#today we got the second one. like Russian roulette you will never know what I will drop next | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ohtobeleah · 1 year

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Minimal Losses // Jake Seresin

Chapter Five: Self Reflection & Play Pretend

Summary: Phoenix extends an open invitation to wing night at the Hard Deck. Jake puts his foot in something he knows he can resolve and you struggle with feelings of self doubt.

Warnings: Jake Seresin x FBI!f!reader. Mentions of Bradley Bradshaw x Wife!reader from NCIS. Small amount of angst.

Word Count: 4.7k

Author Note: Smashed this beauty out today. A little bit of a filler chapter but it’s warm and warranted before we head on into the drama. MASTERLIST

The warmth of the water had never felt so good against your aching muscles. You couldn't remember a time where you had been this sore before, this stiff. As you let the water cascade down your aching body, you let out a less than gentle sigh as you stood straight under the hot stream, you, only for a brief moment, sobbed. Cupping your hand over your mouth so the pathetic whimpers that were sure to escape couldn't be heard by any of the other female aviators getting changed and showered and ready to head home after what could only be described as a gruelling day. Not that there were many women hanging about in the female locker room to begin with.

“Hey Kas!” Phoenix knocked against the door of the stall you were in, having seen you head in only a few minutes ago. “You did good this afternoon.” When you and Jake had gotten back to base, it was business as usual–which meant there was still enough daylight left for two more runs. “Hangman said you only used two spew bags.” You could hear the subtle taunt in Natasha's voice as she leaned her back up against your door. “Out of all of us though Hangman used to spew his guts up the most, it would shock us all how much that man could hold in his stomach.”

You couldn't help but you smile as the quiet sobs you let escape into your palm turned into laughter of some sort. The tears you shed mixed with the water that rained down from the shower head and soon enough, you were inhaling a grounding breath to keep yourself from falling apart at the seams.

“I still much prefer to keep my feet on the ground.” You replied, rubbing your eyes, collecting yourself from the few second breakdown you’d allowed yourself to have behind the safeguard of the shower door. “But thanks, I appreciate it.”

“You coming to the Hard Deck for a few beers?” Phoenix asked as she heard the water shut off from inside the shower stall. “A bunch of us are heading over to grab a bite to eat, Tuesday is wing russian roulette wing night.” It was an intriguing addition to the offer. “Heard through the scuttlebutt that Hangman was gonna ditch but said if you were going he’d be there in a heartbeat.” Phoenix took her opportunity to sweeten the deal, smirking as you opened the shower and stared right at her smirking smug face. “What's going on between you two, agent?”

“Nothings going on–” You lied through your teeth as you bent over to flip your hair up into a towel, wrapping it up and over your head as you stood back up. “But I mean, if you're inviting me out, I can come, I'm not doing anything tonight.” In all honesty you were just going to head back to your dorm. You quite liked the fact you were the only one who lived on the floor at the moment, you got the whole place to yourself. “Russian Roulette huh?”

“Penny puts a hot wing in with a bunch of others, it's pretty much always Bob who's the unlucky bastard who seems to find it.” You couldn't hold your laughter in as you tried to apply your moisturizer. Phoenix still stood in the doorway, leaning against the threshold of the shower with her arms crossed softly over her chest. She was already dressed and ready to go, a pair of jeans, causal jumper, hair down after being pulled back in that tight regulation bun all damn day. “It’ll be good to see you mix in with the crowd, get to know the people who have your back a little more?” Phoenix, although she’d enticed you enough already with her proposition to join the gang at the Hard Deck for dinner, still seemed to want to keep pushing reasons on you to attend. “And all things considered Lieutenant Jackson, for what it's worth I think you're doing a great job for someone who's not who she says she is.” Phoenix pressed her lips together as you turned to face her for a moment, a sadness in your eyes more evident than ever before. “I'll see you at the Hard Deck Kasper.”

Phoenix, with all her pride and strength, turned on her heels to leave you to get changed when you called out for her.

“Natasha?” Your voice was barely above a mumble.

“Yeah?” Phoenix turned in her place, looking back at how your shoulders seemed to slump in on themselves. It wasn't hard to see that the weight of the world was resting on your shoulders today.

“How did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“All this? I mean—what do you do on the days you don't feel as confident or as fearless or powerful as you normally do?” Phoenix knew it was more of a cry for help than a genuine question. You were struggling to cope with the pressure of this assignment and she could physically see it written all over your tired face.

“I pretend.” Phoenix replied with a genuine tone. She wasn't even saying it just to boost your conference, she was telling the truth. “I'm one of five female TopGun graduates Agent kas.” Phoenix explained as she watched you unwrap your hair. “And if you haven't noticed we’re the only two women standing in this locker room.” You had noticed early on that Miramar was far more testosterone based than it was oestrogen. It felt like the bureau, just with less agents and more aviators. “I work with all men who are just great but they suck and on the days I don't feel particularly myself, I pretend because you gotta fake it till you make it–” Phoenix paused as she heard the boisterous laughter of Rooster and Hangman walking past the locker room. Most likely on their way out. Phoenix saw the way the corner of your lips turned up into a cheesy grin at the sound of Jake's laugh. You were smitten for the man, Phoenix could see it clear as day. “Or else you cry yourself to sleep and who the hell wants to do that Kas?”

It was exactly what you needed to hear as Phoenix left you to finish getting ready, her words playing through your head on a loop as you got dressed. Wondering if the outfit you'd put together was in fact an outfit or if you'd fallen into the trap of pinterest fashion. Was this an outfit? Or was it just skinny girl rhetoric being shoved down society's throat. You'd never really know and you didn't have time to find anything else to wear.

“Pretend Kas, just pretend.” You mumbled to yourself, catching a glimpse of yourself in the mirror as you pulled your shirt over your head. “Fake it till you make it.”

***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~

Bradley Bradshaw had seen his wife do a lot of dangerous stuff in the years he’d known her. She’d been held at gunpoint in the very bar they now stood in now amongst his colleagues and friends, she’d been shot on more occasions than he could count of both his hands—scares littered her body like fragmented polka dots, reminding him that although she knew what she was doing most of the time, she was still very much a mortal woman who bled just the same.

But as Bradley stood back and watched his wife laugh with Jake Seresin about something they both shared a common interest in—making Bradley their comedic target, he paused and had to remind himself that although his Naval Criminal Investigative Service hot headed agent of a wife was a force to be reckoned with, the most dangerous thing he’d ever seen her do in all the time he’d known her……was carry his unborn daughter.

“Oh, that feels so good.” The corner of Bradley's lips curled upright into the corners of his cheeks as he grinned into the junction of his wife’s shoulder, kissing her supple skin as he wrapped his arms around her sides and took the pressure of the weight of their unborn child off her. Holding her stomach up as she leaned back into him. “You’re not allowed to move ever again, we’re staying like this forever.”

“You’ve really started to pop haven’t you.” Jake beamed, admiring the Bradshaw couple as they swayed gently, soon to be first time parents. “Not long to go now Gibbs.”

“Hmm—“ Bradley knew what to expect out of his loving wife’s mouth, he’d heard it far too many times not to expect it. But when she didn’t retaliate and remind Hangman that her name was Bradshaw now and had been for a while—Bradley was stunned. “I'm gonna let that one slide because I feel like I’m floating.”

“Holy shit you’ve disarmed her.” Jake chuckled as he pressed his lips the beer bottle he held in his hand. “Stay there forever Rooster, happy wife, happy Hangman.”

“How’d your little excursion go with Kas earlier?” The better half of Bradley Bradshaw asked as Jake spotted your walking in the front doors of the Hard Deck. He watched with a glint in his eye as you searched around the expanse of the pub packed to the rafters with naval riff raff, searching for a familiar face to coax you through the nervousness that threatened to consume you entirely.

Jake Seresin forgot how to breathe for a mere minute as he watched a smile so pure creep across your face at the fact you’d spotted Bob and Fanboy over by the dart board. Kindly and with all the good graces in your body you made your way over to the two weapon’s systems officers who both wore smiles just as big as yours. Excited to see you’d taken up the offer of wing night Phoenix had extended.

But it was ultimately your laugh that put the breath inside of his lungs again. It was like he’d lept in the light of the San Diego sun that beamed through the windows of the Hard Deck as it set.

“Hello? Earth to Hangman—?”

“Sorry Gibbs.” Jake shook his head, rattling his brain back to reality as he took notice to the way the NCIS agent who’s become like a sister to him cradled her hand over Roosters, splayed out across the bottom half of her swollen stomach like they held their world in the palms of their hands. “It was fine, some of the guys were a little harsh on her when we were briefed on this new bullet that’s hit the ground running—“

“Cop killers?”

“The very ones.” Jake confirmed as he took another sip of his beer, watching you sit between Mickey and Bob out of the corner of his eye. Casually having a conversation about something that was maintaining one hundred percent of your undivided attention. “I know why you partnered her up with me now.”

“She lacks confidence, something you need to have in order to be an effective candidate for field work.” Gibbs confessed as she lulled her head into Bradley’s chest. “God this is like crack—“ Closing her eyes as she swayed and enjoyed the fact her husband was carrying the overbearing weight of their unborn child. “I thought with you having a surplus that she could borrow some of yours.” Gibbs teased. “You really like her though— don’t you, Bagman?”

“Shut up—“ Jake groaned, squinting his eyes as he took yet another sip of his beer. “I don’t.” He tried to deny the inevitable. But Jake knew his hullshit wasn’t flying with the Bradshaws. They knew how to read him like an open book.

“Sure as hell wasn’t the type I envisioned you chasing after.” Bradley added as Jake glared his way. The three of them stood by the nook in the back where the sea breeze hit just right for the seven month pregnant woman Jake and Bradley would lay their lives down for. “I asked Kas if she had any sunscreen on her when I passed her on changeover and her response was of course, we’ve got holes in the ozone that we put there ourselves and the poles are a no-go now, earth's cooking itself.” Bradley repeated the remark you’d made to him about how he should really have his own sunscreen, but all Jake did was smile in response.

He loved that, so much.

“She’s definitely one of a kind.” It wasn’t that the Bradshaws weren’t good company, they were—it’s just that you’d managed to consume every part of Jakes being since he first saw you. There wasn’t a moment he didn’t want to spend next to you, getting to know you, on top of you or below you. “And on that note, I’m gonna go see what the prodigy herself is up to.” Jake was heading off in the direction of his partner within seconds of announcing his own departure, leaving Bradley and his wife in the dust of their conversation.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like this before, have you?” Bradley couldn’t help but to let out a deep sigh against his wife’s shoulder as he cradled her growing baby bump from behind.

“Nope—never thought I’d see the day.” He admitted honestly. There was a small part of Bradley who held a little fear in his heart for Jake. He’d been the guy sitting in the waiting room far too many times to count and he wouldn’t wish that stress on anyone. But with the job title his wife held and with the blooming endgame Bradley saw playing out before his very eyes, he wished he could pull Jake aside, ask him if he could really handle it, before letting him make his own choices. You were young and bright and far more brilliant than what met the naked eye, but that didn’t equate to minimal losses.

Braldey Bradshaw just prayed Jake could hold you tight, hold you close, hold you endlessly and with enough conviction that it outweighed all the doubts and fears and losses he’d surely face being madly in love with a woman whose life’s mission was to keep people safe, risking her own in the process.

“You know I can’t stay like this forever right?” Bradley mumbled against his wife’s shoulder, feeling the palms of her hands clamp down on his splayed hands a little more as he chuckled against the spot he’d just peppered kisses with. She didn’t ask for help often, she handled most of her own healing on her own, but when she did need someone? That’s when he knew it was bad. If she needed this? For him to take the weight for just a minute more? He knew she needed it more than she could find the words to articulate it.

“Unless you want a divorce Bradley, I suggest you reconsider your options.” Her pleas just came out in an empty threat. Bradley nodded, playing the part in his wife’s life he was always meant to play. The doting husband and best friend, the cheerleader that cheered on his wife as she caught bad guys and prepared to give birth to a whole human. His daughter, his baby girl.

If Bradley Bradshaw had come to realise one thing in life it was that women were crazy, batshit even. But they were stronger than men in every aspect, in every sense of the word. So he did as he was told and stayed put, watching over his wife’s shoulder as his best friend wrapped his arm around the woman who unknowingly held his whole heart in the palm of her hand, grinning to himself as Jake smiled down at you as you smiled up. Beaming at each other like an electrical circuit had just been connected.

Jake Seresin had fallen in love, Bradley could see it smeared across his poster boy face as clear as day.

“Yes ma’am—“ Braldey whispered as he held his unborn daughter's kick against his palm. “I’m not going anywhere.”

***~***~***~***~***~***~**~***~

There was a certain level of confidence that just oozes off Jake as he carefully and ever so casually draped his arm across your shoulders as you sat with Bob and Fanboy at the small round bar table over by the dart board. He’s intoxicating and he damn well knows it too.

“Hi Kas.” It comes out almost like a purr as Jake gives you all his attention for a few fleeting moments, allowing himself to admire your beauty that’s sandwiched between the two idiots to the left and right of you. “Boys, mind if I join the club?”

“I was just asking if the guys had any interesting tips on how not to throw up.” You could feel the heat rushing to your cheeks as you spoke up to Jake, his eyes lingering from your eyes to your lips as you spoke. “So far I know that bananas taste the same coming up as they do going down so I’ll be sure to try that one for breakfast.”

“You’re cute sweetheart—real cute, but I don’t want my cockpit smelling like Bananas.” The casual compliment had you swooning, wrinkling your nose as you squinted your eyes and puffed your chest out a little in defence of yourself.

“As opposed to the vomit it smells like currently?” Bob interjected. “I’d take the smell of bananas over the smell of spoiled acidic food any day of the week.” All you did was sigh in miserable defeat as you let yourself fall forward to the tabletop, extinguishing an groan as Jake laughed and came around to sit in front of you.

“I can’t keep doing this to myself, my unit chief is gonna think I developed some sort of eating disorder by the time I head back to Quantico.”

“I used to throw up every flight I took for six months, Kas, it’s honestly no big deal.” Fanboy tried his best to convince you that it really wasn’t that big of a deal. “Besides, isn’t the schedule moving up? I thought we were packing duffels and shipping out as of tomorrow.”

That has been the debrief. You and Jake had been lucky enough to have had an earlier opportunity to process the information, the others however had not. By the time you were getting back for afternoon exercises the team were just being summoned for an impromptu debriefing with the admirals.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t stop trying to not be sick?” Jake replied from across the table. “Next time we go up she’ll try again, fail again and then she’ll fail better next time, right Kas.” You couldn’t tell if Jake had meant to blatantly insult you behind a Mirage of humour, but he had. So when you didn’t meet his grin with your own? He knew he’d said something that had accidentally been interpreted as something he didn’t mean it as. “You know what that didn’t come out the way I’d hoped it would, what I meant was—“

“I’m gonna grab a drink and order some food.” You instantly deflected as you cut Jake off in the middle of his sentence. He watched with stunned eyes as you stood and tried to hide the hurt that smeared itself across your face as you tucked your hand into your jean pockets and smiled. Pretending. “I was promised wings and wings I will devour until my heart's content.”

“Kasper–” Jake groaned as he watched you turn without so much as acknowledging him. “Oh my god–”

“Dude, what the hell even was that?” Mickey whisper-shouted across the table as Jake held a hand up to his forehead, taking his temperature to make sure he wasn't sick. He felt sick, like he was going to pass out, his face felt flushed and his hearing seemed to be a little impaired as he heard his own voice ringing out from his guilty conscience. ‘You idiot, you idiot, you idiot.’ Nope not sick, just an idiot. “I've never seen you fumble what I'm assuming was supposed to be a compliment so badly before.”

“Incredible performance Bagman, truly.” Bob sighed, he thought there was more to Jake then met the eye but apparently he was as shallow as a kiddy pool, just like he’d always thought. “All you had to say was she’d get used to it? Why’d you have to go and be a dick about it?”

“I'm gonna go apologise before she tells Penny what an idiot I am and sabotages my wings–like fuck am I getting that hot wing.” Jake stood with his shoulders slumped and the same clampy hands he’d experienced back at the precinct. You made him nervous beyond comprehension and not because he was scared of you in particular. You scared him because you were the only person Jake Seresin cared enough about to worry what they thought about him.

He wanted you to like him as much as he liked you. The idea that the feelings he were experiencing for the first time in his life had him panicked that they might only be one sided.

Jake cautiously approached the bar as you ordered your food with Penny, he was going to pretend that he didn't see the way Penny side eyed him as he came to stand behind you. Moving your hair across to one side of your neck before he decided it wouldn't be all that bold of him to kiss the nap of your neck gently and ever so apologetically.

“Kas–” All you did was brush Jake off, shrugging him back and off your neck as you turned around to face him. Pocketing the change Penny had given you in your wallet as you grumbled under your breath. “

“Listen, in the future if you wanna insult me? You can just go ahead and do it, you don't have to disguise the put down with humour.” Jake was completely and utterly stunned as you brushed past him and headed in the direction of the front doors. Making no attempt to listen to what he had to say for himself.

“Y/n, hold up a minute will you?” Hot on your tail as Jake pushed past people who unintentionally got in his way, he followed you out to the front deck of the Hard Deck. “I didn't mean what I said to come across as a put down.”

“I don't wanna hear it, Lieutenant Seresin.” Oh, oh no that wasn't good at all. Jake paused as he watched you take a seat on one of the empty stools that sat scattered around the patio bar, turning to face the view of the ocean that wasn't too far in the distance. “You can go back inside, enjoy your night with your colleagues, I'm sure you're tired of living in a fantasy world with the FBI.”

“Hold up–can we back track for a minute here.” Jake frowned as he took a few strides towards where you sat trying to ignore his ever looming presence. It was hard to ignore Jake Seresin though when he was spinning the stool you sat on around so you were facing him. Trapping you between his muscular, tan and ever so intoxicating arms as he leaned in to rest his hands on the top of the patio bar. “What are you really lashing out about? Because something I said, that was completely misconstrued mind you–is not what has your pretty panties all twisted up in a bunch.” Your jaw hung open for a few seconds as you tried to compute what Jake had just said.

“You’re infuriating, you know that?” It was hard to admit you were taking your own insecurities about your self worth out on Jake. He could tell there was something stirring in that brilliant yet insecure mind of yours. You knew what he was doing though as he held your gaze, kept a stern look on his face as your eyes trailed the expanse of his stupidly handsome features.

“Would you believe me if I told you that you're not the first person to tell me that fact about myself?”Jake teased back as you bit your bottom lip to top yourself from snacking back. “Now what's going on?” There were a few silent moments that passed the pair of you by, but inevitably, you gave into the charming ways of the Naval Aviator who had secretly stolen your heart.

“I don't think I have what it takes to figure this guy out, I’m inexperienced and out of my depth and I can feel myself losing control and I don't know how I’m meant to–” Jakes lips were crashing against yours before you could finish spewing up everything that had been rattling around in your mind all day. It was a kiss full of love and kindness and patience, all of which you hadnt been to yourself the last few days.

Jake wasn't going anywhere anytime soon either, when you went to pull away all he did was move his hands from the back of the bar that kept you trapped in your stool up to cup your cheeks, holding you against his lips until he swipes his tongue across your bottom lip, begging for more. More you gave him.

Jake set the pace and you followed willingly as he kissed you slow and soft as the San Diego sunset across the horizon of the Hard Deck. But much like all your moments with Jake, it was fleeting.

“Listen, I'm gonna tell you something about yourself and you’re gonna listen alright?” Jake's hands were still cupping your face, the pads of his thumbs working to caress the apples of your cheeks softly as he spoke sense into you.

“Are you about to profile the profiler?”

“If you’ll shut up for five seconds and let me say what I have to say?” That had you sitting up a little straighter in pure surprise, did that just turn you on a little? “You think nobody believes in you, you think that people think you've lost again and again and again, that the lights are cut off on you and wherever your career was heading because you've got no spine.”

“Jake–” It came out meeker than you had meant it to, but Jake didn't let you interrupt as he watched your shoulders slump, as he watched the glint in your eyes fade into nothing and bore witness to your ability to mask your true feelings finally faltered. Jake Seresin had tapped into a vulnerable nerve that had you falling apart at the seams instantly.

“Kas, you’re still looking at your dream though, you wanna be the best at what you do because that's all I’ve ever wanted to be, the best– I know you keep reviewing it every damn day and I know you keep telling yourself when you look in the mirror every morning that it ain't over until you win.”

“You’d make a pretty good profile, Agent Seresin.” Jake beamed so bright at you you swore you felt your heart skip a beat. He was intoxicating. “Now to clarify here, I wasn't saying you're always going to be a failure, what I meant to say was you'll fail so many times that soon enough you're gonna get it right. And when you get it right you would have faulted so many times before, you'll never wanna fail again and you'll be the very best of all of us.”

If you could go back in time and tell yourself that you'd fall in love with the man you thought you were only going to have a one night stand with, you'd laugh at yourself because one, you didn't have one night stands and two, no man would ever look at you like you hung the all the star in the night sky just for him. But yet here you were, with Jake, and he was looking at you like you sent his heart straight out of his world.

“I think I'm genuinely growing fond you, old man.” Was all you said in response as you pulled Jake closer to you by his belt buckle. Kissing him deeper and slower and more seductive than he had kissed you just before. When he let a soft moan escape into your mouth you took the open opportunity to wrap your arms up and around his neck, speaking into Jake's mouth as he pulled away for just a second to ghost his lips across yours.

“Far too fond for me to hide.”

***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~*

Tags // @auroraboreallisfine @buckythewintersquirrel @a-lil-bit-nuts @bookaholics-stuff @ilovewhalesharks444 @a-serene-place-to-be @alexsisrebekah @rhirhikingston @caitsymichelle13 @twsssmlmaa @chaoticversion @topguncultleader @averyhotchner @phoenix1388 @emma8895eb @avaleineandafryingpan @endofdays56 @dempy @redheaded-hobbit @ilovewhalesharks444 @xoxabs88xox @strokesofstokes

#minimal losses // jake seresin #jake seresin x you #jake seresin x y/n #jake seresin fic #jake hangman x reader #jake hangman imagine #jake hangman seresin x reader #jake hangman x y/n #jake seresin imagine #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin x reader #jake seresin fanfiction

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takeeachdayonebookatatime · 2 years

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Castle fanfiction

Why did you elbow me? 57

Crossover event part 1

Sam Braddock: pov hurry up Jules we are going to be late for our flight. We had already packed our luggage, you never know what can happen so always be prepared. Greg was nice enough to give us Friday to Monday off so we are visiting New York for a mini vacation. Maybe visit Niagara falls if we have time. Once our flight landed we grabbed our bags and headed to our hotel room which is in Manhattan.

Jules Callaghan-Braddock: pov me and Sam put our bags down and decided to stop for lunch. There is a cute sub shop near the hotel which we decided to hit. The food was amazing. Sam got a steak sandwich and I got a chicken sandwich. After walking around Central Park for a bit we then visited Ellis Island. Wow this place has so much history in it. Hearing these people's stories is amazing.

Sam: pov it is starting to get late on the way back to the hotel we stop at an Italian restaurant. The wait is not too bad, once seated the waitress hands Jules the menu and she orders the lasagna. I decided on the stuffed shells. We talk while we eat. The food is amazing. We stop at a small store and buy snacks and drinks on the way back to the hotel. In our room I put on some dark gray sweatpants and my black SRU shirt. Jules does the same and opens some snacks so we can try them before bed. The candy is so good. Me and Jules made sure to brush our teeth before bed.

Captain Olivia Benson: pov Today was a slow day at SVU. The new guy Joe said something that got to me. We had a case we just finished where a man raped a woman and tortured her. She was covered in scars. when we talked to the guys mother she mentioned her son was conceived in a rape. Ugh just great, i tell the woman in private about me being a product of rape. once the mother left Joe said out loud like father like son I guess when your a product of rape you become a rapist too must be in the gene's. He even said why didn't the woman fight back or do more to escape. Fin was nice enough to pull him aside and give him the talk about me being a product of rape. The new detergent I'm using is giving me a rash. Fin says he will look at it, that is what friends are for and it's on my back and stomach. Joe made his second mistake of the day saying that the woman had a lot of scars and no man would date a woman with that many scars. scars are ugly and if a woman had scars he would dump her sorry ass probably has emotional baggage too. I say victim shaming is wrong Joe. Fin is in my office looking at the Rash on my back and stomach when all of a sudden Joe walks in saying sorry about before but then all of a sudden says ew that looks disgusting your skin is like all gross and scarred. I'm trying to hold back my emotions. Fin decides to pull Joe aside and into an interrogation room to talk.

Fin: pov i mention to Joe, Liv was attacked by a man after a case she went home and he was in her apartment the guy was named William Lewis and he held her hostage for 4 days with no food and water she was tortured and watched a few people die and be raped during her ordeal. Then the guy escaped prison and made her play Russian roulette with him before he killed himself. This man haunts her to this day. She still goes to therapy over it. Joe says oh I had no idea I'm so sorry. I tell him you should be apologizing to her, not me she is your boss.

Kate Beckett-Castle: pov we had no murders today which is great Castle is at home writing he is stopping by later with Lunch. Around noon Castle shows up with some amazing chinese food. Lanie said she was thinking about Chinese food last night and almost ordered it for dinner once we were done eating. Me and the boys get back to our paperwork. Which Castle does not help at all with. He went back home. In the women's room while I'm in the stall I hear 2 girls talking. The one says I hear the Captain has a heart condition. I bet you 50 bucks I can make her drop. The other girl says how are you going to do that. I thought only old people have heart issues. The first girl says it's going to be epic and she will never see it coming. The second girl says maybe we can give her too much caffeine. The first girl says no, I can put a fake spider in her office, maybe that will get her to drop. If that does not work I will jump out at her. They had no idea I was listening in on their conversation. I walk out of the stall and say by the way the Captain is not afraid of spiders. They are so shocked that they have been busted. I make sure to write them up for this. Ryan and Esposito suggest the best way for them to learn a lesson. The day feels like it's been dragging on forever.

Castle: pov Back at the loft Kate tells me about what happened in the bathroom. I'm very angry about it and say they should be punished because they knew it was wrong but still planned to go on with the idea. I'm making a healthy version of hamburgers for us. Martha and Alexis are also home. While we ate Alexis talked about school and how it was going and about the plans she has with some friends later this week. Mother mentioned her acting school is rehearsing for an upcoming play. After dinner everyone does their own thing. Mother is reading lines, Alexis is studying for a test and Kate is in bed. While I get some writing done she is exhausted. To be continued. …..

#castle #caskett #katebeckett #richardcastle #tvshow #flashpoint #sambraddock #jam #julescallaghan #lawandordersvu #amandarollins #oliviabenson #fin #joe #javierespisito #kevinryan

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thestarsanctuary · 3 years

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KAKEGURUI X READER WHERE THE READER IS THIS SHY UWU AND PEOPLE KEEP TRYING TO GAMBLE WITH HER AND EACH GIRL GETS DEFENSIVE AND PROTECC PLEASEEE

Okay so I’m legit not sure if this was supposed to be a one shot or platonic or romantic or what because it’s literally so vague and I’m not that smart sometimes so I just did a one-shot to the best of my ability, I’ve never actually done one before so...I will try my best :)

KAKEGURUI X READER - EVADING THE GAMBELING

Pronouns - She/Her (that’s what the request person used)

Was today meant to be some sort of special event? It seemed that way because for some reason wherever you went there was somebody trying to gamble. Somebody trying to grab your hand and pull you into what you would consider to be- a death trap. You weren’t good at gambling, but you never had to be. The most skillful girls in the school always protected you and played for you.

A nickname sprouted from that, and it was that you were their guarded princess. Maybe that’s what made people want to gamble so much with you. The aura surrounding you was untouchable. And today that aura was being enforced roughly with little to no room for error.

It was 9am. You were already rubbing your eyes and yawning after only being in class for 20 minutes. Yumeko sat beside you glancing at you every few seconds with the occasional giggle. You would always try and sneak a glance but quickly looked away, your eyes darting to whatever thing you could find. Your shy mannerisms were Yumeko’s favorite things about you. The way you steered away from what she gravitated towards made her love you even more. You were unique.

After class you quickly grabbed your things only to be stopped by another girl in your class you had never even talked to. As quickly as she grabbed your hand you snatched it back, with an immediate apology.

“Sorry! Um..what did you need?” You asked trying not to seem mean. You couldn’t help it though, you just wanted to be anywhere else.

