Tumgik
#ic; about lila
dayplays · 7 months
Text
Blinks. Adjusts glasses.
Tumblr media
"... what do you mean it's almost October???"
3 notes · View notes
compulsoryroyalty · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
“Why do I feel like someone just said the stupidest shit?”
1 note · View note
reiding-writing · 1 month
Note
REDDD ‼️ MAJOR CONGRATS FOR YOUR MILESTONE YOU DESERVE IT AHHHH
may i request 1 & 7 from the general dialogue prompts with spencer reid please 🥹🫶
SENDING YOU KISSES ☝️🤭😚 XOXO
Tumblr media
POOL ‘PARTY’ [CLIMACTERIC]
/pul ˈpɑːrti/
1. “Okay, maybe I have a crush on you! So what?”
7. “I don’t want anyone else.”
Tumblr media
WARNINGS: based on 01x18, minor lila slander, spencer thinking of someone else whilst making out with lila, arguing
spencer reid x gn!reader || flangst || 1.9k Il climacteric event!!
a/n: THANK YOU ML <3333 enjoy me dabbling back into my angst game again, with a happy ending ofc 🫶
main masterlist!! ⋆。°✩ event masterlist!!
Tumblr media
You approach Spencer with a raised eyebrow and a click of your tongue, eyes scanning over Spencer’s completely soaked appearance.
His eyes turn to you widened in surprise, but his expression quickly morphs into guilt as he meets your eyes. “I uh- fell in,”
“I’m sure there are plenty of photos of you ‘falling in’,” Your eyes narrow with a scoff, and you cross your arms over your chest in very clear disappointment at his recklessness.
“I- It really wasn’t meant to happen I swear-” You cut off Spencer’s attempt at an explanation by shoving a beach towel against his torso, and he lets out a small groan from the force.
“You have to be the stupidest person i’ve ever met.” Spencer flinches at your tone, hands wringing at the towel as he lowers his head.
He supposes he deserves the scolding, he’d broken so many rules of professionalism and put Lila’s life in danger.
The worst part was that he didn’t even enjoy it.
He’d ruined everything and didn’t even enjoy what he was risking everything for.
He truly was an idiot.
“I’m sorry-”
“I don’t want your apology.” You cut him off with a hand raised in his direction. “If you want to apologise to someone, apologise to Lila, because you won’t be seeing her for the rest of the case.”
Lila’s name is dripping with venom as it rolls off your tongue, and Spencer presses his lips into a tight line with a small nod in your direction.
It’s a proportional punishment, but it’s not like he wanted to see her again anyway. Even the thought of what he’d done made him want to punch himself.
“I really didn’t-” He stops himself this time, knowing that you don’t want to hear his excuses. “I’ll… go change now…”
“There’s clothes in the SUV.” He sighs dejectedly at the coyness in your tone, and he swears he’ll cry if you keep this up.
“Right…” He gives you a soft nod, and you have half the mind to feel bad about the way you’re treating him, but for some reason the image of the two of them in the pool together fills you with some unforeseen, insurmountable rage that you can’t seem to suppress.
After he’s changed and dry, he reapproaches the front of the house cautiously. He knows that he probably won’t be allowed back inside, but he also doesn’t want to hang around the SUV looking like an idiot, he’d made himself a big enough one already.
You’re the only one still outside, standing with your arms crossed with your eyes following his movements through your narrowed gaze.
You were still angry with him. Great.
He didn’t want you to be angry with him. That was the last thing he ever wanted.
“I…” Spencer exhales softly as he comes up short on something to say. You didn’t want him to apologise. You didn’t want him to explain himself. What was he supposed to say?
You answer his question for him with one of your own. “Was it worth it?”
He flickers his eyes towards yours, guilt and regret written all over his features. “No…”
“Didn’t think so.”
Spencer can feel the tears prick at his eyes as your tone continues to wash over him like an ice-cold shower, and he takes a shuddered breath in through his mouth, clearing his throat and blinking rapidly to keep his gaze clear.
“I didn’t want to… I didn’t even enjoy it…” He frowns through glassy eyes and you crumble almost immediately. How are you supposed to be angry at him when he looks like that?
“Why did you do it?” Your voice is considerably softer this time, and as much as Spencer is grateful for it, it doesn’t stop a single tear from trickling down his face.
“I don’t know-” He sighs heavily as he wipes his cheek with the back of his hand, running his other hand through the still damp mess of his hair.
He did know.
Kind of anyway.
He’d always prided himself on having a vivid imagination, one that he had been using during what happened with Lila.
And you could read his dishonesty immediately.
“Spencer.”
He knew he’d been caught. “I don’t want to talk about it,”
He crosses his arms over his chest defensively as he evades eye contact with you.
“Spencer.” You were going to get to the bottom of his reasoning behind breaking one of the cardinal rules of being an FBI agent.
“I was imagining that she was someone else okay?” He raises his voice slightly in his defensiveness, and you have to take a second to actually soak in his sentence and the implications of it.
“You- What?” You can do nothing but stare at him in a state of absolute shock at his confession.
“I was imagining that I was kissing somebody else…” He repeats his statement with much less vigour the second time around, biting the inside of his cheek.
“Does she know that?” You raise an eyebrow slightly as you ask your question. God knows you wouldn’t want to be kissing someone only to find out that they were thinking about somebody else the entire time.
“We had an argument about it before you guys turned up…”
So she did know. That made it a little better at least.
“So who was it then?”
Spencer turned his eyes back to yours again with a surprised expression. “What?-”
“Who were you thinking about?” You’re not sure exactly why you want to know who Spencer was thinking about during his little ‘pool party’, and you had a feeling you wouldn’t be satisfied with whatever answer you gave him, but some twisted part of your mind felt the need to know.
“I-” Spencer pressed his lips together tightly. “You don’t need to know that,”
“Why not?” You furrow your eyebrows as his defensiveness escalates again. “What’s there to hide?”
“Maybe I just don’t want my personal life being aired to the people I work with?” He mirrors your expression with his own as he rubs his hands up and down his arms.
“Fine, keep your secrets then,” you say, a hint of frustration in your voice. “But just know, you can't keep messing up like this. It's not just about you.”
"I know that," he returns your frustration with his own. “But who I’m interested in is nobody’s business except my own.”
“Why are you so defensive about this?”
“Why do you want to know who it is so badly?”
The tension crackles between you two, each word adding fuel to the fire of the argument.
“Because,” you retort sharply, “I need to know if I can trust you. If your mind is somewhere else when you're supposed to be focused on the mission, it puts everyone at risk,”
Was that the real reasoning behind why you wanted to know so badly? No. But you didn’t exactly know what was.
Spencer's jaw tightens, his eyes flashing with a mix of frustration and hurt. “You think I don't take this seriously? You think I don't care about the mission?”
“I don't know what to think anymore,” you admit, your voice softer now, but no less charged with emotion. “All I know is that you've been acting recklessly, and I can't afford to have that kind of distraction.”
“I'm not distracted,” Spencer protests, his voice tinged with desperation.
“You just verbally admitted to thinking about somebody else whilst making out with someone, that’s not distracted?” You gesture outwards exasperatedly. “We can’t be sure that you’ve got the right head in the game unless you say who you were thinking about.”
“It was you okay?” Spencer’s voice raises again as he throws out his arms in frustration. “Happy?”
You didn’t have the mental capacity to decide if you were happy.
You barely computed his answer in the first place. Were you happy that it was you? Was that the reason you pressed him so hard?
What on earth was happening?
“What-”
“Okay yeah, maybe I have a crush on you, so what?” Spencer continued to verbalise his defensiveness in exasperation. “It’s not like it was ever going to go anywhere.”
“You were thinking about me?” You still haven’t fully comprehended his confession yet, and Spencer mistakes your slowness for sarcasm.
“Yes. I was thinking about you. There’s no need to rub it in my face.” Spencer's frustration is palpable, his shoulders slumping as if the weight of the world rests upon them.
But beneath the frustration, there's a vulnerability, a rawness that tugs at your heartstrings.
You realise then that this argument, this tension between you, it's not just about the mission or the case—it's about something deeper, something you've both been trying to ignore or brush aside.
"I'm not trying to rub it in your face," you say softly, your voice barely above a whisper. "I'm just... trying to understand."
“I mean-” You fumble over your sentences as you try to make sense of everything. “Why would you kiss somebody else? Why would you imagine it was me whilst you did it? I just- I don’t get it,”
“I don’t want anybody else. I never wanted anybody else. But what was I supposed to do?” Spencer sighs as he takes his fingers through his hair.
“Tell me?”
“And have you rip me to pieces? I’d rather spend my whole life as just your friend than risk something like that-” He doesn’t have the chance to finish his sentence.
Your lips press against his hard, your hand anchored at the side of his neck as you take what you deem a reasonable action to get him to just stop talking for a second.
In your defence, it does work, all of Spencer’s frustration dying on his tongue as he slowly starts to reciprocate, his hands half-hesitantly coming up to cup your face so that he wouldn’t lose the contact with you even if you tried to pull away, which of course, you weren’t going to do unless strictly necessary.
He finally didn’t have to imagine what your lips would taste like anymore, and he wasn’t going to let the moment end before he got his fill of you.
525 notes · View notes
mrchiipchrome · 4 months
Text
Glass Child
Tumblr media
W.C. - 6 k
--------------------
The middle child. Often known as the “forgotten” sibling, the one who never gets enough love, never enough attention, the one who’s never enough. 
Never the one to blow out their own candles on their birthdays, never the one to get driven to their evening practices even when it was rainy and muddy. Never the one to get told they’re loved, nor that they’re enough. Never the one to be the favourite.
Yet always the one to listen to their parents argue late into the night, always the one to be blamed, always the one pressured to do great academically. Always the one who has to prove and find their place in the family, yet never actually finding it.
One older brother and one younger sister, that was what you had, one sibling on either side of you for every family photo but never for anything more. Your brother was out of the house before you could turn 6 and your younger sister was what your parents liked to call a rainbow child.
She had nearly died at birth after all, not enough oxygen going to the brain leading to slight mental disabilities and getting all your parents love. You weren’t even sure they had ever told you that they were proud of you. No, all their attention was always on Lila. 
No matter how much you vyed for their attention, no matter how many accomplishments you had, the trophies and diplomas you brought home, their attention was always on Lila. 
Lila, the golden child. Lila who could do no wrong. Lila who even after screaming and punching you, would get a hug and kiss on the head. 
You, who were left to raise yourself. You, who were never enough for them, never good enough to be loved and cherished like your sister or even your brother who had left you. You, who had the weight of the world on your shoulders with no one to help carry it.
Every footballing tournament you’d ever had would be about Lila, what did Lila want? Was Lila comfortable? Does Lila want to go home? 
Well that was when they actually made the effort to come, something you could count on one singular hand how many times they’d done. No, to sit through a few minutes of football for their daughter to feel needed and wanted was far too difficult for them.
Anything not involving Lila was far too difficult for them. Anything not revolving around herself was far too complex for Lila to comprehend, the second your parents looked away from her she was kicking and screaming and they were forced to look at her, whilst you were left unloved and unseen.
So when your brother started to visit once a month, you couldn’t have been more excited. There would finally be someone to be there for you, someone that would look at you for once, appreciate your existence. 
Well he started out like that. He’d come to your games and cheer you on, he’d take you out for ice cream after just the two of you. For the first time in your life you didn’t feel invisible.
But then as time started to pass, he came home less and less, until the visits were so few and far between that he practically disappeared from your life. Gone were the days of feeling wanted and needed, you were back to being a ghost in your own life.
Even coaches started to forget you, it was like you just blended into the background, like you were invisible.
Then slowly, your teammates started to ignore you too, barely even looking at the shell of a person you were during exercises. And slowly you started to accept it, the role of the ghost.
You put your head down, working even harder in school and on the pitch, only this time it was for yourself and not for anyone else.
Slowly it got harder for your coaches and teammates to ignore your ever growing presence, but it was made easier for them when you ignored them back. It might’ve not been the best coping mechanism, but it was one nonetheless.
When you got the offer to play at a big youth academy, you just ran home to tell your parents, purely by a combination of hope and excitement. It was in your excitement that you completely forgot who they were.
“MUM! DAD! I got into an academy in the city!” You shouted as soon as the door closed behind you, football bag with only the essentials in it dropping to the floor loudly.
“What is this ruckus Y/n. You know better than to interrupt Lila’s sleeping time. Pick your bag up and go to your room right this second young lady.” Despite her shouting louder than you had, you were still the one who got in trouble. 
“But I just wanted to tell you-” The words come out defeated, your parents not once being happy for you taking a toll on your entire being.
“But nothing.” She says sternly, pointing to the stairs. Head pointing towards the floor, you don’t let her see the salty tears forming in the corners of your eyes. She wouldn’t care anyway, not when her precious Lila still existed.
The walls shook with the amount of force you used to slam the door closed, the shouts of your mother lighting up the corridors like fireworks. The tears finally escaped when you were in the comfort of your own room, throwing your bag down to the floor harshly.
The bag wasn’t your source of frustration but once again it didn’t have any feelings either, it couldn’t see or feel, neither could it gain consciousness. So, it was the best thing to take out all your frustrations on.
But no matter how much you kicked and punched, no matter how many bruised knuckles you got from the hard materials inside the bag, it still didn’t get better.
Your parents weren’t going to magically start to care for you just because of some bruises, not when you had come home with far worse and they still hadn’t cared. You didn’t exist to them, their lives only revolved around Lila, the sun to their earths.
Picking up a plastic figurine from the ratty old desk you had inherited from your brother, you launch it across the room and directly into the wall. With a pop, the head of the Captain America figurine separates from the body, rolling across the hardwood floor almost mockingly. 
When the realization of what you’d done hit, you dropped down to your knees with a thud. Picking up the scratched and broken toy off the floor, you clutch the parts to your chest tightly like they would disappear if you loosened your hold ever so slightly.
How could you break the only thing your brother had ever given you? ‘Keep it safe for me, yeah?’ He told you when he left the house you grew up in the last time, he had said that he didn’t need it where he was going. You knew in the back of your mind that he wouldn’t care about the broken state of the toy, but the overwhelming and conflicting feelings waging a war inside you amplified your emotions tenfold.
You weren’t used to this, crying. No, it was much easier to compartmentalize your feelings, to experience your feelings rationally and not as emotionally as you just had.
But it seems like the feelings were far too strong this time, creating an earthquake of sorts in your mind that opened all the drawers of the imaginative dresser where you stored all your emotions. And so they hit you all at once, all the negative emotions and thoughts crashing into you like powerful waves.
Eventually there were no tears left to fall, empty sobs escaping your mouth every now and then, face buried in your knees with your back up against the wall. Breathing in deeply, you lean your head back against the colorless wall, wishing you could be anywhere but there at that moment.
Bringing your hands up to your face, they slowly fall back down to your sides, your muscles relaxing for the first time since you had come home. There was no point in just sitting there and sulking, the pitch not too far from your house calling your name.
Walking over to the bag, you open it up and pull out the old boots, they were falling apart at the seams but that didn’t matter. They would work another 6 or so months, as long as you stitched them back together.
The window creaked as you opened it up, throwing your now closed bag onto the bushes that lined your house. Climbing over the ledge, you sit down on the wooden lining, hands coming down to clutch the material tightly. Turning your body around, you lower yourself down until your arms are fully stretched out, pressing your feet to the wall and pushing your body away from the building.
Landing on your feet, you hurry to pick the bag up off the bush with calloused hands, the years of carrying the bag back and forth from training having taken its toll on your hands. Quick steps echo in the night air, nearing the uncared for pitch in record time.
Soon enough the thwack of your boot hitting the ball over and over is the only thing that can be heard, cleats ripping into the grass and pulling up the deep brown dirt underneath it. By the time you were done your knees ached and your feet were even worse, the boots not the most comfortable things in the world.
With some luck, you manage to find a ladder at the corner of your house, leaning it up against the brick wall of the house and climbing up it carefully. When you’re safely inside your room, you push the ladder away and close the window.
It becomes a routine of sorts, wake up, go to school, take the bus to the academy training grounds, train, go home, study and then go out to the pitch for another 2 or so hours of football. It was good, out there you could forget everything and just focus on getting better.
And that you did, quickly becoming one of the best youngsters not only in your academy but also in the country, much to your surprise. Life wasn’t slow and boring anymore, it was fast paced and fun for you.
Months passed by, a U-15 call up hitting your desk a single month before you turn 13, leaving you to celebrate your birthday alone in your hotel room. There was no way that you would tell a bunch of strangers of such a trivial thing, it wasn’t like they had even noticed you there, they already had their friend groups.
Thankfully, you seemed to have impressed the right people as you got called up time and time again after, showing everyone why you deserved to be there with strategic kicks of the ball and passes not even most professional players could make. It came naturally after so many hours of playing and subsequently watching people play.
Camp after camp you watched your teammates interact with each other, see them laugh and smile with their friends whilst you were on the outside looking in. It was no longer a problem, being alone, an expectation rather than a surprise.
Luckily enough for you, the senior call up happened only weeks after turning 16, leaving the older girls to take you under their wing. It was certainly…different, a completely new experience.
You had finally reached the top that you’d yearned for, getting recognised for being one of the best footballers in the entirety of England. The years of invisibility far gone, now praised enormously for the efforts you made during each and every game.
It got overwhelming quickly, all the attention from coaches and outlets alike only fuelling your need to perform, leading to countless hours spent out on the muddy pitch. Football, no matter how stressful, was your reprieve. Your savior of sorts.
You’d think after countless hours spent with your football that your passion for the sport would burn out, but in your case all it did was reinforce your spirit.
At 17 you got the option to either sign a professional contract with your youth club or go to America for college football on a full ride scholarship. Your decision to choose the latter of the two was less than popular with your parents.
“Mum, dad. Can you two give me your attention for once?” You question, sitting at the dinner table only meters away from where they’re washing the dishes.
