#anyways i think milly is the only one of the gang who will be normal about killing
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Custom Toonami Block Week 73 Rundown
Code Geass: Lelouch and co. are still stuck in China and Xingke’s flipping out because the Chinese assholes are gonna kill the Empress and go with someone less problematic for their political marriage to Britannia’s creepily overaged prince. However Lelouch pulls out a Knightmare that’s basically the Twink version of the Gawain and busts everyone up as well as pulling a Father Cornello on them and letting the people know they’re all elitst 1% assholes that don’t care about them, which I suspect all countries probably know about their leaders but it sucks to hear it in a recording so riots show up all over China and CC Geass Flashes Anya to take her out so Britannia has to back out because the Chinese Hierarchy are now the least popular people in the world. So Xingke gets to be with his Empress and joins the Black Knights but Dietard wants the Empress to marry someone on their side so they can basically do the asshole move Britannia just tried to do but for them. All the girls are like ‘hey no’ and Lelouch is like “Oh hey Tamaki buddy, let’s go talk and get me the fuck out of here” so before Lelouch actually has to give Tamaki more lines and elevate him beyond the Black Knight’s Yamacha Shirley calls and Lelouch just straight up asks Shirley about love in a weirdly forced series of circumstance. But Shirley’s like “Yeah don’t fuck with love, don’t you love anyone?” and Lelouch is like “Yeah I do, Nunally!” and I don’t think that’s at all what Shirley meant but it does mean Lelouch sees that fighting for something beyond politics is powerful and agrees to not marry off the twelve year old girl, so that’s good. Lelouch decides to return home while they hunt down the Geass cult which is in China for some reason despite that being one of the like two places on earth Britannia doesn’t control and the Geass Cult largely being a Britannian affair. Meanwhile Sayoko is basically a Lelouch Vtuber at this point with her insanely accurate Lupin III mask of Lelouch and kisses Shirley so Shirley’s a little bit more gay than she was before and is not sure how to feel about that. When she’s about to tell the real Lelouch he kisses like a girl, Anya and Gino show up because we’re retreading the whole ‘sleeping with the enemy at school’ thing from the first season except with way less interesting enemies. Also the preview for the next episode is Lelouch dramatically talking about enemies finding out he’s Zero overtop footage of Shirley and Milly absolutely naked in a batthouse scene so I think we know what kind of episode that’ll be.
Inuyasha: The Panther Demon filler concludes with everyone meeting at the site where the Panther Master is being revived behind a strong barrier, if only someone just got a barrier upgrade to their sword, oh wait. But yeah everyone manages to free the hostages so even though Kagome’s jewel shards revives the Panther Master he’s still a zombie without a sacrifice which is weird since Naraku managed to completely revive the Band of Seven with one jewel shard each from skeletons and the Panther Lord has three shards so idk the rules here but yeah he steals the souls of his own men to revive and is Wind Scar Proof because he just is. It’s pretty cool to see him shooting his claws and lightning and shit but he’s too big and slow for it to be much of an interesting fight. Sesshomaru’s about to go full demon which would be interesting since we haven’t seen his full demon form since he lost his arm but in a neat bit of character development, Tenseiga calms his rage and tells him to use it instead. You get the feeling Sesshomaru only goes full demon when he flies off the handle and forgets about speed and strategy so him opting to not repeat the mistake he made against Inuyasha is pretty cool. Anyway Tenseiga heals the souls of the Panther Demons and drains their energy from the lord so he’s back to Zombie Cat Man which Inuyasha can Wind Scar because that’s what happens to villains on this show, all Wind Scars all the time. The Panthers don’t wanna fight anymore since their boss just killed them and tell Inuyasha to tell Sesshomaru the feud is over and they’re going back to the West. Honestly this is basically the same backstory they gave Kirinmaru in Yashahime so it’s funny for them to say they’re going back to the same place Kirinmaru is from, wonder if it’ll ever come up in Yashahime since most filler seems canon there.
Yu Yu Hakusho: Yusuke and Kuwabara continue the assault on Tarukane’s compound and basically plow through the lower demons easy since they’ve been fighting minor deities up to this point. It’s always pretty cool in Shonen to just have a few rounds to show how much power creep the heroes have had where certain things just don’t bother them anymore. Toguro murders a Chimera which has an oddly similar backstory to Nina from FMA and he seems really bummed about it but he’s like “Hey we’re both monsters made by humans telling us to do shit, so sorry for killing you bro”. And Tarukane basically sees Toguro is the next boss and is like “Yup time to scam some people off of this” and he sets up a betting ring for how far Yusuke and Co will get into his compound. This is kinda neat because it puts Tarukane in the weird position of betting against his own guards and hoping Yusuke will make it all the way to Toguro and then lose after everyone else has seen how awesome Yusuke is and bets on him. And funnily enough Sakyo’s in on the betting and he’s watched anime before so he knows to bet on the plucky teenagers with weird powers. So yeah Yusuke and Kuwabara finish plowing through the demons while Hiei kinda stalks them and remembers getting his eye surgery and wanting to help his sister but it’s kind of against spirit world rules for demons to just go plow through humans even if they’re scumbag humans so now Yusuke and Kuwabara have to go fight the Triad of boss demons Toguro has under him before Hiei busts in and just murders everyone for kidnapping his bird-loving jewel-crying little flower of a sister.
Fate Zero: So Kiritsugu can break Kayneth’s Terminator 2 Gaara defenses with rib bullets that just say ‘no’ to using magic and fucks his arrogant ass up. Saber and Lancer do some combo shenanigans to stab Caster right in the book and disrupt all his hentai tentacle demons but the book heals so idk why he can’t just make more. Kirei fucks up Maiya and Iris but didn’t double tap Maiya and DID double tap iris but she’s got Saber’s bullshit healing scabbard on her which no one knows about so Saber’s like “uhhh why are you healing” and Iris can’t tell her so she’s basically “Uhh internet?” Lancer comes in to save Kayneth’s worthless ass and tells Kiritsugu to stop being a dick to Saber because she’s pretty dope. But as usual for an early Fate encounter, no one dies and nothing of terrible consequence happens despite it being teased a couple times. I’ve noticed a trend with Fate that it really doesn’t like killing characters early so you’re basically guaranteed to have the first 2-3 major battles have a zero net gain/loss. Rider in UBW was probably the subversion to that since it happened crazy fast and anticlimactic but even that wasn’t till like ten episodes in.
Konosuba: So we finally meet Wiz the big booby Lich and Kazuma learns a new skill, both fun things. Also the gang gets a house to stay in after escapades with an army of haunted dolls and the most “I need to pee” in a horror setting since Corpse Party. But yeah, good progress this time honestly, the living in a stable gag was getting kind of old so Kazuma’s a bit stronger now and they have a home base so that’s pretty cool. Also Wiz is a Demon General or some shit but no one cares cause there ain’t no money in murdering busty zombie waifus.
Sailor Moon Crystal: So turns out Minako is Princess Serenity, except everyone who knows anything about Sailor Moon or indeed plot structure knows Sailor Moon is Princess Serenity, that’s like the Luke I Am Your Father of this series. But still turns out Minako has been guiding everyone with the power of video games but also thinks the power of friendship sucks and she’s gotta go do everything alone. This makes things super awkward because Mamoru’s pretty sure he was in love with the Princess but likes Usagi, now instead of running with this interesting thread of a reincarnation falling in love with someone new we’re gonna do the reveal that Usagi’s the princess and the whole ‘till death do us part’ part of marriage was just a metaphor and you’re stuck with one person no matter how many times you reincarnate. But yeah, Minako fights the bad guy on top of the tower but he has Naraku’s Barrier now and Minako doesn’t have the Red Tessaiga upgrade yet so she needs the power of friendship but this barrier is friendship-proof and this fight is basically a bunch of kids on the playground making up increasingly stupid powers that negate the other powers the other guy just made up. Anyway Tuxedo Mask shows up and is like “Holy shit Sailor Moon I love when you kiss me and kick ass, go get em sweetie I’ll hold your flower” and they kiss and Usagi has learned that if she just pretends she got this the power of her confidence will beat the bad guy. Unfortunately she does not got this and Tuxedo Mask has to pull a Piccolo and throw himself in front of the blast.
Durarara!!: So now that we’ve had our climax for the arc we have a six month timeskip and everyone’s just kinda living life, Mika and Seiji are being clinically insane together, there’s cops harassing Celty to the point of mental breakdown (normal cop stuff) Shinra’s dad’s in town, Namie’s become Izaya’s secretary for blackmail shit, you know, normal stuff. Also there’s a katana-wielding maniac going around slashing people and Anri’s being bullied and sexually harassed to the point of mental collapse, normal stuff.
#ooc#Toonami#Custom Toonami Block#Code Geass#Inuyasha#Yu Yu Hakusho#Fate Zero#Konosuba#Sailor Moon Crystal#Durarara!!
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Sanctuary - Chapter 31
Warnings: none
Tagging: @thorsbathroomchicken, @alievans007, @innerpaperexpertcloud, @c-a-v-a-l-r-y, @valkyrie-of-the-light
“You know...” Esme says, a glass of white wine pressed against her lips. “...under different circumstances, this would have made a pretty good honeymoon.”
They'd made a forty-five minute drive to a small town that sits on River Lagan. Far enough away from Belfast that Tyler is able to let his guard down. He's much more relaxed; nerves not as raw, anxiety no longer running on all cylinders. The worry is still there; he still observes the crowd, keeping an eye out for anything or anyone that seems even remotely suspicious. Guys like McMann have connections; their circles are enormous and their resources seemingly endless. He'd crossed a line earlier; gone way beyond just scaring the other man into giving him information. The rage had been intense. Uncontrollable. Five and a half years of holding back all the emotions that he'd been carrying with him since Dhaka had finally come to a head. And he was certain that if Mark hadn’t have been there, Michael McMann would have met his fate.
Now thoughts turn to possible revenge. McMann could have it if he wanted. Tyler knows that. He wouldn’t do the dirty work himself; he’d recruit a gang full of buddies to catch him when he was alone and vulnerable. Or he’d skip going after him and resort to escalating things further; going after Esme and using her as a pawn to get to him. She’s his weakness; it’s no secret. Quite possibly the one person alive that is capable of truly destroying him.
Intentional or not.
He’s kept a close eye on her. Either tightly holding her hand while strolling the small downtown area or keeping an arm around her shoulders and her pulled tight into his side. Trying to tone down the over protectiveness that she often complains about it. She feels he’s ‘over the top’. That his need to keep her safe and sound borders on an unhealthy obsession. Viewing it as controlling. Suffocating. A sign that he sees her as an object that he needs to keep tucked away from the rest of the world to avoid having her cracked or broken. Tyler doesn’t consider it a bad thing; she’s the love of his life, his wife, the mother of his kids, what was so wrong with wanting to make sure that she was safe?
It is a bone of contention between them,and has been for the past five and a half years. The cause of over ninety percent of the fights they get into. One of the main reasons behind their trial separation. She’d been sick of being treated like a possession and even more fed up with always being put second to the job. It had felt as if she were the only one putting in the effort when it came to keeping their marriage from falling apart; his long, frequent absences creating a wedge between them, turning her bitter and angry, tired of living a single parent life when there was no reason for it.
The environment had been extremely toxic. He’d come home after two weeks away and they couldn’t hold even the simplest conversations without it turning into an argument. And then the mud slinging would begin. Trying to out do one another with the stinging, hurtful comments. The kids began to feel the tension; sleep issues, tantrums, regression in milestones. And that’s when she’d had enough. Kicking his ass out and issuing an ultimatum: their family or the job.
In the end they’d ended up coming to a compromise. When she’d called him in the middle night after months of being apart and told him that she missed him and wanted him to come home, Tyler had been determined to make things right between them. He agreed to go to counselling. Swore off the heavy drinking that he’d began to use as a crutch. Would only take a certain number of jobs a month. Two weeks on, two weeks off. It had been a hard sell to Nik; she wanted him available at a moments notice. If the phone rang in the middle of the night, he was expected to not only pick up, but pack his shit and get to wherever she needed him to be. It had been a long fought battle against her but he’d finally won. Reminding her that his family was his priority and always would be, and that he wouldn’t think twice about walking away entirely and leaving her high and dry without enough team members. He could find other work. There were other people looking for guys with his particular skill sets. Ones that offered a higher cut when it came to payouts. After all, he was well known. A legend of sorts. And there wasn’t a boss out there that would turn him away.
