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#people needs to reconsider common sense huh
15-dogs · 3 years
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everything and anything |s.b.|
hello hello!! this is for @chudleycanons writing challenge!! everyone go check emmy out, she’s an amazing writer!! congrats again on 600 emmy :)
pairing: young!sirius black x reader
summary: sirius offers to take you to the ball but has other intentions in mind
warnings: the reader describes being insecure about their looks
prompts: fake dating, “Did I mean anything to you?”, “Dance with me”
guide: (Y/N) = your name, (Y/L/N) = your last name
word count: 3797
If anyone ever asked if you liked being the mom friend, you would instantly say yes. There was no doubt in your mind that you absolutely loved the position. You had this knack for taking care of everyone out of the pure goodness of your heart but you certainly weren’t afraid to throw a few punches if someone looked at your friend funny. That’s just who you were and you never wanted to change that.
However, as all things do, the title came with its downfalls. One being that you were always last in line to be picked from the group of eligible bachelorettes that were your friends. It usually would have never bothered you if it weren’t for a large, end of the year ball that Flitwick had decided to throw together. 
Alice had partnered up with Frank, Marlene was going with Dorcas, and Mary was going with Peter. Remus had the full moon the night before and Sirius had decided not to attend so there goes your two other options. Lily had promised that if you and her didn’t get dates by the time the ball rolled around, you two would go together. However, James had his way of working into her heart with very little effort. So there you were, stuck without a date.
It didn’t just make you embarrassed, it made you ashamed. And you shouldn’t have been! A few weeks prior, you thought that a Ravenclaw fancied you but you were quite mistaken, seeing as how they blew you off for dates. It wasn’t until you spotted him making out with the prefect opposite him during rounds did you realize he didn’t like you at all. You choked back the sobs that bubbled up in your chest and ran to your dorm to tell the girls all about it. When you got there, Lily was jumping up and down with excitement, claiming that James and her kissed. Decidedly, you did not tell the girls about what happened between you and that Ravenclaw, feeling like you were clouding Lily’s joy. 
Yet, the thought of you being the “less attractive” option than your friends still kept you up at night. Your friends were beautiful, they always were getting asked out on dates and you were always cheering them on, giving advice, whatnot. It was fun, or at least for a while. Sometimes it became tiring having to hear about how they were dating a new person each week while you sat, wondering what on Earth you did wrong.
You always pushed those thoughts to the back of your mind as you celebrated Marlene’s birthday in the common room. She squealed as she opened your present— a new jean jacket with patches of which you had hand picked and sewn on yourself— and immediately began to thank you. You felt awkward under her praise, opting to get the food ready instead.
You came back a moment later with snacks in your hand and some drinks, leading Dorcas to suggest you all play a drinking game. You teetered with anxieties as you remembered how everyone (and that meant everyone) acted when they were drunk. Maybe you should just stay sober. The group booed you but you merely shook your head, claiming that they’d thank you later when they were stumbling up to their dorms in their drunken stupor.
About an hour in, the drinking game turned into a group of drunk 7th years playing truth or dare. You decided to hop into the game, considering that you didn’t have to drink but instantly regretted your choice the second everyone started talking about the ball.
“Have you picked out a dress?” Mary asked Lily, leaning forward and biting her thumbnail. Lily nodded excitedly.
“Yes! I’m picking it up this weekend at the tailors from Hogsmeade.”
“You’re joking!” Marlene gasped. She looked between her and Dorcas before looking back at Lily. “We’re picking our dresses up this weekend at the same place! We should all go together! Mary? Alice? (Y/N)?”
You felt your heart sink and forced a smile on your face. Sirius, sitting beside you, nudged your knee with his. You looked up at him and he raised his brows.
“What?” you whispered.
“Are you okay?” Shockingly, his breath smelled the least like alcohol which was a rare occurrence for the party-crazed boy.
“I’m fine,” you shot out quickly. “Totally, perfectly fine.”
The truth was, you were not fine. Sirius knew it, too. Hearing that the girls were going to get their dresses felt like a slap in the face— you shouldn’t go to the dance at all. If you were going to mope around the whole time, what good would you be?
But it wasn’t because you were going alone, not really, anyway. It was because you were scared. To say that you didn’t like the way you looked was an understatement. You loved wearing dresses and skirts just as much as you loved wearing jeans and pants, but something about formalwear had your heart lurching in your chest. You wanted to be pretty, that was it, and you were afraid that people would laugh.
Someone of sound mind would have been able to reassure you that no one would have laughed at you, but no one knew of your insecurities and you didn’t plan on telling them. You constantly scolded yourself about those feelings but they kept resurfacing in every way possible.
When your attention shifted back to the group, you had realized they asked you a question. James let out a stifled giggle at your blank face and Lily swatted his arm.
“Huh?” you mumbled.
“We wanted to know how things are going with that Ravenclaw, Elliott,” Lily explained. “Did he ask you to the ball yet?”
Your lips parted and closed again, feeling that familiar sense of shame form deep in your stomach. “Oh,” you muttered lamely, “well, er, we aren’t...he’s not…”
“Oh, Godric. What did he do?”
“Oh, it’s— believe me— it’s nothing. I just, well, I think I misinterpreted a few signals here and there.”
“And how’s that?” Remus asked.
“I, um, walked in on him...snogging Jennifer, the other Ravenclaw prefect.”
A chorus of disgusted and shocked exclamations sounded around you. You looked away from their penetrating gazes, fiddling with your hands in your lap instead. One gaze struck you as particularly attention grabbing: Sirius’s. You looked up at the boy to the right of you on the couch, his gray eyes softened at your somber expression.
“He was leading you on, (Y/N). He’s a right git, easily. This wasn’t your fault.”
“I…” you trailed off, confused by his words. Yet, they comforted the part of you that was aching most. “Thanks, Sirius. I think I needed to hear that.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Your eyes locked with his and you felt a strange shift in the air. It was like an electrified silence. Although, it wasn’t silent. Marlene had been calling your name for the past minute now.
“Babes, hello!” Your eyes snapped up to Marlene’s at her words. “Who are you going with then?”
“About that, well, I don’t think I’m going to-”
You were cut off but groans and sighs from the girls around you. They immediately shot out protests, seemingly begging you to reconsider. You awkwardly shrugged when Sirius nudged you with his foot.
“Just because some bloke was an arse to you means you aren’t going to the ball? Come on, (Y/N), that’s not the you I know.”
“That’s not it,” you shot.
“Listen, I’ll go with you.”
Your eyes met Sirius’ with shock. You blinked a few times, then rubbed your eyes. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, please, love”— he leaned in towards you so that his breath was hot against your ear— “I’m always Sirius.”
You elbowed him with a smirk, feeling a sense of guilt creep up in your throat. You blushed and shook your head. “It’s fine, Sirius, you don’t have to do that-”
“No, I want to.” His words took you by surprise. “It’s not like I was going with anyone so why not you?”
You shifted awkwardly in your seat, trying not to think about the implications of his words. But you couldn’t help thinking about how he wasn’t even going in the first place. Your heart sped up in your chest but you were convinced it was from gratitude and surprise. So, as you were swept off your feet by your friend of 7 years, you said, “Okay, let’s go to the ball together.”
A decision you’d later come to regret.
You sat with your friends at the Gryffindor table, eating your breakfast before you left for Hogsmeade to pick up your dresses. You were rifling through your bag to see if you had some extra money to buy some chocolate for Remus when you heard excited gasps surrounding you. Your eyes snapped up just in time to see a single rose fall in front of your face. The owl that held it hooted and flew away, only for another owl to repeat its actions.
All eyes in the Great Hall were on you as the few roses soon turned into a bouquet. You held a careful hand over your mouth as you searched for the culprit. Fortunately, you didn’t need to look that hard. Unfortunately, it was because the sender— Sirius— had jumped onto the Gryffindor table as he called out your name. He walked towards you, students pulling their plates to their chests with each step. Finally, he stood in front of you, arms crossed and grin smug.
“Sirius!” you hissed. You glanced up at the professors’s table, where McGonagall eyed Sirius warily. “Would you get down from there?”
“Only if you go to the ball with me!”
Murmurs quickly filled the room.
“That’s what this is about? You’re mental! I said yes a few days ago!”
“Is it still a yes, then?” Although Sirius was acting with a confidence like no other person you’d seen, he still seemed nervous to hear your response.
“Yes, you git! Now get down!”
You stood up as you reached out your hands, tugging Sirius back to the ground as he cried, “She said yes!”
Glares from people without dates landed on you but you tried your best to ignore it. You chanced a look over your shoulder to meet the confused eyes of Elliott boring holes into your back.
You felt your cheeks heat up furiously but you couldn’t help but laugh at his behavior. Your laughter was suddenly silenced as Sirius stood inches apart from your face. You tried your best not to inhale his cologne that strangely had you weak in the knees but you simply couldn’t help it with your close proximity.
To make matters worse, Sirius reached up to tuck some hair behind your ear and you were positive that you felt something towards him that you hadn’t felt before. He winked at you and chuckled handsomely before pushing away to meet up with his friends.
Your friends quickly surrounded you as they asked repeated questions about what in the world just happened between you and Sirius. You couldn’t process, though. Not then. All you could do was hold your face in your hands with blank eyes as you feared the tiny, miniscule, barely there crush that you might have on Sirius Black.
In Transfiguration a few days later, you sat at your desk near the front, awaiting Lily’s arrival. When you heard a familiar, bubbly laughter, your head whipped around to the back to see James with his arm around Lily as she sat in Sirius’s seat. You were a little saddened that she had left you to sit with her boyfriend, but you didn’t let it show— after all, you were happy that they had finally gotten together.
You felt an arm snake around the back of your chair, causing you to jump. When you looked over, Sirius was in Lily’s seat, his arm wrapped around your shoulders, the dumbest grin on his face.
“Good morning, (Y/L/N).” You hated the way his deep, slightly raspy voice made you shiver.
“Morning, yourself, Black.” 
You studied him out of the corner of your eye as he relaxed into his chair. Merlin, he looked handsome with his sleeves rolled up and hair mussed. You sucked in a sharp breath with horror at your thoughts, butterflies occupying your stomach as his thumb stroked your shoulder. You thought that you might die when his hand slipped down the chair to rest on your waist, only for him to tug you closer.
“I asked Evans to sit with Prongs today; she didn’t seem to mind,” he whispered roughly against your ear.
You hummed. “Hm, I wonder why?”
He stifled a laugh as he tipped forward, looking at the blank piece of parchment on his desk.
“I meant to ask you, what color is your dress?”
You blinked in shock at the change in topic. “It’s blue.”
He rolled his eyes. “Shades of blue, love.”
“I didn’t know that the different shades mattered to you,” you said, pretending to be impressed by his prompt.
“Shockingly, I’m more than just a pretty face.”
“Really?”
He fought back a chuckle and shook his head. “Shade, love, go on.”
“It’s baby blue.”
His eyes roved over your body for a moment too long. You became self-conscious at his stare, angling away from him. His eyes softened at your actions. You felt his slightly calloused hand take yours, raising it to his lips as he kissed your knuckles. Your eyes darted around the room to see if anyone saw what was happening, if it was as out of the ordinary as you imagined. Your eyes landed on Elliott who watched with distaste as Sirius acted like he was much more than just a friend, a sense of satisfaction filling you.
“You’re going to be gorgeous, love. You are gorgeous.”
When you looked into Sirius’ captivating gray eyes, you knew you were done for. You didn’t know what game he was playing, but you were sure you didn’t want it to end.
You were rushing back from the library, just having noticed that you were late to meeting your friends. You had all decided to get ready for the ball together, mostly because you were no good at makeup but quite good at hair, Lily was no good at hair but quite good at accessorizing, Marlene was no good at accessorizing but quite good at makeup, and so on.
You made it to the portrait and were about to state the password when someone stopped you. “Hey, (Y/L/N)!”
You turned around to see Elliott bombing towards you. “Hey, what’s going on?”
He slowed to a stop in front of you, his lips twitching into a smile. “I was wondering if you wanted to go to the ball with me?”
You scoffed, but felt an immediate sense of guilt at your response. “Sorry, Elliott, but I’m going with Sirius-”
“I know.”
You looked around, seeing if Sirius was hiding somewhere to tell you he set this up, that it was all a joke. You clenched your eyes shut before eyeing the Ravenclaw in front of you.
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Elliott.”
“Say yes. Go with me, not Black.” He took a step forward, ducking to meet your gaze. “I fancy you.”
You shook your head hurriedly, whispering the password as you darted away from him, your head swarming with severe thoughts. He called after you but didn’t dare follow as you ran up the stairs to your dorm.
You slammed the door shut behind you, panting as you slid your back down it. Lily nudged your foot with hers, causing you to look up at her.
“What happened to you?”
You jumped to your feet, running your hands through your hair as you muttered, “It’s bad, quite bad.”
“Well, we have the time as long as you get ready.”
So as you got yourself ready for the ball, you explained the direness of the situation. A sinking feeling set into your stomach with each word as you realized that you might fancy Sirius a little more than you let on. Mary blinked with shock, studying you carefully.
“Aren’t you and Sirius going together?” she asked.
“To the ball, yes.”
“No, no.” Mary waved her mascara wand in the air as she shook her head. “I mean going together. Like, dating.”
“What?” you cried, causing Marlene to smack your arm in order for you to stay still while she did your eyeshadow. “What made you think that?”
Dorcas snorted. “What didn’t make us think that?”
You went pale. “All of you thought that?”
You heard grumbled agreements and your stomach flipped. Was it because you were too obvious about your little crush? Or was there something else that had caused them to think that? Either way, you desperately needed to talk to Sirius.
The six of you went downstairs to meet your dates, all waiting in the Gryffindor common room. Seeing Sirius standing there with a tiny, blue morning glory which matched your dress had your heart lurching. You didn’t even realize that he was talking to you until he took your hand in his.
“Are you alright, love?”
You sucked in a sharp breath, nodding at your friends that they should leave without you. Once the common room was empty (and Sirius was thoroughly puzzled) you said, “We need to talk.”
Sirius sighed knowingly, scuffing his food against the ground. “Take it Elliott asked you to the ball, then?”
“I-...y-yes, how did you know?” You fiddled with your hands to avoid meeting his eyes. Everything about this situation made you want to run away and hide forever.
“Because that was the plan, (Y/N). Did you say yes-”
“The plan?” Your eyes snapped up to his, a new feeling ruminating behind them. Sirius cowered under your glare. “What plan?”
“That’s what this was all about, wasn’t it?” he tested. You crossed your arms and huffed. “It was about getting Elliott to realize he was stupid, it was about me pretending to be your...something until he realized that he shouldn’t have turned you down.”
Your heart shattered. All of Marlene’s hard work on your makeup went completely to waste as traitorous tears slipped down your cheeks, streaks of mascara coating your face. You felt sick.
“That’s what this was about, then? You were my something.” You tried with all your might to control the shaking in your voice but there was nothing you could do; you were a mess.
Sirius, finally aware of how his words affected you, took a step towards you with the intent of taking your hands in his. You jerked your hands away from him with a strangled sob.
“No, listen, that’s not-”
“Did I mean anything to you?”
The words weren’t supposed to come out of your mouth, they weren’t. Yet, they did. And you meant them. That was the worst part.
Sirius was silent.
No, that was the worst part.
Your breaths became labored and you didn’t want to cry in front of Sirius, so you ran up to your dorm room. As you leapt onto the stairs, a strong voice stopped you.
“You mean everything to me!” Sirius shouted after you. You froze midstep. “You’re always going to mean everything to me!”
You slowly turned around on your heel. “I don’t understand-”
“It was supposed to be innocent, good natured fun. I was supposed to be helping you out with Elliott. But then you had to be yourself! You had to be funny, and beautiful, and gentle and I was not supposed to fall for you, but things never go according to plan. So, yes, you mean everything and anything to me.”
The room was silent save for the music that radiated from the Great Hall into the common room. You took a few sobering breaths as Sirius awaited a response.
“I said no, by the way. I couldn’t do it. Not when I knew how I felt about you.”
His eyes lit up and he took a step towards you. “And, er, how do you feel about me?”
You rolled your eyes as you made your way back down the stairs. “Don’t let it go to your head.”
He chuckled as he outstretched an arm to you, helping you walk down the last few steps. He pulled you close to his chest, searching your eyes for something that wasn’t present. He guided you to the portrait hole but your feet bolted to the ground.
“I can’t go out there looking like this!” you explained.
Sirius fought a snicker as he saw your panicked expression. He guided you back to the middle of the room, an intenseness in his gaze that you’d never seen before. He let go of your hand only to hold it out to you again.
“Dance with me.”
You tried to protest but your words died on your tongue. You reluctantly took him up on the offer, gasping when he pulled you flush against his chest.
Suddenly, things began to feel out of place. You didn’t deserve this. You didn’t deserve Sirius. You had never been “chosen” out of your friends because that wasn’t you, you weren’t the girl that people went after. Your heart panged with guilt as you looked away from his piercing stare.
“You’re doing that thing again.” Sirius tucked your head into his chest, his voice vibrating against your ear.
“What thing?”
“You get that little look on your face where your eyebrows knit together and you can’t look anyone in the eye because you’re scared.”
“Scared?” you asked incredulously.
“Scared of getting things that you deserve.”
You lifted your head from his chest to meet his eyes. “And what exactly do I deserve?”
You expected something smart from him, something that would make you roll your eyes and groan. Instead, a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips as Sirius said, “Happiness, complete happiness.”
In a moment of impulse, your hands wrapped around the back of his head to plant a kiss firmly against his lips. 
In a shocking turn of events, Sirius hesitated. His eyes went wide when you kissed him and it took him a moment to process your actions. However, once he did get hold of himself, he pulled you impossibly closer by the waist, kissing you passionately like there was nowhere else he’d want to be.
And that was true, of course. There was nowhere else he wanted to be besides with you. 
And seeing the way that Sirius looked at you made everything worth the wait.
335 notes · View notes
pencilofawesomeness · 3 years
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random NNT wip that I may or may not continue
(and if I do continue it, one day, it probably won’t look like this now that 4KOTA has given me more material to use)
More notes at the bottom, but I was going through some of my wips after thinking about this concept again on a whim, and I re-read it and I’m still happy with this scene, so I decided to post it for the kicks and giggles. It’s smack in the middle (early-mid?) of a whole story that I don’t have time to write (and 4KOTA is making me reconsidering things) so it may not make much sense, but that’s part of the fun. 
Basic premise: a Tower of God AU for the characters of Seven Deadly Sins. I thought of it / wrote this after the NNT manga ended, but before Nakaba announced 4KOTA and published the Lancelot oneshot.
--
Howzer never imagined that he would be a scout when he first decided to climb the Tower. In fact, he was rather upset when Hendrickson labeled him as a scout back on the Floor of Tests, especially when he dreamed of being a spear bearer. Of course, he knew now he was nowhere near as talented with spears as Gilthunder or even Griamore was, though he had gotten pretty good at using his lance in close combat. The point was, Howzer had underestimated the importance and even the difficulty that the position of a scout had to offer.
It was a heavy load to bear.
He panted for a moment, hands on his knees. There was a short window he had to recover from that cheap ambush before he had to keep moving. He could buy himself some more time if he hid their bodies, to hide his tracks, but he was running out of time.
The thirty-second floor was nothing less than a battlefield wrapped up in a fun little ‘game’ the test director had the audacity to call ‘hide and seek.’ Essentially, the teams had to wander through the maze and duck under the hedges to make it to the center. If anyone was out from under the cover for more than three minutes, giant fucking birds would come down and eat them. Oh, and of course, the regulars were fond of killing each other along the way in the spirit of competition.
Lighthouses weren’t immune either, only allowed out in the open for a single minute before imminent, feathery, destruction. The hedges were nigh impenetrable, forcing the teams to funnel through the maze, so the spear bearers were relegated to straight ground attacks with the fisherman, once in engagement. In short, the entire test seemed to boil down to raising hell for the scouts.
Which, as previously mentioned, was him.
Joy.
He hadn’t really wanted to kill those guys, but they were annoying and bent on doing the same to them. There wasn’t the time to make a proper decision anyway. Howzer rounded the corner and dove back under the hedge, eyeing the three seconds left on his pocket’s timer. There wasn’t time to regret anything: he had to move.
No one had reached the end yet, which was both a good and a bad thing. Good, because it wasn’t a full-on race yet; bad, because Howzer’s specialty was following people, not mazes. However, he liked to think he was getting better at this kind of stuff. It was a shame his observer could only last as long as he did out in the open—but at least they weren’t on the same timer. When Howzer ducked into the hedge, he sent the observer out.
Luckily for him, his observer was picking up no more lifeforms. Well, no more living ones. It looked like a team found the wrong path before he came and paid the price for it. However, now Howzer knew the correct path for the next few turns, and they were all clear too. “I just sent the directions,” he spoke into his device. “You guys got it?”
“Yes,” Margaret’s voice came through from her lighthouse. “Although, I don’t think ‘take a left at the bush’ is an adequate description in a…hedge maze.”
“Nah, it’s obvious when you see it.” It was a different color and everything! His teammates were so picky… “But I gave the coordinates too.”
It was away from the receiver, but he heard the sigh. Picky and judgmental… “We’re on our way.”
Howzer rolled his eyes, grateful Margaret and Guila weren’t there to notice and gang up on him. Don’t get him wrong, he was beyond happy that Margaret joined their team (especially since Griamore was terrible at being a light bearer) but sometimes there was no winning with her. Not unless you were Gilthunder. Or Guila. Or Tristan… Okay, maybe it was just him. The fated tension between light bearers and scouts, he supposed.
“Not even a thank you…” he muttered to himself before jumping back out in the open. He already stashed his observer at the destination, so he just needed to reach it, quick and easy— “AH!”
“Agh!”
Howzer collided with a body as he turned the corner into the new path. He stumbled back a few steps, and the other person was sent flying on their butt. For a moment, he stared at her, dumbfounded. His observer excelled at sensing signs of life based on their heartbeats, so unless they had some crazy technique, not even shinsu could cover it; and this girl just came out of the dead end—where everyone had appeared dead.
Although, he was pretty sure he didn’t remember seeing her in particular. She was a slight thing, but with bright pink hair with a short cut and a sweeping bang that covered one eye completely. Plus, she was wearing armor, which wasn’t all that common. Surely, he would have remembered… Unless she was in the hedge. But even then, that should have picked up on his observer.
“Sorry,” she gasped. “I was in a hurry.”
He glanced at his pocket. “No kidding.” He wouldn’t make it to his observer now. Damn, a short break then. “Come on!” Howzer yanked the girl into the nearest hedge with him. Sure, she was an enemy, but she didn’t look like she was in good shape. Her armor was scuffed, the needle on her side looked damaged, and her skin was unnaturally pale. And Howzer wasn’t gonna’ let a girl die like that—especially not to frickin’ birds.
“Thank you.” The fisherman got back on her feet. “I was just trying to get my bearings. My observer broke though.”
“You’re a scout?!” he exclaimed reflexively. Damnit, he thought he pegged her. “I thought you were a fisherman.”
She glanced down at her needle and huffed out a quiet laugh, almost like she was remembering some past joke. “Our team doesn’t have a real scout, so I multi-task.”
“Damn, that sucks.” That was beyond reckless. Not that Howzer could say much, because his team tried to function with a proper light-bearer for nearly fifteen floors before Margaret joined them.
“Yes. It does. It worked out enough, though.”
Howzer can’t help but to wonder if the slaughtered team around that bend was hers. The far off look in her eye seemed to match his suspicions, too. Worked out, huh? Not forever…
She snapped out of her daze. “I’m Liz,” she introduced, offering a hand.
Howzer took it after only a brief moment of hesitation. She didn’t look like she had the strength to take him in a fight anyway. Besides, if she wanted to kill him like that last group did, then she had the opportunity to shove him to the birds a while ago. “Howzer,” he returned. “Here, let’s hurry up around this corner. My observer is there.” He couldn’t afford a new one if it was destroyed or stolen…again.
Liz nodded, and they took off. Despite her pallor, she was fast. He had the feeling that had he not been leading the way, she could easily outrun him. Strange, that someone with the ability to move through shinsu like this would be in the position she was…
They made it to their destination without a hitch, and Liz hadn’t even broken a sweat. Still, the question bothered him. “So, where’s your team?”
The beat of silence was answer enough that his first hunch was correct. “…they died. I’m…the only one that survived.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He really was. The thought of losing a single one of his teammates was painful enough, but all of them? Howzer didn’t know if he would have the motivation to still keep going. “…What are you going to do, then? Finish the test alone?” It was nigh impossible, but for a fisherman who knew the ways of scouting…
“I don’t know.” Liz picked at her armor, looking uncomfortable. He imagined it was a sore question, but he wanted to know her motives. She seemed capable enough, so if she wanted to get out of the maze, Howzer was willing to vouch for her and absorb her into the team, at least for the test. “There’s someone… I want to see. I can’t die until I see him.” The steel in her blue eye was testament to her resolve. She had something to live for.
“Hey.” Howzer laid a hand on her shoulder. “I know we’re not your teammates, but my team can get you to the end of this test. You go find that guy you’re looking for.” He was sure his team would be sympathetic, too. Gilthunder wanted to find his missing father. Guila wanted to make it back home to her brother and her hometown to protect them as a ranker. Jericho wanted to avenge her brother. Tristan wanted to find out who his family was. Everyone had someone they wanted to look out for.
“Thank you.” Liz smiled, and Howzer thought he saw a glisten on her cheek.
There was always sorrow behind resolve.
“Who are you?!” A needle pressed itself to Liz’s back. Oh, crap.
Howzer yanked Liz forward and intercepted. “Oi! Easy there, she’s with me!”
Jericho frowned, but she sheathed her needle. “If you hormonal boys don’t stop picking up girls, I’m leaving.”
His face turned red. (But not as read as Gilthunder’s and Margaret’s, a fact he was very proud of.) “H-hey, it’s not like that! I just offered to help her clear the maze, that’s all!”
“Whatever, lover-boy.”
Liz laughed, a short and sweet but very unapologetic sound. “Oh no, it’s not like that at all. I’m far too old for him, anyway. You must be Howzer’s team, correct?”
“Y-yeah.” Gilthunder cleared his throat, recovering from Jericho’s heckling. “We are. I’m Gilthunder.”
“Liz.” She gave a short bow. “Thank you for helping me.”
At their questioning gaze, Howzer filled in. “Her team died to the birds. I offered to help her reach the end, so she can move on and find someone.” He grinned. “We’re close to the end, too. I can feel it.”
“With what?” Griamore grunted. “Your impatience?”
“Nobody asked you, big guy. Anyway!” He clapped, turning on his heel to his beloved observer. “I’ve been tracking the paths on here. They’re narrowing and getting tighter around the curves, so we must be approaching the center of the circle. A few more trips, and I bet we’ll have made it.”
“That’s…” Margaret gave a soft smile. “Actually smart.”
“…’actually’?!”
His brow twitched. Whatever. They’ll appreciate his genius one day! Maybe. Howzer turned back to his observer with a sigh, ready to send it out again, but something caught his notice.
The observer counted seven lifeforms in the vicinity, including himself.
With Liz, there should be eight.
He had assumed it was a fluke that he didn’t see Liz on his radar the first time, and because she wasn’t hostile, he hadn’t thought of the implications too hard. But she was right there, and the observer wouldn’t read her. It was possible it could be some weird shinsu trick, but she wasn’t a wave controller, and he had never seen a regular with that level of skill otherwise. Besides, there was absolutely no point in her expending energy to hide herself now that she had allies.
It seemed like Guila noticed something about her, too. Howzer noticed the black-haired wave-controller frown pensively, her eyes opened to slits in a rare moment of appraisal. Howzer couldn’t ask her what she sensed without raising suspicion, however, so he would have to wait. He could send a message by pocket once they started scouting again, when messaging wouldn’t be abnormal.
When he looked back to her, however, Liz was completed fixated on something else. Her eye was wide, and her mouth was parted; it was slight, but there was a tremble to her muscles. It looked like she was afraid, but it wasn’t the kind of fear that Howzer saw on the battlefield. Her gaze was locked…
…onto Tristan.
He wasn’t sure how long this had taken place, but Tristan just noticed, meeting her gaze like an equally spooked deer. Parallel to each other’s, their blue eyes looked similar—but there was something deeper to Liz’s than in the kid’s. Something Howzer couldn’t quite recognize, no matter how it hurt his pride as a scout.
“You…” Tristan blinked owlishly, taking one cautious step towards the woman. “Do I know…you…?”
“…no.” Liz’s voice was thick. The entire team was frozen around their encounter, as if time or the test didn’t exist outside of the two. “N-no, I’m afraid you don’t.” She matched Tristan’s hesitant step forward, her hand reaching out slowly. “But can I…?”
There was recognition in her stance, however—in her hungry, pained gaze, and in her outstretched hand. No one knew Tristan, not really, but rumors of him spread around the tower. This wouldn’t have been the first time someone hailed Tristan as some savior, whether because of his strange shinsu control or his status as an irregular. However, this seemed different. Normally, those willing to cast their hopes on a complete stranger were not the hesitant type.
“Uh…” Tristan looked as confused as ever. “I’m not sure I’m following but…”
He didn’t stop her, and Liz inched towards him like she was still afraid of something—of him, maybe. Guila looked like she was about to stop her, but she was frozen in place just like Howzer was. Maybe it was curiosity that made them useless. Maybe it was something else.
