#and you’re right but I need the idea of him talking to Houdini like ‘are you a wizard? how long have you been a wizard?’ in my mind

[spiciestmarinara]

The two biggest mistakes that any Sherlock Holmes fan can make, in my opinion, are 1. Thinking any single adaptation has a monopoly on using the source material and 2. Taking anything in the source material too seriously because while it’s a cornerstone of the genre, you have to remember Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also believed in fairies and ghosts and that his friend Harry Houdini was a wizard.

#Sherlock Holmes #thought about it while listening to the newest Sherlock & Co #I know some like actual smart people will be like ‘Actually ACD-‘ #and you’re right but I need the idea of him talking to Houdini like ‘are you a wizard? how long have you been a wizard?’ in my mind

[my-weird-news]

Shocking Twist: Houston Woman Kills Landlord, Hides Body, Keeps Collecting Rent! 😱

Murder, Mayhem, and the Mysterious Case of the Fleeing Landlord Oh boy, gather 'round folks, because I've got a wild tale for you that's like something straight out of a twisted sitcom! 🕵️‍♂️ It's a story of a missing Texan landlord, a lady with a penchant for creative excuses, and a whole lot of suspicious bloodstains. 🏠💀 So there's this woman, Pamela Ann Merritt, who must have taken a masterclass in crafting bizarre alibis. She tried to sell the idea that her landlord, a spry 78-year-old named Colin Kerdachi, had pulled a "Houdini" and escaped to Africa. 🌍✈️ Yup, Africa! Because, you know, that's where all retired landlords go on vacation, right? But hold onto your cowboy hats, folks, because this yarn gets even more tangled. Turns out, our dear Pamela didn't just stop at the wild safari tale. Nope, she went the extra mile and allegedly turned Mr. Kerdachi into an involuntary under-the-stairs tenant. 🐕🏠 Can't afford rent? No problem, just hide a body instead! Genius! Picture this: Houston's freezing over, power's out, and Colin's gone AWOL. People are scratching their heads like, "Did he turn into an icicle or what?" 🧊❄️ But lo and behold, after months of scratching, the cops finally find him. Not in an igloo, not on a tropical island, but behind a staircase like a forgotten Christmas decoration. 🎄🕳️ Now, I'm no detective, but something smells fishier than a catfish fry at a Texan fair. Turns out, Pamela had her own version of home improvement going on. Imagine the scene: "Honey, should we paint the walls or scrub off the bloodstains first?" 🎨💉 What a dilemma! The plot thickens when Pamela's fellow tenants start spilling the beans. There's Tabitha Pope, a recent addition to this reality TV-worthy cast. She uncovered blood pools, knives in mailboxes, and bins full of blood – just your average Tuesday morning surprises. ☠️📦 And let's not forget her genius move of tricking Pamela and her boyfriend into revealing the body's location. Talk about playing a twisted game of "Where's Waldo's Corpse?" 🧐🔍 Of course, the comedic duo (Pamela and her boyfriend) didn't disappoint. They put on a show that could rival any amateur theater production, loudly discussing a "dead dog" under the stairs. Bravo, guys, bravo! 🐶🎭 So, what's Pamela's masterstroke in this symphony of absurdity? She claims the bloodstains are from "rotten meat" and the remains are from a dog. I guess her refrigerator doubles as a crime scene and a pet cemetery – versatile! 🍗🥩 And let's not forget the star witness, Michael Brown, who probably has a future as a stand-up comedian. "Oh, yeah, I saw the landlord with a stab wound, but I figured he just needed a vacation... to the hospital!" 🏥😂 So there you have it, folks – a missing landlord, a stab-happy murderer, and more twists than a Texas roller coaster. It's the stuff David Sedaris dreams of – bizarre, hilarious, and stranger than fiction. If you're ever in need of a good laugh, just remember the tale of Pamela, Colin, and the great African escape! 🤣🕺# Murder, Mayhem, and the Mysterious Case of the Fleeing Landlord Oh boy, gather 'round folks, because I've got a wild tale for you that's like something straight out of a twisted sitcom! 🕵️‍♂️ It's a story of a missing Texan landlord, a lady with a penchant for creative excuses, and a whole lot of suspicious bloodstains. 🏠💀 So there's this woman, Pamela Ann Merritt, who must have taken a masterclass in crafting bizarre alibis. She tried to sell the idea that her landlord, a spry 78-year-old named Colin Kerdachi, had pulled a "Houdini" and escaped to Africa. 🌍✈️ Yup, Africa! Because, you know, that's where all retired landlords go on vacation, right? But hold onto your cowboy hats, folks, because this yarn gets even more tangled. Turns out, our dear Pamela didn't just stop at the wild safari tale. Nope, she went the extra mile and allegedly turned Mr. Kerdachi into an involuntary under-the-stairs tenant. 🐕🏠 Can't afford rent? No problem, just hide a body instead! Genius! Picture this: Houston's freezing over, power's out, and Colin's gone AWOL. People are scratching their heads like, "Did he turn into an icicle or what?" 🧊❄️ But lo and behold, after months of scratching, the cops finally find him. Not in an igloo, not on a tropical island, but behind a staircase like a forgotten Christmas decoration. 🎄🕳️ Now, I'm no detective, but something smells fishier than a catfish fry at a Texan fair. Turns out, Pamela had her own version of home improvement going on. Imagine the scene: "Honey, should we paint the walls or scrub off the bloodstains first?" 🎨💉 What a dilemma! The plot thickens when Pamela's fellow tenants start spilling the beans. There's Tabitha Pope, a recent addition to this reality TV-worthy cast. She uncovered blood pools, knives in mailboxes, and bins full of blood – just your average Tuesday morning surprises. ☠️📦 And let's not forget her genius move of tricking Pamela and her boyfriend into revealing the body's location. Talk about playing a twisted game of "Where's Waldo's Corpse?" 🧐🔍 Of course, the comedic duo (Pamela and her boyfriend) didn't disappoint. They put on a show that could rival any amateur theater production, loudly discussing a "dead dog" under the stairs. Bravo, guys, bravo! 🐶🎭 So, what's Pamela's masterstroke in this symphony of absurdity? She claims the bloodstains are from "rotten meat" and the remains are from a dog. I guess her refrigerator doubles as a crime scene and a pet cemetery – versatile! 🍗🥩 And let's not forget the star witness, Michael Brown, who probably has a future as a stand-up comedian. "Oh, yeah, I saw the landlord with a stab wound, but I figured he just needed a vacation... to the hospital!" 🏥😂 So there you have it, folks – a missing landlord, a stab-happy murderer, and more twists than a Texas roller coaster. It's the stuff David Sedaris dreams of – bizarre, hilarious, and stranger than fiction. If you're ever in need of a good laugh, just remember the tale of Pamela, Colin, and the great African escape! 🤣🕺 Read the full article

[shadowofahope]

NOT Gonna Happen

Warnings: Swearing? One bad word near the end.

Premise: Fight or Flight. Meet BTS or run away from BTS?

“Uh guys…. She’s rolling away.” Yoongi points to you and your attempt to escape the room. Hands grab your ankles to halt your getaway. “I hate all of you.” You groan up at Yeonjun, who still had hold of you. You give up, letting out a deep sight, wishing the ground would open from under you.

Ft. TXT

Authors notes: My honest to all the kpop gods, reaction to meeting these boys. YEET!

This is also a response to people constantly asking me, what would you do if you met BTS?

ALSO this is heavily un-edited. I'm really tired and I'm trying to write 3.5 stories at once! Wooooh, wish me luck!

masterlist

Today marks your 8th week working at BigHit, currently working with TxT on their new album and the chaos that always followed them. Walking down a hallway with one of the backup dancers you had become quick friends with, you felt at home in this monumental building. You are comfortable here, everyone making you feel at home.

“Pleasssssse” Sung-ho begs again. Hands on your shoulders, shaking you gently as he walks behind you. “You have to come.”

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea.” You whine back, swinging your staff badge back and forth on your neck. “You know I don’t want to meet them.

He tugs on your shoulders lightly forcing you to halt. Jumping in front of you, palms pressed together, eyes closed he starts begging.

“You promised you would come to one practice. Just this one. Please Please Please-”

Huffing in frustration, you screw up your nose. He silently waits for you to give in, as he knows you will eventually.

“Just this one.” You finally give in.

“Yaaay!” He cheers, jumping to your side.

In all the comotion you don’t notice the footsteps approaching you two from down a connecting hallway. Shrugging your friend off, you’re about to round the corner when you hear it. Instantly freezing.

“I think it’ll be safer to go over the choreo with the dancer one more time.”

“I agree, the timing still seems a little off. We should take a look at the schedules.”

“Sung-ho!”

Your friend smiles and turns to the voice that called him, turning his back to you.

“Hello, Taehyung. Jimin. Hoseok.” Sung-ho greets cheerfully.

“Do you have time to come with us to discuss the schedules for practice?” Jimin asks politely.

“Of course, I was just on my way to grab a snack with -” He starts to explain, turning to where you once stood. Hand hanging in the air, he’s dumbfounded.

“With-?” Hoseok questions.

“Apparently myself.” He turns back to the boys. How had you disappeared so quickly and to where?

He chuckled awkwardly at the idols, cursing you for putting him in this embarrassing situation.

They mirror back his awkward laugh, excusing themselves as they continue on down the hallway.

Your friend stands there for almost two full minutes, trying to figure out what in the hell just happened. He hears a rattle coming from the small storage room near him.

The door swings open.

“You did not just-“ He’s wheezing, trying to catch his breath.

“Don’t talk to me” You walk out of the storage room, in reality it’s more of a tiny linen closet. Upon hearing the idols voices, In sheer blind panic, you threw yourself into the closet and shut the door behind you.

Walking past your still wheezing friend, you push him playfully before continuing on towards the lounge. His loud cackles bouncing around you all the way there.

💜♾💜♾💜

You are sitting in a waiting room with TXT. You’ve made yourself comfortable on one of the couches facing away from the door across the large room, angled towards the wall full over mirrors for makeup and hair. Scrolling through your phone, while Kai and Taehyun talk about something animatedly behind you. You can see them every once in a while, flailing their arms, mimicking wild gestures.

You three had chosen to stay back while the other three needed to ‘stretch’ their legs and find something to drink. So when the door opens you don’t look up, expecting it to be the missing members. Your body lurches forward at the reflection in the mirror, panic spreading.

“Hyung!” Kai exclaims excitedly, bounding over to the 2 members of BTS that have entered the room. “What are you doing here?”

“Hello, we were looking for Jungkook. Have you seen him?” Namjoon asks, looking around the room.

“No, he hasn’t been through here.” Taehyun chirps next to his bandmate.

“Ok, I’ll try calling him again. '' Jin responds, pulling out his phone from his back pocket.

“What are you guys doing here?” Namjoon questions the younger idols.

“Oh, we are working on a concept for one of the singles off our album. Our producer -” Kai motions to the couch that you were on. Now being completely empty. Your slouching form gone, the room appeared empty as well. “Who apparently is gone now, was here helping us.”

Jin and Namjoon shared a skeptical glance at each other. Kai rubs the back of his head as he looks at his beandmember, giving him a confused tilt to his head, to which he gets a shrug in response.

“That’s the newer producer right?” Jin questions.

“Uh yea, that’s her.” Taehyun confirms, still utterly confused by your houdini act.

“We’ve heard a lot of great things about her, from all over, but we still havent seen her.” Namjoon concluded by nodding his head, in thought.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll meet her soon. It’s bound to happen.” Kai reassures.

The duos bid each other goodbye, BTS leaving the room and TXT walking back towards the empty couch.

“How did she-where did she-?” Unable to fully ask his question, Taehyun looks around the room again.

Kai rounds the side of the couch, noticing a hood under the coffee table.

“Noona?” He tries to hide his laugh but fails miserably.

You lift your head from the floor, removing your hood, peering up from underneath the coffee table at the younger. You glare at him, crawling out as he falls back onto his butt laughing, Taehyun joining him on the floor. Both now convulsing with uncontrollable laughter.

Flopping angrily back onto the couch in your previous position, you ignore their incessant chattering and laughing. Recounting you hiding again and again. Even when the other members returned and they explained everything that happened while they were gone, you chose to angrily scroll on your phone until their pestering and teasing died down.

💜♾💜♾💜

Pacing back and forth in a secluded lounge area, you waited with all of the members of txt. You were waiting to hear back from the execs about your concept ideas. The boys had worked extremely hard to come up with a fully thought out concept, you had backed their ideas the whole way as they presented them to the higher staff. Now you waited, anxiously.

Drumming your hands together while pacing you chewed on your bottom lip nervously. Each member stationed on the couch, lounger ottoman, facing you. Legs bouncing in anticipation, knuckles cracking you stopped in front of the large window, facing them, the outside world behind you.

“Look guys, regardless of what happens you did amazing.” You smile at them. “And I’m unbelievably proud of you. All of you.”

Breaking them out of their stoppers, they look up at your faces glowing, pride swelling in their chests.

“Soobin-ah?” A deep voice calls from somewhere unknown, and you freeze.

The members of TXT jump up from their seats, whirling around in time to see all the members of bts walking around the balcony area over to them.

“Taehyung-hyung,” Soobin greets politely. “How are you all doing today.?”

“Good, we just finished rehearsals.” Taehyung explains, once they were standing just on the other side of the couch to him. “Have you guys heard anything yet? We saw the concept art, we really liked it!”

“Nothing yet. We were actually just waiting. Noona was just trying to-” Soobin attempts to explain, motioning behind him to you. Seeing the skeptical looks on their faces, he turned his head to see nothing. You had completely vanished. With furniture and a structural wall surrounding you, there was no place you possibly could be hiding.

Confusion evident on his face as he looks over at Yeonjun. Eyes silently asking him where you had gone, the older only shook his head, eyes just as wide, he shrugged in response.

“Right, the elusive producer we keep hearing about but never seeing.” Yoongi responds comically. “Maybe she isn’t real? But a ghost!”

Spooking Jin and Hoseok alike, they give him an alarmed glare.

“No, we promise she’s real.” Soobin persuades, his voice coming out in almost a plea.

Trying to affirm your existence to their Hyungs, Gyu becomes overwhelmingly curious. He walks over to the spot you had been standing, a deep frown settled on his features.

He does a full 360, in an attempt to understand where you could have gone. Upon turning around he notices something. Stifling a laugh and breaking into a full blown smile, he subtly waves Kai over, when they make eye contact. Kai nonchalantly makes his way over to him, Gyu mumbles something to him and he looks in the direction that Gyu was nodding. Trying to hide his own laugh, the two youngest members stand snickering, waiting for the members of BTS to walk away before exposing you to the group.

Once the groups bid each other goodbye, they both break out into hysterical laughter.

“What guys?” Yeonjun jumps at the unexpected hollering. But neither boy can speak, too consumed by laughter they both point to the semi open window.

“She didn’t” Taehyun launches himself over the ottoman in front of him rushing to the window. Soobin and Yeonjun right behind him. The three of them look out to see your figure hopping down from the last branch of the tree outside.

With lightning speed and zero hesitation, you had climbed out of the already opened window on the second floor. Stepped from the ledge onto a tree that's long, thick branches were supporting itself against the building. Then walked to the center of the large tree and climbed your way down.

Mass hysteria broke out between the 5 members.

“That’s it. We have to make her meet them.” Soobin exclaims, wiping a tear that fell down his cheek.

“Guys, I think I have a plan.” Yeonjun smirks. So they all huddled around to listen.

💜♾💜♾💜

Today was supposed to be your day off. But upon receiving a text from Soobin, saying they needed you there urgently for their concept proposal, you raced straight there. So there you were standing in the hall talking to an exec in a black oversized pullover hoodie and workout leggings. Today was about comfort over professionalism, well it was supposed to be.

But when you had finished your pleasant chat with the exec, he started apologizing profusely about something he couldn’t say. Trying to hide his chuckle, his eyes dart over your shoulder. Before you could press him about his comments, you were spun around and hoisted off of your feet. Draped over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes. In alarm you manage to struggle enough to see your kidnapper, Yeonjun.

“What are you dooooooiiiinnnng?” You whine, struggling more.

He says nothing, but turns down the hallway to the dance practice rooms.

“Put me down shrek.” You quote. Wiggling even harder to escape the ironclad grip on you.

“There’s no point Noona, just accept it.” A sweet cheerful voice, butts in, shoes coming into view as you tilt your head up to look.

“Really Kai, they have you in on this too?” You slump in defeat. “Fine, but don’t you dare fart.”

Your capture lets out a chuckle before entering the dance room. The other three members you can kind of see. Or at least their shoes. Your hood keeps flopping down and making it hard to tell.

“Guys seriously, why are you-” You begin as blood starts rushing to your head. Making you slightly dizzy.

“Hello Hyungs.” Yeonjun greets politely. Panic rising, you tilt your head to the side to look into the wall mirror, there you see all 7 members of BTS sitting on the floor, along with the other members of TXT standing around you. “This is Y/N-Noona, the real, not a ghost, producer.”

Realization hits you like a ton of bricks, as snickers and muffled laughs resonate behind you.

“Yeonjun…..” Your voice is a little shaky. “You did not just introduce me to BTS ass FIRST?!”

Everyone in the room breaks into rounds of full belly laughter as you are hoisted back over the shoulder, feet planted on the floor.

Turning shyly to the side, you make eye contact with each member of BTS. Your legs crumble beneath you, muttering ‘I could have lived my whole life without this’ angrily. You lay on the ground face down, hood over your head as more laughter ensues.

“You had to meet them at some point, even backwards!” Gyu exclaims between heaves of laughter, clutching his stomach .

Waving your hand blindly towards the members of TXT you bark “That’s it! We are no longer friends. Done, Forever, never again!”

Apologies begin to flow toward you but you ignore them. Eventually you ignore any comment that comes your way, still plastered to the floor, the 12 men begin to talk about other things. Completely unaware of you.

...Or so you thought….

“Uh guys…. She’s rolling away.” Yoongi points to you and your attempt to escape the room. Hands grab your ankles to halt your getaway.

“I hate all of you.” You groan up at Yeonjun, who still had hold of you. You give up, letting out a deep sight, wishing the ground would open from under you.

#bts fics #bts drabble #ft txt #bts imagines #bts jimin #bts hoseok #bts seokjin #bts namjoon #bts jungkook #bts taehyung #bts yoongi #bts ot7 #bts fanfics #txt yeonjun #txt soobin #txt heuningkai #txt taehyun #txt beomgyu #txt ot5

[megs-mostly-past-random-fandoms]

Hostage

Based on this request: Moriarty x Reader- Shes maybe a hostage or something but she’s kinda inquisitive and she’s smart and maybe she has some useful skill? he decides to keep her around cause he finds himself maybe enjoying her company too much to have her taken out

Here you are! *Familiar characters are NOT mine!*

Fandom: Sherlock (BBC)

Warnings: Mentions of kidnapping, reader is a sassy thing. Moriarty is a warning himself, a little light steaminess I guess.