“I thought we were going to Niagara Falls,” he chides.
They’ve talked about it a handful of times; he always opted for a tropical destination while she insisted on Canada. Not that he has anything against the country or the people itself, but the idea of the perfect honeymoon did not include tacky museums and a huge waterfall. He wanted the beach. The ocean. One of those cozy cabana style suits built right on the water. Five years ago they’d never gotten the chance to have a honeymoon; he’d been recovering, she’d been pregnant with Millie. And once they moved to Colorado they’d been too caught up in being married and raising a family.
“We could always do a week there and a week where you want to go too,” she suggests.
“Yeah? And who watches the minions?”
“Grandma is stepping up lately. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. Don’t you think it would nice to get away? Just the two of us? We’ve never been able to do it before. I think we deserve it. Especially after all this is over.”
He doesn’t disagree. The Belfast job has already been a major shit show and they aren’t even close to the finish line. But even this is nice; this small break from the job. Just the two of them hanging out on a restaurant’s outdoor patio; fresh air, a view of the river. Doing normal couple things like engaging in flirtatious chit chat, sharing little looks and smiles across the table, holding hands on top of it while browsing through their menus.
“We have to work on us too,” she reasons. “We exist outside of being parents.”
“I thought that was what all the sex was for,” he teases, and she rolls her eyes. “We’ll talk about it when we get home,” he promises, and squeezes her hand. “Let’s just get this over and done with, yeah?”
“The sooner the better,” she sighs, and he nods in agreement.
They settle into a comfortable silence; eyes on their menus, fingers still intwined, his thumb continuously rubbing across the top of her hand and the side of her wrist. He’s missed this. The little moments. When they’re just Tyler and Esme and nothing else seems to matter. It’s been a long time since they’ve been in that place. Somewhere along the line they’d manage to lose that connection; the one that exists outside of sex. Where they exist solely for each other and their identities going further than just being parents.
“So what was that text messages about?” he asks. “’We found something’. What is something and who is we?”
“Before I tell you, you have to promise me you won’t freak out.”
Tyler’s eyes narrow. “What did you do?”
“Do you really have that little faith in me? I haven’t done anything. Well, nothing too bad, anyway.”
He’s starting to wish he hadn’t sworn off booze for the evening.
“Yaz and I went to McMann’s house. He jammed the security system so it wouldn’t go off once we got inside.”
“How did you even get in there in the first place?”
She swallows a mouthful of wine. “Yaz picked the lock.”
Tyler sighs. “So you committed B and E, basically.”
“Technically, yes. But it was for a good reason! Nik’s been dragging her heels when it comes to getting in there and we’re running out of time so I just figured if he was able to both guarantee we wouldn’t get caught and could successfully pick a lock…”
“How’d you know McMann didn’t have guys watching the place?”
“Well…we didn’t…”
Another sigh.
“But we were really careful,” she assures him. “We kept an eye out. We didn’t see anyone hanging around and we were definitely not followed, so…”
“So you broke into his house and…”
“Stole his mail.”
“Excuse me…what?”
“I went through his mail,” she confesses. “I admit, not one of my finer moments.”
He smirks. “You think?”
“But I did come across something. All of the something’s. Including a notice of assessment in regards to his last income tax return and a couple of utility bills. But…”
“Esme…please…I love you, but let’s not turn this into a ridiculously long story that you could have told me in two sentences. What did you find? While you were snooping.”
“I wasn’t snooping. I was looking for clues.”
Tyler stares at her pointedly.
“Okay, so I was snooping. But it paid off. I came across a letter. Handwritten. Snail mail. I think it’s from Heather McMann’s grandmother in New Zealand. Something about selling the business and how it’s sad things have come down to this.”
“So?”
“So it shows that there’s still ties to the family in New Zealand.”
“Which we already knew because McMann told us,” he reminds her. “But go on.”
“Maybe there’s some kind of connection. Between the business and whatever is going on here.”
“You’re reaching.”
“Anything is possible,” she argues. “You should know that. Is it really that far fetched considering how crazy and twisted this all all been since the very beginning?”
She has a point.
“It wouldn’t hurt. To check out the grandmother. To see if she knows anything.”
“Get Yaz on it. You’ve got enough going on. And the last thing I need is you running off to New Zealand and something happening while I’m thousands of miles away. So that’s it? You found a letter that may or may not mean something?”
“Oh there’s more,” the excitement is evident in her voice; sparkles in her eyes. “While I was investigating…”
Tyler clears his throat.
“Snooping,” she corrects herself. “I found this.”
She grabs her phone off the bag of her chair and pulls out her SAT, thumbing through the pictures until she finds the one she’s looking for, then holds the phone out to him.
He removes his sunglasses, hooking them onto the neck of his grey button down shirt, then takes the phone from her. Hair tumbling across his forehead and into his right eye as he studies the image on the screen. “What am I looking at?”
“It’s a chair.”
“I see that. Why am I looking at it?
“It matches the one that is in the photos that you got delivered to your old hotel room. The ones that Erin…or whoever the hell she is….brought. In the pictures, the McMann kids are restrained in those foldable metal chairs. But Heather is in a wooden chair. That looks antique and is in impeccable condition. Weird, right? Why are the kids suffering while she gets the comforts of home? Normally the adults get treated worse because they can take more punishment. See the cushion…” she stands up and leans over the table, using her thumb and forefinger to zoom in on the photo. “…I am fairly certain it matches the one in the pictures you go.”
His eyebrow arches. “Fairly certain? We need more than fairly.”
“Well there’s no way of telling for sure until I compare it to the photos. But I’m at least ninety percent sure.”
“Ninety?”
“Okay, so maybe seventy five, eighty. But I did my research on this chair. It belongs to one of only twenty five dining room sets made in New Zealand in the early nineteen twenties. It’s a mixture of cherry wood and gum wood. Extremely rare. The set comes with six chairs but there’s only five at the McMann house.”
His eyebrow arches once more, nodding slowly as he listens to her.
“Now I don’t know how he wouldn’t notice that one of the chairs are missing. I haven’t even stopped to consider that. But doesn’t it seem a little too coincidental, Tyler? That one of the chairs is missing. Heather McMann was restrained to an exact match…or at least close to it…and she’s from New Zealand where the chair originated from and where her grandmother owns a store?”
“What kind of store? Do we know?”
“Second hand stuff. Mostly clothes and small household wares. But there is a section at the back that has rare pieces. Antiques. Come on. I know you’re Mister Pessimistic, but even you have to admit this all tied together in some way. “
“I’m not pessimistic. I’m realistic. What’s the chances that any of this is connected? We’re going to put all of our hopes into a chair? One that you just admitted you aren’t one hundred percent sure even matches the one in the photos I have. And even if it is the same chair, what does it prove? How does it help us find those kids?”
“It will prove that Heather McMann is running the show. That she’s in on it and not the helpless victim that she is pretending to be. Which means we can focus solely on her and digging up her skeletons. If we can one hundred percent pin this on her, we can track down her whereabouts through colleagues. Her grandmother. There’s no way someone doesn’t know where she is. And Yaz said there’s no women’s clothes in the master bedroom and no woman’s things in any of the bathrooms.”
“So she wasn’t living there.” Tyler concludes. “Which means she didn’t go missing at the same times as the kids.”
“Probably because she’s the one that came into the house and took them. There were no signs of any struggle. Those kids weren’t taken out by force. They went willingly. And who would they trust enough to just wander out of the house with them?”
“A parent.”
“Exactly. If you were to wake Millie up at two in the morning, telling her that there was somewhere important you needed to take her, she wouldn’t argue with you. She trusts you. She has faith in you. She knows that you wouldn’t hurt or take her into a situation that could hurt her. She’d just go. And I think that’s what happened here. She wasn’t living at the house, came back in and convinced the kids to leave with her.”
“But who was staying with them? If she wasn’t living there and McMann wasn’t home at the time, who was with the kids? Were they alone?”
“Maybe things didn’t happen the way he’s telling you. Maybe he gave a fake timeline. I mean, he has been lying to you from the very beginning. What if she came in in the middle of the night? She’d have a key. She knows the code for the security system. If McMann was sleeping, she could have easily snuck in, went upstairs, woke the kids up and took them out of the house. It had to be her. If it was a stranger, the kids would have kicked up a fuss and he would have heard it and put a stop to it. Our kids don’t even like when strangers talk to them in the grocery store. They would not go quietly if someone woke them up and tried to convince them to leave. Mille would be liable to punch them in the throat and then scream for help. I mean, she kicked the shit out of Tyler and you know how he’s a little hard ass. If there was ever a kid to be named after his father, it’s that one. You have to admit; this is all starting to make a lot more sense than it did yesterday.”
“It still doesn’t explain why she would do it,” he holds the phone out to her. “We still haven’t come across a motive.”
“Money. Revenge. Maybe there’s a custody thing going on? Maybe she stands to lose custody of the kids so she concocted this elaborate ruse to make her husband look like he’s unfit?”
“That’s pretty goddamn sick don’t you think? To go to that extent? You saw the pictures. What those kids are going through is real. It’s very real. What kind of mother would do something like that? What kind of parent would even think of a plan like that? Never mind actually following through with it. Letting people do shit like that to their kids.”
‘Well she’s obviously fucked in the head. And he’s no prize either.”
Tyler gives a derisive snort. “In the pictures I have, you can see brick walls. Pipes. No windows.”
She nods, sips her wine. “Like an industrial building. Or a basement.”
“Did you guys check the basement? At McMann’s place?”
Esme nods. “It’s fully finished. No exposed brick, no wires, no pipes. Nothing.”
“But did you check the whole thing? Every inch of it?”
She frowns. “What are you thinking?”
“When I was growing up, my grandparents lived in an old farmhouse. It had a storm cellar. That you could only access from outside. Inside, there was no sign of it even existing. Did you or Yaz go into the backyard? Is there anything like that there? Any stairs leading underground? Any door that doesn’t lead directly into the house?”
“We never thought of doing that,” she admits. “We were so focused on looking around inside.”
“We need to go back. To McMann’s place. First thing tomorrow. We need to search it again.”
“What about McMann? He’ll be home. How do we get him out of there so he doesn’t know we’re going on?”
“I’ll put Yaz on that. He’ll figure something out.”
“You think that’s where the kids are? In their own basement?”
“Maybe not the kids. But maybe that’s where Heather McMann has been all this time. This is all just a big fucking game to her. One big sick and twisted fucking game.”
“But where are the kids? We’re not closer to figuring out where they are. And that’s all that really matters right? Those kids and getting them the hell out of there.”
“We find her, we find the kids.”
“What makes you think she’s going to tell us where they are? If she’s this hell bent on destroying her husband…”
“There’s ways of making people talk. You of all people know that. You spent years getting people to talk.”
“I didn’t have to resort to torturing them or beating the hell out of them, though. That’s what you’re suggesting right? Force it out of her? By all means necessary?”
He nods. “If that’s what it takes.”
*****
After dinner they take a walk along the river, in hand, enjoying the sunset and the cooler temperatures, immersed in conversation that for once didn’t involve the job or the worries and questions surrounding it. A normal couple out for date night; light hearted teasing, flirtatious comments, sweet stolen kisses. As if five and a half years hadn’t gone by and they were still immersed in that ‘getting to know you stage’. Where everything your partner said or did was the most incredible thing you could ever imagine. They’d never had that. Not really. They’d been robbed of that stage. The second Fahrad had put the bullet in Tyler’s neck, it had altered every single aspect of their lives.
The small talk that couples indulge in while learning everything there is to know about one another had taken place in a hospital room or during the walks they’d take around the hospital grounds once he’d been strong enough to do so. Or on the drives to various therapy appointments or consults with surgeons. And then she’d found out about the baby and they’d decided to speed things up; finding an apartment to call home, having a quick and private wedding with only six people in attendance. After that everything seemed to fall into place and break neck speed; the second trip to Dhaka and their eventual guardianship of Ovi, having to move into her parents, the twins arriving a month before their sister turned one. There’d never been really alone time. Quality wise. Those quiet moments where you discover things about one another that you’d either never noticed before, had previously overlooked, or had taken for granted. Their lives had revolved around being parents. Nothing more. Nothing less.