“Oh! I just thought we could gamble! I’ve been dying to try and play you~” she requested with a soft tone. It almost felt fake. But something felt very real. And that was the yank on your sleeve. You turned around and saw Yumeko looking at the other girl with a smile.

“Hi, she’s actually quite busy! With me.” Yumeko spoke with a hint of aggression in her voice. Her eyes glowing with something you hadn’t seen before. It was almost...primal.

“Oh...are you two going to gamble?” She asked as if it was any of her business. In your mind you were so outgoing, and you were a lot better. However in this situation you just stood there. Awkwardly shifting your feet as the two seemed to stare each other down.

“Ah no, we’re going to go to see the President!” Yumeko said as you looked at her quickly. Was she being serious? You couldn’t tell.

“O-oh! I will let you get to it then...bye!” She squeaked and hurried off to join a random group of girls who seemed to go find somebody else to have their fun with.

As she had said Yumeko did take you to the President but she had to go to her next class. She explained to Kirari that people were being too much for you, and you needed a break. Whether you did or didn’t wasn’t the matter at hand. It was that people didn’t know their place with you. Underneath you. So you kept your mouth shut and sat beside Kirari as she held a meeting with the rest of the crew.

As the meeting went on you could feel Kirari grab your hand and give it comforting touches and she even at one point...patted your head? You didn’t know if it was because she wanted to show you off (for whatever reason she likes to do that.) Or because she generally thought you were overwhelmed but you didn’t mind. In fact, you had loved it. Quickly however, you had to go to your next class as you couldn’t miss two in a row and expect to be okay with all that work once you got home.

“Sorry Kirari, I have to go.” You whispered as she listened to Midari talk about how she misses a thrill once again.

“Alright darling but be safe. Actually, Midari.” She announces sternly making you jump from the sudden change in tone.

“Yea? What did you need president?” She said with a bit of teasing in her tone of voice, as per usual.

“Take her to her classe, too many commoners think they can gable with her.” Kirari ordered and Midari’s eyes glowed. She enjoyed teasing you any way she could because your reactions were always the cutest to her.

“Will do! Come on sweet thing~” she purred as she grabbed your hand and dragged you out of the room. It was like rush hour in that hallway but somehow you were still stopped even with Midari by your side.

“Hey, you wanna come gamble? I need a new house pet and you seem like the perfect one” Some boy said and you could tell it was meant to be an insult based on the boys in the background laughing at you like some tourist attraction. Midari immediately stepped beside you, grabbing your waist.

“Sorry boys, she’s with me today. If you’d like to gamble, you could come with me and a bit of Russian roulette could be in order?! Who knows, maybe one of your pretty little brains will splatter~” Midari pondered, with a blush prominent on her cheeks. The boys immediately grimaced at her.

“Oh great it’s miss freak. No thanks we’re good” The main one rolled his eyes as him and his crew of students walked away.

“Thank you, that wasn’t something you had to do y’know?” You said, trying to emphasize that it was really nice of her to do it by choice.

“No problem sweet thing, besides, I don’t like Russian roulette on it’s own, it’s boring.” She says and you laugh as she smiles at you. And after she finally takes you to her class you are filled with thoughts on how lucky you are to be able to have such a great group of people to help you in such a school.

What a great day for the guarded princess.

FIN.

this is rly short and probably not good but it was kinda just going to keep repeating and be really boring because it wasn’t that specific but thank you for the request and I hope you enjoy it even a little~~~

- SS <3

#kakegurui midari #kakegurui x reader #kakegurui x y/n #yumeko x reader #yumeko jabami #jabami yumeko #midari x reader #kakegurui #kirari x reader

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abbacchiosbelt · 3 years

Text

If It Bleeds | Yandere Mahito x GN Reader

CW: Yandere character, guns, manipulative behavior, mild not sfw content. 18+.

Word Count: 2.1k

The air in your house hadn’t felt the same since he’d wormed in his way inside - his disgusting aura clung to the walls like poison, inescapable and silently killing you. It’s nearly unbearable when he’s there himself, grinning as he watches your every move. Hiding is impossible from someone like him. He can slip through every crack, move through every wall. And so you’re stuck with him until he decides he’s had enough of you, the expiration date on your life ticking down day by day.

It’s all a game for Mahito.

Today, you’re awoken by the sound of his voice calling out your name, sing-songy and taunting. There’s no point in ignoring him - if you did, he’d drag you out of bed himself. Or worse, he’d climb under the sheets and wrap his unnaturally cold body around you, laughing all the while at your discomfort. With a quiet groan, you push the sheets off yourself and climb out of bed. Mahito calls out again, an edge of irritation in his voice.

“Coming,” you call back, stifling a yawn as you slide your feet into slippers and make your way out of your room. As you expected, he’s sitting at your small kitchen table. His long, blue hair is still tied into a loose braid that he’d forced you to do the night before. The soft groans he’d made as you brushed his hair and carefully threaded it into a braid were burned into your subconscious, the slight tinge in your lower stomach they awakened making you feel disgusted. It was one of the few things in your ‘relationship’ with Mahito that had seemingly gone unnoticed by the cursed spirit, though you’re sure he’d bring it up to taunt you at some point.

Mahito’s black shirt slides off his shoulder when he raises a hand in greeting to you like he was a friend who had just popped in. The strange smell that followed him — cloyingly sweet with the scent of rot under the surface — invades your nostrils the second you sit down in the seat beside him. Mahito leans forward and smiles, one of his hands coming up to brush your hair behind your ear. You shudder at his chilling touch, and he sighs.

“Humans are so touchy. You should be used to that by now, you know?” He rolls his eyes and sits back, staring at you for a moment before his eyes light up. “I’ve got something that’ll cheer you up. I’ve been doing some research.” Mahito leans to the side and drags a bag (one of yours, you note with annoyance) onto the table, unzipping the top. “Go ahead, pull out your surprise.”

A surprise.

You blanche, giving him a wary look. He laughs, his expression mirthful. “Ah, you don’t trust me, do you? Fine, fine. I’ll get it out for you.” Mahito reaches his hand in the bag and wastes no time pulling out your ‘surprise’, his lips curling into a sadistic smirk as he points the object at you. A silver, shiny gun is pointed straight at the middle of your forehead, the entity behind the trigger unpredictable.

You scramble out of the chair and Mahito is on top of you before you can run, his legs wrapped around your hips as he smiles down at you with the gun still in his hand. “You’re scared? You think someone like me would kill you with something as boring as this?” Mahito laughs, tilting his head towards the ceiling as he cackles. His mouth splits into an unnaturally wide grin when he finally looks back down at you. “I told you this was a present. I read something about what humans do for fun and thought I could give you a chance to play for once. This relationship is uneven, after all.”

Mahito doesn’t move from his position on top of you, even as you struggle with your full strength. The fact that he doesn’t even budge sends a wave of panic to your heart, the organ pounding against your chest so loud that you can’t even hear yourself think.

“M-mahito, let me up,” You grunt. Mahito tilts his head to one side, the hand he was using to hold the gun going limp as he carelessly waves it around. Your eyes widen in fear. “Please...”

Mahito considers you for a moment before he gingerly gets up, placing the gun back on the kitchen table. “Only since you asked so nicely. If all humans had manners like you, I wouldn’t exist.” He sticks his tongue out at you, the motion childish. “Good thing they don’t! Now get up.”

You get back on your feet and Mahito points to the seat you were in earlier, indicating for you to sit down. You follow him, not wanting to be tackled to the ground again. Mahito sits back down in his chair as well, sliding the gun across the table to you. “Pick it up.”

The weapon’s sleek casing shines in the light of the sun starting to trail through your kitchen window. You swallow. “I’ve never... touched one of these before.”

“That’s okay.” Mahito licks his lips. “There’s a first time for everything, right? Humans love that saying.” He nudges the gun closer. “I do too. There’s so much to do in your world, yet you humans don’t spend enough time indulging yourselves. I’m giving you a chance.”

You have no idea what exactly he’s going to ask you to do; Mahito was unpredictable and dangerous, just like every cursed spirit you’d heard rumors of. You never truly believed that you’d encounter one, and yet here you were with one sitting in your kitchen like he was an old friend. Mahito raises his eyebrows at your silence and you finally reach forward to pick up the gun.

The heaviness of the weapon surprises you. You tilt it this way and that, minding to point it away from Mahito even though he hadn’t given you the same courtesy. You knew little about guns except for the cardinal rule of never pointing a gun at anything you weren’t planning on shooting. You lips start to feel dry as anxiety sets into your bones as if you knew the weapon had been used before as a killing tool. Of course Mahito would give you something that had been used to take lives - it’s likely he had given it to other humans he’d played with before. Bile rises in your throat and you swallow it back. Mahito watches your discomfort with lidded eyes, entranced.

“Don’t you want to know what I want you to do with it?” Mahito scoots his chair closer to yours. Without warning, he tugs your chair close so that the two of you are sitting knee to knee. Mahito leans in. “Press it to my forehead.”

“What?” You balk at his words. You’d be lying if you hadn’t thought about trying to get rid of him, but it was fruitless. A fantasy. Was he really going to let you kill him? No, there was no way... He was playing at something. Just another one of his sick games. He frowns at your hesitation and suddenly grabs your arms until he forcibly presses the gun against his forehead, ignoring how your hands were shaking. The frown on his face is immediately replaced with a smile once the cool metal is resting against his forehead.

“Now, now” he croons, his voice sounding much more affected than you’d ever heard it. It disgusts you - he’s getting off on this. “Put your finger on the trigger.” This time, Mahito is patient as he watches you struggle with the action, letting it slide when he notices you’re resting your finger against the side instead of curling it around the trigger. “We’re going to play a game.”

“A... a game?” You stutter. Your arms already feel heavy from the weapon, yet you know if you let them down you’ll be in for something even worse. He holds his hands, five fingers raised on his right hand and only one finger on his left. When you keep looking at him in confusion, he sighs and purses his lips before he starts explaining.

“Jeez, you really are innocent when it comes to guns, huh? Well, this makes it more fun.” He waves his fingers around. “This gun has six chambers, but only one bullet. I found out about it when I was researching guns. It’s fun and deadly, which means humans never want to play it.” He rolls his eyes. “But we can! It’s called Russian Roulette. Even if you shoot me, I won’t die.” Mahito practically pants as he speaks, and you don’t notice the way he shifts his legs.

“But... What if you did die? Then what?” You ask. Mahito smiles at you, patronizing.

“I won’t. But if you don’t play, I’ll play it instead. Your chances aren’t very good, wouldn’t you say?” Mahito’s lips turn down. “But I’d hate to do that so soon. You are my favorite plaything, after all.” Your heart seizes up in your chest as his words hit you - if you didn’t play along with him, he’d kill you. There was no other option. Even if he secretly planned on punishing you for playing, not playing would mean dying. What hit you harder was Mahito calling you his ‘favorite plaything’, the words making your stomach twist. There was truly no escape. You resign yourself to your fate.

“I... Okay, i-if you really want to play.” Mahito purrs out your name when he hears your response. That small, unwanted feeling in your stomach flares to life at his words. What was wrong with you? Being around the cursed spirit was eating at your psyche day by day. Mahito must have planned for it all along, forcing you to fall apart while he toyed with you. Suddenly, the game sounds like a good idea.

Mahito notices the change in your mood and his legs shift again, his grin nearly splitting apart his face. “Mmm, now we’re ready to play. I got the gun ready. We’re taking one shot today.” He bites his lip. “We can try more shots once you’ve got some practice in.” Mahito presses harder against the gun, his eyes flickering with something you couldn’t quite place. “Pull it.”

Your finger shakes as you curl it around the gun’s trigger, putting no pressure on it yet. Mahito watches you with unrestrained glee. Without time to really think about it, you press down on the trigger and clench your eyes shut.

A click, and nothing else. Mahito laughs, and you reluctantly open your eyes. Your drop your arms in exhaustion and let the gun clatter to the floor, not caring about the danger. Mahito is practically howling with laughter as he watches you, his eyes boring holes into you as he watches you let out the breath you were holding. You sit and stare past him until his laughter fades out, your heart pounding in your chest.

He stands from his chair and drags you up against his body, groaning in delight. There’s a hardness against your thigh, wet and leaking, that you don’t want to think about. Mahito grabs your chin with his hands, forcing you to look at him as one of his arms keeps you pressed close to his body.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it? It’s too bad you lost, but I’m glad we had this experience together.” His breath fans against your face and you wince, the smell having no descriptor that would be fitting other than death. Mahito holds you for a few more seconds before he steps back, a lopsided too-big smile on his face. “See how much fun it is when you’re allowed to indulge yourself?”

Mahito ignores your blank expression, stretching his arms above his head as he peers out one of your windows. “I’d love to play some more, but I’ve got some things to take care of today.” He takes a step toward you, and you step back. He advances until he has you pushed against a wall. “You should be nicer to me. I’ve been generous towards you.”

Mahito leans in and presses a chaste kiss against your cheek, laughing at the startled look on your face. “We took a new step in our relationship today. I had to make sure you knew how much it means to me.” He abruptly steps away and starts to fade before your eyes, waving as his form shudders out of this dimension. “I decided something,” his voice whispers, directly against your ear. You can no longer see him, but you can feel an overwhelming presence surrounding your body.

“I think I’ll be keeping you around for a long, long time.”

#my writing #jujutsu kaisen #mahito #mahito x reader #gender neutral reader #yandere mahito #yandere cw #guns cw #manipulative behavior cw #jjk mahito #jjk #mild not sfw content

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heyitsmerose · 3 years

Text

Russian Roulette | Mafia!Seonghwa

Pairing: Mafia!Seonghwa x Assassin/Sniper!Reader

Genre: Angst, Mafia!

Word Count: 11.2k

Summary: A part of the infamous Park gang, your life is never short of crazy. You've never met the man himself, but tonight something is different. He accompanies the rest of the gang to one of your usual Friday night outs. It all goes south however, as you discover the night doesn't turn out as it's supposed to, a dangerous obstacle in your way. You are forced to pick between the lives of your boss, your best friends and young boy in a menacing game of Russian Roulette.

Warnings/Disclaimer: I am aware the Mafia life is nothing like I am portraying it. It is definitely not full of attractive, young, single people and many nasty/dirty things happen behind the scenes. Furthermore this is quite a serious topic as some people lose their lives over this. I will not be portraying the reality of mafia gangs, instead just an idealised version (thus remember, none of this is real). That being said, a little imagination and creativity never hurt anyone did it? Also this is my second SeonghwaxMafia fic oops.

Blood + Wounds

Mafia + Gangs

Guns + Weapons

Underage Drinking + Assault

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Youtube Playlist

1:55 ───|────── 4:45

|◁ II ▷| *I've spent a few weeks on this, I'm sorry if there are spelling errors, I've read the entire thing maybe 5-6 times.

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Friday. 6 pm. After-work hours. What were you doing? What every other normal friend group would do; go to the nearby bar to relax. Except you weren't normal. You and 14 or so others in the bar at the moment, had a dirty secret. You were a part of a gang, a mafia gang to be exact. In all honesty, unlike the movies or stories that had portrayed them, the public rarely knew about mafia gangs, let alone knew if they existed. You could roam around freely without the need to worry about someone recognizing you. No one would know that such a pretty face hid such a dark secret.

Besides, this was your lifestyle now. You knew the gang was political and focused on some power struggle but you couldn't care less. Frankly, the only reason you joined the gang was that you were broke. You were introduced to it after you stumbled into this exact bar at the age of 16, wanting to become a bartender as you knew it paid well. You tried applying for the job but it turned out you were underage and couldn't work at the bar yet. While you were slapped by reality, however, someone was watching your every move. She was young too, maybe 15 or 16 and she had noticed you the moment you entered the bar/club. Not too many new people came along so she was intrigued. Immediately when she sensed your aura and your personality, she knew you'd fit in well with the gang.

She noticed how confidently you carried yourself and noticed your dark fashion choice. She stared as you made your way to the counter, swaying your hips as you got the attention of the bartender. The way, you leaned against the counter cooly, your lips parted slightly as you waited for a response. As she kept looking at you you looked back, feeling someone glare holes into the back of your skull. You noticed a young girl, hair a burgundy color with full black clothes. She smiled at you softly and you only raised your eyebrows before rolling your eyes and averting eye contact. What a badass personality you had. Perfect.

Despite really wanting a friend in the gang, and wanting to recommend you to the boss, she couldn't. Alas, she was only a young hacker and her position was not too significant. What she didn't expect was for you to come up to the group yourself, and introduce yourself. You got your response from the manager, and it was not one you were too happy with, you scoffed and turned on your heel, looking for a way to better your situation and rotten mood. She picked up her drink and gulped it down after you looked away. She looked back at you and you were gone. Her eyes widened as she sighed. She knew you'd get along but she was never going to see you again. The last thing she expected was to hear a voice from near the central table.

"Listen up people. Is this some sort of badass, thug gig? Are yall hiring? Can I be a part of this?" You announced. She spat out her drink and choked, hearing your words. Not only were you an outsider intruding on their business, but you had also shamed the gang in front of the underboss, one of the people present there.

Being somewhat new herself, She got nervous thinking of the consequences you'd face for messing with the mafia world. She heard a deep chuckle from behind her, somewhere and chills ran down her spine.

"Actually, we do have an opening" One of the taller males whispered in a low voice. At this point, no one could tell if he was being serious or whether he just wanted to chop your head off. She gripped her drink harder and stared at both of you. She noticed it was none other than the boss's right-hand man and most trusted member, the underboss, San. Should anything happen to the boss, the gang would be given to San.

You twirled a piece of your hair in between your fingers as you smiled back. You weren't intimidated. Besides, he looked no more than around 5 years older than you. You stepped closer, staring into his sparkling, yet cold brown eyes. You noticed how his hand gravitated dangerously close to your personal space and you were slightly more alert. Through the corner of your eye, you noticed how his hand was moving closer to your waist but none of you broke eye contact. Before his hand made contact with your waist, you grabbed his wrist. The hand that was twirling the piece of hair swiftly snapped down, grabbing his wrist tightly. His eyes widened and he tried pulling away gently while you kept the firm grip, not breaking eye contact. The others around you gasped but you kept glaring at him while he had an amused smirk on his face.

"What kind of opening?" You gritted out. Sure, you were desperate, but you weren't going to let people throw you around and use you. Your eyebrows furrowed as you tried to assert dominance but he just looked at you and tilted his head. A smile broke out on his face, a genuine one this time. You loosened your grip, letting go of him, still a little cautious as he simply massaged his wrist, still maintaining a smile on his face.

"I think you'll like it more than you think"

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Although you had originally joined because you needed money. You found that this lifestyle had fit you more than you thought. You enjoyed the thrill and you couldn't imagine yourself working anywhere else. It had been around 5 years since you joined and you were now 21. Meanwhile, the burgundy-haired girl, Ashe, became your best friend and you even lived together. The bond you shared was to die for, you loved each other to bits but also were each other's biggest supporters. You maintained your bitchy persona and starting rubbing off on Ashe too. Soon, she also developed a colder more confident aura. You were with her through thick and thin. Your position now was a spy and secondary shooter. Despite shooting not being your main pursuit, out of the gang, you were one of the most skilled in using them. Some even compared you to the boss, but you shrugged them off. San was for sure the best shooter out of the entire gang though.

Surprisingly, San, the underboss, who you found was 22 at the time was now 27. You had developed a close bond. Your relationship consisted of a lot of teasing and inside jokes as well as a lot of protectiveness from San. Although your relation started rough, it slowly transitioned from mean comments to teasing names and now playful banter. You had a sibling relationship and he was like the brother you never had. You both were the best with guns in your entire gang so you bonded quite a lot as you spent a lot of time training and practicing together. Not to mention when you'd both geek out over specific new models that were brought into the weaponry.

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Back to the present, you were at the usual bar. After joining the gang, you quickly realized that this was the go-to spot for after-work hours. It wasn't mandatory to come here, but it was kind of a tradition every Friday to come and just let loose for a bit. Most of the gang was here and it was usually the same people every time. Today though, something was different. The boss had come in. To outsiders it would seem casual, as if a normal friend group was getting wasted, to everyone in the gang though, you knew that was far from the truth.

The boss had never come with you guys, and although it was after working hours, you all couldn't help but be on your best behavior. He had often heard that his gang members would meet up after work on a friendly basis and he wanted to know what this was about. He heard San talking about it during work once and was intrigued ever since. Thus, here you were... here he was... along with the 14 or so others who usually came to the bar.

To be completely honest, coming to the bar was your favorite part of your job, scratch that, your entire week. You looked forward to it all week and when it finally came you let loose. It was a known fact that you and San were the crazy daredevils of the group. You both had absolutely no fear or shame in the things you did. Today though, you both had tried to be on your best behavior. Despite being his right-hand man, San was still a little intimidated by Seonghwa and you often used to playfully gossip about him, so you both made sure to behave today, or at least tried...

Seonghwa stuck out like a sore thumb. It was clear no one was expecting him to come, and to be honest, nobody wanted him to come either. He was leaning against a counter, eyes scanning the crowd carefully while sipping a rather small glass of whiskey. Typical Seonghwa, being cautious and defensive even off the job. You hadn't had too many personal encounters with Seonghwa, you had just seen him around a bunch.

Meanwhile, although you and San had agreed to tone it down a bit, you couldn't help it. Drunk was an understatement. You rushed over to the front as soon as the adrenaline hit you and had roughly shoved some people off the raised platform of the dance floor. You were shouting random lyrics into the crowd and hyping everyone up while pulling a few random strangers onto the stage. After swaying your hips a bunch and screaming song lyrics into strangers' faces, you realized this still wasn't enough. You staggered to the DJ and snatched one of the many mics and went back to the stage.

Acquired with a new toy to distract you, you began to get everyone's attention.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen" You slurred into the mic. By now, most of the gang members had gotten used to your crazy shenanigans and didn't mind. Although many were initially afraid of San, you had defiantly changed him for the better. He finally found someone to match his energy and charisma and he let loose a little, finally free to show his true self. Everyone had gotten used to it at this point, but this was different, the boss was here.

Most of them immediately sobered up hearing your booming voice from the gigantic sound boxes. Ashe was hooking up with some random girl somewhere else, but as soon as she recognized it was you, she immediately began to look for you.

"How's everyone doing tonight? Are we having funn?" By now, you had gotten the attention of everyone in the bar, including Seonghwa. He looked at you with a dangerous gleam in his eyes, he recognized you. You were the little minx that caught his eye the day you joined the gang, you barely spoke to him, but he could sense the confident aura radiating from you.

The mic was roughly snatched from you, by one of the guys, you assumed was the manager, and you scoffed, rolling your eyes, walking towards the dance floor. He wasn't going to stop you, no one was. Since you had gotten everyone's attention, everyone's eyes were on you. You hopped over to the center of the dance floor, hair bouncing as you fully let go. You swayed your hips and ran your fingers through your hair.

You heard a few whistles and hollers around you and a bunch of hands touching your waist. At this point, you were too drunk to even react properly and just continued dancing, enjoying the attention. You hyped everyone up and began jumping to the beat, hair bouncing over your shoulders as you shook your head from side to side at the beat.

By now, you had caught Seonghwa's attention too, he was intrigued by your carefree persona outside work and admired your ability to separate your two lives. Meanwhile, Ashe had rushed to your side, trying to pull you away from everyone. Despite being drunk, her motherly instincts kicked in and she felt the need to protect you.

"Y/n, what are you doing? The boss is watching!" She practically yelled. You just gave her a disapproving look and pulled her into the middle of the circle.

"Asheeee, just let loose for one night, why are you always so uptight?" You slurred to her, caressing her waist. She gulped and looked back at your eyes. You raised your eyebrows and smirked, if only you knew the effect you had on her. As if on cue, the DJ played the worst song possible, a slow, sensual one.

You whispered the lyrics into her ear as you wrapped your arms around her neck. You caressed the back of her neck with your fingers and tugged on the smaller strands of hair in the back. You slowly started moving your waist to the rhythm as she tried steadying you, you were drunk, this was not okay. You pulled your hands away from her neck and caressed her cheeks in both of your hands, inching closer. You kept whispering the lyrics and she felt your warm breath on her lips. She was slowly gaining confidence and eventually grabbed your waist in her hands. You looked down at her hands and smirked. You brought one of the hands caressing her cheek to softly trace her bottom lip. You stared at her lips, inching closer and closer, warm breaths mixing.

All of a sudden you turned around, your back facing her, as she steadied you again. You began moving again, bending forwards purposely to rub against her. You swayed your waist and pushed backward. She knew what you were doing and slowly inched her hands downwards towards your ass. Although you were best friends, there was no doubt that there was some sexual tension between the two of you.

She began tracing patterns on your hips and butt as one hand remained on your waist. She felt around your waist, trailing patterns around your skimpy black dress until she felt a harder material near your chest and stomach. She blushed immediately not meaning to touch you there and placed her hand back on your waist. You chuckled as you ground against her harder, now definitely trying to start something. She lightly moaned as she gripped your hips, trying to pull you back up, she wouldn't be able to hold herself back for much longer like this.

"Goodness me, what have I walked upon here?"

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Way to ruin the moment Choi San...

Ashe froze upon hearing his voice. She immediately pulled her hands away from you and stepped back, a dark red blush now coating her features. Meanwhile, you were too drunk to think straight and simply frowned at the lack of contact, you were just about to get laid.

The second the others saw Ashe step away from you, random strangers started touching you again. One of them grabbed your waist, as another gripped your chin. You closed your eyes and continued moving to the beat and San sighed.

"I think that's enough, step aside before I make you" San huffed, a hint of frustration and anger at the end. Everyone obliged immediately upon sensing his dominating aura and you were once again alone. You sighed, eyebrows furrowing as you looked around, most of the people around you had moved away. You stumbled slightly and tried stabilizing yourself, only to fail miserably and almost fall over.

San rushed over and held you by your shoulders to steady you.

"Why hello there, handsome man" You sloppily winked at San and he rolled his eyes.

"Y/n what on earth are you doing? You made quite the scene just then..."

"I was having fun... you're such a killjoy, Saniee." You slurred, sticking your pointer finger into his chest. He simply pushed your finger away, trying to be strict with you.

"Yeah, your definition of fun being screaming lyrics into the mic nearly deafening everyone, throwing yourself at random people, grinding on Ashe and almost kissing her, and practically falling on the floor and eating shit" He was frustrated, but he couldn't help but feel protective over you. Despite scolding you, he still had an arm around your waist, looking deeply into your eyes, hand on your back, holding you up so you didn't fall. It was subtle things like this that showed that he deeply cared and under his strictness, he was just a big softie.

"I- I what?" You sighed trying to step away, now that he was recalling the events it started setting in.

"Yeah, how about we sober up, hmm?" He asked and you nodded as he dragged you back to the counter. You looked back one last time, only to see Ashe looking at you with heartbroken eyes. You looked away feeling guilty as tears glimmered in her eyes. To you it was just a bit of fun, to her it meant the world. Even just a few minutes where you seemed interested in her made her feel special. Deep down, you knew she might have liked you, so why did you lead her on and rub yourself against her?

You sighed shakily feeling immensely guilty. San looked down at you, as he noticed tears falling down your eyes.

"Aren't you a mess?" He chuckled and you breathed out shakily

"Shut up san" Your voice broke as you softly spoke. His eyes widened and he sat you down on a barstool.

"Why are you crying, what's wrong?" He asked as he rubbed under your eyes with his thumbs, gripping your jaw with one hand.

"I might have ruined my friendship with Ashe," You said softly and he sighed.

"Why would you think that?" He said, looking into your eyes as you tried averting eye contact.

"Deep down, I had a feeling she liked me, and I made things worse by leading her on. I rubbed myself on her like an idiot and I fucking led her on, gosh I'm such a bad friend!" Your voice cracked as San 'hmmed in understanding.

"Well, why did you do that?" He asked as he gripped your chin making you look back at him.

"I- I... I was drunk, I AM drunk." You clarified, stuttering a bit.

"No you're not," He said matter-of-factly. You raised your eyebrows in confusion as you urged him to continue.

"Y/n, I've known you for more than 5 years now, I've seen you drunk over a million times, I can tell when you're actually drunk... You may have fooled the others, but not me. Here's the real question, why the fuck are you pretending to be drunk?" He asked all of a sudden and you felt vulnerable.

It was crazy how he could read you like an open book. Your eyes widened as you tried looking away, there was no point in continuing the charade at this point. He looked back at you expectantly and sighed, as he saw you getting nervous.

