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typingtess · 2 years

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NCIS: Los Angeles Season 13 Rewatch: “Sorry For Your Loss”

The basics: The son of a mob boss is killed as the team looks for a truck full of stolen guns. Callen is still on the Katya hunt.

Written by: Chad Mazero co-wrote “Internal Affairs”, “Revenge Deferred” and “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” and “The Nobel Maidens”. Wrote “Tidings We Bring”, “Can I Get a Witness”, “All Is Bright”, “Diamond in the Rough”, “High Society”, “Murder of Crows” and “Overdue”.

Directed by: Eric A. Pot directed “Resurrection”, “Windfall”, “Traitor”, “Internal Affairs”, “Home is Where the Heart Is”, “Forasteira”, “Reentry”, “Hit List”, “The One Who Got Away”, “Kill Beale Vol 1”, “Fortune Favors the Bold”, “A Fait Accopli”, “Imposter Syndrome” and “Indebted”.

Guest stars of note: Duncan Campbell returns as Agent Castor, Tyler Poelle is back as Corey the Coroner. Isabella Hoffman is Miriam Sivac, Yssa Mei Panganiban is Angela Pak, Chad Addison is David Milton and Kevin Stidham is Brian Hudson.

Our heroes: Go to a funeral in their Sunday best.

What important things did we learn about:

Callen: Still looking for Katya. Sam: Going to Hampton University to speak about a scholarship named after Michelle. Kensi: Worried about leaving Deeks at the memorial service. Deeks: Knows how to properly chlorinate a pool after effects of a decaying squirrel. Fatima: Gets a lovely offer from the Admiral. Rountree: Knows he’s breaking Hanna Family rules, just doesn’t know which one. Kilbride: Cited in his first divorce for being a gambling man.

What not so important things did we learn about:

Callen: Driving the hearse Sam: On Lombardi Time. Kensi: Somersaulting her way to safety. Deeks: Yenta. Fatima: Apartment hunting. Rountree: Took a public speaking class. Kilbride: Apartment finding.

Where in the world is Henrietta Lange? No mention today.

Who's down with OTP: Kensi and Deeks joke about his interest in their new neighbor to start the episode. At the memorial service, Kensi is very worried about a missing Deeks as she leaves with Callen in a hearse. Fortunately, Deeks is in the back of the hearse with the dead victim.

Who's down with BrOTP: This was more a Sam and Rountree episode. Rountree wants to learn from Sam, wants to help Sam when he can. Sam is, well, Sam. Callen and Kensi work well together. Fatima and the Admiral are a good pair too.

Fashion review: Callen is wearing a blue and white plaid button down shirt. Sam is in his typical work-out gear – a black long-sleeve tee, black shorts, black socks. Later, he is wearing a different black long-sleeve tee. Kensi is wearing an olive green tee-shirt while Deeks is wearing a black one when they get to the office. Fatima is wearing a long-sleeve, dark blue turtleneck top with lighter blue stripes. Rountree starts the episode wearing a charcoal grey workout tank top and then is in a dusty pink tee-shirt. Dark blue three-piece suit for the Admiral with a blue and white checkered (tiny checkered) shirt and red tie.

At the memorial service, Callen is wearing a dark grey suit with a white dress shirt and a blue-grey tie. Kensi is wearing a long-sleeve, black dress with some black lace in her hair. Deeks is wearing a catering outfit – white dress shirt, grey vest and tie, black pants

Music: Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 (the Linz Symphony) was playing in the teaser. Josh Rennie-Hynes’s “Day Rage” was playing at the end of the episode.

Any notable cut scene: The DVD box says yes, the DVD says no but “Fukushu” has a deleted scene that isn’t in the mix. It looks like shooting these episodes and airing them out of order messed everything up.

Quote: Miriam: “I'm not a monster.” Deeks: “You had your stepson murdered.” Miriam: “ Well, he was trying to cut Dominic and me out. What was I supposed to do?“ Deeks: “I don't know, not have him murdered.” Miriam: “We don't betray each other in my family.” Deeks: “Then you probably shouldn't kill each other either.”

Anything else: Callen and Kensi are involved in a shootout/car chase. They are in a hearse, where Kensi never thought she’d actually die. The two – and a casket in the back – are boxed in by heavily-armed bad guys who box in the vehicle. Callen thinks this is why you shouldn’t make plans.

Eight hours earlier, Sam and Rountree are in the boatshed in their workout clothes. Rountree is confessing that he feels he broke a Hanna House Rule without actually breaking one. He arrived at 6AM, Sam agrees. Rountree just wants his life lesson but Sam isn’t giving lessons. Rountree considers his first day with NCIS a lesson. It wasn’t to Sam, it was an opportunity. Rountree talks about Sam giving him not only a copy of “The Things They Carry” but Sam’s personal copy. That was a lesson. It was a suggestion, according to Sam. When Rountree admits he signed up for a survival class with the “Sam Hanna 50” discount code, Sam has had enough – they have to work out.

The pair running nine-miles today, not the usual 10. Sam is going to DC with Callen. Rountree thinks this is a Kilbride assignment but it is not. Hampton University, a HBCU, created a scholarship in Michelle Hanna’s name. Sam is giving a speech. Michelle always believed that Hampton was who she was. Rountree is impressed. He offers to help Sam with his speech since he’s closer in age to college students than Sam. Sam has two words – no way.

In a driveway, a young woman is getting in her car when Callen approaches. Asking if she’s Angela Pak, the woman runs. Pak runs behind a big wooden fence along her home, picking up a small flower pot to defender herself. Callen is right behind her, identifying himself as NCIS and showing his badge. “And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” Callen wants to ask a few questions but Pak has to go to work. Callen says the few questions are about Kate Miller, Pak’s ex. Pak freezes.

Kensi and Deeks arrive at the office, he’s talking about some sacrifices in a marriage that are work fighting for. Kensi is not interested in the conversation. He is since two people in love should be able to overcome all sorts of circumstances. If Kensi would just listen to him, it wouldn’t be a shock. Kensi is busy unpacking her bag at her desk. Kensi asks what is so shocking. Deeks shocks her with the word “divorce”. But it isn’t their divorce, it is Raquel’s. Kensi realizes that Deeks is talking about their new neighbor, Rachel. Deeks likes to talk to on trash days. Kensi calls him a Yenta. He thinks he’s striving for knowledge and a human connection a century before his time. Kensi tells him that is “Yentl”, the movie. Deeks is not going to apologize for bonding with people, it is what makes him a great special investigator. Kensi reminds him he’s an investigator, she’s the special agent. Deeks demands someone change his title so of course, Kilbride shows up from the coffee area. Since the Admiral doesn’t run his office like a preschool, Deeks will actually have to do something to get a reward.

Angela Pak calls Kate Miller a “virus” who is hard to get rid of once she’s taken a hold. She apologizes to Callen for running, she’s paranoid even though she and Kate broke up a long time ago. Callen explains that Kate is really Katya Miranova from Russia. Pak thought Katya was from Barstow. The two didn’t break up when Katya went to prison, they were already finished at that point. Callen points out that Pak was at Katya’s arraignment. “It’s cute that you think I had a choice,” Pak tells him. Both agree Katya gets what she wants. After Katya broke out of jail, Pak moved, took herself out of social media and has been in hiding. Callen asks for help but Pak won’t. She realizes that Callen is looking for Katya because Katya got close to someone involved with Callen. Callen offers his card. Saying that Pak double locks her door and runs from strangers, she’s never going to be free until Katya isn’t.

In Ops, Fatima is trying to sweettalk a landlord into renting her an apartment. It goes poorly. She grumbles in frustration just as Admiral Kilbride walks in. As she tries to explain, the Admiral admits he doesn’t want to know. Fatima tells him anyway. She’s looking for a new place to live because she wants to move out of her parents’ home. Inventory is tight and whatever is available is really expensive. Again, the Admiral is not happy. He has a case for Fatima. NCIS is taking over an ATF investigation of stolen/missing weapons. 500 shotguns, rifles and pistols are in the wind. ATF is still mourning their dead agents so NCIS is helping. The ATF has a prime suspect but he was murdered three days earlier. Fatima asks if the dead suspect was a renter.

In the boatshed, a sore Rountree is talking to Fatima via plasma screen when Sam joins in on the conversation. Fatima knows Rountree was late because of Lombardi time. Rountree knows Vince Lombardi but had to be reminded that Lombardi time means if you are five minutes early you are already 10-minutes late. Sam just wants to work which is exactly what Kilbride wants. Fatima recaps the case – four-days ago a truck was stolen from a rest stop in Tujunga, en-route from Phoenix to a gun shop south of LA before going to Camp Pendleton. The suspect in the case, Anders Sivac, was found stabbed to death the morning after the truck was stolen. He was living in Brentwood but grew up in Malibu and every other expensive neighborhood in LA. The Admiral tells the three that Anders is the son of Marten Sivac, the well-known LA crime boss. The senior Sivac was accused of a number of crimes but never found guilty. Like his son, the older Sivac is also dead. Found at the bottom of Lake Arrowhead three-years ago. The family has had no legal trouble since the old man’s death.

Sam figures that a privileged kid like Anders could have blown through his family money in a hurry and restarted the family business, a family business he may not have been smart enough to run. The Admiral thinks finding who killed Anders Sivac is likely the easiest way to find the weapons. Callen and Kensi are on their way to see the coroner, Deeks is going to interview Miriam Sivac, Anders’s mother. Sam and Rountree are off to interview the truck driver.

Corey the Coroner from previous episodes is grabbing a soda from a breakroom machine while talking about playing music at his own wedding to two highly disinterested co-workers. Callen and Kensi arrive with their congratulations. The future Mrs. Corey the Coroner is Chloe Morris, FBI Agent Zoey Morris’s cousin. Getting the case, Anders Sivac was found in Griffin Park off Fire Road near the Observatory, stabbed 22-times. The time of death was 9PM, an hour before the guns were stolen. So either someone wanted to cut Sivac out of the deal or they found out about the deal and decide to make it their own.

Deeks pulls up at a well-appointed home. Before he rings the bell, the door opens. The woman at the door tells Deeks to hurry on in but keep his shirt on this time. Deeks thinks there has been a mistake. The woman agrees – the neighbors wound up taking photos. But while Deeks is there, she’d also like him to take care of the dead squirrel in the pool. Deeks explains he’s not there to clean the pool, he’s there to talk about her son Anders.

The woman, Miriam Sivac, makes it clear that Anders was her stepson. He was also “a son of a bitch. Believe me, I knew his mother.” She and Anders were estranged. Deeks asks why. Over her 20-year marriage to his father, Anders never approved of Miriam. He also didn’t approve of her moving on with her life once Marten died. And she’s moved on many, many times. The Sivacs are a complicated family, they’ve seen their share of death.

Deeks asks if Anders had any enemies. Miriam doesn’t think he has time to list them all. Deeks thinks she does, especially since he knows who to properly chlorinate a pool after an unfortunate rodent issue at no cost. He’s invited in.

Corey returns with a lot of files and some attitude toward a co-worker. The coworker isn’t invited to the wedding since he’s allergic to shellfish. Chloe loves shellfish and other expensive things so Corey is selling vitamins at night for extra money. Anders Sivac was found wearing an expensive watch with a wallet full of cash. This wasn’t a robbery gone wrong. Callen sees some ink on Sivac’s wrist. It is a stamp from a nightclub. Fatima is going to check out the stamp to see if they can find where and who Sivac was with before his death.

At the truck depot, Rountree thinks Sam should start with a joke. Sam only wants to talk to the driver. Rountree explains it is for the speech. He took a public speaking course once. Sam is back to the case. Knowing that the quickest way from Phoenix to the gun shop was on the 10. The rest stop was on the 210 over 20-miles away from the 10, something was up with the delivery. Rountree thinks maybe the driver was padding his mileage for some extra cash or was looking for a place to eat. Sam wants to ask the driver, who shows signs of being beaten. When Sam says he’s from NCIS, driver David Milton takes off.

Rountree catches up with Milton after some stopped truck parkour but Milton escapes by taking off his zip-up hoodie. From a platform, Milton tries to jump Sam but that gets him tossed to the ground quickly. Milton has a baton and tries to swing at Sam’s feet. Sam evades Milton’s baton as Rountree arrives. When Milton takes a second swing at Sam, Sam winds up with the baton and Milton on the ground.

Handcuffed to the truck, Milton tries to explain that he was getting coffee when he was knocked out. An extra $20,000 in Milton’s bank account right after the guns were stolen. The money was paid out over three-days so the bank never flagged it. Milton is now officially their top suspect and will likely be charged with aiding terrorism. Saying he’s not a terrorist, Milton claims to be broke. He put up an ad on the dark web about the guns and turned a blind eye so they could be stolen.

Sam shows Milton a photo of Anders Sivac. Milton confirms that Sivac was his contact for most of the transaction but at the last minute, someone called and changed the drop off point from Griffith park to Tujunga. Rountree asks if Milton was beaten by the new contact. No, Milton’s younger brother did the beating with a 10-pound weight. When Sam wants Milton’s truck, Milton asks if he can be released, he’s learned his lesson. Sam just walks away while Rountree explains that Sam does not give lessons.

Fatima calls Callen and Kensi with an image from Sivac’s handstamp. While she was working on the project, she missed out on another apartment. Kensi asks about the stamp, a “V” with what looks like a snake around it. Corey the Coroner clears things up, it isn’t a snake but a ball python. He’s working weekends in the reptile section of his local Petco for extra money as well.

The stamp is from the Vandergrift Hospitality Group which owns a number of bars and clubs in southern California. Sivac disabled the GPS in his car and phone so she has no ability to figure out where he was. Callen has a thought about opening times for the bars and clubs. Since Sivac was killed around 9PM and none of the clubs opened until 10PM, that narrows the search to just the bars and the bars near Griffith Park. There is just one, Sanctuary Bar. Fatima starts pulling the security video.

On the phone, the Admiral is speaking about his disdain for “this Botox-ed juice shack of a city” to Sam and wants to speed up the case. Sam recaps the case in a good piece of exposition. Rountree arrives with news that the man who picked up the guns from Milton used a burner phone that called an insurance broker. The insurance broker is likely the buyer. Agent Castor is getting the insurance broker to the boatshed where Sam and Rountree will interrogate him.

While Fatima waits for a warrant for the security footage, she found security footage for free at a nearby construction site. There is footage of Anders Sivac walking into the bar alone but leaving with Miriam Sivac. This after Miriam said she didn’t see Anders in weeks.

As Miriam Sivac returns to her pool area, Deeks confronts her about the footage. Miriam reminds Deeks that she has a card for her lawyer nearby. Deeks pushes forward, asking if she killed Anders. She couldn’t kill a squirrel – she married into the family, not born into it. Deeks thinks she’s a liar. Miriam confirms that the family knew what Anders was doing. He was a terrible mix of “cocky and sloppy” when it came to business. She tried to talk him out of it. He didn’t listen and got himself killed.

Deeks asks if any other family members would kill Anders for the guns. Miriam is done answering questions. She’s off to Anders funeral. Deeks thinks the funeral is a good place to see if anyone associated with the killing looks guilty by not showing up to pay their respects. When Deeks says he’s joining her at the funeral, Miriam makes it clear that nobody will talk to Deeks. He knows that so Miriam is going to get him in a different way.

At the memorial service, Deeks is working as a waiter, Kensi is dressed in black mourning. Deeks doesn’t want a funeral, just wants to be composted. Kensi doesn’t want him with the weeds in their garden. She is donating her body to science. Deeks points out that they don’t have a garden because she can’t even keep a cactus alive. Kensi asks Callen what sort of funeral he wants, Deeks thinks Callen would want a Viking funeral. Callen agrees but only if he can use Sam’s boat. Callen is outside near the hearse. Deeks’s tray is a camera so he is taking photos of the people at the service. Kensi is planting microphones at the different tables.

Sam and Rountree arrive as the boatshed just as Castor sets up the insurance broker in interrogation. The broker thinks he’s there to set up a deal. He quickly learns he’s sitting on the wrong side of the table. The broker tries to leave but it is made clear, he’s not going anywhere until he starts cooperating.

Kensi comforts one of the mourners using a slogan from the catering truck. The mourner is a family doctor who is likely just there to pay his respects to a former patient. Deeks comes across a couple who own several businesses related to the Sivacs. Neither are suspects since the husband was out of town with his mistress and the wife was in Aspen with her best friend’s husband.

Callen photographs a man walking into the service while Miriam Sivac approaches him. She knows he’s NCIS. When Callen says they shouldn’t be seen together, Miriam is not worried. “Everyone already knows how fond I am of the help.” Callen is a little surprised that Miriam isn’t more helpful. She turns it right back on Callen – the only thing NCIS cares about is the guns, they don’t care who killed Sivac. Callen disagrees. Miriam makes it clear, there are people at the service who are very dangerous. She would be killed for bringing in law enforcement. She’s helped as much as she can.

Sam returns to interrogation. The broker’s office is a front. No computers, no desks, no chair – just rented office space. Rountree tells the broker that they know he was planning to buy the guns. The broker is sure planning is not a crime. Sam assures him, it is. Since the broker doesn’t have the money for the guns yet, he can’t complete the deal. NCIS will provide the funds, Rountree wants the deal set up now. The broker makes the deal, Sam and Rountree are on their way.

Fatima updates the Admiral on Sam and Rountree. Fatima took Callen’s photo of one of the service’s attendees, Dominic Carson, and traced his long criminal record. Fatima is tracking his movements before Anders’s death. Carson is Miriam Sivac’s son from her first marriage. “I’m guessing she kept that from us for a reason,” the Admiral surmise. Kensi sees Miriam talk to Carson. Carson turns to Kensi, who realizes they’ve all been made.

By the catering truck, Deeks is attacked by one of Miriam Sivac’s men. He’s cut in the forearm by his attacker’s knife but gets away before more damage is done. Callen sees Carson flee. He and Kensi get into the hearse but not before Kensi looks around for Deeks. They have no time so they take off.

The action goes back to how the episode began. The car/hearse chase with shooting. Boxed in, Callen and Kensi hear from the Admiral, who wants a sit-rep. Callen asks about Sam and Rountree but they are in the warehouse trying to recover the stolen weapons. The window between the driver and the back of the hearse rolls down and Deeks joins the party. Kensi thought she smelled fish.

Sam would like things to move along, he and Callen have a plane to catch. Callen still needs to pack. The Admiral would like to retire at some point so he’d like the team to spring into action. Deeks pushes Anders out of the hearse. For reason only known to the bad guys, they shoot at the casket and not the people inside the hearse. Kensi does a summersault out of the hearse and shoots Carson’s bodyguard. Deeks yells “federal agents” so one casket shooter points his weapon at Deeks. That was a fatal mistake. The other surrenders. As Carson tries to drive away, Callen stops him. Claiming he’s hot and sweaty, Deeks wants to go home.

At the warehouse, Sam and Rountree distract Carson’s men long enough to engage in some slo-mo hand-to-hand combat. Sam gets to throw another bad guy to the ground and Rountree joins in on the fun. That gets a little smile from Sam with a “late again” comment.

At the office, Fatima is writing up some reports when the Admiral arrives. He jokes about her moving into the office. He recaps the case. The Admiral sent Fatima a number. An old colleague owns a number of apartments. He forwarded her his number. Fatima doesn’t think something makes sense. The Admiral thinks she’s talking about the apartment but she’s not. Instead, it is about where the money NCIS wired to Dominic Carson wound up.

In the boatshed’s second floor interrogation room, Deeks is talking to Miriam Sivac with a rather large bandage on his forearm. He thinks Miriam got sloppy, she blames the martinis. Miriam claims not to be a monster, even having her stepson murder. But it is a family business and Anders was cutting out Miriam and Dominic. “You to betray each other in this family.” Deeks doesn’t think they should kill each other either.

With 20-years in the family, she wasn’t going to let Anders take away her share. She went to the bar with an ultimatum to Anders. Miriam lawyers up. Deeks has one last question – did she kill the squirrel?

Callen is back at Angela Pak’s. She was surprised Callen never asked about her record. He didn’t see the relevance. Pak did. She stole files from her law office. She didn’t go to jail but she was disbarred. The arrest was when she was with Katya. Callen knew it likely had something to with Katya since Pak was never in trouble before or after. Pak thinks she can trust Callen. He assure her she can.

Admitting she hates who she was with Katya but hates even more that she can’t remember the person she was before Katya, Pak offers a Callen a key Katya left behind. It opens a safe deposit back. A horn honks – it is Sam. Callen thanks Pak as he leaves. She does not double lock the door behind him.

Outside the house, Callen tells Sam he’ll buy what he needs in DC. Sam hasn’t written his speech yet. As Rountree did earlier in the episode, Callen suggests starting with a joke.

What head canon can be formed from here: This episode, which was the first shot of season 13, had a real season 12 feel with the majority of the characters siloed into their own storylines. Callen worked with Kensi, Sam was with Rountree, Fatima and the Admiral were a pair while Deeks was solo for most of the episode. Yes, Kensi and Deeks arrived together, yes, Callen and Sam drove away together but mostly everyone was with their assigned mini-team.

Nice to see highly capable Deeks in most of the episode, the Rachel/Raquel conversation aside.

As for head canon, the Admiral has a first divorce and not just a divorce which means there are likely a few former Mrs. Hollace Kilbrides. The beginning of the nice Fatima-Kilbride relationship starts here. Rountree sees Sam as a mentor/teacher.

Episode number: This is episode 284 overall, the fourth episode of season 13.

#NCIS: Los Angeles Rewatch #NCIS: Los Angeles #NCIS: LA #NCIS Los Angeles #ncis la

9 notes · View notes

lesbianrobin · 4 years

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hello em i have a request. can u please rate mr harrington's looks/outfits i just feel like u have the best takes and i'd LOVE to know how you'd rank his choices 👀

this is the single greatest ask i’ve ever received. i will be ranking the outfits, not steve’s moral alignment or actions in each scene. in order of appearance:

The Introduction

4/10

hair is tragic

steve copied this entire fit from a mannequin in the ralph lauren polo outlet store

would honestly be a 0/10 except for the obvious valiant effort being put forth by his lower half to resist the sexless curse of khaki pants. the devil (st costuming department) works hard but by god steve harrington (joe keery’s body) works harder

nice brown watch that certainly came from a department store

also gains points for being next to nancy’s anemic librarian fit, thus looking better by comparison

The Rich Bitch

8/10

thank god he ditched the khakis

hair looks much less demonic

it’s a simple look but the sweatshirt rides up when he shotguns the beer

he also gets wet

solid 8 for sluttiness alone

The Whore

10/10

wet

please note that his chest is waxed. keep this in mind.

The Heterosexual

2/10

hair looks like he dipped his head in glue

bold choice with the grey pants. unfortunately that choice was wrong

matching outfits with your comphet girlfriend isn’t as cute as you think it is stevie

you only get points because despite that ungodly pastel stripe pattern the polo’s decently fitted and makes your arm look kinda nice

The Dickhead

3/10

glue head pt. 2

at least the stripes aren’t pastel this time

The Cuck

6/10

hair slightly less glue-y

yet another striped polo is peeking out unfortunately

but! it’s green and green looks good on him

finally wearing jeans like a normal fucking human instead of weird slacks

pivotal moment in steve’s fashion evolution from preppy male model to sexy morally upright king

his morals are stored in the denim

The Final Girl

9/10

an outfit with a character arc to rival steve’s own

pretty fucking good hair if i do say so myself!!

it’s fluffy!

that shit looks like if you touched it it’d be soft... no glue here!

finally not copying from the goddamn l.l. bean catalog

iconic green slut sweatshirt? check! jacket and nikes? check! fucked-up gorgeous face and baseball bat full of rusty nails? check, baby!

looks good on its own OR with some blood on top

overall a very solid look

The Darling Little Drummer Boy

7/10

babe no... please don’t go back to the khakis... they won’t treat you like jeans do...

not quite glue head but not his best

apparently steve owns a single green sweatshirt, a thousand striped polos, and one very precious christmas sweater

almost makes up for prep-related khaki crimes by being really fucking cute

The Simp

8/10

glue head is DEAD

further evidence that steve harrington’s entire closet is just striped polos

this is his fifth unique striped polo

most of these points are for the sunglasses and the hair

actually all of these points are for the sunglasses and the hair

he’s finally let go of the fucking pastels thank jesus

and you can’t see it but he did wear jeans with this fit i just forgot to make sure they were pictured and it’s 4:15 am so i don’t feel like going back to remake this collage

cannot tell if this is a lighter blue version of the jacket he wore three times in s1 or if it IS the jacket he wore three times in s1 and the color grading is just that different

either way he loves jackets and i think that’s very sexy of him

The Intellectual

9/10

i’ve been waiting for this one... turn it up!

literally invented vests

excellent hair

loses a point for unfortunately introducing steve’s SIXTH unique striped fucking polo

i can’t see the collar but i know it’s there i know you’re wearing another fucking polo steve you can’t hide from me

can’t decide if he looks gay or just really preppy but either way he’s got some repression going on

still a very solid look

The Oh No Oh God It Hurts I’m Looking Away I Can’t Watch This

10/10

yes that middle picture is absolutely to show off the texture of his blazer and not at all me making sure that if i have to see his heartbroken little face then you all do too

anyways i Know that blazer cost at least $100 like i Know that shit’s expensive

excellent gorgeous soft-looking hair that someone ought to run their hands through but only people who haven’t dated him for a year while pining after someone else

emotional devastation... but make it unbelievably fucking sexy

stevie baby i know you’re a colorful guy but please wear more black

The Meathead Jock

9/10

aw christ whatever happened to standards?

introduction of the blue nikes <3

god his hair looked fucking good here

could have gained that final point by using tube socks with blue and GREEN stripes to tie together the shoes and the gym uniform :/

shorts could be shorter but are an altogether appropriate and enjoyable length

fun sweatstain to customize the look <3

The (is there a word for victim of bullying?) Serious Athlete

8/10

the yellow stripe was more fun

still cute though

The Sudsy Boy

11/10

wet

suds indicate that he’s washing his hair, presumably with faberge organics. is this why he’s being bullied?

steve brings his faberge organics shampoo and conditioner and his farrah fawcett spray to school with him whenever he has basketball practice

steve either has shampoo, conditioner, and hairspray in his backpack at all times, or he has a separate gym bag that’s mostly haircare products

just need to make sure we all know that

excellent freckle showcase

his chest is still waxed. please, i beg, keep this in mind

one of his strongest looks

The Babysitter

10/10

his most versatile look to date

a different jacket than the one(s) he’s worn before but it still has the same kind of collar. steve found a jacket he liked and bought it in at least three colors

the whole thing fits So fucking nicely! shirt, jacket, jeans... baby boy is TAILORED

return of the white nikes with the red check indicate that they are his fashion nikes, while the blue nikes with the white check are his sport nikes. interesting.

this fit lasts like 48 hours and steve simply looks sexier as time goes on which is a testament to its quality as well as his inherent power

every new accessory elevates his appearance. roses, nail bat, rubber gloves, blood, sweat, band-aids, bandana, goggles... each element complements the look in its own way!

an overall win

The Chauffeur

8/10

we can’t really see the whole fit but he’s not wearing a striped polo so i’m calling it a win regardless of what’s on his bottom half

cannot give him a 10/10 though because he might be wearing khakis

red is such a nice color on him when it’s not just from his blood

i lied when i said he should wear more black he should wear more colors

that plain sweater absolutely cost $85 or more

hair looks very nice and soft

excellent look!

