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speechlessxx · 4 years

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Bring Him Light - xi (King!Steve Rogers x Reader)

Chapter Summary: The reader reaches the second stage of grief – anger.

Warnings: angry!reader, reader’s mood swings rival Steve’s LMAO, fluff, angst

Word Count: 2.5k

<- Last Part -=+=- Next Part ->

The summer sun was unrelenting. Beads of sweat appeared around your hairline as the sun scorched the parts of your skin that was exposed to its heated stare. The parts that were hidden were being scratched by the lace of the loose black gown you wore. The dress was ill-fitting, but no one expected you to dress to the nines after everything you’ve endured.

The kingdom may not have known the entirety of the story. Tales of the runaway queen were still whispered along with the stories of the cruel king. However, the rumors of the unhappy marriage were being put to rest for despite the hot day, your husband stood behind you with his arms wrapped around your body. He was the closest thing to comfort during this troubling morning. You laid the back of your head against his chest as silent tears rolled down your cheeks. The carriage in which your friend’s body was enclosed in was being sent to York to be put to rest alongside her parents. You cried silently for your loss as you said your final goodbye.

The rest of the day, you asked to be alone with your thoughts, opting to stay within your shared bedchamber. He wanted to stay with you, but you told him that he had a country to manage. Your husband didn’t like the idea of you being isolated – especially with Natasha riding off to York with Pietro. You would be completely alone.

But you faked a smile to your husband, trying to convince him you were fine. Steven knew otherwise. He felt as if he were attuned to your emotions by now. He could differentiate a fake smile from a genuine one. He knew this was only the calm to the storm. But he didn’t want to hover nor make you feel trapped. So, he reluctantly left you be.

He did, however, send food up with a servant. The woman stood at your door, a tray with hot soup and a loaf of bread in her hands. She gave you a kind smile and said, “the king would wish that you eat, your grace.”

You returned her smile and shook your head. “I’m not hungry.”

Her kind smile turned nervous as she chuckled. “I’m afraid he insists, your grace.”

“Tell my husband he can shove that hot soup right up his arse,” you chided as you closed the door, refusing to let her in despite her protests. You didn’t see the woman’s wide eyes as the color drained from her face. She was not excited to relay that message to her king – though she did still do it.

Minutes later, your husband barged into the room with the same tray in hand. You were in the balcony, paying him no mind. “You should be kinder to the servants,” he called out to you. “Who knows what rumors you’ll inspire?”

“Killer queen, perhaps? You’ve already taken the moniker of cruel, unfortunately.” You joked. He chuckled as he placed the tray on the foot of your shared bed and walked over to your spot on the balcony. You turned to him and gaped at him in shock.

“I am willing to trade,” Steve smiled as his arms wrapped around your waist.

“You’ve shaved.” You whispered. Your hands cupped his cheeks, grazing over the ghost of his beard.

“I thought perhaps I could use a change… Welcome a new era,” he told you. He gave you a peck on the lips.

“I liked the beard.” You whispered. “I thought you looked rather dashing.”

“Then, I will grow it out again,” Steven promised. “Come, let’s get some food in you.” You shook your head and told him you were not hungry. However, the untimely grumbling of your stomach told him otherwise. He smirked, knowing he had won. You groaned as he pulled you inside. “Did teasing the servant bring you any joy? You should’ve seen her face when she told me what you said.”

“So, I take it you did not shove a bowl of hot soup into your – “

“No.” Steve laughed, breaking a piece of the loaf and pushing it towards your lips. With a roll of your eyes, you allowed your husband to feed you. He’d alternate between the bread and the cooling soup.

“I can feed myself.” You muttered after the fourth spoonful.

“Then, don’t act like a child.” Steven scolded. Although you tried to take the spoon away from him, he reeled his arm from your reach and tutted at you.

He continued to spoon feed you, sometimes dipping bits of bread into the soup. You had never seen a massive man like your husband – muscular and intimidating, from first glance – act so soft… His movements were careful, not trying to overload you with food nor make a mess.

A somber feeling rushed through you as you pictured what he would’ve been like doting on his child. You pictured a sweet little angel with golden locks and his blue eyes, or perhaps they’ll have your features? Maybe a mixture of both of you? You imagined the baby that once grew inside of you was a baby girl. A princess, like her mother. You would’ve been a dream.

A dream that you lost forever.

Steven frowned as he saw your eyes glaze over with fresh, new tears. You blinked them away quickly, but they were relentless like the summer heat. He cast aside the spoon and pulled you into his chest, knowing the storm had finally come as you let out a sob.

He rubbed your back and told you it would be okay – although, he wasn’t sure if it’ll ever be okay.

In all his years on the throne, he had lost many friends. Some were so angry with him for letting Margaret control him for a decade that they refused to come back to court. Some had died alongside him on the many battlefields he’s fought in. He remembered the time when James, his oldest friend and closest confidant, had been on his deathbed. Thankfully, he recovered. Every loss – and near loss – affected him. Hell, the thought that you were lost at sea forever made him go on a rampage.

He knew he couldn’t possibly know what you were going through. He’s seen his friends and allies be struck down during battle, but to have witness your friend’s assault and to have her bleed out in front of you? To have the same nearly done to you and to experience losing your unborn child alone all in the span of a few hours?

His heart broke for you. He was angry for you. But he knew you didn’t need him unleashing his wrath – especially with the two traitors who deserved his ire were still at large. He knew you needed support. You needed your husband.

And he was more than happy to be there for you.

»»————-　⚜　————-««

You eventually fell asleep in his arms. The servant had come in to collect the tray. She couldn’t help but smile when she saw her king and queen wrapped up in each other. She had never seen him more content – happy.

As the sun slowly began to set, Steven had slowly drifted off to sleep as well. Until Lord Barnes and Wilson barged in through the doors. The two sleeping monarchs jolted awake.

“Apologizes, your majesties,” James said, bowing.

“You’re back.” Steven responded as you sat up.

“Where did he go?” You wondered aloud.

“I’ve finally captured him.” James said. The vague statement made you uneasy. More secrets being withheld from you.

“Who?” You asked. Steven had finally told you the truth, and you no longer wanted to be kept in the dark about anything.

“Brock?” Your husband asked. The dark haired man nodded. You felt your blood run hot as you stumbled out of your husband’s arms and out of the bed. Your bare feet met the cold floor, sending a shiver through you as you remembered when you and Wanda ran barefoot in the corridors at night. “(Y/N) – “Steve called you, but you shook your head.

“I want to see him.” You argued. “I need to see him.”

“I don’t think that’s ideal, your grace,” Sam suggested. “Perhaps, this is a matter that the king should handle.”

“No.” You snapped, narrowing your eyes at the three men, who were all keen to protect you from this man. “I will see him.”

James opened his mouth to offer a rebuttal, but Steven raised his hand to silence his friend. He knew you needed this – any sense of closure was better than none.

The two lords led you and the king through the halls. James had explained that in order to not make a scene, he opted to stash Rumlow in the cellar. Brock Rumlow was a lord, a nobleman – and as much as Steve hated it, he did have royal blood running through his veins, too. Although striking him down for all the world to see would’ve sent a clear message – that all traitors would not be forgiven and that their actions will incite consequences, regardless of status – it would’ve been best to handle the situation discreetly. It would’ve speculation versus the words of a nobleman, after all.

Before entering the cellar, Steven looked over at you. The despair and sorrow were gone. There was still a hint of the tears made evident by the puffy eyes and flushed cheeks, but the look of determination took over your features – brows scrunched together, lips pursed. He knew there were a million things going on in your mind at this very moment. Still protective, the king subtly pushed you behind him as he entered the cellar. Behind you were the two lords.

The cellar’s walls were covered with barrels. There were two guards standing on either side of a man wrapped in chains. He was kneeling on the floor from what you could tell.

“Ah, Stevie,” Brock mocked, chuckling a little. “Barnes ever-so gently requested that I immediately return to the castle. I had to refuse. My estate had a small little fire. But, again, he was so kind in his request, I had to come back… Did you miss me, cousin?”

“You ran from your crimes. Do not deny it, cousin,” Steven spat.

“Your estate was perfectly intact.” James added. “Your servants said that you were in a rush to leave. Packing away your belongings as if there was a fire.”

“You along with Pierce conspired to have my wife killed.” Steven snapped.

“I don’t think I know what crimes you speak of…” Brock said.

“You know,” you finally said. The room became stoic and silent as you moved from behind your husband. The lord stared at you in shock. “Like seeing a ghost, isn’t it, Brock?”

“You – you – “He stuttered. “Your grace.” He greeted, less confidently, bowing his head. You stared at him as your blood boiled. You remembered his caring touches. His small smiles and whispers, promising you safety. It was all a lie like the respect he threw your way.

Rumlow had various bruises lined on his face along with a puffed lip. He looked as if he were beaten. The thought of someone being tortured and harmed used to unsettle you, but now as you stared at one of the men who took advantage of your vulnerability – one of the men who put you on the boat, knowing the outcome would’ve ended with your dead body in the sea – all you could think of was good. He deserves it.

“Did you know?” You asked. Of course, you knew the answer. You wanted him to admit it. Admit it you – admit it your husband, to the guards, and the two loyal lords. You wanted to hear him say that he knowingly betrayed you and the crown.

“I – I – I don’t know what you mean,” Brock muttered. He adverted his eyes from your angry glare. The wife of his cousin – the wife he would’ve had, had Steven died from his several illnesses as a child – had an unnerving look on her face. He remembered your kind and thankful smiles when he spoke to you. It was long gone.

“You know.” You pushed. You felt tears prick in your eyes and you made no effort in concealing them. You were grieving. Not only for the loss of your friend but for the loss of your child as well. You were enraged. Everyone in the room could tell – could sense it. Even the two guards were afraid of you. You stalked over to Brock. “Look me in the eyes, Brock,” you scolded as you grabbed a fistful of his hair and craned his neck so that he met your angry eyes. “Look me in the eyes and tell me.”

Brock knew from the moment he agreed with Alexander Pierce to start conspiring against the king that one day, he would meet his cousin’s anger. Earlier in his years on the council, he was afraid of his cousin.

The skinny little prince had grown up to be tall, broad, and muscular. The ballads painted him as an Adonis who was strong as a bull, and his cousin made good on those depictions. He had fought alongside him in many battles. He had seen Steven tear into his foes. He’d witnessed the king’s ruthlessness on the battlefield firsthand.

Brock groomed himself to be accustomed Steven’s violence. As the years wore on, he became desensitized to it. He prepared himself for the day that Steven did strike him down or lock him away in the dungeon like the other traitors. He was prepared for the axe, sword, and torture.

He was not prepared for the woman who seethed in front of him.

He didn’t even think you had the capability to be as malicious as your husband – and quite honestly, neither did you. But circumstances changed. Lives have been lost. And you were enraged in a way you hadn’t felt before.

“You won’t?” You chuckled humorlessly when the man on his knees refused to speak. Every man around you was silent. You relented your grip in his hair as you stood up straight. “Very well.” You gestured to the guard on your right. “Cut his throat.”

“Wait,” Brock begged. “Wait, your grace – (Y/N) – “

The guard pulled out a dagger and held it to his throat when you laughed again. “Wait, stop.” The armored man held the blade centimeters away from the lord’s neck. You smiled at him wickedly. “Is that fear I sense in you, Rumlow?” Your brows knitted together. “Is that fear, my love?” You asked, turning around to your husband who enjoyed seeing his cousin squirm.

“I believe so,” Steven nodded, an equally wicked smile on his own face.

You bent down so that you were at the chained man’s level. You nodded to the guard, who pulled the blade away from his throat. You grabbed Rumlow’s hair again and gave him another sinister smile.

“You and Lord Pierce preyed upon my vulnerability and fears. You tried to turn me against my husband and in doing so, my friend died. My child died,” You spat.

The lord’s eyes widening in realization. He was not only dealing with the aggressions of a betrayed friend, of a queen who survived an attack but of an unhinged, grieving mother who lost her child.

“You may not admit your plans… Not yet. But you will. You may know my husband’s wrath inside and out, but you have not seen mine.”

#steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #king!steve rogers #king!steve rogers x reader #king!steve rogers imagine #chris evans #chris evans x reader #chris evans imagine #captain america #captain america imagine #captain america x reader #marvel au #marvel royalty #royalty au

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lemonpeter · 3 years

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Secrets Kept pt 2

Part 1 here

Sorry for the wait everyone but here it finally is 💕 I hope everyone enjoys (and doesn’t hate me too much :)) 💕

Warnings: manipulation, abuse, noncon elements, blackmail, angst

————

A bitter taste flooded Tony’s mouth as he saw the headline.

‘Stark’s Ex Moved On.’ The heartless caption was paired with a picture. A picture of his Peter with some blond asshole with his arm around Peter’s waist. Definitely cozy. Couldn’t have been the first time they’d done this.

Tony couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same guy that Peter cheated with.

The thought was painful and unwanted, but it stuck in his mind like it was pinned there. It circulated through, latching onto his insecurities and hurt as it went.

He shook his head like that would help it leave. It didn’t.

He sighed softly, looking over the picture one more time like the masochist that he was. Yep. It was still there. Peter was definitely cuddled up to that guy.

Well, good for him.

———

“Come on, I’d rather just stay here,” Peter argued, gently cleaning himself up so that he didn’t have to look at Skip as he talked. “I’m perfectly okay here with May.”

The blond sighed, shaking his head. “Maybe you think you’d rather stay here, but we always have to be so careful here. I’d be able to be gentler and slower and all that if we didn’t always have to rush like we do here.” He quickly got dressed, leaving silence for Peter to think about his proposal.

It wasn’t really true and he knew it, but he didn’t feel like taking Peter kicking and screaming. He could at least try to convince the man to come willingly.

Peter paused, thinking through it as he gently pulled his clothes back on once he was clean. Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Sure, he didn’t really want to live with his abuser. But maybe he’d end up with less bruising and overall pain if they didn’t have to be so quick when they got together.

He couldn’t believe that he was actually considering it.

Skip sensed the younger man’s indecision and grinned to himself. “I know, Einstein. Doesn’t that sound better? Going slower, not having to rush things?” He slid his hands over the man’s arms, ignoring the way he shuddered. “Plus we could really be together. Have the whole boyfriend experience.”

It felt like ice water had been dumped through Peter’s veins. “You are not my boyfriend. We’re not together.” He was only Tony’s. He was supposed to be Tony’s forever. He didn’t want anyone else. But especially not Skip.

“Right.” He huffed softly. He gripped Peter’s arms gently, but enough to get the point across. “But I say we are. The tabloids say we are.” Possessive kisses trailed down the younger man’s neck. “And we’ve already determined that you go along with what I say.”

It wasn’t true. At least...Peter didn’t want for it to be true. He didn’t want to go along with anything Skip wanted.

A hard bite to his neck caused him to whimper when he didn’t answer. Skip didn’t like when he didn’t answer. “I know,” he whispered. He hoped that was answer enough.

When he didn’t feel teeth sinking into his flesh again he figured his answer was acceptable.

But then he felt greedy hands pushing up his shirt and feeling over every individual muscle they could find. He’d thought their last round would be the last for the day. But apparently Skip had other plans and was already ready to go again.

Nausea clawed at Peter’s throat but he did nothing to stop the other man, standing still and not helping or stopping in any way. He just wanted it over with. At least it never lasted long.

But suddenly the hands stopped and all weight pulled away from his body.

“I’ll help you start packing,” Skip told him. It was clear that there was no room for argument. Peter was moving again and that was that. He got no say.

“I don’t have any boxes,” he said weakly.

“Then we’ll only take what you need. A bag of clothes, toothbrush, phone charger. Whatever.” The older man waved a hand, effectively brushing him off.

Peter’s stomach clenched. He didn’t want to go with Skip. Everything else was bad enough. But at least he had his own bed to sleep in at night. And he had things around that reminded him of Tony.

He wouldn’t get either of those things anymore.

As he carried his too-small bag of things out to Skip’s car, tears streamed down his face and he had to stop halfway to try and breathe through his choked sobs. He didn’t want to go. Terror shredded his heart as he thought about how much worse things could be if Skip had constant access to him.

The older man gripped his arm when he stopped, yanking him close. “You’re causing a scene,” he hissed. “If anyone saw you, they’d call the cops. And you know what’ll happen if that goes down.”

Peter didn’t want to care. He wanted to just say fuck it and let Tony see the pictures. Hell, let the whole world see the pictures. He didn’t want to care.

But he didn’t want anyone to know how he’d been used. How much he’d been through. How disgusting and dirty he was. Tony wouldn’t want him if he knew. No one would want him if they found out.

So he couldn’t fight.

He put his bag in the car and then went back to May’s to leave a note.

He wanted to beg for help. To tell her where he’d be and to call the police.

But Skip was over his shoulder, watching every word he wrote. So he couldn’t do anything.

He left a simple note. Nothing that would cause his aunt to worry. He’d caused her enough stress during his life and he didn’t want to add any to it.

‘Hey, May. Going to live with Skip for a while. I’ll be sure to visit. I love you.’

His hands shook as he set the note down, vision blurring as his eyes filled with tears again.

————

The last person that May expected to have knocking at her door was Tony Stark.

Well, maybe not the last person. But he was up there.

Her jaw set as soon as she saw him, instantly moving to close the door again. “You’re not welcome here, Stark.”

“I know you don’t like me. I know. And I know I fucked up. But I have to see him, Mrs. Parker. Please.”

The desperation in his voice was something she’d never heard from the man. This was far from the confident, cocky person she usually saw. This man sounded every bit of heartbroken that Peter did.

Although Peter seemed to have moved on a lot quicker.

She sighed as she opened the door, arms crossed. “He isn’t here. So unless you have another reason you’re here, you should be on your way.”

Tony had never been someone she completely approved of. She didn’t believe that he’d changed all that much from being a playboy. But he’d made Peter happy so she tried to push down any bias.

Once he’d broken her nephew’s heart, however, she was okay with being harsher towards him. But the man she was seeing wasn’t the man she disapproved of. So she didn’t know exactly how to react.

Tony’s face fell as she told him that Peter wasn’t there. He’d expected a reunion, a conversation, maybe even Peter coming home.“When will he be back? I can wait.”

“He doesn’t live here anymore.” She sniffed, obviously disapproving of the situation. “Moved in with his new boyfriend a few days ago. No warning, nothing. Just gone.”

“He doesn’t...he doesn’t live here?” It had taken Peter months to be convinced to move in with Tony. Just how long had he known this other guy that he was willing to go so quick?

May shook her head. “That’s what I said. He’s gone. Hasn’t even visited yet. Called yesterday but not for long.” She shook her head. “Don’t know what’s gotten into him. I thought he’d finished with the rebellion shit when he finally told me about Spider-Man. But no, had to get with you, had to find this new-“ she cut herself off, sighing.

“You don’t like the new guy?” Tony asked. “Is he the one in the pictures?”

“The pictures...Stark, don’t tell me you’ve been looking at tabloids. You have to be above that. You’ve been in the spotlight how long?”

Tony didn’t look at her. “I haven’t talked to him, I couldn’t help it. It’s all I’ve seen of him in...too long. But you didn’t answer the first question.”

May snorted. “You should just come in and sit down. You look weird just standing in the hallway.”

She ushered him in, sitting on the couch and tucking her legs up beside her as she sat.

Tony sat across from her, fingers feeling at the worn fabric of the couch.

Sitting in May Parker’s apartment felt like home in a way that he couldn’t describe. Because it wasn’t like he’d ever lived anywhere like it.

Maybe it was just because it was where Peter came from. And wherever Peter was was home.

The man had broken his heart. Cheated on Tony for god knows how long and admitted to it. But he was still everything to the man. And he couldn’t help but feel like there was still something he didn’t know. Because Peter wouldn’t just do that.

May started speaking again, pulling Tony from his spiraling thoughts. “To answer your question, no. I don’t like him. He just...god, don’t tell Peter I said this, but honestly he creeps me out.”

“Really? How?” Tony asked curiously, looking at her.

“I don’t know. I can’t explain it. He’s just weird, constantly watching Peter. It feels like everything he does or says is fake, but he’s a really bad actor. Maybe he just has a weird personality, but I don’t know. He just gives me the creeps.” May shrugged. “But Peter likes him so there’s not much I can do.”

“I guess so,” the man mumbled.

“I didn’t think it would hit you this hard,” May told him. “Since you were the one that kicked him out and all.”

Tony winced. “Of course it hit me hard. Do you even know what happened?” He didn’t mean to snap, but he didn’t like her acting like he was the one that had done wrong. He regretted making Peter leave but obviously it didn’t hurt the other man too much.

The woman stared at him. “Don’t you snap at me. And no, I don’t. All I know is that my nephew came home crying so hard he couldn’t breathe and told me that you had kicked him out and said it was over. I didn’t ask for more because he didn’t give me more. I have the information that matters.”

“No, you don’t.”

Is this really what Tony wanted to do? Ruin Peter’s image to his last living family?

He hated how she was treating him. He hated how she thought that he was the one that had broken Peter’s heart. When Peter was the one who’d fucked everything up.

But he couldn’t do something like that. He couldn’t taint the way that she looked at him. Every time he saw them together she looked at him with such pride. He couldn’t ruin that, even with the truth.

“Then what is so important that you have to yell at me for?” She crossed her arms.

Tony sighed, posture wilting. “Nothing. Just- yeah. Nothing. It doesn’t matter. Maybe you can ask him when you next talk to him. But I’m not- no. I’m not getting involved. That can be between you and him.”

May watched him closely. She wanted to be angry at how he snapped at her. But he looked so broken that she just couldn’t. Instead she held her arms out. “Don’t make this weird. But you really look like you need a hug. So just...come here.”

He almost didn’t. It would have been so odd, hugging his ex boyfriend’s aunt who was easily five years younger than he was.

But it had been too long since someone had looked at him like that. And it had been too long since someone maternal had offered such a thing to him.

So he moved to the couch she was on, letting himself be wrapped in her arms.

She held onto him gently, rubbing his back.

It shocked her when she felt a tear fall onto her shoulder. But she just held him closer. He clearly needed it.

He shook with sobs before long, unable to stop it. The last month without Peter had been so hard and it all hit him at once.

May didn’t comment, just keeping her arms around him and doing her absolute best to soothe the man.

Maybe she didn’t like him all that much. But clearly something in him had changed.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what Peter had done to have that effect on him.

————

Peter curled in on himself, trying to make himself as small as possible. Maybe if he got small enough he would disappear.

Fingers pinched the already-bruising skin on his hip and he straightened out again, face contorting in pain. But he couldn’t make a sound or it would only be worse.

Skip pressed his bare body against Peter’s back, holding onto him.

Anyone else would have called it cuddling but Peter didn’t want to consider it that. Cuddling was gentle and nice and enjoyable. Skip had defiled him and then wanted to act like he’d done something to deserve affection.

It wasn’t cuddling. It was silent time after sex where Peter fantasized about escaping as he tried to ignore the body behind him.

Maybe one day it wouldn’t be only a fantasy.

Because even with the awful situation, as dirty and worthless as he felt, he dared to have the barest hope that he could get out.

And maybe...just maybe Tony would take him back eventually. But that wasn’t even something he dared to dream for yet.