"It's alright, I don't think anyone else noticed either, now please tell me what's wrong?" He said in a soft tone as you sighed.

"I can't tell you San," You said looking back into his eyes.

"Why? We aren't on duty, why are you being so secretive? Especially with me?" He specified the word 'me'. It was true, you usually never kept anything from each other so this was a bit weird.

"I just can't tell you I'm sorry" You sighed, tugging on the roots of your hair, as your hands gripped your scalp. He just sighed in understanding and got up. As he was about to leave, your hand snapped back and you gripped his forearm.

"I'm sorry San, but I can't help it. One more thing, don't you dare tell anyone." Your voice dropped an octave lower and he gulped, he had never seen you so serious before.

"Act as if you know nothing, I'm sorry it has to be this way, but just carry on with whatever you were doing and please stay out of my business just for today." His eyes bore into yours dangerously but you didn't back down. You had never commanded him before, so this must have been serious. He eventually realized it must have been something important and walked away, but not before scoffing at you.

You sighed and looked down, feet dangling over the barstool. That was close. With your cover now blown and known to San, you had to be a little more careful now. You were glad no one else had figured out though, not even your best friend Ashe. Your thoughts went back to Ashe and you felt incredibly guilty. How stupid you were, willing to throw away your friendship of 5 years, your only real friendship just to put on an act and sell your drunk state. Pathetic. You sighed as you looked back to where you were a couple of minutes ago. Although you felt immensely guilty, you couldn't help it, it was a part of your act.

Trying to go back to what you were doing, you eyed a few of the people at the bar. Although you had to act drunk, actually drinking was off-limits for today. You ordered a sparkling lemonade for yourself while looking around. Meanwhile, your eyes caught on Seonghwa. He was leaning against a counter, head leaning back. his eyes were closed and his soft bangs fell over his forehead. He brought his drink up to his lips and took a small sip. As he swallowed you saw how his adam's apple bopped up and you gulped feeling giddy inside. You tried shaking yourself out of it, but when he placed his drink aside and ran his hand through his soft, black hair, you almost lost it. You could barely see the sheen of sweat coating his forehead as he brushed his fingers through his hair.

Luckily for you, you were interrupted by the bartender bringing over your drink, and you looked away embarrassed. You shook your head to get rid of any weird thoughts or feelings as you were sure you were practically drooling. Without looking, you brought the glass to your lips to have a sip. Just as you were about to take a sip though, you caught a whiff of a rather familiar smell. You pulled the glass away from your lips and looked questioningly at the bartender.

He just looked the other way and raised his eyebrows, ushering you to follow his gaze. As you did, you found a well-built, tall, brown-haired man staring back at you. You looked back at your drink and swirled it around a bit. You noticed that it was an alcoholic drink and there were some undissolved white particles at the bottom of the cup. You looked back up at him and he simply winked at you, smirking. Pathetic. He just tried to fucking drug you and thought you'd fall for it.

You smirked realizing your act worked and he actually thought you were drunk. You tried to cover up your discomfort and simply flashed him a lop-sided smile. You turned around, tilting your head back and lifting your hand to your mouth, acting as if you had just downed the drink. You sneakily slid the drink over the counter into some far corner, so no one would notice. You messed up your hair slightly before turning back around to catch his attention to further solidify your act. As soon as you turned back around to look at the guy though, you noticed he was gone. You furrowed your eyebrows and looked around, trying to find him.

"Looking for me, honey?" You heard someone sensually whisper into your ear from the side. Chills ran down your spine, but you tried to cover up your discomfort and disgust. You turned to him, looking him in the eyes, making sure to look a little droopy before calling out to him.

"Hi~" You slurred, making sure to breathe out so your warm breath hit his face. His eyes immediately rolled in pleasure, jaw-dropping as he took in your sexy aura. You almost scrunched your face in disgust but clenched your jaw to stop your reflexes. He opened his eyes again and inched closer to your face as he spoke again.

"You're so gorgeous, damn, how have I never noticed you?" He said, his breath hitting your face. Your nose scrunched as you smelled the alcohol in his breath. Luckily he thought you were just reacting to his compliment. More importantly, however, you confirmed he was drunk... Perfect. He would most likely let down his guard so you had a solid chance at executing your plan. He also revealed that he was a regular at the bar, another important piece of information you needed to confirm your suspicions.

You giggled as your hand slowly trailed up his chest. You rested your hand firmly on his chest as you tried to push yourself further into him. He hummed and trailed a hand down to your waist. Although you didn't want his hands all over you, it was inevitably a part of the job, so you tried your best to just power through it and ignore it.

He leaned in closer until his bangs fell over your forehead. He secured his hands around your waist and held you tight. You flinched from the roughness and tried squirming around to loosen, his grip but he didn't budge. Soon a hand trailed to the side of your hip and you knew where this was going. You sighed and looked down at his hand. Normally, you would have instantly pushed him away, but this mission was far more important than how you were feeling at the moment.

He rested his hand near the dip of your waist, right above your hip, testing the waters. Remembering that you needed to act drowsy, you looked back up at him, your eyes fluttering as you smiled one last time, before falling limp in his arms. You heard him grunt as he easily threw you over his shoulder. Although this should have seemed like a major red flag to anyone around you, people weren't paying attention and they probably didn't care either. You internally whined at the situation you were in and slyly looked around, he was walking towards the back of the club, near the backrooms. You wiggled around a bit in his arms and he resorted to pressing a hand against your ass. You moved around slightly, still acting as if you were drugged, trying to get his hand off you, you couldn't directly push it off as he'd know something was up.

"Where are we goingg" You slurred, trying to indicate you were still conscious.

"Don't worry about that, honey" He whispered, smacking your ass. What a pathetic sick fuck he was. You groaned at the impact, bracing yourself for what was to come next.

Meanwhile, Seonghwa was simply looking around, observing his surroundings and being cautious as usual, when he noticed a man carrying one of the ladies into the backrooms. He knew she was unconscious, most likely drugged and being taken into the room against her will. It seemed as though the people around them didn't even care. He looked a little more closely and noticed what she was wearing. A bodycon black dress up till her thighs, with studded embellishments on the waistline and straps. It was you. He has seen you around the headquarters, tagging behind San all the time.

"Y/n?" He whispered, beginning to get a little angry, it was one thing to mistreat a woman and force yourself on her, but it was another to mess with a member of his gang. He saw how you were thrown over his shoulder, head hanging upside down, hair cascading down halfway to the floor. He huffed in anger, looking around for backup, ready to stop him, but when he saw the man smack your ass and feel up your dress, he lost it. He smashed his glass of whiskey onto the nearest counter, glass shattering as he did so.

He immediately pushed past the people around him, trying to get to you. His head tilted slightly down, eyes locked on his target, a few meters ahead. He looked psychopathic in all honesty. His bangs covered his forehead and eyes slightly. With his head tilted down, he was able to cover up his deadly eyes and killer expression. He couldn't care less about the people around him at that moment, his only concern was teaching that guy a lesson for messing with his gang.

He pushed past some people, shoving a couple of guys on the way until he was about halfway there. He was ready to just fully commit and barge across another load of people before he was interrupted.

"Uhh Hwa? What are you doing? Why do you look like you're about to kill someone?" He heard someone next to him say. He whipped his head to the side, ready to punch whoever it was that came in his way, before realizing it was San

"Because that's exactly what I was about to do, before you came in my way, now move." San shivered at his tone. Never had Seonghwa ever commanded San in such a way. Sure Seonghwa had been angry a lot in the past, but his frustration this time seemed more emotionally fuelled.

"No, no, no, that isn't a good idea, how about we think about this for a secon-"

"I SAID MOVE! Can't you hear me?" Seonghwa growled as San violently flinched at his loud tone.

"Why what's so urgent, is everything alright?" San inquired, straightening his clothes a bit, and regaining his composure.

"I'm not obligated to tell you that" Seonghwa finally said, before shoving San out of the way and walking towards the direction the man was walking before. What he didn't realize though, was that in the time it took him to talk to San, the man had seemingly disappeared.

"What's wrong?" A voice from beside broke him out of his thoughts.

"Look what you've done, I lost the man now" Seonghwa replied, massaging his temple, trying to calm his frustration.

"What man?"

"Someone threw the girl- Y/n over his shoulder and took her to one of the back rooms" He claimed, gripping the bridge of his nose in annoyance. San's eyes widened and he gasped. He knew you were up to something tonight but was this a part of your plan?

"What?" Was the only thing he could muster. He wanted to ask why, where, and how you even got in that situation, but he was too stunned.

"Not only that, he had the guts to slip his hand under her dress and feel her up, not to mention inappropriately grab her and spank her" He sighed, beginning to look around again. San gasped and immediately began frantically looking.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier" He panicked, looking around, running towards the backrooms trying to find you. He didn't doubt that you could defend yourself, but what if someone did drug you. He knew you knew better than to accept drinks from strangers and were always cautious, but he couldn't help but worry. His breath quickened and he began pacing around frantically.

"Calm down, we'll find her" He felt a pat on his shoulder, reassuring him. He let out a sigh, before nodding and continuing to look around.

"Why does this girl mean so much to you anyway?" Seonghwa dared to question, voice slightly laced with a negative tone. Was he shaming him, threatening him, genuinely curious, or maybe even slightly jealous of the way you were able to bond so easily?

"You don't even know the half of it."

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Meanwhile, the man had dragged you into one of the rooms in the back, locking it before, dropping you on the bed. Your legs dangled off the bed as he slowly approached you. He unfastened his belt and slowly pulled it through the belt loops. Through the corner of your vision, you were able to see exactly what he was doing and you knew where this was going.

He dropped the belt and slowly climbed on the bed, hovering over your legs. Meanwhile, your fists clenched unconsciously, head slowly turning away from him as he approached you. You really didn't want to do this, but you had no other choice. You had to keep him occupied for another hour or so and you had no clue how else to. You couldn't poison him or knock him out as you had no clue what tracking devices he could have had on him. Your jaw tightened and your hands unconsciously gripped at his shirt, subtly trying to push him away. Feeling some rustling from underneath, he looked down at your hands and noticed you pushing him away.

"Aw, honey there's no need to be scared" He whispered and you internally sighed.

"I never got your name, by the way, I bet a pretty face like this has a pretty name too..." He whispered into your ear from above.

"Y/n" You weakly grumbled.

"Yours?" You dared to question him back.

"Jungwoon, but I doubt you'll remember it tomorrow," He said, caressing your face. You sighed and realized he was right, you had to act as nothing had happened.

You shouldn't be able to even remember that his name was Jungwoo- Wait. His name is Jungwoon. Jungwoon? That wasn't the name you were told earlier when you were informed of the mission. Unless you got the wrong person... Your eyebrows furrowed unintentionally as you tried processing the information.

"Why? surprised honey? I'm second in line to the Kwon empire, brother of the infamous mafia boss, CJ Kwon" He said snickering a little. What an idiot, he just admitted his identity and now you confirmed your suspicions. You got the wrong fucking person.

You scoffed realizing your mistake, and he simply looked at you, confused. You shoved your knee in his groin, as you lifted yourself upright. He flew backward slightly at the impact, feet back on the ground as he tried regaining his composure.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? How aren't you out?" He questioned, still bent over, clutching his sensitive area. You just ignored him, standing up and tilting your head to the side, trying to figure out what you were going to do. The whole reason you couldn't knock him out was because of any tracking devices he might have had. Now knowing he was the son of a big Mafia empire, you had to be careful.

"Okay I mean no harm, I don't want to hurt. You're a trash person, but I still don't want to get into any trouble, so if you could excuse me" You raised your hands, trying to get out of the room as soon as possible. He made it quite difficult for you though, as he pulled out a gun from one of his back pockets, aiming it at you.

"Absolutely not! You're a crazy lady and you attacked me, I can't let you go" He aimed the gun right at your chest as you raised your hands above your head. You slowly started walking towards him, but he cut you off.

"Don't come any closer!" He gripped the gun harder, finger on the trigger. You examined his posture and the way he was holding a gun, for some indicator or weak spot. You looked at his fingers and then the gun. Aha!

"You leave me with no choice, I wasn't going to hurt you, but seeing as you're literally pointing a gun at me, I can't help it." You sighed, hands dropping to your waist, as you looked him dead in the eye.

"I'm gonna shoot you first, you crazy bitch." He huffed, readjusting his stance, now aiming the gun at your head.

"You see, the gun you're holding is a Kahr MK9-1, so the ejection port is visible. It isn't pushed back completely, meaning the gun is unloaded. Furthermore, the magazine release is triggered, meaning there aren't any bullets loaded either." You sighed, pressing your temples. His eyes widened as he pulled the trigger, only for a soft click to be heard. He removed the magazine, inspecting it, indeed, he forgot to load his gun.

"You're an idiot, you brought an unloaded gun, what good is that?" You scoffed, now walking towards him. You cracked your knuckles before raising an eyebrow at him. He backed up, a little scared of you now, you seemed to be well versed with guns and Mafias, you must have been a part of a gang. You were smaller than him, but we were aware that you could very well be capable of more.

"No, no, no, I'll let you go" He nervously said before gulping.

"Now what fun is that?" You said, tilting your head and snickering at him. He backed up into a corner of the room as you walked closer towards him.

"How does it feel huh?" You whispered as he looked down at you afraid for what was coming next.

"How does it feel to be backed into a corner? I bet it sucks, right? Well, that's what you've been doing to a bunch of innocent girls at the bar, so take this as a lesson before trying to pull something on anyone else next time." You sneered as he looked down at you blankly. His attitude and facial expressions were getting on your nerves so you decided to teach him a lesson.

You shoved your right arm into his jaw, with a clean uppercut. Shoving him backward as he stumbled, falling back into the wall behind him.

"Do you understand, you sick fuck?" You yelled as you grabbed the collar of his shirt. He nodded his head rapidly as he held his jaw in his hands. You just scoffed and left the room, head mildly aching from the idiot you just had to deal with.

As soon as you left the room, however, you remembered your mission. You panicked realizing you might have fucked up everything. You got the wrong person, meaning the real target was somewhere out there. You started brisk walking until you reached the main area, away from the backrooms. You fixed your hair quickly, trying to look for your target. Knowing what Jungwoon looked like, finding his brother, now shouldn't be too hard. You jogged through the crowd, looking around, scanning the place the best you could.

You looked back at the usual seating spot for your gang and realized it was practically empty. Your eyes widened as you quickly ran over to the seats there, looking for any familiar faces. You reached the area, noticing there were a few cigarette packets, vapes, and half-empty drink glasses, however no people in sight. You inspected the area, trying to look for any clues as to why and where they would have gone.

Sweat started collecting at the back of your neck, realizing this may have been your fault. It was your responsibility to occupy CJ tonight and you failed. What if he got to your gang? What if he had gotten to Seonghwa. You shakily sighed, a hand going up to your face to press your temples. You gulped dryly before thinking of a possible explanation. Your thoughts were cut short though, by a loud booming voice from behind you.

"Hands where I can see them bitch!"

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Meanwhile, Seonghwa and San were going crazy, trying to look for you. San was admittedly panicking more, while Seonghwa was mildly frustrated.

"Where is sheee?" San whined. By now he was starting to get genuinely worried. Of course, he believed you could take care of yourself, but the whole night you seemed extremely shady. You were hiding things from him and were pretending to be drunk. What if you got caught up in some dangerous schemes?

"Calm down, we'll find her, we just have to-" bang! Seonghwa started, only for him to be cut off by a loud bang. Both of them knew better, it was a gunshot. They exchanged knowing glances, before scurrying to their side of the bar. Although your safety was quite important too, it was Seonghwa's duty to make sure the rest of his gang was alright too.

With people screaming and running around, getting to where they wanted was a little harder. San roughly pushed through the crowd, while Seonghwa stayed a little more cautious, one hand clutching the gun in his back pocket.

"Move!" San roared at the passersby. His voice startled the people around, and they made way for them. San ran over to their usual corner, pulling a gun out of his pocket, firmly grasping it with both hands, holding it in front of him, remaining cautious. Meanwhile, Seonghwa, followed behind closely, running a hand through his hair, chains of his belt jingling as he paced around the area. San squinted, his gun still in front of him as he looked for the gang members. As soon as they reached their side of the club they realized what all the commotion was.

"Drop your weapon, let him go!" San yelled as he witnessed one of the members from an opposing gang hold a knife to one of the young spy's neck. He simply snickered, tightening his grip, the knife now cutting through the skin of his neck slightly as blood dripped down his neck. The young boy squirmed, only for the knife to dig deeper into his neck. He grunted, tears pooling in his eyes.

"What a fucking coward, going for the younger ones, eh?" Seonghwa growled, a dangerous yet playful tone to his voice. The growl was heard in his voice as it dropped in pitch and volume, deliberately trying to scare the man.

The man with the knife didn't budge, however, simply chuckling before, running the knife along the neck of the boy, cutting horizontally across his smooth skin. The boy cried, as his hands came up to grip the knife, only for him to feel lightheaded and nearly pass out. The rest of your gang members gasped, some even whimpering at the young boy's situation. The man with the knife looked back at your gang members as they looked helpless. They couldn't do anything, they knew if they did, he would cut the boy's neck cleanly in half. He looked back and deeply chuckled before refocussing his attention on the two men in front of him.

As he looked ahead though, he realized they were nowhere in sight. He looked around only to be greeted by a cold hard piece of metal pressing against the side of his head.

"I said let go" Seonghwa grumbled lowly, his voice deathly commanding and serious. The man gulped, looking at the gun pointed at his head, through the corner of his eyes. Before Seonghwa could fire his shot, however, a strong pungent smell spread across the room, he furrowed his eyebrows as he heard coughs and whimpers.

"Not so fast, Park" He heard someone snicker. He noticed how San, who was standing right in front of him, began to stumble, gripping onto a chair next to him. It must have been poison or some sort of toxic gas. Seonghwa felt the room spinning, his vision getting blurry as he looked around at his gang members coughing and clutching their stomachs.

"Cover your mouths and noses" He tried to warn them, only for it to come out as a bare whisper. He looked around, most of the members now passing out. He saw San, clutching his stomach, before looking up at him. His eyes fluttered as they got droopier. San simply grunted in pain before mumbling a soft 'sorry' and passing out, his head falling straight to the floor. Seonghwa felt helpless, he tried resisting it, but everything in his body burned. His throat burned and his ears rang.

He clutched his ears, a loud ringing noise making its way to his ears, overwhelming his senses. He let out a gasp, feeling breathless as his trachea burned. His eyes soon fluttered shut as he tried gripping onto the last strings of hope, before succumbing to the poison and passing out...

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"Hands where I can see them bitch!" A loud noise made its way to your ears. You slowly raised your hands as you slowly turned around. Behind you was probably your worst nightmare. Most of your gang members had passed out cold, behind the man. Some of them even tied up to chairs. San, Seonghwa, Ashe, and a young boy were tied to chairs, while the rest were still on the ground. You looked up at the man in shock, your eyebrows furrowing as your tried to process the situation. His face resembled Jungwoon's so there was only one logical explanation, this was his brother, CJ, the man you were after all along.

"Is this some sort of sick game to you?" You dared to question, walking closer to the man. He simply chuckled at you, firing the gun in your direction. It didn't seem as if he tried to kill you, although he aimed for the top of your shoulder, the bullet grazing your acromion. You screamed in pain, crouching down, your hand instantly flying to your shoulder. Albeit a mere flesh wound, it managed to dig quite deep, leaving a deep open would. Blood gushed through the wound as you pressed harder, trying to stop the blood flow.

"Well, it could be if you wanted it to be" He claimed, laughing at your situation. You looked up at him from the floor, shooting daggers with your eyes. He chuckled as one of his members passed him a water bottle. He snickered, before opening it, taking a sip, and clearing his throat. You furrowed your eyebrows, how was he so relaxed, the fate of an entire mafia gang was in his hands.

He chucked half the bottle into Seonghwa's face, and then another quarter into San's. He threw the bottle into some distant corner and yanked at Ashe's hair. Meanwhile, Seonghwa gasped, regaining consciousness, which must have only been a temporary toxin. His hair was wet, water dripping down his bangs, as they fell over his face. He glared daggers at the guy, before trying to get up, only for him to realize he was tied up. He struggled in the ropes, the rough edges, digging into his silky smooth skin.

San had also regained consciousness, gasping as coughed and choked. He blinked realizing the situation he was in. He looked around, noticing Seonghwa, and Ashe, and the other younger boy, as well as the rest of his gang members, and then finally you. His eyes widened as he struggled to try to free himself.

"Y/n?! You're okay?!" He questioned, sighing in relief as he finally found you. His relief was only short-lived, however, as he noticed you clutching your shoulder. He noticed the dark red stains on your hand and neck, a pool of blood on the floor, dripping from your shoulder down to your elbow and onto the floor.

"What did he- What did you- YOU BASTARD! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER, LET HER GO!?" He yelled, tugging on his ropes. He didn't care about himself at the moment, only what happened to you. You noticed how he started pulling harder, the ropes now digging into his skin as he tried pulling out. His wrists were bruised as the soft skin of his arms cut due to the rough edges of the rope. Blood trickled down his arms as his arms got raw from the pulling and tugging of the rope.

"San-ah, don't resist, I'm fine" Your voice wavered, as you tried regaining composure. Seonghwa's eyes softened as he noticed the sheen of your eyes, tears collecting. He sighed, looking down, unable to look at your current state, you must have been in so much pain, both physically and emotionally.

"I-" You started, only for your voice to break, a strangled sob escaping. Seonghwa's head whipped up as he noticed how you squeezed your eyes shut, tears now falling down your cheeks. You bit down your lip, as your shoulders shook. Your head faced the ground but it was clear you were crying. Whimpers and sniffs echoed as members of the opposing gang simply laughed.

Seonghwa felt anger bubbling up, but he had to stay calm. Seeing you break down like this in front of everyone, evoked a feeling of fury and seething rage. He simply looked away, unable to take in the sight of you being so vulnerable. You had always been one of the toughest ones in the gang.

"Now, now, no need to cry honey" You heard CJ whisper. He roughly yanked Ashe's hair once more and you winced at the way her neck snapped to the side. She got up with a sharp inhale, and a loud groan as she tried to understand the situation. CJ walked closer to you, his hand gripping your chin, tilting it up towards him. Seonghwa grunted as he tried tugging harder at the ropes.

"Don't touch her, you son of a bitch" Seonghwa finally growled. His eyes glaring daggers at CJ. This was the first time you heard him speak tonight and it was a tone you weren't too pleased to hear. His voice had a slight rasp to it, voice lower than the deepest trench of the ocean. Water dripped down his face and neck, making the side of his face shine in the light. His dampened clothes clung to his body as his eyes glared through his bangs.

"Oh, don't worry, I won't have too much fun. Now, if you could please get up for me, my darling I have an important mission for you" He maniacally giggled. You mustered all the energy you had and pushed yourself onto your feet, one hand still clutching your shoulder. He handed you his gun and your eyebrows furrowed. He stepped back and you instantly took the chance to point the gun at him. Your breath quickened as you tried to calculate his next move, what on earth was he up to.

"ah-ah darling, it's not me you'' be shooting. It's one of them" He pointed behind him to your four other gang members tied up in chairs. Ashe gasped as she let out a strangled sob, San gasping as well, as Seonghwa simply sighed, taking in your expression. You looked blankly back at him as you readjusted the grip on your gun with your wounded arm.

You shifted your gaze behind him, only to notice, four other men, standing behind the chairs, a gun pointing to each of their heads. "Shoot anyone else, and a bullet goes through all their skulls... that wouldn't be a pretty sight, would it?" He claimed, laughing at his own crazy scheme. By now Ashe was crying hysterically and you couldn't help but feel emotional too. You tried looking away, knowing the second you would look into any of their eyes, you'd break down. You roughly wiped at your nose, nodding, agreeing to his terms.

"I love a game of Russian roulette." You sniffed, chuckling sarcastically.

"May I spin the barrel?" You asked innocently and CJ simply chuckled loudly.

"I knew you had it in you!" He laughed, roughly patting your back. You rolled your eyes before inspecting the gun a bit. You opened the barrel, realizing there was only one bullet, he must have known when the first bullet would go off. You internally smiled realizing you had cracked the code.

You locked the barrel in place, before spinning it, the bullet clanking across the cylinder. Your arms shivered slightly as you raised the gun. Bingo! You were never one to be afraid when it came to guns. The shivering was an act. An act to shake the gun a little to hear where the bullet was clanking. You heard the clanking on the bottom of the barrel, realizing the bullet was going to fire on the 5-6 shot. Realizing it had already gone off once when CJ shot you, it was only logical that the bullet was in the 5th chamber.

You smiled before aiming the gun at San first. His eyebrows furrowed as he realized you were proceeding with this absurd plan. The moment he saw you smile, however, he knew you had everything under control. Besides, he trusted you. You winked at him, before placing your finger over the trigger.

"Just to clarify, If I shoot all of them once, you leave us alone? Whether one of them gets shot or not?" You spoke up, glancing from the corner of your eye.

"That is correct. Now, take your shot lady." You smiled back at him, before pulling the trigger while the gun was aimed at San. He flinched slightly at the noise but quickly covered up as a laugh erupted from him.

"This one got lucky... try the next one" CJ urged you. You rolled your eyes as you walked over to the unconscious boy. He looked young, maybe 16 or 17, and his neck was slashed, blood oozing from it at a slow rate. You quickly looked away and pulled the trigger. Despite knowing it wouldn't go off, you still had to act as if you were scared. Ashe yelped from next to the boy at the loud noise and Seonghwa sighed in relief.

"Well, well, well, I guess they both got lucky... How about your best friend now, you both seemed to be getting it on the dance floor no? It would be a shame for this epic love story to end so tragically." Ashe blushed a deep red as San chuckled from the side laughing quietly. You huffed in annoyance before pointing the gun at her. Her eyes filled with tears as she tried to speak.

"Y/n, if this gun goes off right now, just know that I forgive you, it's not your fault, no matter what-"

"Shut up Ashe" You yelled. The last thing you needed was a sad emotional goodbye, as you knew the second you saw her cry, you would too.

"No! Listen to me, never for a second think that you're responsible for any of this. I love you a lot, and I'm still mad at what you did back then, but it-" bang! Ashe squealed as the next gunshot went off. CJ's jaw dropped, another one was left unscathed. You winced slightly as she flinched. You didn't mean to be rude, but she was getting a little too sappy and you already felt terrible.

"You've been lucky so far, but it's a 1 in 2 chance now. Chances are, the legendary Mafia boss, Seonghwa Park will die, right here, tonight. Not just that, but to the hands of one of his most loyal members." He chuckled maniacally and you pointed the gun at Seonghwa. He gulped as he noticed your finger on the trigger, awfully close to pulling it. You looked straight into his eyes and could sense the fear in them. He gulped, eyes shifting around the room as his foot bounced impatiently.

You sighed, mouthing a "trust me" subtly, and smiling at him. His eyes widened as he realized you had planned this all along. You knew exactly when the bullet was going to go off. He should have known, besides you were the second-best with guns in the entire gang, of course, you would know. His eyes softened, as the corners of his lips tugged upwards.

You returned the smile and readjusted your stance. Meanwhile, CJ on the side had no clue what was coming. He believed with this next shot, the mafia boss of the Park gang would be dead, already coming up with plans to take over the empire.

You pulled the trigger and Seonghwa didn't even flinch. He simply chuckled deeply, before tilting his head back... that's how much he trusted you at that moment. CJ's jaw dropped. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go.

"ONE MORE!" CJ yelled at you as you flinched at the sudden loud voice. Seonghwa's eyes furrowed as he heard him. Your eyes widened as you processed the situation.

"I said one more! Take one more shot, or I'll drive a bullet through Park's head. I don't care who you shoot, but one of you is not going to leave alive today, and I will make sure of it." CJ grumbled, another one of his members passing him a gun. He pointed the gun at Seonghwa's head shoving it into his forehead. Seonghwa inhaled sharply before looking back at you, worried. It was obvious to everyone now that whoever you shot was going to die now. The last chamber had the bullet, so it would fire.

"Why do you care so much about someone dying today!" San yelled from the side.

"You took away one of my young hackers. You shot him right in the back. He's paralyzed now! FUCKING BASTARD SAN! I don't take such matters lightly, and for ruining his life, one of you is now going to pay with yours! I don't care who it is, one of you is going to die!" CJ yelled, gripping San's collar. He gulped realizing CJ found out about one of his missing hackers. Truth was, San helped him fake his paralysis to get him out of that vicious gang. He was now working for you, but CJ could never know that, or he'd go after the young boy.