So this is nice. A chance to for them to reconnect. Outside of sex. Even if…in reality…their relationship has always revolved around it. Right from the very beginning, when they’d been unable to keep their hands off of each other in that dirty hotel room in Dhaka. Sex was their ‘thing’; something they were both great at. An escape. A way to make one another feel good. Many a fight has ended because of it. Problems solved because with the sex came those quiet, relaxed moments afterwards when they actually took the time to talk to one another. But intimacy involves more than sex, and both of them had been craving it.
“There’s something else I need to tell you,” Esme says, as they slowly walk back towards where they’d left the SUV parked by the restaurant. His jacket draped over her shoulders to ward off the chill in the air, his arm loosely draped along her shoulders, hand on her upper arm.
He sees the way people look at them; easily amused by the thirteen inch height difference. They’re an odd couple; she’s short and petite and fragile looking, while he’s tall and broad shouldered and heavily muscled. Powerful. Intimidating, even.
He frowns. “I can tell by that tone in your voice it’s something I’m not going to like.”
“You have to promise me that you won’t lose your shit. That you’ll hear me out. No matter how crazy it sounds to you. Can you do that? Keep your shit together long enough to hear everything? Because I know what you’re like, Tyler. You react first, think later. And I need you to do the opposite this time.”
“Well considering you told me an hour ago that you broke into someone’s house and stole their mail, I don’t know how worse things could possibly get.”
“You might regret saying that. Because this is just a tad worse.”
He arches an eyebrow.
“Okay, so maybe it’s a lot worse. But it’s for the job. Strictly for the job. So I can get information and we can start piecing everything together and find those kids. So keep that in mind. That what I’m about to tell you is strictly business and it is solely a means to an end.”
“Should I be sitting down for this or….?”
“Maybe? Yes?” she chews nervously on her bottom lip. “Yes. Definitely yes. You might be a calmer if you’re sitting down.”
“Esme…I swear to Christ if you did something stupid…”
She grabs a hold of his hand, tugging him towards the nearest empty park bench. “You should really sit,” she encourages. “You’re more relaxed and less likely to tear someone a new asshole when you’re sitting.”
Sighing heavily, he reluctantly takes seat.
“Okay…first thing is first…” she begins, as she sits beside him, turning to face him, legs folded underneath her. “…I love you. More than I ever thought I could love another human being. So much that is physically painful sometimes. You’re my husband and my best friend and my lover and my most steadfast supporter and the father of my kids and…”
“This is going way worse than I thought it would.”
“…and I need you to know all of that. It’s important to me that you know all that, okay?”
“Okay. And I love you too. But you’re honestly starting to freak me out a bit here.”
“Second, this is solely for the job. Just like all the other times in my past where I had to do some questionable things to get what I wanted. I’m only doing this because there’s information involved. And people that possibly have even more information. Time is running out and we really need to find those kids before it’s too late. You trust me, right?”
His eyes are narrow, brow furrowed. “To be honest, I’m not one hundred percent sure right now.”
“You remember that bartender? From the pub the other night? The one I convinced that I’m a reporter? Well he called this morning and wants to get together. He has info for me. And names. People that are higher up the food chain than he is. People that can give us a lot more than he can.”
“That sounds like a good thing. Not a bad thing. So what’s the big deal? You go back there and talk to him. Simple, yeah?”
“No. It’s not simple. It’s crazy and it’s messed up and you’re going to flip your shit for sure. He thinks I’m single. I told him that I wasn’t married anymore and that I was separated and not getting back together with my husband. My pretend husband. Not you obviously. My fake one. So now he thinks this is a date. Me going to see him. He thinks it’s an actual date.”
He laughs at the sure ridiculousness of it. “A date? Like for real?”
“It was the only way I could get information out of him. I had to make him think that I was available. And interested. To get him to let his guard down. So he called and asked me over there…to the bar…for dinner and drinks. And I know I probably should have ran this by you first, but you’d already left and I didn’t want to call you and bother you with it, so I said okay.”
His eyes narrow as he regards her. “You said okay to going on a date with another guy?”
“It’s only a date in his mind. Not mine. So technically…”
“So he thinks he’s going to be on a date with you.”
“Pretty much. You’re too calm. You’re not freaking out. This worries me. Why are you so calm?”
“Trust me, internally? I’m not calm. Not the least bit calm. Not in the slightest. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I had to get him to trust me. To get him to let his guard down,” she attempts to reason. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had to do something like this.”
“All those other times you weren’t married. You were single. Do you not see why this is a problem? Why you agreeing to this is probably the most fucked up thing I’ve ever heard? You want me to be okay with you going on a date with another man.”
“Why are you so caught up on the word ‘date’. It’s not a date. At least not in my mind. I’m just using him. To get what we need.”
“There’s other ways. To get what we need. This? This is fucked up. Beyond fucked up. How do you not see a problem with this? How do you not see how messed up this entire idea is?”
“Okay, your face and your voice are relaxed but your words are saying an entirely different thing and it is really freaking me out. Can you maybe not internalize so much? I think I like the Tyler better that just flips his shit and that’s that.”
“You intentionally told me this, in public, so I wouldn’t freak out. Now you want me to freak out?”
“I’m just used to you being...I don’t know…you.”
“Jesus Christ…” he mutters, and running and rakes both hands through his hair, then runs the palms over his face. “Of all the stupid shit you’ve said and done in the past five and a half years, this is the winner right here.”
“We’re running out of time, Tyler. The clock is ticking. If we don’t find those kids soon…”
“You don’t need to be going on a date to find the kids. Like what the fuck, Esme?”
“It isn’t a date,” she insists. “Maybe in his eyes and mind it is, but to me it’s just a job. It has no bearing on us. On our marriage. It’s not like I’m going out there to intentional cheat on you. I’m doing this as a means to an end. That’s it.”
“There’s other ways. To get information. Without having to whore out yourself to some fucking loser.”
She frowns. “That was super harsh, Tyler. You’re blowing this way out of proportion now. This guy has information that we need. He has names of very important people with even more information. People with connections. This is the one chance to get what we need. It’s business. That’s it.”
“And when he expects more than dinner?” he challenges. :What then?”
“I tell him to fuck off and I leave. You honestly don’t think I’d go that far do you? Give me some credit.”
“Would you want me doing this? Going out with some other woman?”
“If it’s for the job…”
“Fuck the job. There’s lines that you don’t cross. And you’re crossing it. Big time.”
“And you didn’t cross it when you called me asking for help?” she retorts. “And you didn’t cross it again by putting me in charge of watching your ass? I’m not G. I’m far from being G.”
“Well he’s not exactly here, is he.”
“You crossed the line first. When you brought me into this bullshit, Tyler. I was perfectly happy staying at home and taking care of kids. Our kids. You’re the one that called. Not the other way around.”
“I needed your help.”
“And this is me giving you my help. This is what I used to do. I spent years lying to people. Getting them to open up to me and trust me.”
“Was I one of those people? In Dhaka? Did that all start out as bullshit?”
“I can’t believe you would even say that. Everything that happened there was real. I never once lied to you and you know it. So that’s pretty low, Tyler. Even for you.”
Sighing heavily, he places his elbows and stares at his hands. All the callouses and scars, the misshapen and swollen knuckles from years of breaks and sprains. And he fidgets with his wedding ring; using his thumb to twirl it around his finger. A nervous habit. Or an angry one. His shoulders are tight; tension spreading through his entire body. Eyes dark and stormy. That vein in the side of his neck throbbing; the thick yet short scar clearly visible. A long lasting memento of the one bullet that had nearly ended his life.
“You’re taking this way too personally,” she says.
“And you’re not taking it personally enough.”
“You’re not looking at this objectively. This is all about the job. That’s it. I’m going in there to get the information and then I’m getting out. I’m walking out of there and I’m coming back to you. To my husband. That’s it.”
“And I’m just supposed to be okay with it? You and another guy?”
“There’s no other guy. There will never be another guy. There’s only you. I’m not going in there with feelings for him. I’m going in there because we need to find those kids and he may be the only one that can help us. Aren’t you sick of this? Playing these games? Constantly hitting brick walls? I want to go home, Tyler. I just want to go home and see our kids. And right now it seems like we’re just getting further and further away from getting there.”
“This isn’t the way,” he argues. “Sending you in there. With a guy that thinks he’s on a date with you. What if he expects more? What if…?”
“I know how to say ‘no’. I would never…ever….do something like that. And the fact that you even think I would…”
“Doesn’t mean he won’t force you to do something. You go in there alone, with no backup, and he has you right where he wants you.”
“I’m capable of dropping a guy that needs to be dropped. I know how to kick someone in the nuts. You need to trust me. I know what I’m doing. I go in there, have dinner, a drink, get what I want and get the hell out. That’s it.”
“Things are never that easy and you know it.”
“Tyler…” she lays a hand on his back; between his shoulders, moving in slow, comforting circles. “You need to trust me. You trust me enough to watch your back. You should trust me enough to do this.”
He sighs. “I don’t like this. I don’t like the idea of you going in there. Alone.”
“Yaz says there’s ways to keep an eye on things. Or an ear on things, I should say. I can wear a wire. You guys would be able to hear everything that gets said. You could wait outside somewhere and listen in. That way you’d know if I was in trouble or not. You want me to have your back? Well now I need you to have mine. No matter how uncomfortable the situation makes you.”
He inhales sharply, exhaling as he shakes his head. “This is messed up. It is so beyond messed up. How did this happen? How did things get this fucked?”
“How did things get fucked in Dhaka? They just did. At least this time we have a chance to prepare for the shit show. We’re not just getting tossed into it. Maybe that’s the only good thing about how slow things have been moving. We actually have time to breathe and think things through.”
“I feel like I’m going nuts. I feel like I’m losing my mind. It’s just so twisted and crazy and I’m starting to think my brain is just making half this shit up to fuck with me.”
“Unfortunately, it’s very real. And I hate every damn second of it. But we need to stick together. We need to trust each other. We’re stronger together than we are apart. We always have been.”
He nods in agreement.
“I love you, Tyler. Deciding this? To go about things this way? I didn’t do it to hurt you. I would never hurt you, you know that. And I love you and I just want to go home.”
“So do I,” he says, and wrapping his arm around her shoulders, pulls her tightly into him and presses a kiss to her forehead. “So do I.”
#tyler rake#tyler rake fan fic#tyler rake fan fiction#extraction#chris hemsworth character#sanctuary
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Bad Thing - Chapter 9
Author's Notes:
We are very, extremely, sincerely sorry for the long wait on the rest of this story! Most of it is already written, thanks ENTIRELY to Gladrial, just needing detail and polish. Thank you so much, from the bottom of our fangirl hearts, for enjoying this and letting us know! This is a story close to our souls and we cannot wait to share the rest with y'all!
Risque has put together a soundtrack for this fic on Spotify, though it frustratingly leaves out the song that inspired the title, which is the hard to locate "I've Done A Bad Thing" by Ellen Reid. Consider that the real first track!
---
August had started with a heatwave. A dumb, stupid heatwave that reminded Harleen of a time early in high school where she'd rode with some friends to a lake outside the city, eight teenagers packed in an ancient van with no air conditioning. Somewhere in the middle of Nowhere, Gotham County, the engine decided that life wasn't worth living and, since it was a time before everybody had a cell phone, they were stranded on a lonely stretch of road, with the sun beating down on them, and not even a brief breeze to bring respite. Most of them had also already been drinking, getting a headstart on the drinking they were going to do at the lake, which led to Harleen and her friend Amber taking turns holding each other's hair while they puked into the roadside weeds.
"...And that's why I'll never drink lemonade and vodka ever again," Harleen concluded, flicking the ash from her cigarette off the side of the balcony. "Or get in a van that's old enough to have grandchildren."
Miss Murton laughed, coughing out a cloud of cigarette smoke as she did.
Millie, Harleen reminded herself as the older woman had insisted she stop addressing her so formally. She patted her back, concerned, but Millie brushed her off, insisting she was fine.
"Just reminds me of my own youth, is all. I'm always tickled by how, at the heart, nothing ever changes."
-at the hands of the notorious Joker. Upon hearing his name, Harley suddenly became acutely aware of the televised news broadcast playing softly in the background, through the open sliding door.
"Turn it up," Harley asked, as she knew still had the remote and Harley was busy leaning her head to see the screen, her attention now focused fully on the shaky footage of wreckage and smoke.
