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voiceless-terror · 3 years

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I am so completely enamored with Danny as jons ex and I would be forever in your debt if you finished that

i wasn't expecting people to like this idea so much, its definitely one of my weirder ones xD since im not sure when i'll get around to actually finishing it (if ever) you can have a very rough chunk of it instead. you'll have to forgive any mistakes, im not up to editing it.

In a surprising show of athleticism, Jon ducks under Sasha’s chair before the specter of his past manages to see him.

Sasha swears at the action, backing up in her chair and peering down at Jon in bafflement. “What on Earth are you doing, Jon?”

Instead of answering her question, he backs up even further, tucking his feet out of sight. He thinks Sasha’s umbrella must be under here, and judging from the sharp point currently jabbing at his thigh, he probably broke it. “Is he still there?” he hisses, tilting his head to avoid bashing it into the desk.

“Who?”

“That- that man!”

A pause. “Tall, dark and handsome?”

Jon’s turn to pause. “I suppose you might call him that,” he replies stiffly. And it’s true. The man, from Jon’s brief, panicked glimpses, is at least six foot, with thick, dark hair and a bright grin.

And he looks exactly like Jon’s ex, Danny Stoker.

He’d done an almost comical double-take after a cursory glance; at first he’d thought Danny was the new hire, but this man was more angular, like a sharper, leaner version of his ex. So no, it couldn’t be him.

That didn’t stop him from diving under the nearest object, ergo Sasha’s desk. Not the wisest of decisions, considering his throbbing side, but he’s never been known for grace under pressure.

He’s not exactly sure why this fight or flight mode’s been activated- he and Danny had parted on fairly good terms, each recognizing that although they cared about the other, they simply weren’t compatible in the long term. They’d dated for a little over six months when Jon was a freshman, and he’d fallen hard.

Danny had been his first real relationship, and Jon was shocked that someone like him even looked his way. Impossibly handsome, incredibly fit, desired and envied in equal measure, and he dated scrawny, shy, insecure Jonathan Sims; the rumor mill went wild. They’d met at a party, and not even a good one. In a brief moment of liquid courage, Jon managed to insert himself into a group and fit in one snarky joke that sent Danny into stitches, the rest of the partygoers following his lead. For one second, Jon felt like he truly fit in, like he was someone worth knowing.

Danny had a way of making someone feel special. Big, romantic gestures, surprising him after class, taking him on little expeditions beyond campus. Jon didn’t drive, still doesn’t, and Danny wanted to show him the world outside of their privileged little campus.

But, like all of Jon’s relationships, it came to an end. Jon wasn’t ready for such overwhelming affection (didn’t think he deserved it, quite frankly), and Danny needed someone who could handle his fast-paced lifestyle. Jon was not that man. They broke up amicably, even if Jon shed a few tears in private, saw each other on campus a few times. Danny tried to reach out more than once, just as friends, but Jon’s never been able to handle more than one relationship at a time, and by then he’d met Georgie.

But now it seems the past is unavoidable, and standing near the circulation desk. Well, now walking in his direction, if the steady footsteps were any indication. Jon’s heart begins to hammer in his chest as it hits him that he is, in fact, hiding under a desk because a man who sort of looks like his ex is in his general vicinity. Coward.

“‘Lo!” God, even the voice is similar, if not as deep. “Tim Stoker. Reporting for duty.”

Stoker. Tim Stoker. Jon startles, slamming his head against the desk with a yelp.

Somewhere in his spiraling thoughts and throbbing head he remembers- Danny had a brother. An older brother that he adored. This must be the famous Tim- Danny made him out to be a saint, and though Jon never met him, he felt some fondness via Danny’s descriptions. But Tim’s going to have no fondness for him, especially considering Jon’s current position, hiding in pain under his coworkers desk.

“Pleased to meet you!” Sasha chirps, very clearly amused by the situation. “I’m Sasha James. And this-” she tugs at one of Jon’s legs, dragging him a few inches into sight. Jon buries his head in his hands and wishes he were invisible. “-is Jonathan Sims. We’ll be training you.”

“Excellent.” Tim’s voice holds the same good humor Danny’s always did, and sends a pang of nostalgia through his chest. “Er, you alright down there?”

“Yes,” Jon responds robotically, scrambling to his feet and standing behind Sasha’s chair, unwilling to meet the man’s eyes, lest he be drawn in. “I- uh, lost a pen. P-Probably left it in the copy room, I’ll just be going...there.” With that incredible performance, he fled.

And only tripped once on the way out.

________

So Jon’s kind of cute.

Tim doesn’t normally go for tiny disgruntled academics, but Jonathan Sims is an interesting fellow. He’s got a reputation for being the ‘problem child’ of the Research Department, awkward and prickly and always available with a snide word. He wields his books and files like a little suit of armor, and the only person he’s seen him open up to is Sasha. Besides their little conversations, Jon is all work and no play.

Except with Tim.

Sasha says she’s never seen anything like it, with one of her secret little smiles. Jon’s always staring. Usually, the man can’t hold eye contact to save his life, but he’ll spend full minutes looking at Tim when he thinks he can’t see. The first few times, Tim would turn around and smile, but that practically sent the man into convulsions, dropping his papers and jumping out of sight like a spooked cat. It was funny the first few times, but Tim pitied him enough to ignore it now. He hopes Jon enjoys the view.

God forbid he ask the guy a question. Jon will look around the room, as if waiting for someone else to answer, when it’s clearly directed at him. He’ll blush and stammer his way through every explanation, keeping a wide berth of at least two feet between them. Even when Tim wants him to look at his screen, he’ll squint from far away. Tim starting to think he smells bad, or has some sort of communicable disease unbeknownst to him.

“It’s not that,” Sasha assures him, again with that unreadable smile. “Trust me.”

Time to try something else.

He prints out his latest follow up, a rather elaborate statement regarding mistaken identities and absolutely nothing supernatural. He knows Jon prefers to look at things on paper, as screens ‘trigger his migraines’ if Tim understood his mumbles. Maybe if he can engage with him on familiar territory for the both of them, he’ll be able to hold a conversation. Tim specifically requested his help on this one.

“If you could just look it over, make sure everything’s up to snuff, that’d be great,” Tim says to the top of Jon’s head, as the man refuses to lift his own to meet his gaze. “You know how Dr. Walker is. Always-”

“Finding mistakes where there are none? I’m familiar with her methods,” Jon snorts, and Tim feels like he’s getting somewhere. A whole sentence! With classic Jonathan Sims snark! “I-I can give it a look. I’m rather busy, but -”

“Take your time,” Tim says with a dismissive wave of the hand. “I finished a bit early, so I don’t need it for a few days yet. Don’t want to put you out.”

“You’re not.” Jon meets his eyes for about ten seconds before ducking his head back down.

Progress!

#tma #jonathan sims #tim stoker #jontim #jondanny #what a tag i need to use it more often #if people do actually like this i might be tempted to give it another go #i think the outline for it ended up being too long for a week event #so i got lazy and gave up #asks #my writing #danny stoker #jondanny au

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askygokindredshipping · 4 years

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Never say “Yes” to Ghost Hunting... Unless....

Summary: Ghost Hunting AU anyone? Judai and Johan are sensitives and realize that Yusei is partially sensitive when he momentarily spots their familiar spirits Yubel and Ruby. However, Yusei doesn’t believe in them and thinks that the two of them are out of their minds. Can looking for non-existent beings lead to something else? (No Duel Monsters in this AU. Yubel and Ruby are both human spirits that died generations ago.)

Author’s Notes: Now that I am in a place where I don’t feel completely overwhelmed by everything and can remember to actually post here, here it is! This is the story I kept promising for that mini bang I was apart of! @hyperionnebulae did a fantastic job of setting it up. I’ll link the full collection at the end. Also, I had an amazing artist and I’ll edit this post with their information. The piece that they did is *chef’s kiss*. I do know that you can visit their DeviantArt page and I highly encourage you to do so!

Anyway, enjoy!

Yusei’s face was not looking down at the screen of his laptop, but instead, he was staring at the two men sitting across from him. It was a warm, sunny evening and he had decided that he was going to do some of his work at the local coffee shop so that he could focus. Focus. What a funny word it was. That was exactly what he was not doing.

Two young men were sitting at the table next to him, chatting amicably about something he didn't quite catch. While they were both very appealing to the eyes, they didn’t interest him nearly as much as the two people sitting next to both of them. These two figures were translucent and clearly injured. He was not a doctor, that was Aki’s area of expertise, but he’d seen enough in his day to recognize deadly injuries like those. The tallest one (Yusei couldn’t quite determine which gender either of the translucent people were and decided it was probably best not to assume anything) had a scar that went down its face, nearly dividing it in two and what looked like a jewel embedded into its forehead. Their hair was a soft, metallic blue color. The other one was shorter with wide, ruby-colored eyes and lavender colored hair, a clear bloodstain blooming from their chest and out against their lovely lavender blouse. The tall one said something to the man next to it. He responded casually. Like… like there was nothing wrong!

Yusei blinked.

They were gone.

He breathed in deep and quickly turned back to his computer screen, the words suddenly not making any kind of sense as something cold shot up his spine. No. There was no way. Those things did not exist. He refused to accept what he had just seen. There had to be a logical explanation.

Didn’t there?

“Excuse me,” a voice asked him, “Are you alright?” He looked up. The two men at the table were now looking at him. The one who spoke had teal-blue colored hair and equally blue eyes; he wore a light lavender colored blouse-style shirt with a darker blue vest over the top. “You look like you’re about to be sick.”

“Or you’ve seen a ghost,” the other added. He was dressed in a dark t-shirt with a red jacket over it. His hair was a light brown and stood out in nearly every direction (not that Yusei could judge with his own black mess) and his eyes were a warm brown. He took a breath as he registered the statement. A ghost? Those things did not exist.

But….

“I’m fine,” he finally answered. He couldn’t stop himself as he blurted out, “but what happened to your two friends?” The two of them shared a look.

“It’s only been us here,” the brown haired one said.

Yusei blinked, “You mean you don’t have two friends that are dressed up for Halloween somewhere around here?”

“Oh, they just left,” the blue haired one cut in just as the brown haired one went to say something. He shot the other a look and it seemed to take a second but, eventually, he got the meaning and quickly clamped his mouth shut again.

“They couldn’t have left that quickly,” he argued. “Are you pulling some kind of prank?” They shared a look again, and Yusei started to get mildly annoyed with it. They didn’t say anything to him for some time. Finally, he closed his laptop and stood to pack his things. Clearly, this was not where he was meant to be. Before he could walk away from the table, the brown-haired guy caught his wrist gently; electricity shot up Yusei’s arm and he flinched at the sensation even though it did not hurt. It felt a bit good.

“Sorry,” he said quickly, releasing him. “It’s just… Can we walk with you for a bit? Here’s not the place to talk.” Yusei blinked. A couple of alarms went off in his mind, but he ignored them, in favor of nodding his consent, and the three of them left together.

