#you helped my brother practice and learn???????????? he was bad at the beginning too????????

[zakurohampter]

I’m gonna have to let my drivers permit expire again should I just kill myself be honest

#how it feels to be in my 20s. still can’t drive. #parents keep comparing to my brother. and they’re afraid to teach me like girl I need to practice??? #you helped my brother practice and learn???????????? he was bad at the beginning too???????? #do you hate me?????????????? #I’m going to be the cause of a traffic accident but I’m not the one in the car #kidding. feeling so mentally well rn #I was supposed to get it over summer break. I said this last summer break #ok might delete this later. brothers we must stay focused. #men we must stay positive.

[most-datable-datable-bracket]

ROUND 3 MATCH 32

Mammon propaganda:

“He was done dirty in the first round, I hope he wins this time because he deserves it 

First of all, he hates you at the start but then he starts to like you but he exclaimed his hate too much at the start so he can't admit it 

Everyone knows that he likes MC, even his little D (who are demons familiars) thinks that they should date 

He is a classic tsundere but doesn't actually hurt you like other tsunderes but he is so bad at hiding his feelings that everyone is just ignores it 

He is the avatar of greed, meaning he is clingy which may be a turn away for some people but he cares for you so so much 

He has never turned into his demon form to hurt you (Asmo hasn't but he has tried to seduce you with his power)

Don't get me started on his story cards, he literally is so cute

He wants to be a mentor to Luke, like Lucifer was to him, he is only mean to Luke because he wants Luke to learn about how life isn't all sunshine and rainbows

He is also so hot, he is a bisexual panic 

He is bullied by his brothers but he cares for them so so much despite their bullying

I am so in love with him and have written so many fics about him 

Anyway, I'm going to stop here because otherwise I'll be here all day”

“First friend, first pact, practically the MC's first everything, he is a major Tsundere, he holds my heart hostage, I just want to smooch him, he and MC share a room, he is such a cute little bab, he does bully Luke (a child) but it's revealed that he just wants to show Luke that the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows and want help him figure things out

He is the cutest little guy, he cares for his brother 

His sin is greed so he does steal things from people but since lesson 1 he hasn't stolen anything from MC 

He wrote a song to propose 

Sure he is clingy but in a good way

He is so cute 

He adopted a child, which he had to leave in the care of witches and willingly let's the witches extort him 

There is so much that I can say about him but 1. Spoilers and 2. I don't think you want to read that much”

“OKAY SO. OH MY GOD. 

First person we're able to properly romance in game. AND FOR GOOD REASON. He's had MCs back from the beginning, hes the one real one in the game. He's always trying to protect us and its so nice. Puppy boy. He's so me as well??? Like he's such a doting boyfriend it's literally so cute. When MC had to go back up to Earth, he kept breaking the rotating schedule in order to call us more. He always gets MC gifts (avatar of greed love language being gift giving im gonna collapse) and he just drops the most romantic lines out of nowhere??? Like sir are you trying to give me a heart attack. He's the secretly traumatized comic relief. He has ADHD. He's canonically queer (MC doesnt have a set gender). He even likes Head pats. Vote Mammon.”

“HE'S SO PATHETIC AND CRINGEFAIL. I LOVE HIM”

Jaehee propaganda:

“only female love interest in MM, not included in the first round for SOME REASON, you literally go off and live your coffee shop au with her at the end of her route.”

“My lesbian wife. Open a bakery with her after convincing her that she doesn't have to give up her happiness to make money. She can pursue her passions. Also her backstory is so sad and I just wanna hug and kiss her and throw hands at her "family" for making her feel like she does. Also the Valentine's dlc, you get locked in the back of the bakery with her and... Yeah that's my wife. I love her dearly. Also can we just acknowledge that she's like the only path that involves almost none of the dramatic death defying nonsense. You're just gay and in love and it's beautiful”

#mammon #mammon obey me #obey me #obey me shall we date #jaehee kang #mystic messenger #mysme #Round 3 #MDDC 2

[smilingangel582]

Yooo I'm still at a loss for the links and I'm sorry guys...I'm such a clutz, hehe~

☆anyway never mind that let's go down a other roller coaster of tickles with genshin impact. I wanted to right for Kaveh but loss inspiration at the moment... so guys pls bear with me I'll be writing for sweet kaveh soon!

Warning spoilers for fontaine version 4.0!

Ps. Are my fics so bad that Lyney still refuses to come to me!!! I want him, so I'll keep on writing till he comes to me! Heck, his C3 sister is waiting too nyaaaahaaa~

Magic is a performance of art with picturesque illusions. Lyney often became overwhelmed by Caeser's joy in magic as he taught him several aspects of it. Indeed, he began to love it as well... especially playing tricks on others' minds as he played on.

It'd often the smaller ones thst excited kids more. Picking mora from their ears, picking flowers out from under his cloak, he could fo ample things just to get the audience happy.

It's usually days when the big magic tricks would begin, most unexpectedly he feels nervous though he had a knack for avoiding troublesome thoughts. Only Lynette read him like a book...

"Lyney!"

The sharp tone made him look up instantly, startled by his loss of awareness as he was sipping tea at his place with the traveller. Freminet was missing as always, being engrossed in diving - perhaps he ought to learn how to relax from him as well.

Ever since the trial, he became anxious about doing grand performances. He did perfect it at practice, but...he was worried if someone would sabotage his show again and create another victim...

Seeing Aether tilt his head in question to ask how he's feeling, Lyney chuckled sheepishly. "Oh dear, sorry to zone out like this... I may have been preoccupied by the fact that Paimon's not tired of floating around"

"Hey, Paimon's floating his similar to you guys walking, you know!"

Seeing her indignant reaction, he thought he had drawn their attention away from him. Still, Lynette didn't even make an attempt to sound accusing as she calmly said, "You're rigid, brother... perhaps you're nervous after all"

"W-what..? Surely you jest... I'm just more concerned about Paimon's logic to floating, " his face darkened as he lowered his head to the side to avoid any misgivings though the opposite just convoluted.

"Hey, you better not mess with Paimon!" Paimon, being Paimon, ignorantly grumbled in her chirpy voice, sounding offended presumably. Still, Aether could sense his offensive tactic being seen through. He might find it more intriguing to see past the crumbling defence he built desperately...

He shook his head now. "Lyney, we're close enough to see through your act..."

"Ah, drats..." he smiled weakly, seeing how his sister and the traveller were onto him. Keeping his tea cup to its original place on the table, he began to reason.

Now his solid defence has a crack...

"Alright, alright, guys... I am human, so I'll admit I am nervous after the water tank incident, " he offered. Now Lynette stated slight concern in her cool tone,"It's not the same trick... so why are you that worried?"

Sighing, he bit his lip, as if he got scolded by a teacher, "Making mistakes, I guess?"

Aether noticed his stiffness. He could tell the young magician must have been traumatised by the death of Cowell. Either way, they came here to cheer him on. He wondered if he could do anything for him... something to perk him up.

"Lyney" Aether began now gesturing to Paimon. "Allow Paimon to massage your shoulders... to make you relax... she's good at that"

Paimon gasped at Aether audacity to make a request unbeknowst to her, "You little! Of course, you put this on Paimon...!"

Regardless, her starry gaze genuinely desired to help, so she began "Alright Lyney let Paimon loosen you up"

Lyney anxiously waved a hand. "Oh n-no need... It's not really necessary... I really don't have stiff shoulders..."

(Cute...)

Aether rolling his eyes said, "Come on Lyney, no more secrets its obvious they are stiff..."

Before Lyney could evade the offer, Paimon was already behind him. "Relaaax, Paimon is an expert masseur. She can make you lose your fears in a snap!" She removed the pegged Cape so easily, and began to descend.

Until he staggered away, immediately stiffened by her gentle fingers reaching for his shoulders.

"D-dont Paimon... its not necessary"

She couldn't even touch him when he slid off from the couch only to stand and face her, Paimon pouted "Awww but can't you trust Paimon?"

"I...uh... It's not t-trust..."

Lynette, seeing the obvious issue and she finally pointed out, "It's not you, Paimon. He's got ticklish shoulders..."

"Lynette!!"

The casual reply made him blush but only to let Paimon's curious eyes widen in wonder. She waves her arms in frantic excitement "Nooo way Lyney! You didn't tell us your ticklish!"

Extremely nervous, he lowered his hat to hide the blush "A-Arent we all Paimon...?"

Most of Paimon's giggled converted to menacing titters as she wiggled her fingers. "So come here and let Paimon make you relax in a better way"

He had not expected this situation to collapse on him like this. He backed a little too far to bump into a seated Aether's knees and fell, half on his lap.

"Oh dear my apologihihihiies -Wahahait!" He struggled to sit up and grab Aether's sneaking fingers prodding his sides.

His squeaks contagiously threatened to leave his lips as Aether was mischievous as well.

"Are the fatuus this weak to tickling? I must say that's a bit disadvantageous"

Paimon, floating towards Lyney's upper body, began to perform her special tickly massage on his shoulders "Waiit for Paimon Aether, she wants to tickle him too!"

"Ahahha guys plehehehease" he curled now bur Aether grabbed his hips and snickered at the stream of loud and sweet giggles, "as I was saying... we could make you spill any little secret from the house of the hearth right?"

"Ihihihin your dreheheeheams I'm nohohot thahahahat weheheheheak"

"Ahhh, tsk, tsk it's not about being weak... It's about how ticklish you are, " he taunted by kneading his ribs with pure intent to torture information out of him.

Poor Lyney, on the other hand, tried to roll to the ground, but Aether got up and pinned him further to the couch, now both of the ganging on him where he's cornered.

"Lynehehehehtte!" The twin sister peacefully finishes her tea before saying,"It's ironic how his worst spots are the most exposed areas. His armpits and thighs are pretty bad, you know"

Hearing this intel Paimon snickered "ehehehehe let Paimon excell her Paimonial wrath! Your armpits are Paimons now!!!" She charged in yo perfectly fit her small hands into his delicate armpits, she even blowed at his neck to make him squeal and hiccup into louder giggles and laughs.

"This was just to make you relax, so..." Aether teasingly swiped a finger over his thighs suddenly, making him shrill in shock and squeak, "Pleheheheease!"

"So no... at least not today, " he said this, and Paimon reluctantly backed off."That was for making fun of Paimon!"

Chuckling at her ridiculous high pitched complain Aether now cupped his cheeks to get a better look at his adorably blushing red face. "Teyvat to Lyney... you there~"

He still giggled as he said "Aaha yes, I must thank you, but... that was a bit much, wasn't it"

Meanwhile, Lynette coolly expressed, "Ignore him. He loves being tickled so you guys can knock yourselves out"

Lyney flustered now "Y-You can't just...!"

"Oh really?" Aether grabbed his shoulders now making him stiffen again "I thought I found a knot right here? Guess Paimon's masseur skills are still lacking"

"Hey!" One from Paimon.

"HEHehehey!" Another from a bewildered Lyney who giggled at the light touch now trying to move away.

"Ahahaha nohohot again! Nohohot thehehhe shoulders ahahahaha aehehehehther!"

"Let the magic begin!" Lynette smirked, joining the finale of wrecking her brother. None of them have the intention of letting Lyney go until he's cheered and satisfied.

Well... not that Lyney wanted it to stop... he liked this feeling...

#tickle fic #genshin impact #cute #lee!lyney #ler!lynette #ler!aether #ler!paimon

[lilydoeswrite]

THE MERCILESS SIREN | CHAPTER THIRTEEN

wattpad link previous chapter series masterlist next chapter

summary: It is the 66th Hunger Games when Oceana Fontaine is reaped as tribute, and at just thirteen years old, the odds are certainly not in her favour. As much as it is seen as an honour for Oceana to represent her district in the games, it is also practically a death sentence. But Oceana knows she needs to go home and is determined to, no matter how low her chances are and with the help of her mentors, she might just do that. But if she is to win, she will have to learn where her biggest strengths start to turn into her biggest flaws and weigh her options carefully as she starts making choices that pushes her morality and the lengths she will go to for love.

tags: slow burn (finnick x oc), violence, death, canon typical violence the usual stuff when it comes to the hunger games, weapons, not sure what else

“What?” I ask. I’m confused. Is Gill genuinely trying to protect me? Is he watching out for me? But what would he benefit from it other than putting himself in more danger in one way or another? As he said, we’re all fighting for ourselves here in the games, so why is he looking out for me? 

“Oceana,” Gill sighs, “you remind me too much of my little sister for me to not look out for you.”

Silence falls again as the soft crackle of the fire becomes louder. I’m unsure of what to say. Maybe I should’ve gotten to know Gill better before the games and I regret not getting to know him better. I should’ve at least tried to make conversation with him from time to time, to know him as a person and not just as my partner in the games. Maybe I had been too quick to judge his motives and perhaps it was wrong of me to do so. There's no point in having regrets and not doing anything about them so I say something. “Tell me about her,” I say, breaking the awfully loud silence. 

“She’s twelve,” Gill says after taking in a deep breath. “Her name is Daria and she loves to snorkel. Her favourite colour is blue and she wants to be a professional diver one day. Her favourite colour is pink– a soft pastel pink, not a bright pink– she loves to go jet skiing with me. She’s just like you in many ways, I guess. She’s brave and smart and kind.”

“Well, she sounds like an amazing girl,” I comment. So that’s her name, Daria. She’s also only one year younger than me. I can’t imagine how terrified, or proud, she must’ve felt seeing her older brother get reaped. I let out a sigh, “I’m guessing you would do everything to see them again?”

“I guess,” he shrugs, “how about you? Any siblings?”

“Yeah,” I nod, “I have a sister. Her name’s Aurelia, she’s nineteen. She’s studying to become a marine biologist or oceanographer right now. We would go out every weekend to the Centre or wake up early to see the sunrise on the beach. She’d take me out on our boat and then we’d go diving...She’s the best older sister I could ask for, despite all the ups and downs.” I dare not go to the part where she’s everyone’s favourite and how I’ll always be in her shadow, I decide not to and choose to ignore it, I don’t want my last words of hers to be bad ones.

“I’m guessing you miss her?”

“More than anything,” I chuckle. “It’s hard to imagine that if not for the games we would’ve spent the day together…” In District 4, the first day of the games is always a big event. Everything is put on hold and it’s more or less a celebration as we gather in the square to watch the beginning of it, cheering on our tributes. It’s celebrated just as widely as any other holiday. On any other year, Aurelia and I would spend our mornings on the boat, diving into the water and splashing around before having to head to the square. I doubt she is having as much fun though, she’s probably too busy getting prepared to look at least presentable to be on stage. The family’s of the tributes are always invited to watch the beginning on the stage in front of everyone in a grand manner with everyone congratulating them on the honour although they must be worried sick.

“What would you be doing today if not for, y’know,” Gill looks at me as the warm glow of the fire makes him at least visible. His blue eyes reflect the orange flames and his blonde hair is ruffled and messy. 

“Probably diving in the morning with Aurelia before heading to the square,” I try recounting last year’s events. “Then we’d probably meet up with all of our friends and watch the beginning of the games before going to one of the restaurants in the Centre to eat. That’s what we did last year, anyways. After, we’d probably spend the day hanging around on the beach.”

Gill nods, “sounds fun.”

“How about you?” I ask.

“Me? Well, I’d probably sleep in till as late as possible then go watch it with my friends. After that we’d probably be hanging around by the Rocks, jumping into the sea and stuff like that.” He’s smiling as he talks about it. “I hope they’re doing fine and that they’ve done something extra this year. Hopefully they’ve found someone to cover my shifts.”

“You have a job?” I’m curious and for some reason I’m surprised. 

“Yeah, I’m a part-time lifeguard at the beach by the Tides,” Gill chuckles. “It’s honestly quite a rewarding job, I really like it. Saving people, it’s a little terrifying sometimes, but it’s worth it. Although, I mean, I did plan on becoming a marine engineer. What about you? Any dream jobs?”

“Well, I mean, a marine biologist, I guess. I mean, I’ve always liked the idea of it and that’s what Aurelia does, so it only makes sense to do it as well. Although, I’d probably like to be a professional diver as well.” I reply and Gill simply nods. I’m thinking about what I can say next when I hear a rustle behind me. Turning my head towards the direction of the sound, I heave a sigh of relief when I see Briar coming out of her tent as she drags a groggy Alvise with her. “Hi Briar, hi Alvise,” I greet them.

“Hi guys,” she smiles, “we’ll take over from here, you two can go back to sleep,” Briar says and Gill and I nod, heading back into our tent. 

I lie down in my sleeping bag which I’m grateful for as it keeps me somewhat warm in the chilly night and before I know it, my eyes are shut and my body is relaxed. I’m awakened by Briar who is telling me to quickly get up and that we would spend the next few hours hunting before the sun comes up. I’m still a little groggy but wake up nonetheless, folding up the tent and roll up the sleeping bag to strap onto my bag once again. “Where to?” I ask.

Giselle uses her sword which reflects the moon light and draws a path using it. “Just straight ahead and up the hill, see if there’s any tributes.” I nod as I watch Alvise put out the fire before motioning for us to follow his lead. 

We hike up the hilly mountain in silence, not daring to say anything but also not knowing what to say. I’m not sure how long it’s been since we’ve started hiking but I know that my feet are starting to feel slightly heavy. If the Gamemakers were looking for a show, they would not be getting one, as so far, we’ve come across no tributes and little to no animals which could possibly see us as victims. I’ve started to zone out– thinking about Aurelia, mother and father and how they’d probably spend the night unable to sleep and unable to watch this and then I think about Cordelia and Pearl who’d be receiving live updates at lunch in school, I sincerely hope that they’re not too affected by me being in the games although it’s impossible that they aren’t. How about Finnick and Coral? I wonder if they’ve already planned out when to send me the gifts and have, hopefully, acquired some sponsors for me. I’m brought back into the present when we hear something fall from the trees not too far away. Gill nudges me and we run behind the others who are more than excited as they follow the sound of the noise.

“Look what we have here!” Briar squeals, pinning down the tired tribute with her spear before looking at us. She’s smiling almost sinisterly as she gazes at each of us, “who wants to do the honours?” I glance at Briar and then down at the tribute. She looks absolutely terrified, her eyes widened in fear and shock upon Briar’s words as she tries to shout for help only for Briar to press her hand against the tribute’s mouth. “Shut up will you? You make too much noise.” The girl nods, staying quiet as tears fall down from her eyes as she shuts them. 

I’m horrified, but refuse to let it show. I can’t have the others thinking I’m weak. I watch as Briar and Alvise argue over whoever gets to have the honours of finishing the poor girl off. I watch as more tears run down her face, her jet black hair sprawled across the ground and her body which is frozen in fear. I’ve always known the stereotypes of Career tributes– overly vicious, arrogant, better trained and better fed– but never in a million years would I imagine having to witness what is going on right now. 

“I’ll just do it,” Briar ultimately sighs before turning to the girl who has now opened her eyes. “Any last words?” 

The next thing I know, Briar has plunged her spear into the chest of the girl, blood spilling out from her chest and drenching her clothes. The canon goes off and it’s only then that Briar pulls the spear out. The tribute’s face is so pale it’s almost white and I take in a sharp breath as I watch her lie on the ground, motionless and still. To say that I’m shocked is an understatement. 

I don’t understand it, how could you kill someone so mercilessly without any guilt whatsoever? Much less be so joyful while doing so? It seems to me that for Briar, the games are nothing but fun. She’s in this for fun and that’s something beyond my comprehension. Did she understand the consequences of being in these games? That her family and friends would never see her again? Or did they know it as well and welcomed it openly all for the means of bringing glory to their district. Were they content with the fact that she might not see them again? I didn’t know how District 1 saw the Hunger Games but from what I’ve gathered, it’s vastly different. She was in this out of choice, to have the honour of representing her district, for fun and for the apparent giggles. 

The next thing I know, we’re moving on from her dead body and continue trekking up the hill, looking for any sign of other tributes. The sun is starting to come up now, which meant we had been hiking for at least a couple hours before we had found the girl. The sky is painted a soft orange with hues of pink, and if not for the situation I’m in, I would’ve sat down somewhere to watch as the sun rises and the sky turns blue. 

By the rate things are going, Gill and I will be going off on our own in no time. 

“Did you see how scared she was?” Giselle laughs as Briar skips gleefully through the trees. “She really thought shouting was going to help her!” 

Alvise, Chase and Gill laugh in synchronisation as they try to mock her cries for help. I so badly want to assume that Gill is only joining in for the sake of wanting to fit in with the others but I can’t be sure of anything whilst I’m still in the arena. 

“Everyone is going down in no time!” Alvise laughs as we continue to go through the woods. “And as long as we stick to the plan–”

“Screw the plan, Al!” Briar laughs as she makes the small jump off the rock we’re on, crunching a pile of leaves underneath her foot. “Loosen up! Have fun!”

“Exactly,” Chase is smiling as he helps Giselle down, “let’s have fun while we can! Come on, we already know we’ll take down the tributes in no time, they’re weaklings anyway.”