Miss Murton grabbed the remote and raised the sound, the announcer's General American accent droning over an aerial shot of the scene, the view of twisted metal and firemen scaling rubble.
At least thirty-one dead in the wake of last night's attack on the subway. Many more in critical condition following the forced derailing.
"Horrible," Millie offered sadly. "I used to think that it was impossible for anyone to be truly evil. But him-"
Harley declined to respond. She'd never gone into detail about her job with Millie. Patient confidentiality notwithstanding, Leland had warned her not to let loose even the most mundane details of her job early on, particularly with such a high profile case. She could see why. Arkham Asylum was constantly hounded for information from the media and bribes worked exceedingly well, not just with general staff, but also for the doctors. Of course, aside from the obvious security risk idly chatting about her career would be, there was the real possibility that it would lead to morbid curiosity or straight-up avoidance.
Better to let someone really get to know you first, Leland had advised. Harley had taken it to heart. She didn't really want to get in a mental health debate with someone Miss Murton's age anyway, imagining she'd be very set in her ways.
Thankfully, Commissioner Gordon has confirmed that the clown prince of crime is currently in custody and awaiting his return to Arkham Asylum.
That certainly hadn't taken as long as Harley thought it would. After all the trouble he'd put her through to only be out a few days? ...Still he had indicated it was for a specific purpose. She realized uneasily that this must have been it.
"Make sure to lock the door behind him this time," her companion muttered bitterly behind another cigarette. "Honestly, why is it so hard to keep him in there?"
In this specific incident, Harley knew exactly why. She inhaled sharply, feeling that familiar pang of guilt trying to creep in. The one that he had argued out of her not a few nights ago. Exhaling, she decided this was a prime incident to bring up in their next session.
---
Dr. Quinzel waited patiently in the therapy room. Normally, she'd have some anxiety about seeing her patient once again, but it seemed strangely absent this time. Perhaps because it'd only been a week since she'd last seen him. Or perhaps because this was all becoming rather commonplace. A thought that, she knew, should fill her with concern, but somehow it didn't. This all felt...strangely natural.
Even so, things had been extremely tense the last time they saw one another. It had ended okay eventually, but there had been a point when she thought he really was done with her. So why then wasn't she the slightest bit scared?
She closed her eyes and briefly analyzed herself. Her behavior. His behavior. Their interactions. The answer lay there somewhere. He was done with her because she wasn't living up to his expectations. He should have killed her, but he didn't.
It was far from the first time it crossed her mind. He could have done it in the car. She remembered how angry he had been. He'd let her go instead. Why? She recalled other incidents when she'd irritated him on some level. Questioning him on the way to their date. She'd disappointed him that day too, on the rooftops. Times she said or did things that he found asinine.
All in all, very minor infractions, if infractions at all. But, she reminded herself, logic didn't matter where he was concerned. They were infractions to him. And it didn't matter how minor, he'd killed for far less, for seemingly no reason at all. She couldn't analyze him in the same framework as other people.
He'd had every opportunity. She'd allowed herself to be as vulnerable as a person can be around another. She should, by all accounts, be very dead…but she wasn't.
She went back to the night in question, when she'd disappointed him the most. He hadn't killed her. He'd approached her at home and actively sought her out for some form of understanding instead. She imagined he would have gone ahead with it, if she hadn't reciprocated.
She smiled to herself. He was seeking connection in the only way he knew how and she'd successfully risen to the occasion. Perhaps if others had made more of an effort...but then, a large part of her was selfishly glad no one had.
"Morning, Dr. Quinzel," Jeremy greeted her as he and Sean escorted her patient inside. "You look like you're in a good mood."
"It's going to be a good day," she replied, regarding the Joker. He had come in calmly without any of his normal quips. Instead he wore an expression of someone torn between surprise and self-satisfaction.
"Well, well. Look who's still here," Joker commented, after security had put the pitifully futile restraints on him and left.
"I'm your doctor," Harley replied, glancing above the brim of her glasses toward him, as she fingered through his most recent file. "Where else would I be?"
"That was entirely up to you," he reminded her. "All part of our bargain."
She cringed inwardly, but was certain it didn't show. She'd become rather good at hiding her inner thoughts, given the recent twists and turns of her life. She knew no one could hear them in here. Not unless she made the very stupid choice to record their session, something she could not afford at this point. Still, hearing the word 'bargain' between them, within these walls, was unsettling.
"As I recall," Harley said, putting his file down on the desk in front of her. "That was something you had come up with."
"Ah, so you helped me have my little romp out of the kindness of your heart then? If memory serves, you didn't seem too enthusiastic at the time."
This was off the topic she wanted to focus on, but part of her was glad he'd brought it up. After all, it was precisely what she had been thinking about before he'd entered. Therapy was meant to air thoughts that were uncomfortable to confront. In this case, uncomfortable for her...but still. Doing so with this would keep them from being bogged down by it later.
She tapped a pen rhythmically against the surface of the desk, considering her response. "Maybe I don't know what I want," she offered carefully.
Once the words had left her lips, she felt an unexpected weight lift off her shoulders. She'd had a plan. A plan that she'd been relentlessly pursuing, despite feelings she didn't want to admit to. Feelings that ultimately none of it was going to make her happy.
"Oh, but I think you do." He leaned in conspiratorially as much as his restraints would allow. "I have to admit, I was looking forward to following your career, but this is better. Much, much better. I was dreading whoever they were going to dump me on next. They wouldn't have been half as fun as you."
Harley laughed. "Well, while we're confessing things, it might have occurred to me that anything I could choose to do wouldn't be half as exciting as what we've been doing lately."
"Darling, you haven't seen anything yet," he promised with a wink. "Speaking of, what are the chances of you opening the door for me again, as it were?"
She let the pen drop from her hand. It landed absently on the floor as she stared at him, slack-jawed with a half-smile.
"What?" he continued innocently. "We could have one of our little sleepovers. You like those!"
"You just got here!" she exclaimed with disbelief.
"I wasn't suggesting it be today. I haven't even seen the old gang yet."
Harley shook her head absently. "Unbelievable," she said to herself, a giggle betraying her.
"That wasn't a no!" Joker declared triumphantly.
Harley pointed at the file in front of her assertively in an attempt to regain control of the conversation. "Getting back on track, we need to talk about the subway incident."
"Oh that." He rolled his head dismissively. "Last I heard, the death count has gone up to thirty-six. Hardly my record, but not bad."
"You're upset that more people didn't die as a result of your actions?"
"Oh, it could have been more," he replied, defensively. "Or it could have been none. See, that's the thing when playing with the Bat. You've got to have distractions in place. If you're single-minded, he will hone in relentlessly and you won't have a prayer."
"I don't understand," Harley admitted, wondering if it was better or worse that these massive acts of violence had a strategy behind them.
"Well, if I had planned, for example, to attack one subway train he would have sniffed that out. It's not like I was being subtle. I wanted his attention after all. So, he would have figured it out, stopped it, and dragged me away. A very short, anticlimactic game, wouldn't you agree?"
"So...what'd you do instead?"
"This time? Divide and conquer," he continued, smugly. "Instead of saying 'x marks the spot', I planted many an x. Unlike our resident riddle machine." He rolled his eyes heavily with disdain. "He literally wants to be caught. What kind of gimmick is that? 'Come catch me Batman.' 'Oh no. You caught me.'"
Harley snickered behind her hand, trying to compose herself.
"Feel free to laugh, my dear," the Joker encouraged. "He's truly a ridiculous man."
"I shouldn't encourage the mocking of another patient under our care," she stated, straightening her glasses.
Joker smirked at her with a tilt of the head. "He once had an underground game show. Do you know what he called it? The Riddle Factory."
She exploded in laughter despite herself. "Oh my god! That's so stupid."
"Agreed."
Blinking back tears, she suddenly regarded him with irritation. "You've gotten us off track again."
"My mind does tend to wander," he admitted apologetically. "Where were we?"
"Divide and conquer."
"Ah yes," he continued. "So I made it clear that my latest scheme would be taking place on the subway, but which station? Which train? Who could say? To make doubly sure, because the Bat is a crafty one, I redoubled my efforts. I actually had several explosives ready in different locations. Enough to keep the entire Bat-clan busy. By the time they had finished, they'd deactivated all but one. C'est la vie."
"A most engaging tale," she complimented. "But what happened wasn't really going to be my question."
"Apologies," he offered. "I appear to have jumped the gun."
"You were very insistent that this had to happen at a very specific time. Why?"
His eyes gleamed. "Oh, it was a very important anniversary. I couldn't possibly have missed it."
"Anniversary? For you and Batman?" she clarified, scribbling in her notebook.
"Who else would I go through so much effort for? To think he almost ruined it too," he finished sadly. "He appreciates the lengths I go to so little."
---
"I'm just saying that the physical health of the patients under our care should be just as, if not more, important than the mental care," Kirkwood stated pretentiously. "You can't care for the mind if the body is not healthy."
Harley hid the desire to roll her eyes yet again, struggling to look busy. Not that it ever worked. It was as though he was arguing not with her but at her, seeing as she never swapped words with him at this point. Why would he think that she, a psychiatrist, was a good candidate for this conversation?
This morning routine she was forced into was getting beyond tiresome. She was considering asking him to leave, point blank, even if it did open a can of worms at work she didn't want to deal with, when Jeremy suddenly walked in. Without a word, he pulled another chair up to her desk to join them, as though he had been expected.
"Thanks for inviting me," Jeremy said to her casually, setting down a coffee and bagel on her desk.
She stared at him awkwardly for a moment, before replying with a confused, "...You're welcome?"
"Not a bad way to start the day," he replied quickly, seemingly oblivious to the perplexed faces Kirkwood and she were throwing at him. "I never make time for breakfast."
Kirkwood wasn't just confused, Harley realized. He was annoyed. Really annoyed. Her eyes flashed quickly between him and back to Jeremy who was giving her a look with intent.
"Not a morning person then?" Harley asked him nonchalantly, suddenly acting as though she had expected him all along.
Jeremy's posture relaxed upon her understanding and hers followed suit. Kirkwood's only seemed to tighten all the more as a result.
"Not really," Jeremy admitted, taking a bite out of his bagel. "How about you?"
"I suppose life has forced me to become one, but I don't think I come by it naturally," Harley answered. "But I didn't have a lot of choice in college. Between classes and gym practice and meets-" she finished with a shrug.
"You did gymnastics in college?" he asked, sounding somewhat impressed.
"Yes. I actually got a scholarship through it." She didn't try to hide the sound of self-satisfaction in her voice, still rightfully proud of herself after all the grueling practice and sickeningly early mornings.
"No shit," Jeremy commented. "Well, show us what you can do!"
Harley chuckled, enjoying the attention. "I'd say I'm rusty, but I've actually gotten back in the swing of things lately. Just the same, I don't think here's the place and I'm not dressed right anyway."
"I'm a morning person," Kirkwood offered, which had nearly startled Harley, having momentarily forgotten he was there.
He must have realized as much, because he suddenly excused himself, claiming he needed to get to his wing of the building and started with his day. Both Harley and Jeremy wished him a good day and waited for the door to close behind him.
Jeremy instantly turned to Harley with a look of sincerity. "I'm so sorry. If I've overstepped my bounds, just say so. It's just...I've seen him bothering you a lot...or at least it seems like he's bothering you...and I just thought maybe it'd help if I-" He gestured around helplessly. "I don't know."
"Are you kidding?" Harley exclaimed. "You're my hero! He's been driving me absolutely up the wall! Thank you. A million times thank you. If you can see he's bothering me, why can't he?"
"He's just trying to wear you down. You don't have to put up with it, you know."
"I know," she sighed helplessly. "It's just...he hasn't really done anything. What am I supposed to do? Complain to HR that he won't stop exchanging pleasantries?"
"Well, if it helps," he offered. "I don't mind doing this more, if you'd like."
"Jeremy, you don't have to do that. I would never ask someone else to be subjected to him on a daily basis too."
"Have to? Who said anything about 'have to'?" he asked with a mischievous grin. "I'm still hoping to get a cartwheel out of you or something."
Harley laughed at that, good and loud. "We'll see," she offered simply, grateful not to have to face these awkward mornings alone anymore.
---
It felt surreal being there once more already, Harley mused as she entered the cemetery for the second time in four months. She'd barely been working at Arkham more than a year and here she was again for a work related death.
