Tumgik
#all these arrests are going in my permanent record thank you
violet-rose-95 · 2 months
Text
Anything Helps: Kaori Growth Drive
Hey, just giving a quick update on what's been going on.
So... I'm not doing great financially. I was arrested last year, and I owe the court about 400 bucks, and I can't get a job to pay it off because no one is willing to hire me with charges on my record. If I don't pay them by March 1st, they'll become permanent convictions and I'll just be fucked for life, but I can't get a job to pay for it.
So my friend @riddleaugust put together a Pregnancy Cosplay Growth Drive for Kaori, to try to help raise money for me to help me out. If you've been following me, you know it was originally to help me get out of this transphobic household I live in, but I dunno if I'll ever get out of here if I don't get these charges off my record, so... yeah. The donations you guys gave me have been really helping me out the past few months; I was able to raise about $250 last time, and I've got it down to just about $100, I've been making it last for months and months. But a pregnancy growth drive can be a pretty good way to raise some money, especially if it's done by someone as awesome as RiddleAugust.
Tumblr media
I've got the donation drive linked here, we still haven't reached our first stretch goal.
I'll also include Riddle's ko-fi link, here. Be sure to add "For Kaori" in the comments of any donations made so he can properly categorize them.
If you can donate to this, great, if not, that's fine, but can you maybe try to spread this around in other circles?
Thank you all again for your help in the past, it means more than you know.
37 notes · View notes
on-coming-dusk · 1 year
Text
Scott Clarke anyone?
“Alright kiddo, one for you, one for me.” Scott sat next to Eddie Munson, handing him an ice pack for the bruise already forming around his left eye.
“Thanks…” The boy wouldn’t look at him, refusing to meet his gaze. Scott wasn’t surprised, he had seen his own reflection, his nose and under his eyes was a nasty dark purple already.
“So…” Scott chugged along. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” Eddie only shook his head, pressing the ice to his face. This was the part of his job that Scott enjoyed the least.
Something happened between Eddie and Tommy Hagan this morning. There were more than enough black eyes, broken noses, and bloody knuckles to prove it. Scott had watched for the last few months as Eddie tried to find his place among his peers. With his primary friend group a year or two below him it wasn’t a surprise he was having trouble adjusting. And now this, a fight on his previously clean record. It was highly probable that Tommy antagonized Eddie until he got a reaction. But Scott couldn’t say that without creating more problems that none of them needed to deal with. If he could just get Eddie to tell him what happened. He didn’t have much faith, he had been trying to get this kid interested in class for weeks with little success. But that didn’t mean that he was going to quit now.
“You know what? That’s fair. I’m sure I wouldn’t want to talk about it either, if I were in your shoes. But Eddie, I can’t help you if I don’t know what happened. Shoot, I won’t even know what to tell your uncle when he gets here. Will you consider telling me even though you don’t want to? It would really make my life a whole lot simpler.”
Still, Eddie said nothing. But he reached into his backpack, hesitating for a moment before producing a newspaper. It was crumpled up, having seen better days, and Eddie refused to look at him as he handed it to the teacher. Scott set his own ice pack down, taking the paper gently and smoothing it down so it could be read.
His stomach twisted.
Wabash Local Faces Trial Born and raised in Wabash, Indiana, Edward Charles Munson Sr. was arrested May 13th, 1980. Beginning this week he will face trail for charges of auto theft, possession of controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances, breaking and entering, and assault with a deadly weapon.
Scott read those words at least three times in an attempt to wrap his mind around them. It was the answer to a lot of questions that seemed to follow the boy around.
It was already common knowledge that Eddie only moved to Hawkins permanently upon beginning to live with his uncle full time a few months ago. In town Wayne Munson was well liked. Friendly but quiet, he stuck to the few friends he had made upon his arrival, never partaking in town gossip or the rumor mill. There were whispers about how strange he was, the way he never seemed to go on dates or have an interest in finding a wife, for that matter. Some folks still believed Eddie was his son and he was lying to everyone about it. But even still, he was welcomed to the town when he arrived all those years ago, upon his return from Vietnam.
It would take less than a week for Wayne Munson's well received image to shatter if this headline started spreading around town.
"Eddie, is this what made you hit Tommy?" Scott folded the paper in half, hiding those words from anyone else who might see.
______________________________________________________
So. I think it's safe to say that i have a certain thought for Eddie's dad in my head already and that i have for a while.
this is a piece that i wrote probably six months ago and decided to put on hold until i caught up with some of my more planned out stories. (still working on that but progress is progress!!!) i found it in and old doc today and i wanted to share it because i really like it
yes, eddie accidentally broke mr. clarke's nose. no, he does not blame eddie at all.
yes, the town thinks that wayne is either gay or attempting to hide the fact that he has a bastard child. no, neither of these things are true either.
22 notes · View notes
jaenisamusculargurl · 2 years
Text
Sincerely, Your Ex
Yes its angst. Yes its a what if. Yes my asks are open. No I don't do smut. Yes in this Jae will be cheated on by some rando guy and she goes to Donnie for support. Donnie uses Jaes phone to break up with th boy for them.
Nonbinary Jae supremacy.
Jae unlocked the door of the shared apartment of them and their boyfriend. They shut the door holding groceries and called out
"Jack? Jack!?"
They put the groceries and their keys on table and knocked on the bedroom door. Maybe...maybe he was sleeping. They opened the door to see some girl and Jack in their bed fully naked. Jack looked over and smirked
"so your back from your fuck session with those turtle freaks?"
Jae was taken aback and shook their head.
"they aren't freaks for one and two I'm not interested in any of them! They are like brothers"
Jack rolled his eyes and Jae pushed passed him. They began packing all their stuff and the stuff they had bought Jack. A laptop, airpods, jewelry. Jack tried stopping them and they pulled out their katana
"I bought you this shit it's rightfully mine! I wasted money, time, affection and love on you, your a sick bastard I hope the foot take you and get killed in an experiment"
They snarled and grabbed their bags. The girl stood up looking guilty. The girl helped Jae out to the car and explained he said he was single and he said the girl in the photo was his brothers girlfriend. Jae looked at the girl sympathetically
"I wouldn't stay with him if i were you"
The girl nodded and Jae left. straight away they went to the sewers and dumped their stuff in the room that had been built just for them if they needed a place to stay. Jae went to Donnie's lab tears in their eyes. Donnie instantly knew it was to do with Jack and hugged Jae. Jae sobbed into his plastron and he let them. They pulled away and he took their phone.
Jae: hey Jack.
Jack: what do you want you slut.
Jae: I just wanted to say thank you for opening my eyes. You know. I'm with the turtles right now. And. I'm not gonna lie they are better than you. Donnie knows all about you. Where you live, your criminal record, how you use to do drugs. I'm so glad to have gotten away from an asshole. Please refrain from talking to me again. Oh and by the way this will be all over the news. And don't try hiding the evidence we can see you right now. The police will be arriving shortly.
not so sincerely, your Ex.
Jae looked at Donnie and smiled. He always knew what to do. And true to his word the police went to jack's house to find an overabundance of drugs class A and B aswell. It was all over the news of his arrest and how he had used women for money. They smiled and reset everything they had bought him.
Months go by and Jae permanently moves in with the boys. Not of their time was spent in Donnie's lab talking science with him. Donatello's brothers caught onto his feelings for Jae and knew what they had to do.
One night while the two were talking the lab door locked shut. Jae thought nothing of it until they needed to take their meds. They tried opening the door and started panicking. No matter how much they and Donnie tried opening the door it wouldn't. Donnie banged on it and yelled about Jaes meds. Yikes the boys hadn't thought this through. The doors were opened and Jae ran out to their bag frantically searching for their meds. The boys (Minus Donnie) received scolding and time in the hashi. Donnie apologized to much. Jae said it was ok and took their meds. Finally Donnie held Jaes hand and looked at her.
"I love you"
They both looked shocked as they spoke at the same tim then began laughing. They may be nerds but they were meant to be.
@ali-simpp @thelaundrybitch @mysticboombox @tmntxreader-fics
@tmnt-would2 @tmntlovers @raphsweapondealer @raphsgrl
8 notes · View notes
lindsaywesker · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media
Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day.
There’s a fantastic outpouring of love for our beloved friend Dr. Bob Jones, who is undergoing expensive treatment for cancer, and needs a little financial help from his friends. I’ve already contributed to a GoFundMe campaign and Simon Dunmore is staging an all-star session in the basement of Defected Records this Saturday, with all proceeds going to the same GoFundMe account. I’ve known Bob since 1982, when I was a journalist on Black Echoes and he was a permanent fixture at the best events. We worked at both Kiss FM and Mi-Soul together, and I keep abreast of Bob news through his wonderful wife, Deborah Lucas (The Weathergirl), who always brightens our day with her forecast. So many people have heard Bob play so much great music down the decades, and it’s no surprise that there’s such an effort behind this fund.
A beautiful friend of mine said to me yesterday, “When do you have down time?” Erm … let me let look … Wednesday, July 6th is the next day I have absolutely nothing in my diary. Nowhere to be. Nothing to do. I guess the challenge is keeping that day empty. Ooh … what shall I do with my free day? See? Screwing it up already! I must avoid the temptation to make a plan! Let me try and do nothing.
Many thanks to everyone that listened to Mi-Mornings yesterday. So nice to have your company! Thankfully, Mi-Soul is now the station of choice for many people. They turn it on when they wake up and turn it off when they go to bed, although I bet some fall asleep to the sound of the station, thus they never turn it off! That’s a great compliment to all of us at the station. As you know, despite many of us being the wrong side of 50, we all still work bloody hard, promoting, planning, scheduling, selecting, make sure every detail is correct, getting to the gig, getting home etc.
Unless there is some kind of legal ruling stopping it, the first Rwanda deportation flight will take off today, taking refugees from Syria and Iran 4000 miles away to Rwanda. The Rwandan government have been paid handsomely to house these refugees. Much more than it would cost to house them in the UK. So why are they being deported and not the Ukrainians that have managed to get to the UK? You only need look at the colour of their skin. Yes, folks, good old-fashioned racism. Ukrainians are white, so they can stay. Anyone darker than white has to go (to Africa!) Will this help Priti Patel’s career? She certainly hopes so!
Dozens of members of a white supremacist group were arrested on Saturday in Idaho before they could act on plans to riot at a local Pride event. After receiving a tip from a concerned citizen, the police detained and charged 31 people who belonged to a far-right group known as Patriot Front. They are being charged with “conspiracy to riot”, a misdemeanour. On the back of one of their shirts, it said, “Reclaim America.” Unbelievable. Illegal European immigrants landed in North America in 1565, massacred the indigenous population (millions of them!) and claimed that Columbus had ‘discovered’ America. Now, these ‘patriots’ want to “reclaim” America. Reclaim it from who? The only people who could possibly want to ‘reclaim’ America are the native Americans, the original people who stood on that land. Who do these ‘patriots’ want to reclaim America from? Themselves?
Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom of my status. Many people don’t like reading. It’s too much hard work. So, I thank you for giving me five minutes of your day. Have a tremendous and tumultuous Tuesday! I love you all.
0 notes
stix-n-bread · 3 years
Note
freeze! ✧ ─=≡Σ((( つ•̀ω•́)つ you’re under arrest for being so lovely. copy this message to 10 other blogs that you think are beautiful and deserve it. keep the game going and make others feel beautiful! ✨
Tumblr media
NO U!!!!! ;W; thank you so much omg!!!
8 notes · View notes
rayshippouuchiha · 3 years
Note
Yamada: so how did you and izuku start dating
Aizawa: I saw him crush a watermelon with his thighs and I accidentally said out loud “oh god I wish that were me right now” and here we are now
~The way this immediately and completely ate my entire brain~
Of three things Aizawa Shouta is absolutely sure:
One, he simply was not built for operating during the daylight hours. Nighttime really is where it's at in his opinion. The general lack of crowds and eye-searing sunlight just can't be beaten. (Dusk and dawn hours also get a pass but they're both on thin ice.)
Two, the beach is a sandy hell-scape whose only redeeming factor is the convenient access it provides to the eldritch horror that is the ocean aka the place he'll doubtlessly end up drowning himself when he finally, and according to Hizashi inevitably, snaps and runs gibbering mad into the abyss.
And three, he's absolutely and irrevocably cursed. He's being singled out and punished from on high by the gods themselves. His name is writ large across the cosmos in mockery. There is a cosmic "kick me" sign taped to his spiritual back and Shouta's going to hunt his former student Sero down and give him detention for life for encouraging his family's patron god to put it there.
By this point it's really the only logical explanation.
Which, as a card-carrying atheist, he's pretty sure is saying something about the depth of his feelings regarding his current circumstances.
Because there's no other explanation for why or how he's managed to find himself in this current situation.
The situation being, of course, Shouta, in full hero gear, standing in the hot sun on a pristine sandy beach, surrounded by screaming fans as he provides extra security and crowd control for the 20th Annual Heroic Sukiwari Charity Drive.
Shouta has seen hell and it is both Ms. Joke's open mic night and this exact moment right here.
Because, again, he's absolutely 100% cursed.
And the avatar of said curse is, obviously, his soon-to-be ex-best friend who somehow roped him into this entire thing.
Because some people say divine retribution when talking about cosmic revenge plots but Shouta tends to just says Yamada Hizashi. The two are, in many ways, interchangeable.
Shouta's going to put purify salts in all of Hizashi's hair products and also his sugar jar and possibly his energy drinks the next chance he gets.
Because if he never sees another shirtless pro-hero or another watermelon again in his life it'll be too soon.
He's pretty sure he has permanent hearing damage from all of the screaming and screeching the crowd's been doing since this thing started.
And if, after all these years of friendship with the personification of a megaphone, watching a bunch of pro's crush watermelons with nothing but their personal strength on a beach to raise money for various charities is what finally destroys his hearing Shouta is going to shave Hizashi bald before he finally embraces sweet death.
Or enacts Nezu's birthday plans and becomes a supervillain.
The jury's honestly still out at this point.
Shouta does his best to shut out the screaming behind him as one of the cameramen slides up beside him, getting a better angle on the stage as Hizashi, who's currently screeching about Miruko's performance, practically dances across the sand in front of where Shouta's standing.
"Wow, wow, wow," Present Mic chants as he dramatically fans himself, "that was one on heart-stopping, hare-raising show. Let's give it up for everyone's favorite bad, bad, bunny, Miruko!"
For her part, Miruko just struts off the small stage with a nonchalant wave to the crowd, her tiny white bikini in place and the pulverized remains of the half dozen watermelons she'd dropped kicked into soup left behind her.
"But don't lose that rhythm yet listeners," Mic announces gleefully. "Because we've got one more hero set to take the stage! So, without further ado, it's the moment I know a lot of you have been waiting for, myself included if we're being honest. The pièce de résistance of our little shindig, the showstopper himself, the one, the only, the #1 Can Do Hero Dekiru."
The crowd is absolutely deafening.
And, for once, Shouta has to grudgingly admit that he can't actually blame them.
Shirtless, sculpted shoulders and tight abs on display thanks to his low sitting and almost criminally short green swim shorts, and with his trademark bashful smile in place, Dekiru trots out from behind the curtained-off area with a crate of watermelons resting on his shoulder like it's no big deal.
Shouta's pretty sure someone to his immediate right faints but considering they're not currently a trample risk he ignores it.
But the casual show of strength with no quirk use in sight is more than a bit impressive.
For all that people, romance specifically, and attraction in general, have all been things to be considered on a firm case-by-case basis for Shouta, even he has to admit that Dekiru is ... captivating.
Rather drastically so for Shouta considering he's never actually met the man before in person.
Though Shouta does feel like he almost knows him on some level considering the fact that it really would take an act of the actual gods to get Yagi to shut up about his erstwhile protege during staff meetings.
Dekiru waves his free hand at the crowd as he sets his crate of watermelons down on the stage.
"Show us what you've got!" Mic demands from a few feet to Shouta's left. "And let's give him some encouragement listeners!"
The crowd starts up a loud and steady chant of "De~ki~ru!" as the hero pulls his first watermelon out and begins his set.
With an effortless flex of muscles, Dekiru digs his fingers into the watermelon and wrenches it completely in two.
Shouta reaches up to tug at the top of his uniform, relishing the small sip of cool air it grants him.
Shoulders and biceps flexing, another watermelon meets its end between Dekiru's palms.
Shouta really needs to add a water bottle to his utility belt because hydration is important. Or so he's been repeatedly told.
"Those hands, those muscles," Mic groans dramatically. "He really is the Can Do Hero!"
Cheeks noticeably flushed, Dekiru sits down on the stage and fits a watermelon between thick, toned thighs.
His hips twist, those thighs flex, and the watermelon cracks, spilling juice and sweet pink flesh all over Dekiru's lap.
"Oh god," Shouta can't help but say, "I wish that was me right now."
On stage Dekiru's eyes go wide as his attention somehow abruptly zero's in on Shouta.
It's at that moment that Shouta becomes aware of the deafening silence that's fallen over the beach.
Head-turning agonizingly slowly to the left, Shouta's confronted with the sight of Mic, microphone in hand, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.
His sunglasses are askew and he's staring at Shouta with a look on his face that's one part horror and one part unholy glee.
As a matter of fact, the entire beach is staring at him in much the same way.
For a moment Shouta just freezes, body going still at having so much attention turned in his direction.
This ... was not the turn he was expecting the day to take by far.
His first instinct is to, honestly, use his scarf to slingshot himself directly into the sun so his soul can be cleansed with cosmic fire.