I keep quiet and force a smile when Briar looks my way. I hope I can keep this act up.

author's note: and chapter thirteen is up! sorry for the long wait, but it's finally out :) took me a while to write chapter sixteen so i'm sorry for the longer wait than usual. i hope you like this chapter and if you do, please consider reblogging and/or commenting, it would mean the world to me! thank you, and as always constructive crticism is always always welcomed!

#finnick odair #the hunger games #hunger games #finnick odair x reader #finnick odair imagine #finnick odair fluff #finnick odair angst #finnick odair smut #the merciless siren #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #thg series #thg #the hunger games fic #hunger games fan fic #hunger games imagine #hunger games fic #finnick odair fanfic #hunger games fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #finnick odair x oc #catching fire #mockingjay #thg finnick #hunger games finnick #finnick imagine #finnick fanfic #sam claflin x reader #mags flanagan

[destiel-wings]

whats your opinion on the show (imo) making sam seem like he screws up a lot and that dean is the one cleaning up after him?

For the ⭐ spn analysis ask game ⭐

Oh, that's interesting to think about, thank you so much for asking!

Here's how i see it.

The whole base of the show is that Sam is the younger brother, and Dean needs to take care of him. That means protecting him, and in this life, cleaning up his messes, at all costs. Which is probably why they highlighted Sam's screwups, even making them more morale-challenging for Dean (I'm thinking of the whole demon blood storyline) just to show how far Dean would go for Sam. 

When the show starts, the Winchesters' worldview is black and white: demons bad, humans good (which makes particularly interesting and smart the fact that they included the episode "The Benders", that early on, that subverts this certainty). Anyway, the more the show progresses, the more Dean finds out about Sam's powers, putting him at supernatural-beings-level, and this is the first time in the show where, in the current events, Sam thinks he's letting Dean down. But nonetheless, Dean's first priority is to protect him and help him. 

And that's the base of their dynamics, that they were still carrying from their childhood: Sam, being the youngest, needs Dean to clean up his messes, taking care of him practically (even if he's perfectly capable of cleaning up after them himself most of he time), while Dean needs Sam emotionally, because he desperately needs love and the family that was taken away from him the moment his mother died and everything fell into pieces. I think that's a great part of the tension that charges the codependency between the brothers. 

That said, Sam didn't really need Dean to protect him at the beginning of the show, he was actually fine by himself, doing just fine away from home. The show starts when the supernatural comes into their lives (Sam's life, with Jess' death) again, and Dean steps in to do what he knows how to do, better than Sam. 

And the show plays on that for a long while, having Sam become "a problem" (his powers, the demon blood), so that Dean can be needed and attend to his caretaker job, getting to keep Sam around.

But here's the thing: where it gets even more interesting, in my opinion, is seeing how as the show progresses these roles begin to shift and reverse. 

At the beginning of the show Dean is supposedly the one who's most similar to John and who wants to fight for the "family business", and Sam doesn't need any of this, and he doesn't need Dean. But as the show develops it becomes clear that Sam is the one who's actually more similar to John (sorry Sammy), and as the brothers embrace the life and the seasons advance it becomes clearer that Sam enjoys this life way more than Dean.

After all the messes he's made in the first seasons of the show, Sam becomes more desperate to make amends towards Dean.

"It was how many times i let you down"

And it's not surprising that this shift in dynamics happens right in s8, after they have been apart for a whole year (while Dean was in Purgatory) and they spend the entire season trying to reconcile their relationship. Here we can finally see a Dean who needs Sam a little less, because he's lived without him for a year and he's found Benny, who plays the role of a possible replacement (narratively). For the first time we see a jealous Sam struggling to regain Dean's forgiveness and trust--more precisely, struggling to regain his first place as Dean's shotgun. Unsurprisingly, this shift happens as Cas becomes more important to Dean too.

Dean had always struggled to create real connections with people, but as the seasons go on, he learns to do that, they find a family, and so Sam isn't the only person to give and receive Dean's love and affection. But Sam is the younger sibling, so he always took Dean for granted (it's not his fault, it's what younger siblings generally do), which is why it was so refreshing to see him realize it wasn't that granted. And that's the moment where Sam actively begins to show how much he needs Dean's love as well. Because if you think about it, aside from the found family they share (like Bobby, Jody, Charlie, Garth etc) at some point Dean actually begins to have more people than Sam's (Cas, Benny, even Crowley, just to drop names).

And I love how this season is immediately followed by the mark of Cain storyline, where we finally have Sam trying to save Dean for a change.

I think that's a big step of growth for the character, where he gets to wear the older brother's shoes and get to be the caretaker for once, and really fight for Dean as he had been doing for him until that point.

I think Sam screwed up way less after that, and it checks out with the new dynamics of their relationship: Sam has grown up more, and he doesn't need Dean to save him all the time, he can save Dean too, he's more than capable of it, and more importantly, Dean sees it. As Dean gets to develop new important relationships of affection with other people (larger found family, and Cas), he needs Sam just a tiny little less. And so he starts to see him less as a job and accepts that he can take care of himself too, and basically that whole dynamic of Sam screwing up and Dean cleaning up after his messes becomes obsolete in the show, and is less evident. They both screw up. They both clean up after each other's messes.

And beware, I'm not saying that Dean loves Sam less, just that he needs him less. I'm talking about the toxic codependency, that was actually healing and transforming into a healthier relationship (until the finale did what it did).

In later seasons Sam is portrayed more like an adult, we see him leading a group of hunters, and we see Dean seeing him do that and letting him take the lead, we see him be a father to Jack (finally taking on a caretaker's role as Dean had done for him), we see him threaten and fight God himself, and we see him search for his own path, between the hunter's life that he actually loves (unlike Dean) and even Rowena's witchcraft, to some extent. And we finally see him having a meaningful love relationship again, with Eileen.

I am actually so proud of Sam and of how far he had come. Things could've been so great for him, if we hadn't had that horrible finale. We always say that Dean's ending was bad, and it is, but I honestly don't get people who say that Sam had it better, just because he survived. He's the one who got it worse actually. All of his development... gone. All of those promises of the happy life he could've gotten... gone.

He spent a whole life building a life that wasn't important (and i say that because that's how the episode framed it, and i could make a whole other post about this explaining why) just missing his brother after having lost everyone else he's ever loved. That's just horrible, especially when the show had made clear that the blurry wife life maybe wasn't what he really wanted after all.

***

Again, thanks for the ask, feel free to send more!

#spn #supernatural #spn analysis #sam winchester #dean winchester #sam and dean #dean winchester analysis #sam winchester analysis #character analysis #show analysis #dean studies #sam studies #ask answered #ask response #asks #answered asks #spn analysis ask game #sam and dean dynamics #send more asks #this was fun #crispykleenex #(sorry it took me some days to reply I've been busy and i wanted to think this one through!)

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 63 – The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

This was the last WFA finalist for best novella I was able to get at the library, so I will I suppose just have to accept that I am not going to have an informed opinion on the category. The book is, well – Jamnia’s only other work listed on Goodreads is “Positive Interactions with At-Risk Children: Enhancing Students' Wellbeing, Resilience, and Success”, and you can really kind of tell. Not a bad book – there really is a lot of good stuff here – but subtlety is just nonexistent. Though I suppose better a plot that telegraphs itself from a hundred miles away than one that feels like the author was coming up with it as they went.

The story takes place in a ‘free and democratic’ city state established after a successful war of independence from a struggling and unstable empire, and now a not-particularly-enthusiastic sanctuary to refugees from the rest of the empire. Firuz is one of those refugees, with the added issue of being a mostly-trained blood magic adept, the proximate reason why they and their family had to flee in the first place. Disguising the exact sort of magic they practice, they get work as an assistant healer to the one of (and soon the) only free clinics in the city, doing their bits to try and help the refugee populations through the plague ravaging the city. The meat of the plot is about their investigation of the source of a second strange disease that begins spreading among the refugee population a year after the first plague dies down – looks a lot like anemia, though the word’s never used – and how they try (and just totally fail) to balance their relationships and family against the good they do working in the clinic.

The book is just very earnest, and awkward, and trying to do altogether too many things at once for its length. Also the fantasy!Iranian refugees are called ‘Sassanians’. Which, like, come on. That’s literaly calling your fantasy!France ‘Gaul’.

The medical mystery was fun – strange diseases! Dissections and autopsies! Hiding the magic that’s the only hope you have of figuring out what’s happening! - but it was too strangled for space competing with family drama and a subplot of Firuz adapting and teaching another natural blood mage and just general ruminations to really shine. Which is to say there were exactly two named characters who could possibly be responsible, and it was almost instantly obvious which of them it was.

Which left the book needing to be carried on those interpersonal relationships and character dynamics. Which were like, fine? But every character basically had their key traits and the point of their arc announced on the page – the only character written with any real subtlety or layers was the eventually revealed villain.

The book’s very much queernorm – the protagonist is nonbinary and their kid brother is trans and spends about half the book lashing out as he struggles to cope with his dysphoria. Absolutely no one cares. The brother does get hatecrimed on account of being an ethnic minority and a refugee though, which I admit is a mindset about what bits of reality need to be softened I struggle to wrap my head around. More annoyingly (and, like, actually important at all) it is kind of disappointing that it cuts off any real worldbuilding about sexuality or gender; there are three major cultures in the book, and we go through the entire thing without learning anything much about any of their standards or expectations of femininity or masculinity. The brother’s dysphoria is portrayed as a purely physical ailment – you could replace it with some exotic variety of chronic pain and his role in the narrative would remain functionally unchanged.

Which just seems like a profoundly wasted opportunity to me – it’s fun that there’s one pronoun set that’s used exclusively to refer to the divine! But also I desperately want to know what the differences in cultural understanding between the usage of the two different neopronoun sets used to refer to random tertiary characters are, y’know? If you’re going to devote such a relatively big chunk of wordcount to this stuff then, like, dig into it.

Anyway yeah – as a debut effort, this is really very good. But I’m pretty surprised to see it on any best-of-year lists.

#book review #the bruising of qilwa #naseem jamnia #sff

[tallulah477]

YESS loak who lives in his brothers shadows falling for the girl that was BETHROTHED to his brother (who has a nasty attitude and isnt well liked within her inner circles but her people loves her bc shes nice to them only in her own ways lol) is a level of angst that is so hot

like loaks reaction when neteyam confided in him telling him hes gonna run away with his maid/childhood friend and loak is like ???? youre going to run away from your duties? and neteyam is just like yeah i love my beloved more than aristocracy lifestyle

few months have passed since then and now jake is stressed out from all of this - his oldest son is missing and no one knows where he or his maid is (except loak who he sends letters too from time to time)

and like u said he NEVER thought he would be the next king he had his whole life plan out, train the knights for his brothers army, date some girl who isnt ultra famous and wealthy but in the middle and settle down and pop out a few kids and now his whole world is turned around because he now has to fill in his brothers (complicated) shoes and hes realizing how intense this was all for neteyam and hes has to learn it pronto

but omg poor princess??? the man she was supposed to marry since she was practically born, has been told from a young age she was going to be prettiest wife to neteyam and then he goes into hiding for some maid ??? that would break her ego so bad, and now she has to marry the brother who all he does is play knight oh its so bad for her

but as they hang out they slowly (so slow neteyam would have his first baby by then lmfao) they slowly begin to become friendish - princess finds it hard because her attitude is the worse and she cant accept the fact that she likes someone who all he wanted to be was a trainor for the knights

and loak is trying to ignore that she was originally supposed to marry neteyam, he knows neteyam never liked her but it still fucks with him sometimes but he gets over it eventually

AND OMLLL princess!reader who goes to visit loak on the training grounds and shes definitely does not fit in bc shes hoping her custom made dress doesnt have mud on it as she tiptoes bc god its gross here and she asks the knights where loak and they guide her to where she is

cue her knocking on the door and opening it to see loaks back and oh my god his back is so hot its so broad and waist is so tiny and hes sweating n loak just turns around like what?? meanwhile her face is super red bc she didnt know he was that built underneath that hes leaner than the knights he trains who are meatheads but he was still so defined and the mixed metal necklaces he wore just compliments him so well and now shes needs to find her maid and ask her what are these feelings

— 🤍

Catch up on the story:

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five

Extra: One | Two

CW:// Slight Mention of Pregnancy

Right?! She has such a "don't fuck with me, I'm not the one," attitude. She needs to be serious all the time, needs to always have her head on straight and can't make stupid mistakes because if she does, she loses all credibility. Sure, she's kind and looks out for her people, helping them and protecting them however she can, and her people see that and appreciate that - but she doesn't want to act like the emotionless bitch that she has to be. She wants to be happy, free to genuinely smile and feel what she feels, but she knows that if she shows even the hint of too much emotion, too much weakness, she's just going to be ripped apart.

And Lo'ak can understand that. He knows what it's like to not be able to be who you want to be. His whole life he's been compared to his perfect brother: Neteyam who is better at facilitating communication between neighboring kingdoms, Neteyam who speaks clearly and takes responsibility humbly when needed, Neteyam who's never had to be told not to slouch during court. He's been cast aside as the 'spare', but not invisible enough to not need to be on his game.

He can't joke around like he wants to, at least not without Jake and Neytiri hissing at him to behave. He can't go exploring, can't go out and see what far away lands have to offer because "your duties are here, son". So he found something that he enjoys, a way to get out all his pent up energy and aggression, and he's good at it. So good. He has a true gift for training the knights, getting them ready to battle and protect the kingdom, but even that's sometimes overshadowed by his brother - having to train Neteyam to fight, train Neteyam to be the best, even better than himself - to be worthy of the crown he would get one day.

Would have gotten. Because Neteyam is gone now. And somehow the responsibility, and all the duties that come with it, have fallen on Lo'ak's shoulders and now more than ever he feels he can't be himself.

He would understand how Princess feels . . . if he could get over his own bitterness.

Jake is freaking out - he's sent out a search party on multiple occasions looking for Neteyam and his runaway maid, but they can't find them. Neteyam is smart, building their cottage outside of the kingdom's boundaries, and the only person who knows the location of it is Lo'ak. Lo'ak is bitter, of course, and angry with his brother for what he's done to him. But he would never give up their location. He wants his brother to be happy, so he keeps the information to himself.

He appreciates the letters he gets from Neteyam though. They make him smile, to see that his brother is finally living the life he's always wanted: something calm and peaceful with the woman he loves. He's super giddy when he gets the letter that Neteyam and his wife are expecting their first child. He's going to be an uncle! And the news makes him so happy that he just can't help but smile all day, sneaking off to tell Kiri and Tuk the good news too, and Princess is just looking at him like he's crazy - "Why is he so smiley all of a sudden? What could he possibly be happy about?"

Their relationship is rocky at the start . . . and in the middle. At first, when she was still Neteyam's betrothed, Lo'ak thought she was a spoiled brat. And now that they're supposed to be together, they can't stand each other even more. But the more time they spend together, the more they can't help how their eyes start to trace the other's movements. Their ears seem to always latch on to the sound of the other's voice. Random thoughts popping into their heads about the other (how nice they look in their formal attire, how their eyes glimmer in the glow under the chandeliers) before they have to physically shake those thoughts out, annoyed that they were even there to begin with.

Lo'ak actually growls to himself when the thought of Princess, round and beautiful with their own future child, her fancy custom-made gown falling perfectly over the bump, pops into his head after he finds out Neteyam's expecting.

He's shaking a similar thought out of his head as he's undressing after a rather intense training session. The new knights he's training are annoying, young men who think they're so great and are flooded with undeserved confidence and it just makes Lo'ak want to rip his hair out. But he heard a couple of them whispering about how beautiful Princess is, and how they'd give anything for a night with her and Lo'ak can't seem to justify the dark feeling swirling around in his chest when he hears it.

He thinks it's one of them who slams the door open, come to annoy him even more with stupid questions or overconfident remarks, but instead it's her. The woman he can't seem to get out of his head. She's panting, face flushed with exertion from trying to walk through the mud coated ground. The bottom of her dress is covered with dark brown, once shiny heels now sticky and sinking into the ground. She always looks so put together and clean, so the ruined look throws him off a bit and he can't help but think that she looks beautiful like this too - all flushed and hair out of place from where she tossed it over her shoulder carelessly in her frustration just to get it out of her face. She's scowling, mouth opened ready to give him a few choice words no doubt, but her words die in her mouth when she sees him: topless, corded muscles and strong back on display, all glistening and sweaty and fuck - now she feels like she's starting to sweat.

She's never seen a male like this before. Never seen so much skin. And he turns around when she enters, surprised and the question "what are you doing here?" falling from his lips, but she doesn't answer. Can do nothing more than gape at him like a fish because now his broad chest is on display too, tapering down into a narrow waist. All he's got on is a pair of tight black pants and boots, and her eyes can't help but linger on the slight bulge she can see from where they hug him between his legs.

She feels hot all over, a tight ball forming in her stomach the longer she looks at him and it's only when she feels a strange wetness pooling between her own thighs that she snaps out of her trance. She turns and leaves without a word, running to her bedroom and immediately calling for her maid. If she ever had a best friend, it would be her maid - the person who has been there as her helper ever since she was a little girl. Her helper, her protector, her guide.

Her maid's eyes widen as they take in the look of her Princess's state - dress ruined and covered in mud, face hot and red with embarrassment and something else she can't quite place.

"I don't know what I'm doing!" the Princess cries. And her maid is there for her, to clean her up and wrap her in soft blankets, ready to hear what her Princess has to tell and give her the best advice she can.

#talie talks ♡ #🤍 anon #royalty au

[radioactive-reactions]

FNV companions meet their Fo4 counterparts. What happens? (More specifically, What happens when Arcade finds out he’s replaced by a Ms. Nanny/Synth)

Hmm... I like it! I'm certainly no stranger to cross-game interactions, but 'F4 counterparts' is kind of subjective, given that 4 has vastly more companions. I hope my picks match up with yours!

Raul distrusts Hancock from the moment he's brazenly offered some Jet. From the get-go, Hancock is subjected to the most intense passive-aggressive abuelo act Raul is capable of- "Oh, sure, shoot up right in front of me. Not like you can mess up your brain any worse than the radiation did, hey, boss?" Hancock's anarchistic outlook, regardless of how well the self-appointed mayor-for-life actually adheres to it, makes Raul more than a little uncomfortable- but under all the sarcasm lies a wealth of genuine advice, if Hancock actually cares to look for it.

Boone is, of course, endlessly annoyed by MacCready at first. Snipers though they both may be, Boone is First Recon, NCR's finest- and MacCready is a penniless mercenary from a cave. MacCready sticks a little too close for comfort, always looking over Boone's shoulder, trying to pick up tricks of the trade... and always being stonewalled by Boone's well-practiced stoicism. It's only when MacCready lets the story of his wife and son slip that Boone begins to soften, grumbling less often at his presence and even giving him a few pointers... not that he ever says a word about the sudden change.

Veronica is leery, seeing Paladin Danse as a walking, talking, power-armored icon of precisely the kind of Brotherhood authoritarianism she's been chafing under her entire life. His hardline attitude towards synths, ghouls and mutants certainly doesn't help matters either, and if anything only fuels her distrust in the system. Still, it's not all bad- she manages to wring endless hours of fun out of the fact that he refuses to ever take his power armor off, much to his chagrin. Were she actually a member of his chapter, he'd go straight to Elder Maxson for disciplinary action... but as it is, he's forced to grin and bear it.

Cass and Cait manage to tear through the Dugout Inn's hard liquor supply between the two of them before even learning each others' names. It takes a drunken brawl, a hazy night spent ducking the city guards, and a bleary awakening in the same bed, but they're soon inseparable drinking buddies. Of course, Cait being utterly enthralled by Cass' many (slightly exaggerated) stories of hardscrabble caravan life in the Wastes doesn't hurt at all. Cass, on the other hand, gets to occasionally squeeze Cait's biceps, which is really all one can ask for.

Arcade and Curie are, unsurprisingly, fast friends. He doesn't feel 'replaced', per se, but her centuries of research experience compared to his thirty-something at times makes him feel like he's back in elementary school. Even so, he recognizes the immense value her wealth of knowledge represents, and the two find themselves chatting into the small hours time and time again. For her part, Curie is quick to realize that Arcade needs a friend who actually listens to him- not to mention a bit of optimism to break up all that self-deprecation. She's not really programmed for cheering up wayward Enclave doctors, but maybe she can give it a try all the same.

Lily finds Strong to be an "AGREEABLE YOUNG MAN" who perhaps reminds her a bit too much of Leo when he really gets going. Strong is thrown by her demeanor at first, reasoning that super mutants don't really have families... but who could turn down an offer of free cookies? It doesn't take long for him to warm up considerably, finding her a welcome change from the brutality of his Commonwealth 'brothers'. At the end of the day, Lily's just happy to have yet another grandkid- "AND SO TALL, TOO! THE LADIES WILL JUST EAT YOU UP, PUMPKIN."

