you all yelling for me,” Y/n said.

“We weren’t yelling for you,” Jon said.

“Yeah, we are arguing about you,” Billy explained.

“And why were the four of you arguing about me?” Y/n asked as she finally climbed into the SUV and slammed the door closed.

“You know we’re not little kids,” Jon started.

“Why thank you Captain Obvious,” Y/n scoffed.

“We know that you and Eddie have been fighting about us all week,” Freddy blurted.

Y/n sat there in silence for several long seconds.

“I know and I’m sorry that you guys even have to hear that,” Y/n replied.

“I thought Eddie liked us,” Billy added.

“He does,” Y/n answered.

“So why are you guys fighting?” Jon asked.

Before Y/n could answer, Damian turned around in the front seat to look at them.

“That’s because he’s selfish and doesn’t want us taking up all of his precious Y/n’s time,” Damian snarled.

“Whoa, Damian, not at all,” Y/n said.

“Yes, it is! We heard you the first night we got here. He was pissed that you didn’t ask for his permission. The two of you have hardly talked all week and when you two do talk it turns into a screaming match about the four of us,” Damian snarled.

Y/n took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I want all of you to listen to what I’m about to tell you, okay?” Y/n said.

The four nodded.

“Relationships aren’t perfect. Mine and Eddie’s is far from perfect. Eddie is used to our normal routine that having you guys here is an interruption. Of course, he cares for all of you, but he’s mad at me and not the four of you,” Y/n explained.

“Why is he so mad at you?” Jon asked interrupting her.

“For a long while after Jason’s death, I was kind of in this submissive state where I pretty much did everything and anything Eddie wanted me to do. Just as I was starting to come out of my shell the battle with Thanos had happened. Once again I fell back into this traumatized state. I was back to listening to everything Eddie said and did all that he wanted.”

“Eddie throughout our relationship hasn’t gotten to see the real me. Yes, we were friends before, but how you see someone as a friend as a romantic partner is different. Eddie is finally getting to truly see what kind of person I am. He’s so used to me being kind of this yes person to him that he’s not sure how to react when I fight back,”

“I will always be thankful for Eddie. He has helped me a lot through quite a few dark times, but I’m not the type of girl to always do what her man says. So, me not asking him about signing the custody paperwork and taking you guys in it was kind of a slap to the face for him,” Y/n explained.

“To me, that doesn’t sound like he’s the right guy for you,” Billy pointed out.

Y/n gave him a soft smile. “It’s not fair to Eddie. I’m damaged. Fucked up. And I don’t want to call it quits with him just because he’s used to taking care of the traumatized version of me. We’re adults. We’re going to have disagreements. We’re going to fight. I love Eddie and he’s worth fighting for,” Y/n told them.

“And what if this is something he can’t get over? What if he prefers the Y/n that does everything he wants?” Freddy asked.

“That is a problem that I will have to face when the time comes,” Y/n told them.

“If Jason was still here he wouldn’t treat you this way,” Damian snarled.

Y/n turned to look at him.

“If Jason was here the four of you wouldn’t be in my care because Bruce wouldn’t have to realize the danger he brings to other people,” Y/n shot back.

“At least you’d be happy,” Jon grumbled as he sat back in his seat.

“Guys,” Y/n sighed. “This is still new to all of us. Give Eddie a chance,”

“How many more chances do we give him?” Billy asked looking at her.

“It’s only been a week since you’ve guys have been here,” Y/n pointed out. “It takes a least a month for things to settle,”

“So then we give him the rest of the month to improve,” Freddy said.

“Then what?” Y/n asked intrigued.

“You won’t like that answer,” Damian said coldly.

Y/n sighed. “Right, well let’s go and spend the day pretending to be a happy family,”

“What, really?” Freddy asked in confusion.

“Yes. I’m a young mother. Blessed with two sets of twin boys. Who drive their mother crazy with all of this antics,” Y/n said as she pulled down the driveway.

“In my new life both of my legs work properly,” Freddy said.

“And I’m a super genius. I get kicked out of every school I attend because I don’t know how to outlet my anger in a proper way,” Jon added.

“I’m obsessed with technology. I have taken after my mother’s godfather and I love building my own robots. Dummy 2.0 is my proudest achievement,” Billy grinned.

Y/n glanced over at Damian. His dark green eyes looked over at her.

“My mother is the strongest person I know. I get to live a normal life because of her. No training. No bad guys. No midnight patrols. I go to school, join the soccer team, President of the AV club. A normal life of a normal teenager,” Damian said calmly.

The car fell silent.

“Ooh, I didn’t even think of a normal life,” Jon whispered.

“I take all of mine back. I want a normal life too. I’d love to play on the football team and go to a school dance,” Billy piped up.

As the boys broke out into talking about having a normal life, Y/n’s heart broke. She listened to the boys talk about what their normal life would look like. She turned onto a side road and headed straight through to her destination.

“Where in the world are you taking us?” Freddy asked.

“We’re almost there. You’ll see,” Y/n grinned.

The boys watched the trees fly past. Y/n took another dirt road but this time she slowed down and then pulled into a small parking spot.

“Come on follow me,” Y/n told them.

The five of them crawled out of the SUV. The boys stuck close to Y/n as she lead them down a trail. All eyes widened and mouths fell open as they reached the end of the trail.

“Welcome to my favorite spot in the whole world,” Y/n told them.

The swimming hole was glorious. The water was clear. There was a huge rope to swing off. Boulders in the middle of the lake to jump and dive off. Y/n carried her basket over to an empty spot and laid out the blanket. Jon and Damian set down the cooler.

“Change over there in the bushes and go enjoy yourself!” Y/n smiled.

The boys broke off to change and went running straight into the water.

“Holy shit, it’s warm! Like a bath,” Billy yelled as he picked up Freddy and tossed his brother into the water.

Y/n only laughed.

She sat for several long hours and watched the boys splash and wrestle in the water. Y/n could remember when her dad first brought her here. Her upbringing wasn’t the best. Steve wanted to make that up to her. When Bucky became Bucky again he did everything to make it up to her too. None of that mattered to Y/n. All she wanted was her family back. Because of Thanos, she lost that, but as she watched the boys laugh and play she couldn’t help, but think that she was getting a second chance at that.

After a while, Damian dropped down next to her. Y/n handed him a towel and he wrapped it around himself.

“I’m sorry for what I said about Eddie,” Damian said.

Y/n looked over at him. “Don’t apologize. I want to know how you guys are feeling. I hate that our fighting is upsetting all of you. I didn’t want that. I just don’t know what else to do with him. It’s like we’re are always at odds with each other,”

“I’m also sorry for bringing up Jason. That’s wasn’t nice or fair of me,” Damian said.

Y/n wrapped an arm around him and squeezed him tight to her. “I want you to know that I will always always love your brother. I love Eddie and I am very glad to have him, but I hope you know that Eddie will never replace Jason. Jason was my first love. He was the man I saw myself marrying,”

“Why Eddie?” Damian asked.

“Because he came to me at a moment in my life when I really needed somebody,” Y/n explained.

“Maybe you’ve outgrown him,” Damian suggested.

“What’s your deal with Eddie, Damian?” Y/n asked.

“You deserve better,” Damian said.

“Damian,” Y/n sighed.

“I don’t know what it is, okay Y/n? There’s just something about him,” Damian explained.

“Okay, I hear you,” Y/n said.

Slowly, the others left the water and came to join her. As the four dried off Y/n packed up the cooler and then the car. Yawning, the boys helped and then climbed into the SUV. Y/n left them to drop off and she went to stand at the edge of the water.

Memories came flashing back to her. She brought Peter here. And little Morgan. Her, Natasha, and Clint brought the Bartons. So many good memories were here and she refused to let there be any bad ones here. Y/n would make new memories here with her boys. A few tears slid down her cheek.

