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lumosandnoxwriting · 4 years

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True Love - George Weasley

Title: True Love Pairing: George Weasley x Fem!Reader Summary: George may have married a girl his dead twin brother may have been in love with at some point but it’s really not what it looks like. A/N: this fic is born out of my hatred for a post I saw a few days ago that said George and Angelina only got together as a way to mourn Fred, and that they would eventually get divorced. Requests are open and feedback is always appreciated!

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George is tiptoeing past Roxanne’s partially opened door to get a glass of water when he hears the little girl call out to him.

“Daddy?”

George stops in his tracks and shuffles over to her door, peeking in the crack. The only light in the room comes from a pink everlasting fire Y/N had produced in a jar for their daughter to use as a night light a few weeks ago. Roxanne is curled up in a ball in her bed, drowning in her fluffy comforter. George and Y/N had tucked her in and kissed her goodnight a few hours ago, so he frowns when he notices that her deep brown eyes are open and blinking up at him.

“What’s wrong, pumpkin?” George asks as he pushes her door open.

Roxanne sits up a little, reaching out to him. “Can’t sleep.”

George smiles at her grumbly voice, sounding so much like her mother does when she’s tired. He enters her room with a small laugh and takes a seat on the edge of her bed. He strokes her mess of curls they call hair and presses a kiss to her forehead.

“Well that’s no good, pumpkin. How can Daddy fix that?”

Roxanne, smiles up at him, leaning back into her pillows. “Can I get a story? Please?” she begs.

George lets out a chuckle. “Of course.” He starts to reach for the copy of The Tales of Beadle the Bard that Y/N had placed on Roxanne’s night stand a few hours ago after she had fallen asleep. But he stops in his tracks when Roxanne grabs his forearm.

“Noo,” she coos quietly. “A story from your head, Daddy.”

George raises his eyebrows and chuckles at her demanding tone. Yep, there is no denying that she is Y/N’s daughter.

“Of course, pumpkin, how silly of me.” He brings his hand that had been reaching for the book back and places it on her cheek. “Any requests, darling? I could always whip out the one about the brave knight who lost an ear in battle.” George winks at his daughter while gesturing towards his missing ear, causing her to giggle.

“No, not that one. You always tell that one,” she teases.

George laughs again, tapping Roxanne on her nose. “Well sorry,” he drawls. “How about the one where the three brave knights rescue the King from the dungeon using their flying stead?” George frowns slightly at the memory of his twin, a pang of sadness in his chest. George gives Roxanne a questioning look when she shakes her head. “What do you wanna hear then, pumpkin?”

“Tell me the story about how you and Mummy fell in love,” she asks, looking up at him hopefully.

George bites his lip, contemplating the idea. Y/N and George had never really told their kids the full story of how they met, considering that it was pretty questionable. All they had told Roxanne and Fred ii is that they had been friends while at school, and a few years after graduation they met again and fell in love. They never mentioned the fact that Y/N used to date Fred.

“Well sweetie you know that story. Mummy and I went to school at Hogwarts together, and went our separate ways after graduation and then we got together a few years after,” George explains, trying to dodge the question.

Roxanne rolls her eyes. “That’s the short version. I wanna hear the whole thing. Please Daddy?”

George sighs, he can’t resist her pleas. “Alright, pumpkin. I guess our story begins on the morning of May 3rd, 1998.”

George is sitting on the ground next to Fred’s body, mostly alone. There are groups of people scattered around the Great Hall, some mourning the loss of their loved ones, others waiting for Madam Pomfrey and the other Healers that arrived from St. Mungo’s to help them. Everyone seems to be leaving George alone, allowing him to spend a few more fleeting moments with his twin.

He’s looking down at his hands, tears streaming down his face, so he doesn’t realize that someone has joined him until she speaks.

“Hey, George,” Y/N speaks quietly, voice shaking.

George looks up at the sound of her voice. Y/N is sitting on the ground too, on Fred’s other side, tears streaming down her face. She’s covered in dirt and blood and George can’t imagine that he looks any better.

“Hey, Y/N,” he mutters after he clears his throat. His throat feels raw, probably from a mixture of the crying and the fact that he hadn’t spoken in a few hours.

George watches as Y/N stares intently at Fred’s face, her hand coming up to stroke his cheek. They’re quiet for so long that George jumps slightly when Y/N speaks up.

“It’s been years since anything has happened between us and yet I still feel,” she cuts off abruptly to let out a few sobs.

Y/N begins to cry harder and George places a hand over the one she has placed on Fred’s chest. He squeezes her hand tightly, wishing there was more he could do to make her feel better.

“Mummy used to be with Uncle Fred?” Roxanne asks, pulling George out of his thoughts. Roxanne and Fred ii had heard many stories about their dear Uncle Fred from both of their parents and various other family members throughout their lives. But George and Y/N made a point to make sure that no one ever mentioned her past with Fred. Not because she was ashamed at the fact that she had once been with Fred, but because she didn’t want to confuse them.

George nods, blinking away the tears in his eyes. “Many, many years ago, they were together. Back when we were at Hogwarts. Your Uncle Fred and I met your Mum when we were all in our first year at Hogwarts. You know we were all in the same house and played on the Quidditch team together. You’ve heard Uncle Harry talk about the Triwizard tournament, right?” George waits for Roxanne to nod before continuing. “We were all in our sixth year when that happened and there was this great huge ball on Christmas called the Yule Ball. Uncle Fred asked your Mum to be his date, and they dated for a few months afterwards.”

Roxanne purses her lips, thinking about what her father has just said. “And when Uncle Fred died, Mummy still loved him?”

“Not exactly,” he answers.

Roxanne groans and rolls her eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

George rolls his eyes playfully. “Maybe if you hadn’t interrupted my story you would know by now,” he teases.

Roxanne sticks out her tongue playfully but doesn’t say anything else.

“So, I guess our story continues in June of 1999.”

“Hey George. The store looks great,” Y/N speaks, shocking George. He turns around from where he had been stocking a shelf, a smile appearing on his face when he sees the familiar girl standing in front of him.

George hasn’t seen Y/N since the day they cried together over Fred’s body. He heard that she came by his funeral briefly, but he hadn’t seen her himself. Now, a little over a year later here she is, and George can’t help but think how beautiful she is. Her hair frames her face perfectly, and she is smiling warmly at him.

“Hey, Y/N. Thanks, it’s definitely getting there. Not quite back at its prime but, it definitely will be soon,” he says wistfully, looking around the shop.

After Fred’s death he hadn’t been able to step back into the store he had started with his brother. It hurt too much, and it almost felt wrong to go back to work without his partner in crime. The store had always been their dream, and George didn’t think he could carry on without Fred. He spent the first six months after Fred’s death moping around The Burrow, spending most of his time in bed, alone.

Everyone in the family had been patient with him, all of them taking time to grieve as well. Until one night, Molly sat him down and with as much love as possible told him that enough was enough. She had reminded him that Fred wouldn’t want George to throw away their dream just because he couldn’t be there with him. That the best way to honor his brother would be to carry on making their dream a reality. George, realizing his mother was right, had started planning new products that very evening.

He spent the next 5 months after that developing new products and perfecting them. 2 months ago, he finally plucked up the courage to enter the abandoned shop for the first time and started to put it back together. Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes had officially been open again for 2 weeks and running the store has made George the happiest he’s been in months.

“Every time I would come to Diagon Alley I’d check to see if the store was open again, and I’m glad it is. If there’s anything people need these days it’s some Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes,” Y/N says with a laugh.

There had been mass celebrations after Voldemort’s defeat, but so many lives had been lost that they were short lived, and the wizarding community had needed to slowly heal. Things had been getting back to normal, Diagon Alley was just as busy as it had been before, and George could hear happy voices and laughter every time the door to the shop opened.

George chuckles. “A bit of mischief makes everyone feel better. Things have been crazy since I reopened, I can barely keep up on my own.” He gestures towards the shelf he had been restocking when she came in, and the other various shelves that were missing products. “I never realized how much work it was, it was way easier when there was two of us. Between selling the products, making them and stocking them I’m exhausted,” he admits with a small laugh.

“I didn’t want to say it but, you look exhausted,” she teases, smiling at him playfully. “That’s um, kinda why I came in. I mean I obviously came in so I could see you,” she admits, blushing. “But also, I was wondering if you were hiring? I’ve been working freelance for The Daily Prophet but it’s not enough to keep me busy.”

George tries not to let his surprise show on his face. Y/N had always been supportive of George and Fred’s antics, but had never wanted to actively participate. George scratches the back of his head like he’s thinking about her offer, not wanting to seem too eager. “Yeah actually, that would be great. I could really use the help. I’ll have to get some references of course. Make sure you’re not too difficult to work with,” he teases.

Y/N rolls her eyes, playfully shoving George’s shoulder. “We got paired together in potions one-time years ago and you’re still giving me shit about it, Weasley? Unbelievable.”

“Mummy used to work with you? Before Uncle Ron did?” Roxanne asks, interrupting the story again.

George hums as he nods. Once Ron quit the Aurors office and came to work with George Y/N had left. Her and George were beginning to start their family, and she wanted to be a stay at home mum. She started writing again as well and had become a pretty successful children’s book author in the wizarding world.

“Yup. Uncle Ron used to work with Uncle Harry at the ministry, before you and your brother were born. So, your Mummy helped out at the shop, and then me and Mummy got married and decided to have your brother, so Uncle Ron decided to quit his job and work with me,” George explains.

Roxanne has a bewildered look on her face, like she had never thought about the fact that all the people she loves had lives before she was born. “So how did you and Mummy get together then? Fall in love?”

George chuckles. “I’m getting there, missy, don’t you worry about it.”

Y/N had only been working for George for a few weeks when he realized he had a huge problem. He was developing feelings for her. He had always found her attractive, but when Fred expressed interest in her during their fourth year he pushed those thoughts away. He was always the more reserved twin and doubted that he would ever act on those feelings anyway.

But now that they’ve been spending so much time together and working together so closely he can’t help but feel those things again. She’s just as beautiful has she had been back at school but there was so many other things too.

Her smile was so bright that it could light up the whole shop. She was always there to offer him a warm smile and a helping hand, staying late into the night to help him restock shelves or coming in on the weekends to help make a new stock for the upcoming week. She was always sending him little winks too throughout the day as they worked. While she was upselling a product to someone, or when he just seemed down and needed a pick me up, all he had to do was look over to her and she’d give him a reassuring wink.

And it certainly didn’t help that she was so damn good at her job. She was always helping him to arrange the store in the best way possible, moving around displays and finding new, exciting ways to showcase their range of products. She was so good with the customers too, always able to help someone, their customers always raved to George about how amazing she was as they checked out.

And her touch, it sent electric waves shooting down his spine. Whether it was a reassuring squeeze on his shoulders as he stirred a new potion late at night, or a hand on his back as she passed behind him his brain seemed to short circuit whenever they came in contact with each other.

It didn’t help that her presence had begun to creep into other parts of his life as well. She had only been working there a few days when Molly popped in to see how things were going. His mum had been so excited to see Y/N and invited her to dinner at The Burrow that night; since then it has become a weekly occurrence. He’s bumped into her at The Burrow more than once during the weekends as well, her and Ginny flying around each other and passing a Quaffle back and forth.

“Morning, George!” Y/N calls as she pushes through the shop door.

George jumps at the sound of her voice, not expecting to see her. It’s early on a Sunday morning, and George figured he’d be alone in the shop all day to catch up on the things they hadn’t finished the night before.

George stands up from where he had been kneeling behind the counter, trying to count out the safe, but mostly thinking of the girl who just entered the store. He smiles as she bounds up to the counter.

“What are you doing here? Not that I’m not happy to see you,” he stutters, a blush creeping onto his cheeks. “But you were here late last night, I didn’t think you’d come in today.”

Y/N smiles at George, taking off her bag and placing it on the counter. “Well we didn’t finish everything last night, did we? You’ll actually be able to go out and enjoy your day if we’re both here working.” George gives her a look, prompting her to continue. “Besides I don’t mind being here all the time. I like being here.”

George’s smile fades, figuring that Y/n likes being here so much because it reminds her of Fred. They haven’t talked about that morning, when she had practically declared her love for his dead brother as they both cried, and George doesn’t plan on bringing it up.

He’s brought out of his deep thoughts as she passes by him, her hand brushing his arm and sending electric shocks up to his neck. He clears his throat to try and get rid of the lump in it. “Well thanks, I really appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem! What do you need me to do boss?”

George looks to the to-do list he had made after closing on Friday. Well the to-do list Y/N had made for him; she really was a huge help around the shop. Even if she did distract him from his work from time to time.

“Well looks like the next thing up on the list is,” he pauses, suddenly nervous. “Next thing up is to restock the love potions. But uh, I checked in the back earlier and we’re all out, so you’ll need to brew up a new batch.”

Y/N nods, heading towards the storeroom to grab the needed ingredients. “Yeah I can do that, no problem.” She pokes her head back through the door. “Or are you still hung up on that whole potions thing and don’t trust me?”

George laughs with her, his nervousness melting away at her playful tone. “Just get to work, yeah?”

With Y/N out of sight George is able to get back to work, and he had forgotten that she was there. That was until she interrupted him while he was stocking the shelves, causing him to shout and drop all of the Skiving Snackboxes he had in his arms.

“Bloody hell, Y/N. Forgot you were here,” he says with a nervous laugh, his cheeks tinted pink with embarrassment. He turns to face her, glancing at the cauldron in her hands. “What’s up?”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you Georgie,” she says with a laugh, causing George’s knees to quiver at the nickname. “I haven’t made a potion in ages, let alone Amorentia. Just wanted to see if you could check it? Make sure I did it right.”

“Yea, ‘course,” George says quietly, leaning close to look at the potion. He stirs it with the silver spoon, checking to make sure the consistency is right. He’s a little nervous, leaning in so close to Y/N that he momentarily forgets what Amorentia does. “Forgot to mention, but that new perfume you’ve been wearing smells really good.” Y/N gasps, taking a small step back. George looks up at her. “What?”

“Thanks but um. I’m not wearing any perfume today,” she stutters out, refusing to meet George’s eyes.