Rex and Dogmeat spend much of the initial meeting sniffing at each other, each entirely unsure what to make of the other. Dogs are dogs, however, and before long they're wrestling over a stray teddy bear- Rex has the advantage, not that anyone from the Commonwealth would ever admit it.

ED-E and Codsworth have an instant, mutual animosity- Codsworth because ED-E is a creation of the wretched band of mustachioed charlatans at RobCo, and ED-E because Codsworth is a great deal too prim and proper for its liking. The two spend the bulk of their initial meeting exchanging rude stares from their respective photoreceptors, followed by ED-E wooshing away to go hang out with ADA instead. Some robot friendships just aren't meant to be...

#fallout #fallout 4 #fallout new vegas #fnv #fo4 #fo4 companions #fnv companions #raul tejada #craig boone #veronica santangelo #rose of sharon cassidy #arcade gannon #lily bowen #fnv rex #ed e #reactions #fo4 hancock #rj maccready #paladin danse #fo4 cait #fo4 curie #fo4 strong #dogmeat #codsworth #most tags i've ever had on a post #that's what two sets of companions will do ig

[archandshri]

8th March ‘24 - [arch] colour!!!! community!!!

Hey Shri! <3 

Wow!!!! I’ve seen the finished Brothers Lionheart cover already, but those thumbnails are just incredible. I know you plan to move away from the dark/horror vibes of those images but they’re so impactful!! For sure save those compositions for something else. You’ve put so so much thought into those compositions, it’s inspiring me to put that level of thought into my images too. It's nuts!!!

So y’know how the plan for this blog was to take it easy and do a little at a time? Maybe just pop in and update each other on what we’ve been working on, or even what’s been inspiring us? Well, we haven’t exactly been taking it easy have we :// At the beginning of writing this I thought it was gonna be a chill one but,,, it turned out not to be.

I was lucky enough to be back in Cardiff for a bit the other week, so I hit up the Riso studio. It was super lovely seeing everyone - really made me realise the value of having an artistic community. (for context, I have been travelling recently and it’s been weird, after uni, to not be surrounded by other illustrators)

About once a month, my shared print studio has an event called Open Haus, where we’re open to the public but also loads of members will come in, have a cuppa and a biscuit and talk about art stuff. I happened to be doing some riso printing and Gavin, who’s a right babe and an excellent riso artist, was once again giving me a hand. I love working with other people in the studio, bouncing ideas off them. It sometimes helps me get out of my head (though with practice, I’m also learning to do that by myself!)

Here’s a bit of development work for the print I did a few days before printing. It was actually a bit of development for my comfort characters’ home - but as you know i love building my skills through fun things like that! Trick yourself in to improving xD

This is the print I made!! It’s titled ‘Space Fyn’, named after a place I associate with home <3 

I ran into a bit of an issue with the blue, which I originally planned to use. Once I printed it, I hated it (blehhhhhh), so! We tried a mint out instead. I still didn’t like it. But thankfully, Gavin did this thing where he made me step back and view it from afar and then I liked it again (this has happened twice now I think I need to learn to step back without his help ://) Also, there were about 10 people in the studio, and they all voted on the mint, so I printed a run of 15! (ps. you can order them by dming me on Instagram)

Later, I was showing a friend the progress and she made some great points. The dark blue gives more of an evening vibe, while the mint gives more of a sunrise vibe, a bit brighter. But also, it totally changes the tone! This has led me to think more about how different colours can be used for particular vibes :0 and how can we bend that and make it more interesting than ‘red danger’ and ‘blue sad’. 

Some notes I took from our conversation

Looking at colours in particular genres (they are used differently in specific ways in different contexts) 

for example in Westerns, good guys wearing a white hat and bad guys wearing black hats - misc characters wearing brown.

Light sabres in Star Wars very clearly symbolising ideology

Characters attached to colour - she uses blue and red to symbolise characters that oppose each other in some way, for example.

Character designs, using colours that match well for more grounded characters, and colours that clash for more unstable characters

Power rangers!!

What colour is your ‘normal’ for the world? And how will specific characters break that or blend in?

All of these are just prompts and thinking points of course, it’ll take a lot of exploring to know how i want to apply these to my work.

I was lucky enough to attend Plymouth Comic and Zine fair!!!!! (this is me :0 !!)

It was very lovely, I really enjoyed seeing people from uni, the general Plymouth illustration scene, and those few illustrators you know but only really see at fairs. I also got the opportunity to have some awesome chats about illustration (shoutout to that one hermitcraft fan who let me ramble about Minecraft builds and setting design for a bit <3). I had a chat with the wonderful Ben Wright and Jess Holloway about colours, especially in narrative, and here are some ideas I took away from that!

They didn’t have any specific suggestions for books about colour and narrivite,  but again, film came up! Colours in film are discussed a lot, and vary a lot in genre, so i’ll have to do some looking into that.

In particular wes anderson might be good to look at 

Hero by Jet Li - haven’t looked at this yet

How to take colour that we may associate with a particular feeling and instead make it do something else. (eg. how to make blue happy)

Colour in context with shape and composition

I was very excited after PCZF and got hyperfixated on a little drawing. You and I were chatting about folds in clothes at the fair, so this image was to play with that a bit.

Yes this is an image of my favorite block lady. I love her. [Illustration of GeminiTay, along with her season 10 skin]

I decided to use the colour pick tool from my reference for accurate colours, which I don’t normally do. I do have a habit of going too light with my values, and a bit swampy and desaturated with my colours. When I started with her trousers, I thought it was wayyyy too dark, but I decided to stick with it till the end anyway. Even though it clearly worked in the reference image, I was still surprised it worked on mine. This has proved to me that it’s okay to push and use some darker colours - which is a bit scary but I’m going to give it a go.

'messing around with colors with imp and skizz' by @applestruda

I also saw this incredible image by @applestruda using wonderful colours! This led me to play around with some high-saturation images. I wanted to draw one of GeminiTay’s builds with the spooky vibes she’s been trying to capture. I downloaded applestruda’s image, colour shifted the hue to one that fits the energy I wanted to capture, and used it to create a high saturation colour pallet. This is a great starting point since I’ve never worked with this kind of colour palette before - it gives me a starting point rather than drowning in indecision and cluelessness XD

Here’s a timelapse of the study!

Once I’d finished, I hue-shifted them for some alt colours. I find this a helpful process for figuring out colour stuff that I would never consider normally. I think I like these more, actually. The one with the reddish wood and green accents feels like it has the vibes of the original image, but is exaggerated a bit. I think it pops. And the pink is cool. I think I could have pushed the values further again, but I'm pretty happy with the final images.

So those are my colour thoughts over for now - I’m hoping to keep playing but use of colour is for sure a lifelong skill. 

The past few weeks have been so awesome. I’ve just been so so moulded by conversations with my artistic community and it’s been so lovely!!! I’m really enjoying running around the country and visiting all my pals. It was so nice to see you at PCZF and I’m looking forward to more of it!!! :D

Ps. Here are some sketches I did at the fair

Can’t wait to see more lionheart lil guys :0

Archie <3 :)))))))))

#archillustrates #arch is learning #project development #art #art process #art resource #process #artists on tumblr #illustration #small art blog #art blog #illustration blog #queer artists on tumblr #illustrator #queer illustrator #artists on instagram #procreate #digital artwork #digital artist #riso #risograph #artist blog #artist on tumblr #tumblr art #tumblr art blog #art on tumblr

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Danger Force Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 1

Episode 1: The Danger Force Awakens

Season 1 Masterlist

*Welcome! If you don't know, I did the entirety of Henry Danger before this series, and whilst this could technically be read as a stand-alone story, reading the older books first would probably help everything make sense!

Click for vibes

Fun fact: I actually designed Miss Danger's new uniform first and then worked backwards to create a simpler version for the older one. So, I've had this design saved for a very long time!

Happy reading :)

~Swellview Academy for the Gifted~

If someone had said to (y/n) (y/l/n) that she'd one day end up as a teacher, she would've laughed in their face. 

Engineer? Sure. It's what she'd always wanted to be. Superheroine? Sure - it wasn't so far-fetched after she met her beloved doofus. But teacher? She didn't think she was the type. 

For years, her nerves made her too anxious in front of a crowd, especially one made up of teenagers, and everyone knows how cruel they can be. She always assumed she'd run a junk shop whilst moonlighting as a crimefighter; there was never time for anything else. 

But things were different now--very different to how they'd been a few weeks prior. One door closed, and another opened, precisely to her and her husband's new venture - SWAG. 

School was in session, and once she got into the swing of things and laid down the law, the kids were surprisingly eager to learn. They didn't jeer or make fun of her like in her nightmares; they just sat there, hanging onto her every word as she began the basics of a superhero's training. 

She was the sensible one - what was new? - giving them genuine advice whilst Ray and Schwoz ran more...eccentric classes. But one thing stood out to Miles, Mila, Chapa, and Bose. They'd been at school for weeks, turning blind eyes to their professors' lovey-dovey hugs, kisses, and God knows what else, but they hadn't learned anything. Not really. 

When Captain Man and Miss Danger said they'd train them to be outstanding heroes, they expected explosions, gun fights, and criminal takedowns, not homework, essays, and pop quizzes. And it wouldn't be so bad if it was helpful like it was at the beginning. It seemed like the adults were running out of things to say, keeping them glued to their desks without giving any practical guidance. 

Theoretical knowledge wouldn't help in the real world, but tell that to Schwoz. 

"Okay...time to practice your lying!" The bizarre man announced to a series of grumbles as he hurried through SWAG's classroom, heading for the lectern where (y/n) was standing. 

Using her PearPad, she flicked the first slide of the slideshow onto the large Smartboard, knowing that this was what her doofus wanted her to teach. It wasn't like they liked this crap, even though telling fibs was a helpful skill. The kids were...amateurs, at best, totally unprepared and unskilled for a world of horror and violence. So, they were breaking them in gently, although they couldn't let them know. 

"Hey, come on! Listen to Schwoz..." the heroine gently scolded the moody children, who slouched in their seats at the thought of another boring lesson. But, they respected Miss Danger, thinking she was kind and considerate, much more than her man-child of a husband, so they paid attention - sort of. 

"My friend is on fire. I must run to pour water on his face!" Schwoz read aloud, following the crappy lie he'd invented on the screen. It was strange and unbelievable, but still, he smiled at the kids and directed them to repeat after him. 

"My friend is on fire, and--I'm really the only one doing this?" Mika frowned, starting off strongly with her usual enthusiasm. Still, she quickly stopped when she realised her brother and friends weren't joining. She was the try-hard of the group, and whilst she could cope with Captain Man's weird lesson plans, the others certainly couldn't. 

Chapa sighed, her face twisting into its signature scowl as she leaned forward on her elbows, directing her fury mainly at the bald weirdo teaching them nonsense. She wasn't mad at Mrs. Manchester since she was sweet and generous and gave them self-defence classes, but Schwoz? Yeah, he was just Ray's yes-man. 

"As fun as it is to practice lying all day, it's not fun at all, and I hate it!" She spat, a momentarily sweet smile turning into a snarl. 

"Hate is a very strong word..." Miles spoke up, straightening himself out after reclining in his chair with his feet on the desk. He looked at his friend across the way with a typically serene expression - he'd always been into all that zen shit, but even he couldn't stand this. 

"And in this case... It's accurate."

"What they're trying to say is that Captain Man and Miss Danger bought this school to teach us how to be superheroes..." Mika explained diplomatically, trying not to tread on her teacher's toes, but she understood her friends' frustration. This shit was boring...

"But if all we do is--"

"Guys, I know that this isn't the most...stimulating of lessons," (y/n) started, holding her hands up in confession, but it was either this or sending them into the fray to get pummelled. And honestly, she couldn't think of how many lies she'd had to tell to keep their operation secret. 

"But lying is a very important of being a superhero! We have to know how to protect our secret identities!"

"You know what, though, (y/n/n)? We didn't ask for these powers!" Chapa argued, sending her tutors into eye-rolls and groans because this story was getting old. They loved to complain about how they didn't choose this life or whatever - like Ray and his sweet girl had a choice about their powers, either

"Oh, here we go..." Schwoz groaned, knowing they were about to launch into a dramatic retelling of how Swellview's favourite heroes - and some new friends - saved the city from a terrible foe. 

"Yeah, Schwoz built the weapon that blew up and gave 'em to us when Captain Man, Miss Danger, and Kid Danger fought Drex!" Miles chuckled as the handyman stood there, hands on his hips, looking unimpressed at their ridicule. 

"Yeah, you were all--ayeeeee, there's a caveman on top of meeee!" Bose joked in a poor imitation of the small man, but still, it made his friends laugh. And (y/n), honestly - she couldn't help but giggle. 

"Why is that funny? (y/n), stop laughing with them! A caveman really was on top of me!" Schwoz exclaimed exasperatedly, losing control over his classroom as his co-teacher smothered her laughter - poorly. 

The more they laughed, the more riled up the kids were, ignoring his tittering to quiet down and resume the lesson; they just wanted to remember how awesome it was to be in the heat of battle when they gained the powers that got them here. Well, not Mika yet, but definitely for the others. 

"And Mika was all..."

"Kid Danger needs help!" The girl exclaimed as she stood up dramatically, hands poised on her hips like any good superhero. God, all she needed was a fan blowing her hair and some epic music...

"And Captain Man and Miss Danger were like..."

"Just shoot us!" Chapa growled, re-enacting how the lovers wrestled to keep their archenemy in front of the Omega Weapon, even though it meant sacrificing their superpowers. Oh, well - they came back eventually. 

"But Kid Danger said..."

"If I blast you, you won't be indestructible anymore! And you won't have your super-regeneration!" Miles exclaimed nobly, channelling every bit of the former sidekick's bravery into his words. It was almost enough to make (y/n) tear up, thinking about her babies and how far away they were...

"Neither will Drex. Now, shoot us, you quitter!" Chapa growled, perfectly imitating Ray and how he still held that grudge for Henry after he quit. He was such a drama queen, but the fight was epic, covering everyone in glory--except for Schwoz. And he was still salty about that - where was his superpower, huh?

"I hit a caveman on the head. I was helping..." he muttered bitterly as (y/n) patted his shoulder, knowing he helped in his own way. 

"And then, Kid Danger was like..."

"Hold onto your hoses!" Mile's body shook as he pretended to fire the Omega Weapon, turning his voice robotic and powerful as the 'blast' hit his friends, making them flail their arms in the air. Too bad they didn't take drama classes...

"Explosion!" Bose shouted in a deep, drawn-out cry like they were all in slow motion. The kids fell into their seats or onto their desks, pretending they were unconscious like they were after the battle, and whilst (y/n) appreciated their reverence - after all, that was the night she gained her second superpower - she still liked to have order amongst her pupils. 

"Yeah, guys. We were there. We know what happened..." she said dryly, folding her arms and waiting for them to sit up. 

"And now, I can..." However, the boy carried on, lifting his head from his desk as he tried to remember his power. Poor guy had a good heart, but brainpower wasn't his strong point, leaving him clueless and helpless more times than (y/n) cared to remember. 

"Wait, what's my superpower again?"

"You can move things with your mind..." Mika reminded him, her tone slow and gentle like she was talking to a toddler. Still, Bose looked confused, looking at his hands and wondering at their ability, which he swore was something else. 

"I thought that was Chapa," he said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder to the unamused girl behind him. 

"No, I can shoot lightning bolts from my hands!" She corrected him, having had a few mishaps in the first few weeks. She was getting better at using them - they all were - but kept zapping things unintentionally--like (y/n) 's third-favourite sweater. 

"Sick. Then, what's Miles' power?" Bose asked - as if he hadn't been friends with everyone for a month or so. 

"He can teleport anywhere in the world," (y/n) explained tiredly, feeling the exhaustion seeping into her bones again as she remembered how difficult it was to keep a lid on that power. The poor kid went from Germany to Singapore in one day, and it wasn't easy to get him home...

"Filthy. Then, what's your superpower?" The long-haired boy turned to Mika, whose face fell as she struggled to answer. 

She didn't have one, and she looked to her kind-hearted teacher for guidance because all the others had their powers, but hers hadn't materialised yet. As the weeks passed, she grew increasingly worried, thinking there had to be a mistake, even though (y/n) assured her the Omega Weapon's energy touched her. She advised her to wait and see, but that was easier said than done when your best friends could control lightning and bend physics to their will. 

"She doesn't have one!" Chapa and Miles exclaimed in unison, not in a mean way, but because they were fed up with telling the dimwitted boy. 

"For some reason, my power hasn't shown up--yet!" Mika clarified, making Bose gasp dramatically and clamp his hands over his face. It wasn't that big of a deal, and when she looked her way, (y/n) gave the girl a reassuring smile - she had something in her; she just knew it. 

"If we could just focus your attention on what--" Schwoz tried to say, hoping he could finish his lying lesson, but they were too far gone now. Once you lost Bose's attention, that was it - you didn't get it back. 

"Are you scared you'll never get one?"

"Absolutely not!" Mika scoffed, rolled her eyes, and folded her arms, playing off the kid's question like it didn't bother her. Not even a little bit. She didn't care - who wants a superpower anyway? Ew. 

"See guys? That's bad lying," Miles joked, poking fun at his twin because he knew how obsessive she could be, and not discovering her power was really getting to her. He just knew it--saw how touchy she was at home and how she did everything to try and find it. 

"Actually, dear brother, I'm not scared. (y/n) says she thinks my power needs the right conditions to be activated. And when it does, I'll kick your butt!" his sister replied snappily, giving the boy a deathly stare for trying to knock her confidence. (y/n) was smart and Swellview's greatest superheroine--if anyone knew their science-hero stuff, it was her. 

"Whoa, you guys are related?!" Bose gasped, glancing between the twins with shocked eyes, making everyone facepalm again. It was like he'd been living under a rock, yet everyone knew he hadn't. He was just slow...and very, very unobservant. 

"I know I have a superpower! I'm sure it will show up eventu--" Mika tried to tell them, placing all her confidence in Miss Danger's judgement, but Schwoz had had enough. 

He was tired of the chitchat, feeling like his authority was being undermined, and the worst thing? His wingwoman was joining in, making the handyman elbow her ribs and frown as he raised an air horn in the air and squeezed the button. It made a noise that, remarkably, sounded like someone shouting HEY!, silencing the chattering kids and almost deafening the woman beside him. 

"Thanks, Schwoz. I didn't like this ear that much anyway..." (y/n) winced, laying her palm over her poor ear as it rang and ached. Chapa frowned at the move, her scowl deepening until her face was a red, angry crumple because that was her friend - the one person who didn't judge or push her away in fear. 

"Never Hey!-horn a woman!" She barked, roughly pushing her seat back and standing up, scarlet sparks flying from her fingertips as her temper set her superpower off. 

"Chapa, relax... (y/n) can handle herself," Mika said soothingly. She did not want another incident of someone's butt getting fried because the girl got overwrought, but her advice made it worse. 

Chapa's glowing red eyes snapped to hers, full of rage and anguish as the world tried to dampen her spirit. 

"Never tell me to relax! We've been here three weeks! We should be learning how to be superheroes, but instead, we're practising lies and getting the Hey!-horn!" She yelled, growing angrier and angrier until not even (y/n) could keep her calm. 

She had a point; school had started just under a month ago, and they were still yet to go out on a mission. But, in their defence, Ray and (y/n) knew they weren't ready, preferring to keep them out of sight and danger until they could at least get their powers under control - or hell, even discover them. 

"Hey, I'm already great at lying!" Bose countered, smirking at his friends with some unknown smugness. 

"Watch!... I am so wearing pants right now."

"Bose, are you not wearing pants right now?" Miles asked in a disbelieving voice, trying to catch a glance of his friend under the table. Although, on second thoughts, that didn't sound like a good idea, given how serious he looked. 

"Not important. But what is important is that I'm takin' Schwoz's Hey!-horn!" The boy giggled, brushing off Miles' question, even though it was genuine. 

(y/n) frowned at his words, her amused expression falling when the kid reached out his tensed hand and pressed two fingers to his temple. With extreme concentration, he used his telekinesis to lift the air horn out of Schwoz's hand, far above where the genius could reach. It was a hilarious prank for them, sending the children into laughter when Schwoz tried to grab it, just to come down empty-handed. 

"I'm not going to jump for it..." he said meekly, shoving his hands deep in his pockets to dissuade temptation, even as (y/n) stretched to get the can. Bose lifted it higher, meaning the can brushed her fingertips before soaring above her head, and if she couldn't reach it, Schwoz had no chance. 

"I know you want me to jump for it, but I'm a man of science, and I'm not going to--"

"Just jump, Schwoz. We all know you want to..." (y/n) groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as the kids laughed, bating the genius to jump. Temptation won out, and he began leaping, stretching, and grunting, trying in vain to catch the horn, only for it to float higher. Someone had been practising with his superpower...