“Why don’t you wait until the adults are done?” Your sorry excuse of a father shoots back, chuckling with your mother.
“I’m going away for college soon. In America.” The clanging of utensils hitting the metal surface of the sink interrupts the tense silence created by your statement.
“What did you just say?” Her tone was dangerously sweet and calm, almost trying to lure you into a false sense of security.
“You heard exactly what I said. There is no opinion to be had here, I was simply paying you two the courtesy to know.” Despite your tone being nonchalant, you were anything but. Leg bouncing up and down anxiously under the table, fingers fidgeting with each other.
“No. Y/n Y/l/n you are not leaving us to fend for ourselves, not like your brother. We need you here, Lila needs you.” Your mother basically pleads with you, reaching across the table to take hold of your hands.
Before she can even try to get near them, you pull them back towards your body harshly.
“Oh so now you need me? Now that I’m leaving you need me?” Your father has his arm slung around your mother’s shoulder, rubbing his hand up and down against her arm. “What about all the times I needed you two? All of the countless tournaments I participated in only for the coaches to ask me where you two were. You two have caused me so much pain and embarrassment.” 
“That’s unfair, your sister needed us more.” Your father tells you harshly, eyes drilling holes into the sides of your head.
“So? I couldn’t get one second of your time once a year?” You ask incredulously, their eyes widening in exasperation. “Me leaving for college isn’t even going to change anything, all you two do is care about Lila.” The last part comes out mumbled, so that the two adults in front of you couldn’t hear.
“I do not care for what you have to say, you are not going anywhere.”  
“And why not?” The card up your sleeve hasn’t been played yet, you wanted to revel in their expressions.
“Because we’re the adults here and we decide.” He responds lowly, as if trying to intimidate you.
“Oh but you’re forgetting something. As of an hour ago I am officially 18 years old and I get to decide whether I go or not.” You have to keep from laughing when their faces drop almost comically, eyes wide and jaws on the floor.
And so without much protest, they let you leave your childhood house only days later, getting on a plane out to North Carolina. It didn’t matter that the official season hadn’t started yet, you just wanted to get away.
Weeks passed by before any familiar faces appeared, the Brits you’d met during your stint in the youth groups of the national team. They were part of the main friend group, hugging and laughing with each other every second they got.
In reality, you had found them rather annoying at that age, shrill voices interrupting the otherwise peaceful environment. That’s why you could often be found in your hotel room, studying or messing around with a plushie football.
This time around you had been informed that you were to share a dorm with one of them, something you weren’t that opposed to. They were all nice after all, just a bit loud.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard but we do in fact have another Brit here in the team, someone the two of you have probably encountered before.” The loud voice of one of your American teammates floats through the hallway leading to your room, the notes just about getting through the music streaming into your ears.
“Oh shit.” Rushing to close all the open books on the table in front of you, the light knock on your door is heard through the bustling. “Come in” You let out nervously.
“Alessia, Lotte meet our resident Brit, Y/n Y/l/n!” The jazz hands coming from the older American doesn’t hide the absolute mess of your room. Your suitcase was laying messily on the ground, your body the only thing in the way of the war stricken look of your table.
Sticking your hand out towards the women, there’s a slight crash behind you, face scrunching up in a way that suggests that you were uncomfortable.
“I’m so sorry for the mess, I completely forgot about everything I was supposed to be doing today.” They both shake your hand, the brunette taking a firm hold of your hand whilst the blonde grasps your hand lightly with her much softer one.
The blonde looks around the room, a bed on either side of the room, one looking occupied and the other one bare.
“So Y/n, Alessia here is going to be sharing this dorm with you, plenty of time to get to know each other before the season starts.” All the American accents were hard to get used to, often quite startling.
You both nod your heads, not finding much to say regarding the arrangement. Alessia gets a pat on the back from the older student, letting her suitcase drop to the ground carefully.
“Come on then Lotte, let’s get you situated!” As soon as they appeared, they disappeared out of the messy room, Lotte following after the American like a duckling would its mother.
As the door closes behind them the room gets covered in a thick blanket of silence, Alessia still standing where she stood coming into the room and you with your back now turned to her, picking up the papers. 
“Please excuse the state of our room, I completely forgot that you were coming.” The words fall out of your mouth clumsily, your social skills still not up to par.
“Oh I understand, don’t worry.” Her voice is honey-like, smooth and sweet, almost like a Disney princess. When you turn back around the first thing you notice is her incredible beauty, something you didn’t exactly see before in your nervosity. 
“You’re in the senior squad right?” She asks, looking back at you with her baby blue doe eyes. Her intense gaze leaves you to clear your throat loudly, eyes blinking vigorously.
“Yeah I am.” The pitch of your voice peaks up at the end, leaving your statement to sound more like a question than anything. Her melodic giggles fill the room, your heart thumping painfully against your ribs at the sound.
“Are you asking me?” Her hands come up to tuck the hair that’s fallen in her face back behind her ears, her eyes scanning over your pajama clad body.
“Yeah I am.” You say more confidently this time, trying to right your earlier wrong. “Wait, wait, no” Her laugh mixes with yours this time, Alessia’s adorable expression lighting up the room. When the laughter halts, she stands up more straight with her hand out towards you, ready for you to take with your own.
“Come on, take my hand.” The forward urges you playfully, her head tilting a fraction to the right. Her hand feels warm in your own when you grasp it, a soft smile sent your way by the older girl making your insides all warm. “Hi, I’m Alessia Russo but my friends call me Less.” Alessia decides that the crease that appears between your eyebrows is adorable, her eyes flitting over your face.
“We’ve already been introduced?” This time the questioning tone is meant, genuine confusion plaguing your mind.
“I know, but just humor me for a second, okay?” The warmth flooding from your hand up throughout your body seemingly gives life to the butterflies fluttering their wings in your stomach. An unfamiliar but not unwelcome feeling.
“Hello, I’m Y/n Y/l/n but my teammates call me Ghost or some variant of it.” You reply cheekily, hand coming down to rest at your side. 
“Why is that?” She speaks up, a confused tone lingering in her voice.
“Because I’m a ghost from the 1700s that’s haunting this college.” Raising your hands up above your head, you let out an ‘ooo’ sound imitating a ghoul.
Her giggles start back up again, the midday sun peeking in through the blinds, leaving pale stripes on the dark floor. The comfortable silence between you two stays for a while, neither one of you really moving from where you’re seemingly glued to the floor.
Eventually she turns back to her bag, starting to unpack her luggage tentatively, not really knowing where to put her things.
After some thinking she seems to get a bit more comfortable, throwing her stuff here and there still making sure to keep to her side. The headphones resting over your ears play no music, allowing you to hear her humming under her breath, singing softly to the tune.
In the months that passed after your official introduction quite a lot happened. For starters, the college season started after a lot of struggle on your and Alessia’s part, Lotte fitting in with the other girls almost immediately. The blonde had a sense of protectiveness over you, the clear lack of social skills on your part making her pay extra attention to you to make sure that you weren’t alone.
Though there was that awkward moment when the striker asked you where your parents were after the first game, because surely it was too important to miss. The worried glance she shoots you when you make up a half-assed lie about them not getting enough time off to fly out and watch you. 
Needless to say, you spend the rest of that day in the library so that she can show her parents around the campus. And like the very mature 18 year old you are, as soon as you hear the sweet accented voice of your teammate in the quiet library you shoot up from your place on the old bean bag, weaving through the rows of books in order to escape your roommate and her happy family.
It wasn’t your fault per se that you were slightly jealous of her having parents that cared for her, and it sure as hell wasn’t her fault that yours were the way they were. It was better to just stay out, so that you wouldn’t get attached to a family that wasn’t your own.
Later that night, when her parents had left for their hotel, she questioned you intently on where you were the entire afternoon. Another lie followed, you telling her that you just had things to do, things that you couldn’t tell her about. 
She eventually let it go, but not before giving you a suspicious glance through the corner of her eye. You clearly weren’t good at lying, something she could see rather easily. 
“So, Y/n, do you wanna have breakfast with me and my parents tomorrow? They’ve been dying to finally meet you.” She asks, sitting down on your bed, her legs dangling off the end. Her hand comes up to lay on your leg, goosebumps rising on your skin whereupon her hand rests.  
A blush rises on your face, both at the question and her hand. You hadn’t even realized that she’d told her parents about you, but now it was obvious, parents in the movies always asked their kids all about college.
“Oh uhm, you know, I don’t want to intrude on your time with your parents.” Lifting your hand up, you make the motion of waving her off, not expecting her free hand to take yours.
“You wouldn’t be, they asked to meet you since you were so ‘busy’ today.” Her eyes stare into your soul, still soft and caring. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Alessia’s baby blues look down at the pattern on your blanket, her hand on your leg tracing the patterns into your skin.
“NO, no, believe me Alessia, I would love to go…” Your voice trails off softly, looking for the correct words so as to not reveal exactly why you were hesitant.
“But…” She continues your sentence.
“But I’m not good with people, and I don't want to give them the wrong impression of me. Family’s important for you, from what I’ve heard, and I just want yours to like me.” Somehow her eyes soften even more, the blonde girl moving up the bed to settle beside you, her arm snaking over your shoulders. Your head lands on her collarbone, one hand still holding onto hers tightly.
“Don’t you worry, if I like you, which I do, then they will like you as well.” She smiles down at you, faces inches from the other’s.
A knock on the door interrupts the moment, the loud noise making the two of you jump apart. The door opens with a creak and Lotte pops her head into the room, a large smile on her face at your and Alessia’s seeming closeness.
“Not interrupting anything, am I?” She asks teasingly, Alessia immediately shooting her the meanest glare she could muster up, though that was like being glared at by a marshmallow. Your face on the other hand was redder than a tomato, the insinuating words making you nervous.
“No not at all, I was just about to leave for my evening run, I’ll see you both later!” You basically sprinted out of the room as soon as you had shoes on your feet, taking to jogging your normal round more than once. 
By the time you were back in the dorm room, your feet were aching unpleasantly and your blonde counterpart was asleep. It was a begrudgingly difficult task to tiptoe around the room without waking the blue eyed girl, but in the end you managed not to wake her.
Though she’s not nearly as careful the next morning, stomping around like a maniac and making a bunch of noise for you to wake up to.
“Less, what are you doing? Let me sleep.” The last word of your sentence was drawn out thoroughly, groaning as you stretch out your body.
“Nope, no time! We’re meeting my parents in 20 minutes at the cafe.” She comes up and boops your nose before letting you spring up from the bed, rushing around the room at 100 km/h, gathering up all your nice looking clothes and letting Alessia choose the optimal pairing.
All the way to the off campus cafe you were stressed, but the way Alessia’s hand fit so snuggly in your own was a little comforting. She knew about your anxious nature around new people, even if those people were the least judgmental ever.
“It’s going to go great Y/n, my parents already love you, trust me, there’s basically no way that you can make them hate you.” Her words soothing you more than she’ll ever know, your shoulders feeling like they’d had a massive weight lifted off them. 
With newfound confidence, you get through the breakfast like a champ, even enjoying the entire thing. Alessia’s parents were everything yours weren’t, they were kind and generous, loving and sweet and all around great people. You wondered what it would be like to grow up with parents like them instead of yours.
And it seems like you made a good first impression on them too, because as you and Alessia said your goodbyes they gave you the warmest hugs you’d ever gotten paired with a big kiss on the cheek.
Alessia couldn’t understand why you burst into tears as soon as the two of you were in the comfort of your own dorm. It came so suddenly, the tears that seemed never ending and the sobs that echoed around the small room.
As soon as Alessia heard the first sob escaping your throat she turned around, being met with the sight of your hands covering your face, trying to subside the tears streaming down your face.
“Hey, hey, what happened love? Why are you crying?” Her voice grows worried quickly as her hands take hold of your forearms. She tries to remove your hands from the premise of your face, thinking that you’d hurt yourself.
“It’s nothing, it’s just…your parents are such wonderful people and I guess I just wish that mine were the same.” You regret the sobbed words as soon as they exit your mouth, of course you would be so stupid as to tell her about your parents. Now you’d have to tell her the truth about them, there was simply no avoiding it.
“Oh, if you don’t mind me asking, what do you mean?” Her voice is softened, like when talking to a baby, and her arms hold you tight against her chest. Alessia’s hands move from your forearms and down around your back, rubbing her hand up and down softly. 
You’d known each other for months yet the topic of your parents hadn’t come up once. It was funny really, the way that they’d destroyed your childhood.
Inbetween a couple sniffles you begin the whole story, speaking slowly so as to not burst out in tears at every broken memory, every missed game, every single thing they’d not done for you.
“Uhm, I don’t really know where to start, but I know it all started with the birth of Lila, my sister. She was a…difficult pregnancy for my mom and uh when she was born there were complications. She didn’t get enough oxygen to her brain and uh that led to her being disabled, not enough for it to impact her life but enough for my parents to uhm…get attached to her. She’s their ‘rainbow baby’ and it seems like everything she’s ever done overshadows any of my or my brother’s achievements. It’s like as soon as they brought her home from the hospital both me and my brother were invisible. But he was lucky, he got to go off to uni within a year of her birth, me? I had to wait 14 years to get out.” You let out a humourless laugh at the end, not even looking the blonde in the eye after she tried to get you to.
“They never came to a game, no matter how big of a deal it was, they always let my sister blow out my candles on my birthday cake and they gave her more gifts on MY birthday than they did me. You want to know what they did when I told them that I had been recruited by an academy? They told me to shut up because my sister needed rest. On my senior team debut they left early because my sister wanted to get ice cream, it was the one moment for me to show them that I didn’t need them to be great, do you understand how embarrassing it was to look around for your parents after scoring twice on your national team debut only to see that they’re not there? The embarrassment of being asked why you’re not celebrating with your family? Of being worth so little to the people who made you that they couldn’t even be assed to sit for ninety minutes for their daughter? All I’ve ever wanted was for them to notice me, love me, care about me, but all that wishful thinking went away that day. I no longer cared for them or anything other than my teammates and footy. So yeah, that’s the entire story.” You didn’t even notice that you’d been talking for the past 30 minutes nor that tears spilled out of both you and Alessia’s eyes. When you finally looked up and in her eyes, they were filled with salty tears just like your own, tears that fell quietly and slid down her face peacefully.
Bringing your hand up, you quickly wipe her face softly, her baby blues enhanced by the layer of tears over them, slight redness to the whites of her eyes.
Alessia’s eyes bore into your own, her eyes expressing hundreds of feelings, everything from sorrow and empathy to love and kindness. It’s not until she looks down at your chapped lips that you finally understand what it is you’ve been feeling since you first met her again after so many years. 
It wasn’t nervousity or stress, it was love. Pure, genuine, unconditional love. You were utterly in love with the striker. And by the way she was inching her face closer to yours, she was pretty in love with you too.
Your lips meet hers in a soft and innocent embrace, all your emotions spilling into the kiss. Her lips were soft and they tasted of strawberries, her favourite chapstick the same taste. 
Your lips moved against each other’s softly for just a moment shorter than you wanted. Her eyes were closed as you opened yours just a sliver, observing the way one of Alessia’s hands comes up to touch at her kiss swollen lips softly.
When her eyes finally do open, they’re met with still tear stained cheeks and a big happy smile. The baby blues meet yours and they instantly see the love and adoration in them, it’s so obvious that she nearly starts crying again.
“Okay love, before we talk about what just happened i want to say that your parents missed out on the best person I’ve ever met. You are so wonderful and beautiful and you have so many wonderful people who love you to death, me being one of them. During the last few months that you have been apart of my life you’ve showed me that it’s possible to love someone more than anything. You have endless passion for football and for your friends, you’ve inspired me to become a better person simply by being you and that’s one of the most amazing things that I’ve ever witnessed. You’ve done a better job at raising yourself than most parents do with their kids and I want you to know that I’m so proud of you. I can’t comprehend how they could be so blind that they missed what a wonderful person you are. I’ve loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you, your hair a mess from pulling at it and books scattered all around the room. I love you so much that it feels like I’m going to burst whenever I’m around you.” You can see the sincerity in her eyes as she looks at you, smiling ever so slightly.
“I love you too Alessia. I’m so in love with you that I’m going mad.” The way she picks herself up from the floor has you convinced that she’s going to leave you there where you sit on the floor, all alone. Only that’s not what she does, instead she holds out her hand for you to take.
“Come on love, go get cleaned up so I can take you on a date.” Her hand playfully taps your behind as you walk away towards the sink to wash the tears off your face, and you turn around to glare at her playfully.
5 long years later and you’re lifting the Euros trophy alongside your co-captain and subsequent maid of honour Leah and your longtime girlfriend soon turned fiancée. 
All you could think after she said yes was how incredibly lucky you were to have someone like her in your life.
739 notes · View notes
zepskies · 4 months
Text
Green
Tumblr media
Pairing: Soldier Boy (Ben) x F. Reader, Ben and daughter!OC
Summary: Ben spends the day alone with his daughter, to varying degrees of success. When you get home, it prompts a serious conversation.
AN: Another one-shot for the BMD-verse, set sometime after "Until Morning" (you'll see). This can be read as standalone as well!
Word Count: 2,500 Tags/Warnings: 18+ only! Father and daughter fluff, followed by husband and wife spice.~
Read more of the BMD-verse! ⤵️
💚 Break Me Down Masterlist
Tumblr media
Father and daughter were glaring at one another, gazes locked.
Green against green.
“Young lady, I’m telling you right now. I’m not gonna tolerate any more of your little attitude,” said Ben. “If you want to try me, be my guest.”
He held the ravioli poised on a pink plastic spoon. His daughter Lila sat in her highchair in the kitchen, boldly refusing any more of her lunch.
Her stubborn face reminded him entirely too much of you. But he needed her to eat. He wouldn’t have it said when you came home that he couldn’t feed a damn two-year-old.
He huffed. “Work with me here. Just a couple more bites.”