George is about to question her, since he definitely just smelled her perfume, when it dawns on him. He wasn’t smelling her perse, but the Amorentia smelled like her to him. And he just admitted that.

“Look, Y/N I. I,” but he trails off, unsure of what to say. He opens his mouth to say something else but is stopped by Y/N stepping close to him and pressing a hard kiss to his lips. It lasts just long enough for George to grip her waist and for Y/N’s hands to tangle in his hair. Just as quickly as she had kissed him her lips were gone and they were just staring at each other.

She opens her mouth to speak, but when nothing comes out she closes it again. And before George knows it she’s rushing towards the counter to grab her bag. “I should go. Yeah I should go. I’ll see you later,” she rambles. And before George can blink again the door is shutting behind her.

“So, Mummy kissed you first!” Roxanne says excitedly when George stops talking.

“What? Like it’s surprising?” George scoffs with a chuckle.

Roxanne shrugs her shoulders, playfully smiling at him. “I mean have you seen how pretty Mummy is? And you’re, well you’re alright I guess.”

George can tell that she’s teasing him, and as payback he tickles her sides, causing her to shriek with laughter.

“Shhh,” he whispers, realizing just how late it is. “We don’t want to wake your brother up, or your Mummy.”

Roxanne nods, taking a few deep breaths to settle down. “So, what happens next? You and Mummy kiss and then what?”

George is still horrified about what happened the next morning as he opens the shop. He’s exhausted, having stayed up most of the night finishing everything on his list. It shouldn’t have taken him that long, but he kept getting distracted, thinking of how Y/N’s lips felt on his.

He’s about to grab the door handle so he can unlock it and officially open up when the door swings open and Y/N is walking through it. They collide, and George instinctively reaches out and grabs her around the waist so she doesn’t fall to the ground.

A moment later he realizes what he did and he lets go, stepping back. His cheeks are red and he rubs his neck sheepishly. “Sorry! Sorry. I didn’t think you’d come in today so I was just. Sorry, sorry.”

Once he finishes his rambling he turns on his heel and practically runs towards the counter, not even daring to glance at Y/N. But he can hear her footsteps following behind him and when he turns around she’s standing at the counter, an apologetic look on her face.

“I’m the one who should be apologizing to you, Georgie. I shouldn’t have ran out on you like that. And I shouldn’t have kissed you that was… well anyway, I’m sorry,” she says quickly.

George opens his mouth to respond, but the door to the shop swings open and Y/N is off to help the few customers who came in.

“You need help with anything?”

George looks up from the papers on his desk to see Y/N poking her head into his office. They haven’t spoken since their weird moment this morning, and after the afternoon rush George excused himself to his office to work on paperwork while Y/N stocked some shelves and made up a new display. But that must have been hours ago now, as the sliver of shop George can see over Y/N’s head looks dark.

“Just been going over the books. Well trying to at least,” he admits, running a hand through his hair. “I let Fred do it the last time. Well no, I didn’t let him, he insisted on it. Some crap about how he needed to know how to do it. But boy was listening to him a mistake,” he admits with a sad chuckle. “I can’t make out half of what he wrote and the half I can is completely wrong.”

Y/N doesn’t say anything, but gives him a sad look. George feels awkward in the silence, so he continues to ramble on.

“And I wanna be mad at him, for not taking it seriously but. Then I get mad at myself for feeling that way. And then I feel sad because he’s not here for me to just ask him what the hell it says and then I try and figure it out and get mad when I can’t and it’s just a vicious cycle.”

Y/N doesn’t say anything right away, trying to choose her words carefully. She comes into his office and takes a seat at one of the chairs across from George’s desk. George runs his hands through his hair again, silently pleading that she says something. A few more quiet moments pass before Y/N speaks.

“That sounds. Well frankly that sounds like hell. But it’s okay to feel like that, you know. It’s okay to be mad at Fred. It’s okay to feel whatever you want towards Fred, that’s a normal part of grieving, George,” she explains, leaning forward in her chair.

“So, years will go by and I’ll still feel,” George mumbles almost without thinking. He casts his eyes downward, not wanting to look Y/N in the eyes or see the expression on her face.

A pink blush flushes Y/N’s face. “You, um, remember that then? You never mentioned it, so I figured you forgot about it, or maybe never even heard it. I was kinda hoping that you never even heard it.”

George looks up at her then, staring deeply into her eyes. “Is that why you came into the shop that day? Why you started working here? So, you could feel closer to Fred? Is that why you kissed me?” His last question is quieter, practically a whisper. He feels ashamed as soon as he asks, he wants to take it back.

But then Y/N lets out a laugh, shocking George. He looks at her quizzically. “What? Are you laughing at me?”

Y/N shakes her head no, but continues to laugh, almost as if she can’t stop herself. It takes what feels like an eternity for her laughter to die down, and once it does she scoots closer to George, reaching out to touch his hand.

“That day, when we were sitting there in the Great Hall, I wasn’t talking about still feeling love for Fred. I never really loved Fred. Not in that way at least.”

George is taken aback by that. “What do you mean?”

“Georgie, Fred and I dated for like 4 months when we were 16. It was nice to have someone to go to Hogsmeade with or carry my books and it was fun spending time with Fred but I wasn’t in love with him. And Fred knew that, that’s why we broke things off.”

George looks at Y/N. He’s trying not to get his hopes up, but he’s still so confused about everything. “So, what the hell were you talking about that day? Because I sure as hell thought you were talking about still being in love with Fred.”

Y/N bites her lip, dropping her gaze to the floor. “I was talking about feeling guilty, George.”

George suddenly pushes away from his desk, beginning to pace back and forth. “Feeling guilty for what, then?”

“Feeling guilty for being in love with his twin brother!” Y/N admits suddenly, causing George to stop in his tracks.

“Come again?” he asks, looking down at Y/N. His eyes follow her as she stands up and walks over to him.

“I was never in love with Fred. And after we broke up I started to fall in love with you. But I never acted on it because I felt guilty. I knew Fred had strong feelings for me, so I never tried to act on my feelings for you. And that day, when I saw you in the Great Hall, even though it had been years all of those feelings came rushing back. How I felt for you, how guilty I felt for feeling those things. That’s why I came over there that day, because I wanted to see you, make sure you were okay. And I hoped that saying goodbye to Fred would make me feel okay to try and approach you.”

Suddenly it dawns on George. “That’s why you came to his funeral, then? To put those guilty feelings to rest once and for all.”

Y/N nods, taking one of George’s hands in hers. “That’s why I didn’t stay long. The second I saw you I wanted to run into your arms and kiss you. But I figured that was probably not the right time or place to fling myself at you.”

George laughs, trying to imagine what he would have done if Y/N had done that. He uses his free hand to reach up and cup Y/N’s cheek. “So that day you came into the shop, it was to see me?”

Y/N rolls her eyes but nods. “I said that, didn’t I dummy? That I came into the shop to see you. I would make excuses to head to Diagon Alley nearly every day to check to see if the shop was open. It took me two weeks to get the courage to actually walk in once you opened back up. And truth be told-“ she stops, letting her gaze drop to the floor. “I didn’t really need a job. I just wanted an excuse to spend more time with you.”

Suddenly so many things started making sense to George. “So that’s why you would stay in late? Come in on days off?”

Y/N nods. “And why I agreed to come to dinner at The Burrow every week, and why I agreed to help Ginny with her Quidditch training.”

“Not to keep the memory of my dead brother alive?” George asks, almost unable to believe everything he’s heard. Y/N shakes her head. “But to be close to me, because you’re in love with me?”

Instead of nodding Y/N grabs George’s face and brings their lips together in a heated kiss. George is frozen for a moment, his brain trying to catch up with what’s going on. Once it does he kisses Y/N back hungrily, his hands gripping her hips tightly. They kiss for a few moments before Y/N pulls away breathless.

“And that was that. Your Mum and I got together and the rest is history.”

George stops with his story, waiting for Roxanne to say something. When she doesn’t he looks down, a smile spreading across his face when he notices her eyes have fluttered closed and she’s breathing slowly. He presses a kiss to her forehead and tucks her blanket around her tighter.

He’s closing her door behind him quietly when he runs into his wife, nearly shouting at the scare she gave him.

“Bloody hell, how long have you been standing there, love?” he asks, wrapping his arms around Y/N’s waist.

“Long enough to hear you spill all of our dark secrets,” she responds with a quiet laugh.

George frowns. “Are you mad? I know we said we wouldn’t tell them, but you know I can’t resist her puppy eyes, just like how I can’t resist yours.”

Y/N doesn’t answer him, choosing to press a kiss to his lips instead. Y/N buries her hands in George’s hair as he deepens their kiss, his hands squeezing her hips tightly. They both can’t help but be reminded of the kiss they shared all those years ago that George had just finished recounting.

“Why did you get out of bed anyway, hm? You were sound asleep when I went to get my water,” George asks a few minutes later when they’re back in bed.

Y/N shrugs, snuggling up into George’s side. “You were gone for ages. Thought maybe you were sneaking some of those chocolate chip cookies I made, wanted to catch you in the act. ”George laughs, throwing an arm around his wife and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“So, you weren’t lying in bed awake, thinking of my dead brother?” he jokes with a chuckle.

Y/N smacks him on the chest lightly, laughing along with him. “You’re lucky I love you, Weasley.”

“You’re right, my love. I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

#george weasley #George Weasley imagine #George Weasley fic #George Weasley x reader #harry potter #Harry Potter imagine #Harry Potter fic #gw #golden

487 notes · View notes

ughgclden · 3 years

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bee, love, don’t apologise, please, it’s okay, and first and foremost, are you alright?? i hope you’re taking care of yourself, love, but i understand, i don’t think there’s been a year since third grade that i haven’t gotten pneumonia in the winter. I hope you’re feeling alright!!

honestly, dead poets society is one of my only personality traits anymore, i find myself drawing parallels to it constantly, for no reason but i love thinking about it. i’ve watched it so many times at this point, it’s,,, concerning. those tests always take me way less time than they give me, and i used to feel really awkward, i remember i took a bio one once, four hours they gave me, 45 minutes in, i was finished, and the moderator didn’t believe me. i aced it too, like the silly little neil kinnie i am. i’ve gotten used to the ‘worse’ side of being a neil kinnie, and honestly, now that my mum isn’t as controlling about everything as she used to be, it’s easier to deal with. i remember once, i’d gotten an 89 in algebra, and she threatened to pull me out of the fall show. that was a neil perry moment if i ever had one lol. the biggest thing these days is just imposter syndrome, imposter syndrome like oh you’re not hispanic enough, but also, you’re not queer enough, nonbinary enough, things like that. It’s exacerbated some days, but i try.

i watched the it movies on my cousin’s hbo,,, i may or may not have used it without her permission since she forgot to log out of my computer, but that’s neither here nor there. i remember having such a hard time taking the first one seriously initially, because of all the new kids on the block jokes, having a mum who was obsessed with them made it hard, especially when i actually got them all- in truth, the only midnight premiere i’ve been able to make was the force awakens, and i had school the next day too. i’m definitely a richie kinnie, and i have the internalised homophobia (only towards myself though) to prove it /hj my waterbottle has both a sticker of neil on it and a sticker of the r + e carving on it. in case there was any doubt about me lmao. stan kin makes sense for you, honestly, i can see it, i can see it.

okay so listen- no really, i’d bought them with the intention of only drinking half of one that night and spreading them out like that, but then came 9:45pm, and i had a research paper (on womens’ pockets/lack thereof) due at 10am that i simply hadn’t even started, so i downed them all in an hour and got the paper turned in at 5:56 in the morning. but i scare you huh? /hj bee, you’re too sweet, in truth, i’m fairly inelegant, but i try, as for the comforting and cosy, i’ll take you at your word, since that is something only someone interacting with me could discern. i do try to be kind to others for the most part. mainly i think because i’m usually on the other end of mean people.

i’m just perceptive like that bee, i dunno what to tell you, something just tells me, you know? /j and thank you, i always feel a little silly talking about it, because most of the tattoos i want are dead poets society tattoos, i guess some part of me, within the part of me that feels so incredibly tied to it, feels as if if i were able to get a tattoo i’d owe it to the movie in some way, if that makes any sense. i’ve already begged a friend of mine to go with me to get my first once i get to new york, the question though, is what to get first. i’ve got time to make a decision (for once in my life) i just spend a lot of time thinking about it.

honestly, i have never known a school rule to make sense. banning ripped jeans? banning dyed hair? it’s almost as if if they don’t stifle everything natural about kids expressing themselves they dont feel like they’re doing anything. but i digress. the same-sex couple rules were. awful. 12 year old me had enough going on without having an administrator yell at my friend and i for hugging in the courtyard and not leaving until we were a foot apart, but hey.

okay, jumping over a fence to go to a mcdonalds? how coming of age indie movie manic pixie dream girl of you /hj

200k words, is that a challenge? also ahaha not at all like my italian uncle up there just opened a ‘pizzeria’ /hj but mob!star au? might be a project i should start… granted, i’m not as good a storyteller as you, but i can try.

when i was little, i wanted to revolutionise things, i guess. i even actually wrote out a campaign, i wonder if its still somewhere. thank you for believing in me, but these days, bee, i’m thinking less about changing the world, and more about making it the next few weeks, and then the ones after that. little star was aware of so much, but also so little. i wonder what they’d think of me now, honestly.

i did, in fact, teach archery, it was so fun but my arms got SO SORE, and the kid who challenged my archery skills seemed surprised when i actually,, hit the bullseyes. my inner susan was happy then. incidentally the experience is also why i made a playlist called “touchstarved and wanting to teach you to shoot a bow” which low-key slaps when i’m lonely. and bee omg i cannot believe you said im better than susan pevensie i will be thinking about this for the rest of my life thank you- and yes, yes it was named aslan, however did you guess? /j prince caspian<33333

i’ll let you know my results from the tournament, as soon as they come out, and i say this having just put on pjs after taking off my suit, and sitting in the room with my cat in my dear evan hansen hoodie, frantically refreshing the results page because i’m anxious and impatient.

i hope you have a good night, with fitful and restful sleep, i’m sorry this got to be so long, but you know me, i certainly can talk. i’m honestly shocked i even made it to finals, considering i was running off four hours of sleep, having gone to bed at three last night. whoops.