"Ya' hate to see it..." Miles chuckled, finding that he and his friends loved to mess around with the tiny man, much to (y/n) 's chagrin. This was what they did when they were bored, and ever since Bose mastered moving small, light objects, they'd revelled in it, ignoring any and all discipline. 

"Give me back my Hey!-horn!" Schwoz snapped, stamping his feet and squirming on the spot like an infuriated child, but Bose didn't listen. He was too in love with his newfound powers. 

"Sure. Soon as you let us fight crime," Chapa proposed with an evil smirk, making (y/n) sigh and scrub her face with her open palm. It was getting harder and harder to lie to the kids, and she felt bad that they took their wrath on the poor guy, knowing that he wouldn't do anything, unlike her and Ray. 

"It's not up to me! It's up to Captain Man and Miss Danger!" Schwoz argued, thinking their treatment was unfair too, and all eyes fell on (y/n). 

She didn't break, knowing that children could smell fear, and if she let them walk all over her, all hell would break loose. She didn't let her old babies get away with shit, so her new ones definitely couldn't, even though she knew they wanted more than namby-pamby lectures. 

"(y/n), let us go out and fight crime! Come on, you remember what it was like to be a new sidekick, right?" Chapa pleaded, even as far as to smile slightly before her friends joined in, all clamouring for the woman to help them get out and kick some ass. But she just shook her head and gave them a sympathetic smile, knowing that whilst she had the authority to assign missions, she didn't want to. 

"Sorry, but I'd need to discuss that sort of thing with Captain Man, and he's not here, so..." she shrugged, believing avoidance was her best tactic, and technically, it wasn't a lie. 

She didn't know where her doofus was, although she'd bet he was probably growing needy after being separated from her all morning--and she missed him. It had been too long without his kisses...

"Well, where is he?" Mika asked expectantly, assuming Miss Danger would know where her husband was, given that they'd been practically joined at the hip since they'd come off their honeymoon. It was disgustingly cute despite the kids' groans and vomiting noises. 

"Yeah, Captain Man never spends this much time away from Mis--" Miles' pondering was interrupted as the legendary hero dropped from the ceiling, landing in an epic pose with his knee touching the floor and his hands clenched. 

The man loved a dramatic entrance, especially in his new uniform - a significant improvement on his old Captain Man suit. He looked bulkier and broader and loved encouraging his wife to feel up his muscles as she studied the small changes - a few extra grey and yellow patterns here and there. Bose's concentration snapped, sending the air horn clattering to the floor as everyone marvelled at the hero's intimidating yet impressive aura. 

"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!" He immediately shouted, dashing around the room like a madman as he yelled at the kids, inspiring panic in them at his frantic tone. He wanted them to get to work, needing their snappy, organised, and coordinated response because panic caused chaos in an emergency. But, of course, their excitement got the better of them. 

"Yes!"

"Let's go!"

"THIS IS NOT A DRILL! Get up to the Man's Nest! Get your uniforms on! GO, GO, GO!" He shouted, slapping his hands on Bose's desk as he sat there, wide-eyed and frozen, even as his friends scrambled to get ready. The shouting wasn't helping, the pressure making him sweat and his mind blank as Ray turned to the Macklin twins. 

"It's crimefightin' time! For real!" (y/n) stood back with Schwoz, watching the chaotic scene unfold with a mildly amused face. It wasn't good that they panicked so severely, but at least she saw her doofus standing there, looking all handsome, as his gaze flickered from the floundering kids to her. God, that uniform...it was a good change. 

"I finally get to hurt someone!" Chapa shrieked, a red current sparking through her fingers as she thought about electrocuting criminals - perfect for letting off steam. Her unbridled rage brought her joy, but the room turned to pure bedlam as she laughed manically. 

Ray and (y/n) locked eyes, sharing a baffled expression as Bose lost all control and flipped his desk, sending pencils rolling across the floor. He also pushed his chair across the room, shouting in anguish as the couple sighed in despair. This was why they didn't want them to go on missions yet.

"Are you wearing a shirt for pants?!" Mika asked with a frown, staring at the boy's legs as he blindly ran around with a blue hoodie pulled up to his butt. Well, he wasn't lying earlier...

"YES!" He cried before running away, not knowing what to do. Even Miles had lost his chill, wrestling with (y/n) for her PearPad for some unknown reason as Bose shook Ray by the shoulders. Honestly, they'd designed the classroom to make it easier to get upstairs, but they were turning it into a farce. 

"I do not know what to do! I have literally forgotten all of my training!"

"Get up to the Man's Nest! This is not a drill!" Ray barked again, shoving Bose off his chest to go and grab a pan and wooden spoon, banging it for extra effect. He didn't know why the message wasn't getting through to them, with only Mika keeping calm as she jumped into her chair. 

"Hurry up, you guys!" She called to her fellow students, knowing they had to get upstairs to where their gum was stored. She slapped her hand on the armrest's button, zooming through the ceiling tubes to put on her uniform. Meanwhile, the others remained in chaos, mindlessly wandering the room. 

"Don't tell me what to do!" Chapa growled, even though the girl was long gone. Still, it was enough to make her spark - lousy news for Miles and Bose as they charged into her from both sides, ending in a scarlet explosion that sent them to the floor when the electricity jumped to their bodies. 

"Oh, you hate to see it..." Schwoz retorted, silently glad to see the boys groaning in pain since they'd made fun of him and stole his Hey!-horn earlier. 

As (y/n) gave him a scolding stare, Mika dropped down from the ceiling, wearing her silver and black super-suit and mask. Finally, someone was ready to go, but her brother and friends had fallen behind, still panicking as she began to bark orders. 

"Get to the Man's Nest! Hit the chairs--let's go upstairs! Up to The Nest, then make the arrest! Everyone, get seated so bad guys can get yeeted!"

"I'll teleport there," Miles bragged as he slowly rose from the floor, holding his aching stomach after taking Chapa's lightning. At this point, Ray had dashed over to his sweet girl and handyman, welcoming her into his arms as she smiled warmly - her love brightened his mood, lessening the irritation from the disorder. 

"Miles, are you sure that's a good idea? You can't control--" (y/n) tried to stop the boy, recalling the last time he tried to use his power and how difficult it was to get him back. However, she was too late, slumping into Ray's embrace again as the boy disappeared to God knows where in a flash of golden light. 

"Sweet cheese..." the heroine sighed, resting her cheek against her husband's pec as his arms curled around her tighter, understanding her frustration. As he soothingly stroked her back, Chapa and Bose made it into their chairs, pushing the buttons and disappearing into the hideout, leaving Mika with the adults. 

Well, that was an ordeal. 

"This is not a drill!" Ray stomped over and growled at the girl as she retook her seat - a pretty poor move since she was already in her uniform and ready to go on his mission. 

"I was ready first!" She shouted back before zooming upstairs, where the chaos undoubtedly continued in the couple's home. They knew they were inexperienced, but dear God, neither expected it to go that badly, wondering where they went wrong with such a simple routine. 

"Hey, doofus..." Still, the silence was golden, allowing (y/n) to sidle up to her lover as he sighed, utterly exhausted after the brief exercise. 

But he relaxed when she slipped her hands up his chest, pulling him into a much-needed kiss after a couple of hours apart - it was their way of reuniting. He hummed at her honey-like taste, squeezing her hips as she ran her fingers through the cropped hair at the nape of his neck, loving how sexy Captain Man looked in his new suit. 

"Missed you, sweet girl..." Ray whispered, pecking his beautiful wife's lips again as she stroked his smooth cheeks. Two hours apart was too long and had been ever since their honeymoon spoiled them with three weeks alone in paradise. 

Schwoz rolled his eyes, knowing they'd been worse since they returned home, but he couldn't blame them for being utterly in love - he was the one who married them. 

"It's just a drill, isn't it?" (y/n) questioned knowingly, aware that her husband didn't want the kids in danger yet. Still, his sneaky plan made her smile, and when she did, he did, too, grinning from ear to ear as he confessed. 

"Yeah..." he chuckled breathlessly, finding a smidge of fun in making the team panic, but it was also very telling. They weren't even close to being ready for bad guys yet, something the heroine reiterated as she followed her doofus into the back room. As much as she wanted to stand in his arms all day, they had younglings to teach, especially if they ran rampant in the Nest. 

It's where they'd built a new tube pad - a huge one, enough to comfortably send a group of people around the Man's Nest at once. Plus, it gave them a perfect little hidey-hole to kiss and explore without young eyes around to see something scarring, often making Schwoz take the stairs. 

"Doofus, that was a disaster..." (y/n) groaned, pulling the gumballs from her back pocket as she stepped into the tube with her lover, standing unnecessarily close after so many years in the old, narrow ones. 

She popped one into her mouth as Ray sighed, his hands on her hips again as they waited for the suction to send them upwards. He didn't need his pretty girl to tell him that; he knew that the kids weren't ready, but as she'd found, it was getting harder and harder to keep them in SWAG when they were so desperate to see some action. 

"I know, darlin'. And they're still not ready..." he sighed, knowing Chapa and Bose were probably still in their civilian clothes with Mika shouting at them and Miles in some far-off land. His wife offered him a tired but sweet smile as she chewed and blew a bubble, her new uniform materialising on her body in a burst of bright colours. 

In a split-second, before they went upstairs, Ray took a moment to admire her figure, raking his eyes over the new design and how it complimented her so well. She was officially his new senior sidekick and, as such, deserved a new look, complete with an updated two-colour skirt, bodice, and other minor details to compliment his suit. And fuck - she looked hot. 

"Pick your tongue up, doof." A soft voice broke him out of his daydream, and his gaze snapped up to her amused eyes as they crinkled with laughter. Caught red-handed. 

"Can't blame a guy for admiring his wife, sweet girl, especially when she's so freakin' hot--" he grinned cheekily, and (y/n) didn't get a chance to reply when his arms tightened around her body as they blasted off. 

Upstairs, in the Man's Nest, the couple were joined by Schwoz and found another chaotic scene as they'd predicted. Chapa and Bose were on their knees, nails scraping against the floor to try and scoop up millions of gumballs they'd accidentally dropped, even though they'd mixed together. Miles was with his sister, looking particularly grumpy after teleporting into a bird's nest, which left doo-doo and feathers stuck to his clothes and hair.  

"Oh, dear God..." (y/n) groaned, wondering if there was any point in putting on her uniform when they were all in such disarray. She and her doofus shared an irked look with Schwoz as they descended the stairs, knowing they might as well get comfy.  

At least the woman could admire her new home; even after a few weeks of living there, she still wasn't used to it. 

There were a few familiar comforts like the tube and crescent-shaped couch in the centre of the spacious marble floor. Everything glowed and buzzed like in the Man Cave, and the sounds of computers whirring and alarms beeping soothed her longing for the old days, making up for the lack of an auto-snacker and sprocket. 

New features included the chair station where the kids kept their gum and personal belongings, a smaller computer for general hero work, a front that anyone could walk through, and a side door that led to the many rooms in the hideout's bowels. She knew the route to her bedroom and the bathroom, but that was it - the place was a maze of corridors and hidden spaces. 

But the best thing had to be the view. She always complained about living underground, going days without breaching the surface because her work kept her busy - who needed sunlight? 

Ray heard her grumbles and solved them--anything to keep his wife happy--so he purchased the highest home in Swellview - on top of Mount Swellview. She could see the entire city: trees, sky and sun, and it was a welcome change. 

"Miles found more gum!" Bose's shout broke her from the daydream, her gaze landing on the boys as the brunet charged at his friend to wrench the small tin from his hand. They'd explained that everyone's gum was unique, coded to each hero's uniform, but he didn't care - Bose saw what he needed and scrambled. 

"What? No! That's my gum!" Miles screeched, wrestling to keep hold of his gumballs, going as far as to fall to the floor, not that it did him any good. 

The container hit the tiles, sending another million balls across the floor - yellow mixing with red and blue until the three out-of-uniform kids couldn't tell the difference. 

As they argued about whose fault it was, Ray, (y/n), and Schwoz sat on the couch, appreciating its familiar half-moon shape. They quickly got comfy, ignoring the chaos around them as they waited for the tweens to get organised eventually. 

The hero curled an arm around his sweet girl, pulling her into his side as she smiled, her head resting on his shoulder. He even had a tub of nuts to nibble on, fully prepared to relax. 

"When'd you build this place?" The man asked his handyman, fighting a smug smirk as his wife pecked his cheek--just because she enjoyed the feel of his skin on her lips. 

"Last year," Schwoz replied, having had the spare hideout under wraps until needed. He'd built everything the Man Cave lacked in the new building, taking extra care to soundproof some particular rooms and claim his bedroom far away from them. 

As they chatted, Bose brushed past the back of the couch, reaching over to pinch one of Captain Man's nuts as Mika and Chapa chased after him. Still not ready. 

"I was going to give it to you both for your anniversary!"

"Aw, Schwozie. That's so sweet!" (y/n) cooed, her heart melting at the genius' generosity and how he gave it to them early, given that they found themselves unexpectedly married and homeless. She beamed at her husband, leaning up to peck his lips out of pure joy, almost forgetting the screaming children running around her. 

Ten minutes later, and they'd made some progress - Bose was finally dressed. However, as always with the boy, they'd gone one step forward and two steps back, mostly because he was wearing Mika's silver suit. He thought he looked great, ignorant of the brawl between Chapa and Miles as he admired the slim-fit style. 

"How did my gum get mixed in with yours?!" The dark-haired girl asked as the couple on the couch face-palmed. 

"No idea, but it's my costume now! I have the power to do nothing!" Bose exclaimed with his hands on his hips, infuriating Mika. She didn't appreciate the ridicule, chasing after the boy when he fled her fury. 

Still not ready. 

"Hey, can everybody see this place?" Ray asked another fifteen minutes later as he, his beloved wife, and Schwoz stood before the vast window to admire the mountain view. 

After waiting at least half an hour for the children, they'd stood up to stretch their legs, and that's when it hit him - maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have his headquarters plastered on top of a mountain where anyone could see it. That's why they lived underground before.

"Yes..." Schwoz nodded, wondering where he was going with this. He was good, but he couldn't make an entire building invisible. That was far too complicated. 

"Well, what happens if bad guys come?"

"We'll defeat them, doofus. I mean, come on! You're Captain Man!" (y/n) giggled, squeezing his thick bicep for added effect because she knew that her heroic husband could and would take on any asshole who tried to invade their home. She'd help him, of course, but she only inflated his ego, feeling up his arm as he blushed. 

"Aw... You're so sweet, sweet girl..." Ray cooed as she'd done earlier, a burning sense of masculine pride filling him at the knowledge that his sweet girl thought he was big, brave, and strong. 

His fingers pinched her chin as he gave her her reward - a gentle kiss for being so perfect, meaning they didn't see the bouncing children around them. Still not ready. 

Another twenty minutes passed, and the kids finally lined up in front of their tube chairs. Mika waited for her friends to blow their bubbles, eventually corralling them into chewing the correct gum whilst Captain Man and his wife sprawled on the couch. She didn't even want to know where that man had put his hands...

They were in uniform, ready and willing to kick some criminal butt. At last, Chapa was in red, Bose in blue, Miles in yellow, and Mika still in silver, completing the quartet of young sidekicks as they grinned and congratulated themselves. Obviously, they didn't see the unimpressed adults to their right...

"This was just a drill..." Ray told them slowly in a tired voice, fully expecting their shouts and complaints after making them panic. They snarled and glared, shouting about how he wasn't cool, a jerk, how he had some nerve, yadda-yadda-yadda. He didn't care, glancing at his sweet girl's PearPhone as she checked the time. 

"And it took you...an hour and a half!" He told them sharply, pointing at her phone with a mildly disappointed face. Even (y/n) couldn't hide her dissatisfaction, having witnessed some utterly brutish and animalistic behaviour from the kids, and whilst she was fond of them, she wouldn't shy away from a much-needed telling-off. 

"Okay, who burned the couch?! Huh? Fess up! Don't think I won't find out!" She threatened, angrily pointing to her beloved couch table - the one thing that genuinely reminded her of their old home. Well, not now; it was full of goddamn smouldering holes after someone's temper got the better of her.

"...Bose did it," Chapa lied, hiding her sparkling hands behind her back as the vacant boy stood silently. Of course, (y/n) wasn't an idiot, giving her a grave, deathly stare as she folded her arms, clearly seeing the actual culprit, despite being rather fond of the misunderstood girl. 

Maybe she was getting old and broody, but honestly, it wasn't the fact that she'd ruined that couch that bothered her so much but the lies. The seats could be replaced or repaired, but she hated liars, making her shake her head disappointedly at the bashful girl, feeling more and more like a parent every day. 

Good God...she was normal four kids ago, and now she was going grey.

~A while later~

It was fair to say that Ray's exercise was a complete flop. After all that effort, he stood the team down, ignoring the chorus of groans as the kids changed out of their uniforms again. 

They knew he wouldn't let them go out, having grown used to getting their hopes up just to be disallowed from seeking out danger. It sucked, but they had no choice but to follow the boss' orders, gathering on the singed couch on Ray's command whilst he and (y/n) changed back into their regular clothes too. 

The couple were clearly disappointed, sighing and shaking their heads as they prepared to review the drill. Although they hid it particularly well, fawning over each other with kisses, cuddles, and cooing over their matching gold rings, something they still weren't used to seeing.

The kids could puke, but they held in any ridicule since they were amid a telling-off. And Ray wouldn't let them off lightly. 

"Aaaaaand...bam!" Ray laughed as he stood before the group, highly amused by the video he kept playing of Miles and Bose bumping into Chapa, causing her electricity to explode. He found it hilarious, chuckling despite their sad faces, rubbing up against his precious girl as she snacked on his cheese puffs. 

"Again, 'cause it's funny...Bam!" he smiled, replaying the moment of the explosion on the giant holographic screen before laughing heartily - again and again and again. 

"All right, last time, I swear--bam! Just kidding! I lied--bam!"

"I'm sick of watching this film!" Chapa growled, standing on the couch she'd burnt with her teeth bared and fingers zapping, threatening to cause more damage. She wasn't one to be mocked, especially by some hot-shot guy who thought he was better just because he was some superhero...okay, maybe he was a bit better. 

"Captain, can we please go out and fight real crime?" Mika asked politely, trying to use her brightest smile and fluttering eyelashes to appeal to the man's heart. Given the glinting band on his left hand and the soft glances he kept shooting the pretty lady beside him, he had to have one. 

"I know we look bad in here, but out in the real world, we'd be great! I just know it! Please, (y/n/n)? Pretty please?"

"Uh, well..." (y/n) gulped, hating how she had to lie to her face, but it had to be done. They were painfully unprepared for how severe and terrifying evil criminals could be, so she avoided their hopeful eyes, staring at her doofus instead. 

Goddamn, he looked so good in that tight t-shirt, almost making her drool as one muscular arm wrapped around her shoulders, reminding her of their strength. 

"--Well, we'd love to let you guys come along on a crime run, but the truth is...there's a crime drought," Ray said in her stead, quickly smoothing things over with a little white lie. It wasn't a very good one, and the kids didn't look very convinced, but he went with it. 

"There is no such thing as a crime drought," Miles argued, looking at the lovey-dovey couple sceptically as the hero fed his wife a cheese puff, giggling when his cheese-dust-covered fingertip caught her lip. 

"Is too!" (y/n) countered with her mouth full, playing along with her lover's lie for safety reasons. She didn't like it, but at least they'd be safe; what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. 

"Ooh, she's got you there," Bose murmured to his friend, making Miles sigh. He wouldn't even try to reason with the dimwit.

"Look. This town's had some tasty crime waves in the past, but Miss Danger, Kid Danger, and I shredded the gnar and put all the criminals back in prison..." Ray told them, changing the humiliating video to an image of Henry in his old uniform. 

He and (y/n) smiled sadly, their hearts clenching at the sight of their old friend and his bright smile. Dystopia had never felt so far away...

"My baby..."

"Miss ya, kid," they sniffed, blinking back tears as they huddled together, trying to remember the happier times and that the boy was now a young man, doing his own thing. There was no time to dwell on it; having made their peace with his decision, they quickly moved on, leaning on each other for support like always. 

"Anyray," the man cleared his throat, earning a quick glance from his sweet girl because she hated when he did that silly name thing. 

"We're in a crime drought, so...nobody's doing nothing."

"Ray! (y/n)!" A loud shout came behind them, making the couple jump as the children frowned. They never got to do anything fun. Upon turning around, they realised that Schwoz, the annoying weirdo he was, was the one who'd scared the heebie-jeebies out of them after connecting to the screen via video chat, making (y/n) jump into her husband's chest for safety. 

"Sweet cheese, Schwoz!" She whimpered, clutching at her pounding heart, although Ray wasn't complaining. He didn't like to see her spooked, but damn, he didn't mind her rubbing up against him like that...

"I've been texting you both for ten minutes! Face your phones!" The genius instructed them, and when they pulled the cells from their pockets, the spouses realised he was right. (y/n) flicked through an onslaught of furious texts, all from Science Coconut 🥥 🧪, and she realised that Captain Man and Miss Danger were needed. 