The brown-haired guy leaned forward as they walked, “I’m Judai Yuki and this is my partner, Johan Anderson.” Johan raised a hand in greeting when Yusei looked at him.

“Yusei Fudo.”

“Nice to meet you Yusei,” Johan greeted. Judai smiled and continued introducing the two of them.

“We’re paranormal investigators; basically, we work to help people in desperate situations involving anything they can’t explain or handle.” He straightened, walking forward a little bit. Yusei couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“Ghost? You two deal with ghosts?”

“More or less,” Johan nodded.

“You do understand ghosts aren’t real?” They shared another look.

“Yeah, that’s what a lot of people say.”

“But we happen to know differently.”

Yusei stopped and leaned his head to the side a bit, “Alright, I’ll bite. What is your proof? A grainy photo? Horribly shot night-vision scenes? A scar you got from something being magically thrown at you?” Johan snickered and Judai had to cover his mouth with his hand. After a few seconds, the two of them could not help but laugh at his response. Yusei was taken a bit off guard. “What’s so funny?”

“You were so deadpanned when you were asking,” Judai breathed.

“It was hilarious,” Johan added. Yusei found himself blushing a bit, and he turned his head away, trying to not let them see how embarrassed he was. They recovered after a few moments. “And to answer your question, nothing like that.” He pointed off over his shoulder, “Do you see them?”

Yusei looked, then shook his head. “See who?”

“Our friends from the café,” Judai clarified. Yusei looked over their shoulders again, but still only saw the street in front of them. He shook his head.

“Nobody’s there.”

“But you did see them in the café?”

“I saw something ,” Yusei pointed out. “I don’t know what it is I saw.”

“Deny it all you want Yusei,” Judai returned, “but you did ask us about it, which meant that you did see them.” He pointed between the two of them. “Johan and I are mediums. We can communicate with spirits and we’re pretty certain that you’re at least a little bit sensitive since you could see our familiars briefly. You can’t see them right now even though they are standing next to us without utilizing too much of theirs or our energy.” Judai nodded, as if his point made a whole ton of sense. “I wonder what it would take to help you see them again? What made it possible at the café?”

“Do you think the setting had something to do with it,” Johan added. “I remember reading a report that that café has natural running water under it.”

“That might have something to do with it.”

“You two are crazy,” Yusei returned. Nothing they said made any sense! Ghosts didn’t exist, but now they were claiming… all of this ? Johan smiled at him apologetically.

“It’s a lot the first time. You probably don’t believe us, but I have a suggestion.” He clapped his hands together. “Why don’t you come with us tonight? We have a job at a local place this evening. It’ll give us a chance to show you what you’re talking about and to confirm if you are sensitive or not.”

“Full offense, but I just met you.”

“I know.”

“How can I trust you?”

“You can’t.” That took him by surprise and Yusei felt staggered a bit. “But you might find it more interesting than you think. I promise.” Yusei looked between the two of them. Logically, he had no reason to trust either one of them. Something in his gut, though, told him something completely different; it was whispering that he should take the chance and see where this was going to lead. After a few seconds of the two of them staring him down, he finally sighed. He raised his hands in defeat.

“Alright. I’ll join you.”

Johan and Judai smiled at each other.

My, my, my- how the night had suddenly turned around.

*****

The house they were investigating turned out to be an older mansion on the outskirts of the city. Yusei made sure to let a couple of people know where he was going. Martha was worried, of course, but Jack and Crow got a huge trip out of the fact that he, Yusei Fudo, was going ghost hunting. Of all things in the world.

What a weird first date , they had teased.

He had left the house with red across his nose and both cheeks, but he had not given them the satisfaction of seeing it. Yusei slammed the door on his way out.

He now sat leaned up against his red motorcycle. Neither of them had arrived yet. This left him time to do a little extra research on the address on his transparent tablet. The mansion was built in the year XXXX by a rich mogul who wanted a place for his new bride to be the mistress of; however, he built over sacred ground, despite multiple warnings, and thus, “cursed” the home and his family for all eternity. They lost several children in birth and early into childhood. Eventually, the wife passed of an illness, but information on which one was scarce. Her death was the final straw for him. The mogul retired from the home and disappeared into obscurity. It was left to rot. Reports of families moving in and immediately moving out were plentiful in the first few decades after the original owner’s leaving, but quickly teetered off as rumors of a haunting became more prevalent.

He scrolled up on his tablet, murmuring. “Reports of a white lady…. Children laughing… shadow figures…. Objects being thrown. So just your run of the mill hoax?”

“Well, even if it is a hoax, it’s still our job to ease the worries of our customer.” He looked up, not necessarily startled by the sound of Johan’s voice, but a bit surprised that he hadn’t heard them approaching, especially in the large, older van they were driving. Judai was behind him, starting to mess with some equipment. Yusei closed the tablet and placed it in his pocket. “We’re glad you decided to come. What’d you find in your research?”

“Nothing out of this world,” he confirmed, arms still crossed. “Pretty standard reports. White lady, children, objects being thrown.”

Johan nodded. He turned his head a bit, as if listening to someone, and he smiled after a few seconds before saying, “That was pretty much everything we were able to find or was given to us as in our initial customer request.” He paused for a second, “I better help Judai with the equipment. As brave as he is as a ghost hunter, he’s a complete ditz when it comes to setting it up.”

“Would you like me to help? I’m fairly good with technology.”

Johan shot him a grateful smile. “You don’t have to. We’re the ones that invited you out here.”

Yusei rolled up the sleeve of his jacket. “Don’t worry about it. I might as well do something useful now since I’m probably going to mess up your results anyway.” Johan shook his head but led him over to the wired mess that had become Judai. It took them about an hour, once they had untangled him, to set up all the equipment they planned to use and since they were getting paid a hefty price, they were using everything . EVP, static night vision, Mel meters, motion detectors. You name it, they had it. The sun was starting to set when they finally started to sync up all their equipment, recording audio introductions on their three different recording devices. Johan helped Yusei into a specially made vest with several different pieces of equipment attached to it such as a night vision camera, perspective camera, and a few other useful tools like glow sticks, back-up batteries, and flashlights. Yusei felt the electricity again as his hand brushed his arm. A soft blush touched his cheeks. He did not miss the fact that Johan had one as well. Was it possible that he was feeling it too? What was even more astounding to him was that this was the second time he had felt it… with both of them.

Judai smiled brightly when they came back from the back of the van, “That vest looks good on you Yusei.”

Oof, that blush was not going away any time soon.

“Thank you,” he managed to get out without sounding like a stammering idiot.

Yusei had had feelings for people before in his life. Aki, the young lady who had become one of his greatest friends of all time, was one such example. His friend Kiryu was another. However, he had never been in this kind of situation before; his feelings for the previous two had come at different times. This was new. And a bit confusing, especially with how fast everything was moving.

“Are you feeling alright,” Judai asked. Yusei turned to face him. He was looking up at him, his brow furrowed a bit. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

“You make it sound like I’m regretting my wedding or something.”

“Hmmm, I’m pretty sure this isn’t as stressful as a wedding.” He smirked. “But if you’re feeling scared, I recommend hanging back behind us.”

“I can’t be scared of something that doesn’t exist.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“Me being scared or ghosts being real?”

“Yes.”

Yusei shook his head as he walked away, and he followed. Johan bowed mockingly as he opened the front door. Judai gave him a quick kiss on the forehead before blowing a kiss back at Yusei and disappearing into the darkness, only the light of his flashlight illuminating a soft outline of his head and left shoulder. The two of them followed.

The entryway was as bad as you could imagine. Dust clung to everything. Spider webs decorated every corner, and the stairs, and the molding, and the walls, and basically every available square inch. Old paint and wallpaper were missing in great chunks. The building material was old and decayed. An odd sensation of dread shot through Yusei the longer he looked down the hallway. There was no discernible reason for the feeling. He grabbed both Judai’s and Johan’s shoulders, preventing them from stepping any further inside.

When they turned to look at him, he raised his hands apologetically, but dropped them and breathed, “Something isn’t right.”

Judai blinked, quickly looked to his right, and briefly nodded. “What are you feeling?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that if we go any further, something bad is going to happen.”

“But we’ve already been in here multiple times,” Johan assured him. “We had to set up all the static cameras, remember?”

Yusei hesitated. That was true. They’d already been in and out, and up and down all sets of stairs, as they’d been busy setting up static night vision cameras in a couple of the hotspots, specifically where the white lady and the children were often seen and heard moving about. Nothing seemed to happen during that time, and he rationalized that they would be fine in this moment.

The feeling, on the other hand, would not leave him alone.

He started to say something again, but Judai started moving inward and Johan followed. The feeling grew worse as he raised a hand to stop them.

A white figure suddenly appeared at the end of the narrow hallway. The three of them froze, but Judai, after a few seconds, threw a hand back. What Yusei could not see was how his eyes shifted from brown to green and orange, ready for whatever was about to occur. Johan took a step back. Something creaked. The white figure raised its head and with an unearthly scream, it shot forward at them. Judai jumped back. Johan moved in front of Yusei which put the three of them into roughly the same spot on the floor. Yusei looked down immediately as the sound of breaking wood caught his attention; just before the figure could reach them, he grabbed both of them close to him.

The floor gave way, and they fell into darkness.

*****

“Yusei, Yusei, Yusei!” He blinked. Everything felt sore and painful. It took him a few moments to remember that they had fallen through the floor. He groaned. Thankfully, nothing seemed broken, but he was going to be feeling this for the next few days; Martha was probably going to order him to go to a doctor, and for once, he probably wouldn’t protest it. A soft smile crossed Johan’s face. He was momentarily confused.

“I’m dead,” he breathed, “I swear I’m seeing an angel.”

“You wish,” Johan laughed. “But Judai and I owe you quite a bit for saving our lives.”

“What happened?”

Johan crossed his arms, contemplating on how much to share. “Well, you see….” He paused and changed his question, “Did you happen to see a white figure come at us?” Yusei shook his head.

He struggled to remember. Nothing came to mind however and he shook his head. “All I saw was you and Judai get defensive.”

“Maybe that’s for the best,” he mused. Louder, he said, “Anyway, we all were standing on the same space and the floor gave way. You just barely managed to brace us against you before it happened. You took the brunt of the injury.” He pointed to some old bags of flour that were clearly busted in the fall. “You really do have to have a guardian angel at least since this is what we landed on. Judai went back upstairs to double check everything. We should really get out of here.” He stood. Johan offered out a hand, which Yusei took gratefully. Together, they made their way back up the stairs and, to his surprise, the sun was starting to rise.

How long had he been out?

Judai was at the back of the van, putting away most of their equipment. He looked up when they exited. Without hesitation, or warning, he ran for Yusei, catching him in a tight hug; Yusei flinched a bit but accepted it.

“Thank you,” Judai breathed. “We wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for you.” After a few seconds, he released Yusei’s waist, backed away from him, and bowed. “I’m also so sorry. I should have listened to your warning. I know better than to ignore things like that.”

Yusei waved a hand. “No harm, no foul.”