But then ...
"Ah," Dekiru speaks up from on the stage, one hand ruffling the back of his hair and cheeks darker than before, "maybe we could go on a date first though? If you'd like?"
There's suddenly a part of Shouta that doesn't actually want to delete himself from existence via self-immolation.
And there's an even large part that doesn't want to outright reject Dekiru's seemingly sincere offer.
Because, when it all comes down to it, Dekiru seems to be, by all accounts, what passes for exactly Shouta's type.
Whip-smart if his very public arrest record and tendency to argue online and on the air with people he disagrees with is anything to go by.
Cute, with that dark green hair and sharp undercut, matching wide eyes, and a face sprinkled liberally with freckles.
Leanly built and small enough that Shouta's sure he could move him around easily but obviously muscular enough to be able to put up just the right amount of resistance in the right situation.
And, above all else, if the stories are to be believed, obviously some degree of batshit insane.
More than one story Yagi had told during breaks had Shouta questioning if the man had imported special American demons back to Japan and then stuffed them all into the deceptively charming and approachable-looking hero that is Dekiru.
So there's really only one logical way to proceed forward in this situation.
Shouta grins.
Several people in the crowd around him step back.
He's pretty sure he hears someone start reciting a prayer.
But Dekiru just blushes, eyes locked on Shouta's and teeth tugging at his lower lip.
"Hope you like coffee," Shouta finally says into the breathless silence that's fallen over them, "and cats."
Dekiru lights up, a smile brighter than the sun and twice as deadly blossoming across his face.
Just off of Shouta's side, Hizashi's busy having some kind of hysterical seizure.
Around them the crowd is going absolutely feral.
Yagi's going to birth actual kittens in the middle of the staff room when he finds out about this.
Shouta can't wait.
540 notes · View notes
sorcererinthestars · 3 years
Text
You’ve Got a Fast Car...
I’m back, bitches~~ But seriously, felt great to write again for the @rtwritingcommunity​‘s secret sunshine event! I will tag my recipient if/when I get their a-ok!
Summary: (FAHC) Michael doesn't expect a man to throw himself in front of his car and beg him to stop. This is Los Santos. Picking up hitchhikers is generally frowned upon. But this man has a pretty face and hell - he's got a fast car. What's he got to lose?
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32969470
-
Michael knew something was seriously wrong when a man throws himself out in front of his car.
Now, his car was nothing nice, but he still doesn't want to spend the next few hours getting some fucking asshole's blood off of his front bumper. So naturally he slams on the brakes as the man - a skinny, dirty thing with wild hair - does a legitimate fucking slide across the hood of his shit Honda Civic and nearly collapses on the other side. "Oi!"
"Get out of the damn road, idiot!" Michael yells out the window in a reply, flicking him off to boot. It was late, almost 2am at this point, and he really had anything better to do than scream at some (probably high) dickbag who decided to do calisthenics in the goddamn street. But the man doesn't run away ashamed, as Michael had expected. Instead, he frantically pokes at his phone - still in the middle of the street - and Michael sits there, a bit flabbergasted.
He doesn't move.
He still doesn't move when Michael lays his entire weight on the horn, sending a blast of sound into the Los Santos night. It's not as loud or annoying as he may have wanted - LS is always loud as fuck on a Saturday evening - but it does have the intended effect of nearly making the idiot in front of his car in the middle of the street jump half out of his skin.
"SHHH!" the man gasps, comically putting his finger over his lip like he was in a cartoon and making an over-exaggerated shushing motion. Michael has to blink. He's shushing him? While standing in front of his car? Before he can say anything or shake off the disbelief that this shit had to happen to him tonight - he had to get home and clean off before his next shift at the pizza place he had reluctantly taken a job at - the man (still crazy-eyed and wild-haired) runs up to his window. At this moment, Michael really wishes he had invested in a knife, or a Tazer, or something. People had warned him about LS, but he didn't listen. He should probably learn to do that, someday.
"Listen, man," the guy says (see?) and leans forward, a massive grin on his face. He has some pretty high cheekbones. Michael blinks. "Dude, can you please just move or I'm gonna run you the fuck down."
"No, no, no, listen," the man says again, waving his hands about. "Do me a favor, will ya? If you drive me to this address -" he holds his phone up and shows an address on the outskirts of the city - "I'll give you $1,000. Right here, right now, no questions." Michael blinks and then snorts. Yeah fucking right. "I'm not an Uber."
The man shifts on both his feet, looking agitated, and glances over his shoulder. There sounds like there's some sort of commotion coming down the street and he really has to move. So Michael leans on the horn again, blasting another honk into the LS skyline.
This has the unintended effect of making the man lean further over the hood of his car, as if he could hide. Remember. This was in the middle of the goddamn street.
"Dude!"
"I'm not kidding!" the wild-eyed man says frantically. "$1500. Deposited directly into your account. I'm serious, kill me and my crew if I lie."
That was no turn of phrase Michael had ever heard, but the money does make him pause. He's... short on funds right now. Well, he's always short on funds, but this time moreso than usual. $1,500 extra would be a huge boost to the amount he currently has in the bank. He'd pay rent. He wouldn't have to borrow any more from anyone else and avoid that loan shark fucker he found online.
Before he could really think about what he was saying, he finds himself tapping the passenger seat. "Fine. Get in. I swear to god, I better see that money."
And if he dies... well. Then he still wouldn't have to worry about rent, so win-win in his mind.
With a triumphant holler, the man leaps into the car and yanks up a GPS on his phone, pointing them to drive down the street. "Thanks man! I'm Gavin." -
They're not going more than five minutes when sirens start blaring behind them. The man tenses and looks backwards out the window with a frown. "Oh shit."
Michael immediately - immediately - realizes just how much he fucked up. "What do you mean, oh shit?"
"I - uh..." The unhinged man - Gavin - stutters. "Did... Did I mention that uh... the LSPD may want to arrest me?"
"May want to what?!" Michael's voice climbs so many octaves in that last word that it makes Gavin slump down in his seat, suitably chagrined. "I ... seriously, man, I - I needed a car, a way out, I promise I'll give you the money, just please for the love of god, drive the damn car."
"Pull Over," the cop car unhelpfully calls from behind them, making Michael's bowels turn to water. Gavin's even more frantically slamming keys on his phone as they approach a major intersection. Michael keeps looking behind him, unable to slow down as the cops continue to chase them. "Gavin, seriously..."
"You're with me now, man," he replies a bit frantically. "You're in it. So either we avoid them, or you're going to jail too. Sorry."
The words fall like bricks on Michael's shoulders as he realizes that what Gavin just said was true. No cop in their right mind would believe that he - a man with a few blotches on his permanent record already - would have just accepted to pick up a hitchhiker and drive him across town at 2am for $1,500 without assuming he was a criminal. No. Any sane cop would assume he was in on it.
Because the alternative was that he was a fucking lunatic, but here we are.
Gritting his teeth, a conscious shift happens somewhere in his gut. He's a survivor. He'd get the fuck out of this, one way or the other. So, without Gavin's input and in a split second decision, he takes a sharp left and rips around the corner, sending Gavin flying against the door with a shout of surprise. "HEY!"
"Gotta avoid the cops, don't we?" Michael says with a maniacal burst of laughter, the insanity that can only be best described as hysteria. "You're the navigator, idiot, get us to where we need to be!"
The nervousness - which had appeared on Gavin's face after Michael had blown up at him - evaporated as Gavin bursts into a big smile. "Hell yeah," he hums. "Let's do this."
-
After fifteen minutes, Michael had lost all his nerves. Instead, he felt like an overinflated balloon, filled with a giddy sort of lunacy that he had never felt before as they flew down abandoned Los Santos streets. He shrieked with laughter as they slipped down the runway illuminated by neon lights and flashing red and blues, which whipped around them like a rave of their own design.
The freedom was intoxicating. Michael had taken drugs before back in New Jersey, who hadn't(?), but this was a whole different sort of high. And as soon as Gavin realized that Michael was in it with him, he had turned into an erratic demon of death, urging Michael onward with the same fire that was reflected in Michael's soul.
They flew down the streets like hedonists, shrieking with laughter and happiness as Gavin shoves his head out the sunroof to flick off the cops and shout insults.
When the first gunshot cracks through the night, Michael is sobered only for a moment. In for a penny, in for a pound. He's already here, dodging the cops, so this shit may as well happen. It's like he's in a godforsaken video game but he's not. This is real life, this is his life, and maybe he's ruining it. Maybe. But what had he not ruined in his life already? For a few moments, he could feel like he was disconnected from reality, driving so fast he could swear he could fly, a - undeniably pretty - man urging him to new, foolish lengths from the seat next to them.
And so they flew. As they approached intersections and traffic lights, Michael could see - more like sense - Gavin's own particular talents. He admits he has no abilities behind the wheel, hence begging Michael to help him, but he's able to make every traffic light change from here to the safehouse, giggling like a school kid all the while, knowing he was being naughty but that just sends them into a more frenzied set of hysterics.
It tastes like the best drug, the most collective high, the freedom that comes from knowing you're one step away from death or worse but that dangle is intoxicating. Maybe ten minutes ago he hated what was happening, but all that was gone now.
It's just the car, him, and Gavin's frantic - musical - laugh.
-
Eventually - with Gavin's GPS and eventually warm hand over his - they lose the cops. Michael has no sense of time, no concept of how long they were on the roads causing havoc, fleeing and laughing and shrieking like demons.
All he knows is that he's out in the North now and the beginning shards of sun were peeking over the horizon. He's able to slow to a manageable speed and catch his breath.
Gavin's phone rings and the man answers it. Michael can't hear what he's saying past the ringing in his ears, the result of wind whipping past his face and hours of excitement. His face is red when he meets Gavin's eyes. He closes the phone and the excitement shines bright in his eyes.
For a moment, Michael's breath is taken away. Then Gavin just points. "Top of Chilliad. Get me there." His voice is hoarse from yelling, deeper than it was, and it stirs something that Michael can't explain.
"Yes, sir," he hums teasingly. In for a penny, in for a pound, like he had said before. They start the climb up the dirt road. Once or twice, Michael doesn't think his car can make it, but the tenacious Civic crawls forward as if it knows what it had done too and felt on top of the world.
They make it to the top as the sun finally breaks over the horizon completely, blanketing the world in orange and red. When Michael finally - finally- throws the car in park and looks over at him, Gavin's grinning the biggest grin Michael has ever seen.
Before he can do anything, fuelled by adrenaline and fire and the same pure joy on Gavin's face, Michael leans over and kisses him deeply, half dragging him over the stick shift.
They kiss feverishly for a few moments, the adrenaline fading, before breaking apart and chuckling sheepishly. "I - sorry, I ..."
Gavin just winks. It's knowing. "No problem, luv," he purrs. "Does it to you, doesn't it? The chase? Makes the fire in your blood run hot." He leans forward conspiratorially. "Men weren't made to walk on their knees," he hums. "Think about it." He digs in his pocket and drops a card on the passenger seat before climbing out of the door, even as Michael tries to grab his arm and yank him back. "Gav--"
"Later, beautiful," Gavin grins, seemingly more suave and sophisticated than the man he was when he first climbed into the car. Like he was grifting and Michael was his poor, unsuspecting mark. "I'll call you. You're a great driver. Check your account." He salutes and it's then when Michael can hear the thud-thud of roters. A helicopter?
Before he can say anything, climbing frantically out of the car to watch, Gavin grabs a rope ladder hanging off the bottom of a fucking cargobob and is lifted into the air, disappearing quickly out of sight like something out of a fairy tale.
And Michael is left in the remains of the sun-drenched LS morning, with a car almost empty of gas and mysteriously $1,500 richer.
Whatever had happened to him that night in Los Santos, he knows his life will never, ever be the same.
86 notes · View notes
lubdubsworld · 3 years
Text
Falling for you ( Falling from grace) Jungkook x OC
Rated : 18 +
Warning : . Fuck buddies? Or rather enemies that have sex. They just really hate each other but also can’t keep their hands off each other.
Chapter 1   Chapter 2    Chapter 3   Chapter 4   Chapter 5
Chapter 6
“Are you sure you want to head back to work today, Areum? Hoseok told me that he would give you the rest of the week off if you like... That bruise on your face is looking pretty nasty.” My sister commented mildly, her eyes worried as she watched me dab concealer on the mottled purpling skin on my jaw.
“I need to finish a couple of reports by the weekend. And Namjoon oppa told me he wanted me to be there when we viewed the CCTV footage later today. It’s going to help getting that bastard fired.” I flinched at how bad this side of my face looked. 
The bastard. 
“He’s not fired yet?” My sister made a noise of outrage.
“Of course he is. There’s a restraining order against him. But formally he needs to be terminated and Namjoon wants to do it in a way that it goes on his record permanently. Especially considering he’s already out on bond.” I wrinkled my nose. 
There wasn’t much chance of Junho going to prison over this but I definitely did not want him within fifty feet of me, ever again. 
“Jungkook’s busy with his practice is it? I haven’t heard from him...” My sister prompted and I nodded.
“His big match is coming up on Sunday. That's like four days away ...he’s probably cooped up in that gym of his.” 
“I know... Seokjin works out there too... its a great place...how come you’re never there?”
I frowned .
“He actually has me blacklisted. I’m not allowed inside the establishment. ” I muttered. 
My sister’s eyes widened.
“What? Why?”
I shrugged. The memory was a good one and worth reliving. In fact i relived it quite often when I was particularly horny with only my own hands for relief. 
“I seduced him against his favorite punching bag once and he had to get rid of it because the cum stains wouldn’t come off. He’s a petty jerk.” I grinned at my sister enjoying the way her eyes went wide as saucers. .
She stared at me slack jawed. And then she shook her head in disbelief. 
“You talk about him this way but you always look like you're half way in love with him. I don’t know what is going on in your head when it comes to Jungkook.”
I laughed.
“I love him. Of course I do.... I’m pretty sure he cares about me too, “ I remembered how warm and content I’d felt when he’d held me, how the police officer had immediately concluded he was my boyfriend, simply from the concern radiating off him, “  But, I’m not going to push for anything. I like how we are ...now.”
“Friends with benefits.?”
“I prefer the term enemies who fuck” I winked and she groaned. 
“Whatever you say. But remember, you’re going to have to DTR at some point and I hope you don’t get a shock if he isn’t on the same page. “ 
“Unlikely. Now go distract mom so I can slip out of the back door.” 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“That looks pretty fucking bad.” Hoseok winced when he saw me and I groaned.
“Don’t remind me. I ran into Namjoon on the way up and he swelled like a bullfrog. Is Jungkook in today?” I asked him brightly.
Hoseok frowned.
“you guys are awfully chummy these days ....Need I remind you about the clause on interpersonal relationships in the office?” 
I flushed.
“We’re...not....I mean. We’re friends. “
“I thought the term was enemies who fuck.” Hoseok said thoughtfully and I jumped.
“What-?”
“Jungkook told me, you little brat. I asked him why he went over to the police station and broke Junho’s fucking jaw and he spilled...”
My own jaw came unhinged.
“ He what?!”
 “He posted the bond money for the bastard himself to get him out and then apparently punched him hard enough to land him in the hospital.”
“Oh my God...is he in trouble?” 
Hoseok sighed.
“Of course not... Mr. Jeon had it taken care off at once but I knew something was up . He’s too old to play knight in shining armor , unless there was something between you guys...” 
I sighed.
“We’re in a purely physical relationship yes with of course a splattering of affection for each other. But nothing that deserves a label or close scrutiny from the HR dept. Please Hobi oppa, just let me be. “ I fluttered my lashes and he rolled his eyes. 
“Just as long as you know that Jeon Jungkook is a chaebol. He’s not going to make a honest woman out of you.” Hoseok gave me a pointed look and I wondered if I really did wear my heart on my sleeve. 
Apparently, everyone could sense that my feelings for Jungkook ran deeper than just lust and I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing. 
“Anyway, yo answer you question, yes. He’s in his office right now.”
I made to turn away but Hoseok grabbed my wrist.
“You have thirty five memos to answer and seventeen appointments to schedule. Your desk is this way, I suggest you head in that direction.” His eyes glinted in a way that told me he was incredibly serious. 
I pouted.
Fine... I’d wait for lunch to go meet Jungkook.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jungkook had a secretary of his own , the smitten Miss Lee and she gave me an angelic smile, telling me that Jungkook was out to meet someone in the marketing department. If there was anything important, I could leave it with her.
Declining the offer and thanking her, I made my way to the fireescape and the back stairwell. One of the doors opened to the emergency exit in Jungkook’s office and it took me a little bit of running around but I managed to locate it easily enough. 
Jungkook had left the door open and less than ten minutes later , I was in his office, staring around in mild awe. 
Weirdly enough, I’d never been here. before, mostly because Jungkook himself wasn’t in here all that much. But there was no mistaking that he actually did take his work seriously . I peered around the expensive drawing Tablet and the three or so monitor screens , the stylus tossed about. 
It was probably a huge breach of his privacy but I couldn’t help but click on the mouse, watching his monitor come alive. 
I blinked in disbelief when I realized what I was staring at. 
“Oh my  fuck...”  I
I felt my face flood with heat as I stared at the screen. 
It was a drawing of me. 
I was completely naked , reclining against what looked like a thick white fur rug , with countless plush cushions scattered all around me. The snow white fur set off the golden glow of my skin and I noticed the attention to detail, the tiny mole in the corner of my hip, the small half moon scar on the edge of my collar bone and of course an impressive collection of hickeys on my neck and my inner thighs. 