"Oopsie-Raysie..." her doofus did the same, hurriedly reading the message about some half-assed emergency that didn't sound too bad, but heroic assistance had been requested. He also had one from Sweet Girl ❤️💍 , telling him to have a good day before classes started. Aw...

"I miss one text on a weekend, and you threaten to fire me, but I guess it's okay for you and your wife to--"

"We gotta go!" Ray announced, ignoring the incessant tirade from the genius on the screen as his pretty girl tucked her phone away and tugged on his huge bicep, urging him to get moving. But they wouldn't get away that easily; as soon as he turned to follow his wife like a puppy, the kids were on their toes, interrogating with suspicious squints. 

"Where are you going?" Mika asked, standing dangerously close to her teachers as Ray bumped against his lover, abs pushing against her back whilst the girl tried to catch a glimpse of his texts. 

"Is it an emergency? Can we come?!" Chapa gasped, her eyes sparkling at the thought of tagging along. She couldn't wait for their first mission, but one look at the speechless heroes and she had a sinking feeling. 

It was undeniably suspicious how Ray peeked over his shoulder, looking at Schwoz for support as he brainstormed a suitable lie, but he wasn't very convincing. (y/n) smiled nervously, feeling her tummy tingling when she heard the genius sigh because he knew what a tangled web they were weaving. 

"Nah, it's not an emergency at all. Right, sweet girl?"

"Nope--no emergencies here. Not even a predicament or other bothersome problem..." she rambled, trying to remain as her doofus squeezed her shoulder, itching to get out from under their scrutinising stares. 

"Then, where are you going?" Miles asked, noticing how they squirmed. They weren't very subtle for people who'd survived with their secrets for so long. 

"Uh...our friend is on fire, and we--"

"--Not that one, Raymond--" (y/n) choked out, hiding her words in a swiftly executed cough as her doofus tried to use Schwoz's teachable lie. She saw their frowns, nerves flaring as their students grew more distrustful, knowing something was up. 

"No? Okay--uh..." the hero recovered, smiling through his little fuck-up and casually pulling his wife closer, even as Mika judged him - very closely. 

"Oh... We gotta take my aunt to the cleaners!" 

"Why?" The girl asked, stepping closer to the nervous couple to try and make them spill, but luckily, Schwoz had their backs, thinking on the spot when they floundered. 

"Because...she's very large."

"Yes!--I mean, yeah, yeah, huge. Very big lady--think human whale. Loves cheese. Very smelly. We need to clean her in a car wash, so...yeah," (y/n) nodded as Ray slowly guided her toward the metal door, knowing they could escape to their bedroom, get ready, and leave from there. The men agreed with her, nodding slightly too vigorously to be believable, but they rolled with it, even as the kids scoffed. 

"What?"

"Yep! My incredibly hot wife is correct. Car wash. Only way my aunt can get a real deep cleaning--and she is due!" Ray chuckled as he backed into the doorway, verging on bolting down the corridor to safety. It had been four entire minutes since he kissed his sweet girl, and she looked so pretty...

"Can we come? We'll call it a practice mission," Mika suggested, thinking that cleaning an immensely fat lady didn't sound too terrifying or perilous, even though the man was clearly spouting BS. 

"Oh, well, we'd love to let you come with us, but she's very shy--really, very, very shy! And the whole process is honestly disgusting, so--byeeeee!" The heroine laughed anxiously, crouching lower and lower with her doofus as the door slowly rolled down. 

She couldn't stop word-vomiting until the children disappeared from view. Finally, the couple could breathe a sigh of relief. That had to be the worst lie in history, and she had no idea how they'd kept it rolling, draining her energy before they'd even stepped out of the door. 

"God, doofus...We're such bad people--lying to children! This is what we're reduced to!" She exclaimed, rubbing her eyes as Ray softly kissed her forehead before tugging her down the hallway. They had to move quickly, but he wanted her safe and happy first - deeming his beloved wife more important than anything or anyone. 

"It's lies or watching them get pulverised. They're not ready..." the man sighed, equally frustrated because he had four mini sidekicks ready. Still, they were dangerous to themselves and others with their touch-and-go powers, so he couldn't introduce the world to Danger Force. 

"I know...I just...don't like the lies, Raymond."

"Let's just get through this mission, precious girl. We'll work it out when we get back..." he soothed her, knowing his wife was too sweet to lie all day and night. 

She could slip out the odd fib to hide her identity, but this was too much. The bigger the lie became, the deeper the hole they dug, and she had no idea how they would get out. 

But he was right, and she focused on the task ahead - something about a goat? Only in Swellview...

~Swellview Zoo ~

Some people had bizarre habits, which (y/n) found out once she and Captain Man arrived on-scene at their latest emergency. 

They immediately spotted the problem: two low lives trying to steal a goat. She wasn't entirely sure what they would do with the poor thing. Still, the couple didn't wait to find out, swiftly apprehending the scumbags before they could commit some heinous goat-related crime.

After checking that the coast was clear, they quickly knocked them down and tied them up, thankful for the cover of night that hid their daring rescue. The animal was fine, munching away on a bush and other foliage, but that's not what the heroes were worried about. 

Ray kept looking over his shoulder, not expecting a horde of knife-wielding maniacs but a stampede of angry children. Namely, Danger Force, who he swore would flip their shit if they knew they were being two-timed. 

They needed to dispose of the goat-nappers and be on their way, hopefully before anyone saw them. One picture of Captain Man and Miss Danger fighting crime online and the secret would be out - that the city still needed heroes, just ones that weren't liabilities. 

"Oh, quit whining. It's not that tight..." (y/n) scoffed at the sour-looking men as she tautened the neon chord she and her doofus lashed them back to back. They kept whinging and complaining about how they couldn't breathe, but she didn't care for goat abductors and ignored their grumbles. 

"Hey, you single, pretty lady?" The dark-haired one in a flat cap asked, suggestively waggling his eyebrows at the heroine, who only wanted to do her job. She noticed how his eyes trailed down her slim-fitting bodice, lingering on her more...feminine features, and it was enough to make Ray curl his fists and grit his teeth. 

"No, she's not," he hissed, pulling the strap tighter, and he didn't care if it dug into their flabby stomachs. Everyone knew that Miss Danger was taken, rumours swirling in the gossip columns that she'd finally tied the knot with Captain Man, so they didn't stand a chance against her beloved doofus. He knew they were just trying to get under his skin - it was working - but he couldn't help but snarl. He hated how they leered at his sweet girl. 

"Why'd you guys steal a goat, anyway?" He asked gruffly, trying to distract their attention from the beauty beside him. 

"This isn't just any old goat," said the ginger, greasy guy behind the flirtier, his sneer running down the hero's back like water. He could snarl all he wanted - the jig was up, and he was going to jail. 

"This goat can say, butt!"

"It's worth millions!" His sweaty, chubby friend added, although the couple couldn't quite believe it. They looked dumb, but really? A talking animal?

"Goats can't say butt."

"Yeah, I smell bullshit, and it's not the goat," Ray and (y/n) argued scornfully, thinking they were stupid, more run-of-the-mill criminals with only one brain cell between them. However, as the hero stuck his nose up in the air and scoffed, something weird happened...

"Butt!" The goat bleated gruffly, and strangely, it sounded like it was talking. (y/n) assumed it was just a fluke--a coincidence--that the animal vaguely baaed like a person. However, she supposed it was a neat trick, perhaps not worth millions, but still kind of cool. And no one was more impressed than Ray, who loved cons like talking animals and making his precious wife facepalm when his scepticism fell flat. 

"Okay, that thing should be president!" He exclaimed, but their captives were tired of all the chitchat. They admitted it; they'd tried to steal the goat - just punish them. 

"Just take us to jail, okay?!" The redhead requested sharply, thinking a punishment was inevitable, but Captain Man had a predicament. Booking people in jail left a record, and he couldn't let anyone know that he and his sweet girl had been out fighting crime. 

"No can do. Gonna have to zap you unconscious and drag your sad, limp bodies into the woods..." Ray sighed, especially when his wife shot him an alarmed look, mainly because that sounded slightly more extreme than she had planned. All this just to not get caught...

"Why? We're not putting up a fight!"

"Eh...been lying to some kids. Told 'em there was a crime drought. If they find out the truth, they're gonna want to come with us to fight crime, and it's gonna be a whole thing--" he shrugged, relaxing against the stone wall and wrapping an arm around his sweet girl. 

She wasn't too sure why he was telling the whole story to their enemies, but she rolled with it. He was nice to lean against - robust and muscular body supporting her frame as she looped her arms around his lithe waist. It showed the scummy men she loved him, making Ray smirk victoriously when he pecked her forehead, and they lowered their gazes. 

It was all going swimmingly, and the duo thought they had everything under control...until someone crept up behind them, swearing that they'd seen the heroes skulking outside the zoo at midnight like some common delinquents.

"Captain Man? Miss Danger?" A man asked confusedly, and the confident smiles fell from the couple's faces. They jumped out of each other's arms and away from the wall, wondering how someone could've snuck up on them. They knew that voice...and it didn't bode well. 

Like something out of their worst nightmares, the entire KLVY news crew stood before them in a flash. From the sound recordists to the cameraman to Trent Overrunder and Mary Gaperman, everyone gathered around to see what the superheroes were doing at such a late hour. Before they knew what was happening, it was an informal, impromptu interview, and they didn't know what to say or how to explain their actions. 

"What are you doing?" Trent asked, smirking slightly at the couple as they stood there like a pair of lemons, pale and perplexed with babbling mouths that made no sounds. (y/n) could see it now...heroes caught lying to children. Scandal. Fire. Explosions. Death. 

"What...what are you doing, Trent? Hmmm?" She fired back, placing her hands on her hips to try and be obstreperous and difficult, avoiding the question at all costs. 

"It's news team trivia night!" Mary replied brightly, giving them her usual beaming yet mindless smile as she poked out from behind her wittier colleague. (y/n) liked Mary, thinking she meant well and was very sweet, much nicer than Trent and his snarky comments, even if she was a few sandwiches short of a picnic. 

"We meet other news teams at a pub and play trivia games against each other," Brian "The Fender" Bender explained in a newsy voice, even though it was self-explanatory. He winked subtly at Miss Danger, having always had a thing for the pretty heroine, yet that moronic partner of hers always stood in his way. 

"I get to colour on the back of my menu!" Mary exclaimed happily with a cheesy grin as (y/n) ignored Brian's advances, thinking he was too polished and slick for her liking. She'd always preferred doofuses...

"Hey, is that the goat that says, butt?!" The reporter suddenly asked, tearing his gaze away from the eye candy to gawp at the mystical animal. Being a highly skilled journalist, he knew a scoop when he saw one, making his teammates gasp and stare. 

"No, no, no, no, no--" Ray tried to say, furiously shaking his head with his sweet girl, but it was in vain. The goat had uncanny timing, seemingly saying its infamous word on cue and right when they wanted it to shut its poxy mouth. 

"Buuuutt!"

"Holy goats, it is! Daner, give me a two-shot! Keep it loose--Hirsch can always blow it up in post!" Trent gasped and swiftly jumped into action, taking his place beside Ray while Brian sidled up to Miss Danger. Like a well-oiled machine, the news team snapped to it, taking their positions in a routine they knew like the back of their hands, ready to show the world what their beloved heroes had rescued. 

As the camera focused, Ray and (y/n) looked at each other with panicked expressions, knowing that once they started rolling, the whole world, including the kids in the Man's Nest, would know what they'd been doing. And then, they'd never hear the end of it, and the large man hated how that schmuck cuddled up to his wife. 

"We're going live, people!"

"Uh, Captain Man, we need to do something!" (y/n) hissed worriedly, squeezing her doofus' bicep whilst trying to lean away from The Fender and his potent aftershave. The guy smelt like one of those trees that hung from a rear-view mirror but a million times stronger. 

What else was Ray meant to do? He had a split-second to think and decided he had no choice but to whip out his laser remote and zap the reporters. They fell like dominoes when the green beam blasted them. He took extreme pleasure in watching Brian hitting the ground after Trent, swiftly followed by the cameraman, killing the live feed before anything could be broadcast across the city. However, the hero didn't stop there. 

She didn't necessarily agree with his methods, but (y/n) knew they were too deep now, so she followed her husband's lead, pulling out her remote to start zapping. Spinning on her heel, she took out the witnesses, lasering the goat thieves into unconsciousness whilst Ray d with the others - perhaps getting a little trigger-happy. 

"My turn!" Mary, poor vacant Mary, squealed excitedly once he'd shot the mic girl and another cameraman. It wasn't the sort of thing anyone else would look forward to, and Ray almost felt sorry for her when the green plasma hit her in the chest. Almost. 

"We are so going to hell..." (y/n) panted once it was all over, feeling like someone from a horror movie as she stood above all the sleeping bodies. They looked peaceful, and she knew that they weren't actually dead or injured, but still. It felt creepy, and she couldn't believe they were going to such lengths to keep a lie alive. 

"It's fine, sweet girl..." Ray soothed her, equally winded after zapping so many people, but he didn't think it was so bad.

"We'll take these guys to the woods or whatever. They'll wake up after we're long gone, and no one will remember we were here. Look around, darlin'! I think we got away with that one."

Famous last words. 

"Apúrense, por fin vamos a ganar a KLVY..."

"Doofus, someone's coming!" (y/n) whispered in horror as she heard the dulcet tones of a Spanish-speaking man approaching. 

They couldn't catch a break, watching in horror as another news team rounded the corner, only this time, it was the people for the Latin channel. After having their asses kicked by KLVY, they were doing the walk of shame home as losers but still tried to think of ideas to win next time. Laughing amongst themselves, the reporters and crew didn't notice the frozen heroes shaking like leaves, surrounded by seemingly corpses, until it was too late to run. 

"Captain Man? Miss Danger?" Hector Managua frowned, tilting his head in confusion as he took in the bizarre sight they made, looking like goddamn serial killers. He was like the Hispanic Trent Overrunder, clutching a microphone as his coworkers stared at their trivia rivals, wondering what the hell had happened. 

"¡Qué onda!" Ray squeaked awkwardly, not knowing what to say other than warmly greeting them. He tried to look innocent, rubbing elbows with his sweet girl since no one would ever suspect her of any wrongdoing, not when she gave them a bright, if watery, smile like that.

"Hey, ¿ese es el chivo que dice, butt?!" Hector asked in shock, pointing his mic at the goat, which he easily recognised, even as it just stood there, chewing away at nothing. 

"¡Por supuesto que no, estúpido! ¡Deja de hacer preguntas tontas! Dios mío..." (y/n) snapped haughtily, fed up with the day's stresses, and even though it wasn't in her nature, she didn't think twice about pointing her laser at the poor guy and firing. He went down like a sack of potatoes, hitting the ground with a thud before he could ask what else they were doing, and Ray quickly copied her. 

Another five bodies fell, leaving the zoo's entrance looking like a silent protest or even something more sinister, but the couple ignored their dubious choices. They needed to get out of there fast, so after breathing a quick sigh of relief, they dashed over to the goat - the last witness to their misdeeds. 

"Not one word about any of this!" Ray ordered the animal sharply before using an orange laser to cut its tether loose. (y/n) smiled at his silliness and patted the goat goodbye, thinking her lover was crazy for talking to the creature like it would say something back. Still, it was endearing, especially when it bleated in response. 

"Buuuuuutt!"

"No buts!" He yelled after it as it walked off, probably searching for something strange to eat. Despite his childishness and madness, his sweet girl laughed and shook her head, knowing she wouldn't change him for the world.  

"Aw...it was kinda cute," she pondered, smiling up at her husband with fluttering eyelashes as he took her hand, intent on fleeing the scene before someone else came along to photograph their crimes. 

"We're not getting a goat, sweet girl..." the man told her gently but firmly, seeing through his wife's loving gaze to see her subtle ulterior motive. He heard the tentativeness in her voice and knew that she was angling for another pet, especially as she oo'ed and aw'ed when she petted the smelly thing. 

He'd do anything to keep her happy but drew the line at goats. That thing would shit out the Man's Nest in two weeks, and he had enough with the rabbit. 

"But Colin gets lonely!"

"I think he'd prefer an animal not fifty times his size..." he replied dryly to her whine, more focused on navigating the sea of bodies than her pleas. As much as Ray wanted to, he knew he couldn't accidentally-on-purpose step on Brian's face. So, he carefully ambled over the reporter's body, zipping through chaos swiftly and silently whilst (y/n)'s brain worked over time. 

Technically, he said that Colin would like another smaller buddy. To her ears, that sounded a lot like permission to get another rabbit--and she'd been asking for one for years. Once she'd cleared Mary's body, she squeezed his arm tightly, practically buzzing as she hung off his body and squealed. 

"Does that mean we can get another bunny?!"

"No!" Oh, well. It was worth a shot. 

~The next day~

Classes resumed the following morning, and Ray and (y/n) swore they'd gotten away with the minor incident at the zoo. 

The kids arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for another fun day of learning, seemingly unsuspecting and definitely not suspicious, and why would they be? Thankfully, nothing untoward aired on the news on all the breakfast shows. Trent and Mary looked worse for wear, but no one mentioned anything. And it gave the couple enough confidence to teach without too many nerves. 

Once everyone sat down, the lecture began. Captain Man and Miss Danger took teaching duties together to show Danger Force some videos of their old fights, which wasn't necessarily the best plan, and (y/n) wasn't sure what the kids could learn from them. Still, it was nice to reflect on their victories. 

Her doofus looked particularly handsome, wearing one of his signature loud shirts that emphasised his biceps and gave him a boyish air. He looked so good that she hung off every word he said, even if it was complete rubbish, rubbing against his elbows as the kids vaguely listened. 

"--And even though we were on top of a moving train, I still saved the day...because I'm Captain Man. The end," Ray grinned, concluding his epic retelling of the time when he and his sidekicks defeated a plethora of supervillains before saving Swellview. 

He was so in awe of himself that he didn't see the many eye rolls from his sweet girl, who knew that his story wasn't entirely true.

That was when they bumped into Phoebe Thunderman in Junk-N-Stuff, and if her memory was correct, (y/n) remembered that she, Henry, and the budding heroine had to save Captain Man before he was killed. It was so long ago before they'd even started dating. However, she recalled her panic after thinking she'd lost her love forever. 

"You were encased in concrete most of the time," Miles commented dryly after watching the video and hearing his glorified narration. He'd found some plot holes in the man's story--like how The Toddler and Doctor Minyak had trapped him in a stone cube, forcing others to come to save him. 

"Mmmm...still saved the day. The end," the man insisted, his ego bolstered by the sweet girl happily squishing his chunky arm. It should've been illegal to look that hot...

"It sounds like Henry, Charlotte, (y/n), and the Thunderman kids did most of the saving," Chapa argued, much to her teacher's annoyance. It was her fault that she was brutally honest, but she had a lot to learn about managing the man-child's ego. 

"It sounds like you don't know what the end means."

"Raymond...Stop being mean," (y/n) told her husband sternly, ceasing fondling his muscles to thwack his arm. Ray pouted and sniffled, giving her those infamous puppy-dog eyes because he didn't like being on her bad side, even though he knew not to sink to the children's level. 

She kept saying he had to be mature - a role model - but it was so damn difficult when the little ones kept sassing him. 

"But sweet girl..."

"No buts!" The woman scolded him, sternly sticking her pointer finger under his nose to show that she meant business. Her glare worked, and he looked remorseful, but it was a mistake to use her left hand - the one that brought her pretty rings into the man's eyesight. Once the diamonds caught his attention, Ray melted, nudging his head forward to kiss her fingertip despite the telling-off. 

How was she supposed to stay mad when he did cute things like that?

"We saved you, doofus. Don't you remember the helicopter ride after? God, I wanted to kiss you so bad..." she sighed dreamily as the pupils - save for Mika - wrinkled their noses. The girl thought their love was rather sweet, and she was a huge shipper, hoping to hear more about how their love came to be if her companions didn't chunk up the walls. 

Ray grinned and nodded, knowing that during that flight, after all the fighting was done, he felt the same way. With his sweet girl strapped to his chest, he remembered wanting to confess everything he'd ever felt and more, stealing chastely affectionate kisses and soft touches where he could. Still, they stayed silent, enjoying the closeness while it lasted. Look at them now...

But the memory didn't last. As the lovers embraced, pressing every point of their bodies together and nuzzling into warm crannies, Ray's phone began to ring, harshly vibrating against (y/n) 's thigh through her doofus' pocket. 

"Wazzzzzup?!" He answered obnoxiously, and instantly, (y/n) knew who'd phoned. It was Schwoz; he and Ray loved doing that stupid, nostalgic greeting, sticking their tongues out and everything just to be authentic. But she knew that if the genius was calling, it had to be crime-related; otherwise, he would've just come downstairs. 

"Someone's trying to drill a hole into Swellview Prison so their grandpa can escape!" Schwoz told his boss as he fiddled with some doohickey invention on the table. He knew it had to be kept secret, lowering his voice as Ray's jovial mood turned serious. 