“Well, a little harm,” Johan reminded him, elbowing his side. He flinched again. Johan walked over and wrapped an arm lovingly around Judai’s shoulders. “As such, breakfast is on us.”

“If you’d like,” Judai quickly added. Yusei did not miss how brightly red his expression had become and he smiled.

“Sure,” he agreed. “As long as the ghosts aren’t invited.”

“No promises,” they said together.

The three of them managed to hook their transportations together and rode back to town in the van. Yusei looked out the window. He was surprised when a weight hit his shoulder; Judai had slumped over, soundly asleep. Johan smiled apologetically.

Something swelled in his heart. He turned to look out the window once more and mused that he would not mind trying it again. Ghost hunting that is. Falling into decrepit basements he could definitely do without.

Judai shifted a bit on his shoulder and Yusei looked down at him softly.

Yeah, maybe just one more time.

*****

Thank you so much for reading!

The story on AO3

The mini bang collection

Check out LightningClawedSky on Deviantart

Support me on Ko-Fi

#kindredshipping #yusei fudo #johan anderson #judai yuki #jesse anderson #jaden yuki #ghost hunters au #tw death #tw injuries #tw blood mention #ghosts #I said I would pilot this ship if I had to #and I completely meant it

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porkchop-ao3 · 5 years

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Charlie Foxtrot: Part 7/7

Finale! Hurt/comfort, angst.

Christ it was awkward, standing in Rick's kitchen again with a cup of coffee, just like day one. It'd been a week since Tailor had seen him. Rick had of course been texting, but Tailor hadn't wanted to deal with the whole mess at the time, and so he'd waited. In that time, he'd finished the robe's for the council, and had met up with them for a few drinks here and there. A couple of the council members had taken a shine to Tailor, something that he wasn't at all displeased about. But he knew he couldn't keep putting it off, and he wasn't one for completely ghosting somebody unless the situation was extremely bad, so he finally texted Rick back and agreed to meet him at his apartment.

It was just the two of them, no sign of the roommate, and they hadn't said much outside of meaningless pleasantries since he'd arrived, but Tailor could see that Rick wasn't happy. His usual smile was absent, his voice was monotone, and he stood on the other side of the kitchen with his arms crossed.

With a sigh, Tailor broached the subject. “Did your roommate give you any grief?”

“Not really,” he shrugged, not looking him in the eye.

“I didn't do that on purpose, you know. I-I-I just felt- I was angry and I didn't think before I acted. That was inconsiderate.”

“Yeah, it was.”

Rick finally looked at him, and Tailor suddenly felt this horrible ache in his stomach at his blatant disappointment in him.

“Sometimes my emotions get the better of me–” Tailor rushed to excuse himself, only to be spoken over.

“It's fine. He didn't say much about it. Told me he wouldn't ask and that he never saw nothin’,” Rick shrugged. “Nothings happened since and I don't think it ever will, 'specially if he doesn't see you here again.”

Oh God. Tailor wanted to hurl, only this time it wasn't because Rick was being too affectionate, but because he was cold. This should please him, but it didn't.

“So you're saying I'm not welcome here?”

“I said nothing like that.”

“It certainly sounded that way.”

“Well I guess you need your ears checked,” Rick narrowed his eyes, giving Tailor a dirty look.

Tailor stared for a few long moments, silenced and rendered completely unable to respond. Rick was always so mild mannered and kind and understanding yet he was so sharp with him today. Tailor didn't know what to make of it, but he knew he didn't like it.

“You say that it's fine, but you're clearly unhappy with me,” Tailor finally managed to say, placing his cup of coffee down on the kitchen counter, no longer interested in drinking it.

“I'm not.”

“You must think I'm stupid.”

“I absolutely do not,” Rick hissed, his brow coming down into an arched V as if Tailor had said something extremely offensive. “You're far from stupid, Tailor. I wouldn't dream of suggesting anything like that.”

“Alright. You don't think I'm stupid. But you are definitely angry with me, you've never acted like this before. I'd rather you just be honest with me.”

“I'm not angry with you, I'm just waiting for you to rip the damn band aid off, but you're taking your sweet time,” Rick told him with a heavy sigh, tilting his head back and leaning it against the fridge behind him. “Ain't no point to me being a kiss ass if you're just gonna tell me it's time to move on.”

“You think I'm here to put a stop to this?” Tailor asked. He had no idea where the incredulous tone was coming from, because this was exactly what he was doing.

“Am I wrong?” Rick asked in a dry tone.

Tailor neither confirmed nor denied it.

“It's probably for the best anyway, right?” Rick admitted, his voice dropping quieter. “You ain't interested in sticking around with a guy like me, sharing a shit hole apartment with some other guy.”

“I'm sorry?”

“You just wanted to get laid, right? You don't want nothin’ else. I'm wasting my time sitting around expecting a call from you asking to do something other than get you off. And that's fine, I ain't judging. I just don't wanna be a part of it anymore.”

“Hold on. No–”

“I know that I'm a rarity. A Rick who actually wants something that means something! You probably ain't used to this so I'll make your life easier and leave you be. It's been fun while it lasted, though. Thanks.”

“What're you saying? You can't be serious, you're not–”

Rick suddenly raised his voice. “Are you arguin’ ‘cause you're disagreeing, or because this ain't going how you planned?”

Tailor jumped at the sudden shift. He didn't have time to respond before Rick kept going.

“‘Cause I know your type. You're only happy when things are going your way, when you're the one calling the shots. I might be saying all the right damn things and you'll argue, ‘cause it ain't you saying 'em. I ain't got time for time wasters, if you ain't prepared to consider what I want out of this relationship, I'm out.”

Tailor was stunned by the outburst but absorbed every word. He hated how accurate he was, he never considered how transparent he might be, nor how observant Rick was. He swallowed the excess saliva that had formed in his mouth and looked down at the floor, frowning. When he spoke, his voice was small.

“You're right. I don't want anything other than sex,” Tailor simply said, his face burning and his throat feeling weird, eyes stinging. It took him a moment to realise it was emotion and not a nasty allergic reaction to something he'd consumed. “And I did come over here to end things with you.”

“Well there you go. No need to argue, it's all done and dusted.”

Tailor stayed where he was, scowling down at the floor like it was his worst enemy. He felt such a tumultuous mix of emotions in his gut. He was angry, he was sad, he was relieved, regretful, grateful, confused. He hated himself, mostly. He wasn't entirely sure why; but it definitely had to do with having himself so annoyingly, accurately summed up by some guy he only thought of as a fun lay.

He could deal with all that, though. It was the strong urge to cry that was causing him the most problems. He wasn't the one who was meant to be in tears, he wasn't supposed to feel so terrible, he wasn't the one who should've been dumped. None of this was right, none of it at all. Anger built and he let out an audible growl, snapping his head up and jabbing a finger in Rick's direction.

“You have no idea why I am the way that I am. I for one cannot believe how selfish and ignorant you have been throughout this entire ordeal, expecting me to be more than I can be! You ask too much! You're so needy, always texting and wanting to touch me and be near me, it's been suffocating!” Tailor exploded, yelling louder than Rick ever had.

Rick straightened up, pushing away from the fridge, his eyes widening a little in surprise.

“I'll be glad to finally be free from it! I never gave you the impression I wanted more, you just took everything I gave you and- and- I gave you and inch and you took a mile! And then you have the cheek to make all these bloody assumptions about me, and you're dumping me?” Tailor finished with a humourless laugh, though it was more like a jerky exhale that he had to try very hard not to allow it to turn into a sob.

“Nobody's dumping anybody, I was under the impression this was a mutual thing, I–”

“Shut your stupid mouth!” Tailor shouted, stomping a foot on the ground, the slightly raised heel of his loafers clacking against the kitchen tile. He hadn't intended to look like a petulant child, but he had.

“I've had about enough of this, if you're not gonna act like an adult I want you out.”

“Don't worry. I'm leaving of my own accord.”

“Calm your Goddamn ass down, you ain't finished your coffee.”

“I don't give a bloody shit about my coffee! If it weren't for that stuff I wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.”

“What mess? It's over! If you're that bothered you can tell everyone you dumped me, I don't care. I was hoping we could do this amicably.”

“I just- I-I-I just–” Tailor stammered, feeling everything rushing at him at once.

He felt so embarrassed, so foolish, why on earth had he blown up like that? He was better than that, or at least he should've been. He'd reacted appallingly and now that he was giving himself space to breathe, he wished he could rewind time.

“Come here.”

“What?” Tailor's voice sounded weird, he tried to clear his throat but it didn't help the obnoxious feeling of being on the edge of tears.

“Git your ass over here,” Rick's voice was sharper and despite himself, Tailor did as he was told.

Rick was a little rough with him as he pulled Tailor into his arms, rougher than he was before. Tailor wasn't strong enough to break away so he stayed still against his chest, his arms hanging down at his sides as he felt a hand patting and scrubbing between his shoulder blades. He assumed it was meant to be soothing. It wasn't a hug that was in anyway romantic or affectionate, it was a hug that said everything's okay in the most basic way possible. Tailor didn't particularly like hugs when he was fully clothed, but he didn't fight it. Despite his best efforts to keep them at bay, a number of stubborn tears rolled onto his cheeks and he allowed Rick's wife beater to soak them up, hoping he wouldn't notice.

“Now, I'm gonna let all that slide, ‘cause I know you didn't mean any of it,” Rick said quietly, and Tailor squirmed in his arms.

“You don't know anything.”

“Relax. Nobody's here to see this.”

“You are.”

“And? It's not like I matter all that much,” Rick chuckled. Tailor didn't respond, he just sighed and snorted up the snot in his nose without grace. “Listen Tailor, I know when I see someone who's hurting. I've known since I slipped up and told you I loved you, and you nearly tossed your cookies.”

“That was because m-my assistant brought some of her cooking into work that day and made me eat some,” Tailor lied.

“No it wasn't,” Rick deadpanned in response.

There as a stretch of silence. Rick wasn't letting go, and Tailor wasn't making any attempts at getting away from him.

“My wife was a bitch,” Tailor murmured.

“I thought as much,” Rick sighed, giving another vigorous rub to Tailor's back before gently prying him off of him.

Tailor turned his head, avoiding looking at him. He knew his eyes would be bloodshot to hell and his face would be blotchy.

“I should be the one comforting you, you're probably heartbroken,” Tailor quipped grumpily.

Rick made a passive humming sound in response.

“I knew what was coming, I prepared myself,” he said, startling Tailor into looking at him.

He hadn't expected to be taken seriously. Rick looked at him with a certain look in his eye, it was soft and warm with just a little bit of detectable sadness. In a way, Tailor was grateful for that, because it reminded him of the reason he went there in the first place with a sudden wave of nausea.

Tailor took in a sharp, cooling breath and turned away from him.

“Well, I suppose I'd better leave you be. I'm sure you have things to do,” he said, pulling out his portal gun and twisting the dial for his home dimension.