————

The final part, part 3, is coming soon 💕

Tags: @lokitonypeter @nayamasters @puppypeter @softstarkerstuff @notfor-temporaryuse @bittersweetbeneath @nogenderpotato @venomondenim @haysend @awimespo @prettyunki @ikneelbeforemygod @noellemaldonado @jordanparker @preciouspeterbparker @virideer

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chilling-in-the-dark · 4 years

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The Batboys Growing Up as Yanderes Part 2: Dick Grayson

This is a yandere story; it mentions elements of obsession, passiveness, death, murder, attempted rape (Not by Dick but still Its there. I will Italicize this scene so that you can read around it if you need to.), birth control tampering, forced pregnancy(?), kidnapping, and physical abuse. If any of this is triggering for you, I understand, and you don’t have to read it.

As always, feedback is welcomed.

P.S I’m giving into temptation and posting this early, so enjoy this a day before it was scheduled.

Mrs. Wayne had been asking about having a child for over half a year, but Bruce was understandably nervous about the idea of fatherhood. Still, he’d also promised his wife that so long as she was good, she could have anything she’d ever want, and now she wanted a baby.

Once Bruce warmed up to the idea of having a kid, he and his wife found something out; Bruce wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse, but his wife was infertile.

Bruce had taken Mrs. Wayne out to Haley’s circus, the same one they’d gone to every year growing up, to try and help her forget about her condition even if it was just for the night. Bruce sometimes wondered if the trapeze being sabotaged that night was fate because his wife had gotten the child she wanted after all.

Dick had thought he was normal for most of his life, that he didn’t have any of Bruce’s tendencies, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Growing up in the circus, he’d never stayed in one place long enough to grow too attached to anyone outside of his family.

After coming to live with Bruce and his wife, Dick hadn’t met anyone he truly clicked with, sure he’d had friends in the superhero community, but none of them were people he could genuinely fall for, they were all too strong-willed.

When he was fourteen, Dick’s tendencies finely woke from their long slumber, because he’d at last seen someone who brought out the darkness in him.

When you transferred to Gotham Academy, you were one of the scholarship students. At first, you’d wanted to turn down the offer, because you’d been nervous about going to a school full of snobby rich kids. You Had heard the horror stories from other kids in your neighborhood who attended with the same scholarship, but you realized that this was your only opportunity to claw your way out of this godforsaken city.

You should have turned it down because you were going to meet a fate worse than the streets of Gotham, no, Dick Grayson was going to become obsessed with you, and there was no going back from that.

Dick thought you looked like a cute little mouse the way you shuffled about the school, trying your best to be invisible as you made your way through the halls, but that just made you more conspicuous.

The kids here walked with their chins held high and posture so stiff it looked like someone had replaced their spine with a steel pipe. They didn’t tuck their chins down and clutch their textbooks to their chests like a shield.

It started out slowly with dick watching you shuffle around the school, you were so painfully shy, he would have felt bad if it weren’t so cute. None of the other kids would mess with you, though, or really even talk to you because the glares Dick sent them could rival Batman’s.

At least that’s what Dick thought until he heard you scream, he ran to the sound, and when he rounded the corner in the boy’s locker room, Dick found the worst slimeball in school trying to stuff his hand down your pants while his buddies pinned you to the ground. They’d stuffed a dirty gym sock in your mouth to prevent any more screams from leaving your throat.

As Dick watched tears well in your eyes he realized that for the first time in his life, he truly and completely wanted to kill someone, you were his, even if they didn’t know it yet, heck you didn’t know it yet, but you were, and no one was allowed to touch you. These boys were about to learn that the hard way.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Dick’s voice echoed menacingly around the locker room. You’d seen him around but had never had a conversation with him, then again, you could have said the same of the boys who held you down now.

“Only having some fun with the little scholarship bitch who doesn’t realize the only way she’ll be able to leave the gutter is by laying on her back. If you keep your mouth shut, I might even let you have a turn.” Dick punched him in the jaw, not even thinking about how he was going to cover this up, but you were his damn it, he wasn’t going to let anyone else touch you.

It was all he could do not to kill them then and there, but no, that would have to wait until nightfall when he could put all of the skills he learned from Batman to use. The next day three bodies would be found, with one of them missing a hand, but all of them nearly torn to shreds making identification impossible. Dick had been careful in making sure no one could track it back to him.

As much as Dick hated the idea of other guys touching you, at least one good thing had come out of it, in his opinion. You started clinging to him and following him around like your life depended on it. Also, you jumping whenever another guy came within five feet of you was a perk.

Determined to make the most of this, he started acting like your guardian angel, and of course, you fell for him, how could you not. Dick was sweet and charming, always respectful of your boundaries, or so you thought anyway. It wasn’t long before you started dating, and Dick couldn’t have been any happier, he’d even gone all old school and given you his class ring. Was mine the only school that had freshmen buy class rings? Sure, it was more of a way to mark you as his, but still, if someone didn’t know about Dick’s tendencies, it would’ve been sweet.

The next few years of your life passed quickly, and Dick kept up the act of the sweet boyfriend you thought he was. That is until the two of you were seventeen, and you’d let it slip that you wanted to go-to metropolis for college.

It had taken everything in him to bite back his temper. No, if he wanted you to stay around, he needed to play this smart; he couldn’t just take you, unlike with Mrs. Wayne, someone would notice if you went missing. So, Dick came up with a plan, one that would likely get you disowned by your family, and if he was lucky, keep you by his side forever.

All he had to do was tamper with your birth control, and if you think being on some kind of IUD or implant is going to keep you safe your wrong, Dick isn’t against drugging you to remove it and replace it with a fake. If you insist on him using condoms, well, it’s not too hard to poke holes in them.

It isn’t long before you come to Dick with tears in your eyes and tell him the words he’d anxiously been waiting to hear. “I’m pregnant,” Dick shoves down the sick surge of satisfaction that wells up in him when your voice cracks. Now wasn’t the time to let his cover slip, he had to play this right.

It was time to put all of those acting skills Bruce had him learn to use. He did his best to look nervous, he bit down on his lip for a second as if thinking what to say when really, he’s had this planned from the moment, he decided to get you pregnant. “It’s all going to be ok, sure we're a bit young, but Bruce was already married by the time he was our age, I’m sure we can figure this out.” Dick wrapped his arms around you before continuing. “I mean a baby isn’t the worst thing in the world, is it?”

“But what about college Dick, this could ruin our futures.” Dick brought you into a hug to conceal the satisfied gleam in his eyes, ruining your future had been a part of his plan.

He made gentle cooing noises as you sobbed into his shoulder, clutching him like your world depended on it. It had taken a bit of convincing, but you, being his submissive little mouse, had agreed to keep the baby.

Sometimes during the first trimester, when you were trying your best to hide the symptoms of early pregnancy and come up with excuses to cover for your frequent Doctors’ appointments, Dick felt the slightest tinge of guilt. He’d done this to you, you didn’t want it, he knew that, but he’d done it anyway.

That feeling was quickly replaced by the surge of possessive pride he felt when he remembered that it meant the baby was always going to tie the two of you together, your DNA and his intertwined for generations to come.

The oh my god, what have I done feeling stayed around a little longer the first time he heard the baby’s heartbeat, but then there was also amazement because there was really a little human growing inside of you. He was going to be a dad. He wanted a little boy with his hair and your eyes.

Before Dick knew it, you were twelve weeks along and starting to get a baby bump. You were freaking out while trying to figure out how to tell your folks. Dick knew that he’d have to stage telling Bruce to keep you from getting suspicious, but his mentor already knew, because A he’d helped Dick with his initial plan to get you pregnant and B, he was Batman.

When you’d finally gotten to the point where you couldn’t hide your pregnancy anymore, the two of you arranged a sit-down dinner in a popular restaurant with your parents and The Wayne’s both being in attendance. You’d been hoping they wouldn’t make a scene in public, boy had you been wrong.

Dick pulled you into his arms as your parents screamed at you about how you were destroying your life over a guy, one who’d probably leave you before the baby was even born. Then they gave you an ultimatum, get rid of it, or don’t come home. It was only a stern glare from Bruce that kept Dick from flying across the table.

Yes, this was all going according to plan, but that didn’t mean he wanted you to cry, only he was allowed to upset you, and even he drew the line at doing so while you were pregnant. When your parent’s shrieks turned toward Dick, how they’d never liked him, that they knew something was off with him and how they wouldn’t be surprised if he’d gotten you pregnant on purpose.

After that night, you had come to live at Wayne Manor with Dick, and he couldn’t be more ecstatic then the first morning he’d woke with you by his side where you belonged. At least that’s what he thought until he was holding his newborn daughter in his arms.

When the nurse handed her to him, all thoughts of wanting a son evacuated themselves from his mind because she was absolutely perfect. She had a full head of black hair, along with your mouth, Dick's nose, and his mother’s eyes, which had made him want to cry the first time she looked up at him. You’d named her Mary in honor of Dick's late mother.

You’d tried to leave Dick after you’d heard him talking to her about how he’d been so glad everything had gone as planned. Your mouth had gone dry when you realized your parents were right about him, he wasn’t a good man, no he was insane. Dick Grayson was no better than the Villains he fought.

So, one night when he’d gone out on patrol, you’d slipped and tried to pack for both yourself and your six-month-old because there was no way you were leaving Mary in the custody of this maniac. Just as you were about to pick her up and make a break for it, Dick came up behind you.

You felt his anger as it permeated the air, sending a chill up your spine, slowly you scooped Mary up and turned around to see your boyfriend standing there in his vigilante gear while looking at you like he was contemplating all of the horrible things he wanted to do to you. This was the first time you’d been truly afraid Dick might hurt you. You couldn’t believe you’d ever let him within five-hundred feet of you.

“Where do you think you’re going,” Dick's voice was colder than you’d ever heard it before, then again, you’d never tried to leave before either.

“I thought you were supposed to be on patrol?” You asked, trying and failing to divert the subject.

“I was,” Dick growled, “but Alfred called and said he saw you packing, so I rushed right home.” Dick ripped his mask off, throwing it across the room. You shouldn’t have been surprised Alfred was in on this. “I’m only going to ask you this nicely one more time, where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m leaving Dick,” Your voice was strained as you fought to keep from trembling.

“No,” Dick barked moving to stand closer to you

“I heard you talking to Mary the other day, and I’m not letting my daughter grow up with a father who thinks that it’s ok to impregnate his teenage girlfriend, because she wants to make a better life for herself.” Mary sensing your fear started letting out tiny whimpers, this brought her father’s attention to her for the first time since he’d entered the room.

“Put Mary down,” Dick ordered, not wanting his daughter to get hurt in the crossfire.

You’d tried to refuse, but Dick wasn’t having it, he’d forced your daughter from your arms, and while he’d been gentle with her, he didn’t offer you the same courtesy. He lay Mary in her crib, making soothing noises as he did so.

As soon as she was no longer in his arms, Dick’s rage returned to him as he grabbed you by the back of your neck and pulled you out of the room and down the halls, not caring one bit if he hurt you.

It wasn’t long before you were thrown into a room, you’d never seen before. Your upper body collided with the bed in a way that you were sure would leave bruises for weeks.

“Maybe some time by yourself will give you an opportunity to think about how good you’ve had it up until now.” With that last statement, Dick slammed and locked the door.

Tags

@yanderepeterparker

@idkmanicantenglish

@prettyafghan

Grow up as only

@neon-phosphorecsent

#Yandere DC #yandere dc comics #yandere dick grayson #yandere nightwing #CITD writes #The Batboys Growing Up as Yanderes #pregnancy #Yandere batman #Yandere Batboys #reader insert #x reader #Dark dick grayson #dark batman #dark fic #darkfic #Yandere #teen pregnancy

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homeformyheart · 3 years

Text

best vs. worst decision - m!raleigh x mc (plat)

author’s note: thank you for the ask @raleigh-edward!! i really do love writing these, even if they take me a while. this was partially inspired by that one scene in the SATC movie (i won’t spoil it). i hope you enjoy!

copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios. series/pairing: platinum - m!raleigh carrera x mc (cadence dorian) rating/warnings: 14+; descriptions of smoking word count: 1.3k

best vs. worst prompts / 6. best decision vs. worst decision

worst decision

cadence blinked once as fatima finished the final touches on her makeup before smiling at her reflection in the mirror. she took off her large emerald-cut diamond ring and placed it carefully onto a silver necklace chain. zadie helped clasp the necklace behind her neck so that the ring fell perfectly below her collarbone. she stood up and twirled around for her friends.

“you know, i am not a romantic sap by means, but cadence, you look absolutely breathtaking,” fiona smiled, nodding her head in approval.

cadence beamed. “that means a lot coming from you, fiona. are you tearing up?”

fiona glared. “you saw nothing. i’ll see you at the ceremony.”

zadie locked eyes with cadence after fiona left the room and they burst out laughing. “seriously though, how are you feeling?”

cadence smiled. “i’m so happy and excited, zadie. not even the least bit nervous.”

raleigh leaned over the balcony outside his hotel room, taking a long drag of his cigarette. he blew the smoke out and exhaled deeply, watching the smoke gather and then float away into the gloomy, overcast day. he looked down at the street below, empty of passersby because they got special permission to shut down the block for the day.

raleigh hated weddings. or at least, the idea of them. the entire wedding industry was just as bad as the music industry, full of fake people trying to take advantage of sappy couples. an industry fixated on curated, pictagram-ready, material things that don’t mean anything. an industry centered around decisions on things that don’t tell the guests why someone would choose to get married.

at the end of the day, it was just one big party. and raleigh had been to his fair share of parties, to say the least, but this one was an absolute circus. their labels had conspired and basically, in his opinion, coerced cadence into making the wedding into a huge event to cap off the end of her latest world tour. their labels promised to give them privacy and time off afterward, since fanfare around wedding details would be enough to keep the media frenzy going for a few months.

there was a time when he didn’t think there’d be a limit to what he would be willing to do for a semblance of privacy with cadence. he took another long drag of the cigarette before putting it out underneath his shiny black tuxedo shoe. he could see below that cadence’s black limo just pulled up in front of the hotel. he watched as she stepped out of the car, the beautiful white gown billowing around her as she waved to fans and the paparazzi camped around the barriers. he exhaled the cigarette smoke through his nose, relishing the burn. as he watched cadence disappear into the hotel, he realized he did have a limit.

* * * * * cadence felt her body freeze when she saw fiona walking briskly down the corridor with a frown on her face. she felt numb from head-to-toe as fiona explained to her that raleigh called off the wedding. that the man she loved changed his mind. she didn’t register her arms falling down her sides and her bouquet dropping to the floor as she picked up the skirt of her dress and turned to run. to where, she didn’t know; her brain was a foggy mess struggling to process what just happened and why, while her eyes were failing to blink back the tears streaming down her face.

she couldn’t hear fiona and zadie calling after her; she didn’t even register the sound of her heels on the sidewalk or the flashes of photography as she ran outside and opened the door to the limo. all she could hear was the pounding of her heart in her ears.

“cadence, wait,” raleigh said, grabbing onto her wrist. his touch seemed to snap her out of her haze.

“no, i don’t ever want to see you again. don’t call me, don’t talk to me. we’re done,” cadence snapped at him in-between sobs, yanking her necklace so the chain broke and throwing it at raleigh.

raleigh watched as the only woman to make him believe that real love was possible in a fake industry disappeared inside the car and drove away. he glanced down at the necklace and his heart sank when he recognized the engagement ring he had bought her. raleigh carrera had no shortage of stupid decisions he’s made throughout his life, but this one was the worst.

best decision

cadence had never seen raleigh so excited that he almost seemed giddy. a word that normally would be the opposite of what was used to describe him. but as he drove them in a rented convertible away from the tiny airstrip on the tropical island they just landed on, his grin was so wide that cadence felt like her cheeks hurt.

“will you tell me where we are yet? this place looks pretty deserted,” she remarked, looking around at what basically looked like a jungle. at least they were driving on concrete roads so there must be civilization somewhere.

raleigh just grinned and cadence rolled her eyes. “fine, but can we stop somewhere for food?”

an hour later and they were strolling hand-in-hand in an open market across the street from the little strip mall where they grabbed lunch. cadence kept squealing and dragging raleigh from booth-to-booth whenever something caught her eye, whether it was fresh produce or souvenir trinkets. her shopping antics would have annoyed him back home, but here, where they were on vacation, he only found them adorable.

they finally made it back to their villa after a few hours of wandering around and stopping at every market they came across during the drive. raleigh couldn’t bring himself to feel exhausted with how excited and animated cadence was. she seemed to skip across the foyer and through the dining room where there were doors that opened up to a deck and a private ocean view.

“raleigh, look at this!” cadence gestured wildly in front of her as raleigh came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“i know, why do you think this place is so far away from anything else? it’s very private,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss her cheek.

“how private? can i scream at the top of my lungs?” she asked, tilting her head so he could kiss down her neck.

raleigh chuckled and moved so he was standing next to her. “you could go skinny dipping and not worry about crazy fans or paparazzi, i promise.”

“how did you manage that?” cadence asked, curious. raleigh typically took them places where he could rent out entire properties to ensure some level of privacy, but they were still careful given long-range cameras could breach most advanced security measures these days. this next level privacy seemed almost too good to be true.

he glanced away and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “i, uh, bought it.”

“you bought the property around the villa?” cadence asked, only somewhat surprised.

“actually, i bought the island.” at that, her jaw dropped and she looked at him, stunned.

he regained his composure and gave a wicked grin. “so, you know you can scream as loud as you want,” he winked.

cadence laughed and reached for his hand. “then, i think we should take advantage, don’t you think?” she turned and led him down the steps towards the beach.

raleigh was definitely feeling giddy. while it had still been an impulse buy, it was already paying for itself.

* * * * * mentions: @raleigh-edward; @dulceghernandez; @freckles-spangledvampire; @thegreentwin; @kat-tia801; @kelseaaa; @otherworldlypresents; @brycesgirl; @robintora;

#choices platinum #reposting for new blog #raleigh carrera #raleigh carrera x mc #cadence dorian #raleigh carrera x cadence dorian #raleigh x cadence #choices #pb choices #playchoices #not twc #choices fanfic #choices fanfiction #playchoices fanfiction #my prompt fill #choices prompt fills #my writing #raleigh x mc #raleigh-edward

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itsbenedict · 3 years

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Two-Faced Jewel: Session 5

A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]

Caught up in a blood feud between the villages of Wheat and Barley, Saelhen and Looseleaf are tasked with investigating a recent death. Their investigation takes them to a spooky tower owned by the local crazy torture wizard, which- hey, why was this guy not considered a suspect, huh? He's a crazy torture wizard!

Last time, the group was introduced to Malath Kanthalga, matron cleric of the village of Barley. She has no trust for outsiders- but she was willing to let Looseleaf lend a hand in proving once and for all that the scoundrels of Wheat were responsible for the recent murders.

To that end, the party is led a ways down the road to the farmstead of Roos and Gera Nicksickle, an elderly halfling couple which was recently slain.

En route, Looseleaf sizes up the farmers Malath has been arming, to see if any of them seem to have combat experience. There's one lizardfolk farmer who seems more comfortable with the armor, and holds his pitchfork like a spear. She makes a note of that.

They arrive, and are met by Lester Jawhold, a doughy-looking human man who's standing guard over the body out in the field, accompanied by a number of vicious-looking hounds. With permission to search the crime scene, some investigationing occurs.

Saelhen gets some basic details- the body was pierced through the chest with a four-pronged weapon, as described. Plus, there are the remains of hastily-erased footprints in the dusty soil- bootprints, it seems.

Looseleaf uses her animism magic to get a more direct picture of the incident. The corpse, recently dead, has a dead-corpse spirit that retains some information thanks to the emotionally volatile nature of recent events. The cause of death... being suddenly pierced through the heart, from the front, by a strange four-pointed weapon that induced extreme pain. It appeared to strike from out of thin air. Nothing about the corpse indicates a memory of seeing an assailant.

Indoors, the other victim, Gera, is found dead on the floor of the kitchen. It seems like the cause of death is the same, but... Looseleaf's animism reveals that her vital organs are intact, and she appears to have died of shock from the extreme pain.

All Saelhen finds from searching the house is... an empty cupboard with a recently-unlocked lock, and a mattress removed from its bed. Plus some of the same bootprints from outside.

Looseleaf has the idea to search the house for the victims' boots, to compare with the prints found outside. And what the search reveals is... there are no boots. They didn't own any. They were halflings. So their house being covered in dusty bootprints... well, it implies someone else was here and murdered them, which rules out the "a weird knife sort of inexplicably teleported into their chests" theory, at least.

The only real clue they have to go on is the extreme pain experienced by the victims. This suggests...

Malath gives a little exposition on the torture wizard- apparently he considers himself a savior, who through his experiments intends to vanquish pain itself- and surely torturing a few unwilling test subjects will be worth it, if he succeeds. Malath doesn't seem to consider it likely that Lumiere is the culprit, for the same reasons as Thalath- but jokingly suggests that perhaps Lumiere might have some information on who stole his torture tools to commit murder with.

Looseleaf: "So," Looseleaf asks, "if we're going to the tower wherein dwells a torture wizard, what can you tell us about what we might expect to face there? Ravenous horrific alchemical experiments ready to eat our faces? Traps? Magical servitors? A portal to another realm full of horrors?" Benedict I. (GM): She looks briefly surprised. "No, I... though I haven't been victim to him myself, I would warn strongly against confronting Lumiere, unless you're all much more seasoned than you look. None from our village have been able to resist him when he decided our consent was no longer worth trying to wrest from us." "Those who have been inside the tower might have more information for you, if you're fool enough to try." Looseleaf: "Well, team, you've heard the mission dossier, I guess. Do we think we're fool enough to try?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: Saelhen Fishercrown is not fool enough to try. Unfortunately, Saelhen isn't getting to be Saelhen right now. "...I imagine that we have no other recourse." Benedict I. (GM): Vayen looks... almost gleeful, insofar as his face betrays any expression. Looseleaf: Thanks for the vote of creepiness, edgelord.

Saelhen opts to kill annoying helicopters with one stone, and suggests that the team split up to gather information on the tower from the townspeople. She also suggests that Malath personally keep an eye on Vayen, as the least-trustworthy-seeming member of the group. Good persuasion means it works, and Vayen goes off to interrogate Lester Jawhold while the rest of the team heads into town to ask around about Lumiere's past victims.

First, on the way back to town, they speak with Chitch Ssarzar, the lizardfolk with the apparent military background. He's got one hell of a sob story for them!

Saelhen du Fishercrown: 24 PERSUASION (8) all i do is win Benedict I. (GM): That'll do it- Chitch is pretty horrified at the implication that you're actually trying this, but with sufficient reassurance, he'll spill his guts. He came to Grain back when it was just Grain, twenty-odd years ago, hoping to raise his infant daughter somewhere less dangerous than the Cutthroat Islands. Then, during the fire, his daughter was kidnapped by the wizard, and he tried storming the tower to get her back. He got captured, strapped to a rack, and had his flesh flensed and healed and flensed and healed repeatedly. At one point he thought he'd get a reprieve, when the wizard's teakettle went off and he went downstairs to get some tea- but the flensing knives just kept going, by themselves, without stopping. He never saw his daughter again. He was eventually released, and thanked for his service, and by that point he was too traumatized to ask Lumiere what happened to his daughter, in case it provoked him to torture him more. He's pretty wracked with guilt over the situation.