"So it doesn't matter who I shoot?" You clarified, your voice shaking slightly to sell the act. CJ grinned from ear to ear, looking back and nodding smugly. Seonghwa looked at you with concern as he knew you were up to something. His eyes furrowed as you lifted the gun.

"What about this?" You asked, now pointing the gun directly at your chest. San gasped from the side, Ashe yelling at you to stop, while Seonghwa's eyes widened.

"I supposed that is acceptable too. Now get on with it!" He yelled as both the gangs waited for your next move. You took in a deep breath of air before pulling the trigger of the gun. You gasped at the impact, and fell to the ground, clutching your chest.

The next few seconds were a bit of a blur. Not from the actual shot itself, but the commotion around you. You heard the footsteps of the opposing gang members as they scurried out the club. You heard a bunch of cries and whimpers from presumably San and Ashe.

Your back made contact with the floor with a loud thud, as you winced from the pain. Seonghwa immediately felt a surge of urgency, as he tried breaking free from the ropes. He yanked as hard as he could, cutting through his wrists slightly, as the ropes snapped. His wrists were bloody and his arms were bruised all the way p, but he couldn't care less.

He roughly yanked at San's ropes, loosening them a bit, just enough for San to free himself. His breath quickened and his eyes widened as he approached you. He rushed over, immediately crouching down to your level. He sat down on his knees, desperately trying to hold you up. He shifted next to you and brought your head to rest on his lap. Your eyes fluttered shut, as his big arms cradled your face, holding your cheeks in each hand. His cut wrists, left a trail of blood, on the exterior of your face, your hair clinging to your face from the damp blood and sweat.

"No, no, no, you're strong Y/n, you're going to survive this" He whispered to you, his breath caressing your face as his shallow breaths continued. He must have really freaked out. He began lightly, tapping your face, shaking your head in his hands slightly. He, brushed your hair away from your face as his fingers rested on your temple. You heard him let out a whimper, as you felt a warm droplet fall onto your cheek. Wait... was he crying? It couldn't have been... The legendary Park Seonghwa crying over one of his members dying. What a sight. He shifted slightly, moving one of the hands that were cradling you to press at your chest. His large palm, pressed softly at your chest, rubbing against the bottom of your left breast. That's where you drew the line.

"Uh-uh, hands off me" You claimed, pushing past Seonghwa, trying to get up. His eyebrows furrowed as his eyes widened. You promptly stood up, as he remained seated on the floor, not understanding the situation. You walked over to the younger boy, untying him too, before grabbing a tissue, pushing at the large wound in his neck. You looked around, trying to find someone to help you, and looked at San. His eyes were wide as he was frozen in place.

"Stop staring and come help me, you ass!" You yelled, ushering to come over. He quickly rushed over, before cupping your cheeks.

"I thought you were going to die..." His voice broke, as you scoffed.

"Come on now, I wouldn't leave you that easilyyy" You whined before guiding his hand to the boy's neck.

"Hold it in place, we need to get him medical attention quickly, or he might bleed out." You passed him the tissues, before walking to untie Ashe. As soon as her wrists and arms were untied she pounced on you. She engulfed you in a hug, sobbing into your shoulder.

"You dumb bitch" She cried into your shoulder, as you patted her head, cradling her face. She pulled away and you looked down feeling guilty.

"I know, I'm sorry" You whispered out, only for her to scoff, before pulling you into another bone-crushing hug. You winced in pain, as your shoulder was hurting quite a bit. You simply resorted to rubbing her back for now. Your little moment was broken by a small cough heard from the ground. You looked down, only to notice, Seonghwa was still sitting on the floor, eyes wide, as he tried processing what was happening.

"Mr. Park... You're uh, still on the floor..." He looked right into your eyes, his eyes narrowing as he pushed himself up to his feet, walking towards you. He looked down at you as you tilted your head up, making direct eye contact.

"Firstly, I am touched and flattered that you cried for me, who would have thought..." You said, more to yourself, as Seonghwa brought his hands to his face, touching under his eyes. He realized his cheeks were wet with tears, as he roughly rubbed at them, sniffing and scrunching his nose.

"Secondly, that was inappropriate, dude! You can't just go around groping women you know?" You yelled as his eyes widened. You pointed back at your chest, indicating where he had tried pressing before. You knew he was trying to prevent, possible bleeding, but you couldn't help but tease him a little. He refocussed his attention to your chest, staring at the hole in your dress.

"Eyes up here buddy" You caught his attention. He scoffed, before bringing you into a hug. Engulfing your smaller body in his larger build.

"Ow! my shoulder, be careful, Park!" You scowled as he pulled back.

"Y/n what the fuck? You're supposed to be dead" He finally said, before bringing his hands, to your shoulder, to inspect the wound.

"Actually no" You pulled back, pulling the neckline of your dress down. His eyes widened as a blush grew on Seonghwa's cheeks. You flipped the top of your black lace bra outwards showing a navy blue thicker lining underneath.

"Bulletproof lining, I managed to push it up from my stomach to my chest when I uh, broke down" Seonghwa sighed, pressing his temples.

"You weren't crying?" He asked, a hand cupping your cheek as he spoke.

"Well no, it was a distraction, to bend over and push up the lining to my chest. The tears from before as well, they were fake too, sorry San, I had to sell my act..." You mumbled but San still heard. He scoffed as he walked towards you.

"I figured as much" He smiled back at you.

Seonghwa tightened his grip on your jaw as he realized something. You gasped as you tried pulling away.

"You knew what was going to happen? Why the fuck didn't you tell me?" He said a little louder. You didn't budge, knowing what you did was right.

"Because! If I were to tell you, you would have brought around 20 other bodyguards accompanying us. Besides this wasn't even the original plan... I was supposed to sleep with CJ, distract him for the night so he couldn't carry out his plan. Turns out I got caught up with his brother and had to... deal with him first." Seonghwa loosened his grip on your jaw before sighing, tucking a piece of your hair behind your ear.

"Regardless, I'm proud of you, you know? You outsmarted them all and saved our lives. I owe you thanks." He said before stepping back. You felt dampness on the side of your head. Realizing it was blood, you grabbed his forearm, before inspecting his cuts and bruised wrists.

"Why did you do this to yourself?" You scoffed, before, walking over to get him a tissue to wipe the dried blood for now.

"For you, Y/n... I thought you were dying..." He sighed as gripped onto the base of your dress.

"So what? It's a part of the job. I knew what I was signing up for. I very well knew that death was a possible risk. Besides, why care about me so much? I'm rather expendable actually." You said matter-of-factly.

"No, you're not. Never feel like that. You mean a lot to the gang, a lot to me. Even though we don't interact often. I know how much you do for the gang, how much work you put in for everyone." He said, looking at you sincerely. You smiled back at him softly, booping his nose, turning on your heel.

"Let's get cleaned up shall we?"

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whataboutmyfries · 3 years

Text

Russian roulette

Its here its here its finally heeeeree!!!!! I’ve been so excited for this fic for the longest time and I am so so excited to finally share it with you guys!! It’s been quite a while in the making cause I was nervous about my overall ability to keep up with a multi-chapter thing, but here we are!!!

Before you start reading this, I just want you all to know that this fic comes with a LOT of trigger warning. All of them will be in the tags of course, but I just want you guys to know to proceed with caution.

credits as always go to @lumosinlove Haz I have utterly CORRUPTED your characters in this one, I’m so sorry

enjoy!!

Chapter 1

Logan could still remember the day it had happened, the defiant fury in his friend’s eyes as he’d gone down, guns blazing

Logan still remembered it, blood splattering his arms and face, his mouth curved in a deadly smirk as he shoved Logan out of their way, going down, guns blazing, winking at the brunette as he dived into the fray.

Logan still remembered the primal fear that ripped the scream from his chest, his arm numb from the kickback of the M4. He still remembered the screaming darkness that had taken over his head after. He still remembered him.

It was the memory of that night, a job gone wrong that had him working himself to pieces, returning to the sparring ring day after day, week after week. The mere thought of it pulling him from sleep with the sharp edge of nightmares. The what if’s and if only’s shoving his mind into a rabbit hole of unending misery.

Logan huffed in frustration, shoving down the cool rage that threatened to send him over the edge. He closed his eyes, exhaling through his nose, roughly shoving his hair off his forehead. The sweat dripped off his brow as he leaned against the punching bag, flexing his fingers against fabric wrapping his hands.

Even through the wrappings, he could feel the gentle throbbing of the rage and sorrow that had him back at the punching bag day after day after day. He looked down at his knuckles. Shit. That was going to bruise beautifully tomorrow. He sighed, walking over to the backpack on the far end of the room to get his towel and a drink of water.

Logan hefted his pack onto a shoulder, heading over to the sparring area to clean up, unrolling the fabric from his hands as he did so. He examined his knuckles, his hands a tapestry of bruises. He couldn’t remember the last time they hadn’t been a splotchy purple-blue.

The door slammed open, and Logan instinctively ducked to the floor, his hands going for the gun in his backpack, his posture relaxing a little when he saw who’d walked in.

“What the fuck do you want, Nate? He grumbled, tugging his t-shirt to rights, glaring angrily at the floor as he did so, his cheeks warming at his aggressive reaction.

Nate rolled his eyes at Logan’s attitude, raising an eyebrow at Logan’s reaction to his presence. He leaned against the door, drumming his fingers against his bicep “He’s here, sir, the rookie’s here.”

It took Logan all of ten minutes to shower and get dressed to meet Finn in their office. He shook the water out of his hair as his quick steps echoed in the marble hallway. The palatial mansion was HQ. He lived here, slept here, ate here. They were his family, the lions, they’d taken him in after Wyatt had died and had stood by him through every damn thing he’d been through. Regardless, it was home. It had become Logan’s home after— Logan growled, shoving the intrusive thoughts away.

Finn met him halfway to their door, casually tugging the cuffs of his shirt to rights.

Finn was impeccably dressed as always, looking really damn good in that white button-down, the gold chain on his neck dipping into where he’s left it unbuttoned at the neck. His bespoke trousers did wonders for showing off his legs, the gold belt buckle matching the golden rings glinting in the sun.

Logan swallowed.

“So, the rookie’s coming in today. The only thing we know is the father sent him. Be on your guard.” Finn said, raising an eyebrow at Logan to make sure he understood.

Logan nodded, cracking his knuckles as he accompanied Finn into their office, the redhead making a few calls to get extra security detail around the house. Dons couldn’t take risks, no matter who sent their visitors.

Logan shook out his hands, sucking in a calming breath before collapsing onto his chair.

“You have to meet Dubois at the Excelsior tonight. We got a tip he’s been skimming the funds.” Finn said absent-mindedly, his mind more occupied with reading some file. The Excelsior was one of their biggest casinos, three floors of opulent revelry. And Dubois was the sleazy good-for-nothing who ran it for them.

Logan grumbled, flipping open a file of his own, the name Dubois emblazoned in sharp, black letters on the cover. Being a Mob boss wasn’t all it was made out to be, and Logan never thought he’d get used to it. He could scarcely remember how he and Finn had come to build the Lions, one of the biggest crime syndicates in the world, second only to the snakes; a family of vicious, rabid psychopaths who cared for nothing and nobody, dispatching their targets with gruesome efficiency.

Finn had a suspicion the snakes had been doing recon work at the Excelsior and had told Logan as much. Considering that Logan had to deal with the slimy manager, anyway, he thought he might as well look into the matter. Finn looked at him over the gold rim of his glasses, as though reading his thoughts.

“Take Potter with you, ask him to get two of his best with him,” Finn said, referring to their head of security.

Logan huffed, about to shoot back a retort about how he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself thankyouverymuch when there was a knock on the door. Nate leaned against the wood, a smirk playing on his lips.

“He’s here.”

The rookie as it turns out was no rookie at all, rather son to the most infamous pickpocket and street magician of all time, Wyatt Knut. The man had stolen and pickpocketed thousands of dollars’ worth of goods and cash in his time, there was even a rumour going around that he’d been involved in some of the biggest heists of the era, driving his worth up to millions of dollars.

And this was his son. Sitting in front of him, idly flicking a folded sheet of paper between his fingers, making it disappear and then appear again, his leg bouncing under the table. He looked nervous, his eyes flicking around the room, drinking up the opulent mansion around him. He snapped to attention when Finn cleared his throat, sitting up straighter in his chair.

“The name’s Knut, Leo Knut. Lizard sent me.”

Logan’s eyes widened at the nickname. There were very few people in the world who knew it, and this baby faced blond kid sitting in front of them sure as hell didn’t look like someone who would. The fact that he did calmed Logan’s suspicions. This was real. He wasn’t kidding.

Logan felt more than saw Finn’s interest pique. The redhead leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the table. The tension in the room was palpable, and it took every inch of self-control in Logan’s body to not stiffen, sit up straighter, show he was on his guard. Let blue eyes make the first move. Logan was in charge here, not him.

Leo’s eyes dipped to the folded note in his hand as he vanished it into his sleeve and brought it back. He sucked in a breath, calming his nerves before raising his eyes to the two men sitting before him.

“Lizard said to come to you if he didn’t return or communicate his….being alive within four days of that mission.” Leo braced for the confusion and chaos that was going to follow his next words.

“He had a plan to take down the snakes.”

Logan’s jaw dropped, his hands going slack from where they were crossed across his chest. Lizard had what?!? Granted, he was one of their best reconnaissance men, but this seemed a stretch, even for him.

Finn, ever the diplomat, had kept a straight face, not a hair out of place. It was only through eight years of being his friend that he noticed the tension and suspicion radiating off him.

The redhead cocked an eyebrow. “Oh? And do you have any proof of this…..plan?”

Leo grinned, the simple expression lighting up the entire room.” I thought you’d never ask”

He raised his slender fingers, pulling a flash drive out of thin air, setting it down on the table before him. “It’s in three parts.” he nodded to the drive. “The drive, a……” He waved his hand in the air, trying to find the right words. “Map? With the targets and the blueprints and an encrypted folder on his laptop.”

Logan barely registered what he’d said. The second Leo has flicked the drive out from between his fingers it was game over for him. Logan was mesmerised. He couldn’t stop staring at those hands, long thin fingers flipping the note in and out of sight with hypnotic movements, drumming on his thigh, gesturing broadly as he spoke.

Finn seemed to have noticed, pressing his thigh against Logan’s under the table. He froze at the contact, Finn’s warmth seeping into him through the fabric of his jeans. Shit. Now was not the time. He shook his head, clearing his throat and focusing on the task at hand.

Finn leaned back in his chair, his finger steepling under his chin. “And you’re just trusting us with this information? It’s been a month, why haven’t you approached us sooner? What’s in it for you?”

Leo’s smile disappeared, shadows dancing behind those blue irises. “Lizard was like a second father to me. I’ve known him since I was a kid, he and my dad were friends.” He let out a shaky breath. “And when he didn’t return from that raid….I wanted to get revenge. I wanted to hurt anyone who dared to so much as lay a hand on him.” Leo met Finn’s eyes. “I was...hurt for a long time after his death, couldn’t figure out how to deal with the loss. It’s the reason why I’m only here now. And as for trusting you with the information…” He trailed off, putting a piece of paper on the table.

Logan realised it was the same folded note that had been weaving in and out of Leo’s fingers as he’d spoken to them. The paper was worn, the edge soft in a way only repeated use could make them. Finn’s eyes flicked to Leo before he picked it up, glancing at Logan as he opened it.

Logan leaned in, reading over Finn’s shoulder. In a familiar, stocky script it said:

‘Sun, I’m going out on business. It’s the usual. Same as always, If I don't communicate in 4 days, ask around for Logan Tremblay and Finn O Hara, Tell them about mission troy. They’ll know who I am, say Lizard sent you -P’

Logan’s hands shook, and he stuffed them into his pockets, still reading the note, scouring it over and over for clues, anything that would tell them that he was still alive— though he knew he wasn’t going to find anything. His eyes caught on the first word. ‘Sun’? Logan wracked his mind, trying to find any reason why Lizard has called him that. Realisation struck and Logan looked over Leo, sizing him up.

Leo ‘the Sun’ Knut had was famous for his brilliant smile, those dimples distracting even the most stubborn of men while he swindled them out of their money. Bright as the sun and just as blinding, they said. Logan allowed himself a smirk at that. Like father, like son.

Leo didn’t back down from his stare, raising a blond eyebrow at the intense look, cocking his head to the side. A shiver of excitement ran through Logan, bigger men had backed away from that look of his, yet this lanky child didn’t so much as falter. Interesting.

Finn rested his elbows on the table, ever the portrait of unruffled grace. “How do we know this is real?” He asked, nodding his head at the drive sitting on the table.

Logan could practically see the effort it took Leo to not roll his eyes. The blond shrugged, crossing his arms on the desk. “Believe me, or don’t. It’s your loss. I have my orders and if you aren’t willing to provide the resources, I’m sure I’ll find other people who are.” His gaze sharpened to a flinty glare, “I’m just trying to do right by a friend. He asked me a favour and I will not let him down” He nudged the drive forward with a long finger, the little black device sitting in the middle of the table. “Help me or not, it’s up to you, but don’t you fucking dare get in my way.”

#russian roulette #whataboutmyfries #my writing #lumosinlove #finn o'hara #logan tremblay #Leo knut #mafia!fic #tw:implied death #tw:bruises #tw:mourning

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wendystales · 3 years

Text

Memories - lrh (Chapter Fourteen)

Memories (also on Wattpad)

Chapter Thirteen ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ Chapter Fifteen

We stopped in front of the new location of The Art of Taste, where a group of people were waiting to enter. The entire facade was lit with small bulbs wrapped around the bushes, which framed the outside.

My mom is the first out of the car, excited, barely expecting Luke and me. She takes the lead, going straight to security and showing us our invitations.

“She's very excited”. Hemmo comments from beside me, offering me his arm.

“You have no idea.” I open a smile.

We followed my mother as she led the way, looking for Mr. Marshall. I appreciate the decor of the place and fall in love with the small wooden bridge that leads into the restaurant, passing by a pond with koi.

"Debra! You came!” Mr. Marshall approaches as excited as my mother. “You’re stunning.” her cheeks blush.

“Oh, not that much. It's an old little dress I had in the back of the closet.” she lowers her head shyly.

"Didn't she say she bought the dress today?" Luke whispered confusedly to me, almost making me laugh. I watch the two lovebirds praising and flirting like two teenagers.

"Marnie! I'm happy for your presence too.” he hugs me. “You must be Luke! Debra talks about you a lot.” he opens a sympathetic smile.

Subtly, I widen my eyes at my mom, wanting to scold her, but she just shrugged, ignoring me. Luke smiles sympathetically and handles the situation perfectly.

Mr. Marshall takes us to a more private table and away from the window for more privacy. I sit next to Luke, having a full view of whoever enters the restaurant.

“I'm going to have the menu degustations served, and if you don't mind, I'm going to steal Debra for a while.” he smiles at my mother.

“Be my guest!” I open a tight smile, very happy for them.

"Is there something I should know?" Luke asks me after the two walk away arm in arm.

“They're in love, but they don't know what to do.” Summary, still watching the them.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about it." Luke repeats the same thing I said yesterday. I let out a laugh, disbelieving his audacity.

“Sorry, there was no time.” I raise my eyebrows, like he does.

Yesterday was a special night with Luke. After Urban Light, we went to Santa Monica, to sit on the sand and watch the sea, illuminated by the lights from the pier. It was fun to have this time with him without anyone looking at us like fools for whatever move we made.

It was nice to meet him and know everything he likes and dislikes, as well as getting to know the band's history better. For moments like this, just the two of us, I could let him get closer, totally letting my guard down and creating a better relationship.

Of course because of this endless conversation we had and cause we got super late back home, today I woke up looking like a zombie and only managed to get out of bed by a miracle. But even tired, I would do everything exactly the same, just to be able to spend this time with him.

"Should we wait for the girls?" I question, seeing a board of small toast and various types of sauces and pates being served to us.

“I believe not!” he's the first to take the toast and dip it in a red sauce.

I follow him, quickly taking two and sinking into the same sauce. Tomato and basil. I let out an exclamation when I taste it. I start to eat more, after all, I didn't even have time to have lunch today and I didn't even want to, because I knew I would eat here.

I had invited everyone to come to the opening today, but only Luke, Leah, and Kyleen agreed right away. Calum, Ash and Noah had other commitments and Michael also tried to use this one, but Ashton soon revealed the lie, saying that he was actually going on a date, with that Sophie.

"You didn't have lunch today, did you?" I stop the toast in the air, mouth open, watching Luke look me curious.

“I didn’t have time.” I answer a little embarrassed.

“Well, if we run out of those toast, just ask for more.” he takes one more, sinking now into a green pate. I watch his face, trying to guess what that would be.

“Pesto?” I ask, looking at the pot. Luke denies it. I smell the content not identifying much.

"A bitter taste." he make a face. “No! It's a good bitter.” he adds quickly.

When I least notice, Hemmings and I are playing russian roulette with sauce and pates. We just don't know how to just eat quietly, we have to play.

"Bad?" I ask, watching him close his eyes and wrinkle his nose. Luke nodded, swallowing and eating another toast with the tuna pate, which was what we liked best.

"A taste of… I can't explain it. Eats!” he offers me the toast with the white pate and small green bits.

“No! Don't you know what it is and want to push it to me?” I drop the toast on my plate, wanting distance.

Interrupting our little discussion, Leah and Kyleen arrive.

“Sorry we’re late. There was an accident on the expressway. Have you started eating yet?” Leah glances across the table sulkily.

"M&Ms didn't have lunch." Luke hands it to me. I slap his arm.

“Great, there are two of us.” Kiki smiles, already eating some toast. "What is this one?" she points to the weird pate.

“We haven't eaten yet, but try it there.” Hemmings encourages, surprising me with his performance. I stare at him laughing.

Like Luke, Kiki grimaces, disapproving of the pate. I offer my glass of juice to her, which she drinks in one gulp.

“This is horrible. What is that?” she whispers disgustedly.

Luke steals the menu from the next table, looking for the pate. I squint at the ingredients: ricotta, gorgonzola and pickles. I understand why it's horrible.

It doesn't take long and more stuff arrives at our table. Once again, we started our russian roulette, trying everything out and grading, as if we were at MasterChef. We really don't have maturity for anything.

Looking at the restaurant entrance, I start nudging Luke, flustered, discreetly asking him and the girls to look too. Surprised and excited, we watched Michael approach our table, hand in hand with a girl shorter than him.

“Is it her?” I try to contain my excited voice.

“It's her!” Hemmo confirms.

“Okay! But who is she?” Kyleen asks, lost.

“They met at a game match and now Michael is in love.” I almost run over my words, trying to deliver the information before they arrived.

"I didn't tell you." Luke already takes his off the line.

“Hey!” Michael sighs standing next to the table.

“Hey!” aside from Luke, the girls and I were all smiles.

“This is Sophie! My friend.” Mike introduces. The girl with dark hair and two streaks white, like Narcissa in Harry Potter, smiles shyly.

“Sorry for the delay, we got lost.” her voice is low.

“Actually, I didn't want to come.” Michael doesn't even bother to lie. If it wasn't a public place, I'd throw a shoe on him.

Sophie excuses herself and heads to the bathroom as we pull another table for them. Michael sits across from Luke, leaving Sophie in mine and Leah beside her.

“Please, I'll pay you whatever you want, but don't embarrass me.” Mike begs. “I like her a lot.” he admits it quietly.

"Awn!" me and the girls hold hands, dying of love.

“I hate you.” he declares.

“To show that we are willing to help, do not eat the white pate. It’s not from this world. And not in the good way.” Leah warns him.

Sophie returns to the table, taking a seat across from me. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice how Michael's posture becomes tense. He's so into her. Without needing much, we start a conversation and Sophie slowly walks in, forming a group.

“This gaming field must be shit, right? I mean, for who is a woman, isn't it?” Kyleen asks.

“Yea! No man likes to lose to a woman. They never accept that I play better than they do. Cause of this, when Michael called me, I thought he was going to argue with me.” she gives a shy smile.

"Actually, I was going to ask for my shield back." he gives an ashamed laugh.

"And complain to me how you lost." she completes, making him laugh. The way they look at each other makes my heart melt.

The four of them get carried away on a subject as I approach Luke.

“They're really cute.” I whisper.

"I think we're both a lot cuter." he snaps, smiling. I open a smile, denying the way he's sassy.

“You were not like this.” I comment with a smile. I take my gaze to the hall, finding my mother walking with Mr. Marshall, still arm in arm. "I think they're cuter than us." Luke follows my gaze.

“All right! She's your mother, I'll give you my arm. Do you think they'll be together?”

“I hope!”

“Are you gossiping about Debra?” I am startled by Kyleen approaching me and joining in our conversation.

"What's the gossip with Debra?" Leah already turns her attention to us.

"Is there gossip about Debra?" Michael leans against the table, moving closer.

I look at the curious faces trying to identify how my mom became the subject of the table. If she knows this, she will kill me!

"Don't let her know that." I declare before I lean against the table and tell her about my mother and Mr. Marshall.

Friday

I feel terrible, not only for the cramps and indisposition, but mainly for having to cancel with Luke. I've waited so long for this date and now I'm here, lying on the couch, suffering for being born a woman.

“Here.” Leah hands me a pain killer and a hot water bottle. I lay my head on her lap, wanting to cry. “It's OK.” she repeats calmly as she cuddles me. She knows why. “You can go out next week, he won't change his mind until then.”

“I know he won’t, but…” I catch my throat, not wanting to accept that I would cry about this, but I can't control it, letting a few tears fall. Damn hormones. “I don't know if I can make it another week, I was so excited.” my voice crack it. “Stop laughing!” I scream when I feel her body move.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! But you look so funny like this. Sorry.” she hugs me, holding back her laughter.

Before I can complain, the doorbell rings and I'm grateful that Kiki has finally arrived with food and a lap where I can cry more. Leah runs to open the door and I feel my heartbeat stop for seconds when his voice reaches me. I lift my head, seeing him come in full of bags and a Petunia on a leash.

“What are you doing here?” I quickly dry my face and try to fix my hair. I look awful. Luke looks at me confused and opens his arms, as if the answer is wide open there.

“I came to take care of you, of course.” he laughs. Leah is behind him, smiling like hell.

I sink my face into the pillow, wanting to cry more. I don't deserve him. I don’t deserve. Luke lets go of Petunia, who runs off to try to climb onto the couch and lick me. Leah helps Luke empty the bags in the kitchen.

While they straighten everything out in the kitchen, I go back to tidying up my appearance, trying to look at least presentable.

"I brought some soup that Calum made. Pain killers, sweets and some facial masks, This always helps you relax and get better.” he comes closer and I just want to bury myself. I look awful.

“I can't believe you came here and still brought all this.” my heart melts at the attitude and smile he gives.

"I'm sorry if you thought you were going to get rid of me." he sits beside me with a bowl of soup, pleasant smell by the way. I move closer, almost getting under his arms and snuggling into his chest. However, I still keep a safe distance and control my urges to cling to him.

“Well, since you’re very well cared for and accompanied. I think I'm on my way.” Leah still has the smile. “Get well.” she kisses my cheek. "Anything, call me. And you, take good care of her.” she orders Luke.

“Promise!” he raises his right hand.

Leah left, leaving us alone. Petunia lying on my lap, curious about the hot water bottle. Luke beside me, holding the bowl and spoonful of broth toward me.

"You know you don't have to spoon-feed me, don't you?" I ask before opening my mouth.

"Can you let me take care of you?" he counters, falsely sulking.

“You can, just don't need…”

“Sh-sh! Eat the soup.” he advances another spoonful into my mouth. I roll my eyes, silent.

"Calum who did it?" I ask impressed, after a few spoonfuls.

“He's been taking some cooking lessons, especially now that he's turned vegetarian.”

"You should do it too, to stop making eggs in the microwave." I let a fake smile in the end.

"Worried about me?" he asks smiling.

"Shut up and give me the soup." I ignored him, taking a deep breath and not smiling under his amused gaze.

Between spoonfuls, I play with Petunia, already feeling much better. At least the urge to cry has passed.

"You said you brought candy." I knelt on the couch, watching him carry the bowl of soup to the sink. Luke laughs, grabbing some white and pink boxes from the fridge.

“Yes, I believe sugar can help.” he puts the boxes on the table and pulls Petunia onto the rug. “You don’t!” she barks. “You can’t!” she barks louder. “Hey! Come! I'll give you your food.” I watch her follow him into the kitchen.