Tristan gasped. “Your heart—!” Her heart? Has Tristan figured out why Liz mysteriously didn’t show up on his radar? “It’s not… It’s not beating!”
“I know,” she whispered solemnly. What?! It wasn’t beating at all?! Then how was she even alive?! “But don’t worry about me.” Liz didn’t take her gaze off of Tristan. “It’s beating somewhere else.”
Howzer blinked. What?
“What the hell…?” Jericho whispered, echoing his thoughts perfectly.
Liz looked up sharply, forcefully tearing her gaze away from Tristan, who still looked baffled and dazed. She bowed quickly in Howzer’s direction. “Thank you for your hospitality, but I must be going.”
Before he or anyone could even respond, and with one last longing glance at Tristan, she took off faster than untrained eyes could track. The team looked to him, but Howzer could only shrug helplessly. “I don’t know if I can catch up, but wait here.”
He did see which direction she was going, but he knew her speed was greater than his unless he reinforced himself with shinsu. However, there wasn’t the need, because she was headed back to the dead end.
If she was there to get information from them, she didn’t stick with it, and he knew for a fact that she was too distracted with Tristan to ever mess with his observer. It was almost as if Tristan was the one that she was looking for—or at least a sizable distraction to her goal, based on the fixation. However, she took off without accomplishing much besides confusing them; she took off with a level of panic too. They were safe in the bush though, and there were no teams nearby.
Howzer heard her before he saw her, and he slowed his approach out of both caution and respect, hovering on the other side of the corner. Liz screamed, wailing unabashedly with pent up sorrow that he could not fathom. She would have been out of earshot of the rest of the team, but just barely. But hers was a cry that came as a deluge; there was no holding it back.
He thought about just turning around and leaving her alone. He was intruding on something delicate and personal, but, as a scout he couldn’t remove himself without a final glance. Howzer peaked around the corner, in no way prepared for what he saw.
Liz was not the one crying. She was but a body on the ground, limp and lifeless. A white entity floated above her, with long silver hair and those same blue eyes, holding her stomach in her ghostly hands as she wailed.
This time, it was hard to ignore how much she looked like Tristan.
It wasn’t a suspicion he could follow at the moment, however. The test was still running, and they couldn’t afford to lose their chance at going to the thirty-third floor. Howzer turned around and left the woman to her sorrows, with the inescapable feeling that they would see her again.
--
another A/N
The story is/was going to be about the youngins’ dream-filled trek to becoming a ranker in the Tower, with the team consisting of Howzer, Gilthunder, Griamore, Jericho, and later Margaret, who are all regulars with various aspirations and goals, along with Tristan, a young boy who met the first four on Floor 1, who was sent to the inner Tower from outside known Tower boundaries, making him an irregular. 
The main mystery was going to be finding out how Tristan came to be (which is to say, finding out what happened to his parents and the Sins) because his only memories are of a mysterious woman named Nimue caring for him, though much of his childhood was spent alone in her domain. 
I’m pretty dedicated to the HTRYDS series right now, but maybe after 4KOTA gets farther along, I’ll rework the story to incorporate the new worldbuilding tidbits and the new characters. I had wanted the main team to be the “babies” but that required using the OG children and aging them down a bit to match Tristan, though they all still would have been older than he was. 
Tbh, I had more fun comprising the backstory/alternate story that involved the sins and such than I did trying to figure out what the main group would be doing. I might just post my ideas and call it a day. Who knows.
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hollanderfangirl · 3 years
Text
Let me go |Harry Holland|
Pairing: Harry Holland x Therapist! Reader
A/N: so I'm not a therapist and I've never been to therapy, well if you don't consider the sessions with my psychology teacher. All of what I've written comes from what I've learnt in psychology class, reading books and listening to other people's experiences.
Warnings: talk about death, panic attack and it's just really sad
Word count: 3.3k, this is my longest fic yet :)
(Sorry for the shitty moodboard I just had to post this fic or I would have lost my mind)
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Harry Holland walked through the halls of the clinic, not really sure why he was here. Well he knew why he had come to see a therapist but he wondered how he put himself in this situation. He had been locking himself inside a glass cave built out of hopelessness for months, his friends and family were greatly concerned about him but he refused to take any help. He had always been stubborn, he never asked for anybody's help. He hated the look of pity on people's faces. He hated people showing him sympathy. He was more than this. He didn't need anybody. He can pull himself together, he just needed time.
But it wasn't helping. Burying your feelings in has never helped anybody. Putting on a smile everyday in front of people and crying himself to sleep, Harry found it more and more difficult. His mum had sensed it and told him to go and see a doctor. He had resisted it at first. 
"Please do it for me, Harry. I cannot see you like this, at least for my satisfaction," Nikki had said. "Just go for a trial session and if you like it then you can continue," but of course he wasn't going to continue. 
Now as he stood in front of the receptionist, he was reconsidering his decision. 
"Yes, do you have an appointment, sir?" 
"Huh?" he seemed lost. "Yeah..yeah" 
"Just wait here, I'll inform Dr Y/l/n" 
"Your know what, cancel the appointment. I- I don't need help" 
"Oh but this is just a trial, Mr Holland" 
"Yeah but I don't-" the receptionist was already at the door, muttering something to the woman inside. 
You step outside to see a curly headed man, he looked pleasant but his eyes looked sad. Those were the eyes of a person who had seen immense grief, someone who had been miserable for a long long time. 
"I'm sorry but I don't need therapy… I didn't realise this before, I -I shouldn't have come here" 
"Oh Mr Holland, this is just a trial right? Let's just have some coffee. This isn't therapy yet" you smile at him. 
"No I really-" 
"Okay then, give me half an hour. If you still feel the same way, then you can leave. Half an hour is all I want from you, Mr Holland" 
"Alright" 
You lead him into your chamber, closing the door behind you. He sits down on a couch across from you, your desk separating you both. The first step of therapy- resistance. People always resist therapy at first, they feel like they don't need the help or maybe seeking help makes them weak. They don't feel like opening up to a complete stranger. How can they? How can they open up their most vulnerable state to a person who they barely know? But slowly and steadily, a rapport is made. A therapist has to be very careful and empathetic. They have to be trusting. Someone who people can turn to. Someone who they can relate to. Someone who understands them. Someone who would just listen. 
"So, your mother sent you here. Right, Mr Holland?" 
"Just- just call me Harry" 
"Okay then Harry, tell me" 
"What do you want me to tell you?" 
"Everything. Start from the beginning" 
"Well I- do you… do you really think I would-" he hesitates. "Who do you think you are? Why do you think I should pay you to listen to my goddamn life story here?" 
"You're not here to tell me your life story," you say politely. "I'm here to help you and I can do that only if you would let me" 
"Well guess what? You cannot help me, I knew I was wasting my time," he gets up and starts to walk away. 
"I asked for half an hour of your time, Harry" 
"Well I don't fucking care" 
"Harry, please listen to me. All I ask is half an hour" 
Little did he know, this half an hour was going to change his life. 
Something about your tone made him stay. He sat back down on the couch, turning away from you. 
"Okay, so if you're not going to talk, I will," you sigh. "So, you have suffered a great loss, someone you loved dearly?" 
"Yes," he still didn't look you in the eye. 
"Who was it?" 
"My…my friend. Girlfriend" 
"And when did this happen?" 
"A year ago" 
"How have you been holding up?" 
He thought of giving another vague answer. How the fuck do you think I'm holding up? I'm fucking dying every single day. 
"Uh- it's been a little better, I guess. It's not as bad as it used to be" 
"Well that's a start. And do you still think about her?" 
Every goddamn minute, lady. What do you want from me? "Yeah sometimes" 
"And how have you been sleeping?" 
I can't sleep. I haven't slept properly for months. If I sleep I see her coming back to me. "Alright I guess" 
This wasn't going anywhere. You thought of recommending him another doctor but something about him charmed you. He was a man who should have been living a great life but his grief was tearing him apart. You had to help him. You felt a strong connection to him, you felt determined. No, I have to help him. I just have to.
"Harry, do you feel like you're responsible for your girlfriend's death?" it was a straightforward question, you had been trying to get something out of him but he wasn't ready to. 
He looked at you dead in the eye, yet could not get any words out. You could sense the anger building up inside him but it wasn't projected at you, he was angry with himself. 
"I….. " he took a few deep breaths, clenching his hands into fists. "Yes" 
"Why is that so?" 
"Fucking hell! Are you for real? She died, okay? And I wasn't there… I wasn't there.. " he was tearing up. "I should have been the one to die! Not her! Not anybody! Everyone just leaves me in the end!" he was full on shouting, letting out everything he had been holding inside himself for a whole year. He had tears in his eyes.
You handed him a box of tissues and he was gasping for breath. When he had calmed down, you both sat in silence for a few minutes. 
"You know, Harry, my friend died the day we had a fight. She was my best friend. I knew her ever since we were three. It was a silly argument. We should not have fought about it. But we did and I told her I wished she would just go away… and then she did" it was painful for you to remember this, but time does heal everything. 
"I'm sorry," his voice was low. "And I'm sorry for all those things I said" 
"No it's alright, that's what you're here for. And besides, it's nothing compared to your loss, Harry" 
"No. It- it's not a competition. Suffering is not a competition. It must've been really hard for you, Dr y/l/n," this was the first time he had addressed you. 
"Call me y/n," you smile at him. "And yeah that's very true. We often blame ourselves, you know, it's very common. We cannot be angry at them so we get angry with ourselves. Even though we know deep in our hearts that there was nothing we could have done" 
There was a long silence. 
"She went out for a drive, that bastard drunk driver," he spoke up. "And I was just resting. She asked me so many times to join her but I wanted to sleep" 
You nod at him and he continued. "That's…the reason I'm not able to sleep. Every night I close my eyes, I think I'll wake up to that phone call" 
"Well yes I don't blame you, our brains sometimes don't process things that come as a shock. And then it just keeps on haunting us forever. Do you believe in life after death, Harry?" 
"Well I don't know what to believe" 
"Have you- felt her? After she was gone?" 
"You'll think I'm crazy" 
"I'm a therapist, it'll take you much more than that to convince me you're crazy" 
"I sometimes talk to her. Like what would she think about this particular situation. Or just that I miss her so much. I don't get any responses but I just try to think like her?" 
"Yeah, that's quite normal actually. People think they need to 'get over' someone's death. But that's not true. You can never really get over something like death" 
"And what does getting over even mean? Like you just forget them? Moving on with your life just means that you think they were never a part of it" 
"Well you're both right and wrong. Yes we must remember our loved ones who are not with us anymore but at the same time, we have to let them go" 
"How? It's too painful" 
"I know. But do you believe in the concept of souls, Harry?" 
"Yeah I mean," he shrugs. 
"The soul is considered to be immortal. And groups of souls tend to travel together. Even if you don't know it, some way, somehow, they're always with us" 
He says nothing but his eyes looked softer now. 
"And just think about it, think of her seeing you like this. Do you think she could have handled you being so miserable?" 
"She would have been heartbroken" 
"Exactly. So do it for her, for yourself. For both of you to feel peace again" 
"Yeah" 
You look at your watch. Half an hour was up. 
"So, Harry. Your half an hour is up. Is there anything else?" 
"Yes, um we can talk about it in our next session?" 
You smile at him. "Of course" 
                          ----------------
After that one half an hour session, Harry was a changed man. He was still mourning, he was still miserable but he had hope. For the first time in a long time, he thought he could actually go on with his life, he could finally feel peace.
The week went by smoothly. Harry tried to make himself busy, by surrounding himself with people and always working. He was still getting nightmares but he was determined to sleep. He was sleeping light, afraid of what deep sleep might show him.
Meanwhile your life was exactly the same, you went on with your day treating people, talking, helping them. You loved your job, you loved the sense of satisfaction you got after patients they told you they were finally better. Every person was a challenge, and you knew there was a gem hidden inside every one of them. All of them had immense potential but life hadn't been kind to them. You felt disturbed and it broke your heart to see people hurting. And you would do anything to make it better for them. To help them.
You couldn’t keep Harry out of your mind. You were thinking about him all day long, awaiting your next session with him. What if he cancels? What can I do if he does? Why am I thinking about him? He had this air around him, a magnetic pull, which was pulling your closer and closer towards him. And why is he so damn attractive? No I should not think about him that way. It was the first and foremost rule of your profession. Never get emotionally attached with your clients. It was a professional relationship and must remain that way.
When he came into your office the following week, you could sense the change in him. You felt proud that a single session made such a difference. There was no arrogance in him, he didn’t seem angry anymore. He was calm and better.
“So, Harry. How was your week?”
“It was good, I’ve been shooting my new short film and it’s coming out to be okay so far”
“Alright and how have you been sleeping?”
“Not that good to be honest. I still get dreams, uh bad dreams”
“What do you see in these dreams?”
“I see the accident scene….again and again, it’s the same dream. Sometimes I see her, she talks to me and all that”
“Hmm and have you talked to your family? Your friends?”
“Yeah I talked to my mum…and my brother”
“What did they say?”
“They said they are here for me and will always love me”
“Yes and I don’t doubt that, Harry. You have a lot of people in your life who love and support you. Embrace that”
The session went by smoothly, he opened up to you about his life, everything about the girl he loved so much. About his family, his career. You found yourself staring at him, taking glances at his hands which he constantly moved while he talked. You noticed he was shaking his leg the whole time. Stop staring, y/n.
Wow she’s so beautiful. And thoughtful. And funny and understanding. What am I doing? She’s my therapist….but…why couldn’t I have met her before? Why didn’t I meet her when I was normal? Would things have been different? But then again, I would have never met her if I was normal.
Things seemed to get better, as the weeks progressed, Harry was becoming more and more like his old self again. But there was a feeling of regret, he thought this was wrong as if he were forgetting her. But you were there to guide him, to tell him that this is what life is. It never stops. No matter what happens, you will heal. Someday, sometime. And each day we progress towards it.
And then it happened. The call came at 1 am in the morning. You were sleeping and you were tired, you had been working all day and just needed some rest. You wouldn't have picked the call up but something told you it was important. That you should pick it up.
“Hello?” you yawn.
You just hear muffled breathing for a few seconds.
“Hello? Who is it?”
“It…it’s me…Harry”
“Harry, what’s wrong?” you thought what could have happened at this time of the night.
“I just- can you-” he sounded like he was choking.
“Harry what’s wrong, you’re scaring me”
“I… can’t… breathe,” you hear him sobbing. ”I had… that… dream, I feel like I’m…going to…die”
“Harry, listen to me. You will be okay. Yeah? Just take deep breaths and sit tight. I’m coming to you”
You search through his file to look for his address. When you find it, you rush through the front door and drive to his house. You were on the phone with him the whole drive.
“Just keep breathing, Harry. Deep breaths, okay?”
To your surprise, the front door was unlocked. It looked like he had gone out into the street in the middle of the night. You search through rooms to find him, and you see him curled into a ball at the corner of a king size bed. You touch his shoulder and he flinches.
“Hey, hey it’s just me. It’s alright”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know who else to call,” he was crying, with the tears streaming down his cheeks, his eyes looked small and they looked red from the lack of sleep and of tears.
“It’s alright, Harry. Just come here, it’ll be alright,” you pull him towards yourself him and he buries his face into your chest and you held him, stroking his hair and telling him it will be alright.
“That’s it. Let it out, Harry. It’s okay to cry”
You both stayed like that for another 15 minutes. He couldn’t stop crying and you knew he needed that. He had been holding everything in for so long and it just came out like an explosion tonight. You wiped his tears and made him meditate for a few minutes.
He fell asleep and you stayed up all night, looking at him. He looked so innocent while he slept, and cute too, you thought hiding a blush, even though nobody was there to look at you.
That night, Harry finally felt at peace. He was finally able to sleep. He had no nightmares, just a peaceful dream. He saw his girlfriend, running away from him in a white dress with her hair flowing in the wind.
Please don’t leave me, darling. I love you.
I know you do Harry, but you must let me go. I will always be with you. I will always love you. It is time you start caring about yourself, you must let me go. It is time.
No! don’t leave me!
And he woke up. Something about this dream told him that she was right. It was time. He was finally ready to let her go. For both of their sakes.
He went down to find you sleeping on the couch. He was hesitant at his thoughts but deep down he knew he was falling for you. Am I just using her to cope with my loss? Or do I really love her?
You opened your eyes, looking at Harry sitting on the ground, pushing a strand of hair away from your face.
“Good morning, how did you sleep?”
“Better. Really really better. I- I don’t know how to thank you, y/n and I’m so sorry”
“Hey it’s alright, and I’m glad I could help,” you smile. “I should go now, I have to get to work”
“Let me make breakfast and let me drive you to your house”
“Oh no it’s okay I can-”
“I owe this much to you, y/n. Let me”
“Okay”
                              -----------------
It wasn’t until another week when Harry had his next session. You had been thinking about him all the time, you were confused, it wasn’t supposed to go this way. But he….who am I kidding I’m in love with him.
When he walked through the door on a Thursday morning next week, he looked healthy and happier than ever. You felt a sense of happiness yourself, therapy is always beneficial to both the patient and the therapist. Every person is a deep universe, their thoughts, experiences, pain, joy, everything. Empathising with clients is a great learning experience, it becomes a part your personality. It becomes a part of you.
“Hey y/n”
“Hi Harry”
“So my week as been as it’s always and I’ve been feeling a lot better ever since that day…and that dream” he had told you about the dream he had the night you watched him sleep. He seemed to completely change after that, he let go of the intense emotions he had been carrying around.
“That’s very good and you’ve made a lot of progress since our first meeting”
“Yeah…I have”
The session went on as usual, he talked about everything that happened, he started fighting with his brothers again, which he hadn’t done in a long time and even though they were pissed off at him, they were happy to have him back.
“Um Harry,” you say at the end of the session. “I think-” you try to choose your words correctly. “I think it’s about time you start seeing another therapist, yeah?”
You see his face drop. “wh-why? I’m doing so much better, is..is it because of that night? I’m so sorry y/n”
“No it’s not that. You and I both know what’s happening between us, it’s wrong for a therapist to get emotionally attached with her patient. I’m sorry, Harry”
“So you’re saying that you’re becoming emotionally attached with me?”
“I..I’m-“
“It’s alright. I understand y/n”
“Yes, thank you. This has been great”
“So… now that you’re not my therapist, can I meet you for coffee this evening?”
“Harry-“
“Half an hour, Dr y/l/n. Just give me half an hour of your time, if you still feel the same way, I’ll never bother you again”
“Uh-" you hesitate. You knew you should have said no. You were going to say no. Yet the words which came out of your mouth were “Okay then, it’s a date”
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curedeity · 3 years
Text
From Different Worlds
Summary: the world of Magix is made up of many different peoples, and thise differences are sometimes very, very tangible.
(Aka: what if the winx were actual aliens)
    It was a bright morning, the sun having snuck in through the blinds and forced all the girls awake. Stella was still yawning as she and Bloom padded down to breakfast together.
    “Hey Stella, could you tone it down a bit, the sun’s being super obnoxious today, like you,” Musa sniped as she passed the duo with her tray. Stella pulled a face at her, leaving Bloom in a fit of giggles.
    “That is a misconception of her powers, it's doubtful Stella has the actual power to control the sun,” Tecna pointed out the obvious. “And if she did, Flora would already be begging her for help with her gardening.”
    Flora shrugged innocently, walking over to go sit with Mirta today.
    It was a normal morning, all in all. Fairies pouring into the breakfast hall, slow conversations and sleepy eyes.
    A sun shining brightly in them-
    God, what Bloom wouldn’t give for some shade. Maybe if she stood behind Stella, her shadow would block out the glare-
    Bloom’s eyes flicked down, widening in shock, before she tapped Stella’s shoulder.
    “Huh, what is it hun?” Stella turned around to look at her, one perfect eyebrow cocked.
    “Where’s your shadow?” Bloom whispered.
    Bloom had seen some strange things at her time in Alfea. Magic had become a routine occurrence in her life, just another part of the atmosphere. Yet she had to be dreaming right now.
    “Oh, I don’t have one,” Stella shrugged. As though that was all the explanation needed. Stella was Stella, so she simply didn’t have a shadow.
    Bloom was going to fucking lose it.
    “Almost all Solarians don’t have shadows. It has to do with how their bodies process and emit light,” Tecna explains to the look of confusion on Bloom’s face.
    “Oh yeah, you wouldn’t know that,” Musa mumbled to herself in the background. Bloom was glad some of them were now remembering how batshit this stuff was to her.
    But-
    “That doesn’t make sense.” Bloom dredged through her memories of her middle school science classes. Because Stella’s body was opaque and solid, light wouldn’t pass through it. Therefore, due to the angle of the sun, parts of the ground would end up shaded from where her body blocked the light.
    That’s how things worked.
    “Well, I don’t get how you all have shadows,” Stella waved a hand dismissively.
    “I guess not all of us can be as radiant as you, Princess,” Musa taunted her.
    And the conversation moved on after that, leaving Bloom to just having to accept that some people didn’t have shadows. Because that’s a thing now.
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    Flora was the best roommate Bloom could’ve asked for. Sure, sometimes her plants ate her homework, but in those cases Flora would help Bloom redo them. And Flora was much better than Bloom at the problems, so it would ultimately raise her grades.
    Or at least, that’s Bloom thought. The day her opinion was challenged was after one of Griselda’s classes. They had spent two whole hours practicing a litany of spells, and Stella was the only one of the Winx in the class with her. 
    Griselda hadn’t let them off easily afterwards either, piling them high with homework to complete over the weekend.
    Bloom was exhausted by the time she returned to her room, her bag digging into her shoulder. She swung open the door with a little shout to announce her presence, and stumbled on in, ready to drop her bag on the floor, then drop herself onto her bed.
    Her attention was captured, however, by Flora. Who was sitting on her bed. And eating dirt right out of a flower pot.
    She ate it like popcorn, squeezing it in between her fingers and tossing it into her mouth. She wasn’t even focused on that, rather she was doing her homework. It was… casual.
    Flora looked up with a soft smile directed towards Bloom, as she did every time Bloom entered their shared room. “How were your classes Bloom?” She inquired, as she popped even more dirt into her mouth.
    “You know, you know you’re eating dirt, right?” Bloom couldn’t stop herself from asking. This had to be a mistake made from lack of sleep. Flora must’ve been reaching for the bag of chips they kept on the counter for studying snacks, and accidently grabbed one of the many, many flower pots instead.
    “Yeah, it’s specially made to taste like cotton candy! My sister sent it to me as a treat. Would you like to try some?” Flora offered, sticking the pot out in Bloom’s direction.
    “No, thank you,” Bloom managed to respond, giving up on the conversation entirely and flopping down onto her bed.
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    Classes at Alfea didn’t tend to run on any curriculum Bloom could understand. While there were vague outlines for the subjects, it seemed like the teachers could give any lesson, and if they had even the vaguest justification Griselda wouldn’t stop them.
    Which, Bloom supposed, was how they had ended up learning about sea creatures in Professor Paladium’s class. 
    Living in the same dorm as Aisha, Bloom had already learned a fair deal about the variety of species that lived in Magix’s seas. Flora, Aisha and Tecna could get into long discussions about the biodiversity and importance of them. It seemed to be one of the few commonalities between the many planets of Magix.
    When Bloom first thought of magical sea creatures, her thoughts were filled with ideas of Krakens and Sirens, Kelpies and so much more. And while there were some very odd creatures out there that made her fantastical heart scream with joy, there were also many that were similar or the same as those found on Earth.
    “Dolphins are quite majestic creatures. They eat a variety of other fish in the seas, making them quite the predator. In fact, they even have quite the complex language, made up of calls, whistles and clicks,” Professor Palladium lectured them, spreading his hands out in grandiose gestures, a picture of a dolphin on the whiteboard behind him.
    “It would be helpful if you could all hear them communicate then. Oh, Musa, could you demonstrate for us?” Professor Palladium clapped his hands together as Bloom tried to piece that sentence together in her mind.
    Before she could even give it a cursory thought, a series of inhuman noises filled the room.
    Bloom jerked around wildly, her eyes landing on Musa.
    Who had her mouth open.
    And was emitting those eldritch calls.
    Like- like a fucking. Dolphin.
    “Fantastic demonstration Musa, now, each dolphin has their own individual name…” Professor Palladium’s class droned on as Bloom sat at her desk, reconsidering the existence of reality itself.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bloom had never played many video games. Consoles were expensive, and she spent most of her free time drawing or reading. It had been during her first week at Alfea that she had been hanging out in Musa and Tecna’s room, doing her nails, that she had paused to watch Tecna play.
    Bloom had entertained herself by sketching the wild scenes, a mash of movement and color of the fast-moving games Tecna played. After a few days, Tecna had offered the controller to Bloom while she had gone to grab a few snacks. She had returned to Bloom having died a dozen times.
    Video games were not Bloom’s forte, and she often came in last during Winx Game Night. The few times Stella got worse scores than her, Bloom was 99% sure Stella did so on purpose so Bloom wouldn’t feel bad.
    It was fun though, to watch Tecna obliterate Timmy in every game they played. They were a quite competitive duo, and Tecna had no qualms about crushing them in virtual combat.
    It wasn’t until the specialists had joined them for their game night that Bloom had realized Tecna and Timmy made an even more terrifying team. After that, Tecna and Timmy were no longer allowed to partner together during these games.
    Bloom had to admit, she was a bit jealous that Tecna could maintain her decent grades while spending so much of her time goofing off.
    That’s why it was odd when, during one of their long weekends with little homework, Bloom entered Tecna’s room to find her not playing video games but rather opening a package.
    “Whatcha got there?” Bloom asked, peeking over Tecna’s shoulder curiously. It was a fact of life that privacy was different when they all lived together. They were expected to knock on doors before entering any room, not to eat each other’s snacks, and not go through each other’s cabinets. Anything else was fair game.
    “It’s a new controller that was just released on Zenith, I ordered one to test it out. It has new technology that should improve response time, which will make it easier to shoot Timmy before they shoot me,” Tecna explained, grinning all the while. Tecna’s grins were small, just a tiny upturn of the mouth, a twitch of movement. Barely any warning before she destroyed all your plans.
    Bloom watched as Tecna pulled out what looked like a small half orb. A cord dangled from the base, and Tecna plugged it into her laptop.
    “Uh, how does that work?” Bloom couldn’t see any buttons on it, and it couldn’t spin…
    “Oh, I release a certain amount of electrical data that this controller interprets and uses for it’s commands. I just have to hold it and have the right instincts.” Tecna’s attention was more on loading a new game than talking to Bloom.
    Bloom had been at Alfea for a year and a half now. She just left the room.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bloom had used to love summer, school was stifling and getting to sit outside all day and draw the scenery really was her passion. But now, her feelings on it had become more bittersweet. Every year it was hard to readjust to the routine with her parents after spending so long with the Winx. No more late nights throwing popcorn at Flora’s plants, or getting her makeup put on by Stella in the mornings.
    It wasn’t bad, she missed her parents dearly while she was at Alfea, but there would always be pieces of her scattered at both places.
    They still saw each other over the summer. Stella would take her out for shopping at Magix, and Flora stopped by the shop to help out her mother. Musa got concert tickets for all of them, and Tecna had a server set up so they could always text and play games together.
    Aisha, for her part, had invited them all out for a beach day.
    Bloom rubbed sunscreen onto Tecna’s back while Stella just laughed at the duo. It was unfair that Stella couldn’t get sunburn, when she could burn easily through other means. Bloom stuck her tongue out at the laughing girl.
    Musa had gone off to get them surfboards, given Aisha had promised to teach them all. The other two were already in the water, laughing as they splashed water at one another.
    Bloom stood up, giving her own sunscreened body a once over to make sure she had got everywhere. Stella was already dashing for the water, only a cursory cry of warning that gave neither other any time to move out of the way before Stella cannonballed between them. 
    The water showered over them, Aisha just laughing as she playfully promised to get Stella back, and Flora coughing as she tried to rid her lungs of the excess water. Bloom paddled in and rubbed her back.
    “Sorry Flora!” Stella shouted before returning to her banter with Aisha. 
    “I’m ok,” Flora smiled at Bloom, clearing her throat once more.
    Bloom returned her brilliant smile. “We’ll have to plan a retaliation.”
    Flora nodded, “Most definitely.”
    Bloom’s attention was drawn back to the argument at a splash of water, Aisha was already gone by the time she looked over, only a shadow under the water, and she watched as Aisha pulled Stella down with her.
    “I think Aisha might’ve given her enough actually,” Flora admitted, and Bloom had to give her that.
    She watched her two friends reemerge, hair soaked and Stella whining. Her attention was almost caught by the way Stella’s hair glowed in the sun, before her eyes noted a rippling on Aisha’s neck.
    There, closing back into layers of skin, were gills.
    Alright, so one of her friends had gills. That’s fine. This is fine. 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bloom’s parents had always known she was a strange kid since the day Mike brought her home, but sometimes that oddity was really hammered in. It was only now, with the context that Bloom was basically an alien child, that the two sat at the dinner table and began reconsidering all those incidents.
    “Remember that time Bloom got stuck in that walk-in freezer while we were chaperoning one of her school trips?” Vanessa added in to the litany of memories.
    “I don’t want to remember that was terrifying!” Mike shivered. “But then I opened up the door and she was completely fine other than a bit annoyed.”
    “I guess we were too relieved to think properly about that, huh?” Vanessa teased.
    Mike sighed. “What about that time we went camping and were making s’mores and Bloom just held the marshmallow in her hand and stuck it into the fire.” The anxiety Mike had felt in that moment bled into his tone, now mixed with the resignation of time.
