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mingtinys · 1 year

Text

Stained Glass

pairing : choi san x gn!reader

mafia!au , soulmate!au , angst , hurt/no comfort

warnings : language (like a lot) , depictions of blood and open wounds , mentions of guns (not fired) and general violence

word count : 4.4 k

requested ? no

a/n : this was a fic i originally wrote for an entirely different person back when i was in my star wars phase and just never published. but i liked the general plot and changed up a few things to ateezify it . brownie points if u can guess what character it was originally for

[ part 2 ]

"You know, glaring at the clock isn't gonna make him get back any faster."

"Fuck off, Mingi." You mumble half-heartedly, eyes still glued to the analog clock mounted on the wall above Mingi, taunting you from across the room. Each second that ticks by twists knot after uncomfortable knot in your stomach, the feeling climbing up into your throat and nearly making you choke. It's been too long.

"Someone's snippy today."

You cut your eyes at the boy in one last warning, "I don't like being sidelined."

Mingi, long immune to your threats and sour attitude, stares back with an amused expression. "And I don't like babysitting, yet here we are– ah!" He shrieks as the blunt toe of your boot connects with his shin under the pristine mahogany table. The resounding groan followed by Mingi cradling his shin spreads a satisfied smirk across your lips.

"Why would you do that?"

"You know why."

"I'm never helping you and San out on another mission again." It's his pout that finally makes you feel a smidge guilty about kicking him. It wasn't his — or his poor shin for that matter's — fault you were in a bad mood. He was just the one unfortunate enough to be left with you and your anxiety-driven frustration.

"Sorry, Min." He seems decently pleased with your half-assed apology, a soft and empathetic expression returning to his otherwise sharp features. "I'm just worried, he should have been back by now."

"He's fine, Y/N." Mingi's eyes meet yours, genuine and comforting. "You guys have been partners for what? Two years now. You know he's more than capable of handling himself.

He's right and you hate it. Logically, it made more sense for only San to go while you and Mingi stayed back at the safe house and infiltrated their security to make sure he went undetected. Logically, San was the best choice between the two of you, he's been to this specific enemy base before and knows the layout like the back of his hand. Logically, the plan was sound and easy. "I'll be in and out in thirty, no sweat." He'd said when you tried to argue your case for tagging along.

But despite the mission being "so easy even a golden retriever could do it," — San's words — an uneasy feeling still settled into your gut the second he drove off. You don't like being too far from your partner, unable to provide backup or know his status. When you've been by his side every second of every mission for so long, it feels foreign being separated. Hongjoong had also drilled into everyone's heads the golden rule of always sticking in pairs, no matter how useless it may seem. It's a rule you and San have always followed; if not for the sake of saving yourselves from one of Hongjoong's lengthy, and terrifying, lectures, then because the two of you genuinely work well together.

You trust him to get it done, you really do. But his thirty-minute mission has long since turned into well over an hour with minimal communication and you can't help the gnawing feeling in your stomach. You shouldn't have let him go alone, this whole thing was stupid.

You huff, arms folded tightly across your chest and foot rapidly tapping the floor. "He's got twenty minutes before I go there and find out what's taking so long myself." Mingi, who you expected to immediately shut down that idea and call you dramatic, doesn't respond, much less acknowledge the fact you spoke at all. You glance up, only to find he's gone from nursing his shin to smiling down at his phone, fingers happily tapping away at the screen.

A frown spreads to your lips, you weren't quite done complaining about the situation at hand. "Mingi," you deadpan. "Stop texting your stupid soulmate, we're in the middle of a mission."

He rolls his eyes and releases an exaggerated groan, but does as you ask regardless, setting his phone face down on the table. "No. You're in the middle of complaining about the mission. There's nothing for us to do anyways until San gets back." He takes a beat, dragging his hands down his face then jabs a finger in your direction. "And soulmates aren't stupid, you're just chronically miserable and hate love."

"I don't hate love," you defend. "I just don't see how you can justify bringing someone into this kind of life, much less have time for them."

Mingi stares blankly back at you as if he's calling your bluff. "Not everyone is as cynical as you. Now, Yeosang? He comes close, but you definitely take the fuckin' cake."

Cynical. You much prefer the term realistic. Because in your line of work, the chances of loved ones getting caught in the crossfire are near certain. You've witnessed it first-hand multiple times; soulmates used as leverage and bargaining chips between rivals, lovers left lifeless and brutalized in the name of revenge, their partners soaked in blood and begging for them to just wake up. The thought haunts you more than you'd like it to. Realistically, it's irresponsible and selfish to expect someone to just be okay with that risk. Even if the universe itself begged to differ.

Of course, you'd be lying if you said you'd never at least entertained the idea of a soulmate. In fact, when you were little, it was all you thought about. Constantly fantasizing about the moment you first touched them, skin to skin. Your black-and-white toned vision exploding into a beautiful array of vibrant colors. Everything about it just seemed so magical back then. But now, meeting your cosmically selected partner fills your entire being with nothing but dread.

You've gone through indescribable lengths to ensure you never trigger the whirlwind of colors waiting to be released, avidly avoiding skin-to-skin contact with everyone possible. You refused to even shake San's hand when Hongjoong first introduced the two of you as partners. The way you saw it, if you never knew who your soulmate was, they could never get hurt because of you. You would never have to lose anything dear to yourself ever again.

"Still," you finally respond to Mingi. "It just doesn't feel right to put someone through that. Make them deal with our shit lives, constantly in danger. I can't do it, especially not after what happened to Seonghwa's poor soulmate—"

"Stop." Mingi abruptly cuts you off, eyes wide as if Seonghwa himself would somehow hear your words from miles away. "You know not to talk about that." You sink further in your seat at his scolding, like a child who knows they're in the wrong but is too stubborn to admit it.

Mingi draws in a deep breath and releases it in a long and worn-out sigh. "You seriously never wanna find your soulmate? Like ever?" There's a certain undertone of pity in his voice that you've grown to resent whenever he brings up the topic of soulmates. Like he can't possibly fathom how one could be so content without one when his entire life revolves around his. Like you're some sad charity case he needs to heal so you can finally be "happy."

You refuse to meet his eyes as you speak. "Why would I want something else to lose?"

Mingi shrugs, "I don't know. To give our shitty lives even the tiniest bit of meaning? To have something worth coming home to. I can't really explain it, life just feels ... complete now."

"Sounds overrated."

"There's a bright, colorful, loving world out there, Y/N. You deserve to see it with someone by your side, even if you don't think so."

"I much prefer the grey tones. Thanks." With that, Mingi finally relents, allowing you the silence to descend back into your worrisome thoughts.

You don't get to dwell on them for long. No more than a few moments pass when a loud series of crashes and thuds startle you and Mingi alert. You lunge for the spare gun holstered on the underside of the table, knuckles white as your fingers wrap around the grip. Mingi has his own in hand and you signal for him to follow behind, he nods without protest

"Y/N!" A voice yells out. It's strained, yet unmistakably San's. Your heart stops, but only for a split second, then begins to slam aggressively against your chest, like it's catching up with your racing mind. It takes less than a second for you to discard your pistol and bolt for the living room, Mingi hot on your heels.

The room is a mess compared to just a few minutes ago. Picture frames shattered and face down on the floor, furniture recklessly shoved out of the way, and a shelf's contents spilled about. At the center of it all is San, stumbling around and grasping at anything and everything to keep his balance as he treks through the room. He's clutching at his left side with his other hand, small dark droplets of an unknown liquid on the floor outline his path. The same liquid coats his paled hand and the all too familiar scent of iron stings your nostrils.

You allow yourself half a second. Only half a second to reign in your frantic thoughts, shove your emotions to the furthest corner of your mind, and put on a calm and collected face, just as you've been trained to do. Just as everyone in Hongjoong’s organization has been trained to do.

"Help him to that chair." Mingi follows your command instantly, ducking under San's arm to let him lean all his weight on Mingi's shoulders.

"I need a med kit," San instructs, teeth gritted in pain but surprisingly calm.

You nod to Mingi, allowing him to handle getting san into the nearest armchair so you can retrieve the med kit from below the kitchen sink. When you return, San is slumped in the chair, head thrown back against the headrest and sucking in deep breaths.

You kneel beside him, on his left side where he's still clutching at the space between his hip and where his ribs end. You talk as you open the med kit and sift through the supplies. "Mingi, take the car and get Yunho, he can do a better job fixing whatever this is than I can. Fast."

Mingi doesn't nod or even acknowledge you spoke. He just grabs the keys from the kitchen counter and bolts for the front door.

San groans and attempts to reposition himself in the chair to grant you better access to his wound. "There's a piece of shrapnel in my side, you need to get it out. We can't wait for Yunho."

"I'm sorry, what?" You ask, whipping your head to look at him with wild eyes and a bewildered look of confusion. "Why the hell is there shrapnel in you?"

"Because something blew up," he says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Good to know he hasn't bled out enough to dull his charming attitude. "Now get it out."

"Because something blew—? Shit, San." It's ticking you off just how nonchalant he is about the whole ordeal. As if he didn't just come crashing into the safe house, dripping blood all over the freshly varnished hardwood. As if he's not in the worst pain imaginable while trying his hardest to act unfazed.

You pick up a pair of long tweezers and a miniature flashlight from the now ransacked med kit. Shooing San's hand away from his wound, you click the light on and start inspecting the jagged wound in his side. More blood oozes from the wound at the loss of pressure, staining the light-colored chair. Hongjoong isn't going to be too happy about it, but the aesthetics of the safehouse aren't exactly a top priority at the moment.

"It's an easy mission, oh I can just go alone. In and out in thirty," you mock. San shoots you a glare.

"Okay, okay I get it. You wanna get this thing the fuck out of me? Feels like it's ripping my insides apart."

"Just stay still and don't bitch out on me." Rather ungracefully, you slot the tweezers into his wound and start digging around. The method isn't the most effective, but then again you weren't exactly as talented as Yunho when it came to treating injuries. Sure, you've roughly fixed up a couple of wounds when out on a mission, but nothing anywhere near this bad.

"Ow . . . ow . . . OW!" San writhes in his seat, making his displeasure with your technique known loud and clear. " You wanna be a little more gentle with that?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Does me digging around in your fucking shrapnel wound hurt?" You snip at him. You really were trying to make this as painless as possible, but your hands are shaking and his incessant complaining isn't exactly a morality boost. "I'm not a medic, San, I don't know what I'm doing."

"Literally anything else! Please!" His voice cracks, an indication of how unbearable the pain must be. You sympathize with him, you really do. But there isn't exactly a better option, so you continue digging, just a little less rushed this time, and San tries everything he can to stifle his groans. After a few more hopeless minutes of searching, you still can't find the shard.

"I can't see it. This flashlight isn't doing any good and I can't feel it with the tweezers." It's just one big dark mess in your vision. Perhaps Yunho or Mingi would be able to see some distinction in the colors with their soulmate-induced retinas, but this whole feat is growing useless with your lack of experience and poor vision.

"Then try again. You need to get it out before it goes any deeper." San's voice is slightly calmer this time, tone less abrasive and snarky, even bordering on comforting.

"I'm sorry but everything is kind of the same fucking color. It just looks like a dark mess."

"Then stick your fingers in there and try to feel where it is." He says it with such blunt confidence that the phrase catches you so off guard. You pause your actions and stare at San's face, eyebrows raised and waiting for him to say something like "just kidding." But he doesn't. He just stares back at you like you're stupid for not jumping into action without question.

"What?" You hadn't even chanced getting his blood on your fingers while using the tweezers, and now he wants you to just shove your hand in there?

"Do it."

"I'm not fucking–"

"Y/N, please!" There's an urgency in his voice and it strikes a cord in your heart. Against everything he's tried to convey from the moment he stumbled in — the brave face, the tough, arrogant act — he sounds scared. Underneath everything, Choi San is scared and that scares you.

"Okay, okay" you whisper, more so to yourself. "You can do this."

You grab the bottle of alcohol from the med kit and douse your hands in it, rubbing the cool liquid in. You should really be doing this with gloves, but they're conveniently m.i.a., so you do the best you can. With the flashlight gripped tightly in your non-dominant hand, you flex your fingers on the other, mentally preparing yourself. Just do it. Suck it up and do it. As every nerve in your fingers screams and begs for you to stop, you take a deep breath and—

In the split second between when your finger hovers just over his wound to when it just barely touches his skin, a chill shoots up your spine. The world goes from black and white to bursting with hundreds— no thousands, of vivid colors. Horrifyingly enough, the main color your brain registers is red. Dark, glistening red. You recoil, yanking your hand away like San's skin is made of hot embers.

So many different emotions and thoughts rush through your brain at once. It's overwhelming, and all you can do is match San's unbelieving expression. You've spent years avoiding this exact moment, and now it's happening at the worst time imaginable.

This can't be happening. This can't be possible. Choi San cannot be your soulmate.

San is the first to speak.

"Y/N— ah, fuck." He doubles over, hand flying back to hold his side, and squeezes his eyes shut. It snaps you back to reality like a bucket of ice water over your head. San's still injured. He's your soulmate but he's injured and oh God everything is so fucked right now. There are more pressing matters than sorting through your complicated feelings. So you compartmentalize the part of you that wants to run far, far away. The part that's filled with fear and panic.

The part of you that's always, in the deepest confines of yourself, seen San as a little bit more than just a partner. You bury all of it for the time being so you can revisit it once San is out of immediate danger.

"Come on," you coax, helping him to sit back up. "Don't forget this was your idea."

"Y/N—" He tries again.

"I know, San. Let's not worry about that right now, okay?"

He weakly nods. "Just get it over with."

You try not to think about it too much this time. Hesitation hasn't gotten you anywhere and you're not sure how much longer San can last.

San screams as you plunge your finger deep into his wound. It's warm and squishy as you fish around, the feeling so nauseating and vile you have to suppress a gag. Strings of curses and meaningless threats fall from San's lips as he squirms. Though you ignore them completely, too focused on keeping your lunch down as the urge to throw up surfaces for the fourth time.

What is likely just a few seconds of searching feels like hours. But your finger eventually comes into contact with something sharp and hard, it budges slightly when you knock against it. San jerks upward with a gasp, and you have to drop your flashlight so you can use your free hand to press against his chest and pin him down to the chair. On any other occasion, San could easily overpower you if he wanted. But the blood loss has made him weaker and there isn't much energy left in him to fight back.

"It's almost over, I promise. Hold on just a little bit longer."

Much to San's displeasure, you have to dig around again to relocate the piece of shrapnel. While your knowledge of the human blood vessel system is limited, you don't think it's deep enough to have cut an artery. The flow of blood is much more consistent with a knicked vein. Not fatal, but definitely painful and concerning with the sheer amount of blood leaking from his body.

"Okay, now stay very still." You instruct once you've found the shard again. Very carefully you take your hand off San's broad chest and reach back for the tweezers. You slip them back into the wound with surgical-like care and use your finger to guide them to the piece of shrapnel. It's easier this time to grasp the metal shard and once you have a hold of it you're able to slip your finger out. The resounding sucking noise is pure nightmare fuel when combined with the whimpers coming from San.

"Okay, I got it. Are you ready? This is gonna hurt a lot."

San nods, "I can handle it." It's very unconvincing.

You wipe the blood from your hand on your pants and extend it towards San. You aren't sure if he'll take it, and you're even more unsure of why you felt the need to offer it. Because he'll need something to hold on to while you rip a piece of metal from his side? Because he's your partner and you've never enjoyed seeing him in pain? Because he's your soulmate and it's the least you could do to comfort him? Whatever the reason, he takes it without hesitation, and you're happy for it.

"On three."

San takes a deep breath.

"One—"

Something halfway between a gasp and a curse breaks past San's lips as you swiftly, and not so gently, pull the shrapnel from his side. The sudden extraction has him crushing your hand in his grasp, though you don't have much time to process the pain as you drop the offending object and grab a wad of gauze to press against the profusely bleeding cut.

"What happened to two and three!?" He barks between short and heavy breaths.

"Would you have stayed relaxed by the time I got there?"

"Fuck you," he groans, words meaningless. You slip your hand from San's iron-like grasp and guide him down to the gauze you've placed. Another gasp involuntarily escapes him the more he presses down on the wound to slow the bleeding.

An awkward silence hangs in the air and casts a heavy blanket across the room. It's suffocating in and of itself, but the way San's eyes burn a hole into your skull is so much worse. You can't even bring yourself to lift your gaze from the bloody shrapnel on the floor to face him. The offending object doesn't feel so threatening now as it lays jagged and tinted red on the hardwood. It reminds you of how stained glass looks when shattered into pieces. Dull, delicate, haunting. A small distraction from the man you refuse to face, the man who is most definitely expecting something from you, but you aren't sure you can give him the answer he wants right now. But his heavy and labored breathing is making him hard to ignore.

"Um . . . Yunho should be here soon, I'm sure he can patch—"

"Don't do that."

"Do what?" You feign innocence.

"Change the subject."

You rise from your kneeling position but keep your eyes trained on your shoes and arms wrapped protectively around your waist. Every neuron in your brain is screaming and pleading for him to just drop it. You're not sure any time will ever be a good time to have a conversation on the obvious, but they still sound a hell of a lot better than right now while he's still not completely out of danger.

"Now isn't a good time, San. We can talk about it once you're healed and—"

"No." He's firm in his stance. "Look, I understand if you need time to process everything, but this isn't something you can just ignore and make go away. We're gonna have to talk about it sooner or later."

You feel horrible. Because for every time you've made it known you have absolutely no intention of ever being involved with your soulmate, San has been right there on the opposing side. He's confided in you and Wooyoung countless times about just how much he desires to meet his soulmate. How he adores the idea of finding that perfect person to share a life with. It's truly unfortunate that person had to be you.

You're pretty sure you love San, that you've always loved San. But you just can't. The thought of him getting even closer along with the danger he puts himself in every day? You'd never truly be able to find peace or comfort in that type of relationship. So you take in a deep breath, hold back a flurry of tears, and prepare yourself for what will possibly be the cruelest thing to ever come from your lips. You prepare to absolutely and utterly crush San's heart and dreams into a billion pieces. You try to convince yourself it's for the best, but the guilt outweighs that feeling.

"There's nothing to talk about. I don't–" there's really no kind way to say this. "I don't want you as a soulmate. I don't feel that way toward you–"

"Liar." His voice is shaky, and the image of stray tears streaming down his face invades your mind. You've never seen him cry before, and you definitely don't want to now.

"What, did you think you'd be some sort of exception? Just because we're partners? You know my opinion on soulmates. I can't– I won't. . . I'm sorry it had to be me, you deserve better."

The universe must take some form of pity on you because before San can articulate his next thought Yunho and Mingi burst through the safe house door. "What happened?" Yunho commands, already dropping his duffle bag of medical supplies to the floor and kneeling beside San.

"He got hit by shrapnel, I dug it out and did the best I could but you'll probably need to disinfect and stitch it up." You rattle off everything you did almost robotically before making a beeline for the front door, and though Yunho is too zeroed into treating San, Mingi picks up almost instantly on the quake in your voice and tension that suffocates the entire house.

His hand shoots out to grab your arm. "Woah, what's wron—"

"Not now, Mingi." You bite at him, ripping your arms from his grasp before he even really had a hold of it. Shouts from San and Yunho arguing with each other fill the living room, trying to use it as a distraction, you attempt your escape again.

"San, stop being difficult."

"Don't fucking touch me! So you're just gonna leave—?" His words stop you dead in your tracks, frozen in place with your fingers ghosting the doorknob. "—You're not even gonna fucking look at me?" The room goes silent once more. Your skin itches from the number of eyes staring you down.

"You're a coward if you run now."

His words sting, though you're sure it's nothing compared to what you've done to him. Ripping a piece of metal from his side only to moment later rip his heart from his chest. You truly deserve every insult he throws your way.

"I'm sorry," You repeat. "It's for the best."

Your body feels numb like it's operating on autopilot as you hastily slip into the cool fall air and let the wooden door slam shut with a blunt bang.

It's for the best. He'll understand it one day.

[ part 2 ]

271 notes · View notes

firelxdykatara · 3 years

Note

not gonna lie I would love to hear more about the drama and infighting that went on in The Vampire Diaries fandom if you have the time (and also want to use that time to give your experience with the fandom, which from the snippets you've told sounds Not Fun so I get it if you don't want to lol)

oh god, there was like, SO MUCH, i just

i really feel like tvd is one of those fandoms that is so hard to describe without a lot of ‘you’d have to have been there’, but it really felt like this huge and all-consuming beast for about five years until the show finally imploded and the fandom basically turned on it en masse. (you ever see that post going around that’s like ‘if you ever want to know what true regret feels like, ask someone who once called tvd their favorite show’? still a mood, all these years later. basically the entire fandom thought the show should have just bowed out with whatever shreds of dignity it had left at the end of season 6, and became more of a hatedom than a fandom for the last two seasons. when you have an entire fandom cheering news of your show’s cancellation, i think that’s a sign you done fucked up, julie.)

first and most infamous, of course, are the ship wars. which are pretty much inevitable in any teen-centered drama, and i really think the CW fucking thrives on them, but it was particularly egregious in TVD’s case because not only was the base premise of the show a love triangle, but the two main romantic leads were brothers that the show constantly pit against one another--in pursuit of elena’s affections, but also because it kept up this insistence on the ‘good brother/bad brother’ dichotomy which stopped making sense after about season 2 (by which time we have found out that the good brother was never as good as he appeared, and the bad brother has been growing and isn’t nearly as bad as he pretends to be)--and the question of which brother ‘deserved’ elena (and no, what elena wanted very rarely factored into these discussions, especially in the team stefan camp because they turned on her when what she wanted was no longer The Good Brother, but i’ll get to that in a bit) was hotly contested.

i’m not kidding when i say the shipping wars were vicious. i started watching tvd shortly after it began to air, which was late 2009, and kept up with it fairly sporadically over the years. i didn’t come onto tumblr until 2011/2012, and by then, the fandom was already pretty much a garbagefire. there were anti ship and anti character blogs, any time something bad happened for one ship the rival ship would invade the tags to gloat about it (seasons 3 and 4 were especially rough, and i’m not gonna pretend delena fans weren’t just as bad about tag invasion and shit, but as that was my side of the road i saw a lot more of the stelena shippers being assholes, which soured my opinion on the ship a long time before i started rewatching and realized the red flags were there from the start), confessions blogs were popular also toxic as fuck (so much fighting happened in the notes of those posts, good gods), and this was right around when twitter’s popularity was on the rise and the line between Celebrity and Fan was thinning, so the fandom was absolutely atrocious to much of the tvd cast and crew.

(some of them deserved a lot of the later backlash, but in the early years a lot of it was ‘how dare you write the story in a way i dont like, you terrible fucking person’, and gods don’t get me started on the dobsley vs nian Thing)

i think what really encapsulates my feelings on the tvd fandom as a whole, though, is the way they (to this DAY) treated elena gilbert, which can be summed up in one meme that gained a lot of traction around season 3 if i remember right: that gif of pam from true blood, with the text altered to read “i’m so OVER elena and her precious doppelganger vagina!”

i swear at one time i had over half the active tvd fan accounts on tumblr blocked, because i got to a point where i would no longer tolerate elena hate, and she was (and still is, in what remains of the fandom; you’ll see a lot of ‘elena was one of the worst things about the show’ takes from ex-fans, too) one of the most widely despised characters in the entire fandom. because she -checks smudged writing on hand- was a traumatized teenage girl who -reads off a crumpled notecard- couldn’t always perfectly sort out her own feelings and -squints at the ceiling- sometimes made mistakes or bad decisions. (except a lot of the fandom also insisted that she was a mary sue who had no character traits or flaws or faults and it was like....make up your fucking minds???? is she a calculating conniving bitch whose somehow manipulating these centuries old vampires to tie them around her little finger or is she a boring flat character with no depth and no flaws??? jfc)

there was this massive double standard, too--like, stefan and damon could fuck whoever they wanted and that was fine, but elena was constantly raked over the coals for the crime of developing romantic feelings for the two men who had become constants in her life and whom she cared for deeply, and oh my GOD the slut shaming that happened when elena slept with damon was fucking wild. (and also happened in canon lmfao. like the show had one of elena’s best friends basically call her diseased on screen for falling in love with someone other than stefan. it was gross and ridiculous and the friend in question was also being a giant hypocrite at the time since she was happily flirting with someone who was directly responsible for the deaths of like four of elena’s loved ones and her own boyfriend’s mother but that’s beside the point) but like elena was called a slut and a bitch and a whore for ‘cheating’ on stefan (she hadn’t, and she had in fact broken up with him on screen the episode earlier) and ‘immediately’ jumping into bed with damon, even though none of them said fucking boo when stefan had one night stands or damon had fuckbuddies or whatever.

shit, caroline didn’t get any of this treatment when she started falling for tyler while dating matt! which isn’t to say i think she should have, just that i think it’s fucking ridiculous that elena was absolutely demonized by the fandom for daring to have feelings for two guys at once and eventually acting on them--despite the fact that the entire premise of the show was a love triangle. it’s not a love triangle if both sides don’t eventually get explored, and the crew had been pretty explicit about the fact that delena was going to happen at some point--but when it did, a huge chunk of the fandom absolutely threw a fit.

and a lot of these elena haters were alleged stelena stans, and i say alleged because they hated her so much for not wanting stefan’s dick anymore that it was clear they were really stefan stans and only wanted stelena to be endgame because they wanted stefan to ‘win’ at the end of the day, because ‘he’s the good brother’ so he deserved elena more.

it was all very gross and very misogynistic and very sex shaming (apparently delena was a ‘shallow’ and ‘superficial’ relationship because they had sex after two years of unrequited feelings slowly becoming requited and then pining for ages on both sides, and because they had a lot of on screen chemistry that the show capitalized on for years so of course they did a lot of making out and shit but it’s not like stelena didn’t have its fair share of making out and sex scenes, stefan was just too much of a coward to let elena top i’d apologize for that joke but i’m really not sorry because it’s true), and when i say it was egged on by the crew, that’s because they refused to let the love triangle die back in season 4 when it should have.

they insisted on stringing stelena fans along, dropping little bread crumbs to keep them invested, like dreams of a future where they were married and revealing that stefan was also a doppelganger and he and elena were descended from a pair of star-crossed lovers (a plot that ultimately went nowhere, to no one’s great surprise), and then fucking like. julie plec turned around and threw nina under the bus after she chose not to extend her contract and pretended that stelena might have happened again if she hadn’t left the show, which....i mean frankly i wouldn’t put it past her, but it would have been shitty writing. then again, she thought having a vampire pregnancy where a uterus was magically transplanted from a witch into a vampire that could somehow......carry the babies to term.... made sense and was a good way to accomodate candice’s RL pregnancy rather than like literally ANYTHING else, soooooo. but anyway julie saying that around like, end of s6 sparked off a new wave of nina hate and elena hate and ship wars bc they SEers took it as ‘confirmation’ that stelena was REALLY meant to be endgame and it was all just a hot fucking mess

another thing is that, while tvd was in its prime before the anti/purity culture shit started picking up any real steam, there was still this pervasive attitude throughout the fandom that if you liked Damon, you were A Bad Person. liking damon was apparently grounds for insults and harassment, and apparently he was The Worst Person on the Show even though literally nothing he does on screen is any worse than shit we know stefan has done (and frankly every other vampire too, but i mention stefan specifically because he was always held up--in the show but especially in the fandom--as the Good Brother while damon was the Bad One, and if you liked damon more then that had to mean your morals were dodgy and you clearly couldn’t appreciate what a heroic and saintly figure dear stefan was and....oops, i’m sorry, my salt keeps leaking -cough-).

meanwhile klaus quickly became a fandom darling despite not even really having much of a redemption arc (on tvd anyway, he just became more ‘affably evil’ as the show went on and more inclined to work with the main characters rather than try to kill them; i have no idea what went on over on his show, though), and like i can 100% appreciate liking villains and not caring that they do dodgy villainous shit, even just liking them bc they’re hot and wanting them to kiss a main character bc they have insanely good chemistry (yes i ship klaroline, no i won’t apologize for it, they could have been Really Great), it’s just really the double standard that gets me.

and all of this, incidentally, required ignoring some truly gross shit stefan was responsible for wrt his relationship with elena, that frankly it has always bothered me never really got addressed in the show. i get why elena herself would never be able to actually call him on it, but the fact is that he stalked her for months after he first saw her and thought she was katherine (meanwhile it only took damon .5 seconds to realize she was someone else entirely, but that’s another topic entirely), and then he deliberately inserted himself into her life because, in his words, ‘i have to know her’. he never gave a thought to how his presence in her life might affect her (or rather, he did, and tormented himself about it in his internal monologue, but never let this actually dissuade him from disrupting her life), and elena would wind up blaming herself for every tragedy that befell her friends and loved ones as a result of getting mixed up in vampire bullshit even though none of it was her fault--she literally blamed herself for existing but most of the fandom didn’t give a fuck about that lmfao--and stefan did shit like find out that she was adopted and then withhold this information from her until she got pissed about another secret he was keeping (her resemblence to katherine) and drop it on her to try and distract her from her very reasonable anger, and like... i should stop before this becomes a whole rant about how much i hate stefan fucking salvatore, but the point is, he did a lot of really sketchy shit he never answered for and elena never really took him to task for, and the fandom just kept eating up his insistence that he was the Good Brother and therefore he deserved to have elena, and if she didn’t want him anymore it was because she was a heinous bitch who didn’t deserve him.

uh.....i think i got off track there. and there’s probably a lot of shit i missed, like i think i was incandescent with rage for most of seasons 5 and 6 so i missed a lot of the interfandom shit cause i was too busy being increasingly pissed off at the show itself, but if nothing else this should give you an idea of how much of a goddamn cesspit the fandom was while the show as in its prime. there’s a reason both the show and the fandom have such a lousy reputation lmfao.