I open the first white box seeing a generous piece of Red Velvet. I pick up the fork he brought and already steal a piece. In the second box, I find four cupcakes and four donuts. My eyes widen as I open the third box.

"Did you go to Mr. Marshall's restaurant?" I question shocked.

“Yea! You said you liked his chocolate cake. He made this one especially for you.” I look at the smaller size cake.

“I don't remember him decorating with M&Ms.” I comment, stealing a piece already.

“Oh, I asked him to do it.”

I close my eyes, letting my body react to that information any way it wants to. He asked them to put M&Ms on my cake because he knows I like it.

Luke returns to sit beside me, picking up a white chocolate cupcake. I hold the box of Red Velvet in my lap, recklessly eating the cake.

"Argh! I feel so guilty. I'm going to get fat like this.” I complain, but without stopping eating.

“You are indisposed, you can eat what you want. Tomorrow we worry about our weight.” Luke speaks with his mouth full.

"I thought you didn't like red desserts." I comment, watching him take a full fork of my cake.

“How do you know that?” he looks at me curiously. Then I realize I've been cornered.

“In an interview last year.” then I fill my mouth, making it impossible for me to continue the conversation.

"Are you still googling me?" he puts again that amused/satisfied smile on his face.

“Of course, you were my boyfriend. I need to know what kind of people I'm getting involved with.” I shrug.

“I understood. Well, I really don't like it. I don't understand the need to make it red.”

“It's to be more aesthetically beautiful. It's like wearing makeup. You use it and looks more beautiful, it enhances your beauty.” Luke stares at me, holding back his laughter. I've seen this same expression when I defended my M&M’s organizer.

“Well, I know you're crazy about this cake, so I brought it.” he shrugs, like it's no big deal. But for me it's something. If Luke still has any intentions of winning me back, he's doing great.

“Thanks.” I advance toward him, kissing his cheek in shyly. I notice Luke is ashamed too, but maintains his pose.

After we stuff ourselves with candy. Luke and I were in the bathroom, trying to put on those face masks. At first I thought he brought it just for me, but when I saw him putting it on, I understood that he would participate body and soul in that night with me.

“This isn't right.” he comments still struggling with that piece of material.

"You didn't put it upside down, did you?" I approach trying to help.

“No! The eyes are here. So why don't stay?” I see the mask slip off his face. I hold back a laugh, taking the material from his hands.

"If you take the cape off, it stays." I pull out the plastic that holds the oils and put it on his face.

“Makes more sense.” he comments, watching me massage his face. “I need to shave.” he says as I massage his cheeks.

“No!” the answer comes out faster than I can think.

Luke stares at me in surprise at the revelation. With my hands still on his face, I notice the mood and walk away, drying my hands.

“And now?” I stare at him behind me in the mirror. Luke just raises his hands and shakes his fingers, demonstrating that we're going to get our nails done. The scene itself is so funny it makes me laugh. He's the best boyfriend anyone could have. "I think we'd better wait the twenty minutes for the mask, so as not to blur our work."

“Truth. Let's get back to the series then.” he turns around, his back to me, crouching down a little. I grab his shoulders and push off, climbing on his back. And like this, we go back to the room, on piggyback.

I go back under the covers, grateful that I'm sitting down because my legs are killing me. How can something that stays in the womb fuck my entire body? I shift uncomfortably, not finding a position that would make my legs stop hurting.

“Is it everything OK?” he asks, hitting play on The Office.

“My legs.” I answer softly, lying down on the couch with my head next to him.

“Turn. Put your legs here.” he pats his lap. I roll over on the couch, leaving my legs in his lap, where within seconds Luke starts massaging my legs.

I roll my eyes, feeling my body soften. A moan wants to escape, but I hold it with all the strength in the world, along with the treacherous declaration that explodes in my chest. They were three dangerous words that could mess with him more than anything else.

“You are incredible!” I exchange the words, feeling more secure in that expression. The blonde chuckles, shaking his head as he squeezes my foot.

I can't focus for a minute on TV. The feel of him touching my skin so gently and stiffly steals all my attention. I shift my gaze between him and the screen so I don't get so in the face that I'm staring at him.

After twenty minutes of the mask, we went back to the bathroom, washing our faces and then starting to do our nails. I'm sitting, glued to Luke, my hand propped up on a pillow in his lap as he applies the black nail polish. Once again I shift my gaze between him and the new episode, but I don't care if he catches me staring in the meantime.

"Did we do that a lot?" I inquire softly. Luke doesn't answer me with words, too focused on his work, just nodding his head positively.

“Especially when you were feeling bad, or when I was really tired and stressed out.” he complements after finishing a hand. “Tv shows, candies, beauty treatments and massage. Once you wanted to invent climbing on my back, massaging me with your feet.” he starts to smile, still focused.

“I'm sorry.” I lay my head against his shoulder. Let out a low laugh, focused on him.

“It wasn't one of our best ideas. But I can't deny that it wasn't good.”

"Were you happy with me? I mean, we had a good relationship, didn't we?” I question after a while.

Luke stops and stares at the wall, maybe thinking. I analyze your profile apprehensive about the delay. Then his eyes connect to mine. It's like a screen, I don't need the answer anymore, it's there, explicit in the glow of his eyes.

“Yes. I believe we had a great relationship.” he goes back to painting my nails, putting the last coat on.

“Itn't was those weird, honeyed types, was it?” curiosity takes me more every second. Luke holds back a laugh, denying it.

“No! I tried once, but you hit me with the pillow. But that's not our style either. It's like wanting Leah to be cute.” he shrugs. "Don't let her know that." he looked at me in alarm.

“I won’t! Honestly, I'm glad it's you here.” he stops and looks at me curiously. “You know…not that she's not amazing. Even because she was taking really good care of me, but…” I swallow with his gaze so fixed on me. Oh Lord, where are the words?! “You are you!” I shrug. "Don't let her know that." I ask in an alarmed way, as well as he.

“I'm me?” he turns more to me.

“Yeah!” I take a deep breath, trying to find myself in the mess I decided to make. “You seem to know how to handle this whole situation and cause…" Why is it so hard for me to say that I enjoy his company? “You know…I like being with you.” I whisper, wanting to crumble into thin air and disappear.

I lower my gaze, not holding that moment. I've known Luke for a month. I know that he only has size and age in his identity, that inside he is as child and silly as the guys. But there's something about him, so subtle and unobtrusive, that intimidates me so much.

“I like being with you too… but something tells me you already know.” the playful tone breaks the pit of shame I was in. I open a shy smile, going back to watching him finish painting my nails.

“Can I ask you something?” I question fearfully, after he finishes. Luke nodded. "How was that day? The one from the accident.”

He just stops. His jaw locks and that glint in his eyes fades. He leans back against the sofa, snorting. I feel bad for causing this discomfort. I'm even thinking about withdrawing the question, however, Luke is already starting to speak.

“You had gone to rehearse for Vogue and then we were supposed to go to lunch cause I turned off your alarm, and then you were late and we can't have breakfast together.” he narrates quietly and with a lost look.

"Why did you turned off my alarm?" I frown, confused.

"Cause I thought that way you'd stay home with me." I pick up my lips, pressing them together so I don't laugh at his pout. “Well, I was at the restaurant when it happened. The manager came to me and told me what happened, apparently was already on the news.” he takes a deep breath before continuing. “I was the first to arrive, but you were already in attendance, so I only saw you in your room a couple hours later.”

"The nurse said you slept there." I comment quietly, letting my mind wander to that day. Your cheeks are easily pink.

"I wasn't leaving your side." he answers in the same tone.

“Sorry I got you into this. And for being stupid the first time we met…again.” I add.

“It's OK! I mean, it was kind of good.” I widen my eyes, not understanding. “By making you fall in love with me again, I also ended up falling in love with you all over again.”

My heart races. The revelation takes me by surprise, not giving me time to hide the stupid grin gaping at my face. I roll my eyes, looking at the TV, which is currently playing with Jim asking Pam on a date. Ironically, she had the same stupid smile as mine.

"I never said I'm in love with you." I try to maintain my dignity, or whatever I'm supposed to maintain at a time like this.

“It's just a matter of time.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see him shrug. “You've already admitted that you like being with me. For those who hated me in that hospital, enjoying my presence is already a big step forward.”

I bite my lip, closing my eyes. He can’t be serious.

"I never said I hated you." I look at him, who was focused on the TV.

"And you never said you're not in love with me either." he blinks, smiling in amusement.

“I hate you!” I say loud enough.

“In seventh grade, when a girl said she hated a boy, it's because she liked him.” Luke comments, leaving me speechless, my mouth hanging open. "I will take your silence as a yes."

I kneel down on the couch, taking the pillow from my lap and hitting it. Hemmings starts to laugh as he shields himself from the flurry of beatings I give him. My God, how I hate him.

I return to sit on the couch more relieved, but still with my heart pounding. It's a mixture of very random feelings. I want to hit him at the same time I want to kiss him as I sink his head into the coffee table, telling him how much I like him.

The desire to let these feelings take over me fascinates me. But that's not how I wanted everything to happen between us. Expected to be a little more romantic, with me more tidy and less messy.

"You made me smudge my nail." Finally, I accuse him, sulking.

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twdmusicboxmystery · 3 years

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10x19: One More - Analysis

Okay, what did everyone think of 10x19? I really liked it a lot. I’m still trying to get a handle on what everything meant, and I think there’s a lot more to be had than what we see on the surface, but it was a really tragic and moving episode. I got lots of messages from people who watched it early and immediately noticed the Bethyl callbacks.

So, I’m going to do something slightly different this week. Today, I’m going to focus on those—all the obvious callbacks—and tomorrow I’ll do more of a forecasting post about what I think this episode means for the future and where I think it’s going.

***As always, spoilers abound below for 10x19. Don’t read until you’ve watched!!!***

I kind of figured from the description that this would be a case of Gabe and Aaron = Beth and Daryl. And that’s definitely true. I’m going to call this a mixture between Still callbacks and Consumed.

Still, because of all the callbacks I’m sure you noticed at least a few of. And Consumed because it’s two friends out looking for something. Actually, the first thing that made me think of Consumed is that they kept showing really sad things accompanied by really sad music, which reminded me of Consumed. I know for most people in our fandom, that’s not our favorite episode because it’s a Daryl/Carol episode, but just for the imagery and music and sadness of the dystopian world, I really love it. And this episode was similar to that.

So, it starts by showing some—both white and yellow. This flower

Is an Easter Lily. Yeah, not kidding. EASTER Lily.

Of course there are both white and yellow flowers. The yellow ones are reminiscent of the ones we saw in the cemetery in Alone.

Then we see Aaron and Gabe surrounded by walkers. When they start killing the walkers, its shows blood hitting all the flowers in a really kind of graphic way. I was like, “ew.” But at one point, they also hit a green grasshopper.

So, I was thinking that blood hitting the flowers and the grasshopper could possibly represent Beth being shot. And there are plenty of blond walkers to be had in this episode.

Aaron and Gabe arrive at a particular house. On Maggie’s map, it says this should be a two-story house with a root cellar, and she wants them to check the cellar for supplies. But when they get there, all that’s left is a doorframe with a swinging door and the chimney. The rest has been burnt, and by the looks of it, fairly recently. This is where they see the three charred skeletons with the pink flowers growing around them.

Couple of things. 1) This is a foreshadow for later in the episode. It has to do with the 2 stories, and I’ll get to it at the end. 2) The charred skeletons are a bit like what Daryl saw in 6x06, which was chalk full of Beth symbolism. 3) The pink flowers. (Pink Theory.)

In terms of foreshadows, this really screams the CRM to me, because of the burnt skeletons and the ties to 6x06, and remember that in 5x09, the radio voice (Andy) talked about the republic and a group that was setting people on fire. It’s like that’s one of their tactics.

One thing I didn’t realize from the trailer is that these are not three adult skeletons. It’s two adults and a child, all with their arms wrapped around each other. There’s a huge theme in this episode of families dying and specifically children dying. (Which is actually another tie to Consumed; remember the mother and child walker they find, and Daryl burns? Well, here we have two parents and a child, all who’ve been burnt. Yeah, not a coincidence, folks.)

We have two or three representations of families or children dying in this episode. I was thinking about the family in the gas station in 4a. I don’t think any of theme were children, but Daryl said something about them holding hands and taking themselves out Kumbaya style. And a lot of the skeletons we see here seem to be either taken out by their family members, or else they’ve committed suicide. There’s the child walker Carol and Daryl saw in 5x06. There was the creepy nursery near Denise just before she died. Etc. And it’s really very dark, ominous symbolism. Very sad.

Then Gabe pulls out an egg timer (another one of those), sets it for 5 seconds, and lobs it into the field. When it rings, tons of walkers spring up. So, it’s their way of checking before walking into tall grass. In this case, it shows the dial turning as the timer counts down. It definitely feels like a symbolic countdown to something big.

There’s also huge bullet theme. And usually single bullets. Mays makes them play Russian Roulette, which is all about one single bullet in the chamber. But there are tons of times when they pick up single bullet casings, or we see bullet holes in cars or walls or cans. Just a huge theme.

Okay, let’s get specific. They come upon a line of cars, which is really important. But just before that, Gabriel sees basically two piles of bones. I could tell not all of them were human. Some were too big. And I thought they might be horse bones. @bluesandbeth told me she thought they were two horses with their riders still on top. And she’s right. I couldn’t tell when I first looked at them. But once she said it, I could see it. It’s like a horse lying on it’s side, with the rider still straddling the horse, also lying on his side. And they died that way.

Now, other than knowing that we’ve definitely seen horses in the show before—think Buttons—I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Until @wdway said something interesting. You know the two horseback riders we see in the opening credits? Me and my fellow theorists are always going back and forth about who they are. I originally thought Rick and Michonne, which is the obvious conclusion. But @wdway told me she thinks this is actually Rick and Beth.

And you know, that makes a lot of sense since we didn’t see these new opening credits until Rick disappeared into the CRM. So, they could represent the two missing sheriffs.

And that makes a lot of sense with these bones. Because this scene with the cars has about 20 callbacks to Beth and what we think happened during the missing 17 days. So the bones represent the two riders from the opening credits, which represent the two missing sheriffs.

Now, onto the cars. One has the trunk open (Still) one has the side door hanging open (5x09). And there’s a van where Aaron sees a female walker in the front seat, which is kind of like what we saw in 5x09. Gabe finds a can of food, but there’s a bullet in it, which probably means the food either leaked out or spoiled.

But the really interesting thing is that him opening this trunk and looking in is very reminiscent of Maggie opening the trunk and finding the Beth walker in 5x10. So if we can equate those two things, both times, it represents opening the trunk and Beth being inside. In 5x10, she was represented by the walker. Here, by the can of food with a bullet hole in it, just like Beth got shot in the head.

Another thing I was reminded of was in 6x04, when Morgan sees the man and woman and she puts down a can of food and a bullet on top and says, “Thank you.” I think this symbolism may be related to that.

Then they go to the MiniMart. On the outside, it feels like the Big Spot or else maybe the gas station where Rick and Daryl met Jesus. In fact, much like in 6x10, there is a post for cigarettes with a price of $4.30.

When it pans out, there’s a coffee pot lying on its side (important because it’s something that water runs through, and we’ve seen a coffee theme as well) a walker with a bullet hole in its forehead, a bright yellow magazine rack by the door, etc. And this was a place you could play the lottery, so there was a poker theme going on.

Okay, the ARM symbolism is alive and well. My fellow theorists and I have been obsessing about what the arm symbolism points to ever since Leah threw the walker arm at Daryl. In this episode, a walker sticks both hands out of the door, and Gabe hacks them both off, around the forearm/elbow area.

Then, another walker gets its head and torso out and Aaron stabs it in the head. He and Gabe both grab an arm to try and yank it out of the way so they can get by, but the arms (really the hands because it separates at the forearms) just come off. And really, it’s just the skin, not the bones that comes off, but still. (Ew.)

This is where Gabriel goes up on the roof and we get the scene from the promo.

Okay, so when I first saw the promo, I immediately said this was a Grady callback. The “SAVE US” is something that could only be seen from the sky. Like…from a helicopter? Plus there were some important scenes on the roof of Grady. There’s a walker that’s handcuffed. So it’s an imprisonment theme. And Grady was all about imprisonment. And finally, we have what looks to be two lovers, dead, but entwined together on a mattress. I was thinking that if this is meant to represent Grady, that might represent Beth and Daryl. The love that never happened because Beth “died” and the relationship died with her. Or something equally tragic.

But there are other things we can connect this to as well. First off, what you don’t see in this shot is that there are two other walkers also tied to a second pole, but neither of them are animated. They’re just corpses. So we have a grand total of three prisoners here. If you look closely, the man lying on the mattress has a gun in his hand. Which suggests this might have been a murder/suicide situation.

It’s reminiscent of Merle being handcuffed on the roof in season 1, which was just before he went missing. It also reminded me of the strange, unexplained handcuffs Daryl found in 8x02 in that office building. Those were never explained. But the point is, it’s a handcuffs/imprisonment theme.

A big part of this is a foreshadow for the end of this episode and what happens with Mays. But given that he and his bro are one-off characters only appearing in this episode, I think this must foreshadow more than that, too.

We don’t actually see the inside of this place because Gabe goes to the roof, takes the ladder down (Ladder Theory) and then comes out the front door, but tells Aaron there’s nothing they can use in there.

Then they talk about going home. Aaron and Gabe been out for 2 weeks, which is definitely a Heath/Tara thing. In S6, they’d been out scouting for supplies for 2 weeks, and that was just before Heath disappeared into the CRM. Just saying.

Okay, then Gabe falls in the mud. Here’s the thing: we really thought Gabriel might die in this episode. Obviously not. But I do see some fairly clear death omens for him here. Of course I can’t be sure of anything, but I still think his death is probably close.

First is the fact that he trips at all. Anytime anyone really faceplants on the show, it sort of shows a coming catastrophe for them, which is often death. Beth face-planted in the elevator shaft in 5x04. Spencer fell off the zipline in S6, and died less than a season later. You get the idea. When, when Aaron lifts the walker off him, it leaves some intestines (ew) on his stomach, and the camera focuses on them for a moment. Just felt like a death omen to me.

I will say, however, that anyone who’s read the comics knows that this feels a lot like they might do exactly what they did there for his death. And they don’t usually do that. They almost always remix it in some way. So this could also just be a nod to his comic book death. We’ll have to see where they go with it.

But this scene is super interesting. It feels like EXACTLY the same thing we saw in 10x18. We have Gabriel’s map being ruined, and then a huge storm that immediately follows. And there’s Beth symbolism (talk of a water tower, etc). So I thought it was interesting that we saw it twice, in two subsequent episodes. Also, for most of the episode they’re kinda sorta trying to get to the water tower. As though water tower is end game or something.

Then they get to a warehouse that wasn’t on the map. Gabe finds the bibles inside. I’m still forming a theory about the passage he opens up to, but we all know they use biblical symbolism in this show a lot, and especially around Beth. But remember they found a bible in the barn in Alone. Later, Mays says the pages are torn because he uses them for toilet paper. (Toilet Paper Theory.)

Then we get to the really good Bethyl callbacks. Aaron and Gabriel eat pork, drink alcohol, play poker (not exactly the same as Beth and Daryl’s drinking game, but it’s a game), Aaron has a “bullshit” line, Gabriel shows an 8 and a 2 card, Aaron says he needs to “take a piss,” etc.

I did notice something while watching, but wasn’t sure what to make of it until AK was talking at the end of the episode. It shows one hand of poker and Aaron folds, which means Gabe wins. This is where he shows a 2 and an 8, which isn’t anything in poker. So, he won the hand on a bluff. And I went, huh. Wonder what that means. But it was a foreshadow of what happens with Mays. I’ll get to that.

Gabe has an “I’m serious” mention. In one of the bigger parallels, the dialogue is not the same, but the meaning is. So, different words, same meaning. Gabriel says his line from the promo about how evil people aren’t the exception, they are the rule. That really disturbs Aaron and he says, “okay, now I’m sober.” It’s the equivalent of “you ain’t a happy drunk at all.” And then he drives it home by saying, “I’m going to go up to the room and pitch myself off head first.”

And THEN—get this—he picks up a golf club and smacks a golf ball at FG, hitting him in the foot. Gabe says, “ow.” So not only a golf/Still reference, but I think it specifically ties back to when Daryl uses the club to kill the walker and hits Beth with the gore.

They say in TTD that they actually did an extended golf sequence where Aaron and Gabe set up this huge mini-golf course thing, but most of it got cut from the episode for time. So there was originally a massive golf theme in this episode.

Of course Mays shows up to take them captive. He shows Gabriel Aaron’s metal arm. So, more arm symbolism.

Without going into tons of detail here, let’s just recognize that the entire theme of this episode is whether or not there are good people in the world still. (Beth line.) Mays thinks all people are evil but Gabe and Aaron prove him wrong by refusing to the point the gun at one another during the Russian Roulette game. There’s a line where Gabriels screams at him that he needs to remember who he was. (“who you were.”) Which is a direct parallel to Beth telling Daryl to stay who he is. Which is a good person. So it’s a similar theme being explored here.

At one point, Mays says, “there’s nothing left in this world but thieves and murderers.” It’s not the same line Glenn says in 5x02, but the wording of the first part is exactly the same. “There’s nothing left in this world that isn’t hidden.”

We also definitely get an “illusion/hallucination” reference here. I noticed Gabriel said (and I’m paraphrasing; didn’t write down the exact words) that Mays was so bitter, and had so convinced himself that everyone in the world was evil, that he’d blinded himself to the truth and couldn’t see that he was about to kill two very decent guys (Gabe and Aaron). So, it just struck me as a you-can’t-see-the-truth-that’s-right-in-front-of-you theme. Plus, maybe a see no evil theme?

Another theme that jumped out at me is whether or not they are the same as him. At one point, he says, “you’re so close,” and I think he means to becoming a villain, like he is. During their fight, he says they’re the same and Gabriel rebukes him, saying they aren’t like him.

We’ve seen that theme a lot before. It’s like a theme of the bad guys trying to make the good guys like them, and the good guys have to prove they’re better than that. So, Crazy Tattoo Guy at Terminus came running out of his train car yelling, “we’re the same,” before he died. Joe Claimer tried hard to convince Daryl that he was like them and one of them, even though he wasn’t. And we could even tie this to Beth saying, “I’m not like you or them, but I made it.” Slightly different meaning in that case, but the verbiage is similar.

(BTW, notice in the pic above, Aaron has a head wound, bleeding from exactly the spot Beth was shot.)

And surprisingly, they actually manage to convince Mays that they’re right and he puts away the gun and unties Aaron, looking as if he’ll let them go. He unties Aaron…and then Gabe kills him. Pretty brutally.

So this is the second reason I think this might be a death knell for Gabe. And it also ties to the bluff in the poker game. AK said that everything Gabe said to Mays about him still believing in God and the bible was a bluff. So we’re left wondering if it was a complete lie, and Gabe has entirely lost his faith. Now, a crisis of faith does line up with Daryl in Inmates/Still, but at the very least, Gabe is in a really dark place. But he hides it well. It doesn’t look that way to others. But I feel like he’s spiraling and being super self-destructive, and this might soon lead to his death.

Remember when he killed Dante? It’s a lot like that. And at one point, Aaron says that Gabe doesn’t mean that (all the negative stuff he says) because his mind is just really full of the Whisperers still, but not all people are like the Whisperers. So, I think the idea is that dealing with the Whisperers really messed Gabe up.

But of course they go upstairs, or up a level and find Mays’ twin brother. And the thing is, Gabe wasn’t entirely wrong to kill him. I mean, in terms of Gabe’s inner arc, obviously he was being really, disturbingly brutal. But Mays was keeping his twin brother a prisoner upstairs. We see two bodies—that of a woman and child—each with a bullet hole in their foreheads. Which is obviously reminiscent of Beth. But the brother also says Mays “made him play.” Which means he did the Russian Roulette thing, but unlike Gabe and Aaron, he didn’t shoot himself but rather turned the gun on his wife and child and eventually shot both of them.

So neither of these guys was exactly Alexandria material. Then the brother gets ahold of Gabe’s gun and shoots himself. Aaron and Gabe leave. On their way out, it shows a photograph of the two brothers laughing together, clearly before the apocalypse.

Okay, let’s talk about this scene. This is what I meant was foreshadowed by Maggie’s two-story building description. Gabe and Aaron found a 2-story building where a family died together. You could say the same thing here of Mays and his brother.

I’m still not entirely sure what to make of the evil twin/evil sibling symbols. I think it must foreshadow something, and we just don’t understand what it points to yet. We saw it with Lizzie/Mica, with Noah’s twin brothers (and the picture of Mays and his brother is very reminiscent of that) and now here. So it’s really fascinating to me, and I’ve talked about it before, but it’s obviously symbolism that’s still in play and that we don’t entirely understand. For more on this, see the 5x09 Post I recently wrote.

But here’s the other thing about this scene. It was this scene in particular that reminded me of the handcuffs Daryl found in S8.

Because Mays’ bro was handcuffed in the same way. Near those cuffs in S8, there was also what might have been a dogfood sandwich, which is exactly what Daryl was fed at the Sanctuary in 7x03. So you see what I mean? It’s a whole imprisonment theme, with similar symbols around it. And dog symbol always = Sirius = Beth, which is why I think it has to have something to do with her. Then, I saw this:

Guys, this is the exact same brand of dog food we saw with Daryl at the Sanctuary. It’s called A-OK.

And what does it mean? I’m not sure, but consider this: even in 4x01, Beth had a lot of imprisonment symbols in her cell. A bird cage, a no exit sign, a garden gnome. And if Grady was tied to the CRM, and was absorbed by them, then Beth may have been a prisoner of the CRM for like 8 years, now. And even putting her aside, Rick has been their prisoner for 6 years. That much is confirmed in the show. So I think this points to the CRM in one way or another. It’s about a long imprisonment term, but is tied to Sirius and the return.

In the last scene, Gabe and Aaron walk through a field and they are coming up on the water tower, though it’s still in the distance. One of them says it’s the last place on the map. And I think that’s significant. So, I had a few different thoughts about how we could interpret this.

So, as I already said, Beth = water = endgame. But we also know the CRM is purifying water. So CRM = endgame. What I mean is, maybe it’s saying that the CRM is the last huge battle they’ll have to fight, and maybe then they’ll get the world back. And we’ve kind of thought that for a while. That they’ve been hinting at this group and this war, since season 1 when Rick saw the helicopter in Atlanta. And Beth will be a big part of it.

I also think we may be getting lots of hints of them losing Alexandria here. So it might be a matter of losing one more home or finding one more home. Something like that. If the CRM is the “one more” in the title… well, at first, Gabe says, “two more,” and then eventually “one more.” So I’m thinking two more big arcs. The first is the Commonwealth. The second “one more” is the CRM. But I think that will last for several seasons.

It also occurred to me that the “one more” could also be a death omen for Gabriel. One more place. One more battle. One more episode? And then he’s done. But all of this is just conjecture. Me brainstorming ideas.

One other thing I wrote down is that AK said the bullet in the gun in the Russian Roulette game represented one last trial, and would this be the bullet that will break them? I thought that was interesting, especially in terms of Beth’s loss breaking Daryl.

Okay, lets go back to what I said at the beginning. Obvious callbacks to Bethyl and Still, and lots of things suggesting her imminent return. Since the water tower = Beth and Gabe and Aaron were kind of searching for it the whole episode, you can see how that parallels 5x06, Consumed. But I also think it foreshadows the spinoff with Carol and Daryl leaving together to go search for Beth, even if they don’t know it initially. The fact that Aaron and Gabe were originally searching for something else (food/supplies) but sort of ended up aiming for the water tower here is probably purposeful.

Bottom line? This still points toward Beth being very close. I’ll do more general forecasting tomorrow. Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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guessimjoiningthespidermanfandom · 3 years

Text

It Takes Two to Tango

Peter Parker x bisexual!reader

Peter Parker x fem!reader

Peter Parker x black!reader

Peter Parker x villain!reader

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

Word Count: 6.5k

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

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

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

Series Masterlist Previous Part Next Part

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

I had a gun trained on me.

“Come with us Y/N please,”

“No! Who the fuck is Y/N?”

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

I rolled my eyes.

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

“You’re cornered there’s no way out,”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Sorry… I guess I got too excited,”

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

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

I sighed plopping down onto the small twin bed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Wanna go do something?”

“Sure... Where are we going?”

“Out,”

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

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

“Why don’t we get famous?”