They get a rough description of the first few floors of the tower, up to the torture room. Plus, some exposition on the town's history:

Looseleaf: Okay. More questions: this time, asking about the town. It was called Grain, once? It split into two towns and now Barley hates Wheat? There was a fire? How did this all come to happen such that a single town turned in on itself? Benedict I. (GM): Yes- either 28 or 29 years ago, he forgets exactly, there was some feuding between farmers growing different crops. The ones with less fertile soil, sandier towards the southeast and closer to the mountains, had some kind of grudge against the landowners with more fertile soil, and it was this whole political infighting nightmare he didn't understand, as he was new in town. Then the dragon attacked, and... he's not entirely sure what happened, because accusations were flying left and right, but apparently some people tried to use the dragon attack as cover to commit arson against their enemies? Saelhen du Fishercrown: DRAGON Looseleaf: A FUCKING DRAGON Benedict I. (GM): And most of the town burned down, and when it came time to rebuild, nobody wanted to build near each other- and there was some sort of weird religious split between Family and Harmony so that most of the Harmony people decided to go grow wheat on the worse land, and the Family people went to go grow barley on the better land. He'd never been super involved with the split, as a newcomer, and spent the early rebuilding period being tortured- Barley was just the closest civilization after he was set free. Looseleaf: Mmmmm. A tragedy, all around, gods-damn. Saelhen du Fishercrown: caused by a dragon. a dragedy, if you will.

Then it's off to visit the innkeeper, Cassie Zeishus.

Benedict I. (GM): When you reach the inn, you meet Cassie Zeishus, the innkeeper. She tells you about the time she visited the torture wizard to see if her husband was there. Looseleaf: Oh, yeah, you know. Just, a conjugal visit. To the torture tower. Benedict I. (GM): Apparently her husband, kind of a good-for-nothing out-of-towner she married largely as a charity case, kept on gambling and trying to sleep around and doing general sleazy vice stuff, and was miserable in a town that didn't want to indulge him- and she's pretty sure he faked getting kidnapped by the torture wizard to escape it. Saelhen du Fishercrown: as one does definitely not victim-blaming Benedict I. (GM): This was corroborated by Lumiere quite pleasantly answering the door and telling her no, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of this Arnie fellow, and would she like to come in for tea? And her saying no, no thank you, and walking away. Looseleaf: Huh. Benedict I. (GM): She doesn't know why the guy let her leave, despite a propensity for forcing people inside and torturing them in the past. She chalks it up to having been very intimidating towards him.

Saelhen also tries to inquire about Kensa, Thalath's sister, who's apparently in some sort of dire straits here. She doesn't want to give away that she's asking about Kensa deliberately, so she takes something of a garden path of conversation, about Malath and why the townsfolk call her "Mother". Eventually she gets to Kensa, who apparently weaves cloth and sells it to the general store, where she can be found around this time of day. (She's apparently got something going on with the shopkeep's son.)

Looseleaf: these affairs might not be something we can intervene constructively in. Saelhen du Fishercrown: I mean, Saelhen's definitely abducting this child Looseleaf: gosh, well, when you put it that way, how could we not. Saelhen du Fishercrown: let's visit the general store! saelhen enjoys cloth.

At the general store, they find... not really any evidence that anything bad is going on with Kensa. She seems... fine? Also six feet tall and jacked as hell, because she's a goliath and their twelve-year-olds are just like that?

Kensa notices Lady Noeru de la Surplus' fancy silk dress, and fangirls over it immediately.

Benedict I. (GM): "Whoa, is that silk?" "I don't know if we have any silk in the back, but-" "Silk?" the girl by the window asks. "Ohmigosh, you have a silk dress? Ohmigosh, how much did it cost?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Ah." Saelhen expected a little more resistance than this! "15 gold, when I bought it." Benedict I. (GM): "Whooooaaaa..." She's looking the dress up and down with obvious envy. "Nnnnngh, but I don't have... fifteen gold..." Looseleaf: oh my gosh she wants to buy it

Benedict I. (GM): "It's- hang on, if I get ten, will you sell it?" "I can probably get ten! And I'll throw in a replacement!" "Not silk, but-" "Uh, Mr. Teller, do you still have last week's stuff in the back?" Looseleaf: this kid's great Benedict I. (GM):"It's good, I promise!"

Saelhen, being a con artist and kind of a jerk, turns down the offer, but skillfully reframes the issue by exploiting Kensa's love of textiles to get it repaired on the cheap in exchange for a swatch or two of the fabric. Great... job...?

After interrogating the townsfolk, Looseleaf has a bright idea- she wants to buy a climbing pack to scale the tower from the outside. It costs her extra, since new stuff has to be custom-forged overnight (a remote farming village like this doesn't have much call for climbing packs), but she gets it.

Vayen comes back, with testimony from Lester. It's not much they didn't get from Chitch- just a note that apparently vegetables were chopping themselves in Lumiere's kitchen.

Looseleaf: i should get some food too maybe! anyways all this is really pointing hard to 'the four-pronged stabby painblades move on their OWN'. it's not clear who's BEHIND it, but it's pretty obvious now that all the clues point towards the stabbies being the culprit.

The next morning, they head out to the tower. They notice a couple things: one is a sign that reads: " KEEP SHOUTING",

and the other is a bunch of broken glass and rubble strewn across the ground. Looking up, they notice the sixth floor seems to have had a large window smashed open. Weirdly, less glass on the ground than you'd expect if it'd been smashed open from the inside.

Looseleaf's Animist class can Detect Magic, sorta, and it's pretty clear to her that the front door is magic- so rather than fall for an obvious trap, she puts her plan into action. She can jump 30 feet up with the aid of her wings, so she's able to jump straight to the third floor and try to drive a piton into the stone to drop a rope for the rest of the party.

Here is a list of problems with that plan:

Looseleaf has tiny little sticklike moth arms, which exert insufficient force to drive pitons into stone with no leverage.

Breaking a window to attach the rope to instead results in a broken window.

Inside the broken window is a spindly suit of armor covered in nasty spikes, which immediately springs to life and turns to face whoever just broke a window next to it.

Also an alarm goes off.

Looseleaf is able to get the rope secured before the living armor attacks her, and jumps back out the window- as a moth, she essentially has Feather Fall on at all times. Still, going in through that window presents a problem.

They've noticed something, though- the automaton doesn't seem to be chasing them out the window. It's just standing there, staring down at them. This... gives Looseleaf a bright idea.

Orluthe has to make his grapple check with disadvantage, given that he's trying to snag this thing with his halberd with one hand while clinging to the side of a building by a rope, but luckily this thing botches its own roll thanks to its patented "stand perfectly still because there are no intruders in the building" maneuver.

It takes a bunch of fall damage from hitting the ground, is knocked prone, and the remainder of the party immediately unloads on it on a surprise round with crits for a bazillion damage, killing it before it can move.

This was a really good idea!

Too bad there was another one just inside, which Orluthe is now alone with!

...Wait, no, he's a giant wolfman in football armor and he suplexes the other one out the window, where the exact same thing proceeds to happen to it. Okay. Cool.

With that, the party makes their way inside. Whatever the alarm was, it seems to have died down, physically- whatever was powering it petered out. Plus, Looseleaf's magic detection means there's no way they could get caught in any traps!

Any magic traps!

Saelhen fails her perception check while walking across the room to a treasure chest and hits a tripwire and a net falls from the ceiling, trapping her and Oyobi! I bet this would be a really dangerous trap if there were, say, two menacing spiky robots bearing down on them trying to kill them while they were defenseless. As is, though... it's a minor inconvenience.

After this snafu, Saelhen tries to pick open the chest, only to find that the lock is a) quite well-made, and b) itself trapped, with a poison needle in the locking mechanism designed to go off if a lockpicking attempt fails. She just barely gets her fingers away in time, and opts to leave this treasure chest to loot later, after they're done here.

The stairs up from floor 3 seem to be blocked off by a translucent red magic barrier, so Looseleaf resumes the original plan. She stands on the windowsill of the third floor, and just flaps up to the fourth floor, looking inside and this time unlocking the window telekinetically from the inside, rather than breaking it and setting off an alarm.

When she opens the window (to the torture laboratory), some more very scary torture robots immediately go after her, as do a variety of flying knives that have quite a bit of movement speed and stab her repeatedly.

Maybe this idea had some flaws.

Next time: Looseleaf hopefully doesn't get turned into moth sashimi by animated torture implements! More dungeon is crawled! Some jerk falls down the stairs and it's hilarious!

#tfj log #twofaced jewel #d&d 5e

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soft-sunflower · 4 years

Text

Flower of Evil Thoughts- Episode 12: Part 1

Okay, just when I think these episodes can't get any better than the last, I get CONTINUOUSLY proven wrong! How is this show SO amazing!? Okay, let's start with the recap and my thoughts.

WOW this episode really started off with a bang, didn't it?? I was floored how crazy unmother found out the real Heeseong, her real son, was a serial killer. I was legit creeped out by the fact that he kept commemorative photos of his kidnappings and killings, but what really fucked me up was the fact that he kept their fingernails. So NOW we know where the other sets of fingernails went... I guess Do Minseok kept the ones on the right hands and Heeseong kept the ones on the left hand. Just ughhh ewwww. This is seriously so disgusting. That really grossed me out. So, was unmother going to commit suicide? She held a blade to her wrist and then she looks out the window, and what does she see?? Heeseong... trying to bury a body in the rain. I mean what even??? This whole family has upped the evil factor. If there's any flower of evil blossoming? It's the Baek family.

And who's body is it!? None other than Do Hyunsoo! The man he just hit with his car! I mean REALLY!? He was going to legit BURY Hyunsoo alive??? This guy is the psychopath, this guy is the batshit crazy one, this guy is the serial killer. NOT Hyunsoo. It's kinda funny, I was talking to my husband and I said. "Well, the synopsis sorta got it right. Heeseong is definitely a serial killer, only it's the REAL Heeseong and not the fake Heeseong, which is Hyunsoo." We both were like "Yep. Heeseong IS a serial killer and did it right along with Do Minseok." Funny, that.

He’s so casual like “Oh don’t mind me. Just gonna bury this man I hit with my car alive. Go back inside.” So, ole Mommie Dearest over here goes all feral on her serial killer son and straight up stabs his ass declaring she’s scared of him. You know what, lady? I am too. He’s kinda terrifying. I swear if you gave that boy an axe and told him to go chop wood, he'd turn it around and do a Lizzie Borden on your ass. This family as a whole is a complete whack job.

Oooookay so we're back in the present now, and what do we have here??? Heeseong. Sitting up in his chair and guess what he's doing. SPEAKING. NORMALLY. None of that "I just got out of a coma and I'm slow" speech he'd been doing since last week. Yeeeeah I knew his bullshit he was pulling was a whole-ass act. Okay, so last week, when I saw the preview at the end of Ep 11 and they were all screaming about finding a buried body? I had a theory that it was going to be the maid's body they find, considering the way the crazy mother was freaking at out her wanting to know what all she knew. Now you have Heeseong being threatening with this lady. I'm getting death flags everywhere for her.

Oh look... creepy hospital trash dad is deep the blood cleaning Heeseong's car, phone rings and there we got trafficker man, Yeom Sangchul. Soooo, Heeseong owed him money and dad paid him off to cover his son's ass??? DUDE. What is WRONG with this family!? What is WRONG with these people!? They're legit messed tf up! And can they STOP trying to "take care of" Hyunsoo already?? The constant putting out a hit on him is getting frustrating. "Either Hyunsoo lives or we do." UM. You both are TWISTED old FUCKS who don't deserve life after all the crap you've pulled. Hyunsoo deserves life. He's more human than all of you. You don't, if that's how it's going to be. I'd love to watch them rot in prison.

YAY!!! There's our couple!!! Coming out of Hyunsoo's shop looking like a legit BADASS power couple!!! YASSSSSSSSS!!! And... what's this??? What?? Detective Choi wants a cup of coffee??? Weird... it almost seemed as if Jiwon WAS expecting some kind of Swat team out there to arrest her husband. Jiwon looks confused on what's happening, Hyunsoo is just quietly accepting it all. And when they go inside and Sunbae almost appears, reluctant and hesitant. He even thanks Hyunsoo for being the informant, which I did NOT expect. I knew there was a reason why I liked him from the start. He's redeeming himself.

Haesoo is really stunned over the fact that Jiwon knows the truth about Hyunsoo and who he is. And of course she's in a panic because she believes her brother left and so now would be the perfect time to turn herself in. Moojin tries his hardest to stop her, because obviousy he doesn't want to see her go to jail, but he's gotta stop being so pushy...

Sunbae has a great personality, but when he starts questioning Hyunsoo over the murder he doesn't waver. Hyunsoo straight up tells him he had no motive for murdering the village head, unlike Jiwon who's crying out that he didn't do it. That's right. Because he DID NOT. The look that the husband and wife give each other, Jiwon just looks stricken by the fact that after what they went through last night, Hyunsoo still won't tell the truth. That he was not the one who murdered the village head. Hyunsoo just looks at his wife calmly. His expression is unreadable. He may have just been silently pleading with her to please respect his wishes. This is what he wants. He doesn't want this for his sister.

Oh, Noona... not only was Hyunsoo's past so incredibly traumatic for him, but it was for you too. You've been deeply affected by this because of your overwhelming love for your brother and it's precious. It really is. It's heartbreaking watching him get thrown into repeated exorcisms at such a young age for something that was never even wrong with him. ALL of the adults in his life FAILED HIM. His father, the therapist, the villagers, and even his only friend along with his pack of cronies. They BRAINWASHED him into believing he was a bad person just like his father was, and it's HEARTBREAKING. It's so utterly HEARTBREAKING. I LOVE how strong-willed Noona delcaring she doesn't feel sorry for killing the old bastard who put this poor child through all of this.

They threw things at him, beat him, hurt him... And when they cut to Hyunsoo after being beaten, he just looks dead inside... it's so devastating knowing that they forced him into believing he was being possessed by his father's ghost, to the point that he saw his father's ghost. Now, maybe he really DID see his ghost, but the fact that he was so brainwashed into believing these things? My heart literally ACHES for Hyunsoo... Noona is right. Moojin is NO better. He turned his back on Hyunsoo when he needed him most. Tied him a tree, beat the crap out of him, stoned him. And every single person in that town FAILED Hyunsoo. Hyunsoo was the only real HUMAN out of all of them. And that is SO DEVASTATINGLY HEARTBREAKING. Because he was so unjustly and unfairly FAILED by people he needed most, EXCEPT for Noona.

Okay, Sunbae knows something is going on. He knows that Hyunsoo claiming he killed the old man and how easily the weapon was found was just TOO convenient. He knows. NOW, I'm DYING to know who this one another witness was that said Hyunsoo wasn't a bad person? Was it Noona? Was it someone else? Because every single person in that village ostracized him, that we know of, asides from Haesoo. So what gives??? I want to know who it was... I'm just gonna place a bet that it was Haesoo who had her brother's back because she was the only one who ever did.

Oh.. oh Sunbae... you are 100% and fully fledged redeemed. REDEEMED. Don't imprison an INNOCENT man!!! I think he KNOWS Hyunsoo is innocent, and the look on Hyunsoo's face... he knows the Hyunsoo and Haesoo's childhood tragedy. My heart just twisted. Sunbae. T_T Sorry, but the fact that Sunbae is letting him go, simply by saying he isn't interested in Do Hyunsoo anymore, and that Do Hyunsoo is a good person... I swear I had tears in my eyes because of the hope in theirs!!! I was smiling and had tears in my eyes just like Jiwon because FINALLY!!! He can live his life, he can be with his family, he can love his wife openly and happily, he can raise his daughter with no fear, and... wait, hold up... it's too damn happy. Way too happy. Something bad is going to happen... I can feel it. Yep. Something is coming to literally fuck up their happiness and it's stressful. It really is.

OH GOD this SCENE. This next scene!!! I cried during this scene. I found myself sobbing because of the pure innocence of this scene alone. Our precious baby girl, Eunha!!! She's back!! And she's running and crying in his father's arms... You can already see the emotion on his face as he stoops down for his baby, and he's crying too... It's like years upon years of all these emotions that were built up and hidden behind iron walls are spilling out of him now that the floodgates have burst. Like he just can't help itself, and it's a beautiful thing. It's so good for him, it's cathartic and just what he's needed for so so long. All the years he spent locked behind that wall, believing he was something he wasn't, it's all been set free. He can FEEL. And he show what he's feeling without being told otherwise. He's free to love.

"Daddy! I missed you so so so much!!"

Oh, little sweetie, he did too. He really did. So very much. All the years he's spent watching you grow and raising you, all of those memories and feelings for you, you precious little angel, are welling up inside of him and bursting out of him, on top of the fact that he doesn't have to say goodbye to his baby girl simply due to the fact that he's Do Hyunsoo. That's why he's crying. From the day she was born, to each one of her milestones and young triumphs throughout her life are so important because he sees it all so differently now. When Jiwon't mother says "She acts like they've been separated for years" and Jiwon remains quiet? Because in a sense, they have. Sure, he's seen Eunha almost every single day of her life, but he hasn't really SEEN her til now because he had a heavy, dark veil covering the eyes of his heart.

He's seeing Eunha for the first time and feeling her with his heart, and i find that so overwhelmingly beautiful. Jiwon assures her mother that it's nothing when she worriedly asks what's wrong, that she's never seen him like this before. And Jiwon just tearfully smiles so gently and so softly at her precious family while they cry and embrace because she loves them so much. It's sweet how Jiwon's mother is concerned for them though lol. I wonder if she'll find out...? And how ADORABLE was it when Eunha told her daddy not to cry again because he misses her? She's such a precious little angel and such a good little girl. His kiss on her forehead was the sweetest thing too. What REALLY made me melt in tears was the fact that Hyunsoo says:

"Eunha-ya, daddy loves you a lot."

And Eunha's arm heart... just... GOSH. T____T And even though she tells her daddy not to cry, you can see him tearing up again as he waves bye bye to his little girl off to preschool. It's so beautiful and refreshing to see him finally finding his emotions and finding his feelings and expressing them so honestly. And his little kiss on her forehead. Just end me. I can’t get over how precious the moments these two share truly are. It’s beautiful. ♥

Wooooowwww, so Jiwon was planning on quitting her job as a police officer??? But here we have Sunbae trying to encourage her to seriously think about this decision, because he's right. Giving up a job like that could have a huge affect on her entire life. And to get to work and work like crazy because they're mad busy lol. Ah, Sunbae.

And I just can't get over Hyunsoo and Jiwon's love. I really can't. I love how holds her hand and strokes it gently with his thumb. She asks "What were you thinking about in front of the store earlier?" And BAM! I was right! He was remembering the very first time he ever held Eunha. I'm sure he probably wanted to cry the first time he held her because his heart was likely overwhelmed with all sorts of feelings, but he didn't know how and he couldn't figure them out. And then he says when he met Jiwon, every single moment of his life was filled with first times and I just... I can't... Jiwon has been the most beautiful, welcoming, warming and positive force in his life. If it weren't for her, he may not have ever began his healing process from years upon years of trauma. I love the focus on their hands. I really do. Almost like he didn't want to let her go back to work, and even asking her if she'll be alright. Hyunsoo, you are such a wonderful husband to her. Goodness.

I do love how when Jiwon entered her workroom and the police chief snapped at her, Sunbae was quick to step up with the continued story of Eunha was sick and he sent her home, so she's not been made aware of the situation, which is half-true. Jiwon had NO idea that Yeom Sangchul busted loose and is on the run. Now, here's something interesting...

"How's your kid? Who's sick? Your first or second?"

WAIT... now why are they making it a point to show that Jiwon only has one child right now??? Is there... is that foreshadowing?? Could there maybe be a chance that Eunha might get a brother or sister in the future??? Or is that just my wishful thinking and overthinking it because the police chief just doesn't know enough about her as a person and that's what they're showing us? Hmmm... Well, here's hoping we get that happy ending with Jiwon pregnant and them having a new baby! *fingers crossed* lol Sorry. Just some Hyunsoo/Jiwon fanwishes. Anyway... I got a good chuckle out of the chief trying to cover his ass by passing out energy drink packets and of course Sunbae being his hilariously greedy self with wanting two and talking about the chief being cheap HAH! I laughed. And then Sunbae gets a call from Hyunsoo... WHAT!? What is going on now??? Wanting to talk where Jiwon can't hear?

So, Hyunsoo is still sitting at the front gate in his car and he's thinking back to something Yeom Sangchul said. "Think hard about it. Whom did you tell this secret to? Who do you think ratted you out to me?" Ooooo, I think Hyunsoo's onto something, though. I get why he doesn't want Jiwon to know, but hasn't he learned his lesson yet? Honey, things go south when you keep secrets from your wife. She's also a police officer. You do realize that, right? And she's a badass one at that. I get you're protecting her from knowing that someone is out to get you, but you gotta tread carefully love... you don't want to break trust between the two of you. You need her trust now more than anything.

Oh look, there's human trafficking trash man eating and the equal trash son laying in bed watching the news on his tablet. And her comes trash mom. Is he really still going to continue pulling off that whole fake slow talk "I just got out of a coma. Feel pity for me" crap? Please. We know he can speak just fine considering he did it earlier with the housemaid. Can he spare me the innocence? And why does he still seem to have himself convinced that Hyunsoo is going to kill him?? Hell, if anything, Hyunsoo will just want to help catch his ass and have him thrown in prison for the disgusting stuff Do Minseok did with him.

So, Moojin is going to play the noble idiot again once more for Haesoo by looking for Hyunsoo? Well, you don't gotta look too far, bro. He's a lot closer than you think. Also, the more I think about it, the more I'm with Moojin. Not because my heart is shriveling over him telling Noona to stop saying she'll turn herself in, but I agree. Sunbae let Hyunsoo go saying he has no interest in him anymore. If Noona goes to the police station now and outright admits to killing the village head all those years ago, there's also a chance that they'll all find out that Jiwon's husband is Do Hyunsoo. Sunbae might be willing to overlook that fact, but that doesn't mean the others will.

Side note, but Moojin, why do you think you deserve a SHRED of care from Haesoo after the shit you've pulled? Sorry but that got on my nerves. Stop comparing yourself to Hyunsoo and your importance to Noona. Hyunsoo is her little BROTHER. He's family. There's a HUGE difference. Jeez, Moojin. Stop being so pushy and clingy. She doesn't WANT to go home. She WANTS to go to the police station. You have no right to tell the driver where to send her. Ugh he's so frustrating sometimes. I have such mixed feelings about him.

Alright, so Hyunsoo and Sunbae are at a cafe now talking about the fact that Hyunsoo has a pretty good idea of who's put a hit out on him. That he'll give Yeom Sangchul a shit ton of money to kill him. And it flashes back to trash dad trying to talk Hyunsoo into leaving if he gives him 10 times the amount. WHY can't these people just leave him alone?? For fuck sake. Hyunsoo states it's just an assumption, but we know he's not wrong and he won't tell Sunbae who thinks the person is til he can confirm it for himself with Sunbae's help. This treading into some very dangerous waters.

Moojin, good grief why do you keep bothering her? We're all well aware you like Haesoo, but she isn't interested in a relationship with you or anyone else. She's at the police station, and it's kind of sad because she believes that Moojin is all Hyunsoo has left. She shows up and just about outs herself when Jiwon smoothly covers it up by claiming she's here to identify the human trafficking victims since it's connected to her father's serial killings.