Lila made a shrill sound of refusal when the spoon came near her face. He knew she could use a spoon just fine. She was being difficult on purpose.
To demonstrate her resolve, she slapped at the ravioli with a chubby little hand, and it ended up splashing back into the bowl. A bit of red sauce splattered onto Ben’s cheek, with a pinch of it hitting his eye.
He blinked in annoyance. “Delilah Marie, I swear to Christ—”
She’s just a baby, a voice that sounded a lot like you infiltrated his mind. It still didn’t take away his aggravation.
“No!” Lila insisted. It was her favorite word, right behind Bluey.
She then pushed the bowl right off the highchair. It spilled ravioli and pasta sauce all over the floor in spectacular fashion. Ben was sitting in his own chair by the dining table, where he moved his feet back at the last moment. She almost got his Italian loafers.
“You gotta be f…” It took every scrap of patience within him to hold his tongue…and breathe calmly through his nose. He didn’t want to reward this destructive, disrespectful behavior, but he also knew that he needed his daughter to eat.
“Want some applesauce?” he said, as a peace offering.
Lila’s face scrunched.
“No applesauce, huh?” Ben muttered. He glanced at the mess across the highchair and the formerly white tile on the floor. “Your mother’s gonna have a conniption.”
“Mommy?” Lila asked. “Mommy’s home?”
“No, she’s not here right now,” Ben replied. “She’ll be home later.”
Lila seemed to understand, because that’s when she got upset again. Her red-stained finger drew a shapeless form in the sauce as she pouted. At least she wasn’t crying.
Ben sighed, once again, and stroked her cheek with his thumb.
Fuck it.
“You want some ice cream?” he bribed.
Her sadness dissipated at the thought; she smiled brightly and nodded. “Yeah!”
“Yeah, I thought so,” he grumbled.
After a scoop of strawberry ice cream for each of them (she liked it because it was pink), Ben wrangled her up out of the highchair and declared, bath time.
Tumblr media
He did fine with the bathing process. He’d helped you with this before, and so he knew what to do in order to wash the sauce off her face, hands, and even her hair. It was what came after the bath that remained a problem.
Lila was stubborn beyond belief, even before she could articulate what it was about the soft green onesie that she didn’t like. No, she wasn’t satisfied until Ben pulled out the yellow Starlight themed pajamas. Probably because they had “Auntie Annie’s” face all over them.
He rolled his eyes, but this wasn’t a hill he needed to die on. He dressed Lila and tried to tuck her into bed for her afternoon nap. The problem was, she refused to lie still in the crib.
Instead, she was bouncing on the balls of her feet, using the edge of the crib for balance. He’d be impressed, if she wasn’t trying to climb out and give him a small heart attack.
He grabbed her and gathered her against his chest. Despite the super strength you’d temporarily displayed off and on throughout your pregnancy, Lila’s powers were latent at the moment. Dr. Baker seemed to think Lila would start to display them once she got old enough. Like Ryan, who hadn’t started growing into his powers until around 10 years old.
So for now, Lila was a mostly normal two-year-old who could still get hurt.
Ben frowned. “This is the time you usually go down. Why do you have so much energy?”
She just giggled at him and put both hands on his face, over his eyes.
“Daddy, guess who?”
He sighed, but couldn’t help smiling. As usual, he indulged her.
“Could it be my baby girl?”
He waited until her hands came away from his eyes, and he opened them wide.
“There she is!”
She squealed and giggled and grabbed his hair when he kissed her cheek. In the comfort of his own home, he could afford to be this openly affectionate.
Aw shit, he thought, as something occured to him.
He finally realized why she was so fucking hyper. Maybe it had something to do with the giant scoop of ice cream she’d had for lunch.
Goddamn it. Ben sighed and unwrapped her arm from around his head.
“Okay, let’s watch some TV.”
Tumblr media
Lila didn’t seem all that interested in watching anything, or even playing with her toys. She mainly wanted to jump on Ben’s stomach while he was trying to relax on the couch. He put on a football game you taped for him. Or recorded, as you'd said.
“All right, enough. Your old man’s trying to watch the game,” Ben said, bringing Lila down to sit in lap.
That lasted for about two seconds. Thereafter, she was climbing up his chest and trying to smother him with her little hands.
He took her hand from his nose so he could at least breathe in peace.
“Where’s Mommy?” Lila asked, as she sat on his shoulder and beat a little fist on the top of his head.
“She’s with your aunt,” Ben replied. “Well, not your real one, the fake one.”
Lila made a sound of confusion. Realizing that she didn’t know what the hell he meant, he rephrased.
“She’s with your Aunt Annie. They’ll be back soon,” he said.
He didn’t mind you wanting a day out to yourself. What he minded was the attitude you’d struck when he suggested dropping Lila off with Louisa, your actual sister.
“What, you can’t handle her alone for one day?” you’d asked.
His pride hadn’t allowed him to say no to that.
So here he was, with a wily toddler who was doing her damndest to suffocate him. Better attempts than this had failed, but it was still annoying while he was trying to watch the game.
Somehow, he managed to tune it out while he watched the ref make a bad call.
“What was that?! You gotta be kidding me!” Ben said, holding Lila to his chest even as he pointed and shouted at the TV. “Son of a bitch. What a pussy call that was.”
“Bish, bish, bish,” Lila said, making a game out of the word. It called Ben’s attention.
He forgot about the game for a moment when he looked down at her. His eyes widened a fraction, even as a smile pulled at his lips.
“What’d you just say?”
“Bishhhhhh,” Lila repeated. “Somvabishhhh.” Her lips squished like a fish. And then she giggled, like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard.
“Aw, fuck,” Ben uttered.
And he pressed his lips together with ever widening eyes at what he’d just said.
Lila grinned. “Fack!”
“Uhh, no. No. Don’t say that,” he said, trying to sound stern. Inside, he was trying not to laugh. He didn't really give a shit what she said, but you were particular about the kid not inheriting his vocabulary.
In fact, he was pretty sure you were going to go nuclear for this one.
“Why?” Lila asked.
“Because it’s uh…a bad word,” Ben replied, even though he wanted to roll his eyes at himself. This was what he’d become. A suburban dad.
"And it's not ladylike," he added.
“Fackkkk,” Lila giggled some more.
Christ on a cross. Ben bit the inside of lip hard to stop himself from laughing.
“Whatever. Just don’t say it around your mom,” he relented. He brushed his fingers through her soft brown hair. She preened at the attention, like the little showboat she was.
“Daddyyyy…” Lila wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled as deeply into him as she could, like a koala clinging to a shaking branch.
Ben sighed and rubbed a hand up and down her back as he cradled her against him.
These were the moments he didn’t mind. In fact, these were the moments he did his best to remember. They helped block out the older, darker ones that this kid would never know.
Tumblr media
Ben woke to the shutter of a camera going off.
He blinked his bleary eyes open to find you standing there with a highly amused smile on your face, and your phone poised in your hand.
He groaned, but he soon realized that Lila was sleeping in his arms, on his chest. You leaned down and rested a hand on her back. You also greeted him with a kiss to his temple.
“Long day?” you teased quietly.
Ben gave you a deadpan look, one that had you straining to taper down your giggles. Though he drew you closer by your hip and squeezed the soft flesh over your white sundress. He took you in with a lazy once-over.
You looked good. Sexy as hell, really. Your face was glowing and relaxed, and he liked the shade of red you’d done on your nails.
“You have a good time?” he asked.
“Yeah,” you replied, massaging his shoulder. Though you arched a brow. “There’s a catastrophe in the kitchen.”
Ben blinked.
Fuck. He forgot about that.
“Yep,” he said, giving you a teasing smirk of his own. “Right on time for you, baby.”
You chuckled, though your eyes narrowed in warning. “Yeah, right.”
You still helped him put Lila down in the nursery for the rest of her nap. She yawned and turned over onto her back. You pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, though you had to smile when it accidentally left the red mark of your lipstick behind.
You bit your lip and gently rubbed it off without waking her up. (An amazing damn feat, as far as you were concerned.)
Ben laid a heavy hand on your back, prompting you to straighten up and turn into his waiting embrace.
His lips curved as he looked down at you. “Hey.”
You laughed quietly. “Hey, yourself.”
Your hands glided up his chest, and further still to hold his face. You brought him down to kiss you, with your fingers slipping into his hair, and your nails dragging along his scalp. He hummed into your mouth.
“Miss me?” you teased.
Ben huffed. As usual though, his answer was in his actions. He held you close for a moment, just to feel you there.
Your arms slipped around his, clinging to his shoulders as you rested against him. This was your safe, comfortable place where you always felt at home.
But, you couldn’t help but break the spell.
“Come on. Clean up on aisle 12,” you quipped, reaching around to smack his ass.
Ben rolled his eyes, but when you pulled away from him, he followed you into the kitchen.
“You know, I had a lot going on. Your kid is a fucking menace,” he said. “Like a bull in a China shop.”
You scoffed. “She’s only my kid when she gives you a hard time. Where do you think she gets it from?”
“You,” he retorted.
You had to laugh at that one. It still didn’t get him out of helping you clean the kitchen from top to bottom.
Tumblr media
After a long shower, waking an errant child from her nap, dinner, and a joint effort of getting Lila to sleep for the night, Ben joined you in bed wearing just his usual sweatpants.
You’d opted for some black satin, he noticed.
Good, he thought, for the night to come. You’d spent the whole day getting massaged and moisturized and whatever else women did on a day out.
When he rolled onto his side, you greeted him with a smile and a hand running up his arm, already pulling him toward you. His hand glided along your bare thigh as you hooked it over his hip.
“I need to tell you something, but you’ve gotta promise not to say anything to anyone,” you whispered in the small space between his face and yours, and you tapped his chin.
Ben raised a brow and squeezed your thigh. Whatever it was, couldn’t it wait until long after he’d undressed you?
“What?” he asked.
“Annie’s pregnant!” you said with a wide smile. “Six weeks. She just told me today.”
Ben blinked at that one. “Is it Hughie’s kid?”
“Wha…of course, it is!”
“Wow. Guess he had it in him after all,” Ben remarked. “Who woulda thought.”
You shook your head, but his grin made you laugh.
“You’re ridiculous,” you said, through your remaining giggles, though you leaned forward and stole a kiss. It led Ben to want more, and more of you.
He started to ply you with slow, lazy kisses that grew deeper, becoming all-consuming as his tongue warred against yours. His hands dove under the satin covering your body, and his thumbs brushed the sides of your breasts.
“Maybe it’s time we go for number two,” he said.
You uttered another incredulous laugh, gripped a fist in his hair and tugged. “Excuse me?”
“You fucking heard me,” Ben said. He rolled you onto your back and pinned you there. “Ain’t no way we’re stopping at one. Lila needs a brother.”
“You can’t even handle one,” you teased. Your hands slid up his arms and then down his chest. “Baby, we can talk about having more kids, but—”
“And? We’re talking now,” he said. He dipped his head to start kissing a hot, wet line down your neck. It made your breath falter and your back start to arch. Your hips shifted against his, trying to find friction. You could feel his length hardening against your thigh.
“Ben,” you warned, and implored, but the graze of his teeth on your neck made you shudder.
Your grip on his arms tightened. “Please…”
“Please what?” he smirked against your skin. His hips rocked against your heated core.
This conversation was going into a no man’s land very fast.
You literally took matters into your own hands…by reaching down and grasping your husband’s cock through his sweatpants. You gave him a demanding squeeze.
His breath hitched. Ben paused, unlatching from your neck, and turning his lips toward your cheek.
“I’m listening,” he said, in a gritted voice. You smirked.
“We can, and we will talk about this,” you promised. “Just not when you’re about to be balls-deep inside me.”
You were back on birth control anyway (the pill this time).
Ben chuckled. His hand reached up and smoothed your hair away from your forehead.
“Fine,” he conceded. A smirk grew across his face. “But we can still practice.”
A giggle fell from your lips, just before he claimed them once again.
Tumblr media
AN: A little callback to the BMD Epilogue at the end there. 😂
What did you think about the father/daughter time? And do you think Ben won against either of the ladies in his life? 🤣
Tumblr media
Soldier Boy Masterlist
Main Masterlist
BMD Tag List (Part 1):
@this-is-me19 @waynes-multiverse @mrsjenniferwinchester @samanddeaninatrenchcoat @spalady26 @spnwoman @syrma-sensei @wirdbeimaufhebengebunden @muhahaha303 @123passwort
@xoxoviennaa @katherineann814 @lollag0w0 @globetrotter28 @nancymcl @ashbatz @secretdreamlandmentality @kristophalis @wonderland2022 @emily-winchester @shelh93 @sl33pylilbunny @spoonmynoodle @chernayawidow
@buckybarnes-1917 @asgardprincess97 @sometimes-i-sing @itsyellow @karnellius @kimberleymjw @is-this-a-febreze-commercial @iamsapphine @sanscas @se-fucking-hun @lassie-bird @jessjad @yepimthatperson @fromcaintodean @stoneyggirl2
@spnfamily-j2 @im-a-slut-for-fluff @lacilou @venicesem @mimaria420 @vanillawhiskeyflavoredkisses @tearsfortheyouth @agalliasi @chriszgirl92 @kazsrm67
Tumblr media
771 notes · View notes
Text
IOTA Reviews: Emotion
Tumblr media
Hey, remember Felix? You know, that minor character who is the entire reason Gabriel has all of Ladybug's other Miraculous? The writers remembered he existed more than halfway through the season.
Let's get into the eighteenth episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Emotion
We start off with Marinette and Adrien getting ice cream, and just like last episode, right when they're about to kiss, Adrien stops at the last second. While we don't see it, it's heavily implied that Gabriel is behind this. It turns out that Adrien has to get ready for some dance for rich people. While it has a name and I think it was mentioned in a few earlier episodes this season, it's really just some dance for rich people, so I don't care enough to remember it. Of course, all of the rich characters we know are invited, like Kagami, Chloe, Zoe, and Prince Ali. Lila, on the other hand, wasn't invited. This might sound important, but nothing happens with her until the end.
Zoe isn't going because of the “character development” she's gotten, so she offers to let Marinette wear her dress to the dance, which just so happens to be a masquerade ball. Tikki asks why Marinette even wants to go to this party she wasn't invited to, but all Marinette says is that it's so she can tell Adrien that she didn't have to keep the dance a secret from her. Why didn't Marinette just call Adrien? Because then we wouldn't have a story.
At the ball, Adrien and Kagami are the king and queen or whatever because their parents are really determined to make their ship sail even though the two show no real interest in each other (insert your own joke about the writers here), but they're interrupted by Amelie, Emilie's twin sister and Felix's mom. She's worried because her son has been missing for weeks, but Gabriel couldn't care less about the little twerp.
At the party, we get a somewhat amusing joke where Chloe fails to recognize Marinette under her mask, where Marinette not only says her name is Zoe, but her “underling” is named Chloe too. But speaking of...
Chloe: How rich are your parents? Rich? Very rich? Immensely rich? Of course, otherwise you wouldn't be here! It's too bad we can't bring out underlings with us. I'm sure these tin cans can serve properly but we can't make fun of them! (grabs a drink from a butler robot before kicking it) So lame!
Okay, did the writers just stop caring about writing convincing dialogue for Chloe? This is a problem I've noticed a lot this season. Yeah, Chloe was bad in the last four seasons, but here, she constantly talks about how Sabrina is her “underling” (Passion), or how she finds Marinete's suffering to be amusing (Derision). It's not really out of character, but it's weird how she's so much more blunt when it comes to boasting about how full of herself she is. It feels like a lot of her lines this season were meant to be placeholders for stuff the writers thought they'd change later, but then they decided to keep it in anyway. And of course to show how stuck up the other rich kids saying the same kind of stuff Chloe normally says, which is somehow less subtle social commentary than Hop Pop shouting “EAT THE RICH!”.
Adrien and Kagami talk about how they're expected to follow orders, while pretty much saying that Kagami is a Sentimonster since the camera really wants to show off her ring.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Oh wow. what does this mean? Wow, this is such a compelling mystery with so many twists and turns. I am so very invested right now.
youtube
However, as the two talk, it's clear that Adrien isn't himself, literally.
“Adrien”: Let's leave, I dare you.
Kagami: Are you insane? We can't do that.
“Adrien”: Of course, we can. I can.
Kagami: (gasps) You'd do that?
“Adrien”: Wanna bet?
Kagami: No, we can't.
“Adrien”: See? You're not as free as you claim. Don't you think we should be able to decide our future?
I'll get back to this later.
Marinette tells “Adrien” that she loves her, but Chloe figures out that Marinette crashed a party she wasn't invited to. Of course, because this is Chloe, we're supposed to ignore how unnecessary this plan was for Marinette. Seriously, Marinette crashing the party in “Gabriel Agreste”, as illogical as it was, made sense, because they needed to stop Chloe from showing Gabriel incriminating footage of Marinette. Here, Marinette had no real reason to crash this party when all she had to do was call Adrien, and Chloe, like her or hate her, makes a good point in that she wasn't invited. But again, since this is Season 5 Chloe, she could say she opposes human trafficking, and the writers would still find a way to make her look like the bad guy.
Chloe tells the other rich kids to help her expose Marinette, but because they're so stuck up and entitled, they refuse to touch her. I'll give you all a moment to groan from that unfunny joke. Then we get this conversation between Marinette and “Adrien”.
“Adrien”: All eyes are on you.
Marinette: They're looking at me like I'm a monster.
“Adrien”: Look closer, Marinette. (whispers into her ear) They're the monsters.
I officially take back everything bad I ever said about the Canto Bight scenes from The Last Jedi.