all my love, hugs, and a warm mug of tea,

yours,

star✨

p.s i said yes so that?? happened?? it honestly feels surreal but we’re not gonna be in the same place anymore come the end of this year, so that’ll be something to deal with

P.p.s might just start adding spanish or latin or russian phrases to these if i keep having to translate your cute french bee /lh /hj

star my love, i know you said don't apologise, but i think the word 'sorry' makes up about 60% of my vocabulary. i'm okay!! was just a bit icky, but luckily i've recovered now!!

that's so nice - and again, makes so much sense for you. i think you would work perfectly in welton, i know it. i love bringing the messages from that film into my own life, as silly as it may sound. i'm astonished, and so fucking jealous of you. i used to finish tests maybe half an hour early, but hours is so impressive??? fun fact i did finish my physics final in about 45 minutes and slept for the other hour <3 neil would b proud my love!!! oh my god - i'm so sorry that happened??? but that is also so neil kinnie??? it seems futile me saying this, but i assure you that you are hispanic enough, and queer enough, and non-binary enough. you are enough, period. more than enough even. imposter syndrome is the worst, and i'm so so sorry you're dealing with it.

she did that to herself, you just saw an opportunity /lh a midnight premiere of the force awakens sounds so cute though omg - i hope you had the absolute best time. the r + e carving actually broke me. as a die hard reddie shipper since 2017, seeing the movie make it basically canon?! had me a mess in the cinema.

you are ridiculously comforting and cosy, everything about you feels like a warm hug from a familiar face and i love it. and the way you write is so smooth, it makes me think of a quill smoothly gliding across parchment, the deep black ink unsmudged and pristine. that seems a little pretentious of me, but oh well.

i also want some dps tattoos!! i desperately want "and still we sleep" from todd's poem, and was also so so tempted to get an outline drawing of meeks + pitts dancing on the roof. i love that, and i can't wait until the day you get it, whichever one it may be. my one concern is becoming addicted to them and making my bank account suffer - at least my piercing obsession is a little easier to fund /hj

i've NEVER gotten that - they claim it's 'distracting' but how on earth would it be?? when i got to college, no one was distracted by my dyed hair, and i certainly wasn't distracted by other people's outfits or painted nails. you were yelled at. for hugging. a friend.. what the fuck is wrong with these people??

just call me ramona flowers star /j it was possibly the highlight of my school career, sans hiding in the back room of the music room to avoid a maths test

i bet you're an amazing storyteller, if these letters are anything to go by. it would be a new york times best seller, i know it

we all have to take things one step at a time, i think. that's the only way i really get through things if i'm honest. one day after another and the cycle repeats. i love wondering what young me would think of me now - i'd probably be intimidated of myself, but i like to think i'd be proud that i'm still here, pursuing something i love

that playlist. sounds nothing short of sheer perfection. i too am touch starved and want to teach someone to shoot a bow - even though i.. cannot shoot a bow... but i can wield a sword so, it's close enough.

i saw your message about the tournament results - im so fucking proud of you!!!! you deserve it so so much and i couldn't be happier for you. see, your words and ideas are changing the world, even if you don't realise it.

ps; that is so fun???? omg im so happy for you star, you deserve tis <33 i hope towards the end of this year whatever happens leaves you both happy, no matter how far the distance.

pps; omg no.. please don't do that.. aha that would be awful... definitely wouldn't make my heart race.. haha not at all

all of my love, star. pardon the pun, but you are out of this world ;) i'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes;

il n'y a qu'un bonheur dans la vie, c'est d'aimer et d'être aimé <3

#asks <3 #anon asks!#star anon #long post

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blissfulalchemist · 3 years

Note

"Why... why did you just take off your shirt?" + "Does my being half-naked bother you?" for Victorious Secret

Thank you for this Kate! Here’s more of their new canon!

Fourteen days. That’s how many days in a row Wes had seen Chance, including weekends, from exactly six in the evening until nine at night, except on Fridays when Chance had a lab night and they met for some dinner in the dorm hall from five to seven thirty. Wes didn’t mind, even if it was late on the weekends, good parties didn’t start till ten anyway, he got to be with him and get to know him, well, as much as one can in between research for their project. It was Saturday with the only difference being that for once they started earlier in the day, the deadline a week away. Chance’s nerves must have been starting to get to him as the two were in his dorm instead of the library, their textbooks and notebooks sprawled across the floor with no care as Chance didn’t have to share his room for the next week.

Wes felt himself start to nod off as the words became blurry and lost their meaning the more he looked at the textbook trying to annotate it to Chance’s standards. They had been going at this for almost four hours straight. Wes rubbed his eyes looking up to Chance as he sat in the cloth chair next to the desk, his feet propped on the ladder of the raised bed, eyes glued to the supplemental book on Jar Head’s approved list. Wes stared at him, noticing the way Chance’s mess of curls were starting to fall into his eyes as he shifted sliding down farther off the chair, Wes felt tempted to brush his brown hair out of his eyes, make life easier for his friend, It looks like it could be really soft. Chance blinked a few times before looking over to Wes, his green eyes sparkling in the last bit of sun filtering in, “You getting lost?”

In your eyes, “No,” he said, looking back down finally realizing he hadn’t turned the page in almost thirty minutes. Time to give up, Wes thought as he adjusted himself on the futon sofa below the roommate’s bed.

Chance looked around the room frowning, “Have we been sitting in complete silence for the last,” he glanced over at Wes, “What time is it?”

“Almost four.”

Chance’s eyes widened, “Four hours?! We’ve been sitting in silence for four hours,” he groaned leaning back covering his face with the book. “No wonder I’ve been staring at this page for at least thirty minutes,” his voice muffled by the book.

Wes couldn’t help but notice the way Chance’s shirt pulled up his body exposing a sliver of his abdomen, “Break time?”

“Damn right,” Chance said, tossing the book on the built in desk, rubbing his tired eyes, “Should we get dinner?” He looked out the window behind him, watching as the big snowflakes started to fall, “Dorm food or order in?”

“Not hungry,” Wes said, stretching out his muscles.

“Dude, I haven’t eaten all day so you haven’t eaten all day,” Chance pointed out, “Here toss me my phone.” Wes picked up the red and black phone in its case flinging it his way, almost hitting Chance in the eye, Oops. “Careful,” Chance opened the phone scrolling through the places that delivered to the dorms and weren’t that far away, “You ever had Pita Pit? Never mind don’t answer that. You probably haven't,” Wes gave a small shrug, Chance wasn’t wrong. He placed his order pushing his hair back, “You want me to pick for you or do you want to scroll through the menu?”

Wes held out his hand, “I’ll do it.”

Chance handed it over standing up, reaching his hands up to the ceiling, distracting Wes as he watched taking in Chance’s lean muscle that he could see as his shirt raised up. Wes quickly looked down to the phone quickly picking something that looked good, “Get a breakfast one too,” Wes looked up through his lashes, at Chance as he pointed out the window with his thumb, “In case the snow gets bad and you gotta stay here for the night.”

“Oh,” Wes looked back and just ordered whatever Chance had ordered, “That why we came here?”

He nodded, “Yeah. Here all day cause of the deadline, Seed hates us, and lastly, perfect timing that my roommate went ice climbing with his family.” Chance took the phone back placing the order, “What should we do while we wait? We can play games, power nap, or watch a show.”

Power nap, “Whatever you think best,” Only one useable bed.

Chance rubbed the back of his neck moving to sit with Wes, “Maybe some games while we wait,” he said grabbing the controllers, “Might fall asleep and miss the food with the other options.”

“Can we nap after,” Wes asked.

“Yeah,” Chance patted Wes’ shoulder, “Sure big guy. We can nap after we eat, you’re not leaving until nine anyway,” Wes gave him a smirk, “Unless the weather gets bad.”

“Right,” Wes agreed, his mind saying silent prayers for blizzard-like conditions.

Chance handed over the controller, “You fine with fighting games, or do you want to play something like Halo?”

“Uhm,” Wes hadn’t really played any video games, sure he watched when his two roommates played against each other but he never joined in. “Fighting….games?”

Chance was turning the console on getting ready to sift through the digital library, “Sure. I got Mortal Kombat, Blazeblue, Injustice one and two, Marvel vs Capcom three, uh, let’s see what else,” Chance leaned forward looking at the squares on the screen.

“Whatever’s easiest to play,” Chance looked up to him, his green eyes curious, Wes gave a shrug looking away, “Never played.”

“Huh,” Chance leaned back clicking on a game that Wes didn’t catch, “Thought you would have.”

“Why’d you say that?”

He gave a shrug, “Cause of your roommate, the short one.”

“They’re both short,” Wes retorted.

Chance gave a laugh, “Fair. Everyone’s gotta be short to you, except maybe me on a good day.” Chance turned the tv volume down, the sound loud enough to trigger a small headache, “The not so hot one. She dresses in flowers.” Wes knew which one he was talking about now, “Anyway I remember seeing her at the game store, she kicked some ass during the Injustice tournament, thought you’d have played against her at home.”

Wes shook his head, “No. Wren plays with her though.”

Chance gave a sly smirk, “Plays with her or plays with her?” Chance laughed getting a small shove from Wes, “Joking jeez, but Wren though, that’s her name. Pretty,” Chance said her name once more giving a small nod, “More serious note, are they together? Are you all together, like some kind of poly thing.” Wes gave him an exasperated glare, this wasn’t the first nor the last time Wes had been asked this, Chance held his hands up, “No judgement here, just curious is all.” Chance snapped his fingers to point at Wes, “If it is though, you’re one lucky guy, get to go home to them every night, livin’ every guy’s dream.” Chance turned back to the tv the game starting up.

Wes hesitated in answering, he could easily lie and say that Wren was taken, stop Chance from ever trying to hit on her. Then again, “No. To all of it.”

Chance gave a slow nod, “Nice.” Wes knew Wren wasn’t that into guys like Chance, but if he believed it then maybe he’d come around more. Chance’s phone lit up as he got the beginner settings set up with Wes’ controller. It was a text message from someone saved as 413, asking if he’d come down and help keep them warm with the incoming snow tonight. It was cheesy and Wes noticed there were a few other messages like that on his phone, some with names more cryptic than the others.

“You’re popular,” Wes commented, Chance glancing down at his phone rolling his eyes.

“Gotta block ‘er,” he shook his head, “Texts me twice a week at least. Don’t want to hook up with her again ‘nd she can’t take the hint apparently.”

“Whatta ‘bout the others?”

Chance handed the controller back over to Wes, “What about them?” Wes took the controller, “You’re here, don’t have time for them.”

Them, he keeps saying them, Wes turned the words over and over as Chance explained the game, Was it possible that Chance was bi. Could I actually have a shot at this? By the time they started playing Wes forgot all the basics that Chance had just explained, hitting whatever buttons he felt would do something. It wasn’t lost on Wes that Chance held back letting him get a feel for the game and it’s mechanics, which just meant that Wes was able to become semi-competent in the team Chance helped him pick out.

“Alright now the real competition begins, button masher,” Chance said as he picked a new team for himself.

An idea came to mind, Wes unable to stop his mouth from holding it back, “We play like strip poker?”

Chance didn’t even look Wes’ way, “Yeah, sure man. Whatever you want.” Wes gave a small, sly smile before turning to the screen. The fight itself didn’t last very long even with the second round that Chance started to really determine a winner, then again it didn’t help that Wes only learned one move for each character he could successfully repeat to do more than just basic punching and kicking. Chance threw his hands up in victory as Wes set his controller down in his lap, pulling his shirt over his head. Chance did a double take, “Why-Why did you just take off your shirt?”

“We’re playin’ strip fight,” Wes felt his heart race, “like strip poker.”

The slightest bit of red started to creep up Chance’s neck, “Uh. Oh, well, I thought you were asking to play Street Fighter after this.”

Wes swallowed, sifting for another excuse to want to pull off the impulsive idea, “It’also kinda hot in ‘ere.” He heard Chance hum a tune Wes didn’t recognize, “Sorry.”

Chance shook his head, his eyes looking over Wes’ bare chest briefly, “It’s fine,” Chance felt the blood make its way up his neck higher towards his cheeks.

Wes felt himself at an impasse as to what his next move to be, after seeing the brief, very brief, running of Chance’s eyes on his body. The blush was hard to make out of it being from being uncomfortable or from some form of attraction. On the one hand he could keep up the temperature lie, see if Chance would look at him again, or just put the shirt back on and hope he didn’t just screw things up. “Does it bother ya? Bein’ half-naked ‘nd all.”

Chance blinked a few times, “Well, no, if it’s too hot in here for you. Hard to control the temperature in here,” he stammered, heart racing and ignoring the pull in his abdomen. “So if you want to you can stay as you are. Shouldn’t care too much anyway cause it’s just toxic masculinity and all that.” Chance needed to shut up, he looked for a change in subject as he rubbed the back of his neck, his cell phone ringing. He let out a breath of relief as he recognized the delivery driver’s number, “Looks like the food’s here.” Chance made his way to the door grabbing his keys, “Go ahead and pick something for us to watch,” he switched the lock on the door. “So no one walks in and gets the wrong idea about you. Some of the guys here can be mean,” Chance justified seeing the worried look on Wes’ face.

Chance walked out the door, quickly making his way to the stairs to walk down the ten flights to the lobby. Wes sat, his heart slowing as he put his face in his hands, rubbing his temples, “Hope I didn’t fuck up.”

#x: victorious secret #It's wholesome and I love it okay!

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razorblade180 · 4 years

Text

Twin Snowflakes 18: A better day

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU!” Yang shouted, her voice echoing through the summer Menagerie air at her young, ten year old daughter. “What did I say about fighting!?” Veronica wiped her soiled face and snarled. Her eyes were completely feral and nails extended.

“STOP YELLING AT ME! YOU’RE HURTING MY EARS!” Veronica tried running past Yang but her arm was grabbed and pulled back. She kept pulling and struggling but couldn’t break free from the grip. “Let me go!”

“We aren’t done talking!” Yang said firmly, try to keep her voice lower than before. “You have to learn to control your temper!”

“I can’t!”

“Can’t, or won’t?” Yang watched her daughter’s eyes start to water.