Okay, so... I LOVE this scene. I LOVE their discussion on the rooftop. It's excellent because it's just what Haesoo needs to hear, no matter how harsh Jiwon came across, it was necessary. Haesoo wastes no time in admitting that she knows Jiwon knows everything, and that Hyunsoo had a very justifiable reason for living as Baek Heeseong. I do love how protective she is over her brother, and yet again, she admits to Jiwon that she killed the village foreman and not Hyunsoo. Haesoo, no... she does not think her husband is a dangerous person because they just spent the night before talking about literally everything. Hyunsoo told her everything he could possibly think of. Jiwon loves him unconditionally. She does not think her husband dangerous for a moment.

"Haesoo, Hyunsoo is no longer a little boy that you need to look after. He's the father of my child. He's my family. He's my person. Now, he has a wife who will stand by his side... no matter what happens. He told me his sister is a very kind person. Whenever something bad happened when he was young, he was always the first to be suspected. He told me you always went around telling people he's innocent. He didn't care what other people thought, but you were always the one who cried and felt upset about it. Because you're so kind, he thought you wouldn't be able to endure other people's criticisms. That's why he took the blame. He didn't care what other people thought about him. If you turn yourself in, he'll no longer be a wanted criminal. But he'll feel guilty and indebted to you for the rest of his life. I don't want that. So... please respect your brother's decision. And... you should be the one to feel guilty instead."

"I'm horrible, aren't I?" No, Jiwon. You are not. I won't lie, your words were harsh, but they had to be said. This was totally necessary. They absolutely had to be, because Haesoo needed to understand and know the importance in all of this. She needed to know that her brother is not alone. That he has a loving wife and family to stay by his side. Jiwon tells her that what they talked about today is that if Haesoo recognized any of the victims in regards to her father's crimes and that is supposed to say no. Noona cries and thanks Jiwon for trusting Hyunsoo. Because it's what he needs. A wife to love him, trust him and help him. Haesoo tells Jiwon that while she's still alive, she'll do everything she can to repay her... while she's still alive?? Is anyone else getting possible death flags from Noona...? I'm worried. Really worried about her. Like it has me nervous. If something happens to her after everything Hyunsoo did for her... I just don't even want to think about it.

#flower of evil #lee joon gi #moon chae won #do hyun soo #cha ji won #baek eun ha #lee joongi #moon chaewon #lee junki #lee jun ki #do hyunsoo #cha jiwon #baek heeseong #jang heejin #flower of evil episode 12 thoughts

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lunadragongem01 · 4 years

Text

This is part 1. Part 2 is the aftermath.

So I've had this idea based on another fanfic (It's School watches Assassination Classroom by TheSteinsGateFormula Please check it out, its amazing)

We know the song 'Sans Needs Help' from YouTube. So why not let it be Karma from Assassination Classroom?

Also, I changed the lyrics a little to suit better for the storyline.

Enjoy!!

Ritsu cleared her throat and gained everyone's attention. "Alright, let's take a break for now! This next video is a mini-episode, more of a music video, ahaha," Ritsu rubbed her arm as she said awkwardly.

"Is something wrong with the video?" Some C-class student said. "N-no...It's more of a sensitive topic...and personal. Karma, could I speak to you in private?"

E-class looked at the redhead who shrugged and went with Ritsu.

There were whispers and theories all around.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Kayano asked Nagisa. "I don't know. Karma and I have been friends since our first year but, I still don't know much about him. He has this way of easily avoiding things without the other person realizing it," (I hope he's ok...)

"So...Is it ok if I show them?" Ritsu asked timidly. Karma's eyes went bleary. "Sure, You said my future self told you to show it. That things get better once the others find out. I'm holding you onto that, they're gonna find out eventually, so might as well tell them,"

Ritsu nodded as Karma went back to his seat. Ritsu sighed as she walked back. (You say that but it's clear you aren't ready)

"If any of you have any triggers or need to be away, please leave when you start feeling anxious," Ritsu said. She looked pointedly at Karma, who kept his eyes on the screen. He shook off the stares he felt and kept a smile on his face.

Ritsu pressed play.

The music starts and, the screen showed 'Karma Needs Help.' which obviously raised questions, but they kept watching. Then the cliff scene appeared before moving to Karma on his bed as the lyrics start. The bedroom was mostly clean, except for the bedsheets which half-covered Karma.

I wake up in the mornings

Sinking halfway to the bottom

There's a loud distorted screaming in my soul

There was a close up to Karma's face. He looked panicky but smiled, his smile was strange. Nagisa looked at Karma worriedly, as did most of E class. Karma stared blankly at the screen. He still had that fixed, robotic smile.

Everything is dark and empty

And I don't know how to fix it

So I curl up in a ball

And cry in the comfort of my home

S. Karma (Screen Karma) rolled on his side and curled up in a fetal position. His eyes opened and were glistening from unfallen tears. They fell once his eyes closed.

"Karma, dude, are you ok?" Sugino was worried. Karma turned to him and nodded. He still had that strange look on his face.

Koro-sensei was tense. (Please tell me he's ok. I won't let my students suffer)

Kensaku was also tense, but I don't care about this asshole, so he will be mentioned later on.

I don't know why

I feel like shit

I say I'm fine, but I'm not fine

S. Karma was seen getting up from the bed and, answering Nagisa's texts.

Nagisa: Hey, Karma! Are you ok? The class is gonna start in 30 minutes, and you know Koro-sensei doesn't like tardies.

Karma: I'm fine. Just woke up. Will be there soon.

Nagisa: Ok :)

Nagisa's shoulders hunched as he kept his gaze on the screen.

I'm dying inside

And all I see are demons

I try to hide

All my deepest feelings

S. Karma was walking up the mountain with S. Nagisa. S. Nagisa said something while S. Karma laughed.

Nagisa felt a small grin graced his face at the memory. But, he also frowned soon after at the implication that Karma hides how he feels.

Asano was upset. If anyone asked if he was worried, he would deny it. But he is. (I can't have a proper rivalry if my rival is in pain)

Author: I'm a multishipper for Karmagisa and Karushuu, y'all can see it as romantic or platonic for either.

I'm dying inside

And all I see are demons

I try to hide all my deepest feelings

In a small gap, S. Karma said, "Let's try assassinating Koro-sensei today!" with a smile as the classroom was shown and the next lyrics began.

Hazama frowned, and her brows furrowed. The Terasquad looked at her with worry before averting their attention back to the screen.

I think there's something wrong with me

'Cause all I see is death

During the death line, the students in the classroom were shown hanging from nooses for a split second. Then it changed to S. Nagisa looking worriedly at S. Karma, who flinched but quickly hid it.

"Hold on, PAUSE!" Shindo yelled.

Ritsu sighed in mild annoyance, "I know, you don't have to shout at me," Shindo quickly apologized before he turned to Karma. "What was that?!" He was met with silence.

"A-are you ok-k...?" Okuda asked. She was also met with silence. After a pause, Karma responded, "I'm fine," He sounded disconnected from his body. Asano spoke up, "It's clear you aren't,"

"Aww, is Asano-chan worried about me?" Karma said cheekily.

Asano growled. The A-class sensei thought he needed to stop a fight, but what Asano said caught him off guard.

"As a matter of fact, I AM WORRIED! You hide your emotions even more than I do! You use gallows humor as a shield, but to what extent? The video said 'Karma Needs Help' and it's obvious you need to talk to someone about all this!" That surprised Karma. It surprised everyone that Asano yelled.

Ren tried to clam him down, and he did calm down.

"I agree with Asano, this isn't healthy," Nagisa threw his 2 cents in.

"...oh," was all Karma could say. "Not...yet, but I'll think about it," Asano nodded at Karma's awkward agreement. Koro-sensei felt somewhat relieved that Karma is willing to seek help, along with Tadaomi and Irina.

Every time I go outside

I look like I've been doing Japanese

We see a close up of S. Karma's face, mainly his eyes. There were slight eyebags under them as the screen switched to him sleeping in class.

"Japanese?" Seo asked. "It's my worst subject," Karma said quietly. But with the silence among the crowd, it was heard clearly.

And I sleep for nineteen hours on a Thursday morning class.

S. Koro-sensei was shown waking up and slightly scolding S. Karma, who waved a hand at him while using the other to scratch his neck before looking at his book to write down notes. He still had that smile.

Koro-sensei felt guilt claw at him. (Poor kid was probably tired, but I must've thought he was lazy. I'll have to keep a closer eye from now on)

The scene changed to S. Karma locked in a bathroom stall. His hands had blood on then as his nose bled.

And every now and then I get nosebleeds

And I don't know what to do

We see S. Karma half-hazardly wipe his nose with a tissue.

"What the fucking hell!?" Teraseka exclaimed.

Karma shrugged. "It happens sometimes, not a big deal,"

Machida said, "Most people get nosebleeds out of stress...it happened to me too, before exams,"

Some girl (I think her name was Tsukiya or something) stood up and went to the restroom with her friend.

Karasuma was shaken but kept his composure. (How is this kid on top of the class in both PE and studies? He's barely holding on to dear life!)

Irina laid a hand on his shoulder. Karasuma turned to look at her as she mouthed something to him. 'We gotta do something to help.'

Karasuma couldn't agree more.

The scene once again changed to S. Karma leaning against a tree. It was a tree by the cliff, but not the tree that is sideways on the cliff. He's a good 10 meters away from it.

I don't know why

I feel like shit

I will not see a therapist

"Please see a therapist!" Class-E yelled at Karma, his eyes are even more bleary.

Kensaku grimaced. (What's with that kid? He's a sadistic freak, isn't he? A goddamn psychopath! So he's a little suicidal, but it can't be that bad, right?!)

S. Karma suddenly looked happier.

Author: Fake, obviously.

Ladies and gentlemen,

If you wanna fucking kill yourself

Put your fucking hands up (yeah!),

Razor blades in the air, everybody! (yeah!)

(WTF!?) went through everyone's head as Karma chuckled at the screen. Nagisa is terrified as he realized why Karma was so calm when he fell off the cliff. Koro-sensei didn't have it in him to say anything about the swear words.

A few students like Hazama, Machida, and others slowly rose their hands up. This made Etsuki-sensei whimper a little. Karasuma lost a little composure and let his eyes widen.

(*Coughing*)

Ay, oh, ay, oh, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, help, help, help, help, help, help, HELP!

There were memories that E-class made where S. Karma was happy on the outside but hurting on the inside. And as it went to the help part, it showed S. Karma getting swallowed by the darkness.

(Poor kid, I'm definitely softening up.) Irina thought as she felt a wave of empathy. She was mildly suicidal before she met Lovro. (I'm...terrible with kids, but...I think the little twerp would like some of my coping mechanisms. I stopped many years ago, but the sure helped me out when I was around his age.)

I'm dying inside

And all I see are demons

I try to hide all my deepest feelings

We see S. Karma get up from the tree and make his way home. The disconnected smile disappears, and he frowns.

I'm dying inside

And all I see are demons

I try to hide all my deepest feelings

S. Karma sat against the bottom of his bed, on the floor. He finally broke down and sobbed into his knees before the screen turned black.

And that's that. Next comes part 2.

#sad boi hours #sad karma akabane #i'm sad #depressed karma akabane #i cri #i'm sorry #idk anymore #underrated #criminally underrated #assassination classroom #depression #suicidal

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vludors · 5 years

Text

je veux t’aider

vendredi 17:10

!!! authors note !!!

hi! this is my first fic/drabble. i actually write a lot but never post anything. but i HAD to after that clip.

this takes place literally minutes after yann and lucas’ talk (vendredi 17:05 - je peux pas t’aider).

this scene broke my heart and i know a lot of people are mad but i love david for doing this, it’s very realistic and relatable and i know yann isn’t actually mad about him being gay, it’s about him being the last to know. i‘m pretty sure lulu thinks he’s not accepting him and i just want my baby to be happy. i still believe yann can redeem himself.

anyways, this is from eliott’s pov and references a lot of other scenes, especially mardi 13:08 (the lunch scene). there’s a flashback to him in that scene in the beginning, i wanted to clarify so no one gets confused!

it’s all in lowercase because i’m more comfortable writing that way and i feel it best reflects eliott’s mind.

while watching the scene, i kept thinking about eliott seeing how upset lucas is and wanting to comfort his hedgehog.... and so this happened. prepare for angst!!!

since this is my first fic post, i would loooove feedback and i hope you guys rb this so i can see other people’s thoughts.

alright, mecs. i hope ya enjoy it. :)

↓

he says goodbye to his group of friends, and turns around, heading towards the courtyard, more than ready to leave. the smile that was on his face, just a moment ago, falls as soon as his back is turned away from them.

fake.

all his smiles are fake anymore.

except when he’s with him. which never seems to happen anymore, now that they don’t see each other. he knows it’s for the best, after hearing lucas’ words that day. he’ll only get hurt, like last time. and he’ll hurt lucas. that’s why he left his mother, because she caused him too much pain and trouble. eliott will only do the same.

but he can’t help it. when he sees him, it’s like some force pulls him towards the younger boy, begging eliott to be near him. like his center of gravity isn’t towards the earth, but towards lucas.

and when he saw him that day during lunch, he knew he shouldn’t have gone up to him. he could’ve easily turned around or walked straight past him, but his heart pulled him towards the boy.

and then he saw his eyes, an angry storm of emotions behind that lovely shade of blue. he tried to joke around, hoping to see that beautiful smile one more time, even if it were only for a second. but he fucked up, again. like he always does. and when he heard his voice, soft and desperate, interrupting him and walking off with a new level of pain in his eyes, it hurt.

it’s for the best, he had thought.

but it still hurt so much.

he walked towards the lunch room and slowed, seeing lucas standing before it. then he saw him throw away the food he had just taken.

is he not eating?

and then he ran off again. but not from eliott this time, he was running away from everyone else.

why doesn’t he sit with his friends? he had thought, noticing them sitting together only a few feet away. but he had heard the rumors. that he and his friends had fought on friday at the party. eliott didn’t even know he was there, he figured he wouldn’t be there considering it was chloe’s party. had he seen eliott and lucille kissing? no, there’s no way he could’ve. and yet there was a small voice pulling at him, telling him he knew the truth.

he watched as lucas pushed past him, a war waging between his heart and brain. he wanted to go after him, to comfort him, talk to him, hold him close. but he couldn’t. even if he decided to say fuck off to all the logical voices in his head telling him why he shouldn’t, he knew lucas wouldn’t let him. not after moments ago, when he realized how much lucas doesn’t want to be around him.

and as eliott walked to the lunch tables, he couldn’t help but to think of him. he’s never not thinking of him.

even now he thinks of him, as he walks back to the courtyard, finally able to leave school, only to go home and isolate himself in his room to think about lucas even more.

everyone has pretty much left at this point, the courtyard completely empty, except for a small, familiar figure he notices sitting on one of the benches. he falters for a moment, that unknown force trying to pull him towards lucas. but he knows he can’t. instead he walks a bit closer, hidden behind the columns and trees. he just wants to see his face. nothing more. just a glimpse of lucas-

but then he wishes he hadn’t.

lucas is sitting alone, curled into himself, staring at nothing. he’s turned towards eliott enough that he can see the boy clearly, but not enough for him to see eliott.

even from this distance, he can see the glossiness of his eyes, the red of his skin around them. he glances around the courtyard and sees a figure dressed in all black walking off, all the way across the distance. he squints and realizes it’s yann, lucas’ best friend. but he has to be wrong. yann wouldn’t just walk past lucas if he was on the verge of crying... right? did he know that lucas was crying? he must have left just a couple of minutes ago, eliott watching him disappear around a corner.

he looks back over at lucas, who is still in the same state as he was a moment before, but his eyes are redder, his nose now tinged with the same hue.

eliott clenches his jaw, pain squeezing his heart. he wants to hold him. it takes everything he has to stop from walking over to him right now.

he watches as the tears finally fall from lucas’ eyes and he feels the breath being knocked from his lungs. the hand he has placed on the column grips it tighter.

he hears lucas let out a small, broken sob and eliott feels his heart being ripped from his chest. he just stands there and watches as the tears flow freely from lucas’ eyes, his face distorted with overwhelming sadness. he lets his head fall forward, the tears now hitting the pavement.

eliott feels every inch of his being screaming at him to help.

but he can’t. he wants to, but he can’t.

it’s not his place to do that anymore, and honestly, he thinks it never was.

did i do this?

but there’s no way lucas would be this upset over him, right?

he thinks of them at the foyer party. how lucas stared at him while kissing chloe, how he stared right back and they never took their eyes off of each other. he thinks of that night in the rain, how lucas was so willing and ready to kiss him. how they grabbed at each other, like it was their destiny to be together. he thinks of the next morning, how they held on to each other, like they would die if one of them dared to let go. he think of his hands running up and down lucas’ body, feeling the heat of the smaller boys touches on his own. he thinks of those beautiful blue eyes, so bright and happy. he thinks of his smile. he’s never seen him smile so big before. all those times he watched him with his friends, lucas would laugh and smirk, but it was nothing like the smile he had for eliott that entire morning.

and then he thinks of lucas’ face after that conversation, when he tried to kiss eliott but was answered with a ruffle of his hair instead, disappointment and confusion filling his face. he thinks of the text he sent him, right after lucas had revealed he came out to his roommate. he thinks of his face, his voice, full of pain at lunch the other day. he thinks of the rumors. the one about chloe outing him in the middle of her party in front of a room full of strangers. and the one where he got into a fight with arthur. the same night he kissed lucille. he sees the bloody bandages wrapped around his right hand.

eliott’s breath catches in his throat. that’s when he notices the familiar yellow slip of paper he holds in his bandaged fist. he recognizes the black ink written on it.

eliott’s heart aches.

he watches the boy cry silently, even though there’s no one around, like he doesn’t want to accept that he’s crying. he clutches onto the slip of paper for dear life, like it’s the only thing he has left of eliott. or maybe it’s because the one thing that he does have of him is too painful to look at. eliott isn’t sure which would be worse.

suddenly he can’t breathe. he thinks he might start crying too.

this is all my fault. this is all my fault. this is all my fault.

it’s always his fault. that’s why he broke up with lucas, to save him from being with a screw up, save him from someone who will only hurt him.

but eliott looks at lucas in front of him, crying and broken, and realizes he did hurt him. he did the one thing he was trying to avoid. for once in his life, he doesn’t know which path to take, because he doesn’t know what to expect from either choice.

but deep in his heart, he can feel which one he wants to take. he knows who he chooses.

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zutaralesbian · 5 years

Text

So i've seen from a few viral posts on here that it's becoming a new thing to hate on the Peeta/Katniss relationship in The Hunger Games. (I've also seen some criticism towards the Gale/Katniss relationship that isn't entirely fair, but since that wasn't something I shipped, I won't be going into that). But here's me defending one of my oldest het ships from some of the points people bring up that I don't believe are true.

"Peeta feels entitled to Katniss"

The only time I can think of where this could appear to be true is the ending of the first book and the very beginning of Catching Fire. Katniss spent the last few chapters or so of the first book pretending to be in love with Peeta in order to sell their fake romance to the Capitol and recieve sponsors to help them survive. And when she reveals to Peeta that she doesn't truly feel anything romantic for him, he's hurt and ends up lashing out at her by giving her the cold shoulder.

Now, Peeta was completely wrong in this scenario. He's human and humans don't always react or handle things in the right way, especially in highly emotional situations. Still, it doesn't excuse him for lashing out at Katniss when she was just doing what she had to do in order to get them both out of the arena alive. I agree with that.

But the thing that people leave out or forget is that Peeta eventually realizes and acknowledges that he was wrong. And he apologizes to Katniss.

He takes a deep breath. "Look, Katniss, I've been wanting to talk to you about the way I acted on the train. I mean, the last train. The one that brought us home. I knew you had something with Gale. I was jealous of him before I even officially met you. And it wasn't fair to hold you to anything that happened in the Games. I'm sorry."

His apology takes me by surprise. It's true that Peeta froze me out after I confessed that my love for him during the Games was something of an act. But I don't hold that against him. In the arena, I'd played that romance angle for all it was worth. There had been times when I didn't honestly know how I felt about him. I still don't, really.

"I'm sorry, too," I say. I'm not sure for what exactly. Maybe because there's a real chance I'm about to destroy him.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about. You were just keeping us alive. But I don't want us to go on like this, ignoring each other in real life and falling into the snow every time there's a camera around. So I thought if I stopped being so, you know, wounded, we could take a shot at just being friends," he says.

- Catching Fire, Chapter 4

After this, there's no resentment on Peeta's part towards Katniss for not returning his feelings. Sure it's pretty clear that what he feels for her isn't platonic and he comes off as sad about it at times, but he's completely willing to be her friend and support her anyway. And when Snow makes plans to force them to get married in order to keep up the farce, Peeta is just as upset about it as Katniss is, because he doesn't want her to be forced into something she doesn't want.

"Katniss never wanted Peeta that way and/or has no interest in romance"

It always astounds me that people look at a teenager living in an apocalyptic universe that involves her family possibly starving to death and children being reaped into an event to fight to the death each year and not realize that probably plays a big part in why romance isn't at the top of her priority list lol.

Before the Games, Katniss was the main breadwinner of her family that was living in severe poverty. She was too focused on making sure her little sister and mother didn't starve to death to focus on much else. After she's reaped, her main priority is keeping both herself and Peeta alive. Again, it completely makes sense why romance isn't at the top of her mind.

But there is more than one scene in the books that point out that Katniss DOES grow to desire Peeta romantically.

"No one really need me", he says, and there's no self-pity in his voice. It's true his family doesen't need him. They will mourn him, as will a handful of friends. But they will get on. Even Haymitch, with the help of a lot of white liquor, will get on. I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me.

"I do", I say. "I need you." He looks upset, takes a deep breath as if to begin a long argument, and that's no good, no good at all, because he'll start going on about Prim and my mother and everything and I'll just get confused. So before he can talk, I stop his lips with a kiss.

I feel that thing again. The thing I only felt once before. In the cave last year, when I was trying to get Haymitch to send us food. I kissed Peeta about a thousand times during those Games and after. But there was only one kiss that made me feel something stir deep inside. Only one that made me want more. But my head wound started bleeding and he made me lie down.

This time, there is nothing but us to interrupt us. And after a few attempts, Peeta gives up on talking. The sensation inside me grows warmer and spreads out from my chest, down through my body, out along my arms and legs, to the tips of my being. Instead of satisfying me, the kisses have the opposite effect, of making my need greater. I thought I was something of an expert on hunger, but this is an entirely new kind.

- Catching Fire, Chapter 24

This might be the first time Peeta and Katniss kiss without any intention of trying to make a show for the Capitol. And KATNISS initiates it. She kisses Peeta because she wants to. And, on quote, desires more. But sure, she has no interest or attraction to him.

Peeta.

Alive and well - maybe not well but alive and here. Away from Snow. Safe. Here. With me. In a minute I can touch him. See his smile. Hear his laugh.

Haymitch's grinning at me. "Come on, then," he says.

I'm light-headed with giddiness. What will I say? Oh, who cares what I say? Peeta will be ecstatic no matter what I do. He'll probably be kissing me anyway. I wonder if it will feel like those last kisses on the beach in the arena, the ones I haven't dared let myself consider until this moment.

- Mockingjay, Chapter 12

Now other than the fact that this quote absolutely breaks my heart because it happens right before Katniss finds out Peeta was hijacked, it's such a cute one. And a very typical 'teenage girl thinks about the boy she likes' kind of quote. Katniss is literally fantasizing about a romantic reunion between her and Peeta that involves touching him, seeing his smile, hearing his laugh, and kissing him. And after she finds out about his hijacking, the possibility that he might not love her anymore devastates her.