She silently walked with a small group of co-workers to the gravesite of the guard the Joker had killed during his latest escapade. Everyone was respectfully quiet, making it easy for her to get lost in thought. An image of a chalkboard declaring 'Zero Days Since Our Last Workplace Incident' came to mind and she stifled a chuckle.
All thoughts of levity quickly abated as she found herself face-to-face with an open casket. This wasn't the result of an unfortunate workplace accident. It had been cold-blooded murder.
The cold-face looking back at her as she paid her respects wasn't one she was familiar with from day-to-day. She only ever saw him once, but it was a face she'd never forget. The face of someone trying to comfort and reassure her, before he'd been brutally stabbed to death.
Stabbed to death with her knife. The knife she'd smuggled into Arkham. The knife she'd willingly given to a notorious killer and set loose.
She couldn't help feeling like this face, albeit dead, was staring at her knowingly, even through shut eyes. She was overcome with this feeling that it would continue to do so, even six feet beneath the earth. Even from the comfort of her home. Cold, dead eyes piercing her apartment walls.
Next thing she knew, Harley found herself seated in a folding chair. Several concerned faces watched her intently, though she managed to focus on Joan kneeling in front of her first.
"Take it easy," Joan suggested softly.
"Did-Did I faint?" Harley asked.
"No," her mentor assured her. "Well...perhaps nearly. Jeremy here made sure to catch you before you hit the ground though."
Harley looked up to see Jeremy smiling at her warmly. They both took a seat on either side of her as the service began, but she couldn't focus on the words. Even sitting between two people that obviously cared for her, she felt so alone.
She hadn't wanted to come. Knew it would only make things worse for her, but could see little way out of it. She'd been the last person to see him alive after all. All it served to do was make her feel completely guilt-ridden...which granted, why shouldn't she? Bad enough that she was responsible, but then she had to go and have a spell right there in front of everyone, making herself the center of attention during an event where she absolutely should not be.
At least Kirkwood wasn't here. He'd probably spend the remainder of the service mooning over her.
The casket closed with a dull thud and she felt herself jump slightly at the sound. She moved mechanically, following the crowd of people as they made to leave. Maybe she could blend in with them unnoticed and those dead eyes would lose sight of her.
---
It hadn't taken long before he'd convinced her to escort him out of the asylum once more. She'd agreed, but with the stipulation that it'd be done quickly and quietly this time. He didn't argue. She supposed she could have done so just as easily the first time around, avoiding bloodshed, if she'd just had gone through with it without a fuss.
What had followed was a rather lengthy stint of him coming in and out of her apartment at will, often staying the night and even conducting business over the phone in full earshot of her. One day, she'd come home with takeout and dessert to find him engaged in what she could only consider a kidnapping craft project, discarded letters cut from magazines and being glued to construction paper, the whole cliche topped off with a lunchbox of fingers in the fridge.
"See, Harl? The guy was already dead, it's not time sensitive. Plenty of time to eat and watch the movie, I can finish this after. Just push the box of Fred Fingers to the side and the cheesecake will fit." Both the Fred Fingers and cheesecake were gone by the next morning.
Though she wasn't aware of it at first, eventually a hat here, some socks there, and there was enough of Joker's laundry mixed with hers to fit in the top drawer. Which Harley emptied the moment she thought of it, feeling slightly drunk and giddy with the thought. Two of his purple trench coats, though different fabrics and shades of his signature purple, hung in the coat closet. One of his jester headed canes sat beneath, leaning against her vacuum.
Seeing his handguns casually out on a table or in a shoulder holster slung over the back of a chair was normal now and loose ammo cartridges were scattered around the apartment. Erring on the side of caution, she didn't move them, though she suspected it was less "strategic placement in case of attack" and more him emptying his pockets wherever he pleased. Appropriately, the Joker's belongings were home to a seemingly endless assortment of pill bottles, knives, and colorful "props" that she, as a rule, always considered dangerous.
They had meandering talks about everything and nothing, enjoying the constant stream of comedy that he played on the television. Relaxing on the couch, his head in her lap, her fingers brushing through his tousled curls as the smoke from their cigarettes curled around and up. She often snuggled against his chest in bed, her petite form enveloped by his long arms and his hands petting the back of her neck. At times, Harley had watched him sleep, marveling in the rare stillness of a face so often in motion.
She had to admit, she hadn't been this happy in years. It was so nice to have someone to come home to, even if it was sporadic.
And she noticed those eyes she had been so scared of following her home...they were strangely absent whenever he was around.
Harley brushed her teeth vigorously, taking note of his own purple toothbrush looking up at her. She shook her head in disbelief at the turn of events that had brought her here. It was such an innocuous thing, a toothbrush, but it was his and it was next to hers, something she doubted anyone else could ever claim.
The thought put a bounce in her step. She placed her own toothbrush in the holder next to his and skipped out of the bathroom to her bedroom.
"Well, someone's in a good mood tonight," he commented, looking up from his phone as she hopped into bed next to him.
"Why shouldn't I be?" She asked, melting into the sheets beneath her. "Life is good."
"Is it, cupcake?" He looked down at her suggestively, giving Harley that fluttery drop feeling in her stomach. "I know something that would make it even better."
Giving a blowjob was like riding a bike, Harley thought, falling quickly into the familiar movements with her tongue and lips. The Joker's cock was thick and long enough that she could only get a few inches after the head into her mouth at once, though he didn't seem to mind, petting and stroking her hair while murmuring words of affection and encouragement. She swirled her tongue around the soft skin near the slit, her left hand cupping and fondling his balls gently. Her right wrapped around the exposed length of shaft she couldn't fit in, her own fair complexion seeming like a deep tan next to his ever so lightly pink-tinged alabaster and tiny pulsing blue veins.
Though Harley was no stranger to giving head, she was surprised with how much more into it she was than with previous men, actually working herself up even with all her concentration on his pleasure.
And his were the only eyes she could see.
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8, 23, 32, and 73 for the other ask for Maria and Anastasia (because I'm predictable and I love them) -S
This is one of the ones that I actually did get a notification for a long time ago. I remember this one very distinctly, along with another one that I reblogged at the same time but I apparently forgot to answer this huh
anyway, time to dig up that old ask game
8. What are their good and bad traits?
Certain bad traits of Anastasia are pretty damn obvious. You know, the whole torture thing. She is super loyal and determined, which in her case isn’t exactly a good thing as it contributed to her initial radicalization and later was a strong cause of her just wanting to fit in and starting down the torture path. But she is also very protective of her friends even though she’s not great at showing them in the warm and fuzzy way, it mostly shows in combat. And also that time she tortured someone for trying to shoot her friend and it definitely became more than a bit personal. Basically long answer short she has somehow managed to bring out all the bad parts of her personality traits jwahebdfkdj
Maria has always been ambitious, but at the beginning of her character arc it was about herself, wanting more power personally, and over time it evolved into… I guess she still wanted to be important, but being important because of what she does for other people you know? So I guess that from being a bad trait to a good one for her.
23. How do they usually wear their hair?
So there’s a bit of a story behind Anastasia’s hair, which is briefly mentioned in a drabble that I finished and will post after I get through the asks today. But they are only allowed either short hair or long hair in a bun, although most people who actually see action keep it short because it makes it easier to find injuries on the head. After she faked her death and went by a completely different identity she wore her hair long and down and dyed it blue.
Normal timeline Maria wears her hair braids most of the time. Sometimes in two braids, and when she puts it in one braid it’s either straight down her back or sideways to her right. She also has to keep her hair in a bun on the clock, but she tends to just take her braid and put it in a bun. For fancy occasions she’d do some more funky stuff with her braid-bun.Gang!AU Maria wears her hair down when she’s dealing with people, be that socializing or torture and/or execution. It’s a) pretty and b) scarily casual if you’re torturing someone with wavy hair hanging to hip level you know? But if she needs her hair out of the way for whatever reason she’ll either put it in a braid or a messy high bun.
32. Do they get stressed out easily?
Anastasia didn’t at first. She mostly just,, managed to push all her emotions out of the way and didn’t think about them at all and it mostly worked pretty well for her. Besides, the detention centre is filled with free stress relief ;))). Later, after she faked her death, she went from constantly looking over her shoulders, thinking that someone was coming for her at first, to permanently having a crisis about what she did and what she’s going to do.
Maria definitely doesn’t get stressed out *easily* but her job is pretty stressful for sure. She mostly deals with it with bar conversations with Elias, pain, or, later at Millie’s insistence, actually utilizing the few support resources that the military provides. (Millie is wholesome, Millie is so wholesome and deserves so much love)
73. What attracts them to another person?
Huh. Huh, yeah. Good question.
Anastasia... I guess, for her it’s just someone who can understand her without necessarily knowing? Someone she can be vulnerable with and won’t ask questions. In the beginning that mostly just means like,, understanding and not asking questions when she’s not ready to talk about those things. She opens up very slowly or just not at all.
Maria on the other hand opens up pretty damn fast, and if someone accepts her and just lets her do that then step 1 is going pretty swell. And she is attracted to people who is,, upbeat and carefree and is just going with the current of life?
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The Warriors’ Holiday Traditions
To @furlfangs from @nemesisadraste
Setting: The first holiday after they defeat X.A.N.A in season 4. Time setting: My story happens in December 2006 in order to follow the CL time line. P.s: English isn’t my first language so please be indulgent with mistakes.
1st December 2006: Jeremy called all the warriors (including William) for a meeting in his room.
William finally arrives at the meeting. It was the first time a member of the gang, other than Yumi, had contacted him since Lyoko was shut down. So it must be important. He entered the room to see Jeremy seated on his computer chair, facing the rest of the room where the others had already found their seats: Aelita was on another chair next to Einstein, and the others were on his bed. Ulrich near Jeremy, next to him was Yumi and finally, Odd was the one nearest the door, laying back with his feet on the wall and head upside down at the other side of the bed, looking at William’s funny confused expression.
Odd: Hey! Little Will! Don’t be shy, welcome to the party! Said the cat-boy while turning around to sit normally on the bed. Here, you can take my spot! He continues while getting up and sits on another chair next to Aelita.
William: Ok. He simply answers as he goes to sit next to Yumi where Odd was before. What’s this weird meeting about? Does it have something to do with X.A.N.A or Lyoko?
Jeremy: Absolutely not! I called you because, as you know, it is our first holiday together without having to worry about X.A.N.A ruining it and I realise we never actually talked about our traditions for this time of year. So I wanted to fix that.
William sat still for a moment. He was extremely happy to be invited. That means they consider him a member of the gang, but he didn’t dare say it out loud in case that reminded them that he wasn’t. He simply smiles and waits for Jeremy to continue.
Jeremy: Ok so here’s how it goes! I’ve got all our names in this Santa hat. I’ll pick one at random and this person has to tell the others about their holiday traditions. Once it is over, we’ll reuse the names to make a secret Santa. Is that good for everybody?
Ok why not? Agreed the warriors all at once.
Jeremy: Perfect let’s do this! First one to speak is…….(Drumrolls)…… Odd! So Odd? What are your holiday traditions?
Odd: Oh you know nothing big. I just go back to Italia with my family. We have some rotation process so every year a different house organizes the party and this house alone has a Christmas tree to put the gifts under. But usually it goes the same: all the people arrive around 5 o’clock then everyone talks about how the stores were a mess to go to this year and how well the house is decorated and shitty things like that until we eat dinner at 7. Then the conversations gets a little better, but I’m too busy eating to even care so… then we stay in the living room until we open the gifts around 10. The host puts on a Santa suit and delivers the gifts and once they’ve all been opened we go to the midnight mass and then everyone goes back to their homes. That’s it. For New Year we just shout out the countdown for midnight and kiss each other a happy New Year that’s all. Usually I just wait for the season to be over and I can’t wait to come back here with you!
Aelita: Why? Your family sounds fun to party with!
Odd: Oh it would be fun if I didn’t have to anticipate my sisters’ “joke” and spend the whole night recovering from it.
Ulrich: Funny I thought you’d be the joker.
Yumi: Maybe karma does exist at some point (Laughs)
Odd: (suddenly very serious) If that is karma I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
Everyone stays quiet for a while… What kind of jokes would scare Odd and take him that long to recover? He who never seems to be affected by anything… William was about to ask the question out loud when Jeremy, in order to change the mood, broke the silence.