“What does it matter!? They’d hate me anyways and it’s you and mom’s fault! I HATE YOU!!” Her words stunned Yang. Veronica took the opportunity to bite her hand, making Yang wince and let go. Veronica sprinted off on all fours into the jungle, crying. Leaving Yang feeling more concerned than hurt.

xxxx

That same concern would continue on multiple occasions. Sometimes more frequently or intense than others. Now it reared its ugly head again as she sat at the bottom of the Schnee manor stairs waiting for her kid to walk through the front door with Nick. Jaune and Weiss were also waiting after Penny had given them the call about what apparently happened at school. They definitely weren’t happy, but they too were more concerned, considering the report on Nick’s health. It was common for the boy to get under the weather. Constant working does that to the body.

“Any minute now.” Jaune said, the calmest of them all. “Remember, let’s not bombard them right out of the g-” the front door opened before he could finish. Both mothers all but ran to it. “Gate…”

“Veronica Nala Belladonna.” Was all the girl heard as she entered the room. Middle names were never a good sign. She winced as if she had gotten a cut at the words and looked at her mother stare at her. Veronica’s ears folded as she let out a sigh. “I know, I messed up. Thought I had it under control but I couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“Ya think?” Yang huffed. “Why do you think I tell you all the time to let me make you a breakfast that’ll help. What if you had gotten hurt? Or seriously injured another kid!? We’re lucky the media doesn’t know you’re here yet either or they’d-” The carefully controlled lecture tone was brought to a halt when Veronica walked forward and put her face down in Yang’s chest like a pillow. A muffled “I’m sorry” was heard surprisingly. Veronica looked up into Yang’s matching lilac eyes while she still rested her tired head. “Veronica?”

“I’m still fatigued. It was bad, not the worse,but it was pretty bad.” She pointed at Nick to draw attention to the bruise he still had. Veronica stood up straight in front of his parents and bowed at the best. “Your son was hurt because of me. I apologize…” Nick walked you to her, sheepishly rubbing his head. “It was my bad actually. You know me, charging in without a plan.” He tried laughing but the pain in his nose made it difficult.

Weiss shook her head. “That I understand just fine, but running out of school?”

“I panicked.” He admitted, “also I caught a slight fever so grounding me then sending me to my room is a little mute.” Nick joked. He wanted to break the tension. All the parents looked at each other before turning back. “We aren’t grounding you.” Jaune spoke, “Flynt called and the two boys involved already gave their side of the story and at minimum, Veronica and a student body member will visit his office tomorrow to get the other side of the story.”

“That’s fair.” Veronica stretched. Her body was still trying to settle down a bit. “Is it alright if I go lay down for a bit? Please?” Yang gave her an observing look. Veronica could tell she was looking at her features to make sure she was okay. “Ma I’m fine, also full. Penny’s lab turned into a glorified pizza place.” Yang motioned to the stairs and Veronica went on her way.

“Take a shower first!” Yang chimed.

“Will do.” Nick watched the girl disappear before looking back at the grown ups who were still beaming at him. “Uhhh yes?” Yang walked over and patted his head.

“Thanks for looking after her. I owe ya.”Nick smiled, giving a thumbs up. “Seeing what you said happen in action was an experience. I’ll be sure to watch out for friendly fire next time.”

“Your nose should be broken. Veronica hits hard.” Jaune chimed. He activated his semblance and quickly healed his son’s face. “All better.”

“Thaaaank you!” He sniffled. It was hard not to wish the Arc semblance was the hereditary one sometimes. “I’m going to head off to my room too. I hope Summer remembers all of our stuff. Running out of school isn’t a really good excuse for missing assignments I assume.” Nick took his leave, going to his room as well. Step by step through the halls brought a rhythmic pounding to his head. Sluggish didn’t begin to describe how he felt. Reaching his room felt like a dream come true, or a fever dream anyways. The boy basically stumbled in. Minutes later, Weiss knocked on his door before entering without permission. Her arms crossed and the corner of her lips turned down as she looked at her son that sat on the edge of his bed. His face was redder than down stairs and all of his enthusiasm had vanished; not like it was actually there to begin with. Weiss knew a brave face when she saw one. She knelt down and pressed her hand against Nick’s forehead. Weiss might as well have been touching a heater.

“I look worse than it actually is.” Nick weakly smiled. His mother was having none of it and frankly, he was fortunate for that. Gods know he wouldn’t slow down on his own.

“No school tomorrow for you.” Weiss ordered. “Go run a cold shower for your fever. I’ll make you some stew and bring medicine. This bed is going to be your best friend for at least the rest of the day, no debate.” Weiss waited for protest but it never came. First Veronica and now him, they really were at their limit. Weiss helped Nick up and walked him to one of their many bathrooms. “You know, it’s been awhile since you threw a party or anything. Not even an ‘outing’ of some sort.” Weiss put emphasis on outing. Both of her kids would occasionally want to go around town at night to relax when in reality, both of them would sneak down to Mantle’s harbor. There were plenty of empty warehouses to have underground concerts and raves. Both Jaune and Weiss knew about it but Weiss can’t really blame them. She used to do similar and worse things when she snuck out. Rich kids can’t escape rich problems. The only thing she’s actually said about their late night adventures was an off hand comment about how they better be as clean as they were coming home, as they were leaving the house; the twins immediately knew she wasn’t referring to surface level dirt. As long as that order was followed and nothing extreme happened then she’d let them have freedom.

“I thought about it but too much is going on. Maybe after the tournament. It would be terrible to have some kind of incident before it.”

That was fair. The twins would be crushed otherwise. “Good idea. After the both of you compete, you should do some kind of fun after party. I’ll let you use the yacht.” Weiss saw Nick’s eyes light up a bit. She’d never understand why he loved that boat so much. “Sounds good?”

Nick chuckled, “Sounds great, and it’ll sound perfect once I win gold.”

xxxx

Karma is a dangerous being and Summer was finding that out the hard way. Not only did she have to carry Veronica and Nick’s belongings, but was alone! Valerie was busy with after school activities so Summer never got the chance to ask for help, which might’ve been for the best. If Valerie wanted space from Nick then there was no reason to complain when she realizes that he got into a fight. Though it might’ve been that kind of thinking that put Summer in this situation. Two bags and a backpack was heavier than she’d imagined. Thank goodness it wasn’t a textbook day. Still, all of Vee’s belongings took time to put up. At least she was getting work done before shit hit the fan, especially her designs. Summer tried to pick up the pace. Following the order to get some calcium in her was already paying off. It’s only been a day and yet Summer felt good, more alert even. A good and a bad thing unfortunately; Shiva is no doubt jumping for joy as well. The annoyance was getting one of few things that she wanted. Conversely, Summer was starting to think that maybe this change in her diet could potentially mean resisting Shiva might be easier. Anything would help at this point. It was a day in and day out battle that Summer hated. Her body, her mind, even her very soul, bit by bit she could that she was breaking in the worst way possible. Like glass on the verge of cracking by a high not. If she wasn’t careful of Shiva’s antics then all hell would freeze over.

Summer made it a few more blocks before feeling a little tired. If only she made it to bus in time. She wanted to take a break but the winter season brought the dark early. Darkness meant it got colder and that was a major no no. “What I wouldn’t give for a speed semblance right now, or a functioning summon to carry all this crap.” She thought, a little irritated by the fact her brother actually made an Arma Gigas. “Can’t let him get too far ahead of me. I’ll never pull my weight then.” Summer let her thoughts drift off a little too much. The girl didn’t pay attention to a truck clearing snow off the road and onto the sidewalks. By the time she did, a wave was headed right for her. The girl gasped, quickly activating her thermals. The weight of everything made it impossible to dodge so she just had to endure, until a warm blast of air that felt like it belonged to the tropics, brushed by her and melted the snow. Summer was confused by what just happened.

“Across the street.” A voice called out. Summer looked behind her to see Eliza standing on the opposite side sipping a coffee. “You have a real problem with spacing out, you know that right?” Eliza wasn’t planning on going in the same direction as Summer but decided to cross the street to her since they were clearly going to end up talking. “Can’t you, like blow gusts of wind if you try hard enough?” Eliza didn’t know the specifics of Summer’s condition, but the sensitive Schnee had told her a little of it in an attempt to explain many different absences to both school and meetings.

Summer clicked her tongue, “I could’ve tried, but then the road would probably get ice on it. What brings you this way?” Summer made a mischievous smirk. “Ooo were you going to check in my brother? How sweet.” She playfully laughed until Eliza scared her with a stern look. “It was a joke…”

“Yeah a terrible one.” Eliza deadpanned. She freed Summer of the backpack, choosing to carry it herself. “But I did hear a little of what happened in excruciating detail.”

Summer was perplexed.“Th...that sentence doesn’t make-”

“I will help you all the way to your front gate and then I’ll be on my way.”

“Don’t you have somewhere you had to be? You don’t have to go out of your way for me.”

Eliza pulled out a gold pocket watch. “I got time, they’ll still be open for a while.” She could tell Summer was interested in what she was talking about. “I’m telling you…”

“Awww, well thanks anyway.” She smiled. Eliza started walking, ignoring the happy gesture. “You can thank me by keeping your brother out of trouble. I need him focused on our rematch.” Summer could only feel sorry for her brother now. His luck with girls was atrocious. All of them want to take him down a peg in one way or another! Even she wanted to outdo him! Summer made a mental reminder to ease up on him in the upcoming days, except for singing. Family or not, he was going to sing every note well with passion or she would personally throw him off her stage. Mediocrity had no place next her. Then again, sharing the stage was always a big problem.

“You’re spacing out again!” Eliza shouted, already several feet away. Summer yelped and began to jog. “Sorry!”

xxxx

The extra company definitely made the walk feel shorter, even if they barely talked. Summer did notice that Eliza’s coffee was perpetually hot despite the weather. It made her wonder just how much control Eliza had over her magic. It had been some time since she saw her actually practiced it. “Maybe she found a good training spot and that’s where she’s headed?” Summer thought as she climbed the steps to her front door. Surprisingly, Ruby stood at the top of them. “Auntie?”

“Hmm? Oh hey!” The huntress said when she noticed Summer. “I’d say fancy meeting you here, but this is your house.” Ruby laughed at her own lame remark. Summer walked to the door and unlocked it for her.“Thank you!”

“Auntie it’s my house. I had to walk in too.”

“I can still say thank you. Now I can surprise Yang even further. Watch this.” Ruby closed the door behind them and ran to the middle of the room, cuffing her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice. “I wanna see my sister!” She sang.

The sound of quick footsteps traveled around another room until Yang slid into view in front of the kitchen doorway. The blonde sang back. “You can see your sister!” Ruby smiled and sang a little louder. “I wanna see my niece!!!!” Ruby held her arms straight up.

Veronica came through the second floor right on que. “You can see your niece!” She sang, falling right into Ruby’s arms. Followed by Yang hugging both of them. Summer always wondered where they got all that energy from. It could only be from their dad. Apparently it was genetic.

Summer waved Veronica’s bag. “Veronica come get your crap. It’s heavy.” The strap left her hand in the blink of an eye. Someone was clearly upset that I touched her stuff. “You could say thank you.”

“Yeah I could do that.” Was all Veronica said. Summer thought about starting an argument right then and there, but a bath was calling her name. “I’m going to warm up. Tell mom and dad I’m home.” On that note, up to her private bathroom she went.

Yang flicked Veronica’s forehead. “It’s not hard to be a little nice.”

“I will do that later. I still feel like a off.” The young faunus took a deep breath and covered her face with her bag. “Can you please...make some dinner, a dinner with actual meat?” She didn’t have to see Yang to know she was practically bouncing up and down.

“Let’s put some meat on those bones!” Yang cheered, running off. Not only was she happy for Veronica, but any day was a good day she could cook without following some rules a diet set up. Cooking should be fun and flavorful. Not filled with kale. “Ruby we can cook and chat like the old days. Get your but in here!”

Ruby looked at Vee. “Your mother is very excitable. That’s where you get that from.” Ruby rubbed her head then took off. Veronica could hear Weiss panic before the shouts started to sound happy. It was either because three fourths of the team was in the same spot, or she was secretly looking for help in the kitchen. Probably both if Veronica had to guess. She might’ve joined them but there was no way she could possibly deal with all of them at once at the moment. Instead she decided to see if Summer was competent enough to retrieve everything. It was certainly looking that way.

“Notes, lists, pens, journa- hold on…” Veronica reached for the journal and took a whiff. Odd, it smelled like Summer. That was a given, she had to put in the bag. What wasn’t right was each page. They all had her scent. Veronica could feel her stomach start to sink and her body shook a little. “That nosy...ugh!” Veronica didn’t waste time with the stairs and jumped right up to the second floor into her room, then crossed the hall. Both of her parents had taught her how important it was to respect boundaries ever since her semblance awakened but Veronica was having a hard time caring. Instead of knocking, she went through Summer’s door in a fit of anger. “HEY! Did y-”

“Gah!” Summer screamed, startled by the sudden entrance. So much in fact that the ground she sat on iced over faintly. The girl looked up at Veronica with tears that quickly tried to wipe away. “What...what do you want!?” She sniffled and groaned, equally annoyed as Veronica. But now Vee’s face looked less angry and more caught off guard. Something that pissed Summer off more. “What!? Can’t a girl cry in the comfort of her own room!?” She stood up and huffed. “It’s therapeutic! Oscar says sometimes you just need to take a minute and let all of your pent up feelings out so they don’t overwhelm you!” Summer couldn’t explain why she felt the need to defend her tears but she did.

Veronica simply looked at the girl. It would look pretty bad to chew her out while she’s crying, especially if she gets back on the floor. Though it was hard, Veronica took a breath and chose a slightly less aggressive approach, raising her journal. “Did you look through this?” She grumbled. Summer nodded slowly. Vee clenched her fist before continuing. “Why are you looking through my stuff?”

Summer could tell this wasn’t Veronica’s usual anger. No, this time she looked like she actually wanted to fight her. “I...I was curious my new outfit was in there. Then I kept flipping because your designs are actually pretty nice….” her voice trailed off. It had been awhile since she actually felt intimidated by the girl.