    “Oh yeah! That’s why we never went camping again,” Vanessa mused.
    Bloom had been a very strange kid, but they’d loved her all the same. Maybe it would do some good to check in with one of the other fairies and see if all this should be considered normal though, just in case. They were responsible parents after all.
9 notes · View notes
polpoka · 3 years
Text
Neighbor Au
Characters- Kim Rok Soo, Alberu Crossman
Ratings- K+
Shippings- Caleberu
Type- (Fluff)
Part 2
“It wasn’t bad walking down using the stairs sometimes,” Alberu grumbled.
He played his favorite playlist on his phone and put his earphones in his ears one by one as he took a short walk.
 The early morning highlighted the stairway which gave an extraordinary sparkling glow. It was a pretty and refreshingly cool morning which had a slight tint of light purple. He could see the amber outline of the sun over the buildings from where he stood, the rays of the sun hit his eyes, causing him to blink at the sight.
‘It really isn’t all that bad.’ He reconsidered waking up early once in a while, gradually he started losing himself in the scenery, he tripped on his shoes and fell down the stairs, his earphones falling out of his ears violently. 
“Never mind. I am never doing this again.” he muttered before he heard the sound of something playing in the background.
It was….a saxophone? Alberu couldn’t register the sound he just heard and asked himself once again.
‘Was that a saxophone? In the morning? At 9:00 a.m.? Is the person crazy?’
He peeked over the window to see an astonishing sight.
It was his neighbor who was in the park nearby, and it was him who was playing that tune, which was extremely good but Alberu couldn’t admit that. “Huh. It was indeed a crazy person.” He thought to himself before collecting his thoughts,
“Well, that's unexpected, it doesn’t really fit his image. He looks more like an insensitive prick most of the time rather than someone who’d know how to play an instrument.” Remembering last night he corrected himself, “Should’ve known better than to think of that with what  he did for me last night.” He stopped his train of thought and helped himself up using the ledge near the casement. He then slowly opened it, slightly looking over the side of the window. 
He sighed while picking his earphones from the tiled marble floor as he staggered while regaining his balance. He continued walking, this time paying attention to the path without getting distracted. 
On reaching the end of the stairwell, he caught a glance of a kiosk. It was selling some hot tteokbokki. Even though he was a son of a rich family, he used to sneak out a lot to escape his stepmother’s abuse, so he was more or less used to eating street food.
He got some for himself before walking off to the park, the saxophone still played in the background, which for some reason helped him completely immerse himself in his thoughts. 
He got a call just when he had taken his seat on a bench. “Yes Aunt Tasha?” It was his maternal aunt and the only person that Alberu could truly think of as family. 
“Good morning,” There was a short pause, “Didn’t think that you would be awake around this time.”
“What a coincidence. Me neither.”
He chuckled rather bitterly. 
“Was it because of those things?” 
His aunt sounded genuinely worried. 
Alberu didn’t want her to worry about him. It wasn’t needed, after all, it would be burdensome. 
“No, it was just that I slept earlier last night.” 
Alberu could lie easily, since he had experience. He had been doing it for a long time.
“If you say so.” Tasha paused for some time, a bit longer than the previous one,”Where are you?” she questioned.
“A park. Why?” Alberu answered.
“I just heard a saxophone...?” Tasha sounded a bit confused as to why someone was playing a saxophone in the park, truthfully Alberu was too. “Is someone….playing a saxophone…. in the morning?” She struggled to comprehend such strange things that were happening in her nephew’s neighbourhood. Perhaps, it was because her nephew was also abnormal.
“Yes.” Alberu admitted.
“Wow.” her eyes widened, they weren’t in front of each other but both Alberu and Tasha had known each other for a long time. So, they could tell by the tone, well at least, one of them could.
“I know right.” He nodded, 
“By the way, we are still meeting tomorrow, right?” 
“Definitely.”
“Great. I need to discuss that in person.”
He could feel the urgency in her voice. It was indeed serious. Yet he felt that his aunt didn’t need to purposely send her people for this matter. It didn’t have to concern her, but she still went this far. His aunt could have just said a few kind words, yet she still concerns herself with the likes of him. 
‘Filthy dog- ’ he heard a whisper but couldn’t complete that thought, he felt his head go dizzy and felt chills all over his body. This one, he was absolutely sure that it was not because of the cold.
Alberu stiffened, yet did not drop the tone of his voice. 
“I’m looking forward to it. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye. Don’t hesitate to call me if you’re having nightmares.”
“I will.” Alberu chuckled, “Bye.” 
Again, another lie.
Alberu hung up, he was trying hard to distract himself from his earlier thoughts by replacing it with the meeting tomorrow. 
‘So, that matter will be discussed tomorrow, What else? Oh yeah, and the stocks too.’ 
He recollected the work that he had planned to do in the upcoming week, he sighed again.
He put a piece of tteokbokki in his mouth, allowing the hot and spicy flavour to fill his entire mouth. He realized that it was still hot, seconds after he exhaled quickly, trying to let some of the heat out. 
It was a cold morning. The spice warmed him up. He finished the entire box rather quickly.
“This feels exhilarating….” He could feel the cool breeze on his face, the icy cold air, the warmth inside of his mouth and also the overwhelming exhaustion that this week had left him. For some time he tried his best to stay awake, but his eyes were beginning to droop.He could feel a gentle whirr inside him which slowly but completely took over his mind, leaving him asleep on the bench, all nuzzled up in an olive green puffer jacket and some charcoal coloured loose track pants which he didn’t care much about. They seemed just right on him.
He hoped that everyday would be like this. But he knew that this could never happen. It was only common sense.
***
“You alive?”
Alberu was dizzy, too dizzy in fact. In his defense, he may have gotten a bit confused, and he may have reacted as a defense mechanism.
Hearing those words, Alberu’s previously closed eyes flew open, those words he’d heard before, he detested those words to his core, he unconsciously screamed. His hands covered his face before leaving a deep scratch on the innocent owner of the voice and balled into fists, as if something could harm the sturdily built man. The gravelly voice brought about memories. Some he would rather keep buried deep in him.
“WHY ARE YOU HERE???” his tone was higher and he was agitated by the other, despite him not recognizing the other’s face at all
 Alberu was alarmed and afraid, incredibly so. Kim Rok Soo had no idea, had no idea what was the trigger but he was also a man with a lot of trauma so he did recognize what the brunette was going through. He was having a panic attack.
The black haired man looked at the other unsurprised only on the surface. He noticed many things. He could see the young man had a quite noticeable frown, not to mention the cold sweat running down his forehead. Kim Rok Soo could feel the raspy breaths. The man looked….defensive. Kim Rok Soo himself had been like that, that was until he met his team. He remembered the way his hyung had tackled this situation. He remembered the steps. All of them.  He ignored the blood and proceeded to sit down and speak in a lower tone, trying to relax the other; he luckily had experience dealing with things like this.
Alberu did want to relax, but his body wouldn’t let him. ‘I was supposed to be away from that place, away! Just sleeping on my bed and not hearing this shit, not this voice, I even made extra sure not to. I live alone, I just don't want to hear him. Not that voice. I just wanted to wake up to an empty apartment, not that-”
“Look at me. Focus.” The same low voice spoke. The tone was almost a whisper which only the man that was right next to him heard. 
Alberu moved his head to face him, slowly relaxing, it was like he had been hypnotized. He mumbled some unintelligible words that Kim Rok Soo couldn't hear much of what he said except for the sentence, "Don't hurt me, please." He was begging.
 Rok Soo noted that as he looked at the other's eyes and spoke slowly, 
“Deep breaths.” 
Alberu thought the voice was cool, like the cold, refreshing water that usually relaxes his mind and his breathing stabilized. He felt a slap on his back which reeled him back from the unpleasant thoughts to the cold, but comforting reality.
Alberu's eyes slowly became a little less alarmed, he coughed violently, and started to breathe heavily, 
“Insane bastard?” He asked, recognizing the face now that his mind was a bit more stable, but his voice was still raspy, he didn’t realize that his hand was being held by the other.
“What?” Kim Rok Soo’s stoic face twisted into a frown.
“Why-why did you wake me up?” He asked, completely ignoring the insult he had just called this man, who he believed to be older to him. His words sounded more like a croak. He had sweat dripping down his forehead on a cold day, it was as if he had a terrible dream, maybe it was just that, a bad dream. 
Kim Rok Soo thought about something, ‘why?’ 
Kim Rok Soo had no particular reason for waking the young man up, or even patting his head yet…? 
Why did he do so?
Why did it matter to him whether this young man catches a cold?
He sighed at his actions, and simply spoke a few words knowing that the other was really anxious right now,
“No reason.”
He squeezed the other’s hand tightly before letting it go and getting up from the bench, only for it be held by the other almost immediately,
“Ummm…Could you keep it like that for some time?” The voice was weak and croaky.
Kim Rok Soo was terribly weak against these kinds of things.  
He couldn’t just leave him, helpless. Somehow, even though he was usually appalled by the very thought of extended skin contact, but, with this man he didn’t seem to mind.
Kim Rok Soo sat back down on the bench, this time a little farther than usual. Kim Rok Soo felt something though, was it movement, perhaps? He peeked over his shoulder and saw the only slightly shorter man creep up to him, and Kim Rok Soo just let Alberu gradually make himself more comfortable.
Something struck Kim Rok Soo at that exact moment. He hadn’t asked this strange neighbour of his name. He leaned back, letting his slightly long hair drape over the bench,
“Hey,”
“Yeah,” as the now calm person replied, Kim Rok Soo quietly noted another thing about this person. He was used to having these kinds of attacks, probably on a regular basis, and somehow that fact pricked him. Nevertheless, he ignored the weird feeling and spoke in a low voice, so as to not scare the younger man.
“I’ve been wondering for a while. What’s your name and how old are you?”
The other man chuckled and grinned so brightly, you wouldn’t believe that the incident that just took place earlier.Kim Rok Soo could tell that it was fake.
“And here I thought my name was something you might’ve seen bannered across several television screens, I’m Alberu Crossman. I’m 25 years old. How about you, ahjussi?”
Kim Rok Soo was a bit shocked, ‘did I really look that old that a person 5 years younger than me would call me ahjussi? I didn’t mind it much, I was rather happy that he was being referred to at all. What? Wait, wait, repeat that thought again slower this time, why was I happy to be talked to. Normally, it didn’t bother me, so why? Was this person special? Was he that special in the first place?’ With all these questions he only gave what the younger man had wanted to know,
“I’m Kim Rok Soo and I'm 30 years old. Nice to meet you, Alberu.” 
‘This feels like a marriage meeting,’ Alberu laughed a bit at the familiar feeling, ‘It’s good that there’s no rejection this time though.’
“Ah.” Alberu realized, 
“Then should I call you hyung, Kim Rok Soo hyung?” 
Kim Rok Soo’s face was stoic, a little flushed but those were just the results of a cold morning, that’s what Alberu thought. 
Kim Rok Soo smiled slightly, 
“Sure, why not.”
Alberu asked the second most asked question in interviews, he didn’t know what else to ask this person. To him, this stranger was one of the two people who actually cared enough to help him when he was having his attacks. Also he was just a neighbour, just a stranger who he had met once, yet this person held great importance to him now. He decided that in a second,
“Hyung, have you already met your soulmate?”
Kim Rok Soo scoffed.
 The soulmate marks in this world were worked rather strangely at times, sometimes they appeared at birth, sometimes it didn’t appear until the person was as old as fifty and sometimes it didn’t appear at all. It was an indication that you had met your soulmate. Sometimes they had weird shapes, Kim Rok Soo knew a couple who had a trident as their mark. The marks appeared on the exact part of each partner. Mostly it was on their arms but it varied from person to person. Some were detailed and some just a blob. People said that soulmate symbols were a sign that the two in the relationship had been lovers in their past life.
 Kim Rok Soo had never seen his own, he never felt the need to. His life went on as it did, and it went on well. He had no qualms with having no mark, nor did he have any with having a mark.
“Nope.” He said, “What about you, youngster?”
‘Y-youngster?? Somehow that pisses me off.’ Alberu hadn't seen his mark either. He sometimes wondered whether it even existed in the first place. “Never.” 
‘What a coincidence.’ They both thought, before Kim Rok Soo asked the other man,
“Are you usually this defenseless?”
Alberu frowned, 
“Nope, with you it’s odd. I feel like I’ve met you before.”
Kim Rok Soo had to leave soon though, he had a show booked at 9 and he had just been practicing his instrument. He noticed that Alberu had calmed down and turned over to look at the other man, 
Kim Rok Soo also felt the same way, somehow he felt that in front of this person, he could be himself and people were rather rare. He could count them on one hand.  Kim Rok Soo nodded,
“It is rather nostalgic.”
“Um, I need to go soon. Shall I walk you home?”
Alberu was still a bit drowsy, so he easily accepted it without any complaints.
Kim Rok Soo got up and stretched out his gloved hand to the young man who could now see the man completely. Kim Rok Soo was wearing a black turtleneck and a royal blue jacket on top of it, fitting his tall body neatly. 
Alberu took the other’s hand weakly, and Kim Rok Soo gently pulled him up from the bench, giving Alberu an unexpected jerk. He lowered his head in reflex, and landed right in Kim Rok Soo’s chest.
Kim Rok Soo waved off the action, even though he was panicking quite a bit inside.
‘Ah.’
“I-I’m sorry, I’m still a bit out of it, it seems. Haha” he chuckled nervously, quickly excusing himself. 
“Mm. Then, let’s go.”
Alberu nodded, smiling a bit now, this time Kim Rok Soo could tell, ‘It wasn’t fake.’
“Sure.” 
It couldn’t be that Kim Rok Soo, a man that he barely knew would be his soulmate. It was unimaginable. Simply incredulous.
Kim Rok Soo started walking towards the elevator, his gloved hand still holding Alberu’s.
Alberu didn’t mind, not one bit. Which was odd, because he could never bear anyone touching him, not even his aunt, yet on the numerous occasions he could toss this man’s hand aside, he didn’t budge. This person felt really special. Why? He didn’t know, he did want to find out. He needed to. He thought about a possibility, but quickly dismissed it.
(If only that was true, if only, Alberu.)
They reached the elevator and Kim Rok Soo had still not let go of Alberu’s hand. Kim Rok Soo clicked the button, and entered the lift. The lift wasn’t small, but  the both were still standing in one corner. Alberu finally pointed out the obvious fact,
“Um...Excuse me, hyung, you’re still holding my hand.” 
Alberu was actually glad that the other person wasn’t talking about the breakdown he had earlier. It was refreshing to not be interrogated for a change. 
Kim Rok Soo seemed like he hadn’t even noticed the fact that he was holding Alberu’s hand until Alberu told him.
“Ah.” He let go of Alberu’s hand and the both fingers that were intertwined now hung in the air.
Even though the two were standing right next to each other, neither of them tried to initiate a conversation the entire ride. It was silent but it was comfortable. Not talking was also good.
Ding!
As soon as they heard the sound,they both walked out of the elevator and to the hallway. They both recollected the events that took place that night and chuckled a bit. They both walked through the corridor and in front of their own apartments. 
Only then did it dawn over Alberu, that he’d forgotten another thing in his morning daze.
Alberu forgot his own keys.
19 notes · View notes
darlinglissa · 3 years
Text
you’re under fire (i’ll cover you)
my fic for @batfam-big-bang is here!!!! i hope you enjoy the read and if you do go ahead and reblog or even leave a comment!!
summary:
When Tim is injured on patrol, he's ordered to bedrest. Instead he finds himself running straight to the doorstep of a man who tried to kill him--the Red Hood. 
or: how tim drake finds common ground with jason todd--the ground of a warehouse, that is--and bonds over it.
words: 5,993
here’s a link to my fic on ao3!
and my post that talks more about the lovely people who made this possible!
As the sharp right hook lands on his cheekbone, Tim snaps out of focus for a few seconds and misses the uppercut aimed at his jaw. The hit knocks him back a few feet, but he manages to keep his legs steady enough to stay upright. He clenches his teeth from the burning in his shoulder, the bullet that struck it earlier shifting with every movement.
Apparently thugs don’t appreciate drop-ins, and throwing their guns out the window only aggravates them further. Tim learns something new everyday. 
And his dad said putting on a cape wouldn’t be beneficial.
A voice in the back of Tim’s mind hisses that he won’t last much longer like this, but he shoves that thought further back. Tightening his hold on his bo staff, he feels a newfound determination that’s gathered in him purely out of spite.
This determination lasts for a solid five hits, with Tim landing some good licks on the thug, but then a lucky aim knocks the staff from his hands and breaks two of his fingers along with it. The adrenaline rushing through him numbs the pain so easily that Tim hardly even registers feeling them crack. That voice hisses more urgently, and it’s morphing uncomfortably close to Dick’s voice, but Tim continues to ignore it in favor of concentrating on the broad man in front of him.
Priorities and all that.
If he weren’t currently getting his ass handed to him, Tim would feel the frustration that comes with wrongfully underestimating an opponent. It’s a rookie mistake that would make Bruce look at him with his Disappointed Dad Look for a couple minutes until he relents and tells Tim to hit the showers.
Never assume a thug is an easy drop. It’s been drilled into his head and then some since he was thirteen and started this hero gig. 
And yet he did.
Tim is a bit preoccupied to really dwell on this. There’s always later to really drown in everything he’s done wrong tonight, when he’s home and the thug is dealt with.
The thug pulls something out of his pocket, metal glinting in the harsh light of the warehouse. Tim chances a look over at his bo staff, several feet away. 
Okay. There might not be a later.
“Killing a Robin won’t be as original as you think,” Tim says dryly, eying the knife to try gauging the thug’s next move from subtle body language.
His right shoulder is tensed, and his legs are bending at the knees—oh shit. Stabby springs forward, knife ready to run Tim through. The bullet slows him down considerably, but Stabby doesn’t seem to be as adept with his knife as he is with his gun and fists.
Tim dodges sloppily, his shoulder twitching in pain at the sharp movement. His jagged motions match Stabby’s wild swings in time as well as he can through the agony. They move like dancers with two left feet until Tim slips up and doesn’t escape the distance quick enough. The knife slides smoothly between his armor plates, the luckiest shot Stabby has probably ever gotten in his criminal life.
Tim staggers back. He uses the momentum of the thrust to knock Stabby away from him in an attempt to make space to catch his breath for a moment. A bullet in your shoulder and a knife sticking out of your side really take a lot out of you, apparently.
That proves to be a mistake when Stabby’s friend, Trigger Happy, rouses from the corner Tim had dragged him to earlier after disarming him and knocking him out. His shoulder throbs at the reminder of the bullet wedged next to his shoulder blade, and he’s relieved that he had the sense to take the guns out of the equation. 
That relief is sucked away when Trigger Happy lunges himself at Tim, who isn’t prepared for a two-on-one in his condition. 
Bruce would be fine in these odds. Tim knows this. Dick would even have a high chance of coming out of this relatively fine, with a few extra flips and kicks. If Damian could see him now, he can only imagine how he would lose the dregs of respect he’s managed to earn from the kid.
A small “Fuck,” escapes him, and he can’t tell if it’s from the sudden weight on his gunshot wound or the deep cut of feelings that hit him when he thinks of the capabilities of the other bats; the disappointment he can feel from just the image of Bruce in his mind.
Tim’s thoughts linger on Bruce in subconscious desperation, but he clears that away quickly and puts his attention back to the fight at hand.
It seems gravity is betting against Tim in this fight, pulling the floor from under him as he starts to feel dangerously dizzy, crumpling under Trigger Happy like a paper bag. Stabby may not be adept with the blade, but Trigger Happy is a triple threat with his fists, gun, and knife. His hands are on the knife for mere seconds—seconds—before Tim manages to wrestle away from his grip, and yet he could still feel the knife twist ever so slightly, carving through his flesh.
His nerves scream bloody murder.
Out of pure survival instinct, Tim pulls a batarang from a pocket and shoves it into Trigger Happy’s arm, causing him to cry out in pain and scramble to let go of him. Tim lands hard on the ground, his stomach meeting the concrete, but hardly feels anything but the knife settling uncomfortably into its new position in his side. 
Trigger Happy runs out of the warehouse, blood flowing from his arm. Tim relaxes minutely—one-on-one is more doable—and throws a second batarang at Stabby when Tim notices him advancing toward him. It hits Stabby in the abdomen shallowly, his karma running out along with the puff of air escaping his lips at the shock of being stabbed.
Or, at least, that’s the reason Tim’s mind, addled by blood loss, supplies for him. His body slumps against the ground despite every instinct screaming at him to get back up. Stabby laughs slightly at Tim’s limp body and steps over him, boot pressing into the steadily growing puddle of blood.
“The Bat’s kids aren’t as invulnerable as they say they are, huh, Red Robin?”
Tim’s eyes remain trained on each bloody boot print that trails behind Stabby as he walks out of the warehouse, presumably feeling triumphant over killing another Robin. After his eyes start to water from staying open too long he blinks and comes back to the world abruptly, the sensations his mind had been blocking returning to his wounds.
His comm lies about ten feet away from him, he notices suddenly, and he feels dread seep through every inch of his body. Tim tries to move closer to reach for it, but his side and shoulder protest wildly and he stops moving with a grunt.
Hesitation forces his finger to pause over the button hidden at the nape of his neck where his cape rests. Before he can put too much thought behind it, though, he presses down and sets off the silent emergency alarm. Tim relaxes down against the concrete, letting the blood loss blur his vision for the moment.
With the adrenaline from the fight draining out of him along with the blood in his body, Tim is becoming more and more aware of the pain pulsing with his every heartbeat. 
He’s painstakingly aware of his surroundings suddenly: the dim high rises of the warehouse with the hanging lights that beam down severely, the stacks of crates along the walls and in the occasional heap where Tim and Trigger Happy had knocked them over before Tim subdued him.
The trail of blood from the ever-widening puddle that far too closely resembled what he imagined to be Jason’s last view before the ticking came to a stop with a bang. 
Somewhere, in the back of his mind, a stopwatch had started with the press of his emergency button. The hand hits the forty-five second mark as Tim feels almost hypnotized by those bloody boot prints leading from his body to the exit. 
This could be his end, and he’s stuck looking at the footprints left by his murderer imprinted with his own blood. It’s better than watching a timer tick down, he supposes, but just as lonely. 
The warehouse closes around him, suffocating him all of a sudden, and all he can think about as he struggles to breathe is Bruce. Bruce, who’s already lost a Robin in a warehouse. Bruce, who can’t handle losing another soldier in his war against Gotham’s crime. Bruce, who became a father figure for Tim when he’d needed one most, just as Tim  became the partner Batman had needed after Jason.
He sees the stopwatch hit a minute and a half in his mind’s eye. It seems that his penchant for keeping track of time for patrol reports isn’t failing him, even at his end. 
The time it had taken Bruce to make it to the warehouse Jason had been tricked into going to in Ethiopia was hidden deep in the Batcomputer’s files, but Tim had found it within his first month as Robin.
Two minutes and twenty-three seconds.
Tim reckons he’ll be too far gone by then. He’s not willing to bet money—the blood loss isn’t helping his brain any—but he likes to think it’s not affecting him too much. 
He’s forced to reconsider that as the room starts spinning, and he bites back a curse. The stopwatch is nearing two minutes and Tim’s chances of making it out of this warehouse alive are dwindling. 
This is how Red Robin goes out? In a fight with a couple rookies and their bad aim? Out of sheer incredulity, Tim laughs. He can survive Gotham’s streets at age nine but nineteen year old Tim can’t take on thugs he’s been trained to beat. The irony cuts as deep as the knife in his side.
His eyes are closing on the sight of his blood spreading around him as the pain encompasses him. In his mind’s eye, the stopwatch hits two minutes and fifteen seconds. Tim is ready to lay here for whatever is left of his life, ready for Gotham to finally see the end of another Robin, ready to let his blood drain out so the pain can numb—he hears the rev of an engine and his eyes snap open.
Bruce. He made it.
Two minutes and seventeen seconds.
Tim almost sobs in relief. He has to stop himself when the movement twitches the blade in his side. He grunts at the sudden pain, but all he can think is Bruce as he tries to sit up anyway. His palm slides on the slick ground, his body crashing back down and he cries out.
Hands are pulling him up suddenly, and Tim stammers out Bruce’s name, his own hands scrambling for purchase on the Batsuit. 
But it’s not the Batsuit. It’s Nightwing’s suit.
“Dick?” His voice is hoarse and so small. Tim’s watery eyes meet Dick’s through both their domino masks.
Dick tightens his grip on Tim, securing his hold on him. “Hey there, Baby Bird, I got ya.”
“Where’s—” Tim’s voice breaks, and he hates it. He looks away from Dick, putting his head on his shoulder instead. “Where’s Bruce?” His voice still wavers, but he doesn’t let himself dwell on it.
“He, uh—” Dick cuts himself off, and Tim realizes he’s listening to his comm. A hand leaves Tim for a split second as Dick turns it off. “He wasn’t as close as I was, so he sent me.”
Tim nods absentmindedly, vaguely processing his answer. Before he can really finish processing, Dick is talking again.
“But he’s almost here, so we need to wait for him, okay, Baby Bird? I need you to stay awake for me. Don’t fall asleep on me, you know you drool,” he tries to joke, but Tim can’t feel the normal rise that would get out of him. 
In fact, he can’t feel much right now. That’s mildly concerning.
He tries to tell Dick as much, but his mouth won’t cooperate enough to form the words. Dick keeps sending him worried looks, and deep down he knows why, he knows he knows why, but at this point he really just wants to sleep.
Has he ever been this tired before? He’s stayed awake for a solid 33 hours before, and he doesn’t remember it feeling quite like this.
“Hey! Hey, stay awake.” 
Tim’s eyes open slowly, and he feels Dick relax. “Wha...?”
He registers another rev of an engine, and he’s confirmed that it’s really Bruce when he sees him hurry into the warehouse.
“You were supposed to stake out the warehouse.”
Bruce is right. He was. Crashing in through the window and fighting the thugs was not on tonight’s to-do list. He should apologize. Or sort through files for the next month. Or give up the cape—
And yet. “Bruce?” is all he can say. 
The set of Batman’s mouth softens the slightest bit, but his voice remains firm as he turns his intense stare to Dick. “Get him in the car. I need to look around.”
Next thing Tim knows Dick is adjusting his grip on him to carry him to the Batmobile, and pain is flaring through him. He tries to protest, to stop Dick from doing whatever it is he’s doing—it hurts, stop, please—but it’s all in vain.
“I know, Timmy,” Dick says lowly, his voice straining as he walks to the sleek car, and Tim lets himself go limp.
Getting in the car happens within a blink, limbs being maneuvered this way and that. Somewhere between his legs being pushed into the right position and his head being placed against Dick, Bruce has taken his place in the driver’s seat and the Batmobile is rumbling beneath him.
The ride back to the cave is a blur of pain and incoherent sights and sounds, streetlights blinding him for fleeting seconds like his own personal rave from hell. Tim thinks Dick is saying words but they fall flat against his eardrums. 
He vaguely registers Dick removing his cape and harness, but Tim’s head is stuffed with cotton and he just feels nothing for the first time in...whatever. The seat beneath him is familiar and foreign at once. With his mind in a fog and his body feeling ethereal, his hand drops onto the seat, the leather feeling cool against his burning skin. 
It’s been months since he’s been in this car, since he’s been with Bruce in this car. Since he’s been with Bruce in any car, really. He spent more time on planes and buses and in cabs than in personal cars.
His eyes, though glazed over, look up at Dick. He’s talking still, but not to Tim. Dick was in this car every night with Damian for almost a year, but Tim couldn’t go near it until he found Bruce. He couldn’t taint those memories of chasing the robbery of the night or driving home with his Batman, the Robin cape weighing his shoulders down, but his chest puffed out in pride.
Tim’s brought back momentarily when he feels the Batmobile stop rumbling and he’s being pulled from the car, from his memories of the good and the hectic and the Batman and Robin of his past. For a second he tries to fight, to stay in that lost time, but then Tim hisses out the remaining breath from his lungs as his side is jostled. He shrinks back from something cold against his now bare back—when was his suit pulled down?
When the floor starts moving away from him—or is he moving?—Tim stops struggling against the cold and rests against it fully. He sees Dick pushing his gurney toward the medbay, saying something about a wake, and he finally lets himself close his eyes and pass the fuck out.
It’s late evening when Tim comes to. He feels the pull of the IV in his hand and the crook of his elbow, grimacing as he tries to sit up. He feels a hand immediately push him back down, the unexpected pressure forcing him to sober up and actually look around him. Dick’s face is suddenly all he can see, and Tim jerks and falls back against the pillow. 
“How are you feeling, Timbo?” Dick asks from his left, sitting in a chair and looking like he’s been there for a long time. His earnest eyes give Tim’s body a once over to make sure nothing came out of place when he sat up. 
“Like shit,” Tim mumbles. He rubs his palms over his eyes, ignoring the prick of pain from the IV needle jostling in his arm. “How long was I out?”
“19 hours.” 
Bruce’s deep voice from his right startles Tim enough to jump. The needle tugs sharply and he winces, letting out a soft, “Fuck,” which earns him a stern grunt from Bruce.
Dick takes Tim’s arm, tugging it to pull Tim’s hand from his face, sympathy lining every worried crease between his eyebrows. “I’m gonna go get Alfie, you stay here and rest.” He pats Tim’s shoulder twice before he leaves the medbay. 
