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toomuch-caffeine · 3 years

Text

Titles don't matter

AO3 link

Word count: 8726

Summary: First, Happy was dating some mysterious woman. Then his new nephew turned out to be superhero. And now Tony somehow gained a kid.

Rating: Teen

Warnings: kidnapping, gunshot wounds, unnamed bad guy's death

A/N: Reposted from AO3, third fic in a series

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A big reveal of Spider-Man’s identity and by consequence Happy’s mysterious girlfriend, who was a vigilante’s Aunt, brought a lot of yelling and long conversations in med bay. Said vigilante was a teenager and hid the fact that he fights criminals in his pajamas for more than a year, which made his Aunt mix of angry, guilty and terrified. When the situation calmed down, a couple of days after Peter Parker woke up from the surgery and had a chance to defend his actions, Tony made a proposition to May and Happy. Peter could train in the Tower with the Avengers and also would make a super suit with Tony. A suit that would contain a lot of safety protocols and a way to control young hero’s actions by adults.

That’s how Tony ended up giving a tour of his workshop. He observed the awestruck teenager in front of him. Peter looked around, lips slightly parted and eyes wide open. Tower’s lab was definitely an update from dumpsters and school workshops. It occupied two whole floors, one of them belonged to Tony, one to Bruce. Sleek holotables and expensive materials were enough to make every nerdy teenager’s knees weak. There was still some clutter in the corner, but Tony had cleaned up a bit, to impress Peter more.

“Come on, kid, that’s your workstation.” Tony showed a big, empty oval table, to a lingering in a threshold kid. Peter’s eyes widened even more, something that Tony didn’t think was possible.

“Wow, seriously?”

“Yeah. And those are Dum-E and U.” Tony didn’t even have to motion at the two robots, as both of them were currently surrounding Peter, trying to get to know the newcomer. Kid petted both of them, laughing and they seemed satisfied. He was seriously endearing. Couple of minutes spent with him and Tony could already tell why he wormed his way to Happy’s heart in no time. He was still shy with Tony and other Avengers, but around May and Happy he acted like a rambling ball of sunshine. He was too polite for his own sake and looking at his school records, Tony could tell, he was brilliant and right now he wanted to test that.

“So, introductions are done, time for fun!” Tony clapped his hands. “You can use everything in here-”

“Oh my god, this is like the best day of my life, Ned, you know, my friend, won’t believe me!”

“-but there are gonna be rules,” Tony continued. Mention of the rules brought all of Peter’s attention to him.

“First of all, FRIDAY won’t let you in the lab without me or Bruce present. You can experiment with whatever you want, but you have to run your ideas by me or Bruce or FRIDAY first. If you set something on fire, Dum-E has a fire extinguisher. Don’t eat or drink anything bots give you, they mix food with motor oil.

“Okay, so for the first project, we’ll do your spider suit together and you will learn along the way what FRIDAY can do, where are the tools and so on.” Tony sat down next to Peter, motioned for holograms to appear. “So, let’s get started.”

~~~

Tony never liked having company in the workshop. Other people were loud and nagging him to do stuff like eating or sleeping. But then came Bruce, who was quiet, could keep up with him and stand his moods. And then Peter appeared. The kid that understood arc reactor technology and Bruce’s papers. Even when something posed a problem to him, explaining was a pleasure, not a hindrance. He actually wanted to teach him all that he could and he already made several notes of what to do with the kid after they finished the suit. Peter’s ramblings replaced his workshop playlist and soon Tony knew all about his friends and teachers, his stories from patrols, as well as his favorite dishes and ice cream flavors. So he enjoyed working with Peter. His teammates might have also noticed that.

~~~

“Keep this up young spider and you will beat me in sparring,” Natasha praised him after the training. Peter, red faced from exertion, smiled and thanked. Then, he quickly grabbed a bottle that Steve threw at him from behind. He opened it and took a sip.

“Wow, I’m so hungry right now,” he stated.

“We have a lunch in an hour, think you will survive ‘til then?”

“Uhh, I don’t know, who’s cooking?”

“Well, it doesn’t matter, because there’s your favorite pizza waiting for you in the lab.” Another voice butted in. The owner of this voice appeared a moment after. “Spiderling! Come on, we’re burning sunlight!”

“But Mr. Stark, it’s not even noon and we don’t need sunlight in the lab!”

“Yeah, but Happy picks you up at 5, come on, come on, we have a lot to do.”

“Stark, stop making excuses to hog the kid just for yourself,” Natasha joked.

“Yeah, it’s been a month and he spent that mostly with you in the lab,” Bucky backed her up.

“Well, maybe because he knows who is best. Kiddo, who’s your favorite Avenger?” Tony shot them all a smile and clapped Peter on the shoulder.

“Well, I don’t know, but Bruce Banner is pretty cool? You know the most renowned scientist of his generation, his work on gamma rad-“

“You ungrateful child. I build a multimillion dollar super suit with you and that’s how you repay me?” Tony mocked outrage and started dragging Peter out of the gym. “We’re going. But maybe take a shower first.”

~~~

“Parker, you’re cheating!” Sam shouted when Peter threw at him another blue shell and won the race.

“I’m not cheating!”

“That’s not fair!”

“Rules allow that!”

“Then the rules are wrong!” Sam threw his hands up in the air. “God, I can’t believe that I lost to a teenager.”

Clint, who came the last, said, laying face first on the carpet, “You never win with kids in those things. Seriously, I have three of them, I know it.”

“Kid? Where are you? You said you are going to eat. Did the fridge eat you?” Tony came shouting.

“I’m sorry Mr. Stark, but Mr. Barton and Mr. Wilson invited me to play Mario Kart with them,” Peter answered beaming.

“And how did you do?”

“I won!” Peter gestured at the screen with the results and two defeated men.

“That’s great. Hey, when you come to the lab, I’ll let you mess with Iron Man repulsors.”

“Oh my god, yes!” Peter’s eyes lit up and he hurried after Tony.

“Wow, Tony stole Happy’s kid,” Sam said incredulously, when they both left.

“Do you think he will hide and lock him in his lab forever?” Clint lifted himself from the carpet.

“Dunno. Wanna go another round?”

~~~

So when the summer break ended, Spider-Man’s suit tested and ready to use, the atmosphere in the workshop changed. Kid started spending mornings at school and afternoons alternating between patrols and spending time in the lab. But the amount of time spent together was significantly smaller and emptiness started annoying Tony. It did wonders to his responsibilities to SI and Avengers Initiative as he was less inclined to lock himself up in the workshop.

~~~

“Tony, did something blow up here?” Bruce entered his workshop and stopped in his tracks, shell-shocked and looking around. He hadn’t been in Tony’s workshop for a long time as he worked mostly in his or small med bay’s lab and it was Tony, who would pay friendly visits to other labs (or come to bother Bruce). Currently, on Peter’s workstation were piling papers and textbooks. Every other surface was covered in post-it notes with Spanish vocabulary.

“I’m helping Peter with Spanish.”

“Tony, do you even know Spanish?” Bruce asked with raised eyebrows.

“I do now.”

“So… You are learning Spanish. For Peter,” Bruce stated.

“I’m learning for myself. It’s just a side effect that I can help him.”

“And it has nothing to do with Nat and Bucky teaching him Russian?”

“Nothing.”

“Sure. Now, do you have a UV lamp? Mine had broken down.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s there.”

~~~

“Soo, Mr. Stark, I have a question, you don’t have to say yes, of course…” Kid said, playing with a zipper.

“Just spit it out.”

“Cannedcometotheworkshopplease?” Peter let out a question in one breath with unbelievable speed.

“Say that again, but slower?”

“Can Ned come to the workshop, please? We have a robotics project for school, an-“

“Jesus, of course you can invite your friend over, you don’t need to stress so much.”

“Thank you Mr. Stark!”

And that’s how Tony ended up giving a lab tour to another teenager, this time a chubby, Asian kid, that gave the gaping fish impression at the first sight of the workshop.

“So, kiddos, what do you need to do for your little project?”

The project ended up with a very angry May Parker yelling at him.

“Stark! Why the fuck school called me to tell me that Peter’s last project was to dangerous to show in class?” Her lips were pressed into a thin line and she crossed her arms.

“Wha- It wasn’t anything that would blow up?” Tony said hesitantly as he didn’t exactly remember what he came up with.

“There were lasers, Tony.”

“Not very dangerous, if you ask me, just for a show.” He was sure that he didn’t let kids put anything that would destroy school in their project.

“Lasers that apparently cut a school desk and a whiteboard in half.” Or maybe he did. “He was given a 3 day suspension for bringing dangerous objects to school!”

“Oh, wow, I mean, that’s bad…” Tony was literally unable to act guilty, because that meant Peter would be out of school, and that meant…

“He’s not going to spend that time with you.” May Parker’s sharp voice cut off his train of thoughts.

“Oh…”

He spent those three days redecorating and personalizing the guest room, where Peter had stayed a couple of times. His actions brought some half-hidden smiles from his teammates and Pepper, but he shrugged it off.

~~~

“Pepper, why did you take my intern?”

“I didn’t take anyone, Tony.” Pepper leveled him with a stare. “Peter came to me, asking for help with English essay for school.”

“Why didn’t he ask me?”

“Because you said that English classes are useless and he should ditch them.”

“What? No! I didn’t! Why would I?” Tony sputtered.

“FRIDAY, pull up the footage, please,” Pepper said with an exhale.

“Okay, FRIDAY, don’t, I did, but I shouldn’t. Kid, don’t ditch school, your education is important.”

“Well, I can always become a full time Avenger.”

“Wha- no! No, you can’t, I forbid, you are going to finish high school, then go to MIT and then work in SI, and you are not going to be a full time Avenger. Over my dead body!” Tony’s speech made both Pepper and Peter laugh.

“I was just joking.” Peter scrunched his eyebrows as some thought just came to him. “Have you already planned my life for me?”

“No?”

“Oookay,” he replied, dragging the o. “Anyway, I just thought, that Pepper has more experience in humanities that you,” said Peter

“So when you are done with English, head down to the lab, because I have some upgrade ideas to discuss with you.”

Tony shot a glare at Pepper and she glared back. Tony decided to do a tactical retreat and leave the room.

~~~

“Tony, wait!” Happy called after him. “Look, I just wanted to talk about Peter.” That grabbed Tony’s attention.

“Is he okay? I didn’t get any-“

“No, no, he’s fine, I just wanted to talk about him. And you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I talked with May and she noticed that as well and he spends a lot of time with you.”

“If you want me to stop h-“

“I don’t want you to stop, there’s just a building full of people who also want to spend time with him.” Happy’s words were rushed and he seemed out of breath.

“So what do you want me to do, throw him out of the workshop?”

“Tony, just don’t go around complaining that he’s currently doing something with someone else.” Happy made a placating gesture and continued, “Look, I know you love him, I do too , but you can’t monopolize all his time.”

Tony opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He thought about his interactions with Peter for the past couple of months. Yeah, he liked the kid, liked teaching and helping him, a lot of his Spider-Man’s adventures had raised his heart rate and had given him a few gray hairs, but love? Nope, he didn’t need it and the kid didn’t need it.

He finally found his voice, “I don’t l-“

“God, you are an emotionally stunted idiot.” Happy shook his head. “Everyone sees that. Talk with Pepper.”

“Oh-okay,” Tony replied in confusion.

~~~

Pepper and Tony were laying in bed, the former reading a book, the latter looking at some blueprints.

“Happy said that I love Peter,” Tony dropped suddenly. The woman closed a book and turned on her side to look at him.

“And you don’t agree with that,” she stated.

“Well, it’s not like I don’t agree with it, but…”

“Tony, you literally started learning a new language to help him. And you also do your paperwork, while he does his homework, because you want to set a good example. You also started sleeping and eating regularly, for the same reason.”

“I just want to be a good example.”

“I also know something else.”

“Hmm?”

“Your will.”

“Oh.” Tony had, in fact, updated his will a month before and made Peter his sole heir. Peter wasn’t aware of this fact as Tony waited for him to be eighteen. May, as a legal guardian, and Happy, by extension, were the only ones informed about it. “But you know, he’s clever.”

“Would you do that to every clever kid?”

“…no.” Pepper smiled and picked up her book. Tony stared at the ceiling, thinking. After a minute he said, “He also said that I spend too much time with him.”

“Happy said that?”

“Uh-huh…”

“Tony… He just means that you are fairly annoying, when Peter spends time with the team and you come dragging him to the workshop.”

“I don’t drag him anywhere.”

“You know what I mean,” Pepper responded disapprovingly.

“Okay, okay, I know.”

After the beat of silence Tony spoke again, “You know, we could make our own kids.”

“You already have one.”

“He’s Happy’s and May’s, I just borrowed him.”

“And after we make our own, you are going to give him back?”

“Ehh, no, he grew on me.” Tony blinked, realizing something. “Wait you said after? Does that mean-“

“Good night, Tony.” Pepper turned off the lights.

“But you don’t dismiss the idea…”

“Good night.”

~~~

He did make it weird. They were five minutes into their usual lab time and Tony couldn’t stop staring at the kid and recalling conversations with Happy and Pepper. Peter , currently unaware of the turmoil inside Tony , was sitting at his workstation, chewing on a pencil and focusing on calculus homework. Tony sitting with his own pile of papers moved his eyes to the sheet of paper before him. ‘ Article 5c…' What the fuck am I reading? He looked on the desk, where read pieces of paper were laying. Apparently it was a contract. He didn’t recall its content at all. He looked at Peter again. Still chewing on a pencil.

“Hey, don’t chew on that!”

“What?”

“You’ll destroy your teeth by chewing on pencils.”

Peter scrunched his eyebrows.

“Seriously?” He looked at the pencil and at Tony. “Why are you so weird today?”

“I’m not weird.”

“You are looking at me.”

“Maybe I like watching you.” As soon as those words left his mouth, Tony winced internally at them. Great, now he is a creepy, rich guy, who likes watching teenagers. “Or maybe not.” Peter’s eyebrows raised in question. “But I still like you.”

“You are being really weird,” Peter said, unsure of what he should do.

“Do you like being here?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t I?”

“You are not feeling obligated to do so? You wouldn’t prefer to spend time with Steve right now?”

“I don’t understand…”

“It’s a simple question, Pete.”

“Yeah, but I don’t understand why you are asking me that.”

“Just answer it, kid.”

“No , I don’t feel obligated to spend time here. I wouldn’t prefer to spend time with Steve right now” Peter replied, confusion and nervousness clearly visible, with how he started playing with the pencil.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s good, good talk, go back to your homework.” Peter looked at him quizzically for a moment, then he shrugged and went back to calculus. Tony started going through the contract. Except after five lines he lost his focus again and started thinking about Peter again. Emotions were always confusing for him and it didn’t help that everything about a situation was complicated. He couldn’t exactly Google ‘my bodyguard is dating a woman with a kid and I think I kind of love that kid, but I’m not sure what to do.’ Happy and Pepper both said that it’s okay and their only complaint was he tries to keep Peter to himself too much. And he was willing to admit that they were in fact right. But that was followed by the doubts if Peter actually wants to spend time in the workshop or if he just a pressured poor kid, who didn’t feel like he could refuse. Even if he wanted to spend time with him, where would he draw the line ? He had May and Happy as, well, parental figures. So what did it make Tony?

“Why are you staring at me again, Tony ? ” Peter’s voice startled him. He didn’t even notice when he moved his gaze from paperwork before him to kid again.

“I’m not.”

“Yeah, you are.”

Tony moved his eyes to the ceiling and sighted.

“Okay, I am. But I want to talk to you about something and I don’t know how.” Talking about feelings. Apparently a mature thing to do.

“Oh. Did I do something wrong? Because-“

“No, no, no, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Tony quickly denied. “Wait. Why did you think that you did something wrong? Did you?” He stared intensely at Peter.

“No, I just, you know…”

“Okay, never mind, we’ll talk about this later.” Tony took a big breath and started, “I talked with Happy. And Pepper. They both thi-“ A ping from his phone interrupted him, he looked at it and swore. “Okay, looks like we need to postpone our conversation.”

“What’s going on? Is that a mission? Should I-“

“Not a mission, stay there and do your homework, I’m going to be back soon or I’ll send Pepper.” Tony quickly left the workshop and once he was out of hearing range, he said, “FRIDAY, what’s going on?”

“There was a shooting at Central Park. Happy Hogan and May Parker were involved.”

“Are they okay?”

“911 reports say that Mr. Hogan was injured.”

“Send location to the suit, I’m going there. Divert the ambulance with Happy to the Tower, inform Cho and Pepper of the situation.”

“What should I tell Mr. Parker?”

“Don’t tell him anything yet.”

May and Happy had a date tonight, they should’ve been safe. But something happened and Tony had to do damage control quickly.

~~~

There was already the police and an ambulance departing the scene. Tony couldn’t see neither Happy nor May anywhere. He hoped that they were both in the ambulance that he saw leaving. He landed and immediately saw the crowd turn to him. He didn’t have time for fans and questions, ignoring them, he confidently strode towards NYPD officers, the crowd parting like the Red Sea.

“What’s going on, where’s May Parker and Happy Hogan?”

“Excuse me Mr. Stark, but you have to stand behind that tape.” one of the officers pointed with a finger.

“Mr. Hogan is my employee and has close ties to the Avengers and as such, that case falls under our jurisdiction,” he quickly replied, leveling the cop with a stare. It was a young looking man in uniform. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth in shock.

“Okay, I know that you are here to just keep the crowd away. Just bring me to someone, who is in charge here,” Tony quickly added more calmly. This worked, because he quickly found himself in the company of Detective Morrison and Detective Slater. Both of them were tall, unimpressed looking men.

“I understand Mr. Stark that you are nervous, but we are currently questioning the witnesses.” Morrison crossed his arms over the chest. Tony looked at his phone. Steve was trying to get that case handed over to them, but there’s only so much that can be done in five minutes and without any proof that it was an Avengers-level threat. Happy was admitted in the Tower’s med bay, unconscious and with a bullet hole. May Parker wasn’t with him and Tony was currently trying to locate her.

“You don’t understand. I just need to talk to a woman. May Parker. This high, brown hair, wears glasses. She was with Happy Hogan and probably will know what happened here.”

“I’m sorry, but there was no woman matching your description among people on scene when we arrived.” Finally Tony got confirmation of what he suspected all along and could act on that. He unblocked his phone and chose the number.

“Rogers, shooting in Central Park, May Parker wasn’t on scene when authorities had arrived, she’s possibly missing.” Then he turned to the Detectives, “We’ll need the witness statements that you’ve gathered.” He handed them a business card.

~~~

Back at the Tower Tony immediately rushed to the workshop. Peter was still there, having finished homework, he was preparing a web fluid.

“Hey, kid,” Tony started. Peter jumped in surprise and spilled the chemicals. He moved to clean it, but Tony stopped him

“Leave this. We need to talk.”

“Uhh, yeah, you'd said that before you left.”

“About something else, actually.” He placed his hands on the kid's shoulders and pushed him gently in the direction of a lab stool. “Sit down.” Peter complied and turned his attention to him.

“I left, because FRIDAY informed me of… shooting in Central Park. Happy and May were involved in it. Happy is currently in surgery and we don’t know where May is.” Tony decided to be short. As he watched Peter’s expression morph from neutral to disbelief and then pure shock and fear, he thought that maybe being more gentle and less direct was a better idea.

“What? No! That’s not… Please…” Peter’s breath quickened and started coming in short pants. He swayed on the unstable lab stool. Tony caught him by his shoulders.

“You need to breathe, kid or you’re gonna pass out.”

Fortunately Peter was able to get his breathing under control on his own and didn’t work himself into a full-blown panic attack. After a short silence filled only with the sound of his inhales and exhales, he feebly said, “I want to help.”

“Absolutely not,” Tony answered sternly and moved back.

“It’s May!”

“That is exactly why you won’t be doing anything!”

“You don’t understand!”

“Yes, I do! You won’t be able to keep your cool and you will be a liability not help! We can’t afford that!”

“Well, you can’t stop me!”

“Oh, yes I can. FRIDAY, Peter is not allowed to leave the Tower or access any files on the case.” Tony gave his orders to AI and looked at Peter. The teenager was fuming.