The Sailor Man

9/10

very precious

absolutely the best hair i’ve ever seen

baby boy got highlights for his hot girl summer!

bright colors make his very red lips pop

shorts could be shorter

love the little accents! especially the white pockets and belt

excellent color coordination on steve’s part with the blue sneakers (notably different than his s2 blue basketball nikes) and the red bruising/blood

i hope you remembered that steve’s chest was waxed. as you can see his chest is now unwaxed. some change between s2 and s3 drove this decision, presumably either his breakup with nancy or the fact that he no longer showers in front of other guys at school. up to your interpretation

shock blanket at the very end is a nice touch so we don’t forget he’s traumatized

The Drowned Rat/The Man Overboard

10/10

wet

shorts could be shorter

the decision to purchase and wear a hoodless raincoat is absolutely ridiculous and stupid

however it is also very steve harrington and i value self-expression

The Chick Magnet/The Flaming Homosexual

100/10

what can i even say about this fit?

the absolute best pants he’s worn thus far. amazing fit, excellent classic wash. i say this as a former american eagle outfitters associate and the winner of my freshman year dorm’s “best at folding jeans” award

manages to make blue jeans with a half-blue denim vest work effortlessly

bold primary colors make him stand out without being too gaudy

excellent pairing of t-shirt with simple stripes and vest with simple color blocking to create a complex yet cohesive and flattering look

simple brown belt gives the look a put-together yet down-to-earth vibe

hair has only gotten better

still wearing that same brown watch that he’s had since the introduction

this man looks like he waxes his chest

this is steve in his final form

thank you for your time

#em talks #asks #long post #steve harrington #stranger things #battleonthedeathstar

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mushroomkwan · 3 years

Text

Beauty and the Beast (M)

Pairing: Johnny Suh//Seo Youngho x Female! Reader//Soulmate/Hybrid AU of sorts this fic was a trip to write

Words: 3,186

Warnings: porn with some plot(idk how to just write a smut anymore oops), tiger hybrid!johnny, deer hybrid! reader, amateur writing(I haven't written in a year or two so it might be shit sorry y'all) size kink, praise kink, and some degradation but its miniscule, big cock johnny bitch let's be honest 😳👀, oral (female receiving), fingering, technically panty sniffing too, minor mentions of blood, unprotected sex (wrap it up y'all), breeding??

SYNOPSIS: Being in heat when you meet your mate is both ideal and horrific. Johnny shows you the latter isn't a possibility with him.

It's past the midnight hours, the sky a swirl of pale yellows and pinks filtering through the trees and startling you as it peeks through a sliver of the curtains in your den and onto your face. You wheeze as you stretch your body, your hands searching for the clothes you had laid out the night before, tucked onto your dresser along with the accessories you chose. Today was the day you had been looking forward to for weeks, and your nerves were all over the place. Hybrid society, separated from the very humans who created them, was ruled as a hierarchy, the first hybrid to become exiled had become Queen, and her children onward reigned. And today, you crowned the new King, Queen Seo Myeoryun's son Youngho, who had been a pillar of the community since he was born. And everyone likes a good coronation ceremony, so what was not to love? Well besides the fact that it fell onto the same day your heat should have started. It would be fine though, it only really hurts or is bothersome when you've found your mate, and you've yet to find yours. Without your mate, heats were just small cramps in your side and your sex drive goes up. It may seem cliche, but part of you wished it to be Youngho. He's a gentleman, he's ethereal visually and conceptually, and he makes you feel included at every social gathering, sending you drinks, and smiling at you from across the room. He had yet to come up to you though. And perhaps it was right of him to. There was still that stigma of predator and prey among hybrids, and you were a deer, timid, small, and a tiger's ideal meal. And Youngho unfortunately was a tiger. A very very....very attractive tiger.

With a sigh you pull the top around your body, a lilac mesh puffed sleeve thing, and throw on a pair of loose jeans as to complete it. To top it off, you put on a flower crown, smiling shyly at your reflection in the mirror beside you. You go out the door, surprised to find someone already waiting for you, his face frustrated and his striped tail flicking back and forth, annoyed.

"Ah f- Doyoung you scared me!" You pouted and hit a hand against his chest, him not sparing you a wince or pained expression, instead laughing at your feeble attempts to hurt him.

"We're late Y/N, they already introduced the host, which by the way we all knew would be Jaehyun he's the MC of every event ever." He sassed, but you grabbed his hand and ran toward the venue a block away, which was still quite the run. Jaehyun stood on the stage in a black and red velvet suit, smiling as he talked about the upcoming ceremony and how it would play out. You settled into a spot between Doyoung and Donghyuck, a pudu hybrid who was too busy on his phone to mind you sitting next to him.

"Do you think he's nervous for his coronation?" Doyoung turned his head and you looked at him for a moment, your gaze flickering to the stage every now and then as Jaehyun spoke.

"Please, he's Seo Youngho. He's probably known about this since he was a child, and is ready for it. He's confident too so I don't think he'll have a problem with being shy either." You blushed as you spoke, your ears turning down against your head as you thought about it. Doyoung eyes you and smirked, laughing as he came to a realization.

"Oh my God you do like him. That's literally so cute. You realize he'd probably snap you in half in bed though, right?" He made the dirty comment and you went completely red, stuttering as you tried to come up with a response, until Haechan cut in.

"You guys missed his speech, they're about to crown him." You gasped lightly as you looked to the stage and sure enough Youngho's mother was holding the crown, finishing up her own speech, and there he stood. Well shit. His hair was parted and his bright yellow eyes scanned the crowd with a smile. Such a charismatic smile, and those lips were just sin themselves. His suit clung to his body and he was wearing a damned corset vest over it. You were staring for too long, and he caught your stares. He looked at you fondly and smiled, his eyes twinkling as he waved. You smiled back and waved enthusiastically, cheering as he was crowned and the celebratory party began. Doyoung was no where to be seen, and you were hoping to find some time to finally talk to Youngho. You made your way to the bar, where you were surprised to find he was already there standing, him gesturing for you to come over. You gulped and walked over, your tail stood up in alarm. He was there in front of you close up, and for the first time you noticed he was blushing. You went even redder than before and he giggled, his hands fumbling with the glass in between them.

"How can I help you?" You giggled nervously, settling against the bar as he still messed with his glass awkwardly, his tail swinging back and forth uneasily.

"You know the whole thing with mates and first touches? How you'll know when you first touch?" He asks and you go still, nodding and trying to ease your rising emotions. He looked into your eyes and his hand extended.

"I need to know...if you'd allow me." He spoke again and you could feel the nerves radiating off of him. His eyes searched yours and you smiled back, your cheeks burning.

"I'd like to know too." And then you did it. You laced your fingers together, and a spark ricocheted from your fingertips to your toes and you gasped as a thousand emotions passed through you at once. His eyes glossed over and he pulled you into his arms.

"I always fucking knew it was you. Now so can tell Jaehyun I was rightfully obsessed." He joked as he sniffled, and you laughed wetly as some tears fell, burying your face in his chest. You heard a whistle and Doyoung stood there, a drink in his hands and finger guns pointed at both of you. You went to smack him but a dull ache in your underbelly stopped you, biting your lip as you settled for glaring at him, your tail and ears still moving angrily.

"It's not like I totally knew this whole time." He sassed and you smacked his chest, your cheeks turning red. Doyoung smirked and blocked your attacks, turning to Youngho, whose nose was turned into the air, curiously sniffing. He whispered into Youngho's ear and Youngho's eyes darkened with an emotion you could only describe as lust, his gaze falling up and down your body. You turned to Doyoung in confusion but he just pushed you toward Youngho, who ran an arm up and down your own. You shivered at his touch and keened into it, your body beginning to sweat feverishly.

Authors note: for the smut I changed the time-tense without realizing so sorry about that.

"Follow me? There's something I'd like to tell you." Youngho smiles and you nod, skipping along with him away from the celebration. It's only a ways away, his den, and you blush as your thoughts race with images of you and him together, your pulse seemingly moving to in between your legs. He invites you in and closes the door, suddenly against you. You yelp in surprise and he buries his head against your hair, sniffing down your body. You clench your legs together as his nose presses against your thighs and breasts and his scent runs through your own nose, your body immediately reacting.

"I wanted to tell you that your scent right now...it's sweeter than usual. Oh God you're in heat aren't you?" He practically growls the words and you whimper as you nod, your core throbbing with need as his body pressed against you.

"Please Youngho I need something." You whine against him as your hands rake at his neck, pulling him into a kiss. It's slippery and your tongue circles his fangs as he holds your hips in his hands and sucks on your lower lip, pulling away to put his forehead against yours.

"Johnny. Call me Johnny, baby." You wiggle impatiently against him and he picks you up, your body already bucking towards him as your core tightens around nothing. To best describe, it's a burning feeling, like every synapse in your brain is screaming at you to get something, anything.

"Such a needy girl, you're falling apart in my hands and I haven't even began to touch you." He kisses you and you're only just aware that you're pressed against the doorframe of what you can only assume is his room.

"Johnny, please take my clothes off. It's too hot." You pant breathlessly and he laughs, elated to get you out of your clothing, his ears up and at attention. His claws trail the fabric of your top, pulling roughly upward. You raise your arms and the top comes off with a swift motion, leaving your bra in it's place. You blush under his gaze, a hungry stare that makes its way to your pussy, the ache becoming more. You tug at his corset vest and he pulls it off and his dress shirt as quick as he did your own shirt, his abs on display. You ogle at his stripesnand press your hands against his chest as he attacks the side of your neck with his mouth, his tongue and teeth marking every surface area of your skin.

"Do you have any idea how good you smell right now?" He swipes his hand against your denim covered core, and you whine as you grind into his touch. With the sharp nail of his ring finger, he separates the metal from it's buttonhole and pulls your pants down. You step out of them and he scoops you up as soon as your feet hit the floor, pushing you against the bed. You gasp and moan as his fingers trail your sides, his claws leaving marks against your skin. The pain is nice though, and it drives you crazy with how gentle he scratches you.

"Johnny, I want you to...well won't your claws hurt?" You trail off in embarrassment and he presses his lips onto yours, staring fondly into your eyes as his arms cradle you.

"Don't worry baby, they retract. I would never hurt you. But fuck, was that the cutest way you could ask me to finger you." He speaks gently, a growl ripping from his throat as he presses his mouth back onto your own. You moan against his lips as his hands pull your bra off, his kisses trailing down as your breasts spill from your bra, which he quickly tosses aside. His hand, with claws now retreated into the nail beds, rubs you through your panties. He's amazed with how wet you are, your underwear almost sticks to you with how wet you are, and your small tail stands stiffly despite being laid on. Looking at you as he presses his nose against your breasts, licking the middle of your chest and teething against your skin. His fingers hook under your panties and he revels in how warm you are, pressing the heel of his palm to the very top of your entrance. Johnny begins to circle his fingers around your clit, as you shake under him. With one hand busy teasing you, the other kneads the flesh of your left tit, whines and moans spilling past your lips. You press your own palm against his cock, which strains against his slacks. He makes a guttural sound as you rub at the head through the cloth. He pulls his hand away and growls at you, and you suddenly feel so much smaller. So dominated.

"I have a new idea baby. You smell so good but I bet you taste even better." Without warning his nose presses into the very top of your panties, his fangs nipping at the cloth. You yelp in surprise and shudder as his tongue swipes across your panties, moans leaving your mouth as you bite down on nothing. Johnny gives a satisfied moan himself and peels your panties away from your body and down your legs, tossing them haphazardly as he sniffled once more, the tip of his nose brushing against your clitoral hood. Whimpering, you spread your legs shyly and he takes it as invitation, his mouth wrapping around your pussy as his tongue prods against your hole, which throbs for his touch. His tongue was long, you knew this from just his smile and him talking, but you weren't prepared for how helpful it would be until now. Johnny's tongue works against your clit, kitten licking as his one of his fingers comes up and separates your lips, his tongue picking up speed. You're a mess of moans and whines, your eyes looking reverently toward him as he tongue fucked you with determination and his finger enters you to the knuckle. You wince once, but the feeling is immediately replaced with curiosity. He brings his finger out and back, until he's created a pace that has you keening for more. He curls his finger and rubs against a spongy surface within you that you never realized felt so good. You arch away from the bed and sigh out breathlessly, a mewl wheezing out of you. Johnny sees this and knows he's found it, propping both of you into a better position. You lay on his left thigh, one arm supports you and the other is busied between your legs. He returns his middle finger to where it once was, curling in and out of you at the same pace before. Soon his ring finger too prods at your entrance and he ducks you with both of them, your hips bucking against his wrist. A pressure in your lower abdomen makes you bite your lip, gasping when Johnny curls his fingers and once again hits your g-spot. He prods at it for a little while more, but stops before you can fully come undone. Kicking his slacks off, he returns to you and hovers over your body, pressing a kiss to your forehead. You can feel his tail swipe against your legs as he speaks.

"I want to fuck you properly, but I need to know if you're okay with it. I'm...well endowed and don't want to hurt you." Your heart swells at his words and you nod as you bite your lip, wrapping your legs around his waist.

"My heat has made me slick enough and you've stretched me. I feel safe enough for it. Now please, fuck me." You take a deep breath as you look down between your legs at him, and he wasn't lying. It's harder than a rock, standing against his stomach with a bead of precum sliding down the side of it. He's cut, which you can't say didn't surprise you, and it definitely has girth to it. Perhaps it is five or six inches soft, but hard it looks to be seven inches. He pulls your hips closer to his and massages your sides as he positions himself.

"Be gentle with me? This isn't my first time but you're bigger than I'm used to." You blush embarrassed but he nods, pressing into you slowly. You grunt painfully as you're stretched, the tip of his cock almost touching your cervix, but not close enough to fully make contact. Johnny bends down towards you and kisses you hungrily, his tongue curling around your own.

"You can move now." You say quickly as you pull away from the kiss, and he feels his hips back, before pushing in again. You moan louder than you ever have, his cock prodding against every surface of your pussy, making you feel so full. Both of your bodies rock together and he growls out a low moan, gasping breathlessly with you as you both make noises as if no one can hear. Your arms wrap around him and scratch, your mewls bouncing off the walls of his room and the bed creaking back and forth.

"Fucking hell." He moans as he sighs out, his hips snapping into yours. You're close to tears with how good you feel, and those tears finally spill over when his fingers circles your swollen clit, his dick still sliding in and out of you.

"F-fuck cum in me Johnny. Please." You please as you cry from overstimulation, all your senses going haywire as you feel the beginnings of climax take you. Johnny bites into your shoulder as he fucks you, and you cry out in pain as his fangs break through the flesh of your shoulder. You quickly moan as he picks at the wound, breathless apologies spilling from his mouth. You kiss him to shut him up, and he happily kisses back. The coil in your underbelly becomes taut and you keen away from the bed and into him. It snaps suddenly and you're clenching down on him hard, practically screaming as your orgasm hits you like a tidal wave. You're shaking, but you ignore it as you use your legs to pull Johnny closer, deeper into you. He rubs soothing circles with his thumb against your cheek as he cradles your face, his orgasm nearing. His thrusts are becoming sloppier and your name is spilling from his mouth with other curses and gibberish.

"Are you sure you want me to cum in you Y/N?" Johnny falters and you pull him in for a kiss, biting his lower lip and waving your tail side to side.

"Please." You whimper and he bottoms out, a couple more thrusts before he is burying his face into your neck with broken moans spilling past his lips. Warm cum seeps into you, and he's making the sexiest noises you've heard come from a man. Johnny's forehead knocks against your own and he removes his cock from your womanhood, slumping against the covers and next to you. Both of you say nothing, catching your breaths as both your chest heave up and down. His arms wrap around you and pull you in, a small peck pressed everywhere over your face. One of his hands pets at your tail soothingly and you use your own hand to scratch behind his ears as you both become more and more relaxed. Your eyes are closing, but before you sleep you kiss him again and thank him.

"Thanks for being the best mate a girl could ask for." Your ears fall flat against your head as you blush and he chuckles, kissing your forehead.

"Same goes to you. I'd wish for no one else." And he pulls you closer, both of you tangled. And just like that you sleep, ready to tackle your heat again in the morning.

AHHH sorry I don't know how to end smuts but this is the first thing I've written in a while so please tell me if there were mistakes. but here you go!!!

#johnny suh #kpop imagines #johnny seo #nct smut #nct x reader #youngho x reader #johnny x reader #nct reactions #seo youngho #nct u #nct 127

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oh-boy-me · 4 years

Text

Casual Outfits Discussed

@themarchinghare Ok >:3c

These hot takes analyses and opinions are based entirely on the concept art of the demon brothers’ casual outfits. So any in-game features not present in the concept art aren’t discussed. We’re looking at the outfit as a whole, but occasionally we do talk about individual features.

Also please don’t take this seriously, we just had a lot of fun shitting on the Seven Power Avatars of Sin, Rulers of Hell Itself™’s questionable fashion sense. I would still die for these boys, terrible taste in shoes or not.

Participants in the discussion were

Jo ( @jodaneko ), my roommate and an art major with storyboarding and character design experience

Justin ( @justinlester0629 ), my go-to fashion expert for at least a decade and very possibly a future male model

Noodle (Me), untrained eye and resident fashion decade disregarder

With the exception of a few choice quotes, our thoughts and conclusions are all mixed in with each other. Quotes are mildly paraphrased.

Lucifer:

The colors are good; the blacks and grays are all in the blue-gray family, and there’s a pop of color with the gold belt and red vest.

But he paired a black suit with brown shoes???? SIN

“You should always match your belt with your shoes and those shoes are not gold.” —Justin

Justin on the coat: “I love it, the pattern of the inner lining is throwing me off but it’s not bad, and the fur is perfect because it’s associated with power.”

Me on the coat: “I don’t know about you but I bet that coat looks dumb as shit if you put your sleeves through it.”

WITHOUT the coat though his cuffs scream “I am dealing for blackjack and rolling craps.” Lucifer looks like he could walk into and out of a casino whenever he pleases and everyone would assume he works there.

“Dress shirts don’t work like that. He got a size too big.” —Jo

The belt isn’t doing anything functionally, but it’s very important because it balances things out from being too top-heavy.

Out of the belt, shirt cuffs, and coat cuffs, two of them should have matched.

We’re nitpicking because in general it’s a good design. Lucifer has no taste in shoes but that aside is capable of dressing himself.

Mammon:

“That’s western Danny Phantom if I’ve ever seen it.” —Justin

Very nice coat 10/10 would wear.

The colors are odd, he mixes black and brown too, but the other colors mixed in makes it work in a cute way.

“The only things that clash are the shirt and jeans, he could replace the gray shirt with either a black one or a lighter one to match the boots.” —Justin

He’s got a cat toy on his belt. I admire his preparedness for feline encounters.

The cat toy also balances out his rings nicely, since the toy is on his left hip and the rings are on his right hand.

The yellows in the shades, belt, and cat toy are placed very nicely and are the best part of the outfit.

Honestly except for the shirt color and the fact that fur-lined boots are out of style we don’t have much bad to say about his design. Mammon’s casual outfit lives up to his model career.

Leviathan:

“Ugh, god.” —Justin

The headphones don’t match with anything, and ever color he’s wearing is so bright they REALLY don’t match.

Headphones aside he chose ok colors to supersaturate, but also like, supersaturation is very very loud.

It kind of looks like he bought two different tracksuits and forgot they were two different outfits.

The pants don’t match themselves.

“He color coordinated his pant cuffs and his shirt and thinks it makes it ok.” —Jo

The jacket itself is nice, the pins are really good and I appreciate that they’re opposite the stripes in his shirt.

Justin hates the gray stripe though because it looks like either part of the jacket or a girl scout sash.

“That shirt should not be collared.” —Jo

“The shoes look like what Kanye West would design but if they were sold on Wish.” —Justin

It’s kind of just… he took the RGB color wheel and went with it. It’s just loud. If he just changed some colors he’d be fine. Leviathan please I have hope for you.

Satan:

“He looks like a gay prep school person.” —Justin

Satan wore 100 shades of green and said “yes this is peak fashion.” And you know what, it objectively sucks but I’m kind of living for it?

Rip off jeans that can’t actually be ripped off because of the VERY stylish belt? Iconic.

Green deep v-neck sweater over a gradient t-shirt and a jacket with the sleeves too short, this man only shops at Goodwill.

The one-shoulder jacket look gives the outfit some personality and I’m really glad he isn’t wearing it properly because looking at it alone I wouldn’t be caught dead in that jacket.

“While good for the design, it’s a mix between business and athletic and I’m not sure how I feel about that.” —Jo

(Jo also said some jackets are designed with sleeves like that but with the color choices it’s just… not good. Justin pointed out that the sweater and jacket do match though.)

The chocolate loafer-style shoes take away from the rest of the outfit.

“Any other shade of green besides Crayola green would have been better for his nails.” —Justin

Listen it’s so bad it’s good, Satan’s fashion sense is “blue-green.” We basically ripped into it the whole time but I’m pretty sure it was the universal favorite.

Asmodeus:

“Just from the back he looks like a cool dude and then the front of him screams douche.” —Jo

Asmo’s outfit is actually ok, but he has one fatal flaw: If he takes off his jacket it’s way too plain, but with the jacket it’s kind of too much.

It’s also kind of confusing, because it looks both casual and formal from different angles. “I’m not sure I like the cut in the front with the t-shirt showing underneath.” —Justin

The shirt is nice but a color that contrasted his skin more would have been nice.

The pants are killer, and the white stitching matches the jacket really well.

The gold accents on the jacket are also good and would match the belt really nicely if the belt wasn’t some ugly mustard color.

This boy is wearing mustard belt and ketchup pants.

Inoffensive shoes which is really the best I can ask for with these boys.

“The scarf. I like it, but I’m not sure how I feel about it because there’s just so much going on with both it and the jacket.” —Justin

“That’s not a scarf, it’s too long. It’s like. A really long strip of cloth.” —Jo

Anyway all in all there’s a little much going on in the front but it’s one of the better looks, good job Asmo.

Beelzebub:

Justin looked at the picture and immediately put his phone down.

“First impression is he looks like Naruto if he got his head lodged in Doritos.” —Justin

“He looks like he’s the carpet of the arcade portion of a skating rink.” —Jo

“He shouldn’t be wearing orange tones.” —Justin

Legitimately we were at a loss for words for a considerable time. We just kept staring at it.

To start he’s got a lot going on but it feels like he looked in the mirror before leaving his room. Not saying he did the best job but at least he looked at himself.

The jacket alone is great, but why is it fur-lined? It throws off the urban design.

But finally some good fucking shirt. We have mixed opinions on the triangles (I like them, Justin doesn’t but appreciates that the pattern continues on the back) but all like the cut.

Living for the necklace-bracelet combo.

Jo says the biggest problem is that there’s color-matching but in weird places and not enough of it.

Jo hates the pink belt and Justin hates the green suspenders; we concluded that one of them should have been excluded.

His choice in sneakers is not as bad as Levi’s but still not very good. The laces shouldn’t be green.

This sounds like a lot of complaining but if he cleaned up the belts and ditched the fur it’d be a fine look.

Belphegor:

“Oh shit oh god.” —Justin

“The top half is for sleeping and the bottom half is for riding.” —Jo

Absolutely disgusting, mustard yellow pants tucked into brown lace-up combat boots? Disgusting.

The shoes alone are nice but the mustard pants don’t work at all. There’s no cutoff between blue and mustard.

Also he has really broad shoulders, just noticed that looking at this. That has nothing to do with this but it does affect how his cardigan sits on him.

I personally would wear that cardigan, a hooded cardigan? Everything I’ve ever wanted.

Justin pointed out that the button lining is weird, and the inside is a weird contrast with the pocket. He’s right, but I think it’s an endearing mess.

Why do I look at him and feel like he needs to do laundry? I think it’s the t-shirt. It would have been better as a collared shirt, taking the hood off the cardigan in return.

You can’t convince me the avatar of sloth laces those boots every day, he sleeps with his shoes on and that’s a worse sin than sloth.

“The pillow’s not part of the outfit? Oh thank god.” —Justin

Jo said we were being too mean and that it’s not the worst outfit out there, and from the waist up they’re right.

But damn Belphegor the condiment war called and they want the bottom half of their uniform back.

#obey me #obey me one master to rule them all #obey me shall we date #shall we date obey me #obey me swd #swd obey me #obey me!#obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me outfit analysis #image

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years

Text

HASO, “It Can’t Hurt to Try.”

My brain wanted to write this today, and so this is what I have written. I hope you all enjoy :)

I realize I have sort of Neglected Adam’s past, though I am not sure how I did that, so today I wanted to write some more.

More than three years ago.

“Mom, you don’t have to really…. I’m ok.” Martha turned to look at Adam and the expression on her face shut him up instantly. He slid back in his seat slouching against the car interior. Off to his left side, his new service dog, who he had named waffles, was lying politely across the seat, her head resting on his thigh, her service vest bright red in the noonday sun streaming in through the window.