Bruce’s stare burns Tim’s forehead to a crisp. Tim refuses to move his gaze from the bandages wrapped around his torso. The man may be a solid eight feet away from him but Tim can feel the imposing presence as if he’s directly next to him. 
Counting to 5 in his mind, Tim waits Bruce out. He hits 5 just as Bruce says, “You were supposed to be watching the building.”
He rolls his eyes, finally meeting Bruce’s eyes for the first time since he’s woken up. “Yeah, well, that one thug was just so ugly I had to punch him, you know?” When Bruce’s expression doesn’t change, Tim sighs. “I couldn’t get a good view from outside, so I went up into the rafters instead. That’s when I saw it was an active deal.” He decidedly leaves out the part about the bird flying in his face, and the part where he tripped on his cape, and the part of him falling right behind the two thugs dealing. Tim shrugs. “I guess they got spooked and my cover was blown.”
Bruce narrows his eyes but doesn’t question him immediately. Taking the small win, Tim tries to move on from what happened in the warehouse last night. Before he can get a word out to change the subject, Alfred sweeps into the room.
Tim waits patiently as he checks him over, not quite registering as Alfred goes through the usual procedures. He notices Damian hovering at the entranceway, but through the haze of morphine he doesn’t think much of it. 
He zones out, but is brought back by Bruce’s deep voice. “Until Alfred can clear you, you’ll be benched from patrol.” Tim goes to protest, arguing how he isn’t too injured to go back out tomorrow, but Bruce won’t hear any of it. 
Before the argument can progress, the alarm on the computer blares. Bruce turns and goes to the computer, tapping at the keyboard for a moment before calling to Damian. Tim blinks and Damian has changed into his uniform and the two are off in the Batmobile.
Tim sits there for a moment. He feels more than sees Alfred shuffle around him, putting away the medical supplies. 
His fingers tap against his thigh. The rhythm speeds up with every moment he sits on the cot, his heartbeat pulsing beneath his bandages. His stitches feel like they’re crawling over his wounds over and over and he resists the urge to scratch at them until he can’t feel them anymore. 
Feeling the sudden need to be anywhere but this medbay, Tim stands up from the cot and barely says anything beyond a simple, “I’m going to bed,” to Alfred.
His face is carefully blank as he says this, not meaning a damn word. 
The halls blend together slightly as Tim goes toward his room. He turns right at the last moment, heading for the manor’s garage. The garage has air that won’t suffocate him and a way out with no one to stop him. 
Or so he thought.
Just as Tim sees the door to the garage, he stops short when Cass comes in from the garage herself. They stand opposite each other for a few moments. She eyes the bandages poking out from the collar of Tim’s shirt before smiling and making the first move.
“Be safe.” She pats his uninjured shoulder as she passes him, her steps making no sound as she goes.
The air trapped in his lungs suddenly pushes out, leaving him breathless. Trying to shake it off, he pushes forward into the garage. It’s dark but he doesn’t bother with the light switch. Tim’s hand finds the keypad and the garage door slides open in front of him.
For the first time since he woke up he can breathe. Truly breathe. So that’s all he does, leaning against the cold cement wall of the garage. Once the world stops shaking around him, he pushes off the wall. Before Tim can stop and go back inside to sleep for another day he’s climbing onto his motorcycle, kicking off to leave the garage behind him.
Tim glides through the streets, letting the sharp wind prickle his skin. He turns randomly, feeling the endless possibilities with no destination in mind.
He hits a turn a bit too sharply and pays for it immediately. The bandages feel wet, clinging to his skin, and a glance down confirms that blood is seeping through. In a split second panic he recognizes the street name to his right and he follows the route he has memorized in case of emergencies.
Even if he never thought he would need to use it.
His motorcycle is parked in front of Jason’s main safe house and he’s in the elevator heading to the fourth floor within three blinks of Tim’s eyes. 
They were pretty long blinks, to be fair.
He doesn’t know if he’s hoping Jason is in there or not, but he crosses the old stained carpet to apartment 4C all the same. Tim knocks on the faded door as soon as he reaches it.
It takes a long moment, but then the door opens to reveal a disheveled Jason Todd rubbing one hand over his face, the other bracing his weight on the top of the door. He looks at Tim before asking flatly, “The fuck are you doing here.”
Without having thought he’d get this far, Tim flounders before blurting out, “Oh hi.”
Jason stares Tim down, very bemused. “Oh hi?” He rolls his eyes, shutting the door and grumbling, “Can’t deal with this shit.”
Before the door can close completely, Tim starts to tip and catches himself on the doorframe. That gives Jason pause, and Jason looks Tim up and down as if really seeing him for the first time tonight. Tim feels the blood seeping through his bandages and soaking into his shirt.
Jason sighs, his eyes glancing upwardly before he opens the door wider, looking like he ate a sour piece of fruit. “Fine. Before I change my mind.” He turns away to walk to the hall bathroom, calling over his shoulder, “Don’t get blood on my couch.”
Tim can’t stop looking at the Wonder Woman logo printed on Jason’s pajama pants over and over, a large embroidered logo in the center of his ass. Figures this is what the all-fearing Red Hood wears on his night off. 
“Nice pants.” Tim grimaces. He’s not doing great at this whole ‘hey I’m at your apartment, no I don’t really know why, but hey could you help me while I’m here?’ “I mean—”
“Stop talking, kid.” Jason emerges from the bathroom with a banged up first aid kit. “At least they’re not blood-soaked,” he snipes.There’s really no heat behind the words as his hands maneuver the bandages away from Tim’s torso. Tim hisses in pain when the cut is shifted in a movement, and Jason winces. “Fuck, who did you piss off?”
“I called them Stabby and Trigger Happy.” Tim forces out a chuckle. “A couple thugs from Two-Face’s gang.”
Jason inspects the damage, letting out a low whistle. “Well, Stabby got pretty friendly with your kidney.”
With a wry grin, Tim retorts, “Actually he missed it by half an inch.” He lets out another hiss when Jason removes a bandage a little too quickly. “Ouch.”
“Don’t be such a baby,” Jason says with a roll of his eyes. His fingers thread a needle. After he cleans away stray blood stains from Tim’s stomach, he starts restitching the wound. Tim makes small grunts of pain with every other push of the needle, and Jason grimaces with each noise.
Tim watches as Jason ties off the last stitch. As soon as Jason kneels back on his heels Tim is flopping back away from him, leaning against the base of the couch. While Jason cleans up the various threads and the needle, Tim stares down at the stitches lining his side. 
They’re not badly done, like he’d been half-expecting. For a guy who didn’t go into the medical field they’re actually pretty damn even. Tim’s vision goes black for a split second, and he lets his head fall back against the couch cushion. 
Okay, maybe he isn’t as healed up as he originally thought. 
He feels Jason’s gaze on him every few seconds, but he’s more focused on rubbing the dizziness from his eyes.
The next time he opens his eyes a bowl of pasta is being thrust into his hands with a glass of apple juice set at his side. He stares at the bowl blankly, the image he’s seeing not processing with where he is.
Jason pushes the bowl so it’s cradled in the dip of Tim’s lap and isn’t at risk of spilling over. “Eat.” 
Tim looks away from the bowl to Jason, hoping to hide the confusion on his face. From the look Jason is giving him, it’s not very successful. 
“Just eat the fucking pasta.” Jason moves past him to settle heavily on the couch next to Tim’s shoulder. 
Tim takes a small bite, sighing after he swallows. “It’s cold.”
“You’ll live.”
Pouting, Tim takes a few more bites. It’s, admittedly, not the worst he’s ever eaten. Better than the pancakes Dick attempted to make for Father’s Day last year. He drinks the apple juice in three gulps.
He feels the cushion shift behind him as Jason fidgets, and Tim stuffs his face with more pasta to look anywhere but Jason. 
The silence is palpable for a few minutes until Jason finally breaks it by saying, “So why are you bleeding on my doorstep in the middle of the night?”
“Uhhh.” A pasta noodle falls back into the bowl, dropping from Tim’s open mouth after he’d been shoveling a forkful in, not expecting the loaded question Jason just dropped on him. “You know, just passing by.” 
He hears Jason scoff and shrinks around the bowl in his hands. “Passing by,” Jason repeats, his voice slightly incredulous. “Passing by a building two and a half miles from your apartment? And even further from the manor?”
Tim carefully shrugs with his good shoulder, contemplating his answer. He rolls possible excuses around his tongue, but eventually he comes out with, “I needed a change of scenery.” Internally he screams at himself, because what kind of vague bullshit is that? But it’s the hole he’s dug for himself, time to lie in it. “And I figured, uh, this was a pretty big change, y’know?”
He chances a glance over his shoulder at Jason, and sighs at the narrowed eyes looking back at him. “It is a change of scenery,” he mutters, looking away. A little more loudly, he says, “I just needed to get out of the manor for a while.”
“You were at the manor?”
Tim half-shrugs again. “I was a bit too out of it to tell them to take me to my apartment.”
Not expecting the blunt response, whatever Jason plans to retort falls flat, and Tim eats more pasta.  
They sit in silence once more, the only sounds around them being Tim’s fork scraping against the bowl and Jason’s near-silent-but-definitely-still-happening breakdown as he processes Tim’s statement.
Tim shrinks even further around his bowl, the cold pasta getting more bearable with each bite as long as it keeps his mouth busy. He’s just finishing the last of the noodles when Jason breaks their silence for the second time. 
“How’s dear old dad?” 
His head snapping back, Tim grimaces, setting the bowl down next to his empty glass. He forces himself to relax and face Jason. As he leans his good side against the base of the couch, his shoulders slump under what feels like the weight of the world. “Fine.” Jason raises an eyebrow, and Tim sighs. “He benched me,” he says shortly. 
Jason whistles, crossing his arms and resting his ankle against his knee. Tim can feel the nonchalance of Jason’s presence calm him down slightly, and takes a breath.
“Tough break, kid. How long is he cockblocking you?”
Tim’s nose wrinkles and he leans away from Jason slightly. “Why are you like this?”
Smirking, Jason says, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m a fucking delight.”
“Whatever you wanna believe, I guess,” Tim snarks back, a hint of a smile pulling at his mouth.
“That’s all you got, rookie?” 
“Well, I’m not exactly on my A-game.”
Jason shrugs. “Sucks to suck.”
Tim scoffs and rests his elbow on the couch cushion next to him to hold his head up. God, he really is getting tired but he feels too exposed, too vulnerable on the floor of Jason Todd’s apartment. The blood loss must be getting to his head because he finds himself blurting, “You know, I didn’t think I was gonna make it out of that warehouse last night.”
Jason doesn’t say anything, just watches Tim warily. 
Tim looks down at his hand, the bruised knuckles throbbing from the burning stare. “It seemed fitting, when I was…there…that I met a similar end to the Robin I’d idolized more than any other. Real poetic irony, huh?”
He sees Jason shift out of the corner of his eye and shuts his mouth abruptly, wishing he’d never said anything in the first place. Jason is still watching him, but it feels like a more analytical stare than judgement. 
“I always saw you as my replacement, Bruce’s do-over,” Jason starts slowly. “But you were really just a kid. A kid who needed a purpose.”
And a family hangs in the air, unsaid but heavily present nonetheless.
Jason is quick to move on, saying, “You really idolized me? Some kid from the streets of Crime Alley?” The incredulous note in his voice makes Tim laugh in surprise.
“Robin was my hero—you were my hero.” Tim grins. “I would sneak out to follow you every night I could to take photos. Yeah, sure, Batman was there and he was cool: the man, the myth, the legend, and all that. But Robin? No one really believed the rumors about a younger Robin. But I knew you were out and kicking ass. So I set out to get the clearest shot I could.” Tim’s grin grows softer and more wistful. “It felt like I was a part of something, a part of a secret, even if you guys didn’t know I was. I felt like I…” (like I belonged).
He trailed off, and he could see Jason sit back further into the cushions in slight disbelief.
“You mean you risked your skinny ass every night to see me in my scalies?”
Tim barked out a laugh, dropping his arm to swipe the air. “No—well, I mean, I guess?” He shakes his head, chuckling nervously. “Your fashion sense wasn’t exactly the draw for me,” he finishes dryly. 
“Hey, you had the right idea when you took up the pixie boots,” Jason says with a finger pointed at Tim. Tim’s face contorts in confusion, not seeing where this is going. “You put on some goddamn pants.”
Clearing his throat, Jason stands from the couch and leans down to grab the empty bowl and glass from beside Tim. He gives Tim’s thigh a little kick as he passes. “You can sit on the couch, loser.”
The kick jars Tim into sliding up to curl slightly into the corner of the couch, reflecting on the heart-to-heart he just had with the Red fucking Hood. 
Before Tim can fully process the meltdown he’s currently having, he hears Jason turn off the water in the kitchen and head back to the couch. Tim hears him mutter, “His fucking hero,” but Jason cuts off whatever else he was going to say.
Jason is just plopping back down on the couch beside Tim when the door bursts open, and Jason’s gun is aimed at the doorway in a blink.
Steph stands frozen in the doorway, a six-pack of Coke dangling from one hand and two pizza boxes balanced on the other, a book sliding precariously down the top of the boxes. A moment passes where none of them move.
Then Steph waltzes in as if she’d never paused and Jason puts his gun away with a string of curses.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Blondie?”
Steph drops the boxes on the kitchen counter, turning back to look at Jason with an offended scoff. “It’s Book Night, jackass.”
Tim looks between Steph, standing with her hands on her hips, and Jason running a hand down his face. He hears a muffled, “Right, fuck,” escape through Jason’s fingers.
Turning back to the pizza, Steph calls out, “I’m not sharing my pizza with Tim, so I hope you learned your kindergarten manners, Bucket Boy.”
Tim shrugs at Jason’s exasperation, trying to hide a smile. “I hope you got the good toppings.”
“He didn’t.” Steph hands a box of pizza to Jason, who immediately shoves half a slice into his mouth. She scrunches her nose and walks to grab the second pizza box from the counter.
As she’s settling down next to the coffee table, pizza box within reaching distance, Steph subtly looks Tim over. She realizes that Tim noticed her looking, so she shoots him a wink with a small side smile before telling Jason, “Is it possible to drown in pizza? Because I think you’re trying to, and succeeding.”
Jason rolls his eyes, but doesn’t stop until the slice is gone. Once he’s swallowed, he says, “Oh, look. I’m alive. Again.”
Steph snorts. “Yeah, unlike Jacques Saunière.”
Jason sobers, scowling. “That guy died honorably, yeah, but God why did he have to leave it as a code? He couldn’t have just left a note?”
“It’s called The Da Vinci Code, not The Da Vinci Note, Jay,” Steph retorts.
“Discount Riddler, that’s what he is,” Jason grumbles. 
Tim laughs, and Steph nudges her pizza box closer to him with a wink.
He grabs a slice of her pizza—finally, some good fucking food—and sits while they argue over their differing interpretations of a fictional crime scene instead of questioning every move he makes, unlike at the manor.
Tim’s muscles relax, and he lets himself laugh at the outrageous comment Steph makes and Jason’s exaggerated groans as he eats his ridiculously greasy pizza. 
“The code is NOT his booty call’s number, Steph!”
Steph’s cackle rings through Tim’s ears and he chuckles.
Yeah, he belongs. Took him a few years, but he’s made it.
12 notes · View notes
ryuukia · 4 years
Text
[Translation] SolidS Drama Vol.5 “One faithful day, I saw you laughing under the starry sky” Track 3
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Now that online courses have become a thing worldwide, I have more time to translate. I have to say, this track gets rather emotional towards the end and I was even considering posting the audio together with the translation, but decided not to (the bgm is increasing the pain). I still recommend listening to the CD while reading this, it makes everything feel more natural and vivid.
Many thanks to Ryota for helping me proof this.
Please don’t repost/retranslate/reuse my translations. Likes and reblogs are appreciated.
Track 3: Gloomy
Eichi: Well then, I’ll head back. It seems Issei and Icchi have also returned.
Rikka: Give them my regards.
Eichi: Okay, I’ll let them know! And once again, good job today! You were really cool.
Rikka: Thanks.
Eichi: Feel free to tag along in our common room. I’m sure the others would be happy. Ah, I’ll leave the walking coaching in your hands too!
Rikka: Roger. Talk to you later then!
Eichi: Okay, laters!
-the two separate-
Rikka: I’m back!
Tsubasa: Oh, welcome back, Rikka!
Rikka: I’m back, Tsubasa. 
Tsubasa: Good job with the shooting! That finished surprisingly fast. I thought it would take longer. 
Rikka: We advanced pretty smoothly. Want to see the results together?
Tsubasa: Oh! Show me, show me!
Rikka: Uhh -taps-... Here it is.
Tsubasa: Let’s see~. Whoa, how nice! You look so pretty! It’s not really the kind of style SolidS would lean on.
Rikka: I tend to shoot a lot of simpler poses when I do photoshoots alone. Women’s magazines seem to prefer off-shot casual portraits. 
Tsubasa: Dai-chan and Eichi went to the studio to watch the shoot, right? How nice~! I wanted to tag along too~. Oh, when is the magazine going to be released? Let me know later, I want to mark it on the calendar. I won’t forget to check it out!
Rikka: You don’t really need to go and buy it, we’ll be receiving a sample anyway.
Tsubasa: What are you saying? It’s a lot better to go and buy it for myself especially when I’m excited about it~!
Rikka: Really~ You’ve always been good at knowing what to say to cheer me up, huh~ Should I brew some tea? I brought some souvenirs with me.
Tsubasa: Oh! Lucky me~! Just when I thought I was hungry. What did you buy?
Rikka: This. Daifuku with beans. 
Tsubasa: Oh, Japanese sweets. That sure is unusual.
Rikka: They’re really delicious. I’m sure you’re going to like them.
Tsubasa: Hearing you say that makes me want to eat them immediately! But… maybe it’s better to wait until Dai-chan gets back… But stilllll…
Rikka: Eh? Dai’s not back yet?
Tsubasa: Yeah. I called him earlier. He said something about going out to a bouldering gym for a bit.
Rikka: Eh? How nice…I want to go too…
Tsubasa: I told him the same thing and he answered “Don’t.”, then ended the call. 
Rikka: -chuckles- He’s probably shy. He must have started going there recently. 
Tsubasa: I'm sure that Dai-chan falling is gonna be cute, too!
Rikka: -laughs- I guess he won’t let you come because you’d say that. And now all this talking made me hungry too. 
Tsubasa: Alright! Let’s dig in then! Dai-chan will have to bear our bragging when he’s back!
Rikka: Okay! Wait for a second.
-Rikka goes to the kitchen-
Rikka: What were your plans for today, Tsubasa?
Tsubasa: I came home pretty late yesterday, but I’m off today. I woke up in the afternoon and spent the rest of my day checking interview articles. 
Rikka: What’s the point of your day-off then?
Tsubasa: I’ve been so busy with things I need to finish lately that Fumi-chan grinned from ear to ear while scolding me. He made me promise not to go out today.
Rikka: He probably… won’t let you out until you’re done with it.
Tsubasa: Exactly! Ah, but I’m sure that this’ll definitely take a while. What about Rikka? When do you do your work?
Rikka: If I can’t find enough time to do all of them, I tend to spend 10 minutes or so doing what I have to before I sleep.
Tsubasa: Wha, how efficient! Though I’m the type who likes to finish everything in one go.
-Rikka places the tea on the table-
Rikka: That part of you's just like Shiki, Tsubasa.
Tsubasa: Eeh, don’t put us in the same boat!
Rikka: I completely meant it as a compliment though...
Tsubasa: That didn’t feel like a praise at all.
Tsubasa: Speaking of Shiki, hasn’t he been kind of strange lately? I haven’t seen his face once today. What is he doing?
Rikka: Right. I don’t know. Work’s been keeping me out of the dorm, so I didn’t really get the chance to see him. Here, your tea.
Tsubasa: Wha, thank you~! Mmmm, it’s delicious!
Rikka: I’ve been going to his room daily to check on him in the morning and evening. 
Tsubasa: Ooh, Rikka is so nice! Thanks for the food!
-Tsubasa tries the daifuku-
Tsubasa: HM!? What’s this!? It’s amazing! So good!!
Rikka: Right?
Tsubasa, munching: By any chance, is this one here with the fresh cream meant to be for Shiki?
Rikka: Well… more or less.
Tsubasa: Really, you’re so nice, Rikka. And too soft on Shiki. Soft just like the fresh cream.  
Rikka: Eeh, is that so?
Tsubasa: It is! You shouldn’t mind him much, y’know? He’s a masochist who loves to drive himself into a corner when it comes to music. Just let him live his jungle life on the Amazon until he’s satisfied.
Rikka: The Amazonian jungle you say…
Tsubasa: I can’t say my own room is super clean, but the way his bedroom looks right before a deadline is simply frightening. So yeah, the Amazon. Plus, Shiki’s the type who’ll clean up on his own if he wants to without us complaining about it. That’s why, fussing about him is sorta pointless in my opinion..
Rikka: …You completely get him now, huh. Even though you fought all the time in the beginning...
Tsubasa: Pretty much. But it’s not like I’m completely going soft on him, okay? If he ever sulks or decides to ignore us, I’ll make sure to knock him back to his senses.
-the door is closed in the background-
Tsubasa: Oh, Dai-chan’s back. 
Dai: I’m back. 
Haiduki: Hello, sorry to disturb.
Rikka: Haiduki-san!
Dai: He picked me up by chance.
Haiduki: I was waiting at the traffic light and I saw a familiar figure. That was a surprise.
Dai: Gotta say though, noticing me just by seeing my back is amazing.
Haiduki: Any capable manager would be able to do that. Ah, tell me more about this bouldering thing after this. 
Dai: That’s fine by me. It got me pretty addicted.
Tsubasa: Oh, so mean! I want to hear about it too!
Dai: You’re too annoying, no way.
Tsubasa: Eh, Dai-chan…
Haiduki: Ah, right. I got a call thanking me for the photoshoot you had today, Rikka. 
Rikka: The arrangements were well done and things went smoothly on the set. The staff also praised Haiduki-san a lot.
Haiduki: I’m glad to hear that. The results made all my adjustments worth it then. That magazine’s surveys got good reactions, so I wish to continue working with them if possible.
Rikka: In that case I hope I can surpass the editors’ enthusiasm.
Tsubasa: Anyway, you came at a good moment, Fumi-chan. We’ve got some delicious daifuku brought home by Rikka here~
Haiduki: Oh, that sounds good. I’ll enjoy them while checking your progress, Tsubasa.
Tsubasa: Half of them were already done, so ever since I woke up I’ve been checking the articles like I promised!!
Haiduki: I’m relieved to hear that. As expected, you’re always ready to walk the talk, Tsubasa. But before that, there’s one more job I need to finish.
Tsubasa: What job?
Dai: The one Shiki’s working on.
Rikka: If that’s the case, may I come with you? I want to bring him some refreshments and check up on him.
Haiduki: Eh? Uhhh... okay. Let’s go together then.
Rikka: -knocks on the door- Shiki, can I come in?
-no answer-
-the door opens-
Shiki: Rikka? Sorry, but-
Shiki: Why are you here?
Haiduki: How are things going? You don’t need to glare at me like that. 
Shiki: Don’t use Rikka as a pretext to enter my room. Sigh. I said I wanted to focus.
Rikka: You’re wrong, Shiki. I asked Haiduki-san to let me come with him. I wouldn’t be able to see your face even once per day otherwise. I wanted to check up on you.
Shiki: I see. Sorry for making you worry.
Rikka: If you’re aware of that, then show your face in the common room from time to time at least. Here, I bought some daifuku. It’s delicious.
Shiki: You’re right. Thank you. So, Haiduki. Care to tell me why you came?
Haiduki: How mean. Do I need a reason to show up? I was around anyway, so I decided to pay you a visit.
Shiki: Don’t make me laugh. You didn't strike me as a worrywart type. I told you this whenever you called or came here to persuade me and I’ll say it again. This time I can’t forgive myself if I give up on this.
Haiduki: This time, huh.
Shiki: If you’re not satisfied with this, go ahead and reconsider it. Anyway, this is my final decision.
Haiduki: I get it, I get it. You don’t need to get so serious. I’ve been thinking of ways for how to break through this, so let’s talk about it constructively and realistically.
Shiki: Sigh. …...Rikka. Sorry, but could you leave Haiduki and me alone for a bit?
Rikka: Eh… sure. Of course. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything. Go ahead.
Haiduki: It seems like it’s not progressing as much as he thought so he doesn’t have much time to relax, is all. It’s nothing bad, so leave the rest to me.
Shiki: Don’t say anything more than necessary, Haiduki.
Haiduki: I get it. See you later then.
-Rikka leaves Shiki’s room-
Tsubasa: Oh, Rikka! Welcome back. How did it go?
Rikka: I... gave him the daifuku.
Dai: Not that, how’s Shiki?
Rikka: Ah, right. He won’t say anything more than usual.
Dai: That’s strange. Shiki’s always been the type to do what he wanted even though people were worrying over him.
Tsubasa: Can’t be helped I guess. I wonder what our mighty leader is so stuck on this time. 
Rikka: Who knows. I was chased away in the middle of the conversation. I don’t really get it…
Rikka: ...Ugh, that’s not it!
-Rikka throws himself on the sofa-
Rikka: Agh, seriously! I’m such an idiot!
Tsubasa: Eeh? What happened?
Dai: Why are you tumbling?
Rikka: I’m just…...mad at myself. 
Tsubasa, whispering: Hey, Dai-chan. Did Rikka ever tumble in self-loathing before?
Dai: Who knows.
Rikka: I feel like that was a bad way to phrase it… I hate it.
Rikka: Maybe I’m just tired…
Tsubasa: Of course, you’d be! You’ve been working since this morning.
Rikka: But right now… I’m...
Dai: I don’t really get what’s going on, but maybe you should eat the daifuku for now.
Tsubasa: Let’s do that! I’ll pour the tea.
Rikka: Mm…...Thank you…
-Tsubasa pours tea-
Tsubasa: Okay, Rikka. Sorry to make you wait. -hands the cup to Rikka-
Tsubasa: Alright. Rikka’s finally feeling tired again.
Dai: Jeez. If you’re feeling that down, you should rant a little if you want to, you know?
Rikka: Sorry… I must be gloomy.
Dai: I wouldn’t really call that ‘gloomy’.
Tsubasa: Right? But honestly, I feel relieved.
Rikka: Why?
Tsubasa: You’re always smiling, calm and gentle, but there’s no way such a perfect human can exist. Plus, everyone’s got something in them that they don’t like.
Dai: Like how Tsubasa’s always noisy and causing uproars.
Tsubasa: Exactly! Also hey, Dai-chan!
Dai: Being exhausted isn’t really surprising. It’s something normal to want to vent out your feelings. If we’re feeling gloomy, I’m sure you’ll comfort us, too.
Rikka: You’re right. Thank you, Dai. And Tsubasa too. 
-Rikka sits up and takes a sip from the tea-
Rikka: It’s delicious. Hot drinks really do heal you.
Tsubasa: I put in all my love. So, what did our mighty leader do to get you like this?
Rikka: Shiki didn’t do anything wrong…
Tsubasa: Then? What’s the problem?
Rikka: It’s just… uhm…I feel like I’m being narrow-minded...
Tsubasa: Aah, I think I got it. Let me guess: he ignored the daifuku despite knowing how worried you were for him, then started to talk about work with Fumi-chan, which got you bitter.
Rikka: Well, I guess… you could say that…
Rikka: Aagh… I’m seriously the worst! 
-Rikka buries his head into the sofa again-
Tsubasa: No, no, no! There’s nothing wrong with you, Rikka. Ughh, seriously. Aaaaaagh! I want to stuff Shiki’s throat with daifuku and curse him to 10 hours of sleep!
Dai: I think that’s more life-threatening than a curse.
Tsubasa: I mean, it doesn’t look like he’s gonna reflect on it without a few good hours on the pillow.
Rikka: It’s fine, really. Shiki’s not at fault. This kind of thing is normal for him. And Haiduki-san is our manager, so it’s something natural to consult him when it’s about work. There are conversations I’m not meant to hear anyway. I’m the one at fault for getting in the middle and turning gloomy on my own.
Rikka: But if I think about it, it’s always been that way. I’ve been fueling my own worries ever since our old days.
Tsubasa: Shiki’s been like that since the beginning?
Rikka: Can you even imagine Shiki not being the way he is now? 
Tsubasa: Ah, -laughs awkwardly- that’s kind of…
Dai: I can’t imagine that at all.
Rikka: Right? … He was the same back then. Though, I feel like I was the only one trying to get along with him...
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crackimagines · 5 years
Text
Digging the Dancing King (FE: Three Houses Short Fic)
The White Heron Cup is approaching the class of the Blue Lions. 
After careful consideration for their rep, the most logical choice comes to mind.
Felix.
------
Felix swung his sword down, then rapidly upwards at the dummy, making it swing violently back and forth.
“Hmph. Not fast enough...”
There was too much merriment going around. Everyone was excited about the Heron Cup and the Ball, yet did everyone forget about the Death Knight and Tomas?
It made him angry, but he couldn’t really do anything about it.
Only thing he could do was train for the next battle that was sure to come.
Meanwhile, the rest of the class were faffing about, trying to decide who’d be the best dancer, but ultimately it was up to their professor. Felix didn’t really care about all of this, but it’d be nice if they won. 
Mercedes would be a good choice.
Annette...maybe. Emphasis on the maybe.