“You have no right!”

“If you think I’m the bad guy here, you can talk to Steve, he’s going to tell you the same thing.”

“I hate you!” Peter pushed him and stormed out of the workshop.

“FRIDAY, tell him that he should go to med bay to keep Happy company,” Tony barked out and then sighted, sat down by the desk and put his head in his arms. Somehow he managed to destroy everything in two minutes. Well, at least he knew where he stood. He rubbed his face and got up. Team was waiting for him in one of the conference rooms.

~~~

Avengers got permission to handle the case with the NYPD. So along with the team, there were two disgruntled detectives that Tony had met before. Steve led the meeting. After an hour of talking that had led them exactly to nothing he summed up, “For now, we have first responders and witnesses reports, none of them actually saw what happened, most of them heard the gunshot and saw only the result. Nobody recalls seeing May. FRI (DAY?) is running facial recognition, but to no avail. She’s also reviewing all of the footage from the nearest cameras to the scene and flagging anything unusual.”

At that moment Bruce entered the room.

“I have an update on Happy,” he started. ”GSW to the stomach, although nothing vital was hit. Cho’s using her regeneration cradle, so he should be able to tell us what happened when the anesthesia wears off.”

The team nodded at that.

“How’s Peter, Tony?” Natasha turned to him.

“He said that he hates me, because I didn’t let him help us,” Tony said dryly.

“He doesn’t really hate you, Tony,” Clint reassured him. “He’s just frightened that he’s going to lose the closest thing he has to a mother.”

“You need to talk to him,” Natasha stated.

“Yeah, I need to check on him anyway. FRI, where is he?”

“I am unable to determine Mr. Parker’s location.” Blood in Tony’s veins froze in an instant. The whole room went quiet, you could hear the pin drop.

“What… What do you mean?”

“Mr. Parker left the Tower approximately 30 minutes ago.”

“What?! I told you not to let him out! Track him!”

“The protocol has been overridden. Current protocol prohibits me from tracking him.”

“How?”

“I believe that the current protocol was created by Ned Leeds.”

“Fuck.” Wow, letting the kid’s friend in the lab bit him in the ass for the second time.

“Tony, what’s going on? Who’s-“

“Peter and his friend hacked FRIDAY to sneak out and they added coding that makes it impossible to track him. I’m going to fix that.”

It was a long night. Tony spent hours fixing FRIDAY’s programming. At the end he was seriously considering whether it’s better to kill or hire Ned. Unfortunately after removal of the offending code it was too late to find Peter. He disappeared into thin air. His spider suit and phone were left at the Tower. He had changed his clothes in a back alley nearby and he wasn’t caught by any cameras, so they didn’t have anything to go on. At 4 AM it started sounding a bit surreal. Man gets shot and a woman goes missing in a public place in broad daylight. Teenager runs away and doesn't leave any trace. Everything in the span of two hours. Now they were just waiting for something. Clint and Sam played cards quietly. Steve and Natasha were going through everything they’ve managed to gather for an umpteenth time. Bruce went back to med bay to help Cho. Bucky just fell asleep on the table. The two detectives had left. Tony just stared at the screen no longer understanding what he was seeing, his mind exploring horrifying scenario number 78, where they find two mutilated bodies in a river and Happy dies because Cho missed something.

“Mr. Parker was registered by a street camera near the Tower, five minutes ago.” FRIDAY’S voice cut the silence. “He seems to be heading here.”

“What? Where’s he now?” Tony jumped to his feet.

“Mr. Parker just entered the Tower,” FRIDAY announced. “He’s going to the penthouse level.”

~~~

Tony for the past few hours imagined the lecture that he was going to give Peter when he saw him again. Something that would make the kid regret the day he was born. But when he saw him standing by the elevator, all of the anger had left him and immense relief washed over him. Peter was pale and shaking like leaf, but according to FRIDAY was unharmed

“Thank god!” That was all Tony said before pulling him into a hug. Peter, stiff at first, melted into him and started crying. His legs gave out and they both crumbled to the floor.

“I don’t hate you, I don’t hate you, I don’t-“

“Sh, sh, I know, it’s okay, I know, kiddo, I know,” Tony instinctively shushed him and started rocking them back and forth. He looked up and saw Pepper in pajamas, who was woken up and drawn there by the noise and he shook his head a little. She quickly understood and left for their bedroom.

Tony didn’t know how long they sat there but his legs went numb. Eventually Peter calmed down and said, “I thought you would chew me out for running.”

“I thought too. I’m still going to, after you get some sleep.”

“Hmm…”

They sat like that in silence for some more time. Finally Tony moved and helped Peter up.

“Come on, you still need to sleep.”

~~~

Peter looked better after the shower. Not so pale. Tony pushed him into bed, turned off the light and was about to leave, when the small voice called, “Can you stay?” Tony turned towards the owner of this voice. In the darkness he could only distinguish the lump on the bed and curls peeking out from beneath the covers. He moved closer and sat on bed next to Peter, leaning against the headboard.

“Only until you fall asleep,” he said softly. He didn’t exactly know what he’s doing, comforting someone was completely uncharted territory for him. He remembered something that Jarvis used to do for him, when he was little. He put his hand on Peter's head and started running fingers through the soft curls. Peter sighted and leaned closer.

“I’m sorry for running away,” he mumbled.

“You should be.”

“I just wanted to do something…”

“And what did you do?”

“I just wandered around. I didn’t have any plan and I realized that I won’t help. I was scared that you would be mad, so I didn’t come back immediately.”

“I was mad, I still am, but I was mostly afraid, kid. You can’t do things like that.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

Peter finally closed his eyes and relaxed a little. Tony thought that he was asleep.

“Do you think you’re gonna find May?” Peter asked quietly, startling Tony, who looked down and saw wide eyes staring at him. ‘ He’s just frightened’, he remembered Clint’s words.

“I don’t know. I hope so.” Peter closed his eyes again and pressed his cheek against Tony’s thigh. Tony kept playing with his hair until his breaths evened out and face and shoulders relaxed completely. He stayed like that for a moment before standing up. He stopped in the doorway, looked at sleeping form and whispered, “Sleep tight, kiddo.”

After that Tony went to the kitchen, where Pepper waited for him.

“How is he?”

“Physically? Good. Mentally? As well as he could be in that situation.” He moved towards a coffee machine.

“I handled CPS. He can stay here, for now.”

“That’s good, good.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Coffee. And then go to the team and see if there’s some progress. Find May eventually. You?”

“I’m going to make sure that nothing burns in the process.” she smiled at him softly.

“FRIDAY will let me know when he wakes up, but can you keep an eye on him?” he looked at her.

“I’ve already cleared my schedule.”

“What would I do without you?”

~~~

When he entered the conference room everyone was a bit agitated.

“What happened?”

“A witness came forward, she saw a van and some men in ski masks near the scene,” Natasha started explaining. “One of the traffic cameras caught a vehicle matching the description. We have a license plate.”

It turned out that their excitement was short-lived. Sam and Bucky found the van in an alley a couple blocks away. Police forensics examined it. They would have to wait for the full results, but for now it seemed that it was cleaned. The only noteworthy thing they discovered were traces of blood, presumably May’s. All of the nearby cameras recorded many other cars at the interesting period of time and it was impossible to tell which one belonged to kidnappers. The owner was a kind old man, named Stan, who reported the van's theft a week before. The investigation on that also hit a dead end. They were in process of reviewing the material gathered by the police and made FRIDAY find footage from the night of the van’s theft, but it didn’t seem to go anywhere. They also found May’s phone, or rather what was left of it. They were working on two theories, first one that someone noticed that she spends lots of time with Happy and kidnapped her for information, second one that she was kidnapped for a ransom. They had thought that maybe Happy would say something groundbreaking, but his story didn’t tell them anything that they already knew or suspected.

“There were three men in ski masks and non-descript clothes, with guns. They tried to grab us, one of them shot me. I think they got scared and took only May. I don’t remember much more.”

That left them to wait and look into the enemies' of Avengers, SI and Spider-Man recent activity. Honestly with the amount of material they had, they should have made some progress.

24 hours have passed and they managed to hit a dead end. No one saw anything, no camera registered anything. Tony looked at the clock in the conference room accusingly. First 48 hours were the time when most of the missing people were found. After that chances started to diminish. They’d already used half of that time. Tony should probably go find and comfort Peter instead of sitting and not doing anything, but he couldn’t make himself leave the room in case something happened. Besides, finding May would be probably the most comforting thing they could do.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by an email notification. He looked at the new message and felt his heart drop immediately.

“Fuck! Guys?”

~~~

Everyone in the conference room sat in silence as the video was playing. This time apart from two detectives, there were ransom specialists joining the team. Video featured the kidnappers beating up May and making demands. It looked really bad, with two men punching and kicking her without even looking where. She already had some bruises and what looked like a broken nose. Hits were leaving red marks that would soon turn into bruises. What raised the biggest concern was that May barely reacted. She probably already had a concussion or was drugged.

“Mr. Hogan, we have your girlfriend. In exchange for her, we want 5 million dollars. We are sure that you can get that amount easily from your boss. We give you 48 hours, or we will have fun with her.”

Tony immediately took his phone to organize the demanded amount of money in cash.

“Tony, what are you doing?” Steve asked him.

“Getting them what they want, what do you think I’m doing?”

“I think we should make a plan first,” Bucky joined calmly.

“What plan? They said, what they want, we give them that, we get May back!”

“Excuse me sir, but you shouldn’t do that,” one of the K&R specialists interrupted. “This video doesn’t count as proof of life, so we don’t know if that woman is still alive. A phone call would be preferable. Also, in ransom negotiations the first offer generally should be declined.”

“Am I the only person in this room that actually watched this video? You didn’t hear what they wanted to do? Didn’t see what they were doing?”

“It is not in the kidnappers interest to kill her quickly if they want ransom. They just want to show the power they have over you.”

“Besides, the more we communicate with them, the more we have to track them,” Natasha added. “Also you shouldn’t negotiate. When they get to talk with the billionaire Tony Stark, they are immediately going to raise their demands.”

“It’s also going to be a press nightmare if the media get a sniff on this.”

“Fine!” Tony threw his arms over the head. “Do whatever you want.” He left the room slamming the door.

~~~

Tony went to med bay to inform Happy about the recent development. Peter and Pepper also were there. They sat on plastic chairs, Pepper hugging Peter. Happy laid in bed. He woke up, when Tony entered the room. Tony sat down heavily on the chair in the corner.

“Anything has changed?” Pepper asked. Tony sighted and gave them an extremely watered down description of the video content.

“Those specialists tell me that paying immediately is a mistake and the team says that I shouldn’t get involved.”

“They’re specialists for a reason,” Pepper reasoned.

“I want to see that video,” Happy said.

“Trust me on this, you don’t want to.”

“Tony…”

“You focus on getting better, Hap,” Tony cut him off and turned to Peter. “Have you eaten?”

“Yeah.”

“A sandwich a couple of hours ago,” supplied Pepper.

“You have to eat more with your metabolism, kiddo,” Tony said seriously. “Come on. We’re going to the kitchen and then there’s bedtime for Spider-babies.”

“I’m neither hungry nor tired.”

“Yeah, I’m not explaining to your Aunt, why are you starved and sleep deprived.”

“If you will have someone to explain to,” Peter mumbled under a breath.

“Yeah, you're not talking like that. We’ll get her back and you are going to eat.” Tony put his arms under Peter’s armpits and pulled him up. “If you don’t cooperate, I’ll use a suit to drag you to the kitchen.”

~~~

Tony managed to coax Peter into the kitchen, without dragging and made him blueberry pancakes. (“Pancakes? But that’s breakfast food.” “Yeah, and you are going to eat them at 10 PM.”) They repeated the routine from yesterday. It also calmed down Tony and he started accepting that specialists and the team might be right. He came back to the conference room, where everyone was except for Clint and Natasha.

“FRIDAY tracked the kidnappers, they didn’t cover their tracks well.” Steve’s voice greeted him. “Clint and Nat are doing reconnaissance right now.”

Clint’s and Nat’s intel helped them develop a plan. There were four kidnappers, holding May in a suburban house. They were armed, but definitely weren’t professionals. This didn’t work in the team’s favor, because their lack of experience made them unpredictable. With the hostage present they really couldn’t afford a fight, even though they outnumbered the opponents. So they formed a plan, when they would try to take the criminals one by one.

It was just an ordinary house at the outskirts. The whole neighborhood was peaceful and unaware of horrors currently happening in one of the houses. Well maintained, clean area, small streets and wide sidewalks, a playground nearby. With a shining sun and birds singing cheerfully it looked like a suburban dream. It was really weird, that nobody had heard anything, but on the other hand it was the kind of neighborhood where the residents would leave their homes in the morning for work and come back in the evening.

“It just really creeps me out, this place,” Tony started wondering. “It looks perfect and beautiful, but no one has any idea what neighbors are doing.”

“Do you know what our neighbors are doing, Tony?”

“I have FRIDAY monitoring for any suspicious activity in the nearby buildings.”

“You're a stalker.”

Tony chuckled as he watched people getting to their cars and leaving. They had been observing the house since wee hours of morning waiting for the best moments to strike. Right now any action was out of the question. There were too many people on the street and any Avengers action would attract a lot of gawkers.

“One of the kidnappers went out for a smoke, he’s at the back. I think we could take him out without attracting any attention.” Natasha’s voice carried through the comms.

“Do not engage. Neighbors haven’t already left, we can’t risk being seen,” Steve ordered. “Tony, how’s the front of the house looking?”

“The guy with a nose from the house on the left is having a polite conversation with the fat guy from the house in front,” Tony relayed what he could see from his car.

“Guy with a nose?”

“It’s seriously big, trust me.”

“Seriously, you would think that people at 7:30 in the morning would hurry to work and not engage in conversations with neighbors,” Clint complained. Three yelling children came out from one of the houses.

“Oh and now the guy with a nose is packing his children to the car and the fat guy looks like he’s about to go,” Tony updated and relaxed into a seat. He took a sip of a coffee and choked, when someone suddenly knocked on his window.

“Yeah?” He asked, rolling down the window.

“You can’t park your car here!” a middle aged blonde woman started yelling at him. Peter called those ‘Karens’ as he recalled.

“It’s not a no-parking zone,” he replied.

“You cast a shadow on my flowers.” Tony looked at the sad excuses for plants and immediately thought that they need water more than sunlight. Before he could share his idea, comms cracked and he heard Steve saying, “Tony, do not argue with her, we can’t afford her to recognize you. Just drive around the block, maybe she’ll leave.”

Crazy plant lady didn’t leave and Tony was forced to find another observation spot.

Finally, the neighborhood emptied and quietened.

“That guy is smoking in the back again.”

“Okay, the neighbors have left, you can take him out now.”

Tony looked at the stream from the camera Clint had on himself. Natasha and Bucky moved in complete silence. She stepped behind the kidnapper, and with surgical precision pressed a spot on his neck. Bucky immediately caught the man, before he could fall and make a noise. They dragged him into bushes and hid there.

“One out, three to go.”

“Okay, now we wait.”

Couple of minutes later another criminal appeared.

“Clint, go.”

An arrow soundlessly flew through the air and hit him in the shoulder. Bucky appeared and again caught and dragged the guy into bushes, where Natasha was keeping an eye on the first one.

“He’s out. Two more to go.”

“Attention guys, the remaining two kidnappers moved from the basement to the kitchen.”

“Uh-uh, people on the street,” Tony warned. “Someone with a kid, I think. I can’t see clearly.”

Two NYPD officers in civilian clothes appeared and herded the newcomers to where they came from.

“Okay, all clear now.”

“Good. Nat and Bucky, you are guarding the back door and kitchen window, Tony and me from the front. Clint stays watching those two taken out guys, Sam, survey the area from the air. Bruce, move the ambulance here.”

Tony got out of the car and went to the front door, where he met Steve. He activated the nano gauntlet and leaned on the door. Steve looked around while the lasers from the gauntlet were destroying the lock.

“Okay, the door is unlocked, we’re going in.”

“Copy that.” i

Tony pushed the door and let Steve in first. He activated his whole suit and immediately followed the man. They were in a hallway that opened at the end to the living room, connected to the kitchen. On the right there were the stairs. They moved quietly toward s the living room. Tony gestured to Steve that he wants to enter first and stun both remaining criminals with his gauntlets. Steve nodded. Tony smoothly went to the room and fired at the unsuspecting kidnappers. He hit one of them, standing by the counter, but instead of the other he hit the cupboard full of tableware. The cupboard like in slow motion fell on a criminal, emitting an ear-splitting noise of breaking glass. Cracking and clanking reverberated through the room for what I seemed like an eternity. It made both men stop and just watch in shock what was happening. Steve regained his bearings quicker and ran towards the man buried under the glass and porcelain.

“He’s dead.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, his brain is on the floor.”

Tony didn’t wait for more. He retracted the suit and ran towards the basement.

“May, May?! Oh, shit…”

May was slumped in the chair, which she was tied to. Her face was covered in dried blood and bruises.

“Hey, May, wake up,” Tony said while looking for a pulse. He jabbed his fingers to her neck and prayed quietly. Fortunately, he felt slow beats.

“Get a medic here ASAP, she has a pulse, but it looks really bad!” he shouted at the comms. “Hey, wake up, Peter’s waiting for you.”

This seemed to do the trick.

“Pet’r?” she slurred.

“Yeah, he really misses you. And Happy’s okay.”

“Mmm…”

After that everything went rapidly . Suddenly the place was swarmed by medics and NYPD officers. Tony was pushed back as they put a collar around May’s neck and an oxygen mask on her face. She was placed on a stretcher and pushed into an ambulance that left soon.

“Jesus.” Tony slumped against a car and slid down, so he was sitting on asphalt. After the stress of the past few days left him, he felt exhausted. “I need a coffee.”

“You need a sleep.” Steve materialized from nowhere.

“Everyone needs that. I need to talk to Peter, Happy and Cho.”

“ The NYPD wants us to stay here. But… Maybe nobody will notice your absence.”

“Steve Rogers, goody two shoes, encouraging me not to cooperate with law enforcement? How can I refuse?”

“Drive safe, Tony.”

“I will.”

Tony got into a car and started the engine. He drank the rest of the now cold coffee and started driving in direction of the Tower. There were still a lot of things to do.

~~~

Couple of days later Happy was allowed to leave med bay on condition that he will have plenty of rest. May was cleared by Cho the day before that as the biggest issue was concussion. Steve and Bucky were preparing a big dinner since everyone finally could participate and even Rhodey managed to leave DC and was joining them. They were very secretive about the chosen dishes and had forbidden everyone from even getting near the kitchen. Tony honestly just hoped that they wouldn’t set the building on fire. He holed up in the workshop.

The elevator ding announced somebody’s arrival. Tony turned and saw Peter lingering on a doorstep.

“Hey, what are you doing there? Come here.”

Peter looked at the floor, shuffled towards the workbench and stood there awkwardly. Tony got up and approached him.

“Did you forget that you usually sit here?”

Peter sat down and started playing with the hem of his shirt.

“Okay, what’s going on?”

“Before… Before all this, you said that you need to talk to me.”

Honestly Tony hoped that Peter forgot his attempt at the serious conversation.

“You were weird that day and then, you know what happened, and you were nice, but not there, and then again weird.”

Tony cleared his throat and said slowly, “I’m sorry that you felt that way. I spent most of the time with the team, because I thought that finding May was what you needed the most.”

“I mean, it was. I just felt lonely. Happy was on strong pain meds and Pepper is nice, but…”

“Yeah, I get it, I’m really sorry. And for being weird. Happy told me that I spend a lot of time with you and butt in your time with others and I started questioning how you are feeling about this.”

Peter suddenly moved and wrapped his arms around Tony and with a muffled voice said, “I don’t mind, seriously.”

“I know now.” After a moment he added, “You know, I just don’t want to replace anyone.”

“You’re not. You are just Tony, not Happy, or May, or...”

“Just Tony, huh?” Wow, where did the hero worship go?

“Titles don't matter, only that you care.”

I care so much , he wanted to say. I want you to be safe, I want to see you grow and learn. Instead he just said, “I do.” Peter didn’t respond. Tony broke the silence, “You know I’m not good at emotions. Happy called me an emotionally stunted idiot.”