#the vampire diaries #tvd #tvd fandom salt #anti stefan #anti stelena #salt for ts #asked #Anonymous

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sestra-inestro · 4 years

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Brat

Summary: Enemies to lovers fuck-buddies?

Pairings: fem!short!reader x Bucky Barnes

Warnings: 18+ smut, manhandling, a fuck load of swearing, violence, also kind long.

A/N: Just before y’all read anything, take note: JUNE IS NOT AN OC! Do not comment and message me telling me what not to tag on my stories. Read the description on my Main Masterlist to save yourself some unwanted opinions. Unless it is specified, like this fic is for example, June is not female, white, black, curly-haired, bald, short or tall and is up to interpretation. See it as if you were playing June in the movies/TV shows, you are June. Don’t like it? Don’t read it. There's plenty of Y/N fics. If you have something you want specifically mentioned then you request it, otherwise, you keep your thoughts on how I should tag my stories to yourself. Rant over.

To say you hated each other perfectly summed up your relationship with James Buchanan Fucking Barnes. Ever since he joined the Avengers he has had it out for you. But lately? All communication between you two was a screaming match and dirty looks.

“You’re such a fucking asshole!” You yelled at him. Your scowl was starting to hurt your face but every time you looked at him you couldn’t help but snarl.

“Says you. You just had to fucking be in the wrong position. I saved your fucking life.” He pointed at you.

“I didn’t need you to save my life.” You threw your arms up. “I had a plan!”

“A shit plan that you didn’t even alert us about!”

“I told you I fucking had it and to stay put!”

Steve, Sam, Clint, and Natasha watched from the kitchen as you two screamed back and forth. Wanda walked in and sighed at the commotion.

“Are they still arguing?” She sighed as she sat down.

“Yeah.” Steve took a sip from his beer and continued to watch them.

“What about this time?” Wanda asked.

“Tony asked if they could hang a picture up on the wall above the TV. Bucky held the ladder while June climbed it.” Steve explained. A simple task that they can’t even get through without arguing.

“It was like death-wobble city. They were yelling at each other and then the ladder fell. I think he accidentally hurt her when he caught her.” Clint said as he, also, took a sip of his beer.

“Fuck you, Barnes! You did nothing but fucking injure me!” You screamed at him.

“Yep.” Sam sighed.

“You think they’ll ever get along?” Wanda asked them.

“Yeah. They just need to fuck.” Natasha said, carelessly.

Everyone turned away from your bickering with Bucky and looked at Nat. She looked around at the shocked faces.

“What?”

“What did you just say?” Steve questioned her.

“I said they just need to fuck.” Nat shrugged.

“Really?” Wanda looks back towards you both, still bickering.

“Yep.” Nat leaned forward to explain her theory. “All that pent up anger is directed at each other. Clearly, fighting and arguing is not helping thy situation, only making it worse. If they get physical and hurt each other, that could just make them hate each other more.” She gestured to you both. “If they tire each other out by fucking, they let out all that pent up anger, and are taking out on each other.” Nat leaned back in her seat and raised her beer. “They just need to fuck.”

Clint hooted and clinked his beer bottle with hers.

Steve rolled his eyes while Sam and Wanda considered it to be a good idea and nodded.

“Cap, set that up.” Clint spoke.

Steve’s head snapped towards him. “Why me?”

“Because you set up the missions.” Clint explained. “Give them one that’s bound to make them fuck.”

Steve groaned. “Can you please stop saying that?”

“It’s a way of life, Steve.” Nat shrugged. “It’ll get them both off their rage kicks and out of their dry spells. There will be a lot less of this,” she pointed to where you both were now walking away from each other but still throwing up middle fingers at each other. “And more of this.” She made a sex gesture with her hands.

“Oh, god.” Steve groaned again and ran his hands over his face.

He definitely would love to see you both shut up and be nice to one another just once.

“Fine. But if this doesn’t work, I’m sending you all on a three-month mission with them both.”

“Who are you talking about?” You asked, entering the kitchen with a sour face.

“No one.” They all said at the same time, avoiding eye contact and drinking their beers.

You woke up completely unbothered today. You were going on a mission for a few weeks, which means you’d be away from Bucky for a while. Peace and quiet for a while. You had your duffel bag thrown over your shoulder as you marched onto the quinjet. You threw your bag in the luggage area before taking a seat at the pilots’ seat, strapping in and waiting for your teammate. You still didn’t know who you paired with but you didn’t care.

Setting up the flight controls and logging in the location, you pulled on the headset just as someone stomped onto the jet

You turned your head and annoyance ran through your body. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” You groaned and leaned back in the seat.

“Oh fuck off.” Bucky grumbled upon seeing you.

He threw his bag to the luggage area and trudged over to the co-pilot’s seat and you punched the numbers on the control panel, calling Steve.

“Hey, you haven’t left yet?” Steve answered.

“No, Steve. What the fuck?” You said exasperated through the speaker.

“Yeah, what the fuck? You paired me with her? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Bucky butted in.

“First of all, stop swearing at me.” You just knew Steve was holding up a finger. “Second of all, you two need to get over whatever childishness is going on and just fucking put up with it.” You and Bucky both leaned back from the speaker in shock at his words.

“Get the mission done, and don’t come back until you two can act like mature adults.” Steve hissed and hung up.

You and Bucky sat in silence and shock for a second.

He was right, you and Bucky had been fighting a lot worse than usual lately. You couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as each other and now you had to go on an undercover mission together.

This was going to be shit.

You sighed before powering up the jet and closing the hanger doors.

“Fine.” You mumble to yourself.

Bucky pulls on his headset and you two ignore each other the entire ride.

Once you landed, you both grabbed your bags and headed to the hotel that had been set up by Nat.

“Two rooms under Rushman.” You said to the clerk.

He checks the computer and frowns. “Sorry, there’s only one room booked.”

You frowned at him. “No there should be two.”

“I’m sorry but there’s only one registered under Rushman.”

You groaned.

“Well is there any other rooms available?” You felt like you were going to die.

“Sorry. All our other rooms are occupied.” The clerk offered you the keys to the room.

“For fuck sake.” Bucky grumbled before grabbing his bag from the ground and you snatched the key card from the clerk’s hand.

He flinched at your harsh movement and frowned at you.

Despite your frustration towards him, he wishes you a good night as you follow Bucky to the room.

You walked up to the room and unlocked it quickly, the sooner you can get in the sooner it’s over.

Opening the door, you sigh. “At least there are two beds.”

“Yeah, god forbid I have to share a bed with you.” Bucky pushes passed to enter the room and you throw the bird to his back.

He went straight to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.

You moved to the bed furthest away from the front door and started unpacking your stuff. You brought minimal products, keeping your luggage to the undercover clothing you need, weapons, your uniform, and pajamas.

You quickly got into your pajamas and slipped into the bed, turning away from the bathroom.

A few moments after, Bucky opened the bathroom door, dressed in his sleep clothing.

“Aren’t you going to shower?” He questioned as soon as he saw you already in bed.

“No.” You mumbled.

Bucky huffs in return and shuts off the lights you hear his rustling bed covers before silence, letting you finally drift off the sleep.

The next day you woke up before Bucky and decided to make the most noise you could. You knew he would be able to hear you when you got up, so to annoy him further you slammed doors, threw your bag and turned up your phone so the notifications echoed through the room.

You were showered and typing away on the Stark Laptop obnoxiously when Bucky finally growled and threw back his blankets.

“Are you just trying to piss me the fuck off?” Bucky glared at you with disheveled hair and the grumpiest face you’ve ever seen.

“If I am it looks like it’s working.” You said, unbothered by his mood and still looking at the laptop.

“Fucking bitch.” He mumbled under his breath before marching to the bathroom and slamming the door.

The rest of the day consisted of you both ignoring each other until it was time to go to work.

You stepped out of the bathroom in a flowing cream-white dress that ruched down the sides and led the slit down the side of your leg with little sparkles through all the fabric, your figure curved as it was all held together with a bodysuit underneath. Your heels complimented your dress and legs so much that Bucky couldn’t help but stare at you as you collected your faked invitation from your bed.

You turn to look at him dressed in his dress shirt, dress pants, and a tux jacket. You couldn’t help but think he was actually very hot in his clothing, and you also noticed him staring at your body.

You smirked. “See something you like, Barnes.”

Bucky looks up to your eyes quickly as he knows he’s caught and screws up his face. “Just surprised you can actually look like a lady.”

“Yeah?” You raised your eyebrows. “Well, fuck being a lady. You’re no gentleman either.” You shouldered him as you walked passed him.

He begrudgingly followed you out the door to the hire flashy car to take you to the party.

You both sat in a high tension silence until you arrived at the party.

It was a big mansion filled with fancy people. You don’t know why Tony couldn’t be sent for this. It’s basically his scene. The driver opened both of your doors and Bucky walked around to your side and offered his arm.

The charade is on and you both walk up the entry stairs and presented your faked invitations. The clerk nodded and opened the door for you both.

With your hand woven around Bucky’s arm, you both enter to see many people mingling and holding little champagne glasses of bubbly.

“I see our guy.” You say as you swipe a glass from a passing tray. A guy amongst the crowd people that stood out with his white hair was smiling and drinking while conversing.

“Okay,” Bucky said as you broke apart. The earpiece keeping you connected. “I’ll get behind him to stay near.”

“Approaching target.” You confirmed.

You put on your best salutary saunter over to him, holding your glass in your hand and doing your best to capture his eyes.

And it worked.

He spotted you on your way over to him and turned his attention to you.

“Why, hello there beautiful.” He looked down to you as you reached him, offering you a wide grin. His white hair almost blinded you as it shone it the lights.

“Hello, handsome.” You said in a low voice. You heard Bucky grunt at your words but you ignore him.

“I don’t recall ever meeting you. I know I would definitely remember you.” His eyes traveled down your body.

“Well,” You jutted out your hip and rested on it. “I guess that gives you the opportunity to get to know me all over again.” You ran your finger over his shoulder and gave him your best seductive smile.

You spent the next two hours with him, joined at his arm. Bucky followed close behind and monitored the whole situation while doing his best to blend in.

You managers to get the target pretty drunk, to the point where he kept running his hand down your back to your backside.

He leans down and whispers in your ear: “Why don’t we take this somewhere more private, so I can get to know you much better.”

Inside you were cringing hard as his white hair tickled your skin.

You turned to look at him and gave him a smile. “Sure.” You agreed.

He immediately pulled you across the room and into a dark hallway that was isolated. You both could still hear the music from the party and people talking but he didn’t care as he slammed you against the wall and buried his head in your neck. You felt him growl against your skin as he tried to take off your dress but you distracted his hands by linking your hands together and pulled him closer.

You reached down to your thigh holster and pulled out the sedative to bring to his neck. You were about to puncture his skin when someone yelled.

“Hey! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” You both pulled apart and you quickly hid the sedative in between your breasts.

“What?” You pushed the target away from you and you frowned at Bucky.

“What the hell are you doing with him right now?” Bucky stormed up to both of you, absolutely fuming.

“Is this you’re boyfriend?” The target asked. He raised his arms in defense as Bucky glared at him.

“Beat it old man.” He snarled and the target didn’t argue and ran.

“Um, what the fuck are you doing?” You asked him, your head was full of confusion.

“You weren’t listening to anything I was saying.” Bucky pointed down to you.

“Are you serious that dictating that you think I’m gonna listen to every word you say when I have to target literally on me? I couldn’t even hear you.” You snapped back.

Bucky grumbled something under his breath and grabbed you by the arm, dragging you out of the mansion and to the car. When you got back to the hotel, he dragged you all the way back up to the room.

Bucky opens the door and throws his grip on your arm into the room before him. You stumble in your heels into the room, catching your balance and turning around to glare at him.

“What the fuck, James?” You growl.

“You wanna act like a brat. I’ll fucking treat you like a brat.” He slammed the door shut and turned to you with a dark look in his eyes. “When are you going to stop?”

“You’re the reason I fucking started to begin with! You ruined the mission!” You said with irritation. “And there’s no way I’m acting like a brat.”

“Maybe I should fuck the brat out of you.” Bucky stepped forward, loosening his tie.

You scoffed and crossed your arms over your chest. “I’d like to see you try.”

A dark smirk dawned his face as he stepped closer to you, your body just centimeters away from his, but your stubbornness didn’t falter.

“You’ve got a big mouth for such a small girl.” He said looking down at you.

You screwed your face up and went to swear at him but he cut you off before he could. His lips smashed into yours with an unloving and rough pace. His hands grasp a firm grip on your forearms, pulling you against him and his lips mold to yours.

You’re shocked as your body stiffens at his actions, but you wake up and you start to resist his antics. You squirm yourself out of his grip and push him away from you.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Your voice is evident with shock. Your eyes are wide as he goes to approach you again.

“You said you’d like to see me try and fuck the brat out of you.” He says with a shrug. “Maybe you shouldn’t open your mouth if you can’t handle it.”

You raise your brows. “Oh, you think I can’t handle you?”

“That’s what you’re telling me right now.” He says with a smirk.

“Fuck you.” You pull him back to you by the back of his neck, his lips smashing against yours once again.

You start to pash him roughly as he did before, you can feel his teeth against you and his hand’s wind around your waist. His hands are firm against your body and pulling you flush against him.

He pulls back for a second. “I don’t think you could fuck me good enough.” He says with a first smirk.

He was trying to aggravate you. And it was working.

“You wanna bet?”

“Don’t bet,” he pushed you against the wall, slamming your back into it. “Prove it.”

You pushed him back and turned around, pushing his shoulders into the wall this time.

“Afraid I’ll fuck you better than you could fuck me?” You smirked, looking up at him and running your hand down his hip and almost touching his length before he growled and grasped arms again.

This time he slammed you into the wall with your chest against it and your arms behind you back and his mouth against your ear.

“I’m going to fuck you so hard you won’t be able to walk out of here tomorrow.” His voice was husky and low in your ear, promising to dick you down all night.

He pushed his pelvis against your ass and you felt his hard length. He was big, really big.

You moan at the thought of him inside you.

“You feel what you did to me?” He whispered on your ear, grinding his hips into your backside. “You in this fucking dress all night, thinking it’s funny to play around all night when you should be working. I should fucking punish you.”

“God, yes.” You moan out and push back against the roll of his hips.

“I’m going to nail you into the mattress.” He groans and your ass moves against his clothes cock.

You sigh in frustration, the dry grinding no more arousing you than annoying you now. “Just shut up and fuck me.”

At your words, Bucky lets out an animalistic growl. His hand wraps around you and grabs the front of your throat, twirls you around to stand in front of him away from the wall and launches you onto the bed with force.

You squeal and bounce as you hit the bed. You watch as Bucky stalks towards, ripping his tie and jacket off his bulked body and tossing them to the floor.

The action sends waves of arousal to your core and the look in his eyes is primal.

He kneels on the bed and grabs your ankles.

He runs his hands up the length of your legs resting at your hips. Hooking his fingers under the band of your thong, he pulls it over your hips and down your legs, groaning at the sight of your glistening pussy.

He pulls them around your heels and flings them across the room before he grasps your ankles again and pulls you to lie flat on your back.

“Your so wet already.” His husky voice rumbles as he pulls your knees to bend over his shoulders.

You gasp out as his mouth latches onto your core, lapping at your soaking folds fast.

You lean up on your elbows and pull the slit of your dress aside to see his mouth buried in your cunt, his blue piercing eyes looking into yours as he eats what you give.

“Fuck yes,” you throw your head back as his tongue circles around your clit. You reach down and push him closer by the back of his head and grind your hips against his mouth. “Go faster.”

He growls but meets your demands as his tongue swirls around your clit at record speed, making you gasp and your hips stutter.

“Oh my god, Buck.” You breathe out. You can feel his flesh hand circling your entrance, excitement kicking in and you pull him closer with your legs.

Your movements annoyed him. He detached his mouth from your cunt and sat up.

“How are you annoying even when I’m trying to fuck you?” Buck glared at you, his mouth wet with your arousal.

“Trying to fuck me?” You scoffed. “You’re going too slow, when are you actually going to get to fucking me?”

Bucky growls at your words and grabs the top of the slit of your dress and rips upwards.

You gasp and glare at him. “Do you know how much that fucking dress costs?”

“I don’t give a fuck.” He snarls and rips it off your body.

“You fucking-“

“Shut up.” He crushed your lips against hi as his hands rush to pull off all of your clothing.

You feel his hands everywhere. You start to feel dizzy as you run your hands over his broad back. You need to feel his skin against yours and you claw at his shirt, trying to pull it off of him.

Bucky moves his lips from yours to your jaw and to travel down your body to stop at your chest. His lips wrap around your nipple as he balances his weight just above you and unbuttons his shirt, pulling it off his shoulders.

You moan as his hot skin lays against yours. Bucky’s hand reaches up to cup your breasts in his hands as he sucks on your nipples.

“Gosh,” You sigh, running your fingers through his hair.

He lets go of your breasts and kisses back up your throat and captures your lips again.

Bucky’s hips start to grind into your bare core, the fabric of his dress pants is rough against your folds. You groan out in pain and pleasure. His length is rock hard and very prominent against you.

Your hand travels down his body to his fly and belt. Your fingers fumble to undo his pants, Bucky disconnects your lips to rest his forehead against yours and look down at your hands undoing his pants.

You get the belt off and unzip his pants, using your feet to push them down with his briefs to his ankles.

He reaches down to grasp his length, pumping it a few times before thrusting straight into your wet core.

You moan in shock as his cock enters you. He immediately feels you contracting around him and it makes him groan.

You walls flutter as he sets a strong pace, pounding you into the mattress like he promised you.

“Fuuuuuck, Bucky.” You whine shakily as your body bounces up and down on the bed.

“You take me so well. Fucking hell.” He growls as he feels you clench with a groan of your own.

You wrap your legs around his waist, your thighs clenching at his hips. “Harder.”

Bucky makes good on your demands and pulls back to slam into you harder.

Your skin slapping against his echoes through the room and you can’t help but grunt each time he thrusts into you.

“Oh my god.” You pant as his length repeatedly jams at your g-spot. “I’m gonna fucking come.”

“Come on my cock.” Bucky grunts. “Come on, June.”

At his words, your hips begin to stutter as you feel yourself let go to his cock. You can’t help the loud and long moan that leaves your mouth as you grip his shoulders, trying to calm your body of your tremors. Your orgasm rips through you and Bucky can feel you clench down on his like a vice. Your warm and wet walls quivering but holding their grip on you, triggering his orgasm and he spills into you.

You sigh out at the feel of his cum releasing inside of you. He stills his hips against you and throws back his head, releasing a roar as his orgasm rips through his body, before collapsing on top of you.

The weight of him took the breath out of you so you push him off to roll onto the small space next to you. Both of you panting and a thin layer of sweat glistened over both of your bodies.

“I don’t think you fucked the brat out of me,” You said between breaths. “But I haven’t had a good dick down in a while.”

Bucky turned his head to look at you. “You think I’m done with you.”

You looked at him and frowned.

Bucky smirked and grabbed you roughly and pulled you on top of him, his length hard between your legs once again.

“You’re gonna ride me until I tell you to stop.” His words rumbled through his chest before pulling you into another hard kiss.

Your body was completely spent as you lay completely naked on the bed. Bucky leaned on his elbow across the bottom of the bed at your feet.

You both had gone three more times. The sheets had been ripped off the corners and the covers had been pushed to the floor.

You stretched out your legs, pointing your toes. The tip of your toes grazed Bucky’s arm. You looked down and traces along his soft skin with your toes. Bucky grasps your foot as it tickles him and brings the tops of your toes to his mouth, press a soft kiss amongst them.

A small smile graced your lips as you felt him caress your ankle, his hand traveling up your leg. You felt eh bed shift and he got onto all fours and climbed up the length of your body again to rest next to you and look at you.

“Hi.” He says with a smile.

“Hi.” You return his smile.

“You think I fucked the brat out of you now?” He asks and wiggles his eyebrows.

You sigh dramatically as you pretend to think. You felt no more irritation towards him. His face no longer annoyed you because it could, you honestly just felt like you were much more content. “Yeah, yeah I think you did.” You gave him a soft small smile.

“Good.” He leans down and kisses your forehead before gathering you up to lay on his chest and wrapped in his arms.

“You’re so small.” He mumbled against your hair.

“You’re so warm.” You mumbled back and you nuzzled into his chest, closing your eyes readying for a night of much better sleep than last night.

Natasha was right, you two just needed to fuck. And fuck hard you did.

#bucky barnes x reader #because it is!#bucky barnes x fem!reader #bucky barnes x reader smut #bucky barnes x reader x angst #bucky barnes x reader fluff #avengers x reader #bucky barnes x fem!reader smut #bucky barnes x fem!reader angst #enemies to lovers #fuck buddies #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes oneshot #bucky barnes smut oneshot

1K notes · View notes

kittyprincessofcats · 3 years

Text

RWBY Volume 8, Episodes 8-12

All caught up with RWBY now! (Except for the premium only episode.)

So, two things first: 1. From now on, my blog will no longer be spoiler free for RWBY! I don’t have premium access, so no spoilers for that, but beyond that, I might now reblog spoilers for everything that’s been released to the public. Blacklist “#RWBY spoilers” if you don’t want to see them.

2. I was going to ask what the spoiler policy in this fandom in general is when it comes to premium access. From what I’ve seen, Youtubers usually wait a week before uploading their reaction videos, which I appreciate – but here on tumblr almost no one seems to hold back. I saw a spoiler for “Creation” before it was released publicly. The day episode 13 was released for premium access, I had to unfollow people for posting untagged spoilers for it. And when I went into a RWBY-related tag for one second, I saw a really big spoiler that put me in a very sour mood because it also happened to be very aggressively worded against fans of a certain character (basically, along the lines of “I’m glad X bad thing happened to Y character because I hate them and their fans”). So, that scared the shit out of me and I ended up looking up more specific spoilers about what exactly happened because I wouldn’t have been able to sleep otherwise. So, from what I’ve seen, this fandom’s spoiler policy is just “fuck anyone who doesn’t have premium access” 😒. Always nice to see people being so considerate.

With that said, let’s get into my thoughts on episodes 8-12. Under the cut, because unlike some people, I try to be considerate of others who might want to avoid spoilers.

- So, the Hound really was a person. Specifically, a person with silver eyes and that’s probably what happened to Summer. THANKS, I HATE IT. This is exactly what I feared it would be and what I didn’t want it to be. (I don’t want Ruby and Yang to have to fight and kill their grimm-ified mom, that’s too sad, okay?)

- I love that Whitley really came through and came up with a plan for evacuating everyone! He’s a good bean after all! And that he managed to press that button on the computer before running from the Hound? Amazing.

- Willow Schnee being one hell of a mama bear and summoning a thing to protect Whitley was epic. She was so close to breaking down before that, but then her child was in danger and she just jumped into action right away. Protective mom instincts ftw!