"On it!" The man nodded, and again, his wife took a moment to admire how effortlessly handsome he was. They'd be heading out again in three seconds. The action would be too fast-paced to admire him truly, so she stared longingly at the shirt, committing every garish pattern and how they hid his abs to memory. 

He quickly hung up and gave her a sneaky glance, darting his eyes toward the door as a hint that they needed to leave. (y/n) didn't need to be told twice; she grabbed his hand and swiftly headed for the door, but they wouldn't get away easily. 

"Who was that?" Mika asked, jumping into their path with surprising speed so she could interrogate them. The adults gulped as Ray backed up into his sweet girl when the girl spooked him, and honestly, it was pretty scary, given the girl's questioning scowl. 

Even though they hadn't let on, the kids were highly suspicious, figuring out the previous night that the couple were lying about the crime drought. She wanted to see them squirm, hear their excuse this time, and scrutinise their every twitch as she wormed the truth out. 

"Uh..." he thought for a second, eyes flickering to the left as he stalled, trying to desperately think of a liar good enough to dupe the smart one. 

"My hairdresser! I'm late for my appointment--at the haircut store..." Ray stuttered, going from disaster to disaster as his words jumbled up to form nonsense. 

What was a haircut store? Did he mean salon? It made (y/n) sigh and rub her face, seeing how Mika scoffed and blocked his way every time the hero tried to side-step her. Yeah, no one bought that...

"You gettin' some frosted tips? Blond highlights are very in right now," Bose said with an adorably innocent smile. However, he should've realised that that was a ridiculously youthful style for a man pushing forty and noticed that the man was lying through his teeth. 

"Yeah, sure. I'm getting frosted tips...Now move." Ray nodded quickly, even though he wasn't entirely sure what they were. Still, he didn't care as long as Mika moved out of the way, throwing a pencil across the room as a distraction. It worked; when the girl's focus followed the flying object, the hero moved, tugging his sweet girl behind him as they dashed for the door. 

"I think you're lying!" Yet they still couldn't escape. Before (y/n) could grasp the gold, gilded doorknob, Miles' voice called after them, accusing them of such a heinous thing--though it was true. He didn't even need to turn his head to know that the couple wouldn't stand for that, pausing in the doorway as he smirked smugly - he had them. 

The heroes turned slowly, wearing expressions, to see the kids staring back, having spun their chairs around to judge them. It was like standing in front of the damn Inquisition, and the heroine gulped, her stomach twisting into knots when she saw their disappointed little faces...

"Beg your pardon?" She asked nervously, wringing her sweaty hands together as she tried to appear normal. It wasn't working. 

"I said, I think you and your husband are lying! Do you normally go with him when he gets a haircut?" Miles repeated, violently standing from his chair before swaggering over to the couple to hear their excuse. His question was fair, and (y/n) didn't blame him for being so harsh - she loved his floppy locks, but Ray wasn't a baby. 

"I value her opinion," her doofus said defensively, putting his arm around her shoulders when he saw how flustered she was. He fiercely protected her, practically snarling at the boy, not that it dissuaded him. 

"I don't think you're going to the haircut store at all. I think you're going to fight crime without us!" Miles snapped, boldly standing up against the man, even as he used his famous Captain Man glare. At least Miss Danger had the decency to look ashamed, staring at her shoes and leaning into his side to try and burrow away. 

"Why would we go and fight crime without you guys? We respect all of your abilities. Equally..." Ray asked quietly, his sarcastic tone aggravating the situation further. 

"That's not helpful!" (y/n) hissed as her doofus tried to leave, yanking the door open as her cheeks burned with humiliation. He wasn't good under pressure, and not when people were picking on him, so he wanted to get out ASAP, not that they'd let him. Still, she didn't see how his snarky comments would help them, not when they deepened their frowns and huddled closer - almost like they were about to attack. 

"Then, I look forward to seeing your blonde highlights when you get back...From the haircut store! He'll look so sweet, right, (y/n/n)?" Chapa smiled sourly, her arms folded tightly across her chest as Ray gulped and looked at his sweet girl for help. 

"Like candy..." The heroine nodded awkwardly, knowing she wouldn't let any stylist near her doofus' floppy locks, not for something as hideous as frosted tips. Yet, they couldn't look like liars, either, cogs turning as they headed to leave again, wondering how they'd dye the man's hair without ruining it. 

"They'll probably be more subtle...like a strawberry blonde," Ray noted, momentarily turning back to poke his head through the door - anything to try and save himself. 

"Yeah. Can't wait."

"--Or a burnt caramel, kind of a tawny colour, something tasteful. You guys probably won't even notice!" He rambled before (y/n) yanked him onto the porch, slamming the door shut behind him. He just made it worse and worse, spiralling further into the lie until he was cringing and crawling around his home like a common thief. 

She didn't want to know what the kids would get up to as they sprinted to their battle stations, hurrying to get to the jailhouse before something awful happened. Something told her that they wouldn't drop the issue, her tummy crying that something would go wrong in one way or another. 

"Can't we just tell them, Raymond? I'm sick of all this lying!" She said as they stumbled into a dense, bushy area, looking for cover while removing their gum tubes. 

"What? You don't think I'd look good with snowy tips?" The hero asked jokingly, running his fingers through his unstyled, quaffed hair, pushing back the silky hair as she admired how handsome he was. He looked good with anything, but that didn't mean he had to change; no, she loved the adorable idiot she fell in love with...

"Frosted tips, doofus, and no, I don't. I like your hair the way it is."

"Aw... Do I look...pretty?" Ray giggled, loving to hear her laugh when he tossed his head back like a model from a shampoo advert, hair flicking every which way. 

"So very pretty," (y/n) nodded, forgetting her job and gum for a moment as she wound her arms around her doofus' neck and pulled him down for a short but sweet kiss. He hummed against her lips, loping his hand around to lay in the small of her back, pressing their bodies together closely as the other tilted her chin further upwards. 

"Nothing compared to you, sweet girl. You're beautiful..." the man whispered when they gently broke apart, satisfied and smiling like idiots. Her cheeks and ears burned at his words, but Ray looked so genuine, looking at his wife like no one else - he never looked so softly at any other woman in all his life. She was so gorgeous it actually hurt. 

"Come on, smooth operator. We need to get going," she cleared her throat, feeling like a goddess under his gaze. Still, unfortunately, that wouldn't stop the criminals from jailbreaking. She remembered they had a job to do and wiggled out of his arms, pecking his cheek one final time before rolling a gumball free. 

But Ray wasn't one to be defeated, blatantly leaning back on his heels to trail his gaze down her body, eyes lingering on the soft, squishy curve of her ass. Looking back at her pretty face, he grinned cheekily, thinking that a runaway criminal wouldn't be too tricky. Once they had locked him up and thrown away the key, they'd quickly return to the Man's Nest. A needy guy like him, a beautiful girl like him...they could make magic together. 

"Hey, how about an early night tonight?"

"Come on, Ray!" At least she didn't say no. 

~Swellview Prison~

Outside the concrete maze that was the city's largest prison, home to all manner of scum, shit was going down. 

From the worst of society to the pettiest of pilferers, Swellview Prison housed every criminal Captain Man and his sidekicks had ever encountered - plus a few extras that the police somehow managed to catch. Still, what could go in could also come out, or at least that was the thinking of a budding young villain - a small, ginger child, who, with his crew, was lasering the thick stone walls to try and get to the other side. 

He thought he was so slick, standing back as his minions used some evil doohickey to chisel chip after chip away from the wall. Soon, they'd make it through to the opposite cell, and their prison break would be complete. That is if two superheroes didn't have something to say about it...

"All right, ya jerks. Time to kill that drill!" Captain Man barked forcefully as he sauntered up to the rotten crew, Miss Danger by his side with a severe and intimidating expression - or as intimidating as she could get next to the hulking, grouchy man. God, she loved it when he was in hero mode.

However, despite his commands, the criminals didn't even bat an eye, carrying on with their misdeeds without a care in the world. It didn't take much for (y/n) to realise that the whirring of their machine, pummelled concrete, and the noise-cancelling headphones on their heads meant they couldn't hear anything, including them. 

"Uh, doofus...I don't think they can hear us."

"Hang on, darlin'..." Ray sniffed, clearing his throat when he saw that she was right. He wasn't one for false starts, but no matter. He readjusted his stance and pointed a stern finger at the little boy. 

"Put your hands in the air like you just do care--about the law! Brah!"

"Wow, way to tell them, Captain," (y/n) retorted sarcastically, watching as her doofus tried to be all high and mighty, bellowing his orders, just to be ignored. For a man like him to be humiliated and disregarded, especially in front of his sweet girl, was too much, and the hero clenched his fists and growled in frustration. 

"All right, that's it--hey!" he snapped, tired of their ignorance, so he stormed over and waved his hands, shouting, ranting and raving like a madman.

Miss Danger stayed back with her hands on her hips, smiling in satisfaction when she watched her husband spook the trio, their faces contorting in shock and fear because Captain Man was glaring at them. They shrugged the ear mufflers off, staring at the hero and his hot sidekick with baffled faces, mouths open and eyes wide but full of hate. 

"Captain Man?! Miss Danger!" The boy, named Crank, gasped in awe of the heroes as they glared at him, which he quickly returned. He came from a long line of lowlifes and crooks, so thievery and devilry ran in his blood, as did a deep hatred of stupid, interfering do-gooders. 

"Hey, ginger nuts. You look busy over here..." (y/n) said dryly, observing how they'd tunnelled through to get inside, although they weren't exactly subtle about it. 

"Yeah! I'm over here dropping dope rhymes in front of my incredibly hot wife, but none of you poops are even paying attention," Ray hissed, going toe-to-toe with Crank as the kid wrinkled his freckled nose, disgusted by both the man's youthful words and how disgustingly in love he was. 

"Well, sorry, but we were trying to break my grandpa out of jail," Crank explained. He looked strangely sweet and innocent despite his thuggish attire of chain necklaces and a striped t-shirt. The couple almost felt sorry for him, wondering if this was just a misguided child trying to see his beloved relative again - doing evil for the right reasons. 

"Aw...I bet you love him," (y/n) cooed, bending down, hand on her knees, to meet his eye as her doofus placed a warm hand on her back, almost moved by those big, sad eyes. 

"He owes me money! Gonna break his legs..." But their adoration was misplaced. The boy's cute face scrunched into a scowl, his gaze turning as hard and mean as a lifelong hard-nut - similar to the snarls they'd 

It shocked the heroes, leaning away from the little shit and how evil he seemed. He wanted something cold and callous from his dear old grandpa, even threatening him with violence. That was the last time (y/n) would empathise with him, shocked by his coarse behaviour and cruel personality - not childlike. 

"Well, I'm afraid we can't let you do either of those things, carrot top," she said firmly, giving him one of her disapproving, motherly glares, hoping he'd feel some guilt. But that was hard when the miniature villain was egged on by her silly doofus. 

"But...just out of curiosity, how much does he owe you? Because, y'know, for a reasonable collection fee, I could just go in there and--" Ray whispered, clicking his tongue and giving Crank a nudge-nudge, wink-wink side-eye as his sweet girl stared at him in disbelief. 

She couldn't believe her ears, blinking hard three times to ensure she hadn't misheard him. Sometimes, Ray had some questionable ideas, and she hoped he had enough common sense to know she'd kill him if he ever conspired with criminals. A glare from her was enough to make him shrink back, instantly regretting his choices since Miss Danger would never stoop so low, and she certainly didn't expect Captain Man to, either. 

"Captain Man!" She exclaimed, horrified. Ray pouted when she roughly elbowed his ribs, knowing it was stupid to say, but he'd never actually go through with it. Still, he hated the idea of disappointing her, staring at his feet when his angel gave him a stern talking-to. 

"You will keep your butt right there, and if I find out you've been doing favours for criminals, I swear to God, I'll--" She never got to finish her rant. 

Mid-fury, a loud whoosh filled the clearing, interrupting Ray's telling-off because she swore she knew that noise. Her face fell, taken by a pensive, confused expression since that sounded much like when Miles teleported. But that was impossible because the children had been left safely in the Man's Nest. 

Or, at least, the couple thought that until they turned around, expecting to see a noisy squirrel or pigeon, not those meddling kids. 

They made such a racket, landing in the thick bushes, thanks to Miles and his inability to control where he teleported, and the dense branches meant moving around was nigh-on impossible. Shouting and struggling to get free, they complained about his poor aim and how their impromptu appearance wasn't such a good idea - (y/n) could attest to that. 

"Excuse us for a minute," the heroine said to Crank with a fake brilliant smile, holding a finger up as Ray took her hand and swiftly guided her to where Danger Force was making a scene. 

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" The man exclaimed, shouting above their rowdiness, and the quartet fell silent. He couldn't believe it, seeing them in their multicoloured uniforms and knowing they'd deliberately disobeyed orders, even though he hadn't helped with his lies. It was embarrassing to be caught short in front of criminals...

"What are you doing here?!" Mika fired back, trying to mimic Miss Danger's disappointed face since they'd been caught red-handed amid their fib, yet they showed no shame. But honestly, it was no time for arguing, not when they were in a perilous, very delicate situation that the children were hideously unprepared for. 

"Fighting crime!" (y/n) answered bravely, knowing they couldn't lie anymore, but she was angry that they'd followed them to the prison. It was almost cute how they thought crimefighting was glamorous and exciting, ignorant of the horrors and hardship until they were over their heads. 

"That's funny. I thought you and your husband were at the haircut store getting frosted tips!" Chapa spat back, not realising the danger they'd put themselves in, given how woefully inadequate their powers were. 

"Yeah, well, my wife decided it looked fine the way it was. She thinks I look pretty!" 

"Ew..." The boys and Chapa wrinkled their noses, not missing how the couple swapped an adoring look, holding hands even tighter despite their irritation. Their love was sickening, but at least they helped them out of the bushes, pulling back the foliage so each kid could wriggle free. 

"If it's okay with you, I'm gonna go back to breaking my grandpa out of prison," Crank called to the heroes, not wanting to be associated with any of their drama. He wasn't one for insubordination in the ranks. Still, he guessed that if they were busy arguing, he could get the old man out and his money before those idiots knew what was happening. 

"No!" 

"Yeah, no!" Mika shouted, countering the adamant adults as they tried to rein in Crank, hopefully trying to manage both situations before they got out of hand. But, like all preteens, the kids thought they knew better - so much better than Ray and (y/n), who'd been fighting crime for years - and had collectively decided they'd prove them wrong. 

They were superheroes, powers and all. They could fight and win, and then, they'd be laughing at the mighty Captain Man and Miss Danger for ever doubting them. That would be so damn satisfying, even though they didn't see what could go wrong. 

"'Cause we're gonna stop you!

"Uh, we're gonna stop them because we're the superheroes," Ray argued, gesturing to himself and his sweet girl as she folded her arms, utterly unimpressed by their behaviour. She liked the enthusiasm but, like her doofus, preferred to see it in their lessons, not with so much at stake. 

"Yeah, the superheroes who've been lying to us for a week!"

"There hasn't been a crime drought!" The Macklin twins replied harshly, glaring at their teachers like they had no argument to stand on. They didn't understand that they lied with the best intentions, hoping to spare them from defeat and humiliation because their superpowers didn't mean instant glory. They had to be mastered - carefully, slowly, painstakingly so. 

"You've just been telling us that so you two can fight crimes by yourselves!" Chapa growled equally as angry, which only frustrated the couple. It was a mess. 

"Yeah, you bet we've been lying to you! Tell them, sweet girl!" Captain Man snapped back, head snapping to (y/n), who didn't like to lead the argument. 

Still, for once, she was ready to support her doofus fully, not shying away from confrontation because she cared for them. She indeed did, and she'd never forgive herself if she allowed the kids to go into battle willy-nilly just to get themselves hurt, kidnapped, or worse - killed. Sighing, she sniffed and looked at all of them, looking more concerned than irate because they didn't grasp the situation - they didn't have a clue. 

"Sorry, guys, but I agree with Captain Man," she sighed again before looking across the group, flaws and weaknesses popping into her head as she did.

"Miles, Chapa--you guys can't control your powers. Mika, you don't even have one yet! And Bose...well, need I say more? He wears shirts for pants!"

"They're called shants!" Bose said happily, thinking his creation was brilliantly inventive, but it proved the woman's point. The team was either uncoordinated or useless, meaning they'd be a dangerous liability in the field and not something Captain Man wanted loose in the city. So, as much as they didn't like it, they weren't ready, no matter how much enthusiasm they had. 

"Face it...None of you are ready to be superheroes," Ray said gravely, hating to crush their spirit, but it was true. Their faces fell, rage mixing with despair because they thought they could do it and prove him wrong... It was soul-destroying.

"It's true...It's just too dangerous," (y/n) nodded solemnly, but Mika didn't leave it there. Looking up with a defiant glint, she slowly stepped toward the couple, knowing deep down they had more to give. Despite the adults ' counsel, she believed in herself and her friends, thinking the power of friendship and all that bullshit would triumph over evil. 

"You're right. I don't have a superpower--I might not ever get one. But you know what?" she started, staring firmly at the heroine as she stared back, both thinking they were correct. 

"Being a superhero isn't about having a superpower. It's about what's inside of you. It's about what's in here!"

"Our skeletons!" Bose nodded, even though it wasn't particularly helpful. Still, all that mystical shit made the heroes gag, knowing that real life--hero life--didn't work like that. 

"Oh, good God--" (y/n) muttered as she tried not to roll her eyes. Again, she liked her enthusiasm, agreeing that superheroes needed a lot of that mushy stuff - hope, spirit, optimism, bravery - but practical skills were essential, like a basic grasp on power. 

"I know I've got what it takes to be a superhero. And I know they do, too," the girl said wistfully, gesturing to her band of merry friends, who were just as ready to kick some ass, feeling their team's bond even after just a few of working together. 

"We're not saying you don't have what it takes. I don't want to see you all pulverised because you aren't trained!" Miss Danger hissed, rubbing her tired eyes when the girl smiled up at her hopefully, praying her little speech had tugged on her heartstrings. 

However, if anything, her warning made Mika and the others more determined, gritting their teeth when Ray nudged her arm. Looking up, (y/n) gulped when she saw Crank's goons cracking their knuckles and sneering, clearly ready for a fight that the kids weren't prepared for. They could barely throw a punch, making her all the more nervous to see them on the battlefield. 

"Hey, come on, sweet girl..." Ray sighed, to her surprise. He took her hand and guided his wife to the sidelines, moving past the child team so the floor was theirs. It was their move, and despite his better instincts, he knew they'd never learn until they gauged their powers. 

"Okay, show us how ready you are."

"Really?" (y/n) quirked an eyebrow, looking back at her doofus as he frowned and shrugged. He didn't need her to tell him it was a bad idea, but they seemed so happy--grinning after finally gaining his permission. 

"Okay, fine! Come on then, Danger Force! Take it away! Show us the extent of your power--may the power of friendship protect you, rainbows, ponies, whatever..."

"Let's do this..." Mika breathed deeply before looking at her friends, their excited smiles falling into sober countenances, void of everything but concentration. This moment was three weeks in the making, and they wanted it to go perfectly, given that the city's greatest heroes would scrutinise their every move. 

Honestly, they looked pretty cool as they walked toward the villains in a line. Like something from a movie or TV show, time seemingly slowed down as they readied their attacks, clenching fists, storing electricity, squeezing glutes, and stalking toward the snarling crooks, who cockily stepped up to teach them a lesson - one that Captain Man and Miss Danger hadn't quite reached yet. 

Falling back on their little training, Mika and Miles took the flanks, waiting for a physical attack. At the same time, Chapa and Bose waited with their powers on standby, knowing it was wise to wait for a minute to see who would make the first move. Ray and (y/n) looked at each other nervously, the latter's tummy tingle telling her something wasn't right. 

"Doofus, I'm nervous..." she whispered, clutching at his beefy arm as Ray gulped, knowing how she felt. 

"It'll be fine, darlin'. Completely fine..." the hero replied, squeezing her hand as she held a hand over her eyes, peeking through her fingers. She didn't want to watch but had to, worried sick despite his reassuring words. Surely, it can't be that bad, her doofus swore, but he what he didn't know...

"I haven't learned to aim yet..." Chapa whispered to her friends, feeling the electricity surging through her veins, ready to explode, but her aim was terrible. Genuinely awful. It was all right having so much power - arguably the strongest of the four - but if it didn't hit her enemies, what was the point? 

Still, her friends believed in her, muttering words of encouragement ranging from self-belief to learning on the spot, so she went for it. She had no choice, clenching her jaw and firing, sending bolts of scarlet energy across the battlefield...and into Captain Man. Who then tripped into Miss Danger. Who face-planted the floor. And then, he went flying. Straight onto the prison roof. 

This was why they said they weren't ready. 