I looked the way I usually did when I was mouthing off at him, a little angry and rebellious, my eyes blazing with a challenge and my lips parted in annoyance . I had one hand resting right between my legs, two fingers pressed against the labia while the other two disappeared into me. The other hand lay on my breast, fingers tweaking one hard nipple . 
I turned away quickly, breathing harshly as I realized that Jungkook had literally drawn an incredibly accurate drawing of me masturbating , purely from memory.
Not entirely sure if i should be angry at this or not, I tried to clear the hazy cloud of arousal that was beginning to settle all over me. I wasn’t angry. 
I was just ridiculously turned on. 
And incredibly curious if he had other pics of me. 
I whirled back around to the computer and then nearly jumped out of my skin when I realized that Jungkook was leaning against the doorway, watching me with an amused smile on his face. 
“Oh, fuck...” I clutched at my heart which felt like it was going to give out. 
“Pretty sure your desk isn’t here, Areum. Are you lost?” He drawled, stepping away from the door and stalking over to me. 
I stepped back quickly, the action purely instinctive. 
“Did you punch Junho?” I asked sharply.
Jungkook gave me a small smile.
“That is a very mild way to put it yes. He’s gonna be eating through a straw for a couple of months , yes.”
I glared at him. 
“What if you got arrested.” I folded my arms.
He laughed.
“Baby, come on. fucker had it coming. Anyway enough about that loser. Why are you hovering near my desk. Corporate espionage is generally frowned upon baby... Am i gonna have to spank you, you naughty girl?” He waggled his eyebrows. 
I rolled my eyes before walking up to his desk and turning the screen around to show the lewd artwork . 
“how long have you been drawing me like that?” I pointed at the screen and Jungkook looked surprised. 
Surprised but not particularly bothered. 
“Ah... i love that one... Did you see the way I only drew four of your fingers between your legs baby, your thumb is supposed to be rubbing on your clit.... I was working on it when I got called away earlier....” He looked apologetic. 
I felt like I had turned the exact shade of the marron carpet under my foot. 
“Jungkook how long have you been drawing me naked...” I snapped. 
“ Oh... probably the first time you let me see you naked.” He said nodding lightly and I stared at him.
“How come I’ve never heard of this?” I hissed and he gave me a grin. 
“Because it’s for my own personal...use.” He grinned. 
I glared at him.
“How many....?” I demanded.
Jungkook shrugged.
“50...? 60? Definitely at least fifty.” He said casually. 
I stared at him.
“I wanna see them.” I said sharply. Jungkook sighed, like I was being a pain , which was so unfair it made me want to scream. 
“Areum, I-” 
“Jungkook?” A soft voice called from the outer office and I frowned when Jungkook startled. 
“Oh, hey... Sana..... Come in.” His voice had shifted into something mild and pleasant and I felt my hackles rise. 
“Oh..hello... Areum ssi...” The girl gave me a confused smile and I resisted the urge to fold my hands and demand what she was doing there. Instead , I moved away from behind Jungkook’s desk, grabbing a file. 
“Good afternoon Sana ssi.” I smiled.
“I’m sorry, I missed lunch, Sana.... I wanted to give you this. “ Jungkook pulled out a small envelope from his jacket, smiling an absolutely angelic smile at her. 
Sana looked suitably enthralled, her eyes trained greedily on his perfect face as she took the envelope.
“Oh.. are these--?”
“Tickets to my match on Sunday yes...” He smiled. “ I’m hoping you’ll be there.” 
I felt my lungs expand as I took a deep breath to calm myself down. The urge to screech like a banshee was increasing by the second. 
“Oh, I’ll be there for sure. I’ll be cheering you on from the front row, Jungkook !!” She all but bounced on her feet, looking positively giddy with excitement as she bowed to both of us and literally floated away. 
I waited till she was fully gone before turning on him. 
“There better be another envelope in there with my name on it.” I gritted out. 
Jungkook grinned wide at that, eyes dancing with mirth. 
“In my jacket? Not really. But there’s something much better in my pants with your name on it. Want me to whip it out for you baby?? “
He grabbed the edge of his belt buckle, tugging the leather out of the hoops and I glared at him. 
“You are out of your mind if you think I’m going to be okay with you letting everyone watch you fight but  me. That is just unfair and uncalled for.” I snapped. 
Jungkook was still tugging on his belt, but he paused to give me a look.
“What’s in it for me?” He said softly. 
I frowned.
“What?”
“I’m not going to enter a deal without an equitable pay off....Its obvious that you’re really turned on by the thought of watching me fight . So unless you give me something I’m thirsty for.... I’m not going to indulge you,” He said casually. 
I laughed in disbelief. 
“There is literally nothing I’ve denied you in bed , you're crazy to even suggest -”
“I haven’t fucked your ass yet.” He said casually. 
I could feel myself turning red.
“No.” I hissed. “ Absolutely not.”
“Why the hell not?” He frowned.
“Because it fucking hurts. I’m not going through that again.” I snapped. 
Jungkook groaned like he was in actual pain. 
“Baby, its hardly my fault you’ve never slept with a real man before me, is it? Why should I deprived the pleasure of fucking your ass just because those buffoons didn’t know how to do it right?” Jungkook’s voice was dangerously close to a whine and I resisted the urge to throw something at him. 
“I don’t fucking care...its a no. So drop it. ” 
Jungkook narrowed his eyes. 
“Fine. I’ll drop it. For now.” He muttered and then made a big show of thinking, “ alright fine. How about you let me tie you up.”
I stared at him.
“You literally do that every time we have sex.” I pointed out. 
“And I get to use my toy box.” 
I blinked.
“Your toy box.” I said , confused. He grinned mischievously. 
“You know the one...Big mahogany box  underneath my bed. The first time I showed you, you kind of screamed and called me a monster?” He grinned wide.
i had a brief flashback of an assortment of whips, floggers and gags. 
I shuddered. 
Nope. 
This wasn’t working. 
“How about this.... Either you get me those tickets or you don’t get to fuck me. At all.” I smirked.
Jungkook hummed.
“Why would you punish yourself like that love?” He drawled. “ You can’t live without my dick, the sooner you accept that the easier life is going to get for you.” 
The audacity of this bitch. 
I walked right past him , ready to stalk out,  but his hand shot out, gripping my elbow and pulling me into his embrace.
I struggled against his hold, but he brought both arms around my waist, flexing his muscles so I could feel just how futile it would be to try and break free. 
“Come on baby, walking out in the middle of negotiations...that’s just really poor etiquette. Think of the poor hostage....” He pouted , doe eyes wide and I nearly caved. He had no fucking business being sexy  and  cute. 
I laughed in disbelief.
“Hostage??....are you talking about your fucking ego....?” I stared right up at him , tilting my face when he moved to kiss me. His lips latched on to my jaw instead, tongue licking the skin there gently as he hummed . 
“No...I’m talking about my dick.” He grabbed both my elbows, swinging me around like I weighed nothing, one arm holding me in place as he pressed up against my back, hips rolling so I could feel the hardness of his dick right against the swell of my ass. “ Dude’’s feeling pretty darn trapped right now. Poor thing just wants to get inside you and ruin you baby, why you making it so hard for him...?” 
I elbowed him sharply, vindicated when the sharp edge of it caught something hard and fleshy. Jungkook grunted in discomfort but didn’t let go of me. 
“My little hellcat. “ He bit down on the juncture between my neck and shoulder, “You know why my dick is hard?”
“To match your cold unfeeling heart?” I snapped and he moaned in mock hurt. 
“Not fair baby...I have the kindest heart... Soft heart, hard dick....That’s literally my entire persona.” Jungkook nuzzled my neck .  
I fought the urge to laugh . 
“So why then? Because I’m within ten feet of you? Isn’t that all it takes usually?” I muttered, wincing a bit when his teeth sank in a little deeper.
Jungkook let out a soft chuckle.
“Normally I’d agree but today... I’m so fucking hard because you looked like you wanted to claw Sana’s face off when I gave her those tickets....” 
I flushed.
“Well, I just don’t think I should be the only one not allowed to see you fight.” 
“Or maybe you just hate the idea of any one else getting to touch my dick...because like I said...it’s got your name on it right baby?” Jungkook laughed against my ear and I blushed . 
“I still think its rude that you don’t let me come to your matches.” I grumbled. 
“And why do you think that is, baby? Why do you think I’m so adamant about you not being anywhere near me when I have something important to do...”
I didn’t reply, eyes fluttering shut when he suckled on the skin near my neck. 
“Its because I’ll probably lose..” He growled into my ear, “ Don’t wanna get knocked out in the first round because I was too busy staring at your pretty, pretty face and delicious fucking body... My only distraction, my  favorite  distraction.”
  I felt myself melt like an ice cream cone in the fucking sun. 
“Oh, fuck you....you honey-tongued son of a bitch...” I choked out, unable to fight the wide grin that was taking over my face. 
Jungkook chuckled in victory, hugging me tighter.
“So tell me.... Can I tie you up tonight? Get some of my favorite toys...Want to play in your sandbox....” He leered and I laughed despite myself. How could this man make the most innocent of phrases sound so fucking sexy.... 
“Only if you let me pick the toys.”
Jungkook let go of me and gently turned me around. He was frowning deeply. 
“Babe you don’t even know what their called.” He complained.
“But I can gauge how much damage they’ll do and that’s more important to me.” I pointed out. 
Jungkook gave me a thoughtful smile.
“Hmm....fine... But I get to offer the choices. “ He said softly. 
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Okay, in that case you need to let me see every single drawing you’ve made of me... right now.” I smiled.
Jungkook grinned, already grabbing my wrist and tugging me back to his desk.
“Deal...but I’m gonna need you to sit on my cock and keep it warm while I show them to you..... okay?” 
I glared at him but he was already moving to the wide , comfortable chair behind the desk. He sat on the chair, manspreading and unbuckling himself before wriggling the slacks down past his waist and tugging his boxers down. 
I watched him reach in to pull out his hard cock ,  pumping the hard length of it a couple of times before smiling at me expectantly. 
“Horny bastard.” I muttered under my breath, before letting him maneuver me into his lap, fingers slipping up my skirt and tugging my panties aside , before lining himself up against my center. 
“Ready baby?” He kissed my cheeks fondly and I nodded lowly. He pressed a couple of fingers against my slit, dipping in just enough to make sure I was wet enough. I wasn’t dry per se, but it still stung a bit when he drove himself in with one swift stroke. 
“Oh, fuck...” I groaned when he entered me , the rock hard length of him cleaving my insides and making my tongue go dry. I clenched down on him, thighs beginning to tremble already. I gripped the edge of the table in front of me. 
“Maybe I should call Sana in now.? Huh baby...that’ll show her who this dick belongs to, right , angel?” He whispered against my ear and I moaned, a gush of arousal staining my thighs at his words., Jungkook laughed knowingly, wrapping an arm around my waist to keep me still before rolling his hips gently and settling inside me. 
“So baby, which ones do we start with.... Solo shots? ones with me....? There’s one of me fucking your pretty pink hole, maybe that’ll change your mind about letting me take you in the back...”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author’s Note : I’m stopping here because the next chapter is just like 5k of porn and I wanted it to be a standalone chapter. 
Comments are love , Feedback is really appreciated. Send me your thoughts, ideas or even just scream about how hot Jungkook is....anything works. 
taglist : @veronawrites @aamxxrii  @brooky95
@apollukee
@ladyartemesia
@yoongisdragon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ if you guys wanna be on the taglist just lemme know...
201 notes · View notes
divinerulerluvr · 3 years
Text
Suspicious pt. 2
An AU where Colin Zabel is the bad guy.
No Warnings
Pairing - Colin Zabel x reader
Words - 1.3k
A/N - Per request, i wrote a part 2. Like, high request. I didn't think part 1 was good but i got a lot of people who wanted a second part so i guess here it is
Read part 1 here
Tumblr media
- - -
It had been two weeks and, once again, there was a murder.
You were afraid that somehow, Colin would make you his scapegoat. Maybe he was done with being nice and decided to plant fake evidence in your car or something to get you arrested for the murders.
Everything had you paranoid. Every noise, every person. You were constantly on edge and it was slowly killing you.
And with Colin being a detective, he had access to damn near anything. With the internet, everything was available. Part of you was very wary about the man. You couldn’t trust him at all. He was a murderer and a good one, at that.
You had gotten a text one night from an unknown number telling you to meet him at the police station. You knew who it was. Who else would it be?
Afraid to disobey, you head to the station.
The front door was unlocked and you walk in, finding the only light that remained on in Colin’s office. Nervously, you walk into his office. He sits behind his desk, his eyes focused on the phone in his hands.
“Y/n,” he says, not even bothering to look up from his phone. “I need your help,”
“With what?” you ask, standing in the doorway of his office, afraid to walk in further. He looks up at you, turning his phone off and setting it on the desk. “I need a scapegoat and you’re gonna give me one,” he says simply.
His words make your heart sink further. He wanted you to give him an innocent person to blame his killing on?
He stares at you, your silence irritating him. “I could just make you my scapegoat if you don’t talk. It’s up to you,” he shrugs, standing from his seat and walking around the desk. You fight the urge to step back in response, keeping your feet planted.
“Why do you want a scapegoat now?”
“To put the town at ease. Once I get a scapegoat, I’m leaving. This place is... Sad,” he says, his eyes scanning the room around him.
“I can’t do that,” you say, your eyes following his as he steps closer and closer to you. “Listen to me, for fucks sake,” he warns lowly, making you swallow thickly. “It’s either you go to jail for four murders, or some person you despise goes to jail. Pick your poison, sweetheart,”
“It’s selfish,”
“Aren’t we all selfish?” he replies simply, now just inches from you. “And plus, you wouldn’t think it was selfish when you rot in prison. Don’t you have someone you hate? Someone you’d love to see rot?”
You just shake your head. Colin scoffs, not buying it for a second. “Nobody’s perfect,” he says, his voice lowered just above a whisper. “Especially… you,”
“What?” you ask, confused at his insinuation. He smiles, walking back over to his desk. “You have a record,” he states. You just shake your head, internally panicking. “No, I don’t,” you deny, trying to seem calm.
“You did, at least. You got it expunged. Isn’t that right?” he says, glancing up at you as he leans against his desk. “Looks like you were… driving drunk while underage. That’s like, two crimes all in one,” he sucks in sharply through his teeth shaking his head in a condescending manner. “That’s not good,”
You had nothing to say, so you just competed in his stare-off. His hands tucked deep into his pockets, he sighs heavily. “I’m gonna need a name, Y/n,” he orders, his words soft yet demanding. Your life depends on this.
Staying silent, you ran through the list of people who did you wrong throughout the past years. There was nobody who you’d want to send to jail. Well, except one guy.
“Mark Youens,” you say.
Colin smiles. “Good choice, doll. That one girl’s husband. He’s the perfect culprit,” Colin praises coldly, his words sincere but the context of them making you sick. “You mean Daisy,” you interrupt. Colin looks up at you, his eyebrow arched in question.
“‘That One Girl’ has a name,” you clarify. He just nods boredly, walking around the desk and writing the name you gave him down.
“You just gonna stare at me?” he asks, noticing how your gaze remained on him. You snap out of your daze, your eyes moving to the desk he stood behind. “Come here,” he says, his instruction making you scared.
Were you going to be his last kill?
You walk up to his desk, the wood separating the two of you and creating a safe distance. Colin leans on the desk, extending his hand. You flinch at the movement, afraid he was going to do something more than just graze his fingers down your cheek.
Colin chuckles, his eyes locked on yours. “You know, if I wasn’t blackmailing you, I would ask you on a date,” he comments. You display no reaction, his hand still petting your cheek affectionately.
“I wouldn’t say yes,” you bite back. He smiles, dropping his hand from your cheek. “I don’t believe you,” he shrugs.
“Cocky much?”
He shrugs, walking away from the desk and grabbing his coat from the chair. “I’ll see you tomorrow at eight a.m sharp. Got it?” he says.
“Fine,” you agree monotonously.
-
At eight a.m sharp the next morning, you meet Colin at the address he had sent you. You ended up at a local park filled with people. You saw Mare and a few other police on the small stage, a microphone and most importantly, Colin.
A loud sound echoes through the speaker as Mare taps the microphone in front of her. “We are pleased to announce the killer has been caught and is in jail. Hopefully, this will serve as some justice for all the chaos recently and put you guys at ease,” Mare announces to the people who gather before her.
Colin had brought you to some sort of town meeting about the killer being caught. “A special thank you to Detective Colin Zabel for investigating and thank you to Y/n Y/l/n for giving us the tip to find the man responsible,”
You felt your heart freeze at Mare’s word. Colin, who stood beside Mare, smiles widely as she says your name. You knew he had gotten her to say it just for kicks.
The crowd claps and you just glare at Colin who winks at you. This was all a part of his plan and you had somehow fallen directly into his sticky trap.
Slowly, the crowd disperses and you got a moment alone with Colin. You hit his arm and he turns to face you, a shit-eating grin on his lips. “You fucked me over, Zabel,” you whisper angrily, making sure nobody was around.
“How exactly? I saved your ass from being the scapegoat--”
“I saved my own ass from being the scapegoat. You were the one blackmailing me,”
He chuckles, glancing around the area as he crosses his arms. “You’re smart, Y/n,” he says, the compliment throwing you off. “I kinda have to be because of assholes like you,” you retort snappily, exhaling heavily.