“Jus’ wait a sec,” Rick said, grabbing hold of Tailor’s arm, getting a glare tossed his way for his efforts. “Are you gonna disappear off the face of the earth ‘cause of this, or am I gonna get to see you again?”

“You think that’s a good idea?” Tailor questioned, raising a brow and gently removing his arm from Rick’s hand.

“Shit, I don’t know. It’d be a shame if I never got to at least talk to you after all this. Believe it or not, I enjoy your company. And not just the physical aspects of it.”

Tailor jerked a little in surprise, both brows shooting upwards. He didn't often hear things like that from the people he slept with.

“Well, we’ll see. I have your number, you have mine. There’s no harm in the occasional text message, I suppose,” Tailor allowed, shrugging his shoulders stiffly. Rick nodded and gave him a small smile, which Tailor awkwardly returned.

Wasting no more time, Tailor opened up a portal and with a final nod in Rick’s direction, he left. Alone in the comfort of his studio, he felt different. He wasn’t as angry or sad as he’d felt when in Rick’s kitchen, but he certainly wasn’t happy. There was a certain hollowness in his belly, one that he’d gotten used to for a while in his past, it was like an old friend coming to visit. He sighed and plopped down in one of the nearby chairs and cradled his head in his hands for a while. His sketchbook lay open on the table in front of him, showing him his own illustrations of a shirt with intricate tribal patterns embroidered into the back. He groaned quietly to himself; that was going to be a struggle to make in more ways than one, but there was no denying it’d look incredible. He couldn't call off the whole project due to his break-up… though, it was hardly a break-up; they weren’t ever dating in the first place.

Tailor heard someone coming through the front door. There were only a couple of people who had a key so he had a good idea of who it was; he took a breath and sat up, grabbing his sketchbook and flicking to a blank page so he could pretend to be working. His assistant walked in a few moments later, she was holding a carrier bag from the supermarket and a cup from the local coffee shop.

“Hey Tailor. I'm glad you're here, I brought you your coffee and–” she started and Tailor sighed loudly, cutting her off.

“I didn't say I needed you today,” he snapped, giving her pause. She looked at him for a few moments.

“Have you been crying?” She asked, a frown colouring her face with concern.

“Of course not, don't be ridiculous,” he grumbled, looking down at his sketchbook to hide his bloodshot eyes.

“I guess you spoke to Rick today,” she said softly, cautiously. “How did he take it?”

“If I wanted to speak to you about it, I would've brought it up. Will you get your nose out of my business?” Tailor spat through a clenched jaw, not looking up at her.

“Of course. I apologise,” she said timidly, placing the coffee cup down next to Tailor on the table. “I brought cake again, if you'd like some with your coffee?”

“Are you trying to fatten me up? I don't want your bloody cake, stop trying to interfere. I don't need you here today, go away and spend the day with your little boyfriend.”

Tailor felt a calmness with the resulting silence from his harsh words. He'd done that.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” she said after a while. Tailor's eyes closed and he felt a lump in his throat. He hated when people were nice to him like this, it loosened his control on his emotions.

“I'm a grown man, darling. I don't need babysitting,” he managed to say with a level voice.

“I know that,” she replied in understanding. He heard the rustling of the plastic bag as she placed it down on the table next to him. “I'll leave you to it, then.”

“Thank you,” Tailor's tone was exasperated and short. His assistant left without another word, just a gentle touch to his shoulder.

When he heard the door close, Tailor sighed and leaned forwards, resting his forehead on his sketchbook with a groan. Why was he the one being coddled? Everyone knew it was his idea to break things off, he was fine! Rick was the one with inappropriate feelings, he was probably crying into his pillow at that very moment. Tailor was fine, he was just annoyed that things hadn't gone how he'd planned and he'd gotten confused, he'd made a fool of himself, he'd had a stressful few weeks and a lot of things had gotten on top of him. He'd simply been overwhelmed.

How embarrassing.

His phone buzzed inside his pocket and his heart dropped to his stomach. He lifted his head, retrieving his phone and taking a cautious look at the message. It was from that Hairstylist Rick, thank God. He was alone and he was bored and he was wondering if Tailor wanted to take advantage of that. He wasn't exactly in the mood for sex, but it would be a distraction, at least. He could just lay down and let him do the work, and it would surely take his mind off of things for a little while.

Tailor replied promptly, then left his coffee to go cold in the studio.

Fin!

#rick and morty #rick sanchez #fanfiction #rickcest #seal team rick #tailor rick #oc rick #hairstylist rick #council of ricks

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bugheadjones-the-third · 6 years

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Title: The Return of the Serpent Prince . Summary: Jughead Jones is back in Riverdale High, and seeing all those guys around Betty leaves him extremely uncomfortable. He knew it was none of his business anymore, but—Why the hell were they flirting with her? [ Note: In this story, neither of them kissed other people. I don’t feel like adding to this drama with this one-shot, so… Don’t worry about that.] . A/N: Initially, this was something that I felt like I had to get out of my head, but I guess it turned out longer than just a small idea… Nonetheless, I’m quite happy with the result, and I think you guys will have a good time while reading this one! Have fun, and please, tell me what you think! . . . That guy was certainly an asshole.

Jughead didn’t even know him, but he was already listed as an asshole amongst some other dudes that had dared to do the same asshole-ish thing about 30 minutes before. That guy— a tall, blond jock, whose name didn’t matter for the history of Riverdale, therefore would be called The-Third-Period-Asshole— was leaning against the locker just across the hall, with a silly smile plastered on his face. He had his right arm lifted in order to show off his muscles, and apart from all the things that made him worthy of hanging with the likes of Reggie Mantle, that asshole was openly flirting with Betty.

All those flirty smiles, fake giggles and the whole showing off was all an attempt on getting the girl’s attention, and if he didn’t know her better, Jughead would say she was even falling for that.

Betty was smiling back. She was giving that guy one of her polite, Alice-Cooper smiles, and even if Jughead couldn’t actually hear their conversation, he could tell she wasn’t really interested in that guy or in any of the others who had approached her that day. They had all tried many kinds of approaches, and apart from the lack of creativity, he was really impressed by the number of guys that had come to her even before the 4th period.

Was there some kind of bet among those idiots? Or perhaps had she started some kind of study group again? He certainly didn’t know, but to say he was happy would be a serious misjudgment.

Jughead knew they weren’t together anymore, and logically, he also knew he didn’t have the right to be bothered by any of those guys, but that whole thing was a lot easier said than done.

He didn’t break up with her because he wanted to, after all. He broke up with her so she would be safe from him and from that emblem on the back of his leather jacket. He forced himself to walk away from her on that dirty parking lot, and from that day on, his heart feels heavier than ever. And now, as he watched The-Third-Period-Asshole hitting on her, a mix of anger, impatience and hunger started to take over his body.

Jughead had to do something. He had to calm himself down, and he had to find out why the hell those guys were gathering around her like flies around a piece of rotten meat.

Betty Cooper is certainly not rotten meat. She’s the finest piece of filet mignon of the market, and if not for the sight of Kevin Keller walking in front of him, the Jones boy would’ve definitely walked over to the girl to compliment her in meaty ways.

“ Kevin!” He called, lifting his hand up as to make himself seen. His sweet friend turned his eyes towards Jughead, and he looked quite surprised to actually be called by the raven haired boy. “ Can you come here? I kinda need to ask you something…”

The Sheriff’s son still had a confused expression across his face, but walked over to where Jughead was standing, nonetheless. The Jones boy was leaning against the gray lockers, his arms crossed over his chest and a pout plastered on his lips. The Keller kid couldn’t help but notice a certain uneasiness in his broody friend, as blue eyes constantly drifted to glare at something— or rather, someone, as he eventually discovered— while they both stood together on the hallway, and at that moment, the brown haired boy knew even his father could tell where that talk would take them.

Jughead was jealous. And— oh, that was reverting.

“ Well, it’s not like such a commoner like me can say no to the young serpents’ leader, right?” Kevin said, shifting his position as to lean his weight over his right leg. He was holding his books against his hips, and his lips were pressed into a thin like before he resumed talking. “ How can I help you, Jughead?”

“ You see… You’re Betty’s best friend, so you should probably know…” Jughead started, bitting his lip as to try to hold back the annoyance in his voice. “ Why are all those guys around Betty? Is she somehow helping them study or something?”

Kevin’s expression remained blank for a while, as he simply studied the Jones’ face. His brows frowned, and soon, he was offering Jughead one of his famous, judging— yet sweet— stares. “ Helping them study? Are you serious?”

“ Well, I don’t know…” He shrugged, a pout still on his lips. “ That could be the only explanation why they’re all after her, right?”

“ Oh my god… Straight guys are so obnoxious.”

“ Knock it off, Keller! Did she join any group or something like that to explain all those douches?”

“ Oh, she definitely joined the Single Students group."

“ Excuse me?”

“ Oh, come on, Jughead. You can’t seriously believe there are guys around Betty only when they need help with their studies.”

“ If not that, then why are they—“

“ Because she’s hot, Jughead!” The Serpent’s lips parted in awe at the way Kevin voiced those words, and suddenly, was as if something hit him really hard in the stomach. " You better than anyone should know that. She’s hot, and mostly, she’s available!”

His blue eyes widened, and Jughead could feel his heart beating faster in a feeling he couldn’t quite explain. For the first time in years, Jughead was left speechless, as nothing came up in his mind for him to contradict his friend. He was shocked, and mostly, he didn’t like hearing his own thoughts being said by someone else in such a straight way.

Apparently, Kevin really is his father’s son.

“ I-I still… I don’t…”

“ Oh, lord, I didn’t pick you for a guy of looks instead of brains, Jones.” Kevin sighed, massaging his temples. After taking a deep breath, he calmed down and decided to go easier on Jughead. It was not like his life was allowing him to ratiocinate lately. “ Look, I’m sorry for saying it like that. I know you guys have been going through a lot lately, so let me try to rephrase it all.” He scratched the back of his head, as he watched Jughead’s face getting sadder at the sound of the blonde’s laughter. “ You see… Even if she’s not aware of it, Betty is the most beautiful girl of this school. She’s smart, she’s sweet and she’s gorgeous with those green, baby-doll eyes of hers. Every boy in school would’ve died to have a chance with her, but she never paid any attention to them. Not when she still believed in that whole Archie thing and— well… Not when she had you.”

Jughead nodded at Kevin, finally following his words. He didn’t like to hear that last part as a past sentence, for, regardless of anything, Betty still has him. She always will. The writer placed his hands inside his pockets, and waited for his friend to continue. “ You guys got together, then, and people respected that. I mean, you guys were Bughead, aka the cutest couple of Riverdale. Always sleuthing together, solving Jason’s murder and being there for each other. It was really sweet, and everyone respected that enough to leave her alone, even if you have always been a loser— no offense.” He said, apologetic, to which Jughead simply shrugged. It was the truth, after all.

“ None taken…”

“ Good, uh… Well, and then everything happened and you moved to the South Side. The douches of this school even thought about bugging her, at first, but then you became a Serpent and they were all kinda afraid of you and your new, dangerous friends.”