“Y/n,” A soft voice said.

Y/n looked to see Billy come to stand next to her. She took his hand in hers. They stood there in silence for a few minutes. Billy didn’t think about the fact that if his buddies at school saw him holding hands with Y/n that he’d be teased endlessly. It was different when it came to her. She made him want to show his emotions. He wanted to sympathize with her. Which was weird to Billy because he never felt that way about his own mom or his foster family.

“You okay?” He asked finally breaking the silence.

“Yeah, just thinking about some memories,” Y/n said told him.

“Sad memories?” Billy asked.

“Not all of them,” Y/n replied. “Come on, we need to get home and start dinner,”

The ride back to the farmhouse was quiet. They all slept as Y/n drove with the windows down. The wind blew her hair around and she watched the sun slowly start to set in the distance.

Home. The boys carried everything inside and headed upstairs to take turns showering and changing. Y/n booted up the grill and started to pull out the meat for dinner. She looked over her shoulder as Eddie pulled up on his motorcycle. She gave him a soft smile when she noticed a bouquet of her favorite flowers in his hands.

“For you,” Eddie said.

“Thank you, they’re beautiful,” Y/n said.

“Y/n,” Eddie said.

Y/n looked up at him. He could see the tiredness. The sadness that she carried in her eyes.

“I’m sorry I have been making things so much more difficult,” Eddie apologized.

“I accept your apology, but that doesn’t fix everything. We’ve both said some hurtful things,” Y/n said.

“I know I hurt you. And god I am so sorry for all of that,” Eddie said.

Y/n reached forward and cupped his face in her hand. “I love you, Eddie. But I need time to heal from this. We both need the time,”

Eddie grabbed her hand. He melted into her touch. He loved this woman. And he knew that he hurt her. He added on more sadness and guilt to her shoulders and that wasn’t fair.

“Are you breaking up with me?” Eddie asked.

Y/n glanced over her shoulder as she could hear the boys coming back outside.

“I just need some space to think. I can’t do that here when we are underneath of each other,” Y/n said and then dropped her voice. “Plus, the boys know we are fighting and it makes them uncomfortable,”

Eddie nodded. He turned his face into her hand and kissed her palm.

“Can I at least stay through dinner and leave after they go to bed so they don’t have to watch me leave with my tail tucked between my legs?” Eddie asked.

Y/n could only bring herself to nod. The pair pulled apart when the screen door finally burst open. The four teens came running out of the house. They all stopped when they saw Eddie and Y/n standing there.

“What’s going on?” Freddy asked.

“Are you guys fighting again?” Damian snarled.

“No, apologizing,” Y/n said wiping her face clear of the tears before turning around.

“He brought you flowers?” Billy asked.

“Her favorite kind,” Eddie said.

The four teens eyed him carefully.

“Alright, you four get the picnic table set up and start bringing out the other food. We’re going to fire up the grill and get this party started,” Y/n smiled.

Billy and Freddy dashed off to set up the table. Jon headed into the house to get the other food. Y/n made her way behind Jon so she could put her flowers into a vase. Leaving Damian and Eddie to stand there and have a stare off.

“Damian,” Eddie began.

“Save your bullshit for Y/n. She’s the only one who will listen to it,” Damian snapped.

Eddie sighed. “She broke up with me,”

“Good,” Damian shot back.

“I love her,” Eddie tried reassuring Damian.

“If that was true then you wouldn’t have started a fight over me and my brothers,” Damian explained.

“This whole situation rocked our world,” Eddie started to explain himself.

“And the two of you should be going through it together. Y/n should be able to lean on you for support not fighting you every step of the way,” Damian growled.

“You’re way too smart for your age,” Eddie ran a hand through his hair.

“I’ve lost two of my brothers. I never got a childhood. I’m a trained killer. I have to be smarter than my enemies,” Damian said between clenched teeth.

“Are we enemies now, Damian?” Eddie asked.

“As long as you are here continuously hurting Y/n, you are,” Damian replied.

“You know Y/n is really lucky to have you in her corner,” Eddie pointed out.

“I know. And we’re all lucky to have her,” Damian said.

“I didn’t mean to hurt her, Damian,” Eddie finally said.

“I don’t care. You did. That’s all that matters to me,” Damian said.

“I’m going to make it up to her,” Eddie promised.

“You can try. I can’t wait to see you struggle to do so, but just know you’ve already burned your bridges,” Damian snarled.

Eddie had to admit the kid had balls.

“Her and I are meant to be together, Damian. I know it. She knows it. And even deep down you know it,” Eddie shot back.

Damian only smirked. “Yeah, we’ll stick with that story,”

The screen door swung open. Jon and Y/n came out of the house. Damian leaned in a little closer to Eddie.

“Your days are numbered pal,” Damian said before quickly turning on his heel and heading over to where Y/n and Jon stood at the grill.

Eddie had to keep Venom at bay. He wanted to prove to those rowdy children that he and Eddie loved Y/n. That Eddie never meant to hurt her.

Y/n looked over her shoulder at Eddie. He smiled at her. Y/n returned the smile with a soft smile on her own. Eddie headed inside to drop off his things and to take over the grilling before Y/n burnt the food and the house down.

Eddie could feel eyes boring into his back as he gently nudged Y/n out of the way. She gave a low laugh, shook her head, and then stepped out of the way so Eddie could take over flipping the hamburgers. As the pair stood there talking about their day and cooking dinner, the four teens met up at the picnic table.

“Damian,” Jon began.

“Don’t worry, I have a plan,” Damian said with a devilish grin.

#Damian Wayne #Jon Kent #Billy Batson #Freddy Freeman #insert reader #Eddie Brock #Home #Eddie Brock x Reader #family fic #marvel #dc

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 6 years

Note

AU where Eva finds Essam and Edriss's human kids Darwin and Madra after the war and decides she's going to raise 'em up proper.

Eva tries, even not knowing how, to explain who she is. After all, she’s seen through Allison Kim’s eyes, remembered her life, lived in her skin. It’s not as though she is nothing to these two ancient-eyed children, just barely nine years old and yet so much older.

“I knew your mother,” she says at last, because it’s the best she can do.

Darwin exchanges a glance with his sister. “Which one?”

Taken aback — they know more than she expected — Eva doesn’t answer at first. “I knew them both,” she says. “I can’t say that I was friends with either one… But what from what I know of Allison Kim, I think I would’ve liked her.”

Another glance passes between the twins. They don’t know each other, not really, not given how young they were separated. But they only have each other, and so there’s a moment of silent consultation before Madra finally nods. “We want to go with you.”

Marco finds the whole thing exasperating, because his mom already took in Elena during the war and low-key adopted every ex-host on the planet, and now this?

Which is to say, he pretends to find the whole thing exasperating.

In reality, it’s cooler than he expected to have stepsiblings. Madra follows him around and asks him endless questions about how things like morphing work. Darwin’s a lot shyer, which is why Marco absolutely loves any time he can get that kid to laugh — the extra effort makes every smile or giggle more rewarding.

He introduces them both to Hillary Clinton and Carrie Fisher, Serena Williams and J.K. Rowling. He spends way too much money on showering them constantly with presents: Lego spaceships and children’s Dian Fossey biographies for Madra, 140 packs of gel pens and light-up sneakers for Darwin, hundreds of video games for them both.

It feels good, to be able to make them smile. To feel like maybe, just maybe, he can let some other munchkins have all the dumb stuff — lightsabers and action figures, enough to eat and a safe place to sleep at night — that he didn’t really get to have as a kid. It feels like he can do something worthwhile that doesn’t involve violence, like he can be right and yet still live with himself at the end of the day.

“Did she love me?” Madra asks.

Eva doesn’t look up from the school enrollment forms she’s filling out. “What’s that, sweetie?”

Madra sits down next to her at the kitchen table. “Visser One. Did she love me?”