“I thought you said you’d be leaving,” you add on, calming yourself. He shrugs, running his tongue over his lips. “Eh. Mare offered me a more permanent job here. Maybe Easttown isn’t so bad,” he says, taking pleasure in your disappointed reaction.
“Don’t look too excited, now,” he jokes sarcastically but you don’t react. “I’ll see you around, doll face. Maybe now that all this murder shit is over, I can take you to dinner,”
“You’re fucking delusional, Colin,” you reply.
He shrugs, a charming smile pulling on his lips as somebody walks by the two of you. “Probably. See you around, Y/n,” he says, patting your arm before walking past you, leaving you like he always did.
And of course, he had the last word.
111 notes · View notes
roseworth · 3 years
Text
'cause i know you won't
word count: 6.8k
description: “As much as I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and my family…" the King said. "We can’t have a criminal living in the castle. Even a reformed criminal.”
Eugene and Rapunzel are separated by circumstance, and they need to learn how to live their new lives without each other.
(title inspired by One More Weekend by Maude Latour)
AO3
“Mr… Fitzherbert,” King Frederic said, his face stoic. “My daughter has told me you played a substantial role in her return home.”
“Oh, well, she did most of the work,” Eugene responded, nervously fiddling with the hem of his shirt. “I, uh, I just wanted to keep her safe.”
The King hummed in approval, scanning his face. “She certainly cares a lot about you.”
“And I care about her, too.”
“I see,” he said simply, then cast his gaze away. “As much as I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and my family… we can’t have a criminal living in the castle. Even a reformed criminal.”
Eugene nodded. “I understand, Your Majesty.” He kept his eyes glued to the floor in front of him. He wasn’t sure he could trust his own face if he looked up at the King.
“However, I have pardoned all your previous crimes in Corona. As of now, you are a free man in the kingdom,” he said as he handed Eugene a small stack of papers. Records that he had been pardoned. “And as promised, you will receive a reward for the return of the Princess.”
He didn’t want a reward.
“Thank you, Sir.”
The King examined him for a moment, then sighed. “I understand that you and Rapunzel are… close. But there’s no room for you in her new life, and I hope you can both accept that.”
Eugene forced a smile. “Yes, I understand, Your Majesty. Trust me, this pardon is more than I could ever ask for.”
Frederic nodded curtly, then extended his hand for Eugene to shake. Eugene shook it quickly and stood up, praying his legs wouldn’t collapse under him. He quietly walked out of the room before the King could change his mind and throw him in a prison cell.
He was a free man for the first time in… he didn’t know how long. He was running from guards for as long as he could remember. It felt wrong to walk past them now without fear of being arrested.
What would he do now? He honestly didn’t think he was going to make it this far. He was half-expecting to be strung up as soon as Rapunzel was safe. Yet he had still let himself hope that he could stay with her. That was his mistake.
As he walked down the hall of the castle on his way out, he glanced over at the door leading to Rapunzel’s new room. Her mother had brought her there to show her around and spend more time with her as the King talked to Eugene. She was probably still in there if he wanted to say goodbye.
He stopped in his tracks and stared at the door for a long time. Should he say goodbye? He wasn’t sure when he would see her again, and he did care about her. He wanted to make sure she was okay.
But maybe it would be better if he didn’t. It would be easier for her to let him go if he just left. It was like the King said, there was no room for him in her new life. She had her parents now, and a whole kingdom. She didn’t need him to cause problems when she’s finally happy.
Then again, maybe it would be better for closure if he said goodbye. So she could see that she didn’t need him, and she could easily transition into life without him. But that was selfish, wasn’t it? He just wanted to see her one last time even though it would hurt worse to see her again knowing that he could never be with her.
In the end, anything he could say to her would make it worse. He wanted to see her, but it would be better in the long run if he would just leave now without causing problems. That was what she needed, right? A life without problems. A life without people that would care more about themselves than about her. A life without him.
He took a deep breath and turned around, walking away from her room and out of the castle.
*
With the reward he received for rescuing the Lost Princess, he was able to buy himself a place to live in the kingdom. It certainly felt weird; having his own house and his own bed was all new to him. This life of not-crime was going to take some getting used to.
He had started talking to himself to cover the silence pretty quickly. Silence didn’t sit right with him now that he wasn’t hiding from anyone.
“Alright, straight-and-narrow day one!” he said cheerily, clapping his hands together. “Step one: make amends.” He figured if he was going to be living among the people of Corona, he couldn’t have them thinking of him as Flynn Rider anymore. He wanted them to know him as Eugene, and that started with fixing the mistakes Flynn Rider made.
Besides, making amends would be easy! Or it would be the hardest thing he’s ever done, he still wasn’t sure. Could go either way.
He opened the door and walked into the street, taking a deep breath and looking around. He would have to take it one by one, finding a way to make amends individually with everyone he had stolen from. That might take a while.
He didn’t steal anything too big from citizens. Most of his heists were taking from royalty and the elite, but he would often steal money or other essentials from normal people. It was enough to disrupt their lives, and they deserved some kind of restitution for that.
His first stop on his apology tour was the local shoemaker. Eugene had stolen a crate of boots from him a few years back, so he figured that was a good place to start. It wasn’t big enough that it was unforgivable, but it still might be memorable.
When he walked into the shop, he saw a familiar-looking mousy man with red hair standing behind the counter. The man looked up at him as he entered. “How can I help you?”
“Hi, I don’t know if you recognize me but-”
“You’re Flynn Rider!” the man interrupted, his eyes widening.
Eugene laughed uncomfortably. “Yes, but I recently had my crimes pardoned and I’m trying to turn over a new leaf, starting with making amends for the things I’ve done wrong.”
The man eyed him suspiciously. “I heard you saved the Princess, is that right?”
“Well, kind of. I didn’t really do much to save her, just happened to climb a tower where the Princess happened to be,” he admitted. The cobbler chuckled.
“Well, Flynn, what can I do for you?”
“Actually, it’s more what I can do for you,” he said. “I stole some shoes from here a few years ago, and while I can’t un-steal them, I’d like to make it up to you somehow.”
The man paused in thought, looking Eugene up and down to try to distinguish whether or not he was lying. “Alright then, how much do you know about making shoes?”
Eugene grinned. “I’ve actually been repairing my own shoes for years!” he said proudly. He lifted his foot and pointed to his boot. “This shoe has fallen apart more times than I can count, but look at it now! Perfectly intact!”
The shoemaker inspected the shoe and hummed his approval. “Impressive cobblering!” he said. “How would you like to do some work to repay me for the shoes, Flynn?”
“That sounds perfect,” he replied with a grin. “And my real name is actually Eugene, not Flynn.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I get why you went by Flynn for so long,” he said with a shrug. “I’m Feldspar.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Feldspar,” he said. “And I’m sorry for stealing from you all those years ago.”
Feldspar waved a hand dismissively. “Well, Eugene , if you’ve really changed like you say you have, it’s glue under the sole,” he said. “That’s a cobbler phrase. It’s like ‘water under the bridge,’ but better, because it’s about shoes.”
Eugene laughed. “Got it.”
.
Over the next few days, Eugene learned more about shoes than he ever thought he would know. He learned that the things he had been calling “that thingy” and “that other thingy” for years actually had their own names (it was the “welt” and the “outsole,” Who knew?).
He had made more shoes than he had stolen, and he was honestly pretty proud of himself. He had done a job and not a “job.” Honest labor was a new concept to him, but it was very welcome.
“I think you’ve more than paid off your debts,” Feldspar said at the end of the day, polishing his equipment. “But if you ever wanted to work here permanently, I’d be more than happy to hire you.”
“Really?”
“Of course! You’ve got some real skill here.”
Eugene grinned proudly, looking at the shoes he made. “I would love to. I just need to finish making amends to everyone else first,” he said. “But if the offer still stands once I do that, that would be great.”
“You’re a good kid, Eugene,” Feldspar said, patting his shoulder. “I can put in a good word with the rest of the town. I’m sure they’d all love to hear you out.”
“I sure hope so,” he said. His tone was lighthearted, but they both knew he wasn’t really kidding. He truly did want the rest of the kingdom to realize that he had moved past his old life, and he wanted to make it up to them.
He arrived back at his house later that night and breathed a small sigh of relief. “One forgiveness down, a thousand more to go,” he said to himself. “But that wasn’t so bad! I could have done this years ago!”
And maybe if I had done this years ago, the King wouldn’t have seen me as just a thief, and I could-
He closed his eyes and waved his arms in front of himself as if he could swat away the thought. He couldn’t dwell on Rapunzel. He had to move on. Even if she had changed his life for the better and brightened his entire outlook on life, and she was maybe the only person he had ever truly cared about.
Yeah, he had to forget about what he had lost, and stay focused on what was ahead of him. He sighed, running his hands over his face. He wondered if she was doing okay. She had been home for over a week now, and he hoped she was adapting alright.
He wished he could be there. He wanted to help her as best he could and make sure she was okay. She had other people now, a real family that loved her. He couldn’t provide her with anything.
But he missed her. He was constantly thinking about what it would be like if he didn’t have to leave her. He could be with the love of his life, and they would be happy. Maybe that was selfish. She deserved better than him, and he knew that. He was trying to move past the selfishness that he had held onto in his past.
He took another deep breath, trying to stop drowning himself in thoughts that would just hurt him. Instead, he chose to think about his forgiveness mission again. He still had a long way to go before he repaid all the debts he could, but he was proud of the small amount he had accomplished.
He knew he changed; he wasn’t who he was just a couple weeks ago. Himself from a month ago wouldn’t even recognize him now. He wanted to believe he really could be a better person than he was before. Abandoning the “Flynn Rider” persona might be the best thing he ever did.
.
He spent a lot of time the coming weeks meeting Coronans and doing what he could to make amends. Most of them just asked that he work to repay what he had stolen, which he was more than happy to do. Even though he wasn’t exactly the best at many of the jobs (apparently you can’t speed up baking by turning the oven to 600 degrees), he did his best to help out where he could.
His next stop was the blacksmith. He had been told that the blacksmith was kind, so hopefully, it wouldn’t be hard to get on his good side.
He approached the shop carefully, then waved to the man standing there. He looked tall and intimidating (especially since he was holding a huge hammer), so Eugene hoped the rumors about him being a gentle giant were true.
“Hi, uh, Xavier, right? My name is Eugene, but I used to go by Flynn Rider, and I stole some stuff from you. And I want to make amends for what I did,” he said. He had tried to get his opening statement down over time, but he never knew how to phrase the words ‘I stole from you and I can’t get your stuff back but I would really like it if you forgave me!’
Xavier smiled at him. “I appreciate the gesture, Eugene, but I do not believe you ever stole anything from me. So you don’t need to make up for anything!”
Eugene grimaced. “See, you don’t think I stole from you, but I know I did. Whenever weapons or gold would randomly disappear from here, that was usually me.”
“Oh,” the blacksmith said simply. He paused for what seemed like forever (but was really only a couple seconds), then chuckled. “I don’t know what you could do to make it up, but I do not mind that you took from me. I am sure you needed it.”
Eugene chewed on his lip. True, he definitely wouldn’t have survived without the weapons he stole, but that didn’t make it okay that he stole them. “Is there any work that you would need me to do? Or anything to just make your life a little easier? I want to make it up to you somehow.”
Xavier smiled. “You know what, I do have something. You’re an adventurer, right? Give me a good story, and I’ll consider your debts paid.”
He was taken aback, but smiled back anyway. “A story? Like what?”
“You saved the Lost Princess, right? How did that go?”
Eugene paused. He wasn’t sure how to tell a story like that. In all honesty, he was still grappling with everything that had happened, and he was pretty sure the story was going to sound insane. But the man asked for a story, and so as weird as it was, he was going to tell it as best he could.
“This is the story of how I died,” he said dramatically, then smiled. “Though, it’s not really my story. It’s Rapunzel’s.”
He launched into the story of the girl in the tower who only dreamed of seeing the lanterns, and the guy who only had a crown on his mind. There were quite a few holes in his story where he had no clue what happened. He had never figured out why her hair was magical in the first place, much less how Gothel found out about it.
Throughout the whole story, Xavier looked intrigued. He wasn’t sure how the man wasn’t at all phased by talk of magic healing hair and swordfighting horses, but he didn’t bother dwelling on it.
“And so, once I was brought back to life and she told me she was the Lost Princess, we went back to the kingdom. Now she’s with her family, and it’s the happy ending everyone wanted,” he finished. He looked at Xavier, trying to decipher what he was thinking.
“Wow,” he said. “That must have been quite a lot to go through.”
Eugene chuckled. “Oh, yeah. I know it sounds a little crazy, with all the magic and whatnot-”
“Trust me, I have heard all about that magic. The story of the magic healing flower has been passed down through generations.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, there have been myths about the Sundrop for millennia. It’s impressive that you got to see it in action.”
Eugene pressed his thumb into the palm of his left hand, rubbing it thoughtfully. The Sundrop’s powers were nothing compared to the way Rapunzel made him feel like his heart was bursting whenever she smiled, but that was neither here nor there.
“So, you are in love with the Princess, right?”
Eugene choked on his breath, then let out a shaky laugh. “Th-the Princess? Who? In love? Pfft, I don’t- I wouldn’t- I’ve never even met- I mean, I uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he stammered, his hands fidgeting uncomfortably. Nice one, Fitzherbert, that was really convincing . Apparently, he completely lost his ability to lie when he stopped thieving. Fantastic .
Xavier simply smiled lightly. “The way you talk about her, it is easy to tell.”
Eugene sighed and shrugged halfheartedly. “It doesn’t matter, she’s with her family now. I couldn’t come in the way of her happiness.”
“Maybe her happiness is you, too.”
“Even then, a princess can’t be with a criminal. That’s just… that’s how it is.”
“Would a ‘criminal’ go around to everyone in town just to atone for every crime he once committed?”
Eugene’s gaze fell to the ground. He was trying to fix his past mistakes, but that doesn’t mean his mistakes didn’t happen. No matter how much he wanted to be a better person, he couldn’t undo what he had done.
After a brief silence, Xavier rested his hand on Eugene’s shoulder. “Well, Eugene, I’m glad you’re focusing on doing the right thing these days. And thank you for the story.”
*
Eugene had gone to all the townspeople and made amends within 3 months. Everyone was surprisingly receptive to his apologies, which made it easier. He still got the occasional glare as he walked down the street, but he did his best to ignore it. He had done what he could. He didn’t need everyone to like him, he just wanted to right his wrongs.
After he finished making his amends, he went back to the cobbler shop and took the job that Feldspar had offered him. He never would have guessed it, but he had a knack for making shoes. Having an honest job was new to him, but it was a welcome change.
.
6 months after he and Rapunzel had first returned to Corona and his crimes were pardoned, he had a steady job and was getting along the best he could with the others in the kingdom. Life was going pretty well for him, all things considered.
He was walking to work one day when a group of kids ran up to him with excited smiles on their faces. “Eugene!” Seth called out, waving his arm as he ran up to the man.
“Hey, kiddo, what’s up?”
“Can you tell them the story you told me last week?” the boy asked, gesturing to the other kids following him. “They don’t believe me.”
He smiled and sat down on the edge of the fountain in the street. He had a little bit of time before he had to get to work, right? “Alright, just a quick story,” he said. “This is the story of how I died,” he recited, sweeping an arm in front of himself. He stuck with that introduction whenever he told the story; he liked the way people reacted to the line. The kids’ eyes widened, and they sat on the ground in front of him, already completely engaged in what he was saying. “Well, don’t worry, it’s actually a very fun story, and the truth is it’s not even mine. This is the story of a girl named Rapunzel, and it starts with the sun…”
The kids hung onto his every word as he recounted the tale of the weirdest and best days of his life. He chose his words carefully, though, and made sure to keep out the part where he fell in love with Rapunzel. That small detail made the story seem more like a tale of lost love than the fun and rousing adventure that it was.
When he finished the story, his audience of children (and a few adults nearby that were pretending not to listen) looked stunned. “Whoa,” one kid said. “What happened to the chameleon?”
Eugene couldn’t help but smile at how the frog was the kid’s most important takeaway from the story. “Well, that little guy is still with the Princess,” he said. “And he’s living it up in the castle, blending into things just like he loves to do.”
Seth smiled excitedly. “You know, the Princess is coming into town today! Maybe you two can reunite now!”
“She— what?”
“Yeah! They announced that she’ll have a day in town before her coronation celebration!”
Eugene plastered on a smile but felt his stomach plummet. He didn’t know if he could see her without becoming a complete mess. He had been avoiding his feelings for months, but he was positive his resolve would break the second he saw her.
Besides, she wouldn’t want to see him. She had a whole new life, she must have moved on. He wasn’t going to hold her back, that wouldn’t be fair to her. She’d been living outside her tower for months, she probably didn’t think about him the way he constantly thought about her.
“Well, I should get to work, but it was great talking to you guys,” he said, standing up. The kids bid him goodbye, and he made his way to the cobbler shop. Making shoes would help distract him from thinking about Rapunzel. He just needed to focus on his work, everything would be fine.
.
“Did you hear the Princess is supposed to be in town today?” Feldspar said later that day. “I’ve heard you used to be friends with her,” he added with an eyebrow wiggle.
Eugene did his best to grin casually. “I heard, but I think I’m going to stay back. I’ve got a lot of shoes to finish.”
“Good on you! You know what we say in the shoe business: stitches before bi-”
“Whoa whoa whoa, you really shouldn’t call a princess that. Or anyone, for that matter.”
“I’m not just saying it about the Princess, it’s just an expression. All I’m saying is that in general, shoes should come first!”