“ And why aren’t they afraid anymore? I’m still a Serpent and I’m closer than ever now that the schools have merged. Following your logic, shouldn’t they leave her alone?”

“ Well, they should if you guys were still… You know, together. After the rumors that you broke up with her because of that pink haired chick, they all figured it would be safe to go after our beloved, girl next door.”

“ What!? Toni was not the reason why we broke up! That’s ridiculous!”

“ Well, I know that. You know it, too, and so does Betty, but they don’t. They should, because, you know, you’re not Archie, and you wouldn’t be that much of an idiot to choose that disrespectful girl with weird hair and—“

“ Kevin. Focus.”

“ Oh, sorry… It’s just that she insulted THE ponytail. Still, my point is: You guys are not a couple anymore. And even if I totally shipped Bughead and got pretty sad when Betty told me what happened, I’m glad she’s receiving all this attention now.”

“ What the hell, Keller?!” Jughead placed his hands on his hips, clearly feeling all that anger boiling up inside him. He suddenly started to get mad at Kevin for his words, and he knew there was no logic behind his reaction. Still, it was not like he could hold it back. “ You know all these guys are douches! She’s so much better than all of them!”

“Oh, I know… Betty is a lot better than all of us, but… I like the idea of my best friend feeling appreciated and wanted. She looked like shit when you guys broke up, and as a friend with protective instincts, I can’t not be happy to see her better. So, as her friend, unless you’re willing to solve things and make her happy again, Jones, I won’t let you hurt her anymore. Nothing personal.”

The confidence and firmness on Kevin’s voice shook something inside Jughead, and suddenly, the amicable atmosphere around them became serious and the tension was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. The Sheriff’s son was definitely showing how intimidating he could be in front of the serpent’s prince, and the way he didn’t even flinch when standing up to Betty was certainly admirable.

Kevin has always been a god friend to Betty. They’ve always been together, and if there was one opinion that mattered to Jughead at that moment, it was certainly that boy’s. He only wanted the best for Betty— they both did— but unlike Jughead, Kevin certainly had a clearer vision of things.

Even if it kinda sucked to have heard his words, better than anyone, the raven haired writer knew he had no right to ruin her happiness after what he did to her. He wanted her to be happy— Damn it, he wanted to be the one to make her happy, but perhaps, that was not up to him anymore.

Perhaps, it was now up to The-Third-Period-Asshole.

“ Okay! I’ll see you later, Betsy!”

Tch, as if.

How could that asshole not know that she hates being called Betsy? It reminds her of a cow’s name, and there was no way a guy like that would be able to make her smile. No, that guy could not be the one. Even the one from the 1st period was better with his weird, cuticles fetish.

Honestly, what was wrong with that school?

The bell finally rang and after muttering a ‘thank you’, Jughead let Kevin go to his class. A sigh escaped his lips, indicating he was certainly not excited about biology at that moment, and he finally turned to open his locker and grab his books. He span the combination, giving the locker a little bump in order to open, and took the green book that was lined next to his edition of Huckleberry Finn, which, for a moment, made him consider skipping classes so he could read a couple of chapters.

It would certainly help him calm down a little and help him think about what to do next.

A smirk crossed his face at the memory of Betty scolding him for hiding at his emergency closet under the stairs so he could avoid going to gym. She looked incredibly cute with that angry pout, and it was as if he could still hear the words she told him that day. She said something lik—

“ Jughead Jones, what on earth do you think you’re doing?”

His eyes snapped in shock. He certainly had that memory fresh in his head, but he didn’t know her voice would sound so clear in his head, as if she was standing right next to him. He tried to ignore it, at first, but the sudden poke he felt on his shoulder told him that, apart from being inside his head, there was a very mad blonde standing right behind him.

Oh, well…

It certainly took him some seconds to turn, but when he did, his eyes didn’t miss the angry features of her face. Her green eyes were glaring at him, her hands were on her hips and even if he tried not to think of how beautiful she was, Jughead didn’t miss the scold she was holding in her throat. He certainly didn’t know what he did in order to bring such reaction on her, but he couldn’t help but think it wasn’t all that bad. “ Betts… Hey, what’s wrong?”

“ What’s wrong? Oh, don’t play dumb on me! You know exactly what you did.”

“ Okay… If you’re talking about that time I glued Archie to his seat in first grade, then, I guess you can be mad. Though I gotta say he was trying to steal one of my stickers!”

“ So it really was you!!”

“ I was just a kid!” He threw his hands up in defeat, as the small girl glared at him furiously.

“ And so was Archie! God, Jughead! Though I-I’m not talking about this!”

“ You aren’t? Then why are you mad at me this time?”

“ Why do you keep glaring at them?”

“ What?” His expression went blank, as he really had no idea of what she was talking about. He knows he tends to glare at a lot of people, but at that moment, she would have to be a bit more specific.

“ You’ve heard me! Look, you broke up with me, remember? That takes away your right to be jealous, therefore you can’t keep glaring at every single guy that comes talk to me!”

“ Jealous? I’m not jealous! And I’m not glaring at all of the guys that talk to you! I-I didn’t even know there were guys talking to you!”

“ Jug, you’ve glared at the janitor yesterday.”

“ That guy looked like a predator. This school has a historic with these people.”

“ He was asking me about the recycling, trash cans!”

“ Well… At least he’s a green guy.” He smirked, certainly not missing the chance of making one if his trademark comments.

“ Jughead!”

“ Okay! Okay… I can’t help it, okay? Logic tells me I shouldn’t be acting like that, but I just can’t stop it! It’s stronger than me, Betty… Stronger than us.”

“ Tch, you’re impossible, Jughead!” She let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. Her eyes were adverting his, and after trapping her lower lip in between her teeth, the Cooper girl finally allowed her anger to die from her face. She looked calmer, now. She looked like she was feeling nostalgic and even a little mad at herself for not being mad at all, and even if he wanted to hug her at that moment and say something that would make her laugh; Jughead held back. He couldn’t make things worse, after all. “ Look… You’re gonna set the school on fire if you keep glaring at them. They fear you and the Serpents, and it won’t tale long before Reggie and the others decide to start a fight. People will get hurt and you—“

Betty stopped herself. She bit the insides of her mouth to keep any embarrassing word to leave her throat. She wanted to continue that phrase. God— she wanted to finish so many other phrases around him, and tell him she worried about his safety in the same way he worried about hers, but she knew she couldn’t. Not that time, and certainly not until he made the first move to fix things between them.

There was no denying he still held her heart, and she never made that a secret between them. He knew she still loved him and she knew her feelings were reciprocated, yet, they needed more than just love to take the next step on their relationship. They needed to get back their mutual trust and perfect connection, and that wouldn't happen until he brought back that courage he seemed to have lost.

This time, it was going to be up to him.

And he would better be fast, for she was already getting tired to pretend to like all the attention from those guys on her feet. She didn’t know for how long she would be able to keep up with that act, especially not when she could clearly see him there, with those beautiful, blue eyes and that provocative jealousy she somehow became to find hot.

God, that weirdo was going to be the end of the perfect, girl next door.

“ Betty… I—“

“ Ms. Cooper, we’re waiting for you.” The firm, judging words that came from her math teacher were enough to bring both of them back to reality. The middle-aged teacher was looking at her from the entrance of his class, and by the look on his face, he was certainly not happy to see his best student talking to a Serpent. He was tapping his foot on the floor, and at that moment, Betty realized she could not escape her destiny.

She finally shook her head, taking a deep breath before turning to face her teacher. “ I’m sorry, sir. I’m on my way.” Her eyes turned to meet his one more time, and at that moment, something different lit inside both of the teens. It was as if their eyes could talk, and they were definitely provoking and forcing each other to step out of that stupid comfort zone they had both entered after the beginning of that civil war. She nodded at him and he nodded back, and soon, she was walking away towards the classroom. He watched her all the way, and was impressed when she suddenly turned to face him one more time before entering the class. Her glare was back, but that time, it felt warm and kind just like it used to when they were together.

“ And don’t you dare skipping class, Jughead! Your book can wait!”

And so, as the teacher closed the door behind her, he allowed his lips to turn up in a smirk. He was impressed by how she had managed to use the same words from before, and even if that brought him a warm nostalgia, Jughead knew he couldn’t simply ignore all that had happened during that break. From his own feelings while he watched her with another guy, to Kevin’s words and, especially, the way their eyes met in that silent talk; Jughead knew there was something new and important there that neither of them had dared to say.

Damn it— there were so many things they had yet to say to each other. So many things being repressed and ignored, and by two hearts that were so pure and young like theirs. It was too much for them to bare, and— fuck, they were both too tired of that.

Tired of acting like the adults their parents never were, and tired of sacrificing everything in order to keep the peace between two sides of a small town. They were tired of believing they would actually be safer if they were sadder.

Betty and Jughead were tired of keeping each other apart.

And at that moment, as he rescued his Huckleberry friend from his locker, Jughead Jones knew exactly what he was going to do.

Josh Summers was back. He had approached her the day before during the third period, and god— how she wanted him to shut up.

For the past 10 minutes he had been talking about all the different kinds of exercises to work his biceps, and all the times he called her ‘Betsy' made her feel like vomiting. She had already given up on paying attention to his words for a while now, choosing, instead, to smile and nod like a polite girl her mother once trained her to be. Her fingers were thumping against the cover of her history book, her ears were trying to find a different story on the hallway, and her eyes were desperately searching for him.

It had been over 24h since their intense conversation, and Betty was dying to spot that beanie in the middle of the sea of students that was now Riverdale High. She found herself looking for him the entire day, going to places she normally wouldn’t go, until she decided to simply wait for him to cross her path in the hallways of their lockers. When she got there, things were calm and silent around her, but it didn’t take long until Josh came around to ruin her peace.

Jocks, she thought.

How could she ever keep up a long conversation with a guy like that? The things he loves are the ones she despises, and she had lost count on how many grammar mistakes or slangs he had said so far.

There was no passion. There was no charm. God, there was no sarcasm in his words, and at that moment, she was begging for a literature reference to fill her ears like music.

One of the things she missed the most after their break up was definitely that intelligent way he handled the words. They would always be talking about important issues, their book discussions were thrilling and whenever he left her a note, she would spend hours admiring his lexical choices.

Jughead had certainly raised the bar too high in her life before he left, and she couldn’t help but hate him a little for that.

Fortunately, he was ready to come back and take the responsibilities over his actions.

“ So, Betsy, are you free this Friday night?”

“ Oh, Josh, I’m sorry, I—“

“ She’s kinda busy, man.” Jughead suddenly showed up from behind the girl, lazily resting his arm on her shoulder. There was a sly smirk on his face, and she couldn’t help but feel flustered when he winked at her.

Oh, that boy…

“ Excuse me?” Josh started, trying stand up for his ground. “ Who are you to answer for her, Jones?”

“ Well, I’m the guy who will be taking her out this Friday Night. Just for your information.”