“I know.”

“You little shit. You were supposed to say, ‘You handled this very well, you are great!'” Tony broke a hug and ruffled his hair. Peter beamed at him

“Miss Potts asks if Peter got lost in the workshop and if she has to come and get you to the dinner,” FRIDAY interrupted them.

“Wait, you were supposed to tell me the dinner is ready?”

“Maybe.” Peter smiled sheepishly.

“You really are a little shit. Come on. I’m starving.”

When they got to the kitchen everyone was waiting for them. Pepper, with crossed arms, scolded Tony, “What did you do in that workshop of yours? Everyone was waiting for you and it’s extremely disrespectful to Steve and Bucky!”

“I’m really sorry, Pep, but we needed to have a conversation. And someone-” he looked sternly at Peter- “didn’t tell me that dinner was ready.”

“I’m sorry, really, it just happened,” Peter frantically started explaining himself. Something in Pepper’s face softened.

“I guess it’s fine, you two really needed it, but next time maybe find a better moment, okay?”

“Okay, okay!”

They finally sat down at the table. Steve and Bucky really put a lot of effort into the meal. The main course was salmon with asparagus. They also prepared garlic bread and a salad as side dishes. They even chose the right wine for a fish, but Tony suspected Natasha’s or Pepper’s help here. Conversation flew freely and they made their way to the dessert, in an amiable atmosphere. Pepper started conversing with May, which brought his attention.

“You know, maybe you could move to the Tower.”

“I don’t know really…”

“Peter and Happy spend most of their time here anyway and you too were here a lot, even before.”

“Plus, you know, Happy already has an assigned private floor, so it’s mostly a question of packing and moving stuff from your apartment,” Tony joined them. “And you would have the help of superhumans and Pepper Potts to plan everything.”

“Oh, the last thing makes the best argument. How’s wedding planning going anyway?”

“Well, it would go better if Tony listened to me. We have a cake tasting scheduled next week.”

“You know, we could just take Peter, feed him cakes and ask him which one he likes best. It would be faster. I swear his stomach has no bottom.”

“What?” Peter turned towards them at the sound of his name.

“Only if you are dealing with his sugar high, Tony,” May chuckled

“Hey, guys, I can hear you!”

Before they could continue they heard Steve clearing his throat. He got up and looked like he was about to give a speech.

“Last week was very hard for all of us,” he started. “We are very pleased that everyone important is able to be here. Me and Bucky have some important news to share and we are glad that you are the first to hear that. Without further ado, we decided to get married.”

Cheers and questions erupted immediately. Everyone congratulated and the toasts started.

Tony looked at the large table. Maybe titles didn’t matter. But the only thing that he could think was that after all these years, they became a family somewhere along the way. Big, loud and unconventional, a patchwork family, that wouldn’t make sense to a stranger. There were still a lot of issues that needed to be solved in the long run, but at that moment they were the happiest people on Earth.

#fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #marvel #spiderman #may parker #peter parker #happy hogan #tony stark #iron dad #the avengers

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justjessame · 4 years

Text

Put Me In Coach

Senior year. Three years of high school, eight years of elementary and junior high, just so I could reach this, my final year. The first day of my FINAL year in this school and I end up in the principal’s office. Seriously?

“Miss Kendall.” Principal Jones was looking over my file, I could tell because my name was almost bold and highlighted.

And I was confused. I had an impeccable record. My grades were high, my extracurriculars were all academic, there was absolutely NO way that I should be in this office today of all days.

“Yes, Mr. Jones?” I was fighting to sound calm, but this was the freaking principal and he was looking at me like I was lacking. Shit.

“Miss Kendall, it appears that you’re missing some vital credits.” What? “Just one, actually.”

“Mr. Jones, that’s impossible.” I offered, my schedule this year was packed. And it was perfect. “I-Mrs. Rosin looked over my credits, every single year.” My guidance counselor, Mrs. Rosin had worked hand in hand to make sure all my credits lined up with the college requirements of my target schools.

Mr. Jones, looking far too much like a turtle for his own good, looked over his glasses at me. “Unfortunately, Mrs. Rosin missed a required class. If you expect to graduate this year,” I felt my eyes widen. “Then you’ll have to fit this one in, Miss Kendall.”

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. “Which one?” Please, let it be math, or another history class. Don’t, under any circumstances be-

“Physical education.” Shit, shit, shit. “I’m sorry, Miss Kendall, but you seem to have missed a semester of PE.”

“I thought we were only required to take two semesters?” I got into debate mode. I’d taken Coach Negan’s hellscape of a class for both Freshman and Sophomore years, I could fucking swear it. “I took it Freshman and Sophomore year.”

“Actually, according to your records, you received an incomplete in tenth grade.” What? That rat bastard. “And that means-”

“I have to retake the class.” My voice was practically a growl. I wanted to kill that asshole. “Of course I do.” He was such a fucking irritant. Arrogant asshole. “If I could get Coach Negan,” I spit his name out like it was poison. “To agree to retest me, could I get the credit without taking the class again?” Anything, please God, anything other than seeing his smug, mocking face every fucking day for a semester.

“It’s not likely, Miss Kendall.” Mr. Jones warned, but he gave in. “If you can get him to agree, then yes, you can skip the class itself.” I nodded and started to stand, but he stopped me with another warning. “You know he’s never given the option to another student.”

“Then I’ll just have to be more persuasive than they were.” I answered, walking out of the office.

I took my revised schedule from the secretary and glared down at it. Physical education was right after lunch, because of course it was. I made my way through my classes without noticing. I took my notes, I answered questions, I did every single thing that I normally did. All muscle memory, brain and eye memory. I didn’t have to think about doing it. Or answering correctly. That was simple.

Lunch was a blur. My best friends clucking around me, not quite understanding my distraction.

“It’s not like you’re gonna be waterboarded,” Mary, the voice of reason chimed in. And I glared at her. “It’s badminton and wiffleball.”

“And the coach isn’t exactly hard on the eyes,” Eric added, giving his eyes a suggestive wiggle.

I laughed despite myself. “You could try harder to not be SO flaming.” I was picking at a muffin on my tray. The only prepackaged food that didn’t look disgusting in the cafeteria. “He’s an asshole, you both know that.”

“He’s not that bad,” Mary rolled her eyes. “Or at least he isn’t if you don’t correct his grammar every three seconds and argue about how many laps he’s made you do versus, I don’t know the cheerleaders.”

“ONE time,” I argued. “One freaking time, and he was wrong.” I was glaring again. “Why did I have to do fifteen fucking laps and that bimbo do five when she was in just as much the wrong as me?”

“Didn’t you tell Kelly that it was a good thing that she was so limber, since she’d be making her cash on, and I quote ‘the pole’ after high school?” Eric asked, grinning widely.

I groaned. “Only after she’d made a rather rude comment about my inexperience with the opposite sex.” A polite way of saying she’d compared me to Virgin Mary so many times that I was ready to rip her extensions out at the roots. “Shit. Tell me the truth, how good do you think I am at changing people’s minds?”

“You’re awesome, I’ve watched you debate.” Eric smiled. “But Coach isn’t one of the debate team students and he’s less likely to give you a pass.”

“Unless you’re prepared to use ALL your assets.” I shot Mary a look. Irony, she was named Mary and she’d probably slept with more people than Kelly.

I had to fight the urge to smack my forehead off the table. “Why me?”

“My guess?” I shot Mary another glare. “You pissed him off one too many times, this is your punishment, just you know, late.”

“You could ask him to just give your ass a nice spanking and then call it square.” Eric said as he tossed a chip in his mouth and made an indecent sound, either from the flavor or living vicariously through the image he’d created of Negan spanking me.

“Not happening.” I stood up, closing my eyes against the torture that was coming.

Mary and Eric chuckled at the martyred expression on my face. “Why are you fighting it so hard?” She asked me, a smirk on her face. “It’s not like you’re out of shape or that you can’t do it.”

“Not the fucking point.” I growled, grabbing my bag. “I already did it. I shouldn’t have to do it again. It’s not-”

“Fair.” They both finished for me with matching grins. “Yeah, but you might have to. Fair or not.” Eric stated calmly.

I straightened my back and fixed the skirt of my dress. “Or, he can pretend to be a reasonable human being instead of a rancid asshole and I can get on with my preplanned Senior year.”

“Good luck,” they called as I walked out of the cafeteria, trying desperately to believe that I had a chance at winning the battle ahead.

I found him in his office. He was leaning back in his desk chair, feet up on the surface of his desk, and looking like he was waiting for me. Shit.

“Why, Miss Kendall, whatever brings you to see me?” He was smiling and his dimples were deep with glee. Fuck. “Oh, that’s right, you’re doing a repeat.”

I forced my face into a smile. “Actually, Coach, I wanted to speak with you about that.” His eyes were twinkling and I had to fight glaring. “I think we both know that I completed my second semester, and if I could retake any of the written tests, then I could be out of your hair and on my way.” To a real class. That I really need.

“We both know?” He sat up, placing his feet on the floor, but staying in his chair. “I don’t think I’d agree with that assumption.” Shit. “After all, I’m the one who marked it incomplete.” And then, to prove that Mary and Eric were right, the zinger. “Did I say that properly, Miss Kendall? I know what a stickler you are for proper English.” Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.

“Yes, sir.” I answered, and I could have sworn that his eyes darkened. “I can’t dress for class today, I wasn’t told until I got to school that my schedule had changed.”

“That’s fine, Miss Kendall.” He stood and I stepped back, he seemed to fill the small room. “For today, you can take inventory.”

Days and days of torture. “Miss Kendall, keep your knees up.” Or “Miss Kendall, your eye isn’t on the ball.” The reminders to move faster, that I was older than my classmates, to keep up. I wanted to take the plastic bat and smack him right in his short wearing dick.

Lunch became pep talk time for my best friends. “Look you’ve made it a month.” Eric kept the countdown going. “You’ve only got three more months, and most of two of those are holidays.”

“And you’re keeping your cool,” Mary would pitch in. “You’re not calling him out on his weird shit, you’re doing what you’re told. It’s cake.”

And then I’d leave and go change and start another round of torture. Pulling on shorts and my sports bra/tank combo, tie my tennis shoes and ignore the underclassmen. It became a habit. And then to the gym to hear what our fearless coach had in store for that particular day’s hell.

“Miss Kendall,” I was stretching, getting ready for laps, not from punishment but for class. I looked up and waited. “Come here, Miss Kendall.” Don’t roll your eyes, I was telling myself, don’t roll your fucking eyes.

“Yes, Coach?” I asked, oozing perky politeness.

Negan was staring down at me, and his lip quirked. “Miss Kendall, I was thinking that another inventory is due.” Yes, I thought, fucking no sweating for me today. “Let me get the class started and you and I will head over and get started.” Wait, what?

“Didn’t I do it well the last time?” Come on, don’t make me deal with you for the entire class.

“You did fine, but I want to DIG A LITTLE DEEPER into the equipment stocks.” Damn it, did he mean for that to have the innuendo? Or was I just, shit, was I getting horny? Fuck, was Eric rubbing off on me now?

“OK,” please tell me that I didn’t sound as breathless to him as I did to myself. “I’ll just go, get the clipboard.” I wandered to his office.

I was looking for the damn clipboard when I heard him enter the office. Usually the damn thing was right on the corner of his fucking desk, but today of all fucking days, nowhere to be found. I was just about to ask him where it was when I realized that he was leaning against the closed office door. Damn it.

“Miss Kendall.” Had his voice always been this deep? “I thought we should have a private conversation, before we get started on inventory.”

I nodded, and felt like I’d run the fucking laps when I wasn’t looking. Why was I breathing so damn hard?

“You alright?” He’d moved closer and was looking down at me again. He licked his lower lip and my eyes landed on the movement. “You’re awfully quiet.”

“I can’t find the clipboard.” I offered, lamely.

He smiled. Not a smirk, not mocking, just a smile and it changed his entire appearance. “I’ll get it for you in a minute, sweetheart.” His hand moved up and he brushed my bangs away from my eyes where they’d fallen during my search. “Do you hate me, Miss Kendall?”

My eyes narrowed, was this a trick? “No, of course not, Coach.” I swallowed when the pad of his finger brushed my cheek. “I just hate gym.” And the tone you use to get your way. I added.

“I can be a bit harsh,” he sounded so quiet, so different. “I just want everyone to reach their potential.” I nodded and bit my lip. His eyes landed on my teeth worrying it. “You remind me of myself, Miss Kendall.”

Wait, what? “I’m not sure I-”

He moved past me and grabbed the clipboard off the top of his filing cabinet. Way beyond my eye level. “Smart mouth. Hates shortcuts. Willing to take the punishment if it’s worth the cost.” My stomach clenched at the way he said ‘punishment’. “Here,” he handed me the clipboard. “Let’s go get knee deep in balls.” And I found myself laughing despite myself and his grin in answer was something I found myself enjoying.

I stopped hating going to the gym after lunch as much after that day. Not that Negan had stopped being demanding. Oh that wasn’t ever likely to happen. He just started being a little less abrasive. I even convinced him that my first name wasn’t ‘Miss’.

“Amara?” Ah, there it was, my actual name. I jogged over to him from where I’d been hitting the tennis ball against the wall. Rain made the courts unusable. “Can you come after school today? I have a,” he glanced down at me and I felt my stomach flutter. “Job for you.”

“Sure, Coach.” I answered, jogging back to my place in line, knowing from the burning feeling on my back that he’d watched me go. I fixed my ponytail while waiting for another go, and glanced back to see him biting his lip as his eyes stayed on me. Dear Lord.

The end of the day found me walking back to the gym, wearing another dress, very similar to the one I’d worn on the first day of school. The building had emptied fast, it was the middle of the week, no clubs were meeting. It was raining and gross outside, so the sports teams had practice cancelled. The halls were eerily quiet, the flashes of lightning and the crashes of thunder the only noise other than my shoes on the tiles heading to his office.

If I was being honest with myself, and why not? I knew that we’d been tap dancing around something. The flirting that wasn’t overt, but it wasn’t subtle either. The way he’d stopped calling me ‘Miss Kendall’. The way he felt comfortable with casually brushing my bangs out of my face, or tugging on my ponytail when I jogged in front of him. Not in full view of the class, but when we both knew we could take notice of it.

Somehow I knew, as I finally saw his office door in view, that today was it. The climax of those touches, those comments. That when I knocked, and he invited me in, we’d finally figure out what the fuck we wanted.

I knocked and heard his low voice call out for me to come in. “Amara.” He was sitting exactly how he’d been sitting that first day of term. Leaning back in the chair, feet on the desk, and smiling up at me.

“Coach.” I answered, leaning against the other side of the desk. I saw his eyes flicker down my body, at least the part he could see now. The red plaid dress, long tight sleeves, buttoned up and belted, with the flared skirt. “You asked to see me?”

That smile, those dimples, and fuck those eyes all trained on me. “Oh, I definitely wanted to see you, princess.” Shit. Princess? “Come here, sweetheart.” His feet hit the floor and he sat up in the chair and pushed back from the desk.

I walked around his desk and he pushed his chair back and stood up. “What do you need me to do, sir?” I asked, looking up at him. He inhaled sharply at my words and I smiled when I realized my words were double edged.

“I thought we could go over,” he turned toward his desktop and I saw a pile of papers. “These.” he tapped the top. “Test grading, I fucking hate it.”

“Oh.” I turned to the pile, and felt him standing behind me, close enough to feel his heat, but still far enough back that he wasn’t touching me. “So you want me to grade these for you?”

And then he was pressed closer, his body touching my dress, but not my body. “I’ll help, of course, but yeah. If you don’t have plans?”

My eyes closed at the feeling of his warmth so close to me. I cleared my throat and fought against turning around and pulling him to me. He was my teacher for fuck’s sake. “No plans.” Breathless again, fuck. I bit my lip and waited for him to take his seat, for him to push some of the papers to the side for me to handle and let me grab a chair to do it. Instead, his body closed the small gap and I felt him. ALL of him. And boy, was there more of him than I expected. Shit.

He leaned over me and pointed to the top of the pile. “This is just one class,” I felt his breath teasing my hair. “I have a full load this semester, so it may take awhile to get through all of them.” Damn it, another double meaning. His full load...fuck.

My lip was close to bleeding by this point. His heat was one thing, but his fucking body? Yeah, that was going to fucking kill me. “I have the time.” Jesus, I sounded like a bad Marilyn Monroe impersonator. Pretty fucking soon I’d break out into a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday, Coach Negan.’

“Glad to hear it, Amara.” Did he have to say my name like that? Like he could taste it, me? Savor the letters, make a full meal out of one syllable. He still hadn’t pulled away, and before I made the conscious decision to do it, I bent over to study the papers and let my butt roll back into his body. I heard his breath hiss out of his lips and fought a smile.

Looking over my shoulder, I could see his eyes were closed, like he was fighting against something. “Guess we should get started, right Coach?” His eyes opened and found me looking at him, and those dimples came back with a smile.

“Good idea.” And then he was in his chair, and gesturing toward one of the less comfortable ones on the other side of the desk.

We worked through the piles, me wondering the entire time if he had kept the grading of all of them off until today because the piles seemed endless. Not that I was complaining, not really. Negan asked me questions as he worked through his pile, and I answered glaring at some of the papers wondering how bad these kids had to be to fuck up a quiz in gym.

“Which of my dumbass students is taking you to Homecoming, Amara?” He asked, at one point, eyes not leaving the paper in front of him.

“Homecoming?” I looked up at him. The hell did that come from? “Who said I’d be going to Homecoming?”

I saw his eyebrow raise, even with his eyes down on the paper in front of him. “You are a Senior, right?” I chuckled, well spotted.

Rolling my eyes, I turned my attention back to the paper in front of me and red lined another wrong answer. “Yep.” I popped the ‘p’, and groaned. “Don’t see why that means I have to participate in the archaic bullshit that is Homecoming.”

I heard his answering laugh, but kept grading. “No ambitions to be queen?” My eyes rolled again. “Or holding out for prom?”

“Neither.” I looked up to see him studying me. Putting the end of my red pen between my lips, I considered why he would assume I’d want either. Wow, a Senior girl, must want a tiara? I pulled the pen from my lips, pretending I didn’t notice how his had been focused on my absent sucking on a pen for shit’s sake, and smiled. “I guess you haven’t noticed, Coach, but I don’t need a crown to be a fucking queen.”

His smile turned into a full blown laugh. “Guess not.” And then we went back to grading. A few minutes passed and then, “No date?” What? On the test? I didn’t answer, thinking it was something he was asking the test. “Amara?”

“Yeah?” I looked up and met his eyes.

“Don’t have a date?” He asked, again, and I realized it had been directed at me.

I squinted, trying to pick up the conversation where we’d stopped. Homecoming. Ah. I shook my head. “No, no date.” I didn’t feel like pretending I cared about football, or the dance, for that matter. I started to return my attention to the next test, when he stopped me again.

“Must be fucking blind,” it was almost a mutter, but I looked up at him again, and saw him still studying me. “Those assholes must be fucking blind.” I felt the fluttering of butterflies in my stomach grow.

“Not sure about that,” I offered, looking back down. “I didn’t say I didn’t have offers, Coach, I said I didn’t have a date.” I was smirking at the paper in front of me, holding back a giggle. Shit, he’d looked so aghast by the mere thought of no one taking notice of me, I couldn’t help it.

“Who?” He had gone back to his own stack, and sounded almost nonchalant. Almost.

I flicked through the next few questions before asking. “Joe Malberry,” captain of the wrestling team. “Josh Grady,” one of the football players. “Oh, yeah, and Alex Ransom,” pitcher on the baseball team. I kept marking papers, but couldn’t hear his pen touching the papers in front of him. Curious I looked up to see he was watching me again. “What?” I felt self conscious.

“Collecting players from all the sports, princess?” His voice was low and sounded dark.

I shook my head again. “I don’t have a date, like I told you.” Not that I didn’t date, or that I hadn’t dated each of the guys I’d named, but he looked somewhat dangerous and I was smart enough not to poke a caged bear.