Eugene didn’t bother arguing. He turned his attention back to the shoe he was working on. He didn’t have any interest in romance right now, given that he was still deeply in love with a girl he could never be with. That put a bit of a damper on his romantic life.
Later that day, a crowd gathered near the shop as it was announced that the Princess would be passing by. “Are you sure you don’t want to see her?” Feldspar asked. Eugene shook his head.
“I’m alright here,” he insisted.
Feldspar shrugged. “Well, I’m going. I’ve got to see what kind of shoes the Princess likes so I can make plenty of them.” He walked confidently out the door, and Eugene didn’t have the heart to tell him that the Princess didn’t wear shoes at all.
He immersed himself back into the work he was doing, shoving away the thoughts of Rapunzel clouding his head. That wouldn’t help anyone.
And still, he couldn’t stop himself from glancing out the window in the front of the store to see if he could spot her. As much as he tried not to care, his heart stopped when he caught a glimpse of her in the street. She was surrounded by guards, and she looked… sad. She had a smile on her face, but something about it seemed distant.
When they had been in town on her birthday, she had found so much joy in talking to everyone around town. Now, with guards on every side of her, all she could do was smile and wave at the citizens. No wonder she seemed so sad.
He noticed something in her expression change, and he couldn’t figure out why until he realized what she saw. She was looking directly at him through the window. Oh.
His heart quickened. He wasn’t sure what to do now. Should he wave? Should he pretend he didn’t see her? They both stared at each other through the window for a moment, neither of them moving, until she was pulled away by the guards.
When she was out of his line of vision, he sighed heavily and leaned against the table in front of him, trying to steady his breath. He wouldn’t let one moment of eye contact ruin him.
“You’re never going to believe this,” Feldspar yelled as he threw open the door of the shop. “She doesn’t even wear shoes!”
.
As it turns out, just a moment of seeing her was, in fact, all he needed to be completely wrecked. He didn’t think about how much he missed her until he saw her in person again.
Eugene was lying awake in bed that night, unable to stop thoughts of her from infiltrating his head. He couldn’t fall asleep just because he had seen her for maybe 10 seconds that day. He couldn’t even be surprised, he had always known this was exactly what would happen when he let himself think about her.
What hurt most was how unhappy she looked. Before, he was able to convince himself that she was happy in the castle, so he couldn’t keep her from that happiness. But she wasn’t happy. She was trapped again. She was being kept from what made her happy, and to make matters worse, there was nothing he could do about it.
A soft knock at the door momentarily pulled him out of his hole of wallowing in self-pity. He furrowed his brow and sat up. Who would be at his house this late? It was the middle of the night, who could possibly need him right now?
He got up and walked to the door, grabbing his sword on the way (he wasn’t sure why, it’s not like an intruder was going to knock on the door first). When he opened the door, his eyes widened as he saw who was waiting there. “Rapunzel?”
“Hi,” she greeted softly.
“What are you doing here? Are you okay?” Instinctively, he reached out to touch her face, tossing his sword to the side. She smiled softly and leaned into his hand.
“My friend Cass helped me sneak out,” she said. That didn’t answer either of his questions, but he moved on anyway.
“Why did you sneak out?”
“Being a princess is… great , but it- it’s just a lot. And I needed time away from the castle.”
Eugene paused, his eyebrows creasing with concern. He wished he had been there to help her. He had been afraid she was going to struggle assimilating into the life of a princess, and he should have been there.
And now she’s standing in front of him, looking scared and tired and excited all at the same time. She had a dark hood over her head, covering her face in shadows. He knew the King would have him killed if he found out that Rapunzel had run away to his house in the middle of the night, but at that moment he couldn’t even pretend to care. “Do you want to come in?”
She smiled and nodded, and he stepped aside to let her in. She looked around as she walked in, taking in every detail of the room. “This is a nice place,” she remarked.
Eugene shrugged. “It’s not very exciting, but it’s much nicer than anywhere I’ve lived before,” he said with a grin, then added, “I’m sure the castle is much fancier than this, though. And probably complete with lots of beautiful paintings by Princess Rapunzel herself.”
Rapunzel blushed, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, I’ve had a lot of new space to paint in my room,” she said. “I could probably paint a little in here if you’d like!”
“As much as I’d love that, I don’t think you want to spend your one night out of the castle painting my house,” he responded with a slight chuckle.
Her eyes fell to the floor as she rocked back and forth on her feet. “Oh, yeah,” she said under her breath.
“So, speaking of that,” he said, shifting uncomfortably. “Where are you going now that you’ve run away?”
She paused for a moment, then let out a small laugh. “I don’t know,” she said. “I just knew I had to come here, I didn’t think of what I’d do after that.”
“Well, if you don’t have any plans,” Eugene said with a grin. “How about I take you on a quick trip out of the kingdom?”
Her eyes widened. “Out of the kingdom? Like, past the wall?”
The King would absolutely kill him for this. And yet, he still could not care less. “Yeah, we can get out for tonight, then back in before anyone notices. What do you say?”
The bright smile he got in return could rival the sun itself. “I would love to.”
Eugene quickly pulled his boots on, and they headed out the door. Once they were out in the open, a familiar horse came into view. Maximus snorted as he met Eugene’s eye. “Hey, Max! Didja miss me?”
Max closed his eyes and shook his head aggressively. Eugene patted his head. “I missed you, too.”
“Max helped me leave the castle without being seen,” Rapunzel said, scratching the horse’s chin. “And he agreed to bring me here.”
“So then where’s the frog?”
“Pascal and Cass are both at the castle making sure no one knows I’m gone.”
“Wow, Blondie, you’ve got quite a network for your scheme,” he teased lightly. She giggled softly, her eyes lighting up at his nickname for her. “Well, we can’t have that all be for nothing! Let’s get going,” he said, sticking his arm out for her.
She grabbed it happily, and they climbed onto Max’s back to quickly and quietly make their way to the border wall. Max stayed ducked in shadows and trotted carefully to make sure his hooves didn’t make too much noise when guards would pass nearby.
They climbed over the wall, collectively heaving a sigh of relief once they made it out of Corona. They were past the guards and the wall, and now they had the rest of the night to explore the world outside of Corona.
Rapunzel’s smile grew with every step she took, looking around at the forest around her. The stars were hanging in the sky, shining down on her. Fireflies dotted the trees around them. The river next to her was flowing smoothly, the rushing adding peaceful background noise to the scene. “Wow,” she whispered, completely enamored by her surroundings. “Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?”
“Yes, I have,” Eugene answered without thinking, staring at the girl in front of him. Her green eyes were full of the same joy they had when she first left her tower. He could feel his heart doing cartwheels in his chest every time she smiled. The gentle breeze was hitting her face and letting her short hair wave back and forth.
She turned back to him and beamed at him. “Come on, we have so much more to see!” She grabbed his hand and rushed forward, and he was more than happy to be dragged along in her journey.
She stopped to study every new plant or tree she saw, and she made sure to greet every animal that came into her path. She skipped excitedly through the forest, constantly making note of things that she would need to paint next time she got the chance.
After a few hours, she found a soft section of grass and sat down, her legs stretched out as she leaned back on her arms so she could get a good view of the stars in the sky. She patted the ground next to her, gesturing for Eugene to lie down next to her. He did, but he was paying more attention to Rapunzel than he was to the stars.
“There are so many of them,” she whispered. “I learned the other day that they’re all distant piles of gas, far away from here. I guess it puts everything into perspective, thinking about how on that star, no one even knows who we are.”
“Yeah,” he breathed. From the perspective of a star millions of lightyears away, they were just specks. Not a princess and a criminal, but just… people. People that were sharing one moment together, just like millions of other people in the world.
She looked over at him and grabbed his hand. He smiled and leaned in closer to her. Her eyes fell shut as they drew closer to each other.
Then without warning, her eyes shot open and she moved away. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said quickly, standing up and wrapping her arms around herself.
Eugene took a quick breath in, standing up and taking a step backward to give her a distance. “I- I’m so sorry, Rapunzel, I shouldn’t have tried to-”
“You left,” she interrupted quickly, her eyes gradually filling with tears.
“What?” His eyes flitted over her face, trying to decipher how she was feeling. She didn’t seem scared or mad, just... hurt. He felt a pang in his chest knowing that he was the reason she was feeling like that.
“You left, and you didn’t say goodbye. And they told me you were gone, and I didn’t believe them because I was sure that you would tell me when you left. But you didn’t,” she said quietly, her voice breaking with every word.
He didn’t answer for a moment, trying to remember how to speak. He should have known that she would have felt abandoned when he left without a word. He had been so sure he had made the right choice when he left, but looking at her now, he realized he couldn’t have been more wrong.
Looking back on it, his choice to not tell her when he was leaving the castle was entirely selfish. He couldn’t handle seeing her again, couldn’t trust himself to not run to her. So he had slipped away, hoping that he wouldn’t have to deal with his own heartbreak seeing her face one last time before he went.
And here she was. He had left her behind without a word, yet she still came to him. After he abandoned her and completely cut himself off from her, she came back. That was what hurt most. He knew she deserved better than him. She deserved someone that would have the guts to see her one last time despite the world pushing them apart. It hurt that she was willing to come back to him after he hurt her.
And still, he loved her. He wanted to go back and fix all his mistakes and find a way to be with her. Ever since he had left months ago, there was not a day that went by where he didn’t think of her. It killed him that he had hurt her when all he wanted to do was sweep her up in his arms and hold her so nothing could ever hurt her again.
She was looking at him with wide eyes as his throat dried up. His mind was swirling with all the thoughts and feelings he had tried to keep buried for months. He loved her. He wouldn’t blame her if she hated him and never felt the same way about him, but he loved her with his entire being. And he had no idea how to tell her that.
“Rapunzel, I’m so sorry I never said goodbye when I left. I had to leave to let you start your new life, but I thought it would be easier for both of us if I could just leave-”
“It wasn’t,” she said. “It wasn’t easier. I had no idea what I was doing, and all I did was wish you were there beside me.”
He let out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. “Trust me, Blondie, I felt the same way. I wanted to be by your side, and it hurt that I couldn’t be there with you.”
“It hurt me, too.”
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“It’s… it’s not your fault that you had to leave,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip nervously. She stepped towards him and grabbed his hand hesitantly. “But I missed you so much.” She took another step closer, and he could almost feel her breath on his face. She was just inches away, and he tried to ignore his heart pounding out of his chest.
“I missed you, too,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “But we should-”
The rest of his sentence was completely lost as she grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. His eyes widened, then immediately fell shut as he let his composure completely fall away. He pulled her closer, wishing he could live in this moment for the rest of his life.
He knew they shouldn’t be doing this. The King had tried to keep them apart for a reason, and they would have to leave each other behind again after tonight. But at that moment, he didn’t care about any logic. All he cared about was trying to communicate everything he felt about her through one kiss. Feeling her lips pressed against his was all that mattered to him. They had both been wishing they could be just like this for months, and being able to hold her felt like a dream.
They softly broke apart from the kiss, but their faces remained close together as they tried to catch their breath. She smiled at him, and he rested his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything when I left, and I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there with you.”
She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “It’s okay,” she whispered, casting her eyes to the ground. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry I had to be the princess and separate us-”
“No, hey, don’t apologize for finding a new life, your real life,” he said, putting his fingers under her chin and softly tilting her head up to look into her eyes. “All that matters to me is that you’re safe and happy with your family.”
“But you’re part of my family. I’m happy with you,” she said, her eyes starting to water. He reached up to wipe a stray tear off her face.
“And I’ll always be here for you, Blondie. Princess or not, I’m always supporting you, even if it’s from afar.”
She sighed and leaned her head against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. They stayed like that for a moment, just enjoying each other’s presence while they could. They were acutely aware that the night would end sooner than they wanted it to, and they would have to go their separate ways yet again. It would be the same as before, but it hurt even worse now that they had gotten a taste of what they were missing.
But he would still love her no matter what. Even if they were apart for the rest of their lives, he still loved her more than he ever thought possible.
The night would end soon, and so would their time together. She would go back to the castle, he would go back to his house. He couldn’t do anything to change their situation, all he could do was hold her tighter and hope that the memories of her would keep him grounded.
Rapunzel looked up at the sky, her brow crinkling when she realized how soon the sun would rise. “We still have time tonight,” she said quietly. She didn’t know what would happen to them when the night ended, but she could only hope this wasn’t the end.
“Then let’s make the most of it,” Eugene replied, grabbing her hand and squeezing it gently.
Their eyes met, and he smiled at her. Every glance at her twisted his heart more, but he wouldn’t dare look away.
Despite everything, she was the love of his life, and he was hers. And even if he couldn’t be by her side, he wouldn’t trade that love for anything.
55 notes · View notes
whump-a-la-mode · 3 years
Text
Nemesis - Part 3
This part is a little more plot heavy, but I added in some nice Whumpy bits too! I hope you guys enjoy, and thanks everyone for their suggestions!
Also, the next part of this may be a bit late, as I’m planning for my next piece to be the continuation of Villainsicle!
CW//Mentions of law enforcement, mentions of therapy/treatments, restraints, medical abuse, begging, screaming, forced sedation, needles, blood
Open the door.
It would be so simple. The entrance was constructed of little more than wood and a flimsy lock. Even someone without the benefit of powers could break it. And, based on what Hero had seen so far of this place, it may not have even been locked.
Just open it.
Open the door, and they could sleep again.
Open the stupid door.
But...
Hero’s hands clenched into fists, their gaze moving upwards, fixing upon the metal plaque upon the door.
‘43′
Beyond the simple plank of wood, their nemesis was laying. Suffering. Trapped in their own mind.
They could open the door, just twist the knob, and save them. In any other time, any other instance, it was what they would have done. They knew the way the others spoke of them, joked about them. Saying they’d jump off a bridge, even if their friends hadn’t done it first. They couldn’t control their impulses. That was what Leader always wrote, in the reports. Impulsive. Reckless.
That’s what they were. Reckless.
But that was back when it didn’t matter. That was back when the only one in danger was them. Hero. Now that Villain was part of the equation?
They had to think. They had to be smart.
Hero bit their tongue with enough force that the taste of bloody iron washed over their taste buds.
They didn’t open the door.
Around the corner, a doctor in blue scrubs furrowed their brow, and dipped away to make a phone call.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 
“If I’m being completely honest, Hero, I wasn’t expecting you to contact me again.”
Hacker spoke with their head down, sheepish, as though a child apologizing for breaking a toy.
Again, the two sat in the same diner: It was busy, but crowded enough that they could simply blend into the lunch rush without fuss. To avoid questions, the both of them had ordered an appetizer, though neither of them had much of an appetite to speak of.
“You weren’t? Why’s that?”
“I mean...” They leaned back in their seat, pressing their spine against the padded booth seat back. “I didn’t think you’d care? That sounds kind of rude now that I’m saying it out loud but... The stuff I was showing you, I assumed you were already aware of it.”
“You thought I knew the way Villain was being treated?”
“Kind of? That’s the kind of stuff they tell you, right?”
“Eh...” Hero dropped their gaze. “Not really. That’s not our business. We catch the crook, what happens to them after isn’t really our focus.”
Hacker frowned.
“It’s not?”
“No.”
“So you didn’t know?”
“Not at all. I knew they were at that facility but... I thought it was fine. I thought Villain was fine.”
“Maybe I should have told you sooner, then.”
“You knew?”
“Well.” There came the embarrassment once more, their cheeks flushing. “For the scale of your organization, your cybersecurity is a little... lacking. Everything from that rehab facility, it’s stored on an off-site backup. Their on-site security is decent, but once it goes through that external data channel, it’s caught right in my net.”
“Is that right?”
“Don’t tell anyone, please?”
“Trust me, I wasn’t planning on it. I have much bigger problems than low level hackers.”
“Hey!”
“That’s not to say you’re a low-level hacker.”
“That’s better. Then, if you’re not here to like, arrest me-”
“That’s what you thought I was doing?”
“Kinda. If that’s not what you want, what do you want?”
“I want to know more.”
Hero had made the decision upon planning this meeting that they were not to tell Hacker about their visit to the facility. Despite the aid they had already offered, it was hard to trust someone who admitted to criminality with such nonchalance. And, besides, Hero was almost certain that their superiors wouldn’t be happy to know about their distraction.
“More?”
“You’ve been watching them for a while, right? I want to know more. Everything about Villain, everything about the whole place. How much do you know?”
“A lot. I have a considerable amount of files, though I have no way of knowing how many more there are that I don’t have. How many they keep on-site.”
“But you have information?”
“I have a lot of junk. Taxes, insurance, quarterly reports, formalities. Prescriptions for mundane crap like, I don’t know, allergies. But, I think I have a few diamonds in the rough. You’re going to have to be more specific than that, though. I do need something to work off of.”
Hero nodded, biting their lip. They hadn’t exactly thought this far ahead.
They were getting Villain out of that so-called rehab facility. They knew that much. But they needed to be smart about it. They needed information. They needed to know how they could get their friend- foe out of that place quickly, safely, and with as little noise as possible.
“The facility.” They began. “How does it work? It’s a relatively small facility housing a relatively large number of dangerous criminals. How do they... help them? They’re not all treated like Villain, right?”
“I don’t think there’s enough drugs on the continent to keep them all like Villain. Their methods of treatment are... unclear. The patient reports indicate what therapies each one is undergoing, but they don’t have names. Just numbers. Codes. Whatever they do in there, they keep it in house. My doctor friends have never heard of any of it, before.”