- Blake’s talk about how she looks up to Ruby and how she herself lost the youthful optimism Ruby still has was SO sweet! (Also, Ladybug is an underrated ship/friendship and I really don’t get why people say they never interact? Have you all just forgotten volume 1 and how Bumbleby’s first meeting happened because Yang was trying to wingman Ruby who was trying to befriend Blake??)

- Penny fighting the virus from the inside was amazing, she did so well! I also loved seeing Nora encourage her (and echo Blake’s earlier words back to her).

- Unrelated to these episodes specifically, but I tried to think about who my favourite RWBY charactes even are right now, and I find it super hard to narrow down because I love so many of them, but if I tried to somewhat narrow it down, then (in no specific order because don’t ask me to also come up with an order): all of Team RWBY (though Blake is a personal favourite), Ilia, Penny, Salem, Cinder. (But then again, I also love Winter and Qrow and Robyn and... you get it, it’s hard to narrow down. Oh, and of course Pyrrha, but... you know.)

- “Witch” was honestly my favourite episode of the bunch. That one was just so full of epic stuff. (And now I’m wondering if Salem being one of my favourite characters has anything to do with my love for witches. I used to be obsessed with witches as a kid. In every story I read that had a witch, the witch was always my favourite character.)

- Yang and her team sure found a way inside that whale fast! Also, really handy that Ren’s semblance evolved just in time for when they needed it. But hey, I don’t want to complain about convenient plot stuff too much. Sometimes the heroes are allowed to have a little bit of good luck.

- Hazel listening to Oscar and deciding to get both him AND Emerald out of there was amazing! He really does have a soft spot for kids and wasn’t kidding about not wanting more kids to die – we love to see it! I also think it makes for an interesting parallel that Hazel decided to do this right as Ironwood was sending students to fight on the front lines and Marrow was calling it out.

- I really liked Ren telling Yang she doesn’t have to hide her fear behind jokes. Ren being able to see emotions is going to bring about so many more good moments, I just know it!

- Emerald and “Hazel’s” talk with Salem gets so much better when you know “Hazel” is actually Oscar – Emerald has gotten so much better at illusions and fooled Salem herself! That’s impressive!

- It’s really practical that Ren could sense Emerald’s fear. But also, the group really didn’t have the time to discuss if Emerald was trustworthy – they needed to get out of there asap.

- The way Salem spits out the word “semblance” when she talks to Emerald shows again that she not only underestimates these “new humans” and their powers, but also considers them inferior. It’s a nice little detail how just her tone when she says that word says so much about her worldview.

- Yang straight-up running up to Salem and blowing her up was epic. It didn’t last of course, but it was still a super bold and epic move. I’ve talked before about how cool Yang is and she just keeps getting cooler.

- Yang calling Salem out was amazing and epic, too! And when she referred to Summer Rose as “my mom” that made me tear up just a bit 😢. (I really don’t like Salem’s smile when she says “her again”, though. I don’t want grimm-ified Summer, I really don’t want it, okay? keep it far away from me where I won’t have to see it.)

- I’m a bit sad about Hazel’s death, but it was a really fitting end for his character and a really cool way to go out. The way he looked at all of those kids in danger (proving again that that’s what it’s about for him), whispered “No more Gretchens” to Oscar, punched Salem in the face as she was about to hurt Emerald, injected all of those crystals into his skin (which looked epic, by the way), told Emerald to go, fought an epic fight against Salem and then grabbed her and set himself and her on fire, burning her like a witch – it was epic stuff! RIP Hazel, you died as a hero and went out in an incredibly epic way!

- Hazel’s sacrifice must have been super tough on Emerald. He died protecting her (and JOYR) and it worked. She got away from Salem, but only because someone else, a friend, died for her. Not only must it be awful for her to lose Hazel, she probably also blames herself. (And, as I’ve seen others point out, it was probably the first time in her life an adult did something to protect her. Wow. Someone get this girl therapy, please.)

- The whale getting blown up was an absolutely epic moment. From the music to the cinematography, I loved everything about it. (That said, I will miss the whale. RIP coolest villain lair ever.)

- I loved Watts’ speech to Cinder – and I’m saying this as someone who became a huge fan of Cinder this volume. I love her, but I also love roasting her, and a lot of what Watts said was stuff she desperately needed to hear. I honestly didn’t even like Watts before that moment, but that speech might have made me like him just a tiny bit. The way he just laughed when she dangled him from a building, the way he spelled it out for her that her methods haven’t been working and threw her failures in her face, the ending with calling her “a bloody migraine” – Like I said, I’m a fan of Cinder, but that was glorious and cathartic and beautiful to witness. But what makes it really perfect is Cinder’s reaction: The fact that you’d expect her to kill him or at least scream at him, but instead she spares him and just sits down and cries. I really love what they’ve been doing with Cinder this volume and that they’re finally showing her as someone way deeper than just a power-hungry villain.

- In general, let me quickly talk about Cinder, because even without having seen the last two episodes I can already tell you that she’s my standout character / favourite character of the season. (It was Ilia for Volume 5, Salem for Volume 6, Penny for Volume 7 – and now it’s Cinder.) I said back in my post about Volume 5 that I wish they’d do more with her because after becoming rather interesting in Volume 4 they just went back to making her a pretty flat villain – and I officially have to eat my words and apologize to RoosterTeeth right now! This volume proved to me that they know what they’re doing with Cinder and explained so much about her. I’m sorry for ever doubting the writing. I now want to go back and rewatch the whole show while paying more attention to Cinder and I can’t wait to see where her arc goes from here (yes, I want an eventual redemption, and what about it?). This volume is obviously setting up something big for her – I just have no idea what it is. And at the end of the day, she’s still the Maiden of Choice. She’s the key to the Beacon relic, and that’s going to become important eventually.

- Oh, and can I mention, just by the way, that I think Cinder looks amazing? I don’t understand all the people who say they miss her red outfits when this is clearly her best look yet. The black eyepatch, the cape, the earrings, the short hair, the high boots, the shorts instead of a dress, all the black – this is her absolute best look, period.

- I’ve also noticed that the scene between her and Watts is the first time Cinder has referred to Penny by name. She’s always referred to her with phrases like “some toy” or “Polendina’s creation” before, but this time she just called her “Penny Polendina”, then “Penny” again, and asked Watts how she’s supposed to take Penny’s power “if she’s dead” (not “destroyed”, which is what Watts said, but “dead” – something you say about a person, not a machine). I think somewhere down the line, Cinder has started to see Penny as a person and respect her as the Winter Maiden. Maybe it’s because of how Penny won the fight at Amity, or maybe (though this might be wishful thinking on my part) it’s because Penny questioned why Cinder serves Salem and showed her and Emerald mercy.

- Also, side-note: While I loved Watts’ speech, it sure is bold of him to call Cinder entitled when his own villain origin story is getting overlooked for a science project.

- Neo is an amazing little troll and I love her. From stealing the lamp and skipping along the ruins of the whale happily to those texts to Cinder, all of her moments were brilliant and hilarious.

- Some characters not just forgiving Emerald is totally fair and realistic. But, as I said before (and as Oscar also points out), they don’t have to. People think a “redemption” – or let’s just call it switching sides instead of using such a loaded term – has to include everyone’s forgiveness, but it doesn’t. If Yang and Jaune never want to personally forgive Emerald, that’s okay. They don’t need to forgive her to recognize that she’s changed and work with her. And, as Oscar and Ren point out, Emerald’s abilities would be very useful to have on their side. So, personal feelings are fine and all, but right now they don’t have the luxury to dismiss a potentially very useful ally. (And same for Oz, by the way. It’s fine if they’re still mad at him, but they also need his help.)

- Also, have I already said that I’m very happy for Emerald? Because I’m very happy for Emerald for getting out of there! (Mercury’s and then Cinder’s redemption next, please!)

- F*ck Harriet for trying to get Winter in trouble for letting JYR go. I’m hating her more every second. And then she seriously said “Who cares?” about Ironwood’s plan to nuke Mantle? She’s the most unlikable of them all.

- Everyone’s reunions were so sweet! I loved Ruby and Yang hugging 😭. And Yang cupping Blake’s cheek and their forehead touch had me all 🥰 🥰 🥰.

- After he threatened to nuke Mantle, I hope we can all agree that Ironwood is a straight-up villain now. The most infuriating part is that he didn’t even have to do anything! Whitley and Weiss had figured out a way to save everyone in Mantle and the SDC ships to evacuate people were already there. All Ironwood had to do was let them evacuate everyone to Atlas, and then Penny would have opened the vault willingly and Ironwood could have used the staff to raise Atlas as planned. Problem solved! He should have just sat there and ate his food – but he was so pissed about things not going his way (or maybe he just genuinely hates Mantle that much) that he thought sabotaging the rescue plan and threatening genocide was a better option.

- I loved Marrow’s arc in these episodes and how you could tell more and more that his conscience was making him turn against Ironwood. First he questioned Winter when she was going to nuke the whale before JOYR were back, then he seemed shocked when he thought they were dead, then he tried to talk sense into the other Ace Ops after Ironwood’s ultimatum, and then he straight-up called out Ironwood himself. That last one was dangerous though, and he was lucky Winter was quick enough to jump in and pretend to arrest him, because Ironwood was going to just shoot him in the back.

- Speaking of, I wonder how long Winter has been planning to double-cross Ironwood. How long was she already disagreeing with him, but waiting for the right moment to make a move? Either way, I’m glad she was there to save Marrow.

- The Renora confession scene was so sweet and got me a little choked up 😢. I’m glad they sorted out their issues and told each other how they feel. But like I said before, I think Nora’s arc of trying to find out who she is without Ren is really good and important and Ren respecting that was really good and important as well. It was just a very wholesome scene. Also, I like that we got a little bit more backstory for Nora (her mom abandoned her? that’s awful), and Jaune awkwardly leaving the room was hilarious.

- Robyn telling Qrow he’s a better Huntsman than Clover because he chose to do the right thing was a really important moment for Qrow, imo. (And just a side-note: I’m sure most Fair Game shippers are pretty chill – and I’m a strong believer in ‘ship and let ship’ – but a certain subset of them is starting to get on my nerves with how they ignore Clover’s canon character and story (acting like he would have rebelled against Ironwood if he were alive as if the whole reason he’s dead wasn’t precisely because he cared more about Ironwood’s orders than doing the right thing) and how they make every new plot point about their ship somehow (Oscar’s semblance? Better be a time-travel thing so Clover can come back. Staff of Creation? Better be able to bring people back from the dead so Clover can come back.) It’s so annoying.)

- Yang and Ruby’s talk about their mom was really intense. Ruby’s been holding all of these feelings in for so long, so seeing her say out loud what we’re all fearing (that Summer was turned into a Grimm) and seeing both her and Yang break down over it – that was a lot. I loved seeing Yang comfort Ruby and tell her that her plan for Amity wasn’t useless. Their sisterly bond is so sweet.

- Penny asking Ruby to kill her was another really intense moment. The look on Ruby’s face in that moment really said it all. Ruby has been through so much, has lost Penny before, so hearing that request – even though they fortunately didn’t have to go through with it – must have still been a lot for her.

- I really loved Emerald’s cute “newly reformed villain” moments. (“You guys have been getting your asses kicked… some of that my fault” & “I’m just going to be super pissed if you all finally decide to give up the moment I switch sides.”) I’ve said before (in my She-Ra posts) that my favourite part of any redemption arc is the “former enemies, now awkward around each other” stuff, so this was right up my alley!

- “The girl who fell through the world” was referenced twice now. Between that, the image of everyone falling in the opening, and the lyrics “sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall”, I’m going to predict that someone – most likely all of Team RWBY – will fall into that void and potentially end up in a different world.

- The group’s plan to defeat Ironwood, stop the bomb, and get to the vault was amazing all-around. I love the parts Emerald and Winter got to play in it, I love how we saw the plan’s execution before seeing how they came up with it and I love how everyone got to help, even the Schnees and Klein. I also love that the hole Oscar blasted through the ground of Atlas became relevant again.

- The design of the vault and the door are really nice and now I wonder what the other two are going to look like.

- Saving Penny like that was super risky, but they really were out of options. Just the fact that Ruby had to be quick enough to use her semblance and get to the staff before the virus kills Penny… jeesh, that was close.

- Ambrosius is a super fun character! I love that he looked at Penny and said “I’d love to meet whoever did this.” Also, the staff seems more useful than the lamp. The lamp only lets you ask three questions per century, while the staff can be used as often as you want – as long as you’re okay with whatever it previously created disappearing.

- I honestly still don’t completely understand what Penny is now. Is she meant to be human now? Or is she just a being made up of pure aura? How does this work? Ambrosius only created the copy that destroyed herself, so what’s left is Penny’s aura – but she somehow also has a body now? I guess we’ll find out more about what exactly this means later.

- Also, while I wasn’t sure how I feel about this decision re:Penny at first, now that I’ve thought about it for a bit, I think it works. It fits with the Pinocchio story, and I like that they didn’t phrase it as “she’s a real girl now”, but as “this is the girl who’s been in there all along”. Also, Penny saying “wow” after hugging Ruby and then going on a hugging spree was adorable.

- Watching “herself” self-terminate must have been really traumatic, though. Even if that copy was just a robot, it was still a disturbing scene.

- Who shut down communications in the middle of Jaune’s broadcast? I’m assuming it was Cinder, Watts and Neo.

- The whole dimension with the doorways that Ambrosius created looks amazing. (A while before watching this episode, I wondered if Raven could theoretically save Atlas by getting everyone to safety with her portals. It might not have been Raven, but I’m glad I was at least onto something.)

- “Do not fall.” So, about that… they’re all falling in the opening, (and we referenced “the girl who fell through the world” twice now), so I don’t have a good feeling about that. Also, Watts has been dangled from somewhere high twice now, so the third time has to be when he actually falls down.

- And Cinder is there to ruin the plan because of course she is.

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nelllraiser · 3 years

Text

the littlest pet swap | darwin & nell

TIMING: during the waking world potw (aka wonky magic times). LOCATION: the street outside darwin’s apartment + darwin’s apartment. PARTIES: @asranism & @nelllraiser. SUMMARY: a summoning gone wrong provides ample confusion for both darwin and nell, but mostly a lot of yelling in the street.

The sun had long slipped below the horizon as Nell opened the gate to one of the swankiest dog parks in town, though her slight form wasn’t accompanied by a canine of any sort. In fact, she looked entirely alone, a singled out figure in the low light of the street lamps while she opened the chain link gate of the park, satisfied with the emptiness of the enclosure. On nights like tonight she liked to make her way here, far after any other owners and dogs had abandoned the park so that her own ‘dogs’ could have as much fun as they liked without her needing to fear of the ruckus they might make should anyone catch sight of three hellhounds playing a game of fire tag, maws alight with flame as they chased after one another and playfully singed at each others fur. Raising her thumb to her teeth, she bit it until it bled, reopening a scab on it that had yet to heal from the last summoning of the hellhounds she’d performed. In a quick motion, she swiped the offering over the tattooed summoning sigil on her arm, a piece of magic she’d designed as a specific shortcut that would bring forth the demons she’d befriended some years ago. Except as the magic swelled and then ebbed, it wasn’t three hellhounds that stood before her but...something much smaller than she’d been expecting and- was it wearing a tuxedo? “Ah- hello,” Nell spoke to the mysterious demon with bewilderment, wondering where the hell her dogs were. “You’re not who I was expecting.” Had the unpredictability of her magic bled into this as well?

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Nell, a hellhound materialized in the middle of a strange and unfamiliar kitchen, and the young demon known to the witch as ‘Scrappy’ instantly began to growl at anything that dared to move within his vicinity. And perhaps the most concerning thing within his vicinity was a man foreign to him. Instinct was quick to take hold as his hackles rose, and it only took a small second before he was advancing on the man, a loud and threatening bark showing razor-sharp teeth as he wordlessly demanded to know what it was the interloper had done with his mistress.

Afternoon naps have never been a thing for Darwin Asrani, formerly the heir to the Asrani family business of subjugating demons for a quick buck, but things change, they always do, with his own escape and self-imposed exile from Asrani family dinners a testament of how the outgoing but sarcastic charmer isn't afraid to welcome change. Oh, how that statement is going to bite him in the ass in a few seconds. That, and something else. While Darwin was fast asleep, knocked out but comfortably so, deep in a dream of a better present where he wasn't running around, going after his family's mistakes, correcting them like he was responsible for their terrible choices in life, which he clearly wasn't, his tiny demon butler Bertrand was in the kitchen preparing its master his evening alcohol. Bertrand is of course Darwin's most loyal summon, a strange little demon who had a thing for wearing butler clothes, which in this context is a pretty charming tuxedo, and for some strange reason taking care of its summoner like the “Alfred” to Darwin's less gloomy and more fabulous Batman. Unfortunately for the two of them, that evening alcohol would not come to be, as something else stirred nearby, and soon Bertrand disappeared from where he stood, summoned elsewhere, while in his place a more terrifying and less clothed demonic entity stood growling at everything and anything.

"Bertrand, where the hell is my morning cock..." Darwin groggily walked into the kitchen, having finally awoken, in a sour mood after his fantasy was revealed to be nothing more than just that, a fantasy, not the actual reality of his own making. If he didn't have his sense of morality, the disgusting piece of him he liked to hide behind drapings of sarcasm and veils of flirting, he would have remained with his family, making a quick buck at the expense of other sentient creatures. It would have been an easy life, yet even as he made his way to where Bertrand should have been, he could not fully accept that option. Demons are scary, sure, and they are capable of damning things. But demons still have their own will. For another to bend that will to their own desires... Darwin could never accept that. Although, he would have considered the option as he gulped at the sight of not Bertrand in his kitchen, no, but a hellhound that looked like it didn't want to be there. At least they had something in common. "...tail?"

Everything happened so fast. Before Darwin could summon his own senses to return to him, his mind to conjure a plan or strategy of defensive measures, the hostile creature was upon him, chasing him out of his own apartment and into the cold dark night. Darwin could do nothing else but run, screaming, as the thought of his bits and pieces getting bitten to shreds was not something he wanted to come to pass. Fortunately for him, as the chase continued into the nearby dog park, he found Bertrand standing with lovesick eyes directed towards another, a woman with textbook attractiveness. Another spellcaster? "Bertrand! Quickly, rein in this monstrosity after me! I'm not wearing anything under my robe!"

“Hello?” Nell repeated to the newly appeared demon as it simply stood there, apparently transfixed on the young woman before him. Maybe he was in shock? She’d witnessed a few demons who experienced cases of confusion after being unexpectedly Summoned. After all, it was certainly jarring to be one place one moment and somewhere entirely else in the next. “Sorry- I didn’t actually mean to summon you here. Were you doing something important? I can send you back to wherever you needed to-”

Her sentence was cut short as a panicked sound cut through the air, and it took the witch a long second to make sense of the words. Bertrand? Who the hell was Bertrand? And what monstrosity was the guy speaking of? “Oh shit,” Nell uttered as Scrappy tore after the man and his delicately robed state, flames licking the corner of the hellhound’s mouth as he barked and sprinted in hot pursuit. In an instant, Nell was tearing after the hellhound’s victim and the dog in question, her strides fast as she left the unfamiliar demon behind. “Scrappy! Scrappy, don’t! It’s okay!” The poor pup was no doubt startled, having shown up in a stranger’s presence with no familiar face in sight. “Scrappy come back! I’m right here! I’ve got fingers!” she yelled as she continued to run, referencing the emergency supply of human fingers she kept as treats for her assorted demonic creatures in her pocket. The hellhound seemed to hesitate for a split second, his pursuit of the man slowing at the mention of food. As a precaution, he tried to herd the man into a corner, gnashing his teeth and growling all the way as he made his attempts.

Well, Bertrand certainly took his time. Even though Darwin was sure that he emphasized his immediate concerns regarding his endangered bits and pieces, the supposedly loyal demonic butler seemed to wait a minute or more before dashing to its master’s safety. They were going to have a talk about that later, much later, when Darwin was once again certain that his own bits and pieces were 100% safe. Bertrand is going to have a lot of explaining to do, though technically it’ll probably only take a mere mention before they both forget about it. It wasn’t like Darwin actually required a butler, and Bertrand, in its defense, was doing the whole schtick out of love and nothing else. It was a strange relationship but it was the only one Darwin was comfortable in trusting.

“Bertraaaaaand!” Darwin yelled again, as quietly as he could, which was a bit of a hilarious contradiction, even as the tiny demon ran to his aid. The other human was already doing her best to keep the hellhound away from Darwin’s precious jewels, which made him think that it was most likely her own Bertrand. “Is this your...pet?” Darwin immediately hated that word. Pet. Demons weren’t meant to be pets. They were meant to be respected as the intellectual and ancient beings that they were and— Oh, my god, it’s about to burn my bits and pieces!

“I’m not sure what happened, but I found your Scrappy instead of my Bertrand in my current place of residence.” He gulped, backed into a corner, and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Bertrand finally making its way to his defense from the corner of his eyes. “Bertrand! Oh, dear god (ironic, he knows), I’m glad you’re safe! What happened? Why are you out here? Who’s that with you? And for the love of all that’s good and sexy, can YOU please not feed your Scrappy my fingers?! I need them...for stuff.” Darwin fired the series of questions in quick succession, still barely awake to actually make a coherent plan of defense, having just woken up from his afternoon nap, though it was already late at night, and violently at that.

Bertrand just stood there itself, a little panicked, shifting its gaze from Darwin to Nell and then to the hellhound, unsure of what to do. On one hand, Bertrand needed to save Darwin. On the other, it wasn’t quite sure if Nell would appreciate if it tried to fight Scrappy. Besides, Bertrand still had hope in his tiny demon heart that the other human could rein in their own friend. The last thing it wanted was to start another demon-on-demon violence. That was certainly not part of their current deal.

“Scrappy!” Nell continued on with her authoritative tone when it came to making the hellhound stand down. “Scrappy, it’s alright, really.” Much of this particular hellhound’s aggression was actually caused by anxiety and fear, and a need to appear as fierce as possible in the face of a potential threat. The demonic dog finally seemed to pause its attack, though his teeth were still bared, not quite ready to let Darwin forget he was a threat. “Scrappy is…” Nell hesitated with an answer to Darwin’s question, also disliking the title of ‘pet’ when it came to the creatures she looked after. If it came to it, she’d use the word ‘pet’ as a cover, not needing normal humans asking strange questions about the less than usual animals that surrounded her. But as the witch’s gaze flickered from the other, smaller demon, and the man in front of her calling him ‘Bertrand’ with a voice that betrayed familiarity, it wasn’t hard to guess that she was being faced with another spellcaster. “I take care of him, and he helps take care of me when I ask him to,” she said truthfully, rolling up a sleeve to show the summoning tattoo that she’d gotten for the hellhounds, making it easier to Summon them at the drop of a hat. It was inked over the extreme scarring of her arms, the skin of them appearing mottled like a patchwork of flesh.

“And this is Bertrand?” Nell asked curiously, giving the little demon another friendly look. “Does he...speak? I tried talking to him before you ran out here, but he didn’t seem to have much to say.” With a gentle eyeroll, Nell crossed her arms over her chest before digging into her pocket. Scrappy, sensing a treat nearby, finally sat calmly at her feet. “I’m not gonna feed him your fingers. And I’m Nell, who are you? Do you always yell about your bits in the streets?” she decided to jibe playfully. But she was uncertain if the lightness would last. If this man was, indeed, another spellcaster— there was no guarantee he wouldn’t have heard news about the three sisters banned from their coven for necromancy and demon summoning, Nell being one of those three. Witch society was generally less than forgiving when it came to raising the dead, but perhaps he hadn’t heard, or perhaps she’d dodged that conversation by not providing her full name. Finally, she leaned forward to offer Scrappy a very human finger, and the dog eagerly gobbled the treat before sitting properly once again.

Darwin looked her over as she explained herself, mostly just her relationship with the hellhound Scrappy, as he wrapped his robe tighter around him in an attempt to stay warm out in the cold embrace of the night. He was now feeling a bit calmer with Bertrand finally standing beside him while the woman reined in her own companion. It didn't take long to dawn on Darwin how familiar the other spellcaster's relationship with Scrappy seemed with his own with Bertrand. Although Bertrand took a liking to acting and looking like the former Asrani family heir's butler, Darwin himself never really saw their relationship as master and familiar. Bertrand took care of him, even saved his life at one point, and for that, he will forever be grateful. It was most likely that very reason why he could not take to the demon as lesser than himself. Darwin owed Bertrand more than he'll ever care to admit, if only attempt to show through quieter actions. Like sharing pizza and interacting with him like he would any other. To be honest, Darwin probably treated Bertrand better than he did most humans. Without Bertrand, there would be no Darwin to this day.

He instinctively raised an eyebrow when the woman showed him her tattoo, dark brown eyes immediately trying to make sense of the handiwork as if there would be something more hidden beneath what they could see. Darwin thought of showing her his own tattoo but wasn't quite sure if that would be a good idea. The placement was, after all, somewhere more intimate and they were currently outside. Although he was certain that appearing to expose himself to another would be less offensive than having demonic entities prancing around in public, that didn't make him any less wary about that scenario. Thankfully, the woman's curiosity saved him, like the school bell to his hapless problematic student. "Yes, this handsome fellow's name is Bertrand." He turned to the tiny demon with a smile, both born of pride and affection. "Bertrand's my most loyal friend, though he often speaks only through the mind, which I suppose he reserves with known friends, those whose names and consent have been shared with him."

Bertrand himself turned to Darwin, and when their eyes met, nodded with a smile on his face. That moment was quickly ruined when Nell mentioned him yelling about his bits in the streets. While Bertrand was quick to hide his amusement, Darwin feigned a cough as he tried to hide his bits and pieces within his robe, which was barely doing a great job. "Well, you would, too, if you had just awoken from your drunken stupor, only to find an aggressive hellhound in your kitchen instead of your most trusted friend, and then get chased by that same hellhound into the night..." It was certainly an odd choice to summon a hellhound outside, but Darwin was yet to become familiar with this strange place, with its strange love for mimes and stranger disappearances, so who was he to know what was odd and what wasn't in White Crest? One thing he knew for certain, however, was that his bits and pieces were getting cold. "...I am Darwin, and I don't know about you, Nell, but I'd like to keep my bits and pieces warm. My place is, well, you probably already know. Feel free to follow me inside. I rarely have any company, so it might be a little too gloomy, but I just woke up, and I will most likely be up for a few more hours, so feel free to join me and my gloomy company where it'll at least be warm and our friends safe from..." He looked around them, an eyebrow raised, both emphasizing his point and making sure no one was eavesdropping on them. "...curious eyes."