Pairings/Characters: James Moriarty x fem!reader

James put his hands up to his head, the butt of his gun against his temple. This was not what he'd been expecting when he took you hostage. You were merely leverage in the game against Sherlock and yet, that was quickly changing. You were becoming both intriguing and infuriating.

When James had taken you, he hadn't expected you to be quite so inquisitive. He'd expected tears and begging. Maybe even you being sick to your stomach. Not a thousand and one questions about everything. Perhaps it was a ploy to drive him mad and get him to either kill you or let you go. Still, after what seemed like hours of asking questions, you finally asked the right one. "Why?"

After that, James was able to calm down a bit. He answered you, only to be met with a debate. You spouted off random psychological facts and whatever else was in that brain of yours. And wouldn't you know it? You weren't just a pretty face, James realized. You were fairly intelligent.

While waiting for the right moment to lure in Sherlock, you and James had an interesting talk. Well, several interesting talks. James was surprised by how easily you seemed to get along. He was your kidnapper and yet, you didn't seem to be afraid of him. In fact, you enjoyed talking to him just as much as he enjoyed speaking to you.

"Why aren't you afraid, kitten?" he asked and you gave a little shrug. As best you could with your hands handcuffed behind you anyway. "Why should I be? You've already made up your mind as to what you're going to do. If you're planning on killing me, I refuse to spend my last moments on earth cowering in fear. If you aren't, then I really have nothing to be afraid of, do I?"

James didn't know what to do with that. Normally, when he had someone hostage at gunpoint, they quaked and cowered. They begged and pleaded for their lives. Never before had they just sat there and talked with him. James looked back to your face, his gun resting on his knee. His brows stitched together when he noticed a sly smirk on your face.

"What?" Without saying a word, you brought your hands out in front of you, the handcuffs dangling from one wrist as your rubbed the other. James stared at you in surprise. "Wh- How?" You beamed. "You didn't take into account who you were taking hostage, did you? I can break into or out of anything. Handcuffs? Child's play really. I expected more from the Napoleon of Crime."

James was torn between being impressed and being furious. He didn't appreciate your smugness in that moment, but he certain could appreciate your skill. If you were telling the truth, he could use someone like you. If not, he could just kill you and find someone else to lure in Sherlock. With an almost child-like grin, James turned back to you. "Shall we put that to the test then?" he asked, offering you a hand. You arched a brow, but took it and James tried to ignore the warmth that spread through him.

James spent the next several hours testing your skills. It didn't take him long to learn that you weren't lying. You really could break into or out of anything. It was incredible. You were almost like Houdini in reverse. That set of skills was something James needed in his little network. And, what was even better was that Sherlock and Scotland Yard would NEVER suspect a former hostage of his to work for him. Now, it was time to play with Sherlock Holmes.

*short time skip*

You played your part beautifully, distracting Sherlock long enough for James to escape. Granted, you didn't know you were playing a part. At least, James didn't think you did. He was proven wrong when he returned to one of his safe houses a few days later. He carefully removed his coat before heading to his study. He stopped short when he realized there was a fire going in the fireplace.

He glanced over at his desk in time to see the chair spin around to face him. "Hello, James," you greeted with a smirk. James fought to keep his features neutral. "And how did you get in here, kitten? I have guards everywhere." You arched a brow. "Well, pet," you began, rising gracefully from the seat, "Didn't I tell you that I could get in anywhere I wanted? You may want to hire some better trained guards. Or rather have someone train the ones you already have. IF you don't shoot them that is."

James stepped closer to you. His mind wrestled with whether or not he should kill you now. What if you had lead the authorities right to him? James shook his head. If you had done that, he would have been surrounded the moment he set foot on the grounds. Except that Scotland Yard had no evidence of his wrong doings. Not any concrete evidence anyway.

"And who would you suggest I get to do that?" A grin spread across your lips. James fought the urge to pull you to him and kiss that smug look off your face. He couldn't do that until he knew whose side you were on. "Well, I mean, I'm certain, if you asked me nicely, I would be more than willing to do it."

"For what price?" James asked. He knew nothing in life came for free. You stepped even close until your faces were only centimeters apart. "Oh I'm certain we can think of something," you breathed out. Before either of you could continue on the dangerous path you were heading, the door opened. "Forgive me, sir, but-" the servant cut themselves off as you pulled away with another smirk.

"Think about it? You know how to find me," you said before walking away from him. When you reached the door to his study, you turned back and blew him a kiss. "Until next time, James." With that, you disappeared, leaving James standing there with a smile on his face and an idea in his brain. This was going to be fun.

(a/n: I hope this is what you were looking for!)

#bbc sherlock #james moriarty #james moriarty x reader #moriarty x reader

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

What happened w the rationalist community, if you’re ok talking about it?

LONG REPLY TIME.

In my Wild Youth (tm) I was hardcore in the rationalist/skeptic/humanist community. You know, the New Atheist types (the vast majority of the community didn’t call themselves New Atheists, that was mostly American Dawkins fans, but we were those kinds of people, just less arrogant-PR about it). For people who don’t know, the core philosophy of this subculture basically comes down to: - humans are mostly good people, or try to be good people, and we should act in ways that are good for humanity, the environment, etc. - people with better or more accurate information about the world are capable of making better decisions - it is therefore vitally important that we view the world as accurately as possible. Truth is inherently important and valuable. We should do everything we can to make sure that our beliefs about the world are as accurate as possible. - your mind will lie to you. Cognitive biases have their social and evolutionary uses, but they result in bigotry and bad information. We should do everything we can to identify and compensate for these, and think as rationally as a human is capable of. - while it’s not perfect, science is the most effective tool we have for determining what is most likely to be true. Rationalism is therefore massively pro-science and pro-science education. (This isn’t a blind trust; most hardcore rationalists are scientists and fully aware of the limitations of the messy reality of how science is funded and published and the biases that introduces. These are taken into account. The other hardcore rationalists tend to be magicians/illusionists.)

All of this is perfectly fine and a hill I’m still perfectly willing to die on.

When you get a bunch of people together who are sincerely seeking truth and want the world to be a better place, there are some fairly obvious groups that they’re going to tangle with. Before my time, when we were just called skeptics, the main targets had been psychics and life-after-death spirit-communing con artists (this is where our magicians came from, the philosophical descendants of Houdini, one of the earliest voices in the movement, and later James Randi). But the big proponents of harm in my time were the healing crystals/essential oils/faith healing people, and the ‘Creation should be taught instead of evolution’ creationists. We spent a lot of time trying to stop people from selling oils that they said could cure cancer, and fighting against science education being replaced with religious belief inserted in science classes. (I spent a lot of my teenage years debating creationists on the internet. I can summarise this experience as a frustrating waste of time on both sides of the debate. Neither side was going to accomplish anything in these discussions.)

This is all perfectly fine. I won’t pretend I’m completely happy with everyone’s actions; it’s the internet, so of course there were subgroups doing things like mass trolling conservative religion forums and stuff, which had no purpose except to piss off people we happened not to like, but you get that. The problem with this is that it’s easy. People can believe what they want, but if you’re coming into a rational debate, every pro-Creation, anti-evolution argument is complete and utter bullshit, mostly demonstrating nothing beyond the fact that the creationist debater a) doesn’t understand the most fundamental things about biology or b) does understand and is willingly misleading the audience. Every pro healing crystal, pro astrology or pro telepathy argument is fatuous nonsense. Twelve-year-olds could walk into these discussions and completely shred every argument put forth by big-name “creation scientists” in minutes -- I know, I watched it happen regularly. I was on our conservative creationist Christian-owned community TV station for awhile doing a little ‘creation vs evolution!’ debate against the wealthy station owner’s son to fill air time, and I’d see him do a couple of hours of research for anti-evolution arguments every time we filmed, and it always pissed him off that I’d shred anything he said immediately, having done no research whatsoever, because even to me, a child, the giant drive-a-bus-through-this holes in his arguments were obvious. (Also, they were old hash; I’d read all the books by his idols before and checked the reasoning myself long before.)

Fresh voices in the community came from two main sources -- people who’d been pro-people and pro-reason/science for years finding others like them, and ex-creationists and magic healer victims who’d eventually found the holes in what they’d been taught. This second group, for obvious reasons, tended to be the most passionately pro-reason and pro-science people, and discussing different experiences in a place where people could feel safe being critical and actively celebrate doubt was great. But, inevitably, we got lazy.

A lot of the ‘laziness’ was perfectly reasonable and practical. Time and attention is always limited, and when you’ve dealt with six claims of “the eye is too complex to have evolved!” and explained the flaws in the irreducible complexity argument four times that fortnight, when someone walks in with “blood groups couldn’t possibly have evolved, therefore the earth must be 6,000 years old”, you just don’t fucking bother, and you shouldn’t fucking bother, there’s no value in that discussion.

That’s not the kind of laziness I’m talking about. I’m talking about the part where we got so used to ‘that sounds so fucking stupid’ leading directly being able to tear an argument to pieces,that it became normal to assume that anything that sounds stupid on the surface MUST be obviously wrong. Where ‘this is weird, let’s examine it and check for flaws’ became ‘that person disagrees with my preconceived notions, let’s double down and explain why they’re wrong, because I’m already assuming that they’re wrong’. At some point, “we want to be as rational and accurate as we can be, we call ourselves rationalist and work towards that” became “we’re rationalists, so we’re more accurate and rational than average and probably right”.

You might recognise that as in fact being *the exact opposite of the proported philosophy*. There were always some overenthusiastic idiots in any group, but watching it slowly become normal for rationalising to replace active rationalism and for the names of cognitive biases to be thrown around as gotcha buzzwords rather than things people were seriously considering in their own arguments was... concerning. (There were a lot of very smart people in the community, which unfortunately made it far more vulnerable to this particular kind of thing. Smarter people are better at fooling themselves; a person good at reason is also good at rationalising, and you can’t tell the difference between these things when you’re the one doing them.)

In practical terms, this doesn’t matter that much when you’re playing in the easy leagues of explaining to someone that the overpriced eucalyptus oil they bought from an MLM won’t protect them against chicken pox. The person who’s gotten lazy is shit at being a rationalist, but your reasoning skills don’t actually need to be all that impressive for this. You know what they do need to be impressive for? For when somebody says, “women are taken less seriously than men in science and biased against in hiring, payment and promotion”, and this hypothetical you, a male scientist who’s never noticed this and already knows that his profession is full of smart and reasonable people who wouldn’t do something stupid like that, thinks “that is fucking stupid” and automatically, without thinking about it, puts their energy into shouting down and dismissing alternate evidence. Or when somebody points out islamophobia in the community, or passive racism, or... you get the picture. Social issues can (and should) be examined and interrogated using rational philosophies, but it’s so much harder to do that than laugh at creationists who are sending you abusive messages about going to hell. And given the particular hot-button issues in the community, most of the people there were interested in biology, chemistry or physics and simply had no idea how to *do* social sciences, treating the parts that were familiar from their own specialities as valid and the rest as irrational nonsense. And now, you have prominent rationalists panicking about Sharia law, sneering at the made-up problems of feminism, and generally making fools of themselves... because they got lazy.

Because, like how it’s hard to be a liberal (American definition) but easy to be a conservative in a gay hat, it’s hard to be a rationalist, but easy to be an arsehole with a big vocabulary. And that’s why I can’t gush about how great Richard Dawkins’ early science books are without somebody bringing up his bullshit twitter opinions.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Early-Morning Blues.

NOTE: This chapter is short because it’s a two parter that was too long for upload.

*yawn* Morning...

Morning! Good to see you!

Oh, hi boys. You’re back I see.

You seem tired...You slept in for a while too...

Really? What time is it?

About 11 or so.

Oh...Yeah...Miu and I had a sleepover last night and...she kept me up for a while.

Well, here, I’ll make you something to drink. Tea or Coffee?

Tea. I’m not looking to do anything big today.

*Maki prepares Kaede some tea.

By the way, where’s everyone else?

Out and about. Gonta, Ryoma and Kirumi said that they were gonna clean the shed. Said it was a bit of a mess in there and they were gonna organize it.

Well, that does sound like Kirumi’s daily plan. Guess I’ll leave her to it.

Oh yeah, Kaede! I almost forgot to tell you, but you should take a look at that notice over there. Kuripa hung it up.

Huh?

*Kaede, a while she waits for her tea, reads the noticeboard.

What’s this...events? Magic show? Pool party? Obstacle Course...Lunar New Years Dinner...

*She turns back to everyone.

Is he setting up events for us?

Well, the Magic Show was Himiko’s idea, but he’s definitely planned in advance. He did say none of them were compulsory though, just fun ideas and games to play.

Hmm...He actually seems to be putting in an effort.

Huh? Why wouldn’t he?

Well-

*Before Maki can speak, the door to the lobby suddenly opens.

So, you’re saying I should try and mix it up a little bit?

Not mix it up. It’s good to get the point across, but generally, magicians don't know what to say, so they say stupid and redundant crap like, "Here I am holding a red ball.”

I’m a mage, not a magician.

Well, better my point then! Don’t do what the regular old magicians do. 

Also, don’t act like you didn’t steal that one from Teller.

I pretend nothing. I’ve got a small book of magicians quotes stored in the back of my head.

Really? Then...

"The easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and a given place someone is going to attempt something that in the event of failure will mean sudden death." Who said that?

Houdini.

Not bad. 

But you do have a good point. I’m just wondering what I should say instead.

Then here’s an idea. Why not let me be your assistant? You can practice your tricks...sorry MAGIC, on me and I can give you pointers on how to better your performance.

Nice catch there. But...you’d do that?

Why not? Writing is a large chunk of animation work. We can come up with a script together.

Wow! Thanks Kuripa-nii!

Put ‘er there!

*Kuripa raises his hand, and Himiko skips and hi fives him.

Also, drop the Kuripa-nii. It makes me uncomfortable.

That’s why I do it.

Little shit...

U-Um...

Hm? Oh, hey.

Yumeno, sorry, could you give us some space.

Sure, but what’s with her?

None of your business, now scram.

Nyeh!

*Kuripa gently pushes Himiko’s head to make her depart.

So...a-about the dance event you planned...

I know what we discussed, but I can’t get to it right away. I keep my promises though.

Ngh...to rely on a degenerate male like this...I can only imagine what you want in exchange. But if Kibin trusts you, then I will force myself to...

Stop talking about this as if it’s a shady deal. We’re not talking about drugs here.

I know but...even if you are a man, I’m not someone who makes unfair deals. Provided it is within reason, I will pay you back.

In which case, if I do this for you, could you be Akamatsu’s sparring partner on one of her training nights.

Huh? I-Is that it?

Just going against me all the time won’t get her anywhere fast. And you’re the “Ultimate Aikido Master” which should bring in a new perspective.

Well, I’ve been curious about how Kaede’s training has been going since she came back one night with all those bruises. So yeah, I’ll pitch in.

Maybe I went a little too hard on her.

Still, is that really it? You don’t need anything more?

I’m a man of simple pleasure. And don’t punch me for saying that.

We should split though. We’re not alone here and people are gonna talk.

Alright, but remember! You promised!

That I did! And I have no intention of breaking it.

*Tenko departs, and Kuripa sits at the counter.

Phew! It took EVERY OUNCE of concentration to hold back a dirty joke in front of her.

Anyways, good morning fine fellows~

What was that about?

Ooh? Detective getting wary of shady back alley deals?

If it was a shady deal, you wouldn’t have done it when we were in earshot.

Fair point. But sorry, I still can’t tell you.

Why not?

Because part of my deal with Chabashira is to not tell a soul, so I basically have a gun to my head. Except the bullet is Chabashira’s fist and my head is...

..well...my head.

You really are gutsy, you know? Not every guy has the chance to speak on an equal level with Tenko.

In fact...NONE of us do.

Which makes me wonder how you did it.

Hehe...Let’s just say I made her an offer she couldn’t ever hope to refuse...

*Kuripa grabs a glass of water and drinks it as he says that.

This would be so much cooler if this was a glass of Guinness or something, but it’s midday so fuck that.

Anyways, I take it you all ready the noticeboard. You’re free to join in each activity on the day, but we have training again tonight Akamatsu. Remember, don’t be late.

Alright!

You’re still doing the training thing?

Sure I am. Why?

You keep coming back with more and more injuries each day. This kind of training isn’t healthy.

To be honest, a lot of my injuries aren’t even from Kuripa. I just stumble and fall a lot because it’s difficult to balance with a sword.

...Kaede, here’s your tea.

Oh! Thanks!

May I ask...what time do you usually train? And where do you go?

We usually start at 6pm, and we train in the forest near to the training field...

Wait...why are you asking?

No reason. Just that if there’s an emergency, I know what time you usually head out, and where to find you.

Oh...right. Well, now you know hehe.

(...Kurafto’s definitely starting to gain more and more trust the longer this camp goes on.)

(Considering that he’s our supervisor and all, I suppose that’s a good thing...And I’m not one to stir the pot, or cause conflict...but...)

(He’s up to something...And I want to find out what.)

#danganronpa survivor #danganronpa #oc #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #maki harukawa #kuripa kurafto #kaede akamatsu #shuichi saihara #kaito momota #himiko yumeno #tenko chabashira #fall of the future foundation arc

[cmfan3]

The Perfect Gentleman

Pairing: Jennifer Jareau X Emily Prentiss

Warning: Language

Words: 3.6K

Sorry for making you guys wait for this one. I’ve been a bit busy, but I haven’t stopped writing and I do have more works in the process. Thanks for reading !

The team had just wrapped up a new case in New Orleans with the help of detective Will LaMontagne, Jr. The team made their way towards their SUVs, splitting in two groups. Rossi, Reid and Hotch decided to head to the precinct while Prentiss, Morgan and Penelope waited for the other blonde to finish her conversation with Will.

The detective glanced back at the remaining members before turning towards JJ with a flirtatious glint in his eye, “and now you're leaving? How will I survive a woman like you going so far away?”

Her mouth twitched in amusement, “well, despite what you may have heard... Cell phones can be very good for your health.”

Will smiled confidently as they exchanged numbers, being sure to send a wink her way as she walked back towards her waiting team, prompting a giggle to escape her lips.

Emily’s face dropped as she had watched the whole scene unfold, causing Penelope and Derek to look at each other with concern. “Hey sweetcheeks, don’t think too much about it. It’s just a phone number,” the blonde reached back and softly squeezed the older woman’s hand.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, Derek noticed that Emily avoided eye contact, “listen princess, she’s right. It’s not like they’re dating or anything. They’re just friends.” “For now,” the brunette mumbled as she began to chew on her fingernails.