“Do not, and I repeat, do not go through my sketches unless I tell you to. Something that I probably will never do, got it?”

“Crystal.” Summer replied without delay.

“Good…” Veronica slowly stepped back until she reached the door. “I apologize… for not knocking.” She phased through the door, leaving Summer to continue whatever she wanted to do. Overreacting was a definite problem from Veronica. It was hard not to when she knew Summer saw the back of her book. Nothing but scratched out ideas and claws marks. If she was lucky, Veronica would know better than to ask.

“Great…” Veronica hissed. “Now two people feel like crying.” She tossed her journey into her room and went downstairs. After dinner she’d probably go to bed immediately. Today was a dud, she’d try to have a better day tomorrow.

xxxx

Tomorrow came sooner than expected. Thankfully the night was uneventful and the food was delicious. Veronica was feeling better about today, except for her meeting with the principal. That was gonna take the wind out of her sails. Vee rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and got dressed in her own uniforms that she managed to get yesterday before the chaos. It was still pretty early to leave the house. Time zone differences was still kicking her tail. “Best to stay inside for today. Ma will have a fit if I leave.” Veronica pulled out her scroll and texted Nick to see if he was awake, partly out of boredom and concern. Weiss had told her and Summer he was going to stay home today and they needed to be on their best behavior. A thumbs up emoji came up to signal that he indeed was awake and Veronica wasted no time quietly getting to his room.

The girl pushed gently on the door to his room and peeked in. “Pssssst!” She heard him chuckled and took it as an invitation to come inside. Nick still wasn’t looking too well. His face was less red, but the bags under his eyes said enough. “You should be sleeping.”

“I was until you texted me.” He watched his friend’s face drop. Veronica mentally chastised herself. “Of course he’s a light sleeper.” She thought. “Sorry, I could go if you want.”

“It’s fine, this works out.” He said in a sleepy voice that was strangely cute. “I wanna tell you to have a good day at school. Don’t let anyone piss you off okay?”

Veronica scrunched her face. That was easier said than done. “I’ll try my best, for you.” Nicholas laughed again and shook his head. “Do it for yourself, you dummy. I’ll be back tomorrow bright eyed and ready to go.”

“Yeah well you need some shut eye for that to happen first.”

“Yeah, yeah, one more thing-”

“I will play nice with Summer.” It was easy to predict that request. Nick smiled and dozed back off to sleep. Veronica dwelt the hair out of his face. To think he would fall asleep like that? Nick really was out of it. Veronica continued to admire him, blushing the longer she did. Without thinking she pushed his hair away from his forehead and started to lean down. One little goodbye peck on the noggin wouldn’t be so bad, right? Veronica could feel her face heating up as she closed her eyes…

“You could get sick you know?” Said Weiss, standing in the door frame with medicine and a cheeky smile. Veronica immediately jolted up as if she hadn’t just been caught red handed. “M- Mrs. Schnee!” She stuttered. “I didn’t hear you come in. Hehehe….” The innocent act fell apart as quickly as Veronica tried to attempt it. The poor girl covered her face to hide the embarrassment. “My bad, that was inappropriate.” She fiddled with her tail. An unexpected pat on the head by the mother of her crush made Veronica yelp. “This is a weird form of punishment.”

“Probably because it’s not punishment silly.” Weiss might’ve been on team Valerie, but she was more than happy to see Veronica act so lovingly around Nick. Weiss gave the girl her own forehead kiss. “Make good choices today. I believe in you, and so does Nick.” Veronica couldn’t hide the warm smile on her face. She nodded in agreement and went on to finish getting ready. Weiss pulled up a chair and sat next to her ill child. She put the back of her hand to his forehead. Nick’s hand suddenly rose up and took hold of it. He opened his eyes and smiled.

“Hey you, one guest after another.” He noticed the medicine and sat up against the backboard. “I can take it myself. Even if it’s absolutely disgusting.”

Weiss gave him the bottle of unpleasantly thick brown syrup. “Sorry to wake you. You can sleep to your heart’s content after this.”

Nick plugged his stuffy nose and chugged down the bottle. Weiss handed him a cup of orange juice to wash away the taste. He couldn’t even describe it. The closest he could think of mildew and broccoli. “Blegh!! What I wouldn’t give to never be sick.”

Weiss stared at him, annoyed by that statement. “Gee, have you tried taking care of yourself. You’d get sick less often. Crazy concept I know, but I hear it works.”

“Hardy har, I will take longer breaks when I can. Could you hand me my scroll?”

Weiss squinted. “Is it business related?” The silence she received was all she needed. “Why are you like this?”

“It’s actually important! It’ll take three minutes, honest!”

“Then let me text it.” Weiss grabbed the scroll. “Who am I looking for?”

“Eliza.” He groaned, it felt weird not having his scroll in his hand. “Found her?”

Weiss shook her head. “You have no contacts under E and the only M you have is me as Mom.”

Nick laughed. “She’s under W.”

Weiss scrolled down. “Whitley, Winter, Work Wife…” her brain stopped, having to reread that last one. “Work Wife?”

Nick nodded, still laughing to himself. “She bugs me enough about council things and treats the school like a house full of kids that we take care of. Work wife seemed appropriate.”

“Is she aware of this nickname?” Weiss questioned, raising an eyebrow that secretly thought the name was funny.

“Heavens no, she’d be so upset. I doubt my name is her phone as anything good anyways. Can you tell her I won’t be at school today and to be the council member to show up in the office with Veronica?”

Weiss gave a thumbs up and sent the message. His scroll started ringing not even ten seconds later. “Your work wife is calling.” Weiss decided now was a good time to give him his scroll. Something Nick was happy about at all as he answered it. “Hello?”

“I am going to strangle you…” Eliza said, the threat sounding genuine. “You wake me up with news like this? We don’t all wake up 4:30”

Nick had actually forgotten how early it was. For once he deserved one of her threats. “Sorry, I just wanted to give you a heads up.”

“You sound congested as hell. You really are sick. Not that I didn’t believe you. Hooky is your sister’s style. Speaking of her, why don’t you ask her to do this?”

“Her and Valerie don’t mix well with Veronica, or dumb and dumber. I need a level head in that office room that isn’t Flynt.” He let out a forced cough, putting a little more strain into it than there actually was. “Please…?” He said with a rasp.

“Mmmmgggghhh! You owe me for this.”

“What will it be? I doubt you want money.”

“Your money can shove it. I want you in top physical condition. Normally I’d ask for something a little more tangible but I did ask you to keep me in the loop, so I guess you can’t complain.”

Nick smiled. “You're the best.”

“No one likes a kiss ass.” She hung up. The conversation went better than he expected so it was a win in his book. He gave Weiss back his scroll and sunk back into his bed. “I guess I’ll try this rest thing, night.” Weiss kissed his forehead and left the room. Finally, Nick closed his eyes to get some much needed rest. The world could deal without him for a day, hopefully.

xxxx

Today was going to be better. Veronica was going to be a model guest, which is what she wanted to believe. A bus ride with loud gossiping teenagers had different ideas for her. Rumors had spread like wildfire in a matter of hours apparently. Each one nastier than the last, but she kept her head down and turned up her headphones. “Just ignore them.” She whispered to herself. Summer sat next to her doing the same. Normally she’d want the girl out of shouting distance, but there was no one else she’d want next to her. At least Summer wasn’t vile or daft. The two didn’t have a conversation, even though it might’ve been beneficial. Something about the silence was comfortable. Summer peaked over her way, her mouth opened with shock.

Veronica took out a headphone despite her cat ears being available. “What?” Summer pointed to Veronica’s phone. The screen displayed one of the covers Summer had put on her album. “Oh, that.” Vee shrugged, “Never heard me question your singing have you.” Veronica left it at that and put back in the headphone, turning to the window. She could still see the singer in the reflection, displaying a pleased smile on her face as she also went back to listening to music. Comfortable silence, the only language besides arguing the two were good at with each other. It was short lived when the ride ended. One by one, kids got off the bus and Eliza stood by the door waiting for woman of the hour. Veronica expected her to be the escort. “Let me guess, Nick?”

Eliza let out a long yawn. “Aaaaaahhh! Interrupted my sleep and everything. Didn’t I specifically tell you to keep in line?”

“You’ll come to learn that I was the kid who scribbled her drawings with the crayons she was given.”Veronica took the lead in their walk to the office. “However, I guess I should stay in the lines today huh?”

Eliza rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Frankly, I don’t expect this to end with a pretty picture.”

xxxx

A pretty picture was indeed not looking well. The two stood on the right side of the office while Darren and Max were on the opposite. Flynt sat at his desk with a cup of coffee Eliza was secretly eyeballing. The man could feel the obvious tension in the room and wanted to get through this as fast and efficiently as possible. “Ms. Belladonna, would you like to tell your side of the story?”

Veronica rubbed her chin. There were many ways to play this out. However, only one way interests her enough to seek out.

Actually…I’d like to hear the story they told first.”

Darren crossed his arms, “What, trying to weave a clever lie?”

“Don’t play coy. I want to know just how clever your lie has to call this meeting.” She shot back, pissing Darren off. “As an upperclassmen, you wouldn’t mind humoring little ol me, right?”

“Tsk, as I told our principal, you were in the way of our lockers. Instead of simply moving out of the way, you got snippy and I got a little snippy back. The amount of disrespect you showed was completely uncalled for. Then you decided to escalate the situation instead of apologizing, assaulting the both of us before Nick showed up to bail you out of trouble that you couldn’t deal with; choosing to fight us too, then running off with you before the faculty could arrive. Ain’t that right Max?” The giant of a man nodded. “More or less.”

“Of course he’d leave out the stupid out the stupid flirting and grabbing my tail; shouldn’t have expected full honesty.” She thought internally. If Veronica could slap the punk right now, she would. The look of Flynt’s face told her that he wasn’t buying their bullshit, but it’s all he had to go with. Until she said her take on it of course. “Funny, that’s not how I remember things.”

“And how exactly do you remember things?” Flynt asked. “I’m curious on how the stories differ. A friendly reminder that I have to take disciplinary measures depending on how things unfold from both stories.”

All eyes were on her now and like always, it was in unflattering circumstances. Veronica’s word against theirs. If she told the truth, then no doubt the principal would take her side, and yet there was a problem. One she refused to create. It was a good thing she got Darren to speak so freely. If today was going to start well, then a lie was going to be told. One in her favor, and theirs.

“Mr. Coal, these two men have some facts messed up, but their story is mostly spot on.” Darren and Max raised their brows while Eliza and Flynt spoke in unison. “It is?” They said, surprised.

“It is. I stood in front of their lockers and caught an attitude, they caught one back. Certain insults were thrown, mainly by me and I got upset when they said their own. I attacked, and the two of them couldn’t handle it.” The bits in her voice appeared for the last part. She could tell Darren wanted to say something but his smarter friend prevented him from speaking. “It honestly wasn’t fair. I got so mad that it was easy to knock them around like amateurs. That’s when Nick showed up.” The little joy she gained from her story turned into seriousness. If it was for him or her family, Veronica would lie to the end of the world. “He didn’t attack Darren and Max. He attacked me.”

Everyone once again looked shocked by her words. Veronica continued speaking. “You know Nick, always trying to defuse a situation. As president, he wasn’t going to let his upperclassmen suffer. He jumped right into the fray in an attempt to restrain me. Obviously limbs were flying everywhere, so he ended up hitting them a little. That’s why they think he was fighting them, but he was just trying to separate me. I ended up hurting him in the process. Nick grabbed me the moment he could and ran off with me so I couldn’t hurt anyone else. That’s what happened.” Her gaze was directed towards Max. Veronica knew if this was going to work then one of them had to play along. It was obvious Max had interest in reining in Darren and letting this incident breeze by.

The man understood the silent compromise. They get off as victims as long as Nick does as well. An option he could live with. He didn’t want a stupid fight to begin with. “I think she might be right.” He said. “I mean if Nick wanted to wail on us then leaving with her makes no sense.” Darren shot him a look of disbelief but it was no match for the quiet wrath of Max, silently telling his hot headed friend to not ruin this. Darre bit his lip and mumbled. “Hmph, that does make more sense.” It burned him up a little that a twirp like Nick was just made a hero for beating him up out of anger.

“Mr. Coal I take full responsibility for what transpired yesterday afternoon.” Veronica bowed. Her voice was even and she held back her frustration. “Please only give me the punishment. I was in the wrong so it’s only fair.”

Eliza was stunned by what was happening before her. Veronica had to know the truth would have shot their story to bits, yet she was willing to bare all the blame. It was unexpected to say the least.”

Flynt stood up from his desk. “Very well then. Darren, Max, you two may return to class. The two boys nodded and headed to the door. “Before you go, let’s make something clear.” Flynt walked past Veronica and stared the two of them in the eyes. “I expect nothing but good behavior from you two. Also, I do not care if you both are key players in this year’s tournament. If someone even hints towards either of you bullying a person, especially a faunus in any shape or form…” he put his full attention on Darren. “We will have a very long and private discussion.”

“I also expect any future problems to be taken to a trusted adult or the student council.” Eliza chimed in. “As a sophomore, it’s only right that I give my attention to my juniors. I will be sure to be more observant.” The venom in her voice was clear as day. The boys slowly walked out of the office and went to class.

“Thanks…” Veronica said to the two of them. I wasn’t expecting threats.

“Threats? We did no such thing.” Flynt sarcastically spoke, returning to his seat. “Now for your punishment.Veronica Belladonna, I expect this tournament to be the biggest yet worth your contribution. Don’t let me down.”

“Th-that’s it?”

Flynt didn’t even bother to look back at her. He just started typing. “If anyone asks, you wrote a three page apology to me. For the love of the Gods though, try to have someone around you so no more incidents like this happen again.

Eliza put an arm around Veronica and led her out. “Alright on it sir. Have a good morning.” She waved him goodbye and shut the door. “Okay then, let’s swing by the cafeteria and get some coffee.”

Veronica was still trying to piece everything together. “Wait, so you’re just volunteering now?”

“Someone has to. Now are you going to complain about getting away with fighting, or help me wake up?”

Today was going to be a better day. Veronica could feel it. “I’ll go get the mugs.”