I've always been of the opinion that Katniss fell in love with Peeta during Catching Fire. She cared about him a lot by the end of the first book, but Catching Fire is when the lines between fake love and real love began to really blur for her. And the fandom darling Finnick seems to think that too.

"It's just that I didn't understand when I met you. After your first Games, I thought the whole romance was an act on your part. We all expected you'd continue that strategy. But it wasn't until Peeta hit the force field and nearly died that I - " Finnick hesitates.

I think back to the arena. How I sobbed when Finnick revived Peeta. The quizzical look on Finnick's face. The way he excused my behavior, blaming it on my pretend pregnancy. "That you what?"

"That I knew I'd misjudged you. That you do love him. I'm not saying in what way. Maybe you don't know yourself. But anyone paying attention could see how much you care about him," he says gently.

- Mockingjay, Chapter 11

It's canon that Katniss fell in love with Peeta. However well done it was is up to a person's own opinion but they've been set up as the main romantic subplot since the moment Peeta was revealed as "the boy with the bread". Suzanne Collins had probably been planning on making them endgame since the first book. (I will never understand how people read these books and were shocked that they ended up together).

"Peeta forced Katniss to have children"

Now, i'll be the first to admit that this quote is by far not the best to come out of Katniss and Peeta's relationship.

They play in the Meadow. The dancing girl with the dark hair and blue eyes. The boy with blond curls and gray eyes, struggling to keep up with her on his chubby toddler legs. It took five, ten, fifteen years for me to agree. But Peeta wanted them so badly.

- Mockingjay, Epilogue

I understand why people take issue with this. I really do. But I think immediately jumping to the conclusion that Peeta forced her to have kids is pretty extreme, with how vague the entire epilogue is. Katniss doesn't say that. She only says that it took her a long time to agree. This could mean that he brought up the idea of having children a few times in the beginning only to be rejected, and Katniss changed her mind years later. Or it could also mean that he never said anything about it but Katniss could just tell from other ways how badly he wanted them. With how vague it is, it's up to interpretation. And considering how much Peeta hated the whole thing with Katniss having to pretend to be in love with him, I can't see him trying to force her to have kids that she didn't want. And there IS evidence to point to Katniss getting some joy out of their children as well.

When I first felt her stirring inside of me, I was consumed with a terror that felt as old as life itself. Only the joy of holding her in my arms could tame it.

- Mockingjay, Epilogue

No one has to ship Peeta/Katniss. I was a hardcore shipper back in the day and I still love them, but even I can admit that there are unhealthy aspects in their relationship. The extreme co-dependency and the fact that they both constantly put the other on a pedestal. But man, I wish people would quit bringing up arguments that hold no weight just for the sake of hating on them.

#everlark #thg #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #peeta x katniss #the hunger games #my post #long post /

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hellholland · 6 years

Note

A headcanon of Tom dating a shy reader who is his co star and has anxiety?

aww yessss! this is a long one so buckle up. the beginning is more meeting/getting together and the bottom part is more of the headcanons/anxiety-related things

• you and tom initially met at the screen testing of their movie

• tom was cast a little bit before you were. you already knew about that and it scared the shit out of her because she was newer to the big movie scene than he was

• you were over the moon when you found out you were cast, both a little anxious and excited• ”is gonna be a douchebag???” “what if he doesn’t like me?” “will they recast me?” a LOT of self doubt and concerns about tom

• once you arrived on set to work on a few testing scenes and green-screen stuff, harrison was the first to greet you. tom was running late, somehow

• “what if that messes up our schedule? is he gonna get in trouble?” you said that out loud, much to your dismay. you were thinking too fast because of how anxious you were about filming

• this was one of your first big movies, let alone a movie with a marvel star? “if he’s a dick or something goes wrong, it could wreck everything, especially if we don’t have chemistry” - your internal monologue, repeatedly. your mind rambled through all of the worst outcomes

• harrison had this weird look in his eye when you didn’t readily accept the fact he was late just because iTs tOm HoLlAnD

• turns out that weird look was some prophetic thing. he knew you and tom were gonna get along

• tom arrived to set twenty minutes with tessa and a latte for dogs

• he rambles to the director, who’s slightly unhappy with this “i’m really sorry i just saw the ad for it and i got so excited-“

• he didn’t notice you standing by at first because of how apologetic he was for being late

• this settled your nerves a bit because what a fucking dork move. you loved it

• “oh, oh my god! you’re (y/n), right?” “uh yeah, tom?” “nice to meet you!”

• he hugged you instead of shaking hands

• the first few days were awkward banter, but he still was really warm and welcoming person, constantly trying to make you feel happy and at-home with everyone

• going out w/ the cast and posting pictures was common. fans started commenting on how “close” you two looked

• tom really liked trying to make you laugh during serious scenes. once, instead of sitting on the chair behind his desk like the blocking told him to, he ran, jumped and slid over it while you followed him into the fake office

• he biffed it. bitch almost got another broken nose

• you almost got a panic attack from how much his nose was bleeding but he ended up being the one calming you down until you laughed again

• here comes stunt filming

• you told the team you’d do your own stunts. you wanted to go out of your way and try new stuff

• anxiety made that really, really hard. you felt like a lot of your childhood wasn’t spent like it should be. you missed out on a lot because of how severe it was and you told yourself at the beginning of 2018 you’d make it up to yourself

• nevertheless, as soon as they strapped you in the harness you started breathing really shallow. you felt constricted rather than safe

• you didn’t say anything. your throat was so dry you felt like you couldn’t anyway

• you were supposed to fall off a platform, cling onto the edge for a few seconds then fall twenty-something feet till the harness stopped you. there was protective stuff underneath in case something went wrong, but you were almost crying

• heights weren’t your favorite. you did it anyways, after about ten minutes of pacing and tom coming out of his trailer to encourage you

• he only vaguely knew of your anxiety. he didn’t know you were shooting the scene on your own till he came out, which instantly got him worried for you

• “hey, i’ll catch you if you fall!” “yeah?” you yelled back, mustering up the humor to give him a half-hearted smile “yeah, but only if you’re falling in love!”

• you laughed. and blushed. shit.

• “i think i like him?” “took you long enough to figure it out,” harrison replied, sipping his coffee

• anyway the same day of the falling-stunt, something went wrong with the rope and you fell further than what they told you. you fell into the tall mesh/foam pads but it caused a full blown panic attack. you weren’t expecting it

• you couldn’t move, but your heart was beating so fast you thought it’d pump too much blood and you might die

• you were just frozen, waiting for your body to register what happened

• in the meantime, your brain was kind of on fire. your head felt hot and you were getting dizzy just laying down

• “hey, hey, (y/n)” tom’s familiar voice rung out and you felt a weight beside you, fumbling to unclip the metal bit from your harness. “that was terrifying, but you’re still here, yes?” he spoke in a really calm voice, slowly lifting you off the landing and getting you to the ground

• the set and staff were scrambling to fix things, people were apologizing left and right

• you could move again, but you didn’t want to talk. everything was blurry.

• he walked you into his trailer, where harrison was laying around. you faintly remember them talking about whether or not you were okay

• you sat down on tom’s bed in the back area of the trailer, tom looking at you worriedly from the doorway.

• you started to cry and shake a lot

• while it was an awful feeling, at the same time you were grateful you could make sound again

• “okay love, it’s alright,” tom murmured, sitting on the bed to hold you and kiss the top of your head

• after a solid fifteen minutes of sobbing into his chest, you fell asleep

• unbeknownst to you, harrison came in to talk to tom

• “you’re really whipped for her, huh?”

• “i guess you could say that,” tom replied quietly, rubbing circles into your back

• fast forward two months. you’re shooting the final scene, which includes a kissing scene

• …but not between you and tom.

• you were getting really worked up over it. the actor was nice enough but you weren’t close

• tom was no where to be seen, even though you had to shoot more stuff together right after the kiss

• eventually you got it over with, after a couple takes

• that’s right, a couple. you felt a little light headed but managed to to go knock on tom’s door

• “come in” “hey, i haven’t seen you around. what’s up?” you asked as you poke your head in. “nothing,” he replied with an offbeat tone. he was on his phone, not looking up

• “sounds like you’ve got a stick up your ass today, holland”

• tom looked up with a very confused look on his face. “since when did you talk like that?”

• “since i started being honest with other people and myself.”

• tom swore in the moment you held that cheeky grin on your face was when he fell in love with you

• but of course he didn’t say anything. he didn’t express he was bitter about your kissing scene. he was scared of brutally honest communication, yet you weren’t.

• this was odd, even to you, that you were so willing to say that to his face. you had no malicious intentions, you just wanted to get him to open up. you were feeling comfortable around him now. (it used to be you almost had an anxiety attack if he made a joke about you, to you. you’d read too far into it and think he hated you)

• “i finished ‘the big scene today,’” you sighed as you sat down next to him. he was still staring at you. “what’s wrong?”

• “nothing. nothing’s wrong.”

• your stomach flipped. he seemed really pissed which made you very panicky. “a-are you sure?”

• “yeah.” he looked away, tossing the phone onto the table by him and looking up at the lights.

• “you’re scaring me.” you said weakly after minutes of silence had gone by.

• tom realized what he’d done, that he’d been short with you when it wasn’t your fault. he forgot about your anxiety. he forgot that you were a human with fears. he was just settled on the fact you were outside making out with another guy, even though it was fake.

• “i’m sorry”

• “i just want you to talk to me. you know you can say whatever you want.”

• (harrison really was an ass for making you two do this on your own)

• “how do you feel about noah?” he asked. your co-star. your on-screen lover.

• “he’s okay, i guess. why?” you raised an eyebrow.

• “alright. i like you. a lot. and i don’t like seeing you kiss other guys because i want to be the one kissing you.”

• very blunt. you were in shock for a bit and tom got really nervous because he thought you didn’t reciprocate, but the moment you kissed him, everything he was thinking just dissolved

• from then on, the rest is history.

• after eight months, your relationship went public, which brought a lot of love and a lot of hate. (you got really upset over that to the point of disabling comments and social media hiatus’)

• you moved in together! something your fans found out quickly. they were like detectives, a lot of people gave you shit for “moving too fast,” but tom reassured you constantly about those anxieties

• one time someone told you to kill yourself. tom came home to you crying in your bed, having one the panic attacks where you don’t think straight and just want to distance yourself from everyone.

• “it’s better if i leave, tom. they’ll stop being awful to you. we won’t get bad press anymore. it won’t hurt as much.” your eyes were pink and your nail beds were raw from how much you picked at them. you’d scratched one part of your palm so much that it was bleeding.

• tom’s heart broke, and he found himself cradling you again on a bed. “i love you so much, (y/n). you’re my fucking world and no one else can change that.” he said, kissing your knuckles. he wiped your tears away and looked you in the eye. “you know that, right? that i love you?”

• you couldn’t look him in the eye. you were shaking so much and so very convinced that others would tear you apart.

• “i am not moving until you say you know that. because i absolutely need you to know that i adore you and love you in every single way there is.” he picked up your chin to look at him.

• “i know you do.” you eventually whispered, tears still slipping down your cheeks. he pulled your head into his chest, rocking back and forth slightly. “i love you too.”

• paparazzi was the worst. you hated them. as soon as the flashing lights started you would begin to shake

• tom would always to the best of his ability, find routes or entrances that paparazzi wouldn’t be at when you went out

• when it was unavoidable, he’d grip you around your waist, running so fast he’d nearly carry you into places. sometimes he’d cover your eyes too

• if you were out in public, he’d always give you his hat and sunglasses to wear to help you feel safer

• “hey! (y/n)! how does tom feel about you and noah centino’s hot scene in the new movie?” “(y/n), look here, look here! show me a smile, pretty lady!” “that’s one fine piece of ass you got there, holland” - the paparazzi could be really vulgar sometimes

• “can you fuck off?” he said to all of them, almost yelling. he almost hushed the crowd as he flipped them all off and walked inside with you.

• when you had bad days with your anxiety, you had s tendency to scratch yourself. when tom got home from work or you got home from work, he’d always make sure you had a bandaid or something to protect them.

• there were days where you helped him, too. when the public lifestyle was too much, you’d sit behind him and brush his hair as long as needed. sometimes it was hours while he ranted, or just silence.

• sometimes he’d just fall into you while you were laying or sitting somewhere, resting his head on your chest.

• holding him was the best anti-anxiety medicine you ever had.

• you were always in awe of each other. awed by how beautiful your relationship was, how understanding one person could be, and everything in between.

• tom never, ever yelled at you. not once. he tried his best to never be snippy because he knew it scared you, but some days it was really hard. you did the same for him.

• when you got sick, he held your hair back. throwing up usually triggered some form of anxiety, and he’d just hold you in the bathroom floor when you were done. you might be sweating and hadn’t showered for three days because you couldn’t get up, and he’d just sit there, his head again the wall with his arms wrapped around you.

• on those days when there was no reason for you to be anxious, but you were, he would check in to make sure you were taking care of yourself.

• sometimes he’d leave you alone because you needed it. he could read you effortlessly. when one of you got home, sometimes the greetings were just a simple hello. other days they were a drawn out hug and a passionate kiss.

• being in each others presence was enough. you didn’t always have to be doing something, touching or talking, it was comforting to just know that they were there.

• tom helped you. he didn’t fix you, because you did not need fixing. he just helped. he was there when you needed it and vice versa. he was a caretaker and could give you the truth. he was a lover and a friend.

• his forehead kisses were like drugs to you

• when you woke up in the middle of the night from a bad dream, he’d wake up too. he’d just grab your hand, look at you and give you a soft kiss on the corner of your mouth. he never once let you go out onto the balcony to “get some air.” on those nights. he knew you might stay out there all not and not sleep, or your panic attacks would get worse from the heights and half-conscious combination.

• tom was a sucker for dancing in the moonlight. when those same nights were really, really bad, he’d make you get up and you two would just sway to the non existent music. sometimes he’d sing to you.

• you liked having your head on his chest when he talked or sang to you because you could feel the vibrations as he spoke.

• he loved you. you loved him.

• often, the only two words that could describe him seemed odd, but fit so well

• beautifully human.

#tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland headcanon #tom holland fanfic #tom holland #peter parker x reader #tom holland x reader fluff #anxeity #marvel headcanons

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isingonly4myangel · 6 years

Note

HELLO YES I WANT A FIC WHERE WE SEE WHAT SIBELLA IS THINKING DURING THOSE SPECIFIC SCENES OF DRACULA, PLEASE AND THANK YOU!

“Jonathan, let the others go against him,” Sibella spoke to her onstage husband, Jonathan Harker. Simon was a wonderful actor, and he and Sibella worked well together.

“No, I’ll never be free until I see him destroyed. I’ve got to join Van Helsing and the others downstairs. Will you come?”

“No! Don’t go!” She stepped closer to him. That had been her choice, as it was not initially indicated in the stage directions, but it had felt right so their director, Charles, had told her to ‘keep it’.

“Really, I must-” he began to protest, but Sibella jumped to cut him off, as there was no more of his line written.

“Stay, for just a moment.” She lowered her voice to imitate the quality of a whisper while still being mindful to ‘project’ so that she could be heard. “Hold me… just for a moment.” He crossed to her and took her in his arms, but she gave a sharp gasp as though she were in pain. The actions were so engrained in them that they carried them out without thought as to what they were supposed to do next. Everything seemed natural.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know… I can’t…” He gave it a moment to let her words rest in the air.

“Why?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” Early on in the rehearsal process, Sibella found that she could conjure strong emotion just by willing it. All she had to do was focus on the emptiness in her and the ache in her chest and the tears would come. Her only problem was pulling out of it. “I don’t know! Oh please, just hold me.”

“Of course, darling. It’s alright.” He wrapped his arms around her and she leaned into his embrace. She had become so accustomed to him that it no longer felt strange to be held by a man that she had no romantic attachment to. He smelled of stage makeup and subtle cologne and the solidity of his presence was comforting to her. Though her comfort with him was aided by the fact that he was not romantically interested in women, married or not.

The lights came down and they scurried off stage in the darkness. Standing in the wing, Sibella struggled to stop her tears from falling.Knowing that she would need it, Simon produced a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and handed it to her. She took it gratefully, dabbing carefully at her eyes so as not to smear her makeup. Simon’s gentle hand on her back quickly turned into him holding her as he felt her trembling.

***

Sibella lay in the bed, waiting for the scent of the stage fog that signaled Edward’s arrival as the vampire. She did her best to feel uneasy, attempting to wake Simon who lay next to her, but as directed he was unresponsive. Hearing the rustle of the fabric of Edward’s cape, she turned to face him with a gasp.

“Silence!” rasped Edward in his thick Transylvanian accent,and pointed to Simon in the bed. “If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out before your very eyes.” He placed a hand on Sibella’s shoulder and held her lightly while she raised herself to her knees, giving the impression that he had pulled her upward. Turning her to face outward, he tugged open the snap holding her dressing gown together, exposing the skin of her neck and chest.

Edward had an uncanny ability to make Sibella incredibly uncomfortable onstage. Outside of his role as Dracula, he was a lovely and charming middle-aged man with greying hair and a sweet wife. He had brought Sibella flowers on opening night to congratulate her on her stage debut. But once the vampiric makeup went on, he was positively frightful. A tribute, Sibella was sure, to his acting ability, but nevertheless she felt her skin crawl as he trailed the fingers of those skeletal gloves down her neck.

“First,” he spoke. “A little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well be quiet; it is not the first time that your veins have appeased my thirst, Mina!”

Sibella tried not to flinch as she heard the slight popping of Edward biting into the small capsule filled with fake blood. She hated the next part, but she had to suffer through it, and her discomfort worked well in the scene. In the moment that it took to lower his head to her neck, Edward would swipe the “blood” across the set of clay fangs in his mouth so that when he brushed the false teeth against her neck they would leave droplets of blood behind. He could then spread the rest of the liquid to cover his lips, gaining the desired gasps from the audience as he at last pulled away from her.

During the following speech, Sibella tried at once to both fight and embrace her urge to bolt in the opposite direction. She wanted nothing more than to hide in her dressing room and clean the blood off of her neck, but she had the rest of a scene to do. And this portion was the unfortunate price she had to pay in order to reach her favourite scene in the play.

“And to end this!” Edward continued. He tugged open his outer shirt to reveal the pale white one underneath it, appearing as skin to the audience. With another popping of a small packet, carefully taped to the inside of his cape, blood seeped across the fabric of the fitted white shirt,achieving another resounding gasp from spectators.

His apparent seizing of Sibella was in fact carefully coordinated so that Sibella was entirely in control of their motions. As she pressed her mouth into the stream of red liquid, smearing it across her face in her pretended struggle against the vampire’s hold, she begged the moments to pass faster that the other actors’ entrance might be expedited.Suddenly, the four men burst through the door in the far wall,and Sibella threw herself down hard on the bed. She closed her eyes tightly against the sounds of the confrontation and the sudden change of the lights.

When Edward had dived beneath the bed and the stage was lit again, she could at last release the scream that had been building in her throat. When the men had questioned her about it, she found that she had no answer as to where a scream of that variety came from. At the beginning of the rehearsal process she needed only to recall the nightmares she had about losing Monty and Phoebe and the scream would come, raw and heart-wrenching. But now she could produce it so that it felt organic and did not take her thoughts away from the supposed reality of what was happening on the stage.

Timothy, playing Professor Van Helsing, ran to her and flung the coverlet over her as she began to wail, hiding her face in her hands.Nathaniel, in the role of Dr. Jack Seward, dashed around to the other side of the bed to rouse Simon.

“What’s happening? Seward, tell me,” Simon mumbled as he pretended to awake. “Mina, oh my god!” he cried as he laid eyes on Sibella. “My god, help her!”

“Jonathan?” Sibella gasped through her tears.

“Oh, thank god, Van Helsing save her, it cannot have gone too far yet, guard her while I look for him.” He leapt off the bed and started towards the door, but he stopped short as Sibella cried out to him.

“No no no, Jonathan don’t go, don’t leave me! Stay with these friends who will watch over you!” Every night, Simon was taken aback by the emotion that Mrs. Holland was able to pour into those few words. Retracing his steps, he came to her outstretched arms. She pulled him down to be sitting on the bedside and clung to him fiercely.

“Do not fear, dearest Wilhelmina-” began Timothy, but he stopped as directed when Sibella began to wail. In holding onto Simon she had smeared the blood from her face and neck onto his white nightshirt, exactly as intended.

“It’s alright, Mina, it’s alright!” Simon cried, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight while she sobbed.

***

The rest of the play was tiring but fun for Sibella. The farther into vampirism she slipped, the more delirious she had to become. The hypnotism bits were fun too, and she had been told that she held both the audience and her fellow actors enthralled while she spoke in her theoretical trance.

“Oh dear Mina, stop now! I fear for you!” spoke Timothy, attempting to hold her back from the three ghostly women who floated around the stage.

“Fear for me? You fool!” Sibella laughed. “There is none safer in all the world from them than I!” But as she stepped up to the edge of the circle, she gave a piercing scream that was echoed by all three women,recoiling as though she had been burned. “I cannot pass! I cannot pass! Don’t leave, don’t leave, wait! My sisters!” She fell backwards in a faint, trusting that Nathaniel and Ethan would be there to catch her as Dr. Seward and Quincey Morris.

***

“God be praised,” breathed Timothy when they had finally arrived at the end of the play. “Dracula is no more.”

“Now God be thanked that it has not been in vain,” Ethan choked out in his American accent as he lay with a stab wound to his side. “The curse has passed away!” And to the dismay of all the audience, he slumped backwards, dead.

“The burn on my forehead,” Sibella murmured, raising herself up from the floor. “Is it gone?”

“Yes,” replied Simon, who had come to kneel beside her. She leaned forward, resting her head against his shoulder.

“Quincey is dead,” Nathaniel said in disbelief. A solemn silence hung over the stage for a moment before Timothy stepped forward and began to bless Quincey’s body.

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” he declared, marking the figure of a cross in the air. Matthew, playing Arthur Holmwood, and Nathaniel each took one end of Ethan to raise him. Simon swept Sibella up into his arms and carried her off stage as all save Timothy made their final exit.

“I ask no one to accept these yellowing pages as fact,”declared Timothy, standing centre stage to deliver the ending of the epilogue.“I offer no proof. I ask none to believe. You have only my word before God, and the knowledge in the ancient part of your own brain that what I have told is complete and utter truth.”

Darkness engulfed the stage and the theatre was filled by only silence for a moment, until the lights were raised to reveal all the actors in a line on the stage. Sibella waited her turn to step forward with Simon. Sweeping an elegant curtsey at the centre of the stage, Sibella smiled at the audience’s response.

***

“I really don’t know why you’ve not done this before, Sibella,” Simon addressed her as they all sat around a table in the French-style restaurant around the corner from the theatre that they frequented after performances. “You’re absolutely terrific!”

“He’s quite right, you know,” added Timothy as Sibella blushed.

“Absolutely astonishing!” exclaimed Elizabeth, who played Lucy, with a smile.

“I’ve seen a great number of actresses in my time, my dear,” said Edward, now devoid of his white makeup and false fangs. “And you have true talent.”

Matthew stood, raising his glass in front of him. “To Sibella.” he declared the toast.

“To Sibella!” The others echoed, and clinked all their glasses together as Sibella laughed, glad to have found such a wonderful group of friends.

#gglam #dracula #writings

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gldengod-a2 · 6 years

Text

WHY I THINK DENNIS KILLED BRIAN LEFEVRE

*Be Advised* The following post contains some graphic material about murder. Do not read if the latter triggers you.