Realising that JJ was on her way to the SUV, the three let the subject drop, but the tension in the car was definitely noticeable. The communications liaison jumped in the back next to Emily, not paying attention to the way all three members tensed as she entered with a bashful smile on her face.

Unnoticed by JJ, who was too busy typing away on her phone, the brunette’s shoulders sagged and her head fell back against her seat. Morgan started up the car and began driving back to the precinct, occasionally glancing back at the older woman with worry shining in his eyes.

After a couple minutes of tense silence, Emily decided that she had enough. Dropping her head slightly and peeking at the phone, she questioned, “so you and detective LaMontagne?”

The question made the blonde’s fingers hover over the screen for a split second before they continued their typing. She didn’t respond to the question, but the blush that rose on her cheeks was enough for Emily’s heart to clench.

The rest of the drive was silent except for the occasional sound of JJ’s fingers clicking away at her phone.

Seven months later and the team was somewhat shocked that the detective and their communication liaison were still in touch. Although JJ tried to stay secretive about it, the team knew where she was going when she was “visiting her mother” every month.

Realizing that the blonde was completely head over heels for the detective, Emily decided that she needed a distraction and tried to find a companion. She brought up the idea to Penelope, causing the peppy woman to let out a series of excited squeals.

Penelope insisted that the older woman should get a cat and so they spent countless days visiting shelters but it was to no avail. Two weeks after the idea was brought up, the team solved a particularly rough case, which caused Emily’s desire for a companion to increase.

The brunette stopped by Penelope’s room before leaving and popped her head through the door, “hey, PG. I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I’m going cat searching again today. After that case, I definitely want a friend to come home to.”

“I hope you know I’m definitely coming with you,” the tech analyst jumped out of her chair and began grabbing her stuff, “I can’t believe you were about to go cat searching and not invite your best friend.”

Emily playfully rolled her eyes and let out a chuckle, “yea, yea, I won’t do it again. Buttt, I’ll be in the car. Don’t take too long or I’m leaving without you.” Penelope let out a gasp and called over her shoulder, “Emily Elizabeth Prentiss, you wouldn’t dare. Your credit score is on the line.”

The brunette laughed and began walking away, “ok fine. But hurry up and get your cute little butt in the car. I’m waiting.” The younger woman turned and sent a playful wink, “oh don’t worry sweetcheeks, I won’t keep you waiting too long.”

True to her word, Garcia jumped into the passenger seat only a few minutes later. The older woman reached forward and turned the key in the ignition, starting the car while the tech analyst connected her phone and picked music.

Penelope set her phone down and clasped her hands together excitedly as they pulled out of the parking garage, “we’re gonna find the one. I can feel it.” “Whatever you say PG,” Emily shook her head as her lips quirked up in amusement.

Garcia’s scream rang out across the room, scaring a few passerbys, “OH MY GOD- E! Come look at this cutie! He’s absolutely perfect and don’t even think about convincing me otherwise.”

Emily cautiously made her way over, scared to see what Penelope had decided on, but when her eyes landed on the black cat, she knew that her friend was right. He was perfect. “Alright then, he’s the one,” the older woman chuckled as Garcia’s grin got even bigger.

Emily bent down and picked up the tomcat. Her heart swelled with affection when he pushed into her and started purring softly. Seeing the way her friend was already falling in love with him, the blonde did a little happy dance, causing Emily to give a lopsided grin as her eyes twinkled.

“So, Pen,” the brunette passed the cat to her friend, “what should we call him?” Penelope’s mouth dropped and her eyes widened, “you want me to name him? Em, he’s your cat.”

“He’s our cat,” Emily smiled gratefully at the woman in front of her, “you found him, did you not?” The peppy woman smiled and hugged the cat to her chest as she rattled off names, “Houdini? Loki? Shadow?”

Noticing the way Emily’s features slightly scrunched up, Penelope thought for a moment before she lit up, “Sergio.” The older woman smiled softly, repeating the name to herself before responding, “I love it.”

Emily hadn’t even had the cat for more than a day before she started telling her team all about him the next day. She was talking to Spencer and Derek when JJ walked in, hearing the last few parts.

“You guys have no idea. I absolutely love Sergio. He’s the perfect gentleman. I don’t think I’d ever have found him if it weren’t for Garcia. He always listens and never makes a mess-”

JJ cleared her throat, letting her presence be known to the group of three, cutting their conversation short, “we have a case.” The three looked at each other awkwardly before they got up and headed towards the conference room, the blonde following them.

Why am I upset? It’s good that Emily finally found a man. I have a boyfriend who loves me and I love him. I love Will. So why am I bothered that Emily-

Not realizing that her team members stopped walking, JJ bumped into the older woman’s back, causing her to fall forward. Before Emily could hit the ground, the blonde’s arms snaked around her waist, holding her upright.

Feeling how JJ’s arms wrapped around her, Emily’s breath caught in her throat and her heart skipped a beat. The younger woman’s brain seemed to malfunction and she didn’t move until she heard someone cough awkwardly. Damnit Spencer.

JJ jerked her arms away bashfully while a blush was already creeping on her face. She cleared her throat and walked to her chair while Emily took her seat, both avoiding eye contact but still aware of each other’s presence.

Penelope watched the scene unfold and her brain started wracking for an explanation as to why JJ became as flustered as the brunette. Her eyes widened, it hit her. JJ is in love with Emily.

Realizing that the team was waiting for her to start the presentation, she grabbed the remote and turned on the projector. Before turning towards the screen, she gave Emily a not so subtle wink.

The blonde profiler looked between the two women, taking in how the tech analyst waggled her eyebrows and the older woman’s forehead creased from what seemed to be confusion. I need to talk to Pen later.

“Wheels up in twenty,” Hotch’s voice called out. The team members gathered their things and began heading out but before Penelope could leave, JJ placed her hand on her shoulder, “can we talk?”

“Of course, goldilocks,” the tech analyst sat down, pulling her friend with her, “to what do I owe the pleasure?” JJ suddenly became shy, squirming in her seat, “I just overheard Em talking to Morgan and Spence. I guess I just wanna make sure that he’s treating her well.”

Penelope’s eyebrows knitted together, “what? who?” JJ’s hands wrung each other out, “Sergio? Em was telling the boys how she loves him and he’s the perfect gentleman. So I guess what I’m trying to ask is, is he good enough for her?”

Realizing that her friend had no idea that Sergio was actually a cat, Penelope bit her lip to keep from laughing, “yea- yes. He’s good enough for her. More than good enough. He’s what she needed. Don’t worry about it, goldilocks, he’d never hurt her.”

The peppy woman was somewhat shocked to see how her friend’s shoulders seemed to deflate and her face fell for a split second before a forced smile took form. JJ silently got up and patted Penelope’s shoulder before walking out and going to her office.

As soon as she walked in, she shut the door behind her, not bothering to lock it as she fell onto the couch, the tears already building. Come on Jennifer. Why does this bother me so much? I can’t have feelings for Emily, can I? I love Will. We’ve been toge-

Her thoughts were interrupted by Penelope barging in and hurriedly closing it shut behind her. The tech analyst sat on the couch next to her friend and grabbed her hands. Penelope waited until JJ calmed down and sat up before she questioned, “Jen, do you like Emily?”

JJ let out a long sigh, thinking before she answered, “no? Yes? I don’t know, Pen. I have Will. I love him.” Penelope tilted her head and looked at the distressed woman, “but you’re not in love with him… Are you?” The tears that broke free and travelled down JJ’s face were enough of an answer.

The tech analyst gathered her friend into her arms and began rubbing circles on her back, “tell her how you feel.” JJ pulled back in surprise and wiped her tears away, “Pen- no. I don’t know if I can. I don’t want to ruin what she has. What about Will? How do I break the news to him?”

“Take it one thing at a time. Tell Emily first, you’ll deal with the rest of it as it comes,” Penelope insisted. After a few minutes, she nodded to herself, deciding that her friend was right.

JJ reached out and squeezed her friend’s hands tightly, “thank you,” she whispered. The peppy woman smiled, “anything for you, goldilocks. Now go get your woman.” “After the case,” JJ smiled gratefully.

The case had only taken two days and the team had just gotten back to Quantico. The members were each getting their things and going to their respective cars, ready to head home for the night.

Realizing that the conversation she was about to have would be better in private, JJ decided to head to the brunette’s penthouse. Penelope saw the determination on her friend’s face and she couldn’t be happier at how things were playing out.

Emily had just gotten settled on the couch with a cup of red wine and Slaughterhouse-Five. Sergio was sleeping on her lap when she heard knocking on the door. Glancing at the clock, she was confused as to why someone was knocking on her door at 10:27 PM.

After the knocking wouldn’t stop, she called out, “coming!” She set the book down on the table and softly moved Sergio off her lap before she made her way towards the door.

Swinging the door open, the older woman was surprised to find JJ standing there, nervously tapping her foot. Emily questioned, “JJ? Are you ok? Is something wrong?” The blonde took a deep breath before answering, “yes, actually. Something is wrong.”

Emily opened her mouth to respond, but JJ continued before she could say anything, “I know you just met someone and I don’t want to make anything harder for you. I overheard you talking to the boys and how you met this amazing man named Sergio and how you love him, and well- I guess it made me realize my feelings for you.”

The brunette felt like she was in a dream, but she bit her tongue to keep herself from laughing at the confusion. She nodded her head softly, indicating to her friend to continue.

“I know I have Will. He’s amazing. I love him. I really do. But, I’m not in love with him,“ the younger woman explained. Emily’s eyes widened in realization, but JJ continued, “I’m not in love with him because I’m in love with you, Emily Prentiss. I don’t expect you to feel the same, but I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least tell you.”

The older woman was frozen in place, unable to process what she just heard fast enough since her brain had turned to mush.

JJ searched Emily’s eyes for some sort of answer before she turned and began walking away, the hurt in her voice evident, “it’s ok, you can just forget about it. I’m sorry.”

Seeing that the woman she loved was walking away from her was enough to spur Emily into action. She reached out and grabbed the blonde’s hand, squeezing it softly. Unable to meet the brunette’s eyes, JJ stared at the ground. Emily’s eyes twinkled and a smile tugged at her lips, “I have a confession too. Sergio is actually… my cat.” JJ’s head snapped up and she frantically searched the older woman’s face, her heart swelling with hope.

Laughing at the reaction, Emily slowly pulled the smaller woman closer, placing a hand on her cheek, “and I’m in love with you too Jayje. I have been since I can remember.” The corner of JJ’s mouth quirked up and she turned scarlet, “if this is a joke, it’s not funny Em.”

Smiling softly, Emily leaned in, placing a light kiss on the blonde’s lips before pulling back, “I promise, it’s not. I’m in love with you, Jennifer Jareau.”

JJ wrapped her arms around the brunette’s neck, pulling her in for a more passionate kiss. Emily’s hands reached down and gripped the younger woman’s hips as their lips melded together.

But before things could escalate, JJ jumped back and nearly screamed when she felt something furry rub on her legs. Emily quickly looked down and loudly laughed when she realized it was just Sergio. She bent down and picked him up, “speak of the devil. Jayje, this is Sergio.”

The blonde reached out and scratched him behind the ears, his purrs reverberating through his body. The older woman watched how the woman she loved fell in love with the black tomcat.

JJ’s heart promptly melted from the affection he was showing her. She glanced up and became shy when she saw how Emily was staring at her like she was the only person in the world.

The brunette’s eyes crinkled as a smile stretched across her face, “how about we go inside?” The younger woman leaned in and placed a light kiss against her lover’s lips before speaking regretfully, “I would love to, but I need to go talk to Will and tell him everything.”

Emily nodded understandingly and bent down, setting Sergio back inside before she gathered the smaller woman in her arms, kissing the top of her head, “I’ll be here waiting. I love you.”

JJ’s eyes closed as she hummed in response, leaning into the embrace, “I love you too.” The two separated after another minute, each going their separate way, hearts full and hopes high for the future.

Hearing the front door open, Will leaped from the couch and practically ran towards it. As soon as JJ stepped inside, he gathered her in his arms and sighed a breath of relief.

The blonde backed out of his embrace, noticing how he didn’t give her the same feeling of safety that she got when she was in Emily’s arms. His features formed into those of hurt, “ma chérie?”

“Will, we need to talk,” the profiler sighed as she led him to the couch. She sat down and placed her hands in her lap, quietly thinking about the best way to approach it while he searched her face for some kind of explanation.

JJ took a deep breath before making eye contact, “the first thing I want to say is that you’ve been nothing but amazing to me and I wish I didn’t have to do this because I really do love you, Will.”

“Then don’t do this,” he pleaded while the hurt was evident on his face. Realizing that she was the one causing him pain, tears began to pool in the blonde’s eyes.

She squeezed his hands as she continued, “Will. I love you. I do. But I’m not in love with you.” The detective pulled his hands from her grasp and began pacing and his mood seemed to completely switch, “who is it?”

The profiler looked taken aback, “I- I don’t- what are you getting at, Will?” He continued pacing as he threw his hands in the air from frustration, “you know what I’m talking about Jennifer. Who are you in love with?”

JJ averted her eyes as she whispered, “Emily.” Will stopped pacing and stood in front of her, letting his arms drop to his sides, “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

The blonde’s head snapped up, her feelings of guilt being replaced with those of anger, and her eyes narrowed, “excuse me?”

“Yea, excuse you. That’s disgusting. You have a man who cares for you. Loves you. And you wanna go and be a dyke? You should be disgusted with yourself. Fucking pathetic,” Will nearly shouted, the malice in his voice clear.

Letting out a breathless laugh as she got up and gathered her things, JJ replied, “and to think- I loved you once. Well I’m glad you showed your true colors, detective.”

“Get the fuck out,” he spat. “With pleasure,” the profiler walked out and slammed the door behind her. As she started her car, she knew exactly where she could go, she pulled out of the driveway, glad to finally be able to love the older woman freely.

Emily was curled up in her bed with Sergio when someone pounding at the door woke her up. She glanced at the clock. 1:13 AM Fucking hell. I swear to god, if it’s anyone but Jennifer-

Her thoughts were interrupted when the knocking continued, causing her to get out of bed and pad towards the door. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” she called out and when the knocking didn’t stop, she yelled, “hold your goddamn horses! I’m coming!”

Upon opening the door, her anger faded into worry, “Jen-” When suddenly, she was cut off by the younger woman practically jumping forward and passionately connecting their lips.

Pulling away for a breath, Emily saw stars behind her eyelids and a smile ghosted her lips as she let out a shaky breath. JJ’s face broke out in a carefree grin, “I’m sorry, I had to.”

“It’s not like I’m complaining,” the brunette laughed and pulled her lover into a soft kiss before leading her inside and shutting the door behind them.

The two women were cuddled up in Emily’s bed. The older woman had her arms wrapped around JJ while the blonde laid with her head on Emily’s chest, listening to her heartbeat.

Emily ran one hand through the blonde hair while her other hand lightly travelled up and down JJ’s spine. Feeling safe in the brunette’s arms, JJ wrapped her arms around the other woman’s torso.

The younger woman cleared her throat, “I just wanted to tell you that me and Will are officially over.” Not able to see her reaction, JJ focused on how she heard Emily’s heartbeat quicken and how the brunette smiled into her hair.

Emily audibly swallowed before she questioned, “how did the conversation go? And what does it mean for us? I definitely want to build something with you Jen, but I want to make sure we’re on the same page.”

The smaller woman looked up and made eye contact with the chestnut eyes she’s always loved, “it definitely didn’t go how I expected, but it’s over. And I want to build something with you too. That’s all I want. I want to grow with you. I want to love you for as long as you’d let me, Em.”

Leaning down, the older woman placed a gentle but loving kiss upon JJ’s lips before she pulled back and caressed her cheek, “I can’t think of anything that I’d want more, Jayje.”

“I love you,” the two women simultaneously declared with goofy but loving smiles on their faces as they got comfortable in each other's arms and let the exhaustion of the day overtake them.

#emily prentiss x jennifer jareau #jemily #jemily fanfic #jemily fanfiction #emily prentiss #jennifer jareau #jj #criminal minds fanfiction #cm #criminal minds

[remmushound]

Damage, part 5; the Hogosha

@errorfreak88 @brightlotusmoon

Splinter did his best. Ever since that night he had first gotten the boys, he tried his to do right by them. To feed them. To teach them. To encourage them. To make them happy. He always made an effort to go out of his way for their wants and needs, because that’s what a father does. He made an effort to make them laugh and ask how they were doing. To touch them and to kiss them and to love them and make them know they were loved. It was times like this that made it so difficult.

He didn't care about his own wounds. The pain was nothing compared to the pride he felt for his sons. Raphael, for tossing himself on top of Donatello and protecting the younger shinobi with everything he had. Leonardo for fighting with all he had to protect Michelangelo. Michelangelo for being so strong and so willing and eager to recover. And Donatello, for dragging each and every one of them from their deathbeds and giving them a second chance at life.

The old mutant slowed as he passed by Michelangelo’s room. Drawn on by the sound of voices, the shinobi father couldn’t help but press his ear to the door to listen.

“... telling you, it’ll work!” Leonardo’s voice was heard above all, “Trust me, Raph will love it!”

“A suggestion if I may?”

Donatello’s voice came as a surprise to Splinter and drew the old rat even further into the conversation. Donatello didn't wait for an answer.

“We’re talking about Raph, right? Our Raph? The Raph that regularly busts through walls and ears glass? That Raph?”

“Yep! That’s the one!” Michelangelo’s voice chirped.

“Then foam and cloth just isn’t gonna cut it.”

“Well what do you suggest, big brain?” Leonardo asked.

“Well there have been significant successes with 3D printing bones for transplant, and even an example of a turtle shell being printed successfully! Maybe we do that? Except with the section of shell Raph is missing.”

“Oh oh oh!” Michelangelo chirped his normal ‘I have a question’ noise.

“Yes Michael?”

“Maybe we do both! You do your printy-thing and then we put some foam over it to make it more comfortable and then we add the cloth!”

Donatello hummed. “Hm. Sounds doable. Though we may have to build a framework out of wire to support the foam so it doesn’t shift too much and cause irritation. And several layers of cloth so we can secure it properly to the framework—“

“Yeah yeah yeah, less talky more doey!”

“Hey! Do you have any idea how long it’s gonna take?! I can’t do it snappy-snappy!”

“Why not?!”

It made Splinter’s heart soar to hear the bickering of his sons carrying on in the other room. They sounded happy, and most importantly they were awake, and together. He wiped his beady eyes as he walked away, tail swishing his euphoria as the newfound hope made this day one of the best in months.

When night came, Splinter didn't need alarms or clocks or the chore chart to tell him what to do. He just did what fathers do, like he always had. He knocked on Raphael’s door before entering.