While I get what the episode's going for, we really haven't seen a lot of the 1% doing things that would actually warrant this level of scorn from the audience. Yeah, most of them were egotistical snobs, especially Chloe, but you can't really see this as a shot at the elite when it's aimed at their children instead of their parents. All we've seen in this episode is the rich kids being jerks (and even then, it's played for laughs), Chloe rightfully trying to get Marinette thrown out of a party she had no reason to crash, and Gabriel and Tomoe trying to pair their children together. If you want to show the audience how bad rich people are, you need to show them actually abusing their power and mistreating others. As bad as the aforementioned Canto Bight scenes were, they still worked because it managed to back up the point it was trying to make.
Compare this to characters like the Ferengi from Star Trek or the World Nobles from One Piece. These are allegories for the 1% that work because they do a better job at exaggerating aspects of them that can translate to how we see the elite in our world. With the Ferengi, they represent everything wrong with cutthroat businessmen who base their entire society over financial gains, and with the World Nobles, they represent the disconnect with the common people by being so arrogant, they wear helmets that prevent them from breathing the same air as the commoners. If you wanted to show how bad the rich were, especially considering what's going to happen in a few minutes, you needed to do more to make the audience not like them so we'd be more happy to see them get their comeuppance.
Marinette figures out that Felix impersonated Adrien once again (it honestly stops being impressive when he's done it during literally every episode he appears in), and he decides to transform using the Peacock Miraculous in public for some reason, calling himself Argos.
Tumblr media
Argos' design is okay. The suit and coattails look pretty nice, and the coloring on his face works a lot better than Gabriel's. The only problem I have is the way the hood looks. It looks too goofy to go with the rest of the suit. It kind of reminds me of that salmon suit Squidward wore in that one episode of SpongeBob SquarePants.
Tumblr media
Before anyone else at the party can do anything, Argos reveals a Sentimonster he created, Red Moon.
Tumblr media
Red Moon is... a red moon. It's just a red moon that floats above the city, and it gives Argos the ability to make anyone bathed in its light disappear with a snap of his fingers. If anything, this shows how overpowered the Peacock Miraculous is, and that Gabriel was a real idiot for not trying anything like this while he was Shadowmoth.
Anyway, after making everyone think his cousin is a supervillain as part of his brilliant plan, Argos decides to tell everyone in the room about what his Sentimonster can do. He demonstrates this by, of course, choosing to snap away Chloe before targeting Gabriel and Tomoe. You really have your priorities straight, buddy. Argos then carries Marinette outside before throwing her in a dumpster, because if he snapped her away, than Ladybug couldn't fight him.
But then Argos decides to go to the streets, and decides to snap away a bunch of innocent civilians... while singing a jazz song. To anyone curious as to what it sounds like, I must warn you, it isn't for the feint of heart.
I take back everything bad I ever said about the Hawkmoth rap.
First off, I'm just going to say it, Bryce Papenbrook cannot sing. Argos is clearly trying to sound like a suave and confident villain like Doctor Facilier from The Princess and the Frog, but his delivery is terrible. It either ranges from flat monotone to trying to shout while dealing with a sore throat. The point I'm trying to make is that there was a good reason someone else did the singing voice for Adrien in the recent movie.
Second, this doesn't do anything to make us root for Argos as a character, because there's no reason for him to be doing this. I can understand why he'd use his power to get rid of Gabriel and Tomoe (even Chloe, given we know how much she's done), but why is he suddenly going nuts snapping a bunch of random people who haven't even met him before? The episode tries to make him a character who only does bad things because he has no choice to, so him doing this to a bunch of innocent civilians makes no sense.
Finally, WHY THE HELL IS THIS SCENE A MUSICAL NUMBER?! It's hard enough to see Argos callously wipe out a bunch of bystanders, essentially committing genocide, but the tone of the song is all upbeat and cheery, while the lyrics are about how Argos should get whatever he wants. What is the purpose of adding a song here? Are we supposed to find this funny? Is it meant to establish Felix as a wild card? Is the song supposed to make us like him more because of how catchy it is? What was the writers' endgame here? Like I mentioned earlier, this flies in the face of the characterization the episode is trying to establish for him.
Marinette transforms into Ladybug and arrives on the scene, confronting Argos over what he did last season.
Ladybug: You're the reason why I lost the other Miraculous in the first place! And why he took them! You gave them to him without any regard for the consequences it might have with the people of Paris!
Argos: True, except I work for no one. I only helped Monarch cause it served my plans! I needed the Peacock Miraculous and today I need yours and Cat Noir's so I can make my wish!
Ladybug: Your wish?! What do you want?! What are you trying to do?! You're destroying the world and we don't even know why!
Argos: When I merge your Miraculous together, I'll make a wish to create a better world! A free world, where no one will be under anyone's control anymore, where no one will be excluded like I was! A world without people like you to decide what's right or wrong! Who gets powers and who doesn't!
Dude, you're literally playing God right now by snapping away people who did nothing wrong, while singing a song at that. You have no right to lecture Ladybug on how to use power responsibly. And once again, even though we just saw him happily snapping people out of existence like the kid from that one Twilight Zone episode, the episode is going back to portraying him as someone who's only doing this because he has nothing to lose.
Ladybug tries to use her Lucky Charm, but gets nothing in response. This is because her plan is to get Argos to give up, but even in episodes where her plan was to get Akumas to give up, she still got her Lucky Charm (Rocketear, Qilin, Penalteam, Reunion, Perfection, Intuition), so this doesn't really make any sense. Ladybug calls Argos' bluff, so he wipes out everyone from existence. After running into Kagami and snapping Adrien back into existence, Argos is surprised that they aren't thanking him for wiping out all of humanity, and in fact, see him as a complete psychopath.
We then learn Felix's true plan. Earlier that day, Argos capitalized on a opening he had been hoping he would get for weeks, and then created Red Moon. Right after Adrien's date with Marinette, Argos ambushed Adrien, and snapped him out of existence with Red Moon's power. He then decided to impersonate Adrien so he could infiltrate the dance and snap Gabriel, Tomoe, and everyone else out of existence.
I think my feelings on this plan can be perfectly summarized by Tony Stark.
youtube
First off, why did he need to sneak into the dance? All Felix had to do was transform into Argos, and nobody would know who he really was.
Second, why did he need to impersonate Adrien? Felix claims he's doing this for him, yet all he did was steal his girlfriend and ruin his public reputation. As a matter of fact, why did he even snap Adrien away? You're already wiping out all of humanity, so I don't think temporarily doing the same to Adrien will earn you any goodwill.
Third, why did he waste so much time screwing around with Marinette and Kagami? I sort of get why he would try to get in Kagami's good graces (keyword being “try”) by trying to convince her to rebel against her mother more, but why did he dance around with Marinette while pretending to be Adrien? Felix later says he wanted to spare Marinette for Adrien's sake, but he barely knows her, and whether she finds out Felix impersonated her boyfriend or not, she's going to be pissed at either you or Adrien because of your galavanting. In fact, I don't think he ever told Adrien that he danced with Marinette while at the dance in the first place.
Finally, he really needed to wait for this for weeks? If your goal was to get rid of Gabriel and Tomoe, why didn't you just ambush them yourself instead of waiting for a public function? This isn't like has last few appearances where he needed to rely on his intellect. He has superpowers now. All he has to do is create another Sentibug or some kind of assassin Sentimonster and he can be rid of them easily. Instead, he waited weeks for a chance to steal his cousin's identity, dance with his girlfriend, talk trash about Kagami for listening to her mother when he's supposed to be helping her and Adrien, blow his cover in a crowded area by transforming, and use his killer moon to erase all of humanity from existence while singing. Remember, this is the show that usually makes jokes about Marinette's obsession with unnecessarily complicated plans.
Anyway, Argos tries to use his powers to bring Marinette back, but for some reason, they won't work. My best guess is that it's because Marinette transformed into Ladybug, but that shouldn't chance the fact that Argos snapped her with Red Moon's power. After trying to justify his genocide by saying he never wanted to hurt Adrien and Kagami, Argos remembers how his powers work and brings everyone back. After Ladybug lets him go scot-free, Argos goes to a private place realizes that he may have made a few mistakes for almost wiping out all of humanity, tearfully snapping Red Moon out of existence, calling it “his sister”. Because I guess we were supposed to emotionally connect to the giant moon that showed little to no signs of sentience this entire episode? Argos transforms back to Felix, and we learn that Amelie knew where he was the whole time, and she was apparently testing Gabriel for some reason.
After Adrien explains to Marinette that his father ordered him to not tell her about the dance, Adrien goes to talk to Gabriel about it. Gabriel, being Gabriel uses his control over Adrien to force him to never talk about Marinette again. Gabriel then gets a call from Lila, and even though she's been nothing but helpful to him since Season 3, he's apparently tired with her. Why is he suddenly rejecting the help of his most competent (by comparison) ally?
youtube
Also, the episode ends with the revelation that Lila somehow knows Gabriel is Monarch. Why? How? I DON'T CARE, BECAUSE THIS EPISODE SUCKS!
Oh my God, this episode was just terrible! “Derision” and “Adoration” definitely got to me with the way their stories were handled, but this was the first episode in a while to really piss me off. The plot was contrived as hell, basically being a repeat of “Gabriel Agreste”, and you all know how I wasn't exactly a fan of that episode. Think about it: Marinette sneaks into a party, Felix tries to scheme against Gabriel, and Marinette and Adrien end up getting caught in one of his schemes.
The social commentary about how bad the rich were just felt more pretensions than anything else. I get that it's meant to teach children a lesson about the real world, but the episode feels so confident in what its trying to say when it's not that deep, even by kids' show standards. Rich people are bad? Yeah, I think someone like me who lives in the same country as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg knows that. Will you actually teach kids about the financial conditions that allow the wealthy to abuse their power or the cutthroat methods they'll resort to in order to turn a profit? No? You're just going to tell kids that rich people are jerks without giving any actual evidence in the same episode you're using to try and to teach them? Man, these writers just keep hitting it out of the park here!
This whole “Rich people suck” message also falls flat because Felix is the one pushing it. You know, someone who already comes from a rich family? It's not like Bruce Wayne where he uses his money to help the people of Gotham, as Batman or not. Felix just whines about how “tHeY'rE tHe MoNsTeRs.” when he's just as well-off as they are. The episode tries to do a subtle discrimination message as evidenced by his rant as Argos earlier, but it doesn't work because we have never seen anyone discriminate against Felix for who he is. Yeah, the episode once again tries to hint at him being a Sentimonster, but because the show hasn't just pulled the trigger and confirmed it, it's hard to really sympathize with him being “excluded” when we've never seen him being treated differently by others in earlier episodes, and even if he was a Sentimonster, nobody would know or be able to discriminate against him in the first place.
I don't know why the show keeps trying to excuse Felix's actions when once again, he pretty much committed fucking genocide yet the episode still wanted us to feel bad for him realizing his actions had consequences. If he actually wanted to own up to his mistakes, he'd either hand over the Peacock Miraculous to Ladybug or help Ladybug stop Monarch. For someone who claims he hates when people abuse power to make others suffer, he's no better, judging from how both times he's gotten to use a Miraculous, he's either screwed over Ladybug (Strikeback) or endangered a lot of innocent people. And if you're wondering why I didn't point out any double standards between the treatment of Felix compared to Chloe, that doesn't really matter. No matter how you feel about Chloe, whether you feel like she got screwed over or not, it doesn't really make how the writers are glorifying Felix any better or worse, as his potential “redemption arc” isn't off to a good start.
The plot was stupid, Felix was an idiot, and it felt like more effort was put into the musical number than the writing. In my opinion, this is easily the worst episode of the season so far.
Although at the very least, now that we have even more evidence that Adrien, Felix, and even Kagami are all Sentimonsters, I think I know what clip I can start using to describe my feelings on this plotline.
youtube
THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... FELIX
Tumblr media
For someone who managed to outsmart Gabriel on multiple occasions with no superpowers, Felix's intelligence really took a nosedive the second he got the Peacock Miraculous. He came up with a completely unnecessary plan that involved impersonating his cousin's identity and mocking his friend when he's supposed to try and win their favor, he danced with his cousin's girlfriend without his consent, transformed in public, smearing his reputation even further, and proceeded to gleefully wipe out humanity through a musical number, and needed other people to point out how immoral his actions were. Of course, Marinette gets second place thanks to her plan to break into the party and later letting Argos get away.
412 notes · View notes
luvhughes43 · 10 months
Text
babys first game | dad!jamie drysdale x reader
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
lila, my love au masterlist💐
request: baby’s first ducks game 🥹
word count: 0.9k
since lila was born after last years regular season ended, there was no opportunity to bring her to a game. therefore, you and jamie decided to wait to take lila to the first home game of the regular season.
she was dressed up in a little drysdale jersey, with colourful little nike shoes that her godfather trevor insisted she wear tonight for “the team's goodluck”.
you arrived at the arena early, a little worried about how lila was going to handle her first hockey game. she was still young, only 8 months old, and jamie was so excited for her to be at his game. 
a minute before warm-ups you made your way down to the glass, lila cuddled into your side. she had just woken up from her nap an hour earlier to be prepared for tonights game, but it seemed she was still a little tired as her eyes kept fluttering closed.  
“lila, are you excited? we're gonna watch dada play!” you cooed, trying to wake her enough so she would be somewhat paying attention when her father hit the ice. “oh and look! uncle trevor is here too! see!” you shifted her in your arms so she was sitting higher up on your hip. at the mention of trevor, her head turned to the ice to look at where your finger was pointing against the glass. she didn't seem phased though, going back to rest her head against your shoulder again.
“lila,” you rubbed her back, smiling brightly when you caught sight of your boyfriend skating over towards you and your daughter. “look lila who's that!” you cooed again, turning around slightly so lila could see jamie from where her head was resting on your shoulder. 
as jamie stops in front of you guys, lila is immediately awake. she starts twisting in your hold, desperately trying to get to her favourite person in the world through the glass.
you shift again, so lila can stand on the edge of the glass and so you can see jamie properly. 
“lila-bell!” jamie exclaims loudly as he crouches down to lilas eye level. “are you at your first hockey game?” he coos loudly so he can be heard above the sounds of fans.
lila shrieks, hand tapping against the glass as she smiles gummily at her father. 
jamie is absolutely beaming, giggling slightly as he watches how excited his baby is at seeing him. 
you snap a quick picture of the two of them before pocketing your phone again, so incredibly happy to share this moment with your daughter and jamie.
“LILA!” trevors loud voice booms as he shoves into jamie, pushing him away so that trevor could stand in front of lila. “how's my best girl!” trevors smile is almost as infectious as jamies as he holds one of his hands to the glass for lila to put hers over. 
lila smiles at trevor, bouncing as she hits at the glass. 
too soon though the boys are reluctantly pulling away from the baby as they realize they actually have to warm up during warm-ups. 
“we’ll see you after!” you yell at a reluctant jamie as he keeps looking back towards where you and lila are standing. 
by the time you meet up with jamie again, lila is promptly passed out in your arms. she fell asleep again halfway through the second period, her little headphones drowning out most of the noise from the arena.
“is she sleeping?” jamie mouths as he approaches the two of you. trevors right behind him, and so when you nod he turns around and shushes trevor before he's even had the chance to say something.
trevor rolls his eyes playfully before whispering, “as if i’d purposely wake up my little angel!” 
jamie smiles lightly at trevor before turning all his attention to you and the baby. he gives you a soft peck on the lips, and one on the cheek before asking you how the game went.
“lila was great, she got a little fussy at the end of the first but she fell asleep halfway through the 2nd so it wasn’t too bad” you explained quietly, mindful of the sleeping baby cuddled in your arms.
jamie nodded, eyes full of adoration at the sight of the word “daddy” and his number plastered on his daughter's back. “i can take her now,” jamie said and you shifted lila into his arms who stirred. 
she looked around for a second, before looking up and seeing that her dad was the one holding her. she sighed as she cuddled into her dads embrace. 
“she's just so stinkin cute!” trevor cooed, mindful of his volume. 
you nodded in agreement before wishing trevor a goodnight, also telling him that he played well tonight. 
you and jamie walked out to your car, silently buckling lila into her car seat so you could go home. 
“you also played great tonight if i hadn't made that clear…” you spoke to jamie as he quietly shut the car door. 
he hummed in response, leaning down to kiss you against the car. 
“thank you for taking her today,” he whispered as he pulled away from you, moving to open the passenger side door.
“of course,” you nodded as you sat in your seat, jamie softly closing the door for you. 
once jamie was settled in the drivers seat you whispered, “i love you” as your head came to rest against the window tiredly. 
“i love you too,” jamie replied softly, pulling out of the lot and smiling as your eyes fluttered close.
601 notes · View notes
mochinek0 · 4 months
Text
Daminette December 2023: 13-Wednesday
Paris couldn't believe what they were seeing: Marinette Dupain-Cheng was in Gotham Academy, in uniform! They hadn't see her in four years! What shocked them even more was seeing her arguing with some guy and she wasn't backing down.
The students in Gotham Academy didn't pay them any attention. Everyone ignored the shouting and yelling; they just kept walking as if they didn't see or hear them.
"Shouldn't you get a teacher?" Nino asked a student passing by.
"For what?" asked the brunette.
The class pointed at the arguing students.
"Wat day is it?" the brunette questioned.
"Wednesday." Max answered, "Does it matter?"
"It's their 'Argue Day'." the Gotham student declared.
"Argue day?" Mylene asked, confused.
"Yeah." the student stated, with a shrug, "Like clockwork. Teachers learned to deal with it. They get competitive, too."
"My boyfriend wouldn't put up with this sort of thing." Lila declared, "He hates violence."
"Oh, who is you boyfriend?" the brunette questioned.
"Damian Wayne." Lila smiled.
The brunette started laughing and pointing at Lila.
"Dude?" the blonde nearby questioned.
"This bitch said Damian Wayne is her boyfriend! She also said he hated violence!" the brunette answered and continued to laugh.
The blonde joined, howling with laughter. The Paris class shifted uncomfortably.
"Listen here, Faker," the blonde spoke, "you're not dating our ice Prince. Not to mention Damian is one of the most violent Waynes to roam these halls."