Jeremy: Ok next one is (He puts his hand in the hat, mixes the papers and gets one out of it.) Ulrich!
Ulrich: Well that would be short I don’t have any.
William: What? How come? I though Dutch people celebrated Christmas!
Ulrich: Dutch people do! But my father doesn’t. I mean I used to get the Santa thing and all but my father learned somewhere that 7 years old was the rational age and he thinks that means to be little adults so a week or so after my 7th birthday, he spoiled it all about Santa and his magic elves not being real and even forbid me from watching “stupid children’s cartoons” anymore. Since then Christmas at my place is a business one where he invites everyone from his office and smooth talks the no-lifes who come. Same for New Year.
Yumi: Wow… I knew you didn’t have the father of the year but killing all the magic at once like that is just… super cruel.
Ulrich: It was just imaginary bullshit anyway so I don’t care. Who’s next Einstein?
Einstein: Yeah sure… ok (he mixes the paper in the hat again starting to feel uncomfortable with the whole thing… He did it for them to have fun not to relive holiday traumas… he didn’t even know such things could exist! Not so close to him at least.) Next one to share their holiday traditions is Yumi!
Yumi: Ok well don’t worry it won’t be awkward. (Everyone laughs nervously.) In Japan Christmas is a friends/couples holiday not a family one. On the 24th my parents go to a romantic dinner and I stay with Hiroki. We eat take-out fried chicken and watch some Christmas movies until we fall asleep on the couch and on the 25th we exchange secret Santa gifts in the morning. New Year is for family! We all go to my aunt Akemi in Japan from December 27th to January 5th and it is a time to clean, repair/replace everything broken and make resolutions to start the New Year on fresh good bases. It is very fun and I look forward it every year!
Jeremy: That sounds very cool!
Ulrich: Yeah can I go with you?
Yumi: Not for Christmas. Hiroki and I picked mom and dad on the secret Santa for the first time so we decided to only watch one movie while eating the fried chicken and then clean the whole house and then go to Millie’s house (guess who asked for that) for the night and the next day so our parents will have some time alone.
Ulrich: Oh that’s nice! And for New Year? Can I go to Japan with you? My dad probably won’t notice I’m gone for a week.
Yumi: If you pay your ticket I’m sure my dad won’t mind.
Ulrich: (totally broke) Forget it. But I’ll save up for next year.
Yumi: Fine by me said Yumi smiling.
Jeremy: Great! Now next one is……………………………………. William!
It took a few seconds for the ex Xana-warrior to realise his name was called. He didn’t realise he was actually in the hat, part of the gang.
Odd: Will? Do you plan on talking today? Cause if not I’m gonna get some snacks.
William: What?! Oh yeah it’s my turn… Ok well my dad and I are kind of Christmas freaks so all December we decorate the entire house. We would start sooner, but my mom doesn’t allow anything Christmassy until December 1st so… Anyway on the 24th we get my dad’s family here in France and it is a big super fun party until the Christmas mass. They go but I don’t because I’m atheist and I find it disrespectful to go to places of worship when you don’t believe their meaning.
Ulrich: So they leave you alone at home?
William: I’m not a kid I can take care of myself for a couple of hours! I just watch "Christmas Vacation" while finishing the party snacks. And on the 25th we go to my mom’s family in Quebec. Thanks to the time difference (Quebec is 6 hours late from France) we can get some sleep before going and still spend the entire Christmas day with them. Or the entire week since we stay for New Year which is really fun at their place and we all watch "Le Bye-Bye", a show where some popular local actors make comic sketches about what happens during the year. It is fun and my grand-mother explains every joke cause since we live in France, she thinks we don’t know anything about what happens in the rest of the world. It is useful sometime though… especially when they refer to Quebec TV shows so we let her do it. And that’s pretty much it so…
Jeremy: Cool… I didn’t know your mom was from Quebec.
William: Yeah they met during one of my dad’s business trips. I was even born and grew up there! I was 6 when we moved to France for my dad’s job. I never told you that?
All: Nope.
William: Ok, well now I just did.
Jeremy: Very interesting! Ok now there is only two left!
Yumi: The cute chubby couple! Screamed the manga fan, making everyone look at her in shock because of how unusual this sort of enthusiasm was from her. What?! They are a cute chubby couple. She adds pointing at Jeremy and Aelita.
Jeremy: Thanks! Ok so the first Chubby to talk about holiday traditions is……. Princess!
Aelita: Did you really write princess? She check out the paper to see that yes, he did.
Jeremy: And I wrote Einstein for mine he says while taking the last piece of paper to prove it. Though it was funny… It is funny right?
Odd: I give you my approval! But you lose points for not writing "Little Will”.
William looks at Odd angrily. What would it take for him to stop calling him that?
Odd: More than you could ever do in a life-time. Answered the trouble-maker as if he had read his mind.
William gets a little scared by it and manages to avoid eye contact with him for the rest of the meeting.
Aelita: I don’t remember. I was 6 when the men in black kidnapped my mom and after that Hopper didn’t celebrate any special days. He focused on Lyoko and his work as a teacher.
The room’s energy suddenly drops real deep down into sadness and compassion. Jeremy takes his princess into his arms and Aelita hugs him back for several long seconds before she gently pushes him back and wipes her little silent tears with her hands.
Jeremy: You know what? I’m sure you’ll find a way to make your own traditions and maybe this year I could share mine with you if you want.
Aelita: I’d love that! What are they?
Jeremy: I’m Jewish so I celebrate Hanukkah!
Ulrich: The thing with the candles?
Jeremy: It is more complicated than just "the thing with the candles" but yes. And since I’m the only one who hasn’t spoken yet I’ll be glad to explain it. A long time ago, a Seleucid king of Syria took control over the kingdom of Judea. He let the Jews do their own things but when his son took his place, wanting to unify his kingdom, he made it illegal to practice Judaism and to study the Torah. He wanted everyone to worship the Greek gods. Now many went along with it. But when the king invaded Jerusalem, a group of rebels called the Maccabees fought them for 3 years and once they pushed the invaders out, they had to rededicate the temple. To do so they needed to light the Menorah. Now they only had oil to light it for a day but it miraculously lasted eight days and eight nights. We call it "the miracle of the cruse of oil". And to commemorate this miracle and the victory associated with it, each year for Hanukkah we light the eight candles of the Menorah. One more each night during the eight nights of Hanukkah.
Aelita: What a nice story! I can’t wait to see the candle-lighting myself!
Jeremy: If you like how I tell the story you should hear when Jim does it! He is a good story teller despite what his "I’d rather not talk about it" anecdote suggests.
Ulrich: You mean Jim is Jewish too?
Jeremy: Yes! And so are some of the other boarding students. You see, Hanukkah isn’t exactly on the same date every year. Most of the time it happens before the holiday break. That means some boarders like me can’t be there for the menorah lighting with their family. And as real Menorahs (meaning not electric ones) are not allowed in the rooms for safety reasons, Jim does the lighting and the blessings each night in one of the classrooms so the students who want to attend can be there. And we can stay for the time that it burns which means half an hour or an hour and half. Non-Jews are allowed too if they stay respectful.
Odd: Cool! What time is it this year? I wanna see that! Promise I’ll behave I know this is serious.
Jeremy: You better! This year in 2006 Hanukkah starts the night of December 15th and finishes on December 23rd. But now it’s secret Santa time! I’ll put the names back in the hat and everyone pick the name of the person they’re gonna buy a gift for. Once you’re done, give it to Millie and Tamiya. They will give them to me once they’ve received them all and I’ll give you your gifts before we leave for the break. We all open them on December 25th at midnight on our own and not before then all right? We’ll talk about it when the break is over.
Jeremy puts the names back in the hat and shakes it to mix them randomly. After that, he passes the hat around the gang so everyone can pick a name. Odd was the last one and after reading the name he lets out a big sigh.
Odd: Oh damn I picked mine!
Everyone sighs heavily and puts their paper back except for William who instead says:
William: No you didn’t!
Odd: (With the greatest smile he’s ever had) Oh right I picked princess… guess that means you picked me!
Odd’s smile changes into a laugh when he sees William’s face as he realises he fell into Odd’s trap to find out who picked his name. Ulrich joins him while the others just look annoyed by his joke.
Jeremy: Seriously Odd! Now we’ve got to do it over because of your stupid joke! Ok all the papers are in? Good now Odd you pick first this time!
And everyone picks their recipient and goes back to their normal lives waiting for the big day.
Bonus: Who picks who and what was their gift?
Jeremy picks Aelita and gives her a necklace so he can finally say he is the giver without lying.
Aelita picks Jeremy and gives him Lyoko stats that she made herself since the supercomputer didn’t.
Yumi picks Odd and gives him a picture of the Lyoko gang so he remembers he still has a good family despite his blood-sucking one.
Odd picks Ulrich and gives him the “Pacific Rim” DVD cause it makes him think of Ulrich and Yumi.
William picks Yumi and gives her an antique looking glass so she never forgets how awesome she is.
Ulrich picks William and gives him an elf suit and he went to his house with a Santa suit and they had a merry XXX-mas.
Hope you enjoy it! Give me your comments! On my Tumblr (@nemesisadraste or @aidosshadow).
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Could you maybe write a Kevin accidentally meeting Joaquin's closest friends/gang members oneshot? Like would it go well/friendly teasing or more threatening? Thank youuuu
This Is Not How I Imagined It
Or, Kevin meets Joaquin’s ‘family’
Word Count: 1.4k
Genre: Fluff
Warnings: mentions of gangs and mentions of violence
Read it on AO3
Note: all of the gang members and Joaquin’s brother are made up by me. These are my characters. All of Joaquin’s family life here is completely headcanon.
Kevin didn’t know when he had become the kind of kid who made out in the back of bars. He used to roll his eyes at the couples that would grope each other during school dances or behind the shelves of Riverdale’s library. Yet, here he was, in the back of a Southside bar, with his tongue down his boyfriend’s throat. Speaking of, Kevin swirled his tongue around Joaquin’s, mimicking something far dirtier and prompting the serpent to moan and press their hips together. Kevin smirked, his hands running all over Joaquin’s body before finally resting on his ass and gripping it firmly. Joaquin broke apart, tossing his head back with a moan that rushed straight to Kevin’s pants. Kevin attached his lips to the shorter boy’s neck, sucking and biting.
Suddenly, Kevin felt a short vibration. He ignored it in favor of continuing down Joaquin’s neck. Still, the vibrations persisted, coming from Joaquin’s back pocket, where Kevin’s hand was resting. He still ignored it, but Joaquin broke away, swatting Kevin’s hand and reaching into his pocket. Kevin didn’t get a glimpse at the caller ID before Joaquin hurriedly untangled himself and began to walk away.
“Don’t move a muscle, I will be right back.” He called over his shoulder before answering the call, moving away for some privacy.
Kevin slumped against the wall, annoyed that some stupid phone call was keeping his boyfriend from him. His super hot serpent boyfriend, who he had been very close to taking someplace more private. Kevin sighed, growing colder without the heat of Joaquin’s body shielding him from the draft. It was Kevin’s first time being in this particular bar, but it looked very similar to the other Southside bars Joaquin and he had attended. There were two pool tables down at the end farthest from where Kevin was standing, a rickety bar with even more rickety stools, and, right by the door, a snake slithering around in a large tank. Kevin shivered a little when he looked at the snake, not completely comfortable around the creatures yet.
Kevin was getting impatient. Joaquin had been gone for far too long, and he was slightly concerned about the four young serpents who had been staring at him ever since Joaquin had left. Kevin knew that he looked out of place in his charcoal sweater and blue button up, but he normally didn’t attract much attention from the other serpents. He kept his head down. But these four were staring and whispering and not even attempting to be discrete about it. Kevin swallowed nervously, but smiled at the group anyway, trying not to get beat up. Apparently, Kevin fucked that up because the group of serpents began to walk towards him.
“Hey there, preppy.” The tallest of them started. He was taller than Kevin, something that didn’t happen often, with white-blonde hair, and a scar running from his bottom lip to the edge of his chin. He was clearly the leader of the group. Kevin was immediately wary of the nickname, it was what Joaquin called him; how did this kid know that? Could it be a coincidence? It had to be.
“Um, hello?” Kevin questioned cautiously, “do I know you?” He shuffled back a few inches before his back touched the wall. This time, a small, yet still somehow intimidating, girl with jet black hair spoke.