“Then how do they do it? Drugs?”
“If they have some kind of secret therapy, I don’t know about it. But they do have something else. They call it AMRS.”
“AMRS?”
“The Automatic Magnetic Restraint System. A fancy name for a crude practice. They’re vague about it, of course, but from what I can tell, each resident wears these four ring things. Bracelets, it calls them. One on each wrist, one on each ankle. A single push of a button, and they all link together. Any escape stopped in a second.”
“That seems...”
“Cruel? Yeah. But I guess it could be worse. As far as how the facility operates, though, that’s all I have. It’s not drugs, as far as I can tell. I have those dosage reports for everyone, and those that take medicine seem to do so for genuine medical conditions. Insulin, epilepsy medication, that kind of thing.”
“None of the others are sedated?”
“Not officially.”
“But Villain...”
“I think if they were any more heavily sedated, they’d go right from a temporary sleep to a permanent one.”
“You mean-”
“They’d die, yes. It’s called a euphemism, dumbass.”
“I know that. So, what about Villain, do you have anything else on them?”
“They’ve been kept heavily sedated since they arrived. Regular patient records, they just... don’t have them. No behavior reports, no treatment reports, nothing.”
“I guess they’re not really treating them.”
“Yeah.”
“They’ve really been kept like this, ever since I- Ever since they arrived?”
“As far as I can tell, yes.”
“Then it wasn’t reactionary.”
“What do you mean?”
“They didn’t try to like, blow up the facility, or kill up all the staff, or anything?! They were just knocked out. Locked up. They weren’t even given a chance to be good?”
Hacker lowered their gaze, nodding.
“Why?”
“Are you sure you want-”
“You know why?”
“I’m not certain, but-”
“Show me.”
Hacker startled a bit, but nodded once more, starting up their beast of a laptop and typing for a considerable amount of time. Hero could not help but hold their breath, and when the computer was at last turned to face them, they felt about to pass out.
“Wait.” Hacker spun the computer back. “You need to promise me something, first.”
“What?” Hero hated how desperate they sounded.
“Whatever you do, after you see this... please, just think it through.”
“Okay.”
“Do you promise?”
“I promise.”
“Okay.”
The screen was returned to Hero.
They halfway expected another video feed. A video of Villain, destroying and killing and doing something, anything to deserve their current treatment.
Instead, they were faced with an email. Or, at least, a screenshot of one. Passed through enough computers that the jpeg artifacts had begun to show.
An email from Director to Head Doctor.
The text was simple. Curt. A simple request to destroy a life.
“I am certain that you are aware of the new patient you will be intaking tomorrow. I request that you do not classify them among the other patients. Normal intake procedures will be unnecessary. You need only keep them contained. Alive if you can, dead if you must.
Villain must never see the light of day again. I trust that you will be able to accomplish this.
Thank you-- Do not forget that we will be meeting for lunch next Wednesday.”
Not even a hundred words. That was all it took, to turn a spirited fighter to a vegetable.
“Thank you, Hacker. I think... I think I need to go home.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Hero’s parting from the restaurant was sudden enough to make several other patrons look up. Hacker could not help but feel embarrassment well up in their chest. They hated being out in public like this.
They figured, even with the cold food sitting before them, they should be going. Finger on their mouse, they closed the email on the screen, revealing-
Not their desktop.
They had forgotten. They had meant to show Hero and they had forgotten.
Now, the video sat there, waiting. A chipper white arrow informing them that it was ready to play at any time.
They shouldn’t have. Hell, they could have at least waited to go home. But...
Hacker plugged in a set of earbuds, setting the buds themselves in their ears.
They clicked play.
Even on the rather low-quality security camera footage, the crash was loud enough to make Hacker jump. Three lab-coated figures, a mess of limbs and white coats, leapt atop the hospital gown wearing person like a predator after prey.
Villain was not facing the camera, but it made no difference. Their voice made them more than distinctive enough.
“Get the fuck off of me! Get off get off get off!“ The scream was loud enough to break the microphone’s volume filter, turning into a single, mournful screech.
If the labcoats heard, they did not listen. They positioned themselves along their captive’s body-- one holding their legs, one the arms, and one forcing their face to the tile.
“Please!”
The fourth figure wore a different outfit, a pair of blue scrubs, though the camera quality made them appear almost grey. Represented by only a few pixels, the syringe in their hand was none the less distinctive.
“Hold them still, please.” The doctor muttered, kneeling down beside Villain, their hysterical screaming not missing a beat.
“No! No! Please, please don’t do this! I don’t want to go! Please!”
There were no comforting words. Only the satisfied nodding of the head doctor as their needle slipped deftly to a vein and administered its contents.
“What is that, what is that, no no no please!”
A nurse handed down another syringe, and another, and another. The timestamp in the video’s corner dragged on in agonizing slowness as new pinpricks of blood welled up over Villain’s skin.
It took only a few minutes for their screaming to stop. Then their thrashing. Then, they closed their eyes.
It would be a long, long time until they opened them again.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Of course, home was not a place of rest. Not as much as Hero would have liked it to be. They were not a civilian-- they were not that lucky. They did not have the chance to return home to a soft bed and a loving family.
No. When they went home, they went to work.
It was only past noon when they returned home to the HQ. A time at which the towering building stood largely abandoned, its occupants leaving in droves to flood the nearby restaurants like a locust swarm.
Riding the elevator to the floor containing their quarters, Hero hoped beyond hope that their team, too, had gone out.
But, of course, they had no such luck.
They didn’t even make it to their quarters. No, as soon as the elevator doors opened, their heart sunk.
“I saw you walk in.” Leader’s arms were crossed over their chest, a single eyebrow raised. “Let’s go to my office.”
“I was just about to go back to my dorm-”
“Actually, you were just about to follow my orders and go to my office.”
Hero slumped their shoulders. They didn’t have the energy to fight this, especially since they knew it was a fight they couldn’t win.
Leader’s office was a place they had all visited, though never under good circumstances. It was far too immaculately kept for what it was used for, a solid oak desk standing in a room well decorated with house plants and bookshelves. Leader took their seat, and Hero reluctantly did the same, across from them.
“So,” Leader began--they were not one for formalities. “When exactly when you planning on telling me?”
“If you’re going to yell at me about something, you at least have to tell me what.”
“Teammate told me, yesterday. They found out why you’re getting so distracted.”
Hero dropped their gaze. They weren’t exactly surprised about this. They only hoped Teammate had kept their mouth shut about their plans.
“It’s really nothing.” Hero tried. “I’ll get over it.”
“This anniversary you’re getting so upset over was ten days ago. By the time you get over it, another year will have already passed. So, no. You’re not getting out of it that easily. I need to know what’s gotten you so worked up.”
Hero gripped the arm of their chair.
“I’m worried. That’s all. Worried about Villain. It’s been too long. They’ve been so silent for so long.”
Leader frowned.
“I can personally assure you that Villain is being well taken care of. The rehabbers have more experience than you could imagine.”
“That’s just it! Villain spent so long terrorizing the city, and they’re still here. But they’re so quiet.”
Leader sighed, sitting up straight in their chair.
“This isn’t just a minor distraction. You need to know that. It’s reflecting on your performance, and heavily. Enough that Director has noticed.”
“Director?”
“Yes. They asked me about the situation, and I informed them of your current problem. They stated that, if it really is such a concern to you, they can have Villain moved to another facility. Somewhere farther.”
“No!”
“What? They think it would help, really. Out of sight. Out of mind.”
“No. They need to be here.”
“And why would that be?”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 
Thanks so much for reading! Just like last time, there are two options along with every part of this story. Alongside each options is a question, so that you guys can give more specific suggestions if you so wish. The option that receives the most votes will be the choice that our Hero makes!
A.) Leader can help. Tell the truth - Should Hero tell Leader about Director’s role in Villain’s condition?
B.) Leader can also ruin the whole operation. Lie - What should Hero do next?
64 notes · View notes
Note
Recently, the author Gosho Aoyama has claimed that the ending of Haibara will be " Surprising" for everyone ?? What does that mean ?? It is not clear if it is a bad or good ending !!! Do you think that Haibara will never come back to her adult form as Miyano Shiho and stay as a kid.. and make a relationship with Mitsu ?? And if Haibara take the permanent antidote.. do you think that she will be punished and jailed since she was a member of BO?? or she dies in the end ??
Oh good God there is a lot to unpack here but thank you for your questions and I'm soo glad you brought them up! I’ll try to answer them as best as I can 😄
So yes, Gosho did say Haibara’s ending will surprise everyone but I also remember him saying Detective Conan’s ending will be happy. Not to mention Haibara is a veryyy popular character (if not the most popular female character on the show), so I find it hard to believe that she’ll just end up being killed off. I don’t think Gosho would do that to us.
Now when it comes to her remaining as a kid, I kind of talked about how I feel about it here . In short I believe she deserves to regain control of her life as Shiho and not remain as Haibara. Also this fan comic about Shiho explaining to Shinichi why she didn’t want to remain as Haibara is beautiful in every way and I think you should take a look at it. 
But to add to that, I refuse to believe she’s willing to remain as Haibara. Whenever people say she’ll get a chance to relive a proper childhood it irritates me 😂 I mean she’s still mentally an adult. I cannot imagine having to always act like a child, go to school and relive high school (diabolical if you ask me) when I’m mentally grown up. 
Personal opinions aside, there is one moment where it was hinted she’d be willing to stay as Haibara.  In the movie Captured in her Eyes she basically said she'd love to stay as Haibara IF she lost her memory. This is not canon and she did say after that she was joking but she tends to "joke" when she actually means what she says.
Tumblr media
But since then, Haibara’s character has grown significantly. And these developments ⬇️ have me believing she's most likely going to take the antidote.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Jodie interpreted why Haibara refused the witness protection program was because she found a family in her friends. So with that logic, shouldn't that make sense for her to stay as Haibara? Ummm not really. She didn't just stay for the friendships, in fact she was so moved by Ayumi's words that she realised she has to face her fate and keep fighting. If she doesn't take the antidote, she's basically accepting what she was forced to become because of the organisation without facing her struggles and embracing her past. She'll technically be running away from her true self and erasing any link she has to her family whom she loves so much.
And tbh if Gosho decided she should lose her memory and remain a kid, I’ll be extremely disappointed. That would be a very poor and rushed ending and all her character developments would have been for nothing. Also I don't understand why some people equate her returning as Miyano Shiho to her cutting off the detective boys from her life. If anything, she'll probably continue living with the professor who she now looks up to as a father figure, while still remaining close and looking after the detective boys.
Now for the relationship with Mitsuhiko, I just can’t see how that can happen. He is a child for God’s sake! No matter how smart or responsible he is, he is still a CHILD. And whenever people say she should be with Mitsuhiko it makes me wonder, do they expect it to happen right now when she is still Haibara or are they saying when they eventually grow up? The first one is no way because she’s mentally an adult and he is a child and that is a crime waiting to happen. The second option means she’ll stay a child and I already expressed how I feel about that. Also I hate to break it to the AixMitsuhiko fans but Haibara loves all the detective boys like her younger siblings. She is the older sister / senpai of the group and she’s never displayed any romantic feelings for Mitsuhiko, nor do I think she’d develop them in the future simply because she views him as nothing but a baby brother.
Now on to the juiciest question that you asked, “Will she be jailed because she was an ex BO member?” I have a lot to say on this so please bear with me😁 
We now know that Rei was planning on handing her back to the BO in the Bell Tree Train arc (see here). Thankfully, that didn’t happen thanks to Conan’s big brain thinking making Rei believe that Shiho died. Now, he is yet to meet Haibara and discover the truth about her (I cannot wait for this to happen!) but when he does, this is how I imagine things will go down: 
He’ll despise her because he’ll think of her as a criminal who worked for the BO and developed a deadly drug. However, he won’t be able to hand her back to the BO since he was the one who confirmed her death. Handing her back would only have the BO question his credibility / loyalty and possibly jeopardise his future there. Therefore, he’s left with one option; take her into PSB custody and interrogate her. But, there’s no way Conan, the Kudo family and even quite possibly Akai would just stand aside and not intervene. At the same time, I doubt Rei will simply believe her if she said “she was forced to make a poison” (even Conan didn’t believe her when they first met). So how will he back off? These are my theories: 
I feel the tapes Elena recorded packed way more than just the drug’s true purpose. She may have also recorded what the organisation forced her and Atsushi to go through. And with the fact that Vermouth seemed to blame her animosity for Shiho on her parents, it is quite possibly Elena mentioned Vermouth on the tapes. If Haibara brings up those tapes and Rei heard them, first of all he’ll get closure (because he loved Elena as his own mother) and finding out about Vermouth’s link to the Miyanos, he can investigate them more. I don’t think it’ll be difficult for him to uncover the truth about her family especially since he knows Vermouth’s secret and that couldn’t have been easy.
If Haibara doesn’t bring up the tapes, I think Akai will step in by asking Rei to hand over Vermouth (since she’s an American citizen) if he wants to take Haibara. Rei would never agree to that because Vermouth provides him with invaluable help and support in the organisation, so he’ll be forced to let Haibara go.
And for my final theory, just like how the Kudo family struck a deal with Rei to work with Akai (I reeaallly want Gosho to reveal what their talk was about), they’ll probably do the same thing to protect Haibara and in time, Rei will learn the truth about her past. 
So basically in the end, I don’t think she’ll be arrested. I’d like to think once Rei learns the truth about her and her family’s past, he’ll be relieved to have received closure (because he loved Elena so much) and subsequently decide to protect Haibara. Also Gosho hinted Rei and Haibara will eventually get along so the probability of her being arrested is low.
Haibara’s ending is something I’m really looking forward to and I’ll be crushed if she isn’t given the ending she deserved (there is plenty of room for her ending to be ruined so fingers crossed that doesn’t happen). I picture her returning as Shiho, staying with the Professor, slowly warming up to Mary and Sera (I can’t begin to imagine how she’ll feel when she finds out they’re related) and maybe even go on to be a narcotics agent. Why narcotics agent? (All explained here ). When it comes to her love life, God knows what will happen, but the Mitsuhiko pair is highly unlikely to happen. Also, I don’t see why she has to end up with someone. Her happy ending doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll be with someone. In fact...
Having a family and friends she cares about. 
Being free to live her life without constantly looking over her shoulder
Confronting Gin for killing her sister and whatever history they shared (I’m so mad GinxSherry has fizzled out without being answered. I need to know the truth about their past!!)
Finding peace and accepting her past
....are all enough reasons to give her the happy ending she deserves to have.
I hope this long speech helped answer your questions 😂. I honestly enjoyed writing it so, thank you so much for letting me do this 🖤😁
62 notes · View notes
hoodharlow · 3 years
Text
The Rat
EL Novio Quarantine Edition: Part 2
AN: Here's Part 2. It was suuposed to be posted yesterday but I spent the whole day out running errands, and I got home late. Hope you enjoy
Warnings: Mentions of dog bites, blood, waiting room scene, some sex jokes, baby talk and baby fever (idk if it’s baby fever but yeah lol)
Word Count: 2.2k 
Tumblr media
"Your mans fans can't be this oblivious." Medelyn told Claudia, sliding her phone to read yet another tweet about Calum and Claudia's friendship. 
At the start of quarantine, fans were surprised to see that Calum was in Torrey Pines and not at his house in Los Angeles. They weren't surprised to see him at the Santos' home. They all gathered that he has become a friend of the family. Some of their fans joked that he was using Claudia to get to Diego so he can then get to Guy Fieri since he obsessively watched Guy's Grocery Games. Some fans didn't think much of it, they were just happy to get Calum content whenever Claudia would record him trying her baking goods for TikTok. 
The one thing that they never guessed is that they were dating. The few fans that listened to Claudia's podcast knew that her boyfriend was staying with her and her family. They just didn't know her boyfriend is Calum. 
"They are." Claudia said, taking a large gulp of her licuado. "They're still trying to figure out if the girl from Taylor's party and Benito's album release are the same person. They're struggling because my hair was straight in New York and curly in Miami."
"Stop," Medelyn laughed. "Speaking of your mans, where is he?"
"He took Duke and Panchito out on a walk. My dad doesn't need him at the restaurant until later." 
"I still can't believe Diego is making him make deliveries." 
"He's gotta pull his weight." Claudia joked.
Medelyn went to check on her sleeping newborn in the living room where he slept on a bassinet. She came back a few minutes later to keep talking to Claudia. It was still a surprise to anyone that knew them back in high school to see them get along. A few weeks ago they talked about it in Claudia's podcast and dissected why they didn't like each other in high school. It had mostly to do with the internalized misogyny and how because they were both latina, they both couldn't be at the top. One of them had to fail while the other was successful. Listeners compared it to how Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks were pitted against each other. But unlike the supermodels, Claudia and Medelyn were able to put their differences aside and eventually became friends. 
The barking of multiple dogs was heard out in the front yard. Claudia got up from where she was sitting and went to see what was going on. The front door opened and closed as she tied her shoes. 
"That fucking rat has it out for Duke and Panchito and it's owner has it out on me." Calum cursed, unclipping Duke and Panchito's leashes. 
Claudia scoffed and watched him take off his shoes. "You're being dramatic. Mrs. Garner and her dog are literally so nice." 
"The rat nearly attacked Panchito. If it weren't for Duke, we'd be on our way to the animal hospital."
"Ah ha okay."
"Claudia, I'm being serious." Calum got up and put away the leashes in the coat closet. "If you get bitten by that rat then don't come crying that you need a ride to the hospital."