“Oh! Hey pops!” Raphael’s tail wagged at the sight of his father. He was sat at his vanity looking at himself in the mirror like he often did.

“Hello Raphael.” Splinter’s wrinkled face split in a smile as he walked over to Raphael, tisking his tongue along the way as his tail swept through trash and collected it. “Really, Raphael? Four water bottles? You’re turning your room into a pigsty!”

“Goodnight to you too, pops.” Raphael laughed, closing his eye as Splinter heaved himself up the snapping turtle’s arm to kiss him on the cheek.

“Honestly, I don’t think you need this old thing anymore.” Splinter mused as he helped Raphael untie his shell cover and folded it on the nightstand.

“Donnie’s orders.” Raphael laughed.

“Well I say you’re perfectly healed.” Splinter eyed the scars curiously, “And if anything, the scars make you look badass.”

Raphael’s shoulders shook as he bellowed. “Thanks dad.”

Splinter smiled and nosed playfully against his son's cheek a moment before giving the mutant a gentle tap with his tail.

“Now scoot! It’s bedtime!”

“Dad, I’m almost sixteen.” Raphael said, “I think I can choose my own bedtime now.”

Splinter raised his brow.

Raphael started to sweat almost immediately. “Uh— I mean— yes. Right. Bed time.”

“Good boy.” Splinter pat Raphael’s shoulder as the snapper lurched over to his bed. “Remember: I didn't put the fear of God in you, I put the fear of rat!”

Raphael climbed into bed and churred happily as Splinter came over to tuck him in and give him his teddy bear.

“There we are… Good night, little Red.”

*****

“Oh Baby Blue~” Splinter poked his nose into Leonardo’s room, “I’m respecting your privacy by knocking, but asserting my authority as your father by coming in anyway!”

Splinter blinked as he saw the state of his son. Leonardo was on his bed, having tried to remove his day clothes by himself and failed miserably. Somehow, he had managed to get his head stuck in the arm hole and his arm locked at an odd angle in the head hole, his trousers hanging half-off.

“Help me.”

Splinter couldn’t hide his laughter as he helped his son undress the rest of the way and assisted in helping him put on his pajamas.

“There we are, silly boy.” Splinter rubbed Leonardo’s head before putting the turtles nightcap on. “Now, I know you like magic, but you’re not quite Houdini status yet.”

Leonardo snapped. “Darn! I’ll get there one day!”

Splinter hummed his agreement and used his tail to open Leonardo’s bedside drawer and pull out a soft, blue sleeve. He gently slid it over Leonardo’s wounded arm and secured it before giving the nub a kiss, and then kissing Leonardo on the head.

“Thanks dad.”

“Anything for my little one.”

****

“Orange~ why, would you look at that?”

Michelangelo was already snug in his bed, dressed in his sleeping onesie and clutching a story book with a bright smile on his face.

“Someone was ready for me.” Splinter pulled himself onto the bed and took the book from Michelangelo, clearing his throat as he started to read. “In a warm and sultry forest far far away, there lived a mother fruit bat and her new baby. Oh, how Mother Bat loved her soft, tiny baby. “I’ll name you Stellaluna.” she crooned…”

By the end of the story, Michelangelo was snoring softly. Splinter carefully crept from the bed and slid the book back into its place before giving Michelangelo a kiss on the head.

“Love you, my son. Sweet dreams…”

****

Splinter always left Donatello last. Not out of malice, of course! Donatello just needed the most comfort, the most time! And it wouldn’t be fair to make the other brothers wait so long for their fathers affection. But now the rest of his sons were tucked safely away, Splinter crept into the softshell’s room with a gentle knock.

“Donatello? Purple?”

Donatello was laying in his bed with his back turned to the door. Splinter hummed and quickly approached the bed, laying a hand on his son's shoulder.

“I hope you didn't think I forgot about you.”

“No.” Donatello’s voice was soft and somber.

Splinter cleared his throat and shifted himself onto the bed, pulling the blanket over Donatello’s head and starting to hum softly as he traced his paws across his son’s arm and shell bridge in a comforting manner, like he always did when they were turtle tots.

“Mori mo iyagaru, Bon kara saki-nya. Yuki mo chiratsuki-shi. Ko mo naku-shi…”

Donatello grabbed Splinter’s hand and held it while he started to hum along to the lullaby.

“Bon ga kita-tote, nani ureshi-karo… Katabira wa nashi, obi wa nashi…”

Splinter sang the lullaby to its entirety and, though Donatello was still awake by the end of it, neither father nor son made any attempt to leave or interrupt the comfort of each other's presence. They both fell asleep together.

****

“Keep your eyes closed! Keep 'em closed! Closed closed closed closed closed!”

“They’re closed, Mike!” Raphael bellowed his laughter at the eager young mutant that covered both Raphael’s eyes while sitting on his shoulders. “What’s the surprise!”

“Wait for it! Wait for it!”

“The suspense is killing me!”

“NOW!”

Michelangelo pulled his hands away with a happy squeak and Raphael opened his eyes. Raphael blinked a few times to get used to the light again before he processed what was in front of him. Leonardo and Donatello, both smiling as they held a large something between them.

The prosthetic piece was an impossibly bright red color, the cloth some of the most vibrant Raphael had ever seen! There were several ridges on it and Raphael’s eyes widened when he recognized the shapes from his shell. He looked back at his shell, then to the prosthetic, then back at his shell.

“Tadaaa~” Michelangelo jumped from Raphael’s shell, landing with a loud grunt, and did jazz hands.

“It’s made of reinforced acrylic— it’s not as strong as your actual shell, but strong enough to take a solid hit.” Donatello explained, “I wanted to make it a more natural color, but Nardo here insisted it stay red.”

“What? Red is totally his color!” Leonardo scoffed, “the Kanji was Mikey’s idea— figured Bo-su was most suited to you.”

“And Donnie made sure the measurements were right so it could fit over your shell!” Michelangelo squeaked, “Do you like it?”

Raphael didn't answer. He couldn’t answer, not for an uncomfortably long time. And when he did answer, it wasn’t with words. It was with a loud, whimpering squeal as he scooped all three brothers in for a hug and crushed them against his chest.

“I love it…” Raphael nuzzled each brother in turn, “And I love you all so much…”

#splinter is best dad #not the last time that lullaby is gonna be used #wholesome #finally done #over 7000 words #worth it #splinters the hogosha #he protecc his boys #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #donatello #donnie #leo #leonardo #Raphael #raph #Michelangelo #Mikey #splinter

[365days365movies]

May 1, 2021: The Prestige (2006) (Recap: Part One)

What’s that old Arthur C. Clarke quote again?

Not that one, although that’s...that’s fantastic, and I need to know more context to that conversation. But no, no, not that. The other one.

Not that one, although that’s...horrifying. Let me explain something first, then. Clarke was the author of the classic science-fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, which definitely didn’t go on to become one of the most widely regarded films of all time. Anyway, he was a big-shot in science fiction, and was even knighted for his prominence in pop culture in the UK and across the world.

Fellow famous sci-fi author Isaac Asimov is well known for three rules of robotics, but Clarke has three rules of his own. A futurist, his laws describe conjecture about scientific development in the future of out societies. Those laws are:

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Magic, huh?

God, I love Weird Al. Anyway, as a child of the ‘90s, I am well-acquainted with the boom of stage magicians that appeared during that time, and during the early 2000s. David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear, David Blaine coughed up a live frog, Criss Angel freaked minds; lot of stuff back then.

And yet, despite other recent magicians like Penn and Teller or Dynamo, the greatest age of stage magic isn’t even CLOSE to the 90′s. No, no, to really see magic in its heyday, we need to go back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, to the days of the stage illusionist. 

Obviously, the first person that comes to mind is Harry Houdini, a man whose feats have lasted the test of time, and may have led to his death. Not only did he get buried alive, not only did he escape from a straitjacket in chains underwater, NOT ONLY did he hold his breath inside a water-filled milk can inside of a wooden chest repeatedly for FOUR YEARS, but he was also the greatest enemy of spiritualists and mediums everywhere!

Yeah, despite being a stage magician, Houdini was OBSESSED with exposing those who claimed to be actually supernatural. After all, as a showman, he was interesting in exposing tricks that were meant to defraud the innocent public. Dude was awesome, is what I’m saying. He died from a burst appendix, which miiiiight have been caused by a student who punched him in the stomach after asking if he was actually resistant to abdominal damage. Yeah, not a great death. And he wasn’t the only illusionist to die of tragic circumstances, but that’s a discussion for another day. Because of this is sci-fi month...why am I talking about magic? Well...imagine a lighter.

Now image that you went back 5,000 years, to any civilization, and showed them a lighter. The ability to create fire with seemingly nothing but your bare hands? You’re basically a wizard! Fire from no visible fuel? TEACH ME YOUR WAYS, O SORCERER OF THE FLAME!!! And that’s just a goddamn lighter. 

What about a light bulb? Light from energy you’ve harnessed from metals and from the air itself? Jujube! A camera? With the ability to capture a moment in time in the form of a tangible image? WITCHCRAFT!!! A smartphone? A FUCKING SMARTPHONE???

And so, in celebration of the blurring of magic and science...why not start this month with an unconventional form of science fiction, huh? Something that blurs magic and science in a way that’s indistinguishable. And so, I can FINALLY watch a movie that I’ve wanted to watch for YEARS!

I am so excited, and this is a hell of a way to kick off the month! Why this? Well, I’ll explain that later. But for now...LET’S DO THIS.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Recap (1/2)

There are three acts of magic.

First is “the pledge”, where the magician shows something normal. Then, there’s “the turn”, which is when the ordinary becomes extraordinary. And finally, there’s the act of bringing the show full-circle; bringing back a disappeared object, in a new way and with a new technique. That final act, the showmanship, the establishment of the mystery, is called “the prestige”.

So is told to us by John Cutter (Michael Caine), keeper of canaries and stage engineer to magicians, via narration abut magic. Intercut with that narration, and with a disappearing canary trick, is the presentation of an act being performed by Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman). In it, he turns on a machine using electricity, with lightning bolts flying freely. He steps inside of it, and disappears.

Meanwhile, coming from the audience, a man pretends to be part of the act, and goes backstage and underneath the machine. There, he witnesses Angier fall through a trap door into a water tank, unable to get out, panicking and drowning. Which is just super fun to watch, lemme tell you! And that is where the story starts.

The man from the audience was Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), who is quickly put on trial for the murder of Angier. A rival of his during the 1890s and early 1900s, Borden is sent to jail, and sent to death by hanging. This is as his young daughter watches on. In court, Alfred testifies against Bruce Wayne on how he murdered Wolverine, because this is all I could think of the entire time. Anyway, the court asks for more details on the trick that killed Angier, called “the Transported Man”. He refuses to divulge it publicly, but agrees to tell it to one of the judges in secret.

In prison, Borden’s visited by a representative of a wealthy collector of items, Lord Caldlow. He asks if he will sell him his most prominent trick, the “Transported Man”. But Borden also refuses, as it’s HIS trick. Still, in response, the man gives Borden a journal of Angier’s’, and asks him to think about selling the secret. And from there: flashback!

Angier is on a train, heading to Colorado Springs, where he’s surprised to see that the whole town has electricity. His plan is to go up the mountain, which is closed for scientific experimentation. Which isn’t ominous at all! That completely banal revelation is followed by a walk up the mountain in the fog, past a fence that says no trespassing and LITERAL WARNING SIGNS.

There, he’s greeted by Alley (Andy Serkis), the assistant of the estate’s owner. Apparently, said owner made a machine for Borden, and Angier wants to learn the secrets. Another flashback, and we learn that Borden and Angier, rival magicians now, met a long time ago at the show of another magician, both volunteering to tie up the female assistant, Julia (Piper Perabo). Which would be creepy out of context, and then is creepy IN context when Angier kisses her thigh. Ew.

Anyway, they drop her into a tank, with a pretty stereotypical trick. After the show, we also learn that these two men are actually working for the magician, Milton (Ricky Jay), which makes that thigh kiss less creepy. Talking to Cutter and Julia, Borden mocks Milton’s trick, noting that the old magician won’t even try something like a bullet catch. Cutter mocks this idea, and asks if Borden has any better ideas. It’s around this time that Cutter suggests seeing Chung Ling Soo. Huh. I won’t say anything about that until later.

Or right now! And, uh...oh shit, this is extraordinarily awkward. Here’s the thing: this is NOT Chung Ling Soo. I know this for two reasons. One, Soo didn’t really pretend to be crippled, as Borden and Angier suggest. Wasn’t really his bag. But something that IS interesting about the guy is how he died! BULLET CATCH TRICK!! Yup! He tried the bullet catch trick, and he died when the bullet actually fired at him! Yeah, awkward.

And you know what else is awkward, and really different from this story? Chung Ling Soo was...not Chinese. Even a little bit. His real name was William Ellsworth Robinson, he married his assistant, cheated on her with another assistant, never divorced and still married his new assistant illegally, etc. He was an interesting guy. Ignoring, y’know, the whole disgustingly shitty yellow-face thing. Different times, unfortunately.

Borden’s frustration with an act he considers boring and obsolete erupts during one of Milton’s shows, where we see him KILL A BIRD, FUCK ME MAN. Yeah, I get it, Borden, this is terrible! This coincides with meeting a young woman and her nephew, who is also upset to see a bird die in front of him. The woman is Sarah (Rebecca Hall), and the two start a romance. Meanwhile, the romance between Angier and Julia is a straight-up marriage, making that thigh kiss fare more understandable. And, the two are about to have a baby, to both of their delight! Nothing bad will happen now!

We flash forward to the future, where Cutter is showing the judge what’s what with the device. He claims that a wizard built it, and that the machine can actually do what magicians have only pretended to do for years. They also look at a tank, and Cutter reveals that the tank has a terrible history, especially for the two magicians.

Flashback again, to a night of yet another show. That night, Milton and the group go through with their trick, as per usual. However, Borden decides to make it a little tougher and more exciting by tying a different knot this time. And unfortunately...Julia can’t untie it. They try to get her out in time, but alas...it’s too late.

Julia dies, and Angier blames Borden, who isn’t even entirely sure if he tied the knot that killed Julia...allegedly. Not a big fan of Borden right now. The act is over, and Borden decides to split off and do his own act, calling himself “the Professor”. Now having a child of his own with Sarah, he decides to do a bullet trick, with the help of new stage engineer, Fallon. But this is a tricky trick to perform. And the understandable mental breakdown of Angier causes its own problems.

See, during one of Borden’s shows (which is going TERRIBLY), a disguised Angiers shows up and loads a REAL bullet into the gun for the trick, and BLOWS OFF TWO OF HIS FINGERS FUCK ME!!! Borden’s not exactly happy about this, but he recovers quickly. Shortly after, Cutter finds Angier at a bar, and offers him the opportunity to make a new show of his own. Reluctantly, he accepts, and takes up the moniker “the Great Danton”, a name that his late wife suggested.

With a new bird/cage trick, one that lets the bird LIVE (THANK YOU), they’re almost set. But they also add a new assistant, in the form of...Black Widow. I mean, sorry, Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlett Johansson). Yeah, um...Wolver, Alfred Pennyworth, and Black Widow are working together in competition against Batman. Also, Gollum is in the movie, too. God, what’s next, David Bowie?

Anyway, the show is on once again, and Angier asks for some volunteers in the audience. But, uh oh! One of them is Borden in disguise, and he sabotages the trick in front of EVERYBODY, breaking an audience member’s fingers, and killing the bird, completely fucking up Angier’s career, in revenge for his fingers. Oh, also, MOTHERFUCKER YOU KILLED HIS WIFE (maybe)!!! Doesn’t justify Angier shooting off your fingers, but you could’ve just let bygones be! No wonder you’re rivals in the future! Batman’s a dick (which, given Christian Bale, isn’t that surprising).

Well, since his trick, Angier’s fucked. They’re kicked out of the theater, and in need of a new act. Cutter suggests that Angier goes to the upcoming science exposition for ideas. And yes...that’s where the science fiction angle starts in. See, like Clarke said, any science that’s sophisticated enough LOOKS like magic to audiences who don’t understand it. And Borden has the same idea, as he also heads to the expo. 

It’s there that a presentation of a massive electrical generator is being held, with the machine having been invented by...Nicola Tesla! YO!

I don’t think I need to tell anybody about Tesla at this point, but he was a brilliant physicist and inventor from the early 1900s. His legendary Current War with Thomas Alva Edison for the current to be used by the United States (Tesla’s DC vs. Edison’s AC) is the stuff of science legend...and is a conflict that the far less charismatic Tesla lost. Still, his mastery of electricity (such as the above Tesla coil) is remembered today. If you want to go sightseeing, check out New York! In Niagara Falls, he’s got a massive statue overlooking the falls; and in Bryant Park in NYC, you can sit on the bench where he fed his beloved pigeons. Yeah, he loved pigeons, which I respect.

Anyway, the expo’s shut down due to presumed danger of the exhibit, possibly spurred on by Thomas Edison and his PR team. Which is pretty accurate, not gonna lie. Still, the experiment interests both Angier and Borden. Still, Angier doesn’t do much with this information. Right now, anyway.

Flash forward to Angier in Colorado Springs, and a group of men from Edison’s employ are there for some reason. But undeterred, Angier heads back to Tesla’s lab, where Alley shows him a gorgeous sight: lightbulbs dotting a field, making a gorgeous grid of light. He reveals that the source of the electricity is 15 miles away, as a testament to Tesla’s scientific genius. Stellar.

A great place to pause. See you in Part Two of this Recap!

#the prestige #christopher nolan #christopher priest #hugh jackman #robert angier #angier #christian bale #alfred borden #michael caine #scarlett johannson #rebecca hall #andy serkis #piper perabo #david bowie #science fiction may #sci-fi may #user365 #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #userbrit #usercoppola #usermaria* #ridleydaisy #bbelcher #userkristen

[bxthharmon]

Never Go Home Again, Pt. XII || JJ Maybank x Reader

Words: 3130

Series Warnings: violence / talking about abuse / toxic relationships / talking about nudes sex and sex tapes / drugs / underage drinking

Pt. Warnings: Guns / blood and violence

Series Summary: A new girl, a shoebox of old memories, a past she’s trying to forget coincide with a hotheaded, but selfless, boy.  teenagers getting in way over their heads

Pt. Summary: Chaos catches up, causing trouble for everyone involved

A/N: sorry for the slow updates, but with the event (tysm btw ily) i’ve been busy. i have a few more requests, and i promise im getting to them. anyway! feels weird, only 2 or 3 parts left. tysm for all this support <3

Chapters linked in my masterlist.