The car rumbled under them looking out of place in a city of sleek hover cars. Their tires rolled to a stop at an intersection, as a crash nexus wove itself into existence before the waiting line of cars. Running red lights was a near impossibility in the city and had reduced vehicular accidents by 25%.

Marha turned to look at him over the back of the seat, “Adam let your father and I worry about finances, you just relax.”

He sat up in his seat again pushing his crutches to rest against the window, “But mom do you know how much those cost, I looked it up and….” “Shhhh.” Martha held up a finger, “Just sshhh, your father and I own the house and the car. We could make ends meet if your father was working at the Burger Barn, and I was sitting at home twiddling my thumbs.”

Adam’s usually Laconic father grunted his agreement, “Besides, this is why your mother and I have a separate account for medical emergencies.”

“But what if YOU have a medical emergency.” he protested thinking about the farm and how easy it would be for his father to get caught in an accident with the massive farming equipment they used.”

“Im old.” his father said, though he wasn’t very old at all.

“What does that have to do with-”

“Boy, just shut up, you’re mother and I have made a decision because we love our kids, and if that means selling the damn house and living in a tent we are going to do it.”

Adam lapsed into silence again. His father’s tone broached no argument. A whimper came from somewhere below him, and he looked down to see that Waffles had scooted so her paws and head were resting on his leg, her tail beat against the car seat, and she looked at him with big golden eyes.

Her paws were a might bit large for her, but that was because she wasn’t even a year old yet, but even so she was still the best girl. She whimpered again, reminding him to relax and he took a few breaths.

Adam wasn’t so good at dealing with stress these days, though Waffles turning up in his life had been a marked improvement. The doctors said he had finally turned a corner with his mental health, though they suggested he look into getting a real prosthetic if he wanted to recover any further.

They said it would be good for his morale.

He glanced down at his current prosthetic, no more than a black rod of metal with a spring loaded joint and a fake foot at the end. It was army issue, so complete garbage, and he still had to use crutches when wearing it with the amount he tended to trip. He imagined being able to run again…. To really do anything again, and looked down at his body, which had grown thin and skeletal over the past few months of PTSD recovery.

He hadn’t been eating all that much, and his desire to workout had faded with it, instead he had spent most of his time in a hypervigilant state of alertness that left little time for things like eating or working out. When waffles came along, that had morphed into him lying in bed for days on end sleeping on and off while listening to music or listening to his collection of old Star Trek movies on Repeat.

It had been a hard transition to being functional again, which just meant that he was eating now, and went on walks in the morning with waffles.

He was determined to make it all the way, though he couldn’t say he approved all that much of his parents throwing away so much money on a fancy prosthetic. An older model would have done, but they insisted that they wanted the best.

The car ground to a stop in the parking garage outside of the Elmridge University robotics lab, and his mother walked around one side to open the door for him as he adjusted his crutches and stepped out into the musty underground air. Waffles leaped out behind him, sticking tight to his left side.

“You good?” His mother asked, and he nodded limping his way after them as they made it towards the doors.

Students at this university had been working on prosthetic technology for the pat fifty years, and their minds had spawned some of the greatest breakthroughs in medical technology the world over. Now, they were asking for people like him to come and test their machines. However things didn’t always come cheap and you had to rely on being rich, or getting some kind of funding from a wealthy benefactor.

Adam Vir, who was not rich and had no wealth benefactors was instead relying on his parents and their medical savings, which they had been squirreling away for the past twenty years or more. He estimated that the account would be completely drained by the time they were done here, and the thought made him sick to his stomach.

Waffles touched his hand with her wet nose, reminding him to breathe again.

They made it all the way to the doors and into the university hallway. Adam looked around with some interest. He had what might be considered the equivalent of a masters degree or higher in aviation, but he had never stepped foot inside a university.

He thought he would have liked it, and had to brush away the regret that he had never gone for real.

The flight academy had been enough though.

Though it was likely he would never fly again. Waffles whimpered and jumped up on her back paws seeing his distress and working to keep his mind off of it. He took another deep breath. She was right, he just needed to relax.

Together with his family they walked down the hall and into the waiting room of room 125 where they made him rest in one of the hard plastic chairs as they went up to the desk. He rubbed Waffle’s ears, and she rumbled at him lightly.

“And you all must be with Adam Vir.”

They nodded in agreement.

Adam looked up as the girl came out from behind the desk. She had long black hair tied up in a messy ponytail and wore a band T-shirt over a striped long sleeve shirt. She wore glasses, was his age, and was very cute.

He had to look down at the floor.

She knelt next to him, “Can I?” She asked

Still looking away he untied the rubber band holding the pant leg closed and pulled it back so she could see the stump of his leg.

She pulled something from her back pocket and pressed it up against the old wound. It was cold and soft and he grimaced as he looked down. When she pulled back he realized she had been taking a mold of his leg. She smiled at him, “Just twenty more minutes and we can have you come back.”

He nodded and they let her go. His parents sat on either side of them, his mom took him by the shoulder and shook, “Isn’t this exciting.”

Adam gave a weak smile.

His father picked up a robotics magazine and began to read, showing Adam things of interest as he read them. Adam’s stomach churned with nerves.

After less than fifteen minutes, the girl skipped back into the room, “We’re ready for you.” She announced, and slowly, he moved to his feet limping ack behind the desk and following her down a short hallway and into a large open room.

Here there was a small indoor track, some obstacles, and even a physical therapy table.

A cluster of students sat around the table waiting for them, headed by an older heavyset professor with a short grey beard and a lanyard hanging around his neck.

He reached out to shake their hands as they approached.

Adam glanced at a sleek silver case sitting on the PT table next to the man.

The old professor grinned at him, “Are you ready?”

The students clustered inward eagerly. This was likely the first time one of their creations was going to be used.

Adam nodded nervously, and the man reached forward, snapping the case open and in to reveal….

Adam muttered in slight surprise. The leg looked, good, something straight out of I-robot. It was sleek and elegant with silvered matt titanium and plexiglass casing to fill out the shape of a leg. He could see the fibrous strands of rubberized metal that acted as muscle underneath the plexiglass.

“Wow.”

“Do you like it? My students worked very hard on this project, and the best part is the neron interfacing net that cradles the leg in place and suctions it onto the skin. All across the plexiglass fronting there are microsensors built to detect heat, cold, pressure and vibration. The entire foot is designed to work like a human foot and all the tooes can flex individually. He picked up the leg, reached down and grabbed the foot, behding it around the ankle with a movement as smooth as ice, “The ankle joint can rotate in all the proper directions, and the most revolutionary part, the interface, should collect signals being sent through your neurons to your missing leg, pick those up and interpret them to move the leg just as your own brain would, and better yet send feedback signals in the reverse direction.”

He clapped Adam on the shoulder, “In other words, it will FEEL like a real leg, how does that sound.”

Adam’s mouth opened and then closed and then opened again, “Um…. amazing but…. Impossible if I am being honest.”.

“Well, moment of truth isn’t it.”

He nodded sitting down on the PT bench and rolling up his pant leg again. He tried to ignore all the people watching him, and listened to the professor as he instructed him on how to put it on. It socketed right over his old injury and as it did he felt an immediate and sudden vibration run through his body as if the leg were whirring to life.

And when it did he froze.

He stared down at the leg, and slowly, with all the memory his brain still had, he flexed the toes.

The sensation was instantaneous and glorious. He put his hand over his mouth fighting back tears that began welling into his eyes.

His parents gasped in delight and an overabundance of emotion as the others at back in silence. His mother hugged him tight as did his father, all three of them staring at the machine, which moved on his command.

Before he knew it he was grinning, turning to look around at everyone even as he had to wipe tears from his cheeks.

He could feel again!

The relief was so complete and so overwhelming that he couldn’t pick between laughing or crying

“Take it slow.” The professor said, but he hardly heard him, and with a wobbly step he slowly climbed to his feet. He began to laugh and his parents laughed with him hugging him and shaking him with excited exceleration as he took his first step. He closed his eyes in near ecstasy as the foot bent under his weight, the ankle flexed,and the toes splayed out over the ground.

He dropped his crutches to the floor ignoring the urging of the professor who was only half heartedly telling him to slow down.

He took another step, and then another and then another, slow and wobbly at first but then muscle memory took over after that.

His brain remembered, it remembered and despite months with a missing leg, it woke up the part of his brain charged to deal with that movement, and despite what must have been atrophy after months of misuse, it began to fire again.

He broke into a jog, as his father ran next to him, and then the jog turned into a run, his father fell behind as he broke into a full out sprint around the small indoor track. Laughing the whole way as the leg matched him. The students here cheering and clapping and hugging each other as they watched him interact with their creation excitedly shaking each other and screaming.

Adam, forgetting momentarily how to stop running, ended up tripping on his good foot, flailing around for a moment and falling to the floor.

He didn’t stop laughing though, and crawled back to his feet, with all the ease he might have had when he had both legs.

Waffles barked and wagged her tail furiously as she ran to join him, hopping and bounding over the floor as he played a game of chase with her immediately forcing the leg to its full potential as they made quick turns, stopped and started and leaped into the air. He ran up and down stairs and jumped over their obstacles feeling the shock through his feet and ankles.

Unfortunately for him, months of sitting on his ass hadn’t exactly made him all that athletic and he came to a stop eventually panting like waffles only to grab every one of the students in turn and hug them in an embrace so tight it might have fractured ribs.

He was so excited, so grateful, and so unbelievably relieved.

It was an incredible moment, for him, for the students, for his parents, and for his professor.

He limped into that building but skipped out on his new leg.

Getting in the car its as if he had taken a one eighty in personality. His quiet sullen demeanor from before was replaced with something his parents hadn’t seen in ages.

The ability to not shut up.

He talked a mile a minute in his excitement yammering fit to talk their ears right off, and they let him. It was good to hear him back to his old self for once. His father was smiling more than he had in a long while, and on his left side, facing away from his son and his wife, a tear rolled down his cheek.

***

He wasn’t overly sure what he was doing.

He didn’t have high hopes that they would even take him back. After all, He was set to be honorably discharged later that week, seeing as the UNSC had finally gotten around to dealing with the men and women injured during operation Steel Eye, but he had decided not to do that. He wanted to go back, and he had the paperwork to prove he was mentally stable enough to do so.

Now it was just down to whether they would let him work with a missing leg.

He nervously made his way onto the fort Harmony base where he had been stationed so long ago. Off in the distance he could hear the dull roaring of jet engines as they readied for takeoff, and watched as columns of other soldiers marched in the early morning sun. Light was spilling across, warm and yellow over the dw colored grass as he made his way towards the central building.

He stepped inside and passed a couple other officers in the hallway as he walked up to the offices.

He looked down at the paper he held in his hand.

He had only meant the captain once, and that was very briefly, but he hoped that the man would be willing to hear him out. He paused outside the man’s open door, and then peered inside. The captain was sitting at his desk frowning at the papers stacked before him, tapping his fingernail against the counter. Light glittered off his completely shaved head and dark skin.

He knocked quietly and stepped inside.

“Sir?”

The man looked up frowning at Adam without much recognition.

“Yes?”

“Um, Lieutenant Adam Vir, sir…. I was hoping to speak with you.”

The man sat back in his seat and frowned again, “Adam V-”

He paused, “Wait.”

He rummaged in his desk and pulled out a set of papers, glancing at the name at the top before setting them down, “Ah yes, Adam, I was just getting to your discharge for-” he glanced down at the paper again, and then back up at Adam, and then back down again. Adam stood politely behind the single wooden chair and waited.

When the man didn’t speak Adam awkwardly cleared his throat, “About those papers sir….I…. well I was meaning to talk to you about those.”

“Yes I was going to si-”

Adam shook his head cutting the man off, “No sir, I…. I don’t want you to sign them.”

There was a pause, “You don’t?”

“Yes sir.”

He set the papers down on the desk.

“You have the opportunity to be honorably discharged for services rendered and you…. Want to stay?”

He saw the incredulity on the man’s face as he spoke.

The guy must have thought he was stupid.

The man looked over the desk at him <”Says you lost a leg during the Drev war kid.”

Adam shifted uncomfortably, “Well yes sir.’

“Then by all rights we HAVE to discharge you.”

“No, I got a new one.”

“A new one what?”

“I have a new leg, sir, just as good as the old one. I can pass all the tests, physical, mental whatever you want me to do sir, please, just give me a chance.”

The man stared at him, Adam stared back, “You’re missing a leg kid.”

“Not anymore I’m not. UNSC regulations say that people who have had stem cell organs from their own body transplanted don’t need to be discharged, well this is similar to that. I didn’t have a leg, and now I do, and one that works just as well as the old one therefore it shouldn’t matter.”

He didn’t mean to argue with the Captain, but well that’s what it kind of turned into.

The argument must have been loud enough to attract the attention of some of the other officers and a voice from the door behind them had both of them pull up short, “Is everything alright here.”

Adam turned and his eyes went wide, “Captain Kelly!”

She stepped into full view and his eyes grew wider. He saluted sharply, “Oh, sorry, Major.”

SHe looked at him with her head tilted, “I'll be damned, lieutenant, what are you doing back here.: She looked him up and down, “And in one piece or so it seems.”

“Advanced robotics ma’am…. Maybe you can help us?”

She frowned, “Go on.”

The Captain cut in, “The boy doesn’t want to be discharged. If anything that proves he must be smoking crack.”

Adam frowned, “No Ijust….” he trailed off, “I loved my job…. Before the, losing my leg, bit.” he turned to Major Kelly, “Please Ma’am i’ll prove it. Better than I was before, honest”

She frowned, “It is…. Unprecedented, but…. There aren’t really any rules regarding advanced robotics that I can think of. We will have to talk it over.”

Turns out talking it over meant months of arguing semantics with bureaucrats and even more months of testing and proving that he was, in fact capable of operating like normal. They tested everything, including his prosthetic’s ability to handle G forces…. And he finally got to fly again. It was only by a small margin that he managed to convince them to let him back in, and even then he was relegated to guard detail on what the human medical core was calling an oxyclinic, where a couple of enterprising humans learned that spooning aliens actually helped to treat some mental disturbances in other species like the alien version of depression.

Turned out it was pretty good for him considering he had developed a small fear of aliens since his last encounter. When he wasn’t guarding the clinic, he volunteered to work for them in order to overcome his fear.

He was slowly getting back to normal.

***

Major Kelly sat at her desk looking at the schematics for the new ship under construction. The UNSC Enterprise had been completely decommissioned after engineers determined her to have too many fatal flaws to allow her to fly again. Kelly had only been captain for a little over a year before she had been pulled, and this was her chance to get back on the horse. She looked down at the papers, the schematics and then the second letter from the UN which offered her a second alternative.

A promotion to Admiral, and control over what would soon be a rising fleet of UNSC ships.

It was a hard decision to make. Every fiber in her body wanted to fly again, to see the stars again, and she was halfway to writing her agreement on the captain’s contract when she stopped. She had to think about it, if she took the promotion and gave up the ship, she would never fly again…. But she would have control over the rising UNSC fleet. Under her control she was sure she could help those rising captains avoid the bureaucratic bullshit that was sure to come after them.

In essence, they had one chance to do this right,

And more chances to get in good with the GA. If she took the position, she could fill it with someone she trusted to back the men and get the job done.

herself .

She stared at the two papers torn between her own desire and the path she knew that was right.

It was a matter of milliseconds that allowed her to agree to the promotion, and leave flying behind. It hurt every fiber of her being and even as she sat warm tears dripped onto the schematics of the ship that would have been hers if she had asked for it.

However, her decision made, she was promoted in short order as Admiral of the UNSC rising fleet, and thus had the power to make suggestions for who should take the ship in her stead. She made a decision pretty early on, and reached out a hand to the GA in helping to come to their decision. It was all about making a good impression on their newfound friends, and lending them the UNSC’s first operational ship under new fleet command would, not only give the captain of that ship the opportunity to school themselves in the ways of alien races, but it would leave the GA with a greater inclination of friendship.

She was right in her assumptions, and the GA was more than pleased to have some say in choosing the human captain who would be lent out to them on a probationary bases, as a PR move and as a tactical manuver for the UNSC to learn more about these alien races.

Now she had to compile her list of possible candidates.

There were ten names on that list.

All of them had to be capable of flying the ship, at least and all of them had to have some experience with interacting with alien lifeforms.

Looking at her list, however, she realized that not many people on that list had those capabilities. Sure they could fly but most of them only ever met an alien in passing.

It was sitting in her office late one night agonizing over the names that one popped into her head. She sat up in her chair and stared past her desk lamp and out the window into the darkness.

It was a strange idea.

Crazy almost.

Probably ill advised, but, out of all the people she knew, he was certainly CAPABLE of flying a ship…. And he WAS the most experienced person hse knew with aliens. Perhaps THE most experienced person in the galaxy.

But no…

He was so young, far too young.

But…. why?

It’s not like he hadn’t proven himself, he was loyal, unstoppable and personable, which goodness knows they needed when it came to alien interactions. Looking down at her paper there were more than half of those men and women she wouldn’t trust at a birthday party let alone at a GA diplomatic event.

She added his name to the list. It couldn’t hurt, could it?

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eepytheartist · 3 years

Text

TTTE: Magic Beyond the Engine

Greetings guys, gals, nonbinary pals and everyone in between. Welcome to the Information Page of TTTE: Magic Beyond the Engine, where you can get context to whatever the hell I post on here. There’s a lot and much is subject to change, so buckle up butter cups because we’re going for a ride.

Table o’ Contents

1. Basic Story

2. Characters

3. Personal Headcanons

4. Canonical Relationships within TTTE: MBtE

5. Other Notes

6. Link

I) Basic Story

Several years ago in the year 20XX, a facility located in [REDACTED] was doing experiments involving a mysterious golden substance and what it could do for the human race. Its goal was to eliminate the need for high-maintenance engines to save money. However, much of what was done ended up being a total flop, except for one. A little girl, Madison [REDACTED] was the only successful trial the facility was able to produce. This girl didn’t know why or how she even got here, but knew that her family didn’t want her, and instead gave her up to this [probably very illegal] facility. For years the scientists running the experiment pushed her to her limits, training her to pull lines of cars weighing several tons. They were delighted by what she could do. They had finally compacted the strength and speed of an engine into a human. However, bad luck struck as the facility went belly up, when Madison was 21. News of the facility spread, and so did news about her. Humanity didn’t take her well, and she was labeled an outcast. Though, in the light of things with her negative fame, Sir Topham Hatt found out about her and thought she’d be a wonderful addition to the railway along with the new tank engine he just bought! So she was picked up by this cheeky little shit, and her story working alongside sentient engines unfolded.

II) Characters

A) Thomas

The one who picked up Maddy. He was awfully confused by her, but respected her nonetheless. Still his cheeky self that everyone seems to just adore, Thomas quickly became best friends with her, protecting her whenever she needed it. Thomas sometimes gets a little too cheeky, and pushes her off the edge. Pranks ensue and Thomas is usually left bumbling for apologies. Who knew something so small could be so dangerous. He also commonly gets called ‘Tommy’ by the wee lass, something he absolutely despises. It only fuels her need to use it.

1) When human, Thomas stands at about 5′ 7″ or 170 centimeters. He’s clad in a simple hoodie that matches his paintwork with a big 1 on the back, and plain khakis. He wishes he could have something else, but he doesn’t get paid and his driver and fireman refuse to lend him money. His hair is fluffy and rather short and is a few shades darker than his paintwork. Maddy likes to braid it when she’s bored and he hates it. Her favorite part though, besides honking his bulbous nose like he was a clown like she does with James, is his eyes. They were a beautiful shade of ocean blue. If he wasn’t such a shit, she’d get lost. He can’t brag though, she basks in all the colors her friends have.

“Why does she get to swear and I don’t? It’s not fair!” ~T

“Maddy’s an adult, Thomas.” ~E

“Well so am I you old fart!” ~T

B) Maddy

Little Maddy. Don’t call her Madison, she hates it with a passion and refuses to explain why. She currently stands at the age of 21, but looks much younger. She had overheard at the facility that a side effect of the mystery stuff was that she aged like an engine, so she could be around for hundreds of years if she wasn’t stupid. At just 5′ 3′’ or 160 centimeters, Maddy is the shortest out of all the engines on the railway, even Bill and Ben. Her hair is a medium shade of brown, kind of long, and it mostly covers one of her eyes, which are, as Thomas describes, “As if the sky could make steel.”. Shy when you first meet her, Maddy is quick to come out of her shell and be just as much of a shithead as Thomas and as angry as James, if not worse than the two combined. Her outfit was rather simple, a dark scarlet hoodie with her number on it, and dark grey or black leggings. She liked it that way, she looked good and it was flexible and comfy. When she first arrived with Thomas, she felt something click with James, despite him being an utter jackass to her. After begrudgingly showing her around and having to shunt trucks, the duo became good acquaintances. It wasn’t until after James’ accident that the two became best friends, being asshats together and generally being a happy sight. He’s the one Maddy is generally seen with if she’s not working on her own. Soon enough, though, something started brewing within her heart.

“Ah crumbs, he’s in a mood.” ~T

“James is always in a mood.” ~M

“Fuck both of you.” ~J

C) Edward

Ah, Old Iron. He was there when Thomas and Maddy first arrived to the island. Like most that laid eyes on her, his main worry is that she was itty bitty. Usually calm and collected unless something goes majorly wrong, Edward was quick to unknowingly swoop her under his wings. When Thomas started poking fun at him for being fatherly, Edward nearly keeled over. An engine can’t father a human, can they? He guessed they could as soon after Maddy just gave a shrug and accepted the Number 2 as her father, after being given away by her own. It didn’t take long for Edward to actually father her, asking how her day was, sometimes folding her laundry, comforting her, scolding Maddy James, y’know, dad stuff. He earned the name ‘Dadward’ from her, and his heart melts every time she says it.

1) As a human, Edward looks like a kindly old man and a youngin’ at the same time. He stands just a bit shorter than James at 6′ or 183 centimeters. With short, almost midnight-blue hair, Edward is the perfect gentleman. He even has a small pair of gold glasses that set snuggly on his nose. His eyes are a lovely shade of steel blue, something he gets flustered about when Maddy compliments him. His outfit consists of a white dress shirt with a dark blue tie, a blazer matching his paintwork with his number on his right arm and dark grey dress pants. He’s not usually in his human form, but when he is, Maddy unusually asks for a lot of hugs..

“Will you two leave her be?” -E

“But look how red her face is!” P&T

“FUCK THE LOT OF YOU-” ~M

D) James

Ah, James. One half of what his friends call “The Red Disasters”. He’s still his normal, vain ass self. He has a soft side, everyone knows it but virtually no one can get to it. Except Maddy, who can get to it quite easily. Though, when they first met, all he did was make fun of her. Well, they made fun of each other, but still. They had the complete opposite of favorite jobs, they still do and always will. James loves pulling coaches, she hates it. She loves trucks, he despises it and always tries to weasel his way out. It usually doesn’t work. He’s earned many nicknames from her: Jamsey, Jimbo, Buzzy, Buzzy Butt, the list grows. Two of them came from the mistake about telling her the story about the bees, the other.he’s not too sure. What he is sure of, though, is that Jimbo has spread than to more than just her and he hates it. It fuels her though, so he’s gotta be careful. Originally, though, James didn’t know what to think of her. After the accident, his boiler felt all fluttery and he pushed it down to just being ill. He had to learn the hard way about what romantic love was. He knew how to flirt, it got people to love him more! But what that flirting did, though, he was completely foreign to.

1) At 6′2′’ or 188 centimeters, James stands as the third tallest among the main eight. When he still had his black livery, James’ human form basically had him looking like what I can simply describe as a butler, though he had a vest and a red tie instead of all black. After, though, he had quite the change. His long, black hair now had dyed red tips and his right ear had a cute little heart piercing. Hair covers most of his left eye, which is what Maddy lovingly described as, “You managed to make the color of red rust beautiful.”. He thinks his hair looks cool only according to Maddy. He usually wears a long-sleeve, dark red button-up shirt with three dark grey stripes on both arms and grey pads on his shoulders. His number was sewn onto his left breast. Maddy pokes fun at him for looking like a band geek, but she nonetheless likes it. His outfit is simply finished off with grey pants. Sometimes, though, he’s seen wearing a solid red hoodie that Maddy got him. He won’t admit that it’s his favorite piece of clothing.

“Honey Bee, you’re acting irrational-” ~J

“DON’T MAKE ME GET THE BEES-” ~M

“NOT THE BEES-” ~J

E) Gordon

There isn’t much to say about Gordon. He’s his usual, grumpy self. We all know deep down he’s a good engine, though. Gordon’s...rather indifferent about Maddy. He doesn’t dislike her, but he doesn’t see her appeal either. Nonetheless, she’s an awesome part of the team. She does the most important job: listening to James bitch so they don’t have to. Of course, though, like the rest of the team, he’ll defend her if need be. Gordon has a heart, he just doesn’t like to show it.

1) Gordon’s the tallest, at 6′8′’ or 203 centimeters. Everything about his human form is perfect. His hair is just a tad darker than Edward’s and a teeny bit shorter. He keeps it slicked back most of the time, but it’s hilarious when he has bed head. Maddy got a picture once and sent it to James just in case he forced her to delete it. Just like most of her friends, Gordon’s eyes were her favorite, they were a blue similar to his hair, but a few shades lighter. Maddy remembers a time she complimented them and Gordon puffed away all red in the face. His outfit consists of a three piece suit, in his paintwork color of course, a white shirt and a red tie. His number is on his right breast.

“The Express isn’t that important.” ~M

“Why I’ll tell you-” ~G

“Is her intent just to piss him off?” ~E

“Yes. It’s both of ours.” ~J

E) Henry

Maddy’s favorite engine besides James. Thomas is insulted that he isn’t even considered one of her favorites. Henry gushed over her the first time she came. He must protect the small. Love the small. If James suddenly didn’t exist, Henry would be her go-to. She adored puffing through the forest with him, looking at all the trees and wildlife. Maddy would take pictures of flowers she’d find while strolling through and Henry would just ooze over them. Once she showed him a photo of a squirrel holding a wild flower under an oak tree whose leaves were just started to turn different colors, and the big engine cried with joy. He requested she print the picture out so his driver could carry it for him, and she did. It was his absolute favorite.