"Doofus!" (y/n) cried, watching in horror when she came to her senses to see her husband flying through the night sky. He collided with a security gate before falling into the prison courtyard, and she prayed there were no late-night frolickers in there. They'd tear the man who put them inside limb from limb. 

"You guys! You attacked the wrong person!" She shrieked, turning to look at the bashful children with an alarmed face as the goons cackled, loving how they'd taken care of the hero for them. Now, they just needed to take care of Miss Danger, and without her watchdog of a lover around, that would be easy. And the kids? They were laughable, easy pickings. 

"Bose! How could you?!" Chapa gasped falsely, placing all the blame on the oblivious kid as he stood there as vacant as usual. It really didn't help (y/n)'s mood or situation since they were now down their strongest super. 

"I don't care whose fault it was. Someone go and get my husband!" 

"Get in there and bring back Captain Man," Mika said to her brother, seeing the heroine's distress since those two were inseparable - the one thing she'd learned after three weeks in school. And she wasn't dumb enough to think they were better off without him. 

"Copy that--" Miles nodded before throwing his arm into the air, disappearing in a flash of golden light. Whether he'd successfully teleport to the hero and bring him back in one piece was different, but (y/n) was grateful that the boy tried. 

"Get 'em!" Crank bellowed to his lackeys, spooking the three remaining kids, even as Miss Danger immediately adjusted her stance to protectively stand in front of them. 

Those men were huge, hairy, and undoubtedly exceeded her strength. Usually, she relied on her lover to dish out the raw brute force. Simultaneously, she found gaps in the fight to use her agility and swiftness to exploit an enemy's weakness. Still, she hoped that if the kids could distract them - safely - she might be able to subdue them until Miles returned with Ray. 

"Okay, stay behind me. I'll keep you guys safe," (y/n) told the kids, her fists drawn up as she prepared to take the men on, hoping she could keep all three safe while fighting two men. 

However, things didn't play out the way she hoped. The goons charged first, running toward her with their teeth bared and fists ready to pummel her face, and whilst she was prepared to fight, the kids didn't listen. Contrary to her instructions, they released a battle cry before running past her and into the fray - the last line of defence. This could only go wrong...

They met in the middle as (y/n) floundered, baffled by the sudden commotion. Chapa immediately went for a lightning strike, summoning and ejecting her electricity with the hope that she'd hit Crank. Yet, her aim was as terrible as usual. 

Instead of zapping the criminal kid, she shot his device, the one lasering through the prison wall, causing the bolt to rebound and hit her in the chest. She flew backwards at a tremendous speed, hitting Miss Danger and sending them into the dense bushes lining the walkway. Instantly, their limbs were tangled in the branches, rendering them useless as the men grabbed Mika and Bose. 

"Chapa! You really need to work on your aim!"

"Dangit! I know!" The girl hissed, fighting against the woman as they stood back-to-back, wrapped in vines and God knows what else, so they could barely move. Maybe it would've been wise to listen to the heroine and her husband, but it was too late to think like that.

As they clawed to get free, Mika and Bose struggled with the goons, suddenly realising that stuff like superhero qualities, hope, optimism, and all that mushy stuff wouldn't help them against two hulking lugs like them. They were children--no match for them as they twisted their arms around their backs and kicked the backs of their legs, tossing them around like rag dolls. 

It got even better when Miles returned--just not how (y/n) hoped. The boy teleported the hero out of the prison but didn't quite make it outside; instead, they materialised halfway through the wall, creating a large gaping hole with the hero wedged in between the concrete and his protégé - basically useless. 

"Hey! Heyyy!" Ray groaned as he hung from the wall, barely able to lift his head from the awkward position. 

"Captain Man?" (y/n) asked breathlessly, looking up in horror to see her doofus stuck in a wall with Miles pinned behind him. Oh God, it broke her heart to see him like that, above the fight and seeing the kids in danger, yet unable to help. She knew how he felt...

"We're up here, sweet girl!" The hero called out to her, barely able to see that she and Chapa were stuck in the bushes, and it made his heart clench in worry, frustration and anger. He should've just taken out the bad guys when he had the chance - his wife wouldn't be in danger then - but the kids had been so sure - a mistake to believe them now he reflected on it. 

"Bose, what are you doing?" Chapa asked as the boy tried to use his telekinesis to lift Crank's machine - intentionally or not, they couldn't figure out since he was being pulled apart by a thug. 

"Will you guys get down here?" Shockingly, even the ginger kid wanted Captain Man on the scene, thinking things were getting a little out of hand with the man's freaky, uncontrollable sidekicks and how they could make things float. But that was wishful thinking, given how Miles' arms were pinned, rendering his power useless since he couldn't teleport without them. 

"We can't!"

"What happened?" Mika asked frantically, distracted by the lackey wrestling with her to see her brother and boss. 

She, too, was now beginning to realise that her plan wasn't very well thought out after throwing a few punches just to weakly tap the guy's stomach. It made her knuckles ache and her skin bruise, making her wonder how Captain Man and Miss Danger did it so quickly, not knowing that practice took the pain away - something they sorely needed. 

"We got stuck in a wall on the way back!" Miles groaned, feeling highly uncomfortable as every inch of his body pressed against Ray--not something he'd ever wanted. He'd leave that to (y/n). 

"That can happen?!" His sister gasped, knowing he'd been transported to many different countries and biomes, but appearing in a wall was new. She was glad they weren't hurt - half in the wall with their gizzards mushed around wasn't a good look. 

"I have just learned that it can!" The boy replied dryly, not knowing what else she wanted him to say. He'd had his powers for a few weeks; there was much to learn. 

As they were chatting, Bose's concentration increased - not something that happened regularly for the lad. He wasn't used to so much brainpower. He rapidly fatigued as he raised the laser above the man holding him, aiming to bash him on the head or some such attack.

However, the kid wasn't one for strategy; not seeing how a hefty object crashing down so close to him was a bad idea until it was too late. The device crashed into the goon and Bose, sending them both to the ground in an aching, groaning pile. 

"I thought that would work..." he whined, lifting his face from the dirt as the machine lay useless, but the henchman still stayed on top of him. His entire lower half was pinned down, and lifting the heavy tripod had depleted his energy, leaving Bose wishing he'd practised lifting pencils and cotton wool more like Miss Danger had recommended. 

"You see? Not--ready!" Ray growled, thinking he'd thoroughly proved his and (y/n)'s point, even if it was no time for gloating. 

Yet no one could deny it, not when he had a bird's eye view of the battlefield, seeing how Chapa had rendered Miss Danger and herself trapped, Bose had KO'd himself, and Miles had screwed him over, which left just Mika. Poor, sorry old Mika, left with no powers, training, and nowhere to go since one of Crank's henchmen had her subdued. 

"I agree. Face it, kids, this whole thing was a disaster--you aren't ready!" (y/n) agreed, fighting against the vines wrapped tightly around her torso and forearms to no avail. She hated to be a downer, but she saw no way out of this, thinking they were well and truly screwed because they weren't good listeners. 

All that hope and wonder crap didn't happen in the real world, but Mika still believed. Hearing her heroes so disappointed and defeatist angered the resilience in her, and despite how bleak everything was, she still had some fight left. She wasn't sure what fight it was, given her physical prowess was shit, but their lack of trust in her--in the team--made her want to yell--to scream--to shout out. 

"Yes--we--ARE!" She bellowed, feeling a power surge through her, and (y/n) had to blink to ensure her eyes weren't playing tricks. 

A brilliant silver glow surrounded the girl, reminding the heroine of the night when she gained her tummy tingle - the glow of the Omega Weapon's energy. She struggled against her captor, feeling stronger than ever as she roared, her voice louder than a jet engine as her voice box beamed sonic waves toward the prison wall. 

Mika Macklin had found her superpower, breaking down the wall with her almighty scream - so potent it could break through concrete. It was brilliant, making her teachers and friends gawp and gasp, utterly shocked at her ability and its uncanny knack for appearing at such a dismal moment. 

"Holy shit..." (y/n) breathed under her breath, watching rubble fly through the air, making Crank and his goons avoid debris. 

She was in awe of the girl's superpower, knowing that she must've had one deep down, but she'd never have guessed it would be so...loud. Her ears were ringing, but she ignored the slight pain, more focused on the gaping hole the girl had made in a solid three-foot-wide wall of concrete. And it just had to be in the most dangerous building in Swellview. 

"You guys, I have a superpower!" Mika squealed, feeling her throat relax again as a beaming smile grew on her face, her every nerve on fire with delight when she realised she'd done that. That big hole? Mika Macklin did that. 

"It's about time!"

"Time reveals all things."

"You can fly?!" Came the ecstatic congratulations of her friends, although Bose was a little confused. He had the energy, though, as happy for his friend as the others were, and it inspired her with new determination. She was gonna win this fight. 

Referring back to her minimal training, Mika struggled against the goon's grip, trying to free her shoulders, even as his hands tightened painfully on her upper arms. She couldn't regain that vibration no matter how much she growled or barked. With no superpower, it was easy for the henchman to drag her to the bushes, where he wasted no time tangling her in the foliage. 

He wasn't stupid, seeing his chance to secure the scene as someone emerged from the hole. It was a wrinkled, doddery and clumsy old man who carefully stepped out onto the rubble and into the free world, still wearing his garishly orange prison uniform. 

"Pop-pop?" Crank asked hopefully, his voice returning to the same innocent, childlike wonder he'd used to fool Captain Man and Miss Danger. Still, his grandfather didn't see anything wrong. Instead, he seemed happy to see him, opening his arms to invite him into a warm, familiar hug, even if it smelled like cabbage and boiled sweets. 

"Crank, my boy!"

"You owe me money!" The ginge screamed, his face melting into a furious sneer that had his grandpa shaking in his Long Johns. He fled into his cell again, preferring the harshness of serving time to facing the menace that was his own flesh and blood, leaving the heroes stuck outside. 

The goons fled, too, seeing as their boss was well on his way to enacting his revenge, which wasn't too bad. The gang was stuck, but at least they weren't fighting anymore, giving (y/n) and Ray some time to think of a strategy - some way to escape danger before some other tragedy happened. 

"Well, well, well..." Or not. 

"I know those wells..." (y/n) gulped, not needing to be a genius to know that whiny, high-pitched voice. She prayed it was a bad dream, thinking the night couldn't get any worse, but it could. It definitely could. 

Like one of their most sinister terrors, the couple watched with aghast faces as The Toddler poked his ugly mug through the hole after hearing the commotion from his cell down the hall. He knew a jailbreak when he saw one, feeling the need to explore when he saw Gangster Grandpa running away from some ginger kid. 

The heroes froze, especially the kids, sensing they weren't dealing with petty criminals any more - this was the big leagues. 

"What's going on out here?" The villain asked smarmily, stepping through the hole in his orange baby onesie and cap. 

"Toddler! Get back in your crib!" Captain Man ordered, disregarding the pain in his shoulders as he tried to get free, scraping his skin against the broken stone. This was a nightmare of epic proportions; he, Kid Danger, and his sweet girl had spent months - years, even - putting every big name in Swellview behind bars, cleaning up the streets until most of their enemies faced justice. 

But the kids had undone it in one fell swoop. He had to be dreaming.  

"No!" The Toddler snapped, glad to see Captain Man was in a particularly sticky situation and his little wife or whatever was disengaged too. He'd heard about their union or whatever. It made him want to vomit, but nothing was sweeter than knowing the ones who'd put him in jail would watch helplessly as he and all the other prisoners busted out. That would be his wedding gift to them. 

"Come on, everybody! We're free again!"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no---" Ray practically sobbed as he watched the man-baby run off into the night, skipping with joy since there were no silly superheroes around to stop him. And it didn't stop there. 

With the alarm raised, every other villain in the prison bolted for freedom, making the couple thump their fists in frustration as the floodgates of scum opened. And all the kids could do was watch in shame, knowing that while they'd come with good intentions, this was ultimately their fault. 

"Oh, sweet cheese--not him!" (y/n) groaned as she saw a familiarly glitzy face poke around the corner, dolled up and preened to look like a bejewelled peacock. The villain who irked her the most - Frankini. 

"Yay!" He cheered, doing some ballet jumps and lunges.

After checking the coast was clear, he dramatically twirled into the courtyard, loving the smell of the open world as he danced in his heels. She wasn't sure if his outfit was classed as prison attire, featuring a goddamn turban, stripy leggings, and plenty of bling, but she didn't care. He still looked like an over-groomed poodle, which made her heart ache to know he would cause more mischief now he was loose. 

"Frankini! Wait for me!" The lumbering nugget Goomer called after him, traipsing like a lost puppy since he didn't have enough brain cells for independent thought. 

"I can't bee-lieve my luck!" Oh, goodie, Ray thought as The Beekeeper appeared, still as creepy as ever as he snuck through the hole in his protective orange suit. Close behind him was Doctor Minyak, his lanky frame barely fitting through the frame. Still, he made it, looking at his surroundings in shock because it had been a while since Captain Man put him in jail. 

"I still have hope for a win!" He shouted boldly in his fancy accent, thinking that this was a sign; it was his chance to finally beat the superheroes after so many years of defeat, and he disappeared into the night before he had his collar felt. 

"Oh, God..." (y/n) sighed when the next prisoner filtered through, and this one genuinely irritated her. She could perhaps deal with the others - they gave a genuine, worthwhile fight - but this guy was a moron. The dumbest criminal in Swellview. The one person she and Ray hated dealing with because he was so simple - mentally and physically. Jeff Bilsky. 

"My life has purpose again! Yeah!" He exclaimed as he plodded into the spotlight, looking as stupid and dirty as ever in his ancient baseball cap and unwashed uniform. The heroes felt their souls break as they watched him flee, knowing they'd get many more calls once he returned to his life of petty crime. 

"Time to go!" The Timejerker giggled as he followed Jeff, but not before he got another ridiculous, time-related pun in. God, those were annoying, even for the children, who tugged against their restraints and growled - it wasn't any easier for them. 

The flow of villains petered off, but that didn't make it any better. All the criminals Ray cared about - The Toddler, Minyak, stupid Jeff - had made their escapes and were probably dozens of blocks away by now, returning to their hideouts and nooks to plot a million more evil ideas for him to sort out. Perhaps a few more would realise the prison was no longer secure. 

Still, they hardly compared to actual supervillains - the real thorns in Captain Man and Miss Danger's sides, so it was a big well done for Danger Force. They'd really blown things out of the water--the first heroic team to bust bad guys out of jail rather than put them in there. Honestly, they deserved a trophy. 

"You happy?" Ray asked tiredly, mainly looking at Mika since she was the ringleader, but he was disappointed in all of them. He didn't even want to think how long it would take to mop up their mess. 

"Yeah! I got a superpower!" But the girl didn't seem bothered. She was more content with her newfound ability than she and her friends had single-handedly caused the worst crime spike in Swellview history, barely even thinking about the consequences of her uncontrollable super-scream. 

"You just let every criminal out of Swellview Prison!" (y/n) told her harshly, not even bothering to hide her irritation because it hurt--physically hurt--to see the girl smile. Well, she was glad someone was happy, but she could be the one to run around after the crooks when they wreaked mayhem. 

"With my superpower, (y/n/n)!"

"Hey, it's Miss Danger when we're in uniform and another thing--the next time you decide to gatecrash a mission, please don't ignore me when I give you a co--oh, God, what the hell is he wearing?"

(y/n) frowned as she paused Mika's scolding, suddenly distracted when a gaudy flash of glitter and garish colours blinded her poor eyes. Everyone looked at the prison hole in confusion as Frankini dashed through it again, no longer in his uniform but in some kind of dance costume. He looked like some kind of tutti-frutti beanstalk, flicking a ribbon through the air as he twirled across the ground - attention-seeking like always. 

"Weeeee!" He squealed before running off again, but it didn't stop there. He marked the start of the second flood, guiding more prisoners toward the exit with his multicoloured leotard and bizarre dance moves. 

"I started out as a good guy!" Jack Frittleman cackled as he darted out, a sick grin on his face as he rubbed his palms together. It had been too long since he'd attempted to kill Captain Man and his sidekicks in that escape room, and he was hungry for revenge; taking off into the night as two familiar faces appeared behind him. 

"So did we!" (y/n) could barely watch from the shame as The Thumb Buddies did their secret handshake, still hideously deformed after their former heroes left them to die from overexposure to solar radiation.

They seemed in good spirits, but behind their happiness, the heroine saw the madness, feeling deeply uncomfortable as the purple and hairy men jumped and ran, also ready to end the superheroes for ruining their lives. She still had nightmares about those two, wondering if she could've done more to help...

"Hey! I just realised--we ended the crime drought!" Bose exclaimed as the criminals lulled again, giving the group a break from humiliation. Still, it didn't help when the boy reminded everyone of the adults' lies--sounding almost happy like the prison escape was a good thing. 

"Now, you have to let us fight crime!" Chapa told Ray and (y/n), knowing they'd need all the help they could get with so many evil people on the streets. Was that slightly sadistic? Maybe, but she didn't care, loving that they'd ultimately gotten their way, albeit with a minor disaster. 

"Yeah, you're gonna need our help to capture all these bad guys," Miles agreed, deliberately talking into Ray's ear as he grunted. And he used to complain about Jasper - the kid was a genius compared to this lot. 

"We'll probably need, like, a hundred hilarious missions to do it--maybe more!"

"Just when I thought we were done..." (y/n) sighed, knowing her doofus was right. One adventure finished, and another began, meaning her married life wouldn't be boring, which was more than some wives could say. 

Was she hoping for a little more relaxation to settle down? Yeah--but what did she expect? Life hadn't been normal since that fateful afternoon in that café. 

A figure pulled her from her thoughts, shocking her brain with their bright and tacky outfit as they leapt from the prison like a pink and silver leopard. On closer inspection, she realised it was Frankini - again - who'd run around the building just to filter through again, eager to show off his fashion sense to Miss Danger and her new little friends. 

"Are you just going back around and running out over and over again?" Chapa asked as the man shimmied, dancing to the music in his head as the girl tried to work out if she was crazy or just having déjà vu. 

"Check--check!" The glamorous villain ignored her, revealing that his outfit came with a microphone--just what he needed since (y/n) couldn't get enough of his stupid voice... He turned to the moody child with a smug smirk, thinking she could use a few fashion tips - probably from his dear friend Miss Danger, whom he couldn't wait to fight and frolic with again. 

"Sweetie...I smuggled seventy-five outfits into this prison, and you're going to see every last one of them!" He announced, throwing his head back and grinning as the group gulped. They couldn't think of anything worse. 

"Kill me...kill me now..." (y/n) muttered, wishing a lightning bolt would strike her down as Frankini began to dance again, spinning around and around enough to make anyone dizzy despite his bright, white smile. 

She meant it, feeling like someone, somewhere, was punishing her for some great misdeed because if the fashion show wasn't enough, watching every other criminal leaving the prison was like a punch to the gut. 

Never send a child to do your job, (y/l/n)--I mean, Manchester, she thought to herself, still not used to the change but wondering how they'd get out of this or if she'd live long enough to see outfit seventy-five. She glanced at her doofus, knowing he was thinking the same thing, sending his love through a few small gazes, which was comfort enough. 

Their old lives were over; a new one had started, and God, if they weren't exhausted already. It would be an adventure full of peril, tears, and laughter, and who knows how long it would last? The team had a lot of work to do, starting with training a unit fit for battle, but that would keep for another day--another mission. 

They didn't know it yet, but it was the beginning of a new family - the family they got to choose. Ray and (y/n) only had to show them the way, and perhaps, they'd find a few changes along the way - their home ever-expanding. 

It was all written before them; they just had to keep reading the next chapters...

The future was now. The Danger Force had awakened.

#ray manchester #ray manchester x reader #captain man x reader #dangerverse #reader insert #danger force #x reader #henry danger #fanfiction #chapa de silva #ray manchester smut #ray manchester fanfiction #henry danger smut #miss danger #danger force season 3 #kid danger #captain man #captain man smut #miles macklin #mika macklin #bomika #first season #season one #first episode #married life #married pussy #married couple #husband and wife #ray is a simp #queenofbadideas

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

Estinien couldn't help it, he could feel himself beginning to tense. He'd only ever dealt with Mathye in the role of commander to soldier. And even then depending on the situation, Mathye was either reasonable...or stubborn. The surly attitude, Estinien had just learned to let it go. Mathye had been a good dragoon, was an even better medic--and fighting death while patching up their brothers and sisters so they could go back out into the soul-crushing grinder of the Dragonsong War...that would be enough to make any body bad-tempered. But now, Estinien didn't have the advantage of rank. He wasn't in the Order any more. Any possible respect Mathye could have had for him had probably been destroyed when he'd skipped out on Riven. And he didn't think commanding the remnant powers of one of the First Brood would help him either.

"I want to talk to Riven, Bishop. This is none of your business."

"And I want a night with Lanthe the Silver-Veiled. But that's not happening. So it looks like the both of us are going to have to live with disappointment." Mathye countered. He'd muscled up a bit more, Estinien noted. But like Riven--he was still slightly pale, and echoes of pain still lingered in his gaze. And there was something askew about his aether, the best way Estinien could describe it was that he had the impression of something poisonous having been lanced from a wound.