Letting the pen drop, Eva lifts her head.

There’s a version of this conversation that will have to wait a few years. One in which the full truth is made plain for their consideration. The twins will learn eventually of the exact circumstances of their birth. She’ll tell them about Allison’s love for them that ran deep enough to throw her in front of an oncoming truck and burned bright enough to keep them alive through all those years of fleeing the Empire.

For now… “Edriss loved you, yes,” Eva tells Madra. “And she loved your mother and father as well. But it wasn’t the kind of love that knows how to let go.”

Madra’s mouth pinches together in a pout, the way it always does when she doesn’t understand something. “Let go?”

“There’s selfless love, and…” And there’s addiction. The kind of love that chains the object of its infatuation to a radiator any time she’s not actively enslaved.

“There’s selfless love,” Eva starts again, “and there’s possessive love. And the danger is, they can feel the same for the person giving the love. For the person receiving, however… It’s different.”

She never had these conversations with Marco, not really. She just let him go on believing the world was a good place full of decent people… and then a parasite crawled into their lives, one that whispered poison in his ear and left bruises on his arms and told him it loved him in a voice so flat he could plainly hear the lie. Some part of Eva will never quite forgive herself for how unprepared he was for the sheer cruelty of real life.

“I don’t get it,” Madra complains, bringing her back to the present.

“I love daffodils,” Eva says. “How they look, how they smell. So I could stop and appreciate them when I find them growing wild, maybe even try and plant a few along the way. Or I could just pick some daffodils instead, which would be easier. I could break off their stems and kill entire plants, at which point I’d be able to see them and smell them every day until they started to rot. One way I’d get to see and smell them a little less, one way a little more… but those two choices would feel very different to a daffodil, yes?”

“Yeah.” Madra’s expression is solemn, her eyebrows drawn together. “It would.”

“Edriss… she didn’t know how to love through looking and scenting and then moving on, because no one ever taught her to wonder what’s best for the flower. She only knew how to love things by chopping them up and bringing them home to wilt in jars, so that she could keep only the parts she liked and cut off the dirt and roots. Sometimes love is not enough to keep you from hurting someone, if it’s a possessive love. Does that make sense, mija?”

Madra considers for a while, chewing her lower lip. “How do I know?” she asks.

“What do you mean?”

She shrugs. “I’ve never loved anyone before—” and Eva’s heart hurts at that. “So when I do. How do I know if I’m being poss… possess…?”

“You ask the one you love.” It’s an oversimplified answer, but it’ll do for now. “You ask often what the person wants or needs. You ask if you can help. And if the person says no, or asks for something difficult, you have to live with that through, sometimes, letting them go.”

“Edriss wanted to keep us,” Madra says slowly. “Because she loved us. Even though it hurt us.”

“Yes.” Good enough, anyway. “She didn’t know how to love humans. Didn’t really know that we were people and not decorations.”

Madra looks down at the tabletop, picking at a stain. “Did she love you?”

Eva inhales sharply. “I… I don’t know, actually.” She thinks it through, because Madra deserves an answer. But there’s too much fear, too much pain and isolation. No objective answer is going to come, no matter how much she considers. She wasn’t capable of knowing her captor like that; Edriss never allowed it. “I can tell you what it was like when she same into my life. It was like I’d been cut in half at the waist, dragged away from part of myself, brought far from my home to look pretty in a vase while I slowly rotted away.”

Madra doesn’t look up from the stain. That was probably a bridge too far. Eva should’ve been gentler, kinder.

“Eva?” Madra says at last.

“Yes?”

She takes a breath, mouth pinched again. “Do yeerks have ears?”

Bless, Eva thinks. Bless. “No, sweetie. I don’t think they do.”

Madra giggles, kicking her legs in the air. “That’d be silly, if they did. Then there’d be yeerks crawling inside other yeerks.”

Eva opens her mouth to explain — that ears are for much more than admitting yeerks, that they’re for hearing and hanging earrings and holding back one’s hair — and shuts it again. “Yes,” she says instead. “That would be silly indeed.”

His mom would probably kill him if she knew, Marco considers. After all, thirteen is maybe just a little bit young to be learning how to operate heavy machinery. But...

But he flew the first time when he was thirteen. But Darwin’s only thirteen in that he’s been alive for that long, not in any of the other ways that thirteen-year-olds are thirteen. But Marco’s right here, ready to take back the fighter’s helm if anything starts to go wrong.

But it felt like freedom, the first time Marco flew. And that’s something that this kid hasn’t known nearly enough, even in the past few years of relative safety under Eva’s wing. For fuck’s sake, someone stuck a yeerk in this kid’s brain when he was six years old, and left it there for the better part of the next three years. He’s entitled to be a little quiet, a little weird, a little slower than the other kids his age…

And he’s entitled to fly. Because Marco said so.

“It runs on verbal commands,” Marco tells him. “So just put your palm on the scanner here…” He shows Darwin, but knows better than to grab the kid’s hand and move it himself. “And think engines on.”

Darwin doesn’t move. Instead he frowns at the scanner. “It can read my mind?”

Immediately Marco spots his error. “No! No, not really. Not like a ye —” He laughs nervously. “It just does what you tell it to. So if you don’t tell it anything, it doesn’t do anything.”

Licking his lips, Darwin steps forward. Gingerly he places the tips of three fingers on the scanner. “Engines on,” he says aloud.

With a fsshooom of turbines, the ship whirrs to life.

Half-turning, palm flat on the scanner now, Darwin grins up at Marco. “I did it, I did it, I did it.”

“All right!” Marco offers a high-five, knows better than to be offended when it gets refused. “Now we’re gonna lift off the ground reeeeal slow so we don’t offend the stiff-butts over at the Air Force base. You ready for it?”

Darwin’s smile hasn’t faded. “Yeah!”

They’re an odder blended family than she ever could’ve predicted, Eva thinks, looking around the table. Three veterans, five war-children, half a dozen ex-hosts, one alien, two children who are neither entirely human nor entirely not.

Marco and Madra sit leaning conspiratorially close. They’re whispering over something on Marco’s phone, giggling to each other. Doubtless another of their trolling campaigns for a corrupt politician. Elena’s to their left, smiling every time Madra turns to whisper something to her. Darwin sits in silence, sneaking glances at Jake. As usual, Jake has no idea that he’s being hero-worshipped.

Jake only started joining them for Sunday dinners a few months ago, finally caving under the joint pressure from Eva and Marco. She hasn’t forgotten all that Marco has told her without telling her (such is the way it’s always been in this family; too late to regret it) about all that Jake’s family did for him when she was dead and Peter was lost inside himself. Things with Jake’s family have been… complicated, ever since Tom’s death, and so Eva’s happy to repay the favor.

Peter and Nora have been coming from upstate to visit this entire time. Of course Eva still loves him, of course she does. But if she is to live with herself, then she has to love him and yet leave him in the ground to continue to blossom.

Alloran’s been stopping by almost since the end of the war. Since Eva found him stranded on Earth, unable to belong and unwelcome at home. Since she discovered that he’s ridiculously enthusiastic about learning to cook, if not particularly skilled at first. He’s a good influence on the twins, she’s always thought, if somewhat uncertain about what does and does not constitute an appropriate level of gore when telling young children about their history.

They’re an odd group. Darwin and Jake will spend entire meals not saying a word. Eva and Nora are still learning how to be around each other, even after all this time. Marco’s frizzling with manic energy after yet another week of not enough sleep.

Alloran is currently telling Peter, in enormous detail, how a human radio telescope is supposed to work according to the andalite theory he’s certain will apply here. Peter catches Eva’s eye, across the table, and for a second their smiles go soft and easy in silent communication.