1) 6′6″ or 198 centimeters, what a height to be. At second tallest, Henry is the definition of a gentle giant. His resting face looks nervous, but he’s usually not nervous at all. His hair is a forest green, not too short, not too long. Actually, Maddy’s favorite part of him is his chicken-wing bangs. Of course she loves his eyes, which are a lovely jade green, but the bangs take the cake, Whenever they hang out, she likes to play with them when he talks about plants. He finds it comforting. His outfit is literally just a more modest and fancier workman’s outfit, but matching his livery, with his number on his right breast. It made sense, since he was usually one to do heavy work.

“You don’t like the rain either?” ~H

“The last time I went out in the rain I derailed Percy.” ~M

“Why were you even out in the rain!? You’d catch a cold!” ~E

“Fat Man said I was the only one available and told me to suck it up. I did catch a cold. James tried making me soup, remember?” ~M

“What do you mean tried..?” ~H

“He forgot to cook the chicken beforehand. I got salmonella.” ~M

“So that’s why you were bedridden and wouldn’t talk to him for a week after..” ~H

G) Percy

Ah, little shit number two. Thomas’ partner in crime. When he first met Maddy when he arrived, he teased her relentlessly for being short-tempered and short in general. After giving him the silent treatment though, Percy was a bit nicer. He and Thomas still tease her plenty enough, but they tease about things she usually won’t kick their asses for. He likes Maddy now. Plain and simple.

1) Second shortest, 5′5″ or 165 centimeters. He holds those two inches with pride. Percy uses them against Maddy very frequently. Maddy won’t hurt him though. She physically can’t. His little baby face, those big ol’ light green eyes, that short light green hair, his cute little outfit [which consists of a shamrock colored shirt, black suspenders held up by gold buttons, and dark green shorts]. If he was any smaller Maddy would die. James sometimes gets jealous by how much she gushes over Percy, but doesn’t exactly blame her. Percy’s adorable and he damn well knows it.

“Ha, you’re short.” ~P

“You’re short too.” ~M

“I’m taller than you.” ~P

“Won’t be for long when I take your kneecaps.” ~M

H) Emily

Ah, Emily. The first girl engine she met. They made damn good friends, too. They gossiped whenever they had a chance. Maddy usually talked about shit James has said, and Emily just gossips about anything and everything. They were will to throw hands for each other, with Emily more willing to for Maddy. Maddy would throw hands just as an excuse to do it. Emily still loves her, though.

1) Emily currently stands at 5′8″ or 173 centimeters. She isn’t as girly as she looks, either. Her hair is short, with half of it buzzed off. Maddy would describe her as someone punk-ish. Of course Emily’s personality doesn’t reflect that at all, she just chose to look like it. She’s the only other engine besides James to have piercings, usually with two black on on the top of her ears and hoop earrings to pay honor to her engine build. Emily was a little more casual than her friends, usually seen wearing a simple green dress matching her livery. Her eyes were a very dark grey, almost black, with flecks of brass scattered in there. Maddy told her once that she was the prettiest girl she’s every seen and Emily nearly crashed.

“James being a bitch again?” ~Em

“What do you mean again?” ~M

“I can hear you.” ~J

“I know.” ~M

I) Others

Other characters consist of secondary characters within the story who do not play as big a role. There are a few who teeter on the edge between primary and secondary characters, such as Duck, Donald, Douglas, Diesel, Diesel 10, and Lady. They play an important role, but not enough so to have their own descriptions. Diesel’s..y’know, Diesel, the twins think of Maddy as their long-lost sister, Duck..well, they like to poke fun at James together when he’s not droning about the Great Western Railway, Diesel 10′s goal is to get her to say something about Lady, and Lady...no one’s really sure yet. Then, as of right now for true secondary characters there is Oliver, Toad, BoCo, Bill, Ben, Mavis, and Salty. There’s more to come, but that’s what I got right now.

III) Personal Headcanons

-The engines can eat and taste in both forms. They don’t know where it goes when they’re engines and don’t feel like finding out.

-James learned to cook for Maddy when she couldn’t for herself.

-For the longest time, James was the only engine with his own phone.

-He learned hip language and Maddy started regretting every choice in her life.

-Maddy comes to Salty for him to tell her stories when she’s bored.

-Rain is Maddy’s one weakness since she has no way of covering herself.

-She, along with her friends as humans, run with skates that reflect their wheel configuration. The wheels retract when not in use. [I’m thinking about switching to roller blades, we’ll see.]

-Maddy intentionally starts beef with the Scottish Twins because she thinks the fighting is hilarious.

-Thomas will occasionally beg Maddy for a cotton candy sucker. Specifically cotton candy. She doesn’t know why either.

-Thomas initiated a prank war with her once. He lost.

-Gordon once bet her that she couldn’t pull his heavy goods. His driver was out 30 bucks because of him.

-Maddy tortures Duck with duck puns.

-Maddy still trick-or-treats for free candy.

-Emily once convinced Maddy to derail James for the fun of it. She was subsequently chased around the island.

-James is the ultimate flirt and he uses that against Maddy, who flusters very easily.

-Percy loves Teddy Grahams.

-Edward likes loves to tell others about his daughter. Maddy does not. He is becoming too dad-like.

-The Scottish Twins know damn well that Maddy simps for their accents and they intentionally use it against her if they can.

-Maddy knows about Diesel’s ducklings. It’s the only reason she decides to befriend him.

-James utterly hates Diesel for many many reasons.

-Like many others headcanon, Thomas can’t cook. He fucked up a cup of ramen once and Maddy still refuses to let him live it down.

-Edward refuses to let Thomas and Percy swear. They hate it. James and Maddy know this. They swear more because they can’t.

-James and Maddy are at a tie for worst potty mouths. The twins don’t count. That’s not fair.

-Oliver thought Maddy was an engine for like a month before he met her.

-Maddy dislikes the Mainland. Not the engines there. They’re cool.

-If Maddy isn’t around, James sleeps in her bed with her hoodie.

-Henry worries for Maddy all the time. More and Edward and James combined. He just doesn’t show it.

-Gordon says he has no opinion on Maddy, but he really does like her.

-No one knows where Maddy’s really from. She won’t tell them either. Not even James or the Fat Man really know.

-Want more? Just ask!

IV) Canon Couples within TTTE: MBtE

~James/Maddy

~Edward/Henry

~Emily/Thomas

~D10/Lady (In the past)

~~We’ll see about others as the story progresses~~

V) Notes

- Lady is the reason the engines have sentience. She is not the reason for their human forms. That will be explained later.

-Maddy is much more resilient than an average human, which is why most accidents don’t just straight up kill her.

-As stated before, Maddy can now live for hundreds of years if she’s careful enough. She won’t age as fast as a normal human, so who knows how long she’ll be baby-faced. Not that she cares, more opportunity to trick-or-treat.

-The engines can get frisky, but no babies. Don’t even think about it.

-Maddy will eventually give in and buy beds for all her friends to give them an opportunity to sleep like she does.

VI) Link

Silly me, I forgot to give a link to my story! Shame on me for making you search, that won’t happen again, here you go!

Sodor’s New Worker

________________________________________________________________

And that’s really it. If you have any questions, please please please please please ask!

UPDATED: August 3, 2021

#sodor's new worker #TTTE: MBtE #ttte james #ttte maddy #ttte thomas #ttte edward #ttte emily #ttte percy #ttte henry #ttte gordon #ttte oc

27 notes · View notes

gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights · 4 years

Link

Rating: G

Summary: Side-effects may include: eating fabric, staring into bright lights, and being allergic to mothballs. (AKA, the one where Gabriel Agreste has moth tendencies, and Adrien is rightfully concerned.)

Word Count: 4203

Notes: Mostly inspired by the fact that there's so many Chat Noir cat tendencies fics and even a few Ladybug hibernation fics but WHERE are my Hawkmoth tendencies fics?? Anyway be the change you want to see

For non-english readers in particular since I got a lot of questions when I talked about it on discord: mothballs are little balls of pesticide/deodorant that can be used to repel moths. Usually kept in clothes drawers and are pretty outdated now but anyway its a Real Thing and not me trying to make an innuendo i swear lol

XXX

“Uh… Father?” Adrien peeked in through the cracked door. He shouldn’t—Father valued his privacy more than anything, including his son’s attention—but he couldn’t help it. The brief glance he’d caught was just too weird.

Gabriel snapped to attention, his glasses jostling slightly as he tore his eyes away from the blinding lamp in the center of his desk.

“Adrien.” His candycane-striped tie dropped out of his mouth. The end of it was completely chewn off. Was—did he just swallow that? People couldn’t digest silk, could they? “You’re supposed to be practicing your Chinese.”

“I-I know, I just came down to ask Nathalie—nevermind.” It wasn’t like she or Father were likely to adjust his schedule so he could get ice cream with his friends, especially not when Father was doing… whatever he was doing. “Are you okay?”

“That is no concern of yours,” he snapped. Which wasn’t a yes. Was this some new kind of coping mechanism?

Not for the first time, Adrien wished Father would agree to go to therapy.

“Um… okay. I’ll just—go back to work.”

He dashed back up the stairs before Father could decide that his momentary break should be punished. But still, he couldn’t get the image of the half-chewed tie or Father’s wide-eyed, trancelike stare out of his head.

XXX

“Have you noticed Father acting weird?” He finally got up the nerve to ask Nathalie. “I mean, weirder than usual?”

“I am sure he is just busy as always, Adrien.”

Which was just as much of a brush-off as “that is no concern of yours.” Maybe he should’ve tried a less direct approach, but he couldn’t think of one.

“Has he… been working on a line of flavored fabrics?” He tested one of his wilder theories. It would explain why Father’s tie was patterned like a candy cane, at least. Even Adrien knew that wasn’t in style.

Nathalie raised an eyebrow. “What would give you that idea?”

Somehow he got the feeling that telling Nathalie what he’d seen wasn’t a good idea. But who else could help Father if he was struggling?

“Um… well, he seemed like he was… eating his tie? When I saw him yesterday.”

She sighed, and Adrien swore he heard something like “not again” muttered under her breath. Maybe that was why he usually kept it tucked inside his vest?

“Your Father has developed some… odd habits lately. But I can assure you it is nothing to worry about.”

Father had said the same thing before Mom disappeared. Adrien didn’t stop worrying.

XXX

“I don’t see what the big deal is. So your dad likes to chew on fabric, so what? Not everyone can have excellent taste like me.” Plagg swallowed another wedge of Camembert as if to prove it.

Adrien rolled his eyes and rolled over on the floor, soaking up the warmth of the sunset spilling in through his window.

“Maybe kwamis can eat all sorts of weird stuff, but humans can’t. I just don’t know if this is some kind of coping mechanism, or something. Maybe he’s been avoiding me because he’s acting weird and he doesn’t want anyone to find out.”

It would explain why Father only talked to him through his tablet, more often than not. Maybe he was just embarrassed. But he couldn’t go on like that forever, right? Even if Mom’s disappearance hurt, they were better off leaning on each other than staying apart.

“Hate to break it to you, but your dad’s already weird, kid. Eating ties is probably the best of his qualities.”

Adrien sighed. It wasn’t like Plagg could understand; he just put whatever he wanted in his mouth. Adrien himself could understand a little—ever since becoming Chat Noir, he sometimes had the urge to chew on cords, strings, even some plants. It was a little embarrassing, but he could usually control himself. Maybe if he shouldn’t though. If Father saw him doing it, maybe he’d feel less weird about it himself?

...Or he’d punish Adrien for ruining perfectly good headphone cords. Yeah, that was more likely.

Maybe it wasn’t a big deal, and he should just drop it, but he wanted to do something to help his Father.

“Get him something better to eat?” Plagg suggested when Adrien voiced the thought out loud. “A good aged swiss might do the trick. Just don’t give him my Camembert; he doesn’t deserve it.”

“You’re useless,” he huffed. Maybe the internet would have better advice.

“Eating fabric” just brought up a bunch of articles about sewing machine problems and disobedient pets. Not exactly helpful. But “How to stop my dad from eating fabric” didn’t seem like a useful search entry, either.

Plagg squirmed under his chin, looking up at the phone screen he held over his face. “You think it’s got something to do with bugs?” He asked, pointing to the one search result Adrien’s thumb had been half-covering.

“How to control bugs that eat clothes,” the article was titled. Adrien snorted.

“Unless Father is secretly some kind of moth—”

His jaw snapped shut. No, no, he was not going there again. It had been bad enough when Ladybug suggested it before, and besides, it wasn’t like Father’s actions were any kind of proof.

Even if he had also been staring directly into a lamp, entranced…

“Adrien? Kid, you don’t look so hot. What’s going on?”

He didn’t want to say it. It was stupid, anyway; Father had been akumatized before. He shuddered just remembering it.

But he wasn’t just Adrien Agreste, son of Gabriel Agreste. He was also Chat Noir, Hero of Paris. And it would be irresponsible to drop a lead just because he was scared.

“Do you think… would Hawkmoth have animal tendencies from his miraculous too?”

Plagg’s eyes went wide—wider than they always were, anyway. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Just tell me, Plagg.” He didn’t want to admit what he was saying at all—this was his father, and even if he could be restrictive and controlling, he wasn’t evil.

He was being ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

“Well… yeah. All miraculous users do. Nooroo’s holders have always been weirder though. They tend to be shut-ins. Couldn’t even bribe them out with my best brie.”

“So you haven’t been around a lot of past Hawkmoths?” It was both relieving and disappointing, but it made sense. If Plagg thought Father had the side-effects, he would’ve said something before now. Not that Plagg saw much of Father, considering Adrien didn’t see much of him…

“Nope. They sent out their champions to fight for them most of the time. Not like us who’ve gotta do the real work.”

Adrien snorted. “What work?”

“Hey, protecting you when you take a beating isn’t easy!” Plagg flicked his nose, and he laughed.

“Fair, I guess.” Adrien rolled over onto his stomach as his kwami zipped away. Probably grabbing some Camembert, or a stinky sock to snuggle under.

But to his surprise, Plagg didn’t come back with either of those things. Instead he was carrying something just as smelly—if not worse. A small, round white ball. He was pretty sure he’d seen ones like it in his sweater drawer.

Adrien sat up and covered his nose. “Is that a—mothball?”

“You’re still worried about your dad, right?”

He blinked. It was easy to forget that Plagg could be perceptive when he wanted to be. “I don’t see what mothballs have to do with this.”

“Really. You don’t see what mothballs have to do with telling if someone is Hawkmoth,” he deadpanned.

“You think I should see if Father is… you know… by seeing if he hates mothballs? Do you really think that will work? I thought Hawkmoth had the butterfly miraculous.”

“You’re the one who was worried about it.” Plagg shrugged. “And like I said, the butterfly miraculous is weird. Think there might’ve been something wrong with it even before it was used by a supervillain. Maybe Hawkmoth picked his name for a reason. Anyway, you won’t know unless you try it.”

As far as Plagg’s ideas went, it wasn’t too bad. It didn’t involve cheese, at least. And if Father wasn’t hiding anything, then he wouldn’t be bothered by it, right?

Adrien took the mothball from his kwami’s outstretched paws.

He was going to prove that his Father wasn’t Hawkmoth. And then he’d figure out what to do about the whole eating fabric situation.

XXX

When Nino told him he should push back against Father’s boundaries, Adrien was pretty sure this wasn’t what he meant. Anxiety prickled the hairs on the back of his neck as he paced in front of the bedroom door.

“Come on kid, don’t get cold feet now,” Plagg whispered.

“My feet aren’t cold. I have socks on.” Adrien frowned down at his red-and-black socks. They kept his footsteps quiet and gave him a little boost of confidence. Ladybug wouldn’t be afraid to peek in his father’s room.

“Let’s do it,” he said with newfound determination, and cracked open the door.

Hadn’t Father had a window in here at one point? The sunset should be streaming in right about now, but instead Adrien had to fumble in the pitch black for the lightswitch. When the room illuminated, he blinked in shock.

“Wow.” Plagg whistled. “Your dad is a few wedges short of a wheel for sure.”

That… that was one way to say it. Fabric was scattered across the floor in careless heaps. At one point Adrien would have blamed it on his designing, but if that were the case, the clothes wouldn’t look gnawed on.

“This is worse than I thought, Plagg.” Maybe it was a good thing his kwami had encouraged him to rebel after all. Father seriously needed help. Humans shouldn’t even be able to digest silk and wool! What if he got some kind of disease? What if he already had some kind of disease? That second option was more likely, considering… well, all this.

“So, you gonna drop those mothballs or not?”

“Right.” Adrien snapped out of his thoughts and began digging the white spheres out of his pockets. He’d have to bury them in the chewed up clothes so Father wouldn’t see them. But what if Father did notice? Was it really worth the risk just to ease his mind about Father being Hawkmoth?

...Yes, it was. Especially considering there was no proof Hawkmoth couldn’t akumatize himself. And Father had been the only lead Ladybug had ever had…

He shook his head. Just put the mothballs down, and he could prove his Father was innocent once and for all.

“Alright, let's get out of here. This place is creepy,” Plagg said when Adrien was done.

“I thought you would’ve liked the smell at least,” he tried to joke. Better that than actually thinking about what he was doing.

“I’ll take your stinky socks over this any day.”

Adrien crept out of the bedroom, hoping that this whole endeavor ended up being pointless.

XXX

Father had a cold.

That was what Nathalie said, anyway. Adrien had never actually seen Father sick before. Nothing could keep him away from his work, or from… whatever he did when he was busy ignoring Adrien.

But he heard him wheezing behind his bedroom door, so he really had some kind of illness.

...Or he was allergic to the mothballs. Plagg didn’t say it, but from the pinched look on his face every time Adrien passed by Father’s door, he was definitely thinking it.

“It has to be a coincidence,” Adrien told Plagg, who shrugged.

“Hey, don’t look at me. You’re the one who had the idea that your dad is Hawkmoth in the first place.”

“Technically that was Ladybug,” he mumbled, flopping back on his bed. “Maybe he just got sick from eating all that fabric.”

“Maybe. But didn’t Nathalie say he’s been doing that for a while?”

Dang it, Plagg was right there. It was just so surreal, thinking his father could actually be the supervillain he’d been fighting this whole time.

It was going to take more than therapy to fix this.

XXX

“You think he’s planning something?” Ladybug asked when they lay back on their usual rooftop at the end of their patrol route.

Adrien’s stomach twisted. There’d been no sign of an akuma for two weeks.

Father had been sick for two weeks.

Coincidence. Right?

“Maybe,” he mumbled, his tail twitching fitfully. Then he sat up and shook his head. “Actually, LB…”

“Yeah?” She sat up too, her gaze completely focused on him. While he normally loved to be the center of her attention, right now he wished he had nothing to say.

“Remember when you thought… well, when you thought Gabriel Agreste might be Hawkmoth?”

She startled. “Why are you bringing this up now?”

“Well, um… I got a tip from uh… Adrien. You know, Adrien Agreste?”

“Of course I know him, he’s—I-I mean, everyone knows Adrien, right?” For some reason, her face looked pink in the moonlight.

“Right, right. Anyway… he was telling me he was worried about his father, and it’s kind of a long story… but it seems like he might have some… moth tendencies.”

Ladybug blinked. It felt like a long shot, now that he said it out loud. Stupid. He was probably just overreacting.

“What kind of moth tendencies?” She asked, her voice carefully guarded.

“Eating fabric. Staring at bright lights. Being allergic to mothballs.”

“Mothballs?” She laughed. “Sorry, sorry, I believe you. It’s just—wow. And here I thought my wanting to eat bugs was weird.”

“You? Weird? Never,” he joked to relieve some tension. She believed him. She believed him, and that meant that he wasn’t just overreacting. Which meant his father could be Hawkmoth.

He swallowed, trying to hide the hole that seemed to open in the pit of his stomach.

“So… you want to investigate him? Even though he was akumatized?” Her mask furrowed around her brow, the way it tended to when she worked out her lucky charms.

“I don’t… I don’t know.” He sighed and shook his head. “It wouldn’t be easy. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“You—what?”

Oops. Probably shouldn’t have mentioned that.

“It’s no big deal. I just wanted to confirm some things for myself before taking Adrien’s word for it.”

“Adrien would never lie,” Ladybug was quick to say.

His lips quirked upward. “I’m sure he’d be flattered to know you trust him.”

Her accusation of Gabriel before couldn’t have been from any kind of animosity towards him, then. Unless it was animosity on his behalf? Did he know how much his father isolated him? No, she’d have no reason to look that closely behind his model smile.

“So… why did you think Hawkmoth was Mr. Agreste before?” He asked hesitantly. Before she’d said it was a secret, and he hadn’t pressed her, but it seemed an even more serious matter now. “We gave up the lead pretty fast last time.”

“Maybe too fast.” She grimaced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to be true anyway… and as for why I thought that… I found a book that I learned belonged to him. If he isn’t Hawkmoth, then it was my fault he became akumatized into the Collector.”

“No, it isn’t. It’s only ever Hawkmoth’s fault, you know that.” Adrien squeezed her shoulder, even as inwardly his mind was racing. Ladybug had found his father’s book when he’d lost it? How? She had been there when Lila had been talking about it; maybe she’d had to double back for some reason? “Wait—you’re telling me that book he was so attached to had something to do with Hawkmoth?”

Adrien had been the one with the book at first. The one she’d seen with it. Why did she trust him so much?

“Yes. Master Fu took pictures of it before I returned it so Adrien—anyway.” She waved her hands, as if all that wasn’t important, even though it definitely was. Father had never mentioned Ladybug returning his book! “Master Fu said the book was lost at the same time as the butterfly and peacock miraculouses. It’s not hard to assume they’d end up in the same place.”

Adrien was glad he wasn’t standing, because he probably would have fallen. “That’s… a pretty big lead.”

“It really is. I should have been more responsible about investigating. Less selfish.”

He had no idea what she meant by that, but the crushed look in her eyes prompted him not to ask.

“If this is true, Adrien’s going to be heartbroken,” she murmured, quietly enough he wasn’t sure he was meant to hear.

She was right about that. But there was no reason for her to feel bad because of it.

“Hey, he’s the one who gave me the tip, remember? Maybe it won’t be such a shock to him.”

Huh. He got all those words out with barely a crack to his voice. Maybe he was in shock.

“Maybe. But he’ll still be crushed. I don’t know if he has any other family, and his mom is gone. As awful as his father is, I just don’t know…” She trailed off, shaking her head.

“I don’t know either.”

He hadn’t thought about it. Any time his thoughts danced too close to the implications of his theory, they danced back just as quickly. He had to be brave. Ladybug was counting on him; Paris was counting on him. It didn’t matter if one scared boy lost his father.

“So what… what do we do now?” She asked, voice soft. “We need proof, but I don’t know how to get it.”

Plans were normally her area of expertise. If she didn’t know what to do…

“I don’t know. Get a big lamp and hope it attracts him?” He shouldn’t be joking right now, but it was the only thing distracting him from panicking.

(Nino’s family might take him in. Or there was always the Gorilla. He wasn’t alone, he wouldn’t be alone—)

“You know, that’s actually not a bad idea.”

“Wait, it’s—it’s not?” He blinked.

“No, it isn’t. You’re a clever kitty when you want to be.”

He blushed under her praise and fought off a purr. “Okay, so we draw him out with a big lamp. If Hawkmoth really does have the same kind of side-effects as us, then it should work regardless of whether or not he’s transformed, right?”

“Right. So the only question is how we get a lamp big enough to draw him out.” Her gaze drifted across the rooftops, to the top of the Le Grande Paris hotel. A smirk spread across her face.

“What are you thinking, Bugaboo?”

“I’m thinking I just answered that question.”

XXX

Gabriel jolted back into consciousness when his desk lamp winked out. Impossible—the mansion had its own generator, mostly to keep the city from learning of his underground lair.

The lair. Where Emilie was.

“Nooroo!” He snarled, spitting the end of his tie out as he did. Cursed side-effects; he could hardly go a day without chewing on the silk. At least he could hide the end of it under his vest, which he hadn’t taken off even while in bed. Better not to have Nathalie nagging him about his “habits” again.

“Yes, Master?” His kwami weakly flew out from under his pillow. Whatever illness Gabriel had contracted, Nooroo seemed to mirror. A disconcerting fact, considering how Duusuu and Emilie had felt before her… well.

But he couldn’t take off his miraculous. Not until his work was finished. Unfortunately, with the incessant itching and cough that had plagued him for two weeks, he hadn’t been able to sense much negative emotion beyond his own. He wasn’t sure that he could stand without wheezing and collapsing from dizziness.

That dizziness was clouding his mind already. What was he doing again?

“Emilie,” he rasped.

“What about her, Master?”

“Go see if… no. I need you with me. In case…”

He dissolved into a coughing fit. Nooroo, the pathetic creature, only looked on in sympathy.

“Master, you aren’t well. Perhaps if you removed my miraculous—”

“No!” he snapped, making the kwami flinch. “No. Let’s… investigate the power outage.”

Fire flared across his skin as he threw his legs over the side of the bed. Nooroo still hovered uselessly. It was tempting to transform, but if his sudden illness was related to the miraculous, that would only exacerbate his condition.

One step in front of the other. He would not be bested by this trifling inconvenience, not with Emilie on the line.

He stumbled through the door, bracing himself against the knob with an iron grip. The generator never felt so far away.

“Master, you really should…”

Be quiet! He would’ve shouted, but his voice was little more than a rasp now. Everything spun. Oh, if only Nathalie hadn’t gone home for the night!

Once he made it to the hallway, however, some of the fog cleared. His lungs didn’t feel quite so tight. But there was… something else. A glow that hadn’t been visible from his room. Through the window, like a beacon of warmth and light… Something that pushed against the darkness of his grief and rage…

His legs regained their strength the closer he grew to the light. It involved actually going out through his front door, but that wasn’t so bad, was it? It was near midnight, with barely a buzz of traffic, and… and the light. How could he possibly sense any negative emotions when staring into its blinding fluorescence?

Dully he realized he should be worried about that—he needed those negative emotions if he wanted to save his beloved Emilie—but it was difficult to think beyond navigating the narrow alleyways to follow the bright beacon. How was it still out of reach? He swore it had been just outside his window, a halo of light, with just a few shadows dancing within… shadows in the shape of… some kind of insect…?