“And no boyfriend?” Ah, great, more relationship questions. Another shake of my head. “Why not?”

I kept my eyes on him. “Why get serious with a boy?” I leaned forward slightly, like I was about to share a secret. “Maybe I prefer men.” Winking at him, I went back to my stack of papers.

The silence stretched between us again, until finally, the papers were graded. I was about to grab my bag when he stopped me again. “If you could, Amara, tomorrow afternoon I’d like you to update my grade book.” I smiled at him across his desk.

“Consider it a date, Coach.” Another wink and I walked out.

Eric was staring at me during lunch with a shrewd eye. “Why do you look like you’re REALLY looking forward to gym class today?” Shit, how had he- “You keep looking at your watch like you’re doing a fucking countdown to the end of lunch.”

“Another day, another X off the days I have to be there,” I tried. Taking a long sip from my drink, and hoping beyond hope that Mary wasn’t as astute or that her attention had been on that huge ass football player she’d had her eye on all month.

She snorted and I knew that my luck wasn’t good. “Sure, Amara, sure.” I looked over to see her eyes gleaming. “You haven’t bitched about good old Coach for weeks. Or sweating. Or any of the other irritating shit you usually bitch about.” She was studying me, and when I glanced at Eric I realized he was too. “Are you hot for teacher?” She made a mock gasp of modesty. “Amara Kendall, are you thinking inappropriate things about Coach Negan?”

I could FEEL Eric’s smile before I even glanced to confirm it. “Oh shit, she’s caught it.” I glared. “You caught the horniness.” I rolled my eyes. “Wow, Amara’s human, who fucking knew?”

“Fuck you.” I hissed, trying to feel more anger than I did. Truth was I was practically bursting with it. And I hadn’t been able to tell anyone. “It’s nothing. I’m just staying after to help him-”

“Count his balls?” Eric offered, snickering. “You did say you do inventory for him after all.”

“Inspecting Coach Negan’s balls-�� Mary hummed in appreciation. “Feeling pretty damn jealous, Amara.”

The bell rang and I groaned. “You two make it seem so dirty.”

“If it’s good, it’ll be very fucking dirty,” Eric whispered into my ear as his arm came around my shoulder.

“And wet,” Mary offered from my other side, “otherwise it’ll hurt.”

“You both suck,” I muttered as I pulled away and started for the gym.

“You better too!” was their parting shot and I felt the blush burn my cheeks.

Class went normally. Or as normally as class can go when you’re ignoring the teacher. Or trying desperately to ignore the teacher.

“Amara!” I looked up as a ball came straight for my face. “Keep your eye on the ball!” Fuck. I dodged just in time to not sport a black eye. “Head in the game, people, head in the game!” He was smirking at me like he knew what I was trying to NOT think about.

The game, the class, dragged on. Longest fucking gym class of my life. And as I started for the locker room, he called me over. I tightened my ponytail and jogged to where he was leaning against the wall.

“Yeah, Coach?” I asked, telling myself that I was breathless from the exertion from exercise, not from the scent of him. I bit my lip and looking up I saw his eyes were laser focused on my mouth.

“Still on for this evening?” I nodded, and his hand reached out to swipe my bangs out of my face. “Good, my grade book is feeling pretty fucking neglected.” I smiled up at him. “See you after school.”

“Later, Coach.” I turned and walked toward the locker room. Feeling his eyes on me the entire way.

I was at my locker, listening to the rowdiness of the other students slamming doors and screaming out plans for their evenings. Tugging on the silky fabric of the dress that barely peeked out from under my over-sized sweater. Knee high socks and matching boots completed the look, my hair braided over one shoulder. I sighed, and gave myself a pep talk. It was just updating his grade book. I was CLEARLY reading more into everything than he meant me to. There was NO WAY that Negan looked at me as ANYTHING more than his only upper class student with more brains than brawn.

I almost missed Eric and Mary coming by to offer their see ya laters, or their heavy handed innuendos about my after school activities.

“Remember, don’t be a hero,” Mary offered, tugging on my braid. “Not everyone can deepthroat on their first go.” I glared at her, for fuck’s sake, I wasn’t a damn virgin.

“Don’t glare, it’s good advice.” Eric continued. “We know you’ve fucked, sweetie, but Coach isn’t in the peewee leagues, he’s a MAN.” A wink and a laugh and they were off. Fuckers.

And I’d almost had my nerves under control. But they were in full bloom as I made my way down the once again empty hallways. The gym came first, then the office door, and my hand knocked gently.

“Come in.” I took a deep breath and opened the door. At ease in his desk chair, leaned back reading a magazine, with his feet up I let my breath out. See, I told myself, not interested in me at all. “Wow,” his eyes flicked to me standing framed in the doorway, and I watched him drop the magazine and take in the full vision of me. “Feel like I’m under dressed, Amara.”

I smiled. “Dress for the job you want, right Coach?” I offered, walking into the room further and putting my bag down next to the chair I’d sat in to grade papers. “Grade book?”

“What job do you want, Amara?” His eyes were still on the way my sweater was falling slightly off one shoulder, showing the thin strap of the satin and lace dress I wore underneath. I took my seat and crossed my legs, knowing that my skirt rose a bit higher when I did.

“Why don’t you guess?” I sat back, looking more confident and carefree than my stomach would indicate, I hoped.

I watched Negan bite his lip and drink me in. “Never seen anyone in any job dressed like that, sweetheart.”

“Let’s go with a student for now,” I offered, and his eyes met mine. “Isn’t that what I am?” I shrugged my shoulder, and felt the sweater slip a bit more. His eyes locked on the bared skin and I saw him swallow.

“Yeah,” he breathed and then he snapped himself out of whatever image had been playing in his mind. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a generic grade book. Walking around the desk, he leaned against the edge to open the book. “Pretty standard, but,” I leaned forward to follow his finger as he explained how he liked the grades to be entered. My hand reached out to trace a line and he stilled.

“So you want them to run linear, but you also want the grades to be both numerical and alphabetical.” I glanced up at him and saw that my hand, over the book, was right over where his crotch would be if the book wasn’t in the way. Oh. I bit my lip and he groaned.

“Shit.” He sat fully on the desktop and looked up to the ceiling. Gathering strength? Resolve? “Amara,” he looked down at me and then the grade book was tossed on the desk and my hand was on his thigh. Oops. He swallowed hard. “Honey, do you really want your hand there?”

I studied him. He wasn’t pushing my hand away, he wasn’t disgusted or pissed. He was warning me, but not the type of warning I expected. It made my next move easier. “No,” I whispered up at him. “I think I want my hand here.” I moved and cupped him through his gym shorts. “Is this alright, Coach Negan?”

His eyes rolled back as my hand pressed down a bit harder, feeling how hard he was, and was only getting harder. I licked my lips and slid my hand along the shaft I could feel through his layers. His hand covered mine, but instead of drawing mine away, he helped me find the rhythm he wanted. He swallowed a moan and I smiled up at him. “Keep that up, princess, and we’re not gonna get anything done.”

“Still want that grade book updated, sir?” He couldn’t hold back his moan at that. He really enjoyed that ‘sir’ shit. I licked my lips again. “Hand me the book.” I took my hand away and his hands took my elbows and pulled me from my chair.

“That’s not what’s gonna get done, Amara.” And then his lips met mine and it was me trying to hold back my moans. His tongue flicked against my lips and I opened my mouth for him. One of my hands found his neck, the other was fisted his shirt both holding him to me. He pulled away slightly and I groaned. “You want this, right?” Wait, what?

“Read the room, Coach,” I muttered, and pulled his face back to me. “Do I look like I’m fighting it?” His chuckle vibrated my lips as our mouths met again.

He turned our bodies, so I was sitting on his desk and he was standing between my open knees. “Knees up, Miss Kendall.” He ordered against my mouth and I obliged. His hands slid up my boots to my raised knees, helping to put my feet on the desk. He hummed as his hands continued up my bare thighs, under the satin skirt of my dress, until his fingers hooked into the thread that constituted the waistband of my lace panties. He tried to pull them down, but it was basically a thread, and I giggled as they literally snapped in his fingers. Oops. “Fuck. I didn’t mean to-”

I shook my head, and nipped at his bottom lip. “I have more.” And his mouth left mine, kissing along my jaw, nibbling on my earlobe.

“Good,” he breathed against my ear. “I didn’t mean to, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to.” And then his teeth grazed the sensitive skin under my ear and my eyes closed. He kissed down my neck and his fingers, which had gone still after destroying my panties, started to explore my waist, the soft skin of my upper thighs, teasing but not touching where I was internally begging him to. “Seems like you want something, Amara,” his mouth was on my shoulder, bared before he’d even touched me. “Say it, sweetheart. Tell me what you want.”

“Touch me,” I pleaded, my fingers digging into his shoulders, pushing down, trying without words to show him.

“Where?” His nose was buried between my sweater and satin clothed breasts, breathing in my perfume. “Where, princess, where do you want me to touch you?”

“Everywhere, sir, everywhere.” I breathed, and felt his chuckle vibrate through my sternum. “But first,” my hand left his shoulder and met his under my skirt. “Here,” and pulling his hand to the center of my heat I sighed as the pads of his finger brushed my folds.

“Oh, here?” He asked, pulling back to look into my face, my eyes locked on his. And then, he let his fingers slip through the slick wetness he found with my help. “You’re wet, Amara, so fucking wet.” Between the lips, feeling the dampness grow, he licked his lips. As his thumb brushed my tightly wound bundle of nerves, my hips left the desk. His other hand moved to hold my hips down. “Now, now I didn’t say you could move, sweetheart.” Fuck. He let one long finger slide up and down my slick, and then, watching my face and my expressions, slid slowly inside. My head fell back and I practically growled at the feeling. Fuck, a finger, and I was ready to go insane. I wouldn’t fucking survive his actual dick. “How’s that feel, Amara?”

I tried rocking my hips, I tried rolling closer. His hand holding me still was like a vise. Fuck. “Not enough, that’s how it feels, Coach. Like it’s NOT enough.” I bit down on my lip as he added another finger, still not moving once I was impaled by both. Fucking tease. “Is this a fucking punishment for something?” I begged, trying once again to move my hips, to force him to move.

“Oh, sweetheart, when I punish you, you’ll fucking know it.” Shit, I just got- “You like that don’t you, princess? The idea of me punishing you.” I felt my walls clamp down on his fingers and so did he. “We’ll have to talk about that later,” he leaned forward and licked back into my mouth. “I want to taste you, Amara,” he breathed into my mouth.

And he did. He feasted on me. He used those fingers of his, and that mouth on him, to make me a shaking, moaning mess on his desk. And then, once he felt he’d had his fill of me, he stood up and helped me take off my sweater, sliding his hands over the satin of my dress before tugging it over my head and tossing it on the chair with my sweater. The bra was gone before I could contemplate it, and then, I was pulling his shirt off his body, tugging down his shorts and without any more preamble, he was thrust deep inside of me. My feet still on the desk, my knees high, my legs open, and his hands on my hips controlling the rhythm.

My hands were back on his shoulders, my mouth and tongue tasting the skin of his chest, finding tattoos I wouldn’t have known about in ordinary circumstances, but then his hips moved and I whimpered. “Is that the spot, Amara?” He growled, hitting it again and again, as I arched my hips a bit higher, trying to find friction and purchase. “That’s it, isn’t it, sweetheart?” And then again, and I was pleading by offering him his name over and over. “Come on, princess, come on.”

And it happened. Like a freight train rushing through me, I came, biting his shoulder so I wouldn’t scream and felt his thrusting stutter as my clamping and tightening body forced him over too. We were shaking and breathing hard, but he didn’t pull away. He kept holding me, his fingers sliding over my bare skin as he grew limp inside of me. His lips kissing my forehead when I pulled away from his chest to look up at him. Our bodies were slick with sweat, a sweat that I would gladly wear again and again. Our lips met, and I smiled into his kiss.

When we pulled back, his forehead pressed against mine, I had to laugh when he said, “now about that grade book.”

#negan x ofc #The Walking Dead #coach negan x student #Smut

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brokebuckkmountain · 3 years

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Today was the worst

(long rant ahead, mostly about workplace politics with irl problems sprinkled in for flavor)

So. I’ve already been in my feelings lately due to like: life sucking, it’s the plague times, I am struggling to find a psychiatrist despite being told it was imperative I get help immediately, it’s winter and winter makes me sad, I’m losing friendships left and right thx to Miss Rona, I hate my job, yesterday was the one year anniversary of my breakup, there’s tons of gossip about me at work for things I genuinely did not say, and some of my work buddies are ignoring me for no apparent reason (including my best friend who has been ignoring me since my literal birthday a month ago? It’s all her friends that are ignoring me to it’s hard not to think it’s something related to that). Also, those PMS mood swings are a bitch.

I wanted today to be a good day. I wanted to get up early. I wore my new clothes and new perfume and was excited to train a coworker I genuinely like who was never trained when she was hired a year ago and struggles to get through her shifts. I mean I volunteered to do it for free because she deserves the help. But no no. Today was not a good one.

-I was woken up at 3 am to a litany of text messages from an ex asking to hook up again. Promptly fell back asleep and missed my later alarm, causing me to have to skip my workout this am and rush my shower.

-My boss didn’t assign my trainee online learning or make a schedule, told me I was a “strong enough trainer” to just do what I felt needed to be done. That was all he said to me, no further instruction. This is important later. Trainers and trainees are considered non-coverage and I run into an issue with this everytime I train- shifts want us on the floor doing different tasks than what I’m actually teaching. I personally think being a little backed up for 30 minutes is preferable to new hires not knowing how to do things because they never got one on one time, but most supervisors think otherwise.

-My trainee and I had about 25 minutes until our joint lunch break. She had expressed to me that knowing more about the mechanics of coffee- what is the body of a shot, why does it expire, what’s the difference between blonde and regular- was helping her, so I decided 25 minutes whizzing through that part of training before lunch was fine. I was immediately chastised by someone we’ll call Manager 1 because that “isn’t part of the training”. It very much is, and is available on every training resource, it just never gets taught because of time constraints and corporate not really caring about coffee quality. Manager 1 has consistently made a scene every time I train a new hire over us doing training and not just whatever she wants to get done. Manager 1 is also known for berating almost every one, and has lied about altercations that never happened between me and customers before to our manager. So she’s not exactly a fan favorite of mine. I maintained that the coffee basics was part of training and returned to the back, planning to use that time to do coffee basics and more memory games for drink recipes.

-After about 5 minutes, my coworker came to the back and told me the two managers wanted us out there helping. I went out alone to tell Manager 2 (who was technically in charge and generally less awful) what we were working on and asked if they really needed us or if they’d be okay. She said they needed us and Manager 2 began snapping that we were floor coverage, that my trainee was supposed to be on the floor all day, and that she had no business in the back “staring at a computer screen” (which we were not doing, but I digress). Since this is about the fourth time I’ve had this issue with this particular manager, I responded that we were supposed to be doing whatever I felt needed to be done, not working the floor. When they maintained that they were “under the impression” from our boss that my trainee and I were to remain on the floor all day, and we were coverage, I said “I guess I got confused by the dashed lines on the schedule that signify non-coverage as us being non-coverage” and went to get my trainee.

-My trainee knew the situation because she had overheard, got super nervous, and started making drinks wrong that she had been making correctly all day. During this time I overheard Manager 1 and Manager 2 not-quietly discussing them both texting our boss to complain about me. Fair, I guess, since I planned on doing the same when I was on my lunch. At one point they both left the bar area to send their texts and squat by the safe while waiting for it to unlock (it’s on a timer and beeps when it’s ready, no need to hover) which only infuriated me more- they moved us to bar so they could leave it. When it was finally our lunch time I sent my trainee and was pulled aside by Manager 2. I tried to move the conversation to the break room (something I have always been adamant about- not publicly berating coworkers in front of others) but she stayed on the floor where multiple people were and reprimanded me for my bad attitude. I told her I was never instructed to stay on the floor, had a schedule, and would’ve been more flexible if they had actually spoken to me rather than yelling and demanding. She maintained that I had a bad attitude and needed to follow orders. I said, once again, “mutual respect goes both ways, if you want me to incorporate things into my training schedule then you need to have an actual conversation with me about it and not demand it at random”. She said that as my superior I wasn’t allowed to “talk back” (ignoring my point that they had both, indeed, begun yelling at me) and told me my bad attitude “wasn’t a good look” and that she didn’t feel I was understanding. I said I understood perfectly that I shouldn’t be rude, but that they shouldn’t yell at me either, and I wasn’t going to take unprofessional yelling to pull me off my job as a trainer. Manager 2 didn’t listen to a word I said and kept going “you can’t have an attitude, do you understand?” so after a period of staring at her silently I said “Can I clock out for my lunch now and proceed with training?” and walked away.

-After lunch I was able to continue training, only because that part of the training constituted us being on the floor helping. I apologized profusely to my trainee for putting her in that situation, reassuring her that regardless of who was in the “right” or the personal issues of the people on the floor, my first priority was her being able to successfully learn and feel comfortable. She told me she had a hard time focusing on drinks and was anxious after the scene, and that she felt the public reprimanding I received was far out of line and unprofessional. I told her I knew that, but being as it was two managers against one me, I would probably still receive a write up tomorrow morning and not to let it worry her when it did go down (tomorrow is our final day of training and my last day before a long break from work, so I know it’s going to happen in front of her). She said she would talk to my boss on my behalf and I told her not to worry, I didn’t want her pulled into workplace drama, but she insisted it wasn’t right (she is considerably older than everyone in the workplace and I think a little protective of me since we volunteered together and I’m the only one who doesn’t chastise her for small mistakes). We’ll see if she says anything tomorrow but I don’t want her to feel like she has to “go to bat” for me and involve herself in unnecessary drama against people who will lash out at her.

-While trying to clock out, I overheard Manager 2 trying to get other coworkers of mine to give accounts against our boss to his superior over not liking their scheduling. Perhaps I’m biased, because I am friends with my boss and literally vacationed with him this summer, but he is the type to listen to concerns and always give people the benefit of the doubt. I’ve never seen him give a write up and he bends over backwards to accommodate people. So whatever their issues are, something tells me they haven’t brought it up to him. Manager 2 frequently breaks safety protocols because she “doesn’t care if she gets Covid” and has vacationed out of state many times resulting in us not allowing her to come back to work and being short staffed. Despite this, I’ve never given my boss her name when he asks who is breaking safety protocols. Manager 2 is well known for being deeply unpleasant, her and my boss have been at odds for years from working together at another location, and has frequently tried to egg on other employees to get our boss in trouble while refusing to make any formal complaints herself. If you’ve been following for a while, she’s the same ass-kisser who used to say my old boss could break any rules she wanted and allowed herself to be constantly demeaned in hopes of a promotion (10 years without a promotion and she thinks it’s unfair rather than realizing she’s mean and unpleasant, chooses to attack the people who do get the promotions she wants). I know there’s a way to spin those two plotting against my boss as a way to cast some doubt on their accounts of me, but no way to do it without being a blatant shit disturber who’s just retaliating. Which is not how I want to live my life. But he deserves a heads up.

-Now I’m sitting at home with an arts and craft project I came up with to give my coworkers all a gift before the New Year and no desire to do it. Like, fuck these people, why should I do something nice for them? Even though I know the majority are good people, just not the ones in management. No energy, completely lethargic (yay depressive episode and still no antidepressants because I can’t get ahold of a goddamn psychiatrist even though my GP okayed the antidepressants herself), wishing I just could get a better job but I need the insurance at mine. It’s one thing to be constantly belittled and insulted by customers (and a very big thing, at that), but to get it from coworkers too just makes me feel awful, day in and day out. I know I’ve hated my job for the entire 3 and a half years I’ve been there and bemoaned how much less interwork drama I’ve had at every other job I’ve had (so I don’t think it’s all me, many agree it’s a toxic environment likened to a high school), but quitting a job you’re great at, passionate about (at times), live super close to, that gives you insurance, during a pandemic? Harder than it looks.

Life sux. Super anxious for tomorrow. Thanks for reading. Pls don’t reblog.