“ Yeah, right…” Josh smirked, not believing the raven haired boy’s words. “ Betty is a good girl. She would never go out with a thug like you.”

“ Hey, Josh!” She started, her cheeks puffing in anger. “ He’s not a—“

“ It’s okay, Betts. He’s right. I’m a thug. I’m the future leader of the Serpents, and that certainly makes me a bad guy.”

“ Of course it does. You’re no good for her.”

“ You’re probably right about that.”

“Jug…” She whispered in concern as her eyes were looking for his.

“ I know I’m no good for her, but hey… It’s not like you’re not making any progress here, Ol’Mcdonald.”

A giggle escaped Betty’s lips, and Jughead couldn’t help but smile at that. They were both exchanging those secretive looks of theirs, and seeing how lost Josh was just made things a lot funnier at that moment.

When it comes to Betty Cooper, no one can beat Jughead Jones.

Especially not The-Third-Period-Asshole.

“What's so funny, Jones?”

“ Oh, don’t worry… It’s probably too much for your brain.”

“ You… You don’t know who you’re messing with, you freak. I can—“

“ You can what?” Jughead started, leaning forward to glare at the jock. His eyes suddenly turned colder and intimidating, and it was as if the entire hallway went mute. During those past few weeks, he had certainly learned a thing or two from the Serpents, and if anything, he was never going to let people intimidate him again. He was not afraid of that guy.

That guy was afraid of him.

“ I-I… I will—“

“ I can’t hear you, man… Try using simple words like 'I’m sorry’ or just ‘okay’. And keep your voice down. Serpents don’t like loud noises.”

A drop of sweat ran down the back of his neck, and Jughead didn’t know exactly what changed his mind, but after muttering a really low ‘okay’, Josh walked away without even saying goodbye to Betty. He figured others wearing leather jackets had showed up behind him, and that image only made him hold up that smirk he had plastered on his face as they simply watched Josh walking away in such a hurried pace. All the other students that had witnessed the show were left confused, but ended up minding their own lives in fear of being tracked by one of the gang members.

Apparently, Kevin was right. The students really were afraid of him, and even if he wasn’t a fan of that situation, it would have to do for the time being.

If they were afraid, then, at least, they would keep him alone. And after that little show, they would also keep her alone.

Oh, but she wouldn’t keep him alone, for sure.

“ Jughead Jones, what did I tell you about scaring people!?” She was mad at him, her brows knitting down as she sent him the famous Cooper glare.

“ Oh, Betts…” His expression softened, and after taking his arm from her shoulder, he used his hand to scratch the back of his neck. “ What else was I supposed to do?”

“ I don’t know. Maybe being polite? God, that guy is terrified right now.”

“ Well, at least he won’t keep calling you Betsy anymore.” He smirked at her, and he could see how hard she tried to hold back her own smile after that.

“ That’s true, but scaring him felt a little too much.”

“ Trust me, Betts. He’s a big boy who knows how to clean himself. I’m sure he will be fine.”

“ Gosh, Jug…” She sighed, her lips finally lifting up a bit as she leaned her back against the locker. Her eyes searched for his, and at that moment, it was as if the whole threatening words had simply lost their importance for her. There was a soft expression on her face, and as she looked at him, he could feel himself slowly being pulled towards by her sweet magnetism. “ Why did you even do that for? I mean, I know you were bothered by him yesterday, but why suddenly changing into attacking mode?”

Jughead suddenly felt something changing inside of him. He hadn’t noticed before, but she was looking extremely gorgeous that morning. Her golden ponytail was as tight as ever, her eyes were shining with a kind spark, and her heart shaped lips looked especially soft as she stood less than an arm-length away from him. He could feel his eyes drafting from her eyes to her lips, and before he knew it, he was standing a lot closer than before, for her perfume was invading his nostrils now.

She smelled like summer, in a pure scent of vanilla and strawberry, and suddenly, he found himself lost in that game they’ve been playing for a while now. The words wouldn’t form in his head, and again, Jughead didn’t know how to actually answer that question.

Well, at least not with proper words.

The boy took one, deep breath before finally leaning in to press his lips against hers. It was soft— as he had expected— and he could feel a bunch of emotions rushing back in into his heart at the long lost touch. Even if he had been the one to make the move, the blonde answered that kiss almost immediately, and he could feel her smiling against his lips.

Betty was kissing him back. Damn it, he was actually kissing Betty after so long.

It was a chaste kiss for he was very aware of the eyes that were set on them, but it was still a kiss he wouldn’t forget that soon. Their lips moved in synch, and he didn’t really know when his hands found their way to her waist. He was pulling her closer with a certain pressure on his fingertips, and he knew if they didn’t stop that soon enough, he would certainly need to use the janitor’s room.

Sigh Hormones…

They soon parted that kiss, but their faces still remained pretty close to one another. Soft smiles were gracing their lips, and if not for the bell ringing on the background, neither of them would’ve moved from that incredibly comfortable position.

“ Finally…” Betty whispered. His lips turned into a smirk, for he knew she was not talking about the history class she would have up next.

“ I guess I needed a little push.”

“ You certainly did… Who would’ve thought all you needed was some competition, right, Juggie?” She teased, still not able to drop that silly smile that had taken over her lips.

“ Competition? Pff.. As if. None of those guys have a beanie as awesome as mine.”

She chuckled, taking her fingers to his face so she could play with his loosened lock of hair. She looked at his crown shaped beanie, too, but suddenly returned her gaze to his eyes. “ I guess you have a point… You know I’ve always had a thing for hats.”

“ That’s elementary, my dear Watson.”

Her cheeks turned redder, and at that moment, Betty could certainly say she was happy. Having him there, with her and making all those comments felt just too good and natural, as if he had never really stopped. She had missed his lips so much, and oh— she couldn’t wait for school to be over so they could make up for the lost time.

They were both happy at that moment, for they knew they were exactly where they should be. They were together and in love, and at that moment, nothing else mattered.

No Black Hood. No Serpents and certainly, no Third-Period-Asshole.

#bughead #bughead fanfiction #bughead fanfic #riverdale #bughead fic #mybugheadfics #unbeta'd

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firenationskydominion · 6 years

Text

Chapter 2: The Analysis of Ozai

Prisoner Ozai has been moved to a modern house on a distant volcano island, which is not known on Firenation maps as it’s in another dimension. A force field limits exiting the perimeter around the house. Another force field restricts the movements of the prisoner: he can be touched but when he shows aggression the field stuns. The house has advanced electronics to monitor all rooms.

Ozai wakes in the morning, surprised to find himself in a comfy bed in silk sheets instead of his prison cell. He hears beautiful music and birds singing. It’s warm. He thinks: I must be dead, but not reborn. I feel alive, but this is too nice to be hell. A faint beep is heard regularly. It stops when he opens his eyes. He sees a white ceiling, he’s in a wooden bed. Drapes are drawn on one side of the room and a blinking white machine stands beside his bed. A shadow vanishes under the bed. His reflexes kick in. He jumps out of the bed and looks below it. Two blue eyes look back at him. A small animal with blue eyes, a long tail, cream colored with brown paws and snout looks at him. Like a batcat without wings, he thinks. The animal approaches and vocalizes something, then it runs off.

He gets out of his bed and looks at his worn but toned body. He looks into the mirror. He has aged, but he trained in his cell. He is naked and follows the lights on the floor to another room. He remembers entering the pod and then having faded out. And a kiss. He is aroused but feels horribly sick at the same time.

He is startled by a voice coming from a round sphere rolling around on the floor. A digital assistant who greets and welcomes him, shows him the bathroom, his wardrobe and the rooms amenities. Ozai is shocked by the advanced technology and confused, but happy to be free and able to clean up and put on proper Firenation clothing.

Please follow me the sphere says and leads him to a darkened room with a screen in the front. The sphere bids him to sit down and watch. A curtain opens up on the screen and the Fire nation throne room comes up.

Courtroom

Present Firelord Zuko, Avatar Aang, Judge Kanto, Jury members, Timelord Mya in the defense of former Firelord Ozai.

JK: You, Timelord Mya have come forward to demand an inquest into former Firelord Ozais imprisonment. Mya Timelord, would you like to give your opening statement?

M: Firelord Zuko, Avatar Aang, Judge Kanto, dear Jury. I have asked you to join me today to offer you a request. I am a time lord. Whenever I see an imbalance in the time space continuum I come and intervene. In this case I saw that the imprisonment of Ozai will lead to a spiral of violence which will plague your world for centuries and which will ultimately lead to the destruction of your civilization. Furthermore there are legal issues with his imprisonment which I want to elaborate in this court. This is why I have made the decision to intervene. I have a proposition for you. Hand Ozai over to me, as a prisoner. I will remove him from your world for the time being until he is reformed.

JK: In order to judge on your request we need witness accounts. Do you have witnesses?

M: Honourable Judge, I would like to call in Avatar Aang as witness.

JK: Calling in Avatar Aang.

M: Avatar Aang, was Ozai the first Firelord to pursue you?

A: No, Azulon started the quest.

M: Did Ozai start the Hundred Year war?

Aang: No. Sozin started the war. It was then continued with great advances by Azulon and then Ozai took over.

M: So did Ozai kill all the airbenders and the water tribes?

Aang: No Azulon and Sozin did.

M: Was Ozai involved in any military offensives before he took over the reins three years ago?

Aang: No, Iroh led the offensive and siege on Ba Sing Se.

M: So we can only judge three years in which Ozai took over from his father and brother?

Aang: Yes, that’s right.

M: Do you agree that Ozai was not involved in any of the crimes committed by other family members before his reign?

Aang: ....Yes.

M: How about the outer rim of Firenation and the colonies. Is there any cultural exchange or economic exchange between the colonies and the Fire Nation?

Aang: Yes, a few of the cities have really grown in the colonies and are thriving.

M: So I formally object that we blame Ozai for any failings, which were done by any other Firelord and also acknowledge that apart from his later continuation of the ongoing offensive on Ba Sing Se, his main objective was to increase trade exchange.

JK: Objection approved.

M: Then let's see. Ozai planned to scorch the Earth nation, but was defeated by you before he managed to do that.

A: Yes, that's true.

M: Crazy guy, wanting to burn a whole country down, isn't it? Like someone on a rage spree burning down his neighbours house. If he had been a farmer, we'd call him mad for burning down his neighbours crops and give him therapy, maybe lock him up in a mental institution. But it’s his bad luck that he's the Firelord and a powerful fire bending master under the magnifying force of a comet. He clearly had a manic meltdown. So we lock him up in a cold cell without daylight. Do you think opportunity facilitated the crime in this case?

A: I guess so.

JK: No assumptions, please.

M: Fine, my angle here is that we are blaming Ozai for an opportunity he only had because he was pushed into that position. He is manic-depressive. The pressure of the siege led him to experience a manic episode. If we judge him, we must also judge the fire sages and all noble people of the Fire Nation who expected him to do something outrageous, to make his mark as the second born pretty boy son. They nurtured and fed his manic state of mind. But this is not a trial of fire nation society, but of one man. Not a monster, not a demon, just one guy who went on a crazy rampage burning everything because for one moment during Sozins comet he could. A man, who had nothing to his name - except being the second born prince. Who spent his youth not chasing girls but training firebending on Ember island and training his abs. Who - without experience or any formal military role - became the Firelord. A man with a troubled family. A guy who perfected his skills of firebending. The only thing that was left to him after his wife left. A craft, which you ultimately took from him.