As for Ingrid, Felix was sure that she would actually stab someone if she were chosen for something like this. She was more of a tomboy than anything.
“Huh...” He thought to himself.
For not really caring about this kind of thing, he’s oddly putting a lot of thought into this.
He heard footsteps approach him, he sheathed his sword and turned around.
“Professor.”
Byleth nodded with his blank face, which was all too common for him to have.
Still, there looked like something he needed to say.
“Did you need something? Psh, what? Am I the representative for our class? What an honor.”
Then, Byleth did something that made Felix’s blood run cold.
He smiled.
Blue Lions Classroom...
“I was joking damn it.” Felix sharply blurted out.
The rest of the class had gathered and were just as shocked as Felix to learn that he’d be the representative.
(Byleth) “Well, I wasn’t.”
(Ingrid) “Um...Professor, with all due respect-”
(Sylvain) “What the hell are you thinking?! Felix couldn’t dance to save his life!”
(Felix) “Up yours!-”
(Sylvain) “Hey, I’m trying to help you here, man! I know the last thing you wanna do is this!’
(Felix) “I...Ugh, I agree, Professor. I say this joke has caught me off guard, but-”
(Annette) “I’d say he’s joking but...”
Byleth’s face was the same one he used to kill bandits. It was anyone’s guess to tell what’s actually going on inside his head.
Whatever the case, this was some twisted joke he had done.
(Ashe) “I...don’t think he is.”
(Dimitri) “I-If I may why Felix? Surely Mercedes or Annette might’ve been-”
(Byleth) “It’s exactly FOR that reason, Dimitri. If we come in with the unexpected, we’re sure to catch everyone off guard and steal the votes.”
(Everyone) “...”
(Dedue) “I...am not quite sure that is how it works, Professor. As a mercenary, did you ever-”
(Byleth) “Nope. Which is why we need something fresh. Plus, Felix is pretty popular with the girls.”
(Sylvain) “Er, you realize it’s mostly GUYS in the audience, right? And that both houses have chosen GIRLS for that? I say knowing your audience would help us greatly.”
(Ingrid) “Seriously. PLEASE reconsider this, Professor! For the sake of our class!”
(Felix) “Listen to her, please.”
Felix was starting to sound desperate, but Byleth stood his ground.
(Byleth) “As professor, my choice is final. Felix, you will see me tomorrow morning for dance training.”
(Felix) “...Damn it. Fine, whatever.”
Byleth nodded and went out of the classroom.
As he left, he heard Sothis’ voice.
“I cannot BELIEVE you did that.”
(Byleth) You said I didn’t have the guts. I aim to prove you wrong.
“I said it in JEST! Are you this daft, or are all humans like this?!”
(Byleth) I don’t think you have a sense of humor.
"You know, I think spending time with these children have made you somehow even more sadistic!”
Back in the classroom, no one had any idea what to say. 
(Mercedes) “...W-Well, I’ll be sure to help you out, Felix!”
(Felix) “I swear, if you put ANY MAKEUP ON ME-”
(Ingrid) “How’d it come to this?”
(Dimitri) “Is this some sick twisted joke? The professor has damned us all!”
(Dedue) “That’s a bit dramatic but, I can’t exactly disagree...”
(Sylvain) “Well, I can’t wait to see your dancing lesson tomorrow!...Ugh, this is gonna be terrible for us...”
(Ashe) “Who knows? The professor has surprised us before.”
(Annette) “Ashe, I think you’re a bit too optimistic.”
The Day of the White Heron Cup
(Byleth) “Alright Felix, show them what your training was for!”
(Felix) “Ugh, good grief.”
Their training was....rough to say the least. Felix had NO idea what he was doing, and only learned a few steps if anything.
Oddly enough, he was feeling very prideful in his improvement. It’d help his footwork in fights at the very least.
(Dimitri) “I’d say good luck but...we’d need a miracle to see us through this.”
(Sylvain) “Knock em dead, Felix. Just...not with crap dancing.”
(Ingrid) “Have fun...I think?”
(Mercedes) “I have faith in you!”
(Everyone) “...”
(Mercedes) “...A-Alright, some faith....a little.”
(Ashe) “I don’t want to be rude, but...No, we shouldn’t be negative. If the Professor says you can do it, then you can do it!”
(Annette) “Yeah, down with the naysayers! Dazzle em, Felix!”
(Dedue) “Show them the pride of the Blue Lions.”
Felix smiled at the three’s comments. 
(Felix) “Eh, what the hell. Might as well enjoy it.”
(Byleth) “Class, know this. Professor Byleth does not know defeat.”
(Dimiri) “We’ll be sure to make you acquainted soon...” He said while sighing.
------
The contestants were:
Edelgard - Black Eagles
Felix - Blue Lions
Leonie - Golden Deer
The two girls were in their standard school uniforms while Felix was wearing a crisp black suit, standing out from the two.
Everyone was murmuring as soon as they saw Felix come up onto stage, which only fueled his desire to show them the error in their thinking.
...Wait, why am I getting THIS worked up about it? I don’t even want to be here! was his next thought.
And so, the moment of truth had begun. It was time to show the moves Byleth had taught him.
It was unlike any ball moves he had ever seen, it was odd yet mesmerizing.
Leonie’s and Edeglard’s bands were classic ball music, but Byleth had requested to use something specific for his music and granted the request.
And when they were in position, Felix was told to say the key word to start it off proper.
Felix sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Let’s get this over with.”
He snapped his fingers loudly, catching everyone’s attention.
“Boys, give me something with a beat!”
The man on the piano hit the notes so loudly, it caught the judges off guard.
Alois’s and Manuela’s eyes went wide while Shamir raised her eyebrows.
Felix saw Dorothea at the head of the band, about to sing. As soon as she said her parts, he struck the best pose he could. 
The Piano struck three notes, signalling everyone.
DUN DUN DUN 
(Dorothea) “Oh baby, baby!”
[you expected ABBA, BUT IT WAS ME! BRITNEY SPEARS!]
Tumblr media
“I look so STUPID.” He thought to himself.
He went from pointing upwards to pointing at the crowd, nodding up and down with the beat of the instruments.
“Oh baby, baby, how was I supposed to know?
That something wasn't right here?”
He swayed his hips side to side, snapping his fingers in beat with her singing.
“Oh baby, baby, I shouldn't have let you go”
He spun around and struck a pose facing the opposite direction, his left arm pointing outwards while his other hand was behind his head, and right foot directly behind his left.
“And now you're out of sight, yeah”
He turned back to the audience, and began swinging in motion to her singing.
“Show me how you want it to be,
Tell me, baby, 'cause I need to know now, oh because!”
He then closed his eyes, and began acting as if he were repeating the chorus, extending his hand and folding it to himself dramatically.
“My loneliness is killing me (and I)
I must confess I still believe (still believe)
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign
Hit me, baby, one more time!”
As soon as the band finished, he finished by pointing at the crowd with a smile.
Tumblr media
He could tell several girls screamed in glee, but he was far too busy thinking
WHAT THE HELL WAS THE PROFESSOR THINKING MAKING ME DANCE THIS! 
THIS ISN’T EVEN BALL DANCING!
Everyone in the audience remained quiet until someone started clapping. Followed by several people, then the entire room.
He and the band bowed, Felix taking his place next to Edelgard and Leonie.
The Blue Lions were stunned, not expecting this dance at all since they were prohibited from having their training have any witnesses.
When the judging came around, they all heard the instructor’s voices.
(Manuela) “I vote for...The Blue Lions! Their music was spectacular!”
(Sylvain) “...H-Huh...?!”
(Shamir) “I vote for...The Blue Lions. Their dance was the most original.”
(Ingrid) “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
(Alois) “Well, I think it’s obvious who the winner is! My vote is also this year’s winner. THE BLUE LION HOUSE!”
(Dimitri) “I-IMPOSSIBLE!”
(Felix) “...What.”
Everyone began clapping and cheering wildly, and the class could do nothing but stare.
(Dedue) “Oh my...”
(Mercedes) “Incredible...! I can’t believe it!”
(Ashe) “N-Neither can I...!”
(Annette) “WOOHOO! WE WON!”
(Byleth) “I told you class.”
Everyone turned around to face him, Byleth now smiling.
(Byleth) “PROFESSOR BYLETH KNOWS NO DEFEAT.”
(Dimitri) “J-Just how serious did you take this?!”
Felix walked up to the Professor and shoved him the trophy.
(Felix) “Never ask me for anything AGAIN.”
He walked off towards the training ground, hoping to forget this ever happened.
The several girls from the crowd following him disagreed strongly.
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wheremytwinwatches · 4 years
Text
[Where My Twin Watches]: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Episode 3
Last time, on PMMM- Uh, never mind then, we’re starting without a recap. Person in a (hospital?) bed, looking out a window? Yup, looks like a hospital hallway, Sayaka’s outside the door, seems nervous. Visiting someone?
She’s giving the guy a CD- oh, this must be from Ep 1’s music store. Which would make this guy *checks Ep 1 notes* Kamijo? I can’t tell from the lighting, but I think he has bluish hair. So is a relative of Sayaka, younger brother? Ooh, looks like a classical CD, nice taste. Kamijo thanks her for finding a rare CD. It’s even a soloist that he knows, nice touch! He offers an earbud so Sayaka can listen as well- are you blushing, Sayaka? Reconsidering my assumption of family connection. Confirmation that they are in a hospital so they can’t play over a speaker, he leans over and yeah this is definitely a crush on Sayaka’s part, blush and shimmery eyes and everything. Aw, this is sweet, listening to some nice calm music- memory? Little boy playing violin on a stage and dressed-up Sayaka in the audience. Oh, so if this is Kamijo playing then she saw him back then and they became friends later? Seriously digging this music. Wait, is Kamijo… crying? Oh. Oh no. Oh god damn it. Kamijo’s crying, his left hand is twitching and he has a bandage on his arm… Is he in the hospital from an accident or something, and his left arm got messed up? Can he not play anymore? That’s… that’s pretty heavy. Um, yeah. Sorry, that intro was a bit of a kick, the peppy song’s not really doing it for me right now. I mean, I’m way out of practice with my own playing, as as a trumpet player I use my right hand a lot more than my left, but… damn. Ahem. Let’s get back to the review, shall we? Mami! Corkscrew Hair is doing what she do, and obliterating another witch with ‘Tiro Finale’. And there is just something hilarious at seeing this blonde middle-schooler standing on top of a lamppost, easily balancing a massive gun twice her size with one hand. Sayaka and Madoka come out of cover to compliment her, Mami tries to remind them that fighitng witches is dangerous but come on Mami, you’re doing awesome right now. Think of how effective the team will be when the girls get their powers! Hey, that’s right Madoka, I didn’t see a Grief Seed this time. Ah, Kyubey explains it was just a familiar, and that’s going to be confusing seeing as I’ve been calling Kyubey a Familiar this whole time. Should I go back to using Rabbit-Thing, or is there another phrase that works better? Anyways, seems that Witches have familiars that don’t carry Grief Seeds. And the girls have only been fighting ‘duds’ lately, so no more powerups. Still, like Mami says, better to take out the minions so they don’t cause trouble. And wow yeah, if familiars can grow into full witches then you definitely want to take them out. Well, that’s one more eldritch creature dealt with, onwards! Mami’s asking if the girls have figured out their wishes, both say that they still aren’t sure. Oh yeah, why not ask what Mami wished for, maybe she has some insight. Wait, why did she stop? Oh come on, PMMM! A car crash?! First you smack me down with that depressing hospital scene, and now you’re telling me that Mami had to use her wish to not die?! Jebus. Well, at least Kyubey showed up in time to help, but dang that’s a missed opportunity. Still, Mami doesn’t regret it (understandable, as the alternative was dying, but Madoka and Sayaka have a chance to actually consider their wishes. Best that they take advantage of that. Wait. Wait wait wait. Car crash, end of last episode Mami saying she doesn’t have anyone to talk to, she lives on her own- oh what the hell. Mami’s an orphan? No. NO. Not cool, PMMM. Ok, we need flowers and chocolates and hugs for Mami stat. Get on it, commenters! After that depressing as hell realization, Sayaka- ooh, clarification on the wish, good for you Sayaka! More rules please. “If you make a wish, does it have to be for yourself?” Strictly hypothetical, of course. Yeah, you aren’t fooling Kyubey (or us), Sayaka. You want to help out Kamijo? Aw, that’s sweet. Kyubey confirms that the wish does not have to be for the contractee, and that there’s actually precedent for it. I’m trying to keep track of these Wish Rules, get an idea of what our characters will wish for; Wish Rules 1) The contract comes with one Wish 2) The Wish can grant “even the most impossible of miracles” 3) The Wish does not have to be used for/on the Contractee Anything I’ve missed so far? Huh, Mami is actually counseling against using the Wish on someone else. Although I’m not sure this caution about making doubly sure you know what you’re wishing for applies, it’s pretty clear that Kamijo wants to play music again. Oh. Um, yeah. Ok, that’s a good point. “Do you actually wish to grant his dream so that he will be grateful to you?” A bit harsh, but probably best that Mami’s brought it up. Right now the Wish has so many potentials, but once it’s used it’s gone for good. So then, how can we structure this Wish so we can help Kamijo and not have it be about Sayaka’s crush? Because yeah, I’m picturing a scenario where Sayaka’s trying to convince Kamijo that she healed him with the help of a magical talking Rabbit-Thing who’s totally right here, he’s just invisible to you. Commenters, when you’re done with Mami-hugs get on that too! But just as we settle on not rushing into the Wish, Kyubey pipes up about it being better for him if they decide sooner. Hey, I don’t know how you grant these Wishes, Rabbit-Thing, but I’m with Mami: they’ll decide on their own time, don’t pressure them. Back at Madoka’s home, she’s thinking over the Wish while Kyubey sits there, he seems to have relented on rushing their decision. Good for you, Kyubey. Hmm, he also can’t suggest wishes because it’s against the rules? 4) Kyubey cannot suggest a Wish Huh, but Madoka asks if just wishing to become a Magical Girl would work. And rather for power for its own sake, Madoka… or maybe it is for its own sake? Aw, Madoka’s doing the “I’m not smart or talented” thing that young Protagonists do. Wait, you’re comparing yourself to Mami? Madoka, don’t do that, Mami’s a full-fledged MG and you’re still a Muggle, of course you’re going to seem ‘lesser’ compared to that. Give it time! But this is an interesting view, the Protagonist simply wanting to be like someone she admires. Wait, “you’d be much more powerful than Mami”? We’re talking about the ‘kill witches with a single shot’ girl here, right, not some other Mami? But it depends on what kind of wish she makes? And he can’t tell how large of a Soul Gem Madoka would summon? Protagonist powers, ho! Yeah, “never met another girl with such enormous potential as you”. If this means that Madoka will be measurably stronger than Mami, then this is going to be amazing. Wait, interruption of ‘Super Special Protagonist Talk’ by Father, seems Mother is… drunk out of her mind. Wow, didn’t think she was a drinker, and based on Madoka’s reaction this is way too common. Character flaw, nice job on fleshing out Madoka’s family, PMMM! Now this is a lovely family; put the drunk Mother to bed, then the Father and Daughter enjoy a late-night hot chocolate. Futher characterization of the Mother as they discuss how she likes to try her best, and that emerges as a fearsome work drive. “While she may not be living a dream, they way she is living is ideal to her.” More philosophy! And good philosophy for an early Protagonist who’s uncertain about where her life will go with these magical discoveries.
Hey Mami, what’s up? Going hunting on your own tonight? Or just visiting a fountai- HOLY CRAP HOMURA. Where the hell did you come from? Oh, are you really trying the “you’re involving innocents in our dispute” gambit? You’re the one who threatened Madoka’s family, you do not get to try and claim moral high ground. And as Mami said, they’re MG potentials, they can see the danger. Ok, now you’re ticking me off, Homura. “You’re trying to lead them so that they want to be magical girls”? Lead nothing, it’s the smart move! They get powers, they get a Wish, and whatever danger a Witch poses is much better handled by three than one. And since you refuse to team up… Aha, Madoka was namedropped. So you can sense her Protagonist Potential like Kyubey? Oh, and Mami can sense it as well. Dang, the sound and lighting in this ‘conversation’ is top notch, as civil as it sounds you’re really getting the sense of two powerful magic users facing eachother down. ...wow, that was a blow, Mami. Calling out Homura for being afraid someone stronger than her will show up, saying that’s how a bullied child thinks. Yeah, Homura did not like that. Yeah, Mami is fed up with Homura’s attitude. “You don’t want to fight? Then make sure we don’t meet again.” Definitely getting more direct in the conversation, but given this girl threatened Madoka, tried to kill Kyubey, and has refused all offers of charity and partnership, there’s really nothing more that Mami can do. Yup, Homura’s pissed. She knows she’s weaker, doesn’t want to share, and only stands to fall further behind if things keep up. I’m worried she’s going to try something drastic. (See theory of her summoning Giant Winged Thing) The next day! Sayaka’s visiting the hospital again, or not? Ok, she went to try and visit Kamijo, but has just met up with Madoka and Kyubey in the waiting room, seems he was preoccupied. Well this is a hospital Sayaka, I’d think he has surgeries or whatnot to do occasionally. Why did you stop, Madoka? Oh crap that’s a Grief Seed. That’s a Grief Seed, at a hospital, and it’s about to hatch. This is the worst place one could show up- Wait. This really is the worst place one could show up. A hospital full of sick or injured people, including Sayaka’s friend/crush? Discovered just as it’s about to hatch by the two non-MGs? And it looks like it’s stuck in the pillar… Oh Homura you bitch. Is this really how low you will go, planting witches to try and scare off or remove the competition? That’s it, you are officially on my List. Ok, they need to get Mami here now, if not sooner. But… they don’t have Mami’s number? Ok, then can they use Kyubey to telepath her? No, seems they can’t do that. So Madoka will have to go find her (hopefully she’s at her apartment) while Sayaka stays behind. Sayaka that is a terrible idea, you aren’t prepared to face a labyrinth. Ah there we go! That’s better, have Kyubey stay with Sayaka so when Madoka and Mami get within telepath range they can stay in touch, if Sayaka ends up in the labyrinth. And if worst comes to worst, then Sayaka can ask a Wish and get her powers, better than being stuck in there on her own as a Muggle. Still, I hope that Mami gets here soon. Madoka’s off to find Mami, and ok guess the Seed is hatching now, Sayaka and Kyubey have vanished. And we’re in trippy Witch Land again! Huh, this one seems much more hospital themed than the last one. So the Labyrinth designs change based on the location? Cool! Sayaka and Kyubey are going into the labyrinth, and Kyubey’s suggesting what I did, that if she decided on a Wish then he could make her a Magical Girl. Well, unless there’s some time required for the contract to form, as long as they aren’t at immediate risk I’d motion for patience here, Mami should be here soon to take over. Oh hey, they’re at the Seed already. It hasn’t hatched? Oh, so the labyrinth forms first, then the Seed hatches. So they’ve got more time then. Sayaka’s showing patience as well, seems the earlier conversation on thinking over a Wish sunk in. Later, Mami and Madoka have shown up to the site, and they’ve opened up the gate and can contact Kyubey now. They’re ok for now, Sayaka even claims boredom. But since large amounts of magic could disturb the egg, Mami and Madoka are going to go on foot to catch up. Stealth over speed, got it. Back in Hospital Land (huh, I’m seeing a lot of cookies and cakes now, what’s with that?), Mami is guiding Madoka along, while admonishing Sayaka for taking such a risk. But she does admit it was a clear-headed call. Good to see that Sayaka is getting some tactical sense, always nice to see characters develop traits. Now they ca Homura. We don’t have time to deal with you, Dark Magical Girl. And you do not get to claim this “prey”, not when I know what you did! And like hell are we going to let you be alone with Kyubey and non-MG Sayaka. Yes, thank you Mami! Don’t waste any time, just detain her and move on. There’s a witch to go kill. “This witch is not like the others!” Gee, I wonder how you know that? Seriously, just shut up Homura, Mami has to go and clean up your mess. Ok, with the others keeping an eye on the Seed and Homura tied up, things should be calm enough for a conversation. Madoka’s taking the chance to discuss the Wish with Mami- oh, you’ve thought of one? But you’re worried that it might be naive, so you’ll run it by the MG. Good, that’s a safe call. Aw, Madoka’s giving her “I’m no used to anyone and have to bother others for help” deal. Madoka, you are stronger than you know, you’re the Protagonist. But it’s sweet that her concern is over not being able to help others- Ah, I think I know how to describe it now. It’s not “Power for its own sake”, it’s “Power for others' sakes.” Yes, good for you Madoka! That is the kind of unambiguous heroine we can all support. Madoka’s describing how she saw Mami fighting for others, and that she knew that was what she wanted. And given the possibility that she could do the same thing- Um. Mami does not look happy. So all Madoka wants is to become a Magical Girl, to have the power to help others. That is her Dream. Which kind of makes the Wish superfluous. And Mami just let go of her hand. Uh oh. Mami, please don’t dampen this, Precious Protagonist is Precious. Well, Mami is correct, having the powers is a burden, she’ll be at risk of injury and will have complications regarding a ‘normal’ life. But Madoka doesn’t mind, she thinks that highly of Mami! Mami. Mami no. You are absolutely worth looking up to. You fight to protect others. You’ve endured such hardship and still try to use your powers for good. You have saved lives. But I get it. You’re scared, you have no one to really talk to. You’ve been alone from the time of the crash to now. (Feels) Madoka: “But you’re not alone any more, Mami.” (Feeeeeels) Aw no, please don’t cry Mami, this is… this is… oh wow. Ok, I know that they’re on a mission, that Sayaka and Kyubey are waiting for them, that a hospital is at risk, but… this is adorable. This is sweet. Mami and Madoka talking right now… That’s it, I give in. I apologize to whom it may offend, but I ship it. Mami, who’s shown incredible power but has been alone all this time? Madoka, the uncertain Protagonist who will one day come into her own? I really like this, the two of them working together. (Don’t worry Sayaka, you’ve got your crush. Although I can see her poking fun at these two on future missions. Hee!) Ok, after the adorableness they’re setting back on track, but Madoka does still have a Wish, even if she ‘just’ wants to be a MG. Hah! That’s one way to make her think about it, give her until the witch is defeated or they’ll use it for a cake. To celebrate their becoming a magical girl duo! (Yeah, I ship this! No stopping this boat!) Whoops! I guess the witch finally got tired of waiting, the Seed is going to hatch! Time for subtlety is over, bring it on Creeps! Ok, now Mami’s just showing off, with all those dancing moves and twirling of rifles. Awesome, they caught up with Sayaka and Kyubey. Here comes the witch! … what. No seriously, what? That’s the witch? That’s a doll. Aaand Mami just knocked its chair out from under it. Oh, I get it. Newly-hatched witch, going to be weaker before it feeds. Looks like they got there just in time! Batter up! And the doll goes flying! Barely dodges a few shots before slumping to the ground, and Mami just executes it. Time for the finishing move? “Tiro Finale!” And the witch is Wait no, something just came out. A Clown Worm? Oh, so the witch has a second form. Ok, just wait what what just happened Um. The ribbons that were holding Homura just vanished. So… Mami released the spell, decided to let Homura fight the second stage with her? Why are you not WHAT
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WHAT THE HELL Mami is being held from the top of the screen, she’s twitching, her uniform just dispelled and she just fell down. Mami fell down and the worm is… the worm is eating I can hear it eating Madoka. Madoka and Sayaka don’t look just get out run run now Yes, thank you Kyubey! Make the contract now, you have to do it! Stop watching and make the damn contract oh hell the worm is looking up, it sees them. Homura. Homura just… do something, don’t It just ate Homura. I don’t know, what the hell. Wait, it missed? It keeps on missing, or she’s just barely dodging. And now the worm is exploding? Whatever Homura’s doing the worm is getting hit, and I think the worm is finally down. But now she’s walking towards the girls. There was a clink. The witch’s Grief Seed just fell and shattered a teacup. Mami. “Burn this sight into your minds. This is what it means to be a magical girl.” The labyrinth is collapsing, the four are back at the hospital. Homura, you NO Put that Seed down, Homura! Mami died for it, you do not get to swoop in and and No fuck that you do not get to have that Seed just because you’re a Magical Girl. You don’t Homura’s gone. Kyubey is sitting there. Sayaka and Madoka are crying. I… Uh, the credits are here, and the song changed? I… I think this is the same music from the Dream. Staticky Madoka is walking along past other staticky forms That’s Mami. That’s Mami’s silhouette. The episode end still has the flute music and an picture of Madoka in her uniform and Kyubey. “Mami… was truly a kind-hearted person. To make us really understand what kind of resolve we’d need in order to fight...she...Miracles and Magic are real.” ...I’m going to take some time to process this. I will try to be more coherent later.
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modestlyabsurd · 5 years
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Survival (Loki x Reader)
Shlap!
Snow dust falls from the target area - Loki's back.
After all, he said you needed to work on  your throwing aim. What better way to practice than with an endless supply of harmless snowballs?
Harmlessness, you soon realized, depends on the person throwing the snowball. The velocity can vary depending on a person's strength and accuracy as well as the density of the -
SMACK!
- snow.
You wiped off the bitter cold dust from your face, checking for blood at the same time, whilst struggling not to laugh out loud and possibly cause an avalanche. Damn, he's a good aim. Gravity wasn't even on his side, as you stood a good fifty feet above him on a hill.
Your hill was tiny compared to the black, shadowy mountains with white tips in the distance. They contrasted beautifully against the pale blue sky, a color scheme surely created by a celestial artist.
Nature was the only place left that housed art like this.
The snow had let up that morning. The first time since arriving to the little abandoned cabin that the visibility had improved enough to go outside. You and Loki were dangerously low on food at the worst time of year, leaving no choice but to trudge through roughly 18 inches of snow to find more. Your chances were slim, but possible.
It had to be possible.
Luckily the snowball firing hadn't dampened your clothes. Loki's jacket - that he'd miraculously managed to keep up with throughout this mess - was holding up like brand new.
You'd only had one winter coat, the one you're wearing now, which he'd refused to the death to take or even share. One day in the previous summer while scavenging what used to've been an old folks' home, you found various medicines, and he found himself a good quality coat for the winter. Dark blue windbreaker material with thermal lining, a hood, a zipper, and large black buttons all the way up. One button was violently ripped off, but that didn't bother him a bit.
Your matching water-resistant snow pants were coming in great handy as well. Thin but effective.
You and Loki both had cut your hair short. Safer, easier to care for. Normally you thought it looked pretty rough, but you reconsider after seeing how the black fringe frames his features against the bleak, white canvas. The little snowflakes sprinkled throughout it. The pinkness of his skin. Loki might as well have been a piece of art himself, but you'd never tell him that.
You finger-whistle to him as an acknowledgement of his superior throwing skills. He has never been able to do that; no matter how hard he tries, nothing but pathetic raspberries come out.
He finds your whistling ability both annoying and incredibly sexy.
As he crouches to gather another snowball, desperately, you remember something basic. You fall to your knees, hold your breath, and roll down the hill before he can strike again.
When you land perfectly at his feet - in a fit of laughter - Loki is at a loss for words. "Can't," you giggle, "can't hit a moving target!"
"You've paid attention, I see," he says in a balanced voice although his face betrays him. He's nearly laughing himself.
Getting up from the snow is much harder than falling and rolling into it, even with the help of Loki's extended arm. You're dizzy, you're giggly, you're happy. You fall into Loki and nearly knock him over on twinkle toes.
His emotions confuse him, especially in these dire straits the realms are in, so he chooses to ignore them as much as possible. But in times like this, with you being so infectiously exuberant and being in his arms, you make that very hard.
He feigns indifference while his heart is soaring.
"Whew! I have always wanted to do that!" The high from spinning so much is amazing.
"You're such a child."
"I may be a child, but you're a - "
"Shh!" Loki's withdraws his hands as his attention quickly diverts over your shoulder.
You draw your pistol. He draws his crossbow.
He begins walking very slowly to make as little noise as is possible with the crunching of snow. You begin to follow.
A hand juts out, his palm pressing your stomach. A silent way of saying "Stay back."
You obey, but peek around his tall frame. A thin tree sits alone, its few limbs weighted down with snow. Loki inched closer to the base of the tree with his crossbow ready to fire on a dime. Dead silence. Another step closer. You desperately try to see what he sees.
Shadows and broken limbs. Snow. You see a bit of red. You step to the side of Loki, holding a breath in your chest. You see a pool of red.
He goes painfully closer to inspect the scene while you scan his six o'clock. Nothing but perfectly undisturbed hills of snow for miles and miles.
"Dinner."
You cut your head toward him. "Huh?"
He's crouched in front of the tree's base. He looks up at you, wide eyed, a few teeth peeking from dark red lips in a small smile.
He stands and raises a massive three foot long gray rabbit by its ears. "Dinner, my dear."
You stared at the monstrously sized rabbit hanging from Loki's hand for a good minute. Its wound was through the side of the head; a kill shot.
Not your kill.
"We didn't hunt that, Loki! We can't steal it!" You whisper-yelled.
"I'm not stealing it," he says calmly, "I found it. Perhaps another animal caused his demise."
"Loki, no."
"What? Are you saying that this doesn't look appetizing to you at all? At your rate, we stole the cabin as well." He's stepping out from beneath the small tree. A blood stain lays atop snow in the shadows.
"That's different. Someone else killed this. Recently! The blood's still flowing! He hasn't been out here long!"