Before he could discern the image now glowing against the brick wall, something wrapped around him from behind.

“Gotcha,” a girl’s voice hissed. The string binding him dug into his arms.

“It’s really him,” a boy breathed.

“Or he’s just crazy. We haven’t ruled that out yet.”

“Unhand me at once!” Gabriel shouted—tried to shout. His voice still hadn’t fully recovered. Nooroo was safely hidden in his jacket, and for a moment he considered transforming. Why had he gone out without a bodyguard? He’d made enough enemies even as a civilian; he should’ve known better, but that cursed light—the light that left spots in his eyes as a red-and-black arm reached down to unplug its source.

“Sorry, Mister Agreste. Not until we check you for any mysterious jewelry.”

The girl spun him around, and he came face-to-face with his archnemesis herself. It was difficult to keep the sneer off his face.

“Does the hero of Paris often accost civilians in the street?”

“Only when they show at least three signs of being Hawkbutt,” Chat Noir said from behind her. He wore a sterile smile, one that clashed with the bitter green of his glinting scleras.

Gabriel shuddered. He was just a child. Nothing to be afraid of, even with the power of destruction curled within his ink-black ring.

Even when he apparently knew Gabriel’s identity.

“I’ll be reporting this to the authorities,” he still threatened as he processed the scene. Ladybug and Chat Noir, confronting him in an alleyway with no witnesses. A now-dark spotlight he now recognized as Queen Bee’s signal. A red-and-black cord that must have been the hero’s Lucky Charm

They’d planned this. They knew.

Still, he clung to the hope that they wouldn’t find his miraculous. Not when it was hidden under—

Ladybug tugged his half-eaten tie out from his vest. “Wow, you weren’t kidding. This is...”

She trailed off as her eyes caught the shine of purple beneath the red and white silk. Beside her, Chat Noir froze.

“Nooroo, dark wings—!”

Chat Noir’s claw snagged the brooch before he could complete the phrase. Nooroo zipped back into the miraculous, and Gabriel swore he heard the kwami sigh in relief.

This was… not ideal.

“It is you.” Chat Noir’s hands shook—with rage? Gabriel wouldn’t begrudge him that. He instinctively moved to capitalize on that emotion before remembering he couldn’t akumatize anyone in his current state.

“Chat…?” Ladybug reached out to him, and he turned to bury himself in her arms.

Gabriel thought it might provide an opportunity to squirm free from Ladybug’s string, but her grip on her yo-yo was just as tight as her grip on her partner. He grit his teeth. Surely there was a way out of this! He couldn’t lose to two teenagers over—over chasing a spotlight!

“It’s okay. I’m here,” the girl was consoling him, though the useless hero had barely done anything besides some quick sleight of hand.

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s going to be okay.” He sniffled and smiled softly at her. Then his gaze sharpened to steel when he looked back at Gabriel.

“Come on, Father. I hope they have good therapy in jail.”

#fic tag #gabriel agreste has no rights #hawkmoth has no rights #miraculous ladybug #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #adrien agreste #plagg #ladybug #tali writes #crackfic #quality content #please dont take this too seriously lol

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crystalgirl259 · 3 years

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Wolves Of Secrets Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Lone Wolf

Dark was the night as the full moon shined over the great city of Ninjago. The cold, misty wind whistled through the city as the citizens went about their own business, either going home to be with their families for the rest of the evening or to their evening jobs. The city of Ninjago was built on the sunny side of a gentle mountain and was truly a beautiful place. Its grace was only matched by the backdrop of lush, green forests which have helped shape the ancient city to what it was today.

The city had a very clear Japan, Tokyo feeling too it.

The city's skyline was growing with stylish skyscrapers and they each represented the many different aspects of the sizeable city. Businesses were booming in Ninjago and it had attracted a lot of attention. A few new cultures had left their mark not just on education, but also upon the city's identity. What historically was a city of predictability has grown into a new culture of variety and it's this that united the nearly 6 million people to this day.

It's this multicultural identity that had truly left its mark.

Hundreds of gastropubs, bakeries, and clubs offer a plethora of culinary choices. Those who felt hungry for something else could enjoy art galleries, musical activities, photography, or one of the many other recreational activities. Just outside the main city area, right on the edge of the dark forest, stood a large, lone house. In this house was a very special family. From the outside, this house looked cosy. It had been built many, many years ago with white bricks and had spruce wooden decorations.

Small, half-rounded windows added to the overall style of the house and had been added to the house in a fairly asymmetrical pattern.

The house was equipped with a large kitchen, two bathrooms, and three bedrooms. It also had a large living room, four bedrooms, a roomy dining room, a garage, and a large basement. The roof was high and slanted to one side and was covered with black ceramic tiles with a small chimney. Many smaller windows let in plenty of light to the rooms below the roof. The house itself was surrounded by quite a modest garden, with mostly grass, a few colourful flower patches, and a small shed at the other end of the garden.

Inside the house, a young teenage boy sat on the couch, eating popcorn and watching a movie.

This was Lloyd Garmadon. He had long, blonde tousled hair, and brown arched eyebrows with bright emerald green eyes that many people would state could sometimes glow in the dark. He wore a dark green jacket with a white t-shirt and black pants and black and dark green sneakers. As the clock was about to strike midnight, Lloyd was about to turn the boring movie off when suddenly with was a rustling sound outside. Fearing the worst, he quickly switched off the TV, grabbed his coat, and ran outside.

As soon as he stepped out into the cold night, however, instead of the rustling he had heard mere seconds before, all he could hear was an owl hooting nearby and the wind howling through the trees.

He was about to go back inside when all of a sudden he heard a loud crash from the other side of the house. He quickly ran towards the sound and was shocked by what he saw. He saw a full-grown, grey timber wolf sniffing around some turned over trash cans, snacking at the rancid chicken meat. He looked to the steel doors to the basement and was horrified to see another wolf attempting to jump out. As soon as the grey wolf sensed him, it slowing turned around to face the teen with a low growl, baring its sharp teeth.

Lloyd, however, was completely unfazed by this and he simply stood up straight.

"Get back inside!" He roared, startling the wolf for a second before it crouched down and started snarling louder. Instead of running away, however, Lloyd simply lowered onto his knees and bared his blunt teeth at the wolf. His emerald green eyes suddenly turned to a stunning gold that shined in the dark. The teen and the wolf snarled at each other as Lloyd slowly crawled forward, making the wolf back up. The grey wolf suddenly yelped as it fell back into the dark cellar.

Lloyd's eyes returned to their normal color as he stood up and looked into the dark pit.

Suddenly one of the wolves jumped up and bit into his thick coat's sleeve, ripping it off as the wolf fell back down. Not missing a beat, Lloyd quickly closed and locked the cellar doors, looking at the full moon as the wolves muffled howls sounding into the night...

****************

The next morning, as the rain came pouring down, Lloyd quickly got dressed and ran down to the cellar. He loudly slid the iron door open and stepped inside where he saw his mother Misako and his uncle Wu slowly getting to their feet as the finished getting dressed. His mother had ash grey hair braid into a ponytail with a snowy white streak and pale green eyes. She wore a pale khaki utility jacket with dark brown pants and a short, dark green scarf.

Wu was an elderly man with a long white beard.

He was wearing white robes and a conical straw hat. They both yawned and stretched as Lloyd glared daggers at them.

"I think that chicken was off." Misako gagged as she clutched her stomach.

"I can't believe you two." Lloyd glared Breaking out and raiding the bins."

"Oh, Lloyd!" She cried as she rushed forward and examined his arm. "I am so sorry! I didn't break the skin, did I?! Does it need stitches?!" She panicked, but he pulled his arm away from him.

"You always say how I have to stay hidden from humans and never give in to our wolves." He growled as they walked back upstairs to the kitchen. "Yet the moment you get a chance, you're out of the cellar and away!"

"You don't understand how powerful the pull of the full moon is," Wu explained. "When you're old enough to take wolf form-"

"I won't be a hypocrite, who says stay hidden and then breaks out at the first whiff of food!" He replied and turned to his mother with a slightly disgusted look. "And that chicken..."

"Actually, your mother's not the only one who's been eating things she shouldn't, is she?" Wu frowned as he opened the trash can to reveal the leftover popcorn.

"Yes, and you were still dressed when you came outside, young man." Smiled Misako when her son froze. "Didn't we agree in bed at 10 on school nights?"

"I'm going to miss the bus." He quickly said and ran for the front door. When he made to grab his coat, however, he let out a long sighed when he saw the missing sleeve...

****************

Lloyd blushed furiously as he kept his eyes on the school floor as the other students stared and laughed at his soaked clothes. He let out a small growl as he shivered; his mother owed him a new coat.

"Hey, Lloyd!" A voice called out and he looked up to see his friends Zane Jullien, Jay Walker, Kai Smith, Nya Smith, and Cole Brookstone stood by their lockers, waiting for him.

Jay reddish-brown curly hair with brown eyebrows and light freckles with dark blue eyes. He wore a blue jacket with a white stripe over a white t-shirt and blue pants with an orange wooly scarf.

Zane had platinum blonde, almost white, hair that stood up straight in something like a crew cut and bright icy blue eyes. He wore white pants and shoes with a long-sleeved, cyan blue shirt under a navy blue knitted vest.

Kai had tall, thick spiky brown hair, shaped like fire and bright amber eyes that shined like burning embers. He had a focused expression on his face, with a scar visible on his right eyebrow and bandage above his left. He wore a red half-zipped-up jacket over a white shirt with some kind of Japanese symbol on the back of the jacket and brown pants.

Nya was Kai's younger sister who had long black hair kept in a ponytail, pale pink lipstick, small dimples on her cheeks with dark brown eyes, and she had a beauty mark on her right cheek. She was wearing a leather jacket over a white shirt with blue stripes and dark blue torn jeans.

Cole had a very muscular body, being the strongest kid in the whole school, with long, shaggy black hair and bushy eyebrows with very dark green eyes that reminded Lloyd of cold emerald stones. He wore a black leather jacket and pants with a dark brown tank top and black heavy-duty boots.

Lloyd smiled as he walked over to them. They were the only people who could possibly understand the struggles he faced every day as a teenage werewolf; because so were they. Well... sort of anyway. Only he and Nya had yet to transform on a full moon, but they knew it could happen any month now and they were both nervous and excited.

"What happened to you?" Jay asked when they saw he was dripping water into the hallways.

"My coat got eaten by werewolves." He deadpanned.

"Don't you start too." Kai groaned.

"We've already had this from... Oh, Pixel!" Nya suddenly smiled as the said girl walked over to them. Pixel had pale, almost white, skin with wide lips and bright green eyes. Her hair was styled like Nya's and was a very light platinum blonde. She had a purple dress with red details and an opening in her left arm that showed a part of her chest, and red heels. Lloyd simply smiled and rolled his eyes. Pixel Borg was the only one in their friend group that wasn't a werewolf.

She was a very good friend to them, mostly to Zane, since childhood and it hurt them they couldn't share their secret with her.

"Did you hear last night in the forest?" She asked with a big smile on her face, but they all shrugged. "Howling." She replied and they froze as she pulled out her cell phone. "Here, look what I found on Carper's Lane this morning." She explained as she showed them a picture of a paw print in the mud. "I'm going to compare it to paw-print photos of different dogs."

"What, every type of dog?" Cole scoffed.

"This is proof." She insisted. "Proof that there's something weird over there in the forest."

"Pix, if your father found out that you snuck off into the forest in the middle of the night again he wouldn't be too pleased," Zane warned.

"If I can prove there is some kind of undiscovered creature in the forest then that alone would guarantee my scholarship into Horizon Academy."

"You know your father could pull some strings and get you in there no problem." Jay pointed out.

"I know, but I want to earn my spot and my father understands and respects that." She explained.

"Hey, Pixel!" One of the cheerleaders, Maggie, suddenly called out. "I saw something weird in the forest, you!"

"Haven't you got hair-curlers to play with or something?" Nya snapped before she and her friends quickly walked away.

"I really need to start my research, I'll catch up with you all later." Pixel smiled before she made a beeline for the library; as soon as she was out of sight, Nya suddenly grabbed the boys and shoved them into a nearby janitor's closet.

"Alright, who was it?" She glared.

"Wasn't me!" Jay exclaimed fearfully and the rest quickly denied it as well. Lloyd eyed each of them carefully. It could only have been Cole, Kai, or Zane; they were the only ones who spent the full moon on Zane's father's property deep in the forest. Since she couldn't transform yet Nya stayed in their apartment in the city and Jay spent it on her parents' junkyard on the other side of the city. The only problem was that Dr. Jullien's home was far from where Pixel said she found the paw prints.

He also knew the guys wouldn't go near the city, full moon or not.

"Maybe it wasn't one of us," Lloyd suggested. "My mom managed to get out the cellar last night and when I got them back in they started howling, and that paw print could have come from a normal dog."

"I suppose." She sighed when the bell suddenly rang; the group sighed as they made their way to their first classes. Lloyd quickly ran to his locker to get some of his textbooks when he suddenly caught the scent of something odd. It was a new scent, meaning whoever it belonged to was here very recently. He was about to follow the scent when he walked right into one of his teachers, Miss Koko. She had bright orange hair with amber eyes.

She wore orange lipstick and a pale brown suit.

"Lloyd, what are you doing? It's time for class." She ordered and Lloyd quickly scurried to his first class, making a mental note to investigate the scent later...

****************

As soon as Lloyd ran into the classroom he immediately took his seat next to Jay. This was one of the few classes he and all his friends had together. As soon as he took his seat a teacher he hadn't seen before walked in with a big smile on his face.

She had greying brown hair tied in a bun and a dark blue dress.

"Welcome aboard students! My name is Ms. Laudita and I'm your new Social Studies teacher," She smiled as a student stepped into the room. "Everyone! This is Morro Ren, he's new here so I hope you'll all make sure he feels welcome." She explained and Lloyd was suddenly hit with the same smell from before. He looked up and saw the new kid eyeing them all cautiously. Lloyd quickly looked to the others and saw they had realized the same thing as him.

Morro Ren possessed long jet black hair with a dark green streak dyed in it and dark brown eyes.

He was wearing a pale green shirt with torn brown pants and black boots. As he moved to take a seat at the back of the class, he and Lloyd glared each other down without a word. The class continued as normal until the bell rang and Morro all but ran out, Lloyd and the others following close behind. As soon as Morro stepped into an empty stairwell Kai and Cole blocked his path.

"What are you doing here?" Nya growled.

"What?" The new kid asked, confusion clear on his face. "I'm looking for-

"No, here! On our territory!" Jay exclaimed.

"Do you not know the rules?" Zane asked.

"You can't stay here." Kai huffed.

"If my mom and uncle get a sniff of you-"

"I don't even know you!" Morro snapped as he took deep breaths.

"Exactly!" Lloyd exclaimed in frustration.

"I don't care whose territory this is; I'm not sticking around anyway, and why would I in this dump?" He sarcastically asked. "No smelly brats tell me whether to stay or go." He stated before shoving passed Kai and Cole and running down the stairs...

****************

Later that day everyone was sat at their usual table in the cafeteria, enjoying their lunches. When Pixel and Dareth had joined them, Zane had explained what had happened with Morro when Pixel asked why they were all in a sour mood; leaving out some key details of course.

"We're not smelly!" Cole hissed angrily as he devoured a large slice of cake.

"Well, except for Jay." Kai shrugged absently, getting a hurt cry from the said boy and a kick from Nya.

"You did kind of start it." Pointed out Pixel.

"No, we didn't." Nya defended.

"Someone must know something about him or his family." Suggested Zane. "Seen moving vans, something." He added as a member of Kai's soccer team, Chad, walked over to their table.

"Hey, Kai, are you going to ask the new kid to try out?" He asked though it sounded more like an order.

"I don't think he's the right sort for the team." He replied, keeping his eyes on his food.

"Fine, I'll ask." Chad huffed and walked over to Morro's empty table.

"Wait." Cole gasped but it was too late.

"Relax guys, he won't bite." Pixel frowned at their behavior and the group shared nervous looks. They turned back to Chad and Morro when the new kid suddenly got up and right into a startled Chad's face.

"I don't like soccer and I don't want to hang around with you and your weirdo friend! You got that?!" He roared, sending a pointed look at Kai and everyone sat at the table.

"Obviously, they don't teach manners where he's from." Nya glared as Chad speed walked over to them on shaking legs.

"Next time, you need to approach the weird kid." He hissed to Kai as the cheerleaders suddenly pushed passed them and over to Morro's table, completely looking over the way he had just spoken to Chad. Before the new kid could escape, a blonde cheerleader named Harumi Jade took a seat next to him and practically curled around his arm, much to his disgust. Harumi had long white hair with long bangs fashioned in a bun with chopsticks.

She wore a green jacket with matching pants, a white shirt with red lotus flowers, and full lips painted red.

"Hey cutie, since you've only just got here the principle thought it would be a good idea for someone to show you around, and we know everything about this school; all the best clubs and people to hang out with." She explained as she flashed him a big smile.

"Those weird kids, who're they?" He asked as he pointed over to Lloyd's table, where they were still watching him.

"Oh, that's just Lloyd Garmaddon, Pixel Borg, Zane Jullien, Jay Walker, Kai Smith, Nya Smith, and Cole Brookstone." One of the cheerleaders happily said, only to cower away at Harumi's glare.

"Their families have lived here for centuries." She quickly dismissed. "Never leave the area, don't like strangers or questions."

"They're all cuckoo!" Another cheerleader added.

"What are we talking about them for? Let's talk about you." Harumi smiled as she leaned closer, only to gasp when Morro suddenly stood up, grabbed his bag, and stormed off, leaving a furious Harumi and a dumbfounded Lloyd behind...

****************

After an awkward lunch, with Harumi and Chad and their groups giving them the stink eye, Lloyd and the others finally had had enough and went to their lockers to get their stuff for their next class.

"Are you guys joining us on Miss Jinro's forest stakeout?" Zane asked hopefully.

"It's open to anyone but is part of the ninth grade syllabus so all freshmen have to go," Pixel added with a smile. The others just rolled their eyes and chuckled, only to stop when Cole suddenly froze right in front of them. They looked over the taller teen's shoulder and were irritated to see Morro looking through his own locker from something.

That wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for the fact that his locker was right next to theirs.

Before they could do anything, however, Chad and his gang pushed them and 'accidentally' knocked into Morro, causing him to drop his bag and pieces of vegetables to come flying out. To say he was still sore about what Morro did in the cafeteria was an understatement.

"I thought I smelled something funny," Chad smirked as his gang laughed. "Is that your snack, freak?"

"Piss off," Morro growled. Unfortunately, this only made Chad angrier as he marched over to the new kid and violently shoved him into the lockers.

"Got a problem?!" He challenged, failing to see the veins on Morro's hands darkening as he bared his teeth. Before anyone could even blink, Morro suddenly jumped up, almost as high as the lockers, and pounced on the bully, sending them both to the ground. Feeling their stomachs dropping, Lloyd and his friends didn't miss a beat as they ran to stop the fight before any serious damage was done.

Kai and Cole managed to rip a snarling Morro off Chad while Pixel and Jay checked on the jock to make sure he was uninjured.

Quickly, Nya and Lloyd pushed the new kid into an empty art classroom just as Miss. Koko burst through the crowd of onlookers.

"What on Earth is going on here?" She glared as Zane, Cole, and Kai leaned against the door to the classroom, and Jay and Pixel helped Chad to his feet. Meanwhile, in the classroom, Nya and Lloyd mirrored their friends leaning against the door as Morro curled up on the ground, gasping for breath.

"What are you doing?" He cried out between breaths. "Get out!"

"Just breathe." Lloyd tried to reassure but Morro started growling as he backed further away.

"You have to get out!" He screamed as the veins in his face and neck started turning dark and his brown eyes turning a stunning yellow. Realizing it was too late now, Morro slowly looked up at them with a defeated look in his eyes. "I'm so sorry." He whimpered before he erupted into growls. Nya and Lloyd could only watch as his body shrunk and rearranged itself.

His clothes fell off his body as his skin was replaced with thick dark brown fur.

His face stretched out into a muzzle as his blunt human teeth sharpened. Once it was over, Morro slowly stood back up, but instead of a human, a full-grown timber wolf looked back at them. He snarled at the two teenagers before he suddenly started running around the room and on the tables, knocking several art supplies onto the floor.

"Morro!" Nya shouted and the wolf jumped down and snarled at them again.

Slowly, both teens knelt down to the floor with their heads down; when they did raise their heads they revealed their own bright yellow eyes, causing the wolf to freeze. He stared at them for a few moments before relaxing and lying down on the floor. Unfortunately, things weren't going so well outside the classroom for the others.

"He's crazy!" Chad cried as he finished telling his side of the story to Koko.

"You started it!" Pixel exclaimed.

"And where is Morro?" She asked but everyone just shrugged and looked around, still leaning against the door. "I'll catch up with him later; you two, follow me." She sighed as she led Pixel, Chad, and his group away. The friends waited until the crowd of students finally disappeared before they quickly ran into the classroom; only to find a human Morro putting his shirt on as Nya and Lloyd picked up all the items he had knocked over.

"I knew there was something about you guys." Morro smiled like a child on Christmas Day. "It's true, isn't it? You're all like me!"

"We're not like you!" Cole quickly said, a look of rage on his face, causing Morro's smile to drop.

"Yeah, we don't show off and pick fights and invades other packs' territory." Kai hissed.

"You're a danger to us all and the sooner you leave, the better," Nya added when all of a sudden the door to the classroom opened and one of the teachers walked in, only to freeze when he saw the state of the classroom.

"What happened here?" The teacher asked in shock. Morro simply huffed in annoyance as he pushed passed the stunned teacher and stormed down the hall and out of sight. They just let him go. Lloyd wanted to chase after him but he knew the others were right; Morro didn't belong here...

****************

After school, the gang went to their favorite hangout, the Yin & Yang Bistro, to gather their thoughts. They would have gone to Wu's tea shop, Steep Wisdom, but they didn't want Lloyd's uncle to listen in on their conversation. Alas, instead of a quiet place for them to discuss what they had witnessed as they had hoped, the gang had to watch as Miss Jinro's forest stakeout class met at the cafe to prepare.

"Apologies, students." She sighed as the class started to get impatient. "We're waiting for the last few stragglers to show and then we go."

"Ya've got five more minutes unless yer buying somethin'" The cafe owner, Mr. Burke, grumbled from the counter.

"I still think we should tell someone, you know," Jay whispered.

"Yeah, let's tell Mom and Uncle Wu that a strange werewolf just showed up at our school and trashed a classroom after trying to attack a student." Lloyd laughed bitterly.

"To be fair who hasn't wanted to kick Chad's ass." Kai snicked, only to yelp when his sister kicked him under the table.

"This isn't a joke Kai." She hissed as Pixel and Zane walked over to them.

"Are you coming to the forest walk too?" Zane kindly asked.

"Pass," Cole said as the rest scrambled for excuses. Just when they thought their day couldn't get any worse, however, Harumi and her army of cheerleaders suddenly walked in and scanned the room.

"Hey, Burke, has Morro been here?" She asked sweetly.

"Who?"

"He's this tall and dreamy and he beat the crap out of Chad."

"Ah, the Dobsons' new foster kid." Burke laughed and the gang paled.

"M-Morro's in foster care?" Zane asked.

"Yeah, must have been a bad boy ta get moved all tha way up here for a fresh start."

"He's an orphan?" Cole gasped as a look of shame on his face, hard with the others.

"Most foster children have parents somewhere." Pixel stated. "He was probably moved up by Social Services so he to get away from them." She added and Lloyd's stomach dropped in horror. Morro was probably all alone in the world, stuck in a strange place, with no-one to turn to; trying to make it in the world all alone and he and when he does meet another one of his own kind they reject him. Before anyone could say another word, Lloyd, Cole, Jay, and Kai ran out of the bistro, leaving everyone in a stunned and confused silence...

****************

The four teenage boys spent the better part of half an hour tracking the new kid all over the entire city until they followed his scent to the forest at the edge of the city. The giant forest was tremendous, gloomy, and lush. Its canopy was ruled by willow, oak, walnut, and cottonwood, who let through enough dancing beams of sunshine for a hodgepodge of sprouts to rule the insect riddled soils below. Many people were too scared to enter.

Only nature lovers, hikers, and the occasional dog walker ever went in the forest.

Coiling branches clung to many a tree, and a potpourri of flowers, which desperately tried to avoid the shadows, spruced up the otherwise homogeneous scenery. A mixture of beastly sounds, most belonged to foraging animals, added life to the forest, and were out of sync with the sound of the wind blowing gently through the forest. Many normal humans had gotten lost in the dense green world, but Lloyd and the others knew this place like the back of their hands.

They decided to split up, hoping to cover more ground.

Jay and Lloyd went to search closer to the road while Cole and Kai went deeper into the forest. As they walked along the empty road, Lloyd suddenly grabbed his friend's arm and pointed further up the road where they saw Morro Ren walking along the edge of the road, his head down. They knew must have smelled or heard them, so he was simply ignoring them.

"Morro!" Lloyd shouted as they ran to catch up to him.

"Don't worry, I'm out of here." He growled, still looking at his feet as he picked up the pace.

"Please don't! We're sorry, don't go, we can help you." Jay pleaded.

"Help?" He scoffed. "I've had help; counseling and other stupid shit."

"You need to learn to control your wolf self before someone gets hurt... probably you," Lloyd explained, only for them both to jump when Morro suddenly turned around and glared daggers at them

"You're just like the rest of them!" He snarled.

"We know about the Dobsons," Jay replied in a trembling voice. "We know you're alone."

"So?"

"We're like you, you saw that." Lloyd tried to reassure, only for the new kid to shove them away.

"You might like me, you think the same as them!" He snapped. "You're just trying to make me better; but, you know what? What I am, what I turn into, that is way better!" He roared with a big grin on his face. "It's better than anything I've ever known and I'm not letting anyone take that away from me!"

"We're not gonna let you do this," Lloyd warned.

"Go ahead, stop me!" He jeered with a cruel laugh. "Use your wolfy powers and see how long it takes for someone to find out what you are; because no one at school knows your little secret, do they?" He asked and they looked away, their thoughts drifting to Pixel for a brief second. "I thought not; I've got nothing to lose here, unlike you." He smirked before taking off into the forest at full speed.