Lila sniffled, "He just doesn't want the media to know. I'm not lying."
"Well, that's lie number two." the brunette counted, "Damian doesn't care about the media. They gave him the title 'Ice Prince'."
"Do you know how many reporters have broken their arms, hands, or fingers trying to get a scoop from him?" the blonde questioned.
"You the ones lying!" Aly shouted, "Lila said he was kind and helpful Damian Wayne does charity work with her, for the environment!"
"It's not that hard to look up." the blonde scoffed, :About every other weekend, he's in the park casually talking to Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and playign with their hyenas as they plan 'How to green up Gotham'."
Lila paled hearing how he associated with rogues. That hadn't been what she expected.
"Supposedly, his mother is just as bad as they are." the brunette declared, "If not worse."
Lila gulped, trying to figure out how to keep her classmates under her control as her lie began to unravel.
"If anything, it sound like you googled 'rich kid+my age in Gotham' and Damian Wayne popped up first." the blonde responded.
"How can you say that about our friend?" Kim demanded.
The boys pointed to Marinette and the boy arguing still.
"That is Damian Wayne." the brunette answered, "By tomorrow, they'll be back to cuddling and kissing, like they have been for the past three years."
"They basically chose one day a week to let their frustrations out on each other." the blonde spoke, "It just happens to be on Wednesday."
The Parisians turned to Lila for an answer.
"I-I'm sure that's not it." Lila declared in a panic.
"Oh, really?" questioned the blonde boy, "Yo, Mari! How many times did Damian drug your coffee and drag you to bed, last week?"
"Four!" she shouted, still glaring at him.
Damian scoffed, "It was three."
"Liar!" Marinette screamed.
The class watched on in confusion.
"Damian, how many times did Mari make you new clothes last month?" the brunette asked.
"Ten!" Damian exclaimed in frustration.
Marinette scoffed, "Like you don't complain about those 'monkey suits' and how uncomfortable they are."
"I didn't ask you to go out of you way, Angel, and make me those things!" Damian rebutted.
"Oh, so now my designs are things?" Mari declared, "I just wanted you to be comfortable!"
"I'm fine!" the young Wayne sighed, "You need to sleep!"
"How long did she stay up?" the blonde questioned.
"She didn't sleep." Damian growled.
Marinette threw her hands up before resting them on her hips, "I slept on the drive over. I drank Tim's coffee. It usually has at least five espressos. Not the most I've had."
"What?" Damian shouted.
"Ah, so that's the reason this time." the brunette spoke.
"Sorry, Liar, but no one in Gotham will believe that you are anything to Gotham's Ice Prince when there are pictures being posted, like this, by his very own brothers." the blonde declared.
He turned his phone around to see Marinette and Damian dressed in pajamas and curled up in bed together.
"Everyone in Gotham Academy knows they live together at Wayne Manor." he continued, "Not to mention, the moment someone tries to touch her or get in her personal space, he threatens to kill them."
"He had five knives taken away this month." the brunette stated.
"Actually, it was eight." the blonde commented.
"Oh, when did I miss those?" the brunette questioned.
"You were sick for a week." the blonde answered.
"Gotha." the brunette spoke, "So, good luck and welcome to Gotham."
"Have a good Wednesday." the blonde spoke as they walked away.
Marinette yawned, "Why am I yawning? I drank Tim's coffee."
"Todd switched his coffee with decaf." Damian smiled, "You just happened to drink it, instead."
"No." she whined, "You did this on purpose!"
"I did not force you to drink Drake's coffee not did I force you to stay up all night." he answered, "If anything, Todd is upset that you ruined his prank."
"But-" Mari yawned again.
Damian smirked and picked her into his arms, "We are going home and you are going to bed."
"School." Marinette replied.
"I already messaged the teachers on the ride over that e would be missing the next two days." the young Wayne answered, "I've also paid Todd $100 for messing up his plan. In exchange, he will bring you lunch and dinner."
Marinette didn't respond and curled up in his arms. Damian just walked out of the school.
"Okay!" someone shouted, "Who had them making up under fifteen minutes?"
"Awww, man!"
"I could have sworn they would argue longer today."
"Didn't expect her to not sleep."
"Or have decaf."
"If she had just had that coffee."
"How much did you lose?"
"$20."
"Lucky; $30."
"50."
Paris watched on as money was exchanged. Marinette and Damian Wayne's couple argument had gotten so common that people were gambling on it. They started to turn to Lila, who obviously had no idea how to explain what had just happened.
"So, you really were a liar." Nathaniel whispered, "Marinette was right, all along."
"I don't think we'll get to apologize to Marinette," Rose sniffled, "But she looks happy."
"Can't say you will be by the end of this trip, Lila." Alix sneered.
Lila was out of her element as Gotham had quickly spread her lie about dating Damian. No one believed her and if she said anything, they would just laugh at her. Not to metion her own classmates were now ignoring her. This hadn't been what she had planned; it was just another Wednesday. Nothing special about it.
TAGLIST: @maribat-calendar-events@animeweebgirl@a-star-with-a-human-name@meme991001@vixen-uchiha@abrx2002@alysrose-starchild@fandom-trapped-03@dood-space@moonlightstar64@saltymiraculer@marveldcedits20@09shell-sea09@icerosecrystal@animegirlweeb@insane-fangirl-of-everything@blueblossombliss@nickristus-dreamer@megawhitleycalderonpaganus@missmadwoman@meira-3919@princessdaisysolosyourfaves@blep-23@fangirlingfanatic@darkhinauniverse@ravenr22@im-a-satanic-ritual@ravennm84@bianca-hooks123@a-slytherinish-gryffindor@starling218
345 notes · View notes
seekinghelp-adhd · 5 months
Text
Chance Encounters (Maribat idea I'm throwing around)
Marinette moves to Gotham to pursue fashion. She has to finish her last year of high school at Gotham Academy and do an internship over the summer, but if she does she gets a massive scholarship to Gotham University. They were more than happy to help out Jagged Stone's famously young personal designer. Obviously, this puts her in classes with Damien Wayne, who barely talks and only ever calls his brothers by their last names.
Jagged insists on setting her up in a penthouse for her stay in Gotham, but Marinette argues that being a single girl living in a fancy penthouse is like asking one of the Gotham rogues to kidnap or rob her. They compromise on a nice apartment with a state of the art security system, one owned by Wayne Enterprises. Another tenant on her same floor, Jason Todd, stops by to scope out the new neighbor. He seems nice enough, but he keeps calling his older brother "Dick" and Marinette can't tell if that's his name or just an insult. Apparently he does this whenever someone new moves in to see if he’ll have to move. Marinette tells him to let her know if he does, Because she says if he doesn’t feel safe living in this building anymore, she definitely wants to leave. Jason is amused by this and decides she can stay.
It doesn't take long for Marinette to encounter Gotham's bad side. After a few months of living there she's seen plenty of rogue attacks. She's been lucky enough to stay out of it. After all, if the villains aren't magical there's nothing her Miraculous Cure could do anyway. Her luck is apparently starting to run out though, because now she's being held up at knife point in an alley. She obviously takes the guy down after years of being Ladybug and calls the cops. Dick Greyson is the officer on scene. He's incredibly friendly and is super impressed that she managed to take the guy down, but Dick has seen corrupt cops take people in for self-defense if it means someone else owes them a favor. He gives her his personal cell in case anything like this ever happens again.
Through all of this, Marinette has been spending more and more time with Damien at school. Marinette is hesitant to trust all the smiles and niceties around her after Lila's manipulation and wants to truly get to know someone before she puts any trust in them. Damien is the only exception. She was warned of his reputation as the "Ice Prince" of GA before meeting him and found talking with him to be incredibly refreshing. There was absolutely nothing fake or over the top about him. He was straightforward and down to earth and Marinette found comfort in that. She decided that she trusted him on day one. Likewise, Damien finds her skeptical attitude toward the other students to be incredibly validating. Growing up in the League, everyone was always pretending, even to the other assassins. You had to act a certain way around the right people, and manipulation was the key to survival. Marinette seems to notice people trying to take advantage of her and recognize when someone just wants a favor, and he respects that. Regretfully, and to Jon's great joy, Damien finds that he thinks of her as a friend.
Word eventually gets out that Marinette is Jagged's designer. This is, of course, entirely Jagged's fault. Some good comes out of all the extra attention, though, when she learns that the co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises is a fan of hers. He makes a commission for a new suit and, upon learning of her situation, offers her a position as his families personal designer over the summer to meet her internship qualifications for GU. They set up a meeting in person for her to take measurements once her midterms are over.
When everything is going well though, something has to throw a wrench into things. The Batfamily raids one of Black Mask's warehouses late one night, and Red Hood takes a few too many bullets and a pretty big hit to the head. The kevlar took most of the hits for him, but he's badly bruised and nursing a concussion. It's the concussion that causes him to stumble into the wrong window of his apartment building and scare his new neighbor half to death. Marinette does what she always does and helps the vigilante without question. To do that though, she has to take off his helmet. She assumed he would have a mask underneath or something. He does not. Marinette is not as surprised as she probably should be, and Jason is pissed when he wakes up. He realizes after a while that this isn't her fault. She's been taking care of him since he was too stubborn to go to Bruce, and if she wanted him or his family dead she could have done something about it by now. He decides to put a little trust in her, but keeps an eye on her just in case. This is what clues him into the situation. In her time here in Gotham, she's managed to meet all of the Wayne brothers aside from Duke, and she has no idea they're even related.
Jason, of course, finds this absolutely hilarious and wants to see just how far this madness can go. He sends Duke to her favorite coffee shop. He refers Marinette to the same dance studio as Cass. Marinette, completely on her own to Jason's disbelief, enters the same Ultimate Mecha Strike tournament as Stephanie and absolutely destroys her. Jason lives for the chaos and Marinette is completely oblivious.
Eventually, after a few AO3 tags (slow burn, feelings realization) Marinette and Damien start dating. Damien feels guilty for hiding that he's Robin from Marinette, but he knows that he'd be sharing more than just his own secret and doesn't want to betray his family's trust. He realizes that if he wants to share everything with her, his family has to trust her as well. She'll have to meet them. He tells Marinette all of this, and she shares that she's been keeping her own secret as well. Marinette hasn't told him about Ladybug even after Tikki has given her blessing, and she's been feeling guilty about it as well. She encourages him to tell her whenever he feels ready and assures him that she can wait until then. She trusts him, and she asks for that same trust in return.
Damien trusts her of course, and everything goes back to normal for about 30 seconds. Then, Damien starts trying to prepare her for the chaos she's about to find in his dining room that night. Little by little, Marinette starts to realize that she already knows every single person he's talking about. Only, that means so much more than she could have realized, because if Jason is Red Hood and his brother "the Dick" is Nightwing, then that means Dick Greyson is Nightwing and Damien's older brother, which makes Damien Robin, and oh no she thinks she knows exactly what that secret is that he didn't want to share yet.
370 notes · View notes
Text
New Romantics | Spencer Reid
Add yourself to my taglist! | Here’s my masterlist!
Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader
Summary: After a bad breakup, Reader and her friends go out to party where she meets one young FBI agent. Suddenly, she'd forgotten her ex even existed and was more interested in getting to know the stranger.
Warnings: alcohol use, reader is drunk for half of this, mention of puking, not proofread, it's generally just not really good but it's the best I can do.
Words: 1.4K
Tumblr media Tumblr media
It had been ninety-two days to be exact. Ninety-two days of crying into tubs of ice cream, not wanting to admit that it was over and partying non-stop. It was day twenty when her friends had had enough of her wallowing and forced her into a little black dress and heels, and took her out to party. 
Ever since that day, the partying hadn’t quite stopped. 
Her heart had been broken in a thousand pieces, smashed to a pulp and stepped on by one person alone. The one person she once loved but now absolutely loathed. Charlie Denisco. Now the most hated person in her friend group. 
The partying did help a lot with working through the heartbreak. She didn’t know if it was because she wasn’t holed up in her apartment underneath every possible blanket she had or because of the alcohol, but whatever it was; she felt herself slowly healing. 
“We should find you a new love interest,” Sasha, one of her best friends, stated as she hooked an arm of hers with y/n’s. 
Scoffing, y/n shook her head while Lila voiced her thoughts. “This isn’t a romantic comedy, Sash.”
“What if we made it to be?” Sasha shrugged, earning raised eyebrows and glares from her friends. “Come on! Think about it! We’re out, partying, looking hot as shit, most of us single as shit. What if we romanticized our life and pretend we’re in a rom-com? It could be so fun!”
“Okay,” Ella indulged. “If we do this, what’s gonna happen?” 
Sasha’s face lit up, glad her friends were indulging in her delusions. “Okay, so, we’d be The New Romantics, a group of fun-loving twenty-something teenagers who go out to party, on the road to ruin. We play dumb, but we know exactly what we’re doing.” Her friends chuckled. Sasha had clearly thought about this before. 
“Sounds good to me,” y/n mumbled with a shrug, watching as Sasha’s smile widened even more, taking over her entire face. 
“Should we have, like, our own personas?” Florence suggested with a mischievous smirk on her face. 
Her friends’ smiles mirrored hers, all four of them almost excitedly about the idea. On their way to the bar, the girls started thinking up their New Romantics personas. Flo started, seeing that she was the one who came up with the idea. 
“My name is… Paige Gallagher,” she started. “I’m twenty-nine and a kindergarten–no, primary school teacher. And I enjoy talking to men the way I talk to my students.” The girls all burst out laughing at Florence’s idea. 
“Okay, okay,” y/n then giggled. “My turn. I’m Astrid Wright. I’m twenty-eight and I’m a… coffee shop owner. I like to pick up men when they pick up their coffees.” 
And just like that, Paige Gallagher, Astrid Wright, Nadia Hernandez and Taylor Bates were born from the imaginative minds of four best friends who had dubbed themselves the New Romantics that night. It was a lot fun, at first, with each of them flirting with the men at the bar, getting free drinks from each of them. It was all fun and games until y/n found herself all alone with all three of her friends chatting up the people in the bar. 
Suddenly, her heart plummeted at the feeling of being completely left alone. The memories of her and Charlie flooded back in her mind, shattering every last piece of her heart she had so carefully glued together again. Feeling the tears prick her eyes and the ground behind her sink away, she stumbled outside the bar where she crashed onto the floor, sobbing. 
“Woah, hey,” she heard an unfamiliar voice. “Hey, are you okay?” 
She looked up through her tear-filled eyes. Her sight was blurry, but she could make out the outlines of his curls and sharp jawline. “They left me alone,” she cried. “They left me alone but I can’t be alone right now.” 
“Hey, hey, sssh,” he shushed her, hoping it would soothe her violents sobs before offering his lime soda. “Here, drink this,” he said. “We need to get you a little sobered up.” For a moment, he watched her as she gulped the drink, which stopped her crying. “I’m Spencer…” 
“I’m Astrid–” she stopped herself, then shook her head. “No, that’s not right. I’m y/n.” 
Even in her drunk state, she wasn’t going to lie to this guy who was helping her out. She’d been doing that to everyone in the bar, but she didn’t want to do it to him. He seemed genuinely nice. 
“Okay, y/n,” Spencer said and grabbed her upper arms cautiously. “Can you stand? We gotta get you inside. It’s way too cold out here.” The girl nodded her head and let him help her up to her feet. She stumbled ever so slightly in doing so, but Spencer quickly regained his grip and kept her steady.
She didn’t even know where they were going. All she could focus on was his face. From where she was staring up at him from underneath his arm, she had the perfect view of his sharp jawline and adorable nose. A hiccup escaped from her throat as he gently put her down in one of the booths in the back of the bar. 
“Stay here,” he ordered. “I’m gonna get you some water.” Nodding her head, y/n let herself fall back on the bench, much to Spencer’s dismay. Within a second, he was back by her side and helped her up again. “No. No, no. Sit back up, please,” he ordered and forced her to turn so she was sitting with her back against the back of the couch. 
“But I’m so tired,” she whined, but Spencer was already gone. 
It didn’t take Spencer too long to get the girl sober again. A good five glasses of water and some sobering questions did just the trick, something he had learned from taking care of his many drunk friends. But the more sober she became, the more embarrassed she became. 
“I’m so sorry,” she cried out, fresh tears running down her cheeks. 
Spencer reached over and clutched her hand in his. “Hey, no, you don’t have to apologize.” 
“Yes, I do,” she whimpered, her bottom lip quivering. “Because I’m a drunk, blubbering mess and you’re so nice and so pretty and I just– I’m not normally like this.” She hiccuped before taking another sip, missing a light pink dusting Spencer’s cheeks. 
He himself took a sip from his water, debating whether or not to say the next words brewing in his genius brain. “Okay,” he said, more to himself than to her. “Okay, then show me who you normally are. We’re gonna sit here, you’re gonna drink your water and we’re gonna talk until you’re sober enough to go home.” 
And so they did. For hours, the two sat in the booth, chatting about seemingly random stuff while drinking one water after the other. Spencer managed to keep the girl awake to the point where she really had to go to the bathroom, having drunk too much water. 
The bar was pretty much empty at this point. Even her friends had ditched her for the people they’d picked up that night with their ‘personas’. So much for the New Romantics, y/n thought. But she was grateful for Spencer that he wanted to take the time to sober her up and get to know her. 
And it had worked, too. The room wasn’t spinning when she sat on the toilet and she didn’t feel like puking anymore. All good signs that told her she was, in fact, sobering up. 
“I can’t believe my friends just ditched me,” she muttered as she slid back into the booth, rejoining Spencer. “We’d actually pretended to be other people all night long.” 
“Why’s that?” Spencer chuckled. 
“Well,” y/n scoffed and rolled her eyes at how ridiculous it all sounded now. “I’ve just come out of a pretty brutal breakup and they’ve been trying to cheer me up. When we came out tonight, we’d decided to use different personas to try and create some sort of mystique, I guess?” She took another gulp of water. “I don’t know, it sounds stupid.” 