"I didn't hear any gunfire. Did you?"
It had been dead silent in these mountains ever since you arrived. "Well, no. Could've been a stab wound or an arrow," you paused, trying to formulate a better explanation. Nothing came. Loki was already trekking back toward the cabin; the dead, slowly bleeding gray rabbit in hand. His gloves are going to need washing.
He wasn't really giving you a choice. When it came down to it, you were both really hungry. "Wait a minute."
"Yes?" He stopped and turned halfway toward you, leg cocked out to balance himself.
You swallowed. "Are we just gonna ignore the fact that that thing is five times bigger than normal?"
Loki lifted and twirled the rabbit a bit to examine it. It hung limply from his fist, eyes open, jaw dropped, big front teeth bloodied.
"Probably just a large breed."
"Something isn't right, Loki. It doesn't look right." You looked at it further, "Its eyes look blind. And its coat doesn't look healthy."
"Always the overthinker," Loki smirked. "Have you not seen the people we've encountered? They make this look like a pet store rabbit. Everyone is going to have some degree of mange about them, especially the animals." He furrows his brow, "I mean, darling, have you seen a mirror as of late?"
That earned him a nice punch to the ribs.
Doubled over, faking most of the pain, he croaked, "My brittle bones. Cruel, cruel woman."
You shared a laugh. A sharp cutting gust of wind encouraged you to finally give in to his persuasion, so you started again to the cabin.
It wasn't far away, you two had only ventured maybe fifty yards out. If the owners were still alive, you would likely still be trespassing. Now, none of that mattered. No more property line disputes, no fences, no parcels of land. No distinction. Just survival. Just free, open Earth - if you can find some without monsters.
Fifty yards seemed like a hell of a lot more when walking in shin-deep snow all the way. Loki seemed to have no problems, what with his spider length legs and genetic strength and acclamation to extreme temperatures. But he had to be hungry.
No matter what he says about his superior Asgardian metabolism, you knew he hadn't eaten in over a week. You could see the effects taking their slow but sure toll on his body; his already thin build became much more skeletal and gaunt, elbows and hip bones sticking out more than they should. He'd been sleeping long hours over the last couple nights even though you hadn't done much running or hiding. You didn't know a lot of the specific biology of Asgardians or Jötuns, but common sense says it all.
Any food you came across - be it sparse as it was - Loki would give to you, claiming that your weak body needed to replenish its energy. That he didn't need more sustainance just yet. The last time this happened was four days ago when you began nearing the end of your stock; he assured you with a charming glint in his eye that he was fine and that you were the one growing weak.
Such a liar.
The same concern for you had reappeared in him that morning, causing you to wander out scavenging for the first time since arriving to this new place. And anyone else would be ecstatic about finding game out here, much less not even having to use your own ammo to kill it. Being who you are, something still didn't sit right.
The rabbit resembled more of a small dog in size. You couldn't stop staring at it as Loki adjusted his grip from carrying it by the ears to holding it by a front leg. A much too long leg.
"How much do you think that thing weighs anyway?"
"Oh, he's not heavy."
"It sure looks heavy."
"Why don't you have a go?" he gestured for you to hold it.
Your fists curled against your chest. "I don't want to."
"What?" he feigned shock, "The ever so tough monster killing machine that you've become is afraid of touching a dead bunny? Come on, then."
"No, I really don't - "
The rabbit was thrown upon yout chest. Out of normal habit, your arms tried to catch the thing that was thrown at them; it took a couple seconds for your eyes to catch up to the situation at hand: that fucking bloody rabbit. You ropped it to the snowy ground with a lifeless flop.
"Just a few pounds, wouldn't you say?" said Loki, barely trying to hide his mischievous grin.
"A few pounds hell! That thing weighs at least twenty pounds!" You said, brushing off scraggly gray hairs from your jacket. "Pick it up, asshole."
He bent to gently grab it off the snow, clear green eyes looking up at you, "Now now, no name calling."
"No throwing dead shit at me."
He laughed a real laugh. "Fair enough."
You eventually made it back to the wooden door of the log cabin, damn fucking rabbit in hand. You and Loki were torn on whether to leave it outside for sanitary reasons, or to bring it inside to avoid drawing unwanted attention with the smell of fresh kill. You naturally vouched to leave it outside.
Loki compromised, that he would skin and clean the rabbit inside, but cook it outside. You didn't like every aspect of that.
"There's no telling what it's been into out here. I don't really want to bring whatever that may be - Loki." Your eyes cut to the rabbit in his hand.
"Loki!"
The presumed dead animal moved. Its mouth opened wider. Its eyes grew whiter.
Loki dropped the animal like a hot frying pan. It started snarling, unnatural sharp teeth baring wildly. Squirming on its back, helplessly injured, but very much alive. Your pistols were pointed.
"What?" breathed Loki.
"It's fucking infected."
"How? Animals cannot be infected with human disease," he said in more of a question than a statement.
"Clearly they can! I told you something wasn't right!" Loki stepped toward the screeching creature that was maybe at one time a rabbit.
"Back up!" It lunged for his ankle. "What the fuck are you doing? Shoot it!"
For some reason you both seemed to be paralyzed with something along the lines of fear. Both of your guns were drawn, pointed, fingers on the triggers, but couldn't pull it.
It lunged for you next.
A scream.
Loki shot twice. He hit the spine. But it didn't die. It only flinched in pain.
You shot it directly between its nasty evil eyes.
It fell over. No more screeching or snarling. Its face was frozen in time. More blood, now black rather than red, seeped from the wound.
You took a single step closer to examine the animal once more. Tired of taking chances. You stomped its head with the heel of your boot.
Eight times.
"It's gone, dear! It's gone!" Loki's desperate voice and hands pull you from your rage. You hadn't felt the trails of hot tears down your cheeks until he held your face against his chest. "It's gone. It's gone. It's alright," he repeated into your ear.
The sounds of his coos, your ugly, raw sobs, and the ruthless howl of winter wind consumed everything. You knew something was wrong, you knew it. But frankly, you're too weak now to argue that point.
You still don't have enough food.
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ahomeganeyatsu · 5 years
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Ran Off in the Night (Part 3)
Monday dawned cloudy and just as windy as Sunday. Somewhere between 3 and 4, Lucas had dozed off. In his own humble opinion, that was better than nothing. Monday brought Madam Rigaux and Lucas could not afford face-planting on his desk from being sleep-deprived. It has only been three weeks since school started but he was already in her bad books. (Maybe he should have reconsidered sitting next to Arthur in that class.) Despite the insufficient sleep, he was also feeling better. It didn't hurt too much when he breathed nor did his body protest at movement. The events of Saturday night were still patchy at best―much to his chagrin. But a guy could hope, right?
He went through his morning ablutions with the same mindless tenacity Mondays afforded. He debated wearing the hoodie to school, but the prospect of fielding questions from his friends were already giving him mild anxiety. Lucas may be the master at lying, but even he had his limits. The best lies were the ones that held a kernel of truth in them. He couldn't just tell them he has no fucking idea where he got the hoodie. Or it didn't sit quite well that he's feeling good. As if there should be something wrong with him.
And perhaps there was. Lucas wasn't the type to get black out drunk. He was even careful to limit his weed intake because it messes with him. It was never good to mix too much alcohol and weed when Lucas was what he was. It was asking for trouble. I mean, look where it got him last Saturday. A new hoodie―albeit a really comfy one―and a spotty memory.
He stared at the hoodie in his hands before sighing and folding it up. He placed it gently at the foot of his bed, his fingers lingering on the soft black fabric. Lucas puffed his cheeks and blew out another breath. He seriously has got to put a stop to this fixation on the damned hoodie. He grabbed his bag and phone, and finally exited his room.
Mika looked up from his mug, only dressed in boxers and his half-opened, offensively bright yellow robe. “Good morning, kitten. You're up early today.”
“And you're much chipper from what should be humanly possible on a Monday morning,” he retorted. He opened a cupboard to get a mug and poured himself the much needed black nectar of the gods. He nearly moaned as it touched his tongue, but promptly held himself back. He could not afford Mika holding that over his head.
“What can I say?” Mika gestured to himself as a showman would to the next wonderful attraction. “I'm a ray of sunshine that people desperately need in their lives.”
“Uh-huh.” He ignored the tirade Mika was warming up to. Finishing his coffee in silence as he checked any new notifications on his phone. He liked Arthur and Yann's posts from the party last Saturday and caught up in their group chat. Arthur had messaged him to compare their homework, completely forgetting that they've been assigned different problem sets to answer. He typed another text to his dad, reminding him of the transfer. He was running low on food and the meal tickets in the cafeteria could only take him so far. Lastly, he sent a text to his maman, checking up on her and telling her he was alright and not to worry.
Though their relationship may be rocky at the moment, Lucas loved his maman. He put majority of the blame on his dad for what happened to their family. But at night, alone in his bed and only his thoughts for company, Lucas blamed himself for their divorce. Knew it was because of him. If he wasn't like this, if he had been normal, not worrying his maman, not stressing his dad―maybe, just maybe, his parents would have worked out. Maybe he would still have a family.
What's done is done now, and Lucas had to deal with the aftermath of it all.
“I'm off,” he declared as he drank the last drops of his coffee. He placed the mug in the sink. Mika had dish duty today and Lucas was taking full advantage of it. He was about to step out of the front door when he heard Mika call him.
He rolled his eyes and turned to face him. The sarcastic remark died at his throat as he took in the expression on Mika's face. It had the teen automatically straightening. The expression was the same one he had when he had offered Lucas to sleep in the basement. It's wasn't a good deal, but during that time it had been ideal, practically god-sent, in Lucas eyes. He understood that whatever Mika was going to say next, it was serious.
“Lucas, don't repeat what happened yesterday. I don't want you staying out that late again. Not without telling any of us.”
He didn't say he hadn't planned on doing it again. Nor was there any inclination in him to even repeat the act in the foreseeable future. Lucas only nodded. It was enough of an answer for Mika. With that, he left the flat.
  Lucas might be imagining things. Or he might not be.
Being him, it was usually the latter.
He just had a knack for these things.
Still, with the lack of sleep these days, it might just be his mind playing tricks on him. It has happened before. Besides, it wasn’t like he was alone. He was walking in public. To the bus stop on his way to school.
The footsteps he could hear weren’t trailing after him.
Why would anyone be following him anyway?
  It took him half a day, but it became clear; he wasn’t imaging things as he had thought.
He was being watched.
Lucas can’t say how he knew. He just did. He had developed a certain awareness when it came to it. He grew up being monitored. His maman always there to remind him what to do and what not to do. Always whispering how God was watching over him, that angels were there to guard him, that the devil remained a constant presence at his shoulder.
His maman’s words never reassured him. Not when he could see the things he could. Not when no one ever seems to believe him. Lucas had lived a childhood in a perpetual state of fright. Eyes watchful and senses keyed up to the tiniest of shifts in his surroundings. It’s a habit he was forced to develop because he could not afford a repeat of last time.
Last time left him with a scar on his ankle. Long stripes entwined around his foot and licked just below his calf.
He still had nightmares about it. He still didn’t know how he was alive.
Lucas did his best not to catch anyone’s attention. He tried being normal, ordinary, average. Someone possessing his ability was better off being unnoticed. He didn’t want any trouble. As a kid, he could admit he already had his fair share. Lucas just wanted to be able to reach eighteen without dying.
Unfortunately, his efforts of remaining unnoticed failed spectacularly.
He could sense the gaze on him. The presence tailing him just out of his sight. Whoever it was, they were good. And Lucas understood that they would not reveal themselves unless they wanted to.
So, he let them be. Maybe they’ll grow tired of him. See that there was nothing interesting about him. That he was mundane.
He frowned at the word. He was often referred to as such whenever he came across one of them. Or stumbled upon a store that looked different from what it advertised. Their tones were always curious, a little intrigued—you smell like one of them, but you have no marks. This time though, Lucas felt the poison dripping from it. Like the word was dirt, unsavory.
He didn’t understand where it came from. Where he heard someone say the word like that. He shook his head to dislodge the thought.
A shadow shifted in his peripheral. Lucas ignored it.
He also ignored the grunt of disappointment.
 Lucas stared at Imane in disbelief. Was this woman fucking serious?
The unwavering stare she leveled him and the waves of not-taking-any-of-your-bullshit-Lallemant coming from her had made him fidget and unconsciously shrink on himself. He had always found her scary, but facing her had only solidified how tough she really was.
“Okay, fine. We'll try to come,” he conceded.
Imane Bakhellal was certainly a force to be reckoned with.
 His tail disappeared for a few days.
He only felt their gaze on certain parts of the day. Like on his way to and from school. In between his classes, and sometimes in the bustling cafeteria. There were also moments when Lucas would feel the urge to look out of his balcony. Hoping to catch a glimpse of something but always ending a second too late.
It made him wonder when his life became the mirror of Laelaps: Doomed to hunt the Teumessian fox for eternity.
He certainly wished Zeus wouldn't turn him to stone and make him into a fucking constellation.
  The Gang
 You
Guys quick, come to the common room. There are girls and free drinks.
[16:45]
  Basile
Is Daphne there?
[16:46]
  Arthur
No, Baz, she’s not.
She didn’t give us invitations last Monday. It was just us collectively hallucinating that conversation.
[16:48]
  Yann
Yeah, Baz. It was all just our imagination.
[16:49]
  Basile
You guys are such assholes, you know that?
[16:49]
You
Hurry up guys!
[16:50]
  Arthur
I'm at the stairs. Where the hell are you guys?
[16:51]
  Yann
We’re on our way, Lulu.
[16:52]
 Lucas closed the app. A smile played at the corner of his lips. The boys were definitely going to get him back for this.
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irepookie · 5 years
Text
Wake up Call, Infinity Ch.3
Summary: QUEEN AU WHERE ROGER (ROWAN)IS A19 YEAR OLD SINGLE DAD TRYING TO FIND A PLACE IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC
WARNINGS: iNTENSE FLUFF AND SOME SWEARING
Chapter 3: Row has to start stepping out of the bubble him and his daughter have been living in while in the safety of the hospital, and break the news to his best friends. 
John- Rick
Fred-Len
Bri- Terry
Rog- Rowan
When Row had hung up on Len mid sentence, the boys had been confused. Then again, he was at his mom's house and they had heard her infamous shout of <<ROWAN EUGENE QUEEN>> that always preceded an argument, so they let it go. But then he didn't turn up to rehearsal, or called back for the rest of the afternoon. Or the following afternoon. Or for rest of the week. And that was unlike him. He always called back. (Well, most of his former one night stands would disagree with this). Let's just say he always called his band mates back. Sometimes drunk, at 4 AM, Thus leaving  a wakeful Terry with 2 hours to spare nothing to do but to start revising for whatever exam he had ahead.
So, when they didn't know of him, they went directly to the village's police station, to see if he was locked up, and if not, to report him missing.
"What if we ask Gina?" Rick suggested
"I'd rather check the morgue first, thanks" Len said.
"Well, what else can we do? Huh?"
"Audition new drummers"
"Seriously boys. Let's go."
They knocked on Row's childhood home. Gina opened, with messy hair, a dressing gown and slippers
"Oh, hello boys. He ain't here" she took a drag of the 4th cigarette she had smoked that day despite it only being 8:30 AM.
"Where is he?"
"He isn't at home?"
"We've checked and there's no track of him. We haven't seen him in 7 days"
She sighed "in the hospital, I think. If he hasn't left already"
"Hospital?" All three said simultaneously
"What happened?!" Len added
"You don't know?"
"Know what?"
She smiled, mockingly "Wow, father of the year isn't so sure after all"
"What?"
She laughed bitterly. If he hadn't told his best friends yet, it maybe meant he was reconsidering the whole thing. Maybe common sense had hit him after the first stinky nappy.
"You know what? Come in."
"Oh we were actually in a rush..."
"You wanna find him or not? Come in, I don't bite
"Alright" all three musicians entered somewhat awkwardly in the house where so many sleep overs had taken place, back in the day.
She led them to the kitchen, where the phone was, and dialed.
Callie was the closest to the phone "Row? Yes, I'll get him"
She made her way to the room where the Prune had been moved in the previous evening, due to her favourable evolution and the need of free incubators.
She grinned at the scene: the 6 day old infant was dozing against her dad's bare chest, supported by his hands -which seemed huge in comparison to her small figure-. His eyes were closed, but Callie could tell he was awake as his left hand was stroking her head. It was adorable, and they seemed at such peace -poor Row had spent his first whole night on night watch and was exhausted-.
"Row" she called softly
He opened his big blue eyes in acknowledgement.
"You have a call"
"A call? From who?" He whispered back, before looking down at the baby to make sure she was asleep
"Didn't say. But she was kind of irritated"
"Oh, that's mom then" he smiled sarcastically, but didn't move a bit.
"You aren't gonna get on the phone?"
"I don't know. She doesn't deserve our attention does she?" He cooed
"How bad can it be?"
"You don't wanna see my bad side. And I don't ever want her to see it either"
Callie smiled "Go. I'll stay with her"
He groaned in annoyance. He was so comfortable, and he didn't want to get up.
"C'mere darling" he mumbled, detaching his daughter from his lap and carefully lying her on the cot
He exited the room and walked to the phone "What?"
"Row! Where are you?" The three voices of his best friends greeted him from the other side
"Oh, hi guys I... How did you get this number?"
"We're calling you from your mum's. She says you're in hospital" Terry's soft voice said worriedly
"You've gone fucking AWOL! Where are you man? We're worried as hell" Len scolded
"Oh yeah, hehe been..."he scratched the back of his head "been pretty busy" He glanced in the direction of his daughter's room, where he saw Callie readjusting the yellow teddy bear he had bought her the second day.
"Busy? With what?" Rick inquired
"It's... It's a long story."
"Well we've got time"
"Shouldn't you be in uni?" Row said in hopes they'd have to run into class
"It's Sunday, Row!"
"Oh is it?" He had lost track of time, honestly
"C'mon! Spit it"
He sighed "Alright, huh..." He tried to think of where to start. He couldn't really think much tho; his brain was pudge at that moment. "I met a girl in..." He counted nine months back from February "June?" No wait Piper was premature so it could be July or... Then it hit him. "No, remember that afternoon when we set up that Live Aid session in your parents backyard, Len?"
The boys nodded. July 13th. How could they forget? It had been dubbed the best Summer Party of 1985 in town. The four of them had tried to get tickets, but they couldn't even afford a ticket to London in the first place. And so, They watched the whole show with four TV screens around the yard instead, and the whole village had joined them, arguing on which performance had been the best.
Of course, all four members of Symbols agreed that it had been Queen.
"But they signed up late" someone said 
 "Yea, they came late to the party" another agreed. 
"So what? They rocked the party! You just say that because you like U2 better"
 "Like you prefer Queen!" 
 "But we've got a point! Regardless of how much we like them, they were, objectively, the best performance" /
"Objectively? Bullshit!" Anne Williams snapped "They played the same shit they always play! And Bono was a true gentleman, helping that girl who was getting crashed by the crowd."
 "Yea, I'm sure Freddie wouldn't have given a shit, so full of himself and his teeth up his~" /
Dennis Phelps couldn't finish his sentence as a  someone tossed him a Converse, which hit his head. A young woman, with Bowie-like orange dyed haircut approached, with  a bare left foot and the matching shoe on the other 
 "You know nothing about putting up a good show then. Also, you mess with Freddie Mercury again and next time the shoe will be stuck up your ass" she told Dennis, retrieving the item "I mean, it's clear who I'm rooting for but Queen really did what had to be done. Geldof told them all to play the hits, because that's precisely why they're hits: they work. Other artists, like your boyfriend Bono and his band played new material, as if this was their concert. And it's not. Even though they signed up on time and whatever. They took a risk, crowd didn't know the song, they lost interest. But Queen had common sense: they played the hits, the anthems, and people connected with them. And it's not about Freddie or him hypnotizing Wembley. It's having some common sense. And not even you two knew the lyrics of U2s new song. So shut the hell up"
Row had liked her instantly. That's a girl who knows the stuff.
They exchanged a smile, a wink and a complicit nod
"We must join our forces to help out our friends under pressure, don't we?" She said
"Oh yes, Bowie girl." Terry remembered
"Yep."
"So what's with her?" Rick said
"Well, that.. she..." He cut himself off when a cry echoed in Pip's room "Gotta go, guys. I'll call you back"
"No! Row!" Len said, but the line went dead
"Shit"
"What happened?" Gina, who had watched the scene from the door frame, -and was about to finish her 6th cigar in a row,- asked
"He rambled about that Live Aid day, and a girl he met there"
"Did he say her name?"
"No. He had to go suddenly. It's all weird"
"Yea, well... Life is weird, boys"
"I don't understand. What's going on? Can't you tell us, Mrs. Queen?"
"Oh no. No. It's not my story to tell. Nor my business. I tried my best, but that stubborn bastard didn't listen. I'm sorry" she said
"But is he okay?" Len asked, concerned
Gina grinned, at how despite it all, the four boys would stick up with each other to the end of the world "Yes. He's fine."
"Row, are you okay?" Callie said, as the drummer wordlessly took the bundle from her
"Yes, yes. Why wouldn't I be?" He said, sitting with the fussy baby
"You're a bit pale"
"Oh I... Nothing. Just... I'm nervous honestly. Because we're about get discharged and I'm gonna be alone with her and I'll have to dad around all by myself and... And everyone will know..."
"Know what?"
"About her"
"And is that a problem?" Callie crossed her arms
"No, I mean... No, of course not. But everyone will ask questions and judge me and... I'm worried I will end up believing them more and fuck it all up"
"Believing what?"
"They'll start telling me it's a mistake, that I'm gonna screw everything up and that I won't be able to be a good dad and I'm afraid it will become true"
"So you're saying that how people think of you is gonna affect the way you... How you called it? Dad around?"
He nodded "Well, answer me these, will you? Have you, in this moment or at any point during these seven days, thought you are making a mistake?"
He looked at the tiny bundle and shook his head.
"Are you willing to always do your best for the shake of Piper?"
He nodded, noticing he was unconsciously rocking her back and forth.
"Then what's the problem?"
"Look I haven't exactly been a role model in... Well anything. One thing my mom's proud of is that I'm not into drugs. Everyone who has a daughter in the block hates me. So how am I supposed to raise one?"
"Exactly how you've been doing the last six days"
"Yes but I have you guys. And the medics, and the equipment. But there I'll be all alone"
"You will never be alone. You have the friends you've told me about. And your mum...Maybe the little darling is gassy"
"Oh stop about my mum" he carefully changed the Prune to an upright position and began to rub circles on her back without even hesitation. Wow he was actually getting a hold on the burping stuff.
"Yes. Your mum will eventually come to terms with the lil'raisin. I'm sure." She said, whist handing him a muslin to place on the baby's range of accuracy
"Oh you don't know her"
"I know she's a mum. Your mum and mother's rarely ever turn their backs on their children for good"
Row looked at the baby, then raised an eyebrow at Callie
"I said it's rare. There are obviously exceptions" she said "And believe me you're better off. Also, she did call. That's gotta Mean  something"
"I didn't speak with her. Just the band. They were at her place, yeah but... I don't know. I'm not gonna beg on my fucking knees..." He was interrupted by a burp I his ear. Damn, that was a big one. He'd need 2 beers to produce such a loud one.
"Easy, tiger." He laughed "Goddamn it, where did that come from, huh? You're unbelievable" he praised, while getting the muslin out his shoulder and handing it to Callie
"And a neat one too. 10/10." She chuckled
"Atta girl. That's my lil'raisin. Yeah, good girl" he cooed, bringing her to face him, before she started fussing and he nested her again on his chest "Aw, don't cry honey. Please. You're alright. C'mon" he begged. She settled down quickly, and he sighed in relief.
"The point is, that here is like... I feel safe, you know? It's like another world. Another life. And now I have to fit her in my every day, and be in charge and stuff, and... I'm not sure I'm ready"
"Parents are never ready to take them home. Not even those who had 9 months of preparation, and parenting classes, and a nicely decorated and supplied nursery. No one feels ready. But nerves are good. Nerves mean that you care. Worrying and doubting about your ability to be the dad your child needs is precisely what's gonna make you raise your game. Just one last question: are you 100% that you love that lil one with all your heart?"
He looked at his daughter, who had gone back to sleep with the rambling of his voice, as his hand still caressed head and grinned "Hell yeah" Otherwise, how could he explain the way his chest seemed to be holding two hearts whenever she was in his arms? Or how, when he had to leave for the night it felt as though both those hearts were ripped away from him? Or how else could he have turned this goddamn sappy? Yep. That was the proof.
"Then that's all the two of you will ever need. She won't care if you two are rich or live in a cardboard box, or if she wasn't in your initial plans, or that she doesn't have a mom. As long as you love her and make her feel like it."
He nodded, and rested his lips on her soft scalp.
"Right, I Gotta get to another patient. Call'em back."
He stood up, this time taking his Prune along, and went to the corridor where the phone was. Making sure her head was safely cradled along with the rest of her small body on his left arm, he tucked the phone between the right shoulder and neck and dialed their shared place's number
Rick picked up "Yes?"
"I'm a dad" he said simply, and waited for his reaction. 
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I’ll post the picture separately in order to preserve my goddamn sanity cause Tumblr is being a pain in the arse!!!!!
How do you guys do it? Am I the only one who needs 5 bloody tries to post this things?
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In My Way (3)
IN MY WAY: WELCOME HOME
Pairing: (eventual) Peter Parker x Reader
Words: 2111
Warnings: none!
Notes: here you go! this is still somewhat filler, but I've written far past this and I promise it's setting a lot of things up! as always, I hope you enjoy it (and let me know if you do because I crave validation).
Summary: With your decision made, you, Tony, and Pepper hop on a plane to head to the compound. When you land, you get the tour of a lifetime.
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Several hours blueprints, and miles later, the Stark Industries quinjet touched down at the compound. The New York sky was as bright as the one on the other side of the country, apart from the fact that the sun was beginning to set on the long day of travel. Once again following the lead of Tony and Pepper, you took no more than one step off the plane before stopping in your tracks and to take in the enormous complex in front of you. No longer hearing footsteps behind them, Tony and Pepper turned around to face the you, looking as wide-eyed as ever, prompting a pair of grins to widen across their faces.
"Welcome home, kiddo," Tony said about as nonchalantly as possible with arms wide before continuing on their walk toward the nearby building. Not wanting to get lost in this massive new place, you chased after them, backpack bouncing uncomfortably on your back.
"I'll give you a quick tour," Tony said as he opened the first door for the girls, "this is the main building, which houses most everything you'll need. The building that was just behind us? That's the hangar where the quinjets are. I doubt you'll need to go in there…at least for a while," he added with a wink. Pepper raised her eyebrows hoping this wouldn’t be the case before stepping aside for a conference call she had in a few minutes. As she darted off, as a stout man hustled up to you and Tony, eyebrows forcefully pushed together into one as the rest of his face scrunched up. He was just inhaling to speak but never got the chance.
"Ahh, Happy! Let me introduce you to the new kid, Y/N," Tony said, "and Y/N, this is Happy. He's my assistant and can drive you around should you need to go somewhere." This comment did nothing but further the force put into scrunching the supposedly-happy man's face.
"Yeah, great to meet you--anyway, Tony, I need to talk to you about--"
"Happy! Please let my kid have a nice first day, ok? No need to be so high-strung!" Tony interrupted as he patted him on the back and started to walk away, you still following behind as if on a leash.
"But, sir, I need your input--"
"Talk to Pepper, Happy, she's in charge of the company, you know," Tony said cheerily without turning back as he and you continued walking, leaving Happy standing in your wake.
"Do…do you need to help him?" you asked. "I can sit for a minute, that seemed important," you added, knowing there were plenty of things happening with the Avengers that definitely trumped your orientation.
"Nah," Tony quickly shot back, "you're the priority today, kiddo!" he insisted while walking with a pat on your back, causing you to swell with excitement despite Tony's casual demeanor. The two of you continued down the long hallway and up some stairs, which opened to a wide kitchen and living room area where a few of the Avengers themselves were milling about.
For the third time that day, your jaw completely dropped to the floor. Here, right in front of you, stood Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. It was so strange to see these people you had seen in news articles fighting aliens in such a common setting doing such ordinary things like making dinner and chatting in front of the TV. Seeing them approach, Steve Rogers glanced up at Tony with a smile and nod before noticing you, a young girl, next to him.
"Tony…please tell me this is legal," he plead, his eyes concerned yet hoping it was a joke. The man was huge, almost popping out of his shirt and standing tall in the room that would otherwise appear to have raised ceilings.
"Ew, Rogers, God, is that really what you think of me?" Tony sarcastically replied, yet the look on Rogers' face showed he wasn't quite sure of the implications of your presence quite yet.
"Avengers, assemble," Tony started, "please," he continued forcefully with an eye-roll when Romanoff and Barton only stared at him.
"This," he introduced, pointing at you as the three avengers grouped up, "is Y/N, the young kid I told you Pep and I were hoping to adopt. She said yes!" he said with sarcasm yet again, although clearly not as amusing to the other Avengers as it was to Tony himself. Your eyes darted around the group as you tried to take in the situation and group dynamic, which was far different than anything you ever encountered at the home. Tony continued introducing you to the group, explaining that you'd start training with Steve initially for strength and build up to working with Natasha for hand-to-hand combat and Clint for archery and weapons in general. Natasha and Clint, both much smaller in stature than Steve, stood at ease yet ready for anything to come at them at any time. Natasha's red hair was an intense red-orange and fell at shoulder length, framing her refined features. Clint's face creased by his eyes and mouth as he smiled at you, trying to make this environment of trained fighters much more welcoming than it might otherwise seem.