With a nod to her and another to Bertrand, Darwin began to walk away, back inside his place. Bertrand himself waited on Nell and Scrappy with a wide smile, exactly like a butler waiting to usher in his master's guests. The sheer size of that grin would reveal to anyone how much Bertrand wanted to have guests and how few they ever got any. Of course, with a demonic butler and a host that had just arrived in town, the strange pairing wouldn't find it easy to have guests. This was a strange new town for them, and they were a strange new addition to the rest of the town. Besides, Darwin wasn't here to make new friends, but he was at least certain that the other spellcaster would not be his quarry. Perhaps, she would even be of great help to him and his cause.

He had to know what the tattoo was based on his reaction as well as what it meant she was, and Nell wasted no time in pressing the matter of his own identity. “So you’re a spellcaster then, right?” There was a flicker of tentative hope in her words as she asked them, eager to meet another magic user that wasn’t a part of the coven she’d been banished from. Of course, there was no guarantee that news of her and her sisters' excommunication hadn’t reached other corners of witch society, along with the magic they’d done. Obviously demons most likely wouldn’t be a problem with this man, seeing as he had one accompanying him as well, but necromancy was a whole other can of worms, and one that was also heavily feared and frowned upon within magical circles. Not to mention there was the fact that Nell often utilized blood magic, another practice that was most often met with harsh judgement and heavy reservations when others heard she used it. For the moment being, she wouldn’t mention it.

Instead, she decided to say hello to Betrand once more now that she knew his name. “Hello, Bertrand,” she offered a proper greeting with a smile and small nod of her head. “It’s nice to actually meet you. And sorry for summoning you unexpectedly,” she apologized again, knowing it must have been confusing to find himself somewhere new and unexplained.” It was interesting that he preferred to speak mentally, and though Nell was very much wanting to speak with the little guy, she wasn’t quite so sure how she felt about letting him into her mind just yet. With her general desire to keep the inner-workings of her head private, and the consistent mind breaches she was courtesy of Ma’al’s demon cult...she had little desire to forfeit the scarce safety she had in her mind at the moment. But maybe the future would grant her the pleasure of having conversation with Bertrand, one way or another. “And hello Darwin,” she offered with another wry grin.

“I don’t know,” Nell began, once again adopting her teasing tone. “I think I’d be pretty excited to find a hellhound in my kitchen. A gift, really. Probably not running around like a madman while yelling about my bits and pieces and then still talking about them once everything had calmed down.” There was a mischievous sparkle in her eye that told of the levity in her words, no actual intent to harm behind them. She didn’t hesitate to follow behind him as he led the way into his dwellings, tilting her head to the side as she took in the practicality of the place. “How long have you lived here?” she questioned, curious as to how she’d missed another spellcaster that worked with demons. After all, they weren’t exactly common. Nell wasn’t entirely sure how to react to Bertrand acting as butler, feeling a little out of place as the demon flitted about. It felt...strange to use a demon as someone to wait on you, but for all appearances it looked as if the demon was enjoying his job, possibly even thriving as he did his work. If Bertrand liked what he did, who was she to question it?

"Hmm?" The question didn't really surprise Darwin, as it would be pretty obvious to both of them that they shared at least an inkling of what the other was. Both of them had their respective demonic "partners", for a lack of a better term, and he just assumed that she, with that tattoo, was like him, if not better. She looked better, was better, because at the very least, she didn't just wake up, only to run away from a hellhound in just her robe. Speaking of robes, he wrapped his own tighter against himself, wary that his bits and pieces would be unintentionally exposed. He wasn't entirely into her, and all women for that matter, but it was still a matter of maintaining decency, the strange man in only a robe thought. "Just like you. Always good to find common ground with someone new..."

Bertrand simply smiled at Nell with an innocent, friendly sort of grin, the kind no one who wasn't well-versed with demons and their ilk would expect from such a creature. Yet so much would catch people by surprise, just by the fact alone that demons were as complex as humans, perhaps even more so. They were an ancient race, after all, and most knowledge about them barely scratched the surface. Type-casting didn't help. Darwin himself couldn't help but smile at her remark, her teasing, finding it a welcomed respite from the loneliness of having little to no other consistent human interaction, from Bertrand always saying yes and yes only to everything and anything. "That's fair. I did grow up with a hellhound. Sally. She was nice." Again, he tightened his robes against his skin. "Not long. We've just moved here." He answered without look back to her, already making his way to the makeshift bar in his living room. Bertrand, like the good and trustworthy self-appointed butler that they were, waited for Nell to get in before following after her and closing the door behind them.

Darwin was already preparing himself a drink when Bertrand appeared completely appalled at the vision of their master doing something for himself, while they were around. The demon wrangler, however, found their instinctive reaction as well as the horrified look on their tiny demon face somewhat amusing, waving Bertrand back to let them know he's fine with doing it himself. He pretty much didn't need Bertrand to wait on him every damn time but it was the demon's strange wish, a really confusing hobby that Darwin himself has yet to fully understand. He owed him his life, though, so he could never deny Bertrand whatever they wanted. Finally settled on a cocktail, a concoction of two different rums, a cherry brandy, a diet Coke, and Maraschino cherries, Darwin turned to Nell from behind the counter, grinning from ear to ear as he took a sip of his glass and offered her her own. "Bertrand doesn't drink." He raised an eyebrow, turning to the demon who grinned back, before continuing with a classic gender-based assumption that he didn’t wholly believe but thought was a pretty decent jumping point. "Tell me about yourself and your...coven. You're a witch, aren't you?"

As Darwin confirmed the fact that he had magical abilities, Nell’s grin grew wider and more genuine, once again filled with hope at the prospect of having found a new spellcaster to take into her life. She had friends, of course. People she loved. And her sisters still knew what it was to wield magic. But to have a friend that was a spellcaster in her life again? That was something she’d missed more than she’d realized. Nell knew she was getting ahead of herself. After all, they’d barely even made one another’s acquaintance, but she couldn’t help the spark of hope that had lighted in her soul, nearly desperate to find someone like her that wouldn’t hate her. Just as quickly as the hope had blossomed, she watched it with a careful eye, trying to dampen it in the next moment as she reminded herself that she still didn’t know if he’d recognize her full name should she ever give, along with the ‘crimes’ attached to it. Still...she couldn’t help the excitement in her voice as she echoed, “Just like me. A Summoner and everything! Do you mostly do Summoning, then?” she asked, already burning with questions.

Nell didn’t hesitate to return Betrand’s smile, and at the mention of a hellhound Scrappy whined from his place at Nell’s feet where he’d finally settled. To have a demon as part of the family in a household? Her mother and coven would have balked at the idea. “Really? All of your family likes demons, then?” It was a novel idea, and a reality she’d never thought to imagine based off most casters’ reactions to demons. “Oh- well, welcome to White Crest,” Nell offered with half the enthusiasm she’d had when asking about the hellhound. “You’ll find it’s...a very unique place the longer you’re here. And pretty fucking dangerous so just- watch you back, I guess.” It was only fair to warn the man what he was getting into.

The witch accepted the drink with a quick, “Thank you” before taking a sip, and then promptly popping one of the cherries into her mouth. “Good for Bertrand,” Nell said with a chuckle. “Very responsible of him.” But the mention of a coven was quick to tense her shoulders along with her mouth. She should have expected it. How many times had she been told that a witch without a coven was barely anything at all? So of course another spellcaster would ask where her’s was. Nell opted to answer the simpler of the two questions first. “That’s me- a witch.” Her former excitement had waned, already dreading where this conversation might go. “And you’re…? Well- what do you call yourself?” Witch was generally thought of as a woman’s word in pop and normie culture, but she’d met plenty of men who went by the title as well. Now for the rest of her answer. “I don’t have a coven.” Anymore. She carefully opted to leave off the end of that reply, unwilling to ostracize herself so quickly. “There’s one in town, though. Mostly fire elementals.” It was her own former coven, and the very same one her mother had banished her from. “What about you? What about your coven?” Maybe she could turn the rides away from herself into his direction instead.

"Yeah, sure, mostly Summoning..." Darwin offered her a warm smile and a wink before taking another sip of his drink. Although he didn't feel like there was something about her that made her a little difficult trust, something suspicious, anything suspicious, the well-traveled demon wrangler had learned from his past experiences to keep unnecessary additional information from newly made acquaintances. At least at this point, he believed it was the right thing to do. "You could say that. We're all in the...business." He unintentionally turned to Bertrand, as if apologizing for the terms he used. Darwin had never wanted to be associated with the Asrani family name again, their savage and brutal business of wrangling demons and twisting them mentally to suit their financial needs, but he had yet to share who they were truly by name and he could still, in his head, pretend that he was from a better version of his own family.

The momentary loss in thought, however, not to mention the more serious expression that possessed his face, might have hinted to the girl that there was more to his story, bits and pieces he'd rather not share for now, but he immediately tried to ensure to keep the conversation moving elsewhere. If it could even be a suitable distraction. "Thank you. So far, it's been, as you say, unique. I'll keep that in mind, though." At the sound of their name, Bertrand grinned before offering Darwin a quick bow and disappearing into the shadows. Truth be told, their makeshift master had no idea where they disappeared to whenever they were out of his sight, but Darwin would trust Bertrand with his life, as Bertrand themselves had been the only one responsible for extending it.

"I fancy myself a demon wrangler. I seek out the more dangerous demons let loose by careless mages, intentionally or otherwise, rounding them up and settling them safely back home, wherever they believe that is." Throughout his explanation, his dark brown eyes maneuvered themselves onto the hellhound with her. Scrappy, wasn't it? The creature didn't seem like it was brought here against its will. In fact, it actually looked like it was enjoying the woman's company. Darwin grinned at that thought. "Well, isn't that another thing we have in common?" Darwin gave her a nod and ushered her towards the living room, sitting at the sofa, the unexpectedly lavish couch that took the middle of the room as its own. With another sip, he gestured for her to sit with him before continuing. "I'm not much of a coven kind of guy. I find them...stifling at times, suffocating even. I highly value my independence, though..." He gestured around himself, around them, emphasizing the loneliness of his place. "...it'd be nice to have some company every once in a while."

For a moment or two, as their eyes met, Darwin considered poking around in Nell's head, wondering if she was hiding certain truths that he needed to know, if he should just take them for herself. It could be easy. She already had a drink in her hands. But then he got bored of pretending he was his damned father. He could never understand how that old bastard would ever think that was a good option, especially on his own son. What a fucking asshole. He heaved a sigh, mustered a weak smile, and took another sip of his drink.

His wink paired with the tone of voice and phrasing he’d used did little to assure Nell that Summoning was the only magic that Darwin did. It seemed that he was more inclined to withhold whatever other magic he was employing, and for a split moment she wondered if it might be blood magic. Perhaps the taboo nature of it was why Darwin was keeping the practice to himself. A year or so ago, Nell would have hesitated to ask, unwilling to reveal that she too was a practitioner of the questionable magic. But the year since then had taught her that if she were going to lose people for things she wouldn’t apologize for- it was easier to do so earlier in a relationship, to be cut loose before she got in too deep and their rejection would sting all the more. Beyond that she’d also learned that the bigger threat someone thought she might pose... the better. Perhaps if she’d been louder about her abilities, half the people that had tried to interfere in her life wouldn’t have done so in the first place. So it was with a straight back and almost daring air about herself that she said, “I also do blood magic.” Nell watched him for a long moment after that, looking for the familiar flicker of distaste of wariness that came over other spellcasters when she mentioned the discipline.

A demon wrangler made sense based off the way he’d spoken of the otherworldly creatures, and the company he kept with Bertrand. Nell had done her own fair share of recollecting demons that were places they shouldn’t be. “That’s good. And trust me there’s plenty of demons to wrangle around here. Just a few months ago some highschoolers accidentally summoned Bloody Mary. Obviously she’s not a demon but- you get the idea.” Nell refrained from mentioning that two of the teens had died in the process of that entire ordeal. No doubt Darwin was well aware of the casualties that were practically guaranteed when inexperienced practitioners tried to Summon. “You don’t have a coven?” Nell asked again, her curiosity once again piqued. “You’re right about the rules, though. The one I mentioned before has banned any sort of demon summoning.” It had been part of the reason she’d been exiled, though only a fraction of it.

Taking another sip of the drink he’d given her, Nell gave a half-grin at the mention of company, hiding the eagerness she was feeling at having found a spellcaster who wasn’t forbidden from speaking to her, and also wasn’t her sister. “Well if you keep making me drinks- I might be able to provide an answer to the occasional company problem you’re running into.” She still had so much to ask Darwin, but a whine from underneath the table told Nell that Scrappy was getting antsy, still not entirely comfortable with being in the presence of a stranger and his demon. “I should go take care of this boy, though,” she said before leaning down to give the hellhound a pat. “He’s not really good with company- which I’m sure you figured out when he was trying to bit your ‘bits and pieces’ off.” Her tease was accompanied by another grin, obviously taking amusement in using the phrase against him. “But maybe I could bring one of the more confident hellhounds by another time.”

Darwin almost choked on his drink when she revealed the other kind of magic she did. Hailing from a family of mental magic practitioners, which really never ends well when shared with a new acquaintance because humans have always been a paranoid lot, the demon wrangler had strangely little to no experience with actual blood magic and its practitioners. There was that one girl he befriended, the young single mother, but it was a disheartening affair, one that proved to be more dangerous to herself and to the ones around her. Right then and there, Darwin wondered if the same could be said for Nell. How lonely it must be then, and how painful, that one's magic can punish a practitioner beyond the rules of equivalent exchange. Then again, it must be the only appropriate rule for something as dangerous and painful as blood magic. Darwin took another sip of his drink to regain his composure. "That's interesting. I knew a girl who did that, too. She was...admirable."

"Bloody Mary? Really? High Schoolers?" Darwin shook his head, distancing his lips from the glass as they twisted into a playful smirk born out of disbelief that such young children could be capable of summoning bloody Bloody Mary but at the same time impressed of the act. He was also young when he started Summoning, though he focused mostly on smaller demons first. Then again, he was around their age, if he recalled correctly, when he first summoned a demon the size of a human, not unlike Bloody Mary herself in terms of height and number of limbs, though his was more fueled by lust than violent murder. That was also actually when he first realized he preferred men over women. "Did any of them survive?" His smile turned into a frown when he remembered the truth of the matter. Just because you can actually Summon, just because you got lucky in actually drawing someone else, something else, from their world to this one, doesn't mean what happens next will be harmless, profitable for you. Often, the novice, the inexperienced, dies from the ordeal or during the aftermath due to lack of assertion or impression. No one enjoys an unscheduled appearance, without their consent, in a lesser world.

Darwin simply shook his head at the question relating to his coven, the thought of his own family being akin to that to him...until his father tried to bend him, his mind, to their twisted capitalist bullshit. "Ah, but of course. Demon summoning and witchcraft don't always go hand in hand. Either often prefer to be focused on, unable to share their practitioners with one another." At this point, he was just blowing wind up his own ass. He didn't actually know if that bit was true, only that it made sense to him to be so. His grin returned at her tease, or at least what he perceived to be a tease, longer than before. Even though Darwin had his own preferences when it came to carnal pleasures, he enjoyed flirting, teasing, the art and science of which, most likely because it helped boost his ego, his confidence, in ways that he never could growing up, alone, without the familial support he subconsciously craved.

"Of course, my love! Feel free to visit any time. Bertrand and I will always enjoy your company and that of your hellhounds." He offered her a grin as he stood, careful not to expose her to his bits and pieces, like the gentleman host that he believed himself to be. Gesturing towards the door, which Bertrand who just appeared from out of nowhere was quick to open, Darwin accompanied his lovely guest on her way out. He could've actually walked her home but it was getting too cold for his bits and pieces, and he was slowly getting too drunk. He did turn to Bertrand, though, and nodded, a gesture that meant the self-appointed butler would follow the witch back to her abode to simply ensure her safety. Not that Darwin believed she couldn't take care of herself, what with the blood magic and the hellhound at her arsenal. It was more like a routine that he half-remembered from his past before he had to escape, flee, a reminder his late mother always told him: Take care of friends and family, even if they never want you to. Well, Darwin was out of family, and Nell was the first friend he'd made in town. Might as well.

Nell waited with a steely gaze for Darwin’s verdict, ready to write off this newfound and tentative friendship here and now if he reacted negatively when it came to her blood magic. She didn’t need anymore people in her life that would leave her down the road, but it seemed that paranoia had been misplaced when he spoke of admiration. “She was?” Nell echoed, as if confirming she’d heard correctly. Obviously she had, and the thought filled her with another spark of tentative hope. “I’m sure she was, then. Admirable, I mean.”

As for the highschoolers…”Just one,” Nell answered grimly, still holding some residual guilt for having been unable to save the entire lot of them. “Two of them died in the process, including the one who had the ability to Summon in the first place. I don’t think he knew, though- that he held the magic. He didn’t make a proper sacrifice and- well- the Summoning decided it wanted more. I’m sure you understand.” None of them were free of the chains of equivalent exchange, and sometimes the jailers demanded entire lives as a means of paying the price.

But as Scrappy whined once again, Nell knew he was reaching his limit of being indoors and stationary, and in the presence of a man he’d chased down the street and was still not entirely certain of. “I really am sorry I have to go- there’s a ton more I wanted to ask. But I’ll probably also just message you once I’m home on the White Crest forum thing, and we can pick up where we left off. But I mean it about the drinks,” she reiterated with a grin, still wishful that this budding friendship might be a lasting one. “So be prepared for me to bother you about that within 2-5 business days.” Gathering up Scrappy, she made her way towards the door, giving Bertrand a nod of goodbye as well, not yet realizing that he’d be trailing her on the way home. “And I’ll see you, as well I hope.” With that she was making her way out of his apartment and onto the street, below, pausing with a small smile on her lips to let herself bask in the potential promise of another spellcaster in her life that didn’t hate her guts. Even though she still wasn’t sure how the demon mixup had occurred, that worry could be kept at bay for the moment being with the knowledge that she’d started something new out of it.

#chatzy #ch:darwin #wickedswriting #the littlest pet swap

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saiilorstars · 3 years

Text

Sweet Ambitions

Ch.1: Anais

Story Masterlist // Masterlist of other OCs

Fandom: Supergirl // Pairing: Winn Schott x OFC

Summary: Spending her entire life cooped up in secret, Anais relishes in her new freedom. It's only later that she learns it's not easy living as a human when she also wants to be Solar with Supergirl. She has good-hearted ambitions but that's not the case for those around her. Not everyone is Kara Danvers, or Winn Schott. "Friends" lurk by with double intentions and to top it off, CADMUS rears its ugly head to make Anais wonder what side is she really on: human or alien?

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @perfectlystiles

[If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message!]

A young woman snapped a picture of the sky just as a couple of humming birds flew by. The angle was perfect! She lowered her professional camera, revealing sparkly green eyes. She was dazzled as she saw her picture on the camera screen. "Dad, I got another one!" she called for her father but noticed he'd gone inside the house. "Mom?" she then called but no one answered.

"What do you mean she's been infected?" the young woman began to hear voices from the inside. Super hearing allowed for some interesting eavesdropping sometimes, and when her adoptive parents were secret government scientists, the information was even juicier.

"We're not sure but she might have been affected," went the voice of a man she immediately recognized. It was for that reason that the woman put her full attention to the conversation. "Supergirl's civilian form is usually a kind woman and now she's acting far colder than ever before. We tracked her initial behaviors back to a fight she had. We need your expertise on Kryptonian weaknesses."

The woman's eyes widened in alarm at the important name. Supergirl? She was affected with what? The blonde let her camera hang around her chest and walked into the backdoor of her home.

"I assume you still hold the records from Superman?"

"Well of course we do. What kind of employees would we be if we didn't retain our subjects' records?"

The woman stepped into the cool kitchen and followed the voices of her parents and the man into the living room. "What's going on?" she didn't hesitate to come into the conversation despite her parents' constant reminders she was a subject the DEO was wary about no matter how long it'd been since they'd first found her.

A dark-skinned man immediately laid eyes on her. They were rather cold for the first couple of seconds, something the blonde didn't quite like but was ultimately used to. It was the first impression many employees got from him. "Hello, Hank," she said cautiously. "It's been long since you've visited." She cracked a tiny bit of a smile, and how could she not? He was the man responsible for her rescue when she was a young girl who'd lost her mother.

The man gave a nod, somewhat smiling now. "It is nice to see you again, Anais. How are you?"

Anais glanced at her parents to see their typical uneasiness whenever the DEO was around. It seemed like no matter how many years passed by, the DEO would never be fully welcomed in their home. "I'm...okay. I heard about Supergirl, what's happened to her?" No one answered her. Typical. She sighed, letting her long straight blonde hair swish each time her head turned. "Seriously? I follow Supergirl's actions — I even have collages about her — so I really want to know if she's in trouble—"

"So you can help out," her father finished, settling a hard look on her. "We know how the story ends, Anais. And you know we can't allow you to go anywhere near the DEO and much less Supergirl."

"Supergirl wouldn't act so cold with me like the DEO has," Anais threw that back to Hank Henshaw. "The Department of Extra-Normal Operations should've welcomed the first benign alien just like they did with Supergirl. Did I have to be Kryptonian for that or what?"

"You being a Solista had nothing to do with our case on you, Anais. You are a peculiar case—"

Anais rolled her eyes. She heard the story far too many times already. "Yeah, yeah, what makes me different and a threat is why you keep me away. I thank you for what you did for me when I was a little girl and you know—" she glanced at her parents with all the love in the world, "—how grateful I am to you for taking me in but now I want to know about Supergirl. And good luck getting rid of me. I have the speed and the strength to outmatch you." Her straight white teeth were a pretty sight despite her sour warning of her presence.

Anais Allen(-Mjorlkand) did not play when it came to aliens, even if she was only half of one.

Bearing that in mind, while also counting for precious time, Hank decided to let the woman listen in. He knew she was virtually harmless, despite the weariness of the government. She'd only been five years old when he found her and her dead alien mother. Her now-adoptive parents fought tooth and nail to take her in and prevent her from being a full blown lab rat for the U.S. government. As far as he knew, and he did, Anais was a model citizen.

When Anais learned that Supergirl may have been affected with something they still didn't know much about, she was all for helping. Like before, it didn't quite matter how many times everyone said no.

"Supergirl can be in trouble and I may be the only other non-evil alien that has the strength to keep up with her!" she trailed after her parents and Hank towards the front door. "Not to mention more speed! I am a dedicated speedster, remember!?"

"Anais, the DEO may not be ready for you—" Mrs. Allen began but Anais shook her head to stop her.

"But I can be trained! C'mon! Just...just let me visit at least? I'll be under constant supervision! You can even tag me if you want—"

"That wouldn't be necessary," Hank cut her off, rather put off by the suggestion.

Anais set her hands on her hips. "Then let me come, please." It was clear as day her parents weren't on board with the idea. Despite being adopted and partially alien, they came to love the girl as their own child.

However, the situation was tough and no one knew that more than Hank. His dark eyes flickered from the hopeful woman to her parents. He hated making the tough calls. "You would need to be monitored—"

Everyone winced when Anais squealed in delight.

"Hank, she can't—"

Hank raised a hand to stop Anais' father. "Unfortunately, she is well over the legal age—"

"23 years!" Anais was quick to remind, even waving a hand above her head. Her parents shot her the clear look to be quiet.

"Wouldn't this go against the rules, though?" Mrs. Allen wondered, continuously glancing at her daughter with fear. "It was clear we had to keep Anais under constant supervision and away from society until we were sure…"

"That I wasn't gonna accidentally blow people up, yes I know," Anais rolled her eyes. "Which I haven't, okay? Except for that one time I accidentally blew up the garden shed."

"And?" Mr. Allen threw a mock-glare.

She sighed and added in a much quieter voice, "...and the garage." She straightened herself up and put on her more serious face possible. "But I'm 23 now. I've practiced enough times to know what I'm doing. Just give me the chance to actually help."

Her hopefulness was answered again with a conditional yes from both parties. She would be under the direction supervision of Hank and any other trusted employees he would need. Anais didn't care. All she knew was that she would finally meet Supergirl and possibly even National City if she had free time.

Oh yes, she would definitely be taking her camera!

~0~

The DEO was bustling with the newest Fort Rozz escapee and with little to no help from Supergirl herself. Her lack of presence, however, was not a complete damper on Anais' mood.

"Oh my god I know this place is meant to hate me but it is so cool!" Anais' laughter echoed in the main room, attracting the attention of most employees, among them Alex Danvers.

"Uh...who is she?" the woman came to stop Anais from touching a desk.

"Ow," Anais pouted and rubbed the back of her hand where Alex had smacked her.

"Anais Allen. She is a special DEO interest who may be able to help us with Supergirl," Hank cleared his throat, warning Anais with a glance not to disclose more about herself. Alex looked Anais over with reasonable suspicion. At a time like this Hank decided to bring in some stranger to help with her sister? "Her parents are working on a possible explanation to Supergirl's condition," Hank went on, hoping to get eyes off Anais.

"Her parents being…?" Alex expected to know the answer but Hank left it briefly with "special DEO scientists" and moved on once again.

Anais still flashed the older woman a smile though Alex didn't return it. Anais tried not to look so disappointed - she could feel Alex's concern for...Supergirl? Anais tilted her head as she tried to make sense of the feelings she could actually feel. Because yes, at times, she could be an empathic. She could literally feel other people's feelings, whether they were good or bad. It was a power she was still developing.

But Alex's concern for Supergirl went far beyond that of co-workers, though not couple feelings. It was that same love Anais felt from her adoptive mother: family. With that in mind, Anais paid extra close attention to Alex's behavior while Hank and the other DEO employees brought up the Fort Rozz escapee.

"Two armored vehicles have been attacked in the last six hours. Both carrying hundreds of thousands worth in gold," Hank was describing the situation. "Now, these two have goons managed to take out a number of highly trained and heavily armed security personnel."

"Alien weapons?" asked Alex.

"Almost. An alien is their weapon," Hank had one of the employees pull up a profile picture of a rather sizable man with—was that an eyepatch?