To start off this meta, I’d like to state the following: I DO NOT believe Dennis murdered anyone prior to Brian LeFevre. I’m going to briefly go over Den’s history in this post though and explain how it eventually boils down to his first kill.

Dennis and Skin:

As far back as season three, Dennis has shown himself to have a disturbing infatuation with skin, both human and otherwise.

Psycho Pete Returns, where he threatens to skin Dee and turn her into a lampshade. In the season eleven episodeFrank Falls Out the Window, Dee confronts Dennis on his dream of being a veterinarian, saying that she thinks he only wants to become a vet so that he can "keep the skins." The conversation quickly devolves into a screaming match when she follows this up by telling him that he's going bald, but not before Dennis admits that he is indeed very fascinated by skins.

One of the earliest references to Dennis's obsession with skin, which I think a lot of people miss, is in the season three episode The Aluminum Monster vs Fatty Magoo. In a brief scene towards the end of the episode, a number of parallels are drawn between Dennis and Buffalo Bill, a serial killer from the movie Silence of the Lambs that wears the skins of his victims.

Both men are naked and applying lipstick in front of a mirror.

Both men are about to dress up as women.

Both men are listening to a song from the 80s about love.

Both men are softly whispering affirmations of self-confidence about how sexually attractive they are.

Additionally, Buffalo Bill, according to Hannibal Lecter, wants to wear the skin of his victims to become another person. This, along with Dennis's infatuation with human skin, will be very important in Dennis's possible murder of Mr. LeFevre. But before we get to the reasoning behind Dennis's killing fantasies, let's go back to where they may have started..

Gary the Serial Killer:

Dennis starts out in the beginning of the series as an overly vain womanizer with a frat boy's mentality toward sex. It's only in mid and latter seasons that we are given hints that he may in fact be dangerous. When wondering about the reasons for this, I found myself thinking of a story I heard about a thirteenth century serial killer named Gilles de Rais. De Rais was a French nobleman and the right hand man to Joan of Arc, and by all account a virtuous individual (at least with regards to the way that the gentry viewed virtue in the middle ages). He became one of history's most notorious monsters quite by accident, after a group of con artists masquerading as alchemists convinced him to murder a child while experimenting with necromancy. De Rais discovered from this that he enjoyed killing, and went on to become one of histories earliest recorded serial murderers. If Dennis is the Gilles de Rais of our scenario, then his alchemist would be Dee's former neighbor, Gary.

We first meet Gary in the season three episode, Mac is a Serial Killer, where the Gang suspects Mac of a series of murders that we later find out were committed by Gary when the Gang discovers "about fifteen severed heads" in his freezer. Though Gary is only around for the one episode, after which he is most likely either in prison or dead after Frank attacks him with the chainsaw, I think that the experience had a very profound effect on Dennis in a number of ways.

For one, during the episode itself Dennis and Dee try to "get inside the mind" of the serial killer in order to find out who it is and clear Mac's name. They manage to do this by purchasing (stealing) murder weapons, dressing up as a painter and psycho clown, and going out to stalk a victim. In addition to coming up with a surprisingly feasible backstory and methodology for his killer, Dennis becomes extremely excited about the idea of strangling and dismembering the Waitress. He then gets overtly disappointed when Dee says that they can't really kill her.

We see the episode with Gary referenced most recently in the season eleven episode, Chardee Macdennis 2: Electric Boogaloo, where Dennis sculpts a woman's head in a freezer when prompted to mold something that represents "love." His excuse is that "it represents the preservation of love for ever and ever" (this is important for the section regarding Dennis's psychotic break).

Some have speculated, based on this last fact, that Dennis may have been the real serial killer all along, and that he framed Gary. Personally I don't think this is likely. The whole misunderstanding with Mac and Gary happened because Dennis pointed out that Mac came home late the previous night, causing Frank to suspect that Mac was the killer based on him being out while the most recent murder was taking place. This means that Dennis was home while the murder was happening because he knew that Mac wasn't. I also find it hard to believe that Dennis could have been so easily dispatched by the Waitress with a can of pepper spray if he'd already killed up to fifteen women.

More likely, I think, is the idea that Dennis was inspired by Gary. Almost all serial killers start out fantasizing, and when that doesn't do it anymore, they graduate to the real thing. I think Dennis got such a high off the stalk and planning that he and Dee did to fake-kill the Waitress that he kept running with it, crafting more and more elaborate fantasies, such as storing zip ties and plastic wrap in his car, and describing to Mac what they could potentially do with women trapped out on the open ocean. He did this for five seasons until the opportunity arose for him to kill his first real victim: Brian LeFevre.

Brian LeFevre:

In the season eight episode, Frank's Back in Business, the Gang finds the wallet of a man named Brian LeFevre. After boosting the cash, credit cards, and baseball tickets found inside, Dennis, Mac, and Dee soon find themselves in a luxury box with a pair of business executives that are in town to court Brian LeFevre. Dennis takes this as an opportunity to become Brian LeFevre, posing as him for the rest of the week. Dennis also invited Mac and Dee to "get off" with him by taking part in the charade. Some, as it turns out, were willing to take this farther than others...Dennis describes the experience of "getting off" as the thrill of becoming another person by "getting inside of their skin." The wording of this, "getting inside their skin," recalls to mind Dennis's previously mentioned fetish. Considering this, when we find out at the end that the real Brian LeFevre was murdered right outside Paddy's Pub, it isn't that much of a stretch to suspect that Dennis may have had something to do with it. With this in mind, consider Dennis's reaction to hearing Charlie and Mac recap LeFevre's death.

As Charlie and Mac are describing the circumstances of the real LeFevre's death, Dennis becomes progressively more and more aroused, finally "climaxing" when they show his severed finger (which Charlie cut off in the morgue). This is very similar to the way in which real serial killers gratify themselves when reliving their crimes (also the reason that many of them take trophies, such as the severed finger). Furthermore, his choice of Dee as a companion reflects what may have been his original fantasy, when the two of them stalked the waitress in Mac is a Serial Killer.

Now all of this is plausible, but still probably seems like a stretch. However, the show does drop one MASSIVE clue as to Dennis being the real murderer. When describing how the police believe that the murder went down, Charlie says that the real Brian LeFevre was stabbed to death by "a crackhead." Now you may hear this and assume that there's no real mystery to LeFevre's death and that it was a simple mugging. But let's not forget, Dennis is a crack addict. He became addicted to crack all the way back in the season two episode, Dennis and Dee Go On Welfare, and he's had multiple relapses in Frank's Pretty Woman and Frank Falls Out the Window. While I don't necessarily think that Charlie knows or suspects that Dennis killed LeFevre, I do believe that the show is dropping a hint that points in Dennis's direction.

Dennis's Psychotic Break:

Usually when a serial killer first begins killing, or resumes killing after a period of inactivity, something happens that sets them off; a death in the family, getting fired, getting divorced, something of that nature. In this situation, the event that sets Dennis off is as traumatizing as any of those.

In the episode Charlie's Mom Has Cancer, which takes place immediately before the one with LeFevre's demise, Dennis is stuck in a sort of melancholy slump. He admits to Mac that he's distressed over his inability to "feel things" emotionally. Over the course of the episode he tries a number of remedies, including attending Mac's church and seeing a holistic healer named Doctor Jynx. Unfortunately none of this works, and Dennis resigns himself to feeling nothing, admitting that the church is running a scam and that Doctor Jynx is a "sorcerer" with the name of a monkey. At the end of the episode, however, in what can only be described as a horrific twist of irony, Dennis does manage to unearth his feelings. This happens when Frank tricks him into digging up his dead mother as a means of getting revenge against Dee for insulting him and stealing his money.

When the casket lid opens and Barbara's corpse is revealed, Dennis bursts into tears and starts hysterically sobbing, clutching Dee and screaming "I feel too much!" and "my mommy's a skeleton!"

This would explain Dennis's desire to slip into someone else's skin, as the flood of negative emotions that overwhelmed him upon seeing his mother's dead body made it too painful to be "Dennis Reynolds." The sight of Barbara's body without skin probably also triggered his obsession with human flesh, which ties into his psychotic impulses. This likely brought on some self-loathing, given that his mother is one of the few people that Dennis could be said to love, further contributing to his urge to become someone else. So when he saw LeFevre stumbling around behind Paddy's looking for his wallet, it was too great an opportunity to miss.

Aftermath:

In the episode immediately after the one featuring Brian LeFevre, Charlie Rules the World, we see some interesting behavior from Dennis. Throughout the episode he expresses frustrations with the Gang's lack of drive to go out and "live life." He wants to experience things on a more visceral level while the others are burying themselves in social media and online video games. He comes off as manic and overly cheerful, in a somewhat aggressive way. He wants to go out dancing, as if celebrating something, and winds up doing shots until he projectile vomits at the table. Later in the episode he spends some time alone in an isolation tank and comes to the conclusion that he's a god, and the episode ends with him deleting everyone else's game characters because they "irritated him." Though not entirely new behavior on Dennis's part, he does seem to take his divinity to a more literal level in this episode, whereas in the past he referred to himself as a "golden god" in more of a metaphorical sense. When viewed in the context of our present theory, that he in fact committed his first murder in the previous episode, Dennis's progressing god complex can be viewed as more than simple narcissism, but as the self-aggrandizing mentality of a budding serial killer.

#okay THIS IS REALLY LONG BUT I CANNOT BEGIN TO EXPLAIN HOW UTTERLY VITAL THIS IS TO MY PORTRAYAL SO IF U CAN FIND THE TIME TO READ...#I'D APPRECIATE IT MORE THAN ANYTHING #♡ *:･ﾟ✧ ◝ 017 : d . e . n . n . i . s system / study . ❜#// long post

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atomotus · 6 years

Note

also you know !! i wanna hear everything and anything about ashton and his family dynamics!! tell me bout his family!!

ASK ME ANYTHING ABOUT ASHTON | ACCEPTING

✶ @buttonedblue

035. THE FOWLER HOUSE. when you first arrive and park your car in the driveway, you immediately have an idea implanted in your brain for what you expect from these people. there’s visibly three stories ( although the top appears to be an attic ), along with a porch and a three-car garage. there’s no doubt in your mind that these people have a good amount of money. the house is covered in stone, giving it an earthen feel that’s only accentuated by bronze trimming. when you knock on the door, you likely don’t even receive a response – especially if it’s during the week.

you see, julianne lee fowler and thomas stephen fowler run this house. julianne works as a university professor, specializing in english literature. thomas is a cardiologist and spends long hours away from home. ashton lee fowler, the youngest son, is off at college and has an apartment near his university. nicholas stephen fowler, their other son, has already graduated college. he has little contact with his family now. the only one left in the home is their pet, an old basset hound named charlie. at this point, she may not even bark as you ring the doorbell.

it wasn’t always this way. when ashton was a child, he wasn’t ashton. he was ashely. a bright little girl with long brown hair and the most curious eyes you’d ever see. when ashton entered the world, nicholas was only three. thomas made sure to spend much more time at the house when his children were growing up. his favorite memory with them is sharing his passion of music with them, sitting at the kitchen table with his guitar while the children begged to learn how to play.

ashton’s fifth birthday. it’s not long after nicholas’s eighth. nicholas earns a guitar, and more than anything, ashton wishes he had received it instead. his time isn’t long after, getting his own guitar at eight too. however, at this point, nicholas already has more experience. ashton feels as though this is a competition with his brother, and he’s losing.

nicholas became interested in science as a child, and ashton followed soon after. the two of them were sent to science-related summer camps on many occasions. in many aspects, he was similar to his brother. their passions, their drive, and their quick tempers. however, nicholas lacked much of the gentle heart that ashton had. they often got in fights, wanting to be better than one another. nicholas was usually the one to turn them physical – not abnormal for most siblings. when ashton was ten, he had snapped at his brother and received a bloody nose. he was about to give his brother one in return, yet his mother immediately responded to the scene and pulled the two of them apart. much to his dismay, nicholas was grounded for a month.

ashton is twelve, sitting in his room listening to music. he sits up and looks in the mirror, combing long brown hair behind his ears. this feeling that something is missing in his life has finally settled in. he doesn’t understand it, and he’s scared. the last person he wants to tell is his brother, and his father is now very active at work once more. his mother is the only option, yet he doesn’t know how to vocalize this to her yet.

ashton began to fade from his family. he spent more time away from home. he began to dress in more vintage clothing, searching for a way to discover himself. he needed to fill this void within him where something was missing. brighter, more extroverted, he soon became one of the most popular figures at his school. time and time again, young boys flirted with ashley. it wasn’t quality – they were just children – yet it was a distraction. he inherited his grandfather’s old record player, so when he did have to be home, he was often listening to various old records in his room. there were too many times that he sat in his room and sobbed, completely unhappy in his body and searching for some sort of solution. many of these times, his parents wouldn’t be home. his brother wouldn’t be attentive. while he had a loving family, he felt alone.

fourteen. ashton has reached his breaking point. he slowly makes his way down the steps of his home, tears welled in his eyes. everyone is finally present, his mother and father giving nicholas a talk from across the living room. julianne’s warm eyes meet ashton as he approaches, concern filling her motherly heart as she notices the pain in her child’s eyes. she asks what the matter is, and finally a confession comes out. her child wants to be a boy. it’s killing him inside, it’s breaking his entire world apart. he begs her to still love him and just please, please get him help.

she’s the first to come around. she hugs her son happily, reassuring him that they’ll do whatever they need to do. nicholas and thomas are not as convinced. however, thomas comes around soon thanks to his wife’s gentle yet prodding heart. nicholas is the last to come around. he doesn’t want to face this reality. he thinks it’s fake. it breaks ashton’s heart.

julianne helps ashton cut his hair and get into clothes that truly make him feel comfortable. she helps him pick out this new name, ashton, instead of ashley. julianne and her husband help their son get on hormones. the main thing they want for their children is success. without this, ashton will not be happy and focused. he will not be successful. if he needs to transition, he can do it as early as possible to give him the highest chances for success in the real world.

with this new appearance and name, he has to come out. he needs people to know the pronouns he wants to use. he’s becoming a boy now. due to his popularity as ashley, most of his peers take the news pretty well. however, others do not. his popularity becomes knocked down a few pegs. in the moment, it stings. as he becomes older, he realizes that it’s the most insignificant thing to happen in his life.

there are a few incidents at school. someone tries to pick a fight with ashton due to this new identity. nicholas goes to his school yet does not try to back up his brother. ashton is fifteen at the time while nicholas is eighteen, ready to graduate. he’s going to be out of there soon, he says. it doesn’t even matter.

when they return home after school, it becomes physical. ashton yells at his brother for not defending him, that quick temper soon learning how to verbally manipulate others in fights. you don’t love me, he shouts, for if his brother loved him, he shouldn’t let those things happen to him. you don’t love me, he repeats, because you can’t accept that i’m no longer a girl. i’m more like you than i’ve ever been and you can’t handle it because you’re worried i’ll finally be better. ashton receives yet another bloody nose, yet this time, it’s broken. nicholas has the decency to take ashton to the hospital. he notifies his mother, who’s soon to rush to pick ashton up. before she can make it to the hospital, nicholas bails. he’s decided that he’s staying with a friend for the next few days.

when nicholas finally returns home, thomas and julianne are quick to discipline him again. not only grounded, yet julianne yells at her son for once in her life. she tells him that he needs to accept his brother for who he is because their family is incredibly important. those two have grown up together. they love each other. she knows it. nicholas just needs to show it.

the talk helps him. time passes, and he apologies. genuinely apologizes. he wants to learn more about how ashton’s feeling and what he’s going through. maybe he hasn’t been the greatest brother in the past and he needs to learn to control his own temper, yet he’s trying now. he wants to be good.

ashton is sixteen. he finally receives his top surgery. this is his last step. he’ll be able to change all of his legal documents over now before he even applies to colleges. his mother, father, and brother all show up for the surgery, despite his brother having to skip one of his college classes. it’s a loving, supportive endeavor. his family is willing to spend every penny that they need to for ashton to be happy.

at this point, nicholas is no longer living in the household. he’s in a dorm at a college, studying physics. however, that’s only what it says on paper. he doesn’t care as much about the science anymore, compared to his passion as a child. he cares for athleticism and his music. the degree is merely a cover to make julianne and thomas happy – the fowlers have to be successful, after all. they have to graduate college.

ashton believes that he’s responsible. the popularity is back. he’s extroverted and transitioning well. his parents aren’t around too often, so he hosts parties. why not? well... he’ll never forget the time that he posted about the party on snapchat and his brother, genuinely worried about ashton’s safety later in the night, notified his parents. that one didn’t end so well.

eighteen. ashton is accepted to the university of his dreams, and he plans on studying chemistry. he’s still passionate about the science. music is his hobby, but science is what he wants to do with his life. his parents ship him off to dorm life, and he has never looked back. this was the defining moment for the fowler household. without their children, julianne and thomas could take a break, yet instead they continue to work. they are often absent. they have no children to look after when they return home.

ashton absolutely loves his college experience. he rarely ever returns home. perhaps he’ll stop by on a weekend every so often, yet he’ll likely only find his mother back at the house. his father may be on a conference trip somewhere. his brother certainly won’t return home. he has his own place now, and he’s trying to make a career for himself. the older he gets, the more ashton connects with his mother. she’s his backbone when times get tough.

everything changes after the particle accelerator explosion. ashton gains these unforeseen powers, now living as a telekinetic. he doesn’t tell anyone. not his closest friends, not his family, not even his beloved mother. he wants to keep both them and himself safe. even as he grows as a hero, more confident and trained, he doesn’t tell them. even when he needs to go to a hospital due to his wounds as a vigilante, he won’t. his family will be billed, and he can’t have them knowing what’s going on with him.

he doesn’t contact them as much. a call and text here and there. often times he can’t send them pictures of himself, knowing they’ll ask too many questions about the occasional black eye or scratches to his features. it’s inevitable. he loves them dearly, even his brother, yet he cannot put them at risk.

when he returns home for the holidays, he desperately tries to be himself. pretend that nothing happened. it’s difficult to hide his powers, as he needs to use them often or his veins begin to itch, yet he has to. he has to keep them safe. he has to pretend to be their normal child. they’ve already traveled through his gender transition, and they were supportive through that. yet his vigilantism? well, he doesn’t see that ending in the same way.

#[ this was so much longer than u needed it to be lmao ]#[ i had a lot to talk about so :') ]#buttonedblue #✧ | THE VOICES OF THOSE WHO STAND LOOKING (answered)#✧ | YOUR STAIRWAY LIES ON THE WHISPERING WIND (headcanon)

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mirkwoodshewolf · 7 years

Text

I know what you’re going through; Bucky x teen reader

This particular oneshot came from an imagine from The Fandom Imagine and I may or may not post it to their tumblr page idk. Warnings are murder, descriptive killings, mentions of abuse and rape, MAJOR ANGST but it’ll end in fluffy feels at the end. The imagine is below, hope you guys enjoy ;)

"Imagine having terrible nightmares of your past as a brainwashed Hydra assassin and Bucky always being there to help calm you down and hold you when you wake up".

Taglist:

@evyiione

_______________________________________________________

My name is (y/n) (l/n). I know it sounds common but most names do if you think about them long enough, maybe even yours. I once lived as a simple little girl on the farm, feeding the chickens, playing with Mr. Goose, and sitting with the horses from sunrise to sunset, yeah it seemed like a normal life at first but it soon all ended.

When the people in black with the red octopus symbol came to our farm one night during dinner and killed my whole family right in front of my eyes and took me away.

All of this happened when I was only just 5 years old.

From then on I lived a life in a small cell with no windows, cold metal walls, an old worn out mattress on the floor for my bed, and an old toilet. I was then trained to become a master assassin alongside HYDRA'S best asset "The Winter Soldier". I made my first kill on the President's secretary when I was only just 7 years old.

I was tortured, brainwashed whenever I tried to fight back or beg to leave, fed only when I completed a mission successfully, and pushed above and beyond my limit during training.

I was practically the living dead and was known in HYDRA as "THE GHOST GIRL" because of my pale complexion due to malnourishment and the fact that I could disappear on the scene faster than anyone could blink due to my nimble legs and fast reflexes.

When I turned 15, my life began to change.

I was located to Siberia, Russia to help some of the remaining secret HYDRA members build their weapons and train with some of their experiments. As I was in training but getting my butt seriously kicked, the base was under attack by some members of the Avengers. As the HYDRA soldiers and guards were busy trying to defend the base, I thought it would finally be an opportune moment to finally escape from this hell and finally feel the sun on my face and the ground between my toes.

I snuck out of the base and just ran as fast and as far as I could when I suddenly came face to face with a member from the Avengers. Weak and exhausted from running, I just fell to my knees breathing weakly as the Avenger wearing a jetpack of some sort on his back wearing red goggles. I felt him catch me just before I could fall face flat in the snow and I heard him say.

"Cap, I'm heading back to the Helicarrier, I've got a kid and she looks malnourished beyond normality".

Next thing I knew, I woke up in a comfortable bed with needles up in my arm. I whimpered and tried to hurry and get them out thinking the drugs that were entering my body was more serum to make me stronger but a hand reached out for mine and a voice said.

"No, no, no, no leave it shhh, shhh. It's alright, its fluids and medication to counteract the drugs, it's alright". When I looked up I saw the one and only ex-asset from HYDRA, the Winter Soldier. "What's your name honey?" He asked in a softer voice. I just stared at him breathing heavily through my nose when I answered in a hoarse voice.

"(Y/n)".

"Nice to meet you (y/n)".

"Are you taking me back to HYDRA?" the Winter Soldier looked at me with a look of horror but it quickly turned back to gentle and welcoming.

"No, (y/n). We're heading to an Avengers base to get you some help, don't worry, you're safe now". I couldn't believe what I was hearing. For the first time in 10 years, I was finally free of HYDRA. Tears welled up in my eyes, my body began shaking as I tried to hold my sobs in since in HYDRA crying is seen as weakness, and if even one tear fell from my eyes, I would get beaten for showing weakness.

Sensing my inner turmoil to just let go, the Winter Soldier suddenly held me close to his chest.

"It's okay. I know what you're going through, I was scared too. But I'm going to help you, it's alright. You're free now, you're free". Surprised at the Winter Soldier's actions not even realizing that this was the same asset that HYDRA had used to do their bidding for over 50 years and have been tracking him the last year and a half for, was holding me like this comforting me.

But none the less, I finally let the waterworks out and cried as much as I could and not once did the soldier flinch, fake sympathy, or sarcastic remarks, he just held onto me comfortingly and kept whispering soft things into my ear until I had cried myself to sleep.

2 years later after my rescue from HYDRA, I had been given psychological as well as light physical therapy. I spent the first few months in the medical wing with doctors trying to get my health back up, along with being fed the correct foods and given drugs to counteract the ones HYDRA had given me for years, psychiatrists would come in and we would talk for hours on end about my life and what HYDRA had done to me for the past 10 years.

It was very, very, very hard having to repeat to these doctors over and over and over again every single day I went through with those people, hell some of the days were so bad, I would refuse to speak to anyone for weeks *if you want to know what it was that made me stay silent for so long, I'll only just say I'm not a virgin anymore and just leave it at that*. But the worst thing of all wasn't just talking about my past, the worst was at nights I would wake up screaming from the nightmares I would have of my previous HYDRA missions. Seeing myself getting brainwashed to do their bidding, the looks on my victim's faces and hearing their families screaming as soon as they found the bodies.