A: Yes I did.

M: Firebenders need sunlight. If you lock an earthbender or a waterbender into a cellar, he will still be exposed to his elements several times a day. But a firebender in a cold hole below earth is particularly cruel. He can’t bend fire, but denying him sunlight is torture.

A: ....

M: So why do you all fear him so much still? You have taken all he had. Let me deal with the rest. All I ask from you is to leave him to me. I will take him to another dimension where we will work on his issues. The chances of progress are far better there than here. Furthermore, he won't be able to contact any of his former allies. He’ll be safely locked away.

As second witness I call in Fire Lord Zuko:

M: Firelord, you're the son of Ozai. I understand the pain he has brought on you, like all of us will. But tell me, when you were little, were things different then?

Z: Well, I suppose yes. I remember him as my father. He was always very strict but we also had good times on Ember island on the beach.

M: When did things go sour?

Z: When Lu Ten fell in the war and my father was suddenly pressured by many noble people of the Firenation to become Firelord.

M: How do you mean pressured?

Z: They had all lost family and General Irohs reaction - although very understandable - enraged many of the families who had pulled through similar tragedies.

M: Was your father used to this kind of pressure?

Z: No, I don't think so.

M: Did he have any military role or training?

Z: No, he was a master firebender and was more into expanding that craft. He wanted to be the best and do new innovative stuff.

M: So we have a man who is pushed to a spot, where he has no experience and where his hunger for power ultimately backfired. And he paid a big price for his inquest, didn't he.

Z: Yes, my grandfather, FireLord Azulon asked him to kill me.

M: And yet you are alive!

Z: Yes, my mother found a way to deal with Azulon and went to exile for that.

M: Did you know that your mother had married Ozai on an arranged marriage?

Z: Yes, but on amicable terms.

M: Did you know that she was engaged before and who kept up that relationship even after she became Firelord Ozai's wife?

Z: !!!!!

M: I am sorry to bring this up. But this was the moment when things went sour for Ozai. She told your father that her former fiancé was your father, but Ozai knew that she was lying. She did it to hurt him. He in turn promised her to treat you like a bastard son, so that you would turn out different than him. He loves her still and he loves you, in a twisted way. This culminated in your scorched face and your exile to get you away from him. He still loves your mother, Firelord. And all he does is a futile attempt to get her back.

Z: No, this can't all be true!!

M: I am the Timelord, I see it clearly. I can play it to you, but I want to spare you the pain. Ozai is a conflicted man, full of doubts and a volatile self-esteem, who easily falters under extreme pressure. He is manic-depressive. The loss of his wife tossed him into a manic-depressive cycle. The phoenix king is his manic side. He was left by all women in his life. His mother died young, his beloved wife played him and does so still now. Locking him up is not going to produce any betterment or results.

JK: I want to see if there is any base to your accusations. We will retreat to the private chamber and adjourn this session in 20 Minutes.

Twenty minutes later back in the courtroom.

JK: I am reopening the session after the break. The accusations of Mya Timelord were accurate. I am sorry, Firelord Zuko.

Z: This cannot be....

M: Things are not always the way they look on the surface. Overcome your own hunger for revenge and take an unbiased view on Ozai.

M: As third witness I want to call in the brother of the accused, Retired General Iroh.

JK: Calling in Retired General Iroh of the Fire Nation.

M: General Iroh, you fought for years for the Fire Nation?

I: Yes...

M: In that function you were responsible for directly slaying hundreds of people during the war. Yet you changed sides after your own son died. It took a personal hit to make you fall, the fate of others never left you unhinged.

I: It was a bloody war on all sides...

M: Yet, If you had not gone travelling in those lands during exile, but stayed in FireNation, do you think you would be this amicable towards the other cultures of this world?

I: No, I don't think I would.

M: So why do you think that Ozai, who in fact has never left FireNation but was brainwashed by all his family to hate and look down on anything other, should be lenient? He is a product of his upbringing and of his surroundings. Do you think that he might have changed if you had become Firelord and he had gone to exile instead?

I: (ponders... ) I don't know. He is very strong willed, power hungry, ambitious and has a loose temper. But he might very well have.

M: So in deed, we have someone who never really had the opportunity to learn other views, who is blinded by his convictions, who has manic episodes and we lock him up in a cell where he simmers in his own soup of prejudice, depression and misanthropy. And we call that progress...?

I: ...

Zuko: We cannot let him go like this. Not after all that he did!

M: We are better than him, aren't we? And dont' forget. He will not be free. He will be in a maximum security facility in another dimension, with me. He will have access to daylight. He will have no contact to other people unless it's in alignment with his parole regulations. So are we better than Firelord Ozai?

Aang: I guess so. In order to create balance we must adjust the scale. Punishment is not productive, I agree on that.

M: A dictator is the sum of function inducing fear, appearance and power. You have taken away the function, the fear and the power, what left is just the guy. Let me deal with the guy. You can then focus on rebuilding this world without his shadow. Let his shadow be my problem.

JK: The Jury will now retreat to consult with the Firelord and the avatar.

They left to consult behind closed doors.

JK: We are concluding our session with my closing statement and verdict. The jury together with the Firelord and the Avatar have listened to all objections and inquests of Mya the Timelord. After weighing in the testimonies and the evidence we comply with Timelord Mya's request, under the condition that we get weekly progress reports on the developments and any change of his parole regulations are defined by this panel. The jury will drink the potion of lost thoughts and will forget all said today. I herewith sign the sentence.

Mya approached the Judge and scanned the sentence with a blue stone.

The film ends and Ozai is utterly confused. What is a time lord? Why Timelord and not Timelady? And why does she take such a great interest in him? He feels exposed and vulnerable. He hates that feeling. He almost wishes to be back in his cell. He sits there clenching his fists, trying to control the anger. Who is she to drag his life into the open like this and his feelings for Ursa, his rage, his sadness, his will to outshine his misery? At least the jury is not going to spill the beans to the public. He gets up, angry and looking for answers.

The sphere offers to show him the house. Ozai follows. The house is modern with wood set in nature. Exotic plants and birds are outside the windows. The sphere takes him through a long corridor to a large living room with a high fireplace and gallery on top lining the room. He imagines the magnificent fire and instinctively poses his hand to ignite. Then he remembers his loss of firebending. The room is decorated with antique Asian and Polynesian artworks. Many dragons, which remind him of home. Wherever he walks the beautiful music follows him. The room smells of jasmine and sandalwood. Two beautiful blue-eyed cats are roaming around and a crow watches him attentively from the gallery. On one side, he sees a door to a dining room and another one to a vast library. He goes into the library and sees that most books are not in Kanji. On the mantle are little pictures of Mya and others in silver frames.

The dining room is empty, but a fruit bowl makes him realize that he’s no longer sick and how hungry he is, so he grabs an apple. The other fruit look unknown to him. He leaves back for the living room which has a french window to the terrace.

Ozai is met on the terrace in front of a infinity pool by Mya. She is wearing a sheer blue and green gown over a bikini. She has flowers in her hair. He gets hard immediately seeing her like that.

M: Welcome to the island, Ozai. Thank you for being my guest.

O: I saw that ridiculous trial. I did not think that you despise me that much... dragging my life out like that. I thought you‘d fight honourably.

M: I don’t despise you, I am trying my best to understand you. I wanted you out, I got you out. Sometimes a good result requires bad methods. I am not an angel. I wanted you to see it. No secrets, full transparency.

O: So what is this all about? What am I doing here?

M: We are here to work on your issues. I did not mean to hurt you. I am sorry.

O: So you think I am a crazy man?

M: You’re an overambitious man who did bet on the wrong horse. You took a plausible path, albeit not the most ... humanitarian one. We have opposing views on a few things. But we can work together.

O: Tell me, what am I doing here? Am I your slave? Who are you to distort my life like this.

M: Your story, dear Ozai, does not end in a dim prison cell. You still have a big role to play - a role which will dwarf being the Phoenix king- and to redeem yourself. I will guide you on your journey.

O: I am leaving...

M: Make no mistake, my love, you are still a prisoner. But in a more agreeable jail. If you try to run a force field will contain you. Same for violence. But you are free to move about in and around the house, if you follow my instructions. Our conversation is recorded for further parole hearings. So consider well, if you prefer the cold dark cell.

Ozai seems to be mad, but then he closes his eyes. When he opens them he’s much calmer. He looks around, sees the vastness of the sea, the mountain rising at the other horizon, the surrounding exotic jungle. His spirits rise. He smiles. There are flocks of birds flying over the sea and the scent of flowers is in the air. And the sun is shining full force. He takes off his cloak, stands in the sunlight, showing off his abs, with his eyes closed and fuels in on the sunlight.

M: Are you enjoying the sun?

O: Yes, I feel the sun on my skin! Finally! I feel much stronger. Much more alive.

M: I am glad to hear that.

O: You call me a madman and yet you kissed me...

M: You looked very... kissable. You’re interesting. I am not afraid of you, although maybe I should be.

O: How did I get here?

M: Sorry, I had to sedate you for transport for this location. You‘re not supposed to know where you are.

O: We are not in Fire Nation territory?

M: No, we’re not. I’ll tell you more in due time. Let‘s just soak in the sun, shall we?

Both lie in the sun on loungers in silence for a while.

M: Do you ever get sunburnt?

O: Never...

M: We should record a session for your dear son.

O: Spare me with requests from my son. I don‘t want to think about him now. I want to feel alive again. I want to look at the sea, at the sky, the sun and at you! I want to feel the energy and feel alive from core to shell.

M: You look quite alive to me. Alive enough to answer my questions.

Ozai felt a short tight squeeze on his chest from the force field. He gasped for air, looked at Mya in anger and then complied.

Session 4:

M: What would you do at home on such a lovely day?

O: We were at war. I did not have the luxury to enjoy sunny days.

M: Before you became Fire Lord?

O: Training outdoors, firebending and Agni Kai against other firebenders. Family. Maybe Ember island.

M: And as Fire Lord? How did a typical day look?

O: I was woken by a servant, prepped and dressed. Then I had breakfast, sometimes with my generals or my daughter. Then strategic meetings. In the evening I’d meet with influential families to gain their support for the war.

M: How did you relax?

O: ???

M: You’re so intense, there must be a way in which you let off steam... Making love to beautiful girls and/or boys?

O: I won’t answer that (embarrassed)

M: You cannot just pile on without letting off some steam...

O: Fire bending... training forms... Agni Kai...probably.

M: Now without your bending powers you must be quite stressed out.

O: I meditate.

M: Do you achieve balance?

O: I feel the rage.

M: Too much energy?

O: I don’t like being confined. I was now confined for two years.