“masterlist”

JJ woke up before you. His face felt stiff from the tears he’d shed the night before, and the corners of his eyes were filled with sleep. He rubbed his eyes, phosphenes decorating his mind as he pulled them open. The window was wide open, curtains fluttering in the light breeze and the sun decorating the room with a natural glow. He became aware of the towel thrown over the dresser and the wet clothes hanging in the window sill, the memories of last night returning. He looked down at you.

You were curled up, one of his tops and a pair of his joggers covering your body as you gripped his arm lightly in your sleep. He blinked, admiring the lock of hair falling over your face, the curve of your lashes and the relaxed smile that adorned your sleeping frame. He brushed the hair out of your face and let it fall. He realised that he was in deep. Somewhere across the room, the ping of a phone notification pulled him from his thoughts. He looked up, seeing the bluish light coming from the floor on the other side of the room. He slid his arm from your hold, careful not to wake you as you unconsciously pulled the pillow into your grip instead. He rose from the bed, careful not to let the bed creak as he left you. He padded across the room, picking up the phone from the wooden floorboards.

The phone awoke as he lifted it, a series of fresh messages lining up under the time. 

Tyler: hey

Tyler: ik i fucked up with us, but i cant stop thinking abt seeing u when u visited

Tyler: can we try again?

Tyler: ik u said u were seeing someone and dont wanna fuck it up, but i still love u

Tyler: let me know. I miss u

He almost choked, heart beating in his ears as he looked back to your sleeping frame, rising and falling with oblivious breaths. He looked back at the phone, placing it on the dresser softly. He left the room, clicking the door shut as softly as he could, and making his way to the kitchen. He rinsed a mug and put the kettle on, rummaging through the cupboards for the instant coffee granules. He pulled the silver pot from the shelf, peeling the cap off and tapping it on the side of the mug so the granules tumbled in, the dark brown contrasting the light ceramic. He poured the contents of the boiling kettle in, watching the hot water consume the granules and turn brown. He stirred and sipped, hissing as it burnt his tongue. He never had the patience to wait for it to cool down.

He studied the cupboards again, finding no edible food, not trusting the bread after his previous experience. He sipped the coffee again, allowing himself to look back at the closed bedroom door. He wanted to know what happened when you went back, but knew he wouldn’t like the answer. After last night, he knew Tyler was an asshole, and wanted more than anything to fly to California and punch him in the face, but couldn’t understand the text. Thoughts were flashing through his head, ideas rushing to his head. He wondered if he should ask, or leave it and wait for you to tell him. He knew you had no obligation to him, but he also knew that you two had something going on. Whatever that something was. He sighed. 

He thought about how he felt when he saw you smile, how much he’d spiralled after your argument, how vulnerable he was around you. It hit him suddenly, an epiphany that took all his air away but made him feel alive, made him feel broken and brilliant all in one moment. He loved you.

Down the hall, on the other side of the door, he heard the bed creak. There was a pause, and then he heard the floorboards moan. Another minute, and he heard the ping of your phone notification. There was another pause, then the door opened and you stood in front of him, hair tousled by sleep and eyes fresh. You smiled at him, reaching out and pulling him in, kissing his temple and stepping away to make your own coffee. His heart pulled, not letting him push you away and reaching out as you left his arms, but not wanting it because of those stupid texts. In that moment, he fights his impulse and decides to wait for you to tell him. Would you tell him?

He draws his attention to you, hopping back onto the counter next to you. He watched you, enamored with the way you moved, the way you brush against him, the way you seem so carefree in the moment. He wants to kiss you, but he knows he won’t until he knows what’s going on. 

Faster than he wants to admit, you’ve finished your coffees and Kie and Pope are awake, moving about after leaving their slumber on the pullout couch, and then setting up the pulley for the well. Your mood changes when they’re up. You’re more talkative, brushing over any mention of the night before, helping when you can. You look back at him a couple of times, and each time his heart flutters.

You can feel blisters working on your skin as you help Pope with the winch, the rope burning at your skin in the force of the friction, but you don’t pay it any mind. You finish with the mechanism, stepping away and sitting down next to JJ, passing some witty banter with Kie, and opening a bottle of beer, the cool glass soothing the hot skin on your palms.

“What does it feel like?” Pope asked, watching Kie as she sat in the can hanging from the pulley.

“Feels good.” she confirms, pulling the rope slightly.

“John B’s pulling a Houdini.” JJ stated, putting his own beer down.

“Yeah, where is he?” you asked.

“I got my scholarship interview in the morning.” Pope reminded, “We gotta get this done.”

“Speak of the devil!” JJ grinned as John B strode past you all without so much as a ‘hello’. “Hey! Dude, I put up the entire winch to pull up the gold and everything.”

“No he did not.” You laughed.

“We did that.” Pope said, gesturing between you.

John B ignored you, and Kie called after him as he entered the Chateau. “Okay, that’s it?” you muttered.

“What’s that all about?” Pope asked, walking to you and JJ.

“I was gonna ask you the same question.” JJ said, you and him getting off the hot tub and following him into the Chateau. When you entered, John B was pulling the house apart, searching.

“You alright, man?” Pope asked, “What’s up?”

“What are you looking for?” Kie added.

“Bro, what’s going on, man?” JJ asked, following him as he pulled the gun from under the cushioning on the sofa.

“John B, what do you need the gun for?” You and JJ stepped forwards, both reaching to take the weapon. John B grabbed your shoulders, pushing you over and shoving past JJ as you all yelled for him to chill and talk to you. Pope tried to block his exit.

“What are you, JJ, now?” Pope asked as you and Kie yelled for him to calm down. John B pushed Pope back into the table as you followed him out, asking for him to explain, or calm down. You ran down the steps, the others close behind. He mounted the dirt bike, looking back at the four of you.

“John B, what the hell?” Kie yelled.

“Ward knows about the gold.” John B spoke for the first time. “He killed my dad.”

You ran as far as the dirt track, watching the bike disappear as JJ swore.

--

“What now, we just go up to the front door and ask, ‘Hey, have you seen John B’?”

The night felt dark, cold, and your boat felt fragile next to the stupidly big boat across the pontoon from you. The shape of the Cameron house was huge and adorned with golden windows on the other side of the lawn.

“Look, he lives in Tannyhill now, it’s plausible.” Kie reasoned, but you could tell she was just grabbing at loose ends. “We can play dumb.”

“Play dumb?” you frowned.

“It’s pretty late.” Pope added.

“Look, I’ve never seen John B like that. We should honestly be going to the cops.” Kie countered.

“The cops? And say what, Kie?” you almost laughed, “‘We’re worried about our friend because he’s going off on a rampage because Ward Cameron killed Big John’? They’re not gonna believe us!”

“Hey, I see Ward.” Pope interrupted you, binoculars up as he watched the house. Kie took the binoculars, checking for herself. “Doesn’t look dead to me, let’s go home.”

“What?” Kie turned, shocked and offended.

“Uh, okay. Obviously Mr Cameron is fine, and even if John B was here, he isn’t now, okay? Plus, I have the biggest, most important moment of my life in six hours.”

“Yeah, well our friend is in trouble.”

“I’m in trouble! Guys, I haven’t been home in three days! My dad’s probably put all my shit on the street by now.”

“Okay, so that’s it? In a time of need you’re just gonna bail? You’re just gonna walk away?”

“Okay, yo, guys.” You spoke from the other side of the boat, “Can we not do this right now?”

“Hey, I have a scholarship interview in the morning.” Pope reminded Kie.

“Okay, well what about John B?” Kie asked.

“Why is it always about John B?” Pope questioned, and you sighed, looking away as Kie looked around, caught off guard.

“It’s not always about John B. You’re so stupid! It would be any of you in this situation.”

“Bullshit!”

“Guys.” JJ tried to stop them.

“This is about friendship!” Kie powered on.

“Bring it down.” said JJ.

“This is about pogues for life!”

“What about forensic pathology, huh?” countered Pope.

“Forensic pathology?” Kie scoffed.

“It’s my life! It’s everything I’ve worked for!”

“That’s your priority?”

“Would you stop with the moral high ground bullshit?”

“Pope, come on.” you cut in.

“No.” he rejected, “No, no. She has no room to talk.” You looked down, knowing you didn’t either. “Where were you when Big John went missing? You weren’t there. You weren’t there for John B. You weren’t there for any of us! Remember your kook year?”

“Dude.” JJ tried, again, to stop the argument.

“Yeah, you forgot about us. Now you feel guilty.”

“Give me a break.” She pushed him, and he staggered but held his ground, you and JJ were up within seconds. “Is that what you need? You need a break? Move!”

You and JJ pulled them away from each other, shouting for them to stop, to cut it out. You held Kie’s shoulders, the both of you breathing heavily. She stared straight ahead, holding eye contact with Pope as JJ looked between them.

“If I’m the one mediating, we’ve hit rock bottom.” JJ sighed. You dropped your hands from Kie’s shoulders. She sat down as you sent Pope to the bow of the ship, sitting down as well.

“Pope, we’ll drop you off.” You said, JJ steering the boat. 

--

You sat, facing away from the group, water washing around your ankles, arms propped up on the wood as you stared at your phone. You were aware of the conversation - the gold was gone - but you weren’t really listening, or paying attention. Your mind was plagued with worries that felt trivial compared with what was going on, but still felt like the world would implode if you didn’t sort them.

Tyler was rejecting your refusals, insisting you humour him. You turned around briefly to look at JJ, who was watching you. You wondered if he had worked out that you’d slept with Tyler, even though you hadn’t mentioned it. But, of course, you hadn’t mentioned it - he couldn’t know.

You broke from your thoughts as Pope came blundering down the path. “Guys!” he halted when he reached you, and you picked your legs up, swinging around to face the group. “Oh, God, I ran all the way here.”

“How was the interview?” you asked.

“Don’t ask.”

“Promising.”

“JB, look, I’m sorry dude. About everything.”

“It’s fine.” John B disregarded.

“But - but I don’t have a lot of time, and I have information that is tactically relevant. So, before I had my interview, my dad said he was going down to the private airstrip to cut palms for Cameron’s big plane. Because it was too heavy, it needed a longer landing strip to take off. So, I’m there sitting in my interview, thinking to myself, ‘Hm, why would Cameron need a longer airstrip to take off? What could be so heavy to weigh it down?’”

“Gold.” JJ turned.

“That’s right.” John B confirmed.

“Exactly! Guys, this is our chance, but it leaves tonight, and we have to go.”

“We can’t give up now.” Kie smiled, jumping down from where she was balanced.

“What’s the plan, big man?” JJ asked.

“We’re gonna steal that shit back.” John B stated.

You smiled, this was going to be a shit show.

--

“We go in there, guns-a-blazin’, make Ward Cameron beg for mercy, abscond with as much gold as possible, and vámanos, get the hell out of there.” JJ summed up.

“Send that shit right down the intracoastal.” John B added.

“Wait for the weather.” Kie reminded.

“Exit to Cuba.” Pope finalised.

“Cuba?” JJ sounded offended at the idea, “No, man, Xcalak, the jewel of the Yucatan. Lobsters so thick, mangoes, no word for money.”

“I like the sound of that,” you hummed, sitting up from where you lay across the back seats, “Let’s do this shit.”

The VW rattled on for a few hundred feet, John B curving into a break in the thicket, the lot of you leaping out of the car to a wire fence.

“What’s the plan?” Kie asked. “Broad strokes.”

“I don’t think we got that far.” John B admitted, Pope pulled out his binoculars.

“They’re loading up the gold.” Pope pointed out. 

John B took the binoculars, watching the scene before him. You were all pressed up to the wire fence, and you could see a car rolling up to the plane. You watched the figures exit, faintly recognisable without the binoculars. John B lowered the black instrument, Kie asking him what was going on.

“It’s Sarah.” 

You looked back at the plane. They played out like a scene in a play, little figurines moving around, until Sarah was being dragged onto the plane by the shape that must have been her father. John B disappeared from your side as the engine began to whir, loud enough to be audible from your spot behind the fence. Behind you, a car door slammed, and you shouted for your friend as he started the engine, forcing all of you to step back as he smashed through the gate, JJ’s “Don’t be a hero!” resounding in the air.

Still shouting, the four of you ran through the gap as he accelerated towards the moving plane, your shouts fracturing the air. Upon the realisation that whatever stupid, reckless thing John B was doing couldn’t be stopped, you waited in baited breath. You watched the van swerve in the plane’s path, the screech of the brakes reaching your ears. You heard and watched the second squeal as the plane halted, barely feet away from the pogue.

Somewhere in the distance, you heard the sirens.

“Guys, I can’t get arrested.” Pope spoke, breaking the shocked silence you had been standing in.

“I’m on probation.” JJ added. 

“We’re no good if we’re all in jail.” Kie confirmed, and you turned to the three of them.

“You serious?” you almost laughed.

“Y/N,” JJ started.

“Go, if you have to.” You nodded, “I’ll step in if he needs me, God knows what’ll happen.”

Kie and Pope nodded,setting off, but JJ stood. “You can’t-”

“JJ, you said yourself - you’re on probation. But they don’t know I’m here, I’ll be fine.” You smiled, stronger than you felt, “Go.”

He followed your friends, and you stepped back into the trees, the sick feeling in your stomach foreboding a turn of events. The blue and white police car was racing down the runway, and you could almost feel the panic in your friends.

You saw the Sheriff get out, and the exchange that led to Ward’s arrest. You watched her get him on the floor, gun pointed at his face, you heard a bang.

The scene froze for a second, but suddenly time sped up, the Sheriff collapsed, and there was another figure. The gun was pointed at John B. You felt yourself move forwards, but the figures were moving - Sarah’s crumpling onto the floor, Ward standing, John B’s moving to help Sheriff Peterkin. You watched Ward and the new figure. Fuck it.

“John B!” you screamed, and he looked up. He was sprinting towards you as the three Cameron’s started fighting. You jogged, the pair of you breaking into a sprint as you got to the woods, fighting your way through the thicket as more sirens joined the melee. Shots were fired, but they sounded numb to your racing mind. He was slightly ahead of you, faded hoodie flashing as you both ran flat out. Before you registered the road, the horn was honking and John B was rolling over the bonnet of a car. You grabbed his shoulders, pulling him up, the pair of you running as the driver shouted for you.

You needed to find the others.

You ran for a while, slowing to a walk as you discussed where the others would be. The junkyard, you thought.

After five minutes, you stopped, forcing him to prove to you that the blood on his arms was only Peterkin’s, and that he wasn’t injured.

Somewhere above you, there was a plane. 

You were walking slowly now, approaching the junkyard. You felt numb, knowing that everything was completely different now. You turned the corner, seeing the three other pogues gathered, Pope taking a hit from JJ’s juul. Weird.

They ran to you, seeing the blood in John B’s hands and your shirt (from your attempts to check his injuries) and immediately began to panic, giving you once overs.

“Who’s blood is that?”

You all ducked behind the clutter to avoid the approaching sirens, allowing yourself a moment to breathe. You glanced at the blonde boy next to you, but as you went to speak, he turned away harshly. What the fuck?

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#obx #obx fanfiction #obx fanfic #outer banks #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks fanfic #jj maybank #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank x you #jj maybank x y/n #jj x reader #jj x you #jj x y/n #john b #john b routledge #kie #kie carrera #kiara #kiara carrera #pope #pope heyward #sarah #sarah cameron

[izukyu]

𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 - oboro shirakumo x reader.

this is a suuper late entry for @heroheads​‘s 500 followers writing contest! you’re so lovely and i hope we can talk to each other more in the future mwah.

pairing - oboro shirakumo x reader.

word count - 1.4k +

warnings - none!

summary - who would’ve guessed a run-in with the school’s resident kitten would score you a date with a cute cloud guy?

★ - requests are open!

chasing after troublemakers was part of a hero's job. providing aid in rescue missions and the occasional patrolling duties were also in the to-do list, regardless, it all paled in comparison to actual action. fighting for the good in the world, protecting smiles - that’s the kind of hero the world needed. the kind of hero you devoted yourself to becoming one day.

except chasing down a cat of all things wouldn’t be something you signed up for exactly.

“get back here!” you called, hoping for the feline struggling to run with your essay in his mouth to answer your pleas.

how come a cat that size could make a swift getaway with five printed pages worth of knowledge? in a way, life didn’t seem to favor everyone, especially the hard-working students starting and finishing their assignments the night before the due date.

karma, perhaps?

arriving at school with ten minutes to spare had never seemed like a better idea before, given your morning so far had consisted of having your acquaintance of a cat snatch the homework you dropped before you could retrieve it. truth being that particular assignment wasn’t anything ground-breaking per se, but still. that was your night you sacrificed to finish the damn essay.

the cunning cat, and his rather odd expertise in school shortcuts, eventually drove you two to a deadend. once the troublemaker was cornered, you squatted, carefully closing the distance between the kitten and your mentally exhausted self.

“no quirk culture analysis for you on this fine morning,” a mewl of protest wasn’t enough to make you give in, instead making quick work to retrieve the severed papers. “trust me, it’s really not worth it.”

while your essay crumbled in your hands, you realized maybe social studies and the upbringing of quirks was a pretty boring subject after all - a conclusion even a kitten could come to.

a sigh slipped past your lips, scooping up the furball in your arms before standing up, “you’re a real mean guy, y’know? my teacher’s not gonna buy the old excuse again,” the rather soft to the touch kitten paid no attention to your scolding, opting for pawing your hand instead - a prison of sorts.

another loud voice busted you out of the impromptu petting session, getting closer which each hurried step that echoed in the hall.

whoever was yelling out what they were having for lunch (seriously, was there any need to shout ‘sushi’ so many times?) seemed to catch the kitten’s attention, who swiftly scrambled out of your grip. the more you thought about it, the more you realized that cat would make a damn good houdini impersonator.

your aggressive pspsps-ing wasn’t enough to catch his attention back again, and you found yourself unable to hide the kitten away in time.

“sushi, geez, don’t scare me like that again!”

surprisingly enough, the first thought that came to your mind was how ‘sushi’ was such a lame name for a pet.

the mystery student crouched down to greet the cat, grinning as sushi nuzzled his palm, “i missed you too, ya rascal.”

“... is that your cat?”

you couldn’t help but snicker as oboro, along with sushi, fell backwards, certainly not expecting a third-party to join in. “oh! well... yeah, it’s my cat.”

after that initial greeting, you straightened your tie, getting on your feet with a relieved scoff. “that little guy is certainly something else, it’s not the first time he’s messed with almost all of my notebooks and homework.”

the sudden movement caught sushi’s attention once again. without a single care in the world, he jumped back to you, to which you answered by picking him up in your arms like before. your attention was clearly somewhere else, and you failed to notice oboro’s confused gaze on you.