“Did it help you get over your ex?” Spencer then asked, to which y/n nodded. “Then it’s not stupid.” 
As y/n looked into Spencer’s eyes, she noticed the golden specks in his irises and she realized she could see her whole world in them. With just one simple look, one simple smile, he had turned her life upside down. Charlie, who? She had forgotten all about them. That night had felt like a dream. 
“I’m not sure it was that, what made me forget my ex…” 
Tumblr media
Everything taglist: @calamitykaty @littlemissaddict @n0wornever @wanniiieeee @unnowhatthisistbh
Criminal Minds Taglist: @boimlers-gonna-boim @samsbirks @tinaasthings @dysphoricsanity @love4lando @elenamoncada-ibarra @r-3dlips @magstheslayer @astess 
140 notes · View notes
artzychic27 · 10 months
Note
There are AUs where Marc is Marinette's cousin, right? What if that was canonical? In my country there is the concept of the perfect cousin and privileged by relatives and they often compare anyone who steps out of the norm to this cousin…. I imagine them almost as siblings in childhood, but with Marinette always getting more attention. And when they grow up, she becomes manipulative with him, it has happened that the whole family fights with Marc because of her. And that's why he always helps her with her plans… and I imagine the ones who would interfere would be Nath, Zoe and Felix (the first two for obvious reasons and Felix as "ok, I'm a shitty cousin, but this is crossing the line").
Since he was born, Marc has always been overlooked by his cousin
She was always so talkative, sociable, making people laugh and smile, and he just read in silence
Oh, never mind that he gets 100% on a test, because Marinette got 101% after she explained her reasoning behind the answer she gave. La-dee-dah!
Because she’s the “perfect cousin” out of the two, Marinette is always getting whatever the fuck her spoiled little heart wants- A new expensive sewing machine, fancy fabrics, magazines from high end fashion brands, and some of that stuff even comes from Marc’s own moms
Alyssa and Penny don’t outright say Marc should be like Marinette, but they’re more like, “Sweetie, why don’t you spend some time with Marinette?” And that’s code for, “Why can’t you be perfect like your cousin?!”
Sabine and Tom, though? They will take the opportunity to brag about Marinette’s accomplishments for twenty minutes then finally remember Marc’s in the room and ask his moms what he’s done lately
They have no idea about the awards he’s received in school for his stories, and he doesn’t mind keeping it that way. All of his certificates are just sitting in a folder in his hoodie drawer
It’s due to his treatment, that Marc’s wardrobe is toned down a bit. And by that, I mean he looks like his concept art-self
He secretly enters writing contests, and has been doing so and winning since he was ten. He’s earned a lot of money and keeps it saved up because if he tells anyone in the family about it, they’re definitely gonna use it to spoil Marinette. The only person he can really trust in Kiran, and occasionally treats him to ice cream
Marinette wants nothing to do with him. She always says she asks Marc to hang out with her, but he keeps declining. I’m reality, she doesn’t want a “Total weirdo” anywhere near her friends. And she lets him know it, too, but he couldn’t care less. He doesn’t want to be anywhere near a bunch of people who are probably psychos like her
He’s seen the way she acts around boys she likes, sniffing their hair, taking pictures of them, even following one guy home. It hasn’t escalated past that, but at least he’s not a part of it
However, his family doesn’t notice that about “perfect little Marinette”. He gets reprimanded for not being sociable like her and laughed off for having crushes because who would ever date someone like him?
Then he gets sent to therapy for his “issues” as Marinette so helpfully pointed out. There, he lays in to her that she can’t get a single question in
Marc: Oh! And then that bitch cut off my bangs while I was sleeping, and I got in trouble for playing with scissors! I mean- Oh, is our session over? Thanks again, Lisa. You are just wonderful for letting me vent. See you next Wednesday. *Leaves the room*
Lisa: … Damn, that boy’s cousin sucks.
In DuPont, everyone knows they’re cousins thanks to Marinette just so more people can compare Marc to his “perfect cousin”
Marinette has instant popularity she bought with custom clothing, her high-end connections, and Marc has his writing under the stairs while Lila quietly reads… Only for that to be interrupted when Marinette drags him out and into the art classroom one day where a few of her friends are gathered
They’re a little disturbed by her “psycho burnout cousin” being in the same room as them. Apparently, Marinette started a few rumors about Marc taking unprescribed drugs along with the ones for his “mental problems” just to make herself look better by comparison
Marc: … Well, that explains why moms keep searching my room for something.
Ignoring that, Marinette let’s him in on why he brought him in here- To help her with her plan to get Adrien to be her boyfriend by making a comic with Nathaniel that will map out the perfect date between them, which will eventually lead to marriage, having three perfect children, a hamster, and then dying together in a couples coffin
Marc: No.
Akuma Class: What?!/She’s your cousin!/You’ve gotta help her!/Don’t you want her to be happy?!
Marc: I am not obligated to help her, I know none of you, nor do I know this boy she is suddenly so infatuated with. So, pardon me if I sound rude, but leave me the fuck alone. All of you. I know how her fan club get when she is told no.
For context, Marinette’s “friends” will do anything to make her happy. Even bully those who are the slightest bit mean to her or show an interest in Adrien. Like Lila
Lila was the new girl who had no idea what she’d be getting herself into. After her Akumatization into Volpina when Ladybug called her a skeeze in front of Adrien, she was made an outcast by Marinette and eventually adopted by Marc
Now she swears to protect him with her life. On with the rest of the story!
The next day, Marc has his books slapped out of his hand, his glasses snatched, and he gets tripped on his way to class. All by some members of Marinette’s sychophant club
Some jocks who always leave stuff for Marinette on Valentines Day corner him in the locker room, but before they can do anything, some redhead walks in and tells them Marinette needs help with her books, and they’re gone in two seconds
Marc almost thanks the guy until he recognizes him as Nathaniel. Along with him is Lila. Before he can storm off, Lila stops him and asks Marc to hear him out
Nathaniel: Uh… Thanks.
Marc: For what?
Nathaniel: … *Lila nudges him* … For getting me out of that. I didn’t even want to make the stupid comic, but Marinette’s family bakery is more popular than my mom’s diner. She threatened to get her fan club to leave bad reviews and get her shut down if I didn’t help…
Marc: … You, uh… You guys wanna hang out… Away from here?
They skip school and not to their surprise, no one notices except for Nathaniel’s mom, Mme. Mendeleiev, and to Marc’s surprise, his classmates
They sort of stay out of the loop when it comes to Marinette, and the reason they don’t talk to him is because they didn’t want to make him uncomfortable since he always seems to close off when someone attempts to make conversation
Because Nathaniel hangs out with Marc and Lila, this turns him into more of an outcast. Oh, but don’t worry, because Chloé owes Marc a favor for something she won’t reveal, she gets her dad to leave a glowing review for Aya’s diner and boosts sales
Then there’s that whole shitstorm on the anniversary of Adrien’s mom’s disappearance. Marc (Who was dragged along), Nathaniel, Lila, and the surprising addition of Luka actually overhear Marinette’s totally insensitive and inappropriate confession to Adrien on what is supoosed to be a day of mourning, and Max sends the messages off before they can stop him
Then “Adrien” arrives. When it seems like he’s about to accept Marinette’s feelings… He tears into her, calling her all sorts of names
Lila just had to record it all for whenever she needs something to make her smile or laugh. But, when another Adrien arrives, it turns out “Adrien” is actually Félix, Adrien’s cousin
Marc: Which one do you guys think is the asshole cousin?
Nathaniel: Well, I like Félix, and Adrien seems too nice.
Lila: … Let’s keep Félix.
Luka: Yeah.
After some sychophant Akumas try and kill Félix to defend Marinette’s honor and after Ladybug puts on a show of being this angelic savior while Chat Noir is just her sidekick who does all the work, the Akumas are eventually defeated
Marc catches up with Félix and… Hugs him
Marc: You are truly the greatest human being on this godawful planet!
Félix: Uh… Thank you?
Marc: I’m serious! Do you know how long I’ve been wanting to tear into that girl? She needs to be taken down a hundred pegs, and because of you, some people are beginning to doubt her intentions with Adrien. If I weren’t in love with Nathaniel, I’d kiss you
Félix: Please don’t. I’m asexual.
Marc: Noted.
Félix: And I’ve decided to stay in Paris for a while, anyway. Someone’s gotta keep my moron cousin from walking into traffic, and it seems like you’re in need of friends
Marc notices a slight change in the school the following week. For one, a few people, namely his classmates are giving Marinette the stink eye whenever they can
As for the Science Kids, while they were appreciative of the nice clothes they got on their birthdays even though they weren’t in their style, they were never really fond of Marinette
Plus, a ton of bad reviews were left on Aurore’s Akuma Analysis blog and she has the suspicion it was started by Marinette to boost traffic for Alya’s Ladyblog
Reshma had a hard time making friends because Marinette convinced people she was just another Chloé (Someone Marc is considered adopting)
Simon was in the same boat as Marc once. Marinette saw his videos and “asked” him to get some footage of a boy she liked for “personal reasons”
And they never went to anyone about their treatment, because who’d believe them over Marinette? So, they were a class of outcasts no one ever wanted to be associated with
Also, Félix is in their class and gives everyone the latest information on every creepy thing Marinette does when Adrien doesn’t notice. Nathaniel and Lila would switch, but that would be like letting Marinette win
Now onto Reverser
Marc has a particularly bad week. He’s forced to go to dinner with the Dupain-Chengs just so they can brag about Marinette being asked to design an outfit for Clara Nightingale while Marc’s moms embarrassingly admit that Marc made a few friends
Marinette and her gang, for the hundredth time, badger Marc into making the Adrinette comic with Nathaniel, and go so far as to drag him to the art classroom where Nathaniel is, and where Marinette is banned due to her toxicity
Marc and Nathaniel are making a comic, but about Chat Noir, painting him in a positive light due to Ladybug soaking up all the glory. And Félix and Lila so helpfully point out that they should turn Marinette into a villain in their next issue… And they do, but only give copies to their inner circle
When he gets home, he finds a check in his mail as an award for another writing contest he entered and goes to put it with the rest… Which is not there
His moms aren’t home, Kiran would never, and the only other person with a key is… Marinette! And his suspicions are proven right the next day when he sees her in a VERY expensive outfit, and she just gives him this look
Well… He lets her have it
Marc: MARINETTE! Your pigtails are MINE! *Tackles her to the floor*
Lila: Yes! It’s finally happening!
*Marinette puts up a fight, but Marc has so much repressed anger and doesn’t hold back*
Marc: Take a bite of my Doc Martens, bitch! *Roundhosue kicks Marinette*
Marinette: Someone stop him! He’s a fucking psycho!
Félix: Shut up. Fuck you. Eat shit.
Marc: *Denise and Jean pull him away* You want some more, huh?! SCREW YOU! And screw these assholes, too! I HATE YOU, MARINETTE! I FUCKING HATE IT HERE! *Runs away crying*
Nathaniel, Chloé, Lila, and Félix try to call him back, but it’s a little hard to hear over everyone calling Marc a “Demon” and all sorts of cruel names. Cue the Akuma
Okay, so it’s not Reverser. Imagine the Grimm Reaper going through a punk phase, his scythe causes the worst parts of people to be revealed when they’re slashed by it, and he’s got Oni-Chan’s teleportation powers
Nathaniel, Chloé, Félix, and Lila attempt to stop him from killing Marinette and only giving her more to use against him, but he only promises them that “Things will finally change,” then leaves in a dramatic cloud of black smoke
Nathniel: Do we want him not to kill Marinette?
Lila: … Wow, you think of something for so long, and then it happens. I gotta sit down for a bit.
Félix: Get up and help us stop Nath’s boyfriend.
Nathaniel: What?! I- No! What? No!
Chloé: Relax, Kurtzberg. We know you’re crazy about him. You can kiss him after this is over. Now let’s help Chat Noir
Marinette can’t find a place to transform due to Marc always finding her, and while she would love to take a “much needed rest” for protecting Paris and let her “lazy partner” finally have to work, she can’t!
To her shock and anger, four heroes arrive on the scene. Vulpix, Queen Bee, CapriKid, Bomb Shell. Well, she’s not letting them get all the credit and goes after Marc herself. Finally, and excuse to hurt him… But he’s a lot stronger than she expected, and only succeeds in creating a crater in the road when she lands
Bomb Shell: *Watching Akuma!Marc bashing Ladybug’s head against a car window* … Should we help?
CapriKid: Nah, he’s got this.
Bomb Shell: I meant Ladybug.
CapriKid: Oh… Later.
Marc finally slashes Ladybug and all of the worst parts about her are revealed live, not by Alya, but by the heroes using their weapon phones, with the addition of Simon and Aurore. And… It’s a lot
When Marc is cured, Ladybug goes to reprimand him and force him to apologize like she does with all Akuma victims, but Bomb Shell threatens to slice her head off with her shield
Bomb Shell: Remember me, skeeze? *Whispers* I will find you, and I will break you.
The heroes, Aurore, and Simon waste no time posting what they recorded, and many Akuma victims step forward about Ladybug’s treatment. Even local law enforcement is suffering from pay cuts becuase of Ladybug insisting that she and Chat Noir get paid for their work. Chat Noir never knew about the cuts and donates his checks to the officers
Now there’s a active campaign against Ladybug, started by people who have a vendetta against Ladybug due to her poor treatment of Akuma victims after the Miracle Cure. Akuma class students who are most active in the campaign are Chloé and Nathaniel while a few are still on the fence
She claims Akuma victims need to be reprimanded for their actions and not coddled just because they can’t keep their emotions in check
Well, let’s just say therapists aren’t on her side
Everywhere she goes, Ladybug is jeered while Chat Noir finally gets the praise he deserves. They only keep her around and don’t try to steal her Miraculous becuase she reverses all of the damage
But while Ladybug is losing her status, Marinette still remains popular and uses her influence as a designer for celebrities to publicly denounce Ladybug Haters, but that doesn’t deter them
Oh, and Marc was suspended for a week after attacking Marinette, but he doesn’t give two flying fucks. Now he’s got a reputation as a badass who will go off on anyone who looks at him funny, and it keeps the Marinette Worshippers away. Also, his friends and Kiran are the only ones to believe him about the money, so that’s another thing to add to the list on why they hate Marinette
And Cue Zoé! She arrives in the middle of the semester like Lila instead of near the end of the year
Zoé is almost dragged into an Adrinette plan involving them getting stuck in an elevator, but she knows all about Marinette due Chloé’s long rants about her at home, so she keeps her distance and becomes an outcast. The only reason she’s not being actively bullied is because of Chloé threatening to get the mayor involved
Zoé never cared for Marinette, but she comes to hate her, because what person just does that bullshit to their own cousin? When Marinette tries to start another rumor about Marc taking antipsychotic drugs, she comes at her with, “Don’t you think it’s rude to expose people’s medical history?”
Now, you might be thinking. “Where does Adrien stand in all of this?”
Well, you see… Adrien is just so confused. DuPont seemed great at first, and his classmates were all so nice to him, especially Marinette. It’s too bad she’s so shy around him. Now things just keep shifting around. The girls are so secretive around him, Félix insulted Marinette for no reason, the guys don’t hang out with Nathaniel anymore, and Lila… He’s not entirely sure
And Marinette always lets him know who it’s safe to hang out with... But the list keeps growing. For example, Nathaniel has anger issues so it’s best not to talk to him, Lila is a serial liar who was kicked out of her school for causing a girl to commit suicide, Marc is… It’s best to just not to go anywhere near him, Zoé got expelled from her last school for excessive bullying, and to his surprise, Félix is on the list. He gets Félix pulled that stunt on her, but he’s his cousin!
Something’s not right. Well, at least he’s getting praised as a superhero for once, not that he ever asked for it. But, it’s nice to be appreciated by people
Though, he can’t help but wonder why Marc attacked Marinette all of a sudden… So, he asks
Marc: Because my cousin’s a lying, thieving, no good son-of-a-bitch who never should have been conceived and should crawl back into the darkest pits of hell like the Satan spawn she is!
Lila: Hey! Satan happens to have lovely children.
Nathaniel: You would know.
Lila: Oh, you hush.
Marc: Anyway, Marc Anciel, Marinette’s unfortunate cousin. Nice to meet you. Are you a sychophant, bystander, or outcast?
Félix: Trust me. He’s a bystander. You see, my dear sweet innocent cousin sees the chaos happening around him and knows it’s bad, but is afraid to do anything.
Adrien: That’s not true!
Lila: Ladybug called me a skeeze in front of you.
Adrien: … Okay, maybe I am a bystander.
Nathaniel: Not necessarily. Marinette just knows how to keep the worst part of herself hidden so people will like her and go along with whatever she says. At least you’re aware that something’s off. Anyway, we’ll help you.
Marc: Nope! First, he has to help us. And for that to happen, Félix, show him the video.
Adrien: What video?
Félix shows Adrien the confession video Marinette sent him on the anniversary, and it goes as well as you’d expect
So now, Adrien wants nothing to do with Marinette, especially after the outcasts gave him some hard evidence of Marinette being a stalker, and Marc even put him in touch with some of Marinette’s past obsessions so he can know just the kind of person she is
Marinette is NOT happy and confronts Marc in the locker room one day
Marinette: What the hell did you do this time, you freak?!
Marc: What are you gonna do, beat me up? Look how well that went last time, jackass.
Marinette: Because of you, Adrien hates me! Why are you so hell bent on ruining my life?!
Marc: That is so RICH coming from you! The second you were born, your life’s ambition was to make my life hell! Because of you I had no friends growing up, my moms and all your little sycophants think I have a drug problem, I’m in therapy for problems I don’t have!