#i should text my boss since i KNOW he's gonna wanna talk tomorrow and my anxious ass will forget half of what i want to say #but thats also nerve wracking i guess #personal

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curealkira · 4 years

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Birthday Special for Laur (one-shot)

A special little one-shot story for my special sister-friend, @iluvsexyvoltageguys(aka Laur). The story is set in Be My Princess universe (Otome game owned by Voltage Inc). As a disclaimer, I do not own anything...I mean...yeah...I don’t..except for...myself...lol. This is honestly the first time I made a story as a B-day gift for a friend so I hope this story is good enough for her n_n…..I mean I really hope I depicted her properly in this story. If not and she ends up being OOC…..forgive me my friend n_nU...I tried my best >_<. Happy (belated) Birthday Laur, my special, silly friend who I love and want to be possessive towards for laughs ;3.

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Laura: “Oh my god! You actually made all this, Kittah!? How were you able to make such a shape!”

Kittah: “Psshh, girl you know I enjoy trying new things with my creations. Plus I wanted to be the first to make you something for your special day. No one, and I mean no one, should beat me in being the first afterall.~”

At present, both of us, for special reasons, are currently residing at Liberty Manse. It was the day before my birthday, February 16th. As usual, my friend, Kittah, always works hard to make various things for me for my birthday. Mainly on the lines of sweets. This year she made lion face cookies. It was a little sloppy but I could tell she put in a lot of effort for me. Though the oddest thing was that she normally gives me my gift first thing in the morning right when I wake up. But knowing her, if I ask she just brushes it off with her amused-cryptic expression. Learning from my time with her, the best thing to do is just to not bother asking.

Laura: “Can I try one now?” Kittah: “Why ya asking me? Eat when you want. It’s yours.”

Fair enough. Tasting one,...just oh my gosh! It's soft and not too sweet! She really got this flavor down!

Laura: “Kittah! You are a baking expert!!!” Kittah: “Nah. I ain’t. But seeing ya being all smiley smiley is good enough for me~.” Laura: “Awww! I love ya!! I really love this early birthday gift!”

Kittah: “Heheh. Yes yes I know girl. I know~” I couldn’t help but give her a really big hug.

During this time, I wasn’t aware of being seen from afar by two people, one of whom had his pair of emerald green eyes stare sharply at the scene.

------------------------------------------The next day--------------------------------------------

How did I get myself into this?

I am currently sitting in a helicopter next to Prince Keith. It was dark outside like late evening. Neither Luke nor Kittah was with us. Part of me was confused since Keith hasn’t said anything, but at the same time I had little hope that if this has anything to do with my birthday.

Thinking about the events from a few hours ago...it was quite something for a morning.

It was only about 3 hours since I woke up. Of course, as per usual, Kittah wished me Happy Birthday again when I just woke up. And then few of the butlers and maids, as well as Cathy and Luke, wished me happy birthday with a few gifts. Heck, even the princes from the other kingdom, as well as Nobel Michel and Zain, gave me wishes. However, there was one who has yet to do so. I found out that Keith had some important businesses to take care of and would not be back until evening time. It was disheartening but I mean I understand since he’s the prince and all but still...I thought we got close enough for him to wish me early. Well, there’s still hope for the evening.

Hours went by and I was being kept company by Cathy and Kittah for the majority of the day. We were all in the middle of having evening tea until my phone started ringing, which was off given the time. And when seeing who was calling, I answered immediately.

Laura: “Hello?” Keith: “Be ready in 15 minutes. Wear something warm. Come to the main gates.” Laura: “Wait wha-?” Beep. Beep. Beep. Typical. I should be used to this already but still. Kittah: “Better hurry and get ready, Laur.” Laura: “Huh?”

Kittah: “You don’t want to keep Brat Boy waiting, now don't ya?”

Cathy: “Hehe, she’s right. Hurry and go get ready!” Both of them knew who was on the phone and gave me amused grins. I swear these two really can read me sometimes. Feeling touched by their thoughtful consideration, I immediately head back to my room to get ready into something warm as he stated. Not too long afterward, I was waiting outside wearing a simple long sleeve white blouse, denim jeans, and a sweater.

But where on earth is he? It’s already been 15 minutes like he said.

Laura: “Really now. He’s the one who told me to come out here and yet he’s the one late.”

Just as I was about to consider giving him a text, suddenly a burst of wind followed by a loud sound coming from above was heard.

And I couldn’t even believe what I was seeing.

Laura: “What the he-“

???: “Took you long enough! Get up! We don’t have time!”

Well, how unsurprising. It was none other than Keith himself shouting down at me from above...in a helicopter….

Laura: “You gotta be kidding me…”

Ideally, I should be gobsmacked...but somehow I can’t help but be unsurprised by this extravagant entrance as the helicopter slowly descended. Knowing him, he’s gonna get annoyed if I delay any further, so just shrugged it off and got myself in the helicopter with his help.

And now here we are at present times. I still have no clue where he is taking me. He refused to budge and tell me.

------------------------------------------30 minutes later------------------------------------------

Keith: “We’re here.” And where is here exactly? But of course, I naturally wouldn’t get my answer. Knowing that I was helped down from the helicopter...before I got...blindfolded!? Laura: “W-what the hell!?”

Keith: “Quiet. Just shut up and follow.” Not wasting any time, contrasting to the sound of his voice, he took my hand gently as he was leading me to who knows where. Keith: “We are almost there.” Laura: “Almost whe-” Suddenly I hear the sound of crashing salty-smelling water and crunching sound with each step I take. Are we at a beach..?

Keith: “Stay here. And don’t remove that blindfold until I tell you. Got it?” Placing me somewhere...who knows where...he said that before he walked off without even letting me say anything. Typical. But what the heck is going on?

A few moments later, I hear his footsteps approach me from behind with each crunching footsteps until he stood right behind me.

Laura: “Hey. Can you please tell me what’s going on-” Keith: “Quiet.”

Immediately after saying that, the blindfold was removed...and at the same time...I heard loud booms in the sky...and it was a sight I didn’t expect.

Fireworks, one by one and at the same time, rocketing into the sky and bursting into shimmers of colors and shapes...It was breath-taking.

Keith: “And now for the finale…” Laura: “Huh? What do you-..” Keith: “Don’t turn. Look.”

Having both sides of my head motioned back up in the sky...I could not believe what I saw. It was touching enough that I nearly got emotional.

Afterall….the last sets of fireworks spelled out…

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA”

Laura: “Keith, this is..”

I turned around to be surprised again with a bouquet of roses held right out in front of me. There was so much, it practically covered my view of his face...but I swear I could see a small hint of red on his cheeks.

Keith: “What are you waiting for?? Just take the damn roses already…...no….I mean...It’s your birthday and all...and well...You...like roses...walking on the beach and that kind of stuff...right?”

Laura: “How did you kno-” Keith: “Who do you think I am!? You think I wouldn’t know!? Just take the roses already.” He shoved the roses to me in my hands before looking away, with his ears red. Keith: “And...Happy Birthday…”

He said that before pulling me into a tight embrace.

I never felt happier than I am now. This is truly a birthday that I will never forget for my entire life.

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

End I am so sorry this took me a week, Laur. But I still hope you enjoyed this fluffy story.

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therainroguefanfiction · 4 years

Text

🔥 ℝise Ⱥbove I̾t ◈ Chapter 024 [Surprise]

📑 Table of Contents | ◂Backward

Author’s Note: So, I wanted to take a moment to say that it sucks that the Anime Festa OVA wasn’t dubbed. I know there are several different fansubs out there, so the translations probably aren’t perfect, but I did the best I could with what I could find. Hopefully, the dialogue isn’t too far off. I originally planned to write this chapter before the start of season two, but the first episode is about them seeing Aizawa for the first time, so I felt that should be written first.

This was originally supposed to be two separate chapters, but for some reason, the first one only came out to around 1k words, so I just combined them together. I try to keep chapters between 2k and 3.5k words and I didn’t want to go with only 1k!

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

Word Count: 3,699

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

〈“You can go the distance, you can run the mile. You can walk straight through hell with a smile. You can be the hero, you can get the gold.” The Script, “Hall of Fame”〉

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

The students of class 1-A have returned to the USJ despite the villain attack a few weeks previously. The staff had combed the dome for stragglers and deemed it safe, so we finally returned to pick up on the rescue training that was so rudely interrupted previously.

“Well, that happened, but class is class.” Thirteen announced. “So, let’s begin the rescue training!”

“Can you really move, Thirteen-sensei?” Ochaco asked worriedly.

“My back hurts a bit, but it’s nothing compared to Aizawa.” He motioned toward our teacher, who was still covered in bandages, both arms crossed over his chest in slings.

“We are ready to begin class, let’s start already. We’re wasting time.”

“Aizawa-sensei?” Izuku stepped forward. “All Might is supposed to meet us, as well. Where is he?”

“I don’t know. Forget about him.” Aizawa responded off-handedly, turning and walking down the steps. I sighed and followed after him, already aware of what was in store for the class today. We were led to the rockslide zone.

“Let’s start with the rescue training! There’ll be three students at the bottom of the chasm. One of them will be unconscious, the other will have an injured leg, and the last will be very worried.” Thirteen explained.

Kirishima and Sparky approached the ledge.

“What height!”

“How are we supposed to get down there?!”

“What are you saying?!” Iida rushed over to the ledge. “Are you okay?! Don’t worry, we’ll save you!”

“You’re too fast…”

“Let’s save them!” Ochaco cheered. “Let’s do our best, Deku!”

“The injured will be… you three!” Thirteen pointed to Ochaco, Izuku, and Iida – the golden trio of U.A.

Once they were safely lowered into the chasm, Aizawa chose Momo, Fumi, Todoroki, and Bakugo. “Alright, you four are the ones who will rescue them. You may use these objects.” He nodded toward the various rescue-related items off to the side.

“Oi, why the fuck do I have to save Deku?!” Bakugo screamed angrily.

“Because we’re in the Anime Festa,” Tsu explained.

What the fuck is an anime festa? Sounds like a flavor of salsa.

“Hah?!”

“Just leave him, Tsu…” Kirishima sweatdropped.

“Help us! Please!” Iida’s voice carried from the bottom of the chasm.

“Let’s begin. Who is going down?” Todoroki questioned.

“This bastard doesn’t listen! I’ll have to teach him!” Bakugo held up his palm, setting off a string of small explosions. “Just blow up the mountain, that’s it!”

I facepalmed. “Dumbass,”

“Are you crazy?!” Momo cried out.

“He doesn’t think, he acts on instinct.” Tsu mused.

“Midoriya and the rest are in trouble.”

I scowled at Sparky as he stuck his pinky up his nose, wiggling it back and forth.

Todoroki sighed. “Yaoyorozu, create a pulley. We’ll make a way to pull them up. Let’s start with the one that’s unconscious. Tokoyami will go down. Bakugo, Yaoyorozu, and I will pull.”

“Bastard! Stop deciding on your own!” Bakugo grabbed him by the collar.

“Calm down!”

“It’s the best way,” Todoroki responded, coldly.

“Hah?!”

“If you think of this as a game, you don’t have to know.” Todoroki shoved his arm away. “I’m not going to waste my time in this training.”

Bakugo’s fist clenched, a tic mark appearing on his temple. “W-Who is the one playing around?!”

“Stop!” Momo demanded. “It’s pathetic! Besides, there is something we must do before anything else!” She headed to the edge, getting on her hands and knees. “Everyone, please keep calm! We will get to you right away!”

“Please hurry!”

“You’re finally here! We’re saved!”

Momo turned to glare at the two boys, clearly fed up with their attitude. “The first thing to do is to reassure the victims. There are occasions where you can’t save people who are desperate and panicking. Reassuring them is related to saving them! If you won’t do it properly, what’s the point of this training?!”

“Hmm,” I grinned. “I almost got chills. She’s gonna be a pretty good hero.”

French Fry, who was standing on my left, nodded in agreement.

“Impressive,” Kirishima agreed. “She’s really good.”

Mineta kneeled down, drool dripping from his mouth. “Yes, very good.”

“You’re such garbage, man.”

I followed his line of sight and my eye twitched. With her kneeling over like that, the perverted fucking grape has a perfect shot of her ass. My lip curled back in disgust as I lifted my foot backward before swinging it, boot connecting with his face. He went flying back against the stone wall behind us. “Have some goddamn decency, you cunt!”

“W-Winchester!” Kirishima grabbed my shoulder and I scowled, shoving my hands into my pockets.

“Jen, if you do that again, you’ll be given a week’s worth of detention,” Aizawa muttered.

“Che, worth it,” I responded. There are several students in my class that gets on my nerves, but there’s only one I hate with every fiber of my being and that’s Mineta.

During this time, Momo created a pulley, attaching the provided robe and gurney to it. The rock under the rope had been iced over by Todoroki so it would slide across smoothly without risk of breaking. Fumi, wearing a harness over his costume that was attached to the rope, started lowering himself down. Todoroki and Bakugo were holding the end of the rope, threading it carefully so he wouldn’t fall.

“Thank you… heroes!!”

Ochaco was lifted up on the gurney and… is she laughing again? Jeez, what is with this girl?

“Uraraka, what are you laughing about?” Momo asked cautiously.

“It’s just that, Iida – pft – is super serious, it’s funny!”

“I think it’s wonderful. It’s not a laughing matter.”

“I’m sorry, but even so… pft.”

I facepalmed. Idiots, they’re all idiots.

“Let’s pull the next one up,” Todoroki said.

“Shut up and just do it,” Bakugo responded, surprisingly calm.

“Rescuing people without using your quirk is quite a taxing job. That’s how modern heroes must shine!” Thirteen spoke.

“He’s the only one pulling…” Flex Tape commented.

“Shut up, bastard!”

“He judged that he could not use his quirk, that’s the right thing to do! Acting in a normal way… there’s a lot of professionals who are incapable of doing it. They always think of themselves and when they encounter a challenging situation, they put it aside. When you manage to understand and remember, you pass. I’m sure he’ll become a beautiful hero!”

“So, we just gonna forget about how he was content to just blast the mountain?” I cocked a brow, seeing his shoulders tense.

“He’ll never be beautiful,” Flex Tape added and Bakugo’s aura turned angry.

Izuku, Tail, and Ochaco worked together to save Tsu, who had a ‘broken’ leg. Using her gravity quirk, Ochaco was able to easily lift Tsu out of the chasm, dropping her into Izuku’s arms. “Safe!”

This ain’t baseball, sis.

“Midoriya, put me down. It’s embarrassing… Even though my leg is bandaged, this is wrong.”

Izuku freaked out, as usual, before setting her down.

“And we’re done!” Thirteen announced.

“It seems we’re not included because we’re not as efficient for the job.” Sumo mused. ‘We’ included Mountain, Octo, Me, and French Fry.

“So basically, we useless.” I scratched my cheek.

“It’s un~fair,” French Fry wagged his finger.

“It is!”

Thirteen clapped his hands. “Great job for your first time. We still have more battle scenarios prepared. In a nutshell, there’s still lots to do!”

“Do not relax,” Aizawa ordered. “Class is still in session.”

My lips tugged up as I looked away, covering my mouth with the back of my hand. Zawa be over here lookin’ like an angry mummy that just caught his kid sneaking out past curfew.

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

The class had moved to the urban area, which was basically the entrance exam but smaller and hella rundown.

“Now, we continue in this setting. Unlike the first training, this is a different situation. The purpose of this scenario is to give a more genuine experience. The injured can be anywhere and we don’t know in what state they may be in! You’ll have eight minutes to spread out and four of you will be the rescuers. The other seventeen must hide in whichever place they with. Nine of the hidden may not speak. I will select them now.” Thirteen explained.

“Ah, we’re playing hide and seek!” Alien cheered.

“To be precise, almost. Okay, the four that will search are…”

For the love of tacos and all things sacred in this world, do not fucking pick me.

“Them!” He pointed to Izuku, Ochaco, Mineta, and Bakugo.

Cool. An angry chihuahua, a perverted dumbass, and two of the sweetest cinnamon rolls. I feel safe.

“Why the fuck do I have to be with Deku?!”

“There’s no helping it, we’re in the Anime Festa,” Ochaco answered. Again? Man, I wish I had my phone on me to look this shit up.

“What the hell is that?!”

“Calm down, calm down. Let’s research it!” Kirishima answered, happily.

“When you carry the victims, you can touch their chests or their ass! Is that considered an evil deed?” Mineta was staring at Alien and Tsu, whose backsides were facing him.

Flames covered my entire body as I walked up behind him, slamming my fist against my palm. “Fucking try it and I’ll personally escort you to the deepest fucking depths of hell, you bastard.”

He squeaked, jumping backward as he covered his head, tears filling his eyes.

Izuku came up beside me. “You’re forbidden from carrying them, Mineta.”

The seventeen students meant to hide scattered across the broken cityscape. I ducked behind one of the broken buildings, hands stuffed into my pockets. Hmm, he should be making an appearance soon. I wonder, how will the other students react when he does? Honestly, I think this is a bad idea. Talk about risking some serious PTSD.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and paused, glancing behind me.

French Fry gave me a soft smile. “Would you like to hide together, mademoiselle?”

I shrugged and continued on my way, with him following close behind. The spot I chose was on the outskirts, a broken building leaning on its side over the wall that surrounded the city. I climbed up the rubble leading to the fourth floor, glancing back when his foot slipped and he nearly fell. I held my hand out to him and he sent me a sheepish smile.

“Thank you,” He took my hand and I pulled him forward, letting him go in front of me.

“Watch your footing, yeah,” I ordered.

He nodded, stepping through the giant hole on the side of the building. It led to the stairwell.

I hummed thoughtfully. “It’s about time, I imagine.”

“Hm?” He tilted this head in confusion.

With a sigh, I rested my hand on top of his head, ruffling his blonde hair. “Don’t freak out, okay?”

“What do you -”

His words were cut short when a loud explosion rang out from the other side of the training area, shaking the entire dome.

それ以上に上昇 ☆ The Day Before

“Whatever you think I did, you can’t prove shit.” I said as I stepped into the teacher’s offices. Aizawa was sitting at his desk, the skeletal Toshi standing beside him.

“I’m not even gonna ask,” Aizawa sighed.

“Smart man,”

“Now that you’re both here, I’d like your help in planning a surprise,” Toshi spoke up, glancing between us.

“A surprise?”

“Yes! The students will be returning to the USJ tomorrow to resume their rescue training. I want to surprise them by pretending to be a villain and hiding in one of the areas.”

“I’m opposed. They have just suffered from a villain attack.” Aizawa responded, sounding like he was regretting his life choices.

“They think that was just an accident.” Toshi held up a finger as he explained. “They believe it’s a coincidence that almost never happens, but that isn’t the case. Heroes are always in danger. I want them to understand that.”

I scratched my cheek, leaning on the desk beside Zawa. “That sounds like a bullet train straight to PTSD-ville, Tosh. And anyway, why the fuck am I here?”

“If we go through with this, we can’t risk you losing control again,” Toshi answered, making me scowl. I mean, he’s right, but still. “And I would also like to not get burned, young Jen. I plan on bringing young Todoroki in on the plan, as well.”

“Jen is right, it’s counterproductive. It may traumatize them if it goes wrong.”

“You must teach determination to overcome it.” Toshi slipped into his muscled form, complete with that Crest smile. “That is our duty as teachers!”

Aizawa was quiet for a moment, lowering his head. “You will assume responsibility.”

“Ahaha! Don’t worry, I believe in their strength!”

“Jen,”

“Yeah, Zawa?”

“Don’t get involved.”

“Less effort for me. Dope.”

He sighed.

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

I sighed, taking a seat on the bottom step leading up to the fifth floor.

“W-What was that?” French Fry swallowed, squeezing his body against the wall and peering out the hole.

“I told you not to freak out, didn’t I?” I propped my cheek against my palm, wishing I had an ice-cold Dr. Pepper.

“What if… what if it’s serious?”

“Come ‘ere,” I waved my hand and he hesitantly sat beside me. “I’ll tell you a secret, but you gotta keep it to yourself. All Might thought it would be a brilliant idea to pretend to be a villain to see how everyone would react.”

“How do you know that?”

“Uh,” Well, shit, I didn’t think he’d ask me that. I can’t tell him that Toshi is my guardian, that could cause some problems for both of us. I haven’t even told Bakugo that. “I, uhh, overheard him and Aizawa talking about it yesterday.” Not technically a lie.