The moment breaks, painless and silent. Marco’s the one flicking mashed potatoes across the table, but Madra is the one providing enough of a distraction in the hope that they’ll land in Alloran’s hair, and of course Jake and Elena are being no help at all. There are roast vegetables to serve and dishes to clean. English essays to finish, hair to braid, and weeks ahead in need of planning.

#animorphs #animorphs au #marco animorphs #the one and only #eva #visser mom #madra gervais #darwin gervais #abuse #neglect #past child endangerment #edriss 562 #visser one #allison kim #found family #socialcaterpillarz #rape mention

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amrita-gsk · 6 years

Note

Okay, okay, so I watched Fade to Black the other day and I kept thinking "Wow, that one IchiRuki blog I followed recently was righter than rain. They're gott damn fools in love." And then I watched Hell Verse and I'm like, "He went back into Hell for her (and Renji n Uryuu, but the focus was on Rukia so like, whatever, right?). He's a gott damn fool in love." It's so obvious that's is nearly painful, lmao

Sorry for the super late reply but I hadn’t checked my asks, I’M REALLY SORRY!!! But never late than never, right?

You are most certainly right, it’s physically painful to watch just how obvious their relationship is and even though the movies aren’t considered canon (although FtB is half canon due to how much Kubo invested himself on it) it does leave you thinking just why Pierrot always made so much emphasis on them. People like to argue and say it was because Rukia is the co-protagonist and that’s why she is shown to have so much importance to Ichigo, but in my opinion they could have highlighted Rukia‘s general relevance to the series without it holding such a sentimental value for him… however I can’t say they came up with it out of nowhere because they only took what already existed in the manga, deepened it and centered around it to make a whole movie out of it. Also, what was said by Kubo, Masakazu Morita and Fumiko Orikasa during the promotion campaign for the movie raised a lot the expectations regarding the nature of their relationship, I’ll quote some:

INCLUDED IN THE FADE TO BLACK MOVIE GUIDE

(Morita and Orikasa were interviewed regarding their experience while working in the movie. I shall refer to the interviewer as Q… for question, yes, I’m that simple. There were also some titles for some questions, which I will keep along the questions. )

Q: What were your thoughts when you first heard the third movie will be a story centering around Ichigo and Rukia?

Moritan: Compared to the first two movies, when I read the scenario I felt that it was a very strong story. I thought that it was a story that would revolutionize the “origin” of Bleach, with the meeting of Ichigo and Rukia as its main focus.

Oririn: I was surprised by the catchphrase “sayonara Rukia”. Director Abe told me that “something is going to happen to Rukia” so I felt insecure (laugh). But then I saw that the scene from the first episode was going to be in the movie and understood that because the TV animation of Bleach exists, this movie was able to exist as well. It is because of this that I think this movie may reach deep into the hearts of the people that has supported us up until now.

Q: To convey things that can’t be seen… Parting from this theme, what does this movie strongly aims to express?

Oririn: The movie tries to show something that can’t simply be seen with your eyes. I think that if I were to put it in words, I’d call it “bond”, but even then something deep inside our hearts might disagree. I feel the movie theme is so delicate that it cannot be explained just by words.Moritan: Because we’re practically done with recording this third movie, I feel very strongly about the “bond” there is with Rukia and beyond that, the connection between their souls. We reenacted Ichigo and Rukia’s meeting in the first episode from four years ago. Since then, through all of our journey and until now, as Ichigo and as myself as well, there were a lot of times when we came to become used to our mutual relationship. Then, a shocking meeting was drawn again and Ichigo as well as myself, were reminded of how important Rukia’s existence is. We were able to question it again. I think this series is becoming like that.

Oririn: I know that Ichigo cared about Rukia but I never thought it was something this deep, so it was a bit unexpected. Right now it seems appropriate to call it “history” because thanks to the things of the past we are able to have today, which is connecting to the future. I feel very strongly that Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship isn’t something that was built in the blink of an eye but rather it’s something that’s still being built up.

Q: It’s quite complicated, isn’t it?

Moritan: For me, I feel that the theme this time, “bond”, shows that the connection between souls is thicker than blood, but if I were to say that’s everything there’s to it then it would feel wrong and that won’t do. The first movie theme was “protect”, the second was “believe” and I took those words inside and buried them deep within me while performing. But this time it wasn’t enough to just use the word “bond”. Even if you were to say “I really love you” to your loved one, you still wouldn’t be able to tell them how much you really love them. My feelings are exactly like that right now. But even if “bond” couldn’t describe it, saying “super bond” sounds weird (laugh).

Q: Let’s pick up on what Orikasa-san said.

Moritan: There are a lot of things packed inside that emotion. And inside of it, choosing just one won’t show you the way. I wish to leave it to everyone’s own impression to see and feel just how deep that feeling is.

Oririn: That’s right, we’ll leave it to every fan that watches the movie, to decide with their own thoughts and feelings if the story is really that deep or not.

Q: Is Ichigo and Rukia’s confrontation an important point?

Oririn: It’s their first confrontation, but this time Rukia isn’t herself and doesn’t have any memories so I just went along with it without giving it much thought.

Moritan: It was difficult for me. Ichigo could never attack Rukia, you know. So it was really hard to fight her. It was very hard for Ichigo to see Rukia’s altered form.

The Recording Process

Q: How was the recording?

Moritan: Back when we did the first movie it was also our first time so we got really worked up about it, but because this is the third time, the recording became stylish and refined without any meaningless acts. The whole recording was made so it could be observed from behind, so we could concentrate only in performing and it was very fun. I was able to perform Ichigo’s core essence without any distracting thoughts. However it was my first time having to shout “Rukia!” so much.

Oririn: I’m usually the one that keeps calling “Ichigo!”, right? (laugh)

Moritan: I actually discovered a new way to perform and wistfully cry out “Rukia”.

Q: Speaking of performance, we heard that Ichigo’s voice is being renewed?

Moritan: That’s right. I changed my voice this time. It’s the fifth year and the third movie after all (laugh).

Oririn: Is that so? (laugh)

Moritan: Actually, Ichigo’s voice has changed numerous times up until now. I think you’ll notice that his current voice is really different if you watch the first episode again. I’m leaving behind my turning point and letting Ichigo grow. The Ichigo of this moment is like going back to the first Ichigo as I performed raising my voice a bit. What’s more, I usually talk monotonously and as if I was uninterested but this time I attempted to more or less give more intonation to it so the words themselves would express on their own. Actually, and I’m not trying to show off, but when I was practicing at home this voice for Ichigo was naturally born. When I stopped to wonder why, I realized just how much Rukia’s existence is able to move your heart. So this voice came out naturally from myself and I felt that if I performed with it as it was, my own heart would also be easily touched. So then I was able to act with this voice during the recording.

Q: As a result, did the Sound Supervisor give you an OK?

Moritan: I did it secretly without asking permission. I got scolded and were given an NG (no good) so I was worried. However, because the voice intonation was congruent, Ichigo’s change in emotions was tangible in the story.

Q: Then, did Orikasa-san make any changes as well?

Oririn: Even though the movie was special, I didn’t make any changes. I’ve been entrusted to perform Rukia in the TV anime version until now, so I’m always striving to express Rukia’s feelings one by one. It wasn’t any different for the movie. Only during her time in Inuzuri, the young Rukia who lived together with the twins had a different personality than the Rukia after her meeting with Ichigo. I think that she became cooler. During the flashback scenes, I performed while keeping in mind that she would express her emotions differently during those times.

Q: Did you make any good memories during the recording?

Oririn: During the scene when Rukia’s memories about Ichigo are returning I was asked to insert an improvisation of a warm word that symbolizes her, but because Rukia only used to say insults, I couldn’t come up with anything (laugh).

Moritan: Everyone tried very hard to think of something, but at the end all we could come up with was “tawake” (idiot). It was troublesome. I said, “I don’t remember ever being told warm words!” then everyone burst into laughter.