“yeah, sushi’s a mean one,” he scrambled to get back on his feet, effortlessly towering over you, “if he can’t find somewhere decent he’ll just pee on me.” which part of his brain told him that would be a good way to carry the conversation?

by some sort of miracle, you didn’t mind the odd confession, “you’re just a mean roll - the bad type of crude, ain’tcha, sushi?” a brief pause consisting of you pampering his cat ensued. it wasn’t necessarily an awkward silence, but there was tension in the air apparently only oboro could feel.

he scratched his neck nervously, “you’re not gonna tell the principal, are you?”

“i’m sure that man’s certain i hallucinate cats in my sleep,” you sighed in defeat, gently pulling your finger away from sushi’s mouth. “your secret’s safe with me.”

almost as if a switch had been turned, oboro visibly calmed down, his once uptight shoulders loosening up. “thanks, i’ll make sure to keep him away from bothering you!”

you hummed in acknowledgment, still too busy scratching behind sushi’s ears. “you’re a second year too right? i don’t think we’ve met each other before.”

oboro adapted to the sudden change of topic rather quickly, “yeah, i’m from class a, kinda hurt you haven’t noticed me before.”

his feigned sorrow made you smile.

“oh, i’ve seen you around. your hair’s not exactly the subtle type,” you pointed out, a giggle crawling out of your worn throat as oboro’s hand instinctively shot up to comb through his hair. “plus, it’s a two-way street, it‘s not like you’ve made any attempts to interact either.”

“i have!” oboro’s eyes shot open almost comically, “remember during last year’s culture festival when someone accidentally spilled their soba on you?”

“oh my god,” you were no longer unable to contain your tittering, soon reigning the empty hall with boisterous, genuine laughter. “that was you?”

“i need to emphasize the accidentally part,” oboro reciprocated your emotion, his smile widening by the second, although the small tinge of pink in his cheeks implied it was more of flusteredness than anything. “you were just - your costume for the show… you looked really pretty, and maybe i got distracted!”

too busy to tease him any further, you made an attempt to contain your laughter, alas, a rather vain attempt. “pretty, huh? i would have never guessed you’d be into jumpsuits and tophats. god, costume design for that gig was a hot mess.”

oboro crossed his arms in indignation, although the twitching of his lips quickly invalidated his serious facade, “well, you pulled it off really well. you should’ve heard yamada after, he tried to scold me for spilling his food, but he was too busy laughing at how red i was.”

“you’re too much, shirakumo.”

he blinked in confusion, “you know my name?”

now it was your turn to stutter, lips moving, although there were no words exactly coming out of them. “o-oh, it is? it’s actually a pretty common surname and, truth be told, it was just a wild guess-”

“hey,” a small voice crack cut his words short, “no, no - it’s okay, i know your name too!”

before you could attempt to bail out of the awkward predicament, an quiet purring interrupted the conversation, gradually becoming louder and louder. apparently, sushi saw it fit to doze off in your arms, no longer in any rush to mess with you or your studies.

a lifesaver in disguise.

“right, the kitten,” oboro seemed to be equally thankful for the adorable disturbance, moving closer to take sushi from your arms. “sorry for all the trouble this little troublemaker might’ve caused you, i’m still trying to find him a home.”

“can’t say he wasn’t a pain in the ass, but i’ll live,” you sighed, patting your shirt in hopes of shaking off sushi’s keepsake. all efforts were in vain though, cat hair doesn’t come off as easily. maybe this time it could serve as an alibi for your missing homework.

‘teacher, a cat tore my homework apart’ had a nice ring to it.

“well, i’ll see you around, loud cloud.”

oboro squeezed his eyes shut as you walked away, sushi nibbling on his arm pushing him off the edge. “wait, (y/n)!”

you stopped in your tracks, turning around to face the gremlin and his awfully cute owner.

“i was thinking,” he started, searching deep inside his heart for his trademark courage or wit, really anything that could save him. “i’m pretty sure my internship’s gonna be really close to yours, so maybe we could go out for coffee sometime?”

the loud ringing of the school bell muscled into your chat, leaving you with no other option than to scream your answer out.

“not gonna ask how you know where my internship is,” you joked, smirking at his own flustered grin. “but that sounds... good actually, maybe you could even help me with the homework handsome sushi over there stole from me!”

as students started to fill the hall, some more eager to get to class than others, your cloud friend snickered, his toothy smile serving as a goodbye, “it’s a date then.”

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[statticscribbles]

Appendix

Summary: Archie/Sweet Pea Request: Sweet Pea stays at the Andrew’s house waking up feeling sick so Archie takes care of him along with Fred, who notices it seems to be his appendix, cue them rushing to the hospital; and cute boyfriend fluff please.

Archie’s not a light sleeper so when he can hear Sweet Pea vomiting he knows something is wrong. Still he doesn’t wake his dad, just hovering behind Sweet Pea till he finishes puking. “What’s wrong?” “Hurts.” He hisses through grit teeth. “Where?” “Side stomach. It’s fine probably-“ Sweet Pea doesn’t finish stumbling and crashing into the wall as Archie helps him back to bed. They can hear Fred moving around and it’s not long before he appears in the doorway. “You two decent.” “Yeah, Sweet Pea puked and-“ They both cringe when the light flicks on however Archie gapes at Sweet Pea. “Christ you look gray, you sure it’s not food poisoning?” “Unless I got the only undercooked slices of pizza.” He shrugs a little and Fred watches him. “We should get you down stairs.”

“Why?” Sweet Pea questions and Fred crouches down, nudging his side, Sweet Pea hisses in pain. “Did it hurt more when I pressed or when I let go?” “Let go.” “Downstairs is a good idea.” “Why?” “Good news it’s not food poisoning; bad news, it seems like it’s your appendix.” “You know all that cause you jabbed my side?” Sweet Pea leans half over the stair railing as Archie walks down with him. “That and the fact you’re going from gray tinted to green to white with every movement.” “It’s fine, just probably-“ Sweet Pea bite on his hand when Fred once again jabs his side. “Appendix, we should go to the ER.” “No I can-“ “You can die is what you can do if it’s not fixed. Right dad?” Archie looks worriedly and Fred nods.

“It wouldn’t be- Archie! Put Sweet Pea down!” Fred follows him out to the truck where Archie’s awkwardly trying to climb into the cab while still holding Sweet Pea. “Archie, calm down. We’re about a ten minute drive.” “I know.” Fred sighs at the tremor in Archie’s voice. “Arch; hey he’s gonna be fine, the worst he’s gonna have is a scar and two weeks worth of you doing everything for him; which he already has to put up with; look he’s asleep; it’s fine.” ‘What if he passed out! Dad what if-“ “You worrying isn’t going to help him.” “But-“ ‘the longer you talk the longer he waits.” Archie quiets immediately and the ride to the hospital is silent aside from Sweet Pea trying to convince Fred to take him back home. “I can just walk back from the hospital.” “You can barely walk without me holding onto you.”

“Maybe I just want you to think that.” Sweet Pea winks before stumbling as Archie catches him and pulls him back up. “I might’ve lied just now.” “You think?” Archie glares as Fred checks him in and then the nurses coral Sweet Pea onto a stretcher. “Any Allergies? Dietary restrictions?” “Penicillin and none.” “Alright, we’re going to do an ultrasound just to check if we can see anything, sometimes it’s not your appendix but an ulcer that flared up. But we’ll take you back now.” “So I’m gonna die right?”

“What?” Archie jerks from the seat he’d taken. Fred glares at Sweet Pea who nods. “Anytime you go straight back in the ER its cause you’re gonna die.” “Don’t say that.” Fred glares as Archie looks more distressed. “Sorry, I’m gonna be fine Arch; I bet I’ll be back in five minutes.” -Archie lasts twenty minutes after that before he starts pacing and Fred sends him down to the canteen to get them both coffee. Archie doesn’t drink his and Fred pries the cup from his shaking hands. “It’ll be fine, just rest, it won’t help him if you’re exhausted.” Archie shrugs but nods leaning against his dads shoulder. “Thank you.” “For what?” “Being here.” “Well I’m not leaving my son or his boyfriend alone to deal with this, god knows you don’t even know how to wrap your own hands for boxing half the time.” “I’m not ambidextrous, I can’t get them even.” Fred nods smirking. “Of course, nothing to do with Sweet Pea kissing you when he does it for you.” Archie scoffs turning his face away. “No that’s ridiculous.” Fred shakes his head sighing as he closes his eyes to rest.

“Dad, dad!” He cracks one eye open to see Archie peering at him. “What’s happened?” “Nothing it’s just been a full hour and no one’s said anything.” “You can go ask you know.” Archie nods and Fred sighs, pulling Archie back to sit down when he notices how shaky he is. It’s three more hours before anyone moves towards them and Fred keeps his hand on Archie’s shoulder to prevent him from body slamming the doctor out of the way.

Sweet Pea looks surprisingly small and washed out on the hospital bed, he’s half awake; trying to focus on the shapes. “I got stabbed. So many times.” He half mumbles and Archie, who Fred didn’t even see move is sitting next to him. “No you just got your appendix out.” “Surgery is stabbing just legal.” He nods seriously and Archie turns away to laugh. “So he should be good to go once he wakes up more you can sign his discharge papers and-“ “THEY SHAVED ME.” Sweet Pea looks up distressed to the nurses and the Andrews who seem shocked at his shouting; in reality they’re trying not to laugh once more. “I mean they did have to do surgery; it was probably cleaner overall.” Fred offers and Sweet Pea nods yawning.

“Alright I finished signing everything and called FP to let him know so he’s going to come settle up.” “Settle up?” “The Serpent’s have a medical fund; it’s normally not needed since they don’t get into many serious fights, but they all usually try to donate a bit in case.” Archie nods about to pick Sweet Pea up but the nurse pulls him back. “Hospital policy, wheelchair until he gets into the car or off the property.” “Oh sorry.” “It’s no problem.” She smiles offering the handles to Archie. “Back home then?” He questions and Fred nods. “I’ll have to pick up his prescription in a few hours; so you’ll be on nurse duty.” He nods sternly in response watching Sweet Pea lean into him. “I’ll be gone maybe an hour depending on wait times he should just sleep.” Fred leaves once he helps Archie move Sweet Pea onto the couch. “Is he gone?” Archie turns and Sweet Pea smirks.

“Were you awake the entire time.” “Sorta, lotsa drugs, lots of ‘em.” “Are you hungry at all?” Sweet Pea blinks nodding slowly. “What’s wrong.” “Food sounds good but also thirsty.” “You know you can have water and food right? It’s not one or the other.” Archie laughs pushing a glass of water towards him while he moves to the kitchen. “What do you want to eat, I don’t know if you’re allowed to eat everything you normally do. I think you can?” “Food.” “Wow so helpful.” Archie snorts.

“I love youuuuu.” “I know Sweets.” “No you don’t understand!!!” Archie peers in from the kitchen watching Sweet Pea trying to sit up. “Do you need help?” “No! You don’t love me!” “When did I say that?” Archie watches as Sweet Pea sighs managing to sit up slightly. He hisses and Archie appears next to him. “I’m fine christ.” “You just had major surgery!!” “It was my appendix.”

“Exactly!! It’s major surgery, if you don’t get it removed you can die!!!” “From infection, not the actual-“ “Harry Houdini” “Infection!!! Not cause of the appendix so-“

“Eat.” Archie glares in place of arguing and Sweet Pea beams. “Thank you babe.” “You’re welcome, love.” Archie watches as Sweet Pea gasps at him trying to lurch forward but cringing and laying back on the couch. “Come herreeeee I wanna hug you! And cuddle! I’m dying so you have to do what I say.”

“First off, no I’ll be laying on your stitches; and second you’re not dying you’re like four hours too late to milk that.” Sweet Pea huffs crossing his arms. “What’s wrong, are you really that upset?” “Yes.” Sweet Pea glares at him and Archie sighs. “Okay what can I do to make it up to you then?”

“Cuddle me!” He nods narrowing his eyes and Archie nudges him. “There, here we can cuddle this way, I just don’t want to bump your stitches.” Sweet Pea nods, and Archie can tell he’s relaxed, half asleep. “Nurse Archie;” Sweet Pea pauses to laugh for a moment and Archie nods waiting for him to continue. “Will I ever walk again.” He mocks in a southern accent. “You had your appendix out, nothing to do with your legs. Why?” “I have to piss.” He half sits up and Archie move to help him stand. “I’m just walking you to the bathroom okay.” “Nothing you haven’t seen before.” He wink and Archie pinks slightly. Archie’s hovering by the door when he can hear Sweet pea stumbling and hitting what he hopes is the wall.

“Sweets?” The door swings open Sweet Pea half holding his pants and boxers up. “Look at this shit! They shaved me!!! What the fuck!!!” “Glad to see the pain meds wore off then.” Sweet Pea back up slightly into the bathroom closing the door and letting his head thump against the door. Fred waves the bag and they can hear pills rattling. “I have more pain meds if you want.” “It wasn’t what you think I swear-“ Archie starts and Fred laughs.

“He’s very bothered by being shaved.” “They did it while I was asleep!! There’s no telling what else they did!” He shouts through the bathroom door. “So he doesn’t  know about the tattoo then?” Fred jokes and Sweet Pea stumbles out of the door. “The what? Oh; you were joking.” He sighs in relief and Fred nods.

“Back to the couch, you can’t be up so much after having just spent hours lying down.” Sweet Pea nods grumbling under his breathe as he settles back into the couch. “Archieeeee” he whines and Fred nods to him. “Go on; I’m not going to listen to your boyfriend whining all day for you to cuddle him.”

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[natasha-romanoff-deserved-better]

Children of Yesterday- Chapter Five

Summary:

Standing in front of him, are two more children, only slightly older than the one he had found. The blonde child was freakishly skinny with dark bags under his eyes, and was standing with another black-haired slightly taller child who had a bony arm wrapped around him.

The blonde was wearing an over-sized Captain America costume that drowned him, and the other only wearing a leather jacket with sleeves that covered his hands and fell to his knees.

Tony almost chokes.

The blonde in the Captain America costume. The black-haired child standing over him. The scared, timid kid on his hip with glasses and bruises.

He knows who these kids are.

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After an accident with Hydra and the time stone, Tony and Rhodey are left with six of their teammates turned into young children. Trying to keep the six young, traumatized and rambunctious children safe all while finding a cure and attempting to give them a taste of a real childhood might be their biggest mission yet.

Continue reading below or click here to read on AO3! 

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The car ride goes as well as any of them expected, with the six kids arguing over who got to sit where; who got the window seats, who got to choose what radio station they listened too, how hot or cold the car should be, and even who had the “best” seatbelt, whatever the hell that meant. Thankfully, they reached the tower within fifteen minutes, and the sight of it stunned all six into total silence.

“Whoa,” Clint breathes out, after several seconds of awe. “Coolest foster home ever!”

Tony doesn’t bother to correct him.

Tony and Pepper leave the car out front, Friday taking over control to direct it into the garage. Rhodey meets them inside, having flown his suit back.

“I confiscated all the weapons in the common areas. Or…. All the weapons I could find. You never know with…” He stops himself from saying Clint and Natasha’s names, realizing how much confusion it would create. “With those two.”  

“Rhodey, you are an absolutely savior.” Tony praises.

“I’ll go find everyone some pajamas from their rooms,” Pepper tells, frowning at the hospital clothing the kids were still wearing. “At least some old T-shirts would be better to sleep in, I’m sure.”

Tony stares at the kids. They stare back.

“Who’s tired?” They say nothing. “Right…well. You’re all going to sleep anyways. Because I know none of you got much before you Houdini-ed your way out of SHIELD.”

It had already been decided, wordlessly, that none of them would be spending the nights in their original adult rooms. The main worry had been Clint and Natasha and the sheer number of weapons they had hidden all over their quarters, but it would also be much easier to keep an eye on all of them if they were all on the same floor.

The tower had a floor consisting all of guest rooms- It had been a joke at first, mainly from his wild playboy days. Now, it was used for guests staying overnight, be it for parties, galas, or several day long conferences. It was usually the safest option for many, eliminating the need for hotels and allowing the meetings to take place with much more secrecy. Tony loaded them all into elevator and brought to them to the guest room floor.

Whether they were willing to admit it or not, it was obvious they were all tired. For one, Bruce couldn’t stop yawning every other minute or so, which would set off a chain reaction through all the kids. Sam and Clint were both rubbing their eyes, Steve and Bucky looked like they were about to drop dead. Even Natasha was showing signs of tiredness, her eyes drooping closed for split second before jerking back up.

Pepper meets them on the floor, holding old shirts that she passes out to each respective owner. After everyone has their shirts, Tony randomly assigns each their own room. Steve and Bucky completely ignore him and enter the same room.

After everyone is all settled into their rooms, Tony is headed towards the end of the hallway to the suite room when Natasha pokes her head out her door.

“You forgot about me.”

“What?” Tony’s brows furrow, trying to think what she could possibly mean. She simply holds out her wrist to him, an expectant look on her face. “Sorry, kiddo, but you’re gunna have to help me out here a bit more. What’s wrong?”

Natasha drops her arm in annoyance at his ignorance. “Handcuff?”

“Oh. No, Nat, god. No, no handcuffs.” Tony crouches to her level, hoping to get his point across. “You’re free to move around as you wish here. Got that?”

If the look on her face is anything to go off of, Natasha does not got it. Her nose is scrunched up and forehead creased slightly in confusion, but she still nods.

“Alright, good. I’m just going to be down in that room over there, so you can call me if you need anything at all, yeah?”

Natasha nods again, whispers a quiet “thank you, sir” and steps back into her room, leaving Tony dumbfounded in the hallway.

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Tony closes the door, leaning his back against it. “Oh, god.” His hands come up to rub at his face.

From her side on their bed, Pepper lowers her book and raises an eyebrow at him.

“What the hell did I do, Pepper? What the fuck was I thinking?”

“You were thinking about their best interests—”

“Best interests,” He scoffs. “I’m me, Pep. I can’t take care of six kids! Hell, I can’t even take care of myself!” He runs his hands through his hair, grabbing tufts and pulling slighting. “Oh, god.”

“Tony- just breathe for a minute,”

“Fucking hell. What if something happens to them? It will be all my fault. What if they run away from me as well? Or if I crash the car while driving them somewhere? What if,- I don’t give them enough food and they starve and.. Oh god, I don’t even know if any of them have any food allergies or not? There’s no way Steve isn’t allergic to something. And these kids are way too smart for their age. You should have seen them on those tapes. Jesus Christ, I’m going to get them killed. There’s no doubt about it.”

“Tony.” Pepper demands. He looks up at her, panic written all over his face. She pulls back the silk sheets covering her and opens an arm in invitation. “Come here.”

Tony scrambles over to her, climbing up onto the bed and then her, resting his head on her chest. She pulls the covers back up over them, hugs him close. “I can’t do this, Pepper. I don’t know how to take care or interact with kids. Especially not kids with their backgrounds…. I don’t want to ruin them even more. That’s what I do. I ruin people.”