He tilted his head, indigo eyes meeting mine. I felt like he could see through me, but he didn’t say anything.

The building shook harder, the wall cracking as a heavy gust of wind shot out from the center of the city. French Fry grabbed my arm as the crack spread to the ceiling above us. “Shit!” I jumped up, throwing him over my shoulder before jumping out of the hole, my feet sliding down the decline of rubble. Seconds later, the building collapsed in on itself. Goddamn it, Toshi. You’re supposed to scare the brats, not kill ’em.

“You okay?”

He nodded wearily and I set him down. The street we were on was on a hill and with most of the buildings now flat because of Toshi, we could see the battle from here. Toshi stood in the center of the city, wearing tan pants and a black muscle shirt, his face covered by a gas mask.

“Man, what a pain.”

Bakugo was attacking him aggressively, but his explosions were doing no damage. Toshi swiped at him but he dodged, using his quirk to jump over Toshi’s head before sending a powerful blast to his back. The force sent Bakugo sliding back across the ground, stopping in front of Iida.

“Oi, don’t worry about others! Don’t just stand there, make those weaklings run away!”

“Why do you have to insult others?!” Iida demanded angrily.

“Oi, oi, Bakugo! Who do you mean by ‘those weaklings’?” Kirishima grinned as the class started to gather at the scene.

“We are the twenty-one students of class 1-A,” Momo announced proudly.

“We will all be heroes!” Ochaco agreed.

“Ho? How brave.” Toshi taunted them. “However…” He sliced his hand through the air, sending a gust of wind and debris flying toward them.

French Fry rushed forward, folding his arms behind his head. “I’ll take care of this!” He leaned back, shooting a blast from his naval laser that destroyed some of the debris.

Kirishima hardened his body while Sumo downed a bunch of sugar, both of them punching and slicing at the rocks in the air. Punk plugged her jacks into her boots, sending sound waves of her heartbeat shooting straight toward Toshi. Using the distraction, Flex Tape used his quirk to wrap around him, while Momo created a cannon, shooting a net that covered him.

Hmm, they’re doing well. They’re not hesitating like they were before. They’ve gotten a lot stronger.

“Now!”

“Let’s go, class 1-A!”

Several of them rushed toward him, but Toshi easily broke free of his bonds, the sheer power of doing so sent everyone flying backward. My eyes met with Iida’s, which opened wide before narrowing in anger.

“I didn’t think you would all come to attack me. It’s unexpected, but with something so simple -”

Ah, the cliche ‘attack while the villain is monologuing’ trope.

Bakugo appeared behind him and he leaned his head to the side, dodging the explosive fist. Attack after attack, Toshi easily dodged them all. I know Bakugo has to be getting really fucking frustrated. Toshi is toying with him, trying to make him feel weak and powerless. I guess, in a way, that’s exactly what a villain would do, but… damn, I feel kinda guilty for not helping. Not like I could do much against that brick wall anyway.

“It seems you’re tired,” Toshi provoked. “Time to end this.”

“Don’t make me fucking laugh! I’m barely getting started!”

“Now!” Izuku rushed toward Ochaco, their hands connecting as he jumped into the air. Tsu’s tongue wrapped around his waist as she turned in a circle, launching him toward Toshi who was too distracted by Bakugo’s relentless assault.

“No matter how much you try -”

Oi, what is Izuku holding? Is that… one of Mineta’s balls? Oh god, that sounds so fucking wrong. I feel dirty just thinkin’ that shit.

He stuck the ball to the back of Todoroki’s vest, ripping him away from Toshi. Heh, so that was their plan. Damn, these kids ain’t half bad. I grinned, feeling proud of my classmates.

Izuku ripped his glove off since it was stuck to the ball and bent his middle finger in. I could feel his power rising. “Smash!” The power was directed as Toshi, who crossed his arms in front of him to block it, feet planted firmly on the ground.

“Weaklings should step aside!” Bakugo rushed in, both palms smoking. “I’ll kill him! Die!!” He brought his wrists together before unleashing a powerful explosion that sent Toshi flying backward.

Right onto a piece of broken building that had been covered by purple balls.

Oh, boy. I think you were just bested, Tosh.

“I-I can’t move,” Toshi’s front side was stick to the wall. He desperately tried to pull himself free, but it was impossible. To think the number one hero could be defeated by Mineta’s balls…

Bakugo stomped up to him smugly. “Now, it’s time for the final touch!”

“W-Wait, I -” he pulled his head back, the mask sliding off his face. “I am here!”

“All Might?!”

“Ahahaha! I wanted to create a surprise scenario in which a villain appeared in the end. Well, that happened, but you did a great job! I wouldn’t expect any less from the hero course…”

The students gathered around him and they looked pretty pissed off. “You went overboard, moron!!”

I sweatdropped as they took their frustrations out on his motionless body.

“What the hell were you thinking?!”

“I’m sorry!”

I jumped down from the ledge, giving him a pitiful look.

“Todoroki!”

“Hah?! Were you in on the surprise?!”

“…sorry,” He lowered his head.

“How cruel, All Might!”

“I’m sorry! It wasn’t serious!”

“Midoriya hurt his finger! Don’t you think that’s a bad image for the school?!”

Well, I mean, he does that a lot, though.

“Don’t do it again! Right, Deku?” Ochaco asked, turning toward him.

Izuku fell to the ground on his ass. “Well, I’m glad it was just a surprise!”

“Young Midoriya…”

“Don’t go ‘young Midoriya’!” Iida scolded.

“Deku, let’s go see Recovery Girl!” Ochaco helped him to his feet.

I headed for the stairs but someone grabbed my shoulder firmly. I looked behind me, eyes narrowing at Iida, who was glaring at me. “Let go,”

“Why didn’t you help us? You were just standing there!”

I shoved his hand off. “None of your business,”

“It is my business! While we were doing our best to take down what we perceived to be a true villain, you just stood there without a care in the world! The least you can do is explain why.”

“I don’t owe you anything, bro.”

“S-She probably knew about it, too! Like Todoroki…” Izuku intervened, looking between the two of us with a worried expression. “Right, Jen?”

I grunted in response, turning away from them. Aizawa sent me a look from beneath his bandages, but I ignored him as I ascended the steps.

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

I stifled a yawn as I left the school, adjusting the strap of my bag. It had been lying across my right breast and it feckin’ hurt.

“Oi, bitch!”

“For fuck’s sake…” I sighed, stopping to wait for Bakugo to catch up. He didn’t stop, pushing me forward with his shoulder. “Yes, Bakugo?”

He glanced at me and scoffed. “I know you read my fucking messages.”

“Does it really matter?”

“Of course it fucking matters! Why are you ignoring me?!”

I shrugged.

“Che, whatever. Be that way. You better go straight fucking home, we still have to get you to max level!”

“Kirishima is level one hundred.”

“So fucking what?”

“You only had me there because you had no one else to play with, right? Now you don’t need me, just play with Kiri.”

His hand connected with the back of my head, sending me stumbling a few steps ahead. “I knew you were a dumbass, but this is pathetic!”

My eye twitched. “You wanna die, Bakuhoe?”

His face was serious, making me pause. “I asked you to play because… because…”

My eyes widened. No fucking way, is he… blushing?

“Because you’re my friend, you dumbass!”

“Bakugo…” He really considers me his friend? My heart skipped a beat in my chest.

He pushed past me. “God, girls are so fucking weird! Don’t jump to conclusions, dumbass, say somethin’ next time.”

“Hey, Bakugo.”

He stopped but didn’t turn around. “What?”

I smiled, feeling warmth settle on my chest. “Thank you,”

“Whatever,” he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked away.

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

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asterinjapan · 5 years

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Walks through history and caves

Hello again!

Today was a hot and sunny day, so of course I spent most of it inside, haha. That’s not as much of a shame as you might think, because I saw some lovely things and I didn’t melt. That’s always a plus.

Follow me behind the link for today’s report on Okinawa World and the Okinawa prefectural museum!

So, yeah, two things today again. I have a bunch of things I want to do or visit, but not all of them can be combined due to bus lines being very inconvenient. In general they’re pretty great, but sometimes two things are like 5 kilometers apart and yet the fastest way by bus is going to the other side of the island first… So I stayed up late last night and scrambled up my list to see what came up. As it turns out, the Prefectural museum is on the other side than anything else I’d like to visit, and would thus always require a trip back to Naha. That would be the plan for the afternoon then!

In the morning, I went to Okinawa World. It’s a theme park of sorts about, well, Okinawa, and frankly the majority of it is… well. I mostly came here for the cave, which we will get to later, because upon entering, I learnt that there would be a performance in ten minutes, so I went there first. It turned out to be a traditional Eisa-style drum and dance performance and boy, did that group pack a punch! Near the end they rolled in an absolutely massive drum as well, those were some intense vibrations, haha. Despite the heat (it was open-air, although underneath a tent cover), time flew and I had a good time during the performance. I however can’t say it’s music I’d very quickly buy a CD of, because I feel this is something you have to experience.

After that, I made my way to the limestone cave, Gyokusendo, the second biggest in Japan. It was formed over the past 300,000 years and measures 15 kilometers in length, although only a little less than 1 kilometer is accessible to the public. And accessible it is: there’s a metal walkway with guardrails and at the end there’s an escalator, so you don’t have to climb stairs all the way up again.

The most impressive part is right at the beginning: once you descend the first flight of stairs, you face an absolutely massive room full of stalactites and stalagmites. It’s pretty dark in here, but there are enough lights to find your way and take pictures without needing excessive flash. And although mankind has carved itself a path through the cave, it’s definitely still a natural beauty. The cave narrows the further you get, and at one point they’ve had to carve a pathway through the stalactites since they had gotten too dense. The big dangers here are tripping as the ceiling drips incessantly, and hitting your head against a stalactite, haha.

Here and there, special places were marked and occasionally got special lights, like a blue pool of water and a waterfall.

Overall, I really enjoyed this walk, especially since it was only 21 C down here, haha. That was quite the clash once I got back outside, with 30 C and sun. The cave exit leads you into the Kingdom Village, which is full of work shops that all require additional fees, and a bunch of souvenir shops. Uh, yeah, it’s a bit overly commercial here, haha, but I was prepared for that and thus didn’t really mind. Outside the cave they were selling commemorative pictures which they had taken before entering the actual cave, so I uh, caved and got that one. I should be able to download it tomorrow too, so that’s nice! I still look very jetlagged on that picture, but hey, not a lot of full-body shots of me here otherwise, haha. It’s all selfies or nothing.

I walked through Kingdom Village fairly quickly, although it looked very nice. Scents of all kinds of food were mingling, and that didn’t exactly do wonders to my stomach along with the heat. I most definitely skipped out on the snake show (thankfully you can opt out of paying for that in the first place) and looked up my bus times. Still plenty of time left, and thus I crossed the street to find a café.

Not just any café, however – the Cave Café! Across the street lies the Gangala valley. You can only take a tour if you make reservations, and I’d juuuust come out of a cave, but you can still take a seat and have a drink at the café. Which was really cool, because it is indeed inside a cave, with stalactites dripping above you. They served soft drinks with flavored ice blocks, so I asked for the most popular combination (lemon and – something) and took a seat.

After soaking in the cool air and the pretty views for a while, I went out to find the bus stop. The bus took me back to my starting point, about 9 minutes away from my hotel, but I wasn’t done yet for today! No, I boarded the next bus which brought me to the Okinawa Prefectural Museum. Although I must confess I rushed into the nearest shopping center first to find a bathroom and a water tap, haha.

After that, I walked to the museum and got myself a ticket for the general exhibition in the historic museum, skipping out of the art museum and special exhibitions as it was already close to 4 PM. I didn’t have to rush, though, since the museum is open until 8 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.

And I’m happy I didn’t have to rush, because whoa, this museum is packed! I got a free audio guide, which came with 50 (!) audio spots, and consisted of a map with a digital pen. You set the pen to your preferred language and then tapped the audio spot on the map. To be fair, if you listen to all audio clips, it takes much longer to make your way through, haha, but it definitely added to the experience.

The museum has a very impressive opening with a glass floor looking down into the coral life that surrounds the islands of Okinawa prefecture. Right in the first hall, there’s a relief map on the floor of the islands, and with light projections, they show how the islands were formed over the ages. The history museum really lived up to its name and covered the entire history of the Ryukyu islands right from the earliest human being discovered there, to the kings and culture, until the eventual 17th century invasion by Satsuma (currently Kagoshima in the south of Japan) and eventually annexed by Japan in 1879 as the Okinawa prefecture, only to be briefly under USA command following the horrific and devastating Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Okinawa was returned to Japan in the 70s, but the relationship remains difficult as many Ryukyuans feel independent of Japan. Sure enough, Ryukyu culture is a mix of Japanese, Chinese and other influences and yet has its own character, and even managed to remain a kingdom under Satsuma and Japan, be it with adjustments to become a vassal state. Current concerns are the loss of Ryukyu identity due to mixing with Japan and Japanese attempts to push their language and culture onto Okinawa.

So yeah, pretty difficult topics presented in a mostly neutral manner, but there was still more to discover. The natural history part went into length about the unique eco systems of Okinawa’s different islands, with very specific species of insects, birds and so on that got cut off from the rest of the world early on and now only exist here. They went the extra mile and replicated the environments here, trees and all, with animals hiding in between the trees for you to find (not live ones, of course).

Other parts of the museum discussed all aspects of life, including funerals, and this is where I truly learnt why the urns at the Tamaudun Mausoleum were surprisingly big. They do not contain ashes, since cremation wasn’t par of the course back then. Instead, once the body had decomposed, there was a bone washing ceremony and then the bones were deposited into the urn, their actual final resting place. Apparently the urns are now sought after because they’re pretty and there have already been instances or grave robbing… Geesh.

Aside from that slightly disturbing note, there were more folklore exhibits, such as the dressing up as the gods, which was on tv the other day and confused me completely, haha. The person dressed up as god, Miruku, supposedly comes from across the sea (which is something akin to heaven for people living on an island) and brings good fortune. Other gods must be appeased as they might bring bad omens. And unlike mainland Japan, it’s the women here who are spiritually superior and communicate with the deities as priestesses. I think I could have watched an entire museum on that topic alone, haha, but they did a good job covering the basics here considering how broad their scope is.

There are also a couple of traditional buildings outside, but I didn’t stay there for long since well, I just visited the Nakamura house already, haha. And I was getting really, really tired – although I had a great time at the museum, I was secretly kind of glad to be through. It made for an interesting contrast with Okinawa world, although I can’t say the latter felt super ingenuine or something. Just – commercially inclined. But I’m not sure in how far Okinawan/Ryukyu culture is actually oppressed and in how far it is akin to what I’ve heard the Ainu people on Hokkaido say: that they feel they had to put on a costume to even show their culture at all. I don’t think that’s the case here, but I’m way too uninformed still to say something sensible about that on Okinawa, so I’ll leave that to your discretion. Maybe I’m just spouting sleep-deprived nonsense here, who knows, haha.

After that contemplation, I had a (slightly too big, but still) delicious dinner in the mall, which hosts several traditionally Japanese food stands, and then walked to the bus stop on the other side of the road. Technically the wait for the bus meant that I could just walk back to my hotel and arrive there at the same time, but it had been a long day and it was past 7 PM, which means it’s dark here, so uh, the bus it is, haha.

And now I’m back in my hotel! Longest day so far, so I don’t know what I’m up to for tomorrow. I have enough to choose from, that’s for sure! Photos will be up soon, and thank you for reading all of that. See you tomorrow!

#report #japan 2019 #report: japan 2019

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marinsawakening · 5 years

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ok but seriously I will forever and always defend Scar’s right for revenge and absolutely nothing can change my mind about this. he was within his rights to go after the war criminals of Ishval while the Amestrian government did less than nothing (aka actively praised them). and I think that mangahood is a fucking bastard for holding him accountable for his revenge quest alone.

For the record, I do not think that Scar is some innocent baby uwu. He did plenty of shit wrong. Things he should be held accountable for:

The murder of the Rockbells: self explanatory, but I also want to point out that there were approximately 12000 mitigating factors surrounding this murder that limit his accountability. he’s still accountable, but those factors should be considered as well and he should not shoulder the full blame. if anything, I’d argue the Rockbells were more victims of circumstance than Scar specifically, but since Scar was still the guy who murdered them, he needs to answer for it.

The attempted murder(s) of Ed: Ed’s may be a soldier and a state alchemist, he is still a 15-year-old kid and Scar was out of line in attempting to kill a kid, regardless of circumstance. I can understand his motives here (Ed is a seriously destructive force and, if used during a genocide, he could be a real threat, so it’s best to eliminate him now), but it’s a ‘cool motive, still (attempted) murder’ situation.

The attempted murder(s) of Al: not only is Al a kid, he is also a civilian, so attempting to murder him is even MORE damning than attempting to murder Ed. the fact that he had no desire to fight Al is inconsequential, he was still willing to murder him just to get a shot at Ed, another kid. not cool.

The attempted murder of Winry: again, Winry is a kid and a civilian, and UNLIKE Al, she clearly posed no real threat to him. while she did hold him at gunpoint, it was clear that she wasn’t going to shoot. there is no excuse for this.

The murder of Nina: okay this one is somewhat arguable, but in my opinion, killing Nina was immoral. yes, she was in a lot of pain, but she was still (to a certain degree) self-aware, and killing her without her explicit consent is therefore immoral. it was not within Scar’s right to decide that she was better off dead. if he didn’t want the military to take her, he could have gotten her to a safe location himself. killing her was unnecessary and immoral.

All that stuff? Definitely wrong. Note, however, that it does NOT include ‘wanting revenge in the first place’. Although the narrative condemns Scar’s quest for revenge on the grounds that ‘revenge begets revenge’, I personally consider this to be bullshit. Revenge, in Scar’s case, IS justice. Scar fighting, in any way, to get the war criminals of Ishval to be held accountable would be a quest for revenge. This does not make it any less righteous. And, quite frankly, if the state alchemists feel the need to take revenge on Scar for that, THEY are in the wrong, not Scar. His anger is righteous, justified, and so are his attempted/succeeded murders of the war criminals.

No, in general, extrajudicial killing isn’t righteous. However, in Scar’s case, what other option did he have? The only ones I can think off are:

Appealing to court to hold the war criminals accountable: not an option for obvious reasons. The Amestraian government likely controls the courts as well, so that’s a no-go, and FMA does not mention any existence of potential international courts, so it’s likely that they don’t exist. The legal system is not an option.

Organize large-scale protests for Ishvalan rights and demands to bring the war criminals to justice: nice idea, but would in reality lead to simply yet another government-sanctioned mass murder. Amestris is a dictatorship, one run by monsters on top of that, it’s not going to change outside of a complete revolution.

The ‘Miles Model’; attempting to change the military/Amestrian sentiments against Ishval from the inside out. Not really an option for a variety for reasons:

Anti-Ishvalan sentiments, while definitely a contributor to the eventual genocide, were not the primary cause of it. That was power-hungry monsters. Even if Scar managed to completely change the sentiment, it would not have mattered one tiny little bit to the monsters who control the country. (To be fair, neither Miles nor Scar could have known this.)

Are Ishvalans even allowed to enlist in the military yet? There was a kill order out for every single Ishvalan in the military not a decade ago, I highly doubt that Scar would have ever even gotten through the enlisting process. Even if he did, he would mostly have very little protection from the higher ups, pretty much no change at promotion, and a very high chance to be bullied and beaten by his fellow trainees/soldiers due to their bigotry. Not to mention how incredibly mentally taxing it would be for Scar to work within the military that slaughtered his people.

One Ishvalan dude in the military is not going to change anyone’s minds about Ishvalans as a whole. It’s simply going to make Scar look like ‘the exception’, or, more likely, a punching bag.