Oririn: The whole cast and staff were laughing hard, and come to think about it, even Kubo-sensei who had come by was laughing as well. Looking at his smiling face I could really feel his trust in us. It left a very good feeling.

Moritan: Even though he was busy, he kept looking after us for the whole two days of recording. His presence gave us strength and assured our hearts.

Message

Q: To finish, do you have a message for the fans?

Oririn: This time around the movie is about “a feeling that can’t be described by words” (laugh). What the characters hold inside their hearts couldn’t be expressed by a single word, it doesn’t have a shape and it can’t be seen but they’re connected at their very core… I strongly think that rather than watching, I wish everyone will be able to feel it.

Moritan: I hope for the fans to think about the importance of calling out someone’s name. This time, Ichigo is calling out Rukia, Renji, Byakuya and other people’s names but no one calls out his name. Even though he calls out no one answers him, so now I know how sad it is having no one to call your name. A name isn’t only something for you to call other people, but for other people to call you as well, that’s what I’m trying to say. I wish for everyone to watch the movie and understand how important it is. And after finishing watching the movie, I wish everyone will call out the name of the person they love.

…Those were Morita and Fumiko’s opinions on it (there’s more, but this is already long as it is) now, here’s what Kubo had to say about it:

INSIDE THE PAMPHLET GIVEN OUT DURING FTB’S PREMIERE

Kubo: The third movie is a special work for BLEACH. It’s different from the usual element of the other movies and it’s a story in which BLEACH’s origin is closely drawn. I’m hoping for this story to remain, even if just a little, inside the heart of a lot of people.

INSIDE THE MOVIE GUIDE

Q: Like in the previous work, we heard you were involved in this year’s movie since the early stage.

K: I think it all started around March when Director Abe and the movie staff came to me. Back then, Director Abe wanted a “back to the beginning” theme and wished for the main characters, Ichigo and Rukia, to be the focus of the story. On top of that, he wanted to portray something that linked back to the first chapter of Bleach, it’s original appearance… I was very happy to know that the movie was heading in that direction and said “that’s good, let’s go with that!” And from then on I joined in the production and put together the story and the setting after discussing it with everyone.

Q: We heard the scenario was completed after a lot of hardships?

K: The theme of the story was something I could agree with, but there were still some parts that made me worry up until the end. The speech in the last scene especially, I discussed it and decided it with the director at the recording studio (laugh).

To tell you the truth there are still bits I wanted to develop but if I did that who knows how long the film would be (laughs).

(I’ll make a pause here because in case anyone is wondering, he’s referring to Ichigo’s speech at the end, the one that goes:

“If death isn’t really the end, then that time we met might not have been the first. We might have been connected from long before that. I’m not really sure, but I think maybe once a bond is formed, it never disappears. If that’s the case, even if we forget everything, we’ll be connected again somewhere in the future.”

Soooo… yep, he personally worked on it.)

Q: Even the subtitle was given from you?

K: Ever since the second movie the subtitle was brought up by me. Since the moment I heard Rukia would lose her memory the image that her memories of Ichigo and the Gotei 13 would disappear came into my mind. After that, the meaning of “disappearing into black” became the subtitle “fade to black”.

Q: You even came up with the japanese subtitle “Calling Out Your Name”.

K: After coming up with the english subtitle “fade to black” they asked me to come up with a japanese one (laugh). So after carefully digesting the scenario I searched for some scenes that could hold the key words that I could use and found in the plot that someone calling someone else’s name was a strong expression that “even though no one else remembers you I do” and I found out it had an important meaning behind it, especially regarding this story where Ichigo keeps calling Rukia’s name. So that’s how I came up with the subtitle “calling out your name”.

Q: Please tell us, in your opinion, what’s the highlight of this movie?

K: Regarding the fights it’s not Ichigo vs. the Gotei 13, but Ichigo vs. Rukia. In the first scenario there wasn’t a “last boss” yet and someone raised the question about it. And we thought that since Ichigo forgot about Rukia, “we want to see Ichigo and Rukia!” We started planning after that. In this fight there’s actually a scene that links back to the first chapter of the manga and in my opinion I feel it’s the most important scene in the movie. It links with what the director said about going “back to the beginning”.

Q: As you were involved in this movie, were there any bits you drew thinking about going “back to the beginning”?

K: I didn’t come up with the idea of using the scene where Rukia gives her power to Ichigo like in the very first chapter, so going back to that scene in the movie made a strong impression in me and I felt that it was very interesting. On top of that, because of this story I was able to recognize once again that Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship is something special.

Q: What do you think about the bond those two have with each other?

K: It’s not friendship but it’s not an amorous feeling either. Regarding these two, I don’t think there is other relationship like theirs in other works where despite standing in a very close position with each other it is not romance (laughs). But in this year’s movie there is a scene where Ichigo says Rukia is his “precious nakama” and I think that explains their relationship well.

Q: You watched the movie at a private screening, but what sort of feelings did you have about it?

K: I had fun (laughs), because it’s my own work it feels completed but on the hand it means that you can’t create anything stronger than that. In some parts while I was drawing I would think “would this sort of situation really happen?”, but even so I was the one who thought and came up with the plot so even it amazes me it doesn’t feel “new”. Even if I as the original author was involved, the drawings are done by other people and the voices are done by the voice actors, so when the movie is completed I always savor the feeling of surprise. “They should move like this”, “their voices are like that”, I always give feedback with a lot of emotion and excitement, and I’m always looking forward to that.

Q: What bits do you want everyone to focus on?

K: The relationship between Ichigo and Rukia. The change in their feelings.

And there you have it. I won’t add anything about Hellverse because they centered more around the action aspect of it during the promotion so that’s it. I did find curious the fact that Kokuto decided to use Rukia to bait Ichigo to attack him… although I could always just go with “she’s the only female of the group, Ichigo has a savior complex, yadda yadda yadda…” but they could have also just kept Yuzu longer in hell to motivate him. There’s also the fact that once he defeats him he basically forgets about Uryuu and Renji as he’s too occupied talking to Rukia… I WONDER WHY *shrugs*. The thing with Fade to Black is that Kubo was deeply involved in its production and as I quoted above from what he said back when it first got released he actually said that he came up with the plot himself and that it was his work, and I think it speaks tons about what actually is the nature of their relationship when you watch this movie and you get that speech at the end (besides everything that happens in between, including Ichigo’s built-in Rukia radar), and then the author of the original work comes and tells you he worked on it himself.

IchiRuki is painful in the sense that it’s so right, so harmonious, so obvious, so perfectly written and executed, but it got served wrong at the end. But yes, their relationship is the maximum expression of love there is on earth and I think I don’t speak only for myself when I say they’re the goal.

#IchiRuki #Fate to Black Call Out Your Name #Bleach Movie #intense shipping #when the non canon material is actually canon #I avoided going deeper into the more than friends less than lovers topic because HOW MUCH FUCKING LONG WOULD THIS BE #I'm just going to watch this freaking movie again because I need it #that one answer that became a full blown post #sorry for not being sorry

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frazzybeararchive · 6 years

Text

Beach Buddies

Dianne’s POV - 1958

Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey. Could it be any hotter? Mom said she grew up in this particular area and we’d only be here for a few more weeks since grandma is passing, saying that I should explore as well as see if I can make new friends to forget about it. I really wanted to see grandma but mom said that she isn’t looking well and that I should really go.

“But mom! I really want to see her, at least let me say hi!” I try to pry my mother's arms away from holding me back, dad looked a bit worried as he went into the room with the doctor holding the clipboard. Immediately, mom placed her hands on my shoulders. I felt my eyes well up with tears along with a lump in my throat, my flailing fists trying to make my mom let go with a few whines.