Why must villains insist on being ridiculous? Anais could never figure that out. Her father always loved watching those silly human movies with awful costumes and representation of aliens.

"A K'hund. Stronger than your average Fort Rozz escapee," Hank warned the crowd. "Now, we've obtained intel on their next heist, but we have to move fast. Lucky for us, we have an alien of our own."

"Yeah, that would be me," said another woman, a new woman that Anais immediately recognized as Supergirl. With a gasp, Anais turned around and saw Supergirl herself standing behind the crowd. She was looking rather bored by the ensemble of employees.

"You're late," Hank pointed out, not that Supergirl seemed to care for her tardiness.

Anais opened her mouth to make herself known but she began to get the same feelings from the other alien...and they were rather...mixed.

"I had other things to do," Supergirl said sourly. "You know I do have a life, right?"

Alex's eyes widened at such an imprudent - and certainly not like Supergirl - thing to say. "Supergirl…"

The alien in question raised a hand to stop Alex from whatever she was going to say. "When can I kick alien ass?"

Hank was just going to skip over her language for the time being. It was just more footage to collect and hopefully discover Supergirl's irrational behavior. "Let's move!" he gave the order to the rest of the employees.

As the employees began to spread out, Anais latched a hand to the nearest one she could. It was Alex.

The brunette woman gave Anais a clear look that said 'hands off'. Anais pulled her hand off Alex's arm and pointed in the direction Supergirl went off in. "She's your sister." The phrase made Alex freeze with shock. This only allowed Anais to continue on with what she wanted to say. "I felt that off her hostility towards you. It's not like the one she has against Hank! But to be fair, all her feelings are rather mixed up—"

"Okay, what are you talking about?" Alex grabbed Anais and led her towards the side.

Anais blinked, realizing that just like everything of the DEO was new to her, it was new to Alex too. "Oh, that's right, I'm sorry. I'm—" she gestured to herself, "—a low-level empathic." Alex's blank stare made Anais smile widely out of embarrassment. "It basically means I can feel other people's feelings on occasion. It's really low so the feelings have to be extremely strong for me to catch on sometimes. For example, when Supergirl came in you got this whole concern that...while reasonable, didn't exactly fit within the role of employees."

Alex pinched the bridge of her nose. Things were getting ridiculous now. "So you could...you think Supergirl is my sister?" she dropped her hand. "Did you forget the part where I'm a human and she's an alien?"

"I know the concept of adoption, Alex," Anais said all too calmly, furthering irritating Alex. "I was adopted by humans too. And if I ever did get a human sibling — even adopted — I would love them too."

Alex's mouth opened several times before she actually talked. "Whatever the hell you are—"

"A Solista," Anais was all too happy to name her species for anyone.

"Not the point," Alex gritted her teeth, making Anais' smile vanish to get serious. "Just….just tell me you can help her? Supergirl?"

"Your sister?"

"Fine, yes - can you help her?"

"Well, I'm not a science genius but my parents are. They studied all of Superman's records and they even got to perform some exams themselves. They've got the brains and I've got the bronze," Anais flexed an arm as a joke but Alex was in no mood for such. With a sigh, Anais got serious again. "I'm half human, okay? But physically I can keep up with Supergirl. And I will try my best to help wherever I can."

That was all Alex needed to know. "You should wear a mask or something before you leave…"

~ 0 ~

Against Hank's better judgement, Anais was allowed to accompany the DEO taskforce to get the Fort Rozz escapee. The condition was the mask - first of all - and to have her monitored from the DEO all in the meanwhile.

"Stop touching it," Alex scolded Anais the third time the blonde started fiddling with the strap around Anais' arm.

"You guys seriously couldn't have gotten me a smaller thing to monitor me with?" was all Anais could say about it.

"We're trying to get funding. And it we were a bit out of time," Alex leaned back against the wall of the van. They were on their way to Supergirl's location, hoping to just get out and catch the escapee when Supergirl was done.

"I told you I didn't even need to be here," Anais gestured to the back of the van with a roll of her eyes.

"And Hank said you had to be under my supervision," Alex reminded with a touch of a smirk.

Anais didn't have the chance to come up with a good comeback for that repeated statement due to the van making a big swerve. She screeched when Alex practically jumped over her to get out the backdoor.

"Where did he go!?" she soon heard Alex's confused voice. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. He got away."

Anais sped out of the van and came to a skidded stop beside Alex, startling both Alex and Supergirl. "Hi, big fan!" Anais wiggled her fingers at Supergirl then looked at the dumbfounded Alex. "Right, I'm a speedster too."

Supergirl's eyebrows shot up at the presence of the knew alien in town. "Do I have to kick her ass too?"

Anais' smile faded.

~ 0 ~

"Is this really necessary?" Anais asked the female scientist reading off from a handheld tablet about Anais' tests results collected from her short moment in the field. "Because my parents have run these a thousand times. I swear."

The scientist said nothing. She merely came back to unwrap the monitor around Anais' arm.

Anais rolled her eyes and looked around for anyone she knew, and by that she just meant Alex or Hank. It was clear Supergirl was not in her right mind at the moment. Just my luck. She focused more when she started hearing voices of Supergirl, Hank and Alex not too far from the room. She shouldn't but oooooh her superhearing really wanted to make action.

"...how 'bout you get off my back for once, Hank?"

"Supergirl…"

"I thought we were in a good place here."

"We're in a good place, when I do what I'm told. When I don't, you come down on me. I am tired of it! You want to catch the K'hund, go try it yourself! You're just as strong as me, if you wanted to be!"

"You know how dangerous that is for him!"

Anais made sure not to make any faces that would giveaway what she was doing. What did Supergirl mean by that? Hank couldn't possibly be as strong as Supergirl…

"And it's not dangerous for me too? Every Kryptonian on this planet wants to kill me expect my cousin. I have to live with that! What are you so afraid of? You talk about honoring your people, and yet you refuse to be one of them!"

"Supergirl!"

When Supergirl finally did leave, there was a trail of awkwardness left in the building. Anais did her best not to show any indication she'd heard any of that. After being released from examinations, she was turned over to none other than her parents.

"I thought the deal was I would help if I could," Anais glumly said after catching sight of her parents.

"Oh you still are," Alex remained in the building despite it being rather late. "After what my sister—er…" Anais smirked. "Fine, whatever. She needs help. And I'm gonna take it from whoever gives it. Your parents are keys."

"Dorks. They're dorks," Anais didn't hesitate to correct. The two women walked into the room Hank had brought the two scientists into.

"Annie!" Mr. Allen immediately went over and hugged her. "You're okay?"

"I'm embarrassed but sure…" the blonde hugged back nonetheless. By this point in her life, she was more than used to her parents' over-coddling.

"We feel we have a lead but we need to talk to the person who owned the building in the first place," Mrs. Allen remarked after hugging her daughter as well. She was worried sick as well but knew how Anais got in front of people when they happened to express too much love.

"And who would that be?" asked Hank.

"A Mr. Maxwell Lord."

It became clear to the three visitors that this name was not unknown for the DEO workers.

"Alex looks like she wants to punch this guy…" Anais couldn't refrain from commenting. This time, Alex didn't disagree.

"I hate him. And now we're gonna get him," Alex looked specifically at Hank for this one. Maxwell Lord had been one problem after the next and she was drawing the line at infecting her sister.

"That'll have to be tomorrow, I'm afraid," Hank said, not missing Alex's incredulous reaction. "It's late and we need to figure out how we're going to go to Maxwell Lord. I'm sure you'll be willing to help with that."

Seeing no other option on the table, Alex took it. "You bet."

"As for you three," Hank looked at the visitors again, "We secured a hotel for you to stay the night, all expenses paid. Tomorrow morning I will personally take you to Maxwell Lord for your questioning."

"And me?" Anais curiously wondered. The plan was great, it just didn't seem to include her as much as she wanted.

"It's best if you stay hidden," Hank replied, not surprising her too much.

"We agree," Mr. Allen said all too pleased. "We don't know if this substance is affecting all aliens in the region."

"Dad—"

"Don't even try it, dear," Mrs. Allen softly smiled at the blonde, urging Anais to save her breath. "It's the safest option for you."

Sure. Anais put forwards her best understanding smile possible. Her mind had already come up with an assignment of her own for the next day. The best part was it had exploration in the main part.

~0~

CatCo. was busy as usual early in the morning. There were new issues being made for the following deadline and Cat Grant was not a woman who accepted tardiness. This was the spectacle Anais walked into after the elevator dinged open. She didn't even mind that two employees had nearly run into her with stacks of papers. Her smile widened when she potted the Art Department on the far left of the bullpen. She'd never been anywhere near this sort of place.

In her awe, she now bumped into someone. She stumbled back a step - as did the other person - and blinked with terrible guilt. "I'm so sorry! I'm lost!"

The other person turned out to be a dark-haired man with green eyes. He didn't seem upset when Anais did a quick and discreet look-over. "Don't worry. I'm Winn Schott, the I.T., can I help you?"

"Uh…" Anais quickly looked to the side in thought. She didn't really think about what she would do after coming into the place. It took her very little effort to figure out who Agent Alex Danvers' sister was - a Kara Danvers - and where said sister worked. It helped that she worked for the Queen of all Media. But now that she was here, Anais didn't even know how she would find Kara nor what she would say to the Kryptonian.

In all this thinking time, Winn had stared at the blonde woman, waiting for her answer. "U-uh...hello?" He waved a hand in front of Anais' face to bring her back to the present.

The woman blinked back to the present and widely smiled. "I'm, uh, looking for...uh...Kara...Danvers…"

Not a moment after she'd spoken the name did they hear an elevator ding. What confused Anais was that this elevator was set up opposite of the one she'd come in through. When the doors slid open, a dark blonde woman in a tight black dress, holding a latte in hand, emerged.

"Why are there two ele…" Anais trailed off as Winn dashed towards the second blonde.

"That's Cat's elevator!" he reminded Kara in a rush.

This did not seem to do much for the woman. She walked over to her desk, which happened to be a couple feet from the grand office. "It is absolutely ridiculous for her to have her own personal elevator, plus horrible for the environment," the woman casually rolled her eyes.

"KE-RAH!"

Winn winced at the loud scream of Cat. Anais still remained where Winn left her and only mouthed 'Ke-rah?' in confusion. It took her only a couple seconds to put two and two together.

Kara Danvers!

And to prove her thoughts, Winn was ever so helpful. "You are literally impervious to bullets and I'm worried for your safety right now!" he managed to get out before Cat arrived with eyes blazing in anger.

Definitely Kara Danvers, Anais began to smile.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" demanded Cat. Another woman, a dark brunette arrived just a couple seconds later, holding a couple papers on hand which Anais knew at once were photographs.

"Your latte, Ms. Grant," Kara held out the cup, still looking unbothered about the situation. "Walking from the main elevator takes an extra 90 seconds, which means your latte's 90 seconds colder."

Cat's eyes flickered from the cup to Kara. It was as if she was waiting for Kara to snap back to the one shy assistant Cat had known for a while. But when Kara didn't, Cat accepted it with conditional terms. "Brazen. That's a new color on you. I don't mind it. Yet. What do you want?"

The brunette woman was startled. Cat hadn't even turned to give her proper attention but she would take whatever she got. "I've got a scoop for you. Can we talk? In private? Allez." Cat was never one to refuse a scoop and so agreed to see the woman in her office.

As soon as they were gone, Anais moved up to Kara's desk. "U-um, hi. You don't know me but I-I—"

"I don't," Kara settled a rather cold disdain look on Anais. This was nowhere near the Kara Danvers that Winn knew and loved. He looked between the two with rather concern.

"Right, but believe me...I know you…" Anais almost shivered when she began to feel some of the coldness inside Kara. "I think you're sick…"

Kara laughed and languidly pointed at Anais. "And who's she?" she asked from Winn.

"I-I don't know...we were getting to that…" the man stuttered and motioned Anais to get on with it.

"Anais Allen, nice to meet you," Anais shook hands with Winn then attempted to do the same with Kara but the latter only offered a condescending stare. "Okay, let me try again. I'm from the DEO—" and this certainly got attention from Winn, "—and my parents are studying some...possible leads to your...odd behavior."

Kara frowned. "I am feeling just fine," her spat startled Anais. She moved around the desk, causing Winn to back up for space. "So you can tell Hank and Alex and all those little people that they can stop worrying. And you—" she got in Anais' face, "—can go back to wherever it is you came from. I don't need you. I doubt anyone here does. Bye."

She left Anais wide eyed but not offended. That darkness inside Kara was what scared her, actually.

"I…" poor Winn did not have a word to explain her friend's erratic behavior. His finger pointed after Kara and despite having his mouth open, he couldn't get past his stutter. "I don't—"

Anais raised a hand to stop him. "It's fine," she spoke serious for the first time. She turned to him with a matching earnest face. "Give me a rundown on Kara Danvers' usual personality."

"What—"

"It's fine, I know who she is," Anais then leaned forwards to whisper, "I'm an alien too."

This just made Winn's eyes nearly pop out of his head. "Y-you're a…" his finger made a swirling motion above his head.

Anais smiled, mildly amused by him. "I'm a low level empathic and what I just felt from Kara was utter coldness."

"Empathic? So then you can feel…" Winn trailed off as Anais nodded to confirm his thoughts.

"Very little but right now it's enough."

""Uh, well...Kara is…" Winn paused to think about his description and soon settled on a short one, "Do you know the Powerpuff girls?" Anais gave a slow, silent nod. "Picture Bubbles."

Anais couldn't help laugh. "Okay…then...this Bubbles...has got some weird super villain-esque development going on. Can I use a phone?"

"Yeah, of course," Winn led her back to his desk which turned out not to be that far from Kara's.

"I don't have a phone, sorry," Anais offered a sheepish smile for her lack of technology.

"That's a new one," Winn gestured to the phone for her to use.

Anais was about to dial when his words registered in her mind. "Hold on, I just told you that I'm an alien with low level empathic abilities and that I'm here from an organization that deals with aliens but me not owning a cellphone is the shocker?"

Winn saw how that looked and offered his own sheepish smile. Anais' smile turned into another laugh. "So...what exactly are you going to do?" Winn asked after Anais finally dialed a number. "You're gonna call the DEO?"

"Worse, my parents," Anais didn't need to be empathic to know how angry her parents were going to be with her after discovering she left the hotel without their permission. "It was nice knowing you." She took in a deep breath and began to talk on the phone.

~0~

That same night, Anais was brought back to the DEO and had a round of lectures going from her parents to Hank...and even to Alex.

"You could have outed Supergirl to people!" the older Danvers sister was the last one to have her turn.

"But I didn't," Anais tried to point out her good things as much as she could. "That Winn guy already knew Supergirl. Plus, it's not like I went announcing who she moonlights as. I do know things."

"Well you showed poor judgement today, Anais," Mr. Allen still retained that punishment voice of his Anais knew all too well.

"No, I didn't,' Anais sighed deeply. "I am so tired of being treated like that five year old Hank found. I'm not her anymore. I'm a grown woman and it's high time you started treating me like one."

This outburst, despite calm and collected, might as well have been her screaming because her parents were offended.

"Anais," Mrs. Allen began, her voice calm but full of warning for Anais to keep it down, "You know we want you to be safe. And we just want you to be a responsible adult—"

"Then cut the leash!" Anais exclaimed, startling everyone in the room, when she stormed out of the room.

Only Alex seemed to be truly taking in what Anais was saying. It was familiar to Alex since she and Kara had a similar conversation when Kara decided to become Supergirl.

"We should get to work on that antidote," Hank pushed the two scientists towards the tables behind them. "Maxwell Lord already confessed to the red kryptonite situation. He'll be more than glad to work from his cell." He then motioned to the tablet that would produce the video chat between Maxwell and the scientists. There was no way in hell he would he getting out until they reversed what he'd done to Supergirl.

~0~

After a failed night of clubbing, Kara got to meet Cat on their usual balcony spot, as Supergirl.

Wasting my time, Kara kept thinking just as Cat emerged from her office. "What do you want?"

Cat sensed the frosty attitude already but she preferred to think it was nothing for the moment. "Well, I would like to know if Ashton Kutcher and his camera crew are hiding underneath your cape. Supergirl would never release an evil alien caught in the act of armed robbery. So, I assume I'm being Punk'd." Despite replaying Siobhan's images of Supergirl doing just that, she couldn't believe it. There had to be a proper reason for it.

"I wouldn't assume anything from now on, Cat," Supergirl casually waved the media Queen off.

"Did you just call me Cat?"

Supergirl got up from her chair and went to lean on the balcony. "You branded me in the media as a Girl Scout. 'Supergirl is brave, kind and strong.'" Mmm-hmm? Isn't that kind of a stock characterization? Very two-dimensional. Everyone knows real people have a dark side."

Even Supergirl's steps were off, Cat noticed. Usually the Kryptonian would tread lightly, determined to figure out what was wrong. The Supergirl right now, though, walked with a condescending air. A superior one. "Yes, but you don't get to be a real person. You're a superhero. You get to represent all the goodness in the world."

"Yeah, well, I'm sick of it. And you know what else I'm sick of? Enabling all of you in your victimhood. 'Oh, well, my building's burning down," Supergirl mocked the humans she now thought worthless and idiotic, "La-di-dah. Supergirl will just swoop in and save the day.' Well, get used to the flames, people, 'cause I quit."

And yet, none of this made sense to Cat. "Supergirl... I fear that you're having some sort of mental breakdown. Don't worry, it happens to the best of us, and I'm happy to take you to Dr. Shuman for emergency Lexapro, that is, if your alien brain will respond to the SSRls. But in the meantime, I would lay low. This haughty attitude is highly unsuitable."

Supergirl scoffed. "Well, I learned it from the best. Cat Grant. You're the most arrogant, self-serving, mean-spirited person I know."

Cat nearly lost it but she kept herself cool when she made her own response. "Now, you listen to me. I made you. And you are not going to let me down."

Supergirl almost laughed. "Or what? Wait, I forgot. You're the most powerful person in National City. At least that's what they say on TV. You want to see what powerful really looks like?" she struck a strong hand forwards, grabbing Cat's arm. "Watch." She threw Cat over the balcony and peered below to watch the woman scream in terror during her fall. Then, just a mere inch from the pavement did Supergirl catch Cat. By this point, there were several people on the spot watching. With hair all over her face, Cat watched as Supergirl towered over her. "True power, Cat, is deciding who will live and who will die. And don't ever call me again." She sprang into the air and left her spectacle.

~0~

The next day, Alex walked into the favorite coffee shop that Kara usually visited in the mornings. She spotted the blonde alien she was searching for, ironically not her sister yet, sitting at the counter. It appeared Anais had only ordered a small espresso.

"How'd you even find me?" Anais spoke quietly in her seat. Her finger traced the espresso cup despite its heat. Knowing Alex was looking at this action, she added, "I'm impervious to heat. Part of being a Solista."

"Right," Alex made a mental note to do some research on what a 'Solista' was. There had to be a record of it in the DEO.

"So how'd you find me?"

"Your monitoring gave us a specific vitals to search for, specifically heat levels."

"Ah," Anais picked up her espresso and took a big drink from it, proving once again her impervious to heat ability.

"Listen, you and I, we don't know each other that well to have a heart to heart conversation but I know you have professionalism and initiative."

"Well that's great, any way you can pass the message to the others?"

Alex let the sarcasm slide on account of the situation. "I get you want freedom—"

"Do you really?" Anais challenged, lowering her cup. She knew that Alex meant no harm. She was probably trying to find some help for her sister. Nothing to be ashamed of. It was simply tiring to be stuck in the same spot. Anais was done with it. "They found me when I was 5 years old. My mother was an alien and my father a human who became afraid of her when he learned what she was. He left us. Humans murdered my mother out of fear and when the DEO found me, they thought that I could turn out to be a threat. But my adoptive parents, they didn't see me that way and fought and negotiated to take me in. They adopted me under special circumstances and conditions. Those conditions came from the government and it said that I could not be left unsupervised. I'm a rare species as it is, and I'm half human, so...you can imagine the interest in me. Eighteen years I've lived in isolation with only my parents and godparents. These people are older, scientists, and human. I love them but I want to go out and do something. Have a life."

Alex lowered her gaze after listening. It was easy to forget that not every alien would've had the same nice backstory like Kara and her cousin. Some of them could have very well ended up as lab rats. Anais, while being lucky to have found sympathizing human parents, didn't necessarily boast a social life. She was kept under wraps that not even Hank was able to undo. "I'm sorry," Alex truly felt for her. "I'm sorry that you have not had this opportunity. My sister sort of had a similar problem when growing up. We asked her not to use her powers, but…"

"She's now Supergirl. She got over it," Anais then added in a quiet voice, "Wish I could've met her and not the evil bitch living inside of her at the moment."

"Kara isn't right—"

"I know that," Anais showed no resentment towards Kara for the same reason. The woman wasn't in her five senses. "And that's why I wanted to help. I wanted to go see Kara for myself and assess. I felt her coldness, her... condescension. The real Kara is suffocating in there."

Alex felt tears come to her eyes as she thought about her sweet sister trapped in a woman of hell. "Can you help?"

"I'm not a scientist but I can help with the delivery of an antidote," Anais let her eyes glow a fiery orange, startling Alex for a second. "Supergirl's my hero. It would be an honor to help her."

Alex smiled with gratitude. Just as she opened her mouth, a television screen near them produced Cat Grant's face. "Citizens of National City, this is Cat Grant, live from Catco Plaza. As you all know, I have been Supergirl's most outspoken champion. So, you can imagine how difficult it is for me to tell you that I and Catco can no longer stand behind Supergirl."

Anais' mouth slowly fell open. "What is she…?"

"I made you trust her. I gave you my word that she was safe, a friend. I was wrong. Supergirl has changed. She is unstable and extremely dangerous. She threw me off of a building last night and threatened my life and…"

"She did what—"

Alex couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No one told us..."

"Who knows what else she is capable of? It's not easy being let down by our idols. Having someone who embodies our heroic ideals helps us believe that we can be heroes, too. Sometimes heroes fall. So, please, for your own safety, stay away from Supergirl."

"She just turned the city against Supergirl," Anais came to the realization not long after the transmission had ended.

"We have to head back to the DEO," Alex began to get up from the stool. "Something tells me Kara's not gonna take this lightly."

"You should go see her. I'll get back to the DEO. I promise," Anais dropped off the money for her drink and started out. She could not let the mantle of Supergirl drop like that, not when she had the means to stop it.

When she got to the DEO, she quickly passed all the warm welcome from her parents and got to business. "Look, Mom, Dad, she needs help stat. I could feel the coldness inside her and it is awful. She needs our help."

"We've got the antidote almost ready," her father promised. "Maxwell Lord might be a suspicious man but he does regret this red kryptonite situation."

"He should," Hank came into the room and shut the door. "He may have turned Supergirl into a monster now."

"One that the city might learn to fear quick," Anais knew that Cat's transmission was on a constant loop for those who hadn't caught up with the latest news.

"No need, it's coming along just fine," Mrs. Allen was in the middle of dropping in a red liquid into a beaker. "Might I suggest prison time for this Lord man?"

"We wish," Hank was bitter just thinking about their powerless situation. "Unfortunately, making red kryptonite isn't exactly a crime."

"But it was a murder weapon," Mr. Allen frowned.

"Didn't exactly kill anyone."

"Your law system isn't very good," Anais meant that in general for the humans.

"Well we do try, Miss Allen," a dark-skinned woman walked into the room with several guards. Anais instinctively took a step back towards her parents. She could practically smell the official government scent off the woman. "I'm Senator Crane," the woman introduced herself. "And as of now, you Miss Allen, are the being who will take Supergirl down."

Anais' eyes widened with alarm. She quickly glanced at her parents for some help, even Hank. Mr. Allen put his hands over her shoulders and looked directly at Senator Crane. "Our daughter is part of an exclusive contract that does not permit her to use her powers in front of civilians."

"And as of right now, that contract has been voided," Senator Crane responded with that authorization that only a person in true power could use. She motioned one of the guards to hand over a pile of papers to Mr. Allen, which turned out to be a contract. "As of now, your custody of Subject 1740, Anais Mjorkland, has been terminated. She is now DEO property—" Anais' mouth fell open in overwhelming offence, "—to which—" the Senator threw a glance at Hank, "-I order to use this new asset to take Supergirl down."

"Excuse you—" Anais was about to go on a full rage rampage but she felt her father squeeze her shoulders, urging her to keep calm.

"Senator," Mrs. Allen began, her motherly concern etched across her face, "My daughter is not an 'asset' and she most definitely is not property you can just hand around—"

"I am sorry," the Senator repeated her apology, not that any of the family believed her. "I understand the terminology is difficult—"

"Offensive," Anais snapped. "It's offensive."

"—but the condition to keep the child was to give conditional custody to the U.S government. The custody is now the DEO's and Mr. Henkshaw knows how to utilize his materials. We thank you for all the years you put into her but you are now relieved of any responsibility of her."

"Are you kidding me!?" Anais exclaimed, her head repeatedly looking from her parents to the Senator. "I'm 23! You can't—you can't do this! I want to help Supergirl, not kill her. I could never hurt her."

"As of now, you follow the orders the DEO gives you," the Senator flexed a finger for Anais to come to her and Hank.

Anais shook her head, unable to take a step away from her parents.

"Senator…" Mr. Allen pleaded with the woman, but the deal was done.

Anais belonged to the DEO.

"You need to get ready, Miss Allen. We are sending you out."

"Dad…" Anais' eyes filled with tears. Suddenly her fight with her parents seemed petty and now all she wanted to do was take refuge with them. "Mom?"

Mr. Allen brought a hand to his forehead after reading the contract. "This is...it's legal...I don't…"

"I order you to assemble the troops for backup," the Senator warned Hank before taking her leave with her guards.

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Anais repeated, not that it mattered anymore. There wasn't much anyone could do at the moment and she knew it.

"Sweetheart, no one is going to let you become property, alright?" Mrs. Allen cupped her face. "We're going to fix it, I swear. You're not a subject to us, you're our daughter."

Hank cleared his throat to get their attention. "Anais, for now, it's best to just follow the contract. Afterwards we can personally go over it and change it again. But we really do need to bring Supergirl the antidote."

"We trust you, Hank," Mr. Allen warned him. "You saved her the first time...don't let anything happen to her."