What in the seven hells happened to them?

"Get the fuck out of my sight, Wyrmblood."

"Make me." Estinien growled. Too late he realized his error, a predatory smile crossed Mathye's features.

"Make you, did you say? Riven'll yell at me, but I don't think she'd really mind me beating you like the cowardly trash you are and tossing you back out on the midden." He practically purred, the highlights in his hair starting to faintly glow. Now Estinien really felt his hackles starting to rise--Mathye was one of the oldest dragoons with an active curse he'd mastered. It'd been rare to see Hrist rise to the surface but when she did, it was memorable. But he couldn't let Mathye dissuade him. Although he did want to talk to Riven without having to fight his way through her battle-brothers...

"That's rich, coming from the man who was the town dishrag! How many women did you leave after the deed was done?"

"I had the courtesy to at least face them in the morning and offer proper good-byes, instead of slinking out like a weasel." Mathye smirked in satisfaction as Estinien bared his teeth. Oh he was itching for a fight with the elezen. Any reason to get his hands on Wrymblood and make him suffer for all the tears Riven had cried. Hurts of the heart he had no power to heal, and seeing Riven in emotional pain and being unable to do anything about it...

It seemed Halone had favored him today, he could send an elezen to the afterlife.

#ffxiv #wol x estinien #estinien x wol #wolstinien #estinien varlineau #mathye bishop #wol riven #riven fortemps #the four letter word #mathye: halone has blessed me i get to kill a motherfucker today

[whatgaviiformes]

Dreamers + EOS (September Prompts 😊)

Hi there! Do you know how long I've had this - I'd come back to it, read it, want to change the idea, read something that was similar, decide I like it still, decide I hate it still, you know how it goes. I decided it wasn't doing any good sitting in my drafts, so I'm going to share what I have. It's not cohesive, and it was supposed to lead into fluff - Eos learning about how to help the boys after their dreams, but at this stage, it's definitely not there yet. It's a bigger project than I can take on, so... excuses aside - it's angst, sorry.

Characters: John, Eos, Virgil, Gordon Words 1.3K Warnings: Brief mention of nightmares

... Dreamers

There may be no sound in space, but Five was not born from the cosmos. 

Made of the Earth and by human hands, she is no less a product of the world below her than her thunderous sisters, and as such the sounds of Five are no less silent than the flurry of activity from the lives below. The mechanical hums, the beeping that accompanies visual cues that monitor the weather, built into macros to sound a different alarm should certain parameters be met. Eos' laugh. The breathing of the human who watches the lives below, awaiting their call, and all the fear and sadness that transmit through the radio when they do. 

Up in Five, hushed tones sink into the hums of the mechanisms that surround, as if by being closer to the soundless the words will disappear and the weight of them will drift to the unreachable ends of the Universe. 

It's John though, the one who listens, who takes them, holds them. He is a story collector up in Five, a dreamer who knows dreams, and a well-practiced ear when inevitably they can't make it all go away. 

His shoulders curve, and his body takes the mumbled words from the comm into his chest. He whispers, "It wasn't real, Virgil. You're on Tracy Island. You're safe."

The man on the other end of the comm heaves, his breath shuddering, and John continues, "You're ok. It wasn't real."

They both look worn, though John carries his turmoil in his shoulders, while Virgil looks to have been slammed by the force of Thunderbird One for all the red of his eyes and the hunch of his back around himself and the tugging of his hair in disarray.

Eos is there and John knows she is watching while he calms his brother down and tries to edge him back into sleep. She understands that this is not a moment for her, as John gestured for her to remain quiet when he picked up the comm. One finger over his lips in a signal she has learned means silence, but coming from John is not hostile. In all the times he used it, he's explained his reasoning after, so she's also added the "I'll explain later" as subtext to the file she has on John Tracy and body language. She hovers on the outside of visual range and listens and waits for instructions. 

Which he gives her. Because at precisely three minutes after the start of the call, John realizes that a simple encouragement to go back to sleep will not solve the problem this time. His brother is too worked up. 

She receives the message directly, typed out with his fingers on the digital keypad below and sent to her code: Eos, please turn on the tea maker in the kitchen and run for chamomile. 2 servings, 2 sugars.

Happy to be able to help, she does so, thanking the primitive appliance with a spark of energy, while at the same time watching John wrangle Virgil out of bed and encouraging him to walk it off and get some fresh air. 

The Virgil on screen bounces as he moves to the kitchen with the comm in his grasp, then clutching an oversized helping of tea, he brings them out with him to the pool deck. And it's there Virgil talks to him until he begins yawning. This time John does a lot more listening. 

Virgil ends the call when he is ready. 

"What was that?" Eos asks once the comm is closed.

"A bad dream, Eos." 

"What is a dream?"

John Tracy has to think about this question. There's the answer he knows, and an answer that will help Eos understand. And those are different things. "When we sleep, we don't shut off all the way,” he says eventually, “ and our mind still creates stories even while we rest. So imagine a dream like a person's background process."

"Why did Virgil Tracy's dreams affect him like that if they were just background processes?"

"He's a vivid dreamer. It means everything in the dream feels as if it's real, and so he woke up with that panicked sense of danger as if he experienced it. Because, for him, he did."

She files this under the sub folder for Virgil Tracy and amends her data for his beverage choice from just coffee to mostly coffee but situationally tea. Theory - related to dreaming.  Data inconclusive and more will be needed.

…..

The next time someone calls, it's Gordon. Eos doesn't like Gordon. She's "not fond" of most people except for John, but Gordon Tracy she knows she doesn't like. His eyes aren't serious enough. He causes John Tracy to pinch at the bridge of his nose, an action she doesn't understand yet, but she doesn't like it because it comes with a spike in the human's stress response. 

Ergo, Gordon Tracy causes stress. 

"You're right about that, Eos," he's told her before. Then on another day - "It's not really his fault. He tends to be a beacon for trouble."

Gordon Tracy is no more a light than she is a moon rock, so she is still trying to understand this statement. John is not usually so contradictory. She understands that this is Gordon's fault.

His processors are not as quick as John's so she's not surprised that when he calls he's silent and locked up like he just got caught in one of her firewalls. 

What she doesn't expect is for her creator to suddenly get what she's read as "chatty."It's obvious Gordon has shut off from being able to understand John and yet John talks to him with a speed she hasn't seen out of him before.  And even though Gordon doesn't answer the questions or address what John is talking about, John keeps moving from one memory to another. 

"Blue," the other man says eventually. "The bike Dad got me was blue." 

And that was the question John asked 2.67 seconds ago, and she'd found a picture in her databank of that Christmas and pulled up the response in milliseconds.  

"Very good," John says. "You're right, I think. I got a telescope instead of a bike. Do you remember?"

The figure nods, but at least his response is almost immediate that time.

When the call closes, it doesn't seem like much of anything happened at all. Not with how slowly Gordon Tracy was thinking. She mentions it to John. Because she has opinions on better uses to fill his time instead of having Gordon stare at him. 

"That's not what it was, Eos. Have you looked for the phrase night terrors before?" She does so after .0009 seconds. "They are dreams, but they take place when the brain is in a different stage of processing."

"Why could he not tell you what was wrong?"

"He couldn't remember," John says. "It's a silent scream. The same fear you've seen Virgil wake up from, but he can't tell me what the dreams are about. That's a feature of them. I have a guess though. It would be like if I erased the last 30 min then asked you to repeat it back."

"But you wouldn't do that would you?" Her lights flash red.

"Of course not, Eos."

"Why does Gordon's brain do that to him?"

"It's just something that happens. He had them as a kid. We used to share a room for a time, when we were growing up and he's called me after an episode ever since. I don't know if it's me talking to him that helps or if he pulls himself out on his own." 

This is fascinating information, and a question she plans to answer for John once more data is acquired. Gordon Tracy may prove useful for something yet. 

"What is your hypothesis?" she asks, to begin her studies on this matter. John hasn't led her astray yet, and maybe understanding this will help her understand Gordon Tracy.

"Well, the frequency increased after his hydrofoil accident. So my theory is that the terrors send him back there..." 

And that's all she wrote, folks...

#Gavii Scribit #Ask box prompts #onereyofstarlight #john tracy #eos thunderbirds #virgil tracy #gordon tracy #tw: nightmares

[certifiedwerewolf]

I never posted the chapter where I introduced Lucy in TGOJW so here's the scene where she was introduced. She's so fun. I love her.

It had, of course, been just a regular ass cabin, a little dusty from unuse but otherwise normal as hell.

It’s not normal as hell now. There are sigils on the wall, recognizable warding, and a summoning circle on the floor. Half guttered out candles sit around it. And in the middle of the circle, a tween girl lies unconscious.

Dean is at her side in an instant, patting her cheek and sighing in relief when she opens her eyes.

“Hey, are you okay? What happened?”

“What do you want?” she demands.

“You’re unconscious in a summoning circle,” Dean points out. “I was trying to help you.”

“I wasn’t unconscious. I was communing.”

“With…?”

“Ugh.” She stands up, and begins clearing away the candles. Now that he’s not panicked, Dean can see that there’s no actual summoning ingredients. Okay, well, maybe she’s just got hold of some partial accounts and tried them out. Still, the symbols are a little too good, they should probably find out where she got them and, ideally, burn it.

Unless it’s a website. Can’t burn those. Maybe they can get Charlie to, though.

“So,” the girl says once she has all of her candles tucked into her hands. She looks up at them with a demented smile, the kind that a kid wearing black lipstick and black combat boots and a spiked collar with her camp shirt and khaki shorts might practice in the mirror. “What do you know about Satan?”

“Satan,” Dean says. “Satan. Like from the Bible?”

She nods. Dean looks helplessly to his brothers. They know lots about Satan.

“I know he’s the world’s worst roommate,” Sam says drily. Dean snorts.

“And he has daddy issues coming out of, like, every orifice.”

“He is an entire mountain of dicks,” Adam deadpans.

They all look over to John. He raises an eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me, I never met the guy.”

The girl stares up at them. “Who are you guys?”

“Ghost hunters,” Dean says. Beside him, Sam holds up one of the cameras they’ve brought along for verisimilitude. “We were told this cabin was unoccupied.”

“It is. That’s why I’m here. It’s a nice quiet place where no one will bother me while I commune with the forces of darkness.”

“The forces of darkness.”

“Yeah.”

“And those forces would be…?”

“Oh. You know. Hell.”

“Can you be more specific?” Sam asks. “Like a specific force from hell?” He glances at Dean. “Can you give us a name?”

She squints up at him, a squint that bizarrely reminds Dean of Crowley, and says, slowly, “No, no names. Just… general forces. Demons. Devils. Souls of the damned. That sort of thing.”

As one, all four men let out a collective breath. It sounds like this girl isn’t in contact with anyone from Hell after all, just in possession of a partial summoning spell.

“So where’d you learn to do that?” Dean asks, squatting down to get a better look at her summoning circle. “The communing, I mean.”

“Read it in a book.”

“Your parents know you’re reading books on communing with Hell?”

“My parents are dead,” she sniffs haughtily, in a tone that says yeah, dead parents, you feel bad yet? He only just doesn’t roll his eyes.

“Well, you shouldn’t mess around with stuff like that,” Dean tells her. “You could piss off the wrong people. And trust me, the Queen of Hell is a personal friend of mine, and you do not want to get on her bad side.”

Being twelve, she doesn’t feel the need to resist rolling her eyes.

“The Queen of Hell is a personal friend of yours? Yeah, right.”

“She is!” Dean grins. He loves these kinds of conversations, where the things he’s saying are taken for bullshit. “And her son is my roommate!”

“Okay, now I know you’re lying,” she says. She squints at him again. “You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”

“I would never!”

She doesn’t look like she particularly believes him, so he makes a heart-crossing motion. “I’m Dean, by the way.”

She squints at him. “Lucy,” she says slowly.

“Lucy.”

“Fiero.”

“Lucy Fiero,” he repeats. “Well, okay, Lucy. What can you tell me about Cabin #13?”

#i love her so much #she's SO twelve

[ananad1]

More SGE Movie Thoughts

So one whole person asked for more of my thoughts on SGE and since my Midterms are now over I can give them....

This time around I watched the movie with someone who had not seen it yet, but had read the books (my dad, yes he was coerced into reading them but that is beside the point).

I think that the amount of time between Agatha and Sophie going back to Gavaldon and Sophie coming back to life was way too long. It takes away from them immediately disappearing in front of all the other students and no one, especially Tedros, getting to say goodbye. Tedros had plenty of time to try and convince them, or at least Agatha, to stay. He just stood there not doing anything until they were gone and then was all upset. Like sir you had a chance too bad so sad now.

Some one else mentioned this and I 100% agree that having the girls continue to have magic in Gavaldon makes it too confusing in terms of how they figure out something is wrong in the future.

In the book we do not see anything else at the school, or Gavaldon for that matter, which is important because in the second book the girls learn that right after they left everyone tried to go back to their schools and the girls were thrown out of Evil and the boys were thrown out if Good. In the movie we see them all together at the end and there is no noticeable shift in the castles.

Th blue forest remained being called the blue forest, but it wasn't remotely blue, which is not an impossible task, but if they weren't even gonna bother why not change the name to 'the practice forest' or something similar.

I'm still mad that the Nevers never got to even go into the forest or do any forest group type thing.

I brought up the blood magic being unnecessary before, but some other people have talked about how they didn't like it in the books or barely remembered it in the books (4,5,6) and it was important for those books, but in the movie it helped to establish a Sophie (girl) is only evil because Rafal (man) is controlling her or convincing her to do these things for him. Which is a problem that is often run into with evil women in movies and shows.

I still don't understand how they cut Sader, I have to bring him up again because my dad reminded me that in the new prequel that came out this year, his family plays a major role. Without him nothing makes sense, he predicted Sophie and The fall of the barrier between the worlds and so much more. Without his help, guidance, and general existence so many characters would be left in the dark. He was also like the only teacher Agatha originally liked.

Chaddick was also never pointed out by name, he has credits on IMDB so I know which one he is, but he is supposed to be Tedros' best friend and he is majorly important in books 4, 5, and 6 wether you like what happened with him or not (which I though it was an interesting parallel to the girls and I actually liked it fight me).

On a good note the actor for Reaper was wonderful and even though they did not include the scene of him running out of birds to behead so he goes after Sophie, he was great.

Again someone else brought up how different Tristan looked, honestly the first time around when Gregor dropped his sword at the beginning I assumed it was Tristan. I'm not sure of there is a second movie if they can pull of the Tristan/Yara switch and how well they would do it if they try.

I know I said the beginning School Master fight was fine, but the more I think about it the more I realized that in the books it is described as a war and way longer than a sparing match gone wrong. Also they never officially mark Rafal as dead and in the books everyone know one of the brothers is dead, but not who actually died.

I will never not be mad about them giving Lesso Evelyn Saders in love with Rafal trait, it just makes me so upset. Also on the note of Lesso if she is from Gavaldon and seems to have only ever been at the school, how are they going to explain Aric if they do another movie, cause if she's in love with Rafal I don't see that happening. Aric is like important for every book after though.

I'm sure I can come up with more, but this is what I've got for right now.

@atrenchcoatfilledwithbeees Since you are the one who asked I'm tagging you in this, but let me know if you want me to take you off.

#school for good and evil #sge movie #sge #sge spoilers #agatha of camelot #agatha of woods beyond #sophie of woods beyond #tedros of camelot #chaddick of foxwood #hester #anadil of bloodbrook #hort of bloodbrook #beatrix of jaunt jolie #soman chainani

[liviavanrouge]

14 Bloom Birthday Vignette

14: Today is the interview, I've been practicing for today, so I don't embarrass myself!

14: A interviewer chosen by the magic pendulum, I hope it's someone who matches my energy or near it

14: I got up early for this, I really don't wanna fail

???: Well, with me around you won't fail, so raise your head and straighten that back!

14: O-Oh!!

Vil: Be grateful for I am your presenter today!

14: *Tackle hugs Vil down* VIL- SENPAI!!!!

Vil: Wh-What have I told you about this!? Be lucky my boyfriend wasn't here to body slam you down, you know how he is!

Vil: Thank Sevens, I convinced Goldy to not come with me, great sevens

14: *Smiles in response*

Vil: .....one hug won't hurt... *Hugs 14, smiling*

14: *Beams*

Vil: Ahem! Now we begin! Are you good or bad at flying?

14: Aha...I would say I'm right in the middle, I can be relatively good at times but then be bad at times, I guess that's the downside of me being not so connected with my magic, been like that since I was a kid

14: Some flying assignments are hard, while others can be relatively fine, Sam had to rescue me once when I sent myself flying into this tree...

Vil: Are you alright!?

14: Yeah, but I had to take an extra hour in that class and Professor Vargas would add more if I failed

14: He mainly kept me to flying along a white line, I still keep failing that one

Vil: How so?

14: Don't you ever get that feeling that you're doing it wrong so you end up over thinking and causing a disaster

14: That....that right there caused me to fail that lesson a lot

Vil: You need to get that under control...

14: I know and I try but I end up failing at it each time, so Epel has been aiding me...

Vil: Hm, looks like I will have to reward Epel then...

14: *Laughs* Please do! I've been getting a but better thanks to him, I've been able to catch up with the rest of the class!

Vil: That's good, Epel definitely needs a proper reward

~~~

Part 2

Vil: What is your best class?

14: Cursed Runes and Item is my best class, both willingly and unwillingly

Vil: Huh?

14: I've been learning about cursed things since I was young, I wanted to figure out why I was forced to wear the gloves that Sam would provide me with

14: Turns out my body attracted cursed things and would stick to me for hours until finally falling off without the curse on them

14: But the curse would end up inside me and it took everything the mages my parents called had to remove it from my body after I got affected

14: The gloves were getting too itchy for me, so everyone opted to having me wear a bracelet that keeps the objects from coming near me, if they do they get bounced backwards fifty feet away

Vil: *Stares at him with wide eyes* HUH!?

14: Speaking of curses, there was this cursed fork that hit me and I ended up with a fever for half a year

Vil: HUH!!??!

14: Whew! That was a terrible time, I tell you, my brother and parents were worried sick about me, not even magic would've helped at that moment

14: That's why I got into cursed things and became an expert at it and identifying what's cursed and what's not

14: It's been quite useful nowadays, I saved Ruggie from a cursed book he wanted to sell, the date that would've befallen him had I not stopped him

Vil: What was the cursed book, what would it have done?

14: It would've turned him into an ugly blob fish...

Vil: HAHAAAAA! OH! *clears his throat* Excuse me, I went out of character for a minute there....

14: It's fine, hehehe...

~~~

Part 3

Vil: What would you like to do in the upcoming year?

Vil: I am also quite curious about this...

14: I'd like to expand my flower garden, since I only grow hibiscus flowers right now, I've been reading about other flowers and I would like to learn how they grow

14: I ordered some roses, lilacs, poppies and peonies that Jade recommended for me

Vil: I never knew you liked flowers

14: I got into them because of Livia's flower vines, that one day where she grew flower vines over the school to decorate it as per the Headmasters request

14: I never seen flowers so pretty before, so when I found some hibiscus flowers on a hiking trip I decided to start growing them

14: I asked for help of course, I didn't want to get it wrong, Riddle gave me some tips and I've been growing them ever since!

Vil: *Smiles* You might have to grow me some flowers then

14: I can teach you how to grow some, I wouldn't mind

Vil: Hah, I'm not the type to get my hands dirty with gardening-

14: It'll be fun, you gotta get your hands dirty sometimes you know, not everyone can stay clean all their life

14: Please Vil, just once, I won't ask again afterwards!

Vil: *Sighs* ....very well, we shall garden together ONCE, after that I refuse to dirty my hands again

14: Hehe, we'll see about that, Vil-Senpai!

Vil: What a cheeky underclassman you are, 14

14: Of course, my brother is Sam and I'm in Octavinelle, not to me tion I hang out with the Fish Mafia!

Vil: *Chuckles* I guess so...

14: *Laughs, beaming*

~~~

Vil: That concludes our interview! Your answers were quite amusing, some even outrageously silly but smart

14: Hehe, thanks, Vil! I had a great time!

Vil: Use this to fly today

14: Oh, what an amazing broom, the zinnia flowers are beautiful, along with the baby breath's flowers, and the dahlia flowers

Vil: Crowley had to interview Sam, and what he said about you really match the meaning behind each of these flowers

14: Hm, I wonder what he said

Vil: Don't stand around here, take to the skies, this instant

14: *Smiles* I'm so happy, I came to NRC, all the people I met and everything I've learned make my memories of past loneliness gradually fade away and seem like they never happen....I hope I can continue being this happy with everyone!!

----

14: *Grins wide, pointing towards the moon as his eyes lit up, a black and white eagle flying at his side as he used his other hand to keep his hat on,

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