***
"How the fuck did we end up watching three kids and a baby?" Claudia asked Calum as she slipped on some leggings. "They're not even ours."
"Because you wouldn't let me battle your brother in rock paper scissors. You're so predictable when you play." He said. 
Calum leaned back on her bed and watched her get changed for their hike. It wasn't really a hike, they're just going to walk on the dirt trail behind the neighborhood with her niece and nephews while Danny and Medelyn spend some time together. 
He gently smacked Claudia's ass a few times, watching it bounce against the fabric of her leggings. "I fucking love your ass."
"And I love yours. Jesse is a miracle worker." She said repeating his actions. 
Calum rolled his eyes and followed Claudia out of her room to the living room. Guito, Paloma and Damian sat on the couch watching Duck Tales as they passed a giant bowl of popcorn. The three kids looked nothing alike, but it was obvious they were Junior and Marlene's kids. They all had distinct features from their parents. After spending time with them, it always left Calum wondering about how his kids with Claudia would look like. 
Of course they haven't talked about having kids anytime soon. Claudia was about to graduate and attend grad school at UCLA. Calum knew better than to get in the way of her academic future. For now he just kept the thought of kids to himself. He also knew that Diego would murder him if he uttered baby making and Claudia in the same sentence.
Claudia emerged from the kitchen with a lunch bag and waters. She squatted down in front of the stroller and put in the things in the bottom basket along with the diaper bag Medelyn packed for them. She turned back and caught Calum's eyes permanently glued on her ass. 
"I'm gonna ask Danny for a rematch." he said, pushing himself up from the couch. 
"No you're not." Medelyn said, stopping him. "We need this. We stopped having sex the minute I couldn't see my feet. And add the forty days I couldn't do anything. We need this."
"Cal, don't worry. We'll be back in a blink. Danny is gonna need at most five minutes." Claudia said. She wrapped her arms around him, and pushed back his growing curls. She kissed his cheek and whispered. "When we get back I'll suck your dick."
"Let's get this show on the road." Calum told the kids. "When we get back, Danny and Medelyn can take all of you to Coldstone."
"Can we get Ice Cream cake?" Paloma quietly asked him. 
"Sure."
The three kids cheered. One by one, they went to the front door and put on their shoes. Calum carried the stroller down the steps and helped Claudia put Sebastian in the stroller. After spending a good five minutes on the importance of 'Slip-Slop-Slap' and sunscreen, the party of six plus Duke and Panchito were on their way. The kids walked just a few feet ahead of Claudia while she pushed the stroller. Calum stayed back with Duke and Panchito. He didn't mind, the trail was slightly slanted and it gave him a spectacular view of Claudia's ass. 
About halfway around the trial they all stopped at a bench under a tree. The kids sat down and ate some Gansitos. Claudia set down two bowls of water for Duke and Panchito to drink. 
"You think they're done?" Calum asked Claudia when sat on the ground. 
“Honestly, the last thing on my mind is how long my brother takes o fuck his girlfriend.” She said reaching over for her water.
He took off his windbreaker, leaving him shirtless. He stretched and flexed his muscles. 
"You're so rude." Claudia said before taking a large gulp from her pink Hydro Flask. 
They stayed in the shades area for another half an hour and then turned back home. Claudia and Calum fell into step while the kids raced each other distances determined by what they saw on the ground. They made a quick pit stop at the kids' house because Damian had too much water. He couldn't hold it until they got back to Claudia's house, who lived four houses up the same street. 
When they got to the house, they found Danny and Medelyn passed out on the couch while 'Sortilegio' played in the background. Claudia placed Sebastian on his bassinet and unclipped Duke and Panchito's leashes. Damian and Guito stayed outside wanting to play some soccer with Calum. So Claudia and Paloma migrated to the kitchen to make some brownies. 
 Paloma left to play on her iPad the second Claudia placed the baking dish on the oven, leaving her to do all the cleaning. 
A loud growl followed by a scream came from outside where Calum and the boys were. The front door slammed open with Calum carrying Damian with Guito following him. 
"The rat bit him." Calum told Claudia when he sat Damian on the counter. 
"Let me see." Medelyn said motioning Calum to step aside. She snapped her fingers at them. "Someone get me a first aid. Hopefully he doesn't need stitches."
Calum went to the pantry and grabbed the box hanging on the wall. Medelyn took it and got to work on Damian's arm.
After five minutes of tending the bite, Medelyn wrapped up his arm in a gauze and motioned Calum, Claudia and Danny. 
"He needs stitches. The cut is pretty deep and he may need a shot, too." She said. 
"Fuck." Danny cursed. 
"I'll take him." Calum volunteered. 
"I'll go with you." Claudia said. 
After lots of convincing and crying, Damian, Claudia and Calum were on their way to a community clinic. Claudia's knee bounced while they waited for Damian's name to be called. He had fallen asleep on Calum's arms. 
She texted Junior and Marlene updates. They were waiting outside in the parking lot for them. Ten more minutes pass until they call for Damian. Claudia stayed back while Calum went with him since he was there when the bite happened. Half an hour later they came out. 
"So?" Claudia asked anxiously. 
"The nurse gave Tío Cal her number, but he said no thank you." Damian said sticking a Spider-Man sticker on his shirt. 
"Oh?" Claudia quirked an eyebrow at him. 
"I still got it." Calum smirked. 
"You say that as if you're fifty and not twenty-four." She snorted. 
They made their way to the parking lot. Damian let go of Claudia's hand and went to hug his mom. He proudly told Junior and Marlene that the stitches and the shot didn't hurt. Calum briefly told them what happened and how the someone from the Humane Society was going to over in a few days to put the dog on house arrest. 
Damian rode with his parents on the way back to Claudia's. The car ride was quiet. Calum and Claudia didn't even bother to put on music or a podcast.
"You okay?" she asked him when they got to her house. "Regret not taking the nurse's number?"
"Funny," He said. He took off his cap and scratched his head. "Just thinking about Damian and everything. I don't know, I just feel like this is my fault. Obviously it's not, I wasn't the one who bit him nor that was my dog. But I just can't help thinking that if we played in the backyard like we always do, he wouldn't have gotten bitten."
"I have no idea how to respond because I don't wanna dismiss what you're feeling, ya know. But I just wanna say that I'm very impressed at how responsive and on top of it you were. Like when we have kids, I'm not gonna worry because I know you'll be at my side ready." She said. 
"When?" Calum asked. 
Claudia's eyes widened, realizing what she said. 
"Shit. I didn't mean it like that. Like today when we babysat. You knew what to do and stuff…"
"Miss Santos do you wanna have my children?" He teased her. Noting how uncomfortable she got, he stopped laughing. He cleared his throat and silently counted to five. "Would you ever want kids?" With me? He added in his head.
Claudia stopped playing with the elastic on her facemask and turned on her side and faced him. Calum mirrored her actions and shyly smiled at her. 
"I didn't think we'd have this talk so soon." She giggled. 
"Better sooner than later." he shrugged. "I'd want some or at least one."
"Yeah?"
"Preferably with you of course. But if Katy Perry drops Orlando Bloom, then we go our separate ways."
"That's fine, I'll just hit him up." She giggled. "Jokes aside, I do want kids. Just not right now. I mean we're in a pandemic for fucks sake. I also feel like it's too soon. Like my parents and brothers had their kids pretty young. I don't want to be responsible for someone when I'm barely learning to take care of me, you know? Like once we're more settled down and whatnot we can talk about starting a family. But for now I don't wanna share you with anyone."
"I agree with you 100%." Calum said, pulling her to kiss her. He pulled away. "We probably shouldn't kiss after coming from a clinic."
"You're right." Claudia laughed, pulling away from him. She pointed behind her. "Plus my dad's watching us."
***
Claudia and Calum took out their grocery bags from Calum's car when someone cleared their throat behind them. It was Mrs. Garner, the owner of the dog that bit Damian. A few days ago the Humane Society came by and put her poodle mix on house arrest for two weeks.
"Hi, Mrs. Garner." Claudia greeted, pulling up her mask to cover her nose and mouth. 
"You're going to regret the day you crossed me and reported my baby, mark my words. You don't know who you're messing with." 
With that Mrs. Garner turned on her heel and went back to her house. 
"What the fuck?" Claudia said, trying not to laugh. 
"C'mon, your ice cream and dino nuggets are going to melt." Calum motioned her. 
Claudia turned back to Mrs. Garner's house and then back to Calum. "Has she always had cameras in front of her house?"
Taglist: @f-mu​ @another-lonely-heart​​ @sunshinebabycal-deactivated2021​   @calumscalm​​ @karajaynetoday​​ @cherryxwildflower​​ @myloverboyash​​  @idontneedanyone​​ @findingliam-o​​ @5-secondsofcolor​​ @spicycal​​ @sexgodashton​​ @fckingpernico​​ @2fangirl4u​​ @calpops​
84 notes · View notes
luimagines · 3 years
Note
Today was a bright and beautiful morning as all the trees outside your window have begun to fall.You force yourself to move from the covers of your bed and sit up straight,stretching your arms across and all around as you yawn. You start to make your way to your bathroom to get yourself ready for the day when suddenly a knock on your window takes your attention away from continuing on your path.
What was it? A bird?A branch?.....Link? No it sounded too much like a person’s hand knocking on the window,but who would be able to climb up here and what for?But Link had been gone for years since his last adventure with,what were they called, “the chain”?
He hadn’t sent you any letters or visits for years now and you began to wonder.No you believe that he was dead.that was the only other explanation there could have been when you heard that the great evil was slain and he still hadn’t come back.
Then you heard another knock on your window.
But just maybe….
A thought hits you and you begin rushing towards it with a smile on your face. 
It was Link! He finally came back! Your bare feet were hitting the floor with loud thumps as you ran as fast as you could reach your hand out ready to unlock the window door like he would disappear again forever if you didn’t open it in time.
“ After all these years he was finally back!” you peer outside only to see a small blue metal machine box with the triforce symbol glowing in a light blue color engraved at the top of it.
A box? Before you decided to pick it up,you stopped and took a quick look around to see if you could spot the culprit who left behind this package. After a few seconds of intense scanning you decide to finally look down at your package and lift it up for examination.Was this a gift from Link? Did he send this to let you know he was fine? On his way?Was he already here and- No,no,no,no,no! Not everything has to be about Link! This could be a gift from someone else! Or was this even a gift…? You turn to look around the area one last time before closing the window and going back inside.
You sat back down on your bed with the box in your hand which was no bigger than your palm and began touching all around it. What was this thing??A decoration?A tool? Maybe just a souvenir or trinket? Suddenly you accidentally press down on the symbole at the top as it begins to glow and the triforce symbol on your hand glows in sync with it too before you toss it out of your hand in shock. The box stops itself from falling just before it hits the ground and floats back up and begins to open itself turning and shifting like it was unlocking itself before a blue hologram screen is shown. At this point you have already fallen to the ground crawling backward to move behind your bed before seeing the image of a beautiful elegant  blond woman standing-floating?-before you.she had on alond white coat and wore a plain black dress under and wore a crown on her head that seemed to serve as a purpose to show her statues as a queen without it being too glamorous despite having what can only be described as a goddesses beautiful looks.There was also a unusual plastic like device or object that clipped on the left side of her coat that said
‘Head Chief researcher Dr.Zelda’
A second later the figure moved, took a breath,or what seemed to be one,then began to speak as words began writing themselves in front of her in tandem with her speaking but disappearing when the space was too full to keep the previous sentences with them.lucky the words were being said in a slow enough manner to were if anyone were to read it,even a slow reader,it would still be comprehensive.
“Greetings,do not be alarmed.This is a pre-recorded message sent to you by me to inform you of dire situation that has come to place,to also state I will not be able to hear or respond to you but will send a representative shorty to discuss the matter first with you after this message has been delieverd.To start I am the Queen Zelda of hyrule #18b-A12 timeline 2.I am also the the head chief and researcher of the Secure,Contain,Research and Protect Program also known as the SCRPP which main goal is to,as stated in the title, secure,contain,research and protect all dangerous,overpower and magical items and people or beings that could cause massive harm or destruction across our world. I am extending our hand out to the Zeldas of their worlds for aid as we have all of  the links,also known as “the chain” from all across the different Hyrules and timelines under our containment currently and need help figuring out a cure for them.There be a summarized report that will be shown to you soon after this message of the charges shown as well as incidents during their time here at the SCRPP and studied behaviors.You must make sure that you are alone or with trusted elite members in your circle when reading this.if you are not the Zelda,current wisdom triforce beror,current ruler of your kingdom or a level 6 personale reviewing this message,you will be hunted down and arrested giving B leve aministic dosage or be sentenced  for termination for illegally stealing,intercepting and accessing  governmental files without consent of the SCRPP and Royal approval of the Court of internal Investigations outside of the know judiciary.And due to the time and era difference of our worlds all the reports will be shown on paper organized in folders with photos and names of each link and their subject code number as well.
Would you like to be shown and have access to file #19835-the chain links? Touch on the “Yes” if you are in a secure location to receive the report click on the “No” and the message box will close in on itself until the recipient of the massage presses their hand on the symbol on the box to reopen it.You will be able to open and close the box and see the continent summary report inside  with every link,including my own, in the folders in order to better understand the situation as well as another subject who will for now be classified as subject zero for now.”
As you watch and listen to all this unfold,questions start to flood though your mind about everything that was going on.What happened to Link?Why was he locked up?Is this a hostage situation?How did these people know where to find me?Is this why he never came back?Is this a trap?What's going on????
Taking a deep breath,you decide to collect yourself and go and find yourself in a secure place to be.if this box had any answers to what was hap[pneding you needed to find out now.You didn’t even bother to get yourself dressed and ready but instead grabbed the box and ran to your study room and locked all the doors,covered every window and made sure everything in the room was cleared out  before setting the box down and taping on the “yes” as the projected blue light of the woman faded and the box closed in on itself.The box began to turn and twist with sound of metal gears turning as he became a much larger rectangular serving plate sized box.The top opened up revealing a large beige covering that had a lot of paper neatly stacked inside of it with the title in large bold letter that said “case file number  #19835-The corrupted Heros.You swallowed hard and began to read the first page and this is what it said:
Case file number #19835- The Corrupted Heros
  
To start off the chain were first discovered when they were arrested and charged with multiple kidnapping attempts,hostaging,multiple homicide murders,injuring/killing of innocent civilians,attacking and maiming some official knights and crown guards and damage of property as well as resisting arrest.Other charges were made as well but these were some of the highlighted main ones that were had in court during their trials before they were to be sentenced and put to death,but because of the intervention and pardon plea deal that was offered to instead imprison them by the link of our world also know as “Mulan” among the chain but will be referred to as subject 10,they were all instead placed in jail for life as well as receiving weekly therapy and prescribed medication for their physiological obsessive insanity. But having broken out of their prisons repeatedly and kidnapping the person in question,who for now will be referred to as “subject Zero” for privacy insurance, they were placed under the SCRPP containment buildings units until a better suited and proper prison was placed for them to serve their sentence.What caught the SCRPP’s eyes to have them permanently be contained in their prison unit research facility was for the fact that the links showed signs of abnormal magical essence surrounding around them when they were first administered to the SCRPP prison research unit and went through the mandatory full body scan check up that is done whenever a person,staff,anomalie or being is entered into one of our units,whether they be vacant or under occupied use of other anomalies, it is a mandatory procedure that must be done thanks to that of past events that have occurred before these check ups were installed. Every member of the chain,although they vary, have show a red aura circling or being admitted out of their bodys that was shown within the charts and scan results.Subject 8,also known and nicknamed as “Wind” has shown a grey aura that flowed with his red wich made the research team place him under a separate category with the rest of the chains,as we believe it may have to do with his age,but not enough evidence has been shown that can concretely prove it.It is believed that the substance could be a source or a symptom done by whatever it may have been that is caused them to have the obsessive and aggressive behaviors and symptoms for subject Zero.A short while after this discovery we decided to do a full check up on subject Zero,subject 10 and subject 11,and although we did find a large portion of magical essence similar to that from the rest of the “links”  we saw that the essence that surrounded subject zero was a glowing yellow magical force that seemed to take over the whole room that it incompaced in while with subject 11,who is better known and nicknamed as lucky, showed a red and grey aura that surrounded him but seemed to glow the least out of everyone in the room.Finally there was subject 10 who,out of everyone’s surprise showed no signs of any usual amounts of magic aura seeping out of them despite the fact that she had been traveling with the group and was also a “Link”.We decided to start conducting experimentations and research on the matters and to keep the links from attempting to escape they are to have long periods of time with subject Zero to prevent the loss of staff lives and to prevent public casualties due to their obsessive,protective and possessive nature for subject zero. 
You paused in your reading. Needing to take a minute to fully process the information you had been reading.
Subjects? Obsession?murders? Magic? It seemed every time you read more of the article the more questions you had.It made you brain hurt with how much you just wished someone would just properly explain it to you instead of just sending all these endless files of paper.But it was not like you wanted to just sit around waiting for whatever representative was going to come. 
You rub your hands over your eyes and sigh back on your chair, eyes closed.At least you know now that link was alive but with the way the letters were written,it seemed as if he wasn’t himself at the moment. 
Taking another breath you looked down at the letters before you. 
Well it's not like you had anything else planned for today.
And if you did,they just got canceled.
I AM NOT OKAY I MIGHT BE CRYING
HELP CHEESE CHEESE!!!!!!
WHY MY BOY HE'S BABY
NOOO NOT LIKE THIS I'M AFRAID I'M SCARED!!!!!!