"Of course," Hank's gesture for Anais to follow him was hard enough seeing, let alone following it.

With a gulp, Anais took one last look at her parents then walked out of the room with Hank. For the girl who'd always wanted to go out, she was terrified now that she had the opportunity.

~ 0 ~

Hearing what the DEO was planning on doing was probably the second most horrible thing Alex had heard that night. Her visit to Kara's apartment had been unsuccessful on her part — evil Kara got to say everything off her chest.

"Take this," Alex gently handed over a simple mask to Anais as the troops readily got into the vans that would soon go on the hunt for Supergirl.

Anais stared blankly at the mask in Alex's hands. Alex thought this entire thing was difficult enough, she really didn't want to deal with a refusing alien. "Look, please just take the mask. Hank said you need to protect your—"

"I know what it means," Anais quietly said and crossed her arms. "I don't need it."

With a sigh, Alex held the mask closer to Anais. "I don't like this any more than you do, believe me, but they're orders."

"No, I meant, I really don't need it," Anais raised her head and let Alex in on her secret. Anais' face glowed golden as something formed over her eyes - a mask.

Alex watched in awe as the golden light formed a mask that went around Anais' eyes with small flame-figures streaking midway down her cheeks. "How'd you do that?" asked Alex who now lowered the mask in her hand.

"It's just creating shapes with my powers, honestly. My mother said it was basic enough so that all Solista toddlers knew how to do it, even a half-Solista."

"Oh…" Alex knew this was just as troublesome for Anais. Honestly, she felt ready to die.

"Ladies," Hank called to them from the other end of the room, "Are we ready?"

"Don't really have a choice, do we?" Anais glanced at Alex, neither of them ready for the plan. The antidote was ready, but the way they would deliver it and the circumstances of it were not very pleasing.

~ 0 ~

Supergirl had made herself known for the wrong reasons all on her own. Cat's informative transmission remained on a constant loop and so that was the first thing she took down. Strong, white lasers shattered the street screen hanging from a freeway bridge. She laughed maniacally as the humans screamed in terror.

"Idiots," she flew to the next closest transmission and proceeded to punch it with a sole fist. She watched with satisfaction as it too shattered and crumbled to the ground.

And then she began to think why just go for the transmissions? All those pathetic humans waiting for her to rescue them like she had no other things to do. Well, now they would have to save themselves. She started causing havoc around the streets, making cars crash into each other and cracking cemented roads.

It was all just too much fun.

In all that fun, she missed the speedster coming in from behind who rammed into her. Supergirl's scream as she tumbled across the street almost matched that of the humans'.

Anais skidded to a stop, wide, blinking eyes taking in the destruction Supergirl was causing. "Oh my God…"

Supergirl raised her head, her blonde hair flipping over her shoulders. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Hopefully, the girl who saves Supergirl," Anais answered with nothing but honesty.

"I'm not the one who needs saving," Supergirl got back on her feet and dusted off her new black one-suit.

Her eyes flickered to the side. Anais followed it and saw a couple of humans still inside their car, trying to get away from them. "Supergirl…" she barely got the words out when Supergirl picked up a sewer lid and threw it like a boomerang at the car. "No!" Anais sped towards the car while Supergirl laughed once again.

Anais reached the sewer lid first and grabbed it like nothing, redirecting it somewhere else. She glared at Supergirl for that awful trick. "We have the antidote, see?" She pulled out a small metalic gun with the red liquid showing off in the back. "Just let us cure you."

"I don't need cures. I need people to understand that their Girl Scout superhero is gone," Supergirl gestured to the mess around them. "Though if you want to take the mantle...then it's me vs you."

"No, that's really okay—"

Supergirl fired her heat vision at Anais, something the alien speedster hadn't really processed in time. This time it was Anais whose screams echoed down the street. She scrunched her face and decided to fire back with the same power, only a bigger one. Her heat vision met Supergirl's, and the two's powers reverberated in a deadly manner.

And then suddenly, Supergirl swerved to the side and forced Anais to fall forwards from the lack of an opponent's response. Supergirl flew towards Anais and delivered a punch right on her stomach. Anais felt that to the core, literally, as she landed against an already crashed car.

At the same time, a D.E.O. car arrived and Alex jumped out from the back with another weapon similar to Anais', only much bigger. Supergirl glanced over her shoulder. "Outnumbering will not help you." She turned around just as Alex took aim. "Classic Alex. Always in time to ruin the fun."

"Supergirl!" Hank arrived on the spot as well. "Stand down!"

Supergirl's smirk said the opposite. "Supergirl, yes." She threw her heat vision at Alex which then made Alex drop the weapon to the side. She charged directly for Alex, and twisted Alex's arm before slamming the human against the D.E.O. van. Hank couldn't let anything happen to either woman. The man changed into a green creature - an alien - and crashed with Supergirl onto the ground.

Anais had shaken off the stars from her attack and sped back to the scene. Her mouth fell open at the sight but she could see that this was not enough to stop Supergirl either. Just as Supergirl fought against the green alien - later to be known as a Martian - Anais summoned up as much power she could.

"Back for round two—"

Anais punched Supergirl across the face and then rose in the air for a final trick. A golden light encircled her body and released blasts of golden energy directly at Supergirl, proving to be quite a menace as Supergirl was knocked onto the roadside. Her skin shined with the same energy of Anais' as the former screamed, hands nearly carving into her face to get the energy off her. Still in the air, Anais fired the antidote from her small gun and hoped to God it would be over. Supergirl's skin then showed streaks of red but ultimately wore off as a black cloud steamed from her body. After such an attack, the Kryptonian collapsed on the ground.

Anais lowered herself to the ground with a growing smile. Supergirl would be alright now.

"Go, please" she heard Alex. She turned her head and remembered Hank's reveal. Bringing her hand to her mouth, Anais watched as multiple DEO troops surrounded Hank and despite having the ability to escape...he changed back into his human form and put his hands behind his head, lowering himself to the ground.

He was arrested on the spot.

~ 0 ~

When Kara woke up, she felt her forehead connected to some machine. Her eyes flickered to the side and immediately saw Alex standing beside her. "Did I kill anyone?" Kara's voice was quiet and weak.

"No, you didn't kill anyone," Alex could see the emotion just about to pour from her sister's eyes.

Kara then noticed the cast around Alex's arm and remembered what she'd done. "Your arm..." she choked on her own tears.

"Broken bones heal and this will too," Alex promised her.

Kara sniffled until she couldn't hold it any longer. She burst into sobs. "It was so horrible, Alex. It was so bad. It was so horrible. Every bad thought I've ever had, it just came to the surface. I couldn't stop it. I didn't mean it...I didn't mean what I said to you! I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what I said!"

Alex set a comforting (healed) hand on Kara's arm. "Kara, you're my sister and I love you. No matter what. There's some truth to what you said. We're going to have to work on that."

Kara could only nod. More memories began to surface into her mind. "What about J'onn?"

There, Alex could not answer very well.

~ 0 ~

Anais watched her parents go back and forth with different calls attempting to open up negotiations with anyone in power to redo the contract of her custody. Now that Hank Henshaw was revealed to be another alien - one presumed to have killed the real Hank Henshaw - the contract was even harder to change. The only thing Anais could do to pass the time was to visit the quaint coffee shop she had the previous day. Her parents refused to leave the city until the custody battle was done and won so they would be staying in the hotel to see it through. She herself had no legal say, ironically, in her own battle.

"Thank you," Anais accepted an espresso from the counter girl and gazed up at the screen above her to see her own figure in the screen. A small smile came to her face as CatCo. passed the few shots of her they'd gotten from people last night, fighting Supergirl. No one knew where the mysterious new fighter came from, but unlike Hank, she was being rejoiced as a new hero.

Poor Supergirl, Anais inwardly sighed. This was never how she pictured her first meeting with her favorite superhero. Fate was a tricky thing. But perhaps it was only getting started.

Someone cleared their throat behind Anais' stool and when Anais glanced back she saw a much different Kara Danvers standing there. Even her clothes had reverted to a preppy assistant type. It fit her, thought Anais.

"Hi, um…" Kara didn't know what to say and so awkwardly pushed her glasses up. "Uh...I wanted to thank you, um...for helping my sister and...me...last night. Um...I bought a gift." Anais watched her quickly lay a manila folder on the counter. "It's for you and your family."

Anais reached for the folder and opened it up. She found a couple papers inside and skimmed it (speed reading was a big no in public). With widened eyes she glanced back at Kara who awaited with a sheepish smile. "This is a new contract," Anais lowered the contract to the folder. "The one my parents are fighting for right now."

"I know," Kara managed a small smile through her utter sorry and embarrassment. "I talked to Alex about you and she told me what happened with you and your parents. It was my fault—"

"No, none of it was—" Anais tried to intervene but Kara kept going, determined to finish.

"I said and did awful things and it hurt a lot of people. I want to make amends and fix what I can. You are not property. You are not an experiment. That contract gives you your freedom to decide on whatever you want. The only clause is that you must work with the DEO. as I am, and follow up with them and the government with your training sessions."

"Tr-training session?" Anais repeated. It was the only thing her mouth could form because everything else was still being processed with all its implications.

"Um...given your abilities, I thought I could use a hand...a partner...out in the field," Kara admitted then added, "Especially since the city hates me right now." It was how she got the contract pushed through. Supergirl was in dire need of some help to regain her reputation and since Anais had already done such a good job before, she would be the perfect partner.

"I would...I would love to," Anais began to smile at the prospect of working with Supergirl. "This is like a dream…"

The two women shared a small laughter in their seats.

"You know, yesterday...and the day before...you didn't meet the real me," Kara began again, this time quiet and guilt-riddened. "I would really like to start new again, if you would give me the opportunity."

"Of course," Anais didn't have any doubts who the real Kara Danvers was. Bubbles. She inwardly laughed at Winn's comparison.

Then, out of nowhere, Kara held a hand out. "I'm Kara Danvers, nice to meet you."

With another smile, Anais shook Kara's hand. "Anais Allen."

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #supergirl #winn schott #fd: supergirl #supergirl fics #winn schott fics #supergirl imagines #winn schoot imagines #oc: anais allen-mjorkland #oc: solar

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myluciferiscody · 5 years

Text

Grow As We Go

pairing: Xavier Plympton x Reader

word count: 3,538

warnings: au! in present time, mentions of drug use, overdose, angst, fluffy at times, no camp rw

disclaimer: i am in no way shape or form using the topic of addiction lightly or willingly romanticizing it. the use of heroin is a major problem in my state and my family has personally been affected by it. i lost family to this horrible epidemic and this has been a coping mechanism for me as i was too young to understand the gravity of the situation my family was under at the time it happened seven years ago. i also am not tagging due to possible triggers.

*not entirely proof-read* *inspired by Ben Platt’s song*

You sat on the couch in your shared apartment, waiting for your boyfriend, Xavier, to come home.

It was a Friday night, and like most Friday's, you were supposed to watch movies with him and eat a ridiculous amount of takeout. You had rushed home from work, taking a shower and making sure you shaved your legs for specific events you knew would be happening later that night.

A box of pizza sat on the coffee table, now growing cold. Everything was set up, the television on Netflix, multiple blankets piled up next to you, and you wearing your soft pajamas and fuzzy socks. Xavier was supposed to be home from work nearly two hours ago. He had finally landed a small role on a beloved show, and his excitement about it was the cutest thing you'd ever seen. An eight-hour shoot soon turned into ten.

At least that's what you hoped.

You had sent him a ridiculous amount of texts and voicemails, your voice growing more and more concerned with each one. You went as far as to text your mutual friends, Montana, Brooke, Ray, and Chet, to see if they had heard from them. Nobody had heard anything, but the girls assured you they'd try and contact him in some way.

This wasn't like him, not showing up and ignoring your messages, you thought as you turned off the random episode of your favorite show you started playing. The characters made you feel less lonely. You stood up, slowly pacing the room as you debated on what to do.

Is it too early to file a missing person's report?

"Don't be stupid, y/n," you grumbled to yourself. "Xavier said he can't have his phone while filming."

Another hour had passed by. You had put the untouched pizza in the refrigerator, before going into your bedroom and taking one of Xavier's jackets. You slipped it on, inhaling his scent and feeling more at ease.

Your thoughts only became darker as the time ticked by. You lived in Los Angeles, anything could have happened if he wasn't at work. You had no idea how to call a studio and ask for an actor; for all they knew, you could be a creepy stalker. Your hands were shaking as you stuffed them into the pockets.

One thing that always lingered in the back of your mind was Xavier's past.

When you met him, it was just out of high school. Montana was your best friend for years, and she introduced the two of you just weeks after graduation. They had a little fling, nothing too serious. He was older than you by a year, and you instantly took a liking to him.

The first few times you had hung out, you never thought you'd one day become Xavier's girlfriend. First, it would be against girl code. Second, even though he was with Montana for a short period, he had the mindset of being unable to be tied down.

However, it didn't take long for you to uncover the truth.

Xavier Plympton was a softie hiding behind a facade. He always claimed he didn't need a girlfriend, and all he needed and could rely on was nobody other than himself. His arrogant demeanor attracted girls for the wrong reasons. If they wanted a true rebellious bad boy, they wouldn't find it with Xavier.

Just months after Montana moved on with a guy named Trevor, Xavier had shown up at your doorstep. One of the few times it actually rained in Los Angeles, his car had broken down, and you were the closest apartment to him. His blond hair was matted to his forehead as he smiled at you sheepishly.

"Xavier?" You frowned, pulling your blanket from your shoulders to pull him into your apartment. "Why are you soaking wet?"

"My fucking car broke down, and I got cold," he pouted as you locked the door. "I called for help, and the storm has them backed up, it's like a hurricane out there."

"You need to get out of those clothes, Xavier," you said as you led him to your small bathroom. "How long did they say?"

"I don't know, just a few hours?" Xavier shrugged.

"Why didn't you call me? I would have picked you up."

"Yeah..." Xavier grimaced, pulling his cracked iPhone out of his pocket. "I had another little accident."

You huffed a laugh, grabbing a clean towel and setting it on the counter. "What did you do?"

"I tripped and fell, it landed in a puddle, and now it won't turn on, this piece of shit," Xavier mumbled.

"Take a shower, I'll wash your clothes. When you're done, you still have clothes here from the last time you invaded my home." You joked, averting your eyes as Xavier slipped off his drenched shirt.

"I was drunk, and friends don't let friends drive drunk, y/n," he smirked at you. He had already started unbuttoning his expensive jeans when you slammed the door in his face.

When he was done, he came out and lounged with you on the couch. The same one that was now in your new apartment. You forced him to watch Heathers and yelled at him whenever he put his cold feet against your warm body.

Xavier used your phone to call about his car, and they said he'd have to come to look at it in the morning. He smiled at you as you rolled your eyes, granting him permission to sleepover, and you'd drop him off. This is what started your movie marathon traditions. And it's when Xavier kissed you for the first time.

Ever since then, it was like a poorly written romance novel.

You started dating after Montana assured you she wouldn't hate your guts. At the time, Xavier was taking acting classes, making money on the side doing mediocre jobs. You were just months short of getting your degree, and your current job as your primary source of income when you eventually moved in together.

Xavier slowly booked more and more roles over the years. He refused all commercial gigs until his agent eventually stopped offering them. Xavier was proud of his work and spent many nights holding you and telling you when he wins his first Oscar, you better be in the audience so he can show the world what keeps him grounded in life outside of the screen.

Xavier was arrogant about his fame to outsiders. In his inner circle, however, he knew that one day he would blow up. You believed in him, you loved and adored him, and all his accomplishments so far.

Those were the good times.

One thing that Xavier was never open about to anyone besides you was his history with drugs.

Montana had known he was a user when they met. The story was that his parents sent him to rehab after finding needles and a bag of heroin in his room.

But that's all it was, a story.

You remember the night perfectly. You were forced to work over as someone bailed on their shift, and like tonight, you texted Xavier and told him you'd be late, just to get no answer.

When you arrived, the living room was empty, and the house was dark. You called his name after setting your things down, seeing the light coming from the bathroom door. You walked to it, knocking gently.

"Xavier?"

You could hear the shower running and what sounded like quiet sniffles. You frowned, going to touch the handle when you heard his voice. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay, babe?" You questioned. Xavier remained silent for a few seconds, and you could hear the sound of skin against the tub as if he were sitting down.

"I'm fine, I'll be out in a minute." He called, his voice thick.

You decided to leave him be, going into your bedroom and stripping from your uniform. Xavier never liked to cry in front of you. He was self-conscious about it, he wanted you to know he could be strong for you. As much as you told him you hated it, you had only seen him cry a handful of times.

You laid on the bed in your bra and panties, pulling a blanket over you as the bathroom door creaked open. Xavier shuffled into your room, wearing sweatpants and his blond hair pushed away from his face. You could already tell his eyes were red as he put his dirty clothes in the hamper.

"The shower's free," he said, his voice monotone. Xavier refused to look at you. He crossed the room, sitting on the bed before plopping on his back, his head nudged your leg.

"What's wrong, Xavier?" You asked gently. You could smell his body wash, and you slowly pushed yourself down, so your heads were level. He kept his eyes closed.

"I'm fine, y/n,"

You tsked at him. "Your eyes were red."

"So? I got soap in them."

You rolled your eyes, "Don't lie to me, Xavier Plympton!"

"I really don't want to talk about it, babe." He groaned. You continued to stare at him until he opened one eye, snapping it shut when he realized he got caught.

"I had a long day," you whispered. "Please, tell me what's bothering you, Xavier. It's going to kill me inside."

Xavier stared up at the ceiling after he finally cracked. He told you what really happened when he was younger.

When he was 18, one of his closest friends at the time, Andrew, started to become heavily involved in drugs. Xavier initially tried to get him to stop, but one day he was stupidly persuaded to try some. You played with his hair as he quietly explained how it got out of control. Whenever Xavier was angry or upset, he would use.

And then, his friend died.

By the time his parents found him, it was too late. His anniversary had passed a few days before, and suddenly Xavier's sour mood the past few days made sense. You held him tightly as he went on to say that shortly after his friend's funeral, he left his home in the middle of the night and wandered to a park where he injected himself and passed out after stumbling around and hitting his head.

He woke up the next day to a man named Blake, who threatened to expose Xavier's drug use if he didn't repay him for saving Xavier in the park. Your heart pounded in your chest as Xavier admitted that he had made porn, specifically with other males after being extorted by Blake.

You didn't know what to say at this admission. Your heartbreak was not because your current boyfriend, who you've had sex with many times, slept with other men. That was Xavier's worst fear, you abandoning him or leaving after he kept it from you. Your heart was breaking because of what this disgusting man did to the love of your life.

"You don't hate me?" Xavier tearfully asked after you comforted him.

"I don't hate you." You confirmed.

Xavier finished by saying he got away once Blake was arrested for his actions. Xavier and countless other men, some underage, were freed from the monster, but some never fully recovered for the mental abuse they suffered.

"After that, I told my parents that I didn't want to end up like Andrew. I didn't want to die, I wanted to get better. That's when I went and got help, and I've been clean ever since, y/n,"

That was a year ago.

Which is why when you got the call from Montana, your heart shattered.

"They found him slumped over, y/n," Montana said tearfully into the phone as you ran to your car, tears threatening your vision as you climbed inside, gasping for breath. "They were able to revive him, but his parents are out of town, and they won't let me inside!"

"I'll be there soon!" You cried into the phone as you drove as fast as you could to the hospital Montana said they were at. She stayed on the line with you the entire time, but you were both dead silent.

You were out of breath when you finally met her, hugging her tightly as Trevor and Chet stood up at the sight of you.

"We tried contacting his parents again, but they're not fucking answering," Chet explained as he and Montana followed you to the receptionist currently talking on the phone. "None of us are his emergency contact, his mom called me and begged us to come here. They might be on a plane ride back."

"I don't know if I am," you breathed as you impatiently waited for the lady to hang up. "M-Maybe I'll tell them we're engaged, or married?" You whispered.

"Married, most definitely," Montana mumbled.

Chet answered his phone when it started ringing, before stating he was going to meet Ray downstairs and bring him up. You watched him go, feeling more tears well up as the lady finally hung up, typing away on her computer.

"Excuse me!" You gasped, hitting the desk as you all but ran to it. She jumped back, looking at your disheveled state before her eyes settled on Montana.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I've already told you-"

"I'm his wife!" You choked up, causing the woman to look at you. "I-I should be one of his contacts."

The woman slowly looked at your hands, seeing the promise ring Xavier had given you on your first anniversary. She sighed before looking up his files.

"Name?" She asked.

You repeated your name, almost crying in relief when she stood up, "Come on, Mrs. Plympton," she said. Montana watched as you walked off, unable to keep the slight smirk off her face.

When you approached his room, a doctor was just coming out. He stopped at the sight of you two, quirking an eyebrow at the lady as she quietly explained who you were.

"How is he?" You blurted out, not meaning to interrupt the nurse as she spoke.

"He's awake, his vitals are back to normal, but he is a little out of it, I'm afraid." He said before his eyes slowly trailed you up and down. "Mrs. Plympton, are you aware your husband is a user?"

Your mouth was dry as you answered, "Xavier had been sober for almost four years, I-I had no idea he was using again..."

The doctor slowly nodded, but you could still feel his judgemental stare as you shifted uncomfortably. "If I were you, I'd consider the possibility he may need to enter rehabilitation. The use of heroin has become quite an epidemic, if he has been sober for as long as you said, a relapse would seem rather unlikely-"

"Doctor Stephens, with all do respect, I do not believe this is the appropriate time or place," the nurse said, glaring at him as she gently squeezed your arm. "Her husband almost died. Let her see him before we discuss any further steps."

You looked at her gratefully, before noticing her last name was also Stephens. You hid your smile as you realized they were probably married.

"Very well, in you go," he said, before nudging you inside. As the door clicked shut behind you, you heard him mumble, "Sharon, in the workplace we are not-"

You slowly approached Xavier's bed as he tiredly glared at the television, playing old reruns of Friends. He whipped his head around at the sound of your footsteps, and a mixture of relief and remorse crossed his face. "y/n?"

You let the tears spill over as you slowly approached him. His blue eyes shining at you from the reflection of the television. He was hooked up to machines, yet he moved over for you to climb into bed with him. He let you sob into his hair, his own lips trembling as he silently cried.

When you both seemed to settle down, that's when you began to talk.

"What happened, Xavier?" You sniffed. "What caused you to relapse?"

Xavier remained silent, bringing a hand to wipe at his face. The only sounds you could hear were the beeping of his heart monitor.

"When Blake went to trial," he began, "The courts ordered all of our... Tapes to be destroyed," he sighed. "They were, except for one,"

Your stomach dropped as his brows furrowed, another sob bubbling in his chest, but he pushed it down. "It was the second video Blake forced me to make. It was of another kid who was younger than me and me. It was his first time ever having sex. Someone found it, or it had been stolen before the trial, I don't know. It was uploaded to the internet last night, and..." he squeezed his eyes shut as the need to cry suddenly became too much. "I didn't know about it until the FBI called me and informed me today. They took it down, but-"

"Oh my God," you breathed out.

"They don't know how many copies exist, they're doing everything they can to track down the person who uploaded it, but my life is so FUCKED up!" He yelled, more tears spilling over as he buried his head in your chest.

"H-Has anybody?..."

"I don't know, nobody has reported on it, my fucking Instagram hasn't blown up or anything, but my fucking life was supposed to start over, that was all supposed to be behind me." He said. "Some times, I can almost forget that it even happened. My life has changed so much in the past four years. I never had the urge to use again until tonight."

His voice was so broken and small that you almost didn't recognize it. You stroked his hair, hoping it still had the same calming effect on him like the many times before.

"You've come so far, Xavier," you whispered to him. "Everything you've been through, everything you've become is so inspiring." You started to comfort him, but he shook his head in disappointment.

"I'm too much of a fuck-up, y/n," he mumbled. "You don't deserve any of this. I don't deserve you."

"Don't you dare fucking say that!" You gasped.

"It's true, y/n," Xavier said. "Whatever happens because of this, I don't want to be the one responsible for ruining your life. It's going to get out what happened to me tonight, what that guy did, and what I did to myself. You deserve nothing but happiness and a great life."

"Please stop," you whimpered.

"If you want to leave me, I won't stop you. I-I love you too much to hurt you, y/n."

You squeezed him tighter, whispering assurances in his ear that you weren't going to leave him. You loved Xavier with all your heart. "I'm not throwing away two years of us being together over this."

Xavier cupped your wet cheek in his hand, bringing his lips to your forehead as you crumbled beneath his touch.

"W-We can get through this," you said. "Xavier, if people heard the story of what actually happened to you, your real fans will love and support you no matter what. What Blake did was a horrible thing, and now he is spending the rest of his life in prison."

Xavier nodded, but you could still see the hurt in his eyes. "They'll find out I was a heroin addict. Society doesn't care about people like me."

As much as you wanted to convince him he was wrong, you knew in a way that not everybody would be supportive of someone with an addiction, society could be unbearably cruel.

There was a knock at the door, and you both straightened up as two uniformed agents slowly stepped into the room. You immediately found yourself recoiling at the sight of them, more worry coursing through you as Xavier looked at them nervously.

They introduced themselves as partners with the FBI. Due to the ongoing investigation, no details of what happened tonight will be made public. Xavier wished for much secrecy as possible, not wanting any of this to get out.

"We are currently monitoring all adult websites and making sure no articles about this are being made public. The woman who found you is being cooperative and will not spread the word of what has happened, Mr. Plympton."

They stayed for about twenty minutes, explaining that Xavier was under their protection for the time being. When it’s time for him to discharge from the hospital, it will be at an undisclosed time and location, and they also informed you to not be alarmed if any agents show up at your doorstep.

After they left, Xavier was exhausted. You had since moved to the chair, continuing running your fingers through his hair as his eyes drooped.

"y/n?" He whispered.

"What is it, babe?" You asked.

"I'm happy you decided to stay."

You cracked a smile, "Did you really think I wouldn't have?"

Xavier didn't say anything but held a mischievous twinkle in his eye as you pressed a kiss to his forehead. You whispered to him as he slowly dozed off, promising him of a better tomorrow.

And most importantly, of your future with him by your side.

#xavier plympton x reader #cody fern #ahs 1984 #xavier plympton #michael langdon x reader #duncan shepherd x reader #jim mason x reader

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koi-dog-bot · 6 years

Text

MEET THE MUSE

(Repost please, don’t reblog!)