Marinette: And who the hell would believe some pathetic loner?! Face it! Your only purpose in life is to be compared to me! The physical embodiment of perfection itself! You are nothing! No one would even know your name if I weren’t born! Hell, it’s not like they bother to remember anyway! Even your own moms love me more than you and your sad sack of a brother-
Marc: *Death glare* Leave Kiran’s name out of your fucking mouth. Go on. Try me, bitch.
Marinette: You- you think you can threaten me?! I have all the power over these pathetic losers! Just like you, they are nothing and would have nothing without me! All of them are nothing but pathetic sheep riding my coattails! Why?! Because I gave them those coattails in the first place! I gave them some form of hope to grab onto, a shred of hope that they would get to bask in my glory if they just did every damn thing I said and kept them happy, but once I am out of here, they will have NOTHING! They can’t even do something so simple as to make Adrien MINE!
Marc: You do realize he’s not an object, right?
Marinette: I don’t care! He’s perfection! I’m perfection! I deserve him! He should be modeling my clothes, worshipping and groveling at my feet for my love like every idiot boy in school! And once I marry him, the Gabriel brand will be in my grasp, I will take the fashion world by storm, and you and that little boy toy of yours will be doing favors just for a scrap of cash before dying in an alley somewhere! As if you ever think your writing career is gonna take off! Those contests you entered? They obviously have low standards! Thanks for the cash, though and for giving these idiots another reason to hate you and adore me. *Leaves*
Lila: *Exits the girl’s bathroom with Chloé* Wow. That was intense.
*Félix, Nathaniel, and Adrien walk out of the boy’s bathroom*
Nathaniel: Simon? Did you get all of that? *Opens a locker to reveal Simon with a tape recorder*
Simon: Every last word.
Félix: Man, it’s a good thing you fit comfortably in a locker.
Simon: There’s a pencil stuck to my ass. Does that sound comfortable?
The following week, Marinette finds herself on the receiving end of some dirty looks and makes a mental note to get her idiot classmates to do something about those losers
But when she goes crying to them, Kim slaps her across the face
Nino: Jesus, Kim! She’s a girl!
Kim: … Screw gender rolls.
Nino: … Okay, that’s fine.
When she recovers, Max plays Simon’s recording, but Marinette is still trying to save face
Marinette: Who are you gonna believe?! My psycho of a cousin, or your best friend?!
Max: I’ll believe and ax-wielding murderer over you. And I’m done doing your dirty work just so you’ll keep quiet. Everyone! I am a proud homosexual, and I am in love with my best friend!
Rose: I have a severe medical condition and I didn’t want any of you to pity me or treat me like glass!
The Akuma class all come out and share the secrets Marinette blackmailed them with unless they did exactly as she said
And as for Adrien, he hits Marinette with a restraining order and yells at her to stay YARDS away from him at all times
Lila: Oh, she’s violating the restraining order right now. Off to jail!
Marinette: Shut up, Lila! Adrien, you don’t know what you’re saying! You’re supposed to be my boyfriend!
Adrien: Why? So you can have my dad’s company? You’re either desperate or stupid. I have no interest in inheriting the brand and plan to go into child psychology, so even if I were to go crazy and fall in love with you, you wouldn’t be anywhere near Gabriel.
Marinette: You all… Arr going to be SORRY! Tikki! Spots on!
Marinette transforms and is about to take off with Adrien, but a familiar Doc Marten boot hits the side of her head and knocks her out so that Marc can snatch the earrings off of Ladybug
Marc: … I’m fucking serious, guys, I had no clue about this.
And to make matters better, the police arrive to take Marinette in for questioning about her stalking, but as she’s being shoved into the police car, she actually grabs for an Akuma
So now, Paris will face the wrath of La Dictator
Zoé: We… Are so fucking boned, you guys.
Not necessarily. Chat Noir gathers the Miraculous and brings back Vulpix, Bomb Shell, CapriKid, and Queen Bee. And Calamity, Viperion, and Mariquita make their debuts
While La Dictator is smiting and punishing everyone who went against her, Calamity is getting survivors out of Paris with her portals so the team can take care of her without anyone else getting hurt
The battle lasts well into the evening, but they win, and Marinette is arrested becuase EVERYONE saw her reach for the Akuma
Bomb Shell: … *Giggles* Oh my God! We’re still alive! We’re alive, you guys!
CapriKid: We fucking lived! *Kisses Mariquita*
Vulpix: Yeah! Get your boy!
Things are… Somewhat normal after Marinette’s sentencing. For one, his moms apologize for how they’ve treated him, but he can’t find it in his heart to forgive them just now
The Akuma class and everyone Marinette has blackmailed are getting some serious therapy and make it a goal to make up for their treatment of others due to Marinette’s influence
And there are several permanent heroes now, that’s good. Lord knows Paris needs them, and… Oh yeah! Marc and Nathaniel are dating
Adrien found comfort in Luka and they began dating. Zoé’s dating Cosette. Félix is dating the library. Lila’s been learning how to skateboard from Ismael, and Chloé had her lesbian awakening when she met Kagami
210 notes · View notes
jacquesthepigeon · 2 years
Note
Most inconsistent character is def Kagami. She doesn't believe in second chances, but she gives Adrien another one after he confirmed that he's still pinning for another girl, she's cool headed about him bringing another girl to their date, running after that girl and then essentially rejecting her at at the end of their first date, but then she completely loses her head over a photo of another chick kissing his cheek, she jokes around with Adrien in Desperada and Heart Hunter, but then she suddenly starts hating his jokes when they're dating in Lies, she ships her best friend with her ex boyfriend who broke her heart even tho she's still giving the guy the side eye literally just 5 eps later and while the ep hasn't been released yet, I'm already calling BS on her getting akumatized again cause Lila said some crap about Marinette.
To me it just looks like the writers wanted to fit 3 characters into one (the jealous catty girl, the cool headed ice queen, the secretly dorky girl) and which one shows up depends on the plot of the episode.
Ugh ur so right
769 notes · View notes
lolasimms · 1 year
Text
a lots gonna change pt.14
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Summary: Married life isn’t great, infidelity ensues, and things change
next chapter
Tumblr media
"Here Lila" Abby called out as she handed your daughter a paper plate with a piece of confetti cake smeared all over it. If you were being honest the piece was too big for your liking and you were sure that Lila would be leaving with a sugar rush. But special occasions called for special acceptions, this being one of them.
"Thanks Abby" Lila accepts the plate and bounds into the dining area to go and enjoy her sugary treat.
"Should I cut you a slice?" Abby glances up at you, her large hand gripping the icing covered knife.
"Sure, that'd be nice." You reply and she lowers the knife back into the white frosted cake, littered with rainbow sprinkles. Much like Lila's, she cuts you an abnormally large triangular piece of cake, placing it on the polka-dotted paper plate and then handing it to you. She awkwardly smiles, grabbing her own plate and then makes her way to the dining room.
Things were still a bit tense between you and Abby after the altercation at Joel's two weeks ago. You'd assured her that she was forgiven after a lengthy heart to heart, but she was still doubting you and beating herself up. Ever since said altercation, no words had been exchanged with your ex-wife, save for a few updates about Lila's school and pickups but that was it. And you hoped it stayed that way. You knew they were both partly at fault but Ellie had started the physical fight, and she hadn't even made the effort to offer a genuine let alone any apology.
It was Abby's birthday and her father had invited you over to his, insisting you bring Lila along to help the Andersons celebrate. The home sprung memories of familial and domestic bliss. Streamers strewn about the dining room, metallic balloons that displayed '26', radio hits that you're sure Jerry didn't even listen to, booming throughout the house and an assortment of different coloured balloons held together by ribbon.
With your plate of cake in hand, you made your way to the dining room, where Jerry had Lila sitting beside him, the both of them looking through an old chunky photo album filled with baby photos of Abby and others of her extended family. Lila was "ooohing" and "ahhing" whilst simultaneously letting out giggles. Your eyes met the blue orbs of your lover who finally gave you a genuine smile for the first time in a week. You stride towards Abby, taking a seat besides her and taking your hand in hers.
"I love you." You whisper as you smile at her, leaving a kiss on her cheek, immediately she warms up, her face tinting to a light shade of red. She leans into you, placing a chaste kiss on your mouth where she mumbles an "I love you too." You're both interrupted by Jerry, who clears his throat and Lila's quiet "eww." The two of you pull apart, sporting mischievous grins on your faces when Jerry shuts the photo album and announces.
"Okay Abs, time to open your gifts." Lila's immediately trailing behind him as he makes his way over to the living room and the two of you follow suit. You were sat on the arm of the grey sofa, while Abby had Lila in her lap. The five year old had been so excited to pick out Abby's gift that she'd insisted it be the first one she opened.
"You sure this isn't a bomb Lila?" Abby jokes as she shakes the box, holding it close to her ears. You and Jerry simply chuckle at Abby's playfulnesses, but Lila finds it to be the funniest thing ever. She's hunched over giggling while Abby tears the wrapping off the small box. When she opens the box she's met with a vintage field watch, one she’d been raving about for the past six months.
“Y/n, you didn’t!” She yells, turning to you with a smile on her face and you simply smile. She reaches up and kisses you. “Hey, I helped wrap it” Lila exclaims hating the takeaway of attention from her. “Thank you too Lila” Abby squished her cheeks and then places the watch on her wrist.
-
“Thank you for coming Ms. Lila, I’ll see you next time alright?” Jerry waves off a tired Lila who’s hands are swinging behind you as she’s splayed out in your arms. “Bye, Jerry.” She mumbles, letting out a yawn in the process. You walk her over to the car and sit her into her booster seat, clicking it in and then shutting the door. Abby and Jerry are stood at the front door chatting, when he motions for you to come over.
“Thank you for coming over Y/n and bringing sweet Lila, you raised an angel.” He smiles, playing with the hair on his chin. You warm up at the compliment and offer him a genuine smile.
“Thank you Jerry for having us, and for the food and cake.” Abby pulls you closer into her and smiles down at her dad. “Alright dad, we’re going to head Lila’s done for the day.” She takes the box of cake from his hands and hands you the car keys. “Alright goodnight you two and happy birthday again Abs.”
The drive back home is quiet, the car being filled with only sounds of the heater blaring and Lila’s soft snores. Abby has her hand on your thigh the whole way home as you drive, not daring to let go. The two of you basking in the silence. As you’re making a left turn, she gives your thigh two small squeezes causing you to look at her. She gives you a loving smile and then rubs you softly. She didn’t have to verbally say it but you knew it was another apology, no matter how many times you’d forgiven her, she still felt responsible for the fight and she wasn’t going to stop atoning for her mistakes until she felt her forgiveness was truly earned.
-
Despite her protests, you’d managed to get Lila into the bath once the three of you had arrived back home. She whined and whined but you knew if she didn’t have her bath she would get restless at night. Once bath-time was over, you’d taken her into her room, read her a story from the array that were shelved in her bookcase and then proceeded to read.
“Mommy stop.” You were mid-way through a sentence when she’d lifted her sleepy head to stop you from continuing.
“What’s wrong baby?” You question as you drop the book into your lap.
“There’s two characters, and you’re not doing Mr. Flippers voice right. Can Abby come read that part?” She asks, genuine concern over the inadequacy of your impression. You call out to Abby, who was in your bedroom and she immediately made her way to the Lila’s room.
“Everything ok?” She asks, her hair wet from the shower she’d just taken, clad in an oversized hockey tee shirt and plaid pyjama pants.
“Can you help mommy read to me?” Lila looks up from the tucked in cover of her quilt.
“Really?” Abby asks a grin coating her face and Lila nods adamantly. The five year old falls asleep not even half-way through the book. Her head resting on her little pillow, hands tucked under her cheeks.
You kiss her goodnight as Abby switches on her nightlight, the two of you exiting the room.
“She asked me to read her a bedtime story.” Abby smiles down at you and you grin widely, nodding your head. The two of you make your way into the bedroom.
-
“So, how’s 26 treating you so far? You ask her as you straddle her waist, her arms immediately grabbing onto your hips and squeezing tightly.
“Pretty good, though I know a way that could make it great” She smiles at you, her fingers grabbing the hem of your pyjama shirt and lifting it over your head.
“Mhm, what may that be?” You lift yourself off her thighs and shimmy your way out of your pyjama shorts and underwear. She immediately pulls you back down to straddle her when you’re interrupted by your phone ringing on the bedside table. Abby’s let’s go of you waist but you continue.
“Just ignore it.” You mumble as the two of you come together in a kiss. You’re grinding against her in tandem as she sloppily kisses down your neck, making her way to your chest, when the phone begins to ring again.
“Just take it, baby” She sits back against the headboard and you un-straddle her. You reach over to your phone, and to your surprise the contact reads Joel. You’re taken aback, seeing as Joel never called you this late at night, ever.
“Hello?” You hold the phone close to your ear, as you fidget with the comforter. Abby’s warm hands stroking your back rhythmically.
“Are you on your own right now, where’s Lila?” He questions and you’re taken aback by his forward ness.
“I’m with Abby, Lila’s asleep. Joel what’s going on?”
“Y/n, you need to get down to the Oakwood Hospital right now, it’s Ellie.”
taglist;
@moonlightdivine @maybe-cece @macaroni676 @sawaagyapong @katiemars @ellieseater @dakota-dream @joliettes @hebrokeimup @bratydoll @wakasaaa @catostrophiclesbian @dinas-a-bird @lazyunknownwerewolf @h3sitant-alien @ceo-of-ellie-simps @mechetegirl109 @kashoot-me269 @lonelyfooryouonly @ellieswifee @doodlebob-mp3 @ellieismami
325 notes · View notes
avocado-writing · 1 year
Text
not your fault, but mine
Tumblr media
tangerine x single mother!reader (with tangerine being paternal, I know y’all love that)
2.1k words
cw: kidnapping, brief child endangerment, a lot of swears for the wordcount
tag list:  @honestlywtfisgoingon @white-wolf-buckaroo @felhomaly @venusthepirate @lunarpansexual @wanderedaway @georgiee-riviere @mushywutty @piechans @apieceoffabulousshit @4ng3l-0n-34rth @minjaz @starl1g4t @earth-elemental18 @luhvbot​ @underratedboogeyman @july-is-summer @vocalvixen20cp @northerngalxy​ @tangerinesgf @chaoticroaddreamerpasta @rxcently @skrrten @nightmarefeast @lost-lila​ @hardcore-flower @mrsdanieljackson
a/n: thank you to @lady-jane3​ for being my beta! if you enjoy this fic you will probably enjoy this one by @whatstruthgottodowithit​!
Tangerine has been a little bit in love with you since the two of you first met. 
Sometimes it’s pertinent for handlers to be sent on missions with their agents in the field. Insider intel and all that jazz, overseeing what’s going on. When he saw you in the hotel lobby waiting for him and his brother he was smitten with the smart black dress and look of professional interest you wore; but he was fucked when he heard you laugh at one of his jokes. 
It was enchanting. You were enchanting. 
You wriggled your way into his affections without even meaning to. You worked well with them both, and you were easy on the eyes and on the soul. Strong and capable in your own right, too. The job was easy because you were there; and when you all went out to celebrate that night it didn’t hurt that you were so receptive to Tangerine’s advances you’d ended up shagging him by the recycling bins round the back of the pub.  
The fact that you’d exchanged private numbers afterwards was a welcome surprise though. Tangerine isn’t usually the sort of bloke people are interested in having a long term relationship with, so he’d expected it to be a one-and-done sort of night. But then there you were the next week, getting coffee back in London. Like the two of you were civilised people, not involved in the business of murder for hire. 
It became a weekly thing. No more fucking, not yet anyway; just sitting there and chatting. He found himself looking forward to it each Friday. Seeing your smile, hearing your laugh again. It was a few macchiatos later you dropped the bomb. 
“If this is going to be a thing, you’d better know I have a daughter.”
He peered at you from over the ceramic rim of his coffee cup. 
“Right.”
“If it’s a problem, we call it here. She’s the most important thing to me. I like you a lot, Tangerine, but if a single parent is too much for you to handle I need to know now. So you don’t break my heart.”
You were upfront about it and he respected that. Maybe if you were anyone else he’d turn tail and run at that announcement. 
But you weren’t anyone else. You were you. Gorgeous, wonderful you. 
“That’s alright with me.”
The grin you gave him made him know he’d made the right choice. 
Then the moment he’d been bricking it over came. After a few evening dates and a couple of dalliances with you in local hotels, he was introduced to your daughter. She was a shy, quiet girl of six, who hid behind you and peeked out at him from the safety of her mum as a shield. 
“This is my friend Tangerine, love. Are you going to say hello?”
When she shook her head and hid her face in your shirt, Tangerine knew he was in for an uphill battle. But he’d fight it, for you. 
It was like trying to dig a tunnel through an iceberg with a spoon. The process was long and tiring. But he always made sure to be thankful whenever he was invited along to one of your days out with your daughter, to be given a chance to be part of the family. 
Your daughter is cautious. It sounds like you had a nasty breakup with her dad, and you never discuss it much - but your little one has trouble trusting new men because of it, it seems. But as the ice starts to melt around her he finds himself loving her as much as he loves you. 
He knows he can’t buy someone’s affections. But when he shells out an eye-watering amount for a stuffed dinosaur at the Natural History Museum and your daughter beams at him, he thinks it might be alright to cheat a bit. 
She might be quiet, but she’s concise when she speaks; pithy and never using more words than she needs to. Still she has that same intensity many young children do. She reminds him of Lemon, actually, back when they were kids: sincere to a fault, but affectionate in her own way. 
When she first held his hand in a crowd out in public, Tangerine grinned harder than when he heard West Ham got into the FA Cup final (didn’t win though, did they? Fucking Liverpool). Maybe he didn’t sign on to have a kid in his life, but he can’t help but feel incredibly lucky it ended up happening. And sitting with you cozied up on one side of him and your daughter falling asleep on his arm on the other, he’s even more surprised that he’s genuinely happy.
He heads to your house with a bouquet of flowers for you and a toy in garish packaging for your daughter. Oh, he’s going to earn points for this one - she never asked for it outright, but he’s seen the way she lights up whenever the advert comes on the telly. He’s not Lemon, but he’s still smart enough to pick up on these things.
And you’ll be pleased she’s happy, of course. And when you’re pleased it usually leads to him being pleased later that night.
But the blood in Tangerine’s veins freezes when he sees your door is ajar. You don’t leave it open, ever, and he can hear his heartbeat thunder when he nudges it and sees broken glass behind.
He drops the toy, and the flowers burst into petals on the concrete as he runs inside. 
It’s a mess. The coffee table is shattered, furniture has been overturned - and, fuck, there’s blood on the carpet. Signs of a struggle.
He shouts for you at the top of his lungs, for your daughter, sweeping the house and checking anywhere someone could be hiding. He comes up empty. Fuck. Fuck! How could he let this happen? 
Dazed, he heads into your bedroom. Sits on the bed. Fishes his phone out of his pocket, numbly taps your number to dial it. 
He doesn’t hear your phone go in the house. It rings off to voicemail. 
Right. Okay. Right. You must have it with you. That’s something.
Adrenaline surging through his body, he checks to see if your location is turned on. It is. Whatever happened, you made sure to know you could be found.
He stands up, clenches his fist so hard his knuckles turn white, and starts to call Lemon as he leaves.
Tumblr media
You wake up to the taste of metal in your mouth. Christ, your head hurts. It’s a sharp ache that reverberates around your skull. Something sticky is running down from your forehead and has gummed your left eye shut, but you look around with your right the best that you can.
Some sort of warehouse. Of course. How original. Things begin to come back to you: the men smashing your door in, the couple you managed to deal with before you were overwhelmed. Your hand still hurts from the punch you delivered to someone’s nose, and you remember the satisfying crunch it made. Oh, god - and your daughter trying to run away but getting caught -
You call her name and you feel a shuffling against your back; you try to move before you realise you’ve been restrained. Hands bound behind you, ankles tied to chair legs. With a groan you crane your neck as far as it will go to take a look.
Your daughter comes to, groggy. You can just about make out her familiar shape in your periphery. If they’ve harmed a single hair on her head, you’re going to set this fucking building alight with every cunt who did this still inside. 
“Love?”
She lets out a little sob of terror. 
“Mum, what happened?”
“I’m not sure, sweetheart. Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”
She takes a moment to answer, her voice shaking.
“I’m… I’m okay, I think.”
You hope she’s telling the truth, and not just lying to seem brave for you. It’s not like you can turn around and check, is it?
Alright, one thing at a time. You test the restraints. No luck, shit. They’re done tight. With multiple zip ties it feels like. It’s a chore to steady your breathing but you manage to do it, and talk yourself through what you remember.
They burst in, attacked you mostly in silence, but they were talking as they choked you out - about what? Focus, focus. 
Oh, fuck. A sentence comes back to you.
‘Let’s see how he likes it when he finds out we have his bird.’
Tangerine. This is all about Tangerine.
You hold back stupid tears. Crying isn’t going to solve anything, is it? But you want to, though. You want to cry over being weak enough to get fucking kidnapped, at being enough of a vulnerability to Tangerine that they’d take you to hurt him, that you got your daughter mixed up in all of this.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
The door at the end of the warehouse space swings open. A man crosses over, a balaclava obscuring his face. Despite it all you can’t help but let out a little laugh - how fucking old school, you half expect him to whip out an Anonymous mask.
“Not sure what you’re having a giggle at, love. Seems to me there’s not anything funny about the situation you’re in.”
“Oh, what do you fucking want?” you snap, squaring up the best you can under the circumstances. Keep a brave face for her. The man rolls his eyes. 
“Well, darling, a very nasty man likes to get his end away with you. So we figured you’d be a useful bargaining chip when dealing with him. See, he’s pissed off the wrong person, and they’re interested in making sure he pays dearly for it. And the fact you arrange his little missions means this is a two-for-the-price-of-one deal.”
Your daughter whimpers. You bare your teeth at him.
“I don’t give a fuck what you do for me, but let her go. She didn’t do anything, she’s a child.”
The man rolls his eyes.
“What, so she can go running straight to him to tell him where you are? Don’t think so, sweetheart. No, much better to make sure she’s here. Safe. With us.”
He grins and it makes you feel sick. You open your mouth to lay into him, but a beeping from the walkie-talkie at his belt stops you. He grabs it and turns his back to you. 
“What?”
There’s the unmistakable sound of gunfire on the other end.
“Oh, fuck, they’re -” is as far as the speaker gets, before he’s cut off with a bloody gargle. The man freezes for a moment, but he’s been distracted long enough - you’ve managed to wiggle one foot free from your restraints and you bring it up as hard as you can between his legs. The man screeches in agony and drops to the floor.
You call for your daughter and tell her to work on her bindings. You feel her struggle behind you. She’s small, maybe she’ll be nimble enough to get free…
The man gets back up all too quickly. 
“You bitch,” he spits, and pulls out a knife from around his back. You feel the blood leave you.
Please don’t kill me in front of my daughter.
Any further action he was going to take, however, is somewhat interrupted by the fact a quarter of his head explodes all over you as a bullet flies through it. He looks shocked for a moment before collapsing for the last time.
They’re here. Tangerine and Lemon are dishevelled, covered in blood, and looking worse for wear - but they’re here. Tangerine lowers his gun and runs over to you, dropping to his knees to check you over.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, get her!” you say, motioning back towards your daughter. Tangerine doesn’t need telling twice. He picks up the abandoned knife and starts working on freeing the little girl behind you, as Lemon finishes closing the distance to help you.
You hear your daughter sob in relief and see Tangerine stagger back as she launches herself into his arms.
“Dad!” she cries, burying her little face in his neck. Tangerine doesn’t have an answer to that. It’s the first time you’ve ever seen him properly dumbstruck: standing there, covered in blood and holding your child with wide eyes. 
“That’s a lot to unpack,” Lemon mutters with a smile as he finishes letting you go. You stand up and give him a tight hug.
“Am I glad to see your ugly mugs,” you sigh. 
“Oi, easy! If you want to keep kissing this ugly mug,” Tangerine says, and it makes your daughter giggle even if she doesn’t loosen her grip.
A bubble of laughter escapes from your lips. Pure relief. Oh, fuck, this could have been bad. It wasn’t though.
Not when you’ve got your boys around to watch your back.
552 notes · View notes
liquid-luck-00 · 7 months
Text
Marks of Magic
Day 1 Moon
Maribat Spooktober 2023
Next
I don’t know if this is going to be a stand alone or a short part story or if it will be the whole month.
Let’s see where it takes us.
I’m restarting my permanent taglist since I’ve been inactive for so long. Sorry!!!
Language and cursing is used
1500 words
~~~~~~~~~~
Three years.
THREE YEARS!!
she has dealt with this stupid Moth's reign of emotional terror. And she is done.
She is done with Chat's dumb jokes and worse, his unwanted advances. she is done with having no one she can trust. she tried giving second chances to Alya, Nino, and even Chloe. But each time she did they broke her trust again and again. She stopped calling on other holders.
She is done with fighting this war alone. She reached out to the Justice League but they laughed in her face. So she stopped asking for help.
The Akumas would target the non-holders group of heroes so often and defeat them or worse until the cure would be cast. that they either left the city or gave up.
she is done being alone and fighting this uphill battle alone.
She doesn't know when the change happened but it did. Her suit darkened and changed, to a point where most was a pitch black. Accents of red and black spots littered the suit, but it darkened.
She couldn’t stand it anymore, her hero life is suffering because she had no one to turn to. That leaked into her personal life as well, she couldn’t trust her friends, so as the guardian, she wiped their memories of ever being a holder, and in Alya’s case the fact she is Ladybug. On top of that Lila held on to her threat, and it came to pass, the class turned on her, as they iced her out of their lives she did the same. She focused herself into her brand and grew her client list.
•••
"Seriously Gurl!" she heard Alya starting to stomp up the steps towards her. Marinette didn't look up from the tablet she was currently reviewing before class started.
"You could at least look at me!" Her hands slammed down on the desk infront of her.
"Alya." She responded, making a note on the document. "What can I do for you?"
"Cut the Snark, Marinette, we all know what you did."
"Oh really." A smirk played on her lips. she looked up at her ex-friend. "Do tell, what did I do?"
"Lila can't even stand being in class since your here."
"And.."
"You really are a bully, Mari, how can you not even show remorse for what you did."
"Your right, I don't." Marinette stood up. "Granted you haven't told me what I did yet." she crossed her arms, watching the other girl get madder at her 'attitude'.
Alya was about to respond when in walked Lila, but with one big difference. Gone was her long hair and stupid sausage pigtails that framed her face. Now it was cut short, a Pixie cut that now showed off her high cheekbones and her eyes, that were Puffy and rimmed in red from what she assumes were tears. The girl looked at her quickly before averting her gaze and dove into her seat. Mari didn't say anything. It was shocking to see her this way, so much she almost dropped her defensive posture. Luckily she didn't say anything as Mdm. Bustier walked in to start the class.
Mari quickly sat down as Alya flew down the steps to console the Italian.
The class period seemed to stretch out longer than normal, but that only caused her mind to race more with every tick of the clock.
All to soon Mdm. Bustier clapped her hands, pulling her from her stupor. "I would like to congratulate Marinette for being our lucky winner to spend the next semester at our sister school, Gotham Academy."
Every one turned towards her, if she looked closely their smiles were forced, almost sneers.
She never applied for it.
Her eyes travelled to her ex-friend, Alya who looked triumphant.
But jokes on them. She was glad. Glad she wouldn't have to deal with them for almost six months now.
So she smiled.
Not one of her strained smiles that had become so common place, but a true genuine smile.
The rest of her day went by in almost a blur. Teachers and other classmates would congratulate her but it didn't register fully. A plan forming in her mind.
•••
She was glad that there was no akuma today. As soon as school let out she got to work.
Through the photos she took of the grimore she learned, during dire situations, the butterfly could embue its own holder as a champion. Gabriel Agreste, then came back into the forefront of her suspects.
She didn't suspect to act on it, but while outside she saw him. Gabriel moved to a subterranian green house, where she then saw a kwamii.
She didn't think and acted on pure instinct.
she dove through the window, Agreate turned and before he could say anything she charged at him.
The yoyo in her hands extended into a weighted bo staff. Agreste getting over his shock called on his transformation. The two of them danced circles around the other as their weapons clashed in the underground room.
"How?!?!" she heard him snarl at her, but she didn't answer.
She was tired of this bull shit.
Tired that this peice of crap of a man made her life a living hell for three years.
Until ...
A flash of light enveloped the room. There Gabriel Agreste knelt on a knee, his hands balled into fists as he glared up at her. The butterfly Miraculous clutched in her hand.
A spark eminated and from it out came the kwamii of transmission, Nooroo.
"Ladybug... I..." The kwamii tried and failed to speak.
"Please go and retrieve the Peacock and the Grimore." She said never taking her eyes off of Agreste.
When he returned she placed both Miraculi in her yo-yo and finally spoke again. "Why?"
"I don't need to explain myself to you." He practicaly spat.
"No you don't, but I want to know the reason before I deal out a verdict." she hummed.
"And why would you be doing something like that, Ladybug." He tried to stand but fell back, too tired or too hurt, she doesn't know. She lowered down to meet his eyes, but didn't say a word.
In that moment he was so defeated, he finally collapsed to the ground barely able to lift his head to speak. "No use telling you now. You’ve already won."
He attention pulled towards the large window, seeing the full moon overhead illuminating their conversation.
"I guess that’s true. But why wouldn't I want to know why. Why I fucking fought for three years against you for so long. I need to know why." She stared up at the moon not sparing the man a glance.
"For her." There was a silence but she didn’t look at him, not yet. "All she wanted was a child, but in order for him to grow, she had to..." He didn't finish his thought.
She looked back at Agreste, she took in his battered spirit and body before standing again. She looked around the room until her eyes landed on it, a cyro chamber with who she assumes is Emily Agreste. "No matter what, there’s always a price for a wish. to bring her back something else must be taken from you."
"Please. Please just do what you have to."
"No. You have to live with the fact that your decisions ensured she would never wake up. That she was wrong to place her faith and love in you." She pulled out her Yoyo and flew out of the room, back home. The moon's light guideing her.
She fell onto her bed dropping her transformation as she thumbed through the grimoire until it landed on a page of spells.
She doesn’t know if it’ll work or not, but it’s worth a shot.
"As the guardian of the miracle box I, Ladybug, call upon the powers of the Kwamii held in my protection."
She closed her eyes and continued to recite the word she’s read over and over for the past few months.
"For my conviction is absolute and I release the Kwamii from their jewels, never to be used again by mortal beings."
Several voices were heard in front of her now, all the Kwamii she’s met floated in front of her in between her self and the moon. She doesn’t know how but even Plagg was among the others.
"Is this truly your wish guardian?" Was spoken by both Tikki and Plagg.
"Yes." That’s single word rang resolute within the empty room.
One by one each kwamii approached her, said a goodbye and thanks before disappearing.
Plagg came towards her and was the first to place his miraculous in her hand.
"Your one hell of a kid, Pigtails. Be unappoligetic. If you ever need to." He held up a paw. "Just give me a shout."
"Plagg!" Tikki exclaimed.
"I said what I said." He cackled before dissapearing.
She heard Tikki sigh before hugging her cheek. "You've grown so much, my little bug. "She pressed a flipper to her earring." Plagg's right though. If you ever need to. Call upon our power and we will lend it to you."
"Thank you Tikki." she felt tears beginnig to sting her eyes. Tikki dissapeared. "Thank you. All of you."
~~~~~~~~~~
Next
128 notes · View notes
swissboyhisch · 10 months
Text
Little Miss Klutz
Tumblr media
Pairing: Carter Hart x Reader
Summary: Despite you hating your pain link to your soulmate, he had a tendency to look on the brighter side.
Word Count: 746
Warnings: Swearing, injuries, long-distance relationship
Request: Yes Soulmate pain au with Carter Hart where the reader is a player and plays forward on a different team ( like Calgary) and she is very accident prone
A/N: I hope you like it. It's not super long but I enjoyed writing it.
THE MASTERLIST JOIN THE TAGLIST HOCKEY DISCORD
Tumblr media
You loved your job, but it didn’t help that you were accident-prone. And your team loved to remind you. Your teammates laughed while your soul mate suffered the consequences. You shared pain as your soul link. If you bruised, he bruised. When you got hit with a puck, he felt it. 
Today was another practice where you got dressed and were first on the ice. You skated around momentarily, doing some stick handling as a little warm-up, shooting a couple of pucks to the back of the net.
“Heads up, Klutz!”
You were a good player and had a good reaction time, but the puck came at you too quickly. SMACK! The icy, hard rubber hit your jaw, taking you down to the ice. Luckily, you couldn’t feel or taste any blood—this time. 
“Dude!”
Your teammate rushed to you, apologising profusely. “I’m sorry! I thought you’d dodge it.”
“You know me better than that,” You groan. 
Your best friend and one of your linemates, Lila, came out with what looked to be your phone to her ear. “Yeah, she’s good. You good, Klutz?”
One of your hands stayed where you were hit on the jaw; the other threw a thumbs up towards Lila. You slowly climbed to your feet, skated to the entrance, and took the phone from her. 
“Hey, C.”
The familiar, heart-warming chuckle floated down the line, “That was a nasty one.��
“Not as bad as the one you took to the cheek against the Pens,” You retorted, taking the ice pack from Meave, who still was apologising. 
“Still felt pretty bad,” Carter hums. “You haven’t even started your morning skate.”
You grumbled lightly, annoyed you had taken a hit before this morning’s practice began. The boy on the other end of the line could tell you were frustrated, so he went on, telling you how his morning had been so far. He kept your mind occupied while you waited on the ice. 
“Come on, Klutz,” The coach called as she stepped on the ice.
“Have a good practice, babe,” Carter replied, hearing your coach in the background.
“I’ll call you after practice, C. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
You took more than your fair share of pucks and bumps through practice. You couldn’t be bothered counting after five pucks. But it was a good skate otherwise. All ready for the game later that night versus Toronto. The team had worked hard this season, and it was paying off. 
You finish training and shower before returning to your apartment to go through your pre-game routine. As soon as you climbed in the car, you called Carter. It was one of the many rituals you and Carter had come to love throughout your long-distance relationship. 
“11.”
“Huh?” 
Carter laughed, “You took 11 pucks to the body after the one before training. So I mean, you took 12 overall but 11 during training.”
“You counted?!” You gasp jokingly. You pull out of the rink car park and head towards your apartment. “I can’t believe you counted.”
“You getting hit before training even started indicated to me it was going to be one of those days,” Carter admitted. 
The two of you laughed, talking about how you both were on the journey home, which was not very far. You found your parking spot, grabbed out your bag and made sure you had your phone, still on call to Carter. 
“You make it back?” 
“Just making my way into the lobby.” The doorman smiled as he opened the door for you as you neared. “Thank you, John.”
After several flights of stairs, you made it to your apartment. You unlock the door and step in. You were too busy talking to Carter to see that your cat had left one of his toys in the middle of the hall.
“Fuck.”
Carter was silent for a moment before laughing. “Did you just trip?”
“...no.”
Your boyfriend knew you too well. He could tell you were lying to save you the embarrassment. But you also knew he could tell you were lying. To be honest, you wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I love you,” Carter chuckled, “Despite you causing more than 50% of our shared pain.”
“Whatever…”
“Say it.”
You were teasing at this point. “I don’t think I will.”
“Please.”
“No.”
“Klutz!”
You laugh at Carter’s tone before replying affectionately. “I love you more, Carter. Even though you tease me about my clumsiness.”
Tumblr media
TAG LIST:
@findapenny @mp0625 @hischierhaze @11zegras @lvrzegras @francesfarhadi @cixrosie @daisysthings
116 notes · View notes