"So, kid, where are you from?" Steve asked promptly.
"Seattle," you answered, please to start off with a question you could answer, "I've been there all my life."
"Huh. I'm from Brooklyn," Steve inserted, drawing sighs from the others as this was his go-to self-descriptor, "nice to meet you." He nodded as a large clap of thunder sounded outside, pulling everyone's attention out the window. It was a beautiful day, however, so the sudden change of weather caught you off guard. The other Avengers only rolled their eyes, knowing what followed the strange occurrence. Sighing in defeat, Tony looked out the window as a wide beam of light from the sky flashed onto the lawn.
"If he ruins my landscaping one more time, I'm going to kill him," he spat out with sarcastic anger. Thunderous footsteps then sounded on the stairs you ascended with Tony only minutes earlier. Moments later, a large man in armor holding a strange metal hammer arrived at the top of the stairs and marched over to the group.
"Hello Midgardians. I heard the call to assemble, is something wr--oh. There is a child here. Why is there a child here?" the man asked, noting your presence and awe-struck stare at him. Like Steve, he towered over her, except his golden-blonde hair was much longer. He wore armor even here in the compound and a long red cape descended down his back.
"Thor, meet Y/N, she's the new kid. My new kid," Tony explained.
"It--it was my understanding that Midgardians gave birth to babies like Asgardians. Is the case? Did the Lady of Potts birth her? Or did you grow her--"
"THOR," Tony interjected before the conversation unraveled any more as Steve, Natasha, and Clint walked away chuckling, leaving you still in stunned silence at your present company and Tony comedically annoyed by the conversation. "Her name is Y/N and we adopted her. Not unlike your brother Loki, just a lot less evil. Hopefully?" he asked, turning to you as you nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Ahh, well, good to meet you, Y/N," he settled, casually swinging his hammer around, "I am Thor, son of Odin and God of Thunder, and I look forward to fighting with you in the future."
Despite all the day's events, this comment from Thor in particular struck you. Your seemingly chronically-wide eyes softened as you looked internally, reconsidering the choices you were making. Fighting? With gods, trained agents, iron people, and engineered super-soldiers, no less? You had never argued with anyone much less physically fought someone. At least the Avengers were on your side of things, you noted. Footsteps once again echoed from the stairs, this time much lighter and quicker.
A new figure arrived at the top of the stairs, much shorter and leaner than the god that previously appeared there. A young boy, slipping off his red mask to reveal messy brown curls, trotted over to the group with urgency.
"Hi, um, hey, Mr. Stark. I got your message and came as quickly as I could," he sputtered, staring in admiration at an unphased Tony. He then accounted for the presence of thor towering over him and the young girl beside Tony. The girl looked about his age but he didn’t recognize her. She must not go to my school, he thought, because surely I'd have noticed a girl that--
"Peter, I just texted you a few minutes ago. How on Earth did you get here so quickly?" Tony asked, regaining the boy's attention. Steve, over by the kitchen table, flagged Thor over to watch from afar with the rest of the gang.
"I, uh, you know, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man…gotta…gotta be able to get everywhere in the neighborhood quickly," the boy responded, looking down at his feet and then back at Tony, catching your still-wide eyes on his way back up. "What did you need me for?" he asked Tony curiously.
"Right, well, I wanted you to meet the newest recruit, Y/N. Peter, meet Y/N; Y/N, meet Peter. Or, Spider-Man," he added, given the presence of the red and blue suit. "Once she's settled in and enrolled, I'm going to send her to school at Midtown with you in the same ‘Stark Internship’ situation,” Tony explained with enthusiastic air quotes. “And you’re going to help her start school as it’ll be a new experience for her.”
Peter now had the chance to look at you for the first time. The first thing he noticed was the excitement radiating from you. It was as if he could feel his spider senses tingling by just being in your presence. Your eyes glistened with hope as you stood next to his role model, cheeks rounding as you shyly smiled back at him. But Peter was distracted - Mr. Stark mentioned you being an intern along with him. Since when were there two Stark interns?
"Hi, Peter," you voiced quietly with your hand out, "nice to meet you." While completely unsure of how to handle yourself in the presence of another kid your age, you were pleased you would have a friend if Tony was going to send you to a real school. Even more so, you were pleased you'd have a friend at all.
"I, uh, hi. Nice to meet you, too," Peter replied, gripping your hand with his gloved one for a shake that lasted what he realized all-too-late was too long before then intertwining his hands together behind his back. Since when did Mr. Stark want two interns, he wondered again. He wanted more than anything for Tony to mentor him, teach him, train him, and, most importantly, approve of him. I can’t let this girl get in the way of that…
"Well! Now that introductions are mostly done, except - where's Sam?" Tony shouted, addressing the group of avengers assembled in the common room. Sam was a name you didn't recognize, either. You hadn't read too many articles on the Avengers, but saw enough headlines that you thought you'd recognize the whole group.
"On a personal mission or something," Steve shouted back.
"Oh yeah, ok," Tony said, returning to the teens, "the last introductions for today is Bruce, so let's keep moving on the grand tour, Y/N. Parker, thanks for stopping by. You're welcome to hang out, as always, or stay in your room, or whatever!" Tony rattled off, attention already on the next task with you. Tony scurried towards Banner's lab that overlooked his own, assuming you would follow behind him. Not quite getting the memo, you stared back at the group of superheroes you just met. The group of people you'd be living with for the foreseeable future. This is the coolest thing ever, you thought.
A smile gradually widened on your face while you scanned the room dreamily as if you'd never be back. The four original avengers still in the room chatted around the TV while Peter had not yet moved. He stared at you while you waved and jogged off to catch up with Mr. Stark, flustered by the fact that he traveled all the way from Queens for you - some new kid - to hog all the attention. Flushed with disappointment, he meandered back downstairs and out the front door before slipping his mask back on and swinging his way to his own friendly neighborhood as the last of the sunlight dropped below the New York skyline.
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fates-end-does-vns · 5 years
Text
Nogi Wakaba is a Hero: 1/2
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that's a familiar looking face. sister or ancestor? sister or ancestor? 
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that's a pretty karinish face there 
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Second hero diary? What was the first?
>Nogi Sonoko joined the Sanshu Middle School Hero Club.
Starting in the present, I see.
>The Nogi Household's rose bath was like a hot spring.
ahh, wait, that illustration is for this scene isn't it yeah, now I see the black eyes instead of purple
>"That's a cute reaction~ I'm sure the readers would love a character like you~ my creative urges are rising~"
sononononono, don't break the fourth wall
unless you're making fanficion of your friends like fiw twilight, in which case I implore you to reconsider.
>"Yeah, that combination does sound like it could work. So next, how about Nogi?"
do not give sonoka a position of authority outside of combat. it will not end well.
>But yeah, right now, I think that out of all four candidates, I'd recommend Karin as club president. It'll probably be hard for her, but she is the 'perfect hero' after all, so I'm sure she can manage somehow."
ah right karin's more mellowed out now.
>"Okay, I'll read your fortune! ...Okay, I've got the results. This looks like it'll be a good romance!"
show me how you fucked up the tarot itsuki. I won't get too mad.
>"Well~ I'm not sure what I like exactly, but someone who's diligent and takes good care of others would be lovely~. It'd be even more fun if they were way too serious and got reckless from time to time, huh~"
sonogo you're just describing togou
>I wanted some material for my novels, so I asked for some history books to sent in from my family house's archive, and they sent me a huuuumongous amount of them.
HISTORY BOOKS GOTTEM
>"Books that escaped censorship... Those exist?"
fffucking taisha
burnin books too
>It was the same title as the diary Sonoko had recorded when she was worshiped, the Hero Diary.
ahhh so hero diaries are what the taisha make heroes write after they've reached their expiration dates
>It says the diary began to be recorded in July 2015.
so the treepocalypse happened in Next Sunday AD.
>"Nogi... Wakaba... Is she my ancestor~? If she wrote this diary, then does that mean my ancestor was a hero?"
caaaallllled iiiiiiit
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y'alright there yuuna
(Prologue: End)
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apocalypse magical girls from the far off future of 2018
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what the fuck yuuna's is yuuna a time traveller a reincarnatee a cryogenically frozen supersoldier from the distant past
or is this just a coincidence
>Nogi Wakaba, a fifth grader at the time 
>a fifth grader at the time 
>fifth grader at the time 
>fifth grader 
are you fucking kidding me 
that was a joke
so nogi wakaba is basically blond sumi right 
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why do these ten year olds have boobs
>One of the star-like objects fell onto the roof of the kagura-den. It was definitely not a bird at all. Its entire body was an almost unnatural white, its size far more gigantic than a human, with an ominous mouth-like organ.
and here's the vertices
>On unsteady feet, Hinata stood up. A strange light imbued her eyes and hex-like words leaked from her mouth.
ahh hinata's got the old possession style sayakafication fairies
I see they're taking the opportunity to do what they can't show on television.
>When she snapped back to her senses, Wakaba was standing up with that very sword in hand. She could've sworn the blade was rusted, but before she  had realised it, the blade was tinged with a vibrant, almost living brilliance.
we sure this is still the magical girl genre? this is giving me Eternity Sword vibes more than anything
>Some changed into a form like the edge of a section of body tissue, stiffening and rising up. (...They're... evolving...?)
that's not how evolution works.
>Three years later-- Nogi Wakaba was now a second year in middle school.
not expecting a time skip of all things. I'll be honest, I was enjoying the hellhole thing.
>Uesato Hinata is a Miko, one who hears divine voices.
miko, huh? interesting.
chapter 1 end.
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the fuck is a doi
>After the invasion, a special tree by the name of "Shinju" appeared in Shikoku, and a giant wall made of plant tissue surrounded the island. It is said that the Shinju was the incarnation of the local gods, and the wall was a barrier it put up to stop the Vertex.
"appeared", "it was said". hm, hm, hm~♪
>"Uranophobia."
pff, uranus. but apparently it's "fear of heaven"
>Although it said "hearing the voice of the gods," it was not through common speech, but rather in the form of symbols and suggestive hints that instructions were transmitted to her.
symbols and suggestive hints, huh... so basically it's a horoscope.
>Only the purest of girls
"purest of girls"? what the hell does that even mean in this case
> are able to come in contact with the gods who detest impurity.
oh, the gods are fucking Lunarians.
>An area of the southeastern part of Lake Suwa in Nagano was, like Shikoku, also protected by a barrier where people could live.
...Another barrier? A second tree, or???
noodle discourse
>It let her feel safe knowing there was a friend out there fighting as well.
she's gon die isn't she
oh fuck I'm going to need to memorize at least five sets of speech patterns aren't I
>"I'm not fondling them! I'm trying to tear them off!"
i see hinata has more in common with togou than her hair color
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this'll be a joy to get straight 
we even have multiple soft-spoken girls with long black hair 
interesting to note that yuuna's not pictured yet.
>Normal weapons were useless against the Vertex, only those that the Heroes wielded could inflict damage upon them.
so do the weapons have fairies in them or what
>"Taisha" was written with the characters for "Great Shrine," wait a fucking second is this a different organization
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yeah yuuna's a time traveller.
chapter 2 end
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guess blossoming is already a thing
for some strange reason I feel like wakaba's the only character who matters here.
>And yet Yuuna was less concerned about herself, and more concerned with Chikage who hadn't participated in the battle at all.
yuuna being yuuna
>The next moment, the cylindrical Vertex began forming a clear red plate-shaped structure.
cancer?
>Out of the infinite records available to her, the one Yuuna now chose was "Ichimokuren".
wait, so yuuna's choosing her fairy?
and stuffing it in herself, which is bad.
>Wakaba had dodged the Vertex's charge with the least necessary movement, and at the same time, she bit off part of the enemy's body with her teeth.
don't bite the alien wakaba
>"Wakaba-chan! You can't go eating weird things like that, okay!?"
pff.
chapter 3 end
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so is she referring to actual blossoming here or what
>A foul smell hit her the moment she stepped inside.
welp
chikage's in a bad place
chikage's in a really bad place
>They both cursed her existence.
yikes
>Those who had hurt her once were now trying to get on her good side.
garbage people, the lot of them
>(My worth... is in being a hero...)
oh no this won't end well
>It allowed her to exist in seven different places at once. She wouldn't die unless all seven were killed at the same time.
and this is even one of the fairies mentioned in that report.
chapter 4 end
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??? I don't get it
oh hey gemini
>"I see! So then maybe we can use the udon as a diversion if it reacts to it!" there is absolutely no way this will work.
>untamarable what kind of pun is that
chapter 5 end
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wait a second is that part talking about udon did they censor udon and intelligent? why the hell would the taisha censor information about instant noodles 
>The one who saved her was Yuuna. She suddenly appeared in the midst of the swarm and started holding them off instead of Wakaba. are you sure yuuna's not the protagonist here
so to temporarily stop the vertexes the taisha allegedly went aztec on what were allegedly six mikos those wouldn't happen to actually be these six characters somehow, would they? and I guess Yuuna would be a zombie...?
end of chapter 6
so apparently the divine tree is blaming humans too? fuck that tree.
guess hinata's hair is purple now.
>"...Her consciousness still hasn't returned." so are comas normal for yuuna
this group is a lot less stable than the other ones.
>Now that it had been denied... just how should she fight from now on?
youtube
wakaba freaking out about her girlfriend leaving is cute
ah, anzu's trying to cheer her up by point out how many people she’s been helping.
>(But now... I have to get over it.) :V guess the therapists all got eaten
and Chapter 7 ends with another timeskip.
>And perhaps they would keep on changing. *glances at gin's funeral*
>Aki Masuzu clamoured in misery as she changed clothes. oh boy another new character
>However, all communications with Suwa had ceased after last September.
and another tree circle is confirmed just to be killed off lemme guess, they'll disappear one by one until shikoku's all that's left?
>Finally, the Shinju appeared at the end of the path. hup
even in a light novel, the tree isn't described
>Several of the small stars combined into a brilliance unlike anything I've ever seen... leo again?
>There are two kinds of honetsukidori. Chick uses spring chickens while hen uses more mature chicken meat. Chick is more plump, tender, and easier to eat, while hen has a deeper flavour that oozes out the more you chew on its tougher meat. stop it, you're making me hungry
>All Yuuna was doing was cheerfully humming as she cleaned Wakaba's ears-- but not even Hinata was a match for a technique like that. even in other characters' stories, yuuna reigns supreme
>The fierce battle foretold in the oracle in the midst of the war of humanity's last stand would later be called the Battle of Marugame Castle. Oh, so we're getting into a fight that's actually important?
[End of chapter 8]
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hmm. you know what, there's only so long you can string me along with splotches of whiteout before I get desensitized to it.
>Would they just blindly increase in size, or would they guide their evolution into an intentional form? The latter.
>By that time, the black shadows wrapping around her foot had already disappeared. what the heck
>Suddenly, Tamako collapsed to her knees. really shouldn'tve tempted fate back there.
>The fairy she had extracted from the Shinju was Minamoto no Yoshitsune, a general with superhuman martial arts thought it was a divine tree, not a throne of heroes.
end of chapter 9.
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So are they going on a "trip" outside the wall? Wonder if it's as much of a primordial hellscape as it is in present times...
>Many buildings had been blown out from the inside as if a chemical explosion had occurred within, and traces of heat-deformation could be seen. That's the first unpleasant thing they saw? Guess the vertexes haven't done... whatever to destroy the atmosphere yet.
>For dinner, they were boiling water in a pot to cook some udon they had brought from Shikoku. It was a dry-noodle kind of Sanuki udon that kept well. of course they're eating udon.
>After dinner, everyone went into the river to wash off their sweat. oh boy another fanservice scene bet there's a cg for this too yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
>"If I become a hero and do my best fighting the Vertexes, I can save people. If we keep saving people, then we can slowly but surely take back the world and bring it back to normal. At least that's what I think!" Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero, after all.
>After the heroes had annihilated the Vertexes, they decided to resume moving for the day. even the story is getting bored.
>"Th... there was supposed to be an Osaka-famous rare book store here! How terrible! The last copies of incredibly precious books could be lost to the world now!" all that devestation, and that's what makes you freak out?
>Instead-- they found a heap of several skeletons. That's... odd. They haven't found any bodies so far, have they? I figured the Vertex don't leave anything behind.
>Wakaba noticed a notebook on the floor. She picked it up and looked inside. It was the diary of someone who took refuge in this underground mall.
oh are we going to read a diary in a diary?
chapter 10 end
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syncogon · 6 years
Text
[QZGS Prequel TL] Ch 7: The Time for Witnessing Miracles (WJX Origin)
Quick note before we begin: This is a translation of part 7 of the QZGS prequel, The Summit of Glory (巅峰荣耀). However, I did skip some parts, mainly an expositional bit in the beginning and the battle at the end (since I can’t write or translate or even understand the battles); I apologize, but I hope you all can enjoy this regardless! 
((read the translated skipped fight here, thanks @yourfreaky!))
UPDATE: (3.18.19) The fight is no longer skipped; I have since translated it and included it in this post!
UPDATE: (3.19.19) I just realized that I never translated the first section about EE of this chapter. So... here it is now! Sorry about that.
original text for the full prequel here
If you like this, please reblog it! Knowing my luck, it’s not going to show up in the tags...
Translated by: Syncogon
******
Glory Professional Alliance Season 2 Champions: Team Excellent Era!
After the playoffs ended, an overwhelming number of reports came out. Excellent Era, continuing from last year, once again won the championship.
This was the highest achievement. But in the eyes of the pro players, there was something else remarkable about this result.
Because that finals match.
That finals match with a team round that ended in five minutes.
How willful! This was the most honest opinion of this match from a professional perspective. Because of the willfulness of those two teams, the finals stage, the highest stage in all of Glory, lost some of its grand light. What was displayed was a grassroots, dirt-level fight that could be found anywhere in the in-game Arena. 
Because both teams were grassroots teams, they used this method to bid a complete and perfect farewell to their past. They finally stepped fully onto this professional stage, using a professional attitude, maintaining a professional spirit.
And all of this, some people could sense, some people couldn’t, and some were somewhere in between. This was a change of generation in Glory, and everyone, coming from different stages, all carried different feelings. But in the years to come, everyone who stepped onto this stage would have only one goal, the same goal: victory, championship! And every summer was the start line for the sprint to this goal.
Team Tiny Herb.
In one hour, they would be holding a press conference for the upcoming season 3, describing the adjustments made during the summer as well as their plans and goals for the new season. But all of the members of Tiny Herb knew that the most important aspect of this press conference in particular was the announcement of a new member, someone highly anticipated within the team.
Wang Jiexi sat in the lounge, waiting for the press conference to begin. Although he was the star of today’s “show,” he was neither nervous nor particularly excited.
When the captain praised him as a natural talent for “the big stage,” he only smiled politely. He didn’t know how he would perform once he was actually on the big stage of a competition, but he didn’t feel that this press conference was any big stage, even though he was to be the star. 
“Little Wang, how are things going?” Tiny Herb’s news spokesman arrived in the lounge, and, seeing Wang Jiexi already waiting there, asked him this question.
“No problems here,” Wang Jiexi replied. Of course, as the star of today’s conference, he would have to give some sort of speech. Worried that a new player like him wouldn’t be able to handle it, the team had already arranged what he was to say, and he just needed to follow the script. Wang Jiexi wasn’t particularly interested in events like these, but the team required it of him, and so he complied.
“There’s no need to be nervous. I have some things to get to, so I’ll see you in a bit,” the spokesman said with a smile.
“Alright,” Wang Jiexi said as he stood up, prepared to see the spokesman to the door.
The spokesman paused at the door, glancing at the cup of water Wang Jiexi held in his hand. “Don’t drink too much water,” he advised. 
Wang Jiexi nodded with a smile. The team really tended to fuss over him…
Once again, he was alone in the lounge. Wang Jiexi sat there quietly for some amount of time, doing nothing in particular, until the door was pushed open again.
Fang Shiqian.
A member of Team Tiny Herb that debuted just this past season, he had immediately become the chief healer of the team. If it hadn’t been for the dazzling performance of the dual-core of Team Hundred Blossoms, Sun Zheping and Zhang Jiale, there was no doubt that Fang Shiqian would’ve been the most distinctive player of this season.
Now that season 3 had arrived, Fang Shiqian was no longer a new player. To someone like Wang Jiexi who had just entered the pro sphere, he was considered a senior. When he saw Fang Shiqian enter, Wang Jiexi quickly rose to his feet and greeted him politely. Fang Shiqian only nodded in reply and sat to the side without saying anything to him.  
Wang Jiexi didn’t break the silence either, and instead just studied the other player.
He wasn’t sure when it had started exactly, but recently, Fang Shiqian always seemed to be in a bad mood. Perhaps it started… sometime around when Excellent Era had knocked Tiny Herb out of the playoffs? If Wang Jiexi remembered correctly, that seemed to be about right.
Naturally, no one in the team had been happy about being eliminated. But it was now almost two months since the playoffs ended! Everyone was preparing for the start of the new season. Fang Shiqian, however, continued to be in a depressed state, and Wang Jiexi felt that this was strange. He didn’t know the other player well, so it’d be awkward to ask. He could only passively observe Fang Shiqian’s unhappiness – and what seemed to be faint needles of hostility directed at Wang Jiexi himself. 
What was the reason? Wang Jiexi didn’t know.
The most common reason for conflict in a team was competitiveness, but that didn’t apply here. Fang Shiqian played Cleric, and so wouldn’t have to compete with most other players in that sense.
But Wang Jiexi, as he sat there waiting, suddenly thought of another possibility. Fang Shiqian would also be attending the imminent press conference, because of his stellar performance the previous season – he was now one of Team Tiny Herb’s best-known players. And Wang Jiexi was supposed to become the new driving force of Tiny Herb. Fang Shiqian wouldn’t be holding a grudge against him because of this, would he? Wang Jiexi frowned, but he still couldn’t bring himself to say anything.
The two of them continued to sit in the lounge in silence, until the door was pushed open yet again.
“Captain!” Upon seeing the new arrival, Fang Shiqian was on his feet in an instant. Wang Jiexi stood up as well, marveling at the other’s immediate reaction.
“You two are both here already!” Tiny Herb’s team captain Lin Jie smiled warmly at the two of them. This press conference would showcase three players: Captain Lin Jie, star rookie Fang Shiqian, as well as the new talent Wang Jiexi.
“We are,” affirmed Fang Shiqian, after a brief glance at Wang Jiexi. Wang Jiexi suddenly realized – in front of Lin Jie, Fang Shiqian’s depression was completely hidden.
Was this guy really specifically treating Wang Jiexi poorly? When this thought crossed Wang Jiexi’s mind, he couldn’t help but feel a little unhappy himself.
“Here, you two sit down for now,” Lin Jie said, unaware of the turmoil Wang Jiexi was experiencing.
“Captain, you sit first,” said Fang Shiqian, standing aside to allow Lin Jie to take the spot he had just been sitting in.
Was he trying to flatter the captain? Wang Jiexi sat back down in his original seat, finding himself disliking Fang Shiqian’s actions more and more. 
“Sit sit sit!” Lin Jie insisted that Fang Shiqian keep his seat, and dragged over a chair to sit before the two of them.
Wang Jiexi held Tiny Herb’s captain in extremely high regard. He wasn’t the best at playing Glory – his skill could hardly compare to gods like Ye Qiu and Han Wenqing – but this didn’t affect the respect that Tiny Herb had for him. He drew people together not by his skill but by his kindness and charisma. 
As for the person sitting next to Wang Jiexi right now? Fang Shiqian was a very skilled player, but Wang Jiexi could already feel a headache from having this person as a future teammate.
“Next season we’re counting on you guys!” Lin Jie told them with a small smile. 
“Yes,” Fang Shiqian replied in an instant, while Wang Jiexi simply nodded. If Fang Shiqian was so eager to perform in front of the captain, let him perform!
“Wang Jiexi.” But as it turned out, after briefly acknowledging Fang Shiqian, Lin Jie turned to the younger player.
“Captain.”
“I’ve already spoken with the club, and we all think that you are ready for greater responsibility,” said Lin Jie.
“Huh?” Wang Jiexi was at a loss. What was the captain trying to say? 
Meanwhile on the side, Fang Shiqian’s sour expression resurfaced. He knew what was coming. He truly did not want to see this, and fantasized that the captain would change his mind about this decision – he’d even directly gone up to the captain to ask him to reconsider. But in the end, nothing changed; Lin Jie maintained his decision.
Fang Shiqian, at this moment, had an impulse to just physically charge forward! Stop Lin Jie from continuing what he was about to say! But he wasn’t so naïve to think that that would do anything, and so he only sat to the side and scowled. And Wang Jiexi, too preoccupied with what Lin Jie’s words, didn’t notice what the other player was thinking.
“What do you think? Do you think you’re ready for greater responsibility?”
“I still don’t understand,” Wang Jiexi said slowly. “Greater responsibility… what do you mean by that?”
“Vaccaria,” said Lin Jie.
Wang Jiexi froze. With that one name, his heart began to race.
Vaccaria, the character currently wielded by Lin Jie, class Witch, the core of Team Tiny Herb. 
Furthermore, Vaccaria currently held a powerful silver weapon. The number of characters with silver weapons from the equipment editor, silver weapons that were stronger than orange weapons, could be counted on one hand. 
Excellent Era’s One Autumn Leaf – Evil Annihilation.
Blue Rain’s Swoksaar – Curse of Destruction.
Tyranny’s Desert Dust – Flame Fists.
Royal Style’s Peaceful Hermit – Death Savvy.
And finally, Tiny Herb’s Vaccaria – Stardust Extermination.
That was it. 
The various teams were all focusing more on research into powerful silver weapons, so in the upcoming seasons, there would likely be more silver weapons and silver equipment made. But for the past two seasons, these were the only five true silver weapons.
Vaccaria and Stardust Extermination were the most overlooked of these five, because Team Tiny Herb, and the character Vaccaria, hadn’t been performing particularly well. 
This wasn’t because Vaccaria was weak, nor was it because Stardust Extermination was poor quality. It was because Vaccaria’s user, Tiny Herb’s captain Lin Jie, wasn’t skilled enough. Compared to the users of the other four god-level accounts, he could only compare to Blue Rain’s Wei Chen, whose condition last season had been in decline.
And Wei Chen, after his poor performance last season, had already abandoned his team in embarrassment – or at least that’s what the outside world had heard.
Lin Jie’s skill level wasn’t exceptional, and this was no secret. Lin Jie himself didn’t bother hiding it, and would often deprecate himself and apologize for dragging the team down.
And now, he brought up the topic of Vaccaria.
Time stood still. Wang Jiexi could hear the blood pounding in his ears as the moment seemed to drag on, forever, until the silence was finally broken by Lin Jie continuing, “The club and I both believe that giving Vaccaria to you is the best choice. But what do you think?”
“I…” Wang Jiexi would be lying if he said this opportunity wasn’t exciting. Every professional player dreamed of someday controlling a god-level account, and he was no exception.
But before he could get too carried away, he calmed down and the rational side of his brain took over. The look of disgust that had flitted across Fang Shiqian’s face was so obvious that even in his distracted state, Wang Jiexi had noticed. Now, his mind jumped to the unspoken implications of this proposal. 
“Then what about you, Captain?” he asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Fang Shiqian’s hostility lessen somewhat at this question.
“Me?” Lin Jie let out a small laugh. “Don’t worry about me for now, we’re talking about you, and if you believe that you can control Vaccaria.”
Wang Jiexi fell silent.
The earlier excitement had lasted only for those brief initial moments. This was the professional sphere, after all. In-game, getting a good drop was as simple as getting candy. But here, in Tiny Herb, getting Vaccaria meant more than just getting a powerful character. This was Tiny Herb’s star character, and so the one to control Vaccaria would be Tiny Herb’s core player.
What Tiny Herb wanted to give him wasn’t just an interesting toy. Like Lin Jie had said from the beginning, he was being offered a greater responsibility. The responsibility of being Tiny Herb’s core.
Right now, this position was held by Lin Jie, someone well suited for the role despite lacking Glory skill. This just went to show that to be the core player of a team, Glory skill wasn’t enough – you had to be able to earn everyone’s trust and respect, and bring the team together.
Could Wang Jiexi accomplish this? He didn’t respond immediately, thinking this over for several minutes in silence as the other two waited. In the end, he lifted his head and looked Lin Jie in the eyes. “I believe I can do this.”
“Great!” said Lin Jie with a broad smile. While the young player had been mulling things over, Lin Jie had started to feel nervous that Wang Jiexi would refuse, that he didn’t have enough confidence in himself. Confidence could be built, of course, but it was better that he had it from the start. Lin Jie had high expectations for this player.
It was clear now that Wang Jiexi’s silence had been consideration, not hesitation. He was not only confident but thoughtful – even better than Lin Jie had anticipated.
“Excellent,” the captain couldn’t help but reiterate. With that, he felt much more secure about his next decision. “Since that’s the case, I’ll offer you some more responsibility.”
“Huh?” The young player stared at him uncomprehendingly.
“My position as captain.”
Dead silence, then – 
“Captain?!” Wang Jiexi yelled. To his side, Fang Shiqian had leapt to his feet. 
Lin Jie had indeed changed his decision, but not in the direction that Fang Shiqian had hoped – instead, he’d gone the more drastic direction. He was giving up his captaincy to Wang Jiexi. Then what was he himself planning to do? Leave the team like Blue Rain’s Wei Chen? Absolutely no one in Tiny Herb wished to see that happen.