TAGGED BY: (nicked this, no one tagged) TAGGING: Anyone who cant get enough of these

◉ NAME: Juke, or various other nicknames I collect, there’s a lot ◉ ARE YOU SINGLE?: Kindof? Mostly? I don’t know anymore to be honest I haven’t kept track ◉ ARE YOU HAPPY?: For the most part, I have friends and a place to stay, not to mention I can do whatever the frag I want when I want. ◉ ARE YOU ANGRY?: Well sometimes, but that takes energy I don’t feel like usin' at the moment. ◉ ARE YOUR PARENTS STILL MARRIED?: Goin' by human terms, they were never married to begin with and they never did. I don’t even know where my contributor ended up, I only saw holostills of her... I mean its not like she was really my sire but she helped my host make me, I guess it counts...

...

I wonder where she is, or if shes even alive...

NINE FACTS:

◉ BIRTH PLACE: Tarn ◉ PLATING COLOR: Orange, white, and black. I used to be green instead of orange, though... ◉ OPTIC COLOR: lavender, almost pink ◉ BIRTHDAY: Urgh, I dont feel like doin' math, skip. ◉ MOOD: You ask me this as if I could pin down a specific one... *snort* Next. ◉ FRAME TYPE: Minicon of the non-compact variety ◉ SUMMER OR WINTER?: Hot weather is terrible but its better than my joints lockin' up from freezin' over. ◉ MORNING OR AFTERNOON: I’m an early riser, surprisin' I know

EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE:

◉ ARE YOU IN LOVE?: ...skip ◉ DO YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT?: Tch, no. That’s just silly. Lust at first sight though... that I can buy. ◉ WHO ENDED YOUR LAST RELATIONSHIP: Hoooo. hmm, okay that was... a long time ago, and it was a shot to the helm in a firefight. Only reason I knew about it is because his friend pinged me about it...

It... sucked. ◉ HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN SOMEONE’S SPARK?: Maybe? I’m not exactly prime datin' material ◉ ARE YOU AFRAID OF COMMITMENTS?: Hah... hahah... next. ◉ HAVE YOU HUGGED SOMEONE WITHIN THE LAST WEEK?: Totally, hugs are great. ◉ HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SECRET ADMIRER?: Uhhhh, who knows, I never heard from them if there was. ◉ HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN YOUR OWN SPARK?: Nope, not answerin', next.

SIX CHOICES:

◉ LOVE OR LUST: ....love. ◉ LEMONADE OR ICED TEA: I heard lemonade is sour, and I like sour things, so probably that. ◉ CATS OR DOGS: Look I’m dog shaped... but I actually have a soft spot for cats. Doesn’t stop me from teasin' feline mechs a bit, however... heh.

I wonder where my old cat ran off to... I like to think Patches is still out there chompin' bolts and nappin' in inconvenient places... ◉ A FEW BEST FRIENDS OR MANY REGULAR FRIENDS: I like a lot of friends ◉ WILD NIGHT OUT OR A ROMANTIC NIGHT IN: Depends on my mood, I love a good party but lately its been exhaustin' ◉ DAY OR NIGHT: Day, everythin’s lit, less spooks about ready to stab you

FOUR HAVE YOU EVERS:

◉ BEEN CAUGHT SNEAKING OUT: Oh, absolutely. I was a hellion ◉ FALLEN DOWN/UP THE STAIRS: ....Yes, to both. ◉ WANTED SOMETHING/SOMEONE SO BADLY IT HURT: .... Yeah. ◉ WANTED TO DISAPPEAR: I think at some point durin' the war everyone thought about it once, I’m not special for it...

FIVE PREFERENCES:

◉ SMILES OR OPTICS: guh... smiles. Optics are a thrill but the smiles... those are the hooks that get me quickest ◉ THICK OR SKINNY: I have an appreciation for both ◉ SHORTER OR TALLER: Both are appealin' in their own ways, short for practical reasons and tall for... not so practical reasons, heh. ◉ INTELLIGENCE OR ATTRACTION: I don’t get this question, isn't intelligence inherently attractive? or is this meanin' knowin' a person versus just goin' off looks? if that’s the case I’d rather know them. A serial killer can be hot but they're still a serial killer. ◉ HOOK-UP OR RELATIONSHIP: *huff* I hate bein' asked this... Obviously I prefer a relationship but... hook-ups are easier

FAMILY:

◉ DO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY GET ALONG?: Oh, we got along famously. ◉ WOULD YOU SAY YOU HAVE “MESSED UP” YOUR LIFE?: ... Lookin' back on my choices, yeah, I did. There’s no changin' it though, so I’m gonna make the best of it. ◉ HAVE YOU EVER RAN AWAY FROM HOME?: Once... I was upset and stormed off but quickly regretted it, called my host and had him pick me up because I had managed to get myself lost. ◉ HAVE YOU EVER BEEN KICKED OUT?: Out of home? No, never. Out of my siblings’ room? a couple times. As for everywhere else, of course I did. I was purposefully annoyin' a lot of the time.

FRIENDS:

◉ DO YOU SECRETLY HATE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS?: If I hate anyone they aren’t exactly my friends anymore, aren’t they? ◉ DO YOU CONSIDER ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS GOOD FRIENDS?: If we get along and like hangin' out then yeah ◉ WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND?: Aww, don’t make me choose. because I wont, you’ll never get an answer. Nyeh. ◉ WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU?: ... It doesn’t really matter, they’re dead anyways

#meme #headcanon

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geisternatur · 6 years

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4, 5, 13, 16, 18?

beware, this is going to be verrry long.

4. favourite dish specific for your country?

german food is very down to earth and fat and full of meat & sausages & feel-good-dishes. even though i don’t eat a lot of meat in my everyday life, once in a while i really enjoy eating it.

bratwurst, rostbrätel ( it’s a steak grilled over charcoal ), thuringian raspeballs ( potato dumplings ), mett ( minced meat from pork seasoned with pepper, salt, garlic and other herbs )

i also really like spaetzle ( swabian noodles ), stollen ( a bread with nuts, dried fruit, spices and powdered with sugar - from saxony ), pyramid cake ( saxony-anhalt ), sausages like wiener ( actually frankfurter ), bockwurst ( bigger version of wiener ), fleischwurst ( they call it bologna in english? ).

since i live in hessia i feel like i should also mention some specialties from here, but to be honest, there’s not much i’d recommend. in general the food is equal to thuringian food, but the few specials you can get here are not really my type ( handkäs mit musik, everyone? a cheese made from sour milk, topped with a vinaigrette ), grüne soße ( a sauce made from various herbs - actually delicious, but i don’t eat it often ) & ahle worscht ( old sausage - more like an air-dried salami ). in the region i live in it’s mandatory so drink riesling ( and to be honest, this is something i love the most here :P it’s a very tingly & light wine. i especially love the sweet versions ).

okay, i knoooowwww. it’s too much food. i don’t have favourites. it depends on my mood. there’s no dish i could eat everyday, i need varietyyyyyyy.

5. favourite song in your native language?

oh. this is difficult? i really do like the GDR musicians quite a lot, especially since they made music that was on the border of legality. nina hagen comes to mind, silly, karat. i’d say that a lot of their songs are still favourites of mine.

nina hagen: auf’m friedhof, der wind hat mir ein lied erzählt ( it’s actually not an original song of hers, but her version is SO BEAUTIFUL! ), naturträne, unbeschreiblich weiblich, tv-glotzer ( also known as white punks on dope ), universelles radio ( i love nina, sorry, not sorry. )

silly: schlohweißer tag, über ihr taute das eis. actually, the whole ‘hurensöhne’ album ( i LOVE silly when it was still performing with tamara danz before she died. don’t know a lot of the recent silly music. )

karat: der blaue planet & über sieben brücken musst du gehen, am fenster.

for more recent musicians i can only recommend BALBINA! she’s wonderful. i love all her music. i especially loved ‘der trübsaal’. i can’t really choose a favourite, though. her music is basically me. okay, a few songs: nichtstun, kuckuck, langsam langsamer, das kaputtgehen.

( by now you realize that i can never settle on favourites at all. i’m a libra AND THIS IS A PROBLEM OF MINE! )

13. does your country (or family) have any specific superstitions or traditions that might seem strange to outsiders?

black cat sitting under a ladder bring bad luck ( can’t confirm at all, i love cats too much ), chimney sweeper for good luck ( idk man ), ladybugs sitting down on you is good luck as well ( confirmed, at least you are happy for the little while it sits down on you :P ). i don’t know even if those superstitions are only common in germany? i could imagine that it might be a world-wide thing as well. hmn. i think it’s very special for german people to not be too high on a horse. like they have this special complex that they tone themselves down ( maybe especially after what happened in wwII? idk ). it’s like a guilt complex. and to revel in luxury and happiness too much might bring bad luck as well. so. idk. & friday the 13th is a bad luck day as well ( can’t confirm at all, it’s a normal day for me EVERYTIME. nothing bad ever happened to me on this day ). oh AND, if you don’t eat up your meal bad weather will come upon you. ( again, i don’t think it’s true, lol. i’m not very superstitious, though. even though i always expect the worst & and am really glad if the worst didn’t happen. it always happens when i expect the best out of a situation that it becomes the worst.

16. which stereotype about your country you hate the most and which one you somewhat agree with?

i can’t say that there’s a german stereotype that i actually hate. because you know, most of them are true.

except that we only drink beer, eat sausages, are sauerkraut heads, blonde, tall & blue-eyed, wear knickerbockers & lederhosen & dirndls like all the time & are fat.

well, germans are nazis is another stereotype i hate. because every single country on this earth has nazi tendencies. it’s not particularly a german thing. i, for one, ain’t a nazi, i deeply despise them. it all comes down to how people were indoctrinated, manipulated & raised.

germans are responsible, organized, efficient.

germans are pessimists. SO TRUE. most of the time. there are exceptions, though.

germans are never late. ( not true for a lot of people. but we all collectively seem to dislike other people being late )

hmn... a stereotype about us that i like is that germany is the country of poets & thinkers. because this is true. germany produced a lot of great people who were way ahead of their time.

18. do you speak with a dialect of your native language?

yup. while i mainly speak high german, sometimes you can detect my thuringian heritage, i also learned to use hessian words, but i don’t use them excessively.

#taule

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athousandmilez-blog · 6 years

Text

Don’t Need to Rush → 013

Tagging: Miles Sterling & Nick Vaughn.

Timeframe: Saturday, November 25, 2017.

Location: Miles’ mother’s house.

General Notes: Miles is back at his mother’s house after being released from the hospital, and Nick comes to bring Scout back to him. Miles doesn’t remember much from Nick’s visit to the hospital on Thanksgiving.

Miles let his head snap to the door when he heard a familiar whine on the other side of it. That was his Scout. He couldn’t help the smile that stretched across his face as Nick knocked, and finally the door opened, and Miles had a happy golden retriever bouncing over to his bedside with her tail wagging so hard it moved her whole body. Miles immediately bent down to embrace her, running his hands through her hair as she wiggles excitedly in his grasp. The relief he felt was indescribable. He was just so glad to have her back, as he had rarely been away from her since he’d gotten her, and after this whirlwind of a week he didn’t want to be away from her ever again. “Thank you,” he said into Scout’s fur, though it was directed at Nick. “Thank you for getting her.” Nick was one of the few people in the world he would always trust to have her, along with Quinn and Murphy. He finally sat up straight again, patting the spot beside him on his bed to invite Scout to jump up, which she did. “Okay,” he answered truthfully with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “I’ve definitely been better. But I can move and stuff now, so that’s cool.” He scratched behind Scout’s ear absentmindedly. “Just have to take it easy and stuff. And they warned us about some possible changes. Dizzy spells, having a hard time remembering things. Shit like that. But that comes with the head injury.” He sent a pointed glance at the wall beside his bedside table and the floor beside it. There were no visible marks, but he knew his head had been hit in those places. “I don’t seem to be having a hard time remembering much, though.”

Nick smiled at the sight of Scout and Miles finally reuniting. After all that had happened, Nick wasn’t surprised that they were this happy to see each other. Anyone who knew Miles knew how much he loved Scout, and clearly that love was mutual. He’d never had that sort of bond with an animal before, but it was obviously special. The thought of Greg having Scout for any longer than he did was sickening now, but Nick was just glad that he got to her before anything bad happened. “It was no problem. She’s always good. Could tell she missed you, though.” He gently closed the door behind him and walked further into the room as Scout settled herself beside Miles. “Good — well, not good about the dizzy spells. But I’m glad you’re feeling better.” He followed Miles gaze without thinking about it, not thinking much of it. He glanced back at him, noting that he definitely looked better than he did the last time he saw him. “Good... uh. I was worried after the last time I saw you. You were pretty upset.” He broke off, not sure if he should bring up those memories to Miles and remind him of why he’d been upset. “But you look better. I’m glad you’re okay.” His voice was honest, and he swallowed to stop himself from rambling on too much. “How long before your... head injury is supposed to subside?”

Miles nodded. He knew Scout was a good dog, but he liked to take credit for at least part of it for training her over the years. He nudged her aside so he could move further up the bed, leaning back against the headboard. “You can sit. I mean, if you were planning on sticking around.” Miles gestured toward the end of his bed. “Plenty of room on my Pokémon comforter.” He grinned. When Nick mentioned seeing him last, the smile faded a bit. Miles wasn’t sure exactly when that was. He knew that Nick had come to see him and that he’d asked him to get Scout, but specifics were all a blur. He was told this would likely happen, but it was difficult to come to terms with. “Right. Yeah, I’m better. I’ll be fine.” He sighed, shaking his head slowly. “I don’t know. I have a follow up in two weeks, so hopefully everything just checks out by then and I won’t have to worry about it anymore.” Hopefully he wouldn’t have to worry about any of it anymore. But that was going to be a while. He was still petting Scout and he focused back on Nick. “Anyway, what about you? How was your Thanksgiving?”

Nick laughed at the mention of the Pokemon comforter, and slowly nodded his head. “I could stay for awhile, if that’s okay.” Truth was, he wanted to be there with him, but he also didn’t want to get in the way of him resting or something. Figuring Miles would tell him if he needed to though, Nick made his way forward and gently sat down on the foot of Miles’ bed. “That’s it? Wow. That’s good, right?” He turned his body a bit to face him, immensely relieved and happy that he was doing so well. If only Miles’ next question didn’t throw him off. “Um... well. After I saw you, you mean?” Miles knew he was there for the first half of the day. “I went to my Mom’s for a little while. She sends her love.” He smiled slightly. His adoptive Mother didn’t show her affection outright. Not like Miles’ Mom. But after hearing the news about Miles it was clear that she was concerned. “How were thing after I left that day?”

Miles nodded again. “When have I ever kicked you out?” Aside from the times they were fighting. But that totally didn’t count. Miles shrugged at that. “I mean, I guess. That’s only if everything is fine.” Two weeks was plenty of time to have something go wrong. Nick’s reply had Miles staring blankly at him. Shit. Right. Nick was at the hospital on Thanksgiving. Miles blinked, shaking his head slightly. “Yeah. After...after that. That’s what I meant.” He figured they could just move past it, and his heart swelled slightly at the mention of Nick’s mother. “I’m genuinely honored. I miss her.” It has been a while. He didn’t have much time to dwell on it more, though, because Nick brought up Thanksgiving again. Miles wasn’t sure if he could fake it — or if he even should. He might have been better off just being honest. “Ah...to be honest with you, I don’t know if I remember much from that day,” he finally settled on. “All the hospital days kind of blend together. It wears a blur of a few days, you know? I had a lot on my mind and—and the concussion doesn’t help.” He frowned. “I’m sure I just slept, though. All I really did was sleep.”

Nick shrugged. “I dunno, figured you might want to relax and spend some time with Scout.” Nick nodded at the next bit of information. “Well... you’ll just have to rest and stuff then. And do what the doctor says. So nothing goes wrong.” He nodded as he spoke, and his heart constricted at the thought of something else going on. But he hoped that was just him being paranoid and that nothing would happen. “She misses you, too.” He could tell. “You should come visit... when you’re feeling better, I mean.” That conversation was quick to end, though. Miles’ hesitation was obvious, and now he finally understood why. He didn’t remember. “You don’t remember?” He tried not to sound too upset at that moment. It wasn’t Miles’ fault. It was just fucking scary — the fact that he didn’t seem to remember he was there. “What do... what do you remember, Miles?”

Miles glanced down at Scout. “I am relaxing and spending time with Scout,” he pointed out. “But I know that. I’m not planning on doing anything crazy.” He could see in the way Nick looked at him how his mood shifted just slightly, and Miles almost wanted to just slide under the covers and hide. He felt bad that he didn’t know. Nick didn’t sound upset, just surprised, and it made Miles want to tell him that he remembered, even though he didn’t. “I...I don’t know,” he replied. But then he backtracked, going through what he knew he could recall. “I know you came to visit. I don’t know how long you were there. I remember I was in ridiculous pain but I don’t know why. And I know I told you to get Scout at some point because you told me you had her after you did. And I think I told you about— or did I?” He couldn’t remember if they’d talked about Greg. “Greg. We might have talked about Greg.” He met Nick’s gaze, wishing he could offer him more. “I don’t know.”

Nick had meant without him being there, but he wasn’t going to argue with him. He was just glad to be there, even if the conversation quickly went sour. He nodded as Miles said he wasn’t going to do anything crazy, and Nick knew that. It was the things out of Miles’ control that scared Nick. Like the not remembering. Nick swallowed thickly and tried to find the right words, hoping Miles didn’t think he was hurt or mad. He was just disappointed; worried. What else would Miles forget? “I came to see you and we... talked for awhile. Then you asked me we’re Scout was.” He held Miles’ gaze as he spoke. “And I told you she was with Greg.” He hated that name now. “You told me to go get her, and you got upset. The nurses had to come in to calm you down. It wasn’t until I met up with him that I realized why you were upset.” He was going to be honest with him, as honest as he could. He wasn’t sure if he should tell him the other stuff or not. Would he think that was important, in the grand scheme of things? “And now I’m here.”

Miles listened to him explain everything that happened, but he couldn’t help but feel like something wasn’t right. Like there was something he was forgetting that he really should have remembered. It reminded him of how he got so angry at Nick a mere few weeks before because he couldn’t remember, even when it wasn’t his fault. And now he was going through the same thing. His jaw clenched at the mention of Greg. “Did he say anything to you?” Thinking of Greg around the people he loved now made his blood boil, even more so than before. But he calmed down when he remembered that Nick and Scout were both here, Quinn was going to divorce the douche, and everything was fine. Miles bit down on the inside of his cheek. “I’m sorry that I don’t remember much.” He paused. “I remember that I was glad you were there. I remember that I missed you.” It was true. And even if he hadn’t remembered, he was sure he’d have felt all that anyway. “And that I broke up with Lily because I wasn’t being fair to her.” He remembered situations before the incident, like why he’d gotten so mad at Nick when he forgot that he’d told him he loved him. Miles remembered the thoughts in his head that night. But he just couldn’t for the life of him figure out what he and Nick had said just a few days ago. “Is that all?”

Nick could see the moment Miles tensed about Greg, and Nick began shaking his head before he answered. “No. Not really. He didn’t do anything to me, and Scout was fine. She was just uncomfortable. I just... I don’t know. The way he was looking at me, and how he was talking. It wasn’t normal.” Greg, clearly, wasn’t normal. “We were in a public place, though. And that was the last we saw of him.” The ‘we’ being him and Scout, but he supposed that applied to everyone else as well. “It’s okay.” He said quietly. “It’s not your fault.” It still hurt nonetheless. After everything, it hurt that he didn’t remember. A feeling Nick recognized as hope began to well up in his chest as Miles said he missed him. Because God knows he’d missed him, too. “I didn’t know you broke up with her.” Was all he could think to say, his voice still quiet as he tried to decipher why he was telling him that. When Miles asked him if that was all that had happened, Nick was faced with two options: ghost over the truth for the sake of not wanting to overwhelm him, or tell him the truth. And Nick was so used to not saying the whole truth that it was second nature to him now, but he didn’t want to do that anymore. He didn’t want to have to pretend anymore, not with Miles. “No.” He shook his head and raised his eyes to meet Miles’ once more. He pulled in a shaky breath. “I told you that I loved you.” He finally admitted. “You said you loved me, too.”

Miles could do without ever seeing or hearing about Greg ever again for as long as he lived. But he knew that wasn’t going to be an option right away. “He’s...” Miles paused. He didn’t think now was the right time to discuss why Greg had done what he did, other than just being a psycho. “The worst. He’s the worst.” And he’d leave it at that. For now. They could talked about it another time. Right now he was more focused on the matter of what had gone on between them that Miles could barely remember. Nick’s words sent a wave of realization washing over him. There it was. That made sense. That was what seemed so off. Miles was almost relieved to hear that that was all it was. Though he had to admit a part of him was certainly disappointed he couldn’t remember hearing Nick say it. “I do,” he said without a second thought. “I-I don’t remember saying it there but I do. I do love you.” He hoped it didn’t matter when it was said, because he meant it every time. And he’d say it a thousand more times if he had to. “I’m really sorry that I can’t remember. I know you know I didn’t do it on purpose but I feel bad that I...I got so mad at you for the same thing.” He looked down at his lap. He felt like he should do something, like touch him or something, but he didn’t want to cross a line and he wasn’t even entirely sure what Nick was thinking.

Nick nodded in full hearted agreement. Greg was the worst, but he didn’t want to think about what he did right now and get angry all over again. Telling Miles what had really happened and what they had said was terrifying, because he wasn’t sure if that really meant anything or not, if Miles would even be open to hearing it when he was a alert now. As he said he loved him again, though, Nick knew he was. “It’s not your fault.” He said again, more firmly this time as he moved to face him completely. After a brief moment of hesitation, he reached out to gently rest his hand on his leg. “It’s not the same thing.” He shook his head before speaking again. “You’re saying it again now. You’re not trying to hide it. I did.” He glanced down for a moment before looking back up at him. “I was too scared to tell you otherwise. But I do. Love you, I mean. Like, a lot.” He let out a laugh even if it wasn’t particularly funny. “After the thing with Greg... I almost lost you, you know? And I don’t want to have to do that.”

Miles knew Nick didn’t blame him, but it still bothered him a bit that he had acted that way. He supposed be would just have to let it go, though, since all was forgiven. “You know I’m not gonna judge you,” Miles reminded him. He glanced down at Nick’s hand on his leg. “You don’t have to go tell the whole world but you don’t have to worry about telling me.” He paused. “And I promise I’m not going to try and force you to be more open about things. That’s not fair to you.” He felt bad about some things he had said, in hindsight. He just hoped once again that they would be okay, now that he understood Nick had to go at his own pace if anything was going to work out. Nick started talking about almost losing him, and Miles didn’t like that talk. He liked that Nick was being honest, though. That was something he’d probably never get sick of. And hearing it warmed his heart, reminddd him why he felt this way about Nick, and he didn’t want to wait anymore. He placed his hand on top of Nick’s and leaned forward to kiss him. All he could think about the entire time he did was that it was the first time they would kiss and not ignore each other for it for the following month or so. And that thought alone had him grinning when he pulled away. “Good thing you didn’t, then.”

Nick felt exposed, having to lay everything out there for him. On one hand, it felt good to be honest with him. But on the other, it felt strange to admit it all again. “I know you’re not.” He nodded slowly, because Nick knew that for a fact. “It was never you I was worried about.” It was everyone else, but that didn’t matter right now. “But I can’t guarantee I’ll be open. Not anytime soon. And that’s not fair to you, either.” He warned, struggling to be honest still. But his words stopped when Miles places his hand over his and leaned in to kiss him. He wasn’t entirely expecting it, but it was welcomed. It had been too long since they’d last gotten to do this, and he felt the familiar feeling of warmth spread throughout his chest at the gesture. He leaned in, careful not to accidentally bump into him. As they pulled apart, he couldn’t help but supply a grin of his own. “Yeah. Good thing. Who else would I have to watch Cupcake Wars with?”

Miles shook his head. “You don’t have to be,” he said quietly. He didn’t expect him to go parading their...whatever it was right now. That wasn’t the point, anyway. “But you told me how you feel and that’s a start. You’re miles ahead of where you were a month ago.” Miles didn’t expect him to suddenly feel like coming out, but the least he could do was hopefully help him get there. “What’s fair to me is just that...you can tell me what you’re thinking, y’know?” Even if that meant telling Miles to back off. He knew he could come on a little too strong sometimes. Case in point, when he couldn’t help but kiss him — but Nick’s reciprocation was a pleasant reminder that this was all real, albeit a little rough around the edges right now. “Right. That’s what I’m good for.” He sighed. “But really. It could have been worse. It was pretty bad, yeah, but I’m here now, so.” He shrugged. “It’s all good in the hood.”

Nick sighed and nodded slowly as he listened to him speak. “I just didn’t want things to get bad between us. Because I’m not... open. That’s hard for me. The last thing you need is to have to put up with that. Trust me. Especially right now. You’ve got other crap to worry about.” Still, he turned his hand palm side up so he could entangle his fingers with Miles’. “But I want to be more honest. With you.” He admitted. He wasn’t sure where this newfound honesty would lead them, or if it would be any better than what they’ve been doing. But it’s not like they had anything to lose. After the realization that Miles’ could not be here right now — all of the lies felt stupid. Unimportant. “Yeah, it could have been. But it wasn’t. You’re still here.” His grin faded as the words sunk in, despite Miles’ good in the hood comment. “Do you...” He paused, not sure if should ask or not. But he had to know for sure Greg wasn’t coming back. “Do you know where he is?” He spoke quietly. “Have you pressed charges yet?”

Miles almost wanted to roll his eyes, but he held back. If putting up with Nick were a problem for him, he’d have been done with it one of the other hundred times they’d decided to ignore each other. “You don’t have to look out for me like that, you know. I know what I have going on but I also know what I want.” He looked down at their hands and then back up again. “I just may not be entirely clear what it is you want.” His voice took on a lighthearted tone, but it was a serious statement nonetheless. But maybe it just didn’t matter right now. He didn’t know. At the mention of Greg, despite the fact that Nick hadn’t even said his name, Miles frowned. “No and no,” he replied, looking down at his feet. “Even if someone told me where he was I probably wouldn’t remember tomorrow.” It probably didn’t come out as jokingly as he meant it, but he couldn’t help it. He was feeling nervous. “I think my mom wants me to focus on becoming not-concussed before we work on that.”