Part 17

#rwby #rwby au #rwby twin snowflakes #jaune arc #weiss schnee #nicholas schnee #summer schnee #eliza marigold #veronica belladonna #yang xiao long #ruby rose #flynt coal #darren diabhalta #max winchester

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dbzebra · 4 years

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Surpassing The Strongest CH 2

A/N: Sorry this took so long, I hit a wall for a long time but finally got past it! Just a reminder, this is kind of an End of Z retelling but will have obvious changes going forward. Also i apologize in advance for the linebreaks, tumblr ruined my formatting so i had to imprpovise lol Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Goten’s Resolve

“Train hard, study well, eat well and sleep well. That is the Turtle Hermit way to learn!”

Those were the words Master Roshi had told Goku and Krillin during their first day of martial arts training all those years ago. That motto had stuck with Goku his entire life, and molded it into how he trained both himself and his sons throughout their lives, even to this day.

It was break time from training. Father and son were lying in the grass with their hands behind their heads, watching the fluffy clouds roll by. Pan wasn’t due back for a few more minutes going by the speed of her approaching energy, so they took the time to relax for a bit.

Neither really spoke for a while, just listening to the sounds of nature. Birds chirped happily, the wind softly rustling the leaves above their heads, and the quaint sound of the river flowing nearby.

It was Son Goten who finally spoke up, breaking the silence, not breaking his gaze from the clouds.

“So, what’s next on the agenda?” Goten knew his father likely had an intense training schedule planned, but he was ready.

“Well, besides our regular sparring, our next step-- is to help you reach Super Saiyan 3.”

“Me? Reach level 3?” Goten quickly sat up, pointing to himself with a dumbfounded look.

“Of course!” Goku replied, sitting up as well. “That’s been your goal from the start since you began training again, right? And after what you showed me earlier, I think all that’s left is for you to push for the top.”

“Easier said than done! Trust me, I’ve been trying, it ain’t working!” Goten said.

Goku grinned and put both hands on Goten’s shoulders. “You did it before as Gotenks, and you were only a kid back then. I can feel it in your energy, Goten. You just gotta break through that last barrier.”

“How did it work for you? Like how did you reach level three?”

Goku looked up to the sky for a few moments, trying to recall just how he ascended beyond Super Saiyan 2 back in Other World. “Super Saiyan 3 was much different than the previous two forms. While levels one and two required intense rage--in most cases, level three was a different beast entirely. It took intense training and complete mastery of Super Saiyan 2. At the time, I was wondering how I could go even further beyond or if it was even possible. So one day, I was training with this guy called Pikkon. I kept feeling this really tiny tugging feeling deep inside.” Goku pointed to his stomach, and mimicked a back-and-forth motion with his hands. “And over the years of focus and training, the more I fought the more I felt it. So I worked towards that. I kept pulling back every time I felt that pull. Harder and harder, until--” he made a fist and then opened it-- “Bam! I unleashed all my energy once. And that’s when it happened.”

“...I don’t get it.” Pulling? It all sounded like crap, if he was being honest. But to be fair, he probably wouldn’t be able to explain the feeling either.

“Just try it out. I know you did this earlier. Remember how you went level three as Gotenks, and combine that with what I told you.” Goku stayed in his cross-legged position, while Goten jumped up to his feet.

The teen took a deep breath. “Alright. Here I go…!”

Goten bent his knees and let out a mighty roar that reached the heavens. His muscles bulged and once again electricity swirled around the teen as he ascended to Super Saiyan 2, bringing his ki to its utmost limits. The earth itself seemingly began trembling in fear of the awesome display of raw power.

‘This next energy… has to come from deep inside! Push hard to find it!’

The words that Goku had said to him and Trunks that day long ago echoed in his mind. The same words from when they took a break from learning the Fusion technique to see a first-hand demonstration of the ultimate Super Saiyan transformation.

“I did it back then, so I can do it now!” Goten told himself. He gritted his teeth hard and when he closed his eyes, he could almost see the visage of a Great Ape roaring. As he continued powering up, he felt a tiny, almost insignificant tug from within. That miniscule flicker deep in his stomach was like a just-barely-lit candle. “There!”

This was it. He had found it! The tremors began increasing in ferocity as the ground cracked beneath him and small rocks rose up into the air. The ‘flame’ from within grew in size and heat. Goku watched on, smiling with pride.

But just as he had it, he lost it. Goten’s golden hair reverted to its original black color and he dropped to his knees. The stones that floated around the teen fell back to the earth and everything was quiet again. Panting and out of breath, the disheartened teenager cursed under his breath and teen slammed the ground with his fist, causing it to shatter beneath him. “I… I can’t do it, Dad! I just can’t! I’ve been stuck doing the same thing for months, it’s not working! I’m just not strong enough to turn Super Saiyan 3!!”

For the last eight months, Goten tried and failed to ascend. He thought he wasn’t making any progress at all, but that was usually the case with self evaluation: you judge yourself much harder. To Goku, however, he noticed as clear as day that his son was making leaps and bounds of progress in strength.

Goku went to console his son, gently putting a hand on each of his shoulders. “Hey, don't be that way! It’s totally okay! You are good enough, Goten. Remember, you were the youngest Super Saiyan ever, and reached Super Saiyan 2 at only fifteen! You were right there! I promise you!! It took me six years to reach level three, and I was dead! You're doing great.” Goku said, and it seemed to encourage his son going by the faint grin that dared to appear on the teen’s face. ”Let’s switch gears. How ‘bout we try some image training instead?”

“Image training? What the heck is that?” Goten looked completely lost.

Goku put his hand on his chin to think how to explain it. It was one of those things where it was easy to understand, but putting into words was a bit more complicated. But after a moment, it came to him. “Basically, it’s kinda like meditating, but you project an image of yourself in your mind. Then, you link up with someone else using telepathy, and fight that way.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. How do you get stronger just by thinking about it?” Goten flatly said, causing Goku to chuckle in response. Much like himself at that age, Goten was never one to mince words.

“Just trust me, Goten. Your brother and I did the same thing while we were training to fight Cell.” Goku said and crossed his arms, keeping the same grin. “And besides, if we do this image training, you might get to see my secret ultimate technique.”

Now Goten was interested. It never took much to convince him. “Really? What’s it look like?!”

“You won’t know unless you try it out!” Goku goaded his son further. In all honesty, the new technique he developed was a finishing move, meant for a new enemy in case one ever came. It normally took a lot out of him, but just showing Goten once wouldn’t hurt.

Just as they were about to continue however, the two Saiyans sensed a familiar energy source rapidly approaching. Goku had sensed it from far off from a while ago, but he could see that his son was too preoccupied to notice until now.

“Guess we’ll save the image training for later then!” Goku said and jumped back to his feet.

Still seated in the grass and leaning backwards on his hands, Goten turned to the direction of the approaching person. It was far too large to be Pan’s. He knew who this was. The teen’s wide smile returned as another young man with short lavender hair wearing a sleeveless yellow vest and black pants dropped down on the grass in front of his oldest friend.

“Hey bro! What brings you by our neck of the woods?” Goten asked. Still a little sore from training, he held out his hand and Trunks pulled him up.

Trunks smirked and poked Goten playfully in the chest. “I heard through the grapevine that you were gonna enter the Tournament next week. Tryin’ to sneak a win by without telling’ me?” He raised an eyebrow at his friend. Knowing Goten like he did, he figured there wasn’t any malicious intent.

“Ah, Mar told you? Sorry about that.” Goten replied with a sigh. “I legitimately thought you already knew and planned on entering. I meant to tell you, really!” Between spending hours with Marron after school on their date yesterday, the excitement over his new gi the night before, and then the morning training, he didn’t really get an opportunity.

“It’s fine. I’m just glad to be out of my house. My dad hasn’t shut the hell up about it since! He was grilling me all morning! God, I had to practically throw Bulla at him just for a momentary distraction then I just bailed.” Trunks threw his hands up in frustration. His family got on his last damn nerve sometimes.

“I hear that. This one over here,” Goten said, gesturing to his father with his thumb, “pulled me out of bed at the crack of dawn while I was in the middle of an awesome dream!”

“Oh quit complaining.” Goku scolded his son while Goten shrugged.

Trunks snickered. “An awesome dream, you say? What kinda dream was it?”

Goten shot him a dirty look, but before he could think of a comeback, a little toddler dressed in a red gi flew in and landed in the middle of them.

“I’m back Grandpa!!” Pan chirped, raising her little fists in the air. “I flew around the whoooole world again, just like you said!”

With that signature Son grin of his, Goku smiled down at her. “That’s amazing, Pan! Thats your fastest time yet!”

Pan’s dark eyes lit up at hearing that she was getting better. “Think I’ll be ready for the Toonament?” She asked, innocently tilting her head to the side.

“Wait, Pan, you’re seriously going to enter the Tournament? There’s no Junior Division, don’t tell me she’s gonna fight with the rest of us!” Trunks was baffled. Pan nodded up at him, her smile still as wide as could be. She didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

Goku proudly pat his granddaughter on the head. “Don’t worry about her. She may not win, but she’ll do just fine!”

“She might end up doing better than Goten.” Trunks added.

“Very funny.” Goten dusted some blades of grass off of his pants, and glanced over to Trunks again, who teasing smirk only seemed to get bigger. The younger Saiyan sighed, shaking his head with a smile. “Dad, can we take a little break?”

“Sure, don’t go too far though. We’re gonna pick up where we left off in a bit.” Goku replied and Goten nodded in affirmation.

The two teenaged Saiyans walked over to the riverbank for a private chat. They kept their voices low, so a certain little toddler didn’t accidentally overhear certain stuff and then go repeating it, which would end badly for the both of them.

Trunks stood peering over the rushing waters with his hands shoved into his vest pockets. It was mesmerizing.. His phone buzzed, but decided it wasn’t that important. Meanwhile Goten put his hands behind his head and leaned on the tree nearby, staring up at the branches above. The sun was shining high in the sky; its warm light breaking through the gaps between the trees.

When he was small, he used to play a game where he had to only stay in the shaded parts and couldn’t touch where the sun hit. He smiled at the memory for a moment as his thoughts drifted back to the upcoming main event.

“So, you gonna enter?”

Trunks blew air out his nostrils and smirked. “You bet your ass I am. I’m not just gonna let you just walk in and sweep the competition against a bunch of nobodies! I’ll win, just like I did last time. If only Mr. Satan was entering, I’d smack him into next month.”

“Yeah right!” Goten fired back and puffed out his chest a bit, the confidence in his voice building.. “The outcome won’t be the same as last time, I can promise you that. I’ve been training constantly!”

“HA!” Trunks scoffed. “Good one, man. If by ‘training’, you mean you’ve just been getting handsy with Marron all the freakin’ time, then sure! Meanwhile, I’ve actually been training!” Trunks said, with his usual smug smile. He felt a little bad, but busting on Goten was too easy.

Goten’s whole face flushed a scarlet color at how nonchalantly Trunks could just bring up what he did with his girlfriend in private. Any confidence he had in that moment fizzled right out. “H-Hey!! Mar and I aren’t getting handsy!!” Goten blurted out louder than he intended and then swiftly covered his mouth with his hands. “That much…” He said again, practically as a whisper that time.

Trunks tried not to burst out laughing as Goten looked towards Pan, hoping she didn’t overhear him and then go repeating it to Videl or Gohan. Or worse, his mother. Not that she would get mad, just that her teasing comments would only get worse!

“Cut the bullshit, Goten. We’ve been friends for like, seventeen years, and I know when you’re lying. Even after all these years, you still have no poker face. And Marron isn’t exactly the best at keeping something like that hidden either.”

Was he really that obvious?! Goten kicked himself for being such an open book. He huffed and kicked a nearby pebble into the river.

“Look, no shame! I’m proud of you, man. Good for you. Marron’s a real catch!” Trunks said and proudly patted Goten on the back. The older Saiyan figured Goten would fire right back with a comeback of his own, likely about all those vulgar girls who kept throwing themselves at him at school. It wasn’t his fault he was so good looking! Trunks may have had the outer confidence and charisma of his mother, but like his father Vegeta, Trunks was a bit of a prude when it came down to it, for the lack of a better word. He was all talk, as Marron had pointed out.

However Goten’s gaze didn’t leave the gentle flowing river, his eyebrows furrowed as if he were lost in thought. Trunks’ face fell. “Hey, my bad, man. I didn’t mean it that way. I really am happy for you.”

“Huh?” Goten blinked, coming out of his thoughts. He put a hand behind his head with an apologetic smile. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s fine. I should be the one apologizing. I’m just… really distracted.”

“You alright, bro?”

Goten didn’t respond immediately, but after a moment he slowly nodded. “I dunno why, but I’m really nervous about this Tournament. I’ve hit a wall trying to reach Super Saiyan 3, and it’s stressing me out. Nothing’s working, and I don’t know what to do. At this rate, I’m almost afraid I’ll end up fighting my dad in the first round and getting wiped out like some chump.”

Trunks knew how Goten felt. Living up to Vegeta’s expectations was tough at times. And frustrating. He also had no luck on reaching the third level. What came easy to them while fused together proved to be their ultimate challenge while separate. But he wasn’t giving up. And he wasn’t about to let Goten give up either.. “Tell me something, Goten. Why do you choose to fight?” He knew the answer fully well, but wanted to hear Goten say it.

“Why does that matter?”

“Just humor me.”

Goten sighed, and then his lips curled into a smile when he thought of a certain pretty blonde. “Marron.” Her name rolled off his tongue effortlessly. “Mar is the reason I started training again. She’s the reason I want to get stronger. She means the entire world to me. I’d do anything to keep that smile of hers safe.”

After the fight against Majin Buu, Son Goten slowly grew out of fighting over the years. Sure, he trained for exercise or if he had nothing else to do, but it wasn’t much of a priority for him until he started dating Marron two years ago. Once they became a couple, it was like a lightbulb went off in the boy’s head. He knew what he had to do--what he wanted to do. And so he trained intensely, day after day. To prevent anything like the Majin Buu incident from happening ever again.

Feeling a second wind, and not wanting to be left behind, Trunks soon joined him as well. It wasn’t long before Goten had closed the gap between them, and together the boys broke through the first Super Saiyan barrier: finally reaching Super Saiyan 2.