The reason Miles is capable of holding the rank that he has or even being alive in the first place is because Oliver operates on a ‘colourblind’ morality (which is not great and just a different flavor of racism, but definitely better than ‘kill all ishvalans on sight’) and because Briggs was remote enough that Central didn’t bother to check on it often. Plus everyone in Briggs is an outcast in some way or another, and it would be in their best interest not to call Central’s attention to Briggs by reporting Miles. And, from all that we see of Briggs, Miles most likely has had to do very little actual ‘changing sentiments’, since pretty much everyone there follows Oliver’s logic/command, which they most likely would have even if Miles wasn’t there, and again, they were outcasts in the first place, they would be remarkably easier to convince than elite soldiers in Central. He can be high and mighty about it all he wants, but the matter of fact is that he was in a relatively safe position and has stayed in that relatively safe position. As I stated above, Scar would not be in the same position if he attempted to enlist, and therefore would be a lot less safe, and about equally as unlikely to make any real change on his own within a few decades.

In conclusion, this technique is wholly ineffective and the fact that mangahood frames it as ‘the right way’ is stupid.

‘Endure’, aka do nothing and just wait until some outside force decides to throw a coup d’état or something. Do I need to explain why this is not an option if you really want to bring the people who committed genocide to justice?

If all of that is off the table, it becomes clear that Scar really had no other option than to go after the war criminals himself if he wanted to ever see any justice done to them. It’s horrible and horrifying and terrible for his mental health, but it was literally the only option he had left if he wanted to do anything else than just sit and endure, and I will always defend Scar’s right to go after state alchemists, even if it fucked him over mentally and he should have never had to do it in the first place.

#long post #sorry about that #scar #fma #im VERY bitter about how brotherhood/manga handled his revenge quest #which wasn't even 100% a revenge quest since he was almost certainly also just plain trying to disrupt the state alchemist system #to prevent them from being used as human weapons of mass destruction in another genocide #which is an objectively noble goal #my posts #also it would be COMPLETELY UNFAIR to hold a victim of genocide accountable for not working in the military that conducted the genocide #like what the fuck???

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mtxzone-blog · 6 years

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The Landscape of Microtransactions at E3 2018

The gaming industry knows people are mad about microtransactions but think they have some less offensive ways to monetize new releases.

This year at E3, industry leaders ducked and dodged through a crowd of people who have had enough with games selling power and progression in loot boxes and behind paywalls in modern video games. With big players such as EA wanting to appease the masses after losing trust among fans with the Star Wars Battlefront II fiasco, developers and publishers shined the spotlight on fresh releases, free updates, and large, paid downloadable content (DLC) that work more like major expansions than minor add-ons. Still, ever-watchful at Microtransaction.Zone, we spotted a few games and certain trends that reveal the long-term intentions of the developers and publishers on site.

EA, having been the focus of much of the hatred for microtransactions in 2017, laid out its apologies and promises to avoid loot boxes and pay-to-win content. Their presentation moved through a number of future releases such as Battlefront V and Unravel Two with these promises hanging in the air. Not long after announcing Anthem’s official release date and closing the main presentation, Anthem’s Executive Producer Mark Darrah responded to Twitter user João Amaro Lagedo’s question about monetization by saying there would be “no ability to spend money on player advantage at all” and no loot boxes, but did state they would sell some form of cosmetic items so players could customize their experience.

Bethesda joined the conversation with similar goals but less emphasis on avoiding microtransactions. The launch of the Creation Club, a platform for lightly-curated, buy-able mods in Fallout 4, didn’t amass as much negative attention. They focused on their headliner, Fallout 76, showcasing the Fallout universe’s first foray into massively multiplayer gaming. Though it wasn’t discussed in the conference itself, Noclip’s “The Making of Fallout 76” reveals that the game will feature free content updates — which are, of course, paid for by selling cosmetic items. There’s no word on the price or nature of the cosmetics, but it echoes a multitude of other games approaching cosmetic DLC as the crowd-friendly alternative to post-launch monetization. They also announced a new free-to-play iOS/Android game called The Elder Scrolls: Blades. Bethesda didn’t go into detail about Blades, so whether or not it will feature purchasable upgrades reminiscent of Fallout Shelter remains a mystery.

Nintendo brought their own flavor of monetization to E3. Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!/Eevee! add to the list of main series Pokemon games releasing alongside peripherals, such as the Pokewalker for Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver. In comes the Pokeball Plus — the most expensive add-on yet — at a cool $49.99 USD, or $99.99 USD when purchased as a bundle with Let’s Go, Pikachu! or Let’s Go, Eevee! It works as a controller, plays the sounds of a Pokemon you “store” inside, and includes the legendary Mew as a bonus, but it doesn’t modify the way the game plays. The Pokeball Plus doesn’t come as a surprise from a company that consistently releases physical add-ons for their consoles such as Amiibos, which we can reasonably more of in the wake of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. After the Nintendo conference Nintendo of America’s President, Reggie Fils-Aimé defended lootboxes, stating loot boxes have received “a bad rap” and are interesting “as long as that’s not the only way you can get those items,” signalling that we may yet see Mario, Zelda, and other series include loot boxes akin to what they already have in mobile games like Fire Emblem: Heroes.

Ubisoft has decided to take a shot at the toys-to-life model game model with Starlink: Battle for Atlas, announcing that a line of ship parts, ships, and other figures will release alongside the game. Unlike the Skylanders series or the now-defunct Infinity series of toys, they say parts unlocked by toys remain unlocked digitally and new areas won’t be locked behind toys. It remains to be seen if the toys will give significant advantages over digital-only content.

E3 attracts gaming industry leaders every year, and developers and publishers show off their newest products, aiming to surprise, excite, and attract as many people as humanly possible to their flagship games. Even so, it’s worth noting that free-to-play PC games and mobile games were the top-grossing games in 2017 thanks to microtransactions. When games like Star Wars Battlefront II drew ire to the state of the industry, console and PC game developers had to reconsider how to increase profits for games after their initial launch and lean in on self-awareness to calm the crowd, as satirized by Devolver’s Lootboxcoin and attempted in Bethesda’s Skyrim skit. Fallout 76, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and Anthem are only a handful of games at E3 that developers claim will provide fair, minimally-influential microtransactions, usually by emphasizing that they’re selling cosmetic changes. If the landscape of E3 is anything to believe, the 2018 holiday season and 2019 will bring even more games that reveal that they, too, have cosmetics or “minor” power-ups for consumers willing to spend a few extra dollars. Only then will we know how far is too far — or what we’re willing to tolerate.

I’ve cross-posted this article on Medium in the hopes of building a writing portfolio! Check it out and follow me if you want to see more. Thanks! Love, Taylor @ Microtransaction.Zone

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thirstyfortom · 6 years

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The Day Off

JaeheexMC

Teen and Up Audience

Fluff

Celebration one-shot for Baehee’s bday <3

She wouldn’t usually ask for it. Jaehee would have more guts to ask for a raise – not that she needed it – than to make such request. She rehearsed in front of Elizabeth for almost an hour, as if the cat was her owner himself standing there in front of her, listening to her solicitation, knowing it was fair. She has been working hard for the company, not missing a single day of work over the past two years, it’s not that it’s because of her birthday, it’s because something much more important happens to go on in the same day as her birthday.

Zen got an amazing role at a new production in the New Year’s Eve, the tickets will be sold at a limited time on December 28. Considering Zen is becoming more and more popular each day, the chances of her ending up without a ticket are high if she’s at work. So all she wants for the day is Jumin to give her the day off.

And he did. Reluctantly? Yes. With a subtle passive aggressive tone, remarking everyday of work is important? Yes. But when she woke up that morning, remembering that there was no need to get ready for work, she couldn’t care less about what Jumin would be really thinking about this.

Seriously, not even the huge line of girls waiting for the ticket office to e open discouraged her. Even that seemed better than running after some senseless cat project. Yes, the line wasn’t great, but what would e waiting her at the end of it was perfect!

Jaehee feels quite anxious. Did she take the right amount of money? It would be impossible to come back to the bank right now without risking on missing her spot… she opens her wallet to check it. Her ID falls from the wallet, next to the foot of the girl in front of her.

The girl looks at it, grabbing and handing her with a soft smile. Jaehee nods and say “thanks”, when she looks ahead, the girl already has her back on her again.

“Why don’t they send these tickets online, for God’s sake?”

“I don’t think the company producing this actually has that much money to make a deal with ticket selling websites…” she heard the girl answering to another one next to her.

“You think so? It’s a pretty big production, considering they hired Zen and all…”

“Well, Zen is talented and big in social media, but he’s not that famous.”

“Yet.” Jaehee whispers, surprised when the girl says the same word and looks behind her. Did she hear her?

“Ugh… maybe we would have more chances to get the tickets if they were sold online… look at this! I don’t even see where the line starts!”

“Don’t worry, we got here early, we’ll definitely get one! I’m so excited to see Zen live! The girl squeals a little.

“Oh yeah… you never saw him live, right?”

“Nope, I just started following his career a few months ago… can’t believe my first time seeing him so close will be at such an exclusive play…”

How cute… the girl is a newcomer… Jaehee remembers when she discovered Zen’s work and felt mesmerized almost instantly by his presence on stage and beauty. She… understands this girl’s excitement.

Almost one hour until the line started moving. She killed the time going through some things she would have to take care of once she got back to work, then she checked the previous logs in the RFA’s chat room. She wanted to keep track of what was going on, even if there wasn’t much, but deep down there was that small need of seeing if Jumin was online, if he was talking about her…

How weird. She doesn’t like this job, she knows she doesn’t, but at the same time, imagining that she’s not pleasing her boss and filling her duties bother her. Sometimes, she would like to… not care at all. Just for once. Wouldn’t it be liberating?

She sighs softly, how does she always end up thinking about things like that? These are so pointless… she should just focus on that ticket and enjoy what’s left of her day off. Tomorrow everything is back to normal, and those useless thoughts will have to leave room for analyzing documents, checking Mr. Han’s appointments, taking care of that cat… practical thoughts, thoughts that make her money. So just for now… better focus on this line and on that precious ticket.

“Sorry, ladies. Sold out.” The cashier in the ticket places a little plaque to confirm what he just said.

All the people behind her groan and sigh, she is even hearing some sobs behind her, but soon they let it go and start walking away. She should do the same…

So frustrating! She was this close to get one ticket! It was only that newbie fan in front of her, and then it would be her turn!

“N-no! That can’t be!” she watches the girl in front of her looking at her friend, both of them looking very frustrated, even if that other girl got her ticket. “I… I’ve been waiting here for hours!”

“Sorry, miss. Try to get here earlier next time.”

“But I… I… got here early…” it looks like she’s pouting. How childish… and why is she even here watching this? If there is no ticket for this girl, there won’t be for her either…

“Tell you what, miss. Let’s work a deal… the workers here have the right to one ticket… I’ll gie you mine… if you give me something in return…” she doesn’t even have to see the guy’s face to know he’s grinning mischievously. Disgusting…

“I… that’s…”

“I don’t think this would be fair.” She says loud and clear, making the girl turn to look at her. “If it’s sold out, then it’s sold out. You can’t make such an outrageous offer like this.”

“Why not? She wants something from me, I want something from her. That’s offering and demanding, baby.”

“Don’t call me ‘baby’, please.” She hisses, noticing the girl widening her eyes and staring at her.

“Oh… what is that about? Are you jealous? We can work a deal too, you know?”

“Hey, she got here first!” the girl’s friend interferes, pointing at her. “If you’re going to make the deal with someone, it has to be with her.”

“I never said I’m making this deal.” You speak. Oh good… so she thinks this is preposterous too. Good to know she has some sense.

“So you’re not interested in this? What a shame…” the guys fidgets the ticket in his hand. “What about you, then?” he turns to Jaehee.

“I must refuse. I didn’t take a day off from work to this, honestly…”

“I… I think there’s another way of solving this.” The girl says, looking at her, then at her friend and smiling.

“Girl… really?” she gives the same wicked smile.

“Yep! I call… A ZEN OFF!” she points at Jaehee. Wha… what?

“A what now?” she and the cashier ask at the same time.

“Five rounds, we answer questions about him. The one with more right answers get the ticket!”

“I… I’m not doing this…”

“Why not? Come on, it’s better than his idea.” She has a point…

“Just let it go and show your boobs to him, MC. She’s probably afraid of losing…” Jaehee looks at the girl’s friend teasing smile.

“I know everything about Zen. Even if I didn’t, I definitely know more than someone who just knows him for a few months.” Both the girls back away in surprise.

“Were you listening to our conversation? How rude…”

“If you talked lower, I wouldn’t have heard it.”

“Okay… this is interesting…” the guys says, leaning his chin on his hand and looking at the three of them.

“Fine. Are you willing to prove it?” the girl asks, cocking an eyebrow. “It will be very embarrassing when you lose to such a poser like me.”

“I never said you were a poser. Well, doesn’t matter, because I’m not losing to you.”

“We’ll see about that… HIT ME!” she shouts at her friend.

“Uhm… okay. So… how old was Zen when he debuted in musical theatre?”

“16.”

“Correct! Okay, strange lady. Zen played a musical that was based on a game. Who did he play and what’s the name of the game?”

“He played Jisoo in Tenderlion.”

“Correct! This was just a warm-up round, time to bring the big guns. MC… True or False: Zen will appear on an anti-tabagism ad.”

“False. He smokes. He wouldn’t tell people to do something that he doesn’t follow himself.” Oh… she just sounded like she knows Zen personally. But you proaly don’t, and that’s Jaehee’s upper hand on this.

“Correct! You… what’s Zen’s favorite beer?”

“He drinks Kass on week days, but treats himself with Mykenen on weekends.”

“Correct! MC… how old was Zen when he removed the mole on his back?”

“Trick question. Zen never had moles.”

The girl said there would only be five rounds, but as the… “game” progresses and neither of them answer anything wrong, the questions keep coming and getting more difficult and… weirder. However… Jaehee would be lying if she said she wasn’t having fun. This girl here is tough competition. And what a clever way to try to find a solution that didn’t involve doing anything direct to that gross man…

“Okay, this started fun, but it’s getting boring, ladies.” The guy whines.

“Oh… just one more question! Only a true fan would know this one… “ the girl’s friend say “So… Zen commented once that his favorite birthday gift was this shiny silver box filled with candy. What was his favorite toffee candy’s flavor?”

Wait, that’s a tricky question… Zen did get that, but it was part of a prank since his birthday is on April Fool’s…

“Vanilla.” The girl states. Jaehee frowns. No… this…

“Incorrect!” her friend shouts, looking more frustrated than the loser herself. “It was a trick question! Zen doesn’t like candy, he got it as an April Fool’s joke!”

“Oh… yeah, that’s right…” she smiles wryly. “Well, seemed like I lost… hand her the prize, dude.”

“None of this would be necessary if you just blew me, you know?”

“Yeah, I do.” She says sarcastically. “Well, congratulations.” She offers her hand for Jaehee to shake.

“Th-thanks…” she takes her hand, such a confident and firm handshake, such a warm hand… “You… did very well too.”

“Yeah, but I still have a lot to learn… well, have fun and give Zen the appreciation he deserves. Happy New Year!”

“To you as well…” she nods and smiles.

And as she watches her and and her friend go, she holds the ticket in her hands, wondering if there was no way she could make it up to her. Could she talk to Zen and see if he could get her one extra ticket, perhaps? She does have the upper hand of knowing him personally… well, she could, but she didn’t get any contact info from the girl, just her name… oh well… you’ll probably meet again at one of Zen’s performances. That’s what she hopes for, at least.

***

“You’ve lost on purpose, MC!” your friend gives you a small slap in your shoulder “You’re the one who sent Zen the candy as a joke!”

“Did I? Oh… I must have forgotten.” You shrug, making your friend narrow her eyes at you.

“Don’t tell me you felt pity because she was on a day off! Maybe she was just lying, you fool!”

“Hum… I do think she needs it more than I do, have you seen the circles under the poor girl’s eyes?”

“I barely paid attention to her. You’re just… ahhh, you’re just too nice sometimes!”

Well, unlike your friend, you did pay attention to her, mainly because you thought she was kinda cute, even looking so tired… but what made you answer the question wrong was the fact you caught a glance at her ID when she dropped. Her name is Jaehee, and her birthday is today. Giving the lady something nice on her birthday isn’t “too nice”, it was just… right for you.

#mystic messenger fics #mystic messenger #jaehee kang #jumin han #elizabeth the 3rd #mystic messenger zen #hyun ryu #mc x jaehee #jaehee's birthday special #gayhee for jaehee #not just today but everyday

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scholar-thief · 3 years

Photo

RP Log: Momori and Rerenima meet at an Ul’dahn ball.

Momori - Dressed in fine silks and finer filigree, the Ul’dahn elite made their way to the grand ballroom for yet another of one of their exclusive parties. But under the cover of revelry, business was being done. Alliances were drafted, rumors were exchanged, and strategies were formed.

Rerenima || Fancy parties were nothing new to Rerenima. It felt like he was sent to one of them at his mother's every opportunity. Already tonight he'd been forced into dozens of awkward conversations with other lalafell, and even some taller races... And now he stood grumbling at a punch bowl, trying desperately to stay as small as possible- smaller than he already was- to avoid yet another conversation.

Momori has spent most of the night by her client’s side, dutifully jotting down notes and storing business cards as they come. But, as the night stretched on, her client grew more and more interested in partying...it’s definitely the alcohol.

Momori - There wasn’t much for her to do now. From the corner of her eye, she spies someone lingering by the punch bowl, obviously trying to avoid conversation. Despite knowing this, Momori approaches.

Momori: “Hello.”

Rerenima nearly visibly cringed at the sound of a voice near him, and had to take stock of his own sanity before he could turn to face the voice with a pleasant, but very fake, expression. "Hello there, how fares the evening for you?" He asks, clearly not wanting to know the answer.

Momori mirrors his forced smile, and takes a moment to observe her target. Raven black hair - the new heir to the Rurunima fortune, perhaps? He doesn’t look too pleased to be here. Must be new.

Momori: “Night’s just getting started for me. How’s the punch?”

(Momori) dubiously flavored red punch is what i imagine )) (Momori) red flavored )) (Rerenima) ewwwww lol )) (Momori) better than blue! xD ))

Rerenima has one of the many glasses on the table in his hand, the long nails on one hand tapping against it idly. "If I'm being honest?" He responds, slightly less standoffish than before. He was expecting someone a bit.. older. Maybe this was his lucky day? "Not enough alcohol. Not -nearly- enough."

(Momori) Momori’s 30 btw..but then again. All lalas are ageless beings tbh >:D )) (Rerenima) engrish, me no wut is ) (Rerenima) pff not that much older than him xD ) (Momori) how olds Re? :o )) (Rerenima) settling with 27 for now. xD ( (Rerenima) Probably looks younger, though lol ) (Rerenima) if even lalas can tell that kind of thing xD ) (Momori) no idea )) (Momori) a 'child' lala uses the adult model LOL )) (Rerenima) further proof that they are grown in potato patches. )

Momori dully looks at the punch bowl, and then back to Rerenima. The stuffs strong...She’s had it before. Maybe he’s looking to get hammered? “If it’s more alcohol you want, Ser, that can be arranged.”

Momori ominously pulls out a small vial full of an unknown brown liquid, expression unchanging.

Rerenima must have a pretty high tolerance- he barely looks tipsy despite having stood there for only the gods know how long. He takes a glance to either side of him, checking to see if anybody was watching him. His mother was otherwise engaged, as was his butler Kelza, with some other family's servants, no doubt. "Sign me up," He replies with a sneaky little smirk, offering his glass to dump some of it into.

(Rerenima) cuz its always a good idea to take random unidentifiable liquid from strangers amirite? ) (Rerenima) WHAT COULD GO WRONG?? ) (Momori) LOL I was gonna say xD )) (Rerenima) bet she's kicking herself for not bringing some chloroform. "Hey, smell this!" "sure! X_X" ))

Momori raises a brow, but pours a shot’s worth of liquor into Rerenima’s glass. “...Cherry Brandewine.” She similarly pours herself a bit and takes a sip.

Momori: “You must be new around here.”

Rerenima spins his glass a bit to mix it up and gives it a tiny sniff, both eyebrows raised. PHEW. Yes. This will get him sufficiently slammed. Perfect. He takes a few gulps all at once, coughing in a most unmannerly way that caught the attention of a patron or two. He quickly straightens up and brushes himself off. Nothing to see here.

Rerenima: "Thanks!" He squeaks.