Nick knew this wasn’t the right time for this conversation. Miles just got out of the hospital, and probably had a thousand other thoughts running through his mind. Still, he owed it to him to be honest. Even if the timing was way off. “What do you want?” Nick asked in turn, part of him already knowing the answer. He paused before he brought himself to reply to that. “I want you to be okay. And I want to be here when you need me.” Like Miles had been there for him. “I want us to stop getting mad at each other and ignoring each other like we don’t care.” Because it turned out he cared a lot. He debated about saying the next part, but he figured he was already this far ahead he might as well. “And I want you to be happy. But I don’t want you to end up for real hating me. But I also don’t want you to get back together with Lily and forget I exist again.” He broke off before he could say something more, and shook his head. The talk of Greg came was his own fault, but he wanted to know there was no chance he’d be back there. “You’re hilarious.” He deadpanned, not particularly finding him very funny, for once. Too soon, he supposed. “I guess that makes sense...” He said slowly, wanting to ask more questions and make sure Greg was for sure going to get some shit for this. But he knew first hand that a lot of questions and a lot of prying wouldn’t help him. If Miles were anything like Nick, which he knew he was, he would hate that. “You should focus on getting better. Before anything. That other stuff can be taken care of later.” Even if Nick wished the guy was already in prison or something. “Do you need me to leave so you can get some rest?”

Miles shook his head, unsure of how he should even phrase it at first. Voicing it was hard, even if he knew. “I just...want you,” he finally settled on, despite how vague it was. “Whatever that means for you. Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it.” A lot of what Nick was saying was similar to what Miles himself wanted. They’d said some of these things before but it was different now, almost. “I am okay. But...we’re not gonna stop getting mad at each other.” He knew what he meant, but still. Never fighting again wasn’t a promise he could make. “I-I didn’t forget you existed. I thought about you every single day.” He paused, sucking a deep breath with so much force it reminded him of the dull pain in his ribs. “I’m telling you that I don’t need you to tell the world everything that you’re telling me. What’s gonna make me happy is just...being with you. Being around you. And I don’t need to go telling the world that you’re my boyfriend, but—but I just. I don’t know.” He shook his head. “You said it yourself. You never know when you’re gonna lose someone. I don’t want to risk that without ever just trying.” He sighed. Greg wasn’t going to be an easy subject to talk about for a long time, but he figured he’d have to. “Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll even bother with all that legal shit,” he muttered. “I’d rather just never see his face again.” It may not be the best choice, but he didn’t like thinking about being stuffed in a courtroom with Greg staring him down. “I don’t need to rest but you don’t have to stay if you have somewhere to be.”

Nick wasn’t surprised by his words, not really. He already knew how Miles felt about him, for whatever reason. Still, the words got to him, and hearing it felt good. “I know we’re going to fight.” He finally said. “I know that’s going to happen. I just... you say that you want to... be with me now. I just don’t want you to wake up one day and regret everything because it wasn’t what you expected.” And there it was — the truth. His throat constricted as he said the words, but he still continued on. “I want you. I think that’s obvious now.” He laughed, but it didn’t come out as casual as he hoped. “And I don’t want to pretend like I don’t.” Not with him, anyway. The conversation soon turned, and Nick was alarmed by his words, but maybe he was just saying that. So he stayed quiet for a moment. “It’s your choice. But maybe you should give it some thought...when you’re feeling better.” He cleared his throat and sat up straight. “No, no. I want to stay. I just didn’t want to stay if you were tired, or something.” He couldn’t read his mind, that much was obvious.

Miles sighed. “Nick…” He didn’t even know where he intended to go with that. There was a lot he wanted to tell him, but he couldn’t quite think of the words to say. He did his best with what he could, though. “I know what this is. Okay? I do.” He tried to make it clear how genuine he was being. “We can do things…however you want to do them. Go slow. I know what I’m getting into,” he said again. “But I don’t want to be with anyone else. And I just like being with you.” They didn’t need to call it anything. He didn’t care. He cared even less about this, though. “Yeah. Maybe.” The entire thing was unappealing. But Nick was probably right. He could think about it another time. “Well, I-I want you to stay. I can nap later."

Nick had been telling himself for however long this thing with Miles had been going on that this wasn’t a good idea. But he couldn’t keep ignoring what was going on, or acting like he didn’t feel the same way Miles did. “We’ll go slow.” He said slowly, as though accentuating his point. But he was agreeing. It was a bad idea, and he knew it, but he couldn’t bring himself to say no. “If you’re sure that’s what you want. I want to try.” And he really did. “Then I’ll stay.” He shrugged a bit, before hesitating briefly. “If you want to nap now, you can... I can still stay.”

Miles nodded. That was good enough for him. More than good, in fact. Because it was a start, and it meant that Nick was serious, even though he was scared, or however else he felt. Miles wasn’t going to push him to talk anymore now. “I’m sure,” he said quietly. At Nick’s suggestion, Miles looked down at the tiny mattress they were sitting on. They were both at least six feet tall, and the mere idea made him smile. But he raised his eyebrows at Nick nonetheless. “You think that’s going to work? At all? No doubt whatsoever?”

Nick nodded, not verbally saying anything because nothing else really needed to be said. Not right now. They’d already talked enough, and he was sure that Miles probably was at least a little tired. He glanced down at the bed as Miles questioned him, and a laugh escaped him before he could help it. “No of course not. That’s why I was going to ask you to sleep on the floor.” He joked, and a teasing grin spread across his face as he did so. “Yes, it’ll work. We might be pressed a little close, though. So I think we’ll only have a problem if that bothers you.”

Miles rolled his eyes. “Oh, please, Nick, I’m not a dog.” He glanced at Scout, who of course didn’t even flinch at his words, but he still felt like he’d offended her. “Sorry,” he told her, scratching her head, which alerted her and caused her to lift her head and look at him. Miles snapped his fingers then, and pointed to the floor. “Down.” Scout followed his command, pushing herself up and then hopping off the bed and lying down right next to it. Miles ran his hand over her head once more before beginning to maneuver himself to try and fit two large adult men into a child-sized bed. “Hm, well, I guess you’re lucky I got a sponge bath in the hospital since I couldn’t sit up. It was super hot. Kinda sad you missed it.” He’d obviously bathed since then, but still. He peeled back the comforter and slid underneath it. “I hope my mom doesn’t assume there’s any funny business going on in these Pokémon sheets.”

Nick was a little sad to see Scout jump off the bed, but there was no way all three of them would fit. Not without accidentally stepping on or elbowing someone. “I was just kidding.” He said lightly as he began to kick off his shoes so he didn’t track dirt or whatever else on Miles’ Pokémon bedding. “Wow, lucky you. How are you going to go back to regular showers after getting used to all the hot nurses?” He waited until Miles was settled before scooting up and maneuvering himself next to him, laying on his side so he didn’t crowd him too much. “We’ll just say we’re trying to name all of the Pokémon.” Honestly wouldn’t be the first time. “And got tired. There are a lot of Pokemon. It’s a believable excuse.”

Miles rolled his eyes playfully. “If I thought you were serious we’d have other problems here.” He shrugged, tilting his head as he thought back to it. “The nurses weren’t very hot, actually. Just the whole idea of a sponge bath is incredibly sexy in its own, obviously.” It had definitely made him feel more like an eighty year old. “I’d be bored of that by Ivysaur.” He had been doing pretty much nothing but resting the past week, so he didn’t think he would be particularly tired. But he was actually finding himself wanting to take all these naps. He wasn’t sure if it was the natural response to lying down and no real stimulation, or part of the head injury. He didn’t really care either way. Naps were naps. “Just be careful,” he said quietly, gesturing to his own chest where all the internal bruising was. He had to stay on his back, which was difficult for him to get used to, but it was better than the alternative. He sighed contentedly as he eyes closed, blinding holding his hand out in search of Nick’s. “Thanks for staying.”

Nick smiled softly at that. “You’ve got a point.” The talk of cold hospital sponge baths hardly sounded appealing, but he played along nonetheless. “Oh yeah, totally. I don’t know how you were able to contain yourself. Don’t get any ideas and ask me for one though, I’m not trained for it.” It was another light joke before they were both laying down. Nick didn’t move as Miles shifted to get into a position that was comfortable for him, and he couldn’t help but feel that familiar worth again as Miles motioned to his chest. “I will.” His voice was nearly at a whisper, and his eyes fell on Miles outstretched hand. Finally allowing himself to sink further down into the mattress, he shifted just a bit so he could reach his own hand out. Entangling his fingers with Miles’, Nick looked at him for a moment before closing his own eyes. “Thanks for letting me.”

#013

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roseamongroses · 4 years

Text

Antithesis: “a babe, a snack, a f-cking heart attack”

[Specific-Summary]: They should expect growing pains. For not everything to feel right or make sense. That doesn't mean it'll always hurt, nor does it mean they can't have fun along the way. It's senior year. Everything may be different. It won't be senior year for long. Everything will be okay.

[General Warnings]: Implied Emotional Abuse, Implied Physical Abuse, Bad Parents are Bad Parents, Mild Sexual Content/jokes,Mentioned Homophobia, Mentions of underage drinking (backround), Some Catcalling,Cursing , Self Hate,implied pregnancy talk/inability to become pregnant, adults arguing where the “kid” can hear it, adults drinking,

[Tags/mood:] highschool au, fluff and angst but its all good, chat fic, teen stress, its flordia no snow we die like men [Pairing:] Roceit (Roman Sanders/ Deceit Sanders), hinted future/possible logince/roloceit/loceit [Characters]Roman Sanders/Deceit (Dmitri) Sanders, Virgil Sanders, Logan Sanders, Patton Sanders, Remy (Sleep) Sanders, Nate Sanders, Dragon Witch (Diana) Remus “The Duke” Sanders (minor/brief)

(Ao3) (Previously) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15)(16) (17) (18) (19)

(20) (21)

D: [Picture of Roman and Logan cuddling asleep. Jpeg] Aw what a lovely couple

R: s h ut u p sh ut u p

D: Hey you were the one who said it was ok to make fun of your crush

R: I SAID THERE WAS NOTHING TO MAKE FUN OF BECAUSE I DIDNT AND DONT HAVE A CRUSH

R: ok i might have said to not bring it up to his face again but that was not an admission of anything deeper then standard thirst ok

R: deeeee yyou’re not responding and your silence wont make me talk

D: Oh I was getting the evidence

[Screenshot. Jpeg]

D: Huh… That seems pretty soft and gay for “standard thirst” don’t you think?

R:....

R: YOU MENTION SOMEONES CHUBBY CHEEKS ONCE. ONCE.

D: It was more then once {Screenshot Montage. jpeg]

R: he has a lovely smile ok!!! And all those dimples and his moles byg od!!!i can appreciate friends!!!

D: and I have beautiful piano hands you think were sculpted from the finest porcelain and should be protected but alright just a friendly friend thing to constantly be thinking about

R: why must youl punish me for speaking the truth????

D: it's apart of the job <3

D: but yeah we all know you dont have a hand fetish or a smile fetish you were just raised on a diet of shakesphere and disney

R: you know,,, boyfs usually don’t yah know e nc oura ge this HYPOTHETICAL behavior

D: I mean if it was someone like Remy then yeah I’d have some issues D: But it’s L so it’s all good

R: remy isnt that bad!!! yall be petty!!!

D: That’s Why We’d Have Issues D: If I have to share I’d at least liked to enjoy the other person’s company

R: thats almost sweet

D: I try

R: speaking of trying… this weekend?? you free???

D: If this has anything to do with a birthday present I Dont Want then I’m suddenly busy with homework

R: lies lies lies lies lieeeeeessssss you barely do homework

D: ;)

R: but really i told you im not getting you a physical gift but we can still go on a date!!!

D: mm sounds like you treating me and thats Illegal and suspicious

R: nope! I want a date! It's entirely for selfish reasons!!!no selflessness here!!! And if we just so happen to end up at one of those stuffy art museums you like or a book signing or two then well dang i guess???

D: what are you planning

R: it's a date!!a cute little date k!!! So you down?

D: Perhaps

R: yee boy

D: If you drive me there <3

R: SLIMY

D: Snakes do not have slime ™

R: yet here we are

D: So?

R:alrigh fuckin bet lets do it

D: Wai D: t wha

---

“Happy birthday!” Roman cheered, crashing into Dmitri.

Without looking up, Dmitri easily caught Roman in his arms, “My birthday isn’t for two weeks,” he sighed, his exasperation being melted as Roman nuzzled him further.

“Mmm shut up,” Roman dragged Dmitri behind him in the parking lot, the school bell ringing, “We had a deal so stop pouting,” he said, sing-song.

“It’s not a pou...Then why are we going to my car,” Dmitri said, expression souring and no it wasn’t a pout, he does not pout--

“Because, ” Roman said, expression sly in the way that always made Dmitri’s stomach flip, “You’re a babe, and I love you dearly, but Virgil’s car is his baby and some lines aren’t meant to be crossed.”

“Uh,” Dmitri ignored his blush, “Noted.”

“I’m surprisingly in one piece,” Dmitri said as they got out, “With all those cute faces you make when concentrating it was a wonder I got out alive.”

“Shut up!” Roman shoved him lightly.

Dmitri caught his hand swinging it between them, “Where are we anyway?” he vaguely recognized the park.

It was one of the smaller ones around, with it’s old, weathered playground blending almost seamlessly with the unruly trees. The discarded toys and cracked pavements so achingly familiar that he had to second guess whether or not he actually could hear children laughing.

Roman looked up at him, lips quirked, “Don’t you remember? It’s where we first met,”

“But we met in 8th--” he stopped as something clicked, his hand drifting to his scar automatically, “Huh, church camp?” he looked at Roman curiously, “There were a dangerously high amount of kids who went there, how did you even know me?”

“We were...always the last kids picked up,” Roman said, "Virgil and I always had each other or Remy to keep each other company, but you…” he got a faraway look and he rubbed his arms self consciously, “You always looked so... lonely...I guess I never really forgot.”

Dmitri sighed pushing a stray curl from Roman’s face, “You’re so sappy,” Dmitri murmured with a fond look, effectively pulling Roman back down to earth.

He didn't bother to linger on the memories for too long, instead pulling Roman along gently, “Let’s see if those rusty swings still work, eh?”

----

“Stop fidgeting,” Roman whined, the flower crown falling limp in Dmitri’s hair. Dmitri continued to ignore his request, choosing to press his face into Roman’s stomach, much to their distress.

“How do you expect me to just ignore such a fuckin’ snack?” Dmitri said, muffled in Roman’s skin.

Sure the ground pressed into him at an uncomfortable angle, but Dmitri had the important job of figuring out if that was a new freckle he spotted. He planned on being thorough. Roman eventually relented to the very important investigation, dandelions falling to the wayside as Dmitri shifted him onto his back.

Even when Roman managed to reluctantly bat him away, Dmitri still looked mighty pleased with his new spot between Roman’s thighs.

“Having fun?” Roma drawled, resigned.

“Always,” Dmitri’s immediately said. He cupped Roman’s face, hair falling in waves around them as he leaned down.

“Mmm,” Roman hummed, the air warm, “Do you want your real birthday gift now?”

Dmitri’s eyes narrowed, “Roman…” he said, warningly.

“Hush,” Roman said, no whine in his tone. Instead, it was of calm reassurance, “I didn’t buy you anything. I just got a bit nosy…”

“What do you…”

“I talked to a few old friends who knew Emile--”

Dmitri stiffed, pulling back, “-- he left without a word, he fucking hates--this town.”

“Dmitri, let me finish,” Roman said softly, slipping a hand on their shoulder and sitting up, “I asked a few of his old friends, got in touch with him,” he explained, “He’s living with a few cousins in California, he’s doing well...and...and I asked him about you…”

“He fucking hates me.”

“No, he misses you.”

----

Dmitri slid into the driver’s seat before Roman could protest and soon enough they were driving back in silence.

It had been a long time since it’s been this...awkward between the two. Sure they have their quiet moments, but it was never like this…. Roman had never done well with silence, even if Dmitri seemed to thrive in it.

Roman twisted his hands, forcing himself to speak, “Dee...I’m sorry if I overstepped your boundaries. I know it’s a sensitive subject,” he said.

Dmitri’s remained intently focused on the road, “You were being thoughtful, a prince as always,” he said with a smile.

That smile.

You know the one.

“That’s some god-awful bullshit,” Roman said, “You're angry.”

“Not at you,” Dmitri said, far too quickly.

“It’d be okay if you were,” Roman said and Dmitri’s face faltered, “As much as you claim me to be faultless, that little conversation about boundaries applies to me as well. It’s your birthday gift, so it’s your choice what to do from here.”

“Does this...gift have a receipt…”

“It can if you want it to.”

“And if I…” Dmitri's voice cracked, but he continued, “If I don’t want it to…”

“I have his new number and you have all the time in the world. Don’t stress about it he’ll understand.”

Dmitri wanted to think Roman was lying. God, he wanted it to be a lie because the truth curled in his mouth like a foul aftertaste. It rose in him and consumed him completely.

He was afraid, so fucking-goddamn afraid.

He saved the number regardless.

---

@daflangstlairde

@ace-anx

@cataclysm-al

#Roman Sanders #Deceit Sanders #roceit #ts sides #sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #fanfiction #antithesis

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writingwithadinosaur · 7 years

Text

“Dietary Restriction” - Oneshot

My Masterlist - Here

Steve Rogers x Reader

Word Count: 1,800-ish

Key: Y/N = Your Name, L/N = Your Last Name, H/C = Your Hair Color, E/C = Your Eye Color

Warnings: This story is not what you think based off of the summary. Just trust me. Please let me know if I messed up and need to put any warnings!

Summary: The team is at one of Tony’s parties. Natasha and Steve notice that one of their friends hasn’t been eating a lot lately. Steve decides to speak up about it.

Author’s Note: My first Steve Rodgers piece! I had this idea in my head and then thought “Which character would fit in this story?” and Stevie was the first one and the only one that really made sense for me.

Also, I apologize to everyone who has requested prompts to me. Things have been more difficult than I thought recently and caused me to have a delay in all of my writing.

If you would like to be tagged in any of my future pieces (All Works, Specific Fandoms, or Specific Multi-Parts), please let me know! And as always, feedback is greatly appreciated!

- DreaSaurusREX

Tonight was another one of Tony’s well known parties. The good thing about this one was that it was more formal. So there wasn’t insanely loud music, booze everywhere, or an overwhelming atmosphere. You had on a classy dress that accented everything you liked about yourself, even if you were nervous about looking good in front of people. You were never really used to formal events, but you tried. And once you got a drink in your hand, you got a bit more comfortable.

About an hour or so into the party, you were standing with a few members or the team, talking about some prank war that was going on between Tony and Sam. You were comfortably standing next to Steve. He was your best friend who had been there through everything. And while he may not know everything about you, he was damn close to you. In fact, you two were so close that you had often thought about the possibility of you two becoming an item. While you would love to live out your dreams, you were sure he didn’t feel that way. He’s fricken Captain America. He can have literally any girl that would be perfect for him. So you shoved those thoughts to the back of your mind and kept your best friend as close as possible.

Finding a good time in the conversation to step away, you excused yourself.

“I’ll be back. Gonna get another drink. Anyone want anything?” You look around and get various forms of ‘No’ before your turn and head to the bar. Natasha moves to take your place next to Steve. Nudging his shoulder, the two of them start their own conversation.

“Hey, is everything alright with (Y/N)?” Natasha asked. She knew Steve would know if something was wrong with you.

“No. Not that I know of. Why do you ask?” Steve slowly started to get worried. He really cared about you. And if something was wrong, he needed to try to help take care of it and you.

“I haven’t seen her eat too much. I know she went to see Bruce about something, and she hasn’t been eating normally since. And not in a good way in my opinion.”

“She saw Bruce a month or so ago. Nothing seemed to be wrong after she met with him. But now that you mention it, she hasn’t eaten much tonight either. All I’ve seen her eat is a little bit of fruit and veggies.” Natasha grabbed Steve’s arm and looked at you at the bar, waiting for your drink.

“Steve, you need to go talk to her. I don’t want this to escalate into anything bigger and scarier.” Without even thinking twice, Steve nodded and headed to you. He tried his best to look normal, but you could tell that not everything was alright. He came up next to you and ordered a beer before turning his attention completely to you.

“Well hey there, Soldier. I said I would be back. I just need some water.” And, as if on cue, the bartender placed your water and Steve’s beer on the counter. You started to walk away, but Steve grabbed your hand. You felt a blush creep on your cheeks at the sudden contact.

“Hang on a sec. Please.” You looked at him and saw more and more worry slowly creep into his features. He went from his stereotypical Captain America smile, to a concerned man that you couldn’t help but fall in love with.

“Okay…? What’s up, Steve? You look like I’m going to go jump off the roof or something.” You attempted to joke and lighten the mood, but Steve remained serious. His hands now holding both of yours. You liked the feel of your hands in his.

“I am just going to come right out and say what I need to say. Natasha and I have noticed that you haven’t been your usual self. I remember you going to see Dr.Banner a month ago, but you never really told me what was going on or what happened. And now, you aren’t eating how you normally do. Tonight, for example. Tony has this whole buffet style situation and all you’ve had is fruit and vegetables.”

He paused for a second to take a breath. He didn’t realize how worried he was until he was actually talking to you about something that could seriously injure you. If something happened to you, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. He had a thought: I have to tell her how I feel. He shifted his hands so he really had a comfortable and strong hold of yours, giving off a very protective vibe.

“I care about you a lot, (Y/N). More than just friends normally do.” His eyes fell to your hands. “You could even say that I really love you.” He looked back up and saw a smile across your face. “And I don’t like not seeing you eat or you not eating normally.”

You didn’t understand why that was such a big deal to him right now. But then he continued, and it clicked in your head.

“I’m scared that you are messing up your health by not eating as much as you used to. Now, I know that I am from a totally different time, but Nat told me about what girls do these days to feel better about their bodies and I think that is--”

You reached a hand to his upper arm and tried not to laugh too much. He really was too good to be true. But he was worried about nothing. You had to fill him in now.

Once you got to the end of your laugh, you looked at his face. He looked like such a confused puppy.

“Oh my gosh. Steve, I am not starving myself. Yes, I’m not 100% happy with my body, but I’m not stopping myself from eating because of it.”

“Well then, why aren’t you eating like normal?” He was really confused now.

“I went to Bruce because I was having really bad stomach pains. It felt like knives were in my stomach and I was being stabbed from the inside out. There were days where it hurt to stand up or sit up straight. He ran some tests and we found out that I am severely lactose intolerant. So I have to restrict my diet. I can’t have anything that has butter, milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, et cetera.”

You see Steve instantly relax. He was so thankful it wasn’t anything really bad. You weren’t eating a lot at the party because almost everything had some sort of dairy in it.

“Why didn’t you tell me about meeting with Bruce and everything? I could have tried to help make sure there would be food you could have more often around the tower.”

“I haven’t told many people because it hasn’t become a problem or a topic of conversation yet. I didn’t think it would be something that cause you to worry like this. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Stevie.” He sighed and looked at his hands before smiling at you. He really loved when you called him by his nickname. It sounded good coming from you.

“I’m just glad you’re okay. I would hate to see you do anything like that to yourself. You’re already beautiful in my eyes, doll.” He stood up to head back to the group.

He leaned down and kissed your head like how he had countless times before, but this time you were blushing like mad. You don’t know what went through you, but you had to tell him about how you felt. It could make your friendship awkward, but you had to take that chance. Before Steve could walk away too far, you reached out and grabbed his arm.

“There is something else I haven’t told you about.” Steve’s eyes instantly scanned your face and went back to being scared. “Don’t worry, Stevie. It’s nothing bad.” He relaxed once again. You took a breath before continuing.

“I really care about you too. You could even say that I love you too.”

You were going to just leave him with that and head back to the group since you had been away for longer than expected. But before you could take a few steps away, Steve made you turn around and come back to him. As soon he turned you around, his arm snaked around your waist and his lips landed on yours in a soft and simple kiss. Your hand fell naturally to his chest as you smiled into the kiss that was so much better than you could imagine. You both pull away and kind of absorb what just happened. Thankfully no one around you made a big deal of it.

“Well damn, Cap. I thought you didn’t kiss until after the first date.” You joked, still in his arms. He smiled a genuine Steve Rogers smile.

“I guess I just had to make an exception for my best girl.” You smile back at him as he leans down for another quick kiss. “Alright. We have been away from them for awhile. I’m sure they are curious as to what just happened.”

“Yeah. I have a feeling they saw.” Steve sees you looking a bit past him. He turns and looks at your small group, all of them watching the two of you. Your blush grew more.

“I’m going to grab another plate of fruit before heading back to them. I’ll meet you back over there.”

“Don’t be too long, doll.” You kiss Steve’s cheek before heading to the buffet table. Steve grabs his beer and rejoins the group. They moved to the couches off to the side. As he sits down, he is welcomed back with various accepting hoots and sayings. After acknowledging everyone’s acceptance, he turned his attention to Natasha.

“Everything’s fine with (Y/N). Turns out that she is lactose intolerant and can’t really have a lot of the food here.” Natasha’s smile turns into a mischievous smirk.

“I know.” She says before taking a sip of her wine. This was now the second time Steve was confused tonight.

“What do you mean you know? Why didn’t you tell me before I went up to her?”

“She told me while we she was cooking dinner for herself one night. I just wanted to give you a push. It was sad how obvious your crushes on each other were. You two were too blind to see the other’s feelings. And it looks like my plan worked perfectly.” She tipped her drink to Steve before taking another sip. He just gave her a sort of playfully angry look before smiling back at her and sipping his beer.

Steve feels the seat next to him dip down a bit. Turning, he is met with your bright smile. You had a plate of mixed fruits and veggies in your lap. Offering the plate to Steve to share, he takes a couple of grapes while he casually wraps his arm around you. He kissed your cheek before going back to whatever conversation the group was having.

You honestly never thought your dream would come true. But here you are, with your very own super soldier.

Tags: @goodnightwife @marvelous-imagining @feelmyroarrrr @theeactress

#avengers fandom #avengers fanfiction #avengers imagine #steve rodgers x reader #Steve x Reader #Captain America x reader #WritingWithADino

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