“Look, sweetie. This is grown-up stuff that me and daddy have to take care of, I’m sure grandma would love to see you too. But things are hard right now - that’s why I want you to make sure to go out and see if you can make yourself new friends to forget this nonsense.” Her soothing voice as well as her gentle touch made me stop my tantrum. She took her hand off my shoulder and wiped away a free tear then kissed my nose which made me smile a bit.

“Now, go outside. Maybe you can make grandma a little gift,” she leaned forward a bit and whispers.”pink seashells are her favorite.” She stood up then headed to grandma’s room where dad was, leaving me to my own adventure.

I hurried out of the house and ran to the beachwalk, the bright afternoon sun already blinding me besides already exhausting me in the process.

Once I reached down to the shore, I looked down to see pretty seashells. For the next hour, I knew I wanted to make grandma a goodbye necklace. Mom always told me how she used to collect seashells when she was my age down here. I continued picking up seashells, some of them even with baby hermit crabs - which I put them down after finding out so I didn’t scare them.

“Kings of New Jersey! Kings of New Jersey! Kings of New Jersey!”

Kings of New Jersey? I looked behind me and saw two boys pushing a shipwrecked boat. Looking closer, they both seemed sunburnt, shirtless and...wait, did I really get blinded by the sun that bad? The two boys looked identical! Twins! I immediately put my attention on the twins, making sure I collect a seashell or two to make it look like I wasn’t paying attention.

Ford’s POV

Me and Stan both dipped our paint brushes into the bucket, writing out our made up name, “Stan O’ War”, on the side of the boat.

“I dub thee: the Stan O’ War!” Right after raising my brush with pride, a sudden hard pain hit me on the back of the head.

“Ow! What the heck?” Rubbing the back of the head, I turned around to see who it was.

Crampleter.

“Well, well, if it ain't the loser twins. Nice boat. Ya get it at the dump? Heheheheheheheh!” He high fives the two of his friends then went back to putting his arms on his hips.

“You would know, Crampleter! Get lost!” Stan declared while standing up and pointing away in defense.

“Listen, dorks, and listen good.” He pointed towards me. “You're a six-fingered freak,” Embarrassment hit me hard, I bashfully put my conditioned hands behind my back, then he pointed at Stan. “and you're just a... dumber, sweatier version o' him. And you're lucky you have each other because neither of you will ever make any friends! Ha, hahahaha! Dorks and losers…’” He left with his two friends at the end of his sentence, I pulled out my hands only to stare at them.

They’re right, I’m just a freak. No one likes freaks… I clenched my hand and looked down. I felt a slight lump in my throat, I felt like crying right there and now. Right after I thought that, Stan puts his hand on my shoulder.

“Hey. Don't let those idiots get to you.”

“But I am a freak. I just wonder if there's anywhere in the world where weirdos like me fit in.”

I doubt it.

Stan took his hand off my shoulder and moved onto putting his sweaty sunburnt arm around my shoulders.

“Hey, chin up, buddy. Look.” He proceeded to make me stand up, looking over at the ocean shore.

The sun was barely setting, a boat out on sail with the hot breeze of the summer with seagulls flying overhead. The sky was shades of pink and orange, the waves crashing together along with reflecting the bright sun.

“One of these days, you and me are gonna sail away from this dumb town. We'll hunt for treasure, get all the girls, and be an unstoppable team of adventurers.” He proudly stated with a boasting posture.

“You really mean it?”

“High six?” He putted his open-palmed hand up.

“High six.” We both high six and laugh afterwords.

“Now let’s continue making Stan O’ War! It ain’t gonna fix itself.” Stan smiles wide as he climbed up onto the boat.

“Be careful!” Who knows what could be in there? Worst case scenario, he could fall in there without any help! As he opened the small hatch into the boat, he jumped in.

“Cool! I found 2 dead rats!” He yelled out enthusiastically.

“Hehehe! Gross, Stan!” I was about to climb onto the boat before I heard footsteps behind us, I froze in place thinking it was Crampleter coming back to give us a good beating.

“Uh...hi?” That’s weird, a small feminine voice greeted me while I turned around.

Her long hair was a dark brown with a tiny bow, her skin slightly sunburned but not as bad as me and Stanley. Her dress was red with short poofy sleeves with a white pocket on the front of her dress. I never really seen her before, she must’ve moved in from out of town.

“Hi, I’m Stanford. But you can call me Ford for short.” I climbed back down and hid my hands quickly behind my back, afraid to greet her properly with my birth defect.

“Ford? Who are you talking to?” Stanley quickly got up back onto the deck then looked down. His face turning into curiosity yet still happy. Once he realized it was a girl, he straightened his posture.

“Oh hi! I’m Stanle- Woah!” he tried to place his hand onto the mast post but missed, resulting to caught off his introduction and falling onto the deck.

“That dork over there is my twin brother, Stanley. But we call him Stan for short.” I chuckled a bit while rubbing the back of my head. Stan sat back up and walked over to the side of the boat to sit down on the edge to listen to our conversation.

“What’s your name?” I looked back at her and she seemed slightly nervous.

“My name is Dianne, I just came to visit for a few weeks. I just wanted to make friends since I might come back here when I’m older. But um, I made you two these since I saw those boys make fun of ya two.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out two seashell bracelets, it looked rushly made but it was good.

“Wow thanks!” I grabbed both of the bracelets and handed one to Stan, he put it on and smiled.

“Aren’t ya gonna put it on?” She pointed at my hand.

Uh oh.

I winced and revealed my hand to put on the bracelet.

Hearing a slight gasp from her, I expected her to run away.

“That’s so cool! You have six fingers, that means a finger friendlier than normal!”

“Aren’t you gonna call me a freak? I-I thought-”

“Freak? Those people obviously don’t know what different is, they’re just scared of seeing something completely new and special.” Her words echoed in my head, I never heard that before. I looked up at her and softly smiled.

“Thanks, Dianne. That made me feel more better about my hands.” I giggled before being interrupted by Stanley.

“Hey! Do you want to help us clean up the inside of the boat? I found two dead rats!” He lended a hand towards her.

“Two dead rats? I’m in!” We all laughed out loud then went onto the boat.

I made a friend.

The scorching sun finally was put to rest, the once roasting gust transitioned to cool light winds. Blue and still some streaks of pink painted the sky.

“Hey, I’m back from the saltwater taffy store!” Stanley ran with a small plastic bag filled with the colorful taffy towards the two kids already jumping down from the boat.

“Yes! I call the blue ones!” Ford joked as he quickly ran over to Stanley, instantly putting his hand into the bag and pulling out a few pieces. Dianne rushed over and shoved her hand into the bag and grabbed a handful.

“After this I have to head back to my grandma’s place.” Her needy hands opened one of the taffy wrappers which she immediately popped in her mouth. The trio sat down on the sand and looked ahead over the horizon, busy chewing on the taffy while digging their feet into the cooler part of the sand. Stanley looked over at Dianne.

“How many weeks are you gonna stay here?” His mouth still filled with taffy which muffled a bit of his speech.

“Oh, mom said maybe one or two.” Her calm face slightly turned a bit upset. “Which really sucks, because you guys are really fun. I really had fun today, I hope we can at least enjoy our few weeks together over here or something.” She popped in another taffy in her mouth and smiled at the twins. Ford was finished with his taffies, using his finger to draw in the sand.

“Heh, yeah. This day got ten times better with the taffy, thanks Stan.”

“Dianne! Dianne?” An adult feminine voice called out from the boardwalk with a slight nervous appearance.

“Fiddlesticks, it’s my mom. I’ll be back whenever I can, you guys normally play here right?” Dianne asked while putting on her black shoes and standing up, wiping off the sand from her red dress.

“Yup!” Both of the twins gleefully shouted.

“Okay, coming mom!” Dianne quickly ran towards her direction. “Bye!” she shouted out in the distance.

The twins were left in a few seconds of silence before Stan looked at Ford with a cheeky grin. Ford looked over at Stan confused.

“What?”