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

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

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

I plopped it into her palm.

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

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

I didn’t mind.

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

“How many do you have now?”

“I think like twelve?”

“And that’s not enough for you?”

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

“Then do it?”

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

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

“Y/N, ‘s that you?” She asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She turned towards me

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weird.

“Y/N are you even listening to me?”

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

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

“Cool what color?”

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

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

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

You came with your new friend

And her mom jeans and her new Vans

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

And she's perfect and I hate it

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

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

“You have a hello kitty bong?”

She grabbed it from my hands examining it.

“Well actually I stole it from my sister,”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Who me?” He asked.

“Yes you,”

“Oh,”

“So can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah sure I guess…”

“What’s your favorite Percy Jackson book?”

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

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

“That doesn’t prove anything but okay,”

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

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

“Yeah and you’re gay,”

He just huffed. Got him there.

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

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

“Physics,”

“Oh…”

“Oh what? Don’t oh me,”

“You’re avoiding Peter,”

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

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

Accompanied by the same gut feeling.

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

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

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

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

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

“Y/N!” The female gym coach called.

“Yes?” I rolled my eyes.

“Where are your gym clothes?”

“Probably in the locker room...”

“Why aren’t you wearing them?”

“I didn’t feel like it,”

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

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

The teachers bathroom.

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

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

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

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

Some of them were nice like

hey lol

you’re both gorgeous omg

That tattoo is cool af

I want to be you

I should pay you to do my hair lmao

I can't tell if i want to be you

The other half were like

No child should be getting a tattoo you look so young

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

Why please Go To God✝️✝️🙏🏻🙏🏻♥️

Im praying for you

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey Y/N?”

“Yes?”

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

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

“Are you gonna to speak…”

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

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

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

“Why me?”

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

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

“Okay then, what are we waiting for?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey, the boss wants to see you now,”

I turned back to Peter and whispered.

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

He just laughed at that.

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

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

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

He continued to ignore me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“So you want to use me as a lab rat?”

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

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

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

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

“Of course,” I nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hiii baby!” I cooed in a baby voice.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The only reason being is that Harry dueted.

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

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

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

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

Of course I made a response video.

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

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

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

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

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

“I know. Thank you,”

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

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

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

“Oh you remember MJ right?” I lied.

“Oh yes, I like that lil’ girl,”

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

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

They peeled open their eyes, sitting up.

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

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

Sapphire squealed when she saw her.

“You got Salem? I missed her!”

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

She hopped down from the bed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I’m fine how are you?”

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

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

“You have a fever,” She claimed.

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

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

“No I’m not fucking high,”

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

“What?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Welp, there was only one way to find out.

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

“Uh are you sure?” Tony asked.

“Positive,” I affirmed.

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

“Yeah tomorrow works for me,”

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

“No it’s fine I can get here myself.”

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

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

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

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

“Safety reasons? Do you not trust me?”

“Not really…”

“Wow okay, you can bring this friend,”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This would be one deep inside job.

“Peter?” I whispered into the comms

“Hello?” He asked.

“Where are you?”

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

“Well, come here,”

“But Mr. Stark said-“

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Your mom,” I taunted.

“Hey!” He cried.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Peter seriously you can’t tell anyone,”

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

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

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

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

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

Taglist:

@tomdiddlyumptious

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a-solitary-marshmallow · 3 years

Text

Rewind Chapter 3

Awareness came in pieces, like waves lapping over the shore, slowly bringing back each sense. Ford yawned and rolled his neck to ease out a crick. He really should stop sleeping sitting up.

The warm form cuddled against him stirred and he placed a soothing hand on their head of soft curls until they stilled, burying their face in his shirt. Ford hummed happily and let his head rest back against the headboard, content to just stay here forever…

…wait a second.

Ford’s eyes flung open with a jolt.

What had he been thinking, falling asleep? Sleep was the one thing he couldn’t afford! He looked around quickly, heart pounding. He was still sitting against the headboard of his bed, pillows propped behind his back and a child-sized Stanley curled up in his lap, the way they had been when he must have fallen asleep part way through telling stories of his previous discoveries. His journal lay open at his feet. To his relief it was bereft of cryptic code and taunts. Bill must have been busy, or perhaps had not noticed Ford’s slip-up. He hadn’t been possessed.

Ford cursed himself. How could he have made himself vulnerable like that? The portal was wide-open for the taking! And there was no telling what Bill Cipher would do to his brother – his child brother, who was currently helpless and foolishly, trustingly snuggled against the front of Ford’s turtleneck.

He forced himself to take a deep breath. He couldn’t change the past, only the future. Now he had other things to concentrate on – namely, building a Bill-proof barrier, since his investigation on how to cure Stanley had hit a snag – he had none of the components he would need to start reverse-engineering a cure. The sun peeking through his window told that he must have been sleeping for at least an hour. Morning was already slipping away from him.

“Mmmph.” Stanley mumbled. Ford’s hand was still in his curls. Ford couldn’t resist ruffling those curls as Stan pulled his head up, yawning and blinking sleepily. “F’rd?”

“Good morning, Stanley.”

Stan rubbed at his eyes. “Whaza time?”

“Time to start working. Come on, up you go.” Ford lifted his brother from his lap. Stan whined at being put down on the covers.

“Nooooo, ‘s cold!”

“Then hurry up and get moving.” Ford swung his legs over the bed and stood. “I have a lot to do today.”

Stan grumbled the whole time. He was still wearing that old shirt. Perhaps Ford should get him something that fit better? No, it would be useless in a day or so anyway.

Ford spoke to himself as he walked.

“Now, I’ll have to go as soon as possible to get that hair – what’ll I do with you? Oh, children need to receive their daily nutrients, don’t they? Hmm, when was the last time I ate?” He couldn’t recall. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter, I’m an adult, I can stand to skip a few – hmm. Weeks? No, that can’t be right. I should eat too. I have coffee? Is it safe to give a child coffee?” He opened the fridge and stared in dismay at the rows of empty shelves. “Oh. That’s why I haven’t eaten. Guess I’ll just have to – buy some supplies. Yes. Come along Stanley, we’re driving into town.”

“Who’stha whatnow?” Stan stumbled into the kitchen after him. That was right, his brother was certainly not a morning person. Ford wondered again how ethical it was to give a child coffee. Probably shouldn’t risk it.

“Town, Stanley. I have to do some shopping. And come to think of it, you’ll need someone to watch you…” Unless he could just leave the child locked in a room? Ford wasn’t exactly familiar with babysitting protocol. Maybe it was better to just bring him along for now.

He dropped one of his old coats around Stanley’s shoulders and ushered him outside. The coat was a good call – it was still freezing. Ford was climbing into the car when he hit another snag.

“…ah.” He didn’t have a booster seat. Stanley would be riding in the back seat, it seemed.

Luckily the town was still waking up, so it was quite simple to walk in, grab some supplies, pay and leave without having to deal with the hustle of crowds. Ford pulled up in his driveway with a relieved sigh. He thanked his lucky stars that Gravity Falls was slow to wake on a Sunday… wait, no, what day was it?

Didn’t matter.

With his arms full of groceries, Ford nudged the door open with his foot. He could hear Stan grunting under the weight of his own load as he placed the bags on the kitchen bench.

Maybe he had gone a little over the deep end, Ford admitted to himself as he went about sorting groceries. He hadn’t realized until this morning that his fridge was empty. That did explain the hollow feeling in his stomach though. Come to think of it, when was the last time he ate? Not counting the copious amounts of coffee and energy drinks he ordered weekly.

It also explained Stan’s rumbling stomach. Honestly, Stan should have said something if he was hungry!

Said child wobbled his way into the kitchen with a shopping bag in his arms. Ford took it and started unloading it as well. Marshmallows – he didn’t remember buying those. Maybe Stanley snuck them into the cart. Ford could remember the gleeful giggles he and Stan would break into when they’d managed to sneak a treat into their mother’s shopping cart. Stan was always better at it than Ford.

Ford shook his head to clear it. He had no time for nostalgic thoughts anymore. He snagged two frozen single-serve pies plates and started searching for clean plates to put them on. Finally he found two with only a few crumbs on them – he brushed one off and placed it in the microwave, trying to remember if he’d paid his electricity bill recently.

He must have, because the microwave was heating and glowing when he pressed the right buttons. Ford sighed and leaned against the bench to wait.

Stanley was in the process of pushing a chair towards the table. He paused to let out a gigantic yawn, rubbing his eyes with his too-big sleeve.

“Tired?” Ford found himself asking. Stan nodded and yawned again.

“Mm hmm.”

“Did you have trouble getting to sleep?” The uncomfortable position must not have helped.

Stan finished pushing the chair and now he crawled up into it and rested his elbows on the table. On closer inspection he did look tired, dark bags collecting under his eyes.

“Nah.” Stan rested his cheek on one hand, squishing his round face slightly. “Just had weird dreams.”

A shiver ran down Ford’s spine.

He hadn’t even considered if – what would happen if Stan made a deal with Bill Cipher? Had already made a deal? It would explain why Bill wasn’t in Ford’s dreams. Ford hadn’t warned his brother about the demon, he’d been so sure that Bill would focus on him and him alone, but Stanley was vulnerable here and Ford hadn’t even thought about it-

“Did you make a deal?” He demanded. Stan blinked at him blearily.

“What?”

“A deal. In your dream. Did you shake anyone’s hand? Talk to anyone?”

Stan shook his head with another yawn. “Don’ think so.”

He was a child, Ford reminded himself sharply, a child that didn’t grasp the significance of what was happening. He needed to have patience. Or else Stan might clam up and refuse to talk to him further.

“Stanley.” Ford forced his tone to stay even and slow. Stan send him a curious look. “I need you to tell me everything that happened in your dream. It might be important. Okay?”

Stan frowned. “Uh – okay. Are you gonna interpret my dream, like Ma does?”

“…something like that. But it’s very important you don’t leave out any details.”

“Okay.” Stan hummed for a minute, in thought, before he brightened. “Oh, yeah! So I was in my car – I mean, I don’t have a car, but it was a dream and you just know stuff in dreams so even though I don’t have a car I knew it was my car – and it was all snowy outside. I think I was stuck in a snow bank or something. Hey Ford, where do snowmen keep their money?”

The microwave beeped. Ford placed the hot pie in front of Stanley and searched for a fork. “A snow bank. Continue.”

Stan pouted. “You ruined my joke!”

Ford handed him a fork. Stan sighed and poked at his pie while Ford started heating up his own. After a moment the child continued, his voice uncharacteristically somber.

“It was really cold. Like, really cold. I could see my breath and it wasn’t even cool. Haha – cool. I… didn’t know cold hurt so much. It was like my bones were made of ice, all cracking and popping.”

“Was anyone in the car with you?”

Stan screwed up his face in thought. “Um, no. Just me.”

“Then what happened?”

“Well, I had some matches and I was lighting them for warmth, but then they ran out.” Stan paused for a moment with a frown, comedic on his childish features. “I, um, was looking for some more in the glove box and a gun fell out. An’ I don’t know where I got it but I know it’s mine. S’ gotta be, if it’s in my car, right? But I don’t remember where I got it and I don’t know if it’s got any bullets in it.”

Ford nodded along. If Stanley could recall the dream so vividly, it probably wasn’t a normal dream, the likes of which tended to fade as quickly as they had appeared. But so far it didn’t seem like Bill’s style.

“What happened then?”

Stan bit his lip, wincing. “Um, you remember how we used to play Russian Roulette with soda cans? How we’d shake one up and take turns opening ‘em and try not to get the fizzy one?”

Ford got a bad feeling in his gut. “Of course.”

“I, um, I can’t remember why, but I wanted to find out if it had bullets in it. So I put it to my head and pulled the trigger.” Stan pulled a face like he’d tasted something sour. “There was this click and I guess it was empty because nothing happened. So I put it back and curled up all small, because it was still super cold, and I think I went back to sleep.” Stan shrugged with one shoulder. “Then it ended.”

Well, there was a lot to unpack there, and Ford could unpack it later. The microwave beeped to signify his breakfast was sufficiently warmed. He took it and slid into the seat opposite Stan.

“Is that everything? No one talked to you? How clearly do you remember it?”

“S’weird.” Stan admitted, pulling off the top of the pie to get at its insides. “So normally dreams kinda fade, all fuzzy-like, right? But the ones I had last night aren’t fading. It feels real but not-real.”

“Vivid?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Stan shrugged. Ford took a bite of his pie and was chewing before he registered what had just been said. He spluttered a little.

“Ones? Plural?”

“Uh, yeah.” Stan shrugged again. “The other one was weirder. Do you wanna know about that one too?”

“Do I – why wouldn’t I? Why didn’t you mention that?”

“Well, it was shorter and way more blurry. I couldn’t even see anything so I don’t think it really counts as a dream.”

“Tell me.”

Stan scrunched up his face. “You sure? It’s kinda silly.”

Ford sent him a look and Stan sighed.

“Fine. In the second one it was all dark, I couldn’t see anything. Well, not at first. There was this… man.” Stan shuddered. “This, uh, really creepy guy. And he put me in a coffin? No, um, a car trunk I think. It was all dark and then I couldn’t see anything. Then there was just lots of noises, and rumbling, and it got all wet.”

“Wet?” Ford echoed. Stan shrugged.

“Yeah, all wet. And cold. Like I’d been dumped in a lake or somethin’! Cause the whole trunk started flooding, which was really scary. An’ I don’t remember how I got out but at some point I was swimmin’ up feeling like my lungs were gonna explode.” Stan shivered, hugging himself. “An’ my mouth hurt and the water tasted like metal an’ it was so dark. Then, um… I dunno, I woke up or something?” He frowned. “Wait, no, there was something else – about a llama that knew too much? It all kinda gets smudgy.”

Unsettling, certainly, and something to ask questions about later – but for now it sounded like Bill had missed his chance to mess with the Pines twins. Ford let himself relax slightly.

“Thank you, Stanley, for telling me.”

“So are you gonna read my future or something?”

“No.”

Stan poked out his tongue. Ford sighed. The matter aside, he still had to find someone to look after Stanley while he got the unicorn hair! But there was only one person in Gravity Falls he trusted, and…

Well, that person might not pick up the phone.

But desperate times called for desperate measures. Surely, surely Fiddleford would at least hear him out? And if that failed Ford could always lock the child in a room for a couple hours.

Mind made up, Ford excused himself to go make a call.

His palms were oddly sweaty as he dialed the number he knew off by heart and pressed enter. The phone rang once, twice, thrice in his hand. Surely a hopeless endeavor. Ford was sure he wasn’t going to pick up, when there was a click and a crackly voice sounded tiredly down the line.

“Hello?”

His old assistant’s voice sent his heart leaping in his chest. Ford hurriedly cleared his throat. “Fiddleford? It’s me, Stanford.”

In the half-second of frigid silence that followed, Ford began to realize he might have made a mistake by introducing himself.

“Wait!” He gasped out. “Please don’t hang up.”

“What do ya want?” Fiddleford growled out. He sounded so unlike himself that it made Ford pause. But – no. This was Fiddleford. His research assistant. His friend. The one person he could trust.

“I – I need your help.” Ford admitted. He plunged on before Fiddleford could interrupt, “I was an idiot. You were right – about the portal, about Bi- the demon.”

There was a crackly silence. Ford took a deep breath.

“I know that what I did is unforgiveable. I abandoned you and refused to heed your warnings. I understand if you can never forgive me. But please, I need your help to fix what I’ve done.”

“I aint goin’ near that portal!” Fiddleford’s voice lifted in both volume and pitch. Ford hurried to reassure him.

“No, no, of course not. That’s not what I need your help with. And it’s not for me, it’s for my twin brother.”

“You have a twin?” Fiddleford demanded, a lilt of curiosity sneaking into his tone. He sounded a little more like the man Ford knew. “Why didn’t ya tell me that?”

“Stan and I haven’t on the best of terms recently.” Ford explained. “Fiddleford, you’re a father, you know how to take care of children. I need you to take care of my brother – just for a little while.”

“Whoa, hold up.” There was shuffling on the other end of the line. “I’m gonna need ya to go back to the beginning. What did ya get yourself into this time?”

Ford chuckled humorlessly. “An experiment gone wrong. Stanley – my twin brother – has been reverted back into a child.”

A pause.

“Fiddleford?”

His friend let out a sigh. “Yeah, sure, course this is happening. Weird stuff always happens around you, Stanford.”

Ford chose to take that as a compliment. “I currently have my hands full. There is a spell – a magical barrier, in fact – that can protect us against the demon you warned me about, allowing me to disassemble the portal without risk. But to do this I have so obtain several rare ingredients. I can’t take Stanley with me, and I can’t leave him alone. I was hoping you would be able to watch him. Just for a little while!” He added nervously. “I know Stanley can be a handful but I’ll be back as quickly as I can and-”

“Ford, shut yer yap.”

Ford shut up.

“I’ll not leave a child alone, no matter what I think of his brother. When d’ya need him taken care of?”

Ford let out a breath and thanked any and all deities that may have lent a helping hand. “I was hoping, today? As soon as possible?”

Fiddleford groaned. “Fine, fine – but only for the kid!” He added. “And in the name of keepin’ that demon away. Not for you.”

“I understand completely.”

“Ya still at yer cabin?”

“Yes.”

“’Course ya are. Now, how old’s yer brother?”

“Ah…” Hmm. Ford had never been good at ages. He’d passed through them himself and never looked back. “He’s old enough to talk. And complain about not having clothes that fit. Maybe about as old as Tate was when I last saw him…?”

Another long-suffering sigh. “A’right, a’right. I’ll bring some old clothes of Tate’s, see if they fit, and I’ll watch the little tyke for ya. But I’m not goin near that portal. Or any of your hinky experiments, ya hear?”

“Certainly. Thank you, Fiddleford.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there in an hour, maybe two.”

“Thank you.” Ford said again. Fiddleford hung up.

#fic #chapter 3 #gravity falls #The stans #stangst #rewind

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yyxgin · 3 years

Note

meteor garden is so problematic honestly my favourite part was when there was a meteor shower for 10 whole seconds somewhere mid 20’s episode. i forgot to mention she HAS a job she just like never went (on camera at least) she goes to uni that’s why she’s so broke too. it’s typical rich family pays off poor girl to leave her son alone but son is the one chasing the girl 🤡

HAJSJSKSKAKKA i got so much stuff from that album i didn’t realise how much i really got until i got a different album and i was like,, okay. i got a chan pc, double sided han pc, minho pc, changbin polaroid pc, changbin & minho film strip and a kind of pop out thing? of i.n. there’s an ot7 thing too but i figured everyone got that.

i recently watched... uh... into the dark? and it was in french and i didn’t even realise i wasn’t reading the subtitles i was like ~woah~

if you don’t mind me asking ~ what’s your part time job? only bc we can make conversation about it!! also i freaked out at my last job bc i thought i’d put down my details wrong as a lady at hq rang me to tell me they were having problems paying me 😰 i think the computer might’ve read my numbers wrong bc i write in cursive but like... i write more... how do i say... comic sans? for formal docs bc the computer can read my handwriting and people can read it too T-T we used to get told for exams to write really neatly bc if the examiners can’t read it they don’t mark it and we work solely off of essay writing here (or short answers no multiple choice bs) so i worried that i’d get stuck w the one examiner who couldn’t read my writing but the boy who’s handwriting looks like a spider ran across his book gets someone who can read it perfectly fine 😓 my ultimate fear tbh. i love the extra flourish i can add to envelopes just by writing all fancy-like.

YES YOLO!! i’m a libra so i’m the worst at decision making so when i do it’s impulsive and i have to say things like yolo to justify myself and then i’m gucci for the day.

yuta makes me so 😳🥵🤪😚😳😍🥵🤪 for every reason. i have a weakness for japanese men... my mind just goes into overdrive and i short circuit,, i’m afraid of watching shotaro content bc he’s just so 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 and do i dare risk it?

personally, i enjoy russian roulette by rv but that’s very, pop-y of them. i like b sides by them more bc they carry a different sound to them. ice cream cake is good. and future!!! i like future bc i watched start-up tho 🤩 ladies night is a fun one and if i remember correctly time slip was good? i have a massive playlist with loads of artists so i need a refresher on rv as got7 and simon dominic have been in heavy rotation recently 😬

what did you do today? how did your interview go? (or am i too early?) wait i think i asked about it earlier oops 🙊 lots of love and positivity being sent your way ~ 🌻

and stop apologising about replying to asks late!!! 😐 i deliberately send asks bc you can take your time over them!! i really don’t mind how long you take!!!!!!!!!!!! 😙 ~ 🌻

ITS OFFICIAL I LOVE METEOR GARDEN DJSJSJ

you have like,,,,so much stuff ??? i wanna steal ????? i would literally do anything for that minho pc😔💔 i think the moment i buy my first album im literally gonna freak out from whoever i get 😩✋

i dont mind u asking !! my part time job is like,, working in this one shop called pepco, idk if you guys have it there lol. its like working behind the cash register and also helping with like,,restocking the shelves and stuff. i'm starting in june hhh lets hope i make some friends as well bc that lady said there are a few girls in my age starting at the same time so we can only hope haha. also i totally get you,,my handwriting changes like every year bc i get an identity crisis and change it lmaoo but people always tell me its really messy and sometimes unreadable😔

YOU ARE A LIBRA ?? I AM IN LOVE W YOU my moon is in libra so decision making isnt my best quality either but the aries sun in me just says fuck it 90% of the time so i'm good.

SHOTARO IS THE LOML HE IS SO 🥺🥺🥺🥺 but also his predebut tiktoks,,,,,much thoughts. yes. his instagram is the best thing that's ever happened to me, like yes get it king 😩

oooh i love russian rulette !! 🤩🤩 i am also a fan of ice cream cake but i dont know the other ones you mentioned, i'll have to give them a listen 😎

i didnt reply yesterday because i was out the whole day with my best friend and when i came home i had a glass of wine and got really sleepy💔and today i just cleaned my room and i'm about to water my plants lets hope i dont forget after finishing this reply,,,my interview went good hhh thanks !!! how has your day been ? ❤

sending u love !! <3

#💌ask #🌻 anon

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falseroar · 4 years

Text

Is This Your Card? Part 19: The Actor’s Game

((The District Attorney learns the hard way that in this house, death does not mean the same thing.

Warnings: References to blood, death/suicide, Russian roulette, and swearing.

Link to Part 18: Voices in the Halls. Two parts today.))

You found yourself lying in darkness, a void where all you could smell was your own blood, where all you could hear was your own heartbeat growing fainter with every second.

Until another body fell down beside you, just like he had this morning, a terrible moment that felt like ages ago—only this time Mark landed on his back, in the same position you found yourself in. A stain indicated the silver bullet in his chest, same as the one now in yours. Same as the unspent bullet that gleamed in the open palm of his hand as his eyes met yours before turning solid black, and his lips began to move.

“It’s not fair, is it?”

His corpse smiled back at you, any sign of life or whatever moving it disappearing as you scrambled to your feet and stood, the pain in your chest, in your back, in your side all faded, all…at a distance growing farther and farther away the longer you remained here.

“Mark,” you whispered, but the body didn’t speak again, gave no sign it could hear. “You…”

“He took everything from us.”

You looked up and saw them. Damien, Celine, but your brief joy turned to confusion again as you realized there was something not right about the twins. They weren’t solid, weren’t there in the same way as Mark’s body or even you seemed to be, but instead were like two lights in their image, one streaked with red, the other blue.

Shadows of themselves.

“He trapped us in here,” Damien continued, gesturing down at the body. “With this broken shell and no way out.”

“What do you mean?” you asked. “How could Mark—he died, we saw his body—”

The body that was now lying in front of you, a body that, when you dared to look down again, bore all the signs of the damage Abe had found in his inspection. You could now clearly see the makeup, worn away to reveal bruises and scars that were clearly older than a single night ago.

“He did it to himself,” Celine explained. “The first time, I don’t think he knew, but in this house, in this place, death doesn’t mean the same thing. And he came back here, so many times.”

“…Why?” The question came as a breath, an exhale as you tried to understand.

“Because here in this place he had access to power, he could see things that have already happened, that might happen, and all the while that thing was whispering in his ear, telling him whatever it wanted him to hear,” Celine answered, anger and bitterness tinging her tone. It wasn’t the same rage that had filled her before. She sounded exhausted as she continued, “This whole time I thought it was the house, but he…”

“No, I mean…why? Why didn’t he come to us, we would have helped him!” Your voice broke, but Damien just shook his head.

“I don’t know. Maybe he just couldn’t believe that anymore. Whatever it was that drove him to this point, he used this place to use us, to manipulate us for his…his game! For his amusement!”

“Close your eyes, and you will see,” Celine instructed, and against your better judgement you did as she said.

For a second, there was just the darkness behind your eyelids, and then you saw him. You saw Mark, sitting at the typewriter in the uncluttered study, a spread of unaddressed envelopes waiting for him as he carefully loaded a blank card into the machine and began to type.

“Mark made those cards, he knew,” you whispered, but the Mark you were seeing now, the Mark of the past, couldn’t hear you.

“This place showed him things, like you’re seeing now,” Celine said in your ear. “Showed him exactly what he needed to make those cards and send them to himself the night of the party.”

The scene shifted and suddenly you were back at the party, watching from a distance as you buckled over, laughing as Abe lined up and completely failed to land his ball in the solo cup resting on the suit of armor. Watched as Mark, completely sober, pulled the Colonel aside and led him down into the cellar where he offered him a bottle, watched the argument until Mark made an offer to just let bygones be bygones, on one condition.

A game.

You watched as he took the Colonel’s gun and opened the barrel, making a show of taking out one of the bullets, except you could see every chamber was still loaded. In the dim light of the cellar, the Colonel failed to notice the extra bullet Mark showed him gleamed silver, same as the others in the gun the Colonel did not load, failed to see the trick when Mark aimed the gun at him and seemed to pull the trigger only for nothing to happen.

The Colonel smashed the bottle on the ground as he yelled at Mark, his face flooding red with anger until Mark abruptly handed him the gun and spread his arms out, daring him to shoot. And you could feel the other presence in the room, working with the alcohol and the Colonel’s anger until he gave in and spun the barrel of the gun, for all the good it did, aimed, and fired.

The rage instantly gave way to panic, regret, and horror as the Colonel backed away from the body on the ground before fleeing back up the stairs.

You saw Mark’s body lie there, until he breathed again, “life” flooding back into him before he slowly got back up on his feet and smiled to himself. While the others partied, while the Colonel came to terms with what he had done, Mark used his own master key to open Abe’s nightstand, swapping the bullets in the hunter’s gun while being careful to leave one chamber empty before returning the weapon to its place.

The same key he used to open your room in the dead of night and cross the floor to your hanging jacket, where he quickly found and swapped your cards for his own. He turned to leave and stopped, his eyes on the figure lying in the bed, half-hidden by the covers. You couldn’t read the expression on his face as he stared at the wolf, at you, before he reached out a hand and ran it through your fur.

And smiled, as if at some internal joke.

You opened your eyes, not wanting to see any more, already knowing what happened next. Mark locked his key in his own room before taking a fall from the balcony at just the right time to be found by you, just so that he could watch how it all played out.

But his body was still lying here, lifeless and smiling.

“We played right into his hands,” Damien said, sharing a look with his sister. “He’d been planning this and now that son-of-a-bitch is out there walking around in my body—”

“Damien, we can’t do this right now,” Celine interrupted, her palms outstretched in a calming gesture before she turned to you. “Look, I know you have questions but I can’t answer everything right now. We don’t have much time.”

“What do you mean?” you asked.

Damien sighed, looking down at the body between you. “You can’t stay here, not for long. Or else you’ll end up like us.”

Celine raised a hand, stopping you before you could ask what he meant. “What’s important is you know that Mark took everything from us on his twisted quest of vengeance. But death does not mean the same thing here.”

“What Celine means by that is…this doesn’t have to be the end.” Hope began to rise in Damien’s voice as he continued, “You’re trapped in here just the same as us, but your body…Broken as it may be, it’s still out there. You can still feel it, can’t you?”

You hesitated and then nodded. That distant pain was still there, still calling out to you with each fading heartbeat.

“Mark’s not the only one that can use this place to his benefit,” Celine said, her voice gaining a strange echo. “Your body is a literal lifeline for you right now, and for us as well.”

“But you can’t go back on your own,” Damien said, and you could hear the same echo in his voice. As though they were both fading even further away with each passing second. “You’re dead, after all. The Colonel saw to that.”