M: Let’s try something. Follow me. Sit down to meditate. Don’t be afraid, it’s nothing to be worried about.

So, are you calm and relaxed?

O: I can’t relax.

M: Give me your hands. We will make a journey in your mind.

O: No, thank you. I have no intention to. Last time it left me shattered when I woke up and had to face the grim reality of my prison cell.

M: Fair enough, then let’s just sit together and enjoy the sun, enjoy being alive and have some good tea.

O: Where is the tea?

M: Would you like some? I have some exquisite Gyokuro tea...worthy for a celebration on your first day with me.

Mya goes, gets the kettle, sets up tea in a tiny Japanese tea set. Ozai watches her and is feeling very hot. But he also feels that he‘s restricted by the force field, which creates an invisible pulsating cage around him.

M: Your tea, Lord Ozai.

O: Now I feel alive.

We drink tea silently. Awkward silence. He looks relaxed and musters something akin to a smile. I feel like kissing him, but I restrain myself.

Then I pour him a cherry blossom tea. He closes his eyes and enjoys the smell. When he opens his eyes I see desire in them.

He slowly drinks tea and watches me with his sly ember eyes, like a fox eyeing his prey. His hands reach forward to touch my breasts. He is surprised that there is no stun. I move towards him and whisper in his ears that I’ve stopped the tape and his cage. His arms grab me and we kiss. He drags me to his bed. He undresses me slowly until I am naked. His lips and tongue are on my neck. I feel his breath on my skin. I feel his tongue in my mouth, the heat from his body. The smell of his body. I feel his possessiveness and the frenzy of a madman, the fire and the danger. I taste the salty taste of his sweaty skin. We make love and I enjoy every bit of him until I lose myself. When he did he had gripped the mattress of the lounger, which was now scorched.

O: This feels so good, you feel so good, I have been waiting for this for so long...

He smelled the burnt linen and opened his eyes.

O: Did I do this?

He looked at the lounger incredulously.

M: Remember, Aang said you can‘t bend fire to harm others. So if you find a new approach to firebending, your powers might come back. Sex might be a first clue. We might call it Firefucking or maybe fuckbending?

O: Then let‘s fuckbend ten times a day... he whispered and grinned ear to ear. For the first time since I knew him, he seemed happy.

He was exhausted and I covered us up with a blanket. I took a shower and then I jumped into the pool and he followed me.

O: the water is warm!

M: Yes, I know you folk don‘t like cold water.

He pinned me against the edge and kissed me. He looked tired.

I was getting aroused again, but I worried about him, so I got out.

M: Prison surely strained you. We’ll do a health check to see if you have any imbalances.

O: What health check?

M: Heart, BP, Blood, the usual.

We went to the medical bay.

M: Are you cold. You look queasy.

O: I am not used to stand around like this, exposed in front of a pretty woman.

M: We’re not being naughty now, sorry. O: My dick thinks otherwise.

M: Don’t worry, the check will be over soon and then we can continue our fuckbending research.

Does medical check.

M: Your body has suffered in jail, but we can patch you up.

Moves to desk, mixes a protein drink.

M: Drink this, it will help you recover your strength. You’ll need all of it for our journey.

O: Is the journey spiritual or are we really going away? I am starting to like it here.

M: For the time being we’re here, but our time together is a journey.

We went to the dining room, both hungry like wolves. The sphere had already served different dishes. I was amused to see that Ozai put huge amounts of hot sauce on everything.

After dinner I pulled him into his bedroom. I kissed him and he took me slowly from behind.

I lay in his arms and he caressed my face.

O: You‘re such a strange girl...

M: No one called me a girl since ages...

O: Why did you really save me?

M: You‘re too hot to rot in jail... and then as I said, the world is in turmoil and I need your help. I‘ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

We went to bed and he fell asleep at once.

Ozai woke up, me in his arms.

O: You‘re still here.

M: Yes, I have been watching you sleep.

O: Why would you do that?

M: In sleep we are unmasked. I see your pain, your fear of abandonment. You still love her, don‘t you?

O: Did I say her name in my dreams?

M: ... She hurt you, left you, married another guy she was dating behind your back. And yet, you love her still. You‘re a good guy, Ozai.

O: (laughing) No one ever called me that before!

M: It‘s true. You‘re hurting. Your whole self esteem came crashing down when she ditched you for a farmer. I feel your sadness.

I kissed his head

M: I mean it. You‘re so loyal, that it breaks you. You got played and everyone needs to suffer because you can‘t punish those who have hurt and abandoned you.

O: Whenever I see my kids, I see her.

M: And in her you see your loving mother who also left you so early. You‘re haunted, you need to let go, move on, build a new life. All the violence in the world will not turn the clock back. I know you feel like destroying everything, but it’s not a solution. We’ll fix your broken heart and your complicated life. We‘ll work on it, here.

O: Is that the journey?

M: Part of it. Remember: you now have the freedom to just be Ozai, without the Firelord burden. People here will like you for who you are, not what crown you wear. You don‘t have to induce fear to be loved and respected.

O: Can you bend time? Make all this go away.

M: I so much wish I could. Doesn’t work that way, sorry.

I hugged him and whispered that I’d stay by his side.

O: Until you leave me too.

M: No, my love, you will leave me eventually, but I will always remember and preserve you in my heart.

Ozai closed his eyes. Then he suddenly grabbed and hugged me, held me and kissed my head, then my lips.

O: Mya, you’re a gift from the gods!

M: Ozai, some people consider me a God.

O: Oh, I just fucked a goddess, my goddess of fuckbending.

Mya left to shower and to get dressed. Ozai let the hot water pour over his body. When he got dressed, Mya was already gone. Ozai went out to find her.

He stood in the living room and saw Mya on the terrace. She was sitting at a table. The cats, a black squirrel and the crow were listening to her attentively. Then he noticed that all the shrubs around her were full of songbirds. The ground was full of spiders. She let the crow fly, it let out a craw and was answered by a thousandfold other crow voices. The cats and squirrel ran, so did the wave of spiders. All songbirds flew out and darkened the sun for a brief moment, before they also flew away.

She turned around.

M: Ozai, you are here.

O: What was this?

M: My messengers flew out. I need to know about the state of the worlds.

Mya smiled and approached him. Ozai felt uneasy. This was a type of magic that he had never seen in his world. He was weary of women with mystic powers, he had been burnt once already...

M: We have had two wonderful days, but now it is time to get to work.

O: What are you talking about?

M: I have to hand in a report with your progress and we need to make quick strides. Follow me!

Mya led Ozai through the garden downhill over stone steps. At the bottom of the path they reached a road and next to it was an arena with stone figures.

M: This is the place where we will rediscover your firebending - without carnal pleasures. You can train here.

O: But my bending is gone.

M: We will see. I want you to be ready to use your craft when your bending powers return. I can also show you some new tricks. Clench a fist, yes, but stronger. Don’t let go!

Mya pointed with one finger and then hit his nerve superfast. His fist sprang open involuntarily.

O: Aah! What was that?!?

M: Speed, element of surprise and detailed knowledge of human anatomy.

O: My hand is still sore!

M: I use this if my opponent has a dagger.

O: Honourable warriors don’t fight like this.

M: Not all foes have honour.

O: ...

M: Show me some forms, I want to learn.

Mya and Ozai spent the day practicing forms. As a Timelord Mya had the unique talent to empathize so greatly with people that she would literally replicate them and their abilities. Ozai was a great firebending teacher and more patient than Mya would have expected. After an hour Ozais hands started to smoke and a small flame showed. He was very excited.

O: My power is returning! But, how?

M: You are using firebending for altruistic reasons: you are teaching and helping me. And you’re a motivated teacher. As the Avatar said: to not use it for evil purposes or against others.

After hours passed, Mya had also managed to produce some smoke and Ozai left again for the house.

In the evening Mya wrote her first report.

Report 1: Week 1

This is an account of prisoner Ozais progress.

Ozai is a deeply conflicted person who has detachment issues and who resorts to rash decisions when under extreme internal or external pressure. He has a manic-depressive disorder. In his manic episodes, he shows megalomaniac tendencies, while his depressive side is more subdued. In those episodes, he tends to make self-harming decisions.

Without the shell of his function as Firelord there are traces of kindness. His empathy needs cultivation.

We have these points, which I want to stress in him:

Detachment and inner balance

Cultivation of empathy

Balance

Coping with stressors to avoid triggers

Developing maturity

Sense of self

Responsible decision-making

The same evening, cozied up in his arms in front of the fireplace, we also recorded another session:

Session 5:

M: So, we’re back on tape. Ozai, how are you?

O: Fine. I feel good.

M: Zuko was worried about your dignity. All intact?

O: You showed me that nasty trick and my hand feels dead... other than that all dignified and good.

M: Anything you want to say?

O: I wish that you could also talk to Azula, but I worry for your safety if you did.

M: With her I would take on another approach, not one that might remind her of her mother.

O: I tried my best when they were small, but being a father and a firelord at war, it is hard not to confuse both roles. One gets used to ... violence.

M: Everything was meant to fail from the beginning. And all parents fail their kids. They’re both alive and fierce.

O: Zuko hates me. I am concerned about Azula. My wife... I should have protected Azula from her scheming. I was totally focused on myself, Firenation and the siege on Ba Sing Se.

M: Are you convinced that Zuko hates you? Does it make you sad?

O: Sad?...

M: He‘s the one pestering me about your dignity and your wellbeing...

O: ... I wasn‘t aware of that. It pleases me to hear that. But that boy is just too soft to stand the hardships of being a Firelord. All those Agni Kais I had to fight against usurping generals to strengthen my position. Some of which I had considered personal friends! All those hours I had to learn tactics, strategy, negotiation skills... only to find out that sometimes brute force was the only viable solution. He hasn’t fought or learnt one of these lessons. His days are numbered.

M: Here, a jasmine tea flower. Let me pour you a cup. Close your eyes, feel it.

O: A symbol of love?

M: Of love and redemption.

O: I guess I could use both...

M: You can get love from me, redemption is yours to make.

Ozai was tired after the recording. I sat next to him and took his hand.

M: Things will improve.

O: There are still people who consider me the real god given Firelord. Zuko should have killed me to take the throne.

M: He cares too much about you to do that. Do you still want to be Firelord?

O: More than anything else.

I caressed his face, those beautiful warm coloured but cold eyes. He closed them. Was he yet revealing too much? He seemed sad. We sat next to each other for a while. Then he looked at me, got up and left. I found him in his room. As I wanted to enter, he bid me to leave.

O: I am your prisoner. I want to be alone. Give me some privacy to meditate.

M: Of course.

I retreated.

He sat down to meditate, but he could not concentrate. He had to think about her all the time. He was falling for her and he did not like much of what she said, although it felt true. He missed her touch, her voice, her body... he thought about her all the time. He was falling in love. His heart was on fire.

#ATLA #Ozai #Azula #avatar #avatar the last airbender #zuko #fire nation #fire lord zuko #uncle iroh #iroh

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