But you know what? Something good came out of that. With all the nightmares, the therapy, and the reliving of events, there was one person who was always there for me and never once complained nor did it because it was his job.

It was Bucky *after a while I had found out his real name from his friend Steve and the man who had found me, Sam Wilson aka Falcon*.

As said before, he didn't stay close to me because it was his job, he did it because he's gone through all this before.

He was willing to help me out and make sure nothing bad happened to me here in SHIELD because sometimes some SHIELD agents can get crazy and want to do further investigation on some people's powers, or if the psychiatrists tried to make me talk when I didn't want to because I was paralyzed from seeing all my crimes before my eyes, he would be there to tell them to lay off and end the session right there and take me back to my room and bolt the door shut and just hold me close.

Bucky had become like the big brother I had always wanted and even though he was reputed to not even socialize with anyone as much as the other Avengers, he always took the time to always be there for me, day or night. And it was lucky to because tonight I would need him the most.

It was bedtime and I had fallen asleep after writing a few poems in my journal given to me by Steve and just when I thought I could finally sleep peacefully, I had once again fallen into sleep paralysis of seeing my past catch up with me.

I was hiding inside the hall closet of an executive of SHIELD just waiting for him to come home. As I could hear the door open I was shocked to hear the sounds of two young boys laughing and giggling.

"Okay boys, get on up into your rooms, put your pajamas on, brush your teeth and get into bed!" My target's voice said. I soon heard the sounds of the two boys running across the hall and into their rooms getting ready for bed. I waited in silence as my target came into his boy's room, read them a bedtime story, tucked them in and kissed them goodnight. As the lights went off in their room and soon finally in his, I slowly and silently walked across the hall towards my target's room and readied my gun.

I stood over his bed with the gun pointing directly at his sleeping body when the door suddenly bean to open and without question I fired a shot at the person coming in only to see that it was one of his boys. The boy fell down into a pool of blood waking up the father and when he saw me and his son's dead body, he immediately went to attack me but I nimbly flipped over him, taking out some rope from my hip and landing behind him and wrapped the rope around his neck and tied it once tightening it.

"Where are the SHIELD plans?"

"Murderer!" I tightened the ropes on him and sneered.

"I won't ask again!"

"Go—to—hell!" I then took out my wasp knife and plunged it into my victim without a second thought and as soon as it plunged into his back, his inner organs came spilling out along the floor. I walked over the cold corpses of my two victims and headed towards the son's bedroom to be rid of the other son, no use in leaving witnesses alive, plus spare the kid his future suffering. I gently took one of the spare pillows and covered his face with it slowly smothering him, then when the kid began struggling trying to free himself, I put all my weight in my hands to smother the pillow further into his face until he stopped struggling.

With the family dead at last, I began to search through the father's study until I managed to find the flash drive HYDRA needed and successfully got out of the house and vanished into the night.

I was tossing and turning as I screamed, a voice was calling out to me.

"(Y/n), (y/n) wake up!" I suddenly shot up hyperventilating only to see Bucky sitting on my bed with his arms holding my arms soothingly, "it's okay it's okay! You're okay".

"Bucky?"

"Yes (y/n) it's me. You were having another nightmare weren't you?" I lowered my head sadly.

"It was awful, the worst mission I ever had to do, oh God I—"

"Shhhh, shhh, shhh. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I know I've had my shares of nightmares like that". I looked up at him and said.

"Did they ever involve killing innocent children? Children whose lives have barely begun? Innocent souls who never did a thing wrong and are so naïve to the dangers that truly lurk out in this world?! Bucky I kill two innocent boys around the same age I was when I was taken by HYDRA! I shot one of the boys as he was coming when his father was the real target, and then after the father was dealt with I smothered the other son with his pillow!" I gasped in some air and muttered, "I'm a monster Bucky, anyone who would kill children doesn't even deserve to even walk on this Earth anymore. Why are you still doing this for me? We both know deep down I am beyond fixing, I'm broken and there's nothing that can be done to fix me!" It was then I took out my gun from under my pillow and handed it to Bucky and continued, "Might as well just kill me now while you have the chance soldier, you have your mission, now see it".

I waited for Bucky to fulfill his mission that I had given him, one HYDRA soldier to another and we kill without a second thought, but after a long wait in silence, I didn't hear a gun fire. Instead the gun dropped to the floor and I was pulled into a strong chest.

"Don't you ever. Ever. Speak like that again! Do you understand me!? Don't you ever let me or anyone else hear you speak like that again!" Bucky deeply sighed and continued, "look; I know it's hard adjusting to this. You're scared, tired, paranoid beyond belief that everywhere you look these people still see you as what HYDRA made you into. But there is one thing that both SHIELD and HYDRA can never take away. Your heart. You weren't yourself just like I wasn't mine. HYDRA forced us to become like this for their own gains, me when I fell from the train, and you when you were just a little girl barely 5 years old. We both were weak and powerless to stop them at the time, we've allowed them to control us for far too long; but now. Right here, right now is the time to finally stand up and become the better person. It's true our red legers are dripping, soaked skin deep, but there is a chance to finally try to move on and help other people from becoming what we've become, by ending the bastard HYDRA once and for all". Bucky now held my face in his hands and looked at me with soft but determined eyes. My eyes shut and I began to sob softly, Bucky leaned forward and kissed my forehead gingerly then leaned his forehead against mine.

"Do you—do you promise you'll always be there for me?"

"I promise, I won't ever leave you until you tell me so". He smiled softly. Bucky then held me close to his chest and said, "try to go back to sleep (y/n), I'll make sure the nightmares won't come back".

"Thanks Bucky, I've always wanted a brother like you". I said as I started to close my eyes and fall asleep. Bucky smiled as he stroked through my hair and kissed my temple lovingly and whispered.

"And I've wanted a little sister like you baby doll". Bucky then laid down on my bed and held me in his arms for the rest of the night.

Bucky Barnes and I continued to always support each other trying to heal from our HYDRA persona and not only that I got to have a family again with the Avengers and most importantly with Bucky being the big brother I always wanted.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x teen reader #fluff #angst #bucky barnes imagine #brother feels

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notitlesapply · 7 years

Note

So I was without internet for the weekend and, prior to the start of the weekend, saved and re-read APoF. It was glorious and I want to/plan on going back and giving each chapter at least a small review later. But for now, I want to let you know to take all the time you need on the next chapter. The longer it takes, the more excited I get because I know you must have shenanigans planned.

Aww shucks thanks! /blushes

I hope my shenanigans will satisfy. It’s a bit long, but I’ll put a sample of the chapter below this cut and you can tell me if I succeeded…

…Or I can put the whole flipping chapter down here. I’ll post this on AO3 this weekend (hopefully).

A Pound of Flesh (Chapter 17 - Class)

Theday of the meeting came sooner than anyone really liked. As they haddiscussed earlier, Anteiku split their group into two parts: a smallgroup that would meet with Aogiri’s leaders, and a security grouplead by Banjou. Some small part of Hide’s mind was laughinghelplessly about how ridiculous they all looked. A group of maskedindividuals milling around an abandoned schoolyard—it was a scenestraight out of a badly written movie.

EvenHide was wearing a mask. Kaneki had to (reluctantly) admit it washard to tell that Hide wasn’t a ghoul. The blond was dressed in adark hooded jacket to cover his hair, heavy motorcycle gloves, and apair of charcoal jeans. A heavy gas mask etched with the number “33”completed the outfit. The whole ensemble was borrowed to hide hishuman scent, and when he stood together with Banjou and the rest ofthe Gas Masks, the human completely blended in.

TheAnteiku group arrived at the appointed location, and were immediatelywelcomed by Nico. Nico, dressed in a silk shirt, glitzy gold jewelry,and a grinning Clown mask, was accompanied by another Clown: asmirking young woman in a Clown half-mask. The woman blew kisses atKaneki, which the half-ghoul ignored. Touka muttered somethinginaudible under her breath when she saw the woman; the female Clownwas someone she recognized. Hide made a mental note to ask her aboutit later.

“Nico,”Kaneki nodded to the event organizer in greeting, “Are we late?”

“Earlyactually,” Nico corrected, as he cast a critical eye over thegroup. “Aogiri isn’t here yet. And you brought more people than Iexpected.”

“TheGas Masks were willing to play security for us,” Kaneki replied,exchanging small nods of acknowledgment with Banjou, “since Aogiriwill no doubt bring the White Suits.”

“Howlovely,” Nico murmured, “Bothersome though. We won’t be able tofit everyone in the meeting room. Pick a core group of five to comein. The rest will have to wander the corridors.” The unspoken “andstay out of trouble” hung heavy in the air, rotting like a lie.

Kanekibit his lip, the action hidden by his mask. They had expected to beable to take six people into the meeting. Before he could decide whowould stay out with Banjou, Hide clapped his shoulder, startling himout of his thoughts.

“TakeTouka, Yomo, Nishio, and rich boy with you,” Hide murmured quietlyin Kaneki’s ear, “I’ll be good out here with Banjou.”

Kanekifrowned, but didn’t bother with even a token form of protest. It wasa reasonable solution. And Hide was already dressed as a member ofthe Gas Masks. Kaneki nodded in agreement.

“Guesswe just have to wait for Aogiri,” Touka muttered, crossing her armsas if irritated. Only the slight clench of her fingers over the beigeof her coat betrayed her unease.

“Wecan get you set up in the meantime,” Nico shrugged before gesturingto the other Clown, “Roma will help you get situated. Keep yourguard dogs outside.”

Kanekipatted Banjou once on the shoulder, before the core Anteiku groupsplit off, and followed Roma past a doorway.

Themeeting was to take place in a small classroom. Most of the old deskswere shoved to the sides of the room in haphazard heaps, the woodrotten and the metal bent. Nico was able to scrounge up a small tableto sit in the middle of the room for the meeting. It was too small toseat everyone; only five chairs were pulled around it. Two seats forAnteiku, two for Aogiri, and one for Nico, the moderator. After aquickly murmured conversation, Touka, and Kaneki took the seats,while Yomo, Tsukiyama, and Nishiki took spots standing behind them.

Timeto wait.

Andwait.

…Andwait. Touka was furious. Shehad long abandoned her chair, stomping around the room infrustration. Low hisses and half-formed curses followed her wake.Fucking Aogiri. Who do they think they were, making them wait?Assholes. Did they know how much money :re was loosing by beingclosed for the day?!

Theothers ignored her growling. Both Tsukiyama and Yomo had brought outtheir phones to start typing out drafts to their blogs; Yomo’s draftwas noticeably shorter than Tsukiyama’s, the silver-haired ghoultaking more time to hunt down the proper keys on his device.Meanwhile, Kaneki was rereading Dear Kafka,and Nishiki had a notebook in hand, the pages filled with equationsand messy notations written in both his and Kimi’s handwriting.

“Whatthe fuck is taking them solong?!” Touka shouted, the voice changer in her mask cracklingslightly.

Roma’shands came up in a mock placating gesture, “Maa maa, Rabbit-chan.I’m sure—”

“I’msure that they’re fucking dicks!” Touka exploded, ignoring theClown’s smirking grin as she slammed her hands against the table,“We’ve been waiting for over three hours! They’re the ones that setthe time! They should be able to keep to the shitty schedule!”

Kanekisighed, “Rabbit…”

Justthen, the door swung open. The Aogiri delegation had arrived.

–

Aogiriand Anteiku were not the only ones invested in the outcome of theirpeace treaty. The Clowns were quite interestedin what was going on, though each had different views on the event.One in particular, had less than healthy interest in the events goingon in the abandoned school house.

Soutagiggled playfully to himself as he sat on the rooftop of a nearbybuilding. From this distance away, the figures below were small, buthe saw enough to recognize the ghouls entering the building now.

Aogiri.

“Huh,looks like something interesting is going on,” Souta hummed as hewatched the ghouls mill around down below, “Onee-chan wasn’tkidding when he said that there was a special occasion! Maaaaaaan, Ihope everything goes smoothly for them. It would be a shame ifsomeone crashed their party.”

Soutasnickered to himself as he pulled out his cellphone and flipped itover in his hands. He tipped his mask away and pushed back his hair,instantly sliding into another skin. It was as easy as putting on anew shirt. He quickly punched in a number, and brought the device tohis ear.

“Rank1 Furuta!” the voice on theother side of the phone scolded when it picked up, “You’relate! Where are you?”

Furuta Nimura, Rank 1 ghoulinvestigator of the CCG, quickly adapted a fearful face, fake sobbinginto the phone, “Kijima-san, thank goodness! You need to send help!You won’t believe what I just heard…”

–

Theadvantage of being stationed outside of the meeting room meant thatHide got a good look at the Aogiri delegation before Hide and Toukadid. As they had predicted, the White Suits made up the bulk of thegroup, though there were far less of them than expected. There were afew others, namely Aogiri executives and even some random low levelmembers, such as Torso. Nico met with the group, and as he had withAnteiku, only allowed five people in.

Hidesilently assessed each member of Aogiri’s main delegation, careful toplay the part of a faceless grunt. As expected, both Ayato and Mizawere part of the lineup. Noro trailed in their wake, a dark silentshadow. Eto skipped next to him. Hide would have felt gleefully proudof guessing correctly at Eto’s presence, but…

Hide thought that Naki would takethe fifth spot. He was wrong. Eto’s bandaged fingers beckoned over adark clad figure. Hide almost choked when he saw the pale face underthe dark hood. The blond had to bite his tongue before a name daredslip past his lips.

Takizawa Seidou.

His hair was stark white andovergrown—unkempt. He looked sick, his skin sagging and cracked,and his lips were blackened. There were dark circles around hisbloodshot eyes, and he blinked once to briefly reveal a singlestartling kakugan. But despite all the physical changes, it wasobviously Rank 2 Takizawa Seidou, one of the many investigators tohave fallen during the Anteiku Raid.

Apparently,the rumors of Kanou’s continued experiments were true.

BesideHide, Banjou also stiffened at the sight of Takizawa, though Hidesuspected it was because Banjou was surprised to see a half-ghoulwith Aogiri. But for Hide…he had known Takizawa. They had sharedmeals together. And, besides that Hide knew how much Akira hadmourned Takizawa’s death. Everyone knew.

Howwould Akira react if she saw Takizawa now?

“Let’s get started,” Nicoannounced, as he led the group inside the meeting room, leavingBanjou, Hide, and the Gas Masks alone with Naki and the rest ofAogiri’s forces.

–

Backin Ward 1, the Anti-Anteiku strike force were gathered for theirweekly meeting. However, the room was strangely sparse for the daywith only Special Class Marude and part of the Mado squad inattendance.

“Whereis everyone?” Mutsuki asked, looking around the conference roomcuriously.

“Papais with Mama and Maman today,” Saiko offered, not even looking upfrom her handheld as she replied.

“Nagachikais working out a deal with his landlord,” Akira elaborated, “Suzuyasquad and Hirako squad are on assignment.”

“They’reassigned to Anteiku, same as us,” Urie murmured, his eyes narrowingsuspiciously, “What (special) assignment are they on? (It’sprobably more interesting than this shit.)”

“WashuuMatsuri needed extra bodies for his raid,” Marude grumbled, clearlyirritated, “Little brat. I was lucky to be left with anyone, so youguys better work extra hard today!”

Mutsukiand Akira straightened, taking Marude’s words seriously, though Saikoand Shirazu both slumped in their chairs, uneasy. Urie merely turnedhis head, muttering to himself again.

Workextra hard? With what? They had no leads. Today was going to bepointless—time would be wasted running in circles instead of doingsomething meaningful like working towards an important promotion.Going on a raid sounded much more productive.

“Mado,”Marude said, turning towards the squad leader, “Give me the rundown on what we have with Anteiku.”

“There’snot much, I’m afraid,” Akira sighed, the corners of her eyestightening with frustration, “We’re not even sure what is theirterritory. While they’ve traditionally been active in the 20thWard, Shirazu and Urie encountered them outside of there.”

“Theonly lead we have on them is the research that Kamii University groupwas working on,” Urie grumbled, “It’s been (useless) frustratingso far.”

“Speakingof that research, Dr. Chigyou is very interested in it,” Marudesaid, “Any luck on getting your hands on it?”

Akirabarely held in her huff of frustration, “The only known hard copyof the notes were stolen from Nishino Kimi’s apartment. We assumethat Anteiku has them.

“Ofthe research group, only three survived Aogiri’s attack,” Akiracontinued, rattling off furtherinfo, “Nishino Kimi and Kita Heiji, graduate students attached tothe project, were injured. The professor leading the research,Terada-sensei, was captured by Aogiri. However,I believe he has already been killed.”

Marudelooked up sharply at her assessment, “Explain.”

“Becauseaccording to our resources, it was Nishino, not Terada, who was thebrain behind the RC-cell research,” Akira replied, “Terada isuseless to Aogiri.”

“Nishinois the real prize,” Marude summarized, nodding thoughtfully, “Shesurvived the attack. Why don’t we have her under CCG protection?”

“Shehas a (pain in the ass) benefactor,” Urie answered, the corners ofhis lips tight, “(He’s a suspicious bastard.)”

“TsukiyamaShuu,” Akira sighed, tapping her notes against the table. “Hislawyers are working quite hard to keep Nishino’s research underwraps. They claim they’re protecting patents. I think his companywants to trademark Nishino’s work. And ever since she left thehospital, Tsukiyama’s people have been quite zealous in keeping usaway from Nishino.”

“Heh,”Marude snorted, “Dr. Chigyou has made it no secret that he wants tostudy Kamii University’s RC-cell research. He is—”

Suddenly the door burst open witha loud bang. Everyone’s heads turned towards the noise, their eyeslanding on a pale junior investigator panting against the doorjamb.

“What’s the meaning of this?!”Marude roared, furious with the interruption, “ This is a—”

“I’m sorry, sir, but this isimportant!” the newcomer gasped out as he held out a slip of paperin a shaking hand, “We just got a report in. Anteiku and Aogiri—weknow where they are!”

–

“You’relate,” Touka sneered as the Aogiri delegation settled in. She tookher seat next to Kaneki, pointedly not looking at Ayato as herbrother walked in. Beneath the table, Kaneki cracked the joints ofhis fingers, his kakugan unconsciously flaring to life. Touka satstraight and proud, like a regal statue. No weakness. They couldn’tafford to show weakness here.

“So sorry,” Eto laughed, notsounding sorry at all as she and Miza took the chairs across fromAnteiku. Noro, Ayato, and an unfamiliar white-haired ghoul tookstanding positions behind them.

Nico clapped his hands together,his Clown mask looking far to cheery for the tension clogging theroom.

“How about some introductions,yes?” the Clown suggested in a bright tone, “On Anteiku’s side,we have our dear Eyepatch, Rabbit-chan, Serpent, Raven-kun, anddarling Gourmet. From Aogiri, sweet Eto-chan, Three Blades, Noro-san,Rabbit-chan—oh my. That’s going to be confusing.”

“Deal with it,” the Kirishimasiblings snorted in stereo. Ayato startled badly, his head whippingaround to glare at his sister; she ignored him, but the faint soundof her molars grinding together belied her frustration.

Nico cleared his throat awkwardlybefore moving on to point at the stranger with Aogiri, “And last,we have—oh dear, I haven’t gotten your name.”

The strange white-haired ghoulflashed a grimacing smile, the skin of his darkened lips crackingslightly.

“Owl,” he rasped out.

Kaneki’s eyes darted to Owl insurprise. Owl? As in One-Eyed Owl? He had given the name in the wronglanguage, but…

“Liar,” came a soft murmurfrom Yomo.

“No. Just not what you expect,”Eto countered, smiling up at Yomo’s masked face, “Isn’t that right,Yomo Renji?”

Touka hissed softly under herbreath. The tension in the room seemed to increase three-fold, sothick it was like breathing in smog.

“You’re breaking protocol,Aogiri. Aliases only.” Kaneki growled, trying to mask how on edgeeveryone on Anteiku’s side of the table was. They had guessed awhileago that Aogiri knew all of their names, but to hear it come fromEto’s mouth so casually…

Aogiri was trying to throw themoff. Kaneki grit his teeth together. He refused to allow them thatpower. He locked eyes with Eto firmly, a silent battle of wills. Hewasn’t that scared little human that Aogiri had tossed oh socarelessly to Jason. He wasn’t.

They stared at each other for afew moments longer, before Eto dipped her head to him with a widesmile. It didn’t quite feel like a victory. More like watching anamused parent applauding a child’s small achievement.

“My apologies,” Eto offered,putting in a touch of effort to sound sincere. Kaneki accepted it,and attempted to relax his shoulders. He may or may not have failed.

“Are we to assume that Naki andthe White Suits are waiting outside the door?” Kaneki drawled,tapping his fingers against the table. Eto chuckled in response.

“Oh yes, just as you haveplaced the Gas Masks out there as well,” the bandaged Aogiri membercountered, “I’ll admit, I’m surprised. I didn’t know they wereallied with you.”

“They were hired,” Kanekilied, “I’m not stupid. You have advantages in number.”

Eto smiled again, “Such littletrust in us. We followed the rules for how many men we were allowedto bring.”

“Not that Aogiri had muchchoice,” Nico chimed in, surprising everyone else, “Your peoplewere contracted to provide security for Big Madam’s Auction. Most ofyour forces must be there.”

Kaneki stared at the Clown insurprise. It was rare to receive information for free, and judging bythe pinched look on Miza’s face, Nico’s words were accurate. Kanekididn’t know why Aogiri was willing to split their forces to thisdegree, but it was to Anteiku’s advantage. Anteiku didn’t have toworry about Aogiri calling in reinforcements any time soon.

After a moment of awkwardsilence, Nico cleared his throat to draw everyone’s attention.

“Let’s get down to business,shall we?”

–

Meanwhile, right outside of themeeting room, the introductions between the White Suits and the GasMasks were going far more smoothly. It was pretty easy to identifypeople, when half of the crowd was wearing masks that were plasteredwith the number they went by.

For the most part, everyoneoutside of the meeting was rather…bored. There wasn’t a fight to behad, so Naki and his White Suits were restless. But it was obviousthey weren’t going to start anything unless something happened.Banjou was a cautious sort, and wasn’t prone to making trouble.

Really the only thing interestingthat had happened was when Hide’s phone went off during theintroductions, but luckily, no one had complained. Even so, Hideturned a bright red under his mask when the Backstreet Boys startedcrooning through his phone’s speakers. The jaunty tune was hardly anappropriate soundtrack to a meeting filled with ghouls.

“Sorry,” Hide mumbled, actingout the part of the apologetic underling. He was supposed to gounnoticed, damn it.

Speaking of unnoticedunderlings…Aogiri had brought other grunts than just the WhiteSuits. There were a few unremarkable fellows in the standard Aogiricloak and mask, but there was also a reedy individual that was alltoo familiar to Hide.

Torso.

Hide glanced over at Torsosubtly. The gangling ghoul was quiet, unobtrusive—just anotherAogiri grunt. Part of Hide was glad that Nishiki was inside themeeting room, and thus wasn’t around when Aogiri came in. If Nishikiknew that Torso was here, things wouldn’t be so quiet. Idly, Hidebegan planning on how to keep Nishiki away from Torso—not becausehe liked the Aogiri bastard, but rather because Hide wanted thisceasefire to work. Nishiki caving in Torso’s face would hardly keepthe peace, even if it would make everyone feel better.

Hide tried not to think of Kimi,currently wheelchair-bound, or of the bruises that had gracedMutsuki’s face. Revenge would be satisfying, but useless. Or so hekept telling himself.