“You can’t do this!” Fang Shiqian said, disregarding any sort of decorum.
Wang Jiexi glanced at him, and saw the shock in his eyes, the refusal, the dismay, the… panic. He was ignoring Wang Jiexi – none of these emotions were from dissatisfaction with Wang Jiexi’s earlier answer. Now, he was focused completely on Captain Lin Jie, and nothing else.
In a flash, Wang Jiexi understood.
Fang Shiqian had been depressed these past few days because he knew beforehand that Lin Jie was planning to give up Vaccaria. It wasn’t that he was jealous of Wang Jiexi, it was just that his unhappiness with the situation as a whole manifested as a bad mood when he was around Wang Jiexi. It was a kind of “if you weren’t here, this wouldn’t be happening” attitude – admittedly childish, but he couldn’t help how he felt.
And now, Lin Jie wanted to give up his captaincy to Wang Jiexi! Fang Shiqian had no idea of this beforehand. And this decision pointed at an end result that Fang Shiqian was wholly unwilling to accept. Lin Jie was giving up his account, his status as the team’s core, his captaincy… was there any reason for him to remain in Team Tiny Herb?
There wasn’t.
This decision was Lin Jie’s way of retiring. He was planning to entrust the entirety of Tiny Herb to Wang Jiexi. 
“You can’t do this…” Fang Shiqian said once again, weakly. He knew, of course, that he had no authority in this matter, no status to say words like that. But that was just how he was. If Lin Jie wanted to give up Vaccaria and being the core, then fine. But now, he was planning to leave? Their beloved captain, the one who had taken care of all of them over these years, leading them to work hard toward the future, was planning to leave just like that?
He couldn’t accept this! He wouldn’t accept this!
Fang Shiqian shook his head, silently pleading Lin Jie to change his mind about this. But Lin Jie only smiled at him, a gentle and warm smile. Whenever Fang Shiqian performed excellently on the field, and even when he messed up, Lin Jie was always giving him that kind smile, comforting him, encouraging him. This smile made him feel at home, helped him adjust to the proplayer life, calmed him when he was upset…
“I have also already spoken about this with the club,” Lin Jie said, looking back toward Wang Jiexi. “Of course, we will respect your wishes on this matter as well.
“Even so… I do hope you will accept, because I think this is the best decision for Tiny Herb. My apologies for being somewhat selfish here, pushing all these responsibilities onto your shoulders.”
“I…” This time, Wang Jiexi was truly hesitating. He had prepared for becoming a proplayer, and he was willing to accept a powerful account and status as the team’s core. But to lead a team as its captain? And what’s more, he was still a new player – all of his teammates would be his seniors…
To be the captain, you needed much more than just skill at Glory. Not only did you have to bring people together, you had to be able to lead them in the right direction. Could Wang Jiexi really handle it?
Wishing he could stall for time, Wang Jiexi glanced to the side and saw that Fang Shiqian was nervously watching him.
Fang Shiqian knew that Lin Jie wasn’t going to change his mind. Now, there was only one chance to prevent this from happening – Wang Jiexi himself had to refuse. Lin Jie would never force him to do anything he didn’t want to do – that was just the kind of person he was.
Wang Jiexi noticed Fang Shiqian’s anticipation.
To be honest, refusing all this was a very attractive option. Wang Jiexi didn’t want to see Lin Jie leave like this either. As long as Lin Jie was still the captain of the team, then even if he was no longer the core player, he would still be that reliable compass needle guiding them in the right direction, a comforting presence to the team.
Wasn’t that the best option? 
Wang Jiexi opened his mouth to give his answer, but when he looked into Lin Jie’s eyes, he faltered. 
In Fang Shiqian’s eyes, there had been anticipation. But Lin Jie’s eyes revealed his own anticipation as well.
He hid it well – he really was trying his best not to guilt Wang Jiexi into doing anything. But it was clear what he was anticipating. Wang Jiexi wanted to decline, following both Fang Shiqian’s and his own desires. But could he really just dash Lin Jie’s hopes like that?
Lin Jie continued to smile gently and patiently, without giving any pressure. Wang Jiexi knew that if he declined, Lin Jie would swallow his disappointment and cheerfully accept Wang Jiexi’s decision, acting as though Wang Jiexi made a happy decision for everyone involved.
But that wouldn’t be the reality. Everyone would be happy, but what about Lin Jie himself?
Wang Jiexi steeled himself and opened his mouth once again.
“I accept.”
“Are you insane?!” Fang Shiqian lost his composure once more, spinning to face Wang Jiexi fully. Just then, he had been so sure that the younger player was about to refuse, but then he ended up accepting!
But Lin Jie let out a long and quiet sigh of relief, and it was as though a great weight was lifted from his shoulders. He would miss Tiny Herb dearly, of course, but that alone wasn’t a good enough reason to stay. He was a captain that could unify a team, but he wasn’t a captain that could lead a team to victory. This was the professional sphere, after all, not a game of house, and what they needed was victory. More importantly, they needed a leader that could help Tiny Herb achieve this.
Wang Jiexi was that kind of person! Lin Jie believed this wholeheartedly. 
“Then, in a bit, we’ll announce this decision in the press conference,” Lin Jie said cheerfully.
“Alright,” replied Wang Jiexi with a nod.
To the side, Fang Shiqian was stonefaced. His hands and feet felt like ice, and he was glaring at Wang Jiexi, purposely avoiding looking at the captain.
Lin Jie saw this, but could only smile helplessly. 
“There’ll be someone coming to get you in a bit,” he said. He stood up and headed toward the exit, but paused after pulling open the door.
“I was Tiny Herb’s captain for two years.” He didn’t turn back around when he spoke, only stood there facing the open doorway. Wang Jiexi and Fang Shiqian stared at his back.
“I believe that in all that time, this is my wisest and most correct decision. You all will make me proud.” With that, he departed without looking back. The door closed behind him with a quiet click.
After a long moment of staring at the door in silence, Fang Shiqian turned to see Wang Jiexi standing directly behind him.
“He never was the type of person to force others into doing something,” Wang Jiexi said, breaking the silence unexpectedly.
“What do you mean by that? Was he forcing you into this?” Fang Shiqian snapped. Accepting Vaccaria, becoming the core player, taking on the captaincy – was Wang Jiexi now saying that he hadn’t wanted any of this, that Lin Jie had shoved this onto him? Disgusting! Shameless!
But Wang Jiexi shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. He doesn’t burden other people, but he does burden himself.”
This caused Fang Shiqian to pause. Burdening himself?
The more he thought, the more he realized Wang Jiexi had a point. Lin Jie wasn’t skilled at Glory, but he was Tiny Herb’s captain and core player. Other people only saw the prestige of this position, but had no idea of the pressure he suffered as a result. To survive in the pro sphere, you needed skill. And Lin Jie endured this pressure even though he lacked skill – wasn’t this burdening himself?
But what was Wang Jiexi trying to say by bringing this up? Was he saying that Lin Jie wasn’t good enough to bear this burden, so giving it up was the obvious option?
Before Fang Shiqian could try to decipher the other’s meaning further, Wang Jiexi was already speaking again.
“So this time, let’s take some of the burden ourselves, and follow his wishes for once?”
Follow… his wishes?
Right. This was the captain’s wish – otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.
And Fang Shiqian himself? Had he been spoiled by the captain? His hope that the captain would stay was entirely selfish; he hadn’t even considered what Lin Jie himself wanted.
But Wang Jiexi had.
Fang Shiqian remembered Wang Jiexi’s expression – he had wanted to refuse the offer. But in the very end, he had accepted. Because he saw the captain’s anticipation, he changed his mind; in becoming captain, he shouldered some of the burden himself, just like Lin Jie always did for them.
Fang Shiqian looked at Wang Jiexi, and although he couldn’t bring himself to say anything, he felt that Lin Jie’s figure was overlapping with Wang Jiexi’s.
The door opened.
“You two, get ready, we’re starting soon.” Tiny Herb’s spokesman had come to call them.
“Okay, we’re coming,” Wang Jiexi replied, then, to Fang Shiqian, “Let’s go.” He started toward the door.
“Hey,” Fang Shiqian called out suddenly. The other player halted, turning to face him.
“You’d better succeed. Otherwise I’ll never forgive you,” Fang Shiqian said.
“Then you have to put in the effort as well,” Wang Jiexi replied calmly.
“Acting all captain-like already?”
“The sooner the better.”
“Then you’d better not forget, I’m still your senior,” said Fang Shiqian.
“Of course. I’ll still rely on your guidance.”
“Let’s go!”
“Let’s go.”
The two of them walked out of the lounge together. They were both very clear on what was about to happen in this press conference, and Fang Shiqian still felt some sorrow. But he had made a decision of his own. He would no longer let the captain take all the burden, he would do as the captain quietly hoped.
Farewell, Captain.
Hello, Captain. 
During the press conference, as he watched the two sitting next to him, Fang Shiqian maintained a genuine smile.
***
Tiny Herb’s Rookie Wang Jiexi Directly Becomes Team Captain, Controls Tiny Herb’s Core Account Vaccaria!
With the start of the new season, this was the hottest topic in the Glory sphere. An unknown rookie obtaining such status – what kind of mythic origin did he have? Everyone was looking forward to seeing his performance onstage.
“Eh, isn’t this that guy?!”
As it turns out, there was indeed someone who directly recognized Wang Jiexi in the televised press conference.
When he saw the news, Huang Shaotian’s jaw dropped. He had already forgotten about this guy who had claimed to be from Tiny Herb, but with the press conference he immediately remembered meeting him during last season’s finals, Excellent Era vs. Hundred Blossoms. After all, Wang Jiexi’s mismatched eyes were quite distinctive.
“Captain? Controlling the core character? This guy is that impressive?” Huang Shaotian’s outburst continued. After spending so much time in Blue Rain, he knew what these two positions truly meant. The fact that this guy managed to rise to the top just like that…
“If I recall correctly, when we met him, you told him that you’d meet him on the stage this season.” Yu Wenzhou’s voice came from behind, and Huang Shaotian jumped, startled.
“It sucks, but I guess I have to break that arrangement.” After seeing Blue Rain’s terrible defeat in the playoffs, Huang Shaotian had realized that he still wasn’t good enough, and decided to devote himself to intense training for another year before making his debut. Season 3 would see neither Huang Shaotian nor Yu Wenzhou onstage, though the latter had recognized early on that he wasn’t yet ready.
“In that case, he’ll already have a year’s head start on you. Shouldn’t you be training now?” Yu Wenzhou said, smiling. 
“I’m coming, I’m coming. Man, Captain’s training regimen is so complicated,” he said, pouting as he walked to Yu Wenzhou’s side. The captain in question was no longer Wei Chen, but Fang Shijing, who had taken control of Swoksaar and would be leading Blue Rain this season. But everyone knew that Fang Shijing was only a placeholder for these two youths – this summer, hardly a day had gone by without the club asking how they were doing.
At the door, Huang Shaotian paused and looked back at the television, which was still replaying scenes from Tiny Herb’s press conference. He raised a finger and pointed at the face of Tiny Herb’s new captain.
“Season 4. We’ll meet on the stage.”
***
“Rookie, Captain, core player? Is he really all that amazing, or is Tiny Herb just getting desperate?” In their first match of the season, Tiny Herb would be facing off against Team Royal Style, a powerhouse team and the runner-ups of season 1. In the waiting room for the match, Royal Style’s captain Lu Liang was skimming an article analyzing this match-up.
Someone in the team chuckled. “With their previous captain’s skill level, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were feeling pretty desperate!”
Everyone laughed. The joke was mean, but true – it was no secret that Lin Jie was probably the weakest among the captains.
“Lin Jie is truly a good person, but his skill…” Lu Liang didn’t need to continue. “Anyway, we’ll see what this match holds in store!”
“It’s just a rookie, aren’t you being a little dramatic?” someone asked, smirking.
“Don’t make the opponent cry!”
Another round of laughter, and Lu Liang didn’t stop them. After all, no matter how skilled this person was, he was still a rookie. It wasn’t proper – wasn’t “cool” – to take this too seriously.
At the same time, the atmosphere in the Tiny Herb waiting room was much colder.
This was their first match of the season, one that was attracting much attention. The team members all knew that Lin Jie held Wang Jiexi in high regard, and they did want to trust in the decision Lin Jie made. But now, about to take on this high-profile match, even the veterans of the team who had already played for two seasons couldn’t relax. The amount of pressure on Wang Jiexi was unfathomable. And since he was a captain, he had the responsibility to stay strong under pressure and direct the team members. In a situation like this, were the team members supposed to comfort or encourage the captain? Everyone felt that this wasn’t proper, but they didn’t know what they could do in this situation.
“Hey, this is our first match, are you ready?” In the end, it was Fang Shiqian spoke up, with no comfort, with no encouragement, in fact with something like belligerence in his tone.
“Is everyone ready?” Instead of answering, Wang Jiexi directed this question at the assembled team.
This threw some people off. We’re worried about you, new captain!
“Let’s work hard together,” said Wang Jiexi.
“Yes!” Everyone nodded.
“You better work even harder,’” Fang Shiqian added. “You have to prove that Captain’s decision was correct!” The “Captain” in question referred, of course, to Lin Jie – as of now, Fang Shiqian had yet to address Wang Jiexi as “Captain.” Lin Jie had left Tiny Herb shortly after the press conference, carefree and content, lightly deflecting all questions of his future plans. He’d said farewell without much fanfare.
And now, hearing Fang Shiqian act like this, the other Tiny Herb players felt like they wanted to cry. Refusing to offer comfort or encouragement was one thing, but you’re actually adding to the pressure on Wang Jiexi? Are you even his teammate?
Wang Jiexi only nodded and made a noise of acknowledgement. There was no point in saying more. Everything would be revealed onstage.
“It’s about time, let’s go!”
The two teams in the waiting rooms received this heads-up at around the same time, and they filed into the passageway leading to the stage. It was here that the two teams met.
“You are Wang Jiexi?” Lu Liang spoke to the player next to him, the new player who was leading Team Tiny Herb.
“I am,” Wang Jiexi confirmed. He was keenly aware of the curiosity everyone held regarding him, and noticed how the members of Royal Style were craning their necks to get a look at him, some even on their tiptoes.
“Are you nervous?” Lu Liang asked. This was a question that a senior would ask a rookie, and definitely wasn’t something commonly said between team captains. With this question, there was faint snickering from the Royal Style crowd.
“I’m alright,” Wang Jiexi replied neutrally. 
“Looking forward to seeing your performance on the field,” Lu Liang said, in a similarly detached tone.
“Likewise.”
“We won’t disappoint,” said Lu Liang, smiling. He disliked this new player already.
***
The audience was abuzz with speculation about Tiny Herb’s new captain. They waited eagerly for his appearance – normally, the core character of a team would anchor the group competition of the match, so if this Wang Jiexi followed the pattern, it’d be a while before they got to see him. 
Royal Style’s Lu Liang was a god-level player, and so of course he would be anchoring for his team. He hoped that he could face Wang Jiexi in a 1v1 match, but first, Wang Jiexi would have to be in the group competition, and second, Tiny Herb would have to defeat Royal Style’s first two members.
The match began, but it seemed like everyone was simply waiting for Wang Jiexi to appear. Hardly anyone was really paying attention to the individual battles except to note that Wang Jiexi wasn’t in any of them.
Soon enough, the group competition began. First up – not Wang Jiexi. A few minutes later, that player fell in defeat. Number two entered, but still no sign of the rookie captain.
Seemed like Wang Jiexi would indeed be anchoring. But right now, Tiny Herb was on their second player while Royal Style still hadn’t lost anyone. What was the meaning in defeating an almost-dead Vaccaria? Lu Liang had feared this outcome earlier, which may have been arrogant then, but was seeming plausible right now.
However, Royal Style’s first player lost and up came their second player, Zhang Lin, controlling a Spitfire. After dropping to half health, he was able to defeat Tiny Herb’s second. It was finally time to see Tiny Herb’s anchor.
Who would it be?
Everyone waited with bated breath. If this wasn’t Wang Jiexi, not only would everyone would be very disappointed, they would also begin to doubt his supposed position as the core player.
At last, they saw the name flash on the screen.
Wang Jiexi.
The third player in the group competition, the most common position for the core player of a team. As the captain, Wang Jiexi arranged this himself.
The challenge facing him now was quite high. Royal Style’s Zhang Lin still had half his health left, and after him, there was the god-level player Lu Liang and his Peaceful Hermit at full health. Even those who had high hopes for Wang Jiexi doubted that he could pull off this victory. If it were Ye Qiu, then maybe there’d be a chance. But for a rookie player?
“Hey…” As Cleric, Fang Shiqian didn’t participate in the individual or group competitions, but he opened his mouth now. Everyone on Tiny Herb gave him a look. This guy wasn’t seriously thinking of adding to the pressure on Wang Jiexi right now, was he? No one would blame Wang Jiexi if he failed to win this round. 
In the end, Fang Shiqian simply said this. “Don’t embarrass yourself.” 
Wang Jiexi only smiled and entered the stage. 
This would be his very first battle as a proplayer.
He could hear the audience in the stadium getting louder now that he entered the stage. Before, he had only been able to feel and participate in the audience’s excitement. Now, he was its director.
So be it!
The surroundings were noisy, but his heart was calm. Wang Jiexi absently wondered if his former captain was watching this match from somewhere. 
Lin Jie would see, with his own two eyes, that he had made a correct decision.
***
Fourth battle of the group arena, begin!
"Newbie captain, I'm coming! To serve as your first opponent, I'm truly honored." Royal Style's Zhang Lin begin trashtalking in the match channel as soon as the battle began.
"Coming." Wang Jiexi didn't ignore him completely, instead replying calmly as Vaccaria rushed outward.
Zhang Lin didn't control his Flash Save to meet him directly, instead choosing to circle around.
A face-to-face battle wouldn't allow the newbie to truly taste the cruelty of the Pro League. Of course, he had to let him experience pro-level trickery and strategy!
After calculating Vaccaria's approximate movement speed, he selected a good position and began to lie hidden in wait. Through a narrow gap, he could see Vaccaria already rushing straight along the center road.
In the end, he's still just a newbie!
Zhang Lin couldn't help but think this after seeing Vaccaria sweep past Flash Save's hiding place just like that. Flash Save was already prepared to jump out and ambush Vaccaria from behind.
But in the stadium, in front of televisions and computers, everywhere where there were people watching the match, there were already sounds of exclamation.
Because just as Vaccaria had passed the point where Flash Save lay hidden, he had changed direction, riding his broom up into the air. Zhang Lin controlled Flash Save to jump out and ambush, gun at the ready, only to find in shock that there was no one in front of him.
Crack!
The next thing he heard was the sound of a breaking glass bottle, and flickering tongues of flame danced before his eyes. Vaccaria had broken a Lava Flask right over Flash Save's head.
Zhang Lin already knew where his opponent had vanished, and as he jumped to the side he was already lifting his camera view and pointing his gun at the sky. But – nothing!
He wasn't in the air?
Had he seen a ghost? Had the Lava Flask not been dropped from this direction?
Zhang Lin was once again dumbstruck. But the audience members had seen clearly that long before he'd raised his view, Vaccaria had already flown over Flash Save's head. Now, he was behind him.
Pa!
Stardust Extermination was a cool and flashy name, but it was still a broom in the end. This back attack swept Flash Save from head to toe, very thoroughly, and then back up in the other direction – Sweep!
A Witch's knockup skill.
Not only had Flash Save been attacked from behind, he was now sent flying up into the air.
And then there was Disperse Powder, Frost Powder… all sorts of magic powder swirled through the air, and Stardust Extermination continually danced around as though trying to sweep them up. With an endless stream of "papapa's" the broom landed again and again upon Flash Save's body, hit after hit until all his health was gone.
"Fuck!" Zhang Lin, still shocked, couldn't help but swear aloud.
He lost?
He lost just like that?
He was also a pro player who had played two years in the Pro League. But now, without even seeing the shadow of his opponent, he was killed just like that?
Zhang Lin was so shocked that he was no longer thinking clearly. He had seen Vaccaria, after all, when he had been gleefully lying in wait as Vaccaria rushed passed him.
"What happened?" Zhang Lin asked his teammates as he returned to the player area. He almost suspected Wang Jiexi of cheating somehow.
His teammates didn't explain much, merely pointing to the large display screen in the stadium so that Zhang Lin could watch for himself. The display was currently replaying how Flash Save had been thrashed to death by Vaccaria in one go. The Spitfire had been at half health and had been at a disadvantage at close range, but to be directly combo hit to death was still somewhat embarrassing and pitiful.
"That guy, how did he know where I was?" After watching the replay, Zhang Lin still didn't understand how Wang Jiexi had detected his ambush.
"He didn't know your exact position, but after he charged forward directly and didn't see you, he guessed that you were waiting to ambush him. So he immediately took to the air, and then you yourself jumped out, and then, it was what you saw…" a teammate answered. This was the conclusion they had drawn after watching the match.
"This… a coincidence?" Zhang Lin didn't know what to say. It just happened that he jumped out at the same time that his opponent jumped up, and then the opponent was faster in discovering and attacking him?
"Not really," said his teammate. "Even if you hadn't jumped out, he had flown up high enough to spot you…"
"The opponent was a Witch, and the position you chose…" Everyone shook their heads. But in reality, when Zhang Lin had initially chosen his position, no one had immediately thought that it was a thoughtless choice.
"He's just a newbie… How could I have known…" Zhang Lin tried to justify himself. He had underestimated the opponent somewhat. Maybe that was why he had chosen a position without 100% care? That was what he thought.
The discussion ended there, as the next battle of the group arena was about to begin. Royal Style's main general Lu Liang was coming forward, to face Wang Jiexi's full health Vaccaria. In his victory just now, he hadn't lost a single bit of health.
Normally Lu Liang would have been glad to face this situation, but seeing Wang Jiexi so easily kill off Royal Style's half-health character, he was quite upset.
"Little brat, looks like you have some skill!" As soon as he entered the match, Lu Liang sent a message in the chat. He was prepared to use his status as senior to give Wang Jiexi a good lesson, and so he didn't do what Zhang Lin had done with setting up an ambush. Lu Liang controlled Peaceful Hermit to head straight forward on the center road, and he saw Vaccaria riding his broom and flying forward in the same manner.
"Come on, show me what you got." Lu Liang's Peaceful Hermit stood still without attacking, waiting for Vaccaria to advance so that he could react and take control.
"Coming." Wang Jiexi didn't turn down the invitation. When Vaccaria was within five body-lengths of Peaceful Hermit, he suddenly let loose a Magic Missile.
"That's it?" As Lu Liang typed the message, he easily dodged to the side, already ready to counterattack. But just as his camera view wavered as he dodged, Wang Jiexi suddenly pulled into the air, out of Lu Liang's field of view.
"This again?" Lu Liang tapped on the keyboard, along with a smirking emoji. There was still no effect on his control of his character.
Rising Emblem!
Peaceful Hermit drew an arc with his scythe Death Savvy, and a ring of blue light instantly rose upward. He didn't even raise his view to look, simply relying on this Rising Emblem to snatch Vaccaria down.
But in this moment.
Again, in the stadium, in front of televisions and computers, everywhere where there were people watching the match, there was a collective gasp.
Vaccaria, Vaccaria riding on his broom in the air. Just as the blue light of the Rising Emblem rose upward, he suddenly swung his broom and swerved his body to the side. Another sweep of the broom, and Vaccaria dropped rapidly through the air.
With that, the light of Rising Emblem brushed right past Vaccaria. It looked as though he had glided down upon that light.
It was at this time that Lu Liang's Peaceful Hermit finally looked up. He was already prepared for the next step of the attack, and Vaccaria of course should currently be lifted into the air by the Rising Emblem.
Crack!
Pa!
Two consecutive sounds.
The 'crack' was a Lava Flask, slamming right into Peaceful Hermit's upturned face.
The 'pa' was Stardust Extermination, sweeping onto his face right after the Lava Flask
Lu Liang's vision instantly went dark – how could it not, with a broom in his face? He immediately tried to control his character to back away, but then his body was swept once again.
Sweep!
It was this knockup skill again. And so, Peaceful Hermit was also lifted into the air.
The entire process had been different – changing direction midair, sliding down the light of Rising Emblem, it had been much more exciting than the back attack against Zhang Lin's Flash Save, but the end result was the same. Lava Flask to the head, sweep from head to toe, and then a Sweep into the air.
And after that?
And after that, magic powder swirled in the air, and the broom's endless "papapa" rang out once again.
No way?
The audience was stunned. Was Lu Liang also about to be beaten to death like this?
No, of course not.
Lu Liang wasn't Zhang Lin.
And an Exorcist wasn't a Spitfire.
He was currently suffering a midair combo, but Lu Liang still found an opportunity very quickly.
Star Fall!
Since Peaceful Hermit was already in the air, he was saved the time of having to throw up his weapon. As soon as the skill activated, Death Savvy shot down like a falling star straight toward Vaccaria.
But Vaccaria swung his broom once again, and the falling star went just past his body. He swung twice more, changing his direction and movement path twice, and Lu Liang's mouse almost flew out of his hand as he twisted his view to follow.
Couldn't keep up, his view couldn't keep up with Vaccaria's movements. Because Peaceful Hermit as still in the air, his body didn't have full freedom of movement. He could only twist his neck a bit to look around, and so of course he couldn't find the desired angle. Glory was just that realistic.
And Wang Jiexi was someone who had accurate judgment of this realism. After dodging the Star Fall, Vaccaria changed directions twice and in the blink of an eye had flashed to Lu Liang's blind spot.
"This guy… is he doing magic?" In the live audience, someone couldn't help but exclaim.
"Magic?" Former Tiny Herb Captain Lin Jie, sitting not too far away, heard this sentiment and agreed. "That's right, that's a very good comparison. How come I never thought of it?"
On the battlefield, the slapping sound of the broom resumed. The Witch's specialty was the ability to use all sorts of magic tools. But in this current confrontation, what everyone saw more of was Vaccaria's unbelievable yet incredibly accurate positioning. At first, everyone simply thought that the varied moves were enjoyable to watch, but after the broadcast showed some shots from Lu Liang's point of view, everyone finally realized how miserable this sort of positioning was for Wang Jiexi's opponent. Lu Liang, this fairly experienced god-level player, was being driven crazy by Wang Jiexi. Eighty percent of the time, his view didn't contain a shadow of Vaccaria's presence. His counter moves were steadily becoming more and more chaotic, but they still didn't create any noticeable threat.
No. To be accurate, it wasn't that they were completely ineffective.
The Rising Emblem at the start of the match, and the Star Fall he'd used right after the first time he'd been knocked up…
These sorts of responses, for most people, were effective counters. When hit with a Rising Emblem, they would likely be sent right into the air; when hit with a Star Fall, they would likely be struck to the ground.
But Wang Jiexi wasn't.
Relying on his pinpoint accuracy in positioning, no matter if it was Rising Emblem or Star Fall, he'd evaded them all. In fact, it seemed like these attacks only served to further display his weapons, weapons that allowed his magic-like movement to become even more dazzlingly beautiful.
Just like that, Lu Liang lost. His only accomplishment was that Wang Jiexi hadn't killed him with full health remaining. In the end, Vaccaria had still lost some health as a result of his counters.
***
Deafening silence.
Lu Liang, the god-level player, had been beaten so soundly?
Wang Jiexi, what was up with his Witch playstyle?
For a long time, there was silence in the stadium, with only the commentator shouting with passion and effort.
“Magic!” The comparison had come to his mind out of nowhere, but he thought it quite fitting, and he immediately latched onto it. “This was truly a show of magic!” 
“Right, that really was like magic…” The crowd began to murmur, agreeing with this assessment. When Wang Jiexi walked out and faced the crowd, the applause finally began, as well as cheers, and chanting – “Magic! Magic!”
In that moment, Wang Jiexi’s playstyle became known as magic.
On that day, Wang Jiexi earned his nickname, “the Magician.”
“This is nothing.” Hidden in the cheering audience, Lin Jie sat grinning from ear to ear. “This upcoming season – now that’ll be the real time for witnessing miracles!”
~END~
more notes:
1) The author said that he messed up in writing the prologue, forgetting that he’d made Guo Mingyu the captain of Royal Style when writing the main novel; here, we have a new character Lü Liang (which I’ve written as Lu Liang, because even though they’re pronounced differently, typing accents is a pain) as Royal Style’s captain and core player. I’m not sure if he ever cleared up what was truly “canon.” I’m translating this as it is, but you can form your own headcanons / mental corrections as you please.
1.5) According to main novel, Wei Chen-era Swoksaar’s Silver Weapon should be Death’s Hand, and Curse of Destruction was only made for Yu Wenzhou later. However, BB probably forgot that detail while writing this (as he tends to do).
2) UPDATE (in case you missed in the beginning): read the fight here; thanks for the translation! 
3) UPDATE 2: a tiny headcanon snippet, post s5
4) UPDATE 3 (3.18.19) Now experienced, I have translated the fight myself - it is inserted into the appropriate spot in this post.
(original: I skipped Wang Jiexi’s actual fights because my Chinese isn’t good enough (too much technical terminology and such that I can barely understand myself… I wouldn’t do them justice). I apologize, but please just imagine two epic fights during which Royal Style (and the audience) slowly realizes that they have severely underestimated this rookie.)
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