“You totally like like her!”

“Ew, Stanley! I don’t even know her that much!” Ford playfully punches Stan’s arm, receiving one back but a little harder.

“Ow!” the sudden shout from Ford made the both of them silent, which slowly escalated to laughter in a matter of seconds. Both of the twins putted on their shoes and got up then headed towards home.

“I still think you like her-”

“Stan!”

#gravity falls oc #gravity falls #stanford pines #ford pines #stanley pines #stan pines #dianne bonnetant #my writing

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clandestineclairvoyant · 7 years

Text

Ch 4 Overwatch Dragonfill

Lol so I ended up throwing this chapter away, but since it already had about 400 kudos, i decided to post it somewhere else for people if they wanted the old version of the chapter! (I HAD to change it I wrote myself into a corner. OTL Maybe now I can get the next chapter out.)

The work is here if you want to read it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Our family has always borne the dragon.” Hanzo started, right then and there in the peaceful place that makes itself some time at night, when no one else was awake. Jesse’s eyes were itchy with it, and his knee shaking with some sort of pent up energy that seemed to be endless even when his fingers trembled with fatigue.

“My father’s father, he was also one. Quite large from what I am told; the size of a small train. Shimada Taiki.” Hanzo stopped, halting, and after Jesse motioned with his empty hand, took a sip of beer. It seemed to help. And even if it didn’t, Jesse could think of worse things than to see those lips wrapped around the top of a bottle.

(Even if he also thought of them filled with razor sharp teeth, he was only human; and Shimada Hanzo was a very handsome man.)

“It skipped my father.” Hanzo continued. McCree had heard of the Shimada clan, in the business, and pieced together his own picture with this rare glimpse behind the scenes of a fallen empire. “I suspect this is what made him the man he was; ruthless, cold. He raised our criminal empire from back alleys, and put us into the pockets of CEO’s and ministry. All without the strength of our clan or the immediate support of our clan’s elders.” Hanzo seemed dismissive of these fools, faintly sneering. “They came to approve of him, but it took much work and sacrifice that was unnecessary. It was almost unheard of for one who was not a dragon to lead our clan, and many resented him for it, but he made it his own and led us into a grand era of power and influence. One I was destined to inherit, and that Genji was completely disinterested in.”

Jesse stayed silent, sipping his own beer. Looking across the back of the shooting range, all he could see was the red glow of the locked entry and the light coming from the holograms still running on the target area. His empty beer carton, and the empty bottles rolling loose with their caps scattered amongst his .357’s made a brief mess on the spotless chrome floor.

“When it returned to our bloodline, it returned strongly. Genji has the dragon in him the same as any Shimada, running in his blood. Just as I do.” He paused, grimacing, and sipped his beer again. It was an impressively large sip, and McCree found himself drinking out of self defence. “But I was unfortunate enough to be imbued with…. I guess it might be right to say the spirit of the dragon runs twice as strong in me. The spirit of duality, of twins.”

“So there’s an actual dragon inside of you, you’re saying.” Jesse asked just to be sure he wasn’t misconstruing things. Christ almighty. “And it lets you- What. Dismember people with your mouth?”

“No.” A breath of relief. “There are two dragons in me. If there was one, I wouldn’t be nearly as…” Hanzo takes another drink, and grimaces. “怒った

. Angry.”

Ah. Didn’t quite answer his question.

Hanzo stopped talking, and for a few moments he seemed to gather himself, as if unsure of where to start next.

Jesse thought that if he was waiting for some help, he’d be waiting awhile. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that spirit dragons nested in your soul like a freeloader, and resulted in what he’d seen in the alley. It was something like magic, unbelievable even after seeing the evidence of it right in front of his face and attempting to tear his throat out.

But after combating Reaper in the field, and fighting alongside agents like Tracer and Mercy, he supposed he could broaden his horizons a little more. There were many impossible things out there, and he wouldn’t be the fool to let them reach out and bite him in the ass.

“I lose my temper often. Ever since I was a child, these creatures inside me have fought. Against my father, against my elders.” A dry click of a swallow, face impassive. “Genji. Each other. It is an invisible battle, until it is not, and I was often sick. Unable to control my form, barely able to do my school work.”

Jesse tried to imagine this man as sickly a day in his life, and couldn’t. He looked like he could arm wrestle Winston; And if not win, make a mighty fine show of it.

“I struggled much. There were days when… The only one I would see was Genji. Even then I lashed out, the dragons not recognizing one of their own. Only violence.” Hanzo looked ill now. As if this story was draining him. Jesse knew the man had been a wanderer for much too long before coming in, and he supposed if he’d had to bare everything to reyes right off the bat after coming in from the cold, he’d have felt ill as well. He let him be, patient, eyes fixed on the floor and thumb tapping a rhythm against the glass bottle in his hand.

“Eventually I reached peace in myself. Or so I thought. After I turned 17, I was rarely ill from my condition, and mine and my brother’s mastery over our shapes only grew.” Hanzo seemed to reconsider briefly, tilting his head, and turning to look at Jesse finally. Jesse returned the gaze, curious and slightly startled. “Although it is not right to say that they are shapes. They are us. My grandfather, Taiki, never left his dragon form. According to family tales he was born in it from his mother, and never left. How true this is I am not sure. But I know it’s not impossible.”

“Wait.” McCree worked his mouth a moment, brow furrowed, before just biting the bullet for the sake of his own god damned curiosity. “Then how did your, er. Grandmother-”

“Also a dragon.” Hanzo gave him a sharp look of dismissal, but Jesse couldn’t be concerned about it, because phew. “A cousin. As I said, the line runs strongly. This is why it was so unusual for my father to be as plain as he was,” Hanzo finished his beer, draining it, and Jesse looked on, still curious, less impatient. “And natural for him to have amassed such an empire of treasure in such a short life time.”

“So he’s dead?”

Hanzo nodded wearily, stitches stretching in his neck. “ I was to take his place. But as I’m sure my brother’s explained to you, there was a fight.” He had. And it was this that held Jesse’s tongue through the whole conversation here in this gun range. The peace in Genji. His determination to bring his brother in, to forgive, that odd omnic that floated after him like some kinda zen ghandi balloon encouraging with mechanical humming tones.

“An order from on high came not soon after. We fought. I lost control.” Hanzo said this quickly, shortly. With a flat tone and no change in his expression, as if he was simply recounting a mission report. “And in the aftermath, I left. And now here we are. That is what you saw.” Hanzo clapped his hands, rubbing them briefly as if to rid himself of the whole business, tense and fidgety. “And that is what I would like for you to keep to yourself.”

Jesse wasn’t a fool. The only reason he was getting this brief account of Shimada family history was because he’d almost been killed in that alley. Threatening him could only do so much; Jesse Mccree faced death every day walking to work and back again, and both the Shimada brothers knew it. This was buying his silence with the truth; and he had to admit.

It was mighty effective.

“Mercy know?” He asked, finishing his own beer, and vision barely swimming. Athena had tattled on him one too many times for Jesse McCree to get any kind of smashed on base, but there was still a thread of warmth running through his guts that eyed Hanzo’s bare arm, the elegantly strong muscles of his wrist and the stiff almost fur-like quality of his hair that was as untameable and shaggy as Jesse’s own. Although he made a much better attempt at taming it into its short tail. His eyes moved from there to the corner of his eyes, storm grey with long lashes that were hooded with concentration..

Sitting next to him felt like sitting next to a firecracker though. Dangerous.

Jesse never felt this way with Genji, despite having first hand account to how deadly the cyborg could be. He’d seen the man reave through frontlines like they were tissue paper, severing limbs from bodies, green lights a blur and sword making sick noises like a butcher shop.

But he’d also seen him curled up on the common room couch like a house cat, running lights dimmed and Liao slowly building a castle of remote controls, car keys, playing cards, and water bottles on the flat edge of his visor.