Suddenly, Hide’s phone went offagain, cheery English lyrics filling the hallway. It instantlysnapped him out of his morose thoughts.

“Ah sorry, sorry,” Hideyelped, swiping his phone off again. There were a few snickers, butotherwise, he was ignored.

–

Akira growled as her phone callwith her vice captain went to voicemail. Again.

“Hide’s still not picking up?”Shirazu asked needlessly.

Akira huffed in annoyance, “Hepromised to answer my calls.”

She looked up at her squad.Shirazu was helping Saiko adjust the straps on her CCG standardarmor. Everyone else was already dressed in raid gear, quinquesnearby and ready. This was going to be their first raid. For a secondthere was pressure in Akira’s chest. It was pride and fear, all mixedtogether into a poisonous cocktail.

Her squad mates (her children)were growing up.

“Transport is ready,” Mutsukiannounced meekly. Akira tipped her head in acknowledgment.

“Understood,” Akira sighed,“Mutsuki, make sure we bring Nagachika’s gear. With luck he canstill meet us there.”

–

The meeting between Aogiri andAnteiku was going…fine, Kaneki supposed. After the less than warmintroductions, Nico had swiftly taken over. The Clown was going overthe laundry list of demands from each side. Aogiri wanted the rest ofthe research on RC-cells that Anteiku had taken from Kimi’sapartment. Anteiku wanted Aogiri to back off from their territory.When Nico said it, it sounded so simple.

“Where’s the research?” Mizaasked bluntly as soon as Nico finished listing off both sides’ terms.Kaneki gestured silently to Nishiki, who withdrew a battered folderfrom within his coat. Nishiki tossed the thing onto the table with ahint of disgust. A few of the papers, bloodstained and grimy, slidout and scattered across the surface.

Unperturbed, Eto gathered thepapers and started flipping through them. After a few minutes, shetapped the papers against the table, passed them to Miza, and lookedup at the Anteiku delegation. Despite the bandages covering her face,her frown was clearly visible.

“Where is the rest of it?”she demanded.

“That is all the notes werecovered from Nishino’s apartment,” Kaneki grunted back. It wasn’ta lie. Every scrap of paper Anteiku recovered from Kimi’s place wasthere. It wasn’t their fault if the pages were smudged and dirty fromthe fight that had taken place.

(It was their fault if the paperswere further wrecked after, but Aogiri didn’t need to knowthat.)

To be fair, there was a good dealof information there—Anteiku couldn’t afford to make it completelyuseless, or else Aogiri would never agree to the ceasefire. But itwould take Aogiri and Kanou time to decipher it all.

“I’m not an expert, but itlooks like there’s something in here that the doctor coulduse,” Miza rationalized as she too peered through the documents, “Ican make out a few formulas…”

Eto hummed, tapping her fingersagainst her chin, “True. The good doctor is a genius after all.But…this isn’t all the research you have, Anteiku.”

Touka snarled, her hands curlingup into tight fists, “Do you think we’re lying? What do wehave to gain—”

Eto laughed sharply, cuttingTouka off, “Oh no, no, White Rabbit. I believe that these areall the notes from Nishino’s apartment. I don’t believethis is all the RC-cell research you have.”

Smirking, her gaze slid upwardsto lock into Nishiki, a silent challenge in her eyes.

Eto’s voice was like poisonedhoney as she continued, “Nishino would have shared some of herthoughts and ideas with her fiance, who was known to be a giftedpharma—”

“Shut the fuck up!”Nishiki snarled, his temper snapping. Tsukiyama, ever the calm one,grabbed Nishiki’s wrist, and quickly whispered placating words intoNishiki’s ear. Nishiki hissed like the serpent he was named for, furyradiating from him, but he took a step back and shut up. Eto smiled,and ignored his rage as if it didn’t exist. Instead, she turned allof her attention to Kaneki.

“We have a counter proposal,”Eto began smoothly, holding a hand up. Wordlessly, Noro reached intohis coat and placed a thick folder into Eto’s waiting hand.

“You give us the rest of theKamii University research and we’ll give you this,” Eto offered,her wicked smile still visible behind the bandages, “And before youask—it’s Kanou’s research on ghoulification. Don’t you wantit…Ka-ne-ki~?”

The reaction was instantaneous.

Kaneki was out of his chair, hisone visible eye wide, his whole body taut like a thread about tosnap. Once upon a time, Kaneki had hunted Kanou down for answers onlyto receive nothing. Perhaps having access to Kanou’s notes would giveKaneki something that he lacked for years:

Some closure.

“How do we know it’s not fake?”Touka cut in, her voice laced with skepticism. Some of the tensionleft Kaneki’s shoulders as her words grounded him. He nodded to her.Ever practical Touka coming to the rescue.

Eto’s smile shifted, turning botha little softer and a little more smug, “We could ask you the samething, Anteiku. But that’s how these ceasefires work—trust.”

–

Naki was bored. So far,his orders had been to wait. Most of the White Suits were busy at theAuction, further irritating Naki. He didn’t like breaking up hisgang, especially since he was assigned a few tagalongs, like Torso.Too bad Torso was a quiet guy, not interesting at all.

“Uuuuggh…”Naki groaned, as he slumpedagainst the wall, “This is lame! Where’s the fight?”

All around him, his White Suitsgrumbled in agreement. The gas mask bastards that Anteiku broughtshuffled nervously. Naki gave a quick glance to the Gas Masks’leader—some tall beefy fucker that looked like a good fight. Notthat Naki was allowed. Naki sighed and thumped his head into the wallin frustration. When he had heard that Aogiri was going to face offagainst Anteiku he thought there was going to be more action. Insteadthey were just…talking.

The only interesting thing thathappened so far was how often what’s-his-face(Thirty-one…Thirty-two…No, Thirty-three, that was it) hadhis phone go off in his pocket. The song it played was weird, thewords complete gibberish to Naki.

Speaking of weird music, as if oncue—

“I want it that way~!”

“Ohdamn it!” Thirty-three cursed. He reached into his pocket tofish the device out, intending to turn it off.

“Just answer it,” Naki barkedat the Gas Mask.

“Ah, ex-excuse me?”Thirty-three squeaked, clearly surprised by Naki addressing him.

“Look, someone wants to talk toyou really badly,” Naki grumbled, “If they’re a friend, youshouldn’t ignore it.”

Thirty-three hesitated as hisphone continued to ring in his hand. He gave the screen a quickglance, clearly torn.

“If you go to the next hallover, none of us will be able to hear you,” the Gas Mask’s beefyfucker of a leader offered, “Provided of course, no one hasHinami’s sensing talents…”

Naki snorted, “None of my guyswill eavesdrop on your convolation. That’s not cool.”

Thirty-three tilted his head incuriosity, “You mean, ‘conversation’?”

As soon as the words left hismouth, he slapped a hand over his gas mask, clearly embarrassed. Nakismirked. Yeah, he’d be embarrassed too if he didn’t know what aconvolation was.

“Just get outta here,” Nakisnickered. Thirty-three gave a quick bow, and quickly scuttled out.

Naki shook his head as he glancedover at the Gas Mask’s leader, “Man, beefy fucker, you got yourselfsome weird ones.”

The other ghoul laughed, a hintof nervousness in his voice, “You have no idea.”

–

Akira was honestly surprised whenafter the tenth failed time she tried to reach him, Hide called herback.

“Nagachika Hideyoshi!” Akirasnapped as soon as the line connected, “You are in so muchtrouble!”

“Look, I’m sorry,”Hide mumbled into his phone, obviously trying to keep his voice low,“The, um, landlord—we’re in really intense negotiations rightnow. Can this be short?”

If it had been any other time,Akira would have felt a touch of sympathy for her vice captain.Today, however, Akira didn’t have time to deal with his problems.

“Don’t you dare skip out onme,” Akira’s voice hissed into the receiver furiously, “Yourlease agreement is not nearly as important as this.”

There was a brief pause beforeHide sighed in resignation, “Okay, what’s going on?”

“We’ve called in effectiveimmediately,” Akira explained quickly, stress coloring her voice,“If you had picked up your phone earlier when I first called, youwould have been able to meet us at headquarters, but I guess you’regoing to have to meet us at the raid site.”

“Wait, what? What raid?”Hide yelped, his voice a few octaves higher than usual.

“Pay attention, Nagachika!”Akira barked, needing her vice-captain to focus, “We received a tipa few hours ago—it’s an opportunity we can’t afford to miss. Fivesquads have already been dispatched.”

“An…an opportunity?”Hide croaked out, though there was a note in his voice that suggestedhe already knew what Akira was going to say.

Akira confirmed his thoughts,“Top members of both Anteiku and Aogiri are meeting right now. ETAfor the first assault group is under 10 minutes. Wave two will followabout 15 minutes after. I’ll send you the coordinates. Now get yourass down here!”

“Wha…Wait,Akira!” Hide squeaked, clearlyoverwhelmed.

Akira didn’t have time for this,“I’ll text you the address. We have your gear. Just get down here, that’s an order!”

Akira frowned angrily as she hungup her phone. Currently, she was in a CCG van getting transported tothe raid site with the rest of her squad, minus Hide. Her youngersubordinates all looked at her worriedly.

“Soooo, Hide’s not coming?”Shirazu checked.

“He is,” Akira corrected,even as she continued to frown, “But, if he’s working out a leaseagreement with his landlord at his apartment complex…”

“He’s nowhere near where we’regoing,” Mutsuki finished, his eyes wide with understanding, “Hewon’t be able to make it in time.”

“He might be there for the mopup,” Akira theorized, “But not for the real fight.”

“(More credit for the rest ofus),” Urie muttered quietly.

“Eh, maybe Hide will still makeit,” Shirazu said hopefully, “If he breaks a few traffic laws,he’ll make it in plenty of time.”

Saiko shuddered, clearly nervousas she wrapped her arms around herself, “But…it’s okay if he’slate, right? Maybe it’s for the best that Papa can’t make it. He’swith Mama and Maman. He’s safer with them.”

“(You’re just upset that he’snot here to coddle you),” Urie snorted under his breath.

Saiko didn’t appear to have heardhim, but nevertheless, she curled up tighter.

–

Hide hung up his phone. Heflicked on his voice changer. He took a deep breath.

“Shit,” he cursed.

–

Inside the meeting room, Anteikuwas whispering among themselves, a quiet, but passionate, debateraging between them.

“We should say no,” Nishikigrowled, clearly displeased with Aogiri’s demands, “We just wantthe ceasefire. No need to grab extra bullshit.”

“We should say yes,”Tsukiyama countered, “Kanou’s research—”

“I don’t fucking care!”Nishiki hissed, “It’s not worth it!”

“I agree,” Yomo murmured,nodding in Nishiki’s direction, “We would gain little. Keep theoriginal deal.”

“They want Kimi’s research badenough that they’re willing to share Kanou’s,” Touka reasoned,“That means something. As long as we have something theywant, they’ll keep bothering us. They’re more likely to lose interestif we’re not interesting!”

“What do you think,Kaneki-kun?” Tsukiyama asked curiously, “This offer affects youmore than any of us.”

Quickly, Kaneki glanced over tothe Aogiri delegation. They were silent, making no indication thatthey were listening into Anteiku’s debate, but there was somethingfamiliar with how Miza’s head was tilted, just slightly. Itreminded him of how Hinami looked when she listened to quietconversations a block away.

Kaneki hummed thoughtfully, andlooked back at his friends, “I think—”

Suddenly, the door slammed openwith a sharp bang. Kaneki looked up, a brief flash ofirritation sparking to life, then quickly fading when he saw Hidepanting at the door. The others, both Aogiri and Anteiku, turnedtheir heads to the disguised human, curiosity buzzing around theroom.

“What’s wrong?” Touka asked,her tone both sharp and worried.

There was no way to beat aroundthe bush. Despite the distortion from his voice changer, Hide’s voicewas grim as he relayed the bad news.

“The CCG found us. We’ve gotless than 10 minutes before the first wave.”

Shocked chatter instantly brokeout. Almost everyone had jumped out of seats and were prowling aboutthe room. Only Eto remained seated, her hands steepled in front ofher, deep in thought.

“How did they—”

“What are we going to do?”

“Fuck! Fucking Doves!”

“We’ve got about 10 minutes!”Hide yelled, trying to make himself heard over the din, “If we gonow, we can leave before the CCG arrives!”

“Do we even know how many ofthem are coming here?” Miza asked.

Kaneki shook his head, “Itdoesn’t matter. We shouldn’t risk it when we have the chance toescape without any causalities.”

“You want to run from theDoves, Eyepatch?” Ayato mocked, “How cowardly.”

“Don’t be stupid!” Toukasnapped, “In case you didn’t notice, there’s a limited number ofus, and an unknown number of them.”

Ayato snarled, enraged, “Wedon’t run—”

“Enough,” Eto ordered, calmdespite the shouting. Then she turned her bandaged face towardsAnteiku, tilting her head thoughtfully.

“It is odd, is it not?” Etomurmured, tapping her fingers against her lips, “How did the Dovesknow where to find us? It is quite convenient for them to be able tofight us while we are few in number and in cramped quarters. Did youtell them our location, Anteiku?”

“What?” Kaneki croaked,surprised. Such an accusation was—

“That’s moronic as shit!”Touka shouted, her temper flaring, “Why would we talk to the CCG?That puts us in danger too!”

“Does it?” Eto countered, hervoice that sweet poisoned honey again, “You’ve been observed beingrather friendly with some Doves, White Rabbit.”

Touka stiffened, and tried not toglance over at Ayato. During her last fight with her brother, she haddefended Akira. Touka hissed, frustrated that she couldn’t come upwith a good counter argument. Touka knew it looked suspicious. Hideglanced at her worriedly, his mind whirling.

Finally, his eyes landed onTakizawa and an idea formed.

“What about you, Aogiri?”Hide accused, jabbing a finger at Takizawa, “You’ve got a formerDove in your ranks. A dead one.”

Takizawa blinked owlishly at Hidebefore slowly, a mad grin formed on his lips.

“How’d you know that, huh~?”Takizawa purred, a dangerous lilt to his voice.

In a flash, Takizawa hopped overthe table, grabbed the front of Hide’s jacket, and pulled the blondclose. Takizawa grinned, the skin of his darkened lips cracking, ashis free hand skimming the edges of Hide’s disguise.

“You seem to know a lot~”Takizawa singsonged, his fingers drumming against the “33” onHide’s gas mask, “I wonder…who are you under alllll this~?”

‘Shit,’Hide’s panicked mind shrieked internally, as he tried not to squirm,'I messed up.’

“Let go of him!” Toukashouted, her fists clenching.

“Make me!” Takizawa laughed,hefting Hide up. Touka snarled, her whole frame tense like a wound upspring. Hide turned fearful eyes towards her. Things were quicklyspiraling out of control, and the whole situation was like a powderkeg waiting for a spark.

“Touka…Touka don’t!” Hidehissed, trying to calm her down. He shouldn’t have bothered. Thematch was already lit.

SHHHLK!Whump!

“AAAAAAaahhhHHhh…hahahaaa!”Takizawa screeched before the sound trailed off into derangedlaughter. He stepped back, holding the bloody stump of his arm. Hidestumbled back, shocked at his sudden freedom. Takizawa’s bloodyamputated arm lay right in front of the blond’s feet. Before Hide wasable to process anything, the human was quickly shoved back behindKaneki. The half-ghoul’s kagune were out and smeared with blood.

Hide wanted to curse. He had beenso focused on Touka’s reaction, he failed to pay attention to Kaneki.The half-ghoul crouched low, his body twisting into predatoryvengeful movement. His kagune were already whipping around foranother attack.

It was like an explosion—violentand chaotic.

(Boom.)

–

Outside of the school house, thefirst of the CCG’s vans were skidding into the courtyard in thefront. CCG agents, dressed in dark raid gear, hopped out of the vansbrandishing quinques, determination written all over their features.In one van, Marude Itsuki had set up a makeshift headquarters, andwas already rapidly calling out orders.

“Atou, I want you and yoursquad on point,” Marude barked into his microphone, “Kijima, yoursquad is supporting Atou. Ooshiba, Mado, I want your squads to circlearound the back. All other personnel, on standby.”

“Yes, sir!” came the promptreplies over the com system.

Marude frowned as he did somequick calculations. He knew this whole mission was a risk. He hadscrapped together five squads—an impressive feat, considering howmany CCG agents were busy with Washuu Matsuri’s scheduled raid. Butnormal missions against Aogiri usually called for at least two timesthe amount of investigators he had on hand. On one hand, the numberof investigators was disheartening. On the other…the initialreports had stated that both Aogiri and Anteiku were gathered in muchsmaller number than usual.

Leaders from two ghoul groups inone spot with only a smattering of security? The CCG had the chanceto slice the head off the dragon. They couldn’t let this opportunityto pass by unanswered.

The two point squads made shortwork in breaching the building doors, and started to make their wayinside.

Battle start.

And then, without warning, thesharp crash of breaking glass echoed above the investigators’heads.

Ghouls tumbled out of a brokenwindow from a higher floor. Snarling, Marude toggled on his mic.

“Ineed people out in the courtyard ASAP!”

–

Naki saw Thirty-three rushupstairs into the main meeting room. It didn’t take long for theyelling to start. Naki felt a smile tug at the corners of his lips.Finally, some action!

Just as he was about to ready hismen, the Gas Mask’s leader grabbed his elbow in a gentle grip thatwas totally at odds with his giant frame.

“Please,” the beefy fuckerbegged, “We don’t have to fight.”

Naki sighed. Really, he was justabout to—

Crash!The sound of glass shatteringechoed from the floor above, right where the meeting between Aogiriand Anteiku was taking place. Naki looked up, when—

Boom!Across the hall the doors werekicked open, revealing a knot of humans wielding quinques.

“Doves!”the cry went out.

Naki’s face broke out into avicious grin. Looks like things wouldn’t be so boring now. He shareda glance the the Gas Masks, a quick bolt of understanding flashingbetween them. Dove’s first.

“Get 'em!” Naki roared,pointing at the humans.

–

It happened so fast. There wasnothing and then—

Chaos.

Hide could barely understand whatwas happening. One moment he was struggling in Takizawa’s grip, thenext he was being pushed away as blood arched through the air.

Kaneki and Takizawa weregrappling with each other, kagune flashing. The former Dove’s armreattached itself with nearly impossible speed. Takizawa’s maddenedgiggles just barely drowned out Kaneki’s snarls. Takizawa’s mouthopened, almost impossibly wide, before clamping down hard on Kaneki’sleft shoulder.

“AAAAAaaaaaaahhhh!” Kanekishouted as flesh tore away from his body. His hand automaticallyreached over to clutch the wound, even as skin and sinew startedknitting itself together.

For a second, Takizawa just stoodthere, chewing, before a blissful smile stretched over his face.

“Tasttttty,” hemoaned, his tongue lolling out to swipe at the remaining blood aroundhis lips, “Fuck, you’re the best jam jam jam~!”

Kaneki launched himself back atTakizawa, elbowing the other half-ghoul in the face to stun him.Takizawa’s nose crunched under Kaneki’s assault, smearingblood all across the former Dove’s pale face. Kaneki felt a smallflash of satisfaction as Takizawa’s head reeled back. It was a shortlived victory. Takizawa renewed his attack with vigor, his eyescrazed with hunger and violence.

“Touka, Touka—you need to geteveryone to retreat!” Kaneki shouted as he ducked a wild swing fromTakizawa.

“Ahhh—hahahaha!” the formerDove laughed and screamed, his body arching. Across the room, Etosmiled as she murmured quietly to herself. The combatants didn’tnotice.

Takizawa’s kagune flared upbehind him, jagged ukaku spikes thrumming in a familiar way. Kanekirecognized it immediately—Takizawa was going to fill the room withprojectiles. In such a small space, the attack would hit everybody.

Quick as a viper, Kaneki rushedat Takizawa, and bodily threw both of them out the window. The noiseof shattering glass was almost downed out by Takizawa’s cackledlaughs as both half-ghouls fell two stories to the ground.

“Kaneki!” Touka and Hidecried out together.

“Oh this looks interesting,”Eto muttered to herself, even as she tilted her head towards theremaining Anteiku members, “What will you do?”

“Get him out of here,” Yomomurmured, glancing at Touka and jerking his chin in Hide’s direction,“We’ll cover you.”

Touka nodded curtly, grabbing theback of Hide’s jacket and dashing out of the room with the human intow. It was easy enough—Anteiku had chosen to sit on the side ofthe table closest to the door. Touka ran swiftly, despite draggingHide along. Hide’s yelp of protest was promptly ignored.

Rather predictably, Ayato wasalready rising to chase after his sister. Nishiki acted first. With avicious swipe of his kagune, the bikaku user sent Ayato crashing intothe far wall.

“What’s the matter, bunny boy?”Nishiki taunted as Ayato shook off the hit, “Leaving so soon?”

“Fucking snake,” Ayato spatbefore launching himself at Nishiki. The two exchanged a flurry ofblows, attacking each other mercilessly.

Tsukiyama glanced over at Yomo,and then at Eto, Miza, and Noro.

“Two versus three?” Tsukiyamasighed dramatically as he formed his kagune over his arm with anelaborate bow, “How unfortunate. We do not have enough dancepartners to go around.”

Eto giggled, obviously amused byTsukiyama’s dramatics, before nodding at Noro, “Go play with thenice gentlemen, Noro. Miza, assist Naki with the incoming Dovesoutside.”

Eto turned away, clearlydismissing Anteiku. Miza whipped out her famed three blades to carvean exit into the far wall, and both she and Eto were prepared toleave unhindered. Yomo snarled under his breath and launched himselfat Eto, determined to stop her retreat.

Without missing a beat, Noropractically materialized between Yomo and Eto, batting thesilver-haired ghoul away with his kagune. Yomo crashed against thefar wall, but quickly leaped to his feet. His ukaku crackled to life,flaring out behind him in uneven patterns.

“It seems that we will have togo through Monsieur Noro before going after the mesdemoiselles,”Tsukiyama commented as he settled into a ready stance next to Yomo,“You and me versus him…nostalgic, no? It is almost a repeat oflast time. A pity Monsieur Uta is not here with us.”

Yomo grunted in response, butdidn’t answer further. His mind was already analyzing their chances.Last time, they weren’t able to defeat Noro, even with Uta’s help. Infact, every blow, no matter how serious, had been quickly healed upby the monster before them. Noro would not be an easy fight. Butbeyond that, Yomo’s eyes were quickly darting about the room,searching.

Where had the Clowns gone?

Notes:

*Strolls in months latejust like Aogiri.*'Sup. Have an extra long chapter for taking so long.

I have been waiting since foreverto have a good opportunity for someone to call Ayato “bunny boy.”I’ve had that line written down for ages. Thank you, Nishiki.Also I got to get in some defenestration. Good times.

Yes, the other CCG raid alludedto during this chapter is the infamous Auction raid from canon.Obviously, quite a few things are going to be different over there,though some events will remain the same. Also, yes, Hide is wearingTouka’s mask from the Cochlea raid in canon. Ikinda wanted him to wear the Scarecrow mask, but Ishida-sensei isbeing coy on how canon that is.

Huh, I wonder if playingBackstreet Boys while reading this chapter makes it any different.Probably turns it goofy, haha. No, I didn’t listen to “I Want ItThat Way” while writing this. Honest.

#tokyo ghoul #APoF!Verse #writing

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