“You can’t blame him. Honestly, he’s a good man,” Celine said earnestly, although her voice fell while Damien shook his head. “But he’s dangerous now.”

“He said…He said you were the one to keep him sane,” you said, and for a moment Celine seemed much older, so much sadder. She had been the one worth keeping his humanity for, and now... “What did you mean about my body being a lifeline for you too?”

“I know this all sounds crazy,” Damien admitted. “Honestly, I don’t know what the fuck is going on. But I know that I trust Celine, and she believes that your body could be a—a sort of anchor, to draw Mark’s empty body to you once you’re back. We can use that to get out of here, to buy enough time to find Mark and make him pay. If you trust us…just…let me in. We can fix this. Together.”

“I won’t force this on you,” Celine said, and you heard no trace of her taunt back at the house that had drawn you into agreeing to the séance, or the anger as she demanded you to go back. Just a soft plea as she said, “You have a choice here. Just know that this is the only way that you can escape.”

The only way that they could escape, too. Their lights were growing dimmer, at times flickering so much that you were afraid they might disappear completely at any second.

So it was never really a choice, was it?

You nodded, and you saw the relief on their faces, saw Damien nod along with you while Celine raised her hands, same as when she had drawn you into looking in the crystal ball earlier.

“Just relax.”

As the darkness drew in around you again, Damien gave you the soft smile you knew so well and said, “This’ll work. I promise.”

Thunder rumbled as you opened your eyes again, the blurry vision of the chandelier and balcony overhead greeting you at the same time the pain crashed down in a tidal wave. You were too aware of every beat of your heart, of the blood slowly beginning to course its way through your body again, each pulse highlighting the burn in your side, the broken bones from the fall, the fire in your chest from the silver bullet still lodged there. Any one of those injuries would have been easily overwhelming on their own, but all together it made your vision swirl and threatened to send you back into darkness again.

“Let me help you.”

The whisper came from somewhere in the back of your mind, and you felt Damien’s comforting, familiar presence slide in and take control. As if at a distance, you watched yourself sit up, the jacket heavy with medals thrown over your body falling to the black and white tiled floor.

Even with their help, your body struggled to stand, but eventually the room stopped spinning long enough to turn around and spot the man sitting on the bench near the door, cradling a silver-topped cane to his chest, who stared at you in disbelief until you quickly backed away.

“Oh, no, no!” The Colonel, looking different without his jacket and hat, slowly stood with his hand outstretched, his voice low and gentle as though trying to reassure a startled deer. “It’s okay.”

His mouth worked for a moment, joy flooding his features as he tried to find the words, while your body stood there, too distant for you to speak through even if you knew what to say yourself.

“I-I thought you were dead,” he said, stepping closer. He shook his head, his voice rising and growing more frantic as he said, “I-I-I mean, of course you’re not dead! You’re not—how could you be dead? I mean, I-I wouldn’t have killed you. I-I didn’t kill you.”

There was something wrong, more than just the Colonel’s denial as he circled around you and placed the cane down in front of the mirror, the start of a chuckle forming on his lips.

“I mean, of cour—I-I…Of course! I didn’t kill anybody! I didn’t—It was all a joke! A game, from the very start! Were you in on this?!”

He was closer now, smiling, but his eyes, already red from crying, looked close to breaking into tears again. You tried, to move, to say something, but while your body turned to face him and watch, you weren’t the one in control.

“Did Damien put you up to this? Of course he did!” The Colonel backed away, a limp in his step that you hadn’t noticed until now as he looked around, as though expecting everyone else to come bursting out of a door at any moment. “Damien, where are you, you rapscallion? Where are you? Celine! Ah, it’s time to come out now!”

He staggered away, his voice trailing off as he began to search the house. “It was good, it was good! You almost had me! …Celine?”

Your body turned back toward the mirror, and stood there for a moment, eyes focused on the cane while the Colonel’s voice grew farther and farther away.

Damien? Celine?

Your questioning thought reached out and found only silence until Damien responded, again like a faint whisper just beyond the edge of your hearing.

“We’ll do what we can to set this right. To make Mark pay for what he’s done.”

“But first we need a body,” Celine’s voice said, fading in over Damien’s. “Just close your eyes, Y/N, and let us take care of this.”

“Trust us,” Damien echoed, as you already felt your consciousness slipping from your grasp. “Trust me.”

But that was a mistake, a mistake you realized too late when you woke to pain, greater than any you had ever known. What had happened? Had something gone wrong?

You couldn’t feel the twins’ presence anymore, and when you looked up you found yourself looking into the mirror, at someone else’s reflection.

It was Mark, or his broken body at least with the bruises around his neck and the deathly lack of color in his face, but there was something very not like Mark in how he picked up the cane the Colonel left behind and studied it for a moment.

“Damien?” You tried to speak, but the name was more like a gasp of pain as the burning static in your head grew, louder and louder until he cracked his neck and the glass in between you cracked as well.

The body’s appearance blurred and shifted, momentarily appearing like Celine before settling into Damien’s likeness. But when his eyes met yours, you realized that you had never seen that look on his face before, that kind of anger. His lips moved before pressing together as though to hold back what he wanted to say, and without a word he turned and walked out of sight.

Leaving you alone, in what you now realized was the wrong side of the mirror’s glass.

((End of Part 19. Thank you for reading.

Link to the final part of this story, Part 20: Silver Prison.

Tagging: @silver-owl413 @skyewardlight @withjust-a-bite @blackaquokat @catgirlwarrior @neverisadork @luna1350 @oh-so-creepy @weirdfoxalley @95fangirl @lilalovesinternet-l @thepoolofthedead @a-bit-dapper @randomartdudette @geekymushroom @cactipresident @hotcocoachia @purple-anxiety-blog @shyinspiredartist @avispate @missksketch ))

#markiplier #fanfiction #wkm au #werewolf au #monster hunter au #wkm district attorny #wkm mark #wkm damien #wkm celine #wkm colonel #betrayal #broken promises

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reggiejworkshop · 4 years

Text

Animaniacs: The Trip (part 2)

It was in the middle of the morning as the beautiful sun shone directly over the Warner Bros studio in Burbank. Everyone was out and about, enjoying the day. However, three people were not taking advantage of this.

"Oh, here it comes!" Yakko groaned.

Both Wakko and Dot winced as they heard their brother heave for the third time in a row. They would have been more sympathetic had his puking not sounded like the Tasmanian Devil trying to sing death metal. The sound almost made them want to puke again for themselves. Yakko finally came out of the bathroom, a wave of relief spread across his face.

"Who thought it looked better going out than in?" he groaned.

"I don't get it, I thought it would have tasted a lot better than that" Wakko said, confused that he made a food item that he himself couldn't stomach. He along with the rest of his siblings' mouths were still burning.

"Well, now that nightmare is over, what should we do today sibs?" Yakko asked with a peppy tone.

"Let's go see what our favorite psychiatrist is up too." Dot proposed.

"Good idea" Wakko added.

The Warners climbed down the tower. The bright rays from the mole tipped sun beaming down upon them. They reached Dr. Scratchensniff's office in no time at all.

"Oh, Scratchy!" the trio chirped. They stood outside the door to his office, waiting for him to shoo him away. But nothing came.

"Scratchensniff?" Wakko asked. He slowly opened the door. The person they were looking for was not here, instead, another person was lounging in the sofa, barefoot.

"Oh, hello boys…" she replied.

"Hello, Nurse!" Wakko and Yakko whistled.

"Boys," Dot said, rolling her eyes. The trio watched the dainty nurse get up from the sofa, stumbling on her bare feet. Both brothers' hearts began to beat as her curvaceous body loomed up above them. Hands on her hips, she stared down at them.

"Uh, Nurse did you happen to see where Scratchensniff went?" Wakko asked, slightly taken off guard by her posture. Nurse knelt down to his height with a coy grin.

"No, but I just happened finally see how cute you really are," she said slowly with a husky voice. She puckered her lips. "Well, go on"

Wakko eyes widened with disbelief before shooting a glance at his confused siblings. Without a moment too soon, he puckered his own lips and slowly leaned in. The middle sibling gleefully prepared for what would be up to this point the best Friday morning ever!

BURP!

The blast of her mustard gas smacked Wakko down to the floor, sending Dot into a fit of laughter.

"Oops, must be the beans," Nurse said, as she bent down over him. She barely noticed her lower posterity was facing the other Warner, and that particular Warner was enjoying the view.

"Um, Nurse you sure your feeling alright?" Yakko asked, trying his best to see past her bulbous rear. She cocked her head to look back at him.

"Were you staring at my ass?" she snapped with an odd mischievous grin. Yakkos face dropped, he had not expected that response.

"Uhh…. Not exactly"

"Oh I think you were"

"Nah, I think I wasn't. Whoa!"

Yakko stopped mid-sentence when Nurse grabbed him by the hand and friggin threw him into the sofa. After a dizzy spell of stars and drumsticks, Yakko looked up to see the nurse's butt looming right above his head.

"Would you like to get a closer look?"

"Yes, Wait I mean no!" Yakko began to protest before she planted it right onto his face. He flailed his arms helplessly as he was losing air. Unfortunately, that would be the least of his problems.

BLLLLRRTTTT!

The loud foghorn-like blast rumbled the sofa underneath her. Yakkos body went limp as Nuse finished giving him the royal Dutch oven. She got up and fanned sewage scented vapors towards the siblings.

"Whew, that was a good one!" Nurse complimented herself. Both siblings reeled in disgust.

"When did this turn into a Ren and Stimpy cartoon?!" Dot whined. Green faced and ready to puke, Yakko crawled away from the smoldering sofa and right towards his siblings.

"Ugh, now I know how Smollett's career feels like now…" he uttered breathlessly.

"So, boys…" Nurse said. She pinched the tip of the tongue with her teeth and scratched underneath her armpits "What do you say we do some time?"

"Okay, first off that sentence made no sense, second of all what's up with you today?" Yakko asked, genuinely concerned.

"Is that time of the month?" Wakko whispered.

"Come on Yakko. I thought you wanted me. And I want you too" Nurse cooed, continuing to advance towards them.

"Uh, Aren't you coming on a little too strong so soon? After all, according to Ruegger I'm only 14!" Yakko protested.

"That's never stopped you before…" Dot remarked.

"Not helping Dot!"

"That's okay, age is nothing but a number. I can have fun with all three of you" Nurse said, staring them down with a lustful gaze. She whipped out a stick red lipsticks and smeared the gooey stick all over her luscious lips.

Faster than you can 'Goodbye Nurse!' the Warners vanished out of sight. They stood outside the psychiatrists building, trying to ignore the moaning coming from inside.

" I think we lost her!" Dot uttered breathlessly.

"Whew, I am a man of the pursuit but this isn't what I had in mind!" Yakko complained.

"No kidding! That wasn't the Nurse we know!"

"I wish Scratchy were here, hed know what's going on!" Wakko added.

A loud ringing came from Dot's Ipad on the ground. She picked it up to answer it when she froze in realization.

"When did I get an Ipad?" Dot asked herself.

"Just answer it," Yakko told her, ignoring the plot hole.

Dot pressed the device and suddenly the three of them were seeing their favorite psychiatrist on screen in a Skype connection.

"Hello, there kids" Scratchy greeted. His large gourd-shaped head took up most of the screen.

"Scratchensniff, your assistant has turned into a blond-haired Pepe le Pew! What should we do?" Yakko asked with impatience. The psychiatrist groaned with agitation.

"I don't know, maybe it's her time of…" An indistinct voice came from behind him, cutting him off. "Be right there Serena!"

It was here the Warner's noticed that Scratchy didn't appear to have a shirt on.

"Uhh… Scratchy, what's going on over there?" Yakko arched an eyebrow at the screen.

"Yakko, I was actually very busy with a session right now" Scratchy replied. Right as he said that a voluptuous bronze skinned harlot passed by in the background. "An in-depth session. Bye"

The IPad shut off with an electronic sizzle.

"I don't believe it! Scratchensniff just blew us off!" Dot said incredulously.

"Hey, you kids!" A rough voice yelled at them. The Warners turned around, completely surprised to see it came from Ralph. The fatback guard came marching towards them, his gut jiggling over his ammo belt with each stride.

"What the hell are you kids doing out of the tower?!"

The Warners were barely fazed by his hostile demeanor as they simply walked past him. Yakko greeted him with a cheer.

"Hey, Ralphie boy! We'd love to mess with you, but we got a bit of an issue to sort out. Catch you later. Byyeee!"

The Warners gasped simultaneously when the guard snatched up by their tails in one swipe. He yanked them till he slammed their backs into the wall, pinning them to it with his meaty hands.

"Hey, easy with the fur Ralph!" Dot yelled at him.

"I- Is this about the liquid heat incident last week?! We told you we were sorry!" Wakko blabbed nervously.

"Shut up! I wasn't done talking to you damn freaks!" The guard bellowed, causing both of them to shrink. The eldest sibling bore an angry glare at the guard, not liking his sudden mood swing.

"How nice, cause we sure are" Yakko retorted. "Wakko… if you may"

Out of Wakko's hand came his trusty oak mallet. Within nanoseconds, the swinging weapon swooped in the air like a graceful piranha before landing in gracious hands of the mall cop security guard.

Wakko paused to read the run on sentence above him. " What…? Wait STOP!"

"Hammer Time!" said Ralph.

BAM!

The Warners exploded into a restroom inside, causing drywall and porcelain to shatter everywhere. The trio's toony bodies slammed against an open stall. Its occupant hobbled out of the room in fear, not even bothering to wash his hands.

The trio got up from the ground, still seeing stars and drumsticks. They laid their eyes on Ralph who happily whistled in the center of the hole in the wall, slinging the mallet over his shoulders. something seriously wrong was happening today.

"I don't know what hurts worse, getting hit with the mallet or that cheesy line?" Yakko groaned.

"As if you have to ask," Dot said with annoyance.

"Gee, that was fun," Ralph said with a sardonic smirk. "What do ya say we do something else?

"Yeah buddy, if its 'Whack a Warner' well we're not interested" Yakko spat back. He and his siblings broke out their own mallets, ready to pile drive him at the slightest move towards them. Out of character or not, they were not going to let this slide.

"Nah, I want to play a different game …" Ralph replied before pulling something big and black out of his back pocket. And no it's not what you're probably thinking of. The guard began wiping off the barrel of an old fashioned Colt 45 in his hands.

"Ralph, when did you get a gun?" Wakko whimpered. A malicious grin spread across the guard's face.

"Ah, Ever heard Russian Roulette, well this is the California Crapshoot!"

Bang Bang Bang!

"Yikes!" the Warners shrieked as Ralph fired several random rounds in the restroom, obliterating the tile floor beneath them.

"You had to say that in this room?!" Dot screeched. They bounced off the walls like orbeez balls, popped in and out of the stalls and bunny hopped on the sinks, barely avoiding the projectiles.

"You're looking at the original parkour experts folks!" Yakko said to no one. He was immediately thrown off balance when another shot destroyed a nearby sink. A hard jet of sewage water swept the trio off their feet.

Ralph stood over them and aimed the intimidating weapon directly at them.

"Any ideas?" Dot said nervously.

"Wait! Let me try something! Wakko jammed his finger into the barrel of the gun right before Ralph could fire.

BLAM!

Without warning, the colt 45 disintegrated in a large shock wave, sending the guard flying into an open stall. The toilet was liberated from the floor and landed right onto the guard's bald head.

"Whoa! That actually worked!" Wakko said with a delirious chuckle.

The Warners ran out into the hallways, which were unusually empty despite that it was in the middle of the day.

"Help Help! Ralph's gone rogue!" Yakko yelled out right before he froze mid-air, "I can't believe I'm actually saying that!" he resumed running with the others.

They screeched to halt when Nurse appeared at a doorway in a dirty crusty covered wedding dress.

"Oh, you're back!" she moaned before puckering her red lips. "Ready for the honeymoon?!"

"Hit reverse sibs!" Yakko yelled. The trio ran backwards to the point where they were nearly moonwalking out of the damaged building. At this point, the trio had zipped clear across the movie lot. Above them, the dark blemish on the sun above had gotten larger.

"Yakko, what's going on?!" Dot said, pulling at her bow. A stumbling giraffe mooed at them.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"" Looks like we'll have to go to the one other person who can help!"

A quick trip to the park was all it took for them to reach the person they were trying to find. They stopped in front of the largest tree in the park and ran right up to its front door.

"Slappy! Slappy!" the trio yelled as they banged on the door. The door opened.

"Hello, Godchild!" Slappy greeted them at the door in an oversized light blue robe. The elderly squirrel looked at them blankly with a sickly yet sweet smile across her lips.

"Geez Slappy, you heading to a Dugger's convention? What's with the robe?" Dot said, staring into the squirrel hazed eyes. Slappy simply took out a wreath made of daisies and poison ivy and planted it right on top her head.

"No children, I'm heading to the town square for the peace ceremony. Care to come?" she replied in a monotone voice.

"Oh no. Not you too!" Yakko whined as his siblings smacked their heads. Slappy shrugged.

"Oh well, you're missing out on enlightenment," Slappy said before she carefully scooted past them. Birds and doves swirled around her as she frolicked out of the park and into the busy street.

"Oh shit!" A driver yelled as he narrowly swarmed out of the squirrel's path and crashed into a beaver dam.

The Warners stared at the scene, completely slack-jawed and befuddled.

"Did someone finally make opposite day a real holiday?" Wakko asked.

"Doubt it. This has to be a dream…" Yakko replied.

"Warners?! What are you guys doing here?" an irritated voice came from behind them. In a rare blue moon occurrence, the Warners were actually relieved to see that it came from Mr. Plotz. The grumpy CEO stood at attention, waiting to hear whatever excuse they would have for today. But today was not one of those days.

"T.P., I can't believe I'm actually happy to see you," Yakko said, graciously hugging him. This moment of tranquility soon ended when the CEO, actually hugged back.

"Well I am happy to see you three, you three always make this studio great around here!" Plotz said with pleasantness.

Yakko recoiled from him instantly, his blood running cold. Shivers ran up Dot and Wakko's spines.

"You three look like you need your frowns turned upside down!" Plotz pointed them. His nose had gotten larger and turned a bright shade of red.

"No… no" Dot said while shaking his head. The words that came from Plotz's lips plunged the Warners siblings into a fuzzy pit of despair.

"You're not Plotz! You're not supposed to be encouraging!" Yakko pointed an accusatory finger at him. The CEO giggled, yes giggled, as the pale-faced man approached him.

"Oh, Yakko you seem tense. Maybe you should let me give you another hug."

Plotz held out his frilly cuffed arms. His custom fitted blazer turned into ghastly bodysuit of slime green and mustard yellow. his balding hair turned into a twisting mess of orange fur. When the agonizing transformation was nearly complete, the pupils in his demented turned a jaundiced shade of yellow.

"Maybe a game will suffice, a balloon animal possibly?" Plotz continued, his voice sounding more higher pitched and nasally.

"So this is what you see whenever you come across clowns?!" Yakko said to his younger brother while he trembled. Dot held onto him tightly.

"Uh huh, but he's that not that scary, to be honest…" Wakko stated, waving him off.

"Froinlavin!" Plotz exclaimed with a demonic sound. The content smile on Wakko disappeared.

"… but now he is! Hide!" Wakko rushed for the front door to Slappy's house, his siblings were right behind him. Inside the house was Nurse in a revealing Harley Quinn cosplay.

"Hey, there puddin! I'll be your Harley and you can be my Batman!" The nurse said before she pulled a nearby lever which showered her body with cottage cheese. Teeming with ecstasy, she ran for the door.

"Uh… how about neither?!" Yakko uttered before he slammed the door and reinforced it with extra padlocks and chains.

A piercing brumm of a chainsaw came to life eviscerating the California smog around them like butter.

"Seriously, who's writing this?!" Dot said, looking at the statement above. Ralph popped out of the bush nearby with the lethal weapon ready to shed.

"Heeeres Ralphie!" the guard sneered with crooked teeth.

"Ahh! Duck!" Yakko screamed. He yanked Dot out of the way just as the metal from the chainsaw kissed the side of the tree where she stood. All three of them ran away, nearly stumbling from the shower of acorns and bird residue falling from the glorious old oak tree. The large tree shuddered and shook before it came falling down. Both Ralph and the clown unwisely happened to be standing within its shadow, the latter holding a long yellow balloon.

"Who wants to see a sword?!" Plotz said.

Crash!

Meanwhile, the Warners hid inside a nearby booth a few blocks away…

"Wait, phone booths still exist in Burbank?!" Wakko wondered.

They hid inside a nearby phone booth and anxiously watched the guard come down the street a few seconds later, cackling at the top of lungs. The chainsaw still running in his hands. Yakko added in a couple of coins and picked up the phone. It rang.

"Hello?" Scratchy responded.

"Scratchy, you got to get back here now!" Yakko said to him.

"Ugh, why?"

"The whole studio seems to be going crazy, it's like everyone we know has contracted Nicholas Cage fever!"

"Yakko Puh-lease, I'm very busy!"

"Doctor? Sire are you ready for another round?" another voice answered.

"Hey, wasn't that Michelle Phiffer?" Wakko asked. Yakko jaw dropped in realizing that he was right.

"What the- Scratchy! That's my crush!" He huffed with indignation.

"You snooze you lose Yakko," Scratchy said before he hung up. Again.

"This dream better end soon, it's giving me a headache…" Yakko rubbed his forehead. He barely noticed the red glowing dot on his temple.

"Aw, let me fix that," said Ralph.

BLAM!

Yakko ducked his head just in time. The entire phone fixture exploded from a projectile blast that came from across the street. They looked up to see Ralph had ditched his uniform and was now in full camouflage and commando gear, complete with grenades on his belt and a smoking Uzi in his hands.

"You got to be kidding me!" Yakko exclaimed.

Ralph unloaded on them with nonstop fury, all while letting out a guttural wail that would have made John Rambo tremble. They bolted out of dodge, seconds before the rest of the phone booth and the surrounding area was peppered into minuscule pieces.

The Warners ran all over the place, desperately trying to find someone who hadn't gone full retard just yet. The dark blemish on the sun covered more than half of the sun.

They spotted a crowd in the center of the town. All of them were wearing more of the ghastly light blue robes Slappy was wearing. Without a moment too soon they muscled their way into the crowd. A sea of blank faces and drooling smiles were all they could see.

"Hello, all you glorious creations, time of reckoning has revealed itself unto us" A speaker bellowed above the crowd, one the Warners immediately recognized as Brain.

"Oh no- looks like those years with Pinky finally made him snap" Dot whispered.

"Oy, potato Oy, potato" The crowd chanted.

"Give us not your money, but your unwilling duty ship to love everything with peace and cheese sauce"

"Oy Laredo, Oy Laredo!"

"And let us forever be together through whatever obstacles may appear, let push them into One Direction!"

"Fried tomato! Winnebago!" the crowd chanted.

"Surprisingly these guys are less nuts than Flat Earthers" Yakko muttered. He winced briefly when a larger cult member completely covered in robes brushed past them, stepping on his toes.

"Hey, manners are still a thing you know!" Dot snapped at him. The man looked back to give an evil grin. Their faces dropped when they realized it belonged to Ralph.

"Yeah, we're not sticking around for this!" Yakko commented before he and his siblings climbed onto various cult members, not caring that they were ruining perfectly good haircuts or giving full on concussions. None of that mattered. They had to get away from Ralph, for the first time in a while they were actually scared.

The fat guy whipped off his robe, revealing that he had on nothing but a roll of dynamite around his waist. Yakko's eyes widened in shock as he made a mad dash to catch Wakko and Dot. All while The Brain continued to preach.

"And as we pray to out suns who we rejoice from afar. They bring us enlightenment as we say…"

"Admiral Akbar!" Ralph yelled.

BOOM!

The Warner hunched together, shielding themselves from the blinding light that came from the nuclear explosion searing the air around them. It rumbled the ground like fruit roll up's on a hot day, and vaporized anything within its path.

When it finally stopped. The Warners got up to see the entire yards of nothing but a scorched flat wasteland. And its only occupants were the Warners themselves and Ralph's sparkling blue spirit. The dimwitted guard looked at his own predicament with shock.

"Huh, I guess those old instructional videos were right. All you have to do is duck and cover." Wakko said.

Ralph could nothing but pout as a flying nimbus cloud lifted him high into the heavens, all while he glared at the Warners and gave them the middle finger. He disappeared in the cloudy marmalade sky, barely missing the sun which was now fully eclipsed by the dark spot. The Warners didn't care as they gleefully waved him goodbye.

"Bye bye!" the trio chirped.

"Whew, glad that's over," Yakko said.

"Yakko …" Nurse's voice cooed from a distance, hearing it made the eldest Warner flinch with an ugly grimace.

"Oh no!"

"Oh boys, I have enough toys for everybody!" The nurse came sprinting at them like a drunken gazelle. This time she wore spike studded leather boots and lingerie. And draped around her neck were anal beads and ball gags.

"Yakko, what were those two things the narrator just mentioned?!" Dot asked, her face wrenched with disgust.

"Something Fifty Shades of Grey probably touched on in better detail," Yakko replied. They quickly started moonwalking away from the potential blond dominatrix in making.

"Kids!"Mr. Plotz yelled. Behind them, Plotzo the clown came running towards them with an army of multicolored balloon animals in his wake. One of them, a pink giraffe, brayed at them. "Do you want to sing a happy song? Froinlavin!"

Just above the trio, the blue spirit of Slappy Squirrel came flying down from the sky carrying peace doves and unicorns. The Goodfeathers dive bombed with her, ready to decorate the Warners like old statues in a train station. The Warners trembled together as they watched the pandemonium descend upon them.

Suddenly, as if their prayers had been answered, a car pulled up nearby. Not bothering to check who it was, the Warners seized the opportunity. They burst through the car window action Bond style and face planted into the backseats.

"What can I do for you?" the driver replied with a Brooklyn accent.

"Take us anywhere but here! And step on it!" Yakko told him.

"The car driver slammed on the gas pedal and breezed away just in time. Nurse, Plotz, and Slappy's armies all collided into a shower of shrimps and clams.

"Will this dream ever end?!" Dot sighed, as she threw her head back in the seat.

" I hope so, I don't how much of this randomness I can take" Yakko replied.

"Can I change the radio?"Wakko asked the driver.

"Sure" the driver replied. Wakko tuned the radio dial to different stations.

"...Despite the growing hole in the sun's surface, it is getting hotter than MY MOOOOM…!

"...Get Scwifty...!"

"...Mississippi Queen, if you know..!"

"And now, this is Mordecai and Rigby live from LA with our musical guests today, Rita the Cat and Eddie Vedder will be performing a song."

Wakko sat in the back with the other two Warners and sighed in relief. "Oh good, something normal for once."

The hair on the back of their necks rose as they heard first few guitar notes of Black Hole Sun eerily plucked from the speakers.

"In my eyes, indisposed, In disguises no one knows...", Rita sang.

Realizing this was a sign of worse to come, the driver looked down at radio with dread.

"Oh fuuuck no!" The car screeched to a stop. The driver kicked them out with a swift kick. "You kids aren't roping me into this craziness."

"Hey come back!" Wakko and Dot shouted at the guy as he speed away high speed, barely missing a semi-truck skidding across an intersection. Somehow they could still hear the music.

"...And my youth I pray to keep, Heaven, sent hell away"

"We're not giving you 5 stars!" Yakko yelled at him.

An ambient drone undercut the music with a vibration that rumbled the entire ground beneath their toes. The large dot on the sun had completely overtaken and had now blocked out all of its bright rays. Instead, the head of Flavio the Hippo appeared in the dot, smiling down at them with a toothy grin. It then opened its mouth and began sucking in air like a straw. And the music at this point was deafeningly loud.

"...Black hole Sun, won't you come. Wash away the rain…"

Trees and skyscrapers squished into purple pus-like orbs, floating their way into the ginormous void above them. Bloodshot eyes in the skies stared down at them, screaming for vengeance and lustless agony. Tears filled with clams and shrimp glistened down its victims.

"I think whoever is writing this dream has officially checked out!" Yakko said, covering his ears.

"We're dreaming? Then how come I can actually taste this shrimp?" Wakko held up a half-eaten shrimp he'd picked up off the ground, it was the size of his head. For extra measure ,both Yakko and Dot pinched their cheeks. They hurt.

"Oh, God…"

The sun descended in the west upon the sparse horizon, the Flavio shaped star widened his gaping mouth and increased its gravitational pull, sucking in anything in his path. People, prairie dogs, pets, and including the Warners themselves.