"Hey!" Jay cried as they chased after him.

"Stop!" Lloyd called as he disappeared into the trees. If they hadn't been werewolves Lloyd and Jay might have lost him, if not for their incredible sense of smell, or Morro's cheap cologne. They quickly tracked him down and before the smug kid could even blink he was tackled by them both. They all cried out and grunted as they rolled down the hill and crashed into the dirt trail. After they managed to untangle themselves, Lloyd was shocked to see Pixel and Zane standing in the middle of the trail with Miss Jinro's forest stakeout class.

Seconds later Kai and Cole came running over the hill and into the awkward tension.

"Sorry, we're late, everyone." Kai weakly chuckled. "Seen any squirrels yet?"

"No, you lot have scared off every animal for miles." Miss Jinro glared before turning to the group of students. "I'm sorry, everyone, we'll have to come back another day." She sighed as they walked away, leaving the gang, Pixel, and Morro alone. As soon as the teacher and class were gone, Pixel glared and advanced towards the group of boys.

"Well done, guys! This was something important to me and Zane." She snapped.

"There's something important we have to do." Cole tried to explain.

"Like what?"

"Morro is more important than any club." Lloyd glared. "The thing is... Morro and I... are related?" He quickly lied, shocking everyone. "Distant cousins; he's the black sheep of the family, and I didn't want him here, so I treated him badly, which is why he lashed out and trashed the classroom."

"We don't have to be best friends, but Morro's here now," Zane added.

"OK." Jay smiled.

"Sure." Pixel sighed.

"Welcome to Ninjago." Cole smiled as he gave the new kid a firm handshake.

"You really don't like soccer?" Kai suddenly asked. Everyone stared at him for a few seconds before they all burst out laughing, Morro included...

****************

Later that evening, as the sun was starting to set, casting it's beautiful orange and shadows among the forest, instead of going home with Zane and Pixel, Lloyd and the others stayed in the forest to have a talk with Morro. There were things they needed to sort out.

"So... where you from?" Kai asked.

"My parents used to live in Stiix; they... they died when I was two," Morro mumbled, his eyes fixed at the rustling branches of the trees.

"And nobody knows what you are?" Cole asked in shock and awe when he shook his head.

"So, what did you do for the full moon last night?" Jay asked.

"I couldn't stay in my bedroom, could I?" He scoffed. "I climbed out of my window and made for the forests."

"So it was your paw-print that Pixel found!" Lloyd gasped; none of them would have been nieve enough walk so close to the city in wolf form.

"Was it your first full moon change?" Asked Cole sympathetically, knowing how scared he was for his first full moon transformation.

"Second." He replied. "The first got me kicked out of my last foster home."

"What happened?" Jay asked.

"Don't know." He shrugged. "I went to bed and woke up in a ditch naked; turns out I trashed my bedroom, so they kicked me out." He mumbled before clearing his throat and straightening up. "Anyway, what about you? I mean, full moons must be epic out here."

"Yeah, they're pretty cool." Cole shrugged.

"Well, I and Nya haven't started transforming yet." Lloyd sighed.

"So, I know more about this stuff than you do?" He laughed.

"Yeah, you're the expert." Kai laughed. "That's why you lost it with Chad in front of half the school."

"I didn't know that could happen." Morro glared. "I only thought werewolves went hairy at the full moon."

"We feel the urge to change when we feel threatened or angry too," Jay explained. "Learn to control it, and you can transform whenever you want."

"How do you know all this stuff?"

"Our parents tell us." Kai shrugged and Morro's eyes grew to the size of saucers.

"You have parents like us?" He cried.

"Well, sort of." Lloyd winced and turned the others, who all gave their nods of approval. "I live with my Mom and uncle who are like us, Kai lives his sister and his parents are werewolves too but they're usually out of town on business, Cole lives with his dad but Lou's human, Zane lives with his dad who's one of us and Jay lives with his parents, but they're both humans."

"I'm adopted but they know what I am and they don't care." Jay quickly added when he saw Morro's confused look.

"We were all born this way, you're normal." Lloyd smiled. "Everything you thought made you a freak: sight, hearing, speed, sense of smell, they're all completely normal for a werewolf; if you stay you'd have a pack, at last, people to teach you."

"So, say I did stick around, only for a bit, no promises." He quickly said when he saw the hopeful looks on their faces. "No rules, no lectures, you can keep your group hugs and your big, furry family, I'll do things my way."

"A lone wolf, huh?" Kai smirked. "I think you and I are gonna get on great."

"Next time you lose control over your wolf self, what happens then?" Cole asked.

"Well, that'll be an interesting day, won't it?" Morro smirked as he got up and walked away. Lloyd and the others shared a nervous look, worrying about what the new day would bring...

#ninjago #ninjago fanfiction #ninjago kai #ninjago nya #ninjago lloyd #ninjago zane #ninjago cole #ninjago morro #sensei wu #werewolves

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spellmanmortuary · 4 years

Note

To be fair Miner is a typical Halloween costume, Nick dresses like a normal person, don’t know how you can find Caliban’s clothes unless it’s the pac sun looking shirt. At least Part 4 can deliver Jock Nick and Cheerleader Sabrina costumes.

ok this ask made me crack open my computer so it should tell u how much i care abt fashion

but basically !! no one is wearing the miner look. the harvey costumes are the plaid shirt, the jeans and the sneakers with the boy next door hair + the brown leather jacket. so basically the look he’s had throughout the show’s run.

the problem is that nick and caliban don’t have noteworthy style. harvey’s isn’t exactly noteworthy or groundbreaking, but, it’s identifiable and he has a signature look going. like if you prop any dude dressed in the plaid + jeans + jacket combo next to a girl dressed as sabrina, you’ll know it’s harvey.

however: the other guys don’t have this kind of signature style.

take nick. in p1 his style ? mess. he had this schoolboy thing going ? like he was wearing the white button up shirt with the sweater and they had him wear that in the promo material for some strange reason. but then in p2 they found his groove and had him in the dark turtlenecks and all black outfits, which were honestly ?? great. but then for p3 the style said 😌 it was nice to meet u 😌 and they had a weird regression where they started putting him in the ill fitting jeans with boots but occasionally in the white shirts again ?? and like in my opinion his style throughout the 3 parts has been kind of inconsistent to the point where the Nick Scratch Signature Look is just. him shirtless in dark pants. which again, might be great for like character development ( which i’m not sure of either lmao ) but it isn’t great when you’re trying to build a costume.

as for caliban ? missed potential tbh. like i get that they had to have him in the whole hell attire but couldn’t they make it a bit more fashionable ?? like. even beelzebub has that great fun flesh crown and he has those fur coats that he wears with skull belts and stuff. i think that what went wrong with calibans lack of ~iconic style-ness~ is that they put him in this ugly ass vest without a shirt for most of p3. and his style was not cohesive at ALL. like. we had the vest thing and then we got this amazing romantic novel prince moment but then we got this 70′s looking ensemble that looks like it could have been worn by logan lerman in hunters. so tell me, caos wardrobe department, what is caliban’s style ?

in my opinion, it was wasted potential lol. like look at the fashion warlocks wear in ahs: apocalypse !!! i think that the show and even nick’s character could have been a lot more stylish if they had given him the same style he had in the first two parts for the third one, but in colors that went from dark to clear. like i know the show loves the 60s so why did we never get a short sleeved turtleneck moment ? we know gavin would’ve looked really good in one of those. we could have gotten a preppy striped cardigan with a black tshirt underneath. we could have gotten long black coats and blazers in interesting cuts. we could have gotten a tie moment. but no.... ill fitting jeans we know he’s short you don’t have to spell it out for us with those jeans that looked like he took them from harvey but had to fold the legs so they would fit him.

i love ambrose’s style but like it could have been a lot more fun and iconic. if they loved the psychdellic 70s menswear for him they could have leaned into it more and given him corduroy vests with funky print shirts/bellbottoms/funky colored blazers and big collars.

for caliban they could have given him a much more regal signature look, which would have made sense because he wanted the crown so bad it was natural that he would want to look the part. they could have given him a campy ass wardrobe with like. over the top embroidered shirts/some bejeweling/some faux fur and like. an actual hair look bc that just looks like sam combed his hair and showed up to set. some guyliner even.

because look, it doesn’t matter if they dress like regular people because if the character has great style that looks recognizable, people will want to dress up as them, like the euphoria characters, or buffy the vampire slayer, or even sabrina herself. sabrina has a ton of signature, identifiable looks and moments despite the wardrobe departments’ best efforts so people want to dress up as her. she looks cute, she looks fun, it works if you want to make it sexy or spooky or conservative or a combination of the three. you can pick the plaid skirt + turtleneck, the red peacoat, the cheer uniform or if you want to go all out, you can do the whole I AM THE DARK LORD’S SWORD thing. you can wear the red off the shoulder top from the promos or the black queen of hell dress. same goes for the weird sister’s dresses. they’re cute, relatively easy to copy, and they can be as fun and flirty as u wanna make them.

to be honest, to me the problem is that the style in caos is.... a bit messy. it’s confusing because characters look like they all came from different eras and their styles ( except ambrose, who stays pretty on brand with the 70s ) blend together in the most boring, print crazy, muted tones ( which. why??? they’re teenagers why are they always wearing autumnal colors ), sometimes they put the actors in things that are unflattering to their body types like sabrina’s valentine’s day ruched red dress atrocity that shit belongs to in a middle school spring fling dance or nick’s weird carnival canadian tux, and sometimes they mix eras? like with sabrina’s style, which inexplicably jumps from 60s to 70s but nothing she wears looks like what her aunts would have worn at her age so where and how did she even get those ?? were those like... her mom’s ?? if they were, why has the connection never been made ? it could have been great for emotional depth.

but anyway, the characters that we see on halloween or at comic cons are usually the weird sisters ( specifically prudence ), hilda, zelda, lilith, harvey, sabrina, and occasionally ambrose. this is most likely due to the fact that they have the more signature, noteworthy, recognizable clothes. the weird sisters have that one signature look and they ROCK it, hilda and zelda both dress like different kinds of stereotypical witches with identifiable hairstyles and are a fun friends/sisters costume, and lilith had that MOMENT with the demon face. harvey’s style is cute and consistent and pretty much timeless, maybe sometimes 90s inspired-ish. sabrina has an identifiable look with the hairstyle even if that wig is awful.

so yeah, that was my long way of saying that the reason why people aren’t dressing up as nick or caliban even if theyre in a couples costume with a sabrina is because those two have unidentifiable, non cohesive style.

caos could have been a fashion show.... could’ve brought 60′s/70′s inspo in fashion back... but for some reason it didnt rlly do that lol

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myownworldstayout · 5 years

Text

New Friends Ch. 12

Ch.1 / Ch.11 / Ch.13

(Are you ready for more fluff?? you’re gonna get more fluff.) (also, It’s long so warning lol)

“Marinette, I love these dresses!” Aurore sang, twirling around in a sleeveless purple dress, which stopped short just above her knees.

“The casual outfits are quite nice as well.” Kagami complimented, studying her black, ripped jeans and rose red top, matching her black boots.

Marinette blushed slightly at the praise, though it was hardly noticeable since she was still fiddling with another outfit on one of the manikins.

“Thank you so much! I figured you guys would like those.”

“I still can’t believe you made these.” Wayhem commented, picking at the collar of his bright green, short sleeved shirt.

“Do the jeans fit okay?” She asked, turning to get a good look at the three.

Wayhem grinned. “They’re perfect.”

Marinette smiled brightly, nodding with satisfaction as she focused on the manikin again.

“It’s a shame Felix couldn’t come to your house with us. He’s missing out on some great fashion.” Aurore giggled, sitting down on the chaise and smoothing out her dress.

“Actually, I already gave him an outfit. He’s gonna meet us at the concert.”

Aurore sat up. “Really?”

“Yep!”

During lunch period that morning, Luka invited them to go to Kitty Section’s concert. They were holding it in the square this time, and the crowd was hopefully going to be big. Aurore and Wayhem were more than happy to go, since they always loved Kitty Section’s concerts, and Kagami promised to work something out in her schedule. Felix was reluctant at first- concerts were always so loud and pushy -but when Marinette excitedly agreed to go, he gave in.

The group became so hyped for the event that they decided to dress up for it as well. That was when Marinette remembered she had some outfits at home that she’d been working on. So Aurore, Kagami, and Wayhem came to the Bakery to try them on while Luka prepared for the concert.

“The real question is how you convinced Felix to come to the concert in the first place.” Kagami said, shifting comfortably on the chase next to Aurore.

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked obliviously, pulling one of the pins from between her teeth and sticking it into a skirt.

“Felix hates concerts.” Kagami stated bluntly.

“I can’t imagine Felix liking anything loud or crowded to be honest.” Wayhem joked, slipping his hands into his pockets.

“Pretty much. His exact words were, ‘why listen to music at a loud, people-infested park when I could listen to the same music alone in my quiet bedroom?’” Kagami smile.

Aurore and Wayhem laughed at that, but Marinette furrowed her eyebrows.

“Why do you think I convinced him though? Maybe he decided to just try it out on his own.”

Wayhem scoffed and lightheartedly replied, “You kidding? He was so going to stay home until you said you were going.”

“He did suspiciously agree right after you did. Even though he said no the first time around.” Aurore joined in, a coy smile spreading across her lips.

Marinette pursed her lips, turning back to her project to hide her embarrassment. Felix didn’t agree just to be with her, right?

The image of him walking her to her house around the first time they met flashed through mind.

She shook her head.

He just wanted to go to the concert since everyone else was going. They were all friends, after all. It would be silly to stay home instead of hanging out with all of your friends.

Yes, it had nothing to do with her, and this certainly wasn’t going to be another Adrien situation.

Marinette stilled.

Adrien.

“Marinette, are you alright?” Aurore asked, noticing her pause.

She drew in a breath, steeling herself. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I was just thinking about..”

“About Adrien?” Wayhem finished, sitting down on the floor next to Marinette’s rolling chair, across from the girls.

Marinette nodded in confirmation, keeping her eyes on the skirt.

The group quietly waited, their gaze soft, understanding. Marinette would speak if she wanted to do so.

“They haven’t noticed my unofficial absence for weeks.” she finally began, more of thinking aloud. “They didn’t care that I haven’t spoken a word to anyone, that they haven’t talked to me for weeks. It wasn’t until I actively ignored Adrien that they got upset.”

Marinette sighed, massaging her temples. “It’s like they don’t even care about me as a person. It’s all about their egos or hurt feelings or something just- just all about them.”

The group nodded along, letting her work through her thoughts. Though Marinette appreciated it, it also sort of ached. Because she had never had something like this before. Not with Alya, or Adrien, or anyone else she knew for years in that forsaken classroom. It was always “Marinette, you’re overreacting”, “Marinette you’re being ridiculous”. It could never be, “you have a right to be angry”, or “your feelings are valid whether they completely make sense or not”.

Come to think of it, even despite Lila’s influence, they’d had trouble before. Mostly when Marinette decided to have any sort of feelings besides pure happiness. Of course, Alya and the others weren’t entirely to blame. Adrien was normally the one to scold her on that front.

She looked back up at the others. They sat there patiently, waiting for her to either finish her concerns or change the subject. It was her choice.

She reveled in that thought. Her choice. It felt as if this entire school year had flown by without giving her a single glance. She’d been forced into more things than she liked to admit.

Being ladybug, for example. She loved Tikki with all her heart, but Marinette still found herself a tad bitter about how she got the miraculous. Would she have accepted if Master Fu asked her straight up? Probably not, but it still would’ve been nice to get a say in the matter.

The point is, choices seemed to be new for her. She was sad that it turned out this way, but if it meant she could make choices, that she was finally free in a sense..

“There, done.” Marinette then smiled, leaning back to check her work.

Aurore and Wayhem gasped.

“Oh, Marinette, it’s beautiful!”

~~~~~~

Felix grumbled to himself as he got ready for the concert.

Why did her agree to go to this? Concerts were loud and crowded and everything he despised, really. Why couldn’t he just stay home and watch the concert live at the very least? That’d be much more preferable.

He pictured Marinette’s smiling face, her eyes shining with excitement and anticipation.

“You’re coming too, right Felix?” She had asked.

Seeing that expectant and hopeful look in her eyes… how could he say no?

He remembered her quietly squealing a “yes!” and pumping her fist in the air when he said he would go.

The group was surprised, though none argued. Especially when Marinette started rambling about “New outfits” and “Fitting sessions after school”.

A frown tugged at the corner of Felix’s lips.

They were all at her house now, getting ready for the concert. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to be there. Unfortunately, he needed to come home first to inform his mother about the new schedule and do a few things.

As expected, she was more than eager to let him go to the concert.

“When are you going to invite them over?” she asked for what felt like the fifth time that week.

“When I feel the time is right.” Felix said, repeating the same answer he always gave.

His mother put on a pout, but only huffed and left the room to start supper.

Felix smiled towards his mother’s antics as he straightened his new tie.

Marinette had shown them lots of sketches for clothing designs, but her actually making the clothes was a completely different story.

And she’d done and amazing job. The clothes she made for them not only fit their personalities well, but also seemed like they could be bought from a store.

Felix noticed a few crooked stitches and some loose buttons, usual mistakes that are perfected over time. Considering she was only fifteen, the handiwork was extremely impressive in his opinion.

The outfit wasn’t all that different from his usual one. He still had his black dress pants and dark grey vest. However, his familiar, lighter grey of a button up, long sleeve shirt was replaced by a black one with the sleeves stitched up to his elbows in a quarter sleeve style. Instead of his black tie, Marinette gave him a striped green and black tie to use. How she got the measurements was beyond him, because the clothes fit perfectly.

“Have fun at the concert sweetie! If you need me or your father to pick you up, just give us a call.” His mother cooed as he opened the front door.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Felix said with a small smile, waving and walking out the door.

The walk was longer than what he was used to, but he left earlier than necessary so he took his time. Nevertheless, he still got there about twenty minutes before the concert started. A few people were lingering in the square, either curious about the commotion or waiting for the concert to begin. In the center of the square, right in front of the glass pyramid, Felix spotted Kitty Section preparing themselves for the performance. Luka was tuning his guitar with Juleka, Rose was checking the sound system, and Ivan was testing his drums.

Felix noted that the others were wearing their normal outfits while Luka was obviously wearing a “Mari original” as they called it. He was wearing a dark-ish blue, checkered button up shirt with black jeans. His shirt was unbuttoned to reveal a navy blue t-shirt underneath. In the middle of the navy blue T-shirt was a white jagged stone, similar to the black one on his white t-shirt he normally wore.

Luka glanced up, smiling when he noticed Felix.

“Hey! I see you’re wearing your new outfit, too. Mari did a good job, as always.” he commented, setting his guitar to the side and standing up.

Felix nodded with a smile, looking over his clothes once more. He ignored the side glances he received from his classmates. He figured they wouldn’t be pleased of his presence, but he was here for Marinette, not them.

Speaking of which, “Where are the others?”

“They’ll be coming soon, don’t worry. Marinette wanted to make last minute tweaks on the other’s outfits.” Luka explained, waving off the question. “I didn’t expect you to come. Concerts don’t seem to be your thing.”

“They’re not. I only came because-” Felix cut himself short. Telling Luka his real reason for coming probably wasn’t the best idea.

Unfortunately for Felix, Luka was good at filling in the blanks.

“Because Marinette wanted you to, right?” he finished with a knowing smile.

Felix gave him a glare in response, not denying or confirming anything.

Thankfully, people were already starting to pile into the square. Therefore, Felix and Luka were quickly surrounded by chattering fans, distracting them from the conversation.

“I have to go up on stage. Good luck finding Mari in this mess.” Luka chuckled, before disappearing into the crowd as well.

Felix hummed in displeasure, turning on his heel and heading for the back of the crowd. Maybe it would be better to find them if he weren’t so smothered.

“Felix, there you are!”

He stopped, looking in the direction of the familiar voice he’d come to know quite well.

What he saw brought his thoughts to a screeching halt.

It was definitely Marinette- you could tell from her signature ponytails and unmistakably bright smile -but her clothes almost made her seem like a different person entirely.

She wore a pitch black blouse which was tucked into a bright red skirt covered in black polka dots that hung just above her knees. Her black heels, which were red on the bottom, drew attention to her toned legs. Now that Felix thought about it, Marinette’s arms were pretty toned as well. She was fit in general, to be honest.

A light blush dusted Felix’s cheeks as he pushed the thought out of his mind.

“What do you think?” Marinette beamed, twirling to give him a better look.

Felix swallowed, briefly at a loss for words. Could you blame him, though?

“Did you make that?” he managed to ask.

“Yeah! It’s not too bad is it?” Marinette said shyly.

Felix shook his head almost vigorously. “No, It- you look-” he paused, taking a second to compose himself. “You look.. Stunning.”

Now Marinette blushed, a delightful pink that somehow complemented the outfit.

He pulled a soft smirk, but then it faded as he looked her up and down again and squinted.

Marinette frowned. “What is it?”

“Do you mind if I try something?”

“Try something?” Marinette repeated, blinking in surprise.

“Yes, with your hair if that’s alright?” He said, reaching up and gently touching one of her pigtails in thought.

“O-Oh, uh- Sure, I g-guess.” Marinette stuttered, her blush deepening.

Without another word, Felix moved around behind her, carefully starting to pull the ribbons out. It might have been his imagination, but Felix thought he felt her shiver when he started combing his fingers through her hair to straighten it out.

“Alright, I’m done.” He stated after a few minutes, stepping around to her side again.

Marinette brought her hands up to her hair, lightly feeling around to figure out what he did.

“Thank you.”

Felix shrugged. “My uncle is a fashion designer after all.”

Marinette smiled, opening her mouth to respond when someone else called out to Felix.

“Felix! We finally found you! Oh, and you have Marinette that’s even better!” Aurore shouted over the crowds, moving towards them with Wayhem and Kagami in tow.

“Wow, I love your hair.” Wayhem complimented when they caught up to the two.

“Felix did it.” Marinette grinned, absently touching her hair that had fallen around her shoulders.

“Felix did?” Kagami raised an eyebrow, an amused smirk playing at her lips.

The blonde didn’t respond, keeping an indifferent expression. That might have been more condemning than if he had said anything at all.

“Well, it totally makes the look.” Aurore smiled, pulling a pocket mirror out of her purse and handing it to Marinette.

The hair-do looked much nicer than Marinette expected. Apparently, Felix took out her two pigtails, using the two ribbons to tie her hair into a half up half down style. This caused it to look like she was wearing a big red bow instead of her ordinary ribbons. Having her hair pulled back certainly topped off the outfit as Aurore had said. The red bow brought out the skirt and the hair that fell around her shoulders, along with her bangs, shaped her face nicely.

“Wow..” Marinette muttered, brushing her bangs somewhat to the side.

“Mhmm~” Aurore hummed with a smile, taking back the pocket mirror.

“We should get to the front, or somewhere near there. The concert is going to be starting soon.” Felix spoke up.

“Yeah, but there’s so many people..” Kagami said with a frown, standing up on her tiptoes to look over the growing crowd.

“Oh, let’s hold hands so we don’t lose each other!” Wayhem suggested, grabbing Aurore and Kagami’s hands.

Felix winced, though no one noticed.

Aurore grinned, turning and grabbing Marinette’s hand.

Marinette turned to Felix, holding up her hand.

“So we can stay together.” She smiled.

Felix hesitated. He didn’t like touch. Never enjoyed physical contact with anyone, really. Even his mother, who he loved dearly, was someone he could barely stay around for long due to all the hugs she smothers him with.

There wasn’t a specific reason he hated being touched, he just did. Felix assumed it was mostly from his father, but he couldn’t tell for sure.

That was why he was surprised when he took Marinette’s hand. Because he.. He actually didn’t mind her touch. It wasn’t all that bad. Her hand was warm and her grip gentle, loose enough that he could let go if he wanted, but tight enough that they shouldn’t be separated.

Her grip then tightened suddenly to keep from losing him when they got deeper into the crowd.

For reasons unbeknownst to him, Felix squeezed her hand back.

He caught a glimpse of Marinette glancing back at him in surprise, before turning her attention back to the crowds.

“Alright, Paris, are you ready!” Luka called over the microphone.

The group stopped. The crowds cheered.

Marinette didn’t let go of Felix’s hand. Whether she was distracted by Luka or just didn’t think about it, Felix found that he was okay with it.

The music began, causing Felix to look at the stage as well. Half way through, Marinette and the others started dancing. He didn’t join in, but his hand swung around with Marinette’s occasionally. That was when he noticed she was still holding Aurore’s hand as well. In fact, they were all still holding hands. To stay together.

That’s right. To stay together, nothing more. Felix reminded himself, even if he wasn’t sure why he needed to remember that.

The concert lasted for about an hour, along with a few added encores.

“And now,” Luka began, wrapping up the show. “I’d like to make a special shoutout to the girl who not only made my outfit for tonight, but also designed Kitty Section’s costumes and album covers from the beginning. Mlle. Marinette Dupain-Cheng!”

Felix saw Marinette’s eyes widen as the spotlight landed on her.

Luka grinned, walking to the edge of the stage and holding out his hand.

Marinette, still in shock, slipped her hand out of Aurore and Felix’s grasp and took Luka’s hand.

He ignored the sudden coldness he felt from Marinette’s absence as the girl was pulled up on stage.

“This is also a ‘Mari Original’.” Luka announced eagerly, gesturing to Marinette’s outfit.

The ravenette smiled sheepishly, fiddling with her skirt a bit to contain her nerves.

The crowd gave a hearty round of applause. Her friends clapped the loudest, of course, and Wayhem whistled.

“That’s all I’ve got folks. Thank you and goodnight!”

~~~~~~~

Marinette’s heart pounded against her chest even half an hour later. Luka did love his surprises, she just wished they didn’t involve so many people.

“Where does this go?” Wayhem asked, holding up a box of sound equipment.

“Over there is fine.” Luka answered, pointing to a few other boxes nearby.

Wayhem nodded, hobbling off in that direction. Marinette giggled at the odd posture.

It was nice though, she thought, being appreciated. Getting the credit she deserved for her work. What did she do to deserve these wonderful people?