Rerenima: OH!

Rerenima: "Uhh.. new? I wouldn't say that, exactly. Been going to these damdable things since I was old enough to introduce myself without a stammer."

Rerenima: "You, on the other hand, I've not seen before."

Rerenima ponders over you.

Momori - His reaction is answer enough. The corner of her mouth quirks up as she holds herself back from laughing. Must. Be. Polite. Mustbepolite. She clears her throat.

Momori: “They do a good job at keeping me hidden in the back. And by they, I mean my clients.” She stiffly offers him her hand. “Momori Mori. Conservationist and historian.”

Rerenima seems sufficiently surprised. "Conservation efforts? Around here? And they're buying into it?" He asks, genuinely surprised that any number of the hoity toity frilly guests here would be interested in anything other than lining their own pockets.

Momori gives him a practiced smile. “You’d be surprised how much history means to those in this room. Now...” She casually leans against the punch table. “What do you go by? Unless you’re content being indexed as ‘hey you’ in my mind.”

Rerenima chuckles as the booze settles in. "Rerenima Rurunima. The pleasure is mine." Hard to say if he means that or not. He takes another drink off the glass, smaller this time.

Momori narrows her eyes for just a split second as her suspicions are confirmed. It could be valuable to get to know him a bit more, given his family’s wide net of connections. She refills his glass, hoping that another drink could help loosen his lips...and lower his guard.

Momori: “Likewise. So, what do you think about all this?” She gestures to the ballroom and, in turn, the rich folk that fill it. “For many, they see opportunity. Money to be made. Power to be gathered. What about you? Do you see something else?”

Rerenima seems to be internally debating with himself over exactly how he should answer this question, given where he's located and who could be listening. But, after a few more sips, he's run out of fucks to give, and states as plainly as can be, "I see a bunch of lecherous old men and women eyeballing me like I'm some prize to be won or some happy ending to their utterly boring night. Frankly, I feel filthy just standing around here -letting- them look at me, and I want out. You?"

(Rerenima) when u painfully aware that ur mama tryna sell you like a high class whore lol ) (Rerenima) bet that there's more than a few lalas around here who are strictly gilsexual. Gender got nothin to do with it, but they better be loaded. With money. ) (Rerenima) i ain't sayin they's a gold digger... )

Momori can’t help herself. A cheeky grin spreads on her face and she giggles a single time - the rest is kept back when she brings a clenched fist up to her lips. But as quickly as she had let out her true feelings, her mask is back on. Stoic, serious Momori.

Momori: “...Ahem.”

Momori: “Perhaps I am naive compared to you, Ser, but I see a room full of good lords and ladies who hold the financial fate of Ul’dah in their hands. Hmmm.” She adjusts her glasses, looks at the crowd, and then Rerenima. “But if I squint, I can see what you mean. Hehe.”

(Momori) LOL I feel if Kelza were here he'd be dragging Re back to safety by his ear )) (Rerenima) conveeeeniently distracted for the time being lol ) (Momori) butler be butlering! ))

Rerenima almost immediately feels bad after her response. "Maybe," he mumbles, taking another sip. He's leaning on the table now, and seems to have forgotten some of his manners in all of the alcoholic haze. "I've just.. I'm not much a part of it. I mean, I am, I benefit from it, but this whole business running thing? Not for me. Not really. Better left to the people who know what the hell they're doing."

Momori tilts her head, somewhat surprised. “And here I thought all rich families raised their heirs with one purpose in mind. You’re not like them, Rere. And that’s a good thing.”

Momori: “And I can guarantee you that, in this room, there are countless others who don’t know what the hell they’re doing. They just aren’t aware of that fact.”

Rerenima: "Just maybe I -would've- been taught how to do all these things if my father hadn't suddenly... y'know." He waves a hand about dismissively, and for just a moment seems like he might truly get upset about it and make a scene.

Momori blinked. She had heard rumors, and it seemed that there was an inkling of truth in them yet. But she got the feeling that he wasn’t quite ready to tell her the details. It was too sensitive. “...Sounds like you need a bit of fresh air, and maybe another shot.”

Rerenima: "I think I do," He agrees in a wobbly, small voice. He abandons his glass, and the table, and as well as he can, heads towards the nearest exit while avoiding as many people as possible. The gaze he did -not- escape, however, was Kelza's. Rather than follow his charge, however, he simply watches him go with a curious, if not slightly concerned, expression. Another conversation distracts him once again.

Momori watches Rere leave - and as she walks by her, she slips her business card into his pocket. “Hey, some friendly advice. Don’t take drinks from strangers.” Momori smiles slightly. “See you ‘round.”

Momori checks on her client. Passed out, like always...which meant she had a fair bit of free time on her hands. Where would this drunk whelp wander too? Right before he completely leaves her sight, she dips behind a curtain and follows from the shadows.

Rerenima barely hears the advice, his brow furrowed as he stops in his tracks to ponder on it.. and then carry on again. Was it just him, or was it getting unusually warm in here suddenly? He wanted- no, he NEEDED- to get out of here, away from all these people.. and so he walked, pushed his way through the crowd, didn't even bother to apologize.

(Rerenima) this seems "away" enough lol ) (Rerenima) nice dark corner rofl ) (Momori) damn this dramatic lightning! (Rerenima) if i tilt the camera just right i get dramatic anime glasses lol ) (Momori) oh perf!!!! ))

Rerenima finally gets outside of the building, immediately taking a deep breath of fresh air.. and just as quickly taking a few steps off to the side to hurl all the alcohol he's been consuming. Guess he had just a liiiiittle too much.

Momori follows a distance away. It’s something she’s done many, many times. Gods, he makes a tempting target to simply rob and run, but she isn’t in the business of such crude practices anymore. Instead, she waits. Likely, someone else has their eye on him already..

Rerenima makes an unhappy groan once everything's done with, muttering more than a few curses as he stumbles just a few more feet away and collapses on his ass on the top of the stairs looking as miserable as can be.

(Rerenima) maaan he gon be so easy to pick on rofl ) (Momori) someone could just gently take him away.....if kelza was watching too, we’d have a person stalking at a person stalking at a person situation going on xD )) (Rerenima) stalker stalking a stalker stalking a dummy. ) (Momori) want me to jump him or do u wanna write for some thugz )) (Momori) *me writing some thugz. Momori will just be watching suspiciously in the night the whole time lmao )) (Rerenima) he's aaaall hers. xD ) (Rerenima) buut can raise the stakes a lil :) ))

Rerenima || Meanwhile, back at the party, Re's mother seems to have realized that her son's vanished. She'd wanted to introduce him to someone! In a huff, she stalks over to Kelza, and demands to know where he's gotten to! When no answer is provided, he is DEMANDED to go find him! Immediately!

Momori - Rerenima’s drunken wandering does not go unnoticed. A gang of lalafell dressed in cheap leather armor jovially play cards nearby, and their conversation quickly goes from impassioned shouts to hushed plotting. As a group, they encircle Rere and one of them nudges him with the butt of their club. “Eh. You.”

(Momori) Re's mom sounds like a helicopter parent )) (Rerenima) only when it benefits her :) )

Rerenima , who is in no mood at all for anything or anyone, simply grumbles, "What do you want..." without actually looking behind him. Perhaps he should've.

(Rerenima) when u too rich to know what danger looks like

Momori: “Oy, this one’s as drunk as a pig! Let’s get ‘im, boss!” one of the thugs says, just loud enough for Rere to hear. The leader nods, and each one of them pulls up a bandana to hide their identity. Another cuts off any escape routes, and keeps watch for any guards.

Momori: “Give me everything in your pockets. Now. Hurry.” The thug presses the end of his club against Rere’s chest, commanding urgency.

Rerenima || At first he'd simply rolled his eyes, but as more of the conversation revealed itself, sobriety set in quickly. "Wait, what?!" and all at once he was wide-eyed and terribly aware of just how many thugs were actually out here tonight. This wasn't looking good for him. Shit shit. Shouldn't have come out here alone. Shit. SHIT! For once, he does the smart thing- exactly what he's asked. Unfortunately for them, he's not carrying all that much- a couple gil, whatever's on his fingers...

Momori - The amount is not enough to get the thugs off his back, not by a long shot. The thug grumbles, and eyes what Rere might have on his person. Any valuable jewelry or items of great value?

(Momori) family ring? or anything that would cause a stir if it were gone )) (Momori) heck they'll just take his glasses lmao )) (Rerenima) hahaha poor kids gon be blind (Rerenima) tempted to have someone come to the rescue but that might ruin poor momo's chances haha (Momori) momo is completely content to stand by and watch if you want to be rescued by someone else! )) (Momori) momori is a terrible person lmao )) (Rerenima) the badass butler XD ) (Momori) oh shiiet )) (Momori) go for it! ))

Rerenima is on his feet now, waving his hands about and insisting he doesn't have anything else... at least not that would be worth anything! Surely! Except there was -one- thing, and it was quickly snatched away from him. A pocket watch, that it -almost- seemed like he would be willing to fight for had he not been held back by some handsy assholes. (cont)

Rerenima || Meanwhile, Kelza, silently cursing himself for letting an idiot out of his sight, opens the same back door that Re had just come from, and immediately sees the ruckus. Oh HELL no. He takes a gun from the inside of his jacket, aims upwards, and shoots. THAT aughta get their attention.

(Momori) GUN )) (Rerenima) dont bring a knife to a gun fight >:3 )

Momori: “Shit! Scramble, boys!” The thugs holding Rere quickly push him to the ground and each of them, as they pass, give him a drive-by kick. Pocket watch in their possession, they split up and flee into the dark alleyways like desperate rats.

Momori ‘s full attention is now on Kelza as she passively observes from her hiding spot.

(Rerenima) HAHA ) (Rerenima) i like how he literally hops into the sitting position rofl ) (Momori) little bounce xD ))

Rerenima doesn't have much time to shout after them, as he's both pushed, and then kicked, falling to the ground like a rock, breaking his glasses, cracking a nail.. it's not a good night for him. Rather than acting like a worried mother when Kelza rushed to Re's side, as one might suspect a butler should do, he made quick to chastize him. "What did I tell you about going off on your own?! You're lucky you're alive!"

Rerenima: "They.. they took it.. They took it!!" He suddenly cries out to Kelza's surprised expression.

Rerenima: "Took what?" The butler asks, annoyed.

Rerenima: "His watch! I need to get it back!"

Rerenima: "You were two minutes away from dead and -that's- what you're worried about?!" Kelza snaps, but Rerenima snaps right back at him! "He gave that to me! It's the only thing I have left of him!"

Rerenima: "How much did you drink?" Kelza asks accusingly.

Rerenima Between the two of them, the argument continues unabated for several long minutes, with Re attempting his damndest to convince Kelza that he NEEDED to get that watch back, and Kelza very much brushing him off-- literally and figuratively-- and eventually insisting- no, requiring, that they go home. Now.

Rerenima || The more he was brushed at, the angrier Re got until all at once he slaps Kelza's hand away, standing on his own, and doing exactly that. But there is a determination there in his plastered eyes that was not there before. Fuck this entire day.

Momori’s brows drew together as she contemplated the true nature of Rere and Kelza’s relationship. No matter, there was a takeaway regardless of that. A pocket watch found, and a debt created...Her master would be interested in hearing more about this. But around now, her client would be coming to their senses back at the party, and she had appearances to keep up.

Momori silently steps back into the shadow, the night cloaking her like an old friend.

#ff14 rp logs #Momori Mori #Rerenima Rurunima

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entireconfection · 4 years

Text

Can We Turn It Around?

Hard to believe it’s been four years, isn’t it?

As I sit down to write this, 5 weeks out from the 2020 election, it’s hard to know where to start. For almost four years now, we’ve been living in an altered (and very shitty) state of reality. Donald Trump’s America. A never-ending dumpster fire. And, to be frank, one of the worst chapters in our country’s history. On top of that, we’ve just crossed the half-year mark of a global pandemic, an ongoing crisis by turns devastating and surreal, one that seems sadly befitting of our dystopian, is-this-really-happening times.

After 4 agonizing years of hate and stupidity ruling the roost, of nonstop assaults on science and decency and civility, of the obliteration of democratic norms, destruction of the checks and balances that we naively assumed would always be there for us, we’ve almost arrived at another election. And with it, the possibility that we can start to turn this around. That we can rise up and say “NO. We DON’T want a dictatorship. We WON’T go along with this. We will FIGHT for love and decency and our democracy.”

Personally, I am proceeding under the assumption that Trump will be reelected. I have to do so for my own wellbeing. I don’t want to get my hopes up. The bitter, blindsiding defeat of 2016 is still fresh in my mind. There are many ways that this election could turn into a shitshow. Not the least of which is we have a ruthless dictator as President who is doing everything he can to sabotage the vote. And he has a powerful ally in the Republican party, which has expertly suppressed the vote for decades and is doing so now with as much gusto as ever, determined to hold onto power at all costs. Throw in all of the logistical challenges and obstacles caused by COVID, along with all of the flaws of our antiquated, broken-by-design voting system (courtesy of the democracy-hating GOP), and no one really knows what the hell is going to happen on November 3.

So I have to assume that Trump will win. Because, awful as that will be, life will go on if he wins. And I need to be able to carry on as well.

Still, as accustomed as I’ve become to the insanity of the Trump era, it’s sometimes hard to grasp that it’s come to this. That we are perilously close to becoming an authoritarian country with a permanent conservative majority. That it pretty much all hangs on this election.

It’s not just our country either. It’s our planet that’s on the line. Perhaps you’ve heard of climate change? You know, that little issue that Americans don’t give a shit about, but is an existential threat to human civilization? Well, it’s only getting worse. The Northern Hemisphere just had its hottest summer ever, 2 degrees above normal. You can expect a new record every year for your lifetime.

Trump, as expected, has been a disaster for the climate – withdrawing from the Paris Accord, gutting environmental regulations left and right, and basically doing as much damage to the earth as possible. Given that experts say we have 10 years to make major cuts in emissions if we have any hope of avoiding irreversible and catastrophic climate disruption, it’s safe to say that a second Trump term would pretty much be game over for the climate, and for life as we know it. It’s the predictable outcome when you elect an idiot climate denier president of the most powerful country in the world.

Then there’s the fate of democracy itself, which is in a perilous position around the world. Fascism masquerading as “right-wing parties” has been on the march across Europe for years. Trump has gleefully helped that effort, cozying up to ruthless dictators like Kim-Jong Il and giving his buddy Putin the green light to continue to ratfuck elections, sow chaos, and wage cyber warfare on any country he chooses.

Meanwhile, Trump has given the middle finger to our allies constantly since taking office. Again, completely to be expected from a jingoistic simpleton whose entire understanding of foreign policy boils down to “America First.” Remember his shit-eating smirk while refusing to shake Angela Merkel’s hand in the Oval Office? Trump exemplifies the right’s foaming-mouth hatred of Europe, foreigners, and diplomacy. Just one of their many flavors of bigotry, he and his base believe that the rest of the world basically consists of international elitists determined to destroy America. Not exactly a philosophy conducive to preventing trifling matters like, say, global pandemics or world wars.

The more I write, the more I remember when an absolute sleazebag our president is, and the more astonished I am that this man is our president. This is the guy who 60 million people voted for in 2016. This is the guy who is nothing less than a savior to millions and millions of white Americans. Donald fucking Trump? You would be hard-pressed to find a more loathsome person in all of America. And despite knowing full well how polarized and tribalized we have become, it’s still hard to fathom that so many Americans can look at this vile, morally bankrupt con man and see a great leader, a champion of their values, the greatest president of all time. It just doesn’t compute.

And yes, many of his voters are well aware of his vices, and yes, white working-class voters have legitimate problems, and on and on. For four years, we’ve discussed and dissected these reasons for Trump’s victory. They are admitted and entered into the record. Now can we please get rid of this menace because he destroys our democracy, wiping out the great experiment that has endured for 244 years?

Because that’s what’s really on the line on November 3. We’re all deciding if we want to go back to being a democracy – a flawed, messy, imperfect democracy to be sure, but still a democracy at heart – or a dictatorship. That’s not hyperbole. That’s just the situation.

Trump, aided and abetted by the entire Republican apparatus and 40% of the population, has turned us into a dictatorship. He has put his cronies in positions of power. He has fired anyone who refuses to become his unquestioning flunky, smearing public servants who have spent decades working to help people – a concept completely alien to Trump. He has demonized the media (except for the propaganda outlets who run only pro-Trump news), relentlessly undermining one of the pillars of a liberal democracy, turning people against the very journalists who are trying to expose how Trump is screwing them over. He has conspired with our enemies to compromise our own elections. He came to power by colluding with Russia to his political opponent. He tear-gassed peaceful protestors in front of the White House and painted Black Lives Matter as radical terrorists and applauded right-wing vigilantes who pointed guns at BLM protestors. Hell, he gave them a plum speaking slot at the RNC. Because that’s who calls the shots in Donald Trump’s America – racists and white supremacists.

So, yeah…it’s a rubbish time. And as anyone who remembers the train wreck of Election Night 2016 can understand, I don’t want to get my hopes up. We’ve all been burned one too many times.

Still, it is nice – if only for a moment – to think about a President Biden.

A president who acts like a fucking adult, not a tantrum-throwing toddler or a schoolyard bully.

A president who condemns violence, not one who exploits and encourages it for political gain.

A president who speaks carefully and thoughtfully, knowing his words have real-life consequences. Not one who constantly spews venom and lies, not caring if people die as a result because they’re not his base so screw them.

A president who refuses to legitimize dangerous conspiracy theories. Not one who gleefully seizes on every twisted fairy-tale to emerge from alt-right trolls lurking on 4chan.

A president who accepts the simple fact that our world is interconnected and that diplomacy, respect, and civil discourse are our best tools for making life better for everyone. Not one who embraces the right’s phony-ass “patriotism” and thinks Americans – more specifically, his supporters – are the only people on Earth who matter.

A president who does his fucking job, not one who sits on his ass tweeting and watching Fox News to get his daily ass-kissing. When he’s not golfing or holding white supremacist rallies, that is.

Trump’s awfulness is simply unparalleled, probably in human history. It is an expansive mass so vast and blatant and unashamed that it’s almost a work of art, in a sick way. You could go on forever about the cringe, the iconic moments of incompetence, the garish displays of smirking idiocy and unabashed bigotry that have come to define our time. Sharpie-doctored hurricane maps, Kanye in the Oval Office, calling African countries “shitholes,” telling black and Latina Congresswomen to “go back where they came from,” toilet paper on the shoe, shoving a world leader on stage, soundproof phone booths at the EPA, white supremacists as “very fine people,” caravans, paper towels, upside-down Bibles, covfefe…it has just been a constant, dizzying tornado of hate and evil and stupid. It’s why I stopped watching the news. It’s too much. We weren’t wired to ingest this level of crazy and awful every day. Being a human being is hard enough as it is.

It’s hard to stomach the thought of one more day of this shit, let alone 4 years. Should Trump get reelected, it’s hard to see how anything good will survive. And should his victory come once again come via dirty tricks, be it foreign interference or voter suppression or both, it would appear to confirm that our system has been so hopelessly corrupted by the right that it’s impossible for a Democrat to win. It would suggest that it is now impossible to have a fair presidential election and we’re doomed to have permanent tyrannical rule by a racist, reactionary, science-hating, authoritarian minority. Where we go from there is anyone’s guess.

I hope we can turn it around. I hope there are enough decent people out there who are fed up with this asshole. I hope the myriad GOTV efforts we’ve seen in recent months will motivate people who sat out last time, and maybe some people who have never voted. I hope the collective determination of people who are against Trump is enough to overcome the GOP’s perennial cheating and voter-suppression campaigns. I hope, no matter the outcome, that the whole thing doesn’t devolve into an epic shitshow that makes Florida 2000 look like a calm and orderly affair.

So I have hope. Is it well-founded? Is it anything more than wishful thinking? Hard to say. But when all appears lost, that’s what we have. Hope.

In closing, if you are dismayed by what America has become these past 4 years, if you want to save the democracy that so many people fought and died for throughout our history, please vote for Biden. Your kids, your grandkids, and the entire world will thank you.

#election #politics #biden #democracy

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