“My point is, look how far you’ve come since then. Marron may be a loudmouth, but she’s a true ride-or-die girl. If there’s anyone who doesn’t care where you place in the Tournament, it’s her.”

“Yeah, you’re right. She said something similar yesterday.”

“See?” Trunks smiled. “I’m far from being the best at pep talks, but I know for a fact that you’re much stronger than you think. I wouldn’t count yourself out just yet. Forcing Super Saiyan 3 won’t help things either. It’ll happen, man. For both of us. Basically, what I’m getting at is; it’s just a Tournament. We have our whole lives to surpass our dads. Let’s just make this one a fun reunion where there’s no genocidal egomaniacs for once.”

Goten truly started to feel better. “Thanks, man. Really.” He said and the duo did their signature double fist bump.

“Hey, I have an idea.”

Goten turned, eyeing his friend suspiciously.. Whenever Trunks Briefs uttered the words ‘I have an idea’ it usually was always something insane, but he decided to hear him out. “Lay it on me.”

“Why don’t we enter as Gotenks? Nobody could stop us that way, not even your dad!” Trunks said excitedly, pumping his fists. “I don’t care about the prize money either, so when we win, I’d just give you my half.”

Goten was touched. Trunks really was a true friend. Sure, they busted on each other constantly, to the point where outsiders may think they disliked each other, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. When it came down to it, they had each other’s back.

“I appreciate it, really, but… I can’t. I want to go up against my dad with my own strength. If we won the Tournament that way, I’d feel like I cheated. Besides, the fusion only lasts for thirty minutes; less if we went full power. And then we’d have to wait a whole hour to be able to fuse again, so it’s not exactly practical.”

“Shit, you’re right. I forgot about that.” Trunks replied, scratching his head. His phone buzzed from his pocket again, but ignored it. “Was worth a shot!”

After the third time his phone buzzed, Trunks picked up and immediately got an earful from his mother, ordering him to come home. He groaned and quickly hung up. For a moment he considered tossing his stupid phone into the river. But used his better judgement and shoved it back into his pocket.

“Well that’s my cue. Gotta get going before I really get in trouble. My mom just realized I snuck out. Besides, I should let you get back to training.”

“Good luck. You’re gonna need it.”

Trunks chuckled. “Next time I’ll see you it’ll be Tournament day. I hope you’ll be ready, man. It’s gonna be me versus you in the final round.” Trunks said with a smirk. “Oh, and tell Marron I said hi.”

“You can count on that.” Goten replied. “And sure.”

A translucent white colored aura surrounded Trunks’ body. He waved and he took off to the west like a torpedo. And like that he was gone over the horizon.

Goku came up, with Pan trotting along behind him. “Feelin’ up for some lunch before we continue?”

“You bet!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two days had passed since then. Only four days remained until the big day.

Feeling revitalized, Son Goten continued his training. The day quickly approached, and he wanted to be ready. Super Saiyan 3 or not. The young half Saiyan blitzed back and forth, kicking and punching ferociously into the air, appearing only as a blue to the untrained eye. He kept vanishing and reappearing across the whole sky, leaving a golden trail in his tracks. Lighting swirled around his body like a thunderstorm. Goten fired blasts forward, and teleported in front of his own oncoming attacks and blocked at the last possible second.

On both of his wrists and ankles, he wore large, red colored weighted training bands. Each one had twenty-five tons of force. One hundred tons total. And yet, Son Goten made it look easy.

Meanwhile, a small hot-pink colored air jet sped towards Mt. Paozu. On the side of the left wing had the number 404 written in big black font. The opposite side sported the signature Capsule Corporation logo.

Bubbly pop music blared from the radio as the teenage girl with hair tied into twin tails piloting the car enthusiastically sang along. She had sunglasses resting on top of her head and wore a small pink crop top and blue short-shorts that showed off her fit, athletic figure. The blonde was giddy with excitement- she was planning to surprise Goten during his training today. She could already picture his adorably stupid face, and giggled to herself just thinking about it!

From the sky Marron could see Goku and Gohan’s home sitting side by side, in front of Grandpa Gohan’s old nut. It made a picturesque sight for the blonde. She wondered if she’d be living out here with Goten in a house of their own someday.

Just then, shockwaves shook the air car violently back and forth, but Marron was no chump when it came to this. She easily got the vehicle under control and continued on her path. Sure, she knew how to fly now, and her fear of heights was long gone, but she still overall preferred traveling this way. The wind while flying was still a bit too much for her. Unless of course, she got to ride on the Nimbus with a certain boy.

Out of the corner of her light blue eyes, Marron saw a flicker of gold. She could just barely see, but she knew. High in the air appearing like a golden star in the middle of the day. It was beautiful. The blonde smiled as she lowered in altitude as she approached a field next to a river located nearby from the two homes, touching down on the grass a few moments later.

Marron hopped out of the vehicle and stretched, taking in the clean air of the country and the quietness of nature. She was a city girl at heart, but in some ways this came pretty close. The blonde pressed the button on the side of her jet and with a puff of smoke, the jet returned to its capsule. She moved the sunglasses to her face to cover from the sun. Once her eyes adjusted, Marron pulled out the ribbons from her hair and shook her head from side to side, freely allowing her blonde locks to cascade down to her shoulders. Much better, she felt,

She squinted and looked up to see if she could see him, but the sub was too bright even with her sunglasses.

Just then, as if on cue, a golden haired boy dropped down on the grass in front of her.

“Hey, babe!” Goten said. Seeing Marron was exactly what he needed right now. He sensed her up in the air and he waved, but he was too far away for her to see. A warm smile curled onto the boy’s lips. He wore a white muscle shirt with blue sweatpants, and his signature yellow boots.

“Hey yourself~” She couldn’t help but gawk. Her blue eyes glanced over his muscles, and for a moment she wondered if it was more than the summer heat that made her feel hot all of a sudden. Marron fanned herself with her hand, trying to ignore the obvious that ran through her mind. But the blonde shook off her dirty idea when he walked up to her. “I hope I’m not interrupting your training.”

“Nah, perfect timing actually. Was gonna do one more thing then take a break. It’s great to see you, Mar. You look great--like a movie star.” Still in the Super Saiyan 2 state, Goten went over to his girlfriend and kissed her forehead. “I’d hug you right now, but I’m all gross and sweaty from training.”

Marron giggled, and ran her freshly manicured fingers through her hair. “There’d be plenty of time for that later~!” She winked at him and he grinned. But when she noticed he was alone, she was a little confused. Not too long ago, she sensed another ki with Goten, who she assumed was his dad. “Oh! Where’s Goku? I thought he’d be with you.”

“Dad? He’s out doing some solo training somewhere in the wilderness. We sparred earlier, but said we should train separately for a little bit. So he got me this heavy training gear. I’ve been out here pretty much all day. After today though, I’m all done training until the Tournament. My dad recommended that I should rest my muscles a bit beforehand so I don’t mess myself up for the fights. I’m free tomorrow, so let’s go somewhere!”

Marron clasped her hands together happily. “Oh, that sounds amazing!”

“Then it’s a date.”

But for now, he had to get back to work. He removed the weights from his wrists and ankles, placing them back in their box. With a click of the button on the side, the box returned to its capsule form.

Sighing with relief, Goten stretched his arms and legs as Marron watched. He punched the air a few times, satisfied with the result. She loved watching him. Not just because she generally preferred watching fights over fighting herself, the blonde genuinely loved watching her Goten grow and get stronger. She was so happy for him.

Next, he moved to doing ten thousand push-ups wearing a fifty ton turtle shell on his back, courtesy of Master Roshi. It was a bit of a struggle getting it on, but he managed. Marron sat on top of the shell, her long legs dangling off to the side. She almost wanted to mess with him, but didn’t want her Goten to get distracted when he looked so serious.. So instead she just gave him support. It was getting warmer out, but the mountain breeze made the humidity doable. She didn’t care if her hair got frizzy.

“Ok, here goes!!”

Fifty tons on your back was heavier than he thought. Harder than the previous exercise, if he was being honest. But transforming into Super Saiyan 2 made it much more doable. In his training, Goten had discovered a form, not quite Super Saiyan 3, but something beyond Super Saiyan 2. However that form was for another day. He wanted to perfect the second level as much as possible.

He started off strong, but about halfway through he really started to feel the strain. But this was normal for him. Unfortunately, it didn’t get any easier from then on. Normally, it was child’s play. But coupled with wearing a heavy turtle shell on his back, it was no easy task. Still, Goten thought it was fun.

He counted off the numbers, quickly approaching his goal of ten-thousand.

“Hey~~” Marron hummed, cutely twirling a strand of hair in between her thumb and index finger. “You’re doing an awesome job! When you finish, I’ll give you a present~”

Goten grinned. “What kind?”

“You’ll just have to see~” She said, giggling.

“Easy for you to say, you’re just sitting up there looking all hot in that little outfit!” Goten joked as he continued his workout. Marron gasped slightly and touched her blushing cheeks at the compliment. He was too sweet. Always knew how to make her blush.

The minutes rolled by. Marron happily timed him. And soon he was in the final stretch.

“9,998…” He grunted, his arms felt like jelly. “9,999…. 10,000!! Aaaand, done!” Goten cried out and practically collapsed onto the grass, drenched in sweat. In between his heavy breaths, he laughed slightly. He could feel he was progressing. A little more each day. He recalled what Trunks and his father told him, which only fueled his refound drive further.

“You beat your record! Congrats, sweetheart!” Goten winced, almost losing his balance, and it weren’t for Marron helping him up, he very well might have. With a grunt, Goten dropped the ten ton turtle shell, cracking the ground around it upon impact. She happily pecked him on the cheek for a job well done.

He dropped back to base form--his hair and eyes now their original black color. “I’m exhausted…” He grabbed a fruit from a nearby tree and ate it whole. And then loudly burped. Goten sheepishly smiled. “That hit the spot…”

Marron giggled, walking up to him with her hands behind her back. “Well, I’m a woman of my word. Time for your surprise. Okay~ Close your eyes.”

“Why should I? You might play a trick on me.”

Marron pouted. “Rude. I’d never do that!” Her voice came out squeakier than she intended but it just made him smile bigger. He thought her voice was adorable.

“There. They’re closed.” Goten said, still grinning. He liked to playfully push her buttons; her cute pouting face made it worth it. “Now can I have a hint?” He sniffed the air, trying to guess. “Is it a snack?”

“No peeking. Or else.” Marron said in a demanding voice, but it still just came off as cute.

Marron leaned up, and cupped Goten’s cheeks in her hands. Before he could respond, the blonde gently kissed him on the lips. It was only for a moment, but they were both smiling when she pulled back.

“Pretty great surprise.”

“You’re welcome.” She purred and they kissed again, deeper this time.

After breaking apart that time, she held his hand in hers as they walked along the riverbank, which led to a large lake with multiple branching paths. The same lake where he taught her how to fly. Marron smiled at the memory.

“I’m dying out here!” He took a whiff of his black muscle shirt and grimaced. “Ew. And I smell like crap too. I'm gonna take a swim and cool off. Wanna join me?”

“I would, but I don’t have my bathing suit with me.”

“So?”

“So I’m not getting down to my underwear!” Marron huffed.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen you in your underwear before. Besides, nobody else is around. We’re all alone out here.”

“T-T-This is different! Idiot Goten!” Marron’s entire face turned a bright crimson-red from ear to ear at the implication. The blonde definitely didn’t mind if one thing led to another and passion got the best of them right there on the grass, but… but what if they got caught??! She’d probably die of embarrassment if that happened.

Goten only kept his smile; he could tell her imagination was running wild again. He threw off his clothes and laid them on the grass nearby. threw them in a pile nearby. He’d wash them later. Now down to just his boxers, he jumped high into the air and did a cannonball into the lake causing a big splash. He emerged a moment later, spitting water out of his mouth. He swam on his back, just relaxing. The cold temperature instantly made him feel refreshed. It was like he could feel his sore muscles being healed.

Marron dipped her feet into the water.. She closed her eyes and exhaled happily. Life didn’t get much better than this. She sighed blissfully and closed her eyes. “Hey~ Where should we go tomorrow? The waterpark? Aquarium?”

No response.

“Goten?” She opened them again to see that he was gone. Cracking a smile, Marron tried to listen for where he could be. “...Come on out, you dork.”

Something touched her foot and she yelped.

“Goten!!” Marron said again, the panic in her voice growing and she pulled her feet out of the water. She looked around, still nothing. She pouted. He was playing with her. Well she’ll show him. She had her own ways of playing with him.

Just then, the teenaged Saiyan poked his head out from underwater and splashed the blonde right in the face.

“Got ya!” He snickered.

She really didn’t have plans on going in the water.

Until of course, he just declared war.

“Oh, that’s it. It is so on.”

“Bring it, Blondie.” Goten deviously smiled back as he disappeared underwater, preparing for his next attack.

Marron smirked and dove right in after him.

She’d made him pay for that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four more days rolled by.

This was it.

The 28th ‘Strongest Under the Heavens’ World Martial Arts Tournament had finally arrived.

Skilled fighters who wanted to test their abilities against the best of the best. Devoted fans who wanted to see one of the world’s biggest events from across the planet. All flocked to Papaya Island. It was the most anticipated event on the planet. Even those who didn’t attend planned to have their eyes glued to the television and radio for this year’s competition.

Krillin, 18, and Marron were the first of the group to arrive. The family of three stepped out of their red capsule jet and then returned it to their capsule. Roshi and Oolong were next. Marron happily greeted the old man with a hug, Master Roshi was practically her grandfather: always kind to her and gave her wise advice whenever she needed it. If Marron ever got into an argument with her parents, Roshi’s island was always her first stop.

A blue aircar landed nearby, and out jumped Yamcha, wearing a yellow suit and his black hair tied back into a ponytail. Puar sat on his shoulder “Hey man! Good to see ya!” He greeted his old friend and then waved to 18 and Marron, his goddaughter. It felt like yesterday he was babysitting and telling her stories as a toddler , and now she was a beautiful young woman. Time really flies.

“Yamcha! How are ya, man? You here to enter?” Krillin asked.