“I~ think that’s everything?” Aurore more of asked, looking around the now empty stage.

“Yes, I believe so.” Felix agreed, crossing his arms and searching for any lost or forgotten items as well.

Marinette smiled towards the blonde. He’d been full of surprises that evening. Since the first week she met him, actually. She was also happy to say that the outfit she created looked good on him.

“Thanks for helping out guys.” Luka said appreciatively, setting the last few boxes onto their stacked pile.

Juleka, Rose, and Ivan mumbled their “thanks” as well- Rose being as cheerful as ever. Marinette and Felix might rival Chloe in low popularity at school at the moment, but they still helped out.

“You don’t have to thank us.” Kagami insisted. Her phone then buzzed in her pocket, and she sighed when she saw the message.

“My driver’s going to be here in a few minutes. Anyone need a ride home?”

Luka scratched the back of his head. “Actually.. Can you take Juleka and I home? It’d be hard to take all of the boxes home and mom doesn’t have a car..”

Kagami smiled. “Of course, it’s not a problem.”

The exchange seemed to remind Felix of something, and he turned to her.

“What about you?” He asked, glancing at her as he took out his phone and pressed on his mother’s contact icon.

“Sorry?” Marinette blinked, looking at Felix and standing up on the stage.

“Do you need a ride home?” he elaborated, waving his phone slightly.

“Oh no! I’m alright, thank you-”

Marinette then paused, and looked to the streets. It was getting a bit dark.

“On second thought, that would be nice.” she smiled.

Felix returned the smile, before walking away to call his parents.

Marinette yelped as she stumbled down the steps of the stage, right into a firm pair of arms.

“Are you alright?” Felix asked, concern lacing his tone.

“Ah, y-yes. I’m so sorry..” she sighed, struggling in his arms to stand back up.

Felix lifted her to her feet. “It’s fine. As long as you’re alright.”

Marinette blushed, suddenly noticing how close they were and Felix’s lingering arms around her waist. She lightly touched her right cheek, which she somehow managed to scratch on the way down.

“Honestly, I don’t know what possessed you to where heels. You can barely walk around in your usually flats.” he then added, frowning at the injury.

Marinette chuckled, shrugging her shoulders. Though his tone was sarcastic, she knew he meant it as more of a joke than anything. It was hard to read Felix when they first met, but after a few weeks of hanging out with the group so much, she managed to figure him out a little.

For one, he wasn’t as stone cold as he appeared to be. Felix might be brutally honest and strongly opinionated, but he did care. She’d seen it over the past few weeks. He just had a hard time expressing his emotions.

Not to mention that ever since he arrived at school, Lila hasn’t bothered Marinette as much- if at all. She couldn’t begin to explain how thankful she was for that.

“The car’s here. Are you ready to go?” The blonde in question interrupted her thoughts, gesturing to a grey car that had just rolled onto the street.

Marinette nodded, saying a quick goodbye to the others and following Felix to the vehicle.

Felix opened the back door for her, which she found sweet. When she got into the car, though, Marinette was a tad surprised to see Felix slide into the seat next to her and close the door.

She looked to the floor to calm herself. Taking deep breaths, smoothing out her skirt, fixing her hair. The car pulled onto the street and started towards the bakery.

“T-thanks for the r-ride.” she finally said, wincing at the stutter.

Why was she nervous? It was just Felix.

Just Felix. Marinette mentally repeated.

“It’s no trouble.” Felix assured, brushing off the comment.

“I didn’t know you had a chauffeur.” She commented thoughtfully.

Felix glanced at her from the window. “Well, I would certainly hope so. My family does own and run several banks around the country.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?”

“You didn’t know?” Felix raised his eyebrows, straightening in his seat.

Marinette shook her head dumbly. Then again, how did she not know Felix’s family ran the banks? She’s known him for weeks hasn’t she?

The boy stared at her for a moment, then simply hummed and turned back to the window.

Silence filled the car. Marinette found it frustrating. Usually, she could talk about anything or everything with Felix. Now, she was at a loss for words. Why was that?

When the car stopped in front of her house, Marinette shuffled out of the vehicle, Felix following behind her.

“Thanks again for the ride home.” she said, throwing him an appreciative smile.

“Any time.” Felix replied softly.

A frown suddenly flickered across his face and he lightly touched the side of his lips. “You’re lipstick’s a little messed up.”

Marinette blushed, bringing her hand up to fix the error.

He was looking at my lips?

The thought nearly gave Marinette a heart attack, and she shoved it to the back of her mind. That didn’t mean anything. Felix was just observant like that.

“No, wait- you missed- here let me do it.”

Before Marinette could respond, Felix was in front of her again. He tilted her chin upwards, gently grazing his thumb across her lips.

Marinette’s heart skipped a beat at the gesture and her eyes flicked to his.

His eyebrows were knitted together as he focused on fixing her makeup. It was all too obvious that he wasn’t trying anything.

“It’s such a lovely shade of red..” he murmured absently, stroking her lips one last time for perfection.

Oh, if Marinette thought she couldn’t blush any deeper..

The poor girl was about to blabber out some sort of reply when a car horn blared next to them, signaling for Felix to hurry up. The two jumped apart, glancing at the impatient chauffeur.

“G-Goodnight!” Marinette nearly squeaked, holding back another cringe of embarrassment.

Felix gave a small smile, though, not seeming to mind. “Yes, goodnight.”

With that, he got back in the car and left.

Marinette went back inside as well, hand on her lips and thoughts racing about the night she just had and the new feelings she might have just experienced.

Tag list: @unabashedbookworm @bluerosette23 @minightrose@kuroko26@im-here-for-the-content @angstyrastuff @clumsy-owl-4178 @fanboy7794@choaticneturcl @bigcheeseyboi @burntnugget-tae @ayuchan07@honorisfortheweak @knightrose15 @mjisntme@rhub4rb @simplythebestbug@wilhelmares@zebrabaker@dargeon-lissa @kristycocopop @alumneia @kaydenth3gayden @thornangelic727 @flirtshobi @whatamessofwords

#Felinette #Felix Culpa #New Friends AU

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boldly-ho · 4 years

Text

Another Life - Chapter 14

Fandom: What We Do in the Shadows

Pairing: Vladislav x Reader

Series Rating: E

Word Count: 2113

Chapter Summary: You bond with your flatmates and friends over a night on the town, and meet some more of the dangerous creatures that roam the streets of Wellington. On a night out with your flatmate, you once again run into the strange man you may have known, but instead of clarifying anything, the mystery gets thicker.

Stu was every bit as good as his word. He’d come over one evening and installed a wifi router and desktop computer. He also set up your flatmates’ new mobile phones. In those acts alone he’d gone above and beyond. He didn’t stop there, though. Stu had stayed for hours, late into the night, to teach them how the technology worked. And throughout it all, he had been bombarded with the dumbest questions and a great level of incompetence. At one point, Viago and Deacon had even suggested Googling Viago’s one hundred year old lost scarf. But now, the vampires all had their own social media accounts and basic mastery over texting, Google, TradeMe, the works.

You were expecting to hear of Stu’s upcoming canonization any day now.

The novelty of it all hadn’t yet worn off of your flatmates, so you’d been keeping your phone on silent. Otherwise, it would be pinging all day with notifications from them. Looking at your phone now, you found a Words With Friends request from Viago, three texts from Deacon, and one from Vladislav.

It had been about five minutes since you last looked at your phone.

Deacon’s texts were all asking whether or not you were going out with them tonight. Nick had organized a night on the town that included Stu, and you had been invited along as well. As Stu still didn’t know that Nick, or anyone for that matter, was a vampire, the night would solely be about having fun. No victims. Thankfully.

You texted Deacon back that you were planning on going. He was right downstairs. It would probably be easier just to shout your answer. But, they still found the phones new and exciting, and so you were willing to indulge them a bit.

“Y/N!”

Speaking of shouts…

You found your flatmates gathered in the lounge, looking at pictures of themselves on their smartphones, analyzing their own outfits.

Upon seeing you, Viago smiled widely. “Y/N, we need a human opinion on our clothes for tonight.”

You looked each of them up and down, disappointed but not surprised by what you saw. Each was dressed like an absolute clown, which wasn’t all that unusual for their going out clothes, but you still couldn’t understand. It wasn’t as though they were ever the epitome of fashion forward, but their day to day clothes weren’t nearly as bad as the clusterfuck outfits they wore out on the town.

Vladislav actually dressed fairly attractively on the day to day. It was odd sometimes, but it always worked. He usually wore a low cut black top that exposed his chest, tight black pants, and black leather boots. Instead of that smart look, he currently wore cream pants with a red athletic stripe down the side, a ruffled red shirt with his chest exposed, of course, and a brown fur vest. He completed the monstrous ensemble with a top hat.

Usually Viago usually dressed like he stepped out the wrong century. Dated, but not inherently horrible. He currently wore one of his 19th century ruffled tops and coordinating vests, but now with a pair of camouflage joggers.

Deacon was irredeemable, and always dressed like an idiot. At least he was consistent.

The last time you had helped them put together somewhat wearable outfits, it had taken over an hour. You really didn’t want to deal with that right now. You were supposed to leave in a half hour to meet Nick and Stu, and you still had to change. Tonight was just about having a good time; they didn’t need to attract victims. They didn’t even have to worry about getting into clubs. Apparently, Nick knew the bouncer at Boogie Wonderland. It really didn’t matter how stupid they looked.

“Looks good, guys.”

“I told you,” Deacon snapped at Vladislav.

“Is that what you’re wearing?” Viago asked, a barely hidden grimace on his face, as if he had any room to judge.

You’d already put on your makeup and fixed your hair; you only had to get dressed. You looked down at your body, currently clad in paint covered sweatpants and a worn hoodie. “Uh, no?”

“Oh, good. You should probably go change. It’s almost time to go.”

As if they weren’t the ones who called you downstairs…

“Good idea.”

You ran back upstairs, shedding your comfortable clothes and replacing it with your favorite black dress. You’d worn it the last time you went out with the guys, but hopefully they wouldn’t remember. You had other club-worthy clothes, but this dress was on another level. Why mess with a good thing?

You adjusted your favorite little black dress in the mirror, not bothering to make sure your cross necklace was still in place beneath it; you never took it off anymore.

The bathroom door opened, letting in the noise of the thumping bass from the club.

“Y/N? You in here?”

“I’m here, Dawn.”

“You okay? You’ve been in here a while.”

“I’m okay. The music was a bit loud. Just needed a second.” A partial truth. The music didn’t bother you, but you did need a breather, a little alone time.

“Do you want to leave?”

“No,” you walked towards her and the exit. “Let’s go back out.”

As you walked out together, the song changed, and Dawn excitedly grabbed your hand and pulled you towards the dance floor.

“I love this song!” she shouted over the pulsing music.

Dawn worked on yanking you out onto the dance floor, pulling you through the throngs of bodies. You stopped in your tracks, though, halting Dawn from where her hand still held yours, when you recognized a face in the crowd.

“Y/N?”

“That’s him,” you told her, not looking away from his face. “That’s the man I saw at Boogie Wonderland that night.”

He looked just the same, even wearing the same jacket, though this time with a pair of horribly mismatched pants. You pointed him out to Dawn.

“What do I do?” you asked. Clearly he hadn’t wanted to talk to you.

“I’ll talk to him,” she offered. “I’ll see what I can find out. Go! Don’t let him notice you!”

Dawn pushed you towards the bar, and made her way deeper into the crowd, towards the man you may have known. Settling onto a stool, you watched as Dawn approached the man. She cozied up to him, danced a little too provocatively, placed a hand on his arm. He seemed startled, at first, by her flirtatious attention, before visibly warming up to it.

“Anything for you?”

You jumped at the question, but turned to answer the bartender. “No thanks, I’m waiting on a friend.” You gestured vaguely at the crowd.

You returned your gaze to the packed dance floor, looking for the familiar faces of Dawn and the man. You scoured the crowd for a good minute or so, before realizing that they weren’t there. Where had they gone? Had he fled from her too?

You all but jumped from the barstool, heading out the front door to see if you could still find them. You were looking up the street, trying to spot either of them in the foot traffic, when Dawn literally bumped into you from the side.

“Y/N?” she asked as she caught her balance. “What are you doing out here?”

“Me? I was looking for you. What happened?”

“Nothing happened. I thought you were still in the bathroom, so I was coming to find you. I think I spaced out, though, and sort of auto-piloted out here instead.”

“The bathroom? No. I was at bar, while you were talking to that guy. What did you find out?”

“Find out? About what? What guy?”

Realization crashed over like an icy bucket of water.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Getting up to look for you in the bathroom.”

“And before that?” You could hear clearly the urgency in your own voice.

“I was just sitting at the bar waiting for you. You said you were going to the bathroom, and you didn’t come back for almost twenty minutes.”

You looked up and down the street again, looking anew for the man.

“Y/N? What happened? What’s wrong?”

It seemed that your flatmates had enjoyed Boogie Wonderland even more than they had Red Square. Viago went on and on about their light up dance floor, and Vladislav didn’t even leave said dance floor once. Deacon even managed to have a good time, and once he’d stopped pouting and complaining about Nick, he’d dragged you onto the dance floor and kept you occupied until you physically needed a break. You’d even gotten to know Stu a little better, bonding over the subpar snacks served at the bar. You’d had more fun than you expected, and were throughly worn out as you walked back towards the bus stop as a group.

You were laughing at a joke Nick had told when Viago interrupted the conversation. “Do you smell that?”

You sniffed the air. It didn’t smell great, of course, but it just smelled like city air. You couldn’t discern anything out of the ordinary.

“Werewolves,” Deacon hissed.

Nick glanced worriedly at Stu.

“Don’t start anything. Just keep walking,” Vladislav advised the group.

There was a group of men walking towards you, a few more in number than your group, but similar in age. Where they the werewolves? There was no one else around.

As you passed each other, Deacon let out a, “Look out, guys. Don’t catch fleas.”

“Deacon!” Viago scolded.

The other group stopped while Vladislav reiterated, “Keep walking.” Both groups ignored him, instead turning to face one another.

“We heard that!” one of the other group called back.

“Yeah, mate, we’ve got sensitive hearing,” another added.

“Oh, have you?” Deacon taunted.

“Yeah!”

“Why don’t you go smell your own crotches?”

“We don’t smell our own crotches; we smell each other crotches, and it’s a form of greeting.”

You wrinkled your nose. Viago did the same. You saw Stu looking around questioningly. You could hardly blame him.

“Maybe we should just go, guys,” you offered.

“Yeah,” one of the werewolves said. “Why don’t you ladies just go home?”

Deacon stiffened. “Who are you calling a lady?” He stepped closer to the opposite group, into one of their personal space, and was immediately, forcefully shoved back. Deacon hissed.

Viago removed one of his gloves, while one of the werewolves made a disparaging remark about it. That same werewolf was then promptly and, somehow, politely slapped across the face with the glove.

“Hey, what the fuck!”

“Don’t swear!” another from his group chastised. “We’re gonna lose it!”

The situation escalated. Deacon started shouting obscenities as a few werewolves snarled and were held back by their friends. A few of their eyes reflected the moonlight in a wholly inhuman way. Nick stepped in front of Stu, and Vladislav shouted as he grabbed your arm, yanking you behind him. You stepped aside to look at the werewolves, but were quickly pushed back.

“Stay back there!” he snapped at you.

You poked your head around his body to see, but otherwise stayed put.

“Calm down! It’s not a full moon,” the werewolf who had last spoken addressed the group as they collectively calmed, taking deep breaths and talking each other down. “Thanks a lot guys,” he said to your group. “We didn’t want this to happen.”

A few of their group howled loudly as they left. Viago, Vladislav, and Deacon hissed at their retreating forms.

“Are you okay, Stu?” Stu didn’t seem to hear Viago, still staring at the werewolves, growing smaller in the distance.

“Hey, man, it’s cool.” Nick slapped him on the shoulder and led him away, asking Viago, “Were those really werewolves?”

You still stood in the same spot, looking after the werewolves you could no longer see, more intrigued than frightened. Vladislav stood with you as the other four continued on.

“Y/N?” he asked. “Are you alright?”

You nodded, finally tearing your eyes from were the werewolves had been, and looking up at Vladislav. You could see the concern written plainly on his face.

“I’m fine. It’s just wild. Real life werewolves… crazy.”

He sighed in relief. “I thought you were frightened.”

You shrugged. “Maybe a little, when things were getting pretty heated. But it all happened so fast, there wasn’t really time to be scared.”

He simply nodded. “Good.”

“Thank you, though, for looking out for me,” you told him. “For protecting me.”

He shrugged off your thanks. “I didn’t really think about it. Humans can’t protect themselves from a werewolf the way a vampire can. You could have been in danger.”

“Well, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

#what we do in the shadows #wwdits #vladislv #vladislav x reader #another life #al fic

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srhlsx · 4 years

Text

Rewritten & Reposted March 24, 2021

MASTER | Ch. 13 | CHAPTER 14 | Ch. 15

After that night, something changed between you and Bokuto. It was a subtle change, but a change nonetheless. He didn’t kiss you as often as you’d like, and while sometimes that drove you crazy enough to want to pull your hair out, it was enough to just have those moments together, those lingering touches and too-long stares that made your heartbeat a fraction faster.

One change in particular came in the form of regular study dates.

Bokuto was not the most serious student, he was planning on mostly relying on his athletic ability to get him into the school of his choice - or if he was lucky enough, go professional as soon as he graduated. You reminded him that getting into the school was only half the battle, in order to play he needed to actually keep up with his grades. Studying with him was like trying to wrestle a puppy into a travel carrier while also having a toddler balanced on your hip with your hands tied behind your back… oh, and the room is on fire.

“You have got to sit down.” You sighed as you eyed the boy pacing circles around the counter in your apartment kitchen. Baba had offered to have Yua and Eiji over for a few hours that day to allow you time to get studying in without having to worry about them. You’d pick them up for some dinner later if you were ever going to get in the work that was needed.

“But I’m bored.” Bokuto whined, finally collapsing dramatically at the table across from you. He had been banished to sitting across from you rather than next you when for the first fifteen minutes of studying he spent insisting that he would be more productive with you sitting in his lap. He propped his elbow up on the table and rested his chin in his hand as he attempted to give you some of the best puppy eyes you’ve ever seen. “Can we take a break, (Y/n)-chan?”

“Don’t butter me up, we just took a break.” You laughed as you looked back to your notes in front of you, the ins and outs of biology were thrilling in their own right but Bokuto had a smile that could probably get you to do anything - so you looked away from him. “We don’t get to take another one for at least 45 minutes.”

Bokuto let out a loud huff and sadly looked back down at his own study materials. They weren’t as sloppy as you might expect them to be, but you were almost positive that was because Akaashi helped him when needed. His handwriting was small and scratchy, but the different colors he wrote in and highlighted with showed that he cared at least a little bit about what was going on in his classes.

At the moment, he was working through some chemistry problems. When you first started studying you went and dug through your past school work and happily handed over your old notes since you’d taken that class a previous year. When he opened up your notebook, his eyes widened considerably and had repeatedly glanced between you and the pages before him. You had looked at him with a closed-eye smile and tried not to blush when he complimented your thorough notes.

“This is amazing,” He had breathed, amazed.

You laughed at his expression and responded confidently, “Yes, they are.”

He shot up then and reached over the table, his hands grasped either side of your head and dragged you clumsily over the table, messing up your neat organization. He smashed his lips against yours, smiling as you momentarily struggled through your surprise. “I owe you,” He grinned after pulling away and sitting down like he hadn’t just kissed you within an inch of your life.

Now though, the thrill was gone for him and every once in a while he would let out a small grunt, like he was clearing his throat. You glanced up at him only briefly while turning the page, keeping your attention where it needed to be. “You need a drink?”

“I need your attention,” He whined again. You would never admit to him that his neediness was almost endearing, the way he looked at you could’ve melted your heart in any other situation.

“Give me twenty minutes on this chapter, then I will help you with your review?”

“Can we play a game?” He asked, eyes lighting up brighter than a firework.

You hesitated, “A game?”

“Yeah, like a study game!” He nodded, attention finally seeming to be productive. This newfound motivation intrigued you, so you humored him and encouraged him to continue to explain his idea. “Well, you ask me a question and if I answer it right you have to take off-”

“Do. Not.” You interrupted, laughing hysterically, while yelling above his voice. “Even think about finishing that sentence!”

“What!” He cried out, seeming defeated that you wouldn’t even consider his idea. “Hear me out!”

“This is not some kind of teenage rom-com, Bokkun!” You continued to laugh as he visibly deflated from your rejection. “I am not stripping my clothes to help you study.”

“What if I strip my clothes to help you study?” He countered flirtatiously, leaning forward on his hands across the table to get close to your face, eyebrows wiggling suggestively.

“We both know that’d be even more of a distraction,” You mumbled. The thought of Bokuto lifting his black volleyball t-shirt over his head, muscles rippling across his chest, stomach, and arms, had you just about drooling as your mind drifted. But before he could really take advantage of your momentary weakness, you pushed his face away and made him sit back down.

“Worth a shot,” He sighed, which made you laugh again.

“Not going to lie, that last one was a doozie.”

You looked up at Rumi and frowned, your brow creased in confusion at her comment. “You’re the one who said taking an advanced English literature class would be fun.”

“It is fun,” She shoved your shoulder. “The exam itself was just long as ~hello…”

You turned to face forward to see what your friend was looking at. Ahead of you, just at the entrance to your school’s campus, stood two lone male figures looking very out of place.

One was wearing a white shirt, red tie loosened around his neck, black sweater vest, and grey pants. The other wore a white collared shirt and grey blazer pushed half way up his arms, a loosened striped blue and white tie, and black pants. They both could not look more cool but also more out of place in the sea of students wearing the green, black, and pink uniform of your own school.

You smiled at Bokuto and Kuroo both as you walked up to them with a hop in your step, wondering how they managed to get all the way to your school in time for the end of the day dismissal.

“Both Nekoma and Fukurodani dismiss third years as soon as exams are done in the morning,” Kuroo explained when you asked.

“Yeah, we test straight through the day then peace out as soon as we’re done.” Bokuto slung his arm around your shoulders and easily pulled you into him, not having a care in the world that there were plenty of people around.

“You guys are lucky,” You whined, stomping your foot and looking at Rumi who nodded in agreement and was standing close to Kuroo. “We could’ve gotten lunch!”

“Well, maybe one of these days I can convince you to sneak off on your free period and meet me,” Bokuto smiled down at you, pulling playfully at a lock of your hair and laughing when you swatted him away.

“Corrupting girls of others schools?” A voice behind you laughed loudly, making all four of you turn. “Seems beneath the two of you.”

Bokuto and Kuroo both smiled as Daiki led a few members of the boy’s volleyball team up to greet them, all doing some weird handshake thing that guys do. You didn’t miss the fact that one third year in particular made a point to be a little less enthused than the others, completely ignoring Bokuto altogether.

You saw the slight twitch in Bokuto’s face when Shouta deliberately said hi to Kuroo but not him, the look of real confusion made you start to feel like the temperature around you was rising. You felt worry starting to grow in your stomach, Rumi also taking note of your sudden uneasiness.

Being who he was, Bokuto was not going to ignore the fact that he was being ignored and made a point to greet the other third year. “Shouta, ‘sup man?” He held out the hand that was not currently wrapped around you for the other boy to shake but was left hanging.

Everyone stopped, whether they were in mid-conversation or just listening they paused and held their breath. At this point, the rest of the boy’s volleyball team knew that you had rejected Shouta but you weren’t sure if they knew everything that was said between the two of you. It had been a few weeks since the interaction and both your teams were too busy to talk, much less gossip about what was happening between players. You waited, along with everyone else, for what was coming next.

“Bokuto.” Shouta nodded curtly, even though he wasn’t nearly as tall as Bokuto, he gave off an air of looking down on the two of you. “Didn’t think you normally slummed around these parts.”

“Well, yeah,” He smiled, completely oblivious (or at least doing a damn good job acting) to the tension brewing. He looked down at you with an almost loving smile and nodded your way, “I told (y/n) we’d get some food after her exams were over. You guys sh-”

“Listen, man, nobody really gives a raging fuck about why you’re here.” Shouta interrupted, shocking the entire group with his crude choice of words.

“Chill dude,” Kuroo stepped forward. “You brought it up, man.”

You noticed how Kuroo stepped up to stand next to Bokuto, neither of them flinching in the slightest. Even with calm expressions on their faces, you could tell from their eyes alone that they were not going to back down from anything that was about to happen. And they shouldn’t, they easily had the height and weight over Shouta and it didn’t look like the rest of the Shinzen team was gearing up to come to his aid.

You felt a tug and looked over your shoulder to see Rumi pulling on your uniform jacket to get you to step away from the brewing confrontation in front of you.

“Why are you even here?” Shouta then asked, looking over at Kuroo with narrowed eyes, giving him a once-over. “Following around the super star like his little sidekick? Or just fishing around for the next girl to try and sweep up like your buddy here?”

“Shouta- '' You started to warn, noticing Bokuto’s and Kuroo’s jaws clenching but neither of them saying or doing anything.

“No offense, (y/n), but honestly fuck off.” You, along with everyone in the group, gasped in surprise at the hash comment as he enunciated each word. “It’s one thing to be hanging around the creep, but seriously having him come all the way out here to pick you up? I mean, how much attention do you n-”

CRACK-

Before Shouta had a chance to finish his terrible words, and before you even realized what was happening, your fist collided with his jaw. A satisfying crunch sound filled your ears as he fell to the dirt in surprise, looking up at you in shock as he held his jaw in pain, a few tears threatening to spill over his eyes. You were seeing red.

“Fuck you, you bitter bench-riding fuck.” You said in a rage, spitting each word. “Maybe if you were half the man he was you’d get more playing time and girls would actually be interested in you.”

You were about to continue on your spree of insults when you felt a pair of hands grab onto your arms from behind and start to pull you away. “Alright bruiser,” Bokuto’s familiar voice was close to your ear. “I think he gets the idea.”

The four of you walked briskly down the sidewalk, away from the dramatic scene. Bokuto had his arm slung over your shoulders again, holding you close like he needed to keep hold of you out of fear that you’d go back and finish what you started. You could tell he was trying not to laugh, the situation being very serious considering you’d pretty much assaulted someone on school grounds. He continued to lead you away, never looking back to see if anyone was following or going to say something.