The last sentence, she knows, is a reference to his weapon making past, but also to Peter. She chooses to ignore it- they don’t need to go down that rabbit hole tonight- and keeps the focus on the team.

“The kids are going to be fine. They’re tough. And if god forbid anything does happen, we’ll get through it. The same as we do everything else. You have me. And Rhodey… And Happy, if Peter hasn’t given him one too many heart attacks yet.”

Tony snorts out a laugh at the mention of Happy and nuzzles deeper into his partner.

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“I’m not sure that’s a great idea, Tony,” Pepper says, eyeing the children who are sitting at the table, happily munching on their breakfast of pancakes. It’s a stark difference from one hour prior, when Steve and Bucky had woken everyone up with their screaming after FRIDAY had said something to them.

(In retrospect, he probably should have mentioned the ceiling will talk back to you last night, but oh well.)

“We can just order clothes and whatever we need from online.”

She’s right- they could. It would be the easiest thing to do.

But Tony remembers his clothes as a kid. Always too itchy or rough or too soft, never the fun colors or designs like the other kids got to wear, never what he actually wanted. There had never been anyone around who could be bothered enough to take him to a store, to wait while he picked out his own things.

“I’m taking them.”

Pepper sighs. “Well just know you two are on your own.” She checks the time on her watch, a habit. “I have all kinds of things I need to settle, since it seems as if you’re going to be out of commission for a while.”

He knew she was right, even though he was tempted to beg her to come with. He and Rhodey only knew so much about kids, but she had seemed to have some kind of natural maternal instinct with them. He would be willing to bet his whole company that she would have no problem controlling the kids. But there were meetings, galas, conferences, so many things in his schedule that Pepper now that to cancel or reschedule or do herself.

---------------------

The kids pour out of the cars as Tony stands aimlessly, staring at the building of the mall.

“Which stores even have kids clothing? I don’t know any of these names.”

Rhodey has beaten him to it, again, pulling out a google list on his phone. “Let’s start with… uh, that place.” He points some doors to his left, double checking the name of the store. “I don’t know. It’s a kid store and has five stars, so...”

“Good enough for me.”

They herd the kids the best they can towards the store, not wanting to lose anyone before the first ten minutes. Tony was about to just open the doors and turn the kids buck wild, but Rhodey stopped them all before entering.

“Okay, guys. Here’s the rules. You be nice to the employees, and don’t be disruptive. That means no screaming, yelling, fighting. None of that. And no leaving the store. You can go off by yourself within the store but don’t go out. Got it?” They all nod.

Tony adds on. “Yeah, what he said. But other then that just grab whatever you like and that fits. Price doesn’t matter, yeah?”

The kids run off in all different directions, each going towards whichever section caught their eye the most. He gives some time to run around by themselves, before going to check on them.

Bruce has stuck to mostly neutral colors, gray and brown sweaters hanging off his arms with the same pair of jeans hanging over his arm. Sam has gone ambitious, picking out shirts with the most obnoxious patterns and designs Tony has seen.

Steve and Bucky have each picked out a few things, but glancing at them, Tony can tell the clothes the two boys are holding are not their correct size.

“Those are way too big, you two. Do you know how to check sizes?”

“No, we know how.” Steve tells him, going red slightly. “It’s just that…it’s good to get bigger clothes. So you have room to grow.”

Realization dawns on Tony as he recalls this is most likely a symptom of being depression era kids.

“Steve, Bucky. Get your correct size. I promise I have more than enough money to buy more clothes the second either of you two grow an inch, okay?”

“How do you have so much money?” Bucky asks, but Steve shoves at his arm.

“Don’t be rude, Buck!”

“It’s not rude, I’m just asking!”

“Guys, it’s okay. Just trust me on this. Money won’t ever be an issue while you’re with me, alright? I want you to have things that fit you.” Deciding quickly to make it less about them and more himself, he adds, “It would really make me feel a lot better if you did that.”

That does it for them, and the pair returns the wrong sizing before moving to a completely different section to find the correct ones.

Checking in on Clint, he finds Natasha trailing after him several feet away, her arms empty. Tony frowns.

“Not finding anything you like, Nat?”

She shrugs.  

“Well. Why don’t you let me know what you like, and I can help you look?” She shrugs again. Wrapping her arms around her torso, she whispers something, too quiet for Tony to hear. “What?”

“I don’t know what I like. We do not choose clothes in Russia.”

“Oh. Right.” Of course she was confused. She had most likely never been given a choice of clothes before in her life. He racks his brain to try and think of what she might like. Black. Black was a safe option. He glances around himself for a few seconds before finding a plain black tank top and pulling it off the hanger. “What about this? It’s soft- here, feel it.”

Natasha tentatively reaches out a hand to run a small finger over the fabric, lips quirking up slightly at the smooth texture. Tony figures that’s the best he’s going to get from her and places the top into her hands.

He helps her pick out several other things. He tries other colors, but she seems to actively hate almost everything else. At one point, he pulls out a purple shirt, and she doesn’t sneer at the color like she has all the others, so he counts it as good enough and begins loading her up with purple things as well.

To the side, he can hear Rhodey speaking with Clint, suggesting Clint get some shirts other than graphic tees, and Clint’s flabbergasted “why would I do that?”

Once all the kids have each gathered a decent number of tops and bottoms, Tony and Rhodey gather them all up to pay for all the new clothing. Sam and Clint are both bouncing on the heels of their feet, trying and failing to contain their excitement at getting so many new clothes. Rhodey has the brilliant thought to distract Steve and Bucky when the cashier tells him the price for all the items, as to avoid a freak out from the two.

One store down, Tony and Rhodes steer the group into another child clothing store, hoping to load up on as much as possible in one trip. Tony prayed they were just being overly cautious, and his teammates would be back to normal before they had a chance to wear all their new outfits.

It’s going well, Tony assures himself- Steve and Bucky have gotten more confident after the first store and have amassed a good amount of clothes between the two of them, Bruce has decided to go a little more adventurous this time and pick a green long sleeved. Natasha only has one thing, but she picked it out all on her own. Sam and Clint are-

Not there.

Tony whips around, eyes scanning the store frantically for the two boys. He had just seen them, not even five minutes ago. They’re not on the floor. Not in the dressing rooms.

“Rhodey!” Tony calls loudly, ignoring the ugly look sent at him from a middle-aged woman. “Have you seen Clint and Sam? Please tell me you’ve seen them.”

Rhodey copies the same move Tony had done just seconds earlier, twists around to sweep the store, as if Tony just hadn’t looked hard enough.

“I knew I’d lose them eventually. Fuck.”

His glasses-FRIDAY- sensing his stress levels, points him to the east, signaling to him she had picked up the two’s heat signatures in that direction. Tony and Rhodey take off, the other four kids following closely at their heels.

FRIDAY directs them, and they end up in the Disney store, surrounded by bright lights and colors and children’s music blasting from the ceiling speakers. “Sam! Clint!” He calls out loudly, ignoring the stink eye he gets from a mother holding a snotty nosed sleeping baby in her arms. The two boys pop out from between some aisles, each holding several toys in their arms.

“Tony! Look what we found! Look how cool!” Sam runs up to show him the toys they had found. Clint hangs back slightly, eyeing Tony for a second before dejectedly placing the toys onto a rack near him. Tony watches this, feels a slight tug on his heart strings.

“Clint,” Clint’s eye shot back up to his, a trace of guilt in his face. “Pick them back up. You’re not in trouble.” Tony turns to the other four, who Rhodey is standing behind. “Why don’t you all go pick out some toys or stuffed animals you like, yeah?”

Steve and Bucky link hands and hurry over to the aisle with the dress up solider uniforms, while Natasha hesitates but makes her way over near Clint, who points out a Simba lion stuffie to her. She rolls the fluffy ears between her fingers, before smiling slightly and pulling it into her arms.

By the time they’re all finished, the pile of stuffed animals and toys on the cash register is absurd, but the beaming faces of his teammates make it worth it. Over the pile, the girl working the register flicks her eyes between Tony and Rhodey and the kids.

“They’re adorable,” she says, smiling at them. “Must be quite the handful with so many. Are they all yours?”

Tony snorts. “You’re telling me. And, uh, yeah. Mostly. Something like that,” He says, not quite sure exactly how to answer.

She nods, looking between the two adults again and smile growing bigger. “Well, I think it’s wonderful. I can’t believe there are some groups out there that would try and stop you two from adopting,”

“Hm?” Tony says, reaching into his wallet to pull out his black card, only half heartedly listening. “Oh yeah, for sure. We- wait, what?”

“Oh, I’m just saying, clearly you two are very loving dads.”

“Oh! Um,” Tony splutters, completely caught off guard. This is not what he was expecting to have to deal with today. Natasha trying to stab someone, sure. Steve somehow ending up in a hospital from a freak medical illness, fine. Clint climbing up a clothing rack, whatever. But not being mistaken for a gay couple with six children with his best friend.

Next to him, Rhodey is laughing. The bastard. Rhodey throws an arm around Tony’s shoulders and pulls him in, playing it up, and plants a sloppy kiss onto his cheek.

Thankfully, before Rhodey could pull anything else, the cashier scans the last stuffed animal and lets him know the final price. Tony happily pays it and hurries the kids out of the store, bags upon bags of new clothes and toys.

#children of yesterday #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #marvel #marvel fanfiction #clint barton #natasha romanoff #Steve Rogers #tony stark #bruce banner #sam wilson #james rhodes #Bucky Barnes #kid fic #marvel kid fic #look i actually wrote something

[sultrysweet]

Supercat - "Are you stupid or stupid?" (Pretty please?)

Are you stupid or stupid? x

Kara almost crash landed on her couch after her latest rescue with soot from the house fire smudged across her forehead, cheeks, and even a knuckle-sized swipe across her chin. Too drained to shower before she stretched out on the cushions, she at least had enough energy to speed change into her gray-sleeved baseball tee and pastel pink shorts that did little to cover much of anything. She opened the rarely used Postmates app on her phone a minute later when someone knocked on her door.

With a sigh, she stood up and tossed her phone on the couch. She trudged toward the unknown visitor and didn’t think to use her x-ray vision, or to even check the peephole, before she yanked the door wide open. 

Expecting anyone else, Kara rested her head against the doorframe and stared disinterestedly at the person in the hallway until her nose caught the scent of pizza. Her unfocused eyes looked down at the set of stacked boxes and widened. She noticed a familiar cross section ring with a green stone tip against the side of the warm boxes right when an even more familiar voice startled her into a more alert state of mind.

“Feel free to take them off my hands any time now.”

“Ms. Grant!” Kara pushed herself away from the door and stood at attention as though her former boss was a drill sergeant. Kara only added to that impression when she grabbed the pizza from Cat without having to be told, as soon as the older woman’s words finally registered. “You’re here! Why are you here?”

“Does it matter?” The former CEO cocked her hip and rested her ring-bearing hand on it while she gave Kara one of her infamous looks that some people might see as an open invitation to challenge the woman. Some people would be wrong.

Kara stared at Cat for a long enough moment of inactivity that it must have felt like a challenge all the same, if Cat rolling her eyes was any indication.

“Fine, someone sent a little birdie to me in D.C. and, now that I know the multiverse has collapsed into...whatever the hell this timeline is, I thought I’d thank you for saving the world. Again.” Cat breezed by her as she walked into the apartment without invitation. “Not to mention that fact that you won your first Pulitzer, which I sadly couldn’t see you receive in person, and I’m sure you haven’t had much of a chance to bask in the glory of that accomplishment.”

Kara stuttered as she turned and watched Cat stroll through her apartment like she owned the place. Knowing what Cat Grant was worth, even after selling CatCo, Kara didn’t dismiss the idea that the other woman could easily own the entire building.

“So, are you going to offer me anything to drink to go along with that pizza?” Cat settled in one of the bar stools at the kitchen island and then squinted at the refrigerator. “Do you even have anything to drink?”

Kara frowned. The usual judgment in Cat’s voice kickstarted higher brain function and led her to close the door and the space between them. “Yes, I have things to drink. And I don’t know what bird would have told you about...the multiverse…” She trailed off as she pieced together a possible, though still unlikely, situation that explained how Cat knew anything about the Vanishing Point. 

“Are you with me yet, Supergirl?”

Kara only stopped staring at the dimly lit kitchen backsplash when she felt the pizza slip out of her grasp. She jolted forward in an attempt to catch the boxes before she could drop any of the food only to nearly push the boxes out of Cat’s hands as the woman guided them onto the counter. “Sorry,” she muttered when she realized her mistake.

“That answers my question.”

“Sorry,” Kara said a little louder, and even managed to make eye contact with the other woman. “It’s been a long day.”

“The grime on your face suggested as much.”

“What?” Kara raised a hand to her cheek with the same urgency as though Cat had pointed out she’d shown up to work in her underwear. “Oh, there was a fire. Wait, go back to how exactly you know about the multiverse. Former multiverse.”

Cat sighed and popped open the top pizza box. “Agent Mulder paid me a visit two days ago and pulled a very E.B.E. move with a finger to my temple.”

“Uh, e-b-what?”

“Extraterrestrial biological entity. Have you never seen The X-Files?” The question came out like an accusation, another judgment, but Cat waved her hand and then pulled a slice of sausage and pepperoni pizza from the box. “Anyway, he zapped me with the knowledge of a world that no longer exists and I was faced with the new reality that Lex Luthor is worshipped instead of reviled, but that wasn’t even the most upsetting thing about all the new memories I gained, or that he unlocked. I’m still not entirely sure how that mind-meld thing works. Although, if you could get him to explain it to me—”

“What,” Kara interrupted with a sharper than intended tone and relaxed a little, “was the most upsetting part?”

“If you or your friend are worried that I’m only interested in knowing how or what he did just to write an expose on it, don’t forget that all my journalistic drive comes from  natural curiosity first and foremost.”

“Cat.”

Another sigh and then, “The most upsetting part was that I could have gone another handful months or even years wrongly believing everything about this new Earth because you were never going to tell me yourself.”

“What?” Kara gripped the edge of the counter and stared wide-eyed at Cat as she gave the woman her full attention. 

“And the only reason I can think that you’d do that is because you still weren’t ready to tell me who you are.”

“Who I…? What?” Kara shook her head as if to a clear dense fog in her brain that prevented her from understanding, or more accurately believing, Cat’s words.

“I know that it’s mostly my fault that you feel you can’t trust me. When I found out the first time, I gave you an impossible ultimatum. I had no right to force that kind of decision on you because it’s your life, your powers, and you will always have control over what you do with them. But I also never stopped to consider that just because you have these abilities doesn’t mean you wouldn’t need to feed, cloth, and house yourself like anyone else living in this world. Pushing you out of a job with me would have only left you to find a paying one somewhere else because I’m sure that government agency you work with doesn’t subsidize their alien associates.”

“Well, there is a great medical plan,” Kara said without thinking. She clapped a hand over her mouth less than a second later.

Cat grinned, never one to miss the opportunity to gloat. “I shouldn't have done that, but I still wish you’d at least told me before your friend hit me with his best shot.”

Kara resisted the urge to chuckle and said, “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I had way more reservations about telling Lena than I ever had about you, and it’s not like you’re going to pretend to still be my friend just to learn about any of my weaknesses to use against me later. Wait, you’re not going to do that. Are you?”

“No! Kar-” Cat sighed and slid off the stool. “I know I forced you to out yourself to me before, but I confronted you about it. I didn’t hide, I didn’t pretend, and I never once went public with anything I’d found; even before you pulled the Houdini act with your stunt double.”

“Um.” Kara did laugh that time and felt her cheeks warm ever so slightly. “That was J’onn. The man who gave you memories of the original timeline, that was him.”

“A shapeshifter. That’s...well.” Before Cat lost herself to critical thinking, she said, “My point is, why would you think I’d do something like that?”

Kara winced. “Because it’s what Lena did.”

Cat balked. “Lena as in Lena Luthor? The woman who tried to mass produce a device that identifies aliens and would coincide with the Alien Registry that’s basically a pre-imposed rap sheet on any non-human and perpetuates profiling? The woman who bought my company just to give it away to that sensationalist who prefers clickbait to actual journalism less than a year later?”

“Uh, yeah?”

Cat shook her head. She took a deep breath and her shoulders rose toward her ears with the movement. Her body remained tense, even when Cat unleashed her newfound anger. “Are you stupid or...stupid?”

Kara stepped back like Cat’s words had lanced her.

“Great.” Cat huffed. “Now that I’ve dumbed down my speech to what would pass as good grammar with your latest boss, I’d say this trip has been more frustrating than I thought.”

“I’m...sorry?”

“I can’t believe you told her of all people. Forgetting the fact that she carries the Luthor name, which I know doesn’t automatically make her like the rest of that family, she’s done nothing to prove herself worthy of your trust.”

“Nothing? She was my friend!”

“A friend with a skewed moral compass that never favors you.”

Kara scoffed. “At least she was here! She helped me figure out what I wanted to do with that open-ended promotion you gave me. And then, even as a lowly cub reporter, she still took my calls and scheduled meetings. But then she also sat with me, shared working dinners with me, and talked to me. She was my friend. And now she’s an adversary.”

Kara hadn’t felt the tears form or fall, but she felt Cat wipe them away and close the small gap between them. 

“Kara.” Cat breathed her name like a prayer. “I’m sorry for what you lost.”

Kara sucked in a deep, watery breath and fell into Cat. She wrapped her arms around the smaller woman while more tears streamed down her cheeks and dampened Cat’s hair where Kara buried her face in the Queen of All Media’s neck.

“Thank you,” Kara said, her words muffled against Cat. “You don’t even know the half of it, either.”

“What do you mean?” Cat pulled away but kept her hands on Kara’s biceps. She even squeezed a little when Kara ducked her head toward her chest.

“Lena isn’t the only person I lost. Another friend of mine sacrificed himself for this new Earth.”

“Oh, Kara.” Cat stroked her thumb over Kara’s cheekbone a few times, the back and forth motion enough to draw more tears before Kara sniffled and lifted her head.

“I just keep thinking it has to stop, that I won’t have to lose anyone else. Or that I can at least get them back. I can’t get Oliver back, but at least she’s here. Lena’s alive and in National City and I tried. I tried to get back what we had, but she might as well have found new waters to swim in. Like you.”

Cat slid her hand from Kara’s face to her neck and grazed Kara’s jawline with her thumb. “I’m not sure what her or her brother’s plans are, but I can tell you about mine.”

Kara fisted Cat’s shirt where she continued to hold the woman at her waist and held the form-fitting, black V-neck tightly enough to tug the woman closer. Their noses nearly touched and one of Cat’s heeled feet stepped on Kara’s bare toes.