“Nope.” She grinned. “But, damn. We sure know a lot about you, Kevin.”
Kevin gulped. This definitely was not going to end well. “Actually, I was just leaving. I’m sorry for bothering you.” Kevin made to leave, but was blocked by a short, chubby, ginger boy. In any other setting Kevin would have smiled at a boy who looked like him, winking and hoping to make him blush. But not in this bar. Not when the boy in question looked like he could easily kill Kevin, despite the red locks and rounded cheeks.
“You aren’t going anywhere. We need to talk to you.” He glared at Kevin, the taller boy and small girl following suit. It was only now that Kevin realized that the fourth member of the group hadn’t walked over to him. Behind the three serpents in front of him, a boy, with hair that matched Joaquin’s, but who was quite a bit older, leaned against the wall, talking in the phone in hushed tones. Kevin didn’t have time to give this anymore thought because the three serpents that were paying attention to him, closed in, forming a semicircle around their prey. Kevin stood tall, however, attempting to appear confident.
“Well if you know my name, it’s only fair I know yours.” He stated, and was surprised at how convincing he actually sounded.
“A joker, huh?” The blonde chuckled, but offered an answer. “Name’s Finch. This here is Winston, and the lovely lady is-” He was cut when the shirt girl elbowed him in the gut.
“Keep your comments to yourself Finch.” She spat back. “I’m Millie. Not that it means much to you.” She glared at Kevin, clearly not as impressed by his feigned confidence as Finch had been. Winston was the next to speak.
“Look. You are not part of this world. You aren’t a serpent. You couldn’t even pretend to be one of us.” He scoffed, reaching out and teasing the sleeve of Kevin’s sweater. Kevin resisted the urge to yank his arm away.
“So just keep that in mind.” Finch continued, “We know you think that you understand Joaquin, but you don’t. We are his family.” He paused and Millie picked up where he left off.
“And we are not the kind of family that quickly forgives. Hurt him, and your fate will be worse than that blossom boy’s.” She snarled. Kevin was sure she was going to hit him, or at least shove him a little, but at that moment, the kid from the wall hung up his phone and pushed through the circle, making him eye to eye with Kevin. He brought his hands down on Kevin’s shoulders menacingly.
“Here’s the bottom line, Keller, you hurt my little brother, I hurt you.” Kevin couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped him. This was not how he wanted his first impression with Joaquin’s brother to play out. He had been expecting dinner, maybe some light hearted chatter before explaining that he really did like Joaquin and wasn’t planning on screwing that up. Instead, here he was. In the back of some seedy bar, pressed against a wall, just hoping not to get the shit beat out of him.
“Damn it! Sebastian! What did I say about accosting my boyfriend?” Kevin smiled at the familiar voice as Joaquin rounded the corner. “Is this why you called me? To keep me occupied while Finch, Will, and Millie threatened Kev?” He questioned, pushing past the other serpents and grabbing Kevin’s chin, checking his face to make sure there were no bruises. “Are you okay, Kev?”
Kevin smiled and nodded, amused by his boyfriend’s worry. “I’m fine Joaquin. Just a little surprised, that’s all.” He lowered his voice, “This wasn’t really how I imagined meeting your family.”
“Wait. What?” Wilson interrupted, reminding Kevin that the gang members were still standing there.
“Uh, this isn’t how imagined meeting Joaquin’s family would be.” Kevin repeated.
“You imagined meeting his family?” Millie questioned further.
“Well yeah. I mean he’s met my dad. I assumed I’d be meeting his brother soon enough.” Kevin was confused by their reaction. Were they not threatening him a mere minute ago?
“So you guys are like serious?” Finch asked, backing away slightly to give Kevin and Joaquin some room.
“Of course we are, dumbass.” Joaquin interjected. “What? Did you think I was dating the sheriff’s son for shits and giggles?” This prompted laughter from the group, including Sebastian.
“Kevin?” Sebastian inquired.
“Um, yeah?”
“Take good care of my little brother, okay? He deserves to be happy.” As he said this, Sebastian reached over and mused Joaquin’s hair.
“He deserves everything.” Kevin muttered, looking at Joaquin as if he’d hung the moon. Sebastian chuckled, throwing his arm around Finch and leading the group away from the two boys. “You deserve everything.” Kevin repeated, taking Joaquin’s chin in his hands.
“I have all I could ever want.” Joaquin responded, “I’ve got you.” Joaquin pressed their lips together gently, and Kevin couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.
Please let me know what you thought! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in any future Kevin/Joaquin fanfics that I write.
Tag List: @glitteryloser
#riverdale fanfiction#kevin x joaquin fanfic#kevin keller#joaquin#kevin/joaquin#riverdale#riverdale fic#kevin x joaquin fanfiction#joavin#kevquin#Anonymous#kevin x joaquin
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A Benchful of Memories (Abandoned)
Chapter 3 - Untitled (Contains the final outline)
(Previous) (Last)
Once you get the okay from your human nurse, you dress up and head out to the park. With a backpack filled with your essentials, you slowly make your way to your favorite bench, only to find someone already sitting there. The sunlight makes the white of the bones shine brighter when you realize that ah, it’s the skeleton from before.
What was his name again? Um, something with an S you think.
Ah, well, it doesn’t really matter right now. He probably doesn’t remember you anyway. You’ve only met like, once? And that was maybe a few days ago? You don’t think you made a lasting impression anyway.
As you sit down, he cracks an eye socket open (how?) and watches as you set the backpack down next to your feet.
“Well, didn’t expect to see ya so soon.” Welp, he remembers you. Just avoid saying his name and maybe you’ll be okay?
“Me neither honestly. I didn’t think you’d come back to this park.”
“Heh.” He closes his eye socket and slumps a bit. “‘s nice and quiet. Like it here. Why are you back?”
“I come here pretty often. I like it here too.”
“Somethin’ we have in common then.”
“Yup.” He doesn’t say anything else after that, so you bend down to pick through your backpack and grab a sheet of origami paper. As you sit there making a tulip, the skeleton starts to snore.
Loudly.
...how?
He doesn’t have a nose. You blink slowly before shaking your head. He’s a magic skeleton, he can do whatever he wants no matter how anatomically impossible it should be. The fact that he’s even being held together by nothing but magic should be enough proof. As you finish the tulip and move on to make a lily, you start wondering more about your bench buddy.
...
..
.
And that’s the end of that chapter lol.
HERE’S THE OUTLINE! It’s been a year since I last touched this, so like, bear with me.
A Brief Introduction to the OCs:
Rajena (rah-jen-ah):
Based off of axolotls
Kind, bubbly nurse who has mediocre healing powers. She specializes mainly in studying souls.
Her name is based off of the word “regenerate”, mainly the first few syllables of the word
This is due to the axolotls ability to regenerate severed limbs (don’t actually hurt these babies tho)
Importance: she was supposed to be the Insert’s voice of hope, someone who could encourage them
Supposed to grow extremely close to the Insert
Comforts the Insert when the ~scene~ happens
The only one who can tell how long the Insert has since she is the only one with permission to see the Insert’s soul
Which is why she tries hard to foster hope (HP) inside the Insert
(SPOILERS) it doesn’t work out in the end
Miss Millie:
Nurse in charge of Insert - most likely a character based around JUSTICE
Southern flair; she’s a very tough but loving person
The mother figure that Insert never had
Wants to exhibit righteous anger but can’t
Has known Insert for a long time - they were admitted at a young age due to an unspecific disease that made them highly susceptible to catching viruses and made them ill easily = hereditary
Most likely a fake disease - I derived inspiration from one of the characters in Persona 3 (both are very different however)
She very much wants to see the Insert live a normal life if possible, so she encourages Insert to go out and make friends - enter monsters
She wants to protect Insert for various reasons
Leads to a moment where she accidentally brings up the hopes of Insert, only to let Insert’s hopes be crushed horribly
Kelsy:
The female cousin - I forget what soul aspect she was based off of, and reverse searching the name isn’t coming up. But I’m gonna take a guess and think it was BRAVERY
I think they were supposed to be twins? Kelsy would be the elder
She and her brother are super close with Insert
She will get into fights on the behalf of Insert, especially when it comes to Insert’s parents
She hates Insert’s parents
The other half of the reason why Insert’s hopes get destroyed
Ben:
The male cousin - I forget once more, but he is either KINDNESS or PERSEVERANCE
The smarter of the twins, and definitely the more calmer
While he’s the more rational half, he tends to fail in actually making sure his sister stays under control when she gets too passionate or emotional
This leads to an outburst that Insert overhears that makes them do very reckless things
Teaches Insert things because he wants Insert to get a taste of school life, even if it’s a shoddy imitation
Wants the best for Insert
Hates Insert’s parents as well
Younger Sister:
She had a name, but I don’t remember what I was gonna call her, nor the aspect she was gonna be focused around
Was supposed to resemble the life that Insert wish they had
A complicated relationship with their parents
Tries very hard to be there for her sibling, but ultimately fails in bringing about the one thing they want
Loves the origami crafts - the one who suggested they do it actually
Originally just stuck around Insert out of pity and obligation but grew to love her sibling due to the patience they exhibited for her
Their parents are not that patient
Blames herself
The Parents:
Think of Insert as a burden
Still pays the hospital bills and gives Insert an allowance regardless
Focuses mainly on the younger sister as a result
Never gives Insert the attention and validation they crave
AND FINALLY THE OUTLINE:
Basically Sans and Insert meet up whenever the skies are clear and the weather is deemed “good” in a way that won’t wreck the Insert’s health
They chat about Paps, the rest of the gang, Insert’s cousins and sister and nurses
One day Paps meets them, and they all get along swimmingly
Paps suggests that they one day eat dinner together
“I WILL MAKE MY SPECIAL FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI! IT WILL BE AMAZING, HUMAN!”
Reveals that they practically live at the hospital and can’t really go out that far
Pap shouts “NONSENSE!” and brings the party to their hospital room
Millie gets excited when they visit - friends!
Younger sister gets properly introduced a chapter later
Sans and Insert continue to bond over things
Insert reveals why they’re so into origami
They heard of a story once about a girl who was supposed to make a wish after making 1000 paper cranes
The sad part was that she died before making them all
They lend him the book, “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes”
It was the one gift that they got from their parents that they cherish
Sans learns more about the destructive history of humans and how innocents can easily die from things they didn’t deserve to get
Insert reveals that they love flowers, but because they always die, they’ve resorted to making origami flowers to not only pass the time, but to replace the real flowers in their room
Less death to clean up
Sis and Kelsy get into a fight about the parents
Sis tries to defend them stating they’re just busy, but Kelsy gets upset and says that they’re just avoiding Insert because they don’t want to deal with them
This argument starts to escalate, and Ben ends up forcing Kelsy and himself to leave before it gets out of hand
Sis cries and Insert apologizes
Once Sis leaves, Rajena and Insert have a talk
HP has been declining, and Rajena has been getting worried
The truth comes out: “Honestly? I’m just waiting to just... you know, die. It’ll be easier on everyone. On my family. My friends. I mean, all of us can tell. I’m not gonna live long. And. That’s. Okay. No one lives forever after all. I’m just... a burden. It’ll be better if I just died already.”
Yeah that’s right they’re patiently waiting for death. It’s why they’ve never actively looked for friends or started any relationships - they saw it as a pointless endeavor that would only serve to hurt more people. Why create more pain when they should strive to minimize?
This also implies that they can be self-destructive - there are moments where they “forget” to take their meds, or purposely do things that can actively harm their health in the efforts of speeding up their death, not because they are impatient, but because they don’t want to make anyone else wait any longer than they have to
This is very worrying, but before Rajena can do anything about it, she gets called away to care for another patient
Insert realizes that they are lonely. They accept it.