Once you’d rounded the corner a few blocks away, Kuroo burst out in a maniacal laugh while Rumi came up to you and grabbed you by the face. “You absolute badass.” She said, laying a dramatic kiss on your forehead. “Fuck that guy.”

You shyly looked away, coming to the realization of your horrific action. You looked down at the hand you had punched the boy with, clenching and unclenching it in a fist. “Damn,” You somewhat laughed, shaking out the lingering sting and looking up at Bokuto. “That felt really good.”

Bokuto smiled and squeezed your shoulders a little tighter, laying a kiss at the top of your head. “That’s my girl.”

#bokuto koutaro #koutaro bokuto #bokuto x reader #haikyuu!!#haikyuu #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu!! x reader #hq!! x reader #hq!!#hq

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ghostez · 4 years

Text

Blast From The Past

quick heads-up that all the new youtubers dropping into hermitcraft have time travelled from 2016 so they got their 2016 outfits and personalities

~*~

>stampylongnose joined the game

A loud yelp immediately alerted Scar away from his base, followed by a faint crash that was shortly cut off by coughing. Scar whipped around on his heals and immediately ran towards it, a nearly tripping over his own slippers. His first thought was that someone had crashed into a tree again (probably Mumbo), but that wasn't the case.

A brunette with curly hair and an orange hoodie was laying on the ground, a dark red vest over the hoodie. Faux cat ears on the hood stuck out from among the leaves that had fallen on his head, and a white tipped tail whisked behind him as he coughed rather violently.

Scar was stunned into silence for a moment before gathering his composure. "Um, hi?" The stranger jumped at his voice, glancing up at him with emerald green eyes, but was interrupted by another cough. "Hey are, you okay?"

"Y-yeah just *cough* i-inhaled something," the brunette spluttered, gasping for breath. He finally looked up Scar and squinted. "Finnball?"

Scar raised an eyebrow curiously and kneeled next to him. "No?" he replied, tilting his head. "My name's Scar. Is Finnball a friend of yours?"

The stranger nodded, squinting his eyes a bit less now that Scar was closer. "Can you uh, see my glasses?" he asked, feeling around for the thin frame. "Everything's kinda just a big green blob for me and uh, my glasses are pretty small."

"Oh uh, yeah sure." Scar looked around for a moment before easily spotting the glasses and handed them to the brunette who quickly slipped them on.

"That's better!" He smiled and heaved himself onto his feet, only a bit taller than Scar. "So uh, it's nice to meet you!" he exclaimed, holding out a hand for Scar to shake. "My name's Stampy! You said you were Scar?"

"Yeah I'm Scar," Scar replied, shaking his hand. "I think I've heard of you. Stampylongnose right? Creator of the famous Lovely World?"

"Yup!" Stampy nodded, grinning. "That's me!" A nearby parrot suddenly swooped down and delicately perched on a branch near the two, chirping a little tune. "Aww hey birdie!" Stampy cooed, stepping closer and patting it on the head.

He looked around, finally the noticing the tall jungle trees towering over him. "Where... are we?" he asked slowly, spinning around. "Is this My Story Mode House-? wait no that's an Xbox server- uhhh, is this Quacktopia or maybe Squid's server-"

"Slow down!" Scar interrupted, his head practically spinning.

"Ah! Sorry!" Stampy said, smiling apologetically. "But uh, where is this?"

"You're in Hermitcraft, a whitelisted server," Scar explained, letting out a breath. "Do you even know how you got here? I wasn't aware we were getting a new member, unless you hacked but you really don't seem like the kind of person to hack."

"Oh no, I would never hack!" Stampy chucked awkwardly. "I don't even think I know how to hack! I can barely navigate PC worlds!" He giggled. "But ah, my friend managed to get me in here. He did some science-y redstone stuff and bam! I ended up falling into a jungle!"

Scar stared at him for a moment in confused silence. "...huh," he finally managed to say. Guess I should probably tell Xisuma, he thought, digging into his pocket for his communicator.

>iBallisticSquid joined the game

"Excuse me!" a voice yelled. Keralis looked up to see someone with dirty blonde hair and a dark blue jacket waving from the top of his crane, holding his red and blue headphones with his other hand so they wouldn't fall off.

His mismatching colored eyes lit up when Keralis looked up at him and he waved even harder, nearly falling off the platform in the progress. "Hi!" he called down. "Did you build this?!"

"Uh- me?" Keralis asked, a little startled. "Y-yeah, I did! Why?"

"This looks awesome!"

"I-uh- thank you?" Keralis yelled back up, still slightly confused by the whole situation. "Do you need some help down? I can fly up if you want!"

The stranger stared at him weirdly. "Are you in creative or something?" he asked. "Or did you mean ladders? Or ya gonna nerd-pole?"

This time it was Keralis' turn to give a strange look. "No...?" he said, getting out a rocket to show him. "I'm gonna... fly?" He shot himself into the sky, boosting up next to the mysterious player and skidding next to him.

The blonde gaped at him in wide-eyed shock, eyes flicking from Keralis' custom elytra to his face. "Wait, is that one of those new wingy things?!" he exclaimed, pointing to the black and yellow striped gliders. "That's so cool! I didn't know you could dye 'em! Or use fireworks with 'em!"

"Uh, you can't?" Keralis said, picked up one of the wings slightly. "Everyone can just, customize their elytras?" He raised an eyebrow. "Are you a new player?"

"Nah, not at all." The stranger put his hands behind his head, grinning and showing sharp teeth. "Actually bit of an old player; just not used to the new update yet."

Keralis had more questions but decided to save them for later and first figure out who this person was. "Well, what's you name?" he asked. "I'm Keralis."

"My name's Squid-oodalay!" Squid replied, taking an exaggerated bow. "Or just Squid! Pleasure to meet'cha!"

"Nice to meet you too." Keralis glanced down and immediately regretted it as the world started to swim beneath his feet. "Oh that's not good," he muttered, taking a step backwards. His heel caught on the edge and slipped off, making him jolt backwards with a cry.

"I gotcha!" Squid quickly reached and grabbed his arm, digging his heels into the ground and pulling him up. Keralis was heaved up and the brunette collapsed on the concrete, gasping for breath.

"Th-thanks..."

"No problem, but we should probably get down now. Don't want one of us to fall down again." Squid chuckled and jumped over to where the mast was, glancing down at the ladder in the middle before walking over to the edge and leaping off.

"SQUID!" Keralis leaped off as well, spreading out his elytra and swooping down. Squid was hanging off the ledge of one of the gaps in the mast, about a third of the way down and heaving himself onto the block.

"What the heck was that?!" Keralis managed to yell as he glided besides him, eyes wide and distraught.

"It's quicker than ladders!" Squid retorted, smirking and ready to jump again. "And I don't think your wings can hold both of us! Can they?" Keralis hesitated for a moment but reluctantly shook his head. "Knew it!"

Squid jumped down again and landed squarely on the ground, yelping and nearly falling over. "Ow! Me legs!" he whined, rubbing at his ankle.

"A-are you okay?" Keralis asked, skidding to a stop on the ground.

"Yeah I'm good, just a few hearts down." Squid looked up at Keralis, then the crane, then the house, then back at Keralis. "Probably should've asked this earlier but uh, where is this? Like, I know it's a mesa-"

"I think it's savannah actually."

"One of the grassy places!"

"I don't think mesas are grassy."

"One of the orange places!"

Keralis sighed; this was going no where. "I'm just... gonna tell Shashwamy that you're here," he mumbled, pulling out his communicator.

Squid glanced over at his communicator as the screen popped up, trying to read the backwards text. "Wait who's Shashwamy? Is that a friend?"

"Yeah he's, also the admin of Hermitcraft."

"Wait admin? Is this Hypixel or something? Also what's Hermitcraft? Aren't those crabs?"

>DanTDM joined the game

Someone knocked at the door of his pyramid and Cub rolled his eyes. "Come in, the door isn't even there," he said, not even turning around.

"Um, hello?" The unfamiliar voice instantly made Cub whip around, sword glittering in hand. A brunette with goggles on his head was standing at the doorway, the front part of his hair dyed electric blue.

"Username, now," Cub demanded, tattered vex wings bursting from his back. The brunette's pale blue eyes widened and he fumbled to grab his communicator. He tapped at the screen and a hologram screen flashed in front of him with his username.

Cub lowered his sword and the wings on his back faded, but he still eyed the brunette warily. "Sorry about that," he muttered, tucking his sword away. "I thought you were a hacker or something."

"Oh no, I should be the one apologizing!" the stranger said quickly, smiling awkwardly. "I probably should've given more of a heads-up than just waltzing on in."

"So are you really DanTDM?" Cub asked. "Also how the hell'd you get in here?"

"Yeah I am DanTDM," the brunette replied sheepishly, looking away with a slight smile. "And I might have uh, done something? Bad?"

Cub rolled his eyes. "Real specific."

Dan chuckled. "I know, I know. But I'm honestly not too sure what I did either? I was playing around around with portals with some friends, and then one of the portals also kinda blew up and I ended up here?"

A bark suddenly echoed in the room and the skeleton of a dog came bounding in, growling slightly under its breath. Cub could only stare in silent awe as the dog bounced up to Dan and sat at his feet, glaring at Cub with cold eyes.

"Awww hey Grim!" Dan cooed, picking up the bony pup. "Did you follow me through the portal?"

"Wh... how did you even manage this?!" Cub exclaimed, his eyes wide. He grabbed his communicator out from his pocket and instantly flicked to the main chat. "I need to tell X about this!"

Dan looked up, squinting at the backwards text and attempting to read some of it. "You should also probably tell you friend that I'm here."

"Oh right, that too."

#hermitcraft #hermitblt #mineblr #goodtimeswithscar #stampylongnose #stampy cat #keralis #iballisticsquid #cubfan135 #dantdm #my writing #this took like a week to write hfgjkdjsfdgs #i didn't even get to include aphmau mithzan yourpalross and prestonplayz ;-;

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inactiive-shit · 5 years

Text

Masquerade

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Prompt: costume party

Warnings: Deceit, Remus, some Remus-regular dialogue

Pairing: Romantic Anxceitmus, background romantic Moralogince

Words: 3,417

@sanderssidescelebrations I had to interpret this pretty liberally to get an idea for the prompt. So instead of a costume party, we have a masquerade! I hope this is still enough in the guidelines to fit! Here ya go!

Dee pulls the shining gold half-face mask on and grins at himself in the mirror. His sleek black suit, shining yellow cape, and slicked back black hair cut a sharp figure. It isn’t an ornate outfit, but it does imply a certain modicum of respect and prestige. It will certainly catch his beau’s eye, which is Dee’s main goal tonight. That, and beating Remus.

Remus stands across the room, making faces at himself in the mirror. He had designed the ugliest outfit Dee had ever seen for this event - all green, with a green paisley print on the green jacket and green polka dots on his green skirt and green stripes on his tie and even green shoes. The whole thing is only something Remus could have come up with, and there will be no doubt at the masquerade ball that he is Prince Remus.

“Darling,” Dee says, “have you considered something a bit less, I don’t know, obvious?”

“No,” Remus responds. “Why would I? I want Virgil to know exactly who it is that’s after his attentions.”

“And there will be no doubt in anyone’s mind of that,” Dee says dryly. Remus grins wildly and slid on his (you guessed it) green mask. That, at least, is not such an awful shade, though it doesn’t mean much when paired with rest of the monstrosity Remus claims is an outfit.

“So, how are you planning to attract our lovely little mate?” Remus asks, running lipstick (green) over his mouth.

“Trying to cheat already, are we?” Dee asks, and he smiles slightly at the pout that contorts Remus’s face behind the mask. “That’s quite alright; you do need the pointers.”

“Well, then why don’t you come over here and teach me?” Remus quips. Dee is tempted to stalk across the room, pin Remus’s hips to the counter behind him and wipe that smirk right off his face, but he knows that it would both ruin his presentability and make them both late to the ball. So instead, Dee winks.

“I certainly will teach you. Tonight, when you’re begging to know how I got our little Stormcloud and you didn’t.”

“You talk big game for such a short person,” Remus says. Dee bares his teeth while Remus laughs.

“I’m going to make you pay for that one,” he says. Remus just keeps laughing, so Dee spins on a heel and strides out. He’ll rub it in his boyfriend’s face when he is the one who wins their little tailor’s heart. (It had started as simple infatuation, a desire to be with the pretty man who always so readily fixed up Prince Remus’s torn clothing. But then it grew, and they realized he was actually smart and sarcastic enough to combat Dee and easily able to handle all of Remus, and...now it was something much greater than mere infatuation. That is why they’ve been courting him for one year, in secret at his own request. But this ball? This would be their official announcement. Not that anyone except the three of them knew that yet.)

Dee lets the petty look on his face melt away, and then he smirks as suavely as he can. He’s walking down the hallway alone and has nothing to be smirking about, yes, but it pays to be prepared and Dee will not let this opportunity to woo such an amazing man get away from him. He will get his first official kiss from Virgil Tailor before Remus.

Which is not to say it will be their first kiss. They’ve done plenty of things aside from kiss.

“Prince Consort,” says one guard standing in front of the ballroom doors. “Good evening. Are you looking for Prince Remus?”

“Good evening,” Dee sighs, “and no. I just left him in his rooms. We are attending the ball separately.” Dee watches the guards’ faces carefully. His wording will make it seem like he and Remus are having problems. It will give Remus’s brother, reigning monarch King Roman Arvanitis, an absolute heart attack, which is something that both Dee and Remus can find delight in. (And after tonight, if all goes well, maybe Virgil too.)

“Right, of course,” says the guard, bowing his head. “My apologies for any troubles you may be having. Do you wish to go into the ball now, uh?”

Dee forces himself to hold back a laugh. They never have known how to address him. “Indeed. If you would.” He gestures at the doors, and the guards scramble to open them for him. He smirks as he passes.

“Enjoy your evening, Prince Consort,” fumbles another guard.

“And you yours,” Dee says. He walks through the doors and is standing atop the platform reserved for only the most distinguished members of the kingdom. There is a sprawling staircase that leads down to the floor, and everyone watches as Dee descends them smoothly. They clap politely once his feet are on the floor, and seconds later they are all back to their conversations and sipping from their flutes.

Dee finds the striking purple outfit just from a few seconds of looking. He stands out so stunningly from the boorish crowd. Most guests went for bright and glittering and colors, sending sparks of light dancing as they move. But not the tailor who wears a deep purple vest and lilac shirt underneath. His pants are either black or midnight blue, but at this distance with the chandeliers so high above them, Dee can’t tell which. His jacket is midnight blue, but it has red stitching and the kingdom’s sigil done in red in honor of the king.

But the most impressive thing about the outfit is mask he is sporting. It is a dragon mask done in shades of green and yellow. A dragon mask alone would have been bold, would have garnered looks (if you wore dragons, it was for strength and courage and because you believed you could be equal to those legendary beasts, gone for a century). And to do it in green and yellow, the colors of the Prince and Prince Consort, well...it was bold, certainly. Some might call it arrogant. Remus would call it attractive.

Dee considers it an invitation.

Dee watches Virgil Tailor for a moment longer and then heads for a drink. He sips it slowly, politely ignoring anyone who tries to talk to him, and lets his eyes bounce from the gorgeous man making small talk with someone he has likely never met and then to the platform that Remus will enter from. Remus will accuse him of cheating if he approaches Virgil before he has even entered the room. So Dee will wait, and then Dee will make his move.

Dee has about as much enthusiasm for waiting games as Remus. Meaning, he’ll give him thirty more seconds to show his face.

When Remus does appear on the dais, the room goes appropriately silent. Dee thinks it’s likely from the cresting horror as his outfits registers with them. The applause starts slowly as Remus walks down the staircase, and Dee is once again forced to smother his laughter at the looks on the audience’s faces. Across the room, Dee can see Virgil doing the same.

Dee beelines for Virgil the second Remus is on the floor. He can feel the curious gazes following him, undoubtedly wondering why he’s heading away from his husband and the Prince instead of toward him for their first dance of the night. The polite thing to do, and the correct procedure for an event, is to dance first with your known romantic entanglements and then with other high ranking nobles who might borrow you for a dance.

Luckily, Dee, Remus, and Virgil can all agree on at least one thing: procedure? Boring.

Dee bows in front of Virgil and offers him a hand. “May I have this dance?”

Virgil takes his hand. “Of course, Prince Consort” he murmurs, every bit the shy, demure person other believed him to be. “I would be delighted.”

Dee swings them into the dancing in a waltz, and they blend seamlessly into the crowd of other spinning couples. Well, perhaps not seamlessly. They are two of the three people who are not wearing some sort of brightly colored, reflecting materials, and Dee is as close to royalty as one can be. There is a certain space made around them that draws attention from everyone.

“You look ravishing, as always,” Dee says. Virgil is taller than him by three inches, taller than Remus by one. He has to look up to speak to him so closely, but he doesn’t mind one bit.

Virgil blushes slightly, something that Dee still delights in even after so much time together. He has never met another person who can be embarrassed into blushing with just a nice word so regularly. “I would say the same to you, but that would feel like giving myself a compliment,” Virgil mutters in his ear. The laugh that escapes Dee is entirely unexpected and genuine and just loud enough that the couples dancing near them look harder.

Everyone is wondering who Dee Salvi, Prince Consort, could have abandoned the Prince of the kingdom to dance with. No one at the ball would likely recognize him, even if Virgil forewent a disguise entirely. Most nobles don’t pay much attention to the people who are below them. Dee basks in their ignorance in a snake sunbathing.

“A compliment well earned,” Dee says. “Though I suppose you probably made half the costumes in this room.”

“Something like that,” Virgil says, and his accent slips into those words just enough to make them lilt. This language is not the common tongue, and it’s not his native language. It’s what the nobles and royals speak. Virgil had admitted that he had only learned it to get better jobs from people that would pay more. Sometimes, in some phrases or when he gets excited, the accent from the commoner language buoys his words. Dee always thought the commoner language was much more musical than the other, always found it soothing even before he started learning it.

The music begins to slow, and Dee gives Virgil a hopeful look. Virgil laughs and shakes his head. “You have to at least give Remus a chance,” he chides quietly. “Now either go dance with your husband or find somewhere else to be. It would be improper of you to stay with me for a second dance.”

“Fuck proper,” Dee mutters, but he obligingly releases Virgil’s hands - after kissing the back of one and smiling at the disapproving clucks coming from all the nearby couples. He is the Prince Consort, and he is bold enough to openly flirt with a man who is not his Prince. How strange. How rude. How arrogant. How...fitting.

Most people don’t really like the Prince Consort because he looks like he’d be an ass. Dee knows. Dee doesn’t care. He’s a pain in Remus’s ass and Virgil’s ass (not that anyone knows that yet), and that’s what’s important.

Dee picks up a glass of water and takes a sip. He tries not to smirk at those openly staring at him like a runaway circus animal. He won’t do tricks for their amusement, only his own.

It definitely does tickle him when Remus sweeps up to his side and guests either ogle them, look hastily away, or both one after the other. Remus leans in close to him and whispers, “The guards gave me their condolences on losing such a nice man. And then my brother berated me for doing something to scare you off. Dee, you should have told me you were leaving me!” Dee snorted.

“I thought you might enjoy that,” he says. Remus smiles.

“You do know me so well,” Remus sighs. “It is a true shame, then, that I must be off. I hear a tailor calling my name, desiring to dance.” Remus whisks himself away in a flurry of greens, and Dee smiles fondly after him.

Then, Dee makes his way to the wall of the ballroom and and finds an empty standing table. He leans against it to watch his beloveds be so cavalier in their dancing. Remus could dance far better than he is, but instead he leads them around the floor in a senseless, rhythmless pattern that only serves to frustrate other couples and attract the attention of anyone who wants to gossip. Meaning, everyone.

Dee lets his eyes flit to the gracious King Roman, who threw this ball at his brother’s request and even allowed Remus and Dee to handle most of the guest list (it is the only way they could get Virgil an invitation without letting Roman know directly). He had even been so kind as to not ask what the ball was for, only make Remus promise not to do anything that would get them in trouble. They had both sworn it. And they hadn’t been lying. They weren’t doing it for trouble, they were doing for love (and spectacle, but that was a given.)

Roman was watching his brother, looking very obviously concerned. Beside him was Prince Consort Patton Hart, cooing something to him. His eyes were also locked on Remus and the nonsense dance he was performing. On the king’s other side and slightly back stood the royal advisor, Logan Cato. Unknown to everyone but the guards and royal family, Logan was actually the other Prince Consort. He, too, was watching Remus though his was more a look of alarm than anything else. He leaned forward to say something to Roman. Dee goes back to watching Remus swing Virgil around the floor like an over-excited puppy.

As the song ends, Remus also kisses the back of Virgil’s hand and takes his leave. Dee watches Virgil float through the crowd, not staying put long enough to get pulled into another conversation. Remus stops at the table Dee has claimed.

“I suppose the next dance is ours,” Dee says.

“No,” Remus says. “You should go dance with Virgil. We had this whole ball for him, it wouldn’t do to leave him out there alone when he so obviously doesn’t know how to make the kind of small talk this rank of person prefers.” The look on Remus’s face is sympathetic. He doesn’t really understand this brand of small talk either.

“As you wish, my Prince,” Dee purrs. He kisses the back of Remus’s hand. “Before I go, Roman was watching you dance. They’re worried.”

“They’re paying attention,” Remus corrects with a smirk. “And attention is exactly what we want.” Dee smiles too and turns around to scan the room for Virgil. He’s closer than expected, only a half dozen tables away, chatting with a server. He probably knows every person working this event. Dee wonders if the people employed for these things always know what’s going on before anyone else. It’s easy to forget just how much they bare witness to.

“Hello, dear,” Dee says. He doesn’t bow this time. He just extends his hand. “Would you like to dance with me?” From the sly smirk on the server’s face, Dee guesses he was already well aware of their standing. Virgil still blushes.

“I would love to,” he says. Dee leads them to the dance floor. This song is quicker than the ones they’ve already been dancing too. Dee and Virgil are forced to improvise twirls and dips and everything else to keep up with the crowd. When Virgil starts laughing, Dee can’t keep the smile off his face either. They are both near to collapsing when the song begins to end.

“Dee,” Virgil says, “would you like to make a scene with me?”

“Dear, I would love nothing more,” Dee says and as the final note rises into the air Dee and Virgil lean into each other for the kiss everyone’s been unknowingly waiting for all evening.

Scandalized gasps rip through the air. Dee pulls back and Remus is standing by his side. The stares turn expectant. They think that Remus will dispense some punishment for his unfaithful consort, likely.

“Is it my turn now?” Remus whines. His eyes are shining brightly as Virgil leans down to kiss him next. The round of gasps that echoes around the room this time is even louder. When they pull apart, Remus pulls Dee into a kiss just to seal the deal. There is a third round of gasps, going rather overboard if you ask Dee, and then Remus smiles, waves at the audience and pulls them both out of the ballroom.

They all three are laughing as they stumble out and collapse a few hallways over. Dee is snorting in the most inelegant way he ever has, and it’s spurring both his partners on. Virgil’s face is bright red and he’s trying to hide it in Remus’s shoulder, but Remus keeps pulling away to pepper little kisses all over Virgil’s face. All three of their masks are discarded on the floor.

When Dee sees King Roman walking down the hall toward them, flanked by his two consorts (and his personal guard, though they are far enough away that they won’t hear anything said) he smacks at Remus and Virgil and they scramble up to face him.

“Hey, Roman!” cries Remus, wrapping one arm around Virgil’s waist. “What brings you here?”

“What brings me-? Really, Remus? You know damn well why I’m here,” snaps their king. Despite being his brother, Roman is still king. What he says, goes.

“Oh! Should I guess? Is it because you still have butt worms? Or-”

“Remus!” Roman shouts, cutting him off. “That’s disgusting! Shut up!” He waves his hand, and Patton takes his other hand. Roman sighs. “You could have warned me if you were planning on doing something like that.”

“You would have told me not to!” Remus protests.

“Yes, because-”

“Excuse me?” Virgil says, cutting off Roman. Dee resists the urge to whistle. It’s a ballsy move, but everything about tonight was so it makes sense to keep the ball rolling. “Your Majesty, Prince Consorts.” Virgil bows his head. “It is, uh, nice to meet you. Uhm, formally.” He smiles nervously. It is the least accented Dee has ever heard him talk. He wants nothing more than to reach out and take Virgil’s hand. He’s too far, though, so Dee leans as close as he can to Remus instead.

“What’s your name?” Roman asks. Remus bristles at the tone, but Virgil clears his throat, takes a step forward to stand on his own, and meets the King’s eyes.

“I am Virgil Tailor,” he says. Patton’s eyes widen, but Dee shakes his head slightly. Princes aren’t meant to dally with commoners, but this isn’t a dalliance and if Patton says anything that makes Virgil question his place, there will be a problem.

“Well, Virgil Tailor, it is a true pleasure to make the acquaintance of someone who can keep Remus in check. Is this something you can do?” Virgil nods hesitantly. Roman smiles. “Then your company will be a balm to my brother’s brash instincts. It is my pleasure to greet you, formally, and I hope to get to know you more in the future.” Virgil bows his head again, smile realer.

“You also,” he says.

“For now, though, I must be off.” Roman sends Remus the stink eye. “I am going to have to go deal with the legal ramifications of what just went on. For once in your life, Remus, could you please think ahead?”

“I did! And I thought you’d stop me! So I didn’t say anything.” Roman groans. Remus cackles and pulls Virgil and Dee both back into his embrace.

“Lay low for a couple days while we see what the backlash is,” Roman sighs. He eyes Dee. “I expected more from you.”

“You shouldn’t have,” Dee says. Roman sticks his tongue out and then walks away with his two consorts in tow. Remus giggles delightedly and they head off for his and Dee’s rooms. Tonight, they will all sleep in the same bed and Virgil won’t have to disappear himself before the cleaner comes in. In the morning, they will be able to sleep as late as they want. And maybe after that they meet with Remus’s brother to see how their stunt was received. Until then, though, Dee is going to take it easy and relax with his partners. A ball really does take it out of you.

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