"Hang on!" Yakko yelled over the apocalypse, his terrified siblings clutching to him tightly. The ground below them pulled away like crumbled cookie crumbs, spilling away into a sea of a dark blue ocean.

The water tower they'd come to call their home had smashed against a nearby gas station. Some of the gas began leaking out and flooding into the street. In a desperate attempt to stay afloat, they grabbed onto the broken legs of the tower and held on with their feet helplessly dangling in the wind.

The girrafe knocked into the trio, loosening Dot's grip on her brothers. She could do nothing but scream as she disappeared in the swirling dark void.

"Dot!" Yakko screamed.

"Yakko, I don't feel so good." Wakko croaked. He started to disintegrate in a haze of chili powder and pepper. Yakko watched his brother disappear like an open KoolAid into the black hole.

"...Won't you come, won't you come..."

"Wak...?"

The final guitar chords were coming near. An earspiltting rumble came just above his numb head. He looked up. On top of him was a planet-sized pitcher of the Mississippi Queen drink falling from the sky, topped with a nice Molotov cocktail. Yakko closed his eyes just before it connected to the ground with a final earth-shattering smash.

original link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13263720/2/The-Trip

#animaniacs #cartoon #fanfiction #crack fanfic #humor #horror #wtf am i doing #yakko wakko and dot #Hello Nurse #dr scratchansniff #Slappy Squirrel #ralph the security guard

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whataboutmyfries · 3 years

Text

Russian Roulette

Okay, okay. I am fully aware that it has been an absolute AGE since the last chapter but Life(tm) got in the way of this one and I'm so sorry it's getting to you so late.

Additionally, I hope you guys are aware that minimal editing has happened here.

@lumosinlove thank you so much for letting us mess around with your characters!!

Chapter 5

Logan slammed another cup of coffee to the table, running a hand through his already dishevelled hair. “Shit,” he breathed. “This is….this is probably enough for us to completely wreck their operation”

Finn leaned further back in his chair, blinking at the stacks of paper spilling onto the desk; about as much surprise as he’d show in front of Leo. “It is.”

Leo looked utterly unfazed as he sipped from his cup, closing his eyes at the feeling of the hot caffeine sliding down his throat. He rubbed at his eye, fixing the other one on Finn, then on Logan. “Will you do it then?”

Logan and Finn exchanged a glance. “I think you already know the answer to that.”

Leo studied the two of them before dipping his head in a nod of thanks. His voice was hoarse when he spoke again. “Thank you. For all of this.”

Finn waved him off, taking a long sip from his coffee. “Mm, I was wondering if you’d ever come around and show us that brilliant magic of yours.”

Logan laughed. “Forget magic. How would you feel about a game of cards?”

Leo’s eyes glittered “oh darlin’, I’m going to beat your asses.”

And damn if Leo didn’t deliver on his promises. An hour later, the three of them were sat around the table, staring intently at the cards spread over the wood. Finn tossed his knife, the blade making complicated swirls around his fingers as he caught it.

“You’re gonna have to do better than that to win nutty.” He chuckled; not even turning his head as he threw the knife at the dartboard.

Leo didn’t have to look up from his cards to know it’d hit the bullseye.

“Remind me again, which one of us is the magician here?” Leo drawled, eyes twinkling with mischief as he threw down his card.

Logan and Finn groaned, slapping down their cards in exasperation. Leo had won. Again.

“How does he do it?” Logan groused, pouting at the table, pulling one of Finn’s knives free of the wood.

Leo laughed, reaching behind Logan’s ear. And with a complicated twirl of his fingers, he unfurled a fan of cards

Piercing blue eyes looked over the top of the cards and Leo winked at the both of them.

“Magic.”

Three am found them sprawled around the room fast asleep. Mugs and cups and pots of coffee on every imaginable surface, papers spilling onto the floor. Leo blinked his eyes open to warm sunlight, shoving his face off the desk. Disoriented, he blinked his eyes frantically, trying to make sense of his surroundings. His eyes landed on a halo of red, and the memories of the previous night came back to him; only to immediately be ignored in favour of the beautiful boy in front of him. Finn’s head leaned back against the couch, exposing the column of his throat, the freckles there mapping constellations onto the creamy skin. Leo wondered if maybe Finn would ever let him trail shapes into those stars; if he tried hard enough, Leo was sure he could trace a wonky version of his namesake onto the alabaster skin. Unable to help himself, his eyes trailed upwards, crimson eyelashes fluttering against high cheekbones like trapped birds searching for a freedom he wasn’t sure he could offer.

He ripped his eyes away, his traitorous heart beating furiously against his ribs. It proved an even bigger mistake to look away because his eyes found smooth tan skin instead. Logan was almost devastating in his beauty when he slept, Chocolate-y hair shimmering in the early light. Sunshine dripping like honey from aristocratic cheekbones and hazel curls. Leo’s thoughts went into overdrive, his brain offering him vague snippets of poetry and literature in a futile attempt to describe the beauty of gods. The sunlight threw shadows across their faces, casting them in stark relief, and Leo’s heart all but crawled out of him to repent.

His heart was beating so loud it honestly surprised him that the two of them hadn’t awoken. This was a mistake. He never should’ve come here, let alone stay the night. Cursing his idiocy, he got up on cat-soft feet and gathered his things, chiding himself for letting down his guard so easy. He saw himself out, sparing one last look for the ethereal beings asleep on the couch. And as Leo let the door fall shut; he failed to realise that he’d been so caught up in cursing his mistakes; he hadn’t noticed hazel eyes trailing him on his way out.

Logan— on the other hand— woke to Finn’s feet sliding out of his lap. He knew he was home. He was safe. The syrupy darkness of sleep pulled him back under. Finn woke him again with a hand to his shoulder, the distinctive smell of coffee taking over his senses. Still drowsy, he grinned, a hum rumbling through him. Finn laughed, ruffling his hair.

“I don’t remember adopting a cat, but I can’t say I dislike it.”

Logan shoved at his knee with a socked foot, grumbling incoherently, though the smile on his face rather took away from it.

“Shhhhh it’s too early for your stupid face.”

“So no coffee for you then? More for me I guess”

“Touch my coffee and I’ll punch you”

“Oh shut up, you like my face too much to punch me.”

Logan blinked one eye open. “Who said I was punching you in the face?”

Finn laughed, nudging Logan’s cup closer to him. “Touche.”

Logan took the mug, nursing the warmth of the ceramic between his palms. “You know, that may be the only french thing that sounds halfway decent in that accent of yours.”

Finn flipped him off over the rim of his mug, drinking deeply. “Drink your sugar crash and leave me alone.”

Logan raised an eyebrow “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“It is the sole cause of diabetes in this world and I am willing to die on this hill.”

Logan huffed, shoving papers out from under him so he could shift his feet up onto the couch. The events of the previous night still weighed on him. Lizard had given them….everything. Every detail, every nook and cranny of the snake house was documented. He’d left no stone unturned.

And he’d lost everything, anyway.

“Harz, he’s given us everything we were looking for.”

Finn nodded, “He did, didn’t he?” He gave Logan a look. “What do you want to do about it?”

Logan shrugged a shoulder, staring absently out the window. “We said we’d help.”

“You know you don’t have to follow through, you don’t want to do it, we don’t do it.”

Logan met his gaze, Finn’s sharp edges smoothed into something softer by the early sun. “I want to. It just…..” He trailed off with a vague gesture.

Finn hummed. “I think I know what you mean. But, Lo, we don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do, okay? The second you want to drop it and leave, we leave, yeah?”

Logan swallowed past the lump that formed in his throat. His chest full to the brim with a feeling he’d come to describe simply as ‘Finn’. It was ephemeral and fleeting but felt like warmth; it felt like coming home. It was the feeling of waking up to find a blanket thrown over you, the feeling of a mug of steaming cocoa pressed into your hands on a bad day, the feeling of sunshine after tumultuous storms. It was the feeling of Finn, joyful and constant and forever ready with a bright smile or dry wit.

Logan smiled at his friend, shoving at Finn’s knee with his foot. “Awww, look at that. You might care about me after all.”

Finn shot him a look, the only warning he gave Logan before tackling him to the couch. Logan let out a somewhat aborted choke-squeal as he fought to get Finn off of him, wrestling his tickling fingers away from him. Logan cackled when Finn yelped overbalancing and falling onto the carpet—followed shortly by Logan, who had been too busy laughing to notice that Finn had grabbed him in a desperate attempt to stop his fall. They both lay on the floor, gasping for breath between peals of laughter, shoving at each other playfully.

Finn let his head drop to a side, catching Logan’s gaze. “You know…..It’s not like we have much to do today….”

Logan grinned “Ice cream and movies all day?”

“You know it.”

To put it quite simply, Leo’s brain refused to leave him alone. His smile was more facade than anything else, his beloved cards feeling clumsy and distracting in his hands. His train of thought had derailed almost an hour ago, his body running completely on autopilot as we walked the streets of Gryffindor.

They’d said yes. They’d said yes, and now Leo was going to be working with them. For a considerable amount of time. He couldn’t afford to throw something like this away on some fickle feeling, much less fickle feelings for a mob boss of all people. There was too much at stake.

Leo revealed the card in his hand with a flourish, the gasps of the people around him little more than background noise as he slipped through the crowd, surreptitiously pocketing a couple of fifties he certainly didn’t have before. He strolled unnoticed through the city, checking his watch as he went. He was early. good. He slowed his pace, watching passers-by go about their lives as he marvelled at the busy streets. It never stopped amazing him; the fervour that filled the city. Every street and bend so rife with potential, the possibility of wonderful things just itching to happen.

Like anyone else, Leo was wont to miss his home, the sprawling fields and endless forest of the countryside, but there was nothing quite like Gryffindor, with its skyscrapers shoved next to beggarly hovels and the hum of activity and excitement haunting every corner.

As his thoughts wandered through the city, his feet carried him to a familiar street lined with cafes and charming little stores. He ducked into one of them— a quaint bookshop, the well-worn sign hanging at the door proclaiming its availability to its patrons. The tiny bell above the door announced his arrival, the chime sounding through the magical place.

Leo had always thought that walking into Moony’s was like stepping through a portal to another world. Most bookstores were organised, neat. Books lined from A-Z subject to subject. Not Moony’s. Moony’s was a labyrinth. An explosion of literature and colour and homely comfort in every direction. Books covered every imaginable surface in the store, the shelves full to bursting. Haphazard piles of literature graced the floor, leaning against potted plants and comfy little armchairs scattered across the place. The books were stacked layers deep, some piles reaching as far as the ceiling, teetering precariously alongside narrow walkways. Leo loved it. The smell of tea and well-loved paper wrapped around him like a blanket as he walked to the checkout. An indignant meow drew his attention to the plush armchair, the stacks of books leaning against its arms fashioning it into something of a floral throne.

“Cheshire! How are you, you stinky little muffin?” Leo cooed, scooping up the ball of fur that had taken up residence on the chair. The cat in question purred happily, head butting Leo’s hand demanding head scratches. The blond laughed, indulging the cat and dropping a kiss onto his fuzzy little nose as he walked to the front of the store. A head full of tawny curls shuffled around under the till, clearly looking for something underneath.

“Found that treasure you’re looking for, Loops?”

Remus jumped, standing up with a smile, nearly knocking his head on the counter in the process.

“Missed me enough to come in early today?”

Leo snorted. “You wish. No, I just finished up quicker today.”

Remus raised a brow. “Sure you did. What’s bothering you Nutty? Tell me things.”

Leo’s chest warmed with affection. He sighed deeply; the singular breath seeming to take some pressure off his bones.

“You remember what went down with Pascal a while ago?”

Remus nodded.

“And that I went to the Lions for help like he said?”

Another nod.

Leo took a deep breath. “Well, they said yes.”

#russian roulette #my writing #lumosinlove #lumosinlove ocs #oknutzy #mafia au

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jane-the-zombie · 4 years

Text

Kiss Me Deadly || Felix & Jane

TIMING: Present LOCATION: Sharen Dickwell’s house on the lake. PARTIES: @streetharmacist & @jane-the-zombie SUMMARY: We wrote this while BUZZED CONTENT WARNINGS: Drug Use, Explosion

There was something kind of funny about the way shame hit the second the sun went down. It became heavier and weighted, the reality of going to do something that was against everything Jane stood for hitting her just as she threw her leg over her bike. The feeling mixed poorly with knowing that she could die at any time. Since Kaden had told her what Regan’s death scream meant, the rush of death pumped raw adrenaline through her - a welcoming feeling. A feeling of freedom, of carelessness, of euphoria she couldn’t quite describe. But it also created a dulled sense of panic. Jane gambled with her life every moment of every day, choosing to do things most people wouldn’t consider safe so she could feel that rush. She had never let it affect her morals, but now in the wake of her possible death, Jane was compromising that so she could feel a rush she had never felt before. Something that was dangerous and exciting and something she hadn’t done solely because of her job. The voice in the back of her mind - the same one appeared when she jumped off cliffs and planes and pushed her motorcycle past 90 when she wasn’t wearing a helmet - told her that this was wrong. It was quieter these days, drowned out by Jane chasing whatever it was she wanted, and she silenced it as she pulled up in front of the Lakehouse Felix had directed her too. She pulled up front, parking her bike on the side of the road as she stared up at the house.

Jane had never been here before. She glanced at the mailbox. 70 - Dickwell. She grimaced. What an unfortunate last name. She told Felix to meet her out front so he could give her the drugs, and she could give him the money and that would be that. She didn’t want to see him and she most certainly didn’t want to hear what he had to say about what she was doing. Jane would just do everything in peace. As she leaned against her bike, she looked at the house. One of the porch lights was out, and the door was left open. Her eyes narrowed. “Felix?” Jane called, but there was no answer. Something was off here. Without another thought otherwise, Jane walked up the walkway of the house, and entered. “Felix? Ms. Dickwell?”

Sharen Dickwell wasn’t the weirdest client name Felix had happened upon in his almost-two-centuries of existence, but it was certainly up there. Very up there. Nearly up there enough that he couldn’t hardly keep from laughing when he passed by the mailbox. It was business he was after and his expression said as much. He didn’t often like to make house calls. They were too risky and leaned a little too close to russian roulette circumstances. He didn’t approach the Dickwell residence with concern. Not really much of a bother at all on his mind. There was a small back porch attached to the home that he waited on and looked out over the lake. Things seemed to be settling and that only said so much in a place like White Crest.

Sharen had given him the directions and told him to wait. Something to do with meeting her sister and she wouldn’t be gone long. Or was she looking for her wallet? He didn’t think much of it as he stood on the creaking balcony and took a small drag of a cigarette. Didn’t think too much of anything. Fuck, he was tired. Emotionally drained. His rumpled appearance said as much. Bloodshot eyes, suit less than perfect. Oh well. After this was done, he would be meeting Jane. That had him thinking and his brows furrowed. It was a little strange, her sudden inquiry into drugs. Especially after every arrest attempt he could recall. Heck, there were a lot, and that was just back in Portland. White Crest assured a few more. He leaned against the wood and looked down on the still water below. Flicked his ashes into the water. It had been a cool minute since anything from Sharen. He turned back to the patio door with a frown.

“Ms. Dickwell? Hate to tell you this, but I really don’t got all night.”

“Felix?” Jane was getting increasingly paranoid. She wasn’t sure if it was because of how on edge she was or if it was because this woman’s house was sort of creepy. It was neat enough, with white washed walls and semi-ornate trim along the walls that indicated that Ms. Dickwell was wealthy, but things were just… too clean. There wasn’t any sign that anyone lived in the house. Nothing was out of place, like it was on display for a real-estate open house or something. Things smelled sterile even. She moved through the house, checking each room, but there truly was no sign of life anywhere. She rounded off into the kitchen, seeing the big glass doors that lead off outside to overlook the lake. God, a house like this must have cost a pretty chunk of change. She didn’t envy the mortgage. Jane stopped though, thinking she heard a voice, but more importantly, she thought she smelled gunpowder. “What the hell -” As someone who frequently used her weapon, she knew the smell of it when it hit her nostrils. “Ugh.” And then she heard the quiet ticking. A timer? Jane rounded the island, and froze.

Resting on the island stool was a neat little device attached to an alarm clock. She looked down at it blankly. “What?” Jane asked it stupidly, just like she did when her step stool at home was misbehaving in its cage. Like it could hear her and listen to her. Except the clock was counting down from 35 seconds and she realized that even if she sprinted out of the house, there was no way she wasn’t going to die. The cultists at the beach were one thing, but death was another. Jane backed up slightly, her black boots clicking against the hardwood floors. She had no first hand experience with bombs. She had been on scene where ones have been found, but there was nothing stopping her. She couldn’t think. Everything had stopped. It was time. The inevitable.

As the counter went below 29 seconds she had a thought. “Felix?”

Felix started to pay how long Sharen was taking a little mind. Especially as the heat of his cigarette started to meet his fingers. Careless. He could already feel Bea’s eyes on him, concern alive in her eyes. She wanted him to be okay. He could try that, yeah. Even if it didn’t fir quite right. With that in mind, he adjusted his tie, lips pursed. It started to get a little silly. At the rate things went, he wondered if a consultation fee might not be a bad idea down the line. He paused to eye the ashtray. Clean. Pristine. Even the sticker on the bottom wasn’t touched much. He set it back upright and ashed out his cigarette.

“Alright, Sharen,” he said, an edge to his voice. “I think I’m gonna have to cash out on this. It’s getting a little foolish and I’m not in the mood.”

He shook his head as he stepped one foot over the threshold of the patio door. A strange yet familiar sound was in his ears. As he glanced over, a strange but familiar face was there too. Looked like someone might have gotten a little impatient.

“Jane?”

The clock continued to tick down faster than Jane would have liked. She didn’t know where Felix was. She hadn’t talked to Marley today - she needed to apologize for being a bitch. What about her dad? Her siblings? What were her last words to them? Why did it suddenly matter like she wasn’t going to be alive and kicking in 24 hours? And where the fuck was Felix?! Thoughts raced in her head and she saw where the fuck Felix was, his form in the doorway, saying in her name. Son of a bitch. A jolt of panic went straight through her as she met Felix’s eyes, her brown eyes wide. “Felix no!” she gasped, horrified. Just because she died and came back didn’t mean anyone else would too. She flew to him before he could say anything else, ask her any question, or say anything at all, really. Jane collided with Felix hard, slamming them both outside onto the deck. He didn’t struggle much as her arms wrapped around him, gripping him by his rumpled suit as tight as possible as she threw them both up and over the low railing of the patio.

Just as her feet left the wood deck, the house exploded into a deafening fiery mass. The ringing in her ears and intense heat of the explosion was hardly noticeable as Felix and Jane plummeted into the lake water. It took Jane a second to reorient herself underwater, watching as fire colored everything above the surface. She was still clutching onto Felix for dear life - life. Oh shit! They were alive! She exclaimed as much, and promptly inhaled lakewater up her nose and lungs. Jane jerked, her grip loosening as she started to kick and push herself upwards, chest burning. She wasn’t going to be a witness to an explosion just to drown afterwards.

With one final push, she broke the surface, spluttering and hacking water. “What - What - Felix! Felix, where are - Shit.”

Felix no? But what about Felix yes? Confusion hit him hard, the disorientation enough to lock his jaw up, and he could only stare at Jane as she ran at him. Wait, had she lied to him? No, she had promised and the way things went, she couldn’t just go back on it. That was an arrest tackle about to be mad if he had ever seen one. It didn’t bode well. Why was she running at him full-bore? All good questions that jostled in his head the minute she slammed into him. Shoved him straight back through the door he had walked in through and--there went the ashtray--straight over the railing. He blinked in the air and then the house exploded. The shockwaves and pure adrenaline from having walked into a house rigged to blow scattered his illusion. The heat of the blast didn’t last long as they crashed into frigid water. Water. They were in the lake. She let go of him and for a moment, he didn’t move. Dazed. He stared up through the dark to see the blaze overhead. It stirred him to move.

His antlers breached the surface, the rest of his head not long after as he spat out water. The dim lights of his eyes halved as he squinted. His glasses were gone. Or so he thought, until the broken frames floated up to the surface. He looked at them for just a second before he looked over to Jane.

“What the heck was that?” He looked at the burning lakehouse that they both had just readily been in. They hadn’t died. They could have. But they didn’t.

A large tree rose out of the lake as Jane coughed, treading water as she hurriedly looked for Felix. Oh. Wait. That was Felix. The tree was Felix. Her mind scattered, she looked back toward the wall of flame that had become the house. Holy shit. “Bomb in the kitchen.” Jane spluttered, coughing. “Just sitting there.” There was a bomb in that house. And she survived! She survived the explosion! She survived a mass of cultists and an explosion! She looked back to tree Felix, before her eyes widened. Felix wasn’t supposed to be a tree. Jane stared at him horrified. “You have a branch in your head!” she said, immediately concerned as she swam closer and reached up, grabbing the - oh. Jane stared as her hand circled around the antler. Tree Felix. Stupid. She was going into some form of shock. She looked back at the burning house, and then at Felix’s face with his glowy eyes. “.... Did you know you’re horny?” Jane asked, still holding on to them. “I mean, horns? I mean, antlers? Antlers. Antlers!” And suddenly she felt the rush. The rush from the fact that they just survived a whole explosion. Unfortunately, that made her start laughing really hard. So much so, she couldn’t stop.

His ears rang, that was a given, but it took Felix a long moment to acknowledge what she had said. Even as bits of the house floated by him. The house that apparently had a bomb in it. A sharp pain burned in his shoulder. Similar pain traced along his jawline. When he glanced down, he could see the black liquid wisps that smoked out of a cut in his shoulder. He didn’t bleed anything near similar to humans but what he did bleed was there, black ink in already dark water. He was vaguely aware that Jane was talking to him. Wowza, they had almost died and for some reason, he started to smile. The nerve shock of his antlers being grabbed startled him out of self-assessment. He stared at Jane, eyes bright circles of surprise. He blinked.

“Yes, Jane,” he said plainly. “Yes, I am fully aware that I’m horny.”

His head jerked slightly as she talked and he shut his eyes, prayed to some fate as he waited through it. They had just been in an explosion and the energy was, well, properly shaken. He could have died. And it was a funny feeling. When was the last time he considered that he might? As he pondered over it, she began to laugh and he couldn’t help but laugh too. Tired as he was. Exhausted as he was. It rasped out of him as tears of some nature or other leaked from the corners of his eyes. It really had been a month, hadn’t it?

“Criminy, Jane, they’re just antlers. Whatcha laughing so hard for?”

Jane was wheezing by the time she stopped, full tears coming out of her eyes, as her limbs burned from keeping herself afloat. Finally, she let poor Felix go, hand splashing back into the water as she stared at him. Something was starting to hurt, she realized. Her back, her right arm and hip. Was she bleeding? Shit. She was. Whatever. Felix spoke and that it set her off again. Her loud laughing pierced through the air, half sobbing as she cackled. “Holy - fucking - crap! I’m supposed to be dead! I was supposed to die! I’m not dead!” And then she let herself sink down under the cool water for a full 10 seconds. Reorient. Calm down. Where was all her police training? Well, she supposed she wasn’t here as police. She was here to buy drugs. Breaking the surface again, she took a large breath of fresh air, the nerves inside dancing under her skin as she looked at Felix, panting heavily. “I didn’t know you had antlers,” she blurted out, swallowing a half hysterical giggle. You’re hurt -” Jane registered, reaching out to him - this time not quite touching him. “Come on, to shore. Now. So I can take a look.”

It seemed to click for Felix as she said it. I was supposed to die. The bite. The burning dress. The one time he offered her drugs before and was sure he was about to get arrested. The time, right then, that he was going to sell her drugs and she promised he wouldn’t be arrested. She thought she might die. She risked herself for him. Even in post-explosion daze, he could piece that together. It didn’t leave him as the water weighed him. Exhausted him. With his antler free, he shook his head back and looked up at the moon. Even in his peripheral, he could still see the burning lakehouse. Sharen Dickwell must have really had it out for him. And to think, he almost considered not telling Jane about the lakehouse deal. To think he might have been scattered to every wind, no more a shadow. No more anything. A strange thought. When Jane resurfaced, he looked at her again, mouth slightly parted.

“...Holy cannoli, you saved my life.”

He moved with Jane as she guided them toward the lake’s shoreline. Mud on their hands and shoes as they crawled out of the heavy water. A quick glance at her told him he wasn’t the only one hurt. He patted his pants pockets, his suit jacket.

“Oh thank the fates,” he said, antlered head tipped back as he sighed relief. “The shrooms are okay.”

“Yes,” Jane agreed, because it was true. He wouldn’t have known about the bomb. Ms. Dickwell had to have put it there, and left, leaving poor Felix to his fate. Thank god she went inside. Thank god she’d looked around. Felix wouldn’t have survived - they were both hurt already. “You don’t come back,” she said, as if that explained everything. “You - You would have died forever.” They clambored to shore, the mud sticking to her leggings and hands as they pushed themselves up onto the lake beach with a low moan. Shit. Things were really starting to hurt now. She shook her head as Felix mentioned the shrooms, looking up at the night sky with a low laugh.

“The shrooms. They’re okay!” Jane said, sarcasm mixed with laughter as she sat in the dirt. She hissed in pain. Ouch. “Oh god.” Those were her shrooms. Her shrooms were okay. Shit. Luckily the burning house gave them plenty of light so she could properly see him. “You - do you heal quickly? How much pain are you in? I -” Jane ran a hand down her face. They were in a pickle, weren’t they? Jane shrugged out of her leather jacket, hissing quietly in pain. “Think I’ll manage.” She looked curiously at him, considering a moment. How many times had she tried to arrest him over the years for making comments lesser than that?

She laughed lowly. “At least something survived.”

A human had saved his life. Felix tried to get a grasp on that. He hadn’t even made her promise to save his life and yet, she had done it. As he sat on the beach, he stared at the mud. Dim lights blinked in and out. Why had he not considered death so greatly before? His jaw worked as he tried to think it over but he couldn’t. Jiminy Christmas, why did he feel so tired? Why was pain so alive in him? He hissed slightly as he dug into his shoulder. His fingers burned and his wrist snapped forward as he pulled out a decently-sized shard of something out. The way it burned, he knew what it was. Iron.

“Nope,” he said as he tossed it out onto the mud. The rush in him forbade him from anything but honesty. No word play to be found. “I wouldn’t have come back from that at all. You saved my life. I owe you a debt. You know that, right?”

He breathed in as he tried to center himself. There was more iron in him and ground his teeth together. Careless. How careless could he have been? Walking into some stranger Sharen Dickwell’s house like nothing might happen? Things had not gone well. Hell, he was tired. He took to taking out the iron shards he could readily get his fingers on. “It doesn’t feel great,” he admitted with a dry laugh. “But I’ll make do with all this, detective. Don’t you worry your not-dead head over it.” She bled too. What a human thing to do. “And your pain?”

He rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a slightly soggy blue mushroom. Glanced at Jane.

“So, not quite a painkiller, Jane. But it’ll get the job done.”

A debt? Somehow that felt wrong, but Jane nodded anyway, looking up at the moon. They were hurt and bleeding, and she probably needed to go to the hospital or something. Sooner or later, someone was bound to call the police. But this was the part of town where this wouldn’t get reported until the next day, and all the CSI’s would be shitty and cranky about it, and Marley and Keen would complain and ugh. Jane groaned quietly, stretching her arm and leg as she glanced at him. “I would have saved you no matter what, Felix,” Jane said quietly. There was something laced in the words that she didn’t quite know what to label. Were they truly friends? After years and years of her chasing him with handcuffs after one fateful evening of her torching her expensive wedding dress, all the quips and innuendos and everything else in between, were they friends? Jane didn’t have to think too hard on it, because she suddenly realized how grateful she was that he was here in White Crest too. Made the bad a little less bad.

“Well… I’m not dead,” she reminded with a wary grin, before wincing as she shifted. “But it hurts a fair amount. Ouch.” And she would need to stop the bleeding and clean the wound for whatever was lodged in there. Jesus. She squinted slightly at the blue mushroom he held out to her, looking down at it and then back at him, and then back down at it again. She had a decision to make. And as the house burned behind them, Jane already knew what it was going to be.

“Oh Hell,” Jane whispered to herself, holding out her hand for it. “I still want to do them before I die, I might as well do it with you, my friend.”

The little blue mushroom was dropped into her hand, and she popped the mushroom back.

#wickedswriting #para #para felix #felix #drug use tw #kiss me deadly

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