“Kara, I can’t promise you things will get easier with me around. I might actually make it worse some days, but—”

“But you’re staying?”

“If I’m not then I made a huge mistake buying out Andrea Rojas for my company two hours ago.”

Kara sucked in a breath as her lips curled into an unbidden smile. In the next breath, she eliminated the barely-there space between them and crashed their lips together. She clawed desperately at Cat’s shirt until the material stretched loose and Kara needed to feel more within her grasp. 

Cat moaned as Kara gripped the woman’s hips a short distance from where she’d previously clung to Cat’s shirt. Cat arched into Kara and her hungry touches. After several heated kisses, the Queen of All Media slid one hand down Kara’s arm and placed it over Kara’s while she moved her other hand to Kara’s sternum. With a light shove, she urged Kara away and pulled back from the kiss.

“Much as I’d love to continue this and explore everything those thighs of steel can do,” Cat said with a lingering stare at Kara’s tanned, toned legs, “I’m sure you worked up an appetite earlier and that pizza’s getting cold.”

“Let it.” Kara licked her lips while her eyes wandered over Cat’s form. “I’d rather skip to dessert.”

#five word prompts #supercat #supercat fic #supercat prompts #supergirl #lost-your-memory #this took entirely too long to finish #hope you like it

[southernpeach13]

Their Princess all grown up Chapter 5

Duke moaned as she slowly came to. She rubbed the tiredness from her eyes when she realized that her hands were not only tied behind her back but to someone. She scrunched up her nose when she was hit with the smell of a very pissed-off Alpha. Well, two actually but the one tied to her was absolutely livid. Duke looked up and saw a young man maybe her age, a couple of years older at most smiling like a mad man at them.

 Duke groaned as she remembered how they ended up in their current position.

 A few hours earlier 

 The small group landed in an underground subway of all things and soon learned that the ninja was mute. As the group continued to walk down the subway they ran into what looked like a modern version of a mad scientist lab.  Duke and Tunnel Rat were about to keep exploring when Roadblock grabbed the two and hid them behind a large barrier with the rest of the group.

 Tunnelrat was glaring daggers at the large Alpha but Snakeeyes pressed a finger to his mouth making a small shush motion as he pointed to the flooring above them.

 Duke looked up from their hiding spot and saw a young man talking to someone on a large screen.  She sniffed the air and soon realized the man in the lab coat was a beta.

He was telling the person on the screen to never interrupt him in the middle of work and something about making the person's replacement? What did he mean by that? Duke ducked as she saw the beta, turn around, and walk to the railing. She could feel the wheels in her head turning trying to place where she had heard that voice before.

 “I know,” he whispered.

“I know the teeming masses will call you unnatural, immoral.” he purred. Duke covered her mouth hoping to stop her heavy breathing. She had barely been in the room with him for a solid three minutes but everything about him.

 Just screamed wrong.

 “Even evil.”

 Her heart was pounding so loud she didn't even notice that Scarlet had already pulled up information on the man. She barely heard her say his name. 

 “Brian Bender. Goes by Mindbender.”

Duke looked back up at the man. Why did that name sound so familiar?

 “He’s wanted by the feds for multiple crimes against nature. Very intelligent. Also has the same less  than popular thoughts on Alphas and Omegas.

 But you’ll always be my babies.”  he said with contentment. As he stood up a wave of pheromones hit his nose that smelled a little familiar.

 Duke shook her head, quickly pushing that feeling aside.

“Okay, so we take him to the feds.” She said.

 “No,” Scarlet said, waving the recording. “I got what I need, let's head out.” Duke shot the woman a dirty look before she vaulted over their hiding place with her gun and snuck on the floor that Mindbender was on. Weems, Tunnel Rat, and Roadblock following her lead.

 Mindbender typed away on his computer and saw the reflection of a young woman with blonde hair and bright blue eyes holding a gun to his head.

 He glared at her and soon realized that the scent he had caught a whiff of earlier.

 He rolled his eyes as he realized where he had seen her before.

 She was some random teenager at the time in high school that the Commander had taken an interest in at the time.

 He took note of the Alpha and Beta behind her. She had obviously taken the lead.

 “Brian Bender, you’re under arrest.” She said with strong authority in her tone.

 It was honestly kind of hilarious. He couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the trio.

 The blonde looked shocked and lowered her weapon for a brief second before baring her fangs and raising it again glaring daggers at him. 

 Mindbender continued to laugh. After a minute he wiped away the tears and leaned closer to the keyboard behind him and smiled

 “Doubt it.” He said smugly as he pressed a button.

 As Duke glanced at the other members of her team sneaking up behind the deranged doctor a look of confusion in her eyes but her face determined but before she could give another order electricity coursed through her body. 

 Duke screamed.

 She could hear the other members of her team crying out as well but she could barely process it. Duke colloped to the floor, her breath shaking as her vision went in and out.

 She saw the scientist walk up to her but stepped over her. Duke weakly turned around trying to process what was happening but just as her vision went black she saw him press a button and a dark blue goop spewed from something in the ceiling that seemed to be trying to take a form but failed.

 Mindbender smirked as he turned to the group of soldiers on the floor. The Omega, the only one still semi-conscious. He walked up to the blonde grasping her chin, tilting her face up, turning her face side to side examining her before letting go of her face letting her fall to the ground, Duke letting out a small grunt of pain.

 “Maybe you grunts have some use after all,” he said in a chirpy tone. That was the last thing she heard as her vision blurred and slowly faded to black.

Now

 Duke's face scrunched up in disgust as she felt the strange blue goop pour into the humanoid shape hole she and Scarlet were tied up in. It landed with a gooey splat as it filled up just enough to where the two women could keep their heads up. It felt slimy and unnatural against her skin.

 She could hear Roadblock yelling at the crazed Beta about how he couldn't do this while Weems made a joke/plea to the ninja to Houdini them out of their current predicament.

 Mindbender cackled and smiled at the soldiers.

 "You see grunts. I can do whatever I want because Cobra lets me.” He continued to walk, letting his hand slide against the railing as he continued.

 “Once you five are recycled in my biomatrix, you will be reborn as the first group super soldiers for Cobra.”  He said excitedly. Leaning over the railing a  mad glint in his eye.

 He turned on his heel and threw his hands in the air.

 “No more pesky Omega heats for blondie. Nor ruts for Mr. Ninja, muscles and red!” He let out an excited laugh as he clasped his hands.

 “You'll actually have a purpose besides to breed!” He turned around and leaned over the railing once more, resting his chin in his palm.

 “How amazing is that. You will be the first unit in Cobra’s first Bioviper army!” Mindbender turned back around and began to fiddle with the machines to get it ready when he heard a screen flicker on behind him. He turned around and saw the familiar face of an older Omega woman.

 Her hair was deep black, almost purple cut into a bob that was a beautiful contrast to her pale skin, her lips painted red. Her dark brown eyes practically glared daggers into his soul as she adjusted her rectangular glass on her button nose.

 Mindbender huffed in annoyance at her.

 Anastasia, Better known as The Baroness, was the Commander's, right-hand woman. 

 “Doctor, I heard there was a security breach at the lab” She purred in a deep Russian accent. She was calm on the outside but he knew just how dangerous she actually was.

 She was the only Omega that he was truly afraid of. But given her history, it was wonder why the woman was so cold and calculating.

Mindbender smiled and waved his hand nonchalantly.

 “Handled it. Just a group of green shirts busted in and tried to arrest me. Go figure.” He chuckled.

 Baroness cut her eyes at him. “Then I expect to have a full report when you're done.” She said calmly before her screen flickered off.

  Nicky “Tunnel Rat” Lee was not having a good day.

 The small Omega crawled through the fabric pipework and looked for his team.

 He had been lied to by a superior, dragged into something he wanted no part in. Shot at. And now he was crawling through a literal mad scientist lab.

 Go figure.

 Tunnelrat almost let out a loud whoop as he finally spotted his team. He took out a small pocket knife and cut the thick fabric open and crawled out.

 “I know  I disobeyed orders, didn't want to.” He said with a laugh as he cut the rope that held Duke and Scarlet.

 Duke rubbed her wrist and smirked at him as she got herself up out of the slimy blue goop.  “Expect yourself to be a court-martialed soldier.” She said with a laugh

 Scarlet soon followed, elbowing the blonde as she chimed in. “I outrank her. You’re pardoned.” He was about to help Mr. Ninjaman and Weems but the Snakeeyes had already gotten out and was uniting Weems binds.

 Just as they were going to make a break for it a large gooey thing landed in front of them. Duke watched in horror as it sprung in the air twisting and turning until it took a very large humanoid form and roared at them.

 DUke grabbed a grenade that had been on TunnelRats belt and threw it at the thing once it lunged at them and it exploded with a loud boom.

 Her ears were ringing, but she couldn't worry about that now. She looked back up at the railing and saw the crazed Scientist run.

 Duke let out a growl and jumped on a dangling wire and climbed up it quickly.

 Mindbender saw the Omega coming up to him and fast.

 Her bright blue eyes were cold and icy as she glared at him.

 He couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen that exact same expression just moments ago.

 Duke made it to the railing and threw herself over it with a firm grunt. She spotted Mindbender running away from a computer and she could somewhat hear a  monstrous roar through her still ringing ears. 

 She turned to see her team fighting more of the blue slime things, but when she turned back around the madman was gone.

 Duke snarled “Where's Mindbender!” She snapped.

 She saw Snakeeyes bolt after a figure in a lab coat that ran into an underground train that quickly sped off.

 And just like that Mindbender was gone.

 Duke saw electricity spark into the vat that she and the other had been in and more of the monsters came out of it.

 “We need to shut off the power!” She hollered

 “It’s locked!” Tunnelrat screamed.

 Roadblock's eyes lit up as he got an idea.

 “How about we light up this factory-like the fourth of July!” He asked.

“How?” Scarlett questioned.

 Moments later everyone had grabbed a piece of tech whether it be an actual weapon or a cable that someone *Duke* had ripped off one of the machines and fought back while Scarlett and Weems dealt with the generator.

 As Duke stabbed another Bioviper and saw therest of her team begin to head for the exit. 

She heard Weems swear and saw him jump off the railing and head back to the machine he and Scareltt had rigged to blow.

 It had gotten unplugged in the scuffle.

 She saw him heading up the stairwell so she continued to head to the exit as well. 

 He has only a few steps behind her.

 She heard him let a startled yelp.

 She turned around and saw him yanked back by another Bioviper.

 She ran back, she had to get him out.

 Electricity was flying everywhere. She was on the stairwell now.

 But he only smirked and looked ot the Bioviperes holding him back.

 SHe didn't hear what he said to them.

 And then.

 There was the boom.

 “No!” She screamed.

 Duke felt herself be blown back in the explosion. 

Shards of metal bursting apart hitting and cutting into her arms. 

 She felt a large hand yank her by the collar of her shirt and thrown over a shoulder. She watched in horror as the machines around them were blown to pieces.

 At that moment all Duke could see was the fire.

 Roadblock ducked and rolled as they were hit with the last blast of the explosion in the air. He rolled on his back holding Duke tightly until the explosions ceased.

A wave of pheromones quickly hit his nose but he couldn't process that now as he saw doors open and people scrambling to get out, he picked up the Sargent and bolted for it with the others.

They were headed for the helicopter they had arrived but it was soon nothing but worthless hunks of metal as debris from the building hit it. 

 Snake Eyes quickly  “commerderd” a vehicle and Scarlett threw the doors open. Roadblock set Duke down carefully and went for the driver's seat as Snakeeys left it to check on the others before disappearing altogether once more.

 Scarlett looked at the blonde Omega. She was shaking. Scarlett felt guilt as she looked over the Sargent.

 Anyone could tell she was in distress.

 They all were.

 But Duke.

 They didn't know what was happening until it was too late.

 The flood of distressed and frightened omegas hormones quickly flooded the van.

 TunnelRat bolted to Duke who had begun to rock herself back and forth. Her head between her hands. Scarlett got up but Tunnel Rat snapped at her.

 “Back off!” He demanded.

 “She’s going into a stress-induced heat. We don’t need to make decisions that's going to do more damage to her in the long run cause you can’t keep your knot in check!” 

 Tunnel Rat carefully pried Duke’s hands from her hair. Her tight bun now in disarray, her cheeks stained with tears.

 “Sarge can you hear me.” Tunnel Rat asked her. 

 Duke nodded.

 “Okay, that's good. I need you to focus on your breathing okay.” He continued. Duke let out a shaky breath a choked sob finally leaving her throat.

 Tunnel Rat pulled the taller Omega in a hug. Duke buried her face in the crook of her fellow Omega’s neck inhaling his scent. 

 Tunnel Rat continued to take care of Duke shooting dirty looks in Scarlett’s direction until Duke managed to pass out.

 “Will she be alri-” “Not. A. Word.” Scarlett paused as Tunnel Rat turned to her.

 “You have lied to us and to who knows how many people.” He snarled.

 “We lost a man in the field cause of your secrets!” Tunnel Rat pointed at the sleeping blonde. “She’s most likely about to go into a stress-induced heat cause of this.” Tunnel Rat let out a hollow laugh.

 “And if she does she’s going to have to go through by herself cause her mate isn't here! And I am sure as hell not letting you guys- No offense Roadblock.” Tunnel Rat quickly added. The large Alpha had been nothing but kind and respectful to all of them. So it didn't seem fair to lu,p him in with Scarlett.

 “None taken.” He chimed. “I get what you're trying to say and you're right.” Roadblock glanced at the three in the back. He reached in his pocket and felt Weems dog tags against his palm. 

 They had been pulled off in the skirmish. Roadblock was lucky and managed to catch them before everything went so, so wrong.

 Duke let out a small whimper and the three silenced themselves. They could figure it out once they got back to base. Right now everyone just needed to rest.

Anastasia walked up to the now-destroyed building taking in the damage. 

 Under Control. Yeah right.

 Anastasia says Mindbender rummaging through the rubble. She would ignore him for now. RIght in this instant, she needed to salvage any footage she could find and maybe figure out who the group of soldiers were.

 She slid down the crater that had once been a lab with ease and took in her surroundings, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath.

Her eyes snapped open. There once a mix of scents of course. Alphas, betas, and omega. But one, in particular, caught her attention.

 One she hadn't smelled in over twenty years outside of the tiny pink baby blanket that the cub had been placed in. That scent in particular going stale after all these years. But she wouldn't forget it.

 She couldn't.

 After all. How could any mother ever forget the scent of her own cub?

#my post #mypost #my writing #gi joe renegades #duke #conrad hauser #a/b/o #omega duke #fem Duke #their princess all grown up #chapter 5

[arianatheangel-girl]

Little Stowaway

((This is just a small story based on the minifics @vandeverefan has done for me in the past, set in a modern AU where Adrian Toomes (twin brother of VA) has adopted baby Ariana after removing her from her abusive parents (in his own way as the Vulture, of course). For clarity purposes, we’ll say Ari’s about sixteen months old or so in this story. In short, it was a plot bunny that wouldn’t leave me alone. My apologies if I get any details wrong, I’m mainly going by Wikipedia, vandeverefan’s writing and what I saw of Toomes in Homecoming. Vandeverefan, I know you’re going through a hard time right now, so I hope this helps cheer you up. Also dedicated to the best Adrian Toomes RPer on this site, @vultury! I sure hope you like it!))

Little Ariana Toomes was not happy.

The little toddler did not like being left out of things, especially having someone in her new family go somewhere without her. 

When her big sister Liz would try to leave for school in the morning or decathlon practice on the weekends, Ari would immediately cry “Me go!” and try to follow her into the car or bus. Thankfully, Liz was normally quite patient with the little girl, and would give her a tight hug and promise she’d be back before Adrian (her Daddy) would scoop Ari up and distract her with something.

Earlier that day, Daddy had said he’d need to go out of town for a “business trip” of some kind. Of course, Ari didn’t know what his business was, but she saw him packing a suitcase, and she knew whenever she saw those, that it meant he was leaving somewhere, usually for a few days or more, which felt like forever to her. When Daddy gently told her she wasn’t going with him, the baby got quite upset, started hitting him and threw a tantrum, causing Adrian to calmly pick her up and put her in her crib for a time out. 

She screamed and kicked for a while before finally wearing herself out, at which point Adrian came back into her room, picked her up and sat on the floor with her.

“Now, Jellybean, do you know why I put you in time out?” he asked.

Ari sniffled, trying to stop crying. “Hit Daddy?” she asked.

“That’s right, because you hit Daddy. You don’t hit other people because it hurts them. It’s okay to be mad, but it’s not okay to hurt people when you’re mad. Okay, honey?”

Ari sniffled again and hugged him as her way of trying to say sorry. Adrian smiled and hugged her back. “It’s okay, Jellybean. Now come on, Mama’s gonna have dinner ready soon.” With that, he picked her up, brought her to the living room and placed her into a gated playpen like area, made so Ari could be safe and play with her toys without the risk of her getting underfoot or getting into something she shouldn’t while Doris was making dinner.

As Ari sat in the playpen, she got an idea. Daddy always took the suitcase with him when he went on “business trips”. In her mind, if she got to the suitcase, Daddy would have to take her with him, right?

She waited until she saw Mommy and Daddy had their backs turned, before pushing some of her stuffed animals up to the gate and using them as a stepping stone to climb over it. Carefully, she made her way up the stairs before finding Mommy and Daddy’s bedroom; the door was still open.

The suitcase was still open on the floor; Adrian hadn’t finished packing yet. Ari then giggled and moved things and threw some stuff out before climbing into it, making herself a new bed in the process. Now Daddy would have to take her with him!

After a few minutes, Liz (who was doing homework at the table), looked over and noticed the playpen was empty. “Um, Dad? Where’s Ari?”

Adrian looked up. “What’re you talking about? She’s right over--oh, no.”

“Yeah, I think she just pulled a Houdini again. She probably didn’t get too far.”

The two of them quickly started looking around the house for her. Liz hurried upstairs first; Ari loved getting into her room and messing with her computer and makeup. Before she could get to her room, though, she heard a giggle coming from her parents’ room. 

She then looked in to see Ari happily sitting in her Dad’s suitcase and cuddling one of his shirts, before starting to giggle herself. “Uh, Dad, she’s in your room, I think you might wanna see this.”

Confused, Adrian proceeded upstairs and saw Ari proudly sitting in the suitcase as well as the mess around it from where she’d thrown his socks and such. “Me go!” she told him, looking triumphant.

Adrian just started to laugh; she looked so silly and cute like that. “Oh my God. Doris, baby, get the camera!” He’d deal with the mess later.

THE END...Or is it?

#adrian toomes #mcu #ariana speaks #liz allan #spider man homecoming #vulture #writing #fiction #michael keaton #the vulture #mini fic