On a day with Sans, he realizes some of these self-destructive tendencies - notices that Insert isn’t very careful around streets, easily gets cuts or scratches from the outdoors and doesn’t care to clean them when they are in a state in which infections are easy to get, etc etc
He’s gotten close enough to them that he does care if they get sick, knowing their disposition
Casually steers them away from hurting themselves, making comments about how they’re not gonna get any sharper by hanging out with those thorns, or that sidewalks prefer if they walk on them, and not at their sides despite what their name may imply
Eventually just keeps them from moving too far from his side since it’s easier to keep them from doing stupid things by having them not stray too far from him
Coaxes out more info from them
Wishes to one day see the stars, but they can’t leave the hospital at night
He says that one day, he’ll help and bring the stars to them instead - it makes Insert laugh
Insert meets the rest of the monster gang
Fun and happy times! The humans and monsters grow closer, Sans and Insert more so since they start trading books, discuss dreams and wishes, maybe even reveal their insecurities
Sans fears repetition and waking up to Groundhogs day, that everything will have lost meaning and that nothing he does will change that
Insert wants validation and affection from their parents, fears being a burden, wonders why they were born
They both promise to be there for the other if something goes bad
Sans reveals that he’s been going on walks because Paps told him to get exercise - that’s how he meets Insert
Turns out that he’s been adjusting pretty badly to the Aboveground - hasn’t been going out much as a result
The park was the closest thing near his house
Insert allowed him to chill and not be bothered
Then they started to talk
Origami was productive and made him feel like he was accomplishing something
The books were interesting and led to discussions he missed having
Insert helped bring about a pattern that got him active again
Around this time is when they both start to crush on the other, but they never admit it
Things have been going pretty good
Gradually getting excited to live life
Time for Insert’s b-day
Excited because even their parents come for their bday usually
Sis and Millie gets them pumped up
Everyone comes
except for parents
Insert waits for them to come through the door
And waits
And waits
The day is almost over
Kelsy calls the parents outside the room and ends up getting into an argument that turns into a yelling fest
Ben doesn’t move to stop her in time
“What do you mean you can’t come visit them?! They are your child!”
“You can’t just fucking say that-!”
“THEY’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU!”
“YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE THEM HERE!”
“YOU CAN’T SAY THAT ABOUT THEM!”
Yeah they hear everything
Their mind fills in the blanks and they quickly spiral into despair
Unwanted unneeded unnecessary burden no-good-child no one loves you a child no mother loves you worthless why do you exist go away you’re just dragging everyone down how could you say you love them when you’re making them suffer stop it stop it just stop breathing you can’t do anything right can’t even die fast enough they’d be happier if you just-
Visiting hours are over, everyone has to leave
There’s a thunderstorm the next day - Insert sneaks out by breaking their window and leaving through there
Chaos, no one knows where they are and how long they’ve managed to stay out
Sans comes to visit but meets a distraught Rajena
He finds them some time later, hunched over and crying next to the bench
They’re wet, cold, and already sneezing and coughing
He tries to get them to move, but they refuse to
Teleportation powers
They scream and thrash at him when they end up at the hospital
He dodges of course
He talks them down from their hysteria
Hugs and comforts
“You’re not worthless. You’re an irreplaceable being, y’know? Don’t need nobody to give you a reason to live. You just gotta. Because no one else can be you. Plus, you make lots of people happy.”
“Like who?”
“Like me.”
“...I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothin’ to apologize for. It’s not your fault all of this happened.”
They end up getting reaaaally sick
They can’t go out anymore
Everyone visits as much as they can
Slowly getting better but then
Uuhhh parent drama happens and it stresses them the fuck out and ends up making them worse
Parents low-key tell them to just expire already
High School Level Despair
But Sans helps them get through it because they promised right
But they’re HP has taken a fuckton of hits already
Rajena is doing the best she can but by now it’s just prolonging the inevitable
They end up bedridden with one HP and declining health
Doctors conclude that it was bound to happen soon anyways - no they are not being heartless, they’re just as sad
“Memento mori, right?”
But Insert doesn’t want to die now, because they have Sans and Rajena and their cousins and sister and friends, they have hopes and dreams and things they wanna do, and now they can’t do that because they decided to purposely fuck up their health
They break down, and Sans can’t do anything but hug them tight
Gradually, they come to terms with their regret and knows that they can’t change their actions
Chooses however to not blame anyone, or themselves
“On the bright side, I kinda got to decide how I died, right? Dying because of the rain, it has a romantic sort of sense to it.”
“There’s nothing romantic about dying, though.”
“...Haha. Yeah, you’re right.”
They end up crying together
Rajena notes their declining health once more, and ends studying their soul - everyone knows why
They all gather for one last get to together in the hospital room
It’s all games and origami and marathons and pizza and laughter and fun
Sans is oddly detached in a way, but he slips Insert a note saying he’s got one last thing for them
INSERT LAST CHAPTER
oh yeah Sans’ nickname for the insert, Bud, is a pun on the fact that they really love flowers, he considers them a friend, and a bud is like, a baby flower. lol
#incomplete work#undertale#sans (undertale)#self insert#original characters#hgklaOIJFKLASDF#that's a lot of words#the ocs actually had a lot more to do but we all know that the real meat of sans/reader fics are the romance aspect
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Nightmare on Elm St. fanfic WIP
So I have been working on a little thing and I want to hear feedback on to whether or not I should continue on it
Megan is a normal girl; at least that's what she thinks of herself. Not popular but wasn’t low on the school hierarchy; she had her own clique of friends, her hair was a light brown color that went to her shoulders, and green eyes. All in all she blends with a crowd, never standing out.
She snuck out her bedroom to go to a friend's house, normal teenage things; her parents didn't want her to spend the night at her friend's home, saying something about that house is cursed, or evil, or something.
Megan tuned them out.
Her friend, Milly, had wild red hair in wonderful curls, her father was going to get his mother who had a minor heart attack and was going to live with them.
“I was worried you weren't going to make it tonight! I'm so happy you could come!” Milly said with a bright smile.
“The gang's all here!” another friend of Megan, Bethany, alongside her boyfriend Zack. Both with black hair, Bethany had her hair in a ponytail, while Zack’s hair was a mess.
“What's with your parents being so against you staying the night?” Bethany asked while Zack’s arm was around her neck.
“That's because they think this place is haunted by evil spirits or some shit like that.” Megan said sitting on a lounge chair.
Milly looked guilty, shifting from one foot to the other. “It's true though…” she said meekly.
“Wait hold up! This place is haunted?!” Zack yelled in a panic, almost spilling his red cup of what can be assumed to be alcohol.
“Apparently there was this child killer that lived in this house once upon a time, when he was let go because the cops didn't read his Miranda rights or whatever, the parents burnt him alive. He came back into the dreams of the kid’s whose parents burned him.”
“You really suck at telling ghost stories!” Bethany laughed and the rest of the small group joined in.
A knock at the door scared Megan for a second.
“Oh yeah I invited Kyle and he brought his friend Cody!” Milly informed the group.
The night went on without anything out of the ordinary happening; they played truth or dare, spin the bottle, innocent teenage mischief.
They all passed out in different areas of the living room when it got too late for any of them to stay awake.
When Megan woke to the bright sun shining through the windows.
Only to find out that all her friends were dead.
She called 911 as fast as she could, the wait for someone to show up was the most agonizing elapse of time in her life.
It took exactly 29 minutes for anyone to show up, but it was hours to Megan.
29 agonizing, terrifying minutes of absolutely nothing but dread.
When they finally did show up they talked in the same sort of whispers adults do when they want to keep secrets hidden.
Secrets that they end up revealing anyways.
It was awful, seeing her friends rolled out of the house one by one in the black bags on the stretcher, slowly rolling towards the black Hurst.
People were crowding around the police line; neighbors, reporters, and the policemen trying to contain the chaos.
Megan wasn't listening to the officer in front of her. Focused on everything but him.
“I told you not to enter that house!” her mother screamed hysterically.
Someone in a cheap suit went over to her mother who was by then crying into her father's chest.
“Excuse me miss but I'm going to need you to answer some questions for me.” the officer who by then got through to Megan, who answered the questions.
After they rolled out all the bodies one right after the other; after all the questions were asked; after everyone who in the neighborhood left the scene; was when the man in the cheap suit walked towards Megan.
“Megan, I'm sorry to have to tell you this but...you have to come with me to Westin Hills” he said matter of factly.
She looked over towards her parents, her mom was still sobbing into her dad. He looked at her and only gave her a nod in response.
“We'll visit you whenever we can okay sweetie?” her mom's horse voice said.
She teared up, why didn't she listen to them? Why was she going to Westin Hills? What happened to her friends?
She said her tearful goodbyes to her parents and went inside the cheap suited man's car.
“Excuse me what is your name? I don't think we ever introduced ourselves.” she asked as he entered the vehicle.
He paused for a moment, before answering “Chris Parsons.”
“Why are you taking me to Westin Hills? That place is for those crazies that go around killing people and shit like that. I didn't kill my friends!” Megan spat with venom.
“I know.”
“Then why the fuck am I going to this nut house?! That's for insane people!”
He just nodded at that. Nodded, like her questions were never relevant to him.
“Hey I have the right to know what the fuck is going on here!”
But he ignored her as he drove the relatively short drive from Megan's neighbourhood to Westin Hills.
Megan guessed she could always make a run for it to her house. It never occurred to her how close she was to an asylum.
She entered it thinking it was be trashed all to hell and that there would be screaming...but there was none of that.
It looked like a regular hospital.
Chris Parsons led her through the reception area and to her new ‘bedroom’ where she was met with a nurse. He was of a medium build with short graying brown hair.
“Hello my name is Keith nice to meet you.” He stood with his hand held out.
Megan shook his hand and smiled.
“Let me show you around!” He said cheerfully.
He showed her the recreation room, the cafeteria, where she would have her have group therapy and where she would her own therapy appointments.
“Excuse me but why am I here? I've done nothing wrong and I have no history of being crazy!”
Keith stopped. “You mean you didn't see him?” he asked apprehensive.
“Who? Who are you talking about? You mean who killed my friends? No but if I have any suspicions it would be one of these lunatics!” she said frustrated.
“but you were at the house…” he said distently.
“You mean that oh so spooky house? With the whole ‘there used to be a child killer who was burnt alive because the cops were idiots that didn't read his Miranda rights’? Please that's just bullshit and you know it!”
“It's true.” a woman’s voice said as she walked through the halls.
“Hello my name is doctor Harriet West, I'll be your group counselor as well as your personal therapist. I know you have many questions.” a slender looking women, who looked very frail and had her golden hair tied back into a neat bun.
She gave a nod to Keith who left, and gave a motion to Megan to follow her to a room with books and chairs and a desk with Harriet West’s name plate.
“What do you know about Freddy Krueger?” she asked as soon as the door shut.
“Am I supposed to know him?” Megan asked in a sarcastic manner.
“I mean you were at his former residence, where your friends were killed…” she responded back in her own salty tone.
It took awhile for Megan to place it together, “You mean...all those stories my parents told me of that house was true?”
“You're in Westin Hills because we've found the only way to lessen his evil, so to speak, is to contain those who have been in contact with him here. It's barbarous I admit, but it's really the only way we can help.” she said giving her best sympathetic speech.
“It is a lot to take in I know...why don't you settle down in your room and maybe go to the rec room for a bit?” Dr. West suggested.
“Like I have a choice in the matter.” Megan replied bitterly, getting up and walking out for Keith to escort her to her new sleeping area.
“Yo Keith is that a newbie?”
The voices’ owner, a slightly built female in a grey sweatshirt with matching pants ran up to them.
“Indeed it is Alexa, she is also going to be your new roommate.” Keith said motioning to Megan.
“Hey.” she casually said the roomie.
“Hey.” Alexa replied casually back before addressing Keith “You can leave her to me Keith! Take the day off, she'll be in good hands.”
He laughed “Meg, you will know all the ins and outs with Alexa here...even if she can be a little too much.”
Waving to the man goodbye, Alexa took Meg's hand and walked her to their room.
“So Meg, is it alright if I call you that? ‘Megan’ feels too formal! Anyway my bed is on the left side, but if you want to take it from me you will have to win it.” she said once they got to the room.
“I am fine with the right side.” Megan replied, looking at the relative normal hospital room.
“I keep on forgetting that I am in an asylum” she replied.
“Yeah, Hollywood has really done a number on the mental health industry.” a new voice chimed in.
“Hey Paige! I’m just showing the newbie around. Megan, Paige; Paige, Megan.” Alexa introduced them.
They talking the regular getting to know you questions: favorite color, favorite movie, favorite blah blah blah.
They walked to where Keith said was the recreation room.
When they entered they heard the most agonizing scream ever. One of pure hysteria.
“YOU DESERVED TO DIE!!!”
A woman in what looked like her forties; scraggly, messy graying hair was choking a girl in her mid teens.
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