Hard to be scared of something 5 foot 5, that was docile as all that.

But something about Hanzo raised the hair on the back of Jesse’s neck, shivered his bones and told him this was a predator. Be wary.

“She’s aware. She reconstructed my brother, and there are things about us I’m sure are not usual in her line of work. Eyes, teeth, the such. Whether she knows the full extent...” Hanzo trailed off meaningfully, and for a moment, Jesse thought he was going to elaborate.

But before he could there was a sudden clatter, and a door set flush in the wall swooped up with a whirr, releasing an irate looking cleaning bot.

It startled him enough that he almost dropped his bottle, fumbling his grip and drawing a smirk from Hanzo that he took with good grace. Fair enough.

“I reckon we’ve outstayed our welcome.” McCree observed drily, as the little bot started sweeping up the debris Jesse had left in his shooting lane. If he wasn’t crazy, it was beeping to itself softly, a robotic grumbling that grew in pitch the closer it got to his mud-caked boot.

“So it seems.” Hanzo got up, and in his absence, Jesse’s arm suddenly felt cooler. He replaced it by tugging the warm wool of his serape over it, breathing out in a weary sigh. “I hope we will be able to work together. After all of this.”

“I hope so as well.” Jesse answered cagily, getting up himself with a creak and a groan. He leaned down and set his empty bottle on the back of the short, fat robot, drawing an enraged series of whistle and beeps that he readily ignored.

Hanzo seemed like he wanted to say something else, but in the presence of McCree’s steady, unblinking gaze, he seemed to struggle, before giving a short nod, and walking away. The door opened silently, and within moments, the dark hallway outside swallowed him and he was gone.

Hanzo seemed like a proud man. Draconic. Regal. He was distant in the same way Genji was occasionally, that he’d never thought to notice until this new information had come to light. Jesse couldn’t imagine the amount of crow Hanzo had to eat to come down here and give his pseudo apology slash explanation; and he still wasn’t even sure he was getting the whole story.

Jesse watched the bot tidy up for a few moments, thinking, before sighing and thumbing the shooting range off. The lights winked off one by one, and he slowly made his way out into the hall, up the cold dark cliffs and bridges of Gibraltar through to the barracks.

It was lonely, this late at night; just the gentle green glow of the emergency lighting towards the base of the floor to keep him company, and it had Jesse wondering why everything seemed to be reminding him of Genji. The lights. His brother. Every cough of air through the vents and flicker of wings from night-time birds on the edge of the property,

His room was dim when he got there, familiar. Gun cabinet, armor rack, cot piled high with thick woven blankets and downy soft flannel, and empty bottles lined up neat as you please in the window sill casting fractured moonlight across the floor. It smelled like old laundry, damp tobacco, and gun oil. Lena also said it smelled like wet dog, but Jesse McCree had never had a pet in his life and didn’t understand what she could possibly be smelling. So he didn’t use shampoo? Neither did half of the team.

He had time to toe his boots off and remove his chest plate, but beyond that, McCree was exhausted. A session at the shooting range well spent. If it took exhausting himself to get even six hours of sleep, so be it. He’d done his time of sleeplessness in Blackwatch, but he was an old man now. He deserved his six hours.

He didn’t dream of anything, but as he drifted off, he found his thoughts wandering towards sleek flashes of green and blue, back lit by passing cars and a knife slash of street lights.

##############

The next morning Jesse was woken by Athena’s smooth voice, combined with a knocking at the door.

”Agent McCree. God damn that AI. and god damn whoever installed her in every room and doorbell instead of an old fashioned knocker. Agent Shimada is requesting entry.”

He groaned, rolling over and yanking the soft flannel blanket over his head. Gibraltar was cold with so much metal and concrete, and the warmth that had pooled under the blankets wasn’t something to be abandoned lightly. Especially with the join of his mechanical arm sucking the heat from his shoulder and chest in a way that he knew was going to be difficult to raise it above his chest later, stiff and unwieldy with cold.

Another knock came at the door, and he finally gave in,

“Alright, alright.” Jesse rolled over, shoving his thick wool socks into his boots and shuffling across to the door. Weak midmorning sunlight came in through his window, tinged pink, and McCree blearily found himself thinking what time it was.

“Jesse.” Genji greeted in bright surprise when he finally opened the door with a few missed presses of the button.

“Mmm. Mornin’.” He rubbed his eyes, mouth and tongue fuzzy, and gestured languidly for Genji to go ahead and come in while he shuffled his way over to the bathroom to give himself a quick birdbath. Make him fit for cyborg company. There was no sound of anyone following him, but Jesse knew without looking that that didn’t mean much. Genji was a quiet man. Dragon.

He shoved his serape off of his shoulders, wrinkling his nose at the smell of dried sweat and stale smoke, before tossing it on the end of his bedpost and following it with his button up linen shirt. (A luxury in the 2060’s, but one he allowed himself. Along with hand rolled cigars and a pocket sized bottle of tabasco sauce. Lena’s teasing be damned.)

“What’re you doin’ here so bright and early then? Get lost on your way to getting me a cup of coffee?” McCree asked from the tiny bathroom, splashing water across his face and neck, running careful fingers through his beard and along his hairline. It felt good to scrub the effort of the night before away, and he made a note to take a nice long soak in the PT hot tub today. Might help his stiff muscles and throbbing shoulder.

The noise Genji made in reply was oddly stilted, a quiet “Hm.”

Jesse shut the water off, reaching blindly and finding a towel balled up on the counter, rubbing his face dry before wrinkling his nose. Ah. Wet dog smell.

A sound of inhalation, a stirring of air against the back of Jesse’s damp neck that moved the curls of hair there. “You were speaking with my brother last night.”

The voice was close. McCree turned in surprise, edging back when the glow of Genji’s visor was nearer than he’d expected it to be. He’d crept up as quiet as a daydream, considering, head tilted slightly in that predatory way Jesse’d seen him look at Talon agents across a rooftop. Or at the tv screen, when he was on a particularly hard level against D.Va and Lucio.

“Uh.” McCree stared back at his own reflection, lost briefly, and sleep addled still. He hadn’t had coffee yet, let alone a smoke.

The visor slid up, and McCree caught a glimpse of a rough scarred mouth, and sharp white teeth as Genji’s nostrils flared, tongue flickering out to taste; and he suddenly wasn’t sure what was happening at all. His head was still fuzzy, eyes fogged from the water, and the light from the windows didn’t reach in the bathroom when he hadn’t turned the light on. Only the wash of Genji’s running lights, glinting off of porcelain and chrome.

“Er. Yeah? We talked.”

For a moment Genji didn’t answer, and McCree wondered if he’d have to touch him. Reach out and gently push him away with his mechanical hand from where Genji seemed to be frozen, visor up and eyes hidden where McCree couldn’t see. But he could see his mouth, parted and red; and the way he tilted forward as if on strings, the same strange rumble he’d heard in that alleyway echoing quietly enough it was almost as if it was in McCree’s imagination. Except this time it was Genji making a sound he’d never heard, before. Outside of crocodiles.

“Genji?” McCree touched his arm finally, a tad fearfully, and Genji jerked back as if he’d been shocked, looking up at McCree and flicking his visor back down faster than Jesse could blink. And blink he did.

“My apologies. I am… Not feeling well.” An understatement, McCree thought with raised eyebrows and a pounding heart. “I came to tell you Winston has made breakfast, and if you would like some, to hurry.” Genji backed up in such a hurry his elbow clipped the doorway, and Jesse was completely flummoxed. He’d never seen Genji run into anything.

“You sure you’re okay? Don’t want to head down and give the doc a call?” McCree ventured, reaching out to rest his arm against the doorway where Genji was lingering, unreadable and tense.

“No. I am fine.”

#overwatch #fic #hanzo/mccree #mcgenji #lol

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