Yamcha shook his head. “Me? No way. With all those Saiyans, and mostly likely Piccolo too, I’d just embarrass myself. I’m just gonna watch.”

“I’d think you’d do great, Uncle Yamcha!!” Marron exclaimed, coming to his defense.

Yamcha smiled at her. “Never change, Marron.” The blonde giggled in reply.

“By the way, have you seen Tien?” The former monk asked.

Yamcha shook his head. “I mentioned the Tournament to him when I went to visit last month, but haven’t heard much since. Knowing Tien though, he’ll be here.”

18 looked around, honestly unconcerned with what they were talking about.

She could tell Marron was preoccupied too. The teen kept fixing her hair in her pocket mirror, wanting it to be perfect.

18 smiled. “Teenagers.” She fondly remembered those times when she was that age, just her and her twin brother against the whole world. “Are you here or not, 17? You better not have bailed.”

“Goku said he’d meet us at the main gate. No use idling around here.”

“Let’s get movin’ then!”

The Son family arrived at the southwestern side of the island. The family of seven, consisting of Goku, Chi-Chi, Gohan, Goten, Videl and the Ox King all made their way towards the registration tables to meet up with their friends and sign up.

Goten felt nostalgic as he walked with his hands behind his head, wearing his new gi. This was the place he finally met his dad for the first time. Changed his life for the better.

Pan clung to her grandfather’s pant leg, in awe of her surroundings. Everything looked so much fun!. Gohan and Videl prepped the toddler for today's fights the previous night. They were admittedly a little worried, but knew Pan could handle herself. And there were so many of their friends and family around--Gohan himself included-- that in the slim possibility of something going wrong, they’d intervene in an instant.

“This place is really buzzing! Far cry from when I entered way back when.” Chi-Chi said.

“It doesn’t even feel like a Tournament anymore.” Videl added. “It’s like a festival! Even more so than last time.”

Pan tugged on Goku’s pant leg. “Hey Grandpa! Grandpa! Let’s go play!” The toddler said and ran off into the crowd.

“Be back later guys!” Goku called and ran off.

“Don’t go too far, Dad! You’ll miss registration!!” Gohan called. Goku gave his older son a thumbs up and disappeared into the crowd after his young granddaughter.

“Two peas in a pod, those two.” Chi-Chi sighed.

“They’ll be alright, Mom.” Gohan said. “Dad’s great with Pan, He won’t lose track of time.”

Pan and Goku went on a ‘carnival adventure', as Pan described it. Well, it felt like one to her at least. She got to try all types of good food, fed the birds, met a giant robot bunny, and even won first place at one of the games, winning her a giant teddy that was at least three times her size!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, a small boat arrived at the docks on the southeastern port of the island. Out stepped a small boy, no older than ten. Frail, almost appearing malnourished. He had dark skin, and black hair styled into a spiky mohawk. The young boy’s clothing was dirty and torn up a bit from his life on his family’s farm.

“T-Thank you for the ride, sir.” He reached into his pockets and pulled out a small sac. “Please, it’s not much, but please take this zeni for helping me.” He was supposed to use it to buy food, but the boy couldn’t just accept a free ride.

“No, please, put your money away, my boy.” The jolly old boat captain said with a laugh. “You came quite a long way to get here, I couldn’t take the last of your change like that. It’s the least I could do. After all, you’re fighting in the Tournament, correct? You’ll need food to keep yourself strong!”

The young boy’s eyes sparkled a bit, and he smiled for the first time all afternoon. It helped ease his pounding nerves somewhat.

“Do you by any chance know which way I have to go? It’s my first time in a big city like this, and it’s rather intimidating.” He said, trailing off and looking around behind him at the bustling crowds and stalls that seemed endless.

“Head straight that way.” The captain replied, pointing behind the boy. “You can’t miss it, it’s the huge building with the multicolored streamers coming out in every direction.”

“Thanks again! I’m in your debt.” The boy bowed his head, clasping his hands over his chest gratefully.

“Wait, I never caught your name, son!”

“Uub. My name is Uub.” The boy now known as Uub replied meekly. He always felt his name was weird,

“Well Uub, good luck in the Tournament.”

Uub bowed to the captain one last time, and was on his way.

The captain waved as he watched the boy go, happy he could help. “What a nice lad. I hope he makes it to the top.” He got back into his boat and made a U-turn back to the mainland to pick up the next round of passengers. Hopefully they were as nice as Uub was.

As Uub made his way through the city, he was shocked how big everything was. Skyscrapers that seemed to go on forever. He felt so tiny in comparison. Uub looked down to the ground, avoiding eye contact with most people. Just keep following the signs, he told himself.

Eventually, Uub reached the Tournament grounds. Bustling crowds lined multiple stalls. Food, games, merchandise, you name it. Uub was in awe. They were practically giving food away! His stomach grumbled just thinking about it. Figuring he should fight on a full stomach, young Uub got in line at the nearest burger stand. He never had one before, as his village was very poor. Uub’s village, a tropical settling to the south of Papaya Island, didn’t have the luxuries of fast food. He hoped to change that.

While he was in line, a little girl with short black hair wearing a red gi ran by a few yards behind him, happily giggling. Not too long after, a certain man with a signature palm tree hairstyle ran after the girl. When the man passed Uub, he stopped for a moment to stare to really confirm it.

“So it’s really true. He’s here!”

“Grandpa, come on!!” The little girl’s voice could be heard from up ahead. But when Uub turned around, the little girl and whoever she was talking to were already gone.

Uub paid for his burger with his last two hundred zeni. He just stared at it for a moment, his mouth watering. “My first burger… Mom, Dad, everyone, I hope you’re proud of me! I’ll try my best!”

Uub devoured his burger and got on his way. As he walked, he saw monks directing people where to go. Up ahead he saw a man at a booth with ‘Registration’ written on the front in big bold letters. Uub smiled. He made it. He really made it. Uub timidly approached the table when he saw there wasn’t much of a line.

“Hello!”

“Hi…”

“Are you here to register for the Tournament, my boy?” he smiled warmly at the young boy.

“Y-Yes. M-My name is Uub.” Uub averted his eyes. This was too nerve wracking.

The monk looked him up and down for a moment and then wrote something down on his clipboard. “Uub,” he repeated, “okay, you’re all registered. Please follow the path behind me to the courtyard. There you will draw a number.. The preliminary test will begin in about a half hour.”

“Thank you, sir.” Uub nodded and continued on his way. It was becoming real for him now. He gulped. This was it. No going back now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Goku returned with Pan, lugging along her prize from earlier. He found the rest of his family idling around the foot court about an hour later. Still plenty of time to register.

“Mama! Papa! Look! I won at the hammer game! I rang the bell and then it exploded!! The nice man gave me Mister Bear!” Pan cried happily, jumping up and down. Videl and Gohan looked at each other and smiled.

“That’s amazing, Panny!” Videl said. “I’ll take your bear for you so he doesn’t get lost, okay?”

Pan happily nodded her agreement and then ran back over to Goku. “Grandpa are we really at the Toonament?”

“Sure are, kiddo! You still wanna fight, right?”

“Mhmm!”

Goku’s ki sense picked up on someone familiar approaching. He turned around and saw the Briefs family: Vegeta, Bulma, Trunks, and little Bulla.

Bulla and Pan ran over and hugged each other.

Trunks nodded to Goten. The lavender haired teen wore sweatpants and a black muscle shirt with ‘Capsule’ written on the front in big white letters.. For a moment the two teens stared each other down, electricity sparking between them. Their friendly rivalry was reaching its peak, both believing they’d face the other in the final round.

Chi-Chi pinched Goten’s ear while Bulma clonked Trunks on the head.

“Be nice, Goten!”

“Yeah, don’t be a hotshot! We already have enough of those with your father around!”

Chi-Chi and Bulma playfully scolded their respective sons. Even when they were practically adults, Goten and Trunks were still easily defeated by their mothers, just like when they were small.

“You’re entering too, Vegeta?” Goku asked his former rival, now close friend.

Vegeta smirked. “For once, Kakarot, I’m fighting just for the fun of it.”

“Plus, he’s been gettin a little tummy lately!” Bulma poked her husband’s chest causing him to blush and storm off with a scowl. Trunks sighed in exasperation while Goku and Bulma grinned.

Bulla trotted after Vegeta. “Daddy, why do you call Mister Goku a carrot?”

Vegeta knelt down and patted his daughter on the head. “I’ll explain it later, Princess.”

“I almost forgot!” Chi-Chi exclaimed. “Before anything happens, boys, are you gonna ban Super Saiyan this time around too?”

Everyone glanced to Goten and Trunks. The two most likely culprits to break the rule anyway.

Goten put his hands up in defense. “Hey, don’t look at me! It was an accident last time!”

“Yeah, besides, we should give those sheep out there a show! Something they’ll never forget.” Trunks added.

“That’s that then. Anything goes.” Goku said and Vegeta smirked in affirmation. The boys high-fived each other, and with that, once the group finished their little pit stop they were on their way.

The two families went as one big group and together they reached their meetup spot and linked up with Krillin and the others. Even Piccolo and Dende showed up, but they were off to the side, not liking the attention and looks from the crowd.. Piccolo had decided to enter rather last minute, upon the request of little Pan. He couldn’t say no to her, no matter how hard he tried.

“There they are!” Krillin pointed at them, about ten yards away. Goku waved from afar.

When Marron saw Goten, standing clad in his brand new orange and black gi, the blonde practically flung herself at the young half Saiyan. He happily caught her and spun her around, and they shared a quick smooch.

“I’m so glad you came, Mar.” She looked gorgeous with that pretty red dress of hers. She was his cheerleader. His number one fan and reason for going on. With her in his corner, he felt like he was the strongest guy in the universe.

“Of course, sweetheart! You’d think I’d ever miss my boyfriend becoming World Champion? She winked at him. She started fussing over his gi, adjusting it so he looked neat. He looked so handsome, she thought. “I’ll be cheering for you~”

“Can I have one more good luck kiss?” Goten said in a low tone, so nobody heard him but her. His strong yet gentle arms wrapped around her waist. She smelled really good.

“I’d be happy to.” Marron replied with a sultry grin.. She flipped her hair behind her back, draped her arms around Goten’s neck.

Just before their lips touched again though, Goten was yanked backward. Marron pouted at the culprit.

“Come on, lover boy. You two can be gross and suck face all you want later, unless you want to watch the Tournament from the stands. As a spectator.” Trunks grumbled as he dragged Goten away over to the registration stands.

Marron only giggled and blew her boyfriend a kiss. “Byyye! Good luck! I love you!”

Goten waved back with both hands as he got dragged away, mouthing ‘I love you too’ and Marron just about melted.

The two teenaged Saiyans went to sign up while Marron went with Chi-Chi and her mother to find a seat. Krillin stayed around to chat with Goku and Yamcha, catching up and reminiscing about the previous times they were all here.

From deep in the crowd, a blonde woman with a big red ribbon spotted that signature hairstyle. That was unmistakable, even with his back to her. After all these years she could spot him from a mile away. Luckily, she kept her firearms at home. Well, most of them. She had no plans on using them. Unless they needed a crowd clearer. Maybe.

“I knew he’d be here.” She said to the taller man, her husband, beside her.

“Yes. It’s been too long.” The bald man said. He turned to the smaller man on his shoulder and smiled. “Figures we’d reunite here, right Chiaotzu?”

Chiaotzu nodded. “I’ll be fighting as well.”

And like that, the blonde ran off ahead in the direction of their old friends. She ran right up to Goku and playfully slapped him on the back. “Long time no see, boys!”

“Hey, what’s the-- L-Launch?!! Is that you?!” Goku’s irritation immediately turned to joy at the sight of his lifelong friend. All three of the former Turtle School fighters greeted Launch happily.

“Wait, if you’re here, that must mean…” Krillin started to say, and then the duo in question appeared. Tien and Chiaotzu.

It didn’t need to be said, but both Tien and Chiaotzu had gotten stronger. Much stronger. Goku couldn’t wait to see their new abilities.

“My apologies for the surprise.” Tien said with his usual serious expression. Launch stuck her tongue out and blew raspberries at him. Chiaotzu laughed at that. “It’s good to see you all again.”

Yamcha patted Tien on the shoulder with a grin. “Come on, man, we’re your pals. No need to be so serious!”

“So how’s married life treatin’ ya?” Krillin smirked jokingly.

“Great! Right Tien?” Launch poked Tien in the chest.

“Um, y-yes.” Tien blushed. The Turtle trio all exchanged similar grins. He still wasn’t the best at expressing his emotions in public, especially when teased, but they also knew him too well.

“This one is a big worrywort. Especially now.” Launch patted her stomach. She was pregnant with her first child. Eight weeks. Admittedly it was a little trippy to find out, after her blue self was the first to learn the news, but her blonde self was equally as happy. Her life on the farm in the western mountains--a life without crime-- was much better than she had imagined.

Each of the Turtle School trio and Master Roshi sported similar elated grins, as they hugged Launch and gave their congratulations to the future parents. Their little gang would soon have one more member.

A voice came over the sound system. “Last call for registration! I repeat, last call for registration. Please come to the registration desk! Registration will be closing in three minutes!”

“Well, that’s my cue!” Goku said and went to sign up along with Tien and Chiaotzu. The three fighters signed up at the very end, in their typical fashion. The three fighters waved and parted ways with Yamcha, Roshi, Krillin, and Launch, who went to join the others.

“Just wait till everyone sees you! This’ll be a great surprise!” Yamcha exclaimed. Just like old times.

The last remaining fighters signed up, and registration came to a close.

In a private room of the main building, a middle aged man with blond hair adjusted his tie in the mirror. He wore an impeccable suit, ready for another year at the best job in the world.

He peered out the window at the crowd of participants gathering in the fighters courtyard while thousands of guests filed into their seats of the main stadium. The man cleared his throat, smiling. Announcing and commentating the World Martial Arts Tournament was second nature to him now.

Tournaments past were some of the most exhilarating moments of his life.

And only one thought echoed through his mind.

“They’ll be here this time. I just know it.”

#dragon ball #dbz #dragon ball z #goku #goten #marron #trunks #uub #pan #marten #goten x marron #other background ships too #reblogs are appreciated

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