MULAN!!!! LUCKY!!!!
FREE MY BOY HE DID NOTHING WRONG!!! I DIDN'T KNOW THIS IS WHAT YOU WERE PLANNING!!
I WAS GONNA TRY AND GIVE YOU A SPOTLIGHT TO READ AND RESPOND PROPERLY BUT I CAVED AND READ IT TODAY EVEN THOUGHT IT'S LATE AND I'M AFRAID FOR THEM!!!!!! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN!!!
CHEESE!!!
CHEESE I HAVE QUESTIONS!!!!!!
22 notes · View notes
kyle-valenti · 3 years
Text
burnout only feels like burning
2.7k / Summary: kyle valenti doesn't have the same quarantine as his friends; an exploration of kyle's trauma during covid as a doctor. (tw depression & other triggers you’d imagine with this subject)
read & comment/ ao3
A little like the virus itself, Kyle’s relationship with his mask begins with worry, annoyance, and then pain. He’s more than happy to have the proper N-95 mask as they begin to get their first case at Roswell General but then a couple more patients trickle in and within a few days his skin is irritated and itching. Maybe it’s the news, maybe it’s the texts from his friends that he’s increasingly missing, but when the Regiment starts spouting off about how COVID is a joke he thinks it might be affecting his nerves too. By week three his former red mark left by the mask has become a permanent feature to his face and by week five it’s not a mark but a bruise instead. Blisters and cracks in his skin litter his hands from over-washing. His feet become so overused the pads of his feet feel numb and bruised and he wears through an entire pair of shoes.
Positivity has fled from his life by week seven and now he’s inside of a survival mode he’s never experienced. He thought after last year he’d be used to anything the world (or universe, rather, given all these aliens) could throw at him. Now what feels foolish, he had believed that there was nothing that could be worse than the previous pain of losing a patient or finding out his father had experimented on people’s lives. 
When he’s out of ventilators and CPAP machines because Albuquerque needs them more and he has to choose whether or not to save the life of an eighty five year old or a thirty two year old he remembers from high school, he breaks.
 Guilt is one thing, grief is another, but the pure rage he feels knowing that Max Evans is out on the town patrolling as some fucking cop and not someone who could heal most of this hospital makes him want to commit actual murder. Maybe trading the blood of an alien on his hands would feel less heart-wrenching. But no. Max had brought back Rosa and had paid the price. Quelling his anger, he went back to work.
 He slept at the hospital most nights in the height of it. Sure the couch was rough, but it was better than the other on-call doctor beds down the hall. Three twelve hour ER shifts of a usual work week doubled to five days of thirteen hour shifts. Soon there’s a week where he pulls double shifts for an entire week when one of his nurses is urgently hospitalized herself. Hospital directors had left them with no PPE except contaminated masks to reuse. Maria, Isobel, and Rosa are in the forefront of a drive to make and donate masks to his hospital after some social media posts that he doesn’t even see until the cloth masks arrive and his medical assistants give him their handwritten note. It makes him smile, but smiling feels so foreign that he almost wants to break from that.
 Visitors are no longer allowed which means Kyle isn’t allowed to use his bedside manner to comfort the family of patients. He has to facetime mothers, spouses, and children and hold the phone over a patient who can’t breathe without machine assistance and pretend that everything is fine and that there’s still hope despite the hypoxia and lack of rising vitals. Ignore that if the patient goes into cardiac arrest more than once, the kindest thing to do given prognosis is to let the patient pass. Resuscitation and DNR (a patient’s begging request to not be resuscitated) becomes a word he uses in his daily work and not simply for intense surgeries.
 Exhaustion isn’t a deep enough adjective to describe the fugue state he goes into. File to file, room to room, ventilator to next… he isn’t surprised when his body starts to wear down. When he no longer feels hunger and instead feels all too hot and dizzy. Telling himself it’s just because of how much he’s exerting his body while covered in layers and layers of protective clothing doesn’t help the fact that he’s starting to have more trouble breathing as he walks the hallways at a fast pace. When he begins to cough, he does what he promised himself he wouldn’t do and drives out post-shift to the desert cabin of Max Evans.
 Part of him is too desperately tired to knock, but when he arrives on the property with the cop car idle and the house dark and at peace for the night, his fury greets him with the embrace of a long-lost friend. Knuckles pound at the wood and Max answers the door with surprise and a general look of defense, and Kyle tries not to immediately punch him in the face at the fact he looks like he had woken up from a comfortable sleep.
 “Heal me.” Kyle manages to spit out.
 “I—what’s wrong?”
 “Beginning stages of respiratory distress, fever, nausea—what do you fucking think?”
 “Kyle—,” Max starts to say, the hesitation deepening, and that does it.
 “No. I have not asked you for anything in all of this, Evans. Anything!” He shouts, voice hoarse. “Not when people got sick, not when they started dying, not even when we started having to let people die on purpose. And you know what? I wasn’t going to even come and ask you now, but I can’t get sick when I’m the one here fucking saving lives out of the two of us and you’re just cruising the streets handing out goddamn traffic tickets.”
 Max’s face isn’t stony like it usually is when Kyle’s yelling at him; this time it’s crushed and guilty but not nearly enough. “What kind of hours you work this week, Evans? A nice 8 to 4? Did you get facetime with Isobel or your mom, maybe binge through a few books and movies after you’re home? Did you sit down and eat a nice dinner and or go over to drink a few beers with Guerin since you can’t get sick? Even get a nice eight hours of sleep in your own bed in your nice quiet home?”
 No response.
 “I am not asking to sequence your DNA like Liz. All I am asking is for you to let me heal people since you don’t want to.”
 A night breeze is all that makes noise for a moment as Kyle catches his breath and glares at Max, who stands quietly but is staring down at his boots before he finally looks up and nods. Max steps forward then, and Kyle sees that his eyes are actually filled with tears. Temper deflating, but still not subsiding entirely, given that not much else is able to be done; Kyle lets Max place a hand on his shoulder and feels the extremely weird feeling spread throughout his body. Something more electric than anything else, which God knew made a lot more sense concerning his powers and how the body operated with electrical nerve impulses, but that is a train of thought better left for another day. He wants to just walk away, and he almost does, but he still mutters a “thank you” before he does so.
When his nurse dies a few days later and he watches as the staff double bag her body to take to the morgue, he escapes to his office and crashes on his couch with sobs. There’s no one here to support him. He can’t go to his mother’s home and collapse into one of her comforting embraces without risking infecting her. He can’t get wasted at the Wild Pony with Maria when it’s closed. He can’t visit Rosa or Arturo at the Crashdown. Keeping his friends and family safe meant keeping them away from him. Keeping them safe meant he needed to stop pushing his head into his hands to try and control the sound of his crying and get back to work at saving the lives around them.
He gets put on leave by the hospital administrator when he’s almost arrested for decking Wyatt Long in the hospital parking lot as the idiot stood outside with a sign rallying Regiment members to make sure the hospital was told it was killing people on purpose for the election. If Jenna hadn’t been the officer on duty he would have been cuffed and put on record, jeopardizing his license, but there was some self-preserving part of him that desperately wished for his practice to be over anyway. He’s not even sure how Jenna handles it, honestly, all he remembers is her dropping him off at his house from her patrol car like she had been nothing but an uber. No matter how angry and adamant he gets, his boss refuses to bend, saying it’s for his own good given the connections the Long’s have in the town and how Kyle has worked almost 74 of the past 76 days.
Alex is the first to visit him, unannounced. When the doorbell rings Kyle is mindlessly pretending to watch some tv show in his living room that’ll distract him from his consuming thoughts about patients, so he doesn’t get up to answer. He checks his silent phone to see if he was forewarned of a visitor but sees nothing. Unsure if it’s his boss or a patient’s family, he forces himself up onto his sore feet and opens the door after grabbing a regular mask off the coffee table. Black face mask on and standing further out from the door on the porch is Alex, the usual gruff hello turned into something soft. “Hey.”
Kyle heaves a sigh. He had wondered when the pity visits would begin. “Hey. You really shouldn’t be around me, you know.”
“I’m clearly a minimum of eight feet away in an open space while masked.” Alex smarts back. “Either way, I’m worried about you.”
Scoffing, he shakes his head. “Don’t fucking worry about me. Worry about getting sick, because if I have to see another person I care about die, I--,”
“Kyle.” the other says too kindly, the sort of pacifying voice Alex reserved for only the most dire situations. “I have no idea what you’re dealing with in specifics, but my experiences do overlap with yours in some places.”
“And?”
Maybe it came out a little too rude, because Alex raises a brow, but then sighs instead. “And I’m just checking in to make sure you know people care about you.”
“Thanks, Manes.” Kyle huffs in return, managing not to roll his eyes because focusing on being blunt and abrasive was so much easier.
“Just be careful.” Alex interjects before Kyle could close the door and turn back to his show. “Dealing with the trauma of what you’re dealing with gets dark very quickly.”
“Because I punched Wyatt Long?” he spits back sarcastically.
“No, because the suicide rates for healthcare professionals are drastically increasing along with the rates of PTSD diagnoses.” Alex says flatly, ever one to be unfazed by sarcasm. “And I’ve lost more active duty members to suicide than I have combat.”
Kyle pauses, caught. Maybe Alex had known he would be, because there isn’t some way he can give a smile and reassuring wave with him like he could his mother or Liz. While Kyle hadn’t actively thought of a plan, he couldn’t pretend he had noticed signs of depression the second he was alone in his house. 
“The quiet is the worst part, right?” Alex says, all but reading his mind. “Not always because of the flashbacks, although those are horrible, but because if things are quiet then--,”
“--people are dying.” Kyle finishes, his voice raspier by the end of the three words. “Yeah, well, mine still are.”
“They’re going to.” Is what felt like a cold response, but somehow gave Kyle the understanding he’s been craving. “They’re going to die and because of your profession you’re going to be able to save some of them. Which will make you think you’re responsible to save all of them and because you’re a good person you’re going to feel guilty in ways that no one will understand for being human and failing to.”
“Failing is all I do lately.” Kyle replies. “Usually the wins feel higher than the losses as a doctor, but with this-- and no one outside of it cares. They go outside and yell about how this is about a fucking election and when it’s not the patients, it’s the hospital pretending they don’t have enough money to buy us proper protection. Or the government saying this will all go away and that it’s just a light cold.”
Alex gives a small nod. “I know. I also know telling you the same advice that you’d give another doctor of trying not to burn out and instead taking a small rest is useless. So I’m just going to drop off these dvd’s and make you report back to me the difference when you’re done.”
Star Trek and Star Wars. Kyle finds a smile tug on his lips. Alex leaves with one on his as well.
When he gives a response to Alex a few days later on how Star Wars is better not more than a few minutes later Deluca is texting him with recommendations on joining her Buffy the Vampire Slayer rewatch. There’s something sweet about the fact that people have been clearly talking about him, even if definitely borderline creepy with how nosy his circle of friends can be, but he sighs and lets Maria add him to the group chat she has with Rosa and Liz where they review each episode after the fact and even chimes in every now and then. Isobel gets added not long after due to an Instagram story Maria shares and then the group has moved onto Friends after everyone shoots down Liz for suggesting Grey’s Anatomy on behalf of Kyle. Alex is also in there, even if it’s rare he chimes in with an opinion, but once they start Friends his commentary about how much he hates Ross that gets the entire group riled up does tend to make him laugh. Even Kyle agrees with Forest-- whose opinion had been shared by Alex-- that Chandler had all too many queer-coded scenes with Joey.
His mother facetimes him daily, which given how they both don’t exactly go out much starts to become monotonous, until she begins to give in and talk about memories she has of their father. Tidbits she never would have shared with him about their adult life when he was a child or teenager. He in turn facetimes Rosa and shares some of the memories of their father as well, which as much as she tries to pretend she doesn’t want for Arturo’s sake she clearly does with the million questions she asks every single time and the small smile she gives him at the end of their calls.
Liz updates him on her work which is a nice reprieve from everyone’s normalcy and lack of medical jargon sometimes, especially when she gives him inside info on covid vaccine studies not yet published to the general public yet. Everything in him wants this more than anything else in the world right now and he texts her almost every day asking if she’s heard more news even when he knows things take time. She’s a good sport about everything, even when he shares in a very angry rant about Max Evans and how they could have helped so many more people so much more quickly with his DNA-- however selfish that might have been.
When he goes back to work, he feels refreshed, even when it makes things hit like a freight train once more. Lost in a sea of inadequacy, his feelings extend past the pandemic. Even when things return to a level of normalcy and the cases subside he gets alien medical drama thrown in his face once more, and he starts to wonder if he’ll ever recover. If he was wrong to choose this calling. If the fact he can’t help Max or Maria is a sign from above or his father that it’s time to make some career move or change location like his mother and Liz. But, like he tells Michael Guerin. He can’t think he can face his future children and say he walked away from this. Or let people die by quitting, just like Rosa warns. And so he stays and tries to heal both other people and himself.
24 notes · View notes
anguigenus · 3 years
Text
A/N: So after my last couple posts I couldn't stop thinking about how easy it would be for Perry to just get killed off. Just like that. It could happen next episode. Consider this my prediction for how it could happen. Two scenes: one at the start of the episode and one at the end. Then a third scene where Gus comes home that I don't think would be shown but the pain was too great and I had to write it down. Warning for major character death under the cut.
AO3
~~~
"--is the fourth round of arrests this week by the emperor's coven. It seems whatever's causing this high level of security is getting worse, so I would advise caution for--"
"Hey dad! What're you watching?"
Perry flicked off the crystal ball as Gus bounded into the kitchen. "Good morning, Gus. I'm just looking over some recent recordings of stuff I was broadcasting. Gotta see if there's room for improvement and all that."
"Cool!" Gus sat down and started wolfing down the breakfast Perry had sat out for him.
"You seem in a hurry," Perry said. "I know you don't have school today, are you going somewhere?"
"Yeah! Me and some friends were going on a trip today!" Gus answered between mouthfuls of scrambled gobber-goo.
Perry smiled. "That sounds fun. Are you going with Willow, Luz and Amity then?"
"Nope! These are some new people I met. I was going to show them this cool place I found the other day!"
"Well, I wish you the best of luck." Perry chuckled as Gus shoved the last of his food into his mouth and ran off towards the front hallway.
Just before he disappeared around the corner, he turned and waved good-bye. "Thanks! Love you dad, bye!"
"Bye Gus!"
As the front door slammed shut, Perry turned to his crystal ball and flicked it back on. That last broadcast hadn't been good. It would be far too easy to interpret it as going against the emperor, and he did not want to be in the next round of arrests. Gus needed him too much for that.
~~~
Perry's eyes slowly flitted closed, then blinked open. Between his long day at work and the comforting, nostalgic smell of the soup he was stirring, it was hard for him to stay on his feet, much less keep his eyes open. Still, Gus would be home soon. Then they could both eat and Perry could take a nice, long nap.
The sound of the front door opening and closing helped knock away some of his lethargy. He smiled and turned to the front hallway. That must be him now.
"Hey Gus, welcome back! How'd your trip go?"
His stomach turned to lead as an unfamiliar figure wearing an owl mask walked around the corner, a mechanical staff slung casually over his shoulders. "Not Gus, I'm afraid."
"Who are you? Is Gus okay?" Perry's eyes flicked to the seal on the person's cloak. "Wait, you're with the emperor's coven, aren't you."
The stranger swung his staff around and pointed it at him playfully. "Bingo!"
"Please, if you're here about the broadcasts, I can call off of work, take a long vacation, change jobs if you need me too!" Perry's voice cracked with desperation. "Just don't take me away. Gus needs me."
"Oh, you'll be taking a vacation all right." The stranger spun the staff in a wide circle, then brandished it menacingly as the tip began to glow. "A permanent one that is. From life."
From outside the porter residence, a bystander wouldn't have seen much. Just a faint red flash, accompanied by a small trickle of smoke that quickly blew away. It was enough though.
~~~
"Dad, I'm home!" Gus called out, throwing open the front door. His day had gone better than he'd thought possible! New friends and new magic that he couldn't wait to tell Luz about tommorow.
He paused as no one answered. Maybe his dad was asleep? He was usually pretty tired when he got back from work after all.
"Dad?" he asked, softer this time. He stepped forward out of the hallway to see if his dad was sleeping on the couch in the living room. Something crunched underneath his foot. He looked down and saw some sort of charred stick.
"What's this doing in here?" Gus bent down to pick it up and noticed a slight trail of ash pointing off towards the kitchen.
"Dad? Are you in there?" Gus slowly walked towards the kitchen. The familiar smell of soup wafted towards him, mixed with something more bitter and smokey. Had he left the stove on during his nap? He shouldn't have, since he always told Gus never to.
Gus turned the corner. The first thing he saw was a huge black scorch mark that took up the far wall.
"Dad?" His voice was nothing more than a whimper.
The second thing he saw were more charred sticks scattered across the room. Except they weren't sticks, he realized in horror. They were bones.
Bile rose in his throat as he stumbled forward. No. No no no no no no no. They were from some sort of monster. It had attacked his dad and he'd used some sort of fire--
A skull. In the middle of the scorch mark. The front teeth were slightly lopsided, just like he'd seen a thousand times in his father's mouth.
Gus' eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed like his strings had been cut. The shock had been too much. His consciousness had retreated to the deepest corners of his mind, refusing to fully process what had happened.
And so he lay, the son among his father's blackened bones, until they were found the